CHICO AND THE
CRANE
The Brothers Grimm
Once upon a time . . in
the city of Florence lived Mr. Corrado, a nobleman famous for his love of
hunting and for his banquets. One day, his falcon caught a beautiful
crane, which Mr. Corrado handed to the cook and told him to roast to
perfection.
The bird was almost done
when a pretty young peasant girl entered the kitchen to visit the cook.
When she sniffed the savoury smell of roasting, the girl persuaded Chico
to give her one of the bird's legs. In due course, the crane was carried
to the nobleman's table and Mr. Corrado summoned the cook to explain what
had happed to the missing leg. To his question, the unfortunate cook
replied:
"Sire! Cranes have
only one leg!"
"What? One leg?"
exclaimed Mr. Corrado. "Do you think I've never seen a crane
before?" But Chico insisted that these birds had only one leg:
"If I had a live bird here, I'd show you!" However, the nobleman
had no desire to argue in front of his guests, but he told the cook:
"Very well. We'll go
and see tomorrow morning, but woe betide you if it's not true."
At sunrise, Mr. Corrado,
angrier than ever, gave the order to saddle the horses. "Now we'll
see who's telling lies," he said grimly. Chico 'I would gladly have
fled in fear, but he did not dare. However, as they approached the river,
the cook spotted a flock of cranes, fast asleep. Of course, they were all
standing on one leg, as they do when resting. "Sire! Sire!"
Chico cried. "Look, I was right. They have only one leg."
"Indeed!"
snorted Mr. Corrado. "I'll show you!" And so saying, he clapped
his hands and gave a shout. At the sudden sound, the cranes uncurled the
other leg and flapped away.
"There you are, you
scoundrel," growled the nobleman. "You see they have two
legs!" To which Chico quickly retorted, "But Sire, if you had
clapped and shouted at table yesterday, then the bird would have uncurled
its other leg!"
At such a clever reply, Mr.
Corrado's anger turned to amusement. "Yes, Chico, you're right. I
should have done just that!" And he clapped the cook's shoulder, as
they parted friends.
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