Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 24 - Deep in the Ground

Then the guests from Småland arrived. Old Arv Grip of the Ice People and his wife, Siri. The children had a lot of fun with the names of Siri and Anna Maria’s mother, who was called Sara. Siri–Sara. Arv had also brought his daughter Gunilla with him, and she gave Anna Maria an extra-special present because the girl had been given her original name. Gunilla’s husband, Erland of Backa, had become a distinguished man, a plump and somewhat boastful blusterer. A braggart can be rather charming if he is also naive, which Erland was.

They had a daughter, Tula, who was some years younger than Anna Maria. She was a small, chubby, good-natured girl with an irresistible, bubbling laugh.

Then there were the three relations from Norway. They had had difficulty getting into Sweden because something was brewing in the Kingdom of Norway. The year was 1810, and a feeling of nationalism was on the rise. The Norwegians were in the process of seceding from Denmark, so the Danes were preparing to defend themselves and were guarding their borders jealously.

Despite the difficulties, Heike and Vinga arrived in Skenäs with their scoundrel of a son, Eskil. Eskil was a year younger than Anna Maria but he was an overgrown oaf – he had too much of Vinga’s pep in him and too little of Heike’s pensiveness.

However, once the confirmation was successfully accomplished, the three children, with some of their cousins from Anna Maria’s mother’s side, had a delightful time together. Eskil was full of fun and mischief, which made the girls gasp and livened up the quiet Anna Maria.

They had some wonderful days, and the adults also had a chance to talk to each other.

One topic in particular was brought up at this family gathering: the Swedish branch, headed by Ingela and Arv, was having problems with the Ice People name. In a land where the nobility was so significant, many people had been irritated by the fact that they used an “of” in their name. So all the Swedish descendants of the Ice People decided that, starting with the youngest generation – that of Anna Maria and Tula – the surname “of the Ice People” would be dropped.

Heike and Vinga thought it was a shame; they had not had any problems in Norway and had no intention of omitting their surname.

Ingela said: “It’s not that we’re cutting our ties with you; I sincerely hope you understand that. Inside all of us the name of the Ice People will live on, and I ask you three children, Eskil, Anna Maria and Tula, never to forget your family roots! And should you encounter any difficulties, come to your family for help! You must never sever your connection with us!”

The children nodded solemnly. They were old enough to know about the story of the Ice People and to be proud of belonging to the family.

Then the party broke up and everyday life began again for Anna Maria.

She had the best education a young girl could possibly receive: ordinary schooling, of course, but also private lessons that Axel Frederik Oxenstierna arranged for her. For Ingela’s family was still strongly attached to the Oxenstierna lineage, just as they had been ever since Marca Christiana’s time.

Since Anna Maria learned fast, her parents were very proud of her, and everything indicated that she had a great future ahead of her. They would undoubtedly find a good husband for her when the time came. The little girl’s future looked bright in every way.

And then – all at once – everything changed.

There was a family tradition that the descendants of the Ice People always accompanied members of the Oxenstierna family onto the battlefield in times of war. Ola Olovsson was no exception to the rule. He accompanied Axel Frederik’s son, Erik Oxenstierna, one of the family’s greatest officers. In the years 1813 and 1814, Erik was an aide-de-camp to the great General Sandels during military campaigns in Germany, Brabant and Norway. His fame spread after he participated in battles against Napoleon’s army at Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, Roslau and Leipzig. He took part in the blockade at Maastricht and in the Battle of Issebro.

But Ola Olovsson was not given the chance to accompany Erik all the way. In the Battle of Leipzig in the late autumn of 1813, this son of the Ice People was killed, and Sara was suddenly a widow. Anna Maria was then seventeen years old.

Sara was completely unable to cope with her fate. She slowly sank into a deep and bitter depression. By that time the Oxenstierna family had left Skenäs, since Axel Frederik, Erik’s father, had become a member of the Supreme Court so had moved closer to the capital. Sara forbade her daughter to visit the Oxenstierna family ever again. She believed that it was their fault that she had lost her husband. The bitterness she felt towards them was extreme. The ties between the Ice People and that family were now severed, she said.

But Ingela accompanied Axel Frederik Oxenstierna and his wife. So Anna Maria was left living at Skenäs with her increasingly disillusioned mother and could do nothing to cheer her up.

Then one day in the year 1815 Anna Maria found her mother dead. Sara hadn’t been able to cope any more and had taken her own life.

As the girl stood by her mother’s grave while the priest read the last rites, everything felt dead inside her. All that had been beautiful to her was now gone. Her mother and father’s love for her. Both now lay buried in the cold ground. Gone. Gone forever.

Deep in the ground.

Anna Maria obeyed her mother’s wish that she should not contact the Oxenstierna family. Grandmother Ingela lived in such a small apartment that there wouldn’t have been room for the girl anyway, much as Ingela would have wanted Anna Maria to come and live with her.

She received letters from Småland and Gråstensholm, all containing more or the less the same message: Come and live with us, there’s plenty of room!

But Anna Maria sat down at her desk and wrote a response to them all:

Thank you so much, all of you, for your exceptional kindness.

But I have been considering what to do with my life and have reached the following conclusion: I have been given such an excellent upbringing and education that I think it should be put to use, instead of living a life of idleness and depending on the kindness of my family. My dear mother’s cousin, Birgitta, has made a suggestion that I find very tempting.

She has a friend, Kerstin Brandt, whose brother owns a mine on the coast of the Bothnian Sea, at a place called Ytterheden. His foreman asked him to find a teacher for the miners’ children because they seem to be completely neglected in that regard. Kerstin has recommended me to her brother and the position is mine if I want it. I have decided to accept the offer.

So I am going to hand over the house at Skenäs to the overseer at the manor, so that he can keep an eye on it while I am gone. As you know, the house belongs to Grandmother Ingela and she would love to hand it on to me one day. So it won’t be sold. I just want to go away and get some experience and feel that I am doing something useful with my life. I hope you all understand me.

They did. Anna Maria, was, after all, one of the Ice People. They weren’t the types to sponge off others. They wanted to make a difference in life. Although everybody knew that Anna Maria wasn’t the richest person in the world, it wasn’t really necessary for her to go out and teach in order to make ends meet. But it was something she wanted to do. It was typical of her!

She wrote another letter, this time in strict confidence.

At first she had pondered whom she should confide in. The subject was of such a private nature that she didn’t feel she could inform just anyone about it. Certainly none of the men of the family: that would be unthinkable. Not Tula, who was, after all, still a child. Not Vinga: she and Anna Maria were too different. And certainly not Grandmother, despite all her kindness and sweetness. It would have to be Gunilla, with whom she had always felt a strong kinship.