Knut Hamsun

Look Back on Happiness Knut Hamsun

You must not believe that nothing ever happens here. The snowflakes drift down just as they do in the city, and the birds and beasts scurry about from morning till night, and from night till morning. I could send solemn stories from this place, but I do not. I have sought the forest for solitude and for the sake of my great irons; for I have great irons which lie within me and grow red-hot. So I deal with myself accordingly. Suppose I were to meet a buck reindeer one day, then I might say to myself: "Great heavens, this is a buck reindeer, he's dangerous!" But if then I should be too frightened, I might tell myself a comforting lie and say it was a calf or some feathered beast. You say nothing happens here? One day I saw two Lapps meet. A boy and a girl. At first they behaved as people do. "Boris!" they said to each other and smiled. But immediately after, both fell at full length in the snow and were gone from my sight. After a quarter of an hour had passed, I thought, "You'd better see to them; they may be smothered in the snow." But then they got up and went their separate ways. In all my weatherbeaten days, I have never seen such a greeting as that.