Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [10]
Einar crouched down to look and gave a low whistle. “Well, I’ll be . . . I never even noticed!” He slapped the reindeer’s side. “Sorry, girl. I’ll get some cloths and clean it.”
“Papa bought that medicine for the cut on Anni’s hand last year,” the lass said, straightening and giving the doe a much gentler pat. “There’s some left in a brown jar in the dish cupboard.”
Nodding, Einar dashed away to get the cloths and medicine. The lass stayed behind, stroking the reindeer’s nose.
“I’m sorry that we didn’t know,” she said softly. “From now on, I’ll make sure no more foxes bother you.”
And she did, too. For how could the foxes fail to listen to her, when she listened to their woes in return?
It soon came to be known in that region that the youngest daughter of Jarl Oskarson had a way with animals. She could be trusted to calm a skittish horse or talk sense to the most wool-headed mutt, and foxes and wolves gave Jarl’s barnyard wide berth. When such things were whispered within hearing of Frida, she would sniff and turn away. But Jarl would glow with pride over his youngest daughter, and think to himself that it was a pity his wife had never found a name for her, for she was turning into quite a likely young woman.
Chapter 5
When the lass was sixteen, there was only herself, Hans Peter, and Einar left at home. The others had all married, or in Torst and Askel’s case, gone off to work in Christiania. It was a happy time, despite the weather. For though it was still cold and food was scarce, there were fewer mouths to feed.
In her practical way, the lass could appreciate her mother’s coldness toward the children, and her grim joy at seeing them off into the world. It was nice to have more room in the bed, and more blankets to wrap around you. It was pleasant to have a full belly after dinner, and know that you could have a full belly at tomorrow’s dinner as well.
The young girl’s reputation as one who knew animals had continued to spread, and that brought the family some small reward as well. People would give half a dozen eggs from one hen for her to tell them what was wrong with another, and a brace of ducks for helping to train a new dog. The lass enjoyed listening to animals, though she never fully explained to anyone but Hans Peter how it was she got to the root of the problems.
At sixteen, the lass should have been walking out with one of the young men who lived nearby, but animals interested her much more than young men did. She did not want to end up like her mother: bitter and lonely, with nine children underfoot. The lass loved little children and thought that someday she might like one or two of her own, but first she wanted to see the world. She wanted to travel, and meet new people, and solve the mystery of Hans Peter’s sad eyes. Then maybe she would come back to their valley and marry some farmer’s son.
One summer day, or as summery as it ever was, she thought on this while she drew water from their well. She had already brought in the cheese Jarl had left as a troll-gift. Since the white reindeer had named her, she had taken to retrieving the gifts as soon as her father was off to cut wood. Then she would disguise them: cut the cheese into slices or churn the cream into butter so that he wouldn’t notice. Frida took this as a sign of good sense in her youngest child, and Jarl continued to think the trolls were being appeased.
In order to draw the water, she had to drop the bucket, hard, and break the crust of ice on the surface. But it was warm enough that she needed only a couple of wool sweaters and her mittens, no parka, so she was considering going out to look for cloudberries in the afternoon.
She heard a strange crying noise and started. Half the water slopped out of the bucket and back into the well. The lass let the rope slide through her mittens and wheeled around.
“Sorry, girl,” growled a friendly voice. “Didn’t know you were woolgathering.”
The lass looked up, and up, to meet the smiling eyes and bearded face of Jorunn’s father-in-law, Rolf Simonson. He was a huge, bearlike man with