Susanna a horror of himself and his character, and showed himself cold
and immovable to her description of the wants which she had witnessed,
and had a proud ability to say "no" to all her proposals for their
assistance. He spoke much of severity and of wholesome lectures, and so
on; and Susanna was not slow in calling him the most cruel of men,
another "tyrant Christjern," a regular misanthrope; "wolves and bears
had more heart than he had. Never again would she ask him for anything;
one might just as well talk to a stock or a stone!" And Susanna set off
to weep bitter tears. But when she afterwards found that much want was
silently assisted from the hand of the misanthrope; when she found that
in various instances her suggestions were adopted; then, indeed, she
also shed in silence tears of joy, and soon forgot all her plans of
hostile reserve. By degrees, also, Harald forgot his contention in the
subject, the interest of which was too good and important; and before
they were rightly aware of it, they found themselves both busied for the
same purpose in various ways. Susanna had begun by giving away all that
she possessed. As she had now no more to give, she began to give ear to
Harald's views; that for the poor which surrounded them, generally
speaking, direct almsgiving was less needful than a friendly and
rational sympathy in their circumstances, a fatherly and motherly
guardianship which would sustain the "broken heart," and strengthen the
weary hands, which were almost sinking, to raise themselves again to
labour and to hope. In the class which may be said to labour for their
daily bread, there are people who help themselves; others there are whom
nobody can help; but the greater number are those who, through prudent
help in word and deed, can attain to helping themselves, and obtaining
comfort and independence.
Harald considered it important to direct the attention of the people to
the keeping of cattle, knowing that this was the certain way of this
region's advancing itself. And as soon as the snow melted, and the earth
was clear, he went out with labourers and servants, and occupied himself
busily in carrying away from the meadows the stones with which they, in
this country, are so abundantly strewn, and sowed new kinds of grass,
as a source of more abundant fodder; and Susanna's heart beat for joy as
she saw his activity, and how he himself went to work, and animated all
by his example and his cheerful spirit. Harald now also often found his
favourite dishes for his dinner; nay, Susanna herself began to discover
that one and another of them were very savoury, and among these may
particularly be mentioned groat gruel with little herrings. This course,
with which dinners in Norway often begin, is so served, that every guest
has a little plate beside him, on which lie the little white herrings,
and they eat alternately a piece of herring and a spoonful of gruel,
which looks very well, and tastes very good.
Harald, towards spring, was very much occupied with work and workpeople,
so that he had but little time to devote to Susanna, either for good or
bad. But he had discovered that possibly in time he might have a weak
chest, and he visited her, therefore, every morning in the dairy that he
might receive a cup of new milk from her hand. For this, he gave her in
return fresh spring-flowers, or, by way of change, a nettle (which was
always thrown violently into a corner), and for the rest attentively
remarked the occurrences in the dairy, and Susanna's movements, whilst
she poured the milk out of the pails through a sieve into the pans, and
arranged them on their shelves, whereby it happened that he would forget
himself in the following monologue--
"See, that one may call a knack! How well she looks at her work, and
with that cheerful, friendly face! Everything that she touches is well
done;--everything improves and flourishes under her eye. If she were
only not so violent and passionate!--but it is not in her heart, there
never was a better heart than hers. Men and animals love her, and are
well off under her care--Happy the man who--hum!"
Shall we not at the same time cast a glance into Susanna's heart? It is
rather curious there. The fact was, that Harald had,--partly by his
provocativeness and naughtiness, and partly by his friendship, his
story-telling, and his native worth, which Susanna discovered more and
more,--so rooted himself into all her thoughts and feelings, that it was
impossible for her to displace him from them. In anger, in gratitude, in
evil, in good, at all times, must she think of him. Many a night she
lay down with the wish never to see him again, but always awoke the next
morning with the secret desire to meet with him again. The terms on
which she stood with him resembled April weather, which we may be able
the clearest to see on--
A MAY DAY.
The first time, yes, the first time flings
A glory even on trivial things;
It passes soon, a moment's falling,
Then it is also past recalling.
The grass itself has such a prime;
Man prizes most spring's flowery time,
When first the verdure decks earth's bosom,
And the heart-leaf foretels the blossom.
Thus God lets all, however low,
In "the first time" a triumph know;
Even in the hour when death impendeth,
And life itself to heaven ascendeth.
HENR WERGELAND.
It was in the beginning of May. A heavy shower of rain had just ceased.
The wind sprang up in the south, blew mild and fresh, and chased herds
of white clouds over the brightening heaven.
The court at Semb, which had been desolate during the rain, now began to
be full of life and movement.
Six ducks paddled up and down with great delight in a puddle of water,
bathing and beautifying themselves.
The chanticleer, called the Knight, scratched in the earth, and
thereupon began to crow merrily, in order to make it known that he had
something nice to invite to, and as two neat grey-speckled hens sprang
towards him, he let first one grain of corn and then another fall out of
his beak, of which, agreeably to a clever hen-instinct, they availed
themselves without ceremony or compliments. How easily the creatures
live!
The turkey-cock was in great perplexity, and had a deal of trouble to
keep his countenance. His white lady had accepted the invitation of the
chanticleer (which she probably thought was general), and sprang forward
as fast as she could with her long legs, and stuck her head between the
two hens to have a share of their treat. The knightly young chanticleer
on this, with some surprise and a certain astonished sound in his
throat, drew himself a little proudly back, but for all that was too
much of the "gentleman" to mortify, in the least, the foreign
presumptuous beauty. But the grey-speckled hens turned their backs upon
her. Her neglected spouse gobbled in full desperation, and swelled
himself out, his countenance flaming with anger, by the side of his
black wife, who was silent, and cast deprecating eyes up to heaven.
By the kitchen-wall, the black cat and her kittens romped amid a
thousand twists and turns; whilst above them the mice, in the
waterspout, peeped peeringly and curiously forth, drank of the
rain-water, snuffed in the fresh air, and afterwards crept quietly again
under the house tiles.
The flies stretched their legs, and began to walk about in the sunshine.
In the court stood a tall ash, in whose top waved a magpie nest. A many
magpies, candidates for the airy palace, made their appearance there,
flew screaming round about, wished to get possession of it, and chased
one another away. At length two remained as conquerors of the nest.
There laughed they and kissed under the spring-blue heaven, rocked by
the south wind. Those that were chased away consoled themselves by
fluttering down upon the yard-dog's provision-trough, and plucking out
of it, whilst the proud Alfiero, sitting outside his kennel,
contemplated them in dignified repose.
The starlings struck up their quaver, and sent forth their melodious
whistling, whilst they congregated together on the edge of the roof.
The grapes shook from themselves the rain-drops in the wind, and the
little stellaria, which is so dear to the singing birds, raised again
its head to the sun, and was saluted by the jubilant song of the lark.
The geese waddled, gabbling over the grassy fields, biting the young
green herbage. In this way, a change was revealed, which had taken place
in the company. The bully, the white gander, had by accident become
lame, and had with this lost his power and his respect. The grey gander
had now an opportunity of exhibiting a beautiful character, a noble
disposition; but no! The grey gander showed nothing of that; but as the
white gander had done to him, did he now in return; stretching out his
neck against him, and keeping him at a distance with cries and blows;
and the geese-madams troubled themselves not about it, and the white
gander must now think himself well off to see his rival ruling the
assembly, whilst he himself crept behind, hapless and forsaken. Susanna,
who saw this, lost now all regard for the grey gander, without having
any higher respect for the white one. She found the one no better than
the other.
Just now Susanna returned from a visit to a peasant's cottage, where
some time ago she had helped the wife to set up a piece of weaving, and
now had been assisting her in taking it down, and her countenance beamed
with pleasure at the scene which she had witnessed there. The cow had
calved there that same morning, and the milk ran in foaming and abundant
streams, to the unspeakable joy of four small pale boys, who now were
divided in their joy over this, and their admiration of the little,
lively, black-and-white spotted calf; which admiration, however, in the
mind of the youngest, was mixed with fear. The web, also, had turned out
beyond expectation: Susanna helped the housewife to cut out the piece of
cloth in the most advantageous manner, and her cheerful words and
cordial sympathy were like the cream to the milk breakfast. It was with
this glad impression on her soul, that Susanna entered the court at
Semb, and was saluted by Alfiero and all the poultry with great joy. In
the mean time she heard the cries and lamentations of birds, and this
led her to the orchard. Here she saw a pair of starlings, which with
anxiety and screams were flying about the lowest branches of an oak. In
the grass below, something black was hopping about, and Susanna saw that
it was a young starling, which had ventured itself too early out of the
nest and had fallen down. It now raised its weak cries to its parents,
which, as it appeared, sought by their fluttering to keep at a
respectful distance a grey cat, whose greedy eyes gleamed forth from
under a hawthorn-bush. Susanna drove away the cat, and took up and
warmed the little bird in her breast. But this did not at all pacify the
starling papa and mamma; their uneasiness seemed rather to increase.
Susanna would gladly from her heart have allayed it; but when she looked
up and saw the starling nest high up in the oak trunk, many ells above
her head, she was quite in despair. With that the noon-day bell rang;
Alfiero howled to it in his tragical manner, and Harald, at the head of
his workpeople, returned from the field. Susanna hastened to ask counsel
from him, and showed him the young one. "Give it here," said Harald, "I
will twist its neck, and so we can have a nice little roast for dinner."
"No! can you be so cruel?" replied Susanna.
Harald laughed without answering, looked up to the oak to see where the
starling nest was, and swung himself with great agility up the tree.
Standing now upon the lowest boughs, he bent himself down to Susanna,
and said, "Give it here to me, I will manage it." And Susanna now gave
him the bird, without any further remark. Lightly and nimbly sprang
Harald now from bough to bough, holding the bird in his left hand, and
accompanied by the crying starling-parents, who flew terrified around
his head. It was certainly a surprise to them when the young one was
placed uninjured in the nest, but it was no longer so for Susanna; and
as Harald, glowing and warm, sprang down from the tree, he was received
by Susanna's most friendly glances and cordial thanks.
At this moment came several travelling tradespeople with their packs
into the court, and were observed by Harald, who said that he had some
little purchases to make, and besought Susanna's advice. Susanna was a
woman, and women give advice willingly. Always good, of course!
After some time Harald had made various purchases, and had always asked
counsel of Susanna, who thereby felt herself somewhat flattered, but
could not help thinking the while of Harald "yet he must be a regular
egotist. He always thinks about himself, and always buys for himself,
and never anything for his sister, of whom he, however, talks so much,
and seems to love so well! But--the Norwegian men, they love themselves
most!"
And this time it did not seem without reason that Susanna thought so,
for it was terrible how thoughtful Harald was for himself, and what a
deal he needed for this self.
This piece of damask he would have for his table; this muslin for his
curtains; these pocket-handkerchiefs for his nose; and so on.
Susanna could not avoid saying, on purpose to try him, when they came to
a handsome piece for a dress--
"How pretty that is! Certainly that would become your sister very
nicely!"
"What? my sister!" returned Harald. "No; it is best that she clothe
herself. This is exactly the thing that I want for my sofa. One is
always nearest to oneself. One must care a little for oneself."
"Then care you for yourself! I have no time!" said Susanna, quite
excited, as she turned her back upon him and his wares, and went.
SPRING FEELINGS.
Heaven has strewn thoughts o'er the sweet vernal dale,
These on the hearts of the flowers bestowing,
Therefore, when open the chalices glowing,
Whispers each petal a secret tale.
VELHAVEN.
May strides on, and June approaches. From their nests in the airy,
leaf-garlanded grottoes, which mother nature has prepared for them in
the lofty oaks and ashes, the starlings send their deep, lively
whistlings, their love-breathing trills. Song and fragrances fill the
woods of Norway. Rustic maidens wander with their herds and flocks up to
the Säter dales, singing joyously:
To draw to the Säter is good and blessed.
Come, Böling[6] mine!
Come cow, come calf, come greatest and least;
To the Queen your steps incline.
The labour of the spring was closed; the harvests ripened beneath the
care of heaven. Harald had now more leisure, and much of this he devoted
to Susanna. He taught her to know the flowers of the dale, their names
and properties; and was as much amused at her mangling of the Latin
words, as he was charmed at the quickness with which she comprehended
and applied their economical and medicinal uses.
The dale and its beauties became to her continually more known and
beloved. She went now again in the morning to the spring, where the
ladies-mantle and the silver-weed grew so luxuriantly, and let the
feathery creatures bathe and rejoice themselves. On Sunday afternoon,
too, she sometimes took a ramble to a grove of oaks and wild
rose-bushes, at the foot of the mountain called Krystalberg, which in
the glow of the evening sun glittered with a wonderful radiance. She was
sometimes followed thither by Harald, who related many a strange legend
of Huldran, who lived in the mountain; of the dwarfs who shaped the
six-sided crystals, called thence dwarf-jewels; of the subterranean
world and doings, as these were fashioned in the rich imagination of
ancient times, and as they still darkly lived on, in the silent belief
of the northern people. Susanna's active mind seized on all this with
the intensest interest. She visioned herself in the mountain's beautiful
crystal halls; seemed to hear the song of the Neck in the rushing of the
river; and tree and blossom grew more beautiful in her eyes, as she
imagined elves and spirits speaking out of them.
Out of the prosaic soil of her life and action sprang a flower of
poetry, half reality, half legend, which diffused a delightful radiance
over her soul.
Susanna was not the only one at Semb on whom this spring operated
beneficially. The pale Mrs. Astrid seemed to raise herself out of her
gloomy trance, and to imbibe new vigour of life from the fresh vernal
air. She went out sometimes when the sun shone warmly, and she was seen
sitting long hours on a mossy stone in the wood, at the foot of the
Krystalberg. When Susanna observed that she seemed to love this spot,
she carried thither silently out of the wood, turfs with the flowering
Linnea and the fragrant single-flowered Pyrola, and planted them so that
the south wind should bear their delicious aroma to the spot where Mrs.
Astrid sate; and Susanna felt a sad pleasure in the thought that these
balsamic airs would give to her mistress an evidence of a devotion that
did not venture otherwise to show itself. Susanna would have been richly
rewarded, could she at this time have seen into her mistress's soul, and
also have read a letter which she wrote, and from which we present a
fragment.
"TO BISHOP S----.
"Love does not grow weary. Thus was I constrained to say to myself
to-day as your letter reached me, and penetrated me with the feeling of
your goodness, of your heavenly patience! And you do not grow weary of
those who almost grow weary of themselves! And always the same spring in
your hopes--the same mountain-fast, beautiful faith. Ah! that I better
deserved your friendship! But to-day I have a glad word to say to you,
and I will not withhold it from you.
"You wish to know how it is with me? Better! For some time I have
breathed more lightly. Quiet days have passed over me; mild stars have
glanced down upon my head; the waterfall has sung its cradle-song to me
by night, till it has lulled me to sleep, and it has become calmer and
better with me. The spring exerts its beneficent influence upon me. All
rises round me so great, so rich in its life and beauty, I forget myself
sometimes in admiration. It is more than thirty years since I lived in
the country.
"At times, feelings arise in me like vernal gales. I have then
experienced a certain consolation in the thought, that throughout my
long conflict I have yet striven to do right, to endure to the utmost;
that in a world where I have shed so many tears, I have also forborne to
shed many. Sometimes, out of the vernally blue heaven, something falls
on me like a tender glance, an anticipation. But, perhaps, these
brightenings are merely spring flowers, which perish with the spring.
"I go sometimes out. I enjoy sitting in the beautiful grove of oaks down
in the dale, and there, mild and beneficial feelings pass over me. The
breeze bears to me odours ineffably delicious. These odours remind me of
the world of beneficent, healing, invigorating powers which shoot forth
around me, and manifest themselves so silently, so unpretendingly,
merely through their fragrance and their still beauty. I sate there this
evening, at the foot of the mountain. The sun was hastening towards his
setting, but gleamed warmly into the grove. Near me grazed some sheep
with their tender lambs. They gazed at me with a wondering but unalarmed
air; a little bell tinkled clear and softly, as they wandered to and fro
on the green sward; it was so calm and still that I heard the small
insects which hummed in the grass at my feet, and there passed over me I
know not what feeling of satisfaction and pleasure. I enjoyed existence
in this hour like the lambs, like the insects--I can then still enjoy!
Mild, affluent Nature! on thy heart might yet mine--but there stands the
pale, bloody boy,--there stands the murderer, everlastingly between me
and peace of mind! If I could sometimes hear your voice, if I could see
frequently your clear, solace-inspiring glance, I might perhaps yet
teach myself to--look up! But I ask you not to come. Ah! I desire no one
to approach me. But be no longer so uneasy concerning me, my friend, I
am better. I have about me good people, who make my outward life safe
and agreeable. Let your affectionate thoughts, as hitherto, rest upon
me; perhaps they will some time force light into my heart!"
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Böling is the collected flock. Queen is the fold for the night.
MAN AND WIFE.
A FRESH STRIFE.
And I will show what a fellow I am!
My master--I am incensed!
SIFUL SIFADDA.
We have said that Harald, just as little as Griselda's blessed husband,
appeared to like a life which flowed like oil. Perhaps it seemed to him
that his intercourse with Susanna was now assuming this character, and
therefore was it perhaps that, as he could no longer excite her
abhorrence as a misanthropist, one fine day he undertook to irritate her
as a woman-tyrant.
"I am expecting my sister here one of these days," said he one evening
in a disrespectful tone to Susanna; "I have occasion for her, to sew a
little for me, and to put my things in order. Alette is a good, clever
girl, and I think of keeping her with me till I marry, and can be waited
on by my wife."
"Waited on by your wife!" exclaimed Susanna--one may easily conceive in
what a tone.
"Yes, certainly. The woman is made to be subject to the man; and I do
not mean to teach my wife otherwise. I mean to be master in my house,
I."
"The Norwegian men must be despots, tyrants, actual Heathens and Turks!"
said Susanna.
"Every morning," said Harald, "precisely at six o'clock, my wife shall
get up and prepare my coffee."
"But if she will not?"
"Will not? I will teach her to will, I. And if she will not by fair
means, then she shall by foul. I tolerate no disobedience, not I; and
this I mean to teach in the most serious manner; and if she does not
wish to experience this, why then I advise her to rise at six o'clock,
boil my coffee, and bring it me up to bed."
"Nay, never did I hear anything like this! You are the sole--God have
mercy on the wives of this abominable country!"
"And a good dinner," continued Harald, "shall she set before me every
day at noon, or--I shall not be in the best temper! And she must not
come with her 'Fattig Leilighed'[7] more than once a fortnight; and then
I demand that it shall be made right savoury."
"If you will have good eating, then you must make good provision for the
housekeeping," said Susanna.
"That I shall not trouble myself about; that my wife must care for. She
shall provide stores for housekeeping how she can."
"I hope, then," said Susanna, "you will never have a wife, except she be
a regular Xantippe."
"For that we know a remedy; and therefore, to begin with, every evening
she shall pull off my boots. All that is necessary is, for a man to
begin in time to maintain his authority; for the women are by nature
excessively fond of ruling."
"And that because the men are tyrants," said Susanna.
"And besides," continued Harald, "so horribly petty-minded."
"Because," retorted Susanna, "the men have engrossed to themselves all
matters of importance."
"And are so full of caprice," said Harald.
"Because the men," said Susanna, "are so brimful of conceit."
"And so fickle," added Harald.
"Because the men," retorted Susanna, "are not deserving of constancy."
"And so obstinate and violent," continued Harald.
"When the men," said Susanna, "are absurd."
"But I," proceeded Harald, very sharply, "do not like an obstinate,
passionate, imperious woman. It is in general the men themselves who
spoil them; they are too patient, too conceding, too obliging. But in my
house it shall be different. I do not intend to spoil my wife. On the
contrary, she shall learn to show herself patient, devoted, and
attentive to me; and for this purpose I intend to send for my dear
sister. She must not expect that I shall move from the spot for her
sake; she must not----"
At this moment a carriage was heard to drive into the court, and stop
before the door. Harald looked through the window, made an exclamation
of surprise and joy, and darted like an arrow out of the room. Susanna
in her turn looked with anxiety through the window, and saw Harald lift
a lady from the carriage, whom he then warmly and long folded in his
arms, and quitted only to take from her the boxes and packages which she
would bring out, and loaded himself with them.