Transcriber's Notes:
1. Page scan source:
http://books.google.com/books?id=f8QFAAAAQAAJ
2. This volume includes three stories: "Ovind," "The Eagle's Nest,"and "The Father."
In offering to the public our Translation of Ovind, we wish to say thatthe work was commenced simply for the pleasure of it, and without anyview to publication; but having completed it, we have decided to followthe advice of many of our friends who have read the book, and who thinkit a pity to keep in manuscript the translation of a work so originalas this. It is therefore offered to the English reader, in the hopethat it will meet with the same success in this country that it hasdone in others; for Björnstjerne Björnson, that singular man who seemedso long destined to be distinguished for naught but foolish pranks as aboy, and inaptitude at school and college, has won for himself highliterary honors, not only in his native land but throughout NorthernEurope. A restless nature, wandering in a wilderness of unfixedpurpose, he has repeatedly been on the point of giving himself up asgood for naught, until at last the sequestered valley, and the lowlyand quiet life of his home, broke upon his wondering eye, in forms hehad been seeking in that dreamy half-conscious instinct, which has sooften been the harbinger of greatness.
The "Bonde," that sturdy aristocrat of a northern settlement, a man ofnoble descent, a lord of his ground, and the mainstay of his country,covering under the rugged garb of his matter-of-fact life, a heart thatbeats warm with attachment to his fellow man, and an inborn pride,nurtured by Saga memories and family traditions,--is Björnson's text,and a text he handles well. His romances are true to nature, and thesombre grandeur of his land inspires him with ideas which we meet withonly in his writings, and which are completely his own. There is aweird light over his whole mind, reflected in his works, which does notrepel, but allures. In short, Björnson, of all men living, seems tohave entered most entirely into the life of his nation as it is in itsreality, the life which exists on the national traditions, customs,thought, handed down from generation to generation.
The story, which it has been our endeavour to translate as literally aspossible, is one of the author's earliest works. In the original thechapters are without headings, but we have added them as more consonantwith English taste and custom. As the Norwegian title, "En glad Gut,"scarcely bears translation, we have given the name of the hero of thestory to the book. Thinking it would be acceptable to our readers, wehave added two of Björnson's shorter pieces, "The Eagle's Nest," and"The Father."
We should not feel to be doing Herr Björnson justice, if we spoke onlyof his romances, and omitted to mention his success as a poet anddramatist. In the drama he has mostly chosen for his subjects, scenesin old Norwegian history, but h