'Bird,' said the shoemaker, 'sing me that song again.'
'Nay,' answered the bird, 'I do not sing twice for nothing; you must give me something.'
'Wife,' said the man, 'go into the garret; on the upper shelf you will see a pair of red shoes; bring them to me.' The wife went in and fetched the shoes.
'There, bird,' said the shoemaker, 'now sing me that song again.'
The bird flew down and took the red shoes in his left claw, and then he went back to the roof and sang:
'My mother killed her little son; My father grieved when I was gone; My sister loved me best of all; She laid her kerchief over me, And took my bones that they might lie Underneath the juniper-tree Kywitt, Kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!'
When he had finished, he flew away. He had the chain in his right claw and the shoes in his left, and he flew right away to a mill, and the mill went 'Click clack, click clack, click clack.' Inside the mill were twenty of the miller's men hewing a stone, and as they went 'Hick hack, hick hack, hick hack,' the mill went 'Click clack, click clack, click clack.'
The bird settled on a lime-tree in front of the mill and sang:
'My mother killed her little son;
then one of the men left off,
My father grieved when I was gone;
two more men left off and listened,
My sister loved me best of all;
then four more left off,
She laid her kerchief over me, And took my bones that they might lie
now there were only eight at work,
Underneath
And now only five,
the juniper-tree.
and now only one,
Kywitt, Kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!'
then he looked up and the last one had left off work.
'Bird,' he said, 'what a beautiful song that is you sing! Let me hear it too; sing it again.'
'Nay,' answered the bird, 'I do not sing twice for nothing; give me that millstone, and I will sing it again.'
'If it belonged to me alone,' said the man, 'you should have it.'
'Yes, yes,' said the others: 'if he will sing again, he can have it.'
The bird came down, and all the twenty millers set to and lifted up the stone with a beam; then the bird put his head through the hole and took the stone round his neck like a collar, and flew back with it to the tree and sang-
'My mother killed her little son; My father grieved when I was gone; My sister loved me best of all; She laid her kerchief over me, And took my bones that they might lie Underneath the juniper-tree Kywitt, Kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!'
And when he had finished his song, he spread his wings, and with the chain in his right claw, the shoes in his left, and the millstone round his neck, he flew right away to his father's house.
The father, the mother, and little Marleen
