The same incidents are related of real birds in the toy-book called _The Life and Death of Jenny Wren_, which was published by Evans in 1813 "for the use of young ladies and gentlemen:-- A very small book at a very small charge, To teach them to read before they grow large." The story begins:-- Jenny Wren fell sick upon a merry time, In came Robin Redbreast and brought her sops and wine; Eat well of the sop, Jenny, drink well of the wine. Thank you Robin kindly, you shall be mine. The wren recovered for a time, but her behaviour was such as to rouse the robin's jealousy. She finally died, and the book concludes with the lines:-- Poor Robin long for Jenny grieves, At last he covered her with leaves. Yet near the place a mournful lay For Jenny Wren sings every day. It was an ancient superstition that the robin took charge of the dead, especially of those who died by inadvertence. The proposed union of the robin and the wren forms the subject also of a story that was taken down from the recitation of Mrs. Begg, the sister of the poet Burns. She was under the impression that her brother invented it. It describes how the robin started on Yule morning to sing before the king, and of the dangers, in the form of Poussie Baudrons, of the grey greedy gled, of Tod Lowrie, and of others, he encountered by the way. He sang before the king and queen, who gave him the wee wren to wed. Then he flew away and sat on a briar (1870, p. 60). There is no sequel. In all these stories the wren is described not as a cock-bird, but as a hen-bird, which is incompatible with the idea of kingship that is expressed by the bird-chants. Perhaps the idea of the kingship is the older one. For in the legend told in the Isle of Man as an explanation of the custom of killing the wren, this bird is described as a fairy, that is, of the female sex, and legends that are intended to account for a custom are necessarily of a more recent date than the custom which they explain. The wren in Normandy also is sometimes spoken of as a hen-bird, _La poulette du bon Dieu_, God Almighty's hen. One custom-rhyme current in Scotland directly associates the bird with the Lady of Heaven:-- Malisons, Malisons, mair than tens, That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen. (1870, p. 186.) There is another toy-book relating the proposed union of the robin and the wren, which leads up to the death of the robin. It is called _The Courtship, Marriage, and Picnic Dinner of Cock Robin and Jenny Wren_, and was first issued by Harris in 1810. In this book other animals took part in the ceremony. The cock blew the horn, the parson rook carried Mother Hubbard's book, the lark sang, the linnet, the bullfinch, and the blackbird all officiated. A picnic dinner followed, to which the raven brought walnuts, the dog Tray brought a bone, the owl brought a sack of wheat, the pigeon brought tares, and so forth. The enjoyment was at its height--