Saturday, October first.  
The boy sat on the goosey-gander's back and rode up amongst the clouds. Some thirty geese, in regular order, flew rapidly southward. There was a of feathers and the many wings beat the air so noisily that one could scarcely hear one's own voice. Akka from Kebnekaise flew in the lead; after her came Yksi and Kaksi, Kolme and Neljä, Viisi and Kuusi, Morten Goosey-Gander and Dunfin. The six goslings which had accompanied the flock the autumn before had now left to look after themselves. Instead, the old geese were taking with them twenty-two goslings that had grown up in the glen that summer. Eleven flew to the right, eleven to the left; and they did their best to fly at even distances, like the big birds.
 
The poor youngsters had never before been on a long trip and at first they had difficulty in keeping up with the rapid flight.
 
"Akka from Kebnekaise! Akka from Kebnekaise!" they cried in tones.
 
"What's the matter?" said the leader-goose sharply.
 
"Our wings are tired of moving, our wings are tired of moving!" the young ones.
 
"The longer you keep it up, the better it will go," answered the leader-goose, without slackening her speed. And she was quite right, for when the goslings had flown two hours longer, they complained no more of being tired.
 
But in the mountain glen they had been in the habit of eating all day long, and very soon they began to feel hungry.
 
"Akka, Akka, Akka from Kebnekaise!" wailed the goslings pitifully.
 
"What's the trouble now?" asked the leader-goose.
 
"We're so hungry, we can't fly any more!" whimpered the goslings. "We're so hungry, we can't fly any more!"
 
"Wild geese must learn to eat air and drink wind," said the leader-goose, and kept right on flying.
 
It actually seemed as if the young ones were learning to live on wind and air, for when they had flown a little longer, they said nothing more about being hungry.
 
The goose flock was still in the mountain regions, and the old geese called out the names of all the peaks as they flew past, so that the youngsters might learn them. When they had been calling out a while:
 
"This is Porsotjokko, this is Särjaktjokko, this is Sulitelma," and so on, the goslings became impatient again.
 
"Akka, Akka, Akka!" they in heart-rending tones.
 
"What's wrong?" said the leader-goose.
 
"We haven't room in our heads for any more of those awful names!" shrieked the goslings.
 
"The more you put into your heads the more you can get into them," retorted the leader-goose, and continued to call out the queer names.
 
The boy sat thinking that it was about time the wild geese betook themselves southward, for so much snow had fallen that the ground was white as far as the eye could see. There was no use denying that it had been rather disagreeable in the glen toward the last. Rain and fog had succeeded each other without any relief, and even if it did clear up once in a while, immediately frost set in. Berries and mushrooms, upon which the boy had during the summer, were either frozen or decayed. Finally he had been compelled to eat raw fish, which was something he disliked. The days had grown short and the long evenings and late mornings were rather for one who could not sleep the whole time that the sun was............