Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 1

losed in again, leaving only a strip of shore with two old boats lying keel uppermost upon it. The prow of a third boat and a bit of breakwater showed dimly in the mist a few paces off. At definite i

feet up in the air with their legs extended straight down toward their booty, as if held by some invisible attachment. When the water retreated, they dropped down a

w more distant and at last ceased; but then a bell began to ring-it must have been at the end of the mole-and out of the distance, into wh

y ceased as he turned some corner or other. Then a door was opened, followed by the sound of a loud morning yawn; and someone began to sweep the pavement. Windows were opened here and there, out of which floa

rthy of our hy

om the sins of

f Mendelssohn's "S

ing, with hands clasped between their knees. All three wore ear-rings as a preventive of colds and other evils, and all s

He had his coat-collar turned up, and shivered in the chill morning air. "Is an

n of his head-gear. He was the head man of the boat's crew.

ot-boat's out blowing her horn," the trave

tell!" answered the h

strust of every one who did not speak their dialect and look exactly like themselves. They sat there inwardly uneasy in spite of thei

it's a secret?"

f," answered the f

our talking-apparatus to be continually opening and shutting it. How much do you

n glances at their leader. If o

that have nothing to do but go about and be clever." He warned them with his eyes, the expression of his face was woo

made fun of! "Confound you fellows! Haven't you even learnt as mu

ard and forward at one ano

is! She must come some time,

t 's

se. And she generally

u've g

t a little unwise to speak so lou

heir backs on him, and wer

ome people, and yet we make our living," said the

after him with a feeling of relief. "What a talker!" said one. "He want

ght," answered the man, with pride. "It's these

yawning. The morning stroller repeated his question to him, a

to say, who live on black bread and salt herrings, and do the work of three. They ought to be flogged with red-hot ic

ou, I think

l, please

ith a critical eye, and settled themselves into a half-doze, with their fur collars turned up about their ears. Custom-house men in uniform, and pilots, looking like monster penguins, wandered restlessly about, peering ou

ar. His fear communicated itself to his horses, and they stood trembling with heads

lways suffers from wind in this foggy weather. He's a wind-sucker, yo

bout patting the horses, or pricking their nostrils with a straw to make them r

he must

ad than good,

up on the molehead, put the megaphone to his mouth, and roared out over the water: "Do-you-hear-any-thing?" The roar went on for a long time out upon the long swe

he sea; and again the horn was heard, a long, hoarse sound that came rocking in

d, and she was already an hour behind time. The dangerous fog kept the suspense at high pressure; but as the time passed, the excitement gave place to a feeling of dull oppression. Fog is the seaman's worst enemy, and there were many unpleasant possibilities. On the best supposition the ship had gone inshore too far north or south, and now lay somewhere out at sea hooting and heaving the lead, without daring to move. One could imagine the captain storming and the sailors hurrying here and there, lithe and agile as cats. Stop!-Half-speed ahead! Stop!-Half-speed astern! The first engineer would be at

suspense-as cabin-boy, stoker, captain, cook-and felt something of it again now. Only

peasants made the sea-folk eye them with suppressed rage. The fat pilot had already had several altercations with them for being in his way; and when one of them laid himself open to c

" he said. "The captain ca

n inn on the way!" said the pilo

sea. His auditors laughed exultingly, and passed the mistake on to their neighbors, and people crowd

ce of a fine road! Telegraph-wires and ditches and a row of poplars on each side-just improved by the local board. You've just got to wipe the porridge off your mustache, kiss the old woman, and climb up on to the bridge, and there you are! Has the engine be

head a little. When the laughter had almost died away, he poi

is age! Whose father art thou, my bo

" he roared. "What do you mean by coming here and saying 'thou' to grown-up people and calling them 'boy'? And giving your opinions on navigation into the bargain! Eh! you lousy old money-grubber! No, if you ever take off your greasy night-

seem able to find us to-day," said the farmer with a gri

I'll give it something!" cried the pilot, blind w

e of a telephone, there came faintly from t

agged up the gangways with frantic speed. Carts that had hay in them, as if they were come to fetch cattle, began to move without having anywhere to drive to.

ar-off, tiny echo of a steam whistle whined somewhere a long way off. Men stole together into groups and stood motionless, lis

a always sends word of its evil doings; when the bread-winner is taken his family hear a s

n once more, and the steam-whistle in the distance. So it went on, a guiding line of sound being spun between the land and the indefinite gray out there, backward and forward. Here on terra firma one could distinctly feel how out there they were groping their way by the soun

nd it, in which hundreds of voices murmured thickly amidst shouting and clanging, and tramping of feet-a world that floated blindly in space close by. Then a shadow began to

er to work off the oppression. They seized the heads of the farmers' horses and pushed them back, c

asked a score o

swered the cap

ller churns up the water behind, hawsers fly through the air, and the steam winch starts

oden-soled boots. There are sheepskin caps, old military caps, disreputable old rusty hats, and the women's tidy black handkerchiefs. The faces are as different as old, wrinkled pigskin and young, ripening fruit; but want, and expectancy, and a certain animal greed are visible in all of them. The unfamiliarity of

f the vessel, or throw hatches and packages without warning at their feet. "Look out, you Swedish devil!" cries a sailor who has to open

ary little cowherd, and tailors in smart clothes, who keep far away from the rest. There are young men straighter and better built than any that the island produces, and poor old men more

are so cheap in Sweden. Now and then some girl with an inclination to plumpness has to put up with the officers' coarse witticisms. There, for instance, is Handsome Sara from Cimrishamn, whom everybody knows. Every autumn she goes home, and comes ag

ch one takes his man's measure-width of chest, modest manner, wretchedness; but they are afraid of the scarred and malicious faces, and leave them to the bailiff

and each time a cart drove off with some of their countrymen, the boy pulled impatiently at the hand of the old man, who answered by a reassuring word. The old man examined the farmers one by o

inting to a fat little farmer with apple-cheeks. "I should

had heard that they were to go together, he would not take them; the boy

Tommelilla in the Ystad d

uld not be separated for all the world; that was the difference. It was the year that the cow had been drowned in the marl-pit, and Bengta was preparing for her confinement. Things looked bad, but Lasse staked his al

fter eight years of suffering, this very spring. Then Lasse sold their bit of furniture, and made nearly a hundred krones on it; it went in paying the expenses of the long illness, and the house and land belonged to the landlord. A green chest, that had been part of Bengta's wedding outfit, was the only thing he kept. In it he packed their belongings and

or the laborers, but only for the cattle. And-why, if you liked you could drink gin like water, it was so cheap; but it was so strong that it knocked you down at the third pull. They made it from real grain, and not from diseased potatoes; and they drank it at every meal. And laddie would ne

selves, but had only heard the tales about it, the ideas produced were as fantastic as the frost-tracery upon the window-panes. Pelle was perfectly well aware that even the poorest boys there always wore their best clothes, and ate bread-and-dripping with sugar on it as often as they liked. There money lay like dirt by the roadside, and the Bornh

humble situation for himself and the boy. He could not understand it. Had the whole world changed since his time? He trembled to his very finger-tips when the last cart drove

y he thought best when he talked out loud to himself, but to-day al

r up his back. "It doesn't do to take the first thing that comes. Lasse's responsible for two, and he knows what

for them, were to him only a feeble expression for a great truth, namely, that the whole world would become theirs,

fine place to play in, but there were no boys! He wondered whether the boys were like those at home; he had seen none yet. Perhaps they had quite a different way of fightin

boy a piece of bread and telling him to stay and mind the sack, he went farther up and disapp

so much at once. My word! If you fell into that while it was boiling, it would be worse even than the brimstone pit in hell. And there lay some enormous fish-hooks, just like th

the bottom of them, if only he had not had the sack to drag about. His father had said he was to mind the sack, and he n

ated the ship-builders' big grind-stone, which was nearly as tall as a man. There were bent planks lying there, with nails in them as bi

aisingly upon it, now kicking it or scratching it with his penknife. If he came across some strange wond

e had had his playfellows from Tommelilla here, he would have explained it all to them. My word, how they would sta

er their horses, and imagined himself seizing hold of a ring and lifting himself, horse and all. He sat on horseback in the midst of his newly discovered world, glowing with the pride of con

aland the little

d pistol and rif

evils they playe

nd piano Old Ha

f out over the ridge of the roof in a menacing attitude. It was an old figure-head, but Pelle thought it was Old Harry himself, come to punish him for his bold song, and he set off at a run up the hill. A little way up he remembered the sack and stopped. He didn't care about

ous tests, and stood-as so many had stood before him-with the choice between sacrificing himself and sacrificing others. His love for his father, boyish pride, the sense of duty that is the social dower of the poor-the one thing with the other-dete

he reach of the black man, than his terror took a new form. What had become of his father? He had said he would be back again directly! Supposing he neve

nd have the little princes for his playmates, and his own little palace to live in. But Father Lasse shouldn't have a thing, for now Pelle was angry and vindictive, although he was crying just as unrestrainedly. He would let him stand and knock at the door and beg to come in for three days, and only when he beg

f a tavern at the top of the street came Father Lasse's own living

you afraid? Isn't your father's name Lasse-Lasse Karlsson from Kungstorp? And he's not one to quarrel with; he hits hard, he does, when he's provoked. To c

He tottered along in his big waterproof boots, the tabs of which stuck out at the side and bore an astonishing resemblance to Pelle's ears; out of the gaping pockets of his old winter coat protruded on one side his red pocket-handkerchief, on the other the bottle. He had become a little looser in his knee-joi

till standing there. He went round to the other side of his father, and tried to pul

bravest laddie I ever knew! I should almost think you might be sent out to fight a trussed chicken, if you had a stick in

o late for the steamer and had engaged no laborers. He stop

se, briskly. "We want to be at the sa

lle shuddered in admiration of his father

. "Then I suppose he's to be foreman?" h

l be some day," said L

nes for a year-although it'll be confounded hard for you to earn them from what I can see. There'll always be a c

sight of God and man,"

by him honestly. But climb up, if you know what's for your own good, f

a feeling that it was far too little. But, though he was not aware of it yet, the experiences of the morning had considera

't have salt herring and porridge three times a day. We must have a proper bedroom too-and be

ll be able to manage all that. You shall have roast pork stuffed with raisins an

thing and another, explained it all in full to the boy, taking a pull at the bottle between whiles; but the

he bottle to him cautiously. "But take care that

dram. "What's a Jute?

came one day when I wasn't at home, and unpacked all his fine wares-combs and pins with blue glass heads, and the finest head-kerchiefs. Women can't resist such trash; they're like what we others are when some one holds a brandy-bottle to our nose. Mother Bengta had no money, but that sly devil said he would give her the finest handkerchief if she would let him cut off

hands when they were cold. So they put raisins into roast pork in this country, did they? Money must be as common as dirt! There was none lying about in the road, and the houses and farms were not so very fine either.

and slept with his head upon the boy's

o as a matter of fact was not a Jute, but a Zeelander-happened to turn r

r in an instant. So this was their new home, the only place they had to stay in and expect anything of on this earth! And as he looked out over the big yard, where the dinner-bell was just sounding and

d to make as favorable a first impression as possible, and began to take off his cap to each one separately; and the boy stood beside him and did the same. They were rather like the clowns at a fair, and the men round the basement steps laughed aloud and bowed in i

Be off down to the others and get something to eat! You'll have p

s with despair in his heart, mourning inwardly for Tommelilla and Kungstorp. Pelle clung close t

persistent sound was louder, and they both