“All men are alike, my good woman,” said auntie. “They court you and marry you and, perhaps, just lend a hand with the nest and then they go off and leave the rest to us.”
“I can’t say that I agree with you, ma’am,” said the gull. “My husband has always helped me faithfully.”
“And I got lots of flies from my father when I was in the nest,” said the sparrow.
“Then you were luckier than we,” said auntie. “Not one of my seven husbands so much as saw his young ones.”
“Lord!” said the sparrow.
“Shall we be going home to the Faroes soon?” asked Miss Eider-Duck.
“Dear, dear, how interesting youth is!” said auntie and flapped her wings.
Then they flew into the water; but, the next day, they came again and this happened every day until well into February. The young eider-duck’s longing for home grew ever greater and her aunt never tired of talking to her about it.
“Now it’s coming, now it’s coming!” said she. “It’s getting almost too hot here to bear.”
“I don’t think so,” said the sparrow, shivering and longing for the spring.