un baked and broiled upon the hills; but in the clefts there was a
coolness as of a rushing roaring waterfall. The little knolls swarmed
with bilberries the whole way along, and he felt he must stoop down and
pluck whole handfuls at a time, so that it took a long time to get to
the top.

Then he came to a hilly slope where the ferns stood high, and there were
lots of birch bushes. It was so nice and shady there, he thought, and so
he couldn't for the life of him help taking a rest.

His drum he took off, his jacket he put beneath his head, and his cap
over his face, and off he went to sleep.

But as he lay dozing there, he dreamt that some one was tickling him
under the nose with a straw so that he could get no peace; and the
instant he awoke, he fancied he heard laughing and giggling.

The sun had by this time begun to cast oblique shadows, and far down
below, towards the valleys, lay the warm steaming vapours, creeping
upwards in long drawn-out gossamer bands and ribands of mist.

As he reached behind him for his jacket, he saw a snake, which lay and
looked at him with such shrewd quick eyes. But when he threw a stone at
it, it caught its tail in its mouth, and trundled away like a wheel.

Again there was a giggling and a sniggering among the bushes.

And now he heard it among some birch trees which stood in such a
wonderful sunlight, for they were filled with the rain and fine drizzle
of a waterfall. The water-drops glistened and sparkled so that he really
couldn't see the trees properly.

But it was as though something were moving about in them, and he could
have sworn that he had caught a glimpse of a fine bright slim damsel,
who was laughing and making fun of him. She peeped at him from beneath
her hand, because of the sun, and her sleeves were tucked up.

A little while afterwards a dark-blue blouse appeared above the
brushwood.

He was after it in an instant.

He ran and ran till he had half a mind to give up, but then a frock and
a bare shoulder gleamed betwixt an opening in the leaves.

And off again he pelted as hard as he could, till he began to think that
it must have all been imagination.

Then he saw her right in a corner of the green bushes. Her hair had been
torn out of its plaits from the speed with which she had flown through
the bushes. She stood still, and looked back as if she were terribly
frightened.

But the lad thought to himself that if she had run away with his
drumsticks, sh