Well, here was this stone.  There were stones more in plenty, but here was one to begin with.  Isak is looking ahead, to the time when he will need to build a little house here, a little home for himself and Inger, and as well to get to work a bit on the site, and clear it, while Sivert is down at Storborg.  Otherwise the boy would be asking questions, and that was not to Isak’s mind.  The day must come, of course, when Sivert would need all there was of the place for himself—­the old folks would be wanting a house apart.  Ay, there was never an end of building at Sellanraa; that fodder loft above the cowshed was not done yet, though the beams and planks for it were there all ready.

Well, then, here was this stone.  Nothing so big to look at above ground, but not to be moved at a touch for all that; it must be a heavy fellow.  Isak dug round about it, and tried his crowbar, but it would not move.  He dug again and tried once more, but no.  Back to the house for a spade then, and clear the earth away, then digging again, trying again—­no.  A mighty heavy beast to shift, thought Isak patiently enough.  He dug away now for a steady while, but the stone seemed reaching ever deeper and deeper down, there was no getting a purchase on it.  A nuisance it would be if he had to blast it, after all.  The boring would make such a noise, and call up every one on the place.  He dug.  Off again to fetch a levering pole and tried that—­no.  He dug again.  Isak was beginning to be annoyed with this stone; he frowned, and looked at the thing, as if he had just come along to make a general inspection of the stones in that neighbourhood, and found this one particularly stupid.  He criticized it; ay, it was a round-faced, idiotic stone, no getting hold of it any way—­he was almost inclined to say it was deformed.  Blasting?  The thing wasn’t worth a charge of powder.  And was he to give it up, was he to consider the possibility of being beaten by a stone?

He dug.  Hard work, that it was, but as to giving up ...  At last he got the nose of his lever down and tried it; the stone did not move.  Technically speaking, there was nothing wrong with his method, but it did not work.  What was the matter, then?  He had got out stones before in his life.  Was he getting old?  Funny thing, he he he!  Ridiculous, indeed.  True, he had noticed lately that he was not so strong as he had been—­that is to say, he had noticed nothing of the sort, never heeded it; ’twas only imagination.  And he goes at the stone once more, with the best will in the world.

Oh, ’twas no little matter when Isak bore down on a levering pole with all his weight.  There he is now, hoisting and hoisting again, a Cyclop, enormous, with a torso that seems built in one to the knees.  A certain pomp and splendour about him; his equator was astounding.

But the stone did not move.