Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3 Martin Anderson Nexo Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3 Table of Contents Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3......................................................................................................................................1 Martin Anderson Nexo...................................................................................................................................1 I......................................................................................................................................................................2 II.....................................................................................................................................................................4 III..................................................................................................................................................................14 IV.................................................................................................................................................................22 V...................................................................................................................................................................29 VI.................................................................................................................................................................32 VII................................................................................................................................................................42 VIII...............................................................................................................................................................47 IX.................................................................................................................................................................52 X...................................................................................................................................................................60 XI.................................................................................................................................................................63 XII................................................................................................................................................................68 XIII...............................................................................................................................................................76 XIV...............................................................................................................................................................79 XV................................................................................................................................................................82 XVI...............................................................................................................................................................93 XVII...........................................................................................................................................................101 XVIII..........................................................................................................................................................103 XIX.............................................................................................................................................................106 XX..............................................................................................................................................................111 XXI.............................................................................................................................................................112 XXII...........................................................................................................................................................116 XXIII..........................................................................................................................................................120 XXIV..........................................................................................................................................................126 XXV...........................................................................................................................................................129 XXVI..........................................................................................................................................................135 XXVII........................................................................................................................................................142 XXVIII.......................................................................................................................................................144 XXIX..........................................................................................................................................................146 XXX...........................................................................................................................................................149 XXXI..........................................................................................................................................................153 XXXII........................................................................................................................................................156 XXXIII.......................................................................................................................................................166 XXXIV.......................................................................................................................................................172 XXXV........................................................................................................................................................177 XXXVI.......................................................................................................................................................184 XXXVII.....................................................................................................................................................189 i Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3 Martin Anderson Nexo This page copyright © 2003 Blackmask Online. http://www.blackmask.com • I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • XV • XVI • XVII • XVIII • XIX • XX • XXI • XXII • XXIII • XXIV • XXV • XXVI • XXVII • XXVIII • XXIX • XXX • XXXI • XXXII • XXXIII • XXXIV. • XXXV • XXXVI • XXXVII Produced by Eric Eldred, Jerry Fairbanks Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3 1 Pelle the Conqueror, Vol. 3 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. PELLE THE CONQUEROR PART III.THE GREAT STRUGGLE. BY MARTIN ANDERSON NEXO TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH By Bernard Miall. III. THE GREAT STRUGGLE I A swarm of children was playing on the damp floor of the shaft. They hung from the lower portions of the timber−work, or ran in and out between the upright supports, humming tunes, with bread−and−dripping in their hands; or they sat on the ground and pushed themselves forward across the sticky flagstones. The air hung clammy and raw, as it does in an old well, and already it had made the little voices husky, and had marked their faces with the scars of scrofula. Yet out of the tunnel− like passage which led to the street there blew now and again a warm breath of air and the fragrance of budding treesfrom the world that lay behind those surrounding walls. They had finished playing Bro−bro−brille, for the last rider had entered the black cauldron; and Hansel and Gretel had crept safely out of the dwarf Vinslev's den, across the sewer−grating, and had reached the pancake−house, which, marvelously enough, had also a grating in front of the door, through which one could thrust a stick or a cabbage−stalk, in order to stab the witch. Sticks of wood and cabbage−stalks were to be found in plenty in the dustbins near the pancake−house, and they knew very well who the witch was! Now and again she would pop up out of the cellar and scatter the whole crowd with her kitchen tongs! It was almost a little too lifelike; even the smell of pancakes came drifting down from where the well−to−do Olsens lived, so that one could hardly call it a real fairy tale. But then perhaps the dwarf Vinslev would come out of his den, and would once again tell them the story of how he had sailed off with the King's gold and sunk it out yonder, in the King's Deep, when the Germans were in the land. A whole ship's crew took out the King's treasure, but not one save Vinslev knew where it was sunk, and even he did not know now. A terrible secret that, such as well might make a man a bit queer in the head. He would explain the whole chart on his double−breasted waistcoat; he had only to steer from this button to that, and then down yonder, and he was close above the treasure. But now some of the buttons had fallen off, and he could no longer make out the chart. Day by day the children helped him to trace it; this was an exciting bit of work, for the King was getting impatient! There were other wonderful things to do; for instance, one could lie flat down on the slippery flagstones and play Hanne's gamethe Glory" game. You turned your eyes from the darkness down below, looking