wise for that. But the one who could be aggravating with a
vengeance was her brother, little Mats.

"Have you heard, Nils Goose-boy, how it went when Smaland and Skane were
created?" he would ask, and if Nils Holgersson said no, he began
immediately to relate the old joke-legend.

"Well, it was at that time when our Lord was creating the world. While
he was doing his best work, Saint Peter came walking by. He stopped and
looked on, and then he asked if it was hard to do. 'Well, it isn't
exactly easy,' said our Lord. Saint Peter stood there a little longer,
and when he noticed how easy it was to lay out one landscape after
another, he too wanted to try his hand at it. 'Perhaps you need to rest
yourself a little,' said Saint Peter, 'I could attend to the work in
the meantime for you.' But this our Lord did not wish. 'I do not know if
you are so much at home in this art that I can trust you to take hold
where I leave off,' he answered. Then Saint Peter was angry, and said
that he believed he could create just as fine countries as our Lord
himself.

"It happened that our Lord was just then creating Smaland. It wasn't
even half-ready but it looked as though it would be an indescribably
pretty and fertile land. It was difficult for our Lord to say no to
Saint Peter, and aside from this, he thought very likely that a thing so
well begun no one could spoil. Therefore he said: If you like, we will
prove which one of us two understands this sort of work the better. You,
who are only a novice, shall go on with this which I have begun, and I
will create a new land.' To this Saint Peter agreed at once; and so they
went to work--each one in his place.

"Our Lord moved southward a bit, and there he undertook to create Skane.
It wasn't long before he was through with it, and soon he asked if Saint
Peter had finished, and would come and look at his work. 'I had mine
ready long ago,' said Saint Peter; and from the sound of his voice it
could be heard how pleased he was with what he had accomplished.

"When Saint Peter saw Skane, he had to acknowledge that there was
nothing but good to be said of that land. It was a fertile land and easy
to cultivate, with wide plains wherever one looked, and hardly a sign of
hills. It was evident that our Lord had really contemplated making it
such that people should feel at home there. 'Yes, this is a good
country,' said Saint Peter, 'but I think that mine is better.' 'Then
we'll take a look at it,