In 1881 the sheriff of Manger paid an unexpected visit to Sæle. Someone had tipped him off that some fishermen had pulled ashore driftwood during the winter and had not reported it to him. The fishermen admitted this had happened, but said they only had five days of good weather that winter, and had spent those days at sea to feed their families. They hadn’t had time to row to Manger to report their driftwood find. Their excuse was not good enough for the sheriff and the fishermen ended up in court. Nine of them were sentenced to five days imprisonment on bread and water for not reporting the find to him, but for Johannes at Adnestova, the penalty would be considerably worse. He had not been involved in dragging the driftwood ashore but, since he was unmarried, he decided to take blame for the guilty family. He had just completed his studies at the teaching school at Voss and once he had served his sentence, he began applying for teaching positions. However, since he was now a convicted criminal, his applications failed. His additional sentence was a lifetime ban from teaching, for having taken the blame for unreported driftwood. He later took over a farm in Austrheim and also worked as a market trader. As a consolation, it is said that he made more money as a market trader than he would have done as a teacher.

From Tales from the West, Adne House, 2011

Text by Egil Sæle