Hermynia Zur Mühlen

“ Yes, little Paul, but do not ask the rich, they will not answer you because if they did they would have to say, ‘The world is such a bad place for poor people because we, the rich, are greedy, selfish, vile,’ and no person likes to say that about himself. But go to the poor people, ask them, ‘Why do you eat dry bread though you work hard, while the idle rich eat cake? Why are your children pale, thin and ill while the rich children are rosy, fat and healthy? ”

“ Later the whips disappeared, the masters bragged of their kindness, saying, ‘In these progressive times, no man is a slave.’ But secretly they concealed a dreadful whip, Hunger, and this drove the people to slavery as surely as the whip they had used previously. I see people pass here, rich strangers who visit this country out of curiosity, and see the poor Arabs, who work as muleteers and drag heavy stones, and are barely kept alive with a few dates and a little corn, just like their ancestors thousands of years ago. ”

“ All of us who work must learn that we can make the world a better place for workers and their children to live in if we will help one another. She shows us that the rich people who do not work but keep us enslaved are our enemies; we must join together, we workers of the world, and stop these wrongs.
Even the pretty, delicate Rose-bush knew how to use her thorns when the rich lady came near her. The little Sparrow died while seeking a better land for the Sparrow brothers, but he did not die in vain. ”

“ There are many, many people who do not know yet how good it is for other people and how bad their lives are; who work like beasts and never ask why their honest labor brings a starvation wage. These poor blind people must be shown the truth, and this is not at all easy, because the poor are so tired from the day’s work that they can hardly think; and the rich do everything not to awaken questions in the minds of the workers. That is why they punish every one who asks, ‘Why?’ You have already learned from your own experience, little Paul. ”

“ The roses had other magic powers; the Rose-bush, in her days of struggle and suffering, had learned the songs of the Wind. Now her flowers sang them very softly for their friends, “Keep together! Fight! You will conquer!” Then the people said, “How strange! The perfume of the flowers brings us new strength. We will fight together for a better world.”
But to the little children the roses sang in a tender, loving voice: [12] “Little children, when you are grown up, you will no longer stand sadly before the gate. The whole world will belong to those who work, the whole world!” ”

“ And he thought, “It is much easier to find a Sparrow paradise than a land in which people may enjoy happiness.” This pained him, because on his journey he had learned to love the poor people. “But how strange this is. People can tame wild animals to carry them through all lands, they know how to build houses that swim on the water and yet they are so poor and destitute and let a few evil wretches take everything for themselves.” ”

“ When it grew dark, the men once again sneaked into a freight train. The Sparrow followed them and slept all night, while the black monster again took him over hills and mountains, past rivers and streams. ”

“ If my venture succeeds, I will have proven to all the Sparrow folk that they need not freeze and starve in the winter-time, but can move to the warm countries and live happily. Certainly, the ocean....” The young Sparrow’s heart lost courage, he thought of what his teacher, the Swallow had once told him about the great, wild water that never seemed to end, about the angry frothy waves over which one had to fly daily. If one’s wings lost their strength, one fell down and was lost. ”

“ But you must always come back and I will comfort you and help you.”
“Wait a little,” begged Paul. “The Owl said in eighty years, not until eighty years from now, she will be able to answer my question. That is a long time. Did the Owl speak truly?”
“That depends on you people,” replied the light, silvery voice of the tiny Dryad. “Perhaps it will take you eighty years to become wise, perhaps if you, you and your comrades, do not stop asking questions, it may only take fifty years. The great day of freedom may come in twenty, in ten years. ”

“ To travel, to see the world, to spend the winter in warm countries—that is not for common people.”
An old blackbird minister, black-frocked and solemn, delivered a sermon to him from a branch. “We must obey God’s commandments. God has ordained that Sparrows must spend the winter in the north.”
“If God has decreed that all our people shall freeze and starve and that only the aristocrats, the Capitalists, like the Swallows and Starlings, shall fly away to the warm places, I don’t want to know anything about him!” cried the Sparrow and his feathers bristled up in anger. ”

“ Good, Benjamin shall remain here and when you go back to the city tomorrow, I will give you Hannah to take along. I will immediately tell the overseer, so that he may tell her to be ready.”
And the rich man called a servant and bade him bring the overseer.
Ah, what a sad night that was in the little hut of the Negroes. Poor Hannah hugged her little son close in her arms and cried as though her heart would break. Her husband Tom gazed at her with worried eyes and was so miserable that he could not say a word. ”

“ The faithful little grey dog gave his life for the Negro boy who had saved him from being drowned; and the Crocodile proved that even an ugly, hungry beast can be more kind than a rich slave-owner. And our little lonely friend Paul learned that he must not stop asking why things were wrong in the world, but that he must make comrades of all the workers and teach them also to ask why, until millions would be asking that question and seeking to find the answer to it. ”

“ The Rose-bush became angry, lifted a bough up high, threatened the man with her thorn-claws, shouting, “I see you enjoy yourself at my expense because I am still young and inexperienced, telling me untruths about the world of men. Still I am not so stupid, I have observed ants and bees, and know that to each belongs the things for which he has worked.”
“That may be so among bees and ants,” the man sighed deeply, “yet among men it is different. There the people receive just enough to keep them from starving—all else belongs to the master. ”

“ People must be there. The dog dragged the boy into some thick bushes, told him to keep still, crept softly toward the fire. A pot hung over the fire, and a blond man sat before it. Close by stood a wagon with large wheels, to which a brown horse was harnessed. The dog looked at the man very searchingly. He looked different from the people at home, had a very light skin, kind blue eyes; surely he was a northerner. But was he a good man? Then the dog remembered that only very good people understand the language of animals, and the dog decided to tell him the story of little Benjamin. ”

“ I am truly more mighty than people, and,” he agreed pensively, “neither are we as bad as they. But this creature that sat with his feet hanging in the water is also a human being. Then why is he running away from his brothers?” ”

“ Why does your long life of toil end in the poorhouse, whereas the lazy grafters are well taken care of in their old age, resting luxuriously from their lives of idleness?’ Ask the poor people these questions so long and so often that they will fall on the structure of injustice like a hammer and smash it. ”

“ There we will hide in a freight car and ride until morning. Then it will not be far to the sea.”
The Sparrow had listened carefully to their conversation. “So people get tired, too,” thought he, “and then they ride. I don’t know what that means, but I know that one does not tire oneself that way. If people ride, why shouldn’t Sparrows also ride?” ”

“ Hannah noticed this, sobbingly patted the shaggy head of the dog, and said to him, “Guard my little boy, you good dog. We are all as helpless and deserted as you.”
The following morning, poor Hannah, weeping bitterly, rode off with the young woman. Her family was not allowed to see her off, for Tom had to work in the field and Benjamin, like all the slaves, was forbidden to come near the house of the rich man. ”

“ Sparrow. “We will be helpful to you, so that you can endure the long journey. I advise you not to fly to the rich people, they will play with you a day or two, and then forget you. Indeed, it is only among the poor people, on the lower deck, that you will find a few breadcrumbs, and these people will be good to you because they know how a poor, unfortunate creature feels.” ”

“ The overseer had been in a bad temper, had beaten the little boy with a whip and hit him in the face with his fist.
“I want to die,” cried Benjamin, while the dog softly and gently licked his wounds. “I can’t stand it any longer. My parents are gone, I am entirely deserted, everyone is unkind to me. Dog, dear dog, what shall I do?”
“Run away,” replied the dog.
“Where to? They will catch me and beat me again.”
The dog thought hard for a while. [45]
“We must go north,” said he at last. “There people are better than they are here. They do not want the Negroes to be slaves. ”

“ The dog shook his shaggy head. “Yes, when the rich people act like wild beasts against the poor people, we animals must help them. When a human being is very unhappy and forsaken, he understands our language and knows that we wish him well. I have not forgotten, little Benjamin, that you saved my life. ”

“ The alligator shook his pointed head thoughtfully and said: “People are peculiar creatures. No alligator would torment a little alligator, neither do we know the difference between rich and poor, and still it is said that we are evil animals. ”

“ At that he spread out his wings and pushed himself head first out of the nest into space. It seemed very dangerous, but his wings carried him safely through the air.
But the young Sparrow was by no means as joyous and light-hearted as he seemed to be. The words of his parents had aroused all sorts of doubts in his mind. “Mother was really right,” he said to himself. “The Sparrow is not a migratory bird. No one has ever heard of a Sparrow that has flown across the great ocean and gone to foreign lands. ”

“ You know that there are rich people in the world, that they do not work and have all the good things of life. You also know that your fathers work hard and then worry about what will happen if they lose their jobs. ”

“ Make room for the workers of the world!’ At that they are very frightened, draw the silken covers over their ears, try to comfort themselves: ‘It was only the wind!’ ” [7]
The Wind lifted one of his legs high and pushed it with all his weight against the magnificent white house. The windows clattered, many things in the house were broken, a woman’s voice shrieked. The Wind laughed, then drew his leg back and said to the Rose-bush: “You also can do something, you flowers. Do not bloom for the rich idlers, and the fruit trees should not bear fruit. ”

“ Then we will reach the ocean.”
“How long will we have to swim?”
“About five days.”
The Sparrow was frightened. Five days he would have to swim over the endless waters, five long days he could not rest or cease if he wished to save himself from sinking into the waves. How could he endure it? He began to reflect carefully. Could men swim so long in water? He had seen boys bathing in the village pond, yet they would come out of the water in a short time and none of them ever remained in the water all day long. But perhaps there were also tame monsters which carried men over the water. ”

“ And the shiny, greenish eyes of the alligator looked distrustfully at the dog. [47]
“You surely know, wise and mighty animal, that the rich people are merciless to the poor, as though they were the wildest beasts. That is because there is no more greedy animal than this man. He is never satisfied, he always wants more: food and drink and houses, but above all, gold. That makes him so mean. My little friend is a poor child who must work for a rich man. He was torn away from his parents, and beaten until the blood flowed. ”

“ No, the little black-haired boy on the ship had paid special attention to the story which the Sparrow had told him and had listened to what the Sparrow wanted to do for his Sparrow brothers, and this the little boy wanted to do for his fellow-humans. He grew up, and wherever oppressed workers struggled against their oppressors, he was the leader. ”

“ Then the young Sparrow began to make such a fuss that the whole nest shook. “A respectable profession, truly a beautiful profession. To build nests in which others live. To slave in the heat of the sun, carrying straws from all over, to weave them together, to see that everything is just perfect—and then the fine ladies and gentlemen move in, and throw me a little worm for my wages, hardly enough for a decent meal. Above all, these fine people. The swallows, always dressed up in their frock-coats ”

“ This stupid phrase ‘my boat’ you have also learned from men,” she said scolding the mouse. “You know that the common things are ours. Don’t let me hear false words from you.”
“Excuse me, grandmother,” begged the young Mouse. ”