“Ay, he was a chap after bears!” said one of the sailors afterward; “just as much under the water as over it, when he was after bears. I told him that he was going to injure his health that way; but he only laughed, and pointing to his woollen jersey said, ‘I do not feel cold.’”
To Fridtjof Nansen this Arctic expedition became the turning-point of his life. The dream of the mighty ocean never left him; it was ever before his eyes with all its inexplicable riddles.
Here was something to do—something that people called impossible. He would test it. Some years, however, must elapse before that dream should become reality. Nansen must first be a man. Everything that tended to retard his progress must be removed or shattered to pieces—all that would promote it, improved upon and set in order.
[1] P. C. Asbjörnsen (pron. Asbyurnsen) together with Jörgen (pron. Yurgen) Moe collected the popular and fairy tales of Norway.
[2] Sörkedal, a valley about eight miles to the north of Christiania.
[3] Bogstad, a baronial manor about five miles north of Christiania.
[4] Jotunheim, the giant’s world, a group of mountains in the centre of southern Norway.
[5] Second examination, graduating as a bachelor of arts.