her hair, and I am slamming."

The window answered: "And I, as window, will open and shut."

In the window was a tree, that said: "Window, why do you open and shut?"
The window answered: "The mouse died, the cat tears her hair, the door
slams, and I open and shut." The tree answered and said: "And I, as
tree, will throw myself down."

A bird happened to alight in this tree, and said: "Tree, why did you
throw yourself down?" The tree replied: "The mouse died, the cat tears
her hair, the door slams, the window opens and shuts, and I, as tree,
threw myself down." "And I, as bird, will pull out my feathers." The
bird went and alighted on a fountain, which said: "Bird, why are you
plucking out your feathers so?" The bird answered as the others had
done, and the fountain said: "And I, as fountain, will dry up." A cuckoo
went to drink at the fountain, and asked: "Fountain, why have you dried
up?" And the fountain told him all that had happened. "And I, as cuckoo,
will put my tail in the fire." A monk of St. Nicholas passed by, and
said: "Cuckoo, why is your tail in the fire?" When the monk heard the
answer he said: "And I, as monk of St. Nicholas, will go and say mass
without my robes." Then came the queen, who, when she heard what the
matter was, said: "And I, as queen, will go and sift the meal." At last
the king came by, and asked: "O Queen! why are you sifting the meal?"
When the queen had told him everything, he said: "And I, as king, am
going to take my coffee."

* * * * *

And thus the story abruptly ends. In one of Pitre's variants a sausage
takes the place of the mouse; in another, a tortoise.

In the version from Pomigliano d'Arco (Imbriani, p. 244), an old woman,
who finds a coin in sweeping a church, hesitates in regard to what she
will spend it for, as in the stories above mentioned. She finally
concludes to buy some paint for her face. After she has put it on, she
stations herself at the window. A donkey passes, and asks what she
wants. She answers that she wishes to marry. "Will you take me?" asks
the donkey. "Let me hear what kind of a voice you have." "_Ingo! Ingo!
Ingo!_" "Away! away! you would frighten me in the night!" Then a goat
comes along, with the same result. Then follows a cat, and all the
animals in the world; but none pleases the old woman. At last a little
mouse passes by, and says: "Old Aunt, what are you doing there?" "I want
to marry." "Will you take me?" "L