“Why, this isn’t so bad!” thought the boy as he fell.  “I’m tumbling as easily as if I were only a scrap of paper.  Morten Goosey-Gander will doubtless hurry along and pick me up.”

The first thing the boy did when he landed was to tear off his cap and wave it, so that the big white gander should see where he was.

“Here am I, where are you?  Here am I, where are you?” he called, and was rather surprised that Morten Goosey-Gander was not already at his side.

But the big white gander was not to be seen, nor was the wild goose flock outlined against the sky.  It had entirely disappeared.

He thought this rather singular, but he was neither worried nor frightened.  Not for a second did it occur to him that folk like Akka and Morten Goosey-Gander would abandon him.  The unexpected gust of wind had probably borne them along with it.  As soon as they could manage to turn, they would surely come back and fetch him.

But what was this?  Where on earth was he anyway?  He had been standing gazing toward the sky for some sign of the geese, but now he happened to glance about him.  He had not come down on even ground, but had dropped into a deep, wide mountain cave—­or whatever it might be.  It was as large as a church, with almost perpendicular walls on all four sides, and with no roof at all.  On the ground were some huge rocks, between which moss and lignon-brush and dwarfed birches grew.  Here and there in the wall were projections, from which swung rickety ladders.  At one side there was a dark passage, which apparently led far into the mountain.

The boy had not been travelling over the mining districts a whole day for nothing.  He comprehended at once that the big cleft had been made by the men who had mined ore in this place.

“I must try and climb back to earth again,” he thought, “otherwise I fear that my companions won’t find me!”

He was about to go over to the wall when some one seized him from behind, and he heard a gruff voice growl in his ear:  “Who are you?”

The boy turned quickly, and, in the confusion of the moment, he thought he was facing a huge rock, covered with brownish moss.  Then he noticed that the rock had broad paws to walk with, a head, two eyes, and a growling mouth.

He could not pull himself together to answer, nor did the big beast appear to expect it of him, for it knocked him down, rolled him back and forth with its paws, and nosed him.  It seemed just about ready to swallow him, when it changed its mind and called: 

“Brumme and Mulle, come here, you cubs, and you shall have something good to eat!”

A pair of frowzy cubs, as uncertain on their feet and as woolly as puppies, came tumbling along.

“What have you got, Mamma Bear?  May we see, oh, may we see?” shrieked the cubs excitedly.

“Oho! so I’ve fallen in with bears,” thought the boy to himself.  “Now Smirre Fox won’t have to trouble himself further to chase after me!”