ON the roof of a house at the outskirts of a village was a stork's nest. There sat the mother stork with her four young ones who were constantly stretching forth their little heads. A short way off, on the ridge of the roof, erect and proud, stood the father stork with one leg drawn up under him. You might have fancied he was carved in wood he stood so motionless. "It must certainly look quite grand for my wife to have a sentinel to keep guard over her nest," thought he. "People cannot know that I am her husband. They will think that I am commanded to stand here. How well it looks!" and he continued standing on one leg.

In the street below, a number of boys were playing. Presently one of the liveliest among them began to shout at the storks. He was only a little fellow, but the young storks fancied him to be at least a hundred years old because he was bigger than either their father or mother. However, they could not be expected to know much about the age of human beings.

The other boys soon joined in the shouting and all together they sang this song:

"Only hear what the boys down there are singing," the young storks said to their mother. "They say something dreadful will happen to us."

"Never mind what they say," responded the mother. "Don't listen to them. They will do you no harm."

But the boys went on singing and they made fun of the storks by pointing their fingers at them. The young storks watched the boys, anxious and trembling.

"Think of something else," said the mother stork, still trying to comfort her children. "See how calmly your father stands there."

"We are so frightened!" whimpered the little storks, and they drew their heads down into the nest.

The next day when the children again met to play they once more sang how

"Is it true, what they say about a cruel death? "asked the young storks.

"No indeed!" replied the mother. "Behave yourselves and you shall learn to fly. I will teach you myself. Then we will go to the meadow and pay a visit to the frogs. You will see them jump and hear them say, ' Croak! croak! ' and we shall eat them. Will not that be nice? But your best fun will come in the autumn. Then all the storks in the country will gather together for a grand exercise. After that is finished we shall fly away to a warmer country far, far from here, over mountains and forests. We shall go to Egypt, where there is a river that rises every year and overflows a vast valley and covers the land with mud. You and I and all the rest of us will walk about in the mud and eat frogs."

"Oh, how charming!" cried the young storks.

"Yes," continued the mother, "and at the same time that we are so comfortable, not a single green leaf will be left on the trees here, and it will be so cold that the clouds will freeze and fall down on the earth in little white pieces."

"Will the naughty boys be frozen to pieces, too?" asked the young storks.

"No," replied the mother, "they will not be frozen to pieces, but they will be nearly as badly off as if they were. They will be obliged to crowd round the fire in their little dark rooms, while you will be flying about where there are beautiful flowers and warm sunshine."

Time passed on, and the young storks grew so tall that when they stood upright in the nest they could see the surrounding country to a great distance. "Now you must learn to fly," said the mother one day.

Accordingly, all the four young storks were obliged to come out on the ridge of the roof. Oh! how they trembled! and though they balanced themselves on their wings they were very near falling.

"Just look at me," said the mother. "This is the way you must hold your heads, and this is the manner to place your feet. Now I am going to fly and you must do exactly as I do."

Then she flew a little way.

The smallest stork crept back into the nest. "I will not fly," he said. "I do not want to go to a warmer country."

"What!" cried the mother stork, "do you wish to be frozen to death in the winter?"

"Oh, no, no, dear mother!" said the little stork, and he hopped out on the roof.

The next time the mother flew, the young storks made an awkward attempt to spring after her, and by the third day they could fly pretty well.

The boys still played in the street, and they were always shouting at the storks and making sport of them.

"Mother, do hear those horrid boys!" the young storks said. "Shall we not fly down and peck them?"

"No, leave them alone!" ordered the mother. "Attend to me. We will take a flight around the chimney. There, you did that very well. To-morrow I will permit you to come with me to the marsh. Several first-rate stork families will be there, children and all. Let it be said that my children are the prettiest and best behaved of any. Remember to stand very upright and throw out your chests. To do that gives such an air of distinction!"

"But are we not to take revenge on the boys?" questioned the young ones.

"Let them screech as much as they please!" said the mother. "You will fly among the clouds. You will go to the land of the pyramids, but they will have to stay here shivering with cold and have not a single green leaf to look at."

The young storks practised every day, and at last flew so lightly and prettily that it was a pleasure to see them. Then the autumn came and all the storks assembled and prepared to leave for a warmer climate. What a fine time they had with their exercises! How they did fly over woods and fields, towns and villages, merely to see how well they could do it! But presently, away they went to Egypt, and so admirably did the young storks acquit themselves on the long journey that they were pronounced "worthy of frogs and serpents." This was the highest character they could obtain; and on frogs and serpents they lived during the pleasant winter months in that warm southern country.

Sometimes they thought of the rude boys who used to shout at them, but they had attained such honor, and they lived in such comfort, that they no longer had any desire for revenge.