CHAPTER IV AT GRANDMOTHER'S "PERA, you do remember me, don't you? Oh, you nice old dog!" Anders threw his arms around the neck of a small shaggy yellow dog that was wriggling almost out of his skin with joy. You could not have told which was the happier, the dog or the boy. "Just think! I haven't seen you for six months, Pera!" The two playmates romped across grandmother's lawn to the porch, where Erik was sitting on the steps with a tennis racket, waiting for his father. "Sigrid has been hunting everywhere for you, Anders," said Erik. "Here you are," exclaimed Sigrid a minute later, as she spied Anders. "Larsson says there is a baby calf over in the barn, and he will show it to us if we will go now." Anders jumped up quickly, and followed by the dog, the children ran toward the group of barns and stables, at some distance from the house. "Look at all those wild strawberries in this field," said Anders. "I had forgotten that it was time for them. I must ask grandmother if we can pick all we want," said Sigrid. "I want to see father's new sailboat. Have you been down to the lake yet?" asked Anders. "No," said Sigrid. "Let's go around and see everything. Mother says we shall stay all summer, because poor grandmother is so old and feeble she doesn't like to leave her. Larsson, Larsson, where are you?" The old farmer, who had taken care of the grounds and farm for many years, hobbled out to the barn door to welcome the children and to show them the new calf, the little pigs, and the chickens. No place in the world is quite so interesting as grandmother's old house, whether you are a Swedish or an American girl. Sigrid's grandmother lived in a fine old house on a hilltop which overlooked Lake Mälar. It was only a short journey of two or three hours from Stockholm, yet it was quite out in the country, several miles from any village. As you drove through the avenue of huge beech-trees, you would be curious to know why so many small, low-lying buildings were grouped near the house. They were placed to form three sides of a square, after the fashion of many Swedish country places. Off in the distance were the barns, which the children visited, and another group of red cottages, where the farm-helpers and their families lived. These people lived in a little world by themselves, with everything they needed right on the grounds. If Mrs. Lund wished fish for dinner, she could not send a maid to market to buy a live fish from a tank of water, as she did in Stockholm. Instead, one of the servants caught the fish in the lake, or she ordered smoked fish from the storehouse. On each side of the family residence were houses for the servants. Some of the small separate sheds were used for washing, baking, tools, and provisions. But you would enjoy a peep into some of these buildings with the children.