leading to all sorts of cheap jokes. “I remember very well, from my child-
hood on,” Kierkegaard wrote a generation later, “how much it saddened
me to haveto have such short trousers, andI remember my brother-in-law
[Johan] Christian’s unending witticisms.” And when the other boys were
permitted to wear boots, Søren Aabye had to put up with shoes and thick
woolstockingsfromhisfather’sshop.ThisledtothenicknameSørenSock,
but they also called hi m“the choirboy” because his appearance called to
mind the black-clad choirboys who sang in the church schools.
SørenAabyewasnotonlyatease,hewasalsoasmartaleck.Once,when
L. C. Mu ̈ller, who taught religion and Hebrew, reprimanded him, Søren
Aabye burst into high-pitched laughter. Mu ̈ller buttoned up his jacket and
indignantly exclaimed, “Either you leave or I will.” After a moment’s con-
sideration Søren Aabye replied, “Well, then, it’s best that I leave,” where-
upon he left the classroom. Søren Aabye was no less naughty with J. F.
Storck, who taught Danish language and literature. For Storck, who was
engaged to a young woman named Charlotte Lund, Søren Aabye wrote a
composition titled “Charlottenlund: The Trip There and the Amusements
toBeHadThere”[Charlottenlund:apopularwoodedparkandamusement
center, just north of Copenhagen]. There had been free choice of topic, as
a test of maturity. With Professor Boy Mathiessen, who, despite the fact
that hetaught German, was aweak sort ofperson, the foolishnessreally got
out of hand one day. When Mathiessen entered the classroom, he was
shocked to see the pupils sitting around a well-laid table, complete with
sandwichesandbeer!Bonappe ́tit!ButwhenMathiessenwasabouttoreport
the scandalous conduct to the headmaster everyone thronged around him,
apologizing and promising better behavior—excepting one. Søren Aabye
merely said: “Will you also tell the Professor [Nielsen] that we are always
like this in your class?” Whereupon Mathiessen entirely abandoned his in-
tention of reporting the mand returned to his desk in resignation.
Quiet, strange, joyless, cowed, withdrawn, thin, and pale—these are
some of the adjectives of introversion that recur in the recollections of for-
mer pupils and are contradicted (but also psychologically supported) by
more extroverted terms such as teasing, witty, impudent, irritating, and
provocative.
Søren Sock was absolutely no wunderkind. “No one knew anything
about hisunusualtalents,” wrote P. E. Lind. “His responses in religion class
were like those of many other students, and his Danish compositions were
no better (though probably more detailed) than those of other good stu-
dents.Histeacher,Bindesbøll,.. .claimedthatoneofhiscompositionshad
been plagiarized fro mMynster’s ser mons.” And that was probably the case.
Certainly he was capable, always the second- or third-best in the class, but20 {1813–1834}