unluckily, gave
themselves up to arrogance and love of display. As a punishment for
this, says Bataki, the city of Vineta was overtaken by a flood, and sank
into the sea. But its inhabitants cannot die, neither is their city
destroyed. And one night in every hundred years, it rises in all its
splendour up from the sea, and remains on the surface just one hour."

"Yes, it must be so," said Thumbietot, "for this I have seen."

"But when the hour is up, it sinks again into the sea, if, during that
time, no merchant in Vineta has sold anything to a single living
creature. If you, Thumbietot, only had had an ever so tiny coin, to pay
the merchants, Vineta might have remained up here on the shore; and its
people could have lived and died like other human beings."

"Herr Ermenrich," said the boy, "now I understand why you came and
fetched me in the middle of the night. It was because you believed that
I should be able to save the old city. I am so sorry it didn't turn out
as you wished, Herr Ermenrich."

He covered his face with his hands and wept. It wasn't easy to say which
one looked the more disconsolate--the boy, or Herr Ermenrich.

THE LIVING CITY

_Monday, April eleventh_.

On the afternoon of Easter Monday, the wild geese and Thumbietot were on
the wing. They travelled over Gottland.

The large island lay smooth and even beneath them. The ground was
checked just as it was in Skane and there were many churches and farms.
But there was this difference, however, that there were more leafy
meadows between the fields here, and then the farms were not built up
with small houses. And there were no large manors with ancient
tower-ornamented castles.

The wild geese had taken the route over Gottland on account of
Thumbietot. He had been altogether unlike himself for two days, and
hadn't spoken a cheerful word. This was because he had thought of
nothing but that city which had appeared to him in such a strange way.
He had never seen anything so magnificent and royal, and he could not be
reconciled with himself for having failed to save it. Usually he was not
chicken-hearted, but now he actually grieved for the beautiful buildings
and the stately people.

Both Akka and the goosey-gander tried to convince Thumbietot that he had
been the victim of a dream, or an hallucination, but the boy wouldn't
listen to anything of that sort. He was so positive that he had really
seen what he had seen, that no one could move him fr