13. The Emperor and the Bird’s Nest

“Look!” said a soldier; “look! a swallow has built her nest in the emperor’s tent.” The soldiers looked and saw a swallow’s nest built of clay and horse’s hair, and the swallow sitting on her eggs.

“Sure, the swallow thinks the emperor’s tent is a shed,” laughed the soldiers. The emperor, hearing his name spoken, came out from his tent. When he saw the nest, he said, “Let no hand molest the nest or hurt the bird.”

So the little swallow sat there quietly, amid all the noise of cannon, hatching out her little ones, until at last the great guns had made a breach through the walls and the army had poured in to take the city. Then when the terrible fighting was ended, the soldiers began taking down their tents to go away; but when they came to the emperor’s tent, he said, “No, no! do not take down my tent, leave it standing!”