Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 2

r the earth and waking everybody. The open face of morning could not be seen indoors. And the dying day poured no evening wearines

ng, he would fall back again. After a while the process was repeated. But then the master grew impatient. "Devil take it! aren't you going to get up to-day?" he would bellow. "Is this to end in my bringing you your coffee in bed?" Drunken with sleep, Pe

for the master to spit into. He bothered no further about the others; he was in a morning temper himself. On the days when he had to s

then there must be something that he had to remember. Memory was not his strong point, hence this ingenious device.

idriff. She was discontented with everything, and was always talking of the grave. "My two eldest are overseas, in America and Australia; I shall never see them again. And here at home two menfolk go strutting about doing nothing and expecting to be waited on. Andres, poor fellow, isn't strong, and Jeppe's no use any longer; he can't even keep himself warm in bed nowadays. But they know h

did not encourage them to work; he had a difficulty in finding enough for himself. So they sat there wool-gathering, striking a few blows with the hammer now and t

ster would struggle miserably to get his breath: "Ah, I've had a bad night, Pelle, a horrible night; I was so hot, with such a ringing in my ears. New blood is so devilishly unruly; it's all the time boiling in my head like soda-water. But it's a good thing I'm making it, God knows; I used to be so soon done up. Do you believe in Hell? Heaven, now, that's sheer nonsense; what happiness can

sound legs, you'd see me disappear oversea double-quick, whoop! I wouldn't stay messing about here any longer.... Well, have you seen your nave

, you can fetch me my port wine; it's on the shelf, b

that the bottle was empty. T

t to Pelle's heart, so that he often felt like bursting into tears. Hitherto Pelle's life had been spent on the straight highway; he did not understand this combination o

tove, and stand there, stamping his feet. His cheeks had quite fallen in. "I've so little blood for the moment," he said at such times, "but the new blood is on the way; it sings in my ears every night."

irtieth year," said the journeyman

ly, and he looked at Pelle, as though Pelle had it in his power to help him; "only another six months!

and in the whole conduct of each. When Pelle stood behind him, it was as though even the master's leather jacket emitted a feeling of warmth, and

s from side to side, gazing longingly into the distance. This was his place when he was not indoors, sitting over some book of adventure. But Pelle liked him to stand there, and as he slipped past he would hang his head shyly, for it often ha

of birds. He had never been abroad, and he felt no craving to go; but in spite of this his mind and his speech roamed over the whole wide world, so that Pelle at times felt like falling sick from sheer longing. He demanded nothing more than health of the future, and adventures hovered all about him; one received the impression that happiness itself had fluttered to earth and settled upon him. Pelle idolized him, but did not understand him. The master, who at one

unning in; she absolutely must have her young lady's shoes; they were promised for Monday. The master had quite forgotten them. "They are in hand now," he said, undaunted. "To the devil with you, Jens!" And Jens had hastily thrust a pair of lasts into the shoes, while Master Andres went outside with the girl, and joked

to go out again. "Pelle, run out and borrow a few brass nails-then we needn't buy any to

about the screw-

ing it; remember that, and take it with you to the smith's. Well, what in th

ker," suggeste

his forehead. "Marker's a louse!" Marker had succeeded

t salt to e

do?" asked Pelle,

krone toward Pelle; "I have no peace from you so long as I've got a farthing in my

e we've got a whole

ngs that they've borrowed of us." Pelle

the master, and he se

gallows-bird!" He loo

was once more, "Pe

wooden chairs. There was so much to be fetched and carried, and Pelle considered these errands to be his especial duty; when he had n

imidity and distrust he had stripped from him indoors, where it was of importance that he should open his defences on all sides, and his solid qualities he was on the point of sacrificing on the altar of the town as boorish.

en no difference in him, except that he had grown taller. But Father Lasse would have wept tears of blood to see his boy as he now walk

in, half in the firelight and half in the shadow, to detain him. The flames and the clanging of the metal, the whole lively uproar of real work, fascinated him, and he had to go in and ask whether there was an opening for an apprentice. He was not so stupid as to tell them where he came from, but when he got home, Jeppe had already been told of it! But that

is now employed by a tradesman. Albinus is not amusing. He has no right to play and loiter about the warehouse in the aimless fashion that is possible out-of-doors; nor to devote himsel

d with a cargo of timber. "Have you anything for us to do?" he asks,

st been here and got what th

u ought to have given

got a cl

ipper reaches for a rope's end,

a thrashing now?"

you'll run and get me half a kr

r of simplicity. The skipper reaches for hi

ts to the door even. "But it must be the very best, because it's for an in

the twist; his jaws are working like a mill, and all his limbs ar

es a huge mouthful off the brown Cavendish, and begins to chew courageously, which makes him feel tremendously manly. But near the furnace where the ship's timbers are bent he has to unload his stomach; it seems as though all his inward parts are doing their very utmost to see how matte

when Pelle lay on the shavings and guarded Father Lasse's sack. The black man with the barking hounds still leans from the roof

d canvas trousers, and the shirt is open on his powerful breast; but it lies close on his back, and reveals the play of his muscles. Every time he strikes a blow the air whistles- whew!-and the walls and timber-stacks echo the sound. People come hurrying by, stop short at a certain distance

apprentice. "Good-day," he says boldly, and stands right in the giant's shadow. But the stonecutter pu

properly used his strength," says an old t

wn ought to see that he keeps quiet." And they move on, and

bler, groats

ack goes the st

is that he is lying in the gutter, on his back, with all three on top of him. He has fallen alongside of the curbstone and cannot move; he is faint, too, as a result of his indiscretion; the two biggest boys spread his arms wide open on the flagstone

is no other than Nilen, the wonderful little devil Nilen, of his schooldays, who was always fighting everybody like a terrier and always cam

r, slings the boys to one side, and helps him to his feet. Pelle recognizes

edly smart fellow himself in his fine white clothes, with his bare arms crossed over his naked breast. Pelle feels remarkably comfortable; he has been give

le, and hastens to offe

fellow has to when

nd how people can kee

dnight, when everything is turning round. Then it comes over you so that you keep on looking at the time, and the very moment the clock strikes twelve we all hold our breath, and then no one can come in or go out any more.

daughters of old Skipper Elleby-but no, none

bit just now with the master's daughter-fine girl, she is, quite develo

o marry her when you

with in

! No need to trouble about that! But a woman-well, that's onl

nd looks at Pelle with a curious expression in his eyes. "Cobbler's patch!" he says contemptuously, and thr

ted ass. The other day I had to fetch him a box on the ears, he was so saucy. I've learned the Copenhagen trick of doing it; it soon sett

the devil with you!" he yelps-"the journeyman!" And Pelle has to get through the window, and is so slow about it th

workshop did not seem alluring. He was dispirited, too; for the watchmaker'

green baize; he was whistling softly to himself, and looked like a grown fledgling that did not

ain, you young devil?" he asked

e was prope

oing on there?

out at sea, and how the cook had to deliver her; of a Russian vessel which had run into port with a mutiny on board; and any

hem indifferently. "Is the sc

Pelle did

l, well, go and get me three bottles of beer! Only stick them under your blouse

over his work, and Master Andres was reading; no sound was to be heard but those

ren, who never allowed himself to be seen; he moved about from choice like a thief in the night. If the master-as he occasionally did-seized him and pulled him into the workshop, he was li

eant, filling the dark workshop; the political news was ignored. If the master happened to be in one of his desperate humors, he would read the most damnable nonsense: of how the Atlantic Ocean had caught fire, so that the people were living on boiled codfish; or how the heavens had got torn over America, so that angels fell right on to somebody's supper-tray. Things which one knew at on

of the sand-hills or the woods, wandering down a road that was bright with pleasure. Now and again a neighbor would step in, and while away the time with his gossip; something or other had happened, and Master Andres, who was so

e tread of a huge padded foot, and once more the clack-clack. This was old Bjerregrav, swinging toward the workshop on his crutches; Bjerregrav, who moved more slowly than anybody, and got forwar

regrav sank into his dumb pondering; his pale hands feeling one thing after another, as though the most everyday objects were unknown to him. He took hold of things just as a newborn child might have done; one had to smile at him and leave him to sit there, grubbing about like the ch

about the wind and the weather, and even the food that he ate. He would ask questions about the most laughable subjects- things that were self-evident to any one else-why a stone was hard, or why water

ed up from his book.

oney?" he aske

od to me; I don't want to

that might befall m

ence. No one has a right to more,

money in the bank the

allus

ed the old man cheerfully. "I

ough the lot?" The young mas

he need gets worse every winter. It's a burden to have money, Andres, when men are hungry all about you; and if you help them then you learn afterward that you've don

, musing. "Then there ought to be great

now him-came to me, and begged me to lend him the money at one year. He would have gone bankrupt if he hadn't had it, and it was terrible to think of all the poor people who would have gone

"Suppose Bjerregrav has just s

uld I have done?" said

bankrupt. He's a frothy old rogue," murmured t

ed; he was quite

est? Five

terest somewhere or other, and of course it's from the poor. Interest is blood-money, Andres -and it's

s,

to other fo

uffers in t

club him, cl

ter, and wen

nk in his own thoughts.

ay overnight puzzling over it, so as I couldn't sleep. She wanders and wander

thoughtfully. "She must have strength o

And you are always studying, aren't you? I suppose you have read nearly all the books in the world?" Bjerregrav took the master's book and felt it thoroughly. "T

Pole, and they get frozen in, and they don'

s like at the end of the world-but to go and find out-no, I should never have had the courage. Neve

eet-and their toes have to be amput

e!" The old man sat rocking himself to and fro, as though he felt unwell. But a few

people who investigate writings has discovered that it is

ere the two rivers fall into a third, in the East! That is quite p

aster, who was inclined to be a free-thinker; "God's tr

roaming anywhere so that they did not meet another's. "Yes, yes," he said, in a low voice; "ever

a woman. Bjerregrav's presence began to distress him. "Now, I've learned to

ce!" said the old m

rs, at his blinking eyes, and gazed at

of all the Humors of the Body, the good and the bad alike, and

g to and fro, with an eye to the door, but he could not wrest himself away from the enchantment. Then, desperate

e struck out properly," he said, in surprise,

superstitious, but he did not like to hea

l I do?" a

ots ready?" The maste

n nibble you

to play a game of billiards; the journeyman dressed and went out; the older apprentices washed

. Yes, and his shirt-and he blushed up to his ears-was it a fortnight he had worn it, or was this the fourth week? The time had slipped past so.... He had meant to defer the disagreeable business of washing only for a few days-and now it had mounted up

were still burning as he scrubbed his shirt and blouse downstairs in t

garret, one leg outside, so that part of him at least was in the open air. The skillful darning which his father had taught him was not put into practice here; the holes were simply cobbled together, so that Father Lass

mpatiently against the stone wall, and motioned to him with her lips. She threw her head back imperiously, a

me he courageously stood his ground. At last, however, he could endure it

tticoats. Women, for Pelle, were really rather contemptible; they had no strength, and very little intelligence; indeed, they understood nothing but the ar

limb like a boy, and could carry Pelle all round the garden on her back; it was really an oversight that she should have to wear skirts. Her clothes wouldn't keep on her, and she was always tumbling into the workshop

erms with Pelle t

secret of our early years. There was no trace of embarrassment between them; they had always known one another, and could at any time resume their play just wher

herself in for a scuffle, she never sued for mercy, however hardly it went with her. But Pelle was to a certain extent restra

ere she bullied him. If she assailed him from behind, dropping something down his neck or pushing him o

which their father had brought home with him on his long voyages: Aina, Dolores, and Sjermanna! They wore heavy beads of red coral round their necks and in their ears. And ab

olled them as quickly as possible among the things that were matters of course, and res

erable, and Pelle was the center of them all; he could turn himself to anything; he became everything in turn-lawful husband, cannibal, or slave. He was like a tame bear in their hands; they would ride on him, trample all over him, and at times they would all three fall upon him and "murder" him. And he had to lie still, and allow them to bury his body and conceal all traces of it. The reality of the affair was enh

nd as though things were going badly with him; and he had no one to lean upon. But he continued his

e was bidding him good-bye; and he did not fail to look them up. But the twins were to-day the same slippery, evasi

d no inclination to any handicraft. He was a good-tempered youth, who was willing to give up everything else if only he could practise his acrobatic feats. He always went about balancing something or other, taking pains to put all sorts of objects to the most impossible uses. He had no respect for the order of nat

w apprentice to a painter, but had a parting in his hair like a counter-jumper, and bought all sorts of things at the chemist's, which he smeared on his hair. If Pelle ran across him in the street, Alfred always made some excuse to shake him off; he p

for assistance of any kind. They laughed comfortably at the very

one who did not stroll up and down and gad about with girls. But the town demanded that he should rig himself out. Sunday clothes were here not a bit too good for weekdays. He ought to see about getting himself a rubber collar-which had the advantage that one could

himself to rely on. Now he stood face to face with life, and he struggled courageously forward, like the excell

ght; it looked as though some one had trodden on it; but the clothes and the brooch at the throat were capital. The picture hung for a week in the workshop, and brought Pelle a wonderful piece of luck: Carlsen, who ran errand

n less than two months' time; it was t

t he felt that he could not well reduce the price. Truly, people weren't rolling in money here! And when for once he actually had a shilling in hand, then it was sure to take to its heels under his very nose, direc

nly "petticoats." But he felt that he was lucky to be there, where there were curious things which were useful to play with-Chinese cups and saucers, and weapons from the South Sea Islands. Manna had a necklace of white teeth, sharp and irregular, strung together in a haphazard way, w

eir games-even when he was not present. There was a secret satisfaction in this-although he accepted it as a matter of course, it was a portion of all that fate and good fortune had reserved for him, a slight advance payment from the i

alized how utterly dependent the little town was upon the country. It was as though the town had in a moment forgotten its superiority; the manual workers no longer looked down on the peasants; they looked longingly toward the fields, spoke of the weather and the prospects of harvest, and had forgotten all their urban interests. If by exception a farmer's cart came through the streets, peop

there were thousands of impressions of good and evil which had to be assimilated, and which made a balanced whole-that remarkabl

uld he ever hear of him again? Every day he had expected, in reliance on Karna's word, to see him blundering in at the door, and when anybody fumbled