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. "The largest gard in the parish; that is just the misfortune; shoes that are too large fall off; it is a fine thing to have a good gun, but one should be able to lift it." Then turning quickly towards Oyvind, "Would you be willing to lend a hand to it?" "Do you mean for me to be gard overseer?" "Precisely--yes; you should have the gard." "I should _have_ the gard?" "Just so--yes: then you could manage it." "But"-- "You will not?" "Why, of course, I will." "Yes, yes, yes, yes; then it is decided, as the hen said when she flew into the water." "But"-- Ole looks puzzled at the school-master. "Oyvind is asking, I suppose, whether he shall have Marit, to." Ole, abruptly: "Marit in the bargain; Marit in the bargain!" Then Oyvind burst out laughing, and jumped right up; all three laughed with him. Oyvind rubbed his hands, paced the floor, and kept repeating again and again: "Marit in the bargain! Marit in the bargain!" Thore gave a deep chuckle, the mother in the corner kept her eyes fastened on her son until they filled with tears. Ole, in great excitement: "What do you think of the gard?" "Magnificent land!" "Magnificent land; is it not?" "No pasture equal to it!" "No pasture equal to it! Something can be done with it?" "It will become the best gard in the district!" "It will become the best gard in the district! Do you think so? Do you mean that?" "As surely as I am standing here!" "There, is not that just what I have said?" They both talked equally fast, and fitted together like the cogs of two wheels. "But money, you see, money? I have no money." "We will get on slowly without money; but get on we shall!"