The Greenlanders - Jane Smiley [95]
Anna went across the yard to the kitchen house, where the women were making soap. Now the other five women looked at Anna in the face, and after a moment she nodded, and the other women sat back from their soapmaking, and shook their heads and were greatly downcast and one of them, a girl with a harelip, said, “The Lord retreats from us,” but an older woman declared that such words were foolish, for the Lord never retreated from those who loved him. Now Anna went toward the great hall.
Sira Jon sat at a table under the window, bending over his account book and squinting. For a moment he put his face in his hand, and then he went back to his work. As always he was neatly attired, his robes clean and carefully arranged, much more colorful than the clothing of the Greenlanders. She stepped in front of him, and he smiled at her. So it was that she sometimes had summoned him into the bishop’s presence. Now she said, “Sira, I have gone to the bishop this morning, and I have found him in his bed. I saw that he has been gathered to the saints.”
Sira Jon sat gazing upon her, his smile still fixed on his face, and he sat thus for so long that Anna grew afraid, but then he said, “Thank you, Anna Jonsdottir, I will go to him. You may return to the other women and begin the preparations for laying out the corpus.” Anna curtsied and began to move away, when all at once the priest closed his eyes and groaned, saying, “Lord, Thou hast retreated from us indeed,” and Anna was so startled that she stumbled backward. Now Sira Jon stood up and began to stagger in the direction of the bishop’s chamber and he looked to have lost his senses. Anna ran to the door of Sira Audun’s chamber and beat upon it, calling the young priest’s name, but there was no answer, until Anna declared aloud that she was well aware that the Greenlander was inside. He came sheepishly to the door.
They found Sira Jon in the bishop’s chamber, with the door open. He had closed the dead man’s eyes, and was now praying loudly, and Sira Audun stepped inside the room and began to pray with the older priest, but at the sound of his voice, Sira Jon looked around and glared at him so bitterly that he rose with as much dignity as possible and went out past Anna, declaring that there were many things to be done. Anna went to the cooking house, and the women left their soapmaking for other tasks. Some of the servingmen set out by horse and by boat for Brattahlid, Vatna Hverfi, Hvalsey Fjord, and other districts, to carry the news. The Greenlanders, who had not had a glimpse of the bishop in two summers, were little surprised. Sira Pall Hallvardsson accompanied the Hvalsey Fjord messenger back to Gardar, arriving late in the evening. Sira Jon, he was told, was still with the bishop’s corpus, and had declared that he intended to carry it into the cathedral and place it before the altar of the saint and pray for its revival, through a miracle.
Sira Jon could not stay away from the women who were laying out the body, and he walked around and around them, pulling his hair and wringing his hands, talking not about the bishop, but about the power of relics. He spoke in matter-of-fact tones, but tears ran down his cheeks. “Why do the Greenlanders not have some blood of St. Nikolaus,” he said. “This is a great scandal, to have as the only relics belonging to the see the last joint of the littlest finger of the left hand of St. Olaf.” The women made no reply, and Sira Jon seemed to need none, but went on, “The relics of a powerful saint like St. Nikolaus, now they give off a potency that is like a fragrance, in that it spreads through the space around the relics, and makes oil lamps burn more brightly, and gems grow purer and more deeply colored.” His voice gained strength and passion. “Objects placed near by grow heavier. Such things have been measured. We need this sort of power here in Greenland, where every endeavor is fraught with more risk than elsewhere.” He stopped and gazed down upon the corpus. “What can the tip of a finger do?” He let out a great