“Oh,” said the magpie, “I knew that before.”
The wren and the robin, the goldfinch and the chaffinch, the lark and the swallow, and many other birds went on showing her how to build the nest. As each bit was added, she said, “Oh, I knew that before.”
At last, when the nest was only half finished, the birds lost patience with the conceited empty-head.
“Well, Mistress Mag,” cried they, flying away, “as you know all about it, you may e’en finish the nest yourself.”
That is the reason the magpie’s nest is so badly made.
—Folk tale
HOW BUTTERFLIES CAME
One day the flowers flew off their stalks high into the air. They waved their leaves for wings. Because they behaved themselves so well the fairies let them fly again and again, and they no longer had to sit still on their stalks and remain home from morning till night. So by and by their leaves became wings. The flowers had changed into butterflies, red, yellow, and white.
—From Hans Christian Andersen