One morning early, just as the first streak of sunlight made its appearance, Thumbietot awakened the eagle.

“Try now, Gorgo!” he whispered.

The eagle looked up.  The boy had actually filed off so many wires that now there was a big hole in the wire netting.  Gorgo flapped his wings and propelled himself upward.  Twice he missed and fell back into the cage; but finally he succeeded in getting out.

With proud wing strokes he soared into the clouds.  Little Thumbietot sat and gazed after him with a mournful expression.  He wished that some one would come and give him his freedom too.

The boy was domiciled now at Skansen.  He had become acquainted with all the animals there, and had made many friends among them.  He had to admit that there was so much to see and learn there that it was not difficult for him to pass the time.  To be sure his thoughts went forth every day to Morten Goosey-Gander and his other comrades, and he yearned for them.  “If only I weren’t bound by my promise,” he thought, “I’d find some bird to take me to them!”

It may seem strange that Clement Larsson had not restored the boy’s liberty, but one must remember how excited the little fiddler had been when he left Skansen.  The morning of his departure he had thought of setting out the midget’s food in a blue bowl, but, unluckily, he had been unable to find one.  All the Skansen folk—­Lapps, peasant girls, artisans, and gardeners—­had come to bid him good-bye, and he had had no time to search for a blue bowl.  It was time to start, and at the last moment he had to ask the old Laplander to help him.

“One of the tiny folk happens to be living here at Skansen,” said Clement, “and every morning I set out a little food for him.  Will you do me the favour of taking these few coppers and purchasing a blue bowl with them?  Put a little gruel and milk in it, and to-morrow morning set it out under the steps of Bollnaes cottage.”

The old Laplander looked surprised, but there was no time for Clement to explain further, as he had to be off to the railway station.

The Laplander went down to the zooelogical village to purchase the bowl.  As he saw no blue one that he thought appropriate, he bought a white one, and this he conscientiously filled and set out every morning.

That was why the boy had not been released from his pledge.  He knew that Clement had gone away, but he was not allowed to leave.

That night the boy longed more than ever for his freedom.  This was because summer had come now in earnest.  During his travels he had suffered much in cold and stormy weather, and when he first came to Skansen he had thought that perhaps it was just as well that he had been compelled to break the journey.  He would have been frozen to death had he gone to Lapland in the month of May.  But now it was warm; the earth was green-clad, birches and poplars were clothed in their satiny foliage, and the cherry trees—­in fact all the fruit trees—­were covered with blossoms.  The berry bushes had green berries on their stems; the oaks had carefully unfolded their leaves, and peas, cabbages, and beans were growing in the vegetable garden at Skansen.