haps
have done in the same circumstances.

It happened at this moment, that a large flock of geese crossed the
park, on their way towards the river, stalking along in a slow majestic
manner, with their heads high in the air. Laura observed them at a
distance, and thought they were the prettiest creatures in the world,
with their pure white feathers and yellow stockings, so she wondered
what kind of birds these were, having never seen a goose before, except
when roasted for dinner, though, indeed, she was a sad goose herself, as
will very soon be told.

"How I should like to examine those large, white, beautiful birds, a
little nearer," thought Laura to herself. "I wonder if they could swim
or fly!--oh! how perfect they would look, floating like water-lilies on
the river, and then I might take a bit of bread to throw in, and they
would all rush after it!"

Laura, as usual, did not wait to reflect what her grandmama might be
likely to think; indeed it is to be feared Laura forgot at the moment
that she had a grandmama at all, for her mind was never large enough to
hold more than one thing at a time, and now it was entirely filled with
the flock of geese. She instantly set off in pursuit of them, and began
chasing the whole party across the park, making all sorts of dreadful
noises, in hopes they might fly; but, on the contrary, they held up
their heads, as if she had been a dancing-master, and marched slowly on,
cackling loudly to each other, and evidently getting extremely angry.

Laura was now quite close to her new acquaintances, and even threw a
pebble to hurry them forward, when suddenly an old gander stopped, and
turned round in a terrible rage. The whole flock of geese then did the
same, after which they flew towards Laura, with their bills wide open,
hissing furiously, and stretching out their long necks in an angry
menacing way, as if they wished to tear her in pieces.

Poor Laura became frightened out of any wits she ever had, and ran off,
with all the geese after her! Anybody must have laughed into fits, could
they have heard what a triumphant cackle the geese set up, and had they
seen how fast she flew away. If Laura had borrowed a pair of wings from
her pursuers, she could scarcely have got more quickly on.

In the hurry of escaping, she always looked back to see if the enemy
followed, and scarcely observed which way she ran herself, till suddenly
her foot stumbled over a large stone, and she fell headl