Margit Sandemo - The Ice People 30 - The Brothers

If only the women in the room next door didn’t talk so loudly about what a tragedy it was that Viljar and Belinda of the Ice People had perished! He didn’t want to hear any of it: he wanted to stick his fingers in his ears, but then he would have dropped the baby.

The narrow, half-blind yellow eyes were focused on him and sought his face. The grotesque features twisted impatiently every time Henning had to dip the cloth in the milk.

“Don’t worry, Ulvar,” he chattered childishly. “I’m here. You can trust me, I’m your friend, and I won’t leave you. Don’t listen to those stupid women, Mother and Father will be back soon and then everything will be fine. You’ll see, they’re so nice, both of them.”

Ulvar’s yellow eyes regarded him stonily.

Henning remembered what the dark angels had said as they stood beside the babies during that quiet night: “One of them will provide the successor who will fight against Tengel the Evil. The other boy has a different task. They are our ruler’s gift to the Ice People.”

Which of them was which?

It didn’t matter. Henning would take care of both of them and treat them as equals.

He was too young to know that no children can be treated equally. Even those parents who try to be fair to their children down to the tiniest detail will always treat one or other of them unjustly. Because children have such different expectations, and they interpret things differently.

Now both the babies had been fed, and the crowd of women cackled so loudly that it gave Henning a headache. Evening was approaching and he needed to sleep, but when would he find the time to do that? The animals had to be fed and ...

He went in with the little one.

Suddenly he heard what one of them was saying: “Mrs Lie is in the parish, visiting the priest. The one who once owned Elistrand. She’s a widow now. She heard about all this and said she would come by.”

Grandmother? Henning’s ears began to burn. You must honour your mother and father. That was what it said in the Bible, but it said nothing about grandmothers. He had never cared for his grandmother, who had always been so arrogant towards her daughter, Henning’s lovely mother Belinda. She had also intensely disliked Henning’s father, Viljar, who hadn’t been able to get Graastensholm under control. When they lost the large estate, Grandmother had left them in the lurch. She had never helped them in any way, but only demanded this, that and the other. Henning was scared of his grandmother because she paralysed his will.

The women were arguing over which of them was best suited to take care of little Marco. They didn’t hear Henning’s feeble protests that the boys were not to be separated. They felt they were being immensely helpful and kind-hearted by relieving him of responsibility for one of the boys.

Then Mrs Lie entered the house. Her bosom almost filled the doorway as she sailed indoors like a battleship.

“Henning, my grandchild,” she proclaimed sanctimoniously. “What’s this I hear about your parents? Have they really drowned?”

The boy turned as white as a sheet. “No, not at all, they’re just slightly delayed.”

“That’s your reckless father all over, taking my daughter with him on such a dangerous voyage! Now you’re all on your own, my child! Of course, you must come and live with us. And I hear that you have two small babies here as well. Saga’s twins. Well, for heaven’s sake, what haven’t you been through, and one of them is a cursed child! Well, it’s what I’ve always said – my daughter should never have married into that terrible Ice People family ...”

Henning didn’t quite catch all that she was saying. After all, he was Belinda’s son, and he didn’t think there was so much wrong with him. Ulvar was Saga’s child. Saga from Sweden. Of course they were related. Cousins of the Ice People. She was probably right, but it was slightly far-fetched.

Mrs Lie made her way through the throng of women, shooing them out of the room with offensive, dismissive gestures. Then she had a look at the two little babies, shuddering at Ulvar and melting into a smile at Marco.

“What an adorable boy!” She lowered her voice to an inaudible murmur, speaking between clenched teeth so that no one could see her lips moving: “Saga was single, wasn’t she? She belonged to the well-to-do branch of the family. Isn’t that how it was, Henning?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose you’ll inherit something.”

“Saga wanted me to share equally with the children, a third to each if I took care of them. And I promised to do that,” Henning said, his heart filled with sorrow. Right now, he thought that money was not important.

“Nonsense,” said Mrs Lie. “It doesn’t make sense for such a monstrosity to inherit anything. He’ll have to go into a home of some sort: that’s more than reasonable. And of course you’ll move to our house, because you can’t stay here.”

“Yeeeees!” Henning yelled in despair. “I must stay here while I wait for Mother and Father to come back.”

“They won’t be coming back. The sooner you realize that, the better.”

“They’ll come,” he said defiantly. “and I’m to keep both boys. Together. That’s what I promised Saga.”

Henning felt that he had fought against a whole army of women all day long. Not even Line could help him because she didn’t want to have anything to do with Ulvar. His grandmother came up to him and grabbed his ear as she had done with the defiant Belinda many years ago.

“Now you keep quiet, boy,” she hissed between clenched teeth. “I’ve always been right. That obnoxious child will be put in an institution suitable for his type, and then ...”

A quiet voice spoke from the doorway: “There’ll be none of that.”

Everyone turned in its direction; Henning could still feel his grandmother’s painful grasp of his ear. A young woman, with a rather shapeless figure but with a forthright, confident look in her eyes, stood in the doorway. She was dressed in travelling clothes and had a big suitcase with her.

She said: “Henning, they told me what had happened out in the courtyard. I’m Malin, your Swedish relative, though we’re so distantly related that you’ll have to go back almost to Tengel the Good to establish our relationship. Anyway, we’re both of the Ice People. I’m Christer’s daughter and the grandchild of the famous Tula. I was Saga’s best friend. She wrote that I didn’t need to come to help her just yet, but from her letter I gleaned that she probably needed more help than she said. Anyway, I decided to come. At just the right time, by the look of things.”

Everyone felt pretty confused, listening to what Malin had to say. Mrs Lie had let her arm fall, and Henning couldn’t find the words he needed. So Malin continued: “There’ll be no question of separating the two little boys, Mrs Lie. They’ll stay here at Linden Avenue with Henning, and I’ll stay here with him and help him take care of them. We have to be here to wait for Henning’s parents.”

Henning ran over to Malin and threw himself into her arms, hiding his head in her bosom.

“I suppose you’re out to grab the money,” said the grandmother grumpily. “Do you intend to rob my grandson of it, eh?”

“We aren’t talking of money, Mrs Lie. We’re talking of two young orphans.”

Mrs Lie corrected Malin: “Three.”

Henning turned to his grandmother as he stood with his arms around Malin. “No!” he said vehemently. “My parents are alive! What’s more, Saga said that if Malin turned up, she and I were to share my part, and we will do that because Malin is so nice. Saga said so herself!”

Malin said quietly: “I think you’d better leave now, Mrs Lie. From what I gather, you were never at all supportive of Belinda and her little family when she needed you most. Your motives for taking care of Henning and one of the babies seem very murky, to say the very least. Henning and I will manage very well. I’m a fully trained nurse and healthy and strong. Saga always boasted of Henning in her letters, telling me how clever and efficient he was in his work on the farm. When it comes to money, I have enough for myself, and in this kind of situation friendship is more valuable than all the riches of the world. I don’t need anything. Saga’s inheritance belongs to the three boys.”