Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 4

are walls toward the smiling world. No panes of glass caught the ruddy glow of the morning and evening sun and threw back its quivering reflection; three rows of barred apertures drank in

t seem to feel oppressed. They ploughed their fields right up to the bare walls, and wherever the building was visi

been in by-gone ages, for no dwellings-even for the Almighty-are built nowadays in so barbaric a style, as if the one object were to keep out light and air! The massive walls were saturated wit

d. If you went up to the great, heavy door, which was always closed you could read above the arch the one w

hold to all vir

ishes solely

with eyes blinking at the light which fell upon his ashen-white face. His step faltered and he had to lean for support aga

. "Welcome, Pelle!" said the sun, as it peeped into his distended pupils in which the darkness of the prison-cell still lay brooding. Not a muscle of his face moved, however; it was as though hewn out of stone. Only the pupi

out answering. It was only a tramp, who was standing half out of a ditch in a field a little way off, beckoning to him. He came running over th

right up into his cap without forming any projection for the back of his head, making one involuntarily think of the scaffold.

n in?" he asked, as he

alicious look

little boy, so you can reckon it ou

a good spell! And wha

e, so they took me and put me in -so th

ont of Pelle, and pushed his bull-like forehead close to the other's face. "Now, I'll just tell you something, my boy!" he said. "I don't want to touch any o

tly. He looked as if he had not come back to earth,

taken a color-print of your doleful face, however unwilli

d?" asked Pelle,

dinand. "Being in gaol seems

Pelle earnestly, suddenly rec

my nose. I got it bashed in the evening after I'd bu

led his mind and sent his blood coursing through his veins once m

ut. I'd made up my mind that she deserved to have things comfortable in her old age, and I was awfully careful; but all th

could I

lot of learning put into him. Then when I came out I said to myself that there must be an end to all this, for mother'd taken it very much to heart, and was failing. I managed to get into one of the streets where honest thieves live, and went about as a colporteur, and it all went very well. It would have been horribly mean if she'd died of hunger. And we had a jolly good time for six months, but then she slip

eg to hang their hat upon. 'He's managing to hide it well this time, the sly fellow!' they said, and let me go. But there soon was something, for I settled the matter myself, and you may take your oath my employers didn't get the best of the arrangement. You see there are two kin

on yourself," sa

police are always getting sharper, and the man isn'

honest employment again. You'

really worked well; but he'd better look out for another place.' That's what the decent ones would do; the others would simply wait until his wages were due and take something off-because he'd been in once. They could never be sure that he hadn't stolen something from them, could they? and it's best to be careful! If you make a fuss, you're called a thief to your face. I've tried it, let me tell you! And now you can try it yourself. You'll be in again as soon as ever the spring comes! The worst of it i

dy. Several times while I've been in there I've made up my mind to kill the warder, just so as to have a hit at something; for he hadn't done me any harm. But then I thought after all it was stupid.

he town far ahead, Ferdinand chewing his quid and spitting incessantly. His hardened, bul

at the top of his voice. He must have be

about, boy?" asked Fe

two krones (two shillings) for the job," a

been up early t

wages, and can take it easy the rest of the day!" answered the bo

," said Ferdinand, following

laughed

one. They're a fearful lot of t

ose I may keep one?" His expression had become lively and he winked maliciously at Pelle as he stood playing with the coin so that it appeared to be two. "There y

wonderment. "Give me my two-kro

e!" said Ferdinand, pushing the boy a

gged persistently for his m

said Pelle crossly.

him in amazement. "Do you think I play for small sums? What do I

r coins out of his waistcoat pocket, and handed the boy two krones. The boy stood motionless wi

ng that if it wasn't you, and because I don't want to have this day spoiled, I'd have cracked your skull for you; for no one el

ury, pounding Ferdinand's head against the stones. For a few moments he held him down firmly, but then released him and helped him to rise. Ferdinand was crimson in the face, and stood swaying, r

t," said Pelle

weakened you much," he said, shaking himself good-naturedly as they went on. "You've still got a confounded hard hand. But

little fellow when some one wanted

o was going to fetch the medicine for h

for his sake! It was the first time you w

to run him in. His mother was ill-and my old 'un was alive; and so I was a big idiot! You'll

g his face toward the light. "But I can'

another was only suffering the blackest injustice? Nonsense! They know well enough what they're doing when they get hold of me, but they might very well have let you off. You got together fifty thousand men, but what did you all do, I should like to know? You didn't make as much disturbance as a mouse in a pair of

aid Pelle. "You can't go t

f you. You've been saving it up in there, a halfpenny a day, and perhaps gone without your quid, and I come and cheat you out of it! No, confound it! And you ga

t a great cloud of smoke hung in the air. It was the atmosphere of the city. As the east wind tore off fragments of it and carried them out, Ferdin

reins round their waist each time they came to the end of their line, threw the plough over and brought it into position for a new furrow, and while they let their horses take breath, gazed afar at the two strange spring wayfarers. There was such a foreign air about their clothes that they must be two of that kind of pe

te. The blinds were all down! He began to be restless, and a little farther on he suddenly slipped in behind a hedge and refused to go any farther. "I don't care to show mys

Pelle earnestly. "A new life begins from to-da

d have a jolly good spree, and act the home-coming American. Besides it's not right to go home without taking something for your family. Just you wait! You should see 'Laura with the Arm' dance! She's my cupboard-love, you know. She can dance blindfold upon a table full of beer-mugs without spilling a drop. There might be a little kiss for you too.-Hang it!-you don't surely imagine you'l

hroad, waiting for him! And there had only been Ferdinand to meet him! Well, it had been a damper, and now he shook off the disappointment and set out at a good pace. The active movement set his pulses beating. The sky had never before bee

were like the breast of a great bright bird, one of those that come a long way every year with summer in the

now, he would conquer eternity. This time it must be either for weal or woe, and all that he possessed he was now bringing into the field. He had never before been so heavily equipped. Far off he could still make out the dome of the prison, which stood

gs, and by listening had drawn it out of the solitude. He had been sitting moping in the dark mountain like Prince Fortune, while Eternity sang to him of the great wonder. The spirits of evil had carried him away into the mountains; that was all. And now they had set him free again, believing that he had become a troll

ehead. It was full of rich promises; in its vernal wandering over the earth it had gathere

e. A thin vapor rose from the soil; it was the last of the cold evaporating in the declining spring day. Some way down a fe

ly the bare necessaries of life out of his work, and see the rest disappear into some one else's pocket? A number of new factories had grown up, and now formed quite a be

had friends in thousands; the town was simply lying waiting to receive him with open arms, more fond of him than ever because of all he had suffered. With all his ignorance he had been able to lead the

ding his own! What humbug! Down there were three neglected beings who would bring accusations against him, and what was the use of his sheltering himself behind the welfare of the many? What was the good of receiving praise from tens of thousands and bei

ht in return pay less attention to ordinary every-day duties; but the fates ordained that the burden of life should be laid just where every one could help. And now he was coming back like a poor beggar, who had conquered everything except the actual, and therefore possessed nothing, and had to beg for mercy. Branded as a criminal, he mu

ll, into the picture of a woman who never thought of herself, but only of the care of her little world and how she could sacrifice herself. He could not afford to give up any of his right here, and marshalled all his accusations against her, bringing forward laws and morals; but it all failed completely to shake the image, and only emphasized yet more the strength of her nature. She had sacrificed everything for h

everything joined together against him, he was not wrong, he would not be wrong. It was he who had brought the great conflict to an end at the cost of his own-and he had found Ellen to be a prostitute! His thoughts clung to

better keep himself quite apart from them. He would make his punishment still more hard, and purposely increased his forlornness, kept out of his thoughts everything that was near and dear to him, and dragged the painful things into the foreground. Ellen had of course forgotten him for some one else, and had perhaps turned the children's thoughts from him; they would certainly be forbidden

at he wanted to get out. To quiet him he was put into a strait-waistcoat and removed to a pitch-dark cell. On the whol

ear a little suffering?" Pelle was startled. He had never known that there was anything particularly human in suffering. But from that night he behaved quietly, with a listening exp

lpated, made more desirable by all his accusations. How great and fateful all petty things became here! What was the good of defending himself? She was his fate, and he would have to surrender unconditionally.

ove was like a beating pulse that rose from the invisible and revealed hidden mystical forces-the perceptible rhythm of a great hear

and further inward. He suspected the presence of strong currents which bore the whole thing; and sometimes in the silence of his cell he seemed to hear his existence flowing, flowing like a broad stream, and emptying itself out there

ized the passage of generations of human beings over the earth, and boldly grasped what he had until now only dimly suspected, namely, his own connection with them all, both those who were living then and all those who had gone before. How small his own idea of union had been when measured by this immense community of souls, and what a responsibility was connected with each one!

night with ever increasing vehemence, until even his life seemed to depend upon it. He felt, as he gazed questioningly into his solitude, that he would be worthless if he did not win her back. New worlds grew up before him;

lish hope that Ellen would come and visit him, for he was now in the right mood to receive her. On Sundays he listened eagerly to the heavy clang of the gate. It meant visitors to the prisoners; a

r, fortune favored him an

cked those messages on that had to pass through his cell. One day, however, a new prisoner was placed in the cell next to his, and woke him. He was a regular frequenter of the establishment, and immediately set about procl

t to work. Ellen had been very successful, and still held her head high. She sewed uppers and had a couple of apprentices to help her,

in the darkness before him, pale, always clad in black, always serious. She had broken with her parents; she had sacrificed everything for his sake! She e

at she was waiting faithfully for him although he had cast her off. All t

d be like her-intrepid as she was-defiantly to w

big now, and little Boy Comfort was a huge fellow for his age-a regular little fatty. To see

le fellow sitting in a perambulator! And it was not an adopted chi

him, since the same blow had been aimed at him twice. In the daytime he sought relief in hard work and reading; at night he lay on his dirty, mouldy-smelling mattress and wept. He no longer tried to overthrow his conception of E

king department liked to have him, for he did much more than was required of him. In his leisure hours he read diligently, and entered with zest into the prison school-work, takin

who always looked at him with such a strangely mocking expression. To Ellen alone he did not get near. She had never been so beautiful as now in her unapproachableness, but she received all his assurances in mysterious silence, only gazing at him with her unfathoma

feel very courageous; the uncertainty held so many possibilities. Were the children and Elle

*

he longing to reach the end of his journey made him dream that he was still walking on and making his entry into the city; but he did not recognize it, everything was

, but it'll soon be changed to two, for the machines are getting more and more clever. It's splendid to live and

xclaimed Pelle, lau

ou're a young man, and all t

y forehead lined? I got like that in fighting for you. Don't you

thought, disheartened.

as in his mind, he foun

kindly. "My husband

to keep back his tears; but she looked at him coldl

ding out his hand beseech

arm, and Pelle saw with a certain amount of satisfaction that there were only the two. The terrible thing, however, was that the man was himself, the true Pelle w

the fields and the bright atmosphere: he was at any rate still alive! He r

he side streets. In the little tea-gardens in the Frederikssund Road sat workmen's families with perambulator and provision-basket; they were dressed in their best and were enjoying the spring day. Was there after a

osite the end of the avenue he saw the two little windows in the second floor; and in his passionate longing

do with him; and there was no door-plate. He went slowly down the stairs and asked in the greengrocer's cellar below whether a woman who sewed uppers did not

so he went up into the house again, and asked from door to door but w

ple avoided him, and it discouraged him. His soul was sick with longing for a kind word and a caress, and there was no one to give them. No eyes brightened at seeing him out again, and

heir machines like circus-riders, and resembled little gauchos, throwing them back and running upon the back wheel only, and boun

boy of ten or twelve took the lead in breakneck tricks, shouting and commanding; he was the chief of the band, and maintained the leadersh

achine, so that it almost went over his foot; and at last the leader suddenly snatched off his cap. Pelle quietly picked it up, but when t

fting him off his bicycle. "But it'll be just as well if

the other boys, flocking round t

et away. Pelle let him go in surprise, and saw him mount his bicycle and disappear howling. His companions dashed after him like a flight of swallows.

fic was heavier here than in other places, and the stone paving made it more so. A peculiar adamantine se

a little at his strange appearance. He himself knew most of them as well as if it had been yesterday he had had to do with those thousands, for the intermediate years had not thrust new faces in between him and the old ones. Now and again he met one of his men walking on the pavement with

nn for travelling artis

y from this country for a day or two,"

rld. And here at home there had been a good

party has made tremendous progres

difference in th

s every year, and it's all the same who represents the town and s

Movement a few years ago calle

was there about him? Didn't he make false coins, or rob a till? If I remember right,

onversation. "He came a good deal to the front five or six years ago," said one of t

ember him at the great lock-out. He could make you think you were no end of a

ng about him, in spite of all that he had fought for and suffered. Much mus

ve been his own, than in any other place. It was black with people, but he was not carried

were collected and accompanied thither by eager comrades. One man would shout to another across the road through his hollo

iently for the results that were shown in the windows. Every time a contested district came in, a wave of movement passed through the crowd, followed by a mighty roar if a victory was recorded. All was comparatively quiet; people stood outside the offices of t

ers kept coming with lists from the telegram bureaus; men fought over the results in front of the

gain seats; to-day they expected to get the upper hand in the city and a firm footing out in the country. Several of the old leaders were already in parliament and brought forward their practical experience in the debate; their aim now was nothing less than to usurp the political power. This was bold enough

oted?" men shouted to him as they passed. Voted! He had not even the right to vote! In the battle t

Assembly Rooms, taking up the whole pavement, and Pelle readily moved out of their wa

iminal. There was the house where the Stolpes lived. Perhaps they knew where Ellen was. But what did it matter to him? He had not forgotten Lasse Frederik's terror-stricken face. And there was the corner house whe

iating with human beings had been accumulating within him; and now the whole thing gave way like an avalanche. He could easily pick a quarrel with some one, j

was belaboring a lamp-post with the toes of his wooden shoes, at the same time using abusive language.

d him. It was Merry Jacob. He pushed his way angrily through the crowd and took him by the shoul

little book in a black leather cover, and turned over its pages. "Just look for yourselves! Member's subscription paid, isn't it? Strike subscription paid, isn't it? Shown on entrance, isn't it? Just you shut up! Take it and pass it round; we must have our papers in order. You're supporting the elec

The cold water made him shiver, and his head lolled weakly. "Such a snotty bl

l over his dulled senses. "Why, is that you, master?" he asked shamefacedly, seizing P

sharply, anxious to get away

lked a little awkwardly, but it came from his work; the meeting with Pelle had made him almost sober. "I'm sure y

f the brandy," sa

and then, and you have to take it where you can get it. Yo

atter, then?"

singing another tune: That man! Why, he's been punished for theft! End of him. No one asks why; they've become big men, you see. In olden days I was always called Merry Jacob, and the fellows liked to be in my shift. Do you know what they call me now? Thieving Jacob. Well, they d

ts! Don't you think you'd do better

ick. If it were so dreadful to bear six times five among one's own people, what could Pelle say? "How is yo

we got them what they'd a right to, and it was so splendidly done too. But afterward when there was a row at the works, agitation and election fuss and all that kind of thing, they just went and left him and me out. We weren't the right sort, you see; we hadn't the right to vote. He couldn't get ev

was all too sad. He did n

er and me would have done differently and things might have gone better with both of us. Well, I suppose you believed it yourse

lle still be

nt flat. If anything happens, it doesn't do for a poor devil to look on; and every time any one wants to complain, he gets a voting-paper pushed into his hand and they say: Go and vote and things will be altered! But confound it, that can't rouse a fellow who's not learnt anything from the time

armed Pelle's heart. Here was some one who needed him, and who still believed in him although he had been maimed in the fight. He was the first of the disabled ones, and Pelle was prepared to me

it seemed as if all the old conditions must fall before it as at a magic word; and now the everyday reality had worn the gloss off it. As far as he could see, nothing particular had happened, and what was there to happen? That was not the way

ilding with a broad flight of steps, up which people were flocking. It was one of the working-men's halls, and

eelings welled up within him when he found himself once more among the people. For a moment he felt a vehement desire to cr

get behind one another, but claimed room for themselves. They had more to eat, he could see, for their faces shone more; and their eyes had become indolent in expression, and no longer looked hungrily o

ces looking round at him increased, and the words, "Pelle is here!" passed in a murmur through the crowd. Hundreds of eyes were

ke the breaking of surf arose on all sides of him and stupefied his sensitive brain in which silence sat always putting together a

o give up; he becomes fond of the little vigilant creature that makes its web as skilfully as if it had a great responsibility, and he asks himself whether it is at all conscious of his existence. Is it sorry for him in his forsaken condition, since it does not move to another place, but patiently builds its web up again, finer and finer, as if it had only been torn down because it was not made well enough? He bitterly regrets his conduct, and would give much for a sign that the little insect is not angry with him, for no one can afford to offend another; the sm

f had been there? Was that all that was left of the old Pelle-Lightning, as he was then called? He was certainly rather weak in the legs; there wasn't much of hi

f. This much he had learned by standing up there, namely, that he had not done with the men below; he was, in fact, only just beginning with the

ng; he read in their eyes that the work that had been done was done without him, and that he came at an inopportune moment. Would they have to reckon with him, the hare-bra

their general behavior; taken as a whole, they made a good impression. But the miracle? the incomprehensible? He missed a little anxiety behind the prosperity, the deep, silent pondering that would show that they had gazed into a new world. Did they not hear the undertone at

e slipped out unnoticed, and was standing on the steps, breathing in the quiet night air, when a young man came up to him and held out his han

" Pelle asked

washing. I think she would be glad to see you." He looked searchingly at

out to her early to-morrow morning." He no