The carter went out to the barn where he kept his corn and found it was just as his wife had said . Thousands and thousands of birds were eating up the grain , and in the middle of them sat the little sparrow . When he saw his old enemy , the carter cried out : ` Oh ! what an unlucky fellow I am ! ' ` Not unlucky enough yet , ' answered the sparrow , ` for , mark my words , carter , your cruel conduct will cost you your life ; ' and with these words she flew into the air . The carter was much depressed by the loss of all his worldly goods , and sat down at the fire plotting vengeance on the sparrow , while the little bird sat on the window ledge and sang in mocking tones : ` Yes , carter , your cruel conduct will cost you your life . ' Then the carter seized his axe and threw it at the sparrow , but he only broke the window panes , and did not do the bird a bit of harm . She hopped in through the broken window and , perching on the mantelpiece , she called out : ` Yes , carter , it will cost you your life . ' The carter , quite beside himself with rage , flew at the sparrow again with his axe , but the little creature always eluded his blows , and he only succeeded in destroying all his furniture . At last , however , he managed to catch the bird in his hands . Then his wife called out : ` Shall I wring her neck ? ' ` Certainly not , ' replied her husband , ` that would be far too easy a death for her ; she must die in a far crueller fashion than that . I will eat her alive ; ' and he suited the action to his words . But the sparrow fluttered and struggled inside him till she got up into the man 's mouth , and then she popped out her head and said : ` Yes , carter , it will cost you your life . ' The carter handed his wife the axe , and said : ` Wife , kill the bird in my mouth dead . ' The woman struck with all her might , but she missed the bird and hit the carter right on the top of his head , so that he fell down dead . But the sparrow escaped out of his mouth and flew away into the air . -LSB- From the German , Kletke . -RSB- THE STORY OF THE THREE SONS OF HALI Till his eighteenth birthday the young Neangir lived happily in a village about forty miles from Constantinople , believing that Mohammed and Zinebi his wife , who had brought him up , were his real parents . Neangir was quite content with his lot , though he was neither rich nor great , and unlike most young men of his age had no desire to leave his home .
He was therefore completely taken by surprise when one day Mohammed told him XXXXX many sighs that the time had now come for him to go to Constantinople , and fix on a profession for himself .
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