Thus the fable tells us, that the wren mounted as high as the eagle, by getting upon his back.

And then the wren gan scippen and to daunce.

Among the dwellings framed by birds In field or forest with nice care, Is none that with the little wren's In snugness may compare.

For the poor wren (The most diminutive of birds) will fight, Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.

I took the wren's nest;-- Heaven forgive me! Its merry architects so small Had scarcely finished their wee hall, That empty still, and nest and fair, Hung idly in the summer air.

Go thou, deceased, to this earth which is a mother, and spacious and kind. May her touch be soft like that of wool, or a young woman, and may she protect thee from the depths of destruction. Rise above him, O Earth, do not press painfully on him, give him good things, give him consolation, as a mother covers her child with her cloth, cover thou him.