The Legend of the White Reindeer 
fore him, and the Lemming fed its brood under 
his very eyes. Eyes were they to see; for the 
dark speck on Suletind that man could barely 
glimpse was a Reindeer, with half-shed coat, to 
him; and the green slime on the Vandren was 
beautiful green pasture with a banquet spread. 
Oh, Man is so blind, and makes himself so 
hated! But Fossekal harmed none, so none 
were afraid of him. Only he sang,and his songs 
were sometimes mixed with fun and prophecy, 
or perhaps a little scorn. 
From the top of the tassel-birch he could 
mark the course of the Vand-dam stream past 
the Nystuen hamlet to lose itself in the gloomy 
waters of Utrovand; or by a higher flight he 
could see across the barren upland that rolled 
to J6tunheim in the north. 
The great awakening was on now. The 
springtime had already reached the woods; 
the valleys were a-throb with life; new birds 
coming from the south, winter sleepers reap- 
pearing, and the Reindeer that had wintered in 
the lower woods should soon again be seen on 
the uplands. 
Not without a fight do the Frost Giants give 
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