Ovind: A Story Of Country Life In Norway Part 14

He waited in vain for Marit that evening, but whilst he waited he sang the song he loved the best:--

"Come lift your head up, my thoughtful lad, If a hope from your heart be riven, Another may brighten your tearful eye, If you turn to the light of heaven!

Come lift your head up, and look around, Voices are kindly calling,-- A thousand voices are bidding you come, Softly their echoes are falling!

Come lift your head up, for deep within Lieth a fountain of blessing, Tones of music are flowing free, Love on your heart impressing.

Come lift your head up, and gaily sing, Nor fear for the coming morrow,-- As the buds of the Spring return again, So joy will come after sorrow.

Then lift your head up, and courage take In the hope around you springing, From the blue above, to the green beneath, To the world she ever is singing."

CHAPTER XI.

GATHERING BERRIES.

It was in the middle of the noonday's rest; the people at Heidegaard were asleep, the hay lay scattered about the field, and the rakes were all stuck in the ground. The hay sledges stood outside the granary, and the horses were grazing a little distance off. Except these, and some hens that had strayed in the corn field, there was not a living thing to be seen.

The road from the farm to the rich gra.s.s fields of the Heidegaard S[oe]ters,[2] lay through a mountain pa.s.s. Up in the pa.s.s a man stood and looked down over the plain, as though expecting something. Behind him lay a tarn, from which the beck flowed down, that had made the cleft in the mountain. On both sides of the lake there were sheep walks leading to the S[oe]ters, which he could see far in the distance. The barking of dogs and the tinkling of bells resounded among the rocks; the cows were rushing madly to the water, while the poor herdsmen and the dogs sought in vain to gather them. The cows appeared in the most wonderful shapes, with their tails in the air, kicking and plunging, roaring and bellowing; making straight for the lake, where, to their delight, they stood quite still, up to their necks in water; their bells tinkling with each move of the head. The dogs drank a little, but kept back on the dry land; the herdsmen came after, and seated themselves on the warm smooth mountain side. Here they took out their provision, exchanged with each other; praised each others' dogs, oxen, and people; finally undressed and sprang in the water. The dogs wouldn't go in, but drawled lazily about, hanging their heads, with their tongues out on one side. There was no bird to be seen, no sound to be heard save the voices of the lads and the tinkling of the bells; the ling was burnt up and withered; the sun scorched the whole mountain side, and the heat was intense.

Ovind sat a long time in the hot sun, close to the beck that flowed from the lake; he waited and waited, but still there was no one to be seen at Heidegaard, and he began to be a little anxious, when suddenly a great dog came panting out from a door, followed by a young girl in summer attire; she sprang over the fields up towards the mountain.

Ovind felt a strong desire to halloo but dare not; he kept a look out to see if any one should accidentally come out from the farm and see her, but she escaped un.o.bserved. At last she got near, picking her way by the side of the brook, and helping herself on by the small bushes, the dog a little before her, snuffing in the air. Ovind ran to meet her, the dog growled and was hushed down, and as soon as Marit saw him come, she seated herself on the Great Stone, looking fiery red, and quite overpowered by the heat. He sat down beside her.

"I'm so glad you've come."

"How fearfully hot! Have you been waiting long?"

"No.--As they watch us so in the evenings, we must take the mid-day; but after this, I think we ought not to keep things so secret, and it is just about this I wanted to speak to you."

"Not secret?"

"I know very well that it suits you best to keep everything secret, but to shew courage suits you also. I have come to-day to talk a long time with you, and now you must hear."

"Is it true that you mean to try to be District Agriculturist?"

"Yes, and I hope to succeed too. I have a two-fold object in view,--first, to gain position; and secondly, to do something that your grandfather can both see and understand. It happens most fortunately that most of the farmers about Heidegaard are young people who wish to make improvements and require a.s.sistance; they have also means at command. So I shall begin there. I shall improve everything from the smallest things to the greatest. I shall give lectures, and also work; and so to say, lay siege to the old man by good deeds."

"Well done, Ovind! What more?"

"The next concerns ourselves,--you must not go away."

"When he commands it?"

"And keep nothing secret respecting us two."

"When he tortures me?"

"But we gain more, and protect ourselves better by having everything open. We shall be just so much observed by people, that they will talk of how much we care for each other, and they will the sooner wish us well. You must not leave. There is danger for those who are separated lest slander should come in between them; they believe nothing the first year, but they begin little by little to be influenced the second. We two must meet when we can, and laugh away all the ill report they will set between us. We shall be able to meet at a dance now and then, and swing merrily round while they sit by who calumniate us. We shall meet at church, and talk to each other in the face of those who wish us a hundred miles away. If any one writes a ditty about us, we will see if we cannot write one in reply. No one can harm us if we keep together and let people see it. All the unhappiness in love belongs either to those who are afraid, or to those who are weak, or to those who are ill, or to those calculating people who watch for certain opportunities, or to those cunning people who at last suffer for their own devices, or to those matter-of-fact people who don't care so much for each other, that state and position can disappear; they steal quietly away, and send letters, and tremble at a single word, and at last take that constant restlessness and uneasiness for love; they feel unhappy and dissolve away like sugar. Pooh, pooh! if they really cared for each other they would have no fear, they would be light hearted, they would not care who saw them. I have read about it in books. I have seen it myself also; that is a poor love that goes round about. True love must begin in secrecy because it begins in reserve and modesty, but it must live in openness because its existence is joy. It is as in the spring time, when the leaves begin to shoot, all that is withered and dry falls off from the tree as soon as the new life begins. He who falls in love leaves the useless toys he has held to before, the new life springs, and then can no one see it? Hey, Marit! they will be glad through seeing us glad. Two betrothed, who are true to each other, are a benefit to the public, for they read them a poem which the children learn by heart, to the shame of their calculating parents. I have read of many instances, and there are rumours of such even here in the district, and it is just the children of those who once caused all the misery, that now speak of it and are moved by it. Well, now let us join hands, and promise to be true to each other and we shall succeed."

He was about to embrace her but she turned her head away, and slipped down from the stone. As he remained sitting, she came back again, and with her arms resting on his knees she stood there, and talked to him as she looked up.

"Listen now, Ovind, when he says I must leave, what shall I say?"

"You must say no, straight out."

"Oh dear! will that do?"

"He cannot take and carry you out to the carriage."

"If he doesn't do just that, there are many other ways in which he can force me."

"I do not think so. Obedience is certainly your duty so long as it is not sin; but it is also your duty to let him know fully how hard it is to you to obey in this case. I think when he hears that, he will reconsider the matter; for at present, like most others, he believes it to be only child's play. You must show him it is something more."

"You may think he is not easy to do with; he watches me like a tethered goat."

"But you break the chain again and again in one day."

"That is not true."

"Yes, every time you secretly think of me, you break it."

"Yes, that way, but are you certain that I think of you so often?"

"Were it else, you would not be here now."

"Oh! but you sent me a message to come."

"But you came because your thoughts drove you."

"Rather because it was a fine day."

"You said just now it was too hot."

"To go up the hill, yes; but down again?"

"Then why did you come up?"

"To be able to run down."

"Then why are you not going?"

"Because I wish to rest."

"And talk to me about love?"