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diff --git a/26348.txt b/26348.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d812cc --- /dev/null +++ b/26348.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4152 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lisbeth Longfrock, by Hans Aanrud + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lisbeth Longfrock + +Author: Hans Aanrud + +Illustrator: Othar Holmboe + +Translator: Laura E. Poulsson + +Release Date: August 18, 2008 [EBook #26348] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LISBETH LONGFROCK *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: LISBETH LONGFROCK] + + + + +LISBETH LONGFROCK + +TRANSLATED FROM THE NORWEGIAN OF HANS AANRUD + + + +BY + +LAURA E. POULSSON + + + +ILLUSTRATED BY + +OTHAR HOLMBOE + + + +GINN AND COMPANY +BOSTON . NEW YORK . CHICAGO . LONDON +ATLANTA . DALLAS . COLUMBUS . SAN FRANCISCO + +COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY +LAURA E. POULSSON + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA + +The Athenaeum Press +GINN AND COMPANY . PROPRIETORS . +BOSTON . U.S.A. + + + + +PREFACE + + +Hans Aanrud's short stories are considered by his own countrymen as +belonging to the most original and artistically finished life pictures +that have been produced by the younger _literati_ of Norway. They +are generally concerned with peasant character, and present in true +balance the coarse and fine in peasant nature. The style of speech is +occasionally over-concrete for sophisticated ears, but it is not +unwholesome. Of weak or cloying sweetness--so abhorrent to Norwegian +taste--there is never a trace. + +_Sidsel Sidsaerk_ was dedicated to the author's daughter on her eighth +birthday, and is doubtless largely reminiscent of Aanrud's own +childhood. If I have been able to give a rendering at all worthy of the +original, readers of _Lisbeth Longfrock_ will find that the whole story +breathes a spirit of unaffected poetry not inconsistent with the common +life which it depicts. This fine blending of the poetic and commonplace +is another characteristic of Aanrud's writings. + +While translating the book I was living in the region where the scenes +of the story are laid, and had the benefit of local knowledge +concerning terms used, customs referred to, etc. No pains were spared +in verifying particulars, especially through elderly people on the +farms, who could best explain the old-fashioned terms and who had a +clear remembrance of obsolescent details of saeter life. For this +welcome help and for elucidations through other friends I wish here to +offer my hearty thanks. + +Being desirous of having the conditions of Norwegian farm life made as +clear as possible to young English and American readers, I felt that +several illustrations were necessary and that it would be well for +these to be the work of a Norwegian. To understand how the sun can be +already high in the heavens when it rises, and how, when it sets, the +shadow of the western mountain can creep as quickly as it does from the +bottom of the valley up the opposite slope, one must have some +conception of the narrowness of Norwegian valleys, with steep mountain +ridges on either side. I felt also that readers would be interested in +pictures showing how the dooryard of a well-to-do Norwegian farm looks, +how the open fireplace of the roomy kitchen differs from our +fireplaces, how tall and slender a Norwegian stove is, built with +alternating spaces and heat boxes, several stories high, and how +Crookhorn and the billy goat appeared when about to begin their grand +tussle up at Hoel Saeter. + +_Sidsel Sidsaerk_ has given much pleasure to old and young. I hope that +_Lisbeth Longfrock_ may have the same good fortune. + +LAURA E. POULSSON + +HOPKINTON, MASSACHUSETTS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. LISBETH LONGFROCK GOES TO HOEL FARM 1 + + II. LISBETH LONGFROCK AS SPINNING WOMAN 12 + + III. LEAVING PEEROUT CASTLE 22 + + IV. SPRING: LETTING THE ANIMALS OUT TO PASTURE 33 + + V. SUMMER: TAKING THE ANIMALS UP TO THE SAETER 52 + + VI. THE TAMING OF CROOKHORN 68 + + VII. HOME FROM THE SAETER 84 + +VIII. ON GLORY PEAK 98 + + IX. THE VISIT TO PEEROUT CASTLE 113 + + X. SUNDAY AT THE SAETER 129 + + XI. LISBETH APPOINTED HEAD MILKMAID 139 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +LISBETH LONGFROCK _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + +HOEL FARM 4 + +THE BIG KITCHEN AT HOEL FARM 12 + +LISBETH'S ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS 34 + +THE VALLEY AND THE FARMS 52 + +UP AT THE SAETER 68 + + + + +LISBETH LONGFROCK + + + + +CHAPTER I + +LISBETH LONGFROCK GOES TO HOEL FARM + + +Bearhunter, the big, shaggy old dog at Hoel Farm, sat on the stone step +in front of the house, looking soberly around the spacious dooryard. + +It was a clear, cold winter's day toward the beginning of spring, and +the sun shone brightly over the glittering snow. In spite of the bright +sunshine, however, Bearhunter would have liked to be indoors much +better than out, if his sense of responsibility had permitted; for his +paws ached with the cold, and he had to keep holding them up one after +another from the stone slab to keep from getting the "claw ache." +Bearhunter did not wish to risk that, because "claw ache" is very +painful, as every northern dog knows. + +But to leave his post as watchman was not to be thought of just now, +for the pigs and the goats were out to-day. At this moment they were +busy with their separate affairs and behaving very well,--the pigs over +on the sunny side of the dooryard scratching themselves against the +corner of the cow house, and the goats gnawing bark from the big heap +of pine branches that had been laid near the sheep barn for their +special use. They looked as if they thought of nothing but their +scratching and gnawing; but Bearhunter knew well, from previous +experience, that no sooner would he go into the house than both pigs +and goats would come rushing over to the doorway and do all the +mischief they could. That big goat, Crookhorn,--the new one who had +come to the farm last autumn and whom Bearhunter had not yet brought +under discipline,--had already strayed in a roundabout way to the very +corner of the farmhouse, and was looking at Bearhunter in a +self-important manner, as if she did not fear him in the least. She was +really an intolerable creature, that goat Crookhorn! But just let her +dare--! + +Bearhunter felt that he must sit on the cold doorstep for some time +longer, at any rate. He glanced up the road occasionally as if to see +whether any one was coming, so that the pigs and goats might not think +they had the whole of his attention. + +He had just turned his head leisurely toward the narrow road that came +down crosswise over the slope from the Upper Farms, when--what in the +world was that! + +Something _was_ coming,--a funny little roly-poly something. What a +pity, thought Bearhunter, that his sight was growing so poor! At any +rate, he had better give the people in the house warning. + +So he gave several deep, echoing barks. The goats sprang together in a +clump and raised their ears; the pigs stopped in the very midst of +their scratching to listen. That Bearhunter was held in great respect +could easily be seen. + +He still remained sitting on the doorstep, staring up the road. Never +in his life had he seen such a thing as that now approaching. Perhaps, +after all, it was nothing worth giving warning about. He would take a +turn up the road and look at it a little nearer. So, arching his bushy +tail into a handsome curve and putting on his most good-humored +expression, he sauntered off. + +Yes, it must be a human being, although you would not think so. It +began to look very much like "Katrine the Finn," as they called her, +who came to the farm every winter; but it could not be Katrine--it was +altogether too little. It wore a long, wide skirt, and from under the +skirt protruded the tips of two big shoes covered with gray woolen +stocking feet from which the legs had been cut off. Above the skirt +there was a round bundle of clothes with a knitted shawl tied around +it, and from this protruded two stumps with red mittens on. Perched on +the top of all was a smaller shape, muffled up in a smaller knitted +shawl,--that, of course, must be the head. Carried at the back was a +huge bundle tied up in a dark cloth, and in front hung a pretty wooden +pail, painted red. + +Really, Bearhunter had to stand still and gaze. The strange figure, in +the meantime, had become aware of him, and it also came to a +standstill, as if in a dilemma. At that, Bearhunter walked over to the +farther side of the road and took his station there, trying to look +indifferent, for he did not wish to cause any fright. The strange +figure then made its way carefully forward again, drawing gradually +closer and closer to its own side of the road. As it came nearer to +Bearhunter the figure turned itself around by degrees, until, when +directly opposite to him, it walked along quite sidewise. + +Then it was that Bearhunter got a peep through a little opening in the +upper shawl; and there he saw the tip of a tiny, turned-up red nose, +then a red mouth that was drawn down a little at the corners as if +ready for crying, and then a pair of big blue eyes that were fastened +upon him with a look of terror. + +[Illustration: HOEL FARM] + +Pooh! it was nothing, after all, but a little girl, well bundled up +against the cold. Bearhunter did not know her--but wait a bit! he +thought he had seen that pail before. At any rate it would be absurd to +try to frighten this queer little creature. + +His tail began to wag involuntarily as he walked across the road to +take a sniff at the pail. + +The little girl did not understand his action at once. Stepping back in +alarm, she caught her heels in her long frock and down she tumbled by +the side of the road. Bearhunter darted off instantly; but after +running a short distance toward the house he stopped and looked at her +again, making his eyes as gentle as he could and wagging his tail +energetically. With Bearhunter that wagging of the tail meant hearty, +good-natured laughter. + +Then the little girl understood. She got up, smiled, and jogged slowly +after him. Bearhunter trotted leisurely ahead, looking back at her from +time to time. He knew now that she had an errand at Hoel Farm, and that +he was therefore in duty bound to help her. + +Thus it was that Lisbeth Longfrock of Peerout Castle made her entrance +into Hoel Farm. + + * * * * * + +Peerout Castle was perched high above the Upper Farms, on a crag that +jutted out from a barren ridge just under a mountain peak called "The +Big Hammer." The real name of the little farm was New Ridge,[1] and +"Peerout Castle" was only a nickname given to it by a joker because +there was so fine an outlook from it and because it bore no resemblance +whatever to a castle. The royal lands belonging to this castle +consisted of a little plot of cultivated soil, a bit of meadow land +here and there, and some heather patches where tiny blueberry bushes +and small mountain-cranberry plants grew luxuriantly. The castle's +outbuildings were a shabby cow house and a pigsty. The cow house was +built against the steep hillside, with three walls of loosely built +stone, and its two stalls were dug half their length into the hill. The +tiny pigsty was built in the same fashion. + + [1] It is customary in Norway for each farm, however small, to + have a name. + +As for the castle itself, that was a very, very small, turf-roofed +cabin lying out on the jutting crag in the middle of the rocky ridge. +It had only one small window, with tiny panes of glass, that looked out +over the valley. And yet, in whatever part of the surrounding country +one might be, by looking in that direction--and looking high +enough--one could always see that little castle, with its single window +peering out like a watchful eye over the landscape. + +Since the castle from which Lisbeth Longfrock came was no more +magnificent than this, it may easily be understood that she was no +disguised princess, but only a poor little girl. Coming to Hoel Farm +for the first time was for her like visiting an estate that was, in +very truth, royal; and besides, she had come on an important "grown-up" +errand. She was taking her mother's place and visiting Hoel as a +spinning woman. + +Lisbeth's mother, whose name was Randi,[2] had worked hard for the last +four years to get food for herself and her children up at Peerout +Castle. Before that the family had been in very comfortable +circumstances; but the father had died, leaving the mother with the +castle, one cow, and the care of the two children. The children were +Jacob, at that time about six years old, and Lisbeth, a couple of years +younger. Life was often a hard struggle for the mother; but they had, +at any rate, a house over their heads, and they could get wood without +having to go very far for it, since the forest lay almost within a +stone's throw. + + [2] (In the original, Roennaug.) This was the mother's first + name. Her full name would be Randi Newridge, or Randi Peerout. + +In the summer Randi managed to dig up her tiny plots of ground after a +fashion, so that she could harvest a few potatoes and a little grain. +By cutting grass and stripping off birch leaves she had thus far +managed each year to give Bliros, their cow, enough to eat. And where +there is a cow there is always food. + +In the winter she spun linen and wool for the women on the farms far +and near, but as she had lived at Hoel Farm as a servant before she was +married, it was natural that most of her spinning should be for +Kjersti[3] Hoel. + + [3] Kyare'-stee. + +In such ways had Randi been able to care for her family. Meanwhile +Jacob, now ten years old, had grown big enough to earn his own living. +In the spring before the last a message had come from Nordrum Farm that +a boy was needed to look after the flocks, and Jacob had at once +applied and been accepted. He and Lisbeth had often knelt on the long +wooden bench under the little window at Peerout Castle, and gazed upon +the different farms, choosing which they would work on when they were +big enough. Jacob had always chosen Nordrum Farm,--probably because he +had heard Farmer Nordrum spoken of as the big man of the community; +while Lisbeth had always thought that it would be pleasanter at Hoel +Farm because it was owned by a woman. + +When autumn came Farmer Nordrum had concluded that he would have use +for such a boy as Jacob during the winter also, and so Jacob had stayed +on. This last Christmas, however, he had gone home for the whole day +and had taken with him a Christmas present for his sister from a little +girl at Nordrum. The present was a gray woolen frock,--a very nice one. + +Jacob had grown extremely pleasant and full of fun while at Nordrum, +Lisbeth thought. When she tried the frock on and it reached way down to +the ground before and behind, he called her "Lisbeth Longfrock" and +Lisbeth Longfrock she had remained from that day. + +After Christmas, times had been somewhat harder at Peerout Castle. +Bliros, who generally gave milk the whole year round, had become dry, +and would not give milk for several months. She was to have a calf in +the early summer. During the last few weeks there had not been milk +enough even for Randi's and Lisbeth's coffee. + +To go to Svehaugen,[4] the nearest farm, for milk was no short trip; +and milk was scarce there too, as Randi well knew. Besides, she could +not spare the time to go. She had to finish spinning Kjersti Hoel's +wool. When she once got that off her hands, they could have plenty of +milk for their coffee, and other good things besides. What a relief it +would be when that time came! + + [4] Sva-howg-en. + +So Randi worked steadily at her spinning, Lisbeth being now big enough +to help in carding the wool. For a week she spun almost without +ceasing, scarcely taking time for meals, but drinking a good deal of +strong black coffee. Not until very late one evening was Kjersti Hoel's +wool all spun and ready. By that time Randi was far from well. Whether +or not her illness was caused, as she thought, by drinking so much +black coffee, certain it is that when Kjersti Hoel's wool was all spun +Randi felt a tightness in her chest, and when she got up the next +morning and tried to get ready to go to Hoel with the spinning, she was +seized with such a sudden dizziness that she had to go back to bed +again. She was too weak for anything else. + +Now it was the custom in Norway for the spinning woman to take back to +the different farms the wool she had spun, and for the farmers' wives +to praise her work, treat her to something good to eat and drink, pay +her, and then give her directions about the way the next spinning was +to be done. All this Randi would have to give up for the present--there +was no help for it; but she wondered how it would do to send Lisbeth to +Hoel Farm in her stead. The little girl would find her way safely, +Randi was sure, although Randi had never as yet taken her to that farm +because it was so far off. The payment for the spinning was to be in +eatables as well as money, and Lisbeth could bring home part of what +was due. Then, though they still might lack many things, their drop of +coffee could have cream in it, as coffee ought to have. The remainder +of the payment and the directions for the next spinning Randi herself +could get when she was better. + +If she could only be sure that Lisbeth would behave properly and not +act like a changeling, a troll child! + +Lisbeth eagerly promised that if her mother would allow her to go she +would behave exactly as a spinning woman should,--she would, really! +And she remembered perfectly well just how everything was done that +time she had gone with her mother to one of the nearer farms. + +So Lisbeth put on her long frock, which was used only for very best, +and her mother wrapped her up snugly in the two shawls. Then the bundle +of yarn was slung over her back, the pail was hung in front, many +directions were given to her about the road, and off she started. + +And that is the way Lisbeth Longfrock happened to come toddling after +Bearhunter to Hoel Farm on that clear, cold winter's day toward the +beginning of spring. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LISBETH LONGFROCK AS SPINNING WOMAN + + +When Lisbeth found herself in the farm dooryard, with the different +buildings all about her, she really had to stand still and gaze around. +Oh, how large everything was!--quite on another scale from things at +home. Why, the barn door was so broad and high that Peerout Castle +could easily go right through it, and each windowpane in the big house +was as large as their own whole window. And such a goat!--for just then +she caught sight of Crookhorn, who had come warily up to the doorway, +and who only saw fit to draw back as Bearhunter approached. Not that +Crookhorn was afraid of Bearhunter,--no, indeed! + +The goat was larger than most goats,--about as large as a good-sized +calf. If the cows belonging to Hoel Farm were as much larger than +ordinary cows, thought Lisbeth, they would be able to eat grass from +the roof of Peerout Castle while standing, just as usual, on the +ground.[5] She glanced searchingly at the cow-house door. No, it was +not larger than such doors usually were, so the cows were evidently no +bigger than other cows. + + [5] Norwegian children in country districts are accustomed to see + goats walking about on the roofs of turf-covered huts, nibbling + the herbage; but the idea of a creature so large as to be able to + eat from the roof while standing on the ground was very + astonishing to Lisbeth. + +Bearhunter had followed after Crookhorn until the latter was well out +of the way; then he had come back again, and now stood wagging his tail +and turning toward the house door as if coaxing Lisbeth to go in. Yes, +she must attend to her errand and not stay out there staring at +everything. + +So she followed after Bearhunter and went into the hall way. She lifted +the latch of the inner door, turned herself around carefully as she +went in so as to make room for her bundle, fastened the door behind +her--and there she stood inside the big kitchen at Hoel! + +[Illustration: THE BIG KITCHEN AT HOEL FARM] + +There were only two people in the kitchen,--one a young servant maid in +the middle of the room spinning, and the other the mistress herself, +Kjersti Hoel, over by the white wall of the big open fireplace, +grinding coffee. + +Both looked up when they heard the door open. + +Lisbeth Longfrock stood still for a moment, then made a deep courtesy +under her long frock and said in a grown-up way, just as she had heard +her mother say, "Good day, and God bless your work." + +Kjersti Hoel had to smile when she saw the little roly-poly bundle over +by the door, talking in such a grown-up fashion. But she answered as +soberly as if she also were talking to a grown-up person: "Good day. Is +this a young stranger out for a walk?" + +"Yes." + +"And what is the stranger's name, and where is she from? I see that I +do not know her." + +"No, you could not be expected to. My mother and Jacob call me Lisbeth +Longfrock, and I am from Peerout Castle. Mother sent me here with the +woolen yarn she has spun for you. She told me to say that she could not +come with it before, for she did not get the last spool wound until +late last night." + +"Indeed! Can it be a spinning woman we have here? And to think that I +wholly forgot to ask you to sit down after your long walk! You really +must take off your things and stay awhile." + +What a pleasant woman Kjersti Hoel was! She got up from her own chair +and set one forward for Lisbeth. + +"Thank you; I shall be glad to sit down," said Lisbeth. + +She took off the pail and the bundle of wool and put them down by the +door, and then began to walk across the floor over to the chair. It +seemed as if she would never get there, so far was it across the big +kitchen,--nearly as far as from their own door to the cow-house door at +Peerout Castle. At last, however, she reached the chair; but it was +higher than the seats she was accustomed to and she could barely +scramble up on one corner of it. + +Kjersti Hoel came toward her. + +"I really think I must open this roly-poly bundle and see what is in +it," said she; and she began to take off Lisbeth's red mittens and to +undo the knitted shawls. Soon Lisbeth sat there stripped of all her +outer toggery, but nevertheless looking almost as plump and roly-poly +as ever; for not only did her long frock barely clear the ground at the +bottom, but its band reached almost up under her arms. + +Kjersti stood and looked at her a moment. + +"That is just what I thought,--that I should find a nice little girl +inside all those clothes. You look like your mother." + +At this Lisbeth grew so shy that she forgot all about being a spinning +woman. She cast down her eyes and could not say a word. + +"But what is the matter with Randi, your mother?" continued Kjersti. +"Why could she not come herself?" + +"She was a little poorly to-day." + +"Indeed! Randi not well? And her health is generally so good. What ails +her?" + +"Oh, she thought that very likely drinking strong coffee without milk +had not been good for her." + +"So you have no milk at your house. Perhaps that is why you have +brought a pail with you." + +"Yes; what do you think! Bliros has stopped giving us milk this +winter." + +"Has she, indeed! That is rather inconvenient, isn't it? How long +before she can be milked again?" + +"Not until the beginning of summer, after she has had her calf." + +"H'm," said Kjersti thoughtfully. By and by, as if to herself, she +said: "I have often thought of going to see Randi, but have never done +so. Before this spring is over, I must surely pay her a visit." + + * * * * * + +Lisbeth Longfrock stayed a long time at Hoel that day. Although she had +come in the important character of spinning woman, she had never +imagined that a great person like Kjersti Hoel would be so pleasant and +kind to her. Kjersti treated her to coffee and cakes and milk and other +good things, just as if she had been an invited guest, and chatted with +her in such a way that Lisbeth forgot all about being shy. And oh, how +many curious things Kjersti showed her! + +The cow house was the finest of them all. There were so many cows that +Lisbeth could scarcely count them. And then the pigs and sheep and +goats! and hens, too, inside a big latticework inclosure,--nearly as +many of them as there were crows in autumn up at Peerout! + +And Kjersti wanted to know about _everything_,--whether Lisbeth could +read and write (she could do both, for Jacob had taught her), and how +they managed about food up at Peerout Castle, and how it went with the +farming. + +Lisbeth could tell her that in the autumn they had gathered three +barrels of potatoes, and one barrel and three pecks of mixed grain; and +that they had stripped off so many birch leaves that they had fodder +enough to carry Bliros through the winter,--in fact, much more than +enough. + +When Kjersti had shown Lisbeth the sheep and the goats, she declared +that she should certainly need a little girl to look after her flocks +when spring came; and then Lisbeth, before she knew what she was +saying, told Kjersti how she and Jacob used to look at the farms from +the window at home, and how she had always chosen Hoel as the place +where she should like to work when she was big enough. + +"Should you really like to go out to work?" Kjersti inquired. + +"Yes, indeed," Lisbeth said, "if it were not for leaving mother." + +"Well, we will not think about that any more at present," said Kjersti, +"but I will go up and talk with your mother about it some time in the +spring. We certainly ought to go into the house now, so that you can +have time to take a little food before leaving. It is drawing toward +evening and you will have to start for home soon." + +So they went into the house again, and Lisbeth had another feast of +good things. While she was eating she noticed that Kjersti brought from +the cellar some butter and cheese and other things and packed them in +the dark cloth in which the wool had been tied. The milk pail she did +not touch at all; but Lisbeth saw that she said something about it +softly to the servant maid, after which the maid left the room. + +When Lisbeth had eaten and had said "Thanks and praise for both food +and drink," Kjersti remarked: "Now you must lift the bundle over there +and see if you can carry it." + +The bundle _was_ rather heavy. Still, Lisbeth thought she could manage +it. But the pail! Not a word did Kjersti say, even now, about the pail! +She only added, kindly, "Come, and I will help you put on your things." + +She drew on Lisbeth's mittens, wrapped her up snugly in the two little +shawls, and, in a trice, there stood Lisbeth Longfrock looking exactly +as she did when she had come to Hoel that morning. + +Slowly and reluctantly Lisbeth went toward the door, where the pail +still stood. How strange that Kjersti had not even yet said a single +word about it! Lisbeth stood for a moment in doubt. After receiving so +much, it would never do to remind Kjersti about the pail; but she would +much rather have gone without the good things she herself had been +treated to than to go home without any milk for her mother's coffee. + +She took up the bundle, drew her face with its turned-up nose tip back +into its little shawl as far as she could so that Kjersti should not +see the tears in her eyes, and then bent down and lifted the pail. + +At that Kjersti said: "Oh, yes! the pail! I quite forgot it. Are you +willing to exchange pails with me if I give you one that will never get +empty?" + +Lisbeth dropped her pail plump on the floor. She had seen and heard +many curious things on this eventful day,--things she had never seen or +thought of before; but that Kjersti, besides everything else, had a +pail that would never get empty! She stood and stared, open-mouthed. + +"Yes, you must come and see it," said Kjersti. "It stands just outside +the door." + +Lisbeth was not slow in making her way out. Kjersti followed her. There +stood the servant maid, holding the big goat, Crookhorn, by a rope. + +"The goat is used to being led," said Kjersti, "so you will have no +trouble in taking it home. Give my greetings to your mother, and ask +her if she is satisfied with the exchange of pails." + +Kjersti was not a bit displeased because Lisbeth Longfrock forgot to +express her thanks as she started off with Crookhorn. Bearhunter +followed the little girl and the goat a long distance up the road. He +did not understand matters at all! + + * * * * * + +It is not to be wondered at that Randi, too, was greatly surprised when +she saw Crookhorn following after Lisbeth as the little girl approached +the castle. + +There was not time for Lisbeth to tell about everything at the very +first, for her mother and she had to clear up the stall next to the one +Bliros occupied, and put Crookhorn into it. When this was done they +felt exactly as if they had two cows. The goat took her place in the +stall with a self-important, superior air, quite as if she were a real +cow and had never done anything else but stand in a cow stall. Bliros +became offended at this remarkable newcomer, who was putting on such +airs in the cow house that had always belonged to herself alone, and so +she made a lunge with her head and tried to hook the goat with her +horns; but Crookhorn merely turned her own horns against those of +Bliros in the most indifferent manner, as if quite accustomed to being +hooked by cows. + +Bliros gazed at her in astonishment. Such a silly goat! She had never +seen such a silly goat. And with that she turned her head to the wall +again and did not give Crookhorn another look. + +That evening Lisbeth Longfrock had so many things to tell her mother +that she talked herself fast asleep! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LEAVING PEEROUT CASTLE + + +The next time Lisbeth Longfrock came to Hoel Farm, she did not come +alone; and she came--to stay! + +All that had happened between that first visit and her second coming +had been far, far different from anything Lisbeth had ever imagined. It +seemed as if there had been no time for her to think about the strange +events while they were taking place. She did not realize what their +result would be until after she had lived through them and gone out of +the gate of Peerout Castle when everything was over. So much had been +going on in those last sad, solemn days,--so much that was new to see +and to hear,--that although she had felt a lump in her throat the whole +time, she had not had a real cry until at the very end. But when she +had passed through the gate that last day, and had stopped and looked +back, the picture that she then saw had brought the whole clearly +before her, with all its sorrow. Something was gone that would never +come again. She would never again go to Peerout Castle except as a +stranger. She had no home--no home anywhere. And at that she had begun +to weep so bitterly that those who had been thinking how wisely and +quietly she was taking her trouble could but stand and look at her in +wonder. + + * * * * * + +The last two months of the winter had passed so quickly up at Peerout +Castle that Lisbeth really could not tell what had become of them; and +this was owing not a little to the fact that, besides all her other +work, she had so much to do in the cow house. + +Crookhorn had become, as it were, Lisbeth's cow, and consequently had +to be taken care of by her. Bliros showed very plainly that she would +not like at all to have Randi's attentions bestowed upon a rascally +goat. That would make it seem as if the goat were fully as important a +person in the cow house as Bliros herself; whereas the whole cow house, +in reality, belonged to her, and that other creature was only allowed +there as a favor. + +So Lisbeth took care of Crookhorn exactly as she saw her mother take +care of Bliros. In fact, before long she had more to do in the cow +house than her mother had; for she soon learned to milk Crookhorn, +while Bliros, her mother's cow, could not then be milked. + +And Crookhorn gave so much milk! Three times a day Lisbeth had to milk +her. There was no longer any scarcity of cream for coffee or milk for +porridge. Indeed, there was even cream enough to make waffles with now +and then. + +Springtime came. It always came early up at Peerout Castle. The slopes +of heather, directly facing the sun, were the first in the whole valley +to peep up out of the snow. As soon as the heathery spots began to show +themselves, Lisbeth was out on them, stepping here and there with a +cautious foot. It seemed so wonderful to step on bare earth again +instead of snow! Day by day she kept track of the different green +patches, watching them grow larger and larger, and seeing how the snow +glided slowly farther and farther downward,--exactly as her own frock +did when she loosened the band and let it slip down and lie in a ring +around her feet. When the snow had slipped as far down as the big stone +where she and Jacob used to have their cow house (using pine cones for +cows and sheep), the outermost buds on the trees would swell and be +ready to burst,--she knew that from the year before; and when the buds +had really opened (she kept close watch of them every day now), then, +_then_ would come the great day when Crookhorn could be let out. +Lisbeth's mother had said so. + +That great day was what she was waiting for, not only because it would +be so pleasant for Crookhorn to be out, but because no food was equal +to the first buds of spring for making goats yield rich milk. + +Lisbeth's mother had been far from well ever since the day that Lisbeth +went over to Hoel Farm for the first time. But Lisbeth thought that as +soon as Crookhorn had fresh buds to eat and gave richer milk, her +mother would of course get entirely well. + +It is very possible that a little streak of snow was still lying by the +upper side of the big stone (in spite of Lisbeth's having scattered +sand there to make the snow melt faster) on the bright spring day when +Lisbeth went into the cow house, unfastened Crookhorn, and led her out +of the stall. + +As for Crookhorn, she followed her little mistress very sedately until +they reached the cow-house door. There she stopped short, looking +around and blinking at the sun. Lisbeth pulled at the rope, trying to +drag her over to the part of the ridge where the birch tree with the +fullest leaf buds stood. But Crookhorn would not budge. She merely +stood stock-still as if nothing were being done to her; for she was so +strong that, however hard Lisbeth pulled, it did not even make her +stretch her neck. Lisbeth then went nearer, thinking that she could +pull better without such a length of rope between her and the goat; but +at that, quick as a wink, Crookhorn lowered her head and butted +Lisbeth, causing the little girl to fall back against the hillside with +a whack. Upon which, Crookhorn stalked in an indifferent manner across +the road. + +Lisbeth picked herself up and started to go after her charge; but, if +you please, as soon as she came near enough and tried to seize +Crookhorn, away would that naughty goat dart, not galloping as a goat +usually does, but trotting like a cow or an elk. She trotted by the +house and turned off on the road leading to Svehaugen Farm. Lisbeth +pursued swiftly; but, run as she might, she could not gain upon +Crookhorn. At last, stumbling over a stone, the little girl fell at +full length, having barely time, while falling, to look up and catch a +glimpse of Crookhorn's back as the goat, trotting swiftly, disappeared +over the brow of a hill. + +There was no other way out of it,--Lisbeth would have to run home and +get her mother to help her. This she did, and they both set out in full +chase. It was a long run, for they did not overtake Crookhorn until +they had reached the Svehaugen gate. There stood the goat gazing +unconcernedly through the palings. She evidently felt herself superior +to jumping over fences,--she who imagined herself to be a cow! + +Randi had become much overheated from running, and at night, when she +went to bed, she said she felt cold and shivery. That seemed very +strange indeed to Lisbeth, for when she laid her face against her +mother's neck, it was as hot as a burning coal. + +In the morning Lisbeth's mother woke her and told her to get up and go +over to Kari Svehaugen's and ask Kari to come to Peerout Castle. Randi +felt so poorly that there was no use in her even trying to get up. She +was not able. + +Not able to get up! That also seemed very strange to Lisbeth, for never +before had she seen her mother with cheeks so red and eyes so shining. +The child did not say anything, however, but got up, dressed herself +quickly and quietly, and ran off to Svehaugen. + +After that there came several wonderful days at Peerout Castle. When +Lisbeth Longfrock thought about them afterward, they seemed like a +single long day in which a great many things had happened that she +could not separate from one another and set in order. In her +remembrance it was as if shadows had glided to and fro in an ugly +yellow light, while the sound of a heavy, painful breathing was +constantly heard, penetrating all other sounds. + +She seemed dimly to see Kari Svehaugen gliding about and taking care of +things in the home and out in the cow house. She herself had climbed a +birch tree several times and picked leaf buds for the animals to eat. +One day Lars Svehaugen had flitted along the road in front of the +house, swiftly, as if he had not a moment to spare. Soon after this, +some one dressed in furs and with big boots on came driving to the +house, and all the neighbors flocked around him, listening to what he +said. And he brought such a curious smell with him! It filled the whole +house, so that, even after he had gone away, he seemed to be still +there. + +She thought, too, that once she had seen Kjersti Hoel sitting on a +chair, taking many good things out of a big basket, and Jacob standing +by Kjersti's side with a great slice of raisin cake in his hand. And +Jacob had kept chewing and chewing on his raisin cake, as if it was +hard work to get it down. What she remembered chiefly, though, was +Jacob's eyes,--they looked so big and strange. + +Then one morning she had awakened in a clear gray light, and from that +time she remembered everything very distinctly. She was lying in the +little trundle-bed that Jacob had slept in when he lived at home,--she +must, of course, have slept in it all these nights,--and Kari Svehaugen +was standing beside it, looking down upon her. The house was oh! so +still,--she did not hear the heavy, painful breathing any longer. The +only sound was a slight crackling in the fireplace, out of which a +stream of warmth issued. + +Kari said very quietly: "Your mother is comfortable and happy now, +little Lisbeth; better off than she has ever been before. So you must +not cry." + +And Lisbeth did not cry. She merely got up and went about the house +very, very quietly all that first day. Afterwards there were so many +preparations being made for some solemn festival that she did not seem +to get time to think about the great change that had taken place. + +Lars Svehaugen came from the storekeeper's with ever so much fine +white, shining cloth,--she had never seen the like. Then a woman came +to help Kari cut out and sew, and they made pillows and a fine white +garment that mother was to have on when she lay upon the pillows. And +Lars Svehaugen began to make a new wooden bed for mother to lie in; and +Bliros had her calf, and the calf was slaughtered; and Lars Svehaugen +brought some small pine trees and nailed them at the gateposts and +outside the house door, one at each side, and he strewed pine branches +all the way from the door to the gate. And there came presents of +food--oh! so many good things--from Kjersti Hoel and others. Lisbeth +had never tasted such delicious food before. + +Then came the day when mother was to be taken to the church and buried. +Many people came to the house that day,--among them Jacob in a bright +new suit of gray woolen homespun; and there was a feast for them all, +and everything was very still and solemn. Even the schoolmaster came; +and oh, how beautifully he sang when Lars Svehaugen and three other men +carried mother out through the door and set her couch upon a sledge. + +Then they all went slowly away from the house, down the hill,--the +sledge first and the people walking slowly behind. But down at the +bottom of the hill, in the road, there stood two horses and wagons +waiting; and, just think! Lisbeth and Jacob were invited to sit up in +Kjersti Hoel's broad wagon and drive with her. + +Then they came to the white church; and as they carried mother in +through the big gateway the church bells up in the tower rang, oh, so +beautifully! + +After that Lisbeth did not see things quite so clearly, but they +lowered mother down into the earth in the churchyard and strewed +wreaths of green heather over her, and then the schoolmaster sang +again, and all the men took off their hats and held them a long time +before their faces. + +After that the people went out of the churchyard, and Lisbeth and Jacob +climbed into Kjersti Hoel's broad wagon again and drove away,--only +this time they drove much faster. It looked as if the boards in the +fences ran after each other in an opposite direction from the one in +which she and Jacob were going. They both tried to count them, but +could not. + +All the people came back with them to Peerout Castle,--Kjersti Hoel, +too. Kari Svehaugen, who had not gone to the church, had covered the +table with a white tablecloth, and set it with plates and good things +to eat. And all the people ate and talked,--but they did not talk very +loudly. + +When the meal was over, Lisbeth got Jacob to go out into the cow house +to look at Crookhorn. Jacob conceded that the goat was an extremely +fine animal, but she was a vixen, he was sure,--he could tell that by +her eyelids. + +Then they went over to the hill to look at the mill wheel that Jacob +used to have there; but it had fallen into complete decay because he +had been away from home so long. Such things need a boy's personal +attention. + +After that they were called into the house again and everybody drank +coffee. When they had finished the coffee drinking, Kari began packing +into baskets the food that was left; and when that was done, Kjersti +Hoel said: "Well, now we have done everything that we can here. You may +bring Crookhorn with you, Lisbeth, and come to live with me. That was +the last thing I promised your mother." + +Thus had it come about that Lisbeth Longfrock, holding Crookhorn by a +rope, stood outside the gate at Peerout Castle with Kjersti Hoel and +Bearhunter; and then it was that she looked behind her and began to +cry. + +On one road she saw Kari Svehaugen with a big basket on her arm and +Bliros following her; and on the other she saw the back of Jacob, with +whom she had just shaken hands, saying, "May you fare well." He looked +singularly small and forlorn. + +Last of all she saw Lars Svehaugen put a pine twig in the door latch as +a sign that Peerout Castle was now closed, locked, and forsaken. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SPRING: LETTING THE ANIMALS OUT TO PASTURE + + +One morning, a few weeks after the sad departure from Peerout Castle, +Lisbeth Longfrock awoke early in the small sleeping room built under +the great staircase at Hoel. She opened her eyes wide at the moment of +waking, and tried to gather her thoughts together. She was conscious of +a delightful, quivering expectancy, and felt that she had awakened to +something great and new,--something that she had waited for and been +exceedingly glad over; but she could not at once remember just what it +was. + +The little room, whose only furniture consisted of a bed, a chair, a +stove, and a small wooden shelf with a mirror over it, was filled with +daylight in spite of the early hour. The sun fell slanting down through +a window set high up in the wall directly over Lisbeth's bed, and the +windowpanes were pictured in bright yellow squares on the floor near +the tiny stove. The corner of one square spread itself against the +stove, and Lisbeth traced it with her eyes as she lay in bed. At the +tip of the corner glimmered something light-green and shiny. Was it +from there that a fine, wonderful fragrance came floating toward her? +She sniffed a little. Yes, indeed! now she remembered. The fragrance +came from the fresh birch twigs she had decorated the room with +yesterday. Out of doors it was spring,--the sprouting, bursting +springtime. To-day the cattle were to be let out and the calves named. +To-day she would begin work in earnest and be a responsible individual. +In short, she would be the herd girl at Hoel Farm. + +It was now a month since Lisbeth had come to Hoel Farm, but up to this +time she had been treated merely as company. She had walked about the +place, sauntered after Kjersti here and there in the house, ground the +coffee, and brought out from a bowl in the pantry the small cakes that +they ate with their coffee every afternoon. Frequently, too, she had +had pleasant talks with Kjersti. + +As for helping with the animals,--the sheep and the goats had been let +out, to be sure, but nevertheless they did not need her care because +they were allowed, so early in the season, to run about everywhere +except in the garden, and that Bearhunter stood guard over. In the cow +house there was nothing for her to do, for a milkmaid and an +under-milkmaid did the work there. Of course the girl who tended the +flocks ought really to be able to help in milking the cows; but it was +thought that Lisbeth had better wait a year before she tried to do +that,--her hands being rather too small as yet. Lisbeth had kept +measuring her hands every now and then and pulling her fingers to make +them grow; and after a while she had asked the milkmaid if she did not +think they had grown large enough, but the milkmaid did not see that +they were any larger. She could not have very good eyes! + +Lisbeth had, of course, expected to take care of Crookhorn,--Kjersti +and she both thought she ought to do that; but it had proved to be +impossible. Crookhorn had become so freakish that sometimes they almost +thought her out of her wits. In the building shared by the sheep and +goats she ranged back and forth from wall to wall, knocking against the +sheep and the other goats so hard as she went that their ribs rattled. +At last she had to be tied to one of the walls, and with the shortest +rope possible at that. Nor would she allow herself to be milked +peaceably in that building. The first time Lisbeth tried it, Crookhorn, +with a toss of the head, gave a kick that sent Lisbeth and the pail +rolling off in different directions. Afterward the milkmaid herself +took Crookhorn in hand at milking time; but even for her it was always +a feat of strength, and she had to have some one to help her by holding +the goat's horns. + +When Crookhorn was let out with the other goats, would she ramble with +them over the fields and meadows, seeking food? No, indeed! She would +station herself poutingly by the cow-house door and stand there the +livelong day,--"bellowing like a cow" the farm boy said; and then in +the evening, when the other goats came home plump and well fed, there +Crookhorn would stand as thin and hungry as a wolf. + +Lisbeth thought that Crookhorn, if provided with a stall in the cow +house, would act like a reasonable creature again. But neither Kjersti +nor the milkmaid would consent to the removal; they thought a goat +ought not to be humored in such unreasonable fancies. + +Thus it was that Lisbeth had not had much to do during her first month +at Hoel Farm. The only thing that Kjersti had required of her was to +keep her own little room under the hall staircase in nice order, and +that she had done. Every day she had made the bed herself, and every +Saturday she had washed the floor and the shelf, and spread juniper +twigs about. Last Saturday Kjersti had come out to take a look at it, +and had said to her that she kept her room in better order than the +grown-up girls in the south chamber kept theirs; and Lisbeth knew that +this was true, for she had noticed it herself. + +[Illustration: LISBETH'S ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS] + +But now everything was going to be different. Kjersti Hoel had come to +Lisbeth's room the night before and said that the cows were to be let +out early in the morning, and that Lisbeth, like all the rest of the +Hoel Farm people, must be up early to help. Later in the day the calves +that had been born in the cow house during the winter were to be let +out for the first time, and Lisbeth would have to look after them for +that afternoon at any rate. Kjersti had said also that Lisbeth was to +be allowed to give the calves their names,--names that they would keep +all their lives, even after they had grown to be full-sized cows. + +The next day after the letting out of the animals Lisbeth was to take a +lunch bag and begin her spring work of going into the forest all day to +watch the sheep and goats. It would not do to have them running about +the fields at home any longer, Kjersti said. + +Suddenly Lisbeth recollected what it was that she had pondered over so +long as she lay awake the evening before,--it was the names of the +calves. In spite of all her pondering she had got no farther than to +wonder whether the cow with the red sides and white head and the gentle +but bright-looking face should not be called Bliros. That idea, +however, she had given up; it seemed to her that only one cow in the +world could be called Bliros. Then she had determined to think no +longer about Bliros or the names of the calves, and so had fallen +asleep. + +What if she had overslept herself now! She hoped not, with all her +heart, for she had heard Kjersti Hoel say that she did not like girls +to lie abed late and dally in the morning. How mortifying it would be +for her not to be on the spot as early as the others to-day, her very +first working day! + +Wide-awake now, Lisbeth hopped quickly out of bed and popped into her +long frock. Then, having made her bed[6] with all haste, she opened the +door, went out through the hall way, and stood on the outside steps. + + [6] Lisbeth meant to be very neat and tidy, but she should have + let her bed air longer before making it! + +The sun had just risen above the highest spruce tops over the edge of +the eastern hills, and the light was flooding the sides of the valley +like a waterfall. In the meadows and on the sloping fields the sunbeams +quivered in the dew. They sifted in gold, they glittered in green, they +silvered the clear brooks that babbled down the hills. From every bush +came a twittering and chirping and clapping of wings. From everything, +everywhere, came a message of joy and activity and sprouting life. +Mingled in one great morning effervescence, single sights and sounds +were lost; only the call of the cuckoo, far up on the birch-clad slope, +was heard above the other sounds, and from every shining window glanced +a big, serene eye of reflected sun rays. + +And just as there were thousands of different sounds, so were there +also thousands of different odors,--from the steaming earth, from the +growing grass, from buds and blossoms; and above them all, like the +cuckoo's call that was heard above the thousands of blended sounds, +rose the fine, penetrating fragrance of newly sprouted birch trees. + +Lisbeth stood still awhile, drawing deep breaths and letting the sweet +air and the effervescence of spring stream in upon her. Then she looked +around at the different farm buildings. Quiet brooded within them and +every door was shut. Of all the living creatures belonging to the farm, +not one was to be seen except Bearhunter, who got up slowly from the +flat stone where he had been lying, comfortably sunning himself, and +came over to her, looking up into her face and wagging his tail. + +Truly, she believed she was the first one up on the whole farm to-day. + +Well, of course she would have to wait. So she sat herself down on the +steps. + +Oh, no; it was just as she might have known it would be. Kjersti Hoel +was up. Lisbeth heard her come out of her own room into the kitchen, +take a big stick, and knock three times on the ceiling to waken the +girls in the south chamber. + +In a moment Lisbeth heard a thump! thump! as the girls hopped out of +bed, and then a clattering noise as they put on their shoes. Soon +Kjersti came out of the house. She was going over to the building where +the men slept to waken them. + +Catching sight of Lisbeth, she exclaimed: "No! this cannot be Lisbeth +already up. What a wide-awake little girl! I think I shall have to make +you head milkmaid." + +At this Lisbeth became so shy that she could not raise her eyes to look +at Kjersti; but it must be acknowledged that when the head milkmaid and +the other girls came downstairs a certain small nose was tilted a +little higher than usual. + +Soon there was life and motion over the whole farm. The activity was +very different from that of ordinary days, for everything was done with +extra haste, and all that was done seemed to have some connection with +the cow house. The doors at both ends of this building stood wide open, +and every one seemed to have an errand which obliged him to pass +through. The spring air streaming in made the cows turn around in their +stalls, stretch their nostrils, and look out. When Kjersti herself +appeared on the scene, after the girls had begun milking, and talked to +the cows and patted the neck of the bell cow, the creatures at once +realized what day it was. The bell cow threw up her head and bellowed +till the cow house echoed. That was a signal for all the other cows. +They pulled at their chains, swung their tails, and one after another, +along the whole row, joined in a manifold bellow of joyful expectancy +that shook the entire cow house and seemed as if it would never end. +Above the many-voiced chorus could be heard the bellowing of the big +bull, deep and even and good-natured, as if he did not need to exert +himself in the least in order to be heard. + +Although everything went so much more speedily to-day than usual, the +time seemed long to Lisbeth Longfrock. When the farm people went into +the house to eat their early breakfast, she could not understand how +they could sit at the table so long. She finished her meal very quickly +and asked if she might not go and let out the smaller animals,--the +sheep and the goats,--so that that would be done. Yes, Kjersti said she +might. In a trice, therefore, she had them out, and as usual they +scattered in every direction, leaping and capering,--all except +Crookhorn, who seized her chance to slink into the cow house through +the open door; but Lisbeth was so busy that she did not notice this. + +All at once there came an instant's stillness, as if everything +listened. Then from the farmhouse the tuneful clanging of a deep-toned +bell was heard, and in a moment this was answered by such a joyful +lowing and bellowing, such a sniffing and rattling of chains, that it +seemed as if a thunderstorm were passing over the farm; for when the +animals recognized the sound of that deep-toned bell, which they had +not heard since they were shut up in the cow house the autumn before, +they knew that the time for being let out into the open air was close +at hand. + +A formal procession now issued from the farmhouse. Kjersti marched at +the front, carrying the big iron-bound cow collar to which the +deep-toned bell was fastened; next came the head milkmaid, followed by +the under-milkmaid; then the girls who worked in the farmhouse; and +then the two farm hands, with thick sticks, which they afterwards dealt +out to the company, giving one to Lisbeth as well as to the rest. Last +of all came Bearhunter, who also wanted to have a part in what was +going on. + +When the procession reached the cow house there was again a sudden +silence. The cows, one and all, turned their heads toward the people as +they came in, and looked at them with large, expectant eyes. + +The procession then divided into groups, and definite work was assigned +to each person. The head milkmaid was to unfasten the cows; Lisbeth and +the under-milkmaid and the housemaids, each with her stout stick, were +to steer the cows out through the door; the farm hands were to stand in +the cow lane to meet the creatures and guide them into the right road +(they were to be pastured up in the north meadow) and to separate those +who fought with each other; and Kjersti and Bearhunter were to watch +everything from the gateway. + +All was ready. The moment for the start had come. + +Kjersti went into the stall of the cow who was to wear the bell. The +cow straightened herself up, lifted her head as high as she could, and +then stood stock-still. She knew very well that she was the principal +cow of the herd, and that the first place when they went out and in +through the cow-house door belonged to her; but she knew also that even +she had to be on her best behavior when Kjersti, the mistress of the +whole farm, did her the honor of clasping around her neck the cow +collar with its bell,--emblem of dignity and power,--and of unfastening +the chain that held her in the stall. Kjersti clasped on the bell and +unloosed the chain, which fell rattling to the floor; and then the bell +cow swung slowly and deliberately out of the stall, like a big, heavy +ship out of its dock, and wended her way with solemn dignity toward the +door. She carried her head so high and so stiffly that you could not +see the least swaying of her horns, and her bell gave only a single +decided stroke at each step. + +The next to be let out was the big bull. The head milkmaid unloosed +him, and he sailed out just as stiffly and heavily as the bell cow had +done, with horns so high that they nearly touched the cow-house roof, +and so wide apart that they seemed to stretch across the whole +passageway. Lisbeth had never realized before how large the bull was. + +And then, one by one, in regular turn, the rest of the cows marched +out. They were Brindle, Morlik (which means "like its mother"), Goldie, +Speckle, Blackie, Pusher, Summer-Leaf, Darkey, Wee Bonny, Trot-About, +Wreathie, and Moolley.[7] Wreathie was so named because the white marks +on her hide looked something like a wreath. + + [7] Mulley (cow without horns). + +Beyond the cow stalls, now empty, were the stalls of the heifers, whose +names no one quite remembered as yet, and of the half-grown bulls, who +did not have any names at all. + +When it came to the unloosing of the heifers and young bulls, the scene +grew livelier and livelier. They stretched their necks and rubbed +against their chains. They fell on their knees as soon as the unlooped +chains slipped from their necks, and as they sprang up again you could +hear their legs creak,--so stiff were they from standing in the stall +all winter. They ran plump against the side wall or up into the wrong +passageway. They dashed noisily against the door, two reaching it at +the same time and trying to rush through together but getting wedged by +their fat sides; while those who had been set free after them came +close on their heels, pushing, clashing their horns, butting and +bellowing,--until suddenly, the blockade being broken, out rushed the +whole throng. + +Directly in the wake of the heifers and young bulls, to Lisbeth's +extreme surprise, followed Crookhorn, who, kicking up her heels, made a +swift dash out through the doorway. + +Outside the cow house, too, all was life and stir. As the animals came +into the lane, they lifted their heads, sniffed the air from the +mountain side, and became eager and excited. Stiff-legged old cows, as +well as young calves, kicked up their hind legs and made frolicsome +leaps this way and that. They rushed playfully or angrily at each +other, clashing their horns, and giving a short bellow if worsted in +the tussle; then they dashed off to assail other members of the crowd. +Everything combined to form a hubbub of lowing and bellowing, horn +clashing and fence creaking, whacking of sticks and shouting of people; +while back and forth through all the confusion, with his horns high +above all the other horns, went the big bull, like a great heavy +snowplow, clearing the way. Of the whole herd, only one cow stood +undisturbed amid the wild uproar, calmly waiting and looking about. +That was the bell cow, whom, of course, none of the other cows dared to +disturb. + +At last the head milkmaid came to the front and gave a call. The bell +cow threw up her head and with a loud, echoing bellow started to follow +her. Next came Brindle, still sniffing with anger after her many +encounters. She had got the best of all who were worth getting the best +of, and if she could not be the bell cow, she would, at any rate, stand +next to her. + +Directly after Brindle came Crookhorn, with a self-important air and +making herself as tall as possible. But Brindle was in no mood for +seeing the funny side of things to-day, so she lunged out with one of +her long hind legs and gave Crookhorn a blow on the head that made the +prideful goat see stars. But Crookhorn merely tossed her head and went +on as if nothing had happened. Such actions, she thought, were probably +customary among cows. + +The head milkmaid kept on calling, and the cows, one after another, +hearing her voice, started toward her. Soon the whole noisy herd, led +by the deep-toned bell and urged by shouts and flourishing of sticks, +was going in full swing toward the north meadow. + +Up in the meadow, which they reached after a while, the ground was +level and there was plenty of room, so that the danger of collisions +and other accidents was lessened. The young creatures danced around in +wild play, and those of the cows who had not settled the question of +mastery fought now a battle that was to be decisive for the whole +summer. Soon, however, everything became quiet again, and in a couple +of hours all of the animals, even the worst combatants, were grazing +placidly side by side. + +After this the farm people began to go home,--all except the head +milkmaid and Lisbeth, who were to remain a while longer so as to be on +hand in case anything happened. And something did happen. Brindle, +whose quiet behavior had been only temporary, soon began to rove +uneasily back and forth, sniffing hard. _She_ was really the one who +ought to be wearing the bell, she sniffed to herself; and then +suddenly, with a violent rush, she hurled herself at the bell cow. Such +a fight as there was then! The turf flew in all directions. Soon a +sharp crack was heard, and a short, wild bellow, and one of Brindle's +horns hung dangling. + +Brindle shook her head till the blood splashed; then, giving another +bellow, she turned and ran the shortest way home as fast as her legs +could carry her, never stopping until she had reached the cow-house +door. There she gave vent to a terrible bellowing, as if she wanted to +bring all the farm buildings down over the people's ears. + + * * * * * + +After dinner the calves were let out. Lisbeth had finally named the +three cow calves Yellow Speckle, Redsides, and Young Moolley, but as +yet she had found no name to suit her for the bull calf. Lisbeth saw +plainly that Kjersti wondered why she had not called any of the calves +after Bliros (Gentle Cow), but she gave no sign of having noticed +Kjersti's thought. + +This is the way the calves were induced to leave their pen and to cross +the cow-house floor. To begin with, a good-sized pail with a little +milk in it was held out to each calf. In their eagerness to get the +milk the calves thrust their heads clear into the pails; and when the +persons holding these began to run, the calves ran too, with the pails +over their heads like hats. Outside the cow-house door the pails were +snatched off and there stood the calves, who had never before been +beyond their pen, in the very midst of the great, wonderful new world. + +The startled creatures gave an amazed look and then began to back, just +as if they felt themselves suddenly standing at the head of a steep +stairway; but soon they ventured to put one foot carefully forward, +then another, and another. It was slow work, one step at a time; but at +length they found that there was firm ground in this new region. They +concluded that the world was only a larger calf pen, after all; but it +was a wonderfully light calf pen, and its walls were certainly a long +way off. Swish! up went their tails into the air and away they +scampered like the wildest of forest animals. + +Then began a great race in the big field,--from fence to fence, this +way and that, crosswise, and round and round. Every time the calves +jumped over a hillock Kjersti and Lisbeth saw their tails stand +straight up against the sky like tillers. Lisbeth thought she had never +seen anything so funny. But they could not keep together long. They +soon ran off in various directions, and in the evening Lisbeth had to +go to the farthest corners of the field with a pail and coax them home +one by one; for of course they did not have sense enough to know when +to go home,--they who were out in the world for the first time! + + * * * * * + +Lisbeth was lying again in her little room. It was the evening of her +first working day. She had said her simple evening prayer, as usual, +and then stretched herself out on the bed, feeling how good it was to +rest, for her body was tired through and through. + +What a day it had been! A long day, too, she knew; nevertheless, she +could not imagine where it had gone. She felt that she must think over +all that had happened. But drowsiness came stealing upon her and threw +the scenes of the day into confusion. She saw a pair of big horns that +plowed like a snow plow through a swarming crowd, and then she saw +Brindle standing in her stall with her head on one side and a big +bandage over one of her horns, looking exactly like an old peasant +woman with a kerchief tied around her head for a headache; and then she +thought she saw, written in the air, a couplet that she had once heard: + + Rearing its tail against the sky, + Danced the calf on the hilltop high. + +And then Lisbeth Longfrock fell asleep. + + * * * * * + +The next day, with the lunch bag upon her back, Lisbeth Longfrock set +out for a forest that lay not far off, taking the sheep and goats with +her. She had not succeeded in getting Crookhorn to go along, however. +The self-willed goat had taken the shortest cut up to the north meadow, +where the cows were again pastured. + +Lisbeth's second working day, like her first, seemed a very long one, +for the forest was wonderfully lonesome and still. The little girl had +time to think of many, many things,--of her mother and Jacob and +Peerout Castle; and it must be acknowledged that she cried a wee bit, +too. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SUMMER: TAKING THE ANIMALS UP TO THE SAETER + + +Upward over the open slope across the valley from Hoel Farm a lengthy +procession was taking its way. + +Kjersti Hoel stood at the window of her room, following the procession +with her eyes as long as she could, for soon it would vanish from the +open slope into the wooded part of the mountain. The herds belonging to +Hoel Farm were that day being taken up to the saeter,[8] to spend the +summer grazing on the rich grass which grows in sunny spaces here and +there on the mountain heights. + + [8] Pronounced (approximately) say'ter. + +At the head of the procession rode the milkmaid on the military +horse,[9] which for this occasion had a woman's saddle upon its back. +The saddle had a high frame, so that it looked almost like an +easy-chair; and the milkmaid sitting aloft on it, dressed in her best, +and with a white linen kerchief on her head, was rosy, plump, and also +somewhat self-conscious, for was not she the most important person in +the company, the one who was to give all the commands? + + [9] In some districts of Norway the farmers are required to keep + one or more horses subject to the needs of the government, under + certain conditions of use and payment. + +After her came two farm hands, each leading a horse whose back fairly +curved in under its heavy load. Then followed the herds in order of +rank. First came the bell cow, then Brindle with her wounded horn that +had grown on awry, then Crookhorn, then Darkey, and behind Darkey the +whole long train of cows,--all except two, old Moolley and the pet, Wee +Bonny, who were to stay at home to furnish milk for the people there +and to teach the new calves to follow. After the cows stalked the big +bull, as if acting as rear guard for his herd. + +Next came the goats, hurrying along and trying to get ahead; then the +sheep in a tight clump; and behind these, four great pigs and a few +calves; while at the very end of the train came the under-milkmaid, and +Lisbeth Longfrock with her lunch bag on her back. + +In the beginning all had gone as gayly as a dance, for almost every one +had pleasant memories of the summer before, and it seemed impossible to +reach the mountain top quickly enough; but as they mounted, the way +became steeper and steeper, and the sun rose higher and higher, burning +their backs. The pigs began to lag behind, trying to branch off at +every side path so as to get a little nap in the shade or cool +themselves in a mudhole. The sheep and goats, feeling the need of +something in their stomachs, slipped aside whenever they spied a young +birch tree whose leaves they could nibble, or a fence to peep through, +or a plot of green grass. The last year's calves, who had not been to +the saeter before, saw no reason at all for hurrying, and made no +attempt at it except when the stick was used upon them. + +So Lisbeth Longfrock had to keep rushing off the road into side paths, +behind bushes, into forest thickets and boggy marshes, to drag the +various creatures back into line; and scarcely did she get them safely +into the road from one side before they slipped out again on the other. + +She had to take off one of her long knitted garters and tie it around +her waist so that she could tuck her long frock up out of the way; for +she was constantly on the run, coaxing, shouting, and circumventing. + +It was a hard struggle. Her light hair became dripping wet and her face +was as red as a half-ripe mountain cranberry; but Lisbeth did not +notice her discomfort, so absorbed was she in what she had to do. The +under-milkmaid would return to the farm with the men when the saeter was +reached. It was Lisbeth who was to have the responsibility for the +smaller animals during the whole summer, and who was to bring them home +in the autumn fat and glossy. She and the head milkmaid had their +special responsibilities, each at her own end of the line, as it were; +and even if Lisbeth's was only the tail end, she did not wish to have +the disgrace of being unable to keep it in order. + +The procession continued mounting higher and higher, and soon the whole +valley lay below, deep and wide and delicately green. The fir trees +became smaller and more scattered, the slender birches grew closer +together. Before long the first specimens of black crowberries and "old +woman's switches" (dwarf birch trees) were seen; and with that the +procession was up over the crest of the mountain side. + +[Illustration: THE VALLEY AND THE FARMS] + +Then, all at once, it seemed as if a heavy weight slipped off; as if +all weariness was smoothed away from man and beast. The whole mountain +sent its freshness and peace streaming over them. They were in a new +world. Before them, with its boundless surface broken into level spaces +and undulating slopes, lay the mountain top, stretching itself far, far +away, until lost in the deepening blue of a snow-streaked summit. If +they looked back, the valley seemed to have sunk out of sight; but on +the mountain top across the valley they could see wide expanses of open +land dotted with shining water and grassy saeter districts. + +Drawing a long breath, all gazed silently around. What a tranquillity +lay over everything! Of their own accord the animals fell into order +along the stony road curving endlessly beyond them. They made no more +attempts to branch off into side paths, but walked slowly along at an +even pace. That gave Lisbeth a little time to view her surroundings. +She had never seen a place so broad and open. And up here she was to +spend the whole bright summer. + +All at once, in the midst of this vastness and space, Lisbeth felt +herself so wonderfully little! But she was not at all terrified; she +only felt very solemn and peaceful. + +She began to think of the future,--of the rest of the day, the coming +summer, and the many summers that would follow. Sometime she herself +would be big and grown up, like the head milkmaid, whom she could now +see sitting on the high saddle far ahead. Sometime she herself would +sit up there, perhaps, and ride at the front. + +The pack horses refused to go slowly now, even under their heavy loads. +They forged ahead, passed the mounted milkmaid, and soon disappeared +over a distant ridge. The procession followed slowly. Hour after hour +it wound its curving way over ridges and brooks, past saeters and +shining mountain lakes. Lisbeth had the honor of sitting up in the +saddle and riding awhile, the milkmaid feeling that she would gladly +walk a little. + +Evening began to draw nigh. They took their way high up through a gap +in the mountain which they had seen in the distance early in the +morning. After that the road began to descend. They met with birch +trees again and one single warped fir tree; and from below they heard +the rushing sound of a large river. + +They reached at last the edge of the saeter valley to which they were +bound, and stood still to look down. Below them lay a comparatively +level space, peaceful and green, with its three saeter huts, belonging +to Hoegseth,[10] Lunde,[11] and Hoel farms. From the chimneys of two +of the huts smoke was ascending in the still afternoon air. + + [10] Pronounce the _oe_ like the _e_ in _her_ and _th_ like + _t_. + + [11] Loond'eh (_oo_ as in _good_). + +The gazers were filled with delight. This, then, was the spot where +they were to spend the summer! The cows began to bellow. The smaller +animals, one and all, started on a run past the cows and down the hill. + + * * * * * + +Early the next morning Lisbeth was on her way across the mountain +pasture with the small animals in her charge. She did not have the +lunch bag on her back now, for while she was up at the saeter she was to +take dinner at the hut every noon. + +The sunshine was brilliant. The cows had been turned loose and were +walking away on the nearest cow path, going in single file as if strung +on a line. The leader's bell rang deeply and regularly, its tone +mingling with others quite as deep from the neighboring saeters; and in +upon this solemn ringing broke the delicate, brisk dingle-dangle of the +smaller creatures' bells. + +The time had now come when Lisbeth Longfrock was to make her first +entrance into the vast unknown. The milkmaid had told her that while +tending her animals this first day she should not wander too far, lest +she might not be able to find her way back. She was to listen to the +other herders and keep near them. The milkmaid did not know whether the +other herders were boys or girls this year. + +Lisbeth kept looking back every now and then to keep track of the way +she had come, and was apparently loath to lose sight of the hut; but +the animals drifted rapidly off in the distance and she had to follow +so as not to lose sight of them altogether, and after a while, when she +looked back, the hut could not be seen. Around her were only the +unending wastes of hill and marsh and the faraway mountain peaks. How +spacious and silent it was! Not a sound was to be heard except that of +the bells; not even the river's rushing harmonies reached up to where +she stood. + +She suddenly felt herself so utterly alone and remote and had such a +longing to caress some living creature that she went among the flock +and petted now this one and now that. The bell goat became so envious +that it butted the others out of the way and stood rubbing itself +against her. + +All at once there came a call, "Ho-i-ho! ho-i-ho!" so loud and clear +that the mountains echoed with it. The goats pricked up their ears, and +Lisbeth, too, listened breathlessly. The call was so unexpected that +she had not distinguished from what quarter it came. It sounded near, +and yet, because of the echoes, from all directions. + +"Ho-i-ho! ho-i-ho!" This time the call was still louder. Presently she +heard bells, several bells, and then she saw a large flock of sheep and +goats come straggling over the crest of a hill. + +Very likely it was the other herders who were calling. Lisbeth saw two +straw hats rise above the hill, and by degrees two tall boys seemed to +grow up out of the hilltop,--boys about as big as Jacob. + +At sight of them Lisbeth felt so shy that she kneeled down and hid +herself behind a bushy little mound. + +The boys shaded their eyes with their hands and looked down from the +hilltop. + +"Ho-i-ho!" they called, and then listened. "Ho-i-ho!" + +No answer. All was still. + +Then one of the boys cried out: + + Oh, ho! you boy from Hoel, don't you hear? + If you have pluck, we call you to appear! + +They stood awhile, watching. Then they darted forward, turned two or +three somersaults, and ran down the hill toward her, repeating their +call and shouting. Again they stopped and listened, as if uncertain. + +"Ho-i-ho!" Again they challenged: + + If you lie hid behind some bush or stone, + Come out and show there's marrow in your bone! + +Then the two boys came to the bottom of the hill, where Lisbeth's flock +was, and looked around. No, they did not see any one. The new herder +from Hoel, who dared to lose track of his flock the first day, must be +a reckless young scamp--a fellow it might be fun to get acquainted +with. Very likely he had heard of their bathing place in the Sloping +Marsh. Probably that was where he had gone now. + +Well, they would take his animals with them and go there themselves; +but first they would give another call. Perhaps he was not so far away +but that he might hear if they gave a good loud one. + +"Ho-i-ho!" From far away echo repeated the sounds in "dwarf language," +as the Norwegian boys call it. + +When all was still again, there sounded close at hand, as thin and +clear as the peep of a bird, "Ho-i-ho!" + +This was from Lisbeth, who, when she heard that they were going to take +her flock away, felt that she ought to call out, although it was +extremely embarrassing. + +The boys stopped short, greatly astonished. From behind the bushy +little mound there arose something small, just like a tiny "hill +woman," in a plaid neckerchief and a long frock, who stood stock-still +and looked at them with large, shy eyes. + +At sight of her the boys were somewhat abashed. It was a little +embarrassing for them to find that their boastful, taunting rhymes had +been directed against a poor timorous "young one," and a girl at that; +but it was exasperating, too, for they had expected to see a comrade of +their own size. + +Humph! any one could see that Hoel Farm had women folk at the head of +it. The mistress was not willing that even the herder should be a boy. + +If the "young one" had only been bigger,--bigger than themselves,--they +could have shown their contempt for her and chased her; but that little +midget! no, indeed, grown-up fellows like them did not waste either +words or blows on such small fry! It would be a good plan, however, to +talk with her a bit and hear whether another herder was not coming to +take her place. After that they would have nothing more to do with her. +They could get along by themselves for one summer. All that was +necessary was to frighten her a little, so that she would keep out of +their way. + +They came over to Lisbeth and stood before her, big-boy-like, with +their hands in their pockets. Then one of them said, "Are you going to +be the Hoel herder this summer?" + +"Yes," answered Lisbeth. Then, as if to excuse herself, she added +quickly, "Kjersti wanted me to." + +"What is your name?" + +"Lisbeth; and Jacob calls me Longfrock." + +"Where are you from?" + +"From Peerout." + +"Are you Jacob Peerout's sister? We went to school with him last +winter." + +"Yes, I am." + +"What a nuisance that Jacob himself did not come! We haven't any use at +all for young ones like you up here." + +The speaker, who was the larger of the two boys, stood awhile waiting +for a reply; but Lisbeth did not know what answer to make to his remark +and therefore said nothing. So he continued: "Well, we only wanted to +say to you--I'm Ole Hoegseth and that fellow over there is Peter +Lunde--that you must keep out of our way. You must not dare to come a +step beyond a line running from Pancake Stone down around the Sloping +Marsh to the Pointing Stump near the Hoegseth cow path. If you let +your animals graze beyond that line, your brother Jacob, next winter, +shall get all the thrashings you ought to have this summer." + +Lisbeth was dreadfully frightened and her mouth began to tremble. Then +the second boy said to the larger one, "Yes, but Jacob is so strong +that he will get the best of you." + +"Not when I have brought myself into good training. Hoi!" and he turned +a handspring. + +"Now you know what Jacob may expect, so take care what you do! We boys +are going up to the Sloping Marsh to bathe. Ho-i-ho!" + +With shout and call they took their way up over the hill again. At the +top they looked back and then glanced a little dubiously at each other. +Lisbeth Longfrock was still standing where they had left her, and--she +was crying! + +Lisbeth felt very small and forlorn as she stood there. She certainly +did not want to do anything that Jacob would get a thrashing for. If +she only knew where it was that she was not allowed to go! but she had +not the least idea where either the Pointing Stump or the Sloping Marsh +lay. All that she could do would be to keep with her animals and find +out about these places later. + +Sometime afterwards, when Lisbeth had mounted a small round hill, she +heard the bells of the boys' flocks again. That gave her a fright, and +she began to chase her animals off in another direction. But as she +turned around to do so she saw, far, far down the marsh, two white +figures running, jumping, and playing leapfrog in the sunshine beside a +gleaming pond. The boys had let their flocks stray away from them! + +Lisbeth dreaded incurring more displeasure, but surely something ought +to be done. There was no help for it; she would really have to take +care of the stray animals for a while. The boys could not be angry at +that, she knew, because the greatest disgrace that can befall a herder +is the losing of his flock, and for boys so big as these to go back to +the saeter without any animals would be especially humiliating. + +So Lisbeth went to work gathering the flocks together, jumping up on a +mound every now and then to see if the boys were not ready to come; but +they appeared to have forgotten everything except their play. + +At length she saw that the boys suddenly stood still and listened, +peering about in all directions. Then they started into activity again, +snatched up their clothes, put them on in great haste, and started off +on a run toward the opposite edge of the marsh. Every little while they +would stop and listen, and then run on again. They were so far off that +there was no use in Lisbeth's shouting to them or trying to give the +call "Ho-i-ho!" + +When the boys reached a round hill that lay on the other side of the +marsh, they ran to the top and again peered in all directions for a +long time. Then, as fast as their legs could carry them, they made +their way back across the marsh straight toward the small round hill +where Lisbeth was. As they neared it Lisbeth thought that now was the +time to give the herder's call, for the flocks were on the other side +of the hill and their bells could not be heard by the boys. Her first +call was too weak. She gave another somewhat stronger. + +The boys stopped and answered. + +Lisbeth called again, "Ho-i-ho!" and then the boys came up the hill. +They found it a little difficult to break the silence. It was rather +annoying to be obliged to question that "young one" about their flocks; +but there was no other way. + +"Have you seen our animals?" + +Lisbeth looked at them pleadingly. "They are here at the foot of the +hill. I have been taking care of them, but you must not thrash Jacob +for it." + +The boys looked as they felt,--rather crestfallen. But they had to say +something, so Ole remarked, as they turned and left her, "Oh, well, we +'ll let him off for this one time." + + * * * * * + +When Lisbeth went to fasten the gate of the fold that evening Peter +Lunde came bobbing along outside the fence. + +"You haven't a strange sheep here, have you?" + +"No; I have counted mine." + +"Well, perhaps I counted mine wrong. Very likely they are all there." + +The two stood looking at each other for a while; then both grew shy and +had to turn their eyes away. At last Peter said: "Lisbeth, if you want +to, you may tend your flock wherever we tend ours, and you may come to +our pond. I understood Ole to say that he is willing, too; but if he +makes any fuss about it, why I _can_ thrash him if I really want to." + +"Yes, I will come gladly, you may be sure." + +"Well, then, I will come after you to-morrow morning, back of the hill +here." + +Lisbeth did not get a chance to say anything more, for Peter was off +like a flash around the corner. He had seen Ole coming. + +Ole came lounging along in his usual fashion, with his hands in his +pockets. + +"You haven't seen a strange sheep, have you?" + +"No." + +"Humph!" + +"Is one of yours missing?" + +"Oh, I don't know exactly. Humph! I thought I would tell you that you +need not bother yourself about what I said to-day. I did not mean +anything by it. It was Peter that made me say it; and if you want me +to, I can thrash him for it to-morrow." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE TAMING OF CROOKHORN + + +It was early morning in the latter part of the summer, and the sun was +shining brightly over Hoel Saeter. + +Lisbeth was alone inside the fold, milking goats. All was quiet and +peaceful. Not a bell was heard. The only sounds were the gentle rush of +the river far below and an occasional soft thud from the cow house when +a cow bumped her horns against the wall in getting up. The milkmaid was +inside the cow house, milking the cows. Lisbeth's hands were still too +small for that work, so it had been arranged that she should have +entire charge of the goats instead of helping with the larger animals. + +Suddenly from the hill above the saeter rang out "Ho-o-i-ho!" and in a +few minutes the call was answered a little farther off with a touch of +irritation in the tone, "Ho-o-i-ho!" + +[Illustration: UP AT THE SAETER] + +Lisbeth looked up and listened. Then with a smile of happy satisfaction +she went over to the fence and called, "Ho-o-i-ho!" Now she could send +out the tones with vigor, so that they rang back from all the hills +around; her voice no longer trembled when she answered the big boys' +call. + +To-day she knew that they were calling especially to summon her, and +that they dared to come close to the saeter with their animals because +they had an errand,--something that they had planned with the milkmaid +and Lisbeth. + +By the sound of the bells she could tell that the boys were driving the +animals as fast as they could. The boy that was behind--Peter, of +course--was provoked at not being first. + +But, if you please, they would have to wait until she had finished her +work. They were out extremely early to-day! + + * * * * * + +However strange it may seem, Lisbeth Longfrock, soon after her arrival +at Hoel Saeter, had become a prime favorite with the other herders. The +day after her first painful experiences the boys, as proposed, had met +her behind the hill, Peter first and then Ole. No reference was made to +the previous day; it was merely taken for granted that in future she +would be with them. Ole said that she could look after their animals, +together with her own, while they went off to bathe. Peter thought she +could, too. So she agreed to the arrangement. + +But the boys did not play very long on the bank of the pond that day +when they had finished bathing. It was not much fun, after all, to be +down there by themselves. + +So it had come to pass that Lisbeth and her animals never came +strolling over the hill in the morning without meeting the boys. They +generally came at nearly the same time, each from the direction of his +own saeter, apparently trying to see who could be the first to give the +call. But when they met each did his best to make out to the other that +he had come there by the merest chance, both sheepishly realizing that +the very evening before they had put on big-boy airs about "that young +one whom they could never get rid of," and had said that they would go +off in an entirely different direction the next day, to avoid her if +possible. + +Often the boys would have athletic contests, turning handsprings and +wrestling from one meal-time to another because neither boy was willing +to give up beaten. More than once in a single morning or afternoon +would Lisbeth have to remind them to look after their animals, because, +completely forgotten by the boys, the flocks had strayed nearly out of +sight. + +Occasionally it happened that one boy would reach Hoel Saeter ten or +fifteen minutes before the other and would find Lisbeth ready to set +out. In that case the first comer would insist that he and Lisbeth +should start out by themselves, urging that the other boy had probably +gone somewhere else that day. Such times were almost the pleasantest, +Lisbeth thought, for then the one boy had always so much to show her +that the other boy did not know about,--a marshy ledge, white as snow +with cloudberry blossoms, where there would be many, many berries in +the autumn (that ledge they could keep for themselves,--it was not +worth while to let the other boy know about everything they found); or +a ptarmigan nest with thirteen big eggs in it; or a ridge where +scouring rushes[12] grew unusually long and thick. + + [12] A species of horsetail rush (_Equisetum hyemale_), having a + rough, flinty surface. It is used for scouring and polishing. + +Each boy talked more with her, too, when by himself, and was less +boastful and rough. And the one boy would climb trees and get spruce +gum for her, while she would seek scouring rush for him. Scouring rush +is something that requires a special knack in the one who is to +discover it, and the boys had never seen Lisbeth's equal in spying it +out. Peter said that if there was a single spear growing anywhere, you +might be sure that she would find it; to which Ole jokingly responded +that, for his part, he believed she could find one even where there +wasn't any! + +And how many, many things both boys thought of that they could make! +One day when it rained Ole made Lisbeth a hat out of birch bark, and +the next day Peter came with a pair of birch-bark shoes for her. The +milkmaid must have laughed when she saw Lisbeth coming home that second +day wearing the birch-bark hat and shoes, and carrying her ordinary +shoes in her hand. Another day Ole gave her a pocketknife. She ought to +have something to whittle with, he thought, and he did not need that +knife because he had one with a sheath that he always wore in his belt. +The next day Peter brought her a musical horn that he had made in the +evenings from a goat's horn. It had an unusually fine tone. You could +manage to play that funny tune, "Old Woman with a Stick," on it after a +fashion. + +Ole speculated a while as to what he could do to beat that, and then he +hit upon an idea,--he would tame Crookhorn! + +They had often seen Crookhorn going with the cows as if she were one of +them; and they knew that though she was Lisbeth's own goat there was no +use in trying to make her go with the other goats. The little girl had +told them how impossible it had been to manage the creature at the +farm, and that Kjersti had said the men would have to make an end of +her when winter came. + +So Ole offered to tame Crookhorn. He was sure that he could teach her +to go with the others. There had never been a goat yet that had not +been forced to yield when he attempted to master it. + +Yes, indeed, Lisbeth was more than willing for him to try. If he +succeeded, she would gladly give him all she owned. + +No, Ole did not want any payment for doing it; but if she insisted on +giving him something, he would like the goat's horns after the goat was +slaughtered, as it would have to be some day. They would make matchless +horns to blow upon. + +But Peter, too, wanted to have a share in the undertaking. If the goat +proved to be very cross and obstinate, two persons would surely be +needed to tame her. Then they could have one horn apiece. + +Ole did not know whether he would agree to that or not, for it was he +who had thought of the plan. + +Yes, but how could he carry it out? Peter did not believe that +Crookhorn could be made to go with the other goats unless there was a +stronger goat for her to be fastened to. Ole did not have such a one. +It was Peter who had the big billy goat, the only one strong enough for +the task. + +Yes, that was true; so Peter might help in taming Crookhorn if he would +lend his billy goat. + +Lisbeth, for her part, thought they ought all to help; that was the +only proper way. And her suggestion was finally followed. + + * * * * * + +Ole's taming of Crookhorn was the errand that brought the boys to the +Hoel Saeter on the morning that Lisbeth and the milkmaid were doing +their milking so early. + +The two flocks came pushing and crowding over the hill; but as soon as +the animals realized that they were to be allowed to go close to the +saeter, they began to run at full speed. It was always such fun to go to +a strange place! They would be sure to find something new to see and to +stick their noses into,--perhaps a little milk stirabout in the pig +trough, a little salt on the salting stone, or a hole in the fence +where one could get a chance to squeeze through without being seen. + +The bells clanged, the boys ran about shouting and hallooing and giving +their musical calls, trying to keep the worst goats in order, but +perhaps making a little more noise than was necessary. + +Where all had been so still before there was now the liveliest +commotion. The milkmaid could not resist going to the cow-house door to +look out; and Lisbeth would surely have forgotten to milk the last of +her goats if it had not come over to her of its own accord and stood +directly in her way as she was going out of the fold. + +When Ole saw the milkmaid at the cow-house door he called out, "Shall +you not let out your cattle soon?" + +"Yes; I am just ready to," answered the milkmaid. "Are you ready, +Lisbeth?" + +"I am milking my last goat." + +Soon everything was done, and the animals stood waiting to be let out. + +Ole had with him a strong band woven of willow withes, with an +ingeniously fastened loop at each end. One loop was for Peter's billy +goat, the other for Crookhorn. Ole thought it was a very fine apparatus +indeed. + +"Where is Crookhorn?" + +"In the cow house." + +"Then I had better go in and get her myself. Bring your goat, Peter, +and hold him ready." + +Peter called his big billy goat. It knew its name and came at once. + +"Let me see how strong you are," said Peter. He took hold of its horns, +held its head down, and pushed against it. The billy goat bunted, took +a fresh start, bunted again,--they often played in this way,--and sent +Peter against the fence. + +"There!" exclaimed Peter, picking himself up; "I rather think that +billy goat is strong enough to drag any goat along, no matter how big a +one." Peter fairly glowed with pride. + +Ole, too, wanted to try the strength of the goat. Yes, it was an +amazingly strong goat. + +Then Ole went into the cow house, and in a few moments came back +leading Crookhorn by the band of willow withes. The next step was to +fasten the other loop around the billy goat's neck, and behold! there +stood the two goats harnessed together. But neither of them seemed to +notice that anything had been done. + +Lisbeth and the milkmaid and the boys waited a while expectantly; but +the billy goat rather enjoyed being looked at, and would not budge so +long as they and the flocks were near by. He merely stood still and +wanted to be petted. + +So Ole said: "Let your animals out, Lisbeth, and start ours on the +path, Peter. Then we shall see a double-team grazing contest." + +Lisbeth opened the gate and her animals crowded out, taking their +customary way up over the hill. Peter drove his own flock and Ole's +after them. + +Seeing this, the billy goat thought it was high time for him to be +jogging along, so he took a step forward; but something was the matter. +He looked back. Who was playing tricks and hindering him? + +He saw Crookhorn with all four legs planted fast on the ground and her +neck stretched out. + +"Pooh! nothing but that," thought the billy goat, taking a couple of +steps forward. Crookhorn found herself obliged to follow, but she laid +her head back and struggled. Then the billy goat gathered all his +force, set his horns high in the air, and tugged at the band. He would +show her that he was not to be kept back by any such foolery! + +Crookhorn again found herself obliged to follow, but she resisted and +resisted with all her might. At length her fore legs doubled up under +her and she sank upon her knees; but the billy goat went on as if +nothing had happened, and Crookhorn had to follow on her knees across +the whole flat part of the saeter field. + +Lisbeth and the boys shrieked with laughter, and even the milkmaid +found it impossible not to join in. + +When Crookhorn reached the beginning of the hill, where the ground was +more uneven, she thought it wiser to get up and trot along on her four +feet; but although she yielded thus far for the sake of her own +comfort, she still continued to struggle against being forced to go at +all. + +The animals took the customary path leading farther over the mountain. +Little by little Crookhorn seemed to conclude that she must submit to +the inevitable. During the first part of the morning she was sullen and +contrary, merely allowing herself to be dragged along; but as the day +wore on and her stomach felt empty and slack, she grew more subdued and +began to walk quietly forward, eating as she went like any other +goat,--only looking up once in a while when she heard the heavy cow +bell in the distance. + +The fun was gone when Crookhorn took to behaving well, so the boys +began as usual to wrestle and turn somersaults; and this they kept up +until it was nearly time to go home for their nooning. Then Ole said: +"Now let us slip her loose on trial. I think she must be cured by this +time." + +Yes, the others agreed to that. + +So they called to the billy goat coaxingly. He came jogging along with +his big horns straight up and Crookhorn trailing after him. Ole first +set the billy goat free, and then, kneeling down before Crookhorn, he +took hold of her beard. Crookhorn pawed with her feet as goats do when +they want to get rid of this hold, but Ole would not let go. He wished +to give her a few admonitions first. + +Now that she had found her master, he told her, she need no longer +imagine that she was a cow. Hereafter she was to behave like other +goats or she would have him to deal with; and at this he gave her beard +a wag, as if to add force to his words. That hurt Crookhorn, and she +made a bound straight at him and sent him rolling backward. Then, +passing directly over him, with the willow band trailing behind her, +she set out on a trot across the marsh in the direction from which the +sound of the cow bell had come. + +Ole scrambled up again, stamped the ground with rage, and started after +her. + +Lisbeth and Peter were already on the way. They shouted and screamed as +they ran, and threatened Crookhorn with all sorts of punishments if she +did not stop; but Crookhorn acted as if she did not understand. She +ran, and they after her. The boys became more and more angry. It had +never happened before that they had been unable to capture a goat; and +besides, each boy was eager to get ahead of the other. So they ran +faster and faster. Although Lisbeth Longfrock was light-footed, +especially with her birch-bark shoes[13] on, she lagged behind. It was +like wading in deep water to try to run in that long frock of hers, +which, in the hasty start of the morning, she had forgotten to tuck up +in her belt as usual. + + [13] Lisbeth's ordinary shoes were clumsy wooden ones. + +Soon she caught a last glimpse of the boys as they disappeared over a +hill on the other side of the marsh. Peter was ahead (she believed he +really was the faster runner of the two). But she herself was only in +the middle of the marsh. + +So she stopped. Certainly the best thing that she could do was to go +back and get the animals together; otherwise all three flocks were +likely to stray away. + +She turned back, recrossed the marsh, and had climbed the hill a little +way when she heard a rumbling and thudding noise, which grew constantly +louder and louder, while the ground seemed to roll in waves under her +feet. What could it be? Around the foot of the hill came a big herd of +horses[14]--oh, what a big herd! There were horses old and young, and +foals running beside their mothers; horses brown, dun-colored, black, +and white; and all of them were so bright and shiny and fat and +skittish! They trotted and ran, with heads tossing,--those ahead being +passed by others, then those behind getting ahead again,--making a +noise almost like the booming of thunder. + + [14] Horses, as well as other animals, are sent up on the + mountains to graze during the summer. They roam about at will, + and sometimes go home of their own accord at the end of the + season, if no one has been sent to fetch them. + +Lisbeth stood still and watched them, half afraid. She had never seen +so big a herd before. They noticed her, too, but they did not run at +her at all. Only two or three stopped, pricked up their ears, and gazed +at her, trying to make out what kind of little creature she could be. +Then they ran on again, and in an instant the whole herd had gone past. +Lisbeth could only hear the thunder of their hoofs as they galloped +into the path leading to the saeter. + +But her animals! and the boys' flocks! Naturally the horses had +frightened them. Lisbeth could see no trace of them anywhere. She ran +from hill to hill, stopping to listen and then running again. + +It was all of no use; she could not find them. The only wise course for +her was to go back to the saeter. + +This was the first and only time that Lisbeth Longfrock went home +without taking her animals with her. + +But when she reached the saeter there lay the whole flock peacefully +within the fold, chewing the cud. They had gone home of their own +accord. The horses that had given Lisbeth such a fright were there +also, walking about and licking up the salt which the milkmaid had +strewn for them. + +In the afternoon the milkmaids from the other saeters came to inquire +after the boys, for their goats had also come home of themselves long +before the usual time. + +It was not until much later that Ole and Peter arrived, dragging +Crookhorn between them. + +When the milkmaids laughed at them the boys could not help feeling a +little chagrined. That they had let their flocks stray away could not +be denied; but no one could say that they had come home without any +animal at all,--although two big boys _did_ seem a rather liberal +number to be in charge of a single goat, however large that goat might +be. + +Things had gone wrong for that day, Ole acknowledged; but Crookhorn was +not to think that she had seen the end of the struggle. They would take +her with them again the next day. She should get her deserts. + +But it turned out otherwise. Crookhorn knew better than to let such a +thing happen. When they took off the willow band she stood still awhile +with her neck stretched up, looking at the horses which were at that +moment going out of the inclosure. Suddenly she kicked up her hind legs +in real horse fashion, and then away she went after the herd as fast as +she could go. + +The milkmaids, as well as the boys, could do nothing but stand and gape +when they saw her join the horses. + +"Probably she imagines now that she is a horse," thought they. + +For a while they stood in silence watching the receding herd. Then Ole +said in his dry fashion, "If there had been any elephants here, it +would have been just like Crookhorn to imagine herself an elephant." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +HOME FROM THE SAETER + + +Summer, with its light nights and brilliant days, comes rapidly to full +power on the mountains in Norway. The season is brief but intense. + +It begins with a creeping of light green over the gentle slopes and +unending marshes, and a trickling of light green down around each +_tue_, or little mound of earth covered with moss and tiny berry +plants. Ptarmigans roam about in solitary pairs, murmuring when any one +comes too near their nests; gnats and horseflies buzz through the air; +and cows, with tails set straight up, scamper friskily about, trying to +escape the irritating stings. + +Over everything lies a thick, warm, dark-blue haze, hindering a free +outlook. + +But soon come the blueberries, the marsh wool or cotton grass, and +later the cloudberries; and on some fine day when the mother ptarmigans +go out to walk, peeping sounds are heard around them, here, there, and +everywhere. The mother birds scold more than ever, now that their young +ones are whirling like so many feathery balls a yard or more upward, +and two or three yards forward, and then tumbling down into the heather +again, head foremost. By this time the cows roam about quietly and +meditatively over the mountain, seeking the juiciest, best-flavored +herbage to nibble; the warm haze melts away and the air becomes so +sparklingly clear that mountain peaks miles distant are as delicately +and sharply outlined as the nearest little mound. Then the cloudberry +blossoms fall, and soon the marshes grow yellow and red, the tiny +blossoms of the heather color all the knolls and rocky places, the +greenness vanishes, and over the patches of white reindeer moss, which +shine out like snow here and there on the mountain, comes a blush of +red and a tinge of brown. Autumn is now drawing near. + +Much of the time the sun shines brightly, and when it does, how +glorious to be the herder of a flock! + +But there come days also when the fog spreads itself like a close gray +blanket, under which the ground, with its mounds and bushes and +heather, creeps stealthily, disappearing a few yards away. And out of +the fog comes a fine, mist-like rain, which deposits itself in tiny +gray beads on every blade and every pine needle, so that wherever any +one goes there is a little sprinkling of water. + +In such weather it is far from pleasant to be in charge of a flock. If +the animals move forward quietly, the herder must seek shelter under +every bush, with a piece of sacking over his shoulders to shield him +from the wet. But it is far more likely that he will be obliged to run +about, with the water squeezing in and out of his shoes, trying to keep +track of his animals; for in weather like this the mushrooms spring up +plentifully and the animals scatter eagerly in all directions to find +them, scorning other food when these may be obtained. Sometimes when +the herder is speeding along the edge of the marsh, a pair of large, +powerful cranes, who are on their journey south, will loom suddenly +before him out of the fog. This startles him greatly, for the cranes +seem to the herder much larger than they really are. They look like a +couple of great sheep with wings on. + +Later in the season comes a morning when all is glistening white. A +little snow has fallen during the night,--not enough to last, however; +it melts away as the day goes on. But after this the animals no longer +like to go up on the higher parts of the mountain. The cows stand +lowing at the gate of the saeter inclosure; they know that sooner or +later they will be allowed to slip in there to enjoy the last of the +mountain's good grazing. The goats look inquiringly backward as they +are let out of the fold. Summer is over. Every one longs to go down +again to the home farm. + +At last a day comes when the gate is opened and the cows rush into the +saeter inclosure. They know now that they will not have to go up on the +bare mountain again this year. Then the farm hands come up with pack +horses, and other horses that have been running wild on the mountain +all summer are found and taken home. The packs are tied up; there is a +great washing, a clearing away of rubbish and putting things in order +for the next summer, and at last _Bufar_ day, the long-expected day of +returning to the home farm, arrives. + + * * * * * + +On Bufar day Lisbeth Longfrock stood up on the ridge of the +turf-covered cow-house roof, taking a final look at the surrounding +scene. She was all ready for the journey. Her lunch bag was on her +back, her birch-bark hat on her head, and the goat horn which Peter had +given her hung on a string around her neck. In her hand she carried a +stout stick. Within the saeter inclosure the cows and smaller animals +were roving back and forth from fence to fence impatiently. They knew +that Bufar day had come, for along the wall of the saeter hut, in a row, +stood the horses' packs, filled with butter tubs, cheese tubs, and +cheese boxes; and tied to the fence were the horses themselves. All of +these had pack saddles on, except the military horse, which stood +foremost among them, bearing a woman's saddle. The farm hands stood +outside, too, smoking their pipes. They were all ready, and were only +waiting for the milkmaid, who was inside the hut making the last batch +of cheese from the morning's milk, which she could not allow to be +wasted. + +While Lisbeth was standing on the ridge of the cow house Ole and Peter +came bobbing along past the fence of the fold. They were not so +boisterous as usual to-day, and stopped at the gate, looking at Lisbeth +without saying a word at first. Then Peter asked, "Are you going back +to the farm to-day, Lisbeth?" + +"Yes, I am all ready." + +With one impulse Lisbeth and the boys gazed over the mountain's +familiar expanse. + +"The mountain begins to look barren now," said Peter; "but I shall be +here a week longer." + +"So long as that?" said Lisbeth. "And you, Ole?" + +"I am going day after to-morrow." + +All three were silent again for a while. Then Lisbeth said: "I suppose +I must go with the others now. They surely must be ready." + +She descended from the roof and went over to where the boys were. The +conversation came to a standstill again; they could not think of +anything to say. Finally Peter spoke. + +"Are you coming again next summer, Lisbeth?" + +"Yes, if Kjersti Hoel is pleased with me; but that can hardly be +expected, since I am going home without Crookhorn." + +"It would take a horse trainer to look after her," said Ole. + +Again there was silence. Then Ole said: "We did not go up to Glory Peak +this summer, to see the spot the king once visited." + +"No, we didn't." + +"We two boys are coming here again next summer, both of us." + +"Perhaps we can go to Glory Peak after all then, even if it is so far +away." + +"Yes, we can," said Ole. "And I can tell you a good deal about the +king's visit, for my father went with him and drove." + +"Drove the king's carriage?" + +"No, not the king's; the county magistrate's." + +"My father went with him, too," said Peter, "and drove; so I can tell +about it as well as you." + +"Yes, but whose carriage did he drive? A homely old woman's!" + +"But that homely old woman was next in rank to the queen. She was the +one who went off to walk with the queen at the foot of Glory Peak." + +Just then came a call for Lisbeth. She hesitated a moment, then +stretched out her little hand and said: "Good-by. May you both fare +well. Thanks for this summer." + +"Thanks to you for the same," said Ole. "We are to meet again, then, +next summer?" + +"Yes." + +"May you fare well," said Peter. + +He stood holding her hand awhile; then, thinking he ought to say +something more, he added, "I will greet Jacob from you, Lisbeth." + +After that the boys vanished along the fence as noiselessly as they had +come. + + * * * * * + +Inside the saeter inclosure the farm hands were putting the packs on the +horses, and the military horse had been led to the gate. Lisbeth ran +into the inclosure, drove her animals together and counted them, +certainly for the tenth time that day. Soon everything stood ready for +the homeward march. + +The milkmaid appeared in the doorway, clad in her Sunday best, as on +the day she came. She closed the saeter door with a bang, turned the +large key solemnly in the lock, took it out and put it in her pocket. +That key she would not intrust to any one else; she wanted to deliver +it to Kjersti Hoel with her own hand. After trying the door vigorously +to be sure that it was securely locked, she went to the window and +looked in to assure herself that everything was in order and the fire +entirely out. Then, going over to the military horse, she climbed into +the saddle. One of the farm hands opened the gate for her as if she had +been a queen, and out she rode. + +After her followed the pack horses, one by one, and the cows in the +same order as when they came up,--the bell cow, Brindle, and the whole +long line. Behind the cows came the smaller animals, and, last of all, +Lisbeth Longfrock with a stick in her hand, her birch-bark hat on her +head, and her lunch bag on her back. + +Lisbeth turned and looked at the scene she was leaving. There lay the +saeter, desolate now. The mountain, too, appeared lonely and forsaken. +Of course she, like all the others, had longed for home during these +last days; but it was strange, after all, for her to be going away from +everything up here. A little of the same feeling she had had when +leaving Peerout Castle crept over her. How singular that she should +happen to recall that sad time just at this moment! She had not thought +of it at all since coming up on the mountain,--not once during the +whole long summer. + +Nor would she think of it now; there were other and happier things to +remember. God be praised, all had gone well at the saeter, and the whole +procession was on its way home. She was taking her animals safely +back,--all except Crookhorn. Of her she had seen nothing since that day +when the boys had tried to tame her; but she had heard that far off on +the mountain a big goat went about with a herd of horses. + + * * * * * + +All day long the great procession went on its way over the mountain in +steady, plodding fashion. The animals were fatter and heavier than in +the spring; they trod the hills with a brisker and firmer step, and +none showed any sign of being tired or lagging behind. The milkmaid was +rosy-cheeked and plump ("Butterpack" she was always called in the +autumn). As she and Lisbeth looked at the procession, one from the +front and the other from the rear, they agreed in thinking that the +animals, as well as the butter and cheese, were such as they need not +be ashamed to take home to Kjersti Hoel. + +Evening was drawing near, when suddenly the road pitched down over the +edge of the mountain, the valley began to open before them, and they +could even catch a glimpse of the slope on the other side. Every one +looked over there, but all that could be seen as yet was a strip along +the uppermost edge. The only one to distinguish a house upon the strip +was Lisbeth Longfrock. Away up and off to one side she saw the setting +sun glittering on a little pane of glass in a low gray hut. That hut +was Peerout Castle. + +Then all at once they came out upon the open mountain side, and the +whole valley lay before them, broad and peaceful, with its yellow +fields and stacks of grain, its green spaces, and its slope of birch +trees flaming in yellow, with here and there a red mountain ash among +them. And over across they spied Hoel,--large, substantial, and well +cared for,--with its broad, shining windows and its general air of +comfort. Smoke was issuing from its chimney,--such an inviting, +coffee-suggesting, welcoming smoke! Kjersti had probably hung the +coffee kettle over the fire already, so as to receive them in a +suitable manner. + +The whole procession now began to show more life. Every member of it +knew that Kjersti Hoel stood over there in the window watching the long +line as it curved down the open slope. All moved forward more quickly. +The horses hurried ahead; the cows began to trot, the bell cow sending +out an eager Moo-oo! across the valley; the bells jingled merrily; and +Lisbeth Longfrock trilled a vigorous call through her little goat horn. +They wanted every one to hear that the great company of animals +belonging to Hoel Farm was now coming back again. + +Thus they hastened down to the bottom of the valley and then up the +opposite side. It was not long before they were actually at home. + +Kjersti Hoel herself stood at the cow-house door and opened it for +them. The cows recognized her, and each one of them, as they went by +her in turn, received a word or a pat on the head; after which, proud +and satisfied, they went to their separate stalls,--not a single cow +making a mistake. They went swiftly, too, for they knew that there was +something good in the mangers to welcome them. And they needed +something, surely, for there had not been time to eat anything along +the road that day. + +When the milkmaid had dismounted from her horse Kjersti took her hand +and said, "Welcome home!" Then Kjersti went over to the door of the +sheep barn, opened that also, and counted the goats and sheep as they +went in; and when Lisbeth Longfrock came following in their wake, +Kjersti took her hand also and said, "Welcome home!" + +"But," faltered Lisbeth, "I have not brought Crookhorn back with me." + +"No, I see that you have not; and it is a good thing. Now we shall be +rid of her capers for a while. You have been a faithful and capable +little worker, there is no doubt of that. And how you have grown! Why, +your long frock is far above your toes now!" + +Then the milkmaid and Lisbeth fastened the cows in their stalls, while +Kjersti went to watch the unloading of the packs and to look at the +tubs and boxes containing the butter and cheese that had been made at +the saeter. + +After that Kjersti came to them again and asked them to "Please walk +in," exactly as if they were grand strangers. And when they had gone +into the house they were invited into Kjersti's own sitting room, both +Lisbeth and the milkmaid. Here the table was set with a welcoming meal, +and oh, how delicious the food smelled! There were large hot pancakes +as thin as paper, and pease bread, and hot new potatoes,--the finest +feast you can give to people just home from a saeter. And Kjersti +herself poured coffee for them and begged them to help themselves. Then +they had to give an account of everything that had happened on the +mountain; to tell about the cows,--which of them had given the most +milk and which of them had stopped giving; about the sheep, goats, and +pigs; and about the butter and cheese that had been made. And then +Kjersti praised her two servants for their faithfulness and industry, +and the trio rejoiced together over the success of the summer. + +That evening when Lisbeth Longfrock again lay stretched out on her +little bed in her room under the hall stairs and thought back over the +summer and about the mountain, it seemed to her that she had had a +glorious time, as delightful as could be thought of; but, all the same, +it was pleasant to come home again, too,--especially when one was +welcomed by such an unusually fine woman as Kjersti Hoel. + + * * * * * + +Autumn was passing away. The leaves had fallen and the trees spread out +naked branches into the cold air. In the fields where grain had grown +stood only the poles, now bare and slanting, on which the crops had +been stacked. The verdure of the meadows was changed to yellowish +brown. + +There was no more food for the animals out of doors, so slaughtering +day had come. That is the end of the season for the young herder, for +on that day he gives up his responsibility. Thenceforward he is no +longer a person with a special duty; he must be at every one's beck and +call. And when winter comes with its long evenings, when the wood fire +gleams out over the huge kitchen from the great open fireplace, while +wool is being carded and the spinning wheel whirs, and the farm hands +make brooms out of twigs and whittle thole pins and ax handles, then +must the herder sit by the pile of twigs and logs at the side of the +fireplace and feed the fire so that the rest can see to work while he +studies his lessons. + +By the pile of wood in Kjersti Hoel's big kitchen Lisbeth Longfrock had +her place on the long winter evenings. She studied and listened, and +heard so many curious things talked about that it seemed as if the +evenings were too short and the days too few, in spite of the long, +dark Norwegian winter. Before she knew it spring had come again; and +when she looked down at her long frock she found that the hem reached +no farther than the tops of her ankles. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +ON GLORY PEAK + + +It was again high summer, and the sun shone bright on all the mountain +tops when, one morning, an ear-splitting call played on three goat +horns rang suddenly out from the inclosure belonging to Hoel saeter. One +call was thin and fine, the other two were heavier. + +That triple signal meant "Forward, march!" Lisbeth Longfrock, Ole, and +Peter were going to take their trip to Glory Peak to see the spot that +had been visited by the king. + +The boys now owned goat horns to blow on, and they were good ones, too; +for Lisbeth Longfrock had kept her word about Crookhorn's horns and had +given one to each boy. + +After Crookhorn's running off with the herd of horses, things had not +gone any better with that proud-minded goat. When she finally came +home, late in the autumn, with the last of the horses, she was so +conceited that there was no getting her to live in the barn with the +other goats. They had to put her in the cow house; but not even the cow +house was good enough for her after her summer experiences. Every time +she got an opportunity, out she bounded, trotting over to the door of +the stable as if she belonged in there. The stable boy insisted that he +had even heard her neigh. One day, when the men were feeding the +horses, they saw her dash in, and, with her usual self-important air, +attempt to squeeze her way into the stall of the military horse. But +that she should not have done. It was dark, and the military horse +failed to see that it was only Crookhorn at his heels; so up went his +hind legs and out went a kick that landed plump on Crookhorn's cranium +and sent her flying against the stable wall. That was the last of +Crookhorn. + +It cannot be said that any one, except perhaps Lisbeth Longfrock, +sorrowed particularly over her; but Lisbeth could not help remembering +that Crookhorn had given them milk for their coffee that winter up at +Peerout Castle. At any rate, if not much sorrowed for, the queer, +ambitious creature was held in honorable esteem after her death. Such +horns as hers Ole had never seen. Not only were they extremely large, +but they gave out a peculiarly fine sound. Any one would know at once +that they were not the horns of an ordinary goat. There had always been +something about Crookhorn that no one understood, Ole said. Yes, Peter +had noticed that too. Afterward, when he had thought a little more on +the subject, he said he believed that horses' horns would have exactly +the same sound as those of this remarkable goat, if there were any +horses with horns! + +On the day of the visit to Glory Peak the goat horns, as musical +instruments, were brand-new, being used that day for the first time. In +fact, the trip had been put off until they were ready. + +But new goat horns were not the only things the travelers were provided +with. All three wore their best clothes, and each carried a lunch bag +full of food on his back and a stout stick in his hand. The trip was so +long that it would take a whole day. + +Once more they blew their horns,--all three together. The animals +looked up in surprise at the unusual volume of sound, and the milkmaid +came to the cow-house door with a smiling face. Then off the party +started. The flocks were mingled together to-day, and driven straight +ahead,--no time for them to graze by the wayside with Glory Peak lying +so far away, blue against the sky. This excursion was a much longer one +than Lisbeth had ever before taken, and even Ole and Peter had been to +Glory Peak but once. + + * * * * * + +It was drawing on toward dinner time when they came to the last gentle +ascent leading to the top of Glory Peak. There the juniper bushes and +"old woman's switches" (dwarf birch) grew so high that the animals were +quite lost to sight among them. Lisbeth and the boys could only see the +course of their charges by a wavelike movement that passed over the +tops of the bushes and by the sticking up of a pair of horns here and +there. Ole thought that this was a good place to leave the flocks for a +time, while they themselves went on ahead. The animals were so tired +and hungry that they would stay there quietly for an hour or so; then, +when rested, they would be sure to follow to the peak, for a goat was +never satisfied until it had mounted to the highest possible point, +where it could look about in all directions. Ole's plan was assented +to, and it proved to be a good one. + +Ole led Lisbeth and Peter around a curve toward the north. He wanted to +show them exactly where the king and queen came up on the day of their +visit. To be sure, they were not really king and queen that day, but +they were on the very point of being: they were crown prince and crown +princess. They had left their horses down on the mountain side where +the road grew too steep for driving, and had walked the rest of the +way. Oh, what a large company they had with them!--the county +magistrate, the district judge, and officers so richly dressed that +they could scarcely move. Seven or eight of the principal farmers of +the district were also in the company, and first among these were +Nordrum, Jacob's master, and the master of Hoel Farm, who was then +living. These two wore queer old-fashioned swallow-tailed coats. All +around over the whole mountain top were crowds of other people gazing +at the lively scene. + +"The king looked wonderfully fine, didn't he?" asked Lisbeth. + +"No. The county magistrate looked much finer, and so did the officers, +and even the people who waited upon them. But it could easily be seen +that he was the king, for he was a head taller than any of the others." + +"The king must be tremendously strong," said Peter. + +"Strong! Of course he is! And he must have use for every bit of his +strength, too, for he has to govern all the others." + +"Was the queen also very large?" asked Lisbeth. + +"No, she was not much larger than an ordinary woman. She was unusually +earnest and modest-looking, father said. There was not so much fuss and +feathers with her as with the other women folk." + +"No," said Peter; "the old frump that my father drove laughed even at +the magistrate, and found fault because his hands were too big." + +"Humph!" said Ole; "that _was_ a joke. As if a grown-up fellow should +not have big fists! Anyhow, I don't see how she could have seen them, +for the magistrate wore his white gloves, although it was high summer." + +Ole resumed the part of showman. + +"Next they came up over this way,--the whole company, close by that +very stone there; and then the king ran on ahead of them. He wanted to +be the first to reach the top, as one might know. And now I will show +you exactly what he did. Follow me. I will be the king, and you, +Lisbeth, may be the queen. Come along!" + +Ole walked hastily over the last spur of the ground, the others +following. Then, running the last few steps, they found themselves +suddenly on the very top of the mountain! Ole threw out his hand and +stood a long time in silence. + +The others stood still also, involuntarily, impressed by the wonderful +sight. Here and there over the endless expanse of mountain shone +glistening lakes and mountain pools, and away off in the distance rose +snow-clad peaks. On every open slope lay green saeters; and toward the +south, as far as the eye could reach, were beautiful farming districts +and dark-green, forest-clad ridges. + +Ole, in his character of king, threw out his hand again. "This is the +most beautiful spot I have ever seen!" he cried. Then, after a short +pause, "Come, Sophie, and see!" Ole took Lisbeth's hand and drew her +forward. + +"Yes," assented Peter, "that is exactly the way the king did. I have +heard about it, too." + +"Of course it was," said Ole. "Don't you think I know?" + +"What else did he do?" asked Lisbeth. + +"The king and queen then went around and spoke to all the other people, +who began to take out long spyglasses and gaze in all directions and +ask the name of everything. + +"The county magistrate, as the highest of the local officials, stood +near the king and queen and pointed things out to them. + +"'See that group of distant white peaks,' said the magistrate; 'and +there to the north is Snow-Cap, although I am not sure that you can +distinguish it; and that little black thing farthest away' (Ole pointed +as the magistrate had done) 'is the highest peak in Norway.'[15] + + [15] The mountain referred to is Galdhoepiggen. + +"After a while the company turned around, facing the south. When they +saw the view in that direction,--with the great shining lake lying so +far away down there, and the forests stretching farther and farther in +the distance,--even the king himself was astonished. He thought that +the forests must reach almost to Sweden. He had never seen so vast an +extent of forest at one view, king though he was. When they had +finished looking at the surrounding landscape, Nordrum went to that +patch of reindeer moss over there and gathered a whole handful of it. A +good many of the people wondered, of course, what he was going to do +with it. He went over to the king, showed it to him, and then said, +'Should you like to see the moss that we mixed with birch bark to make +bread during the war?' + +"The king took a piece and chewed it. 'Yes, there is bird lime in it,' +he said. + +"Nobody else had moved or spoken since Nordrum picked the moss,--they +were so surprised. At last father heard one of the officers say, 'It is +astonishing how tactless these farmers can be!'" + +"What is _tactless_?" asked Lisbeth. + +"Oh, I don't know; but no doubt it is something pleasant, for the king +clapped Nordrum on the shoulder and said: 'Thanks, my good man. We can +all thank God that there are happier days in Norway now.' + +"'That was what I was thinking of when I showed you the moss,' said +Nordrum. + +"Then they took the king to the great heap of stones that was piled up +as a memorial of his visit, and asked him to scratch his name upon the +stone slab beside it. And so he did, '_O. S._,' which stands for Oscar +and Sophia; and then the number of the year, too,--see, here it is! It +was all cut into the slab afterwards, exactly as the king himself had +scratched it." + +The three looked at the letters. Yes, indeed, that was beautiful +writing, almost like print. How remarkably well the king must be able +to write on paper, when he could write like that on stone! + +Just then the animals came crowding up over the edge of the mountain +top. They also went to the pile of stones and the big flat stone, like +a table, that stood beside it. They began to lie down, for now, after +eating, they wanted to rest. + +"What else did the king and the others do?" asked Lisbeth. + +"There wasn't much more. Oh, yes! after the king had finished writing, +he seemed to think that they needed something to eat; so he began +singing to the magistrate a line from an old song that they all knew. +The king had a good voice and it rang out with jolly zest: + + Oh, have you a drop in your bottle? + +Then they laughed, and came forward with a basket, and set the table on +the stone here. And they had something to drink, and some little cakes, +and after that they went away again. And now," concluded Ole, "I think +that we also need something to eat. Let us sit here at the king's table +and have our lunch, too." + +They took their lunch bags from their backs and sat down on the big, +thick stone table, while the animals lay around them chewing the cud. +When the bags were opened many good things came out. There was butter, +and pork, and pease bread, and, in Lisbeth's, cream waffles besides. In +each bag there was also a bottle of milk, except in Ole's--he had +forgotten his. But that did not matter, for the others had plenty. They +shared their food with each other, and when Ole wanted milk he merely +sang, + + Oh, have you a drop in your bottle? + +And so he got rather more than his share, after all. + +They did not talk much at the beginning of the meal, for it was so good +to get a chance to eat; but when they had eaten quite a while, and +their jaws began to work more slowly, Peter said, as if he had been +pondering upon it, "I wonder what the king has to eat,--for every day, +I mean." + +"Loppered-cream[16] porridge, all day long," said Ole with conviction. + + [16] Cream that has been allowed to stand until it has attained a + jellylike consistency. Loppered milk is sometimes called + bonnyclabber. + +"Yes; but when he wants a little solid food, once in a while?" asked +Lisbeth. + +Peter had just put a very delicious piece of pork on some pease bread. +He looked at it with real enjoyment before eating it. + +"I am sure that he has pork and pease bread," said he. + +Lisbeth took the last waffle and bit a piece off. Then she said, "Yes; +but the queen,--she certainly does not eat anything but cream waffles!" + + * * * * * + +While they sat there on the stone, eating and talking, they saw a +figure far off on the mountain. It was coming in the direction of Glory +Peak. So unusual is it to meet another person up on the mountain that +it gives one a strange feeling when it happens. Soon they could think +of nothing except this stranger. + +"It must be a man trying to find his horses," said Ole. + +"Yes, it must be, surely," said Peter. "But what farmer could be +sending up for his horses now?" + +"Let me see,--it must be Nordrum." + +"Yes, that is true. They have only Old Blakken[17] at home now, and +they will have to begin their haymaking soon." + + [17] A pet name for the dun-colored Norwegian horses. + +"Yes; but this man is going on a wild-goose chase to-day. The Nordrum +mare is over on the other side of our saeter. I saw her a fortnight +ago." + +"If we set him right he can find her to-morrow." + +"Yes, easily." + +They sat still and watched, for they knew it would be a long time +before the figure could reach them. It is so strange to watch any one +coming toward you on the mountain. He walks and walks, and it can be +seen from his motions that he is walking quickly, too, but he does not +appear to be getting the least bit nearer. He continues to seem small +and far away, and to increase very slowly in size, because the +distances from point to point are so great. + +The animals had risen and had begun to descend the peak in the +direction of the saeter; but they concluded to lie down again and await +the stranger's approach. + +At last he reached them. + +They had guessed aright. He was walking about trying to find the +Nordrum horses. The boys told him what they knew, and said that +although he could not get them that day, he could the next day, surely. + +When the question of the horses was settled the man turned to Lisbeth. + +"Isn't it you who are called Lisbeth Longfrock?" + +"Yes," answered Lisbeth, "they do call me that." + +"Then I bring you a greeting from Jacob, your brother. I have a letter +with me from him. He wants me to bring him an answer, but there is no +hurry about it until to-morrow. I shall spend the night at Hoel Saeter, +whether I find the horses to-day or not. But now I must look around a +little before evening comes on. I want to be sure that the horses are +not on this side of the saeter." So off he went. + +Lisbeth was still sitting on the king's table. It was the first time +she had ever received a letter. Indeed, even Ole and Peter had never +received any. They were entirely overwhelmed with respectful surprise +and took their stand at a suitable distance. + +On the outside of the letter stood: + + _Salve Titel._[18] + To the Highly Respected Maiden, + Lisbeth Jacob's-daughter Longfrock, + at Hoel Saeter, on the West Mountain. + + At Convenience, by Messenger. + + Post Free. + + [18] An expression from the Latin, often used in old-fashioned + Norwegian correspondence. It meant, in a general way, "Pardon any + error in the address." + +Lisbeth broke the seal solemnly and opened the letter. Then she read, +half aloud: + + NORDRUM SAETER, 15th of this month. + + _Salve Titel._ + + TO THE MAIDEN LISBETH LONGFROCK. + + _Good Sister:_ Since time and opportunity permit, I now take my pen + in hand to write to you and tell you that I have nothing to write + about except that it is a long time since I last saw you. But I + have a spare day due to me from Hans. I took care of his animals + for him when he went to his mother's burial. It was really two + days, but I only reckoned it as one, because it was his mother. And + now I will take that day from him on the next Sunday of this month. + In case you have a day due to you from Peter or Ole, I write to ask + if you cannot take it from them. But if you have not, you can take + a day, all the same, because I am stronger; but I did not mean + anything by it when I gave Peter a thrashing last winter. So I + wanted to write to you and ask if we could not meet at Peerout + Castle, for I have not been there since-- + + You are requested to come to the meeting in good season. Bring + something to eat with you. + + With much regard, + + Respectfully, + + Jacob Jacob's-son Nordrum, Esq. + + P.S. Please answer. + +That evening Lisbeth Longfrock sat with her tongue thrust into one +corner of her mouth, and wrote her response. + + + HOEL'S SAETER, 17th of this month. + + TO BACHELOR JACOB JACOB'S-SON NORDRUM. + + _Good Brother:_ I will now write a few words to you, and thank you + for your welcome letter which I have duly received. I am glad to + see that you are in good health. The same can be said of me, except + for toothache. But I will gladly come, and the milkmaid says I may + be away over night, because it is too far. And so Ole and Peter can + each have a day from me. For I have not had any day from them. They + wrestle almost all the time, but Peter is nearly as strong. + + I must now close my poor letter to you, with many greetings from + them. But first and foremost are you greeted by me. + + Your affectionate sister, + + Lisbeth Jacob's-daughter Longfrock. + + P.S. Excuse the writing. Burn this letter, dear. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE VISIT TO PEEROUT CASTLE + + +Late on Saturday evening Lisbeth Longfrock went jogging slowly up over +the hilly road to Hoel Farm. The milkmaid had given her leave to go to +the farm and to stay away until Monday evening. + +She had risen early that day, for she would not think of such a thing +as leaving the saeter before she had done her morning chores, and milked +the goats, and let out the cows. And she had had to do this very early, +not only because she was in a hurry to get away, but also because she +knew that Ole would not oversleep himself after having insisted so +strongly that he should take care of her flock the first day. She had +barely finished when Ole came. Peter was not with him; but she had had +a talk with Peter the evening before, and he was quite as well pleased +to take her flock on Sunday by himself, and then on Monday he and Ole +could watch all the flocks together. + +Ole had been very modest and ceremonious with Lisbeth as he bade her +good-by. He had shaken hands and asked her to greet Jacob from him, and +to say that he, Ole Hoegseth, would not keep close account of these +days Lisbeth was taking, since Jacob really needed to speak with his +sister. He did not know, of course, that Peter had said the very same +thing the evening before. + +And then she had given her animals over to Ole's care and had begun her +long walk down the mountain. She walked and she walked, hour after +hour. She had now gone over this saeter road several times, but had +never before noticed that it was so long as it seemed to-day. She +rested by a brook, took out her lunch, ate it and drank some water with +it, and then set out again. In order to forget how slowly time was +passing, she began to count her steps, first by tens and then by +hundreds, and each time she had finished counting, she looked back to +see how far she had walked; but this did not avail in the least, so she +made up her mind to count to a thousand. When she had counted almost up +to a thousand, she could not remember whether it was eight or nine +hundred she had had last, so she counted four hundred more in order to +be altogether certain that she had counted enough. + +But even that did not make the time pass any more quickly, and she did +not reach the point where she could look down into the valley until the +sun was setting. The shadow had begun to creep up on the opposite side. +Above the dark shadow line the slope was still bathed in the rosy +evening sunlight, but the shadow steadily ate its way upward. + +Then Lisbeth forgot to count her steps any more. What fun it would be +to try to reach the sunshine again before the shadow had passed Hoel, +which lay shining so brightly up there! + +She went down the long slope on a run; but, run as fast as she might, +it took time, and when she had reached the bottom of the valley and +started up the hilly road on the other side, the sun had gone down. She +could only catch its last gleam through the tops of the spruce trees, +and a last tiny reflection as it left the window of Peerout Castle. + +She stopped to get her breath after running. It was so still and warm +and close down there in the valley,--so different from what it had been +up on the mountain. It seemed as if the earth sent out a deep breath +the moment the sun went down,--a strange, heavy fragrance that made +her, all at once, feel anxious and downhearted, just as if she had done +something wrong which she could not remember. Then it came into her +mind that she ought to have sent word to Kjersti Hoel that she was +coming. People in the valley were always afraid that something was the +matter when a person came from the saeter unexpectedly; and it would be +too shameful for any one to give Kjersti Hoel a fright. + +That was the reason she was now jogging so slowly up over the hilly +road leading to Hoel Farm. She was in hopes that some one would catch +sight of her, or that at least Bearhunter would give warning of her +approach; for then they would see that she was not coming in haste, and +that she therefore could not be bringing any bad news. + +But no one caught sight of her, and no one was stirring on the farm; so +she would have to go right in, after all. + +Yes, Kjersti Hoel was really startled when she saw her. Lisbeth had no +time to offer a greeting before Kjersti said: "What in the world! Is +this a mountain bird that has taken flight? There is nothing the matter +at the saeter, is there?" + +Lisbeth made haste to answer: "Oh, no, indeed! I was to greet you from +the milkmaid and say that you must not be frightened at seeing me, for +everything is going very well with both man and beast. I have only come +down to make a visit and meet Jacob, my brother." + +"God be praised!" said Kjersti. "And now you are heartily welcome." + +At these words all Lisbeth's downheartedness vanished, and she felt +only how festive and cozy it was to be at home again. And Kjersti was +in the best of humors. She gave Lisbeth something good to eat, and +treated her with as much ceremony as if she had been the milkmaid +herself. When the time came for Lisbeth to go to bed, Kjersti went with +her all the way to the little sleeping room under the hall stairs, +which looked just as neat and orderly as when she had left it. And +Kjersti sat on the edge of the bed and asked after every single one of +the animals,--she remembered them all. And Lisbeth told about +everything. There was only one provoking thing that she shrank from +confessing (it might as well be acknowledged first as last, however, +for it was sure to come out sometime), and that was her mistake in +naming one of the calves. She had called it Young Moolley,[19] but the +name had proved not at all suitable, for the calf's horns had begun to +grow, although Lisbeth had done her best to prevent it by strewing salt +upon them. + + [19] See note on page 45. + + * * * * * + +The next day was Sunday, and Lisbeth thought it certainly began well +when no less a person than Kjersti Hoel herself came out into the +little hall room carrying a big tray with coffee and cakes on it, for +Lisbeth to indulge in as she lay in bed. Such grandeur as that Lisbeth +had never before experienced. She scarcely believed that such a thing +had ever happened to the milkmaid herself. And what was more, when she +hopped into her long frock Kjersti said that she must hurry up and +grow, for there would be a new dress for her as soon as this one had +crept up to her knees. And although Lisbeth had not said a word about +where she was going to meet Jacob, it seemed just as if Kjersti knew +that, too; for she made up a package with a remarkably fine lunch in +it, and told Lisbeth that she must treat Jacob to some of it, because +he would probably have to go back to Nordrum Saeter that evening and +would not have time to come down to Hoel. But after the lunch was put +up Kjersti did not seem to see any necessity for further haste. In +fact, she thought that it would not be possible for Jacob to get to +Peerout Castle very early, because he would have to come all the way +from Nordrum Saeter that morning. So, finally, Lisbeth had to show +Kjersti her letter and point out the place where it said, "You are +requested to come to the meeting in good season." Then, of course, +Kjersti understood that there was no time to spare. + +Shortly afterward Lisbeth was on her way to Peerout Castle, Bearhunter +following her up the road to where the slope of birch trees began; then +he turned around and jogged home with the blandest and prettiest of +Sunday curls in his tail. + +The valley lay before her in its quiet Sunday-morning peace. No one was +out on the road or in the fields. Here and there in the farmhouses +across the valley could be seen a man leaning against the frame of the +doorway, bareheaded, and in shirt sleeves as white as the driven snow. +From all the chimneys smoke was slowly arising in the still air. +Lisbeth looked involuntarily up at Peerout Castle. There everything +appeared gray and desolate. No smoke ascended from its chimney; and the +window eye that gazed out over the valley looked as if it was blind, +for the sunlight did not shine upon it now. And that brought to mind a +blind person whom Lisbeth had once seen and whose strange, empty eyes +made her shiver. She felt just the same now, and her pace slackened. +She did not wish to get to the house before Jacob did. + +When she finally reached Peerout Castle the first thing she saw was the +pine branches that had been nailed to the gateposts the last time she +was there. They stood in their places still, but they were dry, and the +pine needles had fallen off. She glanced hastily at the door of the +house. Yes, the pine trees stood there, too, just the same, but a +fresher twig had been stuck in the doorlatch,--some one had evidently +been there since that last day. The path that led from the gate to the +door and from there over to the cow house had vanished; grass covered +it. The cow-house door had fallen off, and around the doorposts had +grown up tall stinging nettles. No trace was to be seen of the foot of +man or beast. + +Lisbeth had rejoiced at the idea of coming back to her old home. It had +never entered her mind that Peerout Castle could be anything but the +pleasantest place in the whole world to come to. Now, on the contrary, +she felt all at once very, very lonely, more lonely than when on the +mountain or in the forest. She felt like one who, afraid of the dark, +is obliged to walk in it; as if every step must be taken warily, that +no creaking be heard. + +Without realizing it she veered away from the castle and the cow house, +feeling that she would rather go over to the big stone by the brook, +where she and Jacob used to have their playthings. Perhaps it was not +so desolate there. + +When she came to the heather ridge she saw Jacob already sitting on the +stone. At the sight of him Lisbeth felt as if there was life again in +all the desolation. She was so happy that she was about to run toward +him; but then she remembered that such behavior would not be suitable +at a ceremonious meeting like this, and that really it was so long a +time since she had seen Jacob that he was almost a stranger to her. +When he saw her, he jumped down from the stone and began to brush his +gray breeches with his hands and to set his cap straight,--he wore a +cap with a visor now, and not a straw hat like hers. Both of them were +as embarrassed as if they were entire strangers to each other, and they +could not look each other in the eye while shaking hands. He made a +heavy bob with his head, while she courtesied so low that her long +frock drooped down to the ground. After that, each dropped the other's +hand and they remained standing a long time, looking around. It was not +easy to find something to say, although both had fancied that they had +a great deal to talk about. At last Jacob thought of something. He +looked about for quite a while longer, and then said, as if he had +weighed the matter deliberately and thoroughly, "It is delightful +weather to-day." + +"Yes, really delightful." + +"If it holds out a fortnight longer, it will not be bad weather for +haying." + +"No, it will not be at all bad." + +"But we can scarcely expect that." + +"Oh, no! scarcely." + +Then there was silence again, for not much more could be said on that +subject. Lisbeth stole a look at Jacob. She thought of saying something +about his having grown so large; but then again it did not seem to her +quite proper for her to speak first, he being the elder. The package of +food caught her eye,--she could certainly begin to speak about that. + +"Kjersti Hoel sent you her greetings, and bade me ask if you would not +try to put up with the lunch she has sent to-day." + +"Yes, thank you; but I have some with me, too." + +"You must be hungry after your long walk." + +"Yes, I can't say that I'm not." + +"Then we will set the table here on the stone." + +Little by little Lisbeth set out on the stone all the good things which +Kjersti had put in the package; and then she said, as she had heard was +the custom when one entertained strangers, "Be so good as to draw up +your chair, Jacob." + +And Jacob hesitated, also according to custom, and said, "Oh, thanks! +but you should not put yourself to any trouble on my account." + +They sat down. Ceremonious manners were kept up during the first part +of the meal, and Lisbeth did not forget to say "please" whenever it was +proper. But when Jacob had eaten one of Kjersti's pancakes (a large, +very thin kind, spread with fresh butter or sweetmeats) and was just +beginning on the second, he forgot that he was at a party, so to speak, +and said quite naturally and with conviction, "That was a remarkably +good pancake!" + +"Yes, of course; it is from Hoel." + +At that it was as if they suddenly knew each other again; as if it had +been only yesterday that they had kneeled on the bench under the window +and looked over the valley and made up their minds where they would +like best to live when they went out to service; as if they had never +been parted from each other. And an instant after they were in eager +dispute about which was the better place to live at, Nordrum or Hoel. +Agree upon that question they could not; but when Jacob's appetite had +been more than satisfied he finally admitted that they were both fine +places, each one in its own way, and that, at any rate, those two were +the best in the whole valley. + +And now there was no end to all they had to talk over together and to +tell each other. Jacob told about Nordrum and the Nordrum Saeter and the +goats there; and Lisbeth told about Ole and Peter, and gave Jacob their +greetings. She had much to tell about them both, but Jacob thought it +was queer that she had more to say about Ole than about Peter; for +while Ole was a straight-forward fellow, it could not be denied that he +was a bit of a boaster. + +Then they talked about their future. Jacob was going to stay at Nordrum +Farm until he was grown up, and perhaps longer. Nordrum had said that +when Jacob was a grown man and married he could take Peerout Castle, +with the right of buying it as soon as he was able. But Jacob thought +that very likely Nordrum meant it only as a joke; and anyway it was a +little early for him to be thinking about marriage. Nordrum was getting +on in years, however; he would be sure to need a head man about the +place by that time. Lisbeth said that she was going to stay at Hoel. +She was as well off there as she could expect to be, for Kjersti was +exceedingly kind to her. Lisbeth did not say anything about her +ambition to become a milkmaid. Indeed, that goal was so far off that +she did not dare to set her heart upon reaching it. + +When they had talked thus freely for a while they began to look around +and call to mind all the plays they used to play and all the places +they used to frequent. There, right by the castle itself, they had had +their cow house with its pine-cone animals--why, yonder lay the big +bull even now! And there, on the other side of the heather ridge, had +been their saeter, where they had driven their animals many times during +the summer. And there on the hill Jacob had had his sawmill, that +Lisbeth was never to touch; and farther down she had had her dairy, +where he came and bought cheese in exchange for planks made out of +carrots that he had sliced in his sawmill. Not a stone or a mound could +be seen the whole way up to the stony raspberry patches on Big Hammer +Mountain that did not have some memory connected with it. + +The brother and sister now felt themselves much older than when they +had lived at Peerout Castle. Lisbeth thought that Jacob had grown to be +very large, and he secretly thought the same about her. It was +therefore like holding a sort of festival for them to be visiting the +scenes together and talking of their former life as of something long +gone by, saying to each other now and then, "Do you remember?" What is +talked of in that way assumes unwonted proportions and appears to be +without flaw. + +Thus they went about the whole day,--they had even been close up to Big +Hammer itself,--and it was already late in the afternoon when they +again drew near Peerout Castle. They did not seem to be in any haste to +reach it. They lingered by brook and stone to say, "Do you remember?" +often both at once and about the same thing. They chased each other in +aimless fashion. Their chief idea seemed to be to think continually of +something new to do, so that there should come no silent pause, and so +that the time of getting back to the castle should be put off as long +as possible. Neither of them had yet mentioned a single memory +connected with the castle itself or with the cow house. They had not +visited either of these places yet, and they had avoided all mention of +their mother. + +But now they knew that the time had come when these sad things could be +avoided no longer. They dragged themselves slowly down over the last +ridge, talking more rapidly and nervously, and with loud and forced +laughter. Then suddenly their laughter ceased as if it had been cut +straight across,--they had come out on the ridge just back of the cow +house. They became very, very quiet, and stood awhile with heads cast +down. Then they turned toward each other and their eyes met. It did not +seem at all as if they had just been laughing,--their eyes were so +strangely big and bright. While they stood looking at each other there +came suddenly the "klunk" of a bell over from Svehaugen. At that Jacob +shook his head, as if shaking himself free from something, and said in +a most indifferent manner, "Do you think that is the Svehaugen bell we +hear over there?" + +Lisbeth answered as unconcernedly as she could, "Yes, it is; I remember +it." + +"What cow do you believe they have at Svehaugen now for their home +milking?" + +"We could go over there and see whether it is--Bliros." + +That was the first time since her mother's death that Lisbeth had +spoken Bliros's name aloud. But to do that was easier than to name her +mother. + +It was not long before Lisbeth and Jacob were on their way over to +Svehaugen. They had gone round the castle and the cow house without +going very near them,--it was not worth while to tread down the grass, +Jacob said. As they had expected, they found Bliros at Svehaugen; she +was standing close by the gate. And they really thought that she knew +Lisbeth again. They petted her, and talked to her, and gave her waffles +and pancakes. It was just as if they wanted to make amends for not +having had courage to stir up the memories connected with their old +home itself. Jacob's heart was so touched at the last that he promised +to buy Bliros back and give her to Lisbeth as soon as he was grown up. +At that Lisbeth could contain herself no longer. She put her arms +around Bliros's neck, looked at her a long time, and said, "Do you +believe, Jacob, that Bliros remembers mother?" And then she began to +cry. + +That question came upon Jacob so unexpectedly that at first he could +say nothing. After a moment's struggle he, too, was crying; but he +managed to declare with decision, "Yes; if she remembers any one, it +certainly must be mother." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SUNDAY AT THE SAETER + + +Five summers had passed away since Lisbeth Longfrock first went up on +the mountain; and no one who had not seen her during those years could +have guessed that she had grown into the tall girl sitting by herself +one Sunday on the stone which, so far back as any herder could +remember, had been called the Pancake Stone, and which lay hidden away +in a distant and lonely part of the mountain. She had grown so tall +that the long frock, now used as a petticoat, came above her knees, and +she no longer wore the birch-bark hat and birch-bark shoes. On this +special Sunday her Sunday kerchief was on her head, and she sat with a +book in her lap; for in the winter she was to go to the priest to be +prepared for confirmation and in the spring she was to be confirmed. +The reading did not progress very rapidly. The book had sunk down into +her lap, and her calm blue eyes, now grown so womanly and earnest, were +roving from one to another of the dear familiar places about her. Her +flock lay quietly around the stone, chewing the cud. Indian summer was +near its close. The sky was high vaulted and the air clear and cool. As +far as the eye could reach all things were sketched in sharpest +outline. Hills and marshes already glowed in autumnal tints, for these +make their triumphal entry on the mountains earlier than below. The sun +shone tranquilly and, as it were, a little coolly also. Everything was +very still. Not even the sound of a bell was heard, for the animals +were taking their afternoon rest; and no movement was discernible +except far, far away, where Lisbeth spied a falcon flapping out from +Glory Peak. + +Just as it was now had Lisbeth seen the mountain at the close of each +summer all these years. It had become familiar and dear to her, and she +thought to herself how unchanging it was through all its variableness, +while so much else altered never to be the same again. For much had +changed since she first sat on this same stone and looked out over this +same landscape. Few of the animals she now took care of had belonged to +her original flock; the oldest had gone out and new ones had come in. +The unlucky Morskol (Mother's Moolley) was now a full-grown cow, with +horns of more than usual beauty. The former milkmaid was gone and +another had taken her place. Ole and Peter, with whom Lisbeth in +earlier years had tended her flock almost daily, were her companions +no longer. They had not been up at the saeter since they were +confirmed,--two years ago. Ole had even sailed to America. Lisbeth had +missed the boys very much, and had many a time been lonely during the +last two summers, for no new herders had come from the Hoegseth or +Lunde farms. At home, too, at the Hoel Farm, there had been changes +among the people, and Bearhunter had become blind. Lisbeth herself no +longer occupied her old place by the heap of firewood in the great +kitchen on winter evenings, but sat beside Kjersti on the wooden +carving bench; that is, she sat there when she did not have to study +her catechism or learn her hymns to be ready for school the next day. + +And now still further changes were in store for her. This was to be the +last summer she would be sitting up here tending her flock. What would +come next? Kjersti Hoel had not said anything to her about the +future,--perhaps Kjersti would not want her any longer. But Lisbeth put +these thoughts aside,--she would not allow her mind to dwell on such +perplexing subjects when all was so delightfully peaceful and beautiful +around her. Whatever her lot might be, or wherever she might go, of one +thing she was certain,--she would never forget these mountain scenes +nor this stone which had always been her favorite resting place, +especially since she had been so much alone; and she gazed around her +again. + +As her eyes wandered about she caught sight of a man far off on the +marsh, sauntering along in her direction, stopping once in a while and +stooping down, apparently to pluck an occasional cloudberry, for they +were now beginning to ripen. This sent her thoughts into another +channel. + +Who could it be coming over the marsh? Not a man looking for horses, +for no one goes out for that purpose on Sunday; nor a cloudberry +picker, for the berries were not yet ripe enough to pay for the trouble +of seeking. Surely it was some one who had made the ascent of the +mountain for pleasure only. What if it should be Jacob! She had not +seen him since the last autumn, and he had said then that he would come +up to see her this summer. Nevertheless the young man did not look like +Jacob; and Jacob, not being very well acquainted on the western +mountain, would not be trying to find the Pancake Stone. Yet this +person was steering his course exactly toward where she sat, and it was +plain that he knew the marsh thoroughly,--where the cloudberries grew, +and where it was not so wet but that you could get across. It could not +possibly be----? She blushed the instant she thought of the name, and +at the same moment the stranger disappeared behind a hill, so that she +saw no more of him for the time. + +Involuntarily she tied her kerchief freshly under her chin, stroked her +light hair under the edge of the kerchief, and smoothed out the folds +in her skirt. Then, sitting with her back half turned to the quarter +where he might be expected to appear, she took up her book and bent her +head over it as if reading. + +Shortly afterward a young man shot up over the hill behind her. He had +on brand-new gray woolen clothes, a "bought" scarf around his neck, and +top-boots outside his trousers. He was not tall, but his figure was +well knit and manly. In his youthful face, on which the merest shadow +of down could be distinguished, was set a pair of brown eyes, trusting +and trustworthy. He stopped a moment and looked down at the open space +where Lisbeth sat upon the stone with the flock of animals around her. +It was evident that he had a memory of the scene,--that he had seen +that picture before. Lisbeth did not look up, but she knew he was +there,--felt in her back, so to speak, that he was standing there +gazing at her. He smiled and then swung his course around so as to +approach her from the side, and so that the animals might have time to +become gently aware of his presence and not scramble up in a flurry. +Silently he drew near to her, until at last his shadow fell upon her +book. Then she looked up and their eyes met. At that both of them +flushed a little, and he said hastily, "Good day, Lisbeth Longfrock." + +"Good day. Why, is it you, Peter, out for a walk?" + +They shook hands. + +"Yes; I thought it would be pleasant to have a look at the old places +again; and since Jacob was coming up to visit you, I made up my mind to +keep him company." + +"Is Jacob with you?" + +"Yes, but he is waiting down at the saeter, for he was tired. We were +out early to-day, and tomorrow we are to take home a pair of nags to +Hoegseth Farm. He sent you his greeting and will see you this evening." + +"Were you sure that you could find me?" + +"Oh, yes! I knew just about where you would be in such weather. And, of +course, it is more fun for me to ramble around here than for him, I +being so familiar with the region." + +He sat down beside her on the stone and gazed slowly around. + +"Does it look natural here?" + +"Yes, everything is unaltered. It seems only yesterday that I was here +taking care of the Lunde flocks. But I hardly recognized _you_ again. +You have grown so large." + +"Do you think so?" + +"Yes. But still it is two years since I last saw you." + +There was a short pause. Then Peter continued: "I walked over Sloping +Marsh, by our bathing pond. The water has all run out." + +"Yes, it has." + +"I wondered if it would not be a good plan for me to build the dam up +again, so that you could use the pond." + +"No, you need not do that, for I have my bathing place somewhere +else,--a place that no one knows about." + +"Oh, have you?" + +"Yes; I had it the last year that you and Ole were here, too." + +"So it was there you used to be on the days that you kept away from +us?" + +"Yes, sometimes." + +The animals began to get up and stray off, thus attracting attention. +Lisbeth made Peter look at the older goats to see if he recognized +them, and she was glad to find that he did remember them all. Then she +told him about the new ones; but soon that topic was exhausted and +there was apparently nothing more to talk about. They still remained +seated on the stone. Then Peter said, "You haven't that birch-bark hat +any longer, have you, Lisbeth?" + +"No; it was worn out long ago." + +"But what is it you have on this string?" + +He took hold carefully of a string she wore around her neck, and, +pulling it, drew out from her bosom the little goat horn he had given +her. + +"I did not think you would have that horn still," said Peter. + +A deep blush covered Lisbeth's face at the idea of appearing childish +to Peter. She hastened to say, "Oh, yes; I carry it with me sometimes." + +"I have mine, too. It is the only thing I have left from my herding +days." And he drew one of Crookhorn's horns out of an inner pocket. +"Shall we try them?" + +Then they both laughed and played "The Old Woman with a Stick" +together, as they had so often done in the old days. It did not sound +as if either of them had forgotten it in the least. When the tune was +finished there was another pause. At last Lisbeth said, "I must look +after the animals a little now, or I shall lose track of them." + +"Can't you let them go home alone to-night? It is time for them to seek +the fold, and they will surely find the way safely. Then we can walk to +the saeter more at our leisure." + +"Yes, I will gladly. I can trust them to find their way home, I am +sure." + +Again there was silence for a time. Then Lisbeth rose, saying, "I think +we must go now." + +Peter did not stir. He merely said very quietly: "Can't you sit a +little longer? There was something I wanted to ask you." + +Lisbeth bowed her head and seated herself again without speaking. + +"I have a greeting to you from Ole. I received a letter from him a +fortnight ago. He asked me very particularly to give you his +greetings." + +"Thank you. Is all going well with him?" + +"Yes, it seems so from his letter. He has a good place and earns large +wages." + +"Ole deserves it. He grew to be a fine fellow." + +"Yes, he did. He asks me whether I will go to America in the spring. He +will send me a ticket, if I will." + +On hearing that Lisbeth looked up at Peter for an instant, then drooped +her head again without saying a word. Peter continued: "It was that I +wanted to ask you about. Do you wish me to go?" + +A dead silence ensued, during which Peter sat looking inquiringly at +her. For a long time she was motionless; then, suddenly lifting her +head, she fastened her blue eyes upon him and said, "No, I do _not_ +wish you to go." + + * * * * * + +There was no more conversation on that subject, and soon they were on +their way to the saeter. They went around by all the familiar, memorable +places, including both the bathing pond and Pointing Stump; and all +these places had so many reminders for them of the time when they +watched their flocks together there, that more than once they said how +much they pitied Ole, who would perhaps never be able to come to Norway +again. The sky arched high and clear above them, the mountain stretched +beyond them with its unending, silent wastes; and Lisbeth and Peter +felt strangely buoyant and glad. Although they had made no agreement, +they felt as if they had a hidden bond between them--as if they two had +a wonderful secret that no one, not even Jacob, could share. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +LISBETH APPOINTED HEAD MILKMAID + + +It was the first Sunday after Easter, early in the morning. Lisbeth sat +by the small table in her little sleeping room, with one elbow leaning +on the table and her hand under her chin, while she stared down at a +big black book which lay open before her. The book was the New +Testament, and Lisbeth's lips moved softly as she read. That morning, +for the first time in several years, she had not gone into the cow +house. Kjersti Hoel had said that she was to have a couple of hours in +which she could be alone. No one was to disturb her. + +She sat there somewhat stiff and helpless, in a long black dress with a +strip of white in the neck. The dress seemed to her rather tight, so +tight that she held her elbows close to her side and hardly dared to +bend her back. It was the first time she had had a close-fitting dress +on,--her usual costume being a jacket and skirt. Her light hair was +drawn smoothly back and twisted into a knot at her neck. That was for +the first time, too. She was a trifle paler than usual, and her lips, +as she moved them, were dark red and dewy; but her eyes shone with +peace. All in all, she was beautiful, as she sat there in her little +room waiting for church time to come. This was the day that she was to +be confirmed. + +A knock was heard at the door, and in stepped Kjersti Hoel. She also +was dressed in her very best,--an old-fashioned black dress with a +gathered waist, and a freshly ironed cap with a frill around the face +and strings hanging down. In her hand she carried the big psalm book, a +handsome one printed in large type, which she used only on the greatest +occasions. On top of the psalm book lay a neatly folded pocket +handkerchief. + +Standing still for a moment and looking earnestly at Lisbeth, Kjersti +said, "Do you think you are ready now, Lisbeth?" + +Lisbeth answered quietly, "Yes, I think so." + +"Then it is time for us to start. Come, let me tie your kerchief, so +that your hair will not get untidy." + +She tied the kerchief on Lisbeth's head and then they went slowly out +through the hall way. Outside, at the door, stood the broad wagon with +the military horse harnessed to it. + +"You may come and sit up here by me, Lisbeth," said Kjersti. + +So they both got into the wagon and drove off. Not a word was spoken +the whole way. As they drove down the hill from the farm and out on the +main road, they were encompassed by all the effervescence of the +spring,--its myriads of sights, sounds, and odors. The brooks and +rivers rushed tunefully along, birds by the thousands were singing and +calling, insects were buzzing, trees and plants of many sorts were +pouring their fragrance over the whole valley; and above it all stood +the sun, shedding down its glittering light. But these things failed to +arouse in Lisbeth the feelings they usually awakened. They had, +instead, the effect of a roar and a disturbance, of something +inharmonious that caused her to quiver with discomfort. Involuntarily +she drew nearer to Kjersti on the wagon seat. She felt a longing for +one thing only,--silence. Thus they drove for a while along the sunlit +valley road. + +Then suddenly a broad wave of sound came rolling toward them. The +church bells were adding their tones--broad, peaceful, sure--to the +general chorus. They did not drown the sounds of the spring, but took +them up, as it were, and ordered them, harmonized them, used them as a +gentle accompaniment; so that the whole seemed like a great psalm +singing and organ playing. + +At the sound of the bells there came to Lisbeth a feeling of peace, +solemnity, and holiness, such as she had never known before. She felt +lifted up. A change came over the world about her: everything became +lighter, loftier, as if prepared for a sacred festival. She felt a +mighty gladness within her. + +From that time on she had but a confused consciousness of what took +place. On arriving at the church she thought that the gathering of +people around it had never been so large or so reverent in demeanor, +and that the church had never looked so tall and shining. + +As she went inside and walked up the church aisle she felt very erect +and free. The same wonderful light was within the church, too. And when +she looked down the lines of those who were to be confirmed with her, +as they stood with bowed heads on each side of the middle aisle, she +thought that their faces were strangely radiant. + +When the priest came into the chancel it seemed to her that he was much +larger than ever before, and that his face was, oh, so mild! He began +to speak; and though she did not really hear or understand what he +said, she felt that it was something great and good, and it thrilled +her like music. + +As soon as the psalm singing began she joined in with a stronger voice +than usual, her breast swelling involuntarily. When it came her turn to +be questioned she hardly knew whether she had heard what the priest +asked or not, but she was sure, nevertheless, that her answer, which +came forth clear and firm, was the right one. And when she knelt down +and gave the priest her hand, as the ceremony required, it seemed to +her that the awkward figures in the old altar pictures smiled +benignantly upon her. + +She did not come wholly to herself until the confirmation ceremony was +entirely over and she had gone to her seat beside Kjersti Hoel in one +of the church pews. + +As Lisbeth drew near, Kjersti took her hand and said half aloud, "May +it bring you happiness and blessing, Lisbeth!" + +Lisbeth stood a moment, looked up at Kjersti as if just awakening, +smiled, and whispered softly, "Thanks, Kjersti Hoel." + +Then, when the service was over, they walked out of church. + +Outside the church door stood Jacob and Peter. They lifted their caps +to Kjersti and shook hands with her. Afterward they shook hands with +Lisbeth, lifting their caps to her, too, which had not been their +custom before her confirmation. They also said to her, "May it bring +you happiness and blessing!" + +After that Kjersti and Lisbeth walked about the grassy space in front +of the church. They made slow progress, because there were so many +people who wanted to greet the mistress of Hoel and to ask what girl it +was that she had presented for confirmation on that day. At last they +reached the broad wagon, to which the horse had already been harnessed, +and, mounting into it, they set forth on their homeward way, returning +in silence, as they had come. Not until they had reached home did +Kjersti say, "You would like to be alone awhile this afternoon, too?" + +"Yes, thank you," responded Lisbeth. + + * * * * * + +In the afternoon Lisbeth Longfrock again sat alone in the little room +in the hall way. Bearhunter, who had now become blind, lay outside her +door. Whenever he was not in the kitchen, where, as a rule, he kept to +his own corner, he lay at Lisbeth's door, having chosen this place in +preference to his old one on the flat stone in front of the house. To +lie on the doorstep where so many went out and in--and nowadays they +went so rudely--was too exciting for him; but Lisbeth always stepped +considerately. + +As Lisbeth sat there in her room she was not reading in any book; in +fact, she was doing nothing at all. Spread out on the bed before her +lay her long frock, which she had not used that winter. It looked very +small and worn. + +When she had come into her room, where the afternoon sun fell slantwise +upon the coverlet of her bed, picturing there the small window frame, +she had had a wonderful feeling of peace and contentment. It seemed to +her that there was not the least need of thinking about serious things +or of reading, either. She felt that the simplest and most natural +thing to do was merely to busy herself happily, without putting her +thoughts on anything in particular. She had no earthly possessions of +value, but she did have a small chest which she had received in the +second year of her stay at Hoel, and in this chest there was a tiny +side box and also a space in the lid where she had stored away the +little she owned that seemed worth keeping. She had pulled the chest +forward and opened it. To take the things out, look at each one, and +recall the memories connected with them was very pleasant. + +There was a good-for-nothing old pocketknife that had been given to her +by Ole the first summer on the mountain. There was a letter from Ole, +too, that she had received the last autumn, and that no one knew about. +In it he had asked if he might send her and Jacob tickets to America +after she had been confirmed. She had not answered the letter yet, but +she would do it soon now, and thank him, and say that she was not +coming,--for she knew that she could never leave Norway. + +And then she took out the goat horn that Peter had given her. She was +seized with a strong desire to play on it, but did not dare to, because +it would sound so strange in the house. Next to the place where the +goat horn had lain was a silk neckerchief that Peter had given her for +Christmas. He had sent it by Jacob. She herself had not seen or spoken +with Peter since that Sunday last year when he had found her on the +mountain, until to-day at the church. + +And there was the letter she had received from Jacob in regard to their +meeting at Peerout Castle. It was the only letter she had ever had from +him,--Jacob was not one to write much; but she had a few small gifts +that he had sent her. + +Down at the very bottom of the chest lay a kerchief that she had never +taken out before,--her mother's kerchief. It seemed to Lisbeth that now +was the first time she had really dared to think about her mother. She +took out the kerchief and spread it on the bed; and when, as she did +so, her eye caught sight of her old long frock hanging on the wall, she +spread that, too, on the bed. Then she seated herself and gazed upon +these simple objects. The time had arrived when it was possible for her +to look back without becoming hopelessly sorrowful; when she could +ponder over the rich memories which these poor relics hid,--the +memories from Peerout Castle not being the least precious. She sat +nourishing these thoughts a long time, beginning at the beginning, as +far back as she could remember, and going forward to this very Sunday. +The memories came easily and in regular succession, and all of them +were good memories. Everything that had seemed hard at the time either +had been forgotten or was seen now in a softer light. + +Suddenly there came a knock at the door; and before Lisbeth had had +time to conceal the things, or presence of mind enough to rise from her +chair, in walked Kjersti Hoel. + +Lisbeth saw that Kjersti noticed the things at once, but she was not in +the least embarrassed, for Kjersti only smiled kindly and said: "I see +that you are thinking about your mother to-day, Lisbeth, and that is +right; but now come with me into my room. There is something I wish to +talk with you about." + +Lisbeth was half alarmed at this, for never before had Kjersti spoken +so seriously to her; but she rose quietly and did as she was bidden. + +Kjersti went ahead, through the kitchen and across to the door of her +own room, Lisbeth following close behind her. The others in the kitchen +looked at them curiously, wondering what was going to happen. + +Once in her room, Kjersti took a seat beside the table and asked +Lisbeth to sit at the opposite side. Then said Kjersti: "You are now +grown up, Lisbeth Longfrock, and hereafter you will be free to decide +things for yourself. I have kept the last promise I made to your +mother, and I can to-day say that it has been only a pleasure for me to +do so. You have turned out well, as may be expected of every good girl; +if you do as well in the future, I really believe that your mother +would be satisfied with both you and me. But from to-day I have no +longer any right to decide things for you. You must decide for yourself +what you will do and what you think is right. I will therefore ask +you--and you are to choose with entire freedom--whether you wish to +stay here with me any longer, or whether, now that you are to earn your +own living, you would rather try something else. I can add that I +should like very much to have you stay here." + +For a while there was a deep silence. Then Lisbeth looked up with big +tears in her eyes and said, "I should like to stay with you, Kjersti +Hoel, as long as you are pleased with me." + +"That is what I thought, and therefore I have also thought of another +thing. Of course you are very young yet, but it is not always unwise to +put responsibility on young shoulders. You have shown yourself so +faithful and capable, not only at the cow house but at the saeter as +well, that I have no fear in intrusting both to your care. If you wish +it to be so, I will now appoint you head milkmaid at Hoel Farm." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lisbeth Longfrock, by Hans Aanrud + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LISBETH LONGFROCK *** + +***** This file should be named 26348.txt or 26348.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/3/4/26348/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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