"And our good nest would be destroyed, too," said the
mamma stork; "but you think less of that than of your plumage stuff
and your moor-princess. Go and stay with her in the marsh if you
like. You are a bad father to your own children, as I have told you
already, when I hatched my first brood. I only hope neither we nor
our children may have an arrow sent through our wings, owing to
that wild girl. Helga does not know in the least what she is about.
We have lived in this house longer than she has, she should think
of that, and we have never forgotten our duty. We have paid every
year our toll of a feather, an egg, and a young one, as it is only
right we should do. You don't suppose I can wander about the
court-yard, or go everywhere as I used to do in old times. I can do
it in
