Rosa (Sverre Lyngstad 1997 Translation) by Knut Hamsun

Author:Knut Hamsun [Hamsun, Knut]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Literature
ISBN: 9781557133595
Amazon: 155713359X
Publisher: Sun & Moon Press
Published: 1908-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

XVIII

A COUPLE OF DAYS have gone by. Munken Vendt is jovial and has been much sought after, the Baroness is reviving in his company, even becoming young again and speaking in her velvet voice.

At table one is as badly behaved as the other, just like servants, with both elbows on the table. The way they swallow their food makes you shudder, they spread more butter on their piece of bread after biting it and then put the greasy knife on the tablecloth instead of on their plates. The Baroness does it out of sheer untidiness no doubt, and not simply in order to disregard what the rest of us are accustomed to. Mack himself is dignified and forbearing and pretends not to notice.

Today Munken Vendt walked down to the docks on his own accord and without me; there the Baroness met him and took quite a stroll with him on the road. And I went for a stroll with the little girls. Munken Vendt has gotten some red spots on his hands, otherwise he's happy and walks with his nose in the air; in the evening he simply sings from sheer contentment in my room.

I take the children for a walk far away on purpose, it's good to get far away, I think to myself. Two hours later we are back again, and the Baroness and Munken Vendt are nowhere to be seen. The children and I go in. I walk around by the parlor, and since nobody is there I go up to my room.

Then I see, from my window, the Baroness and Munken Vendt coming out of Hartvigsen's house and Rosa standing on the doorstep. Munken Vendt is wearing the Baroness' shawl. Well, it has turned quite cold. I saw how she herself draped the shawl over his shoulder so that it hung down nicely both in front and behind; but that she probably did on the pretext that the shawl mustn't get rumpled.

They parted at the entrance to Sirilund manor. The Baroness comes up the stairs, but Munken Vendt walks down to the store still wearing the shawl.

An hour later I go down to the store myself and find Munken Vendt at the liquor counter. He's quite drunk, he doesn't know when to stop. But walking or standing, he's as steady on his feet as ever, he's like a tower. When I try to rescue the Baroness' shawl, which he is soiling, he protests and says, "Let it just hang, it keeps me warm!" He's a jester through and through and talks merrily and blasphemously with the two store clerks. Just as in the old days, he was in revolt against God.

I manage to get him up to my room at last, and he dozes off and sleeps for an hour or so. When he wakes up he drinks my water jug dry and sleeps for another hour. Then he's again in fine fettle, a youth in body and soul, perfectly gentle and cheerful. Oh, Munken Vendt,

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