Page:Christmas Fireside Stories.djvu/60

 48 Thb Cormorants of Udr^st. hour håd come ; but while he sat and praye4 he caught sight of something black, and as he came nearer he saw it was only three cormorants sitting on a piece of drift-wood ; the next moment he had sailed past them. So the time wore on, and he began to feel so thirsty and so hungry and so tired that he did not for the life of him know what to do. He sat half asleep with the tiller in his hand, when all at once the boat grated against the beach and ran aground. Isaac was not long in getting his eyes open. The sun was breaking through the fog and shone upon a splendid country ; the hills and the cliffs were green right to the top, with meadows and cornfields on the slopes, and he thought he felt a scent of flowers and grass which he never had felt before. " The Lord be praised," gaid Isaac to himself. "I am safe now; this must be Udrost." Straight before him was a field of barley with ears so large and full that he had never seen their like, and through this field a narrow path led up to a green turf-roofed hut at the other end of the cornfield. On the roof of the hut was a white goat with gilt horns, grazing ; its udder was as large as the largest cow's. O utside the hut sat a little old man on a wooden stool, smoking a cutty-pipe. He was dressed in blue, and had a full long beard which reached down to his waist. " Youknowmethen?" " Perhaps I do," said the man. " You want to stop here to night, I suppose ? " " Well, i f I might I should like nothing better," said Isaac. " It's rather awkward with those sons of mine," said the old man ; " they don't like the smell of Christians. Have you not met them?" " No, I have met nothing but three cormorants, which were sitting on a bit of drift-wood screeching. " " Yes, those were my sons, those were," said the old man, as he knocked the ashes out of his pipe. " You had better go inside in the meantime. I suppose you are both hungry and thirsty ? " " Thanks for your offer, my friend," said Isaac. But when the man opened the door, he found it was such a fine and grand place
 * Welcome to Udrost, Isaac ! " said the old man.
 * c Thank you ! " answered Isaac.