hard with her wings, and rushed on at
full speed. Now she had something to go by. The gray goose had told her
not to light on Oeland's southern point, because there was a cannon
there, which the people used to shoot the mist with. Now she knew the
way, and now no one in the world should lead her astray again.

OeLAND'S SOUTHERN POINT

_April third to sixth_.

On the most southerly part of Oeland lies a royal demesne, which is
called Ottenby. It is a rather large estate which extends from shore to
shore, straight across the island; and it is remarkable because it has
always been a haunt for large bird-companies. In the seventeenth
century, when the kings used to go over to Oeland to hunt, the entire
estate was nothing but a deer park. In the eighteenth century there was
a stud there, where blooded race-horses were bred; and a sheep farm,
where several hundred sheep were maintained. In our days you'll find
neither blooded horses nor sheep at Ottenby. In place of them live
great herds of young horses, which are to be used by the cavalry.

In all the land there is certainly no place that could be a better abode
for animals. Along the extreme eastern shore lies the old sheep meadow,
which is a mile and a half long, and the largest meadow in all Oeland,
where animals can graze and play and run about, as free as if they were
in a wilderness. And there you will find the celebrated Ottenby grove
with the hundred-year-old oaks, which give shade from the sun, and
shelter from the severe Oeland winds. And we must not forget the long
Ottenby wall, which stretches from shore to shore, and separates Ottenby
from the rest of the island, so that the animals may know how far the
old royal demesne extends, and be careful about getting in on other
ground, where they are not so well protected.

You'll find plenty of tame animals at Ottenby, but that isn't all. One
could almost believe that the wild ones also felt that on an old crown
property both the wild and the tame ones can count upon shelter and
protection--since they venture there in such great numbers.

Besides, there are still a few stags of the old descent left; and
burrow-ducks and partridges love to live there, and it offers a resting
place, in the spring and late summer, for thousands of migratory birds.
Above all, it is the swampy eastern shore below the sheep meadow, where
the migratory birds alight, to rest and feed.

When the wild geese and Nils Holgersson had fi