(1855)
In the forest that extends from the banks of the Gudenau, in North
Jutland, a long way into the country, and not far from the clear stream, rises
a great ridge of land, which stretches through the wood like a wall.
Westward of this ridge, and not far from the river, stands a farmhouse,
surrounded by such poor land that the sandy soil shows itself between the
scanty ears of rye and wheat which grow in it. Some years have passed
since the people who lived here cultivated these fields; they kept three
sheep, a pig, and two oxen; in fact they maintained themselves very well,
they had quite enough to live upon, as people generally have who are
content with their lot. They even could have afforded to keep two horses,
but it was a saying among the farmers in those parts, “The horse eats
himself up;” that is to say, he eats as much as he earns. Jeppe Jans
cultivated his fields in summer, and in the winter he made wooden shoes.
He also had an assistant, a lad who understood as well as he himself did
how to make wooden shoes strong, but light, and in the fashion. They
carved shoes and spoons, which paid well; therefore no one could justly call
Jeppe Jans and his family poor people. Little Ib, a boy of seven years old
and the only child, would sit by, watching the workmen, or cutting a stick,
and sometimes his finger instead of the stick. But one day Ib succeeded so
well in his carving that he made two pieces of wood look really like two
little wooden shoes, and he determined to give them as a present to Little
Christina.
“And who was Little Christina?” She was the boatman’s daughter,
graceful and delicate as the child of a gentleman; had she been dressed
differently, no one would have believed that she lived in a hut on the
neighboring heath with her father. He was a widower, and earned his living
by carrying firewood in his large boat from the forest to the eel-pond and
