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Updated: May 5, 2025
It was an eiderdown which was little else than a thick cover, the feathers having disappeared, and those they got when killing poultry were too good to be used the mother wanted them turned into money. Now Povl began to whimper. Ditte took the children's clothes from the chair and spread them over the bed. From their parents' bed came the mother's voice. "You're to be quiet," said she.
Lars Peter was getting used to things in the hamlet; at least he only grumbled when he had been to the tap-room and was a little drunk. He no longer looked after the house so well; when Ditte was short of anything she had always to ask for it and often more than once. It was not the old Lars Peter of the Crow's Nest, who used to say, "Well, how goes it, Ditte, got all you want?"
"Aren't you going to do anything with it?" Ditte would ask. "Folk say it's lying there wasting." "Where did you hear that?" asked Lars Peter bitterly. "Oh at school!" So they talked about that too! There was not much where he was concerned which was not torn to pieces. No, he had no desire to build. "We've got a roof over our heads," said he indifferently.
On rare occasions Ditte was permitted to go and stay with Granny for a few days. It was the father who managed this, and he arranged his round so that he could either bring or fetch her home. Granny was always in bed when she arrived she never got up now. "Why should I trudge on, when you're not here?
"Oh, it's about fourteen miles, so of course you'd have to have good eyes," answered Lars Peter, trying to smile. He was not in the humor for fun. Now at last the three little ones were in the big bed, sleeping peacefully, Povl at one end, sister and Kristian at the other. There was just room for Ditte, who had promised to sleep with them the last night.
"Ay, if I'm to go alone. But you might go with me! 'Tisn't a pleasant errand, and the time'll go slowly all that long way. And one can't get away from sad thoughts!" "I can't leave home," answered Ditte shortly. For about the twentieth time Lars Peter tried to talk her over. "We can easily get Johansens to keep an eye on everything and can send the children over to them for a few days," said he.
"Oh, I'll get on all right," answered Ditte rather more bravely than she really felt. "Ay, you're clever enough for your age, but it's not always that. You must always show a good-tempered face whether you feel it or not. It's what's expected from folks that earn their bread." "If anything happens, I'll just give them a piece of my mind." "Ay, but don't be too ready with your mouth!
He held the glass on the table in his left hand, slapped his elbow with his right and there it was empty." To Ditte it was a most exciting adventure, and incidents that had seemed far from pleasant to Lars Peter became wonders in Ditte's version of the affair.
She stopped at the corner of the house to gain breath; from inside could be heard Granny's hacking cough. "I'm coming, Granny!" she cried, tapping on the window, sobbing with joy. "How cold you are, child!" said the old woman, when they were both under the eiderdown. "Your feet are like lumps of ice warm them on me." Ditte nestled in to her, and lay there quietly.
Children are thoughtless, but not wicked; this they learn from their elders. They had only called after her what they had heard at home; it was their parents' gossip and judgment they had repeated. They meant nothing by it; Ditte, who was observant in this respect, soon found out that they treated each other just in the same way.
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