now for home!"
  But Helga said she could not leave the Danish land without oncemore seeing her foster-mother, the loving wife of the Viking. Eachpleasing recollection, each kind word, every tear from the heart whichher foster-mother had wept for her, rose in her mind, and at thatmoment she felt as if she loved this mother the best.
  "Yes, we must go to the Viking's castle," said the stork;"mother and the young ones are waiting for me there. How they willopen their eyes and flap their wings! My wife, you see, does not saymuch; she is short and abrupt in her manner; but she means well, forall that. I will flap my wings at once, that they may hear us coming."Then stork-papa flapped his wings in first-rate style, and he andthe swans flew away to the Viking's castle.
  In the castle, every one was in a deep sleep. It had been latein the evening before the Viking's wife retired to rest. She wasanxious about Helga, who, three days before, had vanished with theChristian priest. Helga must have helped him in his flight, for it washer horse that was missed from the stable; but by what power had allthis been accomplished? The Viking's wife thought of it with wonder,thought on the miracles which they said could be performed by thosewho believed in the Christian faith, and followed its teachings. Thesepassing thoughts formed themselves into a vivid dream, and it seemedto her that she was still lying awake on her couch, while withoutdarkness reigned. A storm arose; she heard the lake dashing androlling from east and west, like the waves of the North Sea or theCattegat. The monstrous snake which, it is said, surrounds the earthin the depths of the ocean, was trembling in spasmodic convulsions.The night of the fall of the gods was come, "Ragnorock," as theheathens call the judgment-day, when everything shall pass away,even the high gods themselves. The war trumpet sounded; riding uponthe rainbow, came the gods, clad in steel, to fight their lastbattle on the last battle-field. Before them flew the winged vampires,and the dead warriors closed up the train. The whole firmament wasablaze with the northern lights, and yet the darkness triumphed. Itwas a terrible hour. And, close to the terrified woman, Helga seemedto be seated on the floor, in the hideous form of a frog, yettrembling, and clinging to her foster-mother, who took her on her lap,and lovingly caressed her, hideous and frog-like as she was. The airwas filled with the clashing of arms and the hissing of arrows, asif a storm of hail was descending upon the earth. It seemed to her thehour when earth and sky would burst asunder, and all things beswallowed up in Saturn's fiery lake; but she knew that a new heavenand a new earth would arise, and that corn-fields would wave where nowthe lake rolled over desolate sands, and the ineffable God reign. Thenshe saw rising from the region of the dead, Baldur the gentle, theloving, and as the Viking's wife gazed upon him, she recognized hiscountenance. It was the captive Christian priest. "White Christian!"she exclaimed aloud, and with the words, she pressed a kiss on theforehead of the hideous frog-child. Then the frog-skin fell off, andHelga stood before her in all her beauty, more lovely andgentle-looking, and with eyes beaming with love. She kissed thehands of her foster-mother, blessed her for all her fostering love andcare during the days of her trial and misery, for the thoughts she hadsuggested and awoke in her heart, and for naming the Name which shenow repeated. Then beautiful Helga rose as a mighty swan, and spreadher wings with the rushing sound of troops of birds of passageflying through the air.
  Then the Viking's wife awoke, but she still heard the rushingsound without. She knew it was the time for the storks to depart,and that it must be their wings which she heard. She felt she shouldlike to see them once more, and bid them farewell. She rose from hercouch, stepped out on the threshold, and beheld, on the ridge of theroof, a party of storks ranged side by side. Troops of the birdswere flying in circles over the castle and the highest trees; but justbefore her, as she stood on the threshold and close to the wellwhere Helga had so often sat and alarmed her with her wildness, nowstood two swans, gazing at her with intelligent eyes. Then sheremembered her dream, which still appeared to her as a reality. Shethought of Helga in the form of a swan. She thought of a Christianpriest, and suddenly a wonderful joy arose in her heart. The swansflapped their wings and arched their necks as if to offer her agreeting, and the Viking's wife spread out her arms towards them, asif she accepted it, and smiled through her tears. She was rousedfrom deep thought by a rustling of wings and snapping of beaks; allthe storks arose, and started on their journey towards the south.
  "We will not wait for the swans," said the mamma stork; "if theywant to go with us, let them come now; we can't sit here till theplovers start. It is a fine thing after all to travel in families, notlike the finches and the partridges. There the male and the femalebirds fly in separate flocks, which, to speak candidly, I considervery unbecoming."
  "What are those swans flapping their wings for?"