The Prophets of Eternal Fjord (50 page)

Alas, what pain for me to see them – and yet such comfort at the same time! I saw my dear mother and several of my deceased relatives, whom I have not seen since childhood. Moreover, which matter struck deeply into my heart, my sister Kirstine, who must therefore have passed away during this last year. Yet the vision is not sorrowful, rather it is a solace and her blessedness shone into my eyes. Furthermore, I saw a number of other acquaintances, among them the cooper Dorph and the carpenter Thomas Møller, whose death I caused, all seemingly in vigour, agile and in good spirits; and also the widow's little girl and Bertel's young son, the studious boy of whom I was so fond. Into the sun wandered Captain Valløe and all his crew, by which I surmise that the
Frühling
has gone down on the return voyage; and in front of them, as though their leader, my friend the ship's boy, who jumped in the sea and drowned. Sad it was to see Miss Schultz's father, the book printer, among them. May the Lord have mercy upon his soul. Yet Miss Schultz herself seemed to be absent. Numerous others I saw, too, who are unfamiliar to me, including a young man in a wig, whose face was gentle and good-humoured; his red cape was of the German cut, and, if I'm not mistaken, it was the Privy Councillor Moltke! It was a quiet procession and the people – that is to say, my mother – appeared not to hear my calling out, no matter how insistent and piercing my voice must have sounded among the fells. I could have gone to the place from which the bridge seemed to emerge, but courage failed me. My father was not among them, though I am unlikely to see him again in this life.

How long I stood and stared at this heavenly procession I know not.

It seems to me that perhaps an hour passed. All the time I noticed further acquaintances, old friends from childhood, student comrades, among them my friend Laust; and Mr Egede, who made such effort, albeit in vain, to teach me the Greenlandic affixes. None of this surprised me. I must have been prepared for it without knowing, and merely stood with my arms hanging at my sides and tears running freely down my cheeks without my caring to wipe them away. With peace of mind I left the place and returned to my accommodation in the alcove.

I write these words some few hours after this vision and am as yet highly affected by it, although the sentiment to which it has given rise within me, a feeling of peace and a portent of my own salvation, fulfils me and affords me serenity. However, I must repeatedly turn away from the page and quietly allow my tears to flow. The strangest aspect of it is that I do not feel to have witnessed any supernatural occurrence, nor was the vision in any way distressing. Deeply touched by the sight of my sister once more. But she is dead and blessed, I saw it myself!

Dearest Kirstine, I am no longer fearful of my own demise. May the time be short until we see each other again in the hereafter, where I may greet you with kisses and fond caresses and we may wander together along the shore of Elysium to the gentle whisper of the waves.

15 May

O laughter, this great heathen joy!

Habakuk and Maria Magdalene are my new teachers. Where she is reason, he is practice. He possesses a gift to engender enthusiasm and to jump forward in leaps of religious insight, as I have witnessed on numerous occasions during these days.

No less important is the fact that this great prophet has finally discarded his hostile countenance and has begun to afford me, as priest and Dane, a modicum of gracious kindness. I speculate that his wife has spoken with him, and that he, who like myself is much devoted to her, has resolved to heed her intercession. I sense this relief of the fear by which I was gripped formerly has now sent me to the opposite extreme, causing me to be somewhat obsequious in my behaviour towards him. And yet I have no objection to cowering like a dog, for it is a useful lesson for an old academicus and rationalist such as myself to defer to a man I previ­ously would have considered one of the basest creatures under the sun.

But enough of this!

While I am well aware that a description of the devotions in which Habakuk directs his congregation may appear mirth-provoking, perhaps even repellent to the casual and detached reader, I shall nonetheless commit my observations to this journal and thereby fix in writing these metaphysical ceremonies as I have witnessed them.

It is she who receives the messages from the Lord, for the most part in dreams in which she is placed before Him and He speaks to her. Whatever she is told in these instances she then passes on to her husband, who in turn relates the words to his congregation in the form of sermons. These devotions are held in the early and late hours, on normal days as well as Sundays, depending on the occurrence of the Madame's dreams. People sit close together on the sleeping benches and listen; others soon come milling from without; all are more or less naked as he elaborates to them the joys of Paradise, a place that has much resemblance to this country, with a wealth of seals and reindeer and other prey, yet quite purged of Danes – a primeval Greenland as once it was. Many of the womenfolk are thereby brought to ecstasy and bounce on the spot while seated cross-legged, attaining increasing elevation. At the culmination of this state, the room echoes with squelching breasts and a clamour of rattling voices. There is weeping and laughter, and mucus is slung and spat against the wall of the house to run thickly towards the floor. Thereafter a calmness descends upon the congregation, which Habakuk exploits to bid one of the women to his bed, such behest being without exception happily obeyed, often with the most beatific of smiles. It is then heard that he joins together in flesh with the chosen woman, while his wife remains seated on the bench with her house-dwellers, apparently content and unaffected. She and I are the only ones present who have not removed our clothing and differ thereby from the rest of the congrega­tion. On this account I feel some mutual connection with her, as well as pity, since it must undoubtedly be trying for her to maintain a dignified expression under such circumstances.

Moreover, devotions are performed each Sunday in the church, once again with Habakuk in the role of preacher. The service here consists of questions and answers, whereby Habakuk poses the questions and the rapt congregation replies in an atmosphere of increasing excitement, gradually whipped into a veritable fury of damp-eyed wailing and laughter. However misplaced it may appear, this weeping – and in par ­ticular the mirth and merriment that accompanies it – serves strangely to lighten the mood. I, too, partake in it and feel both liberated and glad­dened by suddenly giggling without obvious reason, as though I were a demon of Beelzebub.

When this ceremony is over we go up to the churchyard, where we take each other by the hand, dance and sing hymns; for as Habakuk says: We must also be mindful of the dead that they may not be forgotten.

The procession I saw has not shown itself to me again, nor have I endeavoured to seek it out. It was a powerful vision of the kind to which a man should not be exposed too often. However, I have confided the matter to Maria Magdalene, and she smiled and squeezed my hand and said it was good.

I now set to work instructing the unchristened, having first made sure to request and receive Habakuk's permission. He even showed me the kindness of saying that my presence here could be of great assistance to himself and his wife, and also to the population here in general. The widow's dream of finding salvation in baptism will now at long last be fulfilled. She lies with me upon the bench. Habakuk has assured me that it is not a sin, since the Lord sees the human heart and has Himself bequeathed to man the merciful gift of love. In this I believe him and have asked him to marry us, to which he has agreed, even though such a ceremony can only ever be pretence.

The widow's kiss is as sweet as strawberries, and with pursed lips and blushing cheeks she is quite without her usual contrariness. When we entwine behind our curtain we are indeed one flesh! Her gentle breath against my skin when she sleeps. I lie awake and consider her as I write these lines. She is finally mine.

16 May

Today my cassock, my collar and wig were returned to me, all quite ruined, though now repaired and laundered.

Held service in the church today, almost the entire settlement in atten­dance, inside and out, and I blessed the congregation, christened and unchristened alike. Thereafter we proceeded together to the churchyard and sang two of Kingo's hymns. They rang so finely from the steep fellside.

Habakuk came to me afterwards and thanked me with tears in his eyes and told me he sensed the presence of the Lord. He is indeed an oddly excitable and soulful man, not at all heavy and immoveable as rock, but light and fluttering like a butterfly.

.  .  .

I am Magister Falck. The people call me
Palasi
.

18 May

A conversation:

MM: Magister Falck, what happens in the view of the Church to the unchristened relatives of the Greenlanders now to be baptized?

Palasi: The unchristened do not belong to the Lord.

MM: So they may not find salvation?

Palasi: If they come to receive instruction, they may be saved.

MM: No, you don't understand, Magister. The unchristened relatives who are dead, what happens to them?

Palasi: It is a shame, but if a person is not christened he may not find salvation, unless he is a small innocent child upon which the Lord shows mercy. If everyone were to be saved regardless of being chris­tened or not, why then should anyone be baptized?

MM: But if they who are now to be christened have no hope of seeing their relatives again in the afterlife, how can this be Christian love?

Palasi: I understand your meaning, dear Maria. But I can do nothing about it.

MM: But if you told them their salvation might lead to that of their loved ones in Heaven? Could you not tell them that, Morten? Recall Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. This is support for such a solution.

Palasi (long silent): I understand. This is a possible interpretation of the Apostle's words. I think perhaps.

MM: It has been our practice here for some time now. It is why we dance at the graves and in that way we celebrate our dead. Your own eyes have seen their procession cross the ford into the heavens, Morten. You understand how important it is to remember those who are gone, and to retain hope of seeing them again.

Palasi: You are right. I shall follow your advice and thank you sincerely for it.

MM: You are a good man, Morten Falck.

Her faith is not merely sentiment; she is well-versed in the scriptures and what she preaches is founded thereupon. If I were to stand at St Peter's gate in the company of this woman, I fear he would first admit her and that my own salvation would depend upon whatever recommendation she might care to whisper in his ear.

25 May

Today I was joined to the widow in wedlock. The marriage ceremony was performed by Habakuk in good Christian manner and without the inclusion of any blasphemous antics. The widow plighted her troth to me in front of the church, while the whole settlement looked smilingly upon us. The weather was fine and mild. The bell was rung and must surely have been heard far out over the ford. Afterwards a festive gathering was held upon the rocks, with salmon to eat.

I am certain the Lord acknowledges this marriage, even though its ceremony was not performed by a member of the ordained clergy.

Since now we are man and wife, Maria has allotted to us a separate house, which is the small dwelling to which I was brought upon my arrival here and in which we are now installed. The widow lies waiting for me in our common bed, to which I may retire without feeling shame towards the Lord or any fellow dweller. I ask her if she feels happiness, but she will not be drawn out. She is a strange woman.

.  .  .

The same, evening

The widow, my wife, which is to say Lydia, as she has asked me to call her, has shown me her crucifix. It is the same one of solid gold that she held up before me when I lay in my sickbed on the
Taasinge Slot
, but which I then believed to be a fantasy.

She was the thief, not Bertel!

Forgive me, dear friend, wherever you may be.

She had the smith melt the gold and forge this great and heavy cross.

In what coin, I wonder, did the smith demand his payment?

She will say nothing of the matter. Unfortunately, the truth is quite transparent. Most likely he moreover took his share of the gold as addi­tional remuneration, besides the services she rendered him.

But the gold is now once more my own, or rather ours, the crucifix part of our common property, a physical manifestation of our love and alliance.

Trinity tomorrow.

10 June

The instruction of my catechumens proceeds well. The widow is of great help; she is my interpreter and my teacher in the Greenlandic tongue, as well as my devoted wife. With her assistance it is my hope to baptize the first ten within a few weeks, which is not a moment too soon, since before long there will be a deputation from the colony. What will happen then I have no idea, though it will hardly be favourable. Yet if I succeed in finding salvation for these people in baptism I shall not have lived in vain.

A woman who was in the pains of labour wished to see me, believing that she would not survive the birth. I attended to her and performed some examinations of her gravid
interiae et exteriae
, ascertaining that the child was in the transverse position, which I managed to correct. Shortly afterwards she gave birth to a boy and was strong enough to rise and find a solitary place to burn her afterbirth.

This deed of healing has afforded me the reputation of being in more than one sense a man of God. I feel it myself: the Lord was truly with me in this! The child, however, is a result of Habakuk's excesses, and since he did not wish it to be born, much as he undoubtedly wished its unfor­tunate mother to be taken for good, he has now once more become resentful of my person, a sentiment that would seem reinforced by the increasing favour I now find among the people of the settlement. He has not greeted me since the birth. Yet I am cordial towards him and hope that we may soon be friends as before.