It’s 2:30 p.m., and we realize that the sun is setting earlier than we had anticipated. We’ve been on the trail after dark before, but only on the main path, which is lighted. This part is not, and I wonder what we might encounter in the forest after sundown. I’m not so well versed on Swedish folklore, so I imagine fairies but not little ones. They would be tall like giants and maybe only half visible so that you might mistake their shapes for that of trees. I pick up the pace because I don’t fancy meeting a tree fairy without knowing what they are capable of. It is at this point that Patrick mentions wolves and bears. He thinks a pack of wolves was running these woods last year, and a Swedish hunter killed a bear just yesterday. Now the tree fairies don’t seem so scary.
