“Once upon a time,” said the stork, “and a very good time it was, there
was a ship, a wonderful ship that could sail on land, dry land.”
“Oh!” said the chicks.
“I know what I tell,”
Cried the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“This wonderful ship went on legs,” said the stork. “Long legs.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Shouted the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It had a head, and a neck that came down and went up like a hook,” said
the stork, “a big hook.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings and the little turkeys.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Shrieked the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It had a hump on its back,” said the stork, “a hump or two.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings and the little turkeys and the
goslings.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Cried the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It was—alive!” said the stork, opening his eyes and his mouth up so high
that he could hardly get them down again.
“Ah, it wasn’t a real ship at all,” whispered the chicks to the
ducklings, and they whispered it to the little turkeys, and they
whispered it to the goslings.
“It was a camel,” said the stork.
“What’s that?” asked the chicks, the ducklings, the little turkeys, and
the goslings. And they crowded around him.
“He’s called the ship of the desert,” said the stork. And he drew back to
see what they thought of it.
“Why?” asked the chicks, the ducklings, the little turkeys, and the
goslings.
“Ask your teacher,” said he, flying off to his nest in the chimney top;
“I must attend to my babies.
Go to school;
If you don’t,
You’ll turn out geese and gabies.”
At this minute, by great good luck, they heard Nan say to Ned, her
brother, “Let’s play school. I’ll be the teacher.” So they went to school.
And by great good luck Ned’s lesson was about camels. “I’m not at all
surprised,” whispered the smallest chick to the biggest gosling; “I found
a four-leaf clover in the grass this morning. I knew then we should have
good luck.”
They listened with all their might to the lesson, and when they found it
too hard they stopped listening to talk it over. This was pretty often.
So when they went home they knew as much about camels as the stork does,
and maybe as much as you know.
—ANGELA M. KEYES