"A swarm of colors, noise and screaming, Music and sights, past any dreaming, The rattle of wheels going late and early,-- All draw the looker-on into the hurly-burly." TH. OVERSKOU.
A few days passed on. Otto heard nothing of German Heinrich or ofhis sister. Peter Cripple seemed not to be in their confidence. Allthat he knew was, that the letter which he had conveyed to Otto wasto be unknown to any one beside. As regarded German Heinrich, hebelieved that he was now in another part of tire country; but thatat St. Knud's fair, in Odense, he would certainly find him.
In Otto's soul there was an extraordinary combating. Louise'swords, that he had been deceived, gave birth to hopes, which,insignificant as the grain of mustard-seed, shot forth greenleaves.
"May not," thought he, "German Heinrich, to further his own plans,have made use of my fear? I must speak with him; he shall swear tome the truth."
He compared in thought the unpleasing, coarse features of Sidsel,with the image which his memory faintly retained of his littlesister. She seemed to him as a delicate creature with large eyes.He had not forgotten that the people about them had spoken of heras of "a kitten that they could hardly keep alive." How then couldshe now be this square-built, singularly plain being, with theeyebrows growing together? "I must speak with Heinrich," resolvedhe; "she cannot be my sister! so heavily as that God will not tryme."
By such thoughts as these his mind became much calmer. There weremoments when the star of love mirrored itself in his life's sea.
His love for Sophie was no longer a caged bird within his breast;its wings were at liberty; Louise saw its release; it was about tofly to its goal.
St. Knud's fair was at hand, and on that account the family wasabout to set out for Odense. Eva was the only one who was to remainat home. It was her wish to do so.
"Odense is not worth the trouble of thy going to see," said Sophie;"but in this way thou wilt never increase thy geographicalknowledge. In the mean time, however, I shall bring thee a fairing--a husband of honey cake, ornamented with almonds."
Wilhelm thought that she should enjoy the passing pleasure, and gowith them; but Eva prayed to stay, and she had her will.
"There is a deal of pleasure in the world," said Wilhelm, "ifpeople will only enjoy it. If one day in Paris is a brilliantflower, a day at Odense fair is also a flower. It is a merry,charming world that we live in! I am almost ready to say with KingValdemar, that if I might keep--yes, I will say, the earth, thenour Lord might willingly for me keep heaven: there it is muchbetter than we deserve; and God knows whether we may not, in theother world, have longings after the old world down here!"
"After Odense fair?" asked Sophie ironically.
Otto stood wrapped in his own thoughts. This day, he felt, would beone of the most remarkable in his life. German Heinrich must givehim an explanation. Sophie must do so likewise Could he indeed meetwith success from them both? Would not sorrow and pain be hisfairings?
The carriage rolled away.
From the various cross-roads came driving up the carriages of thegentry and the peasants; the one drove past the other; and as theFrench and English Channel collects ships from the Atlantic Ocean,so did the King's Road those who drove in carriages, those who rodeon horseback, and those who went on foot.
Behind most of the peasant-vehicles were tied a few horses, thatwent trotting on with them. Mamsells from the farms sat with largegloves on their red arms and hands. They held their umbrellasbefore their faces on account of the dust and the sun.
"The Kammerjunker's people must have set off earlier than we," saidSophie, "otherwise they would have called for us."
Otto looked inquiringly at her. She thought on the Kammerjunker!
"We shall draw up by Faugde church," said Sophie. "Mr. Thostrup cansee Kingo's [Author's Note: The Bishop of Funen, who died in 1703.]grave--can see where the sacred poet lies. Some true trumpetingangels, in whom one can rightly see how heavy the marble is, flywith the Bishop's staff and hat within the chapel."
Otto smiled, and she thought also about giving him pleasure.
The church was seen, the grave visited, and they rapidly rolledalong the King's Road toward Odense, the lofty tower of whosecathedral had hailed them at some miles' distance.
We do not require alone from the portrait-painter that he shouldrepresent the person, but that he should represent him in hishappiest moment. To the plain as well as to the inexpressivecountenance must the painter give every beauty which it possesses.Every human being has moments in which something intellectual orcharacteristic presents itself. Nature, too, when we are presentedonly with the most barren landscape, has the same moments; lightand shadow produce these effects. The poet must be like thepainter; he must seize upon these moments in human life as theother in nature.
If the reader were a child who lived in Odense, it would requirenothing more from him than that he should say the words, "St.Knud's fair;" and this, illumined by the beams of the imaginationof childhood, would stand before him in the most brilliant colors.Our description will be only a shadow; it will be that, perhaps,which the many will find it to be.
Already in the suburbs the crowd of people, and the outspreadearthenware of the potters, which entirely covered the trottoir,announced that the fair was in full operation.
The carriage drove down from the bridge across the Odense River.
"See, how beautiful it is here!" exclaimed Wilhelm.
Between the gardens of the city and a space occupied as a bleachingground lay the river. The magnificent church of St. Knud, with itslofty tower, terminated the view.
"What red house was that?" inquired Otto, when they had lost sightof it.
"That is the nunnery!" replied Louise, knowing what thought it waswhich had arisen in his mind.
"There stood in the ancient times the old bishop's palace, whereBeldenak lived!" said Sophie. "Just opposite to the river is thebell-well, where a bell flew out of St. Albani's tower. The well isunfathomable. Whenever rich people in Odense die, it rings downbelow the water!"
"It is not a pleasant thought," said Otto, "that it rings in thewell when they must die."
"One must not take it in that way now!" said Sophie, laughing, andturned the subject. "Odense has many lions," continued she, "from aking's garden with swans in it to a great theatre, which has thisin common with La Scala and many Italian ones, that it is builtupon the ruins of a convent. [Note: That of the Black Brothers.]
"In Odense, aristocracy and democracy held out the longest," saidWilhelm, smiling; "yet I remember, in my childhood, that when thenobles and the citizens met on the king's birthday at the town-houseball, that we danced by ourselves."
"Were not, then, the citizens strong enough to throw the giddynobles out of the window?" inquired Otto.
"You forget, Mr. Thostrup, that you yourself are noble!" saidSophie. "I was really the goddess of fate who gave to you yourgenealogical tree."
"You still remember that evening?" said Otto, with a gentle voice,and the thoughts floated as gayly in his mind as the crowd ofpeople floated up and down in the streets through which they drove.
Somewhere about the middle of the city five streets met; and thispoint, which widens itself out into a little square, is called the CrossStreet: here lay the hotel to which the family drove.
"Two hours and a quarter too late!" said the Kammerjunker, who cameout to meet them on the steps. "Good weather for the fair, and goodhorses! I have already been out at the West-gate, and have boughttwo magnificent mares. One of them kicked out behind, and hadnearly given me a blow on the breast, so that I might have said Ihad had my fairing! Jakoba is paying visits, drinking chocolate,and eating biscuits. Mamsell is out taking a view of things. Nowyou know our story."
The ladies went to their chamber, the gentlemen remained in thesaloon.
"Yes, here you shall see a city and a fair, Mr. Thostrup!" said theKammerjunker, and slapped Otto on the shoulder.
"Odense was at one time my principal chief-city," said Wilhelm;"and still St. Knud's Church is the most magnificent I know. Godknows whether St. Peter's in Rome would make upon me, now that I amolder, the impression which this made upon me as a child!"
"In St. Knud's Church lies the Mamsell with the cats," said theKammerjunker.
"The bishop's lady, you should say," returned Wilhelm. "The legendrelates, that there was a lady of a Bishop Mus who loved her catsto that degree that she left orders that they should be laid withher in the grave. [Author's Note: The remains of the body, as wellas the skeletons of the cats, are still to be seen in a chapel onthe western aisle of the church.] We will afterward go and seethem."
"Yes, both the bishop's lady and the cats," said the Kammerjunker,"look like dried fish! Then you must also see the nunnery and themilitary library."
"The Hospital and the House of Correction!" added Wilhelm.
The beating of a drum in the street drew them to the window. Thecity crier, in striped linsey-woolsey jacket and breeches, and witha yellow band across his shoulders, stood there, beat upon hisdrum, and proclaimed aloud from a written paper many wonderfulthings which were to be seen in the city.
"He beats a good drum," said the Kammerjunker.
"It would certainly delight Rossini and Spontini to hear thefellow!" said Wilhelm. "In fact Odense would be, at New Year'stime, a city for these two composers. You must know that at thatseason drums and fifes are in their glory. They drum the New Yearin. Seven or eight little drummers and fifers go from door to door,attended by children and old women; at that time they beat both thetattoo and the reveille. For this they get a few pence. When theNew Year is drummed-in in the city they wander out into thecountry, and drum there for bacon and groats. The New Year'sdrumming in lasts until about Easter."
"And then we have new pastimes," said the Kammerjunker.
"Then come the fishers from Stige, [Author's Note: A fishingvillage in Odense Fjord.] with a complete band, and carrying a boatupon their shoulders ornamented with a variety of flags. After thatthey lay a board between two boats, and upon this two of theyoungest and the strongest have a wrestling-match, until one ofthem falls into the water. The last years they both have allowedthemselves to tumble in. And this has been done in consequence ofone young man who fell in being so stung by the jeers which hisfall had occasioned that he left, that same day, the fishingvillage, after which no one saw him. But all the fun is gone now!In my boyhood the merriment was quite another thing. It was a finesight when the corporation paraded with their ensign and harlequinon the top! And at Easter, when the butchers led about a bullockornamented with ribbons and Easter-twigs, on the back of which wasseated a little winged boy in a shirt. They had Turkish music, andcarried flagons with them! See! all that have I outlived, and yet Iam not so old. Baron Wilhelm must have seen the ornamented ox. Nowall that is past and gone; people are got so refined! Neither isSt. Knud's fair that which it used to be."
"For all that, I rejoice that it is not so!" said Wilhelm. "But wewill go into the market and visit the Jutlanders, who are sittingthere among the heath with their earthenware. You will stand achance there, Mr. Thostrup, of meeting with an old acquaintance;only you must not have home-sickness when you smell the heather andhear the ringing of the clattering pots!"
The ladies now entered. Before paying any visits they determinedupon making the round of the market. The Kammerjunker offered hisarm to the mother. Otto saw this with secret gladness, andapproached Sophie. She accepted him willingly as an attendant; theymust indeed get into the throng.
As in the Middle Ages the various professions had their distinctstreets and quarters, so had they also here. The street which ledto the: market place, and which in every-day life was called the"Shoemaker Street," answered perfectly to its name. The shoemakershad ranged their tables side by side. These, and the rails whichhad been erected for the purpose, were hung over with all kinds ofarticles for the feet; the tables themselves were laden with heavyshoes and thick-soled boots. Behind these stood the skillfulworkman in his long Sunday coat, and with his well-brushed felt-hatupon his head.
Where the shoemakers' quarter ended that of the hatters' began, andwith this one was in the middle of the great market-place, wheretents and booths formed many parallel streets. The booth ofgalanterie wares, the goldsmith's, and the confectioner's, most ofthem constructed of canvas, some few of them of wood, were pointsof great attraction. Round about fluttered ribbons and handkerchiefs;round about were noise and bustle. Peasant-girls out of the samevillage went always in a row, seven or eight inseparables, with theirhands fast locked in each other; it was impossible to break the chain;and if people tried to press through them, the whole flock rolledtogether in a heap.
Behind the booths there lay a great space filled with wooden shoes,coarse earthenware, turners' and saddlers' work. Upon tables werespread out toys, generally rudely made and coarsely painted. Allaround the children assayed their little trumpets, and turned abouttheir playthings. The peasant-girls twirled and twisted both thework-boxes and themselves many a time before the bargain wascompleted. The air was heavy with all kinds of odors, and wasspiced with the fragrance of honey-cake.
Here acquaintances met each other-some peasant-maidens, perhaps,who had been born in the same village, but since then had beenseparated.
"Good day!" exclaimed they, took each other by the hand, gave theirarms a swing, and laughed.
"Farewell!"
That was the whole conversation: such a one went on in many places.
"That is the heather!" exclaimed Otto, as he approached the quarterwhere the Jutland potters had their station; "how refreshing is theodor!" said he, and stooping down seized a twig fresh and green, asif it had been plucked only yesterday.
"Aye, my Jesus though! is not that Mr. Otto!" exclaimed a femalevoice just beside him, and a young Jutland peasantwoman skippedacross the pottery toward him. Otto knew her. It was the littleMaria, the eelman's daughter, who, as we may remember at Otto'svisit to the fisher's, had removed to Ringkjoebing, and had hiredherself for the hay and cornharvest--the brisk Maria, "the girl,"as her father called her. She had been betrothed in Ringkjoebing,and married to the rich earthenware dealer, and now had come acrossthe salt-water to Odense fair, where she should meet with Mr. Otto.
"Her parents lived on my grandfather's estate," said Otto toSophie, who observed with a smile the young wife's delight inmeeting with an acquaintance of her childhood. The husband wasbusily employed in selling his wares; he heard nothing of it.
"Nay, but how elegant and handsome you are become!" said theyoung wife: "but see, I knew you again for all that! Grandmother,you may believe me, thinks a deal about you! The old body, she isso brisk and lively; it does not trouble her a bit that she cannotsee! You are the second acquaintance that I have met with in thefair. It's wonderful how people come here from all parts of theworld! The players are here too! You still remember the GermanHeinrich? Over there in the gray house, at the corner of themarket, he is acting his comedy in the gateway."
"I am glad that I have seen you!" said Otto, and nodded kindly."Greet them at home, and the grandmother, for me!"
"Greet them also from me!" said Sophie smiling. "You, Mr. Thostrup,must for old acquaintance sake buy something. You ought also togive me a fairing: I wish for that great jug there!"
"Where are you staying!" cried Wilhelm, and came back, whilst therest went forward.
"We would buy some earthenware," said Sophie. "Souvenir de Jutland.The one there has a splendid picture on it!"
"You shall have it!" said Otto. "But if I requested a fairing fromyou, I beseech of you, might I say"--
"That it possibly might obtain its worth from my hand," saidSophie, smiling. "I understand you very well--a sprig of heather? Ishall steal!" said she to the young wife, as she took a littlesprig of heath and stuck it into his buttonhole. "Greet thegrandmother for me!"
Otto and Sophie went.
"That's a very laughing body!" said the woman half aloud, as shelooked after them; her glance followed Otto, she folded her hands--she was thinking, perhaps, on the days of her childhood.
At St. Knud's church-yard Otto and Sophie overtook the others. Theywere going into the church. On the fair days this and all the tombswithin it were open to the public.
From whichever side this church is contemplated from without, themagnificent old building has, especially from its lofty tower andspire, something imposing about it; the interior produces the same,nay, perhaps a greater effect. But as the principal entrance isthrough the armory, and the lesser one is from the side of thechurch, its full impression is not felt on entering it; nor is ituntil you arrive at the end of the great aisle that you are awarerightly of its grandeur. All there is great, beautiful, and light.The whole interior is white with gilding. Aloft on the high-vaultedroof there shine, and that from the old time, many golden stars. Onboth sides, high up, higher than the side-aisles of the church, arelarge Gothic windows, from which the light streams down. Theside-aisles are adorned with old paintings, which represent wholefamilies, women and children, all clad in canonicals, in long robesand large ruffs. In an ordinary way, the figures are all rangedaccording to age, the oldest first, and then down to the very leastchild, and stand with folded hands, and look piously with downcasteyes and faces all in one direction, until by length of time thecolors have all faded away.
Just opposite to the entrance of the church may be seen, built intothe wall, a stone, on which is a bas-relief, and before it a grave.This attracted Otto's attention.
"It is the grave of King John and of Queen Christina, of PrinceFrancesco and of Christian the Second," said Wilhelm; "they lietogether in a small vault!" [Author's Note: On the removal of thechurch of the Grey Brothers, the remains of these royal parents andtwo of their children were collected in a coffin and placed here inSt. Knud's Church. The memorial stone, of which we have spoken, waserected afterwards.]
"Christian the Second!" exclaimed Otto. "Denmark's wisest anddearest king!"
"Christian the Bad!" said the Kammerjunker, amazed at the tone ofenthusiasm in which Otto had spoken.
"Christian the Bad!" repeated Otto; "yes, it is now the mode tospeak of him thus, but we should not do so. We ought to rememberhow the Swedish and Danish nobles behaved themselves, whatcruelties they perpetrated, and that we have the history ofChristian the Second from one of the offended party. Writersflatter the reigning powers. A prince must have committed crimes,or have lost his power, if his errors are to be rightly presentedto future generations. People forget that which was good inChristian, and have painted the dark side of his character, to theformation of which the age lent its part."
The Kammerjunker could not forget the Swedish bloodbath, theexecution of Torben Oxe, and all that can be said against theunfortunate king.
Otto drove him completely out of the field, in part from hisenthusiasm for Christian the Second, but still more because it wasthe Kammerjunker with whom he was contending. Sophie took Otto'sside, her eye sparkled applause, and the victory could not be otherthan his.
"What is it that the poet said of the fate of a king?" said Sophie.
"Woe's me for him Who to the world shows more of ill than good! The good each man ascribes unto himself, Whilst on him only rest the crimes o' th' age."
"Had Christian been so fortunate as to have subdued the rebelliousnobles," continued Otto, "could he have carried out his bold plans,then they would have called him Christian the Great: it is not theactive mind, but the failure in any design, which the worldcondemns."
Louise nevertheless took the side of the Kammerjunker, andtherefore these two went together up the aisle toward the tomb ofthe Glorup family. Wilhelm and his mother were already gone out ofthe church.
"I envy you your eloquence!" said Sophie, and looked with anexpression of love into Otto's face; she bent herself over therailing around the tomb, and looked thoughtfully upon the stone.Thoughts of love were animated in Otto's soul.
"Intellect and heart!" exclaimed he, "must admire that which isgreat: you possess both these!" He seized her hand.
A faint crimson passed over Sophie's cheeks. "The others are goneout!" she said; "come, let us go up to the chancel."
"Up to the altar!" said Otto; "that is a bold course for one'swhole life!"
Sophie looked jestingly at him. "Do you see the monument therewithin the pillars?" asked she after a short pause; "the lady withthe crossed arms and the colored countenance? In one night shedanced twelve knights to death, the thirteenth, whom she hadinvited for her partner, cut her girdle in two in the dance and shefell dead to the earth!" [Author's Note: In Thiele's Danish PopularTradition it is related that she was one Margrethe Skofgaard ofSanderumgaard, and that she died at a ball, where she had danced todeath twelve knights. The people relate it with a variation asabove; it is probable that it is mingled with a second tradition,for example, that of the blood-spots at Koldinghuus, which relatesthat an old king was so angry with his daughter that he resolved tokill her, and ordered that his knights should dance with her oneafter another until the breath was out of her. Nine had danced withher, and then came up the king himself as the tenth, and when hebecame weary he cut her girdle in two, on which the blood streamedfrom her mouth and she died.]
"She was a northern Turandot!" said Otto; "the stony heart itselfwas forced to break and bleed. There is really a jest in having themarble painted. She stands before future ages as if she lived--astone image, white and red, only a mask of beauty. She is a warningto young ladies!"
"Yes, against dancing!" said Sophie, smiling at Otto'sextraordinary gravity.
"And yet it must be a blessed thing," exclaimed he, "a very blessedthing, amid pealing music, arm-in-arm with one's beloved, to beable to dance life away, and to sink bleeding before her feet!"
"And yet only to see that she would dance with a new one!" saidSophie.
"No, no!" exclaimed Otto, "that you could not do! that you will notdo! O Sophie, if you knew!"--He approached her still nearer, benthis head toward her, and his eye had twofold fire and expression init.
"You must come with us and see the cats!" said the Kammerjunker,and sprang in between them.
"Yes, it is charming!" said Sophie. "You will have an opportunity,Mr. Thostrup, of moralizing over the perishableness of femalebeauty!"
"In the evening, when we drive home together," thought Otto tohimself consolingly, "in the mild summer-evening no Kammerjunkerwill disturb me. It must, it shall be decided! Misfortune mightsubject the wildness of childhood, but it gave me confidence, itnever destroyed my independence; Love has made me timid,--has mademe weak. May I thereby win a bride?"
Gravely and with a dark glance he followed after Sophie and herguide.