The Queen's Whim

A certain queen wished to have a palace built of the bones of

all kinds of birds. The king ordered birds to be caught, and the

building was begun. Bones of all kinds were brought and cleaned,

and the walls were rising, but they could not find a hedge-sparrow,

and, as the queen wanted all sorts of birds, a search was made for the

missing one. At last the hedge-sparrow was found, and brought before

the king, who asked where she had been. 'Mighty monarch! I have been

flying all over the kingdom counting the men and women; unfortunately

there are twice as many women as men.' The king ordered the bird

to be punished for telling him such a shameless falsehood. 'King of

kings,' said the hedge-sparrow, 'perhaps I did not count in the same

way as you do.' 'How did you count, then?' 'I counted all those men

who are under the slipper of women as old women.' The hedge-sparrow

thus hinted that the king himself was an old woman, because he had

not strength of mind enough to resist the foolish whims of his wife.