"It should have occurred to
some of them, as they sat on the edge of the stronghold of an evening,
and heard the nightingales trill in the groves below them, and looked
over Kalmar Sound, that this island could not have come into existence
in the same way as the others."
"I want to ask," said the old one, "if no one has had the desire to give
wings to the windmills--so large that they could reach to heaven, so
large that they could lift the whole island out of the sea and let it
fly like a butterfly among butterflies."
"It may be possible that there is something in what you say," said the
young one; "for on summer nights, when the heavens widen and open over
the island, I have sometimes thought that it was as if it wanted to
raise itself from the sea, and fly away."
But when the old one had finally gotten the young one to talk, he didn't
listen to him very much. "I would like to know," the old one said in a
low tone, "if anyone can explain why one feels such a longing up here on
Alvaret. I have felt it every day of my life; and I think it preys upon
each and every one who must go about here. I want to know if no one else
has understood that all this wistfulness is caused by the fact that the
whole island is a butterfly that longs for its wings."
LITTLE KARL'S ISLAND
THE STORM
_Friday, April eighth_.
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