ite goosey-gander would
have died for her. When Dunfin asked for anything not even Akka could
say no.

As soon as Dunfin came to Lake Maelar the landscape looked familiar to
her. Just beyond the lake lay the sea, with many wooded islands, and
there, on a little islet, lived her parents and her brothers and
sisters. She begged the wild geese to fly to her home before travelling
farther north, that she might let her family see that she was still
alive. It would be such a joy to them.

Akka frankly declared that she thought Dunfin's parents and brothers and
sisters had shown no great love for her when they abandoned her at
Oeland, but Dunfin would not admit that Akka was in the right. "What else
was there to do, when they saw that I could not fly?" she protested.
"Surely they couldn't remain at Oeland on my account!"

Dunfin began telling the wild geese all about her home in the
archipelago, to try to induce them to make the trip. Her family lived on
a rock island. Seen from a distance, there appeared to be nothing but
stone there; but when one came closer, there were to be found the
choicest goose tidbits in clefts and hollows, and one might search long
for better nesting places than those that were hidden in the mountain
crevices or among the osier bushes. But the best of all was the old
fisherman who lived there. Dunfin had heard that in his youth he had
been a great shot and had always lain in the offing and hunted birds.
But now, in his old age--since his wife had died and the children had
gone from home, so that he was alone in the hut--he had begun to care
for the birds on his island. He never fired a shot at them, nor would he
permit others to do so. He walked around amongst the birds' nests, and
when the mother birds were sitting he brought them food. Not one was
afraid of him. They all loved him.

Dunfin had been in his hut many times, and he had fed her with bread
crumbs. Because he was kind to the birds, they flocked to his island in
such great numbers that it was becoming overcrowded. If one happened to
arrive a little late in the spring, all the nesting places were
occupied. That was why Dunfin's family had been obliged to leave her.

Dunfin begged so hard that she finally had her way, although the wild
geese felt that they were losing time and really should be going
straight north. But a little trip like this to the cliff island would
not delay them more than a day.

So they started off one morning, a