When in came the cuckoo and made a great rout, He caught hold of Jenny and pulled her about. Cock robin was angry and so was the sparrow, Who now is preparing his bow and his arrow. His aim then he took, but he took it not right, His skill was not good, or he shot in a fright, For the cuckoo he missed, but cock robin he killed, And all the birds mourned that his blood was so spilled. The cuckoo, it will be remembered, was the bird of the god Thor, and the enemy of matrimonial bliss. This story of a bird-wedding does not stand alone. From France and Spain come a number of pieces which similarly describe the proposed wedding of birds and end in disaster. In Languedoc one is called _Lou mariage de l'alouseta_, "the wedding of the lark." It begins:-- Lou pinson et l'alouseta Se ne voulien maridà. (M. L., p. 490.) "The spink (_or_ finch) and the lark intended to marry. On the first day of the wedding they had nothing to eat." A gadfly on his neck brought a loaf, a gnat brought a cask, a butterfly a joint, and a sparrow brought grapes. The flea jumped out of the bed and began to dance, and the louse came forth from the rags and seized the flea by the arm. Then the rat came out of his hole and acted as drummer, when in rushed the cat and devoured him. Exactly the same story is told in much the same form in Catalan of _La golondrina y el pinzon_, "The goldfinch and the swallow," but the verses on the gay rat and the destructive cat are wanting (Mi., p. 398). Other versions have been recorded in the centre and in the North of France, one of which was printed in 1780 (Ro., II, 180, 212; D. B., p. 106). From thence the song was probably carried to Canada, where it reappears as _Pinson et Cendrouille_, "The finch and the nuthatch" (G., p. 275). Here the ending is that the rat played the fiddle, and the cat rushed in and spoilt the fun. These stories of bird-weddings should be compared with one which describes how the flea and the louse combined to set up house together and came to grief. It is told in Catalan of _La purga y er piejo_ (Ma., p. 74). In Languedoc the same story is told of _La fourmiho e le pouzouil_, "the ant and the flea" (M. L., p. 508). In form these pieces closely correspond with our bird-wedding. There is the same communal feast to which the various guests bring contributions, and the same revelry which ends in disaster.