What the Animals Do and Say

by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

At the same time the young storkess marched about the field making the oddest gesticulations. The caliph and Mansor looked on with wonder. But at last, when she put herself into a picturesque attitude on one foot, and gracefully waved her wings, they could stand it no longer; an inextinguishable laugh burst from their bills, from which they did not recover for some time. The caliph composed himself first. "What a capital joke!" cried he; "I never saw any thing better in my life; it is a pity that the stupid birds were frightened away by our laughter, else she would certainly have sung!"

But it now occurred to the grand vizier that they had been forbidden to laugh during their transformation. He communicated his anxiety to the caliph.

"By Mecca and Medina!" cried the caliph, "it would be a pretty piece of business if I had to remain a stork all my life! Try think of the stupid word; I can't remember it."

"We must bow three times towards the East, and say, Mu—Mu—Mu—." They turned to the East, and bowed away till their beaks touched the ground. But, alas! The magic word had vanished, and with all the caliph's bowing, and his vizier's crying Mu—Mu—, all recollections of it had disappeared from their memories, and the poor Chasid and his vizier still remained storks as before.

The caliph and the grand vizier walked in a melancholy mood through the fields, not knowing what to do in their sad plight. They could not get out of their stork-skins, and it would not do for them to go back to the town to tell any one of their condition, for who would believe a stork if he said that he was the caliph? And even if they had believed him, would the inhabitants of Bagdad be willing to have a stork for their caliph? So they sneaked about for several days, feeding upon wild fruits, which, however, they could not manage very well, on account of their long bills. For lizards and frogs, they had no appetite. Their only satisfaction in this sad predicament was that they could fly; and they often flew over on to the roofs in the city of Bagdad, to see what was going on.

For the first few days they observed great uneasiness and mourning in the streets. But, on the fourth day of their enchantment, as they were sitting on the roof of the caliph's palace, they saw in the street below a splendid procession. The drums and fifes sounded, and a man in a scarlet robe, embroidered with gold, came riding along on a richly caparisoned horse, surrounded by servants in glittering garments. Half the town were at his heels, and all were shouting, "Hail to Mizra! Caliph of Bagdad!" The two storks looked at each other as they sat on the roof, and the Caliph Chasid said, "Do not you begin to understand how I come to be enchanted, Grand Vizier? This Mizra is the son of my mortal enemy, the powerful enchanter, Kaschnur, who in an evil hour vowed vengeance against me. But I do not yet give up all hope. Come with me, faithful companion in misfortune; we will make a pilgrimage to the grave of the Prophet; perhaps the charm may be broken in sacred places."

So they raised themselves from the roof of the palace, and flew in the direction of Medina.

Flying, however, did not suit the two storks very well, on account of their want of practice. "Ah, Sir," groaned the vizier, after they had been flying a couple of hours, "with your permission—I cannot stand it any longer; you fly too fast! Besides, it is already growing dark, and we should do well to be looking out for some place to pass the night."

Chasid yielded to the request of his officer, and perceiving a ruined building in the valley below, they flew down to it. The place which they had pitched upon for their night-quarters, seemed to have been a castle. Beautiful columns were still standing among the ruins, and numerous chambers, which were in tolerable preservation, testified to the former splendor of the house. Chasid and his companion walked about the passages to find a dry spot; suddenly the stork Mansor stood still. "Lord and Master," whispered he, softly, "if it were not that it would be foolish for a grand vizier—and still more so for a stork—to be afraid of ghosts! I do not feel easy at all, for I heard some one sighing and moaning, quite plainly." The caliph also stopped, and heard distinctly a noise as of some one weeping, which sounded more like a human being than like an animal. Full of expectation, he was about to advance towards the place whence the sound proceeded; but the vizier seized him by the wing with his bill, and begged him earnestly not to expose himself to new unknown dangers; but in vain! The caliph, under whose stork-wings there beat a valiant heart, tore himself away with the loss of some feathers, and ran into a dark passage. He soon came to a door, which appeared not to be fastened, and from which proceeded distinct sighs and a slight hooting. He pushed the door open with his bill, but remained standing in astonishment on the threshold. In the ruinous chamber, which was lighted scantily by a small grated window, he saw a large owl sitting on the floor. Large tears were rolling from her great round eyes, and with a hoarse voice she uttered complaints from her crooked beak. But when she beheld the caliph and his vizier, who had crept after him in the mean time, she raised a loud cry of joy. Then she gracefully wiped the tears from her eyes with her brown-spotted wing, and, to the great astonishment of both, she cried out, in good human Arabic, "Welcome, ye storks; ye are a good omen of my deliverance, for it has been prophesied to me that a great good fortune would come to me through the means of some storks!"

When the caliph had recovered from his astonishment, he made a bow with his long neck, placed his thin feet in a graceful position, and said, "Owl! thy words would lead me to conclude that thou art a partaker of our misfortune. But alas! thy hope of being delivered by us is in vain. Thou wilt perceive our helplessness when thou hast heard our story." The owl begged him to relate it, and the caliph began, and told her what we already know.