Some of the shells got broken , some remained whole , and when all were ready Lasse had twelve boats . But they should not be boats , they should be large warships . He had three liners , three frigates , three brigs and three schooners . The largest liner was called Hercules , and the smallest schooner The Flea . Little Lasse put all the twelve into the water , and they floated as splendidly and as proudly as any great ships over the waves of the ocean . And now the ships must sail round the world . The great island over there was Asia ; that large stone Africa ; the little island America ; the small stones were Polynesia ; and the shore from which the ships sailed out was Europe . The whole fleet set off and sailed far away to other parts of the world . The ships of the line steered a straight course to Asia , the frigates sailed to Africa , the brigs to America , and the schooners to Polynesia . But Little Lasse remained in Europe , and threw small stones out into the great sea . Now , there was on the shore of Europe a real boat , father 's own , a beautiful white-painted boat , and Little Lasse got into it . Father and mother had forbidden this , but Little Lasse forgot . He thought he should very much like to travel to some other part of the world . ' I shall row out a little way -- only a very little way , ' he thought . The pea-shell boats had travelled so far that they only looked like little specks on the ocean . ' I shall seize Hercules on the coast of Asia , ' said Lasse , ` and then row home again to Europe . ' He shook the rope that held the boat , and , strange to say , the rope became loose . Ditsch , ratsch , a man is a man , and so Little Lasse manned the boat . Now he would row -- and he could row , for he had rowed so often on the step sat home , when the steps pretended to be a boat and father 's big stick an oar . But when Little Lasse wanted to row there were no oars to be found in the boat .
The oars were locked up XXXXX the boat-house , and Little Lasse had not noticed that the boat was empty .
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