The little Lapp girl and her dog also live in that land far to the north. But to them it is the land of the reindeer. They wander from place to place. They live in tents or rude huts wherever the reindeer find food.
Olaf of Norway and Gerda of Sweden live farther to the south of those lands. To them in winter their land is a land of skis. And to many girls and boys Norway and Sweden in winter is a land of Christmas trees.
Harold lives in America, but he knows the lands near the top of the world. His grandmother lives in Norway and his cousin lives in Sweden. To Harold those lands make many a storybook tale come true. When he visited them he saw the old Viking boats which were like the boat in which Leif Ericsson sailed to America so long ago. He saw castles where boys long ago were dubbed knights.
[Illustration: ON THIS MAP YOU WILL FIND KARI, LARS, OLAF, GERDA, AND OTHER CHILDREN OF THE NORTH LANDS]
Christian lives on the flat lands of Denmark. Denmark was the home of the great story-teller, Hans Christian Andersen.
But now turn the pages of this book and let these children, and many others too, tell you stories from that land near the top of the world.
About noon, one day late in January, a group of school children dressed in warm coats, caps, and mittens stood in the snow eagerly waiting for something. Suddenly one of the big boys pulled a rope that sent the flag to the top of its pole. There it waved a greeting as over the edge of the earth peeped the sun!
While the children watched, the rim of gold became half a round ball. Then it began to drop and in an hour no part of that ball could be seen in the sky.
Those children live in a town near the top of the world. Weeks and weeks had passed since they had seen the sun. About the time that American children were having Thanksgiving the sun had dropped from sight. There was no sunshine in that northern town on Christmas day. The children went to school through cold dark streets lighted by electricity. Then came days when there was a pale light in the sky, like the dawn that comes just before the sun rises. At last came that day in January when the sun appeared. No wonder the flag was raised to greet him!
As those children greeted the big shining ball they knew that now they would see the sun in the sky for months. Each day it would stay a little longer.