Some soldiers, clad in sheep-skin jackets, with the fur side turned inwards, are busy drawing home wood from the adjacent forest. There is peace in the land, the drawbridge is down, and horses' feet thunder over the bridge. Then a violent squabble arises in the castle yard. An old woman, tall in stature, with rather disagreeable features, has taken possession of one of the loads of wood, and pushed away the soldiers, while she picks up as many pieces as she is able to carry, and commands another younger woman to do likewise.
The soldiers utter coarse oaths, but the woman with the keen eyes does not deign to reply.
A sub-officer, drawn there by the noise, informs himself of the cause, then addresses the woman with hard words, and orders her to return the wood she has taken. The woman refuses to obey; the sub-officer endeavours to use force; the woman plants herself back to the wall, raises a small log of wood in the air, and threatens to break the head of the first man who approaches her. The soldiers swear and laugh; the sub-officer hesitates; the old woman's courage holds them all in check.
Then an elderly man appears on the steps, to whom all give way with reverence. It is Governor Wernstedt. As soon as the old woman sees him, she leaves her hostile attitude, and relates with a torrent of words all the injustice she has suffered.
"Yes, gracious Excellency," she said, "that is the way they dare to treat a man who is the pride and ornament of Sweden. It is not sufficient to shut him up in this miserable out-of-the-way hole, but they let him freeze to death in the bargain. What wood have they given us? Great God! nothing but green and rotten chunks, which fill the room with smoke, and do not give out heat enough to thaw the ink on his table. But I tell you, Excellency, that I, Lucia Grothusen, do not intend to be imposed upon any longer. This wood is good, and I take it, as you see, Excellency, right before the face of these vagabonds, who deserve to all hang upon the highest pine in the Paldamo forest. Pack yourselves off, you lazy, good-for-nothing rascals, and look out how you act before me and the Governor. The wood is mine, and that is all to be said about it."
The Governor smiled.
"Let her keep the wood," he said to the soldiers, "or else there will be no peace in the castle. And you, Lucia, I warn you to hold your wicked tongue, which has already done so much mischief; otherwise it may happen that I shall again put you and your husband in that basement you know of, where Erik Hare kept you, and where the stream rolls right under the floor. Is this the thanks I get for the mild treatment I have bestowed upon you, that you are eternally exciting quarrels in the castle? The day before yesterday you gave rein to your tongue, because you did not receive enough soap for your washing; yesterday you took a leg of mutton by force from my kitchen, and to-day you make a noise about the wood. Take care, Lucia; my patience may be exhausted."
The woman looked the Governor right in the face.
"Your patience!" she repeated. "How long do you think that mine will last. I have stayed now nearly nineteen years in this owl's nest. For nineteen long years has it cast a stain upon Sweden that its greatest man is confined here like a criminal! ... Mark what I say: Sweden's greatest man; for the day will arrive when you, and I, and all these souls of lard, all these wandering ale-jugs, will be food for worms, and no more thought of than the hogs you killed to-day; but the glorious name of Johannes Messenius will shine for all time. Your patience! Have I, then, had none—I who in these long weary years have been fighting with you for a bit of bread, for firewood, for a pillow for this great man, whom you abuse? I, the only one who has kept his frail body alive, and strengthened his soul for the great work which he has now accomplished? Do you realise what it means to suffer as I have; to be snatched away from one's children, to go about with despair in the heart, and a smile on the lips, so as to seem to have a hope when none remains? ... Do you know, your Excellency, what all this means? And you stand there and talk about your patience!"
The soldiers' loud laughter all at once interrupted the voluble old woman. She now perceived for the first time that the Governor had chosen the wisest course, and gone his way. It was not the first time that Lucia Grothusen had put the commander of a fortress to flight. She felt able to drive a whole garrison to the woods. But it vexed her that she could not fully relieve her heart. She threw a stick of wood at the nearest and worst of her mockers, and then hurried with the wood in her arms, to reach a low back door. The soldier, struck in the leg, seized the stick with an oath, and flung it in his turn after the old woman. Lucia, hit in the heel, uttered a cry of pain and anger ... and then she disappeared through the door, followed by the soldiers' loud laughter.