Ditte: Girl Alive!   By: Martin Andersen Nexø (1869-1954)

BY MARTIN ANDERSON NEXÖ

Translated from the Danish

NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1920 BY HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

CONTENTS

PART I

CHAPTER PAGE

I DITTE'S FAMILY TREE 3

II BEFORE THE BIRTH 10

III A CHILD IS BORN 22

IV DITTE'S FIRST STEP 26

V GRANDFATHER STRIKES OUT AFRESH 33

VI THE DEATH OF SÖREN MAN 39

VII THE WIDOW AND THE FATHERLESS 47

VIII WISE MAREN 52

IX DITTE VISITS FAIRYLAND 69

X DITTE GETS A FATHER 79

XI THE NEW FATHER 87

XII THE RAG AND BONE MAN 103

XIII DITTE HAS A VISION 115

XIV AT HOME WITH MOTHER 124

XV RAIN AND SUNSHINE 138

XVI POOR GRANNY 144

XVII WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY 151

XVIII THE RAVEN FLIES BY NIGHT 163

XIX ILL LUCK FOLLOWS THE RAVEN'S CALL 172

PART II

CHAPTER PAGE

I MORNING AT THE CROW'S NEST 183

II THE HIGHROAD 192

III LARS PETER SEEKS THE KING 203

IV LITTLE MOTHER DITTE 219

V THE LITTLE VAGABOND 230

VI THE KNIFE GRINDER 239

VII THE SAUSAGE MAKER 250

VIII THE LAST OF THE CROW'S NEST 267

IX A DEATH 284

X THE NEW WORLD 291

XI GINGERBREAD HOUSE 303

XII DAILY TROUBLES 311

XIII DITTE'S CONFIRMATION 320

PART I

CHAPTER I

DITTE'S FAMILY TREE

It has always been considered a sign of good birth to be able to count one's ancestors for centuries back. In consequence of this, Ditte Child o' Man stood at the top of the tree. She belonged to one of the largest families in the country, the family of Man.

No genealogical chart exists, nor would it be easy to work it out; its branches are as the sands of the sea, and from it all other generations can be traced. Here it cropped out as time went on then twined back when its strength was spent and its part played out. The Man family is in a way as the mighty ocean, from which the waves mount lightly towards the skies, only to retreat in a sullen flow.

According to tradition, the first mother of the family is said to have been a field worker who, by resting on the cultivated ground, became pregnant and brought forth a son. And it was this son who founded the numerous and hardy family for whom all things prospered. The most peculiar characteristic of the Man family in him was that everything he touched became full of life and throve.

This boy for a long time bore the marks of the clinging earth, but he outgrew it and became an able worker of the field; with him began the cultivation of the land. That he had no father gave him much food for thought, and became the great and everlasting problem of his life. In his leisure he created a whole religion out of it.