"She sees if the cloth is clean and white--If the bed has pillows and sheets;If the candle fits in the candlestick. ..."Modest she is, although you know She makes the whole of the place;And in she slips in the evening glow, To light the room with her merry face "--OEHLENSCHLè…‰ER
A quiet, busy house-fairy was Louise; the beautiful, fragrantflowers were her favorites. Good-humoredly she smiled at theraillery of her sister, quietly listened to each thoughtless jest;but if any one, in joke, touched upon what was holy to her soul,she was aroused from her calmness and attained a certain eloquence.
We will now become more nearly acquainted with the sisters, and onthis account pass over to one of the following days.
An abode together of a week, at a country-seat, will often bringabout a greater intimacy than if, throughout a whole winter, peoplehad met in large companies in cities. Otto soon felt himself athome; he was treated as a near relative. Wilhelm related all heknew of the beautiful Eva, and Sophie discovered that she was aromantic character. Mamma pitied the poor child, and Louise wishedshe had her on the estate: an inn was, after all, no proper placefor a respectable girl. They then spoke of the winter enjoyments inCopenhagen, of art, and the theatre. Louise could not speak muchwith them upon these subjects, although she had seen one play,"Dyveke:" the amiable nature of the actress had spoken deeply toher heart.
Several days had passed; the sky was gray; the young peopleassembled round the table; they were at no loss for a subject ofconversation. All those who have brothers or sons who study well,have remarked how much they are especially fascinated by thelectures on natural philosophy and astronomy; the world, as itwere, expands itself before the intellectual eye. We know that thefriends, during the past summer, had participated in theselectures, and, like the greater number, were full of thesesubjects, from the contemplation of a drop of water, with itsinnumerable animalculae, to the distance and magnitude of stars andplanets.
To most of us these are well-known doctrines; to the ladies, also,this was nothing entirely new: nevertheless, it interested them;perhaps partly owing to Otto's beautiful eloquence. The gray, rainyweather led the conversation to the physical explanation of theorigin of our globe, as the friends, from Orsted's lectures,conceived it to have been.
"The Northern and Grecian myths agree also with it!" sail Otto. "Wemust imagine, that in infinite space there floated an eternal,unending mist, in which lay a power of attraction. The mistcondensed itself now to one drop--our globe was one enormous egg-shapeddrop; light and warmth operated upon this huge world egg, and hatched,not alone ONE creature, but millions. These must die and give wayto new ones, but their corpses fell as dust to the centre: thisgrew; the water itself condensed, and soon arose a point abovethe expanse of ocean. The warmth of the sun developed moss andplants; fresh islands presented themselves; for centuries did amore powerful development and improvement show themselves, untilthe perfection was attained which we now perceive!"
"But the Bible does not teach us thus!" said Louise.
"Moses invented his account of the creation," answered Otto; "wekeep to Nature, who has greater revelations than man."
"But the Bible is to you a holy book?" asked Louise, and colored.
"A venerable book!" returned Otto. "It contains the profoundestdoctrines, the most interesting histories, but also much whichbelongs not at all to a holy book."
"How can you say such things?" exclaimed Louise.
"Do not touch upon religion in her presence," said Sophie; "sheis a pious soul, and believes, without desiring to know wherefore."
"Yes," said Wilhelm, "this winter she became quite angry, and, as Ibelieve, for the first time angry with me, because I maintainedthat Christ was a man."
"Wilhelm!" interrupted the young girl, "do not speak of that; Ifeel myself unhappy at this thought; I can and will not see theHoly brought down to my level, and to that of every-day life. Itlies in my nature that I commit a sin if I think otherwise than Ihave learned and than my heart allows me. It is profane, and if youspeak longer of religion in this strain I shall leave the room."
At this moment the mother entered. "The festival has commenced,"said she; "I have been forced to give my brightest silver skilling.Does Mr. Thostrup know the old custom which is observed here in thecountry, when beer is brewed for the mowing-feast?"
A piercing cry, as from a horde of savages, at this moment reachedthe ears of the party.
The friends descended.
In the middle of the brew-house stood a tub, around which dancedall the female servants of the estate, from the dairymaids down tothe girl who tended the swine; their iron-bound wooden shoes dashedagainst the uneven flag-stones. The greater number of the dancerswere without their jackets, but with their long chemise-sleeves andnarrow bodices. Some screamed, others laughed, the whole wasblended together in a howl, whilst they danced hand in hand aroundthe tub in which the beer should be brewed. The brewing-maid nowflung into it the silver skilling, upon which the girls, like wildMaenades, tore off each other's caps, and with bacchanalianwildness whirled round the tub. By this means should the beerbecome stronger, and work more intoxicatingly at the approachingmowing-feast.
Among the girls, one especially distinguished herself by her Strongframe of body, and her long black hair, which, now that her cap wastorn off, hung in disorder over her red face. The dark eyebrowswere grown together. All seemed to rage most violently within her,and in truth she assumed something wild, nay almost brutal. Botharms she raised high in the air, and with outstretched fingers shewhirled around.
"That is disgusting!" whispered Otto: "they all look like crazypeople."
Wilhelm laughed at it. The wild merriment was lost in a joyousburst of laughter. The girl with the grown-together eyebrows letfall her arms; but still there lay in her glance that wildexpression, which the loose hair and uncovered shoulders made stillmore striking. Either one of the others had had the misfortune toscratch her lip, or else she herself had bitten it in bacchanalianwildness until it bled: she accidentally glanced toward the opendoor where stood the friends. Otto's countenance became clouded, aswas ever the case when anything unpleasant affected him. She seemedto guess his thoughts, and laughed aloud. Otto stepped aside; itwas as though he in anticipation felt the shadow which this formwould one day cast across his life.
When he and Wilhelm immediately afterward returned to Sophie andLouise, he related the unpleasant impression which the girl hadmade upon him.
"O, that is my Meg Merrilies!" exclaimed Sophie. "Yes, spite of heryouth, do you not find that she has something of Sir Walter Scott'switch about her? When she grows older, she will be excellent. Shehas the appearance of being thirty, whereas she is said not to bemore than twenty years old: she is a true giantess."
"The poor thing!" said Louise; "every one judges from the exterior.All who are around her hate her, I believe, because her eyebrowsare grown together, and that is said to be a sign that she is anightmare: [Note: This superstition of the people is mentioned inThieles's Danish traditions: "When a girl at midnight stretchesbetween four sticks the membrane in which the foal lies when it isborn, and then creeps naked through it, she will bear her childwithout pains; but all the boys she conceives will become were-wolves,and all the girls nightmares. You will know them in the daytime bytheir eyebrows grown together over the nose. In the night she creepsin through the key-hole, and places herself upon the sleeper's bosom.The same superstition is also found in German Grimm speaks thusabout it: If you say to the nightmare,--
Old hag, come to-morrow, And I from you will borrow,
it retreats directly, and comes the next morning in the shape of aman to borrow something."] they are angry with her, and how couldone expect, from the class to which she belongs, that she shouldreturn scorn with kindness? She is become savage, that she may notfeel their neglect. In a few days, when we have the mowing-feast,you yourself will see how every girl gets a partner; but poorSidsel may adorn herself as much as she likes, she still standsalone. It is truly hard to be born such a being!"
"The unfortunate girl!" sighed Otto.
"O, she does not feel it!" said Wilhelm: "she cannot feel it; forthat she is too rude, too much of an animal."