THE MARSH KING'S DAUGHTER
121
" We cannot wait for the swans !" said mother-stork. "If they wish to come with us they may ; but we can't wait here till the plovers start ! It is a very good thing to travel in family parties ; not like the chaffinches and ruffs, where the males fly by themselves and the females by themselves ; that is certainly not proper ! And what are those swans flapping their wings for ? "
" Every one flies in his own way ! " said father-stork. " The swans go in slanting line, the
cranes in a triangle, and the plovers in a wavy, snake-like line.
" Don't mention serpents when we are flying up here!
appetites of our young ones when they can't be satisfied."
- * *
said mother stork ; "it only excites the
- *
have heard of?" asked
Helga in
the
" Are those the high mountains down there which I swan's skin.
"Those are thunder-clouds which drive below us," said the mother.
" What are those white clouds which lift themselves so high? " asked Helga.
" Those are the everlasting snow-clad hills, which you see," said the mother ; and they flew
over the Alps, down
towards the blue
Mediterranean. » * *
"Land of Africa! Coast of Egypt I " jubilantly sang the daughter of the Nile in her swan form, when, high in the air, she descried her native land, like a yellowish white, undulating streak.
And as the birds saw it, they hastened their flight.
"I smell the mud of the Nile and the wet frogs ! " said mother - stork. " It quite excites me ! Yes, now you shall taste them ; now you shall see the adjutant bird, the ibis, and the cranes! They all be- long to our family, but they are not nearly so handsome as we are. They stick themselves up,
especially the idis ; he is now quite pampered by the Egyptians — they make a mummy of him, and stuff him with aromatic herbs. I would rather be stuffed with live frogs, and so would you, and so you shall be. It is better to have something inside you while you live, than to be in state when you are dead ! That is my opinion, and that is always right ! "
" Now the storks are come ! " they said in the rich house on the bank of the Nile, where, in the open hall on soft cushions covered with a leopard's skin, the royal master lay outstretched, neither living nor dead, hoping for the lotus flower from the deep marsh in the north. Kinsmen and servants stood around him.
And into the hall flew two beautiful white swans, which had come with the storks I They threw off their dazzling feather dress, and there stood two beautiful women, as much alike as two drops of dew ! They bent down over the pale, withered old man ; they put back their long hair, and when little Helga stooped over her grandfather, the colour returned to his cheeks, his eyes sparkled, and life came into his stiflened limbs. The old man raised himself healthy and vigorous ; PT. VI.
THERE STOOD TWO BEAU I II' UL WOMEN AS LIKE AS TWO DROPS OF DEW.
