Complaint of the birds in the Wittenberg wood to Luther, preacher in Wittenberg. We thrushes, blackbirds,linnets,goldfinches, along with other well-disposedbirds who are spending the summer at Wittenberg,desire to let you know that we are told on good authoritythat your servant, Wolfgang Sieberger, out of the great hatred he bears to us, has bought some old rotten nets to set up a fowling-ground for finches,and not only for our dear friends and finches,but in order to depriveus of the libertyof flyingin the air and pickingup grainsof corn, and also to make an attempt upon our lives,althoughwe have not deserved such a punishment at his hands.
Thus we poor birds humbly beseech you to prevent him carryingout his intentions,or if that be impossible, compel him to scatter corn for us in the evening,and forbid him rising before eightin the morning to visit the fowling-ground, and by doing this we shall ever be gratefulto you, as it will enable us to take the route through Wittenberg.
But if he continue his wicked attacks upon our lives,then we shall pray God to restrain him, and supplyhim with frogs,locusts,and snails instead of us, and visit him with mice, lice,fleas, and bugs in the nights, so that nothingmay interfere with our freedom of flight.
Why does he not vent his wrath on the sparrows, magpies,crows, mice, and rats which inflict so much injuryon man, stealing the corn from the barns, which we never do, for we only pick up littlefragmentsand singlegrainsof corn, which we requite a hundredfold by swallowingflies, gnats, and other insects ^
We put our case before you in a common-sense way, to see if we are not cruellytreated in having so many snares laid for us.