CHAPTER VI.

THE HISTORY OF THE SEVEN YOUNG STORKS.

When the seven young Storks set out, they walked or flew for fourteen weeks in a straight line, and for six weeks more in a crooked one; and after that they ran as hard as they could for one hundred and eight miles; and after that they stood still, and made a himmeltanious chatter-clatter-blattery noise with their bills.

About the same time they perceived a large frog, spotted with green, and with a sky-blue stripe under each ear.

So, being hungry, they immediately flew at him, and were going to divide
him into seven pieces, when they began to quarrel as to which of his legs
should be taken off first.  One said this, and another said that; and while
they were all quarrelling, the frog hopped away.  And when they saw that he
was gone, they began to
  chatter-clatter,
      blatter-platter,
          patter-blatter,
              matter-clatter,
                  flatter-quatter,
more violently than ever; and after they
had fought for a week, they pecked each other all to little pieces, so that
at last nothing was left of any of them except their bills.

And that was the end of the seven young Storks.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII.

THE HISTORY OF THE SEVEN YOUNG GEESE.

When the seven young Geese began to travel, they went over a large plain, on which there was but one tree, and that was, a very bad one.

So four of them went up to the top of it, and looked about them; while the other three waddled up and down, and repeated poetry, and their last six lessons in arithmetic, geography, and cookery.

Presently they perceived, a long way off, an object of the most interesting and obese appearance, having a perfectly round body exactly resembling a boiled plum-pudding, with two little wings, and a beak, and three feathers growing out of his head, and only one leg.

So, after a time, all the seven young Geese said to each other, “Beyond all doubt this beast must be a Plum-pudding Flea!”

On which they incautiously began to sing aloud,

       “Plum-pudding Flea,
        Plum-pudding Flea,
        Wherever you be,
        Oh! come to our tree,
    And listen, oh! listen, oh! listen to me!”

And no sooner had they sung this verse than the Plum-pudding Flea began to hop and skip on his one leg with the most dreadful velocity, and came straight to the tree, where he stopped, and looked about him in a vacant and voluminous manner.

On which the seven young Geese were greatly alarmed, and all of a tremble-bemble:  so one of them put out his long neck, and just touched him with the tip of his bill; but no sooner had he done this than the Plum-pudding Flea skipped and hopped about more and more, and higher and higher; after which he opened his mouth, and, to the great surprise and indignation of the seven Geese, began to bark so loudly and furiously and terribly, that they were totally unable to bear the noise; and by degrees every one of them suddenly tumbled down quite dead.