"
The boy winked at Akka, and made a sign--as the stork stood upon the
very edge of the nest, with one leg drawn up, to sleep--that he wanted
to push him down to the ground; but Akka restrained him. She did not
seem to be the least bit angry. Instead, she said in a confident tone of
voice: "It would be pretty poor business if one who is as old as I am
could not manage to get out of worse difficulties than this. If only Mr.
and Mrs. Owl, who can stay awake all night, will fly off with a couple
of messages for me, I think that all will go well."
Both owls were willing. Then Akka bade the gentleman owl that he should
go and seek the black rats who had gone off, and counsel them to hurry
home immediately. The lady owl she sent to Flammea, the steeple-owl,
who lived in Lund cathedral, with a commission which was so secret that
Akka only dared to confide it to her in a whisper.
THE RAT CHARMER
It was getting on toward midnight when the gray rats after a diligent
search succeeded in finding an open air-hole in the cellar. This was
pretty high upon the wall; but the rats got up on one another's
shoulders, and it wasn't long before the most daring among them sat in
the air-hole, ready to force its way into Glimminge castle, outside
whose walls so many of its forebears had fallen.
The gray rat sat still for a moment in the hole, and waited for an
attack from within.
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