Excerpts from
Katinka
By Herman Bang
Around noon they reached the beech woods and went into the foresterīs house.
Bai said, "It feels good to stretch. A man has to stretch his legs, Huus." And he went over and sat down to sleep under a tree.
Huus helped with the unpacking. "You have such nimble fingers, Huus," said Katinka. Marie went back and forth and warmed up the crocks in hot water in the kitchen.
"Thatīs what my mother-in-law always said," said Huus.
"Your mother-in-law..."
"Yes," said Huus, "my fiancéeīs mother ..."
Katinka said nothing. Knives and forks clattered out of the paper she was holding.
"Yes," said Huus, "Iīve never told you about that. I was engaged once."
"Really? I didnīt know that."
Katinka set the knives in place. Marie came back.
"We could walk down to the pond," said Huus.
"All right, if Marie will call us." They walked along the path into the woods. The pond was a marshy lake a short way in; the trees stretched their great crowns out They hadnīt spoken along the way. Now they were sitting next to each other on a bench in front of the lake.
"No," said Huus, "Iīve never talked about it."
Katinka stared silently out over the water.
"My mother was the one," he said, "who wanted it so badly ... for the sake of my future."
"I see," said Katinka.
"So it was ... a whole year ... before she called it off."
Huus spoke hesitantly, with long pauses, as if ashamed or angry.
"Thatīs the way it is," he continued, "with engagements and marriages."
A bird began to warble within the woods. Katinka heard every single note in the silence.
"And then, on top of it all, a manīs a coward and stays involved in it," Huus went on. "Such a profoundly lazy coward ... day after day."
"I stayed in it" - his voice was low - "until she called it off ... Because she was fond of me."
Katinka placed her hand, softly caressing, on his, which he was pressing hard against the "Poor Huus," was all she said.
And she sat there patting his hand, gently and soothingly: the poor man, how he had suffered.
They sat like that, close to each other. The noon heat hovered over the water of the little lake. They spoke no more. Marieīs call awakened them.
"Theyīre calling," said Katinka.
They stood up and silently walked up the path.
They were all so merry at lunch. Afterwards they drank the old Aaborg port with the pound cake.
Bai sat in his shirtsleeves and every other minute he said: "Well, children, itīs damned nice in the green Danish woods."
He was seized with a fit of tenderness and wanted Katinka to sit on his lap. She tore herself away. "Bai, please!" she said. She turned pale and blushed at the same time.
"I suppose youīre shy in front of strangers," said Bai.
Silence had fallen. Katinka began to pack up the baskets and Huus stood up.
"Yes," said Bai, "how about a walk after lunch."He put on his coat. "Ought to help the digestion."
From Herman Bang: Katinka
Fjord Press, 1990
http://www.fjordpress.com/
Translated by Tiina Nunnally
|
|
