Chapter 2 this boy

Once upon a time there was a boy.He was about fourteen years old, thin, tall, and thin, with flaxen hair.He is not very promising, he is most happy to sleep and eat, and then he is very mischievous. One Sunday morning, the boy's parents packed up and prepared to go to church.The boy himself, wearing only a shirt, sat at the edge of the table.He thought: "How lucky this time, father and mother are out, and can do what they like for an hour or two." "Then I can take down father's shotgun and shoot it No one will take care of me." He said to himself. However, it's a pity that it's only a little bit short. Dad seems to have guessed the boy's mind.Because just as he stepped on the threshold and was about to go out, he stopped, turned around and turned his face to the boy: "Since you don't want to go to church with me and mother ’” he said, “then I think you should at least read the Gospel at home. Will you promise to do it?”

"Fine," the boy promised, "I can do it." In fact, he was thinking, I can read as much as I like anyway. The boy thought he had never seen his mother move so fast before.In a blink of an eye she had gone to the bookshelf hanging on the wall, took down the Hadith Sermons annotated by Luther, put it on the table by the window, and turned to the sermons to be read that day.She also opened the Gospel and placed it next to the Hadith Sermons.Finally, she drew the big armchair back to the table.She bought the big armchair last year from the auction house of the Wermannhaug parsonage, and no one can usually sit on it except her father.

The boy sat there thinking that it was a waste of mother's worrying about all this fiddling, since he was going to read a page or two at most.However, there was probably a second time for the first time, and the father seemed to be able to see through him at a glance. He walked up to the boy and said in a stern voice: "Be careful, you have to read it carefully! Wait for us to read it carefully! Go home, and I'll test you page by page. It won't do you any good if you skip a page." "There are fourteen and a half pages of this sermon," my mother urged, fixing the number of pages. "If you want to finish reading it, you must sit down and start reading it at once."

At last they were gone.The boy stood at the door and looked at their receding figures. He couldn't help complaining, feeling like he was caught in a mousetrap and couldn't move an inch. "It's a good thing now. The two of them went outside, so proud that they came up with such an ingenious plan. Before they go home, I have to sit here and read the instructions honestly." In fact, father and mother did not go away very complacently, on the contrary, they were very distressed.They were poor sharecroppers whose entire land was no bigger than a vegetable garden.When they first moved to this place, they could only raise a pig and two or three chickens, and they couldn't afford anything else.However, they were extremely industrious and capable, and now also raise cows and geese.Their family situation has improved greatly.They would have gone to church that fine morning contented and cheerful, had it not been for the anxiety they had about their son.Pa complained that he was too slow and lazy to learn anything at school;Mother didn't think there was anything wrong with these reproaches, but what bothered her most was his roughness and naughtiness.He was very cruel to animals, and he was very cruel to people. "Pray God take that evil out of him, and make his conscience good," prayed my mother, "or he'll kill himself sooner or later, and bring misfortune to us as well."

The boy stood there blankly for a long time, thinking about it, should he read the instruction or not?Finally made up my mind, this time it is better to be obedient.So he sat down on the big armchair and began to read.He was weak, and murmured for a while the words in the book. The half-height murmur seemed to be hypnotizing him, and he vaguely felt that he was dozing off. The sun is shining outside the window, a piece of spring.Although it was only March 20th, spring had already arrived in Wimanhaug parish in the south of Scone where the boy lived.Although the woods are not yet green, they are all budding, and they are already a scene of vitality.The ice and snow melted in the ditch and turned into stagnant water, and the winter jasmine flowers beside the ditch have already bloomed.The small shrubs growing on the stone fence were a bright reddish brown.The beech forest in the distance seemed to swell and grow denser every moment.The sky is so high and clear, blue and blue, not even a cloud.The door of the boy's house was ajar, and the melodious singing of larks could be heard in the room.Chickens and geese paced up and down the yard in twos and threes.The cows also smelled the breath of spring in the cowshed, and they mooed from time to time.

While reading, the boy nods back and forth, trying not to fall asleep. "No, I don't want to fall asleep," he thought, "or I won't be able to read all morning." However, for some reason, he still fell asleep. He didn't know if he had slept for a while or for a long time, but he was awakened by a slight rustling sound behind him. There was a small mirror on the windowsill in front of the boy, facing him.When he looked up, he happened to look in the mirror.He suddenly saw that the lid of his mother's big suitcase was open. It turned out that my mother had a large and heavy oak suitcase surrounded by iron sheets, and no one but herself was allowed to open it.She kept the relics she inherited from her mother and all the things she especially loved in the trunk.Here were two or three old-fashioned peasant dresses, of red cloth, with a very short bodice, a pleated skirt, and many beads on the bodice.There were also starched white turbans, heavy silver buckles and necklaces, and so on.It is no longer fashionable for people to wear these things now. My mother has tried to sell these outdated clothes several times, but she is always reluctant.

Now, the boy could see clearly in the mirror that the lid of the suitcase was indeed open.He couldn't figure out what was going on, because his mother had obviously put the lid on the box before she left.Besides, he was the only one left at home, and my mother was determined not to let the box leave open. He was terribly afraid that a thief might slip into the house.So, he didn't dare to move, so he sat on the chair peacefully, staring at the mirror with both eyes. He sat there waiting, the thief might appear in front of him at any time.Suddenly, he was surprised: what is that black shadow falling on the side of the box?He looked at it, and the more he looked, the more he couldn't believe his eyes.The mass was like a black shadow at first, but now it became more and more distinct.It wasn't long before he saw at last that it was something real, and not a good thing--it was an elf, and it was sitting astride the side of the box.

Of course the boy had heard of elves before, but it had never occurred to him that they were so small.The elf sitting next to the box was no taller than a palm.He has an old and wrinkled face, but there is no beard on his face.He was wearing a long black coat, knee-length shorts, and a black hard hat with a wide brim.He was very neatly dressed, with white tulle lace on the collar and cuffs of his coat, and bows on his shoes and garters.He had just taken out an embroidered corset from the box, and was fascinated by the exquisite workmanship of the antique, without realizing that the boy had woken up.

The boy was very surprised to see the elf, but not particularly frightened.There is nothing intimidating in the face of something that small.The elf sat there, so engrossed in watching that he could neither see nor hear anything else.It would be very amusing, the boy thought, to play a trick, or push him into the box and close the box, or something of that sort. But the boy was not so brave enough to touch the elf with his bare hands, so he looked around the room for something to poke the elf.He looked from the sofa bed to the folding table, from the folding table to the stove.He looked at the pots and coffee-pot on the shelf by the stove, at the kettle by the door, and at the spoons and knives and forks and plates peeping out of the half-open cupboard door, etc.He also looked at the shotgun next to Dad's portrait of the Danish king and his wife on the wall, and at the flowering geraniums and hanging crabapples on the windowsill.At last his eyes fell on an old screen hanging from the window frame.

He took off the veil as soon as he saw it, and leaped over to catch the elf against the edge of the box.He himself felt strange, how could he be so lucky, that little elf was really caught by him before he understood how he did it.The poor fellow lay with his head down at the bottom of the long veil, and could never crawl out again. For the first instant the boy simply did not know what he was going to do with the captive.He just carefully shook the veil back and forth, lest the elf would crawl out by taking advantage of the loophole. The elf spoke, and begged bitterly to let him go.He said he had done many good things for the boy's family over the years and he should have been treated better.If the boy would let him go, he would give him an old silver coin, a silver spoon, and a gold coin as big as the bottom of his father's silver watch.

The boy didn't think the price was too great, but it was strange to say that since he could have the elf at will, he was afraid of the elf instead.He suddenly felt that he was dealing with some strange and terrible monsters, which did not belong to his world at all, and he was very happy to let this monster go as soon as possible. So, he agreed to the deal right away, and lifted the veil so the elf could crawl out.But just as the elf was about to crawl out, the boy thought suddenly that he should have asked for a bigger fortune and as many advantages as possible.At least he should have made the condition that the elf would conjure those words into his brain. "Oh, what a fool I was, to let him go!" He thought, shaking the veil again to make the little elf fall in again. Just when the boy did this, he received a heavy slap on the face. He felt that his head was about to be shattered into many pieces. He hit one wall and then another. Blocking the wall, he finally fell to the ground and lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was alone in the room, and the elf had disappeared.The lid of the large suitcase was tightly closed on the box, and the screen was still hanging on the window in its original place.If he hadn't felt the hot pain in his right cheek after being slapped, he would really almost believe that what happened just now was just a dream. "Anyway, Mom and Dad won't believe anything else happened but that I'm sleeping and dreaming," he thought, "and they're not going to make me miss a few pages because of that elf. I Better sit down and read it again." However, when he was walking towards the table, he discovered an unbelievable strange thing: the house should not have grown up, it should still be the original size, but he had to walk many, many steps more than usual to reach the table. In front of the table.What's going on here?What about that chair?It didn't look any bigger than before, but he had to climb on the rung between the chair's legs before he could climb to the chair's seat.The same goes for the table, which he cannot see without climbing onto the arm of the chair. "What's the matter?" exclaimed the boy. "I think the Elf must have bewitched the chairs, the table, and the whole house." The "Sermons and Sermons" was still spread out on the table. It looked the same as before, but it had become very wicked, because it was so big that if he didn't stand on the book, he couldn't connect a word. I can't see it all. After reading two or three lines, he looked up inadvertently, and his eyes fell on the mirror.Immediately he screamed, "Ouch, there's another one!" Because he saw clearly in the mirror a very small, very small man with a pointed hat on his head and a pair of leather pants on his body. "Oh, that fellow looks exactly like me!" he exclaimed, clasping his hands together in surprise.At this time, he saw that the little man in the mirror did the same. The boy pulled his hair again, twisted his arm, and twisted his body back and forth.In that split second, the guy in the mirror did the same. The boy ran around the mirror several times, wanting to see if there was still a little person hidden behind the mirror.But he couldn't find anyone at all.This frightened him, and he trembled all over, because he realized that the elf had cast a spell on himself, and the little person he saw in the mirror was none other than he himself. The boy could hardly bring himself to believe that he had transformed into an elf. "Hmph, this must be a dream, or just a wild imagination," he thought, "wait a little longer, and I'll turn into a human if I keep it." He stood in front of the mirror and closed his eyes tightly.It took a few minutes before he opened his eyes, and he waited for his previous appearance to disappear.But all this is still intact, he is still as small as before.Other than that, he looked exactly the same as before, with pale flaxen hair, freckles on both sides of his nose, patches on his leather pants and socks, all of which were exactly the same as before, the only difference was that they were all the same. Becoming small, very small. No, it is useless to stand here and wait like this, he thought of this, he must think of other ways, and the best way he can think of is to find the elf, and at the same time He makes peace. He jumped to the floor and started looking.He searched behind chairs and cupboards, under the sofa-bed, and in the stove, and he even went down a couple of mouse holes, but he couldn't find the elf. While searching, he whimpered and cried.He begged bitterly, and made a wish to do all the good things he could think of. He promised that from now on, he would never talk to anyone without counting, never play mischievous things again, and never sleep while reading the sermons.As long as he can become human again, he must be a very pleasing, kind and obedient child.Unfortunately, no matter how much he wished, it was of no use at all. Suddenly, he had an idea and remembered that he had heard his mother say that those little people often lived in the cowshed.So he decided to go there right away to see if he could find the elf.Fortunately, the door was still ajar, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to reach the lock, let alone open the door.Now, though, he can walk out without a hitch. As soon as he was on the porch he looked for his wooden shoes, for in the house of course he walked up and down in his socks only.He stared blankly at the big and heavy wooden shoes, but immediately saw a pair of small wooden shoes on the threshold.It troubled him still more when he noticed that the elf had thought so carefully that the wooden shoe had become smaller, too, for it seemed as though his days of misfortune were still to come. A gray sparrow hopped about on the old live oak plank that stood outside the porch.As soon as he saw the boy, he shouted loudly: "Cheep, chirp, come and see the goose-herd Nils! Come and see the little man with the size of a thumb! Come and see the little man with the size of a thumb, Niels!" Ernes Hogelson!" The chickens and geese in the yard turned their heads one after another, stared at the boy, and made a mess of clucking and crowing. "Ooooooooh," the rooster crowed, "he deserves it, oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, where he deserves to deserve! The mumbling went on.Those big geese huddled together, stuck their heads together and asked, "Who changed him? Who changed him?" But the strangest thing was that the boys could understand what they were saying.He was very surprised, and stood on the steps sounding dumbfounded. "Maybe it's because I've become an elf," he said to himself, "that's why I can understand the birds, the chickens, the geese, the feathered ones. .” He found it unbearable for the hens to keep shouting that he deserved it.He picked up a stone and threw it at them, cursing: "Shut your mouths, you bastards!" But he forgot that he was no longer the man the hens were afraid of when they saw him.The whole flock of chickens rushed to his side, surrounded him, and shouted in unison: "Cuckoo, you deserve it, you deserve it, cuckoo, you deserve it." The boy tried to get away from them, but the hens chased him, and yelled as they ran after him, and his ears were nearly deafened.If the cat he raised at home hadn't come out at this time, he wouldn't have been able to break out of their encirclement.When the hens saw the cat, they immediately became quiet and pretended to concentrate on pecking at the worms on the ground. The boy ran up to the cat at once, and said, "My dear cat, don't you know every nook and cranny of the yard well? Would you please tell me where I can find the elf?" Cat didn't answer right away.He sat down, curled his tail gracefully in a circle in front of his legs, and stared at the boy with piercing eyes.It was a very large black cat with a white spot under its neck.His fur is very smooth, and it looks oily in the sun.His claws were curled inside the soles of his feet, and his gray eyes were narrowed into slits.The appearance of this cat is very gentle and tame. "Of course I know where the elves live," he said softly, "but that doesn't mean I'd like to tell you." "Dear Cat, you must promise to help me," said the boy. "Don't you see what he has made of me with his sorcery?" The cat opened its eyes slightly, and a malicious green light flashed.He twisted his body gloatingly, and yelled "Mia, Mia, Meow, Meow" contentedly for a long time before he answered: "Do I have to help you because you often pull my butt?" Tail?" Now the boy was so angry that he forgot how weak and powerless he was. "Huh, I'm going to grab your tail again." He yelled and jumped at the cat. In an instant, the cat changed its appearance, and the boy could hardly believe that he was the beast just now.All the hairs on his body stand straight up, his waist is arched to form a bow, his four legs are like a slingshot stretched tight, his sharp claws are scratching the ground, his tail is short and thick, and his two ears Pushing back, the bloody mouth let out a hissing roar, and a pair of angry eyes stared round and round, spraying blood-red flames. The boy, not wanting to be cowed by a cat, took a step forward.At this time, the cat jumped on the boy with a tiger leap, threw him to the ground, stepped on his chest with its front paws, and bit down on his throat with its bloody mouth. The boy felt the cat's sharp claws piercing the vest and shirt, digging into his flesh, and the cat's big fangs grating against his throat.He exerted all his strength and screamed for help. But no one came.He decided it was over, that his last moment had come.At this moment, he suddenly felt that the cat retracted its sharp claws and let go of his throat. "Forget it," the cat said generously, "forget it this time, I will spare you this time for the sake of the mistress. I just want you to learn from it, who is the best between the two of us now. " After the cat said these few words, it turned and walked away, and its appearance returned to the docile and kindness it had when he first came.The boy was so ashamed that he couldn't even say a word. He ran to the cowshed to look for the elf. There are only three cows in the cowshed.But when the boy walked in, the inside suddenly boiled up, and there was a lot of noise. It sounded like there were at least thirty cows. "Moo, moo, moo," growled the cow named Rose of May, "how well there is justice in the world!" "Moo, moo, moo!" cried the three cows, one on top of the other, so that he could hardly hear what they were yelling. The boy wanted to ask where the elf lived, but the cows were so noisy that he couldn't make them hear him.They were furious, just as he usually did when he let a strange dog in and ran among them.Their hind legs were kicking and kicking, the flesh of their necks was shaking back and forth, their heads were sticking out, the sharp corners were facing him. "Come here quickly," growled Rose May, "I'll give you a kick that you'll never forget!" "Come here," snorted another cow named Golden Lily, "I'll let you dance on my horns!" "Come here, I'll show you what it's like to be beaten by wooden shoes, which you always beat me last summer." The cow named Little Star also roared. "Come here, you put a wasp into my ear, and now you want to get retribution." Golden Lily roared fiercely. Mayrose was the oldest and wisest of them all, and she was also the most wrathful. "Come here," she reprimanded, "I'll make you pay for all the bad things you've done. How many times have you pulled your mother's milking stool from under her! How many times have you You stuck out your leg and tripped Mommy when she walked by with the milk pail! How many times have you made her stand here crying for you!" The boy wanted to tell them that he had regretted it, that he had bullied them all the time, but as long as they told him where the elf was, he would never treat them badly, and would treat them very well.But the cows didn't listen to him, they yelled so loudly that he was really afraid that one of the cows would break free and rush towards him, so it was better to get out of the barn as soon as possible. He came out dejectedly.He knew in his heart that no one on this farm would be willing to help him find the elf.Besides, even if he found the elf, it might not be of much use. He climbed the thick stone fence that surrounded the farm, overgrown with brambles and blackberry vines.He sat down there, thinking about how he would live if he couldn't change back and was no longer a human being!Mom and Dad will be surprised when they come home from church.Yes, people all over the country will be amazed!People from East Wermannhaug and Torpo and Skrupe would come to see him make a fool of himself, and all over Wemanhaug County far and near would come to see him.Maybe Dad and Mom will take him to the market in Kivik to show everyone. Alas, the more I think about it, the more frightening I become.He really hoped that no one would see his strange appearance from now on. How unfortunate he was.There is no one in the world as unfortunate as he.He is no longer a human being, but a goblin. Gradually he began to understand what would happen if he couldn't change back, if he was no longer human.He would lose everything in the world: he would no longer be able to play with other children, he would never inherit his parents' small farm, and he would never find a girl who would marry him. He sat there, gazing at his home.It was a small farmhouse, with beams and columns made of crossed logs and walls made of mud. It seemed to be unable to bear the weight of the high and steep hay roof and sunk deep into the ground.The side houses outside are all pitifully small.The arable land is so narrow that it is almost impossible for a horse to roll over.As small and poor as the place was, it was as good as it could be to him.All he needs now is a cave under the floor of the cowshed. The weather was wonderful, the water in the ditch was gurgling, the green buds were blooming on the branches, the birds were chirping, and the surrounding area was full of prosperity.And he sat there, very heavy and sad as hell, and nothing could cheer him up. He had never seen the sky so blue and blue as it is today.Migratory birds fly in groups.They had just returned from a long journey abroad, across the Baltic, around Smighawk, and were now on their way north.There were flocks of birds of various colors and species, and he only recognized a few wild geese. They were divided into two rows and flew forward in a wedge-shaped formation. Several flocks of wild geese have already flown past.They were flying high and high, but he could still vaguely hear them shouting, "Fly harder to the mountains! Fly harder to the mountains!" When the wild geese saw the geese walking slowly in the yard, they swooped down to the ground and called out in unison: "Come with us! Come with us! Fly to the Alpine!" The house goose could not help raising his head and listening carefully, but at last he answered wisely, "We are doing well! We are doing well!" As I said just now, the day was exceptionally sunny, and the air was so fresh and warm.It is a wonderful pleasure to fly in such a clear sky.As groups of wild geese flew by, the domestic geese became more and more eager to move.Several times, they flapped their wings, as if planning to fly into the blue sky with the wild geese.But an old mother goose warned every time: "Don't go crazy! They must be hungry and cold in the air." The call of the geese made a young gander's heart skip a beat, and the idea of ​​a long-distance trip really sprouted. "One more group, and I'll go with them," he said. Another group of wild geese flew over, and they still called.At this time, the young gander replied, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm coming!" He spread his wings and jumped into the air.But he doesn't fly very often and ends up falling again, landing on the ground. The wild geese probably heard his cry, they turned around and flew back slowly to see if he really wanted to follow. "Wait, wait," he cried, making a new attempt. The boy lying on the stone fence heard all this clearly. "Oh, what a loss it would be if the gander flew away," he thought. "Papa and mother will be very sad when they come back from church and see that the gander is gone." When he thought this way, he forgot how short and weak he was.He jumped down from the wall, just in the middle of the geese, and wrapped his arms around the gander's neck. "Don't fly away." He begged and shouted. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the gander just figured out how to move in order to lift himself off the ground and into the air.Before he could stop and shake the boy off his body, he flew into the air with him. Soaring into the air so quickly, it made the boy dizzy.By the time it occurred to him to let go of the gander's neck, he was already high in the air.If he let go of his hand again at this time, he would definitely fall down and be smashed to pieces. The only thing he can do if he wants to be a little more comfortable is to climb on the goose's back.After a lot of effort, he finally climbed up.However, it is not an easy task to sit on the smooth back of a goose between the two constantly flapping wings.He had to hold the gander's feathers firmly with both hands to keep from slipping. The boy felt dizzy and dizzy for a long time.A gust of air was blowing towards him forcefully.As the wings fluttered up and down, there was a loud whining sound like a storm in the feathers.There were thirteen wild geese flying around him, all of them fluttering their wings and singing loudly.His eyes were dizzy and his ears were buzzing.He didn't know how high the geese were flying, and he didn't know where they were going. Later, his mind finally cleared up, and he thought that he should find out where the wild geese were taking him.But this is not so easy to do, because I don't know if I have the courage to look down.He was almost sure that if he looked down he would be dazed. The geese did not fly particularly high, for the new traveling companion would be smothered in the thin air.They flew a little slower than usual to take care of him. Then the boy managed to glance at the ground.He felt that under his body, there was a very large piece of cloth, with an unbelievably large number of large and small squares distributed on the surface of the cloth. "Where have I come?" he asked. He couldn't see anything but a series of squares.Some squares are square, some are rectangular, and each square has corners and straight sides.Neither round nor curved things can be seen. "What kind of big checkered cloth do I look down on?" the boy asked to himself, not expecting an answer. However, the wild geese flying around him immediately shouted in unison: "Plowland and pasture, plowland and pasture." At this moment, he suddenly realized that the large checkered cloth turned out to be the flat land of Scone, and he was flying over it.He began to understand why the earth looked so colorful and square.He recognized those emerald-green squares first. They were rye fields sown last autumn, and they remained green under the snow cover.Those grey-yellow squares are the stubble fields left after the crops were harvested last summer.The brown ones are old clover fields, and the black ones are pastures that haven't yet grown grass or plowed fallow fields. Those brown squares with yellow borders must be beech forests, because in this kind of forests, most of the big trees grow in the center. Save the yellowed dry leaves for next spring.There are also some dark and fuzzy squares with a gray central part, which are large manors, surrounded by houses, the dry grass on the roof has turned black, and a courtyard paved with stone slabs in the center.There are also squares, green in the middle and brown around them, gardens where the lawn has begun to turn green, while the surrounding hedges and trees are still bare and brown. The boy saw clearly that all of this was so boxy, and couldn't help laughing out loud. When the wild geese heard his laughter, they called out reproachfully, "Fat land! Fat land." The boy immediately became serious. "Oh, the most unlucky thing has happened to you, and you're still laughing!" thought he. His expression was solemn for a while, and then he laughed again. He has become more and more used to riding a goose to fly quickly in the air. Not only can he sit firmly on the goose's back, but he can also be distracted and think about other things.He noticed that the sky was bustling with birds flying north.Moreover, this group of birds shouted at each other and greeted each other loudly, "Oh, so you also flew over today." Some birds shouted. "That's right, we're flying over!" the wild geese replied. "What do you think of this spring?" "There hasn't been a leaf on the trees yet, and the water in the lake is still cold," said some of the birds. The wild geese flew over a place where some poultry were roaming about in the yard, and they croaked and asked, "What's the name of this farm? What's the name of this farm?" It's called 'Little Garden'! This year and last year, the name is the same! This year and last year, the name is the same!" In this part of Scone, farmhouses are mostly called by the name of the owner.然而，那些公鸡却不愿约定俗成地回答说：这是彼尔·马蒂森的家，或者那是乌拉·布森的家。他们挖空心思给各个农舍起些更名副其实的名字。如果他们住在穷人或者佃农家里，他们就会叫道：“这个农庄名字叫作'没余粮'！”而那些最贫困的人家的公鸡则叫道：“这个农庄名叫'吃不饱''吃不饱'！” 那些日子过得红火的富裕大农庄，公鸡们都给起了响亮动听的名字，什么“幸福地”啦，“蛋山庄”啦，还有“金钱村”啦，等等。 可是贵族庄园里的公鸡又是另外一个模样，他们太高傲自大，不屑于讲这样的俏皮话。有过这样一只公鸡，他用足以传遍九天外的声音来啼叫，大概是想让太阳也听到他的声音。他喊道：“本庄乃是迪贝克老爷的庄园！今年和去年，名字一个样！今年和去年，名字一个样！” 就在稍过去一点的地方，另外一只公鸡也在啼叫：“本庄乃是天鹅岛庄园，谅必全世界都知道！” 男孩子注意到，大雁们并没有笔直地往前飞。他们在整个南方平原各个角落的上空盘旋翱翔，似乎他们对于来到斯康耐旧地重游感到分外喜悦，所以他们想要向每个农庄问候致意。 他们来到了一个地方，那里矗立着几座雄伟而笨重的建筑物，高高的烟囱指向空中，周围是一片稀疏的房子。“这是约德伯亚糖厂！”大雁们叫道，“这是约德伯亚糖厂！” 男孩子坐在鹅背上顿时全身一震，他早该把这个地方认出来。这家厂离他家不远，他去年还在这里当过放鹅娃呐！这大概是从空中看下去，一切东西都变了样的缘故。 唉，想想看！唉，想想看！放鹅的小姑娘奥萨还有小马茨，去年他的小伙伴，不知道他们现在怎么样。男孩子真想知道他们是不是还在这里走动。要是他们万一知道了他就在他们的头顶上高高飞过的话，他们会说些什么呢？ 约德伯亚渐渐从视野中消失了。他们飞到了斯威达拉和斯卡伯湖，然后又折回到布里恩格修道院和海克伯亚的上空。男孩子在这一天里见到的斯康耐的地方要远比他出生到现在那么多年里所见到的还要多。 当大雁们看到家鹅的时候，他们是最开心不过了。他们会慢慢地飞到家鹅头顶上，往下呼唤道：“我们飞向高山，你们也跟着来吗？你们也跟着来吗？” 可是家鹅回答说：“地上还是冬天，你们出来得太早。快回去吧，快回去吧！” 大雁们飞得更低一些，为的是让家鹅听得更清楚。他们呼唤道：“快来吧，我们会教你们飞上天和下水游泳的本领的。” 这一来家鹅都生气起来了，连一声哑哑也不回答了。 大雁们飞得更低了，身子几乎擦到了地面，然而又像电光火石一般直冲到空中，好像他们突然受到了什么惊吓。 “哎呀！哎呀！”他们惊呼道，“这些原来不是家鹅，而是一群绵羊，而是一群绵羊！” 地上的家鹅气得暴跳如雷，狂怒地喊叫：“但愿你们都挨枪子儿，都挨枪子儿，一个都不剩，一个都不剩！” 男孩子听到这些嘲弄戏谑，禁不住哈哈大笑起来。就在这时候，他记起了自己是如何倒霉的，又忍不住呜呜咽咽地哭了起来。可是，过了一会儿他又笑了起来。 他从来不曾以这样猛烈的速度向前飞驰过，也不曾这样风驰电掣地乘骑狂奔，虽然他一直喜欢这么做。他当然从来也想象不出来，在空中遨游竟会这样痛快惬意。地面上冉冉升起一股泥土和松脂的芬芳味道。他从来也想象不出在离开地面那么高的地方翱翔是怎样的滋味。这就像是从一切能想得到的忧愁、悲伤和烦恼中飞了出去一样。