The Brown Fairy Book, part 8 · page 21 2101“The water! the water!” gasped one of the young men; and there it was, slowly but steadily mounting the ridge itself.102Parents and children clung together, as if by that means they could drive back the advancing flood; and the youth who had caused all this terrible catastrophe, seized his sweetheart, and cried: “I will climb with you to the top of that tree, and there no waters can reach us.”103But, as he spoke, something cold touched him, and quickly he glanced down at his feet.104Then with a shudder he saw that they were feet no longer, but bird’s claws.105He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great black bird standing at his side; he turned to his friends, but a flock of great awkward flapping creatures stood in their place He put up his hands to cover his face, but they were no more hands, only the ends of wings; and when he tried to speak, a noise such as he had never heard before seemed to come from his throat, which had suddenly become narrow and slender.106Already the water had risen to his waist, and he found himself sitting easily upon it, while its surface reflected back the image of a black swan, one of many.1 2← previousThe Brown Fairy Book, part 7next →The Brown Fairy Book, part 9↑ back to The Brown Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/page/2/