Hans of Iceland, Vol. 1 of 2

by Victor Hugo

Schumacker blessing the Young Couple.

Etching by W. H. W. Bicknell.

HANS OF ICELAND.

I.

Did you see it? did you see it? did you see it? Oh! did you see it?—Who saw it? Who did see it? For mercy’s sake, who saw it?

Sterne: Tristram Shandy.

“THAT’S what comes of falling in love, Neighbor Niels. Poor Guth Stersen would not be stretched out yonder on that great black slab, like a starfish forgotten by the tide, if she had kept her mind on mending her father’s boat and patching his nets. Saint Usuph, the fisher, console our old friend in his affliction!”