There was a great deal of singing and story-telling at odd times. A
group of children making mats or baskets, gathering pease or going after
berries would beg Nils or Nikolina to tell a story, or Karen would lead
them in some old song with a familiar refrain. But some of the songs the
Wind-wife crooned to the baby were not like any the children had heard.
They were not even in Norwegian.
Thorolf was a silent lad, who would rather listen than talk, and hated
asking questions. But one day, when he and Nikolina were hunting wild
raspberries, he asked her if she thought Mother Elle meant to stay in
the mountains through the winter. Nikolina did not know.
"'Tis well to be wise but not too wise,
'Tis well that to-morrow is hid from our eyes,
For in forward-looking forebodings rise,"
she added quaintly. "I have heard her say that it is colder in Greenland
than it is here."
"Has she been in Greenland?"
"Her father and mother were on the way there when she was little, and
the ship was wrecked somewhere on the coast. The Skroelings found her
and took her to live in their country. That is how she learned so much
about trees and herbs, and how to make bows and arrows and moccasins."
"Moccasins?"
"The little shoes she made for Ellida. And she made a little boat for
Peder, like their skiffs.
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