Children Stories - The Selfish Sparrow And The Houseless Crows

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The Selfish Sparrow And The Houseless Crows

from Boys And Girls Bookshelf - JAPANESE AND OTHER ORIENTAL TALES]

A Sparrow once built a nice little house for herself, and lined it well
with wool and protected it with sticks, so that it resisted equally 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 my 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 pretense 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
the next day, and flew away with it.

Next: The Story Of Zirac
Previous: The Wonderful Mallet

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