Reading Notes: Week 14 Grim B

(Image Information: Image by Jack Bulmer)

The Willow-Wren and the Bear

In the summer, the bear and the wolf were walking the in the forest. The bear heard a bird singing in the distance and said, "Brother wolf, what bird sings so well?"

The wolf said, "That is the King of Birds before whom we must bow down." The bird was the willow wren.

"If that's the case," said the bear, "I should very much like to see his royal palace; come, take me thither."

"That is simply not done," said the wolf; "you must wait until the Queen comes."

Soon afterward, the bird Queen arrived with some food in her beak, and the bird 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 fur and said: 'No, you must wait until the lord King and lady Queen have gone away again."

So they took stock of the hole where the nest lay and trotted away. However, the bear could not wait much longer to see the royal palace. A short time passed, and he went to leave again. The King and Queen had just flown out, so he peeped in and saw five or six young ones lying there.

"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 furious and screamed: "No, we are not! Our parents are honest people! Bear, you will have to pay for that!"

The bear and the wolf grew uneasy. They turned back and went into their dens. The young willow-wrens, however, continued to cry and scream. 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. A bear was here and has insulted us!"

Then the bird King said, "Be easy, he shall be punished," and he at once flew with the Queen to the bear's cave. "Old Growler, why have you insulted my children? You shall suffer for it. We will punish you by a bloody war."

All four-footed animals were summoned to take part in a war; oxen, asses, cows, deer, and every other animal on the earth contained. The willow wren called every creature that flew in the air; not only birds, large and small, but midges, 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 was the most crafty and flew into the forest where the enemy was assembled and hid beneath a leaf where a secret code was to be announced.

The bear stood before a fox and said, "Fox, you are the most cunning of all animals; you shall 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 read 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, down to the minutest detail, to the willow-wren. When the dawn broke, the battle was to begin. All the four-footed animals came running up with such a noise that the earth trembled.

The willow wren with his army also came flying through the air; humming, whirring, and swarming. Both sides were uneasy and afraid. But the willow-wren sent down the hornet with orders to settle beneath the fox's tail and sting with all his might.

The fox felt the first string and yipped in pain, but he bore it and lifted his one leg. He kept his tail high in the air. The second sting forced him to put it down for a moment. After the third, the fox could hold out no longer. He screamed and put his tail between his legs. When the animals saw that, they thought all was lost and began to flee, 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, 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, you are to come to the nest to my children and beg their pardon, or else every rib of your body shall be broken."

So the bear crept thither in the greatest fear and begged their pardon. At last, the young wrens were satisfied and sat down together. They ate and drank and made merry till quite late into the night.

Bibliography: 

The Willow-Wren and the Bear by the Brothers Grimm.