Read Ebook: Fairy Tales for Workers' Children by Zur M Hlen Hermynia Gibson Lydia Illustrator Dailes Ida Translator

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Ebook has 310 lines and 15773 words, and 7 pages

"We have traveled a good part of our journey without trouble," said the older one. "Now we only have to walk another day and ride another night. Then we will reach the ocean."

"How long will we have to swim?"

"About five days."

The Sparrow was frightened. Five days he would have to swim over the endless waters, five long days he could not rest or cease if he wished to save himself from sinking into the waves. How could he endure it? He began to reflect carefully. Could men swim so long in water? He had seen boys bathing in the village pond, yet they would come out of the water in a short time and none of them ever remained in the water all day long. But perhaps there were also tame monsters which carried men over the water. Again he decided not to leave the two men and to do everything they did.

When the two men jumped, unnoticed, off the freight train at a railway station, the Sparrow followed them. He flew very close to them. He felt that they were both his friends and so long as he would not leave them nothing would happen to him.

All day long the men journeyed, walking through fields and meadows, through little villages with queer pointed church steeples. The younger of the two men limped, he could only walk slowly. This was very pleasing to the Sparrow, because he did not have to move fast, he could fly comfortably. When the men stopped, the Sparrow followed their example, meantime seeking his food, as the long journey made him unusually hungry. He also chatted with a few strange birds, all of whom advised him not to continue his dangerous journey. The migratory birds looked him over scornfully, saying with a sneer, "Do you believe you can do the same as we distinguished people? To travel, to see the world, to spend the winter in warm countries--that is not for common people."

An old blackbird minister, black-frocked and solemn, delivered a sermon to him from a branch. "We must obey God's commandments. God has ordained that Sparrows must spend the winter in the north."

"If God has decreed that all our people shall freeze and starve and that only the aristocrats, the Capitalists, like the Swallows and Starlings, shall fly away to the warm places, I don't want to know anything about him!" cried the Sparrow and his feathers bristled up in anger.

The old blackbird minister primped his shining feathers with his bill and growled senselessly. But the Sparrow was sad. "How cruel the birds are to one another," he thought to himself. "I want to do something that will help all and am just laughed at. Can't anybody understand me?"

"Hark, hark!" called a soft voice from a great height, and a young Lark shot downward as swift as lightning to the side of the sad Sparrow. "I understand you. Everybody jeers at me too, because I don't fly close to the earth like they do, but always seek to fly higher and higher, into the blue sky. Do not be downcast, beloved brother, you will reach your goal."

The young Lark flew quite close to the Sparrow, looked at him and said, "Fly a little for me, brother, so I can see how strong your wings are."

The Sparrow flew up, hovering over the Lark.

As he returned she looked at him sadly and said earnestly, "Your wings cannot carry you over the great ocean, my poor friend. But you must not give up on account of that, you must do as men do, who cannot fly and yet travel all over the world. They have invented a sort of house that swims over the water. They call it a ship. You must...."

The Sparrow did not wait to hear the end. The two men had left during the conversation, and now the Sparrow saw them in the distance looking like two dark spots. Frightened, he cried. "My two men have left me," and he flew after them as fast as he could.

When it grew dark, the men once again sneaked into a freight train. The Sparrow followed them and slept all night, while the black monster again took him over hills and mountains, past rivers and streams.

As dawn came, the two men crept out of the train and the Sparrow flew after them. They walked for a little while, then the Sparrow saw an immense body of water lying before him. Endless, extending beyond his vision, this blue-gray body of water extended, and on its surface stormed wild, white-capped, monstrously high billows.

So this was the ocean! Never had the Sparrow felt so small and helpless as at the sight of this dreadful water. What was he in comparison to this? A poor, helpless little bird, a tiny something. Deep sighs lifted his little breast, from his bright eyes the tears fell. "If I were only at home, in the safe little nest," cried he to himself. "I could creep under mother's wings as I did when I was little."

The waves roared dismally, threateningly; the white froth squirted upwards. The two men walked unconcernedly on the damp, sandy ground. With beating heart the Sparrow followed them. And then he saw something surprising. In a great bay some strange things tossed. They were something like a house, but had few windows and tall chimneys from which streamed heavy grey smoke; some things that looked like a forest; bare trees without branches seemed to grow in it. Although these trees bore neither fruit not leaves, the Sparrow was delighted to see them. They gave him confidence. He began to feel at home. But how strange it was that these houses with trees on them were tossed up and down by the waves. Suddenly the Sparrow remembered the words of the Lark. "Men call these houses that swim on the water 'ships'." So these were ships! On one of these tossing, swimming houses he would journey to warm lands.

But which should he choose?

It occurred to him that at home the largest trees could best withstand the wind. Evidently the same was true of ships, and so he must choose the largest.

His two friends went to a small ship, and the Sparrow piped, "Good luck! Good luck!" but they did not hear him.

The Sparrow flew on to an immense ship from whose chimneys streamed great clouds of grey smoke, and hid himself high up at the top of one of the leafless trees.

What noise and excitement there was below. Countless people ran hither and thither, calling and shouting to one another; something rattled, something clattered, the great chimneys shrieked loudly. A bridge that attached the boat to the land flew up into the air, then fell into the boat with a bang. The boat started on its journey. Slowly, solemnly it cut through the water that bubbled on either side. The large house with the leafless trees, the little bird's new home, swam away from the land.

The Sparrow's mind was quite confused with the noise and hurry. And now another great fright came to him. Suddenly a young fellow climbed up his tree. The Sparrow believed that he wanted to capture him, but the fellow didn't seem to notice him and after a little while climbed back. As it grew dark, the boat became quiet and one could only hear the noise of the waves. The Sparrow flew down from his tree and sat down on the roof, where he soon fell asleep.

When he awoke in the morning, he thought he would die of fear. The land had disappeared. Wherever he looked he saw only water; great grey waves rolled against the ship, shaking it gently as a soft wind shakes the nests in the trees. Nowhere a tree, a shrub, a flower. The boat swam all alone on the great ocean, that would not end.

The poor Sparrow felt quite lonesome and deserted. "If I could just find any bird," sighed he. "Even if it were a haughty Swallow or a strange Blackbird. At least I could speak with some one who knows my world, who speaks my language." Finally he lost all his courage and began to weep bitterly.

"Who are you?" suddenly asked a thin, piping voice, and the Sparrow beheld a little mouse standing before him, who stared at him with large round eyes.

The Sparrow was happy, for he was acquainted with mice at home. He bent down and hopefully answered the questions of the mouse.

"You are a brave Sparrow," she said, after she had heard his story. "I bid you welcome to my ship."

"To your ship?" exclaimed the Sparrow. "I thought that the ship belongs to the people."

"The people also believe that," replied the Mouse sharply. "But don't you know that people believe that everything belongs to them?"

"That is true. The farmer at home believed that the church-steeple was his, and yet it is quite clear that the church-steeple was made for us Sparrows."

While they were speaking thus, a very old mouse came over and began to speak. "Not all people believe that everything belongs to them," said she learnedly. "There are also people who do not possess anything. You can observe that on the ship. Above live people in large, beautiful rooms, and eat all day long. My mouth waters when I smell the rich foods that are set before them."

"But down below the people are crowded together, so that they can hardly find place to lie down at night, and many have only dry bread along with them to eat on the whole journey. This stupid phrase 'my boat' you have also learned from men," she said scolding the mouse. "You know that the common things are ours. Don't let me hear false words from you."

"Excuse me, grandmother," begged the young Mouse.

"You are a stranger here," said the Grandmother Mouse to the Sparrow. "We will be helpful to you, so that you can endure the long journey. I advise you not to fly to the rich people, they will play with you a day or two, and then forget you. Indeed, it is only among the poor people, on the lower deck, that you will find a few breadcrumbs, and these people will be good to you because they know how a poor, unfortunate creature feels."

The Sparrow followed the advice of the wise Grandmother Mouse and soon realized that she had spoken truthfully. The children were delighted with him, and they spared him breadcrumbs from the few that were provided for their own little mouths. And because they were children, they understood the language of the Sparrow, and chatted with him. In this way the Sparrow heard many sad stories. The children told of poverty and distress, how hard parents had to work and how often there was nothing to eat at home. The honest Sparrow felt very sad to hear this. "There must also be a beautiful land for men, where conditions are good and they do not have to hunger and freeze," said he to his little friend.

"Perhaps," said a pale little girl. "But we have not yet found the road to it."

"When I am big," declared a little boy dressed in black, "then I will go out to search for that land. When I find it I will lead all the poor people to it."

The two mice also visited the Sparrow often, they always came towards evening, when all was quiet.

So passed a long time, and one day the Sparrow saw land in the distance, saw houses and trees and knew that now his goal was reached.

The grey ocean had become quite blue and gleamed in the sunshine. It was very hot, and Grandmother Mouse said that in this land there was no winter.

When the ship landed, the Sparrow flew after his friends for a while and then contemplated his new home.

All the people had brown faces and wore strange clothes. The faces of the women were covered so that one could only see their large black eyes. He also saw queer animals that walked on four legs and had great humps on their backs. Even the trees were different than those at home, there were some with long pointed leaves and brown fruit that the Sparrow relished. There was plenty to eat; here no Sparrow had to suffer hunger, and there was no snow or cold.

"Isn't this also the right country for the poor people?" the Sparrow asked himself. But then he saw that in this sunny land there were also rich and poor, that some were richly dressed and others wore rags, that some lazy ones rode in handsome carriages and some dragged heavy burdens. And he thought, "It is much easier to find a Sparrow paradise than a land in which people may enjoy happiness." This pained him, because on his journey he had learned to love the poor people. "But how strange this is. People can tame wild animals to carry them through all lands, they know how to build houses that swim on the water and yet they are so poor and destitute and let a few evil wretches take everything for themselves."

Now that he had reached the warm country, the Sparrow rested from his long and wearisome journey, flew about lazily, and spent each night in a different tree.

One day he came to a beautiful green stream and flew along its course. He came to a great, large plain. At first he thought he had reached the ocean again, but as far as he could see lay fine yellow sand. In the distance he saw something rising out of the sand which looked like a monstrous animal. He flew closer to it and saw that it really was a gigantic creature with the head of a human being and two large paws. It was made of grey-brown stone and was partly covered with sand.

The ugly animal lay quite still and grinned angrily. The Sparrow curtseyed carefully: would the beast wish to eat him? But no, it graciously acknowledged his greeting and said: "I have been lying here thousands of years, yet I have never seen a bird like you. Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The Sparrow related his story and the great beast listened patiently. Then the little bird inquired, "Will you tell me who you are? We have no animals like you at home."

The great beast laughed and replied, "People call me the Sphinx. I am so old that I have lost count of my years; have seen everything, know everything."

"In my country the Owls say that, too," was the Sparrow's pert remark.

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