A number of Storks had taken up their abode in the market-town of Tangen, in Bavaria. Perfect harmony reigned in every family, and their lives were passed in happiness and freedom. Unfortunately, a female, who had been up to that time the most correct of Storks, allowed herself to be led away by the idle gallantries of a young male; this took place in the absence of her mate, who was engaged in seeking food for his family. This guilty _liaison_ continued until one day the male, returning unexpectedly, became convinced of her infidelity. He did not, however, venture to take the law into his own hands; he was reluctant to dip his bill into the blood of her he had once loved so fondly. He arraigned her before a tribunal composed of all the birds at the time assembled for their autumnal migration. Having stated the facts, he demanded the severest judgment of the court against the accused. The ungrateful spouse was condemned to death by unanimous consent, and was immediately torn in pieces. As to the male bird, although now avenged, he departed to bury his sorrows in the recesses of some desert, and the place which once knew him afterwards knew him no more. The Storks of the Levant manifest a still greater susceptibility. The inhabitants of Smyrna, who know how far the males carry their feelings of conjugal honour, make these birds the subjects of rather a cruel amusement. They divert themselves by placing Hen's eggs in the nest of the Stork. At the sight of this unusual production the male allows a terrible suspicion to gnaw his heart. By the help of his imagination, he soon persuades himself that his mate has betrayed him; in spite of the protestations of the poor thing, he delivers her over to the other Storks, who are drawn together by his cries, and the innocent and unfortunate victim is pecked to pieces. Besides the numerous virtues that we have just stated--paternal love, conjugal fidelity, chastity, and gratitude--the ancients attributed to them (among birds) the monopoly of filial piety. They believed that these birds maintained and nourished their parents in their old age, and devoted themselves to alleviating the trials of the last years of their lives with the most tender care. Hence was derived the name of the "Pelargonian Law" (from the Greek +pelargos+, a Crane), the name given by the Greeks to the law which compelled children to maintain their parents when old age had rendered them incapable of working. This last feature in its character has not a little contributed to the universal celebrity of the Stork.