
Pelle the Conqueror - APPRENTICESHIP - by Martin Andersen Nexö - Translated from the Danish by Bernard Miall.
Pelle the Conqueror
II. APPRENTICESHIP
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On a windy May‑day morning a lanky boy steps out of the countryside and finds himself at the edge of a bustling town. He pauses in a ditch, breathless and hungry, but his eyes sparkle as he watches smoke rise from a hundred red‑tiled roofs. Counting the houses like a game, he wonders what people eat for dinner and whether they stop when half‑full, questions that reveal his ever‑present hunger for life.
The road thrums with carts, wheelbarrows, and strangers bound for distant lands—some heading to America, others to the king’s service, many just seeking a May‑day celebration. Pelle greets each traveler, noting the hopeful daughter clutching a painted chest, her father’s warning about a town that rewards the clever but steps on the naïve. Through these encounters he senses the rhythm of apprenticeship ahead, a world where hard work and wits are as necessary as bread.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (550K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2005-03-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1869–1954
A major Danish novelist of working-class life, he wrote with unusual warmth and force about poverty, dignity, and social struggle. Best known for Pelle the Conqueror and Ditte, Daughter of Man, his books helped bring ordinary laboring people to the center of modern literature.
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by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø

by Martin Andersen Nexø