But
I guess there are not such fish in Norway nowadays.
On the Lofoten Islands-- till I was twelve.
Not a tree or a shrub on them.
But in summer with the sun never gone the grass is higher than here.
The sun circles the horizon.
Between twelve and one at night it is very low, near the sea, to the
north.
Then it rises a little, slowly, till midday, then down again and so
for three months, getting higher at first, then lower, until it disappears--
In winter the snow is often as deep as the ceiling of this room.
If you go there you will see many Englishmen near the falls and on the
bridges fishing.
They will stand there for hours to catch the fish.
Near the shore where the water is twenty feet or so you can see the
kingflounders on the sand. They have red spots on the side.
Men come in boats and stick them with long pointed poles.
Have you seen how the Swedes drink tea?
So, in the saucer. they blow it and turn it this way then that: so.
Tall, gaunt great drooping nose, eyes dark-circled, the voice slow and
smiling:
I have seen boys stand where the stream is narrow a foot each side on
two rocks and grip the trout as they pass through.
They have a special way to hold them, in the gills, so.
The long fingers arched like grapplehooks. Then the impatient silence
while a little man said: The English are great sportsmen.
At the winter resorts where I stayed they were always the first up in
the morning, the first on with the skis.
I once saw a young Englishman worth seventy million pounds-- you do
not know the north. --and you will see perhaps huldra with long tails
and all blue, from the night, and the nekke, half man and half fish.
When they see one of them they know some boat will be lost.
by William Carlos Williams
