Once upon a time, a little mouse, a little bird, and a sausage got together, kept a household, lived a long time in peace, and gained a lot of wealth. The bird's work was to fly daily in the forest and bring wood. The mouse had to carry water, light the fire and set the table, but the sausage had to cook.

He who is too comfortable always longs for new things! So one day, on the way, the little bird met another bird, to whom it told and praised its excellent opportunity. But the same other bird scolded him as a poor wretch, who had a lot of work, but the two at home had good days. For when the mouse had lit its fire and carried water, it went into its chamber to rest until it was told to set the table. The little sausage stayed at the harbor, saw that the food cooked well, and when it was soon time to eat, it gulped once four through the porridge or the vegetables, so it was larded, salted and prepared. When the little bird came home and laid down its burden, they sat at table, and after the meal they slept until the next morning; and that was a wonderful life.

Another day the little bird did not want to go into the wood anymore, saying that it had been a servant long enough and should have been their fool, so to speak, they should change once and try it in another way. And although the mouse and the sausage asked for it, the bird was the master: it had to be daring, so they played, and the lot came to the sausage, which had to carry wood, the mouse became the cook, and the bird had to fetch water.

What happened? The sausage went off to the wood, the bird made a fire, the mouse put the pot away, and they waited alone until the sausage came home and brought wood for the next day. But the sausage stayed so long on the road that nothing good happened to either of them, and the bird flew out to meet a piece of air. Far away, however, it found a dog along the way, which had encountered the poor little sausage as a free prey, grabbed it and knocked it down. The little bird also complained about this as a blatant robbery against the dog, but no words helped, because, said the dog, he had found false letters with the sausage, therefore it would have been lost to him.

The little bird, sad, took the wood, flew home and told what it had seen and heard. They were very sad, but agreed to do their best and stay together. Therefore, the little bird set the table and the mouse prepared the meal, and wanted to prepare it, and into the harbor, as before the little sausage, gobble through the vegetables and slip, to melt the same: but before it came into the middle, it was stopped and had to leave skin and hair and thereby the life.

When the little bird came and wanted to serve the meal, there was no cook. The little bird threw the wood to and fro, called and searched, but could no longer find its cook. Due to carelessness, the fire got into the wood, so that a rut arose; the little bird hurried to get water, but the bucket fell into the well, and it went down with it, so that it could no longer recover and had to drown there.