The thing moved its bushy tail, but did not answer.
"There is no cake for you to-night, Nipen. I hope the ale will do. Is
the ale good, Nipen?"
Off went the dark creature, without a word, as quick as it could go.
"Is it offended?" thought Oddo: "or is it really what it looks like,--a
fox? If it does not come back, I will go down presently, and see
whether it has drunk the ale. If not, I shall think it is only a fox."
He presently let himself down to the ground by the way he had come up,
and eagerly laid hold of the ale-can. It would not stir. It was as
fast on the ground as if it was enchanted, which Oddo did not doubt was
the case; and he started back, with more fear than he had yet had. The
cold he felt on this exposed spot soon reminded him, however, that the
can was probably frozen to the snow,--which it might well be, after
being brought warm from the fire-side. It was so. The vessel had sunk
an inch into the snow, and was there fixed by the frost.
None of the ale seemed to have been drunk; and so cold was Oddo by this
time, that he longed for a sup of it. He took first a sup, and then a
draught: and then he remembered that the rest would be entirely spoiled
by the frost if it stood another hour. This would be a pity, he
thought; so he finished it, saying to himself that he did not believe
Nipen would come that night.
At that very moment he heard a cry so dreadful that it shot, like sudden
pain, through every nerve of his body. It was not a shout of anger: it
was something between a shriek and a wail,--like what he fancied would
be the cry of a person in the act of being murdered. That Nipen was
here now, he could not doubt; and at length Oddo fled. He fled the
faster, at first, for hearing the rustle of wings; but the curiosity of
the boy even now got the better of his terror, and he looked up at the
barn where the wings were rustling. There he saw, in the starlight, the
glitter of two enormous round eyes, shining down upon him from the ridge
of the roof. But it struck him at once that he had seen those eyes
before. He checked his speed, stopped, went back a little, sprang up
once more into the gallery, hissed, waved his cap, and clapped his
hands, till the echoes were all awake again; and, as he had hoped, the
great white owl spread its wings, sprang off from the ridge, and sailed
away over the fiord.
Oddo tossed up his cap, cold as the night was, so delighted was he to
have scared away the bird which had for a moment scared him. He hushed
his mirth, however, when he perceived that lights were wandering in the
yard, and that there were voices approaching. He saw that the household
were alarmed about him, and were coming forth to search for him.
Curious to see what they would do, Oddo crouched down in the darkest
corner of the gallery to watch and listen.
First came Rolf and his master, carrying torches, with which they
lighted up the whole expanse of snow as they came. They looked round
them without any fear, and Oddo heard Rolf say--
"If it were not for that cry, sir, I should think nothing of it. But my
fear is that some beast has got him."
"Search first the place where the cake and ale ought to be," said
Erlingsen. "Till I see blood, I shall hope the best."
"You will not see that," said Hund, who followed, his gloomy countenance
now distorted by fear, looking ghastly in the yellow light of the torch
he carried. "You will see no blood. Nipen does not draw blood."
"Never tell me that any one that was not wounded and torn could send out
such a cry as that," said Rolf. "Some wild brute seized him, no doubt,
at the very moment that Erica and I were standing at the door
listening."
Oddo repented his prank when he saw, in the flickering light behind the
crowd of guests, who seemed to hang together like a bunch of grapes, the
figures of his grandfather and Erica. The old man had come out in the
cold for his sake; and Erica, who looked as white as the snow, had no
doubt come forth because the old man wanted a guide. Oddo now wished
himself out of the scrape. Sorry as he was, he could not help being
amused, and keeping himself hidden a little longer, when he saw Rolf
discover the round hole in the snow where the can had sunk, and heard
the different opinions of the company as to what this portended. Most
were convinced that his curiosity had been his destruction, as they had
always prophesied. What could be clearer by this hole than that the ale
had stood there, and been carried off with the cake, and Oddo with it,
because he chose to stay and witness what is forbidden to mortals?
"I wonder where he is now?" said a shivering youth, the gayest dancer of
the evening.
"O, there is no doubt about that; any one can tell you that," replied
the elderly and experienced M. Holberg. "He is chained upon a wind,
poor fellow, like all Nipen's victims. He will have to be shut up in a
cave all the hot summer through, when it is pleasantest to be abroad;
and when the frost and snow come again, he will be driven out with a
lash of Nipen's whip, and he must go flying wherever his wind flies
without resting or stopping to warm himself at any fire in the country.
Every winter now, when Erlingsen hears a moaning above his chimney, he
may know it is poor Oddo, foolish boy!"
"Foolish boy! but one can't help pitying him," said another. "Chained
astride upon the wind, and never to be warm again!"
Oddo had thus far kept his laughter to himself, but now he could contain
himself no longer. He laughed aloud, and then louder and louder as he
heard the echoes all laughing with him. The faces below, too, were so
very ridiculous--some of the people staring up in the air, and others at
the rock where the echo came from; some having their mouths wide open,
others their eyes starting, and all looking unlike themselves in the
torchlight. His mirth was stopped by his master.
"Come down, sir," cried Erlingsen, looking up at the gallery. "Come
down this moment. We shall make you remember this night as well perhaps
as Nipen could do. Come down, and bring my can and the ale and the
cake. The more pranks you play to-night the more you will repent it."
Most of the company thought Erlingsen very bold to talk in this way; but
he was presently justified by Oddo's appearance on the balustrade. His
master seized him as he touched the ground, while the others stood
aloof.
"Where is my ale-can?" said Erlingsen.
"Here, sir;" and Oddo held it up dangling by the handle.
"And the cake? I bade you bring down the cake with you."
"So I did, sir."
And to his master's look of inquiry the boy answered by pointing down
his throat with one finger, and laying the other hand upon his stomach.
"It is all here, sir."
"And the ale in the same place?"
Oddo bowed, and Erlingsen turned away without speaking. He could not
have spoken without laughing.
"Bring this gentleman home," said Erlingsen, presently to Rolf; "and do
not let him out of your hands. Let no one ask him any questions till he
is in the house." Rolf grasped the boy's arm, and Erlingsen went
forward to relieve Peder, though it was not very clear to him at the
moment whether such a grandchild was better safe or missing. The old
man made no such question, but hastened back to the house with many
expressions of thanksgiving.
As the search-party crowded in among the women, and pushed all before
them into the large warm room, M. Kollsen was seen standing on the
stair-head, wrapped in the bear-skin coverlid.
"Is the boy there?" he inquired.
Oddo showed himself.
"How much have you seen of Nipen, hey?"
"Nobody ever had a better sight of it, sir. It was as plain as I see
you now, and no further off."
"Nonsense,--it is a lie," said M. Kollsen.
"Do not believe a word he says," advised the pastor, speaking to the
listeners. "There is the folly of giving such an opportunity to a child
of making himself important. If he had had his share of the cake, with
the rest of us at table, he would have taken it quietly, and been
thankful. As it is, it will be harder work than ever to drive out these
wicked superstitions. Go, get along!" he cried to Oddo; "I do not want
to hear a word you have got to say."
Oddo bowed, and proceeded to the great room, where he took up his
clarionet, as if it was a matter of course that the dancing was to begin
again immediately. He blew upon his fingers, however, observing that
they were too stiff with cold to do their duty well. And when he turned
towards the fire, everyone made way for him, in a very different manner
from what they would have dreamed of three hours before. Oddo had his
curiosity gratified as to how they would regard one who was believed to
have seen something supernatural.
Erlingsen saw that something must be done on the spot, to clear up the
affair. If his guests went home without having heard the mysteries of
the night explained, the whole country would presently be filled with
wild and superstitious stories. He requested Peder to examine the boy,
as Oddo stood more in awe of his grandfather than of anyone else; and
also because Peder was known to be so firm a believer in Nipen, that his
judgment would be more readily received than that of an unbeliever.
When seriously questioned, Oddo had no wish to say anything but the
truth; and he admitted the whole,--that he had eaten the entire cake,
drunk all the ale, seen a fox and an owl, and heard the echoes in answer
to himself. As he finished his story, Hund, who was perhaps the most
eager listener of all, leaped thrice upon the floor, snapping his
fingers, as if in a passion of delight. He met Erlingsen's eye full of
severity, and was quiet; but his countenance still glowed with
exultation.
The rest of the company was greatly shocked at these daring insults to
Nipen: and none more so than Peder. The old man's features worked with
emotion, as he said in a low voice that he should be very thankful if
all the mischief that might follow upon this adventure might be borne by
the kin of him who had provoked it. If it should fall upon those who
were innocent, never surely had boy been so miserable as his poor lad
would then be. Oddo's eyes filled with tears, as he heard this; and he
looked up at his master and mistress, as if to ask whether they had no
word of comfort to say.
"Neighbour," said Madame Erlingsen to Peder, "is there any one here who
does not believe that God is over all, and that he protects the
innocent?"
"Is there any one who does not feel," added Erlingsen, "that the
innocent should be gay, safe as they are in the good-will of God and
man? Come, neighbours,--to your dancing again! You have lost too much
time already. Now, Oddo, play your best,--and you, Hund."
"I hope," said Oddo, "that if any mischief is to come, it will fall upon
me. We'll see how I shall bear it."
"Mischief enough will befall you, boy,--never doubt it," said his
master, "as long as you trifle with people's feelings as you have done
to-night. Go. Make up for it all you can."
The dancing was spiritless, and there was little more of it. The mirth
of the meeting was destroyed. The party broke up at three, instead of
five or six; and it might have been earlier still, but for the
unwillingness of every family present to be the first to go upon the
lake, or to try the road. At last, all understood one another's
feelings by their own; and the whole company departed at once in two
bands,--one by water, and the other by land. Those who went in sleighs
took care that a heavy stone was fastened by a rope to the back of each
carriage, that its bobbing and dancing on the road might keep off the
wolves. Glad would they have been of any contrivance by which they
might as certainly distance Nipen. Rolf then took a parting kiss from
Erica in the porch, pushed Oddo on before, and followed with Peder.
Erica watched them quite to the door of their own house, and then came
in, and busied herself in making a clearance of some of the confusion
which the guests had left behind.
"Oddo could not get a word from you, Erica," observed her mistress; "not
even a look in answer to his `good night'."
"I could not, madam," answered Erica, tears and sobs breaking forth.
"When I think of it all, I am so shocked,--so ashamed!"
"How ashamed?"
"Nipen has been so favourable to us to-day, madam! not a breath of wind
stirring all the morning, so that nobody was disappointed of coming!
And then to serve it in this way! To rob it, and mock it, and brave it
as we have done!--So ungrateful!--so very wrong!"
"We are very sorry for Oddo's trick,--your master and I," said Madame
Erlingsen; "but we are not in the least afraid of any further harm
happening. You know we do not believe that God permits his children to
be at the mercy of evil or capricious spirits. Indeed, Erica, we could
not love God as we should wish to love Him, if we could not trust in Him
as a just and kind protector. Go to rest now, Erica. You have done
quite enough since you left your bed. Go to rest now. Rest your heart
upon Him who has blessed you exceedingly this day. Whatever others do,
do not you be ungrateful to Him. Good sleep to you, Erica! Sleep off
your troubles, that Rolf may see nothing of them in the morning."
Erica smiled; and when Orga and Frolich saw the effect of what their
mother had said, they too went to rest without trembling at every one of
the noises with which a house built of wood is always resounding.