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| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-03-03 20:08:53 -0800 |
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diff --git a/44233-0.txt b/44233-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17be3d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/44233-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10990 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44233 *** + +PLAYS + +BY + +AUGUST STRINDBERG + +THIRD SERIES + + +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY + +EDWIN BJÖRKMAN + + + +AUTHORIZED EDITION + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1921 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The collection of plays contained in this volume is unusually +representative, giving what might be called a cross-section of +Strindberg's development as a dramatist from his naturalistic revolt +in the middle eighties, to his final arrival at resigned mysticism and +Swedenborgian symbolism. + +"Swanwhite" was written in the spring of 1901, about the time when +Strindberg was courting and marrying his third wife, the gifted Swedish +actress Harriet Bosse. In the fall of 1902 the play appeared in book +form, together with "The Crown Bride" and "The Dream Play," all of them +being issued simultaneously, at Berlin, in a German translation made by +Emil Schering. + +Schering, who at that time was in close correspondence with Strindberg, +says that the figure of _Swanwhite_ had been drawn with direct +reference to Miss Bosse, who had first attracted the attention of +Strindberg by her spirited interpretation of _Biskra_ in "Simoom." +And Schering adds that it was Strindberg's bride who had a little +previously introduced him to the work of Maeterlinck, thereby +furnishing one more of the factors determining the play. + +Concerning the influence exerted upon him by the Belgian +playwright-philosopher, Strindberg himself wrote in a pamphlet named +"Open Letters to the Intimate Theatre" (Stockholm, 1909): + +"I had long had in mind skimming the cream of our most beautiful +folk-ballads in order to turn them into a picture for the stage. +Then Maeterlinck came across my path, and under the influence of +his puppet-plays, which are not meant for the regular stage, I wrote +my Swedish scenic spectacle, 'Swanwhite.' It is impossible either to +steal or to borrow from Maeterlinck. It is even difficult to become his +pupil, for there are no free passes that give entrance to his world of +beauty. But one may be urged by his example into searching one's own +dross-heaps for gold--and it is in that sense I acknowledge my debt to +the master. + +"Pushed ahead by the _impression_ made on me by Maeterlinck, and +borrowing his divining-rod for my purposes, I turned to such sources +[_i.e._, of Swedish folk-lore] as the works of Geijer, Afzelius, and +Dybeck. There I found a superabundance of princes and princesses. The +stepmother theme I had discovered on my own hook as a _constant_--it +figures in twenty-six different Swedish folk-tales. In the same place I +found the resurrection theme, as, for instance, it appears in the story +of _Queen Dagmar_. Then I poured it all into my separator, together +with the _Maids_, the _Green Gardener_ and the _Young King_, and in +a short while the cream began to flow--and for that reason the story +is my own. But it has also been made so by the fact that I have lived +through that tale in my own fancy--a Spring in time of Winter!" + +Swedish critics have been unanimous in their praise of this play. John +Landquist, who has since become Strindberg's literary executor, spoke +of it once as "perhaps the most beautiful and most genuine fairy tale +for old or young ever written in the Swedish language." Tor Hedberg +has marvelled at the charm with which _Swanwhite_ herself has been +endowed--"half child, half maid; knowing nothing, yet guessing all; +playing with love as a while ago she was playing with her dolls." On +the stage, too--in Germany as well as in Sweden--little _Swanwhite_ +has celebrated great triumphs. Whether that figure, and the play +surrounding it, will also triumph in English-speaking countries, +remains still to be seen. But if, contrary to my hopes, it should fail +to do so, I want, in advance, to shift the blame from the shoulders of +the author to my own. In hardly any other work by Strindberg do form +and style count for so much. The play is, in its original shape, as +poetical in form as in spirit--even to the extent of being strongly +rhythmical in its prose, and containing many of the inversions which +are so characteristic of Swedish verse. + +It is not impossible to transfer these qualities into English, but +my efforts to do so have had to be influenced by certain differences +in the very _grain_ of the two languages involved. Like all other +languages, each possesses a natural basic rhythm. This rhythm varies +frequently and easily in Swedish, so that you may pass from iambic to +trochaic metre without giving offence to the ear--or to that subtle +rhythmical susceptibility that seems to be inherent in our very pulses. +But the rhythm dearest and most natural to the genius of the Swedish +language seems to be the falling pulse-beat manifested in the true +trochee. The swing and motion of English, on the other hand, is almost +exclusively, commandingly iambic. And it was not until I made the +iambic _rising_ movement prevail in my translation, that I felt myself +approaching the impression made on me by the original. But for that +very reason--because the genius of the new medium has forced me into +making the movement of my style more monotonous--it is to be feared +that the rhythmical quality of that movement may seem overemphasised. +Should such a criticism be advanced, I can only answer: I have tried +several ways, and this is the only one that will _work_. + +"Simoom" seems to have been written in 1888, in close connection with +"Creditors" and "Pariah." And, like these, it shows the unmistakable +influence of Edgar Allan Poe, with whose works Strindberg had become +acquainted a short while before. The play was first printed in one of +the three thin volumes of varied contents put out by Strindberg in 1890 +and 1891 under the common title of "Pieces Printed and Unprinted." But, +strange to say, it was not put on the stage (except in a few private +performances) until 1902, although, from a purely theatrical viewpoint, +Strindberg--master of stagecraft though he was--had rarely produced a +more effective piece of work. + +"Debit and Credit" belongs to the same general period as the previous +play, but has in it more of Nietzsche than of Poe. Its central figure +is also a sort of superman, but as such he is not taken too seriously +by his creator. The play has humour, but it is of a grim kind--one +seems to be hearing the gritting of teeth through the laughter. Like +"Simoom," however, it should be highly effective on the stage. It was +first published in 1893, with three other one-act plays, the volume +being named "Dramatic Pieces." + +"Advent" was published in 1899, together with "There Are Crimes and +Crimes," under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Its name +refers, of course, to the ecclesiastical designation of the four weeks +preceding Christmas. The subtitle, literally rendered, would be "A +Mystery." But as this term has a much wider application in Swedish +than in English, I have deemed it better to observe the distinction +which the latter language makes between mysteries, miracle-plays, and +moralities. + +The play belongs to what Strindberg called his "Inferno period," during +which he struggled in a state of semi-madness to rid himself of the +neurasthenic depression which he regarded as a punishment brought about +by his previous attitude of materialistic scepticism. It is full of +Swedenborgian symbolism, which, perhaps, finds its most characteristic +expression in the two scenes laid in "The Waiting Room." The name +selected by Strindberg for the region where dwell the "lost" souls of +men is not a mere euphemism. It signifies his conception of that place +as a station on the road to redemption or annihilation. + +In its entirety the play forms a Christmas sermon with a quaint +blending of law and gospel. A prominent Swedish critic, Johan +Mortensen, wrote: "Reading it, one almost gets the feeling that +Strindberg, the dread revolutionist, has, of a sudden, changed into +a nice village school-teacher, seated at his desk, with his rattan +cane laid out in front of him. He has just been delivering a lesson in +Christianity, and he has noticed that the attention of the children +strayed and that they either failed to understand or did not care to +take in the difficult matters he was dealing with. But they must be +made to listen and understand. And so--with serious eyes, but with a +sly smile playing around the corners of his mouth--he begins all over +again, in that fairy-tale style which never grows old: 'Once upon a +time!'" + +In November, 1907, a young theatrical manager, August Falck, opened the +Intimate Theatre at Stockholm. From the start Strindberg was closely +connected with the venture, and soon the little theatre, with its tiny +stage and its auditorium seating only one hundred and seventy-five +persons, was turned wholly into a Strindberg stage, where some of the +most interesting and daring theatrical experiments of our own day were +made. With particular reference to the needs and limitations of this +theatre, Strindberg wrote a series of "chamber plays," four of which +were published in 1907--each one of them appearing separately in a +paper-covered duodecimo volume. + +The first of these plays to appear in book form--though not the +first one to be staged--was "The Thunder-Storm," designated on the +front cover as "Opus I." Two of the principal ideas underlying its +construction were the abolition of intermissions--which, according to +Strindberg, were put in chiefly for the benefit of the liquor traffic +in the theatre café--and the reduction of the stage-setting to quickly +inter-changeable backgrounds and a few stage-properties. Concerning the +production of "The Thunder-Storm," at the Intimate Theatre, Strindberg +wrote subsequently that, in their decorative effects, the first and +last scenes were rather failures. But he held the lack of space +wholly responsible for this failure. His conclusion was that the most +difficult problem of the small theatre would be to give the illusion of +distance required by a scene laid in the open--particularly in an open +place surrounded or adjoined by buildings. Of the second act he wrote, +on the other hand, that it proved a triumph of artistic simplification. +The only furniture appearing on the stage consisted of a buffet, a +piano, a dinner-table and a few chairs--that is, the pieces expressly +mentioned in the text of the play. And yet the effect of the setting +satisfied equally the demands of the eye and the reason. + +"The Thunder-Storm" might be called a drama of old age--nay, _the_ +drama of man's inevitable descent through a series of resignations to +the final dissolution. Its subject-matter is largely autobiographical, +embodying the author's experiences in his third and last marriage, +as seen in retrospect--the anticipatory conception appearing in +"Swanwhite." However, justice to Miss Harriet Bosse, who was Mrs. +Strindberg from 1901 to 1904, requires me to point out that echoes +of the dramatist's second marriage also appear, especially in the +references to the postmarital relationship. + +"After the Fire" was published as "Opus II" of the chamber-plays, +and staged ahead of "The Thunder-Storm." Its Swedish name is _Brända +Tomten_, meaning literally "the burned-over site." This name has +previously been rendered in English as "The Burned Lot" and "The Fire +Ruins." Both these titles are awkward and ambiguous. The name I have +now chosen embodies more closely the fundamental premise of the play. + +The subject-matter is even more autobiographical than that of "The +Thunder-Storm"--almost as much so as "The Bondwoman's Son." The +perished home is Strindberg's own at the North Tollgate Street in +Stockholm, where he spent the larger part of his childhood and youth. +The old _Mason_, the _Gardener_, the _Stone-Cutter_, and other figures +appearing in the play are undoubtedly lifted straight out of real +life--and so are probably also the exploded family reputation and +the cheap table painted to represent ebony--although one may take +for granted that the process has not taken place without a proper +disguising of externals. + +There is one passage in this little play which I want to point out as +containing one of the main keys to Strindberg's character and art. It +is the passage where _The Stranger_--who, of course, is none but the +author himself--says to his brother: "I have beheld life from every +quarter, from every standpoint, from above and from below, but always +it has seemed to me like a scene staged for my particular benefit." + + + + +SWANWHITE + +(SVANEHVIT) + +A FAIRY PLAY + +1902 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE DUKE + THE STEPMOTHER + SWANWHITE + THE PRINCE + SIGNE } + ELSA } _Maids_ + TOVA } + THE KITCHEN GARDENER + THE FISHERMAN + THE MOTHER OF SWANWHITE + THE MOTHER OF THE PRINCE + THE GAOLER + THE EQUERRY + THE BUTLER + THE FLOWER GARDENER + TWO KNIGHTS + + + _An apartment in a mediæval stone castle. The walls and the + cross-vaulted ceiling are whitewashed. In the centre of the + rear wall is a triple-arched doorway leading to a balcony + with a stone balustrade. There are draperies of brocade over + the doorway. Beyond the balcony appear the top branches of a + rose-garden, laden with white and pink roses. In the background + there can be seen a white, sandy beach and the blue sea_. + + _To the right of the main doorway is a small door which, when + left open, discloses a vista of three closets, one beyond the + other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged + on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all + sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains + piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so + forth_. + + _The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating + squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands + a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe + is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with + roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded + tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall + above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the + foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed + with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the + head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is + pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across + the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with + lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, + bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in + Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is + placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp + of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the + mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it_. + + _In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a + perch, with its back turned toward the audience_. + + _In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white + doves at rest_. + + _As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways + of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post + against which she leans_. SIGNE, _the false maid, is in the + pewter-closet_, ELSA _in the clothes-closet, and_ TOVA _in the + fruit-closet_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters from the rear. After him comes the_ + STEPMOTHER _carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip_. + + _The stage is darkened when they enter_. + + * * * * * + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite is not here? + +DUKE. It seems so! + +STEPMOTHER. So it seems, but--is it seemly? Maids!--Signe!--Signe, +Elsa, Tova! + + _The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of + the_ STEPMOTHER. + +STEPMOTHER. Where is Lady Swanwhite? + + SIGNE _folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply_. + +STEPMOTHER. You do not know? What see you in my hand?--Answer, quick! +[_Pause_] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws +of steel, as well as bill! What is it? + +SIGNE. The wire-lashed whip! + +STEPMOTHER. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan +white? + +SIGNE. How can I tell what I don't know? + +STEPMOTHER. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an +offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?--Take +off your neckerchief!--Down on your knees! + + _The_ DUKE _turns his back on her in disgust_. + +STEPMOTHER. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that +no youth will ever kiss it after this!--Hold out your neck!--Still more! + +SIGNE. For Christ's sake, mercy! + +STEPMOTHER. 'Tis mercy that you are alive! + +DUKE. [_Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of +his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard_] Her head +should be cut off--put in a sack--hung on a tree---- + +STEPMOTHER. So it should! + +DUKE. We are agreed! How strange! + +STEPMOTHER. It did not happen yesterday. + +DUKE. And may not happen once again. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ Signe, _who, still on her knees, has been moving +farther away_] Stop! Whither? [_She raises the whip and strikes_; Signe +_turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air_.] + +SWANWHITE. [_Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees_] +Stepmother--here I am--the guilty one! She's not at fault. + +STEPMOTHER. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had. + +STEPMOTHER. Your father's wife must be your mother. + +SWANWHITE. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother. + +STEPMOTHER. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and +will make you pliant too. + + [_She raises the whip to strike_ SWANWHITE. + +DUKE. [_Raising his sword_] Take heed of the head! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose head? + +DUKE. Your own! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _turns pale at first, and then angry; but she + controls herself and remains silent; long pause_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone_] Then will +Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her? + +DUKE. [_Sheathing his sword_] Rise up, my darling child, and come into +my arms to calm yourself. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into the arms of the_ DUKE] +Father!--You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. +But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. +[_She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to +his waist_] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches--lift +me up, so I can reach the top. + + _The_ DUKE _holds out his arm_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder_] +Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above--now I can overlook the +rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms +stretched beyond. + +DUKE. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is +promised---- + +SWANWHITE. No--nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rubbing her eyes_] My eyes?--They cannot see what is not +beautiful. + +DUKE. [_Kissing her foot_] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor +little blackamoorish foot! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _gives a sign to the maids, who resume their + previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals + with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the + doorway_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaps to the floor; the_ DUKE _places her on the table and +sits down on a chair beside it_; SWANWHITE _looks meaningly after the_ +STEPMOTHER] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the +Spring arrived? + +DUKE. [_Puts his hand over her mouth_] You little chatter-box! You joy +of my old age--my evening star! Now open wide your rosy ear, and close +your little mouth's crimson shell. Give heed, obey, and all will then +be well with you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Putting her fingers in her ears_] With my eyes I hear, and +with my ears I see--and now I cannot see at all, but only hear. + +DUKE. My child, when still a cradled babe, your troth was plighted to +the youthful King of Rigalid. You have not seen him yet, such being +courtly usage. But the time to tie the sacred knot is drawing near. To +teach you the deportment of a queen and courtly manners, the king has +sent a prince with whom you are to study reading out of books, gaming +at chess, treading the dance, and playing on the harp. + +SWANWHITE. What is the prince's name? + +DUKE. That, child, is something you must never ask of him or anybody +else. For it is prophesied that whosoever calls him by his name shall +have to love him. + +SWANWHITE. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. He is, because your eye sees beauty everywhere. + +SWANWHITE. But is he beautiful? + +DUKE. Indeed he is. And now be careful of your little heart, and don't +forget that in the cradle you were made a queen.--With this, dear +child, I leave you, for I have war to wage abroad.--Submit obediently +to your stepmother. She's hard, but once your father loved her--and +a sweet temper will find a way to hearts of stone. If, despite of +promises and oaths, her malice should exceed what is permissible, then +you may blow this horn [_he takes a horn of carved ivory from under +his cloak_], and help will come. But do not use it till you are in +danger--not until the danger is extreme.--Have you understood? + +SWANWHITE. How is it to be understood? + +DUKE. This way: the prince is here, is in the court already. Is it your +wish to see the prince? + +SWANWHITE. Is it my wish? + +DUKE. Or shall I first bid you farewell? + +SWANWHITE. The prince is here already? + +DUKE. Already here, and I--already there--far, far away where sleeps +the heron of forgetfulness, with head beneath his wing. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaping into the lap of the_ DUKE _and burying her head in +his beard_] Mustn't speak like that! Baby is ashamed! + +DUKE. Baby should be spanked--who forgets her aged father for a little +prince. Fie on her! + + _A trumpet is heard in the distance_. + +DUKE. [_Rises quickly, takes_ SWANWHITE _in his arms_, _throws her up +into the air and catches her again_] Fly, little bird, fly high above +the dust, with lots of air beneath your wings!--And then, once more on +solid ground!--I am called by war and glory--you, by love and youth! +[_Girding on his sword_] And now hide your wonder-horn, that it may not +be seen by evil eyes. + +SWANWHITE. Where shall I hide it? Where? + +DUKE. The bed! + +SWANWHITE. [_Hiding the horn in the bed-clothing_] There! Sleep well, +my little tooteroot! When it is time, I'll wake you up. And don't +forget your prayers! + +DUKE. And child! Do not forget what I said last: your stepmother must +be obeyed. + +SWANWHITE. In all? + +DUKE. In all. + +SWANWHITE. But not in what is contrary to cleanliness!--Two linen +shifts my mother let me have each sennight; this woman gives but one! +And mother gave me soap and water, which stepmother denies. Look at my +little footies! + +DUKE. Keep clean within, my daughter, and clean will be the outside. +You know that holy men, who, for the sake of penance, deny themselves +the purging waters, grow white as swans, while evil ones turn +raven-black. + +SWANWHITE. Then I will be as white----! + +DUKE. Into my arms! And then, farewell! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into his arms_] Farewell, my great and +valiant hero, my glorious father! May fortune follow you, and make you +rich in years and friends and victories! + +DUKE. Amen--and let your gentle prayers be my protection! + + [_He closes the visor of his golden helmet_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and plants a kiss on the visor_] The golden gates +are shut, but through the bars I still can see your kindly, watchful +eyes. [_Knocking at the visor_] Let up, let up, for little Red +Riding-hood. No one at home? "Well-away," said the wolf that lay in the +bed! + +DUKE. [_Putting her down on the floor_] Sweet flower of mine, grow fair +and fragrant! If I return--well--I return! If not, then from the starry +arch above my eye shall follow you, and never to my sight will you be +lost, for there above all-seeing we become, even as the all-creating +Lord himself. + + _Goes out firmly, with a gesture that bids her not to follow._ + SWANWHITE _falls on her knees in prayer for the_ DUKE; _all the + rose-trees sway before a wind that passes with the sound of a + sigh; the peacock shakes its wings and tail_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rises, goes to the peacock and begins to stroke its back +and tail_] Pavo, dear Pavo, what do you see and what do you hear? Is +any one coming? Who is it? A little prince? Is he pretty and nice? +You, with your many blue eyes, should be able to tell. [_She lifts up +one of the bird's tail feathers and gazes intently at its "eye"_.] Are +you to keep your eyes on us, you nasty Argus? Are you to see that the +little hearts of two young people don't beat too loudly?--You stupid +thing--all I have to do is to close the curtain! [_She closes the +curtain, which hides the bird, but not the landscape outside; then she +goes to the doves_] My white doves--oh, so white, white, white--now +you'll see what is whitest of all--Be silent, wind, and roses, and +doves--my prince is coming! + +_She looks out for a moment; then she withdraws to the pewter-closet, +leaving the door slightly ajar so that through the opening she can +watch the_ PRINCE; _there she remains standing, visible to the +spectators but not to the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. [_Enters through the middle arch of the doorway. He wears +armour of steel; what shows of his clothing is black. Having carefully +observed everything in the room, he sits down at the table, takes off +his helmet and begins to study it. His back is turned toward the +door behind which_ SWANWHITE _is hiding_] If anybody be here, let him +answer! [_Silence_] There is somebody here, for I can feel the warmth +of a young body come billowing toward me like a southern wind. I can +hear a breath--it carries the fragrance of roses--and, gentle though +it be, it makes the plume on my helmet move. [_He puts the helmet to +his ear_] 'Tis murmuring as if it were a huge shell. It's the thoughts +within my own head that are crowding each other like a swarm of bees in +a hive. "Zum, zum," say the thoughts--just like bees that are buzzing +around their queen--the little queen of my thoughts and of my dreams! +[_He places the helmet on the table and gazes at it_] Dark and arched +as the sky at night, but starless, for the black plume is spreading +darkness everywhere since my mother's death--[_He turns the helmet +around and gazes at it again_] But there, in the midst of the darkness, +deep down--there, on the other side, I see a rift of light!--Has the +sky been split open?--And there, in the rift, I see--not a star, for it +would look like a diamond--but a blue sapphire, queen of the precious +stones--blue as the sky of summer--set in a cloud white as milk and +curved as the dove's egg. What is it? My ring? And now another feathery +cloud, black as velvet, passes by--and the sapphire is smiling--as +if sapphires could smile! And there, the lightning flashed, but +blue--heat-lightning mild, that brings no thunder!--What are you? Who? +And where? [_He looks at the back of the helmet_] Not here! Not there! +And nowhere else! [_He puts his face close to the helmet_] As I come +nearer, you withdraw. + + SWANWHITE _steals forward on tiptoe_. + +PRINCE. And now there are two--two eyes--two little human eyes--I kiss +you! [_He kisses the helmet_. + + SWANWHITE _goes up to the table and seats herself slowly + opposite the_ PRINCE. + + _The_ PRINCE _rises, bows, with his hand to his heart, and + gazes steadily at_ SWANWHITE. + +SWANWHITE. Are you the little prince? + +PRINCE. The faithful servant of the king, and yours! + +SWANWHITE. What message does the young king send his bride? + +PRINCE. This is his word to Lady Swanwhite--whom lovingly he +greets--that by the thought of coming happiness the long torment of +waiting will be shortened. + +SWANWHITE. [_Who has been looking at the_ PRINCE _as if to study him_] +Why not be seated, Prince? + +PRINCE. If seated when you sit, then I should have to kneel when you +stand up. + +SWANWHITE. Speak to me of the king! How does he look? + +PRINCE. How does he look? [_Putting one of his hands up to his eyes_] I +can no longer see him--how strange! + +SWANWHITE. What is his name? + +PRINCE. He's gone--invisible---- + +SWANWHITE. And is he tall? + +PRINCE. [_Fixing his glance on_ SWANWHITE] Wait!--I see him +now!--Taller than you! + +SWANWHITE. And beautiful? + +PRINCE. Not in comparison with you! + +SWANWHITE. Speak of the king, and not of me! + +PRINCE. I do speak of the king! + +SWANWHITE. Is his complexion light or dark? + +PRINCE. If he were dark, on seeing you he would turn light at once. + +SWANWHITE. There's more of flattery than wit in that! His eyes are blue? + +PRINCE. [_Glancing at his helmet_] I think I have to look? + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out her hand between them_] Oh, you--you! + +PRINCE. You with _t h_ makes youth! + +SWANWHITE. Are you to teach me how to spell? + +PRINCE. The young king is tall and blond and blue-eyed, with broad +shoulders and hair like a new-grown forest---- + +SWANWHITE. Why do you carry a black plume? + +PRINCE. His lips are red as the ripe currant, his cheeks are white, and +the lion's cub needn't be ashamed of his teeth. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hair wet? + +PRINCE. His mind knows no fear, and no evil deed ever made his heart +quake with remorse. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hand trembling? + +PRINCE. We were to speak of the young king and not of me! + +SWANWHITE. So, you, you are to teach me? + +PRINCE. It is my task to teach you how to love the young king whose +throne you are to share. + +SWANWHITE. How did you cross the sea? + +PRINCE. In my bark and with my sail. + +SWANWHITE. And the wind so high? + +PRINCE. Without wind there is no sailing. + +SWANWHITE. Little boy--how wise you are!--Will you play with me? + +PRINCE. What I must do, I will. + +SWANWHITE. And now I'll show you what I have in my chest. [_She goes to +the chest and kneels down beside it; then she takes out several dolls, +a rattle, and a hobby-horse_] Here's the doll. It's my child--the child +of sorrow that can never keep its face clean. In my own arms I have +carried her to the lavendrey, and there I have washed her with white +sand--but it only made her worse. I have spanked her--but nothing +helped. Now I have figured out what's worst of all! + +PRINCE. And what is that? + +SWANWHITE. [_After a glance around the room_] I'll give her a +stepmother! + +PRINCE. But how's that to be? She should have a mother first. + +SWANWHITE. I am her mother. And if I marry twice, I shall become a +stepmother. + +PRINCE. Oh, how you talk! That's not the way! + +SWANWHITE. And you shall be her stepfather. + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +SWANWHITE. You must be very kind to her, although she cannot wash her +face.--Here, take her--let me see if you have learned to carry children +right. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the doll unwillingly_. + +SWANWHITE. You haven't learned yet, but you will! Now take the rattle, +too, and play with her. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the rattle_. + +SWANWHITE. That's something you don't understand, I see. [_She takes +the doll and the rattle away from him and throws them back into the +chest; then she takes out the hobby-horse_] Here is my steed.--It has +saddle of gold and shoes of silver.--It can run forty miles in an +hour, and on its back I have travelled through Sounding Forest, across +Big Heath and King's Bridge, along High Road and Fearful Alley, all the +way to the Lake of Tears. And there it dropped a golden shoe that fell +into the lake, and then came a fish, and after came a fisherman, and so +I got the golden shoe back. That's all there was to that! [_She throws +the hobby-horse into the chest; instead she takes out a chess-board +with red and white squares, and chess-men made of silver and gold_] +If you will play with me, come here and sit upon the lion skin. [_She +seats herself on the skin and begins to put up the pieces_] Sit down, +won't you--the maids can't see us here! + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down on the skin, looking very embarrassed_. + +SWANWHITE. It's like sitting in the grass--not the green grass of the +meadow, but the desert grass which has been burned by the sun.--Now you +must say something about me! Do you like me a little? + +PRINCE. Are we to play? + +SWANWHITE. To play? What care I for that?--Oh--you were to teach me +something! + +PRINCE. Poor me, what can I do but saddle a horse and carry arms--with +which you are but poorly served. + +SWANWHITE. You are so sad! + +PRINCE. My mother died quite recently. + +SWANWHITE. Poor little prince!--My mother, too, has gone to God in +heaven, and she's an angel now. Sometimes in the nights I see her--do +you also see yours? + +PRINCE. No-o. + +SWANWHITE. And have you got a stepmother? + +PRINCE. Not yet. So little time has passed since she was laid to rest. + +SWANWHITE. Don't be so sad! There's nothing but will wear away in time, +you see. Now I'll give you a flag to gladden you again--Oh, no, that's +right--this one I sewed for the young king. But now I'll sew another +one for you!--This is the king's, with seven flaming fires--you shall +have one with seven red roses on it--but first of all you have to +hold this skein of yarn for me. [_She takes from the chest a skein of +rose-coloured yarn and hands it to the_ PRINCE] One, two, three, and +now you'll see!--Your hands are trembling--that won't do!--Perhaps you +want a hair of mine among the yarn?--Pull one yourself! + +PRINCE. Oh, no, I couldn't---- + +SWANWHITE. I'll do it, then, myself. [_She pulls a hair from her head +and winds it into the ball of yarn_] What is your name? + +PRINCE. You shouldn't ask. + +SWANWHITE. Why not? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you--hasn't he? + +SWANWHITE. No, he hasn't! What could happen if you told your name? +Might something dreadful happen? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you, I am sure. + +SWANWHITE. I never heard of such a thing before--of one who couldn't +tell his name! + + _The curtain behind which the peacock is hidden moves; a faint + sound as of castanets is heard_. + +PRINCE. What was that? + +SWANWHITE. That's Pavo--do you think he knows what we are saying? + +PRINCE. It's hard to tell. + +SWANWHITE. Well, what's your name? + + _Again the peacock makes the same kind of sound with his bill_. + +PRINCE. I am afraid--don't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. He snaps his bill, that's all--Keep your hands still!--Did +you ever hear the tale of the little princess that mustn't mention the +name of the prince, lest something happen? And do you know----? + + _The curtain hiding the peacock is pulled aside, and the bird + is seen spreading out his tail so that it looks as if all the + "eyes" were staring at_ SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Who pulled away the curtain? Who made the bird behold us with +its hundred eyes?--You mustn't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. Perhaps I mustn't--Down, Pavo--there! + + _The curtain resumes its previous position_. + +PRINCE. Is this place haunted? + +SWANWHITE. You mean that things will happen--just like that? Oh, well, +so much is happening here--but I have grown accustomed to it. And then, +besides--they call my stepmother a witch--There, now, I have pricked my +finger! + +PRINCE. What did you prick it with? + +SWANWHITE. There was a splinter in the yarn. The sheep have been locked +up all winter--and then such things will happen. Please see if you can +get it out. + +PRINCE. We must sit at the table then, so I can see. + + [_They rise and take seats at the table_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out one of her little fingers_] Can you see +anything? + +PRINCE. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the +world and life itself appear in rosy colouring---- + +SWANWHITE. Now pull the splinter out--ooh, it hurts! + +PRINCE. But I shall have to hurt you, too--and ask your pardon in +advance! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, help me, please! + +PRINCE. [_Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with +his nails_] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm. + +SWANWHITE. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering. + +PRINCE. [_Sucking the blood from her finger_] I've drunk your +blood--and so I am your foster-brother now. + +SWANWHITE. My foster-brother--so you were at once--or how do you think +I could have talked to you as I have done? + +PRINCE. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you? + +SWANWHITE. Just think, he didn't notice it!--And now I have got a +brother of my own, and that is you!--My little brother--take my hand! + +PRINCE. [_Taking her hand_] My little sister! [_Feels her pulse beating +under his thumb_] What have you there, that's ticking--one, and two, +and three, and four----? _Continues to count silently after having +looked at his watch_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks--so steady, steady, +steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast--Put +your hand here, and you can feel it too. [_The doves begin to stir and +coo_] What is it, little white ones? + +PRINCE. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking--it is the time! +Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for +every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within +the watch? + +SWANWHITE. [_Handling the watch_] We cannot reach the inside of the +watch--no more than of the heart--Just feel my heart! + +SIGNE. [_Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts +down on the table_] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at +opposite sides of the table. + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down at the opposite end of the table. He + and_ SWANWHITE _look at each other in silence for a while_. + +SWANWHITE. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before. + +PRINCE. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other. + +SWANWHITE. And you know that? + +PRINCE. I have just learned it! + +SWANWHITE. Now my instruction has begun. + +PRINCE. You're teaching me! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pointing to a dish of fruit_] Would you like some fruit? + +PRINCE. No, eating is so ugly. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, so it is. + +PRINCE. Three maids are standing there--one in the pewter-closet, one +among the clothes, and one among the fruits. Why are they standing +there? + +SWANWHITE. TO watch us two--lest we do anything that is forbidden. + +PRINCE. May we not go into the rosery? + +SWANWHITE. The morning is the only time when I can go into the rosery, +for there the bloodhounds of my stepmother are kept. They never let me +reach the shore--and so I get no chance to bathe. + +PRINCE. Have you then never seen the shore? And never heard the ocean +wash the sand along the beach? + +SWANWHITE. No--never! Here I can only hear the roaring waves in time of +storm. + +PRINCE. Then you have never heard the murmur made by winds that sweep +across the waters? + +SWANWHITE. It cannot reach me here. + +PRINCE. [_Pushing his helmet across the table to_ SWANWHITE] Put it to +your ear and listen. + +SWANWHITE. [_With the helmet at her ear_] What is that I hear? + +PRINCE. The song of waves, the whispering winds + +SWANWHITE. No, I hear human voices--hush! My stepmother is +speaking--speaking to the steward--and mentioning my name--and that of +the young king, too! She's speaking evil words. She's swearing that I +never shall be queen--and vowing that--you--shall take that daughter +of her own--that loathsome Lena---- + +PRINCE. Indeed!--And you can hear it in the helmet? + +SWANWHITE. I can. + +PRINCE. I didn't know of that. But my godmother gave me the helmet as a +christening present. + +SWANWHITE. Give me a feather, will you? + +PRINCE. It is a pleasure--great as life itself. + +SWANWHITE. But you must cut it so that it will write. + +PRINCE. You know a thing or two! + +SWANWHITE. My father taught me---- + + _The_ PRINCE _pulls a black feather out of the plume on his + helmet; then he takes a silver-handled knife from his belt and + cuts the quill_. + + SWANWHITE _takes out an ink-well and parchment from a drawer in + the table_. + +PRINCE. Who is Lady Lena? + +SWANWHITE. You mean, what kind of person? You want her, do you? + +PRINCE. Some evil things are brewing in this house---- + +SWANWHITE. Fear not! My father has bestowed a gift on me that will +bring help in hours of need. + +PRINCE. What is it called? + +SWANWHITE. It is the horn Stand-By. + +PRINCE. Where is it hid? + +SWANWHITE. Read in my eye. I dare not let the maids discover it. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at her eyes_] I see! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pushing pen, ink and parchment across the table to the_ +PRINCE] Write it. + + _The_ PRINCE _writes_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, that's the place. [_She writes again._ + +PRINCE. What do you write? + +SWANWHITE. Names--all pretty names that may be worn by princes! + +PRINCE. Except my own! + +SWANWHITE. Yours, too! + +PRINCE. Leave that alone! + +SWANWHITE. Here I have written twenty names--all that I know--and +so your name must be there, too. [_Pushing the parchment across the +table_] Read! + + _The_ PRINCE _reads_. + +SWANWHITE. Oh, I have read it in your eye! + +PRINCE. Don't utter it! I beg you in the name of God the merciful, +don't utter it! + +SWANWHITE. I read it in his eye! + +PRINCE. But do not utter it, I beg of you! + +SWANWHITE. And if I do? What then?--Can Lena tell, you think? Your +bride! Your love! + +PRINCE. Oh, hush, hush, hush! + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and begins to dance_] I know his name--the +prettiest name in all the land! + + _The_ PRINCE _runs up to her, catches hold of her and covers + her mouth with his hand_. + +SWANWHITE. I'll bite your hand; I'll suck your blood; and so I'll be +your sister twice--do you know what that can mean? + +PRINCE. I'll have two sisters then. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing back her head_] O-ho! O-ho! Behold, the +ceiling has a hole, and I can see the sky--a tiny piece of sky, a +window-pane--and there's a face behind it. Is it an angel's?--See--but +see, I tell you!--It's your face! + +PRINCE. The angels are not boys, but girls. + +SWANWHITE. But it is you. + +PRINCE. [_Looking up_] 'Tis a mirror. + +SWANWHITE. Woe to us then! It is the witching mirror of my stepmother, +and she has seen it all. + +PRINCE. And in the mirror I can see the fireplace--there's a pumpkin +hanging in it! + +SWANWHITE. [_Takes from the fireplace a mottled, strangely shaped +pumpkin_] What can it be? It has the look of an ear. The witch has +heard us, too!--Alas, alas! [_She throws the pumpkin into the fireplace +and runs across the floor toward the bed; suddenly she stops on one +foot, holding up the other_] + +Oh, she has strewn the floor with needles---- + + [_She sits down and begins to rub her foot_. + + _The_ PRINCE _kneels in front of_ SWANWHITE _in order to help + her_. + +SWANWHITE. No, you mustn't touch my foot--you mustn't! + +PRINCE. Dear heart, you must take off your stocking if I am to help. + +SWANWHITE. [_Sobbing_] You mustn't--mustn't see my foot! + +PRINCE. But why? Why shouldn't I? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell; I cannot tell. Go--go away from me! To-morrow +I shall tell you, but I can't to-day. + +PRINCE. But then your little foot will suffer--let me pull the needle +out! + +SWANWHITE. Go, go, go!--No, no, you mustn't try!--Oh, had my mother +lived, a thing like this could not have happened!--Mother, mother, +mother! + +PRINCE. I cannot understand--are you afraid of me----? + +SWANWHITE. Don't ask me, please--just leave me--oh! + +PRINCE. What have I done? + +SWANWHITE. Don't leave me, please--I didn't mean to hurt you--but I +cannot tell--If I could only reach the shore--the white sand of the +beach---- + +PRINCE. What then? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell! I cannot tell! + + [_She hides her face in her hands. Once more the peacock makes + a rattling sound with his bill; the doves begin to stir; the + three maids enter, one after the other; a gust of wind is + heard, and the tops of the rose-trees outside swing back and + forth; the golden clouds that have been hanging over the sea + disappear, and the blue sea itself turns dark_. + +SWANWHITE. Does Heaven itself intend to judge us?--Is ill-luck in the +house?--Oh, that my sorrow had the power to raise my mother from her +grave! + +PRINCE. [_.Putting his hand on his sword_] My life for yours! + +SWANWHITE. No, don't--she puts the very swords to sleep!--Oh, that my +sorrow could bring back my mother! [_The swallows chirp in their nest_] +What was that? + +PRINCE. [_Catching sight of the nest_] A swallow's nest! I didn't +notice it before. + +SWANWHITE. Nor I! How did it get there? When?--But all the same it +augurs good--And yet the cold sweat of fear is on my brow--and I +choke--Look, how the rose itself is withering because that evil woman +comes this way--for it is she who comes---- + + _The rose on the table is closing its blossom and drooping its + leaves_. + +PRINCE. But whence came the swallows? + +SWANWHITE. They were not sent by her, I'm sure, for they are kindly +birds--Now she is here! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters from the rear with the walk of a panther; the rose +on the table is completely withered_] Signe--take the horn out of the +bed! + + SIGNE _goes up to the bed and takes the horn_. + +STEPMOTHER. Where are you going, Prince? + +PRINCE. The day is almost done, Your Grace; the sun is setting, and my +bark is longing to get home. + +STEPMOTHER. The day is too far gone--the gates are shut, the dogs let +loose--You know my dogs? + +PRINCE. Indeed! You know my sword? + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter with your sword? + +PRINCE. It bleeds at times. + +STEPMOTHER. Well, well! But not with women's blood, I trust?--But +listen, Prince: how would like to sleep in our Blue Room? + +PRINCE. By God, it is my will to sleep at home, in my own bed---- + +STEPMOTHER. Is that the will of anybody else? + +PRINCE. Of many more. + +STEPMOTHER. How many?--More than these!--One, two, three---- + + _As she counts, the members of the household begin to pass by + in single file across the balcony; all of them look serious; + some are armed; no one turns his head to look into the room; + among those that pass are the_ BUTLER, _the_ STEWARD, _the_ + KITCHENER, _the_ GAOLER, _the_ CONSTABLE, _the_ EQUERRY. + +PRINCE. I'll sleep in your Blue Room. + +STEPMOTHER. That's what I thought.--So you will bid ten thousand +good-nights unto your love--and so will Swanwhite, too, I think! + + _A swan comes flying by above the rosery; from the ceiling a + poppy flower drops down on the_ STEPMOTHER, _who falls asleep + at once, as do the maids_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going up to the_ PRINCE] Good-night, my Prince! + +PRINCE. [_Takes her hand and says in a low voice_] Good-night!--Oh, +that it's granted me to sleep beneath one roof with you, my +Princess--your dreams by mine shall be enfolded--and then to-morrow we +shall wake for other games and other---- + +SWANWHITE. [_In the same tone_] You are my all on earth, you are +my parent now--since she has robbed me of my puissant father's +help.--Look, how she sleeps! + +PRINCE. You saw the swan? + +SWANWHITE. No, but I heard--it was my mother. + +PRINCE. Come, fly with me! + +SWANWHITE. No, that we mustn't!--Patience! We'll meet in our +dreams!--But this will not be possible unless--you love me more than +anybody else on earth! Oh, love me--you, you, you! + +PRINCE. My king, my loyalty---- + +SWANWHITE. Your queen, your heart--or what am I? + +PRINCE. I am a knight! + +SWANWHITE. But I am not. And therefore--therefore do I take you--my +Prince---- + + _She puts her hands up to her mouth with a gesture as if she + were throwing a whispered name to him_. + +PRINCE. Oh, woe! What have you done? + +SWANWHITE. I gave myself to you through your own name--and with me, +carried on _your_ wings, yourself came back to you! Oh---- [_Again she +whispers the name_. + +PRINCE. [_With a movement of his hand as if he were catching the name +in the air_] Was that a rose you threw me? + + [_He throws a kiss to her_. + +SWANWHITE. A violet you gave me--that was you--your soul! And now I +drink you in--you're in my bosom, in my heart--you're mine! + +PRINCE. And you are mine! Who is the rightful owner, then? + +SWANWHITE. Both! + +PRINCE. Both! You and I!--My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. I _love_ you! + +SWANWHITE. _You_ love _me_! + +PRINCE. You _love_ me! + +SWANWHITE. _I_ love _you_! + + _The stage grows light again. The rose on the table recovers + and opens. The faces of the_ STEPMOTHER _and the three maids + are lighted up and appear beautiful, kind, and happy. The_ + STEPMOTHER _lifts up her drowsy head and, while her eyes remain + closed, she seems to be watching the joy of the two young + people with a sunny smile_. + +SWANWHITE. Look, look! The cruel one is smiling as at some memory from +childhood days. See how Signe the False seems faith and hope embodied, +how the ugly Tova has grown beautiful, the little Elsa tall. + +PRINCE. Our love has done it. + +SWANWHITE. So that is love? Blessed be it by the Lord! The Lord +Omnipotent who made the world! + + [_She falls on her knees, weeping_. + +PRINCE. You weep? + +SWANWHITE. Because I am so full of joy. + +PRINCE. Come to my arms and you will smile. + +SWANWHITE. There I should die, I think. + +PRINCE. Well, smile and die! + +SWANWHITE. [_Rising_] So be it then! + + [_The_ PRINCE _takes her in his arms._ + +STEPMOTHER. [_Wakes up; on seeing the_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE +_together, she strikes the table with the whip_] I must have +slept!--Oho! So we have got that far!--The Blue Room did I say?--I +meant the Blue Tower!--There the prince is to sleep with the Duke of +Exeter's daughter!--Maids! + + _The MAIDS wake up_. + +STEPMOTHER. Show the prince the shortest way to the Blue Tower. And +should he nevertheless lose his way, you may summon the Castellan and +the Gaoler, the Equerry and the Constable. + +PRINCE. No need of that! Wherever leads my course--through fire or +water, up above the clouds or down in the solid earth--there shall I +meet my Swanwhite, for she is with me where I go. So now I go to meet +her--in the tower! Can you beat that for witchcraft, witch?--Too hard, +I think, for one who knows not love! + + [_He goes out followed by the MAIDS_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ SWANWHITE] Not many words are needed--tell your +wishes--but be brief! + +SWANWHITE. My foremost, highest wish is for some water with which to +lave my feet. + +STEPMOTHER. Cold or warm? + +SWANWHITE. Warm--if I may. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A comb to ravel out my hair. + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Are you--are you kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Wood or horn will do me well enough. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A shift that's clean. + +STEPMOTHER. Linen or silk? + +SWANWHITE. Just linen. + +STEPMOTHER. Good! So I have heard your wishes. Now listen to mine! I +wish that you may have no water, be it warm or cold! I wish that you +may have no comb, of any kind, not even of wood or horn--much less of +gold or silver. That's how kind I am! I wish that you may wear no linen +--but get you at once into the closet there to cover up your body with +that dingy sark of homespun! Such is my word!--And if you try to leave +these rooms--which you had better not, as there are traps and snares +around--then you are doomed--or with my whip I'll mark your pretty +face so that no prince or king will ever look at you again!--Then get +yourself to bed! + + _She strikes the table with her whip again, rises and goes out + through the middle arch of the doorway; the gates, which have + gilded bars, squeak and rattle as she closes and locks them_. + +_Curtain_. + + _The same scene as before, but the golden gates at the rear are + shut. The peacock and the doves are sleeping. The golden clouds + in the sky are as dull in colour as the sea itself and the land + that appears in the far distance_. + + SWANWHITE _is lying on the bed; she has on a garment of black + homespun_. + + _The doors to the three closets are open. In each doorway + stands one of the maids, her eyes closed and in one of her + hands a small lighted lamp of Roman pattern_. + + _A swan is seen flying above the rosery, and trumpet-calls are + heard, like those made by flocks of migrating wild swans_. + + _The_ MOTHER OF SWANWHITE, _all in white, appears outside the + gates. Over one arm she carries the plumage of a swan and on + the other one a small harp of gold. She hangs the plumage on + one of the gates, which opens of its own accord and then closes + in the same way behind her_. + + _She enters the room and places the harp on the table. Then she + looks around and becomes aware of_ SWANWHITE. _At once the harp + begins to play. The lamps carried by the maids go out one by + one, beginning with that farthest away. Then the three doors + close one by one, beginning with the innermost_. + + _The golden clouds resume their former radiance_. + + _The_ MOTHER _lights one of the lamps on the stand and goes up + to the bed, beside which she kneels_. + + _The harp continues to play during the ensuing episode_. + + _The_ MOTHER _rises, takes_ SWANWHITE _in her arms, and places + her, still sleeping, in a huge arm-chair. Then she kneels down + and pulls off_ SWANWHITE'S _stockings. Having thrown these + under the bed, she bends over her daughter's feet as if to + moisten them with her tears. After a while she wipes them with + a white linen cloth and covers them with kisses. Finally she + puts a sandal on each foot which then appears shining white_. + + _Then the_ MOTHER _rises to her feet again, takes out a comb of + gold, and begins to comb_ SWANWHITE'S _hair. This finished, she + carries_ SWANWHITE _back to the bed. Beside her she places a + garment of white linen which she takes out of a bag_. + + _Having kissed_ SWANWHITE _on the forehead, she prepares to + leave. At that moment a white swan is seen to pass by outside, + and one hears a trumpet-call like the one heard before. Shortly + afterward the_ MOTHER OF THE PRINCE, _also in white, enters + through the gate, having first hung her swan plumage on it_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Well met, my sister! How long before the cock will +crow? + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Not very long. The dew is rising from the roses, the +corn-crake's call is heard among the grass, the morning breeze is +coming from the sea. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Let us make haste with what we have on hand, my +sister. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. You called me so that we might talk of our children. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Once I was walking in a green field in the land +that knows no sorrow. There I met you, whom I had always known, yet +had not seen before. You were lamenting your poor boy's fate, left to +himself here in the vale of sorrow. You opened up your heart to me, and +my own thoughts, that dwell unwillingly below, were sent in search of +my deserted daughter--destined to marry the young king, who is a cruel +man, and evil. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Then I spoke, while you listened: "May worth belong to +worth; may love, the powerful, prevail; and let us join these lonely +hearts, in order that they may console each other!" + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Since then heart has kissed heart and soul enfolded +soul. May sorrow turn to joy, and may their youthful happiness bring +cheer to all the earth! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. If it be granted by the powers on high! + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. That must be tested by the fire of suffering. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. [_Taking in her hand the helmet left behind by the_ +PRINCE] May sorrow turn to joy--this very day, when he has mourned his +mother one whole year! + + _She exchanges the black feathers on the helmet for white and + red ones_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Your hand, my sister--let the test begin! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Here is my hand, and with it goes my son's! Now we +have pledged them---- + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. I go to open up the tower. And let the young ones fold +each other heart to heart. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. And we shall meet again in those green fields where +sorrow is not known. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. [_Pointing to_ SWANWHITE] Listen! She dreams +of him!--Oh foolish, cruel woman who thinks that lovers can be +parted!--Now they are walking hand in hand within the land of dreams, +'neath whispering firs and singing lindens--They sport and laugh---- + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Hush! Day is dawning--I can hear the robins calling, +and see the stars withdrawing from the sky--Farewell, my sister! + + [_She goes out, taking her swan plumage with her._ + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Farewell! + + _She passes her hand over_ SWANWHITE _as if blessing her, then + she takes her plumage and leaves, closing the gate after her_. + + _The clock on the table strikes three. The harp is silent for + a moment; then it begins to play a new melody of even greater + sweetness than before_. SWANWHITE _wakes up and looks around; + listens to the harp; gets up from the bed; draws her hands + through her hair; looks with pleasure at her own little feet, + now spotlessly clean, and notices finally the while linen + garment on the bed. She sits down at the table in the place she + occupied during the evening. She acts as if she were looking at + somebody sitting opposite her at the table, where the_ PRINCE + _was seated the night before. She looks straight into his eyes, + smiles a smile of recognition, and holds out one of her hands. + Her lips move at times as if she were speaking, and then again + she seems to be listening to an answer_. + + _She points meaningly to the white and red feathers on the + helmet, and leans forward as if whispering. Then she puts her + head back and breathes deeply as if to fill her nostrils with + some fragrance. Having caught something in the air with one + of her hands, she kisses the hand and then pretends to throw + something back across the table. She picks up the quill and + caresses it as if it were a bird; then she writes and pushes + the parchment across the table. Her glances seem to follow + "his" pen while the reply is being written, and at last she + takes back the parchment, reads it, and hides it in her bosom_. + + _She strokes her black dress as if commenting on the sad change + in her appearance. Whereupon she smiles at an inaudible answer, + and finally bursts into hearty laughter_. + + _By gestures she indicates that her hair has been combed. Then + she rises, goes a little distance away from the table, and + turns around with a bashful expression to hold out one of her + feet. In that attitude she stays for a moment while waiting for + an answer. On hearing it she becomes embarrassed and hides her + foot quickly under her dress_. + + _She goes to the chest and takes out the chess-board and the + chess-men, which she places on the lions skin with a gesture of + invitation. Then she lies down beside the board, arranges the + men, and begins to play with an invisible partner_. + + _The harp is silent for a moment before it starts a new melody_. + + _The game of chess ends and_ SWANWHITE _seems to be talking + with her invisible partner. Suddenly she moves away as if + he were coming too close to her. With a deprecating gesture + she leaps lightly to her feet. Then she gazes long and + reproachfully at him. At last she snatches up the white garment + and hides herself behind the bed_. + + _At that moment the_ PRINCE _appears outside the gates, which + he vainly tries to open. Then he raises his eyes toward the sky + with an expression of sorrow and despair_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Coming forward_] Who comes with the morning wind? + +PRINCE. Your heart's beloved, your prince, your all! + +SWANWHITE. Whence do you come, my heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. From dreamland; from the rosy hills that hide the dawn; from +whispering firs and singing lindens. + +SWANWHITE. What did you do in dreamland, beyond the hills of dawn, my +heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. I sported and laughed; I wrote her name; I sat upon the lion's +skin and played at chess. + +SWANWHITE. You sported and you played--with whom? + +PRINCE. With Swanwhite. + +SWANWHITE. It is he!--Be welcome to my castle, my table, and my arms! + +PRINCE. Who opens up the golden gates? + +SWANWHITE. Give me your hand!--It is as chilly as your heart is warm. + +PRINCE. My body has been sleeping in the tower, while my soul was +wandering in dreamland--In the tower it was cold and dark. + +SWANWHITE. In my bosom will I warm your hand--I'll warm it by my +glances, by my kisses! + +PRINCE. Oh, let the brightness of your eyes be shed upon my darkness! + +SWANWHITE. Are you in darkness? + +PRINCE. Within the tower there was no light of sun or moon. + +SWANWHITE. Rise up, O sun! Blow, southern wind! And let thy bosom +gently heave, O sea!--Ye golden gates, do you believe that you can part +two hearts, two hands, two lips--that can by nothing be divided? + +PRINCE. Indeed, by nothing! + + _Two solid doors glide together in front of the gates so that_ + SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE _can no longer see each other_. + +SWANWHITE. Alas! What was the word we spoke, who heard it, and who +punished us? + +PRINCE. I am not parted from you, my beloved, for still the sound of my +voice can reach you. It goes through copper, steel, and stone to touch +your ear in sweet caress. When in my thoughts you're in my arms. I +kiss you in my dreams. For on this earth there is not anything that can +part us. Swanwhite. Not anything! + +PRINCE. I see you, though my eyes cannot behold you. I taste you, too, +because with roses you are filling up my mouth---- + +SWANWHITE. But in my arms I want you! + +PRINCE. I am there. + +SWANWHITE. No! Against my heart I want to feel the beat of yours--Upon +your arm I want to sleep--Oh, let us, let us, dearest God--oh, let us +have each other! + + _The swallows chirp. A small white feather falls to the + ground_. SWANWHITE _picks it up and discovers it to be a key. + With this she opens gates and doors. The_ PRINCE _comes in_. + SWANWHITE _leaps into his arms. He kisses her on the mouth_. + +SWANWHITE. You do not kiss me! + +PRINCE. Yes, I do! + +SWANWHITE. I do not feel your kisses! + +PRINCE. Then you love me not! + +SWANWHITE. Hold me fast! + +PRINCE. So fast that life may part! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, no, I breathe! + +PRINCE. Give me your soul! + +SWANWHITE. Here!--Give me yours! + +PRINCE. It's here!--So I have yours, and you have mine! + +SWANWHITE. I want mine back! + +PRINCE. Mine, too, I want! + +SWANWHITE. Then you must seek it! + +PRINCE. Lost, both of us! For I am you, and you are me! + +SWANWHITE. We two are one! + +PRINCE. God, who is good, has heard your prayer! We have each other! + +SWANWHITE. We have each other, yet I have you not. I cannot feel the +pressure of your hand, your lip's caress--I cannot see your eyes, nor +hear your voice--You are not here! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am here! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here below. But up above, in dreamland, I would meet +you. + +PRINCE. Then let us fly upon the wings of sleep---- + +SWANWHITE. Close to your heart! + +PRINCE. In my embrace! + +SWANWHITE. Within your arms! + +PRINCE. This is the promised bliss! + +SWANWHITE. Eternal bliss, that has no flaw and knows no end! + +PRINCE. No one can part us. + +SWANWHITE. No one! + +PRINCE. Are you my bride? + +SWANWHITE. My bridegroom, you? + +PRINCE. In dreamland--but not here! + +SWANWHITE. Where are we? + +PRINCE. Here below! + +SWANWHITE. Here, where the sky is clouded, where the ocean roars, and +where each night the earth sheds tears upon the grass while waiting for +the dawn; where flies are killed by swallows, doves by hawks; where +leaves must fall and turn to dust; where eyes must lose their light and +hands their strength! Yes, here below! + +PRINCE. Then let us fly! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, let us fly! + + _The_ GREEN GARDENER _appears suddenly behind the table. All + his clothes are green. He wears a peaked cap, a big apron, and + knee-breeches. At his belt hang shears and a knife. He carries + a small watering-can in one hand and is scattering seeds + everywhere_. + +PRINCE. Who are you? + +GARDENER. I sow, I sow! + +PRINCE. What do you sow? + +GARDENER. Seeds, seeds, seeds. + +PRINCE. What kind of seeds? + +GARDENER. Annuals and biennials. One pulls this way, two pull that. +When the bridal suit is on, the harmony is gone. One and one make one, +but one and one make also three. One and one make two, but two make +three. Then do you understand? + +PRINCE. You mole, you earthworm, you who turn your forehead toward the +ground and show the sky your back--what is there you can teach me? + +GARDENER. That you are a mole and earthworm, too. And that because you +turn your back on the earth, the earth will turn its back on you. [_He +disappears behind the table_. + +SWANWHITE. What was it? Who was he? + +PRINCE. That was the green gardener. + +SWANWHITE. Green, you say? Was he not blue? + +PRINCE. No, he was green, my love. + +SWANWHITE. How can you say what is not so? + +PRINCE. My heart's beloved, I have not said a thing that was not so. + +SWANWHITE. Alas, he does not speak the truth! + +PRINCE. Whose voice is this? Not that of Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. Who is this my eyes behold? Not my Prince, whose very name +attracted me like music of the Neck, or song of mermaids heard among +green waves--Who are you? You stranger with the evil eyes--and with +grey hair! + +PRINCE. You did not see it until now--my hair, that turned to grey +within the tower, in a single night, when I was mourning for my +Swanwhite, who is no longer here. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here is Swanwhite. + +PRINCE. No, I see a black-clad maid, whose face is black---- + +SWANWHITE. Have you not seen before that I was clad in black? You do +not love me, then! + +PRINCE. You who are standing there, so grim and ugly--no! + +SWANWHITE. Then you have spoken falsely. + +PRINCE. No--for then another one was here! Now--you are filling up my +mouth with noisome nettles. + +SWANWHITE. Your violets smell of henbane now--faugh! + +PRINCE. Thus I am punished for my treason to the king! + +SWANWHITE. I wish that I had waited for your king! + +PRINCE. Just wait, and he will come. + +SWANWHITE. I will not wait, but go to meet him. + +PRINCE. Then I will stay. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going toward the background_] And this is love! + +PRINCE. [_Beside himself_] Where is my Swanwhite? Where, where, where? +The kindest, loveliest, most beautiful? + +SWANWHITE. Seek her! + +PRINCE. 'Twould not avail me here below. + +SWANWHITE. Elsewhere then! [_She goes out_. + + _The_ PRINCE _is alone. He sits down at the table, covers his + face with his hands, and weeps. A gust of wind passes through + the room and sets draperies and curtains fluttering. A sound as + of a sigh is heard from the strings of the harp. The_ PRINCE + _rises, goes to the bed, and stands there lost in contemplation + of its pillow in which is a depression showing_ SWANWHITE'S + _head in profile. He picks up the pillow and kisses it. A noise + is heard outside. He seats himself at the table again_. + + _The doors of the closets fly open. The three_ MAIDS _become + visible, all with darkened faces. The_ STEPMOTHER _enters from + the rear. Her face is also dark_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_In dulcet tones_] Good morning, my dear Prince! How have +you slept? + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. She has gone to marry her young king. Is there no thought +of things like that in your own mind, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I harbour but a single thought---- + +STEPMOTHER. Of little Swanwhite? + +PRINCE. She is too young for me, you mean? + +STEPMOTHER. Grey hairs and common sense belong together as a rule--I +have a girl with common sense---- + +PRINCE. And I grey hairs? + +STEPMOTHER. He knows it not, believes it not! Come, maids! Come, Signe, +Elsa, Tova! Let's have a good laugh at the young suitor and his grey +hairs! + + _The_ MAIDS _begin to laugh. The_ STEPMOTHER _joins in_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. Follow in her traces--here is one! + + [_She hands him a parchment covered with writing_. + +PRINCE. [_Reading_] And she wrote this? + +STEPMOTHER. You know her hand--what has it written? + +PRINCE. That she hates me, and loves another--that she has played with +me; that she will throw my kisses to the wind, and to the swine my +heart--To die is now my will! Now I am dead! + +STEPMOTHER. A knight dies not because a wench has played with him. He +shows himself a man and takes another. + +PRINCE. Another? When there is only one? + +STEPMOTHER. No, two, at least! My Magdalene possesses seven barrels +full of gold. + +PRINCE. Seven? + +STEPMOTHER. And more. [_Pause_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene is skilled in many crafts---- + +PRINCE. Including witchcraft? + +STEPMOTHER. She knows how to bewitch a princeling. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at the parchment_] And this was written by my +Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene would never write like that. + +PRINCE. And she is kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Kindness itself! She does not play with sacred feelings, +nor seek revenge for little wrongs, and she is faithful to the one she +likes. + +PRINCE. Then she must be beautiful. + +STEPMOTHER. Not beautiful! + +PRINCE. She is not kind then.--Tell me more of her! + +STEPMOTHER. See for yourself. + +PRINCE. Where? + +STEPMOTHER. Here. + +PRINCE. And this has Swanwhite written----? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene had written with more feeling + +PRINCE. What would she have written? + +STEPMOTHER. That---- + +PRINCE. Speak the word! Say "love," if you are able! + +STEPMOTHER. Lub! + +PRINCE. You cannot speak the word! + +STEPMOTHER. Lud! + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene can speak it. May she come? + +PRINCE. Yes, let her come. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Rising and speaking to the_ MAIDS] Blindfold the prince. +Then in his arms we'll place a princess that is without a paragon in +seven kingdoms. + + SIGNE _steps forward and covers the eyes of the_ PRINCE _with a + bandage_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Clapping her hands_] Well--is she not coming? + +_The peacock makes a rattling noise with his bill; the doves begin to +coo_. + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter? Does my art desert me? Where is the +bride? + + _Four_ MAIDS _enter from the rear, carrying baskets of white + and pink roses. Music is heard from above. The_ MAIDS _go up to + the bed and scatter roses over it_. + + _Then come_ TWO KNIGHTS _with closed visors. They take the_ + PRINCE _between them toward the rear, where they meet the + false_ MAGDALENE, _escorted by two ladies. The bride is deeply + veiled_. + + _With a gesture of her hand the_ STEPMOTHER _bids all depart + except the bridal couple. She herself leaves last of all, after + she has closed the curtains and locked the gates_. + +PRINCE. Is this my bride? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Who is your bride? + +PRINCE. I have forgot her name. Who is your bridegroom? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. He whose name may not be mentioned. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can. + +FALSE MAGDALENE. I can, but will not. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Tell my name first! + +PRINCE. It's seven barrels full of gold, and crooked back, and grim, +and hare-lipped! What's my name? Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Prince Greyhead! + +PRINCE. You're right! + + _The_ FALSE MAGDALENE _throws, off her veil, and_ SWANWHITE + _stands revealed_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Dressed in a white garment, with a wreath of roses on her +hair_] Who am I now? + +PRINCE. You are a rose! + +SWANWHITE. And you a violet! + +PRINCE. [_Taking off the bandage_] You are Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. And you--are---- + +PRINCE. Hush! + +SWANWHITE. You're mine! + +PRINCE. But you--you left me--left my kisses---- + +SWANWHITE. I have returned--because I love you! + +PRINCE. And you wrote cruel words---- + +SWANWHITE. But cancelled them--because I love you.! + +PRINCE. You told me I was false. + +SWANWHITE. What matters it, when you are true--and when I love you? + +PRINCE. You wished that you were going to the king. + +SWANWHITE. But went to you instead, because I love you! + +PRINCE. Now let me hear what you reproach me with. + +SWANWHITE. I have forgotten it--because I love you! + +PRINCE. But if you love me, then you are my bride. + +SWANWHITE. I am! + +PRINCE. Then may the heavens bestow their blessing on our union! + +SWANWHITE. In dreamland! + +PRINCE. With your head upon my arm! + + _The_ PRINCE _leads_ SWANWHITE _to the bed, in which he places + his sword. Then she lies down on one side of the sword, and he + on the other. The colour of the clouds changes to a rosy red. + The rose-trees murmur. The harp plays softly and sweetly_. + +PRINCE. Good night, my queen! + +SWANWHITE. Good morning, O my soul's beloved!--I hear the beating of +your heart--I hear it sigh like billowing waters, like swift-flying +steeds, like wings of eagles--Give me your hand! + +PRINCE. And yours!--Now we take wing---- + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters with the_ MAIDS, _who carry torches; all four have +become grey-haired_] I have to see that my task is finished ere the +duke returns. My daughter. Magdalene, is plighted to the prince--while +Swanwhite lingers in the tower--[_Goes to the bed_] They sleep already +in each other's arms--you bear me witness, maids! + + _The_ MAIDS _approach the bed_. + +STEPMOTHER. What do I see? Each one of you is grey-haired! + +SIGNE. And so are you, Your Grace! + +STEPMOTHER. Am I? Let me see! + + ELSA _holds a mirror in front of her_. + +STEPMOTHER. This is the work of evil powers!--And then, perhaps, the +prince's hair is dark again?--Bring light this way! + + _The_ MAIDS _hold their torches so that the light from them + falls on the sleeping couple_. + +STEPMOTHER. Such is the truth, indeed!--How beautiful they +look!--But--the sword! Who placed it there--the sword that puts at +naught their plighted troth? + + _She tries to take away the sword, but the_ PRINCE _clings to + it without being wakened_. + +SIGNE. Your Grace--here's deviltry abroad! + +STEPMOTHER. What is it? + +SIGNE. This is not Lady Magdalene. + +STEPMOTHER. Who is it, then? My eyes need help. + +SIGNE. 'Tis Lady Swanwhite. + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite?--Can this be some delusion of the devil's +making, or have I done what I least wished? + + _The_ PRINCE _turns his head in his sleep so that his lips meet + those of_ SWANWHITE. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Touched by the beautiful sight_] No sight more beautiful +have I beheld!--Two roses brought together by the wind; two falling +stars that join in downward flight--it is too beautiful!--Youth, +beauty, innocence, and love! What memories, sweet memories--when I was +living in my father's home--when I was loved by _him_, the youth whom +never I called mine--What did I say I was? + +SIGNE. That you were loved by him, Your Grace. + +STEPMOTHER. Then I did speak the mighty word. Be-loved--so he named me +once--"beloved"--ere he started for the war--[_Lost in thoughts_] It +was the last of him.--And so I had to take the one I couldn't bear.--My +life is drawing to its close, and I must find my joy in happiness +denied myself! I should rejoice--at others' happiness--Some kind of +joy, at least--at other people's love--Some kind of love, at least--But +there's my Magdalene? What joy for her? O, love omnipotent--eternally +creative Lord--how you have rendered soft this lion heart! Where is my +strength? Where is my hatred--my revenge? [_She seats herself and looks +long at the sleeping couple_] A song runs through my mind, a song of +love that _he_ was singing long ago, that final night-- [_She rises as +if waking out of a dream and flies into a rage; her words come with a +roar_] Come hither, men! Here, Steward, Castellan, and Gaoler--all of +you! [_She snatches the sword out of the bed and throws it along the +floor toward the rear_] Come hither, men! + + _Noise is heard outside; the men enter as before_. + +STEPMOTHER. Behold! The prince, the young king's vassal, has defiled +his master's bride! You bear me witness to the shameful deed! Put +chains and fetters on the traitor and send him to his rightful lord! +But in the spiked cask put the hussy. [_The_ PRINCE and SWANWHITE _wake +up_] Equerry! Gaoler! Seize the prince! + + _The_ EQUERRY _and the_ GAOLER _lay hands on the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Where is my sword? I fight not against evil, but for innocence! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose innocence? + +PRINCE. My bride's. + +STEPMOTHER. The hussy's innocence! Then prove it! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, mother, mother! + + _The white swan flies by outside_. + +STEPMOTHER. Maids, bring shears! I'll cut the harlot's hair! + + SIGNE _hands her a pair of shears_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Takes hold of_ SWANWHITE _by the hair and starts to cut +it, but she cannot bring the blades of the shears together]_ Now I'll +cut off your beauty and your love! [_Suddenly she is seized with panic, +which quickly spreads to the men and the three_ MAIDS] Is the enemy +upon us? Why are you trembling? + +SIGNE. Your Grace, the dogs are barking, horses neighing--it means +that visitors are near. + +STEPMOTHER. Quick, to the bridges, all of you! Man the ramparts! Fall +to with flame and water, sword and axe! + + _The_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE _are left alone_. + +GARDENER. [_Appears from behind the table; in one hand he carries +a rope, the_ DUKE'S _horn in the other_] Forgiveness for those who +sin; for those who sorrow, consolation; and hope for those who are +distressed! + +SWANWHITE. My father's horn! Then help is near! But--the prince? + +GARDENER. The prince will follow me. A secret passage, underground, +leads to the shore. There lies his bark. The wind is favourable! Come! + + [_The_ GARDENER _and the_ PRINCE _go out._ SWANWHITE _alone, + blows the horn. An answering signal is heard in the distance. + The_ GAOLER _enters with the spiked cask_. SWANWHITE _blows the + horn again. The answer is heard much nearer_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters. He and_ SWANWHITE _are alone on the stage_. + +DUKE. My own beloved heart, what is at stake? + +SWANWHITE. Your own child, father!--Look--the spiked cask over there! + +DUKE. How has my child transgressed? + +SWANWHITE. The prince's name I learned, by love instructed--spoke +it--came to hold him very dear. + +DUKE. That was no capital offence. What more? + +SWANWHITE. At his side I slept, the sword between us---- + +DUKE. And still there was no capital offence, though I should hardly +call it wise--And more? + +SWANWHITE. No more! + +DUKE. [_To the_ GAOLER, _pointing to the spiked cask_] Away with it! +[_To_ SWANWHITE] Well, child, where is the prince? + +SWANWHITE. He's sailing homeward in his bark. + +DUKE. Now, when the tide is battering the shore?--Alone? Swanwhite. +Alone! What is to happen? + +DUKE. The Lord alone can tell! + +SWANWHITE. He's in danger? + +DUKE. Who greatly dares has sometimes luck. + +SWANWHITE. He ought to have! + +DUKE. He will, if free from guilt! + +SWANWHITE. He is! More than I am! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Entering_] How came you here! + +DUKE. A shortcut brought me--I could wish it had been shorter still. + +STEPMOTHER. Had it been short enough, your child had never come to harm. + +DUKE. What kind of harm? + +STEPMOTHER. The one for which there is no cure. + +DUKE. And you have proofs? + +STEPMOTHER. I've valid witnesses. + +DUKE. Then call my butler. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know. + +DUKE. [_Shaking his sword at her_] Call my butler! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _trembles. Then she claps her hands four times + together_. + + _The_ BUTLER _enters_. + +DUKE. Have made a pie of venison, richly stuffed with onions, parsley, +fennel, cabbage--and at once! + + _The_ BUTLER _steals a sidelong glance at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. What are you squinting at? Be quick! + + _The_ BUTLER _goes out_. + +DUKE. [_To the_ STEPMOTHER] Now call the master of my pleasure-garden. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know! + +DUKE. And never will! But he must come! Call, quick! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands six times_. + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters_. + +DUKE. Three lilies bring: one white, one red, one blue. + + _The_ GARDENER _looks sideways at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. Your head's at stake! + + _The_ GARDENER _goes out_. + +DUKE. Summon your witnesses! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands once_. + + SIGNE _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know--but choose your words! What have you seen? + +SIGNE. I have seen Lady Swanwhite and the prince together in one bed. + +DUKE. With sword between? + +SIGNE. Without. + +DUKE. I can't believe it!--Other witnesses? + + _The_ TWO KNIGHTS _enter_. + +DUKE. Were these the groomsmen?--Tell your tale. + +FIRST KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +SECOND KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +DUKE. What's that? A trick, I trow--that caught the trickster!--Other +witnesses? + + ELSA _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know. + +ELSA. I swear by God, our righteous judge, that I have seen the prince +and Lady Swanwhite fully dressed and with a sword between them. + +DUKE. One for, and one against--two not germane.--I leave it to the +judgment of the Lord!--The flowers will speak for him. + +TOVA. [_Enters_] My gracious master--noble lord! + +DUKE. What do you know? + +TOVA. I know my gracious mistress innocent. + +DUKE. O, child--so you know that! Then teach us how to know it too. + +TOVA. When I am saying only what is true---- + +DUKE. No one believes it! But when Signe tells untruth, we must +believe!--And what does Swanwhite say herself? Her forehead's purity, +her steady glance, her lips' sweet innocence--do they not speak aloud +of slander? And "slander" is the verdict of a father's eye.--Well +then--Almighty God on high shall give his judgment, so that human +beings may believe! + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters carrying three lilies placed in + three tall and narrow vases of glass. The_ DUKE _places the + flowers in a semicircle on the table. The_ BUTLER _enters with + a huge dish containing a steaming pie_. + +DUKE. [_Placing the dish within the semicircle formed by the three +flowers_] The white one stands for whom? + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE. _and the_ STEPMOTHER] For Swanwhite. + +DUKE. The red one stands for whom? + +ALL. [As _before_] The prince. + +DUKE. For whom the blue one? + +ALL. [As _before_] The youthful king. + +DUKE. Well, Tova--child who still has faith in innocence because you +too are innocent--interpret now for us the judgment of the Lord--tell +us the gentle secrets of these flowers. + +TOVA. The evil part I cannot utter. + +DUKE. I will. What's good I'll leave for you.--As the steam from the +blood of the prurient beast rises upward--as upward the smell of the +passionate spices is mounting--what see you? + +TOVA. [_Gazing at the three lilies_] The white one folds its blossom to +protect itself against defilement. That is Swanwhite's flower. + +ALL. Swanwhite is innocent. + +TOVA. The red one, too--the prince's lily--closes its head--but the +blue one, which stands for the king, flings wide its gorge to drink the +lust-filled air. + +DUKE. You've told it right! What more is there to see? + +TOVA. I see the red flower bend its head in reverent love before the +white one, while the blue one writhes with envious rage. + +DUKE. You've spoken true!--For whom is Swanwhite then? + +TOVA. For the prince, because more pure is his desire, and therefore +stronger, too. + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE _and the_ STEPMOTHER] Swanwhite for the prince! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into her father's arms_] O, father! + +DUKE. Call back the prince! Let every trump and bugle summon him. Hoist +sail on every bark! But first of all--the spiked cask is for whom? + + _All remain silent_. + +DUKE. Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and +bawd!--Know, evil woman, that though nothing else be safe against your +tricks, they cannot conquer love!--Go--quick--begone! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _makes a gesture which for a moment seems to + stun the_ DUKE. + +DUKE. [_Draws his sword and turns the point of it toward the_ +STEPMOTHER, _having first seated_ SWANWHITE _on his left shoulder_] +A-yi, you evil one! My pointed steel will outpoint all your tricks! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _withdraws backward, dragging her legs behind + her like a panther_. + +DUKE. Now for the prince! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _stops on the balcony, rigid as a statue. She + opens her mouth as if she were pouring out venom_. + + _The peacock and the doves fall down dead. Then the_ STEPMOTHER + _begins to swell. Her clothes become inflated to such an extent + that they hide her head and bust entirely. They seem to be + flaming with a pattern of interwoven snakes and branches. The + sun is beginning to rise outside. The ceiling sinks slowly into + the room, while smoke and fire burst from the fireplace_. + +DUKE. [_Raising the cross-shaped handle of his sword toward the_ +STEPMOTHER] Pray, people, pray to Christ, our Saviour! + +ALL. Christ have mercy! + + _The ceiling resumes its ordinary place. The smoke and fire + cease. A noise is heard outside, followed by the hum of many + voices_. + +DUKE. What new event is this? + +SWANWHITE. I know! I see!--I hear the water dripping from his hair; I +hear the silence of his heart, the breath that comes no more--I see +that he is dead! + +DUKE. Where do you see--and whom? + +SWANWHITE. Where?--But I see it! + +DUKE. I see nothing. + +SWANWHITE. As they must come, let them come quick! + + _Four little girls enter with baskets out of which they scatter + white lilies and hemlock twigs over the floor. After them come + four pages ringing silver bells of different pitch. Then comes + a priest carrying a large crucifix. Then, the golden bier, with + the body of the_ PRINCE, _covered by a white sheet, on which + rest white and pink roses. His hair is dark again. His face is + youthful, rosy, and radiantly beautiful. There is a smile on + his lips_. + + _The harp begins to play. The sun rises completely. The magic + bubble around the_ STEPMOTHER _bursts, and she appears once + more in her customary shape_. + + _The bier is placed in the middle of the floor, so that the + rays of the rising sun fall on it_. + + SWANWHITE _throws herself on her knees beside the bier and + covers the_ PRINCE'S _face with kisses_. + + _All present put their hands to their faces and weep_. + + _The_ FISHERMAN _has entered behind the bier_. + +DUKE. The brief tale tell us, fisherman---- + +FISHERMAN. Does it not tell itself, my noble lord?--The young prince +had already crossed the strait, when, seized by violent longing for +his love, he started to swim back, in face of tide and wave and +wind--because his bark seemed rudder-less.--I saw his young head breast +the billows, I heard him cry her name--and then his corpse was gently +dropped upon the white sand at my feet. His hair had turned to grey +that night when he slept in the tower; sorrow and wrath had blanched +his cheeks; his lips had lost their power of smiling.--Now, when +death o'ertook him, beauty and youth came with it. Like wreaths his +darkening locks fell round his rosy cheeks; he smiled--and see!--is +smiling still. The people gathered on the shore, awed by the gentle +spectacle--and man said unto man: lo, this is love! + +SWANWHITE. [_Lying down beside the body of the_ PRINCE] He's dead; his +heart will sing no more; his eyes no longer will light up my life; +his breath will shed its dew on me no more. He smiles, but not toward +me--toward heaven he smiles. And on his journey I shall bear him +company. + +DUKE. Kiss not a dead man's lips--there's poison in them! + +SWANWHITE. Sweet poison if it bring me death--that death in which I +seek my life! + +DUKE. They say, my child, the dead cannot gain union by willing it; +and what was loved in life has little worth beyond. + +SWANWHITE. And love? Should then its power not extend to the other side +of death? + +DUKE. Our wise men have denied it. + +SWANWHITE. Then he must come to me--back to this earth. O gracious +Lord, please let him out of heaven again! + +DUKE. A foolish prayer! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot pray--woe's me! The evil eye still rules this place. + +DUKE. You're thinking of the monster which the sunbeams pricked. The +stake for her--let her without delay be burned alive! + +SWANWHITE. Burn her?--Alive?--Oh, no! Let her depart in peace! + +DUKE. She must be burned alive! You, men, see that the pyre is raised +close to the shore, and let the winds play with her ashes! + +SWANWHITE. [_On her knees before the_ DUKE] No, no--I pray you, though +she was my executioner: have mercy on her! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters, changed, freed from the evil powers that have +held her in their spell_] Mercy! Who spoke the sacred word? Who poured +her heart in prayer for me? + +SWANWHITE. I did--your daughter--mother! + +STEPMOTHER. O, God in heaven, she called me mother!--Who taught you +that? + +SWANWHITE. Love did! + +STEPMOTHER. Then blessed be love which can work miracles like +that!--But, child, then it must also have the power to make the dead +return out of the darkling realms of death!--I cannot do it, having not +received the grace of love. But you! + +SWANWHITE. Poor me--what can I do? + +STEPMOTHER. You can forgive, and you can love--Well, then, my little +Lady Almighty, you can do anything!--Be taught by me who have no power +at all. Go, cry the name of your beloved, and put your hand above his +heart! Then, with the help of the Supreme One--calling none but Him for +helper--your beloved will hear your voice--if you believe! + +SWANWHITE. I do believe--I will it--and--I pray for it! + +_She goes up to the_ PRINCE, _places one of her hands over his heart, +and raises the other toward the sky. Then she bends down over him +and whispers something into his ear. This she repeats three times in +succession. At the third whisper the_ PRINCE _wakes up_. SWANWHITE +_throws herself at his breast. All kneel in praise and thanksgiving. +Music_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SIMOOM + +(SAMUM) + +1890 + + + CHARACTERS + + BISKRA, _an Arabian girl_ + YUSUF, _her lover_ + GUIMARD, _a lieutenant of Zouaves_ + + _The action takes place in Algeria at the present time_. + + + + +SIMOOM + + + _The inside of a marabout, or shrine. In the middle of the + floor stands a sarcophagus forming the tomb of the Mohammedan + saint (also called "marabout") who in his lifetime occupied the + place. Prayer-rugs are scattered over the floor. At the right + in the rear is an ossuary, or charnel-house._ + + _There is a doorway in the middle of the rear wall. It is + closed with a gate and covered by a curtain. On both sides of + the doorway are loopholes. Here and there on the floor are seen + little piles of sand. An aloe plant, a few palm leaves and some + alfa grass are thrown together on one spot_. + + * * * * * + +FIRST SCENE + + + BISKRA _enters. The hood of her burnous is pulled over her head + so that it almost covers her face. She carries a guitar at her + back. Throwing herself down in a kneeling position on one of + the rugs, she begins to pray with her arms crossed over her + breast. A high wind is blowing outside_. + +BISKRA. Lâ ilâhâ illâ 'llâh! + +YUSUF. [_Enters quickly_] The Simoom is coming! Where is the Frank? + +BISKRA. He'll be here in a moment. + +YUSUF. Why didn't you stab him when you had a chance? + +BISKRA. Because he is to do it himself. If I were to do it, our whole +tribe would be killed, for I am known to the Franks as Ali, the guide, +though they don't know me as Biskra, the maiden. + +YUSUF. He is to do it himself, you say? How is that to happen? + +BISKRA. Don't you know that the Simoom makes the brains of the white +people dry as dates, so that they have horrible visions which disgust +them with life and cause them to flee into the great unknown? + +YUSUF. I have heard of such things, and in the last battle there were +six Franks who took their own lives before the fighting began. But do +not place your trust in the Simoom to-day, for snow has fallen in the +mountains, and the storm may be all over in half an hour.--Biskra! Do +you still know how to hate? + +BISKRA. If I know how to hate?--My hatred is boundless as the desert, +burning as the sun, and stronger than my love. Every hour of joy that +has been stolen from me since the murder of Ali has been stored up +within me like the venom back of a viper's tooth, and what the Simoom +cannot do, that I can do. + +YUSUF. Well spoken, Biskra, and the task shall be yours. Ever since my +eyes first fell upon you, my own hatred has been withering like alfa +grass in the autumn. Take strength from me and become the arrow to my +bow. + +BISKRA. Embrace me, Yusuf, embrace me! + +YUSUF. Not here, within the presence of the Sainted one; not +now--later, afterward, when you have earned your reward! + +BISKRA. You proud sheikh! You man of pride! + +YUSUF. Yes--the maiden who is to carry my offspring under her heart +must show herself worthy of the honour. + +BISKRA. I--no one but I--shall bear the offspring of Yusuf! I, +Biskra--the scorned one, the ugly one, but the strong one, too! + +YUSUF. All right! I am now going to sleep beside the spring.--Do I +need to teach you more of the secret arts which you learned from +Sidi-Sheikh, the great marabout, and which you have practised at fairs +ever since you were a child? + +BISKRA. Of that there is no need. I know all the secrets needed to +scare the life out of a cowardly Frank.--The dastard who sneaks upon +the enemy and sends the leaden bullet ahead of himself! I know them +all--even the art of letting my voice come out of my belly. And what is +beyond my art, that will be done by the sun, for the sun is on the side +of Yusuf and Biskra. + +YUSUF. The sun is a friend of the Moslem, but not to be relied upon. +You may get burned, girl!--Take a drink of water first of all, for I +see that your hands are shrivelled, and---- + + _He lifts up one of the rugs and steps down into a sort of + cellar, from which he brings back a bowl filled with water; + this he hands to_ BISKRA. + +BISKRA. [_Raising the bowl to her mouth_] And my eyes are already +beginning to see red--my lungs are parching--I hear--I hear--do you +see how the sand is sifting through the roof--the strings of my guitar +are crooning--the Simoom is here! But the Frank is not! + +YUSUF. Come down here, Biskra, and let the Frank die by himself. + +BISKRA. First hell, and then death! Do you think I'll weaken? [_Pours +the water on one of the sand piles_] I'll water the sand, so that +revenge may grow out of it, and I'll dry up my heart. Grow, O hatred! +Burn, O sun! Smother, O wind! + +YUSUF. Hail to you, mother of Ben Yusuf--for you are to bear the son of +Yusuf, the avenger--you! + + +_The wind is increasing. The curtain in front of the door begins to +flap. A red glimmer lights up the room, but changes into yellow during +the ensuing scene_. + + +BISKRA. The Frank is coming, and--the Simoom is here!--Go! + +YUSUF. In half an hour you shall see me again. [_Pointing toward a sand +pile_] There is your hour-glass. Heaven itself is measuring out the +time for the hell of the infidels! + + [_Goes down into the cellar_. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD _enters looking very pale; he stumbles, his + mind is confused, and he speaks in a low voice_. + +GUIMARD. The Simoom is here!--What do you think has become of my men? + +BISKRA. I led them west to east. + +GUIMARD. West--to east!--Let me see!--That's straight east--and +west!--Oh, put me on a chair and give me some water! + +BISKRA. [_Leads_ GUIMARD _to one of the sand piles and makes him lie +down on the floor with his feet on the sand_] Are you comfortable now? + +GUIMARD. [_Staring at her_] I feel all twisted up. Put something under +my head. + +BISKRA. [_Piling the sand higher under his feet_] There's a pillow for +your head. + +GUIMARD. Head? Why, my feet are down there--Isn't that my feet? + +BISKRA. Of course! + +GUIMARD. I thought so. Give me a stool now--under my head. + +BISKRA. [_Pulls out the aloe plant and pushes it under Guimard's legs_] +There's a stool for you. + +GUIMARD. And then water!--Water! + +BISKRA. [_Fills the empty bowl with sand and hands it to_ GUIMARD] +Drink while it's cold. + +GUIMARD. [_Putting his lips to the bowl_] It is cold--and yet it does +not still my thirst! I cannot drink it--I abhor water--take it away! + +BISKRA. There's the dog that bit you! + +GUIMARD. What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog. + +BISKRA. The Simoom has shrivelled up your memory--beware the delusions +of the Simoom! Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you during +the last hunt at Bab-el-Wad? + +GUIMARD. The hunt at Bab-el-Wad? That's right!--Was it a +beaver-coloured----? + +BISKRA. Bitch? Yes.--There you see. And she bit you in the calf. Can't +you feel the sting of the wound? + +GUIMARD. [_Reaches out a hand to feel his calf and pricks himself on +the aloe_] Yes, I can feel it.--Water! Water! + +BISKRA. [_Handing him the sand-filled bowl_] Drink, drink! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot! Holy Mother of God--I have rabies! + +BISKRA. Don't be afraid! I shall cure you, and drive out the demon by +the help of music, which is all-powerful. Listen! + +GUIMARD. [_Screaming_] Ali! Ali! No music; I can't stand it! And how +could it help me? + +BISKRA. If music can tame the treacherous spirit of the snake, don't +you think it may conquer that of a mad dog? Listen! [_She sings and +accompanies herself on the guitar_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! Simoom! + +YUSUF. [_Responding from below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What is that you are singing, Ali? + +BISKRA. Have I been singing? Look here--now I'll put a palm-leaf in my +mouth. [_She puts a piece of leaf between her teeth; the song seems to +be coming from above_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra! + +YUSUF. [_From below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What an infernal jugglery! + +BISKRA. Now I'll sing! + +BISKRA and YUSUF. [_Together_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] What are you, you devil who are singing with two +voices? Are you man or woman? Or both? + +BISKRA. I am Ali, the guide. You don't recognise me because your senses +are confused. But if you want to be saved from the tricks played by +sight and thought, you must believe in me--believe what I say and do +what I tell you. + +GUIMARD. You don't need to ask me, for I find everything to be as you +say it is. + +BISKRA. There you see, you worshipper of idols! + +GUIMARD. I, a worshipper of idols? + +BISKRA. Yes, take out the idol you carry on your breast. + + GUIMARD _takes out a locket_. + +BISKRA. Trample on it now, and then call on the only God, the Merciful +One, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. [_Hesitating_] Saint Edward--my patron saint? + +BISKRA. Can he protect you? Can he? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot!--[_Waking up_] Yes, he can! + +BISKRA. Let us see! + + _She opens the gate; the curtain flaps and the grass on the + floor moves_. + +GUIMARD. [_Covering his mouth_] Close the door! + +BISKRA. Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot. + +BISKRA. Do you see? The Simoom does not bend a hair on me, but you, the +infidel one, are killed by it! Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. [_Throws the locket on the floor_] Water! I die! + +BISKRA. Pray to the Only One, the Merciful and Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. How am I to pray? + +BISKRA. Repeat after me. + +GUIMARD. Speak on! + +BISKRA. There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. "There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One." + +BISKRA. Lie down on the floor. + + GUIMARD _lies down unwillingly_. + +BISKRA. What do you hear? + +GUIMARD. I hear the murmuring of a spring. + +BISKRA. There you see! God is one, and there is no other God but He, +the Merciful and Compassionate One!--What do you see? + +GUIMARD. I can hear a spring murmur--I can see the light of a lamp--in +a window with green shutters--on a white street---- + +BISKRA. Who is sitting at the window? + +GUIMARD. My wife--Elise! + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around her neck? + +GUIMARD. That's my son, George. + +BISKRA. How old is your son? + +GUIMARD. Four years on the day of Saint Nicholas. + +BISKRA. And he can already stand behind the curtain with his arm around +the neck of another man's wife? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot--but it is he! + +BISKRA. Four years old, you say, and he has a blond mustache? + +GUIMARD. A blond mustache, you say?--Oh, that's--my friend Jules. + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around your +wife's neck? + +GUIMARD. Oh, you devil! + +BISKRA. Do you see your son? + +GUIMARD. No, I don't see him any longer. + + BISKRA. [_Imitates the tolling of bells on the guitar_] What do + you see now? + +GUIMARD. I see bells ringing--I taste dead bodies--their smell in my +mouth is like rancid butter--faugh! + +BISKRA. Can't you hear the priest chanting the service for a dead child? + +GUIMARD. Wait!--I cannot hear--[_Wistfully_] But do you want me +to?--There!--I can hear it! + +BISKRA. Do you see the wreath on the coffin they are carrying? + +GUIMARD. Yes---- + +BISKRA. There are violet ribbons on it--and there are letters printed +in silver--"Farewell, my darling George--from your father." + +GUIMARD. Yes, that's it! [_He begins to cry_] My George! O George, my +darling boy!--Elise--wife--can't you console me?--Oh, help me! [_He is +groping around_] Elise, where are you? Have you left me? Answer! Call +out the name of your love! + +A VOICE. [_Coming from the roof_] Jules! Jules! + +GUIMARD. Jules! But my name is--what is my name? It is Charles! And she +is calling Jules! Elise--my beloved wife--answer me--for your spirit +is here--I can feel it--and you promised never to love anybody else---- + + _The_ VOICE _is heard laughing_. + +GUIMARD. Who is laughing? + +BISKRA. Elise--your wife. + +GUIMARD. Oh, kill me! I don't want to live any longer! Life sickens +me like sauerkraut at Saint-Doux--You there--do you know what +Saint-Doux is? Lard! [_He tries to spit_] Not a drop of saliva +left!--Water--water--or I'll bite you! + + _The wind outside has risen to a full storm_. + +BISKRA. [_Puts her hand to her mouth and coughs_] Now you are dying, +Frank! Write down your last wishes while there is still time--Where is +your note-book? + +GUIMARD. [_Takes out a note-book and a pencil_] What am I to write? + +BISKRA. When a man is to die, he thinks of his wife--and his child! + +GUIMARD. [_Writes_] "Elise--I curse you! Simoom--I die----" + +BISKRA. And then sign it, or it will not be valid as a testament. + +GUIMARD. What shall I sign? + +BISKRA. Write: Lâ ilâha illâ 'llâh. + +GUIMARD. [_Writing_] It is written.--And can I die now? + +BISKRA. Now you can die--like a craven soldier who has deserted his +people! And I am sure you'll get a handsome burial from the jackals +that will chant the funeral hymn over your corpse. [_She drums the +signal for attack on the guitar_] Can you hear the drums--the attack +has begun--on the Faithful, who have the sun and the Simoom on their +side--they are now advancing--from their hiding-places--[_She makes a +rattling noise on the guitar_] The Franks are firing along the whole +line--they have no chance to load again--the Arabs are firing at their +leisure--the Franks are flying! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] The Franks never flee! + +BISKRA. The Franks will flee when they hear the call to retreat. + + [_She blows the signal for "retreat" on a flute which she has + produced from under her burnoose_. + +GUIMARD. They are retreating--that's the signal--and I am here--[_He +tears off his epaulets_] I am dead! + + [_He falls to the ground_. + +BISKRA. Yes, you are dead!--And you don't know that you have been dead +a long time. + + [_She goes to the ossuary and takes from it a human skull_. + +GUIMARD. Have I been dead? + + [_He feels his face with his hands_. + +BISKRA. Long! Long!--Look at yourself in the mirror here! [_She holds +up the skull before him_. + +GUIMARD. Ah! That's me! + +BISKRA. Can't you see your own high cheek-bones? Can't you see the eyes +that the vultures have picked out? Don't you know that gap on the right +side of the jaw where you had a tooth pulled? Can't you see the hollow +in the chin where, grew the beard that your Elise was fond of stroking? +Can't you see where used to be the ear that your George kissed at +the breakfast-table? Can't you see the mark of the axe--here in the +neck--which the executioner made when he cut off the deserter's head---- + + GUIMARD, _who has been watching her movements and listening to + her words with evident horror, sinks down dead_. + +BISKRA. [_Who has been kneeling, feels his pulse; then she rises and +sings_] Simoom! Simoom! [_She opens both gates; the curtain flutters +like a banner in the wind; she puts her hand up to her mouth and falls +over backward, crying_] Yusuf! + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD (_dead_). YUSUF _comes out of the cellar_. + + +YUSUF. [_Having examined the body of_ GUIMARD, _he looks for_ BISKRA] +Biskra! [_He discovers her and takes her up in his arms_] Are you alive? + +BISKRA. Is the Frank dead? + +YUSUF. If he is not, he will be. Simoom! Simoom! + +BISKRA. Then I live! But give me some water! + +YUSUF. [_Carrying her toward the cellar_] Here it is!--And now Yusuf is +yours! + +BISKRA. And Biskra will be your son's mother, O Yusuf, great Yusuf! + +YUSUF. My strong Biskra! Stronger than the Simoom! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +(DEBET OCH KREDIT) + +AN ACT + +1893 + + + CHARACTERS + + AXEL, _Doctor of Philosophy and African explorer_ + THURE, _his brother, a gardener_ + ANNA, _the wife of_ THURE + MISS CECILIA + THE FIANCÉ _of_ CECILIA + LINDGREN, _Doctor of Philosophy and former school-teacher_ + MISS MARIE + THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN + THE WAITER + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +_A well-furnished hotel room. There are doors on both sides_. + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +THURE. There's some style to this room, isn't there? But then the +fellow who lives here is stylish, too. + +WIFE. Yes, so I understand. Of course, I've never seen your brother, +but I've heard a whole lot. + +THURE. Oh, gossip! _My_ brother, the doctor, has gone right across +Africa, and that's something everybody can't do. So it doesn't matter +how many drinks he took as a young chap---- + +WIFE. Yes, your brother, the doctor! Who is nothing but a +school-teacher, for that matter---- + +THURE. No, he's a doctor of philosophy, I tell you---- + +WIFE. Well, that's nothing but one who teaches. And that's just what my +brother is doing in the school at Ã…by. + +THURE. Your brother is all right, but he is nothing but a public-school +teacher, and that's not the same as a doctor of philosophy--which isn't +a boast either. + +WIFE. Well, no matter what he is or what you call him, he has cost us a +whole lot. + +THURE. Of course it has been rather costly, but then he has brought us +a lot of pleasure, too. + +WIFE. Fine pleasures! When we've got to lose house and home for his +sake! + +THURE. That's so--but then we don't know yet if his slip-up on the loan +had some kind of cause that he couldn't help. I guess it isn't so easy +to send registered letters from darkest Africa. + +WIFE. Whether he has any excuses or not doesn't change the matter a +bit. But if he wants to do something for us--it's nothing more than he +owes us. + +THURE. Well, we'll see, we'll see!--Anyhow, have you heard they've +already given him four decorations? + +WIFE. Well, that doesn't help us any. I guess it'll only make him a +little more stuck-up. Oh, no, it'll be some time before I get over that +the sheriff had to come down on us with the papers--and bring in other +people as witnesses--and then--the auction--and all the neighbours +coming in and turning all we had upside down. And do you know what made +me sorer than all the rest? + +THURE. The black---- + +WIFE. Yes, it was that my sister-in-law should bid in my black silk +dress for fifteen crowns. Think of it--fifteen crowns! + +THURE. You just wait--just wait a little! We might get you a new silk +dress---- + +WIFE. [_Weeping_] But it'll never be the same one--the one my +sister-in-law bid in. + +THURE. We'll get another one then!--Now, just look at that gorgeous hat +over there! I guess it must be one of those royal chamberlains who's +talking with Axel now. + +WIFE. What do I care about that! + +THURE. Why, don't you think it's fun that a fellow who has the same +name as you and I gets to be so respected that the King's own household +people have to visit him? If I remember right, you were happy for a +whole fortnight when your brother, the school-teacher, had been asked +to dine at the bishop's. + +WIFE. I can't remember anything of the kind. + +THURE. Of course you can't! + +WIFE. But I do remember the fifteenth of March, when we had to leave +our place for his sake, and we hadn't been married more than two years, +and I had to carry away the child on my own arm--Oh!--and then, when +the steamer came with all the passengers on board just as we had to get +out--all the cocked hats in the world can't make me forget that! And, +for that matter, what do you think a royal chamberlain cares about a +plain gardener and his wife when they've just been turned out of house +and home? + +THURE. Look here! What do you think this is? Look at all his +decorations!--Look at this one, will you! + + _He takes an order out of its case, holds it in the palm of his + hand, and pats it as if it were a living thing_. + +WIFE. Oh, that silly stuff! + +THURE. Don't you say anything against them, for you never can tell +where you'll end. The gardener at Staring was made a director and a +knight on the same day. + +WIFE. Well, what does that help us? + +THURE. No, of course not--it doesn't help us--but these things here +[_pointing to the orders_] may help us a whole lot in getting another +place.--However, I think we've waited quite a while now, so we'd better +sit down and make ourselves at home. Let me help you off with your +coat--come on now! + +WIFE. [_After a slight resistance_] So you think we're going to be +welcome, then? I have a feeling that our stay here won't last very long. + +THURE. Tut, tut! And I think we're going to have a good dinner, too, if +I know Axel right. If he only knew that we're here--But now you'll +see! [_He presses a button and a_ WAITER _enters_] What do you want--a +sandwich, perhaps? [_To the_ WAITER] Bring us some sandwiches and +beer.--Wait a moment! Get a drink for me--the real stuff, you know! +[_The_ WAITER _goes out_] You've got to take care of yourself, don't +you know. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. AXEL. The CHAMBERLAIN. + +AXEL. [_To the_ CHAMBERLAIN] At five, then--in full dress, I suppose? + +CHAMBERLAIN. And your orders! + +AXEL. Is it necessary? + +CHAMBERLAIN. Absolutely necessary, if you don't want to seem rude, and +that's something which you, as a democrat, want least of all. Good-bye, +doctor! + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + _In leaving, the_ CHAMBERLAIN _bows slightly to_ THURE _and + his_ WIFE, _neither of whom returns the salute_. + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + AXEL. THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +AXEL. Oh, is that you, old boy?--It seems an eternity since I saw you +last. And this is your wife?--Glad to see you! + +THURE. Thanks, brother! And I wish you a happy return after your long +trip. + +AXEL. Yes, that was something of a trip--I suppose you have read about +it in the papers---- + +THURE. Oh, yes, I've read all about it. [_Pause_] And then father sent +you his regards. + +AXEL. Oh, is he still sore at me? + +THURE. Well, you know the old man and his ways. If only you hadn't been +a member of that expedition, you know, he would have thought it one of +the seven wonders of the world. But as you were along, of course, it +was nothing but humbug. + +AXEL. So he's just the same as ever! Simply because I am _his_ son, +nothing I ever do can be of any value. It means he can't think very +much of himself either.--Well, so much for that! And how are you +getting along nowadays? + +THURE. Not very well, exactly! There's that old loan from the bank, you +know---- + +AXEL. Yes, that's right! Well, what happened to it? + +THURE. Oh, what happened was that I had to pay it. + +AXEL. That's too bad! But we'll settle the matter as soon as we have a +chance. + + _The_ WAITER _comes in with_ THURE's _order on a tray_. + +AXEL. What's that? + +THURE. Oh, it was only me who took the liberty of ordering a couple of +sandwiches---- + +AXEL. Right you were! But I think we ought to have some wine, so I +could drink the health of my sister-in-law, as I couldn't get to the +wedding. + +THURE. Oh, no--not for us! Not so early in the morning! Thanks very +much! + +AXEL. [_Signals to the_ WAITER, _who goes out_] I should have asked you +to stay for dinner, but I have to go out myself. Can you guess where I +am going? + +THURE. You don't mean to say you're going to the Palace? + +AXEL. Exactly--I am asked to meet the Monarch himself. + +THURE. Lord preserve us!--What do you think of that, Anna? + + _His_ WIFE _turns and twists on her chair as if in torment, + quite unable to answer_. + +AXEL. I suppose the old man will turn republican after this, when he +hears that His Majesty cares to associate with me. + +THURE. See here, Axel--you'll have to pardon me for getting back to +something that's not very pleasant--but it has to be settled. + +AXEL. Is it that blessed old loan? + +THURE. Yes, but it isn't only that. To put it plain--we've had to stand +an execution for your sake, and now we're absolutely cleaned out. + +AXEL. That's a fine state of affairs! But why in the world didn't you +get the loan renewed? + +THURE. Well, that's it! How was I to get any new sureties when you were +away? + +AXEL. Couldn't you go to my friends? + +THURE. I did. And the result was--what it was. Can you help us out now? + +AXEL. How am I going to help you now? Now when all my creditors are +getting after me? And it won't do for me to start borrowing when they +are just about to make a position for me. There's nothing that hurts +you more than to borrow money. Just wait a little while, and we'll get +it all straightened out. + +THURE. If we're to wait, then everything's up with us. This is just the +time to get hold of a garden--this is the time to start digging and +sowing, if you are to get anything up in time. Can't you get a place +for us? + +AXEL. Where am I to get hold of a garden? + +THURE. Among your friends. + +AXEL. My friends keep no gardens. Now, don't you hamper me when I try +to get up on firm ground! When I am there I'll pull you up, too. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] He doesn't want to help us, Anna! + +AXEL. I cannot--not this moment! Do you think it reasonable that I, who +am seeking a job myself, should have to seek one for you, too? What +would people be saying, do you think? "There, now," they would say, +"we've got not only him but his relatives to look after!" And then they +would drop me entirely. + +THURE. [_Looks at his watch; then to his wife_] We've got to go. + +AXEL. Why must you go so soon? + +THURE. We have to take the child to a doctor. + +AXEL. For the Lord's sake, have you a child, too? + +WIFE. Yes, we have. And a sick child, which lost its health when we had +to move out into the kitchen so that the auction could be held. + +AXEL. And all this for my sake! It's enough to drive me crazy! For +my sake! So that I might become a famous man!--And what is there I +can do for you?--Do you think it would have been better if I had +stayed at home?--No, worse--for then I should have been nothing but +a poor teacher, who certainly could not have been of any use to you +whatever.--Listen, now! You go to the doctor, but come back here after +a while. In the meantime I'll think out something. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] Do you see now, that he wants to help us? + +WIFE. Yes, but can he do it? That's the question. + +THURE. He can do anything he wants. + +AXEL. Don't rely too much on it--or the last state may prove worse +than the first.--Oh, merciful heavens, to think that you have a sick +child, too! And for my sake! + +THURE. Oh, I guess it isn't quite as bad as it sounds. + +WIFE. Yes, so you say, who don't know anything about it---- + +THURE. Well, Axel, we'll see you later then. + +LINDGREN _appears in the doorway_. + +WIFE. [_To_ THURE] Did you notice he didn't introduce us--to the +chamberlain? + +THURE. Oh, shucks, what good would that have been? + +[_They go out_. + + + +FOURTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN, _who is shabbily dressed, unshaved, apparently + fond of drinking, and looking as if he had just got out of bed_. + +AXEL _is startled for a moment at the sight of_ LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. You don't recognise me? + +AXEL. Yes, now I do. But you have changed a great deal. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you think so? + +AXEL. Yes, I do, and I am surprised to find that these years can have +had such an effect---- + +LINDGREN. Three years may be pretty long.--And you don't ask me to sit +down? + +AXEL. Please--but I am rather in a hurry. + +LINDGREN. You have always been in a hurry. + + [_He sits down; pause._ + +AXEL. Why don't you say something unpleasant? + +LINDGREN. It's coming, it's coming! + + [_He wipes his spectacles; pause._ + +AXEL. How much do you need? + +LINDGREN. Three hundred and fifty. + +AXEL. I haven't got it, and I can't get it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, sure!--You don't mind if I help myself to a few drops? + + _He pours out a drink from the bottle brought by the_ Waiter + _for_ THURE. + +AXEL. Won't you have a glass of wine with me instead? + +LINDGREN. No--why? + +AXEL. Because it looks bad to be swilling whisky like that. + +LINDGREN. How very proper you have become! + +AXEL. Not at all, but it hurts my reputation and my credit. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have credit? Then you can also give me a lift, after +having brought me down. + +AXEL. That is to say: you are making demands? + +LINDGREN. I am only reminding you that I am one of your victims. + +AXEL. Then, because of the gratitude I owe you, I shall bring these +facts back to your mind: that you helped me through the university at +a time when you had plenty of money; that you helped to get my thesis +printed---- + +LINDGREN. That I taught you the methods which determined your +scientific career; that I, who then was as straight as anybody, +exercised a favourable influence on your slovenly tendencies; that, in +a word, I made you what you are; and that, finally, when I applied for +an appropriation to undertake this expedition, you stepped in and took +it. + +AXEL. No, I got it. Because I, and not you, was held to be the man for +the task. + +LINDGREN. And that settled me! Thus, one shall be taken, and the other +left!--Do you think that was treating me fairly? + +AXEL. It was what the world calls "ungrateful," but the task was +achieved, and by it science was enriched, the honour of our country +upheld, and new regions opened for the use of coming generations. + +LINDGREN. Here's to you!--You have had a lot of oratorical +practice--But have you any idea how unpleasant it feels to play the +part of one used up and cast off? + +AXEL. I imagine it must feel very much like being conscious of +ingratitude, and I can only congratulate you at not finding yourself in +a position as unpleasant as my own.--But let us return to reality. What +can I do for you? + +LINDGREN. What do you think? + +AXEL. For the moment--nothing. + +LINDGREN. And in the next moment you are gone again. Which means that +this would be the last I saw of you. + + [_He pours out another drink_. + +AXEL. Will you do me the favour of not finishing the bottle? I don't +want the servants to suspect me of it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, go to hell! + +AXEL. You don't think it's pleasant for me to have to call you down +like this, do you? + +LINDGREN. Say--do you want to get me a ticket for the banquet to-night? + +AXEL. I am sorry to say that I don't think you would be admitted. + +LINDGREN. Because--- + +AXEL. You are drunk! + +LINDGREN. Thanks, old man!--Well, will you let me have a look at your +botanical specimens, then? + +AXEL. No, I am going to describe them myself for the Academy. + +LINDGREN. How about your ethnographical stuff? + +AXEL. No, that's not my own. + +LINDGREN. Will you--let me have twenty-five crowns? + +AXEL. As I haven't more than twenty myself, I can only give you ten. + +LINDGREN. Rotten! + +AXEL. Thus stand the affairs of the man everybody envies. Do you think +there is anybody in whose company I might feel happy? Not one! Those +that are still down hate me for climbing up, and those already up fear +one coming from below. + +LINDGREN. Yes, you are very unfortunate! + +AXEL. I am! And I can tell you that after my experience during the last +half-hour, I wouldn't mind changing place with you. What a peaceful, +unassailable position he holds who has nothing to lose! What a lot +of interest and sympathy those that are obscure and misunderstood +and over-looked always arouse! You have only to hold out your hand +and you get a coin. You have only to open your arms, and there are +friends ready to fall into them. And then what a powerful party behind +you--formed of the millions who are just like you! You enviable man who +don't realise your own good fortune! + +LINDGREN. So you think me that far down, and yourself as high up as +all that?--Tell me, you don't happen to have read to-day's paper? [_He +takes a newspaper from his pocket_. + +AXEL. No, and I don't care to read it either. + +LINDGREN. But you ought to do it for your own sake. + +AXEL. No, I am not going to do it--not even for _your_ sake. It is as +if you said: "Come here and let me spit at you." And then you are silly +enough to demand that I shall come, too.--Do you know, during these +last minutes I have become more and more convinced that if I had ever +come across you in the jungle, I should beyond all doubt have picked +you off with my breech-loader? + +LINDGREN. I believe it--beast of prey that you are! + +AXEL. It isn't safe to settle accounts with one's friends, or with +persons with whom one has been intimate, for it is hard to tell in +advance who has most on the debit side. But as you are bringing in +a bill, I am forced to look it over.--You don't think it took me +long to discover that back of all your generosity lay an unconscious +desire to turn me into the strong arm which you lacked--to make me +do for you what you couldn't do for yourself? I had imagination and +initiative--you had nothing but money and--"pull." So I am to be +congratulated that you didn't eat me, and I may be excused for eating +you--my only choice being to eat or be eaten! + +LINDGREN. You beast of prey! + +AXEL. You rodent, who couldn't become a beast of prey--although that +was just what you wished! And what you want at this moment is not so +much to rise up to me as to pull me down to where you are.--If you +have anything of importance to add, you had better hurry up, for I am +expecting a visit. + +LINDGREN. From your fiancée? + +AXEL. So you have snooped that out, too? + +LINDGREN. Sure enough! And I know what Marie, the deserted one, thinks +and says--I know what has happened to your brother and his wife---- + +AXEL. Oh, you know my fiancée? For, you see, it so happens that I am +not yet engaged! + +LINDGREN. No, but I know _her_ fiancé. + +AXEL. What does that mean? + +LINDGREN. Why, she has been running around with another fellow all the +time--So you didn't know that? + +AXEL. [_As he listens for something going on outside_] Oh, yes, I knew +of it, but I thought she was done with him--See here, if you'll come +back in a quarter of an hour, I'll try to get things arranged for you +in some way or another. + +LINDGREN. Is that a polite way of showing me the door? + +AXEL. No, it's an attempt to meet an old obligation. Seriously! + +LINDGREN. Well, then I'll go--and come back--Good-bye for a while. + + + +FIFTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN. _The_ WAITER. _Then the_ FIANCÉ, _dressed in + black, with a blue ribbon in the lapel of his coat_. + +WAITER. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you. + +AXEL. Let him come in. + + _The_ WAITER _goes out, leaving the door open behind him. The_ + FIANCÉ _enters_. + +LINDGREN. [_Observing the newcomer closely_] Well, good-bye. + +AXEL--and good luck! [_He goes out_. + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + + +SIXTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCÉ [_much embarrassed_] + +AXEL. With whom have I the honour----? + +FIANCÉ. My name is not a name in the same way as yours, Doctor, and my +errand concerns a matter of the heart---- + +AXEL. Oh, do you happen to be--You know Miss Cecilia? + +FIANCÉ. I am the man. + +AXEL. [_Hesitating for a moment; then with decision_] Please be seated. +[_He opens the door and beckons the_ WAITER. + +_The_ WAITER _enters_. + +AXEL. [_To the_ WAITER] Have my bill made out, see that my trunk is +packed, and bring me a carriage in half an hour. + +WAITER. [_Bowing and leaving_] Yes, Doctor. + +AXEL. [_Goes up to the_ FIANCÉ _and sits down on a chair beside him_] +Now let's hear what you have to say? + +FIANCÉ. [_After a pause, with unction_] There were two men living in +the same city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had sheep and +cattle in plenty. The poor man owned nothing but one ewe lamb---- + +AXEL. What does that concern me? + +FIANCÉ. [_As before_] One ewe lamb, which he had bought and was trying +to raise. + +AXEL. Oh, life's too short. What do you want? Are you and Miss Cecilia +still engaged? + +FIANCÉ. [_Changing his tone_] I haven't said a word about Miss Cecilia, +have I? + +AXEL. Well, sir, you had better get down to business, or I'll show you +the door. But be quick about it, and get straight to the point, without +any frills---- + +FIANCÉ. [_Holding out his snuff-box_] May I? + +AXEL. No, thanks. + +FIANCÉ. A great man like you has no such little weaknesses, I suppose? + +AXEL. As you don't seem willing to speak, I shall. Of course, it is +none of your business, but it may do you good to learn of it, as you +don't seem to know it: I am regularly engaged to Miss Cecilia, who +formerly was your fiancée. + +FIANCÉ. [_Startled_] Who was? + +AXEL. Because she has broken with you. + +FIANCÉ. I know nothing about it. + +AXEL. [_Taking a ring from the pocket of his waistcoat]_ That's +strange, but now you do know. And here you can see the ring she has +given me. + +FIANCÉ. So she has broken with me? + +AXEL. Yes, as she couldn't be engaged to two men at the same time, and +as she had ceased to care for you, she had to break with you. I might +have told you all this in a more decent fashion, if you hadn't stepped +on my corns the moment you came in. + +FIANCÉ. I didn't do anything of the kind. + +AXEL. Cowardly and disingenuous--cringing and arrogant at the same time! + +FIANCÉ. [_Gently_] You are a hard man, Doctor. + +AXEL. No, but I may become one. You showed no consideration for my +feelings a moment ago. You sneered, which I didn't. And that's the end +of our conversation. + +FIANCÉ. [_With genuine emotion_] I feared that you might take away from +me my only lamb--but you wouldn't do that, you who have so many---- + +AXEL. Suppose I wouldn't--are you sure she would stay with you anyhow? + +FIANCÉ. Put yourself in my place, Doctor---- + +AXEL. Yes, if you'll put yourself in mine. + +FIANCÉ. I am a poor man---- + +AXEL. So am I! But judging by what I see and hear, you have certain +bliss waiting for you in the beyond. That's more than I have.--And, +furthermore, I have taken nothing away from you: I have only received +what was offered me. Just as you did! + +FIANCÉ. And I who had been dreaming of a future for this young woman--a +future full of brightness---- + +AXEL. Pardon me a piece of rudeness, but you began it: are you so sure +that the future of this young woman will not turn out a great deal +brighter by my side? + +FIANCÉ. You are now reminding me of my humble position as a worker---- + +AXEL. No, I am reminding you of that young woman's future, which you +have so much at heart. And as I am told that she has ceased to care +for you, but does care for me, I am only taking the liberty to dream of +a brighter future for her with the man she loves than with the man she +doesn't love. + +FIANCÉ. You are a strong man, you are, and we little ones were born to +be your victims! + +AXEL. See here, my man, I have been told that you got the better +of another rival for Cecilia's heart, and that you were not very +scrupulous about the means used for the purpose. How do you think that +_victim_ liked you? + +FIANCÉ. He was a worthless fellow. + +AXEL. From whom you saved the girl! And now I save her from you! +Good-bye! + + + +SEVENTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCÉ. CECILIA. + +FIANCÉ. Cecilia! + +CECILIA _draws back from him_. + +FIANCÉ. You seem to know your way into this place? + +AXEL. [_To the_ FIANCÉ] You had better disappear! + +CECILIA. I want some water! + +FIANCÉ. [_Picking up the whisky bottle from the table_] The bottle +seems to be finished!--Beware of that man, Cecilia! + +AXEL. [_Pushing the_ FIANCÉ _out through the door_] Oh, your presence +is wholly superfluous--get out! + +FIANCÉ. Beware of that man, Cecilia! [_He goes out_. + + + +EIGHTH SCENE + + + AXEL. CECILIA. + +AXEL. That was a most unpleasant incident, which you might have spared +me--both by breaking openly with him and by not coming to my room. + +CECILIA. [_Weeping_] So I am to be scolded, too? + +AXEL. Well, the responsibility had to be fixed, and now, when that's +done--we can talk of something else.--How are you, to begin with? + +CECILIA. So, so! + +AXEL. Not well, that means? + +CECILIA. How are you? + +AXEL. Fine--only a little tired. + +CECILIA. Are you going with me to see my aunt this after-noon? + +AXEL. No, I cannot, for I have to drive out. + +CECILIA. And that's more fun, of course. You go out such a lot, and +I--never! + +AXEL. Hm! + +CECILIA. Why do you say "hm"? + +AXEL. Because your remark made an unpleasant impression on me. + +CECILIA. One gets so many unpleasant impressions these days---- + +AXEL. For instance? + +CECILIA. By reading the papers. + +AXEL. So you have been reading those scandalous stories about me! And +you believe them? + +CECILIA. One doesn't know what to believe. + +AXEL. So you really suspect me of being the unscrupulous fellow +pictured in those stories? And as you are nevertheless willing to marry +me, I must assume that you are moved by purely practical considerations +and not by any personal attraction. + +CECILIA. You speak so harshly, as if you didn't care for me at all! + +AXEL. Cecilia--are you willing to leave this place with me in fifteen +minutes? + +CECILIA. In fifteen minutes! For where! + +AXEL. London. + +CECILIA. I am not going with you until we are married. + +AXEL. Why? + +CECILIA. Why should we leave like that, all of a sudden? + +AXEL. Because--it's suffocating here! And if I stay, they'll drag me +down so deep that I'll never get up again. + +CECILIA. How strange! Are you as badly off as that? + +AXEL. Do you come with me, or do you not? + +CECILIA. Not until we are married--for afterward you would never marry +me. + +AXEL. So that's your faith in me!--Will you sit down for a moment, +then, while I go in and write a couple of letters? + +CECILIA. Am I to sit here alone, with all the doors open? + +AXEL. Well, don't lock the door, for then we are utterly lost. [_He +goes out to the left_. + +CECILIA. Don't be long! + + _She goes up to the door leading to the hallway and turns the + key in the lock_. + + + +NINTH SCENE + + + CECILIA _alone for a moment. Then_ MARIE _enters_. + +CECILIA. Wasn't the door locked? + +MARIE. Not as far as I could see!--So it was meant to be locked? + +CECILIA. I haven't the honour? + +MARIE. Nor have I. + +CECILIA. Why should you? + +MARIE. How refined! Oh, I see! So it's you! And I am the victim--for a +while! + +CECILIA. I don't know you. + +MARIE. But I know you pretty well. + +CECILIA. [_Rises and goes to the door at the left_] Oh, you do? +[_Opening the door and speaking to_ AXEL] Come out here a moment! + + + +TENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. + +AXEL. [_Entering; to_ MARIE] What do you want here? + +MARIE. Oh, one never can tell. + +AXEL. Then you had better clear out. + +MARIE. Why? + +AXEL. Because what there was between us came to an end three years ago. + +MARIE. And now there is another one to be thrown on the scrap heap? + +AXEL. Did I ever give you any promises that were not kept? Have I ever +owed you anything? Have I ever said a word about marriage? Have we had +any children together? Have I been the only one to receive your favours? + +MARIE. But now you mean to be the only one? With that one over there! + +CECILIA. [_Goes up to_ MARIE] What do you mean?--I don't know you! + +MARIE. No, but there was a time when you did know me. And I remember +that when we met in the streets we called each other by our first +names. [_To_ AXEL] And now you are going to marry her? No, you know, +you are really too good for that! + +AXEL. [_To_ CECILIA] Have you known that woman before? + +CECILIA. No. + +MARIE. You ought to be ashamed of yourself? I simply didn't recognise +you at first because of your swell clothes---- + + AXEL _gazes intently at_ CECILIA. + +CECILIA. [_To_ AXEL] Come--I'll go with you! + +AXEL. [_Preoccupied_] In a moment! Just wait a while! I am only going +in to write another letter--But now we'll close the door first of all. + +MARIE. No, thank you, I don't want to be locked in as she was a while +ago. + +AXEL. [_Interested_] Was the door locked? + +CECILIA. [_To_ MARIE] You don't dare say that the door was locked! + +MARIE. As you expected it to be locked, I suppose you had tried to lock +it and had not succeeded---- + +AXEL. [_Observes_ CECILIA; _then to_ MARIE] It always seemed to me that +you were a nice girl, Marie. Will you let me have my letters back now? + +MARIE. No. + +AXEL. What are you going to do with them? + +MARIE. I hear that I can sell them, now when you have become famous. + +AXEL. And get your revenge at the same time? + +MARIE. Exactly. + +AXEL. Is it Lindgren----? + +MARIE. Yes!--And here he is now himself. + + + +ELEVENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. [_Enters in high spirits_] Well, what a lot of skirts! And +Marie, too--like the cuckoo that's in every nest! Now listen, Axel! + +AXEL. I hear you even when I don't see you. You're in a fine +humour--what new misfortune has befallen me? + +LINDGREN. I was only a little sour this morning because I hadn't had +a chance to get wound up. But now I've had a bite to eat--Well, you +see--at bottom you don't owe me anything at all. For what I did, I +did out of my heart's goodness, and it has brought me both honour and +pleasure--and what you got was a gift and no loan! + +AXEL. Now you are altogether too modest and generous. + +LINDGREN. Not at all! However, one favour calls for another. Would you +mind becoming my surety on this note? + + AXEL _hesitates_. + +LINDGREN. Well, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to put you in the +same kind of fix as your brother did---- + +AXEL. What do you mean? It was I who put him---- + +LINDGREN. Yes, to the tune of two hundred crowns--but he got your name +as surety for five years' rent---- + +AXEL. [_In a low voice_] Jesus Christ! + +LINDGREN. What's that?--Hm--hm! + +AXEL. [_Looking at his watch_] Just wait a few minutes--I have only to +write a couple of letters. + + CECILIA _starts to go with him_. + +AXEL. [_Holds her back_] Just a few minutes, my dear--[_He kisses her +on the forehead_] Just a few minutes! + + [_He goes toward the left_. + +LINDGREN. Here's the note--you might sign it while you are at it. + +AXEL. Give it to me! + + [_He goes out with an air of determination_. + + + +TWELFTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. Well, girls, are you on good terms again? + +MARIE. Oh, yes, and before we get away, we'll be on still better terms. + + CECILIA _makes a face_. + +MARIE. I should like to have some fun to-day. + +LINDGREN. Come along with me! I'll have money! + +MARIE. No! + + CECILIA _sits down with evident anxiety near the door through + which_ AXEL _disappeared--as if seeking support in that + direction_. + +LINDGREN. Let's take in the fireworks to-night--then we can see how a +great man looks in red light--what do you say to that, Cissie dear? + +CECILIA. Oh, I'll be sick if I have to stay here longer! + +MARIE. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. + +LINDGREN. Scrap, girls, and I'll watch you! Fight till the fur +flies--won't you? + + + +THIRTEENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. THURE _and his_ WIFE _enter_. + +LINDGREN. Well, well! Old friends! How are you? + +THURE. All right. + +LINDGREN. And the child? + +THURE. The child? + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have forgotten it?--Are you equally forgetful about +names? + +THURE. Names? + +LINDGREN. Signatures!--He must be writing an awful lot in there! + +THURE. Is my brother, the doctor, in there? + +LINDGREN. I don't know if the doctor is there, but your brother went +in there a while ago.--And, for that matter, we might find out. [_He +knocks at the door_] Silent as the grave! [_Knocks again_] Then I'll +walk right in. + + [_He goes out; everybody appears restless and anxious_. + +CECILIA. What can it mean? + +MARIE. Well, we'll see now. + +THURE. What has happened here? + +WIFE. Something is up!--You'll see he doesn't help us! + +LINDGREN. [_Returns, carrying in his hand a small bottle and some +letters_] What does it say? [_He reads the label on the bottle_] +Cyanide of potassium!--How stupid! What a sentimental idiot--to kill +himself for so little--[_Everybody cries out_] So you were no beast of +prey, my dear Axel!--But-[_He stares through the open door into the +adjoining room_]--he's not there--and his things are gone, too. So he +has skipped out! And the bottle has never been opened! That means--he +meant to kill himself, but changed his mind!--And these are his +posthumous writings. "To Miss Cecilia"--seems to contain some round +object--probably an engagement ring--there you are!--"To my brother +THURE" [_He holds up the letter to the light_]--with a piece of blue +paper inside--must be a note--for the amount involved! You're welcome! + + _The_ FIANCÉ _appears in the doorway at the right_. + +THURE. [_Who has opened his letter_] Do you see that he helped us after +all---- + +WIFE. Oh, in that way! + +LINDGREN. And here's my note--without his name--He's a strong one, all +right! _Diable!_ + +MARIE. Then the fireworks will be called off, I suppose? + +FIANCÉ. Was there nothing for me? + +LINDGREN. Yes, I think there was a fiancée--somewhere over there!--I +tell you, that fellow is a wonder at clearing up tangled affairs!--Of +course, it makes me mad to think that I let myself be fooled--but I'll +be darned if I don't think I would have done just as he did!--And so +would you, perhaps?--Or what do you think? + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ADVENT + +(ADVENT) + +A MIRACLE PLAY + +1899 + + + CHARACTERS + + _The_ JUDGE + _The_ OLD LADY, _wife of the Judge_ + AMELIA + ADOLPH + _The_ NEIGHBOUR + ERIC + THYRA + _being the same person_ + _The_ OTHER ONE + _The_ FRANCISCAN + _The_ PLAYMATE + _The_ WITCH + _The_ PRINCE + _Subordinate characters, shadows, etc._ + + ACT I. THE VINEYARD WITH THE MAUSOLEUM + ACT II. THE DRAWING-ROOM + ACT III. THE WINE-CELLAR + THE GARDEN + ACT IV. THE CROSS-ROADS + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + THE CROSS-ROADS + ACT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + + + + +ACT I + + + _The background represents a vineyard. At the left stands a + mausoleum. It consists of a small whitewashed brick building + with a door and a pointed window that lacks mullions and panes. + The roof is made of red tiles. A cross crowns the gable. + Clematis vines with purple-coloured, cross-shaped flowers cover + the front wall, at the foot of which appear a number of other + flowers_. + + _A peach-tree carrying fruit stands near the foreground. + Be-neath it sit the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY. + + _The_ JUDGE _wears a green cap with a peak, yellow + knee-breeches, and--a blue coat--all dating back to_ 1820. + _The_ OLD LADY _wears a kerchief on her head and carries + a stick, spectacles, and snuff-box. She has the general + appearance of a "witch." At the right is a small expiatory + chapel containing an image of the Holy Virgin. The fence in + front of it is hung with wreaths and nosegays. A prie-dieu is + placed against the fence_. + + +JUDGE. Life's eve has at last brought the sunshine which its morning +promised us. Early rains and late rains have blessed meadow and field. +And soon the songs of the vintagers will be heard all over the country. + +OLD LADY. Don't talk like that; somebody might hear you. + +JUDGE. Who could be listening here, and what harm could it do to thank +God for all good gifts? + +OLD LADY. It's better not to mention one's good fortune lest misfortune +overhear it. + +JUDGE. What of it? Was I not born with a caul? + +OLD LADY. Take care, take care! There are many who envy us, and evil +eyes are watching us. + +JUDGE. Well, let them! That's the way it has always been. And yet I +have prospered. + +OLD LADY. So far, yes. But I don't trust our neighbour. He has been +going around the village saying that we have cheated him out of his +property--and much more of the same kind which I don't care to repeat. +Of course, it doesn't matter when one has a clean conscience and can +point to a spotless life. Slander cannot hurt me. I go to confession +and mass, and I am prepared to close my eyes whenever my hour may +strike in order to open them again when I shall stand face to face with +my Judge. And I know also what I am going to answer then. + +JUDGE. What are you going to answer? + +OLD LADY. Like this: I was not without fault, O Lord, but even if I was +but a poor, sinful human creature, I was nevertheless a little better +than my neighbour. + +JUDGE. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, +and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to +be consecrated in a few days? + +OLD LADY. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought +to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as +plentiful as when I was a bride. + +JUDGE. Yes, yes--you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just +the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on +us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in +ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb +for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will +whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful +children---- + +JUDGE. There you said it: ungrateful children.--Have you seen anything +of Adolph? + +OLD LADY. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to +raise the money for the rent. + +JUDGE. The money which he will never get--and I still less. But he +knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter +rent that he has failed to pay. + +OLD LADY. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work +instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and +the children---- + +JUDGE. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph? + +OLD LADY. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to +inherit anything from us or not--No, look! There it is again! + + _On the wall of the mausoleum appears a spot of sunlight + like those which children are fond of producing with a small + mirror_.[1] _It is vibrating as if it were reflected by running + water_. + +JUDGE. What is it? What is it? + +OLD LADY. On the mausoleum. Don't you see? + +JUDGE. It's the reflection of the sun on the river. It means---- + +OLD LADY. It means that we'll see the light of the sun for a long time +to come---- + +JUDGE. On the contrary. But that's all one. The best pillow for one's +head is a good conscience, and the reward of the righteous never +fails.--There's our neighbour now. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Good evening, Judge. Good evening, madam. + +JUDGE. Good evening, neighbour. How goes it? It wasn't yesterday we had +the pleasure. And how are your vines, I should have asked? + +NEIGHBOUR. The vines, yes--there's mildew on them, and the starlings +are after them, too. + +JUDGE. Well, well! There's no mildew on my vines, and I have neither +seen nor heard of any starlings. + +NEIGHBOUR. Fate does not distribute its gifts evenly: one shall be +taken and the other left. + +OLD LADY. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +NEIGHBOUR. I see! The reward of the righteous shall not fail, and the +wicked shall not have to wait for their punishment. + +JUDGE. Oh, no malice meant! But you have to admit, anyhow, that it's +queer: two parcels of land lie side by side, and one yields good +harvests, the other poor ones---- + +NEIGHBOUR. One yields starlings and the other not: that's what I find +queerer still. But, then, everybody wasn't born with a caul, like you, +Judge. + +JUDGE. What you say is true, and fortune _has_ favoured me. I am +thankful for it, and there are moments when I feel proud of it as if I +had deserved it.--But listen, neighbour--you came as if you had been +sent for.--That leasehold of mine is vacant, and I wanted to ask you if +you care to take it. + + +[Footnote 1: In Sweden such spots are called "sun-cats."] + + _The_ OLD LADY _has in the meantime left her seat and gone to + the mausoleum, where she is busying herself with the flowers_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Oh, the leasehold is vacant. Hm! Since when? + +JUDGE. Since this morning. + +NEIGHBOUR. Hm! So!--That means your son-in-law has got to go? + +JUDGE. Yes, that good-for-nothing doesn't know how to manage. + +NEIGHBOUR. Tell me something else, Judge. Haven't you heard that the +state intends to build a military road across this property? + +JUDGE. Oh, I have heard some rumours to that effect, but I don't think +it's anything but empty talk. + +NEIGHBOUR. On the contrary, I have read it in the papers. That would +mean condemnation proceedings, and the loser would be the holder of the +lease. + +JUDGE. I cannot think so, and I would never submit to it. I to leave +this spot where I expect to end my days in peace, and where I have +prepared a final resting-place to escape lying with all the rest---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Wait a minute! One never knows what may prove one's final +resting-place. My father, who used to own this property, also expected +to be laid to rest in his own ground, but it happened otherwise. As far +as the leasehold is concerned, I must let it go. + +JUDGE. As you please. On my part the proposition was certainly +disinterested, as you are a man without luck. For it is no secret +that you fail in everything you undertake, and people have their own +thoughts about one who remains as solitary and friendless as you. Isn't +it a fact that you haven't a single friend? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, it's true. I have not a single friend, and that doesn't +look well. It is something I cannot deny. + +JUDGE. But to turn to other matters--is it true, as the legend has it, +that this vineyard once was a battle-field, and that this explains why +the wine from it is so fiery? + +NEIGHBOUR. No, that isn't what I have heard. My father told me that +this had been a place of execution, and that the gallows used to stand +where the mausoleum is now. + +JUDGE. Oh, how dreadful! Why did you tell me? + +NEIGHBOUR. Because you asked, of course.--And the last man to be hanged +on this spot was an unrighteous judge. And now he lies buried here, +together with many others, among them being also an innocent victim of +his iniquity. + +JUDGE. What kind of stories are those! [_He calls out_] Caroline! + +NEIGHBOUR. And that's why his ghost has to come back here. Have you +never seen him, Judge? + +JUDGE. I have never seen anything at all! + +NEIGHBOUR. But I have seen him. As a rule, he appears at the time when +the grapes are harvested, and then they hear him around the wine-press +down in the cellar. + +JUDGE. [_Calling out_] Caroline! + +OLD LADY. What is it? + +JUDGE. Come here! + +NEIGHBOUR. And he will never be at peace until he has suffered all the +torments his victim had to pass through. + +JUDGE. Get away from here! Go! + +NEIGHBOUR. Certainly, Judge! I didn't know you were so sensitive. [_He +goes out_. + +OLD LADY. What was the matter? + +JUDGE. Oh, he told a lot of stories that upset me. But-but--he is +plotting something evil, that fellow! + +OLD LADY. Didn't I tell you so! But you always let your tongue run +whenever you see anybody--What kind of foolish superstition was he +giving you? + +JUDGE. I don't want to talk of it. The mere thought of it makes me +sick. I'll tell you some other time.--There's Adolph now! + +ADOLPH. [_Entering_] Good evening! + +JUDGE. [_After a pause_] Well? + +ADOLPH. Luck is against me. I have not been able to get any money. + +JUDGE. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +ADOLPH. I can see no reason why some people should fare well and others +badly. + +JUDGE. Oh, you can't?--Well, look into your own heart; search your own +thoughts and actions, and you'll find that you have yourself to blame +for your misfortunes. + +ADOLPH. Perhaps I may not call myself righteous in every respect, but +at least I have no serious crimes on my conscience. + +OLD LADY. You had better think well---- + +ADOLPH. I don't think that's needful, for my conscience is pretty +wakeful---- + +JUDGE. It can be put to sleep---- + +ADOLPH. Can it? Of course I have heard of evil-doers growing old in +crime, but as a rule their consciences wake up just before death; and +I have even heard of criminals whose consciences have awakened after +death. + +JUDGE. [_Agitated_] So that they had to come back, you mean? Have you +heard that story, too? It's strange that everybody seems to have heard +it except me---- + +OLD LADY. What are you talking about? Stick to business instead. + +ADOLPH. Yes, I think that's wiser, too. And, as the subject has been +broached, I want to tell you what I propose---- + +JUDGE. Look here, my boy! I think it a good deal more appropriate that +I should tell you what I have decided. It is this: that from this day +you cease to be my tenant, and that before the sun sets you must start +out to look for work. + +ADOLPH. Are you in earnest? + +JUDGE. You ought to be ashamed! I am not in the habit of joking. And +you have no cause for complaint, as you have been granted respite twice. + +ADOLPH. While my crops have failed three times. Can I help that? + +JUDGE. Nor have I said so. But I can help it still less. And you are +not being judged by me. Here is the contract--here's the broken +agreement. Was that agreement broken by me? Oh, no! So I am without +responsibility and wash my hands of the matter. + +ADOLPH. This may be the law, but I had thought there ought to be some +forbearance among relatives--especially as, in the natural course of +events, this property should pass on to your offspring. + +OLD LADY. Well, well: the natural course of events! He's going around +here wishing the life out of us! But you just look at me: I am good for +twenty years more. And I am _going_ to live just to spite you! + +JUDGE. [_To_ Adolph] What rudeness--what a lack of all human +feeling--to ask a couple of old people outright: are you not going to +die soon? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, I say! But now you have +broken the last tie, and all I can say is: go your way, and don't let +yourself be seen here any more! + +ADOLPH. That's plain talk! Well, I'll go, but not alone---- + +OLD LADY. So-o--you imagined that Amelia, our own child, should follow +you out on the highways, and that all you would have to do would be to +unload one child after another on us! But we have already thought of +that and put a stop to it---- + +ADOLPH. Where is Amelia? Where? + +OLD LADY. You may just as well know. She has gone on; a visit to the +convent of the Poor Clares--only for a visit. So now you know it's of +no use to look for her here. + +ADOLPH. Some time you will have to suffer for your cruelty in depriving +a man in distress of his only support. And if you break up our +marriage, the penalty of that breach will fall on you. + +JUDGE. You should be ashamed of putting your own guilt on those that +are innocent! Go now! And may you hunger and thirst, with every door +closed to you, until you have learned gratitude! + +ADOLPH. The same to you in double measure!--But let me only bid my +children good-bye, and I will go. + +JUDGE. As you don't want to spare your children the pain of +leave-taking, I'll do so--have already done it, in fact. + +ADOLPH. That, too! Then I believe you capable of all the evil that has +been rumoured. And now I know what our neighbour meant when he said +that you couldn't--endure the sun! + +JUDGE. Not another word! Or you will feel the heavy hand of law and +justice---- + + _He raises his right hand so that the absence of its forefinger + becomes visible_. + +ADOLPH. [_Takes hold of the hand and examines it_] The hand of +justice!--The hand of the perjurer whose finger stuck to the Bible when +he took his false oath! Woe unto you! Woe! For the day of retribution +is at hand, and your deeds will rise like corpses out of these +hillsides to accuse you. + +OLD LADY. What is that he is saying? It feels as if he were breathing +fire at us!--Go, you lying spirit, and may hell be your reward! + +ADOLPH. May Heaven reward you--according to your deserts--and may the +Lord protect my children! [_He goes out_. + +JUDGE. What was that? Who was it that spoke? It seemed to me as if the +voice were coming out of some huge underground hall. + +OLD LADY. Did you hear it, too? + +JUDGE. God help us, then!--Do you remember what he said about the +sun? That struck me as more peculiar than all the rest. How could he +know--that it is so? Ever since my birth the sun has always burned +me, and they have told me this is so because my mother suffered from +sunstroke before I was born--but that you also---- + +OLD LADY. [_Frightened_] Hush! Talk of the devil, and--Isn't the sun +down? + +JUDGE. Of course it is down! + +OLD LADY. How can that spot of sunlight remain on the mausoleum, then? + + [_The spot moves around_. + +JUDGE. Jesus Maria! That's an omen! + +OLD LADY. An omen, you say! And on the grave! That doesn't happen every +day--and only a few chosen people who are full of living faith in the +highest things---- + + [_The spot of light disappears_. + +JUDGE. There is something weird about the place to-night, +something ghastly.--But what hurt me most keenly was to hear that +good-for-nothing wishing the life out of us in order to get at the +property. Do you know what I--well, I wonder if I dare to speak of +it---- + +OLD LADY. Go on! + +JUDGE. Have you heard the story that this spot here used to be a place +of execution? + +OLD LADY. So you have found that out, too? + +JUDGE. Yes--and you knew it?--Well, suppose we gave this property +to the convent? That would make the ground sacred, and it would be +possible to rest in peace in it. The income might go to the children +while they are growing up, and it would mean an additional gain, as +Adolph would be fooled in his hope of inheriting from us. I think this +a remarkably happy solution of a difficult problem: how to give away +without losing anything by it. + +OLD LADY. Your superior intelligence has again asserted itself, and I +am quite of your opinion. But suppose condemnation proceedings should +be started--what would happen then? + +JUDGE. There is plenty of time to consider that when it happens. In +the meantime, let us first of all, and as quietly as possible, get the +mausoleum consecrated---- + +FRANCISCAN. [_Enters_] The peace of the Lord be with you, Judge, and +with you, madam! + +JUDGE. You come most conveniently, Father, to hear something that +concerns the convent---- + +FRANCISCAN. I am glad of it. + + _The spot of light appears again on the mausoleum_. + +OLD LADY. And then we wanted to ask when the consecration of the +mausoleum might take place. + +FRANCISCAN. [_Staring at her_] Oh, is that so? + +JUDGE. Look, Father--look at that omen---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, the spot must be sacred, indeed---- + +FRANCISCAN. That's a will-o'-the-wisp. + +OLD LADY. Is it not a good sign? Does it not carry some kind of +message? Does it not prompt a pious mind to stop and consider? Would it +not be possible to turn this place into a refuge for desert wanderers +who are seeking---- + +FRANCISCAN. Madam, let me speak a word to you in private. [_He moves +over to the right._ + +OLD LADY. [_Following him_] Father? + +FRANCISCAN. [_Speaking in a subdued voice_] You, madam, enjoy a +reputation in this vicinity which you don't deserve, for you are the +worst sinner that I know of. You want to buy your pardon, and you want +to steal heaven itself, you who have already stolen from the Lord. + +OLD LADY. What is it I hear? + +FRANCISCAN. When you were sick and near death you made a vow to the +Lord that in case of recovery you would give a monstrance of pure gold +to the convent church. Your health was restored and you gave the holy +vessel, but it was of silver--gilded. Not for the sake of the gold, but +because of your broken vow and your deception, you are already damned. + +OLD LADY. I didn't know it. The goldsmith has cheated me. + +FRANCISCAN. You are lying, for I have the goldsmith's bill. + +OLD LADY. Is there no pardon for it? + +FRANCISCAN. No! For it is a mortal sin to cheat God. + +OLD LADY. Woe is me! + +FRANCISCAN. The settlement of your other crimes will have to take place +within yourself. But if you as much as touch a hair on the heads of the +children, then you shall learn who is their protector, and you shall +feel the iron rod. + +OLD LADY. The idea--that this infernal monk should dare to say such +things to me! If I am damned--then I want to be damned! Ha, ha! + +FRANCISCAN. Well, you may be sure that there will be no blessing for +your house and no peace for yourself until you have suffered every +suffering that you have brought on others.--May I speak a word with +you, Judge? + + _The_ JUDGE _approaches_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, give him what he deserves, so that one may be as good as +the other. + +FRANCISCAN. [_To the_ Judge] Where did you get the idea of building +your tomb where the gallows used to stand? + +JUDGE. I suppose I got it from the devil! + +FRANCISCAN. Like the idea of casting off your children and robbing them +of their inheritance? But you have also been an unrighteous judge--you +have violated oaths and accepted bribes. + +JUDGE. I? + +FRANCISCAN. And now you want to erect a monument to yourself! You +want to build yourself an imperishable house in heaven! But listen to +me: this spot will never be consecrated, and you may consider it a +blessing if you are permitted to rest in common ground among ordinary +little sinners. There is a curse laid on this soil, because blood-guilt +attaches to it and because it is ill-gotten. + +JUDGE. What am I to do? + +FRANCISCAN. Repent, and restore the stolen property. + +JUDGE. I have never stolen. Everything has been legally acquired. + +FRANCISCAN. That, you see, is the worst part of all--that you regard +your crimes as lawful. Yes, I know that you even consider yourself +particularly favoured by Heaven because of your righteousness. But now +you will soon see what harvest is in store for you. Thorns and thistles +will grow in your vineyard. Helpless and abandoned you shall be, and +the peace of your old age will turn into struggle and strife. + +JUDGE. The devil you say! + +FRANCISCAN. Don't call him--he'll come anyhow! + +JUDGE. Let him come! Because we believe, we have no fear! + +FRANCISCAN. The devils believe also, and tremble!--Farewell! [_He goes +out_. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] What did he say to you? + +OLD LADY. You think I'll tell? What did he have to say to you? + +JUDGE. And you think I'll tell? + +OLD LADY. Are you going to keep any secrets from me? + +JUDGE. And how about you? It's what you have always done, but I'll get +to the bottom of your tricks some time. + +OLD LADY. Just wait a little, and I'll figure out where you keep the +money that is missing. + +JUDGE. So you are hiding money, too! Now there is no longer any use +in playing the hypocrite--just let yourself be seen in all your +abomination, you witch! + +OLD LADY. I think you have lost your reason--not that it was much to +keep! But you might at least preserve an appearance of decency, if you +can---- + +JUDGE. And you might preserve your beauty--if you can! And your +perennial youth--ha, ha, ha! And your righteousness! You must have +known how to bewitch people, and hoodwink them, for now I see how +horribly ugly and old you are. + +OLD LADY. [_On whom the spot of light now appears_] Woe! It is burning +me! + +JUDGE. There I see you as you really are! [_The spot jumps to the_ +JUDGE] Woe! It is burning me now! + +OLD LADY. And how you look! [_Both withdraw to the right_. + + [_The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _enter from the left_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, child, there is justice, both human and divine, but we +must have patience. + +AMELIA. I am willing to believe that justice is done, in spite of all +appearances to the contrary. But I cannot love my mother, and I have +never been able to do so. There is something within me that keeps +telling me that she is not only indifferent to me but actually hostile. + +NEIGHBOUR. So you have found it out? + +AMELIA. Why--she hates me, and a mother couldn't do that! + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, well! + +AMELIA. And I suffer from not being able to do my duty as a child and +love her. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, as _that_ has made you suffer, then you will soon--in +the hour of retribution--learn the great secret of your life. + +AMELIA. And I could stand everything, if she were only kind to my +children. + +NEIGHBOUR. Don't fear on that account, for her power is now ended. The +measure of her wickedness has been heaped full and is now overflowing. + +AMELIA. Do you think so? But this very day she tore my Adolph away from +me, and now she has humiliated me still further by dressing me as a +servant girl and making me do the work in the kitchen. + +NEIGHBOUR. Patience! + +AMELIA. Yes, so you say! Oh, I can understand deserved suffering, but +to suffer without cause---- + +NEIGHBOUR. My dear child, the prisoners in the penitentiary are +suffering justly, so there is no honour in that; but to be permitted to +suffer unjustly, that's a grace and a trial of which steadfast souls +bring home golden fruits. + +AMELIA. You speak so beautifully that everything you say seems true +to me.--Hush! There are the children--and I don't want them to see me +dressed like this. + + _She and the_ NEIGHBOUR _take up a position where they are + hidden by a tall shrub_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter; the spot of light rests now on one of them and +now on the other_. + +ERIC. Look at the sun spot! + +THYRA. Oh, you beautiful sun! But didn't he go to bed a while ago? + +ERIC. Perhaps he is allowed to stay up longer than usual because he has +been very good all day. + +THYRA. But how could the sun be good? Now you are stupid, Eric. + +ERIC. Of course the sun can be good--doesn't he make the grapes and the +peaches? + +THYRA. But if he is so good, then he might also give us a peach. + +ERIC. So he will, if we only wait a little. Aren't there any on the +ground at all? + +THYRA. [_Looking_] No, but perhaps we might get one from the tree. + +ERIC. No, grandmother won't let us. + +THYRA. Grandmother has said that we mustn't shake the tree, but I +thought we could play around the tree so that one might fall down +anyhow--of itself. + +ERIC. Now you are stupid, Thyra. That would be exactly the same thing. +[_Looking up at the tree_] Oh, if only a peach would fall down! + +THYRA. None will fall unless you shake. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that, Thyra, for that is a sin. + +THYRA. Let's pray God to let one fall. + +ERIC. One shouldn't pray God for anything nice--that is, to eat!--Oh, +little peach, won't you fall? I want you to fall! [_A peach falls from +the tree, and_ ERIC _picks it up_] There, what a nice tree! + +THYRA. But now you must give me half, for it was I who said that the +tree had to be shaken---- + +OLD LADY. [_Enters with a big birch rod_] So you have been shaking the +tree--now you'll see what you'll get, you nasty children---- + +ERIC. No, grandmother, we didn't shake the tree! + +OLD LADY. So you are lying, too. Didn't I hear Thyra say that the tree +had to be shaken? Come along now, and I'll lock you up in the cellar +where neither sun nor moon is to be seen---- + +AMELIA. [_Coming forward_] The children are innocent, mother. + +OLD LADY. That's a fine thing--to stand behind the bushes listening, +and then to teach one's own children how to lie besides! + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Appearing_] Nothing has been spoken here but the truth, +madam. + +OLD LADY. Two witnesses behind the bushes--exactly as if we were in +court. But I know the tricks, I tell you, and what I have heard and +seen is sufficient evidence for me.--Come along, you brats! + +AMELIA. This is sinful and shameful---- + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _signals to_ AMELIA _by putting his finger + across his lips_. + +AMELIA. [_Goes up to her children_] Don't cry, children! Obey +grandmother now--there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to +suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God +preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer! + + _The_ OLD LADY _goes out with the children_. + +AMELIA. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it. + +NEIGHBOUR. Is it so hard to believe that God is good--at the very +moment when his kind intentions are most apparent? + +AMELIA. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may +sleep on it as on a soft pillow. + +NEIGHBOUR. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.--This is it: Isaac +was to be sacrificed---- + +AMELIA. Oh, no, no! + +NEIGHBOUR. Quiet, now!--Isaac was to _be_ sacrificed, but he never was! + +AMELIA. Thank you! Thank you! And good night! + + _She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Good night, my child! + + [_He goes slowly out by a path leading to the rear_. + + THE PROCESSION OF SHADOWS _enters from the mausoleum and moves + without a sound across the stage toward the right; between + every two figures there is a distance of five steps_: + + DEATH _with its scythe and hour-glass_. + + THE LADY IN WHITE--_blond, tall, and slender; on one of her + fingers she wears a ring with a green stone that seems to emit + rays of light_. + + THE GOLDSMITH, _with the counterfeit monstrance_. + + THE BEHEADED SAILOR, _carrying his head in one hand_. + + THE AUCTIONEER, _with hammer and note-book_. + + THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _with rope, scraper, and broom_. + + THE FOOL, _carrying his cap with the ass's ears and bells at + the top of a pole, across which is placed a signboard with the + word "Caul" on it_. + + THE SURVEYOR, _with measuring rod and tripod_. + + THE MAGISTRATE, _dressed and made up like the_ JUDGE; _he + carries a rope around his neck; and his right hand is raised to + show that the forefinger is missing_. + + _The stage is darkened at the beginning of the procession and + remains empty while it lasts_. + + _When it is over, the_ JUDGE _enters from the left, followed by + the_ OLD LADY. + +JUDGE. Why are you playing the ghost at this late hour? + +OLD LADY. And how about yourself? + +JUDGE. I couldn't sleep. + +OLD LADY. Why not? + +JUDGE. Don't know. Thought I heard children crying in the cellar. + +OLD LADY. That's impossible. Oh, no, I suppose you didn't dare to sleep +for fear I might be prying in your hiding-places. + +JUDGE. And you feared I might be after yours! A pleasant old age this +will be for Philemon and Baucis! + +OLD LADY. At least no gods will come to visit us. + +JUDGE. No, I shouldn't call them gods. + + _At this moment the_ PROCESSION _begins all over again, + starting from the mausoleum as before and moving in silence + toward the right_. + +OLD LADY. O Mary, Mother of God, what is this? + +JUDGE. Merciful heavens! [_Pause_] + +OLD LADY. Pray! Pray for us! + +JUDGE. I have tried, but I cannot. + +OLD LADY. Neither can I! The words won't come--and no thoughts! +[_Pause_] + +JUDGE. How does the Lord's Prayer begin? + +OLD LADY. I can't remember, but I knew it this morning. [_Pause_] Who +is the woman in white? + +JUDGE. It is she--Amelia's mother--whose very memory we wanted to kill. + +OLD LADY. Are these shadows or ghosts, or nothing but our own sickly +dreams? + +JUDGE. [_Takes up his pocket-knife_] They are delusions sent by the +devil. I'll throw cold steel after them.--Open the knife for me, +Caroline! I can't, don't you see? + +OLD LADY. Yes, I see--it isn't easy without a forefinger.--But I can't +either! [_She drops the knife_] + +JUDGE. Woe to us! Steel won't help here! Woe! There's the beheaded +sailor! Let us get away from here! + +OLD LADY. That's easy to say, but I can't move from the spot. + +JUDGE. And I seem to be rooted to the ground.--No, I am not going to +look at it any longer! + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand_. + +OLD LADY. But what is it? Mists out of the earth, or shadows cast by +the trees? + +JUDGE. No, it's our own vision that plays us false. There I go now, and +yet I am standing here. Just let me get a good night's sleep, and I'll +laugh at the whole thing!--The devil! Is this masquerade never going to +end? + +OLD LADY. But why do you look at it then? + +JUDGE. I see it right through my hand--I see it in the dark, with my +eyelids closed! + +OLD LADY. But now it's over. + + _The_ PROCESSION _has passed out_. + +JUDGE. Praised be--why, I can't get the word out!--I wonder if it will +be possible to sleep to-night? Perhaps we had better send for the +doctor? + +OLD LADY. Or Father Colomba, perhaps? + +JUDGE. He can't help, and he who could won't!--Well, let the Other One +do it then! + + THE OTHER ONE _enters from behind the Lady Chapel. He is + extremely thin and moth-eaten. His thin, snuff-coloured hair is + parted in the middle. His straggly beard looks as if it were + made out of tow. His clothes are shabby and outgrown, and he + seems to wear no linen. A red woollen muffler is wound around + his neck. He wears spectacles and carries a piece of rattan + under his arm_. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_In a low voice_] I am the Other One! + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] Make the sign of the cross! I can't! + +THE OTHER ONE. The sign of the cross does not frighten me, for I am +undergoing my ordeal merely that I may wear it. + +JUDGE. Who are you? + +THE OTHER ONE. I became the Other One because I wanted to be the First +One. I was a man of evil, and my punishment is to serve the good. + +JUDGE. Then you are not the Evil One? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am. And it is my task to torment you into finding the +cross, before which we are to meet some time. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ JUDGE] Don't listen to him! Tell him to go! + +THE OTHER ONE. It won't help. You have called me, and you'll have to +bear with me. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _go out to the left_. + + THE OTHER ONE _goes after them_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT II + + + _A huge room with whitewashed walls and a ceiling of darkened + beams. The windows are small and deeply set, with bars on the + outside. The room is crowded with furniture of every kind: + wardrobes, chiffoniers, dressers, chests, tables. On the + furniture are placed silver services, candelabra, candlesticks, + pitchers, table ware, vases, statues, etc. + + There is a door in the rear. Portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ + OLD LADY _hang on the rear wall, one on either side of the door. + + A harp stands beside a small sewing-table with an easy chair + near it_. + + AMELIA _is standing before a table at the right, trying to + clean a coffee-set of silver_. + + _The sun is shining in through the windows in the background_. + + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Well, child, how is your patience? + +AMELIA. Thank you, neighbour, it might be worse. But I never had a +worse job than this silver service here. I have worked at it for half +an hour and cannot get it clean. + +NEIGHBOUR. That's strange, but I suppose there are reasons for it, as +the Judge says. Could you sleep last night? + +AMELIA. Thank you, I slept very well. But do you know that father spent +the whole night in the vineyard with his rattle----? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, I heard him. What kind of foolish idea was that? + +AMELIA. He thought he heard the starlings that had come to eat the +grapes. + +NEIGHBOUR. Poor fellow! As if the starlings were abroad nights!--And +the children? + +AMELIA. Well, the children--she is still keeping them in the cellar, +and I hope she won't forget to give them something to eat. + +NEIGHBOUR. He who feeds the birds will not forget your children, +my dear Amelia. And now I'll tell you something which, as a rule, +shouldn't be told. There is a small hole in the wall between the +Judge's wine-cellar and my own. When I was down there this morning to +get the place aired out, I heard voices. And when I looked through the +hole, I saw Eric and Thyra playing with a strange little boy. + +AMELIA. You could see them, neighbour? And---- + +NEIGHBOUR. They were happy and well---- + +AMELIA. Who was their playmate? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's more than I can guess. + +AMELIA. This whole dreadful house is nothing but secrets. + +NEIGHBOUR. That is true, but it is not for us to inquire into them. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, carrying a rattle_] So you are in here conspiring, +neighbour! Is it not enough that your evil eye has brought the +starlings into my vineyard? For you do have the evil eye--but we'll +soon put it out. I know a trick or two myself. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_To_ AMELIA] Is it worth while to set him right? One who +doesn't believe what is told him! [_He goes out_. + +AMELIA. No, this is beyond us! + +JUDGE. Tell me, Amelia, have you noticed where your mother is looking +for things when she believes herself to be alone? + +AMELIA. No, father. + +JUDGE. I can see by your eyes that you know. You were looking this +way. [_He goes up to a chest of drawers and happens to get into the +sunlight_] Damn the sun that is always burning me! [_He pulls down one +of the shades and returns to the chest of drawers_] This must be the +place!--Now, let me see! The stupidest spot is also the cleverest, so +that's where I must look--as in this box of perfume, for instance--And +right I was! [_He pulls out a number of bank-notes and stocks_] What's +this? Twelve English bills of a pound each. Twelve of them!--Oho! Then +it is easy to imagine the rest. [_Pushes the bills and securities into +his pockets_] But what is it I hear? There are the starlings again! +[_He goes to an open window and begins to play the rattle_] Get away +there! + +OLD LADY. [_Enters_] Are you still playing the ghost? + +JUDGE. Are you not in the kitchen? + +OLD LADY. No, as you see, I am not. [_To_ AMELIA] Are you not done with +the cleaning yet? + +AMELIA. No, mother, I'll never get done with it. The silver won't +clean, and I don't think it is real. + +OLD LADY. Not real? Let me see!--Why, indeed, it's quite black! [_To +the_ JUDGE, _who in the meantime has pulled down another shade_] Where +did you get this set from? + +JUDGE. That one? Why, it came from an estate. + +OLD LADY. For your services as executor! What you got was like what you +gave! + +JUDGE. You had better not make any defamatory remarks, for they are +punishable under the law. + +OLD LADY. Are you crazy, or was there anything crazy about my remark? + +JUDGE. And for that matter, it is silver--sterling silver. + +OLD LADY. Then it must be Amelia's fault. + +A VOICE. [_Coming through the window from the outside_] The Judge can +turn white into black, but he can't turn black into white! + +JUDGE. Who said that? + +OLD LADY. It seemed as if one of the starlings had been speaking. + +JUDGE. [_Pulling down the remaining shade_] Now the sun is here, and a +while ago it seemed to be over there. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ AMELIA] Who was it that spoke? + +AMELIA. I think it was that strange school-teacher with the red muffler. + +JUDGE. Ugh! Let us talk of something else. + +SERVANT GIRL. [_Enters_] Dinner is served. + + [_She goes out; a pause follows_. + +OLD LADY. You go down and eat, Amelia. + +AMELIA. Thank you, mother. [_She goes out_. + +_The_ JUDGE _sits down on a chair close to one of the chests_. + +OLD LADY. [_Sliding up to the chest of drawers >where the box of +perfume stands_] Are you not going to eat anything? + +JUDGE. No, I am not hungry. How about you? + +OLD LADY. I have just eaten. [_Pause_. + +JUDGE. [_Takes a piece of bread from his pocket_] Then you'll excuse +me, I'm sure. + +OLD LADY. There's a roast of venison on the table. + +JUDGE. You don't say so! + +OLD LADY. Do you think I poison the food? + +JUDGE. Yes, it tasted of carbolic acid this morning. + +OLD LADY. And what I ate had a sort of metallic taste---- + +JUDGE. If I assure you that I have put nothing whatever in your food---- + +OLD LADY. Then I don't believe you. But I can assure you---- + +JUDGE. And I won't believe it. [_Eating his bread_] Roast of venison +is a good thing--I can smell it from here--but bread isn't bad either. +[_Pause_. + +OLD LADY. Why are you sitting there watching that chest? + +JUDGE. For the same reason that makes you guard those perfumes. + +OLD LADY. So you have been there, you sneak-thief! + +JUDGE. Ghoul! + +OLD LADY. To think of it--such words between us! _Us_! + + [_She begins to weep_. + +JUDGE. Yes, the world is evil and so is man. + +OLD LADY. Yes, you may well say so--and ungrateful above all. +Ungrateful children rob you of the rent; ungrateful grandchildren rob +the fruit from the trees. You are right, indeed: the world is evil---- + +JUDGE. I ought to know, I who have had to witness all the rottenness, +and who have been forced to pass the death sentence. That is why the +mob hates me, just as if I had made the laws---- + +OLD LADY. It doesn't matter what the people say, if you have only a +clean conscience--[_Three loud knocks are heard from the inside of the +biggest wardrobe_] What was that? Who is there? + +JUDGE. Oh, it was that wardrobe. It always cracks when there is rain +coming. [_Three distinct knocks are heard again_. + +OLD LADY. It's some kind of performance started by that strolling +charlatan. + + _The cover of the coffee-pot which_ AMELIA _was cleaning, opens + and drops down again with a bang; this happens several times in + succession_. + +JUDGE. What was _that_, then? + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, it's that same juggler. He can play tricks, but he +can't scare me. [_The coffee-pot acts as before._ + +JUDGE. Do you think he is one of those mesmerists? + +OLD LADY. Well, whatever it happens to be called---- + +JUDGE. If that's so, how can he know our private secrets? + +OLD LADY. Secrets? What do you mean by that? + + _A clock begins to strike and keeps it up as if it never meant + to stop_. + +JUDGE. Now I am getting scared. + +OLD LADY. Then Old Nick himself may take me if I stay here another +minute! [_The spot of sunlight appears suddenly on the portrait of the_ +OLD LADY] Look! He knows that secret, too! + +JUDGE. You mean that there is a portrait of _her_ behind yours? + +OLD LADY. Come away from here and let us go down and eat. And let us +see whether we can't sell off the house and all the rest at auction---- + +JUDGE. You are right--sell off the whole caboodle and start a new +life!--And now let us go down and eat. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the doorway_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _draw back from him_. + +JUDGE. That's an ordinary human being! + +OLD LADY. Speak to him! + +JUDGE. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] Who are you, sir? + +THE OTHER ONE. I have told you twice. That you don't believe me is a +part of your punishment, for if you could believe, your sufferings +would be shortened by it. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] It's--_him_--sure enough! For I feel as if I +were turning into ice. How are we to get rid of him?--Why, they say +that the unclean spirits cannot bear the sound of music. Play something +on the harp, Caroline. + + _Though badly frightened, the_ OLD LADY _sits down at the table + on which the harp stands and begins to play a slow prelude in a + minor key_. + + THE OTHER ONE _listens reverently and with evident emotion_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Is he gone? + +THE OTHER ONE. I thank you for the music, madam. It lulls the pain +and awakens memories of better things even in a lost soul--Thank you, +madam!--Speaking of the auction, I think you are doing right, although, +in my opinion, an honest declaration of bankruptcy would be still +better--Yes, surrender your goods, and let every one get back his own. + +JUDGE. Bankruptcy? I have no debts---- + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! + +OLD LADY. My husband _has_ no debts! + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! That would be happiness, indeed! + +JUDGE. Well, that's the truth! But other people are in debt to me---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Forgive them then! + +JUDGE. This is not a question of pardon, but of payment---- + +THE OTHER ONE. All right! Then you'll be made to pay!--For the +moment--farewell! But we'll meet frequently, and the last time at the +great auction! [_He goes out backward_. + +JUDGE. He's afraid of the sun--he, too! Ha-ha! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, for some time yet. But once I have accustomed +myself to the light, I shall hate darkness. + + [_He disappears_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Do you really think he is--the Other One? + +JUDGE. Of course, that's not the way he is supposed to look but then +times are changing and we with them. They used to say that he had gold +and fame to give away, but this fellow goes around dunning---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, he's a sorry lot, and a charlatan--that's all! A milksop +who doesn't dare to bite, no matter how much he would like to! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Standing in the doorway again_] Take care, I tell you! +Take care! + +JUDGE. [_Raising his right hand_] Take care yourself! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pointing at the_ JUDGE _with one hand as if it were a +revolver_] Shame! + +JUDGE. [_Unable to move_] Woe is me! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have never believed in anything good. Now you shall +have to believe in the Evil One. He who is _all goodness_ can harm +nobody, you see, and so he leaves that to such villains as myself. But +for the sake of greater effectiveness, you two must torture yourselves +and each other. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling before_ THE OTHER ONE] Spare us! Help us! Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_With a gesture as if he were tearing his clothes_] +Get up, woman! Woe is me! There is One, and One only, to whom you may +pray! Get up now, or--Yes, now you believe, although I don't wear +a red cloak, and don't carry sword or purse, and don't crack any +jokes--but beware of taking me in jest! I am serious as sin and stern +as retribution! I have not come to tempt you with gold and fame, but +to chastise you with rods and scorpions--[_The clock begins to strike +again; the stage turns dark_] Your time is nearly up. Therefore, put +your house in order--because die you must! [_A noise as of thunder is +heard_] Whose voice is speaking now? Do you think _he_ can be scared +off with your rattle when he comes sweeping across your vineyard? Storm +and Hail are his names; destruction nestles under his wings, and in his +claws he carries punishment. Put on your caul now, and don your good +conscience. + + [_The rattling of the hail-storm is heard outside_. + +JUDGE. Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, if you promise repentance. + +JUDGE. I promise on my oath---- + +THE OTHER ONE. You can take no oath, for you have already perjured +yourself. But promise first of all to set the children free--and then +all the rest! + +JUDGE. I promise! Before the sun has set, the children shall be here! + +THE OTHER ONE. That's the first step ahead, but if you turn back, then +you'll see that I am as good as my name, which is--Legion! + + _He raises the rattan, and at that moment the_ JUDGE _comes + able to move again_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT III + + + _A wine-cellar, with rows of casks along both side walls. The + doorway in the rear is closed by an iron door_. + + _Every cask is marked with the name of the urine kept in it. + Those nearest the foreground have small shelves above the taps, + and the shelves hold glasses_. + + _At the right, in the foreground, stands a wine-press and near + it are a couple of straw-bottomed chairs_. + + _Bottles, funnels, siphons, crates, etc., are scattered about + the place_. + + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _are seated by the wine-press_. + +ERIC. I think it's awfully dull. + +THYRA. I think grandmother is nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that. + +THYRA. No, perhaps not, but she _is_ nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't, Thyra, for then the little boy won't come and play +with us again. + +THYRA. Then I won't say it again. I only wish it wasn't so dark. + +ERIC. Don't you remember, Thyra, that the boy said we shouldn't +complain---- + +THYRA. Then I won't do it any more--[_The spot of sunlight appears on +the ground_] Oh, look at the sun-spot! + + [_She jumps up and places her foot on the light._ + +ERIC. You mustn't step on the sun, Thyra. That's a sin! + +THYRA. I didn't mean to step on him. I just wanted to have him. Now +see--I have him in my arms, and I can pat him.--Look! Now he's kissing +me right on the mouth. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _enters from behind one of the casks; he wears a + white garment reaching below his knees, and a blue scarf around + the waist; on his feet are sandals; he is blond, and when he + appears the cellar grows lighter_. + +ERIC. [_Goes to meet him and shakes hands with him_] Hello, little +boy!--Come and shake hands, Thyra!--What's your name, boy? You must +tell us to-day. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _merely looks at him_. + +THYRA. You shouldn't be so forward, Eric, for it makes him +bashful.--But tell me, little boy, who is your papa? + +PLAYMATE. Don't be so curious. When you know me better, you'll learn +all those things.--But let us play now. + +THYRA. Yes, but nothing instructive, for that is so tedious. I want it +just to be nice. + +PLAYMATE. [_Smiling_] Shall I tell a story? + +THYRA. Yes, but not out of the Bible, for all those we know by heart---- + + _The_ PLAYMATE _smiles again_. + +ERIC. You say such things, Thyra, that he gets hurt---- + +PLAYMATE. No, my little friends, you don't hurt me--But now, if you are +really good, we'll go and play in the open---- + +ERIC. Oh, yes, yes!--But then, you know, grandmother won't let us---- + +PLAYMATE. Yes, your grandmother has said that she wished you were out, +and so we'll go before she changes her mind. Come on now! + +THYRA. Oh, what fun! Oh---- + + _The door in the rear flies open and through the doorway is + seen a sunlit field planted with rye ready for the harvest. + Among the yellow ears grow bachelor's-buttons and daisies_. + +PLAYMATE. Come, children! Come into the sunlight and feel the joy of +living! + +THYRA. Can't we take the sun-spot along? It's a pity to leave it here +in the darkness. + +PLAYMATE. Yes, if it is willing to go with you. Call it! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _go toward the door, followed by the spot of light_. + +ERIC. Isn't it a nice little spot! [_Talks to the spot as if it were a +cat_] Puss, puss, puss, puss! + +PLAYMATE. Take it up on your arm, Thyra, for I don't think it can get +over the threshold. + +THYRA _gets the spot of light on her arm, which she bends as if +carrying something_. + + _All three go out; the door closes itself. Pause_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters with a lantern, the_ OLD LADY _with the + birch rod_. + +OLD LADY. It's cool and nice here, and then there is no sun to bother +you. + +JUDGE. And how quiet it is. But where are the children? + + [_Both look for the children_. + +JUDGE. It looks as if they had taken us at our word. + +OLD LADY. Us? Please observe that I didn't promise anything, for +he--you know--talked only to you toward the end. + +JUDGE. Perhaps, but this time we had better obey, for I don't want to +have any more trouble with hail-storms and such things.--However, the +children are not here, and I suppose they'll come back when they get +hungry. + +OLD LADY. And I wish them luck when they do! [_The rod is snatched out +of her hand and dances across the floor; finally it disappears behind +one of the casks_] Now it's beginning again. + +JUDGE. Well, why don't you submit and do as he--you know who!--says? I, +for my part, don't dare to do wrong any longer. The growing grapes have +been destroyed, and we must take pleasure in what is already safe. Come +here, Caroline, and let us have a glass of something good to brace us +up! [_He knocks on one of the casks and draws a glass of wine from it_] +This is from the year of the comet--anno 1869, when the big comet came, +and everybody said it meant war. And, of course, war did break out. + + [_He offers a filled glass to his wife_. + +OLD LADY. You drink first! + +JUDGE. Well, now--did you think there might be poison in this, too? + +OLD LADY. No, really, I didn't--but--we'll never again know what peace +is, or happiness! + +JUDGE. Do as I do: submit! [_He drinks_. + +OLD LADY. I want to, and I try to, but when I come to think how badly +other people have treated us, I feel that I am just as good as anybody +else. [_She drinks_] That's a very fine wine! [_She sits down_. + +JUDGE. The wine is good, and it makes the mind easier.--Yes, the +wiseacres say that we are rapscallions, one and all, so I can't see +what right anybody has to go around finding fault with the rest. [_He +drinks_] My own actions have always been legal; that is, in keeping +with prevailing laws and constitutions. If others happened to be +ignorant of the law, they had only themselves to blame, for no one has +a right to ignorance of that kind. For that reason, if Adolph does not +pay the rent, it is he who breaks the law, and not I. + +OLD LADY. And yet the blame falls on you, and you are made to appear +like a criminal. Yes, it is as I have always said: there is no justice +in this world. If you had done right, you should have brought suit +against Adolph and turned out the whole family. But then it isn't too +late yet---- [_She drinks_. + +JUDGE. Well, you see, if I were to carry out the law strictly, then I +should sue for the annulment of his marriage, and that would cut him +off from the property---- + +OLD LADY. Why don't you do it? + +JUDGE. [_Looking around_] We-e-ell!--I suppose that would settle the +matter once for all. A divorce would probably not be granted, but I +think it would be possible to get the marriage declared invalid on +technical grounds---- + +OLD LADY. And if there be no such grounds? + +JUDGE. [_Showing the influence of the wine_] There are technical +grounds for everything, if you only look hard enough. + +OLD LADY. Well, then! Think of it--how that good-for-nothing is wishing +the life out of us--but now he'll see how "the natural course of +events" makes the drones take to the road---- + +JUDGE. Ha-ha! You're right, quite right! And then, you know, when I +think it over carefully--what reason have we for self-reproach? What +wrong have we done? It's mean to bring up that about the monstrance--it +didn't hurt anybody, did it? And as for my being guilty of perjury: +that's a pure lie. I got blood-poison in the finger--that's all--and +quite a natural thing. + +OLD LADY. Just as if I didn't know it. And I may as well add that this +hail-storm a while ago--why, it was as plain a thing as if it had been +foretold in the Farmer's Almanac! + +JUDGE. Exactly! That's what I think too. And for that reason, Caroline, +I think we had better forget all that fool talk--and if you feel as I +do, we'll just turn to another priest and get him to consecrate the +mausoleum. + +OLD LADY. Well, why shouldn't we? + +JUDGE. Yes, why shouldn't we? Perhaps because that mesmerist comes here +and talks a lot of superstitious nonsense? + +OLD LADY. Tell me, do you really think he is nothing but a mesmerist? + +JUDGE. [_Blustering_] That fellow? He's a first-class charlatan. A +che-ar-la-tan! + +OLD LADY. [_Looking around_] I am not so sure. + +JUDGE. But I am sure. Su-ure! And if he should ever come before my eyes +again--just now, for instance--I'll drink his health and say: here's +to you, old humourist! [As _he raises the glass, it is torn out of his +hand and is seen to disappear through the wall_] What was that? [_The +lantern goes out._ OLD LADY. Help! + + [_A gust of wind is heard, and then all is silence again_. + +JUDGE. You just get some matches, and I'll clear this matter up. For I +am no longer afraid of anything. Not of anything! + +OLD LADY. Oh, don't, don't! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps from behind one of the casks_] Now we'll have to +have a talk in private. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Where did you come from? + +THE OTHER ONE. That is no concern of yours. + +JUDGE. [_Straightening himself up_] What kind of language is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. Your own!--Off with your cap! [_He blows at the_ JUDGE, +_whose cap is lifted off his head and falls to the ground_] Now you +shall hear sentence pronounced: you have wanted to sever what has been +united by Him whose name I may not mention. Therefore you shall be +separated from her who ought to be the staff of your old age. Alone +you must run the gauntlet. Alone you must bear the qualms of sleepless +nights. + +JUDGE. Is that mercy? + +THE OTHER ONE. It is justice; it is the law: an eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth! The gospel has a different sound, but of that you +didn't want to hear. Now, move I along. [_He beats the air with the +rattan._ + + _The scene changes to a garden with cypresses and yew-trees + clipped in the shape of obelisks, candelabra, vases, etc. Under + the trees grow roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, etc. At the centre + of it is a spring above which droops a gigantic fuchsia in full + bloom_.[1] + + _Back of the garden appears a field of rye, all yellow and + ready to be cut. Bachelor's-buttons and daisies grow among the + rye. A scarecrow hangs in the middle of the field. The distant + background is formed by vineyards and light-coloured rocks with + beech woods and ruined castles on them_. + + _A road runs across the stage in the near background. At the + right is a covered Gothic arcade. In front of this stands a + statue of the Madonna with the Child_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter hand in hand with the_ PLAYMATE. + +ERIC. Oh, how beautiful it is! + +THYRA. Who is living here? + +PLAYMATE. Whoever feels at home has his home here. + +THYRA. Can we play here? + +PLAYMATE. Anywhere except in that avenue over there to the right. + +ERIC. And may we pick the flowers? + +PLAYMATE. You may pick any flowers you want, but you mustn't touch the +tree at the fountain. + +THYRA. What kind of tree is that? + +ERIC. Why, you know, it is one of those they call [_lowering his +voice_] "Christ's Blood-drops." + +THYRA. You should cross yourself, Eric, when you mention the name of +the Lord. + +ERIC. [_Makes the sign of the cross_] Tell me, little boy, why mustn't +we touch the tree? + +THYRA. You should obey without asking any questions, Eric.--But tell +me, little boy, why is that ugly scarecrow hanging there? Can't we take +it away? + +PLAYMATE. Yes, indeed, you may, for then the birds will come and sing +for us. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _run into the rye-field and tear down the + scarecrow_. + +ERIC. Away with you, you nasty old scarecrow! Come and eat now, little +birds! [_The Golden Bird comes flying from the right and perches on the +fuchsia_] Oh, see the Golden Bird, Thyra! + +THYRA. Oh, how pretty it is! Does it sing, too? + + [_The bird calls like a cuckoo_. + +ERIC. Can you understand what the bird sings, boy? + +PLAYMATE. No, children, the birds have little secrets of their own +which they have a right to keep hidden. + +THYRA. Of course, Eric, don't you see, otherwise the children could +tell where the nests are, and then they would take away the eggs, and +that would make the birds sorry, and they couldn't have any children of +their own. + +ERIC. Don't talk like a grown-up, Thyra. + +PLAYMATE. [_Putting a finger across his lips_] Hush! Somebody is +coming. Now let us see if he likes to stay with us or not. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters, stops in surprise, and begins to + look around_. + +PLAYMATE. Well, boy, won't you come and play with us? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Takes off his cap; speaks bashfully_] Oh, you don't +want to play with me. + +PLAYMATE. Why shouldn't we? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I am sooty all over. And besides I don't know how to +play--I hardly know what it is. + +THYRA. Think of it, the poor boy has never played. + +PLAYMATE. What is your name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. My name? They call me Ole--but---- + +PLAYMATE. But what's your other name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Other name? I have none. + +PLAYMATE. But your papa's name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I have no papa. + +PLAYMATE. And your mamma's? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know. + +PLAYMATE. He has no papa or mamma. Come to the spring here, boy, and +I'll make you as white as a little prince. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. If anybody else said it, I shouldn't believe it---- + +PLAYMATE. Why do you believe it then, when I say it? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know, but I think you look as if it would be +true. + +PLAYMATE. Give the boy your hand, Thyra!--Would you give him a kiss, +too? + +THYRA. [_After a moment's hesitation_] Yes, when you ask me! + + +[Footnote 1: The Swedish name of this plant is "Christ's Blood-drops."] + + _She kisses the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP. _Then the_ PLAYMATE _dips + his hand in the spring and sprays a little water on the face + of the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _whose black mask at once disappears, + leaving his face white_. + +PLAYMATE. Now you are white again. And now you must go behind that +rose-bush there and put on new clothes. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Why do I get all this which I don't deserve? + +PLAYMATE. Because you don't believe that you deserve it. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Going behind the rose-bush_] Then I thank you for it, +although I don't understand what it means. + +THYRA. Was he made a chimney-sweep because he had been bad? + +PLAYMATE. No, he has never been bad. But he had a bad guardian who took +all his money away from him, and so he had to go out into the world to +earn a living--See how fine he looks now! + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters dressed in light summer clothes_. + +PLAYMATE. [_To the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP] Go to the arcade now, and you'll +meet somebody you love--and who loves you! + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Who could love me? + +PLAYMATE. Go and find out. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _goes across the stage to the arcade, where + he is met by the_ LADY IN WHITE, _who puts her arms around him_. + +THYRA. Who is living in there? + +PLAYMATE. [_With his finger on his lips_] Polly Pry!--But who is coming +there? + + _The_ OLD LADY _appears on the road with a sack on her back and + a stick in her hand_. + +ERIC. It's grandmother! Oh, now we are in for it! + +THYRA. Oh, my! It's grandmother! + +PLAYMATE. Don't get scared, children. I'll tell her it's my fault. + +ERIC. No, you mustn't, for then she'll beat you. + +PLAYMATE. Well, why shouldn't I take a beating for my friends? + +ERIC. No, I'll do it myself! + +THYRA. And I, too! + +PLAYMATE. Hush! And come over here--then you won't be scolded. [_They +hide_. + +OLD LADY. [_Goes to the spring_] So, this is the famous spring that +is said to cure everything--after the angel has stirred it up, of +course!--But I suppose it is nothing but lies. Well, I might have a +drink anyhow, and water is water. [_She bends down over the spring_] +What is it I see? Eric and Thyra with a strange boy! What can it mean? +For they are not here. It must be an oracle spring. [_She takes a cup +that stands by the spring, fills it with water and drinks_] Ugh, it +tastes of copper--he must have been here and poisoned the water, too! +Everything is poisoned! Everything!--And I feel tired, too, although +the years have not been hard on me--[_She looks at her reflection +in the spring and tosses her head_] On the contrary, I look quite +youthful--but it's hard to walk, and still harder to get up--[_She +struggles vainly to rise_] My God, my God, have mercy! Don't leave me +lying here! + +PLAYMATE. [_Makes a sign to the children to stay where they are; then +he goes up to the_ OLD LADY _and wipes the perspiration from her +forehead_] Rise, and leave your evil ways! + +OLD LADY. [_Rising_] Who is that?--Oh, it's you, my nice gentleman, who +has led the children astray? + +PLAYMATE. Go, ungrateful woman! I have wiped the sweat of fear from +your brow; I have raised you up when your own strength failed you, and +you reward me with angry words. Go--go! + + OLD LADY _stares astonished at him; then her eyes drop, and she + turns and goes out_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _come forward_. + +ERIC. But I am sorry for grandmother just the same, although she is +nasty. + +THYRA. It isn't nice here, and I want to go home. + +PLAYMATE. Wait a little! Don't be so impatient.--There comes somebody +else we know. + + _The_ JUDGE _appears on the road_. + +PLAYMATE. He cannot come here and defile the spring. [_He waves his +hand; the spot of sunlight strikes the_ JUDGE, _making him turn around +and walk away_] It is nice of you to be sorry for the old people, but +you must believe that what I do is right. Do you believe that? + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Yes, we believe it, we believe it! + +THYRA. But I want to go home to mamma! + +PLAYMATE. I'll let you go. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the background and hides himself + behind the bushes_. + +PLAYMATE. For now I must go. The Angelus bell will soon be ringing---- + +ERIC. Where are you going, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. There are other children I must play with--far away from +here, where you cannot follow me. But now, when I leave you here, don't +forget what I have told you: that you mustn't touch the tree! + +ERIC. We'll obey! We will! But don't go away, for it will soon be dark! + +PLAYMATE. How is that? Anybody who has a good conscience and knows his +evening prayer has nothing, nothing to be afraid of. + +THYRA. When will you come back to us, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. Next Christmas I come back, and every Christmas!--Good night, +my little friends! + + _He kisses their foreheads and goes out between the bushes; + when he reappears in the background, he is carrying a cross + with a banner like that carried by the Christ-Child in old + paintings; the Angelus bell begins to ring; as he raises the + banner and waves it in greeting to the children, he becomes + surrounded by a clear, white light; then he goes out_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _kneel and pray silently while the bell is ringing_. + +ERIC. [_Having crossed himself_] Do you know who the boy was, Thyra? + +THYRA. It was the Saviour! + + THE OTHER ONE _steps forward_. + +THYRA. [_Scared, runs to Eric, who puts his arms around her to protect +her_] My! + +ERIC. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] What do you want? You nasty thing! + +THE OTHER ONE. I only wanted--Look at me! + +ERIC. Yes? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am looking like this because once I touched the tree. +Afterward it was my joy to tempt others into doing the same. But now, +since I have grown old, I have come to repent, and now I am remaining +here to warn men, but nobody believes me--nobody--because I lied once. + +ERIC. You don't need to warn us, and you can't tempt us. + +THE OTHER ONE. Tut, tut, tut! Not so high-and-mighty, my little friend! +Otherwise it's all right. + +ERIC. Well, go away then, for I don't want to listen to you, and you +scare my sister! + +THE OTHER ONE. I am going, for I don't feel at home here, and I have +business elsewhere. Farewell, children! + +AMELIA. [_Is heard calling from the right_] Eric and Thyra! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Oh, there is mamma--dear little mamma! + + AMELIA _enters_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _rush into her arms_. + + THE OTHER ONE _turns away to hide his emotion_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT IV + + + _A cross-roads surrounded by pine woods. Moonlight_. + + _The_ WITCH _stands waiting_. + + +OLD LADY. Well, at last, there you are. + +WITCH. You have kept me waiting. Why have you called me? + +OLD LADY. Help me! + +WITCH. In what way? + +OLD LADY. Against my enemies. + +WITCH. There is only one thing that helps against your enemies: be good +to them. + +OLD LADY. Well, I declare! I think the whole world has turned +topsyturvy. + +WITCH. Yes, so it may seem. + +OLD LADY. Even the Other One--you know who I mean--has become +converted. + +WITCH. Then it ought to be time for you, too. + +OLD LADY. Time for me? You mean that my years are burdening me? But it +is less than three weeks since I danced at a wedding. + +WITCH. And you call that bliss! Well, if that be all, you shall have +your fill of it. For there is to be a ball here to-night, although I +myself cannot attend it. + +OLD LADY. Here? + +WITCH. Just here. It will begin whenever I give the word---- + +OLD LADY. It's too bad I haven't got on my low-necked dress. + +WITCH. You can borrow one from me--and a pair of dancing shoes with red +heels. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps I might also have a pair of gloves and a fan? + +WITCH. Everything! And, in particular, any number of young cavaliers +who will proclaim you the queen of the ball. + +OLD LADY. Now you are joking. + +WITCH. No, I am not joking. And I know that they have the good taste at +these balls to choose the right one for queen--and in speaking of the +right one, I have in mind the most worthy---- + +OLD LADY. The most beautiful, you mean? + +WITCH. No, I don't--I mean the worthiest. If you wish, I'll start the +ball at once. + +OLD LADY. I have no objection. + +WITCH. If you step aside a little, you'll find your maid--while the +hall is being put in order. + +OLD LADY. [_Going out to the right_] Think of it--I am going to have a +maid, too! You know, madam, that was the dream of my youth--which never +came true. + +WITCH. There you see: "What youth desires, age acquires." [_She blows a +whistle_] + + _Without curtain-fall, the stage changes to represent the + bottom of a rocky, kettle-shaped chasm. It is closed in on + three sides by steep walls of black rock, wholly stripped of + vegetation. At the left, in the foreground, stands a throne. At + the right is a platform for the musicians_. + + _A bust of Pan on a square base stands in the middle of the + stage, surrounded by a strange selection of potted plants: + henbane, burdock, thistle, onion, etc._ + + _The musicians enter. Their clothing is grey; their faces are + chalk-white and sad; their gestures tired. They appear to be + tuning their instruments, but not a sound is heard_. + + _Then comes the_ LEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA. + + _After him, the guests of the ball: cripples, beggars, tramps. + All are pulling on black gloves as they come in. Their + movements are dragging; their expressions funereal_. + + _Next: The_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES, _who is really_ THE OTHER + ONE_--a septuagenarian dandy wearing a black wig which is too + small for him, so that tufts of grey hair appear underneath. + His mustaches are waxed and pointed. He wears a monocle and has + on an outgrown evening dress and top-boots. He looks melancholy + and seems to be suffering because of the part he has to play._ + + _The_ SEVEN DEADLY SINS _enter and group themselves around the + throne as follows_: + + PRIDE COVETOUSNESS + LUST ANGER + GLUTTONY ENVY + SLOTH + + _Finally the_ PRINCE _enters. He is hunchbacked and wears a + soiled velvet coat with gold buttons, ruffles, sword, and high + boots with spurs_. + + _The ensuing scene must be played with deadly seriousness, + without a trace of irony, satire, or humour. There is a + suggestion of a death-mask in the face of every figure. They + move noiselessly and make simple, awkward gestures that convey + the impression of a drill_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Why do you disturb my peace at +this midnight hour? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Always, brother, you are asking why. Have you not +seen the light yet? + +PRINCE. Only in part. I can perceive a connection between my suffering +and my guilt, but I cannot see why I should have to suffer eternally, +when He has suffered in my place. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Eternally? You died only yesterday. But then time +ceased to exist to you, and so a few hours appear like an eternity. + +PRINCE. Yesterday? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes.--But because you were proud and wanted no +assistance, you have now to bear your own sufferings. + +PRINCE. What have I done, then? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. What a sublime question! + +PRINCE. But why don't you tell? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. As our task is to torture each other by +truth-telling--were we not called "heroes of truth" in our lifetime?--I +shall tell you a part of your own secret. You were, and you are still, +a hunchback---- + +PRINCE. What is that? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. There you see! You don't know what is known to +everybody else. But all those others pitied you, and so you never heard +the word that names your own deformity. + +PRINCE. What deformity is that? Perhaps you mean that I have a weak +chest? But that is no deformity. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A "weak chest"--yes, that is your own name for +the matter. However, people kept the disfigurement of your body hidden +from you, and they tried to assuage your misfortune by showing you +sympathy and kindness. But you accepted their generosity as an earned +tribute, their encouraging words as expressions of admiration due to +your superior physique. And at last you went so far in conceit that +you regarded yourself as a type of masculine beauty. And when, to cap +it all, woman granted you her favours out of pity, then you believed +yourself an irresistible conqueror. + +PRINCE. What right have you to say such rude things to me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Right? I am filling the saddening duty which +forces one sinner to punish another. And soon you will have to fulfil +the same cruel duty toward a woman who is vain to the verge of +madness--a woman resembling you as closely as she possibly could. + +PRINCE. I don't want to do it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Try to do anything but what you must, and you'll +experience an inner discord that you cannot explain. + +PRINCE. What does it mean? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It means that you cannot all of a sudden cease to +be what you are: and you are what you have wanted to become. [_He claps +his hands_. + + _The_ OLD LADY _enters, her figure looking as aged and clumsy + as ever; but she has painted her face and her head is covered + by a powdered wig; she wears a very low-necked, rose-coloured + dress, red shoes, and a fan made out of peacock feathers_. + +OLD LADY. [_A little uncertain_] Where am I? Is this the right place? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Quite right, for you are in the place we call +the "waiting-room." It is so called [_he sighs],_ because here we have +to spend our time waiting--waiting for something that will come some +time---- + +OLD LADY. Well, it isn't bad at all--and there is the music--and there +is a bust--of whom? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It's a pagan idol called Pan, because to the +ancients he was all they had. And as we, in this place, are of the old +order, more or less antiquated, he has been put here for us to look at. + +OLD LADY. Why, we are not old---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes, my Queen. When the new era opened [_he +sighs_], we couldn't keep up with it, and so we were left behind---- + +OLD LADY. The new era? What kind of talk is that? When did it begin? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It is easy to figure out when the year one +began--It was night, for that matter; the stars were shining brightly, +and the weather must have been mild, as the shepherds remained in the +open---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, yes--Are we not going to dance here to-night? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Of course, we are. The Prince is waiting for a +chance to ask you---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Is he a real Prince? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A real one, my Queen. That is to say, he has full +reality in a certain fashion---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ PRINCE, _who is asking her to dance_] You don't +look happy, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I am not happy. + +OLD LADY. Well, I can't say that I find it very hilarious--and the +place smells of putty, as if the glazier had just been at work here. +What is that strange smell, as of linseed-oil? + +PRINCE. [_With an expression of horror_] What are you saying? Do you +mean that charnel-house smell? + +OLD LADY. I fear I must have said something impolite--but then, it +isn't for the ladies to offer pleasantries--that's what the cavalier +should do---- + +PRINCE. What can I tell you that you don't know before? + +OLD LADY. That I don't know before? Let me see--No, then I had better +tell you that you are very handsome, my Prince. + +PRINCE. Now you exaggerate, my Queen. I am not exactly handsome, but I +have always been held what they call "good-looking." + +OLD LADY. Just like me--I never was a beauty--that is, I _am_ not, +considering my years--Oh, I am so stupid!--What was it I wanted to say? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Let the music begin! + + _The musicians appear to be playing, but not a sound is heard_. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Well? Are you not going to dance? + +PRINCE. [_Sadly_] No, I don't care to dance. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. But you must: you are the only presentable +gentleman. + +PRINCE. That's true, I suppose--[_pensively_] but is that a fit +occupation for me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you mean? + +PRINCE. At times it seems as if I had something else to think of, but +then--then I forget it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Don't brood--enjoy yourself while youth is with +you and the roses of life still bloom on your cheeks. Now! Up with the +head, and step lively---- + + _The_ PRINCE _grins broadly; then he offers his hand to the_ + OLD LADY, _and together they perform a few steps of a minuet_. + +OLD LADY. [_Interrupting the dance_] Ugh! Your hands are cold as ice! +_goes to the throne_] Why are those seven ladies not dancing? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you like the music, Queen? + +OLD LADY. It's splendid, but they might play a little more _forte_---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. They are soloists, all of them, and formerly each +one of them wanted to make himself heard above the rest, and so they +have to use moderation now. + +OLD LADY. But I asked why the seven sisters over there are not dancing. +Couldn't you, as master of ceremonies, make them do so? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. I don't think it would be of any use trying, for +they are obstinate as sin--But please assume your throne, my Queen. We +are going to perform a little play in honour of the occasion---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, what fun! But I want the prince to ... escort me---- + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Have I got to do it? + +OLD LADY. You ought to be ashamed of yourself--you with your hunch! + +PRINCE. [_Spits in her face_] Hold your tongue, you cursed old hag! + +OLD LADY. [_Cuffs him on the ear_] That'll teach you! + +PRINCE. [_Jumps at her and knocks her down_] And that's, for you! + + _All the rest cover their faces with their hands_. + +PRINCE. [_Tears off the_ OLD LADY'S _wig so that her head appears +totally bald_] There's the false scalp! Now we'll pull out the teeth! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Enough! Enough! + + _He helps the_ OLD LADY _to rise, and gives her a kerchief to + cover her head_. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] Goodness gracious, that I could let myself be +fooled like that! But I haven't deserved any better, I admit. + +PRINCE. No, you have deserved a great deal worse. You should leave my +hunch alone, for otherwise hell breaks loose--It's a miserable thing to +see an old woman like you so foolish and so degraded. But, then, you +are to be pitied--as all of us are to be pitied. + +ALL. We are all to be pitied! + +PRINCE. [_With a sneer_] The queen! + +OLD LADY. [_In the same tone_] The prince!--But haven't we met before? + +PRINCE. Perhaps--in our youth--for I am old, too. You had too much +frippery on before--but now, when the disguise has been taken away--I +begin to distinguish certain features---- + +OLD LADY. Don't say anything more--don't say anything more--Oh, what +have I come to--what is happening to me? + +PRINCE. Now I know: you are my sister! + +OLD LADY. But--my brother is dead! Have I been deceived? Or are the +dead coming back? + +PRINCE. Everything comes back. + +OLD LADY. Am I dead or am I living? + +PRINCE. You may well ask that question, for I don't know the +difference. But you are exactly the same as when I parted from you +once: just as vain and just as thievish. + +OLD LADY. Do you think you are any better? + +PRINCE. Perhaps! I am guilty of all the seven deadly sins, but you have +invented the eighth one--that of robbing the dead. + +OLD LADY. What are you thinking of now? + +PRINCE. Twelve years in succession I sent you money to buy a wreath for +mother's grave, and instead of buying it you kept the money. + +OLD LADY. How do you know? + +PRINCE. How I came to know of it is the only thing that interests you +about that crime of yours. + +OLD LADY. Prove it! + +PRINCE. [_Taking a number of bills from his pocket_] Here is the money! + + _The_ OLD LADY _sinks to the ground. A church bell begins to + ring. All bend their heads, but nobody kneels_. + +LADY IN WHITE. [_Enters, goes up to the_ OLD LADY, _and assists her in +rising_] Do you know me? + +OLD LADY. No. + +LADY IN WHITE. I am Amelia's mother. You have taken the memory of me +away from her. You have erased me from her life. But now you are to be +wiped out, and I shall recover my child's love and the prayers my soul +needs. + +OLD LADY. Oh, somebody has been telling tales to that hussy--then I'll +set her to herd the swine---- + + _The_ PRINCE _strikes her on the mouth_. + +LADY IN WHITE. Don't strike her! + +OLD LADY. Are you interceding for me? + +LADY IN WHITE. It is what I have been taught to do. + +OLD LADY. You hypocrite! If you only dared, you would wish me buried as +deep as there are miles from here to the sun! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Down with you--monster! + + [As _he touches her with his staff she falls to the ground_ + + _Again the scene is changed while the curtain remains up. The + bust of Pan sinks into the earth. The musicians and the throne + with its attendant sins disappear behind pieces of; scenery + that are lowered from above. At last the cross-roads with the + surrounding pine woods appear again, and the_ OLD LADY _is + discovered lying at the foot of a sign-post_. + +WITCH. Get up! + +OLD LADY. I cannot--I am frozen stiff---- + +WITCH. The sun will rise in a moment. The cock has crowed. The matin +bells are ringing. + +OLD LADY. I don't care for the sun. + +WITCH. Then you'll have to walk in darkness. + +OLD LADY. Oh, my eyes! What have you done to me? + +WITCH. I have only turned out the light because it troubled you. Now, +up and away with you--through cold and darkness--until you drop! + +OLD LADY. Where is my husband?--Amelia! Eric and Thyra! My children! + +WITCH. Yes, where are they? But wherever they may be, you shall not see +them until your pilgrimage is ended. Now, up and away! Or I will loose +my dogs! + + _The_ OLD LADY _gropes her way out_. + +_The court-room. In the background is the desk of the presiding judge, +decorated in white and gold with the emblems of justice. In front of +the desk, covering the centre of the floor, stands a big table, and on +it are placed writing-materials, inkstand, Bible, bell, and gavel_. + +_The axe of the executioner hangs on the rear wall, with a pair of +handcuffs below it and a big black crucifix above_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters and makes his way into the room on tiptoe. + The bell rings. The gavel raps once on the table. All the + chairs are pulled up to the table at once. The Bible is opened. + The candles on the table become lighted_. + + _For a moment the_ JUDGE _stands still, stricken with horror. + Then he resumes his advance toward a huge cabinet. Suddenly the + doors of this fly open. A number of documents are thrown out, + and the_ JUDGE _picks them up_. + +JUDGE. [_Reassured_] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts +of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease--my report as +executor--all of it! [_The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank_] Make +all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be +scared. [_He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close +the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts +it_] Everything has a cause: _ratio sufficiens_. This door must have +a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't +know it, but it cannot scare me. [_The axe moves on the wall_] The axe +moved--as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only +that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing +will give me pause but seeing my own ghost--for that would be beyond +the tricks of any charlatan. + + _The_ GHOST _enters from behind the cabinet; the figure + resembles in every way the_ JUDGE, _but where the eyes should + be appear two white surfaces, as on a plaster bust_. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Who are you? + +GHOST. I am not--I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is +now come here to receive his sentence. + +JUDGE. What have you done then, poor man? + +GHOST. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for +me, you whose conscience is clear---- + +JUDGE. Am I--to pray for you? + +GHOST. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed---- + +JUDGE. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as +I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let +myself be called a righteous judge--yes, without irony! + +GHOST. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible +Ones are sitting in judgment---- + +JUDGE. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment? + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] You don't see them, but I do. [_The +bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table_] Pray for me! + +JUDGE. No, I won't. Justice must take its course. You must have been a +great offender to reach consciousness of your guilt so late. + +GHOST. You are as stern as a good conscience. + +JUDGE. That's just the word for it. Stern, but just! + +GHOST. No pity, then? + +JUDGE. None whatever. + +GHOST. No mercy? + +JUDGE. No mercy! + + _The gavel raps on the table; the chairs are pushed away_. + +GHOST. Now the verdict is being delivered. Can't you hear? + +JUDGE. I hear nothing. + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] And you see nothing? Don't you see the +beheaded sailor, the surveyor, the chimney-sweep, the lady in white, +the tenant---- + +JUDGE. I see absolutely nothing. + +GHOST. Woe unto you, then, when your eyes become opened as mine have +been. Now the verdict has been given: guilty! + +JUDGE. Guilty! + +GHOST. You have said it--yourself! And you have already been sentenced. +All that remains now is the big auction. + +_Curtain._ + + + + +ACT V + + + _The same room as in the second act, but it is now arranged for + the auction. Benches are placed in the middle of the room. On + the table behind which the auctioneer is to preside stand the + silver coffee-set, the clock, vases, candelabra, etc._ + + _The portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _have been + taken down and are leaning against the table_. + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _are on the stage_. + + +AMELIA. [_Dressed as a scrub-woman_] Before my mother left, she ordered +me to clean the hallway and the stairs. It is winter now, and cold, and +I cannot say that it has been any pleasure to carry out her order---- + +NEIGHBOUR. So you didn't get any pleasure out of it? Well, my child, I +must say that you demand rather too much of yourself. But as you have +obeyed, and stood the test, your time of trial shall be over, and I +will let you know your life's secret. + +AMELIA. Speak out, neighbour, for I dare hardly trust my good +resolutions much longer. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, then! The woman you have been calling mother is your +stepmother. Your father married her when you were only one year old. +And the reason you have never seen your mother is that she died when +you were born. + +AMELIA. So that was it!--How strange to have had a mother and yet never +to have seen her! Tell me--did you ever see her? + +NEIGHBOUR. I knew her. + +AMELIA. How did she look? + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, how _did_, she look?--Her eyes were blue as the +blossom of the flax--her hair was yellow as the dry stalks of wheat---- + +AMELIA. And tall and slender--and her hand was small and white as if it +had touched nothing but silk in all her days--and her mouth was shaped +like a heart, and her lips looked as if none but good words had ever +passed them. + +NEIGHBOUR. How can you know all that? + +AMELIA. Because that is the image which appears in my dreams when I +have not been good--And then she raises her hand as if to warn me, and +on one of her fingers there is a ring with a green stone that seems to +radiate light. It is she!--Tell me, neighbour, is there a picture of +her in the place? + +NEIGHBOUR. There used to be one, but I don't know whether it's still +here. + +AMELIA. So this one is my stepmother? Well, God was good when he let me +keep my mother's image free from stain--and hereafter I shall find it +quite natural that this other woman is cruel to me. + +NEIGHBOUR. Cruel stepmothers exist to make children kind. And you were +not kind, Amelia, but you have become so, and for that reason I shall +now give you a Christmas present in advance. + + _He takes the portrait of the_ OLD LADY _out of its frame, when + in its place appears a picture in water-colours corresponding + to the description given above_. + +AMELIA. [_Kneeling in front of the picture_] My mother--mother of my +dreams! [_Rising_] But how can I keep the picture when it is to be sold +at auction? + +NEIGHBOUR. You can, because the auction has already taken place. + +AMELIA. Where and when was it held? + +NEIGHBOUR. It was held elsewhere--in a place not known to you--and +to-day the things are merely to be taken away. + +AMELIA. What a lot of queer things are happening! And how full of +secrets the house is!--But tell me, where is my stepmother? I have not +seen her in a long time. + +NEIGHBOUR. I suppose it must be told: she is in a place from which +nobody returns. + +AMELIA. Is she dead? + +NEIGHBOUR. She is dead. She was found frozen to death in a swamp into +which she had stumbled. + +AMELIA. Merciful God have pity on her soul! + +NEIGHBOUR. So he will in time, especially if you pray for her. + +AMELIA. Of course I will. + +NEIGHBOUR. How good you have become, my child--as a result of her +becoming so bad! + +AMELIA. Don't say so now when she is dead---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Right you are! Let her rest in peace! + +AMELIA. But where is my father? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's a secret to all of us. But it is sweet of you to ask +for him before you ask for your own Adolph. + +AMELIA. Adolph--yes, where is he? The children are crying for him, and +Christmas is near.--Oh, what a Christmas this will be to us! + +NEIGHBOUR. Leave to each day its own trouble--and now take your +Christmas present and go. The affairs connected with the auction are to +be settled, and then you'll hear news. + +AMELIA. [_Takes the portrait of her mother_] I go, but no longer +alone--and I have a feeling that something good is about to happen, but +what I cannot tell. + + [_She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. But I know! Yet you had better go, for what is about to +happen here should not be seen by children. + + _He opens the door in the rear and rings a bell to summon + the people to the auction. The people enter in the following + order_: THE POOR, _a large number of them; the_ SAILOR; _the_ + CHIMNEY-SWEEP; _the_ NEIGHBOUR, who takes his place in front + of the rest; _the_ WIDOW _and the_ FATHERLESS CHILDREN; _the_ + SURVEYOR; THE OTHER ONE, _carrying the auctioneer's hammer and + a pile of documents_. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Takes his place at the table and raps with the +hammer_] At a compulsory auction held at the court-house for the +disposal of property left by the late circuit judge, the items now to +be described were bid in by the Court on behalf of absent creditors, +and may now be obtained and taken away by their respective owners. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, looking very aged and miserable_] In the name of the +law--hold! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pretends to throw something at the_ JUDGE, _who +stands aghast and speechless_] Don't speak of the law! Here the Gospel +is preached--but not for you, who wanted to buy heaven with stolen +money.--First: the widow and her fatherless children. There is the +silver set which the judge accepted from you for his false report +as executor. In his stained hands the silver has turned black, but +I hope that in yours it will once more turn white.--Then we come to +the ward, who had to become a chimney-sweep, after being cheated out +of his inheritance. Here are the receipted bills and the property +due to you from your guardian. And you need not thank him for his +accounting.--Here stands the surveyor who, although he was innocent, +had to serve two years in prison because he had made an illegal +partition--the maps handed to him for the purpose having been falsified +in advance. What can you do for him, Judge? Can you undo what has +happened, or restore his lost honour? + +JUDGE. Oh, that fellow--give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His +honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Slaps the_ JUDGE _on the mouth, while the rest spit at +him and mutter with clinched fists_] Here is the brother of the sailor +who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother +to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not +worth as much.--And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated +out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the +tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, +placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, +wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to +the property. + +JUDGE. I appeal to a higher court! + +THE OTHER ONE. This case has passed through all the instances except +the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. +For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their +living would cry out: Guilty!--Thus we are done with all that could be +properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the +poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as +bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs--all in a perfectly legal way because +evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! +Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [_The_ POOR +_begin to plunder_] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. +This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for +board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [_Silence_] +No offer? [_Silence_] First, second, third time--no offer? [_To the_ +JUDGE] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you +myself and send you to your well-earned punishment. + +JUDGE. Is there no atonement? + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, punishment atones.--Take him into the woods and +stone him in accordance with the law of Moses--for no other law was +ever known to him. Away with him! [_The people pounce on the_ JUDGE +_and jostle him_. + + _The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as + in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm + surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the + stage.)_ + + _In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the + weighing of newcomers_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _are seated opposite each other + at a small table_. + +JUDGE. [_Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream_] +Hush!--I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me--and yet I +felt no pain--and then everything turned black and vacant until this +moment--How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell--Now I am beginning +to hear again--and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried--oh, +how cold it is--they are washing me, I think--I am lying in something +that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a +carpenter shop--I am being carried, and a bell is ringing--Wait! Now I +am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all +the time--Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning--boom, +boom, boom: three knocks on the roof--and then the lessons begin--the +teacher is leading--and now the boys are singing--What can it be?--And +then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly--boom, boom, +boom, boom, boom, boom--silence--it's over! [_He wakes up_] Where am I? +I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!--Oh, it's you!--Where are we? +Whose bust is that? + +OLD LADY. They say it is the new god. + +JUDGE. But he looks like a goat. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps it is the god of the goats? + +JUDGE. "The goats on the left side--" What is that I am recalling? + +PRINCE. It is the god Pan. + +JUDGE. Pan? + +PRINCE. Exactly! Just exactly! And when, in the night, the +shepherds--no, not _those_ shepherds--catch sight of a hair of his hide +they are seized with panic---- + +JUDGE. [_Rising_] Woe! I don't want to stay here! Woe! Can't I get out +of here? I want to get out! + + [_He runs around, looking vainly for a way out._ + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Enters dressed as a Franciscan friar_] You'll find +nothing but entrances--no exits! + +JUDGE. Are you Father Colomba? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, I am The Other One. + +JUDGE. As a monk? + +THE OTHER ONE. Don't you know that The Other One turns monk when he +grows old; and don't you think it is well that he does so some time? +But, seriously speaking--for here everything is serious--this is my +holiday attire, which I am permitted to wear only this one day of the +year in order that I may remember what I have had and what I have lost. + +JUDGE. [_Alarmed_] What day of the year is it to-day? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Bending his head with a sigh_] It is Christmas Eve! + +JUDGE. [_Approaching the_ OLD LADY] Think of it, it is Christmas +Eve?--And you know I don't dare to ask where we are--I dare not--but +let us go home, home to our children, to our own---- [_He cries_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, let us go from here, home to ourselves, that we may +start a new life in peace and harmony---- + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +OLD LADY. Oh, dear, sweet fellow--help us, have mercy on us, forgive us! + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +JUDGE. [_Taking the_ OLD LADY _by the hand_] I am choking with dread! +Don't ask him where we are; I don't want to know! But one thing I do +want to know: will there ever be an end to this? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never!--That word "end" is not known to us here. + +JUDGE. [_Crushed_] No end! [_Looking around_] And does the sun never +enter this place of damp and cold? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never, for those who dwell here have not loved the sun! + +JUDGE. It is true: I have cursed the sun.--May I confess my sins? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, you must keep them to yourself until they begin to +swell and stop up your throat. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling_] O--I don't know how to pray! + + _She rises and walks restlessly back and forth, wringing her + hands_. + +THE OTHER ONE. Because for you there is no one to whom you might pray. + +OLD LADY. [_In despair_] Children--send somebody to give me a word of +hope and pardon. + +THE OTHER ONE. It will not be done. Your children have forgotten +you--they are now rejoicing at your absence. + + _A picture appears on the rocky wall in the rear: the home, + with_ ADOLPH, AMELIA, ERIC, _and_ THYRA _around the Christmas + tree; in the background, the_ PLAYMATE. + +JUDGE. You say they are seated at the Christmas table rejoicing at our +misfortune?--No, now you lie, for they are better than we! + +THE OTHER ONE. What new tune is that? I have always heard that you were +a righteous man---- + +JUDGE. I? I was a great sinner--the greatest one that ever was! + +THE OTHER ONE. Hm! Hm! + +JUDGE. And if you say anything of the children you are guilty of a sin. +I know that they are praying for us. + +OLD LADY. [_On her knees_] I can hear them tell their rosaries: hush--I +hear them! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are completely mistaken. What you hear is the song +of the workmen who are tearing down the mausoleum. + +JUDGE. The mausoleum! Where we were to have rested in peace! + +PRINCE. Shaded by a dozen wreaths. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +PRINCE. [_Pointing to the_ OLD LADY] She is my sister, and so you must +be my brother-in-law. + +JUDGE. Oh--that lazy scamp! + +PRINCE. Look here! In this place we are all lazy scamps. + +JUDGE. But we are not all hunchbacks! + +PRINCE. [_Strikes him a blow on the mouth_] Don't touch the hunch or +there will be hell to pay! + +JUDGE. What a way to treat a man of my ability and high social +position! What a Christmas! + +PRINCE. Perhaps you expected your usual creamed codfish and Christmas +cake? + +JUDGE. Not exactly, but there ought to be something to feed on---- + +PRINCE. Here we are keeping a Christmas fast, you see. + +JUDGE. How long will it last? + +PRINCE. How long? We don't measure time here, because it has ceased to +exist, and a minute may last a whole eternity. + +OLD LADY. We suffer only what our deeds have deserved--so don't +complain---- + +PRINCE. Just try to complain, and you'll see what happens.--We are not +squeamish here, but bang away without regard for legal forms. + +JUDGE. Are they beating carpets out there--on a day like this? + +PRINCE. No, it is an extra ration of rod all around as a reminder for +those who may have forgotten the significance of the day. + +JUDGE. Do they actually lay hands on our persons? Is it possible that +educated people can do things like that to each other? + +PRINCE. This is a place of education for the badly educated; and those +who have behaved like scoundrels are treated like such. + +JUDGE. But this passes all limits! + +PRINCE. Yes, because here we are in the limitless! Now get ready! I +have already been out there and had my portion. + +JUDGE. [_Appalled_] What humiliation! That's to strip you of all human +worth! + +PRINCE. Ha ha! Human worth! Ha ha!--Look at the scales over there. +That's where the human worth is--and invariably found wanting. + +JUDGE. [_Sits down at the table_] I could never have believed---- + +PRINCE. No, you could only believe in your caul and your own +righteousness. And yet you had both Moses and the Prophets and more +besides--for the very dead walked for your benefit. + +JUDGE. The children! The children! Is it not possible to send them a +word of greeting and of warning? + +PRINCE. No! Eternally, no! + + _The_ WITCH _comes forward with a big basketful of + stereoscopes._ + +JUDGE. What is it? + +WITCH. Christmas gifts for the righteous. Stereoscopes, you know. +[_Handing out one_] Help yourself. They don't cost anything. + +JUDGE. There's a kind soul at last. And a little attention to a man of +my age and rank does honour both to your tact and to your heart---- + +WITCH. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my +having given some thought to the others, too. + +JUDGE. [_Disappointed_] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag? + +WITCH. [_Spitting in his face_] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger! + +JUDGE. What company I have got into! + +WITCH. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, +you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look +in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to +the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims--just +have a look now. That's right! + +JUDGE _looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on +his face_. + +WITCH. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy! + + _She hands a stereoscope to the_ OLD LADY, _and proceeds + thereafter to give one to each person present_. + +JUDGE. [_Sitting at the table, where now the_ OLD LADY _takes a seat +opposite him_] What do you see? + +OLD LADY. Everything is there; everything!--And do you notice that +everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and +even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance +of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my +memories had decayed, including the fairest among them---- + +JUDGE. You are right. There is not one memory that can bring light into +this darkness. When I look at her who was the first love of my youth, +I see nothing but a corpse. When I think of my sweet Amelia, there +appears--a harlot. The little ones make faces at me like gutter-snipes. +My court has become a pigsty; the vineyard, a rubbish-heap full of +thistles; and the mausoleum--Oh, horrors!--an outhouse! When I think of +the green woods, the leafage appears snuff-coloured and the trunks look +bleached as mast tops. The blue river seems to flow out of a dung-heap +and the blue arch above it looks like a smoky roof--Of the sun itself I +can recall nothing but the name; and what was called the moon--the lamp +that shed its light on bays and groves during the amorous nights of my +youth--I can remember only as--no, I cannot remember it at all. But +the words are left, although they have only sound without sense.--Love, +wine, song! Flowers, children, happiness!--Don't the words sound +pretty? And it is all that is left!--Love? What _was_ it, anyhow? + +OLD LADY. What was it?--Two cats on a back-yard fence. + +JUDGE. [_Sheepishly_] Yes, that's it! That's what it was! Three dogs on +a sidewalk. What a sweet recollection! + +OLD LADY. [_Pressing his hand_] Yes, it is sweet! + +JUDGE. [_Looking at his watch_] My watch has stopped. I am so +hungry--and I am thirsty, too, and I long for a smoke. But I am also +tired and want to sleep. All my desires are waking. They claw at me and +hound me, but not one of them can I satisfy. We are lost! Lost, indeed! + +OLD LADY. And I long for a cup of tea more than I can tell! + +JUDGE. Hot green tea--that's just what I should like now--with a tiny +drop of rum in it. + +OLD LADY. No, not rum! I should prefer some cakes---- + +PRINCE. [_Who has drawn near to listen_] Sugared, of course? I fear +you'll have to whistle for them. + +OLD LADY. Oh, this dreadful language hurts me more than anything, else. + +PRINCE. That's because you don't know yet how something else is going +to hurt you. + +JUDGE. What is that? + +OLD LADY. No, don't! We don't want to know! Please! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am going to tell. It begins with---- + +OLD LADY. [_Puts her fingers in her ears and cries out_] Mercy! Don't, +don't, don't! + +PRINCE. Yes, I will--and as my brother-in-law is curious, I'll tell it +to him. The second letter is---- + +JUDGE. This uncertainty is worse than torture--Speak out, you devil, or +I'll kill you! + +PRINCE. Kill, ha ha! Everybody is immortal here, body and soul, what +little there is left. However, the third letter is--and that's all +you'll know! + +MAN IN GREY. [_A small, lean man with grey clothes, grey face, black +lips, grey beard, and grey hands; he speaks in a very low voice_] May I +speak a word with you, madam? + +OLD LADY. [_Rising in evident alarm_] What is it about? + +MAN IN GREY. [_Smiling a ghastly, malicious smile_] I'll tell--out +there. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] No, no; I won't! + +MAN IN GREY. [_Laughing_]; It isn't dangerous. Come along! All I want +is to _speak_ to you. Come now! + + [_They go toward the background and disappear_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ JUDGE] A little Christmas entertainment is wholesome. + +JUDGE. Do you mean to maltreat a woman? + +PRINCE. Here all injustices are abolished, and woman is treated as the +equal of man. + +JUDGE. You devil! + +PRINCE. That's all right, but don't call me hunchback, for that touches +my last illusion. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps up to the table_] Well, how do you like our +animal magnetism? It _can_ work wonders on black-guards! + +JUDGE. I understand nothing of all this. + +THE OTHER ONE. That's just what is meant, and it is very nice of you to +admit that there are things you don't understand. + +JUDGE. Granting that I am now in the realm of the dead---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Say "hell," for that is what it's called. + +JUDGE. [_Stammering_] Th-then I should like to remind you that He who +once descended here to redeem all lost---- + +PRINCE. [_At a sign from_ THE OTHER ONE _he strikes the_ JUDGE _in the +face_] Don't argue! + +JUDGE. They won't even listen to me! It is beyond despair! No mercy, no +hope, no end! + +THE OTHER ONE. Quite right! Here you find only justice and +retribution--especially justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth! Just as you wanted it! + +JUDGE. But among men there is pardon--and that you don't have here. + +THE OTHER ONE. Monarchs alone possess the right to pardon. And as a man +of law you ought to know that a petition for pardon must be submitted +before it can be granted. + +JUDGE. For me there can be no pardon! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Gives the_ PRINCE _a sign to step aside_] You feel, +then, that your guilt is too great? + +JUDGE. Yes. + +THE OTHER ONE. Then I'll speak kindly to you. There is an end, you see, +if there is a beginning. And you have made a beginning. But the sequel +will be long and hard. + +JUDGE. Oh, God is good! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have said it! + +JUDGE. But--there is one thing that cannot be undone--there is one! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are thinking of the monstrance which should have +been of gold but was of silver? Well, don't you think that He who +changed water into wine may also change silver into gold? + +JUDGE. [_On his knees_] But my misdeed is too great, too great to be +forgiven. + +THE OTHER ONE. Now you overestimate yourself again. But rise up. We +are about to celebrate Christmas in our own fashion.--The light of the +sun cannot reach here, as you know--nor that of the moon. But on this +night, and on this alone, a star rises so far above the rocks that it +is visible from here. It is the star that went before the shepherds +through the desert--and _that_ was the morning star. + + [_He claps his hands together_. + + _The bust of Pan sinks into the ground. The_ OLD LADY _returns, + looking reassured and quietly happy. With a suggestion of firm + hope in mien and gesture, she goes up to the_ JUDGE _and takes + his hand. The stage becomes filled with shadows that are gazing + up at the rocks in the rear_. + +CHORUS I. [_Two sopranos and an alto sing behind the stage, accompanied +only by string instruments and a harp_.] + + Puer natus est nobis; + Et filius datus est nobis, + Cujus imperium super humerum ejus; + Et vocabitur nomen ejus + Magni consilii Angelus. + +CHORUS II. [_Soprano, alto, tenor, basso_.] + + Cantate Domino canticum novum + Quia mirabilia fecit! + + _The star becomes visible above the rocks in the rear. All + kneel down. A part of the rock glides aside, revealing a + tableau: the crib with the child and the mother; the shepherds + adoring at the left, the three Magi at the right_. + +CHORUS III. [_Two sopranos and two altos.]_ + + Gloria in excelsis Deo + Et in terra pax + Hominibus bonæ voluntatis! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THE THUNDERSTORM + +(OVÄDER) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE MASTER, _a retired government official_ + THE CONSUL, _his brother_ + STARCK, _a confectioner_ + AGNES, _daughter of Starck_ + LOUISE, _a relative of the Master_ + GERDA, _the Master's divorced wife_ + FISCHER, _second husband of Gerda_ + THE ICEMAN + THE LETTER-CARRIER + THE LAMPLIGHTER + THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN + THE MILKMAID + + SCENE I--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + SCENE II--INSIDE THE HOUSE + SCENE III--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The front of a modern house with a basement of granite. The + upper parts are of brick covered with yellow plastering. The + window-frames and other ornaments are of sandstone. A low + archway leads through the basement to the court and serves also + as entrance to the confectioner's shop. The corner of the house + appears at the right of the stage, where the avenue opens into + a small square planted with roses and various other flowers. At + the corner is a mail-box. The main floor, above the basement, + has large windows, all of which are open. Four of these windows + belong to an elegantly furnished dining-room. The four middle + windows in the second story have red shades which are drawn; + the shades are illumined by light from within_. + + _Along the front of the house runs a sidewalk with trees + planted at regular intervals. There is a lamp-post in the + extreme foreground and beside it stands a green bench_. + + STARCK, _the confectioner, comes out with a chair and sits down + on the sidewalk_. + + _The_ MASTER _is visible in the dining-room of the main floor, + seated at the table. Behind him appears an oven built of green + majolica tiles. On its mantelshelf stands a large photograph + between two candelabra and some vases containing flowers. A + young girl in a light dress is just serving the final course_. + + _The_ MASTER'S _brother, the_ CONSUL, _appears in front of the + house, coming from the left, and knocks with his walking-stick + on the sill of one of the dining-room windows_. + + +CONSUL. Will you soon be through? + +MASTER. I'll come in a moment. + +CONSUL. [_Saluting the confectioner_] Good evening, Mr. Starck. It's +still hot---- + +STARCK. Good evening, Consul. Yes, it's the dog-day heat, and we have +been making jam all day. + +CONSUL. Is that so? It's a good year for fruit, then? + +STARCK. It might be worse. Well, the spring was cold, but the summer +turned out unbearably hot. It was hard on us who had to stay in the +city. + +CONSUL. I got back from the country yesterday--one begins to wish +oneself back when the evenings grow dark. + +STARCK. Neither I nor my wife have been out of the city. Of course, +business is at a standstill, but you have to be on hand to make +ready for the winter. First come strawberries, then cherries, then +raspberries, and last gooseberries, cantaloupes and all the fall +fruits---- + +CONSUL. Tell me something, Mr. Starck. Is the house here to be sold? + +STARCK. Not that I have heard. + +CONSUL. There are a lot of people living here? + +STARCK. Something like ten families, I think, counting those in the +rear also. But nobody knows anybody else. There is unusually little +gossiping in the house. It seems rather as if everybody were hiding. I +have lived here ten years, and during the first two years we had for +neighbours a strange family that kept very quiet in the daytime. But at +night they began to stir about, and then carriages would come and fetch +things away. Not until the end of the second year did I learn that +they had been running a private sanatorium, and that what was being +taken away at night were dead bodies. + +CONSUL. Horrible! + +STARCK. And they call it the Silent House. + +CONSUL. Yes, there isn't much talking done here. + +STARCK. More than one drama has been played here, nevertheless. + +CONSUL. Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives up there on the second floor, +right above my brother? + +STARCK. Up there, where the light comes through the red shades--a +tenant died there during the summer. Then the place stood empty for a +month, and a week ago a new family moved in. I haven't seen them. I +don't know their name. I don't think they ever go out. Why did you ask, +Consul? + +CONSUL. Whew--I don't know! Those four red shades look like stage +curtains behind which some sanguinary tragedies are being rehearsed--or +I imagine so, at least. There is a palm at one of the windows looking +like a rod made of wire--you can see the shadow of it on the shade. If +only some people were to be seen---- + +STARCK. I have seen plenty of them, but not until later--at night. + +CONSUL. Was it men or women you saw? + +STARCK. Both, I guess--but now I must get back to my pots. [_He +disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Still inside, has risen from the table and lighted a cigar; +he is now standing at the open window, talking to his brother outside_] +I'll be ready in a moment. Louise is only going to sew a button on one +of my gloves. + +CONSUL. Then you mean to go down-town? + +MASTER. Perhaps we'll take a turn in that direction--Whom were you +talking with? + +CONSUL. Just the confectioner---- + +MASTER. Oh, yes--a very decent fellow--and, for that matter, my only +companion here during the summer. + +CONSUL. Have you really stayed at home every night--never gone out? + +MASTER. Never! Those light evenings make me timid. They are pleasant in +the country, of course, but here in the city they produce the effect of +something unnatural--almost ghastly. But no sooner has the first street +lamp been lighted than I feel calm once more and can resume my evening +walks. In that way I can get tired and sleep better at night. [LOUISE +_hands him the glove_] Thank you, my child. You can just as well leave +the windows open, as there are no mosquitoes. [_To the_ CONSUL] Now I'm +coming. + + _A few moments later he can be seen coming out of the house + on the side facing the square; he stops at the corner to drop + a letter in the mail-box; then he comes around the corner to + the front of the house and sits down on the bench beside his + brother_. + +CONSUL. But tell me: why do you stay in the city when you _could_ be in +the country? + +MASTER. I don't know. I have lost my power of motion. My memory has +tied me for ever to these rooms. Only within them can I find peace and +protection. In there--yes! It is interesting to look at your own home +from the outside. Then I imagine that some other man is pacing back and +forth in there--Just think: for ten years I have been pacing back and +forth in there! + +CONSUL. Is it ten years now? + +MASTER. Yes, time goes quickly--once it is gone. But when it is still +going it seems slow enough.--That time the house was new. I watched +them putting down the hard-wood floor in the dining-room and painting +the doors; and _she_ was permitted to pick out the wall-paper, which +is still there--Yes, that was then! The confectioner and I are the +oldest tenants in the place, and he, too, has had a few experiences of +his own--he is one of those people who never succeed but are always in +some kind of trouble. In a way, I have been living his life also, and +bearing his burdens besides my own. + +CONSUL. Does he drink, then? + +MASTER. No-o--nothing of that kind, but there is no _go_ to him. Well, +he and I know the history of this house: how they have arrived in +bridal coaches and left in hearses, while the mail-box at the corner +became the recipient of all their confidences. + +CONSUL. There was a death here in the middle of the summer, wasn't +there? + +MASTER. Yes, a case of typhoid--the man was manager of a bank--and then +the flat stood vacant for a month. The coffin came out first, then the +widow and the children, and last of all the furniture. + +CONSUL. That was on the second floor? + +MASTER. Yes, up there, where you see the light--where those new people +are, about whom I know nothing at all. + +CONSUL. Haven't you seen anything of them either? + +MASTER. I never ask any questions about the other tenants. What comes +to me unasked, I accept--but I never make any wrong use of it, and I +never interfere, for I am anxious for the peace of my old age. + +CONSUL. Old age--yes! I think it's nice to grow old, for then there +isn't so much left to be recorded. + +MASTER. Indeed, it is nice. I am settling my accounts, both with life +and with people, and I have already begun to pack for the journey. +Of course, the solitude has its draw-backs, but when there is nobody +who can make any demands on you, then you have won your freedom--the +freedom to come and go, to think and act, to eat and sleep, in +accordance with your own choice. + + _At this moment the shade in one of the windows on the second + floor is raised a little way, so that part of a woman's dress + becomes visible. Then it is quickly drawn again_. + +CONSUL. They are astir up there--did you see? + +MASTER. Yes, there is such a lot of mystery about it--and at night it +is worse than ever. Sometimes there is music, but it's always bad; +and sometimes I think they are playing cards; and long after midnight +carriages drive up and take away people.--I never make a complaint +against other tenants, for then they want to get even, and nobody wants +to change his ways. The best thing is to remain oblivious of everything. + + _A gentleman, dressed in a dinner coat but bareheaded, comes + out of the house and drops a big pile of letters into the + mail-box; then he disappears into the house again_. + +CONSUL. That fellow must have a lot of correspondence. + +MASTER. It looked to me like circulars. + +CONSUL. But who is he? + +MASTER. Why, that's the new tenant up there on the second floor. + +CONSUL. Oh, is that so! What do you think he looked like? + +MASTER. I don't know. Musician, conductor, a touch of musical +comedy, with a leaning to vaudeville--gambler--Adonis--a little of +everything---- + +CONSUL. Black hair should have gone with that pale complexion of +his, but his hair was brown--which means that it had been dyed, or +that he wears a wig. A tuxedo at home indicates an empty wardrobe, +and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters into the +box suggested shuffling and cutting and dealing--[_At this moment +waltz music becomes faintly audible from the second floor_] Always +waltzes--perhaps they have a dancing-school--but it's always the same +waltz--what's the name of it now? + +MASTER. Why, I think--that's "Pluie d'or"--I know it by heart. + +CONSUL. Have you heard it in your own house? + +MASTER. Yes, that one and the "Alcazar Waltz." + + LOUISE _becomes visible in the dining-room, where she is + putting things in order and wiping the glassware on the buffet_. + +CONSUL. Are you still pleased with Louise? + +MASTER. Very. + +CONSUL. Isn't she going to marry? + +MASTER. Not that I know of. + +CONSUL. Is there no fiancé in sight? + +MASTER. Why do you ask? + +CONSUL. Have you had any thoughts of that kind? + +MASTER. I? No, thank you! When I married the last time I was not too +old, as we had a child in due time, but I have grown too old since +then, and now I want to spend my evening in peace--Do you think I want +another master in my own house, who would rob me of life and honour and +goods? + +CONSUL. Oh, nobody took your life or your goods---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to say that my honour suffered any harm? + +CONSUL. Don't you know? + +MASTER. What _do_ you mean? + +CONSUL. In leaving you, she killed your honour. + +MASTER. Then I have been a dead man for five years without knowing it. + +CONSUL. You haven't known it? + +MASTER. No, but now I'll tell you in a few words what really happened. +When, at fifty, I married a girl much younger than myself--one whose +heart I had won and who gave me her hand fearlessly and willingly--then +I promised her that if ever my age should become a burden to her youth +I would go my own way and give her back her freedom. Since the child +had come in due time, and neither one of us wanted another, and since +our little girl had begun to grow apart from me, so that I had come to +feel superfluous, I did go my way--that is, I took a boat, as we were +living on an island--and that was the end of the whole story. I had +redeemed my promise and saved my honour--what more besides? + +CONSUL. All right--but she thought it an attack on her own honour, +because she had meant to go away herself. And so she killed you by +tacit accusations which never reached your ears. + +MASTER. Did she accuse herself also? + +CONSUL. No, she had no reason to do so. + +MASTER. Then no harm has been done. + +CONSUL. Do you know what has become of her and the child since then? + +MASTER. I don't want to know! Having at last outlived the horrors of +longing, I came to regard the whole business as buried; and as none but +beautiful memories were left behind in our rooms, I remained where I +was. However, I thank you for that piece of valuable information! + +CONSUL. Which one? + +MASTER. That she had no reason for self-accusation, for if she had it +would constitute an accusation against me---- + +CONSUL. I think you are living under a serious misconception---- + +MASTER. If I am, leave me alone! A clear conscience--comparatively +clear, at least--has always been the diving-suit that has enabled me +to descend into the vast deeps without being suffocated. [_Rising_] +To think of it--that I got out of it with my life! And now it's all +over!--Suppose we take a turn down the avenue? + +CONSUL. All right, then we can see them light the first street lamp of +the season. + +MASTER. But won't the moon be up to-night--the harvest-moon? + +CONSUL. Why, I think the moon is full just now---- + +MASTER. [_Going to one of the windows and talking into the +dining-room_] Please hand me my stick, Louise. The light one--I just +want to hold it in my hand. + +LOUISE. [_Handing out a cane of bamboo_] Here it is, sir. + +MASTER. Thank you, my girl. Now turn out the light in the dining-room +if you have nothing to do there. We'll be gone a little while--I cannot +tell just how long. + + _The_ MASTER _and the_ CONSUL _go out to the left_. LOUISE + _remains standing by the open window_. STARCK _comes out of the + gateway_. + +STARCK. Good evening, Miss Louise. It's awfully hot!--So your gentlemen +have disappeared? + +LOUISE. They have gone for a stroll down the avenue--the first time my +master has gone out this summer. + +STARCK. We old people love the twilight, which covers up so many +defects both in ourselves and others. Do you know, Miss Louise, my old +woman is getting blind, but she won't have an operation performed. She +says there is nothing to look at, and that sometimes she wishes she +were deaf, too. + +LOUISE. Well, one does feel that way--at times. + +STARCK. Of course, you are leading a very quiet life in there, with +plenty of everything, and nothing to worry about. I have never heard a +loud voice or the slamming of a door--perhaps, even, it is a little too +quiet for a young lady like yourself? + +LOUISE. Not at all! I love the quiet, and whatever is dignified, +graceful, measured--with nobody blurting out things, and all thinking +it a duty to overlook the less pleasant features of daily life. + +STARCK. And you have never any company? + +LOUISE. No, only the consul comes here--and the like of the love +between those two brothers I have never seen. + +STARCK. Who is the elder of the two? + +LOUISE. That's more than I can tell. Whether there is a year or two +between them, or they are twins, I don't know, for they treat each +other with mutual respect, as if each one of them was the elder brother. + + AGNES _appears, trying to get past_ STARCK _without being seen + by him_. + +STARCK. Where are you going, girl? + +AGNES. Oh, I am just going out for a little walk. + +STARCK. That's right, but get back soon. + + AGNES _goes out_. + +STARCK. Do you think your master is still mourning the loss of his dear +ones? + +LOUISE. He doesn't mourn--he doesn't even feel any regrets, for he +doesn't want them back--but he is always with them in his memory, where +he keeps only their beautiful traits. + +STARCK. But doesn't the fate of his daughter trouble him at times? + +LOUISE. Yes, he cannot help fearing that the mother may have married +again, and then, of course, everything depends on how the child's +stepfather turns out. + +STARCK. I have been told that the wife refused alimony at first, but +that now, when five years have passed, she has sent him a lawyer with a +demand for many thousands---- + +LOUISE. [_With reserve_] I know nothing about it. + +STARCK. I believe, however, that she was never more beautiful than in +his memory---- + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Enters, carrying a crateful of bottles_] +Excuse me, but does Mr. Fischer live here? + +LOUISE. Mr. Fischer? Not so far as I know. + +STARCK. Perhaps Fischer is the name of that fellow on the second floor? +Around the corner--one flight up. + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Going toward the square_] One flight +up--thanks. [_He disappears around the corner_. + +LOUISE. Carrying up bottles again--that means another sleepless night. + +STARCK. What kind of people are they? Why don't they ever show +themselves? + +LOUISE. I suppose they use the back-stairs, for I have never seen them. +But I do hear them. + +STARCK. Yes, I have also heard doors bang and corks pop--and the +popping of other things, too, I guess. + +LOUISE. And they never open their windows, in spite of the heat--they +must be Southerners.--Why, that's lightning--a lot of it!--I guess +it's nothing but heat-lightning, for there has been no thunder. + +A VOICE. [_Is heard from the basement_] Starck, dear, won't you come +down and help me put in the sugar! + +STARCK. All right, old lady, I'm coming! [_To_ LOUISE] We are making +jam, you know. [_As he goes_] I'm coming, I'm coming! [_He disappears +into the gateway again_. + + LOUISE _remains standing at the window_. + +CONSUL. [_Enters slowly from the right_] Isn't my brother back yet? + +LOUISE. No, sir. + +CONSUL. He wanted to telephone, and I was to go ahead. Well, I suppose +he'll be here soon.--What's this? [_He stoops to pick up a post-card_] +What does it say?--"Boston club at midnight: Fischer."--Do you know who +Fischer is, Louise? + +LOUISE. There was a man with a lot of wine looking for Fischer a while +ago--up on the second floor. + +CONSUL. On the second floor--Fischer! Red shades that make the place +look like a drug-store window at night! I fear you have got bad company +in the house. + +LOUISE. What is a Boston club? + +CONSUL. Oh, there need be no harm in it at all--in this case I don't +know, however.--But how did the post-card--? Oh, it was _he_ who +dropped it a while ago. Then I'll put it back in the box.--Fischer? +I have heard that name before. In connection with something I cannot +recall just now--May I ask a question, Miss Louise: does my brother +never speak of--the past? + +LOUISE. Not to me. + +CONSUL. Miss Louise--one more question---- + +LOUISE. Excuse me, but here comes the milk, and I have to receive it. + + [_She leaves the dining-room_. + + _The_ MILKMAID _appears from the right and enters the house + from the square_. + +STARCK. [_Comes out again, takes off his white linen cap, and puffs +with heat_] In and out, like a badger at its hole--it's perfectly +horrid down there by the ovens--and the evening doesn't make it any +cooler. + +CONSUL. All this lightning shows that we are going to have rain--Well, +the city isn't pleasant, exactly, but up here you have quiet at least: +never any rattling carriages, and still less any street-cars--it's just +like the country. + +STARCK. Of course, it's quiet, but it's too quiet for business. I +know my trade, but I am a poor salesman--have always been, and +can't learn--or it may be something else. Perhaps I haven't got the +proper manner. For when customers act as if I were a swindler I get +embarrassed at first, and then as mad as it is possible for me to +become. But nowadays I haven't the strength to get really mad. It has +been worn out of me--everything gets worn out. + +CONSUL. Why don't you go to work for somebody else? + +STARCK. Who would want me? + +CONSUL. Have you ever tried? + +STARCK. What would be the use of it? + +CONSUL. Oh--well! + + _At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment + on the second floor_. + +STARCK. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are +they killing each other? + +CONSUL. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into +the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of +people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here? + +STARCK. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs--you +get mixed up in them yourself---- + +CONSUL. Do you know anything about them? + +STARCK. No, I don't know anything at all. + +CONSUL. Now they're screaming again, this time in the stairway---- + +STARCK. [_Withdrawing into the gateway and speaking in a low voice_] I +don't want to have anything to do with this. + + GERDA, _the divorced wife of the_ MASTER, _comes running from + the house into the square. She is bareheaded, with her hair + down, and very excited. The_ CONSUL _approaches her, and they + recognise each other. She draws back from him_. + +CONSUL. So it's you--my former sister-in-law? + +GERDA. Yes, it is I. + +CONSUL. How did you get into this house, and why can't you let my +brother enjoy his peace? + +GERDA. [_Bewildered_] They didn't give us the right name of the tenant +below--I thought he had moved--I couldn't help it---- + +CONSUL. Don't be afraid--you don't have to be afraid of me, Gerda! Can +I be of any help to you? What's happening up there? + +GERDA. He was beating me! + +CONSUL. Is your little girl with you? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. So she has got a stepfather? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. Put up your hair and calm yourself. Then I'll try to straighten +this matter out. But spare my brother---- + +GERDA. I suppose he hates me? + +CONSUL. No, don't you see that he has been taking care of your flowers +in the bed over there? He brought the soil himself, in a basket, +don't you remember? Don't you recognise your blue gentians and the +mignonette, your _Malmaison_ and _Merveille de Lyons_ roses, which he +budded himself? Don't you understand that he has cherished the memory +of yourself and of the child? + +GERDA. Where is he now? + +CONSUL. Taking a walk along the avenue, but he will be here in a few +minutes with the evening papers. When he comes from that side he uses +the back door, and he goes straight into the dining-room to read the +papers. Stand still and he won't notice you.--But you must go back to +your own rooms---- + +GERDA. I can't! I can't go back to that man. + +CONSUL. Who is he, and what? + +GERDA. He--has been a singer. + +CONSUL. Has been--and what is he now? An adventurer? + +GERDA. Yes! + +CONSUL. Keeps a gambling-house? + +GERDA. Yes! + +Consul. And the child? Bait? + +GERDA. Oh, don't say that! + +CONSUL. It's horrible! + +GERDA. You are too harsh about the whole thing. + +CONSUL. Of course, filth must be handled gently--so very gently! But +a just cause should be dragged in the dirt. Why did you defile his +honour, and why did you lure me into becoming your accomplice? I was +childish enough to trust your word, and I defended your unjust cause +against his. + +GERDA. You forget that he was too old. + +CONSUL. No, he wasn't _then_, as you had a child at once. When he +proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed +in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been +kept and old age began to weigh him down. + +GERDA. He deserted me, and that was an insult. + +CONSUL. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on +you. + +GERDA. He should have let me leave him. + +CONSUL. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him? + +GERDA. One of us had to bear it. + +CONSUL. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have +killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him? + +GERDA. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense. + +CONSUL. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. +But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his +daughter is to be saved: what can we do then? + +GERDA. She is my child. She's mine by law, and my husband is her +father---- + +CONSUL. Now _you_ are too harsh about it! And you have grown cruel and +vulgar--Hush! Here he comes now. + + _The_ MASTER _enters from the left with a newspaper in his + hand; he goes into the house pensively by the back door, while + the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _remain motionless, hidden behind the + corner of the house_. + + _Then the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _come down the stage. A moment + later the_ MASTER _becomes visible in the dining-room, where he + sits down to read the paper_. + +GERDA. It was he! + +CONSUL. Come over here and look at your home. See how he has kept +everything as it was--arranged to suit your taste.--Don't be afraid. +It's so dark out here that he can't see us. The light in the room +blinds him, you know. + +GERDA. How he has been lying to me! + +CONSUL. In what respect? + +GERDA. He hasn't grown old! He had grown tired of me--that was the +whole thing! Look at his collar--and his tie--the very latest fashion! +I am sure he has a mistress! + +CONSUL. Yes, you can see her photograph on the mantelshelf, between the +candelabra. + +GERDA. It is myself and the child! Does he still love me? + +CONSUL. Your memory only! + +GERDA. That's strange! + + _The_ MASTER _ceases to read and stares out through the window_. + +GERDA. He is looking at us! + +CONSUL. Don't move! + +GERDA. He is looking straight into my eyes. + +CONSUL. Be still! He doesn't see you. + +GERDA. He looks as if he were dead---- + +CONSUL. Well, he has been killed. + +GERDA. Why do you talk like that? + + _An unusually strong flash of heat-lightning illumines the + figures of the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA. + + _The_ MASTER _rises with an expression of horror on his face_. + GERDA _takes refuge behind the corner of the house_. + +MASTER. Carl Frederick! [_Coming to the window_] Are you alone? I +thought--Are you really alone? + +CONSUL. As you see. + +MASTER. The air is so sultry, and the flowers give me a headache--I am +just going to finish the newspaper. + + [_He resumes his former position._ + +CONSUL. Now let us get at your affairs. Do you want me to go with you? + +GERDA. Perhaps! But it will be a hard struggle. + +CONSUL. But the child must be saved. And I am a lawyer. + +GERDA. Well, for the child's sake, then! Come with me! + + [_They go out together._ + +MASTER. [_Calling from within_] Carl Frederick, come in and have a game +of chess!--Carl Frederick! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _Inside the dining-room. The brick stove appears at the centre + of the rear wall. To the left of it there is a door leading + into the pantry. Another door to the right of it leads to the + hallway. At the left stands a buffet with a telephone on it. A + piano and a tall clock stand at the right. There are doors in + both side walls_. + + + _The_ MASTER _is in the room, and_ LOUISE _enters as the + curtain rises_. + + +MASTER. Where did my brother go? + +LOUISE. [_Alarmed_] He was outside a moment ago. He can't be very far +away. + +MASTER. What a dreadful noise they are making up above! It is as +if they were stepping on my head! Now they are pulling out bureau +drawers as if they were were preparing for a journey--running away, +perhaps.--If you only knew how to play chess, Louise! + +LOUISE. I know a little---- + +MASTER. Oh, if you just know how to move the pieces, that will be +enough--Sit down, child. [_He sets up the chess pieces_] They are +carrying on up there so that they make the chandelier rattle--and the +confectioner is heating up down below. I think I'll have to move soon. + +LOUISE. I have long thought that you ought to do so anyhow. + +MASTER. Anyhow? + +LOUISE. It isn't good to stay too long among old memories. + +MASTER. Why not? As time passes, all memories grow beautiful. + +LOUISE. But you may live twenty years more, and that is too long a time +to live among memories which, after all, must fade and which may change +colour entirely some fine day. + +MASTER. How much you know, my child!--Begin now by moving a pawn--but +not the one in front of the queen, or you will be mate in two moves. + +LOUISE. Then I start with the knight---- + +MASTER. Hardly less dangerous, girl! + +LOUISE. But I think I'll start with the knight just the same. + +MASTER. All right. Then I'll move my bishop's pawn. + + STARCK _appears in the hallway, carrying a tray_. + +LOUISE. There's Mr. Starck with the tea-cakes. He doesn't make any more +noise than a mouse. + + [_She rises and goes out into the hallway to receive the tray, + which she then carries into the pantry_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, how is the old lady? + +STARCK. Oh, thank you, her eyes are about as usual. + +MASTER. Have you seen anything of my brother? + +STARCK. He is walking back and forth outside, I think. + +MASTER. Has he got any company? + +STARCK. No-o--I don't think so. + +MASTER. It wasn't yesterday you had a look at these rooms, Mr. Starck. + +STARCK. I should say not--it's just ten years ago now---- + +MASTER. When you brought the wedding-cake.--Does the place look changed? + +STARCK. It is just as it was--the palms have grown, of course--but the +rest is just as it was. + +MASTER. And will remain so until you bring the funeral cake. When you +have passed a certain age, nothing changes, nothing progresses--all the +movement is downward like that of a sleigh going down-hill. + +STARCK. Yes, that's the way it is. + +MASTER. And it is peaceful, the way I have it here. No love, no +friends, only a little company to break up the solitude. Then human +beings are just human beings, without any claims on your feelings and +sympathies. Then you come loose like an old tooth, and drop out without +pain or regrets. Take Louise, for instance--a pretty young girl, the +sight of whom pleases me like a work of art that I don't wish to +possess--there is nothing to disturb our relationship. My brother and I +meet like two old gentlemen who never get too close to each other and +never exact any confidences. By taking up a neutral position toward +one's fellow-men, one attains a certain distance--and as a rule we look +better at a distance. In a word, I am pleased with my old age and its +quiet peace--[_Calling out_] Louise! + +LOUISE. [_Appearing in the doorway at the left and speaking pleasantly +as always_] The laundry has come home, and I have to check it off. +[_She disappears again_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and chat a little--or +perhaps you play chess? + +STARCK. I can't stay away from my pots, and the oven has to be heated +up at eleven. It's very kind of you, however---- + +MASTER. If you catch sight of my brother, ask him to come in and keep +me company. + +STARCK. So I will--so I will! [_He goes_. + +MASTER. [_Alone; moves a couple of pieces on the chess-board; then gets +up and begins to walk about_] The peace of old age--yes! [_He sits down +at the piano and strikes a few chords; then he gets up and walks about +as before_] Louise! Can't you let the laundry wait a little? + +LOUISE. [_Appears again for a moment in the doorway at the left_] No, +I can't, because the wash-woman is in a hurry--she has husband and +children waiting for her. + +MASTER. Oh! [_He sits down at the table and begins to drum with his +fingers on it; tries to read the newspaper, but tires of it; lights +matches only to blow them out again at once; looks repeatedly at the +big clock, until at last a noise is heard from the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. [_Appears in the doorway_] It's the mail. Excuse me +for walking right in, but the door was standing open. + +MASTER. Is there a letter for me? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. Only a post-card. + + [_He hands it over and goes out_. + +MASTER. [_Reading the post-card_] Mr. Fischer again! Boston club! +That's the man up above--with the white hands and the tuxedo coat. And +to me! The impertinence of it! I have got to move!--Fischer!--[_He +tears up the card; again a noise is heard, in the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE ICEMAN. [_Without coming into the room_] It's the ice! + +MASTER. Well, it's nice to get ice in this heat. But be careful about +those bottles in the box. And put one of the pieces on edge so that I +can hear the water drip from it as it melts--That's my water-clock that +measures out the hours--the long hours--Tell me, where do you get the +ice from nowadays?--Oh, he's gone!--Everybody goes away--goes home--to +hear their own voices and get some company-[_Pause_] Is that you, Carl +Frederick? + +_Somebody in the apartment above plays Chopin's_ Fantaisie Impromptu, +Opus 66, _on the piano_--_but only the first part of it_. + +MASTER. [_Begins to listen, is aroused, looks up at the ceiling_] My +_Impromptu_? + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand and listens_. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters through the hallway_. + +MASTER. Is that you, Carl Frederick? + + _The music stops_. + +CONSUL. It is I. + +MASTER. Where have you been so long? + +CONSUL. I had some business to clear up. Have you been alone? + +MASTER. Of course! Come and play chess now. + +CONSUL. I prefer to talk. And you need also to hear your own voice a +little. + +MASTER. True enough--only it is so easy to get to talking about the +past. + +CONSUL. That makes us forget the present. + +MASTER. There is no present. What's just passing is empty nothingness. +One has to look ahead or behind--and ahead is better, for there lies +hope! + +CONSUL. [_Seating himself at the table_] Hope--of what? + +MASTER. Of change. + +CONSUL. Well! Do you mean to say you have had enough of the peace of +old age? + +MASTER. Perhaps. + +CONSUL. It's certain then. And if now you had the choice between +solitude and the past? + +MASTER. No ghosts, however! + +CONSUL. How about your memories? + +MASTER. They don't walk. They are only poems wrought by me out of +certain realities. But if dead people walk, then you have ghosts. + +CONSUL. Well, then--in your memory--who brings you the prettiest +mirage: the woman or the child? + +MASTER. Both! I cannot separate them, and that's why I never tried to +keep the child. + +CONSUL. But do you think you did right? Did the possibility of a +stepfather never occur to you? + +MASTER. I didn't think that far ahead at the time, but afterward, of +course, I have had--my thoughts--about--that very thing. + +CONSUL. A stepfather who abused--perhaps debased--your daughter? + +MASTER. Hush! + +CONSUL. What is it you hear? + +MASTER. I thought I heard the "little steps"--those little steps that +came tripping down the corridor when she was looking for me.--It was +the child that was the best of all! To watch that fearless little +creature, whom nothing could frighten, who never suspected that life +might be deceptive, who had no secrets! I recall her first experience +of the malice that is in human beings. She caught sight of a pretty +child down in the park, and, though it was strange to her, she went +up to it with open arms to kiss it--and the pretty child rewarded her +friendliness by biting her in the cheek first and then making a face +at her. Then you should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte. She stood +as if turned to stone. And it wasn't pain that did it, but horror at +the sight of that yawning abyss which is called the human heart. I +have been confronted with the same sight myself once, when out of two +beautiful eyes suddenly shot strange glances as if some evil beast had +appeared behind those eyes. It scared me literally so that I had to see +if some other person were standing behind that face, which looked like +a mask.--But why do we sit here talking about such things? Is it the +heat, or the storm, or what? + +CONSUL. Solitude brings heavy thoughts, and you ought to have company. +This summer in the city seems to have been rather hard on you. + +MASTER. Only these last few weeks. The sickness and that death up +above--it was as if I had gone through it myself. The sorrows and +cares of the confectioner have also become my own, so that I keep +worrying about his finances, about his wife's eye trouble, about his +future--and of late I have been dreaming every night about my little +Anne-Charlotte. I see her surrounded by dangers--unknown, undiscovered, +nameless. And before I fall asleep my hearing grows so unbelievably +acute that I can hear her little steps--and once I heard her voice---- + +CONSUL. But where is she then? + +MASTER. Don't ask me! + +CONSUL. And if you were to meet her on the street? + +MASTER. I imagine that I should lose my reason or fall in a faint. +Once, you know, I stayed abroad very long, during the very time when +our youngest sister was growing up. When I returned, after several +years, I was met at the steam-boat landing by a young girl who put +her arms around my neck. I was horrified at those eyes that searched +mine, but with unfamiliar glances--glances that expressed absolute +terror at not being recognised. "It is I," she repeated again and again +before at last I was able to recognise my own sister. And that's how I +imagine it would be for me to meet my daughter again. Five years are +enough to render you unrecognisable at that age. Think of it: not to +know your own child! That child, who is the same as before, and yet a +stranger! I couldn't survive such a thing. No, then I prefer to keep +the little girl of four years whom you see over there on the altar of +my home. I want no other one. [_Pause_] That must be Louise putting +things to rights in the linen closet. It has such a clean smell, and it +reminds me--oh, the housewife at her linen closet; the good fairy that +preserves and renews; the housewife with her iron, who smooths out all +that has been ruffled up and who takes out all wrinkles--the wrinkles, +yes--[_Pause_] Now--I'll--go in there to write a letter. If you'll +stay, I'll be out again soon. + + [_He goes out to the left_. + + _The_ CONSUL _coughs_. + +GERDA. [_Appears in the door to the hallway_] Are you--[_The clock +strikes_] Oh, mercy! That sound--which has remained in my ears for ten +years! That clock which never kept time and yet measured the long hours +and days and nights of five years. [_She looks around_] My piano--my +palms--the dinner-table--he has kept it in honour, shining as a +shield! My buffet--with the "Knight in Armour" and "Eve"--Eve with her +basketful of apples--In the right-hand upper drawer, way back, there +was a thermometer lying--[_Pause_] I wonder if it is still there? [_She +goes to the buffet and pulls out the right-hand drawer_] Yes, there it +is! + +CONSUL. What does that mean? + +GERDA. Oh, in the end it became a symbol--of instability. When we went +to housekeeping the thermometer was not put in its place at once--of +course, it ought to be outside the window. I promised to put it up--and +forgot it. He promised, and forgot. Then we nagged each other about +it, and at last, to get away from it, I hid it in this drawer. I came +to hate it, and so did he. Do you know what was back of all that? +Neither one of us believed that our relationship would last, because we +unmasked at once and gave free vent to our antipathies. To begin with, +we lived on tiptoe, so to speak--always ready to fly off at a moment's +notice. That was what the thermometer stood for--and here it is still +lying! Always on the move, always changeable, like the weather. [_She +puts away the thermometer and goes over to the chess-board_] My chess +pieces! Which he bought to kill the time that hung heavy on our hands +while we were waiting for the little one to come. With whom does he +play now? + +CONSUL. With me. + +GERDA. Where is he? + +CONSUL. He is in his room writing a letter. + +GERDA. Where? + +CONSUL. [_Pointing toward the left_] There. + +GERDA. [_Shocked_] And here he has been going for five years? + +CONSUL. Ten years--five of them alone! + +GERDA. Of course, he loves solitude. + +CONSUL. But I think he has had enough of it. + +GERDA. Will he turn me out? + +CONSUL. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite. + +GERDA. I didn't make that centrepiece---- + +CONSUL. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child. + +GERDA. But it was he who should help me find it again---- + +CONSUL. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the +purpose of his flight? + +GERDA. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; +then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of +course. + +CONSUL. As to the ballet--that's something the father _must not_ know, +for he hates music-halls. + +GERDA. [_Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, +absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces_] Music-halls--oh, I have been +there myself. + +CONSUL. You? + +GERDA. I have accompanied on the piano. + +CONSUL. Poor Gerda! + +GERDA. Why? I love that kind of life. And when I was a prisoner here, +it wasn't the keeper, but the prison itself, that made me fret. + +CONSUL. But now you have had enough? + +GERDA. Now I am in love with peace and solitude--and with my child +above all. + +CONSUL. Hush, he's coming! + +GERDA. [_Rises as if to run away, but sinks down on the chair again_] +Oh! + +CONSUL. Now I leave you. Don't think of what you are to say. It will +come of itself, like the "next move" in a game of chess. + +GERDA. I fear his first glance most of all, for it will tell me whether +I have changed for better or for worse--whether I have grown old and +ugly. + +CONSUL. [_Going out to the right_] If he finds you looking older, then +he will dare to approach you. If he finds you as young as ever, he will +have no hope, for he is more diffident than you think.--Now! + + _The_ MASTER _is seen outside, passing by the door leading + to the pantry; he carries a letter in his hand; then he + disappears, only to become visible again a moment later in the + hallway, where he opens the outside door and steps out_. + +CONSUL. [_In the doorway at the right_] He went out to the mail-box. + +GERDA. No, this is too much for me! How can I possibly ask _him_ to +help me with this divorce? I want to get out! It's too brazen! + +CONSUL. Stay! You know that his kindness has no limits. And he'll help +you for the child's sake. + +GERDA. No, no! + +CONSUL. And he is the only one who can help you. + +MASTER. [_Enters quickly from the hallway and nods at_ GERDA, _whom, +because of his near-sightedness, he mistakes for_ LOUISE; _then he goes +to the buffet and picks up the telephone, but in passing he remarks to_ +GERDA] So you're done already? Well, get the pieces ready then, and +we'll begin all over again--from the beginning. + + GERDA _stands paralysed, not understanding the situation_. + +MASTER. [_Speaks in the telephone receiver, with his back to_ Gerda] +Hello!--Good evening! Is that you, mother?--Pretty well, thank you! +Louise is waiting to play a game of chess with me, but she is a +little tired after a lot of bother--It's all over now--everything +all right--nothing serious at all.--If it's hot? Well, there has +been a lot of thundering, right over our heads, but nobody has been +struck. False alarm!--What did you say? Fischer?--Yes, but I think +they are going to leave.--Why so? I know nothing in particular.--Oh, +is that so?--Yes, it leaves at six-fifteen, by the outside route, +and it gets there--let me see--at eight-twenty-five.--Did you have a +good time?--[_With a little laugh_] Oh, he's impossible when he gets +started! And what did Marie have to say about it?--How I have had it +during the summer? Oh, well, Louise and I have kept each other company, +and she has got such an even, pleasant temper.--Yes, she is very nice, +indeed!--Oh, no, nothing of that kind! + + GERDA, _who has begun to understand, rises with an expression + of consternation on her face_. + +MASTER. My eyes? Oh, I am getting a little near-sighted. But I feel +like the confectioner's old wife: there is nothing to look at. Wish I +were deaf, too! Deaf and blind! The neighbours above make such a lot of +noise at night--it's a gambling club--There now! Somebody got on the +wire to listen. [_He rings again_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the hallway without being seen + by the_ MASTER; GERDA _stares at her with mingled admiration + and hatred_; LOUISE _withdraws toward the right_. + +MASTER. [_At the telephone_] Is that you? The cheek of it--to +break off our talk in order to listen!--To-morrow, then, at +six-fifteen.--Thank you, and the same to you!--Yes, I will, +indeed!--Good night, mother! [_He rings off_. + + LOUISE _has disappeared_. GERDA _is standing in the middle of + the floor_. + +MASTER. [_Turns around and catches sight of_ GERDA, _whom he gradually +recognises; then he puts his hand to his heart_] O Lord, was that you? +Wasn't Louise here a moment ago? + + GERDA _remains silent_. + +MASTER. [_Feebly_] How--how did you get here? + +GERDA. I hope you pardon--I just got to the city--I was passing by and +felt a longing to have a look at my old home--the windows were open---- + + [_Pause_. + +MASTER. Do you find things as they used to be? + +GERDA. Exactly, and yet different--there is a difference + +MASTER. [_Feeling unhappy_] Are you satisfied--with your life? + +GERDA. Yes. I have what I was looking for. + +MASTER. And the child? + +GERDA. Oh, she's growing, and thriving, and lacks nothing. + +MASTER. Then I won't ask anything more. [_Pause_] Did you want +anything--of me--can I be of any service? + +GERDA. It's very kind of you, but--I need nothing at all now when I +have seen that you lack nothing either. [_Pause]_ Do you wish to see +Anne-Charlotte? + +MASTER. I don't think so, now when I have heard that she is doing well. +It's so hard to begin over again. It's like having to repeat a lesson +at school--which you know already, although the teacher doesn't think +so--I have got so far away from all that--I live in a wholly different +region--and I cannot connect with the past. It goes against me to be +impolite, but I am not asking you to be seated--you are another man's +wife--and you are not the same person as the one from whom I parted. + +GERDA. Am I then so--altered? + +MASTER. Quite strange to me! Your voice, glance, manner---- + +GERDA. Have I grown old? + +MASTER. That I cannot tell!--They say that not a single atom in a +person's body remains wholly the same after three years--and in five +years everything is renewed. And for that reason you, who stand over +there, are not the same person as the sufferer who once sat here--you +seem such a complete stranger to me that I can only address you in the +most formal way. And I suppose it would be just the same in the case of +my daughter, too. + +GERDA. Don't speak like that. I would much rather have you angry. + +MASTER. Why should I be angry? + +GERDA. Because of all the evil I have done you. + +MASTER. Have you? That's more than I know. + +GERDA. Didn't you read the papers in the suit? + +MASTER. No-o! I left that to my lawyer. [_He sits down_. + +GERDA. And the decision of the court? + +MASTER. No, why should I? As I don't mean to marry again, I have no use +for that kind of documents. + + _Pause_. GERDA _seats herself_. + +MASTER. What did those papers say? That I was too old? + + GERDA'S _silence indicates assent_. + +MASTER. Well, that was nothing but the truth, so that need not trouble +you. In my answer I said the very same thing and asked the Court to set +you free again. + +GERDA. You said, that---- + +MASTER. I said, not that I _was_, but that I was about to _become_ too +old _for you_! + +GERDA. [_Offended_] For me? + +MASTER. Yes.--I couldn't say that I was too old when we married, for +then the arrival of the child would have been unpleasantly explained, +and it was _our_ child, was it not? + +GERDA. You know that, of course! But---- + +MASTER. Do you think I should be ashamed of my age?--Of course, if +I took to dancing and playing cards at night, then I might soon land +in an invalid's chair, or on the operating-table, and that would be a +shame. + +GERDA. You don't look it---- + +MASTER. Did you expect the divorce to kill me? + + _The silence of_ GERDA _is ambiguous_. + +MASTER. There are those who assert that you _have_ killed me. Do you +think I look like a dead man? + + GERDA _appears embarrassed_. + +MASTER. Some of your friends are said to have caricatured me in the +papers, but I have never seen anything of it, and those papers went +into the dump five years ago. So there is no need for your conscience +to be troubled on my behalf. + +GERDA. Why did you marry me? + +MASTER. Don't you know why a man marries? And you know, too, that I +didn't have to go begging for love. And you ought to remember how +we laughed together at all the wiseacres who felt compelled to warn +you.--But why you led me on is something I have never been able to +explain--When you didn't look at me after the marriage ceremony, but +acted as if you had been attending somebody else's wedding, then I +thought you had made a bet that you could kill me. As the head of the +department, I was, of course, hated by all my subordinates, but they +became your friends at once. No sooner did I make an enemy than he +became _your_ friend. Which caused me to remark that, while it was +right for you not to hate your enemies, it was also right that you +shouldn't _love_ mine!--However, seeing where you stood, I began to +prepare for a retreat at once, but before leaving I wanted a living +proof that you had not been telling the truth, and so I stayed until +the little one arrived. + +GERDA. To think that you could be so disingenuous! + +MASTER. I learned to keep silent, but I never lied!--By degrees you +turned all my friends into detectives, and you lured my own brother +into betraying me. But worst of all was that your thoughtless chatter +threw suspicions on the legitimacy of the child. + +GERDA. All that I took back! + +MASTER. The word that's on the wing cannot be pulled back again. And +worse still: those false rumours reached the child, and now she thinks +her mother a---- + +GERDA. For Heaven's sake! + +MASTER. Well, that's the truth of it. You raised a tall tower on a +foundation of lies, and now the tower of lies is tumbling down on your +head. + +GERDA. It isn't true! + +MASTER. Yes, it is! I met Anne-Charlotte a few minutes ago---- + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. We met on the stairs, and she said I was her uncle. Do you +know what an uncle is? That's an elderly friend of the house and the +mother. And I know that at school I am also passing as her uncle.--But +all that is dreadful for the child! + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. Yes. But why should I tell anybody about it? Haven't I a right +to keep silent? And, besides, that meeting was so shocking to me that I +wiped it out of my memory as if it had never existed. + +GERDA. What can I do to rehabilitate you? + +MASTER. You? What could you do? That's something I can only do myself. +[_For a long time they gaze intently at each other_] And for that +matter, I have already got my rehabilitation. [_Pause_. + +GERDA. Can't I make good in some way? Can't I ask you to forgive, to +forget---- + +MASTER. What do you mean? + +GERDA. To restore, to repair---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to resume, to start over again, to reinstate a +master above me? No, thanks! I don't want you. + +GERDA. And this I had to hear! + +MASTER. Well, how does it taste? [_Pause_. + +GERDA. That's a pretty centrepiece. + +MASTER. Yes, it's pretty. + +GERDA. Where did you get it? [_Pause_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the pantry with a bill in her + hand_. + +MASTER. [_Turning toward her_] Is it a bill? + +GERDA _rises and begins to pull on her gloves with such violence that +buttons are scattered right and left_. + +MASTER. [_Taking out the money_] Eighteen-seventy-two. That's just +right. + +LOUISE. I should like to see you a moment, sir. + +MASTER. [_Rises and goes to the door, where_ LOUISE _whispers something +into his ear_] Oh, mercy---- + +LOUISE _goes out_. + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. What do you mean? That I am jealous of your servant-girl? + +MASTER. No, I didn't mean that. + +GERDA. Yes, you meant that you were too old for me, but not for her. +I catch the insulting point--She's pretty--I don't deny it--for a +servant-girl---- + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. Why do you say that? + +MASTER. Because you are to be pitied. Jealous of my servant--that ought +to be rehabilitation enough. + +GERDA. Jealous, I---- + +MASTER. Why do you fly in a rage at my nice, gentle kinswoman? + +GERDA. "A little more than kin." + +MASTER. No, my dear, I have long ago resigned myself--and I am +satisfied with my solitude--[_The telephone rings, and he goes to +answer it_] Mr. Fischer? No, that isn't here.--Oh, yes, that's me.--Has +he skipped?--With whom, do you say?--with Starck's daughter! Oh, good +Lord! How old is she?--Eighteen! A mere child! [_Rings off_. + +GERDA. I knew he had run away.--But with a woman!--Now you're pleased. + +MASTER. No, I am not pleased. Although there is a sort of solace to my +mind in finding justice exists in this world. Life is very quick in its +movements, and now you find yourself where I was. + +GERDA. Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine--I am old--too old for +him! + +MASTER. Everything is relative, even age.--But now let us get at +something else. Where is your child? + +GERDA. My child? I had forgotten it! My child! My God! Help me! He +has taken the child with him. He loves Anne-Charlotte as his own +daughter--Come with me to the police--come! + +MASTER. I? Now you ask too much. + +GERDA. Help me! + +MASTER. [_Goes to the door at the right_] Come, Carl Frederick--get a +cab--take Gerda down to the police station--won't you? + +CONSUL. [_Enters_] Of course I will! We are human, are we not? + +MASTER. Quick! But say nothing to Starck. Matters may be straightened +out yet--Poor fellow--and I am sorry for Gerda, too!--Hurry up now! + +GERDA. [_Looking out through the window_] It's beginning to rain--lend +me an umbrella. Eighteen years--only eighteen--quick, now! + + _She goes out with the_ CONSUL. + +MASTER. [_Alone_] The peace of old age!--And my child in the hands of +an adventurer!--Louise! + + LOUISE _enters_. + +MASTER. Come and play chess with me. + +LOUISE. Has the consul---- + +MASTER. He has gone out on some business. Is it still raining? + +LOUISE. No, it has stopped now. + +MASTER. Then I'll go out and cool off a little. [_Pause_] You are a +nice girl, and sensible--did you know the confectioner's daughter? + +LOUISE. Very slightly. + +MASTER. Is she pretty? + +LOUISE. Ye-es. + +MASTER. Have you known the people above us? + +LOUISE. I have never seen them. + +MASTER. That's an evasion. + +LOUISE. I have learned to keep silent in this house. + +MASTER. I am forced to admit that pretended deafness can be carried to +the point where it becomes dangerous.--Well, get the tea ready while I +go outside and cool off a little. And, one thing, please--you see what +is happening, of course--but don't ask me any questions. + +LOUISE. I? No, sir, I am not at all curious. + +MASTER. I am thankful for that! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + _The front of the house as in the First Scene. There is light + in the confectioner's place in the basement. The gas is also + lit on the second floor, where now the shades are raised and + the windows open_. + + + STARCK _is sitting near the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Seated on the green bench_] That was a nice little shower we +had. + +STARCK. Quite a blessing! Now the raspberries will be coming in +again---- + +MASTER. Then I'll ask you to put aside a few jars for us. We have grown +tired of making the jam ourselves. It only gets spoiled. + +STARCK. Yes, I know. Jars of jam are like mischievous children: you +have to watch them all the time. There are people who put in salicylic +acid, but those are newfangled tricks in which I take no stock. + +MASTER. Salicylic acid--yes, they say it's antiseptic--and perhaps it's +a good thing. + +STARCK. Yes, but you can taste it--and it's a trick. + +MASTER. Tell me, Mr. Starck, have you got a telephone? + +STARCK. No, I have no telephone. + +MASTER. Oh! + +STARCK. Why do you ask? + +MASTER. Oh, I happened to think--a telephone is handy at times--for +orders--and important communications---- + +STARCK. That may be. But sometimes it is just as well to +escape--communications. + +MASTER. Quite right! Quite right!--Yes, my heart always beats a little +faster when I hear it ring--one never knows what one is going to +hear--and I want peace--peace, above all else. + +STARCK. So do I. + +MASTER. [_Looking at his watch_] The lamplighter ought to be here soon. + +STARCK. He must have forgotten us, for I see that the lamps are already +lit further down the avenue. + +MASTER. Then he'll be here soon. It will be a lot of fun to see our +lamp lighted again. + + _The telephone in the dining-room rings_. LOUISE _comes in to + answer the call. The_ MASTER _rises and puts one hand up to his + heart. He tries to listen, but the public cannot hear anything + of what is said within. Pause. After a while_ LOUISE _comes out + by way of the square_. + +MASTER. [_Anxiously_] What news? + +LOUISE. No change. + +MASTER. Was that my brother? + +LOUISE. No, it was the lady. + +MASTER. What did she want? + +LOUISE. To speak to you, sir. + +MASTER. I don't want to!--Have I to console my executioner? I used to +do it, but now I am tired of it.--Look up there! They have forgotten +to turn out the light--and light makes empty rooms more dreadful than +darkness--the ghosts become visible. [_In a lowered voice_] And how +about Starck's Agnes? Do you think he knows anything? + +LOUISE. It's hard to tell, for he never speaks about his sorrows--nor +does anybody else in the Silent House! + +MASTER. Do you think he should be told? + +LOUISE. For Heaven's sake, no! + +MASTER. But I fear it isn't the first time she gave him trouble. + +LOUISE. He never speaks of her. + +MASTER. It's horrible! I wonder if we'll get to the end of it soon? +[_The telephone rings again_] Now it's ringing again. Don't answer. I +don't want to hear anything.--My child--in such company! An adventurer +and a strumpet!--It's beyond limit!--Poor Gerda! + +LOUISE. It's better to have certainty. I'll go in--You must do +something! + +MASTER. I cannot move--I can receive blows, but to strike back--no! + +LOUISE. But if you don't repel a danger, it will press closer; and if +you don't resist, you'll be destroyed. + +MASTER. But if you refuse to be drawn in, you become unassailable. + +LOUISE. Unassailable? + +MASTER. Things straighten out much better if you don't mess them up +still further by interference. How can you want me to direct matters +where so many passions are at play? Do you think I can suppress +anybody's emotions, or give them a new turn? + +LOUISE. But how about the child? + +MASTER. I have surrendered my rights--and besides--frankly speaking--I +don't care for them--not at all now, when _she_ has been here and +spoiled the images harboured in my memory. She has wiped out all the +beauty that I had cherished, and now there is nothing left. + +LOUISE. But that's to be set free! + +MASTER. Look, how empty the place seems in there--as if everybody had +moved out; and up there--as if there had been a fire. + +LOUISE. Who is coming there? + + AGNES _enters, excited and frightened, but trying hard + to control herself; she makes for the gateway, where the + confectioner is seated on his chair_. + +LOUISE [_To the_ MASTER] There is Agnes? What can this mean? + +MASTER. Agnes? Then things are getting straightened out. + +STARCK. [_With perfect calm_] Good evening, girl! Where have you been? + +AGNES. I have been for a walk. + +STARCK. Your mother has asked for you several times. + +AGNES. Is that so? Well, here I am. + +STARCK. Please go down and help her start a fire under the little oven. + +AGNES. Is she angry with me, then? + +STARCK. You know that she cannot be angry with you. + +AGNES. Oh, yes, but she doesn't say anything. + +STARCK. Well, girl, isn't it better to escape being scolded? + + AGNES _disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Does he know, or doesn't he? + +LOUISE. Let's hope that he will remain in ignorance. + +MASTER. But what can have happened? A breach? [_To_ STARCK] Say, Mr. +Starck---- + +STARCK. What is it? + +MASTER. I thought--Did you notice if anybody left the house a while ago? + +STARCK. I saw the iceman, and also a mail-carrier, I think. + +MASTER. Oh! [_To_ LOUISE] Perhaps it was a mistake--that we didn't hear +right--I can't explain it--Or maybe he is not telling the truth? What +did she say when she telephoned? + +LOUISE. That she wanted to speak to you. + +MASTER. How did it sound? Was she excited? + +LOUISE. Yes. + +MASTER. I think it's rather shameless of her to appeal to me in a +matter like this. + +LOUISE. But the child! + +MASTER. Just think, I met my daughter on the stairway, and when I asked +her if she recognised me she called me uncle and told me that her +father was up-stairs. Of course, he is her stepfather, and has all the +rights--They have just spent their time exterminating me, blackguarding +me---- + +LOUISE. A cab is stopping at the corner. + + STARCK _withdraws into the gateway_. + +MASTER. I only hope they don't come back to burden me again! Just +think: to have to hear my child singing the praise of her father--the +other one! And then to begin the old story all over again: "Why did you +marry me?"--"Oh, you know; but what made you want me?"--"You know very +well!"--And so on, until the end of the world. + +LOUISE. It was the consul that came. + +MASTER. How does he look? + +LOUISE. He is taking his time. + +MASTER. Practising what he is to say, I suppose. Does he look satisfied? + +LOUISE. Thoughtful, rather---- + +MASTER. Hm!--That's the way it always was. Whenever he saw that woman +he became disloyal to me. She had the power of charming everybody but +me. To me she seemed coarse, vulgar, ugly, stupid; to all the rest she +seemed refined, pleasant, handsome, intelligent. All the hatred aroused +by my independence centred in her under the form of a boundless +sympathy for whoever wronged me in any way. Through her they strove to +control and influence me, to wound me, and, at last, to kill me. + +LOUISE. Now, I'll go in and watch the telephone--I suppose this storm +will pass like all others. + +MASTER. Men cannot bear independence. They want you to obey them. Every +one of my subordinates in the department, down to the very messengers, +wanted me to obey him. And when I wouldn't they called me a despot. The +servants in our house wanted me to obey them and eat food that had been +warmed up. When I wouldn't, they set my wife against me. And finally +my wife wanted me to obey the child, but then I left, and then all of +them combined against the tyrant--which was I!--Get in there quick now, +Louise, so we can set off our mines out here. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters from the left_. + +MASTER. Results--not details--please! + +CONSUL. Let's sit down. I am a little tired. + +MASTER. I think it has rained on the bench. + +CONSUL. It can't be too wet for me if you have been sitting on it. + +MASTER. A you like!--Where is my child? + +CONSUL. Can I begin at the beginning? + +MASTER. Begin! + +CONSUL [_Speaking slowly_] I got to the depot with Gerda--and at the +ticket-office I discovered him and Agnes---- + +MASTER. So Agnes was with him? + +CONSUL. And so was the child!--Gerda stayed outside, and I went up to +them. At that moment _he_ was handing Agnes the tickets, but when she +discovered that they were for third class she threw them in his face +and walked out to the cab-stand. + +MASTER. Ugh! + +CONSUL. As soon as I had established a connection with the man, Gerda +hurried up and got hold of the child, disappearing with it in the +crowd---- + +MASTER. What did the man have to say? + +CONSUL. Oh, you know--when you come to hear the other side--and so on. + +MASTER. I want to hear it. Of course, he isn't as bad as we thought--he +has his good sides---- + +CONSUL. Exactly! + +MASTER. I thought so! But you don't want me to sit here listening to +eulogies of my enemy? + +CONSUL. Oh, not eulogies, but ameliorating circumstances---- + +MASTER. Did you ever want to listen to me when I tried to explain the +true state of affairs to you? Yes, you did listen--but your reply was +a disapproving silence, as if I had been lying to you. You have always +sided with what was wrong, and you have believed nothing but lies, and +the reason was--that you were in love with Gerda! But there was also +another reason---- + +CONSUL. Brother, don't say anything more! You see nothing but your own +side of things. + +MASTER. How can you expect me to view my conditions from the standpoint +of my enemy? I cannot take sides against myself, can I? + +CONSUL. I am not your enemy. + +MASTER. Yes, when you make friends with one who has wronged me!--Where +is my child? + +CONSUL. I don't know. + +MASTER. What was the outcome at the depot? + +CONSUL. He took a south-bound train alone. + +MASTER. And the others? + +CONSUL. Disappeared. + +MASTER. Then I may have them after me again. [_Pause]_ Did you see if +they went with him? + +CONSUL. He went alone. + +MASTER. Well, then we are done with that one, at least. Number +two--there remain now--the mother and the child. + +CONSUL. Why is the light burning up there in their rooms? + +MASTER. Because they forgot to turn it out. + +CONSUL. I'll go up---- + +MASTER. No, don't go!--I only hope that they don't come back here!--To +repeat, always repeat, begin the same lesson all over again! + +CONSUL. But it has begun to straighten out. + +MASTER. Yet the worst remains--Do you think they will come back? + +CONSUL. Not she--not since she had to make you amends in the presence +of Louise. + +MASTER. I had forgotten that! She really did me the honour of becoming +jealous! I do think there is justice in this world! + +CONSUL. And then she learned that Agnes was younger than herself. + +MASTER. Poor Gerda! But in a case like this you mustn't tell people +that justice exists--an avenging justice--for it is sheer falsehood +that they love justice! And you must deal gently with their filth. And +Nemesis--exists only for the other person.--There it's ringing again? +That telephone makes a noise like a rattlesnake! + + LOUISE _becomes visible at the telephone inside. Pause_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Did the snake bite? + +LOUISE. [_At the window_] May I speak to you, sir? + +MASTER. [_Going up to the window_] Speak out! + +LOUISE. The lady has gone to her mother, in the country, to live there +with her little girl. + +Master. [_To his brother_] Mother and child in the country--in a good +home! Now it's straightened out!--Oh! + +LOUISE. And she asked us to turn out the light up-stairs. + +MASTER. Do that at once, Louise, and pull down the shades so we don't +have to look at it any longer. + + LOUISE _leaves the dining-room_. + +STARCK. [_Coming out on the sidewalk again and looking up]_ I think the +storm has passed over. + +MASTER. It seems really to have cleared up, and that means we'll have +moonlight. + +CONSUL. That was a blessed rain! + +STARCK. Perfectly splendid! + +MASTER. Look, there's the lamplighter coming at last! + + _The_ LAMPLIGHTER _enters, lights the street lamp beside the + bench, and passes on_. + +MASTER. The first lamp! Now the fall is here! That's our season, old +chaps! It's getting dark, but then comes reason to light us with its +bull's-eyes, so that we don't go astray. + + LOUISE _becomes visible at one of the windows on the second + floor; immediately afterward everything is dark up there_. + +Master. [_To_ Louise] Close the windows and pull down the shades so +that all memories can lie down and sleep in peace! The peace of old +age! And this fall I move away from the Silent House. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + +(BRÄNDA TOMTEN) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + +CHARACTERS + +RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM, _a dyer_ +THE STRANGER, _who is_) } +ARVID WALSTRÖM } _brother of_ RUDOLPH +ANDERSON, _a mason (brother-in-law of the gardener)_ +MRS. ANDERSON, _wife of the mason_ +GUSTAFSON, _a gardener (brother-in-law of the mason)_ +ALFRED, _son of the gardener_ +ALBERT ERICSON, _a stone-cutter_ (_second cousin of the hearse-driver_) +MATHILDA, _daughter of the stone-cutter_ +THE HEARSE-DRIVER (_second cousin of the stone-cutter_) +A DETECTIVE +SJÖBLOM, _a painter_ +MRS. WESTERLUND, _hostess at "The Last Nail," formerly a + nurse at the dyer's_ +MRS. WALSTRÖM, _wife of the dyer_ +THE STUDENT +THE WITNESS + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell + of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains + on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing_. + + _Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom._ + + _At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which + is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed + outside._ + + _At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture + and household utensils that have been saved from the fire_. + + SJÖBLOM, _the painter, is painting the window-frames of the + inn. He listens closely to everything that is said_. + + ANDERSON, _the mason, is digging in the ruins_. + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the fire entirely out? + +ANDERSON. There isn't any smoke, at least. + +DETECTIVE. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [_Pause_] You were +born in this quarter, were you not? + +ANDERSON. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this +street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father +helped to put in the brick. + +DETECTIVE. Then you know everybody around here? + +ANDERSON. We all know each other. There is something particular about +this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. +That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or +later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is +way out there at the end of the street. + +DETECTIVE. You have got a special name for this quarter, haven't you? + +ANDERSON. We call it the Bog. And all of us hate each other, and +suspect each other, and blackguard each other, and torment each other +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. The fire started at half past ten in the evening, I +hear--was the front door locked at that time? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know, for I live in the house next +to this. + +DETECTIVE. Where did the fire start? + +ANDERSON. Up in the attic, where the student was living. + +DETECTIVE. Was he at home? + +ANDERSON. No, he was at the theatre. + +DETECTIVE. Had he gone away and left the lamp burning, then? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. [_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the student any relation to the owner of the house? + +ANDERSON. No, I don't think so.--Say, you haven't got anything to do +with the police, have you? + +DETECTIVE. How did it happen that the inn didn't catch fire? + +ANDERSON. They slung a tarpaulin over it and turned on the hose. + +DETECTIVE. Queer that the apple-trees were not destroyed by the heat. + +ANDERSON. They had just budded, and it had been raining during the day, +but the heat made the buds go into bloom in the middle of the night--a +little too early, I guess, for there is frost coming, and then the +gardener will catch it. + +DETECTIVE. What kind of fellow is the gardener? + +ANDERSON. His name is Gustafson---- + +DETECTIVE. Yes, but what sort of a man is he? + +ANDERSON. See here: I am seventy-five--and for that reason I don't know +anything bad about Gustafson; and if I knew I wouldn't be telling it! +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. And the owner of the house is named Walström, a dyer, about +sixty years old, married---- + +ANDERSON. Why don't you go on yourself? You can't pump me any longer. + +DETECTIVE. Is it thought that the fire was started on purpose? + +ANDERSON. That's what people think of all fires. + +DETECTIVE. And whom do they suspect? + +ANDERSON. The insurance company always suspects anybody who has an +interest in the fire--and for that reason I have never had anything +insured. + +DETECTIVE. Did you find anything while you were digging? + +ANDERSON. Mostly one finds all the door-keys, because people haven't +got time to take them along when the house is on fire--except now and +then, of course, when they have been taken away---- + +DETECTIVE. There was no electric light in the house? + +ANDERSON. Not in an old house like this, and that's a good thing, for +then they can't put the blame on crossed wires. + +DETECTIVE. Put the blame?--A good thing?--Listen---- + +ANDERSON. Oh, you're going to get me in a trap? Don't you do it, for +then I take it all back. + +DETECTIVE. Take back? You can't! + +ANDERSON. Can't I? + +DETECTIVE. No! + +ANDERSON. Yes! For there was no witness present. + +DETECTIVE. No? + +ANDERSON. Naw! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _coughs. The_ WITNESS _comes in from the left_. + +DETECTIVE. Here's _one_ witness. + +ANDERSON. You're a sly one! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, there are people who know how to use their brains +without being seventy-five. [_To the_ WITNESS] Now we'll continue with +the gardener. + + [_They go out to the left_. + +ANDERSON. There I put my foot in it, I guess. But that's what happens +when you get to talking. + + MRS. ANDERSON _enters with her husband's lunch in a bundle_. + +ANDERSON. It's good you came. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now we'll have lunch and be good--you might well +be hungry after all this fuss--I wonder if Gustafson can pull +through--he'd just got done with his hotbeds and was about to start +digging in the open--why don't you eat?--and there's Sjöblom already at +work with his putty--just think of it, that Mrs. Westerlund got off as +well as she did--morning, Sjöblom, now you've got work, haven't you? + + MRS. WESTERLUND _comes in_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Morning, morning, Mrs. Westerlund--you got out of this +fine, I must say, and then---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I wonder who's going to pay me for all I am losing +to-day, when there's a big funeral on at the cemetery, which always +makes it a good day for me, and just when I've had to put away all my +bottles and glassware---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Who's that they're burying to-day? I see such a lot of +people going out that way--and then, of course, they've come to see +where the fire was, too. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I don't think they're burying anybody, but I've heard +they're going to put up a monument over the bishop--worst of it is that +the stone-cutter's daughter was going to get married to the gardener's +son--him, you know, who's in a store down-town--and now the gardener +has lost all he had--isn't that his furniture standing over there? + +MRS. ANDERSON. I guess that's some of the dyer's, too, seeing as it +came out helter-skelter in a jiffy--and where's the dyer now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. He's down at the police station testifying. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Hm-hm!--Yes, yes!--And there's my cousin now--him what +drives the hearse--he's always thirsty on his way back. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. [_Enters_] How do, Malvina! So you've gone and started a +little job of arson out here during the night, have you? Looks pretty, +doesn't it. Would have been better to get a new shanty instead, I guess. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Oh, mercy me! But whom have you been taking out now? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Can't remember what his name was--only _one_ carriage +along, and no flowers on the coffin at all. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Sure and it wasn't any happy funeral, then! If you +want anything to drink you'll have to go 'round to the kitchen, for +I haven't got things going on this side yet, and, for that matter, +Gustafson is coming here with a lot of wreaths--they've got something +on out at the cemetery to-day. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Yes, they're going to put up a moniment to the +bishop--'cause he wrote books, I guess, and collected all kinds of +vermin--was a reg'lar vermin-hunter, they tell me. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What's that? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Oh, he had slabs of cork with pins on 'em, and a lot of +flies--something beyond us here--but I guess that's the proper way--can +I go out to the kitchen now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, if you use the back door, I think you can get +something wet---- + +HEARSE-DRIVER. But I want to have a word with the dyer before I drive +off--I've got my horses over at the stone-cutter's, who's my second +cousin, you know. Haven't got any use for him, as you know, too, but +we're doing business together, he and I--that is, I put in a word for +him with the heirs, and so he lets me put my horses into his yard--just +let me know when the dyer shows up--luck, wasn't it, that he didn't +have his works here, too---- + + [_He goes out, passing around the inn_. + + MRS. WESTERLUND _goes into the inn by the front door_. + + ANDERSON, _who has finished eating, begins to dig again_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Do you find anything? + +ANDERSON. Nails and door-hinges--all the keys are hanging in a bunch +over there by the front door. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Did they hang there before, or did you put them there? + +ANDERSON. No, they were hanging there when I got here. + +MRS. ANDERSON. That's queer--for then somebody must have locked all the +doors and taken out the keys before it began burning! That's queer! + +ANDERSON. Yes, of course, it's a little queer, for in that way it was +harder to get at the fire and save things. Yes--yes! [_Pause_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. I worked for the dyer's father forty years ago, I did, +and I know the people, both the dyer himself and his brother what +went off to America, though they say he's back now. The father, he +was a real man, he was, but the boys were always a little so-so. Mrs. +Westerlund over here, she used to take care of Rudolph, and the two +brothers never could get along, but kept scrapping and fighting all +the time.--I've seen a thing or two, I have--yes, there's a whole lot +what has happened in that house, so I guess it was about time to get it +smoked out.--Ugh, but that was a house! One went this way and another +that, but back they had to come, and here they died and here they were +born, and here they married and were divorced.--And Arvid, the brother +what went off to America--him they thought dead for years, and at least +he didn't take what was coming to him after his father, but now they +say he's come back, though nobody has seen him--and there's such a lot +of talking--Look, there's the dyer back from the police station! + +ANDERSON. He doesn't look happy exactly, but I suppose that's more than +can be expected--Well, who's that student that lived in the attic? How +does he hang together with the rest? + +MRS. ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. He had his board there, +and read with the children. + +ANDERSON. And also with the lady of the house? + +MRS. ANDERSON. No-o, they played something what they called tennis, +and quarrelled the rest of the time--yes, quarrelling and backbiting, +that's what everybody is up to in this quarter. + +ANDERSON. Well, when they broke the student's door open they found +hairpins on the floor--it had to come out, after all, even if the fire +had to sweep over it first---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. I don't think it was the dyer that came, but our +brother-in-law, Gustafson---- + +ANDERSON. He's always mad, and to-day I suppose he's worse than ever, +and so he'll have to come and dun me for what I owe him, seeing what he +has lost in the fire---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now you shut up! + +GUSTAFSON. [_Enters with a basketful of funeral wreaths and other +products of his trade_] I wonder if I am going to sell anything to-day +so there'll be enough for food after all this rumpus? + +ANDERSON. Didn't you carry any insurance? + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, I used to have insurance on the glass panes over my +hotbeds, but this year I felt stingy, and so I put in oiled paper +instead--gosh, that I could be such a darned fool!--[_Scratching his +head_] I don't get paid for that, of course. And now I've got to cut +and paste and oil six hundred paper panes. It's as I have always said: +that I was the worst idiot among us seven children. Gee, what an ass +I was--what a booby! And then I went and got drunk yesterday. Why in +hell did I have to get drunk that day of all days--when I need all the +brains I've got to-day? It was the stone-cutter who treated, because +our children are going to get married to-night, but I should have said +no. I didn't want to, but I'm a ninny who can't say no to anybody. +And that's the way when they come and borrow money of me--I can't say +no--darned fool that I am! And then I got in the way of that policeman, +who snared me with all sorts of questions. I should have kept my mouth +shut, like the painter over there, but I can't, and so I let out this, +that, and the other thing, and he put it all down, and now I am called +as a witness! + +ANDERSON. What was it you said? + +GUSTAFSON. I said I thought--that it looked funny to me--and that +somebody must have started it. + +ANDERSON. Oh, that's what you said! + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, pitch into me--I've deserved it, goose that I am! + +ANDERSON. And who could have started it, do you think?--Don't mind the +painter, and my old woman here never carries any tales. + +GUSTAFSON. Who started it? Why, the student, of course, as it started +in his room. + +ANDERSON. No--_under_ his room! + +GUSTAFSON. Under, you say? Then I _have_ gone and done it!--Oh, I'll +come to a bad end, I'm sure!--_Under_ his room, you say--what could +have been there--the kitchen? + +ANDERSON. No, a closet--see, over there! It was used by the cook. + +GUSTAFSON. Then it must have been her. + +ANDERSON. Yes, but don't you say so, as you don't know. + +GUSTAFSON. The stone-cutter had it in for the cook last night--I guess +he must have known a whole lot---- + +ANDERSON. You shouldn't repeat what the stone-cutter says, for one who +has served isn't to be trusted---- + +GUSTAFSON. Ash, that's so long ago, and the cook's a regular dragon, +for that matter--she'd always haggle over the vegetables---- + +ANDERSON. There comes the dyer from the station now--you'd better quit! + + _The_ STRANGER _enters, dressed in a frock coat and a high hat + with mourning on it; he carries a stick_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. It wasn't the dyer, but he looks a lot like him. + +STRANGER. How much is one of those wreaths? + +GARDENER. Fifty cents. + +STRANGER. Oh, that's not much. + +GARDENER. No, I am such a fool that I can't charge as I should. + +STRANGER. [_Looking around_] Has there--been a fire--here? + +GARDENER. Yes, last night. + +STRANGER. Good God! [_Pause_] Who was the owner of the house? + +GARDENER. Mr. Walström. + +STRANGER. The dyer? + +GARDENER. Yes, he used to be a dyer, all right. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Where is he now? + +GARDENER. He'll be here any moment. + +STRANGER. Then I'll look around a bit--the wreath can lie here till I +come back--I meant to go out to the cemetery later. + +GARDENER. On account of the bishop's monument, I suppose? + +STRANGER. What bishop? + +GARDENER. Bishop Stecksen, don't you know--who belonged to the Academy. + +STRANGER. Is he dead? + +GARDENER. Oh, long ago! + +STRANGER. I see!--Well, I'll leave the wreath for a while. + + _He goes out to the left, studying the ruins carefully as he + passes by_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Perhaps he came on account of the insurance. + +ANDERSON. Not that one! Then he would have asked in a different way. + +MRS. ANDERSON. But he looked like the dyer just the same. + +ANDERSON. Only he was taller. + +GUSTAFSON. Now, I remember something--I should have a bridal bouquet +ready for to-night, and I should go to my son's wedding, but I have +no flowers, and my black coat has been burned. Wouldn't that make +you--Mrs. Westerlund was to furnish the myrtle for the bride's crown, +being her godmother--that's the myrtle she stole a shoot of from +the dyer's cook, who got hers from the dyer's first wife--she who +ran away--and I was to make a crown of it, and I've clean forgotten +it--well, if I ain't the worst fool that ever walked the earth! [_He +opens the inn door_] Mrs. Westerlund, can I have the myrtle now, and +I'll do the job!--I say, can I have that myrtle! Wreath, too, you +say--have you got enough for it?--No?--Well, then I'll let the whole +wedding go hang, that's all there is to it!--Let them walk up to the +minister's and have him splice them together, but it'll make the +stone-cutter mad as a hornet.--What do you think I should do?--No, I +can't--haven't slept a wink the whole night.--It's too much for a poor +human creature.--Yes, I am a ninny, I know--go for me, will you!--Oh, +there's the pot--thanks! And then I need scissors, which I haven't +got--and wire--and string--where am I to get them from?--No, of course, +nobody wants to break off his work for a thing like that.--I'm tired of +the whole mess--work fifty years, and then have it go up in smoke! I +haven't got strength to begin over again--and the way it comes all at +once, blow on blow--did you ever! I'm going to run away from it! [_He +goes out_. + +RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM. [_Enters, evidently upset, badly dressed_, _his hands +discoloured by the dyes_] Is it all out now, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. Yes, now it's out. + +RUDOLPH. Has anything been discovered? + +ANDERSON. That's a question! What's buried when it snows comes to light +when it thaws! + +RUDOLPH. What do you mean, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. If you dig deep enough you find things. + +RUDOLPH. Have you found anything that can explain how the fire started? + +ANDERSON. Naw, nothing of that kind. + +RUDOLPH. That means we are still under suspicion, all of us. + +ANDERSON. Not me, I guess. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, yes, for you have been seen up in the attic at unusual +hours. + +ANDERSON. Well, I can't always go at usual hours to look for my tools +when I've left them behind. And I did leave my hammer behind when I +fixed the stove in the student's room. + +RUDOLPH. And the stone-cutter, the gardener, Mrs. Westerlund, even the +painter over there--we are all of us under suspicion--the student, the +cook, and myself more than the rest. Lucky it was that I had paid the +insurance the day before, or I should have been stuck for good.--Think +of it: the stone-cutter suspected of arson--he who's so afraid of doing +anything wrong! He's so conscientious _nowadays_ that if you ask him +what time it is he won't swear to it, as his watch _may_ be wrong. Of +course, we all know he got two years, but he's reformed, and I'll swear +now he's the straightest man in the quarter. + +ANDERSON. But the police suspect him because he went wrong once--and he +ain't got his citizenship back yet. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, there are so many ways of looking at a thing--so many +ways, I tell you.--Well, Anderson, I guess you'd better quit for the +day, seeing as you're going to the wedding to-night. + +ANDERSON. Yes, that wedding--There was somebody looking for you a while +ago, and he said he would be back. + +RUDOLPH. Who was it? + +ANDERSON. He didn't say. + +RUDOLPH. Police, was it? + +ANDERSON. Naw, I don't think so.--There he is coming now, for that +matter. [_He goes out, together with his wife_. + + _The_ STRANGER _enters_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Regards him with curiosity at first, then with horror; wants +to run away, but cannot move_] Arvid! + +STRANGER. Rudolph! + +RUDOLPH. So it's you! + +STRANGER. Yes. [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. You're not dead, then? + +STRANGER. In a way, yes!--I have come back from America after thirty +years--there was something that pulled at me-- + + I wanted to see my childhood's home once more--and I found + those ruins! [_Pause_] It burned down last night? + +RUDOLPH. Yes, you came just in time. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. [_Dragging his words_] That's the place--such a tiny place +for such a lot of destinies! There's the dining-room with the frescoed +walls: palms, and cypresses, and a temple beneath a rose-coloured +sky--that's the way I dreamt the world would look the moment I got away +from home. And the stove with its pale blossoms growing out of conches. +And the chimney cupboard with its metal doors--I remember as a child, +when we had just moved in, somebody had scratched his name on the +metal, and then grandmother told us it was the name of a man who had +killed himself in that very room. I quickly forgot all about it, but +when I later married a niece of the same man, it seemed to me as if my +destiny had been foretold on that plate of metal.--You don't believe in +that kind of thing, do you?--However, you know how my marriage ended! + +RUDOLPH. Yes, I've heard---- + +STRANGER. And there's the nursery--yes! + +RUDOLPH. Don't let us start digging in the ruins! + +STRANGER. Why not? After the fire is out you can read things in the +ashes. We used to do it as children, in the stove---- + +RUDOLPH. Come and sit down at the table here! + +STRANGER. What place is that? Oh, the tavern--"The Last Nail"--where +the hearse-drivers used to stop, and where, once upon a time, condemned +culprits were given a final glass before they were taken to the +gallows--Who is keeping it? + +RUDOLPH. Mrs. Westerlund, who used to be my nurse. + +STRANGER. Mrs. Westerlund--I remember her. It is as if the bench sank +from under me, and I was sent tumbling through the past, sixty whole +years, down into my childhood. I breathe the nursery air and feel it +pressing on my chest. You older ones weighed me down, and you made +so much noise that I was always kept in a state of fright. My fears +made me hide in the garden--then I was dragged forward and given a +spanking--always spankings--but I never knew why, and I don't know it +yet. And yet she was my mother---- + +RUDOLPH. Please! + +STRANGER. Yes, you were the favourite, and as such you always had her +support--Then we got a stepmother. Her father was an undertaker's +assistant, and for years we had been seeing him drive by with funerals. +At last he came to know us so well by sight that he used to nod and +grin at us, as if he meant to say: "Oh, I'll come for you sooner or +later!" And then he came right into our house one day, and had to be +called grandfather--when our father took his daughter for his second +wife. + +RUDOLPH. There was nothing strange in that. + +STRANGER. No, but somehow, as our own destinies, and those of other +people, were being woven into one web---- + +RUDOLPH. Oh, that's what happens everywhere---- + +STRANGER. Exactly! It's the same everywhere. In your youth you see +the web set up. Parents, relatives, comrades, acquaintances, servants +form the warp. Later on in life the weft becomes visible. And then +the shuttle of fate runs back and forth with the thread--sometimes +it breaks, but is tied up again, and it goes on as before. The reed +clicks, the thread is packed together into curlicues, and one day the +web lies ready. In old age, when the eye has learned how to see, you +discover that those curlicues form a pattern, a monogram, an ornament, +a hieroglyph, which only then can be interpreted: that's life! The +world-weaver has woven it! [_Pause; he rises_] Over there, in that +scrap-heap, I notice the family album. [_He walks a few steps to the +right and picks up a photograph album_] That's the book of our family +fate. Grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, relatives, acquaintances--or so-called "friends"--schoolmates, +servants, godparents. And, strange to say, wherever I have gone, in +America or Australia, to Hongkong or the Congo, everywhere I found +at least one countryman, and as we began to dig it always came out +that this man knew my family, or at least some godfather or maid +servant--that, in a word, we had some common acquaintances. I even +found a relative in the island of Formosa---- + +RUDOLPH. What has put those ideas into your head? + +STRANGER. The fact that life, however it shaped itself--I have been +rich and poor, exalted and humbled; I have suffered a shipwreck and +passed through an earthquake--but, however life shaped itself, I always +became aware of connections and repetitions. I saw in one situation the +result of another, earlier one. On meeting _this_ person I was reminded +of _that_ one whom I had met in the past. There have been incidents in +my life that have come back time and again, so that I have been forced +to say to myself: this I have been through before. And I have met with +occurrences that seemed to me absolutely inevitable, or predestined. + +RUDOLPH. What have you done during all these years? + +STRANGER. Everything! I have beheld life from every quarter, from every +standpoint, from above and from below, and always it has seemed to me +like a scene staged for my particular benefit. And in that way I have +at last become reconciled to a part of the past, and I have come to +excuse not only my own but also other people's so-called "faults." You +and I, for instance, have had a few bones to pick with each other---- + + RUDOLPH _recoils with a darkening face_. + +STRANGER. Don't get scared now---- + +RUDOLPH. I never get scared! + +STRANGER. You are just the same as ever. + +RUDOLPH. And so are you! + +STRANGER. Am I? That's interesting!--Yes, you are still living in that +delusion about your own bravery, and I remember exactly how this false +idea became fixed in your mind. We were learning to swim, and one day +you told how you had dived into the water, and then mother said: "Yes, +Rudolph, he has courage!" That was meant for me--for me whom you had +stripped of all courage and self-assurance. But then came the day when +you had stolen some apples, and you were too cowardly to own up to it, +and so you put it on me. + +RUDOLPH. Haven't you forgotten that yet? + +STRANGER. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.--From here, where I +am sitting, I can see that very tree, and that's what brought it into +my mind. It's over there, you see, and it bears golden pippins.--If you +look, you'll see that one of its biggest branches has been sawed off. +For it so happened that I didn't get angry with you on account of my +unjust punishment, but my anger turned against the tree. And two years +later that big branch was all dried up and had to be sawed off. It made +me think of the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour, but I was +not led into any presumptuous conclusions.--However, I still know all +those trees by heart, and once, when I had the yellow fever in Jamaica, +I counted them over, every one. Most of them are still there, I see. +There's the snow-apple which has red-striped fruit--a chaffinch used +to nest in it. There's the melon-apple, standing right in front of the +garret where I used to study for technological examinations; there's +the spitzenburg, and the late astrachan; and the pear-tree that used to +look like a poplar in miniature; and the one with pears that could only +be used for preserves--they never ripened, and we despised them, but +mother treasured them above all the rest; and in that tree there used +to be a wryneck that was always twisting its head around and making a +nasty cry--That was fifty years ago! + +RUDOLPH. [_Irately_] What are you driving at? + +STRANGER. Just as touchy and ill-tempered as ever! It's +interesting.--There was no special purpose back of my chatter--my +memories insist on pushing forward--I remember that the garden was +rented to somebody else once, but we had the right to play in it. +To me it seemed as if we had been driven out of paradise--and the +tempter was standing behind every tree. In the fall, when the ground +was strewn with ripe apples, I fell under a temptation that had become +irresistible---- + +RUDOLPH. You stole, too? + +STRANGER. Of course I did, but I didn't put it off on you!--When I was +forty I leased a lemon grove in one of the Southern States, and--well, +there were thieves after the trees every night. I couldn't sleep, I +lost flesh, I got sick. And then I thought of--poor Gustafson here! + +RUDOLPH. He's still living. + +STRANGER. Perhaps he, too, stole apples in his childhood? + +RUDOLPH. Probably. + +STRANGER. Why are your hands so black? + +RUDOLPH. Because I handle dyed stuffs all the time.--Did you have +anything else in mind? + +STRANGER. What could that have been? + +RUDOLPH. That my hands were not clean. + +STRANGER. Fudge! + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps you are thinking of your inheritance? + +STRANGER. Just as mean as ever! Exactly as you were when eight years +old! + +RUDOLPH. And you are just as heedless, and philosophical, and silly! + +STRANGER. It's a curious thing--but I wonder how many times before we +have said just what we are saying now? [_Pause_] I am looking at your +album here--our sisters and brothers--five dead! + +RUDOLPH. Yes. + +STRANGER. And our schoolmates? + +RUDOLPH. Some taken and some left behind. + +STRANGER. I met one of them in South Carolina--Axel Ericson--do you +remember him? + +RUDOLPH. I do. + +STRANGER. One whole night, while we were on a train together, he kept +telling me how our highly respectable and respected family consisted of +nothing but rascals; that it had made its money by smuggling--you know, +the toll-gate was right here; and that this house had been built with +double walls for the hiding of contraband. Don't you see that the walls +are double? + +RUDOLPH. [_Crushed_] So that's the reason why we had closets everywhere? + +STRANGER. The father of that fellow, Ericson, had been in the +custom-house service and knew our father, and the son told me a lot +of inside stories that turned my whole world of imagined conditions +topsyturvy. + +RUDOLPH. You gave him a licking, I suppose? + +STRANGER. Why should I lick him?--However, my hair turned grey that +night, and I had to edit my entire life over again. You know how we +used to live in an atmosphere of mutual admiration; how we regarded +our family as better than all others, and how, in particular, our +parents were looked up to with almost religious veneration. And then I +had to paint new faces on them, strip them, drag them down, eliminate +them. It was dreadful! Then the ghosts began to walk. The pieces of +those smashed figures would come together again, but not properly, +and the result would be a regular wax cabinet of monsters. All those +grey-haired gentlemen whom we called uncles, and who came to our house +to play cards and eat cold suppers, they were smugglers, and some of +them had been in the pillory--Did you know that? + +RUDOLPH. [_Completely overwhelmed_] No. + +STRANGER. The dye works were merely a hiding-place for smuggled yarn, +which was dyed in order to prevent identification. I can still remember +how I used to hate the smell of the dyeing vat--there was something +sickeningly sweet about it. + +RUDOLPH. Why did you have to tell me all this? + +STRANGER. Why should I keep silent about it and let you make yourself +ridiculous by your boasting about that revered family of yours? Have +you never noticed people grinning at you? + +RUDOLPH. No-o! [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. I am now looking at father's bookcase in the pile over there. +It was always locked, you remember. But one day, when father was out, +I got hold of the key. The books in front I had seen through the glass +doors, of course. There were volumes of sermons, the collected works +of great poets, handbooks for gardening, compilations of the statutes +referring to customs duties and the confiscation of smuggled goods; the +constitution; a volume about foreign coins; and a technical work that +later determined my choice of a career. But back of those books there +was room for other things, and I began to explore. First of all I found +the rattan--and, do you know, I have since learned that that bitter +plant bears a fruit from which we get the red dye known as "dragon's +blood": now, isn't that queer! And beside the rattan stood a bottle +labelled "cyanide of potassium." + +RUDOLPH. I suppose it was meant for use over at the works. + +STRANGER. Or elsewhere, perhaps. But this is what I had in mind: there +were some bundles of pamphlets with illustrated covers that aroused my +interest. And, to put it plain, they contained the notorious memoirs +of a certain chevalier--I took them out and locked the case again. And +beneath the big oak over there I studied them. We used to call that oak +the Tree of Knowledge--and it was, all right! And in that way I left +my childhood's paradise to become initiated, all too early, into those +mysteries which--yes! + +RUDOLPH. You, too? + +STRANGER. Yes, I, too! [_Pause_] However--let us talk of something +else, as all that is now in ashes.--Did you have any insurance? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angrily_] Didn't you ask that a while ago? + +STRANGER. Not that I can recall. It happens so often that I confuse +what I have said with what I have intended to say, and mostly because I +think so intensely--ever since that day when I tried to hang myself in +the closet. + +RUDOLPH. What is that you are saying? + +STRANGER. I tried to hang myself in the closet. + +RUDOLPH. [_Speaking very slowly_] Was that what happened that Holy +Thursday Eve, when you were taken to the hospital--what the rest of us +children were never permitted to know? + +STRANGER. [_Speaking in the same manner_] Yes.--There you can see how +little we know about those that are nearest to us, about our own homes +and our own lives. + +RUDOLPH. But why did you do it? + +STRANGER. I was twelve years old, and tired of life! It was like +groping about in a great darkness--I couldn't understand what I had to +do here--and I thought the world a madhouse. I reached that conclusion +one day when our school was turned out with torches and banners to +celebrate "the destroyer of our country." For I had just read a book +which proved that our country had been brought to destruction by the +worst of all its kings--and that was the one whose memory we had to +celebrate with hymns and festivities.[1] + + [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. What happened at the hospital? + +STRANGER. My dear fellow, I was actually put into the morgue as dead. +Whether I was or not, I don't know--but when I woke up, most of my +previous life had been forgotten, and I began a new one, but in such a +manner that the rest of you thought me peculiar.--Are you married again? + +RUDOLPH. I have wife and children--somewhere. + +STRANGER. When I recovered consciousness I seemed to myself another +person. I regarded life with cynical calm: it probably had to be the +way it was. And the worse it turned out the more interesting it became. +After that I looked upon myself as if I were somebody else, and I +observed and studied that other person, and his fate, thereby rendering +myself callous to my own sufferings. But while dead I had acquired new +faculties--I could see right through people, read their thoughts, hear +their intentions. In company, I beheld them stripped naked--Where did +you say the fire started? + +RUDOLPH. Why, nobody knows. + +STRANGER. But the newspapers said that it began in a closet right +under the student's garret--what kind of a student is he? + +RUDOLPH. [_Appalled_] Is it in the newspapers? I haven't had time to +look at them to-day. What more have they got? + +STRANGER. They have got everything. + +RUDOLPH. Everything? + +STRANGER. The double walls, the respected family of smugglers, the +pillory, the hairpins---- + +RUDOLPH. What hairpins? + +STRANGER. I don't know, but they are there. Do you know? + +RUDOLPH. Naw! + +STRANGER. Everything was brought to light, and you may look for a +stream of people coming here to stare at all that exposed rottenness. + +RUDOLPH. Lord have mercy! And you take pleasure at seeing your family +dragged into scandal? + +STRANGER. My family? I have never felt myself related to the rest of +you. I have never had any strong feeling either for my fellow men or +myself. I think it's interesting to watch them--that's all--What sort +of a person is your wife? + +RUDOLPH. Was there anything about her, too? + +STRANGER. About her and the student. + +RUDOLPH. Good! Then I was right. Just wait and you'll see!--There comes +the stone-cutter. + +STRANGER. You know him? + +RUDOLPH. And so do you. A schoolmate--Albert Ericson. + +STRANGER. Whose father was in the customs service and whose brother I +met on the train--he who was so very well informed about our family. + +RUDOLPH. That's the infernal cuss who has blabbed to the papers, then! + + ERICSON _enters with a pick and begins to look over the ruins_. + +STRANGER. What a ghastly figure! + +RUDOLPH. He's been in jail--two years. Do you know what he did? He made +some erasures in a contract between him and myself---- + +STRANGER. You sent him to jail! And now he has had his revenge! + +RUDOLPH. But the queerest part of it is that nowadays he is regarded as +the most honest man in the whole district. He has become a martyr, and +almost a saint, so that nobody dares say a word against him. + +STRANGER. That's interesting, indeed! + +DETECTIVE. [_Entering, turns to_ Ericson] Can you pull down that wall +over there? + +ERICSON. The one by the closet? + +DETECTIVE. That's the one. + +ERICSON. That's where the fire started, and I'm sure you'll find a +candle or a lamp around there--for I know the people! + +DETECTIVE. Go ahead then! + +ERICSON. The closet door was burned off, to be sure, but the ceiling +came down, and that's why we couldn't find out, but now we'll use the +beak on it! [_He falls to with his pick_] Ho-hey, ho-ho!--Ho-hey, +leggo!--Ho-hey, for that one!--Do you see anything? + +DETECTIVE. Not yet. + +ERICSON. [_Working away as before_] Now I can see something!--The lamp +has exploded, but the stand is left!--Who knows this forfeit for his +own?--Didn't I see the dyer somewhere around here? + +DETECTIVE. There he is sitting now. [_He picks the lamp from the debris +and holds it up_] Do you recognise your lamp, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. That isn't mine--it belonged to our tutor. + +DETECTIVE. The student? Where is he now? + +RUDOLPH. He's down-town, but I suppose he'll soon be here, as his books +are lying over there. + +DETECTIVE. How did his lamp get into the cook's closet? Did he have +anything to do with her? + +RUDOLPH. Probably! + +DETECTIVE. The only thing needed now is that he identify the lamp as +his own, and he will be arrested. What do you think of it, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. I? Well, what is there to think? + +DETECTIVE. What reason could he have for setting fire to another +person's house? + +RUDOLPH. I don't know. Malice, or mere mischief--you never can tell +what people may do--Or perhaps there was something he wanted to cover +up. + +DETECTIVE. That would have been a poor way, as old rottenness always +will out. Did he have any grudge against you? + +RUDOLPH. It's likely, for I helped him once when he was hard up, and he +has hated me ever since, of course. + +DETECTIVE. Of course? [_Pause_] Who is he, then? + +RUDOLPH. He was raised in an orphanage--born of unknown parents. + +DETECTIVE. Haven't you a grown-up daughter, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angered_] Of course I have! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, you have! [_Pause; then to_ ERICSON] Now you bring those +twelve men of yours and pull down the walls quick. Then we'll see what +new things come to light. + + [_He goes out_. + +ERICSON. That'll be done in a jiffy. [_Goes out_. + + [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Have you really paid up your insurance? + +RUDOLPH. Of course! + +STRANGER. Personally? + +RUDOLPH. No, I sent it in as usual. + +STRANGER. You sent it--by somebody else! That's just like you!--Suppose +we take a turn through the garden and have a look at the apple-trees. + +RUDOLPH. All right, and then we'll see what happens afterward. + +STRANGER. Now begins the most interesting part of all. + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps not quite so interesting if you find yourself mixed up +in it. + +STRANGER. I? + +RUDOLPH. Who can tell? + +STRANGER. What a web it is! + +RUDOLPH. There was a child of yours that went to the orphanage, I think? + +STRANGER. God bless us!--Let's go over into the garden! + +_Curtain_. + + +[Footnote 1: This refers to King Charles XII of Sweden, whose memory +Strindberg hated mainly because of the use made of it by the jingo +elements of the Swedish upper classes.] + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _The same setting as before with the exception that the walls + have been torn down so that the garden is made visible, + with its vast variety of spring flowers--daphnes, deutzias, + daffodils, narcissuses, tulips, auriculas--and with all the + fruit-trees in bloom_. + + ERICSON, ANDERSON _and his old wife_, GUSTAFSON, _the_ + HEARSE-DRIVER, MRS. WESTERLUND, _and the painter_, SJÖBLOM, + _are standing in a row staring at the spot where the house used + to be_. + + +STRANGER. [_Entering_] There they stand, enjoying the misfortune that's +in the air and waiting for the victim to appear--he being the principal +item. That the fire was incendiary they take for granted, merely +because they want it that way.--And all these rascals are the friends +and comrades of my youth. I am even related to the hearse-driver +through my stepmother, whose father used to help carry out the +coffins--[_He speaks to the crowd of spectators_] Look here, you +people, I shouldn't stand there if I were you. There may have been some +dynamite stored in the cellar, and if such were the case an explosion +might take place any moment. + + _The curious crowd scatters and disappears_. + +STRANGER. [Stoops _over the scrap-heap and begins to poke in the +books piled there_] Those are the student's books--Same kind of rot +as in my youth--Livy's Roman history, which is said to be lies, every +word--But here's a volume out of my brother's library--"Columbus, or +the Discovery of America"! My own book, which I got as a Christmas +gift in 1857. My name has been erased. This means it was stolen from +me--and I accused one of our maids, who was discharged on that account! +Fine business! Perhaps it led to her ruin--fifty years ago! Here is +the frame of one of our family portraits; my renowned grandfather, +the smuggler, who was put in the pillory--fine!--But what is this? +The foot-piece of a mahogany bed--the one in which I was born! Oh, +damn!--Next item: a leg of a dinner-table--the one that was an +heirloom. Why, it was supposed to be of ebony, and was admired on +that account! And now, after fifty years, I discover it to be made +of painted maple. Everything had its colours changed in our house to +render it unrecognisable, even the clothes of us children, so that +our bodies always were stained with various dyes. Ebony--humbug! And +here's the dining-room clock--smuggled goods, that, too--which has +measured out the time for two generations. It was wound up every +Saturday, when we had salt codfish and a posset made with beer for +dinner. Like all intelligent clocks, it used to stop when anybody +died, but when I died it went on just as before. Let me have a look at +you, old friend--I want to see your insides. [_As he touches the clock +it falls to pieces_] Can't stand being handled! Nothing could stand +being handled in our home--nothing! Vanity, vanity!--But there's the +globe that was on top of the clock, although it ought to have been at +the bottom. You tiny earth: you, the densest and the heaviest of all +the planets--that's what makes everything on you so heavy--so heavy +to breathe, so heavy to carry. The cross is your symbol, but it might +just as well have been a fool's cap or a strait-jacket--you world of +delusions and deluded!--Eternal One--perchance Thy earth has gone +astray in the limitless void? And what set it whirling so that Thy +children were made dizzy, and lost their reason, and became incapable +of seeing what really is instead of what only seems?--Amen!--And here +is the student! + + _The_ STUDENT _enters and looks around in evident search of + somebody_. + +STRANGER. He is looking for the mistress of the house. And he tells +everything he knows--with his eyes. Happy youth!--Whom are you looking +for? + +STUDENT. [_Embarrassed_] I was looking---- + +STRANGER. Speak up, young man--or keep silent. I understand you just +the same. + +STUDENT. With whom have I the honour---- + +STRANGER. It's no special honour, as you know, for once I ran away to +America on account of debts---- + +STUDENT. That wasn't right. + +STRANGER. Right or wrong, it remains a fact.--So you were looking for +Mrs. Walström? Well, she isn't here, but I am sure that she will come +soon, like all the rest, for they are drawn by the fire like moths---- + +STUDENT. By a candle! + +STRANGER. That's what _you_ say, but I should rather have said "lamp," +in order to choose a more significant word. However, you had better +hide your feelings, my dear fellow, if you can--I can hide mine!--We +were talking of that lamp, were we not? How about it? + +STUDENT. Which lamp? + +STRANGER. Well, well! Every one of them lies and denies!--The lamp +that was placed in the cook's closet and set fire to the house? + +STUDENT. I know nothing about it. + +STRANGER. Some blush when they lie and others turn pale. This one has +invented an entirely new manner. + +STUDENT. Are you talking to yourself, sir? + +STRANGER. I have that bad habit.--Are your parents still living? + +STUDENT. They are not. + +STRANGER. Now you lied again, but unconsciously. + +STUDENT. I never tell a lie! + +STRANGER. Not more than three in these few moments! I know your father. + +STUDENT. I don't believe it. + +STRANGER. So much the better for me!--Do you see this scarf-pin? It's +pretty, isn't it? But I never see anything of it myself--I have no +pleasure in its being there, while everybody else is enjoying it. There +is nothing selfish about that, is there? But there are moments when +I should like to see it in another man's tie so that I might have a +chance to admire it. Would you care to have it? + +STUDENT. I don't quite understand--Perhaps, as you said, it's better +not to wear it. + +STRANGER. Perhaps!--Don't get impatient now. She will be here soon.--Do +you find it enviable to be young? + +STUDENT. I can't say that I do. + +STRANGER. No, youth is not its own master; it has never any money, and +has to take its food out of other hands; it is not permitted to speak +when company is present, but is treated as an idiot; and as it cannot +marry, it has to ogle other people's wives, which leads to all sorts of +dangerous consequences. Youth--humbug! + +STUDENT. That's right! As a child, you want to grow up--that is, reach +fifteen, be confirmed, and put on a tall hat. When you are that far, +you want to be old--that is, twenty-one. Which means that nobody wants +to be young. + +STRANGER. And when you grow old in earnest, then you want to be dead. +For then there isn't much left to wish for.--Do you know that you are +to be arrested? + +STUDENT. Am I? + +STRANGER. The detective said so a moment ago. + +STUDENT. Me? + +STRANGER. Are you surprised at that? Don't you know that in this life +you must be prepared for anything? + +STUDENT. But what have I done? + +STRANGER. You don't have to do anything in order to be arrested. To be +suspected is enough. + +STUDENT. Then everybody might be arrested! + +STRANGER. Exactly! The rope might be laid around the neck of the whole +race if justice were wanted, but it isn't. It's a disgusting race: +ugly, sweating, ill-smelling; its linen dirty, its stockings full of +holes; with chilblains and corns--ugh! No, an apple-tree in bloom is +far more beautiful. Or look at the lilies in the field--they seem +hardly to belong here--and what fragrance is theirs! + +STUDENT. Are you a philosopher, sir? + +STRANGER. Yes, I am a great philosopher. + +STUDENT. Now you are poking fun at me! + +STRANGER. You say that to get away. Well, begone then! Hurry up! + +STUDENT. I was expecting somebody. + +STRANGER. So I thought. But I think it would be better to go and +meet---- + +STUDENT. She asked you to tell me? + +STRANGER. Oh, that wasn't necessary. + +STUDENT. Well, if that's so--I don't want to miss---- + + [_He goes out_. + +STRANGER. Can that be my son? Well, if it comes to the worst--I was a +child myself once, and it was neither remarkable nor pleasant--And I +am his--what of it? And for that matter--who knows?--Now I'll have a +look at Mrs. Westerlund. She used to work for my parents--was faithful +and good-tempered; and when she had been pilfering for ten years she +was raised to the rank of a "trusted" servant. [_He seats himself at +the table in front of the inn_] There are Gustafson's wreaths--just as +carelessly made as they were forty years ago. He was always careless +and stupid in all he did, and so he never succeeded with anything. But +much might be pardoned him on account of his self-knowledge. "Poor +fool that I am," he used to say, and then he would pull off his cap +and scratch his head.--Why, there's a myrtle plant! [_He knocks at the +pot_] Not watered, of course! He always forgot to water his plants, the +damned fool--and yet he expected them to grow. + + SJÖBLOM, _the painter, appears_. + +STRANGER. I wonder who that painter can be. Probably he belongs also to +the Bog, and perhaps he is one of the threads in my own web. + + SJÖBLOM _is staring at the_ STRANGER _all this time_. + +STRANGER. [_Returning the stare_] Well, do you recognise me? + +SJÖBLOM. Are you--Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Have been and am--if perception argues being. + + [_Pause_. + +SJÖBLOM. I ought really to be mad at you. + +STRANGER. Well, go on and be so! However, you might tell me the reason. +That has a tendency to straighten matters out. + +SJÖBLOM. Do you remember---- + +STRANGER. Unfortunately, I have an excellent memory. + +SJÖBLOM. Do you remember a boy named Robert? + +STRANGER. Yes, a regular rascal who knew how to draw. + +SJÖBLOM. And I was to go to the Academy in order to become a real +painter, an artist. But just about that time-colour-blindness was all +the go. You were studying at the Technological Institute then, and so +you had to test my eyes before your father would consent to send me to +the art classes. For that reason you brought two skeins of yarn from +the dye works, one red and the other green, and then you asked me about +them. I answered--called the red green and the green red--and that was +the end of my career---- + +STRANGER. But that was as it should be. + +SJÖBLOM. No--for the truth of it was, I could distinguish the +colours, but not--the _names_. And that wasn't found out until I was +thirty-seven---- + +STRANGER. That was an unfortunate story, but I didn't know better, and +so you'll have to forgive me. + +SJÖBLOM. How can I? + +STRANGER. Ignorance is pardonable! And now listen to me. I wanted to +enter the navy, made a trial cruise as mid-shipman, seemed to become +seasick, and was rejected! But I could stand the sea, and my sickness +came from having drunk too much. So my career was spoiled, and I had to +choose another. + +SJÖBLOM. What have I got to do with the navy? I had been dreaming of +Rome and Paris---- + +STRANGER. Oh, well, one has so many dreams in youth, and in old age +too, for that matter. Besides, what's the use of bothering about what +happened so long ago? + +SJÖBLOM. How you talk! Perhaps you can give me back my wasted life---- + +STRANGER. No, I can't, but I am under no obligation to do so, either. +That trick with the yarn I had learned at school, and you ought to have +learned the proper names of the colours. And now you can go to--one +dauber less is a blessing to humanity!--There's Mrs. Westerlund! + +SJÖBLOM. How you _do_ talk. But I guess you'll get what's coming to you! + + MRS. WESTERLUND _enters_. + +STRANGER. How d'you do, Mrs. Westerlund? I am Mr. Arvid--don't get +scared now! I have been in America, and how are you? I am feeling fine! +There has been a fire here, and I hear your husband is dead--policeman, +I remember, and a very nice fellow. I liked him for his good humour +and friendly ways. He was a harmless jester, whose quips never hurt. I +recall once---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. O, merciful! Is this my own Arvid whom I used to +tend---- + +STRANGER. No, that wasn't me, but my brother--but never mind, it's just +as well meant. I was talking of your old man who died thirty-five years +ago--a very nice man and a particular friend of mine---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he died. [_Pause_] But I don't know if--perhaps +you are getting him mixed up---- + +STRANGER. No, I don't. I remember old man Westerlund perfectly, and I +liked him very much. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. [_Reluctantly_] Of course it's a shame to say it, but +I don't think his temper was very good. + +STRANGER. What? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well--he had a way of getting around people, but +he didn't mean what he said--or if he did he meant it the other way +around---- + +STRANGER. What is that? Didn't he mean what he was saying? Was he a +hypocrite? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well, I don't like to say it, but I believe---- + +STRANGER. Do you mean to say that he wasn't on the level? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. N--yes--he was--a little--well, he didn't mean exactly +what he said--And how have you been doing, Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Now a light is dawning on me!--The miserable wretch! And +here I have been praising him these thirty-five years. I have missed +him, and I felt something like sorrow at his departure--I even used +some of my tobacco allowance to buy a wreath for his coffin. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What was it he did? What was it? + +STRANGER. The villain! [_Pause_] Well--he fooled me--it was Shrove +Tuesday, I remember. He told me that if one took away every third +egg from a hen she would lay so many more. I did it, got a licking, +and came near getting into court. But _I_ never suspected him of +having told on me.--He was always hanging around our kitchen looking +for tid-bits, and so our maids could do just what they pleased about +the garbage--oh, now I see him in his proper aspect!--And here I am +now getting into a fury at one who has been thirty-five years in his +grave?--So he was a satirist, he was--and I didn't catch on--although I +understand him now. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he was a little satirical all right--_I_ ought +to know that! + +STRANGER. Other things are coming back to me now--and I have been +saying nice things about that blackguard for thirty-five years! It was +at his funeral I drank my first toddy--And I remember how he used to +flatter me, and call me "professor" and "the crown prince"--ugh--And +there is the stone-cutter! You had better go inside, madam, or we'll +have a row when that fellow begins to turn in his bills. Good-bye, +madam--we'll meet again! + +MRS. WESTERLUND. No we won't. People ought never to meet again--it +is never as it used to be, and they only get to clawing at each +other--What business did you have to tell me all those things--seeing +everything was all right as it was [_She goes out_. + + ERICSON, _the stone-cutter, comes in_. + +STRANGER. Come on! + +ERICSON. What's that? + +STRANGER. Come on, I said! + + ERICSON _stares at him_. + +STRANGER. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London. + +ERICSON. I am no thief! + +STRANGER. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out! + +ERICSON. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was +strangling me. + +STRANGER. Why did you sign it? + +ERICSON. Because I was hard up. + +STRANGER. Yes, that _is_ a motive. + +ERICSON. But now I am having my revenge. + +STRANGER. Yes, isn't it nice! + +ERICSON. And now _they_ will be locked up. + +STRANGER. Did _we_ ever fight each other as boys? + +ERICSON. No, I was too young. + +STRANGER. Have we never told lies about each other, or robbed each +other, or got in each other's way, or seduced each other's sisters? + +ERICSON. Naw, but my father was in the customs service and yours was a +smuggler. + +STRANGER. There you are! That's something, at least! + +ERICSON. And when my father failed to catch yours he was discharged. + +STRANGER. And you want to get even with me because your father was a +good-for-nothing? + +ERICSON. Why did you say a while ago that there was dynamite in the +cellar? + +STRANGER. Now, my dear sir, you are telling lies again. I said there +_might_ be dynamite in the cellar, and everything is possible, of +course. + +ERICSON. And in the meantime the student has been arrested. Do you know +him? + +STRANGER. Very little--his mother more, for she was a maid in our +house. She was both pretty and good, and I was making up to her--until +she had a child. + +ERICSON. And were you not its father? + +STRANGER. I was not. But as a denial of fatherhood is not allowed, I +suppose I must be regarded as a sort of stepfather. + +ERICSON. Then they have lied about you. + +STRANGER. Of course. But that's a very common thing. + +ERICSON. And I was among those who testified against you--under oath! + +STRANGER. I have no doubt about it, but what does it matter? Nothing +matters at all! But now we had better quit pulling--or we'll get the +whole web unravelled. + +ERICSON. But think of me, who have perjured myself---- + +STRANGER. Yes, it isn't pleasant, but such things will happen. + +ERICSON. It's horrible--don't you find life horrible? + +STRANGER. [_Covering his eyes with his hand_] Yes, horrible beyond all +description! + +ERICSON. I don't want to live any longer! + +STRANGER. Must! [_Pause_] Must! [_Pause_] Tell me--the student is +arrested, you say--can he get out of it? + +ERICSON. Hardly!--And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you +something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only +witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him +guilty--in another way. + +STRANGER. She with the hairpins, isn't it? + +ERICSON. Yes. + +STRANGER. The old one or the young one? + +ERICSON. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook. + +STRANGER. What a web this is!--But who put the lamp there? + +ERICSON. His worst enemy. + +STRANGER. And did his worst enemy also start the fire? + +ERICSON. That's beyond me! Only Anderson, the mason, knows that. + +STRANGER. Who is he? + +ERICSON. The oldest one in the place--some kind of relative of Mrs. +Westerlund--knows all the secrets of the house--but he and the dyer +have got some secrets together, so he won't tell anything. + +STRANGER. And the lady--my sister-in-law--who is she? + +ERICSON. Well--she was in the house as governess when the first wife +cleared out. + +STRANGER. What sort of character has she got? + +ERICSON. Hm! Character? I don't quite know what that is. Do you mean +trade? The old assessment blanks used to call for your name and +"character"--but that meant occupation instead of character. + +STRANGER. I mean her temper. + +ERICSON. Well, it changes, you know. In me it depends on the person +with whom I am talking. With decent people I am decent, and with the +cruel ones I become like a beast of prey. + +STRANGER. But I was talking of her temper under ordinary circumstances. + +ERICSON. Well, nothing in particular. Gets angry if you tease her, but +comes around after a while. One cannot always have the same temper, of +course. + +STRANGER. I mean, is she merry or melancholy? + +ERICSON. When things go right, she is happy, and when they go wrong, +she gets sorry or angry--just like the rest of us. + +STRANGER. Yes, but how does she behave? + +ERICSON. Oh, what does it matter?--Of course, being an educated person, +she behaves politely, but nevertheless, you know, she can get nasty, +too, when her blood gets to boiling. + +STRANGER. But that doesn't make me much wiser. + +ERICSON. [_Patting him on the shoulder_] No, sir, we never get much +wiser when it's a question of human beings. + +STRANGER. Oh, you're a marvel!--And how do you like my brother, the +dyer? [_Pause_. + +ERICSON. Oh, his manners are pretty decent. And more than that I don't +know, for what he keeps hidden I can't find out, of course. + +STRANGER. Excellent! But--his hands are always blue, and yet you know +that they are white beneath the dye. + +ERICSON. But to make them so they should be scraped, and that's +something he won't permit. + +STRANGER. Good!--Who are the young couple coming over there? + +ERICSON. That's the gardener's son and my daughter, who were to have +been married to-night, but who have had to postpone it on account of +the fire--Now I shall leave, for I don't want to embarrass them. You +understand--I ain't much as a father-in-law. Good-bye! [_He goes out_. + + _The_ Stranger _withdraws behind the inn, but so that he + remains visible to the spectators_. + + Alfred _and_ Mathilda _enter hand in hand_. + +ALFRED. I had to have a look at this place--I had to---- + +MATHILDA. Why did you have to look at it? + +ALFRED. Because I have suffered so much in this house that more than +once I wished it on fire. + +MATHILDA. Yes, I know, it kept the sun out of the garden, and now +everything will grow much better--provided they don't put up a still +higher house---- + +ALFRED. Now it's open and pleasant, with plenty of air and sunlight, +and I hear they are going to lay out a street---- + +MATHILDA. Won't you have to move then? + +ALFRED. Yes, all of us will have to move, and that's what I like--I +like new things--I should like to emigrate---- + +MATHILDA. Mercy, no! Do you know, our pigeons were nesting on the roof. +And when the fire broke out last night they kept circling around the +place at first, but when the roof fell in they plunged right into the +flames--They couldn't part from their old home! + +ALFRED. But we must get out of here--must! My father says that the soil +has been sucked dry. + +MATHILDA. I heard that the cinders left by the fire were to be spread +over the ground in order to improve the soil. + +ALFRED. You mean the ashes? + +MATHILDA. Yes; they say it's good to sow in the ashes. + +ALFRED. Better still on virgin soil. + +MATHILDA. But your father is ruined? + +ALFRED. Not at all. He has money in the bank. Of course he's +complaining, but so does everybody. + +MATHILDA. Has he--The fire hasn't ruined him? + +ALFRED. Not a bit! He's a shrewd old guy, although he always calls +himself a fool. + +MATHILDA. What am I to believe? + +ALFRED. He has loaned money to the mason here--and to others. + +MATHILDA. I am entirely at sea! Am I dreaming?--The whole morning +we have been weeping over your father's misfortune and over the +postponement of the wedding---- + +ALFRED. Poor little thing! But the wedding is to take place to-night---- + +MATHILDA. Is it not postponed? + +ALFRED. Only delayed for a couple of hours so that my father will have +time to get his new coat. + +MATHILDA. And we who have been weeping---- + +ALFRED. Useless tears--such a lot of tears! + +MATHILDA. I am mad because they were useless--although--to think that +my father-in-law could be such a sly one! + +ALFRED. Yes, he is something of a joker, to put it mildly. He is always +talking about how tired he is, but that's nothing but laziness--oh, +he's lazy, I tell you---- + +MATHILDA. Don't say any more nasty things about him--but let us get +away from here. I have to dress, you know, and put up my hair.--Just +think, that my father-in-law isn't what I thought him--that he could be +fooling us like that and not telling the truth! Perhaps you are like +that, too? Oh, that I can't know what you really are! + +ALFRED. You'll find out afterward. + +MATHILDA. But then it's too late. + +ALFRED. It's never too late---- + +MATHILDA. All you who lived in this house are bad--And now I am afraid +of you---- + +ALFRED. Not of me, though? + +MATHILDA. I don't know what to think. Why didn't you tell me before +that your father was well off? + +ALFRED. I wanted to try you and see if you would like me as a poor man. + +MATHILDA. Yes, afterward they always say that they wanted to try you. +But how can I ever believe a human being again? + +ALFRED. Go and get dressed now. I'll order the carriages. + +MATHILDA. Are we to have carriages? + +ALFRED. Of course--regular coaches. + +MATHILDA. Coaches? And to-night? What fun! Come--hurry up! We'll have +carriages! + +ALFRED. [_Gets hold of her hand and they dance out together_] Hey and +ho! Here we go! + +STRANGER. [_Coming forward_] Bravo! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters and talks in a low tone to the_ + Stranger, _who answers in the same way. This lasts for about + half a minute, whereupon the_ DETECTIVE _leaves again_. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Enters, dressed in black, and gazes long at the_ +Stranger] Are you my brother-in-law? + +STRANGER. I am. [_Pause_] Don't I look as I have been described--or +painted? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Frankly, no! + +STRANGER. No, that is generally the case. And I must admit that the +information I received about you a while ago does not tally with the +original. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Oh, people do each other so much wrong, and they paint +each other in accordance with some image within themselves. + +STRANGER. And they go about like theatrical managers, distributing +parts to each other. Some accept their parts; others hand them back and +prefer to improvise. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. And what has been the part assigned to you? + +STRANGER. That of a seducer. Not that I have ever been one! I have +never seduced anybody, be she wife or maid, but once in my youth I was +seduced, and that's why the part was given to me. Strange to say, it +was forced on me so long that at last I accepted it. And for twenty +years I carried the bad conscience of a seducer around with me. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You were innocent then? + +STRANGER. I was. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. How curious! And to this day my husband is still +talking of the Nemesis that has pursued you because you seduced another +man's wife. + +STRANGER. I fully believe it. But your husband represents a still more +interesting case. He has created a new character for himself out of +lies. Tell me: isn't he a coward in facing the struggles of life? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Of course he is a coward! + +STRANGER. And yet he boasts of his courage, which is nothing but +brutality. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You know him pretty well. + +STRANGER. Yes, and no!--And you have been living in the belief that you +had married into a respected family which had never disgraced itself? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. So I believed until this morning. + +STRANGER. When your faith crumbled! What a web of lies and mistakes +and misunderstandings! And that kind of thing we are supposed to take +seriously! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Do you? + +STRANGER. Sometimes. Very seldom nowadays. I walk like a somnambulist +along the edge of a roof--knowing that I am asleep, and yet being +awake--and the only thing I am waiting for is to be waked up. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You are said to have been across to the other side? + +STRANGER. I have been across the river, but the only thing I can recall +is--that there everything _was_ what it pretended to be. That's what +makes the difference. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. When nothing stands the test of being touched, what are +you then to hold on to? + +STRANGER. Don't you know? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Tell me! Tell me! + +STRANGER. Sorrow brings patience; patience brings experience; +experience brings hope; and hope will not bring us to shame. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Hope, yes! + +STRANGER. Yes, hope! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Do you ever think it pleasant to live? + +STRANGER. Of course. But that is also a delusion. I tell you, my dear +sister-in-law, that when you happen to be born without a film over your +eyes, then you see life and your fellow creatures as they are--and +you have to be a pig to feel at home in such a mess.--But when you +have been looking long enough at blue mists, then you turn your eyes +the other way and begin to look into your own soul? There you find +something really worth looking at. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. And what is it you see? + +STRANGER. Your own self. But when you have looked at that you must die. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Covers her eyes with her hands; after a pause she +says_] Do you want to help me? + +STRANGER. If I can. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Try. + +STRANGER. Wait a moment!--No, I cannot. He is innocently accused. Only +you can set him free again. But that you cannot do. It's a net that has +not been tied by men---- + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. But he is not guilty. + +STRANGER. Who is guilty? [_Pause_. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. No one! It was an accident! + +STRANGER. I know it. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Suffer. It will pass. For that, too, is vanity. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Suffer? + +STRANGER. Yes, suffer! But with hope! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Holding out her hand to him_] Thank you! + +STRANGER. And let it be your consolation + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. What? + +STRANGER. That you don't suffer innocently. + + MRS. WALSTRÖM _walks out with her head bent low_. + + _The_ STRANGER _climbs the pile of debris marking the site of + the burned house_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Comes in, looking happy_] Are you playing the ghost among +the ruins? + +STRANGER. Ghosts feel at home among ruins--And now you are happy? + +RUDOLPH. Now I am happy. + +STRANGER. And brave? + +RUDOLPH. Whom have I got to fear, or what? + +STRANGER. I conclude from your happiness that you are ignorant of one +important fact--Have you the courage to bear a piece of misfortune? + +RUDOLPH. What is it? + +STRANGER. You turn pale? + +RUDOLPH. I? + +STRANGER. A serious misfortune! + +RUDOLPH. Speak out! + +STRANGER. The detective was here a moment ago, and he told me--in +confidence---- + +RUDOLPH. What? + +STRANGER. That the premium on your insurance was paid up two hours too +late. + +RUDOLPH. Great S----! what are you talking of? I sent my wife to pay +the premium. + +STRANGER. And she sent the bookkeeper--and he got there too late. + +RUDOLPH. Then I am ruined? [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Are you crying? + +RUDOLPH. I am ruined! + +STRANGER. Well, is that something that cannot be borne? + +RUDOLPH. How am I to live? What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Work! + +RUDOLPH. I am too old--I have no friends Stranger. Perhaps you'll get +some now. A man in misfortune always seems sympathetic. I had some of +my best hours while fortune went against me. + +RUDOLPH. [_Wildly_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. But in my days of success and fortune I was left alone. Envy +was more than friendship could stand. + +RUDOLPH. Then I'll sue the bookkeeper. + +STRANGER. Don't! + +RUDOLPH. He'll have to pay---- + +STRANGER. How little you have changed! What's the use of living, when +you learn so little from it? + +RUDOLPH. I'll sue him, the villain!--He hates me because I gave him a +cuff on the ear once. + +STRANGER. Forgive him--as I forgave you when I didn't demand my +inheritance. + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance? + +STRANGER. Always the same! Merciless! Cowardly! Disingenuous!--Depart +in peace, brother! + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance is that you are talking of? + +STRANGER. Now listen, Rudolph--my brother after all: my own mother's +son! You put the stone-cutter in jail because he did some erasing--all +right! But how about your own erasures from my book, "Christopher +Columbus, or the Discovery of America"? + +RUDOLPH. [_Taken aback_] What's that? Columbus? + +STRANGER. Yes, _my_ book that became yours! + + RUDOLPH _remains silent_. + +STRANGER. Yes, and I understand now that it was you who put the +student's lamp in the closet--I understand everything. But do _you_ +know that the dinner-table was not of ebony? + +RUDOLPH. It wasn't? + +STRANGER. It was nothing but maple. + +RUDOLPH. Maple! + +STRANGER. The pride and glory of the house--valued at two thousand +crowns! + +RUDOLPH. That, too? So that was also humbug! + +STRANGER. Yes! + +RUDOLPH. Ugh! + +STRANGER. Thus the debt is settled. The case is dropped--the issue is +beyond the court--the parties can withdraw---- + +RUDOLPH. [_Rushing out_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. [_Takes his wreath from the table_] I meant to take this +wreath to the cemetery--to my parents' grave--but I will place it here +instead--on the ruins of what was once their home--my childhood's home! +[_He bends his head in silent prayer_] And now, wanderer, resume thy +pilgrimage! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG + + +PLAYS. FIRST SERIES: The Dream Play, The +Link, The Dance of Death--Part I and Part II. + +PLAYS. SECOND SERIES: There are Crimes +and Crimes, Miss Julia, The Stronger, Creditors, +Pariah. + +PLAYS. THIRD SERIES: Swanwhite, Simoom, +Debit and Credit, Advent, The Thunder +Storm, After the Fire. + +PLAYS. FOURTH SERIES: The Bridal Crown, +The Spook Sonata, The First Warning, Gustavus Vasa. + +CREDITORS. PARIAH. + +MISS JULIA. THE STRONGER. + +THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Third +Series, by August Strindberg + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44233 *** diff --git a/44233-h/44233-h.htm b/44233-h/44233-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9b07dc --- /dev/null +++ b/44233-h/44233-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11707 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plays, Third Series, by August Strindberg. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.p6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.tb {width: 45%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%} +hr.full {width: 95%;} + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +hr.r65 {width: 65%; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 3em;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + .tdl {text-align: left;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} + .tdc {text-align: center;} + + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +.small-c {font-size: 0.8em;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44233 ***</div> + +<h1>PLAYS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>AUGUST STRINDBERG</h2> + +<hr class="r5" /> +<h4>THIRD SERIES</h4> + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold;"> +SWANWHITE<br /> +SIMOOM<br /> +DEBIT AND CREDIT<br /> +ADVENT<br /> +THE THUNDERSTORM<br /> +AFTER THE FIRE<br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> +<h4>TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h4> + +<h4>EDWIN BJÖRKMAN</h4> + +<h4>AUTHORIZED EDITION</h4> + +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> + +<h5>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</h5> + +<h5>1921</h5> + + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h4>CONTENTS</h4> + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em;"> +<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br /> +<a href="#SWANWHITE">SWANWHITE</a><br /> +<a href="#SIMOOM">SIMOOM</a><br /> +<a href="#DEBIT_AND_CREDIT">DEBIT AND CREDIT</a><br /> +<a href="#ADVENT">ADVENT</a><br /> +<a href="#ACT_I">ACT I</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_II">ACT II</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_III">ACT III</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_IV">ACT IV</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_V">ACT V</a></span><br /> +<a href="#THE_THUNDERSTORM">THE THUNDERSTORM</a><br /> +<a href="#AFTER_THE_FIRE">AFTER THE FIRE</a><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h4><a id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h4> + + +<p>The collection of plays contained in this volume is unusually +representative, giving what might be called a cross-section of +Strindberg's development as a dramatist from his naturalistic revolt +in the middle eighties, to his final arrival at resigned mysticism and +Swedenborgian symbolism.</p> + +<p>"Swanwhite" was written in the spring of 1901, about the time when +Strindberg was courting and marrying his third wife, the gifted Swedish +actress Harriet Bosse. In the fall of 1902 the play appeared in book +form, together with "The Crown Bride" and "The Dream Play," all of them +being issued simultaneously, at Berlin, in a German translation made by +Emil Schering.</p> + +<p>Schering, who at that time was in close correspondence with Strindberg, +says that the figure of <i>Swanwhite</i> had been drawn with direct +reference to Miss Bosse, who had first attracted the attention of +Strindberg by her spirited interpretation of <i>Biskra</i> in "Simoom." +And Schering adds that it was Strindberg's bride who had a little +previously introduced him to the work of Maeterlinck, thereby +furnishing one more of the factors determining the play.</p> + +<p>Concerning the influence exerted upon him by the Belgian +playwright-philosopher, Strindberg himself wrote in a pamphlet named +"Open Letters to the Intimate Theatre" (Stockholm, 1909):</p> + +<p>"I had long had in mind skimming the cream of our most beautiful +folk-ballads in order to turn them into a picture for the stage. +Then Maeterlinck came across my path, and under the influence of +his puppet-plays, which are not meant for the regular stage, I wrote +my Swedish scenic spectacle, 'Swanwhite.' It is impossible either to +steal or to borrow from Maeterlinck. It is even difficult to become his +pupil, for there are no free passes that give entrance to his world of +beauty. But one may be urged by his example into searching one's own +dross-heaps for gold—and it is in that sense I acknowledge my debt to +the master.</p> + +<p>"Pushed ahead by the <i>impression</i> made on me by Maeterlinck, and +borrowing his divining-rod for my purposes, I turned to such sources +[<i>i.e.</i>, of Swedish folk-lore] as the works of Geijer, Afzelius, and +Dybeck. There I found a superabundance of princes and princesses. The +stepmother theme I had discovered on my own hook as a <i>constant</i>—it +figures in twenty-six different Swedish folk-tales. In the same place I +found the resurrection theme, as, for instance, it appears in the story +of <i>Queen Dagmar</i>. Then I poured it all into my separator, together +with the <i>Maids</i>, the <i>Green Gardener</i> and the <i>Young King</i>, and in +a short while the cream began to flow—and for that reason the story +is my own. But it has also been made so by the fact that I have lived +through that tale in my own fancy—a Spring in time of Winter!"</p> + +<p>Swedish critics have been unanimous in their praise of this play. John +Landquist, who has since become Strindberg's literary executor, spoke +of it once as "perhaps the most beautiful and most genuine fairy tale +for old or young ever written in the Swedish language." Tor Hedberg +has marvelled at the charm with which <i>Swanwhite</i> herself has been +endowed—"half child, half maid; knowing nothing, yet guessing all; +playing with love as a while ago she was playing with her dolls." On +the stage, too—in Germany as well as in Sweden—little <i>Swanwhite</i> +has celebrated great triumphs. Whether that figure, and the play +surrounding it, will also triumph in English-speaking countries, +remains still to be seen. But if, contrary to my hopes, it should fail +to do so, I want, in advance, to shift the blame from the shoulders of +the author to my own. In hardly any other work by Strindberg do form +and style count for so much. The play is, in its original shape, as +poetical in form as in spirit—even to the extent of being strongly +rhythmical in its prose, and containing many of the inversions which +are so characteristic of Swedish verse.</p> + +<p>It is not impossible to transfer these qualities into English, but +my efforts to do so have had to be influenced by certain differences +in the very <i>grain</i> of the two languages involved. Like all other +languages, each possesses a natural basic rhythm. This rhythm varies +frequently and easily in Swedish, so that you may pass from iambic to +trochaic metre without giving offence to the ear—or to that subtle +rhythmical susceptibility that seems to be inherent in our very pulses. +But the rhythm dearest and most natural to the genius of the Swedish +language seems to be the falling pulse-beat manifested in the true +trochee. The swing and motion of English, on the other hand, is almost +exclusively, commandingly iambic. And it was not until I made the +iambic <i>rising</i> movement prevail in my translation, that I felt myself +approaching the impression made on me by the original. But for that +very reason—because the genius of the new medium has forced me into +making the movement of my style more monotonous—it is to be feared +that the rhythmical quality of that movement may seem overemphasised. +Should such a criticism be advanced, I can only answer: I have tried +several ways, and this is the only one that will <i>work</i>.</p> + +<p>"Simoom" seems to have been written in 1888, in close connection with +"Creditors" and "Pariah." And, like these, it shows the unmistakable +influence of Edgar Allan Poe, with whose works Strindberg had become +acquainted a short while before. The play was first printed in one of +the three thin volumes of varied contents put out by Strindberg in 1890 +and 1891 under the common title of "Pieces Printed and Unprinted." But, +strange to say, it was not put on the stage (except in a few private +performances) until 1902, although, from a purely theatrical viewpoint, +Strindberg—master of stagecraft though he was—had rarely produced a +more effective piece of work.</p> + +<p>"Debit and Credit" belongs to the same general period as the previous +play, but has in it more of Nietzsche than of Poe. Its central figure +is also a sort of superman, but as such he is not taken too seriously +by his creator. The play has humour, but it is of a grim kind—one +seems to be hearing the gritting of teeth through the laughter. Like +"Simoom," however, it should be highly effective on the stage. It was +first published in 1893, with three other one-act plays, the volume +being named "Dramatic Pieces."</p> + +<p>"Advent" was published in 1899, together with "There Are Crimes and +Crimes," under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Its name +refers, of course, to the ecclesiastical designation of the four weeks +preceding Christmas. The subtitle, literally rendered, would be "A +Mystery." But as this term has a much wider application in Swedish +than in English, I have deemed it better to observe the distinction +which the latter language makes between mysteries, miracle-plays, and +moralities.</p> + +<p>The play belongs to what Strindberg called his "Inferno period," during +which he struggled in a state of semi-madness to rid himself of the +neurasthenic depression which he regarded as a punishment brought about +by his previous attitude of materialistic scepticism. It is full of +Swedenborgian symbolism, which, perhaps, finds its most characteristic +expression in the two scenes laid in "The Waiting Room." The name +selected by Strindberg for the region where dwell the "lost" souls of +men is not a mere euphemism. It signifies his conception of that place +as a station on the road to redemption or annihilation.</p> + +<p>In its entirety the play forms a Christmas sermon with a quaint +blending of law and gospel. A prominent Swedish critic, Johan +Mortensen, wrote: "Reading it, one almost gets the feeling that +Strindberg, the dread revolutionist, has, of a sudden, changed into +a nice village school-teacher, seated at his desk, with his rattan +cane laid out in front of him. He has just been delivering a lesson in +Christianity, and he has noticed that the attention of the children +strayed and that they either failed to understand or did not care to +take in the difficult matters he was dealing with. But they must be +made to listen and understand. And so—with serious eyes, but with a +sly smile playing around the corners of his mouth—he begins all over +again, in that fairy-tale style which never grows old: 'Once upon a +time!'"</p> + +<p>In November, 1907, a young theatrical manager, August Falck, opened the +Intimate Theatre at Stockholm. From the start Strindberg was closely +connected with the venture, and soon the little theatre, with its tiny +stage and its auditorium seating only one hundred and seventy-five +persons, was turned wholly into a Strindberg stage, where some of the +most interesting and daring theatrical experiments of our own day were +made. With particular reference to the needs and limitations of this +theatre, Strindberg wrote a series of "chamber plays," four of which +were published in 1907—each one of them appearing separately in a +paper-covered duodecimo volume.</p> + +<p>The first of these plays to appear in book form—though not the +first one to be staged—was "The Thunder-Storm," designated on the +front cover as "Opus I." Two of the principal ideas underlying its +construction were the abolition of intermissions—which, according to +Strindberg, were put in chiefly for the benefit of the liquor traffic +in the theatre café—and the reduction of the stage-setting to quickly +inter-changeable backgrounds and a few stage-properties. Concerning the +production of "The Thunder-Storm," at the Intimate Theatre, Strindberg +wrote subsequently that, in their decorative effects, the first and +last scenes were rather failures. But he held the lack of space +wholly responsible for this failure. His conclusion was that the most +difficult problem of the small theatre would be to give the illusion of +distance required by a scene laid in the open—particularly in an open +place surrounded or adjoined by buildings. Of the second act he wrote, +on the other hand, that it proved a triumph of artistic simplification. +The only furniture appearing on the stage consisted of a buffet, a +piano, a dinner-table and a few chairs—that is, the pieces expressly +mentioned in the text of the play. And yet the effect of the setting +satisfied equally the demands of the eye and the reason.</p> + +<p>"The Thunder-Storm" might be called a drama of old age—nay, <i>the</i> +drama of man's inevitable descent through a series of resignations to +the final dissolution. Its subject-matter is largely autobiographical, +embodying the author's experiences in his third and last marriage, +as seen in retrospect—the anticipatory conception appearing in +"Swanwhite." However, justice to Miss Harriet Bosse, who was Mrs. +Strindberg from 1901 to 1904, requires me to point out that echoes +of the dramatist's second marriage also appear, especially in the +references to the postmarital relationship.</p> + +<p>"After the Fire" was published as "Opus II" of the chamber-plays, +and staged ahead of "The Thunder-Storm." Its Swedish name is <i>Brända +Tomten</i>, meaning literally "the burned-over site." This name has +previously been rendered in English as "The Burned Lot" and "The Fire +Ruins." Both these titles are awkward and ambiguous. The name I have +now chosen embodies more closely the fundamental premise of the play.</p> + +<p>The subject-matter is even more autobiographical than that of "The +Thunder-Storm"—almost as much so as "The Bondwoman's Son." The +perished home is Strindberg's own at the North Tollgate Street in +Stockholm, where he spent the larger part of his childhood and youth. +The old <i>Mason</i>, the <i>Gardener</i>, the <i>Stone-Cutter</i>, and other figures +appearing in the play are undoubtedly lifted straight out of real +life—and so are probably also the exploded family reputation and +the cheap table painted to represent ebony—although one may take +for granted that the process has not taken place without a proper +disguising of externals.</p> + +<p>There is one passage in this little play which I want to point out as +containing one of the main keys to Strindberg's character and art. It +is the passage where <i>The Stranger</i>—who, of course, is none but the +author himself—says to his brother: "I have beheld life from every +quarter, from every standpoint, from above and from below, but always +it has seemed to me like a scene staged for my particular benefit."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="SWANWHITE" id="SWANWHITE">SWANWHITE</a></h3> + +<h4>(SVANEHVIT)</h4> + +<h4>A FAIRY PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1902</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +THE DUKE<br /> +THE STEPMOTHER<br /> +SWANWHITE<br /> +THE PRINCE<br /> +SIGNE }<br /> +ELSA } <i>Maids</i><br /> +TOVA }<br /> +THE KITCHEN GARDENER<br /> +THE FISHERMAN<br /> +THE MOTHER OF SWANWHITE<br /> +THE MOTHER OF THE PRINCE<br /> +THE GAOLER<br /> +THE EQUERRY<br /> +THE BUTLER<br /> +THE FLOWER GARDENER<br /> +TWO KNIGHTS<br /> +</p> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>An apartment in a mediæval stone castle. The walls and the +cross-vaulted ceiling are whitewashed. In the centre of the +rear wall is a triple-arched doorway leading to a balcony +with a stone balustrade. There are draperies of brocade over +the doorway. Beyond the balcony appear the top branches of a +rose-garden, laden with white and pink roses. In the background +there can be seen a white, sandy beach and the blue sea</i>.</p> + +<p><i>To the right of the main doorway is a small door which, when +left open, discloses a vista of three closets, one beyond the +other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged +on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all +sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains +piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so +forth</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating +squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands +a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe +is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with +roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded +tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall +above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the +foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed +with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the +head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is +pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across +the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with +lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, +bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in +Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is +placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp +of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the +mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a +perch, with its back turned toward the audience</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white +doves at rest</i>.</p> + +<p><i>As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways +of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post +against which she leans</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>, <i>the false maid, is in the +pewter-closet</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>in the clothes-closet, and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>in the +fruit-closet</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>enters from the rear. After him comes the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The stage is darkened when they enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Swanwhite is not here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. It seems so!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. So it seems, but—is it seemly? Maids!—Signe!—Signe, +Elsa, Tova!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of +the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Where is Lady Swanwhite?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You do not know? What see you in my hand?—Answer, quick! +[<i>Pause</i>] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws +of steel, as well as bill! What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. The wire-lashed whip!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan +white?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. How can I tell what I don't know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an +offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?—Take +off your neckerchief!—Down on your knees!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>turns his back on her in disgust</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that +no youth will ever kiss it after this!—Hold out your neck!—Still more!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. For Christ's sake, mercy!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. 'Tis mercy that you are alive!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of +his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard</i>] Her head +should be cut off—put in a sack—hung on a tree——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. So it should!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. We are agreed! How strange!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. It did not happen yesterday.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And may not happen once again.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>To</i> Signe, <i>who, still on her knees, has been moving +farther away</i>] Stop! Whither? [<i>She raises the whip and strikes</i>; Signe +<i>turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air</i>.]</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees</i>] +Stepmother—here I am—the guilty one! She's not at fault.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Your father's wife must be your mother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and +will make you pliant too.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She raises the whip to strike</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Raising his sword</i>] Take heed of the head!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Whose head?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Your own!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>turns pale at first, and then angry; but she +controls herself and remains silent; long pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone</i>] Then will +Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Sheathing his sword</i>] Rise up, my darling child, and come into +my arms to calm yourself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into the arms of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>] +Father!—You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. +But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. +[<i>She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to +his waist</i>] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches—lift +me up, so I can reach the top.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>holds out his arm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder</i>] +Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above—now I can overlook the +rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms +stretched beyond.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is +promised——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No—nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rubbing her eyes</i>] My eyes?—They cannot see what is not +beautiful.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Kissing her foot</i>] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor +little blackamoorish foot!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>gives a sign to the maids, who resume their +previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals +with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the +doorway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Leaps to the floor; the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>places her on the table and +sits down on a chair beside it</i>; <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>looks meaningly after the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the +Spring arrived?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Puts his hand over her mouth</i>] You little chatter-box! You joy +of my old age—my evening star! Now open wide your rosy ear, and close +your little mouth's crimson shell. Give heed, obey, and all will then +be well with you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Putting her fingers in her ears</i>] With my eyes I hear, and +with my ears I see—and now I cannot see at all, but only hear.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. My child, when still a cradled babe, your troth was plighted to +the youthful King of Rigalid. You have not seen him yet, such being +courtly usage. But the time to tie the sacred knot is drawing near. To +teach you the deportment of a queen and courtly manners, the king has +sent a prince with whom you are to study reading out of books, gaming +at chess, treading the dance, and playing on the harp.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What is the prince's name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. That, child, is something you must never ask of him or anybody +else. For it is prophesied that whosoever calls him by his name shall +have to love him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is he handsome?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. He is, because your eye sees beauty everywhere.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But is he beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Indeed he is. And now be careful of your little heart, and don't +forget that in the cradle you were made a queen.—With this, dear +child, I leave you, for I have war to wage abroad.—Submit obediently +to your stepmother. She's hard, but once your father loved her—and +a sweet temper will find a way to hearts of stone. If, despite of +promises and oaths, her malice should exceed what is permissible, then +you may blow this horn [<i>he takes a horn of carved ivory from under +his cloak</i>], and help will come. But do not use it till you are in +danger—not until the danger is extreme.—Have you understood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How is it to be understood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. This way: the prince is here, is in the court already. Is it your +wish to see the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is it my wish?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Or shall I first bid you farewell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The prince is here already?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Already here, and I—already there—far, far away where sleeps +the heron of forgetfulness, with head beneath his wing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Leaping into the lap of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>and burying her head in +his beard</i>] Mustn't speak like that! Baby is ashamed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Baby should be spanked—who forgets her aged father for a little +prince. Fie on her!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A trumpet is heard in the distance</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Rises quickly, takes</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in his arms</i>, <i>throws her up +into the air and catches her again</i>] Fly, little bird, fly high above +the dust, with lots of air beneath your wings!—And then, once more on +solid ground!—I am called by war and glory—you, by love and youth! +[<i>Girding on his sword</i>] And now hide your wonder-horn, that it may not +be seen by evil eyes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where shall I hide it? Where?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The bed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Hiding the horn in the bed-clothing</i>] There! Sleep well, +my little tooteroot! When it is time, I'll wake you up. And don't +forget your prayers!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And child! Do not forget what I said last: your stepmother must +be obeyed.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In all?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. In all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But not in what is contrary to cleanliness!—Two linen +shifts my mother let me have each sennight; this woman gives but one! +And mother gave me soap and water, which stepmother denies. Look at my +little footies!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Keep clean within, my daughter, and clean will be the outside. +You know that holy men, who, for the sake of penance, deny themselves +the purging waters, grow white as swans, while evil ones turn +raven-black.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then I will be as white——!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Into my arms! And then, farewell!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into his arms</i>] Farewell, my great and +valiant hero, my glorious father! May fortune follow you, and make you +rich in years and friends and victories!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Amen—and let your gentle prayers be my protection!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He closes the visor of his golden helmet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Jumps up and plants a kiss on the visor</i>] The golden gates +are shut, but through the bars I still can see your kindly, watchful +eyes. [<i>Knocking at the visor</i>] Let up, let up, for little Red +Riding-hood. No one at home? "Well-away," said the wolf that lay in the +bed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Putting her down on the floor</i>] Sweet flower of mine, grow fair +and fragrant! If I return—well—I return! If not, then from the starry +arch above my eye shall follow you, and never to my sight will you be +lost, for there above all-seeing we become, even as the all-creating +Lord himself.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Goes out firmly, with a gesture that bids her not to follow.</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>falls on her knees in prayer for the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>; <i>all the +rose-trees sway before a wind that passes with the sound of a +sigh; the peacock shakes its wings and tail</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rises, goes to the peacock and begins to stroke its back +and tail</i>] Pavo, dear Pavo, what do you see and what do you hear? Is +any one coming? Who is it? A little prince? Is he pretty and nice? +You, with your many blue eyes, should be able to tell. [<i>She lifts up +one of the bird's tail feathers and gazes intently at its "eye"</i>.] Are +you to keep your eyes on us, you nasty Argus? Are you to see that the +little hearts of two young people don't beat too loudly?—You stupid +thing—all I have to do is to close the curtain! [<i>She closes the +curtain, which hides the bird, but not the landscape outside; then she +goes to the doves</i>] My white doves—oh, so white, white, white—now +you'll see what is whitest of all—Be silent, wind, and roses, and +doves—my prince is coming!</p> + +<p><i>She looks out for a moment; then she withdraws to the pewter-closet, +leaving the door slightly ajar so that through the opening she can +watch the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>; <i>there she remains standing, visible to the +spectators but not to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Enters through the middle arch of the doorway. He wears +armour of steel; what shows of his clothing is black. Having carefully +observed everything in the room, he sits down at the table, takes off +his helmet and begins to study it. His back is turned toward the +door behind which</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>is hiding</i>] If anybody be here, let him +answer! [<i>Silence</i>] There is somebody here, for I can feel the warmth +of a young body come billowing toward me like a southern wind. I can +hear a breath—it carries the fragrance of roses—and, gentle though +it be, it makes the plume on my helmet move. [<i>He puts the helmet to +his ear</i>] 'Tis murmuring as if it were a huge shell. It's the thoughts +within my own head that are crowding each other like a swarm of bees in +a hive. "Zum, zum," say the thoughts—just like bees that are buzzing +around their queen—the little queen of my thoughts and of my dreams! +[<i>He places the helmet on the table and gazes at it</i>] Dark and arched +as the sky at night, but starless, for the black plume is spreading +darkness everywhere since my mother's death—[<i>He turns the helmet +around and gazes at it again</i>] But there, in the midst of the darkness, +deep down—there, on the other side, I see a rift of light!—Has the +sky been split open?—And there, in the rift, I see—not a star, for it +would look like a diamond—but a blue sapphire, queen of the precious +stones—blue as the sky of summer—set in a cloud white as milk and +curved as the dove's egg. What is it? My ring? And now another feathery +cloud, black as velvet, passes by—and the sapphire is smiling—as +if sapphires could smile! And there, the lightning flashed, but +blue—heat-lightning mild, that brings no thunder!—What are you? Who? +And where? [<i>He looks at the back of the helmet</i>] Not here! Not there! +And nowhere else! [<i>He puts his face close to the helmet</i>] As I come +nearer, you withdraw.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>steals forward on tiptoe</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And now there are two—two eyes—two little human eyes—I kiss +you! [<i>He kisses the helmet</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>goes up to the table and seats herself slowly +opposite the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>rises, bows, with his hand to his heart, and +gazes steadily at</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you the little prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The faithful servant of the king, and yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What message does the young king send his bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is his word to Lady Swanwhite—whom lovingly he +greets—that by the thought of coming happiness the long torment of +waiting will be shortened.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Who has been looking at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>as if to study him</i>] +Why not be seated, Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If seated when you sit, then I should have to kneel when you +stand up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Speak to me of the king! How does he look?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How does he look? [<i>Putting one of his hands up to his eyes</i>] I +can no longer see him—how strange!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What is his name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. He's gone—invisible——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And is he tall?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Fixing his glance on</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Wait!—I see him +now!—Taller than you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Not in comparison with you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Speak of the king, and not of me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I do speak of the king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is his complexion light or dark?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If he were dark, on seeing you he would turn light at once.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There's more of flattery than wit in that! His eyes are blue?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Glancing at his helmet</i>] I think I have to look?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Holding out her hand between them</i>] Oh, you—you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You with <i>t h</i> makes youth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you to teach me how to spell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The young king is tall and blond and blue-eyed, with broad +shoulders and hair like a new-grown forest——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why do you carry a black plume?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. His lips are red as the ripe currant, his cheeks are white, and +the lion's cub needn't be ashamed of his teeth.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why is your hair wet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. His mind knows no fear, and no evil deed ever made his heart +quake with remorse.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why is your hand trembling?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. We were to speak of the young king and not of me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. So, you, you are to teach me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It is my task to teach you how to love the young king whose +throne you are to share.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How did you cross the sea?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In my bark and with my sail.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And the wind so high?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Without wind there is no sailing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Little boy—how wise you are!—Will you play with me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What I must do, I will.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And now I'll show you what I have in my chest. [<i>She goes to +the chest and kneels down beside it; then she takes out several dolls, +a rattle, and a hobby-horse</i>] Here's the doll. It's my child—the child +of sorrow that can never keep its face clean. In my own arms I have +carried her to the lavendrey, and there I have washed her with white +sand—but it only made her worse. I have spanked her—but nothing +helped. Now I have figured out what's worst of all!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And what is that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>After a glance around the room</i>] I'll give her a +stepmother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But how's that to be? She should have a mother first.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I am her mother. And if I marry twice, I shall become a +stepmother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, how you talk! That's not the way!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you shall be her stepfather.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You must be very kind to her, although she cannot wash her +face.—Here, take her—let me see if you have learned to carry children +right.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>receives the doll unwillingly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You haven't learned yet, but you will! Now take the rattle, +too, and play with her.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>receives the rattle</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. That's something you don't understand, I see. [<i>She takes +the doll and the rattle away from him and throws them back into the +chest; then she takes out the hobby-horse</i>] Here is my steed.—It has +saddle of gold and shoes of silver.—It can run forty miles in an +hour, and on its back I have travelled through Sounding Forest, across +Big Heath and King's Bridge, along High Road and Fearful Alley, all the +way to the Lake of Tears. And there it dropped a golden shoe that fell +into the lake, and then came a fish, and after came a fisherman, and so +I got the golden shoe back. That's all there was to that! [<i>She throws +the hobby-horse into the chest; instead she takes out a chess-board +with red and white squares, and chess-men made of silver and gold</i>] +If you will play with me, come here and sit upon the lion skin. [<i>She +seats herself on the skin and begins to put up the pieces</i>] Sit down, +won't you—the maids can't see us here!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>sits down on the skin, looking very embarrassed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It's like sitting in the grass—not the green grass of the +meadow, but the desert grass which has been burned by the sun.—Now you +must say something about me! Do you like me a little?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Are we to play?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. To play? What care I for that?—Oh—you were to teach me +something!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Poor me, what can I do but saddle a horse and carry arms—with +which you are but poorly served.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You are so sad!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My mother died quite recently.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Poor little prince!—My mother, too, has gone to God in +heaven, and she's an angel now. Sometimes in the nights I see her—do +you also see yours?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No-o.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And have you got a stepmother?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Not yet. So little time has passed since she was laid to rest.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't be so sad! There's nothing but will wear away in time, +you see. Now I'll give you a flag to gladden you again—Oh, no, that's +right—this one I sewed for the young king. But now I'll sew another +one for you!—This is the king's, with seven flaming fires—you shall +have one with seven red roses on it—but first of all you have to +hold this skein of yarn for me. [<i>She takes from the chest a skein of +rose-coloured yarn and hands it to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] One, two, three, and +now you'll see!—Your hands are trembling—that won't do!—Perhaps you +want a hair of mine among the yarn?—Pull one yourself!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no, I couldn't——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I'll do it, then, myself. [<i>She pulls a hair from her head +and winds it into the ball of yarn</i>] What is your name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You shouldn't ask.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why not?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The duke has told you—hasn't he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, he hasn't! What could happen if you told your name? +Might something dreadful happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The duke has told you, I am sure.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I never heard of such a thing before—of one who couldn't +tell his name!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain behind which the peacock is hidden moves; a faint +sound as of castanets is heard</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What was that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. That's Pavo—do you think he knows what we are saying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's hard to tell.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Well, what's your name?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Again the peacock makes the same kind of sound with his bill</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am afraid—don't ask again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He snaps his bill, that's all—Keep your hands still!—Did +you ever hear the tale of the little princess that mustn't mention the +name of the prince, lest something happen? And do you know——?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain hiding the peacock is pulled aside, and the bird +is seen spreading out his tail so that it looks as if all the +"eyes" were staring at</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who pulled away the curtain? Who made the bird behold us with +its hundred eyes?—You mustn't ask again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Perhaps I mustn't—Down, Pavo—there!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain resumes its previous position</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Is this place haunted?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You mean that things will happen—just like that? Oh, well, +so much is happening here—but I have grown accustomed to it. And then, +besides—they call my stepmother a witch—There, now, I have pricked my +finger!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What did you prick it with?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There was a splinter in the yarn. The sheep have been locked +up all winter—and then such things will happen. Please see if you can +get it out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. We must sit at the table then, so I can see.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They rise and take seats at the table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Holding out one of her little fingers</i>] Can you see +anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the +world and life itself appear in rosy colouring——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now pull the splinter out—ooh, it hurts!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But I shall have to hurt you, too—and ask your pardon in +advance!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, help me, please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with +his nails</i>] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Sucking the blood from her finger</i>] I've drunk your +blood—and so I am your foster-brother now.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My foster-brother—so you were at once—or how do you think +I could have talked to you as I have done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Just think, he didn't notice it!—And now I have got a +brother of my own, and that is you!—My little brother—take my hand!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking her hand</i>] My little sister! [<i>Feels her pulse beating +under his thumb</i>] What have you there, that's ticking—one, and two, +and three, and four——? <i>Continues to count silently after having +looked at his watch</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks—so steady, steady, +steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast—Put +your hand here, and you can feel it too. [<i>The doves begin to stir and +coo</i>] What is it, little white ones?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking—it is the time! +Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for +every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within +the watch?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Handling the watch</i>] We cannot reach the inside of the +watch—no more than of the heart—Just feel my heart!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. [<i>Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts +down on the table</i>] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at +opposite sides of the table.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>sits down at the opposite end of the table. He and</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>look at each other in silence for a while</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you know that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I have just learned it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now my instruction has begun.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You're teaching me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Pointing to a dish of fruit</i>] Would you like some fruit?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, eating is so ugly.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, so it is.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Three maids are standing there—one in the pewter-closet, one +among the clothes, and one among the fruits. Why are they standing +there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. To watch us two—lest we do anything that is forbidden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. May we not go into the rosery?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The morning is the only time when I can go into the rosery, +for there the bloodhounds of my stepmother are kept. They never let me +reach the shore—and so I get no chance to bathe.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Have you then never seen the shore? And never heard the ocean +wash the sand along the beach?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No—never! Here I can only hear the roaring waves in time of +storm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then you have never heard the murmur made by winds that sweep +across the waters?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It cannot reach me here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Pushing his helmet across the table to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Put it to +your ear and listen.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>With the helmet at her ear</i>] What is that I hear?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The song of waves, the whispering winds</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, I hear human voices—hush! My stepmother is +speaking—speaking to the steward—and mentioning my name—and that of +the young king, too! She's speaking evil words. She's swearing that I +never shall be queen—and vowing that—you—shall take that daughter +of her own—that loathsome Lena——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed!—And you can hear it in the helmet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I didn't know of that. But my godmother gave me the helmet as a +christening present.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Give me a feather, will you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It is a pleasure—great as life itself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But you must cut it so that it will write.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You know a thing or two!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father taught me——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>pulls a black feather out of the plume on his +helmet; then he takes a silver-handled knife from his belt and +cuts the quill</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>takes out an ink-well and parchment from a drawer in +the table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who is Lady Lena?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You mean, what kind of person? You want her, do you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Some evil things are brewing in this house——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Fear not! My father has bestowed a gift on me that will +bring help in hours of need.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What is it called?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It is the horn Stand-By.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is it hid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Read in my eye. I dare not let the maids discover it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Gazing at her eyes</i>] I see!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Pushing pen, ink and parchment across the table to the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] Write it.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>writes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, that's the place. [<i>She writes again.</i></p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do you write?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Names—all pretty names that may be worn by princes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Except my own!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yours, too!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Leave that alone!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here I have written twenty names—all that I know—and +so your name must be there, too. [<i>Pushing the parchment across the +table</i>] Read!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>reads</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, I have read it in your eye!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Don't utter it! I beg you in the name of God the merciful, +don't utter it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I read it in his eye!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But do not utter it, I beg of you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And if I do? What then?—Can Lena tell, you think? Your +bride! Your love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, hush, hush, hush!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Jumps up and begins to dance</i>] I know his name—the +prettiest name in all the land!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>runs up to her, catches hold of her and covers +her mouth with his hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I'll bite your hand; I'll suck your blood; and so I'll be +your sister twice—do you know what that can mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I'll have two sisters then.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing back her head</i>] O-ho! O-ho! Behold, the +ceiling has a hole, and I can see the sky—a tiny piece of sky, a +window-pane—and there's a face behind it. Is it an angel's?—See—but +see, I tell you!—It's your face!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The angels are not boys, but girls.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But it is you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Looking up</i>] 'Tis a mirror.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Woe to us then! It is the witching mirror of my stepmother, +and she has seen it all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And in the mirror I can see the fireplace—there's a pumpkin +hanging in it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Takes from the fireplace a mottled, strangely shaped +pumpkin</i>] What can it be? It has the look of an ear. The witch has +heard us, too!—Alas, alas! [<i>She throws the pumpkin into the fireplace +and runs across the floor toward the bed; suddenly she stops on one +foot, holding up the other</i>]</p> + +<p>Oh, she has strewn the floor with needles——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She sits down and begins to rub her foot</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>kneels in front of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in order to help +her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, you mustn't touch my foot—you mustn't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Dear heart, you must take off your stocking if I am to help.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Sobbing</i>] You mustn't—mustn't see my foot!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But why? Why shouldn't I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot tell; I cannot tell. Go—go away from me! To-morrow +I shall tell you, but I can't to-day.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But then your little foot will suffer—let me pull the needle +out!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Go, go, go!—No, no, you mustn't try!—Oh, had my mother +lived, a thing like this could not have happened!—Mother, mother, +mother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I cannot understand—are you afraid of me——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't ask me, please—just leave me—oh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What have I done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't leave me, please—I didn't mean to hurt you—but I +cannot tell—If I could only reach the shore—the white sand of the +beach——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot tell! I cannot tell!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She hides her face in her hands. Once more the peacock makes +a rattling sound with his bill; the doves begin to stir; the +three maids enter, one after the other; a gust of wind is +heard, and the tops of the rose-trees outside swing back and +forth; the golden clouds that have been hanging over the sea +disappear, and the blue sea itself turns dark</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Does Heaven itself intend to judge us?—Is ill-luck in the +house?—Oh, that my sorrow had the power to raise my mother from her +grave!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>.Putting his hand on his sword</i>] My life for yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, don't—she puts the very swords to sleep!—Oh, that my +sorrow could bring back my mother! [<i>The swallows chirp in their nest</i>] +What was that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Catching sight of the nest</i>] A swallow's nest! I didn't +notice it before.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Nor I! How did it get there? When?—But all the same it +augurs good—And yet the cold sweat of fear is on my brow—and I +choke—Look, how the rose itself is withering because that evil woman +comes this way—for it is she who comes——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The rose on the table is closing its blossom and drooping its +leaves</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But whence came the swallows?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. They were not sent by her, I'm sure, for they are kindly +birds—Now she is here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters from the rear with the walk of a panther; the rose +on the table is completely withered</i>] Signe—take the horn out of the +bed!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>goes up to the bed and takes the horn</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Where are you going, Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The day is almost done, Your Grace; the sun is setting, and my +bark is longing to get home.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The day is too far gone—the gates are shut, the dogs let +loose—You know my dogs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed! You know my sword?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is the matter with your sword?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It bleeds at times.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Well, well! But not with women's blood, I trust?—But +listen, Prince: how would like to sleep in our Blue Room?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. By God, it is my will to sleep at home, in my own bed——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Is that the will of anybody else?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Of many more.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. How many?—More than these!—One, two, three——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>As she counts, the members of the household begin to pass by +in single file across the balcony; all of them look serious; +some are armed; no one turns his head to look into the room; +among those that pass are the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEWARD</span>, <i>the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">KITCHENER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">CONSTABLE</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">EQUERRY</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I'll sleep in your Blue Room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. That's what I thought.—So you will bid ten thousand +good-nights unto your love—and so will Swanwhite, too, I think!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A swan comes flying by above the rosery; from the ceiling a +poppy flower drops down on the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>, <i>who falls asleep +at once, as do the maids</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Going up to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] Good-night, my Prince!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Takes her hand and says in a low voice</i>] Good-night!—Oh, +that it's granted me to sleep beneath one roof with you, my +Princess—your dreams by mine shall be enfolded—and then to-morrow we +shall wake for other games and other——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>In the same tone</i>] You are my all on earth, you are +my parent now—since she has robbed me of my puissant father's +help.—Look, how she sleeps!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You saw the swan?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, but I heard—it was my mother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Come, fly with me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, that we mustn't!—Patience! We'll meet in our +dreams!—But this will not be possible unless—you love me more than +anybody else on earth! Oh, love me—you, you, you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My king, my loyalty——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your queen, your heart—or what am I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am a knight!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But I am not. And therefore—therefore do I take you—my +Prince——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She puts her hands up to her mouth with a gesture as if she +were throwing a whispered name to him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, woe! What have you done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I gave myself to you through your own name—and with me, +carried on <i>your</i> wings, yourself came back to you! Oh—— [<i>Again she +whispers the name</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With a movement of his hand as if he were catching the name +in the air</i>] Was that a rose you threw me?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He throws a kiss to her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A violet you gave me—that was you—your soul! And now I +drink you in—you're in my bosom, in my heart—you're mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And you are mine! Who is the rightful owner, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Both!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Both! You and I!—My rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I <i>love</i> you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>You</i> love <i>me</i>!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You <i>love</i> me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>I</i> love <i>you</i>!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The stage grows light again. The rose on the table recovers +and opens. The faces of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>and the three maids +are lighted up and appear beautiful, kind, and happy. The</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>lifts up her drowsy head and, while her eyes remain +closed, she seems to be watching the joy of the two young +people with a sunny smile</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Look, look! The cruel one is smiling as at some memory from +childhood days. See how Signe the False seems faith and hope embodied, +how the ugly Tova has grown beautiful, the little Elsa tall.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Our love has done it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. So that is love? Blessed be it by the Lord! The Lord +Omnipotent who made the world!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She falls on her knees, weeping</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You weep?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Because I am so full of joy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Come to my arms and you will smile.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There I should die, I think.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Well, smile and die!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] So be it then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>takes her in his arms.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Wakes up; on seeing the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> +<i>together, she strikes the table with the whip</i>] I must have +slept!—Oho! So we have got that far!—The Blue Room did I say?—I +meant the Blue Tower!—There the prince is to sleep with the Duke of +Exeter's daughter!—Maids!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The maids wake up</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Show the prince the shortest way to the Blue Tower. And +should he nevertheless lose his way, you may summon the Castellan and +the Gaoler, the Equerry and the Constable.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No need of that! Wherever leads my course—through fire or +water, up above the clouds or down in the solid earth—there shall I +meet my Swanwhite, for she is with me where I go. So now I go to meet +her—in the tower! Can you beat that for witchcraft, witch?—Too hard, +I think, for one who knows not love!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out followed by the maids</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Not many words are needed—tell your +wishes—but be brief!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My foremost, highest wish is for some water with which to +lave my feet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Cold or warm?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Warm—if I may.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A comb to ravel out my hair.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Silver or gold?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you—are you kind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Silver or gold?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Wood or horn will do me well enough.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A shift that's clean.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Linen or silk?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Just linen.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Good! So I have heard your wishes. Now listen to mine! I +wish that you may have no water, be it warm or cold! I wish that you +may have no comb, of any kind, not even of wood or horn—much less of +gold or silver. That's how kind I am! I wish that you may wear no linen +—but get you at once into the closet there to cover up your body with +that dingy sark of homespun! Such is my word!—And if you try to leave +these rooms—which you had better not, as there are traps and snares +around—then you are doomed—or with my whip I'll mark your pretty +face so that no prince or king will ever look at you again!—Then get +yourself to bed!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She strikes the table with her whip again, rises and goes out +through the middle arch of the doorway; the gates, which have +gilded bars, squeak and rattle as she closes and locks them</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same scene as before, but the golden gates at the rear are +shut. The peacock and the doves are sleeping. The golden clouds +in the sky are as dull in colour as the sea itself and the land +that appears in the far distance</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>is lying on the bed; she has on a garment of black +homespun</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The doors to the three closets are open. In each doorway +stands one of the maids, her eyes closed and in one of her +hands a small lighted lamp of Roman pattern</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A swan is seen flying above the rosery, and trumpet-calls are +heard, like those made by flocks of migrating wild swans</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER OF SWANWHITE</span>, <i>all in white, appears outside the +gates. Over one arm she carries the plumage of a swan and on +the other one a small harp of gold. She hangs the plumage on +one of the gates, which opens of its own accord and then closes +in the same way behind her</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She enters the room and places the harp on the table. Then she +looks around and becomes aware of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>At once the harp +begins to play. The lamps carried by the maids go out one by +one, beginning with that farthest away. Then the three doors +close one by one, beginning with the innermost</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The golden clouds resume their former radiance</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>lights one of the lamps on the stand and goes up +to the bed, beside which she kneels</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp continues to play during the ensuing episode</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>rises, takes</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in her arms, and places +her, still sleeping, in a huge arm-chair. Then she kneels down +and pulls off</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> <i>stockings. Having thrown these +under the bed, she bends over her daughter's feet as if to +moisten them with her tears. After a while she wipes them with +a white linen cloth and covers them with kisses. Finally she +puts a sandal on each foot which then appears shining white</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>rises to her feet again, takes out a comb of +gold, and begins to comb</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> <i>hair. This finished, she +carries</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>back to the bed. Beside her she places a +garment of white linen which she takes out of a bag</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Having kissed</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>on the forehead, she prepares to +leave. At that moment a white swan is seen to pass by outside, +and one hears a trumpet-call like the one heard before. Shortly +afterward the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER OF THE PRINCE</span>, <i>also in white, enters +through the gate, having first hung her swan plumage on it</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Well met, my sister! How long before the cock will +crow?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Not very long. The dew is rising from the roses, the +corn-crake's call is heard among the grass, the morning breeze is +coming from the sea.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Let us make haste with what we have on hand, my +sister.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. You called me so that we might talk of our children.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Once I was walking in a green field in the land +that knows no sorrow. There I met you, whom I had always known, yet +had not seen before. You were lamenting your poor boy's fate, left to +himself here in the vale of sorrow. You opened up your heart to me, and +my own thoughts, that dwell unwillingly below, were sent in search of +my deserted daughter—destined to marry the young king, who is a cruel +man, and evil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Then I spoke, while you listened: "May worth belong to +worth; may love, the powerful, prevail; and let us join these lonely +hearts, in order that they may console each other!"</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Since then heart has kissed heart and soul enfolded +soul. May sorrow turn to joy, and may their youthful happiness bring +cheer to all the earth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. If it be granted by the powers on high!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. That must be tested by the fire of suffering.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. [<i>Taking in her hand the helmet left behind by the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] May sorrow turn to joy—this very day, when he has mourned his +mother one whole year!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She exchanges the black feathers on the helmet for white and +red ones</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Your hand, my sister—let the test begin!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Here is my hand, and with it goes my son's! Now we +have pledged them——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. In decency and honour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. I go to open up the tower. And let the young ones fold +each other heart to heart.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. In decency and honour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. And we shall meet again in those green fields where +sorrow is not known.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. [<i>Pointing to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Listen! She dreams +of him!—Oh foolish, cruel woman who thinks that lovers can be +parted!—Now they are walking hand in hand within the land of dreams, +'neath whispering firs and singing lindens—They sport and laugh——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Hush! Day is dawning—I can hear the robins calling, +and see the stars withdrawing from the sky—Farewell, my sister!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out, taking her swan plumage with her.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Farewell!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She passes her hand over</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>as if blessing her, then +she takes her plumage and leaves, closing the gate after her</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The clock on the table strikes three. The harp is silent for +a moment; then it begins to play a new melody of even greater +sweetness than before</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>wakes up and looks around; +listens to the harp; gets up from the bed; draws her hands +through her hair; looks with pleasure at her own little feet, +now spotlessly clean, and notices finally the while linen +garment on the bed. She sits down at the table in the place she +occupied during the evening. She acts as if she were looking at +somebody sitting opposite her at the table, where the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> +<i>was seated the night before. She looks straight into his eyes, +smiles a smile of recognition, and holds out one of her hands. +Her lips move at times as if she were speaking, and then again +she seems to be listening to an answer</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She points meaningly to the white and red feathers on the +helmet, and leans forward as if whispering. Then she puts her +head back and breathes deeply as if to fill her nostrils with +some fragrance. Having caught something in the air with one +of her hands, she kisses the hand and then pretends to throw +something back across the table. She picks up the quill and +caresses it as if it were a bird; then she writes and pushes +the parchment across the table. Her glances seem to follow +"his" pen while the reply is being written, and at last she +takes back the parchment, reads it, and hides it in her bosom</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She strokes her black dress as if commenting on the sad change +in her appearance. Whereupon she smiles at an inaudible answer, +and finally bursts into hearty laughter</i>.</p> + +<p><i>By gestures she indicates that her hair has been combed. Then +she rises, goes a little distance away from the table, and +turns around with a bashful expression to hold out one of her +feet. In that attitude she stays for a moment while waiting for +an answer. On hearing it she becomes embarrassed and hides her +foot quickly under her dress</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She goes to the chest and takes out the chess-board and the +chess-men, which she places on the lions skin with a gesture of +invitation. Then she lies down beside the board, arranges the +men, and begins to play with an invisible partner</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp is silent for a moment before it starts a new melody</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The game of chess ends and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>seems to be talking +with her invisible partner. Suddenly she moves away as if +he were coming too close to her. With a deprecating gesture +she leaps lightly to her feet. Then she gazes long and +reproachfully at him. At last she snatches up the white garment +and hides herself behind the bed</i>.</p> + +<p><i>At that moment the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>appears outside the gates, which +he vainly tries to open. Then he raises his eyes toward the sky +with an expression of sorrow and despair</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] Who comes with the morning wind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Your heart's beloved, your prince, your all!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Whence do you come, my heart's beloved?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. From dreamland; from the rosy hills that hide the dawn; from +whispering firs and singing lindens.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What did you do in dreamland, beyond the hills of dawn, my +heart's beloved?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I sported and laughed; I wrote her name; I sat upon the lion's +skin and played at chess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You sported and you played—with whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. With Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It is he!—Be welcome to my castle, my table, and my arms!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who opens up the golden gates?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Give me your hand!—It is as chilly as your heart is warm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My body has been sleeping in the tower, while my soul was +wandering in dreamland—In the tower it was cold and dark.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In my bosom will I warm your hand—I'll warm it by my +glances, by my kisses!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, let the brightness of your eyes be shed upon my darkness!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you in darkness?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Within the tower there was no light of sun or moon.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Rise up, O sun! Blow, southern wind! And let thy bosom +gently heave, O sea!—Ye golden gates, do you believe that you can part +two hearts, two hands, two lips—that can by nothing be divided?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed, by nothing!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Two solid doors glide together in front of the gates so that</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>can no longer see each other</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Alas! What was the word we spoke, who heard it, and who +punished us?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am not parted from you, my beloved, for still the sound of my +voice can reach you. It goes through copper, steel, and stone to touch +your ear in sweet caress. When in my thoughts you're in my arms. I +kiss you in my dreams. For on this earth there is not anything that can +part us. Swanwhite. Not anything!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I see you, though my eyes cannot behold you. I taste you, too, +because with roses you are filling up my mouth——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But in my arms I want you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am there.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No! Against my heart I want to feel the beat of yours—Upon +your arm I want to sleep—Oh, let us, let us, dearest God—oh, let us +have each other!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The swallows chirp. A small white feather falls to the +ground</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>picks it up and discovers it to be a key. +With this she opens gates and doors. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>comes in</i>. +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>leaps into his arms. He kisses her on the mouth</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You do not kiss me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I do!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I do not feel your kisses!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then you love me not!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Hold me fast!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. So fast that life may part!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, no, I breathe!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Give me your soul!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here!—Give me yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's here!—So I have yours, and you have mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I want mine back!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Mine, too, I want!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then you must seek it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Lost, both of us! For I am you, and you are me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. We two are one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. God, who is good, has heard your prayer! We have each other!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. We have each other, yet I have you not. I cannot feel the +pressure of your hand, your lip's caress—I cannot see your eyes, nor +hear your voice—You are not here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I am here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, here below. But up above, in dreamland, I would meet +you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then let us fly upon the wings of sleep——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Close to your heart!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In my embrace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Within your arms!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is the promised bliss!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Eternal bliss, that has no flaw and knows no end!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No one can part us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Are you my bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My bridegroom, you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In dreamland—but not here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where are we?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here below!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here, where the sky is clouded, where the ocean roars, and +where each night the earth sheds tears upon the grass while waiting for +the dawn; where flies are killed by swallows, doves by hawks; where +leaves must fall and turn to dust; where eyes must lose their light and +hands their strength! Yes, here below!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then let us fly!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, let us fly!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GREEN GARDENER</span> <i>appears suddenly behind the table. All +his clothes are green. He wears a peaked cap, a big apron, and +knee-breeches. At his belt hang shears and a knife. He carries +a small watering-can in one hand and is scattering seeds +everywhere</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who are you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. I sow, I sow!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do you sow?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Seeds, seeds, seeds.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What kind of seeds?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Annuals and biennials. One pulls this way, two pull that. +When the bridal suit is on, the harmony is gone. One and one make one, +but one and one make also three. One and one make two, but two make +three. Then do you understand?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You mole, you earthworm, you who turn your forehead toward the +ground and show the sky your back—what is there you can teach me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. That you are a mole and earthworm, too. And that because you +turn your back on the earth, the earth will turn its back on you. [<i>He +disappears behind the table</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What was it? Who was he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That was the green gardener.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Green, you say? Was he not blue?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, he was green, my love.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How can you say what is not so?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My heart's beloved, I have not said a thing that was not so.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Alas, he does not speak the truth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Whose voice is this? Not that of Swanwhite!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Who is this my eyes behold? Not my Prince, whose very name +attracted me like music of the Neck, or song of mermaids heard among +green waves—Who are you? You stranger with the evil eyes—and with +grey hair!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You did not see it until now—my hair, that turned to grey +within the tower, in a single night, when I was mourning for my +Swanwhite, who is no longer here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, here is Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, I see a black-clad maid, whose face is black——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Have you not seen before that I was clad in black? You do +not love me, then!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You who are standing there, so grim and ugly—no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then you have spoken falsely.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. No—for then another one was here! Now—you are filling up my +mouth with noisome nettles.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your violets smell of henbane now—faugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Thus I am punished for my treason to the king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I wish that I had waited for your king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Just wait, and he will come.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I will not wait, but go to meet him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then I will stay.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Going toward the background</i>] And this is love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Beside himself</i>] Where is my Swanwhite? Where, where, where? +The kindest, loveliest, most beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Seek her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. 'Twould not avail me here below.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Elsewhere then! [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>is alone. He sits down at the table, covers his +face with his hands, and weeps. A gust of wind passes through +the room and sets draperies and curtains fluttering. A sound as +of a sigh is heard from the strings of the harp. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> +<i>rises, goes to the bed, and stands there lost in contemplation +of its pillow in which is a depression showing</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> +<i>head in profile. He picks up the pillow and kisses it. A noise +is heard outside. He seats himself at the table again</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The doors of the closets fly open. The three</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>become +visible, all with darkened faces. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>enters from +the rear. Her face is also dark</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>In dulcet tones</i>] Good morning, my dear Prince! How have +you slept?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. She has gone to marry her young king. Is there no thought +of things like that in your own mind, my Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I harbour but a single thought——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Of little Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. She is too young for me, you mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Grey hairs and common sense belong together as a rule—I +have a girl with common sense——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And I grey hairs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He knows it not, believes it not! Come, maids! Come, Signe, +Elsa, Tova! Let's have a good laugh at the young suitor and his grey +hairs!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>begin to laugh. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>joins in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Follow in her traces—here is one!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She hands him a parchment covered with writing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Reading</i>] And she wrote this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You know her hand—what has it written?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That she hates me, and loves another—that she has played with +me; that she will throw my kisses to the wind, and to the swine my +heart—To die is now my will! Now I am dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. A knight dies not because a wench has played with him. He +shows himself a man and takes another.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Another? When there is only one?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. No, two, at least! My Magdalene possesses seven barrels +full of gold.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Seven?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. And more. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene is skilled in many crafts——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Including witchcraft?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. She knows how to bewitch a princeling.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Gazing at the parchment</i>] And this was written by my +Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene would never write like that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And she is kind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Kindness itself! She does not play with sacred feelings, +nor seek revenge for little wrongs, and she is faithful to the one she +likes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then she must be beautiful.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Not beautiful!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. She is not kind then.—Tell me more of her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. See for yourself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And this has Swanwhite written——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene had written with more feeling</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What would she have written?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. That——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Speak the word! Say "love," if you are able!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Lub!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You cannot speak the word!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Lud!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene can speak it. May she come?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, let her come.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Rising and speaking to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>] Blindfold the prince. +Then in his arms we'll place a princess that is without a paragon in +seven kingdoms.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>steps forward and covers the eyes of the</i> Prince <i>with a +bandage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Clapping her hands</i>] Well—is she not coming?</p> + +<p><i>The peacock makes a rattling noise with his bill; the doves begin to +coo</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is the matter? Does my art desert me? Where is the +bride?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Four</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>enter from the rear, carrying baskets of white +and pink roses. Music is heard from above. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>go up to +the bed and scatter roses over it</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then come</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">TWO KNIGHTS</span> <i>with closed visors. They take the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>between them toward the rear, where they meet the +</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>, <i>escorted by two ladies. The bride is deeply +veiled</i>.</p> + +<p><i>With a gesture of her hand the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>bids all depart +except the bridal couple. She herself leaves last of all, after +she has closed the curtains and locked the gates</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Is this my bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Who is your bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I have forgot her name. Who is your bridegroom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. He whose name may not be mentioned.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Tell, if you can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. I can, but will not.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Tell, if you can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Tell my name first!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's seven barrels full of gold, and crooked back, and grim, +and hare-lipped! What's my name? Tell, if you can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Prince Greyhead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You're right!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span> <i>throws, off her veil, and</i> Swanwhite +<i>stands revealed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Dressed in a white garment, with a wreath of roses on her +hair</i>] Who am I now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You are a rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you a violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking off the bandage</i>] You are Swanwhite!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you—are——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Hush!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You're mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But you—you left me—left my kisses——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I have returned—because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And you wrote cruel words——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But cancelled them—because I love you.!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You told me I was false.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What matters it, when you are true—and when I love you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You wished that you were going to the king.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But went to you instead, because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now let me hear what you reproach me with.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I have forgotten it—because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But if you love me, then you are my bride.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then may the heavens bestow their blessing on our union!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In dreamland!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. With your head upon my arm!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>leads</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>to the bed, in which he places +his sword. Then she lies down on one side of the sword, and he +on the other. The colour of the clouds changes to a rosy red. +The rose-trees murmur. The harp plays softly and sweetly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Good night, my queen!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Good morning, O my soul's beloved!—I hear the beating of +your heart—I hear it sigh like billowing waters, like swift-flying +steeds, like wings of eagles—Give me your hand!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And yours!—Now we take wing——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters with the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>, <i>who carry torches; all four have +become grey-haired</i>] I have to see that my task is finished ere the +duke returns. My daughter. Magdalene, is plighted to the prince—while +Swanwhite lingers in the tower—[<i>Goes to the bed</i>] They sleep already +in each other's arms—you bear me witness, maids!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>approach the bed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What do I see? Each one of you is grey-haired!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. And so are you, Your Grace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Am I? Let me see!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>holds a mirror in front of her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. This is the work of evil powers!—And then, perhaps, the +prince's hair is dark again?—Bring light this way!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>hold their torches so that the light from them +falls on the sleeping couple</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Such is the truth, indeed!—How beautiful they +look!—But—the sword! Who placed it there—the sword that puts at +naught their plighted troth?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She tries to take away the sword, but the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>clings to +it without being wakened</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Your Grace—here's deviltry abroad!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. This is not Lady Magdalene.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Who is it, then? My eyes need help.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. 'Tis Lady Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Swanwhite?—Can this be some delusion of the devil's +making, or have I done what I least wished?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>turns his head in his sleep so that his lips meet +those of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Touched by the beautiful sight</i>] No sight more beautiful +have I beheld!—Two roses brought together by the wind; two falling +stars that join in downward flight—it is too beautiful!—Youth, +beauty, innocence, and love! What memories, sweet memories—when I was +living in my father's home—when I was loved by <i>him</i>, the youth whom +never I called mine—What did I say I was?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. That you were loved by him, Your Grace.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Then I did speak the mighty word. Be-loved—so he named me +once—"beloved"—ere he started for the war—[<i>Lost in thoughts</i>] It +was the last of him.—And so I had to take the one I couldn't bear.—My +life is drawing to its close, and I must find my joy in happiness +denied myself! I should rejoice—at others' happiness—Some kind of +joy, at least—at other people's love—Some kind of love, at least—But +there's my Magdalene? What joy for her? O, love omnipotent—eternally +creative Lord—how you have rendered soft this lion heart! Where is my +strength? Where is my hatred—my revenge? [<i>She seats herself and looks +long at the sleeping couple</i>] A song runs through my mind, a song of +love that <i>he</i> was singing long ago, that final night— [<i>She rises as +if waking out of a dream and flies into a rage; her words come with a +roar</i>] Come hither, men! Here, Steward, Castellan, and Gaoler—all of +you! [<i>She snatches the sword out of the bed and throws it along the +floor toward the rear</i>] Come hither, men!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Noise is heard outside; the men enter as before</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Behold! The prince, the young king's vassal, has defiled +his master's bride! You bear me witness to the shameful deed! Put +chains and fetters on the traitor and send him to his rightful lord! +But in the spiked cask put the hussy. [<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> and <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>wake +up</i>] Equerry! Gaoler! Seize the prince!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">EQUERRY</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span> <i>lay hands on the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is my sword? I fight not against evil, but for innocence!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Whose innocence?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My bride's.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The hussy's innocence! Then prove it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, mother, mother!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The white swan flies by outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Maids, bring shears! I'll cut the harlot's hair!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>hands her a pair of shears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Takes hold of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>by the hair and starts to cut +it, but she cannot bring the blades of the shears together]</i> Now I'll +cut off your beauty and your love! [<i>Suddenly she is seized with panic, +which quickly spreads to the men and the three</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>] Is the enemy +upon us? Why are you trembling?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Your Grace, the dogs are barking, horses neighing—it means +that visitors are near.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Quick, to the bridges, all of you! Man the ramparts! Fall +to with flame and water, sword and axe!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>are left alone</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. [<i>Appears from behind the table; in one hand he carries +a rope, the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>'S <i>horn in the other</i>] Forgiveness for those who +sin; for those who sorrow, consolation; and hope for those who are +distressed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father's horn! Then help is near! But—the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. The prince will follow me. A secret passage, underground, +leads to the shore. There lies his bark. The wind is favourable! Come!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>go out.</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>alone, +blows the horn. An answering signal is heard in the distance. +The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span> <i>enters with the spiked cask</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>blows the +horn again. The answer is heard much nearer</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>enters. He and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>are alone on the stage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. My own beloved heart, what is at stake?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your own child, father!—Look—the spiked cask over there!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. How has my child transgressed?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The prince's name I learned, by love instructed—spoke +it—came to hold him very dear.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. That was no capital offence. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. At his side I slept, the sword between us——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And still there was no capital offence, though I should hardly +call it wise—And more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No more!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span>, <i>pointing to the spiked cask</i>] Away with it! +[<i>To</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Well, child, where is the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He's sailing homeward in his bark.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Now, when the tide is battering the shore?—Alone? Swanwhite. +Alone! What is to happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The Lord alone can tell!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He's in danger?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Who greatly dares has sometimes luck.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He ought to have!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. He will, if free from guilt!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He is! More than I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] How came you here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. A shortcut brought me—I could wish it had been shorter still.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Had it been short enough, your child had never come to harm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What kind of harm?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The one for which there is no cure.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And you have proofs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. I've valid witnesses.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then call my butler.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He does not know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Shaking his sword at her</i>] Call my butler!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>trembles. Then she claps her hands four times +together</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Have made a pie of venison, richly stuffed with onions, parsley, +fennel, cabbage—and at once!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>steals a sidelong glance at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What are you squinting at? Be quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Now call the master of my pleasure-garden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He does not know!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And never will! But he must come! Call, quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>claps her hands six times</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FLOWER GARDENER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Three lilies bring: one white, one red, one blue.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>looks sideways at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Your head's at stake!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Summon your witnesses!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>claps her hands once</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Tell what you know—but choose your words! What have you seen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. I have seen Lady Swanwhite and the prince together in one bed.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. With sword between?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Without.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I can't believe it!—Other witnesses?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">TWO KNIGHTS</span> <i>enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Were these the groomsmen?—Tell your tale.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FIRST KNIGHT</span>. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SECOND KNIGHT</span>. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What's that? A trick, I trow—that caught the trickster!—Other +witnesses?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Tell what you know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I swear by God, our righteous judge, that I have seen the prince +and Lady Swanwhite fully dressed and with a sword between them.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. One for, and one against—two not germane.—I leave it to the +judgment of the Lord!—The flowers will speak for him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] My gracious master—noble lord!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I know my gracious mistress innocent.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. O, child—so you know that! Then teach us how to know it too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. When I am saying only what is true——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. No one believes it! But when Signe tells untruth, we must +believe!—And what does Swanwhite say herself? Her forehead's purity, +her steady glance, her lips' sweet innocence—do they not speak aloud +of slander? And "slander" is the verdict of a father's eye.—Well +then—Almighty God on high shall give his judgment, so that human +beings may believe!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FLOWER GARDENER</span> <i>enters carrying three lilies placed in +three tall and narrow vases of glass. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>places the +flowers in a semicircle on the table. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>enters with +a huge dish containing a steaming pie</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Placing the dish within the semicircle formed by the three +flowers</i>] The white one stands for whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [<i>Except</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] For Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The red one stands for whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [As <i>before</i>] The prince.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. For whom the blue one?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [As <i>before</i>] The youthful king.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Well, Tova—child who still has faith in innocence because you +too are innocent—interpret now for us the judgment of the Lord—tell +us the gentle secrets of these flowers.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. The evil part I cannot utter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I will. What's good I'll leave for you.—As the steam from the +blood of the prurient beast rises upward—as upward the smell of the +passionate spices is mounting—what see you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. [<i>Gazing at the three lilies</i>] The white one folds its blossom to +protect itself against defilement. That is Swanwhite's flower.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. Swanwhite is innocent.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. The red one, too—the prince's lily—closes its head—but the +blue one, which stands for the king, flings wide its gorge to drink the +lust-filled air.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You've told it right! What more is there to see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I see the red flower bend its head in reverent love before the +white one, while the blue one writhes with envious rage.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You've spoken true!—For whom is Swanwhite then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. For the prince, because more pure is his desire, and therefore +stronger, too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [<i>Except</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Swanwhite for the prince!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into her father's arms</i>] O, father!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Call back the prince! Let every trump and bugle summon him. Hoist +sail on every bark! But first of all—the spiked cask is for whom?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>All remain silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and +bawd!—Know, evil woman, that though nothing else be safe against your +tricks, they cannot conquer love!—Go—quick—begone!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>makes a gesture which for a moment seems to +stun the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Draws his sword and turns the point of it toward the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>, <i>having first seated</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>on his left shoulder</i>] +A-yi, you evil one! My pointed steel will outpoint all your tricks!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>withdraws backward, dragging her legs behind +her like a panther</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Now for the prince!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>stops on the balcony, rigid as a statue. She +opens her mouth as if she were pouring out venom</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The peacock and the doves fall down dead. Then the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> +<i>begins to swell. Her clothes become inflated to such an extent +that they hide her head and bust entirely. They seem to be +flaming with a pattern of interwoven snakes and branches. The +sun is beginning to rise outside. The ceiling sinks slowly into +the room, while smoke and fire burst from the fireplace</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Raising the cross-shaped handle of his sword toward the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Pray, people, pray to Christ, our Saviour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. Christ have mercy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The ceiling resumes its ordinary place. The smoke and fire +cease. A noise is heard outside, followed by the hum of many +voices</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What new event is this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I know! I see!—I hear the water dripping from his hair; I +hear the silence of his heart, the breath that comes no more—I see +that he is dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Where do you see—and whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where?—But I see it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I see nothing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. As they must come, let them come quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Four little girls enter with baskets out of which they scatter +white lilies and hemlock twigs over the floor. After them come +four pages ringing silver bells of different pitch. Then comes +a priest carrying a large crucifix. Then, the golden bier, with +the body of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>covered by a white sheet, on which +rest white and pink roses. His hair is dark again. His face is +youthful, rosy, and radiantly beautiful. There is a smile on +his lips</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp begins to play. The sun rises completely. The magic +bubble around the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>bursts, and she appears once +more in her customary shape</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The bier is placed in the middle of the floor, so that the +rays of the rising sun fall on it</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>throws herself on her knees beside the bier and +covers the</i> Prince's <i>face with kisses</i>.</p> + +<p><i>All present put their hands to their faces and weep</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FISHERMAN</span> <i>has entered behind the bier</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The brief tale tell us, fisherman——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FISHERMAN</span>. Does it not tell itself, my noble lord?—The young prince +had already crossed the strait, when, seized by violent longing for +his love, he started to swim back, in face of tide and wave and +wind—because his bark seemed rudder-less.—I saw his young head breast +the billows, I heard him cry her name—and then his corpse was gently +dropped upon the white sand at my feet. His hair had turned to grey +that night when he slept in the tower; sorrow and wrath had blanched +his cheeks; his lips had lost their power of smiling.—Now, when +death o'ertook him, beauty and youth came with it. Like wreaths his +darkening locks fell round his rosy cheeks; he smiled—and see!—is +smiling still. The people gathered on the shore, awed by the gentle +spectacle—and man said unto man: lo, this is love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Lying down beside the body of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] He's dead; his +heart will sing no more; his eyes no longer will light up my life; +his breath will shed its dew on me no more. He smiles, but not toward +me—toward heaven he smiles. And on his journey I shall bear him +company.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Kiss not a dead man's lips—there's poison in them!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Sweet poison if it bring me death—that death in which I +seek my life!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. They say, my child, the dead cannot gain union by willing it; +and what was loved in life has little worth beyond.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And love? Should then its power not extend to the other side +of death?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Our wise men have denied it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then he must come to me—back to this earth. O gracious +Lord, please let him out of heaven again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. A foolish prayer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot pray—woe's me! The evil eye still rules this place.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You're thinking of the monster which the sunbeams pricked. The +stake for her—let her without delay be burned alive!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Burn her?—Alive?—Oh, no! Let her depart in peace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. She must be burned alive! You, men, see that the pyre is raised +close to the shore, and let the winds play with her ashes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>On her knees before the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>] No, no—I pray you, though +she was my executioner: have mercy on her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters, changed, freed from the evil powers that have +held her in their spell</i>] Mercy! Who spoke the sacred word? Who poured +her heart in prayer for me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I did—your daughter—mother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. O, God in heaven, she called me mother!—Who taught you +that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Love did!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Then blessed be love which can work miracles like +that!—But, child, then it must also have the power to make the dead +return out of the darkling realms of death!—I cannot do it, having not +received the grace of love. But you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Poor me—what can I do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You can forgive, and you can love—Well, then, my little +Lady Almighty, you can do anything!—Be taught by me who have no power +at all. Go, cry the name of your beloved, and put your hand above his +heart! Then, with the help of the Supreme One—calling none but Him for +helper—your beloved will hear your voice—if you believe!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I do believe—I will it—and—I pray for it!</p> + +<p><i>She goes up to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>places one of her hands over his heart, +and raises the other toward the sky. Then she bends down over him +and whispers something into his ear. This she repeats three times in +succession. At the third whisper the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>wakes up</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> +<i>throws herself at his breast. All kneel in praise and thanksgiving. +Music</i>.</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="SIMOOM" id="SIMOOM">SIMOOM</a></h3> + +<h4>(SAMUM)</h4> + +<h5>1890</h5> + +<hr class="r5" /> + + + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;font-size: 0.8em;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +BISKRA, <i>an Arabian girl</i><br /> +YUSUF, <i>her lover</i><br /> +GUIMARD, <i>a lieutenant of Zouaves</i><br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>The action takes place in Algeria at the present time</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The inside of a marabout, or shrine. In the middle of the +floor stands a sarcophagus forming the tomb of the Mohammedan +saint (also called "marabout") who in his lifetime occupied the +place. Prayer-rugs are scattered over the floor. At the right +in the rear is an ossuary, or charnel-house.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is a doorway in the middle of the rear wall. It is +closed with a gate and covered by a curtain. On both sides of +the doorway are loopholes. Here and there on the floor are seen +little piles of sand. An aloe plant, a few palm leaves and some +alfa grass are thrown together on one spot</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">FIRST SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span> <i>enters. The hood of her burnous is pulled over her head +so that it almost covers her face. She carries a guitar at her +back. Throwing herself down in a kneeling position on one of +the rugs, she begins to pray with her arms crossed over her +breast. A high wind is blowing outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Lâ ilâhâ illâ 'llâh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Enters quickly</i>] The Simoom is coming! Where is the Frank?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. He'll be here in a moment.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Why didn't you stab him when you had a chance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Because he is to do it himself. If I were to do it, our whole +tribe would be killed, for I am known to the Franks as Ali, the guide, +though they don't know me as Biskra, the maiden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. He is to do it himself, you say? How is that to happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Don't you know that the Simoom makes the brains of the white +people dry as dates, so that they have horrible visions which disgust +them with life and cause them to flee into the great unknown?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. I have heard of such things, and in the last battle there were +six Franks who took their own lives before the fighting began. But do +not place your trust in the Simoom to-day, for snow has fallen in the +mountains, and the storm may be all over in half an hour.—Biskra! Do +you still know how to hate?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. If I know how to hate?—My hatred is boundless as the desert, +burning as the sun, and stronger than my love. Every hour of joy that +has been stolen from me since the murder of Ali has been stored up +within me like the venom back of a viper's tooth, and what the Simoom +cannot do, that I can do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Well spoken, Biskra, and the task shall be yours. Ever since my +eyes first fell upon you, my own hatred has been withering like alfa +grass in the autumn. Take strength from me and become the arrow to my +bow.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Embrace me, Yusuf, embrace me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Not here, within the presence of the Sainted one; not +now—later, afterward, when you have earned your reward!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. You proud sheikh! You man of pride!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Yes—the maiden who is to carry my offspring under her heart +must show herself worthy of the honour.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I—no one but I—shall bear the offspring of Yusuf! I, +Biskra—the scorned one, the ugly one, but the strong one, too!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. All right! I am now going to sleep beside the spring.—Do I +need to teach you more of the secret arts which you learned from +Sidi-Sheikh, the great marabout, and which you have practised at fairs +ever since you were a child?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Of that there is no need. I know all the secrets needed to +scare the life out of a cowardly Frank.—The dastard who sneaks upon +the enemy and sends the leaden bullet ahead of himself! I know them +all—even the art of letting my voice come out of my belly. And what is +beyond my art, that will be done by the sun, for the sun is on the side +of Yusuf and Biskra.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. The sun is a friend of the Moslem, but not to be relied upon. +You may get burned, girl!—Take a drink of water first of all, for I +see that your hands are shrivelled, and——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He lifts up one of the rugs and steps down into a sort of +cellar, from which he brings back a bowl filled with water; +this he hands to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Raising the bowl to her mouth</i>] And my eyes are already +beginning to see red—my lungs are parching—I hear—I hear—do you +see how the sand is sifting through the roof—the strings of my guitar +are crooning—the Simoom is here! But the Frank is not!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Come down here, Biskra, and let the Frank die by himself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. First hell, and then death! Do you think I'll weaken? [<i>Pours +the water on one of the sand piles</i>] I'll water the sand, so that +revenge may grow out of it, and I'll dry up my heart. Grow, O hatred! +Burn, O sun! Smother, O wind!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Hail to you, mother of Ben Yusuf—for you are to bear the son of +Yusuf, the avenger—you!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The wind is increasing. The curtain in front of the door begins to +flap. A red glimmer lights up the room, but changes into yellow during +the ensuing scene</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Frank is coming, and—the Simoom is here!—Go!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. In half an hour you shall see me again. [<i>Pointing toward a sand +pile</i>] There is your hour-glass. Heaven itself is measuring out the +time for the hell of the infidels!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Goes down into the cellar</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">SECOND SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>enters looking very pale; he stumbles, his +mind is confused, and he speaks in a low voice</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. The Simoom is here!—What do you think has become of my men?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I led them west to east.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. West—to east!—Let me see!—That's straight east—and +west!—Oh, put me on a chair and give me some water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Leads</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>to one of the sand piles and makes him lie +down on the floor with his feet on the sand</i>] Are you comfortable now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Staring at her</i>] I feel all twisted up. Put something under +my head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Piling the sand higher under his feet</i>] There's a pillow for +your head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Head? Why, my feet are down there—Isn't that my feet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Of course!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I thought so. Give me a stool now—under my head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Pulls out the aloe plant and pushes it under Guimard's legs</i>] +There's a stool for you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. And then water!—Water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Fills the empty bowl with sand and hands it to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>] +Drink while it's cold.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Putting his lips to the bowl</i>] It is cold—and yet it does +not still my thirst! I cannot drink it—I abhor water—take it away!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There's the dog that bit you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Simoom has shrivelled up your memory—beware the delusions +of the Simoom! Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you during +the last hunt at Bab-el-Wad?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. The hunt at Bab-el-Wad? That's right!—Was it a +beaver-coloured——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Bitch? Yes.—There you see. And she bit you in the calf. Can't +you feel the sting of the wound?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Reaches out a hand to feel his calf and pricks himself on +the aloe</i>] Yes, I can feel it.—Water! Water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Handing him the sand-filled bowl</i>] Drink, drink!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I cannot! Holy Mother of God—I have rabies!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Don't be afraid! I shall cure you, and drive out the demon by +the help of music, which is all-powerful. Listen!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Screaming</i>] Ali! Ali! No music; I can't stand it! And how +could it help me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. If music can tame the treacherous spirit of the snake, don't +you think it may conquer that of a mad dog? Listen! [<i>She sings and +accompanies herself on the guitar</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Responding from below</i>] Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What is that you are singing, Ali?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Have I been singing? Look here—now I'll put a palm-leaf in my +mouth. [<i>She puts a piece of leaf between her teeth; the song seems to +be coming from above</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>From below</i>] Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What an infernal jugglery!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Now I'll sing!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span> and <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Together</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] What are you, you devil who are singing with two +voices? Are you man or woman? Or both?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I am Ali, the guide. You don't recognise me because your senses +are confused. But if you want to be saved from the tricks played by +sight and thought, you must believe in me—believe what I say and do +what I tell you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. You don't need to ask me, for I find everything to be as you +say it is.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There you see, you worshipper of idols!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I, a worshipper of idols?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Yes, take out the idol you carry on your breast.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>takes out a locket</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Trample on it now, and then call on the only God, the Merciful +One, the Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Hesitating</i>] Saint Edward—my patron saint?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can he protect you? Can he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, he cannot!—[<i>Waking up</i>] Yes, he can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Let us see!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She opens the gate; the curtain flaps and the grass on the +floor moves</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Covering his mouth</i>] Close the door!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Throw down the idol!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I cannot.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see? The Simoom does not bend a hair on me, but you, the +infidel one, are killed by it! Throw down the idol!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Throws the locket on the floor</i>] Water! I die!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Pray to the Only One, the Merciful and Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. How am I to pray?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Repeat after me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Speak on!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. "There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Lie down on the floor.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>lies down unwillingly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. What do you hear?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I hear the murmuring of a spring.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There you see! God is one, and there is no other God but He, +the Merciful and Compassionate One!—What do you see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I can hear a spring murmur—I can see the light of a lamp—in +a window with green shutters—on a white street——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is sitting at the window?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. My wife—Elise!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around her neck?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. That's my son, George.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. How old is your son?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Four years on the day of Saint Nicholas.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And he can already stand behind the curtain with his arm around +the neck of another man's wife?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, he cannot—but it is he!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Four years old, you say, and he has a blond mustache?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. A blond mustache, you say?—Oh, that's—my friend Jules.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around your +wife's neck?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Oh, you devil!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see your son?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I don't see him any longer.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Imitates the tolling of bells on the guitar</i>] What do +you see now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I see bells ringing—I taste dead bodies—their smell in my +mouth is like rancid butter—faugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can't you hear the priest chanting the service for a dead child?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Wait!—I cannot hear—[<i>Wistfully</i>] But do you want me +to?—There!—I can hear it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see the wreath on the coffin they are carrying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Yes——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There are violet ribbons on it—and there are letters printed +in silver—"Farewell, my darling George—from your father."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Yes, that's it! [<i>He begins to cry</i>] My George! O George, my +darling boy!—Elise—wife—can't you console me?—Oh, help me! [<i>He is +groping around</i>] Elise, where are you? Have you left me? Answer! Call +out the name of your love!</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Coming from the roof</i>] Jules! Jules!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Jules! But my name is—what is my name? It is Charles! And she +is calling Jules! Elise—my beloved wife—answer me—for your spirit +is here—I can feel it—and you promised never to love anybody else——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span> <i>is heard laughing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Who is laughing?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Elise—your wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Oh, kill me! I don't want to live any longer! Life sickens +me like sauerkraut at Saint-Doux—You there—do you know what +Saint-Doux is? Lard! [<i>He tries to spit</i>] Not a drop of saliva +left!—Water—water—or I'll bite you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The wind outside has risen to a full storm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Puts her hand to her mouth and coughs</i>] Now you are dying, +Frank! Write down your last wishes while there is still time—Where is +your note-book?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Takes out a note-book and a pencil</i>] What am I to write?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. When a man is to die, he thinks of his wife—and his child!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Writes</i>] "Elise—I curse you! Simoom—I die——"</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And then sign it, or it will not be valid as a testament.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What shall I sign?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Write: Lâ ilâha illâ 'llâh.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Writing</i>] It is written.—And can I die now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Now you can die—like a craven soldier who has deserted his +people! And I am sure you'll get a handsome burial from the jackals +that will chant the funeral hymn over your corpse. [<i>She drums the +signal for attack on the guitar</i>] Can you hear the drums—the attack +has begun—on the Faithful, who have the sun and the Simoom on their +side—they are now advancing—from their hiding-places—[<i>She makes a +rattling noise on the guitar</i>] The Franks are firing along the whole +line—they have no chance to load again—the Arabs are firing at their +leisure—the Franks are flying!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] The Franks never flee!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Franks will flee when they hear the call to retreat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She blows the signal for "retreat" on a flute which she has +produced from under her burnoose</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. They are retreating—that's the signal—and I am here—[<i>He +tears off his epaulets</i>] I am dead!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>He falls to the ground</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Yes, you are dead!—And you don't know that you have been dead +a long time.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes to the ossuary and takes from it a human skull</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Have I been dead?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He feels his face with his hands</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Long! Long!—Look at yourself in the mirror here! [<i>She holds +up the skull before him</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Ah! That's me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can't you see your own high cheek-bones? Can't you see the eyes +that the vultures have picked out? Don't you know that gap on the right +side of the jaw where you had a tooth pulled? Can't you see the hollow +in the chin where, grew the beard that your Elise was fond of stroking? +Can't you see where used to be the ear that your George kissed at +the breakfast-table? Can't you see the mark of the axe—here in the +neck—which the executioner made when he cut off the deserter's head——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>, <i>who has been watching her movements and listening to +her words with evident horror, sinks down dead</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Who has been kneeling, feels his pulse; then she rises and +sings</i>] Simoom! Simoom! [<i>She opens both gates; the curtain flutters +like a banner in the wind; she puts her hand up to her mouth and falls +over backward, crying</i>] Yusuf!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">THIRD SCENE</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> (<i>dead</i>). <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span> <i>comes out of the cellar</i>.</p></blockquote> + + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Having examined the body of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>, <i>he looks for</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>] +Biskra! [<i>He discovers her and takes her up in his arms</i>] Are you alive?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Is the Frank dead?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. If he is not, he will be. Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Then I live! But give me some water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Carrying her toward the cellar</i>] Here it is!—And now Yusuf is +yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And Biskra will be your son's mother, O Yusuf, great Yusuf!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. My strong Biskra! Stronger than the Simoom!</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="DEBIT_AND_CREDIT" id="DEBIT_AND_CREDIT">DEBIT AND CREDIT</a></h3> + +<h4>(DEBET OCH KREDIT)</h4> + +<h4>AN ACT</h4> + +<h5>1893</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 35%"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span ><br /><br /> +<span class="small-c">AXEL</span >, <i>Doctor of Philosophy and African explorer</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THURE</span >, <i>his brother, a gardener</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">ANNA</span >, <i>the wife of</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">MISS CECILIA</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE FIANCÉ</span > <i>of</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span >, <i>Doctor of Philosophy and former school-teacher</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">MISS MARIE</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE WAITER</span ><br /> +</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>A well-furnished hotel room. There are doors on both sides</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + + + +<p style="text-align: center;">FIRST SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. There's some style to this room, isn't there? But then the +fellow who lives here is stylish, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, so I understand. Of course, I've never seen your brother, +but I've heard a whole lot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, gossip! <i>My</i> brother, the doctor, has gone right across +Africa, and that's something everybody can't do. So it doesn't matter +how many drinks he took as a young chap——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, your brother, the doctor! Who is nothing but a +school-teacher, for that matter——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. No, he's a doctor of philosophy, I tell you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, that's nothing but one who teaches. And that's just what my +brother is doing in the school at Ã…by.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Your brother is all right, but he is nothing but a public-school +teacher, and that's not the same as a doctor of philosophy—which isn't +a boast either.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, no matter what he is or what you call him, he has cost us a +whole lot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Of course it has been rather costly, but then he has brought us +a lot of pleasure, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Fine pleasures! When we've got to lose house and home for his +sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. That's so—but then we don't know yet if his slip-up on the loan +had some kind of cause that he couldn't help. I guess it isn't so easy +to send registered letters from darkest Africa.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Whether he has any excuses or not doesn't change the matter a +bit. But if he wants to do something for us—it's nothing more than he +owes us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, we'll see, we'll see!—Anyhow, have you heard they've +already given him four decorations?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, that doesn't help us any. I guess it'll only make him a +little more stuck-up. Oh, no, it'll be some time before I get over that +the sheriff had to come down on us with the papers—and bring in other +people as witnesses—and then—the auction—and all the neighbours +coming in and turning all we had upside down. And do you know what made +me sorer than all the rest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. The black——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, it was that my sister-in-law should bid in my black silk +dress for fifteen crowns. Think of it—fifteen crowns!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. You just wait—just wait a little! We might get you a new silk +dress——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>Weeping</i>] But it'll never be the same one—the one my +sister-in-law bid in.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. We'll get another one then!—Now, just look at that gorgeous hat +over there! I guess it must be one of those royal chamberlains who's +talking with Axel now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. What do I care about that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Why, don't you think it's fun that a fellow who has the same +name as you and I gets to be so respected that the King's own household +people have to visit him? If I remember right, you were happy for a +whole fortnight when your brother, the school-teacher, had been asked +to dine at the bishop's.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. I can't remember anything of the kind.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Of course you can't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. But I do remember the fifteenth of March, when we had to leave +our place for his sake, and we hadn't been married more than two years, +and I had to carry away the child on my own arm—Oh!—and then, when +the steamer came with all the passengers on board just as we had to get +out—all the cocked hats in the world can't make me forget that! And, +for that matter, what do you think a royal chamberlain cares about a +plain gardener and his wife when they've just been turned out of house +and home?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Look here! What do you think this is? Look at all his +decorations!—Look at this one, will you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He takes an order out of its case, holds it in the palm of his +hand, and pats it as if it were a living thing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Oh, that silly stuff!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Don't you say anything against them, for you never can tell +where you'll end. The gardener at Staring was made a director and a +knight on the same day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, what does that help us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. No, of course not—it doesn't help us—but these things here +[<i>pointing to the orders</i>] may help us a whole lot in getting another +place.—However, I think we've waited quite a while now, so we'd better +sit down and make ourselves at home. Let me help you off with your +coat—come on now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>After a slight resistance</i>] So you think we're going to be +welcome, then? I have a feeling that our stay here won't last very long.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Tut, tut! And I think we're going to have a good dinner, too, if +I know Axel right. If he only knew that we're here—But now you'll +see! [<i>He presses a button and a</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>enters</i>] What do you want—a +sandwich, perhaps? [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>] Bring us some sandwiches and +beer.—Wait a moment! Get a drink for me—the real stuff, you know! +[<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>goes out</i>] You've got to take care of yourself, don't +you know.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SECOND SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. The <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>] At five, then—in full dress, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>. And your orders!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it necessary?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>. Absolutely necessary, if you don't want to seem rude, and +that's something which you, as a democrat, want least of all. Good-bye, +doctor!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Good-bye.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>In leaving, the</i> <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span> <i>bows slightly to</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and +his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>, <i>neither of whom returns the salute</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> THIRD SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, is that you, old boy?—It seems an eternity since I saw you +last. And this is your wife?—Glad to see you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Thanks, brother! And I wish you a happy return after your long +trip.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, that was something of a trip—I suppose you have read about +it in the papers——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, yes, I've read all about it. [<i>Pause</i>] And then father sent +you his regards.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, is he still sore at me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, you know the old man and his ways. If only you hadn't been +a member of that expedition, you know, he would have thought it one of +the seven wonders of the world. But as you were along, of course, it +was nothing but humbug.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So he's just the same as ever! Simply because I am <i>his</i> son, +nothing I ever do can be of any value. It means he can't think very +much of himself either.—Well, so much for that! And how are you +getting along nowadays?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Not very well, exactly! There's that old loan from the bank, you +know——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, that's right! Well, what happened to it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, what happened was that I had to pay it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That's too bad! But we'll settle the matter as soon as we have a +chance.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>comes in with</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>'s <i>order on a tray</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, it was only me who took the liberty of ordering a couple of +sandwiches——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Right you were! But I think we ought to have some wine, so I +could drink the health of my sister-in-law, as I couldn't get to the +wedding.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, no—not for us! Not so early in the morning! Thanks very +much!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Signals to the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>, <i>who goes out</i>] I should have asked you +to stay for dinner, but I have to go out myself. Can you guess where I +am going?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. You don't mean to say you're going to the Palace?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Exactly—I am asked to meet the Monarch himself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Lord preserve us!—What do you think of that, Anna?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>His</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span> <i>turns and twists on her chair as if in torment, +quite unable to answer</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I suppose the old man will turn republican after this, when he +hears that His Majesty cares to associate with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. See here, Axel—you'll have to pardon me for getting back to +something that's not very pleasant—but it has to be settled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it that blessed old loan?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Yes, but it isn't only that. To put it plain—we've had to stand +an execution for your sake, and now we're absolutely cleaned out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That's a fine state of affairs! But why in the world didn't you +get the loan renewed?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, that's it! How was I to get any new sureties when you were +away?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Couldn't you go to my friends?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. I did. And the result was—what it was. Can you help us out now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. How am I going to help you now? Now when all my creditors are +getting after me? And it won't do for me to start borrowing when they +are just about to make a position for me. There's nothing that hurts +you more than to borrow money. Just wait a little while, and we'll get +it all straightened out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. If we're to wait, then everything's up with us. This is just the +time to get hold of a garden—this is the time to start digging and +sowing, if you are to get anything up in time. Can't you get a place +for us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Where am I to get hold of a garden?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Among your friends.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. My friends keep no gardens. Now, don't you hamper me when I try +to get up on firm ground! When I am there I'll pull you up, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>To his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>] He doesn't want to help us, Anna!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I cannot—not this moment! Do you think it reasonable that I, who +am seeking a job myself, should have to seek one for you, too? What +would people be saying, do you think? "There, now," they would say, +"we've got not only him but his relatives to look after!" And then they +would drop me entirely.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>Looks at his watch; then to his wife</i>] We've got to go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why must you go so soon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. We have to take the child to a doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For the Lord's sake, have you a child, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, we have. And a sick child, which lost its health when we had +to move out into the kitchen so that the auction could be held.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. And all this for my sake! It's enough to drive me crazy! For +my sake! So that I might become a famous man!—And what is there I +can do for you?—Do you think it would have been better if I had +stayed at home?—No, worse—for then I should have been nothing but +a poor teacher, who certainly could not have been of any use to you +whatever.—Listen, now! You go to the doctor, but come back here after +a while. In the meantime I'll think out something.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>To his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>] Do you see now, that he wants to help us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, but can he do it? That's the question.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. He can do anything he wants.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Don't rely too much on it—or the last state may prove worse +than the first.—Oh, merciful heavens, to think that you have a sick +child, too! And for my sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, I guess it isn't quite as bad as it sounds.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, so you say, who don't know anything about it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, Axel, we'll see you later then.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span> <i>appears in the doorway</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>] Did you notice he didn't introduce us—to the +chamberlain?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, shucks, what good would that have been?</p> + +<p>[<i>They go out</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> FOURTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. LINDGREN, <i>who is shabbily dressed, unshaved, apparently +fond of drinking, and looking as if he had just got out of bed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>is startled for a moment at the sight of</i> <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You don't recognise me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, now I do. But you have changed a great deal.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you think so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, I do, and I am surprised to find that these years can have +had such an effect——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Three years may be pretty long.—And you don't ask me to sit +down?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Please—but I am rather in a hurry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You have always been in a hurry.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He sits down; pause.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why don't you say something unpleasant?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. It's coming, it's coming!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He wipes his spectacles; pause.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. How much do you need?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Three hundred and fifty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I haven't got it, and I can't get it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, sure!—You don't mind if I help myself to a few drops?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He pours out a drink from the bottle brought by the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> +<i>for</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Won't you have a glass of wine with me instead?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. No—why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because it looks bad to be swilling whisky like that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. How very proper you have become!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Not at all, but it hurts my reputation and my credit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you have credit? Then you can also give me a lift, after +having brought me down.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That is to say: you are making demands?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I am only reminding you that I am one of your victims.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Then, because of the gratitude I owe you, I shall bring these +facts back to your mind: that you helped me through the university at +a time when you had plenty of money; that you helped to get my thesis +printed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. That I taught you the methods which determined your +scientific career; that I, who then was as straight as anybody, +exercised a favourable influence on your slovenly tendencies; that, in +a word, I made you what you are; and that, finally, when I applied for +an appropriation to undertake this expedition, you stepped in and took +it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I got it. Because I, and not you, was held to be the man for +the task.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And that settled me! Thus, one shall be taken, and the other +left!—Do you think that was treating me fairly?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. It was what the world calls "ungrateful," but the task was +achieved, and by it science was enriched, the honour of our country +upheld, and new regions opened for the use of coming generations.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Here's to you!—You have had a lot of oratorical +practice—But have you any idea how unpleasant it feels to play the +part of one used up and cast off?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I imagine it must feel very much like being conscious of +ingratitude, and I can only congratulate you at not finding yourself in +a position as unpleasant as my own.—But let us return to reality. What +can I do for you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. What do you think?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For the moment—nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And in the next moment you are gone again. Which means that +this would be the last I saw of you.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He pours out another drink</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Will you do me the favour of not finishing the bottle? I don't +want the servants to suspect me of it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, go to hell!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You don't think it's pleasant for me to have to call you down +like this, do you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Say—do you want to get me a ticket for the banquet to-night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I am sorry to say that I don't think you would be admitted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Because—-</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You are drunk!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Thanks, old man!—Well, will you let me have a look at your +botanical specimens, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am going to describe them myself for the Academy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. How about your ethnographical stuff?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, that's not my own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Will you—let me have twenty-five crowns?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. As I haven't more than twenty myself, I can only give you ten.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Rotten!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Thus stand the affairs of the man everybody envies. Do you think +there is anybody in whose company I might feel happy? Not one! Those +that are still down hate me for climbing up, and those already up fear +one coming from below.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, you are very unfortunate!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I am! And I can tell you that after my experience during the last +half-hour, I wouldn't mind changing place with you. What a peaceful, +unassailable position he holds who has nothing to lose! What a lot +of interest and sympathy those that are obscure and misunderstood +and over-looked always arouse! You have only to hold out your hand +and you get a coin. You have only to open your arms, and there are +friends ready to fall into them. And then what a powerful party behind +you—formed of the millions who are just like you! You enviable man who +don't realise your own good fortune!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. So you think me that far down, and yourself as high up as +all that?—Tell me, you don't happen to have read to-day's paper? [<i>He +takes a newspaper from his pocket</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, and I don't care to read it either.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. But you ought to do it for your own sake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am not going to do it—not even for <i>your</i> sake. It is as +if you said: "Come here and let me spit at you." And then you are silly +enough to demand that I shall come, too.—Do you know, during these +last minutes I have become more and more convinced that if I had ever +come across you in the jungle, I should beyond all doubt have picked +you off with my breech-loader?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I believe it—beast of prey that you are!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. It isn't safe to settle accounts with one's friends, or with +persons with whom one has been intimate, for it is hard to tell in +advance who has most on the debit side. But as you are bringing in +a bill, I am forced to look it over.—You don't think it took me +long to discover that back of all your generosity lay an unconscious +desire to turn me into the strong arm which you lacked—to make me +do for you what you couldn't do for yourself? I had imagination and +initiative—you had nothing but money and—"pull." So I am to be +congratulated that you didn't eat me, and I may be excused for eating +you—my only choice being to eat or be eaten!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You beast of prey!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You rodent, who couldn't become a beast of prey—although that +was just what you wished! And what you want at this moment is not so +much to rise up to me as to pull me down to where you are.—If you +have anything of importance to add, you had better hurry up, for I am +expecting a visit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. From your fiancée?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you have snooped that out, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Sure enough! And I know what Marie, the deserted one, thinks +and says—I know what has happened to your brother and his wife——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, you know my fiancée? For, you see, it so happens that I am +not yet engaged!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. No, but I know <i>her</i> fiancé.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What does that mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Why, she has been running around with another fellow all the +time—So you didn't know that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>As he listens for something going on outside</i>] Oh, yes, I knew +of it, but I thought she was done with him—See here, if you'll come +back in a quarter of an hour, I'll try to get things arranged for you +in some way or another.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Is that a polite way of showing me the door?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, it's an attempt to meet an old obligation. Seriously!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, then I'll go—and come back—Good-bye for a while.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> FIFTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. <i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>, <i>dressed in +black, with a blue ribbon in the lapel of his coat</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Let him come in.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>goes out, leaving the door open behind him. The</i> +<span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Observing the newcomer closely</i>] Well, good-bye.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>—and good luck! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Good-bye.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SIXTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> [<i>much embarrassed</i>]</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. With whom have I the honour——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. My name is not a name in the same way as yours, Doctor, and my +errand concerns a matter of the heart——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, do you happen to be—You know Miss Cecilia?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I am the man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Hesitating for a moment; then with decision</i>] Please be seated. +[<i>He opens the door and beckons the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>] Have my bill made out, see that my trunk is +packed, and bring me a carriage in half an hour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. [<i>Bowing and leaving</i>] Yes, Doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>and sits down on a chair beside him</i>] +Now let's hear what you have to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>After a pause, with unction</i>] There were two men living in +the same city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had sheep and +cattle in plenty. The poor man owned nothing but one ewe lamb——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What does that concern me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>As before</i>] One ewe lamb, which he had bought and was trying +to raise.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, life's too short. What do you want? Are you and Miss Cecilia +still engaged?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Changing his tone</i>] I haven't said a word about Miss Cecilia, +have I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, sir, you had better get down to business, or I'll show you +the door. But be quick about it, and get straight to the point, without +any frills——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Holding out his snuff-box</i>] May I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, thanks.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. A great man like you has no such little weaknesses, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. As you don't seem willing to speak, I shall. Of course, it is +none of your business, but it may do you good to learn of it, as you +don't seem to know it: I am regularly engaged to Miss Cecilia, who +formerly was your fiancée.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Startled</i>] Who was?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because she has broken with you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Taking a ring from the pocket of his waistcoat]</i> That's +strange, but now you do know. And here you can see the ring she has +given me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. So she has broken with me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, as she couldn't be engaged to two men at the same time, and +as she had ceased to care for you, she had to break with you. I might +have told you all this in a more decent fashion, if you hadn't stepped +on my corns the moment you came in.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I didn't do anything of the kind.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Cowardly and disingenuous—cringing and arrogant at the same time!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Gently</i>] You are a hard man, Doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, but I may become one. You showed no consideration for my +feelings a moment ago. You sneered, which I didn't. And that's the end +of our conversation.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>With genuine emotion</i>] I feared that you might take away from +me my only lamb—but you wouldn't do that, you who have so many——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Suppose I wouldn't—are you sure she would stay with you anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Put yourself in my place, Doctor——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, if you'll put yourself in mine.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I am a poor man——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So am I! But judging by what I see and hear, you have certain +bliss waiting for you in the beyond. That's more than I have.—And, +furthermore, I have taken nothing away from you: I have only received +what was offered me. Just as you did!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. And I who had been dreaming of a future for this young woman—a +future full of brightness——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Pardon me a piece of rudeness, but you began it: are you so sure +that the future of this young woman will not turn out a great deal +brighter by my side?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You are now reminding me of my humble position as a worker——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am reminding you of that young woman's future, which you +have so much at heart. And as I am told that she has ceased to care +for you, but does care for me, I am only taking the liberty to dream of +a brighter future for her with the man she loves than with the man she +doesn't love.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You are a strong man, you are, and we little ones were born to +be your victims!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. See here, my man, I have been told that you got the better +of another rival for Cecilia's heart, and that you were not very +scrupulous about the means used for the purpose. How do you think that +<i>victim</i> liked you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. He was a worthless fellow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. From whom you saved the girl! And now I save her from you! +Good-bye!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SEVENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Cecilia!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>draws back from him</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You seem to know your way into this place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>] You had better disappear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I want some water!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Picking up the whisky bottle from the table</i>] The bottle +seems to be finished!—Beware of that man, Cecilia!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Pushing the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>out through the door</i>] Oh, your presence +is wholly superfluous—get out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Beware of that man, Cecilia! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> EIGHTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That was a most unpleasant incident, which you might have spared +me—both by breaking openly with him and by not coming to my room.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Weeping</i>] So I am to be scolded, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, the responsibility had to be fixed, and now, when that's +done—we can talk of something else.—How are you, to begin with?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. So, so!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Not well, that means?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. How are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Fine—only a little tired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Are you going with me to see my aunt this after-noon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I cannot, for I have to drive out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. And that's more fun, of course. You go out such a lot, and +I—never!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why do you say "hm"?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because your remark made an unpleasant impression on me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. One gets so many unpleasant impressions these days——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For instance?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. By reading the papers.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you have been reading those scandalous stories about me! And +you believe them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. One doesn't know what to believe.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you really suspect me of being the unscrupulous fellow +pictured in those stories? And as you are nevertheless willing to marry +me, I must assume that you are moved by purely practical considerations +and not by any personal attraction.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. You speak so harshly, as if you didn't care for me at all!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Cecilia—are you willing to leave this place with me in fifteen +minutes?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. In fifteen minutes! For where!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. London.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I am not going with you until we are married.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why should we leave like that, all of a sudden?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because—it's suffocating here! And if I stay, they'll drag me +down so deep that I'll never get up again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. How strange! Are you as badly off as that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Do you come with me, or do you not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Not until we are married—for afterward you would never marry +me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So that's your faith in me!—Will you sit down for a moment, +then, while I go in and write a couple of letters?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Am I to sit here alone, with all the doors open?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, don't lock the door, for then we are utterly lost. [<i>He +goes out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Don't be long!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes up to the door leading to the hallway and turns the +key in the lock</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> NINTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>alone for a moment. Then</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Wasn't the door locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Not as far as I could see!—So it was meant to be locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I haven't the honour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Nor have I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why should you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. How refined! Oh, I see! So it's you! And I am the victim—for a +while!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I don't know you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. But I know you pretty well.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Rises and goes to the door at the left</i>] Oh, you do? +[<i>Opening the door and speaking to</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] Come out here a moment!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> TENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Entering; to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] What do you want here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Oh, one never can tell.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Then you had better clear out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because what there was between us came to an end three years ago.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. And now there is another one to be thrown on the scrap heap?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Did I ever give you any promises that were not kept? Have I ever +owed you anything? Have I ever said a word about marriage? Have we had +any children together? Have I been the only one to receive your favours?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. But now you mean to be the only one? With that one over there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Goes up to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] What do you mean?—I don't know you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No, but there was a time when you did know me. And I remember +that when we met in the streets we called each other by our first +names. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] And now you are going to marry her? No, you know, +you are really too good for that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>] Have you known that woman before?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. You ought to be ashamed of yourself? I simply didn't recognise +you at first because of your swell clothes——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>gazes intently at</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] Come—I'll go with you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Preoccupied</i>] In a moment! Just wait a while! I am only going +in to write another letter—But now we'll close the door first of all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No, thank you, I don't want to be locked in as she was a while +ago.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Interested</i>] Was the door locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] You don't dare say that the door was locked!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. As you expected it to be locked, I suppose you had tried to lock +it and had not succeeded——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Observes</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>; <i>then to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] It always seemed to me that +you were a nice girl, Marie. Will you let me have my letters back now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What are you going to do with them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. I hear that I can sell them, now when you have become famous.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. And get your revenge at the same time?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Exactly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it Lindgren——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Yes!—And here he is now himself.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> ELEVENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Enters in high spirits</i>] Well, what a lot of skirts! And +Marie, too—like the cuckoo that's in every nest! Now listen, Axel!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I hear you even when I don't see you. You're in a fine +humour—what new misfortune has befallen me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I was only a little sour this morning because I hadn't had +a chance to get wound up. But now I've had a bite to eat—Well, you +see—at bottom you don't owe me anything at all. For what I did, I +did out of my heart's goodness, and it has brought me both honour and +pleasure—and what you got was a gift and no loan!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Now you are altogether too modest and generous.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Not at all! However, one favour calls for another. Would you +mind becoming my surety on this note?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>hesitates</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to put you in the +same kind of fix as your brother did——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What do you mean? It was I who put him——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, to the tune of two hundred crowns—but he got your name +as surety for five years' rent——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>In a low voice</i>] Jesus Christ!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. What's that?—Hm—hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] Just wait a few minutes—I have only to +write a couple of letters.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>starts to go with him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Holds her back</i>] Just a few minutes, my dear—[<i>He kisses her +on the forehead</i>] Just a few minutes!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes toward the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Here's the note—you might sign it while you are at it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Give it to me!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out with an air of determination</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> TWELFTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, girls, are you on good terms again?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Oh, yes, and before we get away, we'll be on still better terms.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>makes a face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. I should like to have some fun to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Come along with me! I'll have money!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>sits down with evident anxiety near the door through +which</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>disappeared—as if seeking support in that +direction</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Let's take in the fireworks to-night—then we can see how a +great man looks in red light—what do you say to that, Cissie dear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Oh, I'll be sick if I have to stay here longer!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Well, it wouldn't be the first time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Scrap, girls, and I'll watch you! Fight till the fur +flies—won't you?</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> THIRTEENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span> <i>enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, well! Old friends! How are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. All right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. The child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you have forgotten it?—Are you equally forgetful about +names?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Names?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Signatures!—He must be writing an awful lot in there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Is my brother, the doctor, in there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I don't know if the doctor is there, but your brother went +in there a while ago.—And, for that matter, we might find out. [<i>He +knocks at the door</i>] Silent as the grave! [<i>Knocks again</i>] Then I'll +walk right in.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out; everybody appears restless and anxious</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. What can it mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Well, we'll see now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. What has happened here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Something is up!—You'll see he doesn't help us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Returns, carrying in his hand a small bottle and some +letters</i>] What does it say? [<i>He reads the label on the bottle</i>] +Cyanide of potassium!—How stupid! What a sentimental idiot—to kill +himself for so little—[<i>Everybody cries out</i>] So you were no beast of +prey, my dear Axel!—But—[<i>He stares through the open door into the +adjoining room</i>]—he's not there—and his things are gone, too. So he +has skipped out! And the bottle has never been opened! That means—he +meant to kill himself, but changed his mind!—And these are his +posthumous writings. "To Miss Cecilia"—seems to contain some round +object—probably an engagement ring—there you are!—"To my brother +<span class="small-c">THURE</span>" [<i>He holds up the letter to the light</i>]—with a piece of blue +paper inside—must be a note—for the amount involved! You're welcome!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>appears in the doorway at the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>Who has opened his letter</i>] Do you see that he helped us after +all——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Oh, in that way!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And here's my note—without his name—He's a strong one, all +right! <i>Diable!</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Then the fireworks will be called off, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Was there nothing for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, I think there was a fiancée—somewhere over there!—I +tell you, that fellow is a wonder at clearing up tangled affairs!—Of +course, it makes me mad to think that I let myself be fooled—but I'll +be darned if I don't think I would have done just as he did!—And so +would you, perhaps?—Or what do you think?</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ADVENT" id="ADVENT">ADVENT</a></h3> + +<h4>(ADVENT)</h4> + +<h4>A MIRACLE PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1899</h5> + +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span><br /><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>wife of the Judge</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">AMELIA</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ERIC</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THYRA</span><br /> +<i>being the same person</i><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OTHER ONE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span><br /> +<i>Subordinate characters, shadows, etc.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT I. THE VINEYARD WITH THE MAUSOLEUM</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT II. THE DRAWING-ROOM</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT III. THE WINE-CELLAR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="small-c">THE GARDEN</span></span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT IV. THE CROSS-ROADS</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE "WAITING-ROOM"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE CROSS-ROADS</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE "WAITING-ROOM"</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="ACT_I" id="ACT_I">ACT I</a></h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The background represents a vineyard. At the left stands a +mausoleum. It consists of a small whitewashed brick building +with a door and a pointed window that lacks mullions and panes. +The roof is made of red tiles. A cross crowns the gable. +Clematis vines with purple-coloured, cross-shaped flowers cover +the front wall, at the foot of which appear a number of other +flowers</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A peach-tree carrying fruit stands near the foreground. +Beneath it sit the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">Judge</span> <i>wears a green cap with a peak, yellow +knee-breeches, and—a blue coat—all dating back to</i> 1820. +<i>The</i> Old Lady <i>wears a kerchief on her head and carries +a stick, spectacles, and snuff-box. She has the general +appearance of a "witch." At the right is a small expiatory +chapel containing an image of the Holy Virgin. The fence in +front of it is hung with wreaths and nosegays. A prie-dieu is +placed against the fence</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Life's eve has at last brought the sunshine which its morning +promised us. Early rains and late rains have blessed meadow and field. +And soon the songs of the vintagers will be heard all over the country.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Don't talk like that; somebody might hear you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who could be listening here, and what harm could it do to thank +God for all good gifts?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's better not to mention one's good fortune lest misfortune +overhear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What of it? Was I not born with a caul?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Take care, take care! There are many who envy us, and evil +eyes are watching us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, let them! That's the way it has always been. And yet I +have prospered.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So far, yes. But I don't trust our neighbour. He has been +going around the village saying that we have cheated him out of his +property—and much more of the same kind which I don't care to repeat. +Of course, it doesn't matter when one has a clean conscience and can +point to a spotless life. Slander cannot hurt me. I go to confession +and mass, and I am prepared to close my eyes whenever my hour may +strike in order to open them again when I shall stand face to face with +my Judge. And I know also what I am going to answer then.</p> + +<p>JUDGE. What are you going to answer?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Like this: I was not without fault, O Lord, but even if I was +but a poor, sinful human creature, I was nevertheless a little better +than my neighbour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, +and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to +be consecrated in a few days?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought +to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as +plentiful as when I was a bride.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, yes—you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just +the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on +us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in +ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb +for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will +whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful +children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There you said it: ungrateful children.—Have you seen anything +of Adolph?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to +raise the money for the rent.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The money which he will never get—and I still less. But he +knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter +rent that he has failed to pay.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work +instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and +the children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to +inherit anything from us or not—No, look! There it is again!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>On the wall of the mausoleum appears a spot of sunlight +like those which children are fond of producing with a small +mirror</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> <i>It is vibrating as if it were reflected by running +water</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is it? What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. On the mausoleum. Don't you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It's the reflection of the sun on the river. It means——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It means that we'll see the light of the sun for a long time +to come——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. On the contrary. But that's all one. The best pillow for one's +head is a good conscience, and the reward of the righteous never +fails.—There's our neighbour now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Good evening, Judge. Good evening, madam.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Good evening, neighbour. How goes it? It wasn't yesterday we had +the pleasure. And how are your vines, I should have asked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. The vines, yes—there's mildew on them, and the starlings +are after them, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, well! There's no mildew on my vines, and I have neither +seen nor heard of any starlings.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Fate does not distribute its gifts evenly: one shall be +taken and the other left.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I suppose there are good reasons for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I see! The reward of the righteous shall not fail, and the +wicked shall not have to wait for their punishment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, no malice meant! But you have to admit, anyhow, that it's +queer: two parcels of land lie side by side, and one yields good +harvests, the other poor ones——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. One yields starlings and the other not: that's what I find +queerer still. But, then, everybody wasn't born with a caul, like you, +Judge.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What you say is true, and fortune <i>has</i> favoured me. I am +thankful for it, and there are moments when I feel proud of it as if I +had deserved it.—But listen, neighbour—you came as if you had been +sent for.—That leasehold of mine is vacant, and I wanted to ask you if +you care to take it.</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In Sweden such spots are called "sun-cats."</p></div> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>has in the meantime left her seat and gone to +the mausoleum, where she is busying herself with the flowers</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Oh, the leasehold is vacant. Hm! Since when?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Since this morning.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Hm! So!—That means your son-in-law has got to go?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, that good-for-nothing doesn't know how to manage.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Tell me something else, Judge. Haven't you heard that the +state intends to build a military road across this property?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, I have heard some rumours to that effect, but I don't think +it's anything but empty talk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. On the contrary, I have read it in the papers. That would +mean condemnation proceedings, and the loser would be the holder of the +lease.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I cannot think so, and I would never submit to it. I to leave +this spot where I expect to end my days in peace, and where I have +prepared a final resting-place to escape lying with all the rest——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Wait a minute! One never knows what may prove one's final +resting-place. My father, who used to own this property, also expected +to be laid to rest in his own ground, but it happened otherwise. As far +as the leasehold is concerned, I must let it go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As you please. On my part the proposition was certainly +disinterested, as you are a man without luck. For it is no secret +that you fail in everything you undertake, and people have their own +thoughts about one who remains as solitary and friendless as you. Isn't +it a fact that you haven't a single friend?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, it's true. I have not a single friend, and that doesn't +look well. It is something I cannot deny.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But to turn to other matters—is it true, as the legend has it, +that this vineyard once was a battle-field, and that this explains why +the wine from it is so fiery?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. No, that isn't what I have heard. My father told me that +this had been a place of execution, and that the gallows used to stand +where the mausoleum is now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, how dreadful! Why did you tell me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Because you asked, of course.—And the last man to be hanged +on this spot was an unrighteous judge. And now he lies buried here, +together with many others, among them being also an innocent victim of +his iniquity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What kind of stories are those! [<i>He calls out</i>] Caroline!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. And that's why his ghost has to come back here. Have you +never seen him, Judge?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have never seen anything at all!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. But I have seen him. As a rule, he appears at the time when +the grapes are harvested, and then they hear him around the wine-press +down in the cellar.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Calling out</i>] Caroline!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Come here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. And he will never be at peace until he has suffered all the +torments his victim had to pass through.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Get away from here! Go!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Certainly, Judge! I didn't know you were so sensitive. [<i>He +goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What was the matter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, he told a lot of stories that upset me. But-but—he is +plotting something evil, that fellow!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Didn't I tell you so! But you always let your tongue run +whenever you see anybody—What kind of foolish superstition was he +giving you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I don't want to talk of it. The mere thought of it makes me +sick. I'll tell you some other time.—There's Adolph now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] Good evening!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>After a pause</i>] Well?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Luck is against me. I have not been able to get any money.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I suppose there are good reasons for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. I can see no reason why some people should fare well and others +badly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, you can't?—Well, look into your own heart; search your own +thoughts and actions, and you'll find that you have yourself to blame +for your misfortunes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Perhaps I may not call myself righteous in every respect, but +at least I have no serious crimes on my conscience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You had better think well——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. I don't think that's needful, for my conscience is pretty +wakeful——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It can be put to sleep——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Can it? Of course I have heard of evil-doers growing old in +crime, but as a rule their consciences wake up just before death; and +I have even heard of criminals whose consciences have awakened after +death.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Agitated</i>] So that they had to come back, you mean? Have you +heard that story, too? It's strange that everybody seems to have heard +it except me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What are you talking about? Stick to business instead.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Yes, I think that's wiser, too. And, as the subject has been +broached, I want to tell you what I propose——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Look here, my boy! I think it a good deal more appropriate that +I should tell you what I have decided. It is this: that from this day +you cease to be my tenant, and that before the sun sets you must start +out to look for work.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Are you in earnest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You ought to be ashamed! I am not in the habit of joking. And +you have no cause for complaint, as you have been granted respite twice.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. While my crops have failed three times. Can I help that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Nor have I said so. But I can help it still less. And you are +not being judged by me. Here is the contract—here's the broken +agreement. Was that agreement broken by me? Oh, no! So I am without +responsibility and wash my hands of the matter.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. This may be the law, but I had thought there ought to be some +forbearance among relatives—especially as, in the natural course of +events, this property should pass on to your offspring.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, well: the natural course of events! He's going around +here wishing the life out of us! But you just look at me: I am good for +twenty years more. And I am <i>going</i> to live just to spite you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To</i> Adolph] What rudeness—what a lack of all human +feeling—to ask a couple of old people outright: are you not going to +die soon? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, I say! But now you have +broken the last tie, and all I can say is: go your way, and don't let +yourself be seen here any more!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. That's plain talk! Well, I'll go, but not alone——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So-o—you imagined that Amelia, our own child, should follow +you out on the highways, and that all you would have to do would be to +unload one child after another on us! But we have already thought of +that and put a stop to it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Where is Amelia? Where?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You may just as well know. She has gone on; a visit to the +convent of the Poor Clares—only for a visit. So now you know it's of +no use to look for her here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Some time you will have to suffer for your cruelty in depriving +a man in distress of his only support. And if you break up our +marriage, the penalty of that breach will fall on you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You should be ashamed of putting your own guilt on those that +are innocent! Go now! And may you hunger and thirst, with every door +closed to you, until you have learned gratitude!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. The same to you in double measure!—But let me only bid my +children good-bye, and I will go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As you don't want to spare your children the pain of +leave-taking, I'll do so—have already done it, in fact.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. That, too! Then I believe you capable of all the evil that has +been rumoured. And now I know what our neighbour meant when he said +that you couldn't—endure the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Not another word! Or you will feel the heavy hand of law and +justice——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He raises his right hand so that the absence of its forefinger +becomes visible</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. [<i>Takes hold of the hand and examines it</i>] The hand of +justice!—The hand of the perjurer whose finger stuck to the Bible when +he took his false oath! Woe unto you! Woe! For the day of retribution +is at hand, and your deeds will rise like corpses out of these +hillsides to accuse you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is that he is saying? It feels as if he were breathing +fire at us!—Go, you lying spirit, and may hell be your reward!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. May Heaven reward you—according to your deserts—and may the +Lord protect my children! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What was that? Who was it that spoke? It seemed to me as if the +voice were coming out of some huge underground hall.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Did you hear it, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. God help us, then!—Do you remember what he said about the +sun? That struck me as more peculiar than all the rest. How could he +know—that it is so? Ever since my birth the sun has always burned +me, and they have told me this is so because my mother suffered from +sunstroke before I was born—but that you also——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Hush! Talk of the devil, and—Isn't the sun +down?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Of course it is down!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. How can that spot of sunlight remain on the mausoleum, then?</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>The spot moves around</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Jesus Maria! That's an omen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. An omen, you say! And on the grave! That doesn't happen every +day—and only a few chosen people who are full of living faith in the +highest things——</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>The spot of light disappears</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There is something weird about the place to-night, +something ghastly.—But what hurt me most keenly was to hear that +good-for-nothing wishing the life out of us in order to get at the +property. Do you know what I—well, I wonder if I dare to speak of +it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Go on!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Have you heard the story that this spot here used to be a place +of execution?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you have found that out, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes—and you knew it?—Well, suppose we gave this property +to the convent? That would make the ground sacred, and it would be +possible to rest in peace in it. The income might go to the children +while they are growing up, and it would mean an additional gain, as +Adolph would be fooled in his hope of inheriting from us. I think this +a remarkably happy solution of a difficult problem: how to give away +without losing anything by it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Your superior intelligence has again asserted itself, and I +am quite of your opinion. But suppose condemnation proceedings should +be started—what would happen then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There is plenty of time to consider that when it happens. In +the meantime, let us first of all, and as quietly as possible, get the +mausoleum consecrated——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] The peace of the Lord be with you, Judge, and +with you, madam!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You come most conveniently, Father, to hear something that +concerns the convent——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. I am glad of it.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The spot of light appears again on the mausoleum</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And then we wanted to ask when the consecration of the +mausoleum might take place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Staring at her</i>] Oh, is that so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Look, Father—look at that omen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, the spot must be sacred, indeed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. That's a will-o'-the-wisp.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Is it not a good sign? Does it not carry some kind of +message? Does it not prompt a pious mind to stop and consider? Would it +not be possible to turn this place into a refuge for desert wanderers +who are seeking——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Madam, let me speak a word to you in private. [<i>He moves +over to the right.</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Following him</i>] Father?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Speaking in a subdued voice</i>] You, madam, enjoy a +reputation in this vicinity which you don't deserve, for you are the +worst sinner that I know of. You want to buy your pardon, and you want +to steal heaven itself, you who have already stolen from the Lord.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is it I hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. When you were sick and near death you made a vow to the +Lord that in case of recovery you would give a monstrance of pure gold +to the convent church. Your health was restored and you gave the holy +vessel, but it was of silver—gilded. Not for the sake of the gold, but +because of your broken vow and your deception, you are already damned.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I didn't know it. The goldsmith has cheated me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. You are lying, for I have the goldsmith's bill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Is there no pardon for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. No! For it is a mortal sin to cheat God.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Woe is me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. The settlement of your other crimes will have to take place +within yourself. But if you as much as touch a hair on the heads of the +children, then you shall learn who is their protector, and you shall +feel the iron rod.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The idea—that this infernal monk should dare to say such +things to me! If I am damned—then I want to be damned! Ha, ha!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Well, you may be sure that there will be no blessing for +your house and no peace for yourself until you have suffered every +suffering that you have brought on others.—May I speak a word with +you, Judge?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> Judge <i>approaches</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, give him what he deserves, so that one may be as good as +the other.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>To the</i> Judge] Where did you get the idea of building +your tomb where the gallows used to stand?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I suppose I got it from the devil!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Like the idea of casting off your children and robbing them +of their inheritance? But you have also been an unrighteous judge—you +have violated oaths and accepted bribes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. And now you want to erect a monument to yourself! You +want to build yourself an imperishable house in heaven! But listen to +me: this spot will never be consecrated, and you may consider it a +blessing if you are permitted to rest in common ground among ordinary +little sinners. There is a curse laid on this soil, because blood-guilt +attaches to it and because it is ill-gotten.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Repent, and restore the stolen property.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have never stolen. Everything has been legally acquired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. That, you see, is the worst part of all—that you regard +your crimes as lawful. Yes, I know that you even consider yourself +particularly favoured by Heaven because of your righteousness. But now +you will soon see what harvest is in store for you. Thorns and thistles +will grow in your vineyard. Helpless and abandoned you shall be, and +the peace of your old age will turn into struggle and strife.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The devil you say!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Don't call him—he'll come anyhow!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Let him come! Because we believe, we have no fear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. The devils believe also, and tremble!—Farewell! [<i>He goes +out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] What did he say to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You think I'll tell? What did he have to say to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you think I'll tell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you going to keep any secrets from me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And how about you? It's what you have always done, but I'll get +to the bottom of your tricks some time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just wait a little, and I'll figure out where you keep the +money that is missing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. So you are hiding money, too! Now there is no longer any use +in playing the hypocrite—just let yourself be seen in all your +abomination, you witch!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I think you have lost your reason—not that it was much to +keep! But you might at least preserve an appearance of decency, if you +can——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you might preserve your beauty—if you can! And your +perennial youth—ha, ha, ha! And your righteousness! You must have +known how to bewitch people, and hoodwink them, for now I see how +horribly ugly and old you are.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>On whom the spot of light now appears</i>] Woe! It is burning +me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There I see you as you really are! [<i>The spot jumps to the</i> +<span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Woe! It is burning me now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And how you look! [<i>Both withdraw to the right</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>enter from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, child, there is justice, both human and divine, but we +must have patience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. I am willing to believe that justice is done, in spite of all +appearances to the contrary. But I cannot love my mother, and I have +never been able to do so. There is something within me that keeps +telling me that she is not only indifferent to me but actually hostile.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So you have found it out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Why—she hates me, and a mother couldn't do that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, well!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And I suffer from not being able to do my duty as a child and +love her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, as <i>that</i> has made you suffer, then you will soon—in +the hour of retribution—learn the great secret of your life.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And I could stand everything, if she were only kind to my +children.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Don't fear on that account, for her power is now ended. The +measure of her wickedness has been heaped full and is now overflowing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Do you think so? But this very day she tore my Adolph away from +me, and now she has humiliated me still further by dressing me as a +servant girl and making me do the work in the kitchen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Patience!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Yes, so you say! Oh, I can understand deserved suffering, but +to suffer without cause——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. My dear child, the prisoners in the penitentiary are +suffering justly, so there is no honour in that; but to be permitted to +suffer unjustly, that's a grace and a trial of which steadfast souls +bring home golden fruits.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. You speak so beautifully that everything you say seems true +to me.—Hush! There are the children—and I don't want them to see me +dressed like this.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She and the</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>take up a position where they are +hidden by a tall shrub</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>enter; the spot of light rests now on one of them and +now on the other</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Look at the sun spot!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, you beautiful sun! But didn't he go to bed a while ago?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Perhaps he is allowed to stay up longer than usual because he has +been very good all day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But how could the sun be good? Now you are stupid, Eric.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Of course the sun can be good—doesn't he make the grapes and the +peaches?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But if he is so good, then he might also give us a peach.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. So he will, if we only wait a little. Aren't there any on the +ground at all?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>Looking</i>] No, but perhaps we might get one from the tree.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, grandmother won't let us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Grandmother has said that we mustn't shake the tree, but I +thought we could play around the tree so that one might fall down +anyhow—of itself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Now you are stupid, Thyra. That would be exactly the same thing. +[<i>Looking up at the tree</i>] Oh, if only a peach would fall down!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. None will fall unless you shake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't talk like that, Thyra, for that is a sin.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Let's pray God to let one fall.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. One shouldn't pray God for anything nice—that is, to eat!—Oh, +little peach, won't you fall? I want you to fall! [<i>A peach falls from +the tree, and</i> <span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>picks it up</i>] There, what a nice tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But now you must give me half, for it was I who said that the +tree had to be shaken——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Enters with a big birch rod</i>] So you have been shaking the +tree—now you'll see what you'll get, you nasty children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, grandmother, we didn't shake the tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you are lying, too. Didn't I hear Thyra say that the tree +had to be shaken? Come along now, and I'll lock you up in the cellar +where neither sun nor moon is to be seen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] The children are innocent, mother.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's a fine thing—to stand behind the bushes listening, +and then to teach one's own children how to lie besides!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Appearing</i>] Nothing has been spoken here but the truth, +madam.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Two witnesses behind the bushes—exactly as if we were in +court. But I know the tricks, I tell you, and what I have heard and +seen is sufficient evidence for me.—Come along, you brats!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. This is sinful and shameful——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>signals to</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>by putting his finger +across his lips</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Goes up to her children</i>] Don't cry, children! Obey +grandmother now—there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to +suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God +preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>goes out with the children</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Is it so hard to believe that God is good—at the very +moment when his kind intentions are most apparent?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may +sleep on it as on a soft pillow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.—This is it: Isaac +was to be sacrificed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Oh, no, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Quiet, now!—Isaac was to <i>be</i> sacrificed, but he never was!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you! Thank you! And good night!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes out to the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Good night, my child!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes slowly out by a path leading to the rear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE PROCESSION OF SHADOWS</span> <i>enters from the mausoleum and moves +without a sound across the stage toward the right; between +every two figures there is a distance of five steps</i>:</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">DEATH</span> <i>with its scythe and hour-glass</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LADY IN WHITE</span>—<i>blond, tall, and slender; on one of her +fingers she wears a ring with a green stone that seems to emit +rays of light</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE GOLDSMITH</span>, <i>with the counterfeit monstrance</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE BEHEADED SAILOR</span>, <i>carrying his head in one hand</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE AUCTIONEER</span>, <i>with hammer and note-book</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>, <i>with rope, scraper, and broom</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE FOOL</span>, <i>carrying his cap with the ass's ears and bells at +the top of a pole, across which is placed a signboard with the +word "Caul" on it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE SURVEYOR</span>, <i>with measuring rod and tripod</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAGISTRATE</span>, <i>dressed and made up like the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>; <i>he +carries a rope around his neck; and his right hand is raised to +show that the forefinger is missing</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The stage is darkened at the beginning of the procession and +remains empty while it lasts</i>.</p> + +<p><i>When it is over, the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters from the left, followed by +the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Why are you playing the ghost at this late hour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And how about yourself?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I couldn't sleep.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Don't know. Thought I heard children crying in the cellar.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's impossible. Oh, no, I suppose you didn't dare to sleep +for fear I might be prying in your hiding-places.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you feared I might be after yours! A pleasant old age this +will be for Philemon and Baucis!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. At least no gods will come to visit us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I shouldn't call them gods.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment the</i> <span class="small-c">PROCESSION</span> <i>begins all over again, +starting from the mausoleum as before and moving in silence +toward the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. O Mary, Mother of God, what is this?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Merciful heavens! [<i>Pause</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Pray! Pray for us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have tried, but I cannot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Neither can I! The words won't come—and no thoughts! +[<i>Pause</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. How does the Lord's Prayer begin?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I can't remember, but I knew it this morning. [<i>Pause</i>] Who +is the woman in white?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It is she—Amelia's mother—whose very memory we wanted to kill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are these shadows or ghosts, or nothing but our own sickly +dreams?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Takes up his pocket-knife</i>] They are delusions sent by the +devil. I'll throw cold steel after them.—Open the knife for me, +Caroline! I can't, don't you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, I see—it isn't easy without a forefinger.—But I can't +either! [<i>She drops the knife</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Woe to us! Steel won't help here! Woe! There's the beheaded +sailor! Let us get away from here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's easy to say, but I can't move from the spot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And I seem to be rooted to the ground.—No, I am not going to +look at it any longer!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He covers his eyes with one hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But what is it? Mists out of the earth, or shadows cast by +the trees?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, it's our own vision that plays us false. There I go now, and +yet I am standing here. Just let me get a good night's sleep, and I'll +laugh at the whole thing!—The devil! Is this masquerade never going to +end?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But why do you look at it then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I see it right through my hand—I see it in the dark, with my +eyelids closed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But now it's over.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PROCESSION</span> <i>has passed out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Praised be—why, I can't get the word out!—I wonder if it will +be possible to sleep to-night? Perhaps we had better send for the +doctor?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Or Father Colomba, perhaps?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. He can't help, and he who could won't!—Well, let the Other One +do it then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>enters from behind the Lady Chapel. He is +extremely thin and moth-eaten. His thin, snuff-coloured hair is +parted in the middle. His straggly beard looks as if it were +made out of tow. His clothes are shabby and outgrown, and he +seems to wear no linen. A red woollen muffler is wound around +his neck. He wears spectacles and carries a piece of rattan +under his arm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>In a low voice</i>] I am the Other One!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">Judge</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] Make the sign of the cross! I can't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. The sign of the cross does not frighten me, for I am +undergoing my ordeal merely that I may wear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I became the Other One because I wanted to be the First +One. I was a man of evil, and my punishment is to serve the good.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Then you are not the Evil One?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am. And it is my task to torment you into finding the +cross, before which we are to meet some time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">Judge</span>] Don't listen to him! Tell him to go!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It won't help. You have called me, and you'll have to +bear with me.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>go out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>goes after them</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_II" id="ACT_II">ACT II</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A huge room with whitewashed walls and a ceiling of darkened +beams. The windows are small and deeply set, with bars on the +outside. The room is crowded with furniture of every kind: +wardrobes, chiffoniers, dressers, chests, tables. On the +furniture are placed silver services, candelabra, candlesticks, +pitchers, table ware, vases, statues, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is a door in the rear. Portraits of the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>hang on the rear wall, one on either side of the door.</i></p> + +<p><i>A harp stands beside a small sewing-table with an easy chair +near it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>is standing before a table at the right, trying to +clean a coffee-set of silver</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The sun is shining in through the windows in the background</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Well, child, how is your patience?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, neighbour, it might be worse. But I never had a +worse job than this silver service here. I have worked at it for half +an hour and cannot get it clean.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's strange, but I suppose there are reasons for it, as +the Judge says. Could you sleep last night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, I slept very well. But do you know that father spent +the whole night in the vineyard with his rattle——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, I heard him. What kind of foolish idea was that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. He thought he heard the starlings that had come to eat the +grapes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Poor fellow! As if the starlings were abroad nights!—And +the children?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Well, the children—she is still keeping them in the cellar, +and I hope she won't forget to give them something to eat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. He who feeds the birds will not forget your children, +my dear Amelia. And now I'll tell you something which, as a rule, +shouldn't be told. There is a small hole in the wall between the +Judge's wine-cellar and my own. When I was down there this morning to +get the place aired out, I heard voices. And when I looked through the +hole, I saw Eric and Thyra playing with a strange little boy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. You could see them, neighbour? And——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. They were happy and well——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Who was their playmate?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's more than I can guess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. This whole dreadful house is nothing but secrets.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That is true, but it is not for us to inquire into them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Enters, carrying a rattle</i>] So you are in here conspiring, +neighbour! Is it not enough that your evil eye has brought the +starlings into my vineyard? For you do have the evil eye—but we'll +soon put it out. I know a trick or two myself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Is it worth while to set him right? One who +doesn't believe what is told him! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, this is beyond us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Tell me, Amelia, have you noticed where your mother is looking +for things when she believes herself to be alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, father.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I can see by your eyes that you know. You were looking this +way. [<i>He goes up to a chest of drawers and happens to get into the +sunlight</i>] Damn the sun that is always burning me! [<i>He pulls down one +of the shades and returns to the chest of drawers</i>] This must be the +place!—Now, let me see! The stupidest spot is also the cleverest, so +that's where I must look—as in this box of perfume, for instance—And +right I was! [<i>He pulls out a number of bank-notes and stocks</i>] What's +this? Twelve English bills of a pound each. Twelve of them!—Oho! Then +it is easy to imagine the rest. [<i>Pushes the bills and securities into +his pockets</i>] But what is it I hear? There are the starlings again! +[<i>He goes to an open window and begins to play the rattle</i>] Get away +there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Are you still playing the ghost?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are you not in the kitchen?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, as you see, I am not. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Are you not done with +the cleaning yet?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, mother, I'll never get done with it. The silver won't +clean, and I don't think it is real.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Not real? Let me see!—Why, indeed, it's quite black! [<i>To +the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>who in the meantime has pulled down another shade</i>] Where +did you get this set from?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That one? Why, it came from an estate.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. For your services as executor! What you got was like what you +gave!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You had better not make any defamatory remarks, for they are +punishable under the law.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you crazy, or was there anything crazy about my remark?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And for that matter, it is silver—sterling silver.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then it must be Amelia's fault.</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Coming through the window from the outside</i>] The Judge can +turn white into black, but he can't turn black into white!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who said that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It seemed as if one of the starlings had been speaking.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Pulling down the remaining shade</i>] Now the sun is here, and a +while ago it seemed to be over there.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Who was it that spoke?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. I think it was that strange school-teacher with the red muffler.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ugh! Let us talk of something else.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">SERVANT GIRL</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Dinner is served.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out; a pause follows</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You go down and eat, Amelia.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, mother. [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>sits down on a chair close to one of the chests</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Sliding up to the chest of drawers >where the box of +perfume stands</i>] Are you not going to eat anything?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I am not hungry. How about you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I have just eaten. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Takes a piece of bread from his pocket</i>] Then you'll excuse +me, I'm sure.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. There's a roast of venison on the table.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You don't say so!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Do you think I poison the food?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, it tasted of carbolic acid this morning.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And what I ate had a sort of metallic taste——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. If I assure you that I have put nothing whatever in your food——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then I don't believe you. But I can assure you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And I won't believe it. [<i>Eating his bread</i>] Roast of venison +is a good thing—I can smell it from here—but bread isn't bad either. +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why are you sitting there watching that chest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. For the same reason that makes you guard those perfumes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you have been there, you sneak-thief!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ghoul!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. To think of it—such words between us! <i>Us</i>!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She begins to weep</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, the world is evil and so is man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, you may well say so—and ungrateful above all. +Ungrateful children rob you of the rent; ungrateful grandchildren rob +the fruit from the trees. You are right, indeed: the world is evil——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I ought to know, I who have had to witness all the rottenness, +and who have been forced to pass the death sentence. That is why the +mob hates me, just as if I had made the laws——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It doesn't matter what the people say, if you have only a +clean conscience—[<i>Three loud knocks are heard from the inside of the +biggest wardrobe</i>] What was that? Who is there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, it was that wardrobe. It always cracks when there is rain +coming. [<i>Three distinct knocks are heard again</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's some kind of performance started by that strolling +charlatan.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The cover of the coffee-pot which</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>was cleaning, opens +and drops down again with a bang; this happens several times in +succession</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What was <i>that</i>, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, yes, it's that same juggler. He can play tricks, but he +can't scare me. [<i>The coffee-pot acts as before.</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you think he is one of those mesmerists?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, whatever it happens to be called——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. If that's so, how can he know our private secrets?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Secrets? What do you mean by that?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A clock begins to strike and keeps it up as if it never meant +to stop</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Now I am getting scared.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then Old Nick himself may take me if I stay here another +minute! [<i>The spot of sunlight appears suddenly on the portrait of the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] Look! He knows that secret, too!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You mean that there is a portrait of <i>her</i> behind yours?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Come away from here and let us go down and eat. And let us +see whether we can't sell off the house and all the rest at auction——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You are right—sell off the whole caboodle and start a new +life!—And now let us go down and eat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>appears in the doorway</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>draw back from him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's an ordinary human being!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Speak to him!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] Who are you, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I have told you twice. That you don't believe me is a +part of your punishment, for if you could believe, your sufferings +would be shortened by it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] It's—<i>him</i>—sure enough! For I feel as if I +were turning into ice. How are we to get rid of him?—Why, they say +that the unclean spirits cannot bear the sound of music. Play something +on the harp, Caroline.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Though badly frightened, the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>sits down at the table +on which the harp stands and begins to play a slow prelude in a +minor key</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>listens reverently and with evident emotion</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Is he gone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I thank you for the music, madam. It lulls the pain +and awakens memories of better things even in a lost soul—Thank you, +madam!—Speaking of the auction, I think you are doing right, although, +in my opinion, an honest declaration of bankruptcy would be still +better—Yes, surrender your goods, and let every one get back his own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Bankruptcy? I have no debts——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No debts!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. My husband <i>has</i> no debts!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No debts! That would be happiness, indeed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, that's the truth! But other people are in debt to me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Forgive them then!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. This is not a question of pardon, but of payment——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. All right! Then you'll be made to pay!—For the +moment—farewell! But we'll meet frequently, and the last time at the +great auction! [<i>He goes out backward</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. He's afraid of the sun—he, too! Ha-ha!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, for some time yet. But once I have accustomed +myself to the light, I shall hate darkness.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He disappears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Do you really think he is—the Other One?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Of course, that's not the way he is supposed to look but then +times are changing and we with them. They used to say that he had gold +and fame to give away, but this fellow goes around dunning——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, he's a sorry lot, and a charlatan—that's all! A milksop +who doesn't dare to bite, no matter how much he would like to!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Standing in the doorway again</i>] Take care, I tell you! +Take care!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Raising his right hand</i>] Take care yourself!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Pointing at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>with one hand as if it were a +revolver</i>] Shame!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Unable to move</i>] Woe is me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You have never believed in anything good. Now you shall +have to believe in the Evil One. He who is <i>all goodness</i> can harm +nobody, you see, and so he leaves that to such villains as myself. But +for the sake of greater effectiveness, you two must torture yourselves +and each other.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Kneeling before</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] Spare us! Help us! Mercy!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>With a gesture as if he were tearing his clothes</i>] +Get up, woman! Woe is me! There is One, and One only, to whom you may +pray! Get up now, or—Yes, now you believe, although I don't wear +a red cloak, and don't carry sword or purse, and don't crack any +jokes—but beware of taking me in jest! I am serious as sin and stern +as retribution! I have not come to tempt you with gold and fame, but +to chastise you with rods and scorpions—[<i>The clock begins to strike +again; the stage turns dark</i>] Your time is nearly up. Therefore, put +your house in order—because die you must! [<i>A noise as of thunder is +heard</i>] Whose voice is speaking now? Do you think <i>he</i> can be scared +off with your rattle when he comes sweeping across your vineyard? Storm +and Hail are his names; destruction nestles under his wings, and in his +claws he carries punishment. Put on your caul now, and don your good +conscience.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The rattling of the hail-storm is heard outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Mercy!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, if you promise repentance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I promise on my oath——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You can take no oath, for you have already perjured +yourself. But promise first of all to set the children free—and then +all the rest!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I promise! Before the sun has set, the children shall be here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That's the first step ahead, but if you turn back, then +you'll see that I am as good as my name, which is—Legion!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He raises the rattan, and at that moment the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>comes +able to move again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_III" id="ACT_III">ACT III</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A wine-cellar, with rows of casks along both side walls. The +doorway in the rear is closed by an iron door</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Every cask is marked with the name of the urine kept in it. +Those nearest the foreground have small shelves above the taps, +and the shelves hold glasses</i>.</p> + +<p><i>At the right, in the foreground, stands a wine-press and near +it are a couple of straw-bottomed chairs</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Bottles, funnels, siphons, crates, etc., are scattered about +the place</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>are seated by the wine-press</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. I think it's awfully dull.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. I think grandmother is nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't talk like that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. No, perhaps not, but she <i>is</i> nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't, Thyra, for then the little boy won't come and play +with us again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Then I won't say it again. I only wish it wasn't so dark.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Don't you remember, Thyra, that the boy said we shouldn't +complain——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Then I won't do it any more—[<i>The spot of sunlight appears on +the ground</i>] Oh, look at the sun-spot!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She jumps up and places her foot on the light.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't step on the sun, Thyra. That's a sin!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. I didn't mean to step on him. I just wanted to have him. Now +see—I have him in my arms, and I can pat him.—Look! Now he's kissing +me right on the mouth.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>enters from behind one of the casks; he wears a +white garment reaching below his knees, and a blue scarf around +the waist; on his feet are sandals; he is blond, and when he +appears the cellar grows lighter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Goes to meet him and shakes hands with him</i>] Hello, little +boy!—Come and shake hands, Thyra!—What's your name, boy? You must +tell us to-day.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>merely looks at him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You shouldn't be so forward, Eric, for it makes him +bashful.—But tell me, little boy, who is your papa?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Don't be so curious. When you know me better, you'll learn +all those things.—But let us play now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, but nothing instructive, for that is so tedious. I want it +just to be nice.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Smiling</i>] Shall I tell a story?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, but not out of the Bible, for all those we know by heart——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>smiles again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You say such things, Thyra, that he gets hurt——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, my little friends, you don't hurt me—But now, if you are +really good, we'll go and play in the open——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Oh, yes, yes!—But then, you know, grandmother won't let us——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, your grandmother has said that she wished you were out, +and so we'll go before she changes her mind. Come on now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, what fun! Oh——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The door in the rear flies open and through the doorway is +seen a sunlit field planted with rye ready for the harvest. +Among the yellow ears grow bachelor's-buttons and daisies</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Come, children! Come into the sunlight and feel the joy of +living!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Can't we take the sun-spot along? It's a pity to leave it here +in the darkness.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, if it is willing to go with you. Call it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>go toward the door, followed by the spot of light</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Isn't it a nice little spot! [<i>Talks to the spot as if it were a +cat</i>] Puss, puss, puss, puss!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Take it up on your arm, Thyra, for I don't think it can get +over the threshold.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>gets the spot of light on her arm, which she bends as if +carrying something</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>All three go out; the door closes itself. Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters with a lantern, the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>with the +birch rod</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's cool and nice here, and then there is no sun to bother +you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And how quiet it is. But where are the children?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Both look for the children</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It looks as if they had taken us at our word.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Us? Please observe that I didn't promise anything, for +he—you know—talked only to you toward the end.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Perhaps, but this time we had better obey, for I don't want to +have any more trouble with hail-storms and such things.—However, the +children are not here, and I suppose they'll come back when they get +hungry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And I wish them luck when they do! [<i>The rod is snatched out +of her hand and dances across the floor; finally it disappears behind +one of the casks</i>] Now it's beginning again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, why don't you submit and do as he—you know who!—says? I, +for my part, don't dare to do wrong any longer. The growing grapes have +been destroyed, and we must take pleasure in what is already safe. Come +here, Caroline, and let us have a glass of something good to brace us +up! [<i>He knocks on one of the casks and draws a glass of wine from it</i>] +This is from the year of the comet—anno 1869, when the big comet came, +and everybody said it meant war. And, of course, war did break out.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He offers a filled glass to his wife</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You drink first!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, now—did you think there might be poison in this, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, really, I didn't—but—we'll never again know what peace +is, or happiness!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do as I do: submit! [<i>He drinks</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I want to, and I try to, but when I come to think how badly +other people have treated us, I feel that I am just as good as anybody +else. [<i>She drinks</i>] That's a very fine wine! [<i>She sits down</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The wine is good, and it makes the mind easier.—Yes, the +wiseacres say that we are rapscallions, one and all, so I can't see +what right anybody has to go around finding fault with the rest. [<i>He +drinks</i>] My own actions have always been legal; that is, in keeping +with prevailing laws and constitutions. If others happened to be +ignorant of the law, they had only themselves to blame, for no one has +a right to ignorance of that kind. For that reason, if Adolph does not +pay the rent, it is he who breaks the law, and not I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And yet the blame falls on you, and you are made to appear +like a criminal. Yes, it is as I have always said: there is no justice +in this world. If you had done right, you should have brought suit +against Adolph and turned out the whole family. But then it isn't too +late yet—— [<i>She drinks</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, you see, if I were to carry out the law strictly, then I +should sue for the annulment of his marriage, and that would cut him +off from the property——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why don't you do it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] We-e-ell!—I suppose that would settle the +matter once for all. A divorce would probably not be granted, but I +think it would be possible to get the marriage declared invalid on +technical grounds——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And if there be no such grounds?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Showing the influence of the wine</i>] There are technical +grounds for everything, if you only look hard enough.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, then! Think of it—how that good-for-nothing is wishing +the life out of us—but now he'll see how "the natural course of +events" makes the drones take to the road——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ha-ha! You're right, quite right! And then, you know, when I +think it over carefully—what reason have we for self-reproach? What +wrong have we done? It's mean to bring up that about the monstrance—it +didn't hurt anybody, did it? And as for my being guilty of perjury: +that's a pure lie. I got blood-poison in the finger—that's all—and +quite a natural thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just as if I didn't know it. And I may as well add that this +hail-storm a while ago—why, it was as plain a thing as if it had been +foretold in the Farmer's Almanac!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Exactly! That's what I think too. And for that reason, Caroline, +I think we had better forget all that fool talk—and if you feel as I +do, we'll just turn to another priest and get him to consecrate the +mausoleum.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, why shouldn't we?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, why shouldn't we? Perhaps because that mesmerist comes here +and talks a lot of superstitious nonsense?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Tell me, do you really think he is nothing but a mesmerist?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Blustering</i>] That fellow? He's a first-class charlatan. A +che-ar-la-tan!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] I am not so sure.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But I am sure. Su-ure! And if he should ever come before my eyes +again—just now, for instance—I'll drink his health and say: here's +to you, old humourist! [As <i>he raises the glass, it is torn out of his +hand and is seen to disappear through the wall</i>] What was that? [<i>The +lantern goes out.</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Help!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>A gust of wind is heard, and then all is silence again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You just get some matches, and I'll clear this matter up. For I +am no longer afraid of anything. Not of anything!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, don't, don't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Steps from behind one of the casks</i>] Now we'll have to +have a talk in private.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Where did you come from?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That is no concern of yours.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Straightening himself up</i>] What kind of language is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Your own!—Off with your cap! [<i>He blows at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, +<i>whose cap is lifted off his head and falls to the ground</i>] Now you +shall hear sentence pronounced: you have wanted to sever what has been +united by Him whose name I may not mention. Therefore you shall be +separated from her who ought to be the staff of your old age. Alone +you must run the gauntlet. Alone you must bear the qualms of sleepless +nights.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Is that mercy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is justice; it is the law: an eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth! The gospel has a different sound, but of that you +didn't want to hear. Now, move I along. [<i>He beats the air with the +rattan.</i></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The scene changes to a garden with cypresses and yew-trees +clipped in the shape of obelisks, candelabra, vases, etc. Under +the trees grow roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, etc. At the centre +of it is a spring above which droops a gigantic fuchsia in full +bloom</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p><i>Back of the garden appears a field of rye, all yellow and +ready to be cut. Bachelor's-buttons and daisies grow among the +rye. A scarecrow hangs in the middle of the field. The distant +background is formed by vineyards and light-coloured rocks with +beech woods and ruined castles on them</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A road runs across the stage in the near background. At the +right is a covered Gothic arcade. In front of this stands a +statue of the Madonna with the Child</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>enter hand in hand with the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Oh, how beautiful it is!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Who is living here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Whoever feels at home has his home here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Can we play here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Anywhere except in that avenue over there to the right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. And may we pick the flowers?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. You may pick any flowers you want, but you mustn't touch the +tree at the fountain.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. What kind of tree is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Why, you know, it is one of those they call [<i>lowering his +voice</i>] "Christ's Blood-drops."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You should cross yourself, Eric, when you mention the name of +the Lord.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Makes the sign of the cross</i>] Tell me, little boy, why mustn't +we touch the tree?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You should obey without asking any questions, Eric.—But tell +me, little boy, why is that ugly scarecrow hanging there? Can't we take +it away?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, indeed, you may, for then the birds will come and sing +for us.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>run into the rye-field and tear down the +scarecrow</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Away with you, you nasty old scarecrow! Come and eat now, little +birds! [<i>The Golden Bird comes flying from the right and perches on the +fuchsia</i>] Oh, see the Golden Bird, Thyra!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, how pretty it is! Does it sing, too?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The bird calls like a cuckoo</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Can you understand what the bird sings, boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, children, the birds have little secrets of their own +which they have a right to keep hidden.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Of course, Eric, don't you see, otherwise the children could +tell where the nests are, and then they would take away the eggs, and +that would make the birds sorry, and they couldn't have any children of +their own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Don't talk like a grown-up, Thyra.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Putting a finger across his lips</i>] Hush! Somebody is +coming. Now let us see if he likes to stay with us or not.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>enters, stops in surprise, and begins to +look around</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Well, boy, won't you come and play with us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. [<i>Takes off his cap; speaks bashfully</i>] Oh, you don't +want to play with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Why shouldn't we?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I am sooty all over. And besides I don't know how to +play—I hardly know what it is.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Think of it, the poor boy has never played.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. What is your name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. My name? They call me Ole—but——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. But what's your other name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Other name? I have none.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. But your papa's name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I have no papa.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. And your mamma's?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I don't know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. He has no papa or mamma. Come to the spring here, boy, and +I'll make you as white as a little prince.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. If anybody else said it, I shouldn't believe it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Why do you believe it then, when I say it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I don't know, but I think you look as if it would be +true.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Give the boy your hand, Thyra!—Would you give him a kiss, +too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>After a moment's hesitation</i>] Yes, when you ask me!</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_2" id="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Swedish name of this plant is "Christ's Blood-drops."</p></div> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She kisses the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. <i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>dips +his hand in the spring and sprays a little water on the face +of the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>, <i>whose black mask at once disappears, +leaving his face white</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Now you are white again. And now you must go behind that +rose-bush there and put on new clothes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Why do I get all this which I don't deserve?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Because you don't believe that you deserve it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. [<i>Going behind the rose-bush</i>] Then I thank you for it, +although I don't understand what it means.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Was he made a chimney-sweep because he had been bad?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, he has never been bad. But he had a bad guardian who took +all his money away from him, and so he had to go out into the world to +earn a living—See how fine he looks now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>enters dressed in light summer clothes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>] Go to the arcade now, and you'll +meet somebody you love—and who loves you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Who could love me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Go and find out.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>goes across the stage to the arcade, where +he is met by the</i> <span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>, <i>who puts her arms around him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Who is living in there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>With his finger on his lips</i>] Polly Pry!—But who is coming +there?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>appears on the road with a sack on her back and +a stick in her hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. It's grandmother! Oh, now we are in for it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, my! It's grandmother!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Don't get scared, children. I'll tell her it's my fault.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, you mustn't, for then she'll beat you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Well, why shouldn't I take a beating for my friends?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, I'll do it myself!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. And I, too!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Hush! And come over here—then you won't be scolded. [<i>They +hide</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Goes to the spring</i>] So, this is the famous spring that +is said to cure everything—after the angel has stirred it up, of +course!—But I suppose it is nothing but lies. Well, I might have a +drink anyhow, and water is water. [<i>She bends down over the spring</i>] +What is it I see? Eric and Thyra with a strange boy! What can it mean? +For they are not here. It must be an oracle spring. [<i>She takes a cup +that stands by the spring, fills it with water and drinks</i>] Ugh, it +tastes of copper—he must have been here and poisoned the water, too! +Everything is poisoned! Everything!—And I feel tired, too, although +the years have not been hard on me—[<i>She looks at her reflection +in the spring and tosses her head</i>] On the contrary, I look quite +youthful—but it's hard to walk, and still harder to get up—[<i>She +struggles vainly to rise</i>] My God, my God, have mercy! Don't leave me +lying here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Makes a sign to the children to stay where they are; then +he goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>and wipes the perspiration from her +forehead</i>] Rise, and leave your evil ways!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] Who is that?—Oh, it's you, my nice gentleman, who +has led the children astray?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Go, ungrateful woman! I have wiped the sweat of fear from +your brow; I have raised you up when your own strength failed you, and +you reward me with angry words. Go—go!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>stares astonished at him; then her eyes drop, and she +turns and goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>come forward</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. But I am sorry for grandmother just the same, although she is +nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. It isn't nice here, and I want to go home.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Wait a little! Don't be so impatient.—There comes somebody +else we know.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>appears on the road</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. He cannot come here and defile the spring. [<i>He waves his +hand; the spot of sunlight strikes the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>making him turn around +and walk away</i>] It is nice of you to be sorry for the old people, but +you must believe that what I do is right. Do you believe that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, we believe it, we believe it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But I want to go home to mamma!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. I'll let you go.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>appears in the background and hides himself +behind the bushes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. For now I must go. The Angelus bell will soon be ringing——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Where are you going, little boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. There are other children I must play with—far away from +here, where you cannot follow me. But now, when I leave you here, don't +forget what I have told you: that you mustn't touch the tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. We'll obey! We will! But don't go away, for it will soon be dark!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. How is that? Anybody who has a good conscience and knows his +evening prayer has nothing, nothing to be afraid of.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. When will you come back to us, little boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Next Christmas I come back, and every Christmas!—Good night, +my little friends!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He kisses their foreheads and goes out between the bushes; +when he reappears in the background, he is carrying a cross +with a banner like that carried by the Christ-Child in old +paintings; the Angelus bell begins to ring; as he raises the +banner and waves it in greeting to the children, he becomes +surrounded by a clear, white light; then he goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>kneel and pray silently while the bell is ringing</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Having crossed himself</i>] Do you know who the boy was, Thyra?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. It was the Saviour!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>steps forward</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>Scared, runs to Eric, who puts his arms around her to protect +her</i>] My!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] What do you want? You nasty thing!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I only wanted—Look at me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Yes?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am looking like this because once I touched the tree. +Afterward it was my joy to tempt others into doing the same. But now, +since I have grown old, I have come to repent, and now I am remaining +here to warn men, but nobody believes me—nobody—because I lied once.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You don't need to warn us, and you can't tempt us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Tut, tut, tut! Not so high-and-mighty, my little friend! +Otherwise it's all right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Well, go away then, for I don't want to listen to you, and you +scare my sister!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am going, for I don't feel at home here, and I have +business elsewhere. Farewell, children!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Is heard calling from the right</i>] Eric and Thyra!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, there is mamma—dear little mamma!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>enters</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>rush into her arms</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>turns away to hide his emotion</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_IV" id="ACT_IV">ACT IV</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A cross-roads surrounded by pine woods. Moonlight</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span> <i>stands waiting</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, at last, there you are.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. You have kept me waiting. Why have you called me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Help me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. In what way?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Against my enemies.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. There is only one thing that helps against your enemies: be good +to them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, I declare! I think the whole world has turned +topsyturvy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Yes, so it may seem.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Even the Other One—you know who I mean—has become +converted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Then it ought to be time for you, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Time for me? You mean that my years are burdening me? But it +is less than three weeks since I danced at a wedding.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. And you call that bliss! Well, if that be all, you shall have +your fill of it. For there is to be a ball here to-night, although I +myself cannot attend it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Just here. It will begin whenever I give the word——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's too bad I haven't got on my low-necked dress.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. You can borrow one from me—and a pair of dancing shoes with red +heels.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps I might also have a pair of gloves and a fan?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Everything! And, in particular, any number of young cavaliers +who will proclaim you the queen of the ball.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Now you are joking.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. No, I am not joking. And I know that they have the good taste at +these balls to choose the right one for queen—and in speaking of the +right one, I have in mind the most worthy——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The most beautiful, you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. No, I don't—I mean the worthiest. If you wish, I'll start the +ball at once.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I have no objection.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. If you step aside a little, you'll find your maid—while the +hall is being put in order.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Going out to the right</i>] Think of it—I am going to have a +maid, too! You know, madam, that was the dream of my youth—which never +came true.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. There you see: "What youth desires, age acquires." [<i>She blows a +whistle</i>]</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Without curtain-fall, the stage changes to represent the +bottom of a rocky, kettle-shaped chasm. It is closed in on +three sides by steep walls of black rock, wholly stripped of +vegetation. At the left, in the foreground, stands a throne. At +the right is a platform for the musicians</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A bust of Pan on a square base stands in the middle of the +stage, surrounded by a strange selection of potted plants: +henbane, burdock, thistle, onion, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>The musicians enter. Their clothing is grey; their faces are +chalk-white and sad; their gestures tired. They appear to be +tuning their instruments, but not a sound is heard</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then comes the</i> <span class="small-c">LEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA</span>.</p> + +<p><i>After him, the guests of the ball: cripples, beggars, tramps. +All are pulling on black gloves as they come in. Their +movements are dragging; their expressions funereal</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Next: The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>, <i>who is really</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER +ONE</span><i>—a septuagenarian dandy wearing a black wig which is too +small for him, so that tufts of grey hair appear underneath. +His mustaches are waxed and pointed. He wears a monocle and has +on an outgrown evening dress and top-boots. He looks melancholy +and seems to be suffering because of the part he has to play.</i></p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">SEVEN DEADLY SINS</span> <i>enter and group themselves around the +throne as follows</i>:</p> + + +<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">PRIDE</td><td align="left">COVETOUSNESS</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LUST</td><td align="left">ANGER</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">GLUTTONY</td><td align="left">ENVY</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="left">SLOTH</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><i>Finally the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>enters. He is hunchbacked and wears a +soiled velvet coat with gold buttons, ruffles, sword, and high +boots with spurs</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The ensuing scene must be played with deadly seriousness, +without a trace of irony, satire, or humour. There is a +suggestion of a death-mask in the face of every figure. They +move noiselessly and make simple, awkward gestures that convey +the impression of a drill</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] Why do you disturb my peace at +this midnight hour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Always, brother, you are asking why. Have you not +seen the light yet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Only in part. I can perceive a connection between my suffering +and my guilt, but I cannot see why I should have to suffer eternally, +when He has suffered in my place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Eternally? You died only yesterday. But then time +ceased to exist to you, and so a few hours appear like an eternity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yesterday?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Yes.—But because you were proud and wanted no +assistance, you have now to bear your own sufferings.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What have I done, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. What a sublime question!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But why don't you tell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. As our task is to torture each other by +truth-telling—were we not called "heroes of truth" in our lifetime?—I +shall tell you a part of your own secret. You were, and you are still, +a hunchback——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. There you see! You don't know what is known to +everybody else. But all those others pitied you, and so you never heard +the word that names your own deformity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What deformity is that? Perhaps you mean that I have a weak +chest? But that is no deformity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. A "weak chest"—yes, that is your own name for +the matter. However, people kept the disfigurement of your body hidden +from you, and they tried to assuage your misfortune by showing you +sympathy and kindness. But you accepted their generosity as an earned +tribute, their encouraging words as expressions of admiration due to +your superior physique. And at last you went so far in conceit that +you regarded yourself as a type of masculine beauty. And when, to cap +it all, woman granted you her favours out of pity, then you believed +yourself an irresistible conqueror.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What right have you to say such rude things to me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Right? I am filling the saddening duty which +forces one sinner to punish another. And soon you will have to fulfil +the same cruel duty toward a woman who is vain to the verge of +madness—a woman resembling you as closely as she possibly could.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I don't want to do it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Try to do anything but what you must, and you'll +experience an inner discord that you cannot explain.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What does it mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It means that you cannot all of a sudden cease to +be what you are: and you are what you have wanted to become. [<i>He claps +his hands</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>enters, her figure looking as aged and clumsy +as ever; but she has painted her face and her head is covered +by a powdered wig; she wears a very low-necked, rose-coloured +dress, red shoes, and a fan made out of peacock feathers</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>A little uncertain</i>] Where am I? Is this the right place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Quite right, for you are in the place we call +the "waiting-room." It is so called [<i>he sighs],</i> because here we have +to spend our time waiting—waiting for something that will come some +time——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, it isn't bad at all—and there is the music—and there +is a bust—of whom?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It's a pagan idol called Pan, because to the +ancients he was all they had. And as we, in this place, are of the old +order, more or less antiquated, he has been put here for us to look at.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why, we are not old——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Yes, my Queen. When the new era opened [<i>he +sighs</i>], we couldn't keep up with it, and so we were left behind——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The new era? What kind of talk is that? When did it begin?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It is easy to figure out when the year one +began—It was night, for that matter; the stars were shining brightly, +and the weather must have been mild, as the shepherds remained in the +open——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, yes, yes—Are we not going to dance here to-night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Of course, we are. The Prince is waiting for a +chance to ask you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] IS he a real Prince?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. A real one, my Queen. That is to say, he has full +reality in a certain fashion——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>who is asking her to dance</i>] You don't +look happy, my Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am not happy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, I can't say that I find it very hilarious—and the +place smells of putty, as if the glazier had just been at work here. +What is that strange smell, as of linseed-oil?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With an expression of horror</i>] What are you saying? Do you +mean that charnel-house smell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I fear I must have said something impolite—but then, it +isn't for the ladies to offer pleasantries—that's what the cavalier +should do——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What can I tell you that you don't know before?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That I don't know before? Let me see—No, then I had better +tell you that you are very handsome, my Prince.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now you exaggerate, my Queen. I am not exactly handsome, but I +have always been held what they call "good-looking."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just like me—I never was a beauty—that is, I <i>am</i> not, +considering my years—Oh, I am so stupid!—What was it I wanted to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Let the music begin!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The musicians appear to be playing, but not a sound is heard</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Well? Are you not going to dance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Sadly</i>] No, I don't care to dance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. But you must: you are the only presentable +gentleman.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's true, I suppose—[<i>pensively</i>] but is that a fit +occupation for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. How do you mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. At times it seems as if I had something else to think of, but +then—then I forget it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Don't brood—enjoy yourself while youth is with +you and the roses of life still bloom on your cheeks. Now! Up with the +head, and step lively——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>grins broadly; then he offers his hand to the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and together they perform a few steps of a minuet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Interrupting the dance</i>] Ugh! Your hands are cold as ice! +<i>goes to the throne</i>] Why are those seven ladies not dancing?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. How do you like the music, Queen?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's splendid, but they might play a little more <i>forte</i>——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. They are soloists, all of them, and formerly each +one of them wanted to make himself heard above the rest, and so they +have to use moderation now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But I asked why the seven sisters over there are not dancing. +Couldn't you, as master of ceremonies, make them do so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. I don't think it would be of any use trying, for +they are obstinate as sin—But please assume your throne, my Queen. We +are going to perform a little play in honour of the occasion——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, what fun! But I want the prince to ... escort me——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] Have I got to do it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You ought to be ashamed of yourself—you with your hunch!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Spits in her face</i>] Hold your tongue, you cursed old hag!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Cuffs him on the ear</i>] That'll teach you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Jumps at her and knocks her down</i>] And that's, for you!</p> + +<p><i>All the rest cover their faces with their hands</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Tears off the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>'S <i>wig so that her head appears +totally bald</i>] There's the false scalp! Now we'll pull out the teeth!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Enough! Enough!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He helps the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>to rise, and gives her a kerchief to +cover her head</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Crying</i>] Goodness gracious, that I could let myself be +fooled like that! But I haven't deserved any better, I admit.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, you have deserved a great deal worse. You should leave my +hunch alone, for otherwise hell breaks loose—It's a miserable thing to +see an old woman like you so foolish and so degraded. But, then, you +are to be pitied—as all of us are to be pitied.</p> + +<p>ALL. We are all to be pitied!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With a sneer</i>] The queen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>In the same tone</i>] The prince!—But haven't we met before?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps—in our youth—for I am old, too. You had too much +frippery on before—but now, when the disguise has been taken away—I +begin to distinguish certain features——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Don't say anything more—don't say anything more—Oh, what +have I come to—what is happening to me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now I know: you are my sister!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But—my brother is dead! Have I been deceived? Or are the +dead coming back?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Everything comes back.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Am I dead or am I living?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You may well ask that question, for I don't know the +difference. But you are exactly the same as when I parted from you +once: just as vain and just as thievish.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Do you think you are any better?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps! I am guilty of all the seven deadly sins, but you have +invented the eighth one—that of robbing the dead.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What are you thinking of now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Twelve years in succession I sent you money to buy a wreath for +mother's grave, and instead of buying it you kept the money.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. How do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How I came to know of it is the only thing that interests you +about that crime of yours.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Prove it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking a number of bills from his pocket</i>] Here is the money!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>sinks to the ground. A church bell begins to +ring. All bend their heads, but nobody kneels</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. [<i>Enters, goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and assists her in +rising</i>] Do you know me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. I am Amelia's mother. You have taken the memory of me +away from her. You have erased me from her life. But now you are to be +wiped out, and I shall recover my child's love and the prayers my soul +needs.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, somebody has been telling tales to that hussy—then I'll +set her to herd the swine——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>strikes her on the mouth</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. Don't strike her!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you interceding for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. It is what I have been taught to do.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You hypocrite! If you only dared, you would wish me buried as +deep as there are miles from here to the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Down with you—monster!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[As <i>he touches her with his staff she falls to the ground</i></p> + +<p><i>Again the scene is changed while the curtain remains up. The +bust of Pan sinks into the earth. The musicians and the throne +with its attendant sins disappear behind pieces of; scenery +that are lowered from above. At last the cross-roads with the +surrounding pine woods appear again, and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>is +discovered lying at the foot of a sign-post</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Get up!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I cannot—I am frozen stiff——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. The sun will rise in a moment. The cock has crowed. The matin +bells are ringing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I don't care for the sun.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Then you'll have to walk in darkness.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, my eyes! What have you done to me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. I have only turned out the light because it troubled you. Now, +up and away with you—through cold and darkness—until you drop!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Where is my husband?—Amelia! Eric and Thyra! My children!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Yes, where are they? But wherever they may be, you shall not see +them until your pilgrimage is ended. Now, up and away! Or I will loose +my dogs!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>gropes her way out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The court-room. In the background is the desk of the presiding judge, +decorated in white and gold with the emblems of justice. In front of +the desk, covering the centre of the floor, stands a big table, and on +it are placed writing-materials, inkstand, Bible, bell, and gavel</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The axe of the executioner hangs on the rear wall, with a pair of +handcuffs below it and a big black crucifix above</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters and makes his way into the room on tiptoe. +The bell rings. The gavel raps once on the table. All the +chairs are pulled up to the table at once. The Bible is opened. +The candles on the table become lighted</i>.</p> + +<p><i>For a moment the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>stands still, stricken with horror. +Then he resumes his advance toward a huge cabinet. Suddenly the +doors of this fly open. A number of documents are thrown out, +and the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>picks them up</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Reassured</i>] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts +of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease—my report as +executor—all of it! [<i>The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank</i>] Make +all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be +scared. [<i>He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close +the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts +it</i>] Everything has a cause: <i>ratio sufficiens</i>. This door must have +a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't +know it, but it cannot scare me. [<i>The axe moves on the wall</i>] The axe +moved—as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only +that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing +will give me pause but seeing my own ghost—for that would be beyond +the tricks of any charlatan.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">GHOST</span> <i>enters from behind the cabinet; the figure +resembles in every way the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>but where the eyes should +be appear two white surfaces, as on a plaster bust</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Who are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. I am not—I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is +now come here to receive his sentence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What have you done then, poor man?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for +me, you whose conscience is clear——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Am I—to pray for you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as +I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let +myself be called a righteous judge—yes, without irony!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible +Ones are sitting in judgment——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. [<i>Pointing to the table</i>] You don't see them, but I do. [<i>The +bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table</i>] Pray for me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I won't. Justice must take its course. You must have been a +great offender to reach consciousness of your guilt so late.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. You are as stern as a good conscience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's just the word for it. Stern, but just!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. No pity, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. None whatever.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. No mercy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No mercy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The gavel raps on the table; the chairs are pushed away</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Now the verdict is being delivered. Can't you hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I hear nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. [<i>Pointing to the table</i>] And you see nothing? Don't you see the +beheaded sailor, the surveyor, the chimney-sweep, the lady in white, +the tenant——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I see absolutely nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Woe unto you, then, when your eyes become opened as mine have +been. Now the verdict has been given: guilty!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Guilty!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. You have said it—yourself! And you have already been sentenced. +All that remains now is the big auction.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain.</i></p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_V" id="ACT_V">ACT V</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same room as in the second act, but it is now arranged for +the auction. Benches are placed in the middle of the room. On +the table behind which the auctioneer is to preside stand the +silver coffee-set, the clock, vases, candelabra, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>The portraits of the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>have been +taken down and are leaning against the table</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>are on the stage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Dressed as a scrub-woman</i>] Before my mother left, she ordered +me to clean the hallway and the stairs. It is winter now, and cold, and +I cannot say that it has been any pleasure to carry out her order——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So you didn't get any pleasure out of it? Well, my child, I +must say that you demand rather too much of yourself. But as you have +obeyed, and stood the test, your time of trial shall be over, and I +will let you know your life's secret.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Speak out, neighbour, for I dare hardly trust my good +resolutions much longer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, then! The woman you have been calling mother is your +stepmother. Your father married her when you were only one year old. +And the reason you have never seen your mother is that she died when +you were born.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. So that was it!—How strange to have had a mother and yet never +to have seen her! Tell me—did you ever see her?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I knew her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. How did she look?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, how <i>did</i>, she look?—Her eyes were blue as the +blossom of the flax—her hair was yellow as the dry stalks of wheat——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And tall and slender—and her hand was small and white as if it +had touched nothing but silk in all her days—and her mouth was shaped +like a heart, and her lips looked as if none but good words had ever +passed them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. How can you know all that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Because that is the image which appears in my dreams when I +have not been good—And then she raises her hand as if to warn me, and +on one of her fingers there is a ring with a green stone that seems to +radiate light. It is she!—Tell me, neighbour, is there a picture of +her in the place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. There used to be one, but I don't know whether it's still +here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. So this one is my stepmother? Well, God was good when he let me +keep my mother's image free from stain—and hereafter I shall find it +quite natural that this other woman is cruel to me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Cruel stepmothers exist to make children kind. And you were +not kind, Amelia, but you have become so, and for that reason I shall +now give you a Christmas present in advance.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He takes the portrait of the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>out of its frame, when +in its place appears a picture in water-colours corresponding +to the description given above</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Kneeling in front of the picture</i>] My mother—mother of my +dreams! [<i>Rising</i>] But how can I keep the picture when it is to be sold +at auction?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. You can, because the auction has already taken place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Where and when was it held?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. It was held elsewhere—in a place not known to you—and +to-day the things are merely to be taken away.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. What a lot of queer things are happening! And how full of +secrets the house is!—But tell me, where is my stepmother? I have not +seen her in a long time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I suppose it must be told: she is in a place from which +nobody returns.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Is she dead?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. She is dead. She was found frozen to death in a swamp into +which she had stumbled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Merciful God have pity on her soul!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So he will in time, especially if you pray for her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Of course I will.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. How good you have become, my child—as a result of her +becoming so bad!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Don't say so now when she is dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Right you are! Let her rest in peace!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. But where is my father?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's a secret to all of us. But it is sweet of you to ask +for him before you ask for your own Adolph.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Adolph—yes, where is he? The children are crying for him, and +Christmas is near.—Oh, what a Christmas this will be to us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Leave to each day its own trouble—and now take your +Christmas present and go. The affairs connected with the auction are to +be settled, and then you'll hear news.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Takes the portrait of her mother</i>] I go, but no longer +alone—and I have a feeling that something good is about to happen, but +what I cannot tell.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out to the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. But I know! Yet you had better go, for what is about to +happen here should not be seen by children.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He opens the door in the rear and rings a bell to summon +the people to the auction. The people enter in the following +order</i>: <span class="small-c">THE POOR</span>, <i>a large number of them; the</i> <span class="small-c">SAILOR</span>; <i>the</i> +<span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>; <i>the</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>, who takes his place in front +of the rest; <i>the</i> <span class="small-c">WIDOW</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">FATHERLESS CHILDREN</span>; <i>the</i> +<span class="small-c">SURVEYOR</span>; <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>, <i>carrying the auctioneer's hammer and +a pile of documents</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Takes his place at the table and raps with the +hammer</i>] At a compulsory auction held at the court-house for the +disposal of property left by the late circuit judge, the items now to +be described were bid in by the Court on behalf of absent creditors, +and may now be obtained and taken away by their respective owners.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Enters, looking very aged and miserable</i>] In the name of the +law—hold!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Pretends to throw something at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>who +stands aghast and speechless</i>] Don't speak of the law! Here the Gospel +is preached—but not for you, who wanted to buy heaven with stolen +money.—First: the widow and her fatherless children. There is the +silver set which the judge accepted from you for his false report +as executor. In his stained hands the silver has turned black, but +I hope that in yours it will once more turn white.—Then we come to +the ward, who had to become a chimney-sweep, after being cheated out +of his inheritance. Here are the receipted bills and the property +due to you from your guardian. And you need not thank him for his +accounting.—Here stands the surveyor who, although he was innocent, +had to serve two years in prison because he had made an illegal +partition—the maps handed to him for the purpose having been falsified +in advance. What can you do for him, Judge? Can you undo what has +happened, or restore his lost honour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, that fellow—give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His +honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Slaps the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>on the mouth, while the rest spit at +him and mutter with clinched fists</i>] Here is the brother of the sailor +who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother +to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not +worth as much.—And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated +out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the +tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, +placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, +wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to +the property.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I appeal to a higher court!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. This case has passed through all the instances except +the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. +For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their +living would cry out: Guilty!—Thus we are done with all that could be +properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the +poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as +bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs—all in a perfectly legal way because +evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! +Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">POOR</span> +<i>begin to plunder</i>] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. +This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for +board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [<i>Silence</i>] +No offer? [<i>Silence</i>] First, second, third time—no offer? [<i>To the</i> +<span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you +myself and send you to your well-earned punishment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Is there no atonement?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, punishment atones.—Take him into the woods and +stone him in accordance with the law of Moses—for no other law was +ever known to him. Away with him! [<i>The people pounce on the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> +<i>and jostle him</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as +in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm +surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the +stage.)</i></p> + +<p><i>In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the +weighing of newcomers</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>are seated opposite each other +at a small table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream</i>] +Hush!—I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me—and yet I +felt no pain—and then everything turned black and vacant until this +moment—How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell—Now I am beginning +to hear again—and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried—oh, +how cold it is—they are washing me, I think—I am lying in something +that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a +carpenter shop—I am being carried, and a bell is ringing—Wait! Now I +am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all +the time—Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning—boom, +boom, boom: three knocks on the roof—and then the lessons begin—the +teacher is leading—and now the boys are singing—What can it be?—And +then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly—boom, boom, +boom, boom, boom, boom—silence—it's over! [<i>He wakes up</i>] Where am I? +I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!—Oh, it's you!—Where are we? +Whose bust is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. They say it is the new god.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But he looks like a goat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps it is the god of the goats?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. "The goats on the left side—" What is that I am recalling?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. It is the god Pan.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Pan?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Exactly! Just exactly! And when, in the night, the +shepherds—no, not <i>those</i> shepherds—catch sight of a hair of his hide +they are seized with panic——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] Woe! I don't want to stay here! Woe! Can't I get out +of here? I want to get out!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He runs around, looking vainly for a way out.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Enters dressed as a Franciscan friar</i>] You'll find +nothing but entrances—no exits!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are you Father Colomba?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No, I am The Other One.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As a monk?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Don't you know that The Other One turns monk when he +grows old; and don't you think it is well that he does so some time? +But, seriously speaking—for here everything is serious—this is my +holiday attire, which I am permitted to wear only this one day of the +year in order that I may remember what I have had and what I have lost.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Alarmed</i>] What day of the year is it to-day?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Bending his head with a sigh</i>] It is Christmas Eve!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Approaching the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] Think of it, it is Christmas +Eve?—And you know I don't dare to ask where we are—I dare not—but +let us go home, home to our children, to our own—— [<i>He cries</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, let us go from here, home to ourselves, that we may +start a new life in peace and harmony——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is too late!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, dear, sweet fellow—help us, have mercy on us, forgive us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is too late!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Taking the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>by the hand</i>] I am choking with dread! +Don't ask him where we are; I don't want to know! But one thing I do +want to know: will there ever be an end to this?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Never!—That word "end" is not known to us here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Crushed</i>] No end! [<i>Looking around</i>] And does the sun never +enter this place of damp and cold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Never, for those who dwell here have not loved the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It is true: I have cursed the sun.—May I confess my sins?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No, you must keep them to yourself until they begin to +swell and stop up your throat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Kneeling</i>] O—I don't know how to pray!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She rises and walks restlessly back and forth, wringing her +hands</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Because for you there is no one to whom you might pray.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>In despair</i>] Children—send somebody to give me a word of +hope and pardon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It will not be done. Your children have forgotten +you—they are now rejoicing at your absence.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A picture appears on the rocky wall in the rear: the home, +with</i> <span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>, <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>, <span class="small-c">ERIC</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>around the Christmas +tree; in the background, the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You say they are seated at the Christmas table rejoicing at our +misfortune?—No, now you lie, for they are better than we!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. What new tune is that? I have always heard that you were +a righteous man——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I? I was a great sinner—the greatest one that ever was!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Hm! Hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And if you say anything of the children you are guilty of a sin. +I know that they are praying for us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>On her knees</i>] I can hear them tell their rosaries: hush—I +hear them!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You are completely mistaken. What you hear is the song +of the workmen who are tearing down the mausoleum.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The mausoleum! Where we were to have rested in peace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Shaded by a dozen wreaths.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who is that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Pointing to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] She is my sister, and so you must +be my brother-in-law.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh—that lazy scamp!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Look here! In this place we are all lazy scamps.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But we are not all hunchbacks!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Strikes him a blow on the mouth</i>] Don't touch the hunch or +there will be hell to pay!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What a way to treat a man of my ability and high social +position! What a Christmas!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps you expected your usual creamed codfish and Christmas +cake?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Not exactly, but there ought to be something to feed on——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here we are keeping a Christmas fast, you see.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. How long will it last?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How long? We don't measure time here, because it has ceased to +exist, and a minute may last a whole eternity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. We suffer only what our deeds have deserved—so don't +complain——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Just try to complain, and you'll see what happens.—We are not +squeamish here, but bang away without regard for legal forms.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are they beating carpets out there—on a day like this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, it is an extra ration of rod all around as a reminder for +those who may have forgotten the significance of the day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do they actually lay hands on our persons? Is it possible that +educated people can do things like that to each other?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is a place of education for the badly educated; and those +who have behaved like scoundrels are treated like such.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But this passes all limits!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, because here we are in the limitless! Now get ready! I +have already been out there and had my portion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Appalled</i>] What humiliation! That's to strip you of all human +worth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Ha ha! Human worth! Ha ha!—Look at the scales over there. +That's where the human worth is—and invariably found wanting.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sits down at the table</i>] I could never have believed——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, you could only believe in your caul and your own +righteousness. And yet you had both Moses and the Prophets and more +besides—for the very dead walked for your benefit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The children! The children! Is it not possible to send them a +word of greeting and of warning?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No! Eternally, no!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span> <i>comes forward with a big basketful of +stereoscopes.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Christmas gifts for the righteous. Stereoscopes, you know. +[<i>Handing out one</i>] Help yourself. They don't cost anything.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There's a kind soul at last. And a little attention to a man of +my age and rank does honour both to your tact and to your heart——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my +having given some thought to the others, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Disappointed</i>] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. [<i>Spitting in his face</i>] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What company I have got into!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, +you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look +in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to +the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims—just +have a look now. That's right!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on +his face</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She hands a stereoscope to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and proceeds +thereafter to give one to each person present</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sitting at the table, where now the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>takes a seat +opposite him</i>] What do you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Everything is there; everything!—And do you notice that +everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and +even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance +of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my +memories had decayed, including the fairest among them——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You are right. There is not one memory that can bring light into +this darkness. When I look at her who was the first love of my youth, +I see nothing but a corpse. When I think of my sweet Amelia, there +appears—a harlot. The little ones make faces at me like gutter-snipes. +My court has become a pigsty; the vineyard, a rubbish-heap full of +thistles; and the mausoleum—Oh, horrors!—an outhouse! When I think of +the green woods, the leafage appears snuff-coloured and the trunks look +bleached as mast tops. The blue river seems to flow out of a dung-heap +and the blue arch above it looks like a smoky roof—Of the sun itself I +can recall nothing but the name; and what was called the moon—the lamp +that shed its light on bays and groves during the amorous nights of my +youth—I can remember only as—no, I cannot remember it at all. But +the words are left, although they have only sound without sense.—Love, +wine, song! Flowers, children, happiness!—Don't the words sound +pretty? And it is all that is left!—Love? What <i>was</i> it, anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What was it?—Two cats on a back-yard fence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sheepishly</i>] Yes, that's it! That's what it was! Three dogs on +a sidewalk. What a sweet recollection!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Pressing his hand</i>] Yes, it is sweet!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] My watch has stopped. I am so +hungry—and I am thirsty, too, and I long for a smoke. But I am also +tired and want to sleep. All my desires are waking. They claw at me and +hound me, but not one of them can I satisfy. We are lost! Lost, indeed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And I long for a cup of tea more than I can tell!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Hot green tea—that's just what I should like now—with a tiny +drop of rum in it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, not rum! I should prefer some cakes——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Who has drawn near to listen</i>] Sugared, of course? I fear +you'll have to whistle for them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, this dreadful language hurts me more than anything, else.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's because you don't know yet how something else is going +to hurt you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, don't! We don't want to know! Please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I am going to tell. It begins with——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Puts her fingers in her ears and cries out</i>] Mercy! Don't, +don't, don't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I will—and as my brother-in-law is curious, I'll tell it +to him. The second letter is——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. This uncertainty is worse than torture—Speak out, you devil, or +I'll kill you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Kill, ha ha! Everybody is immortal here, body and soul, what +little there is left. However, the third letter is—and that's all +you'll know!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>A small, lean man with grey clothes, grey face, black +lips, grey beard, and grey hands; he speaks in a very low voice</i>] May I +speak a word with you, madam?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Rising in evident alarm</i>] What is it about?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>Smiling a ghastly, malicious smile</i>] I'll tell—out +there.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Crying</i>] No, no; I won't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>Laughing</i>]; It isn't dangerous. Come along! All I want +is to <i>speak</i> to you. Come now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go toward the background and disappear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] A little Christmas entertainment is wholesome.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you mean to maltreat a woman?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here all injustices are abolished, and woman is treated as the +equal of man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You devil!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's all right, but don't call me hunchback, for that touches +my last illusion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Steps up to the table</i>] Well, how do you like our +animal magnetism? It <i>can</i> work wonders on black-guards!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I understand nothing of all this.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That's just what is meant, and it is very nice of you to +admit that there are things you don't understand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Granting that I am now in the realm of the dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Say "hell," for that is what it's called.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Stammering</i>] Th-then I should like to remind you that He who +once descended here to redeem all lost——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>At a sign from</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>he strikes the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>in the +face</i>] Don't argue!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. They won't even listen to me! It is beyond despair! No mercy, no +hope, no end!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Quite right! Here you find only justice and +retribution—especially justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth! Just as you wanted it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But among men there is pardon—and that you don't have here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Monarchs alone possess the right to pardon. And as a man +of law you ought to know that a petition for pardon must be submitted +before it can be granted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. For me there can be no pardon!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Gives the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>a sign to step aside</i>] You feel, +then, that your guilt is too great?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Then I'll speak kindly to you. There is an end, you see, +if there is a beginning. And you have made a beginning. But the sequel +will be long and hard.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, God is good!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You have said it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But—there is one thing that cannot be undone—there is one!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You are thinking of the monstrance which should have +been of gold but was of silver? Well, don't you think that He who +changed water into wine may also change silver into gold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>On his knees</i>] But my misdeed is too great, too great to be +forgiven.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Now you overestimate yourself again. But rise up. We +are about to celebrate Christmas in our own fashion.—The light of the +sun cannot reach here, as you know—nor that of the moon. But on this +night, and on this alone, a star rises so far above the rocks that it +is visible from here. It is the star that went before the shepherds +through the desert—and <i>that</i> was the morning star.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He claps his hands together</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The bust of Pan sinks into the ground. The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>returns, +looking reassured and quietly happy. With a suggestion of firm +hope in mien and gesture, she goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and takes +his hand. The stage becomes filled with shadows that are gazing +up at the rocks in the rear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS I</span>. [<i>Two sopranos and an alto sing behind the stage, accompanied +only by string instruments and a harp</i>.]</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Puer natus est nobis;<br /> +Et filius datus est nobis,<br /> +Cujus imperium super humerum ejus;<br /> +Et vocabitur nomen ejus<br /> +Magni consilii Angelus.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS II</span>. [<i>Soprano, alto, tenor, basso</i>.]</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Cantate Domino canticum novum<br /> +Quia mirabilia fecit!<br /> +</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The star becomes visible above the rocks in the rear. All +kneel down. A part of the rock glides aside, revealing a +tableau: the crib with the child and the mother; the shepherds +adoring at the left, the three Magi at the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS III</span>. [<i>Two sopranos and two altos.]</i></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Gloria in excelsis Deo<br /> +Et in terra pax<br /> +Hominibus bonæ voluntatis!<br /> +</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="THE_THUNDERSTORM" id="THE_THUNDERSTORM">THE THUNDERSTORM</a></h3> + +<h4>(OVÄDER)</h4> + +<h4>A CHAMBER PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1907</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span><br /><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE MASTER</span>, <i>a retired government official</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE CONSUL</span>, <i>his brother</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">STARCK</span>, <i>a confectioner</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">AGNES</span>, <i>daughter of Starck</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>, <i>a relative of the Master</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>the Master's divorced wife</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">FISCHER</span>, <i>second husband of Gerda</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE ICEMAN</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LETTER-CARRIER</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LAMPLIGHTER</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE MILKMAID</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE I</span>—<span class="small-c">IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE II</span>—<span class="small-c">INSIDE THE HOUSE</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE III</span>—<span class="small-c">IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<h4>FIRST SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The front of a modern house with a basement of granite. The +upper parts are of brick covered with yellow plastering. The +window-frames and other ornaments are of sandstone. A low +archway leads through the basement to the court and serves also +as entrance to the confectioner's shop. The corner of the house +appears at the right of the stage, where the avenue opens into +a small square planted with roses and various other flowers. At +the corner is a mail-box. The main floor, above the basement, +has large windows, all of which are open. Four of these windows +belong to an elegantly furnished dining-room. The four middle +windows in the second story have red shades which are drawn; +the shades are illumined by light from within</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Along the front of the house runs a sidewalk with trees +planted at regular intervals. There is a lamp-post in the +extreme foreground and beside it stands a green bench</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>, <i>the confectioner, comes out with a chair and sits down +on the sidewalk</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is visible in the dining-room of the main floor, +seated at the table. Behind him appears an oven built of green +majolica tiles. On its mantelshelf stands a large photograph +between two candelabra and some vases containing flowers. A +young girl in a light dress is just serving the final course</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER'S</span> <i>brother, the</i> CONSUL, <i>appears in front of the +house, coming from the left, and knocks with his walking-stick +on the sill of one of the dining-room windows</i>.</p></blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Will you soon be through?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I'll come in a moment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Saluting the confectioner</i>] Good evening, Mr. Starck. It's +still hot——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Good evening, Consul. Yes, it's the dog-day heat, and we have +been making jam all day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is that so? It's a good year for fruit, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It might be worse. Well, the spring was cold, but the summer +turned out unbearably hot. It was hard on us who had to stay in the +city.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I got back from the country yesterday—one begins to wish +oneself back when the evenings grow dark.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Neither I nor my wife have been out of the city. Of course, +business is at a standstill, but you have to be on hand to make +ready for the winter. First come strawberries, then cherries, then +raspberries, and last gooseberries, cantaloupes and all the fall +fruits——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Tell me something, Mr. Starck. Is the house here to be sold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Not that I have heard.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. There are a lot of people living here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Something like ten families, I think, counting those in the +rear also. But nobody knows anybody else. There is unusually little +gossiping in the house. It seems rather as if everybody were hiding. I +have lived here ten years, and during the first two years we had for +neighbours a strange family that kept very quiet in the daytime. But at +night they began to stir about, and then carriages would come and fetch +things away. Not until the end of the second year did I learn that +they had been running a private sanatorium, and that what was being +taken away at night were dead bodies.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Horrible!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. And they call it the Silent House.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Yes, there isn't much talking done here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. More than one drama has been played here, nevertheless.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives up there on the second floor, +right above my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Up there, where the light comes through the red shades—a +tenant died there during the summer. Then the place stood empty for a +month, and a week ago a new family moved in. I haven't seen them. I +don't know their name. I don't think they ever go out. Why did you ask, +Consul?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Whew—I don't know! Those four red shades look like stage +curtains behind which some sanguinary tragedies are being rehearsed—or +I imagine so, at least. There is a palm at one of the windows looking +like a rod made of wire—you can see the shadow of it on the shade. If +only some people were to be seen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I have seen plenty of them, but not until later—at night.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Was it men or women you saw?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Both, I guess—but now I must get back to my pots. [<i>He +disappears into the gateway</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Still inside, has risen from the table and lighted a cigar; +he is now standing at the open window, talking to his brother outside</i>] +I'll be ready in a moment. Louise is only going to sew a button on one +of my gloves.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Then you mean to go down-town?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Perhaps we'll take a turn in that direction—Whom were you +talking with?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Just the confectioner——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, yes—a very decent fellow—and, for that matter, my only +companion here during the summer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you really stayed at home every night—never gone out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Never! Those light evenings make me timid. They are pleasant in +the country, of course, but here in the city they produce the effect of +something unnatural—almost ghastly. But no sooner has the first street +lamp been lighted than I feel calm once more and can resume my evening +walks. In that way I can get tired and sleep better at night. [<span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> +<i>hands him the glove</i>] Thank you, my child. You can just as well leave +the windows open, as there are no mosquitoes. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>] Now I'm +coming.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A few moments later he can be seen coming out of the house +on the side facing the square; he stops at the corner to drop +a letter in the mail-box; then he comes around the corner to +the front of the house and sits down on the bench beside his +brother</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But tell me: why do you stay in the city when you <i>could</i> be in +the country?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't know. I have lost my power of motion. My memory has +tied me for ever to these rooms. Only within them can I find peace and +protection. In there—yes! It is interesting to look at your own home +from the outside. Then I imagine that some other man is pacing back and +forth in there—Just think: for ten years I have been pacing back and +forth in there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is it ten years now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, time goes quickly—once it is gone. But when it is still +going it seems slow enough.—That time the house was new. I watched +them putting down the hard-wood floor in the dining-room and painting +the doors; and <i>she</i> was permitted to pick out the wall-paper, which +is still there—Yes, that was then! The confectioner and I are the +oldest tenants in the place, and he, too, has had a few experiences of +his own—he is one of those people who never succeed but are always in +some kind of trouble. In a way, I have been living his life also, and +bearing his burdens besides my own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Does he drink, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No-o—nothing of that kind, but there is no <i>go</i> to him. Well, +he and I know the history of this house: how they have arrived in +bridal coaches and left in hearses, while the mail-box at the corner +became the recipient of all their confidences.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. There was a death here in the middle of the summer, wasn't +there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, a case of typhoid—the man was manager of a bank—and then +the flat stood vacant for a month. The coffin came out first, then the +widow and the children, and last of all the furniture.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That was on the second floor?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, up there, where you see the light—where those new people +are, about whom I know nothing at all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Haven't you seen anything of them either?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I never ask any questions about the other tenants. What comes +to me unasked, I accept—but I never make any wrong use of it, and I +never interfere, for I am anxious for the peace of my old age.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Old age—yes! I think it's nice to grow old, for then there +isn't so much left to be recorded.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Indeed, it is nice. I am settling my accounts, both with life +and with people, and I have already begun to pack for the journey. +Of course, the solitude has its draw-backs, but when there is nobody +who can make any demands on you, then you have won your freedom—the +freedom to come and go, to think and act, to eat and sleep, in +accordance with your own choice.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment the shade in one of the windows on the second +floor is raised a little way, so that part of a woman's dress +becomes visible. Then it is quickly drawn again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. They are astir up there—did you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, there is such a lot of mystery about it—and at night it +is worse than ever. Sometimes there is music, but it's always bad; +and sometimes I think they are playing cards; and long after midnight +carriages drive up and take away people.—I never make a complaint +against other tenants, for then they want to get even, and nobody wants +to change his ways. The best thing is to remain oblivious of everything.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A gentleman, dressed in a dinner coat but bareheaded, comes +out of the house and drops a big pile of letters into the +mail-box; then he disappears into the house again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That fellow must have a lot of correspondence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It looked to me like circulars.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But who is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why, that's the new tenant up there on the second floor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, is that so! What do you think he looked like?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't know. Musician, conductor, a touch of musical +comedy, with a leaning to vaudeville—gambler—Adonis—a little of +everything——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Black hair should have gone with that pale complexion of +his, but his hair was brown—which means that it had been dyed, or +that he wears a wig. A tuxedo at home indicates an empty wardrobe, +and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters into the +box suggested shuffling and cutting and dealing—[<i>At this moment +waltz music becomes faintly audible from the second floor</i>] Always +waltzes—perhaps they have a dancing-school—but it's always the same +waltz—what's the name of it now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why, I think—that's "Pluie d'or"—I know it by heart.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you heard it in your own house?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, that one and the "Alcazar Waltz."</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible in the dining-room, where she is +putting things in order and wiping the glassware on the buffet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Are you still pleased with Louise?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Very.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Isn't she going to marry?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Not that I know of.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is there no fiancé in sight?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why do you ask?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you had any thoughts of that kind?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I? No, thank you! When I married the last time I was not too +old, as we had a child in due time, but I have grown too old since +then, and now I want to spend my evening in peace—Do you think I want +another master in my own house, who would rob me of life and honour and +goods?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, nobody took your life or your goods——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you mean to say that my honour suffered any harm?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't you know?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What <i>do</i> you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. In leaving you, she killed your honour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I have been a dead man for five years without knowing it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. You haven't known it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, but now I'll tell you in a few words what really happened. +When, at fifty, I married a girl much younger than myself—one whose +heart I had won and who gave me her hand fearlessly and willingly—then +I promised her that if ever my age should become a burden to her youth +I would go my own way and give her back her freedom. Since the child +had come in due time, and neither one of us wanted another, and since +our little girl had begun to grow apart from me, so that I had come to +feel superfluous, I did go my way—that is, I took a boat, as we were +living on an island—and that was the end of the whole story. I had +redeemed my promise and saved my honour—what more besides?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All right—but she thought it an attack on her own honour, +because she had meant to go away herself. And so she killed you by +tacit accusations which never reached your ears.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did she accuse herself also?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, she had no reason to do so.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then no harm has been done.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Do you know what has become of her and the child since then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't want to know! Having at last outlived the horrors of +longing, I came to regard the whole business as buried; and as none but +beautiful memories were left behind in our rooms, I remained where I +was. However, I thank you for that piece of valuable information!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Which one?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That she had no reason for self-accusation, for if she had it +would constitute an accusation against me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I think you are living under a serious misconception——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. If I am, leave me alone! A clear conscience—comparatively +clear, at least—has always been the diving-suit that has enabled me +to descend into the vast deeps without being suffocated. [<i>Rising</i>] +To think of it—that I got out of it with my life! And now it's all +over!—Suppose we take a turn down the avenue?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All right, then we can see them light the first street lamp of +the season.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But won't the moon be up to-night—the harvest-moon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why, I think the moon is full just now——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Going to one of the windows and talking into the +dining-room</i>] Please hand me my stick, Louise. The light one—I just +want to hold it in my hand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Handing out a cane of bamboo</i>] Here it is, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Thank you, my girl. Now turn out the light in the dining-room +if you have nothing to do there. We'll be gone a little while—I cannot +tell just how long.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>go out to the left</i>. <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> +<i>remains standing by the open window</i>. <span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>comes out of the +gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Good evening, Miss Louise. It's awfully hot!—So your gentlemen +have disappeared?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. They have gone for a stroll down the avenue—the first time my +master has gone out this summer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. We old people love the twilight, which covers up so many +defects both in ourselves and others. Do you know, Miss Louise, my old +woman is getting blind, but she won't have an operation performed. She +says there is nothing to look at, and that sometimes she wishes she +were deaf, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Well, one does feel that way—at times.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Of course, you are leading a very quiet life in there, with +plenty of everything, and nothing to worry about. I have never heard a +loud voice or the slamming of a door—perhaps, even, it is a little too +quiet for a young lady like yourself?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Not at all! I love the quiet, and whatever is dignified, +graceful, measured—with nobody blurting out things, and all thinking +it a duty to overlook the less pleasant features of daily life.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. And you have never any company?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, only the consul comes here—and the like of the love +between those two brothers I have never seen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Who is the elder of the two?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. That's more than I can tell. Whether there is a year or two +between them, or they are twins, I don't know, for they treat each +other with mutual respect, as if each one of them was the elder brother.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>appears, trying to get past</i> <span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>without being seen +by him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Where are you going, girl?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Oh, I am just going out for a little walk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. That's right, but get back soon.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Do you think your master is still mourning the loss of his dear +ones?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He doesn't mourn—he doesn't even feel any regrets, for he +doesn't want them back—but he is always with them in his memory, where +he keeps only their beautiful traits.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. But doesn't the fate of his daughter trouble him at times?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Yes, he cannot help fearing that the mother may have married +again, and then, of course, everything depends on how the child's +stepfather turns out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I have been told that the wife refused alimony at first, but +that now, when five years have passed, she has sent him a lawyer with a +demand for many thousands——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>With reserve</i>] I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I believe, however, that she was never more beautiful than in +his memory——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span>. [<i>Enters, carrying a crateful of bottles</i>] +Excuse me, but does Mr. Fischer live here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Mr. Fischer? Not so far as I know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Perhaps Fischer is the name of that fellow on the second floor? +Around the corner—one flight up.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span>. [<i>Going toward the square</i>] One flight +up—thanks. [<i>He disappears around the corner</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Carrying up bottles again—that means another sleepless night.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What kind of people are they? Why don't they ever show +themselves?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I suppose they use the back-stairs, for I have never seen them. +But I do hear them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, I have also heard doors bang and corks pop—and the +popping of other things, too, I guess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. And they never open their windows, in spite of the heat—they +must be Southerners.—Why, that's lightning—a lot of it!—I guess +it's nothing but heat-lightning, for there has been no thunder.</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Is heard from the basement</i>] Starck, dear, won't you come +down and help me put in the sugar!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. All right, old lady, I'm coming! [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] We are making +jam, you know. [<i>As he goes</i>] I'm coming, I'm coming! [<i>He disappears +into the gateway again</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>remains standing at the window</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Enters slowly from the right</i>] Isn't my brother back yet?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He wanted to telephone, and I was to go ahead. Well, I suppose +he'll be here soon.—What's this? [<i>He stoops to pick up a post-card</i>] +What does it say?—"Boston club at midnight: Fischer."—Do you know who +Fischer is, Louise?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. There was a man with a lot of wine looking for Fischer a while +ago—up on the second floor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. On the second floor—Fischer! Red shades that make the place +look like a drug-store window at night! I fear you have got bad company +in the house.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. What is a Boston club?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, there need be no harm in it at all—in this case I don't +know, however.—But how did the post-card—? Oh, it was <i>he</i> who +dropped it a while ago. Then I'll put it back in the box.—Fischer? +I have heard that name before. In connection with something I cannot +recall just now—May I ask a question, Miss Louise: does my brother +never speak of—the past?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Not to me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Miss Louise—one more question <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Excuse me, but here +comes the milk, and I have to receive it. [<i>She leaves the dining-room</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MILKMAID</span> <i>appears from the right and enters the house +from the square</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Comes out again, takes off his white linen cap, and puffs +with heat</i>] In and out, like a badger at its hole—it's perfectly +horrid down there by the ovens—and the evening doesn't make it any +cooler.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All this lightning shows that we are going to have rain—Well, +the city isn't pleasant, exactly, but up here you have quiet at least: +never any rattling carriages, and still less any street-cars—it's just +like the country.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Of course, it's quiet, but it's too quiet for business. I +know my trade, but I am a poor salesman—have always been, and +can't learn—or it may be something else. Perhaps I haven't got the +proper manner. For when customers act as if I were a swindler I get +embarrassed at first, and then as mad as it is possible for me to +become. But nowadays I haven't the strength to get really mad. It has +been worn out of me—everything gets worn out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why don't you go to work for somebody else?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Who would want me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you ever tried?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What would be the use of it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh—well!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment +on the second floor</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are +they killing each other?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into +the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of +people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs—you +get mixed up in them yourself——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Do you know anything about them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No, I don't know anything at all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now they're screaming again, this time in the stairway——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Withdrawing into the gateway and speaking in a low voice</i>] I +don't want to have anything to do with this.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>the divorced wife of the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>, <i>comes running from +the house into the square. She is bareheaded, with her hair +down, and very excited. The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>approaches her, and they +recognise each other. She draws back from him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. So it's you—my former sister-in-law?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes, it is I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. How did you get into this house, and why can't you let my +brother enjoy his peace?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Bewildered</i>] They didn't give us the right name of the tenant +below—I thought he had moved—I couldn't help it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't be afraid—you don't have to be afraid of me, Gerda! Can +I be of any help to you? What's happening up there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He was beating me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is your little girl with you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. So she has got a stepfather?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Put up your hair and calm yourself. Then I'll try to straighten +this matter out. But spare my brother——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I suppose he hates me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, don't you see that he has been taking care of your flowers +in the bed over there? He brought the soil himself, in a basket, +don't you remember? Don't you recognise your blue gentians and the +mignonette, your <i>Malmaison</i> and <i>Merveille de Lyons</i> roses, which he +budded himself? Don't you understand that he has cherished the memory +of yourself and of the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Taking a walk along the avenue, but he will be here in a few +minutes with the evening papers. When he comes from that side he uses +the back door, and he goes straight into the dining-room to read the +papers. Stand still and he won't notice you.—But you must go back to +your own rooms——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I can't! I can't go back to that man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Who is he, and what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He—has been a singer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Has been—and what is he now? An adventurer?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Keeps a gambling-house?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c"><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span></span>. And the child? Bait?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, don't say that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It's horrible!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You are too harsh about the whole thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Of course, filth must be handled gently—so very gently! But +a just cause should be dragged in the dirt. Why did you defile his +honour, and why did you lure me into becoming your accomplice? I was +childish enough to trust your word, and I defended your unjust cause +against his.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You forget that he was too old.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, he wasn't <i>then</i>, as you had a child at once. When he +proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed +in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been +kept and old age began to weigh him down.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He deserted me, and that was an insult.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on +you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He should have let me leave him.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. One of us had to bear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have +killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. +But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his +daughter is to be saved: what can we do then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. She is my child. She's mine by law, and my husband is her +father——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now <i>you</i> are too harsh about it! And you have grown cruel and +vulgar—Hush! Here he comes now.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>enters from the left with a newspaper in his +hand; he goes into the house pensively by the back door, while +the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>remain motionless, hidden behind the +corner of the house</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>come down the stage. A moment +later the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>becomes visible in the dining-room, where he +sits down to read the paper</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It was he!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Come over here and look at your home. See how he has kept +everything as it was—arranged to suit your taste.—Don't be afraid. +It's so dark out here that he can't see us. The light in the room +blinds him, you know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. How he has been lying to me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. In what respect?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He hasn't grown old! He had grown tired of me—that was the +whole thing! Look at his collar—and his tie—the very latest fashion! +I am sure he has a mistress!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Yes, you can see her photograph on the mantelshelf, between the +candelabra.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It is myself and the child! Does he still love me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Your memory only!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. That's strange!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>ceases to read and stares out through the window</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He is looking at us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't move!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He is looking straight into my eyes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Be still! He doesn't see you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He looks as if he were dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well, he has been killed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why do you talk like that?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>An unusually strong flash of heat-lightning illumines the +figures of the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>rises with an expression of horror on his face</i>. +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>takes refuge behind the corner of the house</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Carl Frederick! [<i>Coming to the window</i>] Are you alone? I +thought—Are you really alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As you see.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The air is so sultry, and the flowers give me a headache—I am +just going to finish the newspaper.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He resumes his former position.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now let us get at your affairs. Do you want me to go with you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Perhaps! But it will be a hard struggle.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But the child must be saved. And I am a lawyer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Well, for the child's sake, then! Come with me!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go out together.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Calling from within</i>] Carl Frederick, come in and have a game +of chess!—Carl Frederick!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4>SECOND SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Inside the dining-room. The brick stove appears at the centre +of the rear wall. To the left of it there is a door leading +into the pantry. Another door to the right of it leads to the +hallway. At the left stands a buffet with a telephone on it. A +piano and a tall clock stand at the right. There are doors in +both side walls</i>.</p> + + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is in the room, and</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>enters as the +curtain rises</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Where did my brother go?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Alarmed</i>] He was outside a moment ago. He can't be very far +away.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What a dreadful noise they are making up above! It is as +if they were stepping on my head! Now they are pulling out bureau +drawers as if they were were preparing for a journey—running away, +perhaps.—If you only knew how to play chess, Louise!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I know a little——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, if you just know how to move the pieces, that will be +enough—Sit down, child. [<i>He sets up the chess pieces</i>] They are +carrying on up there so that they make the chandelier rattle—and the +confectioner is heating up down below. I think I'll have to move soon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have long thought that you ought to do so anyhow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It isn't good to stay too long among old memories.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why not? As time passes, all memories grow beautiful.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But you may live twenty years more, and that is too long a time +to live among memories which, after all, must fade and which may change +colour entirely some fine day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How much you know, my child!—Begin now by moving a pawn—but +not the one in front of the queen, or you will be mate in two moves.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Then I start with the knight——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hardly less dangerous, girl!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But I think I'll start with the knight just the same.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. All right. Then I'll move my bishop's pawn.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>appears in the hallway, carrying a tray</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. There's Mr. Starck with the tea-cakes. He doesn't make any more +noise than a mouse.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She rises and goes out into the hallway to receive the tray, +which she then carries into the pantry</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, Mr. Starck, how is the old lady?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Oh, thank you, her eyes are about as usual.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you seen anything of my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. He is walking back and forth outside, I think.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Has he got any company?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No-o—I don't think so.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It wasn't yesterday you had a look at these rooms, Mr. Starck.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I should say not—it's just ten years ago now——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. When you brought the wedding-cake.—Does the place look changed?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It is just as it was—the palms have grown, of course—but the +rest is just as it was.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And will remain so until you bring the funeral cake. When you +have passed a certain age, nothing changes, nothing progresses—all the +movement is downward like that of a sleigh going down-hill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, that's the way it is.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And it is peaceful, the way I have it here. No love, no +friends, only a little company to break up the solitude. Then human +beings are just human beings, without any claims on your feelings and +sympathies. Then you come loose like an old tooth, and drop out without +pain or regrets. Take Louise, for instance—a pretty young girl, the +sight of whom pleases me like a work of art that I don't wish to +possess—there is nothing to disturb our relationship. My brother and I +meet like two old gentlemen who never get too close to each other and +never exact any confidences. By taking up a neutral position toward +one's fellow-men, one attains a certain distance—and as a rule we look +better at a distance. In a word, I am pleased with my old age and its +quiet peace—[<i>Calling out</i>] Louise!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Appearing in the doorway at the left and speaking pleasantly +as always</i>] The laundry has come home, and I have to check it off. +[<i>She disappears again</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and chat a little—or +perhaps you play chess?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I can't stay away from my pots, and the oven has to be heated +up at eleven. It's very kind of you, however——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. If you catch sight of my brother, ask him to come in and keep +me company.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. So I will—so I will! [<i>He goes</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Alone; moves a couple of pieces on the chess-board; then gets +up and begins to walk about</i>] The peace of old age—yes! [<i>He sits down +at the piano and strikes a few chords; then he gets up and walks about +as before</i>] Louise! Can't you let the laundry wait a little?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Appears again for a moment in the doorway at the left</i>] No, +I can't, because the wash-woman is in a hurry—she has husband and +children waiting for her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh! [<i>He sits down at the table and begins to drum with his +fingers on it; tries to read the newspaper, but tires of it; lights +matches only to blow them out again at once; looks repeatedly at the +big clock, until at last a noise is heard from the hallway</i>] Is that +you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAIL-CARRIER</span>. [<i>Appears in the doorway</i>] It's the mail. Excuse me +for walking right in, but the door was standing open.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is there a letter for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAIL-CARRIER</span>. Only a post-card.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He hands it over and goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Reading the post-card</i>] Mr. Fischer again! Boston club! +That's the man up above—with the white hands and the tuxedo coat. And +to me! The impertinence of it! I have got to move!—Fischer!—[<i>He +tears up the card; again a noise is heard, in the hallway</i>] Is that +you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE ICEMAN</span>. [<i>Without coming into the room</i>] It's the ice!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, it's nice to get ice in this heat. But be careful about +those bottles in the box. And put one of the pieces on edge so that I +can hear the water drip from it as it melts—That's my water-clock that +measures out the hours—the long hours—Tell me, where do you get the +ice from nowadays?—Oh, he's gone!—Everybody goes away—goes home—to +hear their own voices and get some company-[<i>Pause</i>] Is that you, Carl +Frederick?</p> + +<p><i>Somebody in the apartment above plays Chopin's</i> Fantaisie Impromptu, +Opus 66, <i>on the piano</i>—<i>but only the first part of it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Begins to listen, is aroused, looks up at the ceiling</i>] My +<i>Impromptu</i>?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He covers his eyes with one hand and listens</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>enters through the hallway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is that you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The music stops</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It is I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Where have you been so long?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I had some business to clear up. Have you been alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Of course! Come and play chess now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I prefer to talk. And you need also to hear your own voice a +little.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. True enough—only it is so easy to get to talking about the +past.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That makes us forget the present.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. There is no present. What's just passing is empty nothingness. +One has to look ahead or behind—and ahead is better, for there lies +hope!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Seating himself at the table</i>] Hope—of what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Of change.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well! Do you mean to say you have had enough of the peace of +old age?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Perhaps.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It's certain then. And if now you had the choice between +solitude and the past?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No ghosts, however!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. How about your memories?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. They don't walk. They are only poems wrought by me out of +certain realities. But if dead people walk, then you have ghosts.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well, then—in your memory—who brings you the prettiest +mirage: the woman or the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Both! I cannot separate them, and that's why I never tried to +keep the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But do you think you did right? Did the possibility of a +stepfather never occur to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I didn't think that far ahead at the time, but afterward, of +course, I have had—my thoughts—about—that very thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. A stepfather who abused—perhaps debased—your daughter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hush!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What is it you hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought I heard the "little steps"—those little steps that +came tripping down the corridor when she was looking for me.—It was +the child that was the best of all! To watch that fearless little +creature, whom nothing could frighten, who never suspected that life +might be deceptive, who had no secrets! I recall her first experience +of the malice that is in human beings. She caught sight of a pretty +child down in the park, and, though it was strange to her, she went +up to it with open arms to kiss it—and the pretty child rewarded her +friendliness by biting her in the cheek first and then making a face +at her. Then you should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte. She stood +as if turned to stone. And it wasn't pain that did it, but horror at +the sight of that yawning abyss which is called the human heart. I +have been confronted with the same sight myself once, when out of two +beautiful eyes suddenly shot strange glances as if some evil beast had +appeared behind those eyes. It scared me literally so that I had to see +if some other person were standing behind that face, which looked like +a mask.—But why do we sit here talking about such things? Is it the +heat, or the storm, or what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Solitude brings heavy thoughts, and you ought to have company. +This summer in the city seems to have been rather hard on you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Only these last few weeks. The sickness and that death up +above—it was as if I had gone through it myself. The sorrows and +cares of the confectioner have also become my own, so that I keep +worrying about his finances, about his wife's eye trouble, about his +future—and of late I have been dreaming every night about my little +Anne-Charlotte. I see her surrounded by dangers—unknown, undiscovered, +nameless. And before I fall asleep my hearing grows so unbelievably +acute that I can hear her little steps—and once I heard her voice——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But where is she then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Don't ask me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And if you were to meet her on the street?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I imagine that I should lose my reason or fall in a faint. +Once, you know, I stayed abroad very long, during the very time when +our youngest sister was growing up. When I returned, after several +years, I was met at the steam-boat landing by a young girl who put +her arms around my neck. I was horrified at those eyes that searched +mine, but with unfamiliar glances—glances that expressed absolute +terror at not being recognised. "It is I," she repeated again and again +before at last I was able to recognise my own sister. And that's how I +imagine it would be for me to meet my daughter again. Five years are +enough to render you unrecognisable at that age. Think of it: not to +know your own child! That child, who is the same as before, and yet a +stranger! I couldn't survive such a thing. No, then I prefer to keep +the little girl of four years whom you see over there on the altar of +my home. I want no other one. [<i>Pause</i>] That must be Louise putting +things to rights in the linen closet. It has such a clean smell, and it +reminds me—oh, the housewife at her linen closet; the good fairy that +preserves and renews; the housewife with her iron, who smooths out all +that has been ruffled up and who takes out all wrinkles—the wrinkles, +yes—[<i>Pause</i>] Now—I'll—go in there to write a letter. If you'll +stay, I'll be out again soon.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>coughs</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Appears in the door to the hallway</i>] Are you—[<i>The clock +strikes</i>] Oh, mercy! That sound—which has remained in my ears for ten +years! That clock which never kept time and yet measured the long hours +and days and nights of five years. [<i>She looks around</i>] My piano—my +palms—the dinner-table—he has kept it in honour, shining as a +shield! My buffet—with the "Knight in Armour" and "Eve"—Eve with her +basketful of apples—In the right-hand upper drawer, way back, there +was a thermometer lying—[<i>Pause</i>] I wonder if it is still there? [<i>She +goes to the buffet and pulls out the right-hand drawer</i>] Yes, there it +is!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What does that mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, in the end it became a symbol—of instability. When we went +to housekeeping the thermometer was not put in its place at once—of +course, it ought to be outside the window. I promised to put it up—and +forgot it. He promised, and forgot. Then we nagged each other about +it, and at last, to get away from it, I hid it in this drawer. I came +to hate it, and so did he. Do you know what was back of all that? +Neither one of us believed that our relationship would last, because we +unmasked at once and gave free vent to our antipathies. To begin with, +we lived on tiptoe, so to speak—always ready to fly off at a moment's +notice. That was what the thermometer stood for—and here it is still +lying! Always on the move, always changeable, like the weather. [<i>She +puts away the thermometer and goes over to the chess-board</i>] My chess +pieces! Which he bought to kill the time that hung heavy on our hands +while we were waiting for the little one to come. With whom does he +play now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. With me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He is in his room writing a letter.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Pointing toward the left</i>] There.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Shocked</i>] And here he has been going for five years?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Ten years—five of them alone!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Of course, he loves solitude.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But I think he has had enough of it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Will he turn me out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I didn't make that centrepiece——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. But it was he who should help me find it again——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the +purpose of his flight?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; +then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of +course.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As to the ballet—that's something the father <i>must not</i> know, +for he hates music-halls.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, +absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces</i>] Music-halls—oh, I have been +there myself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. You?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I have accompanied on the piano.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Poor Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why? I love that kind of life. And when I was a prisoner here, +it wasn't the keeper, but the prison itself, that made me fret.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But now you have had enough?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Now I am in love with peace and solitude—and with my child +above all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Hush, he's coming!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Rises as if to run away, but sinks down on the chair again</i>] +Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now I leave you. Don't think of what you are to say. It will +come of itself, like the "next move" in a game of chess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I fear his first glance most of all, for it will tell me whether +I have changed for better or for worse—whether I have grown old and +ugly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Going out to the right</i>] If he finds you looking older, then +he will dare to approach you. If he finds you as young as ever, he will +have no hope, for he is more diffident than you think.—Now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is seen outside, passing by the door leading +to the pantry; he carries a letter in his hand; then he +disappears, only to become visible again a moment later in the +hallway, where he opens the outside door and steps out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>In the doorway at the right</i>] He went out to the mail-box.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. No, this is too much for me! How can I possibly ask <i>him</i> to +help me with this divorce? I want to get out! It's too brazen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Stay! You know that his kindness has no limits. And he'll help +you for the child's sake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. No, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And he is the only one who can help you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Enters quickly from the hallway and nods at</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>whom, +because of his near-sightedness, he mistakes for</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>; <i>then he goes +to the buffet and picks up the telephone, but in passing he remarks to</i> +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span>] So you're done already? Well, get the pieces ready then, and +we'll begin all over again—from the beginning.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>stands paralysed, not understanding the situation</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Speaks in the telephone receiver, with his back to</i> <span class="small-c">Gerda</span>] +Hello!—Good evening! Is that you, mother?—Pretty well, thank you! +Louise is waiting to play a game of chess with me, but she is a +little tired after a lot of bother—It's all over now—everything +all right—nothing serious at all.—If it's hot? Well, there has +been a lot of thundering, right over our heads, but nobody has been +struck. False alarm!—What did you say? Fischer?—Yes, but I think +they are going to leave.—Why so? I know nothing in particular.—Oh, +is that so?—Yes, it leaves at six-fifteen, by the outside route, +and it gets there—let me see—at eight-twenty-five.—Did you have a +good time?—[<i>With a little laugh</i>] Oh, he's impossible when he gets +started! And what did Marie have to say about it?—How I have had it +during the summer? Oh, well, Louise and I have kept each other company, +and she has got such an even, pleasant temper.—Yes, she is very nice, +indeed!—Oh, no, nothing of that kind!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>who has begun to understand, rises with an expression +of consternation on her face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. My eyes? Oh, I am getting a little near-sighted. But I feel +like the confectioner's old wife: there is nothing to look at. Wish I +were deaf, too! Deaf and blind! The neighbours above make such a lot of +noise at night—it's a gambling club—There now! Somebody got on the +wire to listen. [<i>He rings again</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>appears in the door to the hallway without being seen +by the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>; <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>stares at her with mingled admiration +and hatred</i>; <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>withdraws toward the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>At the telephone</i>] Is that you? The cheek of it—to +break off our talk in order to listen!—To-morrow, then, at +six-fifteen.—Thank you, and the same to you!—Yes, I will, +indeed!—Good night, mother! [<i>He rings off</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>has disappeared</i>. <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>is standing in the middle of +the floor</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Turns around and catches sight of</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>whom he gradually +recognises; then he puts his hand to his heart</i>] O Lord, was that you? +Wasn't Louise here a moment ago?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>remains silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Feebly</i>] How—how did you get here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I hope you pardon—I just got to the city—I was passing by and +felt a longing to have a look at my old home—the windows were open——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you find things as they used to be?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Exactly, and yet different—there is a difference</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Feeling unhappy</i>] Are you satisfied—with your life?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes. I have what I was looking for.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, she's growing, and thriving, and lacks nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I won't ask anything more. [<i>Pause</i>] Did you want +anything—of me—can I be of any service?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It's very kind of you, but—I need nothing at all now when I +have seen that you lack nothing either. [<i>Pause]</i> Do you wish to see +Anne-Charlotte?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't think so, now when I have heard that she is doing well. +It's so hard to begin over again. It's like having to repeat a lesson +at school—which you know already, although the teacher doesn't think +so—I have got so far away from all that—I live in a wholly different +region—and I cannot connect with the past. It goes against me to be +impolite, but I am not asking you to be seated—you are another man's +wife—and you are not the same person as the one from whom I parted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Am I then so—altered?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quite strange to me! Your voice, glance, manner——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Have I grown old?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That I cannot tell!—They say that not a single atom in a +person's body remains wholly the same after three years—and in five +years everything is renewed. And for that reason you, who stand over +there, are not the same person as the sufferer who once sat here—you +seem such a complete stranger to me that I can only address you in the +most formal way. And I suppose it would be just the same in the case of +my daughter, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Don't speak like that. I would much rather have you angry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why should I be angry?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Because of all the evil I have done you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you? That's more than I know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Didn't you read the papers in the suit?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No-o! I left that to my lawyer. [<i>He sits down</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. And the decision of the court?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, why should I? As I don't mean to marry again, I have no use +for that kind of documents.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Pause</i>. <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>seats herself</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did those papers say? That I was too old?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA'S</span> <i>silence indicates assent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, that was nothing but the truth, so that need not trouble +you. In my answer I said the very same thing and asked the Court to set +you free again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You said, that——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I said, not that I <i>was</i>, but that I was about to <i>become</i> too +old <i>for you</i>!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Offended</i>] For me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes.—I couldn't say that I was too old when we married, for +then the arrival of the child would have been unpleasantly explained, +and it was <i>our</i> child, was it not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You know that, of course! But——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you think I should be ashamed of my age?—Of course, if +I took to dancing and playing cards at night, then I might soon land +in an invalid's chair, or on the operating-table, and that would be a +shame.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You don't look it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did you expect the divorce to kill me?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The silence of</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>is ambiguous</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. There are those who assert that you <i>have</i> killed me. Do you +think I look like a dead man?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>appears embarrassed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Some of your friends are said to have caricatured me in the +papers, but I have never seen anything of it, and those papers went +into the dump five years ago. So there is no need for your conscience +to be troubled on my behalf.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why did you marry me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Don't you know why a man marries? And you know, too, that I +didn't have to go begging for love. And you ought to remember how +we laughed together at all the wiseacres who felt compelled to warn +you.—But why you led me on is something I have never been able to +explain—When you didn't look at me after the marriage ceremony, but +acted as if you had been attending somebody else's wedding, then I +thought you had made a bet that you could kill me. As the head of the +department, I was, of course, hated by all my subordinates, but they +became your friends at once. No sooner did I make an enemy than he +became <i>your</i> friend. Which caused me to remark that, while it was +right for you not to hate your enemies, it was also right that you +shouldn't <i>love</i> mine!—However, seeing where you stood, I began to +prepare for a retreat at once, but before leaving I wanted a living +proof that you had not been telling the truth, and so I stayed until +the little one arrived.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To think that you could be so disingenuous!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I learned to keep silent, but I never lied!—By degrees you +turned all my friends into detectives, and you lured my own brother +into betraying me. But worst of all was that your thoughtless chatter +threw suspicions on the legitimacy of the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. All that I took back!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The word that's on the wing cannot be pulled back again. And +worse still: those false rumours reached the child, and now she thinks +her mother a——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. For Heaven's sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, that's the truth of it. You raised a tall tower on a +foundation of lies, and now the tower of lies is tumbling down on your +head.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It isn't true!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, it is! I met Anne-Charlotte a few minutes ago——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You have met——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. We met on the stairs, and she said I was her uncle. Do you +know what an uncle is? That's an elderly friend of the house and the +mother. And I know that at school I am also passing as her uncle.—But +all that is dreadful for the child!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You have met——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes. But why should I tell anybody about it? Haven't I a right +to keep silent? And, besides, that meeting was so shocking to me that I +wiped it out of my memory as if it had never existed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. What can I do to rehabilitate you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. You? What could you do? That's something I can only do myself. +[<i>For a long time they gaze intently at each other</i>] And for that +matter, I have already got my rehabilitation. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Can't I make good in some way? Can't I ask you to forgive, to +forget——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What do you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To restore, to repair——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you mean to resume, to start over again, to reinstate a +master above me? No, thanks! I don't want you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. And this I had to hear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, how does it taste? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. That's a pretty centrepiece.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, it's pretty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where did you get it? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>appears in the door to the pantry with a bill in her +hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Turning toward her</i>] Is it a bill?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>rises and begins to pull on her gloves with such violence that +buttons are scattered right and left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Taking out the money</i>] Eighteen-seventy-two. That's just +right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I should like to see you a moment, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Rises and goes to the door, where</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>whispers something +into his ear</i>] Oh, mercy——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am sorry for you, Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. What do you mean? That I am jealous of your servant-girl?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, I didn't mean that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes, you meant that you were too old for me, but not for her. +I catch the insulting point—She's pretty—I don't deny it—for a +servant-girl——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am sorry for you, Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why do you say that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Because you are to be pitied. Jealous of my servant—that ought +to be rehabilitation enough.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Jealous, I——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why do you fly in a rage at my nice, gentle kinswoman?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. "A little more than kin."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, my dear, I have long ago resigned myself—and I am +satisfied with my solitude—[<i>The telephone rings, and he goes to +answer it</i>] Mr. Fischer? No, that isn't here.—Oh, yes, that's me.—Has +he skipped?—With whom, do you say?—with Starck's daughter! Oh, good +Lord! How old is she?—Eighteen! A mere child! [<i>Rings off</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I knew he had run away.—But with a woman!—Now you're pleased.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, I am not pleased. Although there is a sort of solace to my +mind in finding justice exists in this world. Life is very quick in its +movements, and now you find yourself where I was.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine—I am old—too old for +him!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Everything is relative, even age.—But now let us get at +something else. Where is your child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. My child? I had forgotten it! My child! My God! Help me! He +has taken the child with him. He loves Anne-Charlotte as his own +daughter—Come with me to the police—come!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I? Now you ask too much.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Help me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Goes to the door at the right</i>] Come, Carl Frederick—get a +cab—take Gerda down to the police station—won't you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Of course I will! We are human, are we not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quick! But say nothing to Starck. Matters may be straightened +out yet—Poor fellow—and I am sorry for Gerda, too!—Hurry up now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Looking out through the window</i>] It's beginning to rain—lend +me an umbrella. Eighteen years—only eighteen—quick, now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes out with the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Alone</i>] The peace of old age!—And my child in the hands of +an adventurer!—Louise!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Come and play chess with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Has the consul——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. He has gone out on some business. Is it still raining?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, it has stopped now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I'll go out and cool off a little. [<i>Pause</i>] You are a +nice girl, and sensible—did you know the confectioner's daughter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Very slightly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is she pretty?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Ye-es.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you known the people above us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have never seen them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That's an evasion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have learned to keep silent in this house.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am forced to admit that pretended deafness can be carried to +the point where it becomes dangerous.—Well, get the tea ready while I +go outside and cool off a little. And, one thing, please—you see what +is happening, of course—but don't ask me any questions.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I? No, sir, I am not at all curious.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am thankful for that!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3>THIRD SCENE</h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The front of the house as in the First Scene. There is light +in the confectioner's place in the basement. The gas is also +lit on the second floor, where now the shades are raised and +the windows open</i>.</p> + + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>is sitting near the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Seated on the green bench</i>] That was a nice little shower we +had.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Quite a blessing! Now the raspberries will be coming in +again——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I'll ask you to put aside a few jars for us. We have grown +tired of making the jam ourselves. It only gets spoiled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, I know. Jars of jam are like mischievous children: you +have to watch them all the time. There are people who put in salicylic +acid, but those are newfangled tricks in which I take no stock.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Salicylic acid—yes, they say it's antiseptic—and perhaps it's +a good thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, but you can taste it—and it's a trick.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Tell me, Mr. Starck, have you got a telephone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No, I have no telephone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Why do you ask?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, I happened to think—a telephone is handy at times—for +orders—and important communications——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. That may be. But sometimes it is just as well to +escape—communications.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quite right! Quite right!—Yes, my heart always beats a little +faster when I hear it ring—one never knows what one is going to +hear—and I want peace—peace, above all else.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. So do I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] The lamplighter ought to be here soon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. He must have forgotten us, for I see that the lamps are already +lit further down the avenue.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then he'll be here soon. It will be a lot of fun to see our +lamp lighted again.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The telephone in the dining-room rings</i>. <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>comes in to +answer the call. The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>rises and puts one hand up to his +heart. He tries to listen, but the public cannot hear anything +of what is said within. Pause. After a while</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>comes out +by way of the square</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Anxiously</i>] What news?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No change.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Was that my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, it was the lady.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did she want?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. To speak to you, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't want to!—Have I to console my executioner? I used to +do it, but now I am tired of it.—Look up there! They have forgotten +to turn out the light—and light makes empty rooms more dreadful than +darkness—the ghosts become visible. [<i>In a lowered voice</i>] And how +about Starck's Agnes? Do you think he knows anything?</p> + + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It's hard to tell, for he never speaks about his sorrows—nor +does anybody else in the Silent House!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you think he should be told?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. For Heaven's sake, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But I fear it isn't the first time she gave him trouble.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He never speaks of her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It's horrible! I wonder if we'll get to the end of it soon? +[<i>The telephone rings again</i>] Now it's ringing again. Don't answer. I +don't want to hear anything.—My child—in such company! An adventurer +and a strumpet!—It's beyond limit!—Poor Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It's better to have certainty. I'll go in—You must do +something!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I cannot move—I can receive blows, but to strike back—no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But if you don't repel a danger, it will press closer; and if +you don't resist, you'll be destroyed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But if you refuse to be drawn in, you become unassailable.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Unassailable?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Things straighten out much better if you don't mess them up +still further by interference. How can you want me to direct matters +where so many passions are at play? Do you think I can suppress +anybody's emotions, or give them a new turn?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But how about the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I have surrendered my rights—and besides—frankly speaking—I +don't care for them—not at all now, when <i>she</i> has been here and +spoiled the images harboured in my memory. She has wiped out all the +beauty that I had cherished, and now there is nothing left.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But that's to be set free!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Look, how empty the place seems in there—as if everybody had +moved out; and up there—as if there had been a fire.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Who is coming there?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>enters, excited and frightened, but trying hard +to control herself; she makes for the gateway, where the +confectioner is seated on his chair</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>] There is Agnes? What can this mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Agnes? Then things are getting straightened out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>With perfect calm</i>] Good evening, girl! Where have you been?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. I have been for a walk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Your mother has asked for you several times.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Is that so? Well, here I am.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Please go down and help her start a fire under the little oven.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Is she angry with me, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. You know that she cannot be angry with you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Oh, yes, but she doesn't say anything.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Well, girl, isn't it better to escape being scolded?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>disappears into the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Does he know, or doesn't he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Let's hope that he will remain in ignorance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But what can have happened? A breach? [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">STARCK</span>] Say, Mr. +Starck——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought—Did you notice if anybody left the house a while ago?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I saw the iceman, and also a mail-carrier, I think.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh! [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Perhaps it was a mistake—that we didn't hear +right—I can't explain it—Or maybe he is not telling the truth? What +did she say when she telephoned?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. That she wanted to speak to you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How did it sound? Was she excited?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I think it's rather shameless of her to appeal to me in a +matter like this.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But the child!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Just think, I met my daughter on the stairway, and when I asked +her if she recognised me she called me uncle and told me that her +father was up-stairs. Of course, he is her stepfather, and has all the +rights—They have just spent their time exterminating me, blackguarding +me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. A cab is stopping at the corner.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>Starck <i>withdraws into the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I only hope they don't come back to burden me again! Just +think: to have to hear my child singing the praise of her father—the +other one! And then to begin the old story all over again: "Why did you +marry me?"—"Oh, you know; but what made you want me?"—"You know very +well!"—And so on, until the end of the world.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It was the consul that came.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How does he look?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He is taking his time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Practising what he is to say, I suppose. Does he look satisfied?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Thoughtful, rather——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hm!—That's the way it always was. Whenever he saw that woman +he became disloyal to me. She had the power of charming everybody but +me. To me she seemed coarse, vulgar, ugly, stupid; to all the rest she +seemed refined, pleasant, handsome, intelligent. All the hatred aroused +by my independence centred in her under the form of a boundless +sympathy for whoever wronged me in any way. Through her they strove to +control and influence me, to wound me, and, at last, to kill me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Now, I'll go in and watch the telephone—I suppose this storm +will pass like all others.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Men cannot bear independence. They want you to obey them. Every +one of my subordinates in the department, down to the very messengers, +wanted me to obey him. And when I wouldn't they called me a despot. The +servants in our house wanted me to obey them and eat food that had been +warmed up. When I wouldn't, they set my wife against me. And finally +my wife wanted me to obey the child, but then I left, and then all of +them combined against the tyrant—which was I!—Get in there quick now, +Louise, so we can set off our mines out here.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>enters from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Results—not details—please!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Let's sit down. I am a little tired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I think it has rained on the bench.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It can't be too wet for me if you have been sitting on it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. As you like!—Where is my child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Can I begin at the beginning?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Begin!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> [<i>Speaking slowly</i>] I got to the depot with Gerda—and at the +ticket-office I discovered him and Agnes——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. So Agnes was with him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And so was the child!—Gerda stayed outside, and I went up to +them. At that moment <i>he</i> was handing Agnes the tickets, but when she +discovered that they were for third class she threw them in his face +and walked out to the cab-stand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Ugh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As soon as I had established a connection with the man, Gerda +hurried up and got hold of the child, disappearing with it in the +crowd——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did the man have to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, you know—when you come to hear the other side—and so on.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I want to hear it. Of course, he isn't as bad as we thought—he +has his good sides——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Exactly!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought so! But you don't want me to sit here listening to +eulogies of my enemy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, not eulogies, but ameliorating circumstances——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did you ever want to listen to me when I tried to explain the +true state of affairs to you? Yes, you did listen—but your reply was +a disapproving silence, as if I had been lying to you. You have always +sided with what was wrong, and you have believed nothing but lies, and +the reason was—that you were in love with Gerda! But there was also +another reason——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Brother, don't say anything more! You see nothing but your own +side of things.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How can you expect me to view my conditions from the standpoint +of my enemy? I cannot take sides against myself, can I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I am not your enemy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, when you make friends with one who has wronged me!—Where +is my child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I don't know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What was the outcome at the depot?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He took a south-bound train alone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And the others?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Disappeared.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I may have them after me again. [<i>Pause]</i> Did you see if +they went with him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He went alone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, then we are done with that one, at least. Number +two—there remain now—the mother and the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why is the light burning up there in their rooms?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Because they forgot to turn it out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I'll go up——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, don't go!—I only hope that they don't come back here!—To +repeat, always repeat, begin the same lesson all over again!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But it has begun to straighten out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yet the worst remains—Do you think they will come back?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Not she—not since she had to make you amends in the presence +of Louise.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I had forgotten that! She really did me the honour of becoming +jealous! I do think there is justice in this world!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And then she learned that Agnes was younger than herself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Poor Gerda! But in a case like this you mustn't tell people +that justice exists—an avenging justice—for it is sheer falsehood +that they love justice! And you must deal gently with their filth. And +Nemesis—exists only for the other person.—There it's ringing again? +That telephone makes a noise like a rattlesnake!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible at the telephone inside. Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Did the snake bite?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>At the window</i>] May I speak to you, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Going up to the window</i>] Speak out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. The lady has gone to her mother, in the country, to live there +with her little girl.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To his brother</i>] Mother and child in the country—in a good +home! Now it's straightened out!—Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. And she asked us to turn out the light up-stairs.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do that at once, Louise, and pull down the shades so we don't +have to look at it any longer.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>leaves the dining-room</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Coming out on the sidewalk again and looking up]</i> I think the +storm has passed over.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It seems really to have cleared up, and that means we'll have +moonlight.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That was a blessed rain!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Perfectly splendid!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Look, there's the lamplighter coming at last!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c"><span class="small-c">LAMPLIGHTER</span></span> <i>enters, lights the street lamp beside the +bench, and passes on</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The first lamp! Now the fall is here! That's our season, old +chaps! It's getting dark, but then comes reason to light us with its +bull's-eyes, so that we don't go astray.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible at one of the windows on the second +floor; immediately afterward everything is dark up there</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Close the windows and pull down the shades so +that all memories can lie down and sleep in peace! The peace of old +age! And this fall I move away from the Silent House.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="AFTER_THE_FIRE" id="AFTER_THE_FIRE">AFTER THE FIRE</a></h3> + +<h4>(BRÄNDA TOMTEN)</h4> + +<h4>A CHAMBER PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1907</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM</span>, <i>a dyer</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE STRANGER</span>, <i>who is brother of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ARVID WALSTRÖM</span> <i>brother of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>a mason (brother-in-law of the gardener)</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. ANDERSON</span>, <i>wife of the mason</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>, <i>a gardener (brother-in-law of the mason)</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>, <i>son of the gardener</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALBERT ERICSON</span>, <i>a stone-cutter</i> (<i>second cousin of the hearse-driver</i>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>, <i>daughter of the stone-cutter</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE HEARSE-DRIVER</span> (<i>second cousin of the stone-cutter</i>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A DETECTIVE</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>a painter</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>, <i>hostess at "The Last Nail," formerly a</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>nurse at the dyer's</i></span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>, <i>wife of the dyer</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE STUDENT</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE WITNESS</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<h4>FIRST SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell +of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains +on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which +is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed +outside.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture +and household utensils that have been saved from the fire</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>the painter, is painting the window-frames of the +inn. He listens closely to everything that is said</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>the mason, is digging in the ruins</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is the fire entirely out?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There isn't any smoke, at least.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [<i>Pause</i>] You were +born in this quarter, were you not?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this +street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father +helped to put in the brick.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Then you know everybody around here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. We all know each other. There is something particular about +this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. +That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or +later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is +way out there at the end of the street.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. You have got a special name for this quarter, haven't you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. We call it the Bog. And all of us hate each other, and +suspect each other, and blackguard each other, and torment each other +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The fire started at half past ten in the evening, I +hear—was the front door locked at that time?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know, for I live in the house next +to this.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Where did the fire start?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Up in the attic, where the student was living.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Was he at home?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, he was at the theatre.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Had he gone away and left the lamp burning, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is the student any relation to the owner of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, I don't think so.—Say, you haven't got anything to do +with the police, have you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. How did it happen that the inn didn't catch fire?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. They slung a tarpaulin over it and turned on the hose.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Queer that the apple-trees were not destroyed by the heat.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. They had just budded, and it had been raining during the day, +but the heat made the buds go into bloom in the middle of the night—a +little too early, I guess, for there is frost coming, and then the +gardener will catch it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. What kind of fellow is the gardener?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. His name is Gustafson——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Yes, but what sort of a man is he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. See here: I am seventy-five—and for that reason I don't know +anything bad about Gustafson; and if I knew I wouldn't be telling it! +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. And the owner of the house is named Walström, a dyer, about +sixty years old, married——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Why don't you go on yourself? You can't pump me any longer.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is it thought that the fire was started on purpose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's what people think of all fires.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. And whom do they suspect?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. The insurance company always suspects anybody who has an +interest in the fire—and for that reason I have never had anything +insured.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Did you find anything while you were digging?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Mostly one finds all the door-keys, because people haven't +got time to take them along when the house is on fire—except now and +then, of course, when they have been taken away——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. There was no electric light in the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not in an old house like this, and that's a good thing, for +then they can't put the blame on crossed wires.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Put the blame?—A good thing?—Listen——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, you're going to get me in a trap? Don't you do it, for +then I take it all back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Take back? You can't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Can't I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. No!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes! For there was no witness present.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. No?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>coughs. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">WITNESS</span> <i>comes in from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Here's <i>one</i> witness.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. You're a sly one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Oh, there are people who know how to use their brains +without being seventy-five. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">WITNESS</span>] Now we'll continue with +the gardener.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go out to the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There I put my foot in it, I guess. But that's what happens +when you get to talking.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span> <i>enters with her husband's lunch in a bundle</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. It's good you came.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Now we'll have lunch and be good—you might well +be hungry after all this fuss—I wonder if Gustafson can pull +through—he'd just got done with his hotbeds and was about to start +digging in the open—why don't you eat?—and there's Sjöblom already at +work with his putty—just think of it, that Mrs. Westerlund got off as +well as she did—morning, Sjöblom, now you've got work, haven't you?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>comes in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Morning, morning, Mrs. Westerlund—you got out of this +fine, I must say, and then——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. I wonder who's going to pay me for all I am losing +to-day, when there's a big funeral on at the cemetery, which always +makes it a good day for me, and just when I've had to put away all my +bottles and glassware——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Who's that they're burying to-day? I see such a lot of +people going out that way—and then, of course, they've come to see +where the fire was, too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. I don't think they're burying anybody, but I've heard +they're going to put up a monument over the bishop—worst of it is that +the stone-cutter's daughter was going to get married to the gardener's +son—him, you know, who's in a store down-town—and now the gardener +has lost all he had—isn't that his furniture standing over there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I guess that's some of the dyer's, too, seeing as it +came out helter-skelter in a jiffy—and where's the dyer now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. He's down at the police station testifying.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Hm-hm!—Yes, yes!—And there's my cousin now—him what +drives the hearse—he's always thirsty on his way back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] How do, Malvina! So you've gone and started a +little job of arson out here during the night, have you? Looks pretty, +doesn't it. Would have been better to get a new shanty instead, I guess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Oh, mercy me! But whom have you been taking out now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Can't remember what his name was—only <i>one</i> carriage +along, and no flowers on the coffin at all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Sure and it wasn't any happy funeral, then! If you +want anything to drink you'll have to go 'round to the kitchen, for +I haven't got things going on this side yet, and, for that matter, +Gustafson is coming here with a lot of wreaths—they've got something +on out at the cemetery to-day.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Yes, they're going to put up a moniment to the +bishop—'cause he wrote books, I guess, and collected all kinds of +vermin—was a reg'lar vermin-hunter, they tell me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Oh, he had slabs of cork with pins on 'em, and a lot of +flies—something beyond us here—but I guess that's the proper way—can +I go out to the kitchen now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, if you use the back door, I think you can get +something wet——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. But I want to have a word with the dyer before I drive +off—I've got my horses over at the stone-cutter's, who's my second +cousin, you know. Haven't got any use for him, as you know, too, but +we're doing business together, he and I—that is, I put in a word for +him with the heirs, and so he lets me put my horses into his yard—just +let me know when the dyer shows up—luck, wasn't it, that he didn't +have his works here, too——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out, passing around the inn</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>goes into the inn by the front door</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>who has finished eating, begins to dig again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Do you find anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Nails and door-hinges—all the keys are hanging in a bunch +over there by the front door.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Did they hang there before, or did you put them there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, they were hanging there when I got here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's queer—for then somebody must have locked all the +doors and taken out the keys before it began burning! That's queer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, of course, it's a little queer, for in that way it was +harder to get at the fire and save things. Yes—yes! [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I worked for the dyer's father forty years ago, I did, +and I know the people, both the dyer himself and his brother what +went off to America, though they say he's back now. The father, he +was a real man, he was, but the boys were always a little so-so. Mrs. +Westerlund over here, she used to take care of Rudolph, and the two +brothers never could get along, but kept scrapping and fighting all +the time.—I've seen a thing or two, I have—yes, there's a whole lot +what has happened in that house, so I guess it was about time to get it +smoked out.—Ugh, but that was a house! One went this way and another +that, but back they had to come, and here they died and here they were +born, and here they married and were divorced.—And Arvid, the brother +what went off to America—him they thought dead for years, and at least +he didn't take what was coming to him after his father, but now they +say he's come back, though nobody has seen him—and there's such a lot +of talking—Look, there's the dyer back from the police station!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He doesn't look happy exactly, but I suppose that's more than +can be expected—Well, who's that student that lived in the attic? How +does he hang together with the rest?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know. He had his board there, +and read with the children.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. And also with the lady of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No-o, they played something what they called tennis, +and quarrelled the rest of the time—yes, quarrelling and backbiting, +that's what everybody is up to in this quarter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, when they broke the student's door open they found +hairpins on the floor—it had to come out, after all, even if the fire +had to sweep over it first——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I don't think it was the dyer that came, but our +brother-in-law, Gustafson——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He's always mad, and to-day I suppose he's worse than ever, +and so he'll have to come and dun me for what I owe him, seeing what he +has lost in the fire——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Now you shut up!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. [<i>Enters with a basketful of funeral wreaths and other +products of his trade</i>] I wonder if I am going to sell anything to-day +so there'll be enough for food after all this rumpus?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Didn't you carry any insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Yes, I used to have insurance on the glass panes over my +hotbeds, but this year I felt stingy, and so I put in oiled paper +instead—gosh, that I could be such a darned fool!—[<i>Scratching his +head</i>] I don't get paid for that, of course. And now I've got to cut +and paste and oil six hundred paper panes. It's as I have always said: +that I was the worst idiot among us seven children. Gee, what an ass +I was—what a booby! And then I went and got drunk yesterday. Why in +hell did I have to get drunk that day of all days—when I need all the +brains I've got to-day? It was the stone-cutter who treated, because +our children are going to get married to-night, but I should have said +no. I didn't want to, but I'm a ninny who can't say no to anybody. +And that's the way when they come and borrow money of me—I can't say +no—darned fool that I am! And then I got in the way of that policeman, +who snared me with all sorts of questions. I should have kept my mouth +shut, like the painter over there, but I can't, and so I let out this, +that, and the other thing, and he put it all down, and now I am called +as a witness!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. What was it you said?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. I said I thought—that it looked funny to me—and that +somebody must have started it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, that's what you said!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Yes, pitch into me—I've deserved it, goose that I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. And who could have started it, do you think?—Don't mind the +painter, and my old woman here never carries any tales.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Who started it? Why, the student, of course, as it started +in his room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No—<i>under</i> his room!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Under, you say? Then I <i>have</i> gone and done it!—Oh, I'll +come to a bad end, I'm sure!—<i>Under</i> his room, you say—what could +have been there—the kitchen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, a closet—see, over there! It was used by the cook.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Then it must have been her.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, but don't you say so, as you don't know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. The stone-cutter had it in for the cook last night—I guess +he must have known a whole lot——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. You shouldn't repeat what the stone-cutter says, for one who +has served isn't to be trusted——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Ash, that's so long ago, and the cook's a regular dragon, +for that matter—she'd always haggle over the vegetables——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There comes the dyer from the station now—you'd better quit!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>enters, dressed in a frock coat and a high hat +with mourning on it; he carries a stick</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. It wasn't the dyer, but he looks a lot like him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How much is one of those wreaths?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Fifty cents.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, that's not much.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. No, I am such a fool that I can't charge as I should.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] Has there—been a fire—here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Yes, last night.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Good God! [<i>Pause</i>] Who was the owner of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Mr. Walström.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The dyer?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Yes, he used to be a dyer, all right. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. He'll be here any moment.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Then I'll look around a bit—the wreath can lie here till I +come back—I meant to go out to the cemetery later.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. On account of the bishop's monument, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What bishop?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Bishop Stecksen, don't you know—who belonged to the Academy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Is he dead?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Oh, long ago!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I see!—Well, I'll leave the wreath for a while.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He goes out to the left, studying the ruins carefully as he +passes by</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Perhaps he came on account of the insurance.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not that one! Then he would have asked in a different way.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. But he looked like the dyer just the same.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Only he was taller.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Now, I remember something—I should have a bridal bouquet +ready for to-night, and I should go to my son's wedding, but I have +no flowers, and my black coat has been burned. Wouldn't that make +you—Mrs. Westerlund was to furnish the myrtle for the bride's crown, +being her godmother—that's the myrtle she stole a shoot of from +the dyer's cook, who got hers from the dyer's first wife—she who +ran away—and I was to make a crown of it, and I've clean forgotten +it—well, if I ain't the worst fool that ever walked the earth! [<i>He +opens the inn door</i>] Mrs. Westerlund, can I have the myrtle now, and +I'll do the job!—I say, can I have that myrtle! Wreath, too, you +say—have you got enough for it?—No?—Well, then I'll let the whole +wedding go hang, that's all there is to it!—Let them walk up to the +minister's and have him splice them together, but it'll make the +stone-cutter mad as a hornet.—What do you think I should do?—No, I +can't—haven't slept a wink the whole night.—It's too much for a poor +human creature.—Yes, I am a ninny, I know—go for me, will you!—Oh, +there's the pot—thanks! And then I need scissors, which I haven't +got—and wire—and string—where am I to get them from?—No, of course, +nobody wants to break off his work for a thing like that.—I'm tired of +the whole mess—work fifty years, and then have it go up in smoke! I +haven't got strength to begin over again—and the way it comes all at +once, blow on blow—did you ever! I'm going to run away from it! [<i>He +goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Enters, evidently upset, badly dressed</i>, <i>his hands +discoloured by the dyes</i>] Is it all out now, Anderson?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, now it's out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Has anything been discovered?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's a question! What's buried when it snows comes to light +when it thaws!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What do you mean, Anderson?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. If you dig deep enough you find things.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Have you found anything that can explain how the fire started?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw, nothing of that kind.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That means we are still under suspicion, all of us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not me, I guess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, yes, for you have been seen up in the attic at unusual +hours.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, I can't always go at usual hours to look for my tools +when I've left them behind. And I did leave my hammer behind when I +fixed the stove in the student's room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And the stone-cutter, the gardener, Mrs. Westerlund, even the +painter over there—we are all of us under suspicion—the student, the +cook, and myself more than the rest. Lucky it was that I had paid the +insurance the day before, or I should have been stuck for good.—Think +of it: the stone-cutter suspected of arson—he who's so afraid of doing +anything wrong! He's so conscientious <i>nowadays</i> that if you ask him +what time it is he won't swear to it, as his watch <i>may</i> be wrong. Of +course, we all know he got two years, but he's reformed, and I'll swear +now he's the straightest man in the quarter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. But the police suspect him because he went wrong once—and he +ain't got his citizenship back yet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, there are so many ways of looking at a thing—so many +ways, I tell you.—Well, Anderson, I guess you'd better quit for the +day, seeing as you're going to the wedding to-night.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, that wedding—There was somebody looking for you a while +ago, and he said he would be back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Who was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He didn't say.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Police, was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw, I don't think so.—There he is coming now, for that +matter. [<i>He goes out, together with his wife</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Regards him with curiosity at first, then with horror; wants +to run away, but cannot move</i>] Arvid!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Rudolph!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. So it's you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You're not dead, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. In a way, yes!—I have come back from America after thirty +years—there was something that pulled at me—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>I wanted to see my childhood's home once more—and I found +those ruins! [<i>Pause</i>] It burned down last night?</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes, you came just in time. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Dragging his words</i>] That's the place—such a tiny place +for such a lot of destinies! There's the dining-room with the frescoed +walls: palms, and cypresses, and a temple beneath a rose-coloured +sky—that's the way I dreamt the world would look the moment I got away +from home. And the stove with its pale blossoms growing out of conches. +And the chimney cupboard with its metal doors—I remember as a child, +when we had just moved in, somebody had scratched his name on the +metal, and then grandmother told us it was the name of a man who had +killed himself in that very room. I quickly forgot all about it, but +when I later married a niece of the same man, it seemed to me as if my +destiny had been foretold on that plate of metal.—You don't believe in +that kind of thing, do you?—However, you know how my marriage ended!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes, I've heard——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And there's the nursery—yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Don't let us start digging in the ruins!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why not? After the fire is out you can read things in the +ashes. We used to do it as children, in the stove——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Come and sit down at the table here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What place is that? Oh, the tavern—"The Last Nail"—where +the hearse-drivers used to stop, and where, once upon a time, condemned +culprits were given a final glass before they were taken to the +gallows—Who is keeping it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Mrs. Westerlund, who used to be my nurse.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Mrs. Westerlund—I remember her. It is as if the bench sank +from under me, and I was sent tumbling through the past, sixty whole +years, down into my childhood. I breathe the nursery air and feel it +pressing on my chest. You older ones weighed me down, and you made +so much noise that I was always kept in a state of fright. My fears +made me hide in the garden—then I was dragged forward and given a +spanking—always spankings—but I never knew why, and I don't know it +yet. And yet she was my mother——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, you were the favourite, and as such you always had her +support—Then we got a stepmother. Her father was an undertaker's +assistant, and for years we had been seeing him drive by with funerals. +At last he came to know us so well by sight that he used to nod and +grin at us, as if he meant to say: "Oh, I'll come for you sooner or +later!" And then he came right into our house one day, and had to be +called grandfather—when our father took his daughter for his second +wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. There was nothing strange in that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, but somehow, as our own destinies, and those of other +people, were being woven into one web——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, that's what happens everywhere——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Exactly! It's the same everywhere. In your youth you see +the web set up. Parents, relatives, comrades, acquaintances, servants +form the warp. Later on in life the weft becomes visible. And then +the shuttle of fate runs back and forth with the thread—sometimes +it breaks, but is tied up again, and it goes on as before. The reed +clicks, the thread is packed together into curlicues, and one day the +web lies ready. In old age, when the eye has learned how to see, you +discover that those curlicues form a pattern, a monogram, an ornament, +a hieroglyph, which only then can be interpreted: that's life! The +world-weaver has woven it! [<i>Pause; he rises</i>] Over there, in that +scrap-heap, I notice the family album. [<i>He walks a few steps to the +right and picks up a photograph album</i>] That's the book of our family +fate. Grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, relatives, acquaintances—or so-called "friends"—schoolmates, +servants, godparents. And, strange to say, wherever I have gone, in +America or Australia, to Hongkong or the Congo, everywhere I found +at least one countryman, and as we began to dig it always came out +that this man knew my family, or at least some godfather or maid +servant—that, in a word, we had some common acquaintances. I even +found a relative in the island of Formosa——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What has put those ideas into your head?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The fact that life, however it shaped itself—I have been +rich and poor, exalted and humbled; I have suffered a shipwreck and +passed through an earthquake—but, however life shaped itself, I always +became aware of connections and repetitions. I saw in one situation the +result of another, earlier one. On meeting <i>this</i> person I was reminded +of <i>that</i> one whom I had met in the past. There have been incidents in +my life that have come back time and again, so that I have been forced +to say to myself: this I have been through before. And I have met with +occurrences that seemed to me absolutely inevitable, or predestined.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What have you done during all these years?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Everything! I have beheld life from every quarter, from every +standpoint, from above and from below, and always it has seemed to me +like a scene staged for my particular benefit. And in that way I have +at last become reconciled to a part of the past, and I have come to +excuse not only my own but also other people's so-called "faults." You +and I, for instance, have had a few bones to pick with each other——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span> <i>recoils with a darkening face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't get scared now——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I never get scared!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You are just the same as ever.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And so are you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Am I? That's interesting!—Yes, you are still living in that +delusion about your own bravery, and I remember exactly how this false +idea became fixed in your mind. We were learning to swim, and one day +you told how you had dived into the water, and then mother said: "Yes, +Rudolph, he has courage!" That was meant for me—for me whom you had +stripped of all courage and self-assurance. But then came the day when +you had stolen some apples, and you were too cowardly to own up to it, +and so you put it on me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Haven't you forgotten that yet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.—From here, where I +am sitting, I can see that very tree, and that's what brought it into +my mind. It's over there, you see, and it bears golden pippins.—If you +look, you'll see that one of its biggest branches has been sawed off. +For it so happened that I didn't get angry with you on account of my +unjust punishment, but my anger turned against the tree. And two years +later that big branch was all dried up and had to be sawed off. It made +me think of the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour, but I was +not led into any presumptuous conclusions.—However, I still know all +those trees by heart, and once, when I had the yellow fever in Jamaica, +I counted them over, every one. Most of them are still there, I see. +There's the snow-apple which has red-striped fruit—a chaffinch used +to nest in it. There's the melon-apple, standing right in front of the +garret where I used to study for technological examinations; there's +the spitzenburg, and the late astrachan; and the pear-tree that used to +look like a poplar in miniature; and the one with pears that could only +be used for preserves—they never ripened, and we despised them, but +mother treasured them above all the rest; and in that tree there used +to be a wryneck that was always twisting its head around and making a +nasty cry—That was fifty years ago!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Irately</i>] What are you driving at?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Just as touchy and ill-tempered as ever! It's +interesting.—There was no special purpose back of my chatter—my +memories insist on pushing forward—I remember that the garden was +rented to somebody else once, but we had the right to play in it. +To me it seemed as if we had been driven out of paradise—and the +tempter was standing behind every tree. In the fall, when the ground +was strewn with ripe apples, I fell under a temptation that had become +irresistible——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You stole, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course I did, but I didn't put it off on you!—When I was +forty I leased a lemon grove in one of the Southern States, and—well, +there were thieves after the trees every night. I couldn't sleep, I +lost flesh, I got sick. And then I thought of—poor Gustafson here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's still living.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps he, too, stole apples in his childhood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Probably.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why are your hands so black?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Because I handle dyed stuffs all the time.—Did you have +anything else in mind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What could that have been?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That my hands were not clean.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Fudge!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Perhaps you are thinking of your inheritance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Just as mean as ever! Exactly as you were when eight years +old!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And you are just as heedless, and philosophical, and silly!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It's a curious thing—but I wonder how many times before we +have said just what we are saying now? [<i>Pause</i>] I am looking at your +album here—our sisters and brothers—five dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And our schoolmates?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Some taken and some left behind.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I met one of them in South Carolina—Axel Ericson—do you +remember him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. One whole night, while we were on a train together, he kept +telling me how our highly respectable and respected family consisted of +nothing but rascals; that it had made its money by smuggling—you know, +the toll-gate was right here; and that this house had been built with +double walls for the hiding of contraband. Don't you see that the walls +are double?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Crushed</i>] So that's the reason why we had closets everywhere?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The father of that fellow, Ericson, had been in the +custom-house service and knew our father, and the son told me a lot +of inside stories that turned my whole world of imagined conditions +topsyturvy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You gave him a licking, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why should I lick him?—However, my hair turned grey that +night, and I had to edit my entire life over again. You know how we +used to live in an atmosphere of mutual admiration; how we regarded +our family as better than all others, and how, in particular, our +parents were looked up to with almost religious veneration. And then I +had to paint new faces on them, strip them, drag them down, eliminate +them. It was dreadful! Then the ghosts began to walk. The pieces of +those smashed figures would come together again, but not properly, +and the result would be a regular wax cabinet of monsters. All those +grey-haired gentlemen whom we called uncles, and who came to our house +to play cards and eat cold suppers, they were smugglers, and some of +them had been in the pillory—Did you know that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Completely overwhelmed</i>] No.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The dye works were merely a hiding-place for smuggled yarn, +which was dyed in order to prevent identification. I can still remember +how I used to hate the smell of the dyeing vat—there was something +sickeningly sweet about it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Why did you have to tell me all this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why should I keep silent about it and let you make yourself +ridiculous by your boasting about that revered family of yours? Have +you never noticed people grinning at you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. No-o! [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I am now looking at father's bookcase in the pile over there. +It was always locked, you remember. But one day, when father was out, +I got hold of the key. The books in front I had seen through the glass +doors, of course. There were volumes of sermons, the collected works +of great poets, handbooks for gardening, compilations of the statutes +referring to customs duties and the confiscation of smuggled goods; the +constitution; a volume about foreign coins; and a technical work that +later determined my choice of a career. But back of those books there +was room for other things, and I began to explore. First of all I found +the rattan—and, do you know, I have since learned that that bitter +plant bears a fruit from which we get the red dye known as "dragon's +blood": now, isn't that queer! And beside the rattan stood a bottle +labelled "cyanide of potassium."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I suppose it was meant for use over at the works.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Or elsewhere, perhaps. But this is what I had in mind: there +were some bundles of pamphlets with illustrated covers that aroused my +interest. And, to put it plain, they contained the notorious memoirs +of a certain chevalier—I took them out and locked the case again. And +beneath the big oak over there I studied them. We used to call that oak +the Tree of Knowledge—and it was, all right! And in that way I left +my childhood's paradise to become initiated, all too early, into those +mysteries which—yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, I, too! [<i>Pause</i>] However—let us talk of something +else, as all that is now in ashes.—Did you have any insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Angrily</i>] Didn't you ask that a while ago?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Not that I can recall. It happens so often that I confuse +what I have said with what I have intended to say, and mostly because I +think so intensely—ever since that day when I tried to hang myself in +the closet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What is that you are saying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I tried to hang myself in the closet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Speaking very slowly</i>] Was that what happened that Holy +Thursday Eve, when you were taken to the hospital—what the rest of us +children were never permitted to know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Speaking in the same manner</i>] Yes.—There you can see how +little we know about those that are nearest to us, about our own homes +and our own lives.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. But why did you do it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was twelve years old, and tired of life! It was like +groping about in a great darkness—I couldn't understand what I had to +do here—and I thought the world a madhouse. I reached that conclusion +one day when our school was turned out with torches and banners to +celebrate "the destroyer of our country." For I had just read a book +which proved that our country had been brought to destruction by the +worst of all its kings—and that was the one whose memory we had to +celebrate with hymns and festivities.<a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What happened at the hospital?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. My dear fellow, I was actually put into the morgue as dead. +Whether I was or not, I don't know—but when I woke up, most of my +previous life had been forgotten, and I began a new one, but in such a +manner that the rest of you thought me peculiar.—Are you married again?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I have wife and children—somewhere.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. When I recovered consciousness I seemed to myself another +person. I regarded life with cynical calm: it probably had to be the +way it was. And the worse it turned out the more interesting it became. +After that I looked upon myself as if I were somebody else, and I +observed and studied that other person, and his fate, thereby rendering +myself callous to my own sufferings. But while dead I had acquired new +faculties—I could see right through people, read their thoughts, hear +their intentions. In company, I beheld them stripped naked—Where did +you say the fire started?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Why, nobody knows.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But the newspapers said that it began in a closet right +under the student's garret—what kind of a student is he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Appalled</i>] Is it in the newspapers? I haven't had time to +look at them to-day. What more have they got?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. They have got everything.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Everything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The double walls, the respected family of smugglers, the +pillory, the hairpins——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What hairpins?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I don't know, but they are there. Do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Naw!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Everything was brought to light, and you may look for a +stream of people coming here to stare at all that exposed rottenness.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Lord have mercy! And you take pleasure at seeing your family +dragged into scandal?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. My family? I have never felt myself related to the rest of +you. I have never had any strong feeling either for my fellow men or +myself. I think it's interesting to watch them—that's all—What sort +of a person is your wife?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Was there anything about her, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. About her and the student.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Good! Then I was right. Just wait and you'll see!—There comes +the stone-cutter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You know him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And so do you. A schoolmate—Albert Ericson.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Whose father was in the customs service and whose brother I +met on the train—he who was so very well informed about our family.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That's the infernal cuss who has blabbed to the papers, then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span> <i>enters with a pick and begins to look over the ruins</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a ghastly figure!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's been in jail—two years. Do you know what he did? He made +some erasures in a contract between him and myself——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You sent him to jail! And now he has had his revenge!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. But the queerest part of it is that nowadays he is regarded as +the most honest man in the whole district. He has become a martyr, and +almost a saint, so that nobody dares say a word against him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That's interesting, indeed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. [<i>Entering, turns to</i> <span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>] Can you pull down that wall +over there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. The one by the closet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. That's the one.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. That's where the fire started, and I'm sure you'll find a +candle or a lamp around there—for I know the people!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Go ahead then!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. The closet door was burned off, to be sure, but the ceiling +came down, and that's why we couldn't find out, but now we'll use the +beak on it! [<i>He falls to with his pick</i>] Ho-hey, ho-ho!—Ho-hey, +leggo!—Ho-hey, for that one!—Do you see anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Not yet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. [<i>Working away as before</i>] Now I can see something!—The lamp +has exploded, but the stand is left!—Who knows this forfeit for his +own?—Didn't I see the dyer somewhere around here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. There he is sitting now. [<i>He picks the lamp from the debris +and holds it up</i>] Do you recognise your lamp, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That isn't mine—it belonged to our tutor.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The student? Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's down-town, but I suppose he'll soon be here, as his books +are lying over there.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. How did his lamp get into the cook's closet? Did he have +anything to do with her?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Probably!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The only thing needed now is that he identify the lamp as +his own, and he will be arrested. What do you think of it, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I? Well, what is there to think?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. What reason could he have for setting fire to another +person's house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I don't know. Malice, or mere mischief—you never can tell +what people may do—Or perhaps there was something he wanted to cover +up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. That would have been a poor way, as old rottenness always +will out. Did he have any grudge against you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. It's likely, for I helped him once when he was hard up, and he +has hated me ever since, of course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Of course? [<i>Pause</i>] Who is he, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He was raised in an orphanage—born of unknown parents.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Haven't you a grown-up daughter, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Angered</i>] Of course I have!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Oh, you have! [<i>Pause; then to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>] Now you bring those +twelve men of yours and pull down the walls quick. Then we'll see what +new things come to light.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. That'll be done in a jiffy. [<i>Goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have you really paid up your insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Of course!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Personally?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. No, I sent it in as usual.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You sent it—by somebody else! That's just like you!—Suppose +we take a turn through the garden and have a look at the apple-trees.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. All right, and then we'll see what happens afterward.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now begins the most interesting part of all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Perhaps not quite so interesting if you find yourself mixed up +in it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Who can tell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a web it is!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. There was a child of yours that went to the orphanage, I think?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. God bless us!—Let's go over into the garden!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This refers to King Charles XII of Sweden, whose memory +Strindberg hated mainly because of the use made of it by the jingo +elements of the Swedish upper classes.</p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + + +<h4>SECOND SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same setting as before with the exception that the walls +have been torn down so that the garden is made visible, +with its vast variety of spring flowers—daphnes, deutzias, +daffodils, narcissuses, tulips, auriculas—and with all the +fruit-trees in bloom</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span> <i>and his old wife</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>, <i>the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>, <i>and the painter</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, +<i>are standing in a row staring at the spot where the house used +to be</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] There they stand, enjoying the misfortune that's +in the air and waiting for the victim to appear—he being the principal +item. That the fire was incendiary they take for granted, merely +because they want it that way.—And all these rascals are the friends +and comrades of my youth. I am even related to the hearse-driver +through my stepmother, whose father used to help carry out the +coffins—[<i>He speaks to the crowd of spectators</i>] Look here, you +people, I shouldn't stand there if I were you. There may have been some +dynamite stored in the cellar, and if such were the case an explosion +might take place any moment.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curious crowd scatters and disappears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [Stoops <i>over the scrap-heap and begins to poke in the +books piled there</i>] Those are the student's books—Same kind of rot +as in my youth—Livy's Roman history, which is said to be lies, every +word—But here's a volume out of my brother's library—"Columbus, or +the Discovery of America"! My own book, which I got as a Christmas +gift in 1857. My name has been erased. This means it was stolen from +me—and I accused one of our maids, who was discharged on that account! +Fine business! Perhaps it led to her ruin—fifty years ago! Here is +the frame of one of our family portraits; my renowned grandfather, +the smuggler, who was put in the pillory—fine!—But what is this? +The foot-piece of a mahogany bed—the one in which I was born! Oh, +damn!—Next item: a leg of a dinner-table—the one that was an +heirloom. Why, it was supposed to be of ebony, and was admired on +that account! And now, after fifty years, I discover it to be made +of painted maple. Everything had its colours changed in our house to +render it unrecognisable, even the clothes of us children, so that +our bodies always were stained with various dyes. Ebony—humbug! And +here's the dining-room clock—smuggled goods, that, too—which has +measured out the time for two generations. It was wound up every +Saturday, when we had salt codfish and a posset made with beer for +dinner. Like all intelligent clocks, it used to stop when anybody +died, but when I died it went on just as before. Let me have a look at +you, old friend—I want to see your insides. [<i>As he touches the clock +it falls to pieces</i>] Can't stand being handled! Nothing could stand +being handled in our home—nothing! Vanity, vanity!—But there's the +globe that was on top of the clock, although it ought to have been at +the bottom. You tiny earth: you, the densest and the heaviest of all +the planets—that's what makes everything on you so heavy—so heavy +to breathe, so heavy to carry. The cross is your symbol, but it might +just as well have been a fool's cap or a strait-jacket—you world of +delusions and deluded!—Eternal One—perchance Thy earth has gone +astray in the limitless void? And what set it whirling so that Thy +children were made dizzy, and lost their reason, and became incapable +of seeing what really is instead of what only seems?—Amen!—And here +is the student!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span> <i>enters and looks around in evident search of +somebody</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. He is looking for the mistress of the house. And he tells +everything he knows—with his eyes. Happy youth!—Whom are you looking +for?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. [<i>Embarrassed</i>] I was looking——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Speak up, young man—or keep silent. I understand you just +the same.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. With whom have I the honour——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It's no special honour, as you know, for once I ran away to +America on account of debts——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. That wasn't right.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Right or wrong, it remains a fact.—So you were looking for +Mrs. Walström? Well, she isn't here, but I am sure that she will come +soon, like all the rest, for they are drawn by the fire like moths——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. By a candle!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That's what <i>you</i> say, but I should rather have said "lamp," +in order to choose a more significant word. However, you had better +hide your feelings, my dear fellow, if you can—I can hide mine!—We +were talking of that lamp, were we not? How about it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Which lamp?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, well! Every one of them lies and denies!—The lamp +that was placed in the cook's closet and set fire to the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Some blush when they lie and others turn pale. This one has +invented an entirely new manner.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Are you talking to yourself, sir?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have that bad habit.—Are your parents still living?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. They are not.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now you lied again, but unconsciously.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I never tell a lie!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Not more than three in these few moments! I know your father.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I don't believe it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. So much the better for me!—Do you see this scarf-pin? It's +pretty, isn't it? But I never see anything of it myself—I have no +pleasure in its being there, while everybody else is enjoying it. There +is nothing selfish about that, is there? But there are moments when +I should like to see it in another man's tie so that I might have a +chance to admire it. Would you care to have it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I don't quite understand—Perhaps, as you said, it's better +not to wear it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps!—Don't get impatient now. She will be here soon.—Do +you find it enviable to be young?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I can't say that I do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, youth is not its own master; it has never any money, and +has to take its food out of other hands; it is not permitted to speak +when company is present, but is treated as an idiot; and as it cannot +marry, it has to ogle other people's wives, which leads to all sorts of +dangerous consequences. Youth—humbug!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. That's right! As a child, you want to grow up—that is, reach +fifteen, be confirmed, and put on a tall hat. When you are that far, +you want to be old—that is, twenty-one. Which means that nobody wants +to be young.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And when you grow old in earnest, then you want to be dead. +For then there isn't much left to wish for.—Do you know that you are +to be arrested?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Am I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The detective said so a moment ago.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you surprised at that? Don't you know that in this life +you must be prepared for anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. But what have I done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You don't have to do anything in order to be arrested. To be +suspected is enough.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Then everybody might be arrested!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Exactly! The rope might be laid around the neck of the whole +race if justice were wanted, but it isn't. It's a disgusting race: +ugly, sweating, ill-smelling; its linen dirty, its stockings full of +holes; with chilblains and corns—ugh! No, an apple-tree in bloom is +far more beautiful. Or look at the lilies in the field—they seem +hardly to belong here—and what fragrance is theirs!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Are you a philosopher, sir?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, I am a great philosopher.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Now you are poking fun at me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You say that to get away. Well, begone then! Hurry up!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I was expecting somebody.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. So I thought. But I think it would be better to go and +meet——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. She asked you to tell me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, that wasn't necessary.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Well, if that's so—I don't want to miss——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Can that be my son? Well, if it comes to the worst—I was a +child myself once, and it was neither remarkable nor pleasant—And I +am his—what of it? And for that matter—who knows?—Now I'll have a +look at Mrs. Westerlund. She used to work for my parents—was faithful +and good-tempered; and when she had been pilfering for ten years she +was raised to the rank of a "trusted" servant. [<i>He seats himself at +the table in front of the inn</i>] There are Gustafson's wreaths—just as +carelessly made as they were forty years ago. He was always careless +and stupid in all he did, and so he never succeeded with anything. But +much might be pardoned him on account of his self-knowledge. "Poor +fool that I am," he used to say, and then he would pull off his cap +and scratch his head.—Why, there's a myrtle plant! [<i>He knocks at the +pot</i>] Not watered, of course! He always forgot to water his plants, the +damned fool—and yet he expected them to grow.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>the painter, appears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I wonder who that painter can be. Probably he belongs also to +the Bog, and perhaps he is one of the threads in my own web.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span> <i>is staring at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>all this time</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Returning the stare</i>] Well, do you recognise me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Are you—Mr. Arvid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have been and am—if perception argues being.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. I ought really to be mad at you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, go on and be so! However, you might tell me the reason. +That has a tendency to straighten matters out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Do you remember——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Unfortunately, I have an excellent memory.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Do you remember a boy named Robert?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, a regular rascal who knew how to draw.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. And I was to go to the Academy in order to become a real +painter, an artist. But just about that time-colour-blindness was all +the go. You were studying at the Technological Institute then, and so +you had to test my eyes before your father would consent to send me to +the art classes. For that reason you brought two skeins of yarn from +the dye works, one red and the other green, and then you asked me about +them. I answered—called the red green and the green red—and that was +the end of my career——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But that was as it should be.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. No—for the truth of it was, I could distinguish the +colours, but not—the <i>names</i>. And that wasn't found out until I was +thirty-seven——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That was an unfortunate story, but I didn't know better, and +so you'll have to forgive me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How can I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Ignorance is pardonable! And now listen to me. I wanted to +enter the navy, made a trial cruise as mid-shipman, seemed to become +seasick, and was rejected! But I could stand the sea, and my sickness +came from having drunk too much. So my career was spoiled, and I had to +choose another.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. What have I got to do with the navy? I had been dreaming of +Rome and Paris——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, well, one has so many dreams in youth, and in old age +too, for that matter. Besides, what's the use of bothering about what +happened so long ago?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How you talk! Perhaps you can give me back my wasted life——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, I can't, but I am under no obligation to do so, either. +That trick with the yarn I had learned at school, and you ought to have +learned the proper names of the colours. And now you can go to—one +dauber less is a blessing to humanity!—There's Mrs. Westerlund!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How you <i>do</i> talk. But I guess you'll get what's coming to you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How d'you do, Mrs. Westerlund? I am Mr. Arvid—don't get +scared now! I have been in America, and how are you? I am feeling fine! +There has been a fire here, and I hear your husband is dead—policeman, +I remember, and a very nice fellow. I liked him for his good humour +and friendly ways. He was a harmless jester, whose quips never hurt. I +recall once——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. O, merciful! Is this my own Arvid whom I used to +tend——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, that wasn't me, but my brother—but never mind, it's just +as well meant. I was talking of your old man who died thirty-five years +ago—a very nice man and a particular friend of mine——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, he died. [<i>Pause</i>] But I don't know if—perhaps +you are getting him mixed up——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, I don't. I remember old man Westerlund perfectly, and I +liked him very much.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. [<i>Reluctantly</i>] Of course it's a shame to say it, but +I don't think his temper was very good.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Well—he had a way of getting around people, but +he didn't mean what he said—or if he did he meant it the other way +around——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What is that? Didn't he mean what he was saying? Was he a +hypocrite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Well, I don't like to say it, but I believe——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Do you mean to say that he wasn't on the level?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. N—yes—he was—a little—well, he didn't mean exactly +what he said—And how have you been doing, Mr. Arvid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now a light is dawning on me!—The miserable wretch! And +here I have been praising him these thirty-five years. I have missed +him, and I felt something like sorrow at his departure—I even used +some of my tobacco allowance to buy a wreath for his coffin.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. What was it he did? What was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The villain! [<i>Pause</i>] Well—he fooled me—it was Shrove +Tuesday, I remember. He told me that if one took away every third +egg from a hen she would lay so many more. I did it, got a licking, +and came near getting into court. But <i>I</i> never suspected him of +having told on me.—He was always hanging around our kitchen looking +for tid-bits, and so our maids could do just what they pleased about +the garbage—oh, now I see him in his proper aspect!—And here I am +now getting into a fury at one who has been thirty-five years in his +grave?—So he was a satirist, he was—and I didn't catch on—although I +understand him now.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, he was a little satirical all right—<i>I</i> ought +to know that!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Other things are coming back to me now—and I have been +saying nice things about that blackguard for thirty-five years! It was +at his funeral I drank my first toddy—And I remember how he used to +flatter me, and call me "professor" and "the crown prince"—ugh—And +there is the stone-cutter! You had better go inside, madam, or we'll +have a row when that fellow begins to turn in his bills. Good-bye, +madam—we'll meet again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. No we won't. People ought never to meet again—it +is never as it used to be, and they only get to clawing at each +other—What business did you have to tell me all those things—seeing +everything was all right as it was [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>, <i>the stone-cutter, comes in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Come on!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Come on, I said!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span> <i>stares at him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. I am no thief!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was +strangling me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why did you sign it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Because I was hard up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, that <i>is</i> a motive.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But now I am having my revenge.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, isn't it nice!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And now <i>they</i> will be locked up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Did <i>we</i> ever fight each other as boys?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. No, I was too young.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have we never told lies about each other, or robbed each +other, or got in each other's way, or seduced each other's sisters?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Naw, but my father was in the customs service and yours was a +smuggler.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. There you are! That's something, at least!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And when my father failed to catch yours he was discharged.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And you want to get even with me because your father was a +good-for-nothing?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Why did you say a while ago that there was dynamite in the +cellar?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now, my dear sir, you are telling lies again. I said there +<i>might</i> be dynamite in the cellar, and everything is possible, of +course.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And in the meantime the student has been arrested. Do you know +him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Very little—his mother more, for she was a maid in our +house. She was both pretty and good, and I was making up to her—until +she had a child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And were you not its father?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was not. But as a denial of fatherhood is not allowed, I +suppose I must be regarded as a sort of stepfather.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Then they have lied about you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course. But that's a very common thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And I was among those who testified against you—under oath!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have no doubt about it, but what does it matter? Nothing +matters at all! But now we had better quit pulling—or we'll get the +whole web unravelled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But think of me, who have perjured myself——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, it isn't pleasant, but such things will happen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. It's horrible—don't you find life horrible?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Covering his eyes with his hand</i>] Yes, horrible beyond all +description!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. I don't want to live any longer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Must! [<i>Pause</i>] Must! [<i>Pause</i>] Tell me—the student is +arrested, you say—can he get out of it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Hardly!—And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you +something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only +witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him +guilty—in another way.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. She with the hairpins, isn't it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The old one or the young one?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a web this is!—But who put the lamp there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. His worst enemy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And did his worst enemy also start the fire?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's beyond me! Only Anderson, the mason, knows that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Who is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. The oldest one in the place—some kind of relative of Mrs. +Westerlund—knows all the secrets of the house—but he and the dyer +have got some secrets together, so he won't tell anything.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And the lady—my sister-in-law—who is she?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well—she was in the house as governess when the first wife +cleared out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What sort of character has she got?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Hm! Character? I don't quite know what that is. Do you mean +trade? The old assessment blanks used to call for your name and +"character"—but that meant occupation instead of character.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I mean her temper.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well, it changes, you know. In me it depends on the person +with whom I am talking. With decent people I am decent, and with the +cruel ones I become like a beast of prey.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But I was talking of her temper under ordinary circumstances.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well, nothing in particular. Gets angry if you tease her, but +comes around after a while. One cannot always have the same temper, of +course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I mean, is she merry or melancholy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. When things go right, she is happy, and when they go wrong, +she gets sorry or angry—just like the rest of us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, but how does she behave?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Oh, what does it matter?—Of course, being an educated person, +she behaves politely, but nevertheless, you know, she can get nasty, +too, when her blood gets to boiling.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But that doesn't make me much wiser.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. [<i>Patting him on the shoulder</i>] No, sir, we never get much +wiser when it's a question of human beings.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, you're a marvel!—And how do you like my brother, the +dyer? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Oh, his manners are pretty decent. And more than that I don't +know, for what he keeps hidden I can't find out, of course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Excellent! But—his hands are always blue, and yet you know +that they are white beneath the dye.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But to make them so they should be scraped, and that's +something he won't permit.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Good!—Who are the young couple coming over there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's the gardener's son and my daughter, who were to have +been married to-night, but who have had to postpone it on account of +the fire—Now I shall leave, for I don't want to embarrass them. You +understand—I ain't much as a father-in-law. Good-bye! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>withdraws behind the inn, but so that he +remains visible to the spectators</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span> <i>enter hand in hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. I had to have a look at this place—I had to——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Why did you have to look at it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Because I have suffered so much in this house that more than +once I wished it on fire.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes, I know, it kept the sun out of the garden, and now +everything will grow much better—provided they don't put up a still +higher house——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Now it's open and pleasant, with plenty of air and sunlight, +and I hear they are going to lay out a street——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Won't you have to move then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Yes, all of us will have to move, and that's what I like—I +like new things—I should like to emigrate——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Mercy, no! Do you know, our pigeons were nesting on the roof. +And when the fire broke out last night they kept circling around the +place at first, but when the roof fell in they plunged right into the +flames—They couldn't part from their old home!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. But we must get out of here—must! My father says that the soil +has been sucked dry.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I heard that the cinders left by the fire were to be spread +over the ground in order to improve the soil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. You mean the ashes?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes; they say it's good to sow in the ashes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Better still on virgin soil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. But your father is ruined?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not at all. He has money in the bank. Of course he's +complaining, but so does everybody.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Has he—The fire hasn't ruined him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not a bit! He's a shrewd old guy, although he always calls +himself a fool.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. What am I to believe?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. He has loaned money to the mason here—and to others.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I am entirely at sea! Am I dreaming?—The whole morning +we have been weeping over your father's misfortune and over the +postponement of the wedding——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Poor little thing! But the wedding is to take place to-night——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Is it not postponed?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Only delayed for a couple of hours so that my father will have +time to get his new coat.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. And we who have been weeping——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Useless tears—such a lot of tears!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I am mad because they were useless—although—to think that +my father-in-law could be such a sly one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Yes, he is something of a joker, to put it mildly. He is always +talking about how tired he is, but that's nothing but laziness—oh, +he's lazy, I tell you——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Don't say any more nasty things about him—but let us get +away from here. I have to dress, you know, and put up my hair.—Just +think, that my father-in-law isn't what I thought him—that he could be +fooling us like that and not telling the truth! Perhaps you are like +that, too? Oh, that I can't know what you really are!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. You'll find out afterward.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. But then it's too late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. It's never too late——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. All you who lived in this house are bad—And now I am afraid +of you——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not of me, though?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I don't know what to think. Why didn't you tell me before +that your father was well off?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. I wanted to try you and see if you would like me as a poor man.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes, afterward they always say that they wanted to try you. +But how can I ever believe a human being again?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Go and get dressed now. I'll order the carriages.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Are we to have carriages?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Of course—regular coaches.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Coaches? And to-night? What fun! Come—hurry up! We'll have +carriages!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. [<i>Gets hold of her hand and they dance out together</i>] Hey and +ho! Here we go!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] Bravo!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>enters and talks in a low tone to the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>, <i>who answers in the same way. This lasts for about +half a minute, whereupon the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>leaves again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Enters, dressed in black, and gazes long at the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>] Are you my brother-in-law?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I am. [<i>Pause</i>] Don't I look as I have been described—or +painted?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Frankly, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, that is generally the case. And I must admit that the +information I received about you a while ago does not tally with the +original.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Oh, people do each other so much wrong, and they paint +each other in accordance with some image within themselves.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And they go about like theatrical managers, distributing +parts to each other. Some accept their parts; others hand them back and +prefer to improvise.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. And what has been the part assigned to you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That of a seducer. Not that I have ever been one! I have +never seduced anybody, be she wife or maid, but once in my youth I was +seduced, and that's why the part was given to me. Strange to say, it +was forced on me so long that at last I accepted it. And for twenty +years I carried the bad conscience of a seducer around with me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You were innocent then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. How curious! And to this day my husband is still +talking of the Nemesis that has pursued you because you seduced another +man's wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I fully believe it. But your husband represents a still more +interesting case. He has created a new character for himself out of +lies. Tell me: isn't he a coward in facing the struggles of life?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Of course he is a coward!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And yet he boasts of his courage, which is nothing but +brutality.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You know him pretty well.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, and no!—And you have been living in the belief that you +had married into a respected family which had never disgraced itself?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. So I believed until this morning.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. When your faith crumbled! What a web of lies and mistakes +and misunderstandings! And that kind of thing we are supposed to take +seriously!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Do you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Sometimes. Very seldom nowadays. I walk like a somnambulist +along the edge of a roof—knowing that I am asleep, and yet being +awake—and the only thing I am waiting for is to be waked up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You are said to have been across to the other side?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have been across the river, but the only thing I can recall +is—that there everything <i>was</i> what it pretended to be. That's what +makes the difference.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. When nothing stands the test of being touched, what are +you then to hold on to?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Tell me! Tell me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Sorrow brings patience; patience brings experience; +experience brings hope; and hope will not bring us to shame.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Hope, yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, hope!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Do you ever think it pleasant to live?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course. But that is also a delusion. I tell you, my dear +sister-in-law, that when you happen to be born without a film over your +eyes, then you see life and your fellow creatures as they are—and +you have to be a pig to feel at home in such a mess.—But when you +have been looking long enough at blue mists, then you turn your eyes +the other way and begin to look into your own soul? There you find +something really worth looking at.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. And what is it you see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Your own self. But when you have looked at that you must die.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Covers her eyes with her hands; after a pause she +says</i>] Do you want to help me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. If I can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Try.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Wait a moment!—No, I cannot. He is innocently accused. Only +you can set him free again. But that you cannot do. It's a net that has +not been tied by men——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. But he is not guilty.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Who is guilty? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. No one! It was an accident!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I know it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Suffer. It will pass. For that, too, is vanity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Suffer?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, suffer! But with hope!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Holding out her hand to him</i>] Thank you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And let it be your consolation</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That you don't suffer innocently.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span> <i>walks out with her head bent low</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>climbs the pile of debris marking the site of +the burned house</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Comes in, looking happy</i>] Are you playing the ghost among +the ruins?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Ghosts feel at home among ruins—And now you are happy?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Now I am happy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And brave?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Whom have I got to fear, or what?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I conclude from your happiness that you are ignorant of one +important fact—Have you the courage to bear a piece of misfortune?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You turn pale?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. A serious misfortune!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Speak out!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The detective was here a moment ago, and he told me—in +confidence——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That the premium on your insurance was paid up two hours too +late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Great S——! what are you talking of? I sent my wife to pay +the premium.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And she sent the bookkeeper—and he got there too late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Then I am ruined? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you crying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, is that something that cannot be borne?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. How am I to live? What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Work!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I am too old—I have no friends——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps you'll get some now. A man in misfortune always seems sympathetic. I had some of +my best hours while fortune went against me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Wildly</i>] I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But in my days of success and fortune I was left alone. Envy +was more than friendship could stand.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Then I'll sue the bookkeeper.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He'll have to pay——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How little you have changed! What's the use of living, when +you learn so little from it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I'll sue him, the villain!—He hates me because I gave him a +cuff on the ear once.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Forgive him—as I forgave you when I didn't demand my +inheritance.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What inheritance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Always the same! Merciless! Cowardly! Disingenuous!—Depart +in peace, brother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What inheritance is that you are talking of?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now listen, Rudolph—my brother after all: my own mother's +son! You put the stone-cutter in jail because he did some erasing—all +right! But how about your own erasures from my book, "Christopher +Columbus, or the Discovery of America"?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Taken aback</i>] What's that? Columbus?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, <i>my</i> book that became yours!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span> <i>remains silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, and I understand now that it was you who put the +student's lamp in the closet—I understand everything. But do <i>you</i> +know that the dinner-table was not of ebony?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. It wasn't?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It was nothing but maple.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Maple!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The pride and glory of the house—valued at two thousand +crowns!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That, too? So that was also humbug!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Ugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Thus the debt is settled. The case is dropped—the issue is +beyond the court—the parties can withdraw——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Rushing out</i>] I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Takes his wreath from the table</i>] I meant to take this +wreath to the cemetery—to my parents' grave—but I will place it here +instead—on the ruins of what was once their home—my childhood's home! +[<i>He bends his head in silent prayer</i>] And now, wanderer, resume thy +pilgrimage!</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p>PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG</p> + + +<p>PLAYS. FIRST SERIES: The Dream Play, The +Link, The Dance of Death—Part I and Part II.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. SECOND SERIES: There are Crimes +and Crimes, Miss Julia, The Stronger, Creditors, +Pariah.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. THIRD SERIES: Swanwhite, Simoom, +Debit and Credit, Advent, The Thunder +Storm, After the Fire.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. FOURTH SERIES: The Bridal Crown, +The Spook Sonata, The First Warning, Gustavus Vasa.</p> + +<p>CREDITORS. PARIAH.</p> + +<p>MISS JULIA. THE STRONGER.</p> + +<p>THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES.</p></blockquote> + + + + + + + + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44233 ***</div> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/44233.json b/44233.json new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39ccb18 --- /dev/null +++ b/44233.json @@ -0,0 +1,5 @@ +{
+ "DATA": {
+ "CREDIT": "Produced by Marc D'Hooghe (Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, University of California (L.A.)"
+ }
+}
diff --git a/old/44233-8.txt b/old/44233-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f9d1782 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44233-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11378 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series, by +August Strindberg + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series + +Author: August Strindberg + +Translator: Edwin Björkman + +Release Date: November 19, 2013 [EBook #44233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + + + + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + + + + +PLAYS + +BY + +AUGUST STRINDBERG + +THIRD SERIES + + +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY + +EDWIN BJÖRKMAN + + + +AUTHORIZED EDITION + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1921 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The collection of plays contained in this volume is unusually +representative, giving what might be called a cross-section of +Strindberg's development as a dramatist from his naturalistic revolt +in the middle eighties, to his final arrival at resigned mysticism and +Swedenborgian symbolism. + +"Swanwhite" was written in the spring of 1901, about the time when +Strindberg was courting and marrying his third wife, the gifted Swedish +actress Harriet Bosse. In the fall of 1902 the play appeared in book +form, together with "The Crown Bride" and "The Dream Play," all of them +being issued simultaneously, at Berlin, in a German translation made by +Emil Schering. + +Schering, who at that time was in close correspondence with Strindberg, +says that the figure of _Swanwhite_ had been drawn with direct +reference to Miss Bosse, who had first attracted the attention of +Strindberg by her spirited interpretation of _Biskra_ in "Simoom." +And Schering adds that it was Strindberg's bride who had a little +previously introduced him to the work of Maeterlinck, thereby +furnishing one more of the factors determining the play. + +Concerning the influence exerted upon him by the Belgian +playwright-philosopher, Strindberg himself wrote in a pamphlet named +"Open Letters to the Intimate Theatre" (Stockholm, 1909): + +"I had long had in mind skimming the cream of our most beautiful +folk-ballads in order to turn them into a picture for the stage. +Then Maeterlinck came across my path, and under the influence of +his puppet-plays, which are not meant for the regular stage, I wrote +my Swedish scenic spectacle, 'Swanwhite.' It is impossible either to +steal or to borrow from Maeterlinck. It is even difficult to become his +pupil, for there are no free passes that give entrance to his world of +beauty. But one may be urged by his example into searching one's own +dross-heaps for gold--and it is in that sense I acknowledge my debt to +the master. + +"Pushed ahead by the _impression_ made on me by Maeterlinck, and +borrowing his divining-rod for my purposes, I turned to such sources +[_i.e._, of Swedish folk-lore] as the works of Geijer, Afzelius, and +Dybeck. There I found a superabundance of princes and princesses. The +stepmother theme I had discovered on my own hook as a _constant_--it +figures in twenty-six different Swedish folk-tales. In the same place I +found the resurrection theme, as, for instance, it appears in the story +of _Queen Dagmar_. Then I poured it all into my separator, together +with the _Maids_, the _Green Gardener_ and the _Young King_, and in +a short while the cream began to flow--and for that reason the story +is my own. But it has also been made so by the fact that I have lived +through that tale in my own fancy--a Spring in time of Winter!" + +Swedish critics have been unanimous in their praise of this play. John +Landquist, who has since become Strindberg's literary executor, spoke +of it once as "perhaps the most beautiful and most genuine fairy tale +for old or young ever written in the Swedish language." Tor Hedberg +has marvelled at the charm with which _Swanwhite_ herself has been +endowed--"half child, half maid; knowing nothing, yet guessing all; +playing with love as a while ago she was playing with her dolls." On +the stage, too--in Germany as well as in Sweden--little _Swanwhite_ +has celebrated great triumphs. Whether that figure, and the play +surrounding it, will also triumph in English-speaking countries, +remains still to be seen. But if, contrary to my hopes, it should fail +to do so, I want, in advance, to shift the blame from the shoulders of +the author to my own. In hardly any other work by Strindberg do form +and style count for so much. The play is, in its original shape, as +poetical in form as in spirit--even to the extent of being strongly +rhythmical in its prose, and containing many of the inversions which +are so characteristic of Swedish verse. + +It is not impossible to transfer these qualities into English, but +my efforts to do so have had to be influenced by certain differences +in the very _grain_ of the two languages involved. Like all other +languages, each possesses a natural basic rhythm. This rhythm varies +frequently and easily in Swedish, so that you may pass from iambic to +trochaic metre without giving offence to the ear--or to that subtle +rhythmical susceptibility that seems to be inherent in our very pulses. +But the rhythm dearest and most natural to the genius of the Swedish +language seems to be the falling pulse-beat manifested in the true +trochee. The swing and motion of English, on the other hand, is almost +exclusively, commandingly iambic. And it was not until I made the +iambic _rising_ movement prevail in my translation, that I felt myself +approaching the impression made on me by the original. But for that +very reason--because the genius of the new medium has forced me into +making the movement of my style more monotonous--it is to be feared +that the rhythmical quality of that movement may seem overemphasised. +Should such a criticism be advanced, I can only answer: I have tried +several ways, and this is the only one that will _work_. + +"Simoom" seems to have been written in 1888, in close connection with +"Creditors" and "Pariah." And, like these, it shows the unmistakable +influence of Edgar Allan Poe, with whose works Strindberg had become +acquainted a short while before. The play was first printed in one of +the three thin volumes of varied contents put out by Strindberg in 1890 +and 1891 under the common title of "Pieces Printed and Unprinted." But, +strange to say, it was not put on the stage (except in a few private +performances) until 1902, although, from a purely theatrical viewpoint, +Strindberg--master of stagecraft though he was--had rarely produced a +more effective piece of work. + +"Debit and Credit" belongs to the same general period as the previous +play, but has in it more of Nietzsche than of Poe. Its central figure +is also a sort of superman, but as such he is not taken too seriously +by his creator. The play has humour, but it is of a grim kind--one +seems to be hearing the gritting of teeth through the laughter. Like +"Simoom," however, it should be highly effective on the stage. It was +first published in 1893, with three other one-act plays, the volume +being named "Dramatic Pieces." + +"Advent" was published in 1899, together with "There Are Crimes and +Crimes," under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Its name +refers, of course, to the ecclesiastical designation of the four weeks +preceding Christmas. The subtitle, literally rendered, would be "A +Mystery." But as this term has a much wider application in Swedish +than in English, I have deemed it better to observe the distinction +which the latter language makes between mysteries, miracle-plays, and +moralities. + +The play belongs to what Strindberg called his "Inferno period," during +which he struggled in a state of semi-madness to rid himself of the +neurasthenic depression which he regarded as a punishment brought about +by his previous attitude of materialistic scepticism. It is full of +Swedenborgian symbolism, which, perhaps, finds its most characteristic +expression in the two scenes laid in "The Waiting Room." The name +selected by Strindberg for the region where dwell the "lost" souls of +men is not a mere euphemism. It signifies his conception of that place +as a station on the road to redemption or annihilation. + +In its entirety the play forms a Christmas sermon with a quaint +blending of law and gospel. A prominent Swedish critic, Johan +Mortensen, wrote: "Reading it, one almost gets the feeling that +Strindberg, the dread revolutionist, has, of a sudden, changed into +a nice village school-teacher, seated at his desk, with his rattan +cane laid out in front of him. He has just been delivering a lesson in +Christianity, and he has noticed that the attention of the children +strayed and that they either failed to understand or did not care to +take in the difficult matters he was dealing with. But they must be +made to listen and understand. And so--with serious eyes, but with a +sly smile playing around the corners of his mouth--he begins all over +again, in that fairy-tale style which never grows old: 'Once upon a +time!'" + +In November, 1907, a young theatrical manager, August Falck, opened the +Intimate Theatre at Stockholm. From the start Strindberg was closely +connected with the venture, and soon the little theatre, with its tiny +stage and its auditorium seating only one hundred and seventy-five +persons, was turned wholly into a Strindberg stage, where some of the +most interesting and daring theatrical experiments of our own day were +made. With particular reference to the needs and limitations of this +theatre, Strindberg wrote a series of "chamber plays," four of which +were published in 1907--each one of them appearing separately in a +paper-covered duodecimo volume. + +The first of these plays to appear in book form--though not the +first one to be staged--was "The Thunder-Storm," designated on the +front cover as "Opus I." Two of the principal ideas underlying its +construction were the abolition of intermissions--which, according to +Strindberg, were put in chiefly for the benefit of the liquor traffic +in the theatre café--and the reduction of the stage-setting to quickly +inter-changeable backgrounds and a few stage-properties. Concerning the +production of "The Thunder-Storm," at the Intimate Theatre, Strindberg +wrote subsequently that, in their decorative effects, the first and +last scenes were rather failures. But he held the lack of space +wholly responsible for this failure. His conclusion was that the most +difficult problem of the small theatre would be to give the illusion of +distance required by a scene laid in the open--particularly in an open +place surrounded or adjoined by buildings. Of the second act he wrote, +on the other hand, that it proved a triumph of artistic simplification. +The only furniture appearing on the stage consisted of a buffet, a +piano, a dinner-table and a few chairs--that is, the pieces expressly +mentioned in the text of the play. And yet the effect of the setting +satisfied equally the demands of the eye and the reason. + +"The Thunder-Storm" might be called a drama of old age--nay, _the_ +drama of man's inevitable descent through a series of resignations to +the final dissolution. Its subject-matter is largely autobiographical, +embodying the author's experiences in his third and last marriage, +as seen in retrospect--the anticipatory conception appearing in +"Swanwhite." However, justice to Miss Harriet Bosse, who was Mrs. +Strindberg from 1901 to 1904, requires me to point out that echoes +of the dramatist's second marriage also appear, especially in the +references to the postmarital relationship. + +"After the Fire" was published as "Opus II" of the chamber-plays, +and staged ahead of "The Thunder-Storm." Its Swedish name is _Brända +Tomten_, meaning literally "the burned-over site." This name has +previously been rendered in English as "The Burned Lot" and "The Fire +Ruins." Both these titles are awkward and ambiguous. The name I have +now chosen embodies more closely the fundamental premise of the play. + +The subject-matter is even more autobiographical than that of "The +Thunder-Storm"--almost as much so as "The Bondwoman's Son." The +perished home is Strindberg's own at the North Tollgate Street in +Stockholm, where he spent the larger part of his childhood and youth. +The old _Mason_, the _Gardener_, the _Stone-Cutter_, and other figures +appearing in the play are undoubtedly lifted straight out of real +life--and so are probably also the exploded family reputation and +the cheap table painted to represent ebony--although one may take +for granted that the process has not taken place without a proper +disguising of externals. + +There is one passage in this little play which I want to point out as +containing one of the main keys to Strindberg's character and art. It +is the passage where _The Stranger_--who, of course, is none but the +author himself--says to his brother: "I have beheld life from every +quarter, from every standpoint, from above and from below, but always +it has seemed to me like a scene staged for my particular benefit." + + + + +SWANWHITE + +(SVANEHVIT) + +A FAIRY PLAY + +1902 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE DUKE + THE STEPMOTHER + SWANWHITE + THE PRINCE + SIGNE } + ELSA } _Maids_ + TOVA } + THE KITCHEN GARDENER + THE FISHERMAN + THE MOTHER OF SWANWHITE + THE MOTHER OF THE PRINCE + THE GAOLER + THE EQUERRY + THE BUTLER + THE FLOWER GARDENER + TWO KNIGHTS + + + _An apartment in a mediæval stone castle. The walls and the + cross-vaulted ceiling are whitewashed. In the centre of the + rear wall is a triple-arched doorway leading to a balcony + with a stone balustrade. There are draperies of brocade over + the doorway. Beyond the balcony appear the top branches of a + rose-garden, laden with white and pink roses. In the background + there can be seen a white, sandy beach and the blue sea_. + + _To the right of the main doorway is a small door which, when + left open, discloses a vista of three closets, one beyond the + other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged + on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all + sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains + piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so + forth_. + + _The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating + squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands + a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe + is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with + roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded + tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall + above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the + foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed + with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the + head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is + pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across + the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with + lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, + bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in + Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is + placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp + of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the + mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it_. + + _In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a + perch, with its back turned toward the audience_. + + _In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white + doves at rest_. + + _As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways + of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post + against which she leans_. SIGNE, _the false maid, is in the + pewter-closet_, ELSA _in the clothes-closet, and_ TOVA _in the + fruit-closet_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters from the rear. After him comes the_ + STEPMOTHER _carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip_. + + _The stage is darkened when they enter_. + + * * * * * + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite is not here? + +DUKE. It seems so! + +STEPMOTHER. So it seems, but--is it seemly? Maids!--Signe!--Signe, +Elsa, Tova! + + _The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of + the_ STEPMOTHER. + +STEPMOTHER. Where is Lady Swanwhite? + + SIGNE _folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply_. + +STEPMOTHER. You do not know? What see you in my hand?--Answer, quick! +[_Pause_] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws +of steel, as well as bill! What is it? + +SIGNE. The wire-lashed whip! + +STEPMOTHER. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan +white? + +SIGNE. How can I tell what I don't know? + +STEPMOTHER. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an +offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?--Take +off your neckerchief!--Down on your knees! + + _The_ DUKE _turns his back on her in disgust_. + +STEPMOTHER. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that +no youth will ever kiss it after this!--Hold out your neck!--Still more! + +SIGNE. For Christ's sake, mercy! + +STEPMOTHER. 'Tis mercy that you are alive! + +DUKE. [_Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of +his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard_] Her head +should be cut off--put in a sack--hung on a tree---- + +STEPMOTHER. So it should! + +DUKE. We are agreed! How strange! + +STEPMOTHER. It did not happen yesterday. + +DUKE. And may not happen once again. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ Signe, _who, still on her knees, has been moving +farther away_] Stop! Whither? [_She raises the whip and strikes_; Signe +_turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air_.] + +SWANWHITE. [_Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees_] +Stepmother--here I am--the guilty one! She's not at fault. + +STEPMOTHER. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had. + +STEPMOTHER. Your father's wife must be your mother. + +SWANWHITE. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother. + +STEPMOTHER. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and +will make you pliant too. + + [_She raises the whip to strike_ SWANWHITE. + +DUKE. [_Raising his sword_] Take heed of the head! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose head? + +DUKE. Your own! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _turns pale at first, and then angry; but she + controls herself and remains silent; long pause_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone_] Then will +Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her? + +DUKE. [_Sheathing his sword_] Rise up, my darling child, and come into +my arms to calm yourself. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into the arms of the_ DUKE] +Father!--You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. +But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. +[_She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to +his waist_] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches--lift +me up, so I can reach the top. + + _The_ DUKE _holds out his arm_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder_] +Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above--now I can overlook the +rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms +stretched beyond. + +DUKE. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is +promised---- + +SWANWHITE. No--nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rubbing her eyes_] My eyes?--They cannot see what is not +beautiful. + +DUKE. [_Kissing her foot_] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor +little blackamoorish foot! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _gives a sign to the maids, who resume their + previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals + with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the + doorway_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaps to the floor; the_ DUKE _places her on the table and +sits down on a chair beside it_; SWANWHITE _looks meaningly after the_ +STEPMOTHER] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the +Spring arrived? + +DUKE. [_Puts his hand over her mouth_] You little chatter-box! You joy +of my old age--my evening star! Now open wide your rosy ear, and close +your little mouth's crimson shell. Give heed, obey, and all will then +be well with you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Putting her fingers in her ears_] With my eyes I hear, and +with my ears I see--and now I cannot see at all, but only hear. + +DUKE. My child, when still a cradled babe, your troth was plighted to +the youthful King of Rigalid. You have not seen him yet, such being +courtly usage. But the time to tie the sacred knot is drawing near. To +teach you the deportment of a queen and courtly manners, the king has +sent a prince with whom you are to study reading out of books, gaming +at chess, treading the dance, and playing on the harp. + +SWANWHITE. What is the prince's name? + +DUKE. That, child, is something you must never ask of him or anybody +else. For it is prophesied that whosoever calls him by his name shall +have to love him. + +SWANWHITE. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. He is, because your eye sees beauty everywhere. + +SWANWHITE. But is he beautiful? + +DUKE. Indeed he is. And now be careful of your little heart, and don't +forget that in the cradle you were made a queen.--With this, dear +child, I leave you, for I have war to wage abroad.--Submit obediently +to your stepmother. She's hard, but once your father loved her--and +a sweet temper will find a way to hearts of stone. If, despite of +promises and oaths, her malice should exceed what is permissible, then +you may blow this horn [_he takes a horn of carved ivory from under +his cloak_], and help will come. But do not use it till you are in +danger--not until the danger is extreme.--Have you understood? + +SWANWHITE. How is it to be understood? + +DUKE. This way: the prince is here, is in the court already. Is it your +wish to see the prince? + +SWANWHITE. Is it my wish? + +DUKE. Or shall I first bid you farewell? + +SWANWHITE. The prince is here already? + +DUKE. Already here, and I--already there--far, far away where sleeps +the heron of forgetfulness, with head beneath his wing. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaping into the lap of the_ DUKE _and burying her head in +his beard_] Mustn't speak like that! Baby is ashamed! + +DUKE. Baby should be spanked--who forgets her aged father for a little +prince. Fie on her! + + _A trumpet is heard in the distance_. + +DUKE. [_Rises quickly, takes_ SWANWHITE _in his arms_, _throws her up +into the air and catches her again_] Fly, little bird, fly high above +the dust, with lots of air beneath your wings!--And then, once more on +solid ground!--I am called by war and glory--you, by love and youth! +[_Girding on his sword_] And now hide your wonder-horn, that it may not +be seen by evil eyes. + +SWANWHITE. Where shall I hide it? Where? + +DUKE. The bed! + +SWANWHITE. [_Hiding the horn in the bed-clothing_] There! Sleep well, +my little tooteroot! When it is time, I'll wake you up. And don't +forget your prayers! + +DUKE. And child! Do not forget what I said last: your stepmother must +be obeyed. + +SWANWHITE. In all? + +DUKE. In all. + +SWANWHITE. But not in what is contrary to cleanliness!--Two linen +shifts my mother let me have each sennight; this woman gives but one! +And mother gave me soap and water, which stepmother denies. Look at my +little footies! + +DUKE. Keep clean within, my daughter, and clean will be the outside. +You know that holy men, who, for the sake of penance, deny themselves +the purging waters, grow white as swans, while evil ones turn +raven-black. + +SWANWHITE. Then I will be as white----! + +DUKE. Into my arms! And then, farewell! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into his arms_] Farewell, my great and +valiant hero, my glorious father! May fortune follow you, and make you +rich in years and friends and victories! + +DUKE. Amen--and let your gentle prayers be my protection! + + [_He closes the visor of his golden helmet_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and plants a kiss on the visor_] The golden gates +are shut, but through the bars I still can see your kindly, watchful +eyes. [_Knocking at the visor_] Let up, let up, for little Red +Riding-hood. No one at home? "Well-away," said the wolf that lay in the +bed! + +DUKE. [_Putting her down on the floor_] Sweet flower of mine, grow fair +and fragrant! If I return--well--I return! If not, then from the starry +arch above my eye shall follow you, and never to my sight will you be +lost, for there above all-seeing we become, even as the all-creating +Lord himself. + + _Goes out firmly, with a gesture that bids her not to follow._ + SWANWHITE _falls on her knees in prayer for the_ DUKE; _all the + rose-trees sway before a wind that passes with the sound of a + sigh; the peacock shakes its wings and tail_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rises, goes to the peacock and begins to stroke its back +and tail_] Pavo, dear Pavo, what do you see and what do you hear? Is +any one coming? Who is it? A little prince? Is he pretty and nice? +You, with your many blue eyes, should be able to tell. [_She lifts up +one of the bird's tail feathers and gazes intently at its "eye"_.] Are +you to keep your eyes on us, you nasty Argus? Are you to see that the +little hearts of two young people don't beat too loudly?--You stupid +thing--all I have to do is to close the curtain! [_She closes the +curtain, which hides the bird, but not the landscape outside; then she +goes to the doves_] My white doves--oh, so white, white, white--now +you'll see what is whitest of all--Be silent, wind, and roses, and +doves--my prince is coming! + +_She looks out for a moment; then she withdraws to the pewter-closet, +leaving the door slightly ajar so that through the opening she can +watch the_ PRINCE; _there she remains standing, visible to the +spectators but not to the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. [_Enters through the middle arch of the doorway. He wears +armour of steel; what shows of his clothing is black. Having carefully +observed everything in the room, he sits down at the table, takes off +his helmet and begins to study it. His back is turned toward the +door behind which_ SWANWHITE _is hiding_] If anybody be here, let him +answer! [_Silence_] There is somebody here, for I can feel the warmth +of a young body come billowing toward me like a southern wind. I can +hear a breath--it carries the fragrance of roses--and, gentle though +it be, it makes the plume on my helmet move. [_He puts the helmet to +his ear_] 'Tis murmuring as if it were a huge shell. It's the thoughts +within my own head that are crowding each other like a swarm of bees in +a hive. "Zum, zum," say the thoughts--just like bees that are buzzing +around their queen--the little queen of my thoughts and of my dreams! +[_He places the helmet on the table and gazes at it_] Dark and arched +as the sky at night, but starless, for the black plume is spreading +darkness everywhere since my mother's death--[_He turns the helmet +around and gazes at it again_] But there, in the midst of the darkness, +deep down--there, on the other side, I see a rift of light!--Has the +sky been split open?--And there, in the rift, I see--not a star, for it +would look like a diamond--but a blue sapphire, queen of the precious +stones--blue as the sky of summer--set in a cloud white as milk and +curved as the dove's egg. What is it? My ring? And now another feathery +cloud, black as velvet, passes by--and the sapphire is smiling--as +if sapphires could smile! And there, the lightning flashed, but +blue--heat-lightning mild, that brings no thunder!--What are you? Who? +And where? [_He looks at the back of the helmet_] Not here! Not there! +And nowhere else! [_He puts his face close to the helmet_] As I come +nearer, you withdraw. + + SWANWHITE _steals forward on tiptoe_. + +PRINCE. And now there are two--two eyes--two little human eyes--I kiss +you! [_He kisses the helmet_. + + SWANWHITE _goes up to the table and seats herself slowly + opposite the_ PRINCE. + + _The_ PRINCE _rises, bows, with his hand to his heart, and + gazes steadily at_ SWANWHITE. + +SWANWHITE. Are you the little prince? + +PRINCE. The faithful servant of the king, and yours! + +SWANWHITE. What message does the young king send his bride? + +PRINCE. This is his word to Lady Swanwhite--whom lovingly he +greets--that by the thought of coming happiness the long torment of +waiting will be shortened. + +SWANWHITE. [_Who has been looking at the_ PRINCE _as if to study him_] +Why not be seated, Prince? + +PRINCE. If seated when you sit, then I should have to kneel when you +stand up. + +SWANWHITE. Speak to me of the king! How does he look? + +PRINCE. How does he look? [_Putting one of his hands up to his eyes_] I +can no longer see him--how strange! + +SWANWHITE. What is his name? + +PRINCE. He's gone--invisible---- + +SWANWHITE. And is he tall? + +PRINCE. [_Fixing his glance on_ SWANWHITE] Wait!--I see him +now!--Taller than you! + +SWANWHITE. And beautiful? + +PRINCE. Not in comparison with you! + +SWANWHITE. Speak of the king, and not of me! + +PRINCE. I do speak of the king! + +SWANWHITE. Is his complexion light or dark? + +PRINCE. If he were dark, on seeing you he would turn light at once. + +SWANWHITE. There's more of flattery than wit in that! His eyes are blue? + +PRINCE. [_Glancing at his helmet_] I think I have to look? + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out her hand between them_] Oh, you--you! + +PRINCE. You with _t h_ makes youth! + +SWANWHITE. Are you to teach me how to spell? + +PRINCE. The young king is tall and blond and blue-eyed, with broad +shoulders and hair like a new-grown forest---- + +SWANWHITE. Why do you carry a black plume? + +PRINCE. His lips are red as the ripe currant, his cheeks are white, and +the lion's cub needn't be ashamed of his teeth. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hair wet? + +PRINCE. His mind knows no fear, and no evil deed ever made his heart +quake with remorse. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hand trembling? + +PRINCE. We were to speak of the young king and not of me! + +SWANWHITE. So, you, you are to teach me? + +PRINCE. It is my task to teach you how to love the young king whose +throne you are to share. + +SWANWHITE. How did you cross the sea? + +PRINCE. In my bark and with my sail. + +SWANWHITE. And the wind so high? + +PRINCE. Without wind there is no sailing. + +SWANWHITE. Little boy--how wise you are!--Will you play with me? + +PRINCE. What I must do, I will. + +SWANWHITE. And now I'll show you what I have in my chest. [_She goes to +the chest and kneels down beside it; then she takes out several dolls, +a rattle, and a hobby-horse_] Here's the doll. It's my child--the child +of sorrow that can never keep its face clean. In my own arms I have +carried her to the lavendrey, and there I have washed her with white +sand--but it only made her worse. I have spanked her--but nothing +helped. Now I have figured out what's worst of all! + +PRINCE. And what is that? + +SWANWHITE. [_After a glance around the room_] I'll give her a +stepmother! + +PRINCE. But how's that to be? She should have a mother first. + +SWANWHITE. I am her mother. And if I marry twice, I shall become a +stepmother. + +PRINCE. Oh, how you talk! That's not the way! + +SWANWHITE. And you shall be her stepfather. + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +SWANWHITE. You must be very kind to her, although she cannot wash her +face.--Here, take her--let me see if you have learned to carry children +right. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the doll unwillingly_. + +SWANWHITE. You haven't learned yet, but you will! Now take the rattle, +too, and play with her. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the rattle_. + +SWANWHITE. That's something you don't understand, I see. [_She takes +the doll and the rattle away from him and throws them back into the +chest; then she takes out the hobby-horse_] Here is my steed.--It has +saddle of gold and shoes of silver.--It can run forty miles in an +hour, and on its back I have travelled through Sounding Forest, across +Big Heath and King's Bridge, along High Road and Fearful Alley, all the +way to the Lake of Tears. And there it dropped a golden shoe that fell +into the lake, and then came a fish, and after came a fisherman, and so +I got the golden shoe back. That's all there was to that! [_She throws +the hobby-horse into the chest; instead she takes out a chess-board +with red and white squares, and chess-men made of silver and gold_] +If you will play with me, come here and sit upon the lion skin. [_She +seats herself on the skin and begins to put up the pieces_] Sit down, +won't you--the maids can't see us here! + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down on the skin, looking very embarrassed_. + +SWANWHITE. It's like sitting in the grass--not the green grass of the +meadow, but the desert grass which has been burned by the sun.--Now you +must say something about me! Do you like me a little? + +PRINCE. Are we to play? + +SWANWHITE. To play? What care I for that?--Oh--you were to teach me +something! + +PRINCE. Poor me, what can I do but saddle a horse and carry arms--with +which you are but poorly served. + +SWANWHITE. You are so sad! + +PRINCE. My mother died quite recently. + +SWANWHITE. Poor little prince!--My mother, too, has gone to God in +heaven, and she's an angel now. Sometimes in the nights I see her--do +you also see yours? + +PRINCE. No-o. + +SWANWHITE. And have you got a stepmother? + +PRINCE. Not yet. So little time has passed since she was laid to rest. + +SWANWHITE. Don't be so sad! There's nothing but will wear away in time, +you see. Now I'll give you a flag to gladden you again--Oh, no, that's +right--this one I sewed for the young king. But now I'll sew another +one for you!--This is the king's, with seven flaming fires--you shall +have one with seven red roses on it--but first of all you have to +hold this skein of yarn for me. [_She takes from the chest a skein of +rose-coloured yarn and hands it to the_ PRINCE] One, two, three, and +now you'll see!--Your hands are trembling--that won't do!--Perhaps you +want a hair of mine among the yarn?--Pull one yourself! + +PRINCE. Oh, no, I couldn't---- + +SWANWHITE. I'll do it, then, myself. [_She pulls a hair from her head +and winds it into the ball of yarn_] What is your name? + +PRINCE. You shouldn't ask. + +SWANWHITE. Why not? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you--hasn't he? + +SWANWHITE. No, he hasn't! What could happen if you told your name? +Might something dreadful happen? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you, I am sure. + +SWANWHITE. I never heard of such a thing before--of one who couldn't +tell his name! + + _The curtain behind which the peacock is hidden moves; a faint + sound as of castanets is heard_. + +PRINCE. What was that? + +SWANWHITE. That's Pavo--do you think he knows what we are saying? + +PRINCE. It's hard to tell. + +SWANWHITE. Well, what's your name? + + _Again the peacock makes the same kind of sound with his bill_. + +PRINCE. I am afraid--don't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. He snaps his bill, that's all--Keep your hands still!--Did +you ever hear the tale of the little princess that mustn't mention the +name of the prince, lest something happen? And do you know----? + + _The curtain hiding the peacock is pulled aside, and the bird + is seen spreading out his tail so that it looks as if all the + "eyes" were staring at_ SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Who pulled away the curtain? Who made the bird behold us with +its hundred eyes?--You mustn't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. Perhaps I mustn't--Down, Pavo--there! + + _The curtain resumes its previous position_. + +PRINCE. Is this place haunted? + +SWANWHITE. You mean that things will happen--just like that? Oh, well, +so much is happening here--but I have grown accustomed to it. And then, +besides--they call my stepmother a witch--There, now, I have pricked my +finger! + +PRINCE. What did you prick it with? + +SWANWHITE. There was a splinter in the yarn. The sheep have been locked +up all winter--and then such things will happen. Please see if you can +get it out. + +PRINCE. We must sit at the table then, so I can see. + + [_They rise and take seats at the table_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out one of her little fingers_] Can you see +anything? + +PRINCE. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the +world and life itself appear in rosy colouring---- + +SWANWHITE. Now pull the splinter out--ooh, it hurts! + +PRINCE. But I shall have to hurt you, too--and ask your pardon in +advance! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, help me, please! + +PRINCE. [_Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with +his nails_] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm. + +SWANWHITE. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering. + +PRINCE. [_Sucking the blood from her finger_] I've drunk your +blood--and so I am your foster-brother now. + +SWANWHITE. My foster-brother--so you were at once--or how do you think +I could have talked to you as I have done? + +PRINCE. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you? + +SWANWHITE. Just think, he didn't notice it!--And now I have got a +brother of my own, and that is you!--My little brother--take my hand! + +PRINCE. [_Taking her hand_] My little sister! [_Feels her pulse beating +under his thumb_] What have you there, that's ticking--one, and two, +and three, and four----? _Continues to count silently after having +looked at his watch_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks--so steady, steady, +steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast--Put +your hand here, and you can feel it too. [_The doves begin to stir and +coo_] What is it, little white ones? + +PRINCE. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking--it is the time! +Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for +every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within +the watch? + +SWANWHITE. [_Handling the watch_] We cannot reach the inside of the +watch--no more than of the heart--Just feel my heart! + +SIGNE. [_Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts +down on the table_] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at +opposite sides of the table. + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down at the opposite end of the table. He + and_ SWANWHITE _look at each other in silence for a while_. + +SWANWHITE. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before. + +PRINCE. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other. + +SWANWHITE. And you know that? + +PRINCE. I have just learned it! + +SWANWHITE. Now my instruction has begun. + +PRINCE. You're teaching me! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pointing to a dish of fruit_] Would you like some fruit? + +PRINCE. No, eating is so ugly. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, so it is. + +PRINCE. Three maids are standing there--one in the pewter-closet, one +among the clothes, and one among the fruits. Why are they standing +there? + +SWANWHITE. TO watch us two--lest we do anything that is forbidden. + +PRINCE. May we not go into the rosery? + +SWANWHITE. The morning is the only time when I can go into the rosery, +for there the bloodhounds of my stepmother are kept. They never let me +reach the shore--and so I get no chance to bathe. + +PRINCE. Have you then never seen the shore? And never heard the ocean +wash the sand along the beach? + +SWANWHITE. No--never! Here I can only hear the roaring waves in time of +storm. + +PRINCE. Then you have never heard the murmur made by winds that sweep +across the waters? + +SWANWHITE. It cannot reach me here. + +PRINCE. [_Pushing his helmet across the table to_ SWANWHITE] Put it to +your ear and listen. + +SWANWHITE. [_With the helmet at her ear_] What is that I hear? + +PRINCE. The song of waves, the whispering winds + +SWANWHITE. No, I hear human voices--hush! My stepmother is +speaking--speaking to the steward--and mentioning my name--and that of +the young king, too! She's speaking evil words. She's swearing that I +never shall be queen--and vowing that--you--shall take that daughter +of her own--that loathsome Lena---- + +PRINCE. Indeed!--And you can hear it in the helmet? + +SWANWHITE. I can. + +PRINCE. I didn't know of that. But my godmother gave me the helmet as a +christening present. + +SWANWHITE. Give me a feather, will you? + +PRINCE. It is a pleasure--great as life itself. + +SWANWHITE. But you must cut it so that it will write. + +PRINCE. You know a thing or two! + +SWANWHITE. My father taught me---- + + _The_ PRINCE _pulls a black feather out of the plume on his + helmet; then he takes a silver-handled knife from his belt and + cuts the quill_. + + SWANWHITE _takes out an ink-well and parchment from a drawer in + the table_. + +PRINCE. Who is Lady Lena? + +SWANWHITE. You mean, what kind of person? You want her, do you? + +PRINCE. Some evil things are brewing in this house---- + +SWANWHITE. Fear not! My father has bestowed a gift on me that will +bring help in hours of need. + +PRINCE. What is it called? + +SWANWHITE. It is the horn Stand-By. + +PRINCE. Where is it hid? + +SWANWHITE. Read in my eye. I dare not let the maids discover it. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at her eyes_] I see! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pushing pen, ink and parchment across the table to the_ +PRINCE] Write it. + + _The_ PRINCE _writes_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, that's the place. [_She writes again._ + +PRINCE. What do you write? + +SWANWHITE. Names--all pretty names that may be worn by princes! + +PRINCE. Except my own! + +SWANWHITE. Yours, too! + +PRINCE. Leave that alone! + +SWANWHITE. Here I have written twenty names--all that I know--and +so your name must be there, too. [_Pushing the parchment across the +table_] Read! + + _The_ PRINCE _reads_. + +SWANWHITE. Oh, I have read it in your eye! + +PRINCE. Don't utter it! I beg you in the name of God the merciful, +don't utter it! + +SWANWHITE. I read it in his eye! + +PRINCE. But do not utter it, I beg of you! + +SWANWHITE. And if I do? What then?--Can Lena tell, you think? Your +bride! Your love! + +PRINCE. Oh, hush, hush, hush! + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and begins to dance_] I know his name--the +prettiest name in all the land! + + _The_ PRINCE _runs up to her, catches hold of her and covers + her mouth with his hand_. + +SWANWHITE. I'll bite your hand; I'll suck your blood; and so I'll be +your sister twice--do you know what that can mean? + +PRINCE. I'll have two sisters then. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing back her head_] O-ho! O-ho! Behold, the +ceiling has a hole, and I can see the sky--a tiny piece of sky, a +window-pane--and there's a face behind it. Is it an angel's?--See--but +see, I tell you!--It's your face! + +PRINCE. The angels are not boys, but girls. + +SWANWHITE. But it is you. + +PRINCE. [_Looking up_] 'Tis a mirror. + +SWANWHITE. Woe to us then! It is the witching mirror of my stepmother, +and she has seen it all. + +PRINCE. And in the mirror I can see the fireplace--there's a pumpkin +hanging in it! + +SWANWHITE. [_Takes from the fireplace a mottled, strangely shaped +pumpkin_] What can it be? It has the look of an ear. The witch has +heard us, too!--Alas, alas! [_She throws the pumpkin into the fireplace +and runs across the floor toward the bed; suddenly she stops on one +foot, holding up the other_] + +Oh, she has strewn the floor with needles---- + + [_She sits down and begins to rub her foot_. + + _The_ PRINCE _kneels in front of_ SWANWHITE _in order to help + her_. + +SWANWHITE. No, you mustn't touch my foot--you mustn't! + +PRINCE. Dear heart, you must take off your stocking if I am to help. + +SWANWHITE. [_Sobbing_] You mustn't--mustn't see my foot! + +PRINCE. But why? Why shouldn't I? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell; I cannot tell. Go--go away from me! To-morrow +I shall tell you, but I can't to-day. + +PRINCE. But then your little foot will suffer--let me pull the needle +out! + +SWANWHITE. Go, go, go!--No, no, you mustn't try!--Oh, had my mother +lived, a thing like this could not have happened!--Mother, mother, +mother! + +PRINCE. I cannot understand--are you afraid of me----? + +SWANWHITE. Don't ask me, please--just leave me--oh! + +PRINCE. What have I done? + +SWANWHITE. Don't leave me, please--I didn't mean to hurt you--but I +cannot tell--If I could only reach the shore--the white sand of the +beach---- + +PRINCE. What then? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell! I cannot tell! + + [_She hides her face in her hands. Once more the peacock makes + a rattling sound with his bill; the doves begin to stir; the + three maids enter, one after the other; a gust of wind is + heard, and the tops of the rose-trees outside swing back and + forth; the golden clouds that have been hanging over the sea + disappear, and the blue sea itself turns dark_. + +SWANWHITE. Does Heaven itself intend to judge us?--Is ill-luck in the +house?--Oh, that my sorrow had the power to raise my mother from her +grave! + +PRINCE. [_.Putting his hand on his sword_] My life for yours! + +SWANWHITE. No, don't--she puts the very swords to sleep!--Oh, that my +sorrow could bring back my mother! [_The swallows chirp in their nest_] +What was that? + +PRINCE. [_Catching sight of the nest_] A swallow's nest! I didn't +notice it before. + +SWANWHITE. Nor I! How did it get there? When?--But all the same it +augurs good--And yet the cold sweat of fear is on my brow--and I +choke--Look, how the rose itself is withering because that evil woman +comes this way--for it is she who comes---- + + _The rose on the table is closing its blossom and drooping its + leaves_. + +PRINCE. But whence came the swallows? + +SWANWHITE. They were not sent by her, I'm sure, for they are kindly +birds--Now she is here! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters from the rear with the walk of a panther; the rose +on the table is completely withered_] Signe--take the horn out of the +bed! + + SIGNE _goes up to the bed and takes the horn_. + +STEPMOTHER. Where are you going, Prince? + +PRINCE. The day is almost done, Your Grace; the sun is setting, and my +bark is longing to get home. + +STEPMOTHER. The day is too far gone--the gates are shut, the dogs let +loose--You know my dogs? + +PRINCE. Indeed! You know my sword? + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter with your sword? + +PRINCE. It bleeds at times. + +STEPMOTHER. Well, well! But not with women's blood, I trust?--But +listen, Prince: how would like to sleep in our Blue Room? + +PRINCE. By God, it is my will to sleep at home, in my own bed---- + +STEPMOTHER. Is that the will of anybody else? + +PRINCE. Of many more. + +STEPMOTHER. How many?--More than these!--One, two, three---- + + _As she counts, the members of the household begin to pass by + in single file across the balcony; all of them look serious; + some are armed; no one turns his head to look into the room; + among those that pass are the_ BUTLER, _the_ STEWARD, _the_ + KITCHENER, _the_ GAOLER, _the_ CONSTABLE, _the_ EQUERRY. + +PRINCE. I'll sleep in your Blue Room. + +STEPMOTHER. That's what I thought.--So you will bid ten thousand +good-nights unto your love--and so will Swanwhite, too, I think! + + _A swan comes flying by above the rosery; from the ceiling a + poppy flower drops down on the_ STEPMOTHER, _who falls asleep + at once, as do the maids_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going up to the_ PRINCE] Good-night, my Prince! + +PRINCE. [_Takes her hand and says in a low voice_] Good-night!--Oh, +that it's granted me to sleep beneath one roof with you, my +Princess--your dreams by mine shall be enfolded--and then to-morrow we +shall wake for other games and other---- + +SWANWHITE. [_In the same tone_] You are my all on earth, you are +my parent now--since she has robbed me of my puissant father's +help.--Look, how she sleeps! + +PRINCE. You saw the swan? + +SWANWHITE. No, but I heard--it was my mother. + +PRINCE. Come, fly with me! + +SWANWHITE. No, that we mustn't!--Patience! We'll meet in our +dreams!--But this will not be possible unless--you love me more than +anybody else on earth! Oh, love me--you, you, you! + +PRINCE. My king, my loyalty---- + +SWANWHITE. Your queen, your heart--or what am I? + +PRINCE. I am a knight! + +SWANWHITE. But I am not. And therefore--therefore do I take you--my +Prince---- + + _She puts her hands up to her mouth with a gesture as if she + were throwing a whispered name to him_. + +PRINCE. Oh, woe! What have you done? + +SWANWHITE. I gave myself to you through your own name--and with me, +carried on _your_ wings, yourself came back to you! Oh---- [_Again she +whispers the name_. + +PRINCE. [_With a movement of his hand as if he were catching the name +in the air_] Was that a rose you threw me? + + [_He throws a kiss to her_. + +SWANWHITE. A violet you gave me--that was you--your soul! And now I +drink you in--you're in my bosom, in my heart--you're mine! + +PRINCE. And you are mine! Who is the rightful owner, then? + +SWANWHITE. Both! + +PRINCE. Both! You and I!--My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. I _love_ you! + +SWANWHITE. _You_ love _me_! + +PRINCE. You _love_ me! + +SWANWHITE. _I_ love _you_! + + _The stage grows light again. The rose on the table recovers + and opens. The faces of the_ STEPMOTHER _and the three maids + are lighted up and appear beautiful, kind, and happy. The_ + STEPMOTHER _lifts up her drowsy head and, while her eyes remain + closed, she seems to be watching the joy of the two young + people with a sunny smile_. + +SWANWHITE. Look, look! The cruel one is smiling as at some memory from +childhood days. See how Signe the False seems faith and hope embodied, +how the ugly Tova has grown beautiful, the little Elsa tall. + +PRINCE. Our love has done it. + +SWANWHITE. So that is love? Blessed be it by the Lord! The Lord +Omnipotent who made the world! + + [_She falls on her knees, weeping_. + +PRINCE. You weep? + +SWANWHITE. Because I am so full of joy. + +PRINCE. Come to my arms and you will smile. + +SWANWHITE. There I should die, I think. + +PRINCE. Well, smile and die! + +SWANWHITE. [_Rising_] So be it then! + + [_The_ PRINCE _takes her in his arms._ + +STEPMOTHER. [_Wakes up; on seeing the_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE +_together, she strikes the table with the whip_] I must have +slept!--Oho! So we have got that far!--The Blue Room did I say?--I +meant the Blue Tower!--There the prince is to sleep with the Duke of +Exeter's daughter!--Maids! + + _The MAIDS wake up_. + +STEPMOTHER. Show the prince the shortest way to the Blue Tower. And +should he nevertheless lose his way, you may summon the Castellan and +the Gaoler, the Equerry and the Constable. + +PRINCE. No need of that! Wherever leads my course--through fire or +water, up above the clouds or down in the solid earth--there shall I +meet my Swanwhite, for she is with me where I go. So now I go to meet +her--in the tower! Can you beat that for witchcraft, witch?--Too hard, +I think, for one who knows not love! + + [_He goes out followed by the MAIDS_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ SWANWHITE] Not many words are needed--tell your +wishes--but be brief! + +SWANWHITE. My foremost, highest wish is for some water with which to +lave my feet. + +STEPMOTHER. Cold or warm? + +SWANWHITE. Warm--if I may. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A comb to ravel out my hair. + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Are you--are you kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Wood or horn will do me well enough. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A shift that's clean. + +STEPMOTHER. Linen or silk? + +SWANWHITE. Just linen. + +STEPMOTHER. Good! So I have heard your wishes. Now listen to mine! I +wish that you may have no water, be it warm or cold! I wish that you +may have no comb, of any kind, not even of wood or horn--much less of +gold or silver. That's how kind I am! I wish that you may wear no linen +--but get you at once into the closet there to cover up your body with +that dingy sark of homespun! Such is my word!--And if you try to leave +these rooms--which you had better not, as there are traps and snares +around--then you are doomed--or with my whip I'll mark your pretty +face so that no prince or king will ever look at you again!--Then get +yourself to bed! + + _She strikes the table with her whip again, rises and goes out + through the middle arch of the doorway; the gates, which have + gilded bars, squeak and rattle as she closes and locks them_. + +_Curtain_. + + _The same scene as before, but the golden gates at the rear are + shut. The peacock and the doves are sleeping. The golden clouds + in the sky are as dull in colour as the sea itself and the land + that appears in the far distance_. + + SWANWHITE _is lying on the bed; she has on a garment of black + homespun_. + + _The doors to the three closets are open. In each doorway + stands one of the maids, her eyes closed and in one of her + hands a small lighted lamp of Roman pattern_. + + _A swan is seen flying above the rosery, and trumpet-calls are + heard, like those made by flocks of migrating wild swans_. + + _The_ MOTHER OF SWANWHITE, _all in white, appears outside the + gates. Over one arm she carries the plumage of a swan and on + the other one a small harp of gold. She hangs the plumage on + one of the gates, which opens of its own accord and then closes + in the same way behind her_. + + _She enters the room and places the harp on the table. Then she + looks around and becomes aware of_ SWANWHITE. _At once the harp + begins to play. The lamps carried by the maids go out one by + one, beginning with that farthest away. Then the three doors + close one by one, beginning with the innermost_. + + _The golden clouds resume their former radiance_. + + _The_ MOTHER _lights one of the lamps on the stand and goes up + to the bed, beside which she kneels_. + + _The harp continues to play during the ensuing episode_. + + _The_ MOTHER _rises, takes_ SWANWHITE _in her arms, and places + her, still sleeping, in a huge arm-chair. Then she kneels down + and pulls off_ SWANWHITE'S _stockings. Having thrown these + under the bed, she bends over her daughter's feet as if to + moisten them with her tears. After a while she wipes them with + a white linen cloth and covers them with kisses. Finally she + puts a sandal on each foot which then appears shining white_. + + _Then the_ MOTHER _rises to her feet again, takes out a comb of + gold, and begins to comb_ SWANWHITE'S _hair. This finished, she + carries_ SWANWHITE _back to the bed. Beside her she places a + garment of white linen which she takes out of a bag_. + + _Having kissed_ SWANWHITE _on the forehead, she prepares to + leave. At that moment a white swan is seen to pass by outside, + and one hears a trumpet-call like the one heard before. Shortly + afterward the_ MOTHER OF THE PRINCE, _also in white, enters + through the gate, having first hung her swan plumage on it_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Well met, my sister! How long before the cock will +crow? + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Not very long. The dew is rising from the roses, the +corn-crake's call is heard among the grass, the morning breeze is +coming from the sea. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Let us make haste with what we have on hand, my +sister. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. You called me so that we might talk of our children. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Once I was walking in a green field in the land +that knows no sorrow. There I met you, whom I had always known, yet +had not seen before. You were lamenting your poor boy's fate, left to +himself here in the vale of sorrow. You opened up your heart to me, and +my own thoughts, that dwell unwillingly below, were sent in search of +my deserted daughter--destined to marry the young king, who is a cruel +man, and evil. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Then I spoke, while you listened: "May worth belong to +worth; may love, the powerful, prevail; and let us join these lonely +hearts, in order that they may console each other!" + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Since then heart has kissed heart and soul enfolded +soul. May sorrow turn to joy, and may their youthful happiness bring +cheer to all the earth! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. If it be granted by the powers on high! + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. That must be tested by the fire of suffering. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. [_Taking in her hand the helmet left behind by the_ +PRINCE] May sorrow turn to joy--this very day, when he has mourned his +mother one whole year! + + _She exchanges the black feathers on the helmet for white and + red ones_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Your hand, my sister--let the test begin! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Here is my hand, and with it goes my son's! Now we +have pledged them---- + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. I go to open up the tower. And let the young ones fold +each other heart to heart. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. And we shall meet again in those green fields where +sorrow is not known. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. [_Pointing to_ SWANWHITE] Listen! She dreams +of him!--Oh foolish, cruel woman who thinks that lovers can be +parted!--Now they are walking hand in hand within the land of dreams, +'neath whispering firs and singing lindens--They sport and laugh---- + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Hush! Day is dawning--I can hear the robins calling, +and see the stars withdrawing from the sky--Farewell, my sister! + + [_She goes out, taking her swan plumage with her._ + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Farewell! + + _She passes her hand over_ SWANWHITE _as if blessing her, then + she takes her plumage and leaves, closing the gate after her_. + + _The clock on the table strikes three. The harp is silent for + a moment; then it begins to play a new melody of even greater + sweetness than before_. SWANWHITE _wakes up and looks around; + listens to the harp; gets up from the bed; draws her hands + through her hair; looks with pleasure at her own little feet, + now spotlessly clean, and notices finally the while linen + garment on the bed. She sits down at the table in the place she + occupied during the evening. She acts as if she were looking at + somebody sitting opposite her at the table, where the_ PRINCE + _was seated the night before. She looks straight into his eyes, + smiles a smile of recognition, and holds out one of her hands. + Her lips move at times as if she were speaking, and then again + she seems to be listening to an answer_. + + _She points meaningly to the white and red feathers on the + helmet, and leans forward as if whispering. Then she puts her + head back and breathes deeply as if to fill her nostrils with + some fragrance. Having caught something in the air with one + of her hands, she kisses the hand and then pretends to throw + something back across the table. She picks up the quill and + caresses it as if it were a bird; then she writes and pushes + the parchment across the table. Her glances seem to follow + "his" pen while the reply is being written, and at last she + takes back the parchment, reads it, and hides it in her bosom_. + + _She strokes her black dress as if commenting on the sad change + in her appearance. Whereupon she smiles at an inaudible answer, + and finally bursts into hearty laughter_. + + _By gestures she indicates that her hair has been combed. Then + she rises, goes a little distance away from the table, and + turns around with a bashful expression to hold out one of her + feet. In that attitude she stays for a moment while waiting for + an answer. On hearing it she becomes embarrassed and hides her + foot quickly under her dress_. + + _She goes to the chest and takes out the chess-board and the + chess-men, which she places on the lions skin with a gesture of + invitation. Then she lies down beside the board, arranges the + men, and begins to play with an invisible partner_. + + _The harp is silent for a moment before it starts a new melody_. + + _The game of chess ends and_ SWANWHITE _seems to be talking + with her invisible partner. Suddenly she moves away as if + he were coming too close to her. With a deprecating gesture + she leaps lightly to her feet. Then she gazes long and + reproachfully at him. At last she snatches up the white garment + and hides herself behind the bed_. + + _At that moment the_ PRINCE _appears outside the gates, which + he vainly tries to open. Then he raises his eyes toward the sky + with an expression of sorrow and despair_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Coming forward_] Who comes with the morning wind? + +PRINCE. Your heart's beloved, your prince, your all! + +SWANWHITE. Whence do you come, my heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. From dreamland; from the rosy hills that hide the dawn; from +whispering firs and singing lindens. + +SWANWHITE. What did you do in dreamland, beyond the hills of dawn, my +heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. I sported and laughed; I wrote her name; I sat upon the lion's +skin and played at chess. + +SWANWHITE. You sported and you played--with whom? + +PRINCE. With Swanwhite. + +SWANWHITE. It is he!--Be welcome to my castle, my table, and my arms! + +PRINCE. Who opens up the golden gates? + +SWANWHITE. Give me your hand!--It is as chilly as your heart is warm. + +PRINCE. My body has been sleeping in the tower, while my soul was +wandering in dreamland--In the tower it was cold and dark. + +SWANWHITE. In my bosom will I warm your hand--I'll warm it by my +glances, by my kisses! + +PRINCE. Oh, let the brightness of your eyes be shed upon my darkness! + +SWANWHITE. Are you in darkness? + +PRINCE. Within the tower there was no light of sun or moon. + +SWANWHITE. Rise up, O sun! Blow, southern wind! And let thy bosom +gently heave, O sea!--Ye golden gates, do you believe that you can part +two hearts, two hands, two lips--that can by nothing be divided? + +PRINCE. Indeed, by nothing! + + _Two solid doors glide together in front of the gates so that_ + SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE _can no longer see each other_. + +SWANWHITE. Alas! What was the word we spoke, who heard it, and who +punished us? + +PRINCE. I am not parted from you, my beloved, for still the sound of my +voice can reach you. It goes through copper, steel, and stone to touch +your ear in sweet caress. When in my thoughts you're in my arms. I +kiss you in my dreams. For on this earth there is not anything that can +part us. Swanwhite. Not anything! + +PRINCE. I see you, though my eyes cannot behold you. I taste you, too, +because with roses you are filling up my mouth---- + +SWANWHITE. But in my arms I want you! + +PRINCE. I am there. + +SWANWHITE. No! Against my heart I want to feel the beat of yours--Upon +your arm I want to sleep--Oh, let us, let us, dearest God--oh, let us +have each other! + + _The swallows chirp. A small white feather falls to the + ground_. SWANWHITE _picks it up and discovers it to be a key. + With this she opens gates and doors. The_ PRINCE _comes in_. + SWANWHITE _leaps into his arms. He kisses her on the mouth_. + +SWANWHITE. You do not kiss me! + +PRINCE. Yes, I do! + +SWANWHITE. I do not feel your kisses! + +PRINCE. Then you love me not! + +SWANWHITE. Hold me fast! + +PRINCE. So fast that life may part! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, no, I breathe! + +PRINCE. Give me your soul! + +SWANWHITE. Here!--Give me yours! + +PRINCE. It's here!--So I have yours, and you have mine! + +SWANWHITE. I want mine back! + +PRINCE. Mine, too, I want! + +SWANWHITE. Then you must seek it! + +PRINCE. Lost, both of us! For I am you, and you are me! + +SWANWHITE. We two are one! + +PRINCE. God, who is good, has heard your prayer! We have each other! + +SWANWHITE. We have each other, yet I have you not. I cannot feel the +pressure of your hand, your lip's caress--I cannot see your eyes, nor +hear your voice--You are not here! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am here! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here below. But up above, in dreamland, I would meet +you. + +PRINCE. Then let us fly upon the wings of sleep---- + +SWANWHITE. Close to your heart! + +PRINCE. In my embrace! + +SWANWHITE. Within your arms! + +PRINCE. This is the promised bliss! + +SWANWHITE. Eternal bliss, that has no flaw and knows no end! + +PRINCE. No one can part us. + +SWANWHITE. No one! + +PRINCE. Are you my bride? + +SWANWHITE. My bridegroom, you? + +PRINCE. In dreamland--but not here! + +SWANWHITE. Where are we? + +PRINCE. Here below! + +SWANWHITE. Here, where the sky is clouded, where the ocean roars, and +where each night the earth sheds tears upon the grass while waiting for +the dawn; where flies are killed by swallows, doves by hawks; where +leaves must fall and turn to dust; where eyes must lose their light and +hands their strength! Yes, here below! + +PRINCE. Then let us fly! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, let us fly! + + _The_ GREEN GARDENER _appears suddenly behind the table. All + his clothes are green. He wears a peaked cap, a big apron, and + knee-breeches. At his belt hang shears and a knife. He carries + a small watering-can in one hand and is scattering seeds + everywhere_. + +PRINCE. Who are you? + +GARDENER. I sow, I sow! + +PRINCE. What do you sow? + +GARDENER. Seeds, seeds, seeds. + +PRINCE. What kind of seeds? + +GARDENER. Annuals and biennials. One pulls this way, two pull that. +When the bridal suit is on, the harmony is gone. One and one make one, +but one and one make also three. One and one make two, but two make +three. Then do you understand? + +PRINCE. You mole, you earthworm, you who turn your forehead toward the +ground and show the sky your back--what is there you can teach me? + +GARDENER. That you are a mole and earthworm, too. And that because you +turn your back on the earth, the earth will turn its back on you. [_He +disappears behind the table_. + +SWANWHITE. What was it? Who was he? + +PRINCE. That was the green gardener. + +SWANWHITE. Green, you say? Was he not blue? + +PRINCE. No, he was green, my love. + +SWANWHITE. How can you say what is not so? + +PRINCE. My heart's beloved, I have not said a thing that was not so. + +SWANWHITE. Alas, he does not speak the truth! + +PRINCE. Whose voice is this? Not that of Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. Who is this my eyes behold? Not my Prince, whose very name +attracted me like music of the Neck, or song of mermaids heard among +green waves--Who are you? You stranger with the evil eyes--and with +grey hair! + +PRINCE. You did not see it until now--my hair, that turned to grey +within the tower, in a single night, when I was mourning for my +Swanwhite, who is no longer here. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here is Swanwhite. + +PRINCE. No, I see a black-clad maid, whose face is black---- + +SWANWHITE. Have you not seen before that I was clad in black? You do +not love me, then! + +PRINCE. You who are standing there, so grim and ugly--no! + +SWANWHITE. Then you have spoken falsely. + +PRINCE. No--for then another one was here! Now--you are filling up my +mouth with noisome nettles. + +SWANWHITE. Your violets smell of henbane now--faugh! + +PRINCE. Thus I am punished for my treason to the king! + +SWANWHITE. I wish that I had waited for your king! + +PRINCE. Just wait, and he will come. + +SWANWHITE. I will not wait, but go to meet him. + +PRINCE. Then I will stay. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going toward the background_] And this is love! + +PRINCE. [_Beside himself_] Where is my Swanwhite? Where, where, where? +The kindest, loveliest, most beautiful? + +SWANWHITE. Seek her! + +PRINCE. 'Twould not avail me here below. + +SWANWHITE. Elsewhere then! [_She goes out_. + + _The_ PRINCE _is alone. He sits down at the table, covers his + face with his hands, and weeps. A gust of wind passes through + the room and sets draperies and curtains fluttering. A sound as + of a sigh is heard from the strings of the harp. The_ PRINCE + _rises, goes to the bed, and stands there lost in contemplation + of its pillow in which is a depression showing_ SWANWHITE'S + _head in profile. He picks up the pillow and kisses it. A noise + is heard outside. He seats himself at the table again_. + + _The doors of the closets fly open. The three_ MAIDS _become + visible, all with darkened faces. The_ STEPMOTHER _enters from + the rear. Her face is also dark_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_In dulcet tones_] Good morning, my dear Prince! How have +you slept? + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. She has gone to marry her young king. Is there no thought +of things like that in your own mind, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I harbour but a single thought---- + +STEPMOTHER. Of little Swanwhite? + +PRINCE. She is too young for me, you mean? + +STEPMOTHER. Grey hairs and common sense belong together as a rule--I +have a girl with common sense---- + +PRINCE. And I grey hairs? + +STEPMOTHER. He knows it not, believes it not! Come, maids! Come, Signe, +Elsa, Tova! Let's have a good laugh at the young suitor and his grey +hairs! + + _The_ MAIDS _begin to laugh. The_ STEPMOTHER _joins in_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. Follow in her traces--here is one! + + [_She hands him a parchment covered with writing_. + +PRINCE. [_Reading_] And she wrote this? + +STEPMOTHER. You know her hand--what has it written? + +PRINCE. That she hates me, and loves another--that she has played with +me; that she will throw my kisses to the wind, and to the swine my +heart--To die is now my will! Now I am dead! + +STEPMOTHER. A knight dies not because a wench has played with him. He +shows himself a man and takes another. + +PRINCE. Another? When there is only one? + +STEPMOTHER. No, two, at least! My Magdalene possesses seven barrels +full of gold. + +PRINCE. Seven? + +STEPMOTHER. And more. [_Pause_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene is skilled in many crafts---- + +PRINCE. Including witchcraft? + +STEPMOTHER. She knows how to bewitch a princeling. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at the parchment_] And this was written by my +Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene would never write like that. + +PRINCE. And she is kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Kindness itself! She does not play with sacred feelings, +nor seek revenge for little wrongs, and she is faithful to the one she +likes. + +PRINCE. Then she must be beautiful. + +STEPMOTHER. Not beautiful! + +PRINCE. She is not kind then.--Tell me more of her! + +STEPMOTHER. See for yourself. + +PRINCE. Where? + +STEPMOTHER. Here. + +PRINCE. And this has Swanwhite written----? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene had written with more feeling + +PRINCE. What would she have written? + +STEPMOTHER. That---- + +PRINCE. Speak the word! Say "love," if you are able! + +STEPMOTHER. Lub! + +PRINCE. You cannot speak the word! + +STEPMOTHER. Lud! + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene can speak it. May she come? + +PRINCE. Yes, let her come. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Rising and speaking to the_ MAIDS] Blindfold the prince. +Then in his arms we'll place a princess that is without a paragon in +seven kingdoms. + + SIGNE _steps forward and covers the eyes of the_ PRINCE _with a + bandage_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Clapping her hands_] Well--is she not coming? + +_The peacock makes a rattling noise with his bill; the doves begin to +coo_. + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter? Does my art desert me? Where is the +bride? + + _Four_ MAIDS _enter from the rear, carrying baskets of white + and pink roses. Music is heard from above. The_ MAIDS _go up to + the bed and scatter roses over it_. + + _Then come_ TWO KNIGHTS _with closed visors. They take the_ + PRINCE _between them toward the rear, where they meet the + false_ MAGDALENE, _escorted by two ladies. The bride is deeply + veiled_. + + _With a gesture of her hand the_ STEPMOTHER _bids all depart + except the bridal couple. She herself leaves last of all, after + she has closed the curtains and locked the gates_. + +PRINCE. Is this my bride? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Who is your bride? + +PRINCE. I have forgot her name. Who is your bridegroom? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. He whose name may not be mentioned. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can. + +FALSE MAGDALENE. I can, but will not. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Tell my name first! + +PRINCE. It's seven barrels full of gold, and crooked back, and grim, +and hare-lipped! What's my name? Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Prince Greyhead! + +PRINCE. You're right! + + _The_ FALSE MAGDALENE _throws, off her veil, and_ SWANWHITE + _stands revealed_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Dressed in a white garment, with a wreath of roses on her +hair_] Who am I now? + +PRINCE. You are a rose! + +SWANWHITE. And you a violet! + +PRINCE. [_Taking off the bandage_] You are Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. And you--are---- + +PRINCE. Hush! + +SWANWHITE. You're mine! + +PRINCE. But you--you left me--left my kisses---- + +SWANWHITE. I have returned--because I love you! + +PRINCE. And you wrote cruel words---- + +SWANWHITE. But cancelled them--because I love you.! + +PRINCE. You told me I was false. + +SWANWHITE. What matters it, when you are true--and when I love you? + +PRINCE. You wished that you were going to the king. + +SWANWHITE. But went to you instead, because I love you! + +PRINCE. Now let me hear what you reproach me with. + +SWANWHITE. I have forgotten it--because I love you! + +PRINCE. But if you love me, then you are my bride. + +SWANWHITE. I am! + +PRINCE. Then may the heavens bestow their blessing on our union! + +SWANWHITE. In dreamland! + +PRINCE. With your head upon my arm! + + _The_ PRINCE _leads_ SWANWHITE _to the bed, in which he places + his sword. Then she lies down on one side of the sword, and he + on the other. The colour of the clouds changes to a rosy red. + The rose-trees murmur. The harp plays softly and sweetly_. + +PRINCE. Good night, my queen! + +SWANWHITE. Good morning, O my soul's beloved!--I hear the beating of +your heart--I hear it sigh like billowing waters, like swift-flying +steeds, like wings of eagles--Give me your hand! + +PRINCE. And yours!--Now we take wing---- + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters with the_ MAIDS, _who carry torches; all four have +become grey-haired_] I have to see that my task is finished ere the +duke returns. My daughter. Magdalene, is plighted to the prince--while +Swanwhite lingers in the tower--[_Goes to the bed_] They sleep already +in each other's arms--you bear me witness, maids! + + _The_ MAIDS _approach the bed_. + +STEPMOTHER. What do I see? Each one of you is grey-haired! + +SIGNE. And so are you, Your Grace! + +STEPMOTHER. Am I? Let me see! + + ELSA _holds a mirror in front of her_. + +STEPMOTHER. This is the work of evil powers!--And then, perhaps, the +prince's hair is dark again?--Bring light this way! + + _The_ MAIDS _hold their torches so that the light from them + falls on the sleeping couple_. + +STEPMOTHER. Such is the truth, indeed!--How beautiful they +look!--But--the sword! Who placed it there--the sword that puts at +naught their plighted troth? + + _She tries to take away the sword, but the_ PRINCE _clings to + it without being wakened_. + +SIGNE. Your Grace--here's deviltry abroad! + +STEPMOTHER. What is it? + +SIGNE. This is not Lady Magdalene. + +STEPMOTHER. Who is it, then? My eyes need help. + +SIGNE. 'Tis Lady Swanwhite. + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite?--Can this be some delusion of the devil's +making, or have I done what I least wished? + + _The_ PRINCE _turns his head in his sleep so that his lips meet + those of_ SWANWHITE. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Touched by the beautiful sight_] No sight more beautiful +have I beheld!--Two roses brought together by the wind; two falling +stars that join in downward flight--it is too beautiful!--Youth, +beauty, innocence, and love! What memories, sweet memories--when I was +living in my father's home--when I was loved by _him_, the youth whom +never I called mine--What did I say I was? + +SIGNE. That you were loved by him, Your Grace. + +STEPMOTHER. Then I did speak the mighty word. Be-loved--so he named me +once--"beloved"--ere he started for the war--[_Lost in thoughts_] It +was the last of him.--And so I had to take the one I couldn't bear.--My +life is drawing to its close, and I must find my joy in happiness +denied myself! I should rejoice--at others' happiness--Some kind of +joy, at least--at other people's love--Some kind of love, at least--But +there's my Magdalene? What joy for her? O, love omnipotent--eternally +creative Lord--how you have rendered soft this lion heart! Where is my +strength? Where is my hatred--my revenge? [_She seats herself and looks +long at the sleeping couple_] A song runs through my mind, a song of +love that _he_ was singing long ago, that final night-- [_She rises as +if waking out of a dream and flies into a rage; her words come with a +roar_] Come hither, men! Here, Steward, Castellan, and Gaoler--all of +you! [_She snatches the sword out of the bed and throws it along the +floor toward the rear_] Come hither, men! + + _Noise is heard outside; the men enter as before_. + +STEPMOTHER. Behold! The prince, the young king's vassal, has defiled +his master's bride! You bear me witness to the shameful deed! Put +chains and fetters on the traitor and send him to his rightful lord! +But in the spiked cask put the hussy. [_The_ PRINCE and SWANWHITE _wake +up_] Equerry! Gaoler! Seize the prince! + + _The_ EQUERRY _and the_ GAOLER _lay hands on the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Where is my sword? I fight not against evil, but for innocence! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose innocence? + +PRINCE. My bride's. + +STEPMOTHER. The hussy's innocence! Then prove it! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, mother, mother! + + _The white swan flies by outside_. + +STEPMOTHER. Maids, bring shears! I'll cut the harlot's hair! + + SIGNE _hands her a pair of shears_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Takes hold of_ SWANWHITE _by the hair and starts to cut +it, but she cannot bring the blades of the shears together]_ Now I'll +cut off your beauty and your love! [_Suddenly she is seized with panic, +which quickly spreads to the men and the three_ MAIDS] Is the enemy +upon us? Why are you trembling? + +SIGNE. Your Grace, the dogs are barking, horses neighing--it means +that visitors are near. + +STEPMOTHER. Quick, to the bridges, all of you! Man the ramparts! Fall +to with flame and water, sword and axe! + + _The_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE _are left alone_. + +GARDENER. [_Appears from behind the table; in one hand he carries +a rope, the_ DUKE'S _horn in the other_] Forgiveness for those who +sin; for those who sorrow, consolation; and hope for those who are +distressed! + +SWANWHITE. My father's horn! Then help is near! But--the prince? + +GARDENER. The prince will follow me. A secret passage, underground, +leads to the shore. There lies his bark. The wind is favourable! Come! + + [_The_ GARDENER _and the_ PRINCE _go out._ SWANWHITE _alone, + blows the horn. An answering signal is heard in the distance. + The_ GAOLER _enters with the spiked cask_. SWANWHITE _blows the + horn again. The answer is heard much nearer_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters. He and_ SWANWHITE _are alone on the stage_. + +DUKE. My own beloved heart, what is at stake? + +SWANWHITE. Your own child, father!--Look--the spiked cask over there! + +DUKE. How has my child transgressed? + +SWANWHITE. The prince's name I learned, by love instructed--spoke +it--came to hold him very dear. + +DUKE. That was no capital offence. What more? + +SWANWHITE. At his side I slept, the sword between us---- + +DUKE. And still there was no capital offence, though I should hardly +call it wise--And more? + +SWANWHITE. No more! + +DUKE. [_To the_ GAOLER, _pointing to the spiked cask_] Away with it! +[_To_ SWANWHITE] Well, child, where is the prince? + +SWANWHITE. He's sailing homeward in his bark. + +DUKE. Now, when the tide is battering the shore?--Alone? Swanwhite. +Alone! What is to happen? + +DUKE. The Lord alone can tell! + +SWANWHITE. He's in danger? + +DUKE. Who greatly dares has sometimes luck. + +SWANWHITE. He ought to have! + +DUKE. He will, if free from guilt! + +SWANWHITE. He is! More than I am! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Entering_] How came you here! + +DUKE. A shortcut brought me--I could wish it had been shorter still. + +STEPMOTHER. Had it been short enough, your child had never come to harm. + +DUKE. What kind of harm? + +STEPMOTHER. The one for which there is no cure. + +DUKE. And you have proofs? + +STEPMOTHER. I've valid witnesses. + +DUKE. Then call my butler. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know. + +DUKE. [_Shaking his sword at her_] Call my butler! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _trembles. Then she claps her hands four times + together_. + + _The_ BUTLER _enters_. + +DUKE. Have made a pie of venison, richly stuffed with onions, parsley, +fennel, cabbage--and at once! + + _The_ BUTLER _steals a sidelong glance at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. What are you squinting at? Be quick! + + _The_ BUTLER _goes out_. + +DUKE. [_To the_ STEPMOTHER] Now call the master of my pleasure-garden. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know! + +DUKE. And never will! But he must come! Call, quick! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands six times_. + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters_. + +DUKE. Three lilies bring: one white, one red, one blue. + + _The_ GARDENER _looks sideways at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. Your head's at stake! + + _The_ GARDENER _goes out_. + +DUKE. Summon your witnesses! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands once_. + + SIGNE _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know--but choose your words! What have you seen? + +SIGNE. I have seen Lady Swanwhite and the prince together in one bed. + +DUKE. With sword between? + +SIGNE. Without. + +DUKE. I can't believe it!--Other witnesses? + + _The_ TWO KNIGHTS _enter_. + +DUKE. Were these the groomsmen?--Tell your tale. + +FIRST KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +SECOND KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +DUKE. What's that? A trick, I trow--that caught the trickster!--Other +witnesses? + + ELSA _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know. + +ELSA. I swear by God, our righteous judge, that I have seen the prince +and Lady Swanwhite fully dressed and with a sword between them. + +DUKE. One for, and one against--two not germane.--I leave it to the +judgment of the Lord!--The flowers will speak for him. + +TOVA. [_Enters_] My gracious master--noble lord! + +DUKE. What do you know? + +TOVA. I know my gracious mistress innocent. + +DUKE. O, child--so you know that! Then teach us how to know it too. + +TOVA. When I am saying only what is true---- + +DUKE. No one believes it! But when Signe tells untruth, we must +believe!--And what does Swanwhite say herself? Her forehead's purity, +her steady glance, her lips' sweet innocence--do they not speak aloud +of slander? And "slander" is the verdict of a father's eye.--Well +then--Almighty God on high shall give his judgment, so that human +beings may believe! + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters carrying three lilies placed in + three tall and narrow vases of glass. The_ DUKE _places the + flowers in a semicircle on the table. The_ BUTLER _enters with + a huge dish containing a steaming pie_. + +DUKE. [_Placing the dish within the semicircle formed by the three +flowers_] The white one stands for whom? + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE. _and the_ STEPMOTHER] For Swanwhite. + +DUKE. The red one stands for whom? + +ALL. [As _before_] The prince. + +DUKE. For whom the blue one? + +ALL. [As _before_] The youthful king. + +DUKE. Well, Tova--child who still has faith in innocence because you +too are innocent--interpret now for us the judgment of the Lord--tell +us the gentle secrets of these flowers. + +TOVA. The evil part I cannot utter. + +DUKE. I will. What's good I'll leave for you.--As the steam from the +blood of the prurient beast rises upward--as upward the smell of the +passionate spices is mounting--what see you? + +TOVA. [_Gazing at the three lilies_] The white one folds its blossom to +protect itself against defilement. That is Swanwhite's flower. + +ALL. Swanwhite is innocent. + +TOVA. The red one, too--the prince's lily--closes its head--but the +blue one, which stands for the king, flings wide its gorge to drink the +lust-filled air. + +DUKE. You've told it right! What more is there to see? + +TOVA. I see the red flower bend its head in reverent love before the +white one, while the blue one writhes with envious rage. + +DUKE. You've spoken true!--For whom is Swanwhite then? + +TOVA. For the prince, because more pure is his desire, and therefore +stronger, too. + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE _and the_ STEPMOTHER] Swanwhite for the prince! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into her father's arms_] O, father! + +DUKE. Call back the prince! Let every trump and bugle summon him. Hoist +sail on every bark! But first of all--the spiked cask is for whom? + + _All remain silent_. + +DUKE. Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and +bawd!--Know, evil woman, that though nothing else be safe against your +tricks, they cannot conquer love!--Go--quick--begone! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _makes a gesture which for a moment seems to + stun the_ DUKE. + +DUKE. [_Draws his sword and turns the point of it toward the_ +STEPMOTHER, _having first seated_ SWANWHITE _on his left shoulder_] +A-yi, you evil one! My pointed steel will outpoint all your tricks! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _withdraws backward, dragging her legs behind + her like a panther_. + +DUKE. Now for the prince! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _stops on the balcony, rigid as a statue. She + opens her mouth as if she were pouring out venom_. + + _The peacock and the doves fall down dead. Then the_ STEPMOTHER + _begins to swell. Her clothes become inflated to such an extent + that they hide her head and bust entirely. They seem to be + flaming with a pattern of interwoven snakes and branches. The + sun is beginning to rise outside. The ceiling sinks slowly into + the room, while smoke and fire burst from the fireplace_. + +DUKE. [_Raising the cross-shaped handle of his sword toward the_ +STEPMOTHER] Pray, people, pray to Christ, our Saviour! + +ALL. Christ have mercy! + + _The ceiling resumes its ordinary place. The smoke and fire + cease. A noise is heard outside, followed by the hum of many + voices_. + +DUKE. What new event is this? + +SWANWHITE. I know! I see!--I hear the water dripping from his hair; I +hear the silence of his heart, the breath that comes no more--I see +that he is dead! + +DUKE. Where do you see--and whom? + +SWANWHITE. Where?--But I see it! + +DUKE. I see nothing. + +SWANWHITE. As they must come, let them come quick! + + _Four little girls enter with baskets out of which they scatter + white lilies and hemlock twigs over the floor. After them come + four pages ringing silver bells of different pitch. Then comes + a priest carrying a large crucifix. Then, the golden bier, with + the body of the_ PRINCE, _covered by a white sheet, on which + rest white and pink roses. His hair is dark again. His face is + youthful, rosy, and radiantly beautiful. There is a smile on + his lips_. + + _The harp begins to play. The sun rises completely. The magic + bubble around the_ STEPMOTHER _bursts, and she appears once + more in her customary shape_. + + _The bier is placed in the middle of the floor, so that the + rays of the rising sun fall on it_. + + SWANWHITE _throws herself on her knees beside the bier and + covers the_ PRINCE'S _face with kisses_. + + _All present put their hands to their faces and weep_. + + _The_ FISHERMAN _has entered behind the bier_. + +DUKE. The brief tale tell us, fisherman---- + +FISHERMAN. Does it not tell itself, my noble lord?--The young prince +had already crossed the strait, when, seized by violent longing for +his love, he started to swim back, in face of tide and wave and +wind--because his bark seemed rudder-less.--I saw his young head breast +the billows, I heard him cry her name--and then his corpse was gently +dropped upon the white sand at my feet. His hair had turned to grey +that night when he slept in the tower; sorrow and wrath had blanched +his cheeks; his lips had lost their power of smiling.--Now, when +death o'ertook him, beauty and youth came with it. Like wreaths his +darkening locks fell round his rosy cheeks; he smiled--and see!--is +smiling still. The people gathered on the shore, awed by the gentle +spectacle--and man said unto man: lo, this is love! + +SWANWHITE. [_Lying down beside the body of the_ PRINCE] He's dead; his +heart will sing no more; his eyes no longer will light up my life; +his breath will shed its dew on me no more. He smiles, but not toward +me--toward heaven he smiles. And on his journey I shall bear him +company. + +DUKE. Kiss not a dead man's lips--there's poison in them! + +SWANWHITE. Sweet poison if it bring me death--that death in which I +seek my life! + +DUKE. They say, my child, the dead cannot gain union by willing it; +and what was loved in life has little worth beyond. + +SWANWHITE. And love? Should then its power not extend to the other side +of death? + +DUKE. Our wise men have denied it. + +SWANWHITE. Then he must come to me--back to this earth. O gracious +Lord, please let him out of heaven again! + +DUKE. A foolish prayer! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot pray--woe's me! The evil eye still rules this place. + +DUKE. You're thinking of the monster which the sunbeams pricked. The +stake for her--let her without delay be burned alive! + +SWANWHITE. Burn her?--Alive?--Oh, no! Let her depart in peace! + +DUKE. She must be burned alive! You, men, see that the pyre is raised +close to the shore, and let the winds play with her ashes! + +SWANWHITE. [_On her knees before the_ DUKE] No, no--I pray you, though +she was my executioner: have mercy on her! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters, changed, freed from the evil powers that have +held her in their spell_] Mercy! Who spoke the sacred word? Who poured +her heart in prayer for me? + +SWANWHITE. I did--your daughter--mother! + +STEPMOTHER. O, God in heaven, she called me mother!--Who taught you +that? + +SWANWHITE. Love did! + +STEPMOTHER. Then blessed be love which can work miracles like +that!--But, child, then it must also have the power to make the dead +return out of the darkling realms of death!--I cannot do it, having not +received the grace of love. But you! + +SWANWHITE. Poor me--what can I do? + +STEPMOTHER. You can forgive, and you can love--Well, then, my little +Lady Almighty, you can do anything!--Be taught by me who have no power +at all. Go, cry the name of your beloved, and put your hand above his +heart! Then, with the help of the Supreme One--calling none but Him for +helper--your beloved will hear your voice--if you believe! + +SWANWHITE. I do believe--I will it--and--I pray for it! + +_She goes up to the_ PRINCE, _places one of her hands over his heart, +and raises the other toward the sky. Then she bends down over him +and whispers something into his ear. This she repeats three times in +succession. At the third whisper the_ PRINCE _wakes up_. SWANWHITE +_throws herself at his breast. All kneel in praise and thanksgiving. +Music_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SIMOOM + +(SAMUM) + +1890 + + + CHARACTERS + + BISKRA, _an Arabian girl_ + YUSUF, _her lover_ + GUIMARD, _a lieutenant of Zouaves_ + + _The action takes place in Algeria at the present time_. + + + + +SIMOOM + + + _The inside of a marabout, or shrine. In the middle of the + floor stands a sarcophagus forming the tomb of the Mohammedan + saint (also called "marabout") who in his lifetime occupied the + place. Prayer-rugs are scattered over the floor. At the right + in the rear is an ossuary, or charnel-house._ + + _There is a doorway in the middle of the rear wall. It is + closed with a gate and covered by a curtain. On both sides of + the doorway are loopholes. Here and there on the floor are seen + little piles of sand. An aloe plant, a few palm leaves and some + alfa grass are thrown together on one spot_. + + * * * * * + +FIRST SCENE + + + BISKRA _enters. The hood of her burnous is pulled over her head + so that it almost covers her face. She carries a guitar at her + back. Throwing herself down in a kneeling position on one of + the rugs, she begins to pray with her arms crossed over her + breast. A high wind is blowing outside_. + +BISKRA. Lâ ilâhâ illâ 'llâh! + +YUSUF. [_Enters quickly_] The Simoom is coming! Where is the Frank? + +BISKRA. He'll be here in a moment. + +YUSUF. Why didn't you stab him when you had a chance? + +BISKRA. Because he is to do it himself. If I were to do it, our whole +tribe would be killed, for I am known to the Franks as Ali, the guide, +though they don't know me as Biskra, the maiden. + +YUSUF. He is to do it himself, you say? How is that to happen? + +BISKRA. Don't you know that the Simoom makes the brains of the white +people dry as dates, so that they have horrible visions which disgust +them with life and cause them to flee into the great unknown? + +YUSUF. I have heard of such things, and in the last battle there were +six Franks who took their own lives before the fighting began. But do +not place your trust in the Simoom to-day, for snow has fallen in the +mountains, and the storm may be all over in half an hour.--Biskra! Do +you still know how to hate? + +BISKRA. If I know how to hate?--My hatred is boundless as the desert, +burning as the sun, and stronger than my love. Every hour of joy that +has been stolen from me since the murder of Ali has been stored up +within me like the venom back of a viper's tooth, and what the Simoom +cannot do, that I can do. + +YUSUF. Well spoken, Biskra, and the task shall be yours. Ever since my +eyes first fell upon you, my own hatred has been withering like alfa +grass in the autumn. Take strength from me and become the arrow to my +bow. + +BISKRA. Embrace me, Yusuf, embrace me! + +YUSUF. Not here, within the presence of the Sainted one; not +now--later, afterward, when you have earned your reward! + +BISKRA. You proud sheikh! You man of pride! + +YUSUF. Yes--the maiden who is to carry my offspring under her heart +must show herself worthy of the honour. + +BISKRA. I--no one but I--shall bear the offspring of Yusuf! I, +Biskra--the scorned one, the ugly one, but the strong one, too! + +YUSUF. All right! I am now going to sleep beside the spring.--Do I +need to teach you more of the secret arts which you learned from +Sidi-Sheikh, the great marabout, and which you have practised at fairs +ever since you were a child? + +BISKRA. Of that there is no need. I know all the secrets needed to +scare the life out of a cowardly Frank.--The dastard who sneaks upon +the enemy and sends the leaden bullet ahead of himself! I know them +all--even the art of letting my voice come out of my belly. And what is +beyond my art, that will be done by the sun, for the sun is on the side +of Yusuf and Biskra. + +YUSUF. The sun is a friend of the Moslem, but not to be relied upon. +You may get burned, girl!--Take a drink of water first of all, for I +see that your hands are shrivelled, and---- + + _He lifts up one of the rugs and steps down into a sort of + cellar, from which he brings back a bowl filled with water; + this he hands to_ BISKRA. + +BISKRA. [_Raising the bowl to her mouth_] And my eyes are already +beginning to see red--my lungs are parching--I hear--I hear--do you +see how the sand is sifting through the roof--the strings of my guitar +are crooning--the Simoom is here! But the Frank is not! + +YUSUF. Come down here, Biskra, and let the Frank die by himself. + +BISKRA. First hell, and then death! Do you think I'll weaken? [_Pours +the water on one of the sand piles_] I'll water the sand, so that +revenge may grow out of it, and I'll dry up my heart. Grow, O hatred! +Burn, O sun! Smother, O wind! + +YUSUF. Hail to you, mother of Ben Yusuf--for you are to bear the son of +Yusuf, the avenger--you! + + +_The wind is increasing. The curtain in front of the door begins to +flap. A red glimmer lights up the room, but changes into yellow during +the ensuing scene_. + + +BISKRA. The Frank is coming, and--the Simoom is here!--Go! + +YUSUF. In half an hour you shall see me again. [_Pointing toward a sand +pile_] There is your hour-glass. Heaven itself is measuring out the +time for the hell of the infidels! + + [_Goes down into the cellar_. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD _enters looking very pale; he stumbles, his + mind is confused, and he speaks in a low voice_. + +GUIMARD. The Simoom is here!--What do you think has become of my men? + +BISKRA. I led them west to east. + +GUIMARD. West--to east!--Let me see!--That's straight east--and +west!--Oh, put me on a chair and give me some water! + +BISKRA. [_Leads_ GUIMARD _to one of the sand piles and makes him lie +down on the floor with his feet on the sand_] Are you comfortable now? + +GUIMARD. [_Staring at her_] I feel all twisted up. Put something under +my head. + +BISKRA. [_Piling the sand higher under his feet_] There's a pillow for +your head. + +GUIMARD. Head? Why, my feet are down there--Isn't that my feet? + +BISKRA. Of course! + +GUIMARD. I thought so. Give me a stool now--under my head. + +BISKRA. [_Pulls out the aloe plant and pushes it under Guimard's legs_] +There's a stool for you. + +GUIMARD. And then water!--Water! + +BISKRA. [_Fills the empty bowl with sand and hands it to_ GUIMARD] +Drink while it's cold. + +GUIMARD. [_Putting his lips to the bowl_] It is cold--and yet it does +not still my thirst! I cannot drink it--I abhor water--take it away! + +BISKRA. There's the dog that bit you! + +GUIMARD. What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog. + +BISKRA. The Simoom has shrivelled up your memory--beware the delusions +of the Simoom! Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you during +the last hunt at Bab-el-Wad? + +GUIMARD. The hunt at Bab-el-Wad? That's right!--Was it a +beaver-coloured----? + +BISKRA. Bitch? Yes.--There you see. And she bit you in the calf. Can't +you feel the sting of the wound? + +GUIMARD. [_Reaches out a hand to feel his calf and pricks himself on +the aloe_] Yes, I can feel it.--Water! Water! + +BISKRA. [_Handing him the sand-filled bowl_] Drink, drink! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot! Holy Mother of God--I have rabies! + +BISKRA. Don't be afraid! I shall cure you, and drive out the demon by +the help of music, which is all-powerful. Listen! + +GUIMARD. [_Screaming_] Ali! Ali! No music; I can't stand it! And how +could it help me? + +BISKRA. If music can tame the treacherous spirit of the snake, don't +you think it may conquer that of a mad dog? Listen! [_She sings and +accompanies herself on the guitar_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! Simoom! + +YUSUF. [_Responding from below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What is that you are singing, Ali? + +BISKRA. Have I been singing? Look here--now I'll put a palm-leaf in my +mouth. [_She puts a piece of leaf between her teeth; the song seems to +be coming from above_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra! + +YUSUF. [_From below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What an infernal jugglery! + +BISKRA. Now I'll sing! + +BISKRA and YUSUF. [_Together_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] What are you, you devil who are singing with two +voices? Are you man or woman? Or both? + +BISKRA. I am Ali, the guide. You don't recognise me because your senses +are confused. But if you want to be saved from the tricks played by +sight and thought, you must believe in me--believe what I say and do +what I tell you. + +GUIMARD. You don't need to ask me, for I find everything to be as you +say it is. + +BISKRA. There you see, you worshipper of idols! + +GUIMARD. I, a worshipper of idols? + +BISKRA. Yes, take out the idol you carry on your breast. + + GUIMARD _takes out a locket_. + +BISKRA. Trample on it now, and then call on the only God, the Merciful +One, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. [_Hesitating_] Saint Edward--my patron saint? + +BISKRA. Can he protect you? Can he? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot!--[_Waking up_] Yes, he can! + +BISKRA. Let us see! + + _She opens the gate; the curtain flaps and the grass on the + floor moves_. + +GUIMARD. [_Covering his mouth_] Close the door! + +BISKRA. Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot. + +BISKRA. Do you see? The Simoom does not bend a hair on me, but you, the +infidel one, are killed by it! Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. [_Throws the locket on the floor_] Water! I die! + +BISKRA. Pray to the Only One, the Merciful and Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. How am I to pray? + +BISKRA. Repeat after me. + +GUIMARD. Speak on! + +BISKRA. There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. "There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One." + +BISKRA. Lie down on the floor. + + GUIMARD _lies down unwillingly_. + +BISKRA. What do you hear? + +GUIMARD. I hear the murmuring of a spring. + +BISKRA. There you see! God is one, and there is no other God but He, +the Merciful and Compassionate One!--What do you see? + +GUIMARD. I can hear a spring murmur--I can see the light of a lamp--in +a window with green shutters--on a white street---- + +BISKRA. Who is sitting at the window? + +GUIMARD. My wife--Elise! + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around her neck? + +GUIMARD. That's my son, George. + +BISKRA. How old is your son? + +GUIMARD. Four years on the day of Saint Nicholas. + +BISKRA. And he can already stand behind the curtain with his arm around +the neck of another man's wife? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot--but it is he! + +BISKRA. Four years old, you say, and he has a blond mustache? + +GUIMARD. A blond mustache, you say?--Oh, that's--my friend Jules. + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around your +wife's neck? + +GUIMARD. Oh, you devil! + +BISKRA. Do you see your son? + +GUIMARD. No, I don't see him any longer. + + BISKRA. [_Imitates the tolling of bells on the guitar_] What do + you see now? + +GUIMARD. I see bells ringing--I taste dead bodies--their smell in my +mouth is like rancid butter--faugh! + +BISKRA. Can't you hear the priest chanting the service for a dead child? + +GUIMARD. Wait!--I cannot hear--[_Wistfully_] But do you want me +to?--There!--I can hear it! + +BISKRA. Do you see the wreath on the coffin they are carrying? + +GUIMARD. Yes---- + +BISKRA. There are violet ribbons on it--and there are letters printed +in silver--"Farewell, my darling George--from your father." + +GUIMARD. Yes, that's it! [_He begins to cry_] My George! O George, my +darling boy!--Elise--wife--can't you console me?--Oh, help me! [_He is +groping around_] Elise, where are you? Have you left me? Answer! Call +out the name of your love! + +A VOICE. [_Coming from the roof_] Jules! Jules! + +GUIMARD. Jules! But my name is--what is my name? It is Charles! And she +is calling Jules! Elise--my beloved wife--answer me--for your spirit +is here--I can feel it--and you promised never to love anybody else---- + + _The_ VOICE _is heard laughing_. + +GUIMARD. Who is laughing? + +BISKRA. Elise--your wife. + +GUIMARD. Oh, kill me! I don't want to live any longer! Life sickens +me like sauerkraut at Saint-Doux--You there--do you know what +Saint-Doux is? Lard! [_He tries to spit_] Not a drop of saliva +left!--Water--water--or I'll bite you! + + _The wind outside has risen to a full storm_. + +BISKRA. [_Puts her hand to her mouth and coughs_] Now you are dying, +Frank! Write down your last wishes while there is still time--Where is +your note-book? + +GUIMARD. [_Takes out a note-book and a pencil_] What am I to write? + +BISKRA. When a man is to die, he thinks of his wife--and his child! + +GUIMARD. [_Writes_] "Elise--I curse you! Simoom--I die----" + +BISKRA. And then sign it, or it will not be valid as a testament. + +GUIMARD. What shall I sign? + +BISKRA. Write: Lâ ilâha illâ 'llâh. + +GUIMARD. [_Writing_] It is written.--And can I die now? + +BISKRA. Now you can die--like a craven soldier who has deserted his +people! And I am sure you'll get a handsome burial from the jackals +that will chant the funeral hymn over your corpse. [_She drums the +signal for attack on the guitar_] Can you hear the drums--the attack +has begun--on the Faithful, who have the sun and the Simoom on their +side--they are now advancing--from their hiding-places--[_She makes a +rattling noise on the guitar_] The Franks are firing along the whole +line--they have no chance to load again--the Arabs are firing at their +leisure--the Franks are flying! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] The Franks never flee! + +BISKRA. The Franks will flee when they hear the call to retreat. + + [_She blows the signal for "retreat" on a flute which she has + produced from under her burnoose_. + +GUIMARD. They are retreating--that's the signal--and I am here--[_He +tears off his epaulets_] I am dead! + + [_He falls to the ground_. + +BISKRA. Yes, you are dead!--And you don't know that you have been dead +a long time. + + [_She goes to the ossuary and takes from it a human skull_. + +GUIMARD. Have I been dead? + + [_He feels his face with his hands_. + +BISKRA. Long! Long!--Look at yourself in the mirror here! [_She holds +up the skull before him_. + +GUIMARD. Ah! That's me! + +BISKRA. Can't you see your own high cheek-bones? Can't you see the eyes +that the vultures have picked out? Don't you know that gap on the right +side of the jaw where you had a tooth pulled? Can't you see the hollow +in the chin where, grew the beard that your Elise was fond of stroking? +Can't you see where used to be the ear that your George kissed at +the breakfast-table? Can't you see the mark of the axe--here in the +neck--which the executioner made when he cut off the deserter's head---- + + GUIMARD, _who has been watching her movements and listening to + her words with evident horror, sinks down dead_. + +BISKRA. [_Who has been kneeling, feels his pulse; then she rises and +sings_] Simoom! Simoom! [_She opens both gates; the curtain flutters +like a banner in the wind; she puts her hand up to her mouth and falls +over backward, crying_] Yusuf! + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD (_dead_). YUSUF _comes out of the cellar_. + + +YUSUF. [_Having examined the body of_ GUIMARD, _he looks for_ BISKRA] +Biskra! [_He discovers her and takes her up in his arms_] Are you alive? + +BISKRA. Is the Frank dead? + +YUSUF. If he is not, he will be. Simoom! Simoom! + +BISKRA. Then I live! But give me some water! + +YUSUF. [_Carrying her toward the cellar_] Here it is!--And now Yusuf is +yours! + +BISKRA. And Biskra will be your son's mother, O Yusuf, great Yusuf! + +YUSUF. My strong Biskra! Stronger than the Simoom! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +(DEBET OCH KREDIT) + +AN ACT + +1893 + + + CHARACTERS + + AXEL, _Doctor of Philosophy and African explorer_ + THURE, _his brother, a gardener_ + ANNA, _the wife of_ THURE + MISS CECILIA + THE FIANCÉ _of_ CECILIA + LINDGREN, _Doctor of Philosophy and former school-teacher_ + MISS MARIE + THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN + THE WAITER + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +_A well-furnished hotel room. There are doors on both sides_. + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +THURE. There's some style to this room, isn't there? But then the +fellow who lives here is stylish, too. + +WIFE. Yes, so I understand. Of course, I've never seen your brother, +but I've heard a whole lot. + +THURE. Oh, gossip! _My_ brother, the doctor, has gone right across +Africa, and that's something everybody can't do. So it doesn't matter +how many drinks he took as a young chap---- + +WIFE. Yes, your brother, the doctor! Who is nothing but a +school-teacher, for that matter---- + +THURE. No, he's a doctor of philosophy, I tell you---- + +WIFE. Well, that's nothing but one who teaches. And that's just what my +brother is doing in the school at Åby. + +THURE. Your brother is all right, but he is nothing but a public-school +teacher, and that's not the same as a doctor of philosophy--which isn't +a boast either. + +WIFE. Well, no matter what he is or what you call him, he has cost us a +whole lot. + +THURE. Of course it has been rather costly, but then he has brought us +a lot of pleasure, too. + +WIFE. Fine pleasures! When we've got to lose house and home for his +sake! + +THURE. That's so--but then we don't know yet if his slip-up on the loan +had some kind of cause that he couldn't help. I guess it isn't so easy +to send registered letters from darkest Africa. + +WIFE. Whether he has any excuses or not doesn't change the matter a +bit. But if he wants to do something for us--it's nothing more than he +owes us. + +THURE. Well, we'll see, we'll see!--Anyhow, have you heard they've +already given him four decorations? + +WIFE. Well, that doesn't help us any. I guess it'll only make him a +little more stuck-up. Oh, no, it'll be some time before I get over that +the sheriff had to come down on us with the papers--and bring in other +people as witnesses--and then--the auction--and all the neighbours +coming in and turning all we had upside down. And do you know what made +me sorer than all the rest? + +THURE. The black---- + +WIFE. Yes, it was that my sister-in-law should bid in my black silk +dress for fifteen crowns. Think of it--fifteen crowns! + +THURE. You just wait--just wait a little! We might get you a new silk +dress---- + +WIFE. [_Weeping_] But it'll never be the same one--the one my +sister-in-law bid in. + +THURE. We'll get another one then!--Now, just look at that gorgeous hat +over there! I guess it must be one of those royal chamberlains who's +talking with Axel now. + +WIFE. What do I care about that! + +THURE. Why, don't you think it's fun that a fellow who has the same +name as you and I gets to be so respected that the King's own household +people have to visit him? If I remember right, you were happy for a +whole fortnight when your brother, the school-teacher, had been asked +to dine at the bishop's. + +WIFE. I can't remember anything of the kind. + +THURE. Of course you can't! + +WIFE. But I do remember the fifteenth of March, when we had to leave +our place for his sake, and we hadn't been married more than two years, +and I had to carry away the child on my own arm--Oh!--and then, when +the steamer came with all the passengers on board just as we had to get +out--all the cocked hats in the world can't make me forget that! And, +for that matter, what do you think a royal chamberlain cares about a +plain gardener and his wife when they've just been turned out of house +and home? + +THURE. Look here! What do you think this is? Look at all his +decorations!--Look at this one, will you! + + _He takes an order out of its case, holds it in the palm of his + hand, and pats it as if it were a living thing_. + +WIFE. Oh, that silly stuff! + +THURE. Don't you say anything against them, for you never can tell +where you'll end. The gardener at Staring was made a director and a +knight on the same day. + +WIFE. Well, what does that help us? + +THURE. No, of course not--it doesn't help us--but these things here +[_pointing to the orders_] may help us a whole lot in getting another +place.--However, I think we've waited quite a while now, so we'd better +sit down and make ourselves at home. Let me help you off with your +coat--come on now! + +WIFE. [_After a slight resistance_] So you think we're going to be +welcome, then? I have a feeling that our stay here won't last very long. + +THURE. Tut, tut! And I think we're going to have a good dinner, too, if +I know Axel right. If he only knew that we're here--But now you'll +see! [_He presses a button and a_ WAITER _enters_] What do you want--a +sandwich, perhaps? [_To the_ WAITER] Bring us some sandwiches and +beer.--Wait a moment! Get a drink for me--the real stuff, you know! +[_The_ WAITER _goes out_] You've got to take care of yourself, don't +you know. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. AXEL. The CHAMBERLAIN. + +AXEL. [_To the_ CHAMBERLAIN] At five, then--in full dress, I suppose? + +CHAMBERLAIN. And your orders! + +AXEL. Is it necessary? + +CHAMBERLAIN. Absolutely necessary, if you don't want to seem rude, and +that's something which you, as a democrat, want least of all. Good-bye, +doctor! + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + _In leaving, the_ CHAMBERLAIN _bows slightly to_ THURE _and + his_ WIFE, _neither of whom returns the salute_. + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + AXEL. THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +AXEL. Oh, is that you, old boy?--It seems an eternity since I saw you +last. And this is your wife?--Glad to see you! + +THURE. Thanks, brother! And I wish you a happy return after your long +trip. + +AXEL. Yes, that was something of a trip--I suppose you have read about +it in the papers---- + +THURE. Oh, yes, I've read all about it. [_Pause_] And then father sent +you his regards. + +AXEL. Oh, is he still sore at me? + +THURE. Well, you know the old man and his ways. If only you hadn't been +a member of that expedition, you know, he would have thought it one of +the seven wonders of the world. But as you were along, of course, it +was nothing but humbug. + +AXEL. So he's just the same as ever! Simply because I am _his_ son, +nothing I ever do can be of any value. It means he can't think very +much of himself either.--Well, so much for that! And how are you +getting along nowadays? + +THURE. Not very well, exactly! There's that old loan from the bank, you +know---- + +AXEL. Yes, that's right! Well, what happened to it? + +THURE. Oh, what happened was that I had to pay it. + +AXEL. That's too bad! But we'll settle the matter as soon as we have a +chance. + + _The_ WAITER _comes in with_ THURE's _order on a tray_. + +AXEL. What's that? + +THURE. Oh, it was only me who took the liberty of ordering a couple of +sandwiches---- + +AXEL. Right you were! But I think we ought to have some wine, so I +could drink the health of my sister-in-law, as I couldn't get to the +wedding. + +THURE. Oh, no--not for us! Not so early in the morning! Thanks very +much! + +AXEL. [_Signals to the_ WAITER, _who goes out_] I should have asked you +to stay for dinner, but I have to go out myself. Can you guess where I +am going? + +THURE. You don't mean to say you're going to the Palace? + +AXEL. Exactly--I am asked to meet the Monarch himself. + +THURE. Lord preserve us!--What do you think of that, Anna? + + _His_ WIFE _turns and twists on her chair as if in torment, + quite unable to answer_. + +AXEL. I suppose the old man will turn republican after this, when he +hears that His Majesty cares to associate with me. + +THURE. See here, Axel--you'll have to pardon me for getting back to +something that's not very pleasant--but it has to be settled. + +AXEL. Is it that blessed old loan? + +THURE. Yes, but it isn't only that. To put it plain--we've had to stand +an execution for your sake, and now we're absolutely cleaned out. + +AXEL. That's a fine state of affairs! But why in the world didn't you +get the loan renewed? + +THURE. Well, that's it! How was I to get any new sureties when you were +away? + +AXEL. Couldn't you go to my friends? + +THURE. I did. And the result was--what it was. Can you help us out now? + +AXEL. How am I going to help you now? Now when all my creditors are +getting after me? And it won't do for me to start borrowing when they +are just about to make a position for me. There's nothing that hurts +you more than to borrow money. Just wait a little while, and we'll get +it all straightened out. + +THURE. If we're to wait, then everything's up with us. This is just the +time to get hold of a garden--this is the time to start digging and +sowing, if you are to get anything up in time. Can't you get a place +for us? + +AXEL. Where am I to get hold of a garden? + +THURE. Among your friends. + +AXEL. My friends keep no gardens. Now, don't you hamper me when I try +to get up on firm ground! When I am there I'll pull you up, too. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] He doesn't want to help us, Anna! + +AXEL. I cannot--not this moment! Do you think it reasonable that I, who +am seeking a job myself, should have to seek one for you, too? What +would people be saying, do you think? "There, now," they would say, +"we've got not only him but his relatives to look after!" And then they +would drop me entirely. + +THURE. [_Looks at his watch; then to his wife_] We've got to go. + +AXEL. Why must you go so soon? + +THURE. We have to take the child to a doctor. + +AXEL. For the Lord's sake, have you a child, too? + +WIFE. Yes, we have. And a sick child, which lost its health when we had +to move out into the kitchen so that the auction could be held. + +AXEL. And all this for my sake! It's enough to drive me crazy! For +my sake! So that I might become a famous man!--And what is there I +can do for you?--Do you think it would have been better if I had +stayed at home?--No, worse--for then I should have been nothing but +a poor teacher, who certainly could not have been of any use to you +whatever.--Listen, now! You go to the doctor, but come back here after +a while. In the meantime I'll think out something. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] Do you see now, that he wants to help us? + +WIFE. Yes, but can he do it? That's the question. + +THURE. He can do anything he wants. + +AXEL. Don't rely too much on it--or the last state may prove worse +than the first.--Oh, merciful heavens, to think that you have a sick +child, too! And for my sake! + +THURE. Oh, I guess it isn't quite as bad as it sounds. + +WIFE. Yes, so you say, who don't know anything about it---- + +THURE. Well, Axel, we'll see you later then. + +LINDGREN _appears in the doorway_. + +WIFE. [_To_ THURE] Did you notice he didn't introduce us--to the +chamberlain? + +THURE. Oh, shucks, what good would that have been? + +[_They go out_. + + + +FOURTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN, _who is shabbily dressed, unshaved, apparently + fond of drinking, and looking as if he had just got out of bed_. + +AXEL _is startled for a moment at the sight of_ LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. You don't recognise me? + +AXEL. Yes, now I do. But you have changed a great deal. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you think so? + +AXEL. Yes, I do, and I am surprised to find that these years can have +had such an effect---- + +LINDGREN. Three years may be pretty long.--And you don't ask me to sit +down? + +AXEL. Please--but I am rather in a hurry. + +LINDGREN. You have always been in a hurry. + + [_He sits down; pause._ + +AXEL. Why don't you say something unpleasant? + +LINDGREN. It's coming, it's coming! + + [_He wipes his spectacles; pause._ + +AXEL. How much do you need? + +LINDGREN. Three hundred and fifty. + +AXEL. I haven't got it, and I can't get it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, sure!--You don't mind if I help myself to a few drops? + + _He pours out a drink from the bottle brought by the_ Waiter + _for_ THURE. + +AXEL. Won't you have a glass of wine with me instead? + +LINDGREN. No--why? + +AXEL. Because it looks bad to be swilling whisky like that. + +LINDGREN. How very proper you have become! + +AXEL. Not at all, but it hurts my reputation and my credit. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have credit? Then you can also give me a lift, after +having brought me down. + +AXEL. That is to say: you are making demands? + +LINDGREN. I am only reminding you that I am one of your victims. + +AXEL. Then, because of the gratitude I owe you, I shall bring these +facts back to your mind: that you helped me through the university at +a time when you had plenty of money; that you helped to get my thesis +printed---- + +LINDGREN. That I taught you the methods which determined your +scientific career; that I, who then was as straight as anybody, +exercised a favourable influence on your slovenly tendencies; that, in +a word, I made you what you are; and that, finally, when I applied for +an appropriation to undertake this expedition, you stepped in and took +it. + +AXEL. No, I got it. Because I, and not you, was held to be the man for +the task. + +LINDGREN. And that settled me! Thus, one shall be taken, and the other +left!--Do you think that was treating me fairly? + +AXEL. It was what the world calls "ungrateful," but the task was +achieved, and by it science was enriched, the honour of our country +upheld, and new regions opened for the use of coming generations. + +LINDGREN. Here's to you!--You have had a lot of oratorical +practice--But have you any idea how unpleasant it feels to play the +part of one used up and cast off? + +AXEL. I imagine it must feel very much like being conscious of +ingratitude, and I can only congratulate you at not finding yourself in +a position as unpleasant as my own.--But let us return to reality. What +can I do for you? + +LINDGREN. What do you think? + +AXEL. For the moment--nothing. + +LINDGREN. And in the next moment you are gone again. Which means that +this would be the last I saw of you. + + [_He pours out another drink_. + +AXEL. Will you do me the favour of not finishing the bottle? I don't +want the servants to suspect me of it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, go to hell! + +AXEL. You don't think it's pleasant for me to have to call you down +like this, do you? + +LINDGREN. Say--do you want to get me a ticket for the banquet to-night? + +AXEL. I am sorry to say that I don't think you would be admitted. + +LINDGREN. Because--- + +AXEL. You are drunk! + +LINDGREN. Thanks, old man!--Well, will you let me have a look at your +botanical specimens, then? + +AXEL. No, I am going to describe them myself for the Academy. + +LINDGREN. How about your ethnographical stuff? + +AXEL. No, that's not my own. + +LINDGREN. Will you--let me have twenty-five crowns? + +AXEL. As I haven't more than twenty myself, I can only give you ten. + +LINDGREN. Rotten! + +AXEL. Thus stand the affairs of the man everybody envies. Do you think +there is anybody in whose company I might feel happy? Not one! Those +that are still down hate me for climbing up, and those already up fear +one coming from below. + +LINDGREN. Yes, you are very unfortunate! + +AXEL. I am! And I can tell you that after my experience during the last +half-hour, I wouldn't mind changing place with you. What a peaceful, +unassailable position he holds who has nothing to lose! What a lot +of interest and sympathy those that are obscure and misunderstood +and over-looked always arouse! You have only to hold out your hand +and you get a coin. You have only to open your arms, and there are +friends ready to fall into them. And then what a powerful party behind +you--formed of the millions who are just like you! You enviable man who +don't realise your own good fortune! + +LINDGREN. So you think me that far down, and yourself as high up as +all that?--Tell me, you don't happen to have read to-day's paper? [_He +takes a newspaper from his pocket_. + +AXEL. No, and I don't care to read it either. + +LINDGREN. But you ought to do it for your own sake. + +AXEL. No, I am not going to do it--not even for _your_ sake. It is as +if you said: "Come here and let me spit at you." And then you are silly +enough to demand that I shall come, too.--Do you know, during these +last minutes I have become more and more convinced that if I had ever +come across you in the jungle, I should beyond all doubt have picked +you off with my breech-loader? + +LINDGREN. I believe it--beast of prey that you are! + +AXEL. It isn't safe to settle accounts with one's friends, or with +persons with whom one has been intimate, for it is hard to tell in +advance who has most on the debit side. But as you are bringing in +a bill, I am forced to look it over.--You don't think it took me +long to discover that back of all your generosity lay an unconscious +desire to turn me into the strong arm which you lacked--to make me +do for you what you couldn't do for yourself? I had imagination and +initiative--you had nothing but money and--"pull." So I am to be +congratulated that you didn't eat me, and I may be excused for eating +you--my only choice being to eat or be eaten! + +LINDGREN. You beast of prey! + +AXEL. You rodent, who couldn't become a beast of prey--although that +was just what you wished! And what you want at this moment is not so +much to rise up to me as to pull me down to where you are.--If you +have anything of importance to add, you had better hurry up, for I am +expecting a visit. + +LINDGREN. From your fiancée? + +AXEL. So you have snooped that out, too? + +LINDGREN. Sure enough! And I know what Marie, the deserted one, thinks +and says--I know what has happened to your brother and his wife---- + +AXEL. Oh, you know my fiancée? For, you see, it so happens that I am +not yet engaged! + +LINDGREN. No, but I know _her_ fiancé. + +AXEL. What does that mean? + +LINDGREN. Why, she has been running around with another fellow all the +time--So you didn't know that? + +AXEL. [_As he listens for something going on outside_] Oh, yes, I knew +of it, but I thought she was done with him--See here, if you'll come +back in a quarter of an hour, I'll try to get things arranged for you +in some way or another. + +LINDGREN. Is that a polite way of showing me the door? + +AXEL. No, it's an attempt to meet an old obligation. Seriously! + +LINDGREN. Well, then I'll go--and come back--Good-bye for a while. + + + +FIFTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN. _The_ WAITER. _Then the_ FIANCÉ, _dressed in + black, with a blue ribbon in the lapel of his coat_. + +WAITER. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you. + +AXEL. Let him come in. + + _The_ WAITER _goes out, leaving the door open behind him. The_ + FIANCÉ _enters_. + +LINDGREN. [_Observing the newcomer closely_] Well, good-bye. + +AXEL--and good luck! [_He goes out_. + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + + +SIXTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCÉ [_much embarrassed_] + +AXEL. With whom have I the honour----? + +FIANCÉ. My name is not a name in the same way as yours, Doctor, and my +errand concerns a matter of the heart---- + +AXEL. Oh, do you happen to be--You know Miss Cecilia? + +FIANCÉ. I am the man. + +AXEL. [_Hesitating for a moment; then with decision_] Please be seated. +[_He opens the door and beckons the_ WAITER. + +_The_ WAITER _enters_. + +AXEL. [_To the_ WAITER] Have my bill made out, see that my trunk is +packed, and bring me a carriage in half an hour. + +WAITER. [_Bowing and leaving_] Yes, Doctor. + +AXEL. [_Goes up to the_ FIANCÉ _and sits down on a chair beside him_] +Now let's hear what you have to say? + +FIANCÉ. [_After a pause, with unction_] There were two men living in +the same city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had sheep and +cattle in plenty. The poor man owned nothing but one ewe lamb---- + +AXEL. What does that concern me? + +FIANCÉ. [_As before_] One ewe lamb, which he had bought and was trying +to raise. + +AXEL. Oh, life's too short. What do you want? Are you and Miss Cecilia +still engaged? + +FIANCÉ. [_Changing his tone_] I haven't said a word about Miss Cecilia, +have I? + +AXEL. Well, sir, you had better get down to business, or I'll show you +the door. But be quick about it, and get straight to the point, without +any frills---- + +FIANCÉ. [_Holding out his snuff-box_] May I? + +AXEL. No, thanks. + +FIANCÉ. A great man like you has no such little weaknesses, I suppose? + +AXEL. As you don't seem willing to speak, I shall. Of course, it is +none of your business, but it may do you good to learn of it, as you +don't seem to know it: I am regularly engaged to Miss Cecilia, who +formerly was your fiancée. + +FIANCÉ. [_Startled_] Who was? + +AXEL. Because she has broken with you. + +FIANCÉ. I know nothing about it. + +AXEL. [_Taking a ring from the pocket of his waistcoat]_ That's +strange, but now you do know. And here you can see the ring she has +given me. + +FIANCÉ. So she has broken with me? + +AXEL. Yes, as she couldn't be engaged to two men at the same time, and +as she had ceased to care for you, she had to break with you. I might +have told you all this in a more decent fashion, if you hadn't stepped +on my corns the moment you came in. + +FIANCÉ. I didn't do anything of the kind. + +AXEL. Cowardly and disingenuous--cringing and arrogant at the same time! + +FIANCÉ. [_Gently_] You are a hard man, Doctor. + +AXEL. No, but I may become one. You showed no consideration for my +feelings a moment ago. You sneered, which I didn't. And that's the end +of our conversation. + +FIANCÉ. [_With genuine emotion_] I feared that you might take away from +me my only lamb--but you wouldn't do that, you who have so many---- + +AXEL. Suppose I wouldn't--are you sure she would stay with you anyhow? + +FIANCÉ. Put yourself in my place, Doctor---- + +AXEL. Yes, if you'll put yourself in mine. + +FIANCÉ. I am a poor man---- + +AXEL. So am I! But judging by what I see and hear, you have certain +bliss waiting for you in the beyond. That's more than I have.--And, +furthermore, I have taken nothing away from you: I have only received +what was offered me. Just as you did! + +FIANCÉ. And I who had been dreaming of a future for this young woman--a +future full of brightness---- + +AXEL. Pardon me a piece of rudeness, but you began it: are you so sure +that the future of this young woman will not turn out a great deal +brighter by my side? + +FIANCÉ. You are now reminding me of my humble position as a worker---- + +AXEL. No, I am reminding you of that young woman's future, which you +have so much at heart. And as I am told that she has ceased to care +for you, but does care for me, I am only taking the liberty to dream of +a brighter future for her with the man she loves than with the man she +doesn't love. + +FIANCÉ. You are a strong man, you are, and we little ones were born to +be your victims! + +AXEL. See here, my man, I have been told that you got the better +of another rival for Cecilia's heart, and that you were not very +scrupulous about the means used for the purpose. How do you think that +_victim_ liked you? + +FIANCÉ. He was a worthless fellow. + +AXEL. From whom you saved the girl! And now I save her from you! +Good-bye! + + + +SEVENTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCÉ. CECILIA. + +FIANCÉ. Cecilia! + +CECILIA _draws back from him_. + +FIANCÉ. You seem to know your way into this place? + +AXEL. [_To the_ FIANCÉ] You had better disappear! + +CECILIA. I want some water! + +FIANCÉ. [_Picking up the whisky bottle from the table_] The bottle +seems to be finished!--Beware of that man, Cecilia! + +AXEL. [_Pushing the_ FIANCÉ _out through the door_] Oh, your presence +is wholly superfluous--get out! + +FIANCÉ. Beware of that man, Cecilia! [_He goes out_. + + + +EIGHTH SCENE + + + AXEL. CECILIA. + +AXEL. That was a most unpleasant incident, which you might have spared +me--both by breaking openly with him and by not coming to my room. + +CECILIA. [_Weeping_] So I am to be scolded, too? + +AXEL. Well, the responsibility had to be fixed, and now, when that's +done--we can talk of something else.--How are you, to begin with? + +CECILIA. So, so! + +AXEL. Not well, that means? + +CECILIA. How are you? + +AXEL. Fine--only a little tired. + +CECILIA. Are you going with me to see my aunt this after-noon? + +AXEL. No, I cannot, for I have to drive out. + +CECILIA. And that's more fun, of course. You go out such a lot, and +I--never! + +AXEL. Hm! + +CECILIA. Why do you say "hm"? + +AXEL. Because your remark made an unpleasant impression on me. + +CECILIA. One gets so many unpleasant impressions these days---- + +AXEL. For instance? + +CECILIA. By reading the papers. + +AXEL. So you have been reading those scandalous stories about me! And +you believe them? + +CECILIA. One doesn't know what to believe. + +AXEL. So you really suspect me of being the unscrupulous fellow +pictured in those stories? And as you are nevertheless willing to marry +me, I must assume that you are moved by purely practical considerations +and not by any personal attraction. + +CECILIA. You speak so harshly, as if you didn't care for me at all! + +AXEL. Cecilia--are you willing to leave this place with me in fifteen +minutes? + +CECILIA. In fifteen minutes! For where! + +AXEL. London. + +CECILIA. I am not going with you until we are married. + +AXEL. Why? + +CECILIA. Why should we leave like that, all of a sudden? + +AXEL. Because--it's suffocating here! And if I stay, they'll drag me +down so deep that I'll never get up again. + +CECILIA. How strange! Are you as badly off as that? + +AXEL. Do you come with me, or do you not? + +CECILIA. Not until we are married--for afterward you would never marry +me. + +AXEL. So that's your faith in me!--Will you sit down for a moment, +then, while I go in and write a couple of letters? + +CECILIA. Am I to sit here alone, with all the doors open? + +AXEL. Well, don't lock the door, for then we are utterly lost. [_He +goes out to the left_. + +CECILIA. Don't be long! + + _She goes up to the door leading to the hallway and turns the + key in the lock_. + + + +NINTH SCENE + + + CECILIA _alone for a moment. Then_ MARIE _enters_. + +CECILIA. Wasn't the door locked? + +MARIE. Not as far as I could see!--So it was meant to be locked? + +CECILIA. I haven't the honour? + +MARIE. Nor have I. + +CECILIA. Why should you? + +MARIE. How refined! Oh, I see! So it's you! And I am the victim--for a +while! + +CECILIA. I don't know you. + +MARIE. But I know you pretty well. + +CECILIA. [_Rises and goes to the door at the left_] Oh, you do? +[_Opening the door and speaking to_ AXEL] Come out here a moment! + + + +TENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. + +AXEL. [_Entering; to_ MARIE] What do you want here? + +MARIE. Oh, one never can tell. + +AXEL. Then you had better clear out. + +MARIE. Why? + +AXEL. Because what there was between us came to an end three years ago. + +MARIE. And now there is another one to be thrown on the scrap heap? + +AXEL. Did I ever give you any promises that were not kept? Have I ever +owed you anything? Have I ever said a word about marriage? Have we had +any children together? Have I been the only one to receive your favours? + +MARIE. But now you mean to be the only one? With that one over there! + +CECILIA. [_Goes up to_ MARIE] What do you mean?--I don't know you! + +MARIE. No, but there was a time when you did know me. And I remember +that when we met in the streets we called each other by our first +names. [_To_ AXEL] And now you are going to marry her? No, you know, +you are really too good for that! + +AXEL. [_To_ CECILIA] Have you known that woman before? + +CECILIA. No. + +MARIE. You ought to be ashamed of yourself? I simply didn't recognise +you at first because of your swell clothes---- + + AXEL _gazes intently at_ CECILIA. + +CECILIA. [_To_ AXEL] Come--I'll go with you! + +AXEL. [_Preoccupied_] In a moment! Just wait a while! I am only going +in to write another letter--But now we'll close the door first of all. + +MARIE. No, thank you, I don't want to be locked in as she was a while +ago. + +AXEL. [_Interested_] Was the door locked? + +CECILIA. [_To_ MARIE] You don't dare say that the door was locked! + +MARIE. As you expected it to be locked, I suppose you had tried to lock +it and had not succeeded---- + +AXEL. [_Observes_ CECILIA; _then to_ MARIE] It always seemed to me that +you were a nice girl, Marie. Will you let me have my letters back now? + +MARIE. No. + +AXEL. What are you going to do with them? + +MARIE. I hear that I can sell them, now when you have become famous. + +AXEL. And get your revenge at the same time? + +MARIE. Exactly. + +AXEL. Is it Lindgren----? + +MARIE. Yes!--And here he is now himself. + + + +ELEVENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. [_Enters in high spirits_] Well, what a lot of skirts! And +Marie, too--like the cuckoo that's in every nest! Now listen, Axel! + +AXEL. I hear you even when I don't see you. You're in a fine +humour--what new misfortune has befallen me? + +LINDGREN. I was only a little sour this morning because I hadn't had +a chance to get wound up. But now I've had a bite to eat--Well, you +see--at bottom you don't owe me anything at all. For what I did, I +did out of my heart's goodness, and it has brought me both honour and +pleasure--and what you got was a gift and no loan! + +AXEL. Now you are altogether too modest and generous. + +LINDGREN. Not at all! However, one favour calls for another. Would you +mind becoming my surety on this note? + + AXEL _hesitates_. + +LINDGREN. Well, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to put you in the +same kind of fix as your brother did---- + +AXEL. What do you mean? It was I who put him---- + +LINDGREN. Yes, to the tune of two hundred crowns--but he got your name +as surety for five years' rent---- + +AXEL. [_In a low voice_] Jesus Christ! + +LINDGREN. What's that?--Hm--hm! + +AXEL. [_Looking at his watch_] Just wait a few minutes--I have only to +write a couple of letters. + + CECILIA _starts to go with him_. + +AXEL. [_Holds her back_] Just a few minutes, my dear--[_He kisses her +on the forehead_] Just a few minutes! + + [_He goes toward the left_. + +LINDGREN. Here's the note--you might sign it while you are at it. + +AXEL. Give it to me! + + [_He goes out with an air of determination_. + + + +TWELFTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. Well, girls, are you on good terms again? + +MARIE. Oh, yes, and before we get away, we'll be on still better terms. + + CECILIA _makes a face_. + +MARIE. I should like to have some fun to-day. + +LINDGREN. Come along with me! I'll have money! + +MARIE. No! + + CECILIA _sits down with evident anxiety near the door through + which_ AXEL _disappeared--as if seeking support in that + direction_. + +LINDGREN. Let's take in the fireworks to-night--then we can see how a +great man looks in red light--what do you say to that, Cissie dear? + +CECILIA. Oh, I'll be sick if I have to stay here longer! + +MARIE. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. + +LINDGREN. Scrap, girls, and I'll watch you! Fight till the fur +flies--won't you? + + + +THIRTEENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. THURE _and his_ WIFE _enter_. + +LINDGREN. Well, well! Old friends! How are you? + +THURE. All right. + +LINDGREN. And the child? + +THURE. The child? + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have forgotten it?--Are you equally forgetful about +names? + +THURE. Names? + +LINDGREN. Signatures!--He must be writing an awful lot in there! + +THURE. Is my brother, the doctor, in there? + +LINDGREN. I don't know if the doctor is there, but your brother went +in there a while ago.--And, for that matter, we might find out. [_He +knocks at the door_] Silent as the grave! [_Knocks again_] Then I'll +walk right in. + + [_He goes out; everybody appears restless and anxious_. + +CECILIA. What can it mean? + +MARIE. Well, we'll see now. + +THURE. What has happened here? + +WIFE. Something is up!--You'll see he doesn't help us! + +LINDGREN. [_Returns, carrying in his hand a small bottle and some +letters_] What does it say? [_He reads the label on the bottle_] +Cyanide of potassium!--How stupid! What a sentimental idiot--to kill +himself for so little--[_Everybody cries out_] So you were no beast of +prey, my dear Axel!--But-[_He stares through the open door into the +adjoining room_]--he's not there--and his things are gone, too. So he +has skipped out! And the bottle has never been opened! That means--he +meant to kill himself, but changed his mind!--And these are his +posthumous writings. "To Miss Cecilia"--seems to contain some round +object--probably an engagement ring--there you are!--"To my brother +THURE" [_He holds up the letter to the light_]--with a piece of blue +paper inside--must be a note--for the amount involved! You're welcome! + + _The_ FIANCÉ _appears in the doorway at the right_. + +THURE. [_Who has opened his letter_] Do you see that he helped us after +all---- + +WIFE. Oh, in that way! + +LINDGREN. And here's my note--without his name--He's a strong one, all +right! _Diable!_ + +MARIE. Then the fireworks will be called off, I suppose? + +FIANCÉ. Was there nothing for me? + +LINDGREN. Yes, I think there was a fiancée--somewhere over there!--I +tell you, that fellow is a wonder at clearing up tangled affairs!--Of +course, it makes me mad to think that I let myself be fooled--but I'll +be darned if I don't think I would have done just as he did!--And so +would you, perhaps?--Or what do you think? + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ADVENT + +(ADVENT) + +A MIRACLE PLAY + +1899 + + + CHARACTERS + + _The_ JUDGE + _The_ OLD LADY, _wife of the Judge_ + AMELIA + ADOLPH + _The_ NEIGHBOUR + ERIC + THYRA + _being the same person_ + _The_ OTHER ONE + _The_ FRANCISCAN + _The_ PLAYMATE + _The_ WITCH + _The_ PRINCE + _Subordinate characters, shadows, etc._ + + ACT I. THE VINEYARD WITH THE MAUSOLEUM + ACT II. THE DRAWING-ROOM + ACT III. THE WINE-CELLAR + THE GARDEN + ACT IV. THE CROSS-ROADS + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + THE CROSS-ROADS + ACT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + + + + +ACT I + + + _The background represents a vineyard. At the left stands a + mausoleum. It consists of a small whitewashed brick building + with a door and a pointed window that lacks mullions and panes. + The roof is made of red tiles. A cross crowns the gable. + Clematis vines with purple-coloured, cross-shaped flowers cover + the front wall, at the foot of which appear a number of other + flowers_. + + _A peach-tree carrying fruit stands near the foreground. + Be-neath it sit the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY. + + _The_ JUDGE _wears a green cap with a peak, yellow + knee-breeches, and--a blue coat--all dating back to_ 1820. + _The_ OLD LADY _wears a kerchief on her head and carries + a stick, spectacles, and snuff-box. She has the general + appearance of a "witch." At the right is a small expiatory + chapel containing an image of the Holy Virgin. The fence in + front of it is hung with wreaths and nosegays. A prie-dieu is + placed against the fence_. + + +JUDGE. Life's eve has at last brought the sunshine which its morning +promised us. Early rains and late rains have blessed meadow and field. +And soon the songs of the vintagers will be heard all over the country. + +OLD LADY. Don't talk like that; somebody might hear you. + +JUDGE. Who could be listening here, and what harm could it do to thank +God for all good gifts? + +OLD LADY. It's better not to mention one's good fortune lest misfortune +overhear it. + +JUDGE. What of it? Was I not born with a caul? + +OLD LADY. Take care, take care! There are many who envy us, and evil +eyes are watching us. + +JUDGE. Well, let them! That's the way it has always been. And yet I +have prospered. + +OLD LADY. So far, yes. But I don't trust our neighbour. He has been +going around the village saying that we have cheated him out of his +property--and much more of the same kind which I don't care to repeat. +Of course, it doesn't matter when one has a clean conscience and can +point to a spotless life. Slander cannot hurt me. I go to confession +and mass, and I am prepared to close my eyes whenever my hour may +strike in order to open them again when I shall stand face to face with +my Judge. And I know also what I am going to answer then. + +JUDGE. What are you going to answer? + +OLD LADY. Like this: I was not without fault, O Lord, but even if I was +but a poor, sinful human creature, I was nevertheless a little better +than my neighbour. + +JUDGE. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, +and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to +be consecrated in a few days? + +OLD LADY. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought +to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as +plentiful as when I was a bride. + +JUDGE. Yes, yes--you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just +the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on +us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in +ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb +for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will +whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful +children---- + +JUDGE. There you said it: ungrateful children.--Have you seen anything +of Adolph? + +OLD LADY. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to +raise the money for the rent. + +JUDGE. The money which he will never get--and I still less. But he +knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter +rent that he has failed to pay. + +OLD LADY. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work +instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and +the children---- + +JUDGE. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph? + +OLD LADY. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to +inherit anything from us or not--No, look! There it is again! + + _On the wall of the mausoleum appears a spot of sunlight + like those which children are fond of producing with a small + mirror_.[1] _It is vibrating as if it were reflected by running + water_. + +JUDGE. What is it? What is it? + +OLD LADY. On the mausoleum. Don't you see? + +JUDGE. It's the reflection of the sun on the river. It means---- + +OLD LADY. It means that we'll see the light of the sun for a long time +to come---- + +JUDGE. On the contrary. But that's all one. The best pillow for one's +head is a good conscience, and the reward of the righteous never +fails.--There's our neighbour now. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Good evening, Judge. Good evening, madam. + +JUDGE. Good evening, neighbour. How goes it? It wasn't yesterday we had +the pleasure. And how are your vines, I should have asked? + +NEIGHBOUR. The vines, yes--there's mildew on them, and the starlings +are after them, too. + +JUDGE. Well, well! There's no mildew on my vines, and I have neither +seen nor heard of any starlings. + +NEIGHBOUR. Fate does not distribute its gifts evenly: one shall be +taken and the other left. + +OLD LADY. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +NEIGHBOUR. I see! The reward of the righteous shall not fail, and the +wicked shall not have to wait for their punishment. + +JUDGE. Oh, no malice meant! But you have to admit, anyhow, that it's +queer: two parcels of land lie side by side, and one yields good +harvests, the other poor ones---- + +NEIGHBOUR. One yields starlings and the other not: that's what I find +queerer still. But, then, everybody wasn't born with a caul, like you, +Judge. + +JUDGE. What you say is true, and fortune _has_ favoured me. I am +thankful for it, and there are moments when I feel proud of it as if I +had deserved it.--But listen, neighbour--you came as if you had been +sent for.--That leasehold of mine is vacant, and I wanted to ask you if +you care to take it. + + +[Footnote 1: In Sweden such spots are called "sun-cats."] + + _The_ OLD LADY _has in the meantime left her seat and gone to + the mausoleum, where she is busying herself with the flowers_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Oh, the leasehold is vacant. Hm! Since when? + +JUDGE. Since this morning. + +NEIGHBOUR. Hm! So!--That means your son-in-law has got to go? + +JUDGE. Yes, that good-for-nothing doesn't know how to manage. + +NEIGHBOUR. Tell me something else, Judge. Haven't you heard that the +state intends to build a military road across this property? + +JUDGE. Oh, I have heard some rumours to that effect, but I don't think +it's anything but empty talk. + +NEIGHBOUR. On the contrary, I have read it in the papers. That would +mean condemnation proceedings, and the loser would be the holder of the +lease. + +JUDGE. I cannot think so, and I would never submit to it. I to leave +this spot where I expect to end my days in peace, and where I have +prepared a final resting-place to escape lying with all the rest---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Wait a minute! One never knows what may prove one's final +resting-place. My father, who used to own this property, also expected +to be laid to rest in his own ground, but it happened otherwise. As far +as the leasehold is concerned, I must let it go. + +JUDGE. As you please. On my part the proposition was certainly +disinterested, as you are a man without luck. For it is no secret +that you fail in everything you undertake, and people have their own +thoughts about one who remains as solitary and friendless as you. Isn't +it a fact that you haven't a single friend? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, it's true. I have not a single friend, and that doesn't +look well. It is something I cannot deny. + +JUDGE. But to turn to other matters--is it true, as the legend has it, +that this vineyard once was a battle-field, and that this explains why +the wine from it is so fiery? + +NEIGHBOUR. No, that isn't what I have heard. My father told me that +this had been a place of execution, and that the gallows used to stand +where the mausoleum is now. + +JUDGE. Oh, how dreadful! Why did you tell me? + +NEIGHBOUR. Because you asked, of course.--And the last man to be hanged +on this spot was an unrighteous judge. And now he lies buried here, +together with many others, among them being also an innocent victim of +his iniquity. + +JUDGE. What kind of stories are those! [_He calls out_] Caroline! + +NEIGHBOUR. And that's why his ghost has to come back here. Have you +never seen him, Judge? + +JUDGE. I have never seen anything at all! + +NEIGHBOUR. But I have seen him. As a rule, he appears at the time when +the grapes are harvested, and then they hear him around the wine-press +down in the cellar. + +JUDGE. [_Calling out_] Caroline! + +OLD LADY. What is it? + +JUDGE. Come here! + +NEIGHBOUR. And he will never be at peace until he has suffered all the +torments his victim had to pass through. + +JUDGE. Get away from here! Go! + +NEIGHBOUR. Certainly, Judge! I didn't know you were so sensitive. [_He +goes out_. + +OLD LADY. What was the matter? + +JUDGE. Oh, he told a lot of stories that upset me. But-but--he is +plotting something evil, that fellow! + +OLD LADY. Didn't I tell you so! But you always let your tongue run +whenever you see anybody--What kind of foolish superstition was he +giving you? + +JUDGE. I don't want to talk of it. The mere thought of it makes me +sick. I'll tell you some other time.--There's Adolph now! + +ADOLPH. [_Entering_] Good evening! + +JUDGE. [_After a pause_] Well? + +ADOLPH. Luck is against me. I have not been able to get any money. + +JUDGE. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +ADOLPH. I can see no reason why some people should fare well and others +badly. + +JUDGE. Oh, you can't?--Well, look into your own heart; search your own +thoughts and actions, and you'll find that you have yourself to blame +for your misfortunes. + +ADOLPH. Perhaps I may not call myself righteous in every respect, but +at least I have no serious crimes on my conscience. + +OLD LADY. You had better think well---- + +ADOLPH. I don't think that's needful, for my conscience is pretty +wakeful---- + +JUDGE. It can be put to sleep---- + +ADOLPH. Can it? Of course I have heard of evil-doers growing old in +crime, but as a rule their consciences wake up just before death; and +I have even heard of criminals whose consciences have awakened after +death. + +JUDGE. [_Agitated_] So that they had to come back, you mean? Have you +heard that story, too? It's strange that everybody seems to have heard +it except me---- + +OLD LADY. What are you talking about? Stick to business instead. + +ADOLPH. Yes, I think that's wiser, too. And, as the subject has been +broached, I want to tell you what I propose---- + +JUDGE. Look here, my boy! I think it a good deal more appropriate that +I should tell you what I have decided. It is this: that from this day +you cease to be my tenant, and that before the sun sets you must start +out to look for work. + +ADOLPH. Are you in earnest? + +JUDGE. You ought to be ashamed! I am not in the habit of joking. And +you have no cause for complaint, as you have been granted respite twice. + +ADOLPH. While my crops have failed three times. Can I help that? + +JUDGE. Nor have I said so. But I can help it still less. And you are +not being judged by me. Here is the contract--here's the broken +agreement. Was that agreement broken by me? Oh, no! So I am without +responsibility and wash my hands of the matter. + +ADOLPH. This may be the law, but I had thought there ought to be some +forbearance among relatives--especially as, in the natural course of +events, this property should pass on to your offspring. + +OLD LADY. Well, well: the natural course of events! He's going around +here wishing the life out of us! But you just look at me: I am good for +twenty years more. And I am _going_ to live just to spite you! + +JUDGE. [_To_ Adolph] What rudeness--what a lack of all human +feeling--to ask a couple of old people outright: are you not going to +die soon? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, I say! But now you have +broken the last tie, and all I can say is: go your way, and don't let +yourself be seen here any more! + +ADOLPH. That's plain talk! Well, I'll go, but not alone---- + +OLD LADY. So-o--you imagined that Amelia, our own child, should follow +you out on the highways, and that all you would have to do would be to +unload one child after another on us! But we have already thought of +that and put a stop to it---- + +ADOLPH. Where is Amelia? Where? + +OLD LADY. You may just as well know. She has gone on; a visit to the +convent of the Poor Clares--only for a visit. So now you know it's of +no use to look for her here. + +ADOLPH. Some time you will have to suffer for your cruelty in depriving +a man in distress of his only support. And if you break up our +marriage, the penalty of that breach will fall on you. + +JUDGE. You should be ashamed of putting your own guilt on those that +are innocent! Go now! And may you hunger and thirst, with every door +closed to you, until you have learned gratitude! + +ADOLPH. The same to you in double measure!--But let me only bid my +children good-bye, and I will go. + +JUDGE. As you don't want to spare your children the pain of +leave-taking, I'll do so--have already done it, in fact. + +ADOLPH. That, too! Then I believe you capable of all the evil that has +been rumoured. And now I know what our neighbour meant when he said +that you couldn't--endure the sun! + +JUDGE. Not another word! Or you will feel the heavy hand of law and +justice---- + + _He raises his right hand so that the absence of its forefinger + becomes visible_. + +ADOLPH. [_Takes hold of the hand and examines it_] The hand of +justice!--The hand of the perjurer whose finger stuck to the Bible when +he took his false oath! Woe unto you! Woe! For the day of retribution +is at hand, and your deeds will rise like corpses out of these +hillsides to accuse you. + +OLD LADY. What is that he is saying? It feels as if he were breathing +fire at us!--Go, you lying spirit, and may hell be your reward! + +ADOLPH. May Heaven reward you--according to your deserts--and may the +Lord protect my children! [_He goes out_. + +JUDGE. What was that? Who was it that spoke? It seemed to me as if the +voice were coming out of some huge underground hall. + +OLD LADY. Did you hear it, too? + +JUDGE. God help us, then!--Do you remember what he said about the +sun? That struck me as more peculiar than all the rest. How could he +know--that it is so? Ever since my birth the sun has always burned +me, and they have told me this is so because my mother suffered from +sunstroke before I was born--but that you also---- + +OLD LADY. [_Frightened_] Hush! Talk of the devil, and--Isn't the sun +down? + +JUDGE. Of course it is down! + +OLD LADY. How can that spot of sunlight remain on the mausoleum, then? + + [_The spot moves around_. + +JUDGE. Jesus Maria! That's an omen! + +OLD LADY. An omen, you say! And on the grave! That doesn't happen every +day--and only a few chosen people who are full of living faith in the +highest things---- + + [_The spot of light disappears_. + +JUDGE. There is something weird about the place to-night, +something ghastly.--But what hurt me most keenly was to hear that +good-for-nothing wishing the life out of us in order to get at the +property. Do you know what I--well, I wonder if I dare to speak of +it---- + +OLD LADY. Go on! + +JUDGE. Have you heard the story that this spot here used to be a place +of execution? + +OLD LADY. So you have found that out, too? + +JUDGE. Yes--and you knew it?--Well, suppose we gave this property +to the convent? That would make the ground sacred, and it would be +possible to rest in peace in it. The income might go to the children +while they are growing up, and it would mean an additional gain, as +Adolph would be fooled in his hope of inheriting from us. I think this +a remarkably happy solution of a difficult problem: how to give away +without losing anything by it. + +OLD LADY. Your superior intelligence has again asserted itself, and I +am quite of your opinion. But suppose condemnation proceedings should +be started--what would happen then? + +JUDGE. There is plenty of time to consider that when it happens. In +the meantime, let us first of all, and as quietly as possible, get the +mausoleum consecrated---- + +FRANCISCAN. [_Enters_] The peace of the Lord be with you, Judge, and +with you, madam! + +JUDGE. You come most conveniently, Father, to hear something that +concerns the convent---- + +FRANCISCAN. I am glad of it. + + _The spot of light appears again on the mausoleum_. + +OLD LADY. And then we wanted to ask when the consecration of the +mausoleum might take place. + +FRANCISCAN. [_Staring at her_] Oh, is that so? + +JUDGE. Look, Father--look at that omen---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, the spot must be sacred, indeed---- + +FRANCISCAN. That's a will-o'-the-wisp. + +OLD LADY. Is it not a good sign? Does it not carry some kind of +message? Does it not prompt a pious mind to stop and consider? Would it +not be possible to turn this place into a refuge for desert wanderers +who are seeking---- + +FRANCISCAN. Madam, let me speak a word to you in private. [_He moves +over to the right._ + +OLD LADY. [_Following him_] Father? + +FRANCISCAN. [_Speaking in a subdued voice_] You, madam, enjoy a +reputation in this vicinity which you don't deserve, for you are the +worst sinner that I know of. You want to buy your pardon, and you want +to steal heaven itself, you who have already stolen from the Lord. + +OLD LADY. What is it I hear? + +FRANCISCAN. When you were sick and near death you made a vow to the +Lord that in case of recovery you would give a monstrance of pure gold +to the convent church. Your health was restored and you gave the holy +vessel, but it was of silver--gilded. Not for the sake of the gold, but +because of your broken vow and your deception, you are already damned. + +OLD LADY. I didn't know it. The goldsmith has cheated me. + +FRANCISCAN. You are lying, for I have the goldsmith's bill. + +OLD LADY. Is there no pardon for it? + +FRANCISCAN. No! For it is a mortal sin to cheat God. + +OLD LADY. Woe is me! + +FRANCISCAN. The settlement of your other crimes will have to take place +within yourself. But if you as much as touch a hair on the heads of the +children, then you shall learn who is their protector, and you shall +feel the iron rod. + +OLD LADY. The idea--that this infernal monk should dare to say such +things to me! If I am damned--then I want to be damned! Ha, ha! + +FRANCISCAN. Well, you may be sure that there will be no blessing for +your house and no peace for yourself until you have suffered every +suffering that you have brought on others.--May I speak a word with +you, Judge? + + _The_ JUDGE _approaches_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, give him what he deserves, so that one may be as good as +the other. + +FRANCISCAN. [_To the_ Judge] Where did you get the idea of building +your tomb where the gallows used to stand? + +JUDGE. I suppose I got it from the devil! + +FRANCISCAN. Like the idea of casting off your children and robbing them +of their inheritance? But you have also been an unrighteous judge--you +have violated oaths and accepted bribes. + +JUDGE. I? + +FRANCISCAN. And now you want to erect a monument to yourself! You +want to build yourself an imperishable house in heaven! But listen to +me: this spot will never be consecrated, and you may consider it a +blessing if you are permitted to rest in common ground among ordinary +little sinners. There is a curse laid on this soil, because blood-guilt +attaches to it and because it is ill-gotten. + +JUDGE. What am I to do? + +FRANCISCAN. Repent, and restore the stolen property. + +JUDGE. I have never stolen. Everything has been legally acquired. + +FRANCISCAN. That, you see, is the worst part of all--that you regard +your crimes as lawful. Yes, I know that you even consider yourself +particularly favoured by Heaven because of your righteousness. But now +you will soon see what harvest is in store for you. Thorns and thistles +will grow in your vineyard. Helpless and abandoned you shall be, and +the peace of your old age will turn into struggle and strife. + +JUDGE. The devil you say! + +FRANCISCAN. Don't call him--he'll come anyhow! + +JUDGE. Let him come! Because we believe, we have no fear! + +FRANCISCAN. The devils believe also, and tremble!--Farewell! [_He goes +out_. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] What did he say to you? + +OLD LADY. You think I'll tell? What did he have to say to you? + +JUDGE. And you think I'll tell? + +OLD LADY. Are you going to keep any secrets from me? + +JUDGE. And how about you? It's what you have always done, but I'll get +to the bottom of your tricks some time. + +OLD LADY. Just wait a little, and I'll figure out where you keep the +money that is missing. + +JUDGE. So you are hiding money, too! Now there is no longer any use +in playing the hypocrite--just let yourself be seen in all your +abomination, you witch! + +OLD LADY. I think you have lost your reason--not that it was much to +keep! But you might at least preserve an appearance of decency, if you +can---- + +JUDGE. And you might preserve your beauty--if you can! And your +perennial youth--ha, ha, ha! And your righteousness! You must have +known how to bewitch people, and hoodwink them, for now I see how +horribly ugly and old you are. + +OLD LADY. [_On whom the spot of light now appears_] Woe! It is burning +me! + +JUDGE. There I see you as you really are! [_The spot jumps to the_ +JUDGE] Woe! It is burning me now! + +OLD LADY. And how you look! [_Both withdraw to the right_. + + [_The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _enter from the left_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, child, there is justice, both human and divine, but we +must have patience. + +AMELIA. I am willing to believe that justice is done, in spite of all +appearances to the contrary. But I cannot love my mother, and I have +never been able to do so. There is something within me that keeps +telling me that she is not only indifferent to me but actually hostile. + +NEIGHBOUR. So you have found it out? + +AMELIA. Why--she hates me, and a mother couldn't do that! + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, well! + +AMELIA. And I suffer from not being able to do my duty as a child and +love her. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, as _that_ has made you suffer, then you will soon--in +the hour of retribution--learn the great secret of your life. + +AMELIA. And I could stand everything, if she were only kind to my +children. + +NEIGHBOUR. Don't fear on that account, for her power is now ended. The +measure of her wickedness has been heaped full and is now overflowing. + +AMELIA. Do you think so? But this very day she tore my Adolph away from +me, and now she has humiliated me still further by dressing me as a +servant girl and making me do the work in the kitchen. + +NEIGHBOUR. Patience! + +AMELIA. Yes, so you say! Oh, I can understand deserved suffering, but +to suffer without cause---- + +NEIGHBOUR. My dear child, the prisoners in the penitentiary are +suffering justly, so there is no honour in that; but to be permitted to +suffer unjustly, that's a grace and a trial of which steadfast souls +bring home golden fruits. + +AMELIA. You speak so beautifully that everything you say seems true +to me.--Hush! There are the children--and I don't want them to see me +dressed like this. + + _She and the_ NEIGHBOUR _take up a position where they are + hidden by a tall shrub_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter; the spot of light rests now on one of them and +now on the other_. + +ERIC. Look at the sun spot! + +THYRA. Oh, you beautiful sun! But didn't he go to bed a while ago? + +ERIC. Perhaps he is allowed to stay up longer than usual because he has +been very good all day. + +THYRA. But how could the sun be good? Now you are stupid, Eric. + +ERIC. Of course the sun can be good--doesn't he make the grapes and the +peaches? + +THYRA. But if he is so good, then he might also give us a peach. + +ERIC. So he will, if we only wait a little. Aren't there any on the +ground at all? + +THYRA. [_Looking_] No, but perhaps we might get one from the tree. + +ERIC. No, grandmother won't let us. + +THYRA. Grandmother has said that we mustn't shake the tree, but I +thought we could play around the tree so that one might fall down +anyhow--of itself. + +ERIC. Now you are stupid, Thyra. That would be exactly the same thing. +[_Looking up at the tree_] Oh, if only a peach would fall down! + +THYRA. None will fall unless you shake. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that, Thyra, for that is a sin. + +THYRA. Let's pray God to let one fall. + +ERIC. One shouldn't pray God for anything nice--that is, to eat!--Oh, +little peach, won't you fall? I want you to fall! [_A peach falls from +the tree, and_ ERIC _picks it up_] There, what a nice tree! + +THYRA. But now you must give me half, for it was I who said that the +tree had to be shaken---- + +OLD LADY. [_Enters with a big birch rod_] So you have been shaking the +tree--now you'll see what you'll get, you nasty children---- + +ERIC. No, grandmother, we didn't shake the tree! + +OLD LADY. So you are lying, too. Didn't I hear Thyra say that the tree +had to be shaken? Come along now, and I'll lock you up in the cellar +where neither sun nor moon is to be seen---- + +AMELIA. [_Coming forward_] The children are innocent, mother. + +OLD LADY. That's a fine thing--to stand behind the bushes listening, +and then to teach one's own children how to lie besides! + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Appearing_] Nothing has been spoken here but the truth, +madam. + +OLD LADY. Two witnesses behind the bushes--exactly as if we were in +court. But I know the tricks, I tell you, and what I have heard and +seen is sufficient evidence for me.--Come along, you brats! + +AMELIA. This is sinful and shameful---- + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _signals to_ AMELIA _by putting his finger + across his lips_. + +AMELIA. [_Goes up to her children_] Don't cry, children! Obey +grandmother now--there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to +suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God +preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer! + + _The_ OLD LADY _goes out with the children_. + +AMELIA. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it. + +NEIGHBOUR. Is it so hard to believe that God is good--at the very +moment when his kind intentions are most apparent? + +AMELIA. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may +sleep on it as on a soft pillow. + +NEIGHBOUR. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.--This is it: Isaac +was to be sacrificed---- + +AMELIA. Oh, no, no! + +NEIGHBOUR. Quiet, now!--Isaac was to _be_ sacrificed, but he never was! + +AMELIA. Thank you! Thank you! And good night! + + _She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Good night, my child! + + [_He goes slowly out by a path leading to the rear_. + + THE PROCESSION OF SHADOWS _enters from the mausoleum and moves + without a sound across the stage toward the right; between + every two figures there is a distance of five steps_: + + DEATH _with its scythe and hour-glass_. + + THE LADY IN WHITE--_blond, tall, and slender; on one of her + fingers she wears a ring with a green stone that seems to emit + rays of light_. + + THE GOLDSMITH, _with the counterfeit monstrance_. + + THE BEHEADED SAILOR, _carrying his head in one hand_. + + THE AUCTIONEER, _with hammer and note-book_. + + THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _with rope, scraper, and broom_. + + THE FOOL, _carrying his cap with the ass's ears and bells at + the top of a pole, across which is placed a signboard with the + word "Caul" on it_. + + THE SURVEYOR, _with measuring rod and tripod_. + + THE MAGISTRATE, _dressed and made up like the_ JUDGE; _he + carries a rope around his neck; and his right hand is raised to + show that the forefinger is missing_. + + _The stage is darkened at the beginning of the procession and + remains empty while it lasts_. + + _When it is over, the_ JUDGE _enters from the left, followed by + the_ OLD LADY. + +JUDGE. Why are you playing the ghost at this late hour? + +OLD LADY. And how about yourself? + +JUDGE. I couldn't sleep. + +OLD LADY. Why not? + +JUDGE. Don't know. Thought I heard children crying in the cellar. + +OLD LADY. That's impossible. Oh, no, I suppose you didn't dare to sleep +for fear I might be prying in your hiding-places. + +JUDGE. And you feared I might be after yours! A pleasant old age this +will be for Philemon and Baucis! + +OLD LADY. At least no gods will come to visit us. + +JUDGE. No, I shouldn't call them gods. + + _At this moment the_ PROCESSION _begins all over again, + starting from the mausoleum as before and moving in silence + toward the right_. + +OLD LADY. O Mary, Mother of God, what is this? + +JUDGE. Merciful heavens! [_Pause_] + +OLD LADY. Pray! Pray for us! + +JUDGE. I have tried, but I cannot. + +OLD LADY. Neither can I! The words won't come--and no thoughts! +[_Pause_] + +JUDGE. How does the Lord's Prayer begin? + +OLD LADY. I can't remember, but I knew it this morning. [_Pause_] Who +is the woman in white? + +JUDGE. It is she--Amelia's mother--whose very memory we wanted to kill. + +OLD LADY. Are these shadows or ghosts, or nothing but our own sickly +dreams? + +JUDGE. [_Takes up his pocket-knife_] They are delusions sent by the +devil. I'll throw cold steel after them.--Open the knife for me, +Caroline! I can't, don't you see? + +OLD LADY. Yes, I see--it isn't easy without a forefinger.--But I can't +either! [_She drops the knife_] + +JUDGE. Woe to us! Steel won't help here! Woe! There's the beheaded +sailor! Let us get away from here! + +OLD LADY. That's easy to say, but I can't move from the spot. + +JUDGE. And I seem to be rooted to the ground.--No, I am not going to +look at it any longer! + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand_. + +OLD LADY. But what is it? Mists out of the earth, or shadows cast by +the trees? + +JUDGE. No, it's our own vision that plays us false. There I go now, and +yet I am standing here. Just let me get a good night's sleep, and I'll +laugh at the whole thing!--The devil! Is this masquerade never going to +end? + +OLD LADY. But why do you look at it then? + +JUDGE. I see it right through my hand--I see it in the dark, with my +eyelids closed! + +OLD LADY. But now it's over. + + _The_ PROCESSION _has passed out_. + +JUDGE. Praised be--why, I can't get the word out!--I wonder if it will +be possible to sleep to-night? Perhaps we had better send for the +doctor? + +OLD LADY. Or Father Colomba, perhaps? + +JUDGE. He can't help, and he who could won't!--Well, let the Other One +do it then! + + THE OTHER ONE _enters from behind the Lady Chapel. He is + extremely thin and moth-eaten. His thin, snuff-coloured hair is + parted in the middle. His straggly beard looks as if it were + made out of tow. His clothes are shabby and outgrown, and he + seems to wear no linen. A red woollen muffler is wound around + his neck. He wears spectacles and carries a piece of rattan + under his arm_. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_In a low voice_] I am the Other One! + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] Make the sign of the cross! I can't! + +THE OTHER ONE. The sign of the cross does not frighten me, for I am +undergoing my ordeal merely that I may wear it. + +JUDGE. Who are you? + +THE OTHER ONE. I became the Other One because I wanted to be the First +One. I was a man of evil, and my punishment is to serve the good. + +JUDGE. Then you are not the Evil One? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am. And it is my task to torment you into finding the +cross, before which we are to meet some time. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ JUDGE] Don't listen to him! Tell him to go! + +THE OTHER ONE. It won't help. You have called me, and you'll have to +bear with me. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _go out to the left_. + + THE OTHER ONE _goes after them_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT II + + + _A huge room with whitewashed walls and a ceiling of darkened + beams. The windows are small and deeply set, with bars on the + outside. The room is crowded with furniture of every kind: + wardrobes, chiffoniers, dressers, chests, tables. On the + furniture are placed silver services, candelabra, candlesticks, + pitchers, table ware, vases, statues, etc. + + There is a door in the rear. Portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ + OLD LADY _hang on the rear wall, one on either side of the door. + + A harp stands beside a small sewing-table with an easy chair + near it_. + + AMELIA _is standing before a table at the right, trying to + clean a coffee-set of silver_. + + _The sun is shining in through the windows in the background_. + + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Well, child, how is your patience? + +AMELIA. Thank you, neighbour, it might be worse. But I never had a +worse job than this silver service here. I have worked at it for half +an hour and cannot get it clean. + +NEIGHBOUR. That's strange, but I suppose there are reasons for it, as +the Judge says. Could you sleep last night? + +AMELIA. Thank you, I slept very well. But do you know that father spent +the whole night in the vineyard with his rattle----? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, I heard him. What kind of foolish idea was that? + +AMELIA. He thought he heard the starlings that had come to eat the +grapes. + +NEIGHBOUR. Poor fellow! As if the starlings were abroad nights!--And +the children? + +AMELIA. Well, the children--she is still keeping them in the cellar, +and I hope she won't forget to give them something to eat. + +NEIGHBOUR. He who feeds the birds will not forget your children, +my dear Amelia. And now I'll tell you something which, as a rule, +shouldn't be told. There is a small hole in the wall between the +Judge's wine-cellar and my own. When I was down there this morning to +get the place aired out, I heard voices. And when I looked through the +hole, I saw Eric and Thyra playing with a strange little boy. + +AMELIA. You could see them, neighbour? And---- + +NEIGHBOUR. They were happy and well---- + +AMELIA. Who was their playmate? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's more than I can guess. + +AMELIA. This whole dreadful house is nothing but secrets. + +NEIGHBOUR. That is true, but it is not for us to inquire into them. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, carrying a rattle_] So you are in here conspiring, +neighbour! Is it not enough that your evil eye has brought the +starlings into my vineyard? For you do have the evil eye--but we'll +soon put it out. I know a trick or two myself. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_To_ AMELIA] Is it worth while to set him right? One who +doesn't believe what is told him! [_He goes out_. + +AMELIA. No, this is beyond us! + +JUDGE. Tell me, Amelia, have you noticed where your mother is looking +for things when she believes herself to be alone? + +AMELIA. No, father. + +JUDGE. I can see by your eyes that you know. You were looking this +way. [_He goes up to a chest of drawers and happens to get into the +sunlight_] Damn the sun that is always burning me! [_He pulls down one +of the shades and returns to the chest of drawers_] This must be the +place!--Now, let me see! The stupidest spot is also the cleverest, so +that's where I must look--as in this box of perfume, for instance--And +right I was! [_He pulls out a number of bank-notes and stocks_] What's +this? Twelve English bills of a pound each. Twelve of them!--Oho! Then +it is easy to imagine the rest. [_Pushes the bills and securities into +his pockets_] But what is it I hear? There are the starlings again! +[_He goes to an open window and begins to play the rattle_] Get away +there! + +OLD LADY. [_Enters_] Are you still playing the ghost? + +JUDGE. Are you not in the kitchen? + +OLD LADY. No, as you see, I am not. [_To_ AMELIA] Are you not done with +the cleaning yet? + +AMELIA. No, mother, I'll never get done with it. The silver won't +clean, and I don't think it is real. + +OLD LADY. Not real? Let me see!--Why, indeed, it's quite black! [_To +the_ JUDGE, _who in the meantime has pulled down another shade_] Where +did you get this set from? + +JUDGE. That one? Why, it came from an estate. + +OLD LADY. For your services as executor! What you got was like what you +gave! + +JUDGE. You had better not make any defamatory remarks, for they are +punishable under the law. + +OLD LADY. Are you crazy, or was there anything crazy about my remark? + +JUDGE. And for that matter, it is silver--sterling silver. + +OLD LADY. Then it must be Amelia's fault. + +A VOICE. [_Coming through the window from the outside_] The Judge can +turn white into black, but he can't turn black into white! + +JUDGE. Who said that? + +OLD LADY. It seemed as if one of the starlings had been speaking. + +JUDGE. [_Pulling down the remaining shade_] Now the sun is here, and a +while ago it seemed to be over there. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ AMELIA] Who was it that spoke? + +AMELIA. I think it was that strange school-teacher with the red muffler. + +JUDGE. Ugh! Let us talk of something else. + +SERVANT GIRL. [_Enters_] Dinner is served. + + [_She goes out; a pause follows_. + +OLD LADY. You go down and eat, Amelia. + +AMELIA. Thank you, mother. [_She goes out_. + +_The_ JUDGE _sits down on a chair close to one of the chests_. + +OLD LADY. [_Sliding up to the chest of drawers >where the box of +perfume stands_] Are you not going to eat anything? + +JUDGE. No, I am not hungry. How about you? + +OLD LADY. I have just eaten. [_Pause_. + +JUDGE. [_Takes a piece of bread from his pocket_] Then you'll excuse +me, I'm sure. + +OLD LADY. There's a roast of venison on the table. + +JUDGE. You don't say so! + +OLD LADY. Do you think I poison the food? + +JUDGE. Yes, it tasted of carbolic acid this morning. + +OLD LADY. And what I ate had a sort of metallic taste---- + +JUDGE. If I assure you that I have put nothing whatever in your food---- + +OLD LADY. Then I don't believe you. But I can assure you---- + +JUDGE. And I won't believe it. [_Eating his bread_] Roast of venison +is a good thing--I can smell it from here--but bread isn't bad either. +[_Pause_. + +OLD LADY. Why are you sitting there watching that chest? + +JUDGE. For the same reason that makes you guard those perfumes. + +OLD LADY. So you have been there, you sneak-thief! + +JUDGE. Ghoul! + +OLD LADY. To think of it--such words between us! _Us_! + + [_She begins to weep_. + +JUDGE. Yes, the world is evil and so is man. + +OLD LADY. Yes, you may well say so--and ungrateful above all. +Ungrateful children rob you of the rent; ungrateful grandchildren rob +the fruit from the trees. You are right, indeed: the world is evil---- + +JUDGE. I ought to know, I who have had to witness all the rottenness, +and who have been forced to pass the death sentence. That is why the +mob hates me, just as if I had made the laws---- + +OLD LADY. It doesn't matter what the people say, if you have only a +clean conscience--[_Three loud knocks are heard from the inside of the +biggest wardrobe_] What was that? Who is there? + +JUDGE. Oh, it was that wardrobe. It always cracks when there is rain +coming. [_Three distinct knocks are heard again_. + +OLD LADY. It's some kind of performance started by that strolling +charlatan. + + _The cover of the coffee-pot which_ AMELIA _was cleaning, opens + and drops down again with a bang; this happens several times in + succession_. + +JUDGE. What was _that_, then? + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, it's that same juggler. He can play tricks, but he +can't scare me. [_The coffee-pot acts as before._ + +JUDGE. Do you think he is one of those mesmerists? + +OLD LADY. Well, whatever it happens to be called---- + +JUDGE. If that's so, how can he know our private secrets? + +OLD LADY. Secrets? What do you mean by that? + + _A clock begins to strike and keeps it up as if it never meant + to stop_. + +JUDGE. Now I am getting scared. + +OLD LADY. Then Old Nick himself may take me if I stay here another +minute! [_The spot of sunlight appears suddenly on the portrait of the_ +OLD LADY] Look! He knows that secret, too! + +JUDGE. You mean that there is a portrait of _her_ behind yours? + +OLD LADY. Come away from here and let us go down and eat. And let us +see whether we can't sell off the house and all the rest at auction---- + +JUDGE. You are right--sell off the whole caboodle and start a new +life!--And now let us go down and eat. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the doorway_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _draw back from him_. + +JUDGE. That's an ordinary human being! + +OLD LADY. Speak to him! + +JUDGE. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] Who are you, sir? + +THE OTHER ONE. I have told you twice. That you don't believe me is a +part of your punishment, for if you could believe, your sufferings +would be shortened by it. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] It's--_him_--sure enough! For I feel as if I +were turning into ice. How are we to get rid of him?--Why, they say +that the unclean spirits cannot bear the sound of music. Play something +on the harp, Caroline. + + _Though badly frightened, the_ OLD LADY _sits down at the table + on which the harp stands and begins to play a slow prelude in a + minor key_. + + THE OTHER ONE _listens reverently and with evident emotion_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Is he gone? + +THE OTHER ONE. I thank you for the music, madam. It lulls the pain +and awakens memories of better things even in a lost soul--Thank you, +madam!--Speaking of the auction, I think you are doing right, although, +in my opinion, an honest declaration of bankruptcy would be still +better--Yes, surrender your goods, and let every one get back his own. + +JUDGE. Bankruptcy? I have no debts---- + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! + +OLD LADY. My husband _has_ no debts! + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! That would be happiness, indeed! + +JUDGE. Well, that's the truth! But other people are in debt to me---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Forgive them then! + +JUDGE. This is not a question of pardon, but of payment---- + +THE OTHER ONE. All right! Then you'll be made to pay!--For the +moment--farewell! But we'll meet frequently, and the last time at the +great auction! [_He goes out backward_. + +JUDGE. He's afraid of the sun--he, too! Ha-ha! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, for some time yet. But once I have accustomed +myself to the light, I shall hate darkness. + + [_He disappears_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Do you really think he is--the Other One? + +JUDGE. Of course, that's not the way he is supposed to look but then +times are changing and we with them. They used to say that he had gold +and fame to give away, but this fellow goes around dunning---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, he's a sorry lot, and a charlatan--that's all! A milksop +who doesn't dare to bite, no matter how much he would like to! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Standing in the doorway again_] Take care, I tell you! +Take care! + +JUDGE. [_Raising his right hand_] Take care yourself! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pointing at the_ JUDGE _with one hand as if it were a +revolver_] Shame! + +JUDGE. [_Unable to move_] Woe is me! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have never believed in anything good. Now you shall +have to believe in the Evil One. He who is _all goodness_ can harm +nobody, you see, and so he leaves that to such villains as myself. But +for the sake of greater effectiveness, you two must torture yourselves +and each other. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling before_ THE OTHER ONE] Spare us! Help us! Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_With a gesture as if he were tearing his clothes_] +Get up, woman! Woe is me! There is One, and One only, to whom you may +pray! Get up now, or--Yes, now you believe, although I don't wear +a red cloak, and don't carry sword or purse, and don't crack any +jokes--but beware of taking me in jest! I am serious as sin and stern +as retribution! I have not come to tempt you with gold and fame, but +to chastise you with rods and scorpions--[_The clock begins to strike +again; the stage turns dark_] Your time is nearly up. Therefore, put +your house in order--because die you must! [_A noise as of thunder is +heard_] Whose voice is speaking now? Do you think _he_ can be scared +off with your rattle when he comes sweeping across your vineyard? Storm +and Hail are his names; destruction nestles under his wings, and in his +claws he carries punishment. Put on your caul now, and don your good +conscience. + + [_The rattling of the hail-storm is heard outside_. + +JUDGE. Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, if you promise repentance. + +JUDGE. I promise on my oath---- + +THE OTHER ONE. You can take no oath, for you have already perjured +yourself. But promise first of all to set the children free--and then +all the rest! + +JUDGE. I promise! Before the sun has set, the children shall be here! + +THE OTHER ONE. That's the first step ahead, but if you turn back, then +you'll see that I am as good as my name, which is--Legion! + + _He raises the rattan, and at that moment the_ JUDGE _comes + able to move again_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT III + + + _A wine-cellar, with rows of casks along both side walls. The + doorway in the rear is closed by an iron door_. + + _Every cask is marked with the name of the urine kept in it. + Those nearest the foreground have small shelves above the taps, + and the shelves hold glasses_. + + _At the right, in the foreground, stands a wine-press and near + it are a couple of straw-bottomed chairs_. + + _Bottles, funnels, siphons, crates, etc., are scattered about + the place_. + + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _are seated by the wine-press_. + +ERIC. I think it's awfully dull. + +THYRA. I think grandmother is nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that. + +THYRA. No, perhaps not, but she _is_ nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't, Thyra, for then the little boy won't come and play +with us again. + +THYRA. Then I won't say it again. I only wish it wasn't so dark. + +ERIC. Don't you remember, Thyra, that the boy said we shouldn't +complain---- + +THYRA. Then I won't do it any more--[_The spot of sunlight appears on +the ground_] Oh, look at the sun-spot! + + [_She jumps up and places her foot on the light._ + +ERIC. You mustn't step on the sun, Thyra. That's a sin! + +THYRA. I didn't mean to step on him. I just wanted to have him. Now +see--I have him in my arms, and I can pat him.--Look! Now he's kissing +me right on the mouth. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _enters from behind one of the casks; he wears a + white garment reaching below his knees, and a blue scarf around + the waist; on his feet are sandals; he is blond, and when he + appears the cellar grows lighter_. + +ERIC. [_Goes to meet him and shakes hands with him_] Hello, little +boy!--Come and shake hands, Thyra!--What's your name, boy? You must +tell us to-day. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _merely looks at him_. + +THYRA. You shouldn't be so forward, Eric, for it makes him +bashful.--But tell me, little boy, who is your papa? + +PLAYMATE. Don't be so curious. When you know me better, you'll learn +all those things.--But let us play now. + +THYRA. Yes, but nothing instructive, for that is so tedious. I want it +just to be nice. + +PLAYMATE. [_Smiling_] Shall I tell a story? + +THYRA. Yes, but not out of the Bible, for all those we know by heart---- + + _The_ PLAYMATE _smiles again_. + +ERIC. You say such things, Thyra, that he gets hurt---- + +PLAYMATE. No, my little friends, you don't hurt me--But now, if you are +really good, we'll go and play in the open---- + +ERIC. Oh, yes, yes!--But then, you know, grandmother won't let us---- + +PLAYMATE. Yes, your grandmother has said that she wished you were out, +and so we'll go before she changes her mind. Come on now! + +THYRA. Oh, what fun! Oh---- + + _The door in the rear flies open and through the doorway is + seen a sunlit field planted with rye ready for the harvest. + Among the yellow ears grow bachelor's-buttons and daisies_. + +PLAYMATE. Come, children! Come into the sunlight and feel the joy of +living! + +THYRA. Can't we take the sun-spot along? It's a pity to leave it here +in the darkness. + +PLAYMATE. Yes, if it is willing to go with you. Call it! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _go toward the door, followed by the spot of light_. + +ERIC. Isn't it a nice little spot! [_Talks to the spot as if it were a +cat_] Puss, puss, puss, puss! + +PLAYMATE. Take it up on your arm, Thyra, for I don't think it can get +over the threshold. + +THYRA _gets the spot of light on her arm, which she bends as if +carrying something_. + + _All three go out; the door closes itself. Pause_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters with a lantern, the_ OLD LADY _with the + birch rod_. + +OLD LADY. It's cool and nice here, and then there is no sun to bother +you. + +JUDGE. And how quiet it is. But where are the children? + + [_Both look for the children_. + +JUDGE. It looks as if they had taken us at our word. + +OLD LADY. Us? Please observe that I didn't promise anything, for +he--you know--talked only to you toward the end. + +JUDGE. Perhaps, but this time we had better obey, for I don't want to +have any more trouble with hail-storms and such things.--However, the +children are not here, and I suppose they'll come back when they get +hungry. + +OLD LADY. And I wish them luck when they do! [_The rod is snatched out +of her hand and dances across the floor; finally it disappears behind +one of the casks_] Now it's beginning again. + +JUDGE. Well, why don't you submit and do as he--you know who!--says? I, +for my part, don't dare to do wrong any longer. The growing grapes have +been destroyed, and we must take pleasure in what is already safe. Come +here, Caroline, and let us have a glass of something good to brace us +up! [_He knocks on one of the casks and draws a glass of wine from it_] +This is from the year of the comet--anno 1869, when the big comet came, +and everybody said it meant war. And, of course, war did break out. + + [_He offers a filled glass to his wife_. + +OLD LADY. You drink first! + +JUDGE. Well, now--did you think there might be poison in this, too? + +OLD LADY. No, really, I didn't--but--we'll never again know what peace +is, or happiness! + +JUDGE. Do as I do: submit! [_He drinks_. + +OLD LADY. I want to, and I try to, but when I come to think how badly +other people have treated us, I feel that I am just as good as anybody +else. [_She drinks_] That's a very fine wine! [_She sits down_. + +JUDGE. The wine is good, and it makes the mind easier.--Yes, the +wiseacres say that we are rapscallions, one and all, so I can't see +what right anybody has to go around finding fault with the rest. [_He +drinks_] My own actions have always been legal; that is, in keeping +with prevailing laws and constitutions. If others happened to be +ignorant of the law, they had only themselves to blame, for no one has +a right to ignorance of that kind. For that reason, if Adolph does not +pay the rent, it is he who breaks the law, and not I. + +OLD LADY. And yet the blame falls on you, and you are made to appear +like a criminal. Yes, it is as I have always said: there is no justice +in this world. If you had done right, you should have brought suit +against Adolph and turned out the whole family. But then it isn't too +late yet---- [_She drinks_. + +JUDGE. Well, you see, if I were to carry out the law strictly, then I +should sue for the annulment of his marriage, and that would cut him +off from the property---- + +OLD LADY. Why don't you do it? + +JUDGE. [_Looking around_] We-e-ell!--I suppose that would settle the +matter once for all. A divorce would probably not be granted, but I +think it would be possible to get the marriage declared invalid on +technical grounds---- + +OLD LADY. And if there be no such grounds? + +JUDGE. [_Showing the influence of the wine_] There are technical +grounds for everything, if you only look hard enough. + +OLD LADY. Well, then! Think of it--how that good-for-nothing is wishing +the life out of us--but now he'll see how "the natural course of +events" makes the drones take to the road---- + +JUDGE. Ha-ha! You're right, quite right! And then, you know, when I +think it over carefully--what reason have we for self-reproach? What +wrong have we done? It's mean to bring up that about the monstrance--it +didn't hurt anybody, did it? And as for my being guilty of perjury: +that's a pure lie. I got blood-poison in the finger--that's all--and +quite a natural thing. + +OLD LADY. Just as if I didn't know it. And I may as well add that this +hail-storm a while ago--why, it was as plain a thing as if it had been +foretold in the Farmer's Almanac! + +JUDGE. Exactly! That's what I think too. And for that reason, Caroline, +I think we had better forget all that fool talk--and if you feel as I +do, we'll just turn to another priest and get him to consecrate the +mausoleum. + +OLD LADY. Well, why shouldn't we? + +JUDGE. Yes, why shouldn't we? Perhaps because that mesmerist comes here +and talks a lot of superstitious nonsense? + +OLD LADY. Tell me, do you really think he is nothing but a mesmerist? + +JUDGE. [_Blustering_] That fellow? He's a first-class charlatan. A +che-ar-la-tan! + +OLD LADY. [_Looking around_] I am not so sure. + +JUDGE. But I am sure. Su-ure! And if he should ever come before my eyes +again--just now, for instance--I'll drink his health and say: here's +to you, old humourist! [As _he raises the glass, it is torn out of his +hand and is seen to disappear through the wall_] What was that? [_The +lantern goes out._ OLD LADY. Help! + + [_A gust of wind is heard, and then all is silence again_. + +JUDGE. You just get some matches, and I'll clear this matter up. For I +am no longer afraid of anything. Not of anything! + +OLD LADY. Oh, don't, don't! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps from behind one of the casks_] Now we'll have to +have a talk in private. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Where did you come from? + +THE OTHER ONE. That is no concern of yours. + +JUDGE. [_Straightening himself up_] What kind of language is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. Your own!--Off with your cap! [_He blows at the_ JUDGE, +_whose cap is lifted off his head and falls to the ground_] Now you +shall hear sentence pronounced: you have wanted to sever what has been +united by Him whose name I may not mention. Therefore you shall be +separated from her who ought to be the staff of your old age. Alone +you must run the gauntlet. Alone you must bear the qualms of sleepless +nights. + +JUDGE. Is that mercy? + +THE OTHER ONE. It is justice; it is the law: an eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth! The gospel has a different sound, but of that you +didn't want to hear. Now, move I along. [_He beats the air with the +rattan._ + + _The scene changes to a garden with cypresses and yew-trees + clipped in the shape of obelisks, candelabra, vases, etc. Under + the trees grow roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, etc. At the centre + of it is a spring above which droops a gigantic fuchsia in full + bloom_.[1] + + _Back of the garden appears a field of rye, all yellow and + ready to be cut. Bachelor's-buttons and daisies grow among the + rye. A scarecrow hangs in the middle of the field. The distant + background is formed by vineyards and light-coloured rocks with + beech woods and ruined castles on them_. + + _A road runs across the stage in the near background. At the + right is a covered Gothic arcade. In front of this stands a + statue of the Madonna with the Child_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter hand in hand with the_ PLAYMATE. + +ERIC. Oh, how beautiful it is! + +THYRA. Who is living here? + +PLAYMATE. Whoever feels at home has his home here. + +THYRA. Can we play here? + +PLAYMATE. Anywhere except in that avenue over there to the right. + +ERIC. And may we pick the flowers? + +PLAYMATE. You may pick any flowers you want, but you mustn't touch the +tree at the fountain. + +THYRA. What kind of tree is that? + +ERIC. Why, you know, it is one of those they call [_lowering his +voice_] "Christ's Blood-drops." + +THYRA. You should cross yourself, Eric, when you mention the name of +the Lord. + +ERIC. [_Makes the sign of the cross_] Tell me, little boy, why mustn't +we touch the tree? + +THYRA. You should obey without asking any questions, Eric.--But tell +me, little boy, why is that ugly scarecrow hanging there? Can't we take +it away? + +PLAYMATE. Yes, indeed, you may, for then the birds will come and sing +for us. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _run into the rye-field and tear down the + scarecrow_. + +ERIC. Away with you, you nasty old scarecrow! Come and eat now, little +birds! [_The Golden Bird comes flying from the right and perches on the +fuchsia_] Oh, see the Golden Bird, Thyra! + +THYRA. Oh, how pretty it is! Does it sing, too? + + [_The bird calls like a cuckoo_. + +ERIC. Can you understand what the bird sings, boy? + +PLAYMATE. No, children, the birds have little secrets of their own +which they have a right to keep hidden. + +THYRA. Of course, Eric, don't you see, otherwise the children could +tell where the nests are, and then they would take away the eggs, and +that would make the birds sorry, and they couldn't have any children of +their own. + +ERIC. Don't talk like a grown-up, Thyra. + +PLAYMATE. [_Putting a finger across his lips_] Hush! Somebody is +coming. Now let us see if he likes to stay with us or not. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters, stops in surprise, and begins to + look around_. + +PLAYMATE. Well, boy, won't you come and play with us? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Takes off his cap; speaks bashfully_] Oh, you don't +want to play with me. + +PLAYMATE. Why shouldn't we? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I am sooty all over. And besides I don't know how to +play--I hardly know what it is. + +THYRA. Think of it, the poor boy has never played. + +PLAYMATE. What is your name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. My name? They call me Ole--but---- + +PLAYMATE. But what's your other name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Other name? I have none. + +PLAYMATE. But your papa's name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I have no papa. + +PLAYMATE. And your mamma's? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know. + +PLAYMATE. He has no papa or mamma. Come to the spring here, boy, and +I'll make you as white as a little prince. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. If anybody else said it, I shouldn't believe it---- + +PLAYMATE. Why do you believe it then, when I say it? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know, but I think you look as if it would be +true. + +PLAYMATE. Give the boy your hand, Thyra!--Would you give him a kiss, +too? + +THYRA. [_After a moment's hesitation_] Yes, when you ask me! + + +[Footnote 1: The Swedish name of this plant is "Christ's Blood-drops."] + + _She kisses the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP. _Then the_ PLAYMATE _dips + his hand in the spring and sprays a little water on the face + of the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _whose black mask at once disappears, + leaving his face white_. + +PLAYMATE. Now you are white again. And now you must go behind that +rose-bush there and put on new clothes. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Why do I get all this which I don't deserve? + +PLAYMATE. Because you don't believe that you deserve it. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Going behind the rose-bush_] Then I thank you for it, +although I don't understand what it means. + +THYRA. Was he made a chimney-sweep because he had been bad? + +PLAYMATE. No, he has never been bad. But he had a bad guardian who took +all his money away from him, and so he had to go out into the world to +earn a living--See how fine he looks now! + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters dressed in light summer clothes_. + +PLAYMATE. [_To the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP] Go to the arcade now, and you'll +meet somebody you love--and who loves you! + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Who could love me? + +PLAYMATE. Go and find out. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _goes across the stage to the arcade, where + he is met by the_ LADY IN WHITE, _who puts her arms around him_. + +THYRA. Who is living in there? + +PLAYMATE. [_With his finger on his lips_] Polly Pry!--But who is coming +there? + + _The_ OLD LADY _appears on the road with a sack on her back and + a stick in her hand_. + +ERIC. It's grandmother! Oh, now we are in for it! + +THYRA. Oh, my! It's grandmother! + +PLAYMATE. Don't get scared, children. I'll tell her it's my fault. + +ERIC. No, you mustn't, for then she'll beat you. + +PLAYMATE. Well, why shouldn't I take a beating for my friends? + +ERIC. No, I'll do it myself! + +THYRA. And I, too! + +PLAYMATE. Hush! And come over here--then you won't be scolded. [_They +hide_. + +OLD LADY. [_Goes to the spring_] So, this is the famous spring that +is said to cure everything--after the angel has stirred it up, of +course!--But I suppose it is nothing but lies. Well, I might have a +drink anyhow, and water is water. [_She bends down over the spring_] +What is it I see? Eric and Thyra with a strange boy! What can it mean? +For they are not here. It must be an oracle spring. [_She takes a cup +that stands by the spring, fills it with water and drinks_] Ugh, it +tastes of copper--he must have been here and poisoned the water, too! +Everything is poisoned! Everything!--And I feel tired, too, although +the years have not been hard on me--[_She looks at her reflection +in the spring and tosses her head_] On the contrary, I look quite +youthful--but it's hard to walk, and still harder to get up--[_She +struggles vainly to rise_] My God, my God, have mercy! Don't leave me +lying here! + +PLAYMATE. [_Makes a sign to the children to stay where they are; then +he goes up to the_ OLD LADY _and wipes the perspiration from her +forehead_] Rise, and leave your evil ways! + +OLD LADY. [_Rising_] Who is that?--Oh, it's you, my nice gentleman, who +has led the children astray? + +PLAYMATE. Go, ungrateful woman! I have wiped the sweat of fear from +your brow; I have raised you up when your own strength failed you, and +you reward me with angry words. Go--go! + + OLD LADY _stares astonished at him; then her eyes drop, and she + turns and goes out_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _come forward_. + +ERIC. But I am sorry for grandmother just the same, although she is +nasty. + +THYRA. It isn't nice here, and I want to go home. + +PLAYMATE. Wait a little! Don't be so impatient.--There comes somebody +else we know. + + _The_ JUDGE _appears on the road_. + +PLAYMATE. He cannot come here and defile the spring. [_He waves his +hand; the spot of sunlight strikes the_ JUDGE, _making him turn around +and walk away_] It is nice of you to be sorry for the old people, but +you must believe that what I do is right. Do you believe that? + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Yes, we believe it, we believe it! + +THYRA. But I want to go home to mamma! + +PLAYMATE. I'll let you go. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the background and hides himself + behind the bushes_. + +PLAYMATE. For now I must go. The Angelus bell will soon be ringing---- + +ERIC. Where are you going, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. There are other children I must play with--far away from +here, where you cannot follow me. But now, when I leave you here, don't +forget what I have told you: that you mustn't touch the tree! + +ERIC. We'll obey! We will! But don't go away, for it will soon be dark! + +PLAYMATE. How is that? Anybody who has a good conscience and knows his +evening prayer has nothing, nothing to be afraid of. + +THYRA. When will you come back to us, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. Next Christmas I come back, and every Christmas!--Good night, +my little friends! + + _He kisses their foreheads and goes out between the bushes; + when he reappears in the background, he is carrying a cross + with a banner like that carried by the Christ-Child in old + paintings; the Angelus bell begins to ring; as he raises the + banner and waves it in greeting to the children, he becomes + surrounded by a clear, white light; then he goes out_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _kneel and pray silently while the bell is ringing_. + +ERIC. [_Having crossed himself_] Do you know who the boy was, Thyra? + +THYRA. It was the Saviour! + + THE OTHER ONE _steps forward_. + +THYRA. [_Scared, runs to Eric, who puts his arms around her to protect +her_] My! + +ERIC. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] What do you want? You nasty thing! + +THE OTHER ONE. I only wanted--Look at me! + +ERIC. Yes? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am looking like this because once I touched the tree. +Afterward it was my joy to tempt others into doing the same. But now, +since I have grown old, I have come to repent, and now I am remaining +here to warn men, but nobody believes me--nobody--because I lied once. + +ERIC. You don't need to warn us, and you can't tempt us. + +THE OTHER ONE. Tut, tut, tut! Not so high-and-mighty, my little friend! +Otherwise it's all right. + +ERIC. Well, go away then, for I don't want to listen to you, and you +scare my sister! + +THE OTHER ONE. I am going, for I don't feel at home here, and I have +business elsewhere. Farewell, children! + +AMELIA. [_Is heard calling from the right_] Eric and Thyra! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Oh, there is mamma--dear little mamma! + + AMELIA _enters_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _rush into her arms_. + + THE OTHER ONE _turns away to hide his emotion_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT IV + + + _A cross-roads surrounded by pine woods. Moonlight_. + + _The_ WITCH _stands waiting_. + + +OLD LADY. Well, at last, there you are. + +WITCH. You have kept me waiting. Why have you called me? + +OLD LADY. Help me! + +WITCH. In what way? + +OLD LADY. Against my enemies. + +WITCH. There is only one thing that helps against your enemies: be good +to them. + +OLD LADY. Well, I declare! I think the whole world has turned +topsyturvy. + +WITCH. Yes, so it may seem. + +OLD LADY. Even the Other One--you know who I mean--has become +converted. + +WITCH. Then it ought to be time for you, too. + +OLD LADY. Time for me? You mean that my years are burdening me? But it +is less than three weeks since I danced at a wedding. + +WITCH. And you call that bliss! Well, if that be all, you shall have +your fill of it. For there is to be a ball here to-night, although I +myself cannot attend it. + +OLD LADY. Here? + +WITCH. Just here. It will begin whenever I give the word---- + +OLD LADY. It's too bad I haven't got on my low-necked dress. + +WITCH. You can borrow one from me--and a pair of dancing shoes with red +heels. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps I might also have a pair of gloves and a fan? + +WITCH. Everything! And, in particular, any number of young cavaliers +who will proclaim you the queen of the ball. + +OLD LADY. Now you are joking. + +WITCH. No, I am not joking. And I know that they have the good taste at +these balls to choose the right one for queen--and in speaking of the +right one, I have in mind the most worthy---- + +OLD LADY. The most beautiful, you mean? + +WITCH. No, I don't--I mean the worthiest. If you wish, I'll start the +ball at once. + +OLD LADY. I have no objection. + +WITCH. If you step aside a little, you'll find your maid--while the +hall is being put in order. + +OLD LADY. [_Going out to the right_] Think of it--I am going to have a +maid, too! You know, madam, that was the dream of my youth--which never +came true. + +WITCH. There you see: "What youth desires, age acquires." [_She blows a +whistle_] + + _Without curtain-fall, the stage changes to represent the + bottom of a rocky, kettle-shaped chasm. It is closed in on + three sides by steep walls of black rock, wholly stripped of + vegetation. At the left, in the foreground, stands a throne. At + the right is a platform for the musicians_. + + _A bust of Pan on a square base stands in the middle of the + stage, surrounded by a strange selection of potted plants: + henbane, burdock, thistle, onion, etc._ + + _The musicians enter. Their clothing is grey; their faces are + chalk-white and sad; their gestures tired. They appear to be + tuning their instruments, but not a sound is heard_. + + _Then comes the_ LEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA. + + _After him, the guests of the ball: cripples, beggars, tramps. + All are pulling on black gloves as they come in. Their + movements are dragging; their expressions funereal_. + + _Next: The_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES, _who is really_ THE OTHER + ONE_--a septuagenarian dandy wearing a black wig which is too + small for him, so that tufts of grey hair appear underneath. + His mustaches are waxed and pointed. He wears a monocle and has + on an outgrown evening dress and top-boots. He looks melancholy + and seems to be suffering because of the part he has to play._ + + _The_ SEVEN DEADLY SINS _enter and group themselves around the + throne as follows_: + + PRIDE COVETOUSNESS + LUST ANGER + GLUTTONY ENVY + SLOTH + + _Finally the_ PRINCE _enters. He is hunchbacked and wears a + soiled velvet coat with gold buttons, ruffles, sword, and high + boots with spurs_. + + _The ensuing scene must be played with deadly seriousness, + without a trace of irony, satire, or humour. There is a + suggestion of a death-mask in the face of every figure. They + move noiselessly and make simple, awkward gestures that convey + the impression of a drill_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Why do you disturb my peace at +this midnight hour? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Always, brother, you are asking why. Have you not +seen the light yet? + +PRINCE. Only in part. I can perceive a connection between my suffering +and my guilt, but I cannot see why I should have to suffer eternally, +when He has suffered in my place. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Eternally? You died only yesterday. But then time +ceased to exist to you, and so a few hours appear like an eternity. + +PRINCE. Yesterday? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes.--But because you were proud and wanted no +assistance, you have now to bear your own sufferings. + +PRINCE. What have I done, then? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. What a sublime question! + +PRINCE. But why don't you tell? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. As our task is to torture each other by +truth-telling--were we not called "heroes of truth" in our lifetime?--I +shall tell you a part of your own secret. You were, and you are still, +a hunchback---- + +PRINCE. What is that? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. There you see! You don't know what is known to +everybody else. But all those others pitied you, and so you never heard +the word that names your own deformity. + +PRINCE. What deformity is that? Perhaps you mean that I have a weak +chest? But that is no deformity. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A "weak chest"--yes, that is your own name for +the matter. However, people kept the disfigurement of your body hidden +from you, and they tried to assuage your misfortune by showing you +sympathy and kindness. But you accepted their generosity as an earned +tribute, their encouraging words as expressions of admiration due to +your superior physique. And at last you went so far in conceit that +you regarded yourself as a type of masculine beauty. And when, to cap +it all, woman granted you her favours out of pity, then you believed +yourself an irresistible conqueror. + +PRINCE. What right have you to say such rude things to me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Right? I am filling the saddening duty which +forces one sinner to punish another. And soon you will have to fulfil +the same cruel duty toward a woman who is vain to the verge of +madness--a woman resembling you as closely as she possibly could. + +PRINCE. I don't want to do it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Try to do anything but what you must, and you'll +experience an inner discord that you cannot explain. + +PRINCE. What does it mean? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It means that you cannot all of a sudden cease to +be what you are: and you are what you have wanted to become. [_He claps +his hands_. + + _The_ OLD LADY _enters, her figure looking as aged and clumsy + as ever; but she has painted her face and her head is covered + by a powdered wig; she wears a very low-necked, rose-coloured + dress, red shoes, and a fan made out of peacock feathers_. + +OLD LADY. [_A little uncertain_] Where am I? Is this the right place? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Quite right, for you are in the place we call +the "waiting-room." It is so called [_he sighs],_ because here we have +to spend our time waiting--waiting for something that will come some +time---- + +OLD LADY. Well, it isn't bad at all--and there is the music--and there +is a bust--of whom? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It's a pagan idol called Pan, because to the +ancients he was all they had. And as we, in this place, are of the old +order, more or less antiquated, he has been put here for us to look at. + +OLD LADY. Why, we are not old---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes, my Queen. When the new era opened [_he +sighs_], we couldn't keep up with it, and so we were left behind---- + +OLD LADY. The new era? What kind of talk is that? When did it begin? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It is easy to figure out when the year one +began--It was night, for that matter; the stars were shining brightly, +and the weather must have been mild, as the shepherds remained in the +open---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, yes--Are we not going to dance here to-night? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Of course, we are. The Prince is waiting for a +chance to ask you---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Is he a real Prince? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A real one, my Queen. That is to say, he has full +reality in a certain fashion---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ PRINCE, _who is asking her to dance_] You don't +look happy, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I am not happy. + +OLD LADY. Well, I can't say that I find it very hilarious--and the +place smells of putty, as if the glazier had just been at work here. +What is that strange smell, as of linseed-oil? + +PRINCE. [_With an expression of horror_] What are you saying? Do you +mean that charnel-house smell? + +OLD LADY. I fear I must have said something impolite--but then, it +isn't for the ladies to offer pleasantries--that's what the cavalier +should do---- + +PRINCE. What can I tell you that you don't know before? + +OLD LADY. That I don't know before? Let me see--No, then I had better +tell you that you are very handsome, my Prince. + +PRINCE. Now you exaggerate, my Queen. I am not exactly handsome, but I +have always been held what they call "good-looking." + +OLD LADY. Just like me--I never was a beauty--that is, I _am_ not, +considering my years--Oh, I am so stupid!--What was it I wanted to say? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Let the music begin! + + _The musicians appear to be playing, but not a sound is heard_. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Well? Are you not going to dance? + +PRINCE. [_Sadly_] No, I don't care to dance. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. But you must: you are the only presentable +gentleman. + +PRINCE. That's true, I suppose--[_pensively_] but is that a fit +occupation for me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you mean? + +PRINCE. At times it seems as if I had something else to think of, but +then--then I forget it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Don't brood--enjoy yourself while youth is with +you and the roses of life still bloom on your cheeks. Now! Up with the +head, and step lively---- + + _The_ PRINCE _grins broadly; then he offers his hand to the_ + OLD LADY, _and together they perform a few steps of a minuet_. + +OLD LADY. [_Interrupting the dance_] Ugh! Your hands are cold as ice! +_goes to the throne_] Why are those seven ladies not dancing? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you like the music, Queen? + +OLD LADY. It's splendid, but they might play a little more _forte_---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. They are soloists, all of them, and formerly each +one of them wanted to make himself heard above the rest, and so they +have to use moderation now. + +OLD LADY. But I asked why the seven sisters over there are not dancing. +Couldn't you, as master of ceremonies, make them do so? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. I don't think it would be of any use trying, for +they are obstinate as sin--But please assume your throne, my Queen. We +are going to perform a little play in honour of the occasion---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, what fun! But I want the prince to ... escort me---- + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Have I got to do it? + +OLD LADY. You ought to be ashamed of yourself--you with your hunch! + +PRINCE. [_Spits in her face_] Hold your tongue, you cursed old hag! + +OLD LADY. [_Cuffs him on the ear_] That'll teach you! + +PRINCE. [_Jumps at her and knocks her down_] And that's, for you! + + _All the rest cover their faces with their hands_. + +PRINCE. [_Tears off the_ OLD LADY'S _wig so that her head appears +totally bald_] There's the false scalp! Now we'll pull out the teeth! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Enough! Enough! + + _He helps the_ OLD LADY _to rise, and gives her a kerchief to + cover her head_. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] Goodness gracious, that I could let myself be +fooled like that! But I haven't deserved any better, I admit. + +PRINCE. No, you have deserved a great deal worse. You should leave my +hunch alone, for otherwise hell breaks loose--It's a miserable thing to +see an old woman like you so foolish and so degraded. But, then, you +are to be pitied--as all of us are to be pitied. + +ALL. We are all to be pitied! + +PRINCE. [_With a sneer_] The queen! + +OLD LADY. [_In the same tone_] The prince!--But haven't we met before? + +PRINCE. Perhaps--in our youth--for I am old, too. You had too much +frippery on before--but now, when the disguise has been taken away--I +begin to distinguish certain features---- + +OLD LADY. Don't say anything more--don't say anything more--Oh, what +have I come to--what is happening to me? + +PRINCE. Now I know: you are my sister! + +OLD LADY. But--my brother is dead! Have I been deceived? Or are the +dead coming back? + +PRINCE. Everything comes back. + +OLD LADY. Am I dead or am I living? + +PRINCE. You may well ask that question, for I don't know the +difference. But you are exactly the same as when I parted from you +once: just as vain and just as thievish. + +OLD LADY. Do you think you are any better? + +PRINCE. Perhaps! I am guilty of all the seven deadly sins, but you have +invented the eighth one--that of robbing the dead. + +OLD LADY. What are you thinking of now? + +PRINCE. Twelve years in succession I sent you money to buy a wreath for +mother's grave, and instead of buying it you kept the money. + +OLD LADY. How do you know? + +PRINCE. How I came to know of it is the only thing that interests you +about that crime of yours. + +OLD LADY. Prove it! + +PRINCE. [_Taking a number of bills from his pocket_] Here is the money! + + _The_ OLD LADY _sinks to the ground. A church bell begins to + ring. All bend their heads, but nobody kneels_. + +LADY IN WHITE. [_Enters, goes up to the_ OLD LADY, _and assists her in +rising_] Do you know me? + +OLD LADY. No. + +LADY IN WHITE. I am Amelia's mother. You have taken the memory of me +away from her. You have erased me from her life. But now you are to be +wiped out, and I shall recover my child's love and the prayers my soul +needs. + +OLD LADY. Oh, somebody has been telling tales to that hussy--then I'll +set her to herd the swine---- + + _The_ PRINCE _strikes her on the mouth_. + +LADY IN WHITE. Don't strike her! + +OLD LADY. Are you interceding for me? + +LADY IN WHITE. It is what I have been taught to do. + +OLD LADY. You hypocrite! If you only dared, you would wish me buried as +deep as there are miles from here to the sun! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Down with you--monster! + + [As _he touches her with his staff she falls to the ground_ + + _Again the scene is changed while the curtain remains up. The + bust of Pan sinks into the earth. The musicians and the throne + with its attendant sins disappear behind pieces of; scenery + that are lowered from above. At last the cross-roads with the + surrounding pine woods appear again, and the_ OLD LADY _is + discovered lying at the foot of a sign-post_. + +WITCH. Get up! + +OLD LADY. I cannot--I am frozen stiff---- + +WITCH. The sun will rise in a moment. The cock has crowed. The matin +bells are ringing. + +OLD LADY. I don't care for the sun. + +WITCH. Then you'll have to walk in darkness. + +OLD LADY. Oh, my eyes! What have you done to me? + +WITCH. I have only turned out the light because it troubled you. Now, +up and away with you--through cold and darkness--until you drop! + +OLD LADY. Where is my husband?--Amelia! Eric and Thyra! My children! + +WITCH. Yes, where are they? But wherever they may be, you shall not see +them until your pilgrimage is ended. Now, up and away! Or I will loose +my dogs! + + _The_ OLD LADY _gropes her way out_. + +_The court-room. In the background is the desk of the presiding judge, +decorated in white and gold with the emblems of justice. In front of +the desk, covering the centre of the floor, stands a big table, and on +it are placed writing-materials, inkstand, Bible, bell, and gavel_. + +_The axe of the executioner hangs on the rear wall, with a pair of +handcuffs below it and a big black crucifix above_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters and makes his way into the room on tiptoe. + The bell rings. The gavel raps once on the table. All the + chairs are pulled up to the table at once. The Bible is opened. + The candles on the table become lighted_. + + _For a moment the_ JUDGE _stands still, stricken with horror. + Then he resumes his advance toward a huge cabinet. Suddenly the + doors of this fly open. A number of documents are thrown out, + and the_ JUDGE _picks them up_. + +JUDGE. [_Reassured_] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts +of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease--my report as +executor--all of it! [_The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank_] Make +all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be +scared. [_He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close +the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts +it_] Everything has a cause: _ratio sufficiens_. This door must have +a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't +know it, but it cannot scare me. [_The axe moves on the wall_] The axe +moved--as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only +that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing +will give me pause but seeing my own ghost--for that would be beyond +the tricks of any charlatan. + + _The_ GHOST _enters from behind the cabinet; the figure + resembles in every way the_ JUDGE, _but where the eyes should + be appear two white surfaces, as on a plaster bust_. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Who are you? + +GHOST. I am not--I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is +now come here to receive his sentence. + +JUDGE. What have you done then, poor man? + +GHOST. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for +me, you whose conscience is clear---- + +JUDGE. Am I--to pray for you? + +GHOST. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed---- + +JUDGE. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as +I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let +myself be called a righteous judge--yes, without irony! + +GHOST. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible +Ones are sitting in judgment---- + +JUDGE. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment? + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] You don't see them, but I do. [_The +bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table_] Pray for me! + +JUDGE. No, I won't. Justice must take its course. You must have been a +great offender to reach consciousness of your guilt so late. + +GHOST. You are as stern as a good conscience. + +JUDGE. That's just the word for it. Stern, but just! + +GHOST. No pity, then? + +JUDGE. None whatever. + +GHOST. No mercy? + +JUDGE. No mercy! + + _The gavel raps on the table; the chairs are pushed away_. + +GHOST. Now the verdict is being delivered. Can't you hear? + +JUDGE. I hear nothing. + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] And you see nothing? Don't you see the +beheaded sailor, the surveyor, the chimney-sweep, the lady in white, +the tenant---- + +JUDGE. I see absolutely nothing. + +GHOST. Woe unto you, then, when your eyes become opened as mine have +been. Now the verdict has been given: guilty! + +JUDGE. Guilty! + +GHOST. You have said it--yourself! And you have already been sentenced. +All that remains now is the big auction. + +_Curtain._ + + + + +ACT V + + + _The same room as in the second act, but it is now arranged for + the auction. Benches are placed in the middle of the room. On + the table behind which the auctioneer is to preside stand the + silver coffee-set, the clock, vases, candelabra, etc._ + + _The portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _have been + taken down and are leaning against the table_. + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _are on the stage_. + + +AMELIA. [_Dressed as a scrub-woman_] Before my mother left, she ordered +me to clean the hallway and the stairs. It is winter now, and cold, and +I cannot say that it has been any pleasure to carry out her order---- + +NEIGHBOUR. So you didn't get any pleasure out of it? Well, my child, I +must say that you demand rather too much of yourself. But as you have +obeyed, and stood the test, your time of trial shall be over, and I +will let you know your life's secret. + +AMELIA. Speak out, neighbour, for I dare hardly trust my good +resolutions much longer. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, then! The woman you have been calling mother is your +stepmother. Your father married her when you were only one year old. +And the reason you have never seen your mother is that she died when +you were born. + +AMELIA. So that was it!--How strange to have had a mother and yet never +to have seen her! Tell me--did you ever see her? + +NEIGHBOUR. I knew her. + +AMELIA. How did she look? + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, how _did_, she look?--Her eyes were blue as the +blossom of the flax--her hair was yellow as the dry stalks of wheat---- + +AMELIA. And tall and slender--and her hand was small and white as if it +had touched nothing but silk in all her days--and her mouth was shaped +like a heart, and her lips looked as if none but good words had ever +passed them. + +NEIGHBOUR. How can you know all that? + +AMELIA. Because that is the image which appears in my dreams when I +have not been good--And then she raises her hand as if to warn me, and +on one of her fingers there is a ring with a green stone that seems to +radiate light. It is she!--Tell me, neighbour, is there a picture of +her in the place? + +NEIGHBOUR. There used to be one, but I don't know whether it's still +here. + +AMELIA. So this one is my stepmother? Well, God was good when he let me +keep my mother's image free from stain--and hereafter I shall find it +quite natural that this other woman is cruel to me. + +NEIGHBOUR. Cruel stepmothers exist to make children kind. And you were +not kind, Amelia, but you have become so, and for that reason I shall +now give you a Christmas present in advance. + + _He takes the portrait of the_ OLD LADY _out of its frame, when + in its place appears a picture in water-colours corresponding + to the description given above_. + +AMELIA. [_Kneeling in front of the picture_] My mother--mother of my +dreams! [_Rising_] But how can I keep the picture when it is to be sold +at auction? + +NEIGHBOUR. You can, because the auction has already taken place. + +AMELIA. Where and when was it held? + +NEIGHBOUR. It was held elsewhere--in a place not known to you--and +to-day the things are merely to be taken away. + +AMELIA. What a lot of queer things are happening! And how full of +secrets the house is!--But tell me, where is my stepmother? I have not +seen her in a long time. + +NEIGHBOUR. I suppose it must be told: she is in a place from which +nobody returns. + +AMELIA. Is she dead? + +NEIGHBOUR. She is dead. She was found frozen to death in a swamp into +which she had stumbled. + +AMELIA. Merciful God have pity on her soul! + +NEIGHBOUR. So he will in time, especially if you pray for her. + +AMELIA. Of course I will. + +NEIGHBOUR. How good you have become, my child--as a result of her +becoming so bad! + +AMELIA. Don't say so now when she is dead---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Right you are! Let her rest in peace! + +AMELIA. But where is my father? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's a secret to all of us. But it is sweet of you to ask +for him before you ask for your own Adolph. + +AMELIA. Adolph--yes, where is he? The children are crying for him, and +Christmas is near.--Oh, what a Christmas this will be to us! + +NEIGHBOUR. Leave to each day its own trouble--and now take your +Christmas present and go. The affairs connected with the auction are to +be settled, and then you'll hear news. + +AMELIA. [_Takes the portrait of her mother_] I go, but no longer +alone--and I have a feeling that something good is about to happen, but +what I cannot tell. + + [_She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. But I know! Yet you had better go, for what is about to +happen here should not be seen by children. + + _He opens the door in the rear and rings a bell to summon + the people to the auction. The people enter in the following + order_: THE POOR, _a large number of them; the_ SAILOR; _the_ + CHIMNEY-SWEEP; _the_ NEIGHBOUR, who takes his place in front + of the rest; _the_ WIDOW _and the_ FATHERLESS CHILDREN; _the_ + SURVEYOR; THE OTHER ONE, _carrying the auctioneer's hammer and + a pile of documents_. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Takes his place at the table and raps with the +hammer_] At a compulsory auction held at the court-house for the +disposal of property left by the late circuit judge, the items now to +be described were bid in by the Court on behalf of absent creditors, +and may now be obtained and taken away by their respective owners. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, looking very aged and miserable_] In the name of the +law--hold! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pretends to throw something at the_ JUDGE, _who +stands aghast and speechless_] Don't speak of the law! Here the Gospel +is preached--but not for you, who wanted to buy heaven with stolen +money.--First: the widow and her fatherless children. There is the +silver set which the judge accepted from you for his false report +as executor. In his stained hands the silver has turned black, but +I hope that in yours it will once more turn white.--Then we come to +the ward, who had to become a chimney-sweep, after being cheated out +of his inheritance. Here are the receipted bills and the property +due to you from your guardian. And you need not thank him for his +accounting.--Here stands the surveyor who, although he was innocent, +had to serve two years in prison because he had made an illegal +partition--the maps handed to him for the purpose having been falsified +in advance. What can you do for him, Judge? Can you undo what has +happened, or restore his lost honour? + +JUDGE. Oh, that fellow--give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His +honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Slaps the_ JUDGE _on the mouth, while the rest spit at +him and mutter with clinched fists_] Here is the brother of the sailor +who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother +to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not +worth as much.--And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated +out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the +tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, +placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, +wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to +the property. + +JUDGE. I appeal to a higher court! + +THE OTHER ONE. This case has passed through all the instances except +the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. +For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their +living would cry out: Guilty!--Thus we are done with all that could be +properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the +poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as +bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs--all in a perfectly legal way because +evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! +Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [_The_ POOR +_begin to plunder_] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. +This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for +board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [_Silence_] +No offer? [_Silence_] First, second, third time--no offer? [_To the_ +JUDGE] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you +myself and send you to your well-earned punishment. + +JUDGE. Is there no atonement? + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, punishment atones.--Take him into the woods and +stone him in accordance with the law of Moses--for no other law was +ever known to him. Away with him! [_The people pounce on the_ JUDGE +_and jostle him_. + + _The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as + in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm + surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the + stage.)_ + + _In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the + weighing of newcomers_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _are seated opposite each other + at a small table_. + +JUDGE. [_Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream_] +Hush!--I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me--and yet I +felt no pain--and then everything turned black and vacant until this +moment--How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell--Now I am beginning +to hear again--and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried--oh, +how cold it is--they are washing me, I think--I am lying in something +that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a +carpenter shop--I am being carried, and a bell is ringing--Wait! Now I +am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all +the time--Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning--boom, +boom, boom: three knocks on the roof--and then the lessons begin--the +teacher is leading--and now the boys are singing--What can it be?--And +then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly--boom, boom, +boom, boom, boom, boom--silence--it's over! [_He wakes up_] Where am I? +I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!--Oh, it's you!--Where are we? +Whose bust is that? + +OLD LADY. They say it is the new god. + +JUDGE. But he looks like a goat. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps it is the god of the goats? + +JUDGE. "The goats on the left side--" What is that I am recalling? + +PRINCE. It is the god Pan. + +JUDGE. Pan? + +PRINCE. Exactly! Just exactly! And when, in the night, the +shepherds--no, not _those_ shepherds--catch sight of a hair of his hide +they are seized with panic---- + +JUDGE. [_Rising_] Woe! I don't want to stay here! Woe! Can't I get out +of here? I want to get out! + + [_He runs around, looking vainly for a way out._ + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Enters dressed as a Franciscan friar_] You'll find +nothing but entrances--no exits! + +JUDGE. Are you Father Colomba? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, I am The Other One. + +JUDGE. As a monk? + +THE OTHER ONE. Don't you know that The Other One turns monk when he +grows old; and don't you think it is well that he does so some time? +But, seriously speaking--for here everything is serious--this is my +holiday attire, which I am permitted to wear only this one day of the +year in order that I may remember what I have had and what I have lost. + +JUDGE. [_Alarmed_] What day of the year is it to-day? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Bending his head with a sigh_] It is Christmas Eve! + +JUDGE. [_Approaching the_ OLD LADY] Think of it, it is Christmas +Eve?--And you know I don't dare to ask where we are--I dare not--but +let us go home, home to our children, to our own---- [_He cries_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, let us go from here, home to ourselves, that we may +start a new life in peace and harmony---- + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +OLD LADY. Oh, dear, sweet fellow--help us, have mercy on us, forgive us! + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +JUDGE. [_Taking the_ OLD LADY _by the hand_] I am choking with dread! +Don't ask him where we are; I don't want to know! But one thing I do +want to know: will there ever be an end to this? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never!--That word "end" is not known to us here. + +JUDGE. [_Crushed_] No end! [_Looking around_] And does the sun never +enter this place of damp and cold? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never, for those who dwell here have not loved the sun! + +JUDGE. It is true: I have cursed the sun.--May I confess my sins? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, you must keep them to yourself until they begin to +swell and stop up your throat. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling_] O--I don't know how to pray! + + _She rises and walks restlessly back and forth, wringing her + hands_. + +THE OTHER ONE. Because for you there is no one to whom you might pray. + +OLD LADY. [_In despair_] Children--send somebody to give me a word of +hope and pardon. + +THE OTHER ONE. It will not be done. Your children have forgotten +you--they are now rejoicing at your absence. + + _A picture appears on the rocky wall in the rear: the home, + with_ ADOLPH, AMELIA, ERIC, _and_ THYRA _around the Christmas + tree; in the background, the_ PLAYMATE. + +JUDGE. You say they are seated at the Christmas table rejoicing at our +misfortune?--No, now you lie, for they are better than we! + +THE OTHER ONE. What new tune is that? I have always heard that you were +a righteous man---- + +JUDGE. I? I was a great sinner--the greatest one that ever was! + +THE OTHER ONE. Hm! Hm! + +JUDGE. And if you say anything of the children you are guilty of a sin. +I know that they are praying for us. + +OLD LADY. [_On her knees_] I can hear them tell their rosaries: hush--I +hear them! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are completely mistaken. What you hear is the song +of the workmen who are tearing down the mausoleum. + +JUDGE. The mausoleum! Where we were to have rested in peace! + +PRINCE. Shaded by a dozen wreaths. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +PRINCE. [_Pointing to the_ OLD LADY] She is my sister, and so you must +be my brother-in-law. + +JUDGE. Oh--that lazy scamp! + +PRINCE. Look here! In this place we are all lazy scamps. + +JUDGE. But we are not all hunchbacks! + +PRINCE. [_Strikes him a blow on the mouth_] Don't touch the hunch or +there will be hell to pay! + +JUDGE. What a way to treat a man of my ability and high social +position! What a Christmas! + +PRINCE. Perhaps you expected your usual creamed codfish and Christmas +cake? + +JUDGE. Not exactly, but there ought to be something to feed on---- + +PRINCE. Here we are keeping a Christmas fast, you see. + +JUDGE. How long will it last? + +PRINCE. How long? We don't measure time here, because it has ceased to +exist, and a minute may last a whole eternity. + +OLD LADY. We suffer only what our deeds have deserved--so don't +complain---- + +PRINCE. Just try to complain, and you'll see what happens.--We are not +squeamish here, but bang away without regard for legal forms. + +JUDGE. Are they beating carpets out there--on a day like this? + +PRINCE. No, it is an extra ration of rod all around as a reminder for +those who may have forgotten the significance of the day. + +JUDGE. Do they actually lay hands on our persons? Is it possible that +educated people can do things like that to each other? + +PRINCE. This is a place of education for the badly educated; and those +who have behaved like scoundrels are treated like such. + +JUDGE. But this passes all limits! + +PRINCE. Yes, because here we are in the limitless! Now get ready! I +have already been out there and had my portion. + +JUDGE. [_Appalled_] What humiliation! That's to strip you of all human +worth! + +PRINCE. Ha ha! Human worth! Ha ha!--Look at the scales over there. +That's where the human worth is--and invariably found wanting. + +JUDGE. [_Sits down at the table_] I could never have believed---- + +PRINCE. No, you could only believe in your caul and your own +righteousness. And yet you had both Moses and the Prophets and more +besides--for the very dead walked for your benefit. + +JUDGE. The children! The children! Is it not possible to send them a +word of greeting and of warning? + +PRINCE. No! Eternally, no! + + _The_ WITCH _comes forward with a big basketful of + stereoscopes._ + +JUDGE. What is it? + +WITCH. Christmas gifts for the righteous. Stereoscopes, you know. +[_Handing out one_] Help yourself. They don't cost anything. + +JUDGE. There's a kind soul at last. And a little attention to a man of +my age and rank does honour both to your tact and to your heart---- + +WITCH. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my +having given some thought to the others, too. + +JUDGE. [_Disappointed_] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag? + +WITCH. [_Spitting in his face_] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger! + +JUDGE. What company I have got into! + +WITCH. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, +you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look +in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to +the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims--just +have a look now. That's right! + +JUDGE _looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on +his face_. + +WITCH. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy! + + _She hands a stereoscope to the_ OLD LADY, _and proceeds + thereafter to give one to each person present_. + +JUDGE. [_Sitting at the table, where now the_ OLD LADY _takes a seat +opposite him_] What do you see? + +OLD LADY. Everything is there; everything!--And do you notice that +everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and +even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance +of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my +memories had decayed, including the fairest among them---- + +JUDGE. You are right. There is not one memory that can bring light into +this darkness. When I look at her who was the first love of my youth, +I see nothing but a corpse. When I think of my sweet Amelia, there +appears--a harlot. The little ones make faces at me like gutter-snipes. +My court has become a pigsty; the vineyard, a rubbish-heap full of +thistles; and the mausoleum--Oh, horrors!--an outhouse! When I think of +the green woods, the leafage appears snuff-coloured and the trunks look +bleached as mast tops. The blue river seems to flow out of a dung-heap +and the blue arch above it looks like a smoky roof--Of the sun itself I +can recall nothing but the name; and what was called the moon--the lamp +that shed its light on bays and groves during the amorous nights of my +youth--I can remember only as--no, I cannot remember it at all. But +the words are left, although they have only sound without sense.--Love, +wine, song! Flowers, children, happiness!--Don't the words sound +pretty? And it is all that is left!--Love? What _was_ it, anyhow? + +OLD LADY. What was it?--Two cats on a back-yard fence. + +JUDGE. [_Sheepishly_] Yes, that's it! That's what it was! Three dogs on +a sidewalk. What a sweet recollection! + +OLD LADY. [_Pressing his hand_] Yes, it is sweet! + +JUDGE. [_Looking at his watch_] My watch has stopped. I am so +hungry--and I am thirsty, too, and I long for a smoke. But I am also +tired and want to sleep. All my desires are waking. They claw at me and +hound me, but not one of them can I satisfy. We are lost! Lost, indeed! + +OLD LADY. And I long for a cup of tea more than I can tell! + +JUDGE. Hot green tea--that's just what I should like now--with a tiny +drop of rum in it. + +OLD LADY. No, not rum! I should prefer some cakes---- + +PRINCE. [_Who has drawn near to listen_] Sugared, of course? I fear +you'll have to whistle for them. + +OLD LADY. Oh, this dreadful language hurts me more than anything, else. + +PRINCE. That's because you don't know yet how something else is going +to hurt you. + +JUDGE. What is that? + +OLD LADY. No, don't! We don't want to know! Please! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am going to tell. It begins with---- + +OLD LADY. [_Puts her fingers in her ears and cries out_] Mercy! Don't, +don't, don't! + +PRINCE. Yes, I will--and as my brother-in-law is curious, I'll tell it +to him. The second letter is---- + +JUDGE. This uncertainty is worse than torture--Speak out, you devil, or +I'll kill you! + +PRINCE. Kill, ha ha! Everybody is immortal here, body and soul, what +little there is left. However, the third letter is--and that's all +you'll know! + +MAN IN GREY. [_A small, lean man with grey clothes, grey face, black +lips, grey beard, and grey hands; he speaks in a very low voice_] May I +speak a word with you, madam? + +OLD LADY. [_Rising in evident alarm_] What is it about? + +MAN IN GREY. [_Smiling a ghastly, malicious smile_] I'll tell--out +there. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] No, no; I won't! + +MAN IN GREY. [_Laughing_]; It isn't dangerous. Come along! All I want +is to _speak_ to you. Come now! + + [_They go toward the background and disappear_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ JUDGE] A little Christmas entertainment is wholesome. + +JUDGE. Do you mean to maltreat a woman? + +PRINCE. Here all injustices are abolished, and woman is treated as the +equal of man. + +JUDGE. You devil! + +PRINCE. That's all right, but don't call me hunchback, for that touches +my last illusion. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps up to the table_] Well, how do you like our +animal magnetism? It _can_ work wonders on black-guards! + +JUDGE. I understand nothing of all this. + +THE OTHER ONE. That's just what is meant, and it is very nice of you to +admit that there are things you don't understand. + +JUDGE. Granting that I am now in the realm of the dead---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Say "hell," for that is what it's called. + +JUDGE. [_Stammering_] Th-then I should like to remind you that He who +once descended here to redeem all lost---- + +PRINCE. [_At a sign from_ THE OTHER ONE _he strikes the_ JUDGE _in the +face_] Don't argue! + +JUDGE. They won't even listen to me! It is beyond despair! No mercy, no +hope, no end! + +THE OTHER ONE. Quite right! Here you find only justice and +retribution--especially justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth! Just as you wanted it! + +JUDGE. But among men there is pardon--and that you don't have here. + +THE OTHER ONE. Monarchs alone possess the right to pardon. And as a man +of law you ought to know that a petition for pardon must be submitted +before it can be granted. + +JUDGE. For me there can be no pardon! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Gives the_ PRINCE _a sign to step aside_] You feel, +then, that your guilt is too great? + +JUDGE. Yes. + +THE OTHER ONE. Then I'll speak kindly to you. There is an end, you see, +if there is a beginning. And you have made a beginning. But the sequel +will be long and hard. + +JUDGE. Oh, God is good! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have said it! + +JUDGE. But--there is one thing that cannot be undone--there is one! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are thinking of the monstrance which should have +been of gold but was of silver? Well, don't you think that He who +changed water into wine may also change silver into gold? + +JUDGE. [_On his knees_] But my misdeed is too great, too great to be +forgiven. + +THE OTHER ONE. Now you overestimate yourself again. But rise up. We +are about to celebrate Christmas in our own fashion.--The light of the +sun cannot reach here, as you know--nor that of the moon. But on this +night, and on this alone, a star rises so far above the rocks that it +is visible from here. It is the star that went before the shepherds +through the desert--and _that_ was the morning star. + + [_He claps his hands together_. + + _The bust of Pan sinks into the ground. The_ OLD LADY _returns, + looking reassured and quietly happy. With a suggestion of firm + hope in mien and gesture, she goes up to the_ JUDGE _and takes + his hand. The stage becomes filled with shadows that are gazing + up at the rocks in the rear_. + +CHORUS I. [_Two sopranos and an alto sing behind the stage, accompanied +only by string instruments and a harp_.] + + Puer natus est nobis; + Et filius datus est nobis, + Cujus imperium super humerum ejus; + Et vocabitur nomen ejus + Magni consilii Angelus. + +CHORUS II. [_Soprano, alto, tenor, basso_.] + + Cantate Domino canticum novum + Quia mirabilia fecit! + + _The star becomes visible above the rocks in the rear. All + kneel down. A part of the rock glides aside, revealing a + tableau: the crib with the child and the mother; the shepherds + adoring at the left, the three Magi at the right_. + +CHORUS III. [_Two sopranos and two altos.]_ + + Gloria in excelsis Deo + Et in terra pax + Hominibus bonæ voluntatis! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THE THUNDERSTORM + +(OVÄDER) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE MASTER, _a retired government official_ + THE CONSUL, _his brother_ + STARCK, _a confectioner_ + AGNES, _daughter of Starck_ + LOUISE, _a relative of the Master_ + GERDA, _the Master's divorced wife_ + FISCHER, _second husband of Gerda_ + THE ICEMAN + THE LETTER-CARRIER + THE LAMPLIGHTER + THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN + THE MILKMAID + + SCENE I--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + SCENE II--INSIDE THE HOUSE + SCENE III--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The front of a modern house with a basement of granite. The + upper parts are of brick covered with yellow plastering. The + window-frames and other ornaments are of sandstone. A low + archway leads through the basement to the court and serves also + as entrance to the confectioner's shop. The corner of the house + appears at the right of the stage, where the avenue opens into + a small square planted with roses and various other flowers. At + the corner is a mail-box. The main floor, above the basement, + has large windows, all of which are open. Four of these windows + belong to an elegantly furnished dining-room. The four middle + windows in the second story have red shades which are drawn; + the shades are illumined by light from within_. + + _Along the front of the house runs a sidewalk with trees + planted at regular intervals. There is a lamp-post in the + extreme foreground and beside it stands a green bench_. + + STARCK, _the confectioner, comes out with a chair and sits down + on the sidewalk_. + + _The_ MASTER _is visible in the dining-room of the main floor, + seated at the table. Behind him appears an oven built of green + majolica tiles. On its mantelshelf stands a large photograph + between two candelabra and some vases containing flowers. A + young girl in a light dress is just serving the final course_. + + _The_ MASTER'S _brother, the_ CONSUL, _appears in front of the + house, coming from the left, and knocks with his walking-stick + on the sill of one of the dining-room windows_. + + +CONSUL. Will you soon be through? + +MASTER. I'll come in a moment. + +CONSUL. [_Saluting the confectioner_] Good evening, Mr. Starck. It's +still hot---- + +STARCK. Good evening, Consul. Yes, it's the dog-day heat, and we have +been making jam all day. + +CONSUL. Is that so? It's a good year for fruit, then? + +STARCK. It might be worse. Well, the spring was cold, but the summer +turned out unbearably hot. It was hard on us who had to stay in the +city. + +CONSUL. I got back from the country yesterday--one begins to wish +oneself back when the evenings grow dark. + +STARCK. Neither I nor my wife have been out of the city. Of course, +business is at a standstill, but you have to be on hand to make +ready for the winter. First come strawberries, then cherries, then +raspberries, and last gooseberries, cantaloupes and all the fall +fruits---- + +CONSUL. Tell me something, Mr. Starck. Is the house here to be sold? + +STARCK. Not that I have heard. + +CONSUL. There are a lot of people living here? + +STARCK. Something like ten families, I think, counting those in the +rear also. But nobody knows anybody else. There is unusually little +gossiping in the house. It seems rather as if everybody were hiding. I +have lived here ten years, and during the first two years we had for +neighbours a strange family that kept very quiet in the daytime. But at +night they began to stir about, and then carriages would come and fetch +things away. Not until the end of the second year did I learn that +they had been running a private sanatorium, and that what was being +taken away at night were dead bodies. + +CONSUL. Horrible! + +STARCK. And they call it the Silent House. + +CONSUL. Yes, there isn't much talking done here. + +STARCK. More than one drama has been played here, nevertheless. + +CONSUL. Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives up there on the second floor, +right above my brother? + +STARCK. Up there, where the light comes through the red shades--a +tenant died there during the summer. Then the place stood empty for a +month, and a week ago a new family moved in. I haven't seen them. I +don't know their name. I don't think they ever go out. Why did you ask, +Consul? + +CONSUL. Whew--I don't know! Those four red shades look like stage +curtains behind which some sanguinary tragedies are being rehearsed--or +I imagine so, at least. There is a palm at one of the windows looking +like a rod made of wire--you can see the shadow of it on the shade. If +only some people were to be seen---- + +STARCK. I have seen plenty of them, but not until later--at night. + +CONSUL. Was it men or women you saw? + +STARCK. Both, I guess--but now I must get back to my pots. [_He +disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Still inside, has risen from the table and lighted a cigar; +he is now standing at the open window, talking to his brother outside_] +I'll be ready in a moment. Louise is only going to sew a button on one +of my gloves. + +CONSUL. Then you mean to go down-town? + +MASTER. Perhaps we'll take a turn in that direction--Whom were you +talking with? + +CONSUL. Just the confectioner---- + +MASTER. Oh, yes--a very decent fellow--and, for that matter, my only +companion here during the summer. + +CONSUL. Have you really stayed at home every night--never gone out? + +MASTER. Never! Those light evenings make me timid. They are pleasant in +the country, of course, but here in the city they produce the effect of +something unnatural--almost ghastly. But no sooner has the first street +lamp been lighted than I feel calm once more and can resume my evening +walks. In that way I can get tired and sleep better at night. [LOUISE +_hands him the glove_] Thank you, my child. You can just as well leave +the windows open, as there are no mosquitoes. [_To the_ CONSUL] Now I'm +coming. + + _A few moments later he can be seen coming out of the house + on the side facing the square; he stops at the corner to drop + a letter in the mail-box; then he comes around the corner to + the front of the house and sits down on the bench beside his + brother_. + +CONSUL. But tell me: why do you stay in the city when you _could_ be in +the country? + +MASTER. I don't know. I have lost my power of motion. My memory has +tied me for ever to these rooms. Only within them can I find peace and +protection. In there--yes! It is interesting to look at your own home +from the outside. Then I imagine that some other man is pacing back and +forth in there--Just think: for ten years I have been pacing back and +forth in there! + +CONSUL. Is it ten years now? + +MASTER. Yes, time goes quickly--once it is gone. But when it is still +going it seems slow enough.--That time the house was new. I watched +them putting down the hard-wood floor in the dining-room and painting +the doors; and _she_ was permitted to pick out the wall-paper, which +is still there--Yes, that was then! The confectioner and I are the +oldest tenants in the place, and he, too, has had a few experiences of +his own--he is one of those people who never succeed but are always in +some kind of trouble. In a way, I have been living his life also, and +bearing his burdens besides my own. + +CONSUL. Does he drink, then? + +MASTER. No-o--nothing of that kind, but there is no _go_ to him. Well, +he and I know the history of this house: how they have arrived in +bridal coaches and left in hearses, while the mail-box at the corner +became the recipient of all their confidences. + +CONSUL. There was a death here in the middle of the summer, wasn't +there? + +MASTER. Yes, a case of typhoid--the man was manager of a bank--and then +the flat stood vacant for a month. The coffin came out first, then the +widow and the children, and last of all the furniture. + +CONSUL. That was on the second floor? + +MASTER. Yes, up there, where you see the light--where those new people +are, about whom I know nothing at all. + +CONSUL. Haven't you seen anything of them either? + +MASTER. I never ask any questions about the other tenants. What comes +to me unasked, I accept--but I never make any wrong use of it, and I +never interfere, for I am anxious for the peace of my old age. + +CONSUL. Old age--yes! I think it's nice to grow old, for then there +isn't so much left to be recorded. + +MASTER. Indeed, it is nice. I am settling my accounts, both with life +and with people, and I have already begun to pack for the journey. +Of course, the solitude has its draw-backs, but when there is nobody +who can make any demands on you, then you have won your freedom--the +freedom to come and go, to think and act, to eat and sleep, in +accordance with your own choice. + + _At this moment the shade in one of the windows on the second + floor is raised a little way, so that part of a woman's dress + becomes visible. Then it is quickly drawn again_. + +CONSUL. They are astir up there--did you see? + +MASTER. Yes, there is such a lot of mystery about it--and at night it +is worse than ever. Sometimes there is music, but it's always bad; +and sometimes I think they are playing cards; and long after midnight +carriages drive up and take away people.--I never make a complaint +against other tenants, for then they want to get even, and nobody wants +to change his ways. The best thing is to remain oblivious of everything. + + _A gentleman, dressed in a dinner coat but bareheaded, comes + out of the house and drops a big pile of letters into the + mail-box; then he disappears into the house again_. + +CONSUL. That fellow must have a lot of correspondence. + +MASTER. It looked to me like circulars. + +CONSUL. But who is he? + +MASTER. Why, that's the new tenant up there on the second floor. + +CONSUL. Oh, is that so! What do you think he looked like? + +MASTER. I don't know. Musician, conductor, a touch of musical +comedy, with a leaning to vaudeville--gambler--Adonis--a little of +everything---- + +CONSUL. Black hair should have gone with that pale complexion of +his, but his hair was brown--which means that it had been dyed, or +that he wears a wig. A tuxedo at home indicates an empty wardrobe, +and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters into the +box suggested shuffling and cutting and dealing--[_At this moment +waltz music becomes faintly audible from the second floor_] Always +waltzes--perhaps they have a dancing-school--but it's always the same +waltz--what's the name of it now? + +MASTER. Why, I think--that's "Pluie d'or"--I know it by heart. + +CONSUL. Have you heard it in your own house? + +MASTER. Yes, that one and the "Alcazar Waltz." + + LOUISE _becomes visible in the dining-room, where she is + putting things in order and wiping the glassware on the buffet_. + +CONSUL. Are you still pleased with Louise? + +MASTER. Very. + +CONSUL. Isn't she going to marry? + +MASTER. Not that I know of. + +CONSUL. Is there no fiancé in sight? + +MASTER. Why do you ask? + +CONSUL. Have you had any thoughts of that kind? + +MASTER. I? No, thank you! When I married the last time I was not too +old, as we had a child in due time, but I have grown too old since +then, and now I want to spend my evening in peace--Do you think I want +another master in my own house, who would rob me of life and honour and +goods? + +CONSUL. Oh, nobody took your life or your goods---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to say that my honour suffered any harm? + +CONSUL. Don't you know? + +MASTER. What _do_ you mean? + +CONSUL. In leaving you, she killed your honour. + +MASTER. Then I have been a dead man for five years without knowing it. + +CONSUL. You haven't known it? + +MASTER. No, but now I'll tell you in a few words what really happened. +When, at fifty, I married a girl much younger than myself--one whose +heart I had won and who gave me her hand fearlessly and willingly--then +I promised her that if ever my age should become a burden to her youth +I would go my own way and give her back her freedom. Since the child +had come in due time, and neither one of us wanted another, and since +our little girl had begun to grow apart from me, so that I had come to +feel superfluous, I did go my way--that is, I took a boat, as we were +living on an island--and that was the end of the whole story. I had +redeemed my promise and saved my honour--what more besides? + +CONSUL. All right--but she thought it an attack on her own honour, +because she had meant to go away herself. And so she killed you by +tacit accusations which never reached your ears. + +MASTER. Did she accuse herself also? + +CONSUL. No, she had no reason to do so. + +MASTER. Then no harm has been done. + +CONSUL. Do you know what has become of her and the child since then? + +MASTER. I don't want to know! Having at last outlived the horrors of +longing, I came to regard the whole business as buried; and as none but +beautiful memories were left behind in our rooms, I remained where I +was. However, I thank you for that piece of valuable information! + +CONSUL. Which one? + +MASTER. That she had no reason for self-accusation, for if she had it +would constitute an accusation against me---- + +CONSUL. I think you are living under a serious misconception---- + +MASTER. If I am, leave me alone! A clear conscience--comparatively +clear, at least--has always been the diving-suit that has enabled me +to descend into the vast deeps without being suffocated. [_Rising_] +To think of it--that I got out of it with my life! And now it's all +over!--Suppose we take a turn down the avenue? + +CONSUL. All right, then we can see them light the first street lamp of +the season. + +MASTER. But won't the moon be up to-night--the harvest-moon? + +CONSUL. Why, I think the moon is full just now---- + +MASTER. [_Going to one of the windows and talking into the +dining-room_] Please hand me my stick, Louise. The light one--I just +want to hold it in my hand. + +LOUISE. [_Handing out a cane of bamboo_] Here it is, sir. + +MASTER. Thank you, my girl. Now turn out the light in the dining-room +if you have nothing to do there. We'll be gone a little while--I cannot +tell just how long. + + _The_ MASTER _and the_ CONSUL _go out to the left_. LOUISE + _remains standing by the open window_. STARCK _comes out of the + gateway_. + +STARCK. Good evening, Miss Louise. It's awfully hot!--So your gentlemen +have disappeared? + +LOUISE. They have gone for a stroll down the avenue--the first time my +master has gone out this summer. + +STARCK. We old people love the twilight, which covers up so many +defects both in ourselves and others. Do you know, Miss Louise, my old +woman is getting blind, but she won't have an operation performed. She +says there is nothing to look at, and that sometimes she wishes she +were deaf, too. + +LOUISE. Well, one does feel that way--at times. + +STARCK. Of course, you are leading a very quiet life in there, with +plenty of everything, and nothing to worry about. I have never heard a +loud voice or the slamming of a door--perhaps, even, it is a little too +quiet for a young lady like yourself? + +LOUISE. Not at all! I love the quiet, and whatever is dignified, +graceful, measured--with nobody blurting out things, and all thinking +it a duty to overlook the less pleasant features of daily life. + +STARCK. And you have never any company? + +LOUISE. No, only the consul comes here--and the like of the love +between those two brothers I have never seen. + +STARCK. Who is the elder of the two? + +LOUISE. That's more than I can tell. Whether there is a year or two +between them, or they are twins, I don't know, for they treat each +other with mutual respect, as if each one of them was the elder brother. + + AGNES _appears, trying to get past_ STARCK _without being seen + by him_. + +STARCK. Where are you going, girl? + +AGNES. Oh, I am just going out for a little walk. + +STARCK. That's right, but get back soon. + + AGNES _goes out_. + +STARCK. Do you think your master is still mourning the loss of his dear +ones? + +LOUISE. He doesn't mourn--he doesn't even feel any regrets, for he +doesn't want them back--but he is always with them in his memory, where +he keeps only their beautiful traits. + +STARCK. But doesn't the fate of his daughter trouble him at times? + +LOUISE. Yes, he cannot help fearing that the mother may have married +again, and then, of course, everything depends on how the child's +stepfather turns out. + +STARCK. I have been told that the wife refused alimony at first, but +that now, when five years have passed, she has sent him a lawyer with a +demand for many thousands---- + +LOUISE. [_With reserve_] I know nothing about it. + +STARCK. I believe, however, that she was never more beautiful than in +his memory---- + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Enters, carrying a crateful of bottles_] +Excuse me, but does Mr. Fischer live here? + +LOUISE. Mr. Fischer? Not so far as I know. + +STARCK. Perhaps Fischer is the name of that fellow on the second floor? +Around the corner--one flight up. + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Going toward the square_] One flight +up--thanks. [_He disappears around the corner_. + +LOUISE. Carrying up bottles again--that means another sleepless night. + +STARCK. What kind of people are they? Why don't they ever show +themselves? + +LOUISE. I suppose they use the back-stairs, for I have never seen them. +But I do hear them. + +STARCK. Yes, I have also heard doors bang and corks pop--and the +popping of other things, too, I guess. + +LOUISE. And they never open their windows, in spite of the heat--they +must be Southerners.--Why, that's lightning--a lot of it!--I guess +it's nothing but heat-lightning, for there has been no thunder. + +A VOICE. [_Is heard from the basement_] Starck, dear, won't you come +down and help me put in the sugar! + +STARCK. All right, old lady, I'm coming! [_To_ LOUISE] We are making +jam, you know. [_As he goes_] I'm coming, I'm coming! [_He disappears +into the gateway again_. + + LOUISE _remains standing at the window_. + +CONSUL. [_Enters slowly from the right_] Isn't my brother back yet? + +LOUISE. No, sir. + +CONSUL. He wanted to telephone, and I was to go ahead. Well, I suppose +he'll be here soon.--What's this? [_He stoops to pick up a post-card_] +What does it say?--"Boston club at midnight: Fischer."--Do you know who +Fischer is, Louise? + +LOUISE. There was a man with a lot of wine looking for Fischer a while +ago--up on the second floor. + +CONSUL. On the second floor--Fischer! Red shades that make the place +look like a drug-store window at night! I fear you have got bad company +in the house. + +LOUISE. What is a Boston club? + +CONSUL. Oh, there need be no harm in it at all--in this case I don't +know, however.--But how did the post-card--? Oh, it was _he_ who +dropped it a while ago. Then I'll put it back in the box.--Fischer? +I have heard that name before. In connection with something I cannot +recall just now--May I ask a question, Miss Louise: does my brother +never speak of--the past? + +LOUISE. Not to me. + +CONSUL. Miss Louise--one more question---- + +LOUISE. Excuse me, but here comes the milk, and I have to receive it. + + [_She leaves the dining-room_. + + _The_ MILKMAID _appears from the right and enters the house + from the square_. + +STARCK. [_Comes out again, takes off his white linen cap, and puffs +with heat_] In and out, like a badger at its hole--it's perfectly +horrid down there by the ovens--and the evening doesn't make it any +cooler. + +CONSUL. All this lightning shows that we are going to have rain--Well, +the city isn't pleasant, exactly, but up here you have quiet at least: +never any rattling carriages, and still less any street-cars--it's just +like the country. + +STARCK. Of course, it's quiet, but it's too quiet for business. I +know my trade, but I am a poor salesman--have always been, and +can't learn--or it may be something else. Perhaps I haven't got the +proper manner. For when customers act as if I were a swindler I get +embarrassed at first, and then as mad as it is possible for me to +become. But nowadays I haven't the strength to get really mad. It has +been worn out of me--everything gets worn out. + +CONSUL. Why don't you go to work for somebody else? + +STARCK. Who would want me? + +CONSUL. Have you ever tried? + +STARCK. What would be the use of it? + +CONSUL. Oh--well! + + _At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment + on the second floor_. + +STARCK. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are +they killing each other? + +CONSUL. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into +the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of +people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here? + +STARCK. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs--you +get mixed up in them yourself---- + +CONSUL. Do you know anything about them? + +STARCK. No, I don't know anything at all. + +CONSUL. Now they're screaming again, this time in the stairway---- + +STARCK. [_Withdrawing into the gateway and speaking in a low voice_] I +don't want to have anything to do with this. + + GERDA, _the divorced wife of the_ MASTER, _comes running from + the house into the square. She is bareheaded, with her hair + down, and very excited. The_ CONSUL _approaches her, and they + recognise each other. She draws back from him_. + +CONSUL. So it's you--my former sister-in-law? + +GERDA. Yes, it is I. + +CONSUL. How did you get into this house, and why can't you let my +brother enjoy his peace? + +GERDA. [_Bewildered_] They didn't give us the right name of the tenant +below--I thought he had moved--I couldn't help it---- + +CONSUL. Don't be afraid--you don't have to be afraid of me, Gerda! Can +I be of any help to you? What's happening up there? + +GERDA. He was beating me! + +CONSUL. Is your little girl with you? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. So she has got a stepfather? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. Put up your hair and calm yourself. Then I'll try to straighten +this matter out. But spare my brother---- + +GERDA. I suppose he hates me? + +CONSUL. No, don't you see that he has been taking care of your flowers +in the bed over there? He brought the soil himself, in a basket, +don't you remember? Don't you recognise your blue gentians and the +mignonette, your _Malmaison_ and _Merveille de Lyons_ roses, which he +budded himself? Don't you understand that he has cherished the memory +of yourself and of the child? + +GERDA. Where is he now? + +CONSUL. Taking a walk along the avenue, but he will be here in a few +minutes with the evening papers. When he comes from that side he uses +the back door, and he goes straight into the dining-room to read the +papers. Stand still and he won't notice you.--But you must go back to +your own rooms---- + +GERDA. I can't! I can't go back to that man. + +CONSUL. Who is he, and what? + +GERDA. He--has been a singer. + +CONSUL. Has been--and what is he now? An adventurer? + +GERDA. Yes! + +CONSUL. Keeps a gambling-house? + +GERDA. Yes! + +Consul. And the child? Bait? + +GERDA. Oh, don't say that! + +CONSUL. It's horrible! + +GERDA. You are too harsh about the whole thing. + +CONSUL. Of course, filth must be handled gently--so very gently! But +a just cause should be dragged in the dirt. Why did you defile his +honour, and why did you lure me into becoming your accomplice? I was +childish enough to trust your word, and I defended your unjust cause +against his. + +GERDA. You forget that he was too old. + +CONSUL. No, he wasn't _then_, as you had a child at once. When he +proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed +in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been +kept and old age began to weigh him down. + +GERDA. He deserted me, and that was an insult. + +CONSUL. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on +you. + +GERDA. He should have let me leave him. + +CONSUL. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him? + +GERDA. One of us had to bear it. + +CONSUL. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have +killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him? + +GERDA. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense. + +CONSUL. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. +But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his +daughter is to be saved: what can we do then? + +GERDA. She is my child. She's mine by law, and my husband is her +father---- + +CONSUL. Now _you_ are too harsh about it! And you have grown cruel and +vulgar--Hush! Here he comes now. + + _The_ MASTER _enters from the left with a newspaper in his + hand; he goes into the house pensively by the back door, while + the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _remain motionless, hidden behind the + corner of the house_. + + _Then the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _come down the stage. A moment + later the_ MASTER _becomes visible in the dining-room, where he + sits down to read the paper_. + +GERDA. It was he! + +CONSUL. Come over here and look at your home. See how he has kept +everything as it was--arranged to suit your taste.--Don't be afraid. +It's so dark out here that he can't see us. The light in the room +blinds him, you know. + +GERDA. How he has been lying to me! + +CONSUL. In what respect? + +GERDA. He hasn't grown old! He had grown tired of me--that was the +whole thing! Look at his collar--and his tie--the very latest fashion! +I am sure he has a mistress! + +CONSUL. Yes, you can see her photograph on the mantelshelf, between the +candelabra. + +GERDA. It is myself and the child! Does he still love me? + +CONSUL. Your memory only! + +GERDA. That's strange! + + _The_ MASTER _ceases to read and stares out through the window_. + +GERDA. He is looking at us! + +CONSUL. Don't move! + +GERDA. He is looking straight into my eyes. + +CONSUL. Be still! He doesn't see you. + +GERDA. He looks as if he were dead---- + +CONSUL. Well, he has been killed. + +GERDA. Why do you talk like that? + + _An unusually strong flash of heat-lightning illumines the + figures of the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA. + + _The_ MASTER _rises with an expression of horror on his face_. + GERDA _takes refuge behind the corner of the house_. + +MASTER. Carl Frederick! [_Coming to the window_] Are you alone? I +thought--Are you really alone? + +CONSUL. As you see. + +MASTER. The air is so sultry, and the flowers give me a headache--I am +just going to finish the newspaper. + + [_He resumes his former position._ + +CONSUL. Now let us get at your affairs. Do you want me to go with you? + +GERDA. Perhaps! But it will be a hard struggle. + +CONSUL. But the child must be saved. And I am a lawyer. + +GERDA. Well, for the child's sake, then! Come with me! + + [_They go out together._ + +MASTER. [_Calling from within_] Carl Frederick, come in and have a game +of chess!--Carl Frederick! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _Inside the dining-room. The brick stove appears at the centre + of the rear wall. To the left of it there is a door leading + into the pantry. Another door to the right of it leads to the + hallway. At the left stands a buffet with a telephone on it. A + piano and a tall clock stand at the right. There are doors in + both side walls_. + + + _The_ MASTER _is in the room, and_ LOUISE _enters as the + curtain rises_. + + +MASTER. Where did my brother go? + +LOUISE. [_Alarmed_] He was outside a moment ago. He can't be very far +away. + +MASTER. What a dreadful noise they are making up above! It is as +if they were stepping on my head! Now they are pulling out bureau +drawers as if they were were preparing for a journey--running away, +perhaps.--If you only knew how to play chess, Louise! + +LOUISE. I know a little---- + +MASTER. Oh, if you just know how to move the pieces, that will be +enough--Sit down, child. [_He sets up the chess pieces_] They are +carrying on up there so that they make the chandelier rattle--and the +confectioner is heating up down below. I think I'll have to move soon. + +LOUISE. I have long thought that you ought to do so anyhow. + +MASTER. Anyhow? + +LOUISE. It isn't good to stay too long among old memories. + +MASTER. Why not? As time passes, all memories grow beautiful. + +LOUISE. But you may live twenty years more, and that is too long a time +to live among memories which, after all, must fade and which may change +colour entirely some fine day. + +MASTER. How much you know, my child!--Begin now by moving a pawn--but +not the one in front of the queen, or you will be mate in two moves. + +LOUISE. Then I start with the knight---- + +MASTER. Hardly less dangerous, girl! + +LOUISE. But I think I'll start with the knight just the same. + +MASTER. All right. Then I'll move my bishop's pawn. + + STARCK _appears in the hallway, carrying a tray_. + +LOUISE. There's Mr. Starck with the tea-cakes. He doesn't make any more +noise than a mouse. + + [_She rises and goes out into the hallway to receive the tray, + which she then carries into the pantry_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, how is the old lady? + +STARCK. Oh, thank you, her eyes are about as usual. + +MASTER. Have you seen anything of my brother? + +STARCK. He is walking back and forth outside, I think. + +MASTER. Has he got any company? + +STARCK. No-o--I don't think so. + +MASTER. It wasn't yesterday you had a look at these rooms, Mr. Starck. + +STARCK. I should say not--it's just ten years ago now---- + +MASTER. When you brought the wedding-cake.--Does the place look changed? + +STARCK. It is just as it was--the palms have grown, of course--but the +rest is just as it was. + +MASTER. And will remain so until you bring the funeral cake. When you +have passed a certain age, nothing changes, nothing progresses--all the +movement is downward like that of a sleigh going down-hill. + +STARCK. Yes, that's the way it is. + +MASTER. And it is peaceful, the way I have it here. No love, no +friends, only a little company to break up the solitude. Then human +beings are just human beings, without any claims on your feelings and +sympathies. Then you come loose like an old tooth, and drop out without +pain or regrets. Take Louise, for instance--a pretty young girl, the +sight of whom pleases me like a work of art that I don't wish to +possess--there is nothing to disturb our relationship. My brother and I +meet like two old gentlemen who never get too close to each other and +never exact any confidences. By taking up a neutral position toward +one's fellow-men, one attains a certain distance--and as a rule we look +better at a distance. In a word, I am pleased with my old age and its +quiet peace--[_Calling out_] Louise! + +LOUISE. [_Appearing in the doorway at the left and speaking pleasantly +as always_] The laundry has come home, and I have to check it off. +[_She disappears again_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and chat a little--or +perhaps you play chess? + +STARCK. I can't stay away from my pots, and the oven has to be heated +up at eleven. It's very kind of you, however---- + +MASTER. If you catch sight of my brother, ask him to come in and keep +me company. + +STARCK. So I will--so I will! [_He goes_. + +MASTER. [_Alone; moves a couple of pieces on the chess-board; then gets +up and begins to walk about_] The peace of old age--yes! [_He sits down +at the piano and strikes a few chords; then he gets up and walks about +as before_] Louise! Can't you let the laundry wait a little? + +LOUISE. [_Appears again for a moment in the doorway at the left_] No, +I can't, because the wash-woman is in a hurry--she has husband and +children waiting for her. + +MASTER. Oh! [_He sits down at the table and begins to drum with his +fingers on it; tries to read the newspaper, but tires of it; lights +matches only to blow them out again at once; looks repeatedly at the +big clock, until at last a noise is heard from the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. [_Appears in the doorway_] It's the mail. Excuse me +for walking right in, but the door was standing open. + +MASTER. Is there a letter for me? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. Only a post-card. + + [_He hands it over and goes out_. + +MASTER. [_Reading the post-card_] Mr. Fischer again! Boston club! +That's the man up above--with the white hands and the tuxedo coat. And +to me! The impertinence of it! I have got to move!--Fischer!--[_He +tears up the card; again a noise is heard, in the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE ICEMAN. [_Without coming into the room_] It's the ice! + +MASTER. Well, it's nice to get ice in this heat. But be careful about +those bottles in the box. And put one of the pieces on edge so that I +can hear the water drip from it as it melts--That's my water-clock that +measures out the hours--the long hours--Tell me, where do you get the +ice from nowadays?--Oh, he's gone!--Everybody goes away--goes home--to +hear their own voices and get some company-[_Pause_] Is that you, Carl +Frederick? + +_Somebody in the apartment above plays Chopin's_ Fantaisie Impromptu, +Opus 66, _on the piano_--_but only the first part of it_. + +MASTER. [_Begins to listen, is aroused, looks up at the ceiling_] My +_Impromptu_? + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand and listens_. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters through the hallway_. + +MASTER. Is that you, Carl Frederick? + + _The music stops_. + +CONSUL. It is I. + +MASTER. Where have you been so long? + +CONSUL. I had some business to clear up. Have you been alone? + +MASTER. Of course! Come and play chess now. + +CONSUL. I prefer to talk. And you need also to hear your own voice a +little. + +MASTER. True enough--only it is so easy to get to talking about the +past. + +CONSUL. That makes us forget the present. + +MASTER. There is no present. What's just passing is empty nothingness. +One has to look ahead or behind--and ahead is better, for there lies +hope! + +CONSUL. [_Seating himself at the table_] Hope--of what? + +MASTER. Of change. + +CONSUL. Well! Do you mean to say you have had enough of the peace of +old age? + +MASTER. Perhaps. + +CONSUL. It's certain then. And if now you had the choice between +solitude and the past? + +MASTER. No ghosts, however! + +CONSUL. How about your memories? + +MASTER. They don't walk. They are only poems wrought by me out of +certain realities. But if dead people walk, then you have ghosts. + +CONSUL. Well, then--in your memory--who brings you the prettiest +mirage: the woman or the child? + +MASTER. Both! I cannot separate them, and that's why I never tried to +keep the child. + +CONSUL. But do you think you did right? Did the possibility of a +stepfather never occur to you? + +MASTER. I didn't think that far ahead at the time, but afterward, of +course, I have had--my thoughts--about--that very thing. + +CONSUL. A stepfather who abused--perhaps debased--your daughter? + +MASTER. Hush! + +CONSUL. What is it you hear? + +MASTER. I thought I heard the "little steps"--those little steps that +came tripping down the corridor when she was looking for me.--It was +the child that was the best of all! To watch that fearless little +creature, whom nothing could frighten, who never suspected that life +might be deceptive, who had no secrets! I recall her first experience +of the malice that is in human beings. She caught sight of a pretty +child down in the park, and, though it was strange to her, she went +up to it with open arms to kiss it--and the pretty child rewarded her +friendliness by biting her in the cheek first and then making a face +at her. Then you should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte. She stood +as if turned to stone. And it wasn't pain that did it, but horror at +the sight of that yawning abyss which is called the human heart. I +have been confronted with the same sight myself once, when out of two +beautiful eyes suddenly shot strange glances as if some evil beast had +appeared behind those eyes. It scared me literally so that I had to see +if some other person were standing behind that face, which looked like +a mask.--But why do we sit here talking about such things? Is it the +heat, or the storm, or what? + +CONSUL. Solitude brings heavy thoughts, and you ought to have company. +This summer in the city seems to have been rather hard on you. + +MASTER. Only these last few weeks. The sickness and that death up +above--it was as if I had gone through it myself. The sorrows and +cares of the confectioner have also become my own, so that I keep +worrying about his finances, about his wife's eye trouble, about his +future--and of late I have been dreaming every night about my little +Anne-Charlotte. I see her surrounded by dangers--unknown, undiscovered, +nameless. And before I fall asleep my hearing grows so unbelievably +acute that I can hear her little steps--and once I heard her voice---- + +CONSUL. But where is she then? + +MASTER. Don't ask me! + +CONSUL. And if you were to meet her on the street? + +MASTER. I imagine that I should lose my reason or fall in a faint. +Once, you know, I stayed abroad very long, during the very time when +our youngest sister was growing up. When I returned, after several +years, I was met at the steam-boat landing by a young girl who put +her arms around my neck. I was horrified at those eyes that searched +mine, but with unfamiliar glances--glances that expressed absolute +terror at not being recognised. "It is I," she repeated again and again +before at last I was able to recognise my own sister. And that's how I +imagine it would be for me to meet my daughter again. Five years are +enough to render you unrecognisable at that age. Think of it: not to +know your own child! That child, who is the same as before, and yet a +stranger! I couldn't survive such a thing. No, then I prefer to keep +the little girl of four years whom you see over there on the altar of +my home. I want no other one. [_Pause_] That must be Louise putting +things to rights in the linen closet. It has such a clean smell, and it +reminds me--oh, the housewife at her linen closet; the good fairy that +preserves and renews; the housewife with her iron, who smooths out all +that has been ruffled up and who takes out all wrinkles--the wrinkles, +yes--[_Pause_] Now--I'll--go in there to write a letter. If you'll +stay, I'll be out again soon. + + [_He goes out to the left_. + + _The_ CONSUL _coughs_. + +GERDA. [_Appears in the door to the hallway_] Are you--[_The clock +strikes_] Oh, mercy! That sound--which has remained in my ears for ten +years! That clock which never kept time and yet measured the long hours +and days and nights of five years. [_She looks around_] My piano--my +palms--the dinner-table--he has kept it in honour, shining as a +shield! My buffet--with the "Knight in Armour" and "Eve"--Eve with her +basketful of apples--In the right-hand upper drawer, way back, there +was a thermometer lying--[_Pause_] I wonder if it is still there? [_She +goes to the buffet and pulls out the right-hand drawer_] Yes, there it +is! + +CONSUL. What does that mean? + +GERDA. Oh, in the end it became a symbol--of instability. When we went +to housekeeping the thermometer was not put in its place at once--of +course, it ought to be outside the window. I promised to put it up--and +forgot it. He promised, and forgot. Then we nagged each other about +it, and at last, to get away from it, I hid it in this drawer. I came +to hate it, and so did he. Do you know what was back of all that? +Neither one of us believed that our relationship would last, because we +unmasked at once and gave free vent to our antipathies. To begin with, +we lived on tiptoe, so to speak--always ready to fly off at a moment's +notice. That was what the thermometer stood for--and here it is still +lying! Always on the move, always changeable, like the weather. [_She +puts away the thermometer and goes over to the chess-board_] My chess +pieces! Which he bought to kill the time that hung heavy on our hands +while we were waiting for the little one to come. With whom does he +play now? + +CONSUL. With me. + +GERDA. Where is he? + +CONSUL. He is in his room writing a letter. + +GERDA. Where? + +CONSUL. [_Pointing toward the left_] There. + +GERDA. [_Shocked_] And here he has been going for five years? + +CONSUL. Ten years--five of them alone! + +GERDA. Of course, he loves solitude. + +CONSUL. But I think he has had enough of it. + +GERDA. Will he turn me out? + +CONSUL. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite. + +GERDA. I didn't make that centrepiece---- + +CONSUL. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child. + +GERDA. But it was he who should help me find it again---- + +CONSUL. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the +purpose of his flight? + +GERDA. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; +then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of +course. + +CONSUL. As to the ballet--that's something the father _must not_ know, +for he hates music-halls. + +GERDA. [_Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, +absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces_] Music-halls--oh, I have been +there myself. + +CONSUL. You? + +GERDA. I have accompanied on the piano. + +CONSUL. Poor Gerda! + +GERDA. Why? I love that kind of life. And when I was a prisoner here, +it wasn't the keeper, but the prison itself, that made me fret. + +CONSUL. But now you have had enough? + +GERDA. Now I am in love with peace and solitude--and with my child +above all. + +CONSUL. Hush, he's coming! + +GERDA. [_Rises as if to run away, but sinks down on the chair again_] +Oh! + +CONSUL. Now I leave you. Don't think of what you are to say. It will +come of itself, like the "next move" in a game of chess. + +GERDA. I fear his first glance most of all, for it will tell me whether +I have changed for better or for worse--whether I have grown old and +ugly. + +CONSUL. [_Going out to the right_] If he finds you looking older, then +he will dare to approach you. If he finds you as young as ever, he will +have no hope, for he is more diffident than you think.--Now! + + _The_ MASTER _is seen outside, passing by the door leading + to the pantry; he carries a letter in his hand; then he + disappears, only to become visible again a moment later in the + hallway, where he opens the outside door and steps out_. + +CONSUL. [_In the doorway at the right_] He went out to the mail-box. + +GERDA. No, this is too much for me! How can I possibly ask _him_ to +help me with this divorce? I want to get out! It's too brazen! + +CONSUL. Stay! You know that his kindness has no limits. And he'll help +you for the child's sake. + +GERDA. No, no! + +CONSUL. And he is the only one who can help you. + +MASTER. [_Enters quickly from the hallway and nods at_ GERDA, _whom, +because of his near-sightedness, he mistakes for_ LOUISE; _then he goes +to the buffet and picks up the telephone, but in passing he remarks to_ +GERDA] So you're done already? Well, get the pieces ready then, and +we'll begin all over again--from the beginning. + + GERDA _stands paralysed, not understanding the situation_. + +MASTER. [_Speaks in the telephone receiver, with his back to_ Gerda] +Hello!--Good evening! Is that you, mother?--Pretty well, thank you! +Louise is waiting to play a game of chess with me, but she is a +little tired after a lot of bother--It's all over now--everything +all right--nothing serious at all.--If it's hot? Well, there has +been a lot of thundering, right over our heads, but nobody has been +struck. False alarm!--What did you say? Fischer?--Yes, but I think +they are going to leave.--Why so? I know nothing in particular.--Oh, +is that so?--Yes, it leaves at six-fifteen, by the outside route, +and it gets there--let me see--at eight-twenty-five.--Did you have a +good time?--[_With a little laugh_] Oh, he's impossible when he gets +started! And what did Marie have to say about it?--How I have had it +during the summer? Oh, well, Louise and I have kept each other company, +and she has got such an even, pleasant temper.--Yes, she is very nice, +indeed!--Oh, no, nothing of that kind! + + GERDA, _who has begun to understand, rises with an expression + of consternation on her face_. + +MASTER. My eyes? Oh, I am getting a little near-sighted. But I feel +like the confectioner's old wife: there is nothing to look at. Wish I +were deaf, too! Deaf and blind! The neighbours above make such a lot of +noise at night--it's a gambling club--There now! Somebody got on the +wire to listen. [_He rings again_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the hallway without being seen + by the_ MASTER; GERDA _stares at her with mingled admiration + and hatred_; LOUISE _withdraws toward the right_. + +MASTER. [_At the telephone_] Is that you? The cheek of it--to +break off our talk in order to listen!--To-morrow, then, at +six-fifteen.--Thank you, and the same to you!--Yes, I will, +indeed!--Good night, mother! [_He rings off_. + + LOUISE _has disappeared_. GERDA _is standing in the middle of + the floor_. + +MASTER. [_Turns around and catches sight of_ GERDA, _whom he gradually +recognises; then he puts his hand to his heart_] O Lord, was that you? +Wasn't Louise here a moment ago? + + GERDA _remains silent_. + +MASTER. [_Feebly_] How--how did you get here? + +GERDA. I hope you pardon--I just got to the city--I was passing by and +felt a longing to have a look at my old home--the windows were open---- + + [_Pause_. + +MASTER. Do you find things as they used to be? + +GERDA. Exactly, and yet different--there is a difference + +MASTER. [_Feeling unhappy_] Are you satisfied--with your life? + +GERDA. Yes. I have what I was looking for. + +MASTER. And the child? + +GERDA. Oh, she's growing, and thriving, and lacks nothing. + +MASTER. Then I won't ask anything more. [_Pause_] Did you want +anything--of me--can I be of any service? + +GERDA. It's very kind of you, but--I need nothing at all now when I +have seen that you lack nothing either. [_Pause]_ Do you wish to see +Anne-Charlotte? + +MASTER. I don't think so, now when I have heard that she is doing well. +It's so hard to begin over again. It's like having to repeat a lesson +at school--which you know already, although the teacher doesn't think +so--I have got so far away from all that--I live in a wholly different +region--and I cannot connect with the past. It goes against me to be +impolite, but I am not asking you to be seated--you are another man's +wife--and you are not the same person as the one from whom I parted. + +GERDA. Am I then so--altered? + +MASTER. Quite strange to me! Your voice, glance, manner---- + +GERDA. Have I grown old? + +MASTER. That I cannot tell!--They say that not a single atom in a +person's body remains wholly the same after three years--and in five +years everything is renewed. And for that reason you, who stand over +there, are not the same person as the sufferer who once sat here--you +seem such a complete stranger to me that I can only address you in the +most formal way. And I suppose it would be just the same in the case of +my daughter, too. + +GERDA. Don't speak like that. I would much rather have you angry. + +MASTER. Why should I be angry? + +GERDA. Because of all the evil I have done you. + +MASTER. Have you? That's more than I know. + +GERDA. Didn't you read the papers in the suit? + +MASTER. No-o! I left that to my lawyer. [_He sits down_. + +GERDA. And the decision of the court? + +MASTER. No, why should I? As I don't mean to marry again, I have no use +for that kind of documents. + + _Pause_. GERDA _seats herself_. + +MASTER. What did those papers say? That I was too old? + + GERDA'S _silence indicates assent_. + +MASTER. Well, that was nothing but the truth, so that need not trouble +you. In my answer I said the very same thing and asked the Court to set +you free again. + +GERDA. You said, that---- + +MASTER. I said, not that I _was_, but that I was about to _become_ too +old _for you_! + +GERDA. [_Offended_] For me? + +MASTER. Yes.--I couldn't say that I was too old when we married, for +then the arrival of the child would have been unpleasantly explained, +and it was _our_ child, was it not? + +GERDA. You know that, of course! But---- + +MASTER. Do you think I should be ashamed of my age?--Of course, if +I took to dancing and playing cards at night, then I might soon land +in an invalid's chair, or on the operating-table, and that would be a +shame. + +GERDA. You don't look it---- + +MASTER. Did you expect the divorce to kill me? + + _The silence of_ GERDA _is ambiguous_. + +MASTER. There are those who assert that you _have_ killed me. Do you +think I look like a dead man? + + GERDA _appears embarrassed_. + +MASTER. Some of your friends are said to have caricatured me in the +papers, but I have never seen anything of it, and those papers went +into the dump five years ago. So there is no need for your conscience +to be troubled on my behalf. + +GERDA. Why did you marry me? + +MASTER. Don't you know why a man marries? And you know, too, that I +didn't have to go begging for love. And you ought to remember how +we laughed together at all the wiseacres who felt compelled to warn +you.--But why you led me on is something I have never been able to +explain--When you didn't look at me after the marriage ceremony, but +acted as if you had been attending somebody else's wedding, then I +thought you had made a bet that you could kill me. As the head of the +department, I was, of course, hated by all my subordinates, but they +became your friends at once. No sooner did I make an enemy than he +became _your_ friend. Which caused me to remark that, while it was +right for you not to hate your enemies, it was also right that you +shouldn't _love_ mine!--However, seeing where you stood, I began to +prepare for a retreat at once, but before leaving I wanted a living +proof that you had not been telling the truth, and so I stayed until +the little one arrived. + +GERDA. To think that you could be so disingenuous! + +MASTER. I learned to keep silent, but I never lied!--By degrees you +turned all my friends into detectives, and you lured my own brother +into betraying me. But worst of all was that your thoughtless chatter +threw suspicions on the legitimacy of the child. + +GERDA. All that I took back! + +MASTER. The word that's on the wing cannot be pulled back again. And +worse still: those false rumours reached the child, and now she thinks +her mother a---- + +GERDA. For Heaven's sake! + +MASTER. Well, that's the truth of it. You raised a tall tower on a +foundation of lies, and now the tower of lies is tumbling down on your +head. + +GERDA. It isn't true! + +MASTER. Yes, it is! I met Anne-Charlotte a few minutes ago---- + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. We met on the stairs, and she said I was her uncle. Do you +know what an uncle is? That's an elderly friend of the house and the +mother. And I know that at school I am also passing as her uncle.--But +all that is dreadful for the child! + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. Yes. But why should I tell anybody about it? Haven't I a right +to keep silent? And, besides, that meeting was so shocking to me that I +wiped it out of my memory as if it had never existed. + +GERDA. What can I do to rehabilitate you? + +MASTER. You? What could you do? That's something I can only do myself. +[_For a long time they gaze intently at each other_] And for that +matter, I have already got my rehabilitation. [_Pause_. + +GERDA. Can't I make good in some way? Can't I ask you to forgive, to +forget---- + +MASTER. What do you mean? + +GERDA. To restore, to repair---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to resume, to start over again, to reinstate a +master above me? No, thanks! I don't want you. + +GERDA. And this I had to hear! + +MASTER. Well, how does it taste? [_Pause_. + +GERDA. That's a pretty centrepiece. + +MASTER. Yes, it's pretty. + +GERDA. Where did you get it? [_Pause_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the pantry with a bill in her + hand_. + +MASTER. [_Turning toward her_] Is it a bill? + +GERDA _rises and begins to pull on her gloves with such violence that +buttons are scattered right and left_. + +MASTER. [_Taking out the money_] Eighteen-seventy-two. That's just +right. + +LOUISE. I should like to see you a moment, sir. + +MASTER. [_Rises and goes to the door, where_ LOUISE _whispers something +into his ear_] Oh, mercy---- + +LOUISE _goes out_. + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. What do you mean? That I am jealous of your servant-girl? + +MASTER. No, I didn't mean that. + +GERDA. Yes, you meant that you were too old for me, but not for her. +I catch the insulting point--She's pretty--I don't deny it--for a +servant-girl---- + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. Why do you say that? + +MASTER. Because you are to be pitied. Jealous of my servant--that ought +to be rehabilitation enough. + +GERDA. Jealous, I---- + +MASTER. Why do you fly in a rage at my nice, gentle kinswoman? + +GERDA. "A little more than kin." + +MASTER. No, my dear, I have long ago resigned myself--and I am +satisfied with my solitude--[_The telephone rings, and he goes to +answer it_] Mr. Fischer? No, that isn't here.--Oh, yes, that's me.--Has +he skipped?--With whom, do you say?--with Starck's daughter! Oh, good +Lord! How old is she?--Eighteen! A mere child! [_Rings off_. + +GERDA. I knew he had run away.--But with a woman!--Now you're pleased. + +MASTER. No, I am not pleased. Although there is a sort of solace to my +mind in finding justice exists in this world. Life is very quick in its +movements, and now you find yourself where I was. + +GERDA. Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine--I am old--too old for +him! + +MASTER. Everything is relative, even age.--But now let us get at +something else. Where is your child? + +GERDA. My child? I had forgotten it! My child! My God! Help me! He +has taken the child with him. He loves Anne-Charlotte as his own +daughter--Come with me to the police--come! + +MASTER. I? Now you ask too much. + +GERDA. Help me! + +MASTER. [_Goes to the door at the right_] Come, Carl Frederick--get a +cab--take Gerda down to the police station--won't you? + +CONSUL. [_Enters_] Of course I will! We are human, are we not? + +MASTER. Quick! But say nothing to Starck. Matters may be straightened +out yet--Poor fellow--and I am sorry for Gerda, too!--Hurry up now! + +GERDA. [_Looking out through the window_] It's beginning to rain--lend +me an umbrella. Eighteen years--only eighteen--quick, now! + + _She goes out with the_ CONSUL. + +MASTER. [_Alone_] The peace of old age!--And my child in the hands of +an adventurer!--Louise! + + LOUISE _enters_. + +MASTER. Come and play chess with me. + +LOUISE. Has the consul---- + +MASTER. He has gone out on some business. Is it still raining? + +LOUISE. No, it has stopped now. + +MASTER. Then I'll go out and cool off a little. [_Pause_] You are a +nice girl, and sensible--did you know the confectioner's daughter? + +LOUISE. Very slightly. + +MASTER. Is she pretty? + +LOUISE. Ye-es. + +MASTER. Have you known the people above us? + +LOUISE. I have never seen them. + +MASTER. That's an evasion. + +LOUISE. I have learned to keep silent in this house. + +MASTER. I am forced to admit that pretended deafness can be carried to +the point where it becomes dangerous.--Well, get the tea ready while I +go outside and cool off a little. And, one thing, please--you see what +is happening, of course--but don't ask me any questions. + +LOUISE. I? No, sir, I am not at all curious. + +MASTER. I am thankful for that! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + _The front of the house as in the First Scene. There is light + in the confectioner's place in the basement. The gas is also + lit on the second floor, where now the shades are raised and + the windows open_. + + + STARCK _is sitting near the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Seated on the green bench_] That was a nice little shower we +had. + +STARCK. Quite a blessing! Now the raspberries will be coming in +again---- + +MASTER. Then I'll ask you to put aside a few jars for us. We have grown +tired of making the jam ourselves. It only gets spoiled. + +STARCK. Yes, I know. Jars of jam are like mischievous children: you +have to watch them all the time. There are people who put in salicylic +acid, but those are newfangled tricks in which I take no stock. + +MASTER. Salicylic acid--yes, they say it's antiseptic--and perhaps it's +a good thing. + +STARCK. Yes, but you can taste it--and it's a trick. + +MASTER. Tell me, Mr. Starck, have you got a telephone? + +STARCK. No, I have no telephone. + +MASTER. Oh! + +STARCK. Why do you ask? + +MASTER. Oh, I happened to think--a telephone is handy at times--for +orders--and important communications---- + +STARCK. That may be. But sometimes it is just as well to +escape--communications. + +MASTER. Quite right! Quite right!--Yes, my heart always beats a little +faster when I hear it ring--one never knows what one is going to +hear--and I want peace--peace, above all else. + +STARCK. So do I. + +MASTER. [_Looking at his watch_] The lamplighter ought to be here soon. + +STARCK. He must have forgotten us, for I see that the lamps are already +lit further down the avenue. + +MASTER. Then he'll be here soon. It will be a lot of fun to see our +lamp lighted again. + + _The telephone in the dining-room rings_. LOUISE _comes in to + answer the call. The_ MASTER _rises and puts one hand up to his + heart. He tries to listen, but the public cannot hear anything + of what is said within. Pause. After a while_ LOUISE _comes out + by way of the square_. + +MASTER. [_Anxiously_] What news? + +LOUISE. No change. + +MASTER. Was that my brother? + +LOUISE. No, it was the lady. + +MASTER. What did she want? + +LOUISE. To speak to you, sir. + +MASTER. I don't want to!--Have I to console my executioner? I used to +do it, but now I am tired of it.--Look up there! They have forgotten +to turn out the light--and light makes empty rooms more dreadful than +darkness--the ghosts become visible. [_In a lowered voice_] And how +about Starck's Agnes? Do you think he knows anything? + +LOUISE. It's hard to tell, for he never speaks about his sorrows--nor +does anybody else in the Silent House! + +MASTER. Do you think he should be told? + +LOUISE. For Heaven's sake, no! + +MASTER. But I fear it isn't the first time she gave him trouble. + +LOUISE. He never speaks of her. + +MASTER. It's horrible! I wonder if we'll get to the end of it soon? +[_The telephone rings again_] Now it's ringing again. Don't answer. I +don't want to hear anything.--My child--in such company! An adventurer +and a strumpet!--It's beyond limit!--Poor Gerda! + +LOUISE. It's better to have certainty. I'll go in--You must do +something! + +MASTER. I cannot move--I can receive blows, but to strike back--no! + +LOUISE. But if you don't repel a danger, it will press closer; and if +you don't resist, you'll be destroyed. + +MASTER. But if you refuse to be drawn in, you become unassailable. + +LOUISE. Unassailable? + +MASTER. Things straighten out much better if you don't mess them up +still further by interference. How can you want me to direct matters +where so many passions are at play? Do you think I can suppress +anybody's emotions, or give them a new turn? + +LOUISE. But how about the child? + +MASTER. I have surrendered my rights--and besides--frankly speaking--I +don't care for them--not at all now, when _she_ has been here and +spoiled the images harboured in my memory. She has wiped out all the +beauty that I had cherished, and now there is nothing left. + +LOUISE. But that's to be set free! + +MASTER. Look, how empty the place seems in there--as if everybody had +moved out; and up there--as if there had been a fire. + +LOUISE. Who is coming there? + + AGNES _enters, excited and frightened, but trying hard + to control herself; she makes for the gateway, where the + confectioner is seated on his chair_. + +LOUISE [_To the_ MASTER] There is Agnes? What can this mean? + +MASTER. Agnes? Then things are getting straightened out. + +STARCK. [_With perfect calm_] Good evening, girl! Where have you been? + +AGNES. I have been for a walk. + +STARCK. Your mother has asked for you several times. + +AGNES. Is that so? Well, here I am. + +STARCK. Please go down and help her start a fire under the little oven. + +AGNES. Is she angry with me, then? + +STARCK. You know that she cannot be angry with you. + +AGNES. Oh, yes, but she doesn't say anything. + +STARCK. Well, girl, isn't it better to escape being scolded? + + AGNES _disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Does he know, or doesn't he? + +LOUISE. Let's hope that he will remain in ignorance. + +MASTER. But what can have happened? A breach? [_To_ STARCK] Say, Mr. +Starck---- + +STARCK. What is it? + +MASTER. I thought--Did you notice if anybody left the house a while ago? + +STARCK. I saw the iceman, and also a mail-carrier, I think. + +MASTER. Oh! [_To_ LOUISE] Perhaps it was a mistake--that we didn't hear +right--I can't explain it--Or maybe he is not telling the truth? What +did she say when she telephoned? + +LOUISE. That she wanted to speak to you. + +MASTER. How did it sound? Was she excited? + +LOUISE. Yes. + +MASTER. I think it's rather shameless of her to appeal to me in a +matter like this. + +LOUISE. But the child! + +MASTER. Just think, I met my daughter on the stairway, and when I asked +her if she recognised me she called me uncle and told me that her +father was up-stairs. Of course, he is her stepfather, and has all the +rights--They have just spent their time exterminating me, blackguarding +me---- + +LOUISE. A cab is stopping at the corner. + + STARCK _withdraws into the gateway_. + +MASTER. I only hope they don't come back to burden me again! Just +think: to have to hear my child singing the praise of her father--the +other one! And then to begin the old story all over again: "Why did you +marry me?"--"Oh, you know; but what made you want me?"--"You know very +well!"--And so on, until the end of the world. + +LOUISE. It was the consul that came. + +MASTER. How does he look? + +LOUISE. He is taking his time. + +MASTER. Practising what he is to say, I suppose. Does he look satisfied? + +LOUISE. Thoughtful, rather---- + +MASTER. Hm!--That's the way it always was. Whenever he saw that woman +he became disloyal to me. She had the power of charming everybody but +me. To me she seemed coarse, vulgar, ugly, stupid; to all the rest she +seemed refined, pleasant, handsome, intelligent. All the hatred aroused +by my independence centred in her under the form of a boundless +sympathy for whoever wronged me in any way. Through her they strove to +control and influence me, to wound me, and, at last, to kill me. + +LOUISE. Now, I'll go in and watch the telephone--I suppose this storm +will pass like all others. + +MASTER. Men cannot bear independence. They want you to obey them. Every +one of my subordinates in the department, down to the very messengers, +wanted me to obey him. And when I wouldn't they called me a despot. The +servants in our house wanted me to obey them and eat food that had been +warmed up. When I wouldn't, they set my wife against me. And finally +my wife wanted me to obey the child, but then I left, and then all of +them combined against the tyrant--which was I!--Get in there quick now, +Louise, so we can set off our mines out here. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters from the left_. + +MASTER. Results--not details--please! + +CONSUL. Let's sit down. I am a little tired. + +MASTER. I think it has rained on the bench. + +CONSUL. It can't be too wet for me if you have been sitting on it. + +MASTER. A you like!--Where is my child? + +CONSUL. Can I begin at the beginning? + +MASTER. Begin! + +CONSUL [_Speaking slowly_] I got to the depot with Gerda--and at the +ticket-office I discovered him and Agnes---- + +MASTER. So Agnes was with him? + +CONSUL. And so was the child!--Gerda stayed outside, and I went up to +them. At that moment _he_ was handing Agnes the tickets, but when she +discovered that they were for third class she threw them in his face +and walked out to the cab-stand. + +MASTER. Ugh! + +CONSUL. As soon as I had established a connection with the man, Gerda +hurried up and got hold of the child, disappearing with it in the +crowd---- + +MASTER. What did the man have to say? + +CONSUL. Oh, you know--when you come to hear the other side--and so on. + +MASTER. I want to hear it. Of course, he isn't as bad as we thought--he +has his good sides---- + +CONSUL. Exactly! + +MASTER. I thought so! But you don't want me to sit here listening to +eulogies of my enemy? + +CONSUL. Oh, not eulogies, but ameliorating circumstances---- + +MASTER. Did you ever want to listen to me when I tried to explain the +true state of affairs to you? Yes, you did listen--but your reply was +a disapproving silence, as if I had been lying to you. You have always +sided with what was wrong, and you have believed nothing but lies, and +the reason was--that you were in love with Gerda! But there was also +another reason---- + +CONSUL. Brother, don't say anything more! You see nothing but your own +side of things. + +MASTER. How can you expect me to view my conditions from the standpoint +of my enemy? I cannot take sides against myself, can I? + +CONSUL. I am not your enemy. + +MASTER. Yes, when you make friends with one who has wronged me!--Where +is my child? + +CONSUL. I don't know. + +MASTER. What was the outcome at the depot? + +CONSUL. He took a south-bound train alone. + +MASTER. And the others? + +CONSUL. Disappeared. + +MASTER. Then I may have them after me again. [_Pause]_ Did you see if +they went with him? + +CONSUL. He went alone. + +MASTER. Well, then we are done with that one, at least. Number +two--there remain now--the mother and the child. + +CONSUL. Why is the light burning up there in their rooms? + +MASTER. Because they forgot to turn it out. + +CONSUL. I'll go up---- + +MASTER. No, don't go!--I only hope that they don't come back here!--To +repeat, always repeat, begin the same lesson all over again! + +CONSUL. But it has begun to straighten out. + +MASTER. Yet the worst remains--Do you think they will come back? + +CONSUL. Not she--not since she had to make you amends in the presence +of Louise. + +MASTER. I had forgotten that! She really did me the honour of becoming +jealous! I do think there is justice in this world! + +CONSUL. And then she learned that Agnes was younger than herself. + +MASTER. Poor Gerda! But in a case like this you mustn't tell people +that justice exists--an avenging justice--for it is sheer falsehood +that they love justice! And you must deal gently with their filth. And +Nemesis--exists only for the other person.--There it's ringing again? +That telephone makes a noise like a rattlesnake! + + LOUISE _becomes visible at the telephone inside. Pause_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Did the snake bite? + +LOUISE. [_At the window_] May I speak to you, sir? + +MASTER. [_Going up to the window_] Speak out! + +LOUISE. The lady has gone to her mother, in the country, to live there +with her little girl. + +Master. [_To his brother_] Mother and child in the country--in a good +home! Now it's straightened out!--Oh! + +LOUISE. And she asked us to turn out the light up-stairs. + +MASTER. Do that at once, Louise, and pull down the shades so we don't +have to look at it any longer. + + LOUISE _leaves the dining-room_. + +STARCK. [_Coming out on the sidewalk again and looking up]_ I think the +storm has passed over. + +MASTER. It seems really to have cleared up, and that means we'll have +moonlight. + +CONSUL. That was a blessed rain! + +STARCK. Perfectly splendid! + +MASTER. Look, there's the lamplighter coming at last! + + _The_ LAMPLIGHTER _enters, lights the street lamp beside the + bench, and passes on_. + +MASTER. The first lamp! Now the fall is here! That's our season, old +chaps! It's getting dark, but then comes reason to light us with its +bull's-eyes, so that we don't go astray. + + LOUISE _becomes visible at one of the windows on the second + floor; immediately afterward everything is dark up there_. + +Master. [_To_ Louise] Close the windows and pull down the shades so +that all memories can lie down and sleep in peace! The peace of old +age! And this fall I move away from the Silent House. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + +(BRÄNDA TOMTEN) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + +CHARACTERS + +RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM, _a dyer_ +THE STRANGER, _who is_) } +ARVID WALSTRÖM } _brother of_ RUDOLPH +ANDERSON, _a mason (brother-in-law of the gardener)_ +MRS. ANDERSON, _wife of the mason_ +GUSTAFSON, _a gardener (brother-in-law of the mason)_ +ALFRED, _son of the gardener_ +ALBERT ERICSON, _a stone-cutter_ (_second cousin of the hearse-driver_) +MATHILDA, _daughter of the stone-cutter_ +THE HEARSE-DRIVER (_second cousin of the stone-cutter_) +A DETECTIVE +SJÖBLOM, _a painter_ +MRS. WESTERLUND, _hostess at "The Last Nail," formerly a + nurse at the dyer's_ +MRS. WALSTRÖM, _wife of the dyer_ +THE STUDENT +THE WITNESS + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell + of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains + on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing_. + + _Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom._ + + _At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which + is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed + outside._ + + _At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture + and household utensils that have been saved from the fire_. + + SJÖBLOM, _the painter, is painting the window-frames of the + inn. He listens closely to everything that is said_. + + ANDERSON, _the mason, is digging in the ruins_. + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the fire entirely out? + +ANDERSON. There isn't any smoke, at least. + +DETECTIVE. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [_Pause_] You were +born in this quarter, were you not? + +ANDERSON. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this +street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father +helped to put in the brick. + +DETECTIVE. Then you know everybody around here? + +ANDERSON. We all know each other. There is something particular about +this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. +That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or +later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is +way out there at the end of the street. + +DETECTIVE. You have got a special name for this quarter, haven't you? + +ANDERSON. We call it the Bog. And all of us hate each other, and +suspect each other, and blackguard each other, and torment each other +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. The fire started at half past ten in the evening, I +hear--was the front door locked at that time? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know, for I live in the house next +to this. + +DETECTIVE. Where did the fire start? + +ANDERSON. Up in the attic, where the student was living. + +DETECTIVE. Was he at home? + +ANDERSON. No, he was at the theatre. + +DETECTIVE. Had he gone away and left the lamp burning, then? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. [_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the student any relation to the owner of the house? + +ANDERSON. No, I don't think so.--Say, you haven't got anything to do +with the police, have you? + +DETECTIVE. How did it happen that the inn didn't catch fire? + +ANDERSON. They slung a tarpaulin over it and turned on the hose. + +DETECTIVE. Queer that the apple-trees were not destroyed by the heat. + +ANDERSON. They had just budded, and it had been raining during the day, +but the heat made the buds go into bloom in the middle of the night--a +little too early, I guess, for there is frost coming, and then the +gardener will catch it. + +DETECTIVE. What kind of fellow is the gardener? + +ANDERSON. His name is Gustafson---- + +DETECTIVE. Yes, but what sort of a man is he? + +ANDERSON. See here: I am seventy-five--and for that reason I don't know +anything bad about Gustafson; and if I knew I wouldn't be telling it! +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. And the owner of the house is named Walström, a dyer, about +sixty years old, married---- + +ANDERSON. Why don't you go on yourself? You can't pump me any longer. + +DETECTIVE. Is it thought that the fire was started on purpose? + +ANDERSON. That's what people think of all fires. + +DETECTIVE. And whom do they suspect? + +ANDERSON. The insurance company always suspects anybody who has an +interest in the fire--and for that reason I have never had anything +insured. + +DETECTIVE. Did you find anything while you were digging? + +ANDERSON. Mostly one finds all the door-keys, because people haven't +got time to take them along when the house is on fire--except now and +then, of course, when they have been taken away---- + +DETECTIVE. There was no electric light in the house? + +ANDERSON. Not in an old house like this, and that's a good thing, for +then they can't put the blame on crossed wires. + +DETECTIVE. Put the blame?--A good thing?--Listen---- + +ANDERSON. Oh, you're going to get me in a trap? Don't you do it, for +then I take it all back. + +DETECTIVE. Take back? You can't! + +ANDERSON. Can't I? + +DETECTIVE. No! + +ANDERSON. Yes! For there was no witness present. + +DETECTIVE. No? + +ANDERSON. Naw! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _coughs. The_ WITNESS _comes in from the left_. + +DETECTIVE. Here's _one_ witness. + +ANDERSON. You're a sly one! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, there are people who know how to use their brains +without being seventy-five. [_To the_ WITNESS] Now we'll continue with +the gardener. + + [_They go out to the left_. + +ANDERSON. There I put my foot in it, I guess. But that's what happens +when you get to talking. + + MRS. ANDERSON _enters with her husband's lunch in a bundle_. + +ANDERSON. It's good you came. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now we'll have lunch and be good--you might well +be hungry after all this fuss--I wonder if Gustafson can pull +through--he'd just got done with his hotbeds and was about to start +digging in the open--why don't you eat?--and there's Sjöblom already at +work with his putty--just think of it, that Mrs. Westerlund got off as +well as she did--morning, Sjöblom, now you've got work, haven't you? + + MRS. WESTERLUND _comes in_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Morning, morning, Mrs. Westerlund--you got out of this +fine, I must say, and then---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I wonder who's going to pay me for all I am losing +to-day, when there's a big funeral on at the cemetery, which always +makes it a good day for me, and just when I've had to put away all my +bottles and glassware---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Who's that they're burying to-day? I see such a lot of +people going out that way--and then, of course, they've come to see +where the fire was, too. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I don't think they're burying anybody, but I've heard +they're going to put up a monument over the bishop--worst of it is that +the stone-cutter's daughter was going to get married to the gardener's +son--him, you know, who's in a store down-town--and now the gardener +has lost all he had--isn't that his furniture standing over there? + +MRS. ANDERSON. I guess that's some of the dyer's, too, seeing as it +came out helter-skelter in a jiffy--and where's the dyer now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. He's down at the police station testifying. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Hm-hm!--Yes, yes!--And there's my cousin now--him what +drives the hearse--he's always thirsty on his way back. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. [_Enters_] How do, Malvina! So you've gone and started a +little job of arson out here during the night, have you? Looks pretty, +doesn't it. Would have been better to get a new shanty instead, I guess. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Oh, mercy me! But whom have you been taking out now? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Can't remember what his name was--only _one_ carriage +along, and no flowers on the coffin at all. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Sure and it wasn't any happy funeral, then! If you +want anything to drink you'll have to go 'round to the kitchen, for +I haven't got things going on this side yet, and, for that matter, +Gustafson is coming here with a lot of wreaths--they've got something +on out at the cemetery to-day. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Yes, they're going to put up a moniment to the +bishop--'cause he wrote books, I guess, and collected all kinds of +vermin--was a reg'lar vermin-hunter, they tell me. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What's that? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Oh, he had slabs of cork with pins on 'em, and a lot of +flies--something beyond us here--but I guess that's the proper way--can +I go out to the kitchen now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, if you use the back door, I think you can get +something wet---- + +HEARSE-DRIVER. But I want to have a word with the dyer before I drive +off--I've got my horses over at the stone-cutter's, who's my second +cousin, you know. Haven't got any use for him, as you know, too, but +we're doing business together, he and I--that is, I put in a word for +him with the heirs, and so he lets me put my horses into his yard--just +let me know when the dyer shows up--luck, wasn't it, that he didn't +have his works here, too---- + + [_He goes out, passing around the inn_. + + MRS. WESTERLUND _goes into the inn by the front door_. + + ANDERSON, _who has finished eating, begins to dig again_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Do you find anything? + +ANDERSON. Nails and door-hinges--all the keys are hanging in a bunch +over there by the front door. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Did they hang there before, or did you put them there? + +ANDERSON. No, they were hanging there when I got here. + +MRS. ANDERSON. That's queer--for then somebody must have locked all the +doors and taken out the keys before it began burning! That's queer! + +ANDERSON. Yes, of course, it's a little queer, for in that way it was +harder to get at the fire and save things. Yes--yes! [_Pause_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. I worked for the dyer's father forty years ago, I did, +and I know the people, both the dyer himself and his brother what +went off to America, though they say he's back now. The father, he +was a real man, he was, but the boys were always a little so-so. Mrs. +Westerlund over here, she used to take care of Rudolph, and the two +brothers never could get along, but kept scrapping and fighting all +the time.--I've seen a thing or two, I have--yes, there's a whole lot +what has happened in that house, so I guess it was about time to get it +smoked out.--Ugh, but that was a house! One went this way and another +that, but back they had to come, and here they died and here they were +born, and here they married and were divorced.--And Arvid, the brother +what went off to America--him they thought dead for years, and at least +he didn't take what was coming to him after his father, but now they +say he's come back, though nobody has seen him--and there's such a lot +of talking--Look, there's the dyer back from the police station! + +ANDERSON. He doesn't look happy exactly, but I suppose that's more than +can be expected--Well, who's that student that lived in the attic? How +does he hang together with the rest? + +MRS. ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. He had his board there, +and read with the children. + +ANDERSON. And also with the lady of the house? + +MRS. ANDERSON. No-o, they played something what they called tennis, +and quarrelled the rest of the time--yes, quarrelling and backbiting, +that's what everybody is up to in this quarter. + +ANDERSON. Well, when they broke the student's door open they found +hairpins on the floor--it had to come out, after all, even if the fire +had to sweep over it first---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. I don't think it was the dyer that came, but our +brother-in-law, Gustafson---- + +ANDERSON. He's always mad, and to-day I suppose he's worse than ever, +and so he'll have to come and dun me for what I owe him, seeing what he +has lost in the fire---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now you shut up! + +GUSTAFSON. [_Enters with a basketful of funeral wreaths and other +products of his trade_] I wonder if I am going to sell anything to-day +so there'll be enough for food after all this rumpus? + +ANDERSON. Didn't you carry any insurance? + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, I used to have insurance on the glass panes over my +hotbeds, but this year I felt stingy, and so I put in oiled paper +instead--gosh, that I could be such a darned fool!--[_Scratching his +head_] I don't get paid for that, of course. And now I've got to cut +and paste and oil six hundred paper panes. It's as I have always said: +that I was the worst idiot among us seven children. Gee, what an ass +I was--what a booby! And then I went and got drunk yesterday. Why in +hell did I have to get drunk that day of all days--when I need all the +brains I've got to-day? It was the stone-cutter who treated, because +our children are going to get married to-night, but I should have said +no. I didn't want to, but I'm a ninny who can't say no to anybody. +And that's the way when they come and borrow money of me--I can't say +no--darned fool that I am! And then I got in the way of that policeman, +who snared me with all sorts of questions. I should have kept my mouth +shut, like the painter over there, but I can't, and so I let out this, +that, and the other thing, and he put it all down, and now I am called +as a witness! + +ANDERSON. What was it you said? + +GUSTAFSON. I said I thought--that it looked funny to me--and that +somebody must have started it. + +ANDERSON. Oh, that's what you said! + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, pitch into me--I've deserved it, goose that I am! + +ANDERSON. And who could have started it, do you think?--Don't mind the +painter, and my old woman here never carries any tales. + +GUSTAFSON. Who started it? Why, the student, of course, as it started +in his room. + +ANDERSON. No--_under_ his room! + +GUSTAFSON. Under, you say? Then I _have_ gone and done it!--Oh, I'll +come to a bad end, I'm sure!--_Under_ his room, you say--what could +have been there--the kitchen? + +ANDERSON. No, a closet--see, over there! It was used by the cook. + +GUSTAFSON. Then it must have been her. + +ANDERSON. Yes, but don't you say so, as you don't know. + +GUSTAFSON. The stone-cutter had it in for the cook last night--I guess +he must have known a whole lot---- + +ANDERSON. You shouldn't repeat what the stone-cutter says, for one who +has served isn't to be trusted---- + +GUSTAFSON. Ash, that's so long ago, and the cook's a regular dragon, +for that matter--she'd always haggle over the vegetables---- + +ANDERSON. There comes the dyer from the station now--you'd better quit! + + _The_ STRANGER _enters, dressed in a frock coat and a high hat + with mourning on it; he carries a stick_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. It wasn't the dyer, but he looks a lot like him. + +STRANGER. How much is one of those wreaths? + +GARDENER. Fifty cents. + +STRANGER. Oh, that's not much. + +GARDENER. No, I am such a fool that I can't charge as I should. + +STRANGER. [_Looking around_] Has there--been a fire--here? + +GARDENER. Yes, last night. + +STRANGER. Good God! [_Pause_] Who was the owner of the house? + +GARDENER. Mr. Walström. + +STRANGER. The dyer? + +GARDENER. Yes, he used to be a dyer, all right. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Where is he now? + +GARDENER. He'll be here any moment. + +STRANGER. Then I'll look around a bit--the wreath can lie here till I +come back--I meant to go out to the cemetery later. + +GARDENER. On account of the bishop's monument, I suppose? + +STRANGER. What bishop? + +GARDENER. Bishop Stecksen, don't you know--who belonged to the Academy. + +STRANGER. Is he dead? + +GARDENER. Oh, long ago! + +STRANGER. I see!--Well, I'll leave the wreath for a while. + + _He goes out to the left, studying the ruins carefully as he + passes by_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Perhaps he came on account of the insurance. + +ANDERSON. Not that one! Then he would have asked in a different way. + +MRS. ANDERSON. But he looked like the dyer just the same. + +ANDERSON. Only he was taller. + +GUSTAFSON. Now, I remember something--I should have a bridal bouquet +ready for to-night, and I should go to my son's wedding, but I have +no flowers, and my black coat has been burned. Wouldn't that make +you--Mrs. Westerlund was to furnish the myrtle for the bride's crown, +being her godmother--that's the myrtle she stole a shoot of from +the dyer's cook, who got hers from the dyer's first wife--she who +ran away--and I was to make a crown of it, and I've clean forgotten +it--well, if I ain't the worst fool that ever walked the earth! [_He +opens the inn door_] Mrs. Westerlund, can I have the myrtle now, and +I'll do the job!--I say, can I have that myrtle! Wreath, too, you +say--have you got enough for it?--No?--Well, then I'll let the whole +wedding go hang, that's all there is to it!--Let them walk up to the +minister's and have him splice them together, but it'll make the +stone-cutter mad as a hornet.--What do you think I should do?--No, I +can't--haven't slept a wink the whole night.--It's too much for a poor +human creature.--Yes, I am a ninny, I know--go for me, will you!--Oh, +there's the pot--thanks! And then I need scissors, which I haven't +got--and wire--and string--where am I to get them from?--No, of course, +nobody wants to break off his work for a thing like that.--I'm tired of +the whole mess--work fifty years, and then have it go up in smoke! I +haven't got strength to begin over again--and the way it comes all at +once, blow on blow--did you ever! I'm going to run away from it! [_He +goes out_. + +RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM. [_Enters, evidently upset, badly dressed_, _his hands +discoloured by the dyes_] Is it all out now, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. Yes, now it's out. + +RUDOLPH. Has anything been discovered? + +ANDERSON. That's a question! What's buried when it snows comes to light +when it thaws! + +RUDOLPH. What do you mean, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. If you dig deep enough you find things. + +RUDOLPH. Have you found anything that can explain how the fire started? + +ANDERSON. Naw, nothing of that kind. + +RUDOLPH. That means we are still under suspicion, all of us. + +ANDERSON. Not me, I guess. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, yes, for you have been seen up in the attic at unusual +hours. + +ANDERSON. Well, I can't always go at usual hours to look for my tools +when I've left them behind. And I did leave my hammer behind when I +fixed the stove in the student's room. + +RUDOLPH. And the stone-cutter, the gardener, Mrs. Westerlund, even the +painter over there--we are all of us under suspicion--the student, the +cook, and myself more than the rest. Lucky it was that I had paid the +insurance the day before, or I should have been stuck for good.--Think +of it: the stone-cutter suspected of arson--he who's so afraid of doing +anything wrong! He's so conscientious _nowadays_ that if you ask him +what time it is he won't swear to it, as his watch _may_ be wrong. Of +course, we all know he got two years, but he's reformed, and I'll swear +now he's the straightest man in the quarter. + +ANDERSON. But the police suspect him because he went wrong once--and he +ain't got his citizenship back yet. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, there are so many ways of looking at a thing--so many +ways, I tell you.--Well, Anderson, I guess you'd better quit for the +day, seeing as you're going to the wedding to-night. + +ANDERSON. Yes, that wedding--There was somebody looking for you a while +ago, and he said he would be back. + +RUDOLPH. Who was it? + +ANDERSON. He didn't say. + +RUDOLPH. Police, was it? + +ANDERSON. Naw, I don't think so.--There he is coming now, for that +matter. [_He goes out, together with his wife_. + + _The_ STRANGER _enters_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Regards him with curiosity at first, then with horror; wants +to run away, but cannot move_] Arvid! + +STRANGER. Rudolph! + +RUDOLPH. So it's you! + +STRANGER. Yes. [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. You're not dead, then? + +STRANGER. In a way, yes!--I have come back from America after thirty +years--there was something that pulled at me-- + + I wanted to see my childhood's home once more--and I found + those ruins! [_Pause_] It burned down last night? + +RUDOLPH. Yes, you came just in time. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. [_Dragging his words_] That's the place--such a tiny place +for such a lot of destinies! There's the dining-room with the frescoed +walls: palms, and cypresses, and a temple beneath a rose-coloured +sky--that's the way I dreamt the world would look the moment I got away +from home. And the stove with its pale blossoms growing out of conches. +And the chimney cupboard with its metal doors--I remember as a child, +when we had just moved in, somebody had scratched his name on the +metal, and then grandmother told us it was the name of a man who had +killed himself in that very room. I quickly forgot all about it, but +when I later married a niece of the same man, it seemed to me as if my +destiny had been foretold on that plate of metal.--You don't believe in +that kind of thing, do you?--However, you know how my marriage ended! + +RUDOLPH. Yes, I've heard---- + +STRANGER. And there's the nursery--yes! + +RUDOLPH. Don't let us start digging in the ruins! + +STRANGER. Why not? After the fire is out you can read things in the +ashes. We used to do it as children, in the stove---- + +RUDOLPH. Come and sit down at the table here! + +STRANGER. What place is that? Oh, the tavern--"The Last Nail"--where +the hearse-drivers used to stop, and where, once upon a time, condemned +culprits were given a final glass before they were taken to the +gallows--Who is keeping it? + +RUDOLPH. Mrs. Westerlund, who used to be my nurse. + +STRANGER. Mrs. Westerlund--I remember her. It is as if the bench sank +from under me, and I was sent tumbling through the past, sixty whole +years, down into my childhood. I breathe the nursery air and feel it +pressing on my chest. You older ones weighed me down, and you made +so much noise that I was always kept in a state of fright. My fears +made me hide in the garden--then I was dragged forward and given a +spanking--always spankings--but I never knew why, and I don't know it +yet. And yet she was my mother---- + +RUDOLPH. Please! + +STRANGER. Yes, you were the favourite, and as such you always had her +support--Then we got a stepmother. Her father was an undertaker's +assistant, and for years we had been seeing him drive by with funerals. +At last he came to know us so well by sight that he used to nod and +grin at us, as if he meant to say: "Oh, I'll come for you sooner or +later!" And then he came right into our house one day, and had to be +called grandfather--when our father took his daughter for his second +wife. + +RUDOLPH. There was nothing strange in that. + +STRANGER. No, but somehow, as our own destinies, and those of other +people, were being woven into one web---- + +RUDOLPH. Oh, that's what happens everywhere---- + +STRANGER. Exactly! It's the same everywhere. In your youth you see +the web set up. Parents, relatives, comrades, acquaintances, servants +form the warp. Later on in life the weft becomes visible. And then +the shuttle of fate runs back and forth with the thread--sometimes +it breaks, but is tied up again, and it goes on as before. The reed +clicks, the thread is packed together into curlicues, and one day the +web lies ready. In old age, when the eye has learned how to see, you +discover that those curlicues form a pattern, a monogram, an ornament, +a hieroglyph, which only then can be interpreted: that's life! The +world-weaver has woven it! [_Pause; he rises_] Over there, in that +scrap-heap, I notice the family album. [_He walks a few steps to the +right and picks up a photograph album_] That's the book of our family +fate. Grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, relatives, acquaintances--or so-called "friends"--schoolmates, +servants, godparents. And, strange to say, wherever I have gone, in +America or Australia, to Hongkong or the Congo, everywhere I found +at least one countryman, and as we began to dig it always came out +that this man knew my family, or at least some godfather or maid +servant--that, in a word, we had some common acquaintances. I even +found a relative in the island of Formosa---- + +RUDOLPH. What has put those ideas into your head? + +STRANGER. The fact that life, however it shaped itself--I have been +rich and poor, exalted and humbled; I have suffered a shipwreck and +passed through an earthquake--but, however life shaped itself, I always +became aware of connections and repetitions. I saw in one situation the +result of another, earlier one. On meeting _this_ person I was reminded +of _that_ one whom I had met in the past. There have been incidents in +my life that have come back time and again, so that I have been forced +to say to myself: this I have been through before. And I have met with +occurrences that seemed to me absolutely inevitable, or predestined. + +RUDOLPH. What have you done during all these years? + +STRANGER. Everything! I have beheld life from every quarter, from every +standpoint, from above and from below, and always it has seemed to me +like a scene staged for my particular benefit. And in that way I have +at last become reconciled to a part of the past, and I have come to +excuse not only my own but also other people's so-called "faults." You +and I, for instance, have had a few bones to pick with each other---- + + RUDOLPH _recoils with a darkening face_. + +STRANGER. Don't get scared now---- + +RUDOLPH. I never get scared! + +STRANGER. You are just the same as ever. + +RUDOLPH. And so are you! + +STRANGER. Am I? That's interesting!--Yes, you are still living in that +delusion about your own bravery, and I remember exactly how this false +idea became fixed in your mind. We were learning to swim, and one day +you told how you had dived into the water, and then mother said: "Yes, +Rudolph, he has courage!" That was meant for me--for me whom you had +stripped of all courage and self-assurance. But then came the day when +you had stolen some apples, and you were too cowardly to own up to it, +and so you put it on me. + +RUDOLPH. Haven't you forgotten that yet? + +STRANGER. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.--From here, where I +am sitting, I can see that very tree, and that's what brought it into +my mind. It's over there, you see, and it bears golden pippins.--If you +look, you'll see that one of its biggest branches has been sawed off. +For it so happened that I didn't get angry with you on account of my +unjust punishment, but my anger turned against the tree. And two years +later that big branch was all dried up and had to be sawed off. It made +me think of the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour, but I was +not led into any presumptuous conclusions.--However, I still know all +those trees by heart, and once, when I had the yellow fever in Jamaica, +I counted them over, every one. Most of them are still there, I see. +There's the snow-apple which has red-striped fruit--a chaffinch used +to nest in it. There's the melon-apple, standing right in front of the +garret where I used to study for technological examinations; there's +the spitzenburg, and the late astrachan; and the pear-tree that used to +look like a poplar in miniature; and the one with pears that could only +be used for preserves--they never ripened, and we despised them, but +mother treasured them above all the rest; and in that tree there used +to be a wryneck that was always twisting its head around and making a +nasty cry--That was fifty years ago! + +RUDOLPH. [_Irately_] What are you driving at? + +STRANGER. Just as touchy and ill-tempered as ever! It's +interesting.--There was no special purpose back of my chatter--my +memories insist on pushing forward--I remember that the garden was +rented to somebody else once, but we had the right to play in it. +To me it seemed as if we had been driven out of paradise--and the +tempter was standing behind every tree. In the fall, when the ground +was strewn with ripe apples, I fell under a temptation that had become +irresistible---- + +RUDOLPH. You stole, too? + +STRANGER. Of course I did, but I didn't put it off on you!--When I was +forty I leased a lemon grove in one of the Southern States, and--well, +there were thieves after the trees every night. I couldn't sleep, I +lost flesh, I got sick. And then I thought of--poor Gustafson here! + +RUDOLPH. He's still living. + +STRANGER. Perhaps he, too, stole apples in his childhood? + +RUDOLPH. Probably. + +STRANGER. Why are your hands so black? + +RUDOLPH. Because I handle dyed stuffs all the time.--Did you have +anything else in mind? + +STRANGER. What could that have been? + +RUDOLPH. That my hands were not clean. + +STRANGER. Fudge! + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps you are thinking of your inheritance? + +STRANGER. Just as mean as ever! Exactly as you were when eight years +old! + +RUDOLPH. And you are just as heedless, and philosophical, and silly! + +STRANGER. It's a curious thing--but I wonder how many times before we +have said just what we are saying now? [_Pause_] I am looking at your +album here--our sisters and brothers--five dead! + +RUDOLPH. Yes. + +STRANGER. And our schoolmates? + +RUDOLPH. Some taken and some left behind. + +STRANGER. I met one of them in South Carolina--Axel Ericson--do you +remember him? + +RUDOLPH. I do. + +STRANGER. One whole night, while we were on a train together, he kept +telling me how our highly respectable and respected family consisted of +nothing but rascals; that it had made its money by smuggling--you know, +the toll-gate was right here; and that this house had been built with +double walls for the hiding of contraband. Don't you see that the walls +are double? + +RUDOLPH. [_Crushed_] So that's the reason why we had closets everywhere? + +STRANGER. The father of that fellow, Ericson, had been in the +custom-house service and knew our father, and the son told me a lot +of inside stories that turned my whole world of imagined conditions +topsyturvy. + +RUDOLPH. You gave him a licking, I suppose? + +STRANGER. Why should I lick him?--However, my hair turned grey that +night, and I had to edit my entire life over again. You know how we +used to live in an atmosphere of mutual admiration; how we regarded +our family as better than all others, and how, in particular, our +parents were looked up to with almost religious veneration. And then I +had to paint new faces on them, strip them, drag them down, eliminate +them. It was dreadful! Then the ghosts began to walk. The pieces of +those smashed figures would come together again, but not properly, +and the result would be a regular wax cabinet of monsters. All those +grey-haired gentlemen whom we called uncles, and who came to our house +to play cards and eat cold suppers, they were smugglers, and some of +them had been in the pillory--Did you know that? + +RUDOLPH. [_Completely overwhelmed_] No. + +STRANGER. The dye works were merely a hiding-place for smuggled yarn, +which was dyed in order to prevent identification. I can still remember +how I used to hate the smell of the dyeing vat--there was something +sickeningly sweet about it. + +RUDOLPH. Why did you have to tell me all this? + +STRANGER. Why should I keep silent about it and let you make yourself +ridiculous by your boasting about that revered family of yours? Have +you never noticed people grinning at you? + +RUDOLPH. No-o! [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. I am now looking at father's bookcase in the pile over there. +It was always locked, you remember. But one day, when father was out, +I got hold of the key. The books in front I had seen through the glass +doors, of course. There were volumes of sermons, the collected works +of great poets, handbooks for gardening, compilations of the statutes +referring to customs duties and the confiscation of smuggled goods; the +constitution; a volume about foreign coins; and a technical work that +later determined my choice of a career. But back of those books there +was room for other things, and I began to explore. First of all I found +the rattan--and, do you know, I have since learned that that bitter +plant bears a fruit from which we get the red dye known as "dragon's +blood": now, isn't that queer! And beside the rattan stood a bottle +labelled "cyanide of potassium." + +RUDOLPH. I suppose it was meant for use over at the works. + +STRANGER. Or elsewhere, perhaps. But this is what I had in mind: there +were some bundles of pamphlets with illustrated covers that aroused my +interest. And, to put it plain, they contained the notorious memoirs +of a certain chevalier--I took them out and locked the case again. And +beneath the big oak over there I studied them. We used to call that oak +the Tree of Knowledge--and it was, all right! And in that way I left +my childhood's paradise to become initiated, all too early, into those +mysteries which--yes! + +RUDOLPH. You, too? + +STRANGER. Yes, I, too! [_Pause_] However--let us talk of something +else, as all that is now in ashes.--Did you have any insurance? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angrily_] Didn't you ask that a while ago? + +STRANGER. Not that I can recall. It happens so often that I confuse +what I have said with what I have intended to say, and mostly because I +think so intensely--ever since that day when I tried to hang myself in +the closet. + +RUDOLPH. What is that you are saying? + +STRANGER. I tried to hang myself in the closet. + +RUDOLPH. [_Speaking very slowly_] Was that what happened that Holy +Thursday Eve, when you were taken to the hospital--what the rest of us +children were never permitted to know? + +STRANGER. [_Speaking in the same manner_] Yes.--There you can see how +little we know about those that are nearest to us, about our own homes +and our own lives. + +RUDOLPH. But why did you do it? + +STRANGER. I was twelve years old, and tired of life! It was like +groping about in a great darkness--I couldn't understand what I had to +do here--and I thought the world a madhouse. I reached that conclusion +one day when our school was turned out with torches and banners to +celebrate "the destroyer of our country." For I had just read a book +which proved that our country had been brought to destruction by the +worst of all its kings--and that was the one whose memory we had to +celebrate with hymns and festivities.[1] + + [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. What happened at the hospital? + +STRANGER. My dear fellow, I was actually put into the morgue as dead. +Whether I was or not, I don't know--but when I woke up, most of my +previous life had been forgotten, and I began a new one, but in such a +manner that the rest of you thought me peculiar.--Are you married again? + +RUDOLPH. I have wife and children--somewhere. + +STRANGER. When I recovered consciousness I seemed to myself another +person. I regarded life with cynical calm: it probably had to be the +way it was. And the worse it turned out the more interesting it became. +After that I looked upon myself as if I were somebody else, and I +observed and studied that other person, and his fate, thereby rendering +myself callous to my own sufferings. But while dead I had acquired new +faculties--I could see right through people, read their thoughts, hear +their intentions. In company, I beheld them stripped naked--Where did +you say the fire started? + +RUDOLPH. Why, nobody knows. + +STRANGER. But the newspapers said that it began in a closet right +under the student's garret--what kind of a student is he? + +RUDOLPH. [_Appalled_] Is it in the newspapers? I haven't had time to +look at them to-day. What more have they got? + +STRANGER. They have got everything. + +RUDOLPH. Everything? + +STRANGER. The double walls, the respected family of smugglers, the +pillory, the hairpins---- + +RUDOLPH. What hairpins? + +STRANGER. I don't know, but they are there. Do you know? + +RUDOLPH. Naw! + +STRANGER. Everything was brought to light, and you may look for a +stream of people coming here to stare at all that exposed rottenness. + +RUDOLPH. Lord have mercy! And you take pleasure at seeing your family +dragged into scandal? + +STRANGER. My family? I have never felt myself related to the rest of +you. I have never had any strong feeling either for my fellow men or +myself. I think it's interesting to watch them--that's all--What sort +of a person is your wife? + +RUDOLPH. Was there anything about her, too? + +STRANGER. About her and the student. + +RUDOLPH. Good! Then I was right. Just wait and you'll see!--There comes +the stone-cutter. + +STRANGER. You know him? + +RUDOLPH. And so do you. A schoolmate--Albert Ericson. + +STRANGER. Whose father was in the customs service and whose brother I +met on the train--he who was so very well informed about our family. + +RUDOLPH. That's the infernal cuss who has blabbed to the papers, then! + + ERICSON _enters with a pick and begins to look over the ruins_. + +STRANGER. What a ghastly figure! + +RUDOLPH. He's been in jail--two years. Do you know what he did? He made +some erasures in a contract between him and myself---- + +STRANGER. You sent him to jail! And now he has had his revenge! + +RUDOLPH. But the queerest part of it is that nowadays he is regarded as +the most honest man in the whole district. He has become a martyr, and +almost a saint, so that nobody dares say a word against him. + +STRANGER. That's interesting, indeed! + +DETECTIVE. [_Entering, turns to_ Ericson] Can you pull down that wall +over there? + +ERICSON. The one by the closet? + +DETECTIVE. That's the one. + +ERICSON. That's where the fire started, and I'm sure you'll find a +candle or a lamp around there--for I know the people! + +DETECTIVE. Go ahead then! + +ERICSON. The closet door was burned off, to be sure, but the ceiling +came down, and that's why we couldn't find out, but now we'll use the +beak on it! [_He falls to with his pick_] Ho-hey, ho-ho!--Ho-hey, +leggo!--Ho-hey, for that one!--Do you see anything? + +DETECTIVE. Not yet. + +ERICSON. [_Working away as before_] Now I can see something!--The lamp +has exploded, but the stand is left!--Who knows this forfeit for his +own?--Didn't I see the dyer somewhere around here? + +DETECTIVE. There he is sitting now. [_He picks the lamp from the debris +and holds it up_] Do you recognise your lamp, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. That isn't mine--it belonged to our tutor. + +DETECTIVE. The student? Where is he now? + +RUDOLPH. He's down-town, but I suppose he'll soon be here, as his books +are lying over there. + +DETECTIVE. How did his lamp get into the cook's closet? Did he have +anything to do with her? + +RUDOLPH. Probably! + +DETECTIVE. The only thing needed now is that he identify the lamp as +his own, and he will be arrested. What do you think of it, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. I? Well, what is there to think? + +DETECTIVE. What reason could he have for setting fire to another +person's house? + +RUDOLPH. I don't know. Malice, or mere mischief--you never can tell +what people may do--Or perhaps there was something he wanted to cover +up. + +DETECTIVE. That would have been a poor way, as old rottenness always +will out. Did he have any grudge against you? + +RUDOLPH. It's likely, for I helped him once when he was hard up, and he +has hated me ever since, of course. + +DETECTIVE. Of course? [_Pause_] Who is he, then? + +RUDOLPH. He was raised in an orphanage--born of unknown parents. + +DETECTIVE. Haven't you a grown-up daughter, Mr. Walström? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angered_] Of course I have! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, you have! [_Pause; then to_ ERICSON] Now you bring those +twelve men of yours and pull down the walls quick. Then we'll see what +new things come to light. + + [_He goes out_. + +ERICSON. That'll be done in a jiffy. [_Goes out_. + + [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Have you really paid up your insurance? + +RUDOLPH. Of course! + +STRANGER. Personally? + +RUDOLPH. No, I sent it in as usual. + +STRANGER. You sent it--by somebody else! That's just like you!--Suppose +we take a turn through the garden and have a look at the apple-trees. + +RUDOLPH. All right, and then we'll see what happens afterward. + +STRANGER. Now begins the most interesting part of all. + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps not quite so interesting if you find yourself mixed up +in it. + +STRANGER. I? + +RUDOLPH. Who can tell? + +STRANGER. What a web it is! + +RUDOLPH. There was a child of yours that went to the orphanage, I think? + +STRANGER. God bless us!--Let's go over into the garden! + +_Curtain_. + + +[Footnote 1: This refers to King Charles XII of Sweden, whose memory +Strindberg hated mainly because of the use made of it by the jingo +elements of the Swedish upper classes.] + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _The same setting as before with the exception that the walls + have been torn down so that the garden is made visible, + with its vast variety of spring flowers--daphnes, deutzias, + daffodils, narcissuses, tulips, auriculas--and with all the + fruit-trees in bloom_. + + ERICSON, ANDERSON _and his old wife_, GUSTAFSON, _the_ + HEARSE-DRIVER, MRS. WESTERLUND, _and the painter_, SJÖBLOM, + _are standing in a row staring at the spot where the house used + to be_. + + +STRANGER. [_Entering_] There they stand, enjoying the misfortune that's +in the air and waiting for the victim to appear--he being the principal +item. That the fire was incendiary they take for granted, merely +because they want it that way.--And all these rascals are the friends +and comrades of my youth. I am even related to the hearse-driver +through my stepmother, whose father used to help carry out the +coffins--[_He speaks to the crowd of spectators_] Look here, you +people, I shouldn't stand there if I were you. There may have been some +dynamite stored in the cellar, and if such were the case an explosion +might take place any moment. + + _The curious crowd scatters and disappears_. + +STRANGER. [Stoops _over the scrap-heap and begins to poke in the +books piled there_] Those are the student's books--Same kind of rot +as in my youth--Livy's Roman history, which is said to be lies, every +word--But here's a volume out of my brother's library--"Columbus, or +the Discovery of America"! My own book, which I got as a Christmas +gift in 1857. My name has been erased. This means it was stolen from +me--and I accused one of our maids, who was discharged on that account! +Fine business! Perhaps it led to her ruin--fifty years ago! Here is +the frame of one of our family portraits; my renowned grandfather, +the smuggler, who was put in the pillory--fine!--But what is this? +The foot-piece of a mahogany bed--the one in which I was born! Oh, +damn!--Next item: a leg of a dinner-table--the one that was an +heirloom. Why, it was supposed to be of ebony, and was admired on +that account! And now, after fifty years, I discover it to be made +of painted maple. Everything had its colours changed in our house to +render it unrecognisable, even the clothes of us children, so that +our bodies always were stained with various dyes. Ebony--humbug! And +here's the dining-room clock--smuggled goods, that, too--which has +measured out the time for two generations. It was wound up every +Saturday, when we had salt codfish and a posset made with beer for +dinner. Like all intelligent clocks, it used to stop when anybody +died, but when I died it went on just as before. Let me have a look at +you, old friend--I want to see your insides. [_As he touches the clock +it falls to pieces_] Can't stand being handled! Nothing could stand +being handled in our home--nothing! Vanity, vanity!--But there's the +globe that was on top of the clock, although it ought to have been at +the bottom. You tiny earth: you, the densest and the heaviest of all +the planets--that's what makes everything on you so heavy--so heavy +to breathe, so heavy to carry. The cross is your symbol, but it might +just as well have been a fool's cap or a strait-jacket--you world of +delusions and deluded!--Eternal One--perchance Thy earth has gone +astray in the limitless void? And what set it whirling so that Thy +children were made dizzy, and lost their reason, and became incapable +of seeing what really is instead of what only seems?--Amen!--And here +is the student! + + _The_ STUDENT _enters and looks around in evident search of + somebody_. + +STRANGER. He is looking for the mistress of the house. And he tells +everything he knows--with his eyes. Happy youth!--Whom are you looking +for? + +STUDENT. [_Embarrassed_] I was looking---- + +STRANGER. Speak up, young man--or keep silent. I understand you just +the same. + +STUDENT. With whom have I the honour---- + +STRANGER. It's no special honour, as you know, for once I ran away to +America on account of debts---- + +STUDENT. That wasn't right. + +STRANGER. Right or wrong, it remains a fact.--So you were looking for +Mrs. Walström? Well, she isn't here, but I am sure that she will come +soon, like all the rest, for they are drawn by the fire like moths---- + +STUDENT. By a candle! + +STRANGER. That's what _you_ say, but I should rather have said "lamp," +in order to choose a more significant word. However, you had better +hide your feelings, my dear fellow, if you can--I can hide mine!--We +were talking of that lamp, were we not? How about it? + +STUDENT. Which lamp? + +STRANGER. Well, well! Every one of them lies and denies!--The lamp +that was placed in the cook's closet and set fire to the house? + +STUDENT. I know nothing about it. + +STRANGER. Some blush when they lie and others turn pale. This one has +invented an entirely new manner. + +STUDENT. Are you talking to yourself, sir? + +STRANGER. I have that bad habit.--Are your parents still living? + +STUDENT. They are not. + +STRANGER. Now you lied again, but unconsciously. + +STUDENT. I never tell a lie! + +STRANGER. Not more than three in these few moments! I know your father. + +STUDENT. I don't believe it. + +STRANGER. So much the better for me!--Do you see this scarf-pin? It's +pretty, isn't it? But I never see anything of it myself--I have no +pleasure in its being there, while everybody else is enjoying it. There +is nothing selfish about that, is there? But there are moments when +I should like to see it in another man's tie so that I might have a +chance to admire it. Would you care to have it? + +STUDENT. I don't quite understand--Perhaps, as you said, it's better +not to wear it. + +STRANGER. Perhaps!--Don't get impatient now. She will be here soon.--Do +you find it enviable to be young? + +STUDENT. I can't say that I do. + +STRANGER. No, youth is not its own master; it has never any money, and +has to take its food out of other hands; it is not permitted to speak +when company is present, but is treated as an idiot; and as it cannot +marry, it has to ogle other people's wives, which leads to all sorts of +dangerous consequences. Youth--humbug! + +STUDENT. That's right! As a child, you want to grow up--that is, reach +fifteen, be confirmed, and put on a tall hat. When you are that far, +you want to be old--that is, twenty-one. Which means that nobody wants +to be young. + +STRANGER. And when you grow old in earnest, then you want to be dead. +For then there isn't much left to wish for.--Do you know that you are +to be arrested? + +STUDENT. Am I? + +STRANGER. The detective said so a moment ago. + +STUDENT. Me? + +STRANGER. Are you surprised at that? Don't you know that in this life +you must be prepared for anything? + +STUDENT. But what have I done? + +STRANGER. You don't have to do anything in order to be arrested. To be +suspected is enough. + +STUDENT. Then everybody might be arrested! + +STRANGER. Exactly! The rope might be laid around the neck of the whole +race if justice were wanted, but it isn't. It's a disgusting race: +ugly, sweating, ill-smelling; its linen dirty, its stockings full of +holes; with chilblains and corns--ugh! No, an apple-tree in bloom is +far more beautiful. Or look at the lilies in the field--they seem +hardly to belong here--and what fragrance is theirs! + +STUDENT. Are you a philosopher, sir? + +STRANGER. Yes, I am a great philosopher. + +STUDENT. Now you are poking fun at me! + +STRANGER. You say that to get away. Well, begone then! Hurry up! + +STUDENT. I was expecting somebody. + +STRANGER. So I thought. But I think it would be better to go and +meet---- + +STUDENT. She asked you to tell me? + +STRANGER. Oh, that wasn't necessary. + +STUDENT. Well, if that's so--I don't want to miss---- + + [_He goes out_. + +STRANGER. Can that be my son? Well, if it comes to the worst--I was a +child myself once, and it was neither remarkable nor pleasant--And I +am his--what of it? And for that matter--who knows?--Now I'll have a +look at Mrs. Westerlund. She used to work for my parents--was faithful +and good-tempered; and when she had been pilfering for ten years she +was raised to the rank of a "trusted" servant. [_He seats himself at +the table in front of the inn_] There are Gustafson's wreaths--just as +carelessly made as they were forty years ago. He was always careless +and stupid in all he did, and so he never succeeded with anything. But +much might be pardoned him on account of his self-knowledge. "Poor +fool that I am," he used to say, and then he would pull off his cap +and scratch his head.--Why, there's a myrtle plant! [_He knocks at the +pot_] Not watered, of course! He always forgot to water his plants, the +damned fool--and yet he expected them to grow. + + SJÖBLOM, _the painter, appears_. + +STRANGER. I wonder who that painter can be. Probably he belongs also to +the Bog, and perhaps he is one of the threads in my own web. + + SJÖBLOM _is staring at the_ STRANGER _all this time_. + +STRANGER. [_Returning the stare_] Well, do you recognise me? + +SJÖBLOM. Are you--Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Have been and am--if perception argues being. + + [_Pause_. + +SJÖBLOM. I ought really to be mad at you. + +STRANGER. Well, go on and be so! However, you might tell me the reason. +That has a tendency to straighten matters out. + +SJÖBLOM. Do you remember---- + +STRANGER. Unfortunately, I have an excellent memory. + +SJÖBLOM. Do you remember a boy named Robert? + +STRANGER. Yes, a regular rascal who knew how to draw. + +SJÖBLOM. And I was to go to the Academy in order to become a real +painter, an artist. But just about that time-colour-blindness was all +the go. You were studying at the Technological Institute then, and so +you had to test my eyes before your father would consent to send me to +the art classes. For that reason you brought two skeins of yarn from +the dye works, one red and the other green, and then you asked me about +them. I answered--called the red green and the green red--and that was +the end of my career---- + +STRANGER. But that was as it should be. + +SJÖBLOM. No--for the truth of it was, I could distinguish the +colours, but not--the _names_. And that wasn't found out until I was +thirty-seven---- + +STRANGER. That was an unfortunate story, but I didn't know better, and +so you'll have to forgive me. + +SJÖBLOM. How can I? + +STRANGER. Ignorance is pardonable! And now listen to me. I wanted to +enter the navy, made a trial cruise as mid-shipman, seemed to become +seasick, and was rejected! But I could stand the sea, and my sickness +came from having drunk too much. So my career was spoiled, and I had to +choose another. + +SJÖBLOM. What have I got to do with the navy? I had been dreaming of +Rome and Paris---- + +STRANGER. Oh, well, one has so many dreams in youth, and in old age +too, for that matter. Besides, what's the use of bothering about what +happened so long ago? + +SJÖBLOM. How you talk! Perhaps you can give me back my wasted life---- + +STRANGER. No, I can't, but I am under no obligation to do so, either. +That trick with the yarn I had learned at school, and you ought to have +learned the proper names of the colours. And now you can go to--one +dauber less is a blessing to humanity!--There's Mrs. Westerlund! + +SJÖBLOM. How you _do_ talk. But I guess you'll get what's coming to you! + + MRS. WESTERLUND _enters_. + +STRANGER. How d'you do, Mrs. Westerlund? I am Mr. Arvid--don't get +scared now! I have been in America, and how are you? I am feeling fine! +There has been a fire here, and I hear your husband is dead--policeman, +I remember, and a very nice fellow. I liked him for his good humour +and friendly ways. He was a harmless jester, whose quips never hurt. I +recall once---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. O, merciful! Is this my own Arvid whom I used to +tend---- + +STRANGER. No, that wasn't me, but my brother--but never mind, it's just +as well meant. I was talking of your old man who died thirty-five years +ago--a very nice man and a particular friend of mine---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he died. [_Pause_] But I don't know if--perhaps +you are getting him mixed up---- + +STRANGER. No, I don't. I remember old man Westerlund perfectly, and I +liked him very much. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. [_Reluctantly_] Of course it's a shame to say it, but +I don't think his temper was very good. + +STRANGER. What? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well--he had a way of getting around people, but +he didn't mean what he said--or if he did he meant it the other way +around---- + +STRANGER. What is that? Didn't he mean what he was saying? Was he a +hypocrite? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well, I don't like to say it, but I believe---- + +STRANGER. Do you mean to say that he wasn't on the level? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. N--yes--he was--a little--well, he didn't mean exactly +what he said--And how have you been doing, Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Now a light is dawning on me!--The miserable wretch! And +here I have been praising him these thirty-five years. I have missed +him, and I felt something like sorrow at his departure--I even used +some of my tobacco allowance to buy a wreath for his coffin. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What was it he did? What was it? + +STRANGER. The villain! [_Pause_] Well--he fooled me--it was Shrove +Tuesday, I remember. He told me that if one took away every third +egg from a hen she would lay so many more. I did it, got a licking, +and came near getting into court. But _I_ never suspected him of +having told on me.--He was always hanging around our kitchen looking +for tid-bits, and so our maids could do just what they pleased about +the garbage--oh, now I see him in his proper aspect!--And here I am +now getting into a fury at one who has been thirty-five years in his +grave?--So he was a satirist, he was--and I didn't catch on--although I +understand him now. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he was a little satirical all right--_I_ ought +to know that! + +STRANGER. Other things are coming back to me now--and I have been +saying nice things about that blackguard for thirty-five years! It was +at his funeral I drank my first toddy--And I remember how he used to +flatter me, and call me "professor" and "the crown prince"--ugh--And +there is the stone-cutter! You had better go inside, madam, or we'll +have a row when that fellow begins to turn in his bills. Good-bye, +madam--we'll meet again! + +MRS. WESTERLUND. No we won't. People ought never to meet again--it +is never as it used to be, and they only get to clawing at each +other--What business did you have to tell me all those things--seeing +everything was all right as it was [_She goes out_. + + ERICSON, _the stone-cutter, comes in_. + +STRANGER. Come on! + +ERICSON. What's that? + +STRANGER. Come on, I said! + + ERICSON _stares at him_. + +STRANGER. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London. + +ERICSON. I am no thief! + +STRANGER. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out! + +ERICSON. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was +strangling me. + +STRANGER. Why did you sign it? + +ERICSON. Because I was hard up. + +STRANGER. Yes, that _is_ a motive. + +ERICSON. But now I am having my revenge. + +STRANGER. Yes, isn't it nice! + +ERICSON. And now _they_ will be locked up. + +STRANGER. Did _we_ ever fight each other as boys? + +ERICSON. No, I was too young. + +STRANGER. Have we never told lies about each other, or robbed each +other, or got in each other's way, or seduced each other's sisters? + +ERICSON. Naw, but my father was in the customs service and yours was a +smuggler. + +STRANGER. There you are! That's something, at least! + +ERICSON. And when my father failed to catch yours he was discharged. + +STRANGER. And you want to get even with me because your father was a +good-for-nothing? + +ERICSON. Why did you say a while ago that there was dynamite in the +cellar? + +STRANGER. Now, my dear sir, you are telling lies again. I said there +_might_ be dynamite in the cellar, and everything is possible, of +course. + +ERICSON. And in the meantime the student has been arrested. Do you know +him? + +STRANGER. Very little--his mother more, for she was a maid in our +house. She was both pretty and good, and I was making up to her--until +she had a child. + +ERICSON. And were you not its father? + +STRANGER. I was not. But as a denial of fatherhood is not allowed, I +suppose I must be regarded as a sort of stepfather. + +ERICSON. Then they have lied about you. + +STRANGER. Of course. But that's a very common thing. + +ERICSON. And I was among those who testified against you--under oath! + +STRANGER. I have no doubt about it, but what does it matter? Nothing +matters at all! But now we had better quit pulling--or we'll get the +whole web unravelled. + +ERICSON. But think of me, who have perjured myself---- + +STRANGER. Yes, it isn't pleasant, but such things will happen. + +ERICSON. It's horrible--don't you find life horrible? + +STRANGER. [_Covering his eyes with his hand_] Yes, horrible beyond all +description! + +ERICSON. I don't want to live any longer! + +STRANGER. Must! [_Pause_] Must! [_Pause_] Tell me--the student is +arrested, you say--can he get out of it? + +ERICSON. Hardly!--And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you +something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only +witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him +guilty--in another way. + +STRANGER. She with the hairpins, isn't it? + +ERICSON. Yes. + +STRANGER. The old one or the young one? + +ERICSON. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook. + +STRANGER. What a web this is!--But who put the lamp there? + +ERICSON. His worst enemy. + +STRANGER. And did his worst enemy also start the fire? + +ERICSON. That's beyond me! Only Anderson, the mason, knows that. + +STRANGER. Who is he? + +ERICSON. The oldest one in the place--some kind of relative of Mrs. +Westerlund--knows all the secrets of the house--but he and the dyer +have got some secrets together, so he won't tell anything. + +STRANGER. And the lady--my sister-in-law--who is she? + +ERICSON. Well--she was in the house as governess when the first wife +cleared out. + +STRANGER. What sort of character has she got? + +ERICSON. Hm! Character? I don't quite know what that is. Do you mean +trade? The old assessment blanks used to call for your name and +"character"--but that meant occupation instead of character. + +STRANGER. I mean her temper. + +ERICSON. Well, it changes, you know. In me it depends on the person +with whom I am talking. With decent people I am decent, and with the +cruel ones I become like a beast of prey. + +STRANGER. But I was talking of her temper under ordinary circumstances. + +ERICSON. Well, nothing in particular. Gets angry if you tease her, but +comes around after a while. One cannot always have the same temper, of +course. + +STRANGER. I mean, is she merry or melancholy? + +ERICSON. When things go right, she is happy, and when they go wrong, +she gets sorry or angry--just like the rest of us. + +STRANGER. Yes, but how does she behave? + +ERICSON. Oh, what does it matter?--Of course, being an educated person, +she behaves politely, but nevertheless, you know, she can get nasty, +too, when her blood gets to boiling. + +STRANGER. But that doesn't make me much wiser. + +ERICSON. [_Patting him on the shoulder_] No, sir, we never get much +wiser when it's a question of human beings. + +STRANGER. Oh, you're a marvel!--And how do you like my brother, the +dyer? [_Pause_. + +ERICSON. Oh, his manners are pretty decent. And more than that I don't +know, for what he keeps hidden I can't find out, of course. + +STRANGER. Excellent! But--his hands are always blue, and yet you know +that they are white beneath the dye. + +ERICSON. But to make them so they should be scraped, and that's +something he won't permit. + +STRANGER. Good!--Who are the young couple coming over there? + +ERICSON. That's the gardener's son and my daughter, who were to have +been married to-night, but who have had to postpone it on account of +the fire--Now I shall leave, for I don't want to embarrass them. You +understand--I ain't much as a father-in-law. Good-bye! [_He goes out_. + + _The_ Stranger _withdraws behind the inn, but so that he + remains visible to the spectators_. + + Alfred _and_ Mathilda _enter hand in hand_. + +ALFRED. I had to have a look at this place--I had to---- + +MATHILDA. Why did you have to look at it? + +ALFRED. Because I have suffered so much in this house that more than +once I wished it on fire. + +MATHILDA. Yes, I know, it kept the sun out of the garden, and now +everything will grow much better--provided they don't put up a still +higher house---- + +ALFRED. Now it's open and pleasant, with plenty of air and sunlight, +and I hear they are going to lay out a street---- + +MATHILDA. Won't you have to move then? + +ALFRED. Yes, all of us will have to move, and that's what I like--I +like new things--I should like to emigrate---- + +MATHILDA. Mercy, no! Do you know, our pigeons were nesting on the roof. +And when the fire broke out last night they kept circling around the +place at first, but when the roof fell in they plunged right into the +flames--They couldn't part from their old home! + +ALFRED. But we must get out of here--must! My father says that the soil +has been sucked dry. + +MATHILDA. I heard that the cinders left by the fire were to be spread +over the ground in order to improve the soil. + +ALFRED. You mean the ashes? + +MATHILDA. Yes; they say it's good to sow in the ashes. + +ALFRED. Better still on virgin soil. + +MATHILDA. But your father is ruined? + +ALFRED. Not at all. He has money in the bank. Of course he's +complaining, but so does everybody. + +MATHILDA. Has he--The fire hasn't ruined him? + +ALFRED. Not a bit! He's a shrewd old guy, although he always calls +himself a fool. + +MATHILDA. What am I to believe? + +ALFRED. He has loaned money to the mason here--and to others. + +MATHILDA. I am entirely at sea! Am I dreaming?--The whole morning +we have been weeping over your father's misfortune and over the +postponement of the wedding---- + +ALFRED. Poor little thing! But the wedding is to take place to-night---- + +MATHILDA. Is it not postponed? + +ALFRED. Only delayed for a couple of hours so that my father will have +time to get his new coat. + +MATHILDA. And we who have been weeping---- + +ALFRED. Useless tears--such a lot of tears! + +MATHILDA. I am mad because they were useless--although--to think that +my father-in-law could be such a sly one! + +ALFRED. Yes, he is something of a joker, to put it mildly. He is always +talking about how tired he is, but that's nothing but laziness--oh, +he's lazy, I tell you---- + +MATHILDA. Don't say any more nasty things about him--but let us get +away from here. I have to dress, you know, and put up my hair.--Just +think, that my father-in-law isn't what I thought him--that he could be +fooling us like that and not telling the truth! Perhaps you are like +that, too? Oh, that I can't know what you really are! + +ALFRED. You'll find out afterward. + +MATHILDA. But then it's too late. + +ALFRED. It's never too late---- + +MATHILDA. All you who lived in this house are bad--And now I am afraid +of you---- + +ALFRED. Not of me, though? + +MATHILDA. I don't know what to think. Why didn't you tell me before +that your father was well off? + +ALFRED. I wanted to try you and see if you would like me as a poor man. + +MATHILDA. Yes, afterward they always say that they wanted to try you. +But how can I ever believe a human being again? + +ALFRED. Go and get dressed now. I'll order the carriages. + +MATHILDA. Are we to have carriages? + +ALFRED. Of course--regular coaches. + +MATHILDA. Coaches? And to-night? What fun! Come--hurry up! We'll have +carriages! + +ALFRED. [_Gets hold of her hand and they dance out together_] Hey and +ho! Here we go! + +STRANGER. [_Coming forward_] Bravo! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters and talks in a low tone to the_ + Stranger, _who answers in the same way. This lasts for about + half a minute, whereupon the_ DETECTIVE _leaves again_. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Enters, dressed in black, and gazes long at the_ +Stranger] Are you my brother-in-law? + +STRANGER. I am. [_Pause_] Don't I look as I have been described--or +painted? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Frankly, no! + +STRANGER. No, that is generally the case. And I must admit that the +information I received about you a while ago does not tally with the +original. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Oh, people do each other so much wrong, and they paint +each other in accordance with some image within themselves. + +STRANGER. And they go about like theatrical managers, distributing +parts to each other. Some accept their parts; others hand them back and +prefer to improvise. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. And what has been the part assigned to you? + +STRANGER. That of a seducer. Not that I have ever been one! I have +never seduced anybody, be she wife or maid, but once in my youth I was +seduced, and that's why the part was given to me. Strange to say, it +was forced on me so long that at last I accepted it. And for twenty +years I carried the bad conscience of a seducer around with me. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You were innocent then? + +STRANGER. I was. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. How curious! And to this day my husband is still +talking of the Nemesis that has pursued you because you seduced another +man's wife. + +STRANGER. I fully believe it. But your husband represents a still more +interesting case. He has created a new character for himself out of +lies. Tell me: isn't he a coward in facing the struggles of life? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Of course he is a coward! + +STRANGER. And yet he boasts of his courage, which is nothing but +brutality. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You know him pretty well. + +STRANGER. Yes, and no!--And you have been living in the belief that you +had married into a respected family which had never disgraced itself? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. So I believed until this morning. + +STRANGER. When your faith crumbled! What a web of lies and mistakes +and misunderstandings! And that kind of thing we are supposed to take +seriously! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Do you? + +STRANGER. Sometimes. Very seldom nowadays. I walk like a somnambulist +along the edge of a roof--knowing that I am asleep, and yet being +awake--and the only thing I am waiting for is to be waked up. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. You are said to have been across to the other side? + +STRANGER. I have been across the river, but the only thing I can recall +is--that there everything _was_ what it pretended to be. That's what +makes the difference. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. When nothing stands the test of being touched, what are +you then to hold on to? + +STRANGER. Don't you know? + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Tell me! Tell me! + +STRANGER. Sorrow brings patience; patience brings experience; +experience brings hope; and hope will not bring us to shame. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Hope, yes! + +STRANGER. Yes, hope! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Do you ever think it pleasant to live? + +STRANGER. Of course. But that is also a delusion. I tell you, my dear +sister-in-law, that when you happen to be born without a film over your +eyes, then you see life and your fellow creatures as they are--and +you have to be a pig to feel at home in such a mess.--But when you +have been looking long enough at blue mists, then you turn your eyes +the other way and begin to look into your own soul? There you find +something really worth looking at. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. And what is it you see? + +STRANGER. Your own self. But when you have looked at that you must die. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Covers her eyes with her hands; after a pause she +says_] Do you want to help me? + +STRANGER. If I can. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Try. + +STRANGER. Wait a moment!--No, I cannot. He is innocently accused. Only +you can set him free again. But that you cannot do. It's a net that has +not been tied by men---- + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. But he is not guilty. + +STRANGER. Who is guilty? [_Pause_. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. No one! It was an accident! + +STRANGER. I know it. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Suffer. It will pass. For that, too, is vanity. + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. Suffer? + +STRANGER. Yes, suffer! But with hope! + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. [_Holding out her hand to him_] Thank you! + +STRANGER. And let it be your consolation + +MRS. WALSTRÖM. What? + +STRANGER. That you don't suffer innocently. + + MRS. WALSTRÖM _walks out with her head bent low_. + + _The_ STRANGER _climbs the pile of debris marking the site of + the burned house_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Comes in, looking happy_] Are you playing the ghost among +the ruins? + +STRANGER. Ghosts feel at home among ruins--And now you are happy? + +RUDOLPH. Now I am happy. + +STRANGER. And brave? + +RUDOLPH. Whom have I got to fear, or what? + +STRANGER. I conclude from your happiness that you are ignorant of one +important fact--Have you the courage to bear a piece of misfortune? + +RUDOLPH. What is it? + +STRANGER. You turn pale? + +RUDOLPH. I? + +STRANGER. A serious misfortune! + +RUDOLPH. Speak out! + +STRANGER. The detective was here a moment ago, and he told me--in +confidence---- + +RUDOLPH. What? + +STRANGER. That the premium on your insurance was paid up two hours too +late. + +RUDOLPH. Great S----! what are you talking of? I sent my wife to pay +the premium. + +STRANGER. And she sent the bookkeeper--and he got there too late. + +RUDOLPH. Then I am ruined? [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Are you crying? + +RUDOLPH. I am ruined! + +STRANGER. Well, is that something that cannot be borne? + +RUDOLPH. How am I to live? What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Work! + +RUDOLPH. I am too old--I have no friends Stranger. Perhaps you'll get +some now. A man in misfortune always seems sympathetic. I had some of +my best hours while fortune went against me. + +RUDOLPH. [_Wildly_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. But in my days of success and fortune I was left alone. Envy +was more than friendship could stand. + +RUDOLPH. Then I'll sue the bookkeeper. + +STRANGER. Don't! + +RUDOLPH. He'll have to pay---- + +STRANGER. How little you have changed! What's the use of living, when +you learn so little from it? + +RUDOLPH. I'll sue him, the villain!--He hates me because I gave him a +cuff on the ear once. + +STRANGER. Forgive him--as I forgave you when I didn't demand my +inheritance. + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance? + +STRANGER. Always the same! Merciless! Cowardly! Disingenuous!--Depart +in peace, brother! + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance is that you are talking of? + +STRANGER. Now listen, Rudolph--my brother after all: my own mother's +son! You put the stone-cutter in jail because he did some erasing--all +right! But how about your own erasures from my book, "Christopher +Columbus, or the Discovery of America"? + +RUDOLPH. [_Taken aback_] What's that? Columbus? + +STRANGER. Yes, _my_ book that became yours! + + RUDOLPH _remains silent_. + +STRANGER. Yes, and I understand now that it was you who put the +student's lamp in the closet--I understand everything. But do _you_ +know that the dinner-table was not of ebony? + +RUDOLPH. It wasn't? + +STRANGER. It was nothing but maple. + +RUDOLPH. Maple! + +STRANGER. The pride and glory of the house--valued at two thousand +crowns! + +RUDOLPH. That, too? So that was also humbug! + +STRANGER. Yes! + +RUDOLPH. Ugh! + +STRANGER. Thus the debt is settled. The case is dropped--the issue is +beyond the court--the parties can withdraw---- + +RUDOLPH. [_Rushing out_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. [_Takes his wreath from the table_] I meant to take this +wreath to the cemetery--to my parents' grave--but I will place it here +instead--on the ruins of what was once their home--my childhood's home! +[_He bends his head in silent prayer_] And now, wanderer, resume thy +pilgrimage! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG + + +PLAYS. FIRST SERIES: The Dream Play, The +Link, The Dance of Death--Part I and Part II. + +PLAYS. SECOND SERIES: There are Crimes +and Crimes, Miss Julia, The Stronger, Creditors, +Pariah. + +PLAYS. THIRD SERIES: Swanwhite, Simoom, +Debit and Credit, Advent, The Thunder +Storm, After the Fire. + +PLAYS. FOURTH SERIES: The Bridal Crown, +The Spook Sonata, The First Warning, Gustavus Vasa. + +CREDITORS. PARIAH. + +MISS JULIA. THE STRONGER. + +THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Third +Series, by August Strindberg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + +***** This file should be named 44233-8.txt or 44233-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/2/3/44233/ + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series + +Author: August Strindberg + +Translator: Edwin Björkman + +Release Date: November 19, 2013 [EBook #44233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + + + + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1>PLAYS</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>AUGUST STRINDBERG</h2> + +<hr class="r5" /> +<h4>THIRD SERIES</h4> + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold;"> +SWANWHITE<br /> +SIMOOM<br /> +DEBIT AND CREDIT<br /> +ADVENT<br /> +THE THUNDERSTORM<br /> +AFTER THE FIRE<br /> +</p> +<hr class="r5" /> +<h4>TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY</h4> + +<h4>EDWIN BJÖRKMAN</h4> + +<h4>AUTHORIZED EDITION</h4> + +<h5>NEW YORK</h5> + +<h5>CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</h5> + +<h5>1921</h5> + + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h4>CONTENTS</h4> + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em;"> +<a href="#INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</a><br /> +<a href="#SWANWHITE">SWANWHITE</a><br /> +<a href="#SIMOOM">SIMOOM</a><br /> +<a href="#DEBIT_AND_CREDIT">DEBIT AND CREDIT</a><br /> +<a href="#ADVENT">ADVENT</a><br /> +<a href="#ACT_I">ACT I</a><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_II">ACT II</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_III">ACT III</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_IV">ACT IV</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><a href="#ACT_V">ACT V</a></span><br /> +<a href="#THE_THUNDERSTORM">THE THUNDERSTORM</a><br /> +<a href="#AFTER_THE_FIRE">AFTER THE FIRE</a><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<h4><a id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h4> + + +<p>The collection of plays contained in this volume is unusually +representative, giving what might be called a cross-section of +Strindberg's development as a dramatist from his naturalistic revolt +in the middle eighties, to his final arrival at resigned mysticism and +Swedenborgian symbolism.</p> + +<p>"Swanwhite" was written in the spring of 1901, about the time when +Strindberg was courting and marrying his third wife, the gifted Swedish +actress Harriet Bosse. In the fall of 1902 the play appeared in book +form, together with "The Crown Bride" and "The Dream Play," all of them +being issued simultaneously, at Berlin, in a German translation made by +Emil Schering.</p> + +<p>Schering, who at that time was in close correspondence with Strindberg, +says that the figure of <i>Swanwhite</i> had been drawn with direct +reference to Miss Bosse, who had first attracted the attention of +Strindberg by her spirited interpretation of <i>Biskra</i> in "Simoom." +And Schering adds that it was Strindberg's bride who had a little +previously introduced him to the work of Maeterlinck, thereby +furnishing one more of the factors determining the play.</p> + +<p>Concerning the influence exerted upon him by the Belgian +playwright-philosopher, Strindberg himself wrote in a pamphlet named +"Open Letters to the Intimate Theatre" (Stockholm, 1909):</p> + +<p>"I had long had in mind skimming the cream of our most beautiful +folk-ballads in order to turn them into a picture for the stage. +Then Maeterlinck came across my path, and under the influence of +his puppet-plays, which are not meant for the regular stage, I wrote +my Swedish scenic spectacle, 'Swanwhite.' It is impossible either to +steal or to borrow from Maeterlinck. It is even difficult to become his +pupil, for there are no free passes that give entrance to his world of +beauty. But one may be urged by his example into searching one's own +dross-heaps for gold—and it is in that sense I acknowledge my debt to +the master.</p> + +<p>"Pushed ahead by the <i>impression</i> made on me by Maeterlinck, and +borrowing his divining-rod for my purposes, I turned to such sources +[<i>i.e.</i>, of Swedish folk-lore] as the works of Geijer, Afzelius, and +Dybeck. There I found a superabundance of princes and princesses. The +stepmother theme I had discovered on my own hook as a <i>constant</i>—it +figures in twenty-six different Swedish folk-tales. In the same place I +found the resurrection theme, as, for instance, it appears in the story +of <i>Queen Dagmar</i>. Then I poured it all into my separator, together +with the <i>Maids</i>, the <i>Green Gardener</i> and the <i>Young King</i>, and in +a short while the cream began to flow—and for that reason the story +is my own. But it has also been made so by the fact that I have lived +through that tale in my own fancy—a Spring in time of Winter!"</p> + +<p>Swedish critics have been unanimous in their praise of this play. John +Landquist, who has since become Strindberg's literary executor, spoke +of it once as "perhaps the most beautiful and most genuine fairy tale +for old or young ever written in the Swedish language." Tor Hedberg +has marvelled at the charm with which <i>Swanwhite</i> herself has been +endowed—"half child, half maid; knowing nothing, yet guessing all; +playing with love as a while ago she was playing with her dolls." On +the stage, too—in Germany as well as in Sweden—little <i>Swanwhite</i> +has celebrated great triumphs. Whether that figure, and the play +surrounding it, will also triumph in English-speaking countries, +remains still to be seen. But if, contrary to my hopes, it should fail +to do so, I want, in advance, to shift the blame from the shoulders of +the author to my own. In hardly any other work by Strindberg do form +and style count for so much. The play is, in its original shape, as +poetical in form as in spirit—even to the extent of being strongly +rhythmical in its prose, and containing many of the inversions which +are so characteristic of Swedish verse.</p> + +<p>It is not impossible to transfer these qualities into English, but +my efforts to do so have had to be influenced by certain differences +in the very <i>grain</i> of the two languages involved. Like all other +languages, each possesses a natural basic rhythm. This rhythm varies +frequently and easily in Swedish, so that you may pass from iambic to +trochaic metre without giving offence to the ear—or to that subtle +rhythmical susceptibility that seems to be inherent in our very pulses. +But the rhythm dearest and most natural to the genius of the Swedish +language seems to be the falling pulse-beat manifested in the true +trochee. The swing and motion of English, on the other hand, is almost +exclusively, commandingly iambic. And it was not until I made the +iambic <i>rising</i> movement prevail in my translation, that I felt myself +approaching the impression made on me by the original. But for that +very reason—because the genius of the new medium has forced me into +making the movement of my style more monotonous—it is to be feared +that the rhythmical quality of that movement may seem overemphasised. +Should such a criticism be advanced, I can only answer: I have tried +several ways, and this is the only one that will <i>work</i>.</p> + +<p>"Simoom" seems to have been written in 1888, in close connection with +"Creditors" and "Pariah." And, like these, it shows the unmistakable +influence of Edgar Allan Poe, with whose works Strindberg had become +acquainted a short while before. The play was first printed in one of +the three thin volumes of varied contents put out by Strindberg in 1890 +and 1891 under the common title of "Pieces Printed and Unprinted." But, +strange to say, it was not put on the stage (except in a few private +performances) until 1902, although, from a purely theatrical viewpoint, +Strindberg—master of stagecraft though he was—had rarely produced a +more effective piece of work.</p> + +<p>"Debit and Credit" belongs to the same general period as the previous +play, but has in it more of Nietzsche than of Poe. Its central figure +is also a sort of superman, but as such he is not taken too seriously +by his creator. The play has humour, but it is of a grim kind—one +seems to be hearing the gritting of teeth through the laughter. Like +"Simoom," however, it should be highly effective on the stage. It was +first published in 1893, with three other one-act plays, the volume +being named "Dramatic Pieces."</p> + +<p>"Advent" was published in 1899, together with "There Are Crimes and +Crimes," under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Its name +refers, of course, to the ecclesiastical designation of the four weeks +preceding Christmas. The subtitle, literally rendered, would be "A +Mystery." But as this term has a much wider application in Swedish +than in English, I have deemed it better to observe the distinction +which the latter language makes between mysteries, miracle-plays, and +moralities.</p> + +<p>The play belongs to what Strindberg called his "Inferno period," during +which he struggled in a state of semi-madness to rid himself of the +neurasthenic depression which he regarded as a punishment brought about +by his previous attitude of materialistic scepticism. It is full of +Swedenborgian symbolism, which, perhaps, finds its most characteristic +expression in the two scenes laid in "The Waiting Room." The name +selected by Strindberg for the region where dwell the "lost" souls of +men is not a mere euphemism. It signifies his conception of that place +as a station on the road to redemption or annihilation.</p> + +<p>In its entirety the play forms a Christmas sermon with a quaint +blending of law and gospel. A prominent Swedish critic, Johan +Mortensen, wrote: "Reading it, one almost gets the feeling that +Strindberg, the dread revolutionist, has, of a sudden, changed into +a nice village school-teacher, seated at his desk, with his rattan +cane laid out in front of him. He has just been delivering a lesson in +Christianity, and he has noticed that the attention of the children +strayed and that they either failed to understand or did not care to +take in the difficult matters he was dealing with. But they must be +made to listen and understand. And so—with serious eyes, but with a +sly smile playing around the corners of his mouth—he begins all over +again, in that fairy-tale style which never grows old: 'Once upon a +time!'"</p> + +<p>In November, 1907, a young theatrical manager, August Falck, opened the +Intimate Theatre at Stockholm. From the start Strindberg was closely +connected with the venture, and soon the little theatre, with its tiny +stage and its auditorium seating only one hundred and seventy-five +persons, was turned wholly into a Strindberg stage, where some of the +most interesting and daring theatrical experiments of our own day were +made. With particular reference to the needs and limitations of this +theatre, Strindberg wrote a series of "chamber plays," four of which +were published in 1907—each one of them appearing separately in a +paper-covered duodecimo volume.</p> + +<p>The first of these plays to appear in book form—though not the +first one to be staged—was "The Thunder-Storm," designated on the +front cover as "Opus I." Two of the principal ideas underlying its +construction were the abolition of intermissions—which, according to +Strindberg, were put in chiefly for the benefit of the liquor traffic +in the theatre café—and the reduction of the stage-setting to quickly +inter-changeable backgrounds and a few stage-properties. Concerning the +production of "The Thunder-Storm," at the Intimate Theatre, Strindberg +wrote subsequently that, in their decorative effects, the first and +last scenes were rather failures. But he held the lack of space +wholly responsible for this failure. His conclusion was that the most +difficult problem of the small theatre would be to give the illusion of +distance required by a scene laid in the open—particularly in an open +place surrounded or adjoined by buildings. Of the second act he wrote, +on the other hand, that it proved a triumph of artistic simplification. +The only furniture appearing on the stage consisted of a buffet, a +piano, a dinner-table and a few chairs—that is, the pieces expressly +mentioned in the text of the play. And yet the effect of the setting +satisfied equally the demands of the eye and the reason.</p> + +<p>"The Thunder-Storm" might be called a drama of old age—nay, <i>the</i> +drama of man's inevitable descent through a series of resignations to +the final dissolution. Its subject-matter is largely autobiographical, +embodying the author's experiences in his third and last marriage, +as seen in retrospect—the anticipatory conception appearing in +"Swanwhite." However, justice to Miss Harriet Bosse, who was Mrs. +Strindberg from 1901 to 1904, requires me to point out that echoes +of the dramatist's second marriage also appear, especially in the +references to the postmarital relationship.</p> + +<p>"After the Fire" was published as "Opus II" of the chamber-plays, +and staged ahead of "The Thunder-Storm." Its Swedish name is <i>Brända +Tomten</i>, meaning literally "the burned-over site." This name has +previously been rendered in English as "The Burned Lot" and "The Fire +Ruins." Both these titles are awkward and ambiguous. The name I have +now chosen embodies more closely the fundamental premise of the play.</p> + +<p>The subject-matter is even more autobiographical than that of "The +Thunder-Storm"—almost as much so as "The Bondwoman's Son." The +perished home is Strindberg's own at the North Tollgate Street in +Stockholm, where he spent the larger part of his childhood and youth. +The old <i>Mason</i>, the <i>Gardener</i>, the <i>Stone-Cutter</i>, and other figures +appearing in the play are undoubtedly lifted straight out of real +life—and so are probably also the exploded family reputation and +the cheap table painted to represent ebony—although one may take +for granted that the process has not taken place without a proper +disguising of externals.</p> + +<p>There is one passage in this little play which I want to point out as +containing one of the main keys to Strindberg's character and art. It +is the passage where <i>The Stranger</i>—who, of course, is none but the +author himself—says to his brother: "I have beheld life from every +quarter, from every standpoint, from above and from below, but always +it has seemed to me like a scene staged for my particular benefit."</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="SWANWHITE" id="SWANWHITE">SWANWHITE</a></h3> + +<h4>(SVANEHVIT)</h4> + +<h4>A FAIRY PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1902</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 45%; font-size: 0.8em;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +THE DUKE<br /> +THE STEPMOTHER<br /> +SWANWHITE<br /> +THE PRINCE<br /> +SIGNE }<br /> +ELSA } <i>Maids</i><br /> +TOVA }<br /> +THE KITCHEN GARDENER<br /> +THE FISHERMAN<br /> +THE MOTHER OF SWANWHITE<br /> +THE MOTHER OF THE PRINCE<br /> +THE GAOLER<br /> +THE EQUERRY<br /> +THE BUTLER<br /> +THE FLOWER GARDENER<br /> +TWO KNIGHTS<br /> +</p> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>An apartment in a mediæval stone castle. The walls and the +cross-vaulted ceiling are whitewashed. In the centre of the +rear wall is a triple-arched doorway leading to a balcony +with a stone balustrade. There are draperies of brocade over +the doorway. Beyond the balcony appear the top branches of a +rose-garden, laden with white and pink roses. In the background +there can be seen a white, sandy beach and the blue sea</i>.</p> + +<p><i>To the right of the main doorway is a small door which, when +left open, discloses a vista of three closets, one beyond the +other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged +on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all +sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains +piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so +forth</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating +squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands +a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe +is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with +roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded +tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall +above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the +foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed +with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the +head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is +pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across +the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with +lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, +bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in +Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is +placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp +of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the +mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a +perch, with its back turned toward the audience</i>.</p> + +<p><i>In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white +doves at rest</i>.</p> + +<p><i>As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways +of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post +against which she leans</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>, <i>the false maid, is in the +pewter-closet</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>in the clothes-closet, and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>in the +fruit-closet</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>enters from the rear. After him comes the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The stage is darkened when they enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Swanwhite is not here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. It seems so!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. So it seems, but—is it seemly? Maids!—Signe!—Signe, +Elsa, Tova!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of +the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Where is Lady Swanwhite?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You do not know? What see you in my hand?—Answer, quick! +[<i>Pause</i>] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws +of steel, as well as bill! What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. The wire-lashed whip!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan +white?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. How can I tell what I don't know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an +offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?—Take +off your neckerchief!—Down on your knees!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>turns his back on her in disgust</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that +no youth will ever kiss it after this!—Hold out your neck!—Still more!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. For Christ's sake, mercy!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. 'Tis mercy that you are alive!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of +his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard</i>] Her head +should be cut off—put in a sack—hung on a tree——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. So it should!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. We are agreed! How strange!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. It did not happen yesterday.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And may not happen once again.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>To</i> Signe, <i>who, still on her knees, has been moving +farther away</i>] Stop! Whither? [<i>She raises the whip and strikes</i>; Signe +<i>turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air</i>.]</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees</i>] +Stepmother—here I am—the guilty one! She's not at fault.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Your father's wife must be your mother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and +will make you pliant too.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She raises the whip to strike</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Raising his sword</i>] Take heed of the head!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Whose head?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Your own!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>turns pale at first, and then angry; but she +controls herself and remains silent; long pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone</i>] Then will +Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Sheathing his sword</i>] Rise up, my darling child, and come into +my arms to calm yourself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into the arms of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>] +Father!—You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. +But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. +[<i>She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to +his waist</i>] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches—lift +me up, so I can reach the top.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>holds out his arm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder</i>] +Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above—now I can overlook the +rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms +stretched beyond.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is +promised——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No—nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rubbing her eyes</i>] My eyes?—They cannot see what is not +beautiful.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Kissing her foot</i>] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor +little blackamoorish foot!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>gives a sign to the maids, who resume their +previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals +with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the +doorway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Leaps to the floor; the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>places her on the table and +sits down on a chair beside it</i>; <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>looks meaningly after the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the +Spring arrived?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Puts his hand over her mouth</i>] You little chatter-box! You joy +of my old age—my evening star! Now open wide your rosy ear, and close +your little mouth's crimson shell. Give heed, obey, and all will then +be well with you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Putting her fingers in her ears</i>] With my eyes I hear, and +with my ears I see—and now I cannot see at all, but only hear.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. My child, when still a cradled babe, your troth was plighted to +the youthful King of Rigalid. You have not seen him yet, such being +courtly usage. But the time to tie the sacred knot is drawing near. To +teach you the deportment of a queen and courtly manners, the king has +sent a prince with whom you are to study reading out of books, gaming +at chess, treading the dance, and playing on the harp.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What is the prince's name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. That, child, is something you must never ask of him or anybody +else. For it is prophesied that whosoever calls him by his name shall +have to love him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is he handsome?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. He is, because your eye sees beauty everywhere.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But is he beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Indeed he is. And now be careful of your little heart, and don't +forget that in the cradle you were made a queen.—With this, dear +child, I leave you, for I have war to wage abroad.—Submit obediently +to your stepmother. She's hard, but once your father loved her—and +a sweet temper will find a way to hearts of stone. If, despite of +promises and oaths, her malice should exceed what is permissible, then +you may blow this horn [<i>he takes a horn of carved ivory from under +his cloak</i>], and help will come. But do not use it till you are in +danger—not until the danger is extreme.—Have you understood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How is it to be understood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. This way: the prince is here, is in the court already. Is it your +wish to see the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is it my wish?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Or shall I first bid you farewell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The prince is here already?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Already here, and I—already there—far, far away where sleeps +the heron of forgetfulness, with head beneath his wing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Leaping into the lap of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>and burying her head in +his beard</i>] Mustn't speak like that! Baby is ashamed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Baby should be spanked—who forgets her aged father for a little +prince. Fie on her!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A trumpet is heard in the distance</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Rises quickly, takes</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in his arms</i>, <i>throws her up +into the air and catches her again</i>] Fly, little bird, fly high above +the dust, with lots of air beneath your wings!—And then, once more on +solid ground!—I am called by war and glory—you, by love and youth! +[<i>Girding on his sword</i>] And now hide your wonder-horn, that it may not +be seen by evil eyes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where shall I hide it? Where?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The bed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Hiding the horn in the bed-clothing</i>] There! Sleep well, +my little tooteroot! When it is time, I'll wake you up. And don't +forget your prayers!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And child! Do not forget what I said last: your stepmother must +be obeyed.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In all?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. In all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But not in what is contrary to cleanliness!—Two linen +shifts my mother let me have each sennight; this woman gives but one! +And mother gave me soap and water, which stepmother denies. Look at my +little footies!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Keep clean within, my daughter, and clean will be the outside. +You know that holy men, who, for the sake of penance, deny themselves +the purging waters, grow white as swans, while evil ones turn +raven-black.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then I will be as white——!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Into my arms! And then, farewell!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into his arms</i>] Farewell, my great and +valiant hero, my glorious father! May fortune follow you, and make you +rich in years and friends and victories!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Amen—and let your gentle prayers be my protection!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He closes the visor of his golden helmet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Jumps up and plants a kiss on the visor</i>] The golden gates +are shut, but through the bars I still can see your kindly, watchful +eyes. [<i>Knocking at the visor</i>] Let up, let up, for little Red +Riding-hood. No one at home? "Well-away," said the wolf that lay in the +bed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Putting her down on the floor</i>] Sweet flower of mine, grow fair +and fragrant! If I return—well—I return! If not, then from the starry +arch above my eye shall follow you, and never to my sight will you be +lost, for there above all-seeing we become, even as the all-creating +Lord himself.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Goes out firmly, with a gesture that bids her not to follow.</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>falls on her knees in prayer for the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>; <i>all the +rose-trees sway before a wind that passes with the sound of a +sigh; the peacock shakes its wings and tail</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rises, goes to the peacock and begins to stroke its back +and tail</i>] Pavo, dear Pavo, what do you see and what do you hear? Is +any one coming? Who is it? A little prince? Is he pretty and nice? +You, with your many blue eyes, should be able to tell. [<i>She lifts up +one of the bird's tail feathers and gazes intently at its "eye"</i>.] Are +you to keep your eyes on us, you nasty Argus? Are you to see that the +little hearts of two young people don't beat too loudly?—You stupid +thing—all I have to do is to close the curtain! [<i>She closes the +curtain, which hides the bird, but not the landscape outside; then she +goes to the doves</i>] My white doves—oh, so white, white, white—now +you'll see what is whitest of all—Be silent, wind, and roses, and +doves—my prince is coming!</p> + +<p><i>She looks out for a moment; then she withdraws to the pewter-closet, +leaving the door slightly ajar so that through the opening she can +watch the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>; <i>there she remains standing, visible to the +spectators but not to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Enters through the middle arch of the doorway. He wears +armour of steel; what shows of his clothing is black. Having carefully +observed everything in the room, he sits down at the table, takes off +his helmet and begins to study it. His back is turned toward the +door behind which</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>is hiding</i>] If anybody be here, let him +answer! [<i>Silence</i>] There is somebody here, for I can feel the warmth +of a young body come billowing toward me like a southern wind. I can +hear a breath—it carries the fragrance of roses—and, gentle though +it be, it makes the plume on my helmet move. [<i>He puts the helmet to +his ear</i>] 'Tis murmuring as if it were a huge shell. It's the thoughts +within my own head that are crowding each other like a swarm of bees in +a hive. "Zum, zum," say the thoughts—just like bees that are buzzing +around their queen—the little queen of my thoughts and of my dreams! +[<i>He places the helmet on the table and gazes at it</i>] Dark and arched +as the sky at night, but starless, for the black plume is spreading +darkness everywhere since my mother's death—[<i>He turns the helmet +around and gazes at it again</i>] But there, in the midst of the darkness, +deep down—there, on the other side, I see a rift of light!—Has the +sky been split open?—And there, in the rift, I see—not a star, for it +would look like a diamond—but a blue sapphire, queen of the precious +stones—blue as the sky of summer—set in a cloud white as milk and +curved as the dove's egg. What is it? My ring? And now another feathery +cloud, black as velvet, passes by—and the sapphire is smiling—as +if sapphires could smile! And there, the lightning flashed, but +blue—heat-lightning mild, that brings no thunder!—What are you? Who? +And where? [<i>He looks at the back of the helmet</i>] Not here! Not there! +And nowhere else! [<i>He puts his face close to the helmet</i>] As I come +nearer, you withdraw.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>steals forward on tiptoe</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And now there are two—two eyes—two little human eyes—I kiss +you! [<i>He kisses the helmet</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>goes up to the table and seats herself slowly +opposite the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>rises, bows, with his hand to his heart, and +gazes steadily at</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you the little prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The faithful servant of the king, and yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What message does the young king send his bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is his word to Lady Swanwhite—whom lovingly he +greets—that by the thought of coming happiness the long torment of +waiting will be shortened.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Who has been looking at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>as if to study him</i>] +Why not be seated, Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If seated when you sit, then I should have to kneel when you +stand up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Speak to me of the king! How does he look?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How does he look? [<i>Putting one of his hands up to his eyes</i>] I +can no longer see him—how strange!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What is his name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. He's gone—invisible——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And is he tall?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Fixing his glance on</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Wait!—I see him +now!—Taller than you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Not in comparison with you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Speak of the king, and not of me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I do speak of the king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Is his complexion light or dark?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If he were dark, on seeing you he would turn light at once.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There's more of flattery than wit in that! His eyes are blue?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Glancing at his helmet</i>] I think I have to look?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Holding out her hand between them</i>] Oh, you—you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You with <i>t h</i> makes youth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you to teach me how to spell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The young king is tall and blond and blue-eyed, with broad +shoulders and hair like a new-grown forest——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why do you carry a black plume?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. His lips are red as the ripe currant, his cheeks are white, and +the lion's cub needn't be ashamed of his teeth.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why is your hair wet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. His mind knows no fear, and no evil deed ever made his heart +quake with remorse.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why is your hand trembling?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. We were to speak of the young king and not of me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. So, you, you are to teach me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It is my task to teach you how to love the young king whose +throne you are to share.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How did you cross the sea?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In my bark and with my sail.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And the wind so high?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Without wind there is no sailing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Little boy—how wise you are!—Will you play with me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What I must do, I will.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And now I'll show you what I have in my chest. [<i>She goes to +the chest and kneels down beside it; then she takes out several dolls, +a rattle, and a hobby-horse</i>] Here's the doll. It's my child—the child +of sorrow that can never keep its face clean. In my own arms I have +carried her to the lavendrey, and there I have washed her with white +sand—but it only made her worse. I have spanked her—but nothing +helped. Now I have figured out what's worst of all!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And what is that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>After a glance around the room</i>] I'll give her a +stepmother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But how's that to be? She should have a mother first.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I am her mother. And if I marry twice, I shall become a +stepmother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, how you talk! That's not the way!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you shall be her stepfather.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You must be very kind to her, although she cannot wash her +face.—Here, take her—let me see if you have learned to carry children +right.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>receives the doll unwillingly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You haven't learned yet, but you will! Now take the rattle, +too, and play with her.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>receives the rattle</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. That's something you don't understand, I see. [<i>She takes +the doll and the rattle away from him and throws them back into the +chest; then she takes out the hobby-horse</i>] Here is my steed.—It has +saddle of gold and shoes of silver.—It can run forty miles in an +hour, and on its back I have travelled through Sounding Forest, across +Big Heath and King's Bridge, along High Road and Fearful Alley, all the +way to the Lake of Tears. And there it dropped a golden shoe that fell +into the lake, and then came a fish, and after came a fisherman, and so +I got the golden shoe back. That's all there was to that! [<i>She throws +the hobby-horse into the chest; instead she takes out a chess-board +with red and white squares, and chess-men made of silver and gold</i>] +If you will play with me, come here and sit upon the lion skin. [<i>She +seats herself on the skin and begins to put up the pieces</i>] Sit down, +won't you—the maids can't see us here!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>sits down on the skin, looking very embarrassed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It's like sitting in the grass—not the green grass of the +meadow, but the desert grass which has been burned by the sun.—Now you +must say something about me! Do you like me a little?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Are we to play?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. To play? What care I for that?—Oh—you were to teach me +something!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Poor me, what can I do but saddle a horse and carry arms—with +which you are but poorly served.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You are so sad!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My mother died quite recently.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Poor little prince!—My mother, too, has gone to God in +heaven, and she's an angel now. Sometimes in the nights I see her—do +you also see yours?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No-o.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And have you got a stepmother?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Not yet. So little time has passed since she was laid to rest.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't be so sad! There's nothing but will wear away in time, +you see. Now I'll give you a flag to gladden you again—Oh, no, that's +right—this one I sewed for the young king. But now I'll sew another +one for you!—This is the king's, with seven flaming fires—you shall +have one with seven red roses on it—but first of all you have to +hold this skein of yarn for me. [<i>She takes from the chest a skein of +rose-coloured yarn and hands it to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] One, two, three, and +now you'll see!—Your hands are trembling—that won't do!—Perhaps you +want a hair of mine among the yarn?—Pull one yourself!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no, I couldn't——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I'll do it, then, myself. [<i>She pulls a hair from her head +and winds it into the ball of yarn</i>] What is your name?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You shouldn't ask.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Why not?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The duke has told you—hasn't he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, he hasn't! What could happen if you told your name? +Might something dreadful happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The duke has told you, I am sure.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I never heard of such a thing before—of one who couldn't +tell his name!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain behind which the peacock is hidden moves; a faint +sound as of castanets is heard</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What was that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. That's Pavo—do you think he knows what we are saying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's hard to tell.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Well, what's your name?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Again the peacock makes the same kind of sound with his bill</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am afraid—don't ask again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He snaps his bill, that's all—Keep your hands still!—Did +you ever hear the tale of the little princess that mustn't mention the +name of the prince, lest something happen? And do you know——?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain hiding the peacock is pulled aside, and the bird +is seen spreading out his tail so that it looks as if all the +"eyes" were staring at</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who pulled away the curtain? Who made the bird behold us with +its hundred eyes?—You mustn't ask again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Perhaps I mustn't—Down, Pavo—there!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curtain resumes its previous position</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Is this place haunted?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You mean that things will happen—just like that? Oh, well, +so much is happening here—but I have grown accustomed to it. And then, +besides—they call my stepmother a witch—There, now, I have pricked my +finger!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What did you prick it with?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There was a splinter in the yarn. The sheep have been locked +up all winter—and then such things will happen. Please see if you can +get it out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. We must sit at the table then, so I can see.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They rise and take seats at the table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Holding out one of her little fingers</i>] Can you see +anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the +world and life itself appear in rosy colouring——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now pull the splinter out—ooh, it hurts!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But I shall have to hurt you, too—and ask your pardon in +advance!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, help me, please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with +his nails</i>] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Sucking the blood from her finger</i>] I've drunk your +blood—and so I am your foster-brother now.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My foster-brother—so you were at once—or how do you think +I could have talked to you as I have done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Just think, he didn't notice it!—And now I have got a +brother of my own, and that is you!—My little brother—take my hand!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking her hand</i>] My little sister! [<i>Feels her pulse beating +under his thumb</i>] What have you there, that's ticking—one, and two, +and three, and four——? <i>Continues to count silently after having +looked at his watch</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks—so steady, steady, +steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast—Put +your hand here, and you can feel it too. [<i>The doves begin to stir and +coo</i>] What is it, little white ones?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking—it is the time! +Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for +every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within +the watch?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Handling the watch</i>] We cannot reach the inside of the +watch—no more than of the heart—Just feel my heart!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. [<i>Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts +down on the table</i>] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at +opposite sides of the table.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>sits down at the opposite end of the table. He and</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>look at each other in silence for a while</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you know that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I have just learned it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Now my instruction has begun.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You're teaching me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Pointing to a dish of fruit</i>] Would you like some fruit?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, eating is so ugly.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, so it is.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Three maids are standing there—one in the pewter-closet, one +among the clothes, and one among the fruits. Why are they standing +there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. To watch us two—lest we do anything that is forbidden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. May we not go into the rosery?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The morning is the only time when I can go into the rosery, +for there the bloodhounds of my stepmother are kept. They never let me +reach the shore—and so I get no chance to bathe.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Have you then never seen the shore? And never heard the ocean +wash the sand along the beach?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No—never! Here I can only hear the roaring waves in time of +storm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then you have never heard the murmur made by winds that sweep +across the waters?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It cannot reach me here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Pushing his helmet across the table to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Put it to +your ear and listen.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>With the helmet at her ear</i>] What is that I hear?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The song of waves, the whispering winds</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, I hear human voices—hush! My stepmother is +speaking—speaking to the steward—and mentioning my name—and that of +the young king, too! She's speaking evil words. She's swearing that I +never shall be queen—and vowing that—you—shall take that daughter +of her own—that loathsome Lena——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed!—And you can hear it in the helmet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I didn't know of that. But my godmother gave me the helmet as a +christening present.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Give me a feather, will you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It is a pleasure—great as life itself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But you must cut it so that it will write.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You know a thing or two!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father taught me——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>pulls a black feather out of the plume on his +helmet; then he takes a silver-handled knife from his belt and +cuts the quill</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>takes out an ink-well and parchment from a drawer in +the table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who is Lady Lena?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You mean, what kind of person? You want her, do you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Some evil things are brewing in this house——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Fear not! My father has bestowed a gift on me that will +bring help in hours of need.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What is it called?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It is the horn Stand-By.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is it hid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Read in my eye. I dare not let the maids discover it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Gazing at her eyes</i>] I see!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Pushing pen, ink and parchment across the table to the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] Write it.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>writes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, that's the place. [<i>She writes again.</i></p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do you write?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Names—all pretty names that may be worn by princes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Except my own!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yours, too!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Leave that alone!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here I have written twenty names—all that I know—and +so your name must be there, too. [<i>Pushing the parchment across the +table</i>] Read!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>reads</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, I have read it in your eye!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Don't utter it! I beg you in the name of God the merciful, +don't utter it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I read it in his eye!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But do not utter it, I beg of you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And if I do? What then?—Can Lena tell, you think? Your +bride! Your love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, hush, hush, hush!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Jumps up and begins to dance</i>] I know his name—the +prettiest name in all the land!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>runs up to her, catches hold of her and covers +her mouth with his hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I'll bite your hand; I'll suck your blood; and so I'll be +your sister twice—do you know what that can mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I'll have two sisters then.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing back her head</i>] O-ho! O-ho! Behold, the +ceiling has a hole, and I can see the sky—a tiny piece of sky, a +window-pane—and there's a face behind it. Is it an angel's?—See—but +see, I tell you!—It's your face!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The angels are not boys, but girls.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But it is you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Looking up</i>] 'Tis a mirror.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Woe to us then! It is the witching mirror of my stepmother, +and she has seen it all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And in the mirror I can see the fireplace—there's a pumpkin +hanging in it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Takes from the fireplace a mottled, strangely shaped +pumpkin</i>] What can it be? It has the look of an ear. The witch has +heard us, too!—Alas, alas! [<i>She throws the pumpkin into the fireplace +and runs across the floor toward the bed; suddenly she stops on one +foot, holding up the other</i>]</p> + +<p>Oh, she has strewn the floor with needles——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She sits down and begins to rub her foot</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>kneels in front of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in order to help +her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, you mustn't touch my foot—you mustn't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Dear heart, you must take off your stocking if I am to help.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Sobbing</i>] You mustn't—mustn't see my foot!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But why? Why shouldn't I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot tell; I cannot tell. Go—go away from me! To-morrow +I shall tell you, but I can't to-day.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But then your little foot will suffer—let me pull the needle +out!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Go, go, go!—No, no, you mustn't try!—Oh, had my mother +lived, a thing like this could not have happened!—Mother, mother, +mother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I cannot understand—are you afraid of me——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't ask me, please—just leave me—oh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What have I done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Don't leave me, please—I didn't mean to hurt you—but I +cannot tell—If I could only reach the shore—the white sand of the +beach——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot tell! I cannot tell!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She hides her face in her hands. Once more the peacock makes +a rattling sound with his bill; the doves begin to stir; the +three maids enter, one after the other; a gust of wind is +heard, and the tops of the rose-trees outside swing back and +forth; the golden clouds that have been hanging over the sea +disappear, and the blue sea itself turns dark</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Does Heaven itself intend to judge us?—Is ill-luck in the +house?—Oh, that my sorrow had the power to raise my mother from her +grave!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>.Putting his hand on his sword</i>] My life for yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, don't—she puts the very swords to sleep!—Oh, that my +sorrow could bring back my mother! [<i>The swallows chirp in their nest</i>] +What was that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Catching sight of the nest</i>] A swallow's nest! I didn't +notice it before.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Nor I! How did it get there? When?—But all the same it +augurs good—And yet the cold sweat of fear is on my brow—and I +choke—Look, how the rose itself is withering because that evil woman +comes this way—for it is she who comes——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The rose on the table is closing its blossom and drooping its +leaves</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But whence came the swallows?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. They were not sent by her, I'm sure, for they are kindly +birds—Now she is here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters from the rear with the walk of a panther; the rose +on the table is completely withered</i>] Signe—take the horn out of the +bed!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>goes up to the bed and takes the horn</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Where are you going, Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. The day is almost done, Your Grace; the sun is setting, and my +bark is longing to get home.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The day is too far gone—the gates are shut, the dogs let +loose—You know my dogs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed! You know my sword?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is the matter with your sword?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It bleeds at times.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Well, well! But not with women's blood, I trust?—But +listen, Prince: how would like to sleep in our Blue Room?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. By God, it is my will to sleep at home, in my own bed——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Is that the will of anybody else?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Of many more.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. How many?—More than these!—One, two, three——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>As she counts, the members of the household begin to pass by +in single file across the balcony; all of them look serious; +some are armed; no one turns his head to look into the room; +among those that pass are the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEWARD</span>, <i>the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">KITCHENER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">CONSTABLE</span>, <i>the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">EQUERRY</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I'll sleep in your Blue Room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. That's what I thought.—So you will bid ten thousand +good-nights unto your love—and so will Swanwhite, too, I think!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A swan comes flying by above the rosery; from the ceiling a +poppy flower drops down on the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>, <i>who falls asleep +at once, as do the maids</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Going up to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] Good-night, my Prince!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Takes her hand and says in a low voice</i>] Good-night!—Oh, +that it's granted me to sleep beneath one roof with you, my +Princess—your dreams by mine shall be enfolded—and then to-morrow we +shall wake for other games and other——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>In the same tone</i>] You are my all on earth, you are +my parent now—since she has robbed me of my puissant father's +help.—Look, how she sleeps!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You saw the swan?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, but I heard—it was my mother.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Come, fly with me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No, that we mustn't!—Patience! We'll meet in our +dreams!—But this will not be possible unless—you love me more than +anybody else on earth! Oh, love me—you, you, you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My king, my loyalty——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your queen, your heart—or what am I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am a knight!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But I am not. And therefore—therefore do I take you—my +Prince——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She puts her hands up to her mouth with a gesture as if she +were throwing a whispered name to him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, woe! What have you done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I gave myself to you through your own name—and with me, +carried on <i>your</i> wings, yourself came back to you! Oh—— [<i>Again she +whispers the name</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With a movement of his hand as if he were catching the name +in the air</i>] Was that a rose you threw me?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He throws a kiss to her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A violet you gave me—that was you—your soul! And now I +drink you in—you're in my bosom, in my heart—you're mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And you are mine! Who is the rightful owner, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Both!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Both! You and I!—My rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I <i>love</i> you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>You</i> love <i>me</i>!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You <i>love</i> me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>I</i> love <i>you</i>!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The stage grows light again. The rose on the table recovers +and opens. The faces of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>and the three maids +are lighted up and appear beautiful, kind, and happy. The</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>lifts up her drowsy head and, while her eyes remain +closed, she seems to be watching the joy of the two young +people with a sunny smile</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Look, look! The cruel one is smiling as at some memory from +childhood days. See how Signe the False seems faith and hope embodied, +how the ugly Tova has grown beautiful, the little Elsa tall.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Our love has done it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. So that is love? Blessed be it by the Lord! The Lord +Omnipotent who made the world!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She falls on her knees, weeping</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You weep?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Because I am so full of joy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Come to my arms and you will smile.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. There I should die, I think.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Well, smile and die!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] So be it then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>takes her in his arms.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Wakes up; on seeing the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> +<i>together, she strikes the table with the whip</i>] I must have +slept!—Oho! So we have got that far!—The Blue Room did I say?—I +meant the Blue Tower!—There the prince is to sleep with the Duke of +Exeter's daughter!—Maids!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The maids wake up</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Show the prince the shortest way to the Blue Tower. And +should he nevertheless lose his way, you may summon the Castellan and +the Gaoler, the Equerry and the Constable.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No need of that! Wherever leads my course—through fire or +water, up above the clouds or down in the solid earth—there shall I +meet my Swanwhite, for she is with me where I go. So now I go to meet +her—in the tower! Can you beat that for witchcraft, witch?—Too hard, +I think, for one who knows not love!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out followed by the maids</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Not many words are needed—tell your +wishes—but be brief!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My foremost, highest wish is for some water with which to +lave my feet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Cold or warm?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Warm—if I may.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A comb to ravel out my hair.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Silver or gold?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you—are you kind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Silver or gold?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Wood or horn will do me well enough.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. A shift that's clean.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Linen or silk?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Just linen.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Good! So I have heard your wishes. Now listen to mine! I +wish that you may have no water, be it warm or cold! I wish that you +may have no comb, of any kind, not even of wood or horn—much less of +gold or silver. That's how kind I am! I wish that you may wear no linen +—but get you at once into the closet there to cover up your body with +that dingy sark of homespun! Such is my word!—And if you try to leave +these rooms—which you had better not, as there are traps and snares +around—then you are doomed—or with my whip I'll mark your pretty +face so that no prince or king will ever look at you again!—Then get +yourself to bed!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She strikes the table with her whip again, rises and goes out +through the middle arch of the doorway; the gates, which have +gilded bars, squeak and rattle as she closes and locks them</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same scene as before, but the golden gates at the rear are +shut. The peacock and the doves are sleeping. The golden clouds +in the sky are as dull in colour as the sea itself and the land +that appears in the far distance</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>is lying on the bed; she has on a garment of black +homespun</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The doors to the three closets are open. In each doorway +stands one of the maids, her eyes closed and in one of her +hands a small lighted lamp of Roman pattern</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A swan is seen flying above the rosery, and trumpet-calls are +heard, like those made by flocks of migrating wild swans</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER OF SWANWHITE</span>, <i>all in white, appears outside the +gates. Over one arm she carries the plumage of a swan and on +the other one a small harp of gold. She hangs the plumage on +one of the gates, which opens of its own accord and then closes +in the same way behind her</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She enters the room and places the harp on the table. Then she +looks around and becomes aware of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>At once the harp +begins to play. The lamps carried by the maids go out one by +one, beginning with that farthest away. Then the three doors +close one by one, beginning with the innermost</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The golden clouds resume their former radiance</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>lights one of the lamps on the stand and goes up +to the bed, beside which she kneels</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp continues to play during the ensuing episode</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>rises, takes</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>in her arms, and places +her, still sleeping, in a huge arm-chair. Then she kneels down +and pulls off</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> <i>stockings. Having thrown these +under the bed, she bends over her daughter's feet as if to +moisten them with her tears. After a while she wipes them with +a white linen cloth and covers them with kisses. Finally she +puts a sandal on each foot which then appears shining white</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER</span> <i>rises to her feet again, takes out a comb of +gold, and begins to comb</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> <i>hair. This finished, she +carries</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>back to the bed. Beside her she places a +garment of white linen which she takes out of a bag</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Having kissed</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>on the forehead, she prepares to +leave. At that moment a white swan is seen to pass by outside, +and one hears a trumpet-call like the one heard before. Shortly +afterward the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MOTHER OF THE PRINCE</span>, <i>also in white, enters +through the gate, having first hung her swan plumage on it</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Well met, my sister! How long before the cock will +crow?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Not very long. The dew is rising from the roses, the +corn-crake's call is heard among the grass, the morning breeze is +coming from the sea.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Let us make haste with what we have on hand, my +sister.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. You called me so that we might talk of our children.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Once I was walking in a green field in the land +that knows no sorrow. There I met you, whom I had always known, yet +had not seen before. You were lamenting your poor boy's fate, left to +himself here in the vale of sorrow. You opened up your heart to me, and +my own thoughts, that dwell unwillingly below, were sent in search of +my deserted daughter—destined to marry the young king, who is a cruel +man, and evil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Then I spoke, while you listened: "May worth belong to +worth; may love, the powerful, prevail; and let us join these lonely +hearts, in order that they may console each other!"</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Since then heart has kissed heart and soul enfolded +soul. May sorrow turn to joy, and may their youthful happiness bring +cheer to all the earth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. If it be granted by the powers on high!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. That must be tested by the fire of suffering.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. [<i>Taking in her hand the helmet left behind by the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] May sorrow turn to joy—this very day, when he has mourned his +mother one whole year!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She exchanges the black feathers on the helmet for white and +red ones</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Your hand, my sister—let the test begin!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Here is my hand, and with it goes my son's! Now we +have pledged them——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. In decency and honour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. I go to open up the tower. And let the young ones fold +each other heart to heart.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. In decency and honour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. And we shall meet again in those green fields where +sorrow is not known.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. [<i>Pointing to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Listen! She dreams +of him!—Oh foolish, cruel woman who thinks that lovers can be +parted!—Now they are walking hand in hand within the land of dreams, +'neath whispering firs and singing lindens—They sport and laugh——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE'S MOTHER</span>. Hush! Day is dawning—I can hear the robins calling, +and see the stars withdrawing from the sky—Farewell, my sister!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out, taking her swan plumage with her.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S MOTHER</span>. Farewell!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She passes her hand over</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>as if blessing her, then +she takes her plumage and leaves, closing the gate after her</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The clock on the table strikes three. The harp is silent for +a moment; then it begins to play a new melody of even greater +sweetness than before</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>wakes up and looks around; +listens to the harp; gets up from the bed; draws her hands +through her hair; looks with pleasure at her own little feet, +now spotlessly clean, and notices finally the while linen +garment on the bed. She sits down at the table in the place she +occupied during the evening. She acts as if she were looking at +somebody sitting opposite her at the table, where the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> +<i>was seated the night before. She looks straight into his eyes, +smiles a smile of recognition, and holds out one of her hands. +Her lips move at times as if she were speaking, and then again +she seems to be listening to an answer</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She points meaningly to the white and red feathers on the +helmet, and leans forward as if whispering. Then she puts her +head back and breathes deeply as if to fill her nostrils with +some fragrance. Having caught something in the air with one +of her hands, she kisses the hand and then pretends to throw +something back across the table. She picks up the quill and +caresses it as if it were a bird; then she writes and pushes +the parchment across the table. Her glances seem to follow +"his" pen while the reply is being written, and at last she +takes back the parchment, reads it, and hides it in her bosom</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She strokes her black dress as if commenting on the sad change +in her appearance. Whereupon she smiles at an inaudible answer, +and finally bursts into hearty laughter</i>.</p> + +<p><i>By gestures she indicates that her hair has been combed. Then +she rises, goes a little distance away from the table, and +turns around with a bashful expression to hold out one of her +feet. In that attitude she stays for a moment while waiting for +an answer. On hearing it she becomes embarrassed and hides her +foot quickly under her dress</i>.</p> + +<p><i>She goes to the chest and takes out the chess-board and the +chess-men, which she places on the lions skin with a gesture of +invitation. Then she lies down beside the board, arranges the +men, and begins to play with an invisible partner</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp is silent for a moment before it starts a new melody</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The game of chess ends and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>seems to be talking +with her invisible partner. Suddenly she moves away as if +he were coming too close to her. With a deprecating gesture +she leaps lightly to her feet. Then she gazes long and +reproachfully at him. At last she snatches up the white garment +and hides herself behind the bed</i>.</p> + +<p><i>At that moment the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>appears outside the gates, which +he vainly tries to open. Then he raises his eyes toward the sky +with an expression of sorrow and despair</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] Who comes with the morning wind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Your heart's beloved, your prince, your all!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Whence do you come, my heart's beloved?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. From dreamland; from the rosy hills that hide the dawn; from +whispering firs and singing lindens.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What did you do in dreamland, beyond the hills of dawn, my +heart's beloved?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I sported and laughed; I wrote her name; I sat upon the lion's +skin and played at chess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You sported and you played—with whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. With Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. It is he!—Be welcome to my castle, my table, and my arms!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who opens up the golden gates?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Give me your hand!—It is as chilly as your heart is warm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My body has been sleeping in the tower, while my soul was +wandering in dreamland—In the tower it was cold and dark.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In my bosom will I warm your hand—I'll warm it by my +glances, by my kisses!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, let the brightness of your eyes be shed upon my darkness!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Are you in darkness?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Within the tower there was no light of sun or moon.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Rise up, O sun! Blow, southern wind! And let thy bosom +gently heave, O sea!—Ye golden gates, do you believe that you can part +two hearts, two hands, two lips—that can by nothing be divided?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Indeed, by nothing!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Two solid doors glide together in front of the gates so that</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>can no longer see each other</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Alas! What was the word we spoke, who heard it, and who +punished us?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am not parted from you, my beloved, for still the sound of my +voice can reach you. It goes through copper, steel, and stone to touch +your ear in sweet caress. When in my thoughts you're in my arms. I +kiss you in my dreams. For on this earth there is not anything that can +part us. Swanwhite. Not anything!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I see you, though my eyes cannot behold you. I taste you, too, +because with roses you are filling up my mouth——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But in my arms I want you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am there.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No! Against my heart I want to feel the beat of yours—Upon +your arm I want to sleep—Oh, let us, let us, dearest God—oh, let us +have each other!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The swallows chirp. A small white feather falls to the +ground</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>picks it up and discovers it to be a key. +With this she opens gates and doors. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>comes in</i>. +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>leaps into his arms. He kisses her on the mouth</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You do not kiss me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I do!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I do not feel your kisses!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then you love me not!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Hold me fast!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. So fast that life may part!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, no, I breathe!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Give me your soul!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here!—Give me yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's here!—So I have yours, and you have mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I want mine back!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Mine, too, I want!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then you must seek it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Lost, both of us! For I am you, and you are me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. We two are one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. God, who is good, has heard your prayer! We have each other!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. We have each other, yet I have you not. I cannot feel the +pressure of your hand, your lip's caress—I cannot see your eyes, nor +hear your voice—You are not here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I am here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, here below. But up above, in dreamland, I would meet +you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then let us fly upon the wings of sleep——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Close to your heart!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In my embrace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Within your arms!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is the promised bliss!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Eternal bliss, that has no flaw and knows no end!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No one can part us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Are you my bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My bridegroom, you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. In dreamland—but not here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where are we?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here below!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Here, where the sky is clouded, where the ocean roars, and +where each night the earth sheds tears upon the grass while waiting for +the dawn; where flies are killed by swallows, doves by hawks; where +leaves must fall and turn to dust; where eyes must lose their light and +hands their strength! Yes, here below!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then let us fly!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, let us fly!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GREEN GARDENER</span> <i>appears suddenly behind the table. All +his clothes are green. He wears a peaked cap, a big apron, and +knee-breeches. At his belt hang shears and a knife. He carries +a small watering-can in one hand and is scattering seeds +everywhere</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Who are you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. I sow, I sow!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What do you sow?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Seeds, seeds, seeds.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What kind of seeds?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Annuals and biennials. One pulls this way, two pull that. +When the bridal suit is on, the harmony is gone. One and one make one, +but one and one make also three. One and one make two, but two make +three. Then do you understand?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You mole, you earthworm, you who turn your forehead toward the +ground and show the sky your back—what is there you can teach me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. That you are a mole and earthworm, too. And that because you +turn your back on the earth, the earth will turn its back on you. [<i>He +disappears behind the table</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What was it? Who was he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That was the green gardener.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Green, you say? Was he not blue?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, he was green, my love.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. How can you say what is not so?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My heart's beloved, I have not said a thing that was not so.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Alas, he does not speak the truth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Whose voice is this? Not that of Swanwhite!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Who is this my eyes behold? Not my Prince, whose very name +attracted me like music of the Neck, or song of mermaids heard among +green waves—Who are you? You stranger with the evil eyes—and with +grey hair!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You did not see it until now—my hair, that turned to grey +within the tower, in a single night, when I was mourning for my +Swanwhite, who is no longer here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Yes, here is Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, I see a black-clad maid, whose face is black——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Have you not seen before that I was clad in black? You do +not love me, then!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You who are standing there, so grim and ugly—no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then you have spoken falsely.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. No—for then another one was here! Now—you are filling up my +mouth with noisome nettles.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your violets smell of henbane now—faugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Thus I am punished for my treason to the king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I wish that I had waited for your king!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Just wait, and he will come.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I will not wait, but go to meet him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then I will stay.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Going toward the background</i>] And this is love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Beside himself</i>] Where is my Swanwhite? Where, where, where? +The kindest, loveliest, most beautiful?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Seek her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. 'Twould not avail me here below.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Elsewhere then! [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>is alone. He sits down at the table, covers his +face with his hands, and weeps. A gust of wind passes through +the room and sets draperies and curtains fluttering. A sound as +of a sigh is heard from the strings of the harp. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> +<i>rises, goes to the bed, and stands there lost in contemplation +of its pillow in which is a depression showing</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE'S</span> +<i>head in profile. He picks up the pillow and kisses it. A noise +is heard outside. He seats himself at the table again</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The doors of the closets fly open. The three</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>become +visible, all with darkened faces. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>enters from +the rear. Her face is also dark</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>In dulcet tones</i>] Good morning, my dear Prince! How have +you slept?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. She has gone to marry her young king. Is there no thought +of things like that in your own mind, my Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I harbour but a single thought——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Of little Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. She is too young for me, you mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Grey hairs and common sense belong together as a rule—I +have a girl with common sense——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And I grey hairs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He knows it not, believes it not! Come, maids! Come, Signe, +Elsa, Tova! Let's have a good laugh at the young suitor and his grey +hairs!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>begin to laugh. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>joins in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Follow in her traces—here is one!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She hands him a parchment covered with writing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Reading</i>] And she wrote this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You know her hand—what has it written?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That she hates me, and loves another—that she has played with +me; that she will throw my kisses to the wind, and to the swine my +heart—To die is now my will! Now I am dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. A knight dies not because a wench has played with him. He +shows himself a man and takes another.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Another? When there is only one?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. No, two, at least! My Magdalene possesses seven barrels +full of gold.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Seven?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. And more. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene is skilled in many crafts——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Including witchcraft?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. She knows how to bewitch a princeling.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Gazing at the parchment</i>] And this was written by my +Swanwhite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene would never write like that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And she is kind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Kindness itself! She does not play with sacred feelings, +nor seek revenge for little wrongs, and she is faithful to the one she +likes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then she must be beautiful.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Not beautiful!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. She is not kind then.—Tell me more of her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. See for yourself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And this has Swanwhite written——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene had written with more feeling</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What would she have written?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. That——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Speak the word! Say "love," if you are able!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Lub!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You cannot speak the word!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Lud!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Oh, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. My Magdalene can speak it. May she come?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, let her come.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Rising and speaking to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>] Blindfold the prince. +Then in his arms we'll place a princess that is without a paragon in +seven kingdoms.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>steps forward and covers the eyes of the</i> Prince <i>with a +bandage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Clapping her hands</i>] Well—is she not coming?</p> + +<p><i>The peacock makes a rattling noise with his bill; the doves begin to +coo</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is the matter? Does my art desert me? Where is the +bride?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Four</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>enter from the rear, carrying baskets of white +and pink roses. Music is heard from above. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>go up to +the bed and scatter roses over it</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then come</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">TWO KNIGHTS</span> <i>with closed visors. They take the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>between them toward the rear, where they meet the +</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>, <i>escorted by two ladies. The bride is deeply +veiled</i>.</p> + +<p><i>With a gesture of her hand the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>bids all depart +except the bridal couple. She herself leaves last of all, after +she has closed the curtains and locked the gates</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Is this my bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Who is your bride?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I have forgot her name. Who is your bridegroom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. He whose name may not be mentioned.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Tell, if you can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. I can, but will not.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Tell, if you can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Tell my name first!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. It's seven barrels full of gold, and crooked back, and grim, +and hare-lipped! What's my name? Tell, if you can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span>. Prince Greyhead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You're right!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FALSE MAGDALENE</span> <i>throws, off her veil, and</i> Swanwhite +<i>stands revealed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Dressed in a white garment, with a wreath of roses on her +hair</i>] Who am I now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You are a rose!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you a violet!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking off the bandage</i>] You are Swanwhite!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And you—are——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Hush!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. You're mine!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But you—you left me—left my kisses——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I have returned—because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And you wrote cruel words——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But cancelled them—because I love you.!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You told me I was false.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. What matters it, when you are true—and when I love you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You wished that you were going to the king.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. But went to you instead, because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now let me hear what you reproach me with.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I have forgotten it—because I love you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But if you love me, then you are my bride.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Then may the heavens bestow their blessing on our union!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. In dreamland!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. With your head upon my arm!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>leads</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>to the bed, in which he places +his sword. Then she lies down on one side of the sword, and he +on the other. The colour of the clouds changes to a rosy red. +The rose-trees murmur. The harp plays softly and sweetly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Good night, my queen!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Good morning, O my soul's beloved!—I hear the beating of +your heart—I hear it sigh like billowing waters, like swift-flying +steeds, like wings of eagles—Give me your hand!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. And yours!—Now we take wing——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters with the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>, <i>who carry torches; all four have +become grey-haired</i>] I have to see that my task is finished ere the +duke returns. My daughter. Magdalene, is plighted to the prince—while +Swanwhite lingers in the tower—[<i>Goes to the bed</i>] They sleep already +in each other's arms—you bear me witness, maids!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>approach the bed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What do I see? Each one of you is grey-haired!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. And so are you, Your Grace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Am I? Let me see!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>holds a mirror in front of her</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. This is the work of evil powers!—And then, perhaps, the +prince's hair is dark again?—Bring light this way!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span> <i>hold their torches so that the light from them +falls on the sleeping couple</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Such is the truth, indeed!—How beautiful they +look!—But—the sword! Who placed it there—the sword that puts at +naught their plighted troth?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She tries to take away the sword, but the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>clings to +it without being wakened</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Your Grace—here's deviltry abroad!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. This is not Lady Magdalene.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Who is it, then? My eyes need help.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. 'Tis Lady Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Swanwhite?—Can this be some delusion of the devil's +making, or have I done what I least wished?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>turns his head in his sleep so that his lips meet +those of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Touched by the beautiful sight</i>] No sight more beautiful +have I beheld!—Two roses brought together by the wind; two falling +stars that join in downward flight—it is too beautiful!—Youth, +beauty, innocence, and love! What memories, sweet memories—when I was +living in my father's home—when I was loved by <i>him</i>, the youth whom +never I called mine—What did I say I was?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. That you were loved by him, Your Grace.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Then I did speak the mighty word. Be-loved—so he named me +once—"beloved"—ere he started for the war—[<i>Lost in thoughts</i>] It +was the last of him.—And so I had to take the one I couldn't bear.—My +life is drawing to its close, and I must find my joy in happiness +denied myself! I should rejoice—at others' happiness—Some kind of +joy, at least—at other people's love—Some kind of love, at least—But +there's my Magdalene? What joy for her? O, love omnipotent—eternally +creative Lord—how you have rendered soft this lion heart! Where is my +strength? Where is my hatred—my revenge? [<i>She seats herself and looks +long at the sleeping couple</i>] A song runs through my mind, a song of +love that <i>he</i> was singing long ago, that final night— [<i>She rises as +if waking out of a dream and flies into a rage; her words come with a +roar</i>] Come hither, men! Here, Steward, Castellan, and Gaoler—all of +you! [<i>She snatches the sword out of the bed and throws it along the +floor toward the rear</i>] Come hither, men!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Noise is heard outside; the men enter as before</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Behold! The prince, the young king's vassal, has defiled +his master's bride! You bear me witness to the shameful deed! Put +chains and fetters on the traitor and send him to his rightful lord! +But in the spiked cask put the hussy. [<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> and <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>wake +up</i>] Equerry! Gaoler! Seize the prince!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">EQUERRY</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span> <i>lay hands on the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Where is my sword? I fight not against evil, but for innocence!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Whose innocence?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. My bride's.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The hussy's innocence! Then prove it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Oh, mother, mother!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The white swan flies by outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Maids, bring shears! I'll cut the harlot's hair!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>hands her a pair of shears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Takes hold of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>by the hair and starts to cut +it, but she cannot bring the blades of the shears together]</i> Now I'll +cut off your beauty and your love! [<i>Suddenly she is seized with panic, +which quickly spreads to the men and the three</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MAIDS</span>] Is the enemy +upon us? Why are you trembling?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Your Grace, the dogs are barking, horses neighing—it means +that visitors are near.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Quick, to the bridges, all of you! Man the ramparts! Fall +to with flame and water, sword and axe!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>are left alone</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. [<i>Appears from behind the table; in one hand he carries +a rope, the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>'S <i>horn in the other</i>] Forgiveness for those who +sin; for those who sorrow, consolation; and hope for those who are +distressed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. My father's horn! Then help is near! But—the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. The prince will follow me. A secret passage, underground, +leads to the shore. There lies his bark. The wind is favourable! Come!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>go out.</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>alone, +blows the horn. An answering signal is heard in the distance. +The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span> <i>enters with the spiked cask</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>blows the +horn again. The answer is heard much nearer</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>enters. He and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>are alone on the stage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. My own beloved heart, what is at stake?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Your own child, father!—Look—the spiked cask over there!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. How has my child transgressed?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. The prince's name I learned, by love instructed—spoke +it—came to hold him very dear.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. That was no capital offence. What more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. At his side I slept, the sword between us——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And still there was no capital offence, though I should hardly +call it wise—And more?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. No more!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GAOLER</span>, <i>pointing to the spiked cask</i>] Away with it! +[<i>To</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>] Well, child, where is the prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He's sailing homeward in his bark.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Now, when the tide is battering the shore?—Alone? Swanwhite. +Alone! What is to happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The Lord alone can tell!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He's in danger?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Who greatly dares has sometimes luck.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He ought to have!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. He will, if free from guilt!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. He is! More than I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] How came you here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. A shortcut brought me—I could wish it had been shorter still.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Had it been short enough, your child had never come to harm.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What kind of harm?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. The one for which there is no cure.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And you have proofs?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. I've valid witnesses.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then call my butler.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He does not know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Shaking his sword at her</i>] Call my butler!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>trembles. Then she claps her hands four times +together</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Have made a pie of venison, richly stuffed with onions, parsley, +fennel, cabbage—and at once!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>steals a sidelong glance at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What are you squinting at? Be quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Now call the master of my pleasure-garden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. He does not know!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. And never will! But he must come! Call, quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>claps her hands six times</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FLOWER GARDENER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Three lilies bring: one white, one red, one blue.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>looks sideways at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Your head's at stake!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Summon your witnesses!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>claps her hands once</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Tell what you know—but choose your words! What have you seen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. I have seen Lady Swanwhite and the prince together in one bed.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. With sword between?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SIGNE</span>. Without.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I can't believe it!—Other witnesses?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">TWO KNIGHTS</span> <i>enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Were these the groomsmen?—Tell your tale.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FIRST KNIGHT</span>. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SECOND KNIGHT</span>. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What's that? A trick, I trow—that caught the trickster!—Other +witnesses?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Tell what you know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I swear by God, our righteous judge, that I have seen the prince +and Lady Swanwhite fully dressed and with a sword between them.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. One for, and one against—two not germane.—I leave it to the +judgment of the Lord!—The flowers will speak for him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] My gracious master—noble lord!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I know my gracious mistress innocent.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. O, child—so you know that! Then teach us how to know it too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. When I am saying only what is true——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. No one believes it! But when Signe tells untruth, we must +believe!—And what does Swanwhite say herself? Her forehead's purity, +her steady glance, her lips' sweet innocence—do they not speak aloud +of slander? And "slander" is the verdict of a father's eye.—Well +then—Almighty God on high shall give his judgment, so that human +beings may believe!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FLOWER GARDENER</span> <i>enters carrying three lilies placed in +three tall and narrow vases of glass. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span> <i>places the +flowers in a semicircle on the table. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BUTLER</span> <i>enters with +a huge dish containing a steaming pie</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Placing the dish within the semicircle formed by the three +flowers</i>] The white one stands for whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [<i>Except</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] For Swanwhite.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The red one stands for whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [As <i>before</i>] The prince.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. For whom the blue one?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [As <i>before</i>] The youthful king.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Well, Tova—child who still has faith in innocence because you +too are innocent—interpret now for us the judgment of the Lord—tell +us the gentle secrets of these flowers.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. The evil part I cannot utter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I will. What's good I'll leave for you.—As the steam from the +blood of the prurient beast rises upward—as upward the smell of the +passionate spices is mounting—what see you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. [<i>Gazing at the three lilies</i>] The white one folds its blossom to +protect itself against defilement. That is Swanwhite's flower.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. Swanwhite is innocent.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. The red one, too—the prince's lily—closes its head—but the +blue one, which stands for the king, flings wide its gorge to drink the +lust-filled air.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You've told it right! What more is there to see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. I see the red flower bend its head in reverent love before the +white one, while the blue one writhes with envious rage.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You've spoken true!—For whom is Swanwhite then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ELSA</span>. For the prince, because more pure is his desire, and therefore +stronger, too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. [<i>Except</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>and the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Swanwhite for the prince!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Throwing herself into her father's arms</i>] O, father!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Call back the prince! Let every trump and bugle summon him. Hoist +sail on every bark! But first of all—the spiked cask is for whom?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>All remain silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and +bawd!—Know, evil woman, that though nothing else be safe against your +tricks, they cannot conquer love!—Go—quick—begone!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>makes a gesture which for a moment seems to +stun the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Draws his sword and turns the point of it toward the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>, <i>having first seated</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>on his left shoulder</i>] +A-yi, you evil one! My pointed steel will outpoint all your tricks!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>withdraws backward, dragging her legs behind +her like a panther</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Now for the prince!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>stops on the balcony, rigid as a statue. She +opens her mouth as if she were pouring out venom</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The peacock and the doves fall down dead. Then the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> +<i>begins to swell. Her clothes become inflated to such an extent +that they hide her head and bust entirely. They seem to be +flaming with a pattern of interwoven snakes and branches. The +sun is beginning to rise outside. The ceiling sinks slowly into +the room, while smoke and fire burst from the fireplace</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. [<i>Raising the cross-shaped handle of his sword toward the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>] Pray, people, pray to Christ, our Saviour!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALL</span>. Christ have mercy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The ceiling resumes its ordinary place. The smoke and fire +cease. A noise is heard outside, followed by the hum of many +voices</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. What new event is this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I know! I see!—I hear the water dripping from his hair; I +hear the silence of his heart, the breath that comes no more—I see +that he is dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Where do you see—and whom?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Where?—But I see it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. I see nothing.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. As they must come, let them come quick!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Four little girls enter with baskets out of which they scatter +white lilies and hemlock twigs over the floor. After them come +four pages ringing silver bells of different pitch. Then comes +a priest carrying a large crucifix. Then, the golden bier, with +the body of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>covered by a white sheet, on which +rest white and pink roses. His hair is dark again. His face is +youthful, rosy, and radiantly beautiful. There is a smile on +his lips</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The harp begins to play. The sun rises completely. The magic +bubble around the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span> <i>bursts, and she appears once +more in her customary shape</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The bier is placed in the middle of the floor, so that the +rays of the rising sun fall on it</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> <i>throws herself on her knees beside the bier and +covers the</i> Prince's <i>face with kisses</i>.</p> + +<p><i>All present put their hands to their faces and weep</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FISHERMAN</span> <i>has entered behind the bier</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. The brief tale tell us, fisherman——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">FISHERMAN</span>. Does it not tell itself, my noble lord?—The young prince +had already crossed the strait, when, seized by violent longing for +his love, he started to swim back, in face of tide and wave and +wind—because his bark seemed rudder-less.—I saw his young head breast +the billows, I heard him cry her name—and then his corpse was gently +dropped upon the white sand at my feet. His hair had turned to grey +that night when he slept in the tower; sorrow and wrath had blanched +his cheeks; his lips had lost their power of smiling.—Now, when +death o'ertook him, beauty and youth came with it. Like wreaths his +darkening locks fell round his rosy cheeks; he smiled—and see!—is +smiling still. The people gathered on the shore, awed by the gentle +spectacle—and man said unto man: lo, this is love!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>Lying down beside the body of the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>] He's dead; his +heart will sing no more; his eyes no longer will light up my life; +his breath will shed its dew on me no more. He smiles, but not toward +me—toward heaven he smiles. And on his journey I shall bear him +company.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Kiss not a dead man's lips—there's poison in them!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Sweet poison if it bring me death—that death in which I +seek my life!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. They say, my child, the dead cannot gain union by willing it; +and what was loved in life has little worth beyond.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. And love? Should then its power not extend to the other side +of death?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. Our wise men have denied it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Then he must come to me—back to this earth. O gracious +Lord, please let him out of heaven again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. A foolish prayer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I cannot pray—woe's me! The evil eye still rules this place.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. You're thinking of the monster which the sunbeams pricked. The +stake for her—let her without delay be burned alive!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Burn her?—Alive?—Oh, no! Let her depart in peace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>. She must be burned alive! You, men, see that the pyre is raised +close to the shore, and let the winds play with her ashes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. [<i>On her knees before the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DUKE</span>] No, no—I pray you, though +she was my executioner: have mercy on her!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. [<i>Enters, changed, freed from the evil powers that have +held her in their spell</i>] Mercy! Who spoke the sacred word? Who poured +her heart in prayer for me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I did—your daughter—mother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. O, God in heaven, she called me mother!—Who taught you +that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Love did!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. Then blessed be love which can work miracles like +that!—But, child, then it must also have the power to make the dead +return out of the darkling realms of death!—I cannot do it, having not +received the grace of love. But you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. Poor me—what can I do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STEPMOTHER</span>. You can forgive, and you can love—Well, then, my little +Lady Almighty, you can do anything!—Be taught by me who have no power +at all. Go, cry the name of your beloved, and put your hand above his +heart! Then, with the help of the Supreme One—calling none but Him for +helper—your beloved will hear your voice—if you believe!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span>. I do believe—I will it—and—I pray for it!</p> + +<p><i>She goes up to the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>places one of her hands over his heart, +and raises the other toward the sky. Then she bends down over him +and whispers something into his ear. This she repeats three times in +succession. At the third whisper the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>wakes up</i>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SWANWHITE</span> +<i>throws herself at his breast. All kneel in praise and thanksgiving. +Music</i>.</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="SIMOOM" id="SIMOOM">SIMOOM</a></h3> + +<h4>(SAMUM)</h4> + +<h5>1890</h5> + +<hr class="r5" /> + + + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;font-size: 0.8em;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +BISKRA, <i>an Arabian girl</i><br /> +YUSUF, <i>her lover</i><br /> +GUIMARD, <i>a lieutenant of Zouaves</i><br /> +</p> +<blockquote> +<p><i>The action takes place in Algeria at the present time</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The inside of a marabout, or shrine. In the middle of the +floor stands a sarcophagus forming the tomb of the Mohammedan +saint (also called "marabout") who in his lifetime occupied the +place. Prayer-rugs are scattered over the floor. At the right +in the rear is an ossuary, or charnel-house.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is a doorway in the middle of the rear wall. It is +closed with a gate and covered by a curtain. On both sides of +the doorway are loopholes. Here and there on the floor are seen +little piles of sand. An aloe plant, a few palm leaves and some +alfa grass are thrown together on one spot</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">FIRST SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span> <i>enters. The hood of her burnous is pulled over her head +so that it almost covers her face. She carries a guitar at her +back. Throwing herself down in a kneeling position on one of +the rugs, she begins to pray with her arms crossed over her +breast. A high wind is blowing outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Lâ ilâhâ illâ 'llâh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Enters quickly</i>] The Simoom is coming! Where is the Frank?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. He'll be here in a moment.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Why didn't you stab him when you had a chance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Because he is to do it himself. If I were to do it, our whole +tribe would be killed, for I am known to the Franks as Ali, the guide, +though they don't know me as Biskra, the maiden.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. He is to do it himself, you say? How is that to happen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Don't you know that the Simoom makes the brains of the white +people dry as dates, so that they have horrible visions which disgust +them with life and cause them to flee into the great unknown?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. I have heard of such things, and in the last battle there were +six Franks who took their own lives before the fighting began. But do +not place your trust in the Simoom to-day, for snow has fallen in the +mountains, and the storm may be all over in half an hour.—Biskra! Do +you still know how to hate?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. If I know how to hate?—My hatred is boundless as the desert, +burning as the sun, and stronger than my love. Every hour of joy that +has been stolen from me since the murder of Ali has been stored up +within me like the venom back of a viper's tooth, and what the Simoom +cannot do, that I can do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Well spoken, Biskra, and the task shall be yours. Ever since my +eyes first fell upon you, my own hatred has been withering like alfa +grass in the autumn. Take strength from me and become the arrow to my +bow.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Embrace me, Yusuf, embrace me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Not here, within the presence of the Sainted one; not +now—later, afterward, when you have earned your reward!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. You proud sheikh! You man of pride!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Yes—the maiden who is to carry my offspring under her heart +must show herself worthy of the honour.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I—no one but I—shall bear the offspring of Yusuf! I, +Biskra—the scorned one, the ugly one, but the strong one, too!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. All right! I am now going to sleep beside the spring.—Do I +need to teach you more of the secret arts which you learned from +Sidi-Sheikh, the great marabout, and which you have practised at fairs +ever since you were a child?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Of that there is no need. I know all the secrets needed to +scare the life out of a cowardly Frank.—The dastard who sneaks upon +the enemy and sends the leaden bullet ahead of himself! I know them +all—even the art of letting my voice come out of my belly. And what is +beyond my art, that will be done by the sun, for the sun is on the side +of Yusuf and Biskra.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. The sun is a friend of the Moslem, but not to be relied upon. +You may get burned, girl!—Take a drink of water first of all, for I +see that your hands are shrivelled, and——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He lifts up one of the rugs and steps down into a sort of +cellar, from which he brings back a bowl filled with water; +this he hands to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Raising the bowl to her mouth</i>] And my eyes are already +beginning to see red—my lungs are parching—I hear—I hear—do you +see how the sand is sifting through the roof—the strings of my guitar +are crooning—the Simoom is here! But the Frank is not!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Come down here, Biskra, and let the Frank die by himself.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. First hell, and then death! Do you think I'll weaken? [<i>Pours +the water on one of the sand piles</i>] I'll water the sand, so that +revenge may grow out of it, and I'll dry up my heart. Grow, O hatred! +Burn, O sun! Smother, O wind!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. Hail to you, mother of Ben Yusuf—for you are to bear the son of +Yusuf, the avenger—you!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The wind is increasing. The curtain in front of the door begins to +flap. A red glimmer lights up the room, but changes into yellow during +the ensuing scene</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Frank is coming, and—the Simoom is here!—Go!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. In half an hour you shall see me again. [<i>Pointing toward a sand +pile</i>] There is your hour-glass. Heaven itself is measuring out the +time for the hell of the infidels!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Goes down into the cellar</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">SECOND SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>enters looking very pale; he stumbles, his +mind is confused, and he speaks in a low voice</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. The Simoom is here!—What do you think has become of my men?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I led them west to east.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. West—to east!—Let me see!—That's straight east—and +west!—Oh, put me on a chair and give me some water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Leads</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>to one of the sand piles and makes him lie +down on the floor with his feet on the sand</i>] Are you comfortable now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Staring at her</i>] I feel all twisted up. Put something under +my head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Piling the sand higher under his feet</i>] There's a pillow for +your head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Head? Why, my feet are down there—Isn't that my feet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Of course!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I thought so. Give me a stool now—under my head.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Pulls out the aloe plant and pushes it under Guimard's legs</i>] +There's a stool for you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. And then water!—Water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Fills the empty bowl with sand and hands it to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>] +Drink while it's cold.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Putting his lips to the bowl</i>] It is cold—and yet it does +not still my thirst! I cannot drink it—I abhor water—take it away!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There's the dog that bit you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Simoom has shrivelled up your memory—beware the delusions +of the Simoom! Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you during +the last hunt at Bab-el-Wad?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. The hunt at Bab-el-Wad? That's right!—Was it a +beaver-coloured——?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Bitch? Yes.—There you see. And she bit you in the calf. Can't +you feel the sting of the wound?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Reaches out a hand to feel his calf and pricks himself on +the aloe</i>] Yes, I can feel it.—Water! Water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Handing him the sand-filled bowl</i>] Drink, drink!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I cannot! Holy Mother of God—I have rabies!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Don't be afraid! I shall cure you, and drive out the demon by +the help of music, which is all-powerful. Listen!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Screaming</i>] Ali! Ali! No music; I can't stand it! And how +could it help me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. If music can tame the treacherous spirit of the snake, don't +you think it may conquer that of a mad dog? Listen! [<i>She sings and +accompanies herself on the guitar</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Responding from below</i>] Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What is that you are singing, Ali?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Have I been singing? Look here—now I'll put a palm-leaf in my +mouth. [<i>She puts a piece of leaf between her teeth; the song seems to +be coming from above</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>From below</i>] Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What an infernal jugglery!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Now I'll sing!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span> and <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Together</i>] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] What are you, you devil who are singing with two +voices? Are you man or woman? Or both?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. I am Ali, the guide. You don't recognise me because your senses +are confused. But if you want to be saved from the tricks played by +sight and thought, you must believe in me—believe what I say and do +what I tell you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. You don't need to ask me, for I find everything to be as you +say it is.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There you see, you worshipper of idols!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I, a worshipper of idols?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Yes, take out the idol you carry on your breast.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>takes out a locket</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Trample on it now, and then call on the only God, the Merciful +One, the Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Hesitating</i>] Saint Edward—my patron saint?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can he protect you? Can he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, he cannot!—[<i>Waking up</i>] Yes, he can!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Let us see!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She opens the gate; the curtain flaps and the grass on the +floor moves</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Covering his mouth</i>] Close the door!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Throw down the idol!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I cannot.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see? The Simoom does not bend a hair on me, but you, the +infidel one, are killed by it! Throw down the idol!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Throws the locket on the floor</i>] Water! I die!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Pray to the Only One, the Merciful and Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. How am I to pray?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Repeat after me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Speak on!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. "There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Lie down on the floor.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> <i>lies down unwillingly</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. What do you hear?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I hear the murmuring of a spring.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There you see! God is one, and there is no other God but He, +the Merciful and Compassionate One!—What do you see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I can hear a spring murmur—I can see the light of a lamp—in +a window with green shutters—on a white street——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is sitting at the window?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. My wife—Elise!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around her neck?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. That's my son, George.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. How old is your son?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Four years on the day of Saint Nicholas.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And he can already stand behind the curtain with his arm around +the neck of another man's wife?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, he cannot—but it is he!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Four years old, you say, and he has a blond mustache?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. A blond mustache, you say?—Oh, that's—my friend Jules.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around your +wife's neck?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Oh, you devil!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see your son?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. No, I don't see him any longer.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Imitates the tolling of bells on the guitar</i>] What do +you see now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. I see bells ringing—I taste dead bodies—their smell in my +mouth is like rancid butter—faugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can't you hear the priest chanting the service for a dead child?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Wait!—I cannot hear—[<i>Wistfully</i>] But do you want me +to?—There!—I can hear it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Do you see the wreath on the coffin they are carrying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Yes——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. There are violet ribbons on it—and there are letters printed +in silver—"Farewell, my darling George—from your father."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Yes, that's it! [<i>He begins to cry</i>] My George! O George, my +darling boy!—Elise—wife—can't you console me?—Oh, help me! [<i>He is +groping around</i>] Elise, where are you? Have you left me? Answer! Call +out the name of your love!</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Coming from the roof</i>] Jules! Jules!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Jules! But my name is—what is my name? It is Charles! And she +is calling Jules! Elise—my beloved wife—answer me—for your spirit +is here—I can feel it—and you promised never to love anybody else——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span> <i>is heard laughing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Who is laughing?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Elise—your wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Oh, kill me! I don't want to live any longer! Life sickens +me like sauerkraut at Saint-Doux—You there—do you know what +Saint-Doux is? Lard! [<i>He tries to spit</i>] Not a drop of saliva +left!—Water—water—or I'll bite you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The wind outside has risen to a full storm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Puts her hand to her mouth and coughs</i>] Now you are dying, +Frank! Write down your last wishes while there is still time—Where is +your note-book?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Takes out a note-book and a pencil</i>] What am I to write?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. When a man is to die, he thinks of his wife—and his child!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Writes</i>] "Elise—I curse you! Simoom—I die——"</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And then sign it, or it will not be valid as a testament.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. What shall I sign?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Write: Lâ ilâha illâ 'llâh.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Writing</i>] It is written.—And can I die now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Now you can die—like a craven soldier who has deserted his +people! And I am sure you'll get a handsome burial from the jackals +that will chant the funeral hymn over your corpse. [<i>She drums the +signal for attack on the guitar</i>] Can you hear the drums—the attack +has begun—on the Faithful, who have the sun and the Simoom on their +side—they are now advancing—from their hiding-places—[<i>She makes a +rattling noise on the guitar</i>] The Franks are firing along the whole +line—they have no chance to load again—the Arabs are firing at their +leisure—the Franks are flying!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] The Franks never flee!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. The Franks will flee when they hear the call to retreat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She blows the signal for "retreat" on a flute which she has +produced from under her burnoose</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. They are retreating—that's the signal—and I am here—[<i>He +tears off his epaulets</i>] I am dead!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>He falls to the ground</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Yes, you are dead!—And you don't know that you have been dead +a long time.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes to the ossuary and takes from it a human skull</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Have I been dead?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He feels his face with his hands</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Long! Long!—Look at yourself in the mirror here! [<i>She holds +up the skull before him</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>. Ah! That's me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Can't you see your own high cheek-bones? Can't you see the eyes +that the vultures have picked out? Don't you know that gap on the right +side of the jaw where you had a tooth pulled? Can't you see the hollow +in the chin where, grew the beard that your Elise was fond of stroking? +Can't you see where used to be the ear that your George kissed at +the breakfast-table? Can't you see the mark of the axe—here in the +neck—which the executioner made when he cut off the deserter's head——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>, <i>who has been watching her movements and listening to +her words with evident horror, sinks down dead</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. [<i>Who has been kneeling, feels his pulse; then she rises and +sings</i>] Simoom! Simoom! [<i>She opens both gates; the curtain flutters +like a banner in the wind; she puts her hand up to her mouth and falls +over backward, crying</i>] Yusuf!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;">THIRD SCENE</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span> (<i>dead</i>). <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span> <i>comes out of the cellar</i>.</p></blockquote> + + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Having examined the body of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUIMARD</span>, <i>he looks for</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>] +Biskra! [<i>He discovers her and takes her up in his arms</i>] Are you alive?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Is the Frank dead?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. If he is not, he will be. Simoom! Simoom!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. Then I live! But give me some water!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. [<i>Carrying her toward the cellar</i>] Here it is!—And now Yusuf is +yours!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">BISKRA</span>. And Biskra will be your son's mother, O Yusuf, great Yusuf!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">YUSUF</span>. My strong Biskra! Stronger than the Simoom!</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="DEBIT_AND_CREDIT" id="DEBIT_AND_CREDIT">DEBIT AND CREDIT</a></h3> + +<h4>(DEBET OCH KREDIT)</h4> + +<h4>AN ACT</h4> + +<h5>1893</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 35%"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span ><br /><br /> +<span class="small-c">AXEL</span >, <i>Doctor of Philosophy and African explorer</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THURE</span >, <i>his brother, a gardener</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">ANNA</span >, <i>the wife of</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">MISS CECILIA</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE FIANCÉ</span > <i>of</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span >, <i>Doctor of Philosophy and former school-teacher</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">MISS MARIE</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN</span ><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE WAITER</span ><br /> +</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>A well-furnished hotel room. There are doors on both sides</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + + + +<p style="text-align: center;">FIRST SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. There's some style to this room, isn't there? But then the +fellow who lives here is stylish, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, so I understand. Of course, I've never seen your brother, +but I've heard a whole lot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, gossip! <i>My</i> brother, the doctor, has gone right across +Africa, and that's something everybody can't do. So it doesn't matter +how many drinks he took as a young chap——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, your brother, the doctor! Who is nothing but a +school-teacher, for that matter——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. No, he's a doctor of philosophy, I tell you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, that's nothing but one who teaches. And that's just what my +brother is doing in the school at Åby.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Your brother is all right, but he is nothing but a public-school +teacher, and that's not the same as a doctor of philosophy—which isn't +a boast either.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, no matter what he is or what you call him, he has cost us a +whole lot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Of course it has been rather costly, but then he has brought us +a lot of pleasure, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Fine pleasures! When we've got to lose house and home for his +sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. That's so—but then we don't know yet if his slip-up on the loan +had some kind of cause that he couldn't help. I guess it isn't so easy +to send registered letters from darkest Africa.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Whether he has any excuses or not doesn't change the matter a +bit. But if he wants to do something for us—it's nothing more than he +owes us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, we'll see, we'll see!—Anyhow, have you heard they've +already given him four decorations?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, that doesn't help us any. I guess it'll only make him a +little more stuck-up. Oh, no, it'll be some time before I get over that +the sheriff had to come down on us with the papers—and bring in other +people as witnesses—and then—the auction—and all the neighbours +coming in and turning all we had upside down. And do you know what made +me sorer than all the rest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. The black——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, it was that my sister-in-law should bid in my black silk +dress for fifteen crowns. Think of it—fifteen crowns!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. You just wait—just wait a little! We might get you a new silk +dress——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>Weeping</i>] But it'll never be the same one—the one my +sister-in-law bid in.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. We'll get another one then!—Now, just look at that gorgeous hat +over there! I guess it must be one of those royal chamberlains who's +talking with Axel now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. What do I care about that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Why, don't you think it's fun that a fellow who has the same +name as you and I gets to be so respected that the King's own household +people have to visit him? If I remember right, you were happy for a +whole fortnight when your brother, the school-teacher, had been asked +to dine at the bishop's.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. I can't remember anything of the kind.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Of course you can't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. But I do remember the fifteenth of March, when we had to leave +our place for his sake, and we hadn't been married more than two years, +and I had to carry away the child on my own arm—Oh!—and then, when +the steamer came with all the passengers on board just as we had to get +out—all the cocked hats in the world can't make me forget that! And, +for that matter, what do you think a royal chamberlain cares about a +plain gardener and his wife when they've just been turned out of house +and home?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Look here! What do you think this is? Look at all his +decorations!—Look at this one, will you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He takes an order out of its case, holds it in the palm of his +hand, and pats it as if it were a living thing</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Oh, that silly stuff!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Don't you say anything against them, for you never can tell +where you'll end. The gardener at Staring was made a director and a +knight on the same day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Well, what does that help us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. No, of course not—it doesn't help us—but these things here +[<i>pointing to the orders</i>] may help us a whole lot in getting another +place.—However, I think we've waited quite a while now, so we'd better +sit down and make ourselves at home. Let me help you off with your +coat—come on now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>After a slight resistance</i>] So you think we're going to be +welcome, then? I have a feeling that our stay here won't last very long.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Tut, tut! And I think we're going to have a good dinner, too, if +I know Axel right. If he only knew that we're here—But now you'll +see! [<i>He presses a button and a</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>enters</i>] What do you want—a +sandwich, perhaps? [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>] Bring us some sandwiches and +beer.—Wait a moment! Get a drink for me—the real stuff, you know! +[<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>goes out</i>] You've got to take care of yourself, don't +you know.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SECOND SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. The <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>] At five, then—in full dress, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>. And your orders!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it necessary?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span>. Absolutely necessary, if you don't want to seem rude, and +that's something which you, as a democrat, want least of all. Good-bye, +doctor!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Good-bye.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>In leaving, the</i> <span class="small-c">CHAMBERLAIN</span> <i>bows slightly to</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and +his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>, <i>neither of whom returns the salute</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> THIRD SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, is that you, old boy?—It seems an eternity since I saw you +last. And this is your wife?—Glad to see you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Thanks, brother! And I wish you a happy return after your long +trip.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, that was something of a trip—I suppose you have read about +it in the papers——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, yes, I've read all about it. [<i>Pause</i>] And then father sent +you his regards.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, is he still sore at me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, you know the old man and his ways. If only you hadn't been +a member of that expedition, you know, he would have thought it one of +the seven wonders of the world. But as you were along, of course, it +was nothing but humbug.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So he's just the same as ever! Simply because I am <i>his</i> son, +nothing I ever do can be of any value. It means he can't think very +much of himself either.—Well, so much for that! And how are you +getting along nowadays?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Not very well, exactly! There's that old loan from the bank, you +know——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, that's right! Well, what happened to it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, what happened was that I had to pay it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That's too bad! But we'll settle the matter as soon as we have a +chance.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>comes in with</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>'s <i>order on a tray</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, it was only me who took the liberty of ordering a couple of +sandwiches——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Right you were! But I think we ought to have some wine, so I +could drink the health of my sister-in-law, as I couldn't get to the +wedding.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, no—not for us! Not so early in the morning! Thanks very +much!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Signals to the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>, <i>who goes out</i>] I should have asked you +to stay for dinner, but I have to go out myself. Can you guess where I +am going?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. You don't mean to say you're going to the Palace?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Exactly—I am asked to meet the Monarch himself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Lord preserve us!—What do you think of that, Anna?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>His</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span> <i>turns and twists on her chair as if in torment, +quite unable to answer</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I suppose the old man will turn republican after this, when he +hears that His Majesty cares to associate with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. See here, Axel—you'll have to pardon me for getting back to +something that's not very pleasant—but it has to be settled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it that blessed old loan?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Yes, but it isn't only that. To put it plain—we've had to stand +an execution for your sake, and now we're absolutely cleaned out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That's a fine state of affairs! But why in the world didn't you +get the loan renewed?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, that's it! How was I to get any new sureties when you were +away?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Couldn't you go to my friends?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. I did. And the result was—what it was. Can you help us out now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. How am I going to help you now? Now when all my creditors are +getting after me? And it won't do for me to start borrowing when they +are just about to make a position for me. There's nothing that hurts +you more than to borrow money. Just wait a little while, and we'll get +it all straightened out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. If we're to wait, then everything's up with us. This is just the +time to get hold of a garden—this is the time to start digging and +sowing, if you are to get anything up in time. Can't you get a place +for us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Where am I to get hold of a garden?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Among your friends.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. My friends keep no gardens. Now, don't you hamper me when I try +to get up on firm ground! When I am there I'll pull you up, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>To his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>] He doesn't want to help us, Anna!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I cannot—not this moment! Do you think it reasonable that I, who +am seeking a job myself, should have to seek one for you, too? What +would people be saying, do you think? "There, now," they would say, +"we've got not only him but his relatives to look after!" And then they +would drop me entirely.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>Looks at his watch; then to his wife</i>] We've got to go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why must you go so soon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. We have to take the child to a doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For the Lord's sake, have you a child, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, we have. And a sick child, which lost its health when we had +to move out into the kitchen so that the auction could be held.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. And all this for my sake! It's enough to drive me crazy! For +my sake! So that I might become a famous man!—And what is there I +can do for you?—Do you think it would have been better if I had +stayed at home?—No, worse—for then I should have been nothing but +a poor teacher, who certainly could not have been of any use to you +whatever.—Listen, now! You go to the doctor, but come back here after +a while. In the meantime I'll think out something.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>To his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span>] Do you see now, that he wants to help us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, but can he do it? That's the question.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. He can do anything he wants.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Don't rely too much on it—or the last state may prove worse +than the first.—Oh, merciful heavens, to think that you have a sick +child, too! And for my sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, I guess it isn't quite as bad as it sounds.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Yes, so you say, who don't know anything about it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Well, Axel, we'll see you later then.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span> <i>appears in the doorway</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>] Did you notice he didn't introduce us—to the +chamberlain?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Oh, shucks, what good would that have been?</p> + +<p>[<i>They go out</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> FOURTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. LINDGREN, <i>who is shabbily dressed, unshaved, apparently +fond of drinking, and looking as if he had just got out of bed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>is startled for a moment at the sight of</i> <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You don't recognise me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, now I do. But you have changed a great deal.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you think so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, I do, and I am surprised to find that these years can have +had such an effect——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Three years may be pretty long.—And you don't ask me to sit +down?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Please—but I am rather in a hurry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You have always been in a hurry.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He sits down; pause.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why don't you say something unpleasant?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. It's coming, it's coming!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He wipes his spectacles; pause.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. How much do you need?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Three hundred and fifty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I haven't got it, and I can't get it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, sure!—You don't mind if I help myself to a few drops?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He pours out a drink from the bottle brought by the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> +<i>for</i> <span class="small-c">THURE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Won't you have a glass of wine with me instead?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. No—why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because it looks bad to be swilling whisky like that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. How very proper you have become!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Not at all, but it hurts my reputation and my credit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you have credit? Then you can also give me a lift, after +having brought me down.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That is to say: you are making demands?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I am only reminding you that I am one of your victims.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Then, because of the gratitude I owe you, I shall bring these +facts back to your mind: that you helped me through the university at +a time when you had plenty of money; that you helped to get my thesis +printed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. That I taught you the methods which determined your +scientific career; that I, who then was as straight as anybody, +exercised a favourable influence on your slovenly tendencies; that, in +a word, I made you what you are; and that, finally, when I applied for +an appropriation to undertake this expedition, you stepped in and took +it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I got it. Because I, and not you, was held to be the man for +the task.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And that settled me! Thus, one shall be taken, and the other +left!—Do you think that was treating me fairly?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. It was what the world calls "ungrateful," but the task was +achieved, and by it science was enriched, the honour of our country +upheld, and new regions opened for the use of coming generations.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Here's to you!—You have had a lot of oratorical +practice—But have you any idea how unpleasant it feels to play the +part of one used up and cast off?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I imagine it must feel very much like being conscious of +ingratitude, and I can only congratulate you at not finding yourself in +a position as unpleasant as my own.—But let us return to reality. What +can I do for you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. What do you think?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For the moment—nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And in the next moment you are gone again. Which means that +this would be the last I saw of you.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He pours out another drink</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Will you do me the favour of not finishing the bottle? I don't +want the servants to suspect me of it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, go to hell!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You don't think it's pleasant for me to have to call you down +like this, do you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Say—do you want to get me a ticket for the banquet to-night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I am sorry to say that I don't think you would be admitted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Because—-</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You are drunk!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Thanks, old man!—Well, will you let me have a look at your +botanical specimens, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am going to describe them myself for the Academy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. How about your ethnographical stuff?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, that's not my own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Will you—let me have twenty-five crowns?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. As I haven't more than twenty myself, I can only give you ten.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Rotten!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Thus stand the affairs of the man everybody envies. Do you think +there is anybody in whose company I might feel happy? Not one! Those +that are still down hate me for climbing up, and those already up fear +one coming from below.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, you are very unfortunate!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I am! And I can tell you that after my experience during the last +half-hour, I wouldn't mind changing place with you. What a peaceful, +unassailable position he holds who has nothing to lose! What a lot +of interest and sympathy those that are obscure and misunderstood +and over-looked always arouse! You have only to hold out your hand +and you get a coin. You have only to open your arms, and there are +friends ready to fall into them. And then what a powerful party behind +you—formed of the millions who are just like you! You enviable man who +don't realise your own good fortune!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. So you think me that far down, and yourself as high up as +all that?—Tell me, you don't happen to have read to-day's paper? [<i>He +takes a newspaper from his pocket</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, and I don't care to read it either.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. But you ought to do it for your own sake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am not going to do it—not even for <i>your</i> sake. It is as +if you said: "Come here and let me spit at you." And then you are silly +enough to demand that I shall come, too.—Do you know, during these +last minutes I have become more and more convinced that if I had ever +come across you in the jungle, I should beyond all doubt have picked +you off with my breech-loader?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I believe it—beast of prey that you are!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. It isn't safe to settle accounts with one's friends, or with +persons with whom one has been intimate, for it is hard to tell in +advance who has most on the debit side. But as you are bringing in +a bill, I am forced to look it over.—You don't think it took me +long to discover that back of all your generosity lay an unconscious +desire to turn me into the strong arm which you lacked—to make me +do for you what you couldn't do for yourself? I had imagination and +initiative—you had nothing but money and—"pull." So I am to be +congratulated that you didn't eat me, and I may be excused for eating +you—my only choice being to eat or be eaten!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. You beast of prey!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. You rodent, who couldn't become a beast of prey—although that +was just what you wished! And what you want at this moment is not so +much to rise up to me as to pull me down to where you are.—If you +have anything of importance to add, you had better hurry up, for I am +expecting a visit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. From your fiancée?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you have snooped that out, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Sure enough! And I know what Marie, the deserted one, thinks +and says—I know what has happened to your brother and his wife——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, you know my fiancée? For, you see, it so happens that I am +not yet engaged!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. No, but I know <i>her</i> fiancé.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What does that mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Why, she has been running around with another fellow all the +time—So you didn't know that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>As he listens for something going on outside</i>] Oh, yes, I knew +of it, but I thought she was done with him—See here, if you'll come +back in a quarter of an hour, I'll try to get things arranged for you +in some way or another.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Is that a polite way of showing me the door?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, it's an attempt to meet an old obligation. Seriously!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, then I'll go—and come back—Good-bye for a while.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> FIFTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. <i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>, <i>dressed in +black, with a blue ribbon in the lapel of his coat</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Let him come in.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>goes out, leaving the door open behind him. The</i> +<span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Observing the newcomer closely</i>] Well, good-bye.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>—and good luck! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Good-bye.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SIXTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> [<i>much embarrassed</i>]</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. With whom have I the honour——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. My name is not a name in the same way as yours, Doctor, and my +errand concerns a matter of the heart——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, do you happen to be—You know Miss Cecilia?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I am the man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Hesitating for a moment; then with decision</i>] Please be seated. +[<i>He opens the door and beckons the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">WAITER</span>] Have my bill made out, see that my trunk is +packed, and bring me a carriage in half an hour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WAITER</span>. [<i>Bowing and leaving</i>] Yes, Doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>and sits down on a chair beside him</i>] +Now let's hear what you have to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>After a pause, with unction</i>] There were two men living in +the same city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had sheep and +cattle in plenty. The poor man owned nothing but one ewe lamb——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What does that concern me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>As before</i>] One ewe lamb, which he had bought and was trying +to raise.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Oh, life's too short. What do you want? Are you and Miss Cecilia +still engaged?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Changing his tone</i>] I haven't said a word about Miss Cecilia, +have I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, sir, you had better get down to business, or I'll show you +the door. But be quick about it, and get straight to the point, without +any frills——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Holding out his snuff-box</i>] May I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, thanks.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. A great man like you has no such little weaknesses, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. As you don't seem willing to speak, I shall. Of course, it is +none of your business, but it may do you good to learn of it, as you +don't seem to know it: I am regularly engaged to Miss Cecilia, who +formerly was your fiancée.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Startled</i>] Who was?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because she has broken with you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Taking a ring from the pocket of his waistcoat]</i> That's +strange, but now you do know. And here you can see the ring she has +given me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. So she has broken with me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, as she couldn't be engaged to two men at the same time, and +as she had ceased to care for you, she had to break with you. I might +have told you all this in a more decent fashion, if you hadn't stepped +on my corns the moment you came in.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I didn't do anything of the kind.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Cowardly and disingenuous—cringing and arrogant at the same time!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Gently</i>] You are a hard man, Doctor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, but I may become one. You showed no consideration for my +feelings a moment ago. You sneered, which I didn't. And that's the end +of our conversation.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>With genuine emotion</i>] I feared that you might take away from +me my only lamb—but you wouldn't do that, you who have so many——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Suppose I wouldn't—are you sure she would stay with you anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Put yourself in my place, Doctor——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Yes, if you'll put yourself in mine.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. I am a poor man——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So am I! But judging by what I see and hear, you have certain +bliss waiting for you in the beyond. That's more than I have.—And, +furthermore, I have taken nothing away from you: I have only received +what was offered me. Just as you did!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. And I who had been dreaming of a future for this young woman—a +future full of brightness——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Pardon me a piece of rudeness, but you began it: are you so sure +that the future of this young woman will not turn out a great deal +brighter by my side?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You are now reminding me of my humble position as a worker——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I am reminding you of that young woman's future, which you +have so much at heart. And as I am told that she has ceased to care +for you, but does care for me, I am only taking the liberty to dream of +a brighter future for her with the man she loves than with the man she +doesn't love.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You are a strong man, you are, and we little ones were born to +be your victims!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. See here, my man, I have been told that you got the better +of another rival for Cecilia's heart, and that you were not very +scrupulous about the means used for the purpose. How do you think that +<i>victim</i> liked you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. He was a worthless fellow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. From whom you saved the girl! And now I save her from you! +Good-bye!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> SEVENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Cecilia!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>draws back from him</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. You seem to know your way into this place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>] You had better disappear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I want some water!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. [<i>Picking up the whisky bottle from the table</i>] The bottle +seems to be finished!—Beware of that man, Cecilia!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Pushing the</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>out through the door</i>] Oh, your presence +is wholly superfluous—get out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Beware of that man, Cecilia! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> EIGHTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. That was a most unpleasant incident, which you might have spared +me—both by breaking openly with him and by not coming to my room.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Weeping</i>] So I am to be scolded, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, the responsibility had to be fixed, and now, when that's +done—we can talk of something else.—How are you, to begin with?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. So, so!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Not well, that means?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. How are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Fine—only a little tired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Are you going with me to see my aunt this after-noon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. No, I cannot, for I have to drive out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. And that's more fun, of course. You go out such a lot, and +I—never!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why do you say "hm"?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because your remark made an unpleasant impression on me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. One gets so many unpleasant impressions these days——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. For instance?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. By reading the papers.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you have been reading those scandalous stories about me! And +you believe them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. One doesn't know what to believe.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So you really suspect me of being the unscrupulous fellow +pictured in those stories? And as you are nevertheless willing to marry +me, I must assume that you are moved by purely practical considerations +and not by any personal attraction.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. You speak so harshly, as if you didn't care for me at all!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Cecilia—are you willing to leave this place with me in fifteen +minutes?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. In fifteen minutes! For where!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. London.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I am not going with you until we are married.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why should we leave like that, all of a sudden?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because—it's suffocating here! And if I stay, they'll drag me +down so deep that I'll never get up again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. How strange! Are you as badly off as that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Do you come with me, or do you not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Not until we are married—for afterward you would never marry +me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. So that's your faith in me!—Will you sit down for a moment, +then, while I go in and write a couple of letters?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Am I to sit here alone, with all the doors open?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Well, don't lock the door, for then we are utterly lost. [<i>He +goes out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Don't be long!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes up to the door leading to the hallway and turns the +key in the lock</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> NINTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>alone for a moment. Then</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Wasn't the door locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Not as far as I could see!—So it was meant to be locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I haven't the honour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Nor have I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Why should you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. How refined! Oh, I see! So it's you! And I am the victim—for a +while!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. I don't know you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. But I know you pretty well.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Rises and goes to the door at the left</i>] Oh, you do? +[<i>Opening the door and speaking to</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] Come out here a moment!</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> TENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Entering; to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] What do you want here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Oh, one never can tell.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Then you had better clear out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Why?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Because what there was between us came to an end three years ago.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. And now there is another one to be thrown on the scrap heap?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Did I ever give you any promises that were not kept? Have I ever +owed you anything? Have I ever said a word about marriage? Have we had +any children together? Have I been the only one to receive your favours?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. But now you mean to be the only one? With that one over there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>Goes up to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] What do you mean?—I don't know you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No, but there was a time when you did know me. And I remember +that when we met in the streets we called each other by our first +names. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] And now you are going to marry her? No, you know, +you are really too good for that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>] Have you known that woman before?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. You ought to be ashamed of yourself? I simply didn't recognise +you at first because of your swell clothes——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>gazes intently at</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>] Come—I'll go with you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Preoccupied</i>] In a moment! Just wait a while! I am only going +in to write another letter—But now we'll close the door first of all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No, thank you, I don't want to be locked in as she was a while +ago.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Interested</i>] Was the door locked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] You don't dare say that the door was locked!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. As you expected it to be locked, I suppose you had tried to lock +it and had not succeeded——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Observes</i> <span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>; <i>then to</i> <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>] It always seemed to me that +you were a nice girl, Marie. Will you let me have my letters back now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What are you going to do with them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. I hear that I can sell them, now when you have become famous.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. And get your revenge at the same time?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Exactly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Is it Lindgren——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Yes!—And here he is now himself.</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> ELEVENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Enters in high spirits</i>] Well, what a lot of skirts! And +Marie, too—like the cuckoo that's in every nest! Now listen, Axel!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. I hear you even when I don't see you. You're in a fine +humour—what new misfortune has befallen me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I was only a little sour this morning because I hadn't had +a chance to get wound up. But now I've had a bite to eat—Well, you +see—at bottom you don't owe me anything at all. For what I did, I +did out of my heart's goodness, and it has brought me both honour and +pleasure—and what you got was a gift and no loan!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Now you are altogether too modest and generous.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Not at all! However, one favour calls for another. Would you +mind becoming my surety on this note?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>hesitates</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to put you in the +same kind of fix as your brother did——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. What do you mean? It was I who put him——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, to the tune of two hundred crowns—but he got your name +as surety for five years' rent——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>In a low voice</i>] Jesus Christ!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. What's that?—Hm—hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] Just wait a few minutes—I have only to +write a couple of letters.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>starts to go with him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. [<i>Holds her back</i>] Just a few minutes, my dear—[<i>He kisses her +on the forehead</i>] Just a few minutes!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes toward the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Here's the note—you might sign it while you are at it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AXEL</span>. Give it to me!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out with an air of determination</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> TWELFTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, girls, are you on good terms again?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Oh, yes, and before we get away, we'll be on still better terms.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>makes a face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. I should like to have some fun to-day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Come along with me! I'll have money!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. No!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span> <i>sits down with evident anxiety near the door through +which</i> <span class="small-c">AXEL</span> <i>disappeared—as if seeking support in that +direction</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Let's take in the fireworks to-night—then we can see how a +great man looks in red light—what do you say to that, Cissie dear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. Oh, I'll be sick if I have to stay here longer!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Well, it wouldn't be the first time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Scrap, girls, and I'll watch you! Fight till the fur +flies—won't you?</p> + +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="text-align: center;"> THIRTEENTH SCENE</p> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. <span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. <span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. <span class="small-c">THURE</span> <i>and his</i> <span class="small-c">WIFE</span> <i>enter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Well, well! Old friends! How are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. All right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. The child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Oh, you have forgotten it?—Are you equally forgetful about +names?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Names?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Signatures!—He must be writing an awful lot in there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. Is my brother, the doctor, in there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. I don't know if the doctor is there, but your brother went +in there a while ago.—And, for that matter, we might find out. [<i>He +knocks at the door</i>] Silent as the grave! [<i>Knocks again</i>] Then I'll +walk right in.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out; everybody appears restless and anxious</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CECILIA</span>. What can it mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Well, we'll see now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. What has happened here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Something is up!—You'll see he doesn't help us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. [<i>Returns, carrying in his hand a small bottle and some +letters</i>] What does it say? [<i>He reads the label on the bottle</i>] +Cyanide of potassium!—How stupid! What a sentimental idiot—to kill +himself for so little—[<i>Everybody cries out</i>] So you were no beast of +prey, my dear Axel!—But—[<i>He stares through the open door into the +adjoining room</i>]—he's not there—and his things are gone, too. So he +has skipped out! And the bottle has never been opened! That means—he +meant to kill himself, but changed his mind!—And these are his +posthumous writings. "To Miss Cecilia"—seems to contain some round +object—probably an engagement ring—there you are!—"To my brother +<span class="small-c">THURE</span>" [<i>He holds up the letter to the light</i>]—with a piece of blue +paper inside—must be a note—for the amount involved! You're welcome!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span> <i>appears in the doorway at the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THURE</span>. [<i>Who has opened his letter</i>] Do you see that he helped us after +all——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WIFE</span>. Oh, in that way!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. And here's my note—without his name—He's a strong one, all +right! <i>Diable!</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MARIE</span>. Then the fireworks will be called off, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FIANCÉ</span>. Was there nothing for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LINDGREN</span>. Yes, I think there was a fiancée—somewhere over there!—I +tell you, that fellow is a wonder at clearing up tangled affairs!—Of +course, it makes me mad to think that I let myself be fooled—but I'll +be darned if I don't think I would have done just as he did!—And so +would you, perhaps?—Or what do you think?</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ADVENT" id="ADVENT">ADVENT</a></h3> + +<h4>(ADVENT)</h4> + +<h4>A MIRACLE PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1899</h5> + +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span><br /><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>wife of the Judge</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">AMELIA</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ERIC</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THYRA</span><br /> +<i>being the same person</i><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OTHER ONE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span><br /> +<i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span><br /> +<i>Subordinate characters, shadows, etc.</i><br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT I. THE VINEYARD WITH THE MAUSOLEUM</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT II. THE DRAWING-ROOM</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT III. THE WINE-CELLAR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3em;"><span class="small-c">THE GARDEN</span></span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT IV. THE CROSS-ROADS</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE "WAITING-ROOM"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE CROSS-ROADS</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">ACT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 3.5em; font-size: 0.8em;">THE "WAITING-ROOM"</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4><a name="ACT_I" id="ACT_I">ACT I</a></h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The background represents a vineyard. At the left stands a +mausoleum. It consists of a small whitewashed brick building +with a door and a pointed window that lacks mullions and panes. +The roof is made of red tiles. A cross crowns the gable. +Clematis vines with purple-coloured, cross-shaped flowers cover +the front wall, at the foot of which appear a number of other +flowers</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A peach-tree carrying fruit stands near the foreground. +Beneath it sit the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">Judge</span> <i>wears a green cap with a peak, yellow +knee-breeches, and—a blue coat—all dating back to</i> 1820. +<i>The</i> Old Lady <i>wears a kerchief on her head and carries +a stick, spectacles, and snuff-box. She has the general +appearance of a "witch." At the right is a small expiatory +chapel containing an image of the Holy Virgin. The fence in +front of it is hung with wreaths and nosegays. A prie-dieu is +placed against the fence</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Life's eve has at last brought the sunshine which its morning +promised us. Early rains and late rains have blessed meadow and field. +And soon the songs of the vintagers will be heard all over the country.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Don't talk like that; somebody might hear you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who could be listening here, and what harm could it do to thank +God for all good gifts?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's better not to mention one's good fortune lest misfortune +overhear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What of it? Was I not born with a caul?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Take care, take care! There are many who envy us, and evil +eyes are watching us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, let them! That's the way it has always been. And yet I +have prospered.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So far, yes. But I don't trust our neighbour. He has been +going around the village saying that we have cheated him out of his +property—and much more of the same kind which I don't care to repeat. +Of course, it doesn't matter when one has a clean conscience and can +point to a spotless life. Slander cannot hurt me. I go to confession +and mass, and I am prepared to close my eyes whenever my hour may +strike in order to open them again when I shall stand face to face with +my Judge. And I know also what I am going to answer then.</p> + +<p>JUDGE. What are you going to answer?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Like this: I was not without fault, O Lord, but even if I was +but a poor, sinful human creature, I was nevertheless a little better +than my neighbour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, +and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to +be consecrated in a few days?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought +to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as +plentiful as when I was a bride.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, yes—you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just +the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on +us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in +ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb +for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will +whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful +children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There you said it: ungrateful children.—Have you seen anything +of Adolph?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to +raise the money for the rent.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The money which he will never get—and I still less. But he +knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter +rent that he has failed to pay.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work +instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and +the children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to +inherit anything from us or not—No, look! There it is again!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>On the wall of the mausoleum appears a spot of sunlight +like those which children are fond of producing with a small +mirror</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> <i>It is vibrating as if it were reflected by running +water</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is it? What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. On the mausoleum. Don't you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It's the reflection of the sun on the river. It means——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It means that we'll see the light of the sun for a long time +to come——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. On the contrary. But that's all one. The best pillow for one's +head is a good conscience, and the reward of the righteous never +fails.—There's our neighbour now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Good evening, Judge. Good evening, madam.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Good evening, neighbour. How goes it? It wasn't yesterday we had +the pleasure. And how are your vines, I should have asked?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. The vines, yes—there's mildew on them, and the starlings +are after them, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, well! There's no mildew on my vines, and I have neither +seen nor heard of any starlings.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Fate does not distribute its gifts evenly: one shall be +taken and the other left.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I suppose there are good reasons for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I see! The reward of the righteous shall not fail, and the +wicked shall not have to wait for their punishment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, no malice meant! But you have to admit, anyhow, that it's +queer: two parcels of land lie side by side, and one yields good +harvests, the other poor ones——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. One yields starlings and the other not: that's what I find +queerer still. But, then, everybody wasn't born with a caul, like you, +Judge.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What you say is true, and fortune <i>has</i> favoured me. I am +thankful for it, and there are moments when I feel proud of it as if I +had deserved it.—But listen, neighbour—you came as if you had been +sent for.—That leasehold of mine is vacant, and I wanted to ask you if +you care to take it.</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> In Sweden such spots are called "sun-cats."</p></div> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>has in the meantime left her seat and gone to +the mausoleum, where she is busying herself with the flowers</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Oh, the leasehold is vacant. Hm! Since when?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Since this morning.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Hm! So!—That means your son-in-law has got to go?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, that good-for-nothing doesn't know how to manage.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Tell me something else, Judge. Haven't you heard that the +state intends to build a military road across this property?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, I have heard some rumours to that effect, but I don't think +it's anything but empty talk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. On the contrary, I have read it in the papers. That would +mean condemnation proceedings, and the loser would be the holder of the +lease.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I cannot think so, and I would never submit to it. I to leave +this spot where I expect to end my days in peace, and where I have +prepared a final resting-place to escape lying with all the rest——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Wait a minute! One never knows what may prove one's final +resting-place. My father, who used to own this property, also expected +to be laid to rest in his own ground, but it happened otherwise. As far +as the leasehold is concerned, I must let it go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As you please. On my part the proposition was certainly +disinterested, as you are a man without luck. For it is no secret +that you fail in everything you undertake, and people have their own +thoughts about one who remains as solitary and friendless as you. Isn't +it a fact that you haven't a single friend?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, it's true. I have not a single friend, and that doesn't +look well. It is something I cannot deny.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But to turn to other matters—is it true, as the legend has it, +that this vineyard once was a battle-field, and that this explains why +the wine from it is so fiery?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. No, that isn't what I have heard. My father told me that +this had been a place of execution, and that the gallows used to stand +where the mausoleum is now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, how dreadful! Why did you tell me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Because you asked, of course.—And the last man to be hanged +on this spot was an unrighteous judge. And now he lies buried here, +together with many others, among them being also an innocent victim of +his iniquity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What kind of stories are those! [<i>He calls out</i>] Caroline!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. And that's why his ghost has to come back here. Have you +never seen him, Judge?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have never seen anything at all!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. But I have seen him. As a rule, he appears at the time when +the grapes are harvested, and then they hear him around the wine-press +down in the cellar.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Calling out</i>] Caroline!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Come here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. And he will never be at peace until he has suffered all the +torments his victim had to pass through.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Get away from here! Go!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Certainly, Judge! I didn't know you were so sensitive. [<i>He +goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What was the matter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, he told a lot of stories that upset me. But-but—he is +plotting something evil, that fellow!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Didn't I tell you so! But you always let your tongue run +whenever you see anybody—What kind of foolish superstition was he +giving you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I don't want to talk of it. The mere thought of it makes me +sick. I'll tell you some other time.—There's Adolph now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] Good evening!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>After a pause</i>] Well?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Luck is against me. I have not been able to get any money.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I suppose there are good reasons for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. I can see no reason why some people should fare well and others +badly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, you can't?—Well, look into your own heart; search your own +thoughts and actions, and you'll find that you have yourself to blame +for your misfortunes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Perhaps I may not call myself righteous in every respect, but +at least I have no serious crimes on my conscience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You had better think well——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. I don't think that's needful, for my conscience is pretty +wakeful——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It can be put to sleep——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Can it? Of course I have heard of evil-doers growing old in +crime, but as a rule their consciences wake up just before death; and +I have even heard of criminals whose consciences have awakened after +death.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Agitated</i>] So that they had to come back, you mean? Have you +heard that story, too? It's strange that everybody seems to have heard +it except me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What are you talking about? Stick to business instead.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Yes, I think that's wiser, too. And, as the subject has been +broached, I want to tell you what I propose——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Look here, my boy! I think it a good deal more appropriate that +I should tell you what I have decided. It is this: that from this day +you cease to be my tenant, and that before the sun sets you must start +out to look for work.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Are you in earnest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You ought to be ashamed! I am not in the habit of joking. And +you have no cause for complaint, as you have been granted respite twice.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. While my crops have failed three times. Can I help that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Nor have I said so. But I can help it still less. And you are +not being judged by me. Here is the contract—here's the broken +agreement. Was that agreement broken by me? Oh, no! So I am without +responsibility and wash my hands of the matter.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. This may be the law, but I had thought there ought to be some +forbearance among relatives—especially as, in the natural course of +events, this property should pass on to your offspring.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, well: the natural course of events! He's going around +here wishing the life out of us! But you just look at me: I am good for +twenty years more. And I am <i>going</i> to live just to spite you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To</i> Adolph] What rudeness—what a lack of all human +feeling—to ask a couple of old people outright: are you not going to +die soon? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, I say! But now you have +broken the last tie, and all I can say is: go your way, and don't let +yourself be seen here any more!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. That's plain talk! Well, I'll go, but not alone——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So-o—you imagined that Amelia, our own child, should follow +you out on the highways, and that all you would have to do would be to +unload one child after another on us! But we have already thought of +that and put a stop to it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Where is Amelia? Where?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You may just as well know. She has gone on; a visit to the +convent of the Poor Clares—only for a visit. So now you know it's of +no use to look for her here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. Some time you will have to suffer for your cruelty in depriving +a man in distress of his only support. And if you break up our +marriage, the penalty of that breach will fall on you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You should be ashamed of putting your own guilt on those that +are innocent! Go now! And may you hunger and thirst, with every door +closed to you, until you have learned gratitude!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. The same to you in double measure!—But let me only bid my +children good-bye, and I will go.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As you don't want to spare your children the pain of +leave-taking, I'll do so—have already done it, in fact.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. That, too! Then I believe you capable of all the evil that has +been rumoured. And now I know what our neighbour meant when he said +that you couldn't—endure the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Not another word! Or you will feel the heavy hand of law and +justice——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He raises his right hand so that the absence of its forefinger +becomes visible</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. [<i>Takes hold of the hand and examines it</i>] The hand of +justice!—The hand of the perjurer whose finger stuck to the Bible when +he took his false oath! Woe unto you! Woe! For the day of retribution +is at hand, and your deeds will rise like corpses out of these +hillsides to accuse you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is that he is saying? It feels as if he were breathing +fire at us!—Go, you lying spirit, and may hell be your reward!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>. May Heaven reward you—according to your deserts—and may the +Lord protect my children! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What was that? Who was it that spoke? It seemed to me as if the +voice were coming out of some huge underground hall.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Did you hear it, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. God help us, then!—Do you remember what he said about the +sun? That struck me as more peculiar than all the rest. How could he +know—that it is so? Ever since my birth the sun has always burned +me, and they have told me this is so because my mother suffered from +sunstroke before I was born—but that you also——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Hush! Talk of the devil, and—Isn't the sun +down?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Of course it is down!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. How can that spot of sunlight remain on the mausoleum, then?</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>The spot moves around</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Jesus Maria! That's an omen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. An omen, you say! And on the grave! That doesn't happen every +day—and only a few chosen people who are full of living faith in the +highest things——</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>[<i>The spot of light disappears</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There is something weird about the place to-night, +something ghastly.—But what hurt me most keenly was to hear that +good-for-nothing wishing the life out of us in order to get at the +property. Do you know what I—well, I wonder if I dare to speak of +it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Go on!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Have you heard the story that this spot here used to be a place +of execution?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you have found that out, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes—and you knew it?—Well, suppose we gave this property +to the convent? That would make the ground sacred, and it would be +possible to rest in peace in it. The income might go to the children +while they are growing up, and it would mean an additional gain, as +Adolph would be fooled in his hope of inheriting from us. I think this +a remarkably happy solution of a difficult problem: how to give away +without losing anything by it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Your superior intelligence has again asserted itself, and I +am quite of your opinion. But suppose condemnation proceedings should +be started—what would happen then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There is plenty of time to consider that when it happens. In +the meantime, let us first of all, and as quietly as possible, get the +mausoleum consecrated——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] The peace of the Lord be with you, Judge, and +with you, madam!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You come most conveniently, Father, to hear something that +concerns the convent——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. I am glad of it.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The spot of light appears again on the mausoleum</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And then we wanted to ask when the consecration of the +mausoleum might take place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Staring at her</i>] Oh, is that so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Look, Father—look at that omen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, the spot must be sacred, indeed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. That's a will-o'-the-wisp.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Is it not a good sign? Does it not carry some kind of +message? Does it not prompt a pious mind to stop and consider? Would it +not be possible to turn this place into a refuge for desert wanderers +who are seeking——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Madam, let me speak a word to you in private. [<i>He moves +over to the right.</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Following him</i>] Father?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>Speaking in a subdued voice</i>] You, madam, enjoy a +reputation in this vicinity which you don't deserve, for you are the +worst sinner that I know of. You want to buy your pardon, and you want +to steal heaven itself, you who have already stolen from the Lord.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What is it I hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. When you were sick and near death you made a vow to the +Lord that in case of recovery you would give a monstrance of pure gold +to the convent church. Your health was restored and you gave the holy +vessel, but it was of silver—gilded. Not for the sake of the gold, but +because of your broken vow and your deception, you are already damned.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I didn't know it. The goldsmith has cheated me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. You are lying, for I have the goldsmith's bill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Is there no pardon for it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. No! For it is a mortal sin to cheat God.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Woe is me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. The settlement of your other crimes will have to take place +within yourself. But if you as much as touch a hair on the heads of the +children, then you shall learn who is their protector, and you shall +feel the iron rod.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The idea—that this infernal monk should dare to say such +things to me! If I am damned—then I want to be damned! Ha, ha!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Well, you may be sure that there will be no blessing for +your house and no peace for yourself until you have suffered every +suffering that you have brought on others.—May I speak a word with +you, Judge?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> Judge <i>approaches</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, give him what he deserves, so that one may be as good as +the other.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. [<i>To the</i> Judge] Where did you get the idea of building +your tomb where the gallows used to stand?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I suppose I got it from the devil!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Like the idea of casting off your children and robbing them +of their inheritance? But you have also been an unrighteous judge—you +have violated oaths and accepted bribes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. And now you want to erect a monument to yourself! You +want to build yourself an imperishable house in heaven! But listen to +me: this spot will never be consecrated, and you may consider it a +blessing if you are permitted to rest in common ground among ordinary +little sinners. There is a curse laid on this soil, because blood-guilt +attaches to it and because it is ill-gotten.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Repent, and restore the stolen property.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have never stolen. Everything has been legally acquired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. That, you see, is the worst part of all—that you regard +your crimes as lawful. Yes, I know that you even consider yourself +particularly favoured by Heaven because of your righteousness. But now +you will soon see what harvest is in store for you. Thorns and thistles +will grow in your vineyard. Helpless and abandoned you shall be, and +the peace of your old age will turn into struggle and strife.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The devil you say!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. Don't call him—he'll come anyhow!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Let him come! Because we believe, we have no fear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">FRANCISCAN</span>. The devils believe also, and tremble!—Farewell! [<i>He goes +out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] What did he say to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You think I'll tell? What did he have to say to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you think I'll tell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you going to keep any secrets from me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And how about you? It's what you have always done, but I'll get +to the bottom of your tricks some time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just wait a little, and I'll figure out where you keep the +money that is missing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. So you are hiding money, too! Now there is no longer any use +in playing the hypocrite—just let yourself be seen in all your +abomination, you witch!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I think you have lost your reason—not that it was much to +keep! But you might at least preserve an appearance of decency, if you +can——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you might preserve your beauty—if you can! And your +perennial youth—ha, ha, ha! And your righteousness! You must have +known how to bewitch people, and hoodwink them, for now I see how +horribly ugly and old you are.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>On whom the spot of light now appears</i>] Woe! It is burning +me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There I see you as you really are! [<i>The spot jumps to the</i> +<span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Woe! It is burning me now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And how you look! [<i>Both withdraw to the right</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>enter from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, child, there is justice, both human and divine, but we +must have patience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. I am willing to believe that justice is done, in spite of all +appearances to the contrary. But I cannot love my mother, and I have +never been able to do so. There is something within me that keeps +telling me that she is not only indifferent to me but actually hostile.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So you have found it out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Why—she hates me, and a mother couldn't do that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, well!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And I suffer from not being able to do my duty as a child and +love her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, as <i>that</i> has made you suffer, then you will soon—in +the hour of retribution—learn the great secret of your life.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And I could stand everything, if she were only kind to my +children.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Don't fear on that account, for her power is now ended. The +measure of her wickedness has been heaped full and is now overflowing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Do you think so? But this very day she tore my Adolph away from +me, and now she has humiliated me still further by dressing me as a +servant girl and making me do the work in the kitchen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Patience!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Yes, so you say! Oh, I can understand deserved suffering, but +to suffer without cause——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. My dear child, the prisoners in the penitentiary are +suffering justly, so there is no honour in that; but to be permitted to +suffer unjustly, that's a grace and a trial of which steadfast souls +bring home golden fruits.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. You speak so beautifully that everything you say seems true +to me.—Hush! There are the children—and I don't want them to see me +dressed like this.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She and the</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>take up a position where they are +hidden by a tall shrub</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>enter; the spot of light rests now on one of them and +now on the other</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Look at the sun spot!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, you beautiful sun! But didn't he go to bed a while ago?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Perhaps he is allowed to stay up longer than usual because he has +been very good all day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But how could the sun be good? Now you are stupid, Eric.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Of course the sun can be good—doesn't he make the grapes and the +peaches?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But if he is so good, then he might also give us a peach.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. So he will, if we only wait a little. Aren't there any on the +ground at all?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>Looking</i>] No, but perhaps we might get one from the tree.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, grandmother won't let us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Grandmother has said that we mustn't shake the tree, but I +thought we could play around the tree so that one might fall down +anyhow—of itself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Now you are stupid, Thyra. That would be exactly the same thing. +[<i>Looking up at the tree</i>] Oh, if only a peach would fall down!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. None will fall unless you shake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't talk like that, Thyra, for that is a sin.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Let's pray God to let one fall.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. One shouldn't pray God for anything nice—that is, to eat!—Oh, +little peach, won't you fall? I want you to fall! [<i>A peach falls from +the tree, and</i> <span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>picks it up</i>] There, what a nice tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But now you must give me half, for it was I who said that the +tree had to be shaken——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Enters with a big birch rod</i>] So you have been shaking the +tree—now you'll see what you'll get, you nasty children——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, grandmother, we didn't shake the tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you are lying, too. Didn't I hear Thyra say that the tree +had to be shaken? Come along now, and I'll lock you up in the cellar +where neither sun nor moon is to be seen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] The children are innocent, mother.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's a fine thing—to stand behind the bushes listening, +and then to teach one's own children how to lie besides!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Appearing</i>] Nothing has been spoken here but the truth, +madam.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Two witnesses behind the bushes—exactly as if we were in +court. But I know the tricks, I tell you, and what I have heard and +seen is sufficient evidence for me.—Come along, you brats!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. This is sinful and shameful——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>signals to</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>by putting his finger +across his lips</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Goes up to her children</i>] Don't cry, children! Obey +grandmother now—there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to +suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God +preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>goes out with the children</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Is it so hard to believe that God is good—at the very +moment when his kind intentions are most apparent?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may +sleep on it as on a soft pillow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.—This is it: Isaac +was to be sacrificed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Oh, no, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Quiet, now!—Isaac was to <i>be</i> sacrificed, but he never was!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you! Thank you! And good night!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes out to the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Good night, my child!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes slowly out by a path leading to the rear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE PROCESSION OF SHADOWS</span> <i>enters from the mausoleum and moves +without a sound across the stage toward the right; between +every two figures there is a distance of five steps</i>:</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">DEATH</span> <i>with its scythe and hour-glass</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LADY IN WHITE</span>—<i>blond, tall, and slender; on one of her +fingers she wears a ring with a green stone that seems to emit +rays of light</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE GOLDSMITH</span>, <i>with the counterfeit monstrance</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE BEHEADED SAILOR</span>, <i>carrying his head in one hand</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE AUCTIONEER</span>, <i>with hammer and note-book</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>, <i>with rope, scraper, and broom</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE FOOL</span>, <i>carrying his cap with the ass's ears and bells at +the top of a pole, across which is placed a signboard with the +word "Caul" on it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE SURVEYOR</span>, <i>with measuring rod and tripod</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAGISTRATE</span>, <i>dressed and made up like the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>; <i>he +carries a rope around his neck; and his right hand is raised to +show that the forefinger is missing</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The stage is darkened at the beginning of the procession and +remains empty while it lasts</i>.</p> + +<p><i>When it is over, the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters from the left, followed by +the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Why are you playing the ghost at this late hour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And how about yourself?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I couldn't sleep.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Don't know. Thought I heard children crying in the cellar.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's impossible. Oh, no, I suppose you didn't dare to sleep +for fear I might be prying in your hiding-places.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And you feared I might be after yours! A pleasant old age this +will be for Philemon and Baucis!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. At least no gods will come to visit us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I shouldn't call them gods.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment the</i> <span class="small-c">PROCESSION</span> <i>begins all over again, +starting from the mausoleum as before and moving in silence +toward the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. O Mary, Mother of God, what is this?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Merciful heavens! [<i>Pause</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Pray! Pray for us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I have tried, but I cannot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Neither can I! The words won't come—and no thoughts! +[<i>Pause</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. How does the Lord's Prayer begin?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I can't remember, but I knew it this morning. [<i>Pause</i>] Who +is the woman in white?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It is she—Amelia's mother—whose very memory we wanted to kill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are these shadows or ghosts, or nothing but our own sickly +dreams?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Takes up his pocket-knife</i>] They are delusions sent by the +devil. I'll throw cold steel after them.—Open the knife for me, +Caroline! I can't, don't you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, I see—it isn't easy without a forefinger.—But I can't +either! [<i>She drops the knife</i>]</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Woe to us! Steel won't help here! Woe! There's the beheaded +sailor! Let us get away from here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That's easy to say, but I can't move from the spot.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And I seem to be rooted to the ground.—No, I am not going to +look at it any longer!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He covers his eyes with one hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But what is it? Mists out of the earth, or shadows cast by +the trees?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, it's our own vision that plays us false. There I go now, and +yet I am standing here. Just let me get a good night's sleep, and I'll +laugh at the whole thing!—The devil! Is this masquerade never going to +end?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But why do you look at it then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I see it right through my hand—I see it in the dark, with my +eyelids closed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But now it's over.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PROCESSION</span> <i>has passed out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Praised be—why, I can't get the word out!—I wonder if it will +be possible to sleep to-night? Perhaps we had better send for the +doctor?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Or Father Colomba, perhaps?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. He can't help, and he who could won't!—Well, let the Other One +do it then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>enters from behind the Lady Chapel. He is +extremely thin and moth-eaten. His thin, snuff-coloured hair is +parted in the middle. His straggly beard looks as if it were +made out of tow. His clothes are shabby and outgrown, and he +seems to wear no linen. A red woollen muffler is wound around +his neck. He wears spectacles and carries a piece of rattan +under his arm</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>In a low voice</i>] I am the Other One!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">Judge</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] Make the sign of the cross! I can't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. The sign of the cross does not frighten me, for I am +undergoing my ordeal merely that I may wear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I became the Other One because I wanted to be the First +One. I was a man of evil, and my punishment is to serve the good.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Then you are not the Evil One?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am. And it is my task to torment you into finding the +cross, before which we are to meet some time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">Judge</span>] Don't listen to him! Tell him to go!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It won't help. You have called me, and you'll have to +bear with me.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>go out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>goes after them</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_II" id="ACT_II">ACT II</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A huge room with whitewashed walls and a ceiling of darkened +beams. The windows are small and deeply set, with bars on the +outside. The room is crowded with furniture of every kind: +wardrobes, chiffoniers, dressers, chests, tables. On the +furniture are placed silver services, candelabra, candlesticks, +pitchers, table ware, vases, statues, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>There is a door in the rear. Portraits of the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>hang on the rear wall, one on either side of the door.</i></p> + +<p><i>A harp stands beside a small sewing-table with an easy chair +near it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>is standing before a table at the right, trying to +clean a coffee-set of silver</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The sun is shining in through the windows in the background</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Well, child, how is your patience?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, neighbour, it might be worse. But I never had a +worse job than this silver service here. I have worked at it for half +an hour and cannot get it clean.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's strange, but I suppose there are reasons for it, as +the Judge says. Could you sleep last night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, I slept very well. But do you know that father spent +the whole night in the vineyard with his rattle——?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Yes, I heard him. What kind of foolish idea was that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. He thought he heard the starlings that had come to eat the +grapes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Poor fellow! As if the starlings were abroad nights!—And +the children?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Well, the children—she is still keeping them in the cellar, +and I hope she won't forget to give them something to eat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. He who feeds the birds will not forget your children, +my dear Amelia. And now I'll tell you something which, as a rule, +shouldn't be told. There is a small hole in the wall between the +Judge's wine-cellar and my own. When I was down there this morning to +get the place aired out, I heard voices. And when I looked through the +hole, I saw Eric and Thyra playing with a strange little boy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. You could see them, neighbour? And——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. They were happy and well——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Who was their playmate?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's more than I can guess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. This whole dreadful house is nothing but secrets.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That is true, but it is not for us to inquire into them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Enters, carrying a rattle</i>] So you are in here conspiring, +neighbour! Is it not enough that your evil eye has brought the +starlings into my vineyard? For you do have the evil eye—but we'll +soon put it out. I know a trick or two myself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Is it worth while to set him right? One who +doesn't believe what is told him! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, this is beyond us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Tell me, Amelia, have you noticed where your mother is looking +for things when she believes herself to be alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, father.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I can see by your eyes that you know. You were looking this +way. [<i>He goes up to a chest of drawers and happens to get into the +sunlight</i>] Damn the sun that is always burning me! [<i>He pulls down one +of the shades and returns to the chest of drawers</i>] This must be the +place!—Now, let me see! The stupidest spot is also the cleverest, so +that's where I must look—as in this box of perfume, for instance—And +right I was! [<i>He pulls out a number of bank-notes and stocks</i>] What's +this? Twelve English bills of a pound each. Twelve of them!—Oho! Then +it is easy to imagine the rest. [<i>Pushes the bills and securities into +his pockets</i>] But what is it I hear? There are the starlings again! +[<i>He goes to an open window and begins to play the rattle</i>] Get away +there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Are you still playing the ghost?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are you not in the kitchen?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, as you see, I am not. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Are you not done with +the cleaning yet?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. No, mother, I'll never get done with it. The silver won't +clean, and I don't think it is real.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Not real? Let me see!—Why, indeed, it's quite black! [<i>To +the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>who in the meantime has pulled down another shade</i>] Where +did you get this set from?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That one? Why, it came from an estate.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. For your services as executor! What you got was like what you +gave!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You had better not make any defamatory remarks, for they are +punishable under the law.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you crazy, or was there anything crazy about my remark?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And for that matter, it is silver—sterling silver.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then it must be Amelia's fault.</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Coming through the window from the outside</i>] The Judge can +turn white into black, but he can't turn black into white!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who said that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It seemed as if one of the starlings had been speaking.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Pulling down the remaining shade</i>] Now the sun is here, and a +while ago it seemed to be over there.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>] Who was it that spoke?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. I think it was that strange school-teacher with the red muffler.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ugh! Let us talk of something else.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">SERVANT GIRL</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Dinner is served.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out; a pause follows</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You go down and eat, Amelia.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Thank you, mother. [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>sits down on a chair close to one of the chests</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Sliding up to the chest of drawers >where the box of +perfume stands</i>] Are you not going to eat anything?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I am not hungry. How about you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I have just eaten. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Takes a piece of bread from his pocket</i>] Then you'll excuse +me, I'm sure.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. There's a roast of venison on the table.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You don't say so!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Do you think I poison the food?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, it tasted of carbolic acid this morning.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And what I ate had a sort of metallic taste——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. If I assure you that I have put nothing whatever in your food——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then I don't believe you. But I can assure you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And I won't believe it. [<i>Eating his bread</i>] Roast of venison +is a good thing—I can smell it from here—but bread isn't bad either. +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why are you sitting there watching that chest?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. For the same reason that makes you guard those perfumes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. So you have been there, you sneak-thief!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ghoul!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. To think of it—such words between us! <i>Us</i>!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She begins to weep</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, the world is evil and so is man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, you may well say so—and ungrateful above all. +Ungrateful children rob you of the rent; ungrateful grandchildren rob +the fruit from the trees. You are right, indeed: the world is evil——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I ought to know, I who have had to witness all the rottenness, +and who have been forced to pass the death sentence. That is why the +mob hates me, just as if I had made the laws——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It doesn't matter what the people say, if you have only a +clean conscience—[<i>Three loud knocks are heard from the inside of the +biggest wardrobe</i>] What was that? Who is there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, it was that wardrobe. It always cracks when there is rain +coming. [<i>Three distinct knocks are heard again</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's some kind of performance started by that strolling +charlatan.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The cover of the coffee-pot which</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>was cleaning, opens +and drops down again with a bang; this happens several times in +succession</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What was <i>that</i>, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, yes, it's that same juggler. He can play tricks, but he +can't scare me. [<i>The coffee-pot acts as before.</i></p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you think he is one of those mesmerists?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, whatever it happens to be called——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. If that's so, how can he know our private secrets?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Secrets? What do you mean by that?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A clock begins to strike and keeps it up as if it never meant +to stop</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Now I am getting scared.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Then Old Nick himself may take me if I stay here another +minute! [<i>The spot of sunlight appears suddenly on the portrait of the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] Look! He knows that secret, too!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You mean that there is a portrait of <i>her</i> behind yours?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Come away from here and let us go down and eat. And let us +see whether we can't sell off the house and all the rest at auction——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You are right—sell off the whole caboodle and start a new +life!—And now let us go down and eat.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>appears in the doorway</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>draw back from him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's an ordinary human being!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Speak to him!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] Who are you, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I have told you twice. That you don't believe me is a +part of your punishment, for if you could believe, your sufferings +would be shortened by it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>To his wife</i>] It's—<i>him</i>—sure enough! For I feel as if I +were turning into ice. How are we to get rid of him?—Why, they say +that the unclean spirits cannot bear the sound of music. Play something +on the harp, Caroline.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Though badly frightened, the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>sits down at the table +on which the harp stands and begins to play a slow prelude in a +minor key</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>listens reverently and with evident emotion</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Is he gone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I thank you for the music, madam. It lulls the pain +and awakens memories of better things even in a lost soul—Thank you, +madam!—Speaking of the auction, I think you are doing right, although, +in my opinion, an honest declaration of bankruptcy would be still +better—Yes, surrender your goods, and let every one get back his own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Bankruptcy? I have no debts——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No debts!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. My husband <i>has</i> no debts!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No debts! That would be happiness, indeed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, that's the truth! But other people are in debt to me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Forgive them then!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. This is not a question of pardon, but of payment——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. All right! Then you'll be made to pay!—For the +moment—farewell! But we'll meet frequently, and the last time at the +great auction! [<i>He goes out backward</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. He's afraid of the sun—he, too! Ha-ha!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, for some time yet. But once I have accustomed +myself to the light, I shall hate darkness.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He disappears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] Do you really think he is—the Other One?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Of course, that's not the way he is supposed to look but then +times are changing and we with them. They used to say that he had gold +and fame to give away, but this fellow goes around dunning——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, he's a sorry lot, and a charlatan—that's all! A milksop +who doesn't dare to bite, no matter how much he would like to!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Standing in the doorway again</i>] Take care, I tell you! +Take care!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Raising his right hand</i>] Take care yourself!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Pointing at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>with one hand as if it were a +revolver</i>] Shame!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Unable to move</i>] Woe is me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You have never believed in anything good. Now you shall +have to believe in the Evil One. He who is <i>all goodness</i> can harm +nobody, you see, and so he leaves that to such villains as myself. But +for the sake of greater effectiveness, you two must torture yourselves +and each other.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Kneeling before</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] Spare us! Help us! Mercy!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>With a gesture as if he were tearing his clothes</i>] +Get up, woman! Woe is me! There is One, and One only, to whom you may +pray! Get up now, or—Yes, now you believe, although I don't wear +a red cloak, and don't carry sword or purse, and don't crack any +jokes—but beware of taking me in jest! I am serious as sin and stern +as retribution! I have not come to tempt you with gold and fame, but +to chastise you with rods and scorpions—[<i>The clock begins to strike +again; the stage turns dark</i>] Your time is nearly up. Therefore, put +your house in order—because die you must! [<i>A noise as of thunder is +heard</i>] Whose voice is speaking now? Do you think <i>he</i> can be scared +off with your rattle when he comes sweeping across your vineyard? Storm +and Hail are his names; destruction nestles under his wings, and in his +claws he carries punishment. Put on your caul now, and don your good +conscience.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The rattling of the hail-storm is heard outside</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Mercy!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, if you promise repentance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I promise on my oath——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You can take no oath, for you have already perjured +yourself. But promise first of all to set the children free—and then +all the rest!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I promise! Before the sun has set, the children shall be here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That's the first step ahead, but if you turn back, then +you'll see that I am as good as my name, which is—Legion!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He raises the rattan, and at that moment the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>comes +able to move again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_III" id="ACT_III">ACT III</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A wine-cellar, with rows of casks along both side walls. The +doorway in the rear is closed by an iron door</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Every cask is marked with the name of the urine kept in it. +Those nearest the foreground have small shelves above the taps, +and the shelves hold glasses</i>.</p> + +<p><i>At the right, in the foreground, stands a wine-press and near +it are a couple of straw-bottomed chairs</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Bottles, funnels, siphons, crates, etc., are scattered about +the place</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>are seated by the wine-press</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. I think it's awfully dull.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. I think grandmother is nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't talk like that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. No, perhaps not, but she <i>is</i> nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't, Thyra, for then the little boy won't come and play +with us again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Then I won't say it again. I only wish it wasn't so dark.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Don't you remember, Thyra, that the boy said we shouldn't +complain——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Then I won't do it any more—[<i>The spot of sunlight appears on +the ground</i>] Oh, look at the sun-spot!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She jumps up and places her foot on the light.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You mustn't step on the sun, Thyra. That's a sin!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. I didn't mean to step on him. I just wanted to have him. Now +see—I have him in my arms, and I can pat him.—Look! Now he's kissing +me right on the mouth.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>enters from behind one of the casks; he wears a +white garment reaching below his knees, and a blue scarf around +the waist; on his feet are sandals; he is blond, and when he +appears the cellar grows lighter</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Goes to meet him and shakes hands with him</i>] Hello, little +boy!—Come and shake hands, Thyra!—What's your name, boy? You must +tell us to-day.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>merely looks at him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You shouldn't be so forward, Eric, for it makes him +bashful.—But tell me, little boy, who is your papa?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Don't be so curious. When you know me better, you'll learn +all those things.—But let us play now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, but nothing instructive, for that is so tedious. I want it +just to be nice.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Smiling</i>] Shall I tell a story?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, but not out of the Bible, for all those we know by heart——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>smiles again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You say such things, Thyra, that he gets hurt——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, my little friends, you don't hurt me—But now, if you are +really good, we'll go and play in the open——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Oh, yes, yes!—But then, you know, grandmother won't let us——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, your grandmother has said that she wished you were out, +and so we'll go before she changes her mind. Come on now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, what fun! Oh——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The door in the rear flies open and through the doorway is +seen a sunlit field planted with rye ready for the harvest. +Among the yellow ears grow bachelor's-buttons and daisies</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Come, children! Come into the sunlight and feel the joy of +living!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Can't we take the sun-spot along? It's a pity to leave it here +in the darkness.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, if it is willing to go with you. Call it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>go toward the door, followed by the spot of light</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Isn't it a nice little spot! [<i>Talks to the spot as if it were a +cat</i>] Puss, puss, puss, puss!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Take it up on your arm, Thyra, for I don't think it can get +over the threshold.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>gets the spot of light on her arm, which she bends as if +carrying something</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>All three go out; the door closes itself. Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters with a lantern, the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>with the +birch rod</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's cool and nice here, and then there is no sun to bother +you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And how quiet it is. But where are the children?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Both look for the children</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It looks as if they had taken us at our word.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Us? Please observe that I didn't promise anything, for +he—you know—talked only to you toward the end.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Perhaps, but this time we had better obey, for I don't want to +have any more trouble with hail-storms and such things.—However, the +children are not here, and I suppose they'll come back when they get +hungry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And I wish them luck when they do! [<i>The rod is snatched out +of her hand and dances across the floor; finally it disappears behind +one of the casks</i>] Now it's beginning again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, why don't you submit and do as he—you know who!—says? I, +for my part, don't dare to do wrong any longer. The growing grapes have +been destroyed, and we must take pleasure in what is already safe. Come +here, Caroline, and let us have a glass of something good to brace us +up! [<i>He knocks on one of the casks and draws a glass of wine from it</i>] +This is from the year of the comet—anno 1869, when the big comet came, +and everybody said it meant war. And, of course, war did break out.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He offers a filled glass to his wife</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You drink first!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, now—did you think there might be poison in this, too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, really, I didn't—but—we'll never again know what peace +is, or happiness!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do as I do: submit! [<i>He drinks</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I want to, and I try to, but when I come to think how badly +other people have treated us, I feel that I am just as good as anybody +else. [<i>She drinks</i>] That's a very fine wine! [<i>She sits down</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The wine is good, and it makes the mind easier.—Yes, the +wiseacres say that we are rapscallions, one and all, so I can't see +what right anybody has to go around finding fault with the rest. [<i>He +drinks</i>] My own actions have always been legal; that is, in keeping +with prevailing laws and constitutions. If others happened to be +ignorant of the law, they had only themselves to blame, for no one has +a right to ignorance of that kind. For that reason, if Adolph does not +pay the rent, it is he who breaks the law, and not I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And yet the blame falls on you, and you are made to appear +like a criminal. Yes, it is as I have always said: there is no justice +in this world. If you had done right, you should have brought suit +against Adolph and turned out the whole family. But then it isn't too +late yet—— [<i>She drinks</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Well, you see, if I were to carry out the law strictly, then I +should sue for the annulment of his marriage, and that would cut him +off from the property——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why don't you do it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] We-e-ell!—I suppose that would settle the +matter once for all. A divorce would probably not be granted, but I +think it would be possible to get the marriage declared invalid on +technical grounds——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And if there be no such grounds?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Showing the influence of the wine</i>] There are technical +grounds for everything, if you only look hard enough.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, then! Think of it—how that good-for-nothing is wishing +the life out of us—but now he'll see how "the natural course of +events" makes the drones take to the road——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Ha-ha! You're right, quite right! And then, you know, when I +think it over carefully—what reason have we for self-reproach? What +wrong have we done? It's mean to bring up that about the monstrance—it +didn't hurt anybody, did it? And as for my being guilty of perjury: +that's a pure lie. I got blood-poison in the finger—that's all—and +quite a natural thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just as if I didn't know it. And I may as well add that this +hail-storm a while ago—why, it was as plain a thing as if it had been +foretold in the Farmer's Almanac!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Exactly! That's what I think too. And for that reason, Caroline, +I think we had better forget all that fool talk—and if you feel as I +do, we'll just turn to another priest and get him to consecrate the +mausoleum.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, why shouldn't we?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes, why shouldn't we? Perhaps because that mesmerist comes here +and talks a lot of superstitious nonsense?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Tell me, do you really think he is nothing but a mesmerist?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Blustering</i>] That fellow? He's a first-class charlatan. A +che-ar-la-tan!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] I am not so sure.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But I am sure. Su-ure! And if he should ever come before my eyes +again—just now, for instance—I'll drink his health and say: here's +to you, old humourist! [As <i>he raises the glass, it is torn out of his +hand and is seen to disappear through the wall</i>] What was that? [<i>The +lantern goes out.</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Help!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>A gust of wind is heard, and then all is silence again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You just get some matches, and I'll clear this matter up. For I +am no longer afraid of anything. Not of anything!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, don't, don't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Steps from behind one of the casks</i>] Now we'll have to +have a talk in private.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Where did you come from?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That is no concern of yours.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Straightening himself up</i>] What kind of language is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Your own!—Off with your cap! [<i>He blows at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, +<i>whose cap is lifted off his head and falls to the ground</i>] Now you +shall hear sentence pronounced: you have wanted to sever what has been +united by Him whose name I may not mention. Therefore you shall be +separated from her who ought to be the staff of your old age. Alone +you must run the gauntlet. Alone you must bear the qualms of sleepless +nights.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Is that mercy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is justice; it is the law: an eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth! The gospel has a different sound, but of that you +didn't want to hear. Now, move I along. [<i>He beats the air with the +rattan.</i></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The scene changes to a garden with cypresses and yew-trees +clipped in the shape of obelisks, candelabra, vases, etc. Under +the trees grow roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, etc. At the centre +of it is a spring above which droops a gigantic fuchsia in full +bloom</i>.<a name="FNanchor_1_2" id="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p><i>Back of the garden appears a field of rye, all yellow and +ready to be cut. Bachelor's-buttons and daisies grow among the +rye. A scarecrow hangs in the middle of the field. The distant +background is formed by vineyards and light-coloured rocks with +beech woods and ruined castles on them</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A road runs across the stage in the near background. At the +right is a covered Gothic arcade. In front of this stands a +statue of the Madonna with the Child</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>enter hand in hand with the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Oh, how beautiful it is!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Who is living here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Whoever feels at home has his home here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Can we play here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Anywhere except in that avenue over there to the right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. And may we pick the flowers?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. You may pick any flowers you want, but you mustn't touch the +tree at the fountain.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. What kind of tree is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Why, you know, it is one of those they call [<i>lowering his +voice</i>] "Christ's Blood-drops."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You should cross yourself, Eric, when you mention the name of +the Lord.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Makes the sign of the cross</i>] Tell me, little boy, why mustn't +we touch the tree?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. You should obey without asking any questions, Eric.—But tell +me, little boy, why is that ugly scarecrow hanging there? Can't we take +it away?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Yes, indeed, you may, for then the birds will come and sing +for us.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>run into the rye-field and tear down the +scarecrow</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Away with you, you nasty old scarecrow! Come and eat now, little +birds! [<i>The Golden Bird comes flying from the right and perches on the +fuchsia</i>] Oh, see the Golden Bird, Thyra!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, how pretty it is! Does it sing, too?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>The bird calls like a cuckoo</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Can you understand what the bird sings, boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, children, the birds have little secrets of their own +which they have a right to keep hidden.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Of course, Eric, don't you see, otherwise the children could +tell where the nests are, and then they would take away the eggs, and +that would make the birds sorry, and they couldn't have any children of +their own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Don't talk like a grown-up, Thyra.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Putting a finger across his lips</i>] Hush! Somebody is +coming. Now let us see if he likes to stay with us or not.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>enters, stops in surprise, and begins to +look around</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Well, boy, won't you come and play with us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. [<i>Takes off his cap; speaks bashfully</i>] Oh, you don't +want to play with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Why shouldn't we?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I am sooty all over. And besides I don't know how to +play—I hardly know what it is.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Think of it, the poor boy has never played.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. What is your name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. My name? They call me Ole—but——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. But what's your other name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Other name? I have none.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. But your papa's name?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I have no papa.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. And your mamma's?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I don't know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. He has no papa or mamma. Come to the spring here, boy, and +I'll make you as white as a little prince.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. If anybody else said it, I shouldn't believe it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Why do you believe it then, when I say it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. I don't know, but I think you look as if it would be +true.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Give the boy your hand, Thyra!—Would you give him a kiss, +too?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>After a moment's hesitation</i>] Yes, when you ask me!</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_2" id="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Swedish name of this plant is "Christ's Blood-drops."</p></div> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She kisses the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. <i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span> <i>dips +his hand in the spring and sprays a little water on the face +of the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>, <i>whose black mask at once disappears, +leaving his face white</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Now you are white again. And now you must go behind that +rose-bush there and put on new clothes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Why do I get all this which I don't deserve?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Because you don't believe that you deserve it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. [<i>Going behind the rose-bush</i>] Then I thank you for it, +although I don't understand what it means.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Was he made a chimney-sweep because he had been bad?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. No, he has never been bad. But he had a bad guardian who took +all his money away from him, and so he had to go out into the world to +earn a living—See how fine he looks now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>enters dressed in light summer clothes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>] Go to the arcade now, and you'll +meet somebody you love—and who loves you!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>. Who could love me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Go and find out.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span> <i>goes across the stage to the arcade, where +he is met by the</i> <span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>, <i>who puts her arms around him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Who is living in there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>With his finger on his lips</i>] Polly Pry!—But who is coming +there?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>appears on the road with a sack on her back and +a stick in her hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. It's grandmother! Oh, now we are in for it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, my! It's grandmother!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Don't get scared, children. I'll tell her it's my fault.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, you mustn't, for then she'll beat you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Well, why shouldn't I take a beating for my friends?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. No, I'll do it myself!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. And I, too!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Hush! And come over here—then you won't be scolded. [<i>They +hide</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Goes to the spring</i>] So, this is the famous spring that +is said to cure everything—after the angel has stirred it up, of +course!—But I suppose it is nothing but lies. Well, I might have a +drink anyhow, and water is water. [<i>She bends down over the spring</i>] +What is it I see? Eric and Thyra with a strange boy! What can it mean? +For they are not here. It must be an oracle spring. [<i>She takes a cup +that stands by the spring, fills it with water and drinks</i>] Ugh, it +tastes of copper—he must have been here and poisoned the water, too! +Everything is poisoned! Everything!—And I feel tired, too, although +the years have not been hard on me—[<i>She looks at her reflection +in the spring and tosses her head</i>] On the contrary, I look quite +youthful—but it's hard to walk, and still harder to get up—[<i>She +struggles vainly to rise</i>] My God, my God, have mercy! Don't leave me +lying here!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. [<i>Makes a sign to the children to stay where they are; then +he goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>and wipes the perspiration from her +forehead</i>] Rise, and leave your evil ways!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] Who is that?—Oh, it's you, my nice gentleman, who +has led the children astray?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Go, ungrateful woman! I have wiped the sweat of fear from +your brow; I have raised you up when your own strength failed you, and +you reward me with angry words. Go—go!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>stares astonished at him; then her eyes drop, and she +turns and goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>come forward</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. But I am sorry for grandmother just the same, although she is +nasty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. It isn't nice here, and I want to go home.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Wait a little! Don't be so impatient.—There comes somebody +else we know.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>appears on the road</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. He cannot come here and defile the spring. [<i>He waves his +hand; the spot of sunlight strikes the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>making him turn around +and walk away</i>] It is nice of you to be sorry for the old people, but +you must believe that what I do is right. Do you believe that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Yes, we believe it, we believe it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. But I want to go home to mamma!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. I'll let you go.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>appears in the background and hides himself +behind the bushes</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. For now I must go. The Angelus bell will soon be ringing——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Where are you going, little boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. There are other children I must play with—far away from +here, where you cannot follow me. But now, when I leave you here, don't +forget what I have told you: that you mustn't touch the tree!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. We'll obey! We will! But don't go away, for it will soon be dark!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. How is that? Anybody who has a good conscience and knows his +evening prayer has nothing, nothing to be afraid of.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. When will you come back to us, little boy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>. Next Christmas I come back, and every Christmas!—Good night, +my little friends!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He kisses their foreheads and goes out between the bushes; +when he reappears in the background, he is carrying a cross +with a banner like that carried by the Christ-Child in old +paintings; the Angelus bell begins to ring; as he raises the +banner and waves it in greeting to the children, he becomes +surrounded by a clear, white light; then he goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>kneel and pray silently while the bell is ringing</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>Having crossed himself</i>] Do you know who the boy was, Thyra?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. It was the Saviour!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>steps forward</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. [<i>Scared, runs to Eric, who puts his arms around her to protect +her</i>] My!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>] What do you want? You nasty thing!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I only wanted—Look at me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Yes?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am looking like this because once I touched the tree. +Afterward it was my joy to tempt others into doing the same. But now, +since I have grown old, I have come to repent, and now I am remaining +here to warn men, but nobody believes me—nobody—because I lied once.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. You don't need to warn us, and you can't tempt us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Tut, tut, tut! Not so high-and-mighty, my little friend! +Otherwise it's all right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span>. Well, go away then, for I don't want to listen to you, and you +scare my sister!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. I am going, for I don't feel at home here, and I have +business elsewhere. Farewell, children!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Is heard calling from the right</i>] Eric and Thyra!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span>. Oh, there is mamma—dear little mamma!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>enters</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERIC</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>rush into her arms</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>turns away to hide his emotion</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_IV" id="ACT_IV">ACT IV</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A cross-roads surrounded by pine woods. Moonlight</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span> <i>stands waiting</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, at last, there you are.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. You have kept me waiting. Why have you called me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Help me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. In what way?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Against my enemies.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. There is only one thing that helps against your enemies: be good +to them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, I declare! I think the whole world has turned +topsyturvy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Yes, so it may seem.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Even the Other One—you know who I mean—has become +converted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Then it ought to be time for you, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Time for me? You mean that my years are burdening me? But it +is less than three weeks since I danced at a wedding.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. And you call that bliss! Well, if that be all, you shall have +your fill of it. For there is to be a ball here to-night, although I +myself cannot attend it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Just here. It will begin whenever I give the word——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's too bad I haven't got on my low-necked dress.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. You can borrow one from me—and a pair of dancing shoes with red +heels.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps I might also have a pair of gloves and a fan?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Everything! And, in particular, any number of young cavaliers +who will proclaim you the queen of the ball.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Now you are joking.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. No, I am not joking. And I know that they have the good taste at +these balls to choose the right one for queen—and in speaking of the +right one, I have in mind the most worthy——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The most beautiful, you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. No, I don't—I mean the worthiest. If you wish, I'll start the +ball at once.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I have no objection.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. If you step aside a little, you'll find your maid—while the +hall is being put in order.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Going out to the right</i>] Think of it—I am going to have a +maid, too! You know, madam, that was the dream of my youth—which never +came true.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. There you see: "What youth desires, age acquires." [<i>She blows a +whistle</i>]</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Without curtain-fall, the stage changes to represent the +bottom of a rocky, kettle-shaped chasm. It is closed in on +three sides by steep walls of black rock, wholly stripped of +vegetation. At the left, in the foreground, stands a throne. At +the right is a platform for the musicians</i>.</p> + +<p><i>A bust of Pan on a square base stands in the middle of the +stage, surrounded by a strange selection of potted plants: +henbane, burdock, thistle, onion, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>The musicians enter. Their clothing is grey; their faces are +chalk-white and sad; their gestures tired. They appear to be +tuning their instruments, but not a sound is heard</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then comes the</i> <span class="small-c">LEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA</span>.</p> + +<p><i>After him, the guests of the ball: cripples, beggars, tramps. +All are pulling on black gloves as they come in. Their +movements are dragging; their expressions funereal</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Next: The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>, <i>who is really</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER +ONE</span><i>—a septuagenarian dandy wearing a black wig which is too +small for him, so that tufts of grey hair appear underneath. +His mustaches are waxed and pointed. He wears a monocle and has +on an outgrown evening dress and top-boots. He looks melancholy +and seems to be suffering because of the part he has to play.</i></p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">SEVEN DEADLY SINS</span> <i>enter and group themselves around the +throne as follows</i>:</p> + + +<div class="center" style="font-size: 0.8em;"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left">PRIDE</td><td align="left">COVETOUSNESS</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">LUST</td><td align="left">ANGER</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">GLUTTONY</td><td align="left">ENVY</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2" align="left">SLOTH</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><i>Finally the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>enters. He is hunchbacked and wears a +soiled velvet coat with gold buttons, ruffles, sword, and high +boots with spurs</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The ensuing scene must be played with deadly seriousness, +without a trace of irony, satire, or humour. There is a +suggestion of a death-mask in the face of every figure. They +move noiselessly and make simple, awkward gestures that convey +the impression of a drill</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] Why do you disturb my peace at +this midnight hour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Always, brother, you are asking why. Have you not +seen the light yet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Only in part. I can perceive a connection between my suffering +and my guilt, but I cannot see why I should have to suffer eternally, +when He has suffered in my place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Eternally? You died only yesterday. But then time +ceased to exist to you, and so a few hours appear like an eternity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yesterday?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Yes.—But because you were proud and wanted no +assistance, you have now to bear your own sufferings.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What have I done, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. What a sublime question!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. But why don't you tell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. As our task is to torture each other by +truth-telling—were we not called "heroes of truth" in our lifetime?—I +shall tell you a part of your own secret. You were, and you are still, +a hunchback——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. There you see! You don't know what is known to +everybody else. But all those others pitied you, and so you never heard +the word that names your own deformity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What deformity is that? Perhaps you mean that I have a weak +chest? But that is no deformity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. A "weak chest"—yes, that is your own name for +the matter. However, people kept the disfigurement of your body hidden +from you, and they tried to assuage your misfortune by showing you +sympathy and kindness. But you accepted their generosity as an earned +tribute, their encouraging words as expressions of admiration due to +your superior physique. And at last you went so far in conceit that +you regarded yourself as a type of masculine beauty. And when, to cap +it all, woman granted you her favours out of pity, then you believed +yourself an irresistible conqueror.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What right have you to say such rude things to me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Right? I am filling the saddening duty which +forces one sinner to punish another. And soon you will have to fulfil +the same cruel duty toward a woman who is vain to the verge of +madness—a woman resembling you as closely as she possibly could.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I don't want to do it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Try to do anything but what you must, and you'll +experience an inner discord that you cannot explain.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What does it mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It means that you cannot all of a sudden cease to +be what you are: and you are what you have wanted to become. [<i>He claps +his hands</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>enters, her figure looking as aged and clumsy +as ever; but she has painted her face and her head is covered +by a powdered wig; she wears a very low-necked, rose-coloured +dress, red shoes, and a fan made out of peacock feathers</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>A little uncertain</i>] Where am I? Is this the right place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Quite right, for you are in the place we call +the "waiting-room." It is so called [<i>he sighs],</i> because here we have +to spend our time waiting—waiting for something that will come some +time——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, it isn't bad at all—and there is the music—and there +is a bust—of whom?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It's a pagan idol called Pan, because to the +ancients he was all they had. And as we, in this place, are of the old +order, more or less antiquated, he has been put here for us to look at.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Why, we are not old——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Yes, my Queen. When the new era opened [<i>he +sighs</i>], we couldn't keep up with it, and so we were left behind——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. The new era? What kind of talk is that? When did it begin?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. It is easy to figure out when the year one +began—It was night, for that matter; the stars were shining brightly, +and the weather must have been mild, as the shepherds remained in the +open——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, yes, yes—Are we not going to dance here to-night?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Of course, we are. The Prince is waiting for a +chance to ask you——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] IS he a real Prince?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. A real one, my Queen. That is to say, he has full +reality in a certain fashion——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>, <i>who is asking her to dance</i>] You don't +look happy, my Prince?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. I am not happy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Well, I can't say that I find it very hilarious—and the +place smells of putty, as if the glazier had just been at work here. +What is that strange smell, as of linseed-oil?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With an expression of horror</i>] What are you saying? Do you +mean that charnel-house smell?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I fear I must have said something impolite—but then, it +isn't for the ladies to offer pleasantries—that's what the cavalier +should do——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. What can I tell you that you don't know before?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. That I don't know before? Let me see—No, then I had better +tell you that you are very handsome, my Prince.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now you exaggerate, my Queen. I am not exactly handsome, but I +have always been held what they call "good-looking."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Just like me—I never was a beauty—that is, I <i>am</i> not, +considering my years—Oh, I am so stupid!—What was it I wanted to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Let the music begin!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The musicians appear to be playing, but not a sound is heard</i>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Well? Are you not going to dance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Sadly</i>] No, I don't care to dance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. But you must: you are the only presentable +gentleman.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's true, I suppose—[<i>pensively</i>] but is that a fit +occupation for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. How do you mean?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. At times it seems as if I had something else to think of, but +then—then I forget it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Don't brood—enjoy yourself while youth is with +you and the roses of life still bloom on your cheeks. Now! Up with the +head, and step lively——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>grins broadly; then he offers his hand to the</i> +<span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and together they perform a few steps of a minuet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Interrupting the dance</i>] Ugh! Your hands are cold as ice! +<i>goes to the throne</i>] Why are those seven ladies not dancing?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. How do you like the music, Queen?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. It's splendid, but they might play a little more <i>forte</i>——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. They are soloists, all of them, and formerly each +one of them wanted to make himself heard above the rest, and so they +have to use moderation now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But I asked why the seven sisters over there are not dancing. +Couldn't you, as master of ceremonies, make them do so?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. I don't think it would be of any use trying, for +they are obstinate as sin—But please assume your throne, my Queen. We +are going to perform a little play in honour of the occasion——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, what fun! But I want the prince to ... escort me——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>] Have I got to do it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You ought to be ashamed of yourself—you with your hunch!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Spits in her face</i>] Hold your tongue, you cursed old hag!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Cuffs him on the ear</i>] That'll teach you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Jumps at her and knocks her down</i>] And that's, for you!</p> + +<p><i>All the rest cover their faces with their hands</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Tears off the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>'S <i>wig so that her head appears +totally bald</i>] There's the false scalp! Now we'll pull out the teeth!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Enough! Enough!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He helps the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>to rise, and gives her a kerchief to +cover her head</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Crying</i>] Goodness gracious, that I could let myself be +fooled like that! But I haven't deserved any better, I admit.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, you have deserved a great deal worse. You should leave my +hunch alone, for otherwise hell breaks loose—It's a miserable thing to +see an old woman like you so foolish and so degraded. But, then, you +are to be pitied—as all of us are to be pitied.</p> + +<p>ALL. We are all to be pitied!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>With a sneer</i>] The queen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>In the same tone</i>] The prince!—But haven't we met before?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps—in our youth—for I am old, too. You had too much +frippery on before—but now, when the disguise has been taken away—I +begin to distinguish certain features——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Don't say anything more—don't say anything more—Oh, what +have I come to—what is happening to me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Now I know: you are my sister!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. But—my brother is dead! Have I been deceived? Or are the +dead coming back?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Everything comes back.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Am I dead or am I living?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. You may well ask that question, for I don't know the +difference. But you are exactly the same as when I parted from you +once: just as vain and just as thievish.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Do you think you are any better?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps! I am guilty of all the seven deadly sins, but you have +invented the eighth one—that of robbing the dead.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What are you thinking of now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Twelve years in succession I sent you money to buy a wreath for +mother's grave, and instead of buying it you kept the money.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. How do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How I came to know of it is the only thing that interests you +about that crime of yours.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Prove it!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Taking a number of bills from his pocket</i>] Here is the money!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>sinks to the ground. A church bell begins to +ring. All bend their heads, but nobody kneels</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. [<i>Enters, goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and assists her in +rising</i>] Do you know me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. I am Amelia's mother. You have taken the memory of me +away from her. You have erased me from her life. But now you are to be +wiped out, and I shall recover my child's love and the prayers my soul +needs.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, somebody has been telling tales to that hussy—then I'll +set her to herd the swine——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>strikes her on the mouth</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. Don't strike her!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Are you interceding for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LADY IN WHITE</span>. It is what I have been taught to do.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. You hypocrite! If you only dared, you would wish me buried as +deep as there are miles from here to the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER OF CEREMONIES</span>. Down with you—monster!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[As <i>he touches her with his staff she falls to the ground</i></p> + +<p><i>Again the scene is changed while the curtain remains up. The +bust of Pan sinks into the earth. The musicians and the throne +with its attendant sins disappear behind pieces of; scenery +that are lowered from above. At last the cross-roads with the +surrounding pine woods appear again, and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>is +discovered lying at the foot of a sign-post</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Get up!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I cannot—I am frozen stiff——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. The sun will rise in a moment. The cock has crowed. The matin +bells are ringing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. I don't care for the sun.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Then you'll have to walk in darkness.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, my eyes! What have you done to me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. I have only turned out the light because it troubled you. Now, +up and away with you—through cold and darkness—until you drop!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Where is my husband?—Amelia! Eric and Thyra! My children!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Yes, where are they? But wherever they may be, you shall not see +them until your pilgrimage is ended. Now, up and away! Or I will loose +my dogs!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>gropes her way out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><i>The court-room. In the background is the desk of the presiding judge, +decorated in white and gold with the emblems of justice. In front of +the desk, covering the centre of the floor, stands a big table, and on +it are placed writing-materials, inkstand, Bible, bell, and gavel</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The axe of the executioner hangs on the rear wall, with a pair of +handcuffs below it and a big black crucifix above</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>enters and makes his way into the room on tiptoe. +The bell rings. The gavel raps once on the table. All the +chairs are pulled up to the table at once. The Bible is opened. +The candles on the table become lighted</i>.</p> + +<p><i>For a moment the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>stands still, stricken with horror. +Then he resumes his advance toward a huge cabinet. Suddenly the +doors of this fly open. A number of documents are thrown out, +and the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>picks them up</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Reassured</i>] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts +of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease—my report as +executor—all of it! [<i>The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank</i>] Make +all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be +scared. [<i>He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close +the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts +it</i>] Everything has a cause: <i>ratio sufficiens</i>. This door must have +a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't +know it, but it cannot scare me. [<i>The axe moves on the wall</i>] The axe +moved—as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only +that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing +will give me pause but seeing my own ghost—for that would be beyond +the tricks of any charlatan.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">GHOST</span> <i>enters from behind the cabinet; the figure +resembles in every way the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>but where the eyes should +be appear two white surfaces, as on a plaster bust</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Frightened</i>] Who are you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. I am not—I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is +now come here to receive his sentence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What have you done then, poor man?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for +me, you whose conscience is clear——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Am I—to pray for you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as +I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let +myself be called a righteous judge—yes, without irony!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible +Ones are sitting in judgment——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. [<i>Pointing to the table</i>] You don't see them, but I do. [<i>The +bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table</i>] Pray for me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No, I won't. Justice must take its course. You must have been a +great offender to reach consciousness of your guilt so late.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. You are as stern as a good conscience.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. That's just the word for it. Stern, but just!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. No pity, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. None whatever.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. No mercy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. No mercy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The gavel raps on the table; the chairs are pushed away</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Now the verdict is being delivered. Can't you hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I hear nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. [<i>Pointing to the table</i>] And you see nothing? Don't you see the +beheaded sailor, the surveyor, the chimney-sweep, the lady in white, +the tenant——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I see absolutely nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. Woe unto you, then, when your eyes become opened as mine have +been. Now the verdict has been given: guilty!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Guilty!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GHOST</span>. You have said it—yourself! And you have already been sentenced. +All that remains now is the big auction.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain.</i></p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="ACT_V" id="ACT_V">ACT V</a></h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same room as in the second act, but it is now arranged for +the auction. Benches are placed in the middle of the room. On +the table behind which the auctioneer is to preside stand the +silver coffee-set, the clock, vases, candelabra, etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>The portraits of the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>have been +taken down and are leaning against the table</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span> <i>are on the stage</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Dressed as a scrub-woman</i>] Before my mother left, she ordered +me to clean the hallway and the stairs. It is winter now, and cold, and +I cannot say that it has been any pleasure to carry out her order——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So you didn't get any pleasure out of it? Well, my child, I +must say that you demand rather too much of yourself. But as you have +obeyed, and stood the test, your time of trial shall be over, and I +will let you know your life's secret.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Speak out, neighbour, for I dare hardly trust my good +resolutions much longer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, then! The woman you have been calling mother is your +stepmother. Your father married her when you were only one year old. +And the reason you have never seen your mother is that she died when +you were born.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. So that was it!—How strange to have had a mother and yet never +to have seen her! Tell me—did you ever see her?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I knew her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. How did she look?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Well, how <i>did</i>, she look?—Her eyes were blue as the +blossom of the flax—her hair was yellow as the dry stalks of wheat——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. And tall and slender—and her hand was small and white as if it +had touched nothing but silk in all her days—and her mouth was shaped +like a heart, and her lips looked as if none but good words had ever +passed them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. How can you know all that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Because that is the image which appears in my dreams when I +have not been good—And then she raises her hand as if to warn me, and +on one of her fingers there is a ring with a green stone that seems to +radiate light. It is she!—Tell me, neighbour, is there a picture of +her in the place?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. There used to be one, but I don't know whether it's still +here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. So this one is my stepmother? Well, God was good when he let me +keep my mother's image free from stain—and hereafter I shall find it +quite natural that this other woman is cruel to me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Cruel stepmothers exist to make children kind. And you were +not kind, Amelia, but you have become so, and for that reason I shall +now give you a Christmas present in advance.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He takes the portrait of the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>out of its frame, when +in its place appears a picture in water-colours corresponding +to the description given above</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Kneeling in front of the picture</i>] My mother—mother of my +dreams! [<i>Rising</i>] But how can I keep the picture when it is to be sold +at auction?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. You can, because the auction has already taken place.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Where and when was it held?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. It was held elsewhere—in a place not known to you—and +to-day the things are merely to be taken away.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. What a lot of queer things are happening! And how full of +secrets the house is!—But tell me, where is my stepmother? I have not +seen her in a long time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. I suppose it must be told: she is in a place from which +nobody returns.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Is she dead?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. She is dead. She was found frozen to death in a swamp into +which she had stumbled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Merciful God have pity on her soul!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. So he will in time, especially if you pray for her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Of course I will.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. How good you have become, my child—as a result of her +becoming so bad!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Don't say so now when she is dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Right you are! Let her rest in peace!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. But where is my father?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. That's a secret to all of us. But it is sweet of you to ask +for him before you ask for your own Adolph.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. Adolph—yes, where is he? The children are crying for him, and +Christmas is near.—Oh, what a Christmas this will be to us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. Leave to each day its own trouble—and now take your +Christmas present and go. The affairs connected with the auction are to +be settled, and then you'll hear news.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>. [<i>Takes the portrait of her mother</i>] I go, but no longer +alone—and I have a feeling that something good is about to happen, but +what I cannot tell.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She goes out to the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>. But I know! Yet you had better go, for what is about to +happen here should not be seen by children.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He opens the door in the rear and rings a bell to summon +the people to the auction. The people enter in the following +order</i>: <span class="small-c">THE POOR</span>, <i>a large number of them; the</i> <span class="small-c">SAILOR</span>; <i>the</i> +<span class="small-c">CHIMNEY-SWEEP</span>; <i>the</i> <span class="small-c">NEIGHBOUR</span>, who takes his place in front +of the rest; <i>the</i> <span class="small-c">WIDOW</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">FATHERLESS CHILDREN</span>; <i>the</i> +<span class="small-c">SURVEYOR</span>; <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>, <i>carrying the auctioneer's hammer and +a pile of documents</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Takes his place at the table and raps with the +hammer</i>] At a compulsory auction held at the court-house for the +disposal of property left by the late circuit judge, the items now to +be described were bid in by the Court on behalf of absent creditors, +and may now be obtained and taken away by their respective owners.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Enters, looking very aged and miserable</i>] In the name of the +law—hold!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Pretends to throw something at the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>, <i>who +stands aghast and speechless</i>] Don't speak of the law! Here the Gospel +is preached—but not for you, who wanted to buy heaven with stolen +money.—First: the widow and her fatherless children. There is the +silver set which the judge accepted from you for his false report +as executor. In his stained hands the silver has turned black, but +I hope that in yours it will once more turn white.—Then we come to +the ward, who had to become a chimney-sweep, after being cheated out +of his inheritance. Here are the receipted bills and the property +due to you from your guardian. And you need not thank him for his +accounting.—Here stands the surveyor who, although he was innocent, +had to serve two years in prison because he had made an illegal +partition—the maps handed to him for the purpose having been falsified +in advance. What can you do for him, Judge? Can you undo what has +happened, or restore his lost honour?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, that fellow—give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His +honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Slaps the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>on the mouth, while the rest spit at +him and mutter with clinched fists</i>] Here is the brother of the sailor +who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother +to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not +worth as much.—And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated +out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the +tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, +placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, +wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to +the property.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I appeal to a higher court!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. This case has passed through all the instances except +the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. +For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their +living would cry out: Guilty!—Thus we are done with all that could be +properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the +poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as +bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs—all in a perfectly legal way because +evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! +Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [<i>The</i> <span class="small-c">POOR</span> +<i>begin to plunder</i>] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. +This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for +board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [<i>Silence</i>] +No offer? [<i>Silence</i>] First, second, third time—no offer? [<i>To the</i> +<span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you +myself and send you to your well-earned punishment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Is there no atonement?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Yes, punishment atones.—Take him into the woods and +stone him in accordance with the law of Moses—for no other law was +ever known to him. Away with him! [<i>The people pounce on the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> +<i>and jostle him</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as +in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm +surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the +stage.)</i></p> + +<p><i>In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the +weighing of newcomers</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>are seated opposite each other +at a small table</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream</i>] +Hush!—I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me—and yet I +felt no pain—and then everything turned black and vacant until this +moment—How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell—Now I am beginning +to hear again—and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried—oh, +how cold it is—they are washing me, I think—I am lying in something +that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a +carpenter shop—I am being carried, and a bell is ringing—Wait! Now I +am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all +the time—Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning—boom, +boom, boom: three knocks on the roof—and then the lessons begin—the +teacher is leading—and now the boys are singing—What can it be?—And +then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly—boom, boom, +boom, boom, boom, boom—silence—it's over! [<i>He wakes up</i>] Where am I? +I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!—Oh, it's you!—Where are we? +Whose bust is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. They say it is the new god.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But he looks like a goat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Perhaps it is the god of the goats?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. "The goats on the left side—" What is that I am recalling?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">PRINCE</span>. It is the god Pan.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Pan?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Exactly! Just exactly! And when, in the night, the +shepherds—no, not <i>those</i> shepherds—catch sight of a hair of his hide +they are seized with panic——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Rising</i>] Woe! I don't want to stay here! Woe! Can't I get out +of here? I want to get out!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He runs around, looking vainly for a way out.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Enters dressed as a Franciscan friar</i>] You'll find +nothing but entrances—no exits!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are you Father Colomba?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No, I am The Other One.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. As a monk?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Don't you know that The Other One turns monk when he +grows old; and don't you think it is well that he does so some time? +But, seriously speaking—for here everything is serious—this is my +holiday attire, which I am permitted to wear only this one day of the +year in order that I may remember what I have had and what I have lost.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Alarmed</i>] What day of the year is it to-day?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Bending his head with a sigh</i>] It is Christmas Eve!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Approaching the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] Think of it, it is Christmas +Eve?—And you know I don't dare to ask where we are—I dare not—but +let us go home, home to our children, to our own—— [<i>He cries</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Yes, let us go from here, home to ourselves, that we may +start a new life in peace and harmony——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is too late!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, dear, sweet fellow—help us, have mercy on us, forgive us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It is too late!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Taking the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>by the hand</i>] I am choking with dread! +Don't ask him where we are; I don't want to know! But one thing I do +want to know: will there ever be an end to this?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Never!—That word "end" is not known to us here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Crushed</i>] No end! [<i>Looking around</i>] And does the sun never +enter this place of damp and cold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Never, for those who dwell here have not loved the sun!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. It is true: I have cursed the sun.—May I confess my sins?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. No, you must keep them to yourself until they begin to +swell and stop up your throat.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Kneeling</i>] O—I don't know how to pray!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She rises and walks restlessly back and forth, wringing her +hands</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Because for you there is no one to whom you might pray.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>In despair</i>] Children—send somebody to give me a word of +hope and pardon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. It will not be done. Your children have forgotten +you—they are now rejoicing at your absence.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A picture appears on the rocky wall in the rear: the home, +with</i> <span class="small-c">ADOLPH</span>, <span class="small-c">AMELIA</span>, <span class="small-c">ERIC</span>, <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">THYRA</span> <i>around the Christmas +tree; in the background, the</i> <span class="small-c">PLAYMATE</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You say they are seated at the Christmas table rejoicing at our +misfortune?—No, now you lie, for they are better than we!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. What new tune is that? I have always heard that you were +a righteous man——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I? I was a great sinner—the greatest one that ever was!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Hm! Hm!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. And if you say anything of the children you are guilty of a sin. +I know that they are praying for us.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>On her knees</i>] I can hear them tell their rosaries: hush—I +hear them!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You are completely mistaken. What you hear is the song +of the workmen who are tearing down the mausoleum.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The mausoleum! Where we were to have rested in peace!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Shaded by a dozen wreaths.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Who is that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Pointing to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>] She is my sister, and so you must +be my brother-in-law.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh—that lazy scamp!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Look here! In this place we are all lazy scamps.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But we are not all hunchbacks!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Strikes him a blow on the mouth</i>] Don't touch the hunch or +there will be hell to pay!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What a way to treat a man of my ability and high social +position! What a Christmas!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Perhaps you expected your usual creamed codfish and Christmas +cake?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Not exactly, but there ought to be something to feed on——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here we are keeping a Christmas fast, you see.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. How long will it last?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. How long? We don't measure time here, because it has ceased to +exist, and a minute may last a whole eternity.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. We suffer only what our deeds have deserved—so don't +complain——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Just try to complain, and you'll see what happens.—We are not +squeamish here, but bang away without regard for legal forms.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Are they beating carpets out there—on a day like this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, it is an extra ration of rod all around as a reminder for +those who may have forgotten the significance of the day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do they actually lay hands on our persons? Is it possible that +educated people can do things like that to each other?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. This is a place of education for the badly educated; and those +who have behaved like scoundrels are treated like such.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But this passes all limits!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, because here we are in the limitless! Now get ready! I +have already been out there and had my portion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Appalled</i>] What humiliation! That's to strip you of all human +worth!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Ha ha! Human worth! Ha ha!—Look at the scales over there. +That's where the human worth is—and invariably found wanting.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sits down at the table</i>] I could never have believed——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No, you could only believe in your caul and your own +righteousness. And yet you had both Moses and the Prophets and more +besides—for the very dead walked for your benefit.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. The children! The children! Is it not possible to send them a +word of greeting and of warning?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. No! Eternally, no!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">WITCH</span> <i>comes forward with a big basketful of +stereoscopes.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Christmas gifts for the righteous. Stereoscopes, you know. +[<i>Handing out one</i>] Help yourself. They don't cost anything.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. There's a kind soul at last. And a little attention to a man of +my age and rank does honour both to your tact and to your heart——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my +having given some thought to the others, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Disappointed</i>] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. [<i>Spitting in his face</i>] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What company I have got into!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, +you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look +in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to +the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims—just +have a look now. That's right!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on +his face</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">WITCH</span>. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She hands a stereoscope to the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>, <i>and proceeds +thereafter to give one to each person present</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sitting at the table, where now the</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>takes a seat +opposite him</i>] What do you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Everything is there; everything!—And do you notice that +everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and +even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance +of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my +memories had decayed, including the fairest among them——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You are right. There is not one memory that can bring light into +this darkness. When I look at her who was the first love of my youth, +I see nothing but a corpse. When I think of my sweet Amelia, there +appears—a harlot. The little ones make faces at me like gutter-snipes. +My court has become a pigsty; the vineyard, a rubbish-heap full of +thistles; and the mausoleum—Oh, horrors!—an outhouse! When I think of +the green woods, the leafage appears snuff-coloured and the trunks look +bleached as mast tops. The blue river seems to flow out of a dung-heap +and the blue arch above it looks like a smoky roof—Of the sun itself I +can recall nothing but the name; and what was called the moon—the lamp +that shed its light on bays and groves during the amorous nights of my +youth—I can remember only as—no, I cannot remember it at all. But +the words are left, although they have only sound without sense.—Love, +wine, song! Flowers, children, happiness!—Don't the words sound +pretty? And it is all that is left!—Love? What <i>was</i> it, anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. What was it?—Two cats on a back-yard fence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Sheepishly</i>] Yes, that's it! That's what it was! Three dogs on +a sidewalk. What a sweet recollection!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Pressing his hand</i>] Yes, it is sweet!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] My watch has stopped. I am so +hungry—and I am thirsty, too, and I long for a smoke. But I am also +tired and want to sleep. All my desires are waking. They claw at me and +hound me, but not one of them can I satisfy. We are lost! Lost, indeed!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. And I long for a cup of tea more than I can tell!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Hot green tea—that's just what I should like now—with a tiny +drop of rum in it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, not rum! I should prefer some cakes——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>Who has drawn near to listen</i>] Sugared, of course? I fear +you'll have to whistle for them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. Oh, this dreadful language hurts me more than anything, else.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's because you don't know yet how something else is going +to hurt you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. What is that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. No, don't! We don't want to know! Please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I am going to tell. It begins with——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Puts her fingers in her ears and cries out</i>] Mercy! Don't, +don't, don't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Yes, I will—and as my brother-in-law is curious, I'll tell it +to him. The second letter is——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. This uncertainty is worse than torture—Speak out, you devil, or +I'll kill you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Kill, ha ha! Everybody is immortal here, body and soul, what +little there is left. However, the third letter is—and that's all +you'll know!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>A small, lean man with grey clothes, grey face, black +lips, grey beard, and grey hands; he speaks in a very low voice</i>] May I +speak a word with you, madam?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Rising in evident alarm</i>] What is it about?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>Smiling a ghastly, malicious smile</i>] I'll tell—out +there.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span>. [<i>Crying</i>] No, no; I won't!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MAN IN GREY</span>. [<i>Laughing</i>]; It isn't dangerous. Come along! All I want +is to <i>speak</i> to you. Come now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go toward the background and disappear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>] A little Christmas entertainment is wholesome.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Do you mean to maltreat a woman?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. Here all injustices are abolished, and woman is treated as the +equal of man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. You devil!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. That's all right, but don't call me hunchback, for that touches +my last illusion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Steps up to the table</i>] Well, how do you like our +animal magnetism? It <i>can</i> work wonders on black-guards!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. I understand nothing of all this.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. That's just what is meant, and it is very nice of you to +admit that there are things you don't understand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Granting that I am now in the realm of the dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Say "hell," for that is what it's called.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>Stammering</i>] Th-then I should like to remind you that He who +once descended here to redeem all lost——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span>. [<i>At a sign from</i> <span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span> <i>he strikes the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>in the +face</i>] Don't argue!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. They won't even listen to me! It is beyond despair! No mercy, no +hope, no end!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Quite right! Here you find only justice and +retribution—especially justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth! Just as you wanted it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But among men there is pardon—and that you don't have here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Monarchs alone possess the right to pardon. And as a man +of law you ought to know that a petition for pardon must be submitted +before it can be granted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. For me there can be no pardon!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. [<i>Gives the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">PRINCE</span> <i>a sign to step aside</i>] You feel, +then, that your guilt is too great?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Then I'll speak kindly to you. There is an end, you see, +if there is a beginning. And you have made a beginning. But the sequel +will be long and hard.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. Oh, God is good!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You have said it!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. But—there is one thing that cannot be undone—there is one!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. You are thinking of the monstrance which should have +been of gold but was of silver? Well, don't you think that He who +changed water into wine may also change silver into gold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">JUDGE</span>. [<i>On his knees</i>] But my misdeed is too great, too great to be +forgiven.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE OTHER ONE</span>. Now you overestimate yourself again. But rise up. We +are about to celebrate Christmas in our own fashion.—The light of the +sun cannot reach here, as you know—nor that of the moon. But on this +night, and on this alone, a star rises so far above the rocks that it +is visible from here. It is the star that went before the shepherds +through the desert—and <i>that</i> was the morning star.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He claps his hands together</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The bust of Pan sinks into the ground. The</i> <span class="small-c">OLD LADY</span> <i>returns, +looking reassured and quietly happy. With a suggestion of firm +hope in mien and gesture, she goes up to the</i> <span class="small-c">JUDGE</span> <i>and takes +his hand. The stage becomes filled with shadows that are gazing +up at the rocks in the rear</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS I</span>. [<i>Two sopranos and an alto sing behind the stage, accompanied +only by string instruments and a harp</i>.]</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Puer natus est nobis;<br /> +Et filius datus est nobis,<br /> +Cujus imperium super humerum ejus;<br /> +Et vocabitur nomen ejus<br /> +Magni consilii Angelus.<br /> +</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS II</span>. [<i>Soprano, alto, tenor, basso</i>.]</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Cantate Domino canticum novum<br /> +Quia mirabilia fecit!<br /> +</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The star becomes visible above the rocks in the rear. All +kneel down. A part of the rock glides aside, revealing a +tableau: the crib with the child and the mother; the shepherds +adoring at the left, the three Magi at the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CHORUS III</span>. [<i>Two sopranos and two altos.]</i></p> + +<p style="margin-left: 40%;"> +Gloria in excelsis Deo<br /> +Et in terra pax<br /> +Hominibus bonæ voluntatis!<br /> +</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="THE_THUNDERSTORM" id="THE_THUNDERSTORM">THE THUNDERSTORM</a></h3> + +<h4>(OVÄDER)</h4> + +<h4>A CHAMBER PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1907</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + + +<p style="margin-left: 35%;"> +<span class="small-c">CHARACTERS</span><br /><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE MASTER</span>, <i>a retired government official</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE CONSUL</span>, <i>his brother</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">STARCK</span>, <i>a confectioner</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">AGNES</span>, <i>daughter of Starck</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>, <i>a relative of the Master</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>the Master's divorced wife</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">FISCHER</span>, <i>second husband of Gerda</i><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE ICEMAN</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LETTER-CARRIER</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LAMPLIGHTER</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">THE MILKMAID</span><br /> +<br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE I</span>—<span class="small-c">IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE II</span>—<span class="small-c">INSIDE THE HOUSE</span><br /> +<span class="small-c">SCENE III</span>—<span class="small-c">IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<h4>FIRST SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The front of a modern house with a basement of granite. The +upper parts are of brick covered with yellow plastering. The +window-frames and other ornaments are of sandstone. A low +archway leads through the basement to the court and serves also +as entrance to the confectioner's shop. The corner of the house +appears at the right of the stage, where the avenue opens into +a small square planted with roses and various other flowers. At +the corner is a mail-box. The main floor, above the basement, +has large windows, all of which are open. Four of these windows +belong to an elegantly furnished dining-room. The four middle +windows in the second story have red shades which are drawn; +the shades are illumined by light from within</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Along the front of the house runs a sidewalk with trees +planted at regular intervals. There is a lamp-post in the +extreme foreground and beside it stands a green bench</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>, <i>the confectioner, comes out with a chair and sits down +on the sidewalk</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is visible in the dining-room of the main floor, +seated at the table. Behind him appears an oven built of green +majolica tiles. On its mantelshelf stands a large photograph +between two candelabra and some vases containing flowers. A +young girl in a light dress is just serving the final course</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER'S</span> <i>brother, the</i> CONSUL, <i>appears in front of the +house, coming from the left, and knocks with his walking-stick +on the sill of one of the dining-room windows</i>.</p></blockquote> +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Will you soon be through?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I'll come in a moment.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Saluting the confectioner</i>] Good evening, Mr. Starck. It's +still hot——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Good evening, Consul. Yes, it's the dog-day heat, and we have +been making jam all day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is that so? It's a good year for fruit, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It might be worse. Well, the spring was cold, but the summer +turned out unbearably hot. It was hard on us who had to stay in the +city.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I got back from the country yesterday—one begins to wish +oneself back when the evenings grow dark.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Neither I nor my wife have been out of the city. Of course, +business is at a standstill, but you have to be on hand to make +ready for the winter. First come strawberries, then cherries, then +raspberries, and last gooseberries, cantaloupes and all the fall +fruits——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Tell me something, Mr. Starck. Is the house here to be sold?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Not that I have heard.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. There are a lot of people living here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Something like ten families, I think, counting those in the +rear also. But nobody knows anybody else. There is unusually little +gossiping in the house. It seems rather as if everybody were hiding. I +have lived here ten years, and during the first two years we had for +neighbours a strange family that kept very quiet in the daytime. But at +night they began to stir about, and then carriages would come and fetch +things away. Not until the end of the second year did I learn that +they had been running a private sanatorium, and that what was being +taken away at night were dead bodies.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Horrible!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. And they call it the Silent House.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Yes, there isn't much talking done here.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. More than one drama has been played here, nevertheless.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives up there on the second floor, +right above my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Up there, where the light comes through the red shades—a +tenant died there during the summer. Then the place stood empty for a +month, and a week ago a new family moved in. I haven't seen them. I +don't know their name. I don't think they ever go out. Why did you ask, +Consul?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Whew—I don't know! Those four red shades look like stage +curtains behind which some sanguinary tragedies are being rehearsed—or +I imagine so, at least. There is a palm at one of the windows looking +like a rod made of wire—you can see the shadow of it on the shade. If +only some people were to be seen——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I have seen plenty of them, but not until later—at night.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Was it men or women you saw?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Both, I guess—but now I must get back to my pots. [<i>He +disappears into the gateway</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Still inside, has risen from the table and lighted a cigar; +he is now standing at the open window, talking to his brother outside</i>] +I'll be ready in a moment. Louise is only going to sew a button on one +of my gloves.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Then you mean to go down-town?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Perhaps we'll take a turn in that direction—Whom were you +talking with?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Just the confectioner——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, yes—a very decent fellow—and, for that matter, my only +companion here during the summer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you really stayed at home every night—never gone out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Never! Those light evenings make me timid. They are pleasant in +the country, of course, but here in the city they produce the effect of +something unnatural—almost ghastly. But no sooner has the first street +lamp been lighted than I feel calm once more and can resume my evening +walks. In that way I can get tired and sleep better at night. [<span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> +<i>hands him the glove</i>] Thank you, my child. You can just as well leave +the windows open, as there are no mosquitoes. [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>] Now I'm +coming.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A few moments later he can be seen coming out of the house +on the side facing the square; he stops at the corner to drop +a letter in the mail-box; then he comes around the corner to +the front of the house and sits down on the bench beside his +brother</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But tell me: why do you stay in the city when you <i>could</i> be in +the country?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't know. I have lost my power of motion. My memory has +tied me for ever to these rooms. Only within them can I find peace and +protection. In there—yes! It is interesting to look at your own home +from the outside. Then I imagine that some other man is pacing back and +forth in there—Just think: for ten years I have been pacing back and +forth in there!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is it ten years now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, time goes quickly—once it is gone. But when it is still +going it seems slow enough.—That time the house was new. I watched +them putting down the hard-wood floor in the dining-room and painting +the doors; and <i>she</i> was permitted to pick out the wall-paper, which +is still there—Yes, that was then! The confectioner and I are the +oldest tenants in the place, and he, too, has had a few experiences of +his own—he is one of those people who never succeed but are always in +some kind of trouble. In a way, I have been living his life also, and +bearing his burdens besides my own.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Does he drink, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No-o—nothing of that kind, but there is no <i>go</i> to him. Well, +he and I know the history of this house: how they have arrived in +bridal coaches and left in hearses, while the mail-box at the corner +became the recipient of all their confidences.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. There was a death here in the middle of the summer, wasn't +there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, a case of typhoid—the man was manager of a bank—and then +the flat stood vacant for a month. The coffin came out first, then the +widow and the children, and last of all the furniture.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That was on the second floor?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, up there, where you see the light—where those new people +are, about whom I know nothing at all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Haven't you seen anything of them either?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I never ask any questions about the other tenants. What comes +to me unasked, I accept—but I never make any wrong use of it, and I +never interfere, for I am anxious for the peace of my old age.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Old age—yes! I think it's nice to grow old, for then there +isn't so much left to be recorded.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Indeed, it is nice. I am settling my accounts, both with life +and with people, and I have already begun to pack for the journey. +Of course, the solitude has its draw-backs, but when there is nobody +who can make any demands on you, then you have won your freedom—the +freedom to come and go, to think and act, to eat and sleep, in +accordance with your own choice.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment the shade in one of the windows on the second +floor is raised a little way, so that part of a woman's dress +becomes visible. Then it is quickly drawn again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. They are astir up there—did you see?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, there is such a lot of mystery about it—and at night it +is worse than ever. Sometimes there is music, but it's always bad; +and sometimes I think they are playing cards; and long after midnight +carriages drive up and take away people.—I never make a complaint +against other tenants, for then they want to get even, and nobody wants +to change his ways. The best thing is to remain oblivious of everything.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>A gentleman, dressed in a dinner coat but bareheaded, comes +out of the house and drops a big pile of letters into the +mail-box; then he disappears into the house again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That fellow must have a lot of correspondence.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It looked to me like circulars.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But who is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why, that's the new tenant up there on the second floor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, is that so! What do you think he looked like?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't know. Musician, conductor, a touch of musical +comedy, with a leaning to vaudeville—gambler—Adonis—a little of +everything——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Black hair should have gone with that pale complexion of +his, but his hair was brown—which means that it had been dyed, or +that he wears a wig. A tuxedo at home indicates an empty wardrobe, +and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters into the +box suggested shuffling and cutting and dealing—[<i>At this moment +waltz music becomes faintly audible from the second floor</i>] Always +waltzes—perhaps they have a dancing-school—but it's always the same +waltz—what's the name of it now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why, I think—that's "Pluie d'or"—I know it by heart.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you heard it in your own house?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, that one and the "Alcazar Waltz."</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible in the dining-room, where she is +putting things in order and wiping the glassware on the buffet</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Are you still pleased with Louise?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Very.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Isn't she going to marry?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Not that I know of.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is there no fiancé in sight?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why do you ask?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you had any thoughts of that kind?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I? No, thank you! When I married the last time I was not too +old, as we had a child in due time, but I have grown too old since +then, and now I want to spend my evening in peace—Do you think I want +another master in my own house, who would rob me of life and honour and +goods?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, nobody took your life or your goods——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you mean to say that my honour suffered any harm?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't you know?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What <i>do</i> you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. In leaving you, she killed your honour.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I have been a dead man for five years without knowing it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. You haven't known it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, but now I'll tell you in a few words what really happened. +When, at fifty, I married a girl much younger than myself—one whose +heart I had won and who gave me her hand fearlessly and willingly—then +I promised her that if ever my age should become a burden to her youth +I would go my own way and give her back her freedom. Since the child +had come in due time, and neither one of us wanted another, and since +our little girl had begun to grow apart from me, so that I had come to +feel superfluous, I did go my way—that is, I took a boat, as we were +living on an island—and that was the end of the whole story. I had +redeemed my promise and saved my honour—what more besides?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All right—but she thought it an attack on her own honour, +because she had meant to go away herself. And so she killed you by +tacit accusations which never reached your ears.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did she accuse herself also?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, she had no reason to do so.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then no harm has been done.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Do you know what has become of her and the child since then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't want to know! Having at last outlived the horrors of +longing, I came to regard the whole business as buried; and as none but +beautiful memories were left behind in our rooms, I remained where I +was. However, I thank you for that piece of valuable information!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Which one?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That she had no reason for self-accusation, for if she had it +would constitute an accusation against me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I think you are living under a serious misconception——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. If I am, leave me alone! A clear conscience—comparatively +clear, at least—has always been the diving-suit that has enabled me +to descend into the vast deeps without being suffocated. [<i>Rising</i>] +To think of it—that I got out of it with my life! And now it's all +over!—Suppose we take a turn down the avenue?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All right, then we can see them light the first street lamp of +the season.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But won't the moon be up to-night—the harvest-moon?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why, I think the moon is full just now——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Going to one of the windows and talking into the +dining-room</i>] Please hand me my stick, Louise. The light one—I just +want to hold it in my hand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Handing out a cane of bamboo</i>] Here it is, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Thank you, my girl. Now turn out the light in the dining-room +if you have nothing to do there. We'll be gone a little while—I cannot +tell just how long.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>and the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>go out to the left</i>. <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> +<i>remains standing by the open window</i>. <span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>comes out of the +gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Good evening, Miss Louise. It's awfully hot!—So your gentlemen +have disappeared?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. They have gone for a stroll down the avenue—the first time my +master has gone out this summer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. We old people love the twilight, which covers up so many +defects both in ourselves and others. Do you know, Miss Louise, my old +woman is getting blind, but she won't have an operation performed. She +says there is nothing to look at, and that sometimes she wishes she +were deaf, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Well, one does feel that way—at times.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Of course, you are leading a very quiet life in there, with +plenty of everything, and nothing to worry about. I have never heard a +loud voice or the slamming of a door—perhaps, even, it is a little too +quiet for a young lady like yourself?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Not at all! I love the quiet, and whatever is dignified, +graceful, measured—with nobody blurting out things, and all thinking +it a duty to overlook the less pleasant features of daily life.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. And you have never any company?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, only the consul comes here—and the like of the love +between those two brothers I have never seen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Who is the elder of the two?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. That's more than I can tell. Whether there is a year or two +between them, or they are twins, I don't know, for they treat each +other with mutual respect, as if each one of them was the elder brother.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>appears, trying to get past</i> <span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>without being seen +by him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Where are you going, girl?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Oh, I am just going out for a little walk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. That's right, but get back soon.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Do you think your master is still mourning the loss of his dear +ones?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He doesn't mourn—he doesn't even feel any regrets, for he +doesn't want them back—but he is always with them in his memory, where +he keeps only their beautiful traits.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. But doesn't the fate of his daughter trouble him at times?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Yes, he cannot help fearing that the mother may have married +again, and then, of course, everything depends on how the child's +stepfather turns out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I have been told that the wife refused alimony at first, but +that now, when five years have passed, she has sent him a lawyer with a +demand for many thousands——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>With reserve</i>] I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I believe, however, that she was never more beautiful than in +his memory——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span>. [<i>Enters, carrying a crateful of bottles</i>] +Excuse me, but does Mr. Fischer live here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Mr. Fischer? Not so far as I know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Perhaps Fischer is the name of that fellow on the second floor? +Around the corner—one flight up.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN</span>. [<i>Going toward the square</i>] One flight +up—thanks. [<i>He disappears around the corner</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Carrying up bottles again—that means another sleepless night.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What kind of people are they? Why don't they ever show +themselves?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I suppose they use the back-stairs, for I have never seen them. +But I do hear them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, I have also heard doors bang and corks pop—and the +popping of other things, too, I guess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. And they never open their windows, in spite of the heat—they +must be Southerners.—Why, that's lightning—a lot of it!—I guess +it's nothing but heat-lightning, for there has been no thunder.</p> + +<p>A <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">VOICE</span>. [<i>Is heard from the basement</i>] Starck, dear, won't you come +down and help me put in the sugar!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. All right, old lady, I'm coming! [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] We are making +jam, you know. [<i>As he goes</i>] I'm coming, I'm coming! [<i>He disappears +into the gateway again</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>remains standing at the window</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Enters slowly from the right</i>] Isn't my brother back yet?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He wanted to telephone, and I was to go ahead. Well, I suppose +he'll be here soon.—What's this? [<i>He stoops to pick up a post-card</i>] +What does it say?—"Boston club at midnight: Fischer."—Do you know who +Fischer is, Louise?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. There was a man with a lot of wine looking for Fischer a while +ago—up on the second floor.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. On the second floor—Fischer! Red shades that make the place +look like a drug-store window at night! I fear you have got bad company +in the house.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. What is a Boston club?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, there need be no harm in it at all—in this case I don't +know, however.—But how did the post-card—? Oh, it was <i>he</i> who +dropped it a while ago. Then I'll put it back in the box.—Fischer? +I have heard that name before. In connection with something I cannot +recall just now—May I ask a question, Miss Louise: does my brother +never speak of—the past?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Not to me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Miss Louise—one more question <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Excuse me, but here +comes the milk, and I have to receive it. [<i>She leaves the dining-room</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MILKMAID</span> <i>appears from the right and enters the house +from the square</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Comes out again, takes off his white linen cap, and puffs +with heat</i>] In and out, like a badger at its hole—it's perfectly +horrid down there by the ovens—and the evening doesn't make it any +cooler.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. All this lightning shows that we are going to have rain—Well, +the city isn't pleasant, exactly, but up here you have quiet at least: +never any rattling carriages, and still less any street-cars—it's just +like the country.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Of course, it's quiet, but it's too quiet for business. I +know my trade, but I am a poor salesman—have always been, and +can't learn—or it may be something else. Perhaps I haven't got the +proper manner. For when customers act as if I were a swindler I get +embarrassed at first, and then as mad as it is possible for me to +become. But nowadays I haven't the strength to get really mad. It has +been worn out of me—everything gets worn out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why don't you go to work for somebody else?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Who would want me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Have you ever tried?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What would be the use of it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh—well!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment +on the second floor</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are +they killing each other?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into +the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of +people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs—you +get mixed up in them yourself——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Do you know anything about them?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No, I don't know anything at all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now they're screaming again, this time in the stairway——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Withdrawing into the gateway and speaking in a low voice</i>] I +don't want to have anything to do with this.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>the divorced wife of the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>, <i>comes running from +the house into the square. She is bareheaded, with her hair +down, and very excited. The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>approaches her, and they +recognise each other. She draws back from him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. So it's you—my former sister-in-law?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes, it is I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. How did you get into this house, and why can't you let my +brother enjoy his peace?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Bewildered</i>] They didn't give us the right name of the tenant +below—I thought he had moved—I couldn't help it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't be afraid—you don't have to be afraid of me, Gerda! Can +I be of any help to you? What's happening up there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He was beating me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Is your little girl with you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. So she has got a stepfather?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Put up your hair and calm yourself. Then I'll try to straighten +this matter out. But spare my brother——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I suppose he hates me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, don't you see that he has been taking care of your flowers +in the bed over there? He brought the soil himself, in a basket, +don't you remember? Don't you recognise your blue gentians and the +mignonette, your <i>Malmaison</i> and <i>Merveille de Lyons</i> roses, which he +budded himself? Don't you understand that he has cherished the memory +of yourself and of the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Taking a walk along the avenue, but he will be here in a few +minutes with the evening papers. When he comes from that side he uses +the back door, and he goes straight into the dining-room to read the +papers. Stand still and he won't notice you.—But you must go back to +your own rooms——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I can't! I can't go back to that man.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Who is he, and what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He—has been a singer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Has been—and what is he now? An adventurer?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Keeps a gambling-house?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c"><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span></span>. And the child? Bait?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, don't say that!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It's horrible!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You are too harsh about the whole thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Of course, filth must be handled gently—so very gently! But +a just cause should be dragged in the dirt. Why did you defile his +honour, and why did you lure me into becoming your accomplice? I was +childish enough to trust your word, and I defended your unjust cause +against his.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You forget that he was too old.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. No, he wasn't <i>then</i>, as you had a child at once. When he +proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed +in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been +kept and old age began to weigh him down.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He deserted me, and that was an insult.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on +you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He should have let me leave him.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. One of us had to bear it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have +killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. +But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his +daughter is to be saved: what can we do then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. She is my child. She's mine by law, and my husband is her +father——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now <i>you</i> are too harsh about it! And you have grown cruel and +vulgar—Hush! Here he comes now.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>enters from the left with a newspaper in his +hand; he goes into the house pensively by the back door, while +the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>remain motionless, hidden behind the +corner of the house</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Then the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>come down the stage. A moment +later the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>becomes visible in the dining-room, where he +sits down to read the paper</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It was he!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Come over here and look at your home. See how he has kept +everything as it was—arranged to suit your taste.—Don't be afraid. +It's so dark out here that he can't see us. The light in the room +blinds him, you know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. How he has been lying to me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. In what respect?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He hasn't grown old! He had grown tired of me—that was the +whole thing! Look at his collar—and his tie—the very latest fashion! +I am sure he has a mistress!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Yes, you can see her photograph on the mantelshelf, between the +candelabra.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It is myself and the child! Does he still love me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Your memory only!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. That's strange!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>ceases to read and stares out through the window</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He is looking at us!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Don't move!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He is looking straight into my eyes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Be still! He doesn't see you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. He looks as if he were dead——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well, he has been killed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why do you talk like that?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>An unusually strong flash of heat-lightning illumines the +figures of the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>and</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>rises with an expression of horror on his face</i>. +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>takes refuge behind the corner of the house</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Carl Frederick! [<i>Coming to the window</i>] Are you alone? I +thought—Are you really alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As you see.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The air is so sultry, and the flowers give me a headache—I am +just going to finish the newspaper.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He resumes his former position.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now let us get at your affairs. Do you want me to go with you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Perhaps! But it will be a hard struggle.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But the child must be saved. And I am a lawyer.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Well, for the child's sake, then! Come with me!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go out together.</i></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Calling from within</i>] Carl Frederick, come in and have a game +of chess!—Carl Frederick!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h4>SECOND SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Inside the dining-room. The brick stove appears at the centre +of the rear wall. To the left of it there is a door leading +into the pantry. Another door to the right of it leads to the +hallway. At the left stands a buffet with a telephone on it. A +piano and a tall clock stand at the right. There are doors in +both side walls</i>.</p> + + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is in the room, and</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>enters as the +curtain rises</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Where did my brother go?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Alarmed</i>] He was outside a moment ago. He can't be very far +away.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What a dreadful noise they are making up above! It is as +if they were stepping on my head! Now they are pulling out bureau +drawers as if they were were preparing for a journey—running away, +perhaps.—If you only knew how to play chess, Louise!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I know a little——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, if you just know how to move the pieces, that will be +enough—Sit down, child. [<i>He sets up the chess pieces</i>] They are +carrying on up there so that they make the chandelier rattle—and the +confectioner is heating up down below. I think I'll have to move soon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have long thought that you ought to do so anyhow.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Anyhow?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It isn't good to stay too long among old memories.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why not? As time passes, all memories grow beautiful.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But you may live twenty years more, and that is too long a time +to live among memories which, after all, must fade and which may change +colour entirely some fine day.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How much you know, my child!—Begin now by moving a pawn—but +not the one in front of the queen, or you will be mate in two moves.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Then I start with the knight——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hardly less dangerous, girl!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But I think I'll start with the knight just the same.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. All right. Then I'll move my bishop's pawn.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>appears in the hallway, carrying a tray</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. There's Mr. Starck with the tea-cakes. He doesn't make any more +noise than a mouse.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>She rises and goes out into the hallway to receive the tray, +which she then carries into the pantry</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, Mr. Starck, how is the old lady?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Oh, thank you, her eyes are about as usual.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you seen anything of my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. He is walking back and forth outside, I think.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Has he got any company?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No-o—I don't think so.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It wasn't yesterday you had a look at these rooms, Mr. Starck.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I should say not—it's just ten years ago now——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. When you brought the wedding-cake.—Does the place look changed?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. It is just as it was—the palms have grown, of course—but the +rest is just as it was.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And will remain so until you bring the funeral cake. When you +have passed a certain age, nothing changes, nothing progresses—all the +movement is downward like that of a sleigh going down-hill.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, that's the way it is.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And it is peaceful, the way I have it here. No love, no +friends, only a little company to break up the solitude. Then human +beings are just human beings, without any claims on your feelings and +sympathies. Then you come loose like an old tooth, and drop out without +pain or regrets. Take Louise, for instance—a pretty young girl, the +sight of whom pleases me like a work of art that I don't wish to +possess—there is nothing to disturb our relationship. My brother and I +meet like two old gentlemen who never get too close to each other and +never exact any confidences. By taking up a neutral position toward +one's fellow-men, one attains a certain distance—and as a rule we look +better at a distance. In a word, I am pleased with my old age and its +quiet peace—[<i>Calling out</i>] Louise!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Appearing in the doorway at the left and speaking pleasantly +as always</i>] The laundry has come home, and I have to check it off. +[<i>She disappears again</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and chat a little—or +perhaps you play chess?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I can't stay away from my pots, and the oven has to be heated +up at eleven. It's very kind of you, however——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. If you catch sight of my brother, ask him to come in and keep +me company.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. So I will—so I will! [<i>He goes</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Alone; moves a couple of pieces on the chess-board; then gets +up and begins to walk about</i>] The peace of old age—yes! [<i>He sits down +at the piano and strikes a few chords; then he gets up and walks about +as before</i>] Louise! Can't you let the laundry wait a little?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>Appears again for a moment in the doorway at the left</i>] No, +I can't, because the wash-woman is in a hurry—she has husband and +children waiting for her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh! [<i>He sits down at the table and begins to drum with his +fingers on it; tries to read the newspaper, but tires of it; lights +matches only to blow them out again at once; looks repeatedly at the +big clock, until at last a noise is heard from the hallway</i>] Is that +you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAIL-CARRIER</span>. [<i>Appears in the doorway</i>] It's the mail. Excuse me +for walking right in, but the door was standing open.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is there a letter for me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE MAIL-CARRIER</span>. Only a post-card.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He hands it over and goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Reading the post-card</i>] Mr. Fischer again! Boston club! +That's the man up above—with the white hands and the tuxedo coat. And +to me! The impertinence of it! I have got to move!—Fischer!—[<i>He +tears up the card; again a noise is heard, in the hallway</i>] Is that +you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">THE ICEMAN</span>. [<i>Without coming into the room</i>] It's the ice!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, it's nice to get ice in this heat. But be careful about +those bottles in the box. And put one of the pieces on edge so that I +can hear the water drip from it as it melts—That's my water-clock that +measures out the hours—the long hours—Tell me, where do you get the +ice from nowadays?—Oh, he's gone!—Everybody goes away—goes home—to +hear their own voices and get some company-[<i>Pause</i>] Is that you, Carl +Frederick?</p> + +<p><i>Somebody in the apartment above plays Chopin's</i> Fantaisie Impromptu, +Opus 66, <i>on the piano</i>—<i>but only the first part of it</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Begins to listen, is aroused, looks up at the ceiling</i>] My +<i>Impromptu</i>?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He covers his eyes with one hand and listens</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>enters through the hallway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is that you, Carl Frederick?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The music stops</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It is I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Where have you been so long?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I had some business to clear up. Have you been alone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Of course! Come and play chess now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I prefer to talk. And you need also to hear your own voice a +little.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. True enough—only it is so easy to get to talking about the +past.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That makes us forget the present.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. There is no present. What's just passing is empty nothingness. +One has to look ahead or behind—and ahead is better, for there lies +hope!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Seating himself at the table</i>] Hope—of what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Of change.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well! Do you mean to say you have had enough of the peace of +old age?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Perhaps.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It's certain then. And if now you had the choice between +solitude and the past?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No ghosts, however!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. How about your memories?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. They don't walk. They are only poems wrought by me out of +certain realities. But if dead people walk, then you have ghosts.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Well, then—in your memory—who brings you the prettiest +mirage: the woman or the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Both! I cannot separate them, and that's why I never tried to +keep the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But do you think you did right? Did the possibility of a +stepfather never occur to you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I didn't think that far ahead at the time, but afterward, of +course, I have had—my thoughts—about—that very thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. A stepfather who abused—perhaps debased—your daughter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hush!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What is it you hear?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought I heard the "little steps"—those little steps that +came tripping down the corridor when she was looking for me.—It was +the child that was the best of all! To watch that fearless little +creature, whom nothing could frighten, who never suspected that life +might be deceptive, who had no secrets! I recall her first experience +of the malice that is in human beings. She caught sight of a pretty +child down in the park, and, though it was strange to her, she went +up to it with open arms to kiss it—and the pretty child rewarded her +friendliness by biting her in the cheek first and then making a face +at her. Then you should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte. She stood +as if turned to stone. And it wasn't pain that did it, but horror at +the sight of that yawning abyss which is called the human heart. I +have been confronted with the same sight myself once, when out of two +beautiful eyes suddenly shot strange glances as if some evil beast had +appeared behind those eyes. It scared me literally so that I had to see +if some other person were standing behind that face, which looked like +a mask.—But why do we sit here talking about such things? Is it the +heat, or the storm, or what?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Solitude brings heavy thoughts, and you ought to have company. +This summer in the city seems to have been rather hard on you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Only these last few weeks. The sickness and that death up +above—it was as if I had gone through it myself. The sorrows and +cares of the confectioner have also become my own, so that I keep +worrying about his finances, about his wife's eye trouble, about his +future—and of late I have been dreaming every night about my little +Anne-Charlotte. I see her surrounded by dangers—unknown, undiscovered, +nameless. And before I fall asleep my hearing grows so unbelievably +acute that I can hear her little steps—and once I heard her voice——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But where is she then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Don't ask me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And if you were to meet her on the street?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I imagine that I should lose my reason or fall in a faint. +Once, you know, I stayed abroad very long, during the very time when +our youngest sister was growing up. When I returned, after several +years, I was met at the steam-boat landing by a young girl who put +her arms around my neck. I was horrified at those eyes that searched +mine, but with unfamiliar glances—glances that expressed absolute +terror at not being recognised. "It is I," she repeated again and again +before at last I was able to recognise my own sister. And that's how I +imagine it would be for me to meet my daughter again. Five years are +enough to render you unrecognisable at that age. Think of it: not to +know your own child! That child, who is the same as before, and yet a +stranger! I couldn't survive such a thing. No, then I prefer to keep +the little girl of four years whom you see over there on the altar of +my home. I want no other one. [<i>Pause</i>] That must be Louise putting +things to rights in the linen closet. It has such a clean smell, and it +reminds me—oh, the housewife at her linen closet; the good fairy that +preserves and renews; the housewife with her iron, who smooths out all +that has been ruffled up and who takes out all wrinkles—the wrinkles, +yes—[<i>Pause</i>] Now—I'll—go in there to write a letter. If you'll +stay, I'll be out again soon.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out to the left</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>coughs</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Appears in the door to the hallway</i>] Are you—[<i>The clock +strikes</i>] Oh, mercy! That sound—which has remained in my ears for ten +years! That clock which never kept time and yet measured the long hours +and days and nights of five years. [<i>She looks around</i>] My piano—my +palms—the dinner-table—he has kept it in honour, shining as a +shield! My buffet—with the "Knight in Armour" and "Eve"—Eve with her +basketful of apples—In the right-hand upper drawer, way back, there +was a thermometer lying—[<i>Pause</i>] I wonder if it is still there? [<i>She +goes to the buffet and pulls out the right-hand drawer</i>] Yes, there it +is!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. What does that mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, in the end it became a symbol—of instability. When we went +to housekeeping the thermometer was not put in its place at once—of +course, it ought to be outside the window. I promised to put it up—and +forgot it. He promised, and forgot. Then we nagged each other about +it, and at last, to get away from it, I hid it in this drawer. I came +to hate it, and so did he. Do you know what was back of all that? +Neither one of us believed that our relationship would last, because we +unmasked at once and gave free vent to our antipathies. To begin with, +we lived on tiptoe, so to speak—always ready to fly off at a moment's +notice. That was what the thermometer stood for—and here it is still +lying! Always on the move, always changeable, like the weather. [<i>She +puts away the thermometer and goes over to the chess-board</i>] My chess +pieces! Which he bought to kill the time that hung heavy on our hands +while we were waiting for the little one to come. With whom does he +play now?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. With me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He is in his room writing a letter.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Pointing toward the left</i>] There.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Shocked</i>] And here he has been going for five years?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Ten years—five of them alone!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Of course, he loves solitude.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But I think he has had enough of it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Will he turn me out?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I didn't make that centrepiece——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. But it was he who should help me find it again——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the +purpose of his flight?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; +then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of +course.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As to the ballet—that's something the father <i>must not</i> know, +for he hates music-halls.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, +absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces</i>] Music-halls—oh, I have been +there myself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. You?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I have accompanied on the piano.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Poor Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why? I love that kind of life. And when I was a prisoner here, +it wasn't the keeper, but the prison itself, that made me fret.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But now you have had enough?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Now I am in love with peace and solitude—and with my child +above all.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Hush, he's coming!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Rises as if to run away, but sinks down on the chair again</i>] +Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Now I leave you. Don't think of what you are to say. It will +come of itself, like the "next move" in a game of chess.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I fear his first glance most of all, for it will tell me whether +I have changed for better or for worse—whether I have grown old and +ugly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Going out to the right</i>] If he finds you looking older, then +he will dare to approach you. If he finds you as young as ever, he will +have no hope, for he is more diffident than you think.—Now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>is seen outside, passing by the door leading +to the pantry; he carries a letter in his hand; then he +disappears, only to become visible again a moment later in the +hallway, where he opens the outside door and steps out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>In the doorway at the right</i>] He went out to the mail-box.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. No, this is too much for me! How can I possibly ask <i>him</i> to +help me with this divorce? I want to get out! It's too brazen!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Stay! You know that his kindness has no limits. And he'll help +you for the child's sake.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. No, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And he is the only one who can help you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Enters quickly from the hallway and nods at</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>whom, +because of his near-sightedness, he mistakes for</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>; <i>then he goes +to the buffet and picks up the telephone, but in passing he remarks to</i> +<span class="small-c">GERDA</span>] So you're done already? Well, get the pieces ready then, and +we'll begin all over again—from the beginning.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>stands paralysed, not understanding the situation</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Speaks in the telephone receiver, with his back to</i> <span class="small-c">Gerda</span>] +Hello!—Good evening! Is that you, mother?—Pretty well, thank you! +Louise is waiting to play a game of chess with me, but she is a +little tired after a lot of bother—It's all over now—everything +all right—nothing serious at all.—If it's hot? Well, there has +been a lot of thundering, right over our heads, but nobody has been +struck. False alarm!—What did you say? Fischer?—Yes, but I think +they are going to leave.—Why so? I know nothing in particular.—Oh, +is that so?—Yes, it leaves at six-fifteen, by the outside route, +and it gets there—let me see—at eight-twenty-five.—Did you have a +good time?—[<i>With a little laugh</i>] Oh, he's impossible when he gets +started! And what did Marie have to say about it?—How I have had it +during the summer? Oh, well, Louise and I have kept each other company, +and she has got such an even, pleasant temper.—Yes, she is very nice, +indeed!—Oh, no, nothing of that kind!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>who has begun to understand, rises with an expression +of consternation on her face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. My eyes? Oh, I am getting a little near-sighted. But I feel +like the confectioner's old wife: there is nothing to look at. Wish I +were deaf, too! Deaf and blind! The neighbours above make such a lot of +noise at night—it's a gambling club—There now! Somebody got on the +wire to listen. [<i>He rings again</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>appears in the door to the hallway without being seen +by the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>; <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>stares at her with mingled admiration +and hatred</i>; <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>withdraws toward the right</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>At the telephone</i>] Is that you? The cheek of it—to +break off our talk in order to listen!—To-morrow, then, at +six-fifteen.—Thank you, and the same to you!—Yes, I will, +indeed!—Good night, mother! [<i>He rings off</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>has disappeared</i>. <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>is standing in the middle of +the floor</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Turns around and catches sight of</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span>, <i>whom he gradually +recognises; then he puts his hand to his heart</i>] O Lord, was that you? +Wasn't Louise here a moment ago?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>remains silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Feebly</i>] How—how did you get here?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I hope you pardon—I just got to the city—I was passing by and +felt a longing to have a look at my old home—the windows were open——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you find things as they used to be?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Exactly, and yet different—there is a difference</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Feeling unhappy</i>] Are you satisfied—with your life?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes. I have what I was looking for.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Oh, she's growing, and thriving, and lacks nothing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I won't ask anything more. [<i>Pause</i>] Did you want +anything—of me—can I be of any service?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It's very kind of you, but—I need nothing at all now when I +have seen that you lack nothing either. [<i>Pause]</i> Do you wish to see +Anne-Charlotte?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't think so, now when I have heard that she is doing well. +It's so hard to begin over again. It's like having to repeat a lesson +at school—which you know already, although the teacher doesn't think +so—I have got so far away from all that—I live in a wholly different +region—and I cannot connect with the past. It goes against me to be +impolite, but I am not asking you to be seated—you are another man's +wife—and you are not the same person as the one from whom I parted.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Am I then so—altered?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quite strange to me! Your voice, glance, manner——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Have I grown old?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That I cannot tell!—They say that not a single atom in a +person's body remains wholly the same after three years—and in five +years everything is renewed. And for that reason you, who stand over +there, are not the same person as the sufferer who once sat here—you +seem such a complete stranger to me that I can only address you in the +most formal way. And I suppose it would be just the same in the case of +my daughter, too.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Don't speak like that. I would much rather have you angry.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why should I be angry?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Because of all the evil I have done you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you? That's more than I know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Didn't you read the papers in the suit?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No-o! I left that to my lawyer. [<i>He sits down</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. And the decision of the court?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, why should I? As I don't mean to marry again, I have no use +for that kind of documents.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Pause</i>. <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>seats herself</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did those papers say? That I was too old?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA'S</span> <i>silence indicates assent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, that was nothing but the truth, so that need not trouble +you. In my answer I said the very same thing and asked the Court to set +you free again.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You said, that——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I said, not that I <i>was</i>, but that I was about to <i>become</i> too +old <i>for you</i>!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Offended</i>] For me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes.—I couldn't say that I was too old when we married, for +then the arrival of the child would have been unpleasantly explained, +and it was <i>our</i> child, was it not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You know that, of course! But——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you think I should be ashamed of my age?—Of course, if +I took to dancing and playing cards at night, then I might soon land +in an invalid's chair, or on the operating-table, and that would be a +shame.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You don't look it——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did you expect the divorce to kill me?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The silence of</i> <span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>is ambiguous</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. There are those who assert that you <i>have</i> killed me. Do you +think I look like a dead man?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>appears embarrassed</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Some of your friends are said to have caricatured me in the +papers, but I have never seen anything of it, and those papers went +into the dump five years ago. So there is no need for your conscience +to be troubled on my behalf.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why did you marry me?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Don't you know why a man marries? And you know, too, that I +didn't have to go begging for love. And you ought to remember how +we laughed together at all the wiseacres who felt compelled to warn +you.—But why you led me on is something I have never been able to +explain—When you didn't look at me after the marriage ceremony, but +acted as if you had been attending somebody else's wedding, then I +thought you had made a bet that you could kill me. As the head of the +department, I was, of course, hated by all my subordinates, but they +became your friends at once. No sooner did I make an enemy than he +became <i>your</i> friend. Which caused me to remark that, while it was +right for you not to hate your enemies, it was also right that you +shouldn't <i>love</i> mine!—However, seeing where you stood, I began to +prepare for a retreat at once, but before leaving I wanted a living +proof that you had not been telling the truth, and so I stayed until +the little one arrived.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To think that you could be so disingenuous!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I learned to keep silent, but I never lied!—By degrees you +turned all my friends into detectives, and you lured my own brother +into betraying me. But worst of all was that your thoughtless chatter +threw suspicions on the legitimacy of the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. All that I took back!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The word that's on the wing cannot be pulled back again. And +worse still: those false rumours reached the child, and now she thinks +her mother a——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. For Heaven's sake!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, that's the truth of it. You raised a tall tower on a +foundation of lies, and now the tower of lies is tumbling down on your +head.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. It isn't true!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, it is! I met Anne-Charlotte a few minutes ago——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You have met——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. We met on the stairs, and she said I was her uncle. Do you +know what an uncle is? That's an elderly friend of the house and the +mother. And I know that at school I am also passing as her uncle.—But +all that is dreadful for the child!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. You have met——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes. But why should I tell anybody about it? Haven't I a right +to keep silent? And, besides, that meeting was so shocking to me that I +wiped it out of my memory as if it had never existed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. What can I do to rehabilitate you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. You? What could you do? That's something I can only do myself. +[<i>For a long time they gaze intently at each other</i>] And for that +matter, I have already got my rehabilitation. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Can't I make good in some way? Can't I ask you to forgive, to +forget——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What do you mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. To restore, to repair——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you mean to resume, to start over again, to reinstate a +master above me? No, thanks! I don't want you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. And this I had to hear!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, how does it taste? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. That's a pretty centrepiece.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, it's pretty.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Where did you get it? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>appears in the door to the pantry with a bill in her +hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Turning toward her</i>] Is it a bill?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span> <i>rises and begins to pull on her gloves with such violence that +buttons are scattered right and left</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Taking out the money</i>] Eighteen-seventy-two. That's just +right.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I should like to see you a moment, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Rises and goes to the door, where</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>whispers something +into his ear</i>] Oh, mercy——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am sorry for you, Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. What do you mean? That I am jealous of your servant-girl?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, I didn't mean that.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Yes, you meant that you were too old for me, but not for her. +I catch the insulting point—She's pretty—I don't deny it—for a +servant-girl——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am sorry for you, Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Why do you say that?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Because you are to be pitied. Jealous of my servant—that ought +to be rehabilitation enough.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Jealous, I——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Why do you fly in a rage at my nice, gentle kinswoman?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. "A little more than kin."</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, my dear, I have long ago resigned myself—and I am +satisfied with my solitude—[<i>The telephone rings, and he goes to +answer it</i>] Mr. Fischer? No, that isn't here.—Oh, yes, that's me.—Has +he skipped?—With whom, do you say?—with Starck's daughter! Oh, good +Lord! How old is she?—Eighteen! A mere child! [<i>Rings off</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. I knew he had run away.—But with a woman!—Now you're pleased.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, I am not pleased. Although there is a sort of solace to my +mind in finding justice exists in this world. Life is very quick in its +movements, and now you find yourself where I was.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine—I am old—too old for +him!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Everything is relative, even age.—But now let us get at +something else. Where is your child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. My child? I had forgotten it! My child! My God! Help me! He +has taken the child with him. He loves Anne-Charlotte as his own +daughter—Come with me to the police—come!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I? Now you ask too much.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. Help me!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Goes to the door at the right</i>] Come, Carl Frederick—get a +cab—take Gerda down to the police station—won't you?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] Of course I will! We are human, are we not?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quick! But say nothing to Starck. Matters may be straightened +out yet—Poor fellow—and I am sorry for Gerda, too!—Hurry up now!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">GERDA</span>. [<i>Looking out through the window</i>] It's beginning to rain—lend +me an umbrella. Eighteen years—only eighteen—quick, now!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>She goes out with the</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Alone</i>] The peace of old age!—And my child in the hands of +an adventurer!—Louise!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Come and play chess with me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Has the consul——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. He has gone out on some business. Is it still raining?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, it has stopped now.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I'll go out and cool off a little. [<i>Pause</i>] You are a +nice girl, and sensible—did you know the confectioner's daughter?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Very slightly.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Is she pretty?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Ye-es.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Have you known the people above us?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have never seen them.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. That's an evasion.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I have learned to keep silent in this house.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am forced to admit that pretended deafness can be carried to +the point where it becomes dangerous.—Well, get the tea ready while I +go outside and cool off a little. And, one thing, please—you see what +is happening, of course—but don't ask me any questions.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. I? No, sir, I am not at all curious.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I am thankful for that!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3>THIRD SCENE</h3> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The front of the house as in the First Scene. There is light +in the confectioner's place in the basement. The gas is also +lit on the second floor, where now the shades are raised and +the windows open</i>.</p> + + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span> <i>is sitting near the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Seated on the green bench</i>] That was a nice little shower we +had.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Quite a blessing! Now the raspberries will be coming in +again——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I'll ask you to put aside a few jars for us. We have grown +tired of making the jam ourselves. It only gets spoiled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, I know. Jars of jam are like mischievous children: you +have to watch them all the time. There are people who put in salicylic +acid, but those are newfangled tricks in which I take no stock.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Salicylic acid—yes, they say it's antiseptic—and perhaps it's +a good thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Yes, but you can taste it—and it's a trick.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Tell me, Mr. Starck, have you got a telephone?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. No, I have no telephone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Why do you ask?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh, I happened to think—a telephone is handy at times—for +orders—and important communications——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. That may be. But sometimes it is just as well to +escape—communications.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Quite right! Quite right!—Yes, my heart always beats a little +faster when I hear it ring—one never knows what one is going to +hear—and I want peace—peace, above all else.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. So do I.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Looking at his watch</i>] The lamplighter ought to be here soon.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. He must have forgotten us, for I see that the lamps are already +lit further down the avenue.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then he'll be here soon. It will be a lot of fun to see our +lamp lighted again.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The telephone in the dining-room rings</i>. <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>comes in to +answer the call. The</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span> <i>rises and puts one hand up to his +heart. He tries to listen, but the public cannot hear anything +of what is said within. Pause. After a while</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>comes out +by way of the square</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Anxiously</i>] What news?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No change.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Was that my brother?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. No, it was the lady.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did she want?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. To speak to you, sir.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I don't want to!—Have I to console my executioner? I used to +do it, but now I am tired of it.—Look up there! They have forgotten +to turn out the light—and light makes empty rooms more dreadful than +darkness—the ghosts become visible. [<i>In a lowered voice</i>] And how +about Starck's Agnes? Do you think he knows anything?</p> + + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It's hard to tell, for he never speaks about his sorrows—nor +does anybody else in the Silent House!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do you think he should be told?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. For Heaven's sake, no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But I fear it isn't the first time she gave him trouble.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He never speaks of her.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It's horrible! I wonder if we'll get to the end of it soon? +[<i>The telephone rings again</i>] Now it's ringing again. Don't answer. I +don't want to hear anything.—My child—in such company! An adventurer +and a strumpet!—It's beyond limit!—Poor Gerda!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It's better to have certainty. I'll go in—You must do +something!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I cannot move—I can receive blows, but to strike back—no!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But if you don't repel a danger, it will press closer; and if +you don't resist, you'll be destroyed.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But if you refuse to be drawn in, you become unassailable.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Unassailable?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Things straighten out much better if you don't mess them up +still further by interference. How can you want me to direct matters +where so many passions are at play? Do you think I can suppress +anybody's emotions, or give them a new turn?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But how about the child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I have surrendered my rights—and besides—frankly speaking—I +don't care for them—not at all now, when <i>she</i> has been here and +spoiled the images harboured in my memory. She has wiped out all the +beauty that I had cherished, and now there is nothing left.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But that's to be set free!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Look, how empty the place seems in there—as if everybody had +moved out; and up there—as if there had been a fire.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Who is coming there?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>enters, excited and frightened, but trying hard +to control herself; she makes for the gateway, where the +confectioner is seated on his chair</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> [<i>To the</i> <span class="small-c">MASTER</span>] There is Agnes? What can this mean?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Agnes? Then things are getting straightened out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>With perfect calm</i>] Good evening, girl! Where have you been?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. I have been for a walk.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Your mother has asked for you several times.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Is that so? Well, here I am.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Please go down and help her start a fire under the little oven.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Is she angry with me, then?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. You know that she cannot be angry with you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span>. Oh, yes, but she doesn't say anything.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Well, girl, isn't it better to escape being scolded?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">AGNES</span> <i>disappears into the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Does he know, or doesn't he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Let's hope that he will remain in ignorance.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. But what can have happened? A breach? [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">STARCK</span>] Say, Mr. +Starck——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought—Did you notice if anybody left the house a while ago?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. I saw the iceman, and also a mail-carrier, I think.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Oh! [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Perhaps it was a mistake—that we didn't hear +right—I can't explain it—Or maybe he is not telling the truth? What +did she say when she telephoned?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. That she wanted to speak to you.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How did it sound? Was she excited?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I think it's rather shameless of her to appeal to me in a +matter like this.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. But the child!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Just think, I met my daughter on the stairway, and when I asked +her if she recognised me she called me uncle and told me that her +father was up-stairs. Of course, he is her stepfather, and has all the +rights—They have just spent their time exterminating me, blackguarding +me——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. A cab is stopping at the corner.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>Starck <i>withdraws into the gateway</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I only hope they don't come back to burden me again! Just +think: to have to hear my child singing the praise of her father—the +other one! And then to begin the old story all over again: "Why did you +marry me?"—"Oh, you know; but what made you want me?"—"You know very +well!"—And so on, until the end of the world.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. It was the consul that came.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How does he look?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. He is taking his time.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Practising what he is to say, I suppose. Does he look satisfied?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Thoughtful, rather——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Hm!—That's the way it always was. Whenever he saw that woman +he became disloyal to me. She had the power of charming everybody but +me. To me she seemed coarse, vulgar, ugly, stupid; to all the rest she +seemed refined, pleasant, handsome, intelligent. All the hatred aroused +by my independence centred in her under the form of a boundless +sympathy for whoever wronged me in any way. Through her they strove to +control and influence me, to wound me, and, at last, to kill me.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. Now, I'll go in and watch the telephone—I suppose this storm +will pass like all others.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Men cannot bear independence. They want you to obey them. Every +one of my subordinates in the department, down to the very messengers, +wanted me to obey him. And when I wouldn't they called me a despot. The +servants in our house wanted me to obey them and eat food that had been +warmed up. When I wouldn't, they set my wife against me. And finally +my wife wanted me to obey the child, but then I left, and then all of +them combined against the tyrant—which was I!—Get in there quick now, +Louise, so we can set off our mines out here.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> <i>enters from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Results—not details—please!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Let's sit down. I am a little tired.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I think it has rained on the bench.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. It can't be too wet for me if you have been sitting on it.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. As you like!—Where is my child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Can I begin at the beginning?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Begin!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span> [<i>Speaking slowly</i>] I got to the depot with Gerda—and at the +ticket-office I discovered him and Agnes——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. So Agnes was with him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And so was the child!—Gerda stayed outside, and I went up to +them. At that moment <i>he</i> was handing Agnes the tickets, but when she +discovered that they were for third class she threw them in his face +and walked out to the cab-stand.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Ugh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. As soon as I had established a connection with the man, Gerda +hurried up and got hold of the child, disappearing with it in the +crowd——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What did the man have to say?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, you know—when you come to hear the other side—and so on.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I want to hear it. Of course, he isn't as bad as we thought—he +has his good sides——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Exactly!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I thought so! But you don't want me to sit here listening to +eulogies of my enemy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Oh, not eulogies, but ameliorating circumstances——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Did you ever want to listen to me when I tried to explain the +true state of affairs to you? Yes, you did listen—but your reply was +a disapproving silence, as if I had been lying to you. You have always +sided with what was wrong, and you have believed nothing but lies, and +the reason was—that you were in love with Gerda! But there was also +another reason——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Brother, don't say anything more! You see nothing but your own +side of things.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. How can you expect me to view my conditions from the standpoint +of my enemy? I cannot take sides against myself, can I?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I am not your enemy.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yes, when you make friends with one who has wronged me!—Where +is my child?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I don't know.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. What was the outcome at the depot?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He took a south-bound train alone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. And the others?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Disappeared.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Then I may have them after me again. [<i>Pause]</i> Did you see if +they went with him?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. He went alone.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Well, then we are done with that one, at least. Number +two—there remain now—the mother and the child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Why is the light burning up there in their rooms?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Because they forgot to turn it out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. I'll go up——</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. No, don't go!—I only hope that they don't come back here!—To +repeat, always repeat, begin the same lesson all over again!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. But it has begun to straighten out.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Yet the worst remains—Do you think they will come back?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. Not she—not since she had to make you amends in the presence +of Louise.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. I had forgotten that! She really did me the honour of becoming +jealous! I do think there is justice in this world!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. And then she learned that Agnes was younger than herself.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Poor Gerda! But in a case like this you mustn't tell people +that justice exists—an avenging justice—for it is sheer falsehood +that they love justice! And you must deal gently with their filth. And +Nemesis—exists only for the other person.—There it's ringing again? +That telephone makes a noise like a rattlesnake!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible at the telephone inside. Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Did the snake bite?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. [<i>At the window</i>] May I speak to you, sir?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>Going up to the window</i>] Speak out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. The lady has gone to her mother, in the country, to live there +with her little girl.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To his brother</i>] Mother and child in the country—in a good +home! Now it's straightened out!—Oh!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>. And she asked us to turn out the light up-stairs.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Do that at once, Louise, and pull down the shades so we don't +have to look at it any longer.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>leaves the dining-room</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. [<i>Coming out on the sidewalk again and looking up]</i> I think the +storm has passed over.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. It seems really to have cleared up, and that means we'll have +moonlight.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">CONSUL</span>. That was a blessed rain!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">STARCK</span>. Perfectly splendid!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. Look, there's the lamplighter coming at last!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span class="small-c"><span class="small-c">LAMPLIGHTER</span></span> <i>enters, lights the street lamp beside the +bench, and passes on</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. The first lamp! Now the fall is here! That's our season, old +chaps! It's getting dark, but then comes reason to light us with its +bull's-eyes, so that we don't go astray.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">LOUISE</span> <i>becomes visible at one of the windows on the second +floor; immediately afterward everything is dark up there</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">MASTER</span>. [<i>To</i> <span class="small-c">LOUISE</span>] Close the windows and pull down the shades so +that all memories can lie down and sleep in peace! The peace of old +age! And this fall I move away from the Silent House.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap" /> +<h3><a name="AFTER_THE_FIRE" id="AFTER_THE_FIRE">AFTER THE FIRE</a></h3> + +<h4>(BRÄNDA TOMTEN)</h4> + +<h4>A CHAMBER PLAY</h4> + +<h5>1907</h5> +<hr class="r5" /> + +<p style="margin-left: 30%;"> +CHARACTERS<br /><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM</span>, <i>a dyer</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE STRANGER</span>, <i>who is brother of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ARVID WALSTRÖM</span> <i>brother of</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>a mason (brother-in-law of the gardener)</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. ANDERSON</span>, <i>wife of the mason</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>, <i>a gardener (brother-in-law of the mason)</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>, <i>son of the gardener</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALBERT ERICSON</span>, <i>a stone-cutter</i> (<i>second cousin of the hearse-driver</i>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>, <i>daughter of the stone-cutter</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE HEARSE-DRIVER</span> (<i>second cousin of the stone-cutter</i>)<br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">A DETECTIVE</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>a painter</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>, <i>hostess at "The Last Nail," formerly a</i><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><i>nurse at the dyer's</i></span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>, <i>wife of the dyer</i><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE STUDENT</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">THE WITNESS</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<h4>FIRST SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell +of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains +on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which +is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed +outside.</i></p> + +<p><i>At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture +and household utensils that have been saved from the fire</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>the painter, is painting the window-frames of the +inn. He listens closely to everything that is said</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>the mason, is digging in the ruins</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is the fire entirely out?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There isn't any smoke, at least.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [<i>Pause</i>] You were +born in this quarter, were you not?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this +street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father +helped to put in the brick.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Then you know everybody around here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. We all know each other. There is something particular about +this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. +That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or +later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is +way out there at the end of the street.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. You have got a special name for this quarter, haven't you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. We call it the Bog. And all of us hate each other, and +suspect each other, and blackguard each other, and torment each other +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The fire started at half past ten in the evening, I +hear—was the front door locked at that time?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know, for I live in the house next +to this.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Where did the fire start?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Up in the attic, where the student was living.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Was he at home?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, he was at the theatre.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Had he gone away and left the lamp burning, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is the student any relation to the owner of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, I don't think so.—Say, you haven't got anything to do +with the police, have you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. How did it happen that the inn didn't catch fire?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. They slung a tarpaulin over it and turned on the hose.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Queer that the apple-trees were not destroyed by the heat.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. They had just budded, and it had been raining during the day, +but the heat made the buds go into bloom in the middle of the night—a +little too early, I guess, for there is frost coming, and then the +gardener will catch it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. What kind of fellow is the gardener?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. His name is Gustafson——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Yes, but what sort of a man is he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. See here: I am seventy-five—and for that reason I don't know +anything bad about Gustafson; and if I knew I wouldn't be telling it! +[<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. And the owner of the house is named Walström, a dyer, about +sixty years old, married——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Why don't you go on yourself? You can't pump me any longer.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Is it thought that the fire was started on purpose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's what people think of all fires.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. And whom do they suspect?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. The insurance company always suspects anybody who has an +interest in the fire—and for that reason I have never had anything +insured.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Did you find anything while you were digging?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Mostly one finds all the door-keys, because people haven't +got time to take them along when the house is on fire—except now and +then, of course, when they have been taken away——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. There was no electric light in the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not in an old house like this, and that's a good thing, for +then they can't put the blame on crossed wires.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Put the blame?—A good thing?—Listen——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, you're going to get me in a trap? Don't you do it, for +then I take it all back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Take back? You can't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Can't I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. No!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes! For there was no witness present.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. No?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>coughs. The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">WITNESS</span> <i>comes in from the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Here's <i>one</i> witness.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. You're a sly one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Oh, there are people who know how to use their brains +without being seventy-five. [<i>To the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">WITNESS</span>] Now we'll continue with +the gardener.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>They go out to the left</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There I put my foot in it, I guess. But that's what happens +when you get to talking.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span> <i>enters with her husband's lunch in a bundle</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. It's good you came.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Now we'll have lunch and be good—you might well +be hungry after all this fuss—I wonder if Gustafson can pull +through—he'd just got done with his hotbeds and was about to start +digging in the open—why don't you eat?—and there's Sjöblom already at +work with his putty—just think of it, that Mrs. Westerlund got off as +well as she did—morning, Sjöblom, now you've got work, haven't you?</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>comes in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Morning, morning, Mrs. Westerlund—you got out of this +fine, I must say, and then——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. I wonder who's going to pay me for all I am losing +to-day, when there's a big funeral on at the cemetery, which always +makes it a good day for me, and just when I've had to put away all my +bottles and glassware——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Who's that they're burying to-day? I see such a lot of +people going out that way—and then, of course, they've come to see +where the fire was, too.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. I don't think they're burying anybody, but I've heard +they're going to put up a monument over the bishop—worst of it is that +the stone-cutter's daughter was going to get married to the gardener's +son—him, you know, who's in a store down-town—and now the gardener +has lost all he had—isn't that his furniture standing over there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I guess that's some of the dyer's, too, seeing as it +came out helter-skelter in a jiffy—and where's the dyer now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. He's down at the police station testifying.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Hm-hm!—Yes, yes!—And there's my cousin now—him what +drives the hearse—he's always thirsty on his way back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. [<i>Enters</i>] How do, Malvina! So you've gone and started a +little job of arson out here during the night, have you? Looks pretty, +doesn't it. Would have been better to get a new shanty instead, I guess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Oh, mercy me! But whom have you been taking out now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Can't remember what his name was—only <i>one</i> carriage +along, and no flowers on the coffin at all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Sure and it wasn't any happy funeral, then! If you +want anything to drink you'll have to go 'round to the kitchen, for +I haven't got things going on this side yet, and, for that matter, +Gustafson is coming here with a lot of wreaths—they've got something +on out at the cemetery to-day.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Yes, they're going to put up a moniment to the +bishop—'cause he wrote books, I guess, and collected all kinds of +vermin—was a reg'lar vermin-hunter, they tell me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. Oh, he had slabs of cork with pins on 'em, and a lot of +flies—something beyond us here—but I guess that's the proper way—can +I go out to the kitchen now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, if you use the back door, I think you can get +something wet——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>. But I want to have a word with the dyer before I drive +off—I've got my horses over at the stone-cutter's, who's my second +cousin, you know. Haven't got any use for him, as you know, too, but +we're doing business together, he and I—that is, I put in a word for +him with the heirs, and so he lets me put my horses into his yard—just +let me know when the dyer shows up—luck, wasn't it, that he didn't +have his works here, too——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out, passing around the inn</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>goes into the inn by the front door</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>, <i>who has finished eating, begins to dig again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Do you find anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Nails and door-hinges—all the keys are hanging in a bunch +over there by the front door.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Did they hang there before, or did you put them there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, they were hanging there when I got here.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's queer—for then somebody must have locked all the +doors and taken out the keys before it began burning! That's queer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, of course, it's a little queer, for in that way it was +harder to get at the fire and save things. Yes—yes! [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I worked for the dyer's father forty years ago, I did, +and I know the people, both the dyer himself and his brother what +went off to America, though they say he's back now. The father, he +was a real man, he was, but the boys were always a little so-so. Mrs. +Westerlund over here, she used to take care of Rudolph, and the two +brothers never could get along, but kept scrapping and fighting all +the time.—I've seen a thing or two, I have—yes, there's a whole lot +what has happened in that house, so I guess it was about time to get it +smoked out.—Ugh, but that was a house! One went this way and another +that, but back they had to come, and here they died and here they were +born, and here they married and were divorced.—And Arvid, the brother +what went off to America—him they thought dead for years, and at least +he didn't take what was coming to him after his father, but now they +say he's come back, though nobody has seen him—and there's such a lot +of talking—Look, there's the dyer back from the police station!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He doesn't look happy exactly, but I suppose that's more than +can be expected—Well, who's that student that lived in the attic? How +does he hang together with the rest?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, that's more than I know. He had his board there, +and read with the children.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. And also with the lady of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No-o, they played something what they called tennis, +and quarrelled the rest of the time—yes, quarrelling and backbiting, +that's what everybody is up to in this quarter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, when they broke the student's door open they found +hairpins on the floor—it had to come out, after all, even if the fire +had to sweep over it first——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. I don't think it was the dyer that came, but our +brother-in-law, Gustafson——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He's always mad, and to-day I suppose he's worse than ever, +and so he'll have to come and dun me for what I owe him, seeing what he +has lost in the fire——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Now you shut up!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. [<i>Enters with a basketful of funeral wreaths and other +products of his trade</i>] I wonder if I am going to sell anything to-day +so there'll be enough for food after all this rumpus?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Didn't you carry any insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Yes, I used to have insurance on the glass panes over my +hotbeds, but this year I felt stingy, and so I put in oiled paper +instead—gosh, that I could be such a darned fool!—[<i>Scratching his +head</i>] I don't get paid for that, of course. And now I've got to cut +and paste and oil six hundred paper panes. It's as I have always said: +that I was the worst idiot among us seven children. Gee, what an ass +I was—what a booby! And then I went and got drunk yesterday. Why in +hell did I have to get drunk that day of all days—when I need all the +brains I've got to-day? It was the stone-cutter who treated, because +our children are going to get married to-night, but I should have said +no. I didn't want to, but I'm a ninny who can't say no to anybody. +And that's the way when they come and borrow money of me—I can't say +no—darned fool that I am! And then I got in the way of that policeman, +who snared me with all sorts of questions. I should have kept my mouth +shut, like the painter over there, but I can't, and so I let out this, +that, and the other thing, and he put it all down, and now I am called +as a witness!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. What was it you said?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. I said I thought—that it looked funny to me—and that +somebody must have started it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Oh, that's what you said!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Yes, pitch into me—I've deserved it, goose that I am!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. And who could have started it, do you think?—Don't mind the +painter, and my old woman here never carries any tales.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Who started it? Why, the student, of course, as it started +in his room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No—<i>under</i> his room!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Under, you say? Then I <i>have</i> gone and done it!—Oh, I'll +come to a bad end, I'm sure!—<i>Under</i> his room, you say—what could +have been there—the kitchen?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. No, a closet—see, over there! It was used by the cook.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Then it must have been her.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, but don't you say so, as you don't know.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. The stone-cutter had it in for the cook last night—I guess +he must have known a whole lot——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. You shouldn't repeat what the stone-cutter says, for one who +has served isn't to be trusted——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Ash, that's so long ago, and the cook's a regular dragon, +for that matter—she'd always haggle over the vegetables——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. There comes the dyer from the station now—you'd better quit!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>enters, dressed in a frock coat and a high hat +with mourning on it; he carries a stick</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. It wasn't the dyer, but he looks a lot like him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How much is one of those wreaths?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Fifty cents.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, that's not much.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. No, I am such a fool that I can't charge as I should.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Looking around</i>] Has there—been a fire—here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Yes, last night.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Good God! [<i>Pause</i>] Who was the owner of the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Mr. Walström.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The dyer?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Yes, he used to be a dyer, all right. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. He'll be here any moment.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Then I'll look around a bit—the wreath can lie here till I +come back—I meant to go out to the cemetery later.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. On account of the bishop's monument, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What bishop?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Bishop Stecksen, don't you know—who belonged to the Academy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Is he dead?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GARDENER</span>. Oh, long ago!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I see!—Well, I'll leave the wreath for a while.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>He goes out to the left, studying the ruins carefully as he +passes by</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Perhaps he came on account of the insurance.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not that one! Then he would have asked in a different way.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. But he looked like the dyer just the same.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Only he was taller.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>. Now, I remember something—I should have a bridal bouquet +ready for to-night, and I should go to my son's wedding, but I have +no flowers, and my black coat has been burned. Wouldn't that make +you—Mrs. Westerlund was to furnish the myrtle for the bride's crown, +being her godmother—that's the myrtle she stole a shoot of from +the dyer's cook, who got hers from the dyer's first wife—she who +ran away—and I was to make a crown of it, and I've clean forgotten +it—well, if I ain't the worst fool that ever walked the earth! [<i>He +opens the inn door</i>] Mrs. Westerlund, can I have the myrtle now, and +I'll do the job!—I say, can I have that myrtle! Wreath, too, you +say—have you got enough for it?—No?—Well, then I'll let the whole +wedding go hang, that's all there is to it!—Let them walk up to the +minister's and have him splice them together, but it'll make the +stone-cutter mad as a hornet.—What do you think I should do?—No, I +can't—haven't slept a wink the whole night.—It's too much for a poor +human creature.—Yes, I am a ninny, I know—go for me, will you!—Oh, +there's the pot—thanks! And then I need scissors, which I haven't +got—and wire—and string—where am I to get them from?—No, of course, +nobody wants to break off his work for a thing like that.—I'm tired of +the whole mess—work fifty years, and then have it go up in smoke! I +haven't got strength to begin over again—and the way it comes all at +once, blow on blow—did you ever! I'm going to run away from it! [<i>He +goes out</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Enters, evidently upset, badly dressed</i>, <i>his hands +discoloured by the dyes</i>] Is it all out now, Anderson?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, now it's out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Has anything been discovered?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. That's a question! What's buried when it snows comes to light +when it thaws!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What do you mean, Anderson?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. If you dig deep enough you find things.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Have you found anything that can explain how the fire started?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw, nothing of that kind.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That means we are still under suspicion, all of us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Not me, I guess.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, yes, for you have been seen up in the attic at unusual +hours.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Well, I can't always go at usual hours to look for my tools +when I've left them behind. And I did leave my hammer behind when I +fixed the stove in the student's room.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And the stone-cutter, the gardener, Mrs. Westerlund, even the +painter over there—we are all of us under suspicion—the student, the +cook, and myself more than the rest. Lucky it was that I had paid the +insurance the day before, or I should have been stuck for good.—Think +of it: the stone-cutter suspected of arson—he who's so afraid of doing +anything wrong! He's so conscientious <i>nowadays</i> that if you ask him +what time it is he won't swear to it, as his watch <i>may</i> be wrong. Of +course, we all know he got two years, but he's reformed, and I'll swear +now he's the straightest man in the quarter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. But the police suspect him because he went wrong once—and he +ain't got his citizenship back yet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, there are so many ways of looking at a thing—so many +ways, I tell you.—Well, Anderson, I guess you'd better quit for the +day, seeing as you're going to the wedding to-night.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Yes, that wedding—There was somebody looking for you a while +ago, and he said he would be back.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Who was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. He didn't say.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Police, was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span>. Naw, I don't think so.—There he is coming now, for that +matter. [<i>He goes out, together with his wife</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Regards him with curiosity at first, then with horror; wants +to run away, but cannot move</i>] Arvid!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Rudolph!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. So it's you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You're not dead, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. In a way, yes!—I have come back from America after thirty +years—there was something that pulled at me—</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>I wanted to see my childhood's home once more—and I found +those ruins! [<i>Pause</i>] It burned down last night?</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes, you came just in time. [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Dragging his words</i>] That's the place—such a tiny place +for such a lot of destinies! There's the dining-room with the frescoed +walls: palms, and cypresses, and a temple beneath a rose-coloured +sky—that's the way I dreamt the world would look the moment I got away +from home. And the stove with its pale blossoms growing out of conches. +And the chimney cupboard with its metal doors—I remember as a child, +when we had just moved in, somebody had scratched his name on the +metal, and then grandmother told us it was the name of a man who had +killed himself in that very room. I quickly forgot all about it, but +when I later married a niece of the same man, it seemed to me as if my +destiny had been foretold on that plate of metal.—You don't believe in +that kind of thing, do you?—However, you know how my marriage ended!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes, I've heard——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And there's the nursery—yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Don't let us start digging in the ruins!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why not? After the fire is out you can read things in the +ashes. We used to do it as children, in the stove——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Come and sit down at the table here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What place is that? Oh, the tavern—"The Last Nail"—where +the hearse-drivers used to stop, and where, once upon a time, condemned +culprits were given a final glass before they were taken to the +gallows—Who is keeping it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Mrs. Westerlund, who used to be my nurse.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Mrs. Westerlund—I remember her. It is as if the bench sank +from under me, and I was sent tumbling through the past, sixty whole +years, down into my childhood. I breathe the nursery air and feel it +pressing on my chest. You older ones weighed me down, and you made +so much noise that I was always kept in a state of fright. My fears +made me hide in the garden—then I was dragged forward and given a +spanking—always spankings—but I never knew why, and I don't know it +yet. And yet she was my mother——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Please!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, you were the favourite, and as such you always had her +support—Then we got a stepmother. Her father was an undertaker's +assistant, and for years we had been seeing him drive by with funerals. +At last he came to know us so well by sight that he used to nod and +grin at us, as if he meant to say: "Oh, I'll come for you sooner or +later!" And then he came right into our house one day, and had to be +called grandfather—when our father took his daughter for his second +wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. There was nothing strange in that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, but somehow, as our own destinies, and those of other +people, were being woven into one web——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Oh, that's what happens everywhere——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Exactly! It's the same everywhere. In your youth you see +the web set up. Parents, relatives, comrades, acquaintances, servants +form the warp. Later on in life the weft becomes visible. And then +the shuttle of fate runs back and forth with the thread—sometimes +it breaks, but is tied up again, and it goes on as before. The reed +clicks, the thread is packed together into curlicues, and one day the +web lies ready. In old age, when the eye has learned how to see, you +discover that those curlicues form a pattern, a monogram, an ornament, +a hieroglyph, which only then can be interpreted: that's life! The +world-weaver has woven it! [<i>Pause; he rises</i>] Over there, in that +scrap-heap, I notice the family album. [<i>He walks a few steps to the +right and picks up a photograph album</i>] That's the book of our family +fate. Grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, relatives, acquaintances—or so-called "friends"—schoolmates, +servants, godparents. And, strange to say, wherever I have gone, in +America or Australia, to Hongkong or the Congo, everywhere I found +at least one countryman, and as we began to dig it always came out +that this man knew my family, or at least some godfather or maid +servant—that, in a word, we had some common acquaintances. I even +found a relative in the island of Formosa——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What has put those ideas into your head?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The fact that life, however it shaped itself—I have been +rich and poor, exalted and humbled; I have suffered a shipwreck and +passed through an earthquake—but, however life shaped itself, I always +became aware of connections and repetitions. I saw in one situation the +result of another, earlier one. On meeting <i>this</i> person I was reminded +of <i>that</i> one whom I had met in the past. There have been incidents in +my life that have come back time and again, so that I have been forced +to say to myself: this I have been through before. And I have met with +occurrences that seemed to me absolutely inevitable, or predestined.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What have you done during all these years?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Everything! I have beheld life from every quarter, from every +standpoint, from above and from below, and always it has seemed to me +like a scene staged for my particular benefit. And in that way I have +at last become reconciled to a part of the past, and I have come to +excuse not only my own but also other people's so-called "faults." You +and I, for instance, have had a few bones to pick with each other——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span> <i>recoils with a darkening face</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't get scared now——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I never get scared!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You are just the same as ever.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And so are you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Am I? That's interesting!—Yes, you are still living in that +delusion about your own bravery, and I remember exactly how this false +idea became fixed in your mind. We were learning to swim, and one day +you told how you had dived into the water, and then mother said: "Yes, +Rudolph, he has courage!" That was meant for me—for me whom you had +stripped of all courage and self-assurance. But then came the day when +you had stolen some apples, and you were too cowardly to own up to it, +and so you put it on me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Haven't you forgotten that yet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.—From here, where I +am sitting, I can see that very tree, and that's what brought it into +my mind. It's over there, you see, and it bears golden pippins.—If you +look, you'll see that one of its biggest branches has been sawed off. +For it so happened that I didn't get angry with you on account of my +unjust punishment, but my anger turned against the tree. And two years +later that big branch was all dried up and had to be sawed off. It made +me think of the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour, but I was +not led into any presumptuous conclusions.—However, I still know all +those trees by heart, and once, when I had the yellow fever in Jamaica, +I counted them over, every one. Most of them are still there, I see. +There's the snow-apple which has red-striped fruit—a chaffinch used +to nest in it. There's the melon-apple, standing right in front of the +garret where I used to study for technological examinations; there's +the spitzenburg, and the late astrachan; and the pear-tree that used to +look like a poplar in miniature; and the one with pears that could only +be used for preserves—they never ripened, and we despised them, but +mother treasured them above all the rest; and in that tree there used +to be a wryneck that was always twisting its head around and making a +nasty cry—That was fifty years ago!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Irately</i>] What are you driving at?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Just as touchy and ill-tempered as ever! It's +interesting.—There was no special purpose back of my chatter—my +memories insist on pushing forward—I remember that the garden was +rented to somebody else once, but we had the right to play in it. +To me it seemed as if we had been driven out of paradise—and the +tempter was standing behind every tree. In the fall, when the ground +was strewn with ripe apples, I fell under a temptation that had become +irresistible——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You stole, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course I did, but I didn't put it off on you!—When I was +forty I leased a lemon grove in one of the Southern States, and—well, +there were thieves after the trees every night. I couldn't sleep, I +lost flesh, I got sick. And then I thought of—poor Gustafson here!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's still living.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps he, too, stole apples in his childhood?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Probably.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why are your hands so black?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Because I handle dyed stuffs all the time.—Did you have +anything else in mind?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What could that have been?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That my hands were not clean.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Fudge!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Perhaps you are thinking of your inheritance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Just as mean as ever! Exactly as you were when eight years +old!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And you are just as heedless, and philosophical, and silly!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It's a curious thing—but I wonder how many times before we +have said just what we are saying now? [<i>Pause</i>] I am looking at your +album here—our sisters and brothers—five dead!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And our schoolmates?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Some taken and some left behind.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I met one of them in South Carolina—Axel Ericson—do you +remember him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. One whole night, while we were on a train together, he kept +telling me how our highly respectable and respected family consisted of +nothing but rascals; that it had made its money by smuggling—you know, +the toll-gate was right here; and that this house had been built with +double walls for the hiding of contraband. Don't you see that the walls +are double?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Crushed</i>] So that's the reason why we had closets everywhere?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The father of that fellow, Ericson, had been in the +custom-house service and knew our father, and the son told me a lot +of inside stories that turned my whole world of imagined conditions +topsyturvy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You gave him a licking, I suppose?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why should I lick him?—However, my hair turned grey that +night, and I had to edit my entire life over again. You know how we +used to live in an atmosphere of mutual admiration; how we regarded +our family as better than all others, and how, in particular, our +parents were looked up to with almost religious veneration. And then I +had to paint new faces on them, strip them, drag them down, eliminate +them. It was dreadful! Then the ghosts began to walk. The pieces of +those smashed figures would come together again, but not properly, +and the result would be a regular wax cabinet of monsters. All those +grey-haired gentlemen whom we called uncles, and who came to our house +to play cards and eat cold suppers, they were smugglers, and some of +them had been in the pillory—Did you know that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Completely overwhelmed</i>] No.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The dye works were merely a hiding-place for smuggled yarn, +which was dyed in order to prevent identification. I can still remember +how I used to hate the smell of the dyeing vat—there was something +sickeningly sweet about it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Why did you have to tell me all this?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why should I keep silent about it and let you make yourself +ridiculous by your boasting about that revered family of yours? Have +you never noticed people grinning at you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. No-o! [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I am now looking at father's bookcase in the pile over there. +It was always locked, you remember. But one day, when father was out, +I got hold of the key. The books in front I had seen through the glass +doors, of course. There were volumes of sermons, the collected works +of great poets, handbooks for gardening, compilations of the statutes +referring to customs duties and the confiscation of smuggled goods; the +constitution; a volume about foreign coins; and a technical work that +later determined my choice of a career. But back of those books there +was room for other things, and I began to explore. First of all I found +the rattan—and, do you know, I have since learned that that bitter +plant bears a fruit from which we get the red dye known as "dragon's +blood": now, isn't that queer! And beside the rattan stood a bottle +labelled "cyanide of potassium."</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I suppose it was meant for use over at the works.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Or elsewhere, perhaps. But this is what I had in mind: there +were some bundles of pamphlets with illustrated covers that aroused my +interest. And, to put it plain, they contained the notorious memoirs +of a certain chevalier—I took them out and locked the case again. And +beneath the big oak over there I studied them. We used to call that oak +the Tree of Knowledge—and it was, all right! And in that way I left +my childhood's paradise to become initiated, all too early, into those +mysteries which—yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. You, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, I, too! [<i>Pause</i>] However—let us talk of something +else, as all that is now in ashes.—Did you have any insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Angrily</i>] Didn't you ask that a while ago?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Not that I can recall. It happens so often that I confuse +what I have said with what I have intended to say, and mostly because I +think so intensely—ever since that day when I tried to hang myself in +the closet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What is that you are saying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I tried to hang myself in the closet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Speaking very slowly</i>] Was that what happened that Holy +Thursday Eve, when you were taken to the hospital—what the rest of us +children were never permitted to know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Speaking in the same manner</i>] Yes.—There you can see how +little we know about those that are nearest to us, about our own homes +and our own lives.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. But why did you do it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was twelve years old, and tired of life! It was like +groping about in a great darkness—I couldn't understand what I had to +do here—and I thought the world a madhouse. I reached that conclusion +one day when our school was turned out with torches and banners to +celebrate "the destroyer of our country." For I had just read a book +which proved that our country had been brought to destruction by the +worst of all its kings—and that was the one whose memory we had to +celebrate with hymns and festivities.<a name="FNanchor_1_3" id="FNanchor_1_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_3" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What happened at the hospital?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. My dear fellow, I was actually put into the morgue as dead. +Whether I was or not, I don't know—but when I woke up, most of my +previous life had been forgotten, and I began a new one, but in such a +manner that the rest of you thought me peculiar.—Are you married again?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I have wife and children—somewhere.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. When I recovered consciousness I seemed to myself another +person. I regarded life with cynical calm: it probably had to be the +way it was. And the worse it turned out the more interesting it became. +After that I looked upon myself as if I were somebody else, and I +observed and studied that other person, and his fate, thereby rendering +myself callous to my own sufferings. But while dead I had acquired new +faculties—I could see right through people, read their thoughts, hear +their intentions. In company, I beheld them stripped naked—Where did +you say the fire started?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Why, nobody knows.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But the newspapers said that it began in a closet right +under the student's garret—what kind of a student is he?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Appalled</i>] Is it in the newspapers? I haven't had time to +look at them to-day. What more have they got?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. They have got everything.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Everything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The double walls, the respected family of smugglers, the +pillory, the hairpins——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What hairpins?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I don't know, but they are there. Do you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Naw!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Everything was brought to light, and you may look for a +stream of people coming here to stare at all that exposed rottenness.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Lord have mercy! And you take pleasure at seeing your family +dragged into scandal?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. My family? I have never felt myself related to the rest of +you. I have never had any strong feeling either for my fellow men or +myself. I think it's interesting to watch them—that's all—What sort +of a person is your wife?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Was there anything about her, too?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. About her and the student.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Good! Then I was right. Just wait and you'll see!—There comes +the stone-cutter.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You know him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. And so do you. A schoolmate—Albert Ericson.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Whose father was in the customs service and whose brother I +met on the train—he who was so very well informed about our family.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That's the infernal cuss who has blabbed to the papers, then!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span> <i>enters with a pick and begins to look over the ruins</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a ghastly figure!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's been in jail—two years. Do you know what he did? He made +some erasures in a contract between him and myself——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You sent him to jail! And now he has had his revenge!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. But the queerest part of it is that nowadays he is regarded as +the most honest man in the whole district. He has become a martyr, and +almost a saint, so that nobody dares say a word against him.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That's interesting, indeed!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. [<i>Entering, turns to</i> <span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>] Can you pull down that wall +over there?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. The one by the closet?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. That's the one.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. That's where the fire started, and I'm sure you'll find a +candle or a lamp around there—for I know the people!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Go ahead then!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. The closet door was burned off, to be sure, but the ceiling +came down, and that's why we couldn't find out, but now we'll use the +beak on it! [<i>He falls to with his pick</i>] Ho-hey, ho-ho!—Ho-hey, +leggo!—Ho-hey, for that one!—Do you see anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Not yet.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. [<i>Working away as before</i>] Now I can see something!—The lamp +has exploded, but the stand is left!—Who knows this forfeit for his +own?—Didn't I see the dyer somewhere around here?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. There he is sitting now. [<i>He picks the lamp from the debris +and holds it up</i>] Do you recognise your lamp, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That isn't mine—it belonged to our tutor.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The student? Where is he now?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He's down-town, but I suppose he'll soon be here, as his books +are lying over there.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. How did his lamp get into the cook's closet? Did he have +anything to do with her?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Probably!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. The only thing needed now is that he identify the lamp as +his own, and he will be arrested. What do you think of it, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I? Well, what is there to think?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. What reason could he have for setting fire to another +person's house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I don't know. Malice, or mere mischief—you never can tell +what people may do—Or perhaps there was something he wanted to cover +up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. That would have been a poor way, as old rottenness always +will out. Did he have any grudge against you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. It's likely, for I helped him once when he was hard up, and he +has hated me ever since, of course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Of course? [<i>Pause</i>] Who is he, then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He was raised in an orphanage—born of unknown parents.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Haven't you a grown-up daughter, Mr. Walström?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Angered</i>] Of course I have!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span>. Oh, you have! [<i>Pause; then to</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>] Now you bring those +twelve men of yours and pull down the walls quick. Then we'll see what +new things come to light.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>. That'll be done in a jiffy. [<i>Goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have you really paid up your insurance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Of course!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Personally?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. No, I sent it in as usual.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You sent it—by somebody else! That's just like you!—Suppose +we take a turn through the garden and have a look at the apple-trees.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. All right, and then we'll see what happens afterward.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now begins the most interesting part of all.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Perhaps not quite so interesting if you find yourself mixed up +in it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Who can tell?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a web it is!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. There was a child of yours that went to the orphanage, I think?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. God bless us!—Let's go over into the garden!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center;"><i>Curtain</i>.</p> + + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1_3" id="Footnote_1_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_3"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This refers to King Charles XII of Sweden, whose memory +Strindberg hated mainly because of the use made of it by the jingo +elements of the Swedish upper classes.</p></div> + +<hr class="tb" /> + + +<h4>SECOND SCENE</h4> + + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The same setting as before with the exception that the walls +have been torn down so that the garden is made visible, +with its vast variety of spring flowers—daphnes, deutzias, +daffodils, narcissuses, tulips, auriculas—and with all the +fruit-trees in bloom</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ERICSON</span>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ANDERSON</span> <i>and his old wife</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">GUSTAFSON</span>, <i>the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">HEARSE-DRIVER</span>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>, <i>and the painter</i>, <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, +<i>are standing in a row staring at the spot where the house used +to be</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Entering</i>] There they stand, enjoying the misfortune that's +in the air and waiting for the victim to appear—he being the principal +item. That the fire was incendiary they take for granted, merely +because they want it that way.—And all these rascals are the friends +and comrades of my youth. I am even related to the hearse-driver +through my stepmother, whose father used to help carry out the +coffins—[<i>He speaks to the crowd of spectators</i>] Look here, you +people, I shouldn't stand there if I were you. There may have been some +dynamite stored in the cellar, and if such were the case an explosion +might take place any moment.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The curious crowd scatters and disappears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [Stoops <i>over the scrap-heap and begins to poke in the +books piled there</i>] Those are the student's books—Same kind of rot +as in my youth—Livy's Roman history, which is said to be lies, every +word—But here's a volume out of my brother's library—"Columbus, or +the Discovery of America"! My own book, which I got as a Christmas +gift in 1857. My name has been erased. This means it was stolen from +me—and I accused one of our maids, who was discharged on that account! +Fine business! Perhaps it led to her ruin—fifty years ago! Here is +the frame of one of our family portraits; my renowned grandfather, +the smuggler, who was put in the pillory—fine!—But what is this? +The foot-piece of a mahogany bed—the one in which I was born! Oh, +damn!—Next item: a leg of a dinner-table—the one that was an +heirloom. Why, it was supposed to be of ebony, and was admired on +that account! And now, after fifty years, I discover it to be made +of painted maple. Everything had its colours changed in our house to +render it unrecognisable, even the clothes of us children, so that +our bodies always were stained with various dyes. Ebony—humbug! And +here's the dining-room clock—smuggled goods, that, too—which has +measured out the time for two generations. It was wound up every +Saturday, when we had salt codfish and a posset made with beer for +dinner. Like all intelligent clocks, it used to stop when anybody +died, but when I died it went on just as before. Let me have a look at +you, old friend—I want to see your insides. [<i>As he touches the clock +it falls to pieces</i>] Can't stand being handled! Nothing could stand +being handled in our home—nothing! Vanity, vanity!—But there's the +globe that was on top of the clock, although it ought to have been at +the bottom. You tiny earth: you, the densest and the heaviest of all +the planets—that's what makes everything on you so heavy—so heavy +to breathe, so heavy to carry. The cross is your symbol, but it might +just as well have been a fool's cap or a strait-jacket—you world of +delusions and deluded!—Eternal One—perchance Thy earth has gone +astray in the limitless void? And what set it whirling so that Thy +children were made dizzy, and lost their reason, and became incapable +of seeing what really is instead of what only seems?—Amen!—And here +is the student!</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span> <i>enters and looks around in evident search of +somebody</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. He is looking for the mistress of the house. And he tells +everything he knows—with his eyes. Happy youth!—Whom are you looking +for?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. [<i>Embarrassed</i>] I was looking——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Speak up, young man—or keep silent. I understand you just +the same.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. With whom have I the honour——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It's no special honour, as you know, for once I ran away to +America on account of debts——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. That wasn't right.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Right or wrong, it remains a fact.—So you were looking for +Mrs. Walström? Well, she isn't here, but I am sure that she will come +soon, like all the rest, for they are drawn by the fire like moths——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. By a candle!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That's what <i>you</i> say, but I should rather have said "lamp," +in order to choose a more significant word. However, you had better +hide your feelings, my dear fellow, if you can—I can hide mine!—We +were talking of that lamp, were we not? How about it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Which lamp?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, well! Every one of them lies and denies!—The lamp +that was placed in the cook's closet and set fire to the house?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I know nothing about it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Some blush when they lie and others turn pale. This one has +invented an entirely new manner.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Are you talking to yourself, sir?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have that bad habit.—Are your parents still living?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. They are not.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now you lied again, but unconsciously.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I never tell a lie!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Not more than three in these few moments! I know your father.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I don't believe it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. So much the better for me!—Do you see this scarf-pin? It's +pretty, isn't it? But I never see anything of it myself—I have no +pleasure in its being there, while everybody else is enjoying it. There +is nothing selfish about that, is there? But there are moments when +I should like to see it in another man's tie so that I might have a +chance to admire it. Would you care to have it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I don't quite understand—Perhaps, as you said, it's better +not to wear it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps!—Don't get impatient now. She will be here soon.—Do +you find it enviable to be young?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I can't say that I do.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, youth is not its own master; it has never any money, and +has to take its food out of other hands; it is not permitted to speak +when company is present, but is treated as an idiot; and as it cannot +marry, it has to ogle other people's wives, which leads to all sorts of +dangerous consequences. Youth—humbug!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. That's right! As a child, you want to grow up—that is, reach +fifteen, be confirmed, and put on a tall hat. When you are that far, +you want to be old—that is, twenty-one. Which means that nobody wants +to be young.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And when you grow old in earnest, then you want to be dead. +For then there isn't much left to wish for.—Do you know that you are +to be arrested?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Am I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The detective said so a moment ago.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you surprised at that? Don't you know that in this life +you must be prepared for anything?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. But what have I done?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You don't have to do anything in order to be arrested. To be +suspected is enough.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Then everybody might be arrested!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Exactly! The rope might be laid around the neck of the whole +race if justice were wanted, but it isn't. It's a disgusting race: +ugly, sweating, ill-smelling; its linen dirty, its stockings full of +holes; with chilblains and corns—ugh! No, an apple-tree in bloom is +far more beautiful. Or look at the lilies in the field—they seem +hardly to belong here—and what fragrance is theirs!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Are you a philosopher, sir?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, I am a great philosopher.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Now you are poking fun at me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You say that to get away. Well, begone then! Hurry up!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. I was expecting somebody.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. So I thought. But I think it would be better to go and +meet——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. She asked you to tell me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, that wasn't necessary.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STUDENT</span>. Well, if that's so—I don't want to miss——</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>He goes out</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Can that be my son? Well, if it comes to the worst—I was a +child myself once, and it was neither remarkable nor pleasant—And I +am his—what of it? And for that matter—who knows?—Now I'll have a +look at Mrs. Westerlund. She used to work for my parents—was faithful +and good-tempered; and when she had been pilfering for ten years she +was raised to the rank of a "trusted" servant. [<i>He seats himself at +the table in front of the inn</i>] There are Gustafson's wreaths—just as +carelessly made as they were forty years ago. He was always careless +and stupid in all he did, and so he never succeeded with anything. But +much might be pardoned him on account of his self-knowledge. "Poor +fool that I am," he used to say, and then he would pull off his cap +and scratch his head.—Why, there's a myrtle plant! [<i>He knocks at the +pot</i>] Not watered, of course! He always forgot to water his plants, the +damned fool—and yet he expected them to grow.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>, <i>the painter, appears</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I wonder who that painter can be. Probably he belongs also to +the Bog, and perhaps he is one of the threads in my own web.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span> <i>is staring at the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>all this time</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Returning the stare</i>] Well, do you recognise me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Are you—Mr. Arvid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have been and am—if perception argues being.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p>[<i>Pause</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. I ought really to be mad at you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, go on and be so! However, you might tell me the reason. +That has a tendency to straighten matters out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Do you remember——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Unfortunately, I have an excellent memory.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. Do you remember a boy named Robert?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, a regular rascal who knew how to draw.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. And I was to go to the Academy in order to become a real +painter, an artist. But just about that time-colour-blindness was all +the go. You were studying at the Technological Institute then, and so +you had to test my eyes before your father would consent to send me to +the art classes. For that reason you brought two skeins of yarn from +the dye works, one red and the other green, and then you asked me about +them. I answered—called the red green and the green red—and that was +the end of my career——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But that was as it should be.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. No—for the truth of it was, I could distinguish the +colours, but not—the <i>names</i>. And that wasn't found out until I was +thirty-seven——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That was an unfortunate story, but I didn't know better, and +so you'll have to forgive me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How can I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Ignorance is pardonable! And now listen to me. I wanted to +enter the navy, made a trial cruise as mid-shipman, seemed to become +seasick, and was rejected! But I could stand the sea, and my sickness +came from having drunk too much. So my career was spoiled, and I had to +choose another.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. What have I got to do with the navy? I had been dreaming of +Rome and Paris——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, well, one has so many dreams in youth, and in old age +too, for that matter. Besides, what's the use of bothering about what +happened so long ago?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How you talk! Perhaps you can give me back my wasted life——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, I can't, but I am under no obligation to do so, either. +That trick with the yarn I had learned at school, and you ought to have +learned the proper names of the colours. And now you can go to—one +dauber less is a blessing to humanity!—There's Mrs. Westerlund!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">SJÖBLOM</span>. How you <i>do</i> talk. But I guess you'll get what's coming to you!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span> <i>enters</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How d'you do, Mrs. Westerlund? I am Mr. Arvid—don't get +scared now! I have been in America, and how are you? I am feeling fine! +There has been a fire here, and I hear your husband is dead—policeman, +I remember, and a very nice fellow. I liked him for his good humour +and friendly ways. He was a harmless jester, whose quips never hurt. I +recall once——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. O, merciful! Is this my own Arvid whom I used to +tend——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, that wasn't me, but my brother—but never mind, it's just +as well meant. I was talking of your old man who died thirty-five years +ago—a very nice man and a particular friend of mine——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, he died. [<i>Pause</i>] But I don't know if—perhaps +you are getting him mixed up——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, I don't. I remember old man Westerlund perfectly, and I +liked him very much.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. [<i>Reluctantly</i>] Of course it's a shame to say it, but +I don't think his temper was very good.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Well—he had a way of getting around people, but +he didn't mean what he said—or if he did he meant it the other way +around——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What is that? Didn't he mean what he was saying? Was he a +hypocrite?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Well, I don't like to say it, but I believe——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Do you mean to say that he wasn't on the level?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. N—yes—he was—a little—well, he didn't mean exactly +what he said—And how have you been doing, Mr. Arvid?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now a light is dawning on me!—The miserable wretch! And +here I have been praising him these thirty-five years. I have missed +him, and I felt something like sorrow at his departure—I even used +some of my tobacco allowance to buy a wreath for his coffin.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. What was it he did? What was it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The villain! [<i>Pause</i>] Well—he fooled me—it was Shrove +Tuesday, I remember. He told me that if one took away every third +egg from a hen she would lay so many more. I did it, got a licking, +and came near getting into court. But <i>I</i> never suspected him of +having told on me.—He was always hanging around our kitchen looking +for tid-bits, and so our maids could do just what they pleased about +the garbage—oh, now I see him in his proper aspect!—And here I am +now getting into a fury at one who has been thirty-five years in his +grave?—So he was a satirist, he was—and I didn't catch on—although I +understand him now.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. Yes, he was a little satirical all right—<i>I</i> ought +to know that!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Other things are coming back to me now—and I have been +saying nice things about that blackguard for thirty-five years! It was +at his funeral I drank my first toddy—And I remember how he used to +flatter me, and call me "professor" and "the crown prince"—ugh—And +there is the stone-cutter! You had better go inside, madam, or we'll +have a row when that fellow begins to turn in his bills. Good-bye, +madam—we'll meet again!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WESTERLUND</span>. No we won't. People ought never to meet again—it +is never as it used to be, and they only get to clawing at each +other—What business did you have to tell me all those things—seeing +everything was all right as it was [<i>She goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>, <i>the stone-cutter, comes in</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Come on!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. What's that?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Come on, I said!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span> <i>stares at him</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. I am no thief!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was +strangling me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Why did you sign it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Because I was hard up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, that <i>is</i> a motive.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But now I am having my revenge.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, isn't it nice!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And now <i>they</i> will be locked up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Did <i>we</i> ever fight each other as boys?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. No, I was too young.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Have we never told lies about each other, or robbed each +other, or got in each other's way, or seduced each other's sisters?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Naw, but my father was in the customs service and yours was a +smuggler.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. There you are! That's something, at least!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And when my father failed to catch yours he was discharged.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And you want to get even with me because your father was a +good-for-nothing?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Why did you say a while ago that there was dynamite in the +cellar?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now, my dear sir, you are telling lies again. I said there +<i>might</i> be dynamite in the cellar, and everything is possible, of +course.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And in the meantime the student has been arrested. Do you know +him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Very little—his mother more, for she was a maid in our +house. She was both pretty and good, and I was making up to her—until +she had a child.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And were you not its father?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was not. But as a denial of fatherhood is not allowed, I +suppose I must be regarded as a sort of stepfather.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Then they have lied about you.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course. But that's a very common thing.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. And I was among those who testified against you—under oath!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have no doubt about it, but what does it matter? Nothing +matters at all! But now we had better quit pulling—or we'll get the +whole web unravelled.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But think of me, who have perjured myself——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, it isn't pleasant, but such things will happen.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. It's horrible—don't you find life horrible?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Covering his eyes with his hand</i>] Yes, horrible beyond all +description!</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. I don't want to live any longer!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Must! [<i>Pause</i>] Must! [<i>Pause</i>] Tell me—the student is +arrested, you say—can he get out of it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Hardly!—And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you +something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only +witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him +guilty—in another way.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. She with the hairpins, isn't it?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Yes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The old one or the young one?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What a web this is!—But who put the lamp there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. His worst enemy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And did his worst enemy also start the fire?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's beyond me! Only Anderson, the mason, knows that.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Who is he?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. The oldest one in the place—some kind of relative of Mrs. +Westerlund—knows all the secrets of the house—but he and the dyer +have got some secrets together, so he won't tell anything.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And the lady—my sister-in-law—who is she?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well—she was in the house as governess when the first wife +cleared out.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. What sort of character has she got?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Hm! Character? I don't quite know what that is. Do you mean +trade? The old assessment blanks used to call for your name and +"character"—but that meant occupation instead of character.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I mean her temper.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well, it changes, you know. In me it depends on the person +with whom I am talking. With decent people I am decent, and with the +cruel ones I become like a beast of prey.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But I was talking of her temper under ordinary circumstances.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Well, nothing in particular. Gets angry if you tease her, but +comes around after a while. One cannot always have the same temper, of +course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I mean, is she merry or melancholy?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. When things go right, she is happy, and when they go wrong, +she gets sorry or angry—just like the rest of us.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, but how does she behave?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Oh, what does it matter?—Of course, being an educated person, +she behaves politely, but nevertheless, you know, she can get nasty, +too, when her blood gets to boiling.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But that doesn't make me much wiser.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. [<i>Patting him on the shoulder</i>] No, sir, we never get much +wiser when it's a question of human beings.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Oh, you're a marvel!—And how do you like my brother, the +dyer? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. Oh, his manners are pretty decent. And more than that I don't +know, for what he keeps hidden I can't find out, of course.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Excellent! But—his hands are always blue, and yet you know +that they are white beneath the dye.</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. But to make them so they should be scraped, and that's +something he won't permit.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Good!—Who are the young couple coming over there?</p> + +<p><span class="small-c">ERICSON</span>. That's the gardener's son and my daughter, who were to have +been married to-night, but who have had to postpone it on account of +the fire—Now I shall leave, for I don't want to embarrass them. You +understand—I ain't much as a father-in-law. Good-bye! [<i>He goes out</i>.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>withdraws behind the inn, but so that he +remains visible to the spectators</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span> <i>and</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span> <i>enter hand in hand</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. I had to have a look at this place—I had to——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Why did you have to look at it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Because I have suffered so much in this house that more than +once I wished it on fire.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes, I know, it kept the sun out of the garden, and now +everything will grow much better—provided they don't put up a still +higher house——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Now it's open and pleasant, with plenty of air and sunlight, +and I hear they are going to lay out a street——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Won't you have to move then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Yes, all of us will have to move, and that's what I like—I +like new things—I should like to emigrate——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Mercy, no! Do you know, our pigeons were nesting on the roof. +And when the fire broke out last night they kept circling around the +place at first, but when the roof fell in they plunged right into the +flames—They couldn't part from their old home!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. But we must get out of here—must! My father says that the soil +has been sucked dry.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I heard that the cinders left by the fire were to be spread +over the ground in order to improve the soil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. You mean the ashes?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes; they say it's good to sow in the ashes.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Better still on virgin soil.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. But your father is ruined?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not at all. He has money in the bank. Of course he's +complaining, but so does everybody.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Has he—The fire hasn't ruined him?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not a bit! He's a shrewd old guy, although he always calls +himself a fool.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. What am I to believe?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. He has loaned money to the mason here—and to others.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I am entirely at sea! Am I dreaming?—The whole morning +we have been weeping over your father's misfortune and over the +postponement of the wedding——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Poor little thing! But the wedding is to take place to-night——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Is it not postponed?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Only delayed for a couple of hours so that my father will have +time to get his new coat.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. And we who have been weeping——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Useless tears—such a lot of tears!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I am mad because they were useless—although—to think that +my father-in-law could be such a sly one!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Yes, he is something of a joker, to put it mildly. He is always +talking about how tired he is, but that's nothing but laziness—oh, +he's lazy, I tell you——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Don't say any more nasty things about him—but let us get +away from here. I have to dress, you know, and put up my hair.—Just +think, that my father-in-law isn't what I thought him—that he could be +fooling us like that and not telling the truth! Perhaps you are like +that, too? Oh, that I can't know what you really are!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. You'll find out afterward.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. But then it's too late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. It's never too late——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. All you who lived in this house are bad—And now I am afraid +of you——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Not of me, though?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. I don't know what to think. Why didn't you tell me before +that your father was well off?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. I wanted to try you and see if you would like me as a poor man.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Yes, afterward they always say that they wanted to try you. +But how can I ever believe a human being again?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Go and get dressed now. I'll order the carriages.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Are we to have carriages?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. Of course—regular coaches.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MATHILDA</span>. Coaches? And to-night? What fun! Come—hurry up! We'll have +carriages!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">ALFRED</span>. [<i>Gets hold of her hand and they dance out together</i>] Hey and +ho! Here we go!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Coming forward</i>] Bravo!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>enters and talks in a low tone to the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>, <i>who answers in the same way. This lasts for about +half a minute, whereupon the</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">DETECTIVE</span> <i>leaves again</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Enters, dressed in black, and gazes long at the</i> +<span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>] Are you my brother-in-law?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I am. [<i>Pause</i>] Don't I look as I have been described—or +painted?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Frankly, no!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. No, that is generally the case. And I must admit that the +information I received about you a while ago does not tally with the +original.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Oh, people do each other so much wrong, and they paint +each other in accordance with some image within themselves.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And they go about like theatrical managers, distributing +parts to each other. Some accept their parts; others hand them back and +prefer to improvise.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. And what has been the part assigned to you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That of a seducer. Not that I have ever been one! I have +never seduced anybody, be she wife or maid, but once in my youth I was +seduced, and that's why the part was given to me. Strange to say, it +was forced on me so long that at last I accepted it. And for twenty +years I carried the bad conscience of a seducer around with me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You were innocent then?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I was.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. How curious! And to this day my husband is still +talking of the Nemesis that has pursued you because you seduced another +man's wife.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I fully believe it. But your husband represents a still more +interesting case. He has created a new character for himself out of +lies. Tell me: isn't he a coward in facing the struggles of life?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Of course he is a coward!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And yet he boasts of his courage, which is nothing but +brutality.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You know him pretty well.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, and no!—And you have been living in the belief that you +had married into a respected family which had never disgraced itself?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. So I believed until this morning.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. When your faith crumbled! What a web of lies and mistakes +and misunderstandings! And that kind of thing we are supposed to take +seriously!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Do you?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Sometimes. Very seldom nowadays. I walk like a somnambulist +along the edge of a roof—knowing that I am asleep, and yet being +awake—and the only thing I am waiting for is to be waked up.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. You are said to have been across to the other side?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I have been across the river, but the only thing I can recall +is—that there everything <i>was</i> what it pretended to be. That's what +makes the difference.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. When nothing stands the test of being touched, what are +you then to hold on to?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't you know?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Tell me! Tell me!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Sorrow brings patience; patience brings experience; +experience brings hope; and hope will not bring us to shame.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Hope, yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, hope!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Do you ever think it pleasant to live?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Of course. But that is also a delusion. I tell you, my dear +sister-in-law, that when you happen to be born without a film over your +eyes, then you see life and your fellow creatures as they are—and +you have to be a pig to feel at home in such a mess.—But when you +have been looking long enough at blue mists, then you turn your eyes +the other way and begin to look into your own soul? There you find +something really worth looking at.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. And what is it you see?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Your own self. But when you have looked at that you must die.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Covers her eyes with her hands; after a pause she +says</i>] Do you want to help me?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. If I can.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Try.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Wait a moment!—No, I cannot. He is innocently accused. Only +you can set him free again. But that you cannot do. It's a net that has +not been tied by men——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. But he is not guilty.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Who is guilty? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. No one! It was an accident!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I know it.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Suffer. It will pass. For that, too, is vanity.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. Suffer?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, suffer! But with hope!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. [<i>Holding out her hand to him</i>] Thank you!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And let it be your consolation</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That you don't suffer innocently.</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">MRS. WALSTRÖM</span> <i>walks out with her head bent low</i>.</p> + +<p><i>The</i> <span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span> <i>climbs the pile of debris marking the site of +the burned house</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Comes in, looking happy</i>] Are you playing the ghost among +the ruins?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Ghosts feel at home among ruins—And now you are happy?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Now I am happy.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And brave?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Whom have I got to fear, or what?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. I conclude from your happiness that you are ignorant of one +important fact—Have you the courage to bear a piece of misfortune?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What is it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. You turn pale?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. A serious misfortune!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Speak out!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The detective was here a moment ago, and he told me—in +confidence——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. That the premium on your insurance was paid up two hours too +late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Great S——! what are you talking of? I sent my wife to pay +the premium.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. And she sent the bookkeeper—and he got there too late.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Then I am ruined? [<i>Pause</i>.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Are you crying?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Well, is that something that cannot be borne?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. How am I to live? What am I to do?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Work!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I am too old—I have no friends——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Perhaps you'll get some now. A man in misfortune always seems sympathetic. I had some of +my best hours while fortune went against me.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Wildly</i>] I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. But in my days of success and fortune I was left alone. Envy +was more than friendship could stand.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Then I'll sue the bookkeeper.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Don't!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. He'll have to pay——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. How little you have changed! What's the use of living, when +you learn so little from it?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. I'll sue him, the villain!—He hates me because I gave him a +cuff on the ear once.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Forgive him—as I forgave you when I didn't demand my +inheritance.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What inheritance?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Always the same! Merciless! Cowardly! Disingenuous!—Depart +in peace, brother!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. What inheritance is that you are talking of?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Now listen, Rudolph—my brother after all: my own mother's +son! You put the stone-cutter in jail because he did some erasing—all +right! But how about your own erasures from my book, "Christopher +Columbus, or the Discovery of America"?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Taken aback</i>] What's that? Columbus?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, <i>my</i> book that became yours!</p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span> <i>remains silent</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes, and I understand now that it was you who put the +student's lamp in the closet—I understand everything. But do <i>you</i> +know that the dinner-table was not of ebony?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. It wasn't?</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. It was nothing but maple.</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Maple!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. The pride and glory of the house—valued at two thousand +crowns!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. That, too? So that was also humbug!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Yes!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. Ugh!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. Thus the debt is settled. The case is dropped—the issue is +beyond the court—the parties can withdraw——</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">RUDOLPH</span>. [<i>Rushing out</i>] I am ruined!</p> + +<p><span style="font-size: 0.8em;">STRANGER</span>. [<i>Takes his wreath from the table</i>] I meant to take this +wreath to the cemetery—to my parents' grave—but I will place it here +instead—on the ruins of what was once their home—my childhood's home! +[<i>He bends his head in silent prayer</i>] And now, wanderer, resume thy +pilgrimage!</p> + +<h5><i>Curtain</i>.</h5> + + +<hr class="full" /> + +<blockquote> + +<p>PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG</p> + + +<p>PLAYS. FIRST SERIES: The Dream Play, The +Link, The Dance of Death—Part I and Part II.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. SECOND SERIES: There are Crimes +and Crimes, Miss Julia, The Stronger, Creditors, +Pariah.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. THIRD SERIES: Swanwhite, Simoom, +Debit and Credit, Advent, The Thunder +Storm, After the Fire.</p> + +<p>PLAYS. FOURTH SERIES: The Bridal Crown, +The Spook Sonata, The First Warning, Gustavus Vasa.</p> + +<p>CREDITORS. PARIAH.</p> + +<p>MISS JULIA. THE STRONGER.</p> + +<p>THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES.</p></blockquote> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Third +Series, by August Strindberg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + +***** This file should be named 44233-h.htm or 44233-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/2/3/44233/ + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series + +Author: August Strindberg + +Translator: Edwin Bjoerkman + +Release Date: November 19, 2013 [EBook #44233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + + + + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + + + + +PLAYS + +BY + +AUGUST STRINDBERG + +THIRD SERIES + + +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +TRANSLATED FROM THE SWEDISH WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY + +EDWIN BJOeRKMAN + + + +AUTHORIZED EDITION + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1921 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION +SWANWHITE +SIMOOM +DEBIT AND CREDIT +ADVENT +THE THUNDERSTORM +AFTER THE FIRE + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The collection of plays contained in this volume is unusually +representative, giving what might be called a cross-section of +Strindberg's development as a dramatist from his naturalistic revolt +in the middle eighties, to his final arrival at resigned mysticism and +Swedenborgian symbolism. + +"Swanwhite" was written in the spring of 1901, about the time when +Strindberg was courting and marrying his third wife, the gifted Swedish +actress Harriet Bosse. In the fall of 1902 the play appeared in book +form, together with "The Crown Bride" and "The Dream Play," all of them +being issued simultaneously, at Berlin, in a German translation made by +Emil Schering. + +Schering, who at that time was in close correspondence with Strindberg, +says that the figure of _Swanwhite_ had been drawn with direct +reference to Miss Bosse, who had first attracted the attention of +Strindberg by her spirited interpretation of _Biskra_ in "Simoom." +And Schering adds that it was Strindberg's bride who had a little +previously introduced him to the work of Maeterlinck, thereby +furnishing one more of the factors determining the play. + +Concerning the influence exerted upon him by the Belgian +playwright-philosopher, Strindberg himself wrote in a pamphlet named +"Open Letters to the Intimate Theatre" (Stockholm, 1909): + +"I had long had in mind skimming the cream of our most beautiful +folk-ballads in order to turn them into a picture for the stage. +Then Maeterlinck came across my path, and under the influence of +his puppet-plays, which are not meant for the regular stage, I wrote +my Swedish scenic spectacle, 'Swanwhite.' It is impossible either to +steal or to borrow from Maeterlinck. It is even difficult to become his +pupil, for there are no free passes that give entrance to his world of +beauty. But one may be urged by his example into searching one's own +dross-heaps for gold--and it is in that sense I acknowledge my debt to +the master. + +"Pushed ahead by the _impression_ made on me by Maeterlinck, and +borrowing his divining-rod for my purposes, I turned to such sources +[_i.e._, of Swedish folk-lore] as the works of Geijer, Afzelius, and +Dybeck. There I found a superabundance of princes and princesses. The +stepmother theme I had discovered on my own hook as a _constant_--it +figures in twenty-six different Swedish folk-tales. In the same place I +found the resurrection theme, as, for instance, it appears in the story +of _Queen Dagmar_. Then I poured it all into my separator, together +with the _Maids_, the _Green Gardener_ and the _Young King_, and in +a short while the cream began to flow--and for that reason the story +is my own. But it has also been made so by the fact that I have lived +through that tale in my own fancy--a Spring in time of Winter!" + +Swedish critics have been unanimous in their praise of this play. John +Landquist, who has since become Strindberg's literary executor, spoke +of it once as "perhaps the most beautiful and most genuine fairy tale +for old or young ever written in the Swedish language." Tor Hedberg +has marvelled at the charm with which _Swanwhite_ herself has been +endowed--"half child, half maid; knowing nothing, yet guessing all; +playing with love as a while ago she was playing with her dolls." On +the stage, too--in Germany as well as in Sweden--little _Swanwhite_ +has celebrated great triumphs. Whether that figure, and the play +surrounding it, will also triumph in English-speaking countries, +remains still to be seen. But if, contrary to my hopes, it should fail +to do so, I want, in advance, to shift the blame from the shoulders of +the author to my own. In hardly any other work by Strindberg do form +and style count for so much. The play is, in its original shape, as +poetical in form as in spirit--even to the extent of being strongly +rhythmical in its prose, and containing many of the inversions which +are so characteristic of Swedish verse. + +It is not impossible to transfer these qualities into English, but +my efforts to do so have had to be influenced by certain differences +in the very _grain_ of the two languages involved. Like all other +languages, each possesses a natural basic rhythm. This rhythm varies +frequently and easily in Swedish, so that you may pass from iambic to +trochaic metre without giving offence to the ear--or to that subtle +rhythmical susceptibility that seems to be inherent in our very pulses. +But the rhythm dearest and most natural to the genius of the Swedish +language seems to be the falling pulse-beat manifested in the true +trochee. The swing and motion of English, on the other hand, is almost +exclusively, commandingly iambic. And it was not until I made the +iambic _rising_ movement prevail in my translation, that I felt myself +approaching the impression made on me by the original. But for that +very reason--because the genius of the new medium has forced me into +making the movement of my style more monotonous--it is to be feared +that the rhythmical quality of that movement may seem overemphasised. +Should such a criticism be advanced, I can only answer: I have tried +several ways, and this is the only one that will _work_. + +"Simoom" seems to have been written in 1888, in close connection with +"Creditors" and "Pariah." And, like these, it shows the unmistakable +influence of Edgar Allan Poe, with whose works Strindberg had become +acquainted a short while before. The play was first printed in one of +the three thin volumes of varied contents put out by Strindberg in 1890 +and 1891 under the common title of "Pieces Printed and Unprinted." But, +strange to say, it was not put on the stage (except in a few private +performances) until 1902, although, from a purely theatrical viewpoint, +Strindberg--master of stagecraft though he was--had rarely produced a +more effective piece of work. + +"Debit and Credit" belongs to the same general period as the previous +play, but has in it more of Nietzsche than of Poe. Its central figure +is also a sort of superman, but as such he is not taken too seriously +by his creator. The play has humour, but it is of a grim kind--one +seems to be hearing the gritting of teeth through the laughter. Like +"Simoom," however, it should be highly effective on the stage. It was +first published in 1893, with three other one-act plays, the volume +being named "Dramatic Pieces." + +"Advent" was published in 1899, together with "There Are Crimes and +Crimes," under the common title of "In a Higher Court." Its name +refers, of course, to the ecclesiastical designation of the four weeks +preceding Christmas. The subtitle, literally rendered, would be "A +Mystery." But as this term has a much wider application in Swedish +than in English, I have deemed it better to observe the distinction +which the latter language makes between mysteries, miracle-plays, and +moralities. + +The play belongs to what Strindberg called his "Inferno period," during +which he struggled in a state of semi-madness to rid himself of the +neurasthenic depression which he regarded as a punishment brought about +by his previous attitude of materialistic scepticism. It is full of +Swedenborgian symbolism, which, perhaps, finds its most characteristic +expression in the two scenes laid in "The Waiting Room." The name +selected by Strindberg for the region where dwell the "lost" souls of +men is not a mere euphemism. It signifies his conception of that place +as a station on the road to redemption or annihilation. + +In its entirety the play forms a Christmas sermon with a quaint +blending of law and gospel. A prominent Swedish critic, Johan +Mortensen, wrote: "Reading it, one almost gets the feeling that +Strindberg, the dread revolutionist, has, of a sudden, changed into +a nice village school-teacher, seated at his desk, with his rattan +cane laid out in front of him. He has just been delivering a lesson in +Christianity, and he has noticed that the attention of the children +strayed and that they either failed to understand or did not care to +take in the difficult matters he was dealing with. But they must be +made to listen and understand. And so--with serious eyes, but with a +sly smile playing around the corners of his mouth--he begins all over +again, in that fairy-tale style which never grows old: 'Once upon a +time!'" + +In November, 1907, a young theatrical manager, August Falck, opened the +Intimate Theatre at Stockholm. From the start Strindberg was closely +connected with the venture, and soon the little theatre, with its tiny +stage and its auditorium seating only one hundred and seventy-five +persons, was turned wholly into a Strindberg stage, where some of the +most interesting and daring theatrical experiments of our own day were +made. With particular reference to the needs and limitations of this +theatre, Strindberg wrote a series of "chamber plays," four of which +were published in 1907--each one of them appearing separately in a +paper-covered duodecimo volume. + +The first of these plays to appear in book form--though not the +first one to be staged--was "The Thunder-Storm," designated on the +front cover as "Opus I." Two of the principal ideas underlying its +construction were the abolition of intermissions--which, according to +Strindberg, were put in chiefly for the benefit of the liquor traffic +in the theatre cafe--and the reduction of the stage-setting to quickly +inter-changeable backgrounds and a few stage-properties. Concerning the +production of "The Thunder-Storm," at the Intimate Theatre, Strindberg +wrote subsequently that, in their decorative effects, the first and +last scenes were rather failures. But he held the lack of space +wholly responsible for this failure. His conclusion was that the most +difficult problem of the small theatre would be to give the illusion of +distance required by a scene laid in the open--particularly in an open +place surrounded or adjoined by buildings. Of the second act he wrote, +on the other hand, that it proved a triumph of artistic simplification. +The only furniture appearing on the stage consisted of a buffet, a +piano, a dinner-table and a few chairs--that is, the pieces expressly +mentioned in the text of the play. And yet the effect of the setting +satisfied equally the demands of the eye and the reason. + +"The Thunder-Storm" might be called a drama of old age--nay, _the_ +drama of man's inevitable descent through a series of resignations to +the final dissolution. Its subject-matter is largely autobiographical, +embodying the author's experiences in his third and last marriage, +as seen in retrospect--the anticipatory conception appearing in +"Swanwhite." However, justice to Miss Harriet Bosse, who was Mrs. +Strindberg from 1901 to 1904, requires me to point out that echoes +of the dramatist's second marriage also appear, especially in the +references to the postmarital relationship. + +"After the Fire" was published as "Opus II" of the chamber-plays, +and staged ahead of "The Thunder-Storm." Its Swedish name is _Braenda +Tomten_, meaning literally "the burned-over site." This name has +previously been rendered in English as "The Burned Lot" and "The Fire +Ruins." Both these titles are awkward and ambiguous. The name I have +now chosen embodies more closely the fundamental premise of the play. + +The subject-matter is even more autobiographical than that of "The +Thunder-Storm"--almost as much so as "The Bondwoman's Son." The +perished home is Strindberg's own at the North Tollgate Street in +Stockholm, where he spent the larger part of his childhood and youth. +The old _Mason_, the _Gardener_, the _Stone-Cutter_, and other figures +appearing in the play are undoubtedly lifted straight out of real +life--and so are probably also the exploded family reputation and +the cheap table painted to represent ebony--although one may take +for granted that the process has not taken place without a proper +disguising of externals. + +There is one passage in this little play which I want to point out as +containing one of the main keys to Strindberg's character and art. It +is the passage where _The Stranger_--who, of course, is none but the +author himself--says to his brother: "I have beheld life from every +quarter, from every standpoint, from above and from below, but always +it has seemed to me like a scene staged for my particular benefit." + + + + +SWANWHITE + +(SVANEHVIT) + +A FAIRY PLAY + +1902 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE DUKE + THE STEPMOTHER + SWANWHITE + THE PRINCE + SIGNE } + ELSA } _Maids_ + TOVA } + THE KITCHEN GARDENER + THE FISHERMAN + THE MOTHER OF SWANWHITE + THE MOTHER OF THE PRINCE + THE GAOLER + THE EQUERRY + THE BUTLER + THE FLOWER GARDENER + TWO KNIGHTS + + + _An apartment in a mediaeval stone castle. The walls and the + cross-vaulted ceiling are whitewashed. In the centre of the + rear wall is a triple-arched doorway leading to a balcony + with a stone balustrade. There are draperies of brocade over + the doorway. Beyond the balcony appear the top branches of a + rose-garden, laden with white and pink roses. In the background + there can be seen a white, sandy beach and the blue sea_. + + _To the right of the main doorway is a small door which, when + left open, discloses a vista of three closets, one beyond the + other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged + on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all + sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains + piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so + forth_. + + _The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating + squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands + a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe + is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with + roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded + tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall + above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the + foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed + with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the + head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is + pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across + the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with + lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, + bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in + Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is + placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp + of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the + mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it_. + + _In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a + perch, with its back turned toward the audience_. + + _In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white + doves at rest_. + + _As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways + of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post + against which she leans_. SIGNE, _the false maid, is in the + pewter-closet_, ELSA _in the clothes-closet, and_ TOVA _in the + fruit-closet_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters from the rear. After him comes the_ + STEPMOTHER _carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip_. + + _The stage is darkened when they enter_. + + * * * * * + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite is not here? + +DUKE. It seems so! + +STEPMOTHER. So it seems, but--is it seemly? Maids!--Signe!--Signe, +Elsa, Tova! + + _The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of + the_ STEPMOTHER. + +STEPMOTHER. Where is Lady Swanwhite? + + SIGNE _folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply_. + +STEPMOTHER. You do not know? What see you in my hand?--Answer, quick! +[_Pause_] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws +of steel, as well as bill! What is it? + +SIGNE. The wire-lashed whip! + +STEPMOTHER. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan +white? + +SIGNE. How can I tell what I don't know? + +STEPMOTHER. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an +offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?--Take +off your neckerchief!--Down on your knees! + + _The_ DUKE _turns his back on her in disgust_. + +STEPMOTHER. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that +no youth will ever kiss it after this!--Hold out your neck!--Still more! + +SIGNE. For Christ's sake, mercy! + +STEPMOTHER. 'Tis mercy that you are alive! + +DUKE. [_Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of +his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard_] Her head +should be cut off--put in a sack--hung on a tree---- + +STEPMOTHER. So it should! + +DUKE. We are agreed! How strange! + +STEPMOTHER. It did not happen yesterday. + +DUKE. And may not happen once again. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ Signe, _who, still on her knees, has been moving +farther away_] Stop! Whither? [_She raises the whip and strikes_; Signe +_turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air_.] + +SWANWHITE. [_Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees_] +Stepmother--here I am--the guilty one! She's not at fault. + +STEPMOTHER. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had. + +STEPMOTHER. Your father's wife must be your mother. + +SWANWHITE. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother. + +STEPMOTHER. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and +will make you pliant too. + + [_She raises the whip to strike_ SWANWHITE. + +DUKE. [_Raising his sword_] Take heed of the head! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose head? + +DUKE. Your own! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _turns pale at first, and then angry; but she + controls herself and remains silent; long pause_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone_] Then will +Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her? + +DUKE. [_Sheathing his sword_] Rise up, my darling child, and come into +my arms to calm yourself. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into the arms of the_ DUKE] +Father!--You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. +But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. +[_She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to +his waist_] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches--lift +me up, so I can reach the top. + + _The_ DUKE _holds out his arm_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder_] +Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above--now I can overlook the +rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms +stretched beyond. + +DUKE. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is +promised---- + +SWANWHITE. No--nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rubbing her eyes_] My eyes?--They cannot see what is not +beautiful. + +DUKE. [_Kissing her foot_] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor +little blackamoorish foot! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _gives a sign to the maids, who resume their + previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals + with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the + doorway_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaps to the floor; the_ DUKE _places her on the table and +sits down on a chair beside it_; SWANWHITE _looks meaningly after the_ +STEPMOTHER] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the +Spring arrived? + +DUKE. [_Puts his hand over her mouth_] You little chatter-box! You joy +of my old age--my evening star! Now open wide your rosy ear, and close +your little mouth's crimson shell. Give heed, obey, and all will then +be well with you. + +SWANWHITE. [_Putting her fingers in her ears_] With my eyes I hear, and +with my ears I see--and now I cannot see at all, but only hear. + +DUKE. My child, when still a cradled babe, your troth was plighted to +the youthful King of Rigalid. You have not seen him yet, such being +courtly usage. But the time to tie the sacred knot is drawing near. To +teach you the deportment of a queen and courtly manners, the king has +sent a prince with whom you are to study reading out of books, gaming +at chess, treading the dance, and playing on the harp. + +SWANWHITE. What is the prince's name? + +DUKE. That, child, is something you must never ask of him or anybody +else. For it is prophesied that whosoever calls him by his name shall +have to love him. + +SWANWHITE. Is he handsome? + +DUKE. He is, because your eye sees beauty everywhere. + +SWANWHITE. But is he beautiful? + +DUKE. Indeed he is. And now be careful of your little heart, and don't +forget that in the cradle you were made a queen.--With this, dear +child, I leave you, for I have war to wage abroad.--Submit obediently +to your stepmother. She's hard, but once your father loved her--and +a sweet temper will find a way to hearts of stone. If, despite of +promises and oaths, her malice should exceed what is permissible, then +you may blow this horn [_he takes a horn of carved ivory from under +his cloak_], and help will come. But do not use it till you are in +danger--not until the danger is extreme.--Have you understood? + +SWANWHITE. How is it to be understood? + +DUKE. This way: the prince is here, is in the court already. Is it your +wish to see the prince? + +SWANWHITE. Is it my wish? + +DUKE. Or shall I first bid you farewell? + +SWANWHITE. The prince is here already? + +DUKE. Already here, and I--already there--far, far away where sleeps +the heron of forgetfulness, with head beneath his wing. + +SWANWHITE. [_Leaping into the lap of the_ DUKE _and burying her head in +his beard_] Mustn't speak like that! Baby is ashamed! + +DUKE. Baby should be spanked--who forgets her aged father for a little +prince. Fie on her! + + _A trumpet is heard in the distance_. + +DUKE. [_Rises quickly, takes_ SWANWHITE _in his arms_, _throws her up +into the air and catches her again_] Fly, little bird, fly high above +the dust, with lots of air beneath your wings!--And then, once more on +solid ground!--I am called by war and glory--you, by love and youth! +[_Girding on his sword_] And now hide your wonder-horn, that it may not +be seen by evil eyes. + +SWANWHITE. Where shall I hide it? Where? + +DUKE. The bed! + +SWANWHITE. [_Hiding the horn in the bed-clothing_] There! Sleep well, +my little tooteroot! When it is time, I'll wake you up. And don't +forget your prayers! + +DUKE. And child! Do not forget what I said last: your stepmother must +be obeyed. + +SWANWHITE. In all? + +DUKE. In all. + +SWANWHITE. But not in what is contrary to cleanliness!--Two linen +shifts my mother let me have each sennight; this woman gives but one! +And mother gave me soap and water, which stepmother denies. Look at my +little footies! + +DUKE. Keep clean within, my daughter, and clean will be the outside. +You know that holy men, who, for the sake of penance, deny themselves +the purging waters, grow white as swans, while evil ones turn +raven-black. + +SWANWHITE. Then I will be as white----! + +DUKE. Into my arms! And then, farewell! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into his arms_] Farewell, my great and +valiant hero, my glorious father! May fortune follow you, and make you +rich in years and friends and victories! + +DUKE. Amen--and let your gentle prayers be my protection! + + [_He closes the visor of his golden helmet_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and plants a kiss on the visor_] The golden gates +are shut, but through the bars I still can see your kindly, watchful +eyes. [_Knocking at the visor_] Let up, let up, for little Red +Riding-hood. No one at home? "Well-away," said the wolf that lay in the +bed! + +DUKE. [_Putting her down on the floor_] Sweet flower of mine, grow fair +and fragrant! If I return--well--I return! If not, then from the starry +arch above my eye shall follow you, and never to my sight will you be +lost, for there above all-seeing we become, even as the all-creating +Lord himself. + + _Goes out firmly, with a gesture that bids her not to follow._ + SWANWHITE _falls on her knees in prayer for the_ DUKE; _all the + rose-trees sway before a wind that passes with the sound of a + sigh; the peacock shakes its wings and tail_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Rises, goes to the peacock and begins to stroke its back +and tail_] Pavo, dear Pavo, what do you see and what do you hear? Is +any one coming? Who is it? A little prince? Is he pretty and nice? +You, with your many blue eyes, should be able to tell. [_She lifts up +one of the bird's tail feathers and gazes intently at its "eye"_.] Are +you to keep your eyes on us, you nasty Argus? Are you to see that the +little hearts of two young people don't beat too loudly?--You stupid +thing--all I have to do is to close the curtain! [_She closes the +curtain, which hides the bird, but not the landscape outside; then she +goes to the doves_] My white doves--oh, so white, white, white--now +you'll see what is whitest of all--Be silent, wind, and roses, and +doves--my prince is coming! + +_She looks out for a moment; then she withdraws to the pewter-closet, +leaving the door slightly ajar so that through the opening she can +watch the_ PRINCE; _there she remains standing, visible to the +spectators but not to the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. [_Enters through the middle arch of the doorway. He wears +armour of steel; what shows of his clothing is black. Having carefully +observed everything in the room, he sits down at the table, takes off +his helmet and begins to study it. His back is turned toward the +door behind which_ SWANWHITE _is hiding_] If anybody be here, let him +answer! [_Silence_] There is somebody here, for I can feel the warmth +of a young body come billowing toward me like a southern wind. I can +hear a breath--it carries the fragrance of roses--and, gentle though +it be, it makes the plume on my helmet move. [_He puts the helmet to +his ear_] 'Tis murmuring as if it were a huge shell. It's the thoughts +within my own head that are crowding each other like a swarm of bees in +a hive. "Zum, zum," say the thoughts--just like bees that are buzzing +around their queen--the little queen of my thoughts and of my dreams! +[_He places the helmet on the table and gazes at it_] Dark and arched +as the sky at night, but starless, for the black plume is spreading +darkness everywhere since my mother's death--[_He turns the helmet +around and gazes at it again_] But there, in the midst of the darkness, +deep down--there, on the other side, I see a rift of light!--Has the +sky been split open?--And there, in the rift, I see--not a star, for it +would look like a diamond--but a blue sapphire, queen of the precious +stones--blue as the sky of summer--set in a cloud white as milk and +curved as the dove's egg. What is it? My ring? And now another feathery +cloud, black as velvet, passes by--and the sapphire is smiling--as +if sapphires could smile! And there, the lightning flashed, but +blue--heat-lightning mild, that brings no thunder!--What are you? Who? +And where? [_He looks at the back of the helmet_] Not here! Not there! +And nowhere else! [_He puts his face close to the helmet_] As I come +nearer, you withdraw. + + SWANWHITE _steals forward on tiptoe_. + +PRINCE. And now there are two--two eyes--two little human eyes--I kiss +you! [_He kisses the helmet_. + + SWANWHITE _goes up to the table and seats herself slowly + opposite the_ PRINCE. + + _The_ PRINCE _rises, bows, with his hand to his heart, and + gazes steadily at_ SWANWHITE. + +SWANWHITE. Are you the little prince? + +PRINCE. The faithful servant of the king, and yours! + +SWANWHITE. What message does the young king send his bride? + +PRINCE. This is his word to Lady Swanwhite--whom lovingly he +greets--that by the thought of coming happiness the long torment of +waiting will be shortened. + +SWANWHITE. [_Who has been looking at the_ PRINCE _as if to study him_] +Why not be seated, Prince? + +PRINCE. If seated when you sit, then I should have to kneel when you +stand up. + +SWANWHITE. Speak to me of the king! How does he look? + +PRINCE. How does he look? [_Putting one of his hands up to his eyes_] I +can no longer see him--how strange! + +SWANWHITE. What is his name? + +PRINCE. He's gone--invisible---- + +SWANWHITE. And is he tall? + +PRINCE. [_Fixing his glance on_ SWANWHITE] Wait!--I see him +now!--Taller than you! + +SWANWHITE. And beautiful? + +PRINCE. Not in comparison with you! + +SWANWHITE. Speak of the king, and not of me! + +PRINCE. I do speak of the king! + +SWANWHITE. Is his complexion light or dark? + +PRINCE. If he were dark, on seeing you he would turn light at once. + +SWANWHITE. There's more of flattery than wit in that! His eyes are blue? + +PRINCE. [_Glancing at his helmet_] I think I have to look? + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out her hand between them_] Oh, you--you! + +PRINCE. You with _t h_ makes youth! + +SWANWHITE. Are you to teach me how to spell? + +PRINCE. The young king is tall and blond and blue-eyed, with broad +shoulders and hair like a new-grown forest---- + +SWANWHITE. Why do you carry a black plume? + +PRINCE. His lips are red as the ripe currant, his cheeks are white, and +the lion's cub needn't be ashamed of his teeth. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hair wet? + +PRINCE. His mind knows no fear, and no evil deed ever made his heart +quake with remorse. + +SWANWHITE. Why is your hand trembling? + +PRINCE. We were to speak of the young king and not of me! + +SWANWHITE. So, you, you are to teach me? + +PRINCE. It is my task to teach you how to love the young king whose +throne you are to share. + +SWANWHITE. How did you cross the sea? + +PRINCE. In my bark and with my sail. + +SWANWHITE. And the wind so high? + +PRINCE. Without wind there is no sailing. + +SWANWHITE. Little boy--how wise you are!--Will you play with me? + +PRINCE. What I must do, I will. + +SWANWHITE. And now I'll show you what I have in my chest. [_She goes to +the chest and kneels down beside it; then she takes out several dolls, +a rattle, and a hobby-horse_] Here's the doll. It's my child--the child +of sorrow that can never keep its face clean. In my own arms I have +carried her to the lavendrey, and there I have washed her with white +sand--but it only made her worse. I have spanked her--but nothing +helped. Now I have figured out what's worst of all! + +PRINCE. And what is that? + +SWANWHITE. [_After a glance around the room_] I'll give her a +stepmother! + +PRINCE. But how's that to be? She should have a mother first. + +SWANWHITE. I am her mother. And if I marry twice, I shall become a +stepmother. + +PRINCE. Oh, how you talk! That's not the way! + +SWANWHITE. And you shall be her stepfather. + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +SWANWHITE. You must be very kind to her, although she cannot wash her +face.--Here, take her--let me see if you have learned to carry children +right. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the doll unwillingly_. + +SWANWHITE. You haven't learned yet, but you will! Now take the rattle, +too, and play with her. + + _The_ PRINCE _receives the rattle_. + +SWANWHITE. That's something you don't understand, I see. [_She takes +the doll and the rattle away from him and throws them back into the +chest; then she takes out the hobby-horse_] Here is my steed.--It has +saddle of gold and shoes of silver.--It can run forty miles in an +hour, and on its back I have travelled through Sounding Forest, across +Big Heath and King's Bridge, along High Road and Fearful Alley, all the +way to the Lake of Tears. And there it dropped a golden shoe that fell +into the lake, and then came a fish, and after came a fisherman, and so +I got the golden shoe back. That's all there was to that! [_She throws +the hobby-horse into the chest; instead she takes out a chess-board +with red and white squares, and chess-men made of silver and gold_] +If you will play with me, come here and sit upon the lion skin. [_She +seats herself on the skin and begins to put up the pieces_] Sit down, +won't you--the maids can't see us here! + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down on the skin, looking very embarrassed_. + +SWANWHITE. It's like sitting in the grass--not the green grass of the +meadow, but the desert grass which has been burned by the sun.--Now you +must say something about me! Do you like me a little? + +PRINCE. Are we to play? + +SWANWHITE. To play? What care I for that?--Oh--you were to teach me +something! + +PRINCE. Poor me, what can I do but saddle a horse and carry arms--with +which you are but poorly served. + +SWANWHITE. You are so sad! + +PRINCE. My mother died quite recently. + +SWANWHITE. Poor little prince!--My mother, too, has gone to God in +heaven, and she's an angel now. Sometimes in the nights I see her--do +you also see yours? + +PRINCE. No-o. + +SWANWHITE. And have you got a stepmother? + +PRINCE. Not yet. So little time has passed since she was laid to rest. + +SWANWHITE. Don't be so sad! There's nothing but will wear away in time, +you see. Now I'll give you a flag to gladden you again--Oh, no, that's +right--this one I sewed for the young king. But now I'll sew another +one for you!--This is the king's, with seven flaming fires--you shall +have one with seven red roses on it--but first of all you have to +hold this skein of yarn for me. [_She takes from the chest a skein of +rose-coloured yarn and hands it to the_ PRINCE] One, two, three, and +now you'll see!--Your hands are trembling--that won't do!--Perhaps you +want a hair of mine among the yarn?--Pull one yourself! + +PRINCE. Oh, no, I couldn't---- + +SWANWHITE. I'll do it, then, myself. [_She pulls a hair from her head +and winds it into the ball of yarn_] What is your name? + +PRINCE. You shouldn't ask. + +SWANWHITE. Why not? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you--hasn't he? + +SWANWHITE. No, he hasn't! What could happen if you told your name? +Might something dreadful happen? + +PRINCE. The duke has told you, I am sure. + +SWANWHITE. I never heard of such a thing before--of one who couldn't +tell his name! + + _The curtain behind which the peacock is hidden moves; a faint + sound as of castanets is heard_. + +PRINCE. What was that? + +SWANWHITE. That's Pavo--do you think he knows what we are saying? + +PRINCE. It's hard to tell. + +SWANWHITE. Well, what's your name? + + _Again the peacock makes the same kind of sound with his bill_. + +PRINCE. I am afraid--don't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. He snaps his bill, that's all--Keep your hands still!--Did +you ever hear the tale of the little princess that mustn't mention the +name of the prince, lest something happen? And do you know----? + + _The curtain hiding the peacock is pulled aside, and the bird + is seen spreading out his tail so that it looks as if all the + "eyes" were staring at_ SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Who pulled away the curtain? Who made the bird behold us with +its hundred eyes?--You mustn't ask again! + +SWANWHITE. Perhaps I mustn't--Down, Pavo--there! + + _The curtain resumes its previous position_. + +PRINCE. Is this place haunted? + +SWANWHITE. You mean that things will happen--just like that? Oh, well, +so much is happening here--but I have grown accustomed to it. And then, +besides--they call my stepmother a witch--There, now, I have pricked my +finger! + +PRINCE. What did you prick it with? + +SWANWHITE. There was a splinter in the yarn. The sheep have been locked +up all winter--and then such things will happen. Please see if you can +get it out. + +PRINCE. We must sit at the table then, so I can see. + + [_They rise and take seats at the table_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Holding out one of her little fingers_] Can you see +anything? + +PRINCE. What do I see? Your hand is red within, and through it all the +world and life itself appear in rosy colouring---- + +SWANWHITE. Now pull the splinter out--ooh, it hurts! + +PRINCE. But I shall have to hurt you, too--and ask your pardon in +advance! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, help me, please! + +PRINCE. [_Squeezing her little finger and pulling out the splinter with +his nails_] There is the cruel little thing that dared to do you harm. + +SWANWHITE. Now you must suck the blood to keep the wound from festering. + +PRINCE. [_Sucking the blood from her finger_] I've drunk your +blood--and so I am your foster-brother now. + +SWANWHITE. My foster-brother--so you were at once--or how do you think +I could have talked to you as I have done? + +PRINCE. If you have talked to me like that, how did I talk to you? + +SWANWHITE. Just think, he didn't notice it!--And now I have got a +brother of my own, and that is you!--My little brother--take my hand! + +PRINCE. [_Taking her hand_] My little sister! [_Feels her pulse beating +under his thumb_] What have you there, that's ticking--one, and two, +and three, and four----? _Continues to count silently after having +looked at his watch_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, tell me what it is that ticks--so steady, steady, +steady? It cannot be my heart, for that is here, beneath my breast--Put +your hand here, and you can feel it too. [_The doves begin to stir and +coo_] What is it, little white ones? + +PRINCE. And sixty! Now I know what makes that ticking--it is the time! +Your little finger is the second-hand that's ticking sixty times for +every minute that goes by. And don't you think there is a heart within +the watch? + +SWANWHITE. [_Handling the watch_] We cannot reach the inside of the +watch--no more than of the heart--Just feel my heart! + +SIGNE. [_Enters from the pewter-closet carrying a whip, which she puts +down on the table_] Her Grace commands that the children be seated at +opposite sides of the table. + + _The_ PRINCE _sits down at the opposite end of the table. He + and_ SWANWHITE _look at each other in silence for a while_. + +SWANWHITE. Now we are far apart, and yet a little nearer than before. + +PRINCE. It's when we part that we come nearest to each other. + +SWANWHITE. And you know that? + +PRINCE. I have just learned it! + +SWANWHITE. Now my instruction has begun. + +PRINCE. You're teaching me! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pointing to a dish of fruit_] Would you like some fruit? + +PRINCE. No, eating is so ugly. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, so it is. + +PRINCE. Three maids are standing there--one in the pewter-closet, one +among the clothes, and one among the fruits. Why are they standing +there? + +SWANWHITE. TO watch us two--lest we do anything that is forbidden. + +PRINCE. May we not go into the rosery? + +SWANWHITE. The morning is the only time when I can go into the rosery, +for there the bloodhounds of my stepmother are kept. They never let me +reach the shore--and so I get no chance to bathe. + +PRINCE. Have you then never seen the shore? And never heard the ocean +wash the sand along the beach? + +SWANWHITE. No--never! Here I can only hear the roaring waves in time of +storm. + +PRINCE. Then you have never heard the murmur made by winds that sweep +across the waters? + +SWANWHITE. It cannot reach me here. + +PRINCE. [_Pushing his helmet across the table to_ SWANWHITE] Put it to +your ear and listen. + +SWANWHITE. [_With the helmet at her ear_] What is that I hear? + +PRINCE. The song of waves, the whispering winds + +SWANWHITE. No, I hear human voices--hush! My stepmother is +speaking--speaking to the steward--and mentioning my name--and that of +the young king, too! She's speaking evil words. She's swearing that I +never shall be queen--and vowing that--you--shall take that daughter +of her own--that loathsome Lena---- + +PRINCE. Indeed!--And you can hear it in the helmet? + +SWANWHITE. I can. + +PRINCE. I didn't know of that. But my godmother gave me the helmet as a +christening present. + +SWANWHITE. Give me a feather, will you? + +PRINCE. It is a pleasure--great as life itself. + +SWANWHITE. But you must cut it so that it will write. + +PRINCE. You know a thing or two! + +SWANWHITE. My father taught me---- + + _The_ PRINCE _pulls a black feather out of the plume on his + helmet; then he takes a silver-handled knife from his belt and + cuts the quill_. + + SWANWHITE _takes out an ink-well and parchment from a drawer in + the table_. + +PRINCE. Who is Lady Lena? + +SWANWHITE. You mean, what kind of person? You want her, do you? + +PRINCE. Some evil things are brewing in this house---- + +SWANWHITE. Fear not! My father has bestowed a gift on me that will +bring help in hours of need. + +PRINCE. What is it called? + +SWANWHITE. It is the horn Stand-By. + +PRINCE. Where is it hid? + +SWANWHITE. Read in my eye. I dare not let the maids discover it. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at her eyes_] I see! + +SWANWHITE. [_Pushing pen, ink and parchment across the table to the_ +PRINCE] Write it. + + _The_ PRINCE _writes_. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, that's the place. [_She writes again._ + +PRINCE. What do you write? + +SWANWHITE. Names--all pretty names that may be worn by princes! + +PRINCE. Except my own! + +SWANWHITE. Yours, too! + +PRINCE. Leave that alone! + +SWANWHITE. Here I have written twenty names--all that I know--and +so your name must be there, too. [_Pushing the parchment across the +table_] Read! + + _The_ PRINCE _reads_. + +SWANWHITE. Oh, I have read it in your eye! + +PRINCE. Don't utter it! I beg you in the name of God the merciful, +don't utter it! + +SWANWHITE. I read it in his eye! + +PRINCE. But do not utter it, I beg of you! + +SWANWHITE. And if I do? What then?--Can Lena tell, you think? Your +bride! Your love! + +PRINCE. Oh, hush, hush, hush! + +SWANWHITE. [_Jumps up and begins to dance_] I know his name--the +prettiest name in all the land! + + _The_ PRINCE _runs up to her, catches hold of her and covers + her mouth with his hand_. + +SWANWHITE. I'll bite your hand; I'll suck your blood; and so I'll be +your sister twice--do you know what that can mean? + +PRINCE. I'll have two sisters then. + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing back her head_] O-ho! O-ho! Behold, the +ceiling has a hole, and I can see the sky--a tiny piece of sky, a +window-pane--and there's a face behind it. Is it an angel's?--See--but +see, I tell you!--It's your face! + +PRINCE. The angels are not boys, but girls. + +SWANWHITE. But it is you. + +PRINCE. [_Looking up_] 'Tis a mirror. + +SWANWHITE. Woe to us then! It is the witching mirror of my stepmother, +and she has seen it all. + +PRINCE. And in the mirror I can see the fireplace--there's a pumpkin +hanging in it! + +SWANWHITE. [_Takes from the fireplace a mottled, strangely shaped +pumpkin_] What can it be? It has the look of an ear. The witch has +heard us, too!--Alas, alas! [_She throws the pumpkin into the fireplace +and runs across the floor toward the bed; suddenly she stops on one +foot, holding up the other_] + +Oh, she has strewn the floor with needles---- + + [_She sits down and begins to rub her foot_. + + _The_ PRINCE _kneels in front of_ SWANWHITE _in order to help + her_. + +SWANWHITE. No, you mustn't touch my foot--you mustn't! + +PRINCE. Dear heart, you must take off your stocking if I am to help. + +SWANWHITE. [_Sobbing_] You mustn't--mustn't see my foot! + +PRINCE. But why? Why shouldn't I? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell; I cannot tell. Go--go away from me! To-morrow +I shall tell you, but I can't to-day. + +PRINCE. But then your little foot will suffer--let me pull the needle +out! + +SWANWHITE. Go, go, go!--No, no, you mustn't try!--Oh, had my mother +lived, a thing like this could not have happened!--Mother, mother, +mother! + +PRINCE. I cannot understand--are you afraid of me----? + +SWANWHITE. Don't ask me, please--just leave me--oh! + +PRINCE. What have I done? + +SWANWHITE. Don't leave me, please--I didn't mean to hurt you--but I +cannot tell--If I could only reach the shore--the white sand of the +beach---- + +PRINCE. What then? + +SWANWHITE. I cannot tell! I cannot tell! + + [_She hides her face in her hands. Once more the peacock makes + a rattling sound with his bill; the doves begin to stir; the + three maids enter, one after the other; a gust of wind is + heard, and the tops of the rose-trees outside swing back and + forth; the golden clouds that have been hanging over the sea + disappear, and the blue sea itself turns dark_. + +SWANWHITE. Does Heaven itself intend to judge us?--Is ill-luck in the +house?--Oh, that my sorrow had the power to raise my mother from her +grave! + +PRINCE. [_.Putting his hand on his sword_] My life for yours! + +SWANWHITE. No, don't--she puts the very swords to sleep!--Oh, that my +sorrow could bring back my mother! [_The swallows chirp in their nest_] +What was that? + +PRINCE. [_Catching sight of the nest_] A swallow's nest! I didn't +notice it before. + +SWANWHITE. Nor I! How did it get there? When?--But all the same it +augurs good--And yet the cold sweat of fear is on my brow--and I +choke--Look, how the rose itself is withering because that evil woman +comes this way--for it is she who comes---- + + _The rose on the table is closing its blossom and drooping its + leaves_. + +PRINCE. But whence came the swallows? + +SWANWHITE. They were not sent by her, I'm sure, for they are kindly +birds--Now she is here! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters from the rear with the walk of a panther; the rose +on the table is completely withered_] Signe--take the horn out of the +bed! + + SIGNE _goes up to the bed and takes the horn_. + +STEPMOTHER. Where are you going, Prince? + +PRINCE. The day is almost done, Your Grace; the sun is setting, and my +bark is longing to get home. + +STEPMOTHER. The day is too far gone--the gates are shut, the dogs let +loose--You know my dogs? + +PRINCE. Indeed! You know my sword? + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter with your sword? + +PRINCE. It bleeds at times. + +STEPMOTHER. Well, well! But not with women's blood, I trust?--But +listen, Prince: how would like to sleep in our Blue Room? + +PRINCE. By God, it is my will to sleep at home, in my own bed---- + +STEPMOTHER. Is that the will of anybody else? + +PRINCE. Of many more. + +STEPMOTHER. How many?--More than these!--One, two, three---- + + _As she counts, the members of the household begin to pass by + in single file across the balcony; all of them look serious; + some are armed; no one turns his head to look into the room; + among those that pass are the_ BUTLER, _the_ STEWARD, _the_ + KITCHENER, _the_ GAOLER, _the_ CONSTABLE, _the_ EQUERRY. + +PRINCE. I'll sleep in your Blue Room. + +STEPMOTHER. That's what I thought.--So you will bid ten thousand +good-nights unto your love--and so will Swanwhite, too, I think! + + _A swan comes flying by above the rosery; from the ceiling a + poppy flower drops down on the_ STEPMOTHER, _who falls asleep + at once, as do the maids_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going up to the_ PRINCE] Good-night, my Prince! + +PRINCE. [_Takes her hand and says in a low voice_] Good-night!--Oh, +that it's granted me to sleep beneath one roof with you, my +Princess--your dreams by mine shall be enfolded--and then to-morrow we +shall wake for other games and other---- + +SWANWHITE. [_In the same tone_] You are my all on earth, you are +my parent now--since she has robbed me of my puissant father's +help.--Look, how she sleeps! + +PRINCE. You saw the swan? + +SWANWHITE. No, but I heard--it was my mother. + +PRINCE. Come, fly with me! + +SWANWHITE. No, that we mustn't!--Patience! We'll meet in our +dreams!--But this will not be possible unless--you love me more than +anybody else on earth! Oh, love me--you, you, you! + +PRINCE. My king, my loyalty---- + +SWANWHITE. Your queen, your heart--or what am I? + +PRINCE. I am a knight! + +SWANWHITE. But I am not. And therefore--therefore do I take you--my +Prince---- + + _She puts her hands up to her mouth with a gesture as if she + were throwing a whispered name to him_. + +PRINCE. Oh, woe! What have you done? + +SWANWHITE. I gave myself to you through your own name--and with me, +carried on _your_ wings, yourself came back to you! Oh---- [_Again she +whispers the name_. + +PRINCE. [_With a movement of his hand as if he were catching the name +in the air_] Was that a rose you threw me? + + [_He throws a kiss to her_. + +SWANWHITE. A violet you gave me--that was you--your soul! And now I +drink you in--you're in my bosom, in my heart--you're mine! + +PRINCE. And you are mine! Who is the rightful owner, then? + +SWANWHITE. Both! + +PRINCE. Both! You and I!--My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. My rose! + +SWANWHITE. My violet! + +PRINCE. I _love_ you! + +SWANWHITE. _You_ love _me_! + +PRINCE. You _love_ me! + +SWANWHITE. _I_ love _you_! + + _The stage grows light again. The rose on the table recovers + and opens. The faces of the_ STEPMOTHER _and the three maids + are lighted up and appear beautiful, kind, and happy. The_ + STEPMOTHER _lifts up her drowsy head and, while her eyes remain + closed, she seems to be watching the joy of the two young + people with a sunny smile_. + +SWANWHITE. Look, look! The cruel one is smiling as at some memory from +childhood days. See how Signe the False seems faith and hope embodied, +how the ugly Tova has grown beautiful, the little Elsa tall. + +PRINCE. Our love has done it. + +SWANWHITE. So that is love? Blessed be it by the Lord! The Lord +Omnipotent who made the world! + + [_She falls on her knees, weeping_. + +PRINCE. You weep? + +SWANWHITE. Because I am so full of joy. + +PRINCE. Come to my arms and you will smile. + +SWANWHITE. There I should die, I think. + +PRINCE. Well, smile and die! + +SWANWHITE. [_Rising_] So be it then! + + [_The_ PRINCE _takes her in his arms._ + +STEPMOTHER. [_Wakes up; on seeing the_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE +_together, she strikes the table with the whip_] I must have +slept!--Oho! So we have got that far!--The Blue Room did I say?--I +meant the Blue Tower!--There the prince is to sleep with the Duke of +Exeter's daughter!--Maids! + + _The MAIDS wake up_. + +STEPMOTHER. Show the prince the shortest way to the Blue Tower. And +should he nevertheless lose his way, you may summon the Castellan and +the Gaoler, the Equerry and the Constable. + +PRINCE. No need of that! Wherever leads my course--through fire or +water, up above the clouds or down in the solid earth--there shall I +meet my Swanwhite, for she is with me where I go. So now I go to meet +her--in the tower! Can you beat that for witchcraft, witch?--Too hard, +I think, for one who knows not love! + + [_He goes out followed by the MAIDS_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_To_ SWANWHITE] Not many words are needed--tell your +wishes--but be brief! + +SWANWHITE. My foremost, highest wish is for some water with which to +lave my feet. + +STEPMOTHER. Cold or warm? + +SWANWHITE. Warm--if I may. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A comb to ravel out my hair. + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Are you--are you kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Silver or gold? + +SWANWHITE. Wood or horn will do me well enough. + +STEPMOTHER. What more? + +SWANWHITE. A shift that's clean. + +STEPMOTHER. Linen or silk? + +SWANWHITE. Just linen. + +STEPMOTHER. Good! So I have heard your wishes. Now listen to mine! I +wish that you may have no water, be it warm or cold! I wish that you +may have no comb, of any kind, not even of wood or horn--much less of +gold or silver. That's how kind I am! I wish that you may wear no linen +--but get you at once into the closet there to cover up your body with +that dingy sark of homespun! Such is my word!--And if you try to leave +these rooms--which you had better not, as there are traps and snares +around--then you are doomed--or with my whip I'll mark your pretty +face so that no prince or king will ever look at you again!--Then get +yourself to bed! + + _She strikes the table with her whip again, rises and goes out + through the middle arch of the doorway; the gates, which have + gilded bars, squeak and rattle as she closes and locks them_. + +_Curtain_. + + _The same scene as before, but the golden gates at the rear are + shut. The peacock and the doves are sleeping. The golden clouds + in the sky are as dull in colour as the sea itself and the land + that appears in the far distance_. + + SWANWHITE _is lying on the bed; she has on a garment of black + homespun_. + + _The doors to the three closets are open. In each doorway + stands one of the maids, her eyes closed and in one of her + hands a small lighted lamp of Roman pattern_. + + _A swan is seen flying above the rosery, and trumpet-calls are + heard, like those made by flocks of migrating wild swans_. + + _The_ MOTHER OF SWANWHITE, _all in white, appears outside the + gates. Over one arm she carries the plumage of a swan and on + the other one a small harp of gold. She hangs the plumage on + one of the gates, which opens of its own accord and then closes + in the same way behind her_. + + _She enters the room and places the harp on the table. Then she + looks around and becomes aware of_ SWANWHITE. _At once the harp + begins to play. The lamps carried by the maids go out one by + one, beginning with that farthest away. Then the three doors + close one by one, beginning with the innermost_. + + _The golden clouds resume their former radiance_. + + _The_ MOTHER _lights one of the lamps on the stand and goes up + to the bed, beside which she kneels_. + + _The harp continues to play during the ensuing episode_. + + _The_ MOTHER _rises, takes_ SWANWHITE _in her arms, and places + her, still sleeping, in a huge arm-chair. Then she kneels down + and pulls off_ SWANWHITE'S _stockings. Having thrown these + under the bed, she bends over her daughter's feet as if to + moisten them with her tears. After a while she wipes them with + a white linen cloth and covers them with kisses. Finally she + puts a sandal on each foot which then appears shining white_. + + _Then the_ MOTHER _rises to her feet again, takes out a comb of + gold, and begins to comb_ SWANWHITE'S _hair. This finished, she + carries_ SWANWHITE _back to the bed. Beside her she places a + garment of white linen which she takes out of a bag_. + + _Having kissed_ SWANWHITE _on the forehead, she prepares to + leave. At that moment a white swan is seen to pass by outside, + and one hears a trumpet-call like the one heard before. Shortly + afterward the_ MOTHER OF THE PRINCE, _also in white, enters + through the gate, having first hung her swan plumage on it_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Well met, my sister! How long before the cock will +crow? + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Not very long. The dew is rising from the roses, the +corn-crake's call is heard among the grass, the morning breeze is +coming from the sea. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Let us make haste with what we have on hand, my +sister. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. You called me so that we might talk of our children. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Once I was walking in a green field in the land +that knows no sorrow. There I met you, whom I had always known, yet +had not seen before. You were lamenting your poor boy's fate, left to +himself here in the vale of sorrow. You opened up your heart to me, and +my own thoughts, that dwell unwillingly below, were sent in search of +my deserted daughter--destined to marry the young king, who is a cruel +man, and evil. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Then I spoke, while you listened: "May worth belong to +worth; may love, the powerful, prevail; and let us join these lonely +hearts, in order that they may console each other!" + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Since then heart has kissed heart and soul enfolded +soul. May sorrow turn to joy, and may their youthful happiness bring +cheer to all the earth! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. If it be granted by the powers on high! + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. That must be tested by the fire of suffering. + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. [_Taking in her hand the helmet left behind by the_ +PRINCE] May sorrow turn to joy--this very day, when he has mourned his +mother one whole year! + + _She exchanges the black feathers on the helmet for white and + red ones_. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Your hand, my sister--let the test begin! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Here is my hand, and with it goes my son's! Now we +have pledged them---- + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. I go to open up the tower. And let the young ones fold +each other heart to heart. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. In decency and honour! + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. And we shall meet again in those green fields where +sorrow is not known. + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. [_Pointing to_ SWANWHITE] Listen! She dreams +of him!--Oh foolish, cruel woman who thinks that lovers can be +parted!--Now they are walking hand in hand within the land of dreams, +'neath whispering firs and singing lindens--They sport and laugh---- + +PRINCE'S MOTHER. Hush! Day is dawning--I can hear the robins calling, +and see the stars withdrawing from the sky--Farewell, my sister! + + [_She goes out, taking her swan plumage with her._ + +SWANWHITE'S MOTHER. Farewell! + + _She passes her hand over_ SWANWHITE _as if blessing her, then + she takes her plumage and leaves, closing the gate after her_. + + _The clock on the table strikes three. The harp is silent for + a moment; then it begins to play a new melody of even greater + sweetness than before_. SWANWHITE _wakes up and looks around; + listens to the harp; gets up from the bed; draws her hands + through her hair; looks with pleasure at her own little feet, + now spotlessly clean, and notices finally the while linen + garment on the bed. She sits down at the table in the place she + occupied during the evening. She acts as if she were looking at + somebody sitting opposite her at the table, where the_ PRINCE + _was seated the night before. She looks straight into his eyes, + smiles a smile of recognition, and holds out one of her hands. + Her lips move at times as if she were speaking, and then again + she seems to be listening to an answer_. + + _She points meaningly to the white and red feathers on the + helmet, and leans forward as if whispering. Then she puts her + head back and breathes deeply as if to fill her nostrils with + some fragrance. Having caught something in the air with one + of her hands, she kisses the hand and then pretends to throw + something back across the table. She picks up the quill and + caresses it as if it were a bird; then she writes and pushes + the parchment across the table. Her glances seem to follow + "his" pen while the reply is being written, and at last she + takes back the parchment, reads it, and hides it in her bosom_. + + _She strokes her black dress as if commenting on the sad change + in her appearance. Whereupon she smiles at an inaudible answer, + and finally bursts into hearty laughter_. + + _By gestures she indicates that her hair has been combed. Then + she rises, goes a little distance away from the table, and + turns around with a bashful expression to hold out one of her + feet. In that attitude she stays for a moment while waiting for + an answer. On hearing it she becomes embarrassed and hides her + foot quickly under her dress_. + + _She goes to the chest and takes out the chess-board and the + chess-men, which she places on the lions skin with a gesture of + invitation. Then she lies down beside the board, arranges the + men, and begins to play with an invisible partner_. + + _The harp is silent for a moment before it starts a new melody_. + + _The game of chess ends and_ SWANWHITE _seems to be talking + with her invisible partner. Suddenly she moves away as if + he were coming too close to her. With a deprecating gesture + she leaps lightly to her feet. Then she gazes long and + reproachfully at him. At last she snatches up the white garment + and hides herself behind the bed_. + + _At that moment the_ PRINCE _appears outside the gates, which + he vainly tries to open. Then he raises his eyes toward the sky + with an expression of sorrow and despair_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Coming forward_] Who comes with the morning wind? + +PRINCE. Your heart's beloved, your prince, your all! + +SWANWHITE. Whence do you come, my heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. From dreamland; from the rosy hills that hide the dawn; from +whispering firs and singing lindens. + +SWANWHITE. What did you do in dreamland, beyond the hills of dawn, my +heart's beloved? + +PRINCE. I sported and laughed; I wrote her name; I sat upon the lion's +skin and played at chess. + +SWANWHITE. You sported and you played--with whom? + +PRINCE. With Swanwhite. + +SWANWHITE. It is he!--Be welcome to my castle, my table, and my arms! + +PRINCE. Who opens up the golden gates? + +SWANWHITE. Give me your hand!--It is as chilly as your heart is warm. + +PRINCE. My body has been sleeping in the tower, while my soul was +wandering in dreamland--In the tower it was cold and dark. + +SWANWHITE. In my bosom will I warm your hand--I'll warm it by my +glances, by my kisses! + +PRINCE. Oh, let the brightness of your eyes be shed upon my darkness! + +SWANWHITE. Are you in darkness? + +PRINCE. Within the tower there was no light of sun or moon. + +SWANWHITE. Rise up, O sun! Blow, southern wind! And let thy bosom +gently heave, O sea!--Ye golden gates, do you believe that you can part +two hearts, two hands, two lips--that can by nothing be divided? + +PRINCE. Indeed, by nothing! + + _Two solid doors glide together in front of the gates so that_ + SWANWHITE _and the_ PRINCE _can no longer see each other_. + +SWANWHITE. Alas! What was the word we spoke, who heard it, and who +punished us? + +PRINCE. I am not parted from you, my beloved, for still the sound of my +voice can reach you. It goes through copper, steel, and stone to touch +your ear in sweet caress. When in my thoughts you're in my arms. I +kiss you in my dreams. For on this earth there is not anything that can +part us. Swanwhite. Not anything! + +PRINCE. I see you, though my eyes cannot behold you. I taste you, too, +because with roses you are filling up my mouth---- + +SWANWHITE. But in my arms I want you! + +PRINCE. I am there. + +SWANWHITE. No! Against my heart I want to feel the beat of yours--Upon +your arm I want to sleep--Oh, let us, let us, dearest God--oh, let us +have each other! + + _The swallows chirp. A small white feather falls to the + ground_. SWANWHITE _picks it up and discovers it to be a key. + With this she opens gates and doors. The_ PRINCE _comes in_. + SWANWHITE _leaps into his arms. He kisses her on the mouth_. + +SWANWHITE. You do not kiss me! + +PRINCE. Yes, I do! + +SWANWHITE. I do not feel your kisses! + +PRINCE. Then you love me not! + +SWANWHITE. Hold me fast! + +PRINCE. So fast that life may part! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, no, I breathe! + +PRINCE. Give me your soul! + +SWANWHITE. Here!--Give me yours! + +PRINCE. It's here!--So I have yours, and you have mine! + +SWANWHITE. I want mine back! + +PRINCE. Mine, too, I want! + +SWANWHITE. Then you must seek it! + +PRINCE. Lost, both of us! For I am you, and you are me! + +SWANWHITE. We two are one! + +PRINCE. God, who is good, has heard your prayer! We have each other! + +SWANWHITE. We have each other, yet I have you not. I cannot feel the +pressure of your hand, your lip's caress--I cannot see your eyes, nor +hear your voice--You are not here! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am here! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here below. But up above, in dreamland, I would meet +you. + +PRINCE. Then let us fly upon the wings of sleep---- + +SWANWHITE. Close to your heart! + +PRINCE. In my embrace! + +SWANWHITE. Within your arms! + +PRINCE. This is the promised bliss! + +SWANWHITE. Eternal bliss, that has no flaw and knows no end! + +PRINCE. No one can part us. + +SWANWHITE. No one! + +PRINCE. Are you my bride? + +SWANWHITE. My bridegroom, you? + +PRINCE. In dreamland--but not here! + +SWANWHITE. Where are we? + +PRINCE. Here below! + +SWANWHITE. Here, where the sky is clouded, where the ocean roars, and +where each night the earth sheds tears upon the grass while waiting for +the dawn; where flies are killed by swallows, doves by hawks; where +leaves must fall and turn to dust; where eyes must lose their light and +hands their strength! Yes, here below! + +PRINCE. Then let us fly! + +SWANWHITE. Yes, let us fly! + + _The_ GREEN GARDENER _appears suddenly behind the table. All + his clothes are green. He wears a peaked cap, a big apron, and + knee-breeches. At his belt hang shears and a knife. He carries + a small watering-can in one hand and is scattering seeds + everywhere_. + +PRINCE. Who are you? + +GARDENER. I sow, I sow! + +PRINCE. What do you sow? + +GARDENER. Seeds, seeds, seeds. + +PRINCE. What kind of seeds? + +GARDENER. Annuals and biennials. One pulls this way, two pull that. +When the bridal suit is on, the harmony is gone. One and one make one, +but one and one make also three. One and one make two, but two make +three. Then do you understand? + +PRINCE. You mole, you earthworm, you who turn your forehead toward the +ground and show the sky your back--what is there you can teach me? + +GARDENER. That you are a mole and earthworm, too. And that because you +turn your back on the earth, the earth will turn its back on you. [_He +disappears behind the table_. + +SWANWHITE. What was it? Who was he? + +PRINCE. That was the green gardener. + +SWANWHITE. Green, you say? Was he not blue? + +PRINCE. No, he was green, my love. + +SWANWHITE. How can you say what is not so? + +PRINCE. My heart's beloved, I have not said a thing that was not so. + +SWANWHITE. Alas, he does not speak the truth! + +PRINCE. Whose voice is this? Not that of Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. Who is this my eyes behold? Not my Prince, whose very name +attracted me like music of the Neck, or song of mermaids heard among +green waves--Who are you? You stranger with the evil eyes--and with +grey hair! + +PRINCE. You did not see it until now--my hair, that turned to grey +within the tower, in a single night, when I was mourning for my +Swanwhite, who is no longer here. + +SWANWHITE. Yes, here is Swanwhite. + +PRINCE. No, I see a black-clad maid, whose face is black---- + +SWANWHITE. Have you not seen before that I was clad in black? You do +not love me, then! + +PRINCE. You who are standing there, so grim and ugly--no! + +SWANWHITE. Then you have spoken falsely. + +PRINCE. No--for then another one was here! Now--you are filling up my +mouth with noisome nettles. + +SWANWHITE. Your violets smell of henbane now--faugh! + +PRINCE. Thus I am punished for my treason to the king! + +SWANWHITE. I wish that I had waited for your king! + +PRINCE. Just wait, and he will come. + +SWANWHITE. I will not wait, but go to meet him. + +PRINCE. Then I will stay. + +SWANWHITE. [_Going toward the background_] And this is love! + +PRINCE. [_Beside himself_] Where is my Swanwhite? Where, where, where? +The kindest, loveliest, most beautiful? + +SWANWHITE. Seek her! + +PRINCE. 'Twould not avail me here below. + +SWANWHITE. Elsewhere then! [_She goes out_. + + _The_ PRINCE _is alone. He sits down at the table, covers his + face with his hands, and weeps. A gust of wind passes through + the room and sets draperies and curtains fluttering. A sound as + of a sigh is heard from the strings of the harp. The_ PRINCE + _rises, goes to the bed, and stands there lost in contemplation + of its pillow in which is a depression showing_ SWANWHITE'S + _head in profile. He picks up the pillow and kisses it. A noise + is heard outside. He seats himself at the table again_. + + _The doors of the closets fly open. The three_ MAIDS _become + visible, all with darkened faces. The_ STEPMOTHER _enters from + the rear. Her face is also dark_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_In dulcet tones_] Good morning, my dear Prince! How have +you slept? + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. She has gone to marry her young king. Is there no thought +of things like that in your own mind, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I harbour but a single thought---- + +STEPMOTHER. Of little Swanwhite? + +PRINCE. She is too young for me, you mean? + +STEPMOTHER. Grey hairs and common sense belong together as a rule--I +have a girl with common sense---- + +PRINCE. And I grey hairs? + +STEPMOTHER. He knows it not, believes it not! Come, maids! Come, Signe, +Elsa, Tova! Let's have a good laugh at the young suitor and his grey +hairs! + + _The_ MAIDS _begin to laugh. The_ STEPMOTHER _joins in_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. Follow in her traces--here is one! + + [_She hands him a parchment covered with writing_. + +PRINCE. [_Reading_] And she wrote this? + +STEPMOTHER. You know her hand--what has it written? + +PRINCE. That she hates me, and loves another--that she has played with +me; that she will throw my kisses to the wind, and to the swine my +heart--To die is now my will! Now I am dead! + +STEPMOTHER. A knight dies not because a wench has played with him. He +shows himself a man and takes another. + +PRINCE. Another? When there is only one? + +STEPMOTHER. No, two, at least! My Magdalene possesses seven barrels +full of gold. + +PRINCE. Seven? + +STEPMOTHER. And more. [_Pause_. + +PRINCE. Where is Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene is skilled in many crafts---- + +PRINCE. Including witchcraft? + +STEPMOTHER. She knows how to bewitch a princeling. + +PRINCE. [_Gazing at the parchment_] And this was written by my +Swanwhite? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene would never write like that. + +PRINCE. And she is kind? + +STEPMOTHER. Kindness itself! She does not play with sacred feelings, +nor seek revenge for little wrongs, and she is faithful to the one she +likes. + +PRINCE. Then she must be beautiful. + +STEPMOTHER. Not beautiful! + +PRINCE. She is not kind then.--Tell me more of her! + +STEPMOTHER. See for yourself. + +PRINCE. Where? + +STEPMOTHER. Here. + +PRINCE. And this has Swanwhite written----? + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene had written with more feeling + +PRINCE. What would she have written? + +STEPMOTHER. That---- + +PRINCE. Speak the word! Say "love," if you are able! + +STEPMOTHER. Lub! + +PRINCE. You cannot speak the word! + +STEPMOTHER. Lud! + +PRINCE. Oh, no! + +STEPMOTHER. My Magdalene can speak it. May she come? + +PRINCE. Yes, let her come. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Rising and speaking to the_ MAIDS] Blindfold the prince. +Then in his arms we'll place a princess that is without a paragon in +seven kingdoms. + + SIGNE _steps forward and covers the eyes of the_ PRINCE _with a + bandage_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Clapping her hands_] Well--is she not coming? + +_The peacock makes a rattling noise with his bill; the doves begin to +coo_. + +STEPMOTHER. What is the matter? Does my art desert me? Where is the +bride? + + _Four_ MAIDS _enter from the rear, carrying baskets of white + and pink roses. Music is heard from above. The_ MAIDS _go up to + the bed and scatter roses over it_. + + _Then come_ TWO KNIGHTS _with closed visors. They take the_ + PRINCE _between them toward the rear, where they meet the + false_ MAGDALENE, _escorted by two ladies. The bride is deeply + veiled_. + + _With a gesture of her hand the_ STEPMOTHER _bids all depart + except the bridal couple. She herself leaves last of all, after + she has closed the curtains and locked the gates_. + +PRINCE. Is this my bride? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Who is your bride? + +PRINCE. I have forgot her name. Who is your bridegroom? + +FALSE MAGDALENE. He whose name may not be mentioned. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can. + +FALSE MAGDALENE. I can, but will not. + +PRINCE. Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Tell my name first! + +PRINCE. It's seven barrels full of gold, and crooked back, and grim, +and hare-lipped! What's my name? Tell, if you can! + +FALSE MAGDALENE. Prince Greyhead! + +PRINCE. You're right! + + _The_ FALSE MAGDALENE _throws, off her veil, and_ SWANWHITE + _stands revealed_. + +SWANWHITE. [_Dressed in a white garment, with a wreath of roses on her +hair_] Who am I now? + +PRINCE. You are a rose! + +SWANWHITE. And you a violet! + +PRINCE. [_Taking off the bandage_] You are Swanwhite! + +SWANWHITE. And you--are---- + +PRINCE. Hush! + +SWANWHITE. You're mine! + +PRINCE. But you--you left me--left my kisses---- + +SWANWHITE. I have returned--because I love you! + +PRINCE. And you wrote cruel words---- + +SWANWHITE. But cancelled them--because I love you.! + +PRINCE. You told me I was false. + +SWANWHITE. What matters it, when you are true--and when I love you? + +PRINCE. You wished that you were going to the king. + +SWANWHITE. But went to you instead, because I love you! + +PRINCE. Now let me hear what you reproach me with. + +SWANWHITE. I have forgotten it--because I love you! + +PRINCE. But if you love me, then you are my bride. + +SWANWHITE. I am! + +PRINCE. Then may the heavens bestow their blessing on our union! + +SWANWHITE. In dreamland! + +PRINCE. With your head upon my arm! + + _The_ PRINCE _leads_ SWANWHITE _to the bed, in which he places + his sword. Then she lies down on one side of the sword, and he + on the other. The colour of the clouds changes to a rosy red. + The rose-trees murmur. The harp plays softly and sweetly_. + +PRINCE. Good night, my queen! + +SWANWHITE. Good morning, O my soul's beloved!--I hear the beating of +your heart--I hear it sigh like billowing waters, like swift-flying +steeds, like wings of eagles--Give me your hand! + +PRINCE. And yours!--Now we take wing---- + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters with the_ MAIDS, _who carry torches; all four have +become grey-haired_] I have to see that my task is finished ere the +duke returns. My daughter. Magdalene, is plighted to the prince--while +Swanwhite lingers in the tower--[_Goes to the bed_] They sleep already +in each other's arms--you bear me witness, maids! + + _The_ MAIDS _approach the bed_. + +STEPMOTHER. What do I see? Each one of you is grey-haired! + +SIGNE. And so are you, Your Grace! + +STEPMOTHER. Am I? Let me see! + + ELSA _holds a mirror in front of her_. + +STEPMOTHER. This is the work of evil powers!--And then, perhaps, the +prince's hair is dark again?--Bring light this way! + + _The_ MAIDS _hold their torches so that the light from them + falls on the sleeping couple_. + +STEPMOTHER. Such is the truth, indeed!--How beautiful they +look!--But--the sword! Who placed it there--the sword that puts at +naught their plighted troth? + + _She tries to take away the sword, but the_ PRINCE _clings to + it without being wakened_. + +SIGNE. Your Grace--here's deviltry abroad! + +STEPMOTHER. What is it? + +SIGNE. This is not Lady Magdalene. + +STEPMOTHER. Who is it, then? My eyes need help. + +SIGNE. 'Tis Lady Swanwhite. + +STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite?--Can this be some delusion of the devil's +making, or have I done what I least wished? + + _The_ PRINCE _turns his head in his sleep so that his lips meet + those of_ SWANWHITE. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Touched by the beautiful sight_] No sight more beautiful +have I beheld!--Two roses brought together by the wind; two falling +stars that join in downward flight--it is too beautiful!--Youth, +beauty, innocence, and love! What memories, sweet memories--when I was +living in my father's home--when I was loved by _him_, the youth whom +never I called mine--What did I say I was? + +SIGNE. That you were loved by him, Your Grace. + +STEPMOTHER. Then I did speak the mighty word. Be-loved--so he named me +once--"beloved"--ere he started for the war--[_Lost in thoughts_] It +was the last of him.--And so I had to take the one I couldn't bear.--My +life is drawing to its close, and I must find my joy in happiness +denied myself! I should rejoice--at others' happiness--Some kind of +joy, at least--at other people's love--Some kind of love, at least--But +there's my Magdalene? What joy for her? O, love omnipotent--eternally +creative Lord--how you have rendered soft this lion heart! Where is my +strength? Where is my hatred--my revenge? [_She seats herself and looks +long at the sleeping couple_] A song runs through my mind, a song of +love that _he_ was singing long ago, that final night-- [_She rises as +if waking out of a dream and flies into a rage; her words come with a +roar_] Come hither, men! Here, Steward, Castellan, and Gaoler--all of +you! [_She snatches the sword out of the bed and throws it along the +floor toward the rear_] Come hither, men! + + _Noise is heard outside; the men enter as before_. + +STEPMOTHER. Behold! The prince, the young king's vassal, has defiled +his master's bride! You bear me witness to the shameful deed! Put +chains and fetters on the traitor and send him to his rightful lord! +But in the spiked cask put the hussy. [_The_ PRINCE and SWANWHITE _wake +up_] Equerry! Gaoler! Seize the prince! + + _The_ EQUERRY _and the_ GAOLER _lay hands on the_ PRINCE. + +PRINCE. Where is my sword? I fight not against evil, but for innocence! + +STEPMOTHER. Whose innocence? + +PRINCE. My bride's. + +STEPMOTHER. The hussy's innocence! Then prove it! + +SWANWHITE. Oh, mother, mother! + + _The white swan flies by outside_. + +STEPMOTHER. Maids, bring shears! I'll cut the harlot's hair! + + SIGNE _hands her a pair of shears_. + +STEPMOTHER. [_Takes hold of_ SWANWHITE _by the hair and starts to cut +it, but she cannot bring the blades of the shears together]_ Now I'll +cut off your beauty and your love! [_Suddenly she is seized with panic, +which quickly spreads to the men and the three_ MAIDS] Is the enemy +upon us? Why are you trembling? + +SIGNE. Your Grace, the dogs are barking, horses neighing--it means +that visitors are near. + +STEPMOTHER. Quick, to the bridges, all of you! Man the ramparts! Fall +to with flame and water, sword and axe! + + _The_ PRINCE _and_ SWANWHITE _are left alone_. + +GARDENER. [_Appears from behind the table; in one hand he carries +a rope, the_ DUKE'S _horn in the other_] Forgiveness for those who +sin; for those who sorrow, consolation; and hope for those who are +distressed! + +SWANWHITE. My father's horn! Then help is near! But--the prince? + +GARDENER. The prince will follow me. A secret passage, underground, +leads to the shore. There lies his bark. The wind is favourable! Come! + + [_The_ GARDENER _and the_ PRINCE _go out._ SWANWHITE _alone, + blows the horn. An answering signal is heard in the distance. + The_ GAOLER _enters with the spiked cask_. SWANWHITE _blows the + horn again. The answer is heard much nearer_. + + _The_ DUKE _enters. He and_ SWANWHITE _are alone on the stage_. + +DUKE. My own beloved heart, what is at stake? + +SWANWHITE. Your own child, father!--Look--the spiked cask over there! + +DUKE. How has my child transgressed? + +SWANWHITE. The prince's name I learned, by love instructed--spoke +it--came to hold him very dear. + +DUKE. That was no capital offence. What more? + +SWANWHITE. At his side I slept, the sword between us---- + +DUKE. And still there was no capital offence, though I should hardly +call it wise--And more? + +SWANWHITE. No more! + +DUKE. [_To the_ GAOLER, _pointing to the spiked cask_] Away with it! +[_To_ SWANWHITE] Well, child, where is the prince? + +SWANWHITE. He's sailing homeward in his bark. + +DUKE. Now, when the tide is battering the shore?--Alone? Swanwhite. +Alone! What is to happen? + +DUKE. The Lord alone can tell! + +SWANWHITE. He's in danger? + +DUKE. Who greatly dares has sometimes luck. + +SWANWHITE. He ought to have! + +DUKE. He will, if free from guilt! + +SWANWHITE. He is! More than I am! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Entering_] How came you here! + +DUKE. A shortcut brought me--I could wish it had been shorter still. + +STEPMOTHER. Had it been short enough, your child had never come to harm. + +DUKE. What kind of harm? + +STEPMOTHER. The one for which there is no cure. + +DUKE. And you have proofs? + +STEPMOTHER. I've valid witnesses. + +DUKE. Then call my butler. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know. + +DUKE. [_Shaking his sword at her_] Call my butler! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _trembles. Then she claps her hands four times + together_. + + _The_ BUTLER _enters_. + +DUKE. Have made a pie of venison, richly stuffed with onions, parsley, +fennel, cabbage--and at once! + + _The_ BUTLER _steals a sidelong glance at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. What are you squinting at? Be quick! + + _The_ BUTLER _goes out_. + +DUKE. [_To the_ STEPMOTHER] Now call the master of my pleasure-garden. + +STEPMOTHER. He does not know! + +DUKE. And never will! But he must come! Call, quick! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands six times_. + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters_. + +DUKE. Three lilies bring: one white, one red, one blue. + + _The_ GARDENER _looks sideways at the_ STEPMOTHER. + +DUKE. Your head's at stake! + + _The_ GARDENER _goes out_. + +DUKE. Summon your witnesses! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _claps her hands once_. + + SIGNE _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know--but choose your words! What have you seen? + +SIGNE. I have seen Lady Swanwhite and the prince together in one bed. + +DUKE. With sword between? + +SIGNE. Without. + +DUKE. I can't believe it!--Other witnesses? + + _The_ TWO KNIGHTS _enter_. + +DUKE. Were these the groomsmen?--Tell your tale. + +FIRST KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +SECOND KNIGHT. The Lady Magdalene I have escorted to her bridal couch. + +DUKE. What's that? A trick, I trow--that caught the trickster!--Other +witnesses? + + ELSA _enters_. + +DUKE. Tell what you know. + +ELSA. I swear by God, our righteous judge, that I have seen the prince +and Lady Swanwhite fully dressed and with a sword between them. + +DUKE. One for, and one against--two not germane.--I leave it to the +judgment of the Lord!--The flowers will speak for him. + +TOVA. [_Enters_] My gracious master--noble lord! + +DUKE. What do you know? + +TOVA. I know my gracious mistress innocent. + +DUKE. O, child--so you know that! Then teach us how to know it too. + +TOVA. When I am saying only what is true---- + +DUKE. No one believes it! But when Signe tells untruth, we must +believe!--And what does Swanwhite say herself? Her forehead's purity, +her steady glance, her lips' sweet innocence--do they not speak aloud +of slander? And "slander" is the verdict of a father's eye.--Well +then--Almighty God on high shall give his judgment, so that human +beings may believe! + + _The_ FLOWER GARDENER _enters carrying three lilies placed in + three tall and narrow vases of glass. The_ DUKE _places the + flowers in a semicircle on the table. The_ BUTLER _enters with + a huge dish containing a steaming pie_. + +DUKE. [_Placing the dish within the semicircle formed by the three +flowers_] The white one stands for whom? + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE. _and the_ STEPMOTHER] For Swanwhite. + +DUKE. The red one stands for whom? + +ALL. [As _before_] The prince. + +DUKE. For whom the blue one? + +ALL. [As _before_] The youthful king. + +DUKE. Well, Tova--child who still has faith in innocence because you +too are innocent--interpret now for us the judgment of the Lord--tell +us the gentle secrets of these flowers. + +TOVA. The evil part I cannot utter. + +DUKE. I will. What's good I'll leave for you.--As the steam from the +blood of the prurient beast rises upward--as upward the smell of the +passionate spices is mounting--what see you? + +TOVA. [_Gazing at the three lilies_] The white one folds its blossom to +protect itself against defilement. That is Swanwhite's flower. + +ALL. Swanwhite is innocent. + +TOVA. The red one, too--the prince's lily--closes its head--but the +blue one, which stands for the king, flings wide its gorge to drink the +lust-filled air. + +DUKE. You've told it right! What more is there to see? + +TOVA. I see the red flower bend its head in reverent love before the +white one, while the blue one writhes with envious rage. + +DUKE. You've spoken true!--For whom is Swanwhite then? + +TOVA. For the prince, because more pure is his desire, and therefore +stronger, too. + +ALL. [_Except_ SWANWHITE _and the_ STEPMOTHER] Swanwhite for the prince! + +SWANWHITE. [_Throwing herself into her father's arms_] O, father! + +DUKE. Call back the prince! Let every trump and bugle summon him. Hoist +sail on every bark! But first of all--the spiked cask is for whom? + + _All remain silent_. + +DUKE. Then I will say it: for the duchess; for the arch-liar and +bawd!--Know, evil woman, that though nothing else be safe against your +tricks, they cannot conquer love!--Go--quick--begone! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _makes a gesture which for a moment seems to + stun the_ DUKE. + +DUKE. [_Draws his sword and turns the point of it toward the_ +STEPMOTHER, _having first seated_ SWANWHITE _on his left shoulder_] +A-yi, you evil one! My pointed steel will outpoint all your tricks! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _withdraws backward, dragging her legs behind + her like a panther_. + +DUKE. Now for the prince! + + _The_ STEPMOTHER _stops on the balcony, rigid as a statue. She + opens her mouth as if she were pouring out venom_. + + _The peacock and the doves fall down dead. Then the_ STEPMOTHER + _begins to swell. Her clothes become inflated to such an extent + that they hide her head and bust entirely. They seem to be + flaming with a pattern of interwoven snakes and branches. The + sun is beginning to rise outside. The ceiling sinks slowly into + the room, while smoke and fire burst from the fireplace_. + +DUKE. [_Raising the cross-shaped handle of his sword toward the_ +STEPMOTHER] Pray, people, pray to Christ, our Saviour! + +ALL. Christ have mercy! + + _The ceiling resumes its ordinary place. The smoke and fire + cease. A noise is heard outside, followed by the hum of many + voices_. + +DUKE. What new event is this? + +SWANWHITE. I know! I see!--I hear the water dripping from his hair; I +hear the silence of his heart, the breath that comes no more--I see +that he is dead! + +DUKE. Where do you see--and whom? + +SWANWHITE. Where?--But I see it! + +DUKE. I see nothing. + +SWANWHITE. As they must come, let them come quick! + + _Four little girls enter with baskets out of which they scatter + white lilies and hemlock twigs over the floor. After them come + four pages ringing silver bells of different pitch. Then comes + a priest carrying a large crucifix. Then, the golden bier, with + the body of the_ PRINCE, _covered by a white sheet, on which + rest white and pink roses. His hair is dark again. His face is + youthful, rosy, and radiantly beautiful. There is a smile on + his lips_. + + _The harp begins to play. The sun rises completely. The magic + bubble around the_ STEPMOTHER _bursts, and she appears once + more in her customary shape_. + + _The bier is placed in the middle of the floor, so that the + rays of the rising sun fall on it_. + + SWANWHITE _throws herself on her knees beside the bier and + covers the_ PRINCE'S _face with kisses_. + + _All present put their hands to their faces and weep_. + + _The_ FISHERMAN _has entered behind the bier_. + +DUKE. The brief tale tell us, fisherman---- + +FISHERMAN. Does it not tell itself, my noble lord?--The young prince +had already crossed the strait, when, seized by violent longing for +his love, he started to swim back, in face of tide and wave and +wind--because his bark seemed rudder-less.--I saw his young head breast +the billows, I heard him cry her name--and then his corpse was gently +dropped upon the white sand at my feet. His hair had turned to grey +that night when he slept in the tower; sorrow and wrath had blanched +his cheeks; his lips had lost their power of smiling.--Now, when +death o'ertook him, beauty and youth came with it. Like wreaths his +darkening locks fell round his rosy cheeks; he smiled--and see!--is +smiling still. The people gathered on the shore, awed by the gentle +spectacle--and man said unto man: lo, this is love! + +SWANWHITE. [_Lying down beside the body of the_ PRINCE] He's dead; his +heart will sing no more; his eyes no longer will light up my life; +his breath will shed its dew on me no more. He smiles, but not toward +me--toward heaven he smiles. And on his journey I shall bear him +company. + +DUKE. Kiss not a dead man's lips--there's poison in them! + +SWANWHITE. Sweet poison if it bring me death--that death in which I +seek my life! + +DUKE. They say, my child, the dead cannot gain union by willing it; +and what was loved in life has little worth beyond. + +SWANWHITE. And love? Should then its power not extend to the other side +of death? + +DUKE. Our wise men have denied it. + +SWANWHITE. Then he must come to me--back to this earth. O gracious +Lord, please let him out of heaven again! + +DUKE. A foolish prayer! + +SWANWHITE. I cannot pray--woe's me! The evil eye still rules this place. + +DUKE. You're thinking of the monster which the sunbeams pricked. The +stake for her--let her without delay be burned alive! + +SWANWHITE. Burn her?--Alive?--Oh, no! Let her depart in peace! + +DUKE. She must be burned alive! You, men, see that the pyre is raised +close to the shore, and let the winds play with her ashes! + +SWANWHITE. [_On her knees before the_ DUKE] No, no--I pray you, though +she was my executioner: have mercy on her! + +STEPMOTHER. [_Enters, changed, freed from the evil powers that have +held her in their spell_] Mercy! Who spoke the sacred word? Who poured +her heart in prayer for me? + +SWANWHITE. I did--your daughter--mother! + +STEPMOTHER. O, God in heaven, she called me mother!--Who taught you +that? + +SWANWHITE. Love did! + +STEPMOTHER. Then blessed be love which can work miracles like +that!--But, child, then it must also have the power to make the dead +return out of the darkling realms of death!--I cannot do it, having not +received the grace of love. But you! + +SWANWHITE. Poor me--what can I do? + +STEPMOTHER. You can forgive, and you can love--Well, then, my little +Lady Almighty, you can do anything!--Be taught by me who have no power +at all. Go, cry the name of your beloved, and put your hand above his +heart! Then, with the help of the Supreme One--calling none but Him for +helper--your beloved will hear your voice--if you believe! + +SWANWHITE. I do believe--I will it--and--I pray for it! + +_She goes up to the_ PRINCE, _places one of her hands over his heart, +and raises the other toward the sky. Then she bends down over him +and whispers something into his ear. This she repeats three times in +succession. At the third whisper the_ PRINCE _wakes up_. SWANWHITE +_throws herself at his breast. All kneel in praise and thanksgiving. +Music_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SIMOOM + +(SAMUM) + +1890 + + + CHARACTERS + + BISKRA, _an Arabian girl_ + YUSUF, _her lover_ + GUIMARD, _a lieutenant of Zouaves_ + + _The action takes place in Algeria at the present time_. + + + + +SIMOOM + + + _The inside of a marabout, or shrine. In the middle of the + floor stands a sarcophagus forming the tomb of the Mohammedan + saint (also called "marabout") who in his lifetime occupied the + place. Prayer-rugs are scattered over the floor. At the right + in the rear is an ossuary, or charnel-house._ + + _There is a doorway in the middle of the rear wall. It is + closed with a gate and covered by a curtain. On both sides of + the doorway are loopholes. Here and there on the floor are seen + little piles of sand. An aloe plant, a few palm leaves and some + alfa grass are thrown together on one spot_. + + * * * * * + +FIRST SCENE + + + BISKRA _enters. The hood of her burnous is pulled over her head + so that it almost covers her face. She carries a guitar at her + back. Throwing herself down in a kneeling position on one of + the rugs, she begins to pray with her arms crossed over her + breast. A high wind is blowing outside_. + +BISKRA. La ilaha illa 'llah! + +YUSUF. [_Enters quickly_] The Simoom is coming! Where is the Frank? + +BISKRA. He'll be here in a moment. + +YUSUF. Why didn't you stab him when you had a chance? + +BISKRA. Because he is to do it himself. If I were to do it, our whole +tribe would be killed, for I am known to the Franks as Ali, the guide, +though they don't know me as Biskra, the maiden. + +YUSUF. He is to do it himself, you say? How is that to happen? + +BISKRA. Don't you know that the Simoom makes the brains of the white +people dry as dates, so that they have horrible visions which disgust +them with life and cause them to flee into the great unknown? + +YUSUF. I have heard of such things, and in the last battle there were +six Franks who took their own lives before the fighting began. But do +not place your trust in the Simoom to-day, for snow has fallen in the +mountains, and the storm may be all over in half an hour.--Biskra! Do +you still know how to hate? + +BISKRA. If I know how to hate?--My hatred is boundless as the desert, +burning as the sun, and stronger than my love. Every hour of joy that +has been stolen from me since the murder of Ali has been stored up +within me like the venom back of a viper's tooth, and what the Simoom +cannot do, that I can do. + +YUSUF. Well spoken, Biskra, and the task shall be yours. Ever since my +eyes first fell upon you, my own hatred has been withering like alfa +grass in the autumn. Take strength from me and become the arrow to my +bow. + +BISKRA. Embrace me, Yusuf, embrace me! + +YUSUF. Not here, within the presence of the Sainted one; not +now--later, afterward, when you have earned your reward! + +BISKRA. You proud sheikh! You man of pride! + +YUSUF. Yes--the maiden who is to carry my offspring under her heart +must show herself worthy of the honour. + +BISKRA. I--no one but I--shall bear the offspring of Yusuf! I, +Biskra--the scorned one, the ugly one, but the strong one, too! + +YUSUF. All right! I am now going to sleep beside the spring.--Do I +need to teach you more of the secret arts which you learned from +Sidi-Sheikh, the great marabout, and which you have practised at fairs +ever since you were a child? + +BISKRA. Of that there is no need. I know all the secrets needed to +scare the life out of a cowardly Frank.--The dastard who sneaks upon +the enemy and sends the leaden bullet ahead of himself! I know them +all--even the art of letting my voice come out of my belly. And what is +beyond my art, that will be done by the sun, for the sun is on the side +of Yusuf and Biskra. + +YUSUF. The sun is a friend of the Moslem, but not to be relied upon. +You may get burned, girl!--Take a drink of water first of all, for I +see that your hands are shrivelled, and---- + + _He lifts up one of the rugs and steps down into a sort of + cellar, from which he brings back a bowl filled with water; + this he hands to_ BISKRA. + +BISKRA. [_Raising the bowl to her mouth_] And my eyes are already +beginning to see red--my lungs are parching--I hear--I hear--do you +see how the sand is sifting through the roof--the strings of my guitar +are crooning--the Simoom is here! But the Frank is not! + +YUSUF. Come down here, Biskra, and let the Frank die by himself. + +BISKRA. First hell, and then death! Do you think I'll weaken? [_Pours +the water on one of the sand piles_] I'll water the sand, so that +revenge may grow out of it, and I'll dry up my heart. Grow, O hatred! +Burn, O sun! Smother, O wind! + +YUSUF. Hail to you, mother of Ben Yusuf--for you are to bear the son of +Yusuf, the avenger--you! + + +_The wind is increasing. The curtain in front of the door begins to +flap. A red glimmer lights up the room, but changes into yellow during +the ensuing scene_. + + +BISKRA. The Frank is coming, and--the Simoom is here!--Go! + +YUSUF. In half an hour you shall see me again. [_Pointing toward a sand +pile_] There is your hour-glass. Heaven itself is measuring out the +time for the hell of the infidels! + + [_Goes down into the cellar_. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD _enters looking very pale; he stumbles, his + mind is confused, and he speaks in a low voice_. + +GUIMARD. The Simoom is here!--What do you think has become of my men? + +BISKRA. I led them west to east. + +GUIMARD. West--to east!--Let me see!--That's straight east--and +west!--Oh, put me on a chair and give me some water! + +BISKRA. [_Leads_ GUIMARD _to one of the sand piles and makes him lie +down on the floor with his feet on the sand_] Are you comfortable now? + +GUIMARD. [_Staring at her_] I feel all twisted up. Put something under +my head. + +BISKRA. [_Piling the sand higher under his feet_] There's a pillow for +your head. + +GUIMARD. Head? Why, my feet are down there--Isn't that my feet? + +BISKRA. Of course! + +GUIMARD. I thought so. Give me a stool now--under my head. + +BISKRA. [_Pulls out the aloe plant and pushes it under Guimard's legs_] +There's a stool for you. + +GUIMARD. And then water!--Water! + +BISKRA. [_Fills the empty bowl with sand and hands it to_ GUIMARD] +Drink while it's cold. + +GUIMARD. [_Putting his lips to the bowl_] It is cold--and yet it does +not still my thirst! I cannot drink it--I abhor water--take it away! + +BISKRA. There's the dog that bit you! + +GUIMARD. What dog? I have never been bitten by a dog. + +BISKRA. The Simoom has shrivelled up your memory--beware the delusions +of the Simoom! Don't you remember the mad greyhound that bit you during +the last hunt at Bab-el-Wad? + +GUIMARD. The hunt at Bab-el-Wad? That's right!--Was it a +beaver-coloured----? + +BISKRA. Bitch? Yes.--There you see. And she bit you in the calf. Can't +you feel the sting of the wound? + +GUIMARD. [_Reaches out a hand to feel his calf and pricks himself on +the aloe_] Yes, I can feel it.--Water! Water! + +BISKRA. [_Handing him the sand-filled bowl_] Drink, drink! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot! Holy Mother of God--I have rabies! + +BISKRA. Don't be afraid! I shall cure you, and drive out the demon by +the help of music, which is all-powerful. Listen! + +GUIMARD. [_Screaming_] Ali! Ali! No music; I can't stand it! And how +could it help me? + +BISKRA. If music can tame the treacherous spirit of the snake, don't +you think it may conquer that of a mad dog? Listen! [_She sings and +accompanies herself on the guitar_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! Simoom! + +YUSUF. [_Responding from below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What is that you are singing, Ali? + +BISKRA. Have I been singing? Look here--now I'll put a palm-leaf in my +mouth. [_She puts a piece of leaf between her teeth; the song seems to +be coming from above_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra! + +YUSUF. [_From below_] Simoom! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. What an infernal jugglery! + +BISKRA. Now I'll sing! + +BISKRA and YUSUF. [_Together_] Biskra-biskra, Biskra-biskra, +Biskra-biskra! Simoom! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] What are you, you devil who are singing with two +voices? Are you man or woman? Or both? + +BISKRA. I am Ali, the guide. You don't recognise me because your senses +are confused. But if you want to be saved from the tricks played by +sight and thought, you must believe in me--believe what I say and do +what I tell you. + +GUIMARD. You don't need to ask me, for I find everything to be as you +say it is. + +BISKRA. There you see, you worshipper of idols! + +GUIMARD. I, a worshipper of idols? + +BISKRA. Yes, take out the idol you carry on your breast. + + GUIMARD _takes out a locket_. + +BISKRA. Trample on it now, and then call on the only God, the Merciful +One, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. [_Hesitating_] Saint Edward--my patron saint? + +BISKRA. Can he protect you? Can he? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot!--[_Waking up_] Yes, he can! + +BISKRA. Let us see! + + _She opens the gate; the curtain flaps and the grass on the + floor moves_. + +GUIMARD. [_Covering his mouth_] Close the door! + +BISKRA. Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. No, I cannot. + +BISKRA. Do you see? The Simoom does not bend a hair on me, but you, the +infidel one, are killed by it! Throw down the idol! + +GUIMARD. [_Throws the locket on the floor_] Water! I die! + +BISKRA. Pray to the Only One, the Merciful and Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. How am I to pray? + +BISKRA. Repeat after me. + +GUIMARD. Speak on! + +BISKRA. There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One! + +GUIMARD. "There is only one God: there is no other God but He, the +Merciful, the Compassionate One." + +BISKRA. Lie down on the floor. + + GUIMARD _lies down unwillingly_. + +BISKRA. What do you hear? + +GUIMARD. I hear the murmuring of a spring. + +BISKRA. There you see! God is one, and there is no other God but He, +the Merciful and Compassionate One!--What do you see? + +GUIMARD. I can hear a spring murmur--I can see the light of a lamp--in +a window with green shutters--on a white street---- + +BISKRA. Who is sitting at the window? + +GUIMARD. My wife--Elise! + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around her neck? + +GUIMARD. That's my son, George. + +BISKRA. How old is your son? + +GUIMARD. Four years on the day of Saint Nicholas. + +BISKRA. And he can already stand behind the curtain with his arm around +the neck of another man's wife? + +GUIMARD. No, he cannot--but it is he! + +BISKRA. Four years old, you say, and he has a blond mustache? + +GUIMARD. A blond mustache, you say?--Oh, that's--my friend Jules. + +BISKRA. Who is standing behind the curtain with his arm around your +wife's neck? + +GUIMARD. Oh, you devil! + +BISKRA. Do you see your son? + +GUIMARD. No, I don't see him any longer. + + BISKRA. [_Imitates the tolling of bells on the guitar_] What do + you see now? + +GUIMARD. I see bells ringing--I taste dead bodies--their smell in my +mouth is like rancid butter--faugh! + +BISKRA. Can't you hear the priest chanting the service for a dead child? + +GUIMARD. Wait!--I cannot hear--[_Wistfully_] But do you want me +to?--There!--I can hear it! + +BISKRA. Do you see the wreath on the coffin they are carrying? + +GUIMARD. Yes---- + +BISKRA. There are violet ribbons on it--and there are letters printed +in silver--"Farewell, my darling George--from your father." + +GUIMARD. Yes, that's it! [_He begins to cry_] My George! O George, my +darling boy!--Elise--wife--can't you console me?--Oh, help me! [_He is +groping around_] Elise, where are you? Have you left me? Answer! Call +out the name of your love! + +A VOICE. [_Coming from the roof_] Jules! Jules! + +GUIMARD. Jules! But my name is--what is my name? It is Charles! And she +is calling Jules! Elise--my beloved wife--answer me--for your spirit +is here--I can feel it--and you promised never to love anybody else---- + + _The_ VOICE _is heard laughing_. + +GUIMARD. Who is laughing? + +BISKRA. Elise--your wife. + +GUIMARD. Oh, kill me! I don't want to live any longer! Life sickens +me like sauerkraut at Saint-Doux--You there--do you know what +Saint-Doux is? Lard! [_He tries to spit_] Not a drop of saliva +left!--Water--water--or I'll bite you! + + _The wind outside has risen to a full storm_. + +BISKRA. [_Puts her hand to her mouth and coughs_] Now you are dying, +Frank! Write down your last wishes while there is still time--Where is +your note-book? + +GUIMARD. [_Takes out a note-book and a pencil_] What am I to write? + +BISKRA. When a man is to die, he thinks of his wife--and his child! + +GUIMARD. [_Writes_] "Elise--I curse you! Simoom--I die----" + +BISKRA. And then sign it, or it will not be valid as a testament. + +GUIMARD. What shall I sign? + +BISKRA. Write: La ilaha illa 'llah. + +GUIMARD. [_Writing_] It is written.--And can I die now? + +BISKRA. Now you can die--like a craven soldier who has deserted his +people! And I am sure you'll get a handsome burial from the jackals +that will chant the funeral hymn over your corpse. [_She drums the +signal for attack on the guitar_] Can you hear the drums--the attack +has begun--on the Faithful, who have the sun and the Simoom on their +side--they are now advancing--from their hiding-places--[_She makes a +rattling noise on the guitar_] The Franks are firing along the whole +line--they have no chance to load again--the Arabs are firing at their +leisure--the Franks are flying! + +GUIMARD. [_Rising_] The Franks never flee! + +BISKRA. The Franks will flee when they hear the call to retreat. + + [_She blows the signal for "retreat" on a flute which she has + produced from under her burnoose_. + +GUIMARD. They are retreating--that's the signal--and I am here--[_He +tears off his epaulets_] I am dead! + + [_He falls to the ground_. + +BISKRA. Yes, you are dead!--And you don't know that you have been dead +a long time. + + [_She goes to the ossuary and takes from it a human skull_. + +GUIMARD. Have I been dead? + + [_He feels his face with his hands_. + +BISKRA. Long! Long!--Look at yourself in the mirror here! [_She holds +up the skull before him_. + +GUIMARD. Ah! That's me! + +BISKRA. Can't you see your own high cheek-bones? Can't you see the eyes +that the vultures have picked out? Don't you know that gap on the right +side of the jaw where you had a tooth pulled? Can't you see the hollow +in the chin where, grew the beard that your Elise was fond of stroking? +Can't you see where used to be the ear that your George kissed at +the breakfast-table? Can't you see the mark of the axe--here in the +neck--which the executioner made when he cut off the deserter's head---- + + GUIMARD, _who has been watching her movements and listening to + her words with evident horror, sinks down dead_. + +BISKRA. [_Who has been kneeling, feels his pulse; then she rises and +sings_] Simoom! Simoom! [_She opens both gates; the curtain flutters +like a banner in the wind; she puts her hand up to her mouth and falls +over backward, crying_] Yusuf! + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + BISKRA. GUIMARD (_dead_). YUSUF _comes out of the cellar_. + + +YUSUF. [_Having examined the body of_ GUIMARD, _he looks for_ BISKRA] +Biskra! [_He discovers her and takes her up in his arms_] Are you alive? + +BISKRA. Is the Frank dead? + +YUSUF. If he is not, he will be. Simoom! Simoom! + +BISKRA. Then I live! But give me some water! + +YUSUF. [_Carrying her toward the cellar_] Here it is!--And now Yusuf is +yours! + +BISKRA. And Biskra will be your son's mother, O Yusuf, great Yusuf! + +YUSUF. My strong Biskra! Stronger than the Simoom! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +(DEBET OCH KREDIT) + +AN ACT + +1893 + + + CHARACTERS + + AXEL, _Doctor of Philosophy and African explorer_ + THURE, _his brother, a gardener_ + ANNA, _the wife of_ THURE + MISS CECILIA + THE FIANCE _of_ CECILIA + LINDGREN, _Doctor of Philosophy and former school-teacher_ + MISS MARIE + THE COURT CHAMBERLAIN + THE WAITER + + + +DEBIT AND CREDIT + +_A well-furnished hotel room. There are doors on both sides_. + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +THURE. There's some style to this room, isn't there? But then the +fellow who lives here is stylish, too. + +WIFE. Yes, so I understand. Of course, I've never seen your brother, +but I've heard a whole lot. + +THURE. Oh, gossip! _My_ brother, the doctor, has gone right across +Africa, and that's something everybody can't do. So it doesn't matter +how many drinks he took as a young chap---- + +WIFE. Yes, your brother, the doctor! Who is nothing but a +school-teacher, for that matter---- + +THURE. No, he's a doctor of philosophy, I tell you---- + +WIFE. Well, that's nothing but one who teaches. And that's just what my +brother is doing in the school at Aby. + +THURE. Your brother is all right, but he is nothing but a public-school +teacher, and that's not the same as a doctor of philosophy--which isn't +a boast either. + +WIFE. Well, no matter what he is or what you call him, he has cost us a +whole lot. + +THURE. Of course it has been rather costly, but then he has brought us +a lot of pleasure, too. + +WIFE. Fine pleasures! When we've got to lose house and home for his +sake! + +THURE. That's so--but then we don't know yet if his slip-up on the loan +had some kind of cause that he couldn't help. I guess it isn't so easy +to send registered letters from darkest Africa. + +WIFE. Whether he has any excuses or not doesn't change the matter a +bit. But if he wants to do something for us--it's nothing more than he +owes us. + +THURE. Well, we'll see, we'll see!--Anyhow, have you heard they've +already given him four decorations? + +WIFE. Well, that doesn't help us any. I guess it'll only make him a +little more stuck-up. Oh, no, it'll be some time before I get over that +the sheriff had to come down on us with the papers--and bring in other +people as witnesses--and then--the auction--and all the neighbours +coming in and turning all we had upside down. And do you know what made +me sorer than all the rest? + +THURE. The black---- + +WIFE. Yes, it was that my sister-in-law should bid in my black silk +dress for fifteen crowns. Think of it--fifteen crowns! + +THURE. You just wait--just wait a little! We might get you a new silk +dress---- + +WIFE. [_Weeping_] But it'll never be the same one--the one my +sister-in-law bid in. + +THURE. We'll get another one then!--Now, just look at that gorgeous hat +over there! I guess it must be one of those royal chamberlains who's +talking with Axel now. + +WIFE. What do I care about that! + +THURE. Why, don't you think it's fun that a fellow who has the same +name as you and I gets to be so respected that the King's own household +people have to visit him? If I remember right, you were happy for a +whole fortnight when your brother, the school-teacher, had been asked +to dine at the bishop's. + +WIFE. I can't remember anything of the kind. + +THURE. Of course you can't! + +WIFE. But I do remember the fifteenth of March, when we had to leave +our place for his sake, and we hadn't been married more than two years, +and I had to carry away the child on my own arm--Oh!--and then, when +the steamer came with all the passengers on board just as we had to get +out--all the cocked hats in the world can't make me forget that! And, +for that matter, what do you think a royal chamberlain cares about a +plain gardener and his wife when they've just been turned out of house +and home? + +THURE. Look here! What do you think this is? Look at all his +decorations!--Look at this one, will you! + + _He takes an order out of its case, holds it in the palm of his + hand, and pats it as if it were a living thing_. + +WIFE. Oh, that silly stuff! + +THURE. Don't you say anything against them, for you never can tell +where you'll end. The gardener at Staring was made a director and a +knight on the same day. + +WIFE. Well, what does that help us? + +THURE. No, of course not--it doesn't help us--but these things here +[_pointing to the orders_] may help us a whole lot in getting another +place.--However, I think we've waited quite a while now, so we'd better +sit down and make ourselves at home. Let me help you off with your +coat--come on now! + +WIFE. [_After a slight resistance_] So you think we're going to be +welcome, then? I have a feeling that our stay here won't last very long. + +THURE. Tut, tut! And I think we're going to have a good dinner, too, if +I know Axel right. If he only knew that we're here--But now you'll +see! [_He presses a button and a_ WAITER _enters_] What do you want--a +sandwich, perhaps? [_To the_ WAITER] Bring us some sandwiches and +beer.--Wait a moment! Get a drink for me--the real stuff, you know! +[_The_ WAITER _goes out_] You've got to take care of yourself, don't +you know. + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + THURE _and his_ WIFE. AXEL. The CHAMBERLAIN. + +AXEL. [_To the_ CHAMBERLAIN] At five, then--in full dress, I suppose? + +CHAMBERLAIN. And your orders! + +AXEL. Is it necessary? + +CHAMBERLAIN. Absolutely necessary, if you don't want to seem rude, and +that's something which you, as a democrat, want least of all. Good-bye, +doctor! + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + _In leaving, the_ CHAMBERLAIN _bows slightly to_ THURE _and + his_ WIFE, _neither of whom returns the salute_. + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + AXEL. THURE _and his_ WIFE. + +AXEL. Oh, is that you, old boy?--It seems an eternity since I saw you +last. And this is your wife?--Glad to see you! + +THURE. Thanks, brother! And I wish you a happy return after your long +trip. + +AXEL. Yes, that was something of a trip--I suppose you have read about +it in the papers---- + +THURE. Oh, yes, I've read all about it. [_Pause_] And then father sent +you his regards. + +AXEL. Oh, is he still sore at me? + +THURE. Well, you know the old man and his ways. If only you hadn't been +a member of that expedition, you know, he would have thought it one of +the seven wonders of the world. But as you were along, of course, it +was nothing but humbug. + +AXEL. So he's just the same as ever! Simply because I am _his_ son, +nothing I ever do can be of any value. It means he can't think very +much of himself either.--Well, so much for that! And how are you +getting along nowadays? + +THURE. Not very well, exactly! There's that old loan from the bank, you +know---- + +AXEL. Yes, that's right! Well, what happened to it? + +THURE. Oh, what happened was that I had to pay it. + +AXEL. That's too bad! But we'll settle the matter as soon as we have a +chance. + + _The_ WAITER _comes in with_ THURE's _order on a tray_. + +AXEL. What's that? + +THURE. Oh, it was only me who took the liberty of ordering a couple of +sandwiches---- + +AXEL. Right you were! But I think we ought to have some wine, so I +could drink the health of my sister-in-law, as I couldn't get to the +wedding. + +THURE. Oh, no--not for us! Not so early in the morning! Thanks very +much! + +AXEL. [_Signals to the_ WAITER, _who goes out_] I should have asked you +to stay for dinner, but I have to go out myself. Can you guess where I +am going? + +THURE. You don't mean to say you're going to the Palace? + +AXEL. Exactly--I am asked to meet the Monarch himself. + +THURE. Lord preserve us!--What do you think of that, Anna? + + _His_ WIFE _turns and twists on her chair as if in torment, + quite unable to answer_. + +AXEL. I suppose the old man will turn republican after this, when he +hears that His Majesty cares to associate with me. + +THURE. See here, Axel--you'll have to pardon me for getting back to +something that's not very pleasant--but it has to be settled. + +AXEL. Is it that blessed old loan? + +THURE. Yes, but it isn't only that. To put it plain--we've had to stand +an execution for your sake, and now we're absolutely cleaned out. + +AXEL. That's a fine state of affairs! But why in the world didn't you +get the loan renewed? + +THURE. Well, that's it! How was I to get any new sureties when you were +away? + +AXEL. Couldn't you go to my friends? + +THURE. I did. And the result was--what it was. Can you help us out now? + +AXEL. How am I going to help you now? Now when all my creditors are +getting after me? And it won't do for me to start borrowing when they +are just about to make a position for me. There's nothing that hurts +you more than to borrow money. Just wait a little while, and we'll get +it all straightened out. + +THURE. If we're to wait, then everything's up with us. This is just the +time to get hold of a garden--this is the time to start digging and +sowing, if you are to get anything up in time. Can't you get a place +for us? + +AXEL. Where am I to get hold of a garden? + +THURE. Among your friends. + +AXEL. My friends keep no gardens. Now, don't you hamper me when I try +to get up on firm ground! When I am there I'll pull you up, too. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] He doesn't want to help us, Anna! + +AXEL. I cannot--not this moment! Do you think it reasonable that I, who +am seeking a job myself, should have to seek one for you, too? What +would people be saying, do you think? "There, now," they would say, +"we've got not only him but his relatives to look after!" And then they +would drop me entirely. + +THURE. [_Looks at his watch; then to his wife_] We've got to go. + +AXEL. Why must you go so soon? + +THURE. We have to take the child to a doctor. + +AXEL. For the Lord's sake, have you a child, too? + +WIFE. Yes, we have. And a sick child, which lost its health when we had +to move out into the kitchen so that the auction could be held. + +AXEL. And all this for my sake! It's enough to drive me crazy! For +my sake! So that I might become a famous man!--And what is there I +can do for you?--Do you think it would have been better if I had +stayed at home?--No, worse--for then I should have been nothing but +a poor teacher, who certainly could not have been of any use to you +whatever.--Listen, now! You go to the doctor, but come back here after +a while. In the meantime I'll think out something. + +THURE. [_To his_ WIFE] Do you see now, that he wants to help us? + +WIFE. Yes, but can he do it? That's the question. + +THURE. He can do anything he wants. + +AXEL. Don't rely too much on it--or the last state may prove worse +than the first.--Oh, merciful heavens, to think that you have a sick +child, too! And for my sake! + +THURE. Oh, I guess it isn't quite as bad as it sounds. + +WIFE. Yes, so you say, who don't know anything about it---- + +THURE. Well, Axel, we'll see you later then. + +LINDGREN _appears in the doorway_. + +WIFE. [_To_ THURE] Did you notice he didn't introduce us--to the +chamberlain? + +THURE. Oh, shucks, what good would that have been? + +[_They go out_. + + + +FOURTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN, _who is shabbily dressed, unshaved, apparently + fond of drinking, and looking as if he had just got out of bed_. + +AXEL _is startled for a moment at the sight of_ LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. You don't recognise me? + +AXEL. Yes, now I do. But you have changed a great deal. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you think so? + +AXEL. Yes, I do, and I am surprised to find that these years can have +had such an effect---- + +LINDGREN. Three years may be pretty long.--And you don't ask me to sit +down? + +AXEL. Please--but I am rather in a hurry. + +LINDGREN. You have always been in a hurry. + + [_He sits down; pause._ + +AXEL. Why don't you say something unpleasant? + +LINDGREN. It's coming, it's coming! + + [_He wipes his spectacles; pause._ + +AXEL. How much do you need? + +LINDGREN. Three hundred and fifty. + +AXEL. I haven't got it, and I can't get it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, sure!--You don't mind if I help myself to a few drops? + + _He pours out a drink from the bottle brought by the_ Waiter + _for_ THURE. + +AXEL. Won't you have a glass of wine with me instead? + +LINDGREN. No--why? + +AXEL. Because it looks bad to be swilling whisky like that. + +LINDGREN. How very proper you have become! + +AXEL. Not at all, but it hurts my reputation and my credit. + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have credit? Then you can also give me a lift, after +having brought me down. + +AXEL. That is to say: you are making demands? + +LINDGREN. I am only reminding you that I am one of your victims. + +AXEL. Then, because of the gratitude I owe you, I shall bring these +facts back to your mind: that you helped me through the university at +a time when you had plenty of money; that you helped to get my thesis +printed---- + +LINDGREN. That I taught you the methods which determined your +scientific career; that I, who then was as straight as anybody, +exercised a favourable influence on your slovenly tendencies; that, in +a word, I made you what you are; and that, finally, when I applied for +an appropriation to undertake this expedition, you stepped in and took +it. + +AXEL. No, I got it. Because I, and not you, was held to be the man for +the task. + +LINDGREN. And that settled me! Thus, one shall be taken, and the other +left!--Do you think that was treating me fairly? + +AXEL. It was what the world calls "ungrateful," but the task was +achieved, and by it science was enriched, the honour of our country +upheld, and new regions opened for the use of coming generations. + +LINDGREN. Here's to you!--You have had a lot of oratorical +practice--But have you any idea how unpleasant it feels to play the +part of one used up and cast off? + +AXEL. I imagine it must feel very much like being conscious of +ingratitude, and I can only congratulate you at not finding yourself in +a position as unpleasant as my own.--But let us return to reality. What +can I do for you? + +LINDGREN. What do you think? + +AXEL. For the moment--nothing. + +LINDGREN. And in the next moment you are gone again. Which means that +this would be the last I saw of you. + + [_He pours out another drink_. + +AXEL. Will you do me the favour of not finishing the bottle? I don't +want the servants to suspect me of it. + +LINDGREN. Oh, go to hell! + +AXEL. You don't think it's pleasant for me to have to call you down +like this, do you? + +LINDGREN. Say--do you want to get me a ticket for the banquet to-night? + +AXEL. I am sorry to say that I don't think you would be admitted. + +LINDGREN. Because--- + +AXEL. You are drunk! + +LINDGREN. Thanks, old man!--Well, will you let me have a look at your +botanical specimens, then? + +AXEL. No, I am going to describe them myself for the Academy. + +LINDGREN. How about your ethnographical stuff? + +AXEL. No, that's not my own. + +LINDGREN. Will you--let me have twenty-five crowns? + +AXEL. As I haven't more than twenty myself, I can only give you ten. + +LINDGREN. Rotten! + +AXEL. Thus stand the affairs of the man everybody envies. Do you think +there is anybody in whose company I might feel happy? Not one! Those +that are still down hate me for climbing up, and those already up fear +one coming from below. + +LINDGREN. Yes, you are very unfortunate! + +AXEL. I am! And I can tell you that after my experience during the last +half-hour, I wouldn't mind changing place with you. What a peaceful, +unassailable position he holds who has nothing to lose! What a lot +of interest and sympathy those that are obscure and misunderstood +and over-looked always arouse! You have only to hold out your hand +and you get a coin. You have only to open your arms, and there are +friends ready to fall into them. And then what a powerful party behind +you--formed of the millions who are just like you! You enviable man who +don't realise your own good fortune! + +LINDGREN. So you think me that far down, and yourself as high up as +all that?--Tell me, you don't happen to have read to-day's paper? [_He +takes a newspaper from his pocket_. + +AXEL. No, and I don't care to read it either. + +LINDGREN. But you ought to do it for your own sake. + +AXEL. No, I am not going to do it--not even for _your_ sake. It is as +if you said: "Come here and let me spit at you." And then you are silly +enough to demand that I shall come, too.--Do you know, during these +last minutes I have become more and more convinced that if I had ever +come across you in the jungle, I should beyond all doubt have picked +you off with my breech-loader? + +LINDGREN. I believe it--beast of prey that you are! + +AXEL. It isn't safe to settle accounts with one's friends, or with +persons with whom one has been intimate, for it is hard to tell in +advance who has most on the debit side. But as you are bringing in +a bill, I am forced to look it over.--You don't think it took me +long to discover that back of all your generosity lay an unconscious +desire to turn me into the strong arm which you lacked--to make me +do for you what you couldn't do for yourself? I had imagination and +initiative--you had nothing but money and--"pull." So I am to be +congratulated that you didn't eat me, and I may be excused for eating +you--my only choice being to eat or be eaten! + +LINDGREN. You beast of prey! + +AXEL. You rodent, who couldn't become a beast of prey--although that +was just what you wished! And what you want at this moment is not so +much to rise up to me as to pull me down to where you are.--If you +have anything of importance to add, you had better hurry up, for I am +expecting a visit. + +LINDGREN. From your fiancee? + +AXEL. So you have snooped that out, too? + +LINDGREN. Sure enough! And I know what Marie, the deserted one, thinks +and says--I know what has happened to your brother and his wife---- + +AXEL. Oh, you know my fiancee? For, you see, it so happens that I am +not yet engaged! + +LINDGREN. No, but I know _her_ fiance. + +AXEL. What does that mean? + +LINDGREN. Why, she has been running around with another fellow all the +time--So you didn't know that? + +AXEL. [_As he listens for something going on outside_] Oh, yes, I knew +of it, but I thought she was done with him--See here, if you'll come +back in a quarter of an hour, I'll try to get things arranged for you +in some way or another. + +LINDGREN. Is that a polite way of showing me the door? + +AXEL. No, it's an attempt to meet an old obligation. Seriously! + +LINDGREN. Well, then I'll go--and come back--Good-bye for a while. + + + +FIFTH SCENE + + + AXEL. LINDGREN. _The_ WAITER. _Then the_ FIANCE, _dressed in + black, with a blue ribbon in the lapel of his coat_. + +WAITER. There's a gentleman here who wants to see you. + +AXEL. Let him come in. + + _The_ WAITER _goes out, leaving the door open behind him. The_ + FIANCE _enters_. + +LINDGREN. [_Observing the newcomer closely_] Well, good-bye. + +AXEL--and good luck! [_He goes out_. + +AXEL. Good-bye. + + + +SIXTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCE [_much embarrassed_] + +AXEL. With whom have I the honour----? + +FIANCE. My name is not a name in the same way as yours, Doctor, and my +errand concerns a matter of the heart---- + +AXEL. Oh, do you happen to be--You know Miss Cecilia? + +FIANCE. I am the man. + +AXEL. [_Hesitating for a moment; then with decision_] Please be seated. +[_He opens the door and beckons the_ WAITER. + +_The_ WAITER _enters_. + +AXEL. [_To the_ WAITER] Have my bill made out, see that my trunk is +packed, and bring me a carriage in half an hour. + +WAITER. [_Bowing and leaving_] Yes, Doctor. + +AXEL. [_Goes up to the_ FIANCE _and sits down on a chair beside him_] +Now let's hear what you have to say? + +FIANCE. [_After a pause, with unction_] There were two men living in +the same city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had sheep and +cattle in plenty. The poor man owned nothing but one ewe lamb---- + +AXEL. What does that concern me? + +FIANCE. [_As before_] One ewe lamb, which he had bought and was trying +to raise. + +AXEL. Oh, life's too short. What do you want? Are you and Miss Cecilia +still engaged? + +FIANCE. [_Changing his tone_] I haven't said a word about Miss Cecilia, +have I? + +AXEL. Well, sir, you had better get down to business, or I'll show you +the door. But be quick about it, and get straight to the point, without +any frills---- + +FIANCE. [_Holding out his snuff-box_] May I? + +AXEL. No, thanks. + +FIANCE. A great man like you has no such little weaknesses, I suppose? + +AXEL. As you don't seem willing to speak, I shall. Of course, it is +none of your business, but it may do you good to learn of it, as you +don't seem to know it: I am regularly engaged to Miss Cecilia, who +formerly was your fiancee. + +FIANCE. [_Startled_] Who was? + +AXEL. Because she has broken with you. + +FIANCE. I know nothing about it. + +AXEL. [_Taking a ring from the pocket of his waistcoat]_ That's +strange, but now you do know. And here you can see the ring she has +given me. + +FIANCE. So she has broken with me? + +AXEL. Yes, as she couldn't be engaged to two men at the same time, and +as she had ceased to care for you, she had to break with you. I might +have told you all this in a more decent fashion, if you hadn't stepped +on my corns the moment you came in. + +FIANCE. I didn't do anything of the kind. + +AXEL. Cowardly and disingenuous--cringing and arrogant at the same time! + +FIANCE. [_Gently_] You are a hard man, Doctor. + +AXEL. No, but I may become one. You showed no consideration for my +feelings a moment ago. You sneered, which I didn't. And that's the end +of our conversation. + +FIANCE. [_With genuine emotion_] I feared that you might take away from +me my only lamb--but you wouldn't do that, you who have so many---- + +AXEL. Suppose I wouldn't--are you sure she would stay with you anyhow? + +FIANCE. Put yourself in my place, Doctor---- + +AXEL. Yes, if you'll put yourself in mine. + +FIANCE. I am a poor man---- + +AXEL. So am I! But judging by what I see and hear, you have certain +bliss waiting for you in the beyond. That's more than I have.--And, +furthermore, I have taken nothing away from you: I have only received +what was offered me. Just as you did! + +FIANCE. And I who had been dreaming of a future for this young woman--a +future full of brightness---- + +AXEL. Pardon me a piece of rudeness, but you began it: are you so sure +that the future of this young woman will not turn out a great deal +brighter by my side? + +FIANCE. You are now reminding me of my humble position as a worker---- + +AXEL. No, I am reminding you of that young woman's future, which you +have so much at heart. And as I am told that she has ceased to care +for you, but does care for me, I am only taking the liberty to dream of +a brighter future for her with the man she loves than with the man she +doesn't love. + +FIANCE. You are a strong man, you are, and we little ones were born to +be your victims! + +AXEL. See here, my man, I have been told that you got the better +of another rival for Cecilia's heart, and that you were not very +scrupulous about the means used for the purpose. How do you think that +_victim_ liked you? + +FIANCE. He was a worthless fellow. + +AXEL. From whom you saved the girl! And now I save her from you! +Good-bye! + + + +SEVENTH SCENE + + + AXEL. _The_ FIANCE. CECILIA. + +FIANCE. Cecilia! + +CECILIA _draws back from him_. + +FIANCE. You seem to know your way into this place? + +AXEL. [_To the_ FIANCE] You had better disappear! + +CECILIA. I want some water! + +FIANCE. [_Picking up the whisky bottle from the table_] The bottle +seems to be finished!--Beware of that man, Cecilia! + +AXEL. [_Pushing the_ FIANCE _out through the door_] Oh, your presence +is wholly superfluous--get out! + +FIANCE. Beware of that man, Cecilia! [_He goes out_. + + + +EIGHTH SCENE + + + AXEL. CECILIA. + +AXEL. That was a most unpleasant incident, which you might have spared +me--both by breaking openly with him and by not coming to my room. + +CECILIA. [_Weeping_] So I am to be scolded, too? + +AXEL. Well, the responsibility had to be fixed, and now, when that's +done--we can talk of something else.--How are you, to begin with? + +CECILIA. So, so! + +AXEL. Not well, that means? + +CECILIA. How are you? + +AXEL. Fine--only a little tired. + +CECILIA. Are you going with me to see my aunt this after-noon? + +AXEL. No, I cannot, for I have to drive out. + +CECILIA. And that's more fun, of course. You go out such a lot, and +I--never! + +AXEL. Hm! + +CECILIA. Why do you say "hm"? + +AXEL. Because your remark made an unpleasant impression on me. + +CECILIA. One gets so many unpleasant impressions these days---- + +AXEL. For instance? + +CECILIA. By reading the papers. + +AXEL. So you have been reading those scandalous stories about me! And +you believe them? + +CECILIA. One doesn't know what to believe. + +AXEL. So you really suspect me of being the unscrupulous fellow +pictured in those stories? And as you are nevertheless willing to marry +me, I must assume that you are moved by purely practical considerations +and not by any personal attraction. + +CECILIA. You speak so harshly, as if you didn't care for me at all! + +AXEL. Cecilia--are you willing to leave this place with me in fifteen +minutes? + +CECILIA. In fifteen minutes! For where! + +AXEL. London. + +CECILIA. I am not going with you until we are married. + +AXEL. Why? + +CECILIA. Why should we leave like that, all of a sudden? + +AXEL. Because--it's suffocating here! And if I stay, they'll drag me +down so deep that I'll never get up again. + +CECILIA. How strange! Are you as badly off as that? + +AXEL. Do you come with me, or do you not? + +CECILIA. Not until we are married--for afterward you would never marry +me. + +AXEL. So that's your faith in me!--Will you sit down for a moment, +then, while I go in and write a couple of letters? + +CECILIA. Am I to sit here alone, with all the doors open? + +AXEL. Well, don't lock the door, for then we are utterly lost. [_He +goes out to the left_. + +CECILIA. Don't be long! + + _She goes up to the door leading to the hallway and turns the + key in the lock_. + + + +NINTH SCENE + + + CECILIA _alone for a moment. Then_ MARIE _enters_. + +CECILIA. Wasn't the door locked? + +MARIE. Not as far as I could see!--So it was meant to be locked? + +CECILIA. I haven't the honour? + +MARIE. Nor have I. + +CECILIA. Why should you? + +MARIE. How refined! Oh, I see! So it's you! And I am the victim--for a +while! + +CECILIA. I don't know you. + +MARIE. But I know you pretty well. + +CECILIA. [_Rises and goes to the door at the left_] Oh, you do? +[_Opening the door and speaking to_ AXEL] Come out here a moment! + + + +TENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. + +AXEL. [_Entering; to_ MARIE] What do you want here? + +MARIE. Oh, one never can tell. + +AXEL. Then you had better clear out. + +MARIE. Why? + +AXEL. Because what there was between us came to an end three years ago. + +MARIE. And now there is another one to be thrown on the scrap heap? + +AXEL. Did I ever give you any promises that were not kept? Have I ever +owed you anything? Have I ever said a word about marriage? Have we had +any children together? Have I been the only one to receive your favours? + +MARIE. But now you mean to be the only one? With that one over there! + +CECILIA. [_Goes up to_ MARIE] What do you mean?--I don't know you! + +MARIE. No, but there was a time when you did know me. And I remember +that when we met in the streets we called each other by our first +names. [_To_ AXEL] And now you are going to marry her? No, you know, +you are really too good for that! + +AXEL. [_To_ CECILIA] Have you known that woman before? + +CECILIA. No. + +MARIE. You ought to be ashamed of yourself? I simply didn't recognise +you at first because of your swell clothes---- + + AXEL _gazes intently at_ CECILIA. + +CECILIA. [_To_ AXEL] Come--I'll go with you! + +AXEL. [_Preoccupied_] In a moment! Just wait a while! I am only going +in to write another letter--But now we'll close the door first of all. + +MARIE. No, thank you, I don't want to be locked in as she was a while +ago. + +AXEL. [_Interested_] Was the door locked? + +CECILIA. [_To_ MARIE] You don't dare say that the door was locked! + +MARIE. As you expected it to be locked, I suppose you had tried to lock +it and had not succeeded---- + +AXEL. [_Observes_ CECILIA; _then to_ MARIE] It always seemed to me that +you were a nice girl, Marie. Will you let me have my letters back now? + +MARIE. No. + +AXEL. What are you going to do with them? + +MARIE. I hear that I can sell them, now when you have become famous. + +AXEL. And get your revenge at the same time? + +MARIE. Exactly. + +AXEL. Is it Lindgren----? + +MARIE. Yes!--And here he is now himself. + + + +ELEVENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. AXEL. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. [_Enters in high spirits_] Well, what a lot of skirts! And +Marie, too--like the cuckoo that's in every nest! Now listen, Axel! + +AXEL. I hear you even when I don't see you. You're in a fine +humour--what new misfortune has befallen me? + +LINDGREN. I was only a little sour this morning because I hadn't had +a chance to get wound up. But now I've had a bite to eat--Well, you +see--at bottom you don't owe me anything at all. For what I did, I +did out of my heart's goodness, and it has brought me both honour and +pleasure--and what you got was a gift and no loan! + +AXEL. Now you are altogether too modest and generous. + +LINDGREN. Not at all! However, one favour calls for another. Would you +mind becoming my surety on this note? + + AXEL _hesitates_. + +LINDGREN. Well, you needn't be afraid that I'm going to put you in the +same kind of fix as your brother did---- + +AXEL. What do you mean? It was I who put him---- + +LINDGREN. Yes, to the tune of two hundred crowns--but he got your name +as surety for five years' rent---- + +AXEL. [_In a low voice_] Jesus Christ! + +LINDGREN. What's that?--Hm--hm! + +AXEL. [_Looking at his watch_] Just wait a few minutes--I have only to +write a couple of letters. + + CECILIA _starts to go with him_. + +AXEL. [_Holds her back_] Just a few minutes, my dear--[_He kisses her +on the forehead_] Just a few minutes! + + [_He goes toward the left_. + +LINDGREN. Here's the note--you might sign it while you are at it. + +AXEL. Give it to me! + + [_He goes out with an air of determination_. + + + +TWELFTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. + +LINDGREN. Well, girls, are you on good terms again? + +MARIE. Oh, yes, and before we get away, we'll be on still better terms. + + CECILIA _makes a face_. + +MARIE. I should like to have some fun to-day. + +LINDGREN. Come along with me! I'll have money! + +MARIE. No! + + CECILIA _sits down with evident anxiety near the door through + which_ AXEL _disappeared--as if seeking support in that + direction_. + +LINDGREN. Let's take in the fireworks to-night--then we can see how a +great man looks in red light--what do you say to that, Cissie dear? + +CECILIA. Oh, I'll be sick if I have to stay here longer! + +MARIE. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. + +LINDGREN. Scrap, girls, and I'll watch you! Fight till the fur +flies--won't you? + + + +THIRTEENTH SCENE + + + CECILIA. MARIE. LINDGREN. THURE _and his_ WIFE _enter_. + +LINDGREN. Well, well! Old friends! How are you? + +THURE. All right. + +LINDGREN. And the child? + +THURE. The child? + +LINDGREN. Oh, you have forgotten it?--Are you equally forgetful about +names? + +THURE. Names? + +LINDGREN. Signatures!--He must be writing an awful lot in there! + +THURE. Is my brother, the doctor, in there? + +LINDGREN. I don't know if the doctor is there, but your brother went +in there a while ago.--And, for that matter, we might find out. [_He +knocks at the door_] Silent as the grave! [_Knocks again_] Then I'll +walk right in. + + [_He goes out; everybody appears restless and anxious_. + +CECILIA. What can it mean? + +MARIE. Well, we'll see now. + +THURE. What has happened here? + +WIFE. Something is up!--You'll see he doesn't help us! + +LINDGREN. [_Returns, carrying in his hand a small bottle and some +letters_] What does it say? [_He reads the label on the bottle_] +Cyanide of potassium!--How stupid! What a sentimental idiot--to kill +himself for so little--[_Everybody cries out_] So you were no beast of +prey, my dear Axel!--But-[_He stares through the open door into the +adjoining room_]--he's not there--and his things are gone, too. So he +has skipped out! And the bottle has never been opened! That means--he +meant to kill himself, but changed his mind!--And these are his +posthumous writings. "To Miss Cecilia"--seems to contain some round +object--probably an engagement ring--there you are!--"To my brother +THURE" [_He holds up the letter to the light_]--with a piece of blue +paper inside--must be a note--for the amount involved! You're welcome! + + _The_ FIANCE _appears in the doorway at the right_. + +THURE. [_Who has opened his letter_] Do you see that he helped us after +all---- + +WIFE. Oh, in that way! + +LINDGREN. And here's my note--without his name--He's a strong one, all +right! _Diable!_ + +MARIE. Then the fireworks will be called off, I suppose? + +FIANCE. Was there nothing for me? + +LINDGREN. Yes, I think there was a fiancee--somewhere over there!--I +tell you, that fellow is a wonder at clearing up tangled affairs!--Of +course, it makes me mad to think that I let myself be fooled--but I'll +be darned if I don't think I would have done just as he did!--And so +would you, perhaps?--Or what do you think? + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ADVENT + +(ADVENT) + +A MIRACLE PLAY + +1899 + + + CHARACTERS + + _The_ JUDGE + _The_ OLD LADY, _wife of the Judge_ + AMELIA + ADOLPH + _The_ NEIGHBOUR + ERIC + THYRA + _being the same person_ + _The_ OTHER ONE + _The_ FRANCISCAN + _The_ PLAYMATE + _The_ WITCH + _The_ PRINCE + _Subordinate characters, shadows, etc._ + + ACT I. THE VINEYARD WITH THE MAUSOLEUM + ACT II. THE DRAWING-ROOM + ACT III. THE WINE-CELLAR + THE GARDEN + ACT IV. THE CROSS-ROADS + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + THE CROSS-ROADS + ACT V. THE DRAWING-ROOM + THE "WAITING-ROOM" + + + + +ACT I + + + _The background represents a vineyard. At the left stands a + mausoleum. It consists of a small whitewashed brick building + with a door and a pointed window that lacks mullions and panes. + The roof is made of red tiles. A cross crowns the gable. + Clematis vines with purple-coloured, cross-shaped flowers cover + the front wall, at the foot of which appear a number of other + flowers_. + + _A peach-tree carrying fruit stands near the foreground. + Be-neath it sit the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY. + + _The_ JUDGE _wears a green cap with a peak, yellow + knee-breeches, and--a blue coat--all dating back to_ 1820. + _The_ OLD LADY _wears a kerchief on her head and carries + a stick, spectacles, and snuff-box. She has the general + appearance of a "witch." At the right is a small expiatory + chapel containing an image of the Holy Virgin. The fence in + front of it is hung with wreaths and nosegays. A prie-dieu is + placed against the fence_. + + +JUDGE. Life's eve has at last brought the sunshine which its morning +promised us. Early rains and late rains have blessed meadow and field. +And soon the songs of the vintagers will be heard all over the country. + +OLD LADY. Don't talk like that; somebody might hear you. + +JUDGE. Who could be listening here, and what harm could it do to thank +God for all good gifts? + +OLD LADY. It's better not to mention one's good fortune lest misfortune +overhear it. + +JUDGE. What of it? Was I not born with a caul? + +OLD LADY. Take care, take care! There are many who envy us, and evil +eyes are watching us. + +JUDGE. Well, let them! That's the way it has always been. And yet I +have prospered. + +OLD LADY. So far, yes. But I don't trust our neighbour. He has been +going around the village saying that we have cheated him out of his +property--and much more of the same kind which I don't care to repeat. +Of course, it doesn't matter when one has a clean conscience and can +point to a spotless life. Slander cannot hurt me. I go to confession +and mass, and I am prepared to close my eyes whenever my hour may +strike in order to open them again when I shall stand face to face with +my Judge. And I know also what I am going to answer then. + +JUDGE. What are you going to answer? + +OLD LADY. Like this: I was not without fault, O Lord, but even if I was +but a poor, sinful human creature, I was nevertheless a little better +than my neighbour. + +JUDGE. I don't know what has brought you to these thoughts just now, +and I don't like them. Perhaps it is the fact that the mausoleum is to +be consecrated in a few days? + +OLD LADY. Perhaps that is it, for, as a rule, I don't give much thought +to death. I have still every tooth left in my mouth, and my hair is as +plentiful as when I was a bride. + +JUDGE. Yes, yes--you have eternal youth, you as well as I, but just +the same we shall have to pass away. And as fortune has smiled on +us, we have wanted to avail ourselves of the privilege of resting in +ground belonging to ourselves And so we have built this little tomb +for ourselves here, where every tree knows us, where every flower will +whisper of our labours, and our troubles, and our struggles---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, struggles against envious neighbours and ungrateful +children---- + +JUDGE. There you said it: ungrateful children.--Have you seen anything +of Adolph? + +OLD LADY. No, I haven't seen him since he started out this morning to +raise the money for the rent. + +JUDGE. The money which he will never get--and I still less. But he +knows now that the time of grace is up, for this is the third quarter +rent that he has failed to pay. + +OLD LADY. Yes, out with him into the world, and let him learn to work +instead of sitting here and playing at son-in-law. I'll keep Amelia and +the children---- + +JUDGE. Do you think Amelia will let herself be separated from Adolph? + +OLD LADY. I think so, when it is a question whether her children are to +inherit anything from us or not--No, look! There it is again! + + _On the wall of the mausoleum appears a spot of sunlight + like those which children are fond of producing with a small + mirror_.[1] _It is vibrating as if it were reflected by running + water_. + +JUDGE. What is it? What is it? + +OLD LADY. On the mausoleum. Don't you see? + +JUDGE. It's the reflection of the sun on the river. It means---- + +OLD LADY. It means that we'll see the light of the sun for a long time +to come---- + +JUDGE. On the contrary. But that's all one. The best pillow for one's +head is a good conscience, and the reward of the righteous never +fails.--There's our neighbour now. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Good evening, Judge. Good evening, madam. + +JUDGE. Good evening, neighbour. How goes it? It wasn't yesterday we had +the pleasure. And how are your vines, I should have asked? + +NEIGHBOUR. The vines, yes--there's mildew on them, and the starlings +are after them, too. + +JUDGE. Well, well! There's no mildew on my vines, and I have neither +seen nor heard of any starlings. + +NEIGHBOUR. Fate does not distribute its gifts evenly: one shall be +taken and the other left. + +OLD LADY. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +NEIGHBOUR. I see! The reward of the righteous shall not fail, and the +wicked shall not have to wait for their punishment. + +JUDGE. Oh, no malice meant! But you have to admit, anyhow, that it's +queer: two parcels of land lie side by side, and one yields good +harvests, the other poor ones---- + +NEIGHBOUR. One yields starlings and the other not: that's what I find +queerer still. But, then, everybody wasn't born with a caul, like you, +Judge. + +JUDGE. What you say is true, and fortune _has_ favoured me. I am +thankful for it, and there are moments when I feel proud of it as if I +had deserved it.--But listen, neighbour--you came as if you had been +sent for.--That leasehold of mine is vacant, and I wanted to ask you if +you care to take it. + + +[Footnote 1: In Sweden such spots are called "sun-cats."] + + _The_ OLD LADY _has in the meantime left her seat and gone to + the mausoleum, where she is busying herself with the flowers_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Oh, the leasehold is vacant. Hm! Since when? + +JUDGE. Since this morning. + +NEIGHBOUR. Hm! So!--That means your son-in-law has got to go? + +JUDGE. Yes, that good-for-nothing doesn't know how to manage. + +NEIGHBOUR. Tell me something else, Judge. Haven't you heard that the +state intends to build a military road across this property? + +JUDGE. Oh, I have heard some rumours to that effect, but I don't think +it's anything but empty talk. + +NEIGHBOUR. On the contrary, I have read it in the papers. That would +mean condemnation proceedings, and the loser would be the holder of the +lease. + +JUDGE. I cannot think so, and I would never submit to it. I to leave +this spot where I expect to end my days in peace, and where I have +prepared a final resting-place to escape lying with all the rest---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Wait a minute! One never knows what may prove one's final +resting-place. My father, who used to own this property, also expected +to be laid to rest in his own ground, but it happened otherwise. As far +as the leasehold is concerned, I must let it go. + +JUDGE. As you please. On my part the proposition was certainly +disinterested, as you are a man without luck. For it is no secret +that you fail in everything you undertake, and people have their own +thoughts about one who remains as solitary and friendless as you. Isn't +it a fact that you haven't a single friend? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, it's true. I have not a single friend, and that doesn't +look well. It is something I cannot deny. + +JUDGE. But to turn to other matters--is it true, as the legend has it, +that this vineyard once was a battle-field, and that this explains why +the wine from it is so fiery? + +NEIGHBOUR. No, that isn't what I have heard. My father told me that +this had been a place of execution, and that the gallows used to stand +where the mausoleum is now. + +JUDGE. Oh, how dreadful! Why did you tell me? + +NEIGHBOUR. Because you asked, of course.--And the last man to be hanged +on this spot was an unrighteous judge. And now he lies buried here, +together with many others, among them being also an innocent victim of +his iniquity. + +JUDGE. What kind of stories are those! [_He calls out_] Caroline! + +NEIGHBOUR. And that's why his ghost has to come back here. Have you +never seen him, Judge? + +JUDGE. I have never seen anything at all! + +NEIGHBOUR. But I have seen him. As a rule, he appears at the time when +the grapes are harvested, and then they hear him around the wine-press +down in the cellar. + +JUDGE. [_Calling out_] Caroline! + +OLD LADY. What is it? + +JUDGE. Come here! + +NEIGHBOUR. And he will never be at peace until he has suffered all the +torments his victim had to pass through. + +JUDGE. Get away from here! Go! + +NEIGHBOUR. Certainly, Judge! I didn't know you were so sensitive. [_He +goes out_. + +OLD LADY. What was the matter? + +JUDGE. Oh, he told a lot of stories that upset me. But-but--he is +plotting something evil, that fellow! + +OLD LADY. Didn't I tell you so! But you always let your tongue run +whenever you see anybody--What kind of foolish superstition was he +giving you? + +JUDGE. I don't want to talk of it. The mere thought of it makes me +sick. I'll tell you some other time.--There's Adolph now! + +ADOLPH. [_Entering_] Good evening! + +JUDGE. [_After a pause_] Well? + +ADOLPH. Luck is against me. I have not been able to get any money. + +JUDGE. I suppose there are good reasons for it? + +ADOLPH. I can see no reason why some people should fare well and others +badly. + +JUDGE. Oh, you can't?--Well, look into your own heart; search your own +thoughts and actions, and you'll find that you have yourself to blame +for your misfortunes. + +ADOLPH. Perhaps I may not call myself righteous in every respect, but +at least I have no serious crimes on my conscience. + +OLD LADY. You had better think well---- + +ADOLPH. I don't think that's needful, for my conscience is pretty +wakeful---- + +JUDGE. It can be put to sleep---- + +ADOLPH. Can it? Of course I have heard of evil-doers growing old in +crime, but as a rule their consciences wake up just before death; and +I have even heard of criminals whose consciences have awakened after +death. + +JUDGE. [_Agitated_] So that they had to come back, you mean? Have you +heard that story, too? It's strange that everybody seems to have heard +it except me---- + +OLD LADY. What are you talking about? Stick to business instead. + +ADOLPH. Yes, I think that's wiser, too. And, as the subject has been +broached, I want to tell you what I propose---- + +JUDGE. Look here, my boy! I think it a good deal more appropriate that +I should tell you what I have decided. It is this: that from this day +you cease to be my tenant, and that before the sun sets you must start +out to look for work. + +ADOLPH. Are you in earnest? + +JUDGE. You ought to be ashamed! I am not in the habit of joking. And +you have no cause for complaint, as you have been granted respite twice. + +ADOLPH. While my crops have failed three times. Can I help that? + +JUDGE. Nor have I said so. But I can help it still less. And you are +not being judged by me. Here is the contract--here's the broken +agreement. Was that agreement broken by me? Oh, no! So I am without +responsibility and wash my hands of the matter. + +ADOLPH. This may be the law, but I had thought there ought to be some +forbearance among relatives--especially as, in the natural course of +events, this property should pass on to your offspring. + +OLD LADY. Well, well: the natural course of events! He's going around +here wishing the life out of us! But you just look at me: I am good for +twenty years more. And I am _going_ to live just to spite you! + +JUDGE. [_To_ Adolph] What rudeness--what a lack of all human +feeling--to ask a couple of old people outright: are you not going to +die soon? You ought to be ashamed of yourself, I say! But now you have +broken the last tie, and all I can say is: go your way, and don't let +yourself be seen here any more! + +ADOLPH. That's plain talk! Well, I'll go, but not alone---- + +OLD LADY. So-o--you imagined that Amelia, our own child, should follow +you out on the highways, and that all you would have to do would be to +unload one child after another on us! But we have already thought of +that and put a stop to it---- + +ADOLPH. Where is Amelia? Where? + +OLD LADY. You may just as well know. She has gone on; a visit to the +convent of the Poor Clares--only for a visit. So now you know it's of +no use to look for her here. + +ADOLPH. Some time you will have to suffer for your cruelty in depriving +a man in distress of his only support. And if you break up our +marriage, the penalty of that breach will fall on you. + +JUDGE. You should be ashamed of putting your own guilt on those that +are innocent! Go now! And may you hunger and thirst, with every door +closed to you, until you have learned gratitude! + +ADOLPH. The same to you in double measure!--But let me only bid my +children good-bye, and I will go. + +JUDGE. As you don't want to spare your children the pain of +leave-taking, I'll do so--have already done it, in fact. + +ADOLPH. That, too! Then I believe you capable of all the evil that has +been rumoured. And now I know what our neighbour meant when he said +that you couldn't--endure the sun! + +JUDGE. Not another word! Or you will feel the heavy hand of law and +justice---- + + _He raises his right hand so that the absence of its forefinger + becomes visible_. + +ADOLPH. [_Takes hold of the hand and examines it_] The hand of +justice!--The hand of the perjurer whose finger stuck to the Bible when +he took his false oath! Woe unto you! Woe! For the day of retribution +is at hand, and your deeds will rise like corpses out of these +hillsides to accuse you. + +OLD LADY. What is that he is saying? It feels as if he were breathing +fire at us!--Go, you lying spirit, and may hell be your reward! + +ADOLPH. May Heaven reward you--according to your deserts--and may the +Lord protect my children! [_He goes out_. + +JUDGE. What was that? Who was it that spoke? It seemed to me as if the +voice were coming out of some huge underground hall. + +OLD LADY. Did you hear it, too? + +JUDGE. God help us, then!--Do you remember what he said about the +sun? That struck me as more peculiar than all the rest. How could he +know--that it is so? Ever since my birth the sun has always burned +me, and they have told me this is so because my mother suffered from +sunstroke before I was born--but that you also---- + +OLD LADY. [_Frightened_] Hush! Talk of the devil, and--Isn't the sun +down? + +JUDGE. Of course it is down! + +OLD LADY. How can that spot of sunlight remain on the mausoleum, then? + + [_The spot moves around_. + +JUDGE. Jesus Maria! That's an omen! + +OLD LADY. An omen, you say! And on the grave! That doesn't happen every +day--and only a few chosen people who are full of living faith in the +highest things---- + + [_The spot of light disappears_. + +JUDGE. There is something weird about the place to-night, +something ghastly.--But what hurt me most keenly was to hear that +good-for-nothing wishing the life out of us in order to get at the +property. Do you know what I--well, I wonder if I dare to speak of +it---- + +OLD LADY. Go on! + +JUDGE. Have you heard the story that this spot here used to be a place +of execution? + +OLD LADY. So you have found that out, too? + +JUDGE. Yes--and you knew it?--Well, suppose we gave this property +to the convent? That would make the ground sacred, and it would be +possible to rest in peace in it. The income might go to the children +while they are growing up, and it would mean an additional gain, as +Adolph would be fooled in his hope of inheriting from us. I think this +a remarkably happy solution of a difficult problem: how to give away +without losing anything by it. + +OLD LADY. Your superior intelligence has again asserted itself, and I +am quite of your opinion. But suppose condemnation proceedings should +be started--what would happen then? + +JUDGE. There is plenty of time to consider that when it happens. In +the meantime, let us first of all, and as quietly as possible, get the +mausoleum consecrated---- + +FRANCISCAN. [_Enters_] The peace of the Lord be with you, Judge, and +with you, madam! + +JUDGE. You come most conveniently, Father, to hear something that +concerns the convent---- + +FRANCISCAN. I am glad of it. + + _The spot of light appears again on the mausoleum_. + +OLD LADY. And then we wanted to ask when the consecration of the +mausoleum might take place. + +FRANCISCAN. [_Staring at her_] Oh, is that so? + +JUDGE. Look, Father--look at that omen---- + +OLD LADY. Yes, the spot must be sacred, indeed---- + +FRANCISCAN. That's a will-o'-the-wisp. + +OLD LADY. Is it not a good sign? Does it not carry some kind of +message? Does it not prompt a pious mind to stop and consider? Would it +not be possible to turn this place into a refuge for desert wanderers +who are seeking---- + +FRANCISCAN. Madam, let me speak a word to you in private. [_He moves +over to the right._ + +OLD LADY. [_Following him_] Father? + +FRANCISCAN. [_Speaking in a subdued voice_] You, madam, enjoy a +reputation in this vicinity which you don't deserve, for you are the +worst sinner that I know of. You want to buy your pardon, and you want +to steal heaven itself, you who have already stolen from the Lord. + +OLD LADY. What is it I hear? + +FRANCISCAN. When you were sick and near death you made a vow to the +Lord that in case of recovery you would give a monstrance of pure gold +to the convent church. Your health was restored and you gave the holy +vessel, but it was of silver--gilded. Not for the sake of the gold, but +because of your broken vow and your deception, you are already damned. + +OLD LADY. I didn't know it. The goldsmith has cheated me. + +FRANCISCAN. You are lying, for I have the goldsmith's bill. + +OLD LADY. Is there no pardon for it? + +FRANCISCAN. No! For it is a mortal sin to cheat God. + +OLD LADY. Woe is me! + +FRANCISCAN. The settlement of your other crimes will have to take place +within yourself. But if you as much as touch a hair on the heads of the +children, then you shall learn who is their protector, and you shall +feel the iron rod. + +OLD LADY. The idea--that this infernal monk should dare to say such +things to me! If I am damned--then I want to be damned! Ha, ha! + +FRANCISCAN. Well, you may be sure that there will be no blessing for +your house and no peace for yourself until you have suffered every +suffering that you have brought on others.--May I speak a word with +you, Judge? + + _The_ JUDGE _approaches_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, give him what he deserves, so that one may be as good as +the other. + +FRANCISCAN. [_To the_ Judge] Where did you get the idea of building +your tomb where the gallows used to stand? + +JUDGE. I suppose I got it from the devil! + +FRANCISCAN. Like the idea of casting off your children and robbing them +of their inheritance? But you have also been an unrighteous judge--you +have violated oaths and accepted bribes. + +JUDGE. I? + +FRANCISCAN. And now you want to erect a monument to yourself! You +want to build yourself an imperishable house in heaven! But listen to +me: this spot will never be consecrated, and you may consider it a +blessing if you are permitted to rest in common ground among ordinary +little sinners. There is a curse laid on this soil, because blood-guilt +attaches to it and because it is ill-gotten. + +JUDGE. What am I to do? + +FRANCISCAN. Repent, and restore the stolen property. + +JUDGE. I have never stolen. Everything has been legally acquired. + +FRANCISCAN. That, you see, is the worst part of all--that you regard +your crimes as lawful. Yes, I know that you even consider yourself +particularly favoured by Heaven because of your righteousness. But now +you will soon see what harvest is in store for you. Thorns and thistles +will grow in your vineyard. Helpless and abandoned you shall be, and +the peace of your old age will turn into struggle and strife. + +JUDGE. The devil you say! + +FRANCISCAN. Don't call him--he'll come anyhow! + +JUDGE. Let him come! Because we believe, we have no fear! + +FRANCISCAN. The devils believe also, and tremble!--Farewell! [_He goes +out_. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] What did he say to you? + +OLD LADY. You think I'll tell? What did he have to say to you? + +JUDGE. And you think I'll tell? + +OLD LADY. Are you going to keep any secrets from me? + +JUDGE. And how about you? It's what you have always done, but I'll get +to the bottom of your tricks some time. + +OLD LADY. Just wait a little, and I'll figure out where you keep the +money that is missing. + +JUDGE. So you are hiding money, too! Now there is no longer any use +in playing the hypocrite--just let yourself be seen in all your +abomination, you witch! + +OLD LADY. I think you have lost your reason--not that it was much to +keep! But you might at least preserve an appearance of decency, if you +can---- + +JUDGE. And you might preserve your beauty--if you can! And your +perennial youth--ha, ha, ha! And your righteousness! You must have +known how to bewitch people, and hoodwink them, for now I see how +horribly ugly and old you are. + +OLD LADY. [_On whom the spot of light now appears_] Woe! It is burning +me! + +JUDGE. There I see you as you really are! [_The spot jumps to the_ +JUDGE] Woe! It is burning me now! + +OLD LADY. And how you look! [_Both withdraw to the right_. + + [_The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _enter from the left_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, child, there is justice, both human and divine, but we +must have patience. + +AMELIA. I am willing to believe that justice is done, in spite of all +appearances to the contrary. But I cannot love my mother, and I have +never been able to do so. There is something within me that keeps +telling me that she is not only indifferent to me but actually hostile. + +NEIGHBOUR. So you have found it out? + +AMELIA. Why--she hates me, and a mother couldn't do that! + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, well! + +AMELIA. And I suffer from not being able to do my duty as a child and +love her. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, as _that_ has made you suffer, then you will soon--in +the hour of retribution--learn the great secret of your life. + +AMELIA. And I could stand everything, if she were only kind to my +children. + +NEIGHBOUR. Don't fear on that account, for her power is now ended. The +measure of her wickedness has been heaped full and is now overflowing. + +AMELIA. Do you think so? But this very day she tore my Adolph away from +me, and now she has humiliated me still further by dressing me as a +servant girl and making me do the work in the kitchen. + +NEIGHBOUR. Patience! + +AMELIA. Yes, so you say! Oh, I can understand deserved suffering, but +to suffer without cause---- + +NEIGHBOUR. My dear child, the prisoners in the penitentiary are +suffering justly, so there is no honour in that; but to be permitted to +suffer unjustly, that's a grace and a trial of which steadfast souls +bring home golden fruits. + +AMELIA. You speak so beautifully that everything you say seems true +to me.--Hush! There are the children--and I don't want them to see me +dressed like this. + + _She and the_ NEIGHBOUR _take up a position where they are + hidden by a tall shrub_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter; the spot of light rests now on one of them and +now on the other_. + +ERIC. Look at the sun spot! + +THYRA. Oh, you beautiful sun! But didn't he go to bed a while ago? + +ERIC. Perhaps he is allowed to stay up longer than usual because he has +been very good all day. + +THYRA. But how could the sun be good? Now you are stupid, Eric. + +ERIC. Of course the sun can be good--doesn't he make the grapes and the +peaches? + +THYRA. But if he is so good, then he might also give us a peach. + +ERIC. So he will, if we only wait a little. Aren't there any on the +ground at all? + +THYRA. [_Looking_] No, but perhaps we might get one from the tree. + +ERIC. No, grandmother won't let us. + +THYRA. Grandmother has said that we mustn't shake the tree, but I +thought we could play around the tree so that one might fall down +anyhow--of itself. + +ERIC. Now you are stupid, Thyra. That would be exactly the same thing. +[_Looking up at the tree_] Oh, if only a peach would fall down! + +THYRA. None will fall unless you shake. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that, Thyra, for that is a sin. + +THYRA. Let's pray God to let one fall. + +ERIC. One shouldn't pray God for anything nice--that is, to eat!--Oh, +little peach, won't you fall? I want you to fall! [_A peach falls from +the tree, and_ ERIC _picks it up_] There, what a nice tree! + +THYRA. But now you must give me half, for it was I who said that the +tree had to be shaken---- + +OLD LADY. [_Enters with a big birch rod_] So you have been shaking the +tree--now you'll see what you'll get, you nasty children---- + +ERIC. No, grandmother, we didn't shake the tree! + +OLD LADY. So you are lying, too. Didn't I hear Thyra say that the tree +had to be shaken? Come along now, and I'll lock you up in the cellar +where neither sun nor moon is to be seen---- + +AMELIA. [_Coming forward_] The children are innocent, mother. + +OLD LADY. That's a fine thing--to stand behind the bushes listening, +and then to teach one's own children how to lie besides! + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Appearing_] Nothing has been spoken here but the truth, +madam. + +OLD LADY. Two witnesses behind the bushes--exactly as if we were in +court. But I know the tricks, I tell you, and what I have heard and +seen is sufficient evidence for me.--Come along, you brats! + +AMELIA. This is sinful and shameful---- + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _signals to_ AMELIA _by putting his finger + across his lips_. + +AMELIA. [_Goes up to her children_] Don't cry, children! Obey +grandmother now--there is nothing to be afraid of. It is better to +suffer evil than to do it, and I know that you are innocent. May God +preserve you! And don't forget your evening prayer! + + _The_ OLD LADY _goes out with the children_. + +AMELIA. Belief comes so hard, but it is sweet if you can achieve it. + +NEIGHBOUR. Is it so hard to believe that God is good--at the very +moment when his kind intentions are most apparent? + +AMELIA. Give me a great and good word for the night, so that I may +sleep on it as on a soft pillow. + +NEIGHBOUR. You shall have it. Let me think a moment.--This is it: Isaac +was to be sacrificed---- + +AMELIA. Oh, no, no! + +NEIGHBOUR. Quiet, now!--Isaac was to _be_ sacrificed, but he never was! + +AMELIA. Thank you! Thank you! And good night! + + _She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. Good night, my child! + + [_He goes slowly out by a path leading to the rear_. + + THE PROCESSION OF SHADOWS _enters from the mausoleum and moves + without a sound across the stage toward the right; between + every two figures there is a distance of five steps_: + + DEATH _with its scythe and hour-glass_. + + THE LADY IN WHITE--_blond, tall, and slender; on one of her + fingers she wears a ring with a green stone that seems to emit + rays of light_. + + THE GOLDSMITH, _with the counterfeit monstrance_. + + THE BEHEADED SAILOR, _carrying his head in one hand_. + + THE AUCTIONEER, _with hammer and note-book_. + + THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _with rope, scraper, and broom_. + + THE FOOL, _carrying his cap with the ass's ears and bells at + the top of a pole, across which is placed a signboard with the + word "Caul" on it_. + + THE SURVEYOR, _with measuring rod and tripod_. + + THE MAGISTRATE, _dressed and made up like the_ JUDGE; _he + carries a rope around his neck; and his right hand is raised to + show that the forefinger is missing_. + + _The stage is darkened at the beginning of the procession and + remains empty while it lasts_. + + _When it is over, the_ JUDGE _enters from the left, followed by + the_ OLD LADY. + +JUDGE. Why are you playing the ghost at this late hour? + +OLD LADY. And how about yourself? + +JUDGE. I couldn't sleep. + +OLD LADY. Why not? + +JUDGE. Don't know. Thought I heard children crying in the cellar. + +OLD LADY. That's impossible. Oh, no, I suppose you didn't dare to sleep +for fear I might be prying in your hiding-places. + +JUDGE. And you feared I might be after yours! A pleasant old age this +will be for Philemon and Baucis! + +OLD LADY. At least no gods will come to visit us. + +JUDGE. No, I shouldn't call them gods. + + _At this moment the_ PROCESSION _begins all over again, + starting from the mausoleum as before and moving in silence + toward the right_. + +OLD LADY. O Mary, Mother of God, what is this? + +JUDGE. Merciful heavens! [_Pause_] + +OLD LADY. Pray! Pray for us! + +JUDGE. I have tried, but I cannot. + +OLD LADY. Neither can I! The words won't come--and no thoughts! +[_Pause_] + +JUDGE. How does the Lord's Prayer begin? + +OLD LADY. I can't remember, but I knew it this morning. [_Pause_] Who +is the woman in white? + +JUDGE. It is she--Amelia's mother--whose very memory we wanted to kill. + +OLD LADY. Are these shadows or ghosts, or nothing but our own sickly +dreams? + +JUDGE. [_Takes up his pocket-knife_] They are delusions sent by the +devil. I'll throw cold steel after them.--Open the knife for me, +Caroline! I can't, don't you see? + +OLD LADY. Yes, I see--it isn't easy without a forefinger.--But I can't +either! [_She drops the knife_] + +JUDGE. Woe to us! Steel won't help here! Woe! There's the beheaded +sailor! Let us get away from here! + +OLD LADY. That's easy to say, but I can't move from the spot. + +JUDGE. And I seem to be rooted to the ground.--No, I am not going to +look at it any longer! + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand_. + +OLD LADY. But what is it? Mists out of the earth, or shadows cast by +the trees? + +JUDGE. No, it's our own vision that plays us false. There I go now, and +yet I am standing here. Just let me get a good night's sleep, and I'll +laugh at the whole thing!--The devil! Is this masquerade never going to +end? + +OLD LADY. But why do you look at it then? + +JUDGE. I see it right through my hand--I see it in the dark, with my +eyelids closed! + +OLD LADY. But now it's over. + + _The_ PROCESSION _has passed out_. + +JUDGE. Praised be--why, I can't get the word out!--I wonder if it will +be possible to sleep to-night? Perhaps we had better send for the +doctor? + +OLD LADY. Or Father Colomba, perhaps? + +JUDGE. He can't help, and he who could won't!--Well, let the Other One +do it then! + + THE OTHER ONE _enters from behind the Lady Chapel. He is + extremely thin and moth-eaten. His thin, snuff-coloured hair is + parted in the middle. His straggly beard looks as if it were + made out of tow. His clothes are shabby and outgrown, and he + seems to wear no linen. A red woollen muffler is wound around + his neck. He wears spectacles and carries a piece of rattan + under his arm_. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_In a low voice_] I am the Other One! + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] Make the sign of the cross! I can't! + +THE OTHER ONE. The sign of the cross does not frighten me, for I am +undergoing my ordeal merely that I may wear it. + +JUDGE. Who are you? + +THE OTHER ONE. I became the Other One because I wanted to be the First +One. I was a man of evil, and my punishment is to serve the good. + +JUDGE. Then you are not the Evil One? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am. And it is my task to torment you into finding the +cross, before which we are to meet some time. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ JUDGE] Don't listen to him! Tell him to go! + +THE OTHER ONE. It won't help. You have called me, and you'll have to +bear with me. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _go out to the left_. + + THE OTHER ONE _goes after them_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT II + + + _A huge room with whitewashed walls and a ceiling of darkened + beams. The windows are small and deeply set, with bars on the + outside. The room is crowded with furniture of every kind: + wardrobes, chiffoniers, dressers, chests, tables. On the + furniture are placed silver services, candelabra, candlesticks, + pitchers, table ware, vases, statues, etc. + + There is a door in the rear. Portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ + OLD LADY _hang on the rear wall, one on either side of the door. + + A harp stands beside a small sewing-table with an easy chair + near it_. + + AMELIA _is standing before a table at the right, trying to + clean a coffee-set of silver_. + + _The sun is shining in through the windows in the background_. + + +NEIGHBOUR. [_Enters_] Well, child, how is your patience? + +AMELIA. Thank you, neighbour, it might be worse. But I never had a +worse job than this silver service here. I have worked at it for half +an hour and cannot get it clean. + +NEIGHBOUR. That's strange, but I suppose there are reasons for it, as +the Judge says. Could you sleep last night? + +AMELIA. Thank you, I slept very well. But do you know that father spent +the whole night in the vineyard with his rattle----? + +NEIGHBOUR. Yes, I heard him. What kind of foolish idea was that? + +AMELIA. He thought he heard the starlings that had come to eat the +grapes. + +NEIGHBOUR. Poor fellow! As if the starlings were abroad nights!--And +the children? + +AMELIA. Well, the children--she is still keeping them in the cellar, +and I hope she won't forget to give them something to eat. + +NEIGHBOUR. He who feeds the birds will not forget your children, +my dear Amelia. And now I'll tell you something which, as a rule, +shouldn't be told. There is a small hole in the wall between the +Judge's wine-cellar and my own. When I was down there this morning to +get the place aired out, I heard voices. And when I looked through the +hole, I saw Eric and Thyra playing with a strange little boy. + +AMELIA. You could see them, neighbour? And---- + +NEIGHBOUR. They were happy and well---- + +AMELIA. Who was their playmate? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's more than I can guess. + +AMELIA. This whole dreadful house is nothing but secrets. + +NEIGHBOUR. That is true, but it is not for us to inquire into them. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, carrying a rattle_] So you are in here conspiring, +neighbour! Is it not enough that your evil eye has brought the +starlings into my vineyard? For you do have the evil eye--but we'll +soon put it out. I know a trick or two myself. + +NEIGHBOUR. [_To_ AMELIA] Is it worth while to set him right? One who +doesn't believe what is told him! [_He goes out_. + +AMELIA. No, this is beyond us! + +JUDGE. Tell me, Amelia, have you noticed where your mother is looking +for things when she believes herself to be alone? + +AMELIA. No, father. + +JUDGE. I can see by your eyes that you know. You were looking this +way. [_He goes up to a chest of drawers and happens to get into the +sunlight_] Damn the sun that is always burning me! [_He pulls down one +of the shades and returns to the chest of drawers_] This must be the +place!--Now, let me see! The stupidest spot is also the cleverest, so +that's where I must look--as in this box of perfume, for instance--And +right I was! [_He pulls out a number of bank-notes and stocks_] What's +this? Twelve English bills of a pound each. Twelve of them!--Oho! Then +it is easy to imagine the rest. [_Pushes the bills and securities into +his pockets_] But what is it I hear? There are the starlings again! +[_He goes to an open window and begins to play the rattle_] Get away +there! + +OLD LADY. [_Enters_] Are you still playing the ghost? + +JUDGE. Are you not in the kitchen? + +OLD LADY. No, as you see, I am not. [_To_ AMELIA] Are you not done with +the cleaning yet? + +AMELIA. No, mother, I'll never get done with it. The silver won't +clean, and I don't think it is real. + +OLD LADY. Not real? Let me see!--Why, indeed, it's quite black! [_To +the_ JUDGE, _who in the meantime has pulled down another shade_] Where +did you get this set from? + +JUDGE. That one? Why, it came from an estate. + +OLD LADY. For your services as executor! What you got was like what you +gave! + +JUDGE. You had better not make any defamatory remarks, for they are +punishable under the law. + +OLD LADY. Are you crazy, or was there anything crazy about my remark? + +JUDGE. And for that matter, it is silver--sterling silver. + +OLD LADY. Then it must be Amelia's fault. + +A VOICE. [_Coming through the window from the outside_] The Judge can +turn white into black, but he can't turn black into white! + +JUDGE. Who said that? + +OLD LADY. It seemed as if one of the starlings had been speaking. + +JUDGE. [_Pulling down the remaining shade_] Now the sun is here, and a +while ago it seemed to be over there. + +OLD LADY. [_To_ AMELIA] Who was it that spoke? + +AMELIA. I think it was that strange school-teacher with the red muffler. + +JUDGE. Ugh! Let us talk of something else. + +SERVANT GIRL. [_Enters_] Dinner is served. + + [_She goes out; a pause follows_. + +OLD LADY. You go down and eat, Amelia. + +AMELIA. Thank you, mother. [_She goes out_. + +_The_ JUDGE _sits down on a chair close to one of the chests_. + +OLD LADY. [_Sliding up to the chest of drawers >where the box of +perfume stands_] Are you not going to eat anything? + +JUDGE. No, I am not hungry. How about you? + +OLD LADY. I have just eaten. [_Pause_. + +JUDGE. [_Takes a piece of bread from his pocket_] Then you'll excuse +me, I'm sure. + +OLD LADY. There's a roast of venison on the table. + +JUDGE. You don't say so! + +OLD LADY. Do you think I poison the food? + +JUDGE. Yes, it tasted of carbolic acid this morning. + +OLD LADY. And what I ate had a sort of metallic taste---- + +JUDGE. If I assure you that I have put nothing whatever in your food---- + +OLD LADY. Then I don't believe you. But I can assure you---- + +JUDGE. And I won't believe it. [_Eating his bread_] Roast of venison +is a good thing--I can smell it from here--but bread isn't bad either. +[_Pause_. + +OLD LADY. Why are you sitting there watching that chest? + +JUDGE. For the same reason that makes you guard those perfumes. + +OLD LADY. So you have been there, you sneak-thief! + +JUDGE. Ghoul! + +OLD LADY. To think of it--such words between us! _Us_! + + [_She begins to weep_. + +JUDGE. Yes, the world is evil and so is man. + +OLD LADY. Yes, you may well say so--and ungrateful above all. +Ungrateful children rob you of the rent; ungrateful grandchildren rob +the fruit from the trees. You are right, indeed: the world is evil---- + +JUDGE. I ought to know, I who have had to witness all the rottenness, +and who have been forced to pass the death sentence. That is why the +mob hates me, just as if I had made the laws---- + +OLD LADY. It doesn't matter what the people say, if you have only a +clean conscience--[_Three loud knocks are heard from the inside of the +biggest wardrobe_] What was that? Who is there? + +JUDGE. Oh, it was that wardrobe. It always cracks when there is rain +coming. [_Three distinct knocks are heard again_. + +OLD LADY. It's some kind of performance started by that strolling +charlatan. + + _The cover of the coffee-pot which_ AMELIA _was cleaning, opens + and drops down again with a bang; this happens several times in + succession_. + +JUDGE. What was _that_, then? + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, it's that same juggler. He can play tricks, but he +can't scare me. [_The coffee-pot acts as before._ + +JUDGE. Do you think he is one of those mesmerists? + +OLD LADY. Well, whatever it happens to be called---- + +JUDGE. If that's so, how can he know our private secrets? + +OLD LADY. Secrets? What do you mean by that? + + _A clock begins to strike and keeps it up as if it never meant + to stop_. + +JUDGE. Now I am getting scared. + +OLD LADY. Then Old Nick himself may take me if I stay here another +minute! [_The spot of sunlight appears suddenly on the portrait of the_ +OLD LADY] Look! He knows that secret, too! + +JUDGE. You mean that there is a portrait of _her_ behind yours? + +OLD LADY. Come away from here and let us go down and eat. And let us +see whether we can't sell off the house and all the rest at auction---- + +JUDGE. You are right--sell off the whole caboodle and start a new +life!--And now let us go down and eat. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the doorway_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _draw back from him_. + +JUDGE. That's an ordinary human being! + +OLD LADY. Speak to him! + +JUDGE. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] Who are you, sir? + +THE OTHER ONE. I have told you twice. That you don't believe me is a +part of your punishment, for if you could believe, your sufferings +would be shortened by it. + +JUDGE. [_To his wife_] It's--_him_--sure enough! For I feel as if I +were turning into ice. How are we to get rid of him?--Why, they say +that the unclean spirits cannot bear the sound of music. Play something +on the harp, Caroline. + + _Though badly frightened, the_ OLD LADY _sits down at the table + on which the harp stands and begins to play a slow prelude in a + minor key_. + + THE OTHER ONE _listens reverently and with evident emotion_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Is he gone? + +THE OTHER ONE. I thank you for the music, madam. It lulls the pain +and awakens memories of better things even in a lost soul--Thank you, +madam!--Speaking of the auction, I think you are doing right, although, +in my opinion, an honest declaration of bankruptcy would be still +better--Yes, surrender your goods, and let every one get back his own. + +JUDGE. Bankruptcy? I have no debts---- + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! + +OLD LADY. My husband _has_ no debts! + +THE OTHER ONE. No debts! That would be happiness, indeed! + +JUDGE. Well, that's the truth! But other people are in debt to me---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Forgive them then! + +JUDGE. This is not a question of pardon, but of payment---- + +THE OTHER ONE. All right! Then you'll be made to pay!--For the +moment--farewell! But we'll meet frequently, and the last time at the +great auction! [_He goes out backward_. + +JUDGE. He's afraid of the sun--he, too! Ha-ha! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, for some time yet. But once I have accustomed +myself to the light, I shall hate darkness. + + [_He disappears_. + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ JUDGE] Do you really think he is--the Other One? + +JUDGE. Of course, that's not the way he is supposed to look but then +times are changing and we with them. They used to say that he had gold +and fame to give away, but this fellow goes around dunning---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, he's a sorry lot, and a charlatan--that's all! A milksop +who doesn't dare to bite, no matter how much he would like to! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Standing in the doorway again_] Take care, I tell you! +Take care! + +JUDGE. [_Raising his right hand_] Take care yourself! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pointing at the_ JUDGE _with one hand as if it were a +revolver_] Shame! + +JUDGE. [_Unable to move_] Woe is me! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have never believed in anything good. Now you shall +have to believe in the Evil One. He who is _all goodness_ can harm +nobody, you see, and so he leaves that to such villains as myself. But +for the sake of greater effectiveness, you two must torture yourselves +and each other. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling before_ THE OTHER ONE] Spare us! Help us! Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_With a gesture as if he were tearing his clothes_] +Get up, woman! Woe is me! There is One, and One only, to whom you may +pray! Get up now, or--Yes, now you believe, although I don't wear +a red cloak, and don't carry sword or purse, and don't crack any +jokes--but beware of taking me in jest! I am serious as sin and stern +as retribution! I have not come to tempt you with gold and fame, but +to chastise you with rods and scorpions--[_The clock begins to strike +again; the stage turns dark_] Your time is nearly up. Therefore, put +your house in order--because die you must! [_A noise as of thunder is +heard_] Whose voice is speaking now? Do you think _he_ can be scared +off with your rattle when he comes sweeping across your vineyard? Storm +and Hail are his names; destruction nestles under his wings, and in his +claws he carries punishment. Put on your caul now, and don your good +conscience. + + [_The rattling of the hail-storm is heard outside_. + +JUDGE. Mercy! + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, if you promise repentance. + +JUDGE. I promise on my oath---- + +THE OTHER ONE. You can take no oath, for you have already perjured +yourself. But promise first of all to set the children free--and then +all the rest! + +JUDGE. I promise! Before the sun has set, the children shall be here! + +THE OTHER ONE. That's the first step ahead, but if you turn back, then +you'll see that I am as good as my name, which is--Legion! + + _He raises the rattan, and at that moment the_ JUDGE _comes + able to move again_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT III + + + _A wine-cellar, with rows of casks along both side walls. The + doorway in the rear is closed by an iron door_. + + _Every cask is marked with the name of the urine kept in it. + Those nearest the foreground have small shelves above the taps, + and the shelves hold glasses_. + + _At the right, in the foreground, stands a wine-press and near + it are a couple of straw-bottomed chairs_. + + _Bottles, funnels, siphons, crates, etc., are scattered about + the place_. + + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _are seated by the wine-press_. + +ERIC. I think it's awfully dull. + +THYRA. I think grandmother is nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't talk like that. + +THYRA. No, perhaps not, but she _is_ nasty. + +ERIC. You mustn't, Thyra, for then the little boy won't come and play +with us again. + +THYRA. Then I won't say it again. I only wish it wasn't so dark. + +ERIC. Don't you remember, Thyra, that the boy said we shouldn't +complain---- + +THYRA. Then I won't do it any more--[_The spot of sunlight appears on +the ground_] Oh, look at the sun-spot! + + [_She jumps up and places her foot on the light._ + +ERIC. You mustn't step on the sun, Thyra. That's a sin! + +THYRA. I didn't mean to step on him. I just wanted to have him. Now +see--I have him in my arms, and I can pat him.--Look! Now he's kissing +me right on the mouth. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _enters from behind one of the casks; he wears a + white garment reaching below his knees, and a blue scarf around + the waist; on his feet are sandals; he is blond, and when he + appears the cellar grows lighter_. + +ERIC. [_Goes to meet him and shakes hands with him_] Hello, little +boy!--Come and shake hands, Thyra!--What's your name, boy? You must +tell us to-day. + + _The_ PLAYMATE _merely looks at him_. + +THYRA. You shouldn't be so forward, Eric, for it makes him +bashful.--But tell me, little boy, who is your papa? + +PLAYMATE. Don't be so curious. When you know me better, you'll learn +all those things.--But let us play now. + +THYRA. Yes, but nothing instructive, for that is so tedious. I want it +just to be nice. + +PLAYMATE. [_Smiling_] Shall I tell a story? + +THYRA. Yes, but not out of the Bible, for all those we know by heart---- + + _The_ PLAYMATE _smiles again_. + +ERIC. You say such things, Thyra, that he gets hurt---- + +PLAYMATE. No, my little friends, you don't hurt me--But now, if you are +really good, we'll go and play in the open---- + +ERIC. Oh, yes, yes!--But then, you know, grandmother won't let us---- + +PLAYMATE. Yes, your grandmother has said that she wished you were out, +and so we'll go before she changes her mind. Come on now! + +THYRA. Oh, what fun! Oh---- + + _The door in the rear flies open and through the doorway is + seen a sunlit field planted with rye ready for the harvest. + Among the yellow ears grow bachelor's-buttons and daisies_. + +PLAYMATE. Come, children! Come into the sunlight and feel the joy of +living! + +THYRA. Can't we take the sun-spot along? It's a pity to leave it here +in the darkness. + +PLAYMATE. Yes, if it is willing to go with you. Call it! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _go toward the door, followed by the spot of light_. + +ERIC. Isn't it a nice little spot! [_Talks to the spot as if it were a +cat_] Puss, puss, puss, puss! + +PLAYMATE. Take it up on your arm, Thyra, for I don't think it can get +over the threshold. + +THYRA _gets the spot of light on her arm, which she bends as if +carrying something_. + + _All three go out; the door closes itself. Pause_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters with a lantern, the_ OLD LADY _with the + birch rod_. + +OLD LADY. It's cool and nice here, and then there is no sun to bother +you. + +JUDGE. And how quiet it is. But where are the children? + + [_Both look for the children_. + +JUDGE. It looks as if they had taken us at our word. + +OLD LADY. Us? Please observe that I didn't promise anything, for +he--you know--talked only to you toward the end. + +JUDGE. Perhaps, but this time we had better obey, for I don't want to +have any more trouble with hail-storms and such things.--However, the +children are not here, and I suppose they'll come back when they get +hungry. + +OLD LADY. And I wish them luck when they do! [_The rod is snatched out +of her hand and dances across the floor; finally it disappears behind +one of the casks_] Now it's beginning again. + +JUDGE. Well, why don't you submit and do as he--you know who!--says? I, +for my part, don't dare to do wrong any longer. The growing grapes have +been destroyed, and we must take pleasure in what is already safe. Come +here, Caroline, and let us have a glass of something good to brace us +up! [_He knocks on one of the casks and draws a glass of wine from it_] +This is from the year of the comet--anno 1869, when the big comet came, +and everybody said it meant war. And, of course, war did break out. + + [_He offers a filled glass to his wife_. + +OLD LADY. You drink first! + +JUDGE. Well, now--did you think there might be poison in this, too? + +OLD LADY. No, really, I didn't--but--we'll never again know what peace +is, or happiness! + +JUDGE. Do as I do: submit! [_He drinks_. + +OLD LADY. I want to, and I try to, but when I come to think how badly +other people have treated us, I feel that I am just as good as anybody +else. [_She drinks_] That's a very fine wine! [_She sits down_. + +JUDGE. The wine is good, and it makes the mind easier.--Yes, the +wiseacres say that we are rapscallions, one and all, so I can't see +what right anybody has to go around finding fault with the rest. [_He +drinks_] My own actions have always been legal; that is, in keeping +with prevailing laws and constitutions. If others happened to be +ignorant of the law, they had only themselves to blame, for no one has +a right to ignorance of that kind. For that reason, if Adolph does not +pay the rent, it is he who breaks the law, and not I. + +OLD LADY. And yet the blame falls on you, and you are made to appear +like a criminal. Yes, it is as I have always said: there is no justice +in this world. If you had done right, you should have brought suit +against Adolph and turned out the whole family. But then it isn't too +late yet---- [_She drinks_. + +JUDGE. Well, you see, if I were to carry out the law strictly, then I +should sue for the annulment of his marriage, and that would cut him +off from the property---- + +OLD LADY. Why don't you do it? + +JUDGE. [_Looking around_] We-e-ell!--I suppose that would settle the +matter once for all. A divorce would probably not be granted, but I +think it would be possible to get the marriage declared invalid on +technical grounds---- + +OLD LADY. And if there be no such grounds? + +JUDGE. [_Showing the influence of the wine_] There are technical +grounds for everything, if you only look hard enough. + +OLD LADY. Well, then! Think of it--how that good-for-nothing is wishing +the life out of us--but now he'll see how "the natural course of +events" makes the drones take to the road---- + +JUDGE. Ha-ha! You're right, quite right! And then, you know, when I +think it over carefully--what reason have we for self-reproach? What +wrong have we done? It's mean to bring up that about the monstrance--it +didn't hurt anybody, did it? And as for my being guilty of perjury: +that's a pure lie. I got blood-poison in the finger--that's all--and +quite a natural thing. + +OLD LADY. Just as if I didn't know it. And I may as well add that this +hail-storm a while ago--why, it was as plain a thing as if it had been +foretold in the Farmer's Almanac! + +JUDGE. Exactly! That's what I think too. And for that reason, Caroline, +I think we had better forget all that fool talk--and if you feel as I +do, we'll just turn to another priest and get him to consecrate the +mausoleum. + +OLD LADY. Well, why shouldn't we? + +JUDGE. Yes, why shouldn't we? Perhaps because that mesmerist comes here +and talks a lot of superstitious nonsense? + +OLD LADY. Tell me, do you really think he is nothing but a mesmerist? + +JUDGE. [_Blustering_] That fellow? He's a first-class charlatan. A +che-ar-la-tan! + +OLD LADY. [_Looking around_] I am not so sure. + +JUDGE. But I am sure. Su-ure! And if he should ever come before my eyes +again--just now, for instance--I'll drink his health and say: here's +to you, old humourist! [As _he raises the glass, it is torn out of his +hand and is seen to disappear through the wall_] What was that? [_The +lantern goes out._ OLD LADY. Help! + + [_A gust of wind is heard, and then all is silence again_. + +JUDGE. You just get some matches, and I'll clear this matter up. For I +am no longer afraid of anything. Not of anything! + +OLD LADY. Oh, don't, don't! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps from behind one of the casks_] Now we'll have to +have a talk in private. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Where did you come from? + +THE OTHER ONE. That is no concern of yours. + +JUDGE. [_Straightening himself up_] What kind of language is that? + +THE OTHER ONE. Your own!--Off with your cap! [_He blows at the_ JUDGE, +_whose cap is lifted off his head and falls to the ground_] Now you +shall hear sentence pronounced: you have wanted to sever what has been +united by Him whose name I may not mention. Therefore you shall be +separated from her who ought to be the staff of your old age. Alone +you must run the gauntlet. Alone you must bear the qualms of sleepless +nights. + +JUDGE. Is that mercy? + +THE OTHER ONE. It is justice; it is the law: an eye for an eye, and a +tooth for a tooth! The gospel has a different sound, but of that you +didn't want to hear. Now, move I along. [_He beats the air with the +rattan._ + + _The scene changes to a garden with cypresses and yew-trees + clipped in the shape of obelisks, candelabra, vases, etc. Under + the trees grow roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, etc. At the centre + of it is a spring above which droops a gigantic fuchsia in full + bloom_.[1] + + _Back of the garden appears a field of rye, all yellow and + ready to be cut. Bachelor's-buttons and daisies grow among the + rye. A scarecrow hangs in the middle of the field. The distant + background is formed by vineyards and light-coloured rocks with + beech woods and ruined castles on them_. + + _A road runs across the stage in the near background. At the + right is a covered Gothic arcade. In front of this stands a + statue of the Madonna with the Child_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _enter hand in hand with the_ PLAYMATE. + +ERIC. Oh, how beautiful it is! + +THYRA. Who is living here? + +PLAYMATE. Whoever feels at home has his home here. + +THYRA. Can we play here? + +PLAYMATE. Anywhere except in that avenue over there to the right. + +ERIC. And may we pick the flowers? + +PLAYMATE. You may pick any flowers you want, but you mustn't touch the +tree at the fountain. + +THYRA. What kind of tree is that? + +ERIC. Why, you know, it is one of those they call [_lowering his +voice_] "Christ's Blood-drops." + +THYRA. You should cross yourself, Eric, when you mention the name of +the Lord. + +ERIC. [_Makes the sign of the cross_] Tell me, little boy, why mustn't +we touch the tree? + +THYRA. You should obey without asking any questions, Eric.--But tell +me, little boy, why is that ugly scarecrow hanging there? Can't we take +it away? + +PLAYMATE. Yes, indeed, you may, for then the birds will come and sing +for us. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _run into the rye-field and tear down the + scarecrow_. + +ERIC. Away with you, you nasty old scarecrow! Come and eat now, little +birds! [_The Golden Bird comes flying from the right and perches on the +fuchsia_] Oh, see the Golden Bird, Thyra! + +THYRA. Oh, how pretty it is! Does it sing, too? + + [_The bird calls like a cuckoo_. + +ERIC. Can you understand what the bird sings, boy? + +PLAYMATE. No, children, the birds have little secrets of their own +which they have a right to keep hidden. + +THYRA. Of course, Eric, don't you see, otherwise the children could +tell where the nests are, and then they would take away the eggs, and +that would make the birds sorry, and they couldn't have any children of +their own. + +ERIC. Don't talk like a grown-up, Thyra. + +PLAYMATE. [_Putting a finger across his lips_] Hush! Somebody is +coming. Now let us see if he likes to stay with us or not. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters, stops in surprise, and begins to + look around_. + +PLAYMATE. Well, boy, won't you come and play with us? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Takes off his cap; speaks bashfully_] Oh, you don't +want to play with me. + +PLAYMATE. Why shouldn't we? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I am sooty all over. And besides I don't know how to +play--I hardly know what it is. + +THYRA. Think of it, the poor boy has never played. + +PLAYMATE. What is your name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. My name? They call me Ole--but---- + +PLAYMATE. But what's your other name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Other name? I have none. + +PLAYMATE. But your papa's name? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I have no papa. + +PLAYMATE. And your mamma's? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know. + +PLAYMATE. He has no papa or mamma. Come to the spring here, boy, and +I'll make you as white as a little prince. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. If anybody else said it, I shouldn't believe it---- + +PLAYMATE. Why do you believe it then, when I say it? + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. I don't know, but I think you look as if it would be +true. + +PLAYMATE. Give the boy your hand, Thyra!--Would you give him a kiss, +too? + +THYRA. [_After a moment's hesitation_] Yes, when you ask me! + + +[Footnote 1: The Swedish name of this plant is "Christ's Blood-drops."] + + _She kisses the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP. _Then the_ PLAYMATE _dips + his hand in the spring and sprays a little water on the face + of the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP, _whose black mask at once disappears, + leaving his face white_. + +PLAYMATE. Now you are white again. And now you must go behind that +rose-bush there and put on new clothes. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Why do I get all this which I don't deserve? + +PLAYMATE. Because you don't believe that you deserve it. + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. [_Going behind the rose-bush_] Then I thank you for it, +although I don't understand what it means. + +THYRA. Was he made a chimney-sweep because he had been bad? + +PLAYMATE. No, he has never been bad. But he had a bad guardian who took +all his money away from him, and so he had to go out into the world to +earn a living--See how fine he looks now! + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _enters dressed in light summer clothes_. + +PLAYMATE. [_To the_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP] Go to the arcade now, and you'll +meet somebody you love--and who loves you! + +CHIMNEY-SWEEP. Who could love me? + +PLAYMATE. Go and find out. + + _The_ CHIMNEY-SWEEP _goes across the stage to the arcade, where + he is met by the_ LADY IN WHITE, _who puts her arms around him_. + +THYRA. Who is living in there? + +PLAYMATE. [_With his finger on his lips_] Polly Pry!--But who is coming +there? + + _The_ OLD LADY _appears on the road with a sack on her back and + a stick in her hand_. + +ERIC. It's grandmother! Oh, now we are in for it! + +THYRA. Oh, my! It's grandmother! + +PLAYMATE. Don't get scared, children. I'll tell her it's my fault. + +ERIC. No, you mustn't, for then she'll beat you. + +PLAYMATE. Well, why shouldn't I take a beating for my friends? + +ERIC. No, I'll do it myself! + +THYRA. And I, too! + +PLAYMATE. Hush! And come over here--then you won't be scolded. [_They +hide_. + +OLD LADY. [_Goes to the spring_] So, this is the famous spring that +is said to cure everything--after the angel has stirred it up, of +course!--But I suppose it is nothing but lies. Well, I might have a +drink anyhow, and water is water. [_She bends down over the spring_] +What is it I see? Eric and Thyra with a strange boy! What can it mean? +For they are not here. It must be an oracle spring. [_She takes a cup +that stands by the spring, fills it with water and drinks_] Ugh, it +tastes of copper--he must have been here and poisoned the water, too! +Everything is poisoned! Everything!--And I feel tired, too, although +the years have not been hard on me--[_She looks at her reflection +in the spring and tosses her head_] On the contrary, I look quite +youthful--but it's hard to walk, and still harder to get up--[_She +struggles vainly to rise_] My God, my God, have mercy! Don't leave me +lying here! + +PLAYMATE. [_Makes a sign to the children to stay where they are; then +he goes up to the_ OLD LADY _and wipes the perspiration from her +forehead_] Rise, and leave your evil ways! + +OLD LADY. [_Rising_] Who is that?--Oh, it's you, my nice gentleman, who +has led the children astray? + +PLAYMATE. Go, ungrateful woman! I have wiped the sweat of fear from +your brow; I have raised you up when your own strength failed you, and +you reward me with angry words. Go--go! + + OLD LADY _stares astonished at him; then her eyes drop, and she + turns and goes out_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _come forward_. + +ERIC. But I am sorry for grandmother just the same, although she is +nasty. + +THYRA. It isn't nice here, and I want to go home. + +PLAYMATE. Wait a little! Don't be so impatient.--There comes somebody +else we know. + + _The_ JUDGE _appears on the road_. + +PLAYMATE. He cannot come here and defile the spring. [_He waves his +hand; the spot of sunlight strikes the_ JUDGE, _making him turn around +and walk away_] It is nice of you to be sorry for the old people, but +you must believe that what I do is right. Do you believe that? + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Yes, we believe it, we believe it! + +THYRA. But I want to go home to mamma! + +PLAYMATE. I'll let you go. + + THE OTHER ONE _appears in the background and hides himself + behind the bushes_. + +PLAYMATE. For now I must go. The Angelus bell will soon be ringing---- + +ERIC. Where are you going, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. There are other children I must play with--far away from +here, where you cannot follow me. But now, when I leave you here, don't +forget what I have told you: that you mustn't touch the tree! + +ERIC. We'll obey! We will! But don't go away, for it will soon be dark! + +PLAYMATE. How is that? Anybody who has a good conscience and knows his +evening prayer has nothing, nothing to be afraid of. + +THYRA. When will you come back to us, little boy? + +PLAYMATE. Next Christmas I come back, and every Christmas!--Good night, +my little friends! + + _He kisses their foreheads and goes out between the bushes; + when he reappears in the background, he is carrying a cross + with a banner like that carried by the Christ-Child in old + paintings; the Angelus bell begins to ring; as he raises the + banner and waves it in greeting to the children, he becomes + surrounded by a clear, white light; then he goes out_. + +ERIC _and_ THYRA _kneel and pray silently while the bell is ringing_. + +ERIC. [_Having crossed himself_] Do you know who the boy was, Thyra? + +THYRA. It was the Saviour! + + THE OTHER ONE _steps forward_. + +THYRA. [_Scared, runs to Eric, who puts his arms around her to protect +her_] My! + +ERIC. [_To_ THE OTHER ONE] What do you want? You nasty thing! + +THE OTHER ONE. I only wanted--Look at me! + +ERIC. Yes? + +THE OTHER ONE. I am looking like this because once I touched the tree. +Afterward it was my joy to tempt others into doing the same. But now, +since I have grown old, I have come to repent, and now I am remaining +here to warn men, but nobody believes me--nobody--because I lied once. + +ERIC. You don't need to warn us, and you can't tempt us. + +THE OTHER ONE. Tut, tut, tut! Not so high-and-mighty, my little friend! +Otherwise it's all right. + +ERIC. Well, go away then, for I don't want to listen to you, and you +scare my sister! + +THE OTHER ONE. I am going, for I don't feel at home here, and I have +business elsewhere. Farewell, children! + +AMELIA. [_Is heard calling from the right_] Eric and Thyra! + +ERIC _and_ THYRA. Oh, there is mamma--dear little mamma! + + AMELIA _enters_. + + ERIC _and_ THYRA _rush into her arms_. + + THE OTHER ONE _turns away to hide his emotion_. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +ACT IV + + + _A cross-roads surrounded by pine woods. Moonlight_. + + _The_ WITCH _stands waiting_. + + +OLD LADY. Well, at last, there you are. + +WITCH. You have kept me waiting. Why have you called me? + +OLD LADY. Help me! + +WITCH. In what way? + +OLD LADY. Against my enemies. + +WITCH. There is only one thing that helps against your enemies: be good +to them. + +OLD LADY. Well, I declare! I think the whole world has turned +topsyturvy. + +WITCH. Yes, so it may seem. + +OLD LADY. Even the Other One--you know who I mean--has become +converted. + +WITCH. Then it ought to be time for you, too. + +OLD LADY. Time for me? You mean that my years are burdening me? But it +is less than three weeks since I danced at a wedding. + +WITCH. And you call that bliss! Well, if that be all, you shall have +your fill of it. For there is to be a ball here to-night, although I +myself cannot attend it. + +OLD LADY. Here? + +WITCH. Just here. It will begin whenever I give the word---- + +OLD LADY. It's too bad I haven't got on my low-necked dress. + +WITCH. You can borrow one from me--and a pair of dancing shoes with red +heels. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps I might also have a pair of gloves and a fan? + +WITCH. Everything! And, in particular, any number of young cavaliers +who will proclaim you the queen of the ball. + +OLD LADY. Now you are joking. + +WITCH. No, I am not joking. And I know that they have the good taste at +these balls to choose the right one for queen--and in speaking of the +right one, I have in mind the most worthy---- + +OLD LADY. The most beautiful, you mean? + +WITCH. No, I don't--I mean the worthiest. If you wish, I'll start the +ball at once. + +OLD LADY. I have no objection. + +WITCH. If you step aside a little, you'll find your maid--while the +hall is being put in order. + +OLD LADY. [_Going out to the right_] Think of it--I am going to have a +maid, too! You know, madam, that was the dream of my youth--which never +came true. + +WITCH. There you see: "What youth desires, age acquires." [_She blows a +whistle_] + + _Without curtain-fall, the stage changes to represent the + bottom of a rocky, kettle-shaped chasm. It is closed in on + three sides by steep walls of black rock, wholly stripped of + vegetation. At the left, in the foreground, stands a throne. At + the right is a platform for the musicians_. + + _A bust of Pan on a square base stands in the middle of the + stage, surrounded by a strange selection of potted plants: + henbane, burdock, thistle, onion, etc._ + + _The musicians enter. Their clothing is grey; their faces are + chalk-white and sad; their gestures tired. They appear to be + tuning their instruments, but not a sound is heard_. + + _Then comes the_ LEADER OF THE ORCHESTRA. + + _After him, the guests of the ball: cripples, beggars, tramps. + All are pulling on black gloves as they come in. Their + movements are dragging; their expressions funereal_. + + _Next: The_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES, _who is really_ THE OTHER + ONE_--a septuagenarian dandy wearing a black wig which is too + small for him, so that tufts of grey hair appear underneath. + His mustaches are waxed and pointed. He wears a monocle and has + on an outgrown evening dress and top-boots. He looks melancholy + and seems to be suffering because of the part he has to play._ + + _The_ SEVEN DEADLY SINS _enter and group themselves around the + throne as follows_: + + PRIDE COVETOUSNESS + LUST ANGER + GLUTTONY ENVY + SLOTH + + _Finally the_ PRINCE _enters. He is hunchbacked and wears a + soiled velvet coat with gold buttons, ruffles, sword, and high + boots with spurs_. + + _The ensuing scene must be played with deadly seriousness, + without a trace of irony, satire, or humour. There is a + suggestion of a death-mask in the face of every figure. They + move noiselessly and make simple, awkward gestures that convey + the impression of a drill_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Why do you disturb my peace at +this midnight hour? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Always, brother, you are asking why. Have you not +seen the light yet? + +PRINCE. Only in part. I can perceive a connection between my suffering +and my guilt, but I cannot see why I should have to suffer eternally, +when He has suffered in my place. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Eternally? You died only yesterday. But then time +ceased to exist to you, and so a few hours appear like an eternity. + +PRINCE. Yesterday? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes.--But because you were proud and wanted no +assistance, you have now to bear your own sufferings. + +PRINCE. What have I done, then? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. What a sublime question! + +PRINCE. But why don't you tell? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. As our task is to torture each other by +truth-telling--were we not called "heroes of truth" in our lifetime?--I +shall tell you a part of your own secret. You were, and you are still, +a hunchback---- + +PRINCE. What is that? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. There you see! You don't know what is known to +everybody else. But all those others pitied you, and so you never heard +the word that names your own deformity. + +PRINCE. What deformity is that? Perhaps you mean that I have a weak +chest? But that is no deformity. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A "weak chest"--yes, that is your own name for +the matter. However, people kept the disfigurement of your body hidden +from you, and they tried to assuage your misfortune by showing you +sympathy and kindness. But you accepted their generosity as an earned +tribute, their encouraging words as expressions of admiration due to +your superior physique. And at last you went so far in conceit that +you regarded yourself as a type of masculine beauty. And when, to cap +it all, woman granted you her favours out of pity, then you believed +yourself an irresistible conqueror. + +PRINCE. What right have you to say such rude things to me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Right? I am filling the saddening duty which +forces one sinner to punish another. And soon you will have to fulfil +the same cruel duty toward a woman who is vain to the verge of +madness--a woman resembling you as closely as she possibly could. + +PRINCE. I don't want to do it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Try to do anything but what you must, and you'll +experience an inner discord that you cannot explain. + +PRINCE. What does it mean? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It means that you cannot all of a sudden cease to +be what you are: and you are what you have wanted to become. [_He claps +his hands_. + + _The_ OLD LADY _enters, her figure looking as aged and clumsy + as ever; but she has painted her face and her head is covered + by a powdered wig; she wears a very low-necked, rose-coloured + dress, red shoes, and a fan made out of peacock feathers_. + +OLD LADY. [_A little uncertain_] Where am I? Is this the right place? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Quite right, for you are in the place we call +the "waiting-room." It is so called [_he sighs],_ because here we have +to spend our time waiting--waiting for something that will come some +time---- + +OLD LADY. Well, it isn't bad at all--and there is the music--and there +is a bust--of whom? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It's a pagan idol called Pan, because to the +ancients he was all they had. And as we, in this place, are of the old +order, more or less antiquated, he has been put here for us to look at. + +OLD LADY. Why, we are not old---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Yes, my Queen. When the new era opened [_he +sighs_], we couldn't keep up with it, and so we were left behind---- + +OLD LADY. The new era? What kind of talk is that? When did it begin? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. It is easy to figure out when the year one +began--It was night, for that matter; the stars were shining brightly, +and the weather must have been mild, as the shepherds remained in the +open---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, yes, yes--Are we not going to dance here to-night? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Of course, we are. The Prince is waiting for a +chance to ask you---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Is he a real Prince? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. A real one, my Queen. That is to say, he has full +reality in a certain fashion---- + +OLD LADY. [_To the_ PRINCE, _who is asking her to dance_] You don't +look happy, my Prince? + +PRINCE. I am not happy. + +OLD LADY. Well, I can't say that I find it very hilarious--and the +place smells of putty, as if the glazier had just been at work here. +What is that strange smell, as of linseed-oil? + +PRINCE. [_With an expression of horror_] What are you saying? Do you +mean that charnel-house smell? + +OLD LADY. I fear I must have said something impolite--but then, it +isn't for the ladies to offer pleasantries--that's what the cavalier +should do---- + +PRINCE. What can I tell you that you don't know before? + +OLD LADY. That I don't know before? Let me see--No, then I had better +tell you that you are very handsome, my Prince. + +PRINCE. Now you exaggerate, my Queen. I am not exactly handsome, but I +have always been held what they call "good-looking." + +OLD LADY. Just like me--I never was a beauty--that is, I _am_ not, +considering my years--Oh, I am so stupid!--What was it I wanted to say? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Let the music begin! + + _The musicians appear to be playing, but not a sound is heard_. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Well? Are you not going to dance? + +PRINCE. [_Sadly_] No, I don't care to dance. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. But you must: you are the only presentable +gentleman. + +PRINCE. That's true, I suppose--[_pensively_] but is that a fit +occupation for me? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you mean? + +PRINCE. At times it seems as if I had something else to think of, but +then--then I forget it. + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Don't brood--enjoy yourself while youth is with +you and the roses of life still bloom on your cheeks. Now! Up with the +head, and step lively---- + + _The_ PRINCE _grins broadly; then he offers his hand to the_ + OLD LADY, _and together they perform a few steps of a minuet_. + +OLD LADY. [_Interrupting the dance_] Ugh! Your hands are cold as ice! +_goes to the throne_] Why are those seven ladies not dancing? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. How do you like the music, Queen? + +OLD LADY. It's splendid, but they might play a little more _forte_---- + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. They are soloists, all of them, and formerly each +one of them wanted to make himself heard above the rest, and so they +have to use moderation now. + +OLD LADY. But I asked why the seven sisters over there are not dancing. +Couldn't you, as master of ceremonies, make them do so? + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. I don't think it would be of any use trying, for +they are obstinate as sin--But please assume your throne, my Queen. We +are going to perform a little play in honour of the occasion---- + +OLD LADY. Oh, what fun! But I want the prince to ... escort me---- + +PRINCE. [_To the_ MASTER OF CEREMONIES] Have I got to do it? + +OLD LADY. You ought to be ashamed of yourself--you with your hunch! + +PRINCE. [_Spits in her face_] Hold your tongue, you cursed old hag! + +OLD LADY. [_Cuffs him on the ear_] That'll teach you! + +PRINCE. [_Jumps at her and knocks her down_] And that's, for you! + + _All the rest cover their faces with their hands_. + +PRINCE. [_Tears off the_ OLD LADY'S _wig so that her head appears +totally bald_] There's the false scalp! Now we'll pull out the teeth! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Enough! Enough! + + _He helps the_ OLD LADY _to rise, and gives her a kerchief to + cover her head_. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] Goodness gracious, that I could let myself be +fooled like that! But I haven't deserved any better, I admit. + +PRINCE. No, you have deserved a great deal worse. You should leave my +hunch alone, for otherwise hell breaks loose--It's a miserable thing to +see an old woman like you so foolish and so degraded. But, then, you +are to be pitied--as all of us are to be pitied. + +ALL. We are all to be pitied! + +PRINCE. [_With a sneer_] The queen! + +OLD LADY. [_In the same tone_] The prince!--But haven't we met before? + +PRINCE. Perhaps--in our youth--for I am old, too. You had too much +frippery on before--but now, when the disguise has been taken away--I +begin to distinguish certain features---- + +OLD LADY. Don't say anything more--don't say anything more--Oh, what +have I come to--what is happening to me? + +PRINCE. Now I know: you are my sister! + +OLD LADY. But--my brother is dead! Have I been deceived? Or are the +dead coming back? + +PRINCE. Everything comes back. + +OLD LADY. Am I dead or am I living? + +PRINCE. You may well ask that question, for I don't know the +difference. But you are exactly the same as when I parted from you +once: just as vain and just as thievish. + +OLD LADY. Do you think you are any better? + +PRINCE. Perhaps! I am guilty of all the seven deadly sins, but you have +invented the eighth one--that of robbing the dead. + +OLD LADY. What are you thinking of now? + +PRINCE. Twelve years in succession I sent you money to buy a wreath for +mother's grave, and instead of buying it you kept the money. + +OLD LADY. How do you know? + +PRINCE. How I came to know of it is the only thing that interests you +about that crime of yours. + +OLD LADY. Prove it! + +PRINCE. [_Taking a number of bills from his pocket_] Here is the money! + + _The_ OLD LADY _sinks to the ground. A church bell begins to + ring. All bend their heads, but nobody kneels_. + +LADY IN WHITE. [_Enters, goes up to the_ OLD LADY, _and assists her in +rising_] Do you know me? + +OLD LADY. No. + +LADY IN WHITE. I am Amelia's mother. You have taken the memory of me +away from her. You have erased me from her life. But now you are to be +wiped out, and I shall recover my child's love and the prayers my soul +needs. + +OLD LADY. Oh, somebody has been telling tales to that hussy--then I'll +set her to herd the swine---- + + _The_ PRINCE _strikes her on the mouth_. + +LADY IN WHITE. Don't strike her! + +OLD LADY. Are you interceding for me? + +LADY IN WHITE. It is what I have been taught to do. + +OLD LADY. You hypocrite! If you only dared, you would wish me buried as +deep as there are miles from here to the sun! + +MASTER OF CEREMONIES. Down with you--monster! + + [As _he touches her with his staff she falls to the ground_ + + _Again the scene is changed while the curtain remains up. The + bust of Pan sinks into the earth. The musicians and the throne + with its attendant sins disappear behind pieces of; scenery + that are lowered from above. At last the cross-roads with the + surrounding pine woods appear again, and the_ OLD LADY _is + discovered lying at the foot of a sign-post_. + +WITCH. Get up! + +OLD LADY. I cannot--I am frozen stiff---- + +WITCH. The sun will rise in a moment. The cock has crowed. The matin +bells are ringing. + +OLD LADY. I don't care for the sun. + +WITCH. Then you'll have to walk in darkness. + +OLD LADY. Oh, my eyes! What have you done to me? + +WITCH. I have only turned out the light because it troubled you. Now, +up and away with you--through cold and darkness--until you drop! + +OLD LADY. Where is my husband?--Amelia! Eric and Thyra! My children! + +WITCH. Yes, where are they? But wherever they may be, you shall not see +them until your pilgrimage is ended. Now, up and away! Or I will loose +my dogs! + + _The_ OLD LADY _gropes her way out_. + +_The court-room. In the background is the desk of the presiding judge, +decorated in white and gold with the emblems of justice. In front of +the desk, covering the centre of the floor, stands a big table, and on +it are placed writing-materials, inkstand, Bible, bell, and gavel_. + +_The axe of the executioner hangs on the rear wall, with a pair of +handcuffs below it and a big black crucifix above_. + + _The_ JUDGE _enters and makes his way into the room on tiptoe. + The bell rings. The gavel raps once on the table. All the + chairs are pulled up to the table at once. The Bible is opened. + The candles on the table become lighted_. + + _For a moment the_ JUDGE _stands still, stricken with horror. + Then he resumes his advance toward a huge cabinet. Suddenly the + doors of this fly open. A number of documents are thrown out, + and the_ JUDGE _picks them up_. + +JUDGE. [_Reassured_] This time I am in luck! Here are the accounts +of my guardianship; here is the contract for the lease--my report as +executor--all of it! [_The handcuffs on the wall begin to clank_] Make +all the noise you please! As long as the axe stays still, I won't be +scared. [_He puts the documents on the table and goes back to close +the door of the cabinet, but this flies open again as soon as he shuts +it_] Everything has a cause: _ratio sufficiens_. This door must have +a spring with which I am not familiar. It surprises me that I don't +know it, but it cannot scare me. [_The axe moves on the wall_] The axe +moved--as a rule, that foretells an execution, but to-day it means only +that its equilibrium has become disturbed in some way. Oh, no, nothing +will give me pause but seeing my own ghost--for that would be beyond +the tricks of any charlatan. + + _The_ GHOST _enters from behind the cabinet; the figure + resembles in every way the_ JUDGE, _but where the eyes should + be appear two white surfaces, as on a plaster bust_. + +JUDGE. [_Frightened_] Who are you? + +GHOST. I am not--I have been. I have been that unrighteous judge who is +now come here to receive his sentence. + +JUDGE. What have you done then, poor man? + +GHOST. Everything wrong that an unrighteous judge might do. Pray for +me, you whose conscience is clear---- + +JUDGE. Am I--to pray for you? + +GHOST. Yes, you who have caused no innocent blood to be shed---- + +JUDGE. That's true; that's something I haven't done. And besides, as +I have always obeyed the letter of the law, I have good reason to let +myself be called a righteous judge--yes, without irony! + +GHOST. It would, indeed, be a bad moment for joking, as the Invisible +Ones are sitting in judgment---- + +JUDGE. What do you mean? Who are sitting in judgment? + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] You don't see them, but I do. [_The +bell rings; a chair is pushed back from the table_] Pray for me! + +JUDGE. No, I won't. Justice must take its course. You must have been a +great offender to reach consciousness of your guilt so late. + +GHOST. You are as stern as a good conscience. + +JUDGE. That's just the word for it. Stern, but just! + +GHOST. No pity, then? + +JUDGE. None whatever. + +GHOST. No mercy? + +JUDGE. No mercy! + + _The gavel raps on the table; the chairs are pushed away_. + +GHOST. Now the verdict is being delivered. Can't you hear? + +JUDGE. I hear nothing. + +GHOST. [_Pointing to the table_] And you see nothing? Don't you see the +beheaded sailor, the surveyor, the chimney-sweep, the lady in white, +the tenant---- + +JUDGE. I see absolutely nothing. + +GHOST. Woe unto you, then, when your eyes become opened as mine have +been. Now the verdict has been given: guilty! + +JUDGE. Guilty! + +GHOST. You have said it--yourself! And you have already been sentenced. +All that remains now is the big auction. + +_Curtain._ + + + + +ACT V + + + _The same room as in the second act, but it is now arranged for + the auction. Benches are placed in the middle of the room. On + the table behind which the auctioneer is to preside stand the + silver coffee-set, the clock, vases, candelabra, etc._ + + _The portraits of the_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _have been + taken down and are leaning against the table_. + + _The_ NEIGHBOUR _and_ AMELIA _are on the stage_. + + +AMELIA. [_Dressed as a scrub-woman_] Before my mother left, she ordered +me to clean the hallway and the stairs. It is winter now, and cold, and +I cannot say that it has been any pleasure to carry out her order---- + +NEIGHBOUR. So you didn't get any pleasure out of it? Well, my child, I +must say that you demand rather too much of yourself. But as you have +obeyed, and stood the test, your time of trial shall be over, and I +will let you know your life's secret. + +AMELIA. Speak out, neighbour, for I dare hardly trust my good +resolutions much longer. + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, then! The woman you have been calling mother is your +stepmother. Your father married her when you were only one year old. +And the reason you have never seen your mother is that she died when +you were born. + +AMELIA. So that was it!--How strange to have had a mother and yet never +to have seen her! Tell me--did you ever see her? + +NEIGHBOUR. I knew her. + +AMELIA. How did she look? + +NEIGHBOUR. Well, how _did_, she look?--Her eyes were blue as the +blossom of the flax--her hair was yellow as the dry stalks of wheat---- + +AMELIA. And tall and slender--and her hand was small and white as if it +had touched nothing but silk in all her days--and her mouth was shaped +like a heart, and her lips looked as if none but good words had ever +passed them. + +NEIGHBOUR. How can you know all that? + +AMELIA. Because that is the image which appears in my dreams when I +have not been good--And then she raises her hand as if to warn me, and +on one of her fingers there is a ring with a green stone that seems to +radiate light. It is she!--Tell me, neighbour, is there a picture of +her in the place? + +NEIGHBOUR. There used to be one, but I don't know whether it's still +here. + +AMELIA. So this one is my stepmother? Well, God was good when he let me +keep my mother's image free from stain--and hereafter I shall find it +quite natural that this other woman is cruel to me. + +NEIGHBOUR. Cruel stepmothers exist to make children kind. And you were +not kind, Amelia, but you have become so, and for that reason I shall +now give you a Christmas present in advance. + + _He takes the portrait of the_ OLD LADY _out of its frame, when + in its place appears a picture in water-colours corresponding + to the description given above_. + +AMELIA. [_Kneeling in front of the picture_] My mother--mother of my +dreams! [_Rising_] But how can I keep the picture when it is to be sold +at auction? + +NEIGHBOUR. You can, because the auction has already taken place. + +AMELIA. Where and when was it held? + +NEIGHBOUR. It was held elsewhere--in a place not known to you--and +to-day the things are merely to be taken away. + +AMELIA. What a lot of queer things are happening! And how full of +secrets the house is!--But tell me, where is my stepmother? I have not +seen her in a long time. + +NEIGHBOUR. I suppose it must be told: she is in a place from which +nobody returns. + +AMELIA. Is she dead? + +NEIGHBOUR. She is dead. She was found frozen to death in a swamp into +which she had stumbled. + +AMELIA. Merciful God have pity on her soul! + +NEIGHBOUR. So he will in time, especially if you pray for her. + +AMELIA. Of course I will. + +NEIGHBOUR. How good you have become, my child--as a result of her +becoming so bad! + +AMELIA. Don't say so now when she is dead---- + +NEIGHBOUR. Right you are! Let her rest in peace! + +AMELIA. But where is my father? + +NEIGHBOUR. That's a secret to all of us. But it is sweet of you to ask +for him before you ask for your own Adolph. + +AMELIA. Adolph--yes, where is he? The children are crying for him, and +Christmas is near.--Oh, what a Christmas this will be to us! + +NEIGHBOUR. Leave to each day its own trouble--and now take your +Christmas present and go. The affairs connected with the auction are to +be settled, and then you'll hear news. + +AMELIA. [_Takes the portrait of her mother_] I go, but no longer +alone--and I have a feeling that something good is about to happen, but +what I cannot tell. + + [_She goes out to the right_. + +NEIGHBOUR. But I know! Yet you had better go, for what is about to +happen here should not be seen by children. + + _He opens the door in the rear and rings a bell to summon + the people to the auction. The people enter in the following + order_: THE POOR, _a large number of them; the_ SAILOR; _the_ + CHIMNEY-SWEEP; _the_ NEIGHBOUR, who takes his place in front + of the rest; _the_ WIDOW _and the_ FATHERLESS CHILDREN; _the_ + SURVEYOR; THE OTHER ONE, _carrying the auctioneer's hammer and + a pile of documents_. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Takes his place at the table and raps with the +hammer_] At a compulsory auction held at the court-house for the +disposal of property left by the late circuit judge, the items now to +be described were bid in by the Court on behalf of absent creditors, +and may now be obtained and taken away by their respective owners. + +JUDGE. [_Enters, looking very aged and miserable_] In the name of the +law--hold! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Pretends to throw something at the_ JUDGE, _who +stands aghast and speechless_] Don't speak of the law! Here the Gospel +is preached--but not for you, who wanted to buy heaven with stolen +money.--First: the widow and her fatherless children. There is the +silver set which the judge accepted from you for his false report +as executor. In his stained hands the silver has turned black, but +I hope that in yours it will once more turn white.--Then we come to +the ward, who had to become a chimney-sweep, after being cheated out +of his inheritance. Here are the receipted bills and the property +due to you from your guardian. And you need not thank him for his +accounting.--Here stands the surveyor who, although he was innocent, +had to serve two years in prison because he had made an illegal +partition--the maps handed to him for the purpose having been falsified +in advance. What can you do for him, Judge? Can you undo what has +happened, or restore his lost honour? + +JUDGE. Oh, that fellow--give him a bill and he'll be satisfied! His +honour wasn't worth a penny, anyhow. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Slaps the_ JUDGE _on the mouth, while the rest spit at +him and mutter with clinched fists_] Here is the brother of the sailor +who was beheaded in spite of his innocence. Can you restore his brother +to life? No! And you cannot pay for his life with yours, as it is not +worth as much.--And finally we come to the neighbour whom you cheated +out of his property in a perfectly legal way. Not familiar with the +tricks of the law, the neighbour has, contrary to prevailing practice, +placed the judge's son-in-law in charge of the property as life tenant, +wiping out his previous indebtedness and making him also legal heir to +the property. + +JUDGE. I appeal to a higher court! + +THE OTHER ONE. This case has passed through all the instances except +the highest, and that far you cannot reach with your stamped papers. +For if you tried, all these poor people whom you have robbed of their +living would cry out: Guilty!--Thus we are done with all that could be +properly disposed of. What remains here still undisposed of goes to the +poor: clocks, vases, jewelry and other valuables that have served as +bribes, graft, tips, souvenirs--all in a perfectly legal way because +evidence and witnesses were wanting. You poor, take back your own! +Your tears have washed the guilt from the ill-gotten goods. [_The_ POOR +_begin to plunder_] And now remains the last item to be sold by me. +This pauper here, formerly a judge, is offered to the lowest bidder for +board at the expense of the parish. How much is offered? [_Silence_] +No offer? [_Silence_] First, second, third time--no offer? [_To the_ +JUDGE] There, you see! Nobody wants you. Well, then, I have to take you +myself and send you to your well-earned punishment. + +JUDGE. Is there no atonement? + +THE OTHER ONE. Yes, punishment atones.--Take him into the woods and +stone him in accordance with the law of Moses--for no other law was +ever known to him. Away with him! [_The people pounce on the_ JUDGE +_and jostle him_. + + _The scene changes to the "waiting-room." The same setting as + in the second scene of the fourth act: a kettle-shaped chasm + surrounded by steep black rocks. (The same people are on the + stage.)_ + + _In the background appear a pair of huge scales for the + weighing of newcomers_. + + _The_ JUDGE _and the_ OLD LADY _are seated opposite each other + at a small table_. + +JUDGE. [_Staring in front of himself as if lost in a dream_] +Hush!--I had a dream! They were throwing stones at me--and yet I +felt no pain--and then everything turned black and vacant until this +moment--How long it may have lasted, I cannot tell--Now I am beginning +to hear again--and to feel. It feels as if I were being carried--oh, +how cold it is--they are washing me, I think--I am lying in something +that has six sides like a cell in a honeycomb and that smells like a +carpenter shop--I am being carried, and a bell is ringing--Wait! Now I +am riding, but not in a street-car, although the bell is ringing all +the time--Now I am sinking down, down, as if I were drowning--boom, +boom, boom: three knocks on the roof--and then the lessons begin--the +teacher is leading--and now the boys are singing--What can it be?--And +then they are knocking on the roof again, incessantly--boom, boom, +boom, boom, boom, boom--silence--it's over! [_He wakes up_] Where am I? +I choke! It's so stuffy and close here!--Oh, it's you!--Where are we? +Whose bust is that? + +OLD LADY. They say it is the new god. + +JUDGE. But he looks like a goat. + +OLD LADY. Perhaps it is the god of the goats? + +JUDGE. "The goats on the left side--" What is that I am recalling? + +PRINCE. It is the god Pan. + +JUDGE. Pan? + +PRINCE. Exactly! Just exactly! And when, in the night, the +shepherds--no, not _those_ shepherds--catch sight of a hair of his hide +they are seized with panic---- + +JUDGE. [_Rising_] Woe! I don't want to stay here! Woe! Can't I get out +of here? I want to get out! + + [_He runs around, looking vainly for a way out._ + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Enters dressed as a Franciscan friar_] You'll find +nothing but entrances--no exits! + +JUDGE. Are you Father Colomba? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, I am The Other One. + +JUDGE. As a monk? + +THE OTHER ONE. Don't you know that The Other One turns monk when he +grows old; and don't you think it is well that he does so some time? +But, seriously speaking--for here everything is serious--this is my +holiday attire, which I am permitted to wear only this one day of the +year in order that I may remember what I have had and what I have lost. + +JUDGE. [_Alarmed_] What day of the year is it to-day? + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Bending his head with a sigh_] It is Christmas Eve! + +JUDGE. [_Approaching the_ OLD LADY] Think of it, it is Christmas +Eve?--And you know I don't dare to ask where we are--I dare not--but +let us go home, home to our children, to our own---- [_He cries_. + +OLD LADY. Yes, let us go from here, home to ourselves, that we may +start a new life in peace and harmony---- + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +OLD LADY. Oh, dear, sweet fellow--help us, have mercy on us, forgive us! + +THE OTHER ONE. It is too late! + +JUDGE. [_Taking the_ OLD LADY _by the hand_] I am choking with dread! +Don't ask him where we are; I don't want to know! But one thing I do +want to know: will there ever be an end to this? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never!--That word "end" is not known to us here. + +JUDGE. [_Crushed_] No end! [_Looking around_] And does the sun never +enter this place of damp and cold? + +THE OTHER ONE. Never, for those who dwell here have not loved the sun! + +JUDGE. It is true: I have cursed the sun.--May I confess my sins? + +THE OTHER ONE. No, you must keep them to yourself until they begin to +swell and stop up your throat. + +OLD LADY. [_Kneeling_] O--I don't know how to pray! + + _She rises and walks restlessly back and forth, wringing her + hands_. + +THE OTHER ONE. Because for you there is no one to whom you might pray. + +OLD LADY. [_In despair_] Children--send somebody to give me a word of +hope and pardon. + +THE OTHER ONE. It will not be done. Your children have forgotten +you--they are now rejoicing at your absence. + + _A picture appears on the rocky wall in the rear: the home, + with_ ADOLPH, AMELIA, ERIC, _and_ THYRA _around the Christmas + tree; in the background, the_ PLAYMATE. + +JUDGE. You say they are seated at the Christmas table rejoicing at our +misfortune?--No, now you lie, for they are better than we! + +THE OTHER ONE. What new tune is that? I have always heard that you were +a righteous man---- + +JUDGE. I? I was a great sinner--the greatest one that ever was! + +THE OTHER ONE. Hm! Hm! + +JUDGE. And if you say anything of the children you are guilty of a sin. +I know that they are praying for us. + +OLD LADY. [_On her knees_] I can hear them tell their rosaries: hush--I +hear them! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are completely mistaken. What you hear is the song +of the workmen who are tearing down the mausoleum. + +JUDGE. The mausoleum! Where we were to have rested in peace! + +PRINCE. Shaded by a dozen wreaths. + +JUDGE. Who is that? + +PRINCE. [_Pointing to the_ OLD LADY] She is my sister, and so you must +be my brother-in-law. + +JUDGE. Oh--that lazy scamp! + +PRINCE. Look here! In this place we are all lazy scamps. + +JUDGE. But we are not all hunchbacks! + +PRINCE. [_Strikes him a blow on the mouth_] Don't touch the hunch or +there will be hell to pay! + +JUDGE. What a way to treat a man of my ability and high social +position! What a Christmas! + +PRINCE. Perhaps you expected your usual creamed codfish and Christmas +cake? + +JUDGE. Not exactly, but there ought to be something to feed on---- + +PRINCE. Here we are keeping a Christmas fast, you see. + +JUDGE. How long will it last? + +PRINCE. How long? We don't measure time here, because it has ceased to +exist, and a minute may last a whole eternity. + +OLD LADY. We suffer only what our deeds have deserved--so don't +complain---- + +PRINCE. Just try to complain, and you'll see what happens.--We are not +squeamish here, but bang away without regard for legal forms. + +JUDGE. Are they beating carpets out there--on a day like this? + +PRINCE. No, it is an extra ration of rod all around as a reminder for +those who may have forgotten the significance of the day. + +JUDGE. Do they actually lay hands on our persons? Is it possible that +educated people can do things like that to each other? + +PRINCE. This is a place of education for the badly educated; and those +who have behaved like scoundrels are treated like such. + +JUDGE. But this passes all limits! + +PRINCE. Yes, because here we are in the limitless! Now get ready! I +have already been out there and had my portion. + +JUDGE. [_Appalled_] What humiliation! That's to strip you of all human +worth! + +PRINCE. Ha ha! Human worth! Ha ha!--Look at the scales over there. +That's where the human worth is--and invariably found wanting. + +JUDGE. [_Sits down at the table_] I could never have believed---- + +PRINCE. No, you could only believe in your caul and your own +righteousness. And yet you had both Moses and the Prophets and more +besides--for the very dead walked for your benefit. + +JUDGE. The children! The children! Is it not possible to send them a +word of greeting and of warning? + +PRINCE. No! Eternally, no! + + _The_ WITCH _comes forward with a big basketful of + stereoscopes._ + +JUDGE. What is it? + +WITCH. Christmas gifts for the righteous. Stereoscopes, you know. +[_Handing out one_] Help yourself. They don't cost anything. + +JUDGE. There's a kind soul at last. And a little attention to a man of +my age and rank does honour both to your tact and to your heart---- + +WITCH. That's very nice of you, Judge, but I hope you don't mind my +having given some thought to the others, too. + +JUDGE. [_Disappointed_] Are you poking fun at me, you damned old hag? + +WITCH. [_Spitting in his face_] Hold your tongue, petti-fogger! + +JUDGE. What company I have got into! + +WITCH. Is it not good enough for you, you old perjurer, you grafter, +you forger, you robber of orphans, you false pleader? Now have a look +in the peep-show and take in the great spectacle: "From the Cradle to +the Grave." There is your whole biography and all your victims--just +have a look now. That's right! + +JUDGE _looks in the stereoscope; then he rises with horror stamped on +his face_. + +WITCH. I hope this slight attention may add to the Christmas joy! + + _She hands a stereoscope to the_ OLD LADY, _and proceeds + thereafter to give one to each person present_. + +JUDGE. [_Sitting at the table, where now the_ OLD LADY _takes a seat +opposite him_] What do you see? + +OLD LADY. Everything is there; everything!--And do you notice that +everything is black? All life that seemed so bright is now black, and +even moments which I thought full of innocent joy have an appearance +of something nauseating, foul, almost criminal. It is as if all my +memories had decayed, including the fairest among them---- + +JUDGE. You are right. There is not one memory that can bring light into +this darkness. When I look at her who was the first love of my youth, +I see nothing but a corpse. When I think of my sweet Amelia, there +appears--a harlot. The little ones make faces at me like gutter-snipes. +My court has become a pigsty; the vineyard, a rubbish-heap full of +thistles; and the mausoleum--Oh, horrors!--an outhouse! When I think of +the green woods, the leafage appears snuff-coloured and the trunks look +bleached as mast tops. The blue river seems to flow out of a dung-heap +and the blue arch above it looks like a smoky roof--Of the sun itself I +can recall nothing but the name; and what was called the moon--the lamp +that shed its light on bays and groves during the amorous nights of my +youth--I can remember only as--no, I cannot remember it at all. But +the words are left, although they have only sound without sense.--Love, +wine, song! Flowers, children, happiness!--Don't the words sound +pretty? And it is all that is left!--Love? What _was_ it, anyhow? + +OLD LADY. What was it?--Two cats on a back-yard fence. + +JUDGE. [_Sheepishly_] Yes, that's it! That's what it was! Three dogs on +a sidewalk. What a sweet recollection! + +OLD LADY. [_Pressing his hand_] Yes, it is sweet! + +JUDGE. [_Looking at his watch_] My watch has stopped. I am so +hungry--and I am thirsty, too, and I long for a smoke. But I am also +tired and want to sleep. All my desires are waking. They claw at me and +hound me, but not one of them can I satisfy. We are lost! Lost, indeed! + +OLD LADY. And I long for a cup of tea more than I can tell! + +JUDGE. Hot green tea--that's just what I should like now--with a tiny +drop of rum in it. + +OLD LADY. No, not rum! I should prefer some cakes---- + +PRINCE. [_Who has drawn near to listen_] Sugared, of course? I fear +you'll have to whistle for them. + +OLD LADY. Oh, this dreadful language hurts me more than anything, else. + +PRINCE. That's because you don't know yet how something else is going +to hurt you. + +JUDGE. What is that? + +OLD LADY. No, don't! We don't want to know! Please! + +PRINCE. Yes, I am going to tell. It begins with---- + +OLD LADY. [_Puts her fingers in her ears and cries out_] Mercy! Don't, +don't, don't! + +PRINCE. Yes, I will--and as my brother-in-law is curious, I'll tell it +to him. The second letter is---- + +JUDGE. This uncertainty is worse than torture--Speak out, you devil, or +I'll kill you! + +PRINCE. Kill, ha ha! Everybody is immortal here, body and soul, what +little there is left. However, the third letter is--and that's all +you'll know! + +MAN IN GREY. [_A small, lean man with grey clothes, grey face, black +lips, grey beard, and grey hands; he speaks in a very low voice_] May I +speak a word with you, madam? + +OLD LADY. [_Rising in evident alarm_] What is it about? + +MAN IN GREY. [_Smiling a ghastly, malicious smile_] I'll tell--out +there. + +OLD LADY. [_Crying_] No, no; I won't! + +MAN IN GREY. [_Laughing_]; It isn't dangerous. Come along! All I want +is to _speak_ to you. Come now! + + [_They go toward the background and disappear_. + +PRINCE. [_To the_ JUDGE] A little Christmas entertainment is wholesome. + +JUDGE. Do you mean to maltreat a woman? + +PRINCE. Here all injustices are abolished, and woman is treated as the +equal of man. + +JUDGE. You devil! + +PRINCE. That's all right, but don't call me hunchback, for that touches +my last illusion. + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Steps up to the table_] Well, how do you like our +animal magnetism? It _can_ work wonders on black-guards! + +JUDGE. I understand nothing of all this. + +THE OTHER ONE. That's just what is meant, and it is very nice of you to +admit that there are things you don't understand. + +JUDGE. Granting that I am now in the realm of the dead---- + +THE OTHER ONE. Say "hell," for that is what it's called. + +JUDGE. [_Stammering_] Th-then I should like to remind you that He who +once descended here to redeem all lost---- + +PRINCE. [_At a sign from_ THE OTHER ONE _he strikes the_ JUDGE _in the +face_] Don't argue! + +JUDGE. They won't even listen to me! It is beyond despair! No mercy, no +hope, no end! + +THE OTHER ONE. Quite right! Here you find only justice and +retribution--especially justice: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth! Just as you wanted it! + +JUDGE. But among men there is pardon--and that you don't have here. + +THE OTHER ONE. Monarchs alone possess the right to pardon. And as a man +of law you ought to know that a petition for pardon must be submitted +before it can be granted. + +JUDGE. For me there can be no pardon! + +THE OTHER ONE. [_Gives the_ PRINCE _a sign to step aside_] You feel, +then, that your guilt is too great? + +JUDGE. Yes. + +THE OTHER ONE. Then I'll speak kindly to you. There is an end, you see, +if there is a beginning. And you have made a beginning. But the sequel +will be long and hard. + +JUDGE. Oh, God is good! + +THE OTHER ONE. You have said it! + +JUDGE. But--there is one thing that cannot be undone--there is one! + +THE OTHER ONE. You are thinking of the monstrance which should have +been of gold but was of silver? Well, don't you think that He who +changed water into wine may also change silver into gold? + +JUDGE. [_On his knees_] But my misdeed is too great, too great to be +forgiven. + +THE OTHER ONE. Now you overestimate yourself again. But rise up. We +are about to celebrate Christmas in our own fashion.--The light of the +sun cannot reach here, as you know--nor that of the moon. But on this +night, and on this alone, a star rises so far above the rocks that it +is visible from here. It is the star that went before the shepherds +through the desert--and _that_ was the morning star. + + [_He claps his hands together_. + + _The bust of Pan sinks into the ground. The_ OLD LADY _returns, + looking reassured and quietly happy. With a suggestion of firm + hope in mien and gesture, she goes up to the_ JUDGE _and takes + his hand. The stage becomes filled with shadows that are gazing + up at the rocks in the rear_. + +CHORUS I. [_Two sopranos and an alto sing behind the stage, accompanied +only by string instruments and a harp_.] + + Puer natus est nobis; + Et filius datus est nobis, + Cujus imperium super humerum ejus; + Et vocabitur nomen ejus + Magni consilii Angelus. + +CHORUS II. [_Soprano, alto, tenor, basso_.] + + Cantate Domino canticum novum + Quia mirabilia fecit! + + _The star becomes visible above the rocks in the rear. All + kneel down. A part of the rock glides aside, revealing a + tableau: the crib with the child and the mother; the shepherds + adoring at the left, the three Magi at the right_. + +CHORUS III. [_Two sopranos and two altos.]_ + + Gloria in excelsis Deo + Et in terra pax + Hominibus bonae voluntatis! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THE THUNDERSTORM + +(OVAeDER) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + + CHARACTERS + + THE MASTER, _a retired government official_ + THE CONSUL, _his brother_ + STARCK, _a confectioner_ + AGNES, _daughter of Starck_ + LOUISE, _a relative of the Master_ + GERDA, _the Master's divorced wife_ + FISCHER, _second husband of Gerda_ + THE ICEMAN + THE LETTER-CARRIER + THE LAMPLIGHTER + THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN + THE MILKMAID + + SCENE I--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + SCENE II--INSIDE THE HOUSE + SCENE III--IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The front of a modern house with a basement of granite. The + upper parts are of brick covered with yellow plastering. The + window-frames and other ornaments are of sandstone. A low + archway leads through the basement to the court and serves also + as entrance to the confectioner's shop. The corner of the house + appears at the right of the stage, where the avenue opens into + a small square planted with roses and various other flowers. At + the corner is a mail-box. The main floor, above the basement, + has large windows, all of which are open. Four of these windows + belong to an elegantly furnished dining-room. The four middle + windows in the second story have red shades which are drawn; + the shades are illumined by light from within_. + + _Along the front of the house runs a sidewalk with trees + planted at regular intervals. There is a lamp-post in the + extreme foreground and beside it stands a green bench_. + + STARCK, _the confectioner, comes out with a chair and sits down + on the sidewalk_. + + _The_ MASTER _is visible in the dining-room of the main floor, + seated at the table. Behind him appears an oven built of green + majolica tiles. On its mantelshelf stands a large photograph + between two candelabra and some vases containing flowers. A + young girl in a light dress is just serving the final course_. + + _The_ MASTER'S _brother, the_ CONSUL, _appears in front of the + house, coming from the left, and knocks with his walking-stick + on the sill of one of the dining-room windows_. + + +CONSUL. Will you soon be through? + +MASTER. I'll come in a moment. + +CONSUL. [_Saluting the confectioner_] Good evening, Mr. Starck. It's +still hot---- + +STARCK. Good evening, Consul. Yes, it's the dog-day heat, and we have +been making jam all day. + +CONSUL. Is that so? It's a good year for fruit, then? + +STARCK. It might be worse. Well, the spring was cold, but the summer +turned out unbearably hot. It was hard on us who had to stay in the +city. + +CONSUL. I got back from the country yesterday--one begins to wish +oneself back when the evenings grow dark. + +STARCK. Neither I nor my wife have been out of the city. Of course, +business is at a standstill, but you have to be on hand to make +ready for the winter. First come strawberries, then cherries, then +raspberries, and last gooseberries, cantaloupes and all the fall +fruits---- + +CONSUL. Tell me something, Mr. Starck. Is the house here to be sold? + +STARCK. Not that I have heard. + +CONSUL. There are a lot of people living here? + +STARCK. Something like ten families, I think, counting those in the +rear also. But nobody knows anybody else. There is unusually little +gossiping in the house. It seems rather as if everybody were hiding. I +have lived here ten years, and during the first two years we had for +neighbours a strange family that kept very quiet in the daytime. But at +night they began to stir about, and then carriages would come and fetch +things away. Not until the end of the second year did I learn that +they had been running a private sanatorium, and that what was being +taken away at night were dead bodies. + +CONSUL. Horrible! + +STARCK. And they call it the Silent House. + +CONSUL. Yes, there isn't much talking done here. + +STARCK. More than one drama has been played here, nevertheless. + +CONSUL. Tell me, Mr. Starck, who lives up there on the second floor, +right above my brother? + +STARCK. Up there, where the light comes through the red shades--a +tenant died there during the summer. Then the place stood empty for a +month, and a week ago a new family moved in. I haven't seen them. I +don't know their name. I don't think they ever go out. Why did you ask, +Consul? + +CONSUL. Whew--I don't know! Those four red shades look like stage +curtains behind which some sanguinary tragedies are being rehearsed--or +I imagine so, at least. There is a palm at one of the windows looking +like a rod made of wire--you can see the shadow of it on the shade. If +only some people were to be seen---- + +STARCK. I have seen plenty of them, but not until later--at night. + +CONSUL. Was it men or women you saw? + +STARCK. Both, I guess--but now I must get back to my pots. [_He +disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Still inside, has risen from the table and lighted a cigar; +he is now standing at the open window, talking to his brother outside_] +I'll be ready in a moment. Louise is only going to sew a button on one +of my gloves. + +CONSUL. Then you mean to go down-town? + +MASTER. Perhaps we'll take a turn in that direction--Whom were you +talking with? + +CONSUL. Just the confectioner---- + +MASTER. Oh, yes--a very decent fellow--and, for that matter, my only +companion here during the summer. + +CONSUL. Have you really stayed at home every night--never gone out? + +MASTER. Never! Those light evenings make me timid. They are pleasant in +the country, of course, but here in the city they produce the effect of +something unnatural--almost ghastly. But no sooner has the first street +lamp been lighted than I feel calm once more and can resume my evening +walks. In that way I can get tired and sleep better at night. [LOUISE +_hands him the glove_] Thank you, my child. You can just as well leave +the windows open, as there are no mosquitoes. [_To the_ CONSUL] Now I'm +coming. + + _A few moments later he can be seen coming out of the house + on the side facing the square; he stops at the corner to drop + a letter in the mail-box; then he comes around the corner to + the front of the house and sits down on the bench beside his + brother_. + +CONSUL. But tell me: why do you stay in the city when you _could_ be in +the country? + +MASTER. I don't know. I have lost my power of motion. My memory has +tied me for ever to these rooms. Only within them can I find peace and +protection. In there--yes! It is interesting to look at your own home +from the outside. Then I imagine that some other man is pacing back and +forth in there--Just think: for ten years I have been pacing back and +forth in there! + +CONSUL. Is it ten years now? + +MASTER. Yes, time goes quickly--once it is gone. But when it is still +going it seems slow enough.--That time the house was new. I watched +them putting down the hard-wood floor in the dining-room and painting +the doors; and _she_ was permitted to pick out the wall-paper, which +is still there--Yes, that was then! The confectioner and I are the +oldest tenants in the place, and he, too, has had a few experiences of +his own--he is one of those people who never succeed but are always in +some kind of trouble. In a way, I have been living his life also, and +bearing his burdens besides my own. + +CONSUL. Does he drink, then? + +MASTER. No-o--nothing of that kind, but there is no _go_ to him. Well, +he and I know the history of this house: how they have arrived in +bridal coaches and left in hearses, while the mail-box at the corner +became the recipient of all their confidences. + +CONSUL. There was a death here in the middle of the summer, wasn't +there? + +MASTER. Yes, a case of typhoid--the man was manager of a bank--and then +the flat stood vacant for a month. The coffin came out first, then the +widow and the children, and last of all the furniture. + +CONSUL. That was on the second floor? + +MASTER. Yes, up there, where you see the light--where those new people +are, about whom I know nothing at all. + +CONSUL. Haven't you seen anything of them either? + +MASTER. I never ask any questions about the other tenants. What comes +to me unasked, I accept--but I never make any wrong use of it, and I +never interfere, for I am anxious for the peace of my old age. + +CONSUL. Old age--yes! I think it's nice to grow old, for then there +isn't so much left to be recorded. + +MASTER. Indeed, it is nice. I am settling my accounts, both with life +and with people, and I have already begun to pack for the journey. +Of course, the solitude has its draw-backs, but when there is nobody +who can make any demands on you, then you have won your freedom--the +freedom to come and go, to think and act, to eat and sleep, in +accordance with your own choice. + + _At this moment the shade in one of the windows on the second + floor is raised a little way, so that part of a woman's dress + becomes visible. Then it is quickly drawn again_. + +CONSUL. They are astir up there--did you see? + +MASTER. Yes, there is such a lot of mystery about it--and at night it +is worse than ever. Sometimes there is music, but it's always bad; +and sometimes I think they are playing cards; and long after midnight +carriages drive up and take away people.--I never make a complaint +against other tenants, for then they want to get even, and nobody wants +to change his ways. The best thing is to remain oblivious of everything. + + _A gentleman, dressed in a dinner coat but bareheaded, comes + out of the house and drops a big pile of letters into the + mail-box; then he disappears into the house again_. + +CONSUL. That fellow must have a lot of correspondence. + +MASTER. It looked to me like circulars. + +CONSUL. But who is he? + +MASTER. Why, that's the new tenant up there on the second floor. + +CONSUL. Oh, is that so! What do you think he looked like? + +MASTER. I don't know. Musician, conductor, a touch of musical +comedy, with a leaning to vaudeville--gambler--Adonis--a little of +everything---- + +CONSUL. Black hair should have gone with that pale complexion of +his, but his hair was brown--which means that it had been dyed, or +that he wears a wig. A tuxedo at home indicates an empty wardrobe, +and the movements of his hands as he dropped the letters into the +box suggested shuffling and cutting and dealing--[_At this moment +waltz music becomes faintly audible from the second floor_] Always +waltzes--perhaps they have a dancing-school--but it's always the same +waltz--what's the name of it now? + +MASTER. Why, I think--that's "Pluie d'or"--I know it by heart. + +CONSUL. Have you heard it in your own house? + +MASTER. Yes, that one and the "Alcazar Waltz." + + LOUISE _becomes visible in the dining-room, where she is + putting things in order and wiping the glassware on the buffet_. + +CONSUL. Are you still pleased with Louise? + +MASTER. Very. + +CONSUL. Isn't she going to marry? + +MASTER. Not that I know of. + +CONSUL. Is there no fiance in sight? + +MASTER. Why do you ask? + +CONSUL. Have you had any thoughts of that kind? + +MASTER. I? No, thank you! When I married the last time I was not too +old, as we had a child in due time, but I have grown too old since +then, and now I want to spend my evening in peace--Do you think I want +another master in my own house, who would rob me of life and honour and +goods? + +CONSUL. Oh, nobody took your life or your goods---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to say that my honour suffered any harm? + +CONSUL. Don't you know? + +MASTER. What _do_ you mean? + +CONSUL. In leaving you, she killed your honour. + +MASTER. Then I have been a dead man for five years without knowing it. + +CONSUL. You haven't known it? + +MASTER. No, but now I'll tell you in a few words what really happened. +When, at fifty, I married a girl much younger than myself--one whose +heart I had won and who gave me her hand fearlessly and willingly--then +I promised her that if ever my age should become a burden to her youth +I would go my own way and give her back her freedom. Since the child +had come in due time, and neither one of us wanted another, and since +our little girl had begun to grow apart from me, so that I had come to +feel superfluous, I did go my way--that is, I took a boat, as we were +living on an island--and that was the end of the whole story. I had +redeemed my promise and saved my honour--what more besides? + +CONSUL. All right--but she thought it an attack on her own honour, +because she had meant to go away herself. And so she killed you by +tacit accusations which never reached your ears. + +MASTER. Did she accuse herself also? + +CONSUL. No, she had no reason to do so. + +MASTER. Then no harm has been done. + +CONSUL. Do you know what has become of her and the child since then? + +MASTER. I don't want to know! Having at last outlived the horrors of +longing, I came to regard the whole business as buried; and as none but +beautiful memories were left behind in our rooms, I remained where I +was. However, I thank you for that piece of valuable information! + +CONSUL. Which one? + +MASTER. That she had no reason for self-accusation, for if she had it +would constitute an accusation against me---- + +CONSUL. I think you are living under a serious misconception---- + +MASTER. If I am, leave me alone! A clear conscience--comparatively +clear, at least--has always been the diving-suit that has enabled me +to descend into the vast deeps without being suffocated. [_Rising_] +To think of it--that I got out of it with my life! And now it's all +over!--Suppose we take a turn down the avenue? + +CONSUL. All right, then we can see them light the first street lamp of +the season. + +MASTER. But won't the moon be up to-night--the harvest-moon? + +CONSUL. Why, I think the moon is full just now---- + +MASTER. [_Going to one of the windows and talking into the +dining-room_] Please hand me my stick, Louise. The light one--I just +want to hold it in my hand. + +LOUISE. [_Handing out a cane of bamboo_] Here it is, sir. + +MASTER. Thank you, my girl. Now turn out the light in the dining-room +if you have nothing to do there. We'll be gone a little while--I cannot +tell just how long. + + _The_ MASTER _and the_ CONSUL _go out to the left_. LOUISE + _remains standing by the open window_. STARCK _comes out of the + gateway_. + +STARCK. Good evening, Miss Louise. It's awfully hot!--So your gentlemen +have disappeared? + +LOUISE. They have gone for a stroll down the avenue--the first time my +master has gone out this summer. + +STARCK. We old people love the twilight, which covers up so many +defects both in ourselves and others. Do you know, Miss Louise, my old +woman is getting blind, but she won't have an operation performed. She +says there is nothing to look at, and that sometimes she wishes she +were deaf, too. + +LOUISE. Well, one does feel that way--at times. + +STARCK. Of course, you are leading a very quiet life in there, with +plenty of everything, and nothing to worry about. I have never heard a +loud voice or the slamming of a door--perhaps, even, it is a little too +quiet for a young lady like yourself? + +LOUISE. Not at all! I love the quiet, and whatever is dignified, +graceful, measured--with nobody blurting out things, and all thinking +it a duty to overlook the less pleasant features of daily life. + +STARCK. And you have never any company? + +LOUISE. No, only the consul comes here--and the like of the love +between those two brothers I have never seen. + +STARCK. Who is the elder of the two? + +LOUISE. That's more than I can tell. Whether there is a year or two +between them, or they are twins, I don't know, for they treat each +other with mutual respect, as if each one of them was the elder brother. + + AGNES _appears, trying to get past_ STARCK _without being seen + by him_. + +STARCK. Where are you going, girl? + +AGNES. Oh, I am just going out for a little walk. + +STARCK. That's right, but get back soon. + + AGNES _goes out_. + +STARCK. Do you think your master is still mourning the loss of his dear +ones? + +LOUISE. He doesn't mourn--he doesn't even feel any regrets, for he +doesn't want them back--but he is always with them in his memory, where +he keeps only their beautiful traits. + +STARCK. But doesn't the fate of his daughter trouble him at times? + +LOUISE. Yes, he cannot help fearing that the mother may have married +again, and then, of course, everything depends on how the child's +stepfather turns out. + +STARCK. I have been told that the wife refused alimony at first, but +that now, when five years have passed, she has sent him a lawyer with a +demand for many thousands---- + +LOUISE. [_With reserve_] I know nothing about it. + +STARCK. I believe, however, that she was never more beautiful than in +his memory---- + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Enters, carrying a crateful of bottles_] +Excuse me, but does Mr. Fischer live here? + +LOUISE. Mr. Fischer? Not so far as I know. + +STARCK. Perhaps Fischer is the name of that fellow on the second floor? +Around the corner--one flight up. + +THE LIQUORDEALER'S MAN. [_Going toward the square_] One flight +up--thanks. [_He disappears around the corner_. + +LOUISE. Carrying up bottles again--that means another sleepless night. + +STARCK. What kind of people are they? Why don't they ever show +themselves? + +LOUISE. I suppose they use the back-stairs, for I have never seen them. +But I do hear them. + +STARCK. Yes, I have also heard doors bang and corks pop--and the +popping of other things, too, I guess. + +LOUISE. And they never open their windows, in spite of the heat--they +must be Southerners.--Why, that's lightning--a lot of it!--I guess +it's nothing but heat-lightning, for there has been no thunder. + +A VOICE. [_Is heard from the basement_] Starck, dear, won't you come +down and help me put in the sugar! + +STARCK. All right, old lady, I'm coming! [_To_ LOUISE] We are making +jam, you know. [_As he goes_] I'm coming, I'm coming! [_He disappears +into the gateway again_. + + LOUISE _remains standing at the window_. + +CONSUL. [_Enters slowly from the right_] Isn't my brother back yet? + +LOUISE. No, sir. + +CONSUL. He wanted to telephone, and I was to go ahead. Well, I suppose +he'll be here soon.--What's this? [_He stoops to pick up a post-card_] +What does it say?--"Boston club at midnight: Fischer."--Do you know who +Fischer is, Louise? + +LOUISE. There was a man with a lot of wine looking for Fischer a while +ago--up on the second floor. + +CONSUL. On the second floor--Fischer! Red shades that make the place +look like a drug-store window at night! I fear you have got bad company +in the house. + +LOUISE. What is a Boston club? + +CONSUL. Oh, there need be no harm in it at all--in this case I don't +know, however.--But how did the post-card--? Oh, it was _he_ who +dropped it a while ago. Then I'll put it back in the box.--Fischer? +I have heard that name before. In connection with something I cannot +recall just now--May I ask a question, Miss Louise: does my brother +never speak of--the past? + +LOUISE. Not to me. + +CONSUL. Miss Louise--one more question---- + +LOUISE. Excuse me, but here comes the milk, and I have to receive it. + + [_She leaves the dining-room_. + + _The_ MILKMAID _appears from the right and enters the house + from the square_. + +STARCK. [_Comes out again, takes off his white linen cap, and puffs +with heat_] In and out, like a badger at its hole--it's perfectly +horrid down there by the ovens--and the evening doesn't make it any +cooler. + +CONSUL. All this lightning shows that we are going to have rain--Well, +the city isn't pleasant, exactly, but up here you have quiet at least: +never any rattling carriages, and still less any street-cars--it's just +like the country. + +STARCK. Of course, it's quiet, but it's too quiet for business. I +know my trade, but I am a poor salesman--have always been, and +can't learn--or it may be something else. Perhaps I haven't got the +proper manner. For when customers act as if I were a swindler I get +embarrassed at first, and then as mad as it is possible for me to +become. But nowadays I haven't the strength to get really mad. It has +been worn out of me--everything gets worn out. + +CONSUL. Why don't you go to work for somebody else? + +STARCK. Who would want me? + +CONSUL. Have you ever tried? + +STARCK. What would be the use of it? + +CONSUL. Oh--well! + + _At this moment a long-drawn "O-oh" is heard from the apartment + on the second floor_. + +STARCK. What, in the name of Heaven, are they up to in that place? Are +they killing each other? + +CONSUL. I don't like this new and unknown element that has come into +the house. It is pressing on us like a red thunder-cloud. What kind of +people are they? Where do they come from? What do they want here? + +STARCK. It's so very dangerous to delve in other people's affairs--you +get mixed up in them yourself---- + +CONSUL. Do you know anything about them? + +STARCK. No, I don't know anything at all. + +CONSUL. Now they're screaming again, this time in the stairway---- + +STARCK. [_Withdrawing into the gateway and speaking in a low voice_] I +don't want to have anything to do with this. + + GERDA, _the divorced wife of the_ MASTER, _comes running from + the house into the square. She is bareheaded, with her hair + down, and very excited. The_ CONSUL _approaches her, and they + recognise each other. She draws back from him_. + +CONSUL. So it's you--my former sister-in-law? + +GERDA. Yes, it is I. + +CONSUL. How did you get into this house, and why can't you let my +brother enjoy his peace? + +GERDA. [_Bewildered_] They didn't give us the right name of the tenant +below--I thought he had moved--I couldn't help it---- + +CONSUL. Don't be afraid--you don't have to be afraid of me, Gerda! Can +I be of any help to you? What's happening up there? + +GERDA. He was beating me! + +CONSUL. Is your little girl with you? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. So she has got a stepfather? + +GERDA. Yes. + +CONSUL. Put up your hair and calm yourself. Then I'll try to straighten +this matter out. But spare my brother---- + +GERDA. I suppose he hates me? + +CONSUL. No, don't you see that he has been taking care of your flowers +in the bed over there? He brought the soil himself, in a basket, +don't you remember? Don't you recognise your blue gentians and the +mignonette, your _Malmaison_ and _Merveille de Lyons_ roses, which he +budded himself? Don't you understand that he has cherished the memory +of yourself and of the child? + +GERDA. Where is he now? + +CONSUL. Taking a walk along the avenue, but he will be here in a few +minutes with the evening papers. When he comes from that side he uses +the back door, and he goes straight into the dining-room to read the +papers. Stand still and he won't notice you.--But you must go back to +your own rooms---- + +GERDA. I can't! I can't go back to that man. + +CONSUL. Who is he, and what? + +GERDA. He--has been a singer. + +CONSUL. Has been--and what is he now? An adventurer? + +GERDA. Yes! + +CONSUL. Keeps a gambling-house? + +GERDA. Yes! + +Consul. And the child? Bait? + +GERDA. Oh, don't say that! + +CONSUL. It's horrible! + +GERDA. You are too harsh about the whole thing. + +CONSUL. Of course, filth must be handled gently--so very gently! But +a just cause should be dragged in the dirt. Why did you defile his +honour, and why did you lure me into becoming your accomplice? I was +childish enough to trust your word, and I defended your unjust cause +against his. + +GERDA. You forget that he was too old. + +CONSUL. No, he wasn't _then_, as you had a child at once. When he +proposed, he asked if you wanted to have a child with him, and he vowed +in the bargain to give you back your freedom when his promise had been +kept and old age began to weigh him down. + +GERDA. He deserted me, and that was an insult. + +CONSUL. Not to you! Your youth prevented it from being a reflection on +you. + +GERDA. He should have let me leave him. + +CONSUL. Why? Why did you want to heap dishonour on him? + +GERDA. One of us had to bear it. + +CONSUL. What strange paths your thoughts pursue! However, you have +killed him, and fooled me into helping you. How can we rehabilitate him? + +GERDA. If he is to be rehabilitated, it can only be at my expense. + +CONSUL. I cannot follow your thoughts, which always turn to hatred. +But suppose we leave the rehabilitation alone and think only of how his +daughter is to be saved: what can we do then? + +GERDA. She is my child. She's mine by law, and my husband is her +father---- + +CONSUL. Now _you_ are too harsh about it! And you have grown cruel and +vulgar--Hush! Here he comes now. + + _The_ MASTER _enters from the left with a newspaper in his + hand; he goes into the house pensively by the back door, while + the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _remain motionless, hidden behind the + corner of the house_. + + _Then the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA _come down the stage. A moment + later the_ MASTER _becomes visible in the dining-room, where he + sits down to read the paper_. + +GERDA. It was he! + +CONSUL. Come over here and look at your home. See how he has kept +everything as it was--arranged to suit your taste.--Don't be afraid. +It's so dark out here that he can't see us. The light in the room +blinds him, you know. + +GERDA. How he has been lying to me! + +CONSUL. In what respect? + +GERDA. He hasn't grown old! He had grown tired of me--that was the +whole thing! Look at his collar--and his tie--the very latest fashion! +I am sure he has a mistress! + +CONSUL. Yes, you can see her photograph on the mantelshelf, between the +candelabra. + +GERDA. It is myself and the child! Does he still love me? + +CONSUL. Your memory only! + +GERDA. That's strange! + + _The_ MASTER _ceases to read and stares out through the window_. + +GERDA. He is looking at us! + +CONSUL. Don't move! + +GERDA. He is looking straight into my eyes. + +CONSUL. Be still! He doesn't see you. + +GERDA. He looks as if he were dead---- + +CONSUL. Well, he has been killed. + +GERDA. Why do you talk like that? + + _An unusually strong flash of heat-lightning illumines the + figures of the_ CONSUL _and_ GERDA. + + _The_ MASTER _rises with an expression of horror on his face_. + GERDA _takes refuge behind the corner of the house_. + +MASTER. Carl Frederick! [_Coming to the window_] Are you alone? I +thought--Are you really alone? + +CONSUL. As you see. + +MASTER. The air is so sultry, and the flowers give me a headache--I am +just going to finish the newspaper. + + [_He resumes his former position._ + +CONSUL. Now let us get at your affairs. Do you want me to go with you? + +GERDA. Perhaps! But it will be a hard struggle. + +CONSUL. But the child must be saved. And I am a lawyer. + +GERDA. Well, for the child's sake, then! Come with me! + + [_They go out together._ + +MASTER. [_Calling from within_] Carl Frederick, come in and have a game +of chess!--Carl Frederick! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _Inside the dining-room. The brick stove appears at the centre + of the rear wall. To the left of it there is a door leading + into the pantry. Another door to the right of it leads to the + hallway. At the left stands a buffet with a telephone on it. A + piano and a tall clock stand at the right. There are doors in + both side walls_. + + + _The_ MASTER _is in the room, and_ LOUISE _enters as the + curtain rises_. + + +MASTER. Where did my brother go? + +LOUISE. [_Alarmed_] He was outside a moment ago. He can't be very far +away. + +MASTER. What a dreadful noise they are making up above! It is as +if they were stepping on my head! Now they are pulling out bureau +drawers as if they were were preparing for a journey--running away, +perhaps.--If you only knew how to play chess, Louise! + +LOUISE. I know a little---- + +MASTER. Oh, if you just know how to move the pieces, that will be +enough--Sit down, child. [_He sets up the chess pieces_] They are +carrying on up there so that they make the chandelier rattle--and the +confectioner is heating up down below. I think I'll have to move soon. + +LOUISE. I have long thought that you ought to do so anyhow. + +MASTER. Anyhow? + +LOUISE. It isn't good to stay too long among old memories. + +MASTER. Why not? As time passes, all memories grow beautiful. + +LOUISE. But you may live twenty years more, and that is too long a time +to live among memories which, after all, must fade and which may change +colour entirely some fine day. + +MASTER. How much you know, my child!--Begin now by moving a pawn--but +not the one in front of the queen, or you will be mate in two moves. + +LOUISE. Then I start with the knight---- + +MASTER. Hardly less dangerous, girl! + +LOUISE. But I think I'll start with the knight just the same. + +MASTER. All right. Then I'll move my bishop's pawn. + + STARCK _appears in the hallway, carrying a tray_. + +LOUISE. There's Mr. Starck with the tea-cakes. He doesn't make any more +noise than a mouse. + + [_She rises and goes out into the hallway to receive the tray, + which she then carries into the pantry_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, how is the old lady? + +STARCK. Oh, thank you, her eyes are about as usual. + +MASTER. Have you seen anything of my brother? + +STARCK. He is walking back and forth outside, I think. + +MASTER. Has he got any company? + +STARCK. No-o--I don't think so. + +MASTER. It wasn't yesterday you had a look at these rooms, Mr. Starck. + +STARCK. I should say not--it's just ten years ago now---- + +MASTER. When you brought the wedding-cake.--Does the place look changed? + +STARCK. It is just as it was--the palms have grown, of course--but the +rest is just as it was. + +MASTER. And will remain so until you bring the funeral cake. When you +have passed a certain age, nothing changes, nothing progresses--all the +movement is downward like that of a sleigh going down-hill. + +STARCK. Yes, that's the way it is. + +MASTER. And it is peaceful, the way I have it here. No love, no +friends, only a little company to break up the solitude. Then human +beings are just human beings, without any claims on your feelings and +sympathies. Then you come loose like an old tooth, and drop out without +pain or regrets. Take Louise, for instance--a pretty young girl, the +sight of whom pleases me like a work of art that I don't wish to +possess--there is nothing to disturb our relationship. My brother and I +meet like two old gentlemen who never get too close to each other and +never exact any confidences. By taking up a neutral position toward +one's fellow-men, one attains a certain distance--and as a rule we look +better at a distance. In a word, I am pleased with my old age and its +quiet peace--[_Calling out_] Louise! + +LOUISE. [_Appearing in the doorway at the left and speaking pleasantly +as always_] The laundry has come home, and I have to check it off. +[_She disappears again_. + +MASTER. Well, Mr. Starck, won't you sit down and chat a little--or +perhaps you play chess? + +STARCK. I can't stay away from my pots, and the oven has to be heated +up at eleven. It's very kind of you, however---- + +MASTER. If you catch sight of my brother, ask him to come in and keep +me company. + +STARCK. So I will--so I will! [_He goes_. + +MASTER. [_Alone; moves a couple of pieces on the chess-board; then gets +up and begins to walk about_] The peace of old age--yes! [_He sits down +at the piano and strikes a few chords; then he gets up and walks about +as before_] Louise! Can't you let the laundry wait a little? + +LOUISE. [_Appears again for a moment in the doorway at the left_] No, +I can't, because the wash-woman is in a hurry--she has husband and +children waiting for her. + +MASTER. Oh! [_He sits down at the table and begins to drum with his +fingers on it; tries to read the newspaper, but tires of it; lights +matches only to blow them out again at once; looks repeatedly at the +big clock, until at last a noise is heard from the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. [_Appears in the doorway_] It's the mail. Excuse me +for walking right in, but the door was standing open. + +MASTER. Is there a letter for me? + +THE MAIL-CARRIER. Only a post-card. + + [_He hands it over and goes out_. + +MASTER. [_Reading the post-card_] Mr. Fischer again! Boston club! +That's the man up above--with the white hands and the tuxedo coat. And +to me! The impertinence of it! I have got to move!--Fischer!--[_He +tears up the card; again a noise is heard, in the hallway_] Is that +you, Carl Frederick? + +THE ICEMAN. [_Without coming into the room_] It's the ice! + +MASTER. Well, it's nice to get ice in this heat. But be careful about +those bottles in the box. And put one of the pieces on edge so that I +can hear the water drip from it as it melts--That's my water-clock that +measures out the hours--the long hours--Tell me, where do you get the +ice from nowadays?--Oh, he's gone!--Everybody goes away--goes home--to +hear their own voices and get some company-[_Pause_] Is that you, Carl +Frederick? + +_Somebody in the apartment above plays Chopin's_ Fantaisie Impromptu, +Opus 66, _on the piano_--_but only the first part of it_. + +MASTER. [_Begins to listen, is aroused, looks up at the ceiling_] My +_Impromptu_? + + [_He covers his eyes with one hand and listens_. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters through the hallway_. + +MASTER. Is that you, Carl Frederick? + + _The music stops_. + +CONSUL. It is I. + +MASTER. Where have you been so long? + +CONSUL. I had some business to clear up. Have you been alone? + +MASTER. Of course! Come and play chess now. + +CONSUL. I prefer to talk. And you need also to hear your own voice a +little. + +MASTER. True enough--only it is so easy to get to talking about the +past. + +CONSUL. That makes us forget the present. + +MASTER. There is no present. What's just passing is empty nothingness. +One has to look ahead or behind--and ahead is better, for there lies +hope! + +CONSUL. [_Seating himself at the table_] Hope--of what? + +MASTER. Of change. + +CONSUL. Well! Do you mean to say you have had enough of the peace of +old age? + +MASTER. Perhaps. + +CONSUL. It's certain then. And if now you had the choice between +solitude and the past? + +MASTER. No ghosts, however! + +CONSUL. How about your memories? + +MASTER. They don't walk. They are only poems wrought by me out of +certain realities. But if dead people walk, then you have ghosts. + +CONSUL. Well, then--in your memory--who brings you the prettiest +mirage: the woman or the child? + +MASTER. Both! I cannot separate them, and that's why I never tried to +keep the child. + +CONSUL. But do you think you did right? Did the possibility of a +stepfather never occur to you? + +MASTER. I didn't think that far ahead at the time, but afterward, of +course, I have had--my thoughts--about--that very thing. + +CONSUL. A stepfather who abused--perhaps debased--your daughter? + +MASTER. Hush! + +CONSUL. What is it you hear? + +MASTER. I thought I heard the "little steps"--those little steps that +came tripping down the corridor when she was looking for me.--It was +the child that was the best of all! To watch that fearless little +creature, whom nothing could frighten, who never suspected that life +might be deceptive, who had no secrets! I recall her first experience +of the malice that is in human beings. She caught sight of a pretty +child down in the park, and, though it was strange to her, she went +up to it with open arms to kiss it--and the pretty child rewarded her +friendliness by biting her in the cheek first and then making a face +at her. Then you should have seen my little Anne-Charlotte. She stood +as if turned to stone. And it wasn't pain that did it, but horror at +the sight of that yawning abyss which is called the human heart. I +have been confronted with the same sight myself once, when out of two +beautiful eyes suddenly shot strange glances as if some evil beast had +appeared behind those eyes. It scared me literally so that I had to see +if some other person were standing behind that face, which looked like +a mask.--But why do we sit here talking about such things? Is it the +heat, or the storm, or what? + +CONSUL. Solitude brings heavy thoughts, and you ought to have company. +This summer in the city seems to have been rather hard on you. + +MASTER. Only these last few weeks. The sickness and that death up +above--it was as if I had gone through it myself. The sorrows and +cares of the confectioner have also become my own, so that I keep +worrying about his finances, about his wife's eye trouble, about his +future--and of late I have been dreaming every night about my little +Anne-Charlotte. I see her surrounded by dangers--unknown, undiscovered, +nameless. And before I fall asleep my hearing grows so unbelievably +acute that I can hear her little steps--and once I heard her voice---- + +CONSUL. But where is she then? + +MASTER. Don't ask me! + +CONSUL. And if you were to meet her on the street? + +MASTER. I imagine that I should lose my reason or fall in a faint. +Once, you know, I stayed abroad very long, during the very time when +our youngest sister was growing up. When I returned, after several +years, I was met at the steam-boat landing by a young girl who put +her arms around my neck. I was horrified at those eyes that searched +mine, but with unfamiliar glances--glances that expressed absolute +terror at not being recognised. "It is I," she repeated again and again +before at last I was able to recognise my own sister. And that's how I +imagine it would be for me to meet my daughter again. Five years are +enough to render you unrecognisable at that age. Think of it: not to +know your own child! That child, who is the same as before, and yet a +stranger! I couldn't survive such a thing. No, then I prefer to keep +the little girl of four years whom you see over there on the altar of +my home. I want no other one. [_Pause_] That must be Louise putting +things to rights in the linen closet. It has such a clean smell, and it +reminds me--oh, the housewife at her linen closet; the good fairy that +preserves and renews; the housewife with her iron, who smooths out all +that has been ruffled up and who takes out all wrinkles--the wrinkles, +yes--[_Pause_] Now--I'll--go in there to write a letter. If you'll +stay, I'll be out again soon. + + [_He goes out to the left_. + + _The_ CONSUL _coughs_. + +GERDA. [_Appears in the door to the hallway_] Are you--[_The clock +strikes_] Oh, mercy! That sound--which has remained in my ears for ten +years! That clock which never kept time and yet measured the long hours +and days and nights of five years. [_She looks around_] My piano--my +palms--the dinner-table--he has kept it in honour, shining as a +shield! My buffet--with the "Knight in Armour" and "Eve"--Eve with her +basketful of apples--In the right-hand upper drawer, way back, there +was a thermometer lying--[_Pause_] I wonder if it is still there? [_She +goes to the buffet and pulls out the right-hand drawer_] Yes, there it +is! + +CONSUL. What does that mean? + +GERDA. Oh, in the end it became a symbol--of instability. When we went +to housekeeping the thermometer was not put in its place at once--of +course, it ought to be outside the window. I promised to put it up--and +forgot it. He promised, and forgot. Then we nagged each other about +it, and at last, to get away from it, I hid it in this drawer. I came +to hate it, and so did he. Do you know what was back of all that? +Neither one of us believed that our relationship would last, because we +unmasked at once and gave free vent to our antipathies. To begin with, +we lived on tiptoe, so to speak--always ready to fly off at a moment's +notice. That was what the thermometer stood for--and here it is still +lying! Always on the move, always changeable, like the weather. [_She +puts away the thermometer and goes over to the chess-board_] My chess +pieces! Which he bought to kill the time that hung heavy on our hands +while we were waiting for the little one to come. With whom does he +play now? + +CONSUL. With me. + +GERDA. Where is he? + +CONSUL. He is in his room writing a letter. + +GERDA. Where? + +CONSUL. [_Pointing toward the left_] There. + +GERDA. [_Shocked_] And here he has been going for five years? + +CONSUL. Ten years--five of them alone! + +GERDA. Of course, he loves solitude. + +CONSUL. But I think he has had enough of it. + +GERDA. Will he turn me out? + +CONSUL. Find out for yourself! You take no risk, as he is always polite. + +GERDA. I didn't make that centrepiece---- + +CONSUL. That is to say, you risk his asking you for the child. + +GERDA. But it was he who should help me find it again---- + +CONSUL. Where do you think Fischer has gone, and what can be the +purpose of his flight? + +GERDA. To get away from the unpleasant neighbourhood, first of all; +then to make me run after him. And he wanted the girl as a hostage, of +course. + +CONSUL. As to the ballet--that's something the father _must not_ know, +for he hates music-halls. + +GERDA. [_Sitting down in front of the chess-board and beginning, +absent-mindedly, to arrange the pieces_] Music-halls--oh, I have been +there myself. + +CONSUL. You? + +GERDA. I have accompanied on the piano. + +CONSUL. Poor Gerda! + +GERDA. Why? I love that kind of life. And when I was a prisoner here, +it wasn't the keeper, but the prison itself, that made me fret. + +CONSUL. But now you have had enough? + +GERDA. Now I am in love with peace and solitude--and with my child +above all. + +CONSUL. Hush, he's coming! + +GERDA. [_Rises as if to run away, but sinks down on the chair again_] +Oh! + +CONSUL. Now I leave you. Don't think of what you are to say. It will +come of itself, like the "next move" in a game of chess. + +GERDA. I fear his first glance most of all, for it will tell me whether +I have changed for better or for worse--whether I have grown old and +ugly. + +CONSUL. [_Going out to the right_] If he finds you looking older, then +he will dare to approach you. If he finds you as young as ever, he will +have no hope, for he is more diffident than you think.--Now! + + _The_ MASTER _is seen outside, passing by the door leading + to the pantry; he carries a letter in his hand; then he + disappears, only to become visible again a moment later in the + hallway, where he opens the outside door and steps out_. + +CONSUL. [_In the doorway at the right_] He went out to the mail-box. + +GERDA. No, this is too much for me! How can I possibly ask _him_ to +help me with this divorce? I want to get out! It's too brazen! + +CONSUL. Stay! You know that his kindness has no limits. And he'll help +you for the child's sake. + +GERDA. No, no! + +CONSUL. And he is the only one who can help you. + +MASTER. [_Enters quickly from the hallway and nods at_ GERDA, _whom, +because of his near-sightedness, he mistakes for_ LOUISE; _then he goes +to the buffet and picks up the telephone, but in passing he remarks to_ +GERDA] So you're done already? Well, get the pieces ready then, and +we'll begin all over again--from the beginning. + + GERDA _stands paralysed, not understanding the situation_. + +MASTER. [_Speaks in the telephone receiver, with his back to_ Gerda] +Hello!--Good evening! Is that you, mother?--Pretty well, thank you! +Louise is waiting to play a game of chess with me, but she is a +little tired after a lot of bother--It's all over now--everything +all right--nothing serious at all.--If it's hot? Well, there has +been a lot of thundering, right over our heads, but nobody has been +struck. False alarm!--What did you say? Fischer?--Yes, but I think +they are going to leave.--Why so? I know nothing in particular.--Oh, +is that so?--Yes, it leaves at six-fifteen, by the outside route, +and it gets there--let me see--at eight-twenty-five.--Did you have a +good time?--[_With a little laugh_] Oh, he's impossible when he gets +started! And what did Marie have to say about it?--How I have had it +during the summer? Oh, well, Louise and I have kept each other company, +and she has got such an even, pleasant temper.--Yes, she is very nice, +indeed!--Oh, no, nothing of that kind! + + GERDA, _who has begun to understand, rises with an expression + of consternation on her face_. + +MASTER. My eyes? Oh, I am getting a little near-sighted. But I feel +like the confectioner's old wife: there is nothing to look at. Wish I +were deaf, too! Deaf and blind! The neighbours above make such a lot of +noise at night--it's a gambling club--There now! Somebody got on the +wire to listen. [_He rings again_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the hallway without being seen + by the_ MASTER; GERDA _stares at her with mingled admiration + and hatred_; LOUISE _withdraws toward the right_. + +MASTER. [_At the telephone_] Is that you? The cheek of it--to +break off our talk in order to listen!--To-morrow, then, at +six-fifteen.--Thank you, and the same to you!--Yes, I will, +indeed!--Good night, mother! [_He rings off_. + + LOUISE _has disappeared_. GERDA _is standing in the middle of + the floor_. + +MASTER. [_Turns around and catches sight of_ GERDA, _whom he gradually +recognises; then he puts his hand to his heart_] O Lord, was that you? +Wasn't Louise here a moment ago? + + GERDA _remains silent_. + +MASTER. [_Feebly_] How--how did you get here? + +GERDA. I hope you pardon--I just got to the city--I was passing by and +felt a longing to have a look at my old home--the windows were open---- + + [_Pause_. + +MASTER. Do you find things as they used to be? + +GERDA. Exactly, and yet different--there is a difference + +MASTER. [_Feeling unhappy_] Are you satisfied--with your life? + +GERDA. Yes. I have what I was looking for. + +MASTER. And the child? + +GERDA. Oh, she's growing, and thriving, and lacks nothing. + +MASTER. Then I won't ask anything more. [_Pause_] Did you want +anything--of me--can I be of any service? + +GERDA. It's very kind of you, but--I need nothing at all now when I +have seen that you lack nothing either. [_Pause]_ Do you wish to see +Anne-Charlotte? + +MASTER. I don't think so, now when I have heard that she is doing well. +It's so hard to begin over again. It's like having to repeat a lesson +at school--which you know already, although the teacher doesn't think +so--I have got so far away from all that--I live in a wholly different +region--and I cannot connect with the past. It goes against me to be +impolite, but I am not asking you to be seated--you are another man's +wife--and you are not the same person as the one from whom I parted. + +GERDA. Am I then so--altered? + +MASTER. Quite strange to me! Your voice, glance, manner---- + +GERDA. Have I grown old? + +MASTER. That I cannot tell!--They say that not a single atom in a +person's body remains wholly the same after three years--and in five +years everything is renewed. And for that reason you, who stand over +there, are not the same person as the sufferer who once sat here--you +seem such a complete stranger to me that I can only address you in the +most formal way. And I suppose it would be just the same in the case of +my daughter, too. + +GERDA. Don't speak like that. I would much rather have you angry. + +MASTER. Why should I be angry? + +GERDA. Because of all the evil I have done you. + +MASTER. Have you? That's more than I know. + +GERDA. Didn't you read the papers in the suit? + +MASTER. No-o! I left that to my lawyer. [_He sits down_. + +GERDA. And the decision of the court? + +MASTER. No, why should I? As I don't mean to marry again, I have no use +for that kind of documents. + + _Pause_. GERDA _seats herself_. + +MASTER. What did those papers say? That I was too old? + + GERDA'S _silence indicates assent_. + +MASTER. Well, that was nothing but the truth, so that need not trouble +you. In my answer I said the very same thing and asked the Court to set +you free again. + +GERDA. You said, that---- + +MASTER. I said, not that I _was_, but that I was about to _become_ too +old _for you_! + +GERDA. [_Offended_] For me? + +MASTER. Yes.--I couldn't say that I was too old when we married, for +then the arrival of the child would have been unpleasantly explained, +and it was _our_ child, was it not? + +GERDA. You know that, of course! But---- + +MASTER. Do you think I should be ashamed of my age?--Of course, if +I took to dancing and playing cards at night, then I might soon land +in an invalid's chair, or on the operating-table, and that would be a +shame. + +GERDA. You don't look it---- + +MASTER. Did you expect the divorce to kill me? + + _The silence of_ GERDA _is ambiguous_. + +MASTER. There are those who assert that you _have_ killed me. Do you +think I look like a dead man? + + GERDA _appears embarrassed_. + +MASTER. Some of your friends are said to have caricatured me in the +papers, but I have never seen anything of it, and those papers went +into the dump five years ago. So there is no need for your conscience +to be troubled on my behalf. + +GERDA. Why did you marry me? + +MASTER. Don't you know why a man marries? And you know, too, that I +didn't have to go begging for love. And you ought to remember how +we laughed together at all the wiseacres who felt compelled to warn +you.--But why you led me on is something I have never been able to +explain--When you didn't look at me after the marriage ceremony, but +acted as if you had been attending somebody else's wedding, then I +thought you had made a bet that you could kill me. As the head of the +department, I was, of course, hated by all my subordinates, but they +became your friends at once. No sooner did I make an enemy than he +became _your_ friend. Which caused me to remark that, while it was +right for you not to hate your enemies, it was also right that you +shouldn't _love_ mine!--However, seeing where you stood, I began to +prepare for a retreat at once, but before leaving I wanted a living +proof that you had not been telling the truth, and so I stayed until +the little one arrived. + +GERDA. To think that you could be so disingenuous! + +MASTER. I learned to keep silent, but I never lied!--By degrees you +turned all my friends into detectives, and you lured my own brother +into betraying me. But worst of all was that your thoughtless chatter +threw suspicions on the legitimacy of the child. + +GERDA. All that I took back! + +MASTER. The word that's on the wing cannot be pulled back again. And +worse still: those false rumours reached the child, and now she thinks +her mother a---- + +GERDA. For Heaven's sake! + +MASTER. Well, that's the truth of it. You raised a tall tower on a +foundation of lies, and now the tower of lies is tumbling down on your +head. + +GERDA. It isn't true! + +MASTER. Yes, it is! I met Anne-Charlotte a few minutes ago---- + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. We met on the stairs, and she said I was her uncle. Do you +know what an uncle is? That's an elderly friend of the house and the +mother. And I know that at school I am also passing as her uncle.--But +all that is dreadful for the child! + +GERDA. You have met---- + +MASTER. Yes. But why should I tell anybody about it? Haven't I a right +to keep silent? And, besides, that meeting was so shocking to me that I +wiped it out of my memory as if it had never existed. + +GERDA. What can I do to rehabilitate you? + +MASTER. You? What could you do? That's something I can only do myself. +[_For a long time they gaze intently at each other_] And for that +matter, I have already got my rehabilitation. [_Pause_. + +GERDA. Can't I make good in some way? Can't I ask you to forgive, to +forget---- + +MASTER. What do you mean? + +GERDA. To restore, to repair---- + +MASTER. Do you mean to resume, to start over again, to reinstate a +master above me? No, thanks! I don't want you. + +GERDA. And this I had to hear! + +MASTER. Well, how does it taste? [_Pause_. + +GERDA. That's a pretty centrepiece. + +MASTER. Yes, it's pretty. + +GERDA. Where did you get it? [_Pause_. + + LOUISE _appears in the door to the pantry with a bill in her + hand_. + +MASTER. [_Turning toward her_] Is it a bill? + +GERDA _rises and begins to pull on her gloves with such violence that +buttons are scattered right and left_. + +MASTER. [_Taking out the money_] Eighteen-seventy-two. That's just +right. + +LOUISE. I should like to see you a moment, sir. + +MASTER. [_Rises and goes to the door, where_ LOUISE _whispers something +into his ear_] Oh, mercy---- + +LOUISE _goes out_. + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. What do you mean? That I am jealous of your servant-girl? + +MASTER. No, I didn't mean that. + +GERDA. Yes, you meant that you were too old for me, but not for her. +I catch the insulting point--She's pretty--I don't deny it--for a +servant-girl---- + +MASTER. I am sorry for you, Gerda! + +GERDA. Why do you say that? + +MASTER. Because you are to be pitied. Jealous of my servant--that ought +to be rehabilitation enough. + +GERDA. Jealous, I---- + +MASTER. Why do you fly in a rage at my nice, gentle kinswoman? + +GERDA. "A little more than kin." + +MASTER. No, my dear, I have long ago resigned myself--and I am +satisfied with my solitude--[_The telephone rings, and he goes to +answer it_] Mr. Fischer? No, that isn't here.--Oh, yes, that's me.--Has +he skipped?--With whom, do you say?--with Starck's daughter! Oh, good +Lord! How old is she?--Eighteen! A mere child! [_Rings off_. + +GERDA. I knew he had run away.--But with a woman!--Now you're pleased. + +MASTER. No, I am not pleased. Although there is a sort of solace to my +mind in finding justice exists in this world. Life is very quick in its +movements, and now you find yourself where I was. + +GERDA. Her eighteen years against my twenty-nine--I am old--too old for +him! + +MASTER. Everything is relative, even age.--But now let us get at +something else. Where is your child? + +GERDA. My child? I had forgotten it! My child! My God! Help me! He +has taken the child with him. He loves Anne-Charlotte as his own +daughter--Come with me to the police--come! + +MASTER. I? Now you ask too much. + +GERDA. Help me! + +MASTER. [_Goes to the door at the right_] Come, Carl Frederick--get a +cab--take Gerda down to the police station--won't you? + +CONSUL. [_Enters_] Of course I will! We are human, are we not? + +MASTER. Quick! But say nothing to Starck. Matters may be straightened +out yet--Poor fellow--and I am sorry for Gerda, too!--Hurry up now! + +GERDA. [_Looking out through the window_] It's beginning to rain--lend +me an umbrella. Eighteen years--only eighteen--quick, now! + + _She goes out with the_ CONSUL. + +MASTER. [_Alone_] The peace of old age!--And my child in the hands of +an adventurer!--Louise! + + LOUISE _enters_. + +MASTER. Come and play chess with me. + +LOUISE. Has the consul---- + +MASTER. He has gone out on some business. Is it still raining? + +LOUISE. No, it has stopped now. + +MASTER. Then I'll go out and cool off a little. [_Pause_] You are a +nice girl, and sensible--did you know the confectioner's daughter? + +LOUISE. Very slightly. + +MASTER. Is she pretty? + +LOUISE. Ye-es. + +MASTER. Have you known the people above us? + +LOUISE. I have never seen them. + +MASTER. That's an evasion. + +LOUISE. I have learned to keep silent in this house. + +MASTER. I am forced to admit that pretended deafness can be carried to +the point where it becomes dangerous.--Well, get the tea ready while I +go outside and cool off a little. And, one thing, please--you see what +is happening, of course--but don't ask me any questions. + +LOUISE. I? No, sir, I am not at all curious. + +MASTER. I am thankful for that! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +THIRD SCENE + + + _The front of the house as in the First Scene. There is light + in the confectioner's place in the basement. The gas is also + lit on the second floor, where now the shades are raised and + the windows open_. + + + STARCK _is sitting near the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_Seated on the green bench_] That was a nice little shower we +had. + +STARCK. Quite a blessing! Now the raspberries will be coming in +again---- + +MASTER. Then I'll ask you to put aside a few jars for us. We have grown +tired of making the jam ourselves. It only gets spoiled. + +STARCK. Yes, I know. Jars of jam are like mischievous children: you +have to watch them all the time. There are people who put in salicylic +acid, but those are newfangled tricks in which I take no stock. + +MASTER. Salicylic acid--yes, they say it's antiseptic--and perhaps it's +a good thing. + +STARCK. Yes, but you can taste it--and it's a trick. + +MASTER. Tell me, Mr. Starck, have you got a telephone? + +STARCK. No, I have no telephone. + +MASTER. Oh! + +STARCK. Why do you ask? + +MASTER. Oh, I happened to think--a telephone is handy at times--for +orders--and important communications---- + +STARCK. That may be. But sometimes it is just as well to +escape--communications. + +MASTER. Quite right! Quite right!--Yes, my heart always beats a little +faster when I hear it ring--one never knows what one is going to +hear--and I want peace--peace, above all else. + +STARCK. So do I. + +MASTER. [_Looking at his watch_] The lamplighter ought to be here soon. + +STARCK. He must have forgotten us, for I see that the lamps are already +lit further down the avenue. + +MASTER. Then he'll be here soon. It will be a lot of fun to see our +lamp lighted again. + + _The telephone in the dining-room rings_. LOUISE _comes in to + answer the call. The_ MASTER _rises and puts one hand up to his + heart. He tries to listen, but the public cannot hear anything + of what is said within. Pause. After a while_ LOUISE _comes out + by way of the square_. + +MASTER. [_Anxiously_] What news? + +LOUISE. No change. + +MASTER. Was that my brother? + +LOUISE. No, it was the lady. + +MASTER. What did she want? + +LOUISE. To speak to you, sir. + +MASTER. I don't want to!--Have I to console my executioner? I used to +do it, but now I am tired of it.--Look up there! They have forgotten +to turn out the light--and light makes empty rooms more dreadful than +darkness--the ghosts become visible. [_In a lowered voice_] And how +about Starck's Agnes? Do you think he knows anything? + +LOUISE. It's hard to tell, for he never speaks about his sorrows--nor +does anybody else in the Silent House! + +MASTER. Do you think he should be told? + +LOUISE. For Heaven's sake, no! + +MASTER. But I fear it isn't the first time she gave him trouble. + +LOUISE. He never speaks of her. + +MASTER. It's horrible! I wonder if we'll get to the end of it soon? +[_The telephone rings again_] Now it's ringing again. Don't answer. I +don't want to hear anything.--My child--in such company! An adventurer +and a strumpet!--It's beyond limit!--Poor Gerda! + +LOUISE. It's better to have certainty. I'll go in--You must do +something! + +MASTER. I cannot move--I can receive blows, but to strike back--no! + +LOUISE. But if you don't repel a danger, it will press closer; and if +you don't resist, you'll be destroyed. + +MASTER. But if you refuse to be drawn in, you become unassailable. + +LOUISE. Unassailable? + +MASTER. Things straighten out much better if you don't mess them up +still further by interference. How can you want me to direct matters +where so many passions are at play? Do you think I can suppress +anybody's emotions, or give them a new turn? + +LOUISE. But how about the child? + +MASTER. I have surrendered my rights--and besides--frankly speaking--I +don't care for them--not at all now, when _she_ has been here and +spoiled the images harboured in my memory. She has wiped out all the +beauty that I had cherished, and now there is nothing left. + +LOUISE. But that's to be set free! + +MASTER. Look, how empty the place seems in there--as if everybody had +moved out; and up there--as if there had been a fire. + +LOUISE. Who is coming there? + + AGNES _enters, excited and frightened, but trying hard + to control herself; she makes for the gateway, where the + confectioner is seated on his chair_. + +LOUISE [_To the_ MASTER] There is Agnes? What can this mean? + +MASTER. Agnes? Then things are getting straightened out. + +STARCK. [_With perfect calm_] Good evening, girl! Where have you been? + +AGNES. I have been for a walk. + +STARCK. Your mother has asked for you several times. + +AGNES. Is that so? Well, here I am. + +STARCK. Please go down and help her start a fire under the little oven. + +AGNES. Is she angry with me, then? + +STARCK. You know that she cannot be angry with you. + +AGNES. Oh, yes, but she doesn't say anything. + +STARCK. Well, girl, isn't it better to escape being scolded? + + AGNES _disappears into the gateway_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Does he know, or doesn't he? + +LOUISE. Let's hope that he will remain in ignorance. + +MASTER. But what can have happened? A breach? [_To_ STARCK] Say, Mr. +Starck---- + +STARCK. What is it? + +MASTER. I thought--Did you notice if anybody left the house a while ago? + +STARCK. I saw the iceman, and also a mail-carrier, I think. + +MASTER. Oh! [_To_ LOUISE] Perhaps it was a mistake--that we didn't hear +right--I can't explain it--Or maybe he is not telling the truth? What +did she say when she telephoned? + +LOUISE. That she wanted to speak to you. + +MASTER. How did it sound? Was she excited? + +LOUISE. Yes. + +MASTER. I think it's rather shameless of her to appeal to me in a +matter like this. + +LOUISE. But the child! + +MASTER. Just think, I met my daughter on the stairway, and when I asked +her if she recognised me she called me uncle and told me that her +father was up-stairs. Of course, he is her stepfather, and has all the +rights--They have just spent their time exterminating me, blackguarding +me---- + +LOUISE. A cab is stopping at the corner. + + STARCK _withdraws into the gateway_. + +MASTER. I only hope they don't come back to burden me again! Just +think: to have to hear my child singing the praise of her father--the +other one! And then to begin the old story all over again: "Why did you +marry me?"--"Oh, you know; but what made you want me?"--"You know very +well!"--And so on, until the end of the world. + +LOUISE. It was the consul that came. + +MASTER. How does he look? + +LOUISE. He is taking his time. + +MASTER. Practising what he is to say, I suppose. Does he look satisfied? + +LOUISE. Thoughtful, rather---- + +MASTER. Hm!--That's the way it always was. Whenever he saw that woman +he became disloyal to me. She had the power of charming everybody but +me. To me she seemed coarse, vulgar, ugly, stupid; to all the rest she +seemed refined, pleasant, handsome, intelligent. All the hatred aroused +by my independence centred in her under the form of a boundless +sympathy for whoever wronged me in any way. Through her they strove to +control and influence me, to wound me, and, at last, to kill me. + +LOUISE. Now, I'll go in and watch the telephone--I suppose this storm +will pass like all others. + +MASTER. Men cannot bear independence. They want you to obey them. Every +one of my subordinates in the department, down to the very messengers, +wanted me to obey him. And when I wouldn't they called me a despot. The +servants in our house wanted me to obey them and eat food that had been +warmed up. When I wouldn't, they set my wife against me. And finally +my wife wanted me to obey the child, but then I left, and then all of +them combined against the tyrant--which was I!--Get in there quick now, +Louise, so we can set off our mines out here. + + _The_ CONSUL _enters from the left_. + +MASTER. Results--not details--please! + +CONSUL. Let's sit down. I am a little tired. + +MASTER. I think it has rained on the bench. + +CONSUL. It can't be too wet for me if you have been sitting on it. + +MASTER. A you like!--Where is my child? + +CONSUL. Can I begin at the beginning? + +MASTER. Begin! + +CONSUL [_Speaking slowly_] I got to the depot with Gerda--and at the +ticket-office I discovered him and Agnes---- + +MASTER. So Agnes was with him? + +CONSUL. And so was the child!--Gerda stayed outside, and I went up to +them. At that moment _he_ was handing Agnes the tickets, but when she +discovered that they were for third class she threw them in his face +and walked out to the cab-stand. + +MASTER. Ugh! + +CONSUL. As soon as I had established a connection with the man, Gerda +hurried up and got hold of the child, disappearing with it in the +crowd---- + +MASTER. What did the man have to say? + +CONSUL. Oh, you know--when you come to hear the other side--and so on. + +MASTER. I want to hear it. Of course, he isn't as bad as we thought--he +has his good sides---- + +CONSUL. Exactly! + +MASTER. I thought so! But you don't want me to sit here listening to +eulogies of my enemy? + +CONSUL. Oh, not eulogies, but ameliorating circumstances---- + +MASTER. Did you ever want to listen to me when I tried to explain the +true state of affairs to you? Yes, you did listen--but your reply was +a disapproving silence, as if I had been lying to you. You have always +sided with what was wrong, and you have believed nothing but lies, and +the reason was--that you were in love with Gerda! But there was also +another reason---- + +CONSUL. Brother, don't say anything more! You see nothing but your own +side of things. + +MASTER. How can you expect me to view my conditions from the standpoint +of my enemy? I cannot take sides against myself, can I? + +CONSUL. I am not your enemy. + +MASTER. Yes, when you make friends with one who has wronged me!--Where +is my child? + +CONSUL. I don't know. + +MASTER. What was the outcome at the depot? + +CONSUL. He took a south-bound train alone. + +MASTER. And the others? + +CONSUL. Disappeared. + +MASTER. Then I may have them after me again. [_Pause]_ Did you see if +they went with him? + +CONSUL. He went alone. + +MASTER. Well, then we are done with that one, at least. Number +two--there remain now--the mother and the child. + +CONSUL. Why is the light burning up there in their rooms? + +MASTER. Because they forgot to turn it out. + +CONSUL. I'll go up---- + +MASTER. No, don't go!--I only hope that they don't come back here!--To +repeat, always repeat, begin the same lesson all over again! + +CONSUL. But it has begun to straighten out. + +MASTER. Yet the worst remains--Do you think they will come back? + +CONSUL. Not she--not since she had to make you amends in the presence +of Louise. + +MASTER. I had forgotten that! She really did me the honour of becoming +jealous! I do think there is justice in this world! + +CONSUL. And then she learned that Agnes was younger than herself. + +MASTER. Poor Gerda! But in a case like this you mustn't tell people +that justice exists--an avenging justice--for it is sheer falsehood +that they love justice! And you must deal gently with their filth. And +Nemesis--exists only for the other person.--There it's ringing again? +That telephone makes a noise like a rattlesnake! + + LOUISE _becomes visible at the telephone inside. Pause_. + +MASTER. [_To_ LOUISE] Did the snake bite? + +LOUISE. [_At the window_] May I speak to you, sir? + +MASTER. [_Going up to the window_] Speak out! + +LOUISE. The lady has gone to her mother, in the country, to live there +with her little girl. + +Master. [_To his brother_] Mother and child in the country--in a good +home! Now it's straightened out!--Oh! + +LOUISE. And she asked us to turn out the light up-stairs. + +MASTER. Do that at once, Louise, and pull down the shades so we don't +have to look at it any longer. + + LOUISE _leaves the dining-room_. + +STARCK. [_Coming out on the sidewalk again and looking up]_ I think the +storm has passed over. + +MASTER. It seems really to have cleared up, and that means we'll have +moonlight. + +CONSUL. That was a blessed rain! + +STARCK. Perfectly splendid! + +MASTER. Look, there's the lamplighter coming at last! + + _The_ LAMPLIGHTER _enters, lights the street lamp beside the + bench, and passes on_. + +MASTER. The first lamp! Now the fall is here! That's our season, old +chaps! It's getting dark, but then comes reason to light us with its +bull's-eyes, so that we don't go astray. + + LOUISE _becomes visible at one of the windows on the second + floor; immediately afterward everything is dark up there_. + +Master. [_To_ Louise] Close the windows and pull down the shades so +that all memories can lie down and sleep in peace! The peace of old +age! And this fall I move away from the Silent House. + +_Curtain_. + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + +(BRAeNDA TOMTEN) + +A CHAMBER PLAY + +1907 + + +CHARACTERS + +RUDOLPH WALSTROeM, _a dyer_ +THE STRANGER, _who is_) } +ARVID WALSTROeM } _brother of_ RUDOLPH +ANDERSON, _a mason (brother-in-law of the gardener)_ +MRS. ANDERSON, _wife of the mason_ +GUSTAFSON, _a gardener (brother-in-law of the mason)_ +ALFRED, _son of the gardener_ +ALBERT ERICSON, _a stone-cutter_ (_second cousin of the hearse-driver_) +MATHILDA, _daughter of the stone-cutter_ +THE HEARSE-DRIVER (_second cousin of the stone-cutter_) +A DETECTIVE +SJOeBLOM, _a painter_ +MRS. WESTERLUND, _hostess at "The Last Nail," formerly a + nurse at the dyer's_ +MRS. WALSTROeM, _wife of the dyer_ +THE STUDENT +THE WITNESS + + + + +AFTER THE FIRE + + + + +FIRST SCENE + + + _The left half of the background is occupied by the empty shell + of a gutted one-story brick house. In places the paper remains + on the walls, and a couple of brick stoves are still standing_. + + _Beyond the walls can be seen an orchard in bloom._ + + _At the right is the front of a small inn, the sign of which + is a wreath hanging from a pole. Tables and benches are placed + outside._ + + _At the left, in the foreground, there is a pile of furniture + and household utensils that have been saved from the fire_. + + SJOeBLOM, _the painter, is painting the window-frames of the + inn. He listens closely to everything that is said_. + + ANDERSON, _the mason, is digging in the ruins_. + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the fire entirely out? + +ANDERSON. There isn't any smoke, at least. + +DETECTIVE. Then I want to ask a few more questions. [_Pause_] You were +born in this quarter, were you not? + +ANDERSON. Oh, yes. It's seventy-five years now I've lived on this +street. I wasn't born when they built this house here, but my father +helped to put in the brick. + +DETECTIVE. Then you know everybody around here? + +ANDERSON. We all know each other. There is something particular about +this street here. Those that get in here once, never get away from it. +That is, they move away, but they always come back again sooner or +later, until at last they are carried out to the cemetery, which is +way out there at the end of the street. + +DETECTIVE. You have got a special name for this quarter, haven't you? + +ANDERSON. We call it the Bog. And all of us hate each other, and +suspect each other, and blackguard each other, and torment each other +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. The fire started at half past ten in the evening, I +hear--was the front door locked at that time? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know, for I live in the house next +to this. + +DETECTIVE. Where did the fire start? + +ANDERSON. Up in the attic, where the student was living. + +DETECTIVE. Was he at home? + +ANDERSON. No, he was at the theatre. + +DETECTIVE. Had he gone away and left the lamp burning, then? + +ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. [_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. Is the student any relation to the owner of the house? + +ANDERSON. No, I don't think so.--Say, you haven't got anything to do +with the police, have you? + +DETECTIVE. How did it happen that the inn didn't catch fire? + +ANDERSON. They slung a tarpaulin over it and turned on the hose. + +DETECTIVE. Queer that the apple-trees were not destroyed by the heat. + +ANDERSON. They had just budded, and it had been raining during the day, +but the heat made the buds go into bloom in the middle of the night--a +little too early, I guess, for there is frost coming, and then the +gardener will catch it. + +DETECTIVE. What kind of fellow is the gardener? + +ANDERSON. His name is Gustafson---- + +DETECTIVE. Yes, but what sort of a man is he? + +ANDERSON. See here: I am seventy-five--and for that reason I don't know +anything bad about Gustafson; and if I knew I wouldn't be telling it! +[_Pause_. + +DETECTIVE. And the owner of the house is named Walstroem, a dyer, about +sixty years old, married---- + +ANDERSON. Why don't you go on yourself? You can't pump me any longer. + +DETECTIVE. Is it thought that the fire was started on purpose? + +ANDERSON. That's what people think of all fires. + +DETECTIVE. And whom do they suspect? + +ANDERSON. The insurance company always suspects anybody who has an +interest in the fire--and for that reason I have never had anything +insured. + +DETECTIVE. Did you find anything while you were digging? + +ANDERSON. Mostly one finds all the door-keys, because people haven't +got time to take them along when the house is on fire--except now and +then, of course, when they have been taken away---- + +DETECTIVE. There was no electric light in the house? + +ANDERSON. Not in an old house like this, and that's a good thing, for +then they can't put the blame on crossed wires. + +DETECTIVE. Put the blame?--A good thing?--Listen---- + +ANDERSON. Oh, you're going to get me in a trap? Don't you do it, for +then I take it all back. + +DETECTIVE. Take back? You can't! + +ANDERSON. Can't I? + +DETECTIVE. No! + +ANDERSON. Yes! For there was no witness present. + +DETECTIVE. No? + +ANDERSON. Naw! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _coughs. The_ WITNESS _comes in from the left_. + +DETECTIVE. Here's _one_ witness. + +ANDERSON. You're a sly one! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, there are people who know how to use their brains +without being seventy-five. [_To the_ WITNESS] Now we'll continue with +the gardener. + + [_They go out to the left_. + +ANDERSON. There I put my foot in it, I guess. But that's what happens +when you get to talking. + + MRS. ANDERSON _enters with her husband's lunch in a bundle_. + +ANDERSON. It's good you came. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now we'll have lunch and be good--you might well +be hungry after all this fuss--I wonder if Gustafson can pull +through--he'd just got done with his hotbeds and was about to start +digging in the open--why don't you eat?--and there's Sjoeblom already at +work with his putty--just think of it, that Mrs. Westerlund got off as +well as she did--morning, Sjoeblom, now you've got work, haven't you? + + MRS. WESTERLUND _comes in_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Morning, morning, Mrs. Westerlund--you got out of this +fine, I must say, and then---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I wonder who's going to pay me for all I am losing +to-day, when there's a big funeral on at the cemetery, which always +makes it a good day for me, and just when I've had to put away all my +bottles and glassware---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Who's that they're burying to-day? I see such a lot of +people going out that way--and then, of course, they've come to see +where the fire was, too. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. I don't think they're burying anybody, but I've heard +they're going to put up a monument over the bishop--worst of it is that +the stone-cutter's daughter was going to get married to the gardener's +son--him, you know, who's in a store down-town--and now the gardener +has lost all he had--isn't that his furniture standing over there? + +MRS. ANDERSON. I guess that's some of the dyer's, too, seeing as it +came out helter-skelter in a jiffy--and where's the dyer now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. He's down at the police station testifying. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Hm-hm!--Yes, yes!--And there's my cousin now--him what +drives the hearse--he's always thirsty on his way back. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. [_Enters_] How do, Malvina! So you've gone and started a +little job of arson out here during the night, have you? Looks pretty, +doesn't it. Would have been better to get a new shanty instead, I guess. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Oh, mercy me! But whom have you been taking out now? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Can't remember what his name was--only _one_ carriage +along, and no flowers on the coffin at all. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Sure and it wasn't any happy funeral, then! If you +want anything to drink you'll have to go 'round to the kitchen, for +I haven't got things going on this side yet, and, for that matter, +Gustafson is coming here with a lot of wreaths--they've got something +on out at the cemetery to-day. + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Yes, they're going to put up a moniment to the +bishop--'cause he wrote books, I guess, and collected all kinds of +vermin--was a reg'lar vermin-hunter, they tell me. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What's that? + +HEARSE-DRIVER. Oh, he had slabs of cork with pins on 'em, and a lot of +flies--something beyond us here--but I guess that's the proper way--can +I go out to the kitchen now? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, if you use the back door, I think you can get +something wet---- + +HEARSE-DRIVER. But I want to have a word with the dyer before I drive +off--I've got my horses over at the stone-cutter's, who's my second +cousin, you know. Haven't got any use for him, as you know, too, but +we're doing business together, he and I--that is, I put in a word for +him with the heirs, and so he lets me put my horses into his yard--just +let me know when the dyer shows up--luck, wasn't it, that he didn't +have his works here, too---- + + [_He goes out, passing around the inn_. + + MRS. WESTERLUND _goes into the inn by the front door_. + + ANDERSON, _who has finished eating, begins to dig again_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Do you find anything? + +ANDERSON. Nails and door-hinges--all the keys are hanging in a bunch +over there by the front door. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Did they hang there before, or did you put them there? + +ANDERSON. No, they were hanging there when I got here. + +MRS. ANDERSON. That's queer--for then somebody must have locked all the +doors and taken out the keys before it began burning! That's queer! + +ANDERSON. Yes, of course, it's a little queer, for in that way it was +harder to get at the fire and save things. Yes--yes! [_Pause_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. I worked for the dyer's father forty years ago, I did, +and I know the people, both the dyer himself and his brother what +went off to America, though they say he's back now. The father, he +was a real man, he was, but the boys were always a little so-so. Mrs. +Westerlund over here, she used to take care of Rudolph, and the two +brothers never could get along, but kept scrapping and fighting all +the time.--I've seen a thing or two, I have--yes, there's a whole lot +what has happened in that house, so I guess it was about time to get it +smoked out.--Ugh, but that was a house! One went this way and another +that, but back they had to come, and here they died and here they were +born, and here they married and were divorced.--And Arvid, the brother +what went off to America--him they thought dead for years, and at least +he didn't take what was coming to him after his father, but now they +say he's come back, though nobody has seen him--and there's such a lot +of talking--Look, there's the dyer back from the police station! + +ANDERSON. He doesn't look happy exactly, but I suppose that's more than +can be expected--Well, who's that student that lived in the attic? How +does he hang together with the rest? + +MRS. ANDERSON. Well, that's more than I know. He had his board there, +and read with the children. + +ANDERSON. And also with the lady of the house? + +MRS. ANDERSON. No-o, they played something what they called tennis, +and quarrelled the rest of the time--yes, quarrelling and backbiting, +that's what everybody is up to in this quarter. + +ANDERSON. Well, when they broke the student's door open they found +hairpins on the floor--it had to come out, after all, even if the fire +had to sweep over it first---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. I don't think it was the dyer that came, but our +brother-in-law, Gustafson---- + +ANDERSON. He's always mad, and to-day I suppose he's worse than ever, +and so he'll have to come and dun me for what I owe him, seeing what he +has lost in the fire---- + +MRS. ANDERSON. Now you shut up! + +GUSTAFSON. [_Enters with a basketful of funeral wreaths and other +products of his trade_] I wonder if I am going to sell anything to-day +so there'll be enough for food after all this rumpus? + +ANDERSON. Didn't you carry any insurance? + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, I used to have insurance on the glass panes over my +hotbeds, but this year I felt stingy, and so I put in oiled paper +instead--gosh, that I could be such a darned fool!--[_Scratching his +head_] I don't get paid for that, of course. And now I've got to cut +and paste and oil six hundred paper panes. It's as I have always said: +that I was the worst idiot among us seven children. Gee, what an ass +I was--what a booby! And then I went and got drunk yesterday. Why in +hell did I have to get drunk that day of all days--when I need all the +brains I've got to-day? It was the stone-cutter who treated, because +our children are going to get married to-night, but I should have said +no. I didn't want to, but I'm a ninny who can't say no to anybody. +And that's the way when they come and borrow money of me--I can't say +no--darned fool that I am! And then I got in the way of that policeman, +who snared me with all sorts of questions. I should have kept my mouth +shut, like the painter over there, but I can't, and so I let out this, +that, and the other thing, and he put it all down, and now I am called +as a witness! + +ANDERSON. What was it you said? + +GUSTAFSON. I said I thought--that it looked funny to me--and that +somebody must have started it. + +ANDERSON. Oh, that's what you said! + +GUSTAFSON. Yes, pitch into me--I've deserved it, goose that I am! + +ANDERSON. And who could have started it, do you think?--Don't mind the +painter, and my old woman here never carries any tales. + +GUSTAFSON. Who started it? Why, the student, of course, as it started +in his room. + +ANDERSON. No--_under_ his room! + +GUSTAFSON. Under, you say? Then I _have_ gone and done it!--Oh, I'll +come to a bad end, I'm sure!--_Under_ his room, you say--what could +have been there--the kitchen? + +ANDERSON. No, a closet--see, over there! It was used by the cook. + +GUSTAFSON. Then it must have been her. + +ANDERSON. Yes, but don't you say so, as you don't know. + +GUSTAFSON. The stone-cutter had it in for the cook last night--I guess +he must have known a whole lot---- + +ANDERSON. You shouldn't repeat what the stone-cutter says, for one who +has served isn't to be trusted---- + +GUSTAFSON. Ash, that's so long ago, and the cook's a regular dragon, +for that matter--she'd always haggle over the vegetables---- + +ANDERSON. There comes the dyer from the station now--you'd better quit! + + _The_ STRANGER _enters, dressed in a frock coat and a high hat + with mourning on it; he carries a stick_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. It wasn't the dyer, but he looks a lot like him. + +STRANGER. How much is one of those wreaths? + +GARDENER. Fifty cents. + +STRANGER. Oh, that's not much. + +GARDENER. No, I am such a fool that I can't charge as I should. + +STRANGER. [_Looking around_] Has there--been a fire--here? + +GARDENER. Yes, last night. + +STRANGER. Good God! [_Pause_] Who was the owner of the house? + +GARDENER. Mr. Walstroem. + +STRANGER. The dyer? + +GARDENER. Yes, he used to be a dyer, all right. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Where is he now? + +GARDENER. He'll be here any moment. + +STRANGER. Then I'll look around a bit--the wreath can lie here till I +come back--I meant to go out to the cemetery later. + +GARDENER. On account of the bishop's monument, I suppose? + +STRANGER. What bishop? + +GARDENER. Bishop Stecksen, don't you know--who belonged to the Academy. + +STRANGER. Is he dead? + +GARDENER. Oh, long ago! + +STRANGER. I see!--Well, I'll leave the wreath for a while. + + _He goes out to the left, studying the ruins carefully as he + passes by_. + +MRS. ANDERSON. Perhaps he came on account of the insurance. + +ANDERSON. Not that one! Then he would have asked in a different way. + +MRS. ANDERSON. But he looked like the dyer just the same. + +ANDERSON. Only he was taller. + +GUSTAFSON. Now, I remember something--I should have a bridal bouquet +ready for to-night, and I should go to my son's wedding, but I have +no flowers, and my black coat has been burned. Wouldn't that make +you--Mrs. Westerlund was to furnish the myrtle for the bride's crown, +being her godmother--that's the myrtle she stole a shoot of from +the dyer's cook, who got hers from the dyer's first wife--she who +ran away--and I was to make a crown of it, and I've clean forgotten +it--well, if I ain't the worst fool that ever walked the earth! [_He +opens the inn door_] Mrs. Westerlund, can I have the myrtle now, and +I'll do the job!--I say, can I have that myrtle! Wreath, too, you +say--have you got enough for it?--No?--Well, then I'll let the whole +wedding go hang, that's all there is to it!--Let them walk up to the +minister's and have him splice them together, but it'll make the +stone-cutter mad as a hornet.--What do you think I should do?--No, I +can't--haven't slept a wink the whole night.--It's too much for a poor +human creature.--Yes, I am a ninny, I know--go for me, will you!--Oh, +there's the pot--thanks! And then I need scissors, which I haven't +got--and wire--and string--where am I to get them from?--No, of course, +nobody wants to break off his work for a thing like that.--I'm tired of +the whole mess--work fifty years, and then have it go up in smoke! I +haven't got strength to begin over again--and the way it comes all at +once, blow on blow--did you ever! I'm going to run away from it! [_He +goes out_. + +RUDOLPH WALSTROeM. [_Enters, evidently upset, badly dressed_, _his hands +discoloured by the dyes_] Is it all out now, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. Yes, now it's out. + +RUDOLPH. Has anything been discovered? + +ANDERSON. That's a question! What's buried when it snows comes to light +when it thaws! + +RUDOLPH. What do you mean, Anderson? + +ANDERSON. If you dig deep enough you find things. + +RUDOLPH. Have you found anything that can explain how the fire started? + +ANDERSON. Naw, nothing of that kind. + +RUDOLPH. That means we are still under suspicion, all of us. + +ANDERSON. Not me, I guess. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, yes, for you have been seen up in the attic at unusual +hours. + +ANDERSON. Well, I can't always go at usual hours to look for my tools +when I've left them behind. And I did leave my hammer behind when I +fixed the stove in the student's room. + +RUDOLPH. And the stone-cutter, the gardener, Mrs. Westerlund, even the +painter over there--we are all of us under suspicion--the student, the +cook, and myself more than the rest. Lucky it was that I had paid the +insurance the day before, or I should have been stuck for good.--Think +of it: the stone-cutter suspected of arson--he who's so afraid of doing +anything wrong! He's so conscientious _nowadays_ that if you ask him +what time it is he won't swear to it, as his watch _may_ be wrong. Of +course, we all know he got two years, but he's reformed, and I'll swear +now he's the straightest man in the quarter. + +ANDERSON. But the police suspect him because he went wrong once--and he +ain't got his citizenship back yet. + +RUDOLPH. Oh, there are so many ways of looking at a thing--so many +ways, I tell you.--Well, Anderson, I guess you'd better quit for the +day, seeing as you're going to the wedding to-night. + +ANDERSON. Yes, that wedding--There was somebody looking for you a while +ago, and he said he would be back. + +RUDOLPH. Who was it? + +ANDERSON. He didn't say. + +RUDOLPH. Police, was it? + +ANDERSON. Naw, I don't think so.--There he is coming now, for that +matter. [_He goes out, together with his wife_. + + _The_ STRANGER _enters_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Regards him with curiosity at first, then with horror; wants +to run away, but cannot move_] Arvid! + +STRANGER. Rudolph! + +RUDOLPH. So it's you! + +STRANGER. Yes. [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. You're not dead, then? + +STRANGER. In a way, yes!--I have come back from America after thirty +years--there was something that pulled at me-- + + I wanted to see my childhood's home once more--and I found + those ruins! [_Pause_] It burned down last night? + +RUDOLPH. Yes, you came just in time. [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. [_Dragging his words_] That's the place--such a tiny place +for such a lot of destinies! There's the dining-room with the frescoed +walls: palms, and cypresses, and a temple beneath a rose-coloured +sky--that's the way I dreamt the world would look the moment I got away +from home. And the stove with its pale blossoms growing out of conches. +And the chimney cupboard with its metal doors--I remember as a child, +when we had just moved in, somebody had scratched his name on the +metal, and then grandmother told us it was the name of a man who had +killed himself in that very room. I quickly forgot all about it, but +when I later married a niece of the same man, it seemed to me as if my +destiny had been foretold on that plate of metal.--You don't believe in +that kind of thing, do you?--However, you know how my marriage ended! + +RUDOLPH. Yes, I've heard---- + +STRANGER. And there's the nursery--yes! + +RUDOLPH. Don't let us start digging in the ruins! + +STRANGER. Why not? After the fire is out you can read things in the +ashes. We used to do it as children, in the stove---- + +RUDOLPH. Come and sit down at the table here! + +STRANGER. What place is that? Oh, the tavern--"The Last Nail"--where +the hearse-drivers used to stop, and where, once upon a time, condemned +culprits were given a final glass before they were taken to the +gallows--Who is keeping it? + +RUDOLPH. Mrs. Westerlund, who used to be my nurse. + +STRANGER. Mrs. Westerlund--I remember her. It is as if the bench sank +from under me, and I was sent tumbling through the past, sixty whole +years, down into my childhood. I breathe the nursery air and feel it +pressing on my chest. You older ones weighed me down, and you made +so much noise that I was always kept in a state of fright. My fears +made me hide in the garden--then I was dragged forward and given a +spanking--always spankings--but I never knew why, and I don't know it +yet. And yet she was my mother---- + +RUDOLPH. Please! + +STRANGER. Yes, you were the favourite, and as such you always had her +support--Then we got a stepmother. Her father was an undertaker's +assistant, and for years we had been seeing him drive by with funerals. +At last he came to know us so well by sight that he used to nod and +grin at us, as if he meant to say: "Oh, I'll come for you sooner or +later!" And then he came right into our house one day, and had to be +called grandfather--when our father took his daughter for his second +wife. + +RUDOLPH. There was nothing strange in that. + +STRANGER. No, but somehow, as our own destinies, and those of other +people, were being woven into one web---- + +RUDOLPH. Oh, that's what happens everywhere---- + +STRANGER. Exactly! It's the same everywhere. In your youth you see +the web set up. Parents, relatives, comrades, acquaintances, servants +form the warp. Later on in life the weft becomes visible. And then +the shuttle of fate runs back and forth with the thread--sometimes +it breaks, but is tied up again, and it goes on as before. The reed +clicks, the thread is packed together into curlicues, and one day the +web lies ready. In old age, when the eye has learned how to see, you +discover that those curlicues form a pattern, a monogram, an ornament, +a hieroglyph, which only then can be interpreted: that's life! The +world-weaver has woven it! [_Pause; he rises_] Over there, in that +scrap-heap, I notice the family album. [_He walks a few steps to the +right and picks up a photograph album_] That's the book of our family +fate. Grandfather and grandmother, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, relatives, acquaintances--or so-called "friends"--schoolmates, +servants, godparents. And, strange to say, wherever I have gone, in +America or Australia, to Hongkong or the Congo, everywhere I found +at least one countryman, and as we began to dig it always came out +that this man knew my family, or at least some godfather or maid +servant--that, in a word, we had some common acquaintances. I even +found a relative in the island of Formosa---- + +RUDOLPH. What has put those ideas into your head? + +STRANGER. The fact that life, however it shaped itself--I have been +rich and poor, exalted and humbled; I have suffered a shipwreck and +passed through an earthquake--but, however life shaped itself, I always +became aware of connections and repetitions. I saw in one situation the +result of another, earlier one. On meeting _this_ person I was reminded +of _that_ one whom I had met in the past. There have been incidents in +my life that have come back time and again, so that I have been forced +to say to myself: this I have been through before. And I have met with +occurrences that seemed to me absolutely inevitable, or predestined. + +RUDOLPH. What have you done during all these years? + +STRANGER. Everything! I have beheld life from every quarter, from every +standpoint, from above and from below, and always it has seemed to me +like a scene staged for my particular benefit. And in that way I have +at last become reconciled to a part of the past, and I have come to +excuse not only my own but also other people's so-called "faults." You +and I, for instance, have had a few bones to pick with each other---- + + RUDOLPH _recoils with a darkening face_. + +STRANGER. Don't get scared now---- + +RUDOLPH. I never get scared! + +STRANGER. You are just the same as ever. + +RUDOLPH. And so are you! + +STRANGER. Am I? That's interesting!--Yes, you are still living in that +delusion about your own bravery, and I remember exactly how this false +idea became fixed in your mind. We were learning to swim, and one day +you told how you had dived into the water, and then mother said: "Yes, +Rudolph, he has courage!" That was meant for me--for me whom you had +stripped of all courage and self-assurance. But then came the day when +you had stolen some apples, and you were too cowardly to own up to it, +and so you put it on me. + +RUDOLPH. Haven't you forgotten that yet? + +STRANGER. I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.--From here, where I +am sitting, I can see that very tree, and that's what brought it into +my mind. It's over there, you see, and it bears golden pippins.--If you +look, you'll see that one of its biggest branches has been sawed off. +For it so happened that I didn't get angry with you on account of my +unjust punishment, but my anger turned against the tree. And two years +later that big branch was all dried up and had to be sawed off. It made +me think of the fig-tree that was cursed by the Saviour, but I was +not led into any presumptuous conclusions.--However, I still know all +those trees by heart, and once, when I had the yellow fever in Jamaica, +I counted them over, every one. Most of them are still there, I see. +There's the snow-apple which has red-striped fruit--a chaffinch used +to nest in it. There's the melon-apple, standing right in front of the +garret where I used to study for technological examinations; there's +the spitzenburg, and the late astrachan; and the pear-tree that used to +look like a poplar in miniature; and the one with pears that could only +be used for preserves--they never ripened, and we despised them, but +mother treasured them above all the rest; and in that tree there used +to be a wryneck that was always twisting its head around and making a +nasty cry--That was fifty years ago! + +RUDOLPH. [_Irately_] What are you driving at? + +STRANGER. Just as touchy and ill-tempered as ever! It's +interesting.--There was no special purpose back of my chatter--my +memories insist on pushing forward--I remember that the garden was +rented to somebody else once, but we had the right to play in it. +To me it seemed as if we had been driven out of paradise--and the +tempter was standing behind every tree. In the fall, when the ground +was strewn with ripe apples, I fell under a temptation that had become +irresistible---- + +RUDOLPH. You stole, too? + +STRANGER. Of course I did, but I didn't put it off on you!--When I was +forty I leased a lemon grove in one of the Southern States, and--well, +there were thieves after the trees every night. I couldn't sleep, I +lost flesh, I got sick. And then I thought of--poor Gustafson here! + +RUDOLPH. He's still living. + +STRANGER. Perhaps he, too, stole apples in his childhood? + +RUDOLPH. Probably. + +STRANGER. Why are your hands so black? + +RUDOLPH. Because I handle dyed stuffs all the time.--Did you have +anything else in mind? + +STRANGER. What could that have been? + +RUDOLPH. That my hands were not clean. + +STRANGER. Fudge! + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps you are thinking of your inheritance? + +STRANGER. Just as mean as ever! Exactly as you were when eight years +old! + +RUDOLPH. And you are just as heedless, and philosophical, and silly! + +STRANGER. It's a curious thing--but I wonder how many times before we +have said just what we are saying now? [_Pause_] I am looking at your +album here--our sisters and brothers--five dead! + +RUDOLPH. Yes. + +STRANGER. And our schoolmates? + +RUDOLPH. Some taken and some left behind. + +STRANGER. I met one of them in South Carolina--Axel Ericson--do you +remember him? + +RUDOLPH. I do. + +STRANGER. One whole night, while we were on a train together, he kept +telling me how our highly respectable and respected family consisted of +nothing but rascals; that it had made its money by smuggling--you know, +the toll-gate was right here; and that this house had been built with +double walls for the hiding of contraband. Don't you see that the walls +are double? + +RUDOLPH. [_Crushed_] So that's the reason why we had closets everywhere? + +STRANGER. The father of that fellow, Ericson, had been in the +custom-house service and knew our father, and the son told me a lot +of inside stories that turned my whole world of imagined conditions +topsyturvy. + +RUDOLPH. You gave him a licking, I suppose? + +STRANGER. Why should I lick him?--However, my hair turned grey that +night, and I had to edit my entire life over again. You know how we +used to live in an atmosphere of mutual admiration; how we regarded +our family as better than all others, and how, in particular, our +parents were looked up to with almost religious veneration. And then I +had to paint new faces on them, strip them, drag them down, eliminate +them. It was dreadful! Then the ghosts began to walk. The pieces of +those smashed figures would come together again, but not properly, +and the result would be a regular wax cabinet of monsters. All those +grey-haired gentlemen whom we called uncles, and who came to our house +to play cards and eat cold suppers, they were smugglers, and some of +them had been in the pillory--Did you know that? + +RUDOLPH. [_Completely overwhelmed_] No. + +STRANGER. The dye works were merely a hiding-place for smuggled yarn, +which was dyed in order to prevent identification. I can still remember +how I used to hate the smell of the dyeing vat--there was something +sickeningly sweet about it. + +RUDOLPH. Why did you have to tell me all this? + +STRANGER. Why should I keep silent about it and let you make yourself +ridiculous by your boasting about that revered family of yours? Have +you never noticed people grinning at you? + +RUDOLPH. No-o! [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. I am now looking at father's bookcase in the pile over there. +It was always locked, you remember. But one day, when father was out, +I got hold of the key. The books in front I had seen through the glass +doors, of course. There were volumes of sermons, the collected works +of great poets, handbooks for gardening, compilations of the statutes +referring to customs duties and the confiscation of smuggled goods; the +constitution; a volume about foreign coins; and a technical work that +later determined my choice of a career. But back of those books there +was room for other things, and I began to explore. First of all I found +the rattan--and, do you know, I have since learned that that bitter +plant bears a fruit from which we get the red dye known as "dragon's +blood": now, isn't that queer! And beside the rattan stood a bottle +labelled "cyanide of potassium." + +RUDOLPH. I suppose it was meant for use over at the works. + +STRANGER. Or elsewhere, perhaps. But this is what I had in mind: there +were some bundles of pamphlets with illustrated covers that aroused my +interest. And, to put it plain, they contained the notorious memoirs +of a certain chevalier--I took them out and locked the case again. And +beneath the big oak over there I studied them. We used to call that oak +the Tree of Knowledge--and it was, all right! And in that way I left +my childhood's paradise to become initiated, all too early, into those +mysteries which--yes! + +RUDOLPH. You, too? + +STRANGER. Yes, I, too! [_Pause_] However--let us talk of something +else, as all that is now in ashes.--Did you have any insurance? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angrily_] Didn't you ask that a while ago? + +STRANGER. Not that I can recall. It happens so often that I confuse +what I have said with what I have intended to say, and mostly because I +think so intensely--ever since that day when I tried to hang myself in +the closet. + +RUDOLPH. What is that you are saying? + +STRANGER. I tried to hang myself in the closet. + +RUDOLPH. [_Speaking very slowly_] Was that what happened that Holy +Thursday Eve, when you were taken to the hospital--what the rest of us +children were never permitted to know? + +STRANGER. [_Speaking in the same manner_] Yes.--There you can see how +little we know about those that are nearest to us, about our own homes +and our own lives. + +RUDOLPH. But why did you do it? + +STRANGER. I was twelve years old, and tired of life! It was like +groping about in a great darkness--I couldn't understand what I had to +do here--and I thought the world a madhouse. I reached that conclusion +one day when our school was turned out with torches and banners to +celebrate "the destroyer of our country." For I had just read a book +which proved that our country had been brought to destruction by the +worst of all its kings--and that was the one whose memory we had to +celebrate with hymns and festivities.[1] + + [_Pause_. + +RUDOLPH. What happened at the hospital? + +STRANGER. My dear fellow, I was actually put into the morgue as dead. +Whether I was or not, I don't know--but when I woke up, most of my +previous life had been forgotten, and I began a new one, but in such a +manner that the rest of you thought me peculiar.--Are you married again? + +RUDOLPH. I have wife and children--somewhere. + +STRANGER. When I recovered consciousness I seemed to myself another +person. I regarded life with cynical calm: it probably had to be the +way it was. And the worse it turned out the more interesting it became. +After that I looked upon myself as if I were somebody else, and I +observed and studied that other person, and his fate, thereby rendering +myself callous to my own sufferings. But while dead I had acquired new +faculties--I could see right through people, read their thoughts, hear +their intentions. In company, I beheld them stripped naked--Where did +you say the fire started? + +RUDOLPH. Why, nobody knows. + +STRANGER. But the newspapers said that it began in a closet right +under the student's garret--what kind of a student is he? + +RUDOLPH. [_Appalled_] Is it in the newspapers? I haven't had time to +look at them to-day. What more have they got? + +STRANGER. They have got everything. + +RUDOLPH. Everything? + +STRANGER. The double walls, the respected family of smugglers, the +pillory, the hairpins---- + +RUDOLPH. What hairpins? + +STRANGER. I don't know, but they are there. Do you know? + +RUDOLPH. Naw! + +STRANGER. Everything was brought to light, and you may look for a +stream of people coming here to stare at all that exposed rottenness. + +RUDOLPH. Lord have mercy! And you take pleasure at seeing your family +dragged into scandal? + +STRANGER. My family? I have never felt myself related to the rest of +you. I have never had any strong feeling either for my fellow men or +myself. I think it's interesting to watch them--that's all--What sort +of a person is your wife? + +RUDOLPH. Was there anything about her, too? + +STRANGER. About her and the student. + +RUDOLPH. Good! Then I was right. Just wait and you'll see!--There comes +the stone-cutter. + +STRANGER. You know him? + +RUDOLPH. And so do you. A schoolmate--Albert Ericson. + +STRANGER. Whose father was in the customs service and whose brother I +met on the train--he who was so very well informed about our family. + +RUDOLPH. That's the infernal cuss who has blabbed to the papers, then! + + ERICSON _enters with a pick and begins to look over the ruins_. + +STRANGER. What a ghastly figure! + +RUDOLPH. He's been in jail--two years. Do you know what he did? He made +some erasures in a contract between him and myself---- + +STRANGER. You sent him to jail! And now he has had his revenge! + +RUDOLPH. But the queerest part of it is that nowadays he is regarded as +the most honest man in the whole district. He has become a martyr, and +almost a saint, so that nobody dares say a word against him. + +STRANGER. That's interesting, indeed! + +DETECTIVE. [_Entering, turns to_ Ericson] Can you pull down that wall +over there? + +ERICSON. The one by the closet? + +DETECTIVE. That's the one. + +ERICSON. That's where the fire started, and I'm sure you'll find a +candle or a lamp around there--for I know the people! + +DETECTIVE. Go ahead then! + +ERICSON. The closet door was burned off, to be sure, but the ceiling +came down, and that's why we couldn't find out, but now we'll use the +beak on it! [_He falls to with his pick_] Ho-hey, ho-ho!--Ho-hey, +leggo!--Ho-hey, for that one!--Do you see anything? + +DETECTIVE. Not yet. + +ERICSON. [_Working away as before_] Now I can see something!--The lamp +has exploded, but the stand is left!--Who knows this forfeit for his +own?--Didn't I see the dyer somewhere around here? + +DETECTIVE. There he is sitting now. [_He picks the lamp from the debris +and holds it up_] Do you recognise your lamp, Mr. Walstroem? + +RUDOLPH. That isn't mine--it belonged to our tutor. + +DETECTIVE. The student? Where is he now? + +RUDOLPH. He's down-town, but I suppose he'll soon be here, as his books +are lying over there. + +DETECTIVE. How did his lamp get into the cook's closet? Did he have +anything to do with her? + +RUDOLPH. Probably! + +DETECTIVE. The only thing needed now is that he identify the lamp as +his own, and he will be arrested. What do you think of it, Mr. Walstroem? + +RUDOLPH. I? Well, what is there to think? + +DETECTIVE. What reason could he have for setting fire to another +person's house? + +RUDOLPH. I don't know. Malice, or mere mischief--you never can tell +what people may do--Or perhaps there was something he wanted to cover +up. + +DETECTIVE. That would have been a poor way, as old rottenness always +will out. Did he have any grudge against you? + +RUDOLPH. It's likely, for I helped him once when he was hard up, and he +has hated me ever since, of course. + +DETECTIVE. Of course? [_Pause_] Who is he, then? + +RUDOLPH. He was raised in an orphanage--born of unknown parents. + +DETECTIVE. Haven't you a grown-up daughter, Mr. Walstroem? + +RUDOLPH. [_Angered_] Of course I have! + +DETECTIVE. Oh, you have! [_Pause; then to_ ERICSON] Now you bring those +twelve men of yours and pull down the walls quick. Then we'll see what +new things come to light. + + [_He goes out_. + +ERICSON. That'll be done in a jiffy. [_Goes out_. + + [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Have you really paid up your insurance? + +RUDOLPH. Of course! + +STRANGER. Personally? + +RUDOLPH. No, I sent it in as usual. + +STRANGER. You sent it--by somebody else! That's just like you!--Suppose +we take a turn through the garden and have a look at the apple-trees. + +RUDOLPH. All right, and then we'll see what happens afterward. + +STRANGER. Now begins the most interesting part of all. + +RUDOLPH. Perhaps not quite so interesting if you find yourself mixed up +in it. + +STRANGER. I? + +RUDOLPH. Who can tell? + +STRANGER. What a web it is! + +RUDOLPH. There was a child of yours that went to the orphanage, I think? + +STRANGER. God bless us!--Let's go over into the garden! + +_Curtain_. + + +[Footnote 1: This refers to King Charles XII of Sweden, whose memory +Strindberg hated mainly because of the use made of it by the jingo +elements of the Swedish upper classes.] + + + + +SECOND SCENE + + + _The same setting as before with the exception that the walls + have been torn down so that the garden is made visible, + with its vast variety of spring flowers--daphnes, deutzias, + daffodils, narcissuses, tulips, auriculas--and with all the + fruit-trees in bloom_. + + ERICSON, ANDERSON _and his old wife_, GUSTAFSON, _the_ + HEARSE-DRIVER, MRS. WESTERLUND, _and the painter_, SJOeBLOM, + _are standing in a row staring at the spot where the house used + to be_. + + +STRANGER. [_Entering_] There they stand, enjoying the misfortune that's +in the air and waiting for the victim to appear--he being the principal +item. That the fire was incendiary they take for granted, merely +because they want it that way.--And all these rascals are the friends +and comrades of my youth. I am even related to the hearse-driver +through my stepmother, whose father used to help carry out the +coffins--[_He speaks to the crowd of spectators_] Look here, you +people, I shouldn't stand there if I were you. There may have been some +dynamite stored in the cellar, and if such were the case an explosion +might take place any moment. + + _The curious crowd scatters and disappears_. + +STRANGER. [Stoops _over the scrap-heap and begins to poke in the +books piled there_] Those are the student's books--Same kind of rot +as in my youth--Livy's Roman history, which is said to be lies, every +word--But here's a volume out of my brother's library--"Columbus, or +the Discovery of America"! My own book, which I got as a Christmas +gift in 1857. My name has been erased. This means it was stolen from +me--and I accused one of our maids, who was discharged on that account! +Fine business! Perhaps it led to her ruin--fifty years ago! Here is +the frame of one of our family portraits; my renowned grandfather, +the smuggler, who was put in the pillory--fine!--But what is this? +The foot-piece of a mahogany bed--the one in which I was born! Oh, +damn!--Next item: a leg of a dinner-table--the one that was an +heirloom. Why, it was supposed to be of ebony, and was admired on +that account! And now, after fifty years, I discover it to be made +of painted maple. Everything had its colours changed in our house to +render it unrecognisable, even the clothes of us children, so that +our bodies always were stained with various dyes. Ebony--humbug! And +here's the dining-room clock--smuggled goods, that, too--which has +measured out the time for two generations. It was wound up every +Saturday, when we had salt codfish and a posset made with beer for +dinner. Like all intelligent clocks, it used to stop when anybody +died, but when I died it went on just as before. Let me have a look at +you, old friend--I want to see your insides. [_As he touches the clock +it falls to pieces_] Can't stand being handled! Nothing could stand +being handled in our home--nothing! Vanity, vanity!--But there's the +globe that was on top of the clock, although it ought to have been at +the bottom. You tiny earth: you, the densest and the heaviest of all +the planets--that's what makes everything on you so heavy--so heavy +to breathe, so heavy to carry. The cross is your symbol, but it might +just as well have been a fool's cap or a strait-jacket--you world of +delusions and deluded!--Eternal One--perchance Thy earth has gone +astray in the limitless void? And what set it whirling so that Thy +children were made dizzy, and lost their reason, and became incapable +of seeing what really is instead of what only seems?--Amen!--And here +is the student! + + _The_ STUDENT _enters and looks around in evident search of + somebody_. + +STRANGER. He is looking for the mistress of the house. And he tells +everything he knows--with his eyes. Happy youth!--Whom are you looking +for? + +STUDENT. [_Embarrassed_] I was looking---- + +STRANGER. Speak up, young man--or keep silent. I understand you just +the same. + +STUDENT. With whom have I the honour---- + +STRANGER. It's no special honour, as you know, for once I ran away to +America on account of debts---- + +STUDENT. That wasn't right. + +STRANGER. Right or wrong, it remains a fact.--So you were looking for +Mrs. Walstroem? Well, she isn't here, but I am sure that she will come +soon, like all the rest, for they are drawn by the fire like moths---- + +STUDENT. By a candle! + +STRANGER. That's what _you_ say, but I should rather have said "lamp," +in order to choose a more significant word. However, you had better +hide your feelings, my dear fellow, if you can--I can hide mine!--We +were talking of that lamp, were we not? How about it? + +STUDENT. Which lamp? + +STRANGER. Well, well! Every one of them lies and denies!--The lamp +that was placed in the cook's closet and set fire to the house? + +STUDENT. I know nothing about it. + +STRANGER. Some blush when they lie and others turn pale. This one has +invented an entirely new manner. + +STUDENT. Are you talking to yourself, sir? + +STRANGER. I have that bad habit.--Are your parents still living? + +STUDENT. They are not. + +STRANGER. Now you lied again, but unconsciously. + +STUDENT. I never tell a lie! + +STRANGER. Not more than three in these few moments! I know your father. + +STUDENT. I don't believe it. + +STRANGER. So much the better for me!--Do you see this scarf-pin? It's +pretty, isn't it? But I never see anything of it myself--I have no +pleasure in its being there, while everybody else is enjoying it. There +is nothing selfish about that, is there? But there are moments when +I should like to see it in another man's tie so that I might have a +chance to admire it. Would you care to have it? + +STUDENT. I don't quite understand--Perhaps, as you said, it's better +not to wear it. + +STRANGER. Perhaps!--Don't get impatient now. She will be here soon.--Do +you find it enviable to be young? + +STUDENT. I can't say that I do. + +STRANGER. No, youth is not its own master; it has never any money, and +has to take its food out of other hands; it is not permitted to speak +when company is present, but is treated as an idiot; and as it cannot +marry, it has to ogle other people's wives, which leads to all sorts of +dangerous consequences. Youth--humbug! + +STUDENT. That's right! As a child, you want to grow up--that is, reach +fifteen, be confirmed, and put on a tall hat. When you are that far, +you want to be old--that is, twenty-one. Which means that nobody wants +to be young. + +STRANGER. And when you grow old in earnest, then you want to be dead. +For then there isn't much left to wish for.--Do you know that you are +to be arrested? + +STUDENT. Am I? + +STRANGER. The detective said so a moment ago. + +STUDENT. Me? + +STRANGER. Are you surprised at that? Don't you know that in this life +you must be prepared for anything? + +STUDENT. But what have I done? + +STRANGER. You don't have to do anything in order to be arrested. To be +suspected is enough. + +STUDENT. Then everybody might be arrested! + +STRANGER. Exactly! The rope might be laid around the neck of the whole +race if justice were wanted, but it isn't. It's a disgusting race: +ugly, sweating, ill-smelling; its linen dirty, its stockings full of +holes; with chilblains and corns--ugh! No, an apple-tree in bloom is +far more beautiful. Or look at the lilies in the field--they seem +hardly to belong here--and what fragrance is theirs! + +STUDENT. Are you a philosopher, sir? + +STRANGER. Yes, I am a great philosopher. + +STUDENT. Now you are poking fun at me! + +STRANGER. You say that to get away. Well, begone then! Hurry up! + +STUDENT. I was expecting somebody. + +STRANGER. So I thought. But I think it would be better to go and +meet---- + +STUDENT. She asked you to tell me? + +STRANGER. Oh, that wasn't necessary. + +STUDENT. Well, if that's so--I don't want to miss---- + + [_He goes out_. + +STRANGER. Can that be my son? Well, if it comes to the worst--I was a +child myself once, and it was neither remarkable nor pleasant--And I +am his--what of it? And for that matter--who knows?--Now I'll have a +look at Mrs. Westerlund. She used to work for my parents--was faithful +and good-tempered; and when she had been pilfering for ten years she +was raised to the rank of a "trusted" servant. [_He seats himself at +the table in front of the inn_] There are Gustafson's wreaths--just as +carelessly made as they were forty years ago. He was always careless +and stupid in all he did, and so he never succeeded with anything. But +much might be pardoned him on account of his self-knowledge. "Poor +fool that I am," he used to say, and then he would pull off his cap +and scratch his head.--Why, there's a myrtle plant! [_He knocks at the +pot_] Not watered, of course! He always forgot to water his plants, the +damned fool--and yet he expected them to grow. + + SJOeBLOM, _the painter, appears_. + +STRANGER. I wonder who that painter can be. Probably he belongs also to +the Bog, and perhaps he is one of the threads in my own web. + + SJOeBLOM _is staring at the_ STRANGER _all this time_. + +STRANGER. [_Returning the stare_] Well, do you recognise me? + +SJOeBLOM. Are you--Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Have been and am--if perception argues being. + + [_Pause_. + +SJOeBLOM. I ought really to be mad at you. + +STRANGER. Well, go on and be so! However, you might tell me the reason. +That has a tendency to straighten matters out. + +SJOeBLOM. Do you remember---- + +STRANGER. Unfortunately, I have an excellent memory. + +SJOeBLOM. Do you remember a boy named Robert? + +STRANGER. Yes, a regular rascal who knew how to draw. + +SJOeBLOM. And I was to go to the Academy in order to become a real +painter, an artist. But just about that time-colour-blindness was all +the go. You were studying at the Technological Institute then, and so +you had to test my eyes before your father would consent to send me to +the art classes. For that reason you brought two skeins of yarn from +the dye works, one red and the other green, and then you asked me about +them. I answered--called the red green and the green red--and that was +the end of my career---- + +STRANGER. But that was as it should be. + +SJOeBLOM. No--for the truth of it was, I could distinguish the +colours, but not--the _names_. And that wasn't found out until I was +thirty-seven---- + +STRANGER. That was an unfortunate story, but I didn't know better, and +so you'll have to forgive me. + +SJOeBLOM. How can I? + +STRANGER. Ignorance is pardonable! And now listen to me. I wanted to +enter the navy, made a trial cruise as mid-shipman, seemed to become +seasick, and was rejected! But I could stand the sea, and my sickness +came from having drunk too much. So my career was spoiled, and I had to +choose another. + +SJOeBLOM. What have I got to do with the navy? I had been dreaming of +Rome and Paris---- + +STRANGER. Oh, well, one has so many dreams in youth, and in old age +too, for that matter. Besides, what's the use of bothering about what +happened so long ago? + +SJOeBLOM. How you talk! Perhaps you can give me back my wasted life---- + +STRANGER. No, I can't, but I am under no obligation to do so, either. +That trick with the yarn I had learned at school, and you ought to have +learned the proper names of the colours. And now you can go to--one +dauber less is a blessing to humanity!--There's Mrs. Westerlund! + +SJOeBLOM. How you _do_ talk. But I guess you'll get what's coming to you! + + MRS. WESTERLUND _enters_. + +STRANGER. How d'you do, Mrs. Westerlund? I am Mr. Arvid--don't get +scared now! I have been in America, and how are you? I am feeling fine! +There has been a fire here, and I hear your husband is dead--policeman, +I remember, and a very nice fellow. I liked him for his good humour +and friendly ways. He was a harmless jester, whose quips never hurt. I +recall once---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. O, merciful! Is this my own Arvid whom I used to +tend---- + +STRANGER. No, that wasn't me, but my brother--but never mind, it's just +as well meant. I was talking of your old man who died thirty-five years +ago--a very nice man and a particular friend of mine---- + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he died. [_Pause_] But I don't know if--perhaps +you are getting him mixed up---- + +STRANGER. No, I don't. I remember old man Westerlund perfectly, and I +liked him very much. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. [_Reluctantly_] Of course it's a shame to say it, but +I don't think his temper was very good. + +STRANGER. What? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well--he had a way of getting around people, but +he didn't mean what he said--or if he did he meant it the other way +around---- + +STRANGER. What is that? Didn't he mean what he was saying? Was he a +hypocrite? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Well, I don't like to say it, but I believe---- + +STRANGER. Do you mean to say that he wasn't on the level? + +MRS. WESTERLUND. N--yes--he was--a little--well, he didn't mean exactly +what he said--And how have you been doing, Mr. Arvid? + +STRANGER. Now a light is dawning on me!--The miserable wretch! And +here I have been praising him these thirty-five years. I have missed +him, and I felt something like sorrow at his departure--I even used +some of my tobacco allowance to buy a wreath for his coffin. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. What was it he did? What was it? + +STRANGER. The villain! [_Pause_] Well--he fooled me--it was Shrove +Tuesday, I remember. He told me that if one took away every third +egg from a hen she would lay so many more. I did it, got a licking, +and came near getting into court. But _I_ never suspected him of +having told on me.--He was always hanging around our kitchen looking +for tid-bits, and so our maids could do just what they pleased about +the garbage--oh, now I see him in his proper aspect!--And here I am +now getting into a fury at one who has been thirty-five years in his +grave?--So he was a satirist, he was--and I didn't catch on--although I +understand him now. + +MRS. WESTERLUND. Yes, he was a little satirical all right--_I_ ought +to know that! + +STRANGER. Other things are coming back to me now--and I have been +saying nice things about that blackguard for thirty-five years! It was +at his funeral I drank my first toddy--And I remember how he used to +flatter me, and call me "professor" and "the crown prince"--ugh--And +there is the stone-cutter! You had better go inside, madam, or we'll +have a row when that fellow begins to turn in his bills. Good-bye, +madam--we'll meet again! + +MRS. WESTERLUND. No we won't. People ought never to meet again--it +is never as it used to be, and they only get to clawing at each +other--What business did you have to tell me all those things--seeing +everything was all right as it was [_She goes out_. + + ERICSON, _the stone-cutter, comes in_. + +STRANGER. Come on! + +ERICSON. What's that? + +STRANGER. Come on, I said! + + ERICSON _stares at him_. + +STRANGER. Are you looking at my scarf-pin? I bought it in London. + +ERICSON. I am no thief! + +STRANGER. No, but you practise the noble art of erasure. You wipe out! + +ERICSON. That's true, but that contract was sheer robbery, and it was +strangling me. + +STRANGER. Why did you sign it? + +ERICSON. Because I was hard up. + +STRANGER. Yes, that _is_ a motive. + +ERICSON. But now I am having my revenge. + +STRANGER. Yes, isn't it nice! + +ERICSON. And now _they_ will be locked up. + +STRANGER. Did _we_ ever fight each other as boys? + +ERICSON. No, I was too young. + +STRANGER. Have we never told lies about each other, or robbed each +other, or got in each other's way, or seduced each other's sisters? + +ERICSON. Naw, but my father was in the customs service and yours was a +smuggler. + +STRANGER. There you are! That's something, at least! + +ERICSON. And when my father failed to catch yours he was discharged. + +STRANGER. And you want to get even with me because your father was a +good-for-nothing? + +ERICSON. Why did you say a while ago that there was dynamite in the +cellar? + +STRANGER. Now, my dear sir, you are telling lies again. I said there +_might_ be dynamite in the cellar, and everything is possible, of +course. + +ERICSON. And in the meantime the student has been arrested. Do you know +him? + +STRANGER. Very little--his mother more, for she was a maid in our +house. She was both pretty and good, and I was making up to her--until +she had a child. + +ERICSON. And were you not its father? + +STRANGER. I was not. But as a denial of fatherhood is not allowed, I +suppose I must be regarded as a sort of stepfather. + +ERICSON. Then they have lied about you. + +STRANGER. Of course. But that's a very common thing. + +ERICSON. And I was among those who testified against you--under oath! + +STRANGER. I have no doubt about it, but what does it matter? Nothing +matters at all! But now we had better quit pulling--or we'll get the +whole web unravelled. + +ERICSON. But think of me, who have perjured myself---- + +STRANGER. Yes, it isn't pleasant, but such things will happen. + +ERICSON. It's horrible--don't you find life horrible? + +STRANGER. [_Covering his eyes with his hand_] Yes, horrible beyond all +description! + +ERICSON. I don't want to live any longer! + +STRANGER. Must! [_Pause_] Must! [_Pause_] Tell me--the student is +arrested, you say--can he get out of it? + +ERICSON. Hardly!--And now, as we are talking nicely, I'll tell you +something: he is innocent, but he cannot clear himself. For the only +witness that can prove him innocent would, by doing so, prove him +guilty--in another way. + +STRANGER. She with the hairpins, isn't it? + +ERICSON. Yes. + +STRANGER. The old one or the young one? + +ERICSON. You have to figure that out yourself. But it isn't the cook. + +STRANGER. What a web this is!--But who put the lamp there? + +ERICSON. His worst enemy. + +STRANGER. And did his worst enemy also start the fire? + +ERICSON. That's beyond me! Only Anderson, the mason, knows that. + +STRANGER. Who is he? + +ERICSON. The oldest one in the place--some kind of relative of Mrs. +Westerlund--knows all the secrets of the house--but he and the dyer +have got some secrets together, so he won't tell anything. + +STRANGER. And the lady--my sister-in-law--who is she? + +ERICSON. Well--she was in the house as governess when the first wife +cleared out. + +STRANGER. What sort of character has she got? + +ERICSON. Hm! Character? I don't quite know what that is. Do you mean +trade? The old assessment blanks used to call for your name and +"character"--but that meant occupation instead of character. + +STRANGER. I mean her temper. + +ERICSON. Well, it changes, you know. In me it depends on the person +with whom I am talking. With decent people I am decent, and with the +cruel ones I become like a beast of prey. + +STRANGER. But I was talking of her temper under ordinary circumstances. + +ERICSON. Well, nothing in particular. Gets angry if you tease her, but +comes around after a while. One cannot always have the same temper, of +course. + +STRANGER. I mean, is she merry or melancholy? + +ERICSON. When things go right, she is happy, and when they go wrong, +she gets sorry or angry--just like the rest of us. + +STRANGER. Yes, but how does she behave? + +ERICSON. Oh, what does it matter?--Of course, being an educated person, +she behaves politely, but nevertheless, you know, she can get nasty, +too, when her blood gets to boiling. + +STRANGER. But that doesn't make me much wiser. + +ERICSON. [_Patting him on the shoulder_] No, sir, we never get much +wiser when it's a question of human beings. + +STRANGER. Oh, you're a marvel!--And how do you like my brother, the +dyer? [_Pause_. + +ERICSON. Oh, his manners are pretty decent. And more than that I don't +know, for what he keeps hidden I can't find out, of course. + +STRANGER. Excellent! But--his hands are always blue, and yet you know +that they are white beneath the dye. + +ERICSON. But to make them so they should be scraped, and that's +something he won't permit. + +STRANGER. Good!--Who are the young couple coming over there? + +ERICSON. That's the gardener's son and my daughter, who were to have +been married to-night, but who have had to postpone it on account of +the fire--Now I shall leave, for I don't want to embarrass them. You +understand--I ain't much as a father-in-law. Good-bye! [_He goes out_. + + _The_ Stranger _withdraws behind the inn, but so that he + remains visible to the spectators_. + + Alfred _and_ Mathilda _enter hand in hand_. + +ALFRED. I had to have a look at this place--I had to---- + +MATHILDA. Why did you have to look at it? + +ALFRED. Because I have suffered so much in this house that more than +once I wished it on fire. + +MATHILDA. Yes, I know, it kept the sun out of the garden, and now +everything will grow much better--provided they don't put up a still +higher house---- + +ALFRED. Now it's open and pleasant, with plenty of air and sunlight, +and I hear they are going to lay out a street---- + +MATHILDA. Won't you have to move then? + +ALFRED. Yes, all of us will have to move, and that's what I like--I +like new things--I should like to emigrate---- + +MATHILDA. Mercy, no! Do you know, our pigeons were nesting on the roof. +And when the fire broke out last night they kept circling around the +place at first, but when the roof fell in they plunged right into the +flames--They couldn't part from their old home! + +ALFRED. But we must get out of here--must! My father says that the soil +has been sucked dry. + +MATHILDA. I heard that the cinders left by the fire were to be spread +over the ground in order to improve the soil. + +ALFRED. You mean the ashes? + +MATHILDA. Yes; they say it's good to sow in the ashes. + +ALFRED. Better still on virgin soil. + +MATHILDA. But your father is ruined? + +ALFRED. Not at all. He has money in the bank. Of course he's +complaining, but so does everybody. + +MATHILDA. Has he--The fire hasn't ruined him? + +ALFRED. Not a bit! He's a shrewd old guy, although he always calls +himself a fool. + +MATHILDA. What am I to believe? + +ALFRED. He has loaned money to the mason here--and to others. + +MATHILDA. I am entirely at sea! Am I dreaming?--The whole morning +we have been weeping over your father's misfortune and over the +postponement of the wedding---- + +ALFRED. Poor little thing! But the wedding is to take place to-night---- + +MATHILDA. Is it not postponed? + +ALFRED. Only delayed for a couple of hours so that my father will have +time to get his new coat. + +MATHILDA. And we who have been weeping---- + +ALFRED. Useless tears--such a lot of tears! + +MATHILDA. I am mad because they were useless--although--to think that +my father-in-law could be such a sly one! + +ALFRED. Yes, he is something of a joker, to put it mildly. He is always +talking about how tired he is, but that's nothing but laziness--oh, +he's lazy, I tell you---- + +MATHILDA. Don't say any more nasty things about him--but let us get +away from here. I have to dress, you know, and put up my hair.--Just +think, that my father-in-law isn't what I thought him--that he could be +fooling us like that and not telling the truth! Perhaps you are like +that, too? Oh, that I can't know what you really are! + +ALFRED. You'll find out afterward. + +MATHILDA. But then it's too late. + +ALFRED. It's never too late---- + +MATHILDA. All you who lived in this house are bad--And now I am afraid +of you---- + +ALFRED. Not of me, though? + +MATHILDA. I don't know what to think. Why didn't you tell me before +that your father was well off? + +ALFRED. I wanted to try you and see if you would like me as a poor man. + +MATHILDA. Yes, afterward they always say that they wanted to try you. +But how can I ever believe a human being again? + +ALFRED. Go and get dressed now. I'll order the carriages. + +MATHILDA. Are we to have carriages? + +ALFRED. Of course--regular coaches. + +MATHILDA. Coaches? And to-night? What fun! Come--hurry up! We'll have +carriages! + +ALFRED. [_Gets hold of her hand and they dance out together_] Hey and +ho! Here we go! + +STRANGER. [_Coming forward_] Bravo! + + _The_ DETECTIVE _enters and talks in a low tone to the_ + Stranger, _who answers in the same way. This lasts for about + half a minute, whereupon the_ DETECTIVE _leaves again_. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. [_Enters, dressed in black, and gazes long at the_ +Stranger] Are you my brother-in-law? + +STRANGER. I am. [_Pause_] Don't I look as I have been described--or +painted? + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Frankly, no! + +STRANGER. No, that is generally the case. And I must admit that the +information I received about you a while ago does not tally with the +original. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Oh, people do each other so much wrong, and they paint +each other in accordance with some image within themselves. + +STRANGER. And they go about like theatrical managers, distributing +parts to each other. Some accept their parts; others hand them back and +prefer to improvise. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. And what has been the part assigned to you? + +STRANGER. That of a seducer. Not that I have ever been one! I have +never seduced anybody, be she wife or maid, but once in my youth I was +seduced, and that's why the part was given to me. Strange to say, it +was forced on me so long that at last I accepted it. And for twenty +years I carried the bad conscience of a seducer around with me. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. You were innocent then? + +STRANGER. I was. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. How curious! And to this day my husband is still +talking of the Nemesis that has pursued you because you seduced another +man's wife. + +STRANGER. I fully believe it. But your husband represents a still more +interesting case. He has created a new character for himself out of +lies. Tell me: isn't he a coward in facing the struggles of life? + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Of course he is a coward! + +STRANGER. And yet he boasts of his courage, which is nothing but +brutality. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. You know him pretty well. + +STRANGER. Yes, and no!--And you have been living in the belief that you +had married into a respected family which had never disgraced itself? + +MRS. WALSTROeM. So I believed until this morning. + +STRANGER. When your faith crumbled! What a web of lies and mistakes +and misunderstandings! And that kind of thing we are supposed to take +seriously! + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Do you? + +STRANGER. Sometimes. Very seldom nowadays. I walk like a somnambulist +along the edge of a roof--knowing that I am asleep, and yet being +awake--and the only thing I am waiting for is to be waked up. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. You are said to have been across to the other side? + +STRANGER. I have been across the river, but the only thing I can recall +is--that there everything _was_ what it pretended to be. That's what +makes the difference. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. When nothing stands the test of being touched, what are +you then to hold on to? + +STRANGER. Don't you know? + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Tell me! Tell me! + +STRANGER. Sorrow brings patience; patience brings experience; +experience brings hope; and hope will not bring us to shame. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Hope, yes! + +STRANGER. Yes, hope! + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Do you ever think it pleasant to live? + +STRANGER. Of course. But that is also a delusion. I tell you, my dear +sister-in-law, that when you happen to be born without a film over your +eyes, then you see life and your fellow creatures as they are--and +you have to be a pig to feel at home in such a mess.--But when you +have been looking long enough at blue mists, then you turn your eyes +the other way and begin to look into your own soul? There you find +something really worth looking at. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. And what is it you see? + +STRANGER. Your own self. But when you have looked at that you must die. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. [_Covers her eyes with her hands; after a pause she +says_] Do you want to help me? + +STRANGER. If I can. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Try. + +STRANGER. Wait a moment!--No, I cannot. He is innocently accused. Only +you can set him free again. But that you cannot do. It's a net that has +not been tied by men---- + +MRS. WALSTROeM. But he is not guilty. + +STRANGER. Who is guilty? [_Pause_. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. No one! It was an accident! + +STRANGER. I know it. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Suffer. It will pass. For that, too, is vanity. + +MRS. WALSTROeM. Suffer? + +STRANGER. Yes, suffer! But with hope! + +MRS. WALSTROeM. [_Holding out her hand to him_] Thank you! + +STRANGER. And let it be your consolation + +MRS. WALSTROeM. What? + +STRANGER. That you don't suffer innocently. + + MRS. WALSTROeM _walks out with her head bent low_. + + _The_ STRANGER _climbs the pile of debris marking the site of + the burned house_. + +RUDOLPH. [_Comes in, looking happy_] Are you playing the ghost among +the ruins? + +STRANGER. Ghosts feel at home among ruins--And now you are happy? + +RUDOLPH. Now I am happy. + +STRANGER. And brave? + +RUDOLPH. Whom have I got to fear, or what? + +STRANGER. I conclude from your happiness that you are ignorant of one +important fact--Have you the courage to bear a piece of misfortune? + +RUDOLPH. What is it? + +STRANGER. You turn pale? + +RUDOLPH. I? + +STRANGER. A serious misfortune! + +RUDOLPH. Speak out! + +STRANGER. The detective was here a moment ago, and he told me--in +confidence---- + +RUDOLPH. What? + +STRANGER. That the premium on your insurance was paid up two hours too +late. + +RUDOLPH. Great S----! what are you talking of? I sent my wife to pay +the premium. + +STRANGER. And she sent the bookkeeper--and he got there too late. + +RUDOLPH. Then I am ruined? [_Pause_. + +STRANGER. Are you crying? + +RUDOLPH. I am ruined! + +STRANGER. Well, is that something that cannot be borne? + +RUDOLPH. How am I to live? What am I to do? + +STRANGER. Work! + +RUDOLPH. I am too old--I have no friends Stranger. Perhaps you'll get +some now. A man in misfortune always seems sympathetic. I had some of +my best hours while fortune went against me. + +RUDOLPH. [_Wildly_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. But in my days of success and fortune I was left alone. Envy +was more than friendship could stand. + +RUDOLPH. Then I'll sue the bookkeeper. + +STRANGER. Don't! + +RUDOLPH. He'll have to pay---- + +STRANGER. How little you have changed! What's the use of living, when +you learn so little from it? + +RUDOLPH. I'll sue him, the villain!--He hates me because I gave him a +cuff on the ear once. + +STRANGER. Forgive him--as I forgave you when I didn't demand my +inheritance. + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance? + +STRANGER. Always the same! Merciless! Cowardly! Disingenuous!--Depart +in peace, brother! + +RUDOLPH. What inheritance is that you are talking of? + +STRANGER. Now listen, Rudolph--my brother after all: my own mother's +son! You put the stone-cutter in jail because he did some erasing--all +right! But how about your own erasures from my book, "Christopher +Columbus, or the Discovery of America"? + +RUDOLPH. [_Taken aback_] What's that? Columbus? + +STRANGER. Yes, _my_ book that became yours! + + RUDOLPH _remains silent_. + +STRANGER. Yes, and I understand now that it was you who put the +student's lamp in the closet--I understand everything. But do _you_ +know that the dinner-table was not of ebony? + +RUDOLPH. It wasn't? + +STRANGER. It was nothing but maple. + +RUDOLPH. Maple! + +STRANGER. The pride and glory of the house--valued at two thousand +crowns! + +RUDOLPH. That, too? So that was also humbug! + +STRANGER. Yes! + +RUDOLPH. Ugh! + +STRANGER. Thus the debt is settled. The case is dropped--the issue is +beyond the court--the parties can withdraw---- + +RUDOLPH. [_Rushing out_] I am ruined! + +STRANGER. [_Takes his wreath from the table_] I meant to take this +wreath to the cemetery--to my parents' grave--but I will place it here +instead--on the ruins of what was once their home--my childhood's home! +[_He bends his head in silent prayer_] And now, wanderer, resume thy +pilgrimage! + +_Curtain_. + + + + +PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG + + +PLAYS. FIRST SERIES: The Dream Play, The +Link, The Dance of Death--Part I and Part II. + +PLAYS. SECOND SERIES: There are Crimes +and Crimes, Miss Julia, The Stronger, Creditors, +Pariah. + +PLAYS. THIRD SERIES: Swanwhite, Simoom, +Debit and Credit, Advent, The Thunder +Storm, After the Fire. + +PLAYS. FOURTH SERIES: The Bridal Crown, +The Spook Sonata, The First Warning, Gustavus Vasa. + +CREDITORS. PARIAH. + +MISS JULIA. THE STRONGER. + +THERE ARE CRIMES AND CRIMES. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Plays by August Strindberg, Third +Series, by August Strindberg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PLAYS BY AUGUST STRINDBERG *** + +***** This file should be named 44233.txt or 44233.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/2/3/44233/ + +Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org +(Images generously made available by the Internet Archive, +University of California (L.A.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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