asked the young storks.
  "No, certainly not," said the mother. "I will teach you to fly,and when you have learnt, we will fly into the meadows, and pay avisit to the frogs, who will bow themselves to us in the water, andcry 'Croak, croak,' and then we shall eat them up; that will be fun."
  "And what next?" asked the young storks.
  "Then," replied the mother, "all the storks in the country willassemble together, and go through their autumn manoeuvres, so thatit is very important for every one to know how to fly properly. Ifthey do not, the general will thrust them through with his beak, andkill them. Therefore you must take pains and learn, so as to beready when the drilling begins."
  "Then we may be killed after all, as the boys say; and hark!they are singing again."
  "Listen to me, and not to them," said the mother stork. "After thegreat review is over, we shall fly away to warm countries far fromhence, where there are mountains and forests. To Egypt, where we shallsee three-cornered houses built of stone, with pointed tops that reachnearly to the clouds. They are called Pyramids, and are older than astork could imagine; and in that country, there is a river thatoverflows its banks, and then goes back, leaving nothing but mire;there we can walk about, and eat frogs in abundance."
  "Oh, o- h!" cried the young storks.
  "Yes, it is a delightful place; there is nothing to do all daylong but eat, and while we are so well off out there, in thiscountry there will not be a single green leaf on the trees, and theweather will be so cold that the clouds will freeze, and fall on theearth in little white rags." The stork meant snow, but she could notexplain it in any other way.
  "Will the naughty boys freeze and fall in pieces?" asked the youngstorks.
  "No, they will not freeze and fall into pieces," said themother, "but they will be very cold, and be obliged to sit all dayin a dark, gloomy room, while we shall be flying about in foreignlands, where there are blooming flowers and warm sunshine."
  Time passed on, and the young storks grew so large that they couldstand upright in the nest and look about them. The father broughtthem, every day, beautiful frogs, little snakes, and all kinds ofstork-dainties that he could find. And then, how funny it was to seethe tricks he would perform to amuse them. He would lay his head quiteround over his tail, and clatter with his beak, as if it had been arattle; and then he would tell them stories all about the marshesand fens.
  "Come," said the mother one day, "Now you must learn to fly."And all the four young ones were obliged to come out on the top of theroof. Oh, how they tottered at first, and were obliged to balancethemselves with their wings, or they would have fallen to the groundbelow.
  "Look at me," said the mother, "you must hold your heads in thisway, and place your feet so. Once, twice, once, twice- that is it. Nowyou will be able to take care of yourselves in the world."
  Then she flew a little distance from them, and the young ones madea spring to follow her; but down they fell plump, for their bodieswere still too heavy.
  "I don't want to fly," said one of the young storks, creeping backinto the nest. "I don't care about going to warm countries."
  "Would you like to stay here and freeze when the winter comes?"said the mother, "or till the boys comes to hang you, or to roastyou?- Well then, I'll call them."
  "Oh no, no," said the young stork, jumping out on the roof withthe others; and now they were all attentive, and by the third daycould fly a little. Then they began to fancy they could soar, sothey tried to do so, resting on their wings, but they soon foundthemselves falling, and had to flap their wings as quickly aspossible. The boys came again in the street singing their song:-
  "Stork, stork, fly away."
  "Shall we fly down, and pick their eyes out?"