It was plain that he
continued the conversation only to please his friend, the Lapp.
"I presume the girl is one of your race?"
"No," said Ola, "she doesn't belong to the Samefolk."
"Perhaps she's the daughter of some new settler and is accustomed to the
life here?"
"No, she's from the far south," replied Ola, as if this was of small
importance.
The fisherman grew more interested.
"Then I don't believe that you can take her," he said. "It's doubtful if
she could stand living in a tent in winter, since she was not brought up
that way."
"She will find kind parents and kind brothers and sisters in the tent,"
insisted Ola Serka. "It's worse to be alone than to freeze."
The fisherman became more and more zealous to prevent the adoption. It
seemed as if he could not bear the thought of a child of Swedish parents
being taken in by Laplanders.
"You said just now that she had a father in the mine."
"He's dead," said the Lapp abruptly.
"I suppose you have thoroughly investigated this matter, Ola?"
"What's the use of going to all that trouble?" disdained the Lapp. "I
ought to know! Would the girl and her brother have been obliged to roam
about the country if they had a father living? Would two children have
been forced to care for themselves if they had a father? The girl
herself thinks he's alive, but I say that he must be dead.
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