Gertrude's Bird
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gertrude's Bird is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr.
[edit] Synopsis
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Our Lord and St. Peter came begging one day to a house where a woman named Gertrude lived. She took a tiny piece of dough to make them a bannock, but it covered the whole griddle just the same, and she thought it too large to give to beggars. She tried twice more, each time with less dough, but could not make a bannock small enough. So she refused to give them anything. Our Lord turned her into a woodpecker, to seek her food on trees and never drink except when it rains.
Spoilers end here.
