TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION
This book, which is the latest work of Sweden's greatest fiction writer, was published in Stockholm, December, 1906. It became immediately the most popular book of the year in Scandinavia.
Four years ago the author received a commission from the National Teachers' Association to write a reader for the public schools.
She devoted three years to Nature study and to familiarising herself with animal and bird life. She sought out hitherto unpublished folk-lore and legends of the different provinces. These she has ingeniously woven into her story.
The book has been translated into German and Danish, and the book reviewers of Germany and Denmark, as well as those of Sweden, are unanimous in proclaiming this Selma Lagerlöf's best work.
One reviewer has said: "Since the days
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