“Oh!” said the Wolf, “that is the king of the birds, we must take care to show him all respect.” (Now I should tell you that this bird was after all no other than the Tomtit.)
“If that is the case,” said the Bear, “I should like to see the royal palace; so pray come along and show me it.”
“Gently, my friend,” said the Wolf, “we cannot see it just yet, we must wait till the queen comes home.”
Soon afterward the queen came with food in her beak, and she and the king began to feed their young ones.
“Now for it!” said the Bear; and was about to follow them.
“Stop a little, Master Bruin,” said the Wolf, “we must wait now till the king and queen are gone again.” So they marked the hole where they had seen the nest, and went away. But the Bear, being very eager to see the palace, soon came back again, and, peeping into the nest, saw five or six young birds lying at the bottom of it.
“What nonsense!” said Bruin, “this is not a royal palace: I never saw such a filthy place in my life; and you are no royal children, you little base-born brats!”
As soon as the young tomtits heard this they were very angry, and screamed out: “We are not base-born, you stupid bear! Our father and mother are honest, good sort of people; and, depend upon it, you shall suffer for your rudeness!”
At this the Wolf and the Bear grew frightened, and ran away to their dens. But the young tomtits kept crying and screaming; and when their father and mother came home and offered them food, they all said: “We will not touch a bit; no, not though we should die of hunger, till that rascal Bruin has been punished for calling us base-born brats.”
“Make yourselves easy, my darlings,” said the old king, “you may be sure he shall get what he deserves.”