Short Fiction, Selma Lagerlöf [uplifting novels txt] 📗

anything now but drink, he said. Last night he drove off, full as he was, and the wagon turned over and he was killed.’

“When the parson heard this, he drove homeward. He was distressed over what he had heard. He had come back so happy, rejoicing because he could tell the great good news.

“When the parson had driven a few paces, he saw Israel Per Persson walking along. He looked about as usual, and the parson thought it was well that fortune had not gone to his head too. Him he would cheer at once with the news that he was a rich man.

“ ‘Good day!’ said Per Persson. ‘Do you come from Falun now?’

“ ‘I do,’ said the parson. ‘And now I must tell you that it has turned out even better than we had imagined. The mineralogist said it was silver ore that we had found.’

“That instant Per Persson looked as though the ground under him had opened! ‘What are you saying, what are you saying? Is it silver?’

“ ‘Yes,’ answered the parson. ‘We’ll all be rich men now, all of us, and can live like gentlemen.’

“ ‘Oh, is it silver!’ said Per Persson once again, looking more and more mournful.

“ ‘Why, of course it is silver,’ replied the parson. ‘You mustn’t think that I want to deceive you. You mustn’t be afraid of being happy.’

“ ‘Happy!’ said Per Persson. ‘Should I be happy? I believed it was only glitter that we had found, so I thought it would be better to take the certain for the uncertain: I have sold my share in the mine to Olaf Svärd for a hundred dollars.’ He was desperate, and when the parson drove away from him, he stood on the highway and wept.

“When the clergyman got back to his home, he sent a servant to Olaf Svärd and his brother to tell them that it was silver they had found. He thought that he had had quite enough of driving around and spreading the good news.

“But in the evening, when the parson sat alone, his joy asserted itself again. He went out in the darkness and stood on a hillock upon which he contemplated building the new parsonage. It should be imposing, of course, as fine as a bishop’s palace. He stood out there long that night; nor did he content himself with rebuilding the parsonage! It occurred to him that, since there were such riches to be found in the parish, throngs of people would pour in and, finally, a whole city would be built around the mine. And then he would have to erect a new church in place of the old one. Towards this object a large portion of his wealth would probably go. And he was not content with this, either, but fancied that when his church was ready, the King and many bishops would come to the dedication. Then the King would be pleased with the church, but he would remark that there was no place where a king might put up, and then he would have to erect a castle in the new city.”

Just then one of the King’s courtiers opened the door of the vestry and announced that the big royal coach was mended.

At the first moment the King was ready to withdraw, but on second thought he changed his mind. “You may tell your story to the end,” he said to the parson. “But you can hurry it a bit. We know all about how the man thought and dreamed. We want to know how he acted.”

“But while the parson was still lost in his dreams,” continued the clergyman, “word came to him that Israel Per Persson had made away with himself. He had not been able to bear the disappointment of having sold his share in the mine. He had thought, no doubt, that he could not endure to go about every day seeing another enjoying the wealth that might have been his.”

The King straightened up a little. He kept both eyes open. “Upon my word,” he said, “if I had been that parson, I should have had enough of the mine!”

“The King is a rich man,” said the parson. “He has quite enough, at all events. It is not the same thing with a poor curate who possesses nothing. The unhappy wretch thought instead, when he saw that God’s blessing was not with his enterprise: ‘I will dream no more of bringing glory and profit to myself with these riches; but I can’t let the silver lie buried in the earth! I must take it out, for the benefit of the poor and needy. I will work the mine, to put the whole parish on its feet.’

“So one day the parson went out to see Olaf Svärd, to ask him and his brother as to what should be done immediately with the silver mountain. When he came in the vicinity of the barracks, he met a cart surrounded by armed peasants, and in the cart sat a man with his hands tied behind him and a rope around his ankles.

“When the parson passed by, the cart stopped, and he had time to regard the prisoner, whose head was tied up so it wasn’t easy to see who he was. But the parson thought he recognized Olaf Svärd. He heard the prisoner beg those who guarded him to let him speak a few words with the parson.

“The parson drew nearer, and the prisoner turned toward him. ‘You will soon be the only one who knows where the silver mine is,’ said Olaf.

“ ‘What are you saying, Olaf?’ asked the parson.

“ ‘Well, you see, parson, since we have learned that it was a silver mine we had found, my brother and I could no longer be as good friends as before. We were continually quarrelling. Last night we got into a controversy over which one of us five it was who first discovered the mine. It ended in strife between us, and we came to blows. I have killed my