Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 1

etically. Lasse stood still in the doorway, yawning, and making up his mind about the weather for the day; but Pelle let the soft tones of the wind and the song of the lark-all that

midday," Lasse would then say; and Pelle peered into the sky to find

oor under the cows and sweeping it up, Lasse filling the wheelbarrow and wheeling

s round his neck. His father had made him a short, thick stick with rings on it, that he could rattle admonis

, and the big bullocks did not trouble to move when once they had their noses buried in the corn and he stood belaboring them with the short handle of the cattle- whip. The twelve-foot lash, which, in a practised hand, left little triangular marks in the animal's hide, he could not manage at all; and if he kicked the bullock on the head with his wooden shoe,

, and after that his kick was respected. Partly by himself, and partly through Rud, he also learned where to find the places on the animals where it hurt most. The

e were quietly grazing, he felt like a general, and made his voice sound out incess

ned to his father, that the great bull had tossed him or something else; and he would leave everything, and start running homeward crying, but would remember in time the bailiff's whip, and

er with his knife and made diligent use of it. He would also stand for hours on the top of a monolith-he thought it was a gat

f one of the big bullocks, and hold on to the points of its horns; and while the animal lay chewing with a gentle vibration li

ring the animals together a certain number of times for every portion of food. The two boys could not exist apart for a whole day together. They tumbled about in the field like two puppies, fought and m

on this meadow-land, but it was hard work minding both sides of it, as the brook ran between; and it had been impressed upon the boy with severe threats, that no animal must set its foot upon the dune-land, as the smallest opening might cause a sand-drift. Pelle took the matter quite literally, and all that summer imagine

bailiff, who, they were sure, always stood up in the attic of the big house, and watched Pelle throu

up. The boys thought it was milk from an enormous farm far up in the island. At high water the sea ran up and filled the b

tention of the various parts. Upon this head Rud's knowledge was superior, and he took the part of instructor. They often quarrelled as to which of

was angular and covered with scars, the results of innumerable falls. He had not full command of all his limbs, and was always knocking and bruising himself; there were blue, livid patches all over him that were slow to disappear, for he had fle

cipating what Pelle only learned by experience. He was already avaricious to a certain extent, and suspicious without connecting

remacy, and for the present Pelle was the one who came off second best. In an emergency

ite inseparable. Pelle was always looking toward "the Sow's" cottage when

*

drawing away over the sea, and the boats lay in the middle of it with all their red sails set, and yet motionless. The sun

ing the cud. The animal was steaming, but Pelle could not bring warmth into his extre

der the bullock and was beginning to get a little warmer, the cow strayed away over the northern boundary. There was

were two regular termagants, upon which even thrashing made no impression. The one was a savage beast, that would suddenly begin stamping and bellowing like a mad bull in the middle of grazing, and, if Pelle went toward it

tention, it set off at a run up toward the farm, and Pelle had to make a wide circle to turn it down to the herd again. Then it ran at full gallop in and out among the other animals, the herd became confused and ran hither and thither, and Pelle had to relinquish his pursuit for a time while he g

om the rye, and set off at a flying pace down toward the others, while blows rained down upon its bony prominences. Every stroke echoed back from the dunes like blows upon the trunk of a tree, and made Pelle swell with pride. The cow tried to shake Pelle off as it ran, but he was not to be g

! But it was a strange man with a beard who stood over him, looking at him with serious eyes. The stranger went on gazing at him for a long time without saying anything,

ailiff will say?" asked

n it," whispered Pelle,

e to stop the evil in you while there's still time. Wouldn't you li

e grass and wishing he

im to his clothes, and then, going across to the north side, he gathered the herd together while Pelle dressed himself. The wicked cow was over there again already, and had drawn a few of the others after it. Pelle watched t

o what we have to do with just our hands? God will always help you when you're in difficulties. And if you want to be a true child of God, you must tell the bailiff this even

some time before he chased a cow like that again. But go to the bailiff, and tell of himself, and get the whip-lash on his bare legs? Not if he knew

ce. He silently tested things, and saw everything in a new light; it was best not to make a noise, if you were always walki

they seated themselves astride the bullock Cupid, which was lying chewing the cud. It went on calmly chewing with closed eyes, until Rud put the glowing cane to the root of its tail, when it rose hastily, both boys rolling over its head. They laughed

y down and examined them carefully. "Here's one that h

ng his nose to the hole. "And the blades of gr

o work eagerly to dig with two pieces of pot. The so

w fast we're

ot twenty-five ores a day more than other autumn farm-hands, and hi

right into the in

t's burning

?" Pelle paused doub

schoolmast

nsidered a little, and then went on scraping out the hole as carefully as if their lives depended on it. In a little while straw appeared in the passage, and in a moment the intern

hold of them, but was ashamed not to do so. "They're much

ng them betwee

t any teeth! There are no bones in them at a

!" Pelle spat

iting one; would you?" Rud lifted

I'm not afraid-bu

aid, because yo

eized one of the little mice, and held it up to his mouth, at exactly the same distance fro

alking, with

open, and held his hand close to his mouth; Pelle was under his influence, and imitated his movements-"and then-" Pelle received a blow that sent the little mouse halfway down his throat. He retched and spat; and then his hands fu

egotiations. He dropped the stone to show his serious wish for a reconciliation, and had

ay of diversion; "but you held on to it like an idiot." He did not ven

m. If Rud, now that the whole thing was over, said that he only wanted to have shown him something funny, it must be true. But then why was

," he said stoutly. "For if I wante

atch big mice." he sai

nk of the stream. Here they pushed in the mouth of the bottle, and widened the hole in the meadow into a funnel; and they took it in turns to keep an ey

tame it and train it to draw their little agricultural implem

head foremost, like a ship being launched. They could follow it as it curved under the water until it came up slantingly, and stood bobbing up and down on the

s unsuccessful leaps, lay down again and rolled about in

ut the cork!"

quickly in, and was going t

and holding his hand over the mouth, put it back, into the wa

made the bottle rock, so that the second leap was slanting and rebounded sideways. But then followed with lightning rapidity

in the grass, with his arms at his sides. "It could just squeeze its bod

it away from the shore with a good kick. It swam helplessly backward and forward in the middle of the pool, seeing one of the two dancing figures every time it approached a bank, and turning and turning endlessly. It sank d

th a little scream, and ran, crying loudly, up the meadow toward the fir-plantation. In a little while he came back again. "I really thought Cupid had r

bout some people who were drowned in a lake at home, and who came to themselves again when cannons were fired over them

then they lay on their faces and lowered the coffin into the grave with twine, taking every possible care that it should not land upon its head. A rope might give way; such things did sometimes happen, and the illusion did not pe

upon the lid, and began to eat their own hands-until Pelle could distinctly hear a knocking on the lid below. They had the coffin up in a trice, and examined the mouse. It had not eaten its forepaws, at any rate, but it had most decidedl

id Pelle, gravely a

ad as a herring." Rud had put h

with God in all His glo

. "Oh, you silly! Do you t

wl, I should like to

ugh the air. Only

ten off the field and

he declared emphatically. There was still a littl

tempts to hit one another on the nose with their clenched fists. They turned over and over like one lump, now one uppermost, now the other; they hissed hoarsely, groaned and made tremendous exertions. "I'll make you sneeze red,

ue, Pelle went a step further and began to laugh, and they were once more the best of friends. They set up the memorial stone, whi

had acquired for him an importance of its own, and he must understand it,

me yourself that she wa

hat if s

couldn't crawl

! It's her spi

spirit can very we

or mice haven't

an breathe?" [Footnote: In Danish, s

is fists would have come in handy again now, but his instinct told him that sooner or l

d breathe. Well, then, it was its spirit flying

near the cottage they could see the figu

The two boys never called her anyth

r part of the contents of the dinner-basket with hi

him, he could not imagine what had become of the day. The birds had ceased singing,

carts and thrashed away at the horses with the end of the reins, and the swaying loads were hurried along the fi

ot. It was the farmer; he was driving so fast that he was evidently off to the town on the spr

lf-past five. He could tell that too by the birds beginning their pleasan

hen into the air, and burst in a fountain of pieces of rock. Long after came the explosion, bit by bit in a series o

was tired, and the tranquillity of evening had the effect of subduing his voice. But now they were driving out for milking up th

l over at the neighboring farms, fi

home, o-h

o,

o,

ve home

ho

the first glow of evening; and Pelle's animals began to move farther after each pause to graze. But he did not

lf, and stepped on one side. The animals ran with a peculiar little trot and heads extended. The shadow of the grass lay in long thin stripes across the ground

s home for the night, and now poured them forth in one great longing, from west to east. Everyt

a longing that was almost a pain. And when at last he turned the corner with the herd, and saw old Lasse standing there, smiling ha

d thing! They'd better take care, for happy children are in God's own keeping. And Lasse would be an awkward customer if it came to that. So you were longing for me, were you? Then it's good to be i