er, clapper, clipper, clapper, clipper, clapper." And
in the mill there sat twenty millers, who chopped a stone, and
chopped, "Hick, hack, hick, hack, hick, hack;" and the mill went,
"Clipper, clapper, clipper, clapper, clipper, clapper."

The bird flew up, and sat in a lime-tree that grew before the mill,
and sang--

"My mother, she killed me;"

then one man stopped;

"My father, he ate me;"

then two more stopped and listened;

"My sister, little Margery,"

then four more stopped;

"Gathered up all my bones,
Tied them in a silk handkerchief,"

now only eight more were chopping,

"Laid them under"

now only five,

"the Juniper-tree."

now only one.

"Kywitt! Kywitt! what a beautiful bird am I!"

Then the last man stopped too, and heard the last word.

"Bird," said he, "how beautifully you sing! Please to sing me that
song once more."

"No," answered the bird, "I do not sing twice for nothing; give me the
millstone, and I will sing it again."

"Yes," said he, "if it belonged to me only, you should have it."

"Yes," cried all the others, "if he sings it again, he shall have it."

Then the bird came down, and all the twenty millers took poles, and
lifted the stone up. The bird stuck his neck through the hole in the
millstone, and put it on like a collar, and flew back to the tree, and
sang--

"My mother, she killed me;
My father, he ate me;
My sister, little Margery,
Gathered up all my bones,
Tied them in a silk handkerchief,
And laid them under the Juniper-tree:
Kywitt! Kywitt! what a beautiful bird am I!"

And when he had done singing, he opened his wings, and though he had
in his right claw the chain, in his left the shoes, and round his neck
the millstone, he flew far away to his father's house.

In the room sat the father, the mother, and little Margery at dinner;
and the father said, "Oh, how happy I am! altogether joyful."

"For me," said the mother, "I feel quite frightened, as if a dreadful
storm was coming."

But Margery sat, and cried and cried.

Then there came the bird flying, and as he perched himself on the
roof, "Oh," said the father, "I feel so happy, and the sun shines out
of doors so beautifully! It is just as if I were going to see an old
friend.

"No," said the wife; "I am so frightened, my teeth chatter, and it
feels as if there was a fire in my veins;" and she tore open her
dress. But Margery sat in