op down when he heard them and
peep into a little cage where a Starling was perched--a poor, emaciated
little thing it was, as way-worn and poverty struck, to all seeming, as
himself: but he did not think so: he deemed it the very paragon of the
feathered tribe, for it had a little toppin of brown feathers on its
head, and a little ring of white around its neck, and would come when
he called it; and, better than all, could sing, "Good Fritzerl--nice
Fritzerl!" when it was pleased, and "Potztausend!" when angry. This was
all its education; his master, poor little fellow, had not much more.
How could he? Fritzerl's mother died when he was a baby; his father was
killed by a fall from a cliff in the Tyrol Alps, for he was by trade a
bird-catcher, and came from the Engadine, where every one loves birds,
and in the pursuit of this passion met his fate.

Fritzerl was left an orphan at eleven years old, and all his worldly
wealth was this little Starling; for although his father had left
a little cabin in the high Alps, and a rifle, and some two or three
articles of house gear, they all were sold to pay the expenses of his
funeral, and feast the neighbours who were kind enough to follow him to
the grave: so that poor Fritz kept open house for two days; and when he
walked out the third, after the coffin, he never turned his steps back
again, but wandered away--far, far away--to seek in the year-market of
Inspruck some kind peasant who would take him home to herd his cattle,
and be a father to him now.

Fritzerl knew not that the children, who desire to be hired out,
assemble together in little groups or gangs, electing some one to
bargain for them with the Bauers, setting forth in vehement language
their various excellencies and good gifts, and telling where they have
served before, and what zeal and fidelity they have shewn to their
trust. Fritz, I say, knew not this; perhaps, if he had, it would have
availed him but little; for he was so poorly clad and so weak-looking,
and so ignorant of all about tending cattle besides, that he would soon
have been driven from the fraternity with disgrace. It was, then, as
fortunate for him that he did not know the custom of the craft, and that
he took his stand alone and apart beside the fountain in the main street
of Inspruck.

And a lovely object is the same fountain; and a beautiful street it
stands in, with its stately houses, all rich in stuccoed arabesques,
and gorgeously carved do