The land at the top of the World is often called “The Land of the Midnight Sun,” because the sun shines at midnight. It might just as well be called “The Land of the 10-o’clock-at-night Sun,” for the sun shines at every hour of the night as well as every hour of the day. And it also might be called “The Land of the Midday Night,” for when the sun is going round out of sight below the edge of the World it is dark every hour of the day as well as of the night.

This “Land of the Midnight Sun” is the land of the Reindeer—Santa Claus Land. In this land of snow and ice very little grows except moss, and the Reindeer is the only animal that can live on moss. The people that live there are called Lapps. They look something like Eskimos, and both look like the Chinese, so we think they probably were Chinese long, long ago. The Lapps and the Reindeer live together in the same hut—the Reindeer is like a horse, a cow, a sheep, and a dog all in one. The Lapp harnesses the Reindeer to his sled, he gets milk from her, he kills her and eats the meat, and then he uses her skin to make himself and his family fur coats and tents.

But the people who live in the rest of Norway and Sweden are the same kind of people as you and I, only some of them are much smarter and better educated. I know a Swede who speaks twelve languages, I know of a Swede who invented a way of separating cream from milk without skimming it, and I know of two Swedish boys who invented a machine for making ice with heat.

Sweden and Norway used to be one country with one king, but now they are separate countries and each has a separate king and a separate capital.

In the geography your grandfather used, the capital of Norway was named Christiania, but the name was changed. You will find it on the map way down the throat of the whale. It is now called Oslo. The capital of Sweden begins with an “S,” as Sweden does. It is Stockholm.