t to the Norse
farmer's wife up in the house above there."
"Who are you, then?" said Lucy.
"I'm a Lapp. We live on the hills, where the Norseman has not driven
us away, and where the reindeer find their grass in summer and moss
in winter."
"Oh! have you got reindeer? I should so like to see them and to
drive in a sledge!"
The boy, whose name was Peder, laughed, and said, "You can't go in a
sledge except when it is winter, with snow and ice to go upon, but
I'll soon show you a reindeer."
Then he led the way, past the deliciously smelling, whispering pine
woods that sheltered the Norwegian homestead, past a seater or
mountain meadow where the girls were pasturing their cows, much like
Lucy's friends in the Tyrol, then out upon the gray moorland, where
there was an odd little cluster of tents covered with skins, and
droll little, short, stumpy people running about them.
Peder gave a curious long cry, put his hand in his pocket, and pulled
out a lump of salt. Presently, a pair of long horns appeared, then
another, then a whole herd of the deer with big heads and horns
growing a good deal forward. The salt was held to them, and a rope
was fastened to all their horns that they might stand still in a
line, while the little Lapp women milked them. Peder went up to
one of the women, and brought back a little cupful of milk for his
visitor; it was all that one deer gave, but it was so rich as to be
almost like drinking cream.
He led her into one of the tents, but it was very smoky, and not
much cleaner than the tent of the Esquimaux. It is a wonder how
Lucy could go to sleep there, but she did, heartily wishing herself
somewhere else.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHINA.
Was it the scent of the perfumed tea, a present from an old sailor
friend, which Mrs. Bunker was putting away, or was it the sight of
the red jar ornamented with black-and-gold men, with round caps,
long petticoats, and pigtails, that caused Lucy next to open her
eyes upon a cane sofa, with cushions ornamented with figures in
colored silks? The floor of the room was of shining inlaid wood;
there were beautifully woven mats all round; stands made of red
lacquer work, and seats of cane and bamboo; and there was a round
window, through which could be seen a beautiful garden, full of
flowering shrubs and trees, a clear pond lined with colored tiles
in the middle, and over the wall the gilded roof of a pagoda, like
an umbrella, only all in rid
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