boy did not care to waken
the goosey-gander, so he walked on.

He had to seek a long time before he came across any more wild geese.
Finally, he saw on a little hillock something that resembled a small,
gray moss tuft, and he knew that there was Akka from Kebnekaise. She
stood, wide awake, looking about as if she were keeping watch over the
whole glen.

"Good morning, Mother Akka!" said the boy. "Please don't waken the other
geese yet awhile, for I wish to speak with you in private."

The old leader-goose came rushing down the hill and up to the boy.

First she seized hold of him and shook him, then she stroked him with
her bill before she shook him again. But she did not say a word, since
he asked her not to waken the others.

Thumbietot kissed old Mother Akka on both cheeks, then he told her how
he had been carried off to Skansen and held captive there.

"Now I must tell you that Smirre Fox, short of an ear, sat imprisoned in
the foxes' cage at Skansen," said the boy. "Although he was very mean to
us, I couldn't help feeling sorry for him. There were many other foxes
in the cage; and they seemed quite contented there, but Smirre sat all
the while looking dejected, longing for liberty.

"I made many good friends at Skansen, and I learned one day from the
Lapp dog that a man had come to Skansen to buy foxes. He was from some
island far out in the ocean. All the foxes had been exterminated there,
and the rats were about to get the better of the inhabitants, so they
wished the foxes back again.

"As soon as I learned of this, I went to Smirre's cage and said to him:

"'To-morrow some men are coming here to get a pair of foxes. Don't hide,
Smirre, but keep well in the foreground and see to it that you are
chosen. Then you'll be free again.'

"He followed my suggestion, and now he is running at large on the
island. What say you to this, Mother Akka? If you had been in my place,
would you not have done likewise?"

"You have acted in a way that makes me wish I had done that myself,"
said the leader-goose proudly.

"It's a relief to know that you approve," said the boy. "Now there is
one thing more I wish to ask you about:

"One day I happened to see Gorgo, the eagle--the one that fought with
Morten Goosey-Gander--a prisoner at Skansen. He was in the eagles' cage
and looked pitifully forlorn. I was thinking of filing down the wire
roof over him and letting him out, but I also thought of his being a
dangerous ro