From the east comes another body of water,
which can barely squeeze in between the islands and islets. It is the
East Sea. Here, Clement, where Uppland joins Soermland and Maelaren joins
the East Sea, comes a short river, in the centre of which lie four
little islets that divide the river into several tributaries--one of
which is called Norristroem but was formerly Stocksund.
"In the beginning these islets were common wooded islands, such as one
finds in plenty on Lake Maelar even to-day, and for ages they were
entirely uninhabited. They were well located between two bodies of water
and two bodies of land; but this no one remarked. Year after year
passed; people settled along Lake Maelar and in the archipelago, but
these river islands attracted no settlers. Sometimes it happened that a
seafarer put into port at one of them and pitched his tent for the
night; but no one remained there long.
"One day a fisherman, who lived on Liding Island, out in Salt Fiord,
steered his boat toward Lake Maelar, where he had such good luck with his
fishing that he forgot to start for home in time. He got no farther than
the four islets, and the best he could do was to land on one and wait
until later in the night, when there would be bright moonlight.
"It was late summer and warm. The fisherman hauled his boat on land, lay
down beside it, his head resting upon a stone, and fell asleep.
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