Reckless Courage: The True Story of a Norwegian Boy Under Nazi Rule by William F. Fuller & Jack Haines

Author:William F. Fuller & Jack Haines
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Biographies
ISBN: 0976925206
Publisher: Taber Hall Press
Published: 2006-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

Ivar had not been idle in looking for food. Through a "friend of a friend" he was able to buy an aged Norwegian Fjord Horse, quite a bit smaller but far more agile in mountainous Norway than the German plow variety. Ivar asked a local butcher, who took part of it in payment, to cut it into manageable pieces for canning and salting. Mathilde did not tell the children, storing it discretely in the basement in a wooden keg and jars. It was stringy and tough, but Mathilde was by necessity becoming more and more creative in making almost any bit of protein palatable, even crows.

In front of the house grew two tall fir trees where hundreds of large crows roosted. One day Mathilde asked Gunnar if they could catch or trap them somehow. Gunnar thought about it for awhile. He could never sneak up on them, but he told Mor that if he got in the tree while the crows were out scavenging and waited for them to come back to roost in the early evening, he might be able to grab one. The next day just before dusk, Gunnar scrambled up a tall ladder that he and Mor set against the tree trunk. He crawled out on a large branch and, stretched out in a prone position, waited motionless for what seemed hours. Finally, a large crow landed close enough for Gunnar to grab one of its legs and pull it flapping to his chest. He wrung its neck before dropping it down to his mother. The commotion caused other birds to take off, but Gunnar waited patiently for ten more minutes and was able to grab another and toss it down to Mor. It was getting dark so he climbed down and put away the ladder, feeling quite a sense of accomplishment. Mathilde had to do some sustained pounding with a mallet to tenderize the tough breasts, but thinly sliced, pan-fried, and mixed with chopped cabbage, they were a welcome change in the family's very limited diet. Gunnar periodically got out the ladder to grab another crow or two when his mother was running low on other protein.

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

Henrik Ibsen, An Enemy of the People

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.