Page:Fairy Tales for Worker's Children.djvu/27

 The Sparrow was astonished that neither of the two men, nor the rest of the people, seemed to be afraid of the monster. On the contrary, they ran up to it, disappearing in its smoke. Then the Sparrow saw that the monster pulled some black houses behind it. He saw the two men sneak into one of these houses and flew on to the roof of the same house. Scarcely had he settled himself when the monster again began to puff and pant and started on its journey.

The poor Sparrow thought he would die of fright. The monster rushed with such speed that the little bird could not hear or see. At home he had often flown with the wind for the sport of it and had enjoyed the swift motion. But this was altogether different. He made himself very small, settled himself firmly, and believed his last hour had come. If men called this rest they surely are strange creatures. Perhaps it wasn't so terrible where the people were. He was a clever Sparrow and when the monster stopped again to take breath, he flew down from the roof of the house and examined it. The door was not quite closed. The Sparrow squeezed thru the crack, entered a dark room where many boxes were piled. He squatted on one of the chests and waited to see what would happen.

The monster began to run again. The Sparrow laughed with joy; now he had guessed right. He sat here quietly, comfortably, and the monster had to slave to carry him further. So this is what people call "to ride." Truly, people are not so stupid as he had thought.

The countless feet of the monster pounded over the earth singing a rattling, rumbling, monotonous song. The Sparrow understood the words to mean "Into the distance! Into the distance!" For a while he listened to the song, then he fell asleep.

He must have slept a long time. When he awoke the sun was high in the sky and its rays came into the dark room thru narrow 21