As soon as Hjalmar was in bed Ole-Luk-Oie touched with his little magic
wand all the furniture in the room, which immediately began to chatter.
And each article talked only of itself.
Over the chest of drawers hung a large picture in a gilt frame,
representing a landscape, with fine old trees, flowers in the grass, and
a broad stream which flowed through the wood past several castles far
out into the wild ocean.
Ole-Luk-Oie touched the picture with his magic wand, and immediately the
birds began to sing, the branches of the trees rustled, and the clouds
moved across the sky, casting their shadows on the landscape beneath
them.
Then Ole-Luk-Oie lifted little Hjalmar up to the frame and placed his
feet in the picture, on the high grass, and there he stood with the sun
shining down upon him through the branches of the trees. He ran to the
water and seated himself in a little boat which lay there, and which was
painted red and white.
The sails glittered like silver, and six swans, each with a golden
circlet round its neck and a bright, blue star on its forehead, drew the
boat past the green wood, where the trees talked of robbers and witches,
and the flowers of beautiful little elves and fairies whose histories
the butterflies had related to them.
Brilliant fish with scales like silver and gold swam after the boat,
sometimes making a spring and splashing the water round them; while
birds, red and blue, small and great, flew after him in two long lines.
The gnats danced round them, and the cockchafers cried "Buzz, buzz."
They all wanted to follow Hjalmar, and all had some story to tell him.
It was a most delightful sail.
[Illustration: On the balconies stood princesses.]
Sometimes the forests were thick and dark, sometimes like a beautiful
garden gay with sunshine and flowers; he passed great palaces of glass
and of marble, and on the balconies stood princesses, whose faces were
those of little girls whom Hjalmar knew well and had often played with.
One of the little girls held out her hand, in which was a heart made of
sugar, more beautiful than any confectioner ever sold. As Hjalmar sailed
by he caught hold of one side of the sugar heart and held it fast, and
the princess held fast too, so that it broke in two pieces. Hjalmar had
one piece and the princess the other, but Hjalmar's was the larger.
At each castle stood little princes acting as sentinels. They presented
arms and had golden swords and made it rain plums and tin soldiers, so
that they must have been real princes.
Hjalmar continued to sail, sometimes through woods, sometimes as it were
through large halls, and then by large cities. At last he came to the
town where his nurse lived, who had carried him in her arms when he was
a very little boy and had always been kind to him. She nodded and
beckoned to him and then sang the little verses she had herself composed
and sent to him:
How many, many hours I think on thee,
My own dear Hjalmar, still my pride and joy!
How have I hung delighted over thee,
Kissing thy rosy cheeks, my darling boy!
Thy first low accents it was mine to hear,
To-day my farewell words to thee shall fly.
Oh, may the Lord thy shield be ever near
And fit thee for a mansion in the sky!
And all the birds sang the same tune, the flowers danced on their stems,
and the old trees nodded as if Ole-Luk-Oie had been telling them
stories, as well.