Pointing to a wide black stripe in the middle, Gerda said, "That was for
the time I broke the vinegar jug, and spoiled Ebba Jorn's dress."

"Oh, tell me about it!" cried Karen.

"No," replied Gerda, "it was too naughty to tell about;" and she put the
rug quickly back into the chest.

"I didn't know you were ever naughty," said Karen, laughing merrily.
Then, as the two little girls put on their caps and took up their baskets
to go flower-hunting, she asked, "Who is Ebba Jorn?"

"She lives across the lake, and she is going to be married to-morrow,"
answered Gerda. "We can walk in her procession."

Karen gave a little gasp of pleasure. "Oh, what fun!" she exclaimed. Then
she stopped and looked down at her dress. "But I have nothing to wear,"
she said. "All my prettiest dresses went home on the steamer with your
father."

"We shall wear our rainbow skirts," Gerda told her. "And you can wear one
of mine."

Just then she caught sight of a crowd of boys and girls in a distant
meadow, and ran to join them; calling to Birger and Karen to come, too.
"They are gathering flowers to trim the Maypole for the midsummer
festival," she cried.

It is small wonder that the people of the Northland joyously celebrate