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One evening stork-papa stayed out very long; and when he came home he looked very bustling and important. "I've something very terrible to tell you," he said to the stork-mamma. "Let that be," she replied. "Remember that I'm hatching the eggs, and you might agitate me, and I might do them a mischief." "You must know it," he continued.
And therefore she had gone forth in the swan's plumage out of the land of Egypt to the open heath, to the woodland moor. And the stork-papa and stork-mamma knew all this; and now we also know it more accurately than we knew it before. We know that the marsh king had drawn her down to himself, and know that to her loved ones at home she is dead for ever.
"But with you it's only once in a way, whereas I lay eggs every year; but neither of us is appreciated that's very disheartening." "Still one has one's inward consciousness, mother," replied stork-papa. "But you can't hang that round your neck," stork-mamma retorted; "and it won't give you a good wind or a good meal."
"And now we will speak with one another," quoth stork-papa, "now we understand each other, though the beak of one bird is differently shaped from that of another. It happens more than fortunately that you came to-night. To-morrow we should have been gone mother, myself, and the young ones; for we're flying southward. Yes, only look at me!
"One can scarcely believe that she was ever so small that she could lie in the cup of a water-lily," said stork-papa, "now she's grown up the image of her Egyptian mother. Ah, we shall never see that poor lady again! Probably she did not know how to help herself, as you and the learned men said.
"That's a mistake," said the stork; "you must have dreamt all that!" "No, no!" she persisted. And she reminded him of the Viking's castle, and of the great ocean, and of the journey hither. Then stork-papa winked with his eyes, and said: "Why, that's an old story, which I heard from the time of my great-grandfather.
She will never return to the land of Egypt." And then they both wept. And stork-papa, who heard the story, snapped with his beak so that it might be heard a long way off. "Deceit and lies!" cried he; "I should like to run my beak deep into their chests." "And perhaps break it off," said the mamma stork, "then what a sight you would be.
Then she saw the storks, and called to them in their own language. Then stork-papa turned his head towards here, listened to her words, and drew near. "You speak our language," said he, "what do you wish? Why do you appear, you a strange woman?" "It is I it is Helga! Dost thou not know me? Three minutes ago we were speaking together yonder in the verandah."
"Now, at last, you will become something," whispered stork-mamma, "there's no doubt about that." "What should I become?" asked stork-papa. "What have I done? Nothing at all!" "You have done more than the rest! But for you and the youngsters the two princesses would never have seen Egypt again, or have effected the old man's cure. You will turn out something!
She called to them, spoke their language; and stork-papa turned his head towards her, listened to her words, and drew near. "You speak our language," he said; "what do you wish? Why do you appear here you, a strange woman?" "It is I it is Helga dost thou not know me? Three minutes ago we were speaking together yonder in the verandah!"
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