littlerunt of a dog was nothing to be afraid of and he rushed ahead.
The wild goose that Smirre Fox tugged after him, heard the clatter asthe boy's wooden shoes beat against the ice, and she could hardlybelieve her ears. "Does that infant think he can take me away from thefox?" she wondered. And in spite of her misery, she began to cackleright merrily, deep down in her windpipe. It was almost as if she hadlaughed.
"The first thing he knows, he'll fall through a crack in the ice,"thought she.
But dark as the night was, the boy saw distinctly all the cracks andholes there were, and took daring leaps over them. This was because hehad the elf's good eyesight now, and could see in the dark. He saw bothlake and shore just as clearly as if it had been daylight.
Smirre Fox left the ice where it touched the shore. And just as he wasworking his way up to the land-edge, the boy shouted: "Drop that goose,you sneak!"
Smirre didn't know who was calling to him, and wasted no time in lookingaround, but increased his pace. The fox made straight for the forest andthe boy followed him, with never a thought of the danger he was running.All he thought about was the contemptuous way in which he had beenreceived by the wild geese; and he made up his mind to let them see thata human being was something higher than all else created.
He shouted, again and again, to that dog, to make him drop his game."What kind of a dog are you, who can steal a whole goose and not feelashamed of yourself? Drop her at once! or you'll see what a beatingyou'll get. Drop her, I say, or I'll tell your master how you behave!"
When Smirre Fox saw that he had been mistaken for a scary dog, he was soamused that he came near dropping the goose. Smirre was a greatplunderer who wasn't satisfied with only hunting rats and pigeons in thefields, but he also ventured into the farmyards to steal chickens andgeese. He knew that he was feared throughout the district; and anythingas idiotic as this he had not heard since he was a baby.
The boy ran so fast that the thick beech-trees appeared to be runningpast him--backward, but he caught up with Smirre. Finally, he was soclose to him that he got a hold on his tail. "Now I'll take the goosefrom you anyway," cried he, and held on as hard as ever he could, but hehadn't strength enough to stop Smirre. The fox dragged him along untilthe dry foliage whirled around him.
But now it began to dawn on Smirre how harmless the thing was thatpursued him. He stopped short, put the goose on the ground, and stood onher with his forepaws, so she couldn't fly away. He was just about tobite off her neck--but then he couldn't resist the desire to tease theboy a little. "Hurry off and complain to the master, for now I'm goingto bite the goose to death!" said he.
Certainly the one who was surprised when he saw what a pointed nose, andheard what a hoarse and angry voice that dog which he was pursuinghad,--was the boy! But now he was so enraged because the fox had madefun of him, that he never thought of being frightened. He took a firmerhold on the tail, braced himself against a beech trunk; and just as thefox opened his jaws over the goose's throat, he pulled as hard as hecould. Smirre was so astonished that he let himself be pulled backward acouple of steps--and the wild goose got away. She fluttered upwardfeebly and heavily. One wing was so badly wounded that she could barelyuse it. In addition to this, she could not see in the night darkness ofthe forest but was as helpless as the blind. Therefore she could in noway help the boy; so she groped her way through the branches and flewdown to the lake again.
Then Smirre made a dash for the boy. "If I don't get the one, I shallcertainly have the other," said he; and you could tell by his voice howmad he was. "Oh, don't you believe it!" said the boy, who was in thebest of spirits because he had saved the goose. He held fast by thefox-tail, and swung with it--to one side--when the fox tried to catchhim.
There was such a dance in that forest that the dry beech-leaves fairlyflew! Smirre swung round and round, but the tail swung too; while theboy kept a tight grip on it, so the fox could not grab him.
The boy was so gay after his success that in the beginning, he laughedand made fun of the fox. But Smirre was persevering--as old huntersgenerally are--and the boy began to fear that he should be captured inthe end. Then he caught sight of a little, young beech-tree that hadshot up as slender as a rod, that it might soon reach the free air abovethe canopy of branches which the old beeches spread above it.
Quick as a flash, he let go of the fox-tail and climbed the beech tree.Smirre Fox was so excited that he continued to dance around after histail.
"Don't bother with the dance any longer!" said the boy.
But Smirre couldn't endure the humiliation of his failure to get thebetter of such a little tot, so he lay down under the tree, that hemight keep a close watch on him.
The boy didn't have any too good a time of it where he sat, astride afrail branch. The young beech did not, as yet, reach the highbranch-canopy, so the boy couldn't get over to another tree, and hedidn't dare to come down again. He was so cold and numb that he almostlost his hold around the branch; and he was dreadfully sleepy; but hedidn't dare fall asleep for fear of tumbling down.
My! but it was dismal to sit in that way the whole night through, out inthe forest! He never before understood the real meaning of "night." Itwas just as if the whole world had become petrified, and never couldcome to life again.
Then it commenced to dawn. The boy was glad that everything began tolook like itself once more; although the chill was even sharper than ithad been during the night.
Finally, when the sun got up, it wasn't yellow but red. The boy thoughtit looked as though it were angry and he wondered what it was angryabout. Perhaps it was because the night had made it so cold and gloomyon earth, while the sun was away.
The sunbeams came down in great clusters, to see what the night had beenup to. It could be seen how everything blushed--as if they all hadguilty consciences. The clouds in the skies; the satiny beech-limbs; thelittle intertwined branches of the forest-canopy; the hoar-frost thatcovered the foliage on the ground--everything grew flushed and red. Moreand more sunbeams came bursting through space, and soon the night'sterrors were driven away, and such a marvellous lot of living thingscame forward. The black woodpecker, with the red neck, began to hammerwith its bill on the branch. The squirrel glided from his nest with anut, and sat down on a branch and began to shell it. The starling cameflying with a worm, and the bulfinch sang in the tree-top.
Then the boy understood that the sun had said to all these tinycreatures: "Wake up now, and come out of your nests! I'm here! Now youneed be afraid of nothing."
The wild-goose call was heard from the lake, as they were preparing forflight; and soon all fourteen geese came flying through the forest. Theboy tried to call to them, but they flew so high that his voice couldn'treach them. They probably believed the fox had eaten him up; and theydidn't trouble themselves to look for him.
The boy came near crying with regret; but the sun stood upthere--orange-coloured and happy--and put courage into the whole world."It isn't worth while, Nils Holgersson, for you to be troubled aboutanything, as long as I'm here," said the sun.
GOOSE-PLAY
_Monday, March twenty-first_.
Everything remained unchanged in the forest--about as long as it takes agoose to eat her breakfast. But just as the morning was verging onforenoon, a goose came flying, all by herself, under the thicktree-canopy. She groped her way hesitatingly, between the stems andbranches, and flew very slowly. As soon as Smirre Fox saw her, he lefthis place under the beech tree, and sneaked up toward her. The wildgoose didn't avoid the fox, but flew very close to him. Smirre made ahigh jump for her but he missed her; and the goose went on her way downto the lake.
It was not long before another goose came flying. She took the sameroute as the first one; and flew still lower and slower. She, too, flewclose to Smirre Fox, and he made such a high spring for her, that hisears brushed her feet. But she, too, got away from him unhurt, and wenther way toward the lake, silent as a shadow.
A little while passed and then there came another wild
goose. She flewstill slower and lower; and it seemed even more difficult for her tofind her way between the beech-branches. Smirre made a powerful spring!He was within a hair's breadth of catching her; but that goose alsomanaged to save herself.
Just after she had disappeared, came a fourth. She flew so slowly, andso badly, that Smirre Fox thought he could catch her without mucheffort, but he was afraid of failure now, and concluded to let her flypast--unmolested. She took the same direction the others had taken; andjust as she was come right above Smirre, she sank down so far that hewas tempted to jump for her. He jumped so high that he touched her withhis tail. But she flung herself quickly to one side and saved her life.
Before Smirre got through panting, three more geese came flying in arow. They flew just like the rest, and Smirre made high springs for
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