When the boy awoke, he began to feel uneasy because the tourists
lingered so long in the tower telling stories. He thought they would
never go. Morten Goosey-Gander could not come for him while they were
there and he knew, of course, that the wild geese were in a hurry to
continue the journey. In the middle of a story he thought he heard
honking and the beating of wings, as if the geese were flying away, but
he did not dare to venture over to the balustrade to find out if it was
so.
At last, when the tourists were gone, and the boy could crawl from his
hiding place, he saw no wild geese, and no Morten Goosey-Gander came to
fetch him. He called, "Here am I, where are you?" as loud as he could,
but his travelling companions did not appear. Not for a second did he
think they had deserted him; but he feared that they had met with some
mishap and was wondering what he should do to find them, when Bataki,
the raven, lit beside him.
The boy never dreamed that he should greet Bataki with such a glad
welcome as he now gave him.
"Dear Bataki," he burst forth. "How fortunate that you are here! Maybe
you know what has become of Morten Goosey-Gander and the wild geese?"
"I've just come with a greeting from them," replied the raven. "Akka saw
a hunter prowling about on the mountain and therefore dared not stay to
wait for you, but has gone on ahead.
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