our heart than that you
may reap much grain on your field. But I am accustomed to receive
communications from the Emperor about how it will go with his crown; and
from the Pope, about how it will go with his keys.' 'Such things cannot
be easy to answer,' said the peasant. 'I have also heard that no one
seems to go from here without being dissatisfied with what he has
heard.'

"When the peasant said this, he saw that Ulvasa-lady bit her lip, and
moved higher up on the bench. 'So this is what you have heard about me,'
said she. 'Then you may as well tempt fortune by asking me about the
thing you wish to know; and you shall see if I can answer so that you
will be satisfied.'

"After this the peasant did not hesitate to state his errand. He said
that he had come to ask how it would go with Oestergoetland in the future.
There was nothing which was so dear to him as his native province, and
he felt that he should be happy until his dying day if he could get a
satisfactory reply to his query.

"'Oh! is that all you wish to know,' said the wise lady; 'then I think
that you will be content. For here where I now sit, I can tell you that
it will be like this with Oestergoetland: it will always have something to
boast of ahead of other provinces.'

"'Yes, that was a good answer, dear lady,' said the peasant, 'and now I
would be entirely at peace if I could only comprehend how such a thing
should be possible.'

"'Why should it not be possible?' said Ulvasa-lady. 'Don't you know that
Oestergoetland is already renowned? Or think you there is any place in
Sweden that can boast of owning, at the same time, two such cloisters as
the ones in Alvastra and Vreta, and such a beautiful cathedral as the
one in Linkoeping?'

"'That may be so,' said the peasant. 'But I'm an old man, and I know
that people's minds are changeable. I fear that there will come a time
when they won't want to give us any glory, either for Alvastra or Vreta
or for the cathedral.'

"'Herein you may be right,' said Ulvasa-lady, 'but you need not doubt
prophecy on that account. I shall now build up a new cloister on
Vadstena, and that will become the most celebrated in the North. Thither
both the high and the lowly shall make pilgrimages, and all shall sing
the praises of the province because it has such a holy place within its
confines.'

"The peasant replied that he was right glad to know this. But he also
knew, of course, that everything was perishable; and