"Sam Sorrel," said Fred Temple one day to his friend while they were
seated at breakfast in the house of a farmer of the Nord Fiord, "we have
been here more than a fortnight now; we have enjoyed ourselves much,
have had good sport of various kinds, and have laid in a stock of health
and wisdom, it is to be hoped, that will last us for some time to come."
"That sounds very much like the beginning of a formal speech," said
Grant.
"Hold your tongue, Grant," retorted Temple, "I have not yet done. As I
have said, we have been successful in gaining the ends for which we came
here. We have seen the sun rise without setting. Sam Sorrel has filled
a large portfolio with beautiful sketches of, perhaps, the finest
scenery in Europe. Grant has shot and stuffed I am afraid to say how
many birds of all kinds, besides making a large collection of rare
plants; and Fred Temple has caught about five hundred pounds' weight of
salmon--not to mention hundreds of trout--"
"Good," said Sam, "and very correctly stated. You are fit for the House
of Commons, my friend."
"Sam, be silent!--Now this being the case, it is time that we should
think of returning to our native land. I will, therefore, make
arrangements for setting sail in two or three days. But before leaving
I will bring to a point a little plot which I have been hatching ever
since I landed in Norway. I won't tell you what it is just yet, but I
must have your help, Sam."
"Command my services, sir," said Sam, with a wave of his hand. "I am
your servant, your Eastern slave, ready, if need be, to prostrate myself
in the earth and rub my nose in the dust."
"Good. I accept your offer," said Fred, "and my first command is, that
you take your brushes and paint me a Norwegian bride in the course of
this forenoon!"
"Why, your orders cannot be obeyed," cried Sam in surprise. "Where am I
to find a bride on such short notice? You are more unreasonable than
the most tyrannical of sultans."
"Nevertheless," replied Fred calmly, "I issue my commands, and in order
to relieve your mind of anxiety, I will find a bride for you."
"Where, then, is this bride, O wizard?" asked Sam with a laugh.
"Behold her!" cried Fred, starting up and throwing open the door, from
which could be seen the shore and the fiord with its background of noble
hills.
Sam and Grant started up with sudden exclamations, and stared at the
object which met their gaze in speechless wonder. And truly there was
cause for astonishment; for there, on the shore, close to the water's
edge, stood the fair Raneilda, clothed in the gorgeous costume of a
Norwegian bride.
"Assuredly you are a wizard," cried Grant, glancing at his friend.
"Not so," replied Fred. "I met sweet Raneilda last night at her
father's cottage, and begged of her to come here at a certain hour this
morning in the costume of a bride, in order that my friend the artist
might paint her. She hesitated and blushed a good deal at first, but at
length she agreed, and, as you see, is punctual in keeping her
appointment."
Fred now went down to Raneilda, and brought her up to the house; Sam
Sorrel at once placed her in a good position, seized his brushes, and
began the portrait.
He was delighted with the dress, for it glittered with gold and silver
ornaments. The crown was of pure silver covered with gold. The
breastplate was red cloth ornamented with silver-gilt brooches, beads of
various colours, silver chains, and small, round looking-glasses. There
was also a belt ornamented with gold and silver. Altogether Raneilda
looked much more like the Queen of Norway than a poor peasant girl!
It is necessary to inform the reader that the greater part of this
costume did not belong to the girl. In fact it did not belong to any
one in particular. It is the custom in Norway for each district to have
a marriage-dress for general use. The crown, the breastplate, and the
belt are public property, and may be hired out by the girls who are
about to be married at a few shillings for each occasion.
While Sam was busy with his portrait, Grant went out to search for
plants, and Fred went off to search for Hans and to carry out the
remainder of his plot. He soon found the young pilot.
"Hans," said he, "follow me, I wish to speak with you."
Hans was quite willing to follow Fred to the moon if he had chosen to
lead the way.
"I am going to show you a very pretty sight, Hans; step this way. Here,
in this room."
He threw open the door and led him in. The young Norseman entered with
a smile, but the smile suddenly vanished, his blue eyes opened to their
utmost width, and he stood rooted to the floor, unable to speak!
"Tuts! what means this?" cried Sam in disgust at being interrupted.
"Raneilda!" gasped her lover.
The bride covered her face with her hands.
"Very good! excellent!" exclaimed Grant who chanced to pass at the
moment, and peeped in at the open window.
"Hurrah!" cried Bob Bowie, who just then came up to announce that the
_Snowflake_ was ready for sea.
"She won't be wanted for some days yet," cried Fred bursting into a fit
of laughter as he seized Hans by the arm, dragged him into another room,
and shut the door.
"Now, Hans," said he earnestly, "I am going to pay you off. Nay, man,
be not cast down, I did not take you into yonder room to mock you, but
to show you how pretty Raneilda looked in her bridal dress."
Fred paused for a moment, and the Norseman sighed and shook his head.
"You must know," resumed Fred, "that I wish to dance at your wedding,
Hans, and in order that I may do so, I mean to have you married at once.
(Hans stared.) You told me in Bergen that you wanted some sort of work
that would bring you good pay. (Hans nodded his head.) Well, I will
give you a hundred dollars for the time you have been with me."
Hans' face brightened, and he shook hands with Fred, according to
Norwegian custom when a gift is presented, or a generous payment made.
"Now," continued Fred, "did you not tell me that two hundred dollars
would enable you to take your father's farm off his hands? (Hans nodded
again.) And is Raneilda willing to marry you when you can afford to ask
her? (Hans nodded this time, very decidedly.) Well, Hans, I have been
very much pleased with the way in which you have conducted yourself
while in my service; you have done your duty well. (Hans smiled and
looked happy.) But you have done more than that. (Hans looked
surprised.) You have been the means of enabling me to see the sun all
night at a time when I should otherwise have missed it. I owe you
something for that. Moreover, you pulled me out of that rapid by the
neck when I caught the twenty-eight pound salmon, and so, perhaps, were
the means of saving my life; and certainly you saved me that salmon.
For all this, and for many other good deeds, I owe you a debt of
gratitude. Now, Hans, you must know that it is impossible to pay a debt
of gratitude _in full_, for, however much you may pay, there is always
something more owing. (Hans looked puzzled.) This debt, then, I cannot
pay up at once, but I can prove to you that I consider myself your
debtor by making you a present of another hundred dollars. Here is the
money, my lad, so go and tell Raneilda to get ready as soon as
possible!"
Hans stared in wonder and unbelief, first at the money, then at Fred.
Then a look of triumph gleamed in his eyes, and he seized Fred's hand
and wrung it. Then he uttered a shout, and ran to Raneilda and kissed
her. Fred kissed her too. Sam Sorrel and Grant, not knowing exactly
what to do, kissed her also; and Bob Bowie, who was under the belief
that they were all mad, made a grasp at the poor girl but missed her,
for Raneilda was overwhelmed with confusion, and ran nimbly out of the
room, leaving her crown behind her! Hans Ericsson hastily picked it up
and ran after her, leaving Fred Temple to explain things to his
astonished friends as he best could.
So that was the end of _that_ matter.
But that was by no means the end of the whole affair. Before the
_Snowflake_ left the fiord, Hans and Raneilda were married, as all true
lovers ought to be.
The fair bride was once again decked out in the queen-like garments
which had formerly filled Sam and Grant with so great surprise and
admiration; and Fred, as he had promised, danced at the Norseman's
wedding. And not only did Fred dance, but so did his friends--ay, and
his whole ship's crew. And it would have done your heart good, reader,
to have seen the way in which the Jack-tars footed it on that occasion
on the green grass, and astonished the Norsemen. But it must also be
told that the Norsemen were not a whit behindhand, for they showed the
tars a number of capers and new steps which they had never before seen
or even dreamed of!
Just before the ball began there was heard a sound resembling the yells
of an exceedingly young pig in its dying agonies. This was a violin.
It was accompanied by a noise somewhat like to the beating of a
flour-mill, which was found to proceed from the heel of the fiddler, who
had placed a wooden board under his left foot. Thus he beat time, and a
drum, as it were, at once. He also beat Paganini and all other fiddlers
hollow. Round this manufacturer of sweet sounds did the lads and lasses
flock and soon gave evidence of their sympathy with the rest of mankind
by beginning to dance.
Certainly elegance is not a characteristic of the Norwegian peasantry!
Having formed a ring, they went to work with the utmost gravity and
decorum. Scarcely a laugh was heard! nothing approaching to a shout
during the whole evening. The nature of their dances was utterly
incomprehensible. The chief object the young men had in view seemed to
be to exhibit their agility by every species of bound and fling of which
the human frame is capable, including the rather desperate feat of
dashing themselves flat upon the ground. The principal care of the
girls seemed to be to keep out of the way of the men, and avoid being
killed by a frantic kick or felled by a random blow.
But the desperate features in each dance did not appear at once. Each
man began by seizing his partner and dragging her recklessly round the
circle, ever and anon twirling her round violently with one arm, and
catching her round the waist with the other, in order apparently to save
her from total destruction. To this treatment the fair damsels
submitted for some time with downcast eyes and pleased yet bashful
looks. Then the men seemed to fling them off and go at it entirely on
their own account, yet keeping up a sort of revolving course round their
partners, like satellites encircling their separate suns. Presently the
men grew furious; rushed about the circle in wild erratic courses,
leaped into the air, and while in that position slapped the soles of
their feet with both hands!
Then they became a little more sane, and a waltz, or something like it,
was got up. It was quite pretty, and some of the movements graceful;
but the wild spirit of the glens seemed to re-enter them again rather
suddenly. The females were expelled from the ring altogether, and the
young men braced themselves for a little really heavy work; they dashed,
flung, and hurled themselves about like maniacs, stood on their heads
and walked on their hands; in short, became a company of acrobats, yet
always kept up a sort of sympathetic attempt at time with the fiddler,
who went on pounding his wooden board with his left heel and murdering
an inconceivable multitude of young pigs with a degree of energy that
was only equalled by that of those to whom he fiddled.
But not a man, woman, or child there gave vent to his or her feelings in
laughter. They smiled, they commented in a soft tone, they looked
happy; nay, they _were_ happy, but they did not laugh! Once only did
they give way a little, and that was when an aspiring youth, after
having nearly leaped down his own throat, walked round the circle on his
hands.
Even Tittles danced that day! He danced in and out among the feet of
the dancers in a most perplexing manner, and got his unhappy toes and
his unfortunate tail trod upon to a terrible extent. But Tittles did
not seem to mind. It is true that he gave a yelp of pain on each
occasion, but he instantly forgave the offender if he looked at all
sorry. Upon the whole Tittles was the cause of much noise, no little
confusion, and great amusement at that celebrated wedding.
Thus did Fred Temple and his friends spend their last day in Norway.
At midnight they set sail for Old England. On rising next morning they
found themselves far out among the islands of the coast. Soon after
that they were out of sight of land,--heaving on the swell of the ocean,
thinking over the varied and stirring scenes of the past three months
with a sort of feeling that it must have been all a dream, and wishing
heartily that they were still away in the far north, enjoying the
endless daylight and--_Chasing the Sun_.