1

IT was winter.

The leaves were gone from the trees and the flowers from the hedge. The birds too were gone, that is to say the more important ones; they had all departed for the South.

But some, of course, had remained behind.

There was the everlasting sparrow, for instance, and the nimble little titmouse, besides the crow and the raven, who looked twice as black and hungry against the snow. There were also a few birds who preferred to take the rough with the smooth rather than travel so far afield.

Down on the beach there was more life than in summer.

There were the gulls who plunged about, in great flocks, wherever a hole had been made in the ice. And there were the wild-duck, who swam in the open water and quacked and dived and flew up whenever a shot was heard from the fishermen’s guns.

“What a crowd!” said the sparrow.

“They come from the North,” said the gull. “From Norway and the Faroe Islands, where it is a hundred times colder than here. As soon as there is the least bit of a change in the temperature, they fly back again. Do you know those two who are coming this way over the ice?”

“How should I know them?” said the sparrow. “I was born last summer and I only wish I were back in the nest!”

“They are eider-ducks,” said the gull. “Look, there’s one more coming.”

So there was. And he was a very handsome bird. He had a green neck, a white throat and a white breast, with a pink sheen on it, and lovely yellow legs.

“That is the drake,” said the gull. “The other two are females and not so smart, although they don’t look bad either.”

The three eider-ducks had now come so near that the sparrow and the gull could hear what they were talking about.

“Dear lady,” said the drake, “I cannot understand why you stay on the ice. Do come to the open water and let us all enjoy ourselves.”

“I must stay with my niece,” said the elder eider-duck. “She is my sister’s child.”

“And why should not Miss Eider-Duck come too?” said the drake. “In the summer, she was the gayest of us all in the Faroes.”

“That was then,” said Miss Eider-Duck. “But now I have begun to think of other and more serious things.”

The drake tried just a little longer to persuade them, but to no purpose. Then he flew back across the ice.

“Are there no cliffs here, auntie?” asked the young eider-duck. “I am dying to get married and to build a nest.”“If I may venture to make a remark,” said the sparrow, “I should say that it is still a little too cold. And there are no cliffs in this country.”

“But you can brood in the sand,” said the gull.

“Thank you for the information, my good women,” said Aunt Eider-Duck. “But it is only a fancy of my niece’s. She is three years old now and marriageable.”

“Lord!” said the sparrow. “I was born last summer and, if it was only a little warmer, I could get married at once.”

“It’s easier for one than for another,” said the aunt.

“Let us fly home to the Faroes and get married, auntie,” said the young duck.“In a month’s time, my child,” said auntie. “But I must decline the honour for myself. I have now been married seven times and have had enough of it. Still, I will gladly chat about it with you. That is so awfully interesting.”

“The trees will not be green yet in a month,” said the sparrow. “This is only January.”

“We have no trees in the Faroes, my girl,” said auntie, “and we don’t want them either.”

“Has the young lady a sweetheart?” asked the gull.

“Not yet,” said auntie. “But he’ll come. You can get sweethearts for the asking. She has spent her three years dancing on the sea and having a good time. One must see a little life first.”“If only she hits upon the right one,” said the gull.

“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.

One day, a charming young eider-drake came and sat beside the two ladies on the ice.

“If he proposes to you, accept him,” whispered auntie. “He has the greenest neck I’ve seen for many a year.”

“If only he would!” said the young girl.

And he did.

After sitting for a while and talking of indifferent things, as long as etiquette required—and etiquette does not demand half as much of eider-duck as it does of men—he asked the young lady if she would be his wife. He went on to talk of birds’-nests and cliffs and dear little eggs and so on, but she stopped him:

“Yes,” she said; and so they were engaged.

He was awfully eloquent and swore to be faithful to her all his life and to build a nest for her and to sit on the eggs for her and to feed the children from morn till night. She nodded and could not speak for sheer happiness.

“Every word that he says is a lie,” said auntie. “But, lord, how charming it is!”

“It’s terrible!” said the sparrow and the gull. “Such a dear young lady!”

“Fiddle!” said auntie. “We all have to go through it. My seven husbands all said the same and not one of them kept his promise. But they were charming, for all that. Only they had not such green necks as this one. He’s splendid. I could fall in love with him myself.”

“When do we start?” asked Miss Eider-Duck.

“To-morrow early, my darling, if the wind is fair,” said her beau.

“I’ll go with you,” said auntie. “In the first place, it’s more proper. And then it’s so charming to see young people so happy.”

They started the next morning.

It was not yet light when the birds began their passage. Thousands of eider-duck flew along in successive flocks, while thousands more came up from every side. The gull and the sparrow woke up when they heard the screaming and singing in the air.

“Fancy going north in weather like this!” said the sparrow, shivering. “Why, it’s colder than ever!”

“There’s spring in the air when one’s in love,” said the gull.

2

Day and night, the northward flight proceeded.

There were so many birds that they were quite bewildering to see and, as time passed and they neared their destination, their longing increased and they flew as though there were fire under their wings. The aunt never left the young couple and was as light and swift as they and as happy as if she herself were going to be married for the eighth time.

At last they reached the Faroes, which were their home.

They screamed and quacked for joy when they saw the rocks rise from the sea and their wings beat with renewed vigour, tired though they were by the long journey. They fell upon the cliffs as upon a prey and soon there was not a spot left but a happy bird sat in it and flapped her wings and screamed.

“Now I’ll show you a good place for a nest,” said auntie to the young pair, who sat exchanging loving looks. “Come with me to the other side of the rock.”

They flew with her and reached the place where the man to whom the rock belonged had put little wooden boxes for the birds. There was just one empty one left and the bridegroom at once took possession.

“Here you will be able to sit on the eggs safely and comfortably, my darling,” he said.

“Yes—and you too,” she answered. “Don’t you remember that you promised to help me with my work?”

“I should think I did!” said he and kissed her.

“Lord, how charming!” said auntie.

“And I don’t want to live in that nasty box,” said the young duck. “I was looking forward most awfully to collecting sea-weed and straw and heather, as you told me you used to with your former wife. And that’s what I want to do also.”

“Be easy, my dear little girl,” he said. “Of course, we will line the box a bit, but let us be glad that there is something to start on. Remember that we have a long life before us, full of work and happiness, and don’t let us begin by doing more than we shall be able to keep up.”

“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.

“I am saving up my feathers,” he said. “You will lay four more eggs and my turn will come when you’ve rim out of down. I shall pluck myself bald if it’s for the good of our children.”

“Lord, how he’s romancing!” said auntie, who was standing near and heard all they said. “He’s just like my own husbands. They don’t mean a word of it, but still it does an old heart good to hear them.”

The young wife now accompanied her husband to the beach, where all was life and jollity.

Scores of husbands were there with their wives and all the old gentlemen and ladies who no longer had a nest. They dived and chatted and told funny stories. But the young wife mostly sat apart or talked to the other young wives, who also were in a rather solemn mood. And soon she declared that she must positively lay another egg.“Come, dear,” she said. “Come, let us go home. There’s a new egg coming.”

“What a misfortune!” said her husband, who was in the midst of a quadrille with a couple of young ducks of the summer before, who were not yet thinking of marriage.

But he went back with her to the nest and she laid her egg. She plucked some more down, while he addressed her in beautiful and touching phrases, and then they went out again, for he simply could not stay at home in the nest.

But they had not gone half-way when she felt another egg coming and told him so.

“You had better stay up there in the nest,” he said, crossly. “This running to and fro does not amuse me and is bad for the children’s health.”

“Won’t you stay with me?” she asked.

“I’ll come and have a look at you as often as I can,” he said.

“And that’s the way you keep the promises you made me!” said she and burst into tears.

“My own darling little wife!” he said. “I can’t help you the least little bit with the eggs. You’ve got to lay them and lay them you must. My work for our dear children and for yourself will begin when the eggs are all laid and you have started hatching them. And then, of course, when the little darlings come out, they will have to be fed and taught how to get on in the world. I am saving up my strength till that time comes, you see. And then I will sit on the eggs, while you go for a nice little trip and play about with the others down below.”

“Did you ever hear the like?” said auntie. “How beautifully he talks! You’ve got a really nice husband.”

And so the young wife went back to the nest alone and laid her third egg. Auntie flew down to the beach with the husband:

“I’ll look after him, dear,” she whispered; “trust me for that.”

And then the fourth egg came and the fifth.

She had plucked all the feathers from her breast that she thought she could spare and placed them in a nice little, mouse-gray heap around the eggs. Then she sat upon them herself and brooded and brooded. At first, from time to time, she went to the edge of the cliff to look down at the beach, where her husband was with the other men and the ladies who had no eggs. But she did this less and less often. She took no food, grew thin and brooded and brooded. Her aunt called every day to have a chat with her.

4

One day, the husband came and sat down by the nest. He looked very spruce with his green neck and his bright eyes.

“Well, how are you getting on?” he asked.

“I despise you,” she said. “Go away and never show your face to me again. You coaxed me with your fair promises and not one of them have you kept. I have had to pluck all the down I wanted from my own breast. I’ve been sitting here alone, day after day, while you’ve been amusing yourself with all those revellers on the beach. You haven’t brought me a bite of food.”

“Tush!” he said, scratching in the sand with his fine, yellow feet. “I shall be pleased to bring you a small mussel from time to time, if that gives you any satisfaction. But, for goodness’ sake, don’t be so formal! Do you really imagine that men weigh their words when they’re engaged?”

“Get out of this!” she screamed. “I don’t want my children to see their unnatural father.”

“Oh, as for that, I wouldn’t give a straw to see that callow brood,” he replied. “And, upon my word, you’re no beauty yourself! You’re so lean and full of bald spots. You’re very different from the pretty girl I fell in love with.”

She was about to fly up out of the nest and give him one for himself; but she lay as though rooted to the floor and stared at a man who put his head over the edge of the cliff. Her husband flew away with a loud scream and auntie did the same. But the man hardly gave them a glance. He scrambled up the rock and set down a great basket, which he carried, beside the nest.

“What a fine nest!” he said. “There’s down enough here to stuff a little pillow with.”

“What do you want?” asked the eider-duck.

“I shan’t hurt you,” said the man. “It would be silly of me to do you any harm; why, I put the box here for you myself. I only want the down that’s in your nest.”

“Never!” cried the bird, spreading out her wings and holding on to the nest as fast as she could. “What should I do with my children?”

“Why, pluck some more down from your pretty breast, my dear,” said the man, kindly. “Now stand aside and let me get by, without any nonsense. After all, I’m the stronger of the two and the nest belongs to me.”

But the young eider-duck did not stir from her place. She pecked at his hands with her beak and cried:

“Go down to the beach and catch my husband and my old aunt! Kill them, if you like, and take all their down. It’s only what they deserve. But you must let my down be!”

“Stuff, my pet!” said the man. “The best down is what a mother plucks from her breast. We all know that. And, if your children have to do without, it will come in useful for other children, dainty little human children, whose parents can afford to buy the softest little pillows for them.”

“At least, wait until my children are ready!” cried the eider-duck in despair.

“A nice thing!” said the man. “What, let you lie there and spoil the down? Come, clear out!”

He pushed her aside, took all the down, put it in his basket and went away, saying:

“Pluck some more feathers if you want them for your young. That’s what a good mother always does.”

Then she went to the edge of the rock and looked out.

The eider-duck were disporting themselves gloriously. She could distinctly see her husband and her aunt diving and amusing themselves as though life were a sheer enjoyment. And all the others were doing the same: not one of them thought that there was a man up above emptying all the nests of their precious down.

“Come up here and pluck your breast!” she screamed. “Now is the time to keep some of your promises. Your eggs are lying bare and cold, while you are enjoying yourself down there, you wretch!”

But her voice died away in the noise of the wind and surf. No one heard her cries or beheld her despair. She remembered that the eggs were really getting cold, while she stood there, and she hurried back to the nest.

One of the eggs began to burst and soon a tiny beak peeped out of the hole in the shell. She now flew to help the little chap out. She stood gazing at him for a moment and saw what a darling he was. And then, like a mad thing, she began to pluck the last remaining feathers from her breast and every part of her and laid them round the little fellow. She ceased complaining and thought only of how she could make her children warm and comfortable.

5

Two days later, all the five young ones were out.

The young mother saw with pride how smart they were. Already, they stretched out their feet, which had a delicate web between the toes, yawned, lifted their little wings and even quacked a bit.

“You must go to the beach at once,” she said. “I am sure that there are no prettier children on the whole rock. But, should you meet your wretch of a father, mind you look the other way.”

She went down the rock and the five little ones followed so nimbly that it was a joy to see. Half-way down, she met her aunt:“I was just coming up to see you,” said the old lady. “I say, what darlings your five children are!”

“Aren’t they dears?” said the mother, who forgot all her rage when she heard her aunt’s praises.

“Let me take one of them to walk with,” said auntie.

“Not while I live!” said the mother, severely. “I know too well how flighty you are, auntie. My children are mine and nobody else’s and mine they shall remain.”

At that moment, a shot rang out through the air.

It was a silly shot, fired at random by a silly boy who wanted to show off his father’s gun. But the gun was loaded and the shot spread and Mother Eider-Duck sank to the ground with a scream.“My young ones! My young ones!” she moaned.

“They’re all right, all five of them,” said auntie. “Be easy. But what’s the matter?”

“I’m dying,” said the mother. “I am full of shot. I know for certain that I’m dying. Oh, my children, my children!”

“Never mind about them,” said auntie. “I shall be a mother to them in your stead and look after them as if they were my own.”

“Oh, auntie,” said the mother, in a feeble voice, “you are so terribly frivolous. I have seen you myself from up there, playing and fooling about with the men and the girls on the beach. How can a mother trust her children to you?”

“What do you mean?” asked auntie. “Surely, it’s quite different when one has children to care for. You just die in peace, do you hear?”

And that is what Mother Eider-Duck did.

She sank into herself and only just had time to take a last look at her children. But her aunt did not even wait till she was quite dead. She forgot everything, except that she had suddenly got five beautiful children, and at once walked off with them to the beach. She knew the nearest way, because she had already been there several times with children. She made the road easy for them and helped them in every possible manner, fondling them with her beak and praising or scolding them according to their deserts.

By the time that their mother had closed her eyes, the children were down on the beach.

They at once swam and dived in a way that was a joy to see. Auntie watched over them and almost burst with pride. An old beau came up and asked her to take a walk with him, but she gave him a smart rap with her beak:

“Don’t you see the children, you old coxcomb?” she said. “Get out of this, or I’ll teach you!”

And she remained with the children until they were able to take care of themselves. She travelled to the South with them, winter after winter, and listened to the men courting them and befooling them, just as their father had done to their mother. She showed them good places for their nests, paid wedding-visits and was honoured and esteemed all over the rock, until, one day, a sea-eagle came and caught her and gobbled her up.

THE END