He put a thin piece of wood on the broken leg to hold it straight. While he was mending the bird’s leg, he told her about the bird in his enclosure.
‘The geese in the enclosure flew all the way from Iceland and Spitzbergen,’ he told her. ‘They arrive in October. They make the sky dark because there are so many of them. The sound of their wings is like a strong wind.
He finished mending the lag. Then they went outside and put the snow goose with the other birds. Ashe placed her gently in the enclosure, Philip said, ‘In a few day she’ll be much better. We’ll call her the Lost Princess.
The girl looked pleased. Then she noticed that some of the birds were unable to fly.
‘What’s the matter with those birds? She asked. She pointed at two birds who were trying to fly.
‘I’ve cut the ends of their wings,’ he said. ‘so they can’t fly. They have to stay here.