Berries and mushrooms, upon
which the boy had subsisted during the summer, were either frozen or
decayed. Finally he had been compelled to eat raw fish, which was
something he disliked. The days had grown short and the long evenings
and late mornings were rather tiresome for one who could not sleep the
whole time that the sun was away.
Now, at last, the goslings' wings had grown, so that the geese could
start for the south. The boy was so happy that he laughed and sang as he
rode on the goose's back. It was not only on account of the darkness and
cold that he longed to get away from Lapland; there were other reasons
too.
The first weeks of his sojourn there the boy had not been the least bit
homesick. He thought he had never before seen such a glorious country.
The only worry he had had was to keep the mosquitoes from eating him up.
The boy had seen very little of the goosey-gander, because the big,
white gander thought only of his Dunfin and was unwilling to leave her
for a moment. On the other hand, Thumbietot had stuck to Akka and Gorgo,
the eagle, and the three of them had passed many happy hours together.
The two birds had taken him with them on long trips. He had stood on
snow-capped Mount Kebnekaise, had looked down at the glaciers and
visited many high cliffs seldom tramped by human feet.
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