Selma Lagerlöf

“ As they drink in the song and the beauty of the night, they are filled with a blissful rapture. Ah, life is so beautiful! How precious the moments! Every breath is a joy!
Now out of the throng steps Fru Hedda. In a moment she appears on the veranda, and starts the Värmland Anthem. All join in the singing, for in this way they are able to express what they feel: Ack, Värmeland, du sköna, du härliga land! They seem to hear voices back in the thickets and copses, and surmise that the Mårbacka elves and fairies are dancing a contra-dance under the maple trees to the lovely melody. ”

“ His coat was a dapple gray, his mane so long it swept the ground, and his tail, which was thick as a rye-sheaf, also reached to the ground. The horse was broad across the hindquarters and high at the withers; he had a small head, with fine, clear eyes, his legs were slender, his hoofs a silvery white that glistened like polished metal as he lifted them in the grass. His body bore no marks of harness or saddle.
Lisa Maja had just walked her horse, Svarten, down a hillside, and was now going at the same slow pace toward the meadow where the stallion grazed. ”

“ Lagerlöf would snatch long moments from her sewing to go out and have a look at the garden; but Mamselle Lovisa persistently kept to her room. This delightful spring work only tended to increase her sadness. She would rather have had the old trampled sward, with its one little tangle of snowberry bushes. All these innovations seemed to her so unnecessary. But what she thought or said was immaterial; just the same, folk had managed to live at Mårbacka before. All these modern improvements only meant a lot of bother and needless expense. ”

“ And there was something so screamingly funny about him as he stood in the doorway (further he could not come) , looking up and down as if in search of a sleeping place—it set them all laughing. Fru Lagerlöf and Mamselle Lovisa, who had been lying there fearful and a little seasick, now sat up in their bunks to have their laugh out. Johan and Anna laughed so hard they nearly shook themselves off their “shelves.” Back-Kaisa forgot for the moment that she would soon be at that dreadful place where the lake ends, and laughed, too, and the little girl by her side was fairly choking with laughter. ”

“ After supper, when Von Wachenfeldt had limped down to his room, Lieutenant Lagerlöf, his wife and sister sat staring at each other—dumbfounded.
“Oh, that Wachenfeldt!” the Lieutenant exclaimed. “He’s a wonder; he knows more than all of us put together.”
“It is always a pleasure to talk with Wachenfeldt,” said Mamselle Lovisa.
“If it is true that he has been so helpful to others, then how does it happen that he has managed his own affairs so badly?” queried Fru Lagerlöf, dryly. ”

“ But from that moment she knew who was to be her husband; for the one who comes in the dream and offers you water when you have eaten dream-pancake, he is the one you will marry.
Mamselle Lisa Maja wondered how this could come about, for at that time she did not know any one by the name of Lagerlöf. But one day, soon after New Year’s, as she was standing at the window, a sledge came up the driveway. Suddenly she gave a cry and nipped the housekeeper by the sleeve. ”

“ She had never heard her mistress speak like that before.
“Go fetch the priest’s daughter,” said Fru Raklitz—“go fetch Lisa Maja! She is the only one here who has power over the evil ones.”
“Mamselle Lisa Maja has gone to bed,” said the girl.
“Go ask her to come down as quick as she can,” Long-Bengt put in. “Tell her Frua got a fright on the way.”
Fru Raklitz sat shaking and gibbering until her stepdaughter appeared.
“Ah, God bless you!” cried the woman, holding out her arms to the girl. “Come help me! Don’t be angry with me! I’ll never be mean to you again.” ”

“ The human voice flowed on like a mighty tide, bearing along with it the tinny old piano, the shrill clarinet, the violin, scraped in old fiddler-fashion, the three-stringed guitar, the Sergeant’s triangle and the Lieutenant’s capricious nightingale. ”

“ When the fences were down he ploughed up the old kitchen garden and the little rose garden, the old trampled sward, the ground where the old barn had stood, and the calf ward, so as to have the grounds cleared for the laying of the garden in the spring.
“Is it true that you’re going to remove the kitchen garden?” said Mamselle Lovisa. “To be sure I don’t know anything, but I have heard folks say that when the apple trees are allowed to grow in the herb beds they bear well, but if one plants sod round them one can’t expect much fruit.” ”

“ Then the Dean said:
“You, Bengt, have been one of those good and faithful servants of whom our Lord speaks.”
“Ay,” says Bengt from his bed, “that’s what I’ve been.”
“You have never considered your own welfare before that of your employer. You have always been mindful of the duties entrusted to you.”
“Ay, ’tis all so true,” says Bengt. “Many thanks to you, Dean, for those words.”
It looked as if these constant interruptions would prove annoying to the Dean, who was a great man, accustomed to the society of grand folk. ”

“ If anything was calculated to increase the little girl’s delight at having Back-Kaisa all to herself once more, it was being allowed to sit where she could look down at the frisky horses that dashed on as if the heavy carriage were only a toy wagon, tearing round the curves, [20] with the vehicle sometimes on two wheels. Often the horses would stiffen their legs and make the downgrade almost on their haunches, and when they came to a sudden drop in the road, Magnus would stand up and use the whip desperately, to urge the horses on so that the high carriage would not come tumbling over them. ”

“ None invited him to their homes. It looked as if people had merely tolerated him for his wife’s sake. When he yearns for laughter and merriment, when he would like to sit down to a well-served dinner and talk with cultured people, he has no place to go. When the holidays come round, with their long leisure hours, when he would like to escape from the deadly monotony of the farmhouse, he does not know what to do with himself.
There is just one place in the world where he can go for a bit of a taste of the old life, and that place is Mårbacka, whence he had brought his wife. ”

“ THE tinkle of a silver bell is heard from the road. Colour-Sergeant Karl von Wachenfeldt comes driving....
Colour-Sergeant Karl von Wachenfeldt—was it not he who once on a time was proclaimed the handsomest man in Värmland, if not in all Sweden? Was it not he who was the idol of the Stockholm ladies the winter season of 1820, when he visited the Capital to take some sort of examination in land surveying? Was it not he who made up sleighing parties and led cotillions with a dash that put all the beaux cavaliers of the haute monde into the shade? ”

“ Over on the straight-backed sofa, quiet as mice, sat all the children—Daniel, Johan, Anna, Selma, and Gerda—listening. What could they do but keep still, when the grown-ups played and carried on like youngsters? ”

“ Of course Johan and Anna wanted to have Selma restored to health. They above everyone wished her well again. All the same, they didn’t think it a bit nice of her to go and catch a sickness no one could cure. But Back-Kaisa must have thought differently. For when neither Doctor Hedberg, who had so often cured them of coughs and colds, nor Högman’s Inga, who [13] never failed with cows and pigs, nor yet the dangerous witch-hag, who could put life into a broomstick, had been able to help her, Back-Kaisa vowed she was growing more and more wonderful all the time. ”

“ You are no big important man. You have done no great outstanding thing. But you have within you the best of good-will and an open heart. We know that, were it in your power, you would take the whole world in your embrace. This is why you can give us each year a few hours of bliss, a little glimpse of Paradise, which we of East Ämtervik call the Seventeenth of August. ”

“ One fine April day, in the time of Fru Raklitz, all the Mårbacka geese had been let out in the farmyard. Suddenly some wild geese came flying high above them, honking and shrieking as usual. The tame geese flapped their wings and squawked back—the way they do every spring.
As flock after flock of wild geese flew over, the tame geese grew more and more restless, and before any one knew what was up, a big gander darted into the air and joined the wild geese in their flight. ”

“ Why was she sitting on Granny’s bed, and why were the others standing there staring, as if the grand company were in the bed? She glanced from one to the other, quite bewildered. Presently Aunt Lovisa bent down and moved the pillows a little. Then Selma saw that by her side lay a small oblong bundle, to which she attached no importance whatever. Granny had said that grand company had come, and grand company meant only one thing—far-come visitors who brought toys and big bags of candy for the children. ”