Ola Serka himself, who was the most man among the Lapps, had said that he would find Osa's father, but he appeared to be in no haste and sat outside the tent, thinking of Jon Esserson and wondering how best to tell him of his daughter's arrival. It would require in order that Jon Esserson might not become alarmed and flee. He was an odd sort of man who was afraid of children. He used to say that the sight of them made him so that he could not endure it.  
While Ola Serka deliberated, Osa, the goose girl, and Aslak, the young Lapp boy who had stared so hard at her the night before, sat on the ground in front of the tent and chatted.
 
Aslak had been to school and could speak Swedish. He was telling Osa about the life of the "Saméfolk," assuring her that they fared better than other people.
 
Osa thought that they lived wretchedly, and told him so.
 
"You don't know what you are talking about!" said Aslak . "Only stop with us a week and you shall see that we are the happiest people on earth."
 
"If I were to stop here a whole week, I should be choked by all the smoke in the tent," Osa retorted.
 
"Don't say that!" protested the boy. "You know nothing of us. Let me tell you something which will make you understand that the longer you stay with us the more you will become."
 
Thereupon Aslak began to tell Osa how a sickness called "The Black Plague" once raged throughout the land. He was not certain as to whether it had swept through the real "Saméland," where they now were, but in Jämtland it had raged so that among the Saméfolk, who lived in the forests and mountains there, all had died except a boy of fifteen. Among the Swedes, who lived in the valleys, none was left but a girl, who was also fifteen years old.
 
The boy and girl separately tramped the country all winter in search of other human beings. Finally, toward spring, the two met. Aslak continued: "The Swedish girl begged the Lapp boy to accompany her southward, where she could meet people of her own race. She did not wish to tarry longer in Jämtland, where there were only vacant homesteads. I'll take you wherever you wish to go,' said the boy, 'but not before winter. It's spring now, and my go toward the mountains. You know that we who are of the Saméfolk must go where our reindeer take us.' The Swedish girl was the daughter of wealthy parents. She was used to living under a roof, sleeping in a bed, and eating at a table. She had always despised the poor mountaineers and thought that those who lived under the open sky were most unfortunate; but she was afraid to return to her home, where there were none but the dead. 'At least let me go with you to the mountains,' she said to the boy, 'so that I sha'n't have to tramp about here all alone and never hear the sound of a human voice.'
 
"The boy willingly , so the girl went with the reindeer to the mountains.
 
"The for the good pastures there, and every day tramped long distances to feed on the . There was not time to pitch tents. The children had to lie on the snowy ground and sleep when the reindeer stopped to graze. The girl often sighed and complained of being so tired that she must turn back to the valley. Nevertheless she went along to avoid being left without human companionship.
 
"When they reached the highlands the boy pitched a tent for the girl on a pretty hill that sloped toward a mountain .
 
"In the evening he lassoed and milked the reindeer, and gave the girl milk to drink. He brought dried reindeer meat and reindeer cheese, which his people had stowed away on the heights when they were there the summer before.
 
"Still the girl all the while, and was never satisfied. She would eat neither reindeer meat nor reindeer cheese, nor would she drink reindeer milk. She could not herself to in the tent or to lying on the ground with only a reindeer skin and some spruce for a bed.
 
"The son of the mountains laughed at her and continued to treat her .
 
"After a few days, the girl went up to the boy when he was milking and asked if she might help him. She next undertook to make the fire under the kettle, in which the reindeer meat was to be cooked, then to carry water and to make cheese. So the time passed pleasantly. The weather was mild and food was easily . Together they set for game, fished for salmon-trout in the rapids and picked cloud-berries in the swamp.
 
"When the summer was gone, they moved farther down the mountains, where pine and leaf forests meet. There they pitched their tent. They had to work hard every day, but fared better, for food was even more than in the summer because of the game.
 
"When the snow came and the lakes began to freeze, they drew farther east toward the pine forests.
 
"As soon as the tent was up, the winter's work began. The boy taught the girl to make from reindeer sinews, to treat skins, to make shoes and clothing of hides, to make combs and tools of reindeer horn, to travel on skis, and to drive a by reindeer.
 
"When they had lived through the dark winter and the sun began to shine all day and most of the night, the boy said to the girl that now he would accompany her southward, so that she might meet some of her own race.
 
"Then the girl looked at him astonished.
 
"'Why do you want to send me away?' she asked. 'Do you long to be alone with your reindeer?'
 
"'I thought that you were the one that longed to get away?' said the boy.
 
"'I have lived the life of the Saméfolk almost a year now,' replied the girl. I can't return to my people and live the shut-in life after having wandered freely on mountains and in forests. Don't drive me away, but let me stay here. Your way of living is better than ours.'
 
"The girl stayed with the boy for the rest of her life, and never again did she long for the valleys. And you, Osa, if you were to stay with us only a month, you could never again part from us."
 
With these words, Aslak, the Lapp boy, finished his story. Just then his father, Ola Serka, took the pipe from his mouth and rose.
 
Old Ola understood more Swedish than he was willing to have any one know,............