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THE MISTRESS OF MORK SAETER. 217
labours. The men seemed, in fact, to be merely a set
of idle, useless, inferior beings; earnestness and energy
being exclusively female attributes at this altitude. It
may be, that the men were idle because it was Sunday,
or that they had come up to the saeter-land on a visit to
their fair inferior; it is, however, notorious,and
acknowledged throughout Norway, that in the saeter, woman
reigns supreme, and men can only exist there as
tolerated intruders: indeed, the social position of the
male in a Norwegian saeter is somewhat similar to
that which he holds in humble English life on
washing-day.
While the milking was in progress, I laid me down
upon the bed: with my clothes on, of course, as the
cheese-making had to be done by my blooming hostess
in the same apartment. It was a wooden room, about
five yards long by four yards wide: the Avails lined
with shelves, on which were cheeses already made,
and the materials for making more. The bed was
of the usual rustic Norwegian construction—an oblong
box made fast to the wall, and partly filled with straw,
over which were some coarse sheets, shawls, and a
sheepskin: this one was about wide enough for a
comfortable coffin. In the corner opposite to the head
of the bed, and almost within arm’s reach, was the
great stone hearth, covered with a stone and plaster
dome. The other corners were occupied by benches
on which the vessels for standing and mixing the milk
O ö
with the other cheese materials were placed. There
was also a second small apartment, or rather cupboard,
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