Then the wagoner had lost all his property, and he went downstairs into the room, sat down behind the stove and was quite furious and bitter. But the sparrow sat outside in front of the window, and cried, “Wagoner, it shall cost thee thy life.” Then the wagoner snatched the axe and threw it at the sparrow, but it only broke the window, and did not hit the bird. The sparrow now hopped in, placed itself on the stove and cried, “Wagoner, it shall cost thee thy life.” The latter, quite mad and blind with rage, smote the stove in twain, and as the sparrow flew from one place to another so it fared with all his household furniture, looking-glass, benches, table, and at last the walls of his house, and yet he could not hit the bird. At length, however, he caught it with his hand.

Then his wife said, “Shall I kill it?”

“No,” cried he, “that would be too merciful. It shall die much more cruelly,” and he took it and swallowed it whole.