Henrik cast a glance at me like some wild beast which has an aversion to petting, then flung the bun under the table with such violence that it broke into pieces.
"Dummer kerl!"[10]
[10] "Stupid fellow!"
I remember well, that was the first title of respect I received from him.
Planting his knuckles on the top of my head, he performed a tattoo with the same all over my head.
That is called, in slang, "holz-birn."[11] By this process of "knuckling" the larger boys showed their contempt for the smaller, and it belongs to that kind of teasing which no self-respecting boy ever would allow to pass unchallenged. And before this girl, too!
[11] Literally "Wild-pear" (wood-pear) a method of "knuckling" down the younger boys.
Henrik was taller than I, by a head, but I did not mind. I grasped him by the waist, and grappled with him. He wished to drag me in the direction of my bed, in order to throw me on to it, but with a quick movement I cast him on his own bed, and holding his two hands tight on his chest, cried to him:
"Pick up the bun immediately!"
Henrik kicked and snarled for a moment, then began to laugh, and to my astonishment begged me, in student tongue, to release him: "We should be good friends." I released him, we shook hands, and the fellow became quite lively.