HAPPINESS.
_July 22._--This was a really fine day, such as we consider proper to
Norway; no uncertain half-and-halfness, but a day when an untiring sun
shone down from an immaculate sky; and everything looked lovely. Our
tent was on a nice bit of turf close to the Vinstra River, which is
about as broad as the Thames at Eton, but with probably twice the volume
of water, and certainly three times its rapidity; it rushed past our
door at such a pace that no boat could stem it; and as far as we could
see up the reach it came down in an equally swift torrent, so that all
day and all night there was a swilling, rushing sound very pleasant to
hear, and creating a sensation of coolness in warm weather. Esau
considered it just the _beau ideal_ of a trout stream, for any fish
hooked in it gave a lot of trouble before he was safe in the bag. It
ran into the lake about a quarter of a mile from our tent, forming a
good-sized delta at its mouth. At the further side of the delta there
were some fishermen's huts (from which emanated the seven boat-loads of
natives whom we saw yesterday netting), and thence a track leads up the
banks of the river to a lake called Slangen, two miles away.
The inhabitants of these huts came in a boat this morning to see our
camp while we were at breakfast inside the tent. They poked their heads
in, grinning and staring, and saying nothing. Then we did the honours,
showed them our most interesting possessions--American axes, fly-books,
knives, rods, &c., with all of which they were greatly impressed; then
one picked up a bar of yellow soap that was lying on a box, and they all
'wondered much at that;' then we talked to them for a brief space,
chiefly out of 'Bennett's Phrase Book,' and considered the interview at
an end, but they _would_ not go, and remained silently staring at all
our movements. So at last we ignored their presence altogether, which we
have found the most effectual way of getting rid of a Norwegian peasant,
and they gradually departed one by one till only one was left. To this
man we gave a cup of our now cold coffee, which was not at all good,
especially when compared with the delicious coffee which is always
forthcoming even in the meanest Norwegian hut. He drank this, for they
consider it a breach of etiquette to refuse proffered food; and
immediately left, as if he remembered an engagement, having first
thanked us in a rather constrained manner.
We were glad when our callers were gone, for we had found them
'difficult,' as the French say; but we took advantage of their arrival
to make arrangements with one of them to bring three ponies and sleighs
to the other side of the delta to-morrow morning, when we hope to renew
our journey.
After this we both went up the river on opposite sides; for the Skipper
had become inflamed by a wish to see the waterfall which Esau discovered
yesterday.
One of the great advantages of Norway consists in being able to leave
your tent and all other belongings quite to themselves, even when you
know that there are several people about, and shrewdly suspect that the
place where you have made your camp is a hay meadow belonging to one of
them. We had a dim idea that such was the case here, not because there
was any grass, but because there were very few stones, and a Norwegian
mows down everything for hay except the stones. The Skipper came back
with a very pretty bag of fish; he had been up to the fall, and thought
it quite deserved all Esau's commendation; and his opinion is worth more
because he has seen many of the great American falls and other stock
sights of the world. It is not marked on the Ordnance map; there is no
path to it, or near it, but you come on it suddenly by following the
river up through the pine forest, and on turning a corner see the whole
body of the Vinstra shooting over a cliff in one mad leap of perhaps a
little more than a hundred feet. Of course the height and volume of
water are insignificant compared with many falls, but the beauty of its
situation can scarcely be excelled; and to us its greatest charm is its
solitude and freedom from paths, tourists, and all the other unpleasant
attributes of show places.
Esau following up the north bank of the river was not so successful
fishing, and after crossing the Slangen River (which joins the Vinstra
about a mile above our camp) he struck across the forest to see his
beloved fall again, and try to sketch it. He came back in a bad temper,
saying that he thought Ruysdael and Turner could make something of
it--the former to do the water, and the latter the spray, mist,
rainbows, and roar--and he wanted to write home and get them to come out
on purpose; and when the Skipper suggested that they had given up
painting, he said it was a great pity, for he had not time now to do it
himself.
There is a corduroy bridge over the Slangen River, close to its junction
with the Vinstra, and over this bridge we shall go to-morrow: we had
intended to cruise up the Slangen and fish Slangen Lake, but we found
that it would be impossible to continue our journey from the further end
of it if we did so, and therefore decided to omit that part of the
programme, though we are sorry to leave out Slangen, as it is a
beautiful lake.
We have probably been repaid for the miseries of the last week by the
beauty of our waterfall, the volume of which has doubtless been much
increased by the exceptional rain of the last few days.
Early to bed--
_July 23._--And early to rise. We breakfasted soon after seven, and then
packed everything, and crossed the mouth of the Vinstra in two Norse
boats, assisted by two or three men who had come to help our horses and
sleighs on the journey. We had terrible difficulty in getting the canoes
placed in what we considered a safe position on the sleighs, but it was
done at last, and the motley caravan started about 10.30.
First the noble owners; then a man who had got nothing on earth to do
with the affair, then two women laughing and yelling like lunatics, then
a sleigh drawn by a large pony, and carrying two boxes, cans, guns, and
canoe; next some boys urging the large pony to herculean exertions; then
the organiser of the transport department, who was apparently a
professional fool, by the inordinate laughter which his every action
caused; then some more women, and a smaller pony and sleigh, with the
other canoe and all the rest of the luggage excepting one bag; lastly,
another man leading an extremely small pony and sleigh with absolutely
nothing on it, the man carrying the remaining bag for fear of tiring the
pony. This mob of loafers had arrived in boats from Svatsum, which is a
small village five miles distant at the north end of Olstappen. But they
only accompanied us for a quarter of a mile, when they all departed
except the three men, who remained to manage the ponies.
The pace was not very great, about a mile an hour, for these little
ponies insisted on stopping to rest every hundred yards when the path
was good, and every twenty when it was bad.
We followed the river till we crossed the Slangen bridge; after that the
path began to rise and get rapidly worse. We strolled along very
leisurely, sitting down from time to time to rest and admire the view.
The scenery was occasionally very beautiful, with the Jotun Mountains
gleaming white in the background; and the forest itself was an endless
delight, with its hoary moss-covered pine trees, and many-coloured
carpet of berry-bearing plants, and the delicious odours with which a
Norwegian forest in summer always abounds. In a fir tree here Esau came
upon a family of cole titmice, and another of creepers, all very busy
swinging themselves about, and creeping up and down the tree in search
of dinner. They appeared to take a certain amount of interest in his
proceedings, but showed no fear, and after watching them a long time he
put the point of his rod up to one of the titmice, which actually pecked
it rather angrily, but seeing that it made no impression took no further
notice, but returned to its occupation of collecting food. In the next
tree was a little spotted woodpecker which they call a 'Gertrude bird.'
The story is so prettily told in 'Forest Life in Norway and Sweden,'
that it shall be inserted here.
'This woodpecker--or an ancestor of hers--was once a woman, and one day
she was kneading bread in her trough, under the eaves of her house, when
our Lord passed by leaning on St. Peter. She did not know it was our
Lord and His apostle, for they looked like two poor men who were
travelling past her cottage door. "Give us of your dough for the love of
God," said the Lord. "We have come far across the fjeld, and have fasted
long."
'Gertrude pinched off a small piece for them, but on rolling it in the
trough to get it into shape, it grew, and grew, and filled up the trough
completely. "No," said she, "that is more than you want;" so she pinched
off a smaller piece and rolled it out as before, but the smaller piece
filled up the trough just as the other had done, and Gertrude put it
aside too, and pinched a smaller bit still. But the miracle was just the
same, the smaller bit filled up the trough as full as the largest sized
kneading that she had ever put into it.
'Gertrude's heart was hardened still more; she put that aside too,
resolving as soon as the stranger left her to divide all her dough into
little bits, and to roll it out into great loaves. "I cannot give you
any to-day," said she. "Go on your journey; the Lord prosper you, but
you must not stop at my house."
'Then the Lord Christ was angry, and her eyes were opened, and she saw
whom she had forbidden to come into the house, and she fell down on her
knees. But the Lord said, "I gave you plenty, but that hardened your
heart, so plenty was not a blessing to you. I will try you now with the
blessing of poverty; you shall from henceforth seek your food day by
day, and always between the wood and the bark" (alluding to the custom
of mixing the inner rind of the birch with their rye-meal in times of
scarcity). "But forasmuch as I see your penitence is sincere, this shall
not be for ever; as soon as your back is entirely clothed with mourning
this shall cease, for by that time you will have learnt to use your
gifts rightly."
'Gertrude flew from the presence of the Lord, for she was already a
bird, but her feathers were even now blackened from her mourning, and
from that time forward she and her descendants have all the year round
sought their food between the wood and the bark; but the feathers of
their back and wings get more mottled with black as they grow older, and
when the white is quite covered the Lord takes them for His own again.
'No Norwegian will ever hurt a Gertrude bird, for she is always under
the Lord's protection, though He is punishing her for the time.'
Whether this is the true reason or not, the fact remains that the bird
is never harmed by any one, and is as tame as possible.
We continued climbing slowly up the hill till about one o'clock, when we
came out above the forest on an open plateau covered with rocks, grass,
and low scrub: this was the Fjeld. At Finböle Sæter we stopped to
refresh on milk. The road--which had gradually dwindled from a decent
path to a sleigh track, then a footpath, a cow-path, and a goat-path,
just sufficient to swear by, or at--now lost itself altogether. The men
had been complaining that it was a 'dole vei' (bad road) soon after the
start, now they said it was 'schlamm'--a very expressive word; and Esau
agreed with them, and said it was 'damm schlamm,' which does not sound
like proper Norsk; but it was such heart-rending work to see our beloved
canoes bumping and jolting along, every moment in imminent danger of
getting staved in, that to indulge in a few such Norwegian idioms was
only human; and we decided to walk on and spare ourselves the agony of
the sight: so, taking the bearings of 'Fly Sæter'--which was our
destination for the evening--we rambled on across the fjeld--a splendid
walk, with some of the most beautiful mountains in Norway all round us.
We got on very well with the assistance of an Ordnance map and compass,
till we came to the river Hinögle, after passing Hinögelid Sæter. The
bridge here was not in the place marked on the map, so that after
crossing it we had some trouble in finding Fly Sæter, and might perhaps
have perished miserably like the Babes in the wood, had we not
opportunely met a mediæval fisherman in a red night-cap, looking like
one of the demons in 'Rip van Winkle,' who was going thither and
conducted us. We arrived at seven o'clock, and appeased our hunger with
the usual meal of trout and coffee, and _such_ cream!
[Illustration: Sunset at Fly Sæter]
The sæter was a long low house, with three little rooms and only two
windows. Its legitimate tenants were a very nice man and his equally
nice wife and three children; but there were some occasional visitors
here to-night in the shape of ourselves, our three men, the mediæval
angler, and another traveller, twelve altogether to be apportioned among
four beds; and to make matters worse, the rooms were continually invaded
by sheep, pigs, and goats, of which there were a large stock.
The Norwegians are so uniformly kind to all their animals, that their
tameness is really troublesome; they insist on going where they like,
and following one about begging for food like dogs, causing the Skipper
to exclaim,--
'Ite domum saturæ, venit Hesperus, ite capellæ;' which he translated--
Out of the house in the evening! Get out, ye goats of the sæter!
We slept in the cheese-room very comfortably, one on the floor, the
other on a good hay bed, and were warm for the first time for several
nights, as we have not had sufficient blankets in the tent. Where the
other ten people slept we did not inquire, but hoped they were happy.
Our men and sleighs did not arrive till 10 P.M., at which time a most
glorious sunset was going on, so that we could not attend to them at
once. The sky, at first blue and yellow, gradually deepened into purple
and orange, and finally the most brilliant red and almost black clouds,
the hills all the time glowing with exquisite tints. After it was
concluded we turned to the men, and were much delighted to find that
nothing was smashed so far: the men had been very careful, and took
eleven hours to perform a journey of ten miles.