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Updated: May 4, 2025
The waters of the Nile had receded, and a great part of the bed of the river was swarming with frogs; and that, to the stork family, was the pleasantest sight in the country where they had arrived. The young ones were astonished at all they saw. "Such are the sights here, and thus it always is in our warm country," said the stork-mother good-humouredly. "Is there yet more to be seen?" they asked.
"It is a beautiful thought," said the stork-father. "I don't quite comprehend it," said the stork-mother, "but that is not my fault it is the fault of the thought; though it is all one to me, for I have other things to think upon." And then the learned talked of love between this and that that there was a difference.
"Now thou wilt be somebody," whispered the stork-mother; "it is only reasonable to expect that." "Oh! what should I be?" said the stork-father. "And what have I done? Nothing!" "Thou hast done more than all the others put together. Without thee and the young ones the two princesses would never have seen Egypt again, or cured the old man. Thou wilt be nothing!
"It is heavy to carry," thought the stork, when it was hung round his neck; "but gold and honour must not be flung away upon the high road. The stork brings luck they must admit that up yonder." "Thou layest gold, and I lay eggs," said the stork-mother; "but thou layest only once, and I lay every year. But neither of us gets any thanks, which is very vexatious."
"Swans fly slantingly, cranes in triangles, and plovers in serpentine windings." "Name not serpents or snakes when we are about to fly up yonder," said the stork-mother. "It will only make the young ones long for a sort of food which they can't get just now." "Are these the high hills, beneath yonder, of which I have heard?" asked Helga, in the disguise of a swan.
"There is Africa! there is Egypt!" cried in joyful accents, under her swan disguise, the daughter of the Nile, as high up in the air she descried, like a whitish-yellow, billow-shaped streak, her native soil. The storks also saw it, and quickened their flight. "I smell the mud of the Nile and the wet frogs," exclaimed the stork-mother. "It makes my mouth water.
Then, with a clattering of bills and a noise of wings, the storks all turned towards the south to commence their long journey. "We will not wait any longer for the swans," said the stork-mother. "If they choose to go with us, they must come at once; we cannot be lingering here till the plovers begin their flight.
"Well, this is a new finale to the story," said the stork-father, "which I by no means expected; but I am quite satisfied with it." "I wonder what the young ones will say to it?" replied the stork-mother. "Ah! that, indeed, is of the most consequence," said the stork-father. The Quickest Runners.
"What they said was not easy of comprehension, but it was so exceedingly wise that they were immediately rewarded with rank and marks of distinction. Even the prince's head cook got a handsome present that was, doubtless, for having prepared the repast." "And what didst thou get?" asked the stork-mother. "They had no right to overlook the most important actor in the affair, and that was thyself.
"It was a kind thought of hers," said the stork-father. "It is very little," said the stork-mother. "She could hardly have done less." And when Helga saw them she rose, and went out into the verandah to stroke their backs. The old couple bowed their necks, and the youngest little ones felt themselves much honoured by being so well received.
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