me of animals, and he would not join in the singing at all.

The mother stork tried to comfort her young ones. "Don't mind them," she
said; "see how quiet your father stands on one leg there."

"But we are afraid," said the little ones, drawing back their beaks into
the nest.

The children assembled again on the next day, and no sooner did they see
the storks than they again began their song:

"The first will be hanged,
The second be hit."

"Tell us, are we to be hanged and burned?" asked the young storks.

"No, no; certainly not," replied the mother. "You are to learn to fly,
and then we shall pay a visit to the frogs. They will bow to us in the
water and sing 'Croak! croak!' and we shall eat them up, and that will
be a great treat."

"And then what?" questioned the young storks.

"Oh, then all the storks in the land will assemble, and the autumn
sports will begin; only then one must be able to fly well, for that is
very important. Whoever does not fly as he should will be pierced to
death by the general's beak, so mind that you learn well, when the drill
begins."

"Yes, but then, after that, we shall be killed, as the boys say. Hark!
they are singing it again."

"Attend to me and not to them," said the mother stork. "After the great
review we shall fly away to warm countries, far from here, over hills
and forests. To Egypt we shall fly, where are the three-cornered houses
of stone, one point of which reaches to the clouds; they are called
pyramids and are older than a stork can imagine. In that same land there
is a river which overflows its banks and turns the whole country into
mire. We shall go into the mire and eat frogs."

"Oh! oh!" exclaimed all the youngsters.

"Yes, it is indeed a delightful place. We need do nothing all day long
but eat; and while we are feasting there so comfortably, in this country
there is not a green leaf left on the trees. It is so cold here that the
very clouds freeze in lumps or fall down in little white rags." It was
hail and snow that she meant, but she did not know how to say it better.

"And will the naughty boys freeze in lumps?" asked the young storks.

"No, they will not freeze in lumps, but they will come near it, and they
will sit moping and cowering in gloomy rooms while you are flying about
in foreign lands, amid bright flowers and warm sunshine."

Some time passed, and the nestlings had grown so large and strong that
they could stand up