A great boy, out of wickedness, had eaten her up. At first thechildren cried about it; but afterwards, thinking very probably thatthe poor lover ought not to be left alone in the world, they ate himup too: but they never forgot the story.
  The two children still continued to play together by theelder-tree, and under the willow; and the little maiden sang beautifulsongs, with a voice that was as clear as a bell. Knud, on thecontrary, had not a note of music in him, but knew the words of thesongs, and that of course is something. The people of Kjoge, andeven the rich wife of the man who kept the fancy shop, would stand andlisten while Joanna was singing, and say, "She has really a very sweetvoice."
  Those were happy days; but they could not last forever. Theneighbors were separated, the mother of the little girl was dead,and her father had thoughts of marrying again and of residing in thecapital, where he had been promised a very lucrative appointment asmessenger. The neighbors parted with tears, the children wept sadly;but their parents promised that they should write to each other atleast once a year.
  After this, Knud was bound apprentice to a shoemaker; he wasgrowing a great boy, and could not be allowed to run wild anylonger. Besides, he was going to be confirmed. Ah, how happy hewould have been on that festal day in Copenhagen with little Joanna;but he still remained at Kjoge, and had never seen the great city,though the town is not five miles from it. But far across the bay,when the sky was clear, the towers of Copenhagen could be seen; and onthe day of his confirmation he saw distinctly the golden cross onthe principal church glittering in the sun. How often his thoughtswere with Joanna! but did she think of him? Yes. About Christmascame a letter from her father to Knud's parents, which stated thatthey were going on very well in Copenhagen, and mentioningparticularly that Joanna's beautiful voice was likely to bring her abrilliant fortune in the future. She was engaged to sing at a concert,and she had already earned money by singing, out of which she sent herdear neighbors at Kjoge a whole dollar, for them to make merry onChristmas eve, and they were to drink her health. She had herselfadded this in a postscript, and in the same postscript she wrote,"Kind regards to Knud."
  The good neighbors wept, although the news was so pleasant; butthey wept tears of joy. Knud's thoughts had been daily with Joanna,and now he knew that she also had thought of him; and the nearer thetime came for his apprenticeship to end, the clearer did it appearto him that he loved Joanna, and that she must be his wife; and asmile came on his lips at the thought, and at one time he drew thethread so fast as he worked, and pressed his foot so hard againstthe knee strap, that he ran the awl into his finger; but what did hecare for that? He was determined not to play the dumb lover as boththe gingerbread cakes had done; the story was a good lesson to him.
  At length he become a journeyman; and then, for the first time, heprepared for a journey to Copenhagen, with his knapsack packed andready. A master was expecting him there, and he thought of Joanna, andhow glad she would be to see him. She was now seventeen, and henineteen years old. He wanted to buy a gold ring for her in Kjoge, butthen he recollected how far more beautiful such things would be inCopenhagen. So he took leave of his parents, and on a rainy day,late in the autumn, wandered forth on foot from the town of his birth.The leaves were falling from the trees; and, by the time he arrived athis new master's in the great metropolis, he was wet through. On thefollowing Sunday he intended to pay his first visit to Joanna'sfather. When the day came, the new journeyman's clothes were broughtout, and a new hat, which he had brought in Kjoge. The hat becamehim very well, for hitherto he had only worn a cap. He found the housethat he sought easily, but had to mount so many stairs that hebecame quite giddy; it surprised him to find how people lived over oneanother in this dreadful town.
  On entering a room in which everything denoted prosperity,Joanna's father received him very kindly. The new wife was astranger to him, but she shook hands with him, and offered him coffee.
  "Joanna will be very glad to see you," said her father. "Youhave grown quite a nice young man, you shall see her presently; she isa good child, and is the joy of my heart, and, please God, she willcontinue to be so; she has her own room now, and pays us rent for it."And the father knocked quite politely at a door, as if he were astranger, and then they both went in. How pretty everything was inthat room!