There ; take a hint . Good-bye . '' And away Tom went for seven days and seven nights due north-west , till he came to a great codbank , the like of which he never saw before . The great cod lay below in tens of thousands , and gobbled shell-fish all day long ; and the blue sharks roved above in hundreds , and gobbled them when they came up . So they ate , and ate , and ate each other , as they had done since the making of the world ; for no man had come here yet to catch them , and find out how rich old Mother Carey is . And there he saw the last of the Gairfowl , standing up on the Allalonestones all alone . And a very grand old lady she was , full three feet high , and bolt upright , like some old Highland chieftainess . She had on a black velvet gown , and a white pinner and apron , and a very high bridge to her nose -LRB- which is a sure mark of high breeding -RRB- , and a large pair of white spectacles on it , which made her look rather odd : but it was the ancient fashion of her house . And instead of wings , she had two little feathery arms , with which she fanned herself , and complained of the dreadful heat ; and she kept on crooning an old song to herself , which she learnt when she was a little baby-bird , long ago - `` Two little birds they sat on a stone , One swam away , and then there was one , With a fal-lal-la-lady . `` The other swam after , and then there was none , And so the poor stone was left all alone ; With a fal-lal-la-lady . '' It was `` flew '' away , properly , and not `` swam '' away : but , as she could not fly , she had a right to alter it . However , it was a very fit song for her to sing , because she was a lady herself . Tom came up to her very humbly , and made his bow ; and the first thing she said was - `` Have you wings ? Can you fly ? '' `` Oh dear , no , ma'am ; I should not think of such thing , '' said cunning little Tom . `` Then I shall have great pleasure in talking to you , my dear . It is quite refreshing nowadays to see anything without wings . They must all have wings , forsooth , now , every new upstart sort of bird , and fly . What can they want with flying , and raising themselves above their proper station in life ? In the days of my ancestors no birds ever thought of having wings , and did very well without ; and now they all laugh at me because I keep to the good old fashion .
Why , the very marrocks and dovekies have got wings , the vulgar creatures , and poor little ones enough they are ; and my own cousins too , the razor-bills , who are gentlefolk born , and ought XXXXX know better than to ape their inferiors . ''
So as because for like of on till to with