He had his new toys to amuse him, also, for Henrik and Ole had carved him a doll and a queer-looking horse out of wood.
Everybody was jolly and happy, and there was much drinking of coffee and shaking of hands. It was eleven o'clock when the tired but happy children climbed the steps of their beds to dream of the good time just over.
After this, it did not seem a very long time to Fastilevn, which is the next best holiday to Christmas. At least, that is what Mari thought, and if you lived with her you would surely think so too.
Fastilevn comes in the early spring, on the first Monday of Lent, and on that day the Norse children are allowed to do exactly as they wish. Their parents may be strict and stern all the rest of the year, but at Fastilevn all rules are laid aside and the little ones may run wild if they like.
Cakes and buns! If you could see Mari, Greta, and their brothers eat sweet things on this day, you would wonder where they could possibly find room in their stomachs to stow them all away.
The feasting was not the best part of the fun, however. You would never guess what strange thing the children were allowed to do on that day. They might whip their mother! Of course, it was all in sport. The boys took long birch twigs and fastened many tissue-papers and coloured ribbons and tinsel upon them. The night before the great day, these twigs were set up in a corner of the living-room, all ready for the next day's fun.
With the first light of morning those gay switches began to be plied, while the children followed their mother about, laughing gaily all the while.
How long did the fun last, do you suppose? Until the last shred of paper was gone from each switch.
And how do you suppose there ever came to be such an odd custom? The Norse parents believe firmly in the old maxim, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Their children are likely to be often whipped for wrong-doing; Fastilevn is supposed to make up for twelve months of whippings, whether they were deserved or not.
Mari has seldom needed punishment, for she is a good, helpful little girl; but she enjoys Fastilevn very much, nevertheless.