“Yes.”
“Is that about the man who drank himself drunk in there?”
Lasse had long since given up learning to read; he had not the head for it. But he was always interested in what the boy was doing, and the books exerted a peculiar magic effect upon him. “Now what does that stand for?” he would ask wonderingly, pointing to something printed; or “What wonderful thing have you got in your lesson to-day?” Pelle had to keep him informed from day to day. And the same questions often came again, for Lasse had not a good memory.
“You know—the one whose sons pulled off his trousers and shamed their own father?” Lasse continued, when Pelle did not answer.
“Oh, Noah!”
“Yes, of course! Old Noah—the one that Gustav had that song about. I wonder what he made himself drunk on, the old man?”
“Wine.”
“Was it wine?” Lasse raised his eyebrows. “Then that Noah must have been a fine gentleman! The owner of the estate at home drank wine, too, on grand occasions. I’ve heard that it takes a lot of that to make a man tipsy—and it’s expensive! Does the book tell you, too, about him that was such a terrible swindler? What was his name again?”
“Laban, do you mean?”
“Laban, yes of course! To think that I could forget it, too, for he was a regular Laban,[[3]] so the name suits him just right. It was him that let his son-in-law have both his daughters, and off their price on his daily wage too! If they’d been alive now, they’d have got hard labor, both him and his son-in-law; but in those days the police didn’t look so close at people’s papers. Now I should like to know whether a wife was allowed to have two husbands in those days. Does the book say anything about that?” Lasse moved his head inquisitively.