A friend of mine and I came and settled on this rock when we were young , to be out of the way of low people . Once we were a great nation , and spread over all the Northern Isles . But men shot us so , and knocked us on the head , and took our eggs -- why , if you will believe it , they say that on the coast of Labrador the sailors used to lay a plank from the rock on board the thing called their ship , and drive us along the plank by hundreds , till we tumbled down into the ship 's waist in heaps ; and then , I suppose , they ate us , the nasty fellows ! Well -- but -- what was I saying ? At last , there were none of us left , except on the old Gairfowlskerry , just off the Iceland coast , up which no man could climb . Even there we had no peace ; for one day , when I was quite a young girl , the land rocked , and the sea boiled , and the sky grew dark , and all the air was filled with smoke and dust , and down tumbled the old Gairfowlskerry into the sea . The dovekies and marrocks , of course , all flew away ; but we were too proud to do that . Some of us were dashed to pieces , and some drowned ; and those who were left got away to Eldey , and the dovekies tell me they are all dead now , and that another Gairfowlskerry has risen out of the sea close to the old one , but that it is such a poor flat place that it is not safe to live on : and so here I am left alone . '' This was the Gairfowl 's story , and , strange as it may seem , it is every word of it true . `` If you only had had wings ! '' said Tom ; `` then you might all have flown away too . '' `` Yes , young gentleman : and if people are not gentleman and ladies , and forget that noblesse oblige , they will find it as easy to get on in the world as other people who do n't care what they do . Why , if I had not recollected that noblesse oblige , I should not have been all alone now . '' And the poor old lady sighed . `` How was that , ma'am ? '' `` Why , my dear , a gentleman came hither with me , and after we had been here some time , he wanted to marry -- in fact , he actually proposed to me . Well , I ca n't blame him ; I was young , and very handsome then , I do n't deny : but you see , I could not hear of such a thing , because he was my deceased sister 's husband , you see ? '' `` Of course not , ma'am , '' said Tom ; though , of course , he knew nothing about it . `` She was very much diseased , I suppose ? '' `` You do not understand me , my dear .
I mean , that being a lady , and with right and honourable feelings , as our house always has had , I felt it my duty to snub him , and howk him , and peck him continually , XXXXX keep him at his proper distance ; and , to tell the truth , I once pecked him a little too hard , poor fellow , and he tumbled backwards off the rock , and -- really , it was very unfortunate , but it was not my fault -- a shark coming by saw him flapping , and snapped him up .
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