THE NOVELS OF
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON
Edited by EDMUND GOSSE
VOLUME XIII
THE NOVELS OF
BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON
Edited by EDMUND GOSSE
Fcap. 8vo, cloth 3s. net.
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
21 Bedford Street, W. C.
MARY
BY
Translated from the Norwegian by
MARY MORISON
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1909
All rights reserved
The coast line of the south of Norway is very irregular. This is thework of the mountains and rivers. The former end in hillocks andheadlands, off which often lie islands; the latter have dug out valleysand end in fjords or smaller inlets.
In one of these inlets, known as "Kroken" (the nook), lies thehomestead. The original name of the place was Krokskogen. In thedocuments of the Danish government officials this was transformed intoKrogskoven; now it is Krogskogen. The owners originally calledthemselves Kroken; Anders and Hans Kroken were the regularly recurringnames. In course of time they came to call themselves Krogh; the generalin the Danish army subscribed himself Von Krogh. Now they are Krog,plain and simple.
The passengers on the small steamers which, on their way to and from theneighbouring town,[2] touch at the landing-place below the little chapel,never fail to remark on the beautifully sheltered, snug situation ofKrogskogen.
The mountains rise high on the horizon, but here they have dwindleddown. The families between two long wooded ridges which project into thesea—its buildings so close to the right-hand ridge that to thesteamer-passengers it seems as if a man might easily jump from theirroofs on to the steep hill-side. The west wind cannot find its way inhere. The place seems, after the manner of children playing athide-and-seek, to have the right to cry: Pax! to it. And it is almostin a position to say the same to the north and east winds. Only a galefrom the south can make its entrance, and that in humble fashion.Islands, one large and two small, detain and chasten it before theyallow it to pass. The tall trees in front of the houses merely bow theirtopmost branches rhythmically; they abate none of their dignity.
In this sheltered bay is the best bathing-place of the wholeneighbourhood. In summer the youth of the town used to come out here onthe Saturday evenings and Sundays to disport themselves in the sandyshallows or to swim out to the large island and back. It was at the leftside[3] of the bay, reckoning from Krogskogen, that this went on, the sidewhere the river falls into the sea, where the landing-pl