76 FOREST FANCIES 



as naturally as they loved one another. Yet 

 to Ingemar's little daughter there often came 

 a dream of the linden-tree; her ears seemed 

 to catch a voice when the wind stirred its leafy 

 boughs, and her eyes saw more than creamy 

 petals in the sweet surprise of scented flowers. 

 Always her dream filled her heart when the lin- 

 den flowers were budding — a dream that came 

 she knew not whence, a dream of something 

 that the linden-tree was trying to tell with un- 

 folding flower, until the secret was lost in the 

 very sweetness of its breath. 



Her two brothers studied for the priest- 

 hood. Instead of being called Carl and Sven 

 Ingemarson (son of Ingemar), they chose a 

 new surname, right from the family tree. 

 Tilia^ the linden-tree's classical name, and 

 andros, Greek for man, gave them Tiliander 

 — ^linden-tree man. 



But the old linden-tree, not content to name 

 the boys, whispered something to Ingemar 's 

 daughter, and repeated it on her wedding day. 

 She married a farmer, Ingemar Bengtson, and 

 they had one son, named Nils. 



