Ida's New World

by Lise Muusmann

  “I told you so,” Ida said proudly. “You play the drum perfectly!”

  Everybody clapped and stamped and expected another number.

  Chapter 53

  And another number did come. Several men from the tribe showed up with drums of all sizes. The bigger ones were so large, that Ida could have slept in them. The drums were adorned with thick animal fur around the sides, and on the drumhead there were sketches and drawings of animals. The biggest drum was carried out by four big strong men. It was suspended on leather ropes from a stand constructed of poles. The men sat down at their drums, and began to play. Now the rhythm became vibrant and pulsing. The beat varied and changed all the time. It was loud and it was hard work. Some of the drummers were clad only in a loincloth and their muscles rippled and shone in the firelight. They wore decorated moccasins on their feet, reinforced with soles of thick leather.

  Ida stood between Rose and her mother. She felt as if she had become one with the thundering rhythm. She forgot all about where she was and just swayed with the beat that seemed to pound inside her. It was an experience that made a deep impression on her. She couldn’t help moving to the rhythm. Ida glanced towards Rose, who still had the white drum in her hand and played along on it. Katrina gazed at the Indians, as though enchanted.

  Then more men appeared with flutes. They played melodies weaving over and above the deep rhythm of the drums. Ida gasped and stared at the flutes that sent out such magical tones. She grasped her mother’s hand as more Indians appeared and began to dance and stamp to the rhythm. She couldn’t stop herself from racing forward to dance along. But while she danced, she realised that only the men participated. The women dressed in their long skin dresses with the dangling fringes, stood around outside the circle, cheering the dancers. All of a sudden a big eagle appeared. Ida stopped and turned white as a sheet, until she saw that it was an Indian adorned with eagle feathers. He had great wings attached to his arms and an Eagle mask on his head. The way he danced and moved made Ida think he really was an eagle. The eagle glided around the circle tilting from side to side with wings widespread. At first it flew around in big circles, then in figure eights, and finally with wings held together straight up in the air. Then a big bang came from the huge drum, the eagle was hit by an arrow and fell dead to the ground. Ida started to cry wildly. The Indians looked at her, but the rhythm carried on, growing weaker and weaker until finally the drums fell silent. The eagle lay on the ground, and Ida rushed to bend over the great dead bird. Suddenly the eagle opened its eyes, and the Indian, who was inside the eagle, pushed her away. Katrina quickly grabbed her and pulled her out of the circle and over to Rose still seated on the log.

  “Rose,” said Katrina. “Let us go and see how Stephen is and make arrangements. I don’t want Ida to stay here, she is too impressionable. But where are Henry and Frederik?” She asked and looked around for them.

  “They are over there,” Ida said pointing. They sat on log seats outside the medicine man’s tent, from where they had watched the Indian dance.

  “That was the Eagle dance,” Henry said as the women came up to them.

  “What an experience.” Rose nodded, eyes wide in agreement.

  She put her head inside the tent to see that Stephen was lying on a soft bed made of buffalo skin. She went into the tent and took his hand, and patted him on the cheek.

  “Are you in pain?” She asked and looked towards the leg, that was covered up under thick fur skins. He shook his head and smiled sleepily at her.

  “No, I think they gave me something, so that it does not hurt anymore. I even fell asleep.”

  “Well, we will have to try to get you on board the wagon, so that we can take you home,” Rose said emphatically. But he shook his head.

  “No, mother. That would not do. I can not endure a trip in the wagon with this leg. I will have to wait till I feel better and until the leg is fully recovered before travelling again.”

  Rose sat down heavily next to Stephen. She was shaking all over.

  “You can’t be serious. You have to come home with us, now.” Stephen looked over at the medicine man, who had been sitting at the entrance all this time.

  He got up and walked towards Rose. By means of sign language, he explained to her, that Stephen had to stay until he had recovered. He pointed at himself and at Stephen and pressed his hands together as if to say that he was responsible for the patient and would take great care of him. Rose sat for a while, staring straight ahead. Then she looked up at the medicine man and nodded briefly.

  Chapter 54

  There was a bit of a commotion when they came home without Stephen. Arriving late, in pitch darkness, the wagon crawled slowly up the hill to the Kennedy’s peat house. Inside, Anna sat alone with little Lisa, who had gone to bed hours ago. She was waiting anxiously for their return with pancakes at the ready.

  “Oh, how we have missed you!” Anna cried. “We were so worried!” She was visibly relieved that they had returned safely.

  “But what happened with Stephen? Did you find the Indians? Where is he?”

  They took turns telling her about all that had happened in the Indian camp, as she brought out the warmed pancakes.

  “So Stephen is back with the Indians?” Anna shook her head. “That is never going to work.”

  “He is too poorly to travel. The leg has been put back together by their medicine man,” Rose said sharply.

  “He has a wooden leg,” Ida declared. “It really looks very good.”

  “What are you saying?” Anna gasped in her Lolland accent. “Have the Indians cut his leg off?”

  “Why, no,” Ida laughed. “No, Anna, he has wooden branches strapped on his leg, all bound up tight with leather straps so the leg has to grow together.”

  They ate the pancakes and talked eagerly about the magnificent drumming and described the stirring dance of the Eagle. Anna listened with her mouth wide open.

  “I would have liked to see that,” she said. “The Indian eagle dance.”

  “Rose played on a drum and sang to the drumming,” Ida said. “It sounded so good.”

  “Look, I have got it here,” Rose exclaimed and showed them the fine hand drum, which she had been given as they climbed on board the wagon to go home.

  She took up drumstick and started to flick it back and forward over the skin, in the way she’d seen the Indians do it. They completely forgot about the pancakes and just listened to the drumming.

  “It’s not quite the way the Indians did it, but I think you can figure it out with practice,” said Henry.

  “Oh,” Rose mumbled. “Do you think so?”

  “And what about Stephen, then?” Anna asked. “Stephen?” She looked at Henry. They understood her, even though she was speaking in Danish.

  “They will bring him back when he is better,” Rose said with tears in her eyes. “It was such very bad luck he had to go and break a leg.”

  “Of course he will come home again!” Katrina cried.

  “But he likes being with them, so much,” Rose said quietly. “God knows how it will all end.”

  “But you are his parents, and he loves you,” Frederik said. “The Indians can never replace his parents.”

  “No, there is something which runs much deeper. He likes the life with the Indians, I can see that clearly, and they also like him.” She started to cry quietly. “We are coming here and taking their land, and they want something in return, right?”

  “I think they will bring him back when he is better,” Henry said firmly. “This tribe seems to want to be friendly neighbours. Meantime, tomorrow early in the morning we will start on the new piece of land. We need to put the potatoes into the soil, so we have food, when winter comes, and produce to sell.”

  Frederik nodded and looked over at Katrina. She stood up and pulled her shawl closely around her skinny body.

  “I think we must go home now,” she said and looked at Ida, who was on the brink of falling asleep at the table.
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  “Can we take the wagon over to our place tonight?” She asked and looked at Henry who nodded.

  “We can take the plough and make a start at the piece of land below our hill,” Frederik said.

  “Yes, we will do that. It is a good thing we have the oxen,” Henry answered. “It is the good, strong bullocks, who best thrive here.”

  A little while later the wagon rumbled down the hill with its load and the patient oxen plodding behind. Ida and Lisa were already asleep in the back, and when they arrived at the Jensen’s peat house, they were carried straight to bed.

  Chapter 55

  The next day was a big day, because this was the first time the plough was put into the prairie. First the long prairie grass that grew so tall and wild must be cut and stored for food for the horses and oxen and for Bluebell. When came the time for the plough to bite into the ground it was quite a fight, because the grass had thick intertwining roots holding firm beneath the soil. The girls paused from stacking the cut grass to watch Henry and Frederik, as they fought hard to keep the plough straight. It looked to be incredibly hard work, but it was wonderful to see the ploughshare turn the dark rich soil. After the first row had been turned, Ida and Lisa hollered with joy. It took several hours before 20 rows had been turned by plough, oxen and the two men, who sweated profusely.

  The potatoes, that were to be put in the ground, were waiting in sacks. The women were to take care of that part of the work.

  “Have you planted potatoes before?” Rose asked Katrina and Anna. They both nodded.

  “We are from Lolland in Denmark,” Katrina explained. “We grew mainly sugar beet and potatoes.” She was becoming quite good at speaking in English. It was a good thing they had met up and made such good friends with the Kennedys. The Irish couple taught the Danes a lot about the English language. Anna still shook her head despairingly at the complicated sounds, but she had started to say a few words in English.

  “Potatoes,” she said and looked down into the potatoes sacks. “Kartofler!”

  “Yes, and they better get into the soil very soon before they start to sprout, whatever they are called,” said Rose good humouredly.

  The women started planting the first two rows, and the girls helped by carrying an amount of potatoes in their aprons and handed them one by one to the women, who put them into the ground at the correct distance between each one. Then they patted the soil up over the buried potatoes to make a little mountain range grow along the row. It was hard work, and as it became quite hot around noon, the women were soon exhausted. They were not used to so much heat. All unnecessary clothes were removed, and they needed a lot of cold water to drink and to splash their faces.

  “Phew,” Katrina said. “I have never felt such heat before. It is never this hot in Denmark.”

  Henry and Frederik were hard at work again after a break. The oxen had also been very happy to rest. But soon they must drag the plough along through the reluctant prairie again. Oxen and men sweated profusely.

  Suddenly, they heard the mighty clap and roar of thunder off in the distance. They looked up from their work, startled, and spotted great dark clouds boiling up at the rim of the sky and moving rapidly toward them. Lighting flickered followed by a thunder clap so loud that everything shook.

  “What are we to do?” Katrina shouted. “We can’t reach the house in time!”

  “Go to the wagon at the end of the field,” Henry shouted. The men hurriedly stopped the plough, lifting the blade up out of the soil. They unhitched the oxen and led them by the nose to the wagon where they tethered them near the horses on a long rope attached to the wagon and across to the trees.

  They were all inside the wagon, when the weather hit. A great wind almost knocked them sideways and immediately after the rain simply cascaded down. The canvas was almost giving in and they had to support it from the inside with their hands. Water seeped through and ran down their arms. The thunder was so fierce, they put their hands over their ears. The lightning struck the ground all around them, but the rain was so heavy that any fire was extinguished immediately. They gazed dispiritedly out at the newly ploughed field, that was rapidly becoming flooded.

  “We can not continue in this morass,” Henry said and shaking his head in despair. “Unfortunately, the weather is like this, around here. It is always extreme.”

  “What does that mean?” Ida asked and again slapped her hands over her ears with the next heavy onslaught of thunder.

  “One could almost say, there are only two seasons here.”

  “Yes, I understand that,” Ida answered. “There is not much of a spring or autumn here, right?”

  “You know, you are quite bright. And you are speaking English really well now,” Henry said and winked at her. There was a tremendous snapping and tearing boom close by. A big sycamore tree had been felled by the lightning. The tree was burning until the wall of rain stopped the flames. They looked, stunned and silent in the wagon, at the great tree, which was now completely black.

  “That was a close call,” Frederik said, shaking his head.

  “I wish it would stop soon,” Katrina asked. “I am so much looking forward to getting back up to the house and having a nice hot cup of coffee.”

  “Thunder and coffee,” Anna said in English, and they all nodded at her.

  “Thunder and coffee,” Rose said and sighed.

   Chapter 56

  But when they finally crawled up the muddy hill, they found the Jensen house in a bad state. Most of the peat on the ceiling had been ripped away by the wind and lay spread around the house. Some of the roof beams were out of place and some had fallen amidst the peat. It looked horrible.

  “Look, the house has broken!” Ida shouted and jumped down from the wagon. “Where are we going to sleep tonight?”

  “In the house,” Henry answered, and he started retrieving the roof beams and wedging them back into place. Henry and Frederik immediately set to, and begin repairing the roof. The whole house was soaking wet and nearly everything inside was wet or damp. They were tired and disheartened, especially when it seemed impossible to light a fire in the stove. All the wood chips and firewood was soaking wet.

  “Oh, I really wanted a cup of coffee,” Anna said on the brink of crying.

  “We could go across to our house. Maybe the damage there is not so drastic?” Henry said encouragingly.

  “Yes, we can not sleep in all this wet bedlinen,” Katrina burst out. She stood holding a pile of soaking wet blankets. “How are we going to dry it all?”

  “We can take care of that tomorrow,” Frederik said. “Let’s just drape them over the box-furniture and get going. We can’t stay here, we shall all become sick.”

  “I find things are very hard out here on the prairie,” Katrina said and started to sniffle. She threw the wet blankets over the table. “I have almost had enough!”

  “You have your children with you,” Rose said caustically.

  “I miss Stephen. Maybe the Indians are not kind to him after all. Maybe he is dead?” Rose sniffled.

  “Enough of that!” Henry shouted. “Get outside and up into the wagon, woman!”

  Katrina first went to feed the hens and make sure they were not drowned in the little chicken house Frederik had built them from sturdy tree poles and netting wire from the ransacked homestead. They were very happy to see her indeed, she threw some grain down for them and then followed the others to the wagon. Frederik had put the oxen into the lean-to plough shed and gave them some dried prairie grass, which was rather damp now. But the oxen didn’t mind. They settled down quickly, it had been a hard day for them.

  Everyone followed Henry’s orders and got into the wagon and they left. There was nothing else to do. The wagon rocked downhill and started to swing hither and thither in the mud. Henry had to slow the horses, encouraging them, but he couldn’t see far ahead in the dark. Frederik jumped down from the box and held the horse’s bridles, to help guide them along the path. It was pitch dark
and they sat all the time as though they held their lives in their hands. Suddenly, they spotted a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness beside the trail. Henry held the reins tight, making soothing noises and stood up. The horses were scared. “I think it is a puma,” Henry said, and shouted aloud to scare it. Which seemed to work, the horses jumped about at the shouting, but the puma disappeared back into the darkness. It was difficult to find the way, but they finally succeeded. The wagon climbed slowly along the hill to Henry and Rose’s with the two jittery horses.

  “I dare not see what condition our house is in,” Rose murmured dejectedly. They got down from the wagon full of misgivings. Henry held up the hurricane lantern and they all looked at the house.

  “The roof is still on,” Henry shouted triumphantly. "And the cow byre is safe too. Let’s get inside.”

  They rushed in and stared in the dim light at all their belongings. Everything was dry and safe inside. Outside they could hear big wet drips falling from the peat roof into puddles.

  “Let me light the fire in the stove,” Anna cried. “And I shall soon have good strong coffee ready for us.”

  Rose smiled and nodded happily.

  “And we will set the table,” Ida said. Lisa and Ida brought out the cups and saucers and quickly put them on the table. When they finally had their much longed for coffee, they heard thunder in the distance. They could also see lightning glistening dangerously in the night sky.

  “No!” Katrina shouted. “I hope it is not starting all over again?”

  The weather rolled closer over the prairie toward their valley, with thunder rumbling and lightning glistening menacingly. “Can we even get to sleep in this weather?” She looked around at the others, her eyes were wide with fear. “I mean, anything can happen in such weather.”

  “We will stay up until the weather has passed,” Henry said calmly, and stood to close the door against the storm. He fixed wooden planks in front of the windows. Now it was raining again. The rain increased in volume and suddenly it was pouring down with hail thudding into the mud outside. The hail hammered on the wooden struts of the roof. They sat very still and stared anywhere but the window or the roof. Everybody said a silent prayer. Now finally, they were inside and dry, but would the house and the roof be strong enough to withstand this weather?