Page:Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (1888).djvu/406

 her little brood. Then the child’s father came out and scolded her, and I glided away, and thought no more of the matter. But this evening, only a few minutes ago, I looked again into the court-yard. Everything was quiet. But presently the little girl came out again, stepped lightly across to the hen-house, pushed back the bolt, and slipped in among the hens and chickens. They cried out loudly, and came fluttering down from their perches, as the little one ran after them; I saw it all plainly through a hole in the wall. I was angry with the naughty child, and felt quite glad when her father came and scolded her more severely than he did yesterday, as he held her fast by the arm; she hung down her head, and her blue eyes were full of large tears. ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked.”

“She wept, and said, ‘I wanted to kiss the hen, and beg her pardon for frightening her yesterday, but I did not like to tell you so.’ Then the father kissed the innocent child’s forehead, and I kissed her on the mouth and eyes.”

“By the path through the woodland,” said the moon, ‘‘there are two small farmhouses. They have low doors; some of the windows are high, and others close to the ground. Mulberry bushes and the whitethorn grow around them. The roof of each house is overgrown with moss, yellow flowers, and lichen. The only plants that grow in the gardens are cabbages and potatoes; but near the hedge stands a large willow-tree, and under it sat a little girl, with her eyes fixed upon an old oak between the two houses. It was only an old withered trunk, which had been sawn off at the top, and on it a stork had built his nest. He stood in it, snapping with his beak. A little boy came and stood by the girl’s side; they were brother and sister. ‘What are you looking at?’ he asked.

“‘I’m watching the stork,’ she replied. ‘Our neighbours told me that he would bring us a little brother or sister to-day; let us stay and see it come.’”

“‘The stork will not bring any such thing,’ said the boy. ‘Our neighbour told me the same story: she laughed when she said it; so I asked her if she could say, “upon my honour,” and she could not; so I know by that that the tale about the stork is not true, and they only say it to us children for fun.’”

“‘But where do the babies come from, then?’ asked the girl.”

“‘Why an angel from heaven brings them under his cloak; but no one can see him, and that’s why we never know when he brings them.’”

“At that moment there was a rustling in the branches of the willow-tree, and the children folded their hands and looked at each other. It must certainly be the angel coming with the baby. They took each other’s hand; and at that moment the door of one of the houses opened, and a neighbour appeared. ‘Come in, you two,’ she said, ‘and see what the stork has brought; it is a little brother.’”

“Then the children nodded gravely at each other; they knew already that the baby was come.”