“But you say Ulrika of Västergöhl, the whore, has moved in with my uncle?”
“He said so himself.”
“And Aunt Inga-Lena, what was she doing?”
“They had been slaughtering, and she was boiling blood sausage for her guests.”
“Did the Glad One eat, the old whore? Did my aunt boil sausage for her?”
“Yes. Go and ask yourself, if you don’t believe me.”
Now Kristina was truly concerned. What could all this mean? What had happened in Kärragärde?
Karl Oskar continued: The strangest of all was the way Danjel acted when he handed over the fifty daler. When asked if they should count the interest as before, he had answered that he did not desire interest on the money. And when Karl Oskar asked for a delay in the interest on the old debt, Danjel had said that he would nevermore accept interest on loaned money. He said it twice, for clarity.
Now Kristina realized that something serious had happened to her uncle. Karl Oskar guessed that some mental disturbance must have affected him.
And not many days passed before rumors began to spread from Danjel Andreasson’s farm. From house to house, from village to village, the news was told: Åke Svensson’s heresy, supposed to be dead with himself more than fifty years ago, had been revived by his sister’s son in Kärragärde.
V. ÅKE RETURNS FROM THE INSANE ASYLUM
— 1—
Danjel Andreasson, at forty-four years of age, was the nearest surviving relative of the Åkian founder. He was known as a good-natured man, and until now his life had been quiet and blameless. He had piously accepted the only right and true faith, thus showing a sound religious concept. His home, Kärragärde, at one time sorely tainted by Åkianism, had many years ago been declared cleansed.
But one night in the fall of 1848 a strange happening took place in Kärragärde.
Before Danjel went to bed that night he was seized by an undefinable anxiety, and to his wife Inga-Lena he expressed apprehension about some approaching illness: at moments he felt a queer dizziness. During the night he was awakened by someone knocking heavily at the door and calling his name in a loud voice. Thinking that maybe a fire had broken out, and his help was needed, he hurried out of bed. When he opened the door the room became illuminated by a brilliant light. Two men stood outside. One of them was a youth dressed in outmoded wadmal clothes and unknown to Danjel. But the second man he recognized instantly from the altarpiece in the church: it was the Saviour, Jesus Christ. Jesus carried a lantern in His hand, and it was this lantern that spread the strangely clear illumination widely into the night. The Saviour looked as Danjel had imagined Him. From His face radiated such a strong light that Danjel could not look at it: he had to drop his eyes.
The man in the wadmal coat at the side of the Saviour had awakened Danjel, and now he called him again by name, saying: “I am Åke Svensson, your mother’s brother. I died young and came to my Saviour in heaven.”
Danjel now saw that the man had the likeness of his uncle as described by old villagers. People were still alive who remembered Åke as he was before the sheriff fetched him to Danvik’s asylum.
The Saviour studied Danjel with compassion, but remained silent.
Åke Svensson spoke again and said: “Your Saviour has awakened you this night that you may resume my work here on earth. The Spirit will tell you what you must do. Danjel, go out and complete my mission! Your Saviour has called you!”
Twice, in a clear voice, Åke repeated this exhortation to his sister’s son. Then the nocturnal visitors were gone, the light from Christ’s lantern disappeared, and all was dark around Danjel.
He found himself on his knees at his threshold, praying, but quite calm. He had not been frightened by what he had seen and heard at his door, and kneeling there he was not conscious of anxiety. His breast was full of a peace which he had never before experienced.
He awakened his wife, Inga-Lena, and told her that the Saviour this night had visited his house in the company of Åke, his uncle who had died at Danvik’s asylum. She thought he had had a dream. But he knew he had been awake the whole time. His ears had heard the knocks on the door when Åke called him by name, his eyes had seen the face of the Saviour. He could well describe the lantern which Christ had carried in His hand: it was in every detail identical with the one He carried in the picture above the church altar.
This was what had happened to Danjel Andreasson, and from that moment his life on earth changed.
Åke had spoken barely twenty words to Danjel, but he knew what he must do: the Spirit spoke in his heart. And after that night all his actions were dictated by the Spirit. Nevermore did he hesitate in his undertakings, nor worry about their outcome. Each time he felt in his heart that he was right. Christ had called him; he had become a follower of the Saviour, and from now on he would lead the same life here on earth as the apostles and the first Christians. He would preach Åke’s teachings, which already were forgotten in the neighborhood. The Spirit guided him when he read the Bible, and moved his hand to those places which had commands for him: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light upon my path.” He had seen the light from Christ’s lantern, he knew the path.
In that autumnal night when Danjel heard his name called, he was reborn into the world. Until he was forty-four years of age he had lived in the flesh; now began his life in the spirit.
And so he resumed the teachings of Åke. Every Sunday he gave Bible talks to his house folk — wife, children, and servants — and if some neighbor happened by, he was welcomed. He went to church every time it was Holy Communion, to enjoy the blessed sacrament. Even during his work he said his prayers — in the field, at plow or harrow, in the barn with the flail in his hand. He always bent his knees while praying. Sometimes he cried aloud during his prayers, which caused people near by to rush to him, thinking help was needed.
Danjel threw the farm’s still on the scrap pile; not only did he discontinue the manufacture and sale of brännvin, he also stopped using alcoholic drinks, nor did he offer them in his home. He forbore swearing and the use of all profane language. Earlier he had sometimes been irritable and quickly angered — now his speech was always mild and gentle. Only about the clergy who had persecuted his uncle did he use hard words.
From now on Danjel considered all his possessions as gifts from God which, while they lasted, he must share with poorer brethren. He took into his house a few helpless creatures and gave them a permanent home in Kärragärde, where they received both food and clothing. Two of them were the most notorious people in the parish, known for whoring, drunkenness, idleness, and general debauchery.
Danjel used no more bolts or locks in his house, but left all doors unlocked at night. Why would he need locks and latches when the Lord stood guard over his house? Could a weak lock, made by human hands, protect his abode better than the hand of the Omnipotent? Those who locked their doors did not trust in God; they committed the trespasses of doubt and disbelief, man’s greatest sins.
To Danjel, as earlier to Åke, there were neither high nor low classes, neither exalted nor simple people — all were equal, equal as children in God’s family. He discriminated only between those who continued to live in their old bodies and those who were reborn in Christ, between those who lived in the flesh and those who lived in the spirit.
After his rebirth he no longer shared his bed with his wife. Because Inga-Lena still lived in the flesh, they were no longer a true married couple. Those marriages where the mates lived in their old bodies were joined by the devil, and the same was true if only one of the couple was reborn. If Danjel now had sought his wife, he would have committed adultery. He therefore told her that they no longer could have marital relations.