Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 1

as invincible. And he had the child's abundant capacity for forgiving; had he not he would have

childish imagination had built, unchecked, upon all that h

in passing. His world was supersensual like that of the fakir; in the course of a few minutes a little seed could shoot up and grow into a huge tree

ce the richer in some way or other; and no danger could ever become overwhelmin

boy's eyes it crumbled away from day to day. Unwilling though he was, Pelle had to let go his providence, and seek the means of protection in himself. It was rather early, but he looked at circumstances in his own way. Distrust he ha

le. Most people only beat until the tears came, but the bailiff could not endure a blubberer, so with him the thing was to set your teeth and make yourself hard. People said you shoul

ed, but with bigger boys it was better to have right on his side, as, for instance, when his father was attacked. Then God

way. Lasse felt it to be so. "We've each got hold of an end," he sometimes said to hi

e. The men would sometimes give him things, and the girls were thoroughly kind to him. He was in the

asse would say. "He's got that from his

were being played, or demonstrations made. "Call Lasse Karlsson!" He had no need to push himself forward; it was a matter of course that he was there. The girls were alw

ey had a holiday, without their doing anything in exchange! "Lasse! Where's Lasse? Can you feed

was left of it from his body. The hardest blow of all was when he discovered that he was of no importance to the girls, had no place at all in their thoughts of men. In Lasse's world there was no word that carried such weight as the word "man"; an

g despairingly to his position as his providence. There was little he could do for him, and therefore he talked all the bigger; and when anything went against the boy, he uttered still gr

ield him, he was like a small plant that has been moved out into the open, and is fighting hard to comprehend the nature of its surroundings, and adapt itself to them. For every root-fibre that felt its way into th

for instance, were not kind to the animals. They often lashed the horses only as a vent for their ill-humor, and the girls were just the same to the smaller animals and the dairy-cow

e exercised his small mind as he exercised his body, twisted himself into everything and out of everything, imitated work and fun and shirking, and learned how to puff himself up into a very d

he first time he had to set about a thing in earnest, he was gen

*

th the broiling sun, with the pollen from the rye drifting over them like smoke. Up above the clover-field stood the cows of Stone Farm in long rows, their heads hanging heavily down, and their tails swinging regularly. Lasse was moving between their ranks, looking for the mallet, and

But then the sound of voices came from among the young firs on the dunes, a naked boy appeared, and then another. Their bodies we

ies. As the insects one by one crawled out at the narrow opening, the boys decapitated them and laid them in a row on the grass. Th

er where he had been bitten by a mosquito. It was said that

went on meekly. "It must be a lie, for anything l

would no

sell them for you. They cost thirty-five ores, for Karl say

not part with that for all the world-but to assur

e stream, pushed something in under it, and jumped into the water; and when Pelle c

ran, as if he had no joints, swayed from side to side like a balloon, pranced and stamped on the ground, and then darted on again. Then th

eat played over the ground, flickering, gasping, like a fish in water. There was

shaded her eyes with her hand and looked about. She crossed the meadow obliquely, found Pelle's dinner-basket, took out i

ojected just below the line of the hair, was a mass of bruises and scars, which became very visible now with his exertions. Both the boys had marks all over their bodies from the poison of the pine-needles. Pelle dropped on to

oney. It made his fingers itch, his whole body; it was always urging him on to spend it, now in one way and now in another. Roll, roll! That was what it was longing to do; and it was because it was round, Father Lasse said. B

k of the stream and w

pire awe, and bragged t

ckward and moved his e

g position like a hor

inte

have ten krones when I grow up." Rud collected money-he was avaricious a

ecause you'll never grow up; you're a dwarf!

myself for money at the fairs and on Midsummer Eve

ad never heard of any one doing such a thing. And perhaps some day, when Rud had become enorm

wait until we've had our dinner anyhow," he said, and went over to t

re," said Rud, put

ed. "She i

ef," s

d see it when you bent down and looked between your legs,

he said suddenly. "If I may have it

re body?" a

no

e pulled them up with the assistance of a dock-leak, as many as he could hold, and ca

, but when Rud had received ten, he

iration already stood in beads down his slender back, for he had worked with a will. "Will you or won't you? Seventy-five strok

rd! And I must have the mone

Pelle gloomily. But

w the coin at Rud, and grumbling, pushed him down. He wept inwardly because he had le

here was no point in his crying, for the coin he held in his hand took away the pain. But about Pelle's body the air burnt like fire, his arms began to give way with fatigue, and his inclination diminished with every stroke. It was toil, nothing but hard toil. And the money-the beautif

ieving over his loss, while Rud lay under the bank of