ven the
head cook received an especial mark of distinction--probably for the
soup."

"And what did you receive?" asked stork-mamma. "Surely they ought not
to forget the most important person of all, and you are certainly he!
The learned men have done nothing throughout the whole affair but used
their tongues; but you will doubtless receive what is due to you."

Late in the night, when the gentle peace of sleep rested upon the now
happy house, there was one who still watched. It was not stork-papa,
though he stood upon one leg, and slept on guard--it was Helga who
watched. She bowed herself forward over the balcony, and looked into
the clear air, gazed at the great gleaming stars, greater and purer in
their lustre than she had ever seen them in the North, and yet the
same orbs. She thought of the Viking woman in the wild moorland, of
the gentle eyes of her foster-mother, and of the tears which the kind
soul had wept over the poor frog-child that now lived in splendour
under the gleaming stars, in the beauteous spring air on the banks of
the Nile. She thought of the love that dwelt in the breast of the
heathen woman, the love that had been shown to a wretched creature,
hateful in human form, and hideous in its transformation. She looked
at the gleaming stars, and thought of the glory that had shone upon
the forehead of the dead man, when she flew with him through the
forest and across the moorland; sounds passed through her memory,
words she had heard pronounced as they rode onward, and when she was
borne wondering and trembling through the air, words from the great
Fountain of love that embraces all human kind.

Yes, great things had been achieved and won! Day and night beautiful
Helga was absorbed in the contemplation of the great sum of her
happiness, and stood in the contemplation of it like a child that
turns hurriedly from the giver to gaze on the splendours of the gifts
it has received. She seemed to lose herself in the increasing
happiness, in contemplation of what might come, of what would come.
Had she not been borne by miracle to greater and greater bliss? And in
this idea she one day lost herself so completely, that she thought no
more of the Giver. It was the exuberance of youthful courage,
unfolding its wings for a bold flight! Her eyes were gleaming with
courage, when suddenly a loud noise in the courtyard below recalled
her thoughts from their wandering flight. There she saw two great
ostriches running