Once in summer-time the bear and the wolf were walking in the forest,and the bear heard a bird singing so beautifully that he said: 'Brotherwolf, what bird is it that sings so well?' 'That is the King of birds,'said the wolf, 'before whom we must bow down.' In reality the bird wasthe willow-wren. 'IF that's the case,' said the bear, 'I should verymuch like to see his royal palace; come, take me thither.' 'That is notdone quite as you seem to think,' said the wolf; 'you must wait untilthe Queen comes,' Soon afterwards, the Queen arrived with some food inher beak, and the lord King came too, and they began to feed their youngones. The bear would have liked to go at once, but the wolf held himback by the sleeve, and said: 'No, you must wait until the lord and ladyQueen have gone away again.' So they took stock of the hole where thenest lay, and trotted away. The bear, however, could not rest until hehad seen the royal palace, and when a short time had passed, went to itagain. The King and Queen had just flown out, so he peeped in and sawfive or six young ones lying there. 'Is that the royal palace?' criedthe bear; 'it is a wretched palace, and you are not King's children, youare disreputable children!' When the young wrens heard that, they werefrightfully angry, and screamed: 'No, that we are not! Our parents arehonest people! Bear, you will have to pay for that!'

The bear and the wolf grew uneasy, and turned back and went into theirholes. The young willow-wrens, however, continued to cry and scream, andwhen their parents again brought food they said: 'We will not so much astouch one fly's leg, no, not if we were dying of hunger, until you havesettled whether we are respectable children or not; the bear has beenhere and has insulted us!' Then the old King said: 'Be easy, he shallbe punished,' and he at once flew with the Queen to the bear's cave, andcalled in: 'Old Growler, why have you insulted my children? You shallsuffer for it--we will punish you by a bloody war.' Thus war wasannounced to the Bear, and all four-footed animals were summoned to takepart in it, oxen, asses, cows, deer, and every other animal the earthcontained. And the willow-wren summoned everything which flew in theair, not only birds, large and small, but midges, and hornets, bees andflies had to come.

When the time came for the war to begin, the willow-wren sent out spiesto discover who was the enemy's commander-in-chief. The gnat, who wasthe most crafty, flew into the forest where the enemy was assembled,and hid herself beneath a leaf of the tree where the password was to beannounced. There stood the bear, and he called the fox before himand said: 'Fox, you are the most cunning of all animals, you shall begeneral and lead us.' 'Good,' said the fox, 'but what signal shall weagree upon?' No one knew that, so the fox said: 'I have a fine longbushy tail, which almost looks like a plume of red feathers. When I liftmy tail up quite high, all is going well, and you must charge; but if Ilet it hang down, run away as fast as you can.' When the gnat had heardthat, she flew away again, and revealed everything, down to the minutestdetail, to the willow-wren. When day broke, and the battle was to begin,all the four-footed animals came running up with such a noise that theearth trembled. The willow-wren with his army also came flying throughthe air with such a humming, and whirring, and swarming that every onewas uneasy and afraid, and on both sides they advanced against eachother. But the willow-wren sent down the hornet, with orders to settlebeneath the fox's tail, and sting with all his might. When the fox feltthe first string, he started so that he lifted one leg, from pain, buthe bore it, and still kept his tail high in the air; at the secondsting, he was forced to put it down for a moment; at the third, he couldhold out no longer, screamed, and put his tail between his legs. Whenthe animals saw that, they thought all was lost, and began to flee, eachinto 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 wonthe battle!' But the young wrens said: 'We will not eat yet, the bearmust come to the nest, and beg for pardon and say that we are honourablechildren, before we will do that.' Then the willow-wren flew to thebear's hole and cried: 'Growler, you are to come to the nest to mychildren, and beg their pardon, or else every rib of your body shallbe broken.' So the bear crept thither in the greatest fear, and beggedtheir pardon. And now at last the young wrens were satisfied, and satdown together and ate and drank, and made merry till quite late into thenight.