He had,in these last days,he said,thought often ofhis mother,his homestead,and the old willow tree.It waswonderful how often in his dreams he had seen the tree andthe barelegged Johanna.Elsie he did not even name.Hewas ill and must go to bed;but we do not believe that thepot was the cause of this,or that it had exercised any pow-er over him;only old Stine anb Elsie believed that,butthey spoke to no one about it.
Rasmus lay in a fever;it was infectious,so no onesought the tailor's house except Johanna,the shoemaker'sdaughter.She wept to see how miserable Rasmus was.
The doctor wrote out a prescription for him;he wouldnot take the medicine,"What is the use?"said he.
"Yes,then you will be yourself again,"said themother."Hold fast to yourself and our Lord!If I couldonly see you put on flesh again,hear you whistle andsing,I would willingly lay down my life."
And Rasmus got better of his illness,but his mothertook it;our Lord called her and not him.
It was lonely in the house,and it grew poorer."Heis worn out,"said the neighbours."Poor Rasmus!"A wildlife had he led on his travels,that,and not the blackpot which boiled,had sapped his strength and givenhim unrest in his body.His hair became thin andgrey;he did not care to do anything properly.
"What good can that do?"said he.He sought thepublic house rather than the church.
One autumn evening,in wind and rain,he strug-gled along the dirty road from the public house to hishome:his mother had long ago been laid in her grave.The swallows and the starling had also gone,the faith-ful creatures;Johanna the shoemaker's daughter hadnot gone;she overtook him on the way and accompa-nied him a little bit.
"Pull yourself together,Rasmus!"
"What good can that do?"said he.
"That is a bad motto you have!"said she."Re-member your mother's word:'Hold to yourself and ourLord!'You don't do that,Rasmus!that one ought,and that one shall.Never say'What good can thatdo?'for then you pull up the root of all your actions."
She accompanied him to the door of his house,and there she left him.He did not stay inside,butwent and sat himself on part of the fallen nilestone.
The wind moaned in the branches of the tree,itwas like a song,it was like a talk.Rasmus answeredit;he talked aloud,but no one heard it,except thetree and the moaning wind.
"I am getting cold!It is time to go to bed.Sleep!sleep!"
And he went,not towards the house but to thepool,where he stumbled and fell.The rain poureddown,the wind was icy cold,but he did not notice it:but when the sun rose,and the crows flew over thepool,he wakened,half-dead.If he had laid his headwhere his feet lay,he would never have got up again,the green duck-weed would have been his shroud.
Later in the day Johanna came to the tailor's house;she was his help;she got him taken to the hospital.
"We have known each other from childhood,"saidshe;"your mother has given me both meat and drink,I can never repay her for it!You will get your health again,you will be able to live yet."
And our Lord willed it that he should live,but it wasup and down with the health and the mind.The swallowsand the starlings came and went and came again;Rasmusbecame old before his time.Lonely he sat in the house, which became more and more dilapidated.He was poor, poorer now than Johanna.
"You have no faith,"said she,"and if we have notour Lord,what have we?You should go to communion! you have not been there since your confirmation."
"Well,what good can that do?"said he.
"If you say that and believe it,so let it be!Unwillingguests the Lord will not see at His Table.Think,however,of your mother and your childhood's days!You were atthat time a good,God-fearing boy.May I read a psalm foryou?"
"What good can that do?"said he.
"It always comforts me,"said she.