“Lord, how he lies!” said auntie and cast up her eyes to the sky. “But how lovely it is to listen to!”
“What did you say?” asked the little duck.
“I was saying that your future husband has the loveliest green neck in all the Faroes,” said auntie. “I should like to give it a little bite. But now I will leave you to your happiness.”
Then she flew quacking over the rock and splashed into the water with the others. The two young people began to line their box with what they could find. Soon the wedding took place, with mirth and pomp, and thousands of other young eider-duck were married on the same day.
“Lord, how beautiful it is to be young!” said auntie, who was paying wedding-visits with a swarm of other old ladies.
3
And the young couple were comfortable and very happy. But, when she had laid her first egg in the nest, they had a tiff.
He wanted her to go for a little trip with him over the rock, while the egg lay in the nest, and she had no objection, but she did think that he might have shown rather more pleasure at the sight of that fine gray-green egg.
“I am saving up my emotions,” he said, “as befits a man. Come along.”
Then she said, however, that it was out of the question to leave the egg lying like that, with nothing over it. They must cover it with something. She plucked some fine down from under her wings and laid it on the egg. But when she asked him to do the same, he shook his head with decision.