"They thought I was asleep this morning when they were trimming my room," Sigrid confided to Erik, who was showing her how to steer the boat.
"Fie on you, Sigrid!" said Erik, quite seriously, but he gave her plump cheek a little pinch.
"It was such fun," Sigrid laughed softly. "When I heard Elsa tell Anders his boots squeaked, I thought I couldn't keep quiet a second longer."
"Look at all those snipe, Erik," Major Lund interrupted. The boat was sailing quite close to the shore. Several of these long-legged birds, which were picking their way across the beach, were startled by the voices and flew into the air.
"What a queer call they have, uncle," said Elsa.
"Listen a moment till you hear it again," said Major Lund.
They were very quiet for a couple of minutes.
"It sounds like the noise old Maja makes when he wants us to give him a lump of sugar," said Gerda.
"They make that sound with their wings as they fly," said Major Lund. "The 'horse-cuckoo,' some people call the snipe. Do you know how it received that name?"