hores
which were covered with osier bushes and dwarfed birches the geese found
fine nesting places.

In all ages eagles had lived on the mountain, and geese in the glen.
Every year the former carried off a few of the latter, but they were
very careful not to take so many that the wild geese would be afraid to
remain in the glen. The geese, in their turn, found the eagles quite
useful. They were robbers, to be sure, but they kept other robbers away.

Two years before Nils Holgersson travelled with the wild geese the old
leader-goose, Akka from Kebnekaise, was standing at the foot of the
mountain slope looking toward the eagle's nest.

The eagles were in the habit of starting on their chase soon after
sunrise; during the summers that Akka had lived in the glen she had
watched every morning for their departure to find if they stopped in the
glen to hunt, or if they flew beyond it to other hunting grounds.

She did not have to wait long before the two eagles left the ledge on
the cliff. Stately and terror-striking they soared into the air. They
directed their course toward the plain, and Akka breathed a sigh of
relief.

The old leader-goose's days of nesting and rearing of young were over,
and during the summer she passed the time going from one goose range to
another, giving counsel regarding the brooding and care of the young.
Aside from this she kept an eye out not only for eagles but also for
mountain fox and owls and all other enemies who were a menace to the
wild geese and their young.

About noontime Akka began to watch for the eagles again. This she had
done every day during all the summers that she had lived in the glen.
She could tell at once by their flight if their hunt had been
successful, and in that event she felt relieved for the safety of those
who belonged to her. But on this particular day she had not seen the
eagles return. "I must be getting old and stupid," she thought, when she
had waited a time for them. "The eagles have probably been home this
long while."

In the afternoon she looked toward the cliff again, expecting to see the
eagles perched on the rocky ledge where they usually took their
afternoon rest; toward evening, when they took their bath in the dale
lake, she tried again to get sight of them, but failed. Again she
bemoaned the fact that she was growing old. She was so accustomed to
having the eagles on the mountain above her that she could not imagine
the possibility of their not