Growth of the Soil

he came. Afterward, some beast or other, following the faint tracks over marsh and moorland, wearing them deeper; after these again some Lapp gained scent of the path

hide; or a philosopher, maybe, in search of peace. This or that, he comes; the figure of a man in this great solitude. He trudges on; bird and beast are silent all about him; now and again he utters a word or two; speaking to himself. "Eyah-well, well...."-so he speaks to himself. Here and there, where the moors

water from the stream, and on again. This day too he journeys, for there are many kindly spots in the woods to be explored. What is he seeking? A place, a patch of ground?

of this, and twilight is falling, but his ear catches the faint purl of running water, and it heartens him like the voice of a

feet with an angry hiss, and he nods again: feathered game and fur-a good spot this. Heather, bilberry, and cloudberry cover the ground; there are tiny ferns, and the seven-pointed star flowers of the winter-green. Here and there he stops to dig with an iron tool, and finds good mould, or peaty soil, manured with the rotted wood and fall

when he had gathered a heavy load, carried it all the miles back to the village, to be sold for building. Then back to the hillside, with new sacks of food and implements; flour and pork, a cooking-pot, a spade-out and back along the way he had come, carry

his goats as if they had been horned cattle, and tended them kindly. Then came the first stranger passing

to live her

said t

s your

of a woman body anyw

ay a word of it

e creatures here, and

igging a field, shifting stones, making a wall of stones. By the autumn he had built a house for himself, a hut of turf, sound and strong and warm; storms could not shake it, and nothing could burn it down. Here was a home; he could go inside and shut the door, and s

both hands on their long staves, taking stock of the hut and the

s fine folk come to live." Lapps t

reabouts to help?" says Isak, t

No. But we'll sa

house and a bit of ground here, and

but all afraid to offer, whatever might be in their minds. Isak couldn't tell why. Couldn't tell why? Who would go as help to live with a man in the wilds, ever so many miles away-a whole day's journey t

ld have to m

in was strong and little used; he trained it up to ever more and more. His first way was to let the goats loose before starting off himself, so that they could get a full feed among the undergrowth in the woods. But he found another plan. He took a bucket, a great vessel, and hung it up by

was h

he first snow, then rain, then snow again, snowing all the time. And his machine went wrong; the bucket was filled from above, opening the trap too soo

as their master-le

ade a window in the hut with two panes of real glass, and that was a bright and wonderful day in his life. No need of lig

trees, the solitude and the wide-spreading snow, the might of earth and over earth filled him many times a day with a deep earnestness. He

oats had each had twins, making seven in all about the place. He made a bigger shed for them, ready for furt

ning before she could bring herself to come down. And then she came-a big, brown-eyed girl, full-built and coarse, with good, heavy hands, and rough hide b

ar; but she gave him gr

e hills, and took thi

her meaning, for she spoke in a slovenly

, "'tis a long

ys the man. "Cross

es

what

y peopl

r people there? An

And what

sa

ou live here yo

e, such

so bad," said sh

him then she'd come for that very business and no other; had started out two d

t and rest your

o drink; then they made coffee, that she had brought with her in a bladder. Settled down comfort

he place; milked the goats, and scoured pots and things with fine sand, and got t

t her mouth was disfigured, she would hardly have come to him at all; he might well be grateful for that she was marked with a hare-lip. And as to that, he himself was no beauty. Isak with the iron beard and rugged b

and came home again, there was Inger at the

spised; it must come from some big water up in the hills. He got himself some fishing gear and went exploring; in the evening he came back with a basket of trout and char. This was a great thing to Inger, and a marvel; she was overwhelmed, being no way used to fine

gger; a wonder and a marvel how their stock was grown. And Inger brought more; clothes, and little trifles of her own, a looking-glass and a string of pretty glass beads, a spinning-wheel, and carding-combs. Why, if she went on that gait the hut would soon be filled from floor to roof and no room for more! Isak

ong all such stuff," said h

t. And there's uncle Sivert bes

man, and district

self, and overdid it. "What I was going to say; you've no need to bothe

ax and went of

e crash that he was felling big timber. She listened for a while, and then

e and innocent Isak, he made all the noise he could with his tree-trunk, and

no answer; wouldn't have said a word for anything. To do a little more than was work for a man single-handed w

ed carelessly, as if scarc

It was as if she had done almost as much as he; and that was not to his lik

ven't you

aid he

nly with no noise nor sign of being out of breath; h

a mass of timber, and