She sat alone recalling, one after another, things her brother had said
and done. There was so much to think about that she did not go straight
to bed, but sat up most of the night. The more she thought of her
brother the more she realized how hard it would be to live without him.
At last she dropped her head on the table and wept.
"What shall I do now that little Mats is gone?" she sobbed.
It was far along toward morning and Osa, spent by the strain of her hard
day, finally fell asleep.
She dreamed that little Mats softly opened the door and stepped into the
room.
"Osa, you must go and find father," he said.
"How can I when I don't even know where he is?" she replied in her
dream.
"Don't worry about that," returned little Mats in his usual, cheery way.
"I'll send some one to help you."
Just as Osa, the goose girl, dreamed that little Mats had said this,
there was a knock at the door. It was a real knock--not something she
heard in the dream, but she was so held by the dream that she could not
tell the real from the unreal. As she went on to open the door, she
thought:
"This must be the person little Mats promised to send me."
She was right, for it was Thumbietot come to talk to her about her
father.
When he saw that she was not afraid of him, he told her in a few words
where her father was and how to reach him.
Pages:
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540