?' cried the big sister.

'A worm!' cried Lisa.

'On the raspberry!' cried Aina.

'Kill it!' cried Otto.

'What a fuss over a poor little worm!' said the big sister scornfully.

'Yes, when we had cleaned the raspberries so carefully,' said Lisa.

'It crept out from that very large one,' put in Aina.

'And supposing some one had eaten the raspberry,' said Lisa.

'Then they would have eaten the worm, too,' said Aina.

'Well, what harm?' said Otto.

'Eat a worm!' cried Lisa.

'And kill him with one bite!' murmured Aina.

'Just think of it!' said Otto laughing.

'Now it is crawling on the table,' cried Aina again.

'Blow it away!' said the big sister.

'Tramp on it!' laughed Otto.

But Lisa took a raspberry leaf, swept the worm carefully on to the leaf
and carried it out into the yard. Then Aina noticed that a sparrow
sitting on the fence was just getting ready to pounce on the poor little
worm, so she took up the leaf, carried it out into the wood and hid it
under a raspberry bush where the greedy sparrow could not find it. Yes,
and what more is there to tell about a raspberry worm? Who would give
three straws for such a miserable little thing? Yes, but who would not
like to live in such a pretty home as it lives in; in such a fresh
fragrant dark-red cottage, far away in the quiet wood among flowers and
green leaves!

Now it was just dinner time, so they all had a dinner of raspberries and
cream. 'Be careful with the sugar, Otto,' said the big sister; but
Otto's plate was like a snowdrift in winter, with just a little red
under the snow.

Soon after dinner the big sister said: 'Now we have eaten up the
raspberries and we have none left to make preserve for the winter; it
would be fine if we could get two baskets full of berries, then we could
clean them this evening, and to-morrow we could cook them in the big
preserving pan, and then we should have raspberry jam to eat on our
bread!'

'Come, let us go to the wood and pick,' said Lisa.

'Yes, let us,' said Aina. 'You take the yellow basket and I will take
the green one.'

'Don't get lost, and come back safely in the evening,' said the big
sister.

'Greetings to the raspberry worm,' said Otto, mockingly. 'Next time I
meet him I shall do him the honour of eating him up.'

So Aina and Lisa went off to the wood. Ah! how delightful it was there,
how beautiful! It was certainly tiresome sometimes climbing over the
fallen trees, and getting caught i