The Heritage of the Kurts, Volume 1 (of 2) — John Shaqi
The Heritage of the Kurts, Volume 1 (of 2)Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne
General
The Heritage of the Kurts, Volume 1 (of 2)
Bjørnson, Bjørnstjerne
Norwegian fiction -- Translations into English
The inside of the Castle for the most part is not as Curt left it, for
what he did was undone of his Son Master Adler, for thus he was called
after the great Sea Hero, Cort Adler. For that was a jest of Curt to
call his son Adler, since he had called himself Curt, for thus the
Admiral's name was turned end for end.
The Royal Bed and other furniture in the king's Chamber which are now
to be seen are not Curt's either. Those which he had bought now stand
in another Chamber out of the passage to the left. In that bed slept
Master Adler himself. That remains, and the furniture. But for the
king's Chamber Master Adler brought all new from Holland what time he
himself went there from Copenhagen with his ships. It was at that time
also that he bought the hangings which are now in the King's Chamber by
the side of his sleeping-room, and also he bought the great _Carosse_,
whereof more anon. But, on the other hand, the pictures in gilded
frames all belong to Curt's time. Those in the Knights' Hall are copied
from pictures in his father's Castle, and represent his ancestors.
I had almost forgot to relate about the tower which never was finished
and the reason thereof. The Man who first directed the Building was a
master builder from Lübeck. But he wearied there, not getting his pay,
and so went home. Master Curt went after him in a swift sailing ship
belonging to a Dane, which just then lay in harbour, but he did not
come nigh him. The second builder was from Holstein, or the parts
adjacent thereto. Curt had at that time with him a wench of rare
beauty. She was the wife of a Flemish skipper whom Curt had enticed to
come to him, and as he would not give her up, the skipper was fain to
depart. Now the master builder fell in love with her, and she with him,
and Master Curt sorely maltreated them, and had them stript and driven
down the Market Place. They got away at last in a boat; the builder was
brought to a sorry pass; I know not what further became of them.
After that Curt gave up the Tower, which indeed was very hard to build;
and as it was bruited about that the king was like to come that summer,
he had a wide roof set over it and covered it with tiles as is commonly
done, and so it stands, for no one has touched it since then. Now Curt
had put himself to great cost for the honour of seeing the king under
his Roof. At this time "The Estate" was still all one, and the high
banks on each side of the river and all round the valley as far as
might be seen were covered with fir-woods, and the same on the Islands.
That is all different since the merchants took the fir-woods in pledge,
but this giving in pledge had begun in Curt's time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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