Some one else gave a cry of joy--his _mother_!
"My, but you have grown tall and handsome!" she exclaimed.
The boy had not entered the cabin, but was standing on the doorstep,
like one who is not quite certain how he will be received.
"The Lord be praised that I have you back again!" said his mother,
laughing and crying. "Come in, my boy! Come in!"
"Welcome!" added his father, and not another word could he utter.
But the boy still lingered at the threshold. He could not comprehend why
they were so glad to see him--such as he was. Then his mother came and
put her arms around him and drew him into the room, and he knew that he
was all right.
"Mother and father!" he cried. "I'm a big boy. I am a human being
again!"
THE PARTING WITH THE WILD GEESE
_Wednesday, November ninth_.
The boy arose before dawn and wandered down to the coast. He was
standing alone on the strand east of Smyge fishing hamlet before
sunrise. He had already been in the pen with Morten Goosey-Gander to try
to rouse him, but the big white gander had no desire to leave home. He
did not say a word, but only stuck his bill under his wing and went to
sleep again.
To all appearances the weather promised to be almost as perfect as it
had been that spring day when the wild geese came to Skane. There was
hardly a ripple on the water; the air was still and the boy thought of
the good passage the geese would have.
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