Kalle did not seem inclined to contradict him, but Pelle made up his mind that some day he would teach his father to read and write—much better than Uncle Kalle could.
“But we’re quite forgetting that we brought a Christmas bottle with us!” said Lasse, untying the handkerchief.
“You are a fellow!” exclaimed Kalle, walking delightedly round the table on which the bottle stood. “You couldn’t have given us anything better, brother; it’ll come in handy for the christening-party. ‘Black Currant Rum’—and with a gold border—how grand!” He held the label up toward the light, and looked round with pleasure in his eyes. Then he hesitatingly opened the cupboard in the wall.
“The visitors ought to taste what they brought,” said his wife.
“That’s just what was bothering me!” said Kalle, turning round with a disconsolate laugh. “For they ought, of course. But if the cork’s once drawn, you know how it disappears.” He reached out slowly for the corkscrew which hung on a nail.
But Lasse would not hear of it; he would not taste the beverage for the world. Was black-currant rum a thing for a poor beggar like him to begin drinking—and on a weekday, too? No, indeed!
“Yes, and you’ll be coming to the christening-party, you two, of course,” said Kalle, relieved, putting the bottle into the cupboard. “But we’ll have a ‘cuckoo,’ for there’s a drop of spirits left from Christmas Eve, and I expect mother’ll give us coffee.”
“I’ve got the coffee on,” answered his wife cheerfully.
“Did you ever know such a wife! You can never wish for anything but what it’s there already!”
Pelle wondered where his two herding-comrades, Alfred and Albinus, were. They were away at their summer places, taking their share of the good Christmas fare, and would not be back before “Knut.” “But this fellow here’s not to be despised,” said Kalle, pointing to the long boy in the turn-up bed. “Shall we have a look at him?” And, pulling out a straw, he tickled the boy’s nose with it. “Get up, my good Anton, and harness the horses to the wheelbarrow! We’re going to drive out in state.”