30 WITH CARL OF THE HILL 



could exhaust all homage under God, in the absolute 

 abandonment of his strong soul. 



At last it came. 



It had been a time of gloom and leaden skies. The 

 winter had been no milder than Scandinavian winters 

 usually are. But at length there were signs that 

 spring was not far off. And Carl, who had been 

 hunting northwards, felt it was time to go. There 

 were other reasons, too, which urged him home. So 

 the sleigh was laden with the spoils of Carl's labour, 

 V' ^ furs of the bear and ermine, of marten and lynx, and 

 he started away over the frozen snow-fields. 



South he came till he passed by Siljan, where in 

 ^^^^ summer the wild swans nest. It was a long and 



lonely journey, and it took much time ; but at last 

 he reached the head of Fryken and then he felt he 

 was at home. A week later the day broke in a flood 

 of sudden sunshine and spring had come. That 

 morning a little daughter was born to Carl. 



They have in Swedish a beautiful old word that 

 means sunshine, or more properly sunlight, and Carl 

 by an instant instinct fixed upon this as the name for 

 the child. The mother did not like it. It was not 

 a fit name for a Christian, she said, and it was so 

 fanciful that every one would laugh. But Carl had 





