The Toad · page 21 2101She was glad that in her ugliness she had frightened the fowls.102"What do you mean by that?" cried the Caterpillar. "103I wriggled myself free from the Fowl.104You are very disagreeable to look at.105Cannot I be left in peace on my own property?106Now I smell cabbage; now I am near my leaf.107Nothing is so beautiful as property.108But I must go higher up."109"Yes, higher up," said the little Toad; "higher-up!110She feels just as I do; but she's not in a good humor to-day.111That's because of the fright.112We all want to go higher up."113And she looked up as high as ever she could.114The stork sat in his nest on the roof of the farm-house.115He clapped with his beak, and the Mother-stork clapped with hers.116"How high up they live!" thought the Toad. "117If one could only get as high as that!"118In the farm-house lived two young students; the one was a poet and the other a scientific searcher into the secrets of nature.119The one sang and wrote joyously of everything that God had created, and how it was mirrored in his heart.120He sang it out clearly, sweetly, richly, in well-sounding verses; while the other investigated created matter itself, and even cut it open where need was.121He looked upon God's creation as a great sum in arithmetic--subtracted, multiplied, and tried to know it within and without, and to talk with understanding concerning it; and that was a very sensible thing; and he spoke joyously and cleverly of it.122They were good, joyful men, those two.123"There sits a good specimen of a toad," said the naturalist. "124I must have that fellow in a bottle of spirits."125"You have two of them already," replied the poet. "126Let the thing sit there and enjoy its life."127"But it's so wonderfully ugly," persisted the first.128"Yes, if we could find the jewel in its head," said the poet, "I too should be for cutting it open.'129"A jewel!" cried the naturalist. "130You seem to know a great deal about natural history."131"But is there not something beautiful in the popular belief that just as the toad is the ugliest of animals, it should often carry the most precious jewel in its head?132Is it not just the same thing with men?133What a jewel that was that Aesop had, and still more, Socrates!"134The Toad did not hear any more, nor did she understand half of what she had heard.135The two friends walked on, and thus she escaped the fate of being bottled up in spirits.136"Those two also were speaking of the jewel," said the Toad to herself. "137What a good thing that I have not got it!138I might have been in a very disagreeable position."139Now there was a clapping on the roof of the farm-house.140Father-Stork was making a speech to his family, and his family was glancing down at the two young men in the kitchen garden.141"Man is the most conceited creature!" said the Stork. "142Listen how their jaws are wagging; and for all that they can't clap properly.143They boast of their gifts of eloquence and their language!144Yes, a fine language truly!145Why, it changes in every day's journey we make.146One of them doesn't understand another.147Now, we can speak our language over the whole earth--up in the North and in Egypt.148And then men are not able to fly, moreover.149They rush along by means of an invention they call 'railway;' but they often break their necks over it.150It makes my beak turn cold when I think of it.151The world could get on without men.152We could do without them very well, so long as we only keep frogs and earth-worms."153"That was a powerful speech," thought the little Toad. "154What a great man that is yonder! and how high he sits!155Higher than ever I saw any one sit yet; and how he can swim!" she cried, as the Stork soared away through the air with outspread pinions.156And the Mother-Stork began talking in the nest, and told about Egypt and the waters of the Nile, and the incomparable mud that was to be found in that strange land; and all this sounded new and very charming to the little Toad.157"I must go to Egypt!" said she. "158If the Stork or one of his young ones would only take me!159I would oblige him in return.160Yes, I shall get to Egypt, for I feel so happy!161All the longing and all the pleasure that I feel is much better than having a jewel in one's head."162And it was just she who had the jewel.163That jewel was the continual striving and desire to go upward--ever upward.164It gleamed in her head, gleamed in joy, beamed brightly in her longing.165Then, suddenly, up came the Stork.166He had seen the Toad in the grass, and stooped down and seized the little creature anything but gently.167The Stork's beak pinched her, and the wind whistled; it was not exactly agreeable, but she was going upward--upward towards Egypt--and she knew it; and that was why her eyes gleamed, and a spark seemed to fly out of them.168"Quunk!--ah!"169The body was dead--the Toad was killed!170But the spark that had shot forth from her eyes; what became of that?171The sunbeam took it up; the sunbeam carried the jewel from the head of the toad.172Whither?173Ask not the naturalist; rather ask the poet.174He will tell it thee under the guise of a fairy tale; and the Caterpillar on the cabbage, and the Stork family belong to the story.175Think! the Caterpillar is changed, and turns into a beautiful butterfly; the Stork family flies over mountains and seas, to the distant Africa, and yet finds the shortest way home to the same country--to the same roof.176Nay, that is almost too improbable; and yet it is true.177You may ask the naturalist, he will confess it is so; and you know it yourself, for you have seen it.178But the jewel in the head of the toad?179Seek it in the sun; see it there if you can.180The brightness is too dazzling there.181We have not yet such eyes as can see into the glories which God has created, but we shall receive them by-and-by; and that will be the most beautiful story of all, and we shall all have our share in it.1 2← previousThe Tinder-boxnext →The Top and Ball↑ back to Fairy Tales of Hans Christian AndersenThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/194/page/2/