tinker. With his bundle under his arm he wandered up the gradually rising
field road. Where this crossed the narrow street, leading over to
Clarens, Sami met a child's carriage which a girl was pushing in front of
her. She wore a spotless white cap and a white apron. Over the carriage,
too, was spread a snow-white cover, and out from under it peeped a little
head with bright golden hair and a little white hat on it.

This unusual neatness and the smart appearance of the carriage attracted
Sami very much and he followed along the same way. On the white carriage
robe was worked a wreath of blue silk, but not of flowers. It was of
strange figures. The shining blue silk on the white cloth looked so
beautiful that Sami could not keep his eyes away from it. Suddenly it
became plain to him that the strange figures were letters, but he had
never seen any like them in his life. Their appearance captivated him
more and more. Then he began to try to see if he couldn't spell them out
and perhaps read the words. He tried as hard as he could, but it was
difficult. Sami kept beginning over again from the first. Finally he made
out all the words. It was a proverb which read thus:

"So let the little angels sing:
This child is safe beneath our wing."

This proverb reminded him so much of his grandmother; he didn't know why,
but it seemed to him as if she had prayed exactly like this over his bed.
The tears came to his eyes, and yet it seemed so good, just as if he had
found his home again. The girl now turned suddenly to the left from the
road, and went through the high iron gate which stood open, and led into
a wide courtyard. Great, ancient plane-trees stood inside and cast their
broad shade over the sunny courtyard. A large flower garden surrounded
the high stone house, which looked forth from behind the trees.