“Does your strength give out so soon, my little Brook?” asked the Cock.
“Alas, yes!” replied the little Brook.
“Then slip into me; I’ll carry you,” and in a moment the Brook had slipped into the Cock.
In the course of time the Cock met a swarm of Bees. “Whither away?” he asked.
“Oh, into the wide world to seek a shelter!”
“Then come along; be my comrades.”
They had not gone far before the swarm of Bees grew tired and could go no farther, and the Cock invited them to crawl into his body.
So the Cock, carrying the swarm of Bees, the Brook, the Fox, and the Wolf in his body, arrived at a great city. In this city reigned a King and his wife, the Queen. The Cock flew straight to the roof of the royal palace and spent the night there. At early dawn he began to crow lustily:
Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!
One kick for the King, for the Queen two!