cried he; "I should like to run my beak deepinto their chests."
  "And perhaps break it off," said the mamma stork, "then what asight you would be. Think first of yourself, and then of yourfamily; all others are nothing to us."
  "Yes, I know," said the stork-papa; "but to-morrow I can easilyplace myself on the edge of the open cupola, when the learned and wisemen assemble to consult on the state of the sick man; perhaps they maycome a little nearer to the truth." And the learned and wise menassembled together, and talked a great deal on every point; but thestork could make no sense out of anything they said; neither werethere any good results from their consultations, either for the sickman, or for his daughter in the marshy heath. When we listen to whatpeople say in this world, we shall hear a great deal; but it is anadvantage to know what has been said and done before, when we listento a conversation. The stork did, and we know at least as much ashe, the stork.
  "Love is a life-giver. The highest love produces the highest life.Only through love can the sick man be cured." This had been said bymany, and even the learned men acknowledged that it was a wise saying.
  "What a beautiful thought!" exclaimed the papa stork immediately.
  "I don't quite understand it," said the mamma stork, when herhusband repeated it; "however, it is not my fault, but the fault ofthe thought; whatever it may be, I have something else to think of."
  Now the learned men had spoken also of love between this one andthat one; of the difference of the love which we have for ourneighbor, to the love that exists between parents and children; of thelove of the plant for the light, and how the germ springs forth whenthe sunbeam kisses the ground. All these things were so elaboratelyand learnedly explained, that it was impossible for stork-papa tofollow it, much less to talk about it. His thoughts on the subjectquite weighed him down; he stood the whole of the following day on oneleg, with half-shut eyes, thinking deeply. So much learning wasquite a heavy weight for him to carry. One thing, however, the papastork could understand. Every one, high and low, had from their inmosthearts expressed their opinion that it was a great misfortune for somany thousands of people- the whole country indeed- to have this manso sick, with no hopes of his recovery. And what joy and blessing itwould spread around if he could by any means be cured! But wherebloomed the flower that could bring him health? They had searchedfor it everywhere; in learned writings, in the shining stars, in theweather and wind. Inquiries had been made in every by-way that couldbe thought of, until at last the wise and learned men has asserted, aswe have been already told, that "love, the life-giver, could alonegive new life to a father;" and in saying this, they had overdoneit, and said more than they understood themselves. They repeated it,and wrote it down as a recipe, "Love is a life-giver." But how couldsuch a recipe be prepared- that was a difficulty they could notovercome. At last it was decided that help could only come from theprincess herself, whose whole soul was wrapped up in her father,especially as a plan had been adopted by her to enable her to obtain aremedy.
  More than a year had passed since the princess had set out atnight, when the light of the young moon was soon lost beneath thehorizon. She had gone to the marble sphinx in the desert, shakingthe sand from her sandals, and then passed through the long passage,which leads to the centre of one of the great pyramids, where themighty kings of antiquity, surrounded with pomp and splendor, lieveiled in the form of mummies. She had been told by the wise men, thatif she laid her head on the breast of one of them, from the head shewould learn where to find life and recovery for her father. She hadperformed all this, and in a dream had learnt that she must bring hometo her father the lotus flower, which grows in the deep sea, nearthe moors and heath in the Danish land. The very place and situationhad been pointed out to her, and she was told that the flower wouldrestore her father to health and strength. And, therefore, she hadgone forth from the land of Egypt, flying over to the open marsh andthe wild moor in the plumage of a swan.
  The papa and mamma storks knew all this, and we also know itnow. We know, too, that the Marsh King has drawn her down tohimself, and that to the loved ones at home she is forever dead. Oneof the wisest of them said, as the stork-mamma also said, "That insome way she would, after all, manage to succeed;" and so at last theycomforted themselves with this hope, and would wait patiently; infact, they could do nothing better.
  "I should like to get away the swan's feathers from those twotreacherous princesses," said the papa stork; "then, at least, theywould not be able to fly over again to the wild moor, and do morewickedness. I can hide the two suits of feathers over yonder, tillwe find some use for them."
  "But where will you put them?"