Page:The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.djvu/56

32 the orchards, where the grass-carpets were already turning green, although the trees and bushes around them were still in their nude, brown bark. The boy could not keep from laughing when he saw how checked everything looked.

But when the wild geese heard him laugh, they called out — kind o' reprovingly: Fertile and good land. Fertile and good land.

The boy had already become serious. "To think that you can laugh; you, who have met with the most terrible misfortune that can possibly happen to a human being!" thought he. And for a moment he was pretty serious; but it wasn't long before he was laughing again. Now that he had grown somewhat accustomed to the ride and the speed, so that he could think of something besides holding himself on the gander's back, he began to notice how full the air was of birds flying northward. And there was a shouting and a calling from flock to flock. "So you came over to-day?" shrieked some. "Yes," answered the geese, "How do you think the spring's