(English below)
Juletoget
1
Hej, jeg hedder Kjeld. Det er mig, der er lokomotivfører på ruten fra Nissested til Juleby. Jeg vil fortælle jer om den dag, jeg kørte med det store juletræ, der skulle stilles op på torvet i Juleby.
Det var nemlig en ganske særlig dag, hvor der skete en masse andre sjove og mærkelige ting.
Nu er jeg jo selv et nøgternt menneske, der ikke tror spor på trolde, nisser eller andet overnaturligt. Alligevel har jeg tit tænkt på, om der var julenisser på spil i toget den dag.
2
Vi kørte helt planmæssigt fra Nissested kl. 10:28. Det var en tirsdag, og som sædvanlig var Kaj og Else med. Hver tirsdag besøger de nemlig deres datter i Hjerterød og spiser frokost med hende.
3
Foruden Kaj og Else var der en dame med en gul bærepose med. Hende har jeg også set før. Hun tager altid med til slagteren i Pølsinge. Om eftermiddagen tager hun som regel med tilbage med 14:47. Der var også en pige med røde vanter og en ældre mand. Den ældre mand skulle kun med et enkelt stop.
4
Det mærkelige begyndte at ske i Nisse Ølstrup. Pigen med de røde vanter skulle af, og pludselig kunne hun ikke finde sin ene vante. Hun kom frem til førerhuset og spurgte om jeg kunne vente med at køre til hun havde fundet den, og det kunne jeg selvfølgelig. Vi har ikke så travlt herude på landet.
5
Hun ledte allevegne, og en ung mand, der havde siddet ved siden af hende, ledte med. Men vanten var og blev væk.
6
Men så var der en anden pige som steg på toget. Hun havde blå vanter – men op ad hendes rygsæk stak – en rød vante!
7
Pigen, der savnede sin røde vante, blev først forbavset og siden vred og begyndte at skælde den anden pige ud. Men pigen med de blå vanter begyndte bare at tude, for hun vidste slet ikke at der sad en rød vante i hendes rygsæk. Se, her er det at jeg siger at der må have været nisser på spil!
8
Den unge mand beroligede de to piger. Pigen med de røde vanter steg ud, og endelig kunne jeg køre fra stationen kl. 11:38, seks minutter forsinket. Den unge mand og pigen med de blå vanter blev siddende og snakkede om den underlige hændelse. De fulgtes også ud af toget da de skulle af.
9
I Risenvad skete der for resten også noget mærkeligt. Der var to mænd med næsten ens, mørkt tøj som råbte til mig, inden de steg på: ”Der sidder nogen oven på førerhuset!”
10
Jeg tænkte godt nok ved mig selv, at de vist havde fået for meget nisseøl – det kan slet ikke lade sig gøre at holde sig fast oven på toget med den fart vi skyder! – men de blev ved at snakke om det, lige til de stod af på den næste station. Måske var der alligevel noget om den nissesnak?
11
Pigen med de blå vanter og den unge mand, som ellers begge lød til at være meget optaget af nisser, hørte slet ikke de to mænds råb og lagde knap mærke til at de satte sig på sædet over for dem, lige da toget var gået i gang.
12
I Kagerup var der slet ikke nogen der ventede på toget, og heller ikke nogen der skulle af, så her kunne jeg godt have sparet mig at stoppe – hvis det ikke var fordi der pludselig kom en mærkelig lyd oppe fra taget af førerhuset. Hvad var nu det – nisser igen?
13
Jeg lukkede vinduet op og kiggede op, men der var ingenting at se. Men så snart jeg lukkede vinduet, var lyden der igen. Den blev ved helt til vi kom til Nøddebo, hvor der var to dagplejeforældre som steg på – en dame og en mand - med hver sin store klapvogn med tre børn i – foruden bamser, sutter og jeg ved ikke hvad. Jeg tror ikke nisser kan lide små børn. – Nå, heldigvis skulle de ikke så langt.
14
Da jeg trillede ind på Granbjerg station, så jeg med det samme den åbne godsvogn stå og vente med juletræet, der skulle til Juleby. Det var mindst 10 meter langt – eller højt – og fyldte næsten hele vognens længde.
15
Det var godt at der ikke var passagerer med da vi kom til stationen, og heller ikke nogen der skulle med derfra, for ellers havde de nok besværet sig noget over al den rumlen og bumlen det gav i toget, da den ekstra vogn blev koblet på.
Nå, men vi kom fint afsted, træet og mig – og nissen på taget, eller hvad det nu var.
16
I Sulebæk steg et yngre ægtepar på. De var i deres fineste puds. Jeg kunne høre, at de snakkede om, at de skulle til julefest i Juleby. De havde julebag med til værterne – tre store dåser fyldt med klejner, pebernødder og brune kager. Det lød som om de kendte den familie på 5 som stod på senere, og som også skulle til Juleby.
17
I Kattevig var der en mand med en rød hue, som nær ikke havde nået toget. Han kom løbende i fuldt firspring, tabte sin hue undervejs, samlede den op igen og nåede netop at løse billet og hoppe på toget, inden jeg satte i gang.
18
Da vi var kørt fra Kattevig, skete der noget mærkeligt noget igen. To søskende, som netop var steget på toget, en pige og en dreng, fik øje på kagedåserne som parret fra Sulebæk havde med. De snakkede om hvad der mon var i dåserne. Parret fra Sulebæk åbnede den ene dåse for at lade børnene smage, men – hovsa – dåsen var tom!
Hvis ikke dét er mærkeligt, så ved jeg ikke hvad.
19
En dame, som også netop var steget på, sagde til manden med den røde hue, at der måtte være nisser på spil. Det lo de lidt ad, indtil damen skulle skynde sig af. Hun skulle skifte til Grønlandsbanen på Snefoget Station.
20
For resten har jeg glemt at fortælle om Peter og Karl. Det er mine to nevøer. De bor i Risenvad. Netop den dag skulle de ud at prøve kælken for første gang i år, og selv om det var herligt kælkevejr, var de de eneste der skulle af på Kælkebakken. Da de steg af, vinkede de til damen med den gule bærepose – måske synes de, at det var synd, at hun nu var helt alene i toget.
21
Da vi kørte ind på Kræmmerhuset station, stod der tre personer på perronen. Den ene skulle hente dem der stod af på stationen, den anden var en mand med en instrumentkasse som steg på toget. Den tredje var én, der ville sælge glögg og æbleskiver.
22
Nu er jeg ikke meget for at passagererne sidder i min vogn og griser det hele til med gløgg og æbleskiver, men det er jo kun jul en gang om året, og jeg lod som ingenting, da manden med instrumentkassen kaldte på sin ven, der sad inde i toget, og spurgte, om de ikke skulle have et glas gløgg på vejen.
23
Med møje og besvær fik de to mænd bakset to glas gløgg, to portioner æbleskiver, instrumentkasse og sig selv om bord i vognen. Og jeg var næsten klar til at sætte i gang, da parret med kagerne råbte at jeg skulle vente lidt – de ville også have gløgg!
Så vi kørte fra stationen i højt humør – i hvert fald i passagerkupeen.
24
Det viste sig, at manden med den røde hue og manden med instrumentkassen skulle ud at optræde ved en julefest. Så da de først havde sat sig med gløgg’en, begyndte de at synge julesange. Instrumentet kom også frem – en harmonika. Den ene sang tog den anden, og pludselig opdagede de, at de havde glemt at stå af toget!
Sådan gik det til at jeg havde to muntre musikanter med tilbage igen fra Juleby. Jeg vil tro at de havde nået at komme hele repertoiret igennem, da de endelig nåede frem.
Glædelig jul!
The Christmas Train
1
Hi, my name is Kjeld. It’s me who drives the train on the route from Nissested to Juleby. I’m going to tell you about the day I transported the big Christmas tree which was going to be put up in the square in Juleby.
It was a very special day where a lot of other funny and strange things happened.
Now, I am personally a sober man who doesn’t believe in trolls, elves or other supernatural things. Nevertheless, I have often wondered if there were Christmas elves on the train that day.
2
We departed from Nissested according to plan at 10:28. It was a Tuesday, and as usual, Kaj and Else were on the train. Every Tuesday they visit their daughter in Hjerterød and have lunch with her.
3
In addition to Kaj and Else there was a lady with a yellow bag. I have seen her before. She always goes to the butcher in Pølsinge. She usually takes the train back in the afternoon at 14:47. There was also a girl with red mittens and an elderly man. The elderly man got off again at the next station.
4
The strange things began to happen in Nisse Ølstrup. The girl with the red mittens had to get off, and suddenly she could not find one of her mittens. She came up to me and asked if I could wait to depart until she had found it, and of course I could. We are not so much in a hurry out here in the country.
5
She searched everywhere, and a young man who had sat beside her, searched along with her. But the mitten was gone.
6
Then another girl boarded the train. She had blue mittens - but in her backpack was - a red mitten!
7
The girl who had lost her red mitten became surprised and then angry, and she began to scold the other girl. But the girl with the blue mittens just started crying because she did not know that there was a red mitten in her backpack. Now, that’s why I say that there must have been pixies playing around!
8
The young man comforted the two girls. The girl with the red mittens got off the train, and finally I was able to leave the station at 11:38, six minutes late. The young man and the girl with the blue mittens sat and talked about the strange incident. They also went away together when they got off the train.
9
I forgot to tell that something strange also happened at Risenvad. Two men with almost identical dark clothes shouted to me, before they got on the train: "There is somebody sitting on the roof of the driver’s cab!"
10
I thought to myself that they had probably had too much Christmas beer – you can’t hold on to the roof, we are running much too fast for that! But they kept talking about it until they got off at the next station. Maybe there were indeed elves around?
11
The girl with the blue mittens and the young man, who otherwise seemed to be quite interested in elves, didn’t hear the two men shouting. They also barely noticed that the men sat down on the seats opposite to them, just as the train had left the station.
12
In Kagerup there was no one waiting for the train, nor anyone getting off, so really there had been no reason for me to stop at all – were it not for a strange sound suddenly coming from roof of the cab. What was that - elves again?
13
I opened the window and looked up, but there was nothing to see. But as soon as I closed the window, the sound was there again. It didn’t stop until we reached Nøddebo, where two childminders - a lady and a man - got on board, each of them with a large stroller with three children in it - along with teddy bears, pacifiers and lots of other stuff. I don’t think elves like small children. - Well, fortunately, they were not going very far.
14
When I rolled into Granbjerg station, I immediately saw the open car with the Christmas tree standing and waiting, ready to be taken to Juleby. The tree was at least 10 meters long - or tall – nearly as long as the car.
15
It was good that there were no passengers on board the train when we arrived at the station, nor anybody who had to get on, otherwise they would probably have been a bit bothered by all the rumbling and bumbling that occurred when the car with the tree was connected to the train.
Well, we left the station in fine shape, the tree and me - and the elf on the roof, or whatever it was.
16
In Sulebæk a young couple got onboard. They were nicely dressed. I could hear that they were talking about that they were going to a Christmas party in Juleby. They had Christmas cookies with them for the hosts - three large boxes filled with crullers, pepper nuts and brown cakes. It sounded like they knew the family of five who got on later and also had to go to Juleby.
17
In Kattevig, a man with a red hat was just about to miss the train. He came running in full gallop, lost his hat on the way, picked it up again and barely managed to buy a ticket and jump on board the train before we departed.
18
When we had left Kattevig, something strange happened again. Two children, a brother and a sister, who had just boarded the train, saw the cake boxes that the couple from Sulebæk had with them. They talked about what might be inside. The couple from Sulebæk opened one box to let the kids taste, but - whoops - the box was empty!
If that was not strange, I don’t know what.
19
A lady who had also just got on board said to the man with the red hat that it was probably elves pulling tricks on them. They all laughed a little, until the lady had to hurry. She had to change to the Greenland line at Snefoget station.
20
By the way, I forgot to tell you about Peter and Karl. They are my two nephews. They live in Risenvad. On that very day they were out to try to sledge for the first time this year, and although it was perfect weather for sledging, they were the only ones getting off at Kælkebakken. When they got off, they waved at the lady with the yellow bag - maybe they thought that it was a shame that she was all alone in the train.
21
As we drove into Kræmmerhuset station, three people were on the platform. One of them had come to fetch the people who were getting off, the other was a man with an instrument box who boarded the train. The third one was a man selling mulled wine and batter cakes.
22
Now I'm not very happy with passengers sitting in my car and messing it all up with mulled wine and cakes, but it's only Christmas once a year, and I pretended not to notice when the man with the instrument box called his friend who was sitting inside the train and asked if they should have a glass of mulled wine on the way.
23
With some difficulty the two men managed to get two glasses of wine, two portions of batter cakes, the instrument box and himself on board the train. And I was almost ready to go, as the couple with the cakes shouted that I had to wait a bit - they also wanted mulled wine!
So we left the station in high spirits - at least in the passenger compartment.
24
It turned out that the man with the red hat and the man with the instrument box were going to perform at a Christmas party. So once they had sat down with the wine, they began singing Christmas songs. The instrument also came forward - an accordion. One song followed the other, and suddenly they realized that they had forgotten to get off the train!
So that’s how it happened that I had two cheerful musicians back again with me from Juleby. I would think that they had managed to get through the entire repertoire when they finally arrived.
Happy Christmas!