Lisbeth Longfrock Part 10

"Strong! Of course he is! And he must have use for every bit of his strength, too, for he has to govern all the others."

"Was the queen also very large?" asked Lisbeth.

"No, she was not much larger than an ordinary woman. She was unusually earnest and modest-looking, father said. There was not so much fuss and feathers with her as with the other women folk."

"No," said Peter; "the old frump that my father drove laughed even at the magistrate, and found fault because his hands were too big."

"Humph!" said Ole; "that _was_ a joke. As if a grown-up fellow should not have big fists! Anyhow, I don't see how she could have seen them, for the magistrate wore his white gloves, although it was high summer."

Ole resumed the part of showman.

"Next they came up over this way,--the whole company, close by that very stone there; and then the king ran on ahead of them. He wanted to be the first to reach the top, as one might know. And now I will show you exactly what he did. Follow me. I will be the king, and you, Lisbeth, may be the queen. Come along!"

Ole walked hastily over the last spur of the ground, the others following. Then, running the last few steps, they found themselves suddenly on the very top of the mountain! Ole threw out his hand and stood a long time in silence.

The others stood still also, involuntarily, impressed by the wonderful sight. Here and there over the endless expanse of mountain shone glistening lakes and mountain pools, and away off in the distance rose snow-clad peaks. On every open slope lay green saeters; and toward the south, as far as the eye could reach, were beautiful farming districts and dark-green, forest-clad ridges.

Ole, in his character of king, threw out his hand again. "This is the most beautiful spot I have ever seen!" he cried. Then, after a short pause, "Come, Sophie, and see!" Ole took Lisbeth's hand and drew her forward.

"Yes," a.s.sented Peter, "that is exactly the way the king did. I have heard about it, too."

"Of course it was," said Ole. "Don't you think I know?"

"What else did he do?" asked Lisbeth.

"The king and queen then went around and spoke to all the other people, who began to take out long spygla.s.ses and gaze in all directions and ask the name of everything.

"The county magistrate, as the highest of the local officials, stood near the king and queen and pointed things out to them.

"'See that group of distant white peaks,' said the magistrate; 'and there to the north is Snow-Cap, although I am not sure that you can distinguish it; and that little black thing farthest away' (Ole pointed as the magistrate had done) 'is the highest peak in Norway.'[15]

[15] The mountain referred to is Galdhoepiggen.

"After a while the company turned around, facing the south. When they saw the view in that direction,--with the great s.h.i.+ning lake lying so far away down there, and the forests stretching farther and farther in the distance,--even the king himself was astonished. He thought that the forests must reach almost to Sweden. He had never seen so vast an extent of forest at one view, king though he was. When they had finished looking at the surrounding landscape, Nordrum went to that patch of reindeer moss over there and gathered a whole handful of it. A good many of the people wondered, of course, what he was going to do with it. He went over to the king, showed it to him, and then said, 'Should you like to see the moss that we mixed with birch bark to make bread during the war?'

"The king took a piece and chewed it. 'Yes, there is bird lime in it,'

he said.

"n.o.body else had moved or spoken since Nordrum picked the moss,--they were so surprised. At last father heard one of the officers say, 'It is astonis.h.i.+ng how tactless these farmers can be!'"

"What is _tactless_?" asked Lisbeth.

"Oh, I don't know; but no doubt it is something pleasant, for the king clapped Nordrum on the shoulder and said: 'Thanks, my good man. We can all thank G.o.d that there are happier days in Norway now.'

"'That was what I was thinking of when I showed you the moss,' said Nordrum.

"Then they took the king to the great heap of stones that was piled up as a memorial of his visit, and asked him to scratch his name upon the stone slab beside it. And so he did, '_O. S._,' which stands for Oscar and Sophia; and then the number of the year, too,--see, here it is! It was all cut into the slab afterwards, exactly as the king himself had scratched it."

The three looked at the letters. Yes, indeed, that was beautiful writing, almost like print. How remarkably well the king must be able to write on paper, when he could write like that on stone!

Just then the animals came crowding up over the edge of the mountain top. They also went to the pile of stones and the big flat stone, like a table, that stood beside it. They began to lie down, for now, after eating, they wanted to rest.

"What else did the king and the others do?" asked Lisbeth.

"There wasn't much more. Oh, yes! after the king had finished writing, he seemed to think that they needed something to eat; so he began singing to the magistrate a line from an old song that they all knew.

The king had a good voice and it rang out with jolly zest:

Oh, have you a drop in your bottle?

Then they laughed, and came forward with a basket, and set the table on the stone here. And they had something to drink, and some little cakes, and after that they went away again. And now," concluded Ole, "I think that we also need something to eat. Let us sit here at the king's table and have our lunch, too."

They took their lunch bags from their backs and sat down on the big, thick stone table, while the animals lay around them chewing the cud.

When the bags were opened many good things came out. There was b.u.t.ter, and pork, and pease bread, and, in Lisbeth's, cream waffles besides. In each bag there was also a bottle of milk, except in Ole's--he had forgotten his. But that did not matter, for the others had plenty. They shared their food with each other, and when Ole wanted milk he merely sang,

Oh, have you a drop in your bottle?

And so he got rather more than his share, after all.

They did not talk much at the beginning of the meal, for it was so good to get a chance to eat; but when they had eaten quite a while, and their jaws began to work more slowly, Peter said, as if he had been pondering upon it, "I wonder what the king has to eat,--for every day, I mean."

"Loppered-cream[16] porridge, all day long," said Ole with conviction.

[16] Cream that has been allowed to stand until it has attained a jellylike consistency. Loppered milk is sometimes called bonnyclabber.

"Yes; but when he wants a little solid food, once in a while?" asked Lisbeth.

Peter had just put a very delicious piece of pork on some pease bread.

He looked at it with real enjoyment before eating it.

"I am sure that he has pork and pease bread," said he.

Lisbeth took the last waffle and bit a piece off. Then she said, "Yes; but the queen,--she certainly does not eat anything but cream waffles!"

While they sat there on the stone, eating and talking, they saw a figure far off on the mountain. It was coming in the direction of Glory Peak. So unusual is it to meet another person up on the mountain that it gives one a strange feeling when it happens. Soon they could think of nothing except this stranger.

"It must be a man trying to find his horses," said Ole.

"Yes, it must be, surely," said Peter. "But what farmer could be sending up for his horses now?"

"Let me see,--it must be Nordrum."

"Yes, that is true. They have only Old Blakken[17] at home now, and they will have to begin their haymaking soon."

[17] A pet name for the dun-colored Norwegian horses.

"Yes; but this man is going on a wild-goose chase to-day. The Nordrum mare is over on the other side of our saeter. I saw her a fortnight ago."