Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Ilon Wikland, translated from the Swedish by Jill Morgan by Astrid Lindgren

conceived his evil plans. Night and day, night and day he sat there and plotted. The air was so full of evil that no one could breathe in his room. This evilness flowed swiftly outside, killing all that was beautiful and alive and it withered away all the green leaves and flowers and soft grass. It spread, an evil veil across the sun, so that there was no real day but only night, or something like night. It’s not surprising that the window of this room blazed like an evil eye over the waters of the Dead Lake. Sir Kato’s evil blazed through the window as he worked on his vile plans. Night and day, night and day he sat there and plotted.
    It was to this room that I was brought. Sir Kato had caught me when I needed both hands to hold myself up, and couldn’t use my sword. His black spies seized me and dragged me to his room. Pompoo already stood there. He was so pale and weak, and he whispered, “Oh, Mio, it’s the end.”
    Sir Kato came in and we saw his cruelty. We stood before his horrible face, he was silent and just stared at us. And his evilness ran over us like an icy river and his evilness crept over us like a burning fire, then it crept over our faces and our hands and stung our eyes, and it flowed down into our lungs as we tried to breathe. I felt his cruelty wash over me and I became so tired and I did not have enough strength left to lift my sword no matter how hard I tried. The spies passed my sword to Sir Kato and he caught his breath when he saw it.
    â€œI never saw a more fearsome sword in my castle,” he said to the spies as he looked around.
    He went over to the window and stood there weighing the sword in his hand.

    â€œWhat shall I do with this sword?” said Sir Kato. “The good and the innocent will not die from this sword. What shall I do with it?”
    He watched me with cruel eyes and he saw how much I longed for my sword.
    â€œI will sink this sword in the Dead Lake,” said Sir Kato. “I will sink it in the deepest part of the Dead Lake, for I have never ever seen a more fearsome sword in my castle.”
    He lifted the sword and hurled it out the window. I saw it spinning through the air and I was heartbroken. For thousands and thousands of years the Swordsmith had forged this sword which could cut through stone. For thousands and thousands of years people had waited, hoping that I would vanquish Sir Kato. And now he was throwing my sword into the Dead Lake. I would never see it again and it was the end.
    Sir Kato came and stood before us and his evilness nearly smothered me, since he was so close.
    â€œWhat should I do now with these enemies of mine?” said Sir Kato. “What should I do with these enemies who have traveled so far to kill me? I could turn them into birds and let them fly over the Dead Lake to wail for thousands and thousands of years.” He gazed at us with cruel eyes, as he pondered our fate.
    â€œYes, I could turn them into birds,” he said. “Or—I could rip out their hearts and give them hearts of stone. I could make them my little servants, if I give them hearts of stone.”
    â€œOh, I’d rather be a bird,” I almost shouted to him. Because I thought nothing could be worse than to have a heart of stone. But I said nothing. I knew that if I asked to be a bird, Sir Kato would give me a heart of stone.
    Sir Kato looked up and down at us with his cruel eyes.
    â€œOr I could throw them in the tower to die of hunger,” he said. “I have enough birds, I have enough servants. I think I’ll throw these prisoners into the tower and let them die of hunger.”
    He walked a few steps forward and then back across the floor, thinking deeply, and each thought made the air thicker with evil.
    â€œIn my castle you will die of hunger in a single night,” he said. “In my castle, the night is so long and the hunger so great, that you will die in a single night.”
    He stopped before