Read Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ilon Wikland, translated from the Swedish by Jill Morgan for Free Online Page B

that, with his head in his hands and I could see he was unhappy. I went to him and put my arms around his shoulders to comfort him and said, “Do you want me to stay home with you?”
    He looked at me for a long time with sad eyes.
    â€œNo, Mio, my son, you shouldn’t stay. The moon has risen, and the Forest of Moonbeams awaits you.”
    â€œAre you sure you won’t be worried?” I asked.
    â€œYes, I’m sure,” he said, touching me gently on the head. Then I ran to ask Pompoo if he wanted to come with me to the Forest of Moonbeams. But after I’d taken a few steps, my father the King shouted to me, “Mio, my son!”
    I turned around and there he stood with his arms stretched out toward me and I rushed back to him and threw myself into his arms. He held me tightly, tightly for a long time.
    â€œI’ll come right back,” I said.
    â€œWill you?” said my father the King, and his voice wasn’t much more than a whisper.
    I found Pompoo outside the Master Rose Gardener’s cottage and told him I was going to ride through the Forest of Moonbeams.
    â€œOh, at last!” said Pompoo.
    I didn’t understand why my father the King said, “Oh, so soon?” and Pompoo, “Oh, at last!” when I told them I wanted to ride through the Forest of Moonbeams, but I didn’t worry about it.
    â€œAre you coming?” I asked.
    Pompoo took a deep breath. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, yes!”
    We called Miramis, who was grazing in the Garden of Roses, and I told him that he must take us to the Forest of Moonbeams. Miramis started prancing as if it was the best thing he’d heard in a long time, and as soon as Pompoo and I sat on his back he shot off like a streak of lightning.
    As we rode out of the Garden of Roses I heard my father the King shout. “Mio, my son!” he cried, and it was the saddest voice I’d ever heard. But I couldn’t turn back. I couldn’t.
    The Land Beyond the Mountains was so far away. Without a horse like Miramis we couldn’t have gone there. We could never have climbed over the high mountains that nearly reached the sky. But for Miramis there was nothing to it. He soared over the mountaintops like a bird. I let him land on the highest summit, where the snow never melts. We sat there on Miramis’s back and looked out over the land that awaited us at the foot of the mountains. The Forest of Moonbeams lay in front of us in the moonlight and it looked so beautiful and not dangerous at all. It’s probably true that a forest sleeping in the moonlight wasn’t dangerous. My father the King was right. Everything was good here, not only the people. The forest and fields and streams and green pastures were good too, and not dangerous. The night was good and kind like the day, the moonlight was like a gentle sun, and the darkness was a peaceful darkness. They were nothing to be scared of.
    There was only one thing to be scared of. Only one.
    As we sat on Miramis’s back, far beyond the Forest of Moonbeams I saw a country where it was completely dark, and the darkness wasn’t peaceful. I couldn’t look at it without shuddering.
    â€œWhat’s that terrible land over there?” I said to Pompoo.
    â€œOuter Land starts there,” said Pompoo. “It’s the border country of Outer Land.”
    â€œSir Kato’s land?” I asked.
    When he heard this Miramis trembled with fright, and a large boulder broke loose from the mountain and rumbled down into the valley below.
    Yes, there was only one danger—Sir Kato. He was the one I was scared of. So scared, so scared. But I tried not to think about him any more.
    â€œThe Forest of Moonbeams,” I said to Pompoo. “The Forest of Moonbeams is where I want to go now.”
    Miramis neighed and it echoed wildly between the mountaintops. He dropped slowly down through the air toward the moonlit forest at the foot of the