But when he saw that there really was a white goose on the
water, he was just as indignant as the rest.
He hissed with rage, flew straight at Morten Goosey-Gander and tore out
a few feathers.
"I'll teach you a lesson, wild goose," he shrieked, "so that you'll not
come again to the swans, togged out in this way!"
"Fly, Morten Goosey-Gander! Fly, fly!" cried Akka, for she knew that
otherwise the swans would pull out every feather the goosey-gander had.
"Fly, fly!" screamed Thumbietot, too.
But the goosey-gander was so hedged in by the swans that he had not
room enough to spread his wings. All around him the swans stretched
their long necks, opened their strong bills, and plucked his feathers.
Morten Goosey-Gander defended himself as best he could, by striking and
biting. The wild geese also began to fight the swans.
It was obvious how this would have ended had the geese not received help
quite unexpectedly.
A red-tail noticed that they were being roughly treated by the swans.
Instantly he cried out the shrill call that little birds use when they
need help to drive off a hawk or a falcon.
Three calls had barely sounded when all the little birds in the vicinity
came shooting down to Hjaelsta Bay, as if on wings of lightning.
These delicate little creatures swooped down upon the swans, screeched
in their ears, and obstructed their view with the flutter of their tiny
wings.
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