house.

"Then, as she raised her arms to open the door, suddenly the sky, and
sea, and all the earth were flooded with a bright light, and Frey saw
that she was the most beautiful maiden in the whole world."

* * * * *

Kerstin looked up at her husband and spoke quickly. "That is like the
coming of our two babies," she said. "In the days of ice and snow they
brought light and gladness to our hearts. Let us call the sweet daughter
'Gerda' after the goddess of sunshine and happiness."

So the two babies were named at last. When the children of the
neighborhood heard of it, they flocked to the house with their hands full
of gifts, dancing round and round the cradle and singing a merry song
that made the rafters ring. The wheels of thin Swedish bread that hung
over the stove shook on their pole, the tall clock ticked louder than
ever, and the twins opened their blue eyes and smiled their sweetest
smile at so much happiness.

But they were not very strong babies, so Anders Ekman went off to his
work in Stockholm and left them in Dalarne with their mother and
grandmother, hoping that the good country air would make them plump and
sturdy.

Dalarne, or the Dales, is the loveliest part of all Sweden, and the Ekman
farm lay on the shore of a lake so beautiful that it is often called the
"Eye of Dalarne."