Hoho! This rooster is a perfect imp of Satan! Never mind! I'll wring
your neck, you saucy cockerel!" When he reached home he told the cook
to take the rooster, throw it on the coals burning upon the hearth,
and push a big stone in front of the opening in the chimney. The old
woman did what her master bade her.

When the rooster saw this new injustice, it began to spit out the
water it had swallowed till it had poured all the water from the well
upon the burning coals. This put out the fire, cooled the hearth, and
made such a flood on the kitchen floor that the cook fainted away from
pure rage. Then the rooster gave the stone a push, came out safe and
sound, ran to the gentleman's window, and began to knock on the panes
with its bill, screaming:

"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."

"Heaven knows that I've got a torment in this monster of a rooster,"
said the gentleman. "Driver, rid me of it, toss it into the middle of
the herds of cows and oxen; perhaps some bull will stick its horns
through it and relieve us." The coachman seized the rooster and flung
it among the herds. You ought to have seen the rooster's delight. It
swallowed bulls, oxen, cows, and calves, till it had devoured the
whole herd and its stomach had grown as big as a mountain. Then it
went to the window again, spread out its wings before the sun so that
it darkened the gentleman's room, and once more began:

"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."

When the gentleman saw this he was ready to burst with rage and did
not know what to do to get rid of the rooster. He stood thinking till
at last an idea entered his head:

"I'll lock it up in the treasure-chamber. Perhaps if it tries to
swallow the ducats one will stick in its throat, and I shall get rid
of the bird." No sooner said than done. He grasped the rooster and
flung it into the treasure-chamber. The rooster swallowed all the
money and left the chests empty. Then it escaped from the room, went
to the gentleman's window, and again began:

"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."

As the gentleman saw that there was nothing else to be done he tossed
the purse out. The rooster picked it up, went about its own business,
and left the gentleman in peace. All the poultry ran after the rooster
so that it really looked like a wedding; but the gentleman turned
green with rage as he watched, and said sighing: