"You mean the beautiful castle up on the hill," asked Greta, "the one that I have always wanted to visit?" "Yes, dear, that very castle." "But I thought that Mr. Christianson didn't live there any more?" "He has been away for many years, but now he has come back to live in Vosborg." "And you mean that _I_ can go, and Hans, and Anna, too?" "Yes, Greta." "Oh, _Mother_!" Greta threw her arms around her mother's neck. "I must tell Hans right away." And off she dashed, with Chouse at her heels. CHAPTER V THE STORKS "Greta, I didn't know that you had storks on your farm," said Anna. "Of course we do," said Greta. "Every farm has a nest of storks." Hans and Greta had been showing Anna the garden and the river and all the animals on the farm. Greta herself had almost forgotten about the storks, because she was so used to them. And anyway, they weren't animals you could play with, like the kittens and the dog. "They bring us good luck," explained Hans. "Every farmer puts up an old wheel, or something else that is round, so the storks can build their nest on it. Sometimes he puts it on the roof of the barn and sometimes on the house." "Don't you have storks at home, Anna?" asked Greta. "Goodness, no! I don't think there's a stork in all Copenhagen, except maybe in the zoo." Anna couldn't take her eyes from the large round nest on the roof of the barn. "Do they stay here all the year round?" she asked. "It's too cold for them here in the winter. When cold weather comes, they all fly south. Father says that some of them go as far as Africa. But early in the spring they always come back." "Does the same family of storks come back every year?" asked Anna. "We _think_ it's the same family," answered Greta, "but we're never really sure, for you can't ever get very near the storks." While the children had been talking, one of the storks was standing on one leg on the edge of the nest. "That's the papa stork that you see now," explained Hans. "He's away most of the day, gathering food, but every now and then he comes back to the nest to rest. He always stands on one leg, just like that, when he rests." [Illustration: THE STORKS] "The mama stork has to stay on the nest all the time until the eggs hatch," said Greta. "Sometimes she stands up for a little while, but she never flies away." "I wonder how many eggs there are." Anna was more interested in the storks than in anything else on the farm. "Only four this year," said Hans. "I climbed up on the roof yesterday to find out. Some years there are five, and sometimes only three." "My, but you _are_ brave, Hans!" Anna looked at Hans in admiration. "That roof is terribly steep. I know _I'd_ be afraid to climb it." "But you are only a girl, Anna," teased Hans. "Just the same, I can climb as well as a boy. I'll show you." And before Hans could argue, Anna ran over to the house and climbed up the tree to Greta's balcony.