High above a quiet town, on the roof of a modest house, a family of storks had built their nest. Four young stork chicks stood unsteadily, practicing how to balance on their long legs, while the mother and father stork guarded them closely. Below, in the courtyard, a group of children gathered and sang an old folk song about storks. The tune was playful, but the words were cruel and frightening, describing storks losing their children in violent and terrible ways. The chicks trembled with fear and asked their mother if such horrors could truly happen. She gently calmed them, saying the song was only foolish nonsense, and promised that once they learned to fly well, they would journey to warm lands like Egypt, where wide rivers flowed and great pyramids shone under the sun.
Among the children stood a boy named Peter. While the others shouted the harsh lyrics with laughter, Peter stepped back and refused to join in. He said it was shameful to mock such beautiful birds and that he wanted no part in hurting them, even with words. The stork family noticed him immediately. They remembered the kindness in Peter’s voice, just as clearly as they remembered the face of the loud, cruel child who led the teasing and delighted in the threats.
In the old Danish belief, unborn children were said to sleep in a deep, quiet pond, dreaming peacefully until storks carried them to waiting families. When autumn arrived and the young storks had grown strong wings, the stork family gathered before their long flight south. They spoke together about what they had seen and heard in the town below, and they decided that human actions deserved answers. For Peter, who had shown compassion, they chose a gift of joy. They would bring his family a little brother and a little sister, so he would never lack companions. For the cruel child who led the mockery, they chose a far darker fate. They would deliver to his house a child who would never awaken, a sorrow meant to reflect the heartlessness he had shown.
When the storks carried out their decisions, the contrast was impossible to ignore. Peter became a proud and gentle older brother, surrounded by laughter and new life. In the other household, silence and grief settled in, teaching a lesson no song could ever erase. The young storks, watching from the sky, finally understood that every human choice is witnessed by nature, and that kindness and cruelty always return to their source.
From that time on, children in Denmark treated storks with respect whenever they saw them nesting on rooftops. They believed the storks were messengers of life and quiet judges of the human heart, reminding everyone that harmony with nature begins with compassion. At its core, the fairy tale reflects a Nordic spirit that does not soften its warnings. True goodness is rewarded, true cruelty is answered, and the natural world never forgets how it is treated.