The Wreath: Kristin Lavransdatter #1

After her conversation with Brother Edvin, Kristin feels a sense of peace and clarity: She realizes that she must take responsibility for her actions, and she realizes that she has now become a woman. Her situation takes a turn for the worse, however, when Simon and his family pay her a surprise visit at New Year’s and he unsuccessfully attempts to woo her. Unable to discern the source of her coldness to him, Simon assumes that she is simply caught up in thinking about the death of her friend Arne a year earlier.

Kristin finds herself in an extremely uncomfortable situation when she attends the Christmas celebration at the king’s castle where both Simon and Erlend are in attendance. She has to pretend that she is meeting Erlend for the first time, but her anxiety causes her to pass out and collapse. After Kristin leaves, Erlend sends a local innkeeper to her by the name of Brynhild Fluga with a message, summoning her to the inn. Erlend proposes that they escape and elope to Sweden, admitting that his mistress, Eline, has returned to his estate home, and they can’t go there. They struggle with what they should do next, and Kristin returns to Nonneseter with the problem unsolved.

The next week, Kristin devises a scheme to meet Erlend out in the pasture fields, and they continue their affair during the ensuing months. Easter arrives, and Kristin is confronted by Simon, who demands that her time at the convent come to an end. He wants them to marry unless something has happened that would prevent it. Kristin admits to being in love with someone else, and she tells Simon that he would be better off without her when he reveals that a relative of his saw her heading to the local inn with the innkeeper.

She tells Simon that she is in love with Erlend, and Simon is horrified that she has been deceived by a man of such low character and reputation. Simon agrees to break off the engagement and even to take responsibility for the end of their betrothal on the condition that she tell her father the truth: “Lavrans Bjørgulfsøn must know that I would never go against a promise that I have made to him” (181). Simon leaves and tells Kristin that she has one week to make her final decision.

Kristin sends a message to Erlend about what has transpired and then goes to meet him at the inn. While they are there, Simon arrives and confronts Erlend, attempting to fight him. Erlend is stricken with shame, and Simon leaves with Kristin, demanding that she not see Erlend again until she has spoken with her father.

Three weeks later, Lavrans arrives to bring Kristin home to Jørundgaard, and he appears to her much older and weaker than she remembers. Lavrans tells her that he is angry and disappointed with her decision to end her betrothal to Simon but assures her that his love for her will never change. Kristin reveals that she has fallen in love with another man but refuses to reveal his name, telling her father that she wants to wait until she can be assured of the other man’s intentions toward her.