Who does not know--at least by name--the Nisse, the being whose
waggeries almost all bear the stamp of good-humoured frolic? Who has not
heard tell of his little rotund figure and his red Jacobin cap, the
symbol of unrestricted liberty? Who knows not that the house he chooses
as a dwelling, is perfectly safe from fire and other calamities? The
Nisse is a true blessing to the habitation that he honours with his
presence; it is secure against fire, storms, and thieves,--who, then,
would take so greatly amiss the little fellow's gambols? If he now and
then takes out one of the horses and rides him till he is white with
sweat, it is merely for the sake of improving his action; if he milks a
cow before the milk-maid is up, it is solely to get her into the habit
of early rising; if he occasionally sucks an egg, cries "miou" with puss
in the cock-loft, or oversets a utensil, who can be angry with him, or
grudge, him his little dish of Christmas porridge, which no considerate
housewife omits setting for him in a corner of the loft? It is only when
this is neglected that his character assumes a slight dash of
vindictiveness: for then the mistress of the house may be tolerably sure
of having her porridge burnt, or her soup grouty; her beer will turn, or
her milk will not cream, and she must not be surprised if she churn a
whole day without getting butter.
Such a little domestic goblin had from time out of mind (and still has,
for aught I know to the contrary,) his abode at Ansbjerg; though it
seems probable that this was not his only habitation, as many years
sometimes passed without a trace appearing of his existence. But just at
the period in which the events recorded in our history took place, he
began to resume his old pranks. The gardener from time to time missed
some of his choicest flowers, or several of the largest and ripest
peaches; but, what was most wonderful, these were often found in the
morning in Froeken Mette's chamber, whence it was reasonably concluded
that the lady stood high in the good graces of the beforementioned
Nisse. The grooms, moreover, declared that often during the night there
seemed witchery among the horses, and that in the morning one of them
would be found so jaded, that it would appear to have just come off a
very long and rapid journey. They protested--and who could doubt
it--that they had often been heard springing about the stable, but that
on entering every thing was perfectly quiet. Once indeed they even got a
glimpse of the portentous red cap, and afterwards took great care to
meddle no farther in the concerns of the Nisse,--a very prudent resolve.
Such unquestionable testimony failed not to make a deep impression on
all the inmates of the mansion, particularly the womankind; even the
gracious lord of the manor himself listened to these reports with a
silence big with signification.
Such was the state of things when the expedition against Black Mads was
undertaken, which formed an epoch in the history of Ansbjerg, and was
used for many years after as an era in the dating of events, as, "that
happened in the year we went in search of Black Mads; that was two or
three years after," &c. &c. In anxious expectation those left behind
waited the whole day for the return of the army of execution. Noon came,
evening, midnight; but still not one of the party appeared. They at home
comforted themselves with the supposition, that the delinquent, after
his capture, might have been conducted to Viborg, in which case the
whole day might easily have been spent, and after so wearying a march,
it was but right that the troops should get an evening's refreshment,
and a night's rest, in the town. On the strength of this extremely
reasonable hypothesis, both mistress and domestics went to bed, one
servant only remaining up. At length, about an hour after midnight, came
Junker Kai and his groom. But before I proceed further, it will be
desirable to explain the cause of his late arrival, and of the continued
absence of the rest of the party.
The poacher's hut, which he had himself erected in a remarkably simple
style, with walls of green turf, and a covering of heather, which rested
unconfined on crooked oak branches set together like the timbers of a
roof, had, considered as a fortress, an advantageous position. In the
centre of a moor, about eight miles in circuit, arose a little eminence,
which not even the most rapid thaw ever placed under water, and which,
to a horseman at least, was inaccessible, except along a narrow strip of
land, which wound among turf-pits and gushing springs. On this spot
Black Mads had raised his Arcadian abode, where, with a wife and five
children, he lived by hunting. The larger game was eaten fresh, salted,
or smoked; the smaller he sold under the rose, together with the deer
and fox-skins, and with the money thus gained bought bread and other
eatables. Milk the wife and children begged from the neighbouring
peasants.
Just as the day was beginning to peep forth, the Lord of Ansbjerg
approached the moor at the head of his troop. Niels gamekeeper, who was
well acquainted with the country, now rode forwards, and led the entire
united force in safety to the spot where the hut ought to have stood.
With consternation he looked in every direction: no hut was to be seen;
and yet it was already so light, that, if there, no one could avoid
seeing it. The first thing he had recourse to--his usual refuge in all
times of affliction and perplexity--was a long and energetic
malediction. His gracious lord, who at this moment approached for the
purpose of learning the cause of so cordial an outpouring, gave his
keeper an equally cordial morning salutation, and maintained that he had
mistaken the road and led them all astray. But Niels, who was confident
on the point, assured him, and even called a dozen black angels to
witness, that the hut stood there, but that Mads had most probably
rendered it invisible, no doubt with the assistance of his good friend
with the horse's foot;[13] for it was beyond all doubt that he
understood what the common people call "at hverre syn." His master was
just on the point of coinciding in this opinion as the most rational,
when the Junker, who had ridden further forwards, cried, "Here is fire!"
All now hurried to the spot; and it was soon discovered that the entire
hut lay in ashes, the glowing embers of which here and there still
glimmered. This discovery led Niels to the conclusion, that the
aforesaid long-tailed personage had carried the poacher off, together
with his whole brood; while the Junker, on the other hand, was of
opinion, that Black Mads himself had set fire to the hut, and then fled.
During these debates it had become broad day-light, when a closer
examination of the spot was undertaken, though nothing was found but
ashes, embers, charcoal, and burnt bones, which the huntsmen pronounced
to be those of deer. In accordance with the Junker's hypothesis, it was
resolved to search the neighbouring heath, as the fugitive, with his
family and baggage, could not possibly have reached any considerable
distance. They, therefore, divided themselves into four bodies. The
Junker, with his own and another servant, took an eastern direction,
probably that he might be the nearer to Ansbjerg and his beloved; but
all his endeavours proved fruitless. It was to no purpose that he
hurried to and fro, and exhausted himself, his attendants, and his
horses. Sometimes he fancied that he saw something moving in the
distance, but which, on a nearer view, appeared to be sheep grazing, or
a stack of turf. Once, indeed, he was certain that he perceived people
about the spot on which the German church now stands; but, by degrees,
the nearer they approached, the forms became more and more indistinct,
until they at length wholly disappeared. Amid the preparations for this
unlucky expedition, a supply of provisions--that necessary basis of
heroism--had, as it sometimes happens in greater wars, been entirely
forgotten. A third part of the Junker's division was, therefore,
despatched to supply the omission; but as the man, on the approach of
evening, had not returned, the half-famished Junker resolved on turning
his face homewards. This resolve, however, was more easily adopted than
executed. The horses were as exhausted and faint as their riders.
Matters, therefore, proceeded but slowly; and they were unable to wend
their way out of the heath before darkness came on. The consequence was,
that they lost their road, and did not reach Ansbjerg till after
midnight.
To avoid retrograding in my narrative, I will just briefly mention, that
the other three divisions met with a share of luck equally slender: not
one of them found what they sought. In vain did they traverse every
turf-moor; in vain descend into every dell, or mount every rising; in
vain did they seek through all the neighbouring villages and farms--no
one had seen or heard of Black Mads. Day was drawing to a close, and a
night's lodging was to be provided. The Lord of Ansbjerg himself landed
on Rydhauge, whence, after two days' successful sport in shooting
heath-fowl, he returned to his home.
The fatigued Junker had scarcely satisfied the cravings of hunger before
he began seriously to think of doing like justice to those of
drowsiness, and therefore ordered his servant to light him to his
sleeping-room. It happened, however, as the latter was in the act of
opening the door, that he snapt the key in two, so that a part remained
fixed in the lock. To wrench it off required a crow and hammer; and then
the noise caused by this operation would wake the whole house. For to
what end had he hitherto been so quiet, but that he might not disturb
the ladies' repose? and had even been contented with a morsel of cold
meat, which his servant had succeeded in procuring for him. In such
dilemmas, the first suggestion generally proves the best; and on this
occasion the servant was provided with one.
"The tower-chamber," said he, in a half-suppressed voice, and casting a
look of doubt on his master. At the name of this well-known, though
ill-famed apartment, a slight shudder passed over the Junker, but he
strove to conceal his fear both from the servant and himself, with a
forced smile, and with the question, tittered in a tone of indifference,
whether the bed there was in order for sleeping?
The answer was in the affirmative, as the gracious lady always had the
bed in this chamber held in readiness, although it had never been used
within the memory of man. As she kept the keys of all the other spare
bed-chambers--a precaution quite needless with the one we speak of,
which contained only a bed, two chairs and a table, and was, moreover,
by its ghostly visiters, considered as sufficiently secured against
depredations--no excuse nor objection could be made. The Junker,
therefore, suffered himself to be conducted to the formidable apartment;
and the servant having assisted him to undress, left a light on the
table, took his departure, and closed the door after him.
It was a darkish autumnal night. The waning moon was approaching her
last quarter, her curved half disc stood deep in the heavens, and shone
in at the chamber's one high and narrow bow-window; the wind was up;
small clouds drifted in rapid, almost measured time over the moon. Their
shadows glided, as it were, like figures in the magic lantern, along the
white wall, and vanished in the fire-place. The leaden window flames
clattered with each gust, which piped and whistled through the small
loose panes; it thundered in the chimney; the chamber door rattled.
Junker Kai was no coward, his heart was set pretty near the right place;
he dared to meet his man, ride his horse, had it even been a Bucephalus;
in short, he feared no living, or, more correctly speaking, no bodily
creature; but spirits he held in most awful respect. The time and
circumstances, but more particularly the bad reputation of the chamber,
set his blood in quicker motion; and all the old ghost-stories presented
themselves unbidden before his excited imagination. Phantasus and
Morpheus contended for possession of him: the first had the advantage.
He did not venture to shut his eyes, but stared unceasingly on the
opposite wall, where the shapeless shadows seemed gradually to assume
form and meaning. Under such circumstances, it is a comfort to have
one's back free, and all one's foes in front. He therefore sat up,
dashed aside the curtain at the bed's head, and cast a glance backwards.
The bed stood in a corner; at the foot was the window; opposite the side
of the bed was the plain wall, the fire-place, and beyond that the door.
His eyes glided along to the wall behind him, where hung an ancient
portrait of a doughty knight in plate armour, with a face in form and
dimensions resembling a large pumpkin, and shadowed with dark thick
locks. On this his anxious looks were fixed. It appeared and vanished
alternately, as the clouds passed from or covered the face of the moon.
In the first case, the countenance seemed to expand itself into a smile,
in the latter, to shrink into a gloomy seriousness. It might possibly,
thought he, be the spirit of a former possessor of the manor, which now,
after the extinction of his race, had taken possession of this remote
apartment. Like the shadows on the wall, courage and fear chased each
other in the Junker's soul; at length courage having gained the mastery,
he lay down and delivered himself into the power of Morpheus.
He had hardly slumbered more than half-an-hour, when he was waked by a
noise like that caused by the opening of a rusty lock. He involuntarily
opened his eyes, which fell on the opposite door, where a white figure
appeared and vanished almost at the same instant. The door was then shut
with a soft creaking. A shivering sensation passed over him. He,
nevertheless, continued master of his terror, his cooler reason had not
quite succumbed under the powers of imagination. It was probably the
servant, thought he, who, although undressed, wished to see if the light
were extinguished. Somewhat tranquilised by this supposition, he
withdrew his looks from the door, but now perceived before the window
the dark upper half of a human figure. The outline of the head and
shoulders was perfectly distinguishable. The Junker's courage now
forsook him; but what was to be done? flight was not to be thought of,
for if he would escape by the door, by which the white figure had
disappeared, he might again encounter it; the window was out of the
question, and other outlets he had not noticed. His natural courage rose
again to a pitch that enabled him to cry out, "Who is there?" At this
exclamation, the figure seemed to turn quickly round, but made no
answer; and after some moments sank down slowly under the window, and
nothing more was afterwards to be seen or heard. No be-nighted wanderer
could long more heartily for day-light than our poor Junker: he did not
venture to close his eyes again, fearing, when he opened them, he should
see something appalling. He looked alternately towards the door, the
fire-place, and the window, in painful expectation; he listened with the
most intense anxiety, but heard nothing save the howling of the wind,
the rattling of the windows, and his own breathing. Day at length broke
forth, and as soon as it was sufficiently light to distinguish the
several objects in the chamber, he arose and examined every thing with
the utmost attention. In vain, he found not a trace of his nightly
visiters. Having thus paid dearly for his experience, he hastened to
leave this unquiet lodging, with the sincere resolve of never more
passing a night in the haunted chamber.
As soon as the family met at breakfast, and the Junker had given an
account of their fruitless expedition, the lady of the house put to him
the very natural question, How he had slept after so much fatigue?
"Quite well," was the answer.
The Froeken smiled. "I think you slept in the tower-chamber," said she.
The Junker acknowledged he had; but, being desirous of concealing his
fright from his intended, he deemed it advisable flatly to deny his
nocturnal acquaintances, while the young lady seemed equally bent on
extorting a confession from him. She assured him that she could see by
his eyes he had not slept, and that he looked uncommonly pale; but he
declared the ill-famed chamber to have acquired its character unjustly,
and added, she might very safely sleep there herself if she only had the
courage.
"I think," said she, laughing, "that I shall one night make the trial of
it." The subject was now dropt, and the conversation turned to other
matters.
After the old gentleman's return, a few days passed before any further
mention was made of the tower-chamber; for, in the first place, every
one was fully occupied in devising, setting forth, and passing judgment
on the several ways by which Black Mads might have been captured, as
well as in forming the most plausible conjectures as to his actual
whereabout; and, secondly, much time was consumed in accurately and
circumstantially describing the two days' sport at Rydhauge. This
copious topic being also exhausted,--that is, when the history of each
bird, hit or missed, had been related, satisfactory reasons alleged for
each miss, sagacious comparisons made between dogs and guns, &c.
&c.,--Froeken Mette began to lead the conversation to the subject of the
haunted chamber, by informing her father of the night passed therein by
her intended; at the same time playfully directing his attention to the
seriousness of the latter. In this second examination he had two
inquisitors to answer, of whom the young lady pressed him so
unmercifully by her arch bantering, that he at length found it advisable
to recall his former denial, and confess that he was not particularly
desirous of sleeping there again.
"Is it becoming a cavalier," said Mette, "to be afraid of a shadow? I am
but a woman, and yet I dare undertake the adventure."
"I will stake my Sorrel," answered the Junker, "that you will not try
it."
"I will wager my Dun against it," cried Mette.
It was believed that she was in jest; but as she obstinately insisted on
adhering to the wager, both her lover and father strove to dissuade her
from so hazardous an enterprise. She was inflexible. The Junker now
considered it his duty to make a full confession. The old man shook his
head; Froeken Mette laughed, and maintained he had dreamed, and, in order
to convince him that he had, she felt herself the more bound to fulfil
her engagement. The father, whose paternal pride was flattered by the
courage of his daughter, now gave his consent; and all that Junker Kai
could obtain was, that a bell-rope should be brought close to the bed,
and that her waiting-maid should lie in the same chamber. Mette, on the
other hand, stipulated, that all persons in the house should continue in
their beds, that it might not afterwards be said they had frightened
away the spectre; and that no one should have a light after eleven
o'clock. Her father and the Junker would take up their quarters for the
night in the so-called gilded chamber, which was separated from the
tower-chamber only by a long passage. In this room hung the bell with
which, in case of need, the young lady was to sound an alarm. The
mother, no less heroic than the daughter, readily gave her consent to
the adventure, the execution of which was fixed for the following night.