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[Transcriber's note: Front matter listing the novels of BJOeRNSTJERNE
BJOeRNSON moved to end of book]



THE BRIDAL MARCH

&

ONE DAY

BY

BJOeRNSTJERNE BJOeRNSON

(_Translated from the Norwegian_)



LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN
1896




_BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE_


[The Bridal March _(Brude-Slaatten) was written in
Christiania in 1872. It was originally published in the second volume
of the first popular edition of Bjoernson's collected tales, issued in
Copenhagen in that year. In November 1873, a small edition was
published in separate form, and this was followed by an illustrated
issue, of which a second edition appeared in 1877._ The Bridal March
_was originally composed as the text to four designs by the Norwegian
painter, Tidemand. It was dedicated to Hans Christian Andersen._

One Day _(En Dag) was originally issued in the Norwegian
Magazine "Nyt Tidsscrift," late in 1893; and was republished in a
volume of short stories during the following year._

_E. G._]






THE BRIDAL MARCH


There lived last century, in one of the high-lying inland valleys of
Norway, a fiddler, who has become in some degree a legendary
personage. Of the tunes and marches ascribed to him, some are said to
have been inspired by the Trolls, one he heard from the devil himself,
another he made to save his life, &c., &c. But the most famous of all
is a Bridal March; and _its_ story does not end with the story of his
life.

Fiddler Ole Haugen was a poor cottar high among the mountains. He had
a daughter, Aslaug, who had inherited his cleverness. Though she could
not play his fiddle, there was music in everything she did--in her
talk, her singing, her walk, her dancing.

At the great farm of Tingvold, down in the valley, a young man had
come home from his travels. He was the third son of the rich peasant
owner, but his two elder brothers had been drowned in a flood, so the
farm was to come to him. He met Aslaug at a wedding and fell in love
with her. In those days it was an unheard-of thing that a well-to-do
peasant of old family should court a girl of Aslaug's class. But this
young fellow had been long away, and he let his parents know that he
had made enough out in the world to live upon, and that if he could
not have what he wanted at home, he would let the farm go. It was
prophesied that this indifference to the claims of family and property
would bring its own punishment. Some said that Ole Haugen had brought
it about, by means only darkly hinted at.

So much is certain, that while the conflict between the young man and
his parents was going on, Haugen was in the best of spirits. When the
battle was over, he said that he had already made them a Bridal March,
one that would never go out of the family of Tingvold--but woe to the
girl, he added, whom it did not play to church as happy a bride as the
cottar's daughter, Aslaug Haugen! And here again people talked of the
influence of some mysterious evil power.

So runs the story. It is a fact that to this day the people of that
mountain district have a peculiar gift of music and song, which then
must have been greater still. Such a thing is not kept up without some
one caring for and adding to the original treasure, and Ole Haugen was
the man who did it in his time.

Tradition goes on to tell that just as Ole Haugen's Bridal March was
the merriest ever heard, so the bridal pair that it played to church,
that were met by it again as they came from the altar, and that drove
home with its strain in their ears, were the happiest couple that had
ever been seen. And though the race of Tingvold had always been a
handsome race, and after this were handsomer than ever, it is
maintained that none, before or after, could equal this particular
couple.

With Ole Haugen legend ends, and now history begins. Ole's bridal
march kept its place in the house of Tingvold. It was sung, and
hummed, and whistled, and fiddled, in the house and in the stable, in
the field and on the mountain-side. The only child born of the
marriage, little Astrid, was rocked and sung to sleep with it by
mother, by father, and by servants, and it was one of the first things
she herself learned. There was music in the race, and this bright
little one had her full share of it, and soon could hum her parent's
triumphal march, the talisman of her family, in quite a masterly way.

It was hardly to be wondered at that when she grew up, she too wished
to choose her lover. Many came to woo, but at the age of twenty-three
the rich and gifted girl was still single. The reason came out at
last. In the house lived a quick-witted youth, whom Aslaug had taken
in out of pity. He went by the name of the tramp or gipsy, though he
was neither. But Aslaug was ready enough to call him so when she
heard that Astrid and he were betrothed. They had pledged faith to
each other in all secrecy out on the hill pastures, and had sung the
bridal march together, she on the height, he answering from below.

The lad was sent away at once. No one could now show more pride of
race than Aslaug, the poor cottar's daughter. Astrid's father called
to mind what was prophesied when he broke the tradition of his family.
Had it now come to a husband being taken in from the wayside? Where
would it end? And the neighbours said much the same.

"The tramp," Knut by name, soon became well known to every one, as he
took to dealing in cattle on his own account. He was the first in that
part of the country to do it to any extent, and his enterprise had
begun to benefit the whole district, raising prices, and bringing in
capital. But he was apt to bring drinking bouts, and often fighting,
in his train; and this was all that people talked of as yet; they had
not begun to understand his capabilities as a business man.

Astrid was determined, and she was twenty-three, and her parents came
to see that either the farm must go out of the family or Knut must
come into it; through their own marriage they had lost the moral
authority that might have stood them in good stead now. So Astrid had
her way. One fine day the handsome, merry Knut drove with her to
church. The strains of the family bridal march, her grandfather's
masterpiece, were wafted back over the great procession, and the two
seemed to be sitting humming it quietly, and very happy they looked.
And every one wondered how the parents looked so happy too, for they
had opposed the marriage long and obstinately.

After the wedding Knut took over the farm, and the old people retired
on their allowance. It was such a liberal one that people could not
understand how Knut and Astrid were able to afford it; for though the
farm was the largest in the district, it was not well-cultivated. But
this was not all. Three times the number of workpeople were taken on,
and everything was started in a new way, with an outlay unheard of in
these parts. Certain ruin was foretold. But "the tramp"--for his
nickname had stuck to him--was as merry as ever, and seemed to have
infected Astrid with his humour. The quiet, gentle girl became the
lively, buxom wife. Her parents were satisfied. At last people began
to understand that Knut had brought to Tingvold what no one had had
there before, working capital! And along with it he had brought the
experience gained in trading, and a gift of handling commodities and
money, and of keeping servants willing and happy.

In twelve years one would hardly have known Tingvold again. House and
outbuildings were different; there were three times as many
workpeople, they were three times as well off, and Knut himself, in
his broadcloth coat, sat in the evenings and smoked his meerschaum
pipe and drank his glass of toddy with the Captain and the Pastor and
the Bailiff. To Astrid he was the cleverest and best man in the world,
and she was fond of telling how in his young days he had fought and
drunk just to get himself talked about, and to frighten her; "for he
was so cunning!"

She followed him in everything except in leaving off peasant dress and
customs; to these she always kept. Knut did not interfere with other
people's ways, so this caused no trouble between them. He lived with
his "set," and his wife saw to their entertainment, which was,
however, modest enough, for he was too prudent a man to make
unnecessary show or outlay of any kind. Some said that he gained more
by the card-playing, and by the popularity this mode of life won for
him, than all he laid out upon it, but this was probably pure
malevolence.

They had several children, but the only one whose history concerns us
is the eldest son, Endrid, who was to inherit the farm and carry on
the honour of the house. He had all the good looks of his race, but
not much in the way of brains, as is often the case with children of
specially active-minded parents. His father soon observed this, and
tried to make up for it by giving him a very good education. A tutor
was brought into the house for the children, and when Endrid grew up
he was sent to one of the agricultural training schools that were now
beginning to flourish in Norway, and after that to finish off in town.
He came home again a quiet young fellow, with a rather over-burdened
brain and fewer town ways than his father had hoped for. But Endrid
was a slow-witted youth.

The Pastor and the Captain, both with large families of daughters, had
their eye on him. But if this was the reason of the increased
attention they paid to Knut, they made a great mistake; the idea of a
marriage between his son and a poor pastor's or captain's daughter,
with no training to fit her for a rich farmer's wife, was so
ridiculous to him that he did not even think it necessary to warn
Endrid. And indeed no warning was needed, for the lad saw as well as
his father that, though there was no need for his bringing more wealth
into the family through his marriage, it would be of advantage if he
could again connect it with one of equal birth and position. But, as
ill-luck would have it, he was but an awkward wooer. The worst of it
was that he began to get the name of being a fortune-hunter; and when
once a young man gets this reputation, the peasants fight shy of him.
Endrid soon noticed this himself; for though he was not particularly
quick, to make up for it he was very sensitive. He saw that it did not
improve his position that he was dressed like a townsman, and "had
learning," as the country people said. The boy was sound at heart, and
the result of the slights he met with was that by degrees he left off
his town dress and town speech, and began to work on his father's
great farm as a simple labourer. His father understood--he had begun
to understand before the lad did--and he told his wife to take no
notice. So they said nothing about marriage, nor about the change in
Endrid's ways; only his father was more and more friendly to him, and
consulted him in everything connected with the farm and with his
other trade, and at last gave the management of the farm altogether
into his hands. And of this they never needed to repent.

So the time passed till Endrid was thirty-one. He had been steadily
adding to his father's wealth and to his own experience and
independence; but had never made the smallest attempt at courtship;
had not looked at a girl, either in their own district or elsewhere.
And now his parents were beginning to fear that he had given up
thoughts of it altogether. But this was not the case.

On a neighbouring farm lived in good circumstances another
well-descended peasant family, that had at different times
intermarried with the race of Tingvold. A girl was growing up there
whom Endrid had been fond of since she was a little child; no doubt he
had quietly set his heart on her, for only six months after her
confirmation he spoke. She was seventeen then and he thirty-one.
Randi, that was the girl's name, did not know at first what to answer;
she consulted her parents, but they said she must decide for herself.
He was a good man, and from a worldly point of view she could not make
a better match, but the difference in their ages was great, and she
must know herself if she had the courage to undertake the new duties
and cares that would come upon her as mistress of the large farm. The
girl felt that her parents would rather have her say Yes than No, but
she was really afraid. She went to his mother, whom she had always
liked, and found to her surprise that she knew nothing. But the mother
was so delighted with the idea that with all her might she urged Randi
to accept him. "I'll help you," she said. "Father will want no
allowance from the farm. He has all he needs, and he doesn't wish his
children to be longing for his death. Things will be divided at once,
and the little that we keep to live on will be divided too when we are
gone. So you see there will be no trouble with us." Yes, Randi knew
all along that Knut and Astrid were kind and nice. "And the boy," said
Astrid, "is good and thoughtful about everything." Yes, Randi had
felt that too; she was not afraid but that she would get on with
him--if she were only capable enough herself!

A few days later everything was settled. Endrid was happy, and so were
his parents; for this was a much respected family that he was marrying
into, and the girl was both nice-looking and clever; there was not a
better match for him in the district. The parents on both sides
consulted together, and settled that the wedding should be just before
harvest, as there was nothing to wait for.

The neighbourhood generally did not look on the engagement in the same
light as the parties concerned. It was said that the pretty young girl
had "sold herself." She was so young that she hardly knew what
marriage was, and the sly Knut had pushed forward his son before any
other lovers had the chance. Something of this came to Randi's ears,
but Endrid was so loving to her, and in such a quiet, almost humble
way, that she would not break off with him; only it made her a little
cool. Both his and her parents heard what was said, but took no
notice.

Perhaps just because of this talk they determined to hold the wedding
in great style, and this, for the same reason, was not unacceptable to
Randi. Knut's friends, the Pastor, the Captain, and the Bailiff, with
their large families, were to be among the guests, and some of them
were to accompany the pair to church. On their account Knut wanted to
dispense with the fiddlers--it was too old-fashioned and peasant-like.
But Astrid insisted that they must be played to church and home again
with the Bridal March of her race. It had made her and her husband so
happy; they could not but wish to hear it again on their dear
children's great festival day. There was not much sentiment about
Knut; but he let his wife have her way. The bride's parents got a hint
that they might engage the fiddlers, who were asked to play the old
March, the family Bridal March, that had lain quiet now for a time,
because this generation had worked without song.

But alas! on the wedding day the rain poured hard. The players had to
wrap up their fiddles as soon as they had played the bridal party away
from the farm, and they did not take them out again till they came
within sound of the church-bells. Then a boy had to stand up at the
back of the cart and hold an umbrella over them, and below it they sat
huddled together and sawed away. The March did not sound like itself
in such weather, naturally enough, nor was it a very merry-looking
bridal procession that followed. The bridegroom sat with the high
bridegroom's hat between his legs and a sou'-wester on his head; he
had on a great fur coat, and he held an umbrella over the bride, who,
with one shawl on the top of another, to protect the bridal crown and
the rest of her finery, looked more like a wet hayrick than a human
being. On they came, carriage after carriage, the men dripping, the
women hidden away under their wrappings. It looked like a sort of
bewitched procession, in which one could not recognise a single face;
for there was not a face to be seen, nothing but huddled-up heaps of
wool or fur. A laugh broke out among the specially large crowd
gathered at the church on account of the great wedding. At first it
was stifled, but it grew louder with each carriage that drove up. At
the large house where the procession was to alight and the dresses
were to be arranged a little for going into church, a hay-cart had
been drawn out of the way, into the corner formed by the porch.
Mounted on it stood a pedlar, a joking fellow, Aslak by name. Just as
the bride was lifted down he called: "Devil take me if Ole Haugen's
Bridal March is any good to-day!"

He said no more, but that was plenty. The crowd laughed, and though
many of them tried not to let it be seen that they were laughing, it
was clearly felt what all were thinking and trying to hide.

When they took off the bride's shawls they saw that she was as white
as a sheet. She began to cry, tried to laugh, cried again--and then
all at once the feeling came over her that she could not go into the
church. Amidst great excitement she was laid on a bed in a quiet room,
for such a violent fit of crying had seized her that they were much
alarmed. Her good parents stood beside the bed, and when she begged
them to let her go back, they said that she might do just as she
liked. Then her eyes fell on Endrid. Any one so utterly miserable and
helpless she had never seen before; and beside him stood his mother,
silent and motionless, with the tears running down her face and her
eyes fixed on Randi's. Then Randi raised herself on her elbow and
looked straight in front of her for a little, still sobbing after the
fit of crying. "No, no,!" she said, "I'm going to church." Once more
she lay back and cried for a little, and then she got up. She said
that she would have no more music, so the fiddlers were dismissed--and
the story did not lose in their telling when they got among the crowd.

It was a mournful bridal procession that now moved on towards the
church. The rain allowed of the bride and bridegroom hiding their
faces from the curiosity of the onlookers till they got inside; but
they felt that they were running the gauntlet, and they felt too that
their own friends were annoyed at being laughed at as part of such a
foolish procession.

The grave of the famous fiddler, Ole Haugen, lay close by the
church-door. Without saying much about it, the family had always
tended it, and a new head-board had been put up when the old one had
rotted away below. The upper part of it was in the shape of a wheel,
as Ole himself had desired. The grave was in a sunny spot, and was
thickly overgrown with wild flowers. Every churchgoer that had ever
stood by it had heard from some one or other how a botanist in
government pay, making a collection of the plants and flowers of the
valley and the mountains round about, had found flowers on that grave
that did not grow anywhere else in the neighbourhood. And the
peasants, who as a rule cared little about what they called "weeds,"
took pride in these particular ones--a pride mixed with curiosity and
even awe. Some of the flowers were remarkably beautiful. But as the
bridal pair passed the grave, Endrid, who was holding Randi's hand,
felt that she shivered; immediately she began to cry again, walked
crying into the church, and was led crying to her place. No bride
within the memory of man had made such an entrance into that church.

She felt as she sat there that all this was helping to confirm the
report that she had been sold. The thought of the shame she was
bringing on her parents made her turn cold, and for a little she was
able to stop crying. But at the altar she was moved again by some word
of the priest's, and immediately the thought of all she had gone
through that day came over her; and for the moment she had the feeling
that never, no, never again, could she look people in the face, and
least of all her own father and mother.

Things got no better as the day went on. She was not able to sit with
the guests at the dinner-table; in the evening she was half coaxed,
half forced to appear at supper, but she spoiled every one's pleasure,
and had to be taken away to bed. The wedding festivities, that were to
have gone on for several days, ended that evening. It was given out
that the bride was ill.

Though neither those who said this nor those who heard it believed it,
it was only too true. She was really ill, and she did not soon
recover. One consequence of this was that their first child was
sickly. The parents were not the less devoted to it from understanding
that they themselves were to a certain extent the cause of its
suffering. They never left that child. They never went to church, for
they had got shy of people. For two years God gave them the joy of the
child, and then He took it from them.

The first thought that struck them after this blow was that they had
been too fond of their child. That was why they had lost it. So, when
another came, it seemed as if neither of them dared to show their love
for it. But this little one, though it too was sickly at first, grew
stronger, and was so sweet and bright that they could not restrain
their feelings. A new, pure happiness had come to them; they could
almost forget all that had happened. When this child was two years
old, God took it too.

Some people seem to be chosen out by sorrow. They are the very people
that seem to us to need it least, but at the same time they are those
that are best fitted to bear trials and yet to keep their faith. These
two had early sought God together; after this they lived as it were in
His presence. The life at Tingvold had long been a quiet one; now the
house was like a church before the priest comes in. The work went on
perfectly steadily, but at intervals during the day Endrid and Randi
worshipped together, communing with those "on the other side." It made
no change in their habits that Randi, soon after their last loss, had
a little daughter. The children that were dead were boys, and this
made them not care so much for a girl. Besides they did not know if
they were to be allowed to keep her. But the health and happiness
that the mother had enjoyed up to the time of the death of the last
little boy, had benefited this child, who soon showed herself to be a
bright little girl, with her mother's pretty face. The two lonely
people again felt the temptation to be hopeful and happy in their
child; but the fateful two years were not over, and they dared not. As
the time drew near, they felt as if they had only been allowed a
respite.

Knut and Astrid kept a good deal to themselves. The way in which the
young people had taken things did not allow of much sympathy or
consolation being offered them. Besides, Knut was too lively and
worldly-minded to sit long in a house of mourning or to be always
coming in upon a prayer meeting. He moved to a small farm that he had
bought and let, but now took back into his own hands. There he
arranged everything so comfortably and nicely for his dear Astrid,
that people whose intention it was to go to Tingvold, rather stayed
and laughed with him than went on to cry with his children.

One day when Astrid was in her daughter-in-law's house, she noticed
how little Mildrid went about quite alone; it seemed as if her mother
hardly dared to touch her. When the father came in, she saw the same
mournful sort of reserve towards his own, only child. She concealed
her thoughts, but when she got home to her own dear Knut, she told him
how things stood at Tingvold, and added: "Our place is there now.
Little Mildrid needs some one that dares to love her; pretty, sweet
little child that she is!" Knut was infected by her eagerness, and the
two old people packed up and went home.

Mildrid was now much with her grandparents, and they taught her
parents to love her. When she was five years old her mother had
another daughter, who was called Beret; and after this Mildrid lived
almost altogether with the old people. The anxious parents began once
more to feel as if there might yet be pleasure for them in life, and a
change in the popular feeling towards them helped them.

After the loss of the second child, though there were often the
traces of tears on their faces, no one had ever seen them weep--their
grief was silent. There was no changing of servants at Tingvold, that
was one result of the peaceful, God-fearing life there; nothing but
praise of master and mistress was ever heard. They themselves knew
this, and it gave them a feeling of comfort and security. Relations
and friends began to visit them again; and went on doing so, even
though the Tingvold people made no return.

But they had not been at church since their wedding-day! They partook
of the Communion at home, and held worship there. But when the second
girl was born, they were so desirous to be her godparents themselves
that they made up their minds to venture. They stood together at their
children's graves; they passed Ole Haugen's without word or movement;
the whole congregation showed them respect. But they continued to keep
themselves very much to themselves, and a pious peace rested over
their house.

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