“To think that a man can be like that!” he mused in contempt of his old self. “If I were as rich as Eric of Falla or as strong as Börje, who digs here beside me, it would be as nothing to having a throbbing heart in your breast. That’s the only thing that counts.”
Glancing over at his comrade, a powerfully built fellow who could do again as much work as himself, he noticed that today the man had not gone ahead as rapidly as usual with the digging.
They worked by the job. Börje always took upon himself more work than did Jan, yet they always finished at about the same time. That day, however, it went slowly for Börje; he did not even keep up with Jan, but was left far behind.
But then Jan had been working for all he was worth, that he might the sooner get back to his little girl. That day he had longed for her more than usual. She was always drowsy evenings; so unless he hurried home early, he was likely to find her asleep for the night when he got home.
When Jan had completed his work he saw that Börje was not even half through. Such a thing had never happened before in all the years they had worked together, and Jan was so astonished he went over to him.
Börje was standing deep down in the ditch, trying to loosen a clump of sod. He had stepped on a piece of glass, and received an ugly gash on the bottom of his foot, so that he could hardly step on it. Imagine the torture of having to stand and push the spade into the soil with an injured foot!
“Aren’t you going to quit soon?” asked Jan.
“I’m obliged to finish this job today,” replied the comrade. “I can’t get any grain from Eric of Falla till the work is done, and we’re all out of rye-meal.”
“Then go’-night for today,” said Jan.
Börje did not respond. He was too tired and done up to give even the customary good night salutation.
Jan of Ruffluck walked to the edge of the field; but there he halted.
“What does it matter to the little girl whether or not you come home for her birthday?” he thought. “She’s just as well off without you. But Börje has seven kiddies at home, and no food for them. Shall you let them starve so that you can go home and play with Glory Goldie?”
Then he wheeled round, walked back to Börje, and got down into the ditch to help him. Jan was rather tired after his day’s toil and could not work very fast. It was almost dark when they got through.
“Glory Goldie must be asleep this long while,” thought Jan, when he finally put in the spade for the last bit of earth.
“Go’-night for today,” he called back to Börje for the second time.
“Go’-night,” returned Börje, “and thanks to you for the help. Now I must hurry along and get my rye. Another time I’ll give you a lift, be sure of that!”
“I don’t want any pay … Go’-night!”
“Don’t you want anything for helping me?” asked Börje. “What’s come over you, that you’re so stuck-up all at once?”
“Well, you see, it’s—it’s the lassie’s birthday today.”
“And for that I got help with my digging?”
“Yes, for that and for something else, too! Well—goodbye to you!”
Jan hurried away so as not to be tempted to explain what that something else was. It had been on the tip of his tongue to say: “Today is not only Glory Goldie’s birthday, but it’s also the birthday of my heart.”
It was as well, perhaps, that he did not say it, for Börje would surely have thought Jan had gone out of his mind.
Christmas Morn
Christmas morning Jan took the little girl along with him to church; she was then just one year and four months old.
Katrina thought the girl rather young to attend church and feared she would set up a howl, as she had done at the vaccination bee; but inasmuch as it was the custom to take the little ones along to Christmas Matins, Jan had his own way.
So at five o’clock on Christmas Morn they all set out. It was pitch dark and cloudy, but not cold; in fact the air was almost balmy, and quite still, as it usually is toward the end of December.
Before coming to an open highway, they had to walk along a narrow winding path, through fields and groves in the Ashdales, then take the steep winter-road across Snipa Ridge.
The big farmhouse at Falla, with lighted candles at every window, stood out as a beacon to the Ruffluck folk, so that they were able to find their way to Börje’s hut; there they met some of their neighbours, bearing torches they had prepared on Christmas Eve. Each torchbearer led a small group of people most of whom followed in silence; but all were happy; they felt that they, too, like the Wise Men of old, were following a star, in quest of the newborn King.
When they came to the forest heights they had to pass by a huge stone which had been hurled at Svartsjö Church, by a giant down in Frykerud, but which, luckily, had gone over the steeple and dropped here on Snipa Ridge. When the churchgoers came along, the stone lay, as usual, on the ground. But they knew, they did, that in the night it had been raised upon twelve golden pillars and that the trolls had danced and feasted under it.
It was not so very pleasant to have to walk past a stone like that! Jan looked over at Katrina
