Sometimes the forests were thick and dark, sometimes like a beautiful
garden gay with sunshine and flowers; he passed great palaces of glass
and of marble, and on the balconies stood princesses, whose faces were
those of little girls whom Hjalmar knew well and had often played with. One of the little girls held out her hand, in which was a heart made of
sugar, more beautiful than any confectioner ever sold. As Hjalmar sailed
by he caught hold of one side of the sugar heart and held it fast, and
the princess held fast too, so that it broke in two pieces. Hjalmar had
one piece and the princess the other, but Hjalmar's was the larger. At each castle stood little princes acting as sentinels. They presented
arms and had golden swords and made it rain plums and tin soldiers, so
that they must have been real princes. Hjalmar continued to sail, sometimes through woods, sometimes as it were
through large halls, and then by large cities. At last he came to the
town where his nurse lived, who had carried him in her arms when he was
a very little boy and had always been kind to him. She nodded and
beckoned to him and then sang the little verses she had herself composed
and sent to him:

          How many, many hours I think on thee,
            My own dear Hjalmar, still my pride and joy! How have I hung delighted over thee,
            Kissing thy rosy cheeks, my darling boy! Thy first low accents it was mine to hear,
            To-day my farewell words to thee shall fly. Oh, may the Lord thy shield be ever near
            And fit thee for a mansion in the sky! And all the birds sang the same tune, the flowers danced on their stems,
and the old trees nodded as if Ole-Luk-Oie had been telling them
stories, as well. WEDNESDAY

How the rain did pour down! Hjalmar could hear it in his sleep, and when
Ole-Luk-Oie opened the window the water flowed quite up to the window
sill. It had the appearance of a large lake outside, and a beautiful
ship lay close to the house. "Wilt thou sail with me to-night, little Hjalmar?" said Ole-Luk-Oie. "Then we shall see foreign countries, and thou shalt return here in the
morning." All in a moment there stood Hjalmar, in his best clothes, on the deck of
the noble ship, and immediately the weather became fine. They sailed through the streets, round by the church, while on every
side rolled the wide, great sea. They sailed till the land disappeared, and then they saw a flock of
storks who had left their own country and were traveling to warmer
climates. The storks flew one behind another and had already been a
long, long time on the wing. One of them seemed so tired that his wings could scarcely carry him. He
was soon left very far behind. At length he sank lower and lower, with
outstretched wings, flapping them in vain, till his feet touched the
rigging of the ship, and he slid from the sails to the deck and stood
before them. Then a sailor boy caught him and put him in the henhouse
with the fowls, the ducks, and the turkeys, while the poor stork stood
quite bewildered among them. "Just look at that fellow," said the chickens. Then the turkey cock puffed himself out as large as he could and
inquired who he was, and the ducks waddled backwards, crying, "Quack,
quack!" The stork told them all about warm Africa--of the pyramids and of the
ostrich, which, like a wild horse, runs across the desert. But the ducks
did not understand what he said, and quacked amongst themselves, "We are
all of the same opinion; namely, that he is stupid." "Yes, to be sure, he is stupid," said the turkey cock, and gobbled. Then the stork remained quite silent and thought of his home in Africa. "Those are handsome thin legs of yours," said the turkey cock. "What do
they cost a yard?" "Quack, quack, quack," grinned the ducks; but the stork pretended not to
hear. "You may as well laugh," said the turkey, "for that remark was rather
witty, but perhaps it was above you. Ah, ah, is he not clever? He will
be a great amusement to us while he remains here." And then he gobbled,
and the ducks quacked: "Gobble, gobble"; "Quack, quack!" What a terrible uproar they made while they were having such fun among
themselves! Then Hjalmar went to the henhouse and, opening the door, called to the
stork. He hopped out on the deck. He had rested himself now, and he
looked happy and seemed as if he nodded to Hjalmar as if to thank him. Then he spread his wings and flew away to warmer countries, while the
hens clucked, the ducks quacked, and the turkey cock's head turned quite
scarlet. "To-morrow you shall be made into soup," said Hjalmar to the fowls; and
then he awoke and found himself lying in his little bed. It was a wonderful journey which Ole-Luk-Oie had made him take this
night. THURSDAY

"What do you think I have here?" said the Dream Man. "Do not be
frightened, and you shall see a little mouse." And then he held out his
hand, in which lay a lovely little creature. "It has come to invite you
to a wedding. Two little mice are going to be married to-night. They
live under the floor of your mother's storeroom, and that must be a fine
dwelling place." "But how can I get through the little mouse-hole in the floor?" asked
the little boy. "Leave me to manage that," said the Dream Man. "I will soon make you
small enough." And then he touched the boy with his magic wand, upon
which he became smaller and smaller until at last he was no longer than
a little finger. "Now you can borrow the dress of your tin soldier. I
think it will just fit you. It looks well to wear a uniform when you go
into company." "Yes, certainly," said the boy, and in a moment he was dressed as neatly
as the neatest of all tin soldiers. "Will you be so good as to seat yourself in your mamma's thimble," said
the little mouse, "that I may have the pleasure of drawing you to the
wedding?" "Will you really take so much trouble, young lady?" said he. And so in
this way he rode to the mouse's wedding. First they went under the floor, and then through a long passage which
was scarcely high enough to allow the thimble to drive under, and the
whole passage was lit up with the light of rotten wood. "Does it not smell delicious?" asked the mouse, as she drew him along. "The wall and the floor have been smeared with bacon rind; nothing could
be nicer." Very soon they arrived at the bridal hall. On the right stood all the
little lady mice, whispering and giggling as if they were making game
of each other. To the left were the gentlemen mice, stroking their
whiskers with their forepaws. And in the center of the hall could be
seen the bridal pair, standing side by side in a hollow cheese rind and
kissing each other while all eyes were upon them. More and more friends kept coming, till the mice were in danger of
treading each other to death; for the bridal pair now stood in the
doorway, and none could pass in or out. The room had been rubbed over with bacon rind like the passage, which
was all the refreshment offered to the guests.