The fact is he has been
here once before, and the recollection of that makes his words get all
confused."
Ole, quickly: "That is it, yes; I ran a madman's race. I strove
against the girl until the tree split. But let by-gones be by-gones;
the wind, not the snow, beats down the grain; the rain-brook does not
tear up large stones; snow does not lie long on the ground in May; it
is not the thunder that kills people."
They all four laugh; the school-master says:
"Ole means that he does not want you to remember that time any longer;
nor you, either, Thore."
Ole looks at them, uncertain whether he dare begin again.
Then Thore says,--
"The briar takes hold with many teeth, but causes no wound. In me
there are certainly no thorns left."
Ole: "I did not know the boy then. Now I see that what he sows
thrives; the harvest answers to the promise of the spring; there is
money in his finger-tips, and I should like to get hold of him."
Oyvind looks at the father, he at the mother, she from them to the
school-master, and then all three at the latter.
"Ole thinks that he has a large gard"--
Ole breaks in: "A large gard, but badly managed. I can do no more. I
am old, and my legs refuse to run the errands of my head. But it will
pay to take hold up yonder."
"The largest gard in the parish, and that by a great deal," interrupts
the school-master.
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