We built an eagle's nest in the oak behind the barn
Late winter 1952 we
hovered long and loud. It was the Olympics in Oslo and as far as I remember
enthroned Norwegians on top of the victory podiums in every sport branches that
mattered in our world.
In mid-May came the
heat, and the trees were green in Hasselnøttlia and migratory birds returned
and sang with full throat, and we tapped the sap of the earliest birches and
drank greedily of the half-filled bottles. And in competition with magpies in a
spruce tree down at Grandma in Nyhus, we built our "eagles nest" in a
high oak that stood on the triangle against Hasselnøttlia.
The first years had
the oak grown long and ailing in the shadow of the barn. Proper crown and
foliage was only when it reached up into the sunshine. But then it grew far
beyond the barn roof.
There were little
branches below the tree, so these were replaced with "claim clamps"
that we periodically nailed up the stem. Thus was all ready to start this major
project; building cottage in oak tree, a real "eagle's nest" for guys
boys. It was a daring work, but everything went well, and a few weeks later we
hoisted wreath over corrugated iron roof and ate cake down the yard with
parents and siblings.
Overview between
good neighbors
An eagle's nest in
the top of a solitary tree has a strategic weakness; if one becomes a victim of
the siege, one has no retreat option - then sitting one in Scissors. Our three
were particularly vulnerable when the enemy could only knock down climb clamps
at the bottom - and then go away.
For days we sat
upstairs in the Eagle's Nest and pondered retreat problem and envied magpies in
grandmothers spruce tree who only took to the wings. The thought of a winged
solution with glide seemed alluring, but it belonged to category "High
voltage danger." A more moderate solution we found accidentally in a
brochure father had left in the cabinet in the living-resistant. It was a
picture rich publication he had brought from the trip with Axel Aubert to
Rjukan. There had the Director General ensured that it was built a cable car
from the valley floor and up the mountainside, allowing residents of Rjukan
could move up the sun during the winter.
We took a collection
with Harald in Garden and discussed the matter in depth. He was two years older
than us and knew about a little of each. Our thought was never to construct a
gondola orbit that could carry us up the tree. No, the strategic solution was
to construct a surprising escape route down from the Eagle's Nest. And it was a
much easier task and had to be arranged with limited technical means. All we
needed was a rope, a suspension and a gondola wagon.
Tau and suspension
were okay and provide; a new 30 meter long hemp rope was just purchased for the
salmon seine, and a sliding hoop we could use a “hegde” or sheep enclave. Worse
was to find something resembling a gondola wagon. It had to be as light weight as
possible for a heavy gondola would crash into the post at high speed.
A hegde of juniper.
Harald in Garden,
who had just borrowed "Five weeks in balloon" by Jules Verne from the
bookcase behind in the classroom by Thorvald Haugeland, came with a brilliant
idea: "A balloon basket," he said excitedly, staring through foliage on
a white cloud that drifted past, "a balloon basket made of wicker plant
real and easily as a magpie."
"Brilliant
idea, Harald," I said and thumped him in the back, "but ... but do we
know someone who knows the art of plaiting balloon basket?"
"Yep,"
said Harald, "Anne Larsen in road bend. She weaves at least baskets to wine balloons. "
"Steike!"
said Kjell, in his laconic way. So we climbed down and threw us on bikes.
Harald led the
arrival in the yard of Anne Larsen. He knew her best when she every spring
helped Harald & putting potatoes and every autumn with record crop. We
rolled past the low windows of the old longhouse of her, where we glimpsed the
head watchmaker Kalhovd who sat behind the living room window with monocle and
repaired watches, and just off the chopping block in the backyard where Anne
had cleanup on her twig pile.
"What are you
looking for?" She asked with a hint of wonder in her voice.
"Well, we were
wondering if you can make balloon basket for us," said Harald.
"No, far from
it," said Anne, "you are far too young to add wine."
"But …, you
misunderstand," said Kjell, "it is not to wine balloons but a basket
of such a balloon that sails in the air under the white clouds - we will use
the curve gondola down from the Eagle's Nest."
Anne Larsen looked
now like a question mark, but after some explanations and forth and streaking with
a stick in the gravel in the yard, she realized drawing.
For Anne was a sharp
one, and it was we who were green punks, especially when it came to negotiation
about price.
"I can make a
basket that is large enough that two men can fit in it, but there's a lot of
work and will take a long time - at least five days. Give me fifty kroner, so
we have a deal. "
"Fifty kroner?"
Said Kjell thunderstruck and turned to the bike; "We have not." I
supported dumbfounding viewpoint and beat specified out with my hands:
"The only thing we earn money nowadays is to sell cherries to
car-tourists. We get 25 øre for a triangle bag cherries. So we have to sell, er
... two hundred bags until we have earned fifty kroner. It is not possible!
Rogalendingene is not that hungry for cherries".
But as soon as Anne
Larsen realized that we "waded" in mature cherries, she hip left
shoulder and had the solution ready: "If you come with a ten-potty-pail
filled with cherries on Wednesday, the gondola cart stand ready. But then you
must promise to come on the back of the barn so Kalhovd not can see what goes
on. I want this winemaking in peace. "
"It's a
deal," said Kjell. "Oh Yess," I said, "we will do like requested."
And Anne looked brighter in existence, and with a new hip on the left shoulder
she continued the work with her sprig ax.
At supper we told
Mom and Dad about the agreement with Anne Larsen and the proposed gondola down
from the Eagle's Nest, and the mother stood a bit dubious to her son’s raw material
deliveries to winemaking in Vestigarden, but our father saw only positive that
they in Vestigarden consumed wine of cherries instead of the hazardous fluid
they otherwise shrouded therein.
Father also came
with a useful input. "At the terminus should rope tied in the middle of a
horizontal boom that is attached to one end of the barn wall, and at the other
end placed between two X-shaped logs." He showed with forefingers what he
meant, and continued: "The boom means that the caravan ends up in a free
pendulum movement - as in swing sets. A single vertical end post will be
mortally dangerous. "
Anna Kvavik was our
good neighbor. She had a pedal organ and a good eye for Kjell who she believed
had the talent to become an organist in Lyngdal church.
It was therefore
natural that Kjell was talker when we next morning knocking on her back door
and asked her to come out into the yard to look at a case we had to talk about.
And she was aflame when Kjell told about the projected cable car from our oak
and down to a terminus on the edge of the her backyard. Anna could not forget
how nice it had been when Bianca strangled the infamous concentrates-rat that had
bitten Thorvald in hand, and asked us to notify her when the path should be
used.
Kjell was born with
a mind for older ladies lonely days and promised that since we got set up crosslogs
on her due, we could always conduct a new "acting" behind in the yard
of her. Anna was so excited and promised to make buns and lemonade to all
onlookers that might come.
A few days later were
both "terminus" and "home station" established and the rope
was stretched tight and a “hegde” strung catching up. Now only gondola that was
missing and we picked ripe black cherries and slithered and waited for
Wednesday would come, and it did it finally and swap with Anne Larsen went into
box. The gondola was hung up in hegde with rope from each corner, and a sturdy
fishing line was hooked firmly behind the gondola so that we could stand up in
the tree and crank this tilting back.
We test-drove the
gondola wagon once for each of us, and I knew well how it tickled my stomach
when curvatures plunged downhill, and although it was a little crank up and
down the "terminus", everything went as planned.
All in all we would
have been very satisfied with the way things are if it had not been for the
thoughtless promise to erect a "spectacle" in Anna’s backyard.
I knew well how it
tickled my stomach when curvatures plunged downhill...
On Saturday, when
Ludvig came home from teaching certificate school in Kristiansand, we shared
our concern with him. And it was wise. For after looking at the new facilities
in Anna’s backyard, he was aflame and took over most of the responsibility for
the script and instruction. Heaviest was to persuade Tordis and Laila to
participate in important leading roles, but finally they gave in - and got
mother involved in creating costumes. Kjell and I borrowed two well-worn white
shirts of the father, but the rest of the costumes had to arrange ourselves.
Last weekend in June
used father and mother holding a garden party when they were both born on that
time of year. What could fit better than combining this with a theater
performance in neighboring Anna? In any case matched the fine for Anna, and it
was important. I wrote a piece with crayons that were fastened on the pole over
the shared mailbox in Austigarden:
Theater Imagination
by Anna Kvåvik Sunday, June 30, 1952 at 5 o’clock.
Catering. Free admission. Small collect to Zuloland
and Cina.
ALL wery Welcome !!!
The patch was
diligently read and commented on by many, and postman and emissary Georg Drageland
thought almost that he would come.
Sunday dawned with
glorious weather, and nerves were on edge already when we before noon rigged in
place scenes.
Ludvig had come home
with last bus from Kristiansand, so there was little time for practice and
coordination of the presentations. In addition, Laila dissatisfied with her
assigned role of Revelation, and Plata had to step in instead. Now did Laila get
hands on the important co-starred as bell ringer "Notre Grange", a
task that really demanded absolute pitch - something she had not.
Scenes were shot as
shown. To the right stood a large herring barrel that served as a bridge piers,
and left stood the noted "shoal boil Checkout for potatoes» as Kjell hid
in a whole day. Checkout lay on his side with the lid facing the audience, and on
the lid had Ludvig burned into Roman numerals; VI - VI - VI. Treasury acted as
the second pier. A wide plank was the bridge that led across a dangerous
ravine, and on the bridge had a malicious being posted "stumbling stones".
A wide plank was a
bridge that led across a dangerous gorge.
In the yard we set
up 14 chairs + two wicker chairs; one for grandmother in Newhouse and one for grandmother
in Garden, and with the help of Alf Opsahl and Peder Sandal we had been moved
organ from Anna’s living room and into a room at back where the windows were
opened wide. Ten to five o’clock had come so many audiences that Alf and Peder
let out long planks between the kitchen stools for everyone to get a seat.
Glass with lemonade was put forward on a table, and Alfhild and Kari went
around handing out warm raisin buns.
Kjell and I sat
silent as mice up in gondola wagon outside Eagle's Nest and was too nervous to
envy the audience the good stuff we missed.
Session opened with
Anna Kvavik played "Prelude" by Bach, and all chewing buns and
applauded so long that Anna had to get out on stairway at back door and
curtsey.
A little while later
rattled heavy hammer blows from our barn, where a window was set ajar to the
audience. It was clear that "Hunchback of barn" struck on the ore of
a heavy water barrel with a heavy hammer, but since the father unknowingly had
wells horse and the water level was now adjusted too low, oscillating sound a
damn frequency just below the giss / ass and howl sounded from pigpen until the
hammer was thrown out - and the window slammed again.
And the audience
looked a bit around at each other and nodded and smiled for everyone knew that
now it was Sunday morning and church time. And Anna sat down again to the organ
and the familiar tones of "None is so confident in danger" emanated
from the window.
So began matters and
things to be arrived at the scene, some twigs snapped on forest trail, and an
innocent, young girl came slow moving in from the right with steady course
towards the bridge over the frightful ravine. She was dressed in dark, low
heels shoes with white knee socks and checkered pleated skirt, and over her
white blouse she wore a beautiful home knitted jacket. Her head was covered
with a light blue scarf tied under the chin, and in her hand she carried a
white handkerchief folded over the hymnbook.
When the girl began
to walk up the slope to the bridge, played Anna even higher, and sister Marie,
who sat with little Arnfinn on her lap, joined in and sang "Nobody is so
confident in danger, as God's little children crust ..." and many others
fell into in song with her, but even if they conjured in minor as best they
could, many realized that this would still go into wrong direction, and
9-year-old Liv with Leif cried in despair: "Beware of rocks, Tordis!"
But the
well-intentioned warning came too late, the girl stumbled and while Hymn Book
and handkerchief flew through the air, she fell badly down the gorge behind the
bridge where she desperately lay sobbing, and everyone could see that she took
care of two broken adds under the white knee socks - and that she therefore
failed to stand up. Anna heard gasping from the crowd and stopped playing, and
one could hear pin singlet in the gravel. Those who sat at the rear rows, and
half had risen from the pews to better see, smiled now a little embarrassed to
each other and sat down again.
Farmer, postman and
emissary Georg Drageland that were related to grandmother in Newhouse, sighed
heavily; he had the act read his Bible and was quick to crack the code with
Roman numerals "VI - VI - VI." No, they needed certainly not teaching
certificate in Kristiansand to know that 666 stood for "Beast of
Revelation" (Rev. 13, 18). Then he turned to his neighbor at side, Uncle
Anton, and said: "I'm afraid this drama has only just begun." Anton
looked a bit confused, and for him and most others, came next fixture as a big
surprise.
A terrible
commotion, with glam, bleating and milling, suddenly broke out inside the pier
of the left side of the gorge, and trapdoor with Roman numerals after loud
uproar outright kicked out.
The two grandmothers
in the front row gradually began to regret their prominent positions, as a
monster, dressed in an old, moss green portiere curtain,
which had hung over the door to consist the formal living room, came crawling
out of the box on all fours and stuck a yellowish green mask head forward under
the curtain edge. Beast opened drake gap and snorted with twofold tongue around
in the air by Christian human blood. Then turned animal abruptly against the
girl down in the gorge, grinned satisfied from eye to eye, and began waddling towards
her.
The girl, who
immediately saw the evil beast come drooling on themselves, eventually managed
to get up on his knees. With her back facing the audience and hands folded
flush against the barn wall, she began to pray with a dilute, trembling voice:
"Our Father, who are in Heaven! I've broken both my legs, and cannot run
from the beast ... eh, in Revelation, so save me from the evil, for yours are
the power and the glory, forever and ever! Amen. "
Then the Lord
appeared to her in a vision in the hatch on top of the barn wall, dressed in
white as an Arab sheik, but with a golden radiance of Christmas tree glitter
around his head. And the Lord stretched his arms toward the girl, and said in a
deep voice: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee; I have heard your plea for
help. And see; Now I send my trusted archangels; Michael and Gabriel, to earth to
rescue you from Jammer Valleys misery. "
And the audience,
who had heard everything the Lord had said, clapping hands with excitement and
stared anxiously toward corner of the house and waited for the angels, but it
lasted and slid and poor Liv by Leif bet nails and kicked nervously with her
legs, for animal had almost reached the wretched Tordis which many a time would
pass her when she was little.
Then drew gasps through
theater-yard; a "heavenly chariot" came in an elegant swallow dive
down from the big oak tree with two angels in white board and the liner just
past the girl and the Beast, but then stopped abruptly at the end station where
the wagon for a while wigged back and forth around the boom before the angels
dazed and confused managed to crawl out.
Both Archangels went
in sandals with bare legs and was dressed in white shirt coats with sleeves
rolled up and their heads had white handkerchiefs knotted at the corners and a
single wreath of Christmas glitter. The most impressive was that they still in
braces behind their backs with many clothespins had attached wings that were
cut out of white cardboard from large long booths boxes.
The blonde angel wore
nameplate "Mikkel" and the dark "Gabriel." Mikkel wore a
saber, and now he pulled it and went contrary to the slick animal. The fight
waved back and forth down the gorge, but finally got Mikkel into a murderous
cut that separated the head from the body.
When the last
convulsions had ebbed away, pulled Mikkel the evil beast back to the pier and
pushed it firmly into the box, so he picked up the trapdoor with Roman numerals
and the hammer used by hunchback and nailed trapdoor into place with five toms
rusty nail.
This garnered
tumultuous applause at the theater courtyard, and even the two old grandmothers
stood up and clapped and angel Mikkel sat down on the box and bowed and bowed.
Meanwhile the angel
Gabriel lifted and dragged the young girl away to the heavenly chariot. But
when she realized how the wagon would have its next stop, she fell again on her
knees and begged Our Lord to let her live down the Jammer valley for a while,
and the Lord was in good spirits that afternoon and showed compassion, and in a
vision revealed He appeared to her in the top skylight on the barn wall and
said with paternal, educational pathos: " Verily, verily, I say unto thee;
Comfort, comfort my children. Your prayer is heard! ".
So the Lord turned
against his archangel Gabriel and he commanded him to give the young girl new,
healthy feet, and angel coats of carefully hand over the white knee-highs, and
immediately she stood up and danced tentatively back and forth, so she picked
up handcar shift and hymnal book and danced upon Church way towards the bridge.
And when she again stepped out on the bridge over the dangerous gorge, stood an
angel on either side with flowing, protective wings and chimed Lina Sandells
old hymn: "None is so confident in danger ...". Mikael the archangel,
had in the heat of battle lost both wings, and now he stood as well and sang
and waved rate, with one wing in each hand.
Session ended with
wild applause for Anna Kvavik and the entire theater troupe, and the hat of Alf
Oppsahl was carried round and “small Collect” were collected. It brought in 66
kroner and 60 øre, which was divided equally between the two grandmothers woman
associations.
It was often the
small experiences that created solidarity and good neighborliness in those
days.
This story was printed in the newspaper "Lister" on Saturday 24 October 2015.
