eindeer, mountain owl and
mountain fox and willow grouse followed.

Then the boy heard something coming toward them. He saw great rivers and
creeks sweeping along with terrible force.

"Why are they in such a hurry?" he asked.

"They are running away from the Ice Witch, who lives up in the
mountains."

All of a sudden the boy saw before him a high, dark, turreted wall.
Instantly the Sun turned its beaming face toward this wall and flooded
it with light. Then it became apparent that it was no wall, but the most
glorious mountains, which loomed up--one behind another. Their peaks
were rose-coloured in the sunlight, their slopes azure and gold-tinted.

"Onward, onward!" urged the Sun as it climbed the steep cliffs. "There's
no danger so long as I am with you."

But half way up, the bold young birch deserted--also the sturdy pine and
the persistent spruce, and there, too, the Laplander, and the willow
brush deserted. At last, when the Sun reached the top, there was no one
but the little tot, Nils Holgersson, who had followed it.

The Sun rolled into a cave, where the walls were bedecked with ice, and
Nils Holgersson wanted to follow, but farther than the opening of the
cave he dared not venture, for in there he saw something dreadful.

Far back in the cave sat an old witch with an ice body, hair of icicles,
and a mantle of snow!

At her feet lay three black wolves, who rose and opened their jaws when
the Sun approached. From the mouth of one came a piercing cold, from the
second a blustering north wind, and from the third came impenetrable
darkness.

"That must be the Ice Witch and her tribe," thought the boy.

He understood that now was the time for him to flee, but he was so
curious to see the outcome of the meeting between the Sun and the Ice
Witch that he tarried.

The Ice Witch did not move--only turned her hideous face toward the Sun.
This continued for a short time. It appeared to the boy that the witch
was beginning to sigh and tremble. Her snow mantle fell, and the three
ferocious wolves howled less savagely.

Suddenly the Sun cried:

"Now my time is up!" and rolled out of the cave.

Then the Ice Witch let loose her three wolves. Instantly the North Wind,
Cold, and Darkness rushed from the cave and began to chase the Sun.

"Drive him out! Drive him back!" shrieked the Ice Witch. "Chase him so
far that he can never come back! Teach him that Lapland is MINE!"

But Nils Holgersson felt so unhappy