n take a
message that I have for them. You probably know the present condition of
Lake Maelar? There's a great overflow down there and all the swans who
live in Hjaelsta Bay are about to see their nests, with all their eggs,
destroyed. Daylight, the swan-king, has heard of the midget who travels
with the wild geese and knows a remedy for every ill. He has sent me to
ask Akka if she will bring Thumbietot down to Hjaelsta Bay."

"I dare say I can convey your message," Agar replied, "but I can't
understand how the little boy will be able to help the swans."

"Nor do I," said Smirre, "but he can do almost everything, it seems."

"It's surprising to me that Daylight should send his messages by a fox,"
Agar remarked.

"Well, we're not exactly what you'd call good friends," said Smirre
smoothly, "but in an emergency like this we must help each other.
Perhaps it would be just as well not to tell Akka that you got the
message from a fox. Between you and me, she's inclined to be a little
suspicious."

The safest refuge for water-fowl in the whole Maelar district is Hjaelsta
Bay. It has low shores, shallow water and is also covered with reeds.

It is by no means as large as Lake Takern, but nevertheless Hjaelsta is a
good retreat for birds, since it has long been forbidden territory to
hunters.

It is the home of a great many swans, and the owner of the old castle
nearby has prohibited all shooting on the bay, so that they might be
unmolested.

As soon as Akka received word that the swans needed her help, she
hastened down to Hjaelsta Bay. She arrived with her flock one evening and
saw at a glance that there had been a great disaster. The big swans'
nests had been torn away, and the strong wind was driving them down the
bay. Some had already fallen apart, two or three had capsized, and the
eggs lay at the bottom of the lake.

When Akka alighted on the bay, all the swans living there were gathered
near the eastern shore, where they were protected from the wind.

Although they had suffered much by the flood, they were too proud to let
any one see it.

"It is useless to cry," they said. "There are plenty of root-fibres and
stems here; we can soon build new nests."

None had thought of asking a stranger to help them, and the swans had no
idea that Smirre Fox had sent for the wild geese!

There were several hundred swans resting on the water. They had placed
themselves according to rank and station. The young and inexpe