"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.