But later in the day, when the boy tried to profit by this counsel, and turned to Sirle Squirrel to ask for his protection, it was evident that he did not care to help him.  “You surely can’t expect anything from me, or the rest of the small animals!” said Sirle.  “Don’t you think we know that you are Nils the goose boy, who tore down the swallow’s nest last year, crushed the starling’s eggs, threw baby crows in the marl-ditch, caught thrushes in snares, and put squirrels in cages?  You just help yourself as well as you can; and you may be thankful that we do not form a league against you, and drive you back to your own kind!”

This was just the sort of answer the boy would not have let go unpunished, in the days when he was Nils the goose boy.  But now he was only fearful lest the wild geese, too, had found out how wicked he could be.  He had been so anxious for fear he wouldn’t be permitted to stay with the wild geese, that he hadn’t dared to get into the least little mischief since he joined their company.  It was true that he didn’t have the power to do much harm now, but, little as he was, he could have destroyed many birds’ nests, and crushed many eggs, if he’d been in a mind to.  Now he had been good.  He hadn’t pulled a feather from a goose-wing, or given anyone a rude answer; and every morning when he called upon Akka he had always removed his cap and bowed.

All day Thursday he thought it was surely on account of his wickedness that the wild geese did not care to take him along up to Lapland.  And in the evening, when he heard that Sirle Squirrel’s wife had been stolen, and her children were starving to death, he made up his mind to help them.  And we have already been told how well he succeeded.

When the boy came into the park on Friday, he heard the bulfinches sing in every bush, of how Sirle Squirrel’s wife had been carried away from her children by cruel robbers, and how Nils, the goose boy, had risked his life among human beings, and taken the little squirrel children to her.

“And who is so honoured in Oevid Cloister park now, as Thumbietot!” sang the bullfinch; “he, whom all feared when he was Nils the goose boy?  Sirle Squirrel will give him nuts; the poor hares are going to play with him; the small wild animals will carry him on their backs, and fly away with him when Smirre Fox approaches.  The titmice are going to warn him against the hawk, and the finches and larks will sing of his valour.”

The boy was absolutely certain that both Akka and the wild geese had heard all this.  But still Friday passed and not one word did they say about his remaining with them.

Until Saturday the wild geese fed in the fields around Oevid, undisturbed by Smirre Fox.

But on Saturday morning, when they came out in the meadows, he lay in wait for them, and chased them from one field to another, and they were not allowed to eat in peace.  When Akka understood that he didn’t intend to leave them in peace, she came to a decision quickly, raised herself into the air and flew with her flock several miles away, over Faers’ plains and Linderoedsosen’s hills.  They did not stop before they had arrived in the district of Vittskoevle.