Chapter III

Grindhusen works¹ away a couple of hours with his putty and paint, and soon one side of the little house, the north side, facing the sea, is done all gaily² in red. At the mid-day rest, I go out and join him, with something to drink, and we lie on the ground awhile, chatting and smoking.

“Painter? Not much of a one, and that’s the truth,” says he. “But if any one comes along and asks if I can paint a bit of a wall, why, of course I can. First-rate Br?ndevin this you’ve got.”

His wife and two children lived some four miles off, and he went home to them every Saturday. There were two daughters besides, both grown up, and one of them married. Grindhusen was a grandfather already. As soon as he’d done painting Gunhild’s cottage — two coats it was to have — he was going off to the vicarage to dig a well. There was always work of some sort to be had about the villages. And when winter set in, and the frost began to bind³, he would either take a turn of woodcutting in the forests or lie idle⁴ for a spell, till something else turned up. He’d no big family to look after now, and the morrow, no doubt, would look after itself just as today.

“If I could only manage it,” said Grindhusen, “I know what I’d do. I’d get myself some bricklayer’s tools.”

“So you’re a bricklayer, too?”

“Well, not much of a one, and that’s the truth. But when that well’s dug, why, it’ll need to be lined, that’s clear. . . . ”

I sauntered about the island as usual, thinking of this and that. Peace, peace, a heavenly peace comes to me in a voice of silence from every tree in the wood. And now, look you, there are but few of the small birds left; only some crows flying mutely⁵ from place to place and settling. And the clusters⁶ from the rowans drop with a sullen⁷ thud and bury themselves in the moss⁸.

Grindhusen is right, perhaps: tomorrow will surely look after itself, just as today. I have not seen a paper now these last two weeks, and, for all that, here I am, alive and well, making great progress in respect of inward⁹ calm; I sing, and square my shoulders, and stand bareheaded watching the stars at night.

For eighteen years past I have sat in cafés, calling for the waiter if a fork was not clean: I never call for Gunhild in the matter of forks clean or not! There’s Grindhusen, now, I say to myself; did you mark when he lit his pipe, how he used the match to the very last of it, and never burned his horny fingers? I saw a fly crawling¹⁰ over his hand, but he simply let it crawl¹¹; perhaps he never noticed it was there. That is the way a man should feel towards flies. . . .

In the evening, Grindhusen takes the boat and rows off. I wander along the beach, singing to myself a little, throwing stones at the water, and hauling¹² bits of driftwood ashore¹³. The stars are out, and there is a moon. In a couple of hours Grindhusen comes back, with a good set of bricklayer’s tools in the boat. Stolen them somewhere, I think to myself. We shoulder each our load, and hide away the tools among the trees.

Then it is night, and we go each our separate way.

Grindhusen finishes his painting the following afternoon, but agrees to go on cutting wood till six o’clock to make up a full day’s work. I get out Gunhild’s boat and go off fishing, so as not to be there when he leaves. I catch no fish, and it is cold sitting in the boat; I look at my watch again and again. At last, about seven o’clock: he must be gone by now, I say to myself, and I row home. Grindhusen has got over to the mainland¹⁴, and calls across to me from there: “Farvel!”

Something thrilled me warmly at the word; it was like a calling from my youth, from Skreia, from days a generation gone.

I row across to him and ask:

“Can you dig that well all alone?”

“No. I’ll have to take another man along.”

“Take me,” I said. “Wait for me here, while I go up and settle at the house.”

Half-way up I heard Grindhusen calling again:

“I can’t wait here all night. And I don’t believe you meant it, anyway.”

“Wait just a minute. I’ll be down again directly.”

And Grindhusen sets himself down on the beach to wait. He knows I’ve some of that first-rate Br?ndevin still left.

1 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

2 gaily   

adv.欢乐地，高兴地

参考例句：

• The children sing gaily.孩子们欢唱着。
• She waved goodbye very gaily.她欢快地挥手告别。

3 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

4 idle   

adj.空闲的，闲置的；无用的；懒散的；v.空费

参考例句：

• Mike doesn't study at all.Instead,he sits idle all day.迈克根本不肯读书，相反地，他终日游手好闲。
• How much trouble in this life is caused by idle talk!生活中有多少麻烦不都是由闲谈引起的么！

5 mutely   

无言地，不发音地

参考例句：

• She could not speak but just nodded mutely. 她一句话也说不出，只能默默地点头。
• Chueh-hui, quickly mollified, mutely nodded his head. 觉慧听见哥哥的这些话，他的怒气马上消失了，他只是默默地点着头。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

6 clusters   

n.（果实、花等的）串( cluster的名词复数 )；簇；（人、物等的）群；组v.（使）集中( cluster的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• These small particles agglomerate together to form larger clusters. 这些颗粒聚结形成较大的团。
• Sometimes several clusters of white clouds drift across the blue sky. 蔚蓝色的天空中，时而飘过几朵白云。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

8 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

9 inward   

adv.向内，在内；adj.向内的，在内的，里面的

参考例句：

• I understand your inward thoughts.我了解你内心的思想。
• I sighed with inward relief.我心里舒了一口气。

10 crawling   

n.表面涂布不均v.爬( crawl的现在分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. 你那样巴结董事，应该感到羞耻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stubborn, self-confident Guo Zhenshan has never gone crawling to anyone. 坚强、自信、有气魄的郭振山，实在说，永远也不会向人低三下四啊！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 crawl   

vi.／n.爬行，匍匐行进；缓慢(费力)地行进

参考例句：

• We learn to crawl before we learn to walk.我们学会走路之前先要学会爬。
• She slowed the car to a crawl.她把车开得很慢。

12 hauling   

拖，拉( haul的现在分词 )； 运送； 传讯； 强迫（某人）去某处

参考例句：

• They went down to the shore to watch the fishermen hauling in their nets. 他们跑到岸边看渔民拖网。
• They had little difficulty in finding it. but hauling it out of the water proved to be a serious problem. 馅饼盘不难找到，但是把它拖出水面却是个严重的问题。

13 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

14 mainland   

n.大陆，本土

参考例句：

• The new bridge will link the island to the mainland.新的桥梁将把该岛与大陆连接在一起。
• Hong Kong's prosperity relies heavily on mainland.香港的繁荣在很大程度上依赖于大陆。