Nonsense Books · Chapter
Chapter VI: The History of the Seven Young Storks explained
The seven young Storks set out on a journey, traveling for many weeks in straight and crooked lines, then running a great distance.
What happens
The seven young Storks set out on a journey, traveling for many weeks in straight and crooked lines, then running a great distance. They encounter a large frog but quarrel over how to divide it, allowing the frog to escape. Their argument escalates into a violent fight that lasts a week, and they ultimately peck each other to pieces, leaving only their bills.
Themes in this chapter
Nonsense and Absurdity
The absurdly detailed journey and the self-destructive quarrel over a frog exemplify Lear's nonsensical style.
Mortality and Loss
The young Storks' violent end, pecking each other to pieces, highlights themes of mortality and loss.
Characters to notice
- The Storks
The seven young Storks set out on a journey, quarrel over a frog, and ultimately destroy each other.
Key passages
“When the seven young Storks set out, they walked or flew for fourteen weeks in a straight line, and for six weeks more in a crooked one; and after that they ran as hard as they could for one hundred and eight miles; and after that they stood still, and made a himmeltanious chatter-clatter-blattery noise with their bills.”
The seven young Storks began their journey, traveling for fourteen weeks in a straight line, then six weeks in a crooked line, followed by a hundred-and-eight-mile run, after which they stopped and made a chaotic clattering noise with their bills.
The journey's precise but absurd measurements and the invented word 'himmeltanious' emphasize the nonsensical nature of the tale.
“And when they saw that he was gone, they began to chatter-clatter, blatter-platter, patter-blatter, matter-clatter, flatter-quatter, more violently than ever; and after they had fought for a week, they pecked each other all to little pieces, so that at last nothing was left of any of them except their bills.”
Realizing the frog had escaped, the Storks escalated their quarrel into a week-long fight, pecking each other to bits until only their bills remained.
The onomatopoeic string of nonsense words and the grimly absurd outcome underscore the themes of absurdity and mortality.