dancing and spinning from one end of the plain to the other. When a
Naerke man saw her come dragging her dust trail over the plain, he could
not help smiling. Provoking and tiresome she certainly was, but she had
a merry spirit. It was just as refreshing for the peasants to meet
Ysaetter-Kaisa as it was for the plain to be lashed by the windstorm.

Nowadays 'tis said that Ysaetter-Kaisa is dead and gone, like all other
witches, but this one can hardly believe. It is as if some one were to
come and tell you that henceforth the air would always be still on the
plain, and the wind would never more dance across it with blustering
breezes and drenching showers.

He who fancies that Ysaetter-Kaisa is dead and gone may as well hear what
occurred in Naerke the year that Nils Holgersson travelled over that part
of the country. Then let him tell what he thinks about it.

MARKET EVE

_Wednesday, April twenty-seventh_.

It was the day before the big Cattle Fair at Oerebro; it rained in
torrents and people thought: "This is exactly as in Ysaetter-Kaisa's
time! At fairs she used to be more prankish than usual. It was quite in
her line to arrange a downpour like this on a market eve."

As the day wore on, the rain increased, and toward evening came regular
cloud-bursts. The roads were like bottomless swamps. The farmers who had
started from home with their cattle early in the morning, that they
might arrive at a seasonable hour, fared badly. Cows and oxen were so
tired they could hardly move, and many of the poor beasts dropped down
in the middle of the road, to show that they were too exhausted to go
any farther. All who lived along the roadside had to open their doors to
the market-bound travellers, and harbour them as best they could. Farm
houses, barns, and sheds were soon crowded to their limit.

Meanwhile, those who could struggle along toward the inn did so; but
when they arrived they wished they had stopped at some cabin along the
road. All the cribs in the barn and all the stalls in the stable were
already occupied. There was no other choice than to let horses and
cattle stand out in the rain. Their masters could barely manage to get
under cover.

The crush and mud and slush in the barn yard were frightful! Some of the
animals were standing in puddles and could not even lie down. There were
thoughtful masters, of course, who procured straw for their animals to
lie on, and spread blankets over them; but there were thos