What Sami Sings with the Birds | Page 9

keep us waiting," remarked the farmer's wife sharply.
When all had finished and the milk mugs were empty, the woman
cleared them away and placed the few potatoes left over on the kitchen
table and growled:
"He can eat here, if he wants anything."
It was quite dark, and Sami still had not come. Just as the other three
were being sent to bed, he came in, so tired he could hardly stand. The
woman asked him harshly, if he couldn't come home with the others.
The farmer assumed that the piece he had told Sami to weed had been
too much for him to do, and he said consolingly:
"It is right that you wanted to finish your work, but you must work

faster."
Sami understood the signs which Stöffi made behind his father's back,
that he was to keep silent about the bear, and he was too much afraid of
the three boys' fists to say anything about it.
He preferred to go straight to bed, for he was too tired to eat. But he
couldn't go to sleep. He had received so many new impressions, he had
borne so much anguish, and had to do so much work besides, he could
think of nothing else. But now his grandmother came before his eyes
again as she had prayed with him at evening and had been so kind to
him, and everything she had told him. He wanted so much to pray, it
seemed to him as if his grandmother was near and told him the dear
Lord would always comfort him if he prayed, and that comfort he was
so anxious to have.
He was so troubled, when he wondered if he could do his work the next
day, so that the farmer would not be cross, and how his wife would be,
for he was very much afraid of her, and how it would be with the boys,
who forced him to make everything appear contrary to the truth.
Then Sami began to pray and prayed for a long time, for he already
began to feel comforted, because he could take refuge with the dear
Lord and ask Him to help him, now that he had no one left in the world
to whom he could speak and who could assist him. When at last his
eyes closed from great weariness he dreamed he was sitting with his
grandmother on the wall and above them all the birds were singing so
loud and so joyfully that he had to sing with them: "Only trust the dear
Lord!"
CHAPTER FOURTH
HARD TIMES
The following morning Sami was awakened by loud tones, but it was
no longer the birds singing; it was the farmer's wife ordering the boys
harshly to get up right away. She had already called them three times,
and if this time they didn't obey, their father would come. Then they all

sprang out of bed and in a few minutes were down-stairs, where their
father was already sitting at the table and would not have waited much
longer.
The day did not pass very differently from the one before, and thus
passed a long series of days. There was already a change in the work.
Sami, little by little, learned to do everything very well, for he took
pains and followed his grandmother's advice carefully. He always had
something to do for the other boys still, so that he never finished his
work a moment before supper-time. But he was no longer late. A
change had also come about in this. Stöffi had learned that there was
one thing Sami could not or would not do which he himself could do
very well: he could not tell a lie.
He had been late again a couple of times, but had never told the reason.
Finally, however, the farmer had spoken harshly:
"Now speak out, and tell why you can't get through your work faster;
you are quick enough when anyone is watching you."
Then Sami had accordingly told all the truth, and the father had
threatened to beat the boys if they didn't do their work themselves.
Afterwards Stöffi had thrashed Sami to punish him, and had warned
him that he would do it every time Sami complained of him.
Sami had replied that he had never complained and didn't want to do so,
but when his father questioned him he could only tell him the truth.
Stöffi tried to explain to him that it didn't matter whether he told the
truth or not, but here he found Sami more obstinate than he had
expected, and no matter what fearful threats he hurled at him, he
always said the same thing in the end:
"But I shall do it."
This firmness was the result of Sami's