SCENE IV
TIME: one month later.
PLACE: same as SCENE III.
| OUR SPARROW. |
| THE VERY OLD SPARROW. |
| THE OLD SPARROW. |
| THE YOUNG SPARROW. |
| THE VERY YOUNG SPARROW. |
| THE WICKED ELF. |
[All the SPARROWS except Our Sparrow sit on the stone wall.]
YOUNG SPARROW. I say the stranger should be driven away!
VERY YOUNG SPARROW. So say I!
OLD SPARROW. The stranger is a sparrow, but still not a sparrow.
VERY OLD SPARROW. And yet she is only different by a tuft of white feathers.
YOUNG SPARROW. And such a tuft! For all the world like a loaf of bread!
VERY YOUNG SPARROW. I'd think it shame to carry such on my head!
OLD SPARROW. I fear 't will shame us all to have this stranger about.
VERY OLD SPARROW. And yet we are not ashamed to eat the crumbs this stranger brings.
OLD SPARROW. Well, 't is true she has been most kind.
VERY OLD SPARROW. 'T is a hard winter! Shall we drive away the one who finds food where we find none?
YOUNG SPARROW. And calls us every time!
VERY YOUNG SPARROW. And never eats till we have come!
VERY OLD SPARROW. I've kept in mind the crumbs she has found us. Now, how many do you think?
OLD SPARROW. I cannot say, for I did not think to notice.
VERY OLD SPARROW. There only lacks two or three now of being a loaf.
OTHER SPARROWS (greatly surprised). A loaf?
VERY OLD SPARROW (nodding). A loaf.
VERY YOUNG SPARROW. Here comes the stranger now!
OLD SPARROW. She brings a crust!
[OUR SPARROW flies up with a crust in its bill.]
OUR SPARROW. Come, friends, 't is for all of you!
VERY OLD SPARROW. Do you know, stranger bird, that, with these crumbs, you have brought us in all one loaf?
[Our Sparrow drops the crust for the others. At once it changes into INGÉ The birds fly away frightened.]
INGÉ Ah! Now I understand. The loaf had to be made up, crumb by crumb.
[The WICKED ELF suddenly appears.]
WICKED ELF. Come, pretty maid, come to the Elf Hill!
INGÉ No, no! I will not!
WICKED ELF. But we have such pretty things to tell you!
INGÉ I care not for your pretty things! I go to fetch wood for my mother. I go to walk in the mud if need be. Away with you! I'll have none of you! Away, away, I say!