Toni, the Little Woodcarver Page 4

  CHAPTER THIRD

  UP IN THE MOUNTAINS

  The next morning, the farmer on the Matten farm sent word to Elsbeth, tocome up to see him towards evening, as he had something to talk with herabout. At the right time she laid aside her hoe, tied on a clean apron,and said:

  "Finish the hoeing, Toni; then you can milk the goat and give her somefresh straw, so she will have a better bed. Then I will be back again."

  She went up to the Matten farm. The farmer was standing in the openbarn-door gazing with satisfaction at his beautiful cows, wandering in along procession to the well. Elsbeth stepped up to him.

  "Well, I am glad you have come," he said, holding out his hand to her. "Ihave been thinking about you on account of the boy's welfare. He is now atan age to do some light work and help you a little, at least to take careof himself."

  "I have already been thinking about that," replied Elsbeth, "and wanted toask you, if you could give him a little light work in the fields?"

  "That is fortunate," continued the farmer. "I have a little job for him,healthy and not very hard, that is to say not hard at all. He can go up tothe small mountain with the cows. The herdsman with his boys is on the bigmountain and a man is also there to come every morning and evening for themilking, so the boy will not be entirely alone and will have nothing to dobut watch the cows so that none wander off, that they don't hook eachother or do anything out of the way. While he sits there on the mountainhe is master and can have all the milk he wants. A king couldn't haveanything better."

  Elsbeth was a little frightened by the offer. If Toni had been more withthe farm men, and had been with cows, or if he had naturally a differentdisposition, wilder and more roving and commanding-but as he was so quietand shy, and besides without any knowledge of such things, to be for thefirst time all alone for several months, away from home, up on themountains, watching a herd of cows, this seemed to her too hard for Toni.What would the poor boy, who was not particularly strong, do if anythinghappened to him or to the herd? She expressed all her thoughts to thefarmer, but it made no difference; he thought it would be good for the boyto get out for once, and up on the mountain he would be much stronger thanat home, and nothing could happen to him, for he would be given a horn andif anything went wrong he could blow lustily, and immediately the farm manwould come from the other mountain; in a half hour he would be there.

  Elsbeth finally thought the farmer understood it much better than she, andso it was decided that the next week, when the cows went up to themountain pasture, Toni should go with them.

  "He shall have a good bit of money and a new suit of clothes when he comesdown. That will be a help for the winter," said the farmer finally.

  Elsbeth thanked him as she said good-by, and turned homeward.

  Toni was at first opposed to this, when he heard that he would be away solong without being able to come home a single time; but his motherexplained to him how easy the work would be, that he would grow strongerup there, so as to be able to do better things later on, and that theMatten farmer would give him a new suit and a good bit of money as pay. SoToni objected no longer, but said he would be glad to do something and notlet his mother work alone.

  Then it occurred to Elsbeth that, if Toni was going to be away the wholesummer she could perhaps go to one of the big hotels in Interlaken whereso many strangers go for the summer. There she could earn a good sum ofmoney and meet the coming winter without anxiety. She was already known inInterlaken for she had served as chambermaid in one of the hotels forseveral summers before her marriage.

  When the day came for the big herd of cows to be taken up to the mountainpasture, Toni's mother gave him his little bundle and said:

  "Go now, in God's name! Don't forget to pray, when the day begins, andwhen it ends, and the dear Lord will not forget you, and His protection isbetter than that of men."

  So Toni started off with his little bundle behind the herd up themountain.

  Immediately after this Elsbeth closed her cottage. She took the goat up tothe Matten farm. When the farmer heard that she was going to Interlaken,he promised her to take the goat, and thought when Elsbeth came homeagain, she would give twice as much milk, and what he made from her, hewould give back to Elsbeth in cheese. Then she started down to Interlaken.

  The herd had already been climbing the mountain for several hours. Theherdsman turned off to the left with the big herd, and the man went withToni up towards the right, followed by the smaller herd, which consistedof fewer cows but many young cattle, for not many cows could be kept onthe small mountain pasture, because the milk had to be carried across tothe big one where the herdsman's hut stood.

  They now reached the highest point of the pasture. There stood a littlehut. All around there was nothing but pasture, not a tree, not a bush. Inthe hut on one side was a narrow seat fastened to the wall in front ofwhich stood a table. On the other side stood a bed of hay. In the cornerwas a little, round stool and on this a wooden jug.

  Toni and the man stepped inside. The latter placed on the floor the bigwooden milk-pail, which he had brought up on his back, took out of it around loaf of bread and a huge piece of cheese, laid both on the table andsaid: "Of course you have a knife," to which Tony assented.

  Then the man took the wooden jug, swung the milk-pail on his back and wentout. Toni followed him. The man lifted a wooden basin out of the big pail,seated himself on the little round stool which he had brought out of thehut and began to milk one cow after another. If one was too far away, hewould call out: "Drive her here!" and Toni obeyed. When the basin was fullhe poured it into the big pail and silently went on until all the cows hadbeen milked. At the last the man filled the jug with milk, handed it toToni, took the pail on his back, the basin in his hand and saying "Goodnight!" went down the mountain.

  Then Toni was all alone. He put his jug of milk in the hut and came outagain. He looked around on every side. He looked over to the big mountain,but between that and his pasture was a wide valley so one had to descendin order to climb up to the big one. But all around both pastures greatdark masses of mountains looked down, some rocky, gray and jagged, otherscovered with snow, all reaching up to the sky, so high and mighty and withsuch different peaks and horns and some with such broad backs, that italmost seemed to Toni as if they were enormous giants, each one having hisown face and looking down at him. It was a clear evening. The mountainopposite was shining in the golden evening light, and now a little starcame into sight above the dark mountains, and looked down to Toni in sucha friendly way that it cheered him very much.

  He thought of his mother, where she was now and how she was in the habitof standing with him at this time in front of the little cottage andtalking so pleasantly. Then suddenly there came over him such a feeling ofloneliness that he ran into the hut, threw himself down on the cot, buriedhis face in the hay and sobbed softly, until the weariness of the dayovercame him and he fell asleep.

  The bright morning lured him out early. The man was already outside. Hemilked the cows, spoke not a word and went away.

  Now a long, long day followed. It was perfectly still all around. The cowsgrazed and lay down around in the sun-bathed pasture. Tom went into thehut two or three times, drank some milk and ate some bread and cheese.Then he came out again, sat down on the ground and carved on a piece ofwood he had in his pocket, for although he no longer dared to cherish thehope of becoming a wood-carver, yet he could not help carving for himselfas well as he could. At last it was evening again. The man came and went.He said not a word, and Toni had nothing to say either.

  Thus passed one day after another. They were all so long! so long! In theevening, when it began to grow dark it always seemed terrible to Toni, forthen the high mountains looked so black and threatening, as if they wouldsuddenly do him some harm. Then he would rush back into the hut and crawlinto his bed of hay.

  Many days had passed like this, one exactly the same as the other. Thesun had always shone in a cloudless sky; always at evening the frie
ndlylittle star had gleamed above the dark mountain. But one afternoon, thick,gray clouds began to chase one another across the sky; now and thenblinding lightning flashed, and suddenly frightful thunder-bolts sounded,which echoed roaring from the mountains, as if there were twice as manyand then a terrible storm broke. It was as dark as night; the rain beatagainst the hut, and meanwhile the thunder rolled with fearfulreverberations through the mountains; quivering lightning lighted up theblack, frightful giant-forms, which seemed quite specter-like to comenearer and look down menacingly. The cattle ran together in alarm andbellowed loudly, and great birds of prey flapped around with piercingshrieks.

  Toni had long since fled into the hut, but the lightning showed him thefrightful forms and it seemed every minute as if the rolling thunderwould overthrow the hut to the ground. Toni was so alarmed he couldhardly breathe. He climbed up on the table expecting every minute that thehut would fall and crush him. The storm lasted for hours, and the mannever came over. It was now really night but still the blinding lightningflashed and new peals of thunder rolled and the storm howled and raged asif it would sweep the hut away.

  Toni stood half the night stiff with fright, clinging to the table, andwith no thought, only a feeling of a frightful power, which was crushingeverything. How he reached his bed he did not know, but in the morning helay stretched across the hay, so exhausted he could hardly rise. He lookedanxiously out of the window. How must it look outside after such a night?Then he went out to see about the cows. The ground was still wet, but theanimals were peacefully grazing.

  The sky was gray, and thick, black clouds were passing over it. Gloomy andfrightful the high mountains stood there. They had come so near andlooked more threateningly than ever at Toni. He ran back into the hut.

  Many days of thunder storms followed, one after another and if the suncame out between, it burned unbearably, and new storms followed sounceasingly and violent, that the herdsman, on the other mountain oftensaid that he had not known such a summer for years, and if it didn'tchange he wouldn't make half so much butter as in former summers, becausethe cows gave no milk, as they didn't like the fodder.

  During this time the man-servant chose the most favorable time to comeover to the small pasture, milked the cows as quickly as possible and didnot look after the boy at all; only now and then, when he thought Toni hadno more milk, he would bring the jug out quickly, fill it and put it backagain. Then he often saw Toni sitting on his bed of hay, and would callout in passing:

  "You are lazy!"

  But then he ran right away in order to get back without being wet, anddid not trouble himself further about the boy.

  So June had passed, and already a good part of July. The thunder stormshad become less frequent, but thick fog often so enveloped the mountainthat one could hardly see two steps away, and only here and there a blackhead appeared, looking gloomily through the mist. The cattle oftenwandered so far that the man found some of them between the two mountainsand brought them up again. This would not do. He called up to the boy, butreceived no answer. He ran to the hut and went in. Toni crouched in thecorner was sitting on his bed and staring straight before him.

  "Why don't you look after the cows?" asked the man.

  He received no answer.

  "Can't you speak? What is the matter with you?"

  No answer.

  Then the man looked at the bread and cheese, to see if Toni had eateneverything and was suffering from hunger. But more than half the bread wasthere and the larger part of the cheese. Toni had taken almost nothing butmilk.

  "What is the matter with you, then? Are you sick?" asked the man again.

  Toni gave no answer. He seemed not to hear anything and stared somotionless before him that the man was quite alarmed. He ran out of thehut. He told the herdsman how it was with the boy and they decided thatwhen one of the herdsman's boys went down with the butter, he must tellthe Matten farmer about it.

  Another week passed. Then the news was brought to the farmer. He thoughtthe boy would be happy again, that the heavy thunderstorms had onlyfrightened him a little. But he sent word for the herdsman to go over; hehad boys of his own and would understand better about this than the hiredman. If anything was wrong with Toni he must be brought down.

  Some days later the herdsman really went over with one of his boys andfound Toni still crouched in the corner just as the man had seen him. Tonimade no sound to anything the herdsman said to him, did not move and keptstaring always before him.

  "He must go down," said the herdsman to his boy, "go with him right away,but take care that nothing happens to him and be good to him; the boy isto be pitied," and he looked at Toni with sympathy, for the herdsman had agood heart and took delight in his own three big, healthy boys. The one hehad with him was a strong, sturdy fellow of sixteen years. He went up toToni and told him to stand up, but Toni did not move. Then the lad tookhim under the arms, lifted him up, like a feather, then swung him on hisback, held him firmly with both hands, and went with his light burden downthe mountain.

  When the Matten farmer saw Toni in such a sad condition, which remainedjust the same, he was alarmed, for he had not expected such a thing. Hedid not know at all what to do with the boy. His mother was far away, norelatives were there, and he himself did not want to keep Toni while inthis condition. He could take such a responsibility, but he did not wantto do so. Suddenly a good thought came to him, the same as the peoplethere in every difficulty, in every need and every trouble, always havefirst of all:

  "Take him to the Pastor," he said to the herdsman's boy, "he will havesome good advice to give, which will help."

  The lad immediately started off and went to the Pastor, who allowed theboy to tell him as much as he knew about the details of the case, how Tonicame to be in this condition and how long it had lasted; but the lad knewvery little about it all. The Pastor first tried every means to make Tonispeak, and asked him if he would like to go to his mother, but it was allin vain, Toni did not give the least sign of understanding or interest.

  Then the pastor sat down, wrote a letter and said to the herdsman's boy:

  "Go back to the Matten farm and tell the farmer to harness his littlecarriage and send it to me, and then I will see that Toni goes to-day toBern. He is very sick; say that to the farmer."

  The farmer harnessed immediately, glad that further responsibility wastaken from him and he had only to carry Toni as far as the railway. Butthe Pastor sent down to his sexton, an older, kindly man, who had givenhim a helping hand for years in many matters of responsibility. He wascommissioned to take Toni with all care to the great sanitarium in Bernand to give the letter to the doctor there, a good friend of the Pastor's.A half hour later, the open carriage with the high seat drove up in frontof the Pastor's house. The sexton climbed up, placed the sick boy besidehim, held him carefully but firmly and thus Toni drove out into the world,with a horse, for the first time in his life. But he sat there with nosign of interest. It was as if he were no longer conscious of the outerworld.