The Juniper-Tree

'How lighthearted I feel,' said the father, 'so pleased and cheerful.'

'And I,' said the mother, 'I feel so uneasy, as if a heavy thunderstorm were coming.'

But little Marleen sat and wept and wept.

Then the bird came flying towards the house and settled on the roof.

'I do feel so happy,' said the father, 'and how beautifully the sun shines; I feel just as if I were going to see an old friend again.'

'Ah!' said the wife, 'and I am so full of distress and uneasiness that my teeth chatter, and I feel as if there were a fire in my veins,' and she tore open her dress; and all the while little Marleen sat in the corner and wept, and the plate on her knees was wet with her tears.

The bird now flew to the juniper-tree and began singing:

  'My mother killed her little son; 

the mother shut her eyes and her ears, that she might see and hear nothing, but there was a roaring sound in her ears like that of a violent storm, and in her eyes a burning and flashing like lightning:

   My father grieved when I was gone; 

'Look, mother,' said the man, 'at the beautiful bird that is singing so magnificently; and how warm and bright the sun is, and what a delicious scent of spice in the air!'

   My sister loved me best of all; 

then little Marleen laid her head down on her knees and sobbed.

'I must go outside and see the bird nearer,' said the man.

'Ah, do not go!' cried the wife. 'I feel as if the whole house were in flames!'

But the man went out and looked at the bird.

  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!' 

With that the bird let fall the gold chain, and it fell just round the man's neck, so that it fitted him exactly.

He went inside, and said, 'See, what a splendid bird that is; he has given me this beautiful gold chain, and looks so beautiful himself.'

But the wife was in such fear and trouble, that she fell on the floor, and her cap fell from her head.

Then the bird began again:

  'My mother killed her little son; 

'Ah me!' cried the wife, 'if I were but a thousand feet beneath the earth, that I might not hear that song.'

   My father grieved when I was gone; 

then the woman fell down again as if dead.

   My sister loved me best of all; 

'Well,' said little Marleen, 'I will go out too and see if the bird will give me anything.'

So she went out.

   She laid her kerchief over me,   And took my bones that they might lie 

and he threw down the shoes to her,

   Underneath the juniper-tree   Kywitt, Kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I!' 

And she now felt quite happy and lighthearted; she put on the shoes and danced and jumped about in them. 'I was so miserable,' she said, 'when I came out, but that has all passed away; that is indeed a splendid bird, and he has given me a pair of red shoes.'

The wife sprang up, with her hair standing out from her head like