Beate stood there and stared at the water, hoping to see the bird come up again, but she waited and waited in vain. She was frightened, thinking it was drowned, when she saw it shoot up again far away, almost in the middle of the lake. Then it began to swim slowly toward a tiny green island which lay there, and crept into the high weeds and grasses that hung over the water. Beate could not get tired of looking at the pretty little island. Willow bushes grew out of the grass in some places, and in one end grew a little white-barked birch tree. Beate thought she had never seen anything half so lovely. It seemed just like a strange little land, all by itself. At last Beate remembered that she must hurry home. Again she peeped through the leaves and branches to say good-night to the island, when--think of it!--the little green island was gone. She thought of goblins and fairies, and ran up the path to the top of the hill as fast as she could. But when she got there she had to look again. And she became more astonished than ever, for now she saw the little green island again, but far from the place where she first saw it. It was sailing slowly toward the southern end of the lake, and the silver birch was its sail. As soon as Beate reached home she found Anne, the nurse, and told her what she had seen. Anne knew all about the floating island: it had been on the lake for many years, she said. But there were many strange things about it. One thing she would tell, and that was, that if anyone stood on the floating island and took a loon's egg out of the nest and wished for something, that wish would come true, if the egg was put safely back into the nest again. If you wished to become a Princess of England, your wish would indeed be fulfilled, said old Anne. But there was one more thing to notice: you must not talk about it to a living soul. "Not even to Father and Mother?" asked Beate. "No," said Anne, "not to a living soul." Beate could think of nothing but the island all that evening, and when she had closed her eyes she could dream of nothing else all night. Just as soon as Beate got up in the morning she begged her father to row her and Marie and Louise out to the floating island, when they came to visit her in the afternoon, and that he promised. But he also asked how she had happened to think of that, and what she wanted there. Beate thought first that she would tell him everything, but then she remembered Anne's words, and said only that she wished to go out there because the little green island was so pretty. "Yes, indeed, it is pretty, and you shall see a loon's nest too," said the father. Then Beate's face grew red, and the tears came to her eyes, for she knew well enough about the loon's nest and about the eggs.