"At evening softly shines the sun, The cat lies lazy on the stone. Two small mice, Cream thick and nice, Four bits of fish, I stole behind a dish, And am so lazy and tired, Because so well I have fared," says the cat. But then came the cock, with all the hens. "What does the cock say?" asked Oeyvind, clapping his hands together. His mother sang,-- "The mother-hen her wings doth sink, The cock stands on one leg to think: That gray goose Steers high her course; But sure am I that never she As clever as a cock can be. Run in, you hens, keep under the roof to-day, For the sun has got leave to stay away," says the cock. But the little birds were sitting on the ridge-pole, singing. "What do the birds say?" asked Oeyvind, laughing. "Dear Lord, how pleasant is life, For those who have neither toil nor strife," say the birds. And she told him what they all said, down to the ant, who crawled in the moss, and the worm who worked in the bark. That same summer, his mother began to teach him to read. He had owned books a long time, and often wondered how it would seem when they also began to talk. Now the letters turned into animals, birds, and everything else; but soon they began to walk together, two and two; _a_ stood and rested under a tree, which was called _b_, then came _c_, and did the same; but when three or four came together, it seemed as if they were angry with each other, for it would not go right. And the farther along he came, the more he forgot what they were: he remembered longest _a_, which he liked best; it was a little black lamb, and was friends with everybody; but soon he forgot _a_ also: the book had no more stories, nothing but lessons. One day his mother came in, and said to him,-- "To-morrow school begins, and then you are going up to the farm with me." Oeyvind had heard that school was a place where many boys played together; and he had no objection. Indeed, he was much pleased. He had often been at the farm, but never when there was school there; and now he was so anxious to get there, he walked faster than his mother up over the hills. As they came up to the neighboring house, a tremendous buzzing, like that from the water-mill at home, met their ears; and he asked his mother what it was.