crop of a pigeon. The two
lazy ones were carried quite as far and were of some use, for they also
were eaten by pigeons; but the fourth, who wanted to reach the sun,
fell into a sink and lay there in the dirty water for days and weeks,
till he had swelled to a great size.

"I am getting beautifully fat," said the pea; "I expect I shall burst at
last; no pea could do more than that, I think. I am the most remarkable
of all the five that were in the shell." And the sink agreed with the
pea.

But the young girl, with sparkling eyes and the rosy hue of health upon
her cheeks, stood at the open garret window and, folding her thin hands
over the pea blossom, thanked God for what He had done.

[Illustration]

THE STORKS

ON the last house in the village there lay a stork's nest. The mother
stork sat in it with her four little ones, who were stretching out their
heads with their pointed black bills that had not yet turned red. At a
little distance, on the top of the roof, stood the father stork, bolt
upright and as stiff as could be. That he might not appear quite idle
while standing sentry, he had drawn one leg up under him, as is the
manner of storks. One might have taken him to be carved in marble, so
still did he stand.

"It must look very grand for my wife to have a sentinel to guard her
nest," he thought. "They can't know that I am her husband and will, of
course, conclude that I am commanded to stand here by her nest. It looks
aristocratic!"

Below, in the street, a crowd of children were playing. When they
chanced to catch sight of the storks, one of the boldest of the boys
began to sing the old song about the stork. The others soon joined him,
but each sang the words that he happened to have heard. This is one of
the ways:

"Stork, stork, fly away;
Stand not on one leg to-day.
Thy dear wife sits in the nest,
To lull the little ones to rest.

"There's a halter for one,
There's a stake for another,
For the third there's a gun,
And a spit for his brother!"

"Only listen," said the young storks, "to what the boys are singing. Do
you hear them say we're to be hanged and shot?"

"Don't listen to what they say; if you don't mind, it won't hurt you,"
said the mother.

But the boys went on singing, and pointed mockingly at the sentinel
stork. Only one boy, whom they called Peter, said it was a shame to make
ga