“She shines like a queen. She smiles like a bride. She has moved his arm-chair up to the bed and laid on it the clothes which she herself had woven for him.”
But then a silence falls on the people. No one says it, all know it at the same time: “He is dying.”
Captain Lennart opens his eyes and sees everything.
He sees his home, the people, his wife, his children, the clothes; and he smiles. But he has only waked to die. He draws a rattling breath and gives up the ghost.
Then the stories cease, but a voice takes up a death-hymn. All join in, and, borne on hundreds of strong voices, the song rises on high.
It is earth’s farewell greeting to the departing soul.