Look Back on Happiness by Knut Hamsun
page 72 of 254 (28%)
page 72 of 254 (28%)
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green leaves and St. John's feast,
with songs and games of children, and a dozen dances at least. But high on the empty mountain stands a shrub in lonely glory, with only the trolls that prowl about, just like in a story. The wind with the juniper's forelock is making very free; it sweeps across the world beneath that lies there helpless and bare, but the air on the heights is fresher than you'll ever find it elsewhere. None can see so far around as such a juniper tree. There hovers over the mountain for a moment summer's breath; at once eternal winter brings back his companion, death. Yet sturdy stands the juniper with needles ever green. I wonder how the little chap can bear a life so lean. He's hard as bone and gristle, as anyone can see; when every other tree is stripped, his berries are scarlet and sleek, and every berry's plainly marked with a cross upon its cheek. |
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