CHAPTER X
THE ROAR OF THE WAVES
All night the skipper of the great gallias walked back and forthon his lofty poop. It was dark, and the gale howled around him,lashing him with sleet and rain. But the ice still lay firm andfast about the vessel, so that the skipper might just as well haveslept quietly in his berth.
But he stayed up the whole night. Time after time he put his handto his ear and listened.
It was not easy to say what he was listening for. He had all hiscrew on board, as well as all the passengers he was to carry overto Scotland. Every one of them lay below decks fast asleep, andthere was no sound of talk to which the skipper might belistening.
As the storm came sweeping over the icebound gallias it threwitself upon the vessel, as though from old habit it would driveher through the water. And as the ship still stood fast the windtook hold of her again and again. It rattled all the littleicicles that hung from her ropes and tackles, it made her timberscreak and groan. Her masts were strained and gave loud cracks, asthough they would go by the board.
It was no quiet night. There was a muffled rustling in the air, asthe snow came whizzing past; there was a patter and splash as therain came pelting down.
And in the ice one crack after another opened with a noise likethunder, as though ships of war had been at sea exchanging heavysalvoes.
But to none of this was the skipper listening.
He stayed up the whole night, until a gray dawn spread over thesky; but still he did not hear the sound he was waiting for.
At last a singing, monotonous murmur was borne upon the night air,a rocking, caressing sound as of distant music.
Then the skipper hurried across the rowers' thwarts amidships tothe lofty forecastle where his crew slept. "Turn out," he calledto them, "and take your oars and boat-hooks! The time is almostcome when we shall be free. I hear the roar of open water. I hearthe song of the free waves."
The men left sleeping and came out at once. They posted themselvesalong the ship's sides, while the day slowly dawned.
When at last it was light enough for them to see what changes thenight had brought, they found that all the creeks and channelswere open far out to sea, but in the bay where they were frozen innot a fissure could be seen in the ice, which lay firm andunbroken.
And in the channel which led out of this bay the ice had pileditself up into a high wall. The waves in their free play outsidecontinually cast up floating ice upon it.
In the sound between the skerries there was a swarm of sails. Allthe fishing-boats which had lain icebound off Marstrand were nowstreaming out. The sea ran high and blocks of ice still floatedamong the waves, but the fishermen seemed to think they had notime to wait for safe and calm water, and they had set sail. Theystood in the bows of their boats and kept a sharp lookout. Smallblocks of ice they fended off with an oar, but when the big onescame they put the helm over and bore away. On the high poop of thegallias the skipper stood and watched them. He could see that theyhad their troubles, but he saw too that one boat after anotherwriggled through and came out into the open sea.
And when the skipper saw the sails gliding over the blue water, hefelt his disappointment so bitterly that tears came into his eyes.
But his ship lay still, and before him the wall of ice was pilingup higher and higher.
The sea outside bore not only ships and boats, but sometimes smallwhite icebergs came floating past. They were big ice-floes thathad been thrown one upon another and were now sailing southward.They shone like silver in the morning sun, and now and then theyshowed as pink as though they had been strewed with roses.
But high up among the whistling of the wind loud cries were heard,now like singing voices, now like pealing trumpets. There was asound of jubilation in these cries, swelling the heart of him whoheard them. They came from a long flight of swans on their wayfrom the south.
But when the skipper saw the icebergs moving southward and theswans flying to the north such longing seized him that he wrunghis hands. "Woe's me, that I must lie here!" he said. "Will theice never break up in this bay? I may lie waiting here many daysyet."
Just as he said this, he saw a man come driving on the ice. Hecame out of a narrow channel on the Marstrand side, and he droveas calmly on the ice as if he did not know the waves had begunonce more to carry ships and boats.
As he drove under the stern of the gallias he hailed the skipper:"Ho, you there, frozen in the ice, do you lack food aboard? Willyou buy my salt herring or dried ling or smoked eel?"
The skipper did not trouble to answer him. He only shook his fistat him and swore.
Then the fish hawker stepped off his load. He took a bunch of hayfrom the sledge and laid it in front of his horse. Then he climbedup on the deck of the gallias. When he faced the skipper he saidto him very earnestly:
"Today I have not come to sell fish. But I know that you are aGod-fearing man. Therefore I have come to ask your help to find amaiden whom the Scotsmen brought out to your ship with themyester-night."
"I know naught of their bringing any maiden with them," said theskipper. "I have heard no woman's voice aboard the ship tonight."
"I am Torarin the fish hawker," said the other; "maybe you haveheard of me? It was I who supped with Herr Arne at Solbergaparsonage the same night he was murdered. Since then I have hadHerr Arne's foster daughter under my roof, but last night she wasstolen away by his murderers, and they have surely brought herwith them to your vessel."
"Are Herr Arne's murderers aboard my vessel?" asked the skipper indismay.
"You see that I am a poor and feeble man," said Torarin. "I have apalsied arm, and therefore I am fearful of taking upon myself anybold and hazardous thing. I have known these many days who wereHerr Arne's murderers, but I have not dared to bring them tojustice. And because I have held my peace they have made theirescape and have found occasion to carry the maiden with them. Butnow I have said to myself that I will have no more of myconscience in this matter. At least I will try to save the littlemaid."
"If Herr Arne's murderers are on board my ship, why does not thewatch come out and arrest them?"
"I have begged and prayed them all this night and morning," saidTorarin, "but the watch durst not come out. They say there are ahundred men-at-arms on board, and with them they durst notcontend. Then I thought, in God's name I must come out here aloneand beg you help me to find the maiden, for I know you to be aGod-fearing man."
But the skipper paid no heed to his question of the maiden; hismind was full of the other matter. "What makes you sure that themurderers are on board?" he said.
Torarin pointed to a great oaken chest which stood between therowers' thwarts. "I have seen that chest too often in Herr Arne'shouse to be mistaken," he said. "In it is Herr Arne's money, andwhere his money is, there you will find his murderers."
"That chest belongs to Sir Archie and his two friends, SirReginald and Sir Philip," said the skipper.
"Ay," said Torarin, looking at him fixedly; "that is so. Itbelongs to Sir Archie and Sir Philip and Sir Reginald."
The skipper stood silent awhile and looked this way and that."When think you the ice will break up in this bay?" he said toTorarin.
"There is something strange in it this year," said Torarin. "Inthis bay we have always seen the ice break up early, for there isa strong current. But as it shapes now you must have a care thatyou be not thrust against the land when the ice begins to move."
"I think of naught else," said the skipper.
Again he stood silent for a while and turned his face toward thesea. The morning sun shone high in the sky, and the wavesreflected its radiance. The liberated vessels scudded this way andthat, and the sea birds came flying from the south with joyouscries. The fish lay near the surface and glittered in the sun asthey leapt high out of the water, wanton after their longimprisonment under the ice. The gulls, which had been circling outbeyond the edge of the ice, came in great flocks toward land tofish in their old waters.
The sk
ipper could not endure this sight. "Shall I be counted thefriend of murderers and evildoers?" he said. "Can I close my eyesand refuse to see why God keeps the gates of the sea barredagainst my vessel? Shall I be destroyed for the sake of theunrighteous who have taken refuge with me?"
And the skipper went forward and said to his men: "Now I know whywe have been held back while all other ships have put to sea. Itis because we have murderers and evildoers on board."
Then the skipper went to the Scottish men-at-arms, who still layasleep in the ship's hold. "Listen," he said to them; "keep youquiet yet awhile, no matter what cries or tumult you may hear onboard. We must follow God's commandment and not suffer evildoersamongst us. If you obey me I promise to bring you the chest whichholds Herr Arne's money, and you shall share it among you."
But to Torarin the skipper said: "Go down to your sledge and castyour fish out on the ice. You shall have other freight anon."
Then the skipper and his men broke into the cabin where Sir Archieand his friends slept. And they threw themselves upon them to bindthem while they still lay asleep.
And when the three Scotsmen tried to defend themselves, they smotethem hard with their axes and handspikes, and the skipper said tothem: "You are murderers and evildoers. How could you think toescape punishment? Know you not that it is for your sake God keepsall the gates of the sea closed?"
Then the three men cried aloud to their comrades, bidding themcome and help them.
"You need not call to them," said the skipper. "They will notcome. They have gotten Herr Arne's hoard to share amongst them,and are even now measuring out silver coin in their hats. For thesake of this money the evil deed was done, and this money has nowbrought retribution upon you."
And before Torarin had finished unloading the fish from hissledge, the skipper and his men came down on to the ice. Theybrought with them three men securely bound. They were grievouslyhurt and fainting from their wounds.
"God has not called on me in vain," said the skipper. "As soon asHis will was clear to me, I hearkened to it."
They laid the prisoners on the sledge, and Torarin drove with themby creeks and narrow sounds where the ice still lay firm, until hecame to Marstrand.
Now late in the afternoon the skipper stood on the lofty poop ofhis vessel and looked out to seaward. Nothing was changed aroundthe vessel, and the wall of ice towered ever higher before her.
Then the skipper saw a long procession of people coming out to hisship. All the women of Marstrand were there, both young and old.They all wore mourning weeds, and they brought with them a groupof boys who carried a bier.
When they were come to the gallias, they said to the skipper: "Weare come to fetch a young maiden who is dead. Those murderers haveconfessed that she gave her life to hinder their escape, and nowwe, all the women of Marstrand, are come to bring her to our townwith all the honour that is her due."
Then Elsalill was found and brought down to the ice and borne into Marstrand; and all the women in the place wept over the youngmaid, who had loved an evildoer and given her life to destroy himshe loved. But even as the line of women advanced, the wind andwaves broke in behind them and tore up the ice over which they hadbut lately passed; and when they came to Marstrand with Elsalill,all the gates of the sea stood open.
THE END
FOREWORD
The Treasure is an opposite fairy tale, presenting Prince Charmingas he really is: an orphan girl is cleaning fish and foreseeingher life of poverty; a man well-dressed in seductive splendor woosher and offers her ... forever after. There is only one catch: shemust betray her sister.
Although Selma Lagerlof won the Nobel Prize for literature in1909, her name is known in this country--if at all--as author of achildren's book only. All her other works, including novels andfeminist essays, have been unavailable in English for almost fiftyyears.
In 1911, she made a speech entitled "Home and State" to theInternational Woman Suffrage Alliance Congress. She argued, first,that the Home was the creation of woman and the place where thevalues of women were nourished and protected. The Home was acommunity where "punishment is not for the sake of revenge, butfor training and education," where "there is a use for alltalents, but [she] who is without can make [her] self as muchloved as the cleverest." It was the "storehouse for the songs andlegends of our fore-fathers," and, she said, "there is nothingmore mobile, more merciful amongst the creations of [humankind]."Although not all homes are good, good and happy homes do sometimesexist. Men by themselves, on the other hand, were responsible forcreating the State which "continually gives cause for discontentand bitterness." There has never been a State which could satisfyall its members, which did not ask to be reformed from its veryfoundations. Yet it is through the State that humankind will reachits highest hopes. Her conclusion: women must add their specialvirtues, what she calls "God's spirit," to the "law and order"goals of men.
Selma Lagerlof's own home was a community of family and servants,within which she experienced profound affections--for thenursemaid who carried her as a crippled child upon her back, forthe old housekeeper, her younger sister, her grandmother who toldthe children stories every afternoon. She never married; she spenther entire life within communities of women, and her career couldbe described as the author being handed up to greatness by aprocession of women who gave encouragement, advice, editorialhelp, criticism, contacts, companionship. She called FrederikaBremer the first feminist and "last old Mamsell" of Sweden,meaning that Frederika Bremer's life's work had banished the "oldmaid" from the realm of pitiful figures. Selma Lagerlof washerself proof of her statement.
In The Treasure, written midway between her farewell to FrederikaBremer and her plea for woman suffrage, the men are interested inmoney, murder, and revenge. They miss the evil apparent even totheir dogs. When the old mistress (and who should know better thatthe home is threatened?) warns that knives are being sharpened twomiles away, her lord refuses to believe that she could hear whathe cannot. The fishpeddler's dog has instinct enough to balk andhowl, sensing death; the fishpeddler's wife and the womantavern-keeper respond to the supernatural however little theyunderstand; the men turn their backs on understanding even whenthey are being implored.
But the thrust of the story deals with the maiden Elsalill'spainful struggle to choose between her dearest sister, who has hadto wander so long on earth "she has worn her feet to bleeding" andcan find grave's rest only if her murderer is apprehended; and SirArchie, the murderer himself, whom Elsalill loves with all herheart.
Sir Archie is a subtle Prince Charming; he understands innocenceand tempts Elsalill mightily: "You are a poor orphan, so forlornand friendless that none will care what becomes of you. But if youcome with me, I will make you a noble lady. I am a powerful man inmy own country. You shall be clad in silk and gold, and you shalltread a measure at the King's court."
Even after Elsalill knows that her love is the murderer of hersister, she still hopes to escape the action this knowledgedemands: she tries to persuade herself that because he wants tomake up to Elsalill for the evil he did to her sister, she shouldgive him a chance to save his soul. She thinks that her sisterdoes not know he will atone for his sin and become a good man; hersister could not wish her unhappiness; how can she ask thatElsalill betray the man she loves?
But she hears her sister weep and she sees her sister's blood onthe snow, and she turns him in quickly, hoping that will beenough. It isn't. Her choice requires that she give her life.
At the book's end Sir Archie, still clinging to his belief inmoney-power, still trying to use her saintliness to save his ownsoul, says he will erect a grand monument to her memory. Hebelieves that if he leaves her body in Marstand she will have onlya pauper's grave and be soon forgotten. An exactly opposite eventoccurs. A long procession walks out across the ice toward theship; all the women of Marstand, young and old, are coming toretrieve Elsalill's body and carry her back "with all the honorthat is her due."
The Treasure is a fable, a fairytale, an allegory
of sisterhooditself. There is good reason that this book has been out of printfor two generations. Daughters, Inc. is proud to retrieve SelmaLagerlof and publish her in English once again--with all the honorthat is her due.
June Arnold Plainfield, Vermont 1973
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