a bird had alighted, and that the steeple was so high, and the
bird's beak so long, that it had pecked the stars till some of
them fell out of the sky.

‘I don't believe it,' said the king.

‘Nevertheless I am prepared to bet twelve hundred florins that it
is true,' answered the thief.

‘And I bet twelve hundred florins that it is a lie,' replied the
king. And he straightway sent a servant into the neighbouring
country to find out the truth.

As he rode, the servant met a man coming in the opposite
direction. So he hailed him and asked him where he came from. And
the man replied that he came out of the very town to which the
man was bound. Then the servant asked him if the story they had
heard about the bird with the long beak was true.

‘I don't know about that,' answered the man, ‘as I have never
seen the bird; but I once saw twelve men shoving all their might
and main with brooms to push a monster egg into a cellar.'

‘That is capital,' answered the servant, presenting the man with
ten florins. ‘Come and tell your tale to the king, and you will
save me a long journey.'

So, when the story was repeated to the king, there was nothing
for him to do but to pay the thief the twelve hundred florins.