Something golden shone through the trees, something that fluttered in the wind.  Below the gold a white blouse, a slender waist, and then a blue skirt.

“The fairy of the forest!”

The girl was standing on the hilltop.  She shaded her eyes, and began walking toward the farther slope.  What now?  He was on the point of racing after her, then jumped on to a tree stem, and put his hands to his mouth as if to shout.  Suddenly he dropped his hands and stood irresolute.  Then he jumped down, picked up his axe, mounted the stem again, and looked at the girl intently.

“Wait till she gets to the big fir yonder; then if she doesn’t look round, I’ll give one blow of the axe and see if she’ll hear.”

The girl walked on—­the axe was raised....

  “Come, summer star....”

She turned round, and caught sight of him, started, and stopped, blushing as she stood.

“Olof!”

“Annikki!”

He sprang down and hastened toward the girl.

She too came nearer.

“You here?  And never said a word!  How you frightened me!”

“I was just going to call when you turned round.”

They shook hands, heartily, as comrades.

“Look!” he cried eagerly; “isn’t it just like a palace all round—­the castle of Tapio, and I’m the lord of the castle, and you’re the forest fairy, come to visit me.  And your clothes smell of the pine woods, and there’s a scent of birch in your hair, and you come playing on a shepherd’s pipe, music sweet as honey....”

The girl looked up in astonishment.  “What—­what makes you talk like that?”

He stopped in some perplexity. “’Tis the forest talks so.  But now you must come in—­right in to the palace.”

They went through to the middle of the clearing.

“And have you felled all those, all by yourself?” She cast a warm glance at his sunburnt neck and powerful shoulders.  “How strong you are!”

The boy stepped on more briskly.

“There!  Now we’re in the palace.  And here’s the seat of honour—­isn’t it fine?  And here’s a bench at the side—­but a guest must always have the seat of honour.”

“And what about the master of the house?” asked the girl, with a laugh.

“He’ll sit on the bench, of course.”

They smiled at each other.

“And see, it’s decked out all ready, with sprays of green and red fir blossoms.”

“Yes, indeed—­a real palace.  It’s two years now since we had a talk together, and now to meet in a palace...!”

“We’ve not seen much of each other, it’s true,” said he, with a ring of remembrance in his voice.  “And we used to be together whole summers in the old days.  Do you remember how you were mistress of the house, with twenty-five milch cows in the shed, and as many sheep as Jacob at the end of his last year’s service?”

“Yes, yes, I remember.”  Her blue eyes sparkled, and the two young people’s laughter echoed over the hillside.