This is one of Bjørnson’s most popular “peasant tales”, showing how honesty and hard work could overcome the social and economic barriers between the gardman and the houseman (see A Dangerous Wooing, also written in 1860). Like Synnøve Solbakken (1857), it has an unambiguously happy ending.
Young Oyvind Thoresen of Pladsen, growing up in a poor family, has his own lamb. Four-year old Marit Knudsdatter, grand-daughter of Ola Nordistuen of the Heidegards, tricks him out of the lamb by tempting Oyvind with a “twisted bun” (8). Tempted by such a delicacy, he loses the lamb, then feels devastated. Soon after, however, Marit tearfully returns the lamb to him, forced so to do by her grandfather, but Oyvind is “no longer as happy with [the goat] as before” (13).At school, Oyvind and Marit become close...
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Citation: Rees, Kathy. "En Glad Gut". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 September 2016 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35805, accessed 14 December 2025.]
