Per Hansa Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• Per Hansa arrives in the Dakota Territory with his family, eager to get to work and build his own personal kingdom. His wife Beret isn't enthusiastic about the whole thing, but he accepts this as part of life. After all, he's the head of the family and when push comes to shove, he plans on getting his way.
• Shortly after arriving at the new Norwegian settlement, Hansa realizes that his new farmland passes over an old Native American burial ground. This probably means that his farm lies on one of the Native Americans' migration routes, which scares his wife Beret because she has only heard stories about how Native American people attack white people and cut off their scalps.
• When a group of Native American people shows up, everything works out fine. Per Hansa helps cure an infection in one guy's hand, and as a sign of appreciation, the guy gives Hansa a new pony. Not bad, eh?
• Not long after his encounter with the Native Americans, Per Hansa is devastated to find several wooden stakes marking off his neighbors' farmlands. The stakes belong to people with Irish names who must have come upon the settlement before Hansa and his gang. Rather than risk a land dispute, Hansa pulls out the stakes and burns them. His wife Beret notices him doing it and calls him out for being dishonest.
• When the Irish folks show up, there's a scuffle. But Hansa's friend Hans Olsa makes short work of the biggest Irish guy, which effectively ends the fight.
• Beret gives birth to her and Hansa's fourth child. Both child and mother nearly die during the birth, but once it's over, Hansa decides to name his son Peter Victorious. Both Beret and the neighbors think that Hansa is tempting fate with this name, since he's been a little too cocky ever since he first moved to the settlement.
• Per Hansa continues to work to improve his farm, but he can't ignore the fact that his wife Beret is slowly losing her mind. When a minister finally shows up in the area, Per Hansa sits down with him and confesses all his insecurities about his life and family.
• At the end of the book, Hansa finds out that his best friend Olsa has come down with a deadly case of pneumonia. He can't do anything because the weather is too harsh for travel. But Beret scolds him until he agrees to head out and look for the minister. Unfortunately, he never makes it back home. He freezes to death out in the blizzard.