'Deceit and lies!" cried he; "I should like to run my beak
deep into their chests."
"And perhaps break it off," said the mamma stork, "then
what a sight you would be. Think first of yourself, and then of
your family; all others are nothing to us."
"Yes, I know," said the stork-papa; "but to-morrow I can
easily place myself on the edge of the open cupola, when the
learned and wise men assemble to consult on the state of the sick
man; perhaps they may come a little nearer to the truth." And the
learned and wise men assembled together, and talked a great deal on
every point; but the stork could make no sense out of anything they
said; neither were there any good results from their consultations,
either for the sick man, or for his daughter in the marshy heath.
When we listen to w
