and, in which was a heart made of
sugar, more beautiful than any confectioner ever sold. As Hjalmar sailed
by he caught hold of one side of the sugar heart and held it fast, and
the princess held fast too, so that it broke in two pieces. Hjalmar had
one piece and the princess the other, but Hjalmar's was the larger.

At each castle stood little princes acting as sentinels. They presented
arms and had golden swords and made it rain plums and tin soldiers, so
that they must have been real princes.

Hjalmar continued to sail, sometimes through woods, sometimes as it were
through large halls, and then by large cities. At last he came to the
town where his nurse lived, who had carried him in her arms when he was
a very little boy and had always been kind to him. She nodded and
beckoned to him and then sang the little verses she had herself composed
and sent to him:

How many, many hours I think on thee,
My own dear Hjalmar, still my pride and joy!
How have I hung delighted over thee,
Kissing thy rosy cheeks, my darling boy!

Thy first low accents it was mine to hear,
To-day my farewell words to thee shall fly.
Oh, may the Lord thy shield be ever near
And fit thee for a mansion in the sky!

And all the birds sang the same tune, the flowers danced on their stems,
and the old trees nodded as if Ole-Luk-Oie had been telling them
stories, as well.

WEDNESDAY

How the rain did pour down! Hjalmar could hear it in his sleep, and when
Ole-Luk-Oie opened the window the water flowed quite up to the window
sill. It had the appearance of a large lake outside, and a beautiful
ship lay close to the house.

"Wilt thou sail with me to-night, little Hjalmar?" said Ole-Luk-Oie.
"Then we shall see foreign countries, and thou shalt return here in the
morning."

All in a moment there stood Hjalmar, in his best clothes, on the deck of
the noble ship, and immediately the weather became fine.

They sailed through the streets, round by the church, while on every
side rolled the wide, great sea.

They sailed till the land disappeared, and then they saw a flock of
storks who had left their own country and were traveling to warmer
climates. The storks flew one behind another and had already been a
long, long time on the wing.

One of them seemed so tired that his wings could scarcely carry him. He
was soon left very far behind. At length he sank lo