ON the last house in a little village the storks hadbuilt a nest， and the mother stork sat in it with herfour young ones， who stretched out their necksand pointed their black beaks， which had not yetturned red like those of the parent birds. A little wayoff， on the edge of the roof， stood the fatherstork， quite upright and stiff; not liking to bequite idle， he drew up one leg， and stood on theother， so still that it seemed almost as if he were carved in wood. “It must look very grand，”thought he， “for my wife to have a sentry guarding her nest. They do not know that I am herhusband; they will think I have been commanded to stand here， which is quite aristocratic;”and so he continued standing on one leg.
In the street below were a number of children at play， and when they caught sight of thestorks， one of the boldest amongst the boys began to sing a song about them， and verysoon he was joined by the rest. These are the words of the song， but each only sang what hecould remember of them in his own way.
“Stork， stork， fly away，Stand not on one leg， I pray，See your wife is in her nest，Withher little ones at rest. they will hang one，And fry another;They will shoot a third，And roasthis brother.”
“Just hear what those boys are singing，” said the young storks; “they say we shall behanged and roasted.”
“Never mind what they say; you need not listen，” said the mother. “They can do noharm.”
But the boys went on singing and pointing at the storks， and mocking at them，excepting one of the boys whose name was Peter; he said it was a shame to make fun ofanimals， and would not join with them at all. The mother stork comforted her young ones，and told them not to mind. “See，” she said， “How quiet your father stands， although he isonly on one leg.”
“But we are very much frightened，” said the young storks， and they drew back theirheads into the nests.
the next day when the children were playing together， and saw the storks， they sang thesong again—
“they will hang one，And roast another.”
“Shall we be hanged and roasted?” asked the young storks.
“No， certainly not，” said the mother. “I will teach you to fly， and when you have learnt，we will fly into the meadows， and pay a visit to the frogs， who will bow themselves to us inthe water， and cry 'Croak， croak，' and then we shall eat them up; that will be fun.”
“And what next?” asked the young storks.
“then，” replied the mother， “all the storks in the country will assemble together， and gothrough their autumn manoeuvres， so that it is very important for every one to know how tofly properly. If they do not， the general will thrust them through with his beak， and kill them.Therefore you must take pains and learn， so as to be ready when the drilling begins.”
“then we may be killed after all， as the boys say; and hark! they are singing again.”
“Listen to me， and not to them，” said the mother stork. “After the GREat review is over，we shall fly away to warm countries far from hence， where there are mountains and forests. ToEgypt， where we shall see three-cornered houses built of stone， with pointed tops that reachnearly to the clouds. They are called Pyramids， and are older than a stork could imagine; andin that country， there is a river that overflows its banks， and then goes back， leavingnothing but mire; there we can walk about， and eat frogs in abundance.”
“Oh， o—h!” cried the young storks.
“Yes， it is a delightful place; there is nothing to do all day long but eat， and while weare so well off out there， in this country there will not be a single GREen leaf on the trees，and the weather will be so cold that the clouds will freeze， and fall on the earth in little whiterags.” The stork meant snow， but she could not explain it in any other way.
“Will the naughty boys freeze and fall inpieces?” asked the young storks.
“No， they will not freeze and fall into pieces，”said the mother， “but they will be very cold， andbe obliged to sit all day in a dark， gloomy room，while we shall be flying about in foreign lands， wherethere are blooming flowers and warm sunshine.”
Time passed on， and the young storks GREwso large that they could stand upright in the nestand look about them. The father brought them，every day， beautiful frogs， little snakes， and all kinds of stork-dainties that he could find.And then， how funny it was to see the tricks he would perform to amuse them. He would layhis head quite round over his tail， and clatter with his beak， as if it had been a rattle; andthen he would tell them stories all about the marshes and fens.