Summary

“The Spot of Tallow” opens with Astri and Greta realizing that Svaalberd is sitting against a stump at the side of the trail. His mouth seems to be frozen closed and he can only grunt at the girls. Astri wants to leave him but Greta says they have to help him. Astri refuses to let Greta go alone for help or to remain alone with Svaalberd. They agree to wait, hoping someone will come along.

Astri recalls the story of the white bear. The girl in that story waits beside the bear for days, crying at his bedside while he “slept the sleep of the enchanted.” Astri says she is too twitchy to wait like that. Astri says she wasn't able to save Snowflake's kid or her own mother, and that she can't...