"Stork, stork, fly."
"Shall not we fly down and peck their eyes out?" said the young ones.
"No, let them be," said the mother, "and listen to me, that is far
wiser. One, two, three! Now we fly round, higher than ever! One, two,
three! Now to the left of the chimney!--see, that was very well done!
and the last stroke of the wings was so beautiful and correct, that I
will give you leave to go down to the marsh with me, to-morrow! There
will come a great number of pleasant stork-families there, with their
children; let me have the happiness of seeing that mine are the nicest,
and that they can make a bow and courtesy; that looks so well, and
gains respect!"
"But shall we not have revenge on the naughty boys?" inquired the young
storks.
"Let them sing what they like!" said the mother; "you will fly amid the
clouds, go to the land of the pyramids, when they must freeze, and
neither have a green leaf left, nor a sweet apple!"
"Yes, but we will be revenged!" whispered they one to another, and then
went out again to exercise.
Of all the boys in the street there was not one who sung the jeering
rhymes about the storks so much as he who first began it; and he was a
very little one, and was not more than six years old. The young storks
thought to be sure that he must be a hundred years old, for he was so
much larger than either their mother or their father; and they, poor
things, knew nothing about how old children and great men might be. All
their revenge, they determined, should be taken upon this boy; he was
the first to begin, and he it was who always sang. The young storks
were very much irritated, and the more they were determined on revenge,
the less they said of it to their mother. Their mother, they thought,
would at last grant their wishes, but they would leave it till the last
day they were in the country.
"We must see how you conduct yourselves in the great manoeuvre,"
said the mother; "if you fail in that, then the general will run you
through with his beak, and then the boys will be right in one way, at
least. Now let us see."
"Yes, thou shalt see!" said the young ones; and so they took great
pains and practised every day, and flew so beautifully and so lightly
that it was charming to see them.
Now came the autumn; and all the storks began to assemble to fly away
into the warm countries, while we have winter. That was a manoeuvre!
Over wood and town went they, just to see how they could fly. The young
storks performed so expertly that they could discern very well both
frogs and snakes. That was the very best test of skill. "Frogs and
snakes, therefore, they should eat;" and they did so.
"Now let us have revenge," said they.
"Leave off talking of revenge," said the mother. "Listen to me, which
is a great deal better. Do not you remember the good little boy who
said, when the others sung, 'that it was a sin to make fun of the
storks?' let us reward him, that is better than having revenge."
"Yes, let us reward him," said the young storks.
"He shall have, next summer, a nice little sister, such a beautiful
little sister as never was seen!--Will not that be a reward for him?"
said the mother.
"It will," said the young ones; "a sweet little sister he shall have!"
"And as he is called Peter," continued the mother, "so shall you also
be called Peter altogether."
And that which she said was done. The little boy had the loveliest
of little sisters next year; and, from that time, all the storks in
Denmark were called Peter; and so are they to this day.