up her mind what to do about you. But I hope you will stay here
always, as I can't bear you to go away. Have you ever been on
the sea?'

'The sea?' asked Elsa, staring; 'what is that? I've never heard
of such a thing!'

'Oh, I'll soon show you,' answered the girl, taking the lid from
the box, and at the very bottom lay a scrap of a cloak, a mussel
shell, and two fish scales. Two drops of water were glistening
on the cloak, and these the girl shook on the ground. In an
instant the garden and lawn and everything else had vanished
utterly, as if the earth had opened and swallowed them up, and as
far as the eye could reach you could see nothing but water, which
seemed at last to touch heaven itself. Only under their feet was
a tiny dry spot. Then the girl placed the mussel shell on the
water and took the fish scales in her hand. The mussel shell
grew bigger and bigger, and turned into a pretty little boat,
which would have held a dozen children. The girls stepped in,
Elsa very cautiously, for which she was much laughed at by her
friend, who used the fish scales for a rudder. The waves rocked
the girls softly, as if they were lying in a cradle, and they
floated on till they met other boats filled with men, singing and
making merry.

'We must sing you a song in return,' said the girl, but as Elsa
did not know any songs, she had to sing by herself. Elsa could
not understand any of the men's songs, but one word, she noticed,
came over and over again, and that was 'Kisika.' Elsa asked what
it meant, and the girl replied that it was her name.