III. THE STORY OF THE SUMMER LAND


"Long, long ago when the world was new," said he, "the first Bob Lincoln
family lived in a beautiful country in the distant north. In that country
it was always summer. None of those who dwelt in that land knew what
winter was.

"Ke-honk-a the Gray Goose, who spent half the year in northern
Greenland, had mentioned it, but the people of the Summer Land did not
understand him. They had never felt winds or seen ice or snow.

"But there came a time when Ke-honk-a said, as he flew over, 'Winter is
coming, winter is coming.' But nobody understood and nobody cared. Why
should they care about winter when they did not know what it was?

"Soon after this the people of the Summer Land noticed a change in the
weather. One half of the year was cooler than the other half. The first
time this happened they did not mind it at all. Indeed, they rather
liked it. It was pleasant to have a change.

"The next year it was cooler and the next still cooler. And so it went
on for some years, each winter getting colder than that which had gone
before.

"One day a dull, gray cloud came up out of the north and hid the face of