Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 1

spring moisture was gone from the air, and the warm haze of summer had not yet come. There was only light-light over the green field

ng of June-the first real s

ach, dark colors trembled like a hot, secret breath out into the light. Open windows and doors looked like

house to-day; it was a day

ections, and at the top a few inverted wheelbarrows. A couple of pigs lay half buried in the manure, asleep, and a busy flock of hens were eagerly

n stone paving. Outside the open coach-house door, a groom was examining

He wore his cap on the back of his head, and whistled softly while he cleaned the wheels outside and in, and sent stolen glances down to the wash-house, w

splashed some water on to one of his boots, and he looked up with an oath. She took this as an in

ou ought to have had, Gustav,"

e," he answered roughly. "Can you pat

mend for another to get

are plenty who'll mend for me withou

ly. "But I've got all the work in the place to do by

tobacco-juice out of his mouth in the direction of the wash-house windo

uld just like to see her! No, she's going down to the tailor's in the village, and there I suppose she'

. But the next moment she spied a face behind the curtains up in one of the windows, and hurried off with her pails. Gustav spat contemptuously between his teeth after her

It had gables on both sides, and a high basement, in which were the servants' hall, the maids' bedrooms, the wash-house, the mangling-room, and the large storerooms. On the gable looking on to the y

ily up at the high veiled windows, behind which an eye might secretly be kept upon all that went on below. It was, a little like passing a row of cannons' mouths-it made one a little unsteady

d, to the accompaniment of mischievous laughter and breathless exclamations. The yard-dog barked with delight and tumbled madly about on its chain in its desire to join in the game.

hisper. The other nodded and sat up quickly to see what would come of it. "Swear? You won't try and back out of it?" he said, lifting his hand adjuringly. His companion solemnly drew his finger across his throat, as if cutting it, and the oath was taken. The one who had lost the cap, hitched up his trousers and pulled himsel

on her head and a hymn-book in her hand. How pretty she was! And brave! She went along the whol

. They were all like so many mysteries, with trap-doors that led down to pitch-dark, underground beet and potato cellars, from which, of course, you could get by secret

eir power. If he had a moment's breathing-space, some one was sure to be after him. He had to fetch water for the laundry girls, to grease the pupil's boots and run to the villag

ore fun than any real game, when his father stood out in the yard and pumped, and the boy only had to guide the water from manger to manger.

and he could hear the continual munching of the cows, now and then interrupted by a snuff of contentment or the regular rattle of a chain up and dow

to find the rotten potatoes under the liquid. Here and there two pigs were fighting over the trough, and emitting piercing squeals. The calves put their slobbering noses out at the doors, gazing into the sunny air and lowing feelingly. One little fellow, after snuffing up air from the cow-stable in a peculiarly thorough way, turned up his lip in a

And all at once the whole flock would have an attack of giddy delight in the sunshine, and splash screaming fr

erment, overwhelmed by the wealth of possibilities. Would it be the best fun to sail upon the pond on two tail-boards laid one across the other? There was a manure-cart lying there now to be washed

wn over the sloping land and the sea. When he caught sight of Pelle, he nodded without changing his expression, and said: "Good day, my boy! How are you getting on

in his shoulder as if he had been knighted; and he still felt the stick there. An intoxicating warmth flowed from the place through his little body, sent the adventur

especially that part of it which had to do with the interior of his ears. But there was no kind mother to help; Lasse stood ready with a bucket of cold water, and some soft soap on a piece of broken pot, and the boy had to divest himself of his clothes. And a

"cow's lick," said to betoken good fortune; and his face, all screwed up as it turned towards the bright light, looked the oddest piece of topsy-turvydom, with not a single feature in its proper place. Pelle

s seated: she had difficulty in walking. But what a pair of eyes she had! Pelle hastily looked away when she turned her face down towards the yard. It was whispered among the men that she

if they were a large white sheet flapping in the sunshine; the reflection from their wings flashed over the dung-heap and made the pigs lift their heads wit

every time he passed the fence. Suddenly it occurred to him that he himself was everybody's dog, and had better hide himself; so he dropped down, crept into the kennel, and curled himself up on the straw with his head between his fore-paws. There he lay fo

histle from the big coach-house door. The farm pupil stood there beckoning him. Pelle, crestfallen, obeyed the call

imagination. Voices laughed and growled confusedly in his ears, and hands that seemed to him enormous pulled him about. Terror seized him, and with it came crazy, disconnected recollections of stories of robbery and murde

th him, and only wondered faintly what there was funny out ther

hich he flicked at the boy's naked body, crying in a tone of command: "Run!" Pelle, wild with terror and confusion, dashed into the yard, but there stood the maids, and at sight of him they screamed with laughter, and he turned to fly back into the coach-house. But he was met by the whip, and forced to return into the dayligh

t. On her freckled neck and arms were brown marks left by the cows' tails at the last milking, looking like a sort of clumsy tattooing.

ay. The pupil had thought his wisest course was to disappear; and when Lasse found no vent for his wrath, he fell into a fit of trembling and weeping, and became so really ill that t

t got off without being punished, and Lasse'll break that long limb of Sata

of climbing, went down the long passage between the stalls distributing the hay. He was cogitating over something, and Pelle could hear him talking to himself all the time. Wh

ty-handed. But you mustn't let any one see it, in case they didn't like it. Mother Bengta in her grave won't be offended;

, both in his own and in the boy's mind. It could not be denied that she had generally been a little difficult in a case of this kind, having been particularly jealous; and she might take it into her head to haunt t

n at the stone-quarry. The master and mistress were out too; the farmer had ordered the carriage directly after dinner and

all the time he was chattering happily, but not quite so loudly as usual, to his father. The morning's experience was still fresh in his mind, and had a subduing effect; it was as if he had performed some great deed, and was now nervous about it. T

e his father sat. "What are you

hammer,

im quite dead, a

ll to the pupil. "Y

ead the names

neither Lasse nor Pelle could read. The bailiff had, indeed, gone through the names with them once, but it was impossible to remember half a hundred names after hearing them once-even for the boy,

ntent ourselves with thrashing

r a little while, and then

es can thrash all the peo

houghtful. "Ye-es-ye

much bigger than the

e corner of Ystad district lay Tommelilla, and his holding that he had once thought so big with its five acres of land, was a tiny little piece of Tommelilla! Ah, yes, Sweden was big-not

'm a soldier that's h

ouldn't do that, for God doesn't like things like that. Yo

thought it better to leave off. He stationed himself at the stable-door, whistling, but suddenly cam

f him; fine gentlemen scamps like that can't stand a licking. The

disappointed. "But su

t at arm's length dangling in the air until he begs for mercy; and then I shall put him

him high up in the air; and then he'll scream and think he

wn, and that would be murder and penal servitude for life, that would! No, I'll ju

ust call him a spind

iff calls him when h

ut I'll speak so seriously with him that h

rward to it immensely while he hobbled along with the boot-jack. He was not using it as a wooden leg now, for fear of tempting Providence; but he held it under his arm like a crutch, support

of a grown man. At first sight it appeared to be bald all over; but when the boy moved in the sun, his bare head shone as if covered with silver scales. It was covered with fine, whitish hair, which was thinly and fairly evenly distri

d tried to expectorate between his front teeth as Gustav was in the habit of doing. The attemp

d unmanageable. He was staring enviously at Pelle's trouser

consequentially. "And h

y everybody, because

toward the

le, incredulously. "Why don't

rd-child; mother

, stealing a glance at his fathe

nd then she beats me, but

he stable, as a big, fat woman appeared in the doorway, and looked angrily round in the d

y wouldn't need to wear herself out thrashing a misbegotten imp like you! You'll go to the devil anyhow, so don't worr

ust be schoolmaster Johan Pihl's Johanna from Tommel

a, who had twins out of an old wooden shoe the year before

ho you are!" said the old man in an o

he way you question. Do you know

ng to show Pelle how things go? The bailiff spoke of some

at we can see you properly, you calf! Oh, the boy's g

sse, who was ashamed to confess

hment's half what he lives on. Then I'll send him up here first thing to-morrow morni

bear to see him, I s

jealous about! But I might have been a farmer's wife at this moment and had a nice husband too, if that high and mighty peacock up there h

Lasse. "For you were as pretty a gi

'home'," she sai

e well pretend to be a stranger, even if I have held you upon my knee more than once w

turning to him a face that was

nna over there,' she said, 'give her my love. Things have gone terribly badly with her, from what I've heard; but give her my love, all the same. Johanna child, little child! She was nearest her mother's hea

bs seemed to tear her to pieces. No tears came, but her agony was like the throes of child-birth. "Little mot

p through that window for-a child of sixteen and in the middle of the night? You can hardly wonder that they forgot themselves a little

ly one I've ever cared for. And I was so stupid that I t

d so to your parents. But that you cou

one another. No, I didn't even think that then. I only crept in to him, without thinking about it

t it's terribly sad to think how things have

y helplessly, and Lasse w

that you'd thrown yourself at any one in that way, and a poor farm-servant into the bargain, cut him to the quick. It's true enough that he mixed with us poor folks as if we'd been his equals, bu

now sat with tear-stained, quive

d to take hold of me. And then the others came running in and found me there. They laughed and said that I'd screamed because I'd lost my innocence; and I could see that my parents

added to their sorr

ve if he wasn't fond of me. So he went about boasting that I'd run away from home for his sake, and the other thing that was a lie; so they all thought they could do what they liked with me. Kongstrup was just married then, bu

aimed Lasse. "I had my doubts about him

couldn't stay there any longer, and disappeared, and then we heard that he was in Nordland, playing Hell among the rocks at Blaaholt. He helped himself to whatever he wanted at the nearest place he could find it, and knocked people down for nothing at all. And one day they sai

road daylight. He killed one man with a hammer, and when they caught him, he'd made a long gash on his neck from the back right up to his eye. The other man had done that, he said; he'd only defende

oing home. I'd heard what a wretched state he was in. They said he

last," said Lasse,

't get his way, he drove me away at last. I'd set my mind on his b

ch a ruffian! And you may be glad your mother didn't get to

k after themselves," she said in a hard voice. "I've had

. "I shouldn't care

pened to you

ing Knut going about loose; he made too much disturbance. So they had a hunt for him up on the heath. They didn't catch him, but he must have come back to the quarry to hide himself, for one day when they were blasting there, his body came out among the bits of rock, all smashed up. They drove the pieces down

strup wanted to send me away when I told him about it; but that I would not have. I meant to stay and have my child born here on the farm to which it belonged. He didn't care a bit about me any longer, the mistress looked at me with her evil eyes every day, and there was no one that was kind to me. I wasn't so hard then as I am now, and it was all I could do to keep from crying always. I became hard then. When anything was the matter, I clenched my teeth so tha

n the farm here in the b

s son, and then there are friends that come to me, now one and now another, and bring a little with them-w

human being too, but I won't go to one who's

hen?" she asked, giv

mother asked me to give you as a keepsake. It was lucky I happened to remember it." And he handed her a packet, and looked on happily while she open

t to me?" asked Johanna

s never known but that you've kept the faith you h

for me?" she asked, push

, his voice trembling; a

to have the

remember. Where you should have been, strangers have filled the daughter's place; and I suppose those who've

t what's left. And mother- well, if she's lived without my help, I suppose she can die without it too. We

ables to look for her son. It was on his lips to ask whether she would not take the hymn-book with her, but he refrained. She

*

man's room. Most of the space was occupied by a wide legless bedstead made of rough boards knocked together, with nothing but the stone floor to rest on. Upon a deep lay

s-balls of cotton, scraps of stuff, and such-like, that were to be used to keep his own and the boy's clothes in order; but to him each thing was a relic to be handled with care, and his heart bled every time one of them came to an end. With each article he laid down, he slowly repeated what Bengta had said it was for when she lay dying and was trying

herself, cheap finery that all had its happy memory of fai

nd that was so pleasant to doze off in. He lay looking out sleepily at the bri

table open, and steps upon the long foddering-passage.

n't do anything to boys with fathers who could hold a man out at arm's length and

voice from the e

ullenly, stirred unea

er a little, impatiently

se slowly, risi

u're called, you old Swed

trembling voice. "But Mr. Pupil oughtn't to-I'm

got to answer when you're called, or else I'll get th

upil must excuse me

mber that Aspasia's not to

going to

id you think she w

ht Pelle, and sat listening intently; but he only heard his father make another excuse, close the half-do

from the boy's head. But Pelle buried his face in the clothes, and when his father turned it up towa

l very well for you to cry! But when you don't know wher

" sobbed the boy. "She's th

fool of him. He can't be angry any more, and there's no strength in his fist, so what's the good of clenching it! He has to put up with everything, and let himself be hustled about-and say thank you into the bargain-that's how it is with old Lasse. But you must

they quieted him nevertheless, and he soon fell

had been a poor Sunday, and now he would go and see if any of the men were at home and had visitors, for then there would be spirits going round.

to give up all thoughts of a dram, and went across to the basement to see if there was any gaiety going among the maids. He was no

and other sad things in plaintive tones. Lasse at once felt a desire to join them, for the subject found an echo in his being like the tones of a well-known song, and he could join in the refrain with the experience

nch asleep with his cap over his face. He had put his feet up on Karna's lap, without so much

Karna was unapproachable; those dirty feet had quite turned her head. And either Lasse had forgotten how

rtable time, we two elderly

nd boasting of his seventeen years! Lasse had a good mind to go for him then and there and chance yet one more trial of st

itterly to Karna. "But you can't get rid of your years, all the s

and death, as if nothing else existed in the world. Lasse nodded and said: "Yes, yes, that's true." He could heartily endorse it all

og as soon as he lay down, but to-day was Sunday, and he was tormented with the thought that life had passed him by. H

g the words with a little variation until he fell asleep: "He's old

by singing and shoutin

the boy y

lack and c

o longe

er, no

tall strap

entertainment. When they turned into the farm road they became silent.