82 lines
4.9 KiB
Text
82 lines
4.9 KiB
Text
Fundevogel (Bird-foundling)
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There was once a forester who went into the forest to hunt, and as he
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entered it he heard a sound of screaming as if a little child were
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there. He followed the sound, and at last came to a high tree, and at
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the top of this a little child was sitting, for the mother had fallen
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asleep under the tree with the child, and a bird of prey had seen it in
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her arms, had flown down, snatched it away, and set it on the high
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tree.
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The forester climbed up, brought the child down, and thought to
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himself, "Thou wilt take him home with thee, and bring him up with thy
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Lina." He took it home, therefore, and the two children grew up
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together. The one, however, which he had found on a tree was called
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Fundevogel, because a bird had carried it away. Fundevogel and Lina
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loved each other so dearly that when they did not see each other they
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were sad.
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The forester, however, had an old cook, who one evening took two pails
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and began to fetch water, and did not go once only, but many times, out
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to the spring. Lina saw this and said, "Hark you, old Sanna, why are
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you fetching so much water?" "If thou wilt never repeat it to anyone, I
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will tell thee why." So Lina said, no, she would never repeat it to
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anyone, and then the cook said, "Early to-morrow morning, when the
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forester is out hunting, I will heat the water, and when it is boiling
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in the kettle, I will throw in Fundevogel, and will boil him in it."
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Betimes next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and when
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he was gone the children were still in bed. Then Lina said to
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Fundevogel, "If thou wilt never leave me, I too will never leave thee."
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Fundevogel said, "Neither now, nor ever will I leave thee." Then said
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Lina, "Then I will tell thee. Last night, old Sanna carried so many
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buckets of water into the house that I asked her why she was doing
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that, and she said that if I would promise not to tell any one she
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would tell me, and I said I would be sure not to tell any one, and she
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said that early to-morrow morning when father was out hunting, she
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would set the kettle full of water, throw thee into it and boil thee;
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but we will get up quickly, dress ourselves, and go away together."
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The two children therefore got up, dressed themselves quickly, and went
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away. When the water in the kettle was boiling, the cook went into the
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bed-room to fetch Fundevogel and throw him into it. But when she came
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in, and went to the beds, both the children were gone. Then she was
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terribly alarmed, and she said to herself, "What shall I say now when
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the forester comes home and sees that the children are gone? They must
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be followed instantly to get them back again."
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Then the cook sent three servants after them, who were to run and
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overtake the children. The children, however, were sitting outside the
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forest, and when they saw from afar the three servants running, Lina
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said to Fundevogel, "Never leave me, and I will never leave thee."
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Fundevogel said, "Neither now, nor ever." Then said Lina, "Do thou
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become a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it." When the three servants
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came to the forest, nothing was there but a rose-tree and one rose on
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it, but the children were nowhere. Then said they, "There is nothing to
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be done here," and they went home and told the cook that they had seen
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nothing in the forest but a little rose-bush with one rose on it. Then
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the old cook scolded and said, "You simpletons, you should have cut the
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rose-bush in two, and have broken off the rose and brought it home with
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you; go, and do it once." They had therefore to go out and look for the
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second time. The children, however, saw them coming from a distance.
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Then Lina said, "Fundevogel, never leave me, and I will never leave
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thee." Fundevogel said, "Neither now, nor ever." Said Lina, "Then do
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thou become a church, and I'll be the chandelier in it." So when the
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three servants came, nothing was there but a church, with a chandelier
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in it. They said therefore to each other, "What can we do here, let us
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go home." When they got home, the cook asked if they had not found
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them; so they said no, they had found nothing but a church, and that
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there was a chandelier in it. And the cook scolded them and said, "You
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fools! why did you not pull the church to pieces, and bring the
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chandelier home with you?" And now the old cook herself got on her
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legs, and went with the three servants in pursuit of the children. The
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children, however, saw from afar that the three servants were coming,
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and the cook waddling after them. Then said Lina, "Fundevogel, never
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leave me, and I will never leave thee." Then said Fundevogel, "Neither
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now, nor ever." Said Lina, "Be a fishpond, and I will be the duck upon
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it." The cook, however, came up to them, and when she saw the pond she
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lay down by it, and was about to drink it up. But the duck swam quickly
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to her, seized her head in its beak and drew her into the water, and
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there the old witch had to drown. Then the children went home together,
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and were heartily delighted, and if they are not dead, they are living
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still.
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