While he was speaking, Osa, the goose girl, gradually regained
consciousness; when he had finished she was wide awake.
Then she was so terrified at the thought of talking with an elf that she
could not say thank you or anything else, but quickly shut the door.
As she did that she thought she saw an expression of pain flash across
the elf's face, but she could not help what she did, for she was beside
herself with fright. She crept into bed as quickly as she could and drew
the covers over her head.
Although she was afraid of the elf, she had a feeling that he meant well
by her. So the next day she made haste to do as he had told her.
WITH THE LAPLANDERS
One afternoon in July it rained frightfully up around Lake Luossajaure.
The Laplanders, who lived mostly in the open during the summer, had
crawled under the tent and were squatting round the fire drinking
coffee.
The new settlers on the east shore of the lake worked diligently to have
their homes in readiness before the severe Arctic winter set in. They
wondered at the Laplanders, who had lived in the far north for centuries
without even thinking that better protection was needed against cold and
storm than thin tent covering.
The Laplanders, on the other hand, wondered at the new settlers giving
themselves so much needless, hard work, when nothing more was necessary
to live comfortably than a few reindeer and a tent.
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