[Subsection]

After that Per spent many days with the sheep. The sheep came and nuzzled him and were given salt, not blows. There was plenty of time to sit and think, especially in the evenings when it was nearly time to go home, when the sun sank low so that there was shade and it was quiet and cool, and when the sheep had eaten their fill---then it was good to sit and think.

I wonder what Olav Bringa is doing now?

And he thought too: I wonder what Åsne Bakken is doing now?

At home everything continued as it should. Things were set in motion and not allowed to get out of rhythm.

One day the sheep were to graze in the home woods no longer; they were to be driven up to the moorland and the mountain. This was the day all the shepherds looked forward to: the sheep were leaving. Little brown herdsmen scurried about, not knowing what to do with their arms and legs. They were free.

Per and Aunt Anne were standing by the roadside minding   [p. 76]   the Bufast sheep when the whole flock arrived with shouting and noise and dust. Somewhere farther along the same road Olav was standing waiting.

Auntie laughed and looked at Per. "So now you're free."

She went in front of him down to the farmyard. Auntie herself was spending a good deal of time in the woods these days with the cows. She swung her arms delightedly. Per watched her.

Auntie must never become old and wrinkled and stooping like some old women he had seen. Auntie must walk as she was walking now, swinging her arms and humming---and he himself would be a short distance away.

Free. Free of the sheep. Free of school. He tried to forget what he was not free of, and did feel free as the air.

Smoke rose up from the chimney, slowly and freely. And it felt like Saturday. The river murmured placidly. Father was over on the cleared land, Mother was down in the hen-house and Åsmund was running after her, shouting. Everything was almost right. Per stood watching them, and was free. Auntie let the cows out and took them with her into the woods. Mother began washing clothes at the well. Father came home sweating, was given food, and left again. Everything was right and in full swing; he was standing still and was free; the sheep had gone; he was a bit giddy, and his body felt light. It was like Saturday even though it was a Tuesday.