Finally the company went into the castle. But if the boy had hoped for
a chance to crawl out of that box, he was deceived; for the student
carried it upon him all the while, and the boy was obliged to accompany
him through all the rooms. It was a tedious tramp. The teacher stopped
every other minute to explain and instruct.
In one room he found an old fireplace, and before this he stopped to
talk about the different kinds of fireplaces that had been used in the
course of time. The first indoors fireplace had been a big, flat stone
on the floor of the hut, with an opening in the roof which let in both
wind and rain. The next had been a big stone hearth with no opening in
the roof. This must have made the hut very warm, but it also filled it
with soot and smoke. When Vittskoevle was built, the people had advanced
far enough to open the fireplace, which, at that time, had a wide
chimney for the smoke; but it also took most of the warmth up in the air
with it.
If that boy had ever in his life been cross and impatient, he was given
a good lesson in patience that day. It must have been a whole hour now
that he had lain perfectly still.
In the next room they came to, the teacher stopped before an old-time
bed with its high canopy and rich curtains. Immediately he began to talk
about the beds and bed places of olden days.
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