“Orphans, orphans! good little orphans!” the little sparrow was saying, “give me a few grains which I may take to my little ones in my tiny nest and I will give you good counsel.”
The children cast a few grains to the bird, which after taking them to its nest came back, saying:
“Orphans, run! orphans, run! your stepmother will to-day take you to the river to drown you. Run, orphans, run!”
And the little sparrow flew away. Soon the stepmother came, saying:
“Get up, you dirty things! we will go to the river, where I may bathe you.”
“You go first, mamma; we will come by and by,” answered the orphans.
And following the advice of their little feathered friend they ran away to the mountains. The stepmother never searched for them, and the two children wandered in the forest until evening. At nightfall they entered the hollow trunk of an old sycamore tree, repeated the prayer which they had learned from their dead mother, and lay down to sleep embracing one another. Soon after daybreak the faithful sparrow came, and the two children waking heard it chirp to them:
“Orphans, good orphans, come and eat; there is boiled wheat for you.”
They immediately got up and ran after the sparrow, which led them until they came where an old woman brought a kettleful of boiled wheat, and emptying it under a tree, went away. A great many little sparrows were gathered; the two half-orphans sat with them at the table. The good old woman used to bring the kettleful of wheat and empty it under that tree day after day. She did this in memory of her children and grandchildren, who had died when they were young boys and girls, and whom she had loved very much. She believed that these little birdies were the spirits of her dead little ones. So these two half-orphans lived with the little sparrows for a long time.
One day as the Prince was hunting in the forest he met Vart and Vartoohi, took them with him to the palace, loved them and adopted them as his son and daughter. The children were so pretty and amiable that all the court loved them dearly. But Vart and Vartoohi were not happy.