hase, was astonished at the light and went back to
his ravine to perch for the night. The male cuckoo crowed, and his mate
stole up to the nests of the little birds with her egg in her mouth.

Robber Mother's youngsters let out perfect shrieks of delight. They
stuffed themselves with wild strawberries that hung on the bushes, large
as pine cones. One of them played with a litter of young hares; another
ran a race with some young crows, which had hopped from their nest before
they were really ready; a third caught up an adder from the ground and
wound it around his neck and arm.

Robber Father was standing out on a marsh eating raspberries. When he
glanced up, a big black bear stood beside him. Robber Father broke off an
osier twig and struck the bear on the nose. "Keep to your own ground,
you!" he said; "this is my turf." Then the huge bear turned around and
lumbered off in another direction.

New waves of warmth and light kept coming, and now they brought with them
seeds from the star-flower. Golden pollen from rye fields fairly flew in
the air. Then came butterflies, so big that they looked like flying
lilies. The bee-hive in a hollow oak was already so full of honey that it
dripped down on the trunk of the tree. Then all the flowers whose seeds
had been brought from foreign lands began to blossom. The loveliest roses
climbed up the mountain wall in a race with the blackberry vines, and from
the forest meadow sprang flowers as large as human faces.

Abbot Hans thought of the flower he was to pluck for Bishop Absalon; but
each new flower that appeared was more beautiful than the others, and he
wanted to choose the most beautiful of all.

Wave upon wave kept coming until the air was so filled with light that it
glittered. All the life and beauty and joy of summer smiled on Abbot Hans.
He felt that earth could bring no greater happiness than that which welled
up about him, and he said to himself, "I do not know what new beauties the
next wave that comes can bring with it."

But the light kept streaming in, and now it seemed to Abbot Hans that it
carried with it something from an infinite distance. He felt a celestial
atmosphere enfolding him, and tremblingly he began to anticipate, now that
earth's joys had come, the glories of heaven were approaching.

Then Abbot Hans marked how all grew still; the birds hushed their songs,
the flowers ceased growing, and the young foxes played no more. The glory
now nearing was s