Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XLII - Holstrebro
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
188
HOLSTREBRO.
Chap. XLII.
they ply is that of chimney-sweeps. They skin the dead
beasts which die a natural death, and perform offices
other men refuse—rakke-arbeide, it is termed. When
young they are said to be tractable; but when once
they rise to manhood and marry, they relapse into the
bad ways of their brethren. They are allowed to attend
no festivals; no man would seat himself beside them.
In the town and country kros wooden cups are kept for
their express use—rakke-glas they are called. In
some countries the public executioner was ennobled;
in Denmark he enjoys the office of “ city scavenger,”
and his seven underlings are rakkers. In the churches
of Deiberg and other villages there are separate pews
set aside for their occupation, called rakke-stole. Some
years since a prisoner of the gipsy tribe was induced
to teach their peculiar language to the chaplain of the
prison of Viborg, who later published a grammar in the
Rotvælsk tongue, as it is called. On his dismissal from
jail he was instantly murdered by his former associates.
We had brought a letter for Professor Tang, proprietor
of the mansion-house of Norre Vosborg. We found him
at the inn at Holstrebro, together with Hans Andersen;
so we accepted his kind invitation to pass a couple of days
at his manor-house, some three miles distant from
Ringk-jøbing. It was seven o’clock when we left Holstrebro.
Our road runs across the wildest heather-scenery —
scarcely a village, scarcely a farm. It will take us
some four hours to drive there; so I amuse myself by
looking over the map. We are not far from
Bor-bierg, whose village church was built under most
singular circumstances. Holy, very holy people in vain
endeavoured to raise the walls. As fast as they built
them up, the devil again cast them down. Tired out,
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
