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diff --git a/43638-0.txt b/43638-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07d98fc --- /dev/null +++ b/43638-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2524 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43638 *** + +Our Little Swedish Cousin + + + + +The Little Cousin Series + + +[Illustration] + + Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates + in tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover, + per volume, 60 cents. + +[Illustration] + + +LIST OF TITLES + +BY MARY HAZELTON WADE (unless otherwise indicated) + + =Our Little African Cousin= + + =Our Little Armenian Cousin= + + =Our Little Brown Cousin= + + =Our Little Canadian Cousin= + By Elizabeth R. Macdonald + + =Our Little Chinese Cousin= + By Isaac Taylor Headland + + =Our Little Cuban Cousin= + + =Our Little Dutch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little English Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little Eskimo Cousin= + + =Our Little French Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little German Cousin= + + =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin= + + =Our Little Indian Cousin= + + =Our Little Irish Cousin= + + =Our Little Italian Cousin= + + =Our Little Japanese Cousin= + + =Our Little Jewish Cousin= + + =Our Little Korean Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + + =Our Little Mexican Cousin= + By Edward C. Butler + + =Our Little Norwegian Cousin= + + =Our Little Panama Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + + =Our Little Philippine Cousin= + + =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin= + + =Our Little Russian Cousin= + + =Our Little Scotch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little Siamese Cousin= + + =Our Little Spanish Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + + =Our Little Swedish Cousin= + By Claire M. Coburn + + =Our Little Swiss Cousin= + + =Our Little Turkish Cousin= + +[Illustration] + + L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + New England Building, Boston, Mass. + +[Illustration: SIGRID] + + + + + Our Little Swedish + Cousin + + By + Claire M. Coburn + + _Illustrated by_ + L. J. Bridgman and R. C. Woodberry + + + [Illustration] + + + Boston + L. C. Page & Company + _MDCCCCVI_ + + + + + _Copyright, 1906_ + BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + (INCORPORATED) + + _All rights reserved_ + + + First Impression, July, 1906 + + + _COLONIAL PRESS + Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. + Boston, U. S. A._ + + + + +Preface + + +FOR more than five thousand years, the ancestors of our little Swedish +cousin have dwelt in the Scandinavian peninsula. No wonder she loves +the stories of the Vikings, the old legends, customs, and fête-days. +They are her priceless heritage from the days of long ago. + +The snow and glaciers on the extreme north cut off this long tongue of +land, so that it is as separate from the rest of Europe as an island. +In the olden days, almost every Swede tilled the soil and lived remote +from his neighbour. Villages were few, so that each family created +its own little world of work and pleasure. Even the children must be +very industrious and ingenious to help supply the needs of the family. +Whether she lives in the city or the country, every little Swedish girl +to-day is taught this same thrift and industry. + +Because the winter months, when the sun shows his face but a few hours +each day, are long and dreary, our northern relatives fairly revel in +their short summers. The whole nation lives out-of-doors and rejoices +in the merry sunshine. All day excursions, picnics, and water trips are +crowded into the brief season. + +The peasant still owns his little red cottage and the well-to-do farmer +and the nobleman live in their old homesteads. The cities continue to +be small in number and in size, but slowly, slowly, the great throbbing +life of the outside world is creeping in to steal away much of the +picturesqueness of this old nation. + +You will be surprised to learn in how many ways the life of our little +Swedish cousin is similar to that of American children. But she is such +a very hospitable and polite little maid, I am sure she will give you a +hearty welcome if you visit her and see her for yourself at work and at +play. + + + + +Contents + + + CHAPTER PAGE + I. THE SKATING CARNIVAL 1 + II. THE KNITTING LESSON 14 + III. YULE-TIDE 29 + IV. AT GRANDMOTHER'S 45 + V. MIDSUMMER'S EVE 57 + VI. A VISIT TO SKANSEN 68 + VII. THROUGH THE GÖTA CANAL 80 + VIII. THE NAME-DAY 93 + + + + +List of Illustrations + + + PAGE + SIGRID _Frontispiece_ + BRITA AND HER FOOT-PUSHER 6 + "A SHEAF OF GRAIN IS FASTENED UP IN THE YARD + OF EVERY COUNTRY HOME" 38 + BAKING RYE BREAD AT GRANDMOTHER'S 52 + "IN A TWINKLING, THE CHILDREN . . . WERE DANCING + AROUND THE POLE" 62 + THE GÖTA CANAL 86 + + + + +Our Little Swedish Cousin + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE SKATING CARNIVAL + + +"SIGRID, Sigrid, hurry and get your skates. The ice is at last safe, +and mother says that we may go to the park with Miss Eklund, this +afternoon." + +Erik thrust his head through the nursery door to announce the good news +to his sister, who was poring over her lessons for the next day. + +"Oh!" cried the little girl as she quickly slipped out of her seat at +the long table, "I am so glad, for I thought I should never have a +chance to wear the new skates that father gave me on my birthday." + +In a trice, she had gathered up all her books, packed them neatly +away, and was off to put on her warm furs. She was a flaxen-haired +little maid, with very blue eyes, and plump rosy cheeks as round as an +apple, because she lived out-of-doors a great deal and romped with her +brothers. + +In just no time at all, she had put on her warm blue coat, lined with +gray squirrel, and a little cap to match, with the fur also on the +inside. She quickly fastened on her rubber overshoes, which had a +border of fur around the top and down the front. When she had found her +white woolen mittens with a quaint red and blue pattern knitted right +across the back, she was ready to join her brothers Erik and Anders. + +They were a jolly little party of merry-makers, for it was the first +skate of the season. Our Swedish cousins who live in the city may not +go skating whenever they like. They must wait till some wise person +appointed by the government says the ice is quite thick and firm. + +"I will beat you running down-stairs to the porter's door," called +Sigrid, who was bubbling over with good spirits. Away she flew, down +the long flight of stone steps, and stood dancing up and down on one +foot, waiting for the others. + +Sigrid's father was an officer in the king's army, and in the +winter-time, she and her big brother Erik and her little brother Anders +lived with their parents and their governess, Miss Eklund, in a large +apartment house in Stockholm. All the city people in Sweden live in +these houses, plain and substantial on the outside, but comfortable +inside, and not so very unlike American houses. In the centre of every +house is a great stone stairway, and at the entrance sits a doorkeeper +behind a tiny port-hole window. Every one who came to call on Sigrid's +mother, who was a very hospitable lady, and had many guests, must +ring the porter's bell. Then up would bob his head before the little +window to see if he should let them in. He peered through the window so +quickly after any one rang the bell that he always reminded Sigrid of a +Jack-in-the-box. + +"Gerda and Per are coming too," said little Anders as he walked by Miss +Eklund's side. He had just learned to skate, so that he felt quite +grown-up to be allowed to go at all. Everybody can skate in Sweden, so +that the children learn when they are very young. + +The merry group crossed the street to the left side, instead of to the +right as we should go, and started off briskly. Every few steps, Sigrid +would make a little bobbing courtesy as she met some older friend. Such +a funny little bow it was, made by quickly bending the knee without +stopping her walk. + +"Brita has such a beautiful new foot-pusher that her father has bought +her," exclaimed Sigrid. They had reached the open country near the +skating-park, and a couple of children rapidly skimmed past them on +these strange sleds. "Don't you think that I am old enough to have a +foot-pusher now, Miss Eklund?" + +Christmas was very near and the air was already full of secrets, so +Miss Eklund smiled to herself and replied, "Perhaps you might ask the +good father at home what he thinks about it." + +I don't believe that you know what a "foot-pusher" or "kicker" is. I +am sure I don't know why you should. Picture to yourself the framework +of an ordinary sled with two wooden rods fastened at right angles to +each runner. In the front part of this odd-looking object, Brita had +strapped her skates to a low narrow seat. She stood on one runner, +grasped these rods, and gave a quick little kick with the other foot, +which hastened the sled along at a lively pace. + +[Illustration: BRITA AND HER FOOT-PUSHER] + +Soon the gleaming sheet of ice spread out before them. Already it was +quite dark with people who were gliding merrily about. + +"Oh, Sigrid, the band has begun to blow," cried Erik gleefully, for a +Swedish ice carnival is never complete without a band "to blow," as +they say. + +"When I came home from school this noon," continued Erik, "I saw them +thrusting the little evergreen trees into the snow around the seats." + +Fir-trees and clumps of old beeches grew on the snow-clad hills about +the pond, but this wreath of evergreen trees on the rim of the ice, +was to shelter the older people who sat wrapped in furs to watch the +sport. + +"Those boys look like great white birds," said Sigrid, who was already +fastening on her skates. She stopped a minute to watch a group of three +boys who were skating with sails attached to their backs,--big white +sails shaped like a capital A with the top cut off. + +"Now for a race," cried Anders, and away they glided over the ice to +find Gerda and Per, who lived in the same big apartment house. + +Though it was only three o'clock in the afternoon, the sun had already +set, for you will remember that in Stockholm the winter days are very +short, and in the middle of the winter the lazy sun does not get up +till after nine o'clock in the morning. But the twilight lingers for +a long time, so that it does not get dark for a couple of hours after +sundown. + +All too soon, it was time to start for home, but none of the children +thought of teasing to stay longer, for Swedish children are taught to +obey without asking why. + +Already a couple of huge bonfires flamed up along the shore. Just +as they were leaving the edge of the pond, a dozen dark figures +with blazing torches passed them. So silently and swiftly did the +little procession twinkle by, that you might have thought them +will-o'-the-wisp lights. But the children knew they were expert +ski-runners, who were bound for the smooth hillside. + +The long white slope was just the best place for the ski-lobing, and +it was quite alive with people, for no winter sport is more wildly +exciting. Every one wore narrow strips of wood, sometimes twelve feet +long, turned up at the front, to the centre of which the foot was +firmly secured. At a given signal, they placed their feet together, and +down the hillside they shot, as though they had wings. + +"I never see ski-lobing without thinking of the olden times when the +fleet-footed peasants on skis were our only postmen," said Miss Eklund. + +"They can go over frozen rivers and hills as straight as a bird flies," +said Erik. + +"Yes," said Miss Eklund, "when we had no post, the only way a message +could be sent in winter, was by these ski-runners. The swiftest runner +in a hamlet would start for the nearest village. There he would give +the message to another runner to carry on to the next hamlet. It is +wonderful how soon they could arouse the whole country. + +"Instead of a letter, they carried staffs of wood. If this stick was +burned at one end, it meant that a forest was afire. But if a red rag +was attached, then the enemy had invaded the land and men were called +to arms." + +They were almost home now, and as they turned a corner a rough shed +appeared in the corner of a park. Several people were just coming +out. "Please, Miss Eklund, may we stop just a minute to see the ice +figures?" exclaimed all the children at once. + +"You must be quick or we shall be late to supper," replied Miss Eklund, +who always enjoyed these beautiful snow pictures as much as the +children. + +Inside the low shed, was the figure of a young mother, with a sad but +lovely face, who held a wee baby close in her arms. A fierce wind +seemed to swirl her draperies, and she was trying to shelter the tiny +creature at her breast, while a little boy was weeping bitterly against +her skirts. The group was made of snow and ice, yet so wonderfully +moulded were the figures, they looked like pure white marble. + +As they went out the door, Miss Eklund slipped a coin into a little box +which was placed there to receive money for the poor at Christmas. + +"Elsa and Karl must have been out in the country to see their +grandmother," said Sigrid, as a sleigh jingled past. The mother and +two children were cosily packed in front. The driver stood on a little +platform built in the rear. A white net with a wide border of tassels +covered the back of the horse and the dasher of the sleigh. + +"Father," burst out Erik, as he came in from the cold, "we did have the +best time. Little Anders can skate as well as the rest of us now." + +"Well," replied Major Lund, "you certainly look as though you had +enjoyed yourself. But somebody will lose his porridge if he is not +ready for supper soon." + +The family gathered about the table. Before they began, the father +turned to his oldest child and said, + +"Erik, I believe it is your turn to say grace to-night. Sigrid said it +yesterday." + +Every one stood while the boy solemnly bowed his head and said the +simple words. + +Oh, they were so hungry! Didn't their supper of rice porridge, flat +rye bread, pancakes and milk taste good! The three children sat very +quietly at the table and ate all the food that was served them. Not a +spoonful of porridge or a crumb of rye bread was left. + +Perhaps you never saw Swedish flat bread. Even the king's family eat +these big brown cakes, which are as much as a foot across, and look +like a thin, crisp cookie. They have a large hole in the centre. In the +farmers' houses, they run a long pole through this hole, and hang their +bread from the ceiling. + +When the meal was over, each child rose and shook hands with the father +and mother and said, "Tack för matin," or as we should say, "Thanks +for food." Then the parents thanked each other. So many thanks may seem +very strange to you, but it is an old and beautiful custom in Sweden. + +"I am glad my little girl had such a happy afternoon," said Mrs. Lund +as she sat embroidering with her daughter beside her. "But there will +be very little time for skating, during the next few days. Christmas +will be here before we know it, and you can help me about many small +things." + +"Mother, may I go with you to the Christmas market this year? You know +I was sick and could not go last year," said Sigrid. + +"I remember, Sigrid," replied her mother. "You must go to bed now, and +we will plan about it in the morning." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE KNITTING LESSON + + +"WON'T mother be surprised, Miss Eklund, when she finds out how fast I +have learned to knit?" said Sigrid. + +"Yes, I am sure she will be much pleased," replied Miss Eklund. + +Sigrid was very soberly knitting a red worsted square, while her +governess sat near to help her when the little steel needles behaved +badly. It was Sigrid's first piece of knitting, so she was flushed and +eager over her task. + +The morning sun poured through the window on a pretty picture. +Against the heavy dark wooden chair, Sigrid's pale gold hair shone +and glistened. It was brushed back very tight and trim, for that is +the way Swedish mothers think little girls should wear their hair. +The two smooth braids were fastened with a broad blue ribbon. Over +her plain dark blue woolen dress, she wore a blue and white checked +gingham apron. Except for the aprons which she always wore, Sigrid's +dresses were much like those of her little American cousin, only they +were very plain and simple. She did not have any rings, or bracelets or +necklaces. That was not because she did not love the pretty trinkets. +Oh, no. But she must wait till she is older. + +The nursery where they were sitting was a large comfortable room with +a huge porcelain stove which filled all one corner of the room and +reached way to the ceiling. It was made of shiny green tiles, the +colour of the walls of the room, and down in the front were two large +brass doors, behind which was the fire. This was the only kind of +stove that Sigrid had ever seen, so she never thought that it was queer. + +I must not forget to tell you about the odd decoration of the nursery +windows. After the fashion of all Swedish windows, they swung out +from the middle like doors. When the cold winter months came, on went +double windows. Though Sigrid was the healthiest child in the world, +she never knew what it was like to open a window in winter and let the +fresh, pure air blow in, for all around the inside of the frame were +neatly pasted narrow strips of paper. You buy these strips at the store +with mucilage on the back like a postage stamp. In the little narrow +space between the two windows, Sigrid's mother had planted bright green +mosses and gray lichens with tiny red cups. A little wooden house and +several painted wooden men and women were placed in this miniature +park, that kept green all winter. Sigrid liked her window better than +any in the house, for all the others had only the mosses and coloured +berries. + +"Before many months, I believe you will be able to knit a pair of +stockings," said Miss Eklund, as she watched her industrious pupil. + +"Did you have to make all your stockings when you were a little girl?" +said Sigrid. + +"Yes, indeed. I was smaller than you are when I began to learn to knit, +for my father was a poor farmer and there was a large family of us. The +first thing I ever made was a cozy for a coffee-urn, just as you are +doing," said Miss Eklund. + +"Oh, tell me what you used to do when you were a little girl. Did you +learn your lessons at home as Anders and I do?" asked Sigrid. + +"It was very different when I was your age, for we lived way out in +the country in a big red farmhouse, and our nearest neighbour was two +miles away. We lived in the far north, so that when the winter days +were only a few hours long, I could not go to school, but I learned +a great deal at home. During the long evenings, father and my big +brothers could not see to work on the farm or cut timber, so we would +all sit together in the living-room with its huge open fire. Father +made mother's chairs or a cradle for the baby, or whittled tools for +the farm. Brother Olaf carved wooden platters and spoons with wonderful +animals and figures. Then in the spring-time he would sell these things +in the city markets. + +"Mother used to spin and weave our warm clothes, and she taught me how +to do all these things, besides sewing and embroidering. Sometimes, +father would tell us the same old sagas that you children love to hear." + +"Did you have to study catechism, too?" Sigrid's rosy face looked +quite solemn at the thought, for every day she had to learn a portion +of the catechism, and also Bible history. She loved the stories of +David and Saul and Daniel in the lions' den, but the catechism! Oh, +that was very, very hard for a little girl! + +"All little Swedish girls must learn their catechism, Sigrid, and my +father was even more strict than your good parents," replied Miss +Eklund. + +"Elsa's big sister, who went to England last year, says that English +children do not have to learn to knit and sew and embroider just as +they learn their geography and spelling. Why do I have to learn to do +these things, when my father could buy them for me?" asked Sigrid. + +Just then, Sigrid dropped a stitch in her knitting, and had to unravel +two rows before Miss Eklund could reply. + +"Even though your mother lived in a beautiful house and her father was +very rich, she also learned to knit and sew and crochet. You must know +how to do these things so you will be able to take care of your own +home when you grow up. But it is time for dinner now and I hear your +mother's callers going. Make haste and put your knitting away lest she +see her present." + +Every morning, Sigrid had an early breakfast with her brother Erik, +who went to a private school. He was studying very hard to go to the +university at Upsala. Then she must study her lessons and learn many of +the same things which her governess had been taught in the long winter +months on the farm. And after that came her gymnastic exercises every +day, as much a lesson as her reading and spelling. + +"Erik," called Sigrid, after dinner, as her brother walked past the +nursery. Though he was only three years older than his sister, he was +a tall, sturdy boy, and Sigrid felt very proud of him. She beckoned him +to a quiet corner where they could whisper unobserved. + +"I have a surprise for mother. Miss Eklund has taught me to knit, and +mother does not know yet. If I can get it finished, it is going to be a +cozy for Christmas." + +"That's fine," said Erik, "but you wait till I show you something which +I learned to make in my sloyd class at school." Erik glanced around +cautiously. Nobody was in sight, so he drew a carved tray from his +school-bag. + +"Oh, it's beautiful!" and Sigrid clapped her hands with glee. "How +could you make it? Why, it is just like an old Viking ship with the +dragon's head peering at you from the prow. And you have made the sides +like the scales of some strange monster. Mother will be so delighted. + +"It must be splendid to be a big boy and go to your school," continued +Sigrid. "You do such interesting things. I wish that I could go on a +school journey with my teacher for two or three days and see some of +our wonderful old castles, as you do. Mother says perhaps Miss Eklund +and I may go with her and father when they go through the Göta Canal +to Göteborg, next summer, to visit Aunt Frederika. That will be better +than a school journey." + +"But, Sigrid, there are many wonderful things to see right here in our +own beautiful Stockholm," said Erik. "Many school-children come here +every spring with their teachers." + +"Sometime you promised you would tell me an old saga about Stockholm +before there was any city here," said Sigrid. + +"Oh, you mean about King Agne," said Erik. "Once father pointed out to +me the place where he was supposed to have landed with his ships, so I +always like that story." + +"Yes, yes, that is the one. Do tell me," said Sigrid. + +Erik loved to tell his little sister these stories that he had often +heard from his mother and father, so he did not need to be urged. + +"Many hundred years ago, when the bold Vikings sailed out from our +harbours and conquered far and wide, King Agne ruled in Upsala. Where +our city is to-day, was only a group of green wooded islands with a few +huts. Late in the summer, King Agne came sailing in from the Baltic, +and dropped anchor near the large island, where the king's palace is +to-day." + +"Why, I can see that from mother's window," said Sigrid. + +"Yes, we are so high up from the water, we can easily see the island. +These old Viking kings often went on voyages of conquest along our +shores. Way off to the east, King Agne had warred against King Froste +of Finland and slain him. Then the victor plundered the country and +sailed over here with much booty. He had taken captive the king's +beautiful daughter Skialf, his son Loge, and many others. + +"King Agne was exultant over his victory and he wanted to make the +Princess Skialf his bride. So he said to his henchmen: + +"'Let a spacious tent be erected beneath that fine oak-tree on yonder +tongue of land. Then let my swiftest runners carry staffs of invitation +to all the chieftains round about and bid them gather at a royal feast +to celebrate the wedding of King Agne and the fair Princess Skialf. +Command them that they bring a goodly store of meat and drink for the +feast.'" + +"Miss Eklund told us about the messengers' staffs when we went +skating, so I know about them," interrupted Sigrid. + +"These sticks were burned at one end, with a noose at the other end. +This was a very plain way of telling the chieftains that they would be +hanged and their houses burned, if they neglected to send the message +on to the next chief. + +"So a large number gathered in the huge tent which looked out on the +Baltic, where the dragon-prowed ships lay at anchor. + +"All this time the poor princess was very unhappy. But she dared not +let the king know her fears. She thought and thought how she could +escape becoming his bride. Finally a plan grew in her mind and she said +to the king: + +"'O brave and generous king, I beseech you that, before the royal +wedding feast, you hold a funeral banquet in honour of my noble sire. +My lord, may you give ear to this great favour which a captive maiden +begs for her father.' + +"The princess prayed so piteously that the heart of the old Viking was +melted, and he again commanded: + +"'Let the two feasts for my slain enemy and for my wedding be +celebrated at the same time.' + +"The goodly company gathered around the royal board, and fell to eating +and drinking with great zest. The grave-ale was handed around in a huge +drinking-horn, and the lusty warriors drank so long and so deep that +soon they became boisterous and began to fight among themselves. + +"Now the king wore about his neck a long and massive chain of gold. It +was so long that it hung way down on his chest. Many other Viking kings +had worn this royal treasure. + +"In the midst of the carousal, the princess whispered to the king: + +"'My lord, have a care for your beautiful gold necklace, lest you lose +it during the revels.' + +"'Ah, my lovely bride, you are right. What a prudent and careful wife +you will make!' said the king, as he coiled the chain several times +around his neck. + +"Ere long, the fiery-hearted warriors were so drunk with ale that sleep +overcame them, and one by one they fell from their places at the table. +As soon as they were soundly slumbering, the princess rose from her +place by the king's side. She and the other captives had only pretended +to drink. She fastened a ship's rope to the coil of gold about the +king's neck and then handed the rope to her brother, who was outside. + +"Whist! the men threw the rope over the branch of the huge oak. Up went +the tent into the air, and the king was strangled with his own golden +chain." + +"What a horrible story!" said Sigrid with a shudder. "What became of +the princess?" + +"Oh, she and the other captives hastened away to the ships and sailed +back to Finland. When the Vikings awoke from their heavy sleep, they +were wild with rage. But there was nothing to do but to bury the king +beneath a great mound of earth, which the waves long since washed away." + +"Ugh! I am glad I did not live in those cruel days, aren't you, Erik?" + +But Erik shook his head and laughed. "Just think what fun it would be +to sail away in a brave ship, out on the wild ocean where no man had +ever been before. Those old Vikings were as strong as giants and feared +nothing in the world. I must finish studying my lessons now, but I'll +tell you another tale some other time." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +YULE-TIDE + + +"I'LL bring you a gingerbread goat," said Sigrid to little Anders as +she started for the Christmas market with her mother. + +"Next year you shall go too, my son," said Mrs. Lund. She kissed the +little lad, who was trying to look brave because he must stay at home. +From the nursery window, he watched them as far as he could see down +the long avenue. Behind Sigrid and her mother, a cheery-faced housemaid +followed at a respectful distance. She carried a huge market-basket. + +"Just think, mother. There are only three days before Christmas. Won't +it be jolly to see grandma and Aunt Frederika and all the cousins?" +said Sigrid, who was dancing along beside her mother. + +"Yes, indeed. They will all be here by to-morrow night," replied the +mother. + +"What crowds of people are on the street," said the child, as they +wound their way through the good-natured throngs. + +"Most of them are bound for the same place that we are," laughed Mrs. +Lund, who was rosy-cheeked and flaxen-haired like Sigrid. + +"When we come to the big open space at the top of this hill, where all +the booths are, you must keep very close to my side, for you might +easily lose me." + +"I never saw so many little booths before," said Sigrid. "I like their +white roofs, for they look like snow. Do they always have the Christmas +market on this hilltop?" + +"Yes, for hundreds of years the peasants have been allowed to build +their shelters here and sell their Christmas wares. In some places, +for months, the whole family has been carving, knitting, weaving, and +sewing all these things that we shall see as we walk along," replied +Mrs. Lund. + +"I see a booth with lots of little gingerbread pigs and goats. May I +buy one for Anders, over there?" asked Sigrid. + +"In a minute. But first I must get some of old Brita's knitted caps for +some poor children I know." + +They halted in front of one of these booths, which have a few rough +boards for a roof and a narrow counter. Here was an old peasant woman, +so wrapped up in warm clothes that you could scarcely see her pleasant, +wrinkled face. A black shawl was tied over her head, and a second +dark woolen shawl was crossed over her breast and tied behind. Her +petticoats were so heavily wadded that you wondered how she ever walked +at all. + +"Doesn't she look funny, mother?" whispered Sigrid, who was clinging +to her mother's hand. + +"Speak low, child," said Mrs. Lund. "I would not have you hurt the old +creature's feelings. It is bitter cold standing here all day. She needs +all her warm clothes. As long ago as when I was a child, she came here +to sell these garments that she knits and crochets all summer. + +"I think that must be King Oscar's sleigh which has just come up the +hill," said Sigrid as they turned away from Brita's booth. + +"Sure enough. He is making his annual visit to the Christmas market. +Let us stand here and watch him for a minute." + +Just then the big Christmas crowd burst into a shout: "Long live King +Oscar!" The white-haired old gentleman, who is so tall and stately that +you would notice him anywhere, bowed graciously to his people. + +"Would he ask me what I wanted for Christmas, if I stood near him?" +asked Sigrid. + +"No, he asks only the poor little children who don't look as though +they would have a tree at home," replied Mrs. Lund. "Ah, he is talking +to that ragged little fellow who watched us buy the accordion for Karl. +By and by, his servant will buy a lot of things and give them to the +children. He is a kind-hearted man as well as a good king." + +"Hear all those birds singing!" exclaimed the child. + +"Listen again and see if you cannot tell where they are," said Mrs. +Lund. + +"Why, I believe they are cuckoo whistles, only I never heard so many +all at once," cried Sigrid. + +"Suppose we go over and buy two or three," said Mrs. Lund. They +threaded their way to the booth where these cheap little clay birds +were so popular. + +The buxom maid was loaded with bundles long before Sigrid wanted to go +home. + +For the next two days, there was a great stir all over the house. +Everything that could be washed and scoured was made clean and radiant. +All the family were making presents. Oh, such mystery everywhere! + +"There, Miss Eklund," said Sigrid. "I have finished the cozy. Now +I want some more red sealing-wax. I have helped Anders wrap up his +presents, and mine are almost ready." + +"Have you fastened on your rhymes?" asked Miss Eklund. + +"All except the one for Aunt Frederika's present. I cannot seem to +think of a verse for her," was the reply. + +"You must be sure and have a pretty verse for your dear aunt, who has +come way from Göteborg. Perhaps I can help you later." + +Miss Eklund left her little charge labouring with pencil and paper. +Sigrid would never think her Christmas gifts complete without a verse +for each one. + +"Here come father and Erik with the tree," shouted Anders. + +"Isn't this a beauty?" inquired Erik, as he and his father rested for a +minute. + +"Did you get it in the Christmas market, father? Mother and I saw a +whole forest of little Christmas trees there," said Sigrid. + +"Yes," replied Major Lund. "I wanted to take you children out in the +country and cut it down myself. Sometime, when we have Christmas at +grandmother's, that's what we will do. Then you all shall help choose +the tree before I cut it. + +"No one must go into the parlour now," he continued, as he carried +the tree through the doorway. "Mind you, not one peep till to-morrow +night." He shook his finger playfully at the children. + +"I always like 'Dipping Day,'" said Sigrid, the day before Christmas, +to her brother Erik. "It is such fun to eat in the kitchen." + +She was waiting for her turn to dip the piece of black bread on her +plate, into the kettle of sizzling hot fat. All the family, the +relatives who had come to spend the holidays and the servants, stood +about in the clean kitchen, eating the noonday meal. The walls fairly +gleamed with copper and brass pans and kettles. Even the brick oven had +a fresh coat of whitewash, in honour of the day. Every other little +Swedish girl over the land was eating her dinner in the kitchen on that +day, just as Sigrid was doing. + +In the centre of the room, a long table was loaded with good things to +eat. And here was the big kettle in which the Christmas ham and other +meats had been cooked. + +Later in the afternoon, when the children returned from a brisk walk +in the park, they gathered in the nursery for afternoon coffee. How +Sigrid loved this coffee-drinking on Christmas Eve! All the grown-up +people in Sweden drink a great deal of coffee. But Sigrid was seldom +allowed to have it except on a few holidays. + +The children could hear the pleasant chatter of the older people, whose +coffee was served in the parlour. But they knew what was waiting for +them in the nursery. + +On the little table there, a plate was prepared for each child with a +pyramid of different kinds of bread. Some of these rolls were in such +odd shapes that I am sure you would not call them bread at all. There +was black bread, white bread, saffron-coloured bread, some shaped +like little men and others like pigs and goats. Of course there were +gingerbread men, and even chocolate bread figures. + +Each little mound had candy and nuts tucked away in the corners. The +kind of candy which Sigrid liked best was done up in a small package +with bright paper. Pictures and mottoes were pasted on the outside. + +[Illustration: "A SHEAF OF GRAIN IS FASTENED UP IN THE YARD OF EVERY +COUNTRY HOME"] + +I am afraid you will be getting as impatient for the Christmas tree as +Sigrid. But a Swedish Christmas is the most joyous season of the year. +And the merrymaking often lasts three weeks. Even the birds are not +forgotten, for a sheaf of grain is fastened up in the yard of every +country home for their Christmas dinner. + +At last, the folding doors of the parlour were opened by invisible +hands. There stood the tree ablaze with candles and ornaments, but no +presents. For a moment every one was silent for the wonder of it. + +Mrs. Lund began to sing the old carol, "Now the Christmas Has Come," +and the others joined in. + +After Major Lund had read the story of the Babe in the Manger, the +children caught hold of hands and danced about the tree. Round and +round they spun. In a wink, the circle broke and the long line of young +people went dancing in and out through the rooms of the house. + +"Come and join us, father," they shouted. "Come, Aunt Frederika and +mother." Soon every one was drawn into the chain, even the servants in +the kitchen. + +When they were out of breath with laughing, singing, and dancing, they +sat round a large table near the tree. + +"What is all that noise about?" exclaimed Major Lund. He pretended to +be surprised. "Erik, there seems to be a great to-do outside the door. +Open it and see what is wanted." + +Erik opened it a crack. In ran a little old man with a long white +beard. He wore a rough gray jacket, knee-breeches, and a tall, pointed +red cap. + +"The Tomt, the Tomt," cried Sigrid. + +"Is there any naughty child here, who doesn't deserve a present?" +asked the gnome. He hopped about and made a great deal of noise for a +small person. + +Anders hid behind his mother's skirt. He was always a little afraid of +Tomt, who is much like our Santa Claus. + +"No, we haven't any naughty children," replied the father. + +"Then I shall leave some presents from my packet," cried Tomt. He +darted out into the hall and came back slowly tugging some large +packages. Then he vanished as quickly as he had come. + +"Now, Erik, you may bring the baskets and help me give out the +presents," said Major Lund. + +Beneath the low boughs of the fir-tree were several large baskets, +heaped with presents. Major Lund read aloud the verse on each neat +package before Erik passed it. Oh, such a heap of presents for each +and all! It was quite late in the evening before all the bundles were +opened. What a hand-shaking and kissing there was! + +"I thought that looked like a foot-pusher when Tomt brought it in," +said Sigrid, who shone with happiness over her new treasure. + +"How proud I am of my children," said Mrs. Lund, as Sigrid and Erik +were thanking her for their gifts. "I am sure I had no idea you could +knit so well. I shall use the cozy for afternoon coffee to-morrow. And +the Viking ship tray is really beautiful, Erik." + +Little children should have been abed and asleep when the family +finally sat down to their supper. But it was Christmas Eve, and +nobody minded. Among all the good things that Sigrid ate that night, +I must tell you about two dishes that every Swedish girl eats for her +Christmas supper,--lut-fisk and rice porridge. The big bowl of porridge +had a crisscrossing of powdered cinnamon over the top. Inside was one +almond. The person who found it would be the next one in the family to +be married. + +For weeks, the Christmas lut-fisk--a kind of fish--had soaked in lye. +Then it was cooked a long time. Whenever Sigrid lifted a portion on her +fork, it fell apart in delicate flakes that were quite transparent. + +"We must not forget to put out a dish of porridge and milk for Tomt +when he comes back in the night," said Erik, as the children were +getting ready for bed. + +"I'll bring Anders' little chair from the nursery, because it is so low +Tomt can reach up to it," said Sigrid. "If I put it beside the kitchen +door, I am sure he will see it when he comes in." + +Early the next morning,--oh, very, very early,--Anders crept +down-stairs to see if Tomt had been there. + +"He drank all the milk and ate most of the porridge," cried Anders, in +great excitement. Then he ran back to let Miss Eklund finish dressing +him. + +"It seems more like night than morning," exclaimed Erik. It was not six +o'clock, but the children were starting for church. Indeed, it could +not have been blacker at midnight. But in almost every window that +they passed two candles burned brightly. When they returned for their +breakfast, after the joyous Christmas service, the sun had not yet +risen. + +For days the festivities continued. + +"Please, mother, may we keep the tree till Knut's Day?" begged Anders +on New Year's afternoon. The candles had been relighted on the tree for +a party for some poor children. The last happy child had gone home, +loaded with goodies. + +Mrs. Lund consented. But even Knut's Day, the thirteenth of January, +came all too soon. Then the children helped to "rob the tree," as the +Swedes say when they take off its pretty trinkets. They looked very +solemn as one of the maids carried the tree into the back-yard. + +"Now Christmas is really over," mourned Erik, "and school begins +to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AT GRANDMOTHER'S + + +"PERA, you do remember me, don't you? Oh, you nice old dog!" Anders +threw his arms around the neck of a small shaggy yellow dog that was +wriggling almost out of his skin with joy. You could not have told +which was the happier, the dog or the boy. + +"Just think! I haven't seen you for six months, Pera!" The two +playmates romped across grandmother's lawn to the porch, where Erik was +sitting on the steps with a tennis racket, waiting for his father. + +"Sigrid has been hunting everywhere for you, Anders," said Erik. + +"Here you are," exclaimed Sigrid a minute later, as she spied Anders. +"Larsson says there is a baby calf over in the barn, and he will show +it to us if we will go now." + +Anders jumped up quickly, and followed by the dog, the children ran +toward the group of barns and stables, at some distance from the house. + +"Look at all those wild strawberries in this field," said Anders. + +"I had forgotten that it was time for them. I must ask grandmother if +we can pick all we want," said Sigrid. + +"I want to see father's new sailboat. Have you been down to the lake +yet?" asked Anders. + +"No," said Sigrid. "Let's go around and see everything. Mother says we +shall stay all summer, because poor grandmother is so old and feeble +she doesn't like to leave her. Larsson, Larsson, where are you?" + +The old farmer, who had taken care of the grounds and farm for many +years, hobbled out to the barn door to welcome the children and to +show them the new calf, the little pigs, and the chickens. + +No place in the world is quite so interesting as grandmother's old +house, whether you are a Swedish or an American girl. + +Sigrid's grandmother lived in a fine old house on a hilltop which +overlooked Lake Mälar. It was only a short journey of two or three +hours from Stockholm, yet it was quite out in the country, several +miles from any village. As you drove through the avenue of huge +beech-trees, you would be curious to know why so many small, low-lying +buildings were grouped near the house. They were placed to form three +sides of a square, after the fashion of many Swedish country places. + +Off in the distance were the barns, which the children visited, and +another group of red cottages, where the farm-helpers and their +families lived. These people lived in a little world by themselves, +with everything they needed right on the grounds. If Mrs. Lund wished +fish for dinner, she could not send a maid to market to buy a live fish +from a tank of water, as she did in Stockholm. Instead, one of the +servants caught the fish in the lake, or she ordered smoked fish from +the storehouse. + +On each side of the family residence were houses for the servants. Some +of the small separate sheds were used for washing, baking, tools, and +provisions. But you would enjoy a peep into some of these buildings +with the children. + +The new sailboat was anchored at the wharf near the bath-house. "Father +has promised to teach Erik how to sail this summer," said Sigrid. They +were clinging to the wharf railing, so that they could get a glimpse of +the little cabin, with its two bunks and red cushions. "I am glad you +learned to swim last summer, for now we can have such sport when Karin +and Elsa get here." + +Sigrid had learned to swim when she was very small. Look in your +geography and you will see that almost one-tenth of the whole surface +of Sweden is covered with lakes and rivers. There is water, water +everywhere. Just fancy how miserable a Swedish mother would be if her +little daughter could not swim! + +The door of the storehouse stood open when the children climbed the +hill from the lake, so they slipped in after Svea. On the outside, it +was just a mound of grassy earth, with a door cut in the grass, but no +windows. + +"Isn't it cool in here!" exclaimed Anders. "Svea, aren't you going to +skim the milk?" + +"Later in the day, Anders," said the maid, who held her lantern up over +her head while she hunted for the sausages. + +From above, hung long strings of sausages, smoked hams, and fish. In +the dim light of the lantern, the children could see the big round +cheeses and the bins of potatoes. The pans of milk were set to cool in +another room of this queer storehouse. + +"I wish you would give us some lingon jam," said Sigrid. "The kind we +had last year, Svea." + +"Wait till I open a new jar. Now, run ahead, for I want to lock the +door," replied Svea. She had not forgotten how the children had teased +her the summer before for their favourite jam of red Swedish berries. + +"Next week will be the time for washing. Perhaps mother will let us +ride down to the lake when the clothes are carried there," said Sigrid. +She tried to lift herself up on the window-sill to look into the +wash-house, where the huge copper kettle was ready to boil the clothes, +but she was not tall enough. + +"Never mind," she said. "We can get into the bake-house, I am sure. +Sometime, Svea says, I may help her bake bread. It must be almost time +now, for she hasn't made any for several months." + +In the city, Sigrid's mother bought her rye bread from a baker, but +grandmother had her bread baked three or four times a year in this +little house. Most of the room was filled by the huge stone fireplace, +which was heated to a high temperature. Then the coals were raked off +and the rye bread cooked on the hot stones. + +"What does she do with this flat round piece of wood with a short +handle?" asked Anders, who was exploring. + +"Oh," said Sigrid, "it is a great lark to watch her. She rolls out the +batter quite thin, and slips that wooden shovel beneath each cake. Then +she takes this other wooden spade with a long handle, shakes the cake +from the little spade to that one, and thrusts it on the hot stones. +Svea does it very quickly, but she laughed when I asked if it was hard, +so I don't believe it is as easy as it looks." + +[Illustration: BAKING RYE BREAD AT GRANDMOTHER'S] + +"Don't you think it is time for dinner? I am so hungry," said Anders. + +"Guess what we are going to have to-day," said Sigrid. + +"Pancakes and jelly," Anders replied promptly. + +"No, sour milk, with powdered ginger on top." + +"Let's run, then," said Anders, "because I don't want to be late and +have father say I cannot have any." + +But they arrived in season and ate their full share of the white curds, +which they always enjoyed. + +Inside of the old house, you would be amazed at the size of the rooms. +Though they were simply furnished, there was much choice old carved +furniture, lovely plants, and vines, so that the rooms were very +cheery. The floors were scrubbed beautifully clean and covered with +rugs. Everywhere was exquisite order and neatness. + +As in the city home, the children had a large nursery, where they +always played during the little time they were indoors. A trapeze hung +between the nursery and an adjoining room; a large cushion rested +beneath. On rainy days, the children hung from this indoor swing and +climbed the ropes like young monkeys. + +"One, two, three, four, five," counted Sigrid, as she sat on the porch +a few days after their arrival. "Why, are all those old women going to +help with the washing to-morrow, mother?" + +"Yes; we shall need them all. Larsson has arranged for them to sleep +at some of the servants' houses, so they will be ready to begin very +early in the morning." + +The queer procession of old women, with coloured kerchiefs tied over +their heads, slowly filed down the road. Long before the children were +awake the next morning, a fire had been lighted in the wash-house +beneath the monster kettle, and the women were at work. + +Wasn't that a lively week, though! Sigrid's mother was an excellent +housekeeper, but she never had all the clothes and linen of the family +washed but three times a year! Such scores and scores of garments went +into that copper kettle--enough to clothe a whole village. Even if +her family had been quite poor, Sigrid would still have had many more +dresses and aprons than her American cousin. + +By the time the oxen were harnessed to a long, low wagon with latticed +sides, Sigrid and Anders were ready to climb in and ride to the lake +with the old women and the tubs of clothes which had boiled in the +kettle. + +As soon as they arrived at a clean, sandy beach near the wharf, the +children hopped out of the wagon. + +"Let's sit in the rowboat at the end of the wharf," said Anders. "Then +we can play we are pirates and watch the women on the shore." + +The washerwomen took off their shoes and stockings, pinned up their +skirts, and waded into the water. Then there was such a splashing and +rinsing of clothes, and bobbing of kerchiefed heads, and swinging of +long arms! + +"They are bad children. We must beat them very hard," one wrinkled old +woman explained to Anders. She had carried her pile of dripping clothes +from the water's edge to a big stone, where she pounded them with a +flat wooden beater. "But they will be as white as a lily when I am +done." + +Later all the garden bushes were spread with garments. You needed only +to half-close your eyes to fancy a summer snow-squall had whitened the +green grass over a large area. + +"Everything in the house will be fresh and sweet for Midsummer's Day," +sighed Mrs. Lund, when the last washerwoman had returned to the country +district where she lived. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MIDSUMMER'S EVE + + +"IT looks more like the mast of one of the big ships in the harbour +than anything else," said Erik. He and his father were standing beside +the huge May-pole which lay flat on the green grass in grandmother's +front lawn. Near by several men were hammering away on a large wooden +platform, in the centre of which the pole was to be hoisted. + +"Yes, my son, I have often thought so. This pole is not more than fifty +feet high. I have seen them twice as tall. But if we are going to cover +all these cross-bars with birch boughs and wreaths, we must hitch up +old Maja and drive into the woods soon." + +"Indeed, you must," said Mrs. Lund, as she hurried across the lawn +with a huge wreath of daisies over her arm and a basket of nodding +bluebells. "You will find us under that clump of beeches, making our +wreaths, when you return. Oh! there is plenty for every one to do +before the pole is trimmed for to-night." + +"Mother, you do make wreaths so fast," said Sigrid. She was sitting +in the midst of a group of friends and relatives, who had gathered at +grandmother's to celebrate Midsummer's Eve and the day following. As +she talked, she sorted daisies, or "priests'-ruffs," as she called +them, into bunches for her mother. + +"Just hand me a clump of those white daisies, so I can tie their long +stems to this rope, and you will soon see how I do it," said Mrs. Lund. + +"To-night will be the longest of the whole year," said Miss Eklund, +while her fingers plaited birch leaves. "How I love these long days of +sunshine! Why, last night I read in my room without a lamp till almost +eleven o'clock!" + +"Please tell Karin and me about how you made pancakes on Midsummer's +Eve when you were a little girl, Miss Eklund," begged Sigrid, who, with +her cousin, was sitting near the governess. + +"Oh! the young girls out in the country where I used to live will have +a merry time of it to-night. I wonder if they still make pancakes. I +was about sixteen years old the night I tried it with two other girls, +for the charm would not work unless there were three. Together we took +the bowl from the cupboard, beat the eggs, and added the flour. All +three of us stirred it at once and threw in the salt at the same time. +Of course, we got in too much salt. Not one of us must speak or laugh +the whole time. That was the hardest of all. Dear me, I hadn't thought +of that night for years." Miss Eklund delayed her tale to laugh as +heartily as if she was making up for lost time. + +"After we had poured out the batter and cooked it, each of us ate a +third of the very salt cake. But we couldn't drink before we went to +bed. During our dreams, the older girls told us that a young man would +appear to each of us and offer us a glass of water." + +Karin interrupted the story by exclaiming, "What is that coming down +the road? I believe it is the boys with our green boughs. Old Maja +doesn't look as though he liked those branches thrust behind his ears. +Why, the wagon is all one bower of birch-trees!" + +As the wagon drove into the yard, Erik spied his newly-arrived cousin +and sung out: + + "There once was little Karin, + Who at the royal hall + Among the handmaids serving + The fairest was of all. + + "Then spoke the King, 'Fair Karin, + Wilt thou my sweetheart be? + My horse and golden saddle + I'll straightway give to thee.'" + +The children all laughed merrily at the new turn to the familiar old +song. + +"How pretty we shall make the May-pole!" exclaimed Sigrid. + +She called it a "May-pole," though it was the middle of June. The +Swedish word for "May" means green leaf. And a "green-leaf pole" it +certainly was when they had draped the cross-bars with leaves and +garlands and added scores of the yellow and blue flags of Sweden. + +Toward the close of the afternoon, the pole in its gala-dress was swung +into place by means of huge ropes. Then a great shout went up from the +little crowd of relatives and working people who lived on the grounds. + +"Strike up a dance, Per," cried Major Lund to the fiddler. In a +twinkling, the children had caught hold of hands and were dancing +around the pole. Old and young, servants and all, shared in the +merrymaking. + +[Illustration: "IN A TWINKLING, THE CHILDREN ... WERE DANCING AROUND +THE POLE"] + +As Sigrid ran about in a gay costume, you would scarcely have +recognized her. Instead of her plain city clothes, she wore a pretty +peasant dress. Many fashionable Swedish mammas let their children wear +this dress on holidays in the country. Over her dark blue woolen skirt, +Sigrid wore a bright apron, striped in red, blue, yellow, black, and +white. The waist was white, with a red silk bodice and shoulder-straps. +An embroidered kerchief was folded quaintly about her throat. On her +yellow braids rested a tall pointed blue cap, with red pipings and +tassels in back. Several other little girls at the dance wore similar +dresses. + +"Erik," said Sigrid, quite late in the evening, as the fiddler stopped +to tune up for the next dance, "several times to-night I have seen +some one over by the well-sweep. I thought perhaps he was one of the +farmers' children. But he hides there as though he was afraid to come +out." + +"Suppose we go over and speak to him," said Erik. + +When they reached the well-sweep, no one was there. + +"I know that I saw him only a minute ago. There, I think he is behind +that elm-tree. You run this side and I will go the other," said Sigrid. + +All escape was cut off this time, and Erik dragged the cowering child +from his hiding-place. + +"If he isn't a chimney-sweep!" exclaimed Erik when he saw the boy away +from the shadow of the tree. + +"You needn't be afraid of us, little boy," said Sigrid, kindly. "You +can't help it because you have to go down into the chimneys and your +face is always black with soot. Don't you want something to eat?" + +The sooty youngster grinned and shifted his coil of rope from one +shoulder to the other. He managed to murmur, "Thank you." Sigrid ran +ahead to the kitchen to get some salt herring, rye bread, and coffee. +The little sweep left his long broom and rope on the grass, and began +to eat greedily. + +"Aren't you ever afraid to go down inside of a pitch-black chimney?" +asked Sigrid. Her interest in the dances had waned for a few minutes, +for she had never talked with one of these forlorn little creatures +before. + +The boy shook his head in reply. He was too busy with his salt herring +to waste any words. + +"I am going to ask mother if she will let him stay here all night," +said Sigrid. She did not know that this outcast, who was so shy with +her, could take very good care of himself. All summer, he wandered +through the country, cleaning chimneys. At night, he slept in strange +barns or haymows and was very happy and comfortable. + +Mrs. Lund talked to the lad and told him that he could spend the night +in one of the outhouses. The next day was a holiday and no one would +want a chimney swept. + +Sigrid's tender heart was at ease again, and she returned to the +dancers. The older people stayed up far into the bright night, but the +children soon went to bed. From her chamber window, Sigrid could see +the huge bonfires on the hillsides far away. The witches are abroad on +Midsummer's Eve, and these fires drive them away. + +Every one goes to church on Midsummer's Day, which is also called St. +John's Day. So the next morning, the Lund family drove several miles to +a little country church. Before they started, Sigrid went to find the +sweep. But the little wanderer had started on his travels again. + +"Larsson says all the school-children will sing carols, this morning," +said Mrs. Lund. "I am sure we shall have a beautiful service." + +As they drove along the road, they met many country people on their way +to church. The women all carried their hymn-books wrapped neatly in a +silk handkerchief. + +"Why do the men all sit on one side and the women on the other?" +whispered Anders. His family sat in a little gallery of the church. +Down below, the altar and the square box pews with doors were banked +with lilacs. + +"Hush, dear," replied his mother. "You must remember the country people +are used to it, so it is not strange to them." + +The ride home and the noonday meal seemed endless. As soon as ever +they had thanked their parents for their food, the children were +out-of-doors again. A big wagon, trimmed with birches and filled with +hay, was ready at the door. Midsummer's Day without a picnic in the +woods is almost as bad as Christmas without presents. + +"Don't forget the nets for the crayfish, Erik," said Major Lund, who +was stowing away luncheon baskets in the wagon. + +"They are in all right, father. The big kettle in which to boil them +and the coffee-pot are under the seat," said Erik. + +Even a plain every-day picnic, where you eat sandwiches and cakes under +a tree, is fun. But on this picnic, the children were going to help +catch crayfish, which look like small lobsters. Then they were planning +to cook them over a camp-fire. + +The last child nestled into the hay and they were off. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A VISIT TO SKANSEN + + +"I WANT to see the Lapps and the reindeer. Aren't we almost there?" +said Anders to his mother. + +"Yes, little son, we are nearly at the top of the hill," replied Mrs. +Lund. + +The Lund family were on their way to Skansen, a famous park near +Stockholm. Soon the car stopped and every one scrambled out. + +"We are so high up that we can see the harbour," said Erik, as he +trudged along beside his sister with one of the luncheon baskets +hung over his arm. At their feet lay the city of islands with its +ribbon-like canals of blue. Away on the horizon, the water of the bay +sparkled in the sun, like a huge amethyst. The children halted a +minute to look back on the fair scene. + +"Out there the Vikings sailed away to new lands," said Erik, who was +never weary of dreaming about the heroes of the old sagas. + +"Hurry up, children," called Mrs. Lund. "We have too much before us to +see, to spend time looking back." + +Through the entrance gate, they passed into a grove of pines and +birches, with winding roads. Among the trees were many wild animals in +pens, and queer houses and buildings, such as the children had never +seen in the city or at grandmother's. Every few steps, they met a +soldier with a helmet and shield, or a brightly dressed peasant. You +would think you had come to a foreign country, and so did Sigrid. + +As they turned a bend in the road, they saw a low cottage of hewn +timber. It was painted red and had a hood over the door. In the yard +was a wagon that might have been made by sawing a huge wooden cask from +top to bottom, and then placing one half on wheels. + +"I never saw such a funny cart," said Anders. + +"It is odd," replied his father. "A long time ago, people used to ride +in a wagon like that. Suppose we go over and look at that house." + +"You don't know the people who live there, do you, father?" enquired +Sigrid. + +"No, my daughter," he replied. "But all these people are accustomed +to visitors. You see, a few years ago, there lived a wise man named +Artur Hazelius, who loved his country very dearly. He travelled from +the fjelds and glaciers where the Lapps live to the fertile fields of +Skäne, in the south. + +"Something troubled him very much. He cared a great deal for the queer +old homes which he saw in out-of-the-way villages. No one makes such +houses to-day. He knew they would soon be destroyed. Then he was sorry +that only a few peasants still wear their old gay costumes. + +"So he said to himself, 'I will go to the king and ask him to give me a +large park. There I will fetch some of these houses. Our children will +not have to read in books about the way their great-grandfathers lived. +They shall visit the very houses they lived in.'" + +"How could he bring a whole house here?" asked Erik. + +"That was hard sometimes," Major Lund replied. "Often they pulled down +a house, brought the timber here, and set it up as it was before. Then +he had people come here and wear the same clothes and live in the same +way they did in the olden times. Nowhere in the world is there a park +like this." + +"See that little girl with a kerchief over her head, peeping at us from +the window," said Anders. + +A moment later, a smiling peasant woman came to the door. She made a +curtsey and invited them to enter. + +"Why, I can scarcely see at all," said Sigrid. + +The big living-room was lighted by the tiniest little window. The +two sleeping-rooms were also as dark as your pocket, and very small. +Hemlock tips were strewn over the clean floor. From the ceiling hung a +pole of flat rye bread. + +"You dear baby!" exclaimed Sigrid's mother, for she had discovered a +small canvas hammock hung in a dark corner. The baby was asleep in its +hanging nest. + +"She is a very good child and lies there all day by herself," said the +baby's mother. + +"They never can move their beds at all," said Sigrid, who was making +a tour about the room. She peered curiously between some striped +hand-woven curtains which hung in front of a wooden bed, built into the +house. Similar beds lined the walls. + +"Many of the peasants use that kind of bed," said Major Lund. "Once, +when I was in Lapland, I slept in a big drawer." + +"Was that the time that you were snowed in and you climbed out through +the chimney to dig a path?" asked Erik. + +"Yes, that was the same time," said his father. + +"I should think you would have smothered in the drawer," said Anders, +who had been very quiet. + +"There was no danger of that," replied Major Lund. "All around the +rooms were wooden sofas. At night, you pulled out a big drawer beneath +the seat. The drawer was filled with hay, and over that you spread +blankets." + +Mrs. Lund talked to the peasant woman while the children continued to +look about. A huge fireplace filled one corner of the room. On a low +brick platform that came out into the room, the fire was built. + +Across another corner a rope was stretched. Over it hung dresses and +coats. + +"What do they do that for?" whispered Sigrid to her mother. + +"They haven't any closet for their dresses except that," replied Mrs. +Lund. + +For a moment or two, after they came out of the gloomy interior, the +sun was dazzling. They ate dinner under some pine-trees, and then kept +on through the woods. + +"We haven't time to visit all these houses. But you would like to see +the hut half-buried in the ground. The herdsmen live in such places in +summer while they are tending their cattle. And we won't forget the +Lapps, Anders," said the father, gently tweaking his son's ear. + +"Who are all those people in that carriage?" asked Mrs. Lund. + +"I had almost forgotten that this is Bellman's day. Those people live +here. They always dress in the costume of the time of our beloved poet +on his anniversary day." + +An old carryall drove slowly past. Within were several men dressed in +black velvet coats and knee-breeches, white wigs, and three-cornered +hats. + +"Later in the day, we will walk over to Bellman's statue, where I am +sure we shall find many people." + +"I see the reindeer," exclaimed Anders. "There they are on those high +rocks." + +Before them stretched the group of Laplander tents of birch poles +covered with canvas. + +"That dark-skinned girl playing with the dog looks about my age. I +wonder what she does with the wooden spoon which hangs from her belt," +said Sigrid. + +"Go and ask her, if you like," said Mrs. Lund. "I don't believe that +she will understand you. That tent has the flap turned back. Do you see +that flat stone in the centre? Her dinner is cooked in a big kettle on +that stone. When the meal is ready, she will dip her ladle into the +kettle for her share." + +"Over yonder is the summer-house of our famous seer, Swedenborg. It +used to be in his garden in Stockholm, and there he worked and wrote," +said Major Lund, nodding in the direction of a neat pavilion. + +"We have just time before the dances to see the people who are +celebrating Bellman's day," said Mrs. Lund. + +Wreaths and flowers decked the bronze bust of the poet. At the foot of +the pedestal a man was reciting, and the crowd was very quiet. + +"How he loved to come here and lie out in the warm sun and sing those +same songs that man is reciting!" said Major Lund. They lingered only +a few minutes. + +"This is what I like," said Sigrid, with an air of great content. She +and her brothers had hurried ahead of their parents. They sat watching +some lively dancing on a large platform. + +"They have begun 'Weaving Homespun,'" said Erik, as the fiddler and +accordion player struck up a quaint air. + +The peasants faced each other in two lines. Then the men and maidens +wove in and out in the figures of the dance. "Like weaving on an old +loom," Erik explained to Sigrid. + +"I wish I could have a red dress and a stiff white cap with pointed +ears," said Sigrid, who could not keep her eyes away from one of the +dancers. + +"The crown princess also admires that dress," said Mrs. Lund. "She +requires all her maids of honour to wear it, in the forenoon, at +Tullgarn. I am sure it is so pretty, I don't believe they mind at all." + +"No two of those girls are dressed alike," continued Sigrid, who was +still interested in costumes. + +"That is because each maid wears the peasant dress of one of the +provinces of Sweden, and there are many provinces. One of those +Dalecarlian girls has a dress like the one you wore on Midsummer's Eve. +In that part of the country, the girls wear their bright aprons and +kerchiefs more than anywhere else in Sweden." + +"Why, where is Anders?" asked Major Lund. He had been chatting with an +old friend and had just returned to his family. + +Sure enough, the lad had disappeared. The crowd had pressed in +close about the platform. Every one was so pleased with these old +folk-dances, that they had forgotten the child. + +"Do you suppose he has gone back to look at the seals or the polar +bears?" asked Erik. + +It was sometime before Major Lund returned from his hunt. But Anders +was with him. + +"Where do you think I found the rogue?" asked Major Lund. "He was +drinking raspberry juice with a nice old lady who thought he was lost. +Do you know what happens to little boys who run away?" + +Major Lund looked very stern. But the mother was so glad to find the +child that I don't believe anything did happen. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THROUGH THE GÖTA CANAL + + +THE gong clanged. The big steamer churned the water into foamy suds as +it left the wharf at Stockholm. Sigrid and her father and mother waved +their handkerchiefs to the friends on shore as long as they could see +them. + +"Let us find seats in the bow of the boat, where we shall have a good +view of the canal," said Mrs. Lund. + +"I never was in such a large boat before. It is just like a house," +cried Sigrid, who was much excited. + +"Wait till you see the small state-room with the red plush sofas that +turn down at night for a bed," said Major Lund. "We must leave all +these posies there before we come on deck again." + +All three of them had their arms full of flowers which their friends +had brought them. + +"How long will it take us to get to Aunt Frederika's house, father?" + +"Nearly three days. You will enjoy the trip, Sigrid. We are to cross +the whole of Sweden. But we shall see beautiful country and many old +castles before we reach Göteborg. You won't have to stay on the steamer +all the time, for we shall often get off at the locks and wander +through old towns." + +"Wherever shall we sleep?" Mrs. Lund asked with a smile. The great mass +of flowers almost filled the tiniest room you ever saw. They finally +had to throw some of them away when they went to bed. + +"I wish Erik and Anders could have come too," said Mrs. Lund when they +were on deck again. She almost never took a journey without her whole +family. + +"Grandmother would be very lonely if we were all gone. Our two weeks' +trip will soon be over," replied her husband. + +"Father," said Sigrid, a few hours later, "sometimes the canal is not +much wider than the boat. Why, it seems just as if we were riding on +top of the land instead of the water." + +"Yes, I know what you mean." Major Lund was amused at the child's +distress of mind. "We shall go through several places in the canal, so +narrow that trees on opposite banks arch over the boat. But when we +reach the big lakes you will think we are at sea. Sometimes they are so +broad, you cannot see the shore." + +"I thought it was the Göta Canal all the way," said Sigrid. + +"So it is," replied her father. "But that is like a family name for +wide rivers, big lakes, and little short canals that all join hands to +make a waterway across the country." + +Long before bedtime, Sigrid felt quite at home in her new quarters. +After supper, she again sat on deck with her parents. + +Suddenly, they heard a sharp cry. "Oh, Isabella, you will drown! Can't +you get her, father? What shall I do! Oh! Oh!" + +Several people hastened to the side of the boat where the cry rose. +A pretty child was weeping bitterly, while her father was trying to +comfort her. + +"She has only lost her doll in the water, madam," explained the +gentleman to Mrs. Lund, who was eager to help. He spoke in English. + +"What did he say?" asked Sigrid, who was too far off to hear. + +"She dropped her doll overboard while she was waving her hand to some +children on the shore. Poor child! she is all alone with her father." + +"Is she an English girl?" asked Sigrid. + +"I think she is an American. Perhaps she would like some of your +twisted ring cakes, when she stops crying." + +When the child's sobs finally ceased, Mrs. Lund said to her kindly: + +"Won't you come and sit beside my little daughter? She wants to give +you some of her cakes." + +The two children glanced at each other shyly. + +"May I, father?" asked the American child. + +"Certainly, Anna. You are very kind to amuse her," said the stranger +politely to Mrs. Lund. + +Sigrid could speak in English as well as Swedish, which seemed to +surprise Anna. + +"What nice sweet pretzels!" said Anna as she nibbled at one of the +cakes. + +"Mother bought them of a peasant girl who came on board at that funny +place where the banks were so high we couldn't see the town," explained +Sigrid. + +"Did you bring your doll with you?" asked Anna, who still mourned the +lost Isabella. + +"Oh, yes!" said Sigrid, "and a whole trunk of clothes. Wait a moment +and I will get her." + +She returned with a pretty yellow box on which red and blue flowers +were painted. Grandmother had a large chest at home exactly like this +toy. + +"Oh! you have a peasant doll. How I wish I had one like that! Mother +bought Isabella for me in Paris," said Anna. + +During the next two days of the trip, the little girls were often +together. + +"What a giant stairway! I don't see how the steamer can go up to the +top," Sigrid exclaimed, the next morning. They had reached the town +of Berg, and as she looked at the canal before her, she saw seventeen +locks, which mounted to the sky. + +[Illustration: THE GÖTA CANAL] + +"But it can," said Major Lund. "Hundreds of vessels climb those locks +every year. It will take several hours, so that we may as well go +ashore. + +"When we come to Vadstena, Sigrid, we shall have just time to cross the +drawbridge and visit a grim old castle there. Gustaf Vasa, our first +Swedish king, built it more than three hundred years ago." + +"Didn't we have any kings before him?" asked Sigrid. + +"Yes," said Major Lund. "But he was the first king to unite our people +and make Sweden a strong nation." + +"Mother and I took a trip once while we were in Stockholm. Some one +pointed out the Castle of Gripsholm, where a nobleman named Vasa hid +during the 'Blood Bath of Sweden.' Was that the same man?" asked Anna, +who was standing near. + +"Erik told me all about that once," replied Sigrid. "I am sure he is +the same man. King Christian, the Dane, ruled Sweden then. He was very +cruel, Anna. Why, he murdered so many Swedish noblemen that people call +that time 'The Blood Bath.' No one knew who would have his head chopped +off next." + +Anna shuddered. "Did they kill Gustaf Vasa?" + +"His father was slain, but Gustaf Vasa fled away into the mountains," +replied Sigrid. Ever since she was a baby, she had heard these stories +of the old kings. They were real people to her. + +"He had many wild adventures in Dalecarlia. Sometime, if you go there, +Anna, you will see where he lived. The people there loved him dearly +and wanted him for king instead of the tyrant Dane," said Major Lund. + +"Do tell me about his adventures, Major Lund," said Anna. + +"Ask Sigrid; I am sure she knows," he replied. + +Sigrid's eyes shone with delight. "I know, I know," she exclaimed. +"He cut off his hair and put on homespun clothes, so he looked like a +peasant. Then he worked in the mines and on farms." + +"Didn't the peasants know who he was?" asked Anna. + +"Some of them did. They wanted to save him from the Danish soldiers. +Father saw a house where a woman helped him to escape. She hung a towel +from a window. With that for a rope, he climbed down and ran away. + +"The story I like best is the one about the farmer who hid Gustaf Vasa +in a load of straw. The soldiers thrust their spears all through the +straw, but they could not find him. + +"One spear did wound him. The farmer feared the soldiers would return +and see the blood-stains on the snow. So he took his jack-knife and cut +a small place on his horse's leg. When the soldiers came back, they saw +the red spots on the white ground. The peasant showed them the wound on +the horse and they were satisfied." + +"Don't forget about Margit's quick wits," said Major Lund. + +"She was a peasant woman in whose house Gustaf Vasa stayed," continued +Sigrid. "One day she heard the soldiers coming. + +"'My lord, where shall I hide you?' she cried. + +"That day she had brewed a huge tub of Christmas ale. In a second, she +thought of a plan. + +"'Here, hurry down this ladder.' She pulled up a trap-door in the +kitchen floor and he fled into the cellar. By the time the soldiers +reached the gate she had pulled the tub of ale over the trap-door. The +soldiers never guessed where the prince was." + +"I suppose they caught him, at last," said Anna. + +"That's the best part," said Sigrid. "After a long time, he gathered an +army. Then he fought the Danes and made them give up Sweden for ever." + +"Did you ever fight in a real war, Major Lund?" asked Anna, after a +minute of silence. + +"Not yet," he replied. "Awhile ago, when Norway wanted her own king, +many people feared war between Norway and Sweden. But everybody is glad +that Haakon, the new King of Norway, was chosen without blood-shed." + +"That Frenchman you were talking to this morning, father, called King +Oscar a 'Bernadotte.' What did he mean?" asked Sigrid. + +"He was only referring to King Oscar's French ancestor. King Karl XIII, +who lived a hundred years ago, had no children. So the people tried to +decide who should be the next king. Finally they chose a famous French +officer, named Bernadotte, who fought under Napoleon. He was elected +crown prince." + +"I am sure that must be Vadstena in sight now," said Mrs. Lund. "It +will be pleasant to go ashore for awhile. Grandmother asked me to buy +her some of the lovely lace they make here." + +"You will have to be quick, if you want to see the castle, too," said +Major Lund. + +The last few hours of the journey, they steamed down the Göta River +toward the city of Göteborg. + +"Gustaf Adolf chose well when he built a city at the mouth of this +river," said Major Lund to his wife. They were watching the huge rafts +of timbers that were floating on their way to the seaport. + +"Was he any relation to Gustaf Vasa?" asked Sigrid. + +"Yes, Gustaf Adolf was his grandson. A nobler and braver king never +lived," replied Major Lund. He spoke with the love and reverence which +every Swede feels for Gustaf Adolf, the greatest king the nation ever +had. + +"I do hope Aunt Frederika will be at the pier to meet us," said Sigrid +as they approached the landing. "Oh, I think I see her! No, I don't." + +But Aunt Frederika did find them, and welcomed them warmly. Such a fine +visit they all had together! Erik and Anders heard about little else +for the rest of the summer. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE NAME-DAY + + +THE summer months had winged themselves away. All through the golden +days, Sigrid had lived in the sunshine, as blithe and merry as an elfin +maid. To be sure, there had been a short lesson nearly every day with +Miss Eklund, for Sigrid's mother did not believe that her little girl +should spend all the holiday months in frolicking. + +September had come, and with it hints of long lesson days and a return +to Stockholm. But in the excitement over Sigrid's name-day party, it +was easy to forget such unpleasant things. Karin, Elsa, and Karl, the +cousins who had also been making a long visit with their grandmother, +had begged to be allowed to stay for the party. Several little friends +who lived in fine villas on the lake were coming to spend the day. + +"Be sure to call me at five o'clock in the morning, Miss Eklund," said +Elsa, on the evening before the party. + +Miss Eklund promised, so Elsa arose at an early hour and awoke the +others. Followed by them, with their arms full of flowers and green +leaves, she tiptoed into Sigrid's room. + +"Hush, Anders, your boots squeak. We must not waken her. That would +spoil everything," whispered Elsa. + +"Hang the end of your garland over the bedpost, so," continued Elsa. +She festooned the brass post of Sigrid's bed with the long chain of +green leaves. Then she silently motioned to her sister Karin to do the +same with her end. + +"I'll tie this bunch of bachelors'-buttons to the corner of the +foot-board where she will see them when she first opens her eyes," +whispered Karin. + +"My, doesn't it look pretty!" said Elsa. The children then filed out +into the hall and peered through the doorway. Sigrid's rosy cheeks +were half-buried in her plump arm, which was thrown up over her head. +She appeared to be soundly sleeping in the midst of a huge nosegay of +posies and green leaves. + +"Now I wish she would wake up," exclaimed Anders in a very loud whisper. + +Elsa put her hand over his mouth, but not before the quiet figure in +bed stirred a little. Suddenly Sigrid sat upright, rubbed her eyes, and +clapped her hands. + +"Oh! Oh! Who did it?" she cried aloud. + +In rushed the children, and then there was much laughing and kissing. +Each child very politely congratulated Sigrid because it was her +name-day. Even in the midst of a jolly good time, Swedish children do +not neglect these graceful forms of speech which their parents have +carefully taught them. + +"Here comes Svea with a tray," somebody called out. + +The children made way for the neat and smiling maid. On the dainty tray +which she placed in Sigrid's lap, was a cup of steaming coffee and a +plate of crisp caraway cookies. You might think that she had been sick, +so that every one was trying to cheer her on her name-day. Dear me, no. +Sigrid always had coffee and cakes served to her in bed every birthday +and every name-day, just as if she was a grown-up society lady. + +Anders and Karin sat on the edge of the bed, and the others drew up +their chairs while Sigrid sipped her coffee. + +"My big sister has two name-days," said Elsa. + +"Does she have three parties every year?" asked Sigrid. + +"Yes, indeed," replied Elsa. "Her real birthday comes in January. Then +her name-days are in July and October. I wish I had two name-days. But +mother says there are so many of us children that if we all had two +name-days, we should be having a party about once in every three weeks +all the year." + +Everybody burst into laughter. Elsa had five brothers and sisters, so +what her mother had said was quite true. + +In Sigrid's land, you see, they name all the days of the year. When a +little girl is born, she is generally given a name in the calendar. +Sigrid's birthday was in March, but Sigrid day in the calendar is in +September. So she had two parties every year. + +"Name-day greetings, little daughter," said Mrs. Lund as Sigrid came +into the dining-room for breakfast. Again there was much kissing and +hand-shaking. Sigrid's chair at the table was draped with festoons +of leaves. As she ate her breakfast in silence, she could not keep +her eyes away from one corner of the room. There stood a little table +covered with a snowy cloth. The centre was heaped with bundles of all +shapes, done up in white paper with red sealing-wax. On the white cloth +"Sigrid" was written with almonds and raisins. + +What good fun it was, after breakfast, to open all the mysterious +bundles! Such a heap of pretty things were concealed! + +"Here is 'Little Women,'" said Sigrid in great delight. "How did you +know it was just what I wanted, mother?" For the tenth time Sigrid +got up to run and kiss her mother. The green and gold bound book from +which she had torn the wrapping was a translation of Louisa M. Alcott's +story, which is as dear to the little Swedish girl as to her American +cousin. + +"No lessons to-day," said Miss Eklund, as the children came out of the +dining-room. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Erik. "Won't you take us for a sail on the lake, +father? You promised to go with us once more before I started for +school." + +"Sigrid's name-day would be a fine time to go. Let me see. How many of +you are there?" Major Lund looked around at the bright faces. Gerda and +Per and several other neighbours had already arrived. "Twelve--just two +more than you are years old, Sigrid." + +"You had better start early," said Mrs. Lund. "Remember the party this +afternoon." + +Just as if any one could forget! + +The boys helped Major Lund to unfasten the boat from its moorings. A +puff of wind filled out the white sail and they were soon off. + +"They thought I was asleep this morning when they were trimming my +room," Sigrid confided to Erik, who was showing her how to steer the +boat. + +"Fie on you, Sigrid!" said Erik, quite seriously, but he gave her plump +cheek a little pinch. + +"It was such fun," Sigrid laughed softly. "When I heard Elsa tell +Anders his boots squeaked, I thought I couldn't keep quiet a second +longer." + +"Look at all those snipe, Erik," Major Lund interrupted. The boat was +sailing quite close to the shore. Several of these long-legged birds, +which were picking their way across the beach, were startled by the +voices and flew into the air. + +"What a queer call they have, uncle," said Elsa. + +"Listen a moment till you hear it again," said Major Lund. + +They were very quiet for a couple of minutes. + +"It sounds like the noise old Maja makes when he wants us to give him a +lump of sugar," said Gerda. + +"They make that sound with their wings as they fly," said Major Lund. +"The 'horse-cuckoo,' some people call the snipe. Do you know how it +received that name?" + +"Do tell us, father," said Anders. + +"It is just a short story about a careless farmer who had a lazy +servant. For many days, the servant rode his master's horse to pasture +without giving the poor animal any water to drink. That was a very dry +summer, so the horse suffered greatly. + +"One day the farmer wanted to drive to market. So he said to his +servant: + +"'Fetch my horse from the pasture.' + +"The servant went after the horse, but it had disappeared. He delayed +so long that the master finally followed him into the field. But he +could not find the horse either. Just as they had given up the search, +they heard a neigh. In the next meadow, where they had been hunting, +they saw the horse drinking at a spring. + +"'Are you really there?' cried the farmer. He hastened over the stone +wall to catch the horse. As he was about to put the halter over its +neck, the horse disappeared and a snipe flew into the air. There the +bird neighed till sunset." + +"That served the farmer quite right," said Erik, indignantly, and the +others agreed with him. + +The broad waters of Lake Mälar were alive with sailing craft and small +steamers. Who would stay indoors on such a day! Along the wooded slopes +of the lake they sailed past many a lovely villa, half-hidden by trees, +and occasionally some ancient castle. + +"That is the place where I saw a water-sprite late one afternoon," +said Sigrid. The breeze had died down and the boat seemed to rest at +anchor near an old wooden bridge beneath which a hillside brook rushed +joyously into the lake. + +"Did you really?" asked Elsa. Sigrid believed in trolls, sea-nymphs, +fairies, and water-sprites. But Elsa was several years older than her +cousin, and she wasn't at all certain that trolls and water-sprites +still lived in the wild country, though they might have in the olden +times. + +"Look underneath the bridge in that dark corner, just behind those +rushes. Erik was rowing me home from your house, Gerda. When we got +just there, something white and misty rose up out of the water. I +heard a soft, sweet note, and Erik thought perhaps he did too. Then I +thought I saw him dimly resting on the waves, just as Miss Eklund says +water-sprites do." + +"Weren't you frightened?" asked Karin in wide-eyed surprise. + +"I wanted Erik to stop rowing so I could listen, but he wouldn't. +Mother said he must never take me there again toward night. Father, +won't you tell us the story of the water-sprite and the budding staff, +while we are waiting for the wind to come up?" begged Sigrid. + +"It doesn't look as though we should do much sailing for awhile. But +you must all know the old legend, I am sure," said Major Lund. + +"We should like to hear it just the same," the children all chimed in. + +"Well," began Major Lund, "this water-sprite lived under an old bridge +just like that one over there. He was such a happy fellow that he sat +playing his harp half the livelong day. One afternoon, a grim and +sour-faced old priest came ambling along on his horse, over the bridge. + +"Suddenly he drew rein, for he heard the sweetest music. He rode back +across the bridge and hunted several minutes before he discovered the +merry sprite. + +"In his ugliest tone of voice the priest called out: + +"'Why do you play your harp so joyously? Have you nothing to do but +idle away the day and the night in such foolishness? A lazy sprite like +you will never get to heaven. I should sooner expect to see this staff +which I carry grow green and blossom, than find you there.' + +"The water-sprite threw down his harp in great terror and began to weep +bitterly. What had he ever done that the old priest should frighten him +so? + +"Without giving further heed to the sprite, the priest rode on. For +many years, his own life had been so dull and solemn, that it made him +bitter to see other people happy. He found a cruel pleasure in making +the little sprite wretched. + +"While he was buried in his own gloomy thoughts, he did not see that +the staff in his hands was slowly changing into the green branch of a +living tree. Tiny green buds, then leaves, slowly, silently unfurled. +As silently flower-buds appeared and opened into rosy blossoms, spicy +with fragrance. + +"The priest, at last, beheld the branch of leaves and flowers in his +hand. He was filled with great wonder at himself. While the dead staff +of wood slowly bloomed in his hands, something hard and cold in his +heart seemed to melt. Not since he was a small boy had he listened to +the singing of the birds with such joy. He dismounted from his horse to +gather a handful of wild lilies-of-the-valley. + +"He even smiled on a whistling peasant boy who passed him on the road. +Then he thought of the weeping sprite. In all haste he rode back to +the bridge. + +"To the sobbing lad, he said: + +"'Behold how my old staff has grown green and flowers like a rose-bush +in June. This is a symbol, my good fellow, that hope blooms in the +hearts of us all. You may yet go to heaven.'" + +At that minute, the limp sails stirred, the ropes rattled in the +breeze, and the boat was soon under way. + +Early in the afternoon, the other guests of the party arrived. I could +not begin to tell you all the games they played. Some were like those +of their American cousins, but there were many new ones. Next to "Blind +Man's Buff," and "Last Couple Out," the best fun was "Lend, Lend Fire." + +All the children sat in a circle for this game. Karin, who had a cane, +walked up to Erik and rapping on the floor, said, "Lend, Lend Fire." + +But Erik replied, "Go to the next neighbour." Half-way around the +circle Karin went, but every one made the same answer. In the meantime, +the children were beckoning across to each other and exchanging seats. +Finally, Karin was nimble enough to slip into a chair which was vacant +for a second. It happened to be Sigrid's place, so it was her turn to +take the cane and hunt for fire. + +Mrs. Lund played for the children to dance old-fashioned ring dances. +Sigrid would no more have thought her party complete without these +dances in a big circle than if there had been no name-day cake. For of +course she had a name-day cake. It did not have any candles, and it was +not like any birthday cake you ever saw. Across the top of the round +loaf of sweetened bread, "Sigrid" was written in twisted strips of +bread, with cardamom seeds and currants sprinkled all over. + +Where could you find a prettier, cosier supper-room than within the +round lilac hedge with its wide opening for a door? Here the table was +set for the guests. + +Inside the lilac-bush hedge, with her other guests, we must say +good-bye to our little Swedish cousin. Sometime, I hope you will cross +the seas and meet her again. She is such a winsome maid, so healthy, +happy, and well-mannered, that I am sure you would soon be good friends. + + + + +THE END. + + + + +THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES + + +The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child-life in +other lands, filled with quaint sayings, doings, and adventures. + +Each 1 vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six or more full-page +illustrations in color. + + Price per volume $0.60 + +_By MARY HAZELTON WADE (unless otherwise indicated)_ + + =Our Little African Cousin= + + =Our Little Armenian Cousin= + + =Our Little Brown Cousin= + + =Our Little Canadian Cousin= + By Elizabeth R. Macdonald + + =Our Little Chinese Cousin= + By Isaac Taylor Headland + + =Our Little Cuban Cousin= + + =Our Little Dutch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little English Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little Eskimo Cousin= + + =Our Little French Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little German Cousin= + + =Our Little Hawaiian Cousin= + + =Our Little Indian Cousin= + + =Our Little Irish Cousin= + + =Our Little Italian Cousin= + + =Our Little Japanese Cousin= + + =Our Little Jewish Cousin= + + =Our Little Korean Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + + =Our Little Mexican Cousin= + By Edward C. Butler + + =Our Little Norwegian Cousin= + + =Our Little Panama Cousin= + By H. Lee M. Pike + + =Our Little Philippine Cousin= + + =Our Little Porto Rican Cousin= + + =Our Little Russian Cousin= + + =Our Little Scotch Cousin= + By Blanche McManus + + =Our Little Siamese Cousin= + + =Our Little Spanish Cousin= + By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet + + =Our Little Swedish Cousin= + By Claire M. Coburn + + =Our Little Swiss Cousin= + + =Our Little Turkish Cousin= + + + + +THE GOLDENROD LIBRARY + + +The Goldenrod Library contains only the highest and purest +literature,--stories which appeal alike both to children and to their +parents and guardians. + +Each volume is well illustrated from drawings by competent artists, +which, together with their handsomely decorated uniform binding, +showing the goldenrod, usually considered the emblem of America, is a +feature of their manufacture. + + Each one volume, small 12mo, illustrated, decorated cover, + paper wrapper $0.35 + + +LIST OF TITLES + + =Aunt Nabby's Children.= By Frances Hodges White. + =Child's Dream of a Star, The.= By Charles Dickens. + =Flight of Rosy Dawn, The.= By Pauline Bradford Mackie. + =Findelkind.= By Ouida. + =Fairy of the Rhone, The.= By A. Comyns Carr. + =Gatty and I.= By Frances E. Crompton. + =Great Emergency, A.= By Juliana Horatia Ewing. + =Helena's Wonderworld.= By Frances Hodges White. + =Jackanapes.= By Juliana Horatia Ewing. + =Jerry's Reward.= By Evelyn Snead Barnett. + =La Belle Nivernaise.= By Alphonse Daudet. + =Little King Davie.= By Nellie Hellis. + =Little Peterkin Vandike.= By Charles Stuart Pratt. + =Little Professor, The.= By Ida Horton Cash. + =Peggy's Trial.= By Mary Knight Potter. + =Prince Yellowtop.= By Kate Whiting Patch. + =Provence Rose, A.= By Ouida. + =Rab and His Friends.= By Dr. John Brown. + =Seventh Daughter, A.= By Grace Wickham Curran. + =Sleeping Beauty, The.= By Martha Baker Dunn. + =Small, Small Child, A.= By E. Livingston Prescott. + =Story of a Short Life, The.= By Juliana Horatia Ewing. + =Susanne.= By Frances J. Delano. + =Water People, The.= By Charles Lee Sleight. + =Young Archer, The.= By Charles E. Brimblecom. + + + + +COSY CORNER SERIES + + + It is the intention of the publishers that this series shall + contain only the very highest and purest literature,--stories + that shall not only appeal to the children themselves, but be + appreciated by all those who feel with them in their joys and + sorrows. + + The numerous illustrations in each book are by well-known artists, + and each volume has a separate attractive cover design. + + Each 1 vol., 16mo, cloth $0.50 + + +_By ANNIE FELLOWS JOHNSTON_ + + +=The Little Colonel.= (Trade Mark.) + +The scene of this story is laid in Kentucky. Its heroine is a small +girl, who is known as the Little Colonel, on account of her fancied +resemblance to an old-school Southern gentleman, whose fine estate and +old family are famous in the region. + + +=The Giant Scissors.= + +This is the story of Joyce and of her adventures in France. Joyce is a +great friend of the Little Colonel, and in later volumes shares with +her the delightful experiences of the "House Party" and the "Holidays." + + +=Two Little Knights of Kentucky.= + +WHO WERE THE LITTLE COLONEL'S NEIGHBORS. + +In this volume the Little Colonel returns to us like an old friend, but +with added grace and charm. She is not, however, the central figure of +the story, that place being taken by the "two little knights." + + +=Mildred's Inheritance.= + +A delightful little story of a lonely English girl who comes to America +and is befriended by a sympathetic American family who are attracted by +her beautiful speaking voice. By means of this one gift she is enabled +to help a school-girl who has temporarily lost the use of her eyes, and +thus finally her life becomes a busy, happy one. + + +=Cicely and Other Stories for Girls.= + +The readers of Mrs. Johnston's charming juveniles will be glad to learn +of the issue of this volume for young people. + + +=Aunt 'Liza's Hero and Other Stories.= + +A collection of six bright little stories, which will appeal to all +boys and most girls. + + +=Big Brother.= + +A story of two boys. The devotion and care of Steven, himself a small +boy, for his baby brother, is the theme of the simple tale. + + +=Ole Mammy's Torment.= + +"Ole Mammy's Torment" has been fitly called "a classic of Southern +life." It relates the haps and mishaps of a small negro lad, and tells +how he was led by love and kindness to a knowledge of the right. + + +=The Story of Dago.= + +In this story Mrs. Johnston relates the story of Dago, a pet monkey, +owned jointly by two brothers. Dago tells his own story, and the +account of his haps and mishaps is both interesting and amusing. + + +=The Quilt That Jack Built.= + +A pleasant little story of a boy's labor of love, and how it changed +the course of his life many years after it was accomplished. + + +=Flip's Islands of Providence.= + +A story of a boy's life battle, his early defeat, and his final +triumph, well worth the reading. + + +_By EDITH ROBINSON_ + + +=A Little Puritan's First Christmas.= + +A story of Colonial times in Boston, telling how Christmas was invented +by Betty Sewall, a typical child of the Puritans, aided by her brother +Sam. + + +=A Little Daughter of Liberty.= + +The author's motive for this story is well indicated by a quotation +from her introduction, as follows: + +"One ride is memorable in the early history of the American Revolution, +the well-known ride of Paul Revere. Equally deserving of commendation +is another ride,--the ride of Anthony Severn,--which was no less +historic in its action or memorable in its consequences." + + +=A Loyal Little Maid.= + +A delightful and interesting story of Revolutionary days, in which the +child heroine, Betsey Schuyler, renders important services to George +Washington. + + +=A Little Puritan Rebel.= + +This is an historical tale of a real girl, during the time when the +gallant Sir Harry Vane was governor of Massachusetts. + + +=A Little Puritan Pioneer.= + +The scene of this story is laid in the Puritan settlement at +Charlestown. The little girl heroine adds another to the list of +favorites so well known to the young people. + + +=A Little Puritan Bound Girl.= + +A story of Boston in Puritan days, which is of great interest to +youthful readers. + + +=A Little Puritan Cavalier.= + +The story of a "Little Puritan Cavalier" who tried with all his boyish +enthusiasm to emulate the spirit and ideals of the dead Crusaders. + + +_By OUIDA_ (_Louise de la Ramée_) + + +=A Dog of Flanders=: A CHRISTMAS STORY. + +Too well and favorably known to require description. + + +=The Nurnberg Stove.= + +This beautiful story has never before been published at a popular price. + + +_By FRANCES MARGARET FOX_ + + +=The Little Giant's Neighbours.= + +A charming nature story of a "little giant" whose neighbours were the +creatures of the field and garden. + + +=Farmer Brown and the Birds.= + +A little story which teaches children that the birds are man's best +friends. + + +=Betty of Old Mackinaw.= + +A charming story of child-life, appealing especially to the little +readers who like stories of "real people." + + +=Brother Billy.= + +The story of Betty's brother, and some further adventures of Betty +herself. + + +=Mother Nature's Little Ones.= + +Curious little sketches describing the early lifetime, or "childhood," +of the little creatures out-of-doors. + + +=How Christmas Came to the Mulvaneys.= + +A bright, lifelike little story of a family of poor children, with an +unlimited capacity for fun and mischief. The wonderful never-to-be +forgotten Christmas that came to them is the climax of a series of +exciting incidents. + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Note: Period added after Mackie in Goldenrod Library List. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Our Little Swedish Cousin, by Claire M. Coburn + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43638 *** |