t one day after another passed without the crows
on crow-ridge seeing a shadow of him.

KIDNAPPED BY CROWS

_Wednesday, April thirteenth_.

The wild geese were up at daybreak, so they should have time to get
themselves a bite of food before starting out on the journey toward
Oestergoetland. The island in Goosefiord, where they had slept, was small
and barren, but in the water all around it were growths which they could
eat their fill upon. It was worse for the boy, however. He couldn't
manage to find anything eatable.

As he stood there hungry and drowsy, and looked around in all
directions, his glance fell upon a pair of squirrels, who played upon
the wooded point, directly opposite the rock island. He wondered if the
squirrels still had any of their winter supplies left, and asked the
white goosey-gander to take him over to the point, that he might beg
them for a couple of hazelnuts.

Instantly the white one swam across the sound with him; but as luck
would have it the squirrels had so much fun chasing each other from tree
to tree, that they didn't bother about listening to the boy. They drew
farther into the grove. He hurried after them, and was soon out of the
goosey-gander's sight--who stayed behind and waited on the shore.

The boy waded forward between some white anemone-stems--which were so
high they reached to his chin--when he felt that someone caught hold of
him from behind, and tried to lift him up. He turned round and saw that
a crow had grabbed him by the shirt-band. He tried to break loose, but
before this was possible, another crow ran up, gripped him by the
stocking, and knocked him over.

If Nils Holgersson had immediately cried for help, the white
goosey-gander certainly would have been able to save him; but the boy
probably thought that he could protect himself, unaided, against a
couple of crows. He kicked and struck out, but the crows didn't let go
their hold, and they soon succeeded in raising themselves into the air
with him. To make matters worse, they flew so recklessly that his head
struck against a branch. He received a hard knock over the head, it grew
black before his eyes, and he lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes once more, he found himself high above the
ground. He regained his senses slowly; at first he knew neither where he
was, nor what he saw. When he glanced down, he saw that under him was
spread a tremendously big woolly carpet, which was woven in greens and
red