The
rooster said to the hen, "The nuts are ripe. Let's go up the hill and for
once eat our
fill
of nuts before the squirrel hauls them all away."
"Yes," responded the hen. "Let's go and have
a good time together."
So they went up the hill, and since it was such a bright
day, they stayed till evening. Now, I don't know whether it was because they
had stuffed themselves too much, or whether they had become too high and
mighty, but they didn't want to return home on foot. So the rooster had to
build a small carriage made out of nut shells. When it was finished, the hen
got in and said to the rooster, "Now you can just harness yourself to
it."
"No," said the rooster. "You have some
nerve! I'd rather go home by foot than let myself be harnessed to this
carriage. No, that wasn't part of our bargain. I'd gladly be coachman and sit
on the box, but I refuse to pull the carriage!"
As they were quarreling, a duck came by quacking and
pouted, "You thieves! Who said you could come up on my nut hill? Just you
wait! You'll pay for this!"
She charged at the rooster with a wide-open beak, but the
rooster was on his toes and threw himself at the duck's body nice and hard.
Then he dug his spurs into her so violently that the duck begged for mercy and
willingly let herself be harnessed to the carriage as punishment. Now the
rooster sat down on the box as coachman, and off they went in a gallop.
"Duck, run as fast as you can!" cried the rooster.
After they had gone some distance, they encountered two
travelers on foot, a needle and a pin, who called and asked them to stop. They
said it would soon be very dark, and they wouldn't be able to go one step
farther. Besides, the road was dirty. So they asked if they could have a ride.
They had been at the tailor's tavern outside the town gate and had had one beer
too many, which made them late as well.
Since they were thin and didn't take up much room, the
rooster let them both get in, but they had to promise not to step on his or the
hen's feet. Later that evening they came to an inn, and since they didn't want
to travel any farther, and since the duck was not walking well but swayed from
side to side, they decided to stop there. At first the innkeeper raised a lot
of objections and said his inn was already full. Moreover, he thought they were
not a very distinguished-looking group. However, they used some sweet talk and
offered him the egg that the hen had laid along the way and told him that he could
also keep the duck, who laid an egg a day. So finally he relented and said they
could spend the night. Now they ordered some good hot food and had a merry time
of it.
Early the next morning, as the sun was rising and everyone
was asleep, the rooster woke the hen, fetched the egg, pecked it open, and
together they devoured it. After throwing the shells on the hearth, they went
to the needle, who was still asleep, grabbed him by the head, and stuck him
into the innkeeper's easy chair. Then they stuck the pin into the innkeeper's
towel. Finally, without much ado, they flew away over the heath.
The duck, who liked to sleep in the open air and had spent
the night in the yard, heard the flapping of their wings. So she roused
herself, found a brook, and swam away. That went much faster than being
harnessed to a carriage. A few hours later the innkeeper got out of bed, washed himself, and took the
towel to dry himself. However, the pin scratched his face, leaving a red mark
from ear to ear. Then he went into the kitchen and wanted to light his pipe.
But, as he leaned over the hearth, the eggshells popped into his eyes.
"Everything's
attacking my head this morning," he said, and went to sit down in his easy
chair to settle his bad mood, but he jumped up immediately and screamed,
"Oww!" The needle had stuck him worse than the pin and not in the
head. Now he was completely angry and suspected the guests who had arrived so
late the night before. But when he went looking for them, they were gone. Then
he swore he would never again let riffraff stay at his inn, especially when
they eat so much, pay nothing, and play mean tricks on top of it all.
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