Captain Mansana and Mothers Hands

Captain Mansana and Mother's
Hands, by

Björnstjerne Björnson This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at
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Title: Captain Mansana and Mother's Hands
Author: Björnstjerne Björnson
Editor: Edmund Gosse
Release Date: January 5, 2007 [EBook #20291]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE NOVELS OF BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON
Edited by EDMUND GOSSE

Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s. net
Synnövé Solbakken Arne A Happy Boy The Fisher Lass The Bridal
March, & One Day Magnhild, & Dust Captain Mansana, & Mother's
Hands Absalom's Hair, & A Painful Memory
LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 21 Bedford Street, W.C.

CAPTAIN MANSANA
&
MOTHER'S HANDS

BY
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON
Translated from the Norwegian

LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1897
All rights reserved

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
[The two somewhat anomalous stories which are here published
together have little in common except the difficulty of finding a place
for them in the category of Björnson's works.
"Captain Mansana," under the title of "Kaptejn Mansana, en
Fortælling fra Italien," was originally printed, in 1875, in the
Norwegian periodical "Fra Fjeld og Dal." It did not appear in book

form until August 1879, when it was published, in a paper cover with a
startling illustration, in Copenhagen. "Captain Mansana" was written
at Aulestad. It was almost immediately published in a Swedish, and
later in a German, translation.
A Norwegian magazine, entitled "Nyt Tidsskrift," was started in
Christiania in 1882, and continued to represent extreme liberal views
in Norway until 1887, when it ceased to appear. In 1892 an attempt
was made to resuscitate this periodical, under the general editorship of
J. E. Sars. The first number of this new series appeared in November of
that year, the opening article being the story of "Mors hænder"
("Mother's Hands"). It was reprinted in August 1894, in the collection
called, "Nye Fortællinger." It is now for the first time translated into
English.
E. G.]

CAPTAIN MANSANA

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
The following note was prefixed by the author to the first edition of
"Captain Mansana: an Italian Tale":
This story was originally published, several years ago, in a Danish
Christmas Annual, "From Hill and Dale," which was edited by Mr. H. J.
Greensteen. "Captain Mansana" has already run through two editions in
German, and many friends have urged the author to republish it, in a
separate form, and in his own tongue.
The following remarks seem necessary in consequence of some
criticisms which have appeared in the Danish and Swedish press. The
narrative, in all essential particulars, is based on facts, and those of its
incidents which appear most extraordinary, are absolutely historical,
the minutest details being in some cases reproduced. Mansana himself

is drawn from life. The achievements credited to him in these pages,
are those he actually performed; and his singular experiences are here
correctly described, so far, at least, as they bear upon his psychological
development.
The causes which induced me to make him the subject of the following
sketch may be found in a few lines of Theresa Leaney's letter, with
which the story closes. The reader should compare Theresa's
observations on Mansana, with the account of Lassalle, given
contemporaneously with the original publication of this story, by Dr.
Georg Brandes in his work on the "Nineteenth Century." Any one who
studies the masterly portrait painted by Brandes, will observe that the
inner forces which shaped Lassalle's destiny are precisely the same as
those that swayed Mansana. No doubt Lassalle, with his fertile intellect,
his commanding personality, and his inexhaustible energy, touches a
far higher level of interest. Still, the phase of character is similar in the
two cases, and it struck me at the time as curious, that both Dr. Brandes
and myself should have had our attention simultaneously directed to it.
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON

CAPTAIN MANSANA
CHAPTER I
I was on my way to Rome, and as I entered the train at Bologna, I
bought some newspapers to read on my journey. An item of news from
the capital, published in one of the Florence journals, immediately
arrested my attention. It carried me back thirteen years, and brought to
mind a former visit I had paid to Rome, and certain friends with whom
I had lived in a little town in the vicinity, at the time when Rome was
still under the Papal rule.
The newspaper stated that the remains of the patriot Mansana had been
exhumed from the Cemetery of the Malefactors in Rome, at the petition
of