Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen (44 page)

SCENE I
V

[INGEBORG and HEMMING enter, after a pause, from the right.]

INGEBORG. Well, here we are up here! How lovely and bright and peaceful it is!

HEMMING. Yes, here we shall live happily together!

INGEBORG. But mark you well that you are my servant, and nothing else, — until my father has given his consent.

HEMMING. That he will never do!

INGEBORG. Never you mind, — we’ll find some means or other. — But now we must think about choosing a cabin to live in.

HEMMING. There are plenty of them around here. Over the whole valley there are deserted huts; everything is just the same as it was when the last people died in the terrible plague many years ago.

INGEBORG. Here I like it very much! Over there, too, there is just such an old hut; the water is near by, and the forest must surely be alive with game. You can fish and hunt; aye, we shall live a wonderful life!

HEMMING. Yea, forsooth, a wonderful life! I shall fish and hunt the while you gather berries and keep the house in order.

INGEBORG. Do I? No, that you must take care of!

HEMMING. Yes, yes, as you please. O, a delightful life we shall live!

[Stops and adds somewhat dejectedly.]

HEMMING. But when I stop to think a bit; — I have neither bow nor fishing outfit.

INGEBORG.
[Likewise with an expression of despondency.]
And it occurs to me there are no servants here who can help me.

HEMMING. That shall I willingly do!

INGEBORG. No, thanks. — And all my good clothes — I didn’t bring anything along except my bridal gown which I am wearing.

HEMMING. That was thoughtless of you!

INGEBORG. True enough, Hemming! And for that reason you shall steal down to Guldvik some night and bring me clothes and other things as much as I have need of.

HEMMING. And be hanged as a thief!

INGEBORG. No, you shall be careful and cautious, — that I warn you. But when finally the long winter comes? There are no people up here, — music and dancing we shall never have — Hemming! Shall we stay here or —

HEMMING. Well, where else is there we can go?

INGEBORG.
[Impatiently.]
Yes, but human beings cannot live here!

HEMMING. Why, surely, they can!

INGEBORG. Well, you see yourself they are all of them dead!
Hemming! I think it best I go home to my father.

HEMMING. But what will become of me?

INGEBORG. You shall go to war!

HEMMING. To war! And be killed!

INGEBORG. Not at all! You shall perform some illustrious deed, and then will you be made a knight, and then will my father no longer be opposed to you.

HEMMING. Yes, but what if they kill me in the meantime?

INGEBORG. Well, we’ll have plenty of time to think about that. Today and tomorrow we shall have to remain here, I suppose; so long will the guests sit in the festive house and celebrate, — if they look for us, it will probably be about in the village; up here we can be safe and —

[She stops and listens.]

CHORUS.
[Far away off the stage to the right.]
  Away, — away to find
  Alfhild, the false, unkind;
  For all our woe and strife
  She must pay with her life!

HEMMING. Ingeborg! Ingeborg! They are after us!

INGEBORG. Where shall we find refuge?

HEMMING. Well, how can I know —

INGEBORG. Go into the hut; lock the door so that it can be bolted from within.

HEMMING. Yes, but —

INGEBORG. Do as I say! I shall go up on the hill the meanwhile and see if they are far away.

[She goes out to the right.]

HEMMING. Yes, yes! Alas, if only they don’t get us!

[He goes into the house.]

SCENE
V

[OLAF comes from the forest to the left. Immediately afterwards INGEBORG from the right.]

OLAF.
[Looks about and calls softly.]
Alfhild! Alfhild! She is nowhere to be seen! Like a bird she disappeared from my view into the wood and I —

INGEBORG. They are right close and —

[Stops, frightened.]

INGEBORG. Olaf Liljekrans!

OLAF. Ingeborg!

HEMMING.
[Sticks his head out of the door and spies OLAF.]
Lord Olaf! So! Now is it surely all up with me!

[Withdraws hastily.]

INGEBORG.
[Aside.]
He must have ridden in advance of the rest.

OLAF.
[Aside.]
She must have come up here with her father to look for me.

INGEBORG.
[Aside.]
But I will not go with him!

OLAF.
[Aside.]
I will not stir from here!

INGEBORG.
[Aloud, as she draws nearer.]
Olaf Liljekrans! Now you have me; but you will do ill if you try to compel me.

OLAF. That is furthest from my mind!

INGEBORG. Why then come you here in company with my kinsmen?

OLAF. Do I? On the contrary, it is you who —

INGEBORG. That invention won’t fool me; only a moment ago I saw the whole crowd —

OLAF. Who? Who?

INGEBORG. My father and our relatives!

OLAF. Up here?

INGEBORG. Why, yes, right close at hand!

OLAF. Ah, then is my mother with them.

INGEBORG. Of course, she is with them. But how can that frighten you?

OLAF. You see, — it is I they seek!

INGEBORG. No, it is I!

OLAF.
[Astonished.]
You!

INGEBORG.
[Begins to grasp the connection.]
Or — wait a moment — Ha, ha, ha! What an idea! Come, shall we two be honest with each other?

OLAF. Yes, that is exactly what I had in mind!

INGEBORG. Well, then, tell me, at what hour came you up here?

OLAF. During the night!

INGEBORG. I, too!

OLAF. You!

INGEBORG. Yes, yes! And you went away without any one’s knowing it?

OLAF. Yes!

INGEBORG. I, too!

OLAF. But tell me —

INGEBORG. Hush, we have only a moment or two! And you fled up here because you had but little desire to go to the altar with me?

OLAF. Aye, how can you think —

INGEBORG. Yes, that I can easily think. Answer me now; we were to speak honestly.

OLAF. Well, then, it was therefore that I —

INGEBORG. Well and good, I did likewise!

OLAF. You, Ingeborg!

INGEBORG. And now you would rather not have any one come upon your tracks?

OLAF. Well, it can’t be denied!

INGEBORG. I, too! Aha,—’tis a jolly coincidence; I fled from you, and you from me! We both fled up here, and now just as our relatives are after us we meet again! Listen, Olaf Liljekrans! Say we promise not to betray one another!

OLAF. I promise.

INGEBORG. But now we must part!

OLAF. I understand!

INGEBORG. For, if they found us together, then —

OLAF. Yes, then it would be still more difficult for you to be rid of me!

INGEBORG. Farewell! If ever I come to have a wedding you shall be my bride’s man.

OLAF. And if anything like that should happen to me, you will, I am sure, accommodate me in the same way.

INGEBORG. Of course! Farewell! Farewell! And do not think unkindly of me.

OLAF. Indeed not; I shall give you my hand wherever we meet!

INGEBORG. I, too! Wherever we meet — only not at the altar.

[She goes into the house. OLAF goes into the forest on the right at the back.]

SCENE V
I

[LADY KIRSTEN, ARNE of Guldvik, WEDDING GUESTS,
PEASANTS and SERVANTS from the right.]

LADY KIRSTEN. See, here will we begin the hunt. Our people must spread about and search all around the tarn; — she shall come forth and then — woe upon her! no mercy or pity is there in my soul.

ARNE. What will you do then?

LADY KIRSTEN. Hold judgment upon her — right on the spot where she is found! All the damage she has done on my dominions I have power and authority to punish in accordance with reason and justice.

ARNE. Yes, but what good is that? What is lost can not thereby be won back again.

LADY KIRSTEN. No, but I shall get revenge, and that is no little gain. Revenge, — revenge I must have, if I am to bear and live down my loss and all the shame she has brought upon me. The storm last night ruined the whole of my year’s crop; not a single uninjured straw is left in my fields; and in here, where she herself has said she has her home, here everything thrives and blossoms more luxuriantly than I have ever seen! Is not that the operation of secret arts? Olaf she has snared so securely in her devilish net that he fled out of the village in the wildest storm to follow her. My house she burned clear to the ground; all the openings and doors she barred on the outside; — it was a miracle of God that the servants brought their timely help!

ARNE. Alas, alas; I am afraid if has cost two lives that I thought much of, — Ingeborg and my man Hemming!

LADY KIRSTEN. Come, come, Lord Arne! You must not completely despair of them yet. Ingeborg may have escaped after all; the rest of us came out of it untouched in spite of the cunning of the cursed witch; — Ingeborg has been bewildered with fright and has sought refuge somewhere.

ARNE. Yes, yes, that may be the case with Ingeborg; but Hemming is past all hope, — of that I am sure!

LADY KIRSTEN. How so?

ARNE. O, he had become such a sly and contriving devil of late!
He has let himself be shut in and burnt merely to get revenge
over me; he knows I can’t get along for a single day without him.
O, I know him!

LADY KIRSTEN. Well, however it is, Alfhild we must capture; she shall be tried, condemned, and punished; I have misdeeds a plenty to charge her with.

ARNE. And I can mention a few in case it is necessary; she has stolen my dapple-gray horse from the stable; this morning it was gone with saddle and bridle.

LADY KIRSTEN.
[Aside.]
Ingeborg and Hemming gone, and his horse likewise; were I in his place I should know what to think.

LADY KIRSTEN.
[Aloud.]
Now let us divide and go about in small groups; he who first gets his eye on Alfhild shall blow the trumpet or horn; let the rest listen and follow the sound till we are assembled again.

[They go out at different sides.]

ARNE.
[Who alone has remained.]
And I, who am not acquainted here, — how am I to find my way.

ARNE.
[Calls.]
Hemming! Hemming!

[Stops.]

ARNE. I forgot, — he is —

ARNE.
[Shaking his head.]
Hm! It was a shameful trick he played.

[He goes out to the right.]