_THE SELFISH SPARROW AND THE HOUSELESS CROWS._
A sparrow once built a nice little house for herself, and lined it
well with wool and protected it with sticks, so that it equally
resisted the summer sun and the winter rains. A Crow who lived close
by had also built a house, but it was not such a good one, being only
made of a few sticks laid one above another on the top of a prickly
pear hedge. The consequence was, that one day, when there was an
unusually heavy shower, the Crow's nest was washed away, while the
Sparrow's was not at all injured.
In this extremity the Crow and her mate went to the Sparrow, and said,
"Sparrow, Sparrow, have pity on us and give us shelter, for the wind
blows and the rain beats, and the prickly pear hedge thorns stick into
our eyes." But the Sparrow answered, "I'm cooking the dinner; I cannot
let you in now; come again presently." In a little while the Crows
returned, and said, "Sparrow, Sparrow, have pity on us and give us
shelter, for the wind blows and the rain beats, and the prickly pear
hedge thorns stick into our eyes." The Sparrow answered, "I'm eating
my dinner; I cannot let you in now; come again presently." The Crows
flew away, but in a little while returned, and cried once more,
"Sparrow, Sparrow, have pity on us and give us shelter, for the wind
blows and the rain beats, and the prickly pear hedge thorns stick into
our eyes." The Sparrow replied, "I'm washing the dishes; I cannot let
you in now; come again presently." The Crows waited a while and then
called out, "Sparrow, Sparrow, have pity on us and give us shelter,
for the wind blows and the rain beats, and the prickly pear hedge
thorns stick into our eyes." But the Sparrow would not let them in;
she only answered, "I'm sweeping the floor; I cannot let you in now;
come again presently." Next time the Crows came and cried, "Sparrow,
Sparrow, have pity on us and give us shelter, for the wind blows and
the rain beats, and the prickly pear hedge thorns stick into our
eyes." She answered, "I'm making the beds; I cannot let you in now;
come again presently." So, on one pretence or another, she refused to
help the poor birds. At last, when she and her children had had their
dinner, and she had prepared and put away the dinner for next day, and
had put all the children to bed and gone to bed herself, she cried to
the Crows, "You may come in now, and take shelter for the night." The
Crows came in, but they were much vexed at having been kept out so
long in the wind and the rain, and when the Sparrow and all her family
were asleep, the one said to the other, "This selfish Sparrow had no
pity on us; she gave us no dinner, and would not let us in till she
and all her children were comfortably in bed; let us punish her." So
the two Crows took all the nice dinner the Sparrow had prepared for
herself and her children to eat next day, and flew away with it.
[Decoration]