"Ah, if only I could travel with them!" he said to himself. "I should so like to see foreign lands. My neighbour the swallow has told me how delightful it is. Such a lot of flies and cherries and corn, and it's so delightfully warm. But no one asks _me_ to fly with him. I am only a poor sparrow, and the others are birds of wealth and position." He sat thinking it all over for a long time, and the more he thought the sadder he became. When the swallow came home in the evening, the sparrow asked if he could not get him leave to travel with them. "You? You want to go with us?" asked the swallow, laughing at him scornfully. "You would soon be sick of it. It means flying, flying over land and sea, over hill and dale. Many and many a mile we fly in one journey without a rest. How do you imagine your short wings are going to support you so long as that?" "Oh, but I should so like to go with you," the sparrow pleaded. "Couldn't you get leave for me to fly with the rest? I have such a longing for it. I _must_ go with you." "I believe you are mad," said the swallow. "You forget who you are." "Oh no," said the sparrow. But the swallow took it upon him to instruct him about his position in society. "Don't you see," he said, "the rich merchant who lived here in the country during the summer has now moved into town, and the baron who lives on Tower Island has done the same? The painter who was staying out here is also by this time in Copenhagen; and they won't come out here again till next spring. We birds of high station act in the same way. As soon as ever we smell winter, we make our way to lands where life is more enjoyable--to the warm south. But you poor wretches must of course stay at home and suffer. That is how things are arranged in this world. It is just the same with day labourers, and cottagers, and other poor folks." The sparrow said nothing to this long speech; but when the swallow dropped asleep in his nest, _he_ lay awake and wept over his hard fate. He had still not quite given up hope of going with them all the same. Next day the birds came flying from all directions, and settled down in the meadow. There were starlings and storks and swallows, besides many little singing-birds. But neither the cuckoo nor the nightingale was there, for they had left long ago. "Fall in!" commanded an old stork. He had been ten times in Egypt, and was therefore reckoned the wisest of them all. All the birds lined up, and then the oldest and most experienced went round and saw if they had their travelling equipment in order. All those who had their wings rumpled, or had lost some of their tail-feathers, or did not look strong and well, were dismissed or chased away. If they did not obey commands at once, they were beaten to death without mercy. You may be sure there was a great disturbance when they discovered the sparrow, who had flown up without being noticed, and had planted himself in the ranks with the others.