Only single spots were free from heather, and here grew grass, but short, and like moss or duckweed which grows upon ponds: here birds congregated by hundreds, and fluttered twittering into the air as the carriage drove past.
"You know where to find the green spot in the heath, and how to become happy through it," sighed Otto.

"Could I only follow your example!" At a greater distance rose bare hills, without ling or ploughed land; the prickly heath looked brown and yellow on the sharp declivities.

A little boy and girl herded sheep by the way-side; the boy played the Pandean pipe, the little girl sang a psalm,--it was the best song which she knew how to sing to the traveller, in order to win a little present from him.
The day was warm and beautiful, but the evening brought the cold mist from the sea, which, however, in the interior of the country loses something of its power.
"That is a kiss of welcome from my home," said Otto; "the death-kiss of the mermaid! In Funen they call it the elf maiden." Within the last few years a number of children have been sent from the Orphan Asylum to the heath, in order that, instead of Copenhagen rogues, they may become honest Jutland peasants.

Otto had a boy of this description for his coachman.

The lad was very contented, and yet Otto became low-spirited from his relation.