"What does the cat say?" asked Oeyvind, pointing. His mother sang:

"'At evening softly shines the sun,
The cat lies lazy on the stone.
Two small mice,
Cream, thick, and nice,
Four bits of fish,
I stole behind a dish,
And am so lazy and tired,
Because so well I have fared,'

says the cat."

But then came the cock, with all the hens. "What does the cock say?" asked Oeyvind, clapping his hands together. His mother sang:

"'The mother hen her wings doth sink,
The cock stands on one leg to think:
That grey goose
Steers high her course;
But sure am I that never she
As clever as a cock can be.
Run in, you hens, keep under the roof to-day,
For the sun has got leave to stay away,'

says the cock."

But the little birds were sitting on the ridgepole, singing. "What do the birds say?" asked Oeyvind, laughing.

"'Dear Lord, how pleasant is life,
For those who have neither toil nor strife,'

say the birds."

And she told him what they all said, down to the ant who crawled in the moss, and the worm who worked in the bark.