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Modern Literary Period 375
In her work "Jerusalem" she takes the reader far
into Dalecarlia among the ancient peasant families.
In the first chapter she draws a fine picture of a Swed-
ish peasant. "There was a young man," she says, "who
was plowing his fallow one summer morning. The sun
shone bright, the grass wet with dew, the air fresh be-
yond words to describe. ... He thought within him-
self, ’How is it that, at times, I worry much and life
seems hard? Can anything more be needed than sun-
shine and fine weather to make one as happy as a child
of God in heaven? And such an estate as this, its many
well-built houses, and fine cattle, and splendid horses,
and servants true as gold. You are at least as rich as
any one in the district, and you never need fear pov-
erty. It is not poverty I fear. I would be satisfied
if I only were as good a man as my father or my grand-
father/
"
Such peasants were they who could voluntarily leave
the dearest they had and go forth with Engelbert and
Gustavus Vasa to fight for right and freedom. They
could also sell goods and lands when the voice sounded
in their ears the strange summons, "To Jerusalem,
God’s Holy City." And then is told the gripping true
saga of a religious awakening spreading over one of
the large parishes in Dalecarlia, where many of the
people leave their homes and go forth on the long pil-
grimage to Jerusalem.
She has told many other sagas to old and young. In
"Nils Holgersson’s Travels" she has given the Swedish
children beautiful pictures of their long land and im-
mense forests, the red peasant houses, and the rushing
rivers.
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