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014 - Poultry Megs Family · Fairytales and Short Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

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Speaker 1: Section fourteen of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales and Short
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Speaker 1: Stories Volume six. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Zena Blue.
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Speaker 1: Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and Short Stories, Volume six,
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Speaker 1: eighteen sixty six to eighteen seventy three by Hans Christian Andersen,
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Speaker 1: translated by H. P. Paul, Chapter fourteen. Poultry Meg was
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Speaker 1: the only person who lived in the new stately dwelling
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Speaker 1: that had been built for the fowls and docks belonging
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Speaker 1: to the manor house. It stood there where once the
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Speaker 1: old knightly building had stood, with its tower, its pointed gables,
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Speaker 1: its moat and strawbridge. Close by. It was a wilderness
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Speaker 1: of trees and thicket. Here the garden had been, and
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Speaker 1: had stretched out to a great lake which was now
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Speaker 1: moor land. Crows and chows flew screaming over the old trees,
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Speaker 1: and there were crowds of birds. They did not seem
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Speaker 1: to get fewer when any one shot among them, but
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Speaker 1: seemed rather to increase. One heard the screaming into the
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Speaker 1: poultry house, where poultry Meg sat with the ducklings running
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Speaker 1: to and fro over her wooden shoes. She knew every
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Speaker 1: fowl and every duck from the moment it crept out
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Speaker 1: of the shell. And she was fond of her fowls
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Speaker 1: and ducks, and proud of the stately house that had
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Speaker 1: been built for them. Her own little room in the
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Speaker 1: house was clean and neat, for that was the wish
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Speaker 1: of the gracious lady, to whom the house belonged. She
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Speaker 1: often came in the company of grand noble guests, to
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Speaker 1: whom she showed the hens and ducks barracks, as she
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Speaker 1: called the little house. Here were clothes covered, and an
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Speaker 1: arm chair, and even a chest of drawers. And on
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Speaker 1: these drawers a polished metal plate had been placed, whereon
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Speaker 1: was engraved the word Grubb, and this was the name
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Speaker 1: of the noble family that had lived in the house
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Speaker 1: of old. The brass plate had been found when they
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Speaker 1: were digging the foundation, and the clerk had said it
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Speaker 1: had no value except in being an old relic. The
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Speaker 1: clerk knew all about the place and about the old times,
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Speaker 1: for he had his knowledge from books and mimy and
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Speaker 1: randa random had been written and put in his table drawer.
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Speaker 1: But the oldest of the crows perhaps knew more than he,
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Speaker 1: and screamed it out in her own language. But that
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Speaker 1: was the crow's language, and the clerk did not understand that,
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Speaker 1: clever as he was. After the hot summer days, the
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Speaker 1: mists sometimes hung over the moorland, as if a whole
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Speaker 1: lake were behind the old trees among which the crows
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Speaker 1: and the dolls were fluttering. And thus it had looked
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Speaker 1: when the good Night Grub had lived there, when the
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Speaker 1: old manor house stood with its thick red walls. The
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Speaker 1: dog chain used to reach in those days quite over
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Speaker 1: the gateway through the tower one went into a paved
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Speaker 1: passage which led to the rooms. The windows were narrow
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Speaker 1: and the panes were small, even in the great hall,
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Speaker 1: where the dancing used to be. But in the time
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Speaker 1: of the last Grub there had been no dancing in
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Speaker 1: the hall within the memory of man, although an old
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Speaker 1: drum still lay there that had served as part of
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Speaker 1: the music. Here stood a quaintly carved cupboard in which
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Speaker 1: rare flower roots were kept. For my lady Grub was
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Speaker 1: fond of plants, and cultivated trees and shrubs Her husband
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Speaker 1: preferred riding out to shoot wolves and boars, and his
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Speaker 1: little daughter Marie always went with him part of the way.
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Speaker 1: When she was only five years old. She would sit
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Speaker 1: proudly on her horse and look saucily round with her
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Speaker 1: great black eyes. It was a great amusement to her
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Speaker 1: to hit out among the hunting dogs with her whip,
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Speaker 1: but her father would rather have seen her hit among
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Speaker 1: the peasant boys who came running up to stare at
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Speaker 1: their lord. The peasant in the clay hut close by
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Speaker 1: the Knightly house had a son named Soren, of the
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Speaker 1: same age as the gracious little lady. The boy could
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Speaker 1: climb well and had always to bring her down the
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Speaker 1: bird's nests. The birds screamed as loud as they could,
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Speaker 1: and one of the greatest of them hacked him with
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Speaker 1: its beak over the eye, so that the blood ran down,
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Speaker 1: and it was at first thought the eye had been destroyed,
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Speaker 1: but it had not been injured after all. Marie grubbed
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Speaker 1: used to call him her Soren, and that was a
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Speaker 1: great favor and was an advantage to Soren's father, poor John,
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Speaker 1: who had one day committed a fault and was to
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Speaker 1: be punished by riding on the wooden horse. This same
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Speaker 1: horse stood in the courtyard and had four poles for
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Speaker 1: legs and a single narrow plank for a back. On
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Speaker 1: this John had to ride astride, and some heavy bricks
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Speaker 1: were fastened to his feet into the bargain that he
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Speaker 1: might not sit too comfortably. He made horrible grimaces, and
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Speaker 1: Soren wept and implored little Marie to interfere. She immediately
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Speaker 1: ordered that Soren's father should be taken down, and when
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Speaker 1: they did not obey her, she stamped on the floor
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Speaker 1: and pulled at her father's sleeve till it was torn
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Speaker 1: to pieces. She would have her way, and she got
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Speaker 1: her way, and Soren's father was taken down. Lady Grubb,
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Speaker 1: who now came up, parted her little daughter's hair from
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Speaker 1: the child's brow and looked at her affectionately. But Marie
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Speaker 1: did not understand why she wanted to go to the
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Speaker 1: hounds and not to her mother. Who went down into
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Speaker 1: the garden to the lake, where the water lily bloomed
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Speaker 1: and the heads of bulrushes nodded amid the reeds, and
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Speaker 1: she looked at all this beauty and freshness, How pleasant,
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Speaker 1: she said. In the garden stood at that time a
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Speaker 1: rare tree, which she herself had planted. It was called
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Speaker 1: the blood beach, a kind of negro growing among the
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Speaker 1: other trees. So dark brown were the leaves. This tree
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Speaker 1: required much sunshine, for in continual shade it would become
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Speaker 1: bright green like the other trees, and thus lose its
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Speaker 1: distinctive character. In the lofty chestnut trees were many birds nests,
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Speaker 1: and also in the thickets and in the grassy meadows.
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Speaker 1: It seemed as though the birds knew that they were
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Speaker 1: protected here, and that no one must fire a gun
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Speaker 1: at them. Little Marie came here with Soren. He knew
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Speaker 1: how to climb, as we have already said, and eggs
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Speaker 1: and fluffy feathered young birds were brought down. The birds
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Speaker 1: great and small flew about in terror and tribulation. The
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Speaker 1: pea wit from the fields, and the crows and DAWs
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Speaker 1: from the high trees screamed and screamed. It was just
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Speaker 1: such din as the family will raise to the present day.
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Speaker 1: What are you doing, you children, cried the gentle lady,
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Speaker 1: that is sinful. Soren stood abashed, and even the little
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Speaker 1: gracious lady looked down a little. But then he said,
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Speaker 1: quite short and pretty my father, lets me do it.
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Speaker 1: Crawl crawl away away from here, cried the great blackbirds,
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Speaker 1: and they flew away, But on the following day came back,
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Speaker 1: for they were at home here. The quiet gentle lady
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Speaker 1: did not remain long at home here on earth, for
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Speaker 1: the Good God called her away, and indeed her home
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Speaker 1: was rather with him than in the knightly house. And
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Speaker 1: the church bells told solemnly when her corpse was carried
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Speaker 1: to the church, and the eyes of the poor people
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Speaker 1: were wet with tears, for she had been good to them.
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Speaker 1: When she was gone, no one attended her plantations, and
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Speaker 1: the garden ran to waste grubbed. The knight was a
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Speaker 1: hard man, they said, but his daughter, young as she was,
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Speaker 1: knew how to manage him. He used to laugh and
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Speaker 1: let her have her way. She was now twelve years
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Speaker 1: old and strongly built. She looked the people through and
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Speaker 1: through with her black eyes, rode her horse as bravely
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Speaker 1: as a man, and could fire off her gun like
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Speaker 1: a practiced tunnor. One day there were great visitors in
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Speaker 1: the neighborhood, the grandest visitors who could come, the young
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Speaker 1: King and his half brother and comrade, the Lord Ulrich
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Speaker 1: Frederick Guildenlove. They wanted to hunt the wild boar, and
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Speaker 1: to pass a few days at the castle of Grub
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Speaker 1: Guildenluf sat at a table next to Marie Grubb, and
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Speaker 1: he took her by the hand and gave her a kiss,
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Speaker 1: as if she had been a relation. But she gave
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Speaker 1: him a box on the ear and told him she
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Speaker 1: could not bear him, at which there was great laughter,
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Speaker 1: as if that had been a very amusing thing. Anne,
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Speaker 1: perhaps it was very amusing. For five years afterwards, when
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Speaker 1: Marie had fulfilled her seventeenth year, a messenger arrived with
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Speaker 1: a letter in which Lord Guildenlove proposed for the hand
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Speaker 1: of the noble young lady. There was a thing for you.
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Speaker 1: He is the grandest and most gallant gentleman in the
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Speaker 1: whole country, said Grub the Knight. That is not a
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Speaker 1: thing to despise. I don't care so very much about him,
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Speaker 1: said Marie Grubb. But she did not despise the grandest
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Speaker 1: man of all the country, who sat by the King's side.
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Speaker 1: Silver plate and fine linen and woolen went off to
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Speaker 1: Copenhagen in a ship, while the bride made the journey
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Speaker 1: by land in ten days but the outfit met with
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Speaker 1: contrary winds or with no winds at all. For four
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Speaker 1: months passed before it arrived, and when it came, my
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Speaker 1: Lady Gildenlove was gone. I'd rather lie on coarse sacking
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Speaker 1: than lie in his silken beds, she declared, I'd rather
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Speaker 1: walk barefoot than drive with him in a coach. Late
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Speaker 1: one evening in November, two women came riding into the
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Speaker 1: town of Airehouse. They were the gracious Lady Guildenlove, Marie
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Speaker 1: Grubb and her maid. They came from the town of
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Speaker 1: will whither they had come in a ship from Copenhagen.
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Speaker 1: They stopped at Lord Grubb's stone mansion in Eyrehouse. Grubb
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Speaker 1: was not well pleased with this visit. Marie was accosted
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Speaker 1: in hard words, but she had a bedroom given her
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Speaker 1: and got her beer soup of a morning. But the
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Speaker 1: evil part of her father's nature was aroused against her,
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Speaker 1: and she was not used to that. She was not
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Speaker 1: of a gentle temper, and we often answer as we
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Speaker 1: are addressed. She answered openly and spoke with bitterness and
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Speaker 1: hatred of her husband, with whom she declared she would
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Speaker 1: not live. She was too honorable for that a year
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Speaker 1: went by, but it did not go pleasantly. There were
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Speaker 1: evil words between the father and daughter that ought never
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Speaker 1: to be. Bad words bear bad fruit. What could be
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Speaker 1: the end of such a state of things? We too
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Speaker 1: cannot live under the same roof, said the father. One day,
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Speaker 1: go away from here to our old manor house. But
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Speaker 1: she had better bite your tongue off than spread any
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Speaker 1: lies among the people. And so the two parted. She
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Speaker 1: went with her maid to the old castle where she
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Speaker 1: had been born, and near which the gentle pious lady
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Speaker 1: her mother was lying in the church vault. An old
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Speaker 1: cowherd lived in the courtyard, and was the only other
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Speaker 1: inhabitant of the place. In the rooms, heavy black cobwebs
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Speaker 1: hung down, covered with dust. In the garden, everything grew
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Speaker 1: just as it would. Hops and climbing plants ran like
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Speaker 1: a net between the trees and bushes. In the hemlock,
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Speaker 1: a nettle grew larger and stronger. The blood beech had
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Speaker 1: been outgrown by other trees and now stood in the shade,
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Speaker 1: and its leaves were green like those of the common trees,
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Speaker 1: and its glory had departed. Crows and chills and great
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Speaker 1: close masses flew past over the tall chestnut trees, and
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Speaker 1: chattered and screamed, as if they had something very important
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Speaker 1: to tell one another, as if they were saying, now
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Speaker 1: she come back again, the little girl who had their
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Speaker 1: eggs and their young ones stolen from them. And as
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Speaker 1: for the thief who had got them down, he had
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Speaker 1: to climb up a leafless tree, for he sat on
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Speaker 1: a tall ship's mast, and was beaten with a rope's
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Speaker 1: end if he did not behave himself. The clerk told
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Speaker 1: all this in our own times. He had collected it
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Speaker 1: and looked it up in books and memoranda. It was
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Speaker 1: to be found with many other writings, locked up in
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Speaker 1: his table drawer. Upward and downward is the course of
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Speaker 1: the world, said he. It is strange to hear, and
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Speaker 1: we will hear how it went with Marie Grub. We
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Speaker 1: need not for that. Forget poultry mag who was sitting
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Speaker 1: in her capital hen house in our own time. Marie
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Speaker 1: Grub sat down in her times, but not with the
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Speaker 1: same spirit that old poultry maid showed. The winter passed away,
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Speaker 1: and the spring and summer passed away, and the autumn
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Speaker 1: came again with a damp, cold sea fog. It was
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Speaker 1: a lonely, desolate life in the old manor house. Marie
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Speaker 1: Grubb took her gun in her hand and went out
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Speaker 1: to the heat and shot hares and foxes and whatever
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Speaker 1: birds she could hit. More than once she met the
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Speaker 1: noble Sir Paladare of Norbak, who was also wondering about
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Speaker 1: with his gun and his dogs. He was tall and strong,
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Speaker 1: and boasted of this when they walked together, he could
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Speaker 1: have measured himself against the deceased mister Brockenheus of Egiskov,
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Speaker 1: of whom the people still talked. Pladir had, after the
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Speaker 1: example of Brockenheuss, caused an iron chain with a hunting
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Speaker 1: horn to be hung in his gateway, and when he
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Speaker 1: came riding home, he used to seize the chain and
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Speaker 1: lift himself and his horse from the ground and blow
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Speaker 1: the horn. Come yourself and see me do that day,
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Speaker 1: Marie he said, one can breathe fresh and free at Norbek.
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Speaker 1: When she went to his castle is not known, but
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Speaker 1: on the altar candlestick in the church of Norbek it
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Speaker 1: was inscribed that they were the gifts of Paldair and
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Speaker 1: Marie Grubb of Norbek Castle. A great stout man was Powdar.
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Speaker 1: He drank like a sponge. He was like a tub
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Speaker 1: that could never get full. He snored like a whole
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Speaker 1: style of pigs, and he looked right and bloated. He
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Speaker 1: is treacherous and malicious, said Dame Powdar, Grubb's daughter. Soon
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Speaker 1: she was weary of her life with him, but that
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Speaker 1: did not make it better. One day, the table was
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Speaker 1: spread and the dishes grew cold. Powdar was out hunting foxes,
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Speaker 1: and the gracious lady was nowhere to be found. Towards midnight,
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Speaker 1: Paldar came home, but Dame Dar came neither at midnight
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Speaker 1: nor next morning. She had turned her back upon Norwok
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Speaker 1: Anne ridden away without saying good bye. It was gray,
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Speaker 1: wet weather. The wind grew cold, and a flight of black,
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Speaker 1: screaming birds flew over her head. They were not so
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Speaker 1: homeless as she first. She journeyed southward, quite down into
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Speaker 1: the German land. A couple of golden rings with costly
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Speaker 1: stones were turned into money, And then she turned to
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Speaker 1: the east. And then she turned again and went toward
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Speaker 1: the west. She had no food before her eyes and
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Speaker 1: murmured against everything, even against the good God himself. So
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Speaker 1: wretched was her soul. Soon her body became wretched too,
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Speaker 1: and she was scarcely able to move afoot. The pea
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Speaker 1: wit flew up as she stumbled over the mound of
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Speaker 1: earth where it had billed his nest. The bird cried
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Speaker 1: as it always cried, You thief, you thief. She had
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Speaker 1: never stolen her her neighbor's goods, but as a little
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Speaker 1: girl she had caused eggs and young birds to be
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Speaker 1: taken from the trees, and she thought of that now.
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Speaker 1: From where she lay, she could see the sand dunes
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Speaker 1: by the seashore live fishermen, but she could not get far.
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Speaker 1: She was so ill. The great white sea mews flew
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Speaker 1: over her head and screamed as the crows and DAWs
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Speaker 1: screamed at home in the garden of the manor house.
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Speaker 1: The birds flew quite close to her, and at last
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Speaker 1: it seemed to her as if they became black as crows.
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Speaker 1: Then all was night before her eyes. When she opened
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Speaker 1: her eyes again, she was being lifted and carried. A
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Speaker 1: great strong man had taken her up in his arms,
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Speaker 1: and she was looking straight into his bearded face. He
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Speaker 1: had a scar over one eye, which seemed to divide
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Speaker 1: the eyebrow into two parts. Weak as she was, he
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Speaker 1: carried her to the ship, where he got a waiting
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Speaker 1: for it from the captain. Next day the ship sailed away.
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Speaker 1: Madam Grubb had not been put ashore, so she sailed
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Speaker 1: away with it. But she will return, will she not? Yes?
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Speaker 1: But where and when? The clerk could tell about this too,
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Speaker 1: And it was not a story which he patched together himself.
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Speaker 1: He had the whole strange history out of an old,
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Speaker 1: authentic book, which we ourselves can take out and read.
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Speaker 1: The Danish historian Ludwig Holberg, who has written so many
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Speaker 1: useful books and merry comedies from which we can get
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Speaker 1: such a good idea of his times and their people,
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Speaker 1: tells in his letters of Murray Grubb where and how
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Speaker 1: he met her. It is well worth hearing. But for
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Speaker 1: all that, we don't at all forget poultry May, who
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Speaker 1: is sitting cheerful and comfortable in the charming fowl house.
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Speaker 1: The ship sailed away with Murray Grub. That's where we
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Speaker 1: left off. Long years went by, the plague was raging
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Speaker 1: at Copenhagen. It was the year seventeen eleven. The Queen
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Speaker 1: of Denmark went away to her German home. The king
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Speaker 1: quitted the capital, and everybody who could do so hurried away.
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Speaker 1: The students, even those who had board and lodging gratis,
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Speaker 1: left the city. One of these students, the last who
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Speaker 1: had remained in the free college, at last, went away too.
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Speaker 1: It was two o'clock in the morning. He was carrying
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Speaker 1: his knapsack, which was better stacked with books and writings
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Speaker 1: than with clothes. A damp mist hung over the town.
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Speaker 1: Not a person was to be seen in the streets.
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Speaker 1: The street doors around were marked with crosses, as a
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Speaker 1: sign that the plague was within, or that all the
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Speaker 1: inmates were dead. A great wagon rattled past him. The
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Speaker 1: coachman brandished his whip, and the horses flew by at
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Speaker 1: a gallop. The wagon was filled with corpses. A young
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Speaker 1: student kept his hand before his face and smelled at
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Speaker 1: some strong spirits that he had with them on a
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Speaker 1: sponge in a little brass set case out of a
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Speaker 1: small tavern in one of the streets. There were the
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Speaker 1: sounds of singing and of unhallowed laughter from people who
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Speaker 1: drank the night through to forget that the plague was
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Speaker 1: at their doors, and that they might be put into
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Speaker 1: the wagon. As the others had been. The student turned
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Speaker 1: his steps toward the canal at the castle bridge, where
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Speaker 1: a couple of small ships were lying. One of these
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Speaker 1: was weighing anchor. To get away from the plague stricken city.
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Speaker 1: If God spares our lives and grants us a fair wind,
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Speaker 1: we are going to Grandmud near Foster, said the captain,
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Speaker 1: and he asked the name of the student who wished
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Speaker 1: to go with him. Ludwig Holburg answered the student, and
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Speaker 1: the name sounded like any other, but now there sounds
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Speaker 1: in it one of the proudest names of Denmark. It
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Speaker 1: was the name of a young unknown student. The ship
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Speaker 1: glided past the castle. It was not yet bright day.
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Speaker 1: When it was in the open sea. A late wind
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Speaker 1: filled the sails, and the young student sat down with
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Speaker 1: his face turned toward the fresh wind, and went to sleep,
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Speaker 1: which was not exactly the most prudent thing he could
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Speaker 1: have done. Already. On the third day, the ship lay
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Speaker 1: by the island of Falster. Do you know any one
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Speaker 1: here with whom I could lodge cheaply? Hulburg asked the captain.
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Speaker 1: I should think you would do well to go to
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Speaker 1: the fairy woman in boor House, answered the captain, if
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Speaker 1: you want to be very civil to her. Her name
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Speaker 1: is mother sore and Sorens and Muller. But it may
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Speaker 1: happen that she may fly into a fury if you
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Speaker 1: are too polite to her. The man is in custody
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Speaker 1: for a crime, and that's why she manages the fairy
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Speaker 1: boat herself. She has fists of her own. The student
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Speaker 1: took his knapsack and betook himself to the fairy house.
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Speaker 1: The house door was not locked. It opened, and he
22:02
Speaker 1: went into a room with a brick floor, where a
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Speaker 1: bench with a great coverlet of leather formed the chief
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Speaker 1: article of furniture. A white hen who had a brood
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Speaker 1: of chickens, was fastened to the bench and had overturned
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Speaker 1: the pipkin of water, so that the wet ran across
22:18
Speaker 1: the floor. There were no people either here or in
22:21
Speaker 1: the adjoining room. Only a cradle stood there, and which
22:25
Speaker 1: was a child. The fairy boat came back with only
22:29
Speaker 1: one person in it. Whether that person was a man
22:32
Speaker 1: or a woman was not an easy matter to determine.
22:35
Speaker 1: The person in question was wrapped in a great cloak
22:38
Speaker 1: and wore a kind of hood. Presently the boat lay too.
22:44
Speaker 1: It was a woman who got out of it and
22:45
Speaker 1: came into the room. She looked very stately. When she
22:48
Speaker 1: straightened her back, two proud eyes looked forth from beneath
22:52
Speaker 1: her black eyebrows. It was mother's sore, and the fairy
22:55
Speaker 1: wife the crows and DAWs might have called out another
22:58
Speaker 1: name for her, which we know better. She looked morose
23:02
Speaker 1: and did not seem to care to talk. But this
23:05
Speaker 1: much was settled, that the student should board in her
23:08
Speaker 1: house for an indefinite time. While things look so bad
23:11
Speaker 1: in Copenhagen. This or that honest citizen would often come
23:15
Speaker 1: to the fairy house from the neighboring little town. There
23:19
Speaker 1: came Frank the cutler and Cyvert the excise man. They
23:23
Speaker 1: drank a mug of beer in the fairy house and
23:25
Speaker 1: used to converse with the student, for he was a
23:27
Speaker 1: clever young man who knew his practica, as they called it,
23:31
Speaker 1: and he could read Greek and Latin, and was well
23:33
Speaker 1: up and learned subjects. The less one knows, the less
23:38
Speaker 1: it presses upon one, said mother. Sworn. You have to
23:42
Speaker 1: work hard, said Holburg one day, when she was dipping
23:45
Speaker 1: clothes in the strong soapy water, and was obliged herself
23:49
Speaker 1: to split the logs for the fire. That's my affair,
23:53
Speaker 1: she replied, Have you been obliged to toil in this
23:56
Speaker 1: way from childhood? You can read that from my hands.
24:00
Speaker 1: And she replied and held out her hands that were
24:02
Speaker 1: small indeed, but hard and strong with bitten nails. You
24:06
Speaker 1: are learned and can read. At Christmas time, it began
24:11
Speaker 1: to snow heavily. The cold came on. The wind blew sharp,
24:15
Speaker 1: as if there were vitriol in it, to wash the
24:18
Speaker 1: people's faces. Mother's Soren did not let that disturb her.
24:22
Speaker 1: She threw a cloak around her and drew her hood
24:24
Speaker 1: over her head. Early in the afternoon, it was already
24:28
Speaker 1: dark in the house. She laid wood and turf on
24:31
Speaker 1: the hearth, and then she sat down to darn her stockings,
24:34
Speaker 1: for there was no one to do it for her.
24:37
Speaker 1: Towards evening she spoke more words to the student than
24:40
Speaker 1: it was customary with her to use. She spoke of
24:43
Speaker 1: her husband. He killed a sailor of Dragoor by mischance,
24:48
Speaker 1: and for that he has to work for three years
24:50
Speaker 1: in irons. He's only a common sailor, and therefore the
24:54
Speaker 1: law must take its course. The law is there for
24:57
Speaker 1: people of high rank too, said Holburg. Do you think so,
25:01
Speaker 1: said mother Soren. Then she looked into the fire for
25:04
Speaker 1: a while, But after a time she began to speak again.
25:09
Speaker 1: Have you heard of Kilake who caused the church to
25:12
Speaker 1: be pulled down? And when the clergyman Master Martin thundered
25:17
Speaker 1: from the pulpit about it, he had him put in
25:19
Speaker 1: irons and sat in judgment upon him and condemned him
25:22
Speaker 1: to death. Yes, and the clergyman was obliged to bow
25:26
Speaker 1: his head to the stroke. And yet Kilake went scot free.
25:31
Speaker 1: He had a right to do as he did in
25:33
Speaker 1: those times, said Hoburg. But now we have left those
25:36
Speaker 1: times behind us. You may get a fool to believe that,
25:40
Speaker 1: cried mother Soren. And she got up and went into
25:43
Speaker 1: the room where the child lay. She lifted up the
25:46
Speaker 1: child and laid it down more comfortably. Then she arranged
25:50
Speaker 1: the bed place of the student. He had the green coverlet,
25:54
Speaker 1: for he felt the cold more than she. Though he
25:56
Speaker 1: was born in Norway. In New Year's morning, it was
26:01
Speaker 1: a bright, sunshiny day. The frost had been so strong,
26:04
Speaker 1: and was still so strong, that the fallen snow had
26:07
Speaker 1: become a hard mass, and one could walk upon it.
26:11
Speaker 1: The bells of the little town were tolling for church.
26:15
Speaker 1: Student Holburg wrapped himself up in his woolen cloak and
26:18
Speaker 1: wanted to go to the town. Over the fairy house,
26:22
Speaker 1: the crows and dolls were flying with loud cries. One
26:26
Speaker 1: could hardly hear the church bells for their screaming. Mother's
26:29
Speaker 1: Soren stood in front of the house, filling a brass
26:32
Speaker 1: pot with snow, which she was going to put on
26:35
Speaker 1: the fire to get drinking water. She looked up to
26:38
Speaker 1: the crowd of birds and thought her own thoughts. Student
26:42
Speaker 1: Holburg went to church on his way there, and on
26:46
Speaker 1: his return he passed by the house of tax collector
26:49
Speaker 1: Cybert by the town gate. Here he was invited to
26:53
Speaker 1: take a mug of brown beer with treacle and sugar.
26:56
Speaker 1: The discourse fell upon mother's Soren. But the tax collector
26:59
Speaker 1: did not know much about her, and indeed few knew
27:02
Speaker 1: much about her. She did not belong to the island
27:06
Speaker 1: of Foster, he said. She had a little property of
27:09
Speaker 1: her own. At one time her husband was a common sailor,
27:13
Speaker 1: a fellow of a very hot temper, and had killed
27:15
Speaker 1: a sailor of drag or Annie beat his wife, and
27:18
Speaker 1: yet she defended him. I should not endure such treatment,
27:23
Speaker 1: said the tax collector's wife. I am come of more
27:26
Speaker 1: respectable people. My father was stocking weaver to the court,
27:31
Speaker 1: and consequently you have married a government official, said Holburg,
27:35
Speaker 1: and made a bow to her and to the collector.
27:39
Speaker 1: It was on twelfth night, the evening of the festival
27:42
Speaker 1: of the Three Kings. Mother Soren lit up for Holburg
27:45
Speaker 1: a three king candle, that is, a tallow candle with
27:49
Speaker 1: three wicks, which she herself prepared. A late for each man,
27:54
Speaker 1: said Holburg, For each man, repeated the woman, looking sharply
27:59
Speaker 1: at him, for each of the wise men from the east,
28:02
Speaker 1: said Holburg. You mean it that way, said she, and
28:06
Speaker 1: then she was silent for a long time. But on
28:09
Speaker 1: this evening he learned more about her than he had
28:11
Speaker 1: yet known. You speak very affectionately of your husband, observed Holburg.
28:17
Speaker 1: And yet the people say that he ill uses you
28:20
Speaker 1: every day. That's no one's business but mine, she replied.
28:26
Speaker 1: The blows might have done me good when I was
28:28
Speaker 1: a child. Now I suppose I get them for my sins.
28:32
Speaker 1: But I know what good he has done me. And
28:34
Speaker 1: she rose up when I lay sick upon the desolate heath,
28:38
Speaker 1: and no one would have pity on me, and no
28:40
Speaker 1: one would have anything to do with me except the
28:42
Speaker 1: crows and dolls which came to peck me to bits.
28:45
Speaker 1: He carried me in his arms and had to bear
28:48
Speaker 1: hard words because of the burden he brought on board ship.
28:52
Speaker 1: It's not my nature to be sick, and so I
28:54
Speaker 1: got well. Every man has his own way and sore
28:57
Speaker 1: and has his But the horse must not be judged
29:01
Speaker 1: by the halter taking one thing with another. I have
29:04
Speaker 1: lived more agreeably with him than with the man whom
29:07
Speaker 1: they called the most noble and gallant of the King's subjects.
29:12
Speaker 1: I have had the Stadtholder Gildenlove, the King's half brother,
29:16
Speaker 1: for my husband. And afterwards I took powdare. One is
29:20
Speaker 1: as good as another, each in his own way, and
29:22
Speaker 1: I in mine. That was a long gossip, but now
29:26
Speaker 1: you know all about me. And with those words she
29:29
Speaker 1: left the room. It was Marie Grubb, so strangely had
29:34
Speaker 1: fate played with her. She did not live to see
29:37
Speaker 1: many anniversaries of the Festival of the Three Kings. Holburg
29:41
Speaker 1: has recorded that she died in June seventeen sixteen. But
29:46
Speaker 1: he has not written down, for he did not know
29:49
Speaker 1: that a number of great blackbirds circled over the fairy
29:52
Speaker 1: house when mother's Soren, as she was called, was lying
29:56
Speaker 1: there a corpse. They did not scream, as if they
29:59
Speaker 1: knew that at a burial silence should be observed. So
30:04
Speaker 1: soon as she lay in the earth the birds disappeared.
30:07
Speaker 1: But on the same evening in Jutland, an old manor house,
30:11
Speaker 1: an enormous number of crows and chowels were seen. They
30:15
Speaker 1: all cried as loud as they could, as if they
30:17
Speaker 1: had some announcement to make. Perhaps they talked of him who,
30:22
Speaker 1: as a little boy had taken away their eggs and
30:24
Speaker 1: their young, of the peasant son who had to wear
30:27
Speaker 1: an iron garter, and of the noble young lady who
30:31
Speaker 1: ended by being a ferryman's wife. Brave, brave they cried,
30:38
Speaker 1: and the whole family cried, brave, brave. When the old
30:42
Speaker 1: house was pulled down, they are still crying. And yet
30:45
Speaker 1: there's nothing to cry about, said the clerk when he
30:48
Speaker 1: told the story. The family is as extinct. The house
30:51
Speaker 1: has been pulled down, and where it stood is now
30:55
Speaker 1: the stately poultry house with gilded weather cocks and the
30:59
Speaker 1: old poultry maid. She rejoices greatly in her beautiful dwelling.
31:03
Speaker 1: If she had not come here, the old clerk added,
31:06
Speaker 1: she would have had to go into the workhouse. The
31:09
Speaker 1: pigeons cowed over her, the turkey cocks gobbled, and the
31:13
Speaker 1: ducks quacked. Nobody knew her, they said. She belongs to
31:17
Speaker 1: no family. It's pure charity that she is here at all.
31:22
Speaker 1: She has neither a drake father nor a hen mother,
31:25
Speaker 1: and has no descendants. She came of a great family
31:31
Speaker 1: for all that, but she did not know it, and
31:33
Speaker 1: the old clerk did not know it, though he had
31:36
Speaker 1: so much written down. But one of the old crows
31:39
Speaker 1: knew about it and told about it. She had heard
31:42
Speaker 1: from her own mother and grandmother about poultry Meg's mother
31:45
Speaker 1: and grandmother. And we know the grandmother too. We saw
31:49
Speaker 1: her ride as a child over the bridge, looking proudly
31:53
Speaker 1: around her, as if the whole world belonged to her
31:56
Speaker 1: and all the birds nests in it. And we saw
31:59
Speaker 1: her on the heath by the sand dunes, And last
32:02
Speaker 1: of all, in the fairy house. The granddaughter, the last
32:06
Speaker 1: of her race, had come back to the old home
32:09
Speaker 1: where the old castle had stood where the black wild
32:12
Speaker 1: birds were screaming. But she sat among the tame birds,
32:17
Speaker 1: and these knew her and were fond of her. Poultry
32:20
Speaker 1: Meg had nothing left to wish, for she looked forward
32:24
Speaker 1: with pleasure to her death, for she was old enough
32:26
Speaker 1: to die. Grieve, grieve, cried the crows. And poultry Meg
32:33
Speaker 1: has a good grave, which nobody knew except the old Crow,
32:37
Speaker 1: if the old Crow is not dead already. And now
32:40
Speaker 1: we know the story of the old manor house, of
32:43
Speaker 1: its old proprietors, and of all poultry Meg's family. End
32:49
Speaker 1: of chapter fourteen.