Feats on the Fiord | Page 5

it two
stools. This was a token that there was to be dancing; and indeed Oddo,
the herd-boy, old Peder's grandson, was seen to have his clarionet in his
belt, as he ran in and out on the arrival of fresh parties.
Before four o'clock, the whole company, consisting of about forty, had
arrived. They walked about the large room, sipping their strong coffee,
and helping one another to the good things on the trays which were
carried round,--the slices of bread-and-butter, with anchovies, or shreds
of reindeer ham or tongue, or thin slices of salt cheese. When these
trays disappeared, and the young women who had served them returned
into the room, Oddo was seen to reach the platform with a hop, skip,
and jump, followed by a dull-looking young man with a violin. The
oldest men lighted their pipes, and sat down to talk, two or three
together. Others withdrew to a smaller room, where card-tables were
set out; while the younger men selected their partners, and handed them
forth for the gallopade. The dance was led by the blushing Erica, whose
master was her partner. It had never occurred to her that she was not to
take her usual place, and she was greatly embarrassed, not the less so
that she knew that her mistress was immediately behind, with Rolf for
her partner. Erica might, however, have led the dance in any country in
Europe. All the women in Norway dance well, being practised in it
from their infancy, as an exercise for which the leisure of their long
winter, and the roominess of their houses, afford scope. Every woman
present danced well, but none better than Erica.
"Very well!" "very pretty!" "very good!" observed the pastor, M.
Kollsen, as he sat, with his pipe in his mouth, looking on. M. Kollsen
was a very young man; but the men in Norway smoke as invariably as
the women dance. "Very pretty, indeed! They only want double the
number to make it as pretty a dance as any in Tronyem."
"What would you have, sir?" asked old Peder, who sat smoking at his
elbow. "Are there not eleven couple? Oddo told me there were eleven
couple; and I think I counted so many pairs of feet as they passed."
"Let me see:--yes, you are right, Peder; there are eleven couples."

"And what would you have more, sir? In this young man's father's
time--"
"Rolf's father's?"
"No, sir,--Erlingsen's. Ah! I forgot that Erlingsen may not seem to you,
or any stranger, to be young, but Ulla and I have been used to call him
so, and I fear I always shall, as I shall never see the furrows in his face.
It will be always smooth and young to me. My Ulla says there is
nothing to be sorry for in that, and she does not object to my thinking
so of her face. But, as I was saying, in the elder Erlingsen's time we
thought we did well when we set up nine couples at Yule: and since
then, the Holbergs and Thores have each made out a new farm within
ten miles, and we are accustomed to be rather proud of our eleven
couples. Indeed, I once knew it twelve, when they got me to stand up
with little Henrica,--the pretty little girl whose grave lies behind, just
under the rock. But I suppose there is no question but there are finer
doings at Tronyem."
"Of course--of course," said the young clergyman. "But there are many
youths in Tronyem that would be glad of so pretty a partner as M.
Erlingsen has, if she would not look so frightened."
"Pretty she is," said Peder. "As I remember her complexion, it looks as
if it was made by the reflection of our snows in its own clearness. And
when you do get a full look into her eyes, how like the summer sky
they are--as deep as the heavens in a midsummer noon! Did you say
she looks frightened, sir?"
"Yes. When does she not? Some ghost from the grave has scared her, I
suppose; or some spirit that has no grave to lie still in, perhaps. It is a
great fault in her that she has so little faith. I never met with such a case.
I hardly know how to conduct it. I must begin with the people about
her,--abolish their superstitions,--and then there may be a chance for
her. Meanwhile I have but a poor account to give to the bishop [Note 2]
of the religion of the district."
"Did you say, sir, that Erica wants faith? It seems to me that I never

knew any one who had so much."
"You think so because there is no idea in this region of what faith is. A