ONCE on a time, a mouse and a bird and a sausage lived and kept house
together in perfect peace among themselves, and in great prosperity. It
was the bird's business to fly to the forest every day and bring back
wood. The mouse had to draw the water, make the fire, and set the table;
and the sausage had to do the cooking. Nobody is content in this world:
much will have more! One day the bird met another bird on the way, and
told him of his excellent condition in life. But the other bird called
him a poor simpleton to do so much work, while the two others led easy
lives at home.
When the mouse had made up her fire and drawn water, she went to rest in
her little room until it was time to lay the cloth. The sausage stayed
by the saucepans, looked to it that the victuals were well cooked, and
just before dinner-time he stirred the broth or the stew three or four
times well round himself, so as to enrich and season and flavour it.
Then the bird used to come home and lay down his load, and they sat down
to table, and after a good meal they would go to bed and sleep their
fill till the next morning. It really was a most satisfactory life.
But the bird came to the resolution next day never again to fetch wood:
he had, he said, been their slave long enough, now they must change
about and make a new arrangement So in spite of all the mouse and the
sausage could say, the bird was determined to have his own way. So they
drew lots to settle it, and it fell so that the sausage was to fetch
wood, the mouse was to cook, and the bird was to draw water.
Now see what happened. The sausage went away after wood, the bird made
up the fire, and the mouse put on the pot, and they waited until the
sausage should come home, bringing the wood for the next day. But the
sausage was absent so long, that they thought something must have
happened to him, and the bird went part of the way to see if he could
see anything of him. Not far off he met with a dog on the road, who,
looking upon the sausage as lawful prey, had picked him up, and made an
end of him. The bird then lodged a complaint against the dog as an open
and flagrant robber, but it was all no good, as the dog declared that he
had found forged letters upon the sausage, so that he deserved to lose
his life.
The bird then very sadly took up the wood and carried it home himself,
and related to the mouse all he had seen and heard. They were both very
troubled, but determined to look on the bright side of things, and still
to remain together. And so the bird laid the cloth, and the mouse
prepared the food, and finally got into the pot, as the sausage used to
do, to stir and flavour the broth, but then she had to part with fur and
skin, and lastly with life!
And when the bird came to dish up the dinner, there was no cook to be
seen; and he turned over the heap of wood, and looked and looked, but
the cook never appeared again. By accident the wood caught fire, and the
bird hastened to fetch water to put it out, but he let fall the bucket
in the well, and himself after it, and as he could not get out again, he
was obliged to be drowned.