Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 2

look at it. The driver sat in front, below the load, almost between the horses; he was tall and had ruddy cheeks, and was monstrously wrapped up, in spite of the heat. "Hall

had his foot on the shaft and was sitting next to Due

ngs aren't better here in town," said Due, in his quiet manner. "And here you a

over the load, and

lle asked her. This was always his

e you goin' to behave?" Anna crawled backward, and a child began to cry. Then she re

thoughts to spare

y Stone Far

land, but it's not much more than stone. So long as he doesn't ruin himself ove

t," said Anna. "Karna has found the m

is father once more! And the dream of Lasse's life was about to be fulfilled: he could now put his feet under his own table. He h

arter-day, and come into town on a Sunday afternoon, their fur-lined collars up to their ears? Pelle could see the men quite plainly going up the stairs, one after another, taking off their wooden shoes and knocking on the door of the office-yes, they wanted to see

o. And at the Christmas feast he danced with the buxom farmer's daughters. There was whispering in the corners when Pelle made his appearance; but he went st

d some miles along the high-road. The road he now turned into led him by pine woods and heath-cov

overty-stricken landscape spoke to him as with a mother's voice. Among these clay-daubed huts, the homes of poor cultivators who waged war upon the rocky ground surrounding their handful of soil, he felt safe as he had never felt before. All this had been his through many generations, down to the rags thrust into the broken window-pan

ed obstinate, and would not turn back to the cart-track, but labored forward, so that he was soon steaming with heat; clambering over slanting ridges of rock, which were slippery with the dewfall on the moss, and letting himself tumble at hazard over the ledges. A little too late he felt a depth below him; it was as though a cold wave washed through his heart, and he clutched wildly at the air for some support. "Father Lasse!" he cried woefully; and at the same moment he was caught by bra

full of noises, and he could not see his hand before his eyes. It was like a stupendous explosion-as though released by his cheerful stamping over the rocks, the earth was hurled into the sky and dissolved in darkness, and the darkness itself cried aloud with terror and eddied round him. His heart pounded in his breast and robbed him of his last remnant of understanding; he jumped fo

but he knew that he was a terrible duffer. How easily he could have brou

sat upon a cliff and howled insanely at the moon, and far to the north and the south lay a transient gli

closed above the lesser hills; one by one it swallowed them, and then it took the long ridge of hills to the east, until only the crests of the pine-trees lifted themselves above it; but Pelle did not as yet give himself up for lost; for behind all his anxiety lay a confused con

d the young master's shining eyes-here was an end of them all. He did not mourn them; he simply felt terribly lonely. What would be the end of it all-or was this perhaps death? Had he perhaps fallen dead a little while ago, when he tumbled over the precipice? And was he now voyaging toward the land of the blessed? Or was this the end of

in the night that surged against his ears he heard the suggestion of a sound, the vibrating note of some living creature. Infinitely remote and faint though it was, yet P

felt familiar as it brushed against his feet-it was land that had once been ploughed but had now been recaptured by the heath. The sound grew louder, and changed to all those familiar sounds that one hears at night

joy. The most comfortable odor he had ever known struck upon his senses -the foundation of everything fragrant-the scent of Father Lasse! It was dark in the room, and the light of the night wit

to grope fo

e?" said a drows

ied again, and went f

ought out the name

stepped toward the voice and clasped his wrist. "And how did you find your way here in the wildern

the wall-she had kept silence while the men-folk were speaking. "He

to leave off. But it'll be all right when once I've got things properly going. Work's a good emb

out the workshop, and the young master's lame leg, and everything. But he said

foreign parts!" said Lasse, delight

cularly what he had not won-but why trumpet forth his miseries? "The young m

ting on, and whether we shouldn't soon have good news of you. But everything

e a landowner!" sa

ross your back, whatever name you like to give it. Well, well! It's a fine thing, all the same, to be your own master! It's funny how it takes me-but dry bread tastes better to me at my own table than-yes, by God, I can tell you, it tastes better than cake at any other body's table! And then to be all alone on your own

lain about. "But when were yo

t's our intention, I needn't say, as soon as we have time and money." It was honestly Lasse's opinion that one could just as well dispense with the ceremony; at least until children came, and demanded an honorable birth. But he could

he shabby-genteel boys of the town envious of him. But they mustn't be

l to, and don't despise our poor table, my son," she said, and gave his arm a friendly

he said. "Do you get anything decent to eat

e repented of having betrayed himself to K

He was wearing a knitted nightcap, one end of which fell loosely over his ear. He looked like a genuine old farmer, one that had money in his mattress. And Karna, who was moving to

inguished the tallow dip before he undressed,

Pelle started up hastily, in order to dress himself before Karna could come in and espy his condition; he felt

not reply to her morning salutation, and kept his eyes turned towa

you can have it again this evening. After all, you can wear t

ve drunk your coffee," she said as he attempted to get up, and she placed a stool by him. And so Pelle had his coffee in bed, as he had dreamed it

e and Pelle went out an

the dimensions of the place would be a surprise to Pelle. They wandered through heather and brambles and thorns, str

ge holding," Pelle s

, there's nearly seventy acres h

wild cherry, gripping the bare cliff with roots that looked like crippled hands. Crab-apple trees, sloe-bushes and wild rose-briars made an impenetrable jungle, which already bore traces o

arcely set foot in it without treading on the berries. But

rather middlin

pen stood waving their shining foliage to and fro in the breeze. "No, but it'll be a damn

o it. All this was not what he had imagined; he felt no desire t

manage about your daily bread," h

ing round him. Even if I were to work myself to death here, at least I've done with slavery. And you must not forget the pleasure of seeing the soil coming under one's hands, day after day, and yielding som

king oneself to death over a bit of land, just so that something different migh

comfort. But it certainly never entered the mind of one of us that we should ever hear it ill spoken of-and by one of our own people too!" Lasse spoke with his face turned

id apologetically, gazing in the direct

elf loose from it all

you'll repent it some

ers there isn't all s

too much of a man to bandy words. He contai

asse suddenly, in order to take the sting out

the cultivated land the luxuriant heather revealed disa

ornfield once

ain! That was under my predecessor, who took in more than he could work, so that it ruined him. But you can see now that something can be done with the land!" Lasse pointed to a patch of rye, and Pelle was obliged to recognize that it looked very well. But through the whole length of the field ran high ridges of br

self was

ne's body every time the plough strikes. And most of it has to be broken up with pick and drill-and now and again it takes a

er cultivation h

t fourteen acres; but it will

y by those fourteen acres," said Karna, w

The parish won't take the farm away again-not from us," he said. Lasse spok

s though one were ploughing up churchyard soil. The first w

es since then. I'm so glad it didn't happen in the house." Lasse shuddered uncomfortably. "P

asked Pelle, astonished, for it

morning and have tired themselves out before midday. But he built the house well"-and Lasse kicked the thin mud-daubed wall-"and the timber-work is good. I think I shall break a lot of stone when the winter comes; the stone must be got out of the way, and it isn't so bad to ea

fought war against the soil, but he had as a matter of course understood everything that had to do with tilling the soil ever since he could crawl, and his hands had an inborn aptitude for spade and rake and plough. But he had not inherited his father's joy in the soil; his thoughts had struck out in a new direction. Yet this endless bondage to the soil lay rooted in him, like a hatr

holding with twelve or fourteen acres of land, a

de! What the deuce! I might as well have stayed where I was. Here, it's true, I do work harder and I have to use my brains more, but then there's a future before me. When I've once got th

of cows easily," he said aloud. "That would br

cold," said Karna, laughin

do without that," he said indulgently. "Butcher Jensen goes to market every Saturday; he'd take it for you and put it down by

y turned stubborn

yourself," said Lasse patiently. "In town one must have other thin

all right," murmure

f decent. It was partly in order to revenge hims

ly; "I just asked you. I ho

rk of a kind that needed two had accumulated, and Pelle did not spare himself. The greater part of the day was spent in heaving great s

ked the two scarecrows caressingly. "Just wait until a few months h

e boy's strength-with two or three such lads he could turn the whole wilderness over. Once again he sighed that Pelle was not living at h

- as a reward for the work he's done," said Lasse gaily. "And we'

n order to be prepared lest the horses should shy-"they might so easily bolt," he said solemnly. And when he succeeded in inducing them to trot he was delighted. "They take some holding," he would say, and to look

rther still-oh, well, then, they might as well drive right up to the house! He had quite forgotten that the

that about your was

ace away-surely they mig

re of yourself, and

again as soo

s mouth, for fear of the unmanly lump that had risen in his