The he-stork picked the gosling up with his beak, caught it by the head, and threw it down from the barn top. He began to destroy the nest with his beak and legs, looking no longer at his mate. Then he rested awhile, and flew away. The she-stork smoothed her feathers, and began to sharpen the point of her beak, knowing that she was lost, that “he” had flown to tell the flock about her sin. She lifted one foot, began to sharpen her beak still harder against the harrow, and wept in her own way. She was sure that it was not her fault, that a misfortune had befallen her, and she thought she would tell it to the elders of the flock. She would show them the two other children, real little storks, with red feet and red beaks. And she wept again. Zelik and Rachel sat on the raft. “You know, Rachel?” “What?” “From now on I’ll be able to swim just like a duck.” “How?” “I’ll cut into my toes--” “You mustn’t do it, do you hear, Zelik? I swear, I’ll always be mad at you, always!” “Well, let me finish. Listen to me first.” “I won’t let you anyway.” “I’ll take the skins of some goose-feet, fasten them between my toes, and keep them there till they grow into me, and then--” “And won’t your toes bleed?” Rachel cut him short. “Of course, they won’t. Ofelo taught me to cut a finger with the sharpest knife so that no blood would flow. And her mother is a witch.” “But you are mad with Ofelo.” “Of course, I’m mad with her. You know, Rachel, Ofelo knows of a grass that if you lick it, you sleep a whole day and night. You don’t believe me? I swear it.” “She does?” They were silent for a while. “Zelik, is it really true that Ofelo’s mother walks in shoes made of the veins of men?” “Of course, you know, Ofelo’s mother can turn into a straw and hide herself in the smallest crack. She is a real witch.” The Vistula rippled. The ripples widened into rings. The rings grew longer, swallowed each other and grew still larger and larger, and the erstwhile quiet Vistula, that had looked like a crystal mirror, grew dark and rigid. A swallow fluttered by, and seeing other swallows in the water he dropped from on high, dipped his beak into the Vistula. The Vistula rippled again. Zelik related that below the “black stone,” in a glass palace lived Wanda, the queen of the Vistula. In the summer, during the great heat, when the Vistula grew shallow, Wanda and her sisters gathered on the stone and kidnapped little children. She had attempted to catch him three times but he knew a secret saying, which he uttered and that caused a fiery ring to grow between him and her, and she could not reach him. “Zelik, why does Wanda need so many children?” “Why does she need them? She kisses them till their souls leave their bodies, and then she eats their hearts.” The children saw a flock of storks settle on an island in the middle of the Vistula. “They’re going to have a wedding,” Zelik said, turning to Rachel. “Come, we’ll get there with the boat.”