The doors of the cattle sheds were thrown wide open and the cows were
let out. They were prettily coloured, small, supple and sprightly, and
so sure-footed that they made the most comic leaps and bounds. After
them came the calves and sheep, and it was plainly to be seen that they,
too, were in the best of spirits.
It grew livelier every moment in the farm yards. A couple of young girls
with knapsacks on their backs walked among the cattle; a boy with a long
switch kept the sheep together, and a little dog ran in and out among
the cows, barking at the ones that tried to gore him. The farmer hitched
a horse to a cart loaded with tubs of butter, boxes of cheese, and all
kinds of eatables. The people laughed and chattered. They and the beasts
were alike merry--as if looking forward to a day of real pleasure.
A moment later all were on their way to the forest. One of the girls
walked in the lead and coaxed the cattle with pretty, musical calls. The
animals followed in a long line. The shepherd boy and the sheep-dog ran
hither and thither, to see that no creature turned from the right
course; and last came the farmer and his hired man. They walked beside
the cart to prevent its being upset, for the road they followed was a
narrow, stony forest path.
It may have been the custom for all the peasants in Haelsingland to send
their cattle into the forests on the same day--or perhaps it only
happened so that year; at any rate the boy saw how processions of happy
people and cattle wandered out from every valley and every farm and
rushed into the lonely forest, filling it with life.
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