THE WONDERFUL SHIP
“Once upon a time,” said the stork, “and a very good time it was, there was a ship, a wonderful ship that could sail on land, dry land.”
“Oh!” said the chicks.
“I know what I tell,”
Cried the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“This wonderful ship went on legs,” said the stork. “Long legs.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Shouted the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It had a head, and a neck that came down and went up like a hook,” said the stork, “a big hook.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings and the little turkeys.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Shrieked the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It had a hump on its back,” said the stork, “a hump or two.”
“Oh!” said the chicks and the ducklings and the little turkeys and the goslings.
“I know what I tell,
I know what I tell,”
Cried the stork,
“I know it well, very well,
I saw it with my own eyes.”
“It was—alive!” said the stork, opening his eyes and his mouth up so high that he could hardly get them down again.
“Ah, it wasn’t a real ship at all,” whispered the chicks to the ducklings, and they whispered it to the little turkeys, and they whispered it to the goslings.
“It was a camel,” said the stork.
“What’s that?” asked the chicks, the ducklings, the little turkeys, and the goslings. And they crowded around him.
“He’s called the ship of the desert,” said the stork. And he drew back to see what they thought of it.
“Why?” asked the chicks, the ducklings, the little turkeys, and the goslings.
“Ask your teacher,” said he, flying off to his nest in the chimney top;
“I must attend to my babies.
Go to school;
If you don’t,
You’ll turn out geese and gabies.”
At this minute, by great good luck, they heard Nan say to Ned, her brother, “Let’s play school. I’ll be the teacher.” So they went to school.
And by great good luck Ned’s lesson was about camels. “I’m not at all surprised,” whispered the smallest chick to the biggest gosling; “I found a four-leaf clover in the grass this morning. I knew then we should have good luck.”
They listened with all their might to the lesson, and when they found it too hard they stopped listening to talk it over. This was pretty often. So when they went home they knew as much about camels as the stork does, and maybe as much as you know.
—Angela M. Keyes