"Do tell me about his adventures, Major Lund," said Anna.
"Ask Sigrid; I am sure she knows," he replied.
Sigrid's eyes shone with delight. "I know, I know," she exclaimed. "He cut off his hair and put on homespun clothes, so he looked like a peasant. Then he worked in the mines and on farms."
"Didn't the peasants know who he was?" asked Anna.
"Some of them did. They wanted to save him from the Danish soldiers. Father saw a house where a woman helped him to escape. She hung a towel from a window. With that for a rope, he climbed down and ran away.
"The story I like best is the one about the farmer who hid Gustaf Vasa in a load of straw. The soldiers thrust their spears all through the straw, but they could not find him.
"One spear did wound him. The farmer feared the soldiers would return and see the blood-stains on the snow. So he took his jack-knife and cut a small place on his horse's leg. When the soldiers came back, they saw the red spots on the white ground. The peasant showed them the wound on the horse and they were satisfied."
"Don't forget about Margit's quick wits," said Major Lund.
"She was a peasant woman in whose house Gustaf Vasa stayed," continued Sigrid. "One day she heard the soldiers coming.
"'My lord, where shall I hide you?' she cried.