of water lay like pearl-dew on her shimmery satin-like
feathers, and Thumbietot thought once again that she was a real little
princess.

THE BIG BUTTERFLY

_Wednesday, April sixth_.

The geese travelled alongside the coast of the long island, which lay
distinctly visible under them. The boy felt happy and light of heart
during the trip. He was just as pleased and well satisfied as he had
been glum and depressed the day before, when he roamed around down on
the island, and hunted for the goosey-gander.

He saw now that the interior of the island consisted of a barren high
plain, with a wreath of fertile land along the coast; and he began to
comprehend the meaning of something which he had heard the other
evening.

He had just seated himself to rest a bit by one of the many windmills on
the highland, when a couple of shepherds came along with the dogs beside
them, and a large herd of sheep in their train. The boy had not been
afraid because he was well concealed under the windmill stairs. But as
it turned out, the shepherds came and seated themselves on the same
stairway, and then there was nothing for him to do but to keep perfectly
still.

One of the shepherds was young, and looked about as folks do mostly; the
other was an old queer one. His body was large and knotty, but the head
was small, and the face had sensitive and delicate features. It appeared
as though the body and head didn't want to fit together at all.

One moment he sat silent and gazed into the mist, with an unutterably
weary expression. Then he began to talk to his companion. Then the other
one took out some bread and cheese from his knapsack, to eat his evening
meal. He answered scarcely anything, but listened very patiently, just
as if he were thinking: "I might as well give you the pleasure of
letting you chatter a while."

"Now I shall tell you something, Eric," said the old shepherd. "I have
figured out that in former days, when both human beings and animals were
much larger than they are now, that the butterflies, too, must have been
uncommonly large. And once there was a butterfly that was many miles
long, and had wings as wide as seas. Those wings were blue, and shone
like silver, and so gorgeous that, when the butterfly was out flying,
all the other animals stood still and stared at it. It had this
drawback, however, that it was too large. The wings had hard work to
carry it. But probably all would have gone very well, if the but