Forgotten Fairytales - The Death of a Cock

Once upon a time -

A cock and the hen went up Nutty Mountain to find a nut and had agreed to split anything they should happen to find. Atlas, the hen found a huge nut! But the Hen was greedy and selfish, and said nothing about hit. Instead, she decided she would eat it to herself because it was the biggest nut she had ever seen. But this nut was so big, that she couldn't swallow it and it got stuck in her throat.

"Cock!" she cried, "Fetch me some milk, I fear I will choke!"

The cock raced off to the milkmaid. Upon finding her he exclaimed,

"Milkmaid, give me some milk!"

But the milkmaid answered,

"First you must run to the glass-maker and fetch a jar, and you can have some milk!"

So the cock raced of to the glass-maker,

"Glass-maker, you must give me a jar!" the cock explained, "The Milkmaid needs a jar to fill with milk for the choking hen down yonder!"

But the glass-maker answered,

"First you must run to that bench and grab my hammer, then you can have your jar."

So the cock raced to the bench and handed the glass-maker the hammer and the glass-maker gave the cock a jar and he brought the jar to the milkmaid who filled the jar with milk and the cock took the jar full of milk to the choking hen, but...

It was too late: the hen choked and had died. 

While he stood over the dead hen grieving he began to cry. The cock cried so loud that all the forest animals came and also grieved. Then 6 mice built a nice little wagon to carry the dead hen to her grave and once it was loaded the Cock drove and the 6 mice pulled.

On their way they came across a fox that noticed the dead hen and felt compelled to join. The fox followed the wagon pulled by 6mice and holding the dead hen, driven by the cock. Soon the bear, the dear, and the lion fell in behind the fox following the wagon until the procession met a small brook.

"Oh no, how shall we cross this" The cock said to the rest, but just then a piece of straw laying near the water spoke,

"I will lie down across the water and you shall cross over me." 

The piece of straw did just this, but when the 6 mice were crossing and the piece of straw slipped, the 6 mice and the straw were swept away and drowned. So now the cock, the dead hen, the fox, the bear, the deer, and the lion were as bad off as ever until a piece of coal near the water spoke up,

"I will lie down across the water and you shall cross over me."

The piece of coal did just this, but as soon as it touched the water, the piece of coal made a hissing noise, smoked out and died. Just then, a stone nearby saw this and was touched and wanted to lend assistance.

"Let me lay down across the water and you shall cross over me."

The stone did just this and the Cock started to pull the wagon across to the other side. The stone was working and so the fox, the bear, the deer, and the lion started to cross also, but as soon as they were all on the stone, it shifted. The Cock was tossed on the other side safely, but the bear fell on the lion, and the lion fell on the deer, and the deer fell on the fox, and the Wagon fell on them all, and so they all drowned.

The cock, being distraught, sat down and grieved so hard that he himself died too.