Viggo ran as fast as he could to the cottage of Hans, and when he reached the door he had an armor of shining ice over his whole body. When the Grenadier pulled off his trousers they could stand by themselves on the floor; they were frozen stiff.
Viggo, of course, had to change from top to toe, and what should he put on? Hans went to his old chest and came back with his uniform. Viggo looked rather queer, the yellow knee trousers reached to his ankles, and the red coat with yellow cuffs and lapels hung on him like a bag. But he was wearing a real uniform! Hans looked at him. "Well," he said, "I won't say much about the fit of the clothes, but who knows you may wear a better looking uniform some day. The heart is of the right kind, and the nose—well it is doing better."
—From the Norwegian by Jörgen Moe.
[Bikku Matti]
On a wooded hillside stood a little cabin. It had but one window and this was so small that, when the round, fair, curly head of a little boy appeared in it, the whole window was filled. Some years ago there had been a brick chimney and the walls had been painted red. At that time the cabin and a little potato field were fenced in neatly. But now it all looked poor, very poor. The smoke escaped through a hole in the turf roof and the fence had fallen to pieces long ago. In this place lived an old blind soldier and his wife. They could not work in the field to make their living; but the old man earned a little money by tying nets; the old woman made a few brooms; the church gave them each year three barrels of rye for bread, and thus they managed to live.
Four or five years ago a young and hard-working couple lived with the old people. Then they all had enough and to spare. But one Sunday morning, the large church boat that carried the people of the parish to church was overturned by a sudden squall, and both the young man and his wife, with many others, were lost in the waves. The old people had stayed at home that day, the old man because he was blind and his wife in order to take care of a little baby.
So the old couple remained there with their sorrow, their poverty and a little grandchild. For the young couple had left a little boy whose name was Matti; because he was so little they called him Bikku Matti. Those who don't understand Finnish will have to guess what the name means.