“Bring your father out,” said the mother to one of her boys. Their father
was sitting inside at the table, eating his breakfast.
“What’s the matter now?” he growled.
“There is someone here, who claims to be a relative of yours. He doesn’t
know where he is going,” exclaimed his wife.
“He can come in to me, perhaps I can tell him, if I know,” replied the
man, without moving.
“Well, go in,” directed the woman, giving Sami an assisting push. The boy
went in and replied very timidly, where he had come from and to whom he
had belonged. The peasant scratched his head.
“Make quick work of it,” said the woman impatiently, who had followed
with her three boys.
“I think we have enough with the three of them, and there are people who
might need such a boy.”
“This is quickly decided,” said the peasant, thoughtfully cutting his
piece of bread in two; “send all four boys out.”
After this command had been carried out, he continued slowly: “There is
no help for it. It was stipulated at the time the house was sold, that
room must be made in the house if either Mary Ann, Sami or the child
should come back. Besides, it is not so bad as it seems. Where three
sleep together there is room for a fourth, and he can do some work for
his food. The parish can do something for his clothes.”
His wife had no desire to have a fourth added to her three boys, for her
own made enough noise and trouble for her. She protested, saying she
knew how it was with such stray children and they could expect to have a
fine time!
But it was of no use; it was decided that Sami should have a place in the
house. The farmer brought in the bundle and carried it up to the oldest
boy’s room, where until now the broad-shouldered Stöffi had slept in a bed
alone. He could take Sami in with him, for he was smaller than the other
two; Michael and Uli could stay together as before.
Then the woman opened the bundle. She was not a little surprised, when
she found inside not only Sami’s clothes, all in the best of order, but
also two good dresses, aprons and neckerchiefs. She called Sami up to
her, and showed him the corner in the chest where she had put his things.
Then she said she would take the woman’s clothes for herself, since he
could surely make no use of them. The clothes which his grandmother had
always worn were so dear to Sami, that he looked on with sad eyes, as
they were carried away, but he thought it had to be so.
He had already made the acquaintance of the three boys. They had shown
him below in front of the house how one of them could best throw down the
others, and had demonstrated all sorts of useful tricks. But as each
tried to outdo the others in showing off his knowledge, a struggle ensued
and the tricks were immediately applied; one threw another over the
third, Sami was knocked and thrown around by all three.
When he now came down from his room a voice from the barn called out:
“Come here and help pull.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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