Not far from the carder lived a spinner, and the thrush went to him and said: “Mr. Spinner, I have some rolls of cotton all ready to spin into thread. If I give you half of them, will you spin the other half into thread for me?”
“That I will,” said the spinner, and the thrush showed him the way to where she had put the rolls.
In a few days the spinner had spun all the rolls into the finest thread. Then he took a pair of scales and weighed the thread to make two equal parts. Half he kept for himself, and the other half he gave to the thrush.
The next thing the thrush did was to fly to the house of a weaver, to whom she said: “Sir, I have some cotton thread all ready to weave into cloth. If I give you half of the thread, will you weave the other half into cloth for me?”
“Certainly,” said the weaver, and the thrush guided him to where she had secreted the thread.
He carried it home and spun it into cloth, and half the cloth he kept, and half he gave to the thrush. She was an ambitious bird, eager to convey an impression of distinction, and she decided to have some garments made for herself out of the cloth. So she went to a tailor, and said, “I have a nice piece of cotton cloth, and I will give you half of it if you will make the rest into clothes for me.”
The tailor was glad to do this, and the bird guided him to where she had hidden the cloth. He took it home, and at once set to work. Half of it sufficed to make a beautiful dress for the thrush. There was a skirt, and there was a jacket with sleeves in the latest pattern. A little of the cloth was left over, and the tailor used it to make a pretty hat for the thrush to put on her head.
Then she was indeed delighted, and felt there was little more to desire in the world. She put on her skirt, and her jacket with fashionable sleeves, and the little hat, and looked at her image in a woodland pool. What she saw pleased her greatly. In fact, she became so vain that nothing would do but she must show herself to the king.
So she flew and flew and flew until she came to the king’s palace. Right into the great hall she winged her way and perched on a peg that was high on the wall and began to sing. The king and the queen and all the courtiers were sitting down below. “Oh, look!” exclaimed the queen. “There is a thrush in a jacket and skirt and a pretty hat!”