THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER [17]
and the partridges. There the male and the female
birds fly in separate flocks, which, to speak candidly, I consider
very unbecoming."
"What are those swans flapping their wings for?"
"Well, every one flies in his own fashion," said the papa stork.
"The swans fly in an oblique line; the cranes, in the form of a
triangle; and the plovers, in a curved line like a snake."
"Don't talk about snakes while we are flying up here," said
stork-mamma. "It puts ideas into the children's heads that can not
be realized."
"Are those the high mountains I have heard spoken of?" asked
Helga, in the swan's plumage.
"They are storm-clouds driving along beneath us," replied her
mother.
"What are yonder white clouds that rise so high?" again inquired
Helga.
"Those are mountains covered with perpetual snows, that you see
yonder," said her mother. And then they flew across the Alps towards
the blue Mediterranean.
"Africa's land! Egyptia's strand!" sang the daughter of the
Nile, in her swan's plumage, as from the upper air she caught sight of
her native land, a narrow, golden, wavy strip on the shores of the
Nile; the other birds espied it also and hastened their flight.
"I can smell the Nile mud and the wet frogs," said the
stork-mamma, "and I begin to feel quite hungry. Yes, now you shall
taste something nice, and you will see the marabout bird, and the
ibis, and the crane. They all belong to our family, but they are not
nearly so handsome as we are. They give themselves great airs,
especially the ibis. The Egyptians have spoilt him. They make a
mummy of him, and stuff him with spices. I would rather be stuffed
with live frogs, and so would you, and so you shall. Better have
something in your inside while you are alive, than to be made a parade
of after you are dead. That is my opinion, and I am always right."
"The storks are come," was said in the great house on the banks of
the Nile, where the lord lay in the hall on his downy cushions,
covered with a leopard skin, scarcely alive, yet not dead, waiting and
hoping for the lotus-flower from the deep moorland in the far north.
Relatives and servants were standing by his couch, when the two
beautiful swans who had come with the storks flew into the hall.
They threw off their soft white plumage, and two lovely female forms
approached the pale, sick old man, and threw back their long hair, and
when Helga bent over her grandfather, redness came back to his cheeks,
his eyes brightened, and life returned to his benumbed limbs. The
old man rose up with health and energy renewed; daughter and
grandchild welcomed him as joyfully as if with a morning greeting
after a long and troubled dream.
Joy reigned through the whole house, as well as in the stork's
nest; although there the chief cause was really the good food,
especially the quantities of frogs, which seemed to spring out of
the ground in swarms.
Then the learned men hastened to note down, in flying
characters, the story of the two princesses, and spoke of the
arrival of the health-giving flower as a mighty event, which had
been a blessing to the house and the land. Meanwhile, the stork-papa
told the story to his family in his own way; but not till they had
eaten and were satisfied; otherwise they would have had something else
to do than to listen to stories.
"Well," said the stork-mamma, when she had heard it, "you will
be made something of at last; I suppose they can do nothing less."
"What could I be made?" said stork-papa; "what have I done?-
just nothing."
"You have done more than all the rest," she replied. "But for
you and the youngsters the two young princesses would never have
seen Egypt again, and the recovery of the old man would not have
been effected. You will become something. They must certainly give you
a doctor's hood, and our young ones will inherit it, and their
children after them, and so on. You already look like an Egyptian
doctor, at least
birds fly in separate flocks, which, to speak candidly, I consider
very unbecoming."
"What are those swans flapping their wings for?"
"Well, every one flies in his own fashion," said the papa stork.
"The swans fly in an oblique line; the cranes, in the form of a
triangle; and the plovers, in a curved line like a snake."
"Don't talk about snakes while we are flying up here," said
stork-mamma. "It puts ideas into the children's heads that can not
be realized."
"Are those the high mountains I have heard spoken of?" asked
Helga, in the swan's plumage.
"They are storm-clouds driving along beneath us," replied her
mother.
"What are yonder white clouds that rise so high?" again inquired
Helga.
"Those are mountains covered with perpetual snows, that you see
yonder," said her mother. And then they flew across the Alps towards
the blue Mediterranean.
"Africa's land! Egyptia's strand!" sang the daughter of the
Nile, in her swan's plumage, as from the upper air she caught sight of
her native land, a narrow, golden, wavy strip on the shores of the
Nile; the other birds espied it also and hastened their flight.
"I can smell the Nile mud and the wet frogs," said the
stork-mamma, "and I begin to feel quite hungry. Yes, now you shall
taste something nice, and you will see the marabout bird, and the
ibis, and the crane. They all belong to our family, but they are not
nearly so handsome as we are. They give themselves great airs,
especially the ibis. The Egyptians have spoilt him. They make a
mummy of him, and stuff him with spices. I would rather be stuffed
with live frogs, and so would you, and so you shall. Better have
something in your inside while you are alive, than to be made a parade
of after you are dead. That is my opinion, and I am always right."
"The storks are come," was said in the great house on the banks of
the Nile, where the lord lay in the hall on his downy cushions,
covered with a leopard skin, scarcely alive, yet not dead, waiting and
hoping for the lotus-flower from the deep moorland in the far north.
Relatives and servants were standing by his couch, when the two
beautiful swans who had come with the storks flew into the hall.
They threw off their soft white plumage, and two lovely female forms
approached the pale, sick old man, and threw back their long hair, and
when Helga bent over her grandfather, redness came back to his cheeks,
his eyes brightened, and life returned to his benumbed limbs. The
old man rose up with health and energy renewed; daughter and
grandchild welcomed him as joyfully as if with a morning greeting
after a long and troubled dream.
Joy reigned through the whole house, as well as in the stork's
nest; although there the chief cause was really the good food,
especially the quantities of frogs, which seemed to spring out of
the ground in swarms.
Then the learned men hastened to note down, in flying
characters, the story of the two princesses, and spoke of the
arrival of the health-giving flower as a mighty event, which had
been a blessing to the house and the land. Meanwhile, the stork-papa
told the story to his family in his own way; but not till they had
eaten and were satisfied; otherwise they would have had something else
to do than to listen to stories.
"Well," said the stork-mamma, when she had heard it, "you will
be made something of at last; I suppose they can do nothing less."
"What could I be made?" said stork-papa; "what have I done?-
just nothing."
"You have done more than all the rest," she replied. "But for
you and the youngsters the two young princesses would never have
seen Egypt again, and the recovery of the old man would not have
been effected. You will become something. They must certainly give you
a doctor's hood, and our young ones will inherit it, and their
children after them, and so on. You already look like an Egyptian
doctor, at least