diving-duck, and said a few words. And thenit appeared as though the one addressed hardly dared raise his bill toreply.
But then there was a little loon--a tiny mischievous baggage--whocouldn't stand all this ceremony. He dived suddenly, and disappearedunder the water's edge. Soon after that, one of the swans let out ascream, and swam off so quickly that the water foamed. Then he stoppedand began to look majestic once more. But soon, another one shrieked inthe same way as the first one, and then a third.
The little loon wasn't able to stay under water any longer, but appearedon the water's edge, little and black and venomous. The swans rushedtoward him; but when they saw what a poor little thing it was, theyturned abruptly--as if they considered themselves too good to quarrelwith him. Then the little loon dived again, and pinched their feet. Itcertainly must have hurt; and the worst of it was, that they could notmaintain their dignity. At once they took a decided stand. They began tobeat the air with their wings so that it thundered; came forward abit--as though they were running on the water--got wind under theirwings, and raised themselves.
When the swans were gone they were greatly missed; and those who hadlately been amused by the little loon's antics scolded him for histhoughtlessness.
The boy walked toward land again. There he stationed himself to see howthe pool-snipe played. They resembled small storks; like these, they hadlittle bodies, long legs and necks, and light, swaying movements; onlythey were not gray, but brown. They stood in a long row on the shorewhere it was washed by waves. As soon as a wave rolled in, the whole rowran backward; as soon as it receded, they followed it. And they keptthis up for hours.
The showiest of all the birds were the burrow-ducks. They wereundoubtedly related to the ordinary ducks; for, like these, they too hada thick-set body, broad bill, and webbed feet; but they were much moreelaborately gotten up. The feather dress, itself, was white; aroundtheir necks they wore a broad gold band; the wing-mirror shone in green,red, and black; and the wing-edges were black, and the head was darkgreen and shimmered like satin.
As soon as any of these appeared on the shore, the others said: "Now,just look at those things! They know how to tog themselves out." "Ifthey were not so conspicuous, they wouldn't have to dig their nests inthe earth, but could lay above ground, like anyone else," said a brownmallard-duck. "They may try as much as they please, still they'll neverget anywhere with such noses," said a gray goose. And this was actuallytrue. The burrow-ducks had a big knob on the base of the bill, whichspoiled their appearance.
Close to the shore, sea-gulls and sea-swallows moved forward on thewater and fished. "What kind of fish are you catching?" asked a wildgoose. "It's a stickleback. It's Oeland stickleback. It's the beststickleback in the world," said a gull. "Won't you taste of it?" And heflew up to the goose, with his mouth full of the little fishes, andwanted to give her some. "Ugh! Do you think that I eat such filth?" saidthe wild goose.
The next morning it was just as cloudy. The wild geese walked about onthe meadow and fed; but the boy had gone to the seashore to gathermussels. There were plenty of them; and when he thought that the nextday, perhaps, they would be in some place where they couldn't get anyfood at all, he concluded that he would try to make himself a littlebag, which he could fill with mussels. He found an old sedge on themeadow, which was strong and tough; and out of this he began to braid aknapsack. He worked at this for several hours, but he was well satisfiedwith it when it was finished.
At dinner time all the wild geese came running and asked him if he hadseen anything of the white goosey-gander. "No, he has not been with me,"said the boy. "We had him with us all along until just lately," saidAkka, "but now we no longer know where he's to be found."
The boy jumped up, and was terribly frightened. He asked if any fox oreagle had put in an appearance, or if any human being had been seen inthe neighbourhood. But no one had noticed anything dangerous. Thegoosey-gander had probably lost his way in the mist.
But it was just as great a misfortune for the boy, in whatever way thewhite one had been lost, and he started off immediately to hunt for him.The mist shielded him, so that he could run wherever he wished withoutbeing seen, but it also prevented him from seeing. He ran southwardalong the shore--all the way down to the lighthouse and the mist cannonon the island's extreme point. It was the same bird confusioneverywhere, but no goosey-gander. He ventured over to Ottenby estate,and he searched every one of the old, hollow oaks in Ottenby grove, buthe saw no trace of the goosey-gander.
He searched until it began to grow dark. Then he had to turn back againto the eastern shore. He walked with heavy steps, and was fearfullyblue. He didn't know what would become of him if he couldn't find thegoosey-gander. There was no one whom he could spare less.
But when he wandered over the sheep meadow, what was that big, whitething that came toward him in the mist if it wasn't the goosey-gander?He was all right, and very glad that, at last, he had been able to findhis way back to the others. The mist had made him so dizzy, he said,that he had wandered around on the big meadow all day long. The boythrew his arms around his neck, for very joy, and begged him to takecare of himself, and not wander away from the others. And he promised,positively, that he never would do this again. No, never again.
But the next morning, when the boy went down to the beach and hunted formussels, the geese came running and asked if he had seen thegoosey-gander. No, of course he hadn't. "Well, then the goosey-ganderwas lost again. He had gone astray in the mist, just as he had done theday before."
The boy ran off in great terror and began to search. He found one placewhere the Ottenby wall was so tumble-down that he could climb over it.Later, he went about, first on the shore which gradually widened andbecame so large that there was room for fields and meadows andfarms--then up on the flat highland, which lay in the middle of theisland, and where there were no buildings except windmills, and wherethe turf was so thin that the white cement shone under it.
Meanwhile, he could not find the goosey-gander; and as it drew on towardevening, and the boy must return to the beach, he couldn't believeanything but that his travelling companion was lost. He was sodepressed, he did not know what to do with himself.
He had just climbed over the wall again when he heard a stone crash downclose beside him. As he turned to see what it was, he thought that hecould distinguish something that moved on a stone pile which lay closeto the wall. He stole nearer, and saw the goosey-gander come trudgingwearily over the stone pile, with several long fibres in his mouth. Thegoosey-gander didn't see the boy, and the boy did not call to him, butthought it advisable to find out first why the goosey-gander time andagain disappeared in this manner.
And he soon learned the reason for it. Up in the stone pile lay a younggray goose, who cried with joy when the goosey-gander came. The boycrept near, so that he heard what they said; then he found out that thegray goose had been wounded in one wing, so that she could not fly, andthat her flock had travelled away from her, and left her alone. She hadbeen near death's door with hunger, when the white goosey-gander hadheard her call, the other day, and had sought her out. Ever since, hehad been carrying food to her. They had both hoped that she would bewell before they left the island, but, as yet, she could neither fly norwalk. She was very much worried over this, but he comforted her with thethought that he shouldn't travel for a long time. At last he bade hergood-night, and promised to come the next day.
The boy let the goosey-gander go; and as soon as he was gone, he stole,in turn, up to the stone heap. He was angry because he had beendeceived, and now he wanted to say to that gray goose that thegoosey-gander was his property. He was going to take the boy up toLapland, and there would be no talk of his staying here on her account.But now, when he saw the young gray goose close to, he understood, notonly why the goosey-gander had gone and carried food to her for twodays, but also why he had not wished to mention that he had helped her.She had the prettiest little head; her feather-dress was like softsatin, and the eyes were mild and pleading.
When she saw the boy, she wanted to run away; but the left wing was outof joint and dragged on the ground, so that it interfered with hermovements.
"You mustn't be afraid of me," said the boy, and didn't look nearly soangry as he had intended to appear. "I'm Thumbietot, MortenGoosey-gander's comrade," he continued. Then he stood there, and didn'tknow what he wanted to say.
Occasionally one finds something among animals which makes one wonderwhat sort of creatures they really are. One is almost afraid that theymay be transformed human beings. It was something like this with thegray goose. As soon as Thumbietot said who he was, she lowered her neckand head very charmingly before him, and said in a voice that was sopretty that he couldn't believe it was a goose who spoke: "I am veryglad that
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