But now bad times came.The tailor had pains,gotrheumatism in both hands,great knots came into them,and no doctor could help him,not even the wise Stine who"doctored".
"One must not be disheartened!"said Maren."It isno use to hang the head!now that we no longer have fa-ther's two hands to help,I must see about using mine thequicker.Little Rasmus also can use the needle!"
He already sat on the board,whistling and singing;he was a happy boy.
The mother said that he must not sit there all day;itwas a sin against the child;he must also run about andplay.
The shoemaker's little Johanna was his best playmateshe belonged to still poorer people than Rasmus.She wasnot beautiful;she was barelegged;her clothes hung intatters,she had no one to look after them,and it neveroccurred to her to do it herself;she was a child,and asglad as a bird in our Lord's sunshine.
Rasmus and Johanna played beside the milestoneand the big willow tree.
He had high thoughts;he meant to be a fine tailorsome day and live in the town,where there were masterswho had ten men on the board;he had heard that fromhis father;there he would be a man,and there he wouldbe a master,and then Johanna could come and visit him,and if she knew how to cook,she could make the food forthem all and have her own big room.
Johanna dared not really believe this,but Rasmusbelieved that it really would happen.So they sat underthe old tree and the wind moaned in the leaves and thebranches:it was as if the wind sang and the tree spoke.
In the autumn every single leaf fell and the raindripped from the bare branches.
"They will grow green again!"said Mother Olse.
"What is the use!"said the man."New year,newcare for a living!"
"The larder is full!"said the wife."We have tothank our good lady for that.I am healthy and have goodstrength.It is sinful of us to complain!"
The squire's family were at their country home forChristmas,but the week after the New Year they went totown,where they spent the winter in enjoying themselves:they went to ball and festivals with the king himself.
The lady had got two expensive dresses from France;they were of such stuff,and such cut and sewing that thetailor's Maren had never seen the like before.She askedthe lady if she might come up to the house and bring herhusband also,to see the dresses.Such things had neverbeen seen by a country tailor.
He saw them and had never a word to say,before hecame home,and what he said,was only what he alwayssaid,"What is the use!"and this time his word was true.
The family went to town;balls and parties had be-gun there,but in the midst of the enjoyment the squiredied,and the lady could not wear the lovely dresses.She was so sorrowful,and dressed from head to foot inblack mourning clothes;not so much as a white strip wasto be seen;all the servants were in black,even the statecoach was draped with fine black cloth.
It was a bitter,frosty night,the snow glittered andthe stars shone.The heavy gun-carriage came from thetown with the body to the private chapel,where it was tobe placed in the family vault.The steward and the parishbeadle sat on horseback with torches before the churchyardgate.The church was lighted up,and the priest stood inthe open church door to receive the body.The coffin wascarried up into the choir and all the people followed it.Thepriest made a speech and a psalm was sung.The lady wasin the church,she had driven there in the black-drapedstate carriage;it was black inside and out,and the likehad never been seen in the district before.
They talked the whole winter about the squire'sfuneral.
"One saw there what this man signified!"said thecountry people."He was nobly born and he was noblyburied!"