Flammea, the steeple owl, had granted her request, 65 and had sent her the thing she wished for.

Since the gray rats had so conscientiously inspected the entire castle, they felt at ease. They took it for granted that the black rats had flown, and didn't intend to offer any resistance; and, with light hearts, 70 they ran up into the grain bins.

But the gray rats had hardly swallowed the first wheat grains, before the sound of a little shrill pipe was heard from the yard. The gray rats raised their heads, listened anxiously, ran a few steps as if they intended to leave the bin, then they turned back and began to eat once more.

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80

Again the pipe sounded a sharp and piercing noteand now something wonderful happened. One rat, two rats—yes, a whole lot of rats left the grain, jumped from the bins, and hurried down cellar by the shortest cut, to get out of the house. Still there were many gray rats left. These thought of all the toil and trouble it had cost them to win Glimminge castle, and they did not want to leave it. But again they caught 85 the tones from the pipe, and had to follow them. With wild excitement they rushed up from the bins, slid down through the narrow holes in the walls, and tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get out.

In the middle of the courtyard stood a tiny crea- 90 ture, who blew upon a pipe. All round him he had a whole circle of rats who listened to him, astonished and fascinated; and every moment brought more. Once he took the pipe from his lips-only for a second

All round him he had a whole

circle of rats

put his thumb to his nose and wiggled his fingers at the gray rats; and then it looked as if they wanted to throw themselves on him and bite him to. death; but as soon as he blew on his pipe they were in his power.

When the tiny creature had played all the gray rats out of Glimminge castle, he began to wander slowly from the courtyard out on the highway; and all the gray rats followed him, because the tones from that pipe sounded so sweet to their ears that they 110 could not resist them.

The tiny creature walked before them and charmed

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them along with him, on the road to Vallby. He led them into all sorts of crooks and turns and bends-on through hedges and down into ditches-and wherever he went they had to follow. He blew continuously on his pipe, which appeared to be made from an animal's horn, although the horn was so small that, in our days, there were no animals from whose foreheads it could have been broken. No one knew, either, who had made it. Flammea, the steeple owl, 120 had found it in a niche, in Lund cathedral. She had shown it to Bataki, the raven; and they had both figured out that this was the kind of horn that was used in former times by those who wished to gain power over rats and mice. But the raven was Akka's friend; and it was from him she had learned that Flammea owned a treasure like this.

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And it was true that the rats could not resist the pipe. The boy walked before them and played as long as the starlight lasted—and all the while they 130 followed him. He played at daybreak; he played at sunrise; and the whole time the entire procession of gray rats followed him, and were enticed farther and farther away from the big grain loft at Glimminge castle.

From "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils."

GLOSSARY. Forebears; ambushed; aloof; somber; uninspected; systematically; window niches; conscientiously; enticed; Glimminge.

STUDY. Describe the manner in which the gray rats made their way into the castle. How was this entry different from

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what they expected? Notice all the elements of fear and suspense with which they went forward. What was the object of their coming? Why was their feast of short duration? Determine from reading the selection just what was "the thing" mentioned in line 66. Describe the piper, his strange actions, and the effect of the piping upon the rats. What was the piper's instrument like? What do you learn about its origin?

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SELMA LAGERLÖF

The story of Selma Lagerlöf's life is itself a kind of fairy tale. She was born in 1858, in western Sweden, and began her career as a school teacher.

She tells us that all through her childhood the folk 5 stories of her native land haunted her. She tried to write down the many forms in which they came to her, but always with the feeling that she had not succeeded.

When she was about thirty-two years of age a Swedish magazine offered a large sum of money for the best story to be published in its pages. She determined to try for this prize. On the last day of the contest she sent in her story. She had copied the last part of it in such a hurry that it could hardly be read. When she saw a statement in the paper that one story with a good beginning had been thrown out because the handwriting could not be read, she was sure it meant her story.

But a little later came a telegram telling her that