Chapter IX

Young David had once asked me to read Ovid's Elegiacs with him, and this was the beginning of our closer acquaintance. In town, in the Winter, we two younger ones were only rarely with the rest of the family, but in Summer it was different. The Minister had built a house at Rungsted, on a piece of land belonging to his brother, who was a farmer and the owner of Rungstedgaard, Rungstedlund and Folehavegaard, a shrewd and practical man. To this villa, which was in a beautiful situation, overlooking the sea, I was often invited by my friend to spend a few days in the Summer, sometimes even a month at a time. At first, of course, I was nothing to the rest of the family; they received me for the son's sake; but by degrees I won a footing with them, too. The handsome, clever and sprightly mistress of the house took a motherly interest in me, and the young daughters showed me kindness for which I was very grateful.

The master of the house sometimes related an anecdote, as, for instance, about Heiberg's mad pranks as a young man. When he went off into the woods and got hungry, he used to take provisions from the stores in the lockers of the phaetons that put up at Klampenborg, while the people were walking about in the park, and the coachmen inside the public-house. One day, with Möhl and David, he got hold of a huge layer-cake. The young fellows had devoured a good half of it and replaced it under the seat of the carriage, when the family came back, caught sight of Heiberg, whom they knew, and invited the young men to have a piece of cake and a glass of wine. When they made the horrifying discovery of the havoc that had been wrought, they themselves would not touch it, and the robbers, who were stuffed already, were obliged to consume the remainder of the cake between them.

There was often music at the Villa; sometimes I was asked to read aloud, and then I did my best, choosing good pieces not well known, and reading carefully. The pleasant outdoor life gave me a few glimpses of that rare and ardently desired thing, still contentment. It was more particularly alone with Nature that I felt myself at home.

A loose page from my diary of those days will serve to indicate the untried forces that I felt stirring within me:

On the way down, the sky was dappled with large and many-coloured
clouds. I wandered about in the woods to-day, among the oaks and
beeches, and saw the sun gilding the leaves and the tree-trunks, lay
down under a tree with my Greek Homer and read the first and second
books of the Odyssey. Went backwards and forwards in the clover field,
revelled in the clover, smelt it, and sucked the juice of the flowers. I
have the same splendid view as of old from my window. The sea, in all
its flat expanse, moved in towards me to greet me, when I arrived. It
was roaring and foaming mildly. Hveen could be seen quite clearly. Now
the wind is busy outside my window, the sea is stormy, the dark heavens
show streaks of moonlight....

East wind and rain. Went as far as Valloröd in a furious wind. The sky
kept clear; a dark red patch of colour showed the position of the Sun on
the horizon. The Moon has got up hurriedly, has turned from red to
yellow, and looks lovely. I am drunk with the beauties of Nature. Go to
Folehave and feel, like the gods in Homer, without a care....

I can never get sleepy out in the open country on a windy night. Rested
a little, got up at four o'clock, went at full speed along soaked roads
to Humlebaek, to Gurre Ruins and lake, through the woods to Fredensborg
park, back to Humlebaek, and came home to Rungsted by steamer. Then went
up on the hill. Quiet beauty of the landscape. Feeling that Nature
raises even the fallen into purer, loftier regions. Took the Odyssey and
went along the field-path to the stone table; cool, fresh air, harmony
and splendour over Nature. "Wildly soars the hawk." Went up into the
sunlit wood at Hörsholm, gazed at the melancholy expression in the faces
of the horses and sheep.

I made ducks and drakes and asked the others riddles. A woman came and
begged for help to bury her husband; he had had such an easy death. (She
is said to have killed him with a blow from a wooden shoe.) Sat under a
giant beech in Rungsted Wood; then had a splendid drive after the heavy
rain up to Folehave and thence to Hörsholm. Everything was as fresh and
lovely as in an enchanted land. What a freshness! The church and the
trees mirrored themselves in the lake. The device on my shield shall be
three lucky peas. [Footnote: There seems to be some such legendary
virtue attached in Denmark to a pea-pod containing _three_ or
_nine_ peas, as with us to a four-leaved clover.--[Translator's
note.]] To Vedbaek and back. We were going for a row. My hostess agreed,
but as we had a large, heavy and clumsy boat, they were all nervous.
Then Ludvig's rowlock snapped and he caught a crab. It was no wonder, as
he was rowing too deep. So I took both sculls myself. It was tiring to
pull the heavy boat with so many, but the sea was inexpressibly lovely,
the evening dead calm. Silver sheen on the water, visible to the
observant and initiated Nature-lover. Ripple from the west wind (GREEK:
phrhix).

Grubbed in the shingle, and went to Folehave. Gathered flowers and
strawberries. My fingers still smell of strawberries.

Went out at night. Pictures of my fancy rose around me. A Summer's
night, but as cold as Winter, the clouds banked up on the horizon.
Suppose in the wind and cold and dark I were to meet one I know! Over
the corn the wind whispered or whistled a name. The waves dashed in a
short little beat against the shore. It is only the sea that is as
Nature made it; the land in a thousand ways is robbed of its virginity
by human hands, but the sea now is as it was thousands of years ago. A
thick fog rose up. The birches bent their heads and went to sleep. But I
can hear the grass grow and the stars sing.

Gradually my association with Ludvig David grew more and more intimate, and the latter proved himself a constant friend. A few years after our friendship had begun, when things were looking rather black for me, my father having suffered great business losses, and no longer being able to give me the same help as before, Ludvig David invited me to go and live altogether at his father's house, and be like a son there--an offer which I of course refused, but which affected me deeply, especially when I learnt that it had only been made after the whole family had been consulted.