The Willow-Wren and the Bear

Once in summer-time the bear and the wolf were walking in the forest,
and the bear heard a bird singing so beautifully that he said, "Brother
wolf, what bird is it that sings so well?" "That is the King of birds,"
said the wolf, "before whom we must bow down." It was, however, in
reality the willow-wren (Zaunkönig). "If that's the case," said the
bear, "I should very much like to see his royal palace; come, take me
thither." "That is not done quite as you seem to think," said the wolf;
"you must wait until the Queen comes." Soon afterwards, the Queen
arrived with some food in her beak, and the lord King came too, and
they began to feed their young ones. The bear would have liked to go at
once, but the wolf held him back by the sleeve, and said, "No, you must
wait until the lord and lady Queen have gone away again." So they
observed the hole in which was the nest, and trotted away. The bear,
however, could not rest until he had seen the royal palace, and when a
short time had passed, again went to it. The King and Queen had just
flown out, so he peeped in and saw five or six young ones lying in it.
"Is that the royal palace?" cried the bear; "it is a wretched palace,
and you are not King's children, you are disreputable children!" When
the young wrens heard that, they were frightfully angry, and screamed,
"No, that we are not! Our parents are honest people! Bear, thou wilt
have to pay for that!"

The bear and the wolf grew uneasy, and turned back and went into their
holes. The young willow-wrens, however, continued to cry and scream,
and when their parents again brought food they said, "We will not so
much as touch one fly's leg, no, not if we were dying of hunger, until
you have settled whether we are respectable children or not; the bear
has been here and has insulted us!" Then the old King said, "Be easy,
he shall be punished," and he at once flew with the Queen to the bear's
cave, and called in, "Old Growler, why hast thou insulted my children?
Thou shalt suffer for it we will punish thee by a bloody war." Thus war
was announced to the Bear, and all four-footed animals were summoned to
take part in it, oxen, asses, cows, deer, and every other animal the
earth contained. And the willow-wren summoned everything which flew in
the air, not only birds, large and small, but midges, and hornets, bees
and flies had to come.

When the time came for the war to begin, the willow-wren sent out spies
to discover who was the enemy's commander-in-chief. The gnat, who was
the most crafty, flew into the forest where the enemy was assembled,
and hid herself beneath a leaf of the tree where the watchword was to
be given. There stood the bear, and he called the fox before him and
said, "Fox, thou art the most cunning of all animals, thou shalt be
general and lead us." "Good," said the fox, "but what signal shall we
agree upon?" No one knew that, so the fox said, "I have a fine long
bushy tail, which almost looks like a plume of red feathers. When I
lift my tail up quite high, all is going well, and you must charge; but
if I let it hang down, run away as fast as you can." When the gnat had
heard that, she flew away again, and revealed everything, with the
greatest minuteness, to the willow-wren. When day broke, and the battle
was to begin, all the four-footed animals came running up with such a
noise that the earth trembled. The willow-wren also came flying through
the air with his army with such a humming, and whirring, and swarming
that every one was uneasy and afraid, and on both sides they advanced
against each other. But the willow-wren sent down the hornet, with
orders to get beneath the fox's tail, and sting with all his might.
When the fox felt the first sting, he started so that he drew up one
leg, with the pain, but he bore it, and still kept his tail high in the
air; at the second sting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at
the third, he could hold out no longer, and screamed out and put his
tail between his legs. When the animals saw that, they thought all was
lost, and began to fly, each into his hole and the birds had won the
battle.

Then the King and Queen flew home to their children and cried,
"Children, rejoice, eat and drink to your heart's content, we have won
the battle!" But the young wrens said, "We will not eat yet, the bear
must come to the nest, and beg for pardon and say that we are honorable
children, before we will do that." Then the willow-wren flew to the
bear's hole and cried, "Growler, thou art to come to the nest to my
children, and beg their pardon, or else every rib of thy body shall be
broken." So the bear crept thither in the greatest fear, and begged
their pardon. And now at last the young wrens were satisfied, and sat
down together and ate and drank, and made merry till quite late into
the night.
