possible, and Sami was light-hearted when he started with his little
bundle on his back away from his cousins’ house.
At the inn, sure enough, they found a driver who was going with a big
wood-wagon to Château d’Æux. He was ready to take the boy with him and
thought he would be able to find someone to take him farther, if the boy
knew his way down there on the French side. The farmer said Sami had been
brought up there and wanted to go back, he knew where.
Now the driver was ready. Sami’s bundle was thrown into the wagon and the
boy seated on it.
“Good luck!” said the farmer, gave Sami his hand and went away.
Then the driver swung himself up on his seat and the two strong horses
started off. Although the wood-wagon was far less handsome and easy than
the coach in which Sami had come, still he sat much happier in his hard
seat than when he had left his grandmother lying so alone and had to go
away, without knowing where. Now he was going home, where he knew
everything and where everything was dear to him, every tree and every
wall by the way; and although he wouldn’t see his grandmother any longer,
he would find all the places where he had been with her and where it was
more beautiful than anywhere else. With these thoughts a multitude of
questions arose in Sami’s mind: Would everything be still the same as
before? Would the ash-trees still be standing there by the wall? and the
red and yellow flowers be growing on the hillside? And Sami had so much
to think about that he didn’t notice how the time was passing. So he was
very much astonished when the wagon stopped, for they had come to a large
village, and the driver took firm hold of him, lifted him up and set him
down on the street. Sami looked around him. They had stopped in front of
an inn, above which a big brown bear stood for a sign and which was
surrounded by all kinds of vehicles. But he couldn’t look around any
longer, for the driver had already seized him again and lifted him
together with his bundle into another team and then went away. Soon he
came back with a large piece of bread and said:
“There, eat; you still have far to go.”
“Are we yet in Château d’Æux?” asked Sami.
“Yes, to be sure, but you are going farther,” was the reply; then the
driver disappeared.
Sami was now sitting in a small country wagon to which an enormous horse
was harnessed. No one was as yet up in the high seat, but Sami was seated
with his bundle back in the empty space on the floor. Then two big, stout
men climbed up on the high seat, and they started away. After a short
time Sami’s eyes closed involuntarily, he slipped off on the floor of
the wagon, his head fell over on his bundle, and he sank into a deep
sleep. When he woke again, he was still in the wagon on the floor, but
everything was quiet around him; he did not hear the horse trotting; the
wagon was no longer moving forward. It looked very strange all around
him. He looked, and looked again, until he realized what had happened.
The wagon was standing without horse or driver in a shed; they had
forgotten Sami and left him lying there.
“Where can I be?” Sami asked himself. The door of the shed stood open,
and outside there was bright sunshine. Sami climbed down from his
sleeping-place, stepped outside and went a little way farther around the
house, which stood directly in front of the shed. Then he knew
everything about it--there stood the house with the garden, where he had
taken the beautiful coach; right before him was the railway station--he
was in Aigle again. Only a little way farther in the train and he would
be at home!
Then it came to Sami that here he could no longer talk with the people,
for now he was among the French. But he knew what to do. He still had the
little bag with his grandmother’s money. He ran to the place where the
people were getting their tickets, laid a piece of money in front of the
little window, and said: “La Tour!”
Immediately he had his ticket; he sprang into the train, which was
already standing outside, and crouched down quickly in his corner, the
very same corner where he had sat before with Herr Malon. He knew all the
names which were called out at the stations; nearer and nearer he
came--now--“La Tour!” He jumped down and ran to the right across the
fields, then to the left up the hill. He knew every tree along the way.
Now--there stood the wall, there stood the ash-trees and their tops were
waving to and fro. Underneath, the clear brook was murmuring, and above,
on the hillside, the bright sun was shining on the big golden primroses
and the red anemones. It was all exactly as it had been before! Moreover,
above--oh, that was the most beautiful of all!--up in the ash-trees the
birds were piping and singing as loudly and as merrily as ever and, to be
sure, there was the chief singer, the finch. “Trust! Trust! Trust!
Trust!” sounded his clear song, and all the birds joined in with their
warbling and rejoiced loudly:
“Only trust the dear Lord!”
Sami was so overcome because everything was still exactly the same as he
had known it before, that he stood speechless for a long time and
listened, looking around him and listening again. It seemed so good to
him and he had never felt such happiness in his heart since that evening
when he had sat there with his grandmother. Now his grandmother rose so
vividly before him, that he suddenly threw himself down on the wall and
wept. She was no longer there, and would come back to him no more. But
all the good words she had spoken to him here that evening rose vividly
in his heart, and it seemed as if he distinctly heard her talking again,
and as if she must really be quite near and see him.
Sami straightened himself up again, sat a while longer listening, and
then began to think what he should do. At first he wanted to go to Malon
and ask him if he could work for him, perhaps get out the weeds in his
vineyard. But he could not explain to him why he was there again; they
would not understand each other and Malon might think he had done
something wrong and had been sent away for it by his cousin. But perhaps
the woman who always gave mending to his grandmother would set him to
work in her garden. She lived down below, near the Lake. He jumped down
from the wall. Once more he looked at the hillside, and up into the tree,
but he could come here again; he was here and could stay here.
On the way he thought how he could explain to the woman what he wanted to
do for her. He would bend down and show her how he could pull up the
weeds; then he would show her by a gesture that he knew how to hoe.
There stood already the old castle of La Tour before him, with its two
high, weather-beaten towers, which he had looked at so many times. All
around and high up thick ivy covered the old walls, and above them
multitudes of merry birds were chirping. Sami had to stop and listen to
their happy singing for a while, then he went along by the high old wall
around the courtyard, for he wanted to see if it was still the same as
before down below in the lonely place where the water kept falling on the
old stones and singing a gentle song. He had once stood there a long time
with his grandmother. There lay the place before him, but it was not
lonely. A big wagon was standing there, with a grey cover stretched over
it. No horse stood in front of it, but a thin nag was nibbling the hedge,
and this evidently belonged to the wagon. Near the old castle tower a
fire was blazing merrily; a man was sitting by it, hammering with all his
might. Close by him four little children were crawling around on the
ground. Sami stood still at this unexpected sight, then came slowly a
little nearer. Then he heard the man warning the children not to come so
near the fire. This he was doing in Sami’s own language, exactly as all
the people in Zweisimmen had spoken. This gave courage to Sami; he came
along quite near, and watched the man mend a hole in an old pan.
“Does it please you?” asked the man, after Sami had looked on attentively
for some time. The boy answered by nodding his head.
“Are you French, that you can’t talk?” asked the man again.
Sami then said he could talk, but not at all in French, but he was glad
that the tinker spoke German, because otherwise he would not be able to
understand anyone there.
“Whom do you belong to?” asked the man again.
“Nobody,” answered Sami.
Then the man wanted to know where he had come from and why he had come
among the French. Sami told him his history, and how he had only come
there again that morning.
“And now don’t you know at all what you are going to do, and where you
are going?” asked the man.
Sami said he did not.
“If I knew that you would do something, and not just stand around and
look in the air, I would give you work,” continued the man, “but such
stray waifs as you are not willing to do anything.”
Meanwhile a woman had come from the wagon. She had heard her husband’s
last words.
“Take him,” she said. “What work is there for him? He might run errands;
all boys can do that. I never get through with the running about and the
four bawlers, and the cooking besides; take him!”
“Well, stay here,” said the man; “you can carry the pan back; it is very
good that you know the way.”
Sami had suddenly found a place; he did not himself know how, but he was
very glad about it. Quite content, he started out with his pan and did
exactly as the tinker had told him. He wandered through the long street
of La Tour, went into every house and showed his mended pan. He made
significant gestures, to make the people understand that he would like to
get more articles to mend. This he did so eagerly and earnestly that most
of the people burst out laughing, and this put them in such good humor
that they always found a pan or a kettle with a hole in it which they
handed him to be repaired.
Thus in a short time Sami had collected as much old stuff as he was able
to carry, and could now take his pan to the house pointed out to him,
where it belonged. Then he turned back.
[Illustration: “Such stray waifs as you are not willing ta do anything.”]
The tinker was very much pleased with Sami’s harvest and his wife said
very kindly, if he kept on doing like that, he would get along all right,
but he must sit down at once and have some supper. The four little
children were no longer there. Sami guessed that they were lying out in
the wagon asleep. On the fire a pot was now standing. It was bubbling
merrily inside and from under the cover came forth a very inviting odor.
Sami had never been so hungry in his life before, for he had had nothing
the whole day but the rest of the piece of bread which the driver had
given him the day before in Château d’Æux.
The woman took the cover off the pot and filled three dishes with the
good-smelling soup. Each of the three now placed his dish before him on
the ground, and the meal began.
Nothing had ever tasted so good to Sami in all his life as this soup. It
was not a thin soup, it was as thick as pulp, of cooked peas and
potatoes, and with this quite large lumps of meat came into his spoon.
When he had finished, the woman said:
“You can go to sleep whenever you want to. In the back of the wagon there
is room, and your bundle will make a good pillow.”
This seemed a little strange to Sami, and he said:
“Must I sleep in my clothes?”
The woman thought he would find that he would not be too warm in the
night. He would be ready all the sooner in the morning. Then he could
wash his face quickly down in the lake and be all in order again for
the next day.
Sami was tired. He went immediately to the wagon and climbed up from the
back, and was able to slip in under the big cover. There was a little
room where he could lie down, and next him came the four little children,
one after another. Sami sat down and said his evening prayer. Then he
thought of his grandmother for a while, and what she would say if she
could see him thus in the wagon, and know that he would have to sleep all
the time in his clothes, and if only she could see how it looked in the
wagon, so dirty and in disorder. She had been so neat and orderly about
everything and had kept him so clean from a baby up. But she had never
spoken to him about this, as about other things which he must avoid, and
perhaps the people were quite God-fearing; then he ought to stay with
them. That would be as his grandmother wished. Then he placed his bundle
under his head, and went peacefully to sleep.
CHAPTER SIXTH
SAMI SINGS TOO
Sami had now been working five days for the tinker, and had passed his
nights in the wagon. He was well treated, for the man and his wife were
pleased with him. Every day Sami dragged along such a pile of old pans,
pots and kettles, that they both wondered where he found them. His
grandmother had not charged him in vain to do everything he had to do
as well as he possibly could, because the dear Lord always saw what he
was doing.
He never loitered on the way, and if a woman was going to send him away
quickly and would not listen to him, then he looked at her so
beseechingly that she would find an old pan somewhere and bring it out.
From morning till night he ran with the greatest zeal, in order to get as
much work as possible for his master, and the praise he won every evening
he enjoyed as much as the savoury soup which followed.
Nevertheless Sami was not very well contented. Every evening as he sat in
the wagon, he had to think what his grandmother would say to all the dirt
around him, and things pleased him less and less. The woman did not do
for the little children as his grandmother had done for him. All four
crawled around in the dirt and looked so that Sami didn’t care to have
anything to do with them. If they cried they were knocked this way and
that, and at night the woman took up one after another from the ground,
put it in the wagon, pulled the dirty grey blanket over them and went
away again.
The largest boy could talk quite well. He could have learned a little
prayer long before this, but the woman never taught him any.
Such a homesickness for his grandmother now arose in Sami’s heart every
evening that he had to bury his head deep in his bundle, so that no one
would hear him sob.
Often on his expeditions he would come near the wall, under the
ash-trees, but he never went over to it, for he had to work and did
not dare sit idle and listen to the birds. But every time he had
looked longingly there and sent a whistle from a distance as greeting
to the birds.
From the old house on the hillside, from which one could look down at the
ash-trees and the wall, he had brought a little kettle to the tinker, and
was delighted at the thought of taking it back again, for then he could
look down there for a moment and perhaps hear the birds.
Two days had passed, and Sami hoped that on the following day the little
kettle would be ready. When he returned that evening to the fire with his
last collection, the tinker was sitting thoughtfully there, turning the
little kettle round and round in his hands. His wife was looking over his
shoulders and both were scrutinizing the old kettle as if it were
something unusual.
“It is as like the other as if it were its brother,” said the wife. “You
know how the man said you must not spoil the pictures scratched on it,
and on that account he gave you so much more for it. Here are exactly the
same figures on this, and the nose in front has just the same curve as
the other, which he would not have mended for fear it would be spoiled.”
“I see it all, surely,” said the man, “but I don’t know what can be done
about it. With the other one I could say, it couldn’t be mended any
more, for it looked much worse than this, and the people didn’t know
that the old stuff was worth anything, and I wouldn’t have believed it
was myself.”
“They won’t know either. The boy brought the kettle from the old house
up there. They only know the ground they hoe, but not such a thing as
this. Just say it can’t be mended any more, it is not good for anything,
and give them something for the copper. They will be satisfied enough.
If we go back to Bern we will take it to the man, who will give eighty
francs for it.”
“That is true. We can do that,” said the man, delighted; “perhaps they
won’t want anything for the kettle when they know they can’t use it any
more. Come, Sami,” he called to the boy, who stood staring at them on the
other side of the fire, and had heard and understood everything--“come
here, I want to tell you something.”
Sami obeyed.
“Run quickly up to the old house, where you brought the little
kettle from, and say it isn’t good for anything, that it can’t be
mended any more.”
Sami, filled with horror, stared at the man. “Now hurry up and go along,”
said his wife, who was still standing there; “you understand well enough
what you have to do.”
Sami continued looking at the man without moving, as if he really had not
understood his words.
“What is the matter with you? Why don’t you hurry along?” snarled the
man to him.
“I can’t do that. You are not God-fearing if you do such a thing as
that,” said Sami.
“What is it to you, what I do? Be quick and go along!” commanded the
tinker, and his wife screamed angrily:
“Do you think a little beggar like you is going to tell us what is
God-fearing? We ought to know much better than you! Will you do at once
what you are told, or not?”
Sami did not stir.
“Will you go and do what I told you, or--”
The man raised his hand high up. Sami was pale with fright. Suddenly he
turned around, ran to the wagon, took his bundle out, and ran with all
his might up the road, turned to the right between the high walls and
rushed on into the open field. Not a moment did he stop running, until
he had reached the ash-trees. The spot was like a place of refuge to him.
Breathless, he sat down on the wall. The twilight was already coming on
and it was perfectly still all around. No one had run after him as he
feared. He was quite alone.
Now he began to think. It was all done so quickly that he had only now
come to his senses. Yes, it was right that he had run away, for what he
had to do was something wrong, and he had to come away because they were
not God-fearing. It surely would seem right to his grandmother that he
had done this. But where should he go now? The people had all gone home
from the fields, perhaps were already asleep. Up in the ash-trees not
one little bird made a single sound. They were surely all in their nests
and fast asleep. If the dear Lord kept them up there in the trees safe
from all harm, so that they could sleep so well, He would surely protect
him too under the trees. In this spot he always had the feeling that his
grandmother was nearer to him than anywhere else, and this gave him
confidence. So he laid himself down under the tree quite trustfully and
immediately after he had ended his evening prayer, his eyes closed, for
the brook was murmuring such a beautiful slumber song under the
ash-trees there.
Golden sunshine was streaming in Sami’s eyes when he awoke. Above him all
the birds were warbling their morning song up into the blue sky. It
sounded like pure thanksgiving and delight. It awakened in Sami’s heart
the same tones, and he had to sing praise and thanksgiving, for the dear
Lord had protected him too so well through the night and let His golden
sun shine on him again. With a clear voice Sami joined in the glad chorus
and sang a hymn of praise and thanksgiving, the only one he knew:
“Last night Summer breezes blew:--
All the flowers awake anew,”
And when he had come to the end, he sang like the merry finch with all
his might:
“Trust! Trust! Trust! Trust!
Only trust the dear Lord!”
The song had awakened in Sami new assurance that he would find a piece of
bread and some worthy work. This he wanted to look for now, for his
grandmother had not impressed it upon him in vain from his earliest days,
that in the morning after praying one should immediately go to work. So
Sami started off.
He did not go down to the Lake this day, lest he should come near the
tinker. With his bundle under his arm he wandered up the gradually rising
field road. Where this crossed the narrow street, leading over to
Clarens, Sami met a child’s carriage which a girl was pushing in front of
her. She wore a spotless white cap and a white apron. Over the carriage,
too, was spread a snow-white cover, and out from under it peeped a little
head with bright golden hair and a little white hat on it.
This unusual neatness and the smart appearance of the carriage attracted
Sami very much and he followed along the same way. On the white carriage
robe was worked a wreath of blue silk, but not of flowers. It was of
strange figures. The shining blue silk on the white cloth looked so
beautiful that Sami could not keep his eyes away from it. Suddenly it
became plain to him that the strange figures were letters, but he had
never seen any like them in his life. Their appearance captivated him
more and more. Then he began to try to see if he couldn’t spell them out
and perhaps read the words. He tried as hard as he could, but it was
difficult. Sami kept beginning over again from the first. Finally he made
out all the words. It was a proverb which read thus:
“So let the little angels sing:
This child is safe beneath our wing.”
This proverb reminded him so much of his grandmother; he didn’t know why,
but it seemed to him as if she had prayed exactly like this over his bed.
The tears came to his eyes, and yet it seemed so good, just as if he had
found his home again. The girl now turned suddenly to the left from the
road, and went through the high iron gate which stood open, and led into
a wide courtyard. Great, ancient plane-trees stood inside and cast their
broad shade over the sunny courtyard. A large flower garden surrounded
the high stone house, which looked forth from behind the trees.
Sami followed the carriage into the courtyard. It stopped under
the trees.
“What do you want here? That is the way out,” said the girl impatiently
to Sami, pointing so plainly to the gate that Sami would have understood
the meaning of her words even if her language had been foreign. But it
was surely German, and he had understood it all very well, although he
could not speak like that himself. His grandmother had told him that
there were people who spoke just like the reading in the books.
Sami did not reply, and the girl did not wait for him. She snatched the
child quickly out of the carriage, took the beautiful robe over her arm,
and went into the house.
Meanwhile a little girl had come out of the house and was standing at
some distance gazing at Sami with two big eyes. Now she came quickly
forward, jumped nimbly into the empty carriage, and said:
“Come, give me a ride!”
“Where?” asked Sami.
“Out there along the road, and far, far away!”
Sami obeyed immediately. For a long while he trotted along without
stopping. The little girl seemed to enjoy the ride. She looked so eagerly
around with her bright eyes on every side, as if she couldn’t see enough.
Then they came to a meadow thick with flowers.
“Hold still! Hold still!” cried the little one suddenly, and sprang with
a big jump out of the low carriage.
“Now we must have all the flowers, every single one! Come!”
And the little girl was already in the midst of the grass, stamping
bravely forward. But Sami said quite prudently:
“You mustn’t go so into the grass. It is forbidden. But see, if we go
around outside and take all the flowers you can reach, there will be a
big bunch.”
The little one came out, for she knew that she ought not to do what was
forbidden. Then the flowers were gathered according to Sami’s advice, but
the little companion soon had enough of such exertion, seated herself on
the ground and said:
“Come, sit down by me. But you must not speak French to me. I have to
learn that with Madame Laurent, but I would rather speak German, and you
must do so too.”
“I don’t speak French, I don’t know how,” replied Sami; “but I can’t
speak like you either.”
“Where do you come from then, if you don’t speak German and don’t speak
French?” the little one wanted to know.
Sami thought for a moment, then he said:
“First I came from Chailly and then from Zweisimmen.”
“No, no,” interrupted the little one warmly. “People are never from
two places, only from one. I am from Berlin, in Germany, you see. Then
Papa bought an estate and now we are living on Lake Geneva. What is
your name?”
Sami told her.
“And my name is Betti. Why did you come into the courtyard when Tina
wanted to send you out?”
Sami had to think for a while, then he said: