THE LOST PIN
"MARI, Ole, come here to me at once," called their mother.
It was the morning after the christening. The two children were sitting
with their pet magpie under a tree near the house.
"What can be the matter, mother speaks so quickly?" whispered Ole, as he
and his sister hurried to obey.
"Have you seen the silver brooch I wore at my throat yesterday?" said
their mother, as soon as they came into the house.
The good woman seemed nervous. Her words came quickly, which was not a
common thing, for she was a slow speaker, like other Norse people.
"Why, no, mother, of course not," said Mari. "Didn't you put it away in
the box where you always keep it?"
"Certainly, my child, but I did not lock the box as usual. I found it
open just now. Can it be possible that a thief has been here? It does
not seem probable. Besides, my other ornaments are there safe. A thief
would have taken all."
"I shouldn't wonder if I could guess who took the brooch, mother," said
Ole. "It's the magpie. You know you said magpies like all kinds of
shining objects."
"You handsome little mischief, have you done it?" said the boy, as he
looked at his pet.
The magpie had kept his seat on Ole's shoulder when the children came
into the house. He looked from him to the boy's mother with bright eyes,
as much as to say, "I could tell all about it, if I wished."
"It seems as though the bird understands what we are talking about, but
of course he doesn't. Still, I believe he has done something with your
brooch, mother," said Mari.
"It may be so, indeed, children. The box was possibly left open,
although I am generally so careful. If that is so, Ole and Mari, you
must find it. Unless you are able to do so, you cannot keep your pet any
longer."
You may be sure the children were anxious to find the brooch now. All
that day they searched in every nook and corner of the house and yard.
"You know, we let him fly around for a long time this morning," said
Ole, when night came and still the brooch could not be found. "If it was
carried up into some tree, we may never see it again."
Ole had crawled out upon the limbs of all the trees near the house, and
his legs were pretty tired.
"You can't do any more to-night, children," said the farmer, when
supper was over and the family were gathered on the porch to talk over
the trouble. "Go to bed, and do not fret. In the morning, let the magpie
out of the cage, and allow him to go where he pleases. Watch him, and
perhaps you will find he has some hiding-place where he stores his
treasures."
Those were wise words. The next morning the children did as their father
had directed, and the magpie was set free. Five minutes afterward he
flew out of the house, and away he went toward the barn.
Now it happened that a pole stretched out from under the low roof of
this building. In winter-time a bundle of grain was fastened to this
pole from time to time. It was placed there to give food to the hungry
birds that came that way. They might starve during freezing weather, if
kind people did not think of them.
A bunch of the old straw was still fastened to the pole. The magpie flew
to it, and alighted.
"The brooch may be stowed away in that straw," said Ole. "I'll get a
ladder and see, anyway."
A moment after, the boy was shouting in delight.
"I have it, I have it, Mari. How glad mother will be. O, you naughty
magpie. We will be careful that you don't get any more brooches of my
great-grandmother's."
Delighted indeed was the mother when they came in with the lost brooch.
"You may go down to the shore, and spend the afternoon," she said. "You
can have a fine time with your playmates in the village."
A half-hour later Ole and Mari were playing barefooted on the edge of
the bay, or fiord, as, you remember, Mari calls it. But there was no
beach of smooth sand here, for rocks and ledges covered the shore.
There was only one little nook where it was easy for boats to land.
The village was built at the head of this narrow bay, as it reached far
into the land. It was a long sail out to the open ocean. Mari had never
yet seen it, although she had lived so near the water all her life.
It was a wonderful sight that the children looked upon this afternoon.
Great cliffs rose high up from the water on each side of the bay. They
were so straight and tall, they seemed to join it to the sky above.
A waterfall came rushing down from the top of one of these cliffs. It
made a whirlpool in the spot where it fell into the bay. But everywhere
else the water was very quiet. It was so still, that as you looked up to
the steep mountains on each side, it would have made you almost fearful,
it seemed so lonely and apart from the rest of the world.
"I climbed way up that cliff by the waterfall last spring," Ole told his
sister, as the children sat down upon a rock to rest.
"Weren't you afraid?" she asked, as she looked at him proudly. Then she
added, quickly, "Of course you weren't. I never knew you to be afraid of
anything in your life. But why did you do it?"
"I was after down for mother's cloak. The eider-ducks build their nests
in the crannies of the rocks. I found three of them that day, I
remember. It seemed almost too bad to rob the nests, but still you know
there is nothing so soft and warm as the down. And I shall be proud when
mother has enough to line her cloak and finish it."
"Those ducks have a queer habit of plucking the softest feathers from
their own breasts to line their nests. Don't you think so, Ole?"
"Yes, birds are a great deal nicer than we are apt to think. You know
the mother-bird covers the eggs with this down before she flies away for
food. She seems to understand that they must be kept warm, and the
father-duck doesn't help her by bringing her food or taking her place
while she is away. She has all the care on her own shoulders, poor
thing.
"If her nest is robbed of the down, she will pluck more feathers from
her breast and line it again. If it happens the third time, she flies to
her mate and takes enough from him to fill their place. But after that
her patience is worn out, she goes away and seeks another place in which
she can build a new nest undisturbed."
"She certainly is a wise little creature, for she wouldn't be warm
enough if she robbed herself too much," said Mari. "Mother has been to
the city of Bergen, and she says cloaks lined with eider-down are sold
in the stores there, and that they are worth a great deal of money."
"Of course, Mari. Some men make a business of robbing the nests of
eider-ducks. It must be hard work, too. But see, there comes the
postman. Let's go to meet him."
The children looked down the bay, and what do you think they saw?
At first it seemed as though a pine-tree standing up on the water were
sailing straight toward them. But no! one could see as it came nearer
that the tree was fastened into an odd little boat with a high curved
bow. The tree must be taking the place of a sail, for the man inside was
not rowing, yet the boat came steadily onward.
"Is it rough outside?" asked Ole, as the boat drew near.
"Yes, the wind was blowing so hard I did not dare to put up the sail.
But right in here it is quiet and calm enough to suit any one."
When the postman had carried his letters up to the office, in the
leading house in the village, he came back to the shore and sat down for
a few moments' talk with the children.
"This is a wonderful country of ours," he said, as he looked at the
shadows of the great mountains in the water. "And we who live here
belong to a noble and a mighty race. Never forget that, Mari, will you,
my child?"
"O no, Olaf, I love to think of the grand old times when the Vikings
sailed out of these bays and travelled all over the world. They were the
ones who discovered America, weren't they? Although I have heard it said
that the honour is given now to Columbus, the Italian."
"Hundreds of years before Columbus lived, Mari, our great seamen crossed
the ocean. Many of our people went with them and settled in Iceland.
But they did not forget their native land and the wonderful stories that
had been handed down for centuries from father to son.
"At last a wise man said, 'I will gather together these stories of the
Norse people. I will write them down, and our children shall have them
for ever.' In this way the 'Eddas' came to be written. They are dearer
to us now than any other books except the Bible. Is it not so,
children?"
"Yes, yes, Olaf," cried Mari and Ole together.
And Mari added, "We are so happy when father reads to us from the
'Eddas.' I hardly know what story I like best."
"I have sometimes heard strangers in the land speak about our boats,"
Olaf went on. "They call them old-fashioned and say they remind them of
the ships the Vikings sailed in a thousand years ago, they have such
high curved prows and are so broad. But what do we care if they do call
them old-fashioned? We like it, children, for the old ways were good
ways."
"I wish I had lived in the time of the Vikings," said Ole. "I should
like to have gone with them on their daring voyages. But why were they
better sailors than any other people at that time, Olaf?"
"In the first place, they were strong and brave. They loved the sea and
spent their lives upon it. They trained themselves from boyhood to bear
cold and hardships. And, besides all these things, these deep bays were
good places for sailors to learn their craft.
"But I have stayed here longer than I thought; I must go home. This was
the last village where I had to deliver letters or I could not have
stopped with you so long. I will try sailing back, but if I find the
wind still strong when I get outside the fiord, I can easily take the
sail down. Good-bye."
The postman was soon far down the bay. He passed several fishermen in
their boats just coming back from their day's catch. Ole and Mari waited
till they came in.
"What luck, what luck?" cried the children.
"I have had such a good haul," said Gustav, who was the first to touch
the shore, "that here is a fine large haddock to take home to your
mother, Ole."
"Many thanks, Gustav, my mother will be much pleased," answered the boy,
as he received the gift. Then the two children trudged homeward,
clasping hands and singing one of the songs they had learned at school.