Now he came down from the
lectern, took the pointer from the boy, and sent him back to his seat.
"This won't end well," the boy thought then.
But the schoolmaster had gone over to a window, and had stood there for
a moment and looked out, and then he had whistled to himself once. Then
he had gone up into the lectern and said that he would tell them
something about Blekinge. And that which he then talked about had been
so amusing that the boy had listened. When he only stopped and thought
for a moment, he remembered every word.
"Smaland is a tall house with spruce trees on the roof," said the
teacher, "and leading up to it is a broad stairway with three big steps;
and this stairway is called Blekinge. It is a stairway that is well
constructed. It stretches forty-two miles along the frontage of Smaland
house, and anyone who wishes to go all the way down to the East sea, by
way of the stairs, has twenty-four miles to wander.
"A good long time must have elapsed since the stairway was
built. Both days and years have gone by since the steps were hewn from
gray stones and laid down--evenly and smoothly--for a convenient track
between Smaland and the East sea.
"Since the stairway is so old, one can, of course, understand that it
doesn't look just the same now, as it did when it was new. I don't know
how much they troubled themselves about such matters at that time; but
big as it was, no broom could have kept it clean.
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