Ramsjö Ironworks
While Lagerlöf uses mostly pastoral imagery in this story, describing the Swedish countryside, the scenes inside of Ramsjö Ironworks give the reader a sense of the industrial landscape of the time. She writes, "all the time there were many sounds to be heard in the forge. The big bellows groaned and the burning coal cracked. The fire boy shoveled charcoal into the maw of the furnace with a great deal of clatter. Outside roared the waterfall, and a sharp north wind whipped the rain against the brick-tiled roof" (68). By describing the loudness of the forge alongside the loudness of certain natural formations like a roaring waterfall and the slapping of rain on the roof, Lagerlöf integrates the industry into the pastoral landscape.
A Little Gray Cottage
Most of what the vagabond sees in his travels are expansive landscapes from the roadside. Lagerlöf focuses on describing the Swedish countryside, and the crofter's cottage is the perfect example of her simple, pastoral imagery. She writes, "one dark evening as he was trudging along the road he caught sight of a little gray cottage by the roadside, and he knocked on the door to ask shelter for the night" (66). This image of the crofter who lives alone—just him and his cow on a small plot of land—evokes the environment of rural Sweden at the time.
