Page:A Picture-book without Pictures and Other Stories (1848).djvu/80

 A little boy came out of the cottage and placed himself by the little girl’s side; they were brother and sister.

“What are you looking at?” cried he.

“I am looking at the stork,” she replied; “the neighbor told me that this evening the stork will bring us either a little brother or sister; and so now I will stand and watch when they come.”

“The storks do not bring anything,” said the boy. “The neighbor’s wife told me the same thing; but she laughed while she said it, and so I asked her if she durst say as sure as heaven, to it, but she dared not, and therefore I know that the story about the stork is only what they tell us children.”

“Oh, really!” said the little girl.

“And I’ll tell thee what,” said the boy; “It is our Lord himself that brings little babies; he has them under his coat; but nobody can see our Lord now, and therefore we do not see him when he comes.”

At that same moment the twigs of the elder-tree were moved; the children folded their hands and looked one at the other, for they thought that it was our Lord passing