Read "Salka Valka" by Halldor Laxness online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
11
In one place, a little stream runs down from the mountain, never drying up in winter or summer. And at one place, a little bridge spans the stream. On the other side of the bridge is the doctor's homefield, bordered on one side by the sea and enclosed by a stone wall. On this field, the children were allowed to romp when May arrived and the weather had improved enough for outdoor games - that is, if the children were not needed for washing fish. On this little bridge, Salka Valka frequently stood on Sundays, watching the children play. But no one invited her to join in, and her outcast's pride forbade her to leave the bridge and climb over the wall on her own. Every now and then the kids pointed at her and laughed loudly, but she had stopped saying anything in return. She just stared at them as a hard-bitten cow would a bunch of dogs on the other side of a wall. Nonetheless, she often imagined herself as one of the "big fish" in the group. When she asked Arnaldur why he never played with the other kids, he replied: