Christlieb quickly threw down the violin to look at the birds.
"Take care; they will bite you!" said Butter in a joke, shaking them in the face of the child.
"Poor things! how pretty they are with their beautiful feathers! But why are they all dead?" asked Christlieb in a tone of pity.
"Would you like to eat them alive?" said Butter.
"What!" exclaimed the boy in astonishment; "are they to be eaten?"
"Wherefore not, young friend?"
"The creatures are so very small, and when their feathers are off, they will be still less."
"That is quite true," replied Butter; "such a bird makes but two bites; and if one does not wish to leave the table as hungry as when he sat down, he must eat a dozen of them at least. Therefore rich people are rightly called bird-devourers."
"How much does one cost?" inquired Christlieb.
"For a halfpenny I will give you a lark or two finches."