"
Osa, the goose girl, went down to the strand again, where she stopped to
rummage in her bag. Finally she fished out a little wooden shoe, which
she placed on a stone where it could be plainly seen. Then she ran to
little Mats without once looking back.
But the instant her back was turned, a big white goose shot down from
the sky, like a streak of lightning, snatched the wooden shoe, and flew
away with it.
THUMBIETOT AND THE BEARS
THE IRONWORKS
_Thursday, April twenty-eighth_.
When the wild geese and Thumbietot had helped Osa, the goose girl, and
little Mats across the ice, they flew into Westmanland, where they
alighted in a grain field to feed and rest.
A strong west wind blew almost the entire day on which the wild geese
travelled over the mining districts, and as soon as they attempted to
direct their course northward they were buffeted toward the east. Now,
Akka thought that Smirre Fox was at large in the eastern part of the
province; therefore she would not fly in that direction, but turned
back, time and again, struggling westward with great difficulty. At this
rate the wild geese advanced very slowly, and late in the afternoon they
were still in the Westmanland mining districts. Toward evening the wind
abated suddenly, and the tired travellers hoped that they would have an
interval of easy flight before sundown.
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