==ACT FIFTH==
===SCENE FIRST===
[On board a ship on the North Sea, off the Norwegian coast.
Sunset. Stormy weather.]
[PEER GYNT, a vigorous old man, with grizzled hair and beard, is
standing aft on the poop. He is dressed half sailor-fashion, with
a pea-jacket and long boots. His clothing is rather the worse for
wear; he himself is weather-beaten, and has a somewhat harder
expression. The CAPTAIN is standing beside the steersman at the
wheel. The crew are forward.]
PEER GYNT [leans with his arms on the bulwark, and gazes towards the
:land].
:Look at Hallingskarv in his winter furs;-
:he's ruffling it, old one, in the evening glow.
:The Jokel, his brother, stands behind him askew;
:he's got his green ice-mantle still on his back.
:The Flogefann, now, she is mighty fine,-
:lying there like a maiden in spotless white.
:Don't you be madcaps, old boys that you are!
:Stand where you stand; you're but granite knobs.
THE CAPTAIN [shouts forward].
:Two hands to the wheel, and the lantern aloft!
PEER
:It's blowing up stiff-
THE CAPTAIN
:-for a gale to-night.
PEER
:Can one see the Ronde Hills from the sea?
THE CAPTAIN
:No, how should you? They lie at the back of the snow-fields.
PEER
:Or Blaho?
THE CAPTAIN
:No; but from up in the rigging,
:you've a glimpse, in clear weather, of Galdhopiggen.
PEER
:Where does Harteig lie?
THE CAPTAIN [pointing].
:About over there.
PEER
:I thought so.
THE CAPTAIN
:You know where you are, it appears.
PEER
:When I left the country, I sailed by here;
:And the dregs, says the proverb, hang in to the last.
::[Spits, and gazes at the coast.]
:In there, where the scaurs and the clefts lie blue,-
:where the valleys, like trenches, gloom narrow and black,
:and underneath, skirting the open fiords,-
:it's in places like these human beings abide.
[Looks at the CAPTAIN.]
:They build far apart in this country.
THE CAPTAIN
:Ay;
:few are the dwellings and far between.
PEER
:Shall we get in by day-break?
THE CAPTAIN
:Thereabouts;
:if we don't have too dirty a night altogether.
PEER
:It grows thick in the west.
THE CAPTAIN
:It does so.
PEER
:Stop a bit!
:You might put me in mind when we make up accounts-
:I'm inclined, as the phrase goes, to do a good turn
:to the crew-
THE CAPTAIN
:I thank you.
PEER
:It won't be much.
:I have dug for gold, and lost what I found;-
:we are quite at loggerheads, Fate and I.
:You know what I've got in safe keeping on board-
:that's all I have left;-the rest's gone to the devil.
THE CAPTAIN
:It's more than enough, though, to make you of weight
:among people at home here.
PEER
:I've no relations.
:There's no one awaiting the rich old curmudgeon.-
:Well; that saves you, at least, any scenes on the pier!
THE CAPTAIN
:Here comes the storm.
PEER
:Well, remember then-
:If any of your crew are in real need,
:I won't look too closely after the money-
THE CAPTAIN
:That's kind. They are most of them ill enough off;
:they have all got their wives and their children at home.
:With their wages alone they can scarce make ends meet;
:but if they come home with some cash to the good,
:it will be a return not forgot in a hurry.
PEER
:What do you say? Have they wives and children?
:Are they married?
THE CAPTAIN
:Married? Ay, every man of them.
:But the one that is worst off of all is the cook;
:black famine is ever at home in his house.
PEER
:Married? They've folks that await them at home?
:Folks to be glad when they come? Eh?
THE CAPTAIN
:Of course,
:in poor people's fashion.
PEER
:And come they one evening,
:what then?
THE CAPTAIN
:Why, I daresay the goodwife will fetch
:something good for a treat-
PEER
:And a light in the sconce?
THE CAPTAIN
:Ay, ay, may be two; and a dram to their supper.
PEER
:And there they sit snug! There's a fire on the hearth!
:They've their children about them! The room's full of chatter;
:not one hears another right out to an end,
:for the joy that is on them-!
THE CAPTAIN
:It's likely enough.
:So it's really kind, as you promised just now,
:to help eke things out.
PEER [thumping the bulwark].
:I'll be damned if I do!
:Do you think I am mad? Would you have me fork out
:for the sake of a parcel of other folks' brats?
:I've slaved much too sorely in earning my cash!
:There's nobody waiting for old Peer Gynt.
THE CAPTAIN
:Well well; as you please then; your money's your own.
PEER
:Right! Mine it is, and no one else's.
:We'll reckon as soon as your anchor is down!
:Take my fare, in the cabin, from Panama here.
:Then brandy all round to the crew. Nothing more.
:If I give a doit more, slap my jaw for me, Captain.
THE CAPTAIN
:I owe you a quittance, and not a thrashing;-
:but excuse me, the wind's blowing up to a gale.
[He goes forward. It has fallen dark; lights are lit in the cabin.
The sea increases. Fog and thick clouds.]
PEER
:To have a whole bevy of youngsters at home;-
:still to dwell in their minds as a coming delight;-
:to have others' thoughts follow you still on your path!-
:There's never a soul gives a thought to me.-
:Lights in the sconces! I'll put out those lights.
:I will hit upon something!-I'll make them all drunk;-
:not one of the devils shall go sober ashore.
:They shall all come home drunk to their children and wives!
:They shall curse; bang the table till it rings again,-
:they shall scare those that wait for them out of their wits!
:The goodwife shall scream and rush forth from the house,-
:clutch her children along! All their joy gone to ruin!
:: [The ship gives a heavy lurch; he staggers and keeps his balance with difficulty.]
:Why, that was a buffet and no mistake.
:The sea's hard at labour, as though it were paid for it;-
:it's still itself here on the coasts of the north;-
:a cross-sea, as wry and wrong-headed as ever-
:::[Listens.]
:Why, what can those screams be?
THE LOOK-OUT [forward].
:A wreck a-lee!
THE CAPTAIN [on the main deck, shouts].
:Helm hard a-starboard! Bring her up to the wind!
THE MATE
:Are there men on the wreck?
THE LOOK-OUT
:I can just see three!
PEER
:Quick! lower the stern boat-
THE CAPTAIN
:She'd fill ere she floated.
:: [Goes forward.]
PEER
:Who can think of that now?
::[To some of the crew.]
:If you're men, to the rescue!
:What the devil, if you should get a bit of a ducking!
THE BOATSWAIN
:It's out of the question in such a sea.
PEER
:They are screaming again! There's a lull in the wind.-
:Cook, will you risk it? Quick! I will pay-
THE COOK
:No, not if you offered me twenty pounds-sterling-
PEER
:You hounds! You chicken-hearts! Can you forget
:these are men that have goodwives and children at home?
:There they're sitting and waiting-
THE BOATSWAIN
:Well, patience is wholesome.
THE CAPTAIN
:Bear away from that sea!
THE MATE
:There the wreck turned over!
PEER
:All is silent of a sudden-!
THE BOATSWAIN
:Were they married, as you think,
:there are three new-baked widows even now in the world.
: [The storm increases. PEER GYNT moves away aft.]
PEER
:There is no faith left among men any more,-
:no Christianity,-well may they say it and write it;-
:their good deeds are few and their prayers are still fewer,
:and they pay no respect to the Powers above them.-
:In a storm like to-night's, he's a terror, the Lord is.
:These beasts should be careful, and think, what's the truth,
:that it's dangerous playing with elephants;-
:and yet they must openly brave his displeasure!
:I am no whit to blame; for the sacrifice
:I can prove I stood ready, my money in hand.
:But how does it profit me?-What says the proverb?
:A conscience at ease is a pillow of down.
:Oh ay, that is all very well on dry land,
:but I'm blest if it matters a snuff on board ship,
:when a decent man's out on the seas with such riff-raff.
:At sea one never can be one's self;
:one must go with the others from deck to keel;
:if for boatswain and cook the hour of vengeance should strike,
:I shall no doubt be swept to the deuce with the rest;-
:one's personal welfare is clean set aside;-
:one counts but as a sausage in slaughtering-time.-
:My mistake is this: I have been too meek;
:and I've had no thanks for it after all.
:Were I younger, I. think I would shift the saddle,
:and try how it answered to lord it awhile.
:There is time enough yet! They shall know in the parish
:that Peer has come sailing aloft o'er the seas!
:I'll get back the farmstead by fair means or foul;-
:I will build it anew; it shall shine like a palace.
:But none shall be suffered to enter the hall!
:They shall stand at the gateway, all twirling their caps;-
:they shall beg and beseech-that they freely may do;
:but none gets so much as a farthing of mine.
:If I've had to howl 'neath the lashes of fate,
:trust me to find folks I can lash in my turn-
THE STRANGE PASSENGER [stands in the darkness at PEER GYNT's side,
:and salutes him in friendly fashion].
:Good evening!
PEER
:Good evening! What-? Who are you?
THE PASSENGER
:Your fellow-passenger, at your service.
PEER
:Indeed? I thought I was the only one.
THE PASSENGER
:A mistaken impression, which now is set right.
PEER
:But it's singular that, for the first time to-night,
:I should see you-
THE PASSENGER
:I never come out in the day-time.
PEER
:Perhaps you are ill? You're as white as a sheet-
THE PASSENGER
:No, thank you-my health is uncommonly good.
PEER
:What a raging storm!
THE PASSENGER
:Ay, a blessed one, man!
PEER
:A blessed one?
THE PASSENGER
:The sea's running high as houses.
:Ah, one can feel one's mouth watering!
:just think of the wrecks that to-night will be shattered;-
:and think, too, what corpses will drive ashore!
PEER
:Lord save us!
THE PASSENGER
:Have ever you seen a man strangled,
:or hanged,-or drowned?
PEER
:This is going too far-!
THE PASSENGER
:The corpses all laugh. But their laughter is forced;
:and the most part are found to have bitten their tongues.
PEER
:Hold off from me-!
THE PASSENGER
:Only one question pray!
:If we, for example, should strike on a rock,
:and sink in the darkness-
PEER
:You think there is danger?
THE PASSENGER
:I really don't know what I ought to say.
:But suppose, now, I float and you go to the bottom-
PEER
:Oh, rubbish-
THE PASSENGER
:It's just a hypothesis.
:But when one is placed with one foot in the grave,
:one grows soft-hearted and open-handed-
PEER [puts his hand in his pocket].
:Ho, money!
THE PASSENGER
:No, no; but perhaps you would kindly
:make me a gift of your much-esteemed carcass-?
PEER
:This is too much!
THE PASSENGER
:No more than your body, you know!
:To help my researches in science-
PEER
:Begone!
THE PASSENGER
:But think, my dear sir-the advantage is yours!
:I'll have you laid open and brought to the light.
:What I specially seek is the centre of dreams,-
:and with critical care I'll look into your seams-
PEER
:Away with you!
THE PASSENGER
:Why, my dear sir-a drowned corpse-!
PEER
:Blasphemer! You're goading the rage of the storm!
:I call it too bad! Here it's raining and blowing,
:a terrible sea on, and all sorts of signs
:of something that's likely to shorten our days;-
:And you carry on so as to make it come quicker!
THE PASSENGER
:You're in no mood, I see, to negotiate further;
:but time, you know, brings with it many a change-
:: [Nods in a friendly fashion.]
:We'll meet when you're sinking, if not before;
:perhaps I may then find you more in the humour.
:: [Goes into the cabin.]
PEER
:Unpleasant companions these scientists are!
:With their freethinking ways-
: [To the BOATSWAIN, who is passing.]
:Hark, a word with you, friend!
:That passenger? What crazy creature is he?
THE BOATSWAIN
:I know of no passenger here but yourself.
PEER
:No others? This thing's getting worse and worse.
:: [To the SHIP'S BOY, who comes out of the cabin.]
:Who went down the companion just now?
THE BOY
:The ship's dog, sir!
:::[Passes on.]
THE LOOK-OUT [shouts].
:Land close ahead!
PEER
:Where's my box? Where's my trunk?
:All the baggage on deck!
THE BOATSWAIN
:We have more to attend to!
PEER
:It was nonsense, captain! 'Twas only my joke;-
:as sure as I'm here I will help the cook-
THE CAPTAIN
:The jib's blown away!
THE MATE
:And there went the foresail!
THE BOATSWAIN [shrieks from forward].
:Breakers under the bow!
THE CAPTAIN
:She will go to shivers!
:: [The ship strikes. Noise and confusion.]
===SCENE SECOND===
[Close under the land, among sunken rocks and surf. The ship
sinks. The jolly-boat, with two men in her, is seen for a moment
through the scud. A sea strikes her; she fills and upsets. A shriek
is heard; then all is silent for a while. Shortly afterwards the
boat appears floating bottom upwards.]
[PEER GYNT comes to the surface near the boat.]
PEER
:Help! Help! A boat! Help! I'll be drowned!
:Save me, oh Lord-as saith the text!
: [Clutches hold of the boat's keel.]
THE COOK [comes up on the other side].
:Oh, Lord God-for my children's sake,
:have mercy! Let me reach the land!
:: [Seizes hold of the keel.]
PEER
:Let go!
THE COOK
:Let go!
PEER
:I'll strike!
THE COOK
:So'll I!
PEER
:I'll crush you down with kicks and blows!
:Let go your hold! She won't float two!
THE COOK
:I know it! Yield!
PEER
:Yield you!
THE COOK
:Oh yes!
[They fight; one of the COOKS hands is disabled; he clings on with
the other.]
PEER
:Off with that hand!
THE COOK
:Oh, kind sir-spare!
:Think of my little ones at home!
PEER
:I need my life far more than you,
:for I am lone and childless still.
THE COOK
:Let go! You've lived, and I am young!
PEER
:Quick; haste you; sink;-you drag us down.
THE COOK
:Have mercy! Yield in heaven's name!
:There's none to miss and mourn for you-
:: [His hand slips; he screams:]
:I'm drowning!
PEER [seizing him].
:By this wisp of hair
:I'll hold you; say your Lord's Prayer, quick!
THE COOK
:I can't remember; all turns black-
PEER
:Come, the essentials in a word-!
THE COOK
:Give us this day-!
PEER
:Skip that part, Cook;
:you'll get all you need, safe enough.
THE COOK
:Give us this day-
PEER
:The same old song!
:One sees you were a cook in life-
::[The COOK slips from his grasp.]
THE COOK [sinking].
:Give us this day our-
:: [Disappears.]
PEER
:Amen, lad!
:to the last gasp you were yourself.-
[Draws himself up on to the bottom of the boat.]
:So long as there is life there's hope-
THE STRANGE PASSENGER [catches hold of the boat].
:Good morning!
PEER
:Hoy!
THE PASSENGER
:I heard you shout.-
:It's pleasant finding you again.
:Well? So my prophecy came true!
PEER
:Let go! Let go! 'Twill scarce float one!
THE PASSENGER
:I'm striking out with my left leg.
:I'll float, if only with their tips
:my fingers rest upon this ledge.
:But apropos: your body-
PEER
:Hush!
THE PASSENGER
:The rest, of course, is done for, clean-
PEER
:No more!
THE PASSENGER
:Exactly as you please.
:: [Silence.]
PEER
:Well?
THE PASSENGER
:I am silent.
PEER
:Satan's tricks!-
:What now?
THE PASSENGER
:I'm waiting.
PEER [tearing his hair].
:I'll go mad!-
:What are you?
THE PASSENGER [nods].
:Friendly.
PEER
:What else? Speak!
THE PASSENGER
:What think you? Do you know none other
:that's like me?
PEER
:Do I know the devil-?
THE PASSENGER [in a low voice].
:Is it his way to light a lantern
:for life's night-pilgrimage through fear?
PEER
:Ah, come! When once the thing's cleared up,
:you'd seem a messenger of light?
THE PASSENGER
:Friend,-have you once in each half-year
:felt all the earnestness of dread?
PEER
:Why, one's afraid when danger threatens;-
:but all your words have double meanings.
THE PASSENGER
:Ay, have you gained but once in life
:the victory that is given in dread?
PEER [looks at him].
:Came you to ope for me a door,
:'twas stupid not to come before.
:What sort of sense is there in choosing
:your time when seas gape to devour one?
THE PASSENGER
:Were, then, the victory more likely
:beside your hearth-stone, snug and quiet?
PEER
:Perhaps not; but your talk befooled me.
:How could you fancy it awakening?
THE PASSENGER
:Where I come from, there smiles are prized
:as highly as pathetic style.
PEER
:All has its time; what fits the taxman,
:so says the text, would damn the bishop.
THE PASSENGER
:The host whose dust inurned has slumbered
:treads not on week-days the cothurnus.
PEER
:Avaunt thee, bugbear! Man, begone!
:I will not die! I must ashore!
THE PASSENGER
:Oh, as for that, be reassured;-
:one dies not midmost of Act Five.
:: [Glides away.]
PEER
:Ah, there he let it out at last;-
:he was a sorry moralist.
===SCENE THIRD===
[Churchyard in a high-lying mountain parish.]
[A funeral is going on. By the grave, the PRIEST and a gathering
of people. The last verse of the psalm is being sung. PEER GYNT
passes by on the road.]
PEER [at the gate].
:Here's a countryman going the way of all flesh.
:God be thanked that it isn't me.
: [Enters the churchyard.]
THE PRIEST [speaking beside the grave].
:Now, when the soul has gone to meet its doom,
:and here the dust lies, like an empty pod,-
:now, my dear friends, we'll speak a word or two
:about this dead man's pilgrimage on earth.
:He was not wealthy, neither was he wise,
:his voice was weak, his bearing was unmanly,
:he spoke his mind abashed and faltering,
:he scarce was master at his own fireside;
:he sidled into church, as though appealing
:for leave, like other men, to take his place.
:It was from Gudbrandsdale, you know, he came.
:When here he settled he was but a lad;-
:and you remember how, to the very last,
:he kept his right hand hidden in his pocket.
:That right hand in the pocket was the feature
:that chiefly stamped his image on the mind,-
:and therewithal his writhing, his abashed
:shrinking from notice wheresoe'er he went.
:But, though he still pursued a path aloof,
:and ever seemed a stranger in our midst,
:you all know what he strove so hard to hide,-
:the hand he muffled had four fingers only.-
:I well remember, many years ago,
:one morning; there were sessions held at Lunde.
:'Twas war-time, and the talk in every mouth
:turned on the country's sufferings and its fate.
:I stood there watching. At the table sat
:the Captain, 'twixt the bailiff and the sergeants;
:lad after lad was measured up and down,
:passed, and enrolled, and taken for a soldier.
:The room was full, and from the green outside,
:where thronged the young folks, loud the laughter rang.
:A name was called, and forth another stepped,
:one pale as snow upon the glacier's edge.
:They bade the youth advance; he reached the table;
:we saw his right hand swaddled in a clout;-
:he gasped, he swallowed, battling after words,-
:but, though the Captain urged him, found no voice.
:Ah yes, at last! Then with his cheek aflame,
:his tongue now failing him, now stammering fast,
:he mumbled something of a scythe that slipped
:by chance, and shore his finger to the skin.
:Straightway a silence fell upon the room.
:Men bandied meaning glances; they made mouths;
:they stoned the boy with looks of silent scorn.
:He felt the hail-storm, but he saw it not.
:Then up the Captain stood, the grey old man;
:he spat, and pointed forth, and thundered "Go!"
:And the lad went. On both sides men fell back,
:till through their midst he had to run the gauntlet.
:He reached the door; from there he took to flight;-
:up, up he went,-through wood and over hillside,
:up through the stone-slips, rough, precipitous.
:He had his home up there among the mountains.-
:It was some six months later he came here,
:with mother, and betrothed, and little child.
:He leased some ground upon the high hillside,
:there where the waste lands trend away towards Lomb.
:He married the first moment that he could;
:he built a house; he broke the stubborn soil;
:he throve, as many a cultivated patch
:bore witness, bravely clad in waving gold.
:At church he kept his right hand in his pocket,-
:but sure I am at home his fingers nine
:toiled every bit as hard as others' ten.-
:One spring the torrent washed it all away.
:Their lives were spared. Ruined and stripped of all,
:he set to work to make another clearing;
:and, ere the autumn, smoke again arose
:from a new, better-sheltered, mountain farm-house.
:Sheltered? From torrent-not from avalanche;
:two years, and all beneath the snow lay buried.
:But still the avalanche could not daunt his spirit.
:He dug, and raked, and carted-cleared the ground-
:and the next winter, ere the snow-blasts came,
:a third time was his little homestead reared.
:Three sons he had, three bright and stirring boys;
:they must to school, and school was far away;-
:and they must clamber where the hill-track failed,
:by narrow ledges through the headlong scaur.
:What did he do? The eldest had to manage
:as best he might, and, where the path was worst,
:his father cast a rope round him to stay him;-
:the others on his back and arms he bore.
:Thus he toiled, year by year, till they were men.
:Now might he well have looked for some return.
:In the New World, three prosperous gentlemen
:their school-going and their father have forgotten.
:He was short-sighted. Out beyond the circle
:of those most near to him he nothing saw.
:To him seemed meaningless as cymbals' tinkling
:those words that to the heart should ring like steel.
:His race, his fatherland, all things high and shining,
:stood ever, to his vision, veiled in mist.
:But he was humble, humble, was this man;
:and since that sessions-day his doom oppressed him,
:as surely as his cheeks were flushed with shame,
:and his four fingers hidden in his pocket.-
:Offender 'gainst his country's laws? Ay, true!
:But there is one thing that the law outshineth
:sure as the snow-white tent of Glittertind
:has clouds, like higher rows of peaks, above it.
:No patriot was he. Both for church and state
:a fruitless tree. But there, on the upland ridge,
:in the small circle where he saw his calling,
:there he was great, because he was himself.
:His inborn note rang true unto the end.
:His days were as a lute with muted strings.
:And therefore, peace be with thee, silent warrior,
:that fought the peasant's little fight, and fell!
:It is not ours to search the heart and reins;-
:that is no task for dust, but for its ruler;-
:yet dare I freely, firmly, speak my hope:
:he scarce stands crippled now before his God!
: [The gathering disperses. PEER GYNT remains behind, alone.]
PEER
:Now that is what I call Christianity!
:Nothing to seize on one's mind unpleasantly.-
:And the topic-immovably being oneself,-
:that the pastor's homily turned upon,-
:is full, in its essence, of edification.
:: [Looks down upon the grave.]
:Was it he, I wonder, that hacked through his knuckle
:that day I was out hewing logs in the forest?
:Who knows? If I weren't standing here with my staff
:by the side of the grave of this kinsman in spirit,
:I could almost believe it was I that slept,
:and heard in a vision my panegyric.-
:It's a seemly and Christianlike custom indeed
:this casting a so-called memorial glance
:in charity over the life that is ended.
:I shouldn't at all mind accepting my verdict
:at the hands of this excellent parish priest.
:Ah well, I dare say I have some time left
:ere the gravedigger comes to invite me to stay with him;-
:and as Scripture has it: What's best is best,-
:and: Enough for the day is the evil thereof,-
:and further: Discount not thy funeral.-
:Ah, the church, after all, is the true consoler.
:I've hitherto scarcely appreciated it;-
:but now I feel clearly how blessed it is
:to be well assured upon sound authority:
:Even as thou sowest thou shalt one day reap.-
:One must be oneself; for oneself and one's own
:one must do one's best, both in great and in small things.
:If the luck goes against you, at least you've the honour
:of a life carried through in accordance with principle.-
:Now homewards! Though narrow and steep the path,
:though Fate to the end may be never so biting-
:still old Peer Gynt will pursue his own way,
:and remain what he is: poor, but virtuous ever.
:: [Goes out.]
===SCENE FOURTH===
[A hillside seamed by the dry bed of a torrent. A ruined
mill-house beside the stream. The ground is torn up, and the whole
place waste. Further up the hill, a large farm-house.]
[An auction is going on in front of the farm-house. There is a great
gathering of people, who are drinking, with much noise. PEER GYNT iS
sitting on a rubbish-heap beside the mill.]
PEER
:Forward and back, and it's just as far;
:out and in, and it's just as strait.-
:Time wears away and the river gnaws on.
:Go roundabout, the Boyg said;-and here one must.
A MAN DRESSED IN MOURNING
:Now there is only rubbish left over.
: [Catches sight of PEER GYNT.]
:Are there strangers here too! God be with you, good friend!
PEER
:Well met! You have lively times here to-day.
:Is't a christening junket or a wedding feast?
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:I'd rather call it a house-warming treat;-
:the bride is laid in a wormy bed.
PEER
:And the worms are squabbling for rags and clouts.
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:That's the end of the ditty; it's over and done.
PEER
:All the ditties end just alike;
:and they're all old together; I knew 'em as a boy.
A LAD OF TWENTY [with a casting-ladle].
:Just look what a rare thing I've been buying!
:In this Peer Gynt cast his silver buttons.
ANOTHER
:Look at mine, though! The money-bag bought for a halfpenny.
A THIRD
:No more, eh? Twopence for the pedlar's pack!
PEER
:Peer Gynt? Who was he?
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:All I know is this:
:he was kinsman to Death and to Aslak the Smith.
A MAN IN GREY
:You're forgetting me, man! Are you mad or drunk?
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:You forget that at Hegstad was a storehouse door.
THE MAN IN GREY
:Ay, true; but we know you were never dainty.
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:If only she doesn't give Death the slip-
THE MAN IN GREY
:Come, kinsman! A dram, for our kinship's sake!
THE MAN IN MOURNING
:To the deuce with your kinship! You're maundering in drink-
THE MAN IN GREY
:Oh, rubbish; blood's never so thin as all that;
:one cannot but feel one's akin to Peer Gynt.
:: [Goes off with him.]
PEER [to himself].
:One meets with acquaintances.
A LAD [calls after the MAN IN MOURNING].
:Mother that's dead
:will be after you, Aslak, if you wet your whistle.
PEER [rises].
:The agriculturists' saying seems scarce to hold here:
:The deeper one harrows the better it smells.
A LAD [with a bear's skin].
:Look, the cat of the Dovre! Well, only his fell.
:It was he chased the trolls out on Christmas Eve.
ANOTHER [with a reindeer-skull].
:Here is the wonderful reindeer that bore,
:at Gendin, Peer Gynt over edge and scaur.
A THIRD [with a hammer, calls out to the MAN IN MOURNING].
:Hei, Aslak, this sledge-hammer, say, do you know it?
:Was it this that you used when the devil clove the wall?
A FOURTH [empty-handed].
:Mads Moen, here's the invisible cloak
:Peer Gynt and Ingrid flew off through the air with.
PEER
:Brandy here, boys! I feel I'm grown old;-
:I must put up to auction my rubbish and lumber!
A LAD
:What have you to sell, then?
PEER
:A palace I have-
:it lies in the Ronde; it's solidly built.
THE LAD
:A button is bid!
PEER
:You must run to a dram.
:'Twere a sin and a shame to bid anything less.
ANOTHER
:He's a jolly old boy this!
::[The bystanders crowd round him.]
PEER [shouts].
:Grane, my steed;
:who bids?
ONE OF THE CROWD
:Where's he running?
PEER
:Why, far in the west!
:Near the sunset, my lads! Ah, that courser can fly
:as fast, ay, as fast as Peer Gynt could lie.
VOICES
:What more have you got?
PEER
:I've both rubbish and gold!
:I bought it with ruin; I'll sell it at a loss.
A LAD
:Put it up!
PEER
:A dream of a silver-clasped book!
:That you can have for an old hook and eye.
THE LAD
:To the devil with dreams!
PEER
:Here's my Kaiserdom!
:I throw it in the midst of you; scramble for it!
THE LAD
:Is the crown given in?
PEER
:Of the loveliest straw.
:It will fit whoever first puts it on.
:Hei, there is more yet! An addled egg!
:A madman's grey hair! And the Prophet's beard!
:All these shall be his that will show on the hillside
:a post that has writ on it: Here lies your path!
THE BAILIFF [who has come up].
:You're carrying on, my good man, so that almost
:I think that your path will lead straight to the lock-up.
PEER [hat in hand].
:Quite likely. But, tell me, who was Peer Gynt?
THE BAILIFF
:Oh, nonsense-
PEER
:Your pardon! Most humbly I beg-!
THE BAILIFF
:Oh, he's said to have been an abominable liar-
PEER
:A liar-?
THE BAILIFF
:Yes-all that was strong and great
:he made believe always that he had done it.
:But, excuse me, friend-I have other duties-
:::[Goes.]
PEER
:And where is he now, this remarkable man?
AN ELDERLY MAN
:He fared over seas to a foreign land;
:it went ill with him there, as one well might foresee;-
:it's many a year now since he was hanged.
PEER
:Hanged! Ay, ay! Why, I thought as much;
:our lamented Peer Gynt was himself to the last.
:::[Bows.]
:Good-bye,-and best thanks for to-day's merry meeting.
: [Goes a few steps, but stops again.]
:You joyous youngsters, you comely lasses,-
:shall I pay my shot with a traveller's tale?
SEVERAL VOICES
:Yes; do you know any?
PEER
:Nothing more easy.-
:: [He comes nearer; a look of strangeness comes over him.]
:I was gold-digging once in San Francisco.
:There were mountebanks swarming all over the town.
:One with his toes could perform on the fiddle;
:another could dance a Spanish halling on his knees;
:a third, I was told, kept on making verses
:while his brain-pan was having a hole bored right through it.
:To the mountebank-meeting came also the devil;-
:thought he'd try his luck with the rest of them.
:His talent was this: in a manner convincing,
:he was able to grunt like a flesh-and-blood pig.
:He was not recognised, yet his manners attracted.
:The house was well filled; expectation ran high.
:He stepped forth in a cloak with an ample cape to it;
:man muss sich drappiren, as the Germans say.
:But under the mantle-what none suspected-
:he'd managed to smuggle a real live pig.
:And now he opened the representation;
:the devil he pinched, and the pig gave voice.
:The whole thing purported to be a fantasia
:on the porcine existence, both free and in bonds;
:and all ended up with a slaughter-house squeal-
:whereupon the performer bowed low and retired.-
:The critics discussed and appraised the affair;
:the tone of the whole was attacked and defended.
:Some fancied the vocal expression too thin,
:while some thought the death-shriek too carefully studied;
:but all were agreed as to one thing: qua grunt,
:the performance was grossly exaggerated.-
:Now that, you see, came of the devil's stupidity
:in not taking the measure of his public first.
::[He bows and goes off. A puzzled silence comes over the crowd.]
===SCENE FIFTH===
[Whitsun Eve.-In the depths of the forest. To the back, in a
clearing, is a hut with a pair of reindeer horns over the
porch-gable.]
[PEER GYNT is creeping among the undergrowth, gathering wild
onions.]
PEER
:Well, this is one standpoint. Where is the next?
:One should try all things and choose the best.
:Well, I have done so,-beginning from Caesar,
:and downwards as far as to Nebuchadnezzar.
:So I had, after all, to go through Bible history;-
:the old boy's had to take to his mother again.
:After all it is written: Of the earth art thou come.-
:The main thing in life is to fill one's belly.
:Fill it with onions? That's not much good;-
:I must take to cunning, and set out snares.
:There's water in the beck here; I shan't suffer thirst;
:and I count as the first 'mong the beasts after all.
:When my time comes to die-as most likely it will,-
:I shall crawl in under a wind-fallen tree;
:like the bear, I will heap up a leaf-mound above me,
:and I'll scratch in big print on the bark of the tree:
:Here rests Peer Gynt, that decent soul,
:Kaiser o'er all of the other beasts.-
:Kaiser?
:: [Laughs inwardly.]
:Why, you old soothsayer-humbug!
:no Kaiser are you; you are nought but an onion.
:I'm going to peel you now, my good Peer!
:You won't escape either by begging or howling.
: [Takes an onion and pulls off layer after layer.]
:There lies the outermost layer, all torn;
:that's the shipwrecked man on the jolly-boat's keel.
:Here's the passenger layer, scanty and thin;-
:and yet in its taste there's a tang of Peer Gynt.
:Next underneath is the gold-digger ego;
:the juice is all gone-if it ever had any.
:This coarse-grained layer with the hardened skin
:is the peltry-hunter by Hudson's Bay.
:The next one looks like a crown;-oh, thanks!
:we'll throw it away without more ado.
:Here's the archaeologist, short but sturdy;
:and here is the Prophet, juicy and fresh.
:He stinks, as the Scripture has it, of lies,
:enough to bring the water to an honest man's eyes.
:This layer that rolls itself softly together
:is the gentleman, living in ease and good cheer.
:The next one seems sick. There are black streaks upon it;-
:black symbolises both parsons and niggers.
: [Pulls off several layers at once.]
:What an enormous number of swathings!
:Isn't the kernel soon coming to light?
: [Pulls the whole onion to pieces.]
:I'm blest if it is! To the innermost centre,
:it's nothing but swathings-each smaller and smaller.-
:Nature is witty!
::[Throws the fragments away.]
:The devil take brooding!
:If one goes about thinking, one's apt to stumble.
:Well, I can at any rate laugh at that danger;
:for here on all fours I am firmly planted.
:: [Scratches his head.]
:A queer enough business, the whole concern!
:Life, as they say, plays with cards up its sleeve;
:but when one snatches at them, they've disappeared,
:and one grips something else,-or else nothing at all.
::[He has come near to the hut; he catches sight of it and starts.]
:This hut? On the heath-! Ha!
:: [Rubs his eyes.]
:It seems exactly
:as though I had known this same building before.-
:The reindeer-horns jutting above the gable!-
:A mermaid, shaped like a fish from the navel!-
:Lies! there's no mermaid! But nails-and planks,-
:bars too, to shut out hobgoblin thoughts!-
SOLVEIG [singing in the hut].
:Now all is ready for Whitsun Eve.
:Dearest boy of mine, far away,
:comest thou soon?
:Is thy burden heavy,
:take time, take time;-
:I will await thee;
:I promised of old.
PEER [rises, quiet and deadly pale].
:One that's remembered,-and one that's forgot.
:One that has squandered,-and one that has saved.-
:Oh, earnest!-and never can the game be played o'er!
:Oh, dread!-here was my Kaiserdom!
: [Hurries off along the wood path.]
===SCENE SIXTH===
[Night. A heath, with fir-trees. A forest fire has been raging;
charred tree-trunks are seen stretching for miles. White mists here
and there clinging to the earth.]
[PEER GYNT comes running over the heath.]
PEER
:Ashes, fog-scuds, dust wind-driven,-
:here's enough for building with!
:Stench and rottenness within it;
:all a whited sepulchre.
:Figments, dreams, and still-born knowledge
:lay the pyramid's foundation;
:o'er them shall the work mount upwards,
:with its step on step of falsehood.
:Earnest shunned, repentance dreaded,
:flaunt at the apex like a scutcheon,
:fill the trump of judgment with their:
:Petrus Gyntus Caesar fecit!
:: [Listens.]
:What is this, like children's weeping?
:Weeping, but half-way to song.-
:Thread-balls at my feet are rolling!-
:: [Kicking at them.]
:Off with you! You block my path!
THE THREAD-BALLS [on the ground].
:We are thoughts;
:thou shouldst have thought us;-
:feet to run on
:thou shouldst have given us!
PEER [going round about].
:I have given life to one;-
:'twas a bungled, crook-legged thing!
THE THREAD-BALLS
:We should have soared up
:like clangorous voices,-
:and here we must trundle
:as grey-yarn thread-balls.
PEER [stumbling].
:Thread-clue! You accursed scamp!
:Would you trip your father's heels?
:: [Flees.]
WITHERED LEAVES [flying before the wind].
:We are a watchword;
:thou shouldst have proclaimed us!
:See how thy dozing
:has wofully riddled us.
:The worm has gnawed us
:in every crevice;
:we have never twined us
:like wreaths round fruitage.
PEER
:Not in vain your birth, however;-
:lie but still and serve as manure.
A SIGHING IN THE AIR
:We are songs;
:thou shouldst have sung us!-
:a thousand times over
:hast thou cowed us and smothered us.
:Down in thy heart's pit
:we have lain and waited;-
:we were never called forth.
:In thy gorge be poison!
PEER
:Poison thee, thou foolish stave!
:Had I time for verse and stuff?
: [Attempts a short cut.]
DEWDROPS [dripping from the branches].
:We are tears
:unshed for ever.
:Ice-spears, sharp-wounding,
:we could have melted.
:Now the barb rankles
:in the shaggy bosom;-
:the wound is closed over;
:our power is ended.
PEER
:Thanks;-I wept in Ronde-cloisters,-
:none the less they tied the tail on!
BROKEN STRAWS
:We are deeds;
:thou shouldst have achieved us!
:Doubt, the throttler,
:has crippled and riven us.
:On the Day of Judgment
:we'll come a-flock,
:and tell the story,-
:then woe to you!
PEER
:Rascal-tricks! How dare you debit
:what is negative against me?
:: [Hastens away.]
ASE'S VOICE [far away].
:Fie, what a post-boy!
:Hu, you've upset me!
:Snow's newly fallen here;-
:sadly it's smirched me.-
:You've driven me the wrong way.
:Peer, where's the castle?
:The Fiend has misled you
:with the switch from the cupboard!
PEER
:Better haste away, poor fellow!
:With the devil's sins upon you,
:soon you'll faint upon the hillside;-
:hard enough to bear one's own sins.
:: [Runs off.]
===SCENE SEVENTH===
[Another part of the heath.]
PEER GYNT [sings].
:A sexton! A sexton! where are you, hounds?
:A song from braying precentor-mouths;
:around your hat-brim a mourning band;-
:my dead are many; I must follow their biers!
[THE BUTTON-MOULDER, with a box of tools, and a large casting-ladle,
comes from a side-path.]
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Well met, old gaffer!
PEER
:Good evening, friend.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:The man's in a hurry. Why, where is he going?
PEER
:To a grave-feast.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Indeed? My sight's not very good;-
:excuse me,-your name doesn't chance to be Peer?
PEER
:Peer Gynt, as the saying is.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:That I call luck!
:It's precisely Peer Gynt I am sent for to-night.
PEER
:You're sent for? What do you want?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Why, see here;
:I'm a button-moulder. You're to go into my ladle.
PEER
:And what to do there?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:To be melted up.
PEER
:To be melted?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Here it is, empty and scoured.
:Your grave is dug ready, your coffin bespoke.
:The worms in your body will live at their ease;-
:but I have orders, without delay,
:on Master's behalf to fetch in your soul.
PEER
:It can't be! Like this, without any warning-!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:It's an old tradition at burials and births
:to appoint in secret the day of the feast,
:with no warning at all to the guest of honour.
PEER
:Ay, ay, that's true. All my brain's awhirl.
:You are-?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Why, I told you-a button-moulder.
PEER
:I see! A pet child has many nicknames.
:So that's it, Peer; it is there you're to harbour!
:But these, my good man, are most unfair proceedings!
:I'm sure I deserve better treatment than this;-
:I'm not nearly so bad as perhaps you think,-
:I've done a good deal of good in the world;-
:at worst you may call me a sort of a bungler,-
:but certainly not an exceptional sinner.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Why that is precisely the rub, my man;
:you're no sinner at all in the higher sense;
:that's why you're excused all the torture-pangs,
:and land, like others, in the casting-ladle.
PEER
:Give it what name you please-call it ladle or pool;
:spruce ale and swipes, they are both of them beer.
:Avaunt from me, Satan!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:You can't be so rude
:as to take my foot for a horse's hoof?
PEER
:On horse's hoof or on fox's claws-
:be off; and be careful what you're about!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:My friend, you're making a great mistake.
:We're both in a hurry, and so, to save time,
:I'll explain the reason of the whole affair.
:You are, with your own lips you told me so,
:no sinner on the so-called heroic scale,-
:scarce middling even-
PEER
:Ah, now you're beginning
:to talk common sense
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Just have patience a bit-
:but to call you virtuous would be going too far.-
PEER
:Well, you know I have never laid claim to that.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:You're nor one thing nor t'other then, only so-so.
:A sinner of really grandiose style
:is nowadays not to be met on the highways.
:It wants much more than merely to wallow in mire;
:for both vigour and earnestness go to a sin.
PEER
:Ay, it's very true, that remark of yours;
:one has to lay on, like the old Berserkers.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:You, friend, on the other hand, took your sin lightly.
PEER
:Only outwardly, friend, like a splash of mud.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Ah, we'll soon be at one now. The sulphur pool
:is no place for you, who but plashed in the mire.
PEER
:And in consequence, friend, I can go as I came?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:No, in consequence, friend, I must melt you up.
PEER
:What tricks are these that you've hit upon
:at home here, while I've been in foreign parts?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:The custom's as old as the Snake's creation;
:it's designed to prevent loss of good material.
:You've worked at the craft-you must know that often
:a casting turns out, to speak plainly, mere dross;
:the buttons, for instance, have sometimes no loop to them.
:What did you do, then?
PEER
:Flung the rubbish away.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Ah, yes; Jon Gynt was well known for a waster,
:so long as he'd aught left in wallet or purse.
:But Master, you see, he is thrifty, he is;
:and that is why he's so well-to-do.
:He flings nothing away as entirely worthless
:that can be made use of as raw material.
:Now, you were designed for a shining button
:on the vest of the world; but your loop gave way;
:so into the waste-box you needs must go,
:and then, as they phrase it, be merged in the mass.
PEER
:You're surely not meaning to melt me up,
:with Dick, Tom, and Harry, into something new?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:That's just what I do mean, and nothing else.
:We've done it already to plenty of folks.
:At Kongsberg they do just the same with money
:that's been current so long that its stamp's worn away.
PEER
:But this is the wretchedest miserliness!
:My dear good friend, let me get off free;-
:a loopless button, a worn out farthing,-
:what is that to a man in your Master's position?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Oh, so long, and inasmuch as, the spirit's in one,
:one always has value as so much metal.
PEER
:No, I say! No! With both teeth and claws
:I'll fight against this! Sooner anything else!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:But what else? Come now, be reasonable.
:You know you're not airy enough for heaven-
PEER
:I'm not hard to content; I don't aim so high;-
:but I won't be deprived of one doit of my Self.
:Have me judged by the law in the old-fashioned way!
:For a certain time place me with Him of the Hoof;-
:say a hundred years, come the worst to the worst;
:that, now, is a thing that one surely can bear;
:for they say the torment is only moral,
:so it can't after all be so pyramidal.
:It is, as 'tis written, a mere transition;
:and as the fox said: One waits; there comes
:an hour of deliverance; one lives in seclusion,
:and hopes in the meantime for happier days.-
:But this other notion-to have to be merged,
:like a mote, in the carcass of some outsider,-
:this casting-ladle business, this Gynt-cessation,-
:it stirs up my innermost soul in revolt!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Bless me, my dear Peer, there is surely no need
:to get so wrought up about trifles like this.
:Yourself you never have been at all;-
:then what does it matter, your dying right out?
PEER
:Have I not been-? I could almost laugh!
:Peer Gynt, then, has been something else, I suppose!
:No, Button-moulder, you judge in the dark.
:If you could but look into my very reins,
:you'd find only Peer there, and Peer all through,-
:nothing else in the world, no, nor anything more.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:It's impossible. Here I have got my orders.
:Look, here it is written: Peer Gynt shalt thou summon.
:He has set at defiance his life's design;
:clap him into the ladle with other spoilt goods.
PEER
:What nonsense! They must mean some other person.
:Is it really Peer? It's not Rasmus, or Jon?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:It is many a day since I melted them.
:So come quietly now, and don't waste my time.
PEER
:I'll be damned if I do! Ay, 'twould be a fine thing
:if it turned out to-morrow some one else was meant.
:You'd better take care what you're at, my good man!
:think of the onus you're taking upon you-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:I have it in writing-
PEER
:At least give me time!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:What good would that do you?
PEER
:I'll use it to prove
:that I've been myself all the days of my life;
:and that's the question that's in dispute.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:You'll prove it? And how?
PEER
:Why, by vouchers and witnesses.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:I'm sadly afraid Master will not accept them.
PEER
:Impossible! However, enough for the day-!
:My dear man, allow me a loan of myself;
:I'll be back again shortly. One is born only once,
:and one's self, as created, one fain would stick to.
:Come, are we agreed?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Very well then, so be it.
:But remember, we meet at the next cross-roads.
:: [PEER GYNT runs off.]
===SCENE EIGHTH===
[A further point on the heath.]
PEER [running hard].
:Time is money, as the scripture says.
:If I only knew where the cross-roads are;-
:they may be near and they may be far.
:The earth burns beneath me like red-hot iron.
:A witness! A witness! Oh, where shall I find one?
:It's almost unthinkable here in the forest.
:The world is a bungle! A wretched arrangement,
:when a man must prove a right that's as patent as day!
[AN OLD MAN, bent with age, with a staff in his hand and a bag on
his back, is trudging in front of him.]
THE OLD MAN [stops].
:Dear, kind sir-a trifle to a houseless soul!
PEER
:Excuse me; I've got no small change in my pocket-
THE OLD MAN
:Prince Peer! Oh, to think we should meet again-!
PEER
:Who are you?
THE OLD MAN
:You forget the Old Man in the Ronde?
PEER
:Why, you're never-?
THE OLD MAN
:The King of the Dovre, my boy!
PEER
:The Dovre-King? Really? The Dovre-king? Speak!
THE OLD MAN
:Oh, I've come terribly down in the world-!
PEER
:Ruined?
THE OLD MAN
:Ay, plundered of every stiver.
:Here am I tramping it, starved as a wolf.
PEER
:Hurrah! Such a witness doesn't grow on the trees!
THE OLD MAN
:My Lord Prince, too, has grizzled a bit since we met.
PEER
:My dear father-in-law, the years gnaw and wear one.-
:Well well, a truce to all private affairs,-
:and pray, above all things, no family jars.
:I was then a sad madcap-
THE OLD MAN
:Oh yes; oh yes;-
:His Highness was young; and what won't one do then?
:But his Highness was wise in rejecting his bride;
:he saved himself thereby both worry and shame;
:for since then she's utterly gone to the bad-
PEER
:Indeed!
THE OLD MAN
:She has led a deplorable life;
:and, just think,-she and Trond are now living together.
PEER
:Which Trond?
THE OLD MAN
:Of the Valfjeld.
PEER
:It's he? Aha;
:it was he I cut out with the saeter-girls.
THE OLD MAN
:But my grandson has flourished-grown both stout and great,
:and has strapping children all over the country-
PEER
:Now, my dear man, spare us this flow of words;-
:I've something quite different troubling my mind.-
:I've got into rather a ticklish position,
:and am greatly in need of a witness or voucher;-
:that's how you could help me best, father-in-law,
:and I'll find you a trifle to drink my health with.
THE OLD MAN
:You don't say so; can I be of use to his Highness?
:You'll give me a character, then, in return?
PEER
:Most gladly. I'm somewhat hard pressed for cash,
:and must cut down expenses in every direction.
:Now hear what's the matter. No doubt you remember
:that night when I came to the Ronde a-wooing-
THE OLD MAN
:Why, of course, my Lord Prince!
PEER
:Oh, no more of the Prince!
:But no matter. You wanted, by sheer brute force,
:to bias my sight, with a slit in the lens,
:and to change me about from Peer Gynt to a troll.
:What did I do then? I stood out against it,-
:swore I would stand on no feet but my own;
:love, power, and glory at once I renounced,
:and all for the sake of remaining myself.
:Now this fact, you see, you must swear to in Court-
THE OLD MAN
:No, I'm blest if I can.
PEER
:Why, what nonsense is this?
THE OLD MAN
:You surely don't want to compel me to lie?
:You pulled on the troll-breeches, don't you remember,
:and tasted the mead-
PEER
:Ay, you lured me seductively;-
:but I flatly declined the decisive test,
:and that is the thing you must judge your man by.
:It's the end of the ditty that all depends on.
THE OLD MAN
:But it ended, Peer, just in the opposite way.
PEER
:What rubbish is this?
THE OLD MAN
:When you left the Ronde,
:you inscribed my motto upon your 'scutcheon.
PEER
:What motto?
THE OLD MAN
:The potent and sundering word.
PEER
:The word?
THE OLD MAN
:That which severs the whole race of men
:from the troll-folk.Troll! To thyself be enough!
PEER [falls back a step].
:Enough!
THE OLD MAN
:And with every nerve in your body,
:you've being living up to it ever since.
PEER
:What, I? Peer Gynt?
THE OLD MAN [weeps].
:It's ungrateful of you!
:You've lived as a troll, but have still kept it secret.
:The word I taught you has shown you the way
:to swing yourself up as a man of substance;-
:and now you must needs come and turn up your nose
:at me and the word you've to thank for it all.
PEER
:Enough! A hill-troll! An egoist!
:This must be all rubbish; that's perfectly certain!
THE OLD MAN [pulls out a bundle of old newspapers].
:I daresay you think that we've no newspapers?
:Wait; here I'll show you in red and black,
:how the Bloksberg Post eulogises you;
:and the Heklefield Journal has done the same
:ever since the winter you left the country.-
:Do you care to read them? You're welcome, Peer.
:Here's an article, look you, signed "Stallionhoof."
:And here too is one: "On Troll-Nationalism."
:The writer points out and lays stress on the truth
:that horns and a tail are of little importance,
:so long as one has but a strip of the hide.
:"Our enough," he concludes, "gives the hall-mark of trolldom
:to man,"-and proceeds to cite you as an instance.
PEER
:A hill-troll? I?
THE OLD MAN
:Yes, that's perfectly clear.
PEER
:Might as well have stayed quietly where I was?
:Might have stopped in the Ronde in comfort and peace?
:Saved my trouble and toil and no end of shoe-leather?
:Peer Gynt-a troll? Why it's rubbish! It's stuff!
:Good-bye! There's a halfpenny to buy you tobacco.
THE OLD MAN
:Nay, my good Prince Peer!
PEER
:Let me go! You're mad,
:or else doting. Off to the hospital with you!
THE OLD MAN
:Oh, that is exactly what I'm in search of.
:But, as I told you, my grandson's offspring
:have become overwhelmingly strong in the land,
:and they say that I only exist in books.
:The saw says: One's kin are unkindest of all;
:I've found to my cost that that saying is true.
:It's cruel to count as mere figment and fable
PEER
:My dear man, there are others who share the same fate.
THE OLD MAN
:And ourselves we've no Mutual Aid Society,
:no alms-box or Penny Savings Bank;-
:in the Ronde, of course, they'd be out of place.
PEER
:No, that cursed: To thyself be enough was the word there!
THE OLD MAN
:Oh, come now, the Prince can't complain of the word.
:And if he could manage by hook or by crook-
PEER
:My man, you have got on the wrong scent entirely;
:I'm myself, as the saying goes, fairly cleaned out-
THE OLD MAN
:You surely can't mean it? His Highness a beggar?
PEER
:Completely. His Highness's ego's in pawn.
:And it's all your fault, you accursed trolls!
:That's what comes of keeping bad company.
THE OLD MAN
:So there came my hope toppling down from its perch again!
:Good-bye! I had best struggle on to the town-
PEER
:What would you do there?
THE OLD MAN
:I will go to the theatre.
:The papers are clamouring for national talents-
PEER
:Good luck on your journey; and greet them from me.
:If I can but get free, I will go the same way.
:A farce I will write them, a mad and profound one;
:its name shall be: "Sic transit gloria mundi."
:: [He runs off along the road; the OLD MAN shouts after him.]

===SCENE NINTH===
[At a cross-road.]
PEER GYNT
:Now comes the pinch, Peer, as never before!
:This Dovrish Enough has passed judgment upon you.
:The vessel's a wreck; one must float with the spars.
:All else; only not to the spoilt-goods heap!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER [at the cross-road].
:Well now, Peer Gynt, have you found your voucher?
PEER
:Have we reached the cross-road? Well, that's short work!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:I can see on your face, as it were on a signboard,
:the gist of the paper before I've read it.
PEER
:I got tired of the hunt;-One might lose one's way-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Yes; and what does it lead to, after all?
PEER
:True enough; in the wood, and by night as well-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:There's an old man, though, trudging. Shall we call him here?
PEER
:No let him go. He is drunk, my dear fellow!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:But perhaps he might-
PEER
:Hush; no-let him be!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Well, shall we turn to then?
PEER
:One question only:
:What is it, at bottom, this "being oneself"?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:A singular question, most odd in the mouth
:of a man who just now-
PEER
:Come, a straightforward answer.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:To be oneself is: to slay oneself.
:But on you that answer is doubtless lost;
:and therefore we'll say: to stand forth everywhere
:with Master's intention displayed like a signboard.
PEER
:But suppose a man never has come to know
:what Master meant with him?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:He must divine it.
PEER
:But how oft are divinings beside the mark,-
:then one's carried ad undas in middle career.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:That is certain, Peer Gynt; in default of divining
:the cloven-hoofed gentleman finds his best hook.
PEER
:This matter's excessively complicated.-
:See here! I no longer plead being myself;-
:it might not be easy to get it proven.
:That part of my case I must look on as lost.
:But just now, as I wandered alone o'er the heath,
:I felt my conscience-shoe pinching me;
:I said to myself: After all, you're a sinner-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:You seem bent on beginning all over again-
PEER
:No, very far from it; a great one I mean;
:not only in deeds, but in words and desires.
:I've lived a most damnable life abroad-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Perhaps; I must ask you to show me the schedule!
PEER
:Well well, give me time; I will find out a parson,
:confess with all speed, and then bring you his voucher.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Ay, if you can bring me that, then it is clear
:you escape this business of the casting-ladle.
:But Peer, I'd my orders-
PEER
:The paper is old;
:it dates no doubt from a long past period;-
:at one time I lived with disgusting slackness,
:went playing the prophet, and trusted in Fate.
:Well, may I try?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:But-!
PEER
:My dear fellow,
:I'm sure you can't have so much to do.
:Here, in this district, the air is so bracing,
:it adds an ell to the people's ages.
:Recollect what the Justedal parson wrote:
:"It's seldom that any one dies in this valley."
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:To the next cross-roads then; but not a step further.
PEER
:A priest I must catch, if it be with the tongs.
: [He starts running.]
===SCENE TENTH===
[A heather-clad hillside with a path following the windings of the
ridge.]
PEER
:This may come in useful in many ways,
:said Esben as he picked up a magpie's wing.
:Who could have thought one's account of sins
:would come to one's aid on the last night of all?
:Well, whether or no, it's a ticklish business;
:a move from the frying-pan into the fire;-
:but then there's a proverb of well-tried validity
:which says that as long as there's life, there's hope.
[A LEAN PERSON, in a priest's cassock, kilted-up high, and with a
birding net over his shoulder, comes hurrying along the ridge.]
PEER
:Who goes there? A priest with a fowling-net!
:Hei, hop! I'm the spoilt child of fortune indeed!
:Good evening, Herr Pastor! the path is bad-
THE LEAN ONE
:Ah yes; but what wouldn't one do for a soul?
PEER
:Aha! then there's some one bound heavenwards?
THE LEAN ONE
:No;
:I hope he is taking a different road.
PEER
:May I walk with Herr Pastor a bit of the way?
THE LEAN ONE
:With pleasure; I'm partial to company.
PEER
:I should like to consult you-
THE LEAN ONE
:Heraus! Go ahead!
PEER
:You see here before you a good sort of man.
:The laws of the state I have strictly observed,
:have made no acquaintance with fetters or bolts;-
:but it happens at times that one misses one's footing
:and stumbles-
THE LEAN ONE
:Ah yes; that occurs to the best of us.
PEER
:Now these trifles you see-
THE LEAN ONE
:Only trifles?
PEER
:Yes;
:from sinning en gros I have ever refrained.
THE LEAN ONE
:Oh then, my dear fellow, pray leave me in peace;-
:I'm not the person you seem to think me.-
:You look at my fingers? What see you in them?
PEER
:A nail-system somewhat extremely developed.
THE LEAN ONE
:And now? You are casting a glance at my feet?
PEER [pointing].
:That's a natural hoof?
THE LEAN ONE
:So I flatter myself.
PEER [raises his hat].
:I'd have taken my oath you were simply a parson;
:and I find I've the honour-. Well, best is best;-
:when the hall door stands wide,-shun the kitchen way;
:when the king's to be met with,-avoid the lackey.
THE LEAN ONE
:Your hand! You appear to be free from prejudice.
:Say on then, my - friend; in what way can I serve you?
:Now you mustn't ask me for wealth or power;
:I couldn't supply them although I should hang for it.
:You can't think how slack the whole business is;-
:transactions have dwindled most pitiably.
:Nothing doing in souls; only now and again
:a stray one-
PEER
:The race has improved so remarkably?
THE LEAN ONE
:No, just the reverse; it's sunk shamefully low;-
:the majority end in a casting-ladle.
PEER
:Ah yes-I have heard that ladle mentioned;
:in fact, 'twas the cause of my coming to you.
THE LEAN ONE
:Speak out!
PEER
:If it were not too much to ask,
:I should like-
THE LEAN ONE
:A harbour of refuge? eh?
PEER
:You've guessed my petition before I have asked.
:You tell me the business is going awry;
:so I daresay you will not be over-particular.
THE LEAN ONE
:But, my dear-
PEER
:My demands are in no way excessive.
:I shouldn't insist on a salary;
:but treatment as friendly as things will permit.
THE LEAN ONE
:A fire in your room?
PEER
:Not too much fire;-and chiefly
:the power of departing in safety and peace,-
:the right, as the phrase goes, of freely withdrawing
:should an opening offer for happier days.
THE LEAN ONE
:My dear friend, I vow I'm sincerely distressed;
:but you cannot imagine how many petitions
:of similar purport good people send in
:when they're quitting the scene of their earthly activity.
PEER
:But now that I think of my past career,
:I feel I've an absolute claim to admission-
THE LEAN ONE
:'Twas but trifles, you said-
PEER
:In a certain sense;-
:but, now I remember, I've trafficked in slaves-
THE LEAN ONE
:There are men that have trafficked in wills and souls,
:but who bungled it so that they failed to get in.
PEER
:I've shipped Bramah-figures in plenty to China.
THE LEAN ONE
:Mere fustian again! Why, we laugh at such things.
:There are people that ship off far gruesomer figures
:in sermons, in art, and in literature-
:yet have to stay out in the cold-
PEER
:Ah, but then,
:do you know-I once went and set up as prophet!
THE LEAN ONE
:In foreign parts? Humbug! Why, most people's sehen
:ins Blaue ends in the casting-ladle.
:If you've no more than that to rely upon,
:with the best of goodwill, I can't possibly house you.
PEER
:But hear this: In a shipwreck-I clung to a boat's keel,-
:and it's written: A drowning man grasps at a straw,-
:furthermore it is written: You're nearest yourself,-
:so I half-way divested a cook of his life.
THE LEAN ONE
:It were all one to me if a kitchen-maid
:you had half-way divested of something else.
:What sort of stuff is this half-way jargon,
:saving your presence? Who, think you, would care
:to throw away dearly-bought fuel in times
:like these on such spiritless rubbish as this?
:There now, don't be enraged; 'twas your sins that scoffed at;
:and excuse my speaking my mind so bluntly.-
:Come, my dearest friend, banish this stuff from your head,
:and get used to the thought of the casting-ladle.
:What would you gain if I lodged you and boarded you?
:Consider; I know you're a sensible man.
:Well, you'd keep your memory; that's so far true;-

:but the retrospect o'er recollection's domain
:would be, both for heart and for intellect,
:what the Swedes call "Mighty poor sport" indeed.
:You have nothing either to howl or to smile about,
:no cause for rejoicing nor yet for despair,
:nothing to make you feel hot or cold;
:only a sort of a something to fret over.
PEER
:It is written: It's never so easy to know
:where the shoe is tight that one isn't wearing.
THE LEAN ONE
:Very true; I have-praise be to so-and-so!-
:no occasion for more than a single odd shoe.
:But it's lucky we happened to speak of shoes;
:it reminds me that I must be hurrying on;-
:I'm after a roast that I hope will prove fat;
:so I really mustn't stand gossiping here.-
PEER
:And may one inquire, then, what sort of sin-diet
:the man has been fattened on?
THE LEAN ONE
:I understand
:he has been himself both by night and by day,
:and that, after all, is the principal point.
PEER
:Himself? Then do such folks belong to your parish?
THE LEAN ONE
:That depends; the door, at least, stands ajar for them.
:Remember, in two ways a man can be
:himself-there's a right and wrong side to the jacket.
:You know they have lately discovered in Paris
:a way to take portraits by help of the sun.
:One can either produce a straightforward picture,
:or else what is known as a negative one.
:In the latter the lights and the shades are reversed,
:and they're apt to seem ugly to commonplace eyes;
:but for all that the likeness is latent in them,
:and all you require is to bring it out.
:If, then, a soul shall have pictured itself
:in the course of its life by the negative method,
:the plate is not therefore entirely cashiered,-
:but without more ado they consign it to me.
:I take it in hand, then, for further treatment,
:and by suitable methods effect its development.
:I steam it, I dip it, I burn it, I scour it,
:with sulphur and other ingredients like that,
:till the image appears which the plate was designed for,-
:that, namely, which people call positive.
:But if one, like you, has smudged himself out,
:neither sulphur nor potash avails in the least.
PEER
:I see; one must come to you black as a raven
:to turn out a white ptarmigan? Pray what's the name
:inscribed 'neath the negative counterfeit
:that you're now to transfer to the positive side?
THE LEAN ONE
:The name's Peter Gynt.
PEER
:Peter Gynt! Indeed?
:Is Herr Gynt himself?
THE LEAN ONE
:Yes, he vows he is.
PEER
:Well, he's one to be trusted, that same Herr Peter.
THE LEAN ONE
:You know him, perhaps?
PEER
:Oh yes, after a fashion;-
:one knows all sorts of people.
THE LEAN ONE
:I'm pressed for time;
:where saw you him last?
PEER
:It was down at the Cape.
THE LEAN ONE
:Di Buona Speranza?
PEER
:Just so; but he sails
:very shortly again, if I'm not mistaken.
THE LEAN ONE
:I must hurry off then without delay.
:I only hope I may catch him in time!
:That Cape of Good Hope-I could never abide it;-
:it's ruined by missionaries from Stavanger.
::[He rushes off southwards.]
PEER
:The stupid hound! There he takes to his heels
:with his tongue lolling out. He'll be finely sold.
:It delights me to humbug an ass like that.
:He to give himself airs, and to lord it forsooth!
:He's a mighty lot, truly, to swagger about!
:He'll scarcely grow fat at his present trade;-
:he'll soon drop from his perch with his whole apparatus.-
:Hm, I'm not over-safe in the saddle either;
: [A shooting star is seen; he nods after it.]
:I'm expelled, one may say, from self-owning nobility.
:Bear all hail from Peer Gynt, Brother Starry-Flash!
:To flash forth, to go out, and be naught at a gulp-
[Pulls himself together as though in terror, and goes deeper in
among the mists; stillness for awhile; then he cries:]
:Is there no one, no one in all the turmoil,-
:in the void no one, no one in heaven-!
[He comes forward again further down, throws his hat upon the
ground, and tears at his hair. By degrees a stillness comes over him.]
:So unspeakably poor, then, a soul can go
:back to nothingness, into the grey of the mist.
:Thou beautiful earth, be not angry with me
:that I trampled thy grasses to no avail.
:Thou beautiful sun, thou hast squandered away
:thy glory of light in an empty hut.
:There was no one within it to hearten and warm;-
:the owner, they tell me, was never at home.
:Beautiful sun and beautiful earth,
:you were foolish to bear and give light to my mother.
:The spirit is n***ard and nature lavish;
:and dearly one pays for one's birth with one's life.-
:I will clamber up high, to the dizziest peak;
:I will look once more on the rising sun,
:gaze till I'm tired o'er the promised land;
:then try to get snowdrifts piled up over me.
:They can write above them: "Here No One lies buried;"
:and afterwards,-then-! Let things go as they can.
CHURCH-GOERS [singing on the forest path].
:Oh, morning thrice blessed,
:when the tongues of God's kingdom
:struck the earth like to flaming steel!
:from the earth to His dwelling
:now the heirs' song ascendeth
:in the tongue of the kingdom of God.
PEER [crouches as in terror].
:Never look there! there all's desert and waste.-
:I fear I was dead long before I died.
[Tries to slink in among the bushes, but comes upon the
cross-roads.]
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Good morning, Peer Gynt! Where's the list of your sins?
PEER
:Do you think that I haven't been whistling and shouting
:as hard as I could?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:And met no one at all?
PEER
:Not a soul but a tramping photographer.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Well, the respite is over.
PEER
:Ay, everything's over.
:The owl smells the daylight. just list to the hooting!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:It's the matin-bell ringing-
PEER [pointing].
:What's that shining yonder?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Only light from a hut.
PEER
:And that wailing sound-?
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:But a woman singing.
PEER
:Ay, there-there I'll find
:the list of my sins-
THE BUTTON-MOULDER [seizing him].
:Set your house in order!
[They have come out of the underwood, and are standing near the hut.
Day is dawning.]
PEER
:Set my house in order? It's there! Away!
:Get you gone! Though your ladle were huge as a coffin,
:it were too small, I tell you, for me and my sins!
THE BUTTON-MOULDER
:Well, to the third cross-road, Peer; but then-!
::[Turns aside and goes.]
PEER [approaches the hut].
:Forward and back, and it's just as far.
:Out and in, and it's just as strait.
::: [Stops.]
:No!-like a wild, an unending lament,
:is the thought: to come back, to go in, to go home.
: [Takes a few steps on, but stops again.]
:Roundabout, said the Boyg!
: [Hears singing in the hut.]
:Ah, no; this time at least
:right through, though the path may be never so strait!
[He runs towards the hut; at the same moment SOLVEIG appears in
the doorway, dressed for church, with psalm-book wrapped in a
kerchief, and a staff in her hand. She stands there erect and mild.]
PEER [flings himself down on the threshold].
:Hast thou doom for a sinner, then speak it forth!
SOLVEIG
:He is here! He is here! Oh, to God be the praise!
: [Stretches out her arms as though groping for him.]
PEER
:Cry out all my sins and my trespasses!
SOLVEIG
:In nought hast thou sinned, oh my own only boy.
:: [Gropes for him again, and finds him.]
THE BUTTON-MOULDER [behind the house].
:The sin-list, Peer Gynt?
PEER
:Cry aloud my crime!
SOLVEIG [sits down beside him].
:Thou hast made all my life as a beautiful song.
:Blessed be thou that at last thou hast come!
:Blessed, thrice blessed our Whitsun-morn meeting!
PEER
:Then I am lost!
SOLVEIG
:There is one that rules all things.
PEER [laughs].
:Lost! Unless thou canst answer riddles.
SOLVEIG
:Tell me them.
PEER
:Tell them! Come on! To be sure!
:Canst thou tell where Peer Gynt has been since we parted?
SOLVEIG
:Been?
PEER
:With his destiny's seal on his brow;
:been, as in God's thought he first sprang forth!
:Canst thou tell me? If not, I must get me home,-
:go down to the mist-shrouded regions.
SOLVEIG [smiling].
:Oh, that riddle is easy.
PEER
:Then tell what thou knowest!
:Where was I, as myself, as the whole man, the true man?
:where was I, with God's sigil upon my brow?
SOLVEIG
:In my faith, in my hope, and in my love.
PEER [starts back].
:What sayest thou-? Peace! These are juggling words.
:Thou art mother thyself to the man that's there.
SOLVEIG
:Ay, that I am; but who is his father?
:Surely he that forgives at the mother's prayer.
PEER [a light shines in his face; he cries:]
:My mother; my wife; oh, thou innocent woman!-
:in thy love-oh, there hide me, hide me!
[Clings to her and hides his face in her lap. A long silence. The
sun rises.]
SOLVEIG [sings softly].
:Sleep thou, dearest boy of mine!
:I will cradle thee, I will watch thee-
:The boy has been sitting on his mother's lap.
:They two have been playing all the life-day long.
:The boy has been resting at his mother's breast
:all the life-day long. God's blessing on my joy!
:The boy has been lying close in to my heart
:all the life-day long. He is weary now.
:Sleep thou, dearest boy of mine!
:I will cradle thee, I will watch thee.
THE BUTTON-MOULDER'S VOICE [behind the house].
:We'll meet at the last cross-road again, Peer;
:and then we'll see whether-; I say no more.
SOLVEIG [sings louder in the full daylight].
:I will cradle thee, I will watch thee;
:Sleep and dream thou, dear my boy!
THE END