behind! Personal performance counted for nothing; it was obvious
that he must as soon as possible escape into some other walk of
life.

But at least he was in the town, and as one of its inhabitants--
there was no getting over that. And the town seemed still as great
and as splendid, although it had lost the look of enchantment it
once had, when Lasse and he had passed through it on their way to
the country. Most of the people wore their Sunday clothes, and many
sat still and earned lots of money, but no one knew how. All roads
came hither, and the town swallowed everything: pigs and corn and
men--everything sooner or later found its harbor here! The Sow lived
here with Rud, who was now apprenticed to a painter, and the twins
were here! And one day Pelle saw a tall boy leaning against a door
and bellowing at the top of his voice, his arms over his face, while
a couple of smaller boys were thrashing him; it was Howling Peter,
who was cook's boy on a vessel. Everything flowed into the town!

But Father Lasse--he was not here!




IV

There was something about the town that made it hard to go to bed
and hard to get up. In the town there was no sunrise shining over
the earth and waking everybody. The open face of morning could not
be seen indoors. And the dying day poured no evening weariness into
one's limbs, driving them to repose; life seemed here to flow in