Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-06-07

| steep that the goats had great diff.
| Guilty in climbing it, and they are not
! usually afraid of mountain work.
Saturday came. and Thor went out
early in the morning. The day was
| most beautiful The sun shone so
| brightly that the very bushes seemed
| alive. Up on the mountain many
voices We're ''jodHng," and there was
much blowing of horns When even
ing came he was sitting at his cottage
door watching the Steaming mist rise
up on the hills He looked upward
all was quiet: he looked over towards
Husaby farmland then he Jumped
into his boat and rowed away round
the point.
Aslang sat before the hut; her days
work was done; she was thinking Thor
would not come that evening, and that
therefore many others might come in
stead, SO she unfastened the dog and
without saying anything walked
further on. She sat down so that she
could see across the valley, but the
mist was rising there and prevented
her looking down. Then she chose
another place, and without thinking
more about it, sat down SO that she
looked towards the side where lay the
ford; it seemed to bring peace to her
soul when she could gaze far away
across the water.
AS she sat there the fancy struck
her that she was inclined to sing, so
Oh
notes." and far and wide it sound
through the mountains. She liked ~
hear herself sing, so she began over
again when the first verse was ended.
But when she had sung the second il
seemed to her as though some one
answered from far down below. Dear
me, what can that be?' thought AS
lang. She stepped forward to the edge
and tWined her arms around a slender
birch which hung trembling over the
precipice and looked down. But she
could see nothing; the ford lay there
calm and at rest. Not single bird
skinned the water. So Aslang sat
herself down again, and again she be-
gan to sing. Once more came the an
nearer than the first time. THAT
sound was no echo, whatever it may
be-" ASlang jumped to her feet, and
again leaned over the cliff. And there
down below, at the foot of the rocky
wall. she saw a boat fastened. 1t
looked like a tiny nutshell, for it was
very far down. She looked again and
saw a fur cap, and under it the figure
of man, climbing up the steep and
barren cliff.
''Who can it be-" Aslang asked her.
self, and, letting go the birch, she
stepped back. She dared not answer
her own question, but well she knew
who it was. She flung herself down
upon the green sward, seized the grass
with both hands, as though it We're
she who dared not loose her hold for
fear of falling But the grass came up
by the roots; she screamed aloud and
dug - hands deeper and deeper into
the soil. She prayed to God to help
him, but then it struck her that this
feat of Thor's would be called tempt
ing Providence" and, therefore, he
could not expect help from above.
only just this once!' she prayed
Hear my prayer just this one time.
and help him. Then she threw her
arms around the dog, as though it
were Thor whom she was clasping,
and rolled herself on the grass be-
side it.
The time seemed to her quite endless.
p Suddenly the dog began to bark.
Bow VOW said he to Aslang, and
jumped upon her. And again, Wow
VOW then over the edge of the cliff
a coarse round cap came to view, and
Thor was in her arms!
He lay there a whole minute, and
neither of them was capable of utter
ing a syllable. And when they did
begin to talk there was neither sense
nor reason in anything they said.
But when old Canute Husaby heard
of it he uttered a remark which had
both sense and reason. Bringing his
fist down ON the table with a tremen-
dous crash, THE lad deserves her." he
cried, 1.-The girl shall be hisr'-Bjornst-
erne Bjornson.