And Brede actually takes out his
lean purse and pays. "There's a wife for you," he says to the others.
"Thrifty, what?"
The cart is not worth much--it has stood too long uncovered in the
open; but Axel bids a full five _Kroner_ more at last, and gets the
cart as well. After that Axel buys no more, but all are astonished to
see that cautious man buying so much as he has.
Then came the animals. They had been kept in their shed today, so as
to be there in readiness. What did Brede want with live stock when he
had no farm to keep them on? He had no cows; he had started farming
with two goats, and had now four. Besides these, there were six sheep.
No horse.
Isak bought a certain sheep with flat ears. When Brede's children led
it out from the shed, he started bidding at once, and people looked at
him. Isak from Sellanraa was a rich man, in a good position, with no
need of more sheep than he had. Brede's wife stops selling coffee for
a moment, and says: "Ay, you may buy her, Isak; she's old, 'tis true,
but she's two and three lambs every blessed year, and that's the
truth.
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