Chapter Fifteen and Chapter Sixteen Summary

In Chapter Fifteen it is summer and Olana allows the girls to have class outside. One evening Miri confides the true story of her mother to Britta, Esa, and Frid and asks if she is a burden on the village. They admit they never thought of her as a burden and liken Miri to a bird whose wings are unpinned. The girls get a week off school every time the traders come, and they come with more and more refined good for the village. Pa gives Miri new shoes for her fifteenth birthday. Marda admits that she is afraid of not being smart when Miri is almost the top of her class. Miri thinks Marda is very smart since she is the only person outside of the academy who can read, and opts not to...