"Know, then, that she believed what the doctors said, which thou didst
relate to me. She believed that the bog-plants up here could cure her
invalid father; and she has flown hither, in the magic disguise of a
swan, with the two other swan princesses, who every year come hither
to the north to bathe and renew their youth. She has come, and she is
lost."

"Thou dost spin the matter out so long," muttered the female stork,
"the eggs will be quite cooled. I cannot bear suspense just now."

"I will come to the point," replied the male. "This evening I went to
the rushes where the quagmire could bear me. Then came three swans.
There was something in their motions which said to me, 'Take care;
they are not real swans; they are only the appearance of swans,
created by magic.' Thou wouldst have known as well as I that they were
not of the right sort."

"Yes, surely," she said; "but tell me about the princess. I am tired
of hearing about the swans."

"In the midst of the morass--here, I must tell thee, it is like a
lake," said the male stork--"thou canst see a portion of it if thou
wilt raise thyself up a moment--yonder, by the rushes and the green
morass, lay a large stump of an alder tree. The three swans alighted
upon it, flapped their wings, and looked about them. One of them cast
off her swan disguise, and I recognised in her our royal princess from
Egypt. She sat now with no other mantle around her than her long dark
hair. I heard her desire the other two to take good care of her magic
swan garb, while she ducked down under the water to pluck the flower
which she thought she saw. They nodded, and raised the empty feather
dress between them. 'What are they going to do with it?' said I to
myself; and she probably asked herself the same question. The answer
came too soon, for I saw them take flight up into the air with her
charmed feather dress. 'Dive thou there!' they cried. 'Never more
shalt thou fly in the form of a magic swan--never more shalt thou
behold the land of Egypt. Dwell thou in _the wild morass_!' And they
tore her magic disguise into a hundred pieces, so that the feathers
whirled round about as if there were a fall of snow; and away flew the
two worthless princesses."

"It is shocking!" said the lady stork; "I can't bear to hear it. Tell
me what more happened."

"The princess sobbed and wept. Her tears trickled down upon the trunk
of the alder tree, and then it moved; for it was the mud-king
himself-