"I'll take it all back, Anna. You really _can_ climb." Hans hadn't expected this cousin from the city to be such a tomboy. He would have to find some other way to tease her. "When will the baby storks hatch out, Greta?" Anna couldn't get her mind off this fascinating subject. "In another week or two, I expect." "If the Nisser don't take the eggs first," said Hans. "Oh, Hans, you don't _really_ think they would?" Greta was upset at the very thought. "You know how the kittens disappeared, Greta. The same thing might happen to the baby storks." Hans told Anna about the lost kittens and how only two of them were found. "Greta and I decided that the Nisser took them," he finished. "Why, Hans, how very silly!" said Anna. "Of course the Nisser wouldn't do a thing like that. In fact, I don't believe there is such a thing as a Nisse anyway." Greta didn't know whether to be shocked or not. There were times when she herself had her doubts about the Nisser, but right now she felt sure that they were the ones who had carried off the kittens. "The Nisser don't play pranks all the time, Anna. They do lots of nice things for us, too. Do you see that castle on the hill over there, with the trees all around it?" Greta pointed to Vosborg Castle, about a mile away. "Let me tell you what the Nisser did _there_ one winter. There was snow five feet deep and it lasted for more than a week. No one could get outdoors at all. The cows were in the barn, where they had plenty of food, but there were six new calves in a shed out in the field. Everyone was afraid that they would starve to death, but no one could get out and feed them. When the snow finally melted and the men went out to see the calves, they found them fat and healthy! The Nisser had taken care of them and fed them during the snowstorm." "So you see there really _are_ Nisser," said Hans. Anna wasn't at all convinced, but she didn't know how to argue against proof like this. Finally she asked, "When did this happen, Hans?" [Illustration: ANNA IS A TOMBOY] "Oh, a long time ago. A hundred years ago, I guess." "Then no one can really _prove_ it," argued Anna. "It's just a story that has been told over and over again, like a fairy tale." Anna believed in the things she could _see_, not in the things that people imagined they saw. "We're going to this castle for dinner on Wednesday evening," said Hans. "Then you can ask Mr. Christianson himself. He will certainly know whether or not this really happened." "We're going to a real castle for dinner?" asked Anna. "That will be lots of fun. Do you know how many rooms there are in the castle?" "At least fifty," answered Hans. "Greta and I have never been in Vosborg, for Mr. Christianson has been living in England for a long time. But now he has come back here to live." [Illustration: ON THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER]