ANNE LISBETH故事

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分页标题#e#　　    that the cock might crow, and the first red streak appear in
　　    the east, before she had finished her work; and then she would
　　    be lost. And the cock crowed, and the day dawned in the east,
　　    and the grave was only half dug. An icy hand passed over her
　　    head and face, and down towards her heart. "Only half a
　　    grave," a voice wailed, and fled away. Yes, it fled away over
　　    the sea; it was the ocean spectre; and, exhausted and
　　    overpowered, Anne Lisbeth sunk to the ground, and her senses
　　    left her.
　　    It was a bright day when she came to herself, and two men
　　    were raising her up; but she was not lying in the churchyard,
　　    but on the sea-shore, where she had dug a deep hole in the
　　    sand, and cut her hand with a piece of broken glass, whose
　　    sharp stern was stuck in a little block of painted wood. Anne
　　    Lisbeth was in a fever. Conscience had roused the memories of
　　    superstitions, and had so acted upon her mind, that she
　　    fancied she had only half a soul, and that her child had taken
　　    the other half down into the sea. Never would she be able to
　　    cling to the mercy of Heaven till she had recovered this other
　　    half which was now held fast in the deep water.
　　    Anne Lisbeth returned to her home, but she was no longer
　　    the woman she had been. Her thoughts were like a confused,
　　    tangled skein; only one thread, only one thought was clear to
　　    her, namely that she must carry the spectre of the sea-shore
　　    to the churchyard, and dig a grave for him there; that by so
　　    doing she might win back her soul. Many a night she was missed
　　    from her home, and was always found on the sea-shore waiting
　　    for the spectre.
　　    In this way a whole year passed; and then one night she
　　    vanished again, and was not to be found. The whole of the next
　　    day was spent in a useless search after her.
　　    Towards evening, when the clerk entered the church to toll
　　    the vesper bell, he saw by the altar Anne Lisbeth, who had
　　    spent the whole day there. Her powers of body were almost
　　    exhausted, but her eyes flashed brightly, and on her cheeks
            
            

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分页标题#e#
　　    was a rosy flush. The last rays of the setting sun shone upon
　　    her, and gleamed over the altar upon the shining clasps of the
　　    Bible, which lay open at the words of the prophet Joel, "Rend
　　    your hearts and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord."
　　    "That was just a chance," people said; but do things
　　    happen by chance? In the face of Anne Lisbeth, lighted up by
　　    the evening sun, could be seen peace and rest. She said she
　　    was happy now, for she had conquered. The spectre of the
　　    shore, her own child, had come to her the night before, and
　　    had said to her, "Thou hast dug me only half a grave: but thou
　　    hast now, for a year and a day, buried me altogether in thy
　　    heart, and it is there a mother can best hide her child!" And
　　    then he gave her back her lost soul, and brought her into the
　　    church. "Now I am in the house of God," she said, "and in that
　　    house we are happy."
　　    When the sun set, Anne Lisbeth's soul had risen to that
　　    region where there is no more pain; and Anne Lisbeth's
　　    troubles were at an end.
　　    THE END