Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 2

for him to do. In November the eldest apprentice had served his time. He was made to sit all alone in the master's room, and there he stayed for a

hung for a few days, in order to show that they were water-tight. Then Emil was solemnly appointed a journeyman, and had to treat the whole workshop. He drank bro

urneyman. What do you think of it? Do you mean to travel? It does a freshly bak

me to the workshop here and share the light and the warmth until you've got something better-those are good conditions, it seems to m

at was really only a joke -it never happened that a new journeyman was engaged. On the other hand, he and t

e is work enough," he said, beaming with delight. "You must promise me that you'll write to me in a

in several places, but had soon been sent away again. "I have learned nothing," he said dejectedly. He loitered about for a time, to enjoy the light and warmth of the workshop, and would sit there doing s

re's time! Or it'll be the same with you as it was with me." He did not come to the workshop

is book and the three apprentices each with his repairing job. The lamp hung over the table, and smoked; it managed to lessen the darkness a little. The little light it gave was gathered up by the great glass balls which focussed i

tand up with a shudder. "Damn and blast it, how dark it is here; it's as dark as though one lay in th

r Andres looked up without trying to h

d, staring into the dar

ed the old man derisively. "

ut this damned light-one can't s

hine!" Jeppe spat the words out. This lightin

and works by so wretched a li

e glass ball than any one can do now with all their artificial discoveries. But it's disappearing now; the you

endid!" said Master Andres. "That was when the an

if the young master was in a good temper they would stay. He was the fire and soul of the part

iped, he could see nothing but dancing specks of light, and his work swam round in the midst of them; and of his comrades he

capital light," said Jeppe, if

at all!" retorted Master An

ht it for the first time, and to initiate Pelle into the management of the wonderful contrivance. He went to work very circumstantially and with much caution. "It can e

and shuffled to and fro. "Devil knows I don't want to go to heaven in my living body!" he said, with a comical expression; "but deuce take it, where

unt every single last. "That's a regular sun!" said the young master, and he put his hand to his fa

't you blown sky-high?" he asked, in great astonishment. "It gives an ugly light -oh, a horrible light! Poof, I say! An

wave of joy would suddenly come over him. And to the neighbors who gathered round the lamp in order to discover its qualities he held forth in great style, so tha

again and sat by the window to read, his boot with the wooden heel sticking out be

said Uncle Jorgen, when Andres' cough troubled him badly. "You lo

master laughed gaily

. Now, where you are, in your thirtieth year, you ought to

e used to scold him. "One wouldn't believe you've got a shoemaker for a bro

leather shoes? And I'm full through and through of gout-i

t like that," said Bjerregrav

ornfully. "A tailor's body has no room to harbor i

av did n

the baker. "I can't compare myself with them. A crippled

aker!" stammered Bjerregrav nervously. "To bake

enough cloth left over to make himself a pair of breeches. That's why ta

are always rogues,

Master Andres, trem

stood there looking

me leg dangli

him. "Or, as another proverb says-it's of no more consequence than a tailor in hell. They are the fellows! We all k

gh, really; God knows neither of

y are not men. Now is there even one tailor in the town who has been overseas? No, and there were no men about while the tailor was being made. A woman stood in a draught at the front

t last. "But people who bake black bread are not respected as handicraftsmen-no more than the washe

course is another

are as true of you as of us," said

ter Klausen married a cabinet-maker's daughter. B

sighed Master Andres. "On

wn and talk big. But in the old days the handicraftsmen were the marrow of the land. Even the king himself had to learn a handicraft. I myself served my app

n-leg Larsen stumped in, filling the workshop with fresh air. He was wearing a storm-cap and a blue pilot-coat. "Go

Here's a playboy for us! Welcome

les in a straight line before his eyes. "A bungler has had these in hand," he growled, and then he set to work on t

t had cold fe

r struck himself on t

but every time my wooden leg ge

n, and his great body rolled like a

red Bjerregrav. "When my brother died, my watch st

ll them all about it; of the railway- trains which travelled so fast that the landscape t

l," said Master Andre

the capital an

there! I've heard that the country is shifting under their feet-moving away toward the east. Is i

land woman and settled down there," said B

Funen? Have you been there, too? That's where the women have such a pleasant disposition. I've lain be

dering so much?" asked

he had received his own injury at Heligoland, at the hands of an honorable bu

summer; of the Finnish barque which had stranded in the north, and how the "Great

; he called it blasphemy, on the ground that the Bi

ad nothing to do with God; it was an earthly thing; across t

n rule the world, God knows they do! And God protect us if they are once l

nd science has discovered that all strength and force come from the sun. When i

greatest power!" crie

ything else that tear

from the sea we get

I went t

le get their living from the sea, and many their death. And

on, although it is soft itself! The heaviest loads can travel on its back. And then all at once it swallows

ies float on the water, or whether they stand firm on the bot

tom of the sea, far below the surface; but

I never got anywhere where I couldn't see the sea. Every parish in all Bornholm borders on th

hy Skipper Andersen came on shore. And others it attracts, from right away up in the country! I have been to sea with such people-they had spent their whole lives up on the island, and had seen t

ome. When I sailed the brig Clara for Skipper Andersen, I had such a lad on board as ordinary seaman. He had never bathed in the sea; but one day, as we were lying at anchor, and the others were swimming around, he jumped

ywhere, and it can get up on its hind legs and stand like a wall, although it's a fluid! And I have r

never heard. Now does that come from all the ships that have

is going out-that devil's contrivance!" They b

to find a place wherein to rest. The sea was strong; now in the wintertime the surging of the billows against the cliffs was continually in his ear. Pelle was not sure whether it would stand aside for him! He had an uncon

owed their food in five minutes, as their custom was; the journeyman was the only one who did not grudge himself a brief mid-day rest, and he s

ts? He must have made himself remarkable in one way or another through his farming! Pelle was nearly choking with excitement, but he di

and may be left, in return for a good tip, with the landowner Lasse

had pulled little Nikas to the ground underneath him; there he lay, squeezing the man's throat with his fingers, tr

journeyman to the ground and overcoming the slavish respect he had felt for him! Let them dare to get at him agai

sideration; no one felt anxious to bring Pelle and his cobbler's too