t deal of smoke still rose from the ground, but
without, quite uninjured, stood the rose-bush, fresh and blooming, and
mirrored every flower, every branch, in the clear water.

"Oh! how beautifully the roses are blooming in front of the burnt-down
house!" cried a passer-by. "It is impossible to fancy a more lovely
picture. I must have that!"

And the man took a little book with white leaves out of his pocket: he
was a painter, and with a pencil he drew the smoking house, the
charred beams, and the toppling chimney, which now hung over more and
more. But the large and blooming rose-tree, quite in the foreground,
afforded a magnificent sight; it was on its account alone that the
whole picture had been made.

Later in the day two of the sparrows who had been born here passed by.
"Where is the house?" asked they. "Where the nest? Chirp! chirp! All
is burnt down, and our strong brother,--that is what he has got for
keeping the nest. The roses have escaped well; there they are yet
standing with their red cheeks. They, forsooth, do not mourn at the
misfortune of their neighbors. I have no wish whatever to address
them; and, besides, it is very ugly here, that's my opinion." And off
and away they flew.

On a beautiful, bright, sunny autumn day--one might almost have
thought it was still the middle of summer--the pigeons were strutting
about the dry and nicely-swept court-yard in front of the great
steps--black and white and party-colored--and they shone in the
sunshine. The old mamma pigeon said to the young ones: "Form
yourselves in groups, form yourselves in groups, for that makes a much
better appearance."

"What little brown creatures are those running about amongst us?"
asked an old pigeon, whose eyes were green and yellow. "Poor little
brownies! poor little brownies!"

"They are sparrows: we have always had the reputation of being kind
and gentle; we will, therefore, allow them to pick up the grain with
us. They never mix in the conversation, and they scrape a leg so
prettily."

"Yes, they scratched three times with their leg, and with the left leg
too, and said also "Chirrup!" It is by this they recognised each
other; for they were three sparrows out of the nest of the house that
had been burnt down.

"Very good eating here," said one of the sparrows. The pigeons
strutted round each other, drew themselves up, and had inwardly their
own views and opinions.

"Do you see the cropper pigeon?" said one of the oth