Children of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark live near the top of the world.
Some of them dance round the Yule tree on a day as dark as night and
round the Maypole on a night as light as day!
On the map of the top of the world on the next page you can find their
lands.
[Illustration]
Kari and Lars live near the top of Norway. They travel by boat. They see
the fishing boats and the birds that roost on the rocky walls near the
sea.
The little Lapp girl and her dog also live in that land far to the
north. But to them it is the land of the reindeer. They wander from
place to place. They live in tents or rude huts wherever the reindeer
find food.
Olaf of Norway and Gerda of Sweden live farther to the south of those
lands. To them in winter their land is a land of skis. And to many girls
and boys Norway and Sweden in winter is a land of Christmas trees.
Harold lives in America, but he knows the lands near the top of the
world. His grandmother lives in Norway and his cousin lives in Sweden.
To Harold those lands make many a storybook tale come true. When he
visited them he saw the old Viking boats which were like the boat in
which Leif Ericsson sailed to America so long ago. He saw castles where
boys long ago were dubbed knights.
[Illustration: ON THIS MAP YOU WILL FIND KARI, LARS, OLAF, GERDA, AND
OTHER CHILDREN OF THE NORTH LANDS]
Christian lives on the flat lands of Denmark. Denmark was the home of
the great story-teller, Hans Christian Andersen.
But now turn the pages of this book and let these children, and many
others too, tell you stories from that land near the top of the world.