ear-old king, the mummied form, black as pitch, shining black as
the wood-snail or the fat mud of the swamp; whether it was the marsh king
or the mummy of the pyramids I knew not. He seized me in his arms, and I
felt as if I must die. When I returned to consciousness a little bird was
sitting on my bosom, beating with its wings, and twittering and singing.
The bird flew away from me up towards the heavy, dark covering; but a long
green band still fastened him to me. I heard and understood his longing
tones: 'Freedom! Sunlight! to my father!' Then I thought of my father and
the sunny land of my birth, my life, and my love; and I loosened the band
and let the bird soar away home to the father. Since that hour I have
dreamed no more. I have slept a sleep, a long and heavy sleep, till within
this hour; harmony and incense awoke me and set me free."

The green band from the heart of the mother to the bird's wings, where
did it flutter now? whither had it been wafted? Only the stork had
seen it. The band was the green stalk, the bow at the end, the
beauteous flower, the cradle of the child that had now bloomed into
beauty, and was once more resting on its mother's heart.

And while the two were locked in each other's embrace, the old stork
flew around them in smaller and smaller circles, and at length shot
away in swift flight towards his nest, whence he brought out the
swan-feather suits he had preserved there for years, throwing one to
each of them, and the feathers closed around them, so that they soared
up from the earth in the semblance of two white swans.

"And now we will speak with one another," quoth stork-papa, "now we
understand each other, though the beak of one bird is differently
shaped from that of another. It happens more than fortunately that you
came to-night. To-morrow we should have been gone--mother, myself, and
the young ones; for we're flying southward. Yes, only look at me! I am
an old friend from the land of the Nile, and mother has a heart larger
than her beak. She always declared the princess would find a way to
help herself; and I and the young ones carried the swan's feathers up
here. But how glad I am! and how fortunate that I'm here still! At
dawn of day we shall move hence, a great company of storks. We'll fly
first, and do you follow us; thus you cannot miss your way; moreover,
I and the youngsters will keep a sharp eye upon you."

"And the lotos-flower which I was to bring with me," said th