Land of the Long Night

I had hardly arrived in Haparanda, Sweden when people came to welcome me. Several of them knew me on account of some of my books that have been translated into Swedish, and they were my friends at once.

They were astonished that I intended to go further north. They looked serious and remained silent for a while. "We will give you letters of introduction to our friends," they said; "but after a time you will be too far north, where we do not know anybody. You will find only Finlanders and Laplanders until you come to the Arctic shores of Norway."