The Marsh King's Daughter, part 5 · page 21 2101"Well, every one flies in his own fashion," said the papa stork. "102The swans fly in an oblique line; the cranes, in the form of a triangle; and the plovers, in a curved line like a snake."103"Don't talk about snakes while we are flying up here," said stork-mamma. "104It puts ideas into the children's heads that can not be realized."105"Are those the high mountains I have heard spoken of?" asked Helga, in the swan's plumage.106"They are storm-clouds driving along beneath us," replied her mother.107"What are yonder white clouds that rise so high?" again inquired Helga.108"Those are mountains covered with perpetual snows, that you see yonder," said her mother.109And then they flew across the Alps towards the blue Mediterranean.110"Africa's land!111Egyptia's strand!" sang the daughter of the Nile, in her swan's plumage, as from the upper air she caught sight of her native land, a narrow, golden, wavy strip on the shores of the Nile; the other birds espied it also and hastened their flight.112"I can smell the Nile mud and the wet frogs," said the stork-mamma, "and I begin to feel quite hungry.113Yes, now you shall taste something nice, and you will see the marabout bird, and the ibis, and the crane.114They all belong to our family, but they are not nearly so handsome as we are.115They give themselves great airs, especially the ibis.116The Egyptians have spoilt him.117They make a mummy of him, and stuff him with spices.118I would rather be stuffed with live frogs, and so would you, and so you shall.119Better have something in your inside while you are alive, than to be made a parade of after you are dead.120That is my opinion, and I am always right."121"The storks are come," was said in the great house on the banks of the Nile, where the lord lay in the hall on his downy cushions, covered with a leopard skin, scarcely alive, yet not dead, waiting and hoping for the lotus-flower from the deep moorland in the far north.122Relatives and servants were standing by his couch, when the two beautiful swans who had come with the storks flew into the hall.123They threw off their soft white plumage, and two lovely female forms approached the pale, sick old man, and threw back their long hair, and when Helga bent over her grandfather, redness came back to his cheeks, his eyes brightened, and life returned to his benumbed limbs.124The old man rose up with health and energy renewed; daughter and grandchild welcomed him as joyfully as if with a morning greeting after a long and troubled dream.1 2← previousThe Marsh King's Daughter, part 4next →The Marsh King's Daughter, part 6↑ back to Fairy Tales of Hans Christian AndersenThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg27200/87/page/2/