was so diminished that it was hardly as long as a match. Well, at any
rate, it served to scale and cleanse fish with; and it wasn't long
before the perch was eaten.

When the boy had satisfied his hunger, he felt a little ashamed because
he had been able to eat a raw thing. "It's evident that I'm not a human
being any longer, but a real elf," thought he.

While the boy ate, the goosey-gander stood silently beside him. But when
he had swallowed the last bite, he said in a low voice: "It's a fact
that we have run across a stuck-up goose folk who despise all tame
birds."

"Yes, I've observed that," said the boy.

"What a triumph it would be for me if I could follow them clear up to
Lapland, and show them that even a tame goose can do things!"

"Y-e-e-s," said the boy, and drawled it out because he didn't believe
the goosey-gander could ever do it; yet he didn't wish to contradict
him. "But I don't think I can get along all alone on such a journey,"
said the goosey-gander. "I'd like to ask if you couldn't come along and
help me?" The boy, of course, hadn't expected anything but to return to
his home as soon as possible, and he was so surprised that he hardly
knew what he should reply. "I thought that we were enemies, you and I,"
said he. But this the goosey-gander seemed to have forgotten entirely.
He only remembered that the boy had but just saved his life.

"I suppose I really ought to go home to father and mother," said the
boy. "Oh! I'll get you back to them some time in the fall," said the