walter is six years old , and he must soon begin to go to school . he can not read yet , but he can do many other things . he can turn cartwheels , stand on his head , ride see - saw , throw snowballs , play ball , crow like a cock , eat bread and butter and drink sour milk , and tear his trousers . he can wear holes in his elbows , break the crockery in pieces , throw balls through the windowpanes , draw old men on important papers , walk over the flower - beds , eat himself sick with gooseberries , and be well after a whipping . for the rest he has a good heart but a bad memory , and forgets his father 's and his mother 's admonitions . he so often gets into trouble and meets with adventures , as you shall hear , but first of all i must tell you how brave he was and how he hunted wolves . once in the spring , a little before midsummer , walter heard that there were a great many wolves in the wood , and that pleased him . he was wonderfully brave when he was in the midst of his companions or at home with his brothers and sister , then he used often to say ' one wolf is nothing , there ought to be at least four . ' when he wrestled with klas bogenstrom or frithiof waderfelt and struck them in the back , he would say ' that is what i shall do to a wolf ! ' when he shot arrows at jonas and they rattled against his sheepskin coat he would say : ' that is how i should shoot you if you were a wolf ! '
six years old .
how old was walter ?
how old was walter ?