The Poor Woman and the Little Canary Bird
By Hans Christian Andersen
(1967)
NB: Eventyret er trykt første gang på dansk
i 1967, men menes at være fra ca. 1835
There was a miserably poor woman. She was
very sad, for she had nothing to eat, and
her husband was dead and had to be buried,
but she was so poor that she could not
afford to buy a coffin. And no one would
help her, not a single person, and so she
wept and prayed to the good Lord to help
her, for He is so good to us all.
The window was open, and a tiny little bird
flew into the room. It was a canary bird
that had escaped from its cage and flown
over all the rooftops, and now, having come
in through the poor woman's window, it sat
by the head of the dead man and sang so
beautifully. It was as if it wanted to say
to the woman, "You must no be so sad. Can't
you hear how happy I am!"
And the poor woman took some bread crumbs in
her hand and called to the little bird. It
hopped over to her and ate the crumbs. It
was so sweet.
Then there was a knock on the door. A woman
entered, and when she saw the little canary
bird that had flown in through the window,
she said, "This is surely the bird that was
written about in the newspaper today. It has
flown away from some people down the
street."
And so the miserably poor woman went to the
people with the little bird, and they were
very happy to see it again. They asked her
where she had found it, and she told them it
had flown in through her window, had sat by
her dead husband, and had sung so
beautifully that she had stopped crying,
although she was so poor she could not buy a
coffin for her husband, and had nothing at
all to eat.
And the people felt very sorry for her. They
were so good, and so happy to have the bird
back. They bought a coffin for her dead
husband, and said to the poor woman that she
must come to their home every day and eat
and drink with them. She was very happy, and
thanked the good Lord for having sent the
little canary bird to her when she had been
so sad.
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