om this conviction.
He went about so disconsolate that his travelling companions became
uneasy for him.

Just as the boy was the most depressed, old Kaksi came back to the
flock. She had been blown toward Gottland, and had been compelled to
travel over the whole island before she had learned through some crows
that her comrades were on Little Karl's Island. When Kaksi found out
what was wrong with Thumbietot, she said impulsively:

"If Thumbietot is grieving over an old city, we'll soon be able to
comfort him. Just come along, and I'll take you to a place that I saw
yesterday! You will not need to be distressed very long."

Thereupon the geese had taken farewell of the sheep, and were on their
way to the place which Kaksi wished to show Thumbietot. As blue as he
was, he couldn't keep from looking at the land over which he travelled,
as usual.

He thought it looked as though the whole island had in the beginning
been just such a high, steep cliff as Karl's Island--though much bigger
of course. But afterward, it had in some way been flattened out. Someone
had taken a big rolling-pin and rolled over it, as if it had been a lump
of dough. Not that the island had become altogether flat and even, like
a bread-cake, for it wasn't like that. While they had travelled along
the coast, he had seen white lime walls with grottoes and crags, in
several directions; but in most of the places they were levelled, and
sank inconspicuously down toward the sea.

In Gottland they had a pleasant and peaceful holiday afternoon. It
turned out to be mild spring weather; the trees had large buds; spring
blossoms dressed the ground in the leafy meadows; the poplars' long,
thin pendants swayed; and in the little gardens, which one finds around
every cottage, the gooseberry bushes were green.

The warmth and the spring-budding had tempted the people out into the
gardens and roads, and wherever a number of them were gathered together
they were playing. It was not the children alone who played, but the
grown-ups also. They were throwing stones at a given point, and they
threw balls in the air with such exact aim that they almost touched the
wild geese. It looked cheerful and pleasant to see big folks at play;
and the boy certainly would have enjoyed it, if he had been able to
forget his grief because he had failed to save the city.

Anyway, he had to admit that this was a lovely trip. There was so much
singing and sound in the air. Little chil