Margit Sandemo: The Ice People 15 - The East Wind

EAST WIND

The Legend of The Ice People 15 - East Wind

© Margit Sandemo 1983

© eBook in English: Jentas A/S, 2017

Series: The Legend of The Ice People

Title: East Wind

Title number: 15

Original title: Vinden från öster

Translator: Nina Sokol

© Translation: Jentas A/S

ISBN: 978-87-7107-531-1

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchase.

All contracts and agreements regarding the work, translation, editing, and layout are owned by Jentas A/S.

Acknowledgement

The Legend of the Ice People is dedicated with love and gratitude to the memory of my dear late husband, Asbjorn Sandemo, who made my life a fairy tale.

Margit Sandemo

The Ice People - Reviews

‘Margit Sandemo is, simply, quite wonderful.’

- The Guardian

‘Full of convincing characters, well established in time and place, and enlightening ... will get your eyes popping, and quite possibly groins twitching ... these are graphic novels without pictures ... I want to know what happens next.’

- The Times

‘A mixture of myth and legend interwoven with historical events, this is imaginative creation that involves the reader from the first page to the last.’

- Historical Novels Review

‘Loved by the masses, the prolific Margit Sandemo has written over 172 novels to date and is Scandinavia's most widely read author ...’

- Scanorama magazine

The Legend of the Ice People

The Legend of the Ice People begins many centuries ago with Tengel the Evil. He was ruthless and greedy, and there was only one way to get everything that he wanted: he had to make a pact with the Devil. He travelled far into the wilderness and summoned the Devil with a magic potion that he had brewed in a pot. Tengel the Evil gained unlimited wealth and power but in exchange, he cursed his own family. One of his descendants in every generation would serve the Devil with evil deeds. When it was done, Tengel buried the pot. If anyone found it, the curse would be broken.

So the curse was passed down through Tengel’s descendants, the Ice People. One person in every generation was born with yellow cat’s eyes, a sign of the curse, and magical powers which they used to serve the Devil. One day the most powerful of all the cursed Ice People would be born.

This is what the legend says. Nobody knows whether it is true, but in the 16th century, a cursed child of the Ice People was born. He tried to turn evil into good, which is why they called him Tengel the Good. This legend is about his family. Actually, it is mostly about the women in his family – the women who held the fate of the Ice People in their hands.

Chapter 1

Until now very little has been told about the branch of the Ice People that followed Leonora Christina’s family and settled in Scania.

So it might be best to go back in time a little.

It all started with Cecilie, who looked after Christian IV’s children alongside their mother, the notorious Kirsten Munk. They were two women with colourful personalities who couldn’t stand the sight of one another. But given the fact that Cecilie enjoyed the goodwill of two powerful men, namely the king and her husband, Alexander Paladin, there was nothing Kirsten Munk could do. Moreover, the children, especially Leonora Christina, were strongly attached to Cecilie.

Eventually her daughter-in-law, Jessica, took over the role of lady-in-waiting to Leonora Christina. And in that house it was the daughter, little Countess Eleonora Sofia Ulfeldt, who became particularly attached to Jessica. When the Ulfeldt family had to flee Denmark and go to Scania because of their father Corfitz Ulfeldt’s numerous corrupt and shady business dealings, Jessica could not go with them. She wanted to remain with her Tancred. Instead, her daughter, Lene, became the lady-in-waiting and personal confidante of Eleonora Sofia.

Lene was Tristan’s sister. She married the Scanian Örjan Stege and settled down in Scania, where she would remain for the rest of her days.

Lene and Örjan were happily married. Their relationship was stable and pragmatic, and they were devoted to one another. The only problem was perhaps that things were too good. They both grew somewhat plump over the years and treasured their tranquil life at home on their beloved old farm near the Andrarum alum factory in East Scania. They adored their little daughter Christiana, a child of little significance who grew up to be a woman of equally little significance, but whose formal demeanour belied a hidden compassion.

The Scanian branch of the Ice People had been spared from the curse, something that the other members of the family found rather unfair since they had suffered a great deal from having to bear the burden of it. And so perhaps it was for that reason that the Scanian lineage was especially fearful that it would strike them as well someday. But it never did.

Eleonora Sofia Ulfeldt was married off to someone equal in rank to her, namely one of Karl XI’s gentlemen-in-waiting: Lave Beck of Andrarum, Gladsax, Torup and Bosjo Abbey, all of which were magnificent castles and manor houses in Scania. His father, who had once been one of the richest men in Denmark, had gone bankrupt over the Andrarum alum factory, but the family was still well-to-do. Especially Lave. Eleonora Sofia’s mother, the domineering daughter of the king, and her greedy husband Corfitz Ulfeldt had had the foresight to buy up not only Torup but all the other castles for their children. Lave Beck now enjoyed the benefits of this decision. And both he and Eleonora Sofia knew how to keep up appearances in the world.

They insisted that Lene, who was a respectable gentlewoman, should continue in her role as companion to Eleonora Sofia. In other words, Leonora Christina was adamant that Lene should keep her title of lady-in-waiting. Countess Eleonora Sofia was, after all, the granddaughter of Christian IV.

Eleonora Sofia did not live for long. She died in 1698, the same year as her renowned mother. But Örjan Stege remained in Lave Beck’s employ, so the Stege family stayed on at the farm in Andrarum and it wasn’t long before Christiana took over a good many of her mother Lene’s domestic chores there. She became a kind of female steward to the Beck family. She performed the task with honour, calm and pleasant as she was. But as to Christiana’s own marriage, she soon discovered that she had made a grave mistake. She had married a leading farmer in the area, Søren Grip, who lived close by. But he turned out to be far from the gallant gentleman he had appeared when he was courting her. Not until after she consented did his true nature come to light, and it had little in common with the Ice People’s innate generosity and ability to take things in their stride. It didn’t help much that Christiana had gone into the marriage with a kind of humble gratitude for the fact that anyone wanted her for a wife, since she wasn’t anything special to look at. That attitude often brings out the worst in men if they have the slightest tendency to act like bullies. Poor little Christiana did everything she could to conceal the dismal state of her marriage from her parents. But perhaps they knew anyway. Perhaps they could see it in her forced smile or hear it in the strained tone of her voice. But they were too tactful to say anything and instead tried to be as supportive of her as they could.

Søren Grip saw things only in terms of his own personal gain. He judged people on the basis on their clothes and the size of their purse and he associated only with those who could be of benefit to him. He constantly reminded Christiana that she needed to take full advantage of the farmhands. Christiana defended herself, which always resulted in a full-blown argument between the two of them. She was usually the one who gave in, though she did have her limits.