Land of Wooden Gods by Jan Fridegård

Author:Jan Fridegård
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780803219700
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 1989-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

That evening, Ausi let Holme know how much she wanted to stay. With her arms around his neck, she said she didn’t want to go to the forests just then. Maybe later. She really didn’t know why but she didn’t.

Holme answered laconically as usual, but she could tell by his face that he was puzzled and disappointed. He hadn’t considered this for a moment. And he shouldn’t have to; a woman ought to follow her husband, but just then it was very hard. She was in the middle of something important and had to finish it. She would gladly go later.

From that moment, she saw mistrust in Holme’s eyes when she told him anything about the town or the congregation. He said nothing about the baptism; there was no harm in what happened under the open sky. And it was so little compared with what the old gods wanted. He had seen a nine-day sacrifice once.

When Ausi hadn’t wanted to go to the woods, he had searched for a reason for the misfortune and concluded it had to be the stranger’s fault. Under Holme’s low, broad forehead, hatred for the stranger was born and began to grow. Everything was so well-planned – the tools prepared, the axes and the spear sharpened, nails of all sizes forged, and the boat ready by the shore. And then this. He realized vaguely that he couldn’t drag Ausi down to the boat by the hair. She wasn’t like that. She had to come willingly; whatever you took violently from her or forced her into wasn’t worth much. He would have to wait.

The stranger had done this evil deed to him, but the stranger was not invulnerable. Once he had made the decision to leave it, the town became dreary. He would sit for hours on a rock, looking east toward the rugged black mainland forest standing against the blue-green sky. He contemplated building a house and owning a smithy that people needing a master smith would seek out.

The baby crawled across the grass, grunted, and lifted herself up against his legs. He didn’t pick her up, but supported her back with his hand. The chieftain’s child stuck in his mind – was it still alive or had he delivered its death blow? He drove the thought away; it was always unpleasant. But the chieftain should have been on his guard.

The summer had just begun; he should settle down, not worry about a trip. Maybe Ausi would want to leave someday. She would probably tire of the new god eventually. He never bothered about such matters himself, but women were different. No god existed who cared about thralls. It was all the same anyway, but if this one could raise the dead, it would be good for Stenulf’s sake.

The baby slid to the ground again and crawled away, turning her head right and left. She would soon be standing up and walking; it might be a good idea to wait until then to move anyway.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.