"Jack of Sj��holm and the Gan-Finn" by Jonas Lie

 

 

This wintry and veryeerie ghost story is by the 19th century Norwegian writer Jonas Lie. A contemporaryof Henrik Ibsen, born 1833 at Hvokksund not far from Oslo, he spent much of hischildhood at Troms��, inside the Arctic Circle. He was sent to navalcollege, but poor eyesight unsuited him for a life at sea, so he became alawyer and began to write and publish poems and novels reflecting Norwegian life,folklore and nationalism ��� though written in Danish, the official language of Norway till the early 20th century. I was lucky enough tofind in a second hand bookshop ���Weird Tales From Northern Seas���, a collectionof his tales based on Norwegian and Finnish legends about the sea, translated byR. Nisbet Bain (Kegan Paul, 1893).

���Jack of Sj��holm andthe Gan-Finn��� is one of his best tales, by turns grim, lyrical, haunting, and ultimatelycompassionate. Jack is an over-confident young man whose ambition is to save lives by building betterboats, but his life becomes twisted after he meets the Gan-Finn and the undeadhaunter of the seas, the Draug. 

The illustration above is by Laurence Housman and the translation is by R.Nisbet Bain.

 

In the days ofour forefathers, when there was nothing but wretched boats up in the Nordland,and folks must needs buy fair winds by the sackful from the Gan-Finn,it was not safe to tack about in the open sea in wintry weather. In those daysa fisherman never grew old. It was mostly women-folk and children, and the lameand halt, who were buried ashore.

            Now there was once a boat���s crewfrom Thj��tt�� in Helgeland, which had put out to sea, and worked its way rightup to the East Lofotens.

            But that winter the fish would notbite.

            They lay to and waited week afterweek, till the month was out, and there was nothing for it but to turn homeagain with their fishing gear and empty boats.

            But Jack of Sj��holm, who was withthem, only laughed aloud and said that, if there were no fish there, fish wouldcertainly be found higher northwards. Surely they hadn���t rowed out all thisdistance only to eat up all their victuals, said he.

            He was quite a young chap, who had neverbeen out fishing before. But there was some sense in what he said for all that,thought the head fisherman.

            And so they set their sailsnorthwards.

            On the next fishing ground theyfared no better than before, but they toiled away so long as their food heldout. And now they all insisted on giving it up and turning back.

            ���If there���s none here, there���s sureto be some still higher up towards the north,��� opined Jack; and if they hadgone so far they might surely go a little further.

            So they tempted fortune from fishingground to fishing ground, till they had ventured right up to Finmark.But there a storm met them, and try as they might to find shelter under theheadlands, they were obliged at last to put out into the open sea again.

            There they fared worse than ever.Again and again the prow of the boat went under the heavy rollers, and later inthe day the boat foundered.

            Then they all sat helplessly on thekeel in the midst of the raging sea, and they all complained bitterly againstthat fellow Jack, who had tempted them on and led them to destruction. Whatwould become of their wives and children? They would starve now they had no oneto care for them.

            When if grew dark their hands beganto stiffen, and they were carried off by the sea one by one.

            And Jack heard and saw everything,down to the last shriek and the last clutch; and to the very end they neverceased reproaching him for bringing them to such misery, and bewailing theirsad lot.

            ���I must hold on tight now,��� saidJack to himself, for he was better even where he was than in the sea. And so hetightened his knees on the keel, and held on till he had no feeling left ineither hand or foot.

            In the coal-black gusty night hefancied he heard yells from one or other of the remaining boats��� crews. ���They,too, have wives and children,��� thought he. ���I wonder whether they have also aJack to lay the blame upon!���

Nowwhile he thus lay there and drifted and drifted, and it seemed to him to bedrawing towards dawn, he suddenly felt that the boat was in the grip of astrong shoreward current, and sure enough, Jack got at last ashore. Butwhichever way he looked, he saw nothing but black sea and white snow.

Nowas he stood there, speiring and spying about, he saw far away the smoke of aFinn hut, which stood beneath a cliff, and he managed to scramble right up toit.

TheFinn was so old that he could scarcely move. He was sitting in the midst of thewarm ashes, and mumbling into a big sack, and neither spoke nor answered. Largeyellow humblebees were humming about all over the snow, as if it wereMidsummer; and there was only a young lass there to keep the fire alight, andgive the old man his food. His grandsons and grand-daughters were with the reindeer, far far away on the fjeld.

HereJack got his clothes well dried, and the rest he so much wanted. The Finn girl,Seimke, couldn���t make too much of him; she fed him with reindeer milk andmarrow-bones, and he lay down to sleep on silver fox-skins.

Cosyand comfortable it was in the smoke there. But as he thus lay there, 'twixtsleep and wake, it seemed to him as if many odd things were going on roundabout him.

Therestood the Finn in the doorway talking to his reindeer, although they were faraway in the mountains. He barred the wolf���s way, and threatened the bear withspells; and then he opened his skin sack, so that the storm howled and piped,and there was a swirl of ashes into the hut. And when all grew quiet again, theair was thick with yellow humblebees, which settled inside his furs, while hegabbled and mumbled and wagged his skull-like head.

ButJack had something else to think about besides marvelling at the old Finn. Nosooner did the heaviness of slumber quit his eyes than he strolled down to hisboat.

Thereit lay stuck on the beach, tilted over like a trough, while the sea rubbed andrippled against its keel. He drew it far enough ashore to be beyond the reachof the sea-wash.

Butthe longer he walked around and examined it, the more it seemed to him as iffolks built boats rather for the sake of letting the sea in than for the sakeof keeping it out. The prow was little better than a hog���s snout for burrowing underthe water and the planking by the keel-piece was as flat as the bottom of achest. Everything, he thought, should be arranged very differently if boatswere to be really seaworthy. The prow at least must be raised one or two planksat the very least, and made sharp and supple, so as to bend before and cutthrough the waves at the same time, and then a fellow would have a chance ofsteering a boat smartly.

Hethought of this day and night. The only relaxation he has was a chat with theFinn girl of an evening; he couldn���t help remarking that this Seimke hadfallen in love with him... her eyes always became so mournful when he went downtowards the sea; she understood well enough that all his thoughts were bentupon going away.

Andthe Finn sat and mumbled among the ashes till his fur jacket steamed andsmoked. But Seimke coaxed and wheedled Jack with her brown eyes, and ... drewhim right into the smoke where the old Finn couldn���t hear them.

TheGan-Finn turned his head right round. ���My eyes are stupid, and the smoke makes ���emrun,��� said he; ���what has Jack got hold of there?���

���Sayit is the white ptarmigan that you caught in the snare,��� whispered she.

AndJack felt that she was huddling up against him and trembling all over.

Thenshe told him so softly that he thought it was his own thoughts speaking to him,that the Finn was angry and muttering mischief, and jojkingagainst the boat which Jack wanted to build. If Jack were to complete it,said she, the Gan-Finn would no longer have any sale for his fair-winds in allNordland. And then she warned him to look to himself and never get between theFinn and the Gan-flies.

ThenJack felt his boat might be the undoing of him. ... In the grey dawn, beforethe Finn was up, he made his way towards the sea-shore.

Butthere was something very odd about the snow-hills, They were so many and solong that there was really no end to them, and he kept on trampling in deep anddeeper snow and never got to the sea-shore at all. Never before had he seen thenorthern lights last so long into the day. They blazed and sparkled, and longtongues of fire licked and hissed after him. He was unable to find either thebeach or the boat, nor had he the least idea in the world where he really was.

Atlast he discovered he had gone quite astray inland instead of down to the sea.But now, when he turned round, the sea-fog came close up against him, so denseand grey that he could see neither hand nor foot before him. By the evening hewas well-nigh worn out with weariness, and was at his wits��� end what to do.

Nightfell, and the snow-drifts increased.

Asnow he sat him down on a stone and fell a-brooding and pondering how he shouldescape with his life, a pair of snow-shoes came gliding so smoothly towards himout of the sea-fog and stood still just in front of his feet.

���Asyou have found me, you may as well find the way back also,��� said he.

Sohe put them on, and let the snow-shoes go their own way over hillside and steepcliff. He let not his own eyes guide him or his own feet carry him, and theswifter he went the denser the snowflakes and the driving sea-spray came upagainst him, and the blast very nearly blew him off the snow-shoes.

Uphill and down dale he went over all the places where he had fared during thedaytime, and it sometimes seemed as if he had nothing solid beneath him at all,but was flying in the air.

Suddenlythe snow-shoes stood stock still, and he was standing just outside the entranceof the Gan-Finn���s hut.

Therestood Seimke. She was looking for him.

���Isent my snow-shoes after thee,��� said she, ���For I marked that the Finn hadbewitched the land so that thou should���st not find the boat. Thy life is safe, for he has given theeshelter in his house, but it were not well for thee to see him this evening.���

Thenshe smuggled him in, so that the Finn did not perceive it in the thick smoke,and she gave him meat and a place to rest upon.

Butwhen he awoke in the night, he heard an odd sound, and there was a buzzing anda singing far away in the air:

 

���The Finn the boat can never bind,

The Fly the boatman cannot find,

But round in aimless whirls dothwind.���

 

 The Finn was sitting among the ashes and j��jking, and muttering till  the ground quite shook, while Seimke lay withher forehead to the floor and her hands clasped tightly round the back of herneck, praying against him to the Finn God. Then Jack understood that theGan-Finn was still seeking after him amid the snowflakes and  sea-fog, and that his life was in danger frommagic spells.

Sohe dressed himself before it was light, went out, and came tramping in againall covered with snow, and said he had been after bears in their winterretreats. But never had he been in such a sea-fog before; he had groped aboutfar and wide before he found his way back into the hut again, though he stoodjust outside it.

TheFinn sat there with his skin-wrappings as full of yellow flies as a beehive. Hehad sent them out searching in every direction, but back they had all come, andwere humming and buzzing about him.

Whenhe saw Jack in the doorway, and perceived that the flies had pointed truly, hegrew somewhat milder, and laughed till he regularly shook within hisskin-wrappings, and mumbled, ���The bear I���ll bind fast beneath thescullery-sink, and his eyes I���ve turned all awry, so that he can���t see hisboat, and I���ll stick a sleeping-peg in front of him till spring time.���

            But the same day the Finn stood inthe doorway, and was busy making magic signs and strange strokes in the air.

            Then he sent forth two hideousGan-flies, which flitted off on their errands, and scorched black patchesbeneath them in the snow wherever they went. They were to bring pain and sicknessto a cottage down in the swamps, and strike down a young bride at Bod�� withconsumption.

ButJack thought of nothing else night and day but how he could get the better ofthe Gan-Finn.

Thelass Seimke wheedled him and wept and begged him, as he valued his life, not totry to get down to his boat again. At last, however, she saw it was no use ���hehad made up his mind to be off.

Thenshe kissed his hands and wept bitterly. At least he must promise to wait tillthe Gan-Finn had gone right away to Jokmokin Sweden.

Onthe day of his departure, the Finn went all round his hut with a torch and tookstock.

Faraway as they were, there stood the mountain pastures, with the reindeer and thedogs, and Finn���s people all drew near. The Finn counted the beasts, and badehis grandsons not let the reindeer stray too far while he was away and couldnot guard them from wolves and bears. Then he took a sleeping potion and beganto dance and turn round and round till his breath quite failed him, and he sankmoaning to the ground. His furs were all that remained behind of him. Hisspirit had gone ��� gone all the way over to Jokmok.

Therethe magicians were all sitting together in the dark sea-fog beneath the shelterof the high mountain, and whispering about all manner of secret and hiddenthings, and blowing spirits into the novices of the black art.

Butthe Gan-flies, humming and buzzing, when round and round the enpty furs of theGan-Finn in a yellow ring and kept watch.

Inthe night Jack was awakened by something pulling and tugging at him as if fromfar away. There was as it were a current of air, and something threatened andcalled to him from the midst of the snowflakes outside ���

 

Until thou canst swim like the duckor the drake

The egg thou���dst be hatching no progressshall make;

The Finn shall ne���er let thee gosouthwards with sail,

For he���ll screw off the wind andimprison the gale.

 

            At the end of it the Gan-Finn wasstanding there, and bending right over him. The skin of his face hung down longand loose, and full of wrinkles, like an old reindeer skin, and there was adizzying smoke in his eyes. Then Jack began to shiver and stiffen in all hislimbs, and he knew that the Finn was bent upon bewitching him.

            Then he set his face rigidly againstit, so that the magic spells should not get at him; and thus they struggledwith one another till the Gan-Finn grew green in the face, and was very nearchoking. After that the sorcerers of Jokmok sent magic shots after Jack, andclouded his wits. He felt so odd; and whenever he was busy with his boat, andhad put something to rights in it, something else would immediately go wring,till at last he felt as if his head were full of pins and needles.

            Then deep sorrow fell upon him. Tryas he would, he couldn���t put his boat together as he would have it; and itlooked very much as if he would never be ableto cross the sea again.

Butin the summer time Jack and Seimke sat together on the headland in the warmevenings, and the gnats buzzed and the fishes spouted close ashore in thestillness, and the eider-duck swam about.

���Ifonly someone would build me a boat as swift and nimble as a fish, and as ableto ride upon the waves like a sea-mew!��� sighed and lamented Jack, ���then I couldbe off!���

���Wouldyou like me to guide you to Thj��tt��?��� said a voice  up from the sea-shore.

Therestood a fellow in a flat turned-down skin cap, whose face they couldn���t see.

Andright outside the boulders there, just where they had seen the eider-duck, laya long and narrow boat, with high prow and stern; and the ta-boards weremirrored plainly in the clear water below; there was not so much as a singleknot in the wood.

���Iwould be thankful for any such guidance,��� said Jack.

WhenSeimke heard this, she began to cry and take on terribly. She fell upon hisneck, and wouldn���t let go, and raved and shrieked. She promised him hersnow-shoes, which would carry him through everything, and said she would stealfor him the bone-stick from the Gan-Finn, so that he might find all the oldlucky dollars that were ever buried, and would teach him how to makesalmon-catching knots in the fishing lines, and how to entice the reindeer fromafar. He should become as rich as the Gan-Finn, if only he wouldn���t forsakeher.

ButJack had only eyes for the boat down there. Then she sprang up, and tore downher black locks, and bound them round his feet, so that he had to wrench themoff before he could get quit of her.

���IfI stay here and play with you and the young reindeer, many a poor fellow willhave to cling with broken nails to the keel of a boat,���said he. ���If you like to make it up, give me a kiss and a parting hug, or shallI go without them?���

Thenshe threw herself into his arms like a young wild cat, and looked straight intohis eyes through her tears, and shivered and laughed, and was quite besideherself.

Butwhen she saw she could do nothing with him, she rushed away, and waved herhands above  her head in the direction ofthe hut.

ThenJack understood that she was going to take counsel of the Gan-Finn, and that hehad better take refuge in his boat before the way was closed to him. And, infact, the boat had come to close up to the boulder, that he had only to stepdown upon the thwarts. The rudder glided into his hand, and aslant behind themast sat someone at the prow, and hoisted and stretched the sail; but his faceJack could not see.

Awaythey went.

Andsuch a boat for running before the wind Jack had never seen before. The seastood up around them like a deep snow-drift, although it was almost calm. Butthey hadn���t gone very far before a nasty piping began in the air. The birdsshrieked and made for land, and the sea rose like a black wall behind them.

Itwas the Gan-Finn who had opened his wind-sack, and sent a storm after them.

���Oneneeds a full sail in the Finn-cauldron here,��� said something from behind themast.

Thefellow who had the boat in hand took such little heed of the weather that hedid not so much as take in a single clew.

Thenthe Gan-Finn sent double knotsafter them.

Theysped along in a wild dance right over the firth, and the sea whirled up inwhite columns of foam, reaching to the very clouds. Unless the boat could flyas quick and quicker than a bird, it was lost.

Thena hideous laugh was heard to larboard ���

 

���Anfinn Ganfinn gives mouth,

And blows us right south;

There���s a split in the sack,

With three clews we must tack.���

 

            And heeling right over, with threeclews in the sail, and the heavy foremost fellow astride on the sheer-strake,with his huge sea-boots dangling in the sea-foam, away they scudded through theblinding spray right into the open sea, amidst the howling and roaring of thewind.

            The billowy walls were so vast andheavy that Jack couldn���t even see the light of day across the yards, nor couldhe exactly make out whether they were going under or over the sea-trough.

            The boat shot the sea aside aslightly and easily as if its prow were the slippery fin of a fish, and itsplanking was as smooth and fine as the shell of a tern���s egg; but look as hewould, Jack couldn���t see where these planks ended; it was just as if there wasonly half a boat and no more; and at last it seemed to him as if the whole ofthe front part came off in the sea-foam, and they were scudding along undersail in half a boat.

            When night fell, they went throughthe sea-fire, which glowed like hot embers, and there was a prolonged andhideous howling up in the air to windward.

            And cries of distress and howls ofmortal agony answered the wind from all the upturned boat keels they sped by,and many hideously pale-looking folks clutched hold of their thwarts. The gleamof the sea-fire cast a blue glare on their faces, and they sat, and gaped, andglared, and yelled at the blast.

            Suddenly he awoke, and somethingcried, ���Now thou art home at Thj��tt��, Jack!���

            And when he had come to himself abit, he recognised where he was. He was lying over against the boulders nearhis boathouse at home. The tide had come so far inland that a border of foamgleamed right up in the potato-field, and he could scarcely keep his feet forthe blast. He sat him down in the boathouse, and began scratching and markingout the shape of the Draugboat in the black darkness till sleep overtook him.

Whenit was light in the morning, his sister came down to him with a meat-basket. Shedidn���t greet him as if he were a stranger, but behaved as if it were the usualthing for her to come thus every morning. But when he began telling her allabout his voyage to Finmark, and the Gan-Finn, and the Draugboat, he perceivedthat she only grinned and let him chatter. And all that day he talked about itto his sister and his brothers and his mother, until he arrived at theconclusion that they thought him a little out of his wits. But they mightbelieve what they liked, if only he could carry out what he wanted to do, andbe left to himself in the out-of-the-way old boathouse.

���Oneshould go with the stream,��� thought Jack; and if they thought him crazy and outof his wits, he ought to behave so that they might beware of interfering withhim, and disturbing him in his work.

Sohe took a bed of skins down with him to the boathouse, and slept there atnight; but in the daytime he he perched himself on a pole on the roof andbellowed out that now he was sailing. [...]

Wheneverfolks passed by, he stood in the doorway and turned the whites of his eyes sohideously, that everyone who saw him was quite scared. As for the family athome, it was as much as they dared to stick the meat-basket into the boathousefor him. So they sent it to him by his youngest sister, merry little Malfri,who would sit and talk to him, and thought it such fun when he made toys andplaythings for her, and talked about the boat which should go like a bird, andsail as no other boat had ever sailed. [...]

Heworked best at night when the storm tore and tugged at the stones and birchbarkof the turf roof, and the sea-wrack came right up to the boathouse door. Whenit piped and whined through the fissured walls, and the fine snowflakesflittered through the cracks, the model of the Draugboat stood plainest beforehim. The winter days were short, and the wick of the train-oil lamp, which hungover him as he worked, cast deep shadows, so that the darknesss came soon andlasted a long way into the morning, when he sought sleep in his bed of skinswith a heap of shavings for his pillow.

Nowone night, just before Christmas, he had finished all but the uppermostplanking. He was working so hard to finish up that he took no account of time.

Theplane was sending the shavings flying their briskest when he came to a deadstop at something black which was moving along the plank.

Itwas a large and hideous fly which was crawling about and feeling and poking allthe planks in the boat. When it reached the lowest keel-board it whirred withits wings and buzzed. Then it rose and swept above it in the air till, all atonce, it swerved away into the darkness.

Jack���sheart sank within him. Such doubt and anguish came upon him. He knew wellenough that no good errand had brought the Gan-fly buzzing over the boat likethis.

Sohe took the train-oil lamp and a wooden club, and began to test the prow andlight up the boarding, and thump it well, and go over the planks one by one.And in this way he went over every bit of the boat from stem to stern, bothabove and below. There was not a nail or a rivet that he really believed innow.

Butnow neither the shape nor the proportions of the boat pleased him any more. Theprow was too big, and the whole cut of the boat had something of a twist and a bendand a swerve about it, so that it looked like the halves of two different boatsput together, and the half in front didn���t fit with the half behind. As he wasabout to look into the matter still further (and he felt the cold sweatbursting out of the roots of his hair), the train-oil lamp went out and lefthim in blank darkness.

Thenhe could contain himself no longer. He lifted his club and burst open theboathouse door, and, snatching up a big cow-bell, he began to swing it abouthim and ring and ring with it through the black night.

���Artchiming to me, Jack?��� something asked. There was a sound behind him like thesurf sucking at the shore, and a cold blast blew into the boathouse.

Thereon the keel-stick sat some one in a sloppy grey sea-jacket, and with a printcap drawn down over its ears, so that its skull looked like a low tassel.

Jackgave a great start. This was the very being he had been thinking of in his wildrage. Then he took the large baling can and flung it at the Draug.

Butright through the Draug it went, and rattled against the wall behind, and backagain it came whizzing about Jack���s ears, and if it had struck him he wouldnever have got up again.

Theold fellow, however, only blinked his eyes a little savagely.

���Fie!���cried Jack, and spat at the uncanny thing ��� and back into his face again he gotas good as he gave. ���There you have your wet clout back again!��� cried alaughing voice.

Butat the same instant Jack���s eyes were opened nd he saw a whole boat-buildingestablishment on the sea-shore.

Andthere, ready and rigged out on the bright water, lay an Ottring [aneight-oared boat], so long and shapely and shining that his eyes could notfeast on it enough.

Theold ���un blinked with satisfaction. His eyes became more and more glowing.

���IfI could guide you back to Helgekand,��� said he, ���I could put you in the way ofgaining your bread too. But you must pay me a little tax for it. In everyseventh boat you build ���tis I whomust put in the keel-board.���

Jackfelt as if he were choking. He felt that the boat was dragging him into thevery jaws of an abomination.

���Ordo you fancy you���ll worm the trick out of me for nothing?��� said the gapinggrinning Draug.

Thenthere was a whirring sound, as if something heavy was hovering about theboathouse, and there was a laugh: ���If you want the seaman���s boat, you must take the dead man���s boat along with it. If you knock three times on thekeel-piece tonight with the club, you shall have such help in building boatsthat the like of them will not be found in all Nordland.���

Twicedid Jack raise his club that night, and twice he laid it aside again.

Butthe Ottring lay and frisked and sported in the sea before his eyes, just as hehad seen it, all bright and new with fresh tar, and the ropes and fishing gearjust put in. He kicked and shook the fine slim boat with his foot to see howlight and high she could rise about the water-line.

Andonce, twice, thrice, the club smote against the keel-piece.

Sothat was how the first boat was built at Sj��holm.

Thickas birds together stood a countless number of people on the headland thatautumn, watching Jack and his brothers putting out in the new Ottring.

Itglided through the strong current, so that the foam was like a fosse all roundit. Now it was gone, and now it ducked up again like a sea-mew, and pastskerries and capes it whizzed like a dart.

Outin the fishing grounds the folks rested upon their oars and gaped. Such a boatthey had never seen before.

Butif in the first year it was the Ottring, next year it was a broad heavy Femb��ringfor winter fishing which made folk open their eyes.

Andevery boat that Jack turned out was lighter to row and swifter to sail than theone before it.

Butthe largest and finest of all was the last that stood on the stocks on theshore.

Thiswas the seventh.

Jackwalked to and fro, and thought about it a good deal; but when he came down tosee it in the morning, it seemed to him, oddly enough, to have grown in thenight and, what is more, was such a wondrous beauty that he was struck dumbwith astonishment. There is lay ready at last, and folks were never tired oftalking about it.

Now,the Bailiff who ruled over all Helgeland in those days was an unjust man wholaid heavy taxes on the people. [...] No sooner, then, did the rumour of newboats reach him, than he sent his people out to see what truth was in it, forhe himself used to go fishing in the fishing grounds with large crews. Whenthus his fellows came back and told him what they had seen, the Bailiff [...]drove straightway to Sj��holm and came sweeping on Jack like a hawk. ���Neithertithe nor tax hast thou paid for thy livelihood, so now thou shalt be fined asmany half-marks of silver as thou hast made boats,��� said he.

Butwhen the Bailiff had rowed round the Femb��ring and feasted his eyes on it, andseen how smart and shapely it was, he agreed at last to take the Femb��ring inlieu of a fine. Then Jack took off his cap and said that if there was one manmore than another to whom he would like to give the boat, it was his honour theBailiff.

Sooff the magistrate sailed with it.

Jack���smother and sister and brothers cried bitterly at the loss of the beautifulFemb��ring; but Jack stood on the roof of the boathouse and laughed fit tosplit.

Andtowards autumn the news spread that the Bailiff with his eight men had gonedown with the Femb��ring in the West-fjord.

Butin those days there was quite a changing about of boats all over Nordland, andJack was unable to build a tenth part of the boats required of him. Folks fromfar and near hung about the walls of his boathouse, and it was quite a favouron his part to take orders, and agree to carry them out. A whole score of boatsstood beneath the pent-house on the strand.

Heno longer troubled his head about every seventhboat, or cared to know which it was or what befell it. If a boat foundered nowand then, so many the more got off and did well, so that, on the whole,  he made a very good thing indeed out of it.Besides, surely folks could pick and choose their own boats, and take whichthey liked best.

ButJack got so great and mighty that it was not advisable for any one to thwarthim, or interfere where he ruled and reigned. Whole rows of silver dollarsstood in the barrels in the loft, and his boat-building establishment stretchedover all the islands of Sj��holm.

OneSunday his brothers and merry little Malfri had gone to church in the Femb��ring.When evening came, and they hadn���t come home, the boatman came in and said thatsomeone had better sail out and look after them, as a gale was blowing up.

Jackwas sitting with a plumb-line in his hand, taking the measurements of a newboat, which was to be bigger and statelier than any of the others, so that itwas not well to disturb him.

���Doyou fancy they���re gone out in a rotten old tub, then?��� bellowed he. And theboatman was driven out as quickly as he had come.

Butat night Jack lay awake and listened. The wind whined outside and shook thewalls, and there were cries from the sea far away. And just then there came aknocking at the door and some one called him by name.

���Goback whence you came,��� cried he, and nestled more snugly in his bed.

Shortlyafterwards there came the fumbling and the scratching of tiny fingers at thedoor.

���Can���tyou leave me in peace at night?��� he bawled, ���or must I build me anotherbedroom?���

Butthe knocking and the fumbling for the latch continued, and there was a sweepingsound at the door as of someone who could not open it. And there was astretching of hands towards the latch ever higher and higher.

ButJack only lay there and laughed. ���The Femb��rings that are built at Sj��holmdon���t go down before the first blast that blows,��� mocked he.

Thenthe latch chopped and hopped till the door flew wide open, and in the doorwaystood pretty Malfri and her mother and brothers. The sea-fire shone about them,and they were dripping with water.

Theirfaces were pale and blue, and pinched about the corners of the mouth, as ifthey had just gone through their death agony. Malfri had one stiff arm abouther mother���s neck; it was all torn and bleeding, just as when she had grippedher for the last time. She railed and lamented, and begged her young life fromhim.

Sonow he knew what had befallen them.

Outinto the dark night and the darker weather he went straightway to seaarch forthem, with as many boats and folk as he could get together. They sailed andsearched in every direction, and it was in vain.

Buttowards day the Femb��ring camedrifting homewards bottom upwards, and with a large hole in the keel-board.

Thenhe knew who had done the deed.

Butsince the night when the whole of Jack���s family went down, things were verydifferent at Sj��holm.

Inthe daytime, so long as the hammering and the banging and the planing and theclinching rang about his ears, things went along swimmingly, and the frames ofboat after boat rose thick as sea fowl on a nesting isle.

Butno sooner was it quiet of an evening than he had company. His mother bustledand banged about the house, and opened and shut drawers and cupboards, and thestairs creaked with the heavy tread of his brothers going up to their bedrooms.

Atnight no sleep visited his eyes, and sure enough pretty Malfri came to his doorand sighed and groaned.

Thenhe would lie awake there and think, and reckon up how many boats with falsekeel-boards he might have sent to sea. And the longer he reckoned, the moredraug-boats he made of it.

Thenhe would plump out of bed and creep through the dark night down to theboathouse. There he held a light beneath the boats, and banged and tested allthe keel-boards with a club to see if he couldn���t hit upon the seventh. But he neither heard nor felt asingle board give way. One was just like another. They were all hard andsupple, and the wood, when he scraped off the tar, was white and fresh.

Onenight he was so tormented by an uneasiness about the new Sekstring [a boat with sixoars], which lay down by the bridge ready to set off next morning, that hehad no peace till he went down and tested its keel-board with his club.

Butwhile he sat in the boat and was bending over the thwart with a light, therewas a gulping sound out at sea, and then came such a vile stench of rottenness.The same instant he heard a wading sound, as of many people coming ashore, andthen up over the headland he saw a boat���s crew coming along.

Theywere all crooked-looking creatures, and they all leaned right forward andstretched out their arms before them. Whatever came in their way, both stoneand staur, they went right through it, and there was neither sound nor shriek.Behind them came another boat���s crew, big and little, grown men and littlechildren, rattling and creaking.

Andcrew after crew came ashore and took the path leading to the headland.

Whenthe moon peeped forth Jack could see right into their skeletons. Their facesglared, and their mouths gaped open with glistening teeth, as if they had beenswallowing water. They came in heaps and shoals, one after another: the placequite swarmed with them.

ThenJack perceived that here were all they whom he had tried to count and reckon upas he lay in bed, and a fit of fury came upon him.

Herose in the boat and spanked his leather breeches behind, and cried: ���You wouldhave been even more than you are already if Jack hadn���t built his boats!���

Butnow like an icy whizzing blast they all came down upon him, staring at him withtheir hollow eyes. They gnashed their teeth, and each one of them sighed andgroaned for his lost life.

ThenJack, in his horror, put out from Sj��holm.

Butthe sail slackened, and he glided into dead water. There, in the midst of thestill water, was a floating mass of rotten swollen planks. All of them had oncebeen shaped and fashioned together, but were now burst and sprung, and slimeand green mould and filth hung about them.

Deadhands grabbed at the corners of them with their white knuckles and couldn���tgrip fast. They stretched themselves out across the water and sank again.

ThenJack let out all his clews and sailed and sailed and tacked according as thewind blew. The weather darkened, thick snowflakes filled the air, and therubbish around him grew greener.

Inthe daytime he took the cormorants far away in the grey mist for his landmarks,and at night they screeched about his ears.

Atlast the sea-fog lifted a little, and the air began to be alive with bright, black,buzzing flies. The sun burned, and far away inland the snowy plains blazed inits light.

Herecognised very well the headland and show where he was now able to lay to. Thesmoke came from the hut up on the snow-hill there. In the doorway sat the Gan-Finn.He was lifting his pointed cap up and down, up and down, by means of a threadof sinew, which went right through him, so that his skin creaked.

Andup there also sure enough was Seimke.

Shelooked old and angular as she bent over the reindeer skin that she wasspreading out in the sunny weather. But she peeped beneath her arm as quick andnimble as a cat with kittens, and the sun shone upon her, and lit up her faceand pitch-black hair.

Sheleaped up so briskly, and shaded her eyes with her hand, and looked down athim. Her dog barked, but she quieted it so that the Gan-Fimm should marknothing.

Thena strange longing came over him, and he put ashore.

Hestood beside her, and she threw her arms over her head, and laughed and shookand nestled close up to him, and cried and pleaded, and didn���t know what to dowith herself, and threw herself upon his neck, and kissed and fondled him, andwouldn���t let him go.

Butthe Gan-Finn had noticed that there was something amiss, and sat all the timein his furs, and mumbled and muttered to the Gan-flies, so that Jack dare notget between him and the doorway.

TheFinn was angry.

Sincethere had been such a changing about of boats all over Nordland, and there wasno more sale for his fair winds, he was quite ruined, he complained. He was nowso poor that he would very soon have to go about and beg his bread. And of allhis reindeer he had only a single doe left, who went about there by the house.

ThenSeimke crept behind Jack and whispered to him to bid for this doe. Then she putthe reindeer skin about her, and stood inside the hut door in the smoke, sothat the Gan-Finn saw only the grey skin, and fancied it was the reindeer theywere bringing in.

ThenJack laid his hand on Seimke���s neck, and began to bid.

Thepointed cap ducked and nodded, and the Finn spat in the warm air; but sell hisreindeer he would not.

Jackraised his price.

Butthe Finn heaved up the ashes all about him, and threatened and shrieked. Theflies came as thick as snowflakes: the Finn���s furry wrappings were alive withthem.

Jackbid and bid till it reached a whole bushel load of silver, and the Finn wasready to jump out of his skins. Then he stuck his head uder his furs again, andmumbled and j��jked till the amountrose to seven bushels of silver.

Thenthe Gan-Finn laughed till he nearly split. He thought the reindeer would costthe purchaser a pretty penny.

ButJack lifted Seimke up, and sprang down with her to his boar, and held thereindeer-skin behind him, against the Gan-Finn.

Andthey put off from land, and went to sea.

Seimkewas so happy, and smote her hands together, and took her turn at the oars.

Thenorthern light shot out like a comb, all greeny-red and fiery, and licked andplayed upon her face. She talked to it, and fought it with her hands, and hereyes sparkled. She used both tongue and mouth and rapid gestures as sheexchanged words with it.

Thenit grew dark, and she lay on his bosom, so that he could feel her warm breath.Her black hair lay right over him, and she was as soft and warm to the touch asa ptarmigan when it is frightened and its blood throbs.

Jackput the reindeer-skin over Seimke, and the boat rocked them to and fro on theheavy sea as if it were a cradle.

Theysailed on and on till night-fall; they sailed on and on till they saw neitherheadland nor island, nor sea-bird in the outer skerries more.

 

 

 

This untranslatable word is a derivative of the Icelandic Gandr; and means magic of the black or malefic sort.

The northernmost province of Norway, right within the Arctic circle.

Singing songs (here magic songs).

A mountain between Sweden and Norway

Meaning that he would never have a chance of building the new, better sort ofboat his mind was bent on.

Tvinder knude: when the Finn tied onemagic knot, he raised a gale, so two knots would give a tempetst.

A traditional type of Norland fishing boat