The Tower at the Edge of the World by William Heinesen

Author:William Heinesen [Jones, W. Glyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910213735
Publisher: Dedalus Ebooks
Published: 2017-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

The Calf

Now the hay is in and the autumn gales are howling through the open hatches and doors in Jutta’s father’s barn.

Then comes the strange, empty time when the hayfields lie there desolate in the form of fields of stubble, the time when the last migratory birds have left and stars and Northern Lights again begin to be seen in the dark evening sky.

So that summer is past…

And one day the Life Bridge has gone, too, for Jutta’s father has finally discovered what the excellent plank can be used for: a lamp post! The lamp is to be put up down by the gate in the fence out to the road so that the path up to the house, which has been far too dark otherwise, can be lit up in the evening.

So the “Life Bridge” is transformed into the “Life Light” as we naturally called this paraffin lamp as it cast a reddish glow over the pale wooden gate and the lichen-covered boulders forming the wall.

***

Then one day, Grima the cow has had a calf, and Merrit is quite crazy about the little baby cow that Grima lies licking and looking after while grunting tenderly through her nose.

Merrit almost has tears in her eyes.

“Oh, just see how she’s lying there singing for her little boy.”

“Why a boy, Merrit?”

“Well, it’s a bull calf; you can see that because he’s got a thingummijig. And then he’s got a white star on his forehead, and that a sign of good luck. And what do you think he should be called? Daisy Star? No, that’s a girl’s name. What about Bobstar? Or Bigstar? Oh, just see how he’s sucking his mother. Oh, he’s so thirsty.”

Jutta: “Yes, but he’s only going to do that today and tomorrow.”

“What then?”

“Then he’s going to be slaughtered.”

“Slaughtered.”

“Yes, ’cos otherwise he’s going to drink all Grima’s milk.”

Merrit looks somewhat crestfallen and isn’t at all pleased any longer. Her stare eyes simply radiate disgust.

“Is he going to be eaten as well?”

Jutta nods.

“But then, what about Grima? What does she say to having her baby taken away from her and killed? Isn’t she going to be simply furious?”

“No, ’cos she’ll soon forget.”

Merrit turns away.

“If I were Grima, I’d gore your Father to death if he came to kill my baby. I’d get him on my horns and throw him right away, and that’d serve him right. Ugh, you are horrid, the lot of you.”

And suddenly, Merrit goes off and slams the stable door.

Jutta shakes her head like a grown up.

“What a thing to go on about! And what a thing to say. Gore Father to death!”

Jutta is on the point of tears, and there is a little froth around her big front teeth.

“But do you know what Merrit is, Amaldus? She’s a really dangerous little witch. That’s what Father says, too, and it’s true. Do you know what she did once? She set her hair on fire! What do you make of that?”

“Well why did she do it?”

“Because her mother had smacked her.

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