HOW THE STORKS CAME AND WENT.
WHEN the storks came, the spring came too. Till then the skies had beengray and the air cold and raw, while the leaf-buds on the branchesseemed afraid to peep from their coverings. But when the call of thestorks was heard, and the click of their large white wings, the leavestook courage, unrolled their woolly blankets, and presently the treeswere green. Soon other birds came too. The doves went to housekeeping intheir cote under the peak of the roof-gable. Just beneath, a pair ofswallows built a nest of plastered clay: the cherry-tree in the gardenwas chosen as home by a colony of lively sparrows. All the air was astirwith wings and songs, and the world, which for months had seemed deador asleep, waked suddenly into life and motion.
"What a droll house Mother Stork seems to be building!" said the saucyswallow, cocking up one eye at the long-legged pair on the roof above."I shouldn't like such an one at all. Sharp sticks everywhere, noconveniences, great holes for eggs to drop into and be broken. And howthe wind must blow up there! Give me a cosey place like this of ours."
"Give _me_ a nice, smooth wooden box," cooed the dove. "I don't fancyplaster; it's damp and rheumatic, my mate says. But you needn't worryabout Mother Stork's eggs. They're too large to drop through the holesin the branches and be broken."
"What coarse things they must be!" remarked the swallow, lookingcomplacently at the tiny clouded spheres beneath her own wings.
"They _are_ big," agreed the dove. "But then, Mother Stork is big too."
"Listen to those absurd creatures!" said Mother Stork to her partner."Coarse, indeed! My eggs! I like that."
"Never mind them," replied Papa Stork, good-humoredly, giving a crookedtwig the final shove to the side of the nest.
Below on the grass, which was still winter-brown, three little childrenstood gazing wistfully up at the storks.
"They flew straight to our roof," said Annchen. "Frau Perl says thatmeans good luck before the year ends."
"What does good luck mean?" asked Carl, the youngest boy.
"It means--oh, all sorts of things," replied Annchen, vaguely: "that themother should not work so hard; that we should have plenty,--plenty toeat every day,--and money, I suppose,--and my new shoes I've waited forso long;--all sorts of things."
"Perhaps my father'll come back," suggested Fritz, with a joyful leap.
Annchen shook her brown head. The boys were too little to understand,but she knew well that the father would never come back. She recollectedthe day when he marched away with the other soldiers to fight theFrench. He had lifted her in his arms. She had played with his beard andkissed him, and Fritz had cried after the glittering helmet-spike, tillat last the father took the helmet off and gave it him to play with.Then the drum-tap sounded, and he had to go. The mother had watchedawhile from the window, and when she could no longer see anything, hadsat down to sob and cry with her apron over her face. Annchenrecollected it perfectly, and that other dreadful day when Corporal Spesof the same regiment had come, with his arm tied up and a bandage roundhis head, to tell how the father had been shot in one of the battlesbefore Paris, and buried in French soil. Everything had been sad since.There was less black bread at dinner-time, less soup in the pot,sometimes no soup at all, and the mother worked all day and far intothe night, and cried bitterly when she thought the children were notlooking. Annchen was too young to comprehend the full cause of thesetears, but she _felt_ the sadness; it was like a constant cloud over herchildish sun. Now the stork was come to their roof, which all theneighbors said meant something good. Perhaps the happy days would beginagain.
"How I hope they will!" she whispered to herself.
"Hope who will?" asked the mother, passing behind with an armful ofwood.
Annchen felt abashed.
"The storks," she murmured. "Frau Perl said when they build on a roof itbrings good fortune always." The mother sighed.
"There is no good fortune for us any more," she said sadly. "Even thedear stork cannot undo what is done."
"But aren't the storks lucky birds?" asked Fritz. "Jan Stein said theywere."
"Ah, luck, luck!" answered the mother. "That is a word only. People useit, but what does it mean?"
"Isn't there any luck, then?" asked Annchen.
"There is the good God, dear,--that is better," replied the mother, andcarried her wood into the house.
"Jan said the stork was God's bird," observed little Carl.
"That's it," said Annchen, brightening. "God's bird; and the good Godmay let the stork bring us good fortune. Dear storkie, do! If only youwould!"
Mamma Stork looked solemnly down on the children, and wagged her headgravely up and down. Annchen thought it was in answer to her appeal.
"See, Fritz! see, Carl! She says she will!" The stork kept on nodding,and Annchen went in to supper, feeling happy.
Days grew into weeks, and spring into full summer. The big eggs and thelittle eggs had in turn cracked and given place to young birds, who satin the nests clamoring for food, and being fed, caressed, and kept warmby their mothers. At first the nestlings were ugly, featherlesscreatures, and seemed all beaks and appetites; but presently they beganto grow, to put out plumage, and become round and fat. Soon they couldhop; then they could flutter their wings; the air was full of theircalls and their swift-moving bodies. Mother Stork's babies were whitelike herself, and had long legs and big bills. The swallow thought themawkward, and contrasted them proudly with her own brisk, glancing brood;but in Mother Stork's eyes they were perfect in every way, and gracefulas birds should be. The dove thought the same of her plump squabs,--eachparent was entirely satisfied with the kind of child which the Lord hadsent her; and that was a happy thing, was it not?
Summer was over, and now it was September, but Annchen had not ceased tohope for the good fortune which the stork's coming prophesied. Eachmorning, when she woke, she ran to the window to see if the lucky birdswere still in the nest. There they were, but nothing else happened, andthe mother worked harder than ever, and the black loaf grew smaller.Still Annchen hoped.
"Do you notice what a kind bird the stork is?" said the mother onenight, as she was putting the children to bed. "She never gets tired oftaking care of her babies, nor beats them with her wings, nor scoldsthem. Do you not love her for being so amiable?"
"Sometimes the babies scold her," remarked Fritz from his corner.
"I don't think that is scolding. What they say is, 'Mother, we arehungry. We want a fish or a couple of young frogs; when will the fatherbring them?' The little storks do not like to wait for their dinners anymore than you children do. I heard once a story about a good MotherStork. Shall I tell it you?"
"Oh, yes!" cried the children; but the mother went first for herknitting-work, for even at the twilight hour she dared not let herfingers be idle for a moment.
"Once there was a Frau Stork," she began, "who built a nest in the roofof an old shed, and in it laid three blue eggs. Presently out of theeggs came three baby storks, large and hungry. Then was Frau Stork veryproud and glad. All day she sat in the nest, keeping her little oneswarm under her feathers, while Papa Stork flew to and fro, seekingplaces where were ponds with fish and frogs; and these he fetched homein his beak, and with them fed his brood, who sat always with openmouths ready for anything good which should come along.
"One day when Papa Stork was absent, and Mother Stork had hopped fromthe nest to the roof, she heard a crackling sound which she did not atall understand. Then the air grew thick and smoky, and there was a smellof burning wood. The shed was on fire! Frau Stork became uneasy, andcalled loudly for her mate, but he was too far away to hear her voice.Presently the smoke became more dense, and a little red tongue of flamecrept through the thatch. When it felt the air it grew large, swelled,and at last, like a fiery serpent, darted at the nest and the screamingbrood within."
"Oh dear! oh dear!" cried the children, sitting up in their beds. "What_did_ the poor stork do?"
"She could easily have flown away, you know," continued t
he mother."There were her strong wings, which would have borne her faster than thefire could follow. But she loved her babies too well to leave them likethat. She seized them with her beak, and tried to drag them from thenest. But they were too heavy, and flapped and struggled, hindering her,for they did not understand what she wished to do. The flames drewnearer, the branches began to blaze. Then Mother Stork took her usualplace in the nest, gathered her brood under her wings as if to shieldthem, bent her poor head, and--"
"Oh, she didn't burn up!--please don't say she did!" interruptedAnnchen.
"Yes. When Papa Stork came from the pond with a fresh fish in his beak,there was no roof there, no nest, no little storks,--only a heap ofashes and curling smoke. Frau Stork loved her children too well todesert them, and they all died together."
There was silence for a minute or two. Annchen was sobbing softly, and asuspicious sniff was heard from the direction of Fritz's pillow.
"I hope _our_ stork won't burn up," said Carl, solemnly.
"Yes,--because then she won't bring us good luck, you know," addedFritz.
"Do you think the stork has forgotten?" whispered Annchen to her mother."I've waited and waited for her so long that I'm tired. Do they forgetsometimes?"
"She will have to bestir herself if she is to do anything for us thisyear," said the mother; and though her heart was heavy enough just then,she smiled into Annchen's eager eyes. "Autumn is here; the winter willcome before long. Frau Stork and her family may fly off any day."
"I shall _have_ to remind her," murmured Annchen, sleepily.
She remembered this resolution next morning, and went out into the yard.The day was chilly; the blue sky, all dappled with gray, looked as if astorm were coming. Mother Stork was alone on the roof. Her young onescould fly now, and they and their father were off somewhere together.
"Mother Stork," said Annchen, standing close to the wall, and speakingin a loud, confidential whisper, "you won't forget what you promised,will you--that day when you nodded your head, you know? The mother saysyou will fly away soon, but please bring us our good luck first. Poormother works so hard and looks so pale, and sometimes there is almost nodinner at all, and the cold winter is coming, and I don't know what weshall do, if you don't help us. Please do, Mother Stork. We can't waittill you come again, it's such a long time. Pray fetch our good luckbefore you go."
Mother Stork, perched on one leg on the roof's edge, nodded her head upand down, as if considering the point. Then she rose on her large wingsand flew away. Annchen marked her course through the air, and her eyesgrew large and eager with delight.
"She has gone to the fen!" she cried. "That's where she keeps it. Oh,the dear stork!"
"What is it? Who has gone where?" asked the boys, running into the yard.
"Frau Stork," explained Annchen. "I reminded her about it,--our goodluck, you know,--and she flew straight off to fetch it. She went to thefen, the beautiful fen, where I went once with the father--_such_ aplace! How I should like to go there again! You never saw such a place,boys!"
"I want to go to the fen too," said Carl.
"I wonder if we might!" went on Annchen, thoughtfully. "It isn't so veryfar. I didn't get tired at all that day when I went before. And we couldhelp Frau Stork, perhaps. I wonder if we might."
"I'll go in and ask the mother," said Fritz, running to the door with aneager demand: "Mother, may we go for a walk,--Annchen and Carl and I?"
The mother, who was very busy, nodded.
"Don't go too far," she called after him.
"Mother says we may," shouted Fritz, as he ran again into the yard; andthe children, overjoyed, set forth at once.
It was quite a distance to the fen, but the road was a plain one, andAnnchen had no difficulty in following it. When she went there before,not only her father had been along, but Ernst the wood-cutter, with hisdonkey; so, when tired, she had rested herself by riding on top of thefagots. She was three years older now, and the sturdy lads did not mindthe distance at all, but ran forward merrily, encouraging each other tomake haste.
The sun had broken through the clouds, and shone hotly on the whiteroad. But as they neared the fen, they passed into shade. Softly theylifted the drooping branches of the trees, and entered, movingcarefully, that they might not disturb the stork. A little farther, andthe ground grew wet under foot. Bright streams of water appeared hereand there. But between the streams were ridges and island-like tufts ofmoss and dried grasses, and stepping from one of these to the other, thelittle ones passed on, dry-shod. Tall reeds and lance-shaped rushes roseabove their heads as they crept along, whispering low to each other.The air was hushed and warm, there was a pleasant fragrance of damproots and leaves. The children liked the fen extremely. Their feetdanced and skipped, and they would gladly have shouted, had it not beenfor the need of keeping quiet.
Suddenly a beautiful glossy water-rat, with a long tail, glanced like aray of quick sunshine from under a bank, and at sight of the intrudersflashed back again into his hole. Fritz was enchanted at this sight. Helonged to stay and dig into the bank in search of the rat. What fun itwould be to take him home and tame him! But Annchen whisperedimploringly, and Carl tugged at his fingers; so at last he gave upsearching for the rat, and went on with the others. They were near themiddle of the fen now, and Mother Stork, they thought, must be close athand.
Pop! glug! An enormous bull-frog leaped from a log, and vanished intothe pool with a splash. Next a couple of lovely water-flies, with blue,shining bodies and gauze-like wings, appeared hovering in the air. Theyrose and sank and circled and whirled like enchanted things; thechildren, who had never seen such flies before, felt as if they had metthe first chapter of a fairy-story, and stood holding their breaths,lest the pretty creatures should take alarm and fly away. It was nottill the water-flies suddenly whirled off and disappeared, that theyrecollected their errand, and moved on.
All at once Annchen, who was in advance of the rest, stopped short anduttered an exclamation. The parting of the reeds had shown her a poollarger than any they had seen before, round which grew a fringe of tallflowering water-plants. Half in, half out of the pool, lay a black logwith a hollow end, and beside it, dabbling with her beak as if searchingfor something, stood a large white bird. At the sound of voices andrustling feet, the bird spread a pair of broad wings and flew slowlyupward, turning her head to look at the children as she went.
"It _was_," cried Annchen. "Oh, Mother Stork, we didn't mean to frightenyou. Please come back again. We'll go away at once if you don't like tohave us here."
But Mother Stork was no longer visible. She had dropped into somedistant part of the fen--where, the children could not see.
"Her eyes looked angry," said little Carl.
"Oh dear!" sighed Annchen. "I hope she isn't angry. That _would_ bedreadful! What will poor mother do if she is? And it would be all ourfault."
"I want to go home," whined Carl. "It's dinner-time. I want my dinnervery much."
All of them wanted to go home, but it was not an easy or quick task todo so. The children had wandered farther than they knew. It took a longtime to find their way out of the fen, and when at last they reached therushy limits, and stood on open ground, it was an unfamiliar place, andmuch farther from home than the side where they had entered. Weary,hungry, and disheartened, they trudged along for what to them seemedhours, and it was long past midday when at last they reached thefamiliar gate.
Frau Stork had got there before them, and stood on the roof beside hermate, gazing down as the sorry little procession filed beneath. Annchenhad no heart to greet her as she passed. She was tired, and a dread lesttheir long absence should have frightened or angered the mother addedweight to her fatigue, and made her heart sink heavily as they openedthe door.
The mother did not start or run forward to meet them as the childrenexpected she would do. She sat by the table, and some one sat oppositeher--a tall, stately officer in uniform, with an order on his breast.His helmet lay on the table, with some pape
rs scattered about it. Whenthe children came in, he turned and looked at them out of a pair of kindblue eyes.
"Ah," he said. "These are the little ones, dame?"
"Yes," said the mother, "these are _his_ children. Take off your hats,boys; and, Annchen, make your reverence. This is the Herr Baron, yourfather's captain, children."
The Captain lifted Fritz and perched him on hisknee.--PAGE 296.]
Carl stared with round eyes at the splendid Herr Baron, while Annchendemurely dropped her courtesy. The captain lifted Fritz and perched himon his knee.
"My fine fellow," he said, "you have your father's face,"--and hestroked Fritz's yellow hair, while Fritz played with the bright buttonsof the uniform. The captain and the mother went on talking. Annchen didnot understand all they said, but she saw that her mother looked happierthan for a long time before, and that made her feel happy too.
At last the captain rose to go. He kissed the children, and Annchen sawhim put a purse into her mother's hands.
"I take shame to myself that I left you so long without aid," he said;"but keep up heart, dame. Your pension will no doubt be granted you,and I will see that you and the children are cared for, as a brave man'sfamily should be. So good-day, and God bless you!"
"May He bless you, Herr Baron," sobbed the widow, as he went away.
"What is it, mother,--why do you cry?" asked little Carl at last,pulling her sleeve.
"For joy, dear. The good Baron has brought your father's back pay. I candischarge my debts now, and you need hunger no more."
"It is the good luck come at last. I knew it would," said Annchen.
"We will thank God for it," said her mother. And they all knelt down andrepeated "Our Father," that beautiful prayer which suits equally ourtime of joy and our time of sorrow.
But when the prayer was said, and the mother, smiling through her tears,was bustling about to cook such a supper as the little family had nottasted for many a day, dear, superstitious little Annchen stole softlyto the door and went into the yard.
The young storks were asleep with their heads under their wings, andFrau Stork, poised on one leg, was gazing about with drowsy eyes. Shelooked bigger than ever against the dim evening sky.
"Thank you, dear stork!" said Annchen.
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Transcriber's Notes:
Varied hyphenation has been retained as in now-a-days and nowadays.
Page 300, period added (of Mother Goose. With)
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