Chapter 11 May Day night of

There is such a festival that the children of Dalarna almost look forward to its coming as they look forward to Christmas.That's May Day, because on that day they can light something in the open. In the weeks leading up to the holiday, all that boys and girls have on their minds is gathering firewood for the May Fire.They went to the forest to gather dead twigs and pine cones, to the carpenter's house to collect shavings, and to the woodcutter's house to collect bark, knots and sticks.Every day they go to the merchants to beg for old boxes for loading. If someone gets an empty pitch bucket, they hide it as a treasure until they light a bonfire.Those thin poles that held peas and green beans would be gone in a second.The fences that were blown down by the wind, the worn-out farm tools, and the dried grass and wood sticks that were forgotten in the fields are also likely to be taken away by the children at any time.

When that merry evening came, the children of every village brought twigs, twigs, and everything that could burn, and made a great heap on the hill or on the shore of the lake.In some villages, there is not only one pile, but two or three piles.That's often because boys and girls disagree when it comes to collecting campfire fuel.Sometimes it is also because the children who live at the southern end of the village want to build a bonfire on their own end, while the children who live at the northern end of the village want to build a bonfire at the northern end. Bonfires are often set up in the early afternoon.Then children, big and small, with matches in their pockets, circled around the campfire, waiting eagerly for the night to fall.In this season, Dalarna Province has a very long day, until eight o'clock in the evening, the sky has not yet dimmed.Due to the cold spring, walking around in the open field makes people wait cold and anxious.The snow has already melted on the open ground without trees, and when the sun is in the sky at noon, there is still a hint of warmth.But there was still deep snow in the forest, and the lake was still covered with a thick layer of ice.At night, the temperature will suddenly drop several degrees.So before it gets dark, piles of bonfires are often lit.But, that's only for the youngest and impatient kids.Older children would rather wait until it is completely dark and the raging bonfire will be bright and beautiful before lighting a fire.

The moment everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived.Even those who picked up thin sticks came.The older boys lit a handful of hay and stuffed it under the woodpile.The bonfire immediately ignited, the dead branches made crackling sounds, the twigs were burning red, and clouds of thick smoke rose slowly, the smoke was dark and quite aggressive.After a while, the fire finally burst out from the top of the pyre. The fire was burning vigorously and brightly. The fire head could be several meters high and could be seen from the whole area. A village boy, after lighting up his bonfire, walks around to look around.Well, there's a bunch burning over there, and there's another pile over there.There is a pile of fire on the small mound, hey, there is a pile of bonfires burning on the top of the mountain!Each of them hoped that their own bonfire would be the most vigorous and the fire head the biggest, lest their own bonfire would not be able to cover other people's houses.At this last moment, they ran back to the farm in a hurry, begging their parents for some lumps or firewood to fuel the fire.

After the bonfire burned for a while, adults and old people came out to watch the excitement.The bonfires blazed brightly and radiated a warm warmth, inviting people to sit on the stones and grass.As they gathered around the fire, their eyes were fixed on the bright flames, and it occurred to someone that they should make some coffee to live up to the beauty of the night when the fire was so strong.While the coffee pot was gurgling, someone began to tell a story.No sooner has one story been told than the other follows. The adults are preoccupied with drinking coffee and telling stories, while the children are preoccupied with throwing themselves on the fire, trying to make the fire burn higher and last longer.The spring thaw time is too long, and the severe ice and snow refuse to melt for a long time.They want to burn the bonfire vigorously to help the spring.Otherwise, it is hard to imagine that plants, trees and flowers can germinate and grow leaves in the right season.

Wild geese camped on the ice of Lake Silyan.There was a bitter cold wind blowing from the north, so cold that the boy had to sleep under the gander's wings.But he didn't sleep long when he was awakened by the bang bang gunshot.Immediately he slipped out from under his wings, trembling, to see what had happened. The surroundings of the wild goose on the ice were quiet, no matter how much he squinted his eyes to investigate, he could not find any trace of the hunter.But when he looked up the shore, he saw a marvelous sight, and it seemed to him that he saw a wonderland, like the undersea city of Venet or the haunted Gardens of Great Yule.

The geese circled the lake several times before deciding to roost there that afternoon.As they flew, they showed the boys the churches and villages on the shore of the lake. There were many villages around the church, including Leksand, Retvik, Mora, Sulele Island, etc. Some villages were like small cities. It was so big, the boy was very surprised. He didn't expect that there would be such a dense village in such a northern place.The sky is bright, the ground is green and full of vitality, and the scene of a thriving farmhouse is beyond his expectation.He hadn't seen anything frightening or frightening.

After nightfall, a long circle of flames suddenly appeared on the shore of the lake.He saw Mora at the northern end of the lake, around the Isle of Sulele, on the heights of the village of Weykabing, at Schulburg, on the little headland with the church on the edge of the Retwijk Bay, on the hill of Leerdal and On other headlands and mounds, as far as the village of Leksand, there were huge piles of fire burning, and he could count more than a hundred of them.He was really bewildered, and wondered where the fires came from, if it weren't for sorcery or the devil. The wild geese woke up when they heard the crackling.A-Ka glanced at the shore and said, "Oh, those are human children playing games." She and the other wild geese immediately tucked their heads under their wings and went back to sleep.

But the boy stood there staring blankly at the fires. The shore of the lake seemed to be bejeweled with shining gold necklaces. Those bright bonfires were really charming.He is like a small gnat that has been strongly attracted by the huge light and heat.He wanted to get closer and have a look, but he didn't dare to leave the geese.He heard another crisp gunshot after another.Now he knew that these gunshots were not dangerous, but he was so attracted by them that he became very curious and wanted to see what happened.All this seems to be that the people around the campfire are having too much fun.Just laughing and shouting is not enough to let off steam, so you have to take out the shotgun and put it down a few times before you feel satisfied.They also set off fireworks in the air next to the bonfire on the top of the mountain.Although the bonfire piled high was already very big and the fire was very strong, they wanted to add more splendor to it, and let the clear night sky share their joy.

The boy walked slowly towards the shore of the lake.Waves of singing came with the wind and reached his ears.He ran involuntarily, and he wanted to listen to the songs that people sang no matter what he said. In the innermost part of Ratwick Bay there is a very long wharf for steamboats, stretching along the shore of the lake.Several singers stood on the edge of the pier, and their melodious singing spread to the quiet lake in the middle of the night.They probably thought that the God of Spring was sleeping on the ice of Silyan Lake like wild geese, so they sang loudly, trying to wake her up with singing.

The singers first sang "I know there is a place in the northern plateau", and then sang "There are two wide rivers in Dalarna Province, how beautiful it is in summer, the land and the river are happy" .Then they sang "Tuna March" and "Brave and Strong Man", and finally sang "Generations Live in Dalana".These are all local songs that sing about the local scenery and customs of Dalarna Province.There were no bonfires on the pier, and the singers could not see beyond.But their singing voices with strong local flavor showed the lakes and mountains of this province one by one in front of them, and in front of all the audience who heard their singing, the scenery was brighter and more lovely than the scenery in the daytime.They seem to want to impress the heart of the God of Spring with sincerity: "Look, such a vast land is looking forward to your coming soon! Don't you want to hurry up and help us? Don't you still have the heart to let winter continue to treat such a beautiful land?" Raging?"

When they sang at the top of their voices, Nils Hogelsson stopped and stood there listening with bated breath.As soon as the singing stopped, he hurried to the shore of the lake.The ice in the innermost part of the bay had thawed, but the silt was so thick that it almost reached the shore, so he could still walk across it and sneak closer to a campfire on the lake bank.He tiptoed so close that he could see and hear the people sitting by the fire, so close.At first he was suspicious again, he didn't believe his eyes very much, and always felt that he was delusional.He had never seen anyone dressed like this before—women in black peaked hats, white leather jackets, scarves embroidered with roses around their necks, green silk belts around their waists, black The long skirts are pleated and trimmed with white, red, green and black piping; men wear flat round caps, blue tops with red piping, and knee-length yellow leather pants with tucked legs. In a garter with a little red pompom.He didn't know whether it was because of the clothes or other reasons, anyway, he felt that the people here looked different from those in other places, they looked much brighter and neater.He heard them talking to each other, and listened for a long time, but could not understand a word.He suddenly thought of those antique clothes that his mother kept in the box that no one wears now.Maybe he happened to meet some ancient race, because some of these ancient races lived in this world hundreds of years ago. But this was just a flash in his mind, and it quickly disappeared.Because in front of his eyes, it is indeed a living real person.It is not surprising that he has such an idea. The people living in Lake Silyan retain more ancient traditions than other places in terms of language, clothing and temperament. The boys soon noticed that they were reminiscing about the past.They talked of having to walk long distances to work in other towns when they were young to earn the bread for their family.The boy heard personal experiences from several people, but what stuck in his mind was the memory of an elderly woman. My parents had a small farm in East Bilka, but our family had too many brothers and sisters, and the harvest failed in a bad year that year.When I was sixteen, I had to leave home and go out into the world.We left Retwick Bay in a group of about twenty young men. On April 14, 1845, I set out for Stockholm for the first time.A few rolls, a piece of beef, and a little cheese were in the rice bag I carried with me.The travel expenses I took with me amounted to only twenty-four shillings.In my leather duffel-bag, which contained some other food and my work clothes, I begged a farmer who was driving to take the bag ahead of time. In this way, some twenty of us walked together to Faron.We often walked thirty to forty kilometers a day, and we didn't reach Stockholm until the seventh day.Now, girls, just take a train and sit comfortably for eight or nine hours to get there, what a world of difference! As soon as we entered Stockholm, the townspeople shouted, "Look, Dalarna's gang of mercenaries has entered the city!" This sentence was true, because the shoemaker nailed the heels of our high-heeled shoes. There are at least fifteen large nails.We walked down the cobbled street and it sounded like a whole regiment of soldiers marching in procession.And often some of us twisted our feet and fell to the ground, because we were not used to walking that kind of street. We lived in a hall of Dalana people named "White Horse" on Dayuchang Street in Nancheng.On that street there is also the Guildhall of the Mora Provincials, called the "Great Crown".I said that I was very anxious to go out to work and earn money, because I had only eighteen shillings left of the twenty-four shillings I had brought from home.One of us told me to go to the cavalry captain who lived near the chicken market and see if there was any work.I finally got a job there, digging and planting in his garden.I earned twenty-four shillings a day, and my meals were such provisions as I brought myself.I could only afford a little, but the little girls in the master's house saw how little food I had brought, and ran into the kitchen to give me what I asked for, so that I could have enough to eat. Then I went to work with a lady in the Rue Norge, and I lived there so badly that the rats dragged off my hat and scarf, and gnawed a big hole in my leather duffel-bag, and I had to live there. Bu found a broken boot and used the leather on it to mend it.I was sent home after a fortnight in that family, with but two silver pieces which I had saved from my frugality. I passed through Leksand on my way home, and spent two or three days in a village called Rhones.I remember that people in the village made porridge with oat flour with the bran and skin on it.They had nothing else to eat, and it was not bad to be able to eat that in a time of famine. That year went by like this, but the second year was even more difficult.I had to leave the house again to find a way out, because it was even more difficult to survive at home.I followed the two girls to Hodderswar.It is two hundred and forty kilometers from home to there.We had to walk on foot with leather duffel bags because we had no hitchhikers.We thought we could find some garden work.But when we got there, we saw that there was thick snow everywhere. Where could such a job be done?So I went to the countryside there, and begged people everywhere in the village, hoping they would give me some work to do.Dear girls, I was tired and hungry, I didn't know how to live, and finally found a farm, where I stayed and sheared the sheep, and earned eight shillings a day, and when the weather got warmer, spring flowers bloomed I went back to tending the garden when I was in the garden until the end of July.I missed home so much that I started back to Ratwick, and I was only seventeen, you know.I walked, walked, my shoes were worn out halfway, so I gritted my teeth and walked barefoot for two hundred and forty kilometers, but I was very happy because I had accumulated fifteen silver coins after all. .I also saved a couple of wheat buns for my little brother and sister, and a packet of sugar cubes.That's when someone calls me for coffee and gives me two sugar cubes, and I always hide one. Girls, thank God you're all sitting here in comfort.God blesses us to live a more decent life.At that time, there were years of famine and no harvest year after year. All the young people in Dalarna Province had to go out to escape the famine and wander to other places to make a living.In the second year after my return, in 1847, I went to Stockholm again to do odd jobs in the garden of the Great Chicken Hill.There are several girls working together, and the daily wages are a little more, but it is still necessary to be very frugal.We picked up all the junk in the garden, like old nails, broken bones, etc., and sold it at the junk shop.When the money was sold, they went to buy the sour bread baked by the public bakery for the soldiers, which was as hard as a rock.At the end of July, I went home again, and it was to help with the work of harvesting the crops in the field. This time I went out and saved thirty silver coins. Next year I have to go out to earn money again.That time I went to do odd jobs in a restaurant at the Royal Stablemaster's estate outside Stockholm.That year happened to be a field exercise near the manor, and the owner of the restaurant set up a field pot on a caravan to cook for the soldiers, so I was sent as a cook to take care of the food.One thing I will never forget even if I live to be a hundred years old is that King Oscar I visited there.I also had the honor of playing a ditty on the bullhorn for him.His Majesty the King is so generous, he gifted me two silver coins right away. I then spent several summers as a rower on a pleasure boat in Bron Bay, between Albaño and Jaca.Those were my most profitable years.We have horns on board, and sometimes the tourists row the boats by themselves and ask me to blow the horns to them.When the boating season was over in the autumn, I went to Uppland and helped out on the farm.Usually I go home before Christmas and I can take about a hundred silver pieces with me.Besides, I could earn a little food by helping others play games, so my father drove the sled back on the ice.Just think about it, if my brothers and sisters and I hadn't gone out to help earn money, the whole family would not be able to live.Because the grain we harvested in our own fields had been eaten up long before Christmas, and there were very few people growing potatoes at that time.Once I ran out of food, I had to pay a high price to buy food from merchants. In those years, a barrel of rye was sold for thirty silver coins, and oats were sold for fifteen silver coins a barrel. Everyone had to calculate and save some food .I remember a few times when we traded a cow for a bucket of oats.Back then we baked bread with oats.That kind of bread is really hard to swallow. Every time you take a bite of bread, you have to drink a sip of water to chew it and swallow it, because there are a lot of wheat straw crumbs mixed in the bread. I was wandering about, looking for work, until 1856, the year of my marriage.I made friends with a guy named Ron, we met in Stockholm, and every year when I go home I'm always worried that some other girl in Stockholm will snatch him from me.They were always flirting with him, calling him "Handsome Mir Ron" and "Dalana Handsome," and I knew that all too well.But this young man had no hypocrisy in his heart. After he saved enough money, we two got married. In the next few years, the family was harmonious and happy, and there was nothing to worry about.But the good times didn't last long. Ron died in 1863. I was a woman with five and a half children, and life was very difficult.However, the situation is not too bad, because the harvest in Dalana has been good, and every family has enough potatoes and grain to eat, which is really different from the previous one.I farmed the little piece of land I had inherited by myself and lived in my own house.Spring goes to winter, time goes by year after year, and the children grow up one by one.The children who are still alive are very prosperous, thank God!They never imagined that when their mother was young, the Dalana people couldn't even eat. The old woman stopped talking.While she was telling her story, the fire had gone out.As soon as the old woman finished speaking, everyone stood up and said it was time to go home.The boy ran back to the ice to find his traveling companion.When he was running alone in the dark, the song he heard on the pier just now sounded in his ears: "Dalana people, Dalana people, although they are poor, they are loyal and cherish honor... ..." He couldn't remember what he sang afterwards.But he still remembers the last line of the lyrics: "Their bread is often mixed with bark, but the powerful nobles always come to Darana to seek help from the poor." The boy still hadn't forgotten the legends he had heard earlier about the Steure family and King Gustav Vasa. He had never understood why these nobles wanted to recruit soldiers and mobilize people in the province of Darana.Now he understood that because there were women as indomitable as the old woman sitting by the campfire in this place, the men here must also be fierce, brave and rebellious.