The boy intended to take advantage of this opportunity to say to Akka that he thought she ought to let him go with them to Kullaberg, but he was prevented anew, for all of a sudden a big bird came down in the midst of the geese.

One could believe, when one looked at this bird, that he had borrowed body, neck and head from a little white goose.  But in addition to this, he had procured for himself large black wings, long red legs, and a thick bill, which was too large for the little head, and weighed it down until it gave him a sad and worried look.

Akka at once straightened out the folds of her wings, and curtsied many times as she approached the stork.  She wasn’t specially surprised to see him in Skane so early in the spring, because she knew that the male storks are in the habit of coming in good season to take a look at the nest, and see that it hasn’t been damaged during the winter, before the female storks go to the trouble of flying over the East sea.  But she wondered very much what it might signify that he sought her out, since storks prefer to associate with members of their own family.

“I can hardly believe that there is anything wrong with your house, Herr Ermenrich,” said Akka.

It was apparent now that it is true what they say:  a stork can seldom open his bill without complaining.  But what made the thing he said sound even more doleful was that it was difficult for him to speak out.  He stood for a long time and only clattered with his bill; afterward he spoke in a hoarse and feeble voice.  He complained about everything:  the nest—­which was situated at the very top of the roof-tree at Glimminge castle—­had been totally destroyed by winter storms; and no food could he get any more in Skane.  The people of Skane were appropriating all his possessions.  They dug out his marshes and laid waste his swamps.  He intended to move away from this country, and never return to it again.

While the stork grumbled, Akka, the wild goose who had neither home nor protection, could not help thinking to herself:  “If I had things as comfortable as you have, Herr Ermenrich, I should be above complaining.  You have remained a free and wild bird; and still you stand so well with human beings that no one will fire a shot at you, or steal an egg from your nest.”  But all this she kept to herself.  To the stork she only remarked, that she couldn’t believe he would be willing to move from a house where storks had resided ever since it was built.

Then the stork suddenly asked the geese if they had seen the gray rats who were marching toward Glimminge castle.  When Akka replied that she had seen the horrid creatures, he began to tell her about the brave black rats who, for years, had defended the castle.  “But this night Glimminge castle will fall into the gray rats’ power,” sighed the stork.

“And why just this night, Herr Ermenrich?” asked Akka.