Early Plays by Henrik Ibsen (best novels in english txt) 📕

[She rubs her eyes and stares amazed at him.]

No, it is no dream.

Who are you, stranger?  What is it you seek

Here on the shore?

GANDALF.  Step first from off the mound,--

Then we can talk at ease.

BLANKA.  [Comes down.]  Well, here I am!

BLANKA.  [Aside as she looks him over.]

The chain mail o'er his breast, the copper helmet,--

Exactly as my father has related.

BLANKA.  [Aloud.]  Take off your helmet!

GANDALF.  Why?

BLANKA.  Well, take it off!

BLANKA.  [Aside.]

Two sparkling eyes, locks like a field of grain,--

Exactly as I saw him in my dream.

GANDALF.  Who are you, woman?

BLANKA.  I?  A poor, poor child!

GANDALF.  Yet certainly the fairest on the isle.

BLANKA.  The fairest?  That indeed is possible,

For here there's no one else.

GANDALF.  What,--no one else?

BLANKA.  Unless my father be,--but he is old

And has a silver beard, as long as this;

No, after all I think I win the prize.

GANDALF.  You have a merry spirit.

BLANKA.  Not always now!

GANDALF.  But tell me, pray, how this is possible;

You say you live alone here with your father,

Yet I have heard men say most certainly

The island here is thickly populated?

BLANKA.  It was so once, three years ago or more;

But,--well, it is a sad and mournful tale--

Yet you shall hear it if you wish.

GANDALF.  Yes, certainly!

BLANKA.  You see, three years ago--

[Seats herself.]

BLANKA.  Come, seat yourself!

GANDALF.  [Steps back a pace.]  No, sit you down, I'll stand.

BLANKA.  Three years ago there came, God knows from whence,

A warlike band of robbers to the isle;

They plundered madly as they went about,

And murdered everything they found alive.

A few escaped as best they could by flight

And sought protection in my father's castle,

Which stood upon the cliff right near the sea.

GANDALF.  Your father's, did you say?

BLANKA.  My father's, yes.--

It was a cloudy evening when they burst

Upon the castle gate, tore through the wall,

Rushed in the court, and murdered right and left.

I fled into the darkness terrified,

And sought a place of refuge in the forest.

I saw our home go whirling up in flames,

I heard the clang of shields, the cries of death.--

Then everything grew still; for all were dead.--

The savage band proceeded to the shore

And sailed away.--I sat upon the cliff

The morning after, near the smouldering ruins.

I was the only one whom they had spared.

GANDALF.  But you just told me that your father lives.

BLANKA.  My foster-father; wait, and you shall hear!

I sat upon the cliff oppressed and sad,

And listened to the awful stillness round;

There issued forth a faint and feeble cry,

As from beneath the rocky cleft beneath my feet;

I listened full of fear, then went below,

And found a stranger, pale with loss of blood.

I ventured nearer, frightened as I was,

Bound up his wounds and tended him,--

GANDALF.  And he?

BLANKA.  Told me as he recovered from his wounds,

That he had come aboard a merchantman,

Had reached the island on the very day

The castle was destroyed,--took refuge there

And fought the robber band with all his might

Until he fell, faint with the loss of blood,

Into the rocky cleft wherein I found him.

And ever since we two have lived together;

He built for us a cabin in the wood,

I grew to love him more than any one.

But you must see him,--come!

GANDALF.  No, wait,--not now!

We meet in ample time, I have no doubt.

BLANKA.  Well, all right, as you please; but rest assured

He would be glad to greet you 'neath his roof;

For you must know that hospitality

Is found not only in the North.

GANDALF.  The North?

You know then--

BLANKA.  Whence you come, you mean?  Oh, yes!

My father has so often told of you

That I the moment that I saw you--

GANDALF.  Yet you

Were not afraid!

BLANKA.  Afraid?  And why afraid?

GANDALF.  Has he not told you then,--of course if not--

BLANKA.  Told me that you were fearless heroes?  Yes!

But pray, why should that frighten me?

I know you seek your fame on distant shores,

In manly combat with all doughty warriors;

But I have neither sword nor coat of mail,

Then why should I fear--

GANDALF.  No, of course, of course!

But still, those strangers who destroyed the castle?

BLANKA.  And what of them?

GANDALF.  Only,--has not your father

Told you from whence they came?

BLANKA.  Never!  How could he!

Strangers they were alike to him and us.

But if you wish I'll ask him right away.

GANDALF.  [Quickly.]  No, let it be.

BLANKA.  Ah, now I understand!

You wish to know where you can seek them now,

And take blood-vengeance, as you call it.

GANDALF.  Ah,

Blood-vengeance!  Thanks!  The word I had forgot;

You bring me back--

BLANKA.  But do you know, it is

An ugly practice.

GANDALF.  [Going toward the background.]  Farewell!

BLANKA.  O, you are going?

GANDALF.  We meet in time.

[Stops.]

GANDALF.  Tell me this one thing more:

What warrior is it rests beneath the mound?

BLANKA.  I do not know.

GANDALF.  You do not know, and still

You scatter flowers on the hero's grave.

BLANKA.  My father led me here one morning early

And pointed out to me the fresh-made mound,

Which I had never seen upon the strand.

He bade me say my morning prayers out here,

And in my supplications to remember

Those who had harried us with sword and fire.

GANDALF.  And you?

BLANKA.  Each morning from that day to this

I sent a prayer to heaven for their salvation;

And every evening flowers afresh I wove

Into a garland for the grave.

GANDALF.  Yes, strange!

How can you pray thus for your enemy?

BLANKA.  My faith commands me.

GANDALF.  [Vehemently.]  Such a faith is craven;

It is the faith which saps the hero's strength;

'Twas therefore that the great, heroic life

Died feebly in the South!

BLANKA.  But now suppose

My craven faith, as you see fit to call it,

Could be transplanted to your virgin soil,--

I know full well, there would spring forth a mass

Of flowers so luxuriant as to hide

The naked mountain.

GANDALF.  Let the mountain stand

In nakedness until the end of time!

BLANKA.  O!  Take me with you!

GANDALF.  What do you mean?

I sail for home--

BLANKA.  Well, I shall sail with you;

For I have often traveled in my dreams

To far-off Norway, where you live mid snow

And ice and sombre woods of towering pines.

There should come mirth and laughter in the hall,

If I could have my say, I promise you;

For I am merry;--have you any scald?

GANDALF.  I had one, but the sultry Southern air

Has loosened all the strings upon his harp,--

They sing no longer--

BLANKA.  Good!  Then shall I be

Your scald.

GANDALF.  And you?--You could go with us there,

And leave your father and your home?

BLANKA.  [Laughing.]  Aha!

You think I meant it seriously?

GANDALF.  Was it

Only a jest?

BLANKA.  Alas! a foolish dream

I often used to dream before we met,--

Which often I no doubt shall dream again,

When you--

[Suddenly breaking off.]

BLANKA.  You stare so fixedly.

GANDALF.  Do I?

BLANKA.  Why, yes!  What are you thinking of?

GANDALF.  I?  Nothing!

BLANKA.  Nothing?

GANDALF.  That is, I scarcely know myself;

And yet I do--and you shall hear it now:

I thought of you and how you would transplant

Your flowers in the North, when suddenly

My own faith came as if by chance to mind.

One word therein I never understood

Before; now have you taught me what it means.

BLANKA.  And that is what?

GANDALF.  Valfader, it is said,

Receives but half the warriors slain in battle;

The other half to Freya goes by right.

That I could never fully comprehend;

But--now I understand,--I am myself

A fallen warrior, and to Freya goes

The better part of me.

BLANKA.  [Amazed.]  What does this mean?

GANDALF.  Well, in a word, then know--

BLANKA.  [Quickly.]  No, say it not!

I dare not tarry longer here to-night,--

My father waits, and I must go; farewell!

GANDALF.  O, you are going?

BLANKA.  [Takes the wreath of oak leaves which he has

let fall and throws it around his helmet.]  You can keep it now.

Lo, what I hitherto bestowed on you

In dreams, I grant you now awake.

GANDALF.  Farewell!

[He goes quickly out to the right.]

BLANKA.  [Alone.]

  He is gone!  Ah, perfect stillness

  Rules upon the barren strand.

  Perfect stillness, grave-like stillness

  Rules my heart with heavy hand.

  Came he then to vanish only

  Through the mist, a ray of light?

  Soon he flies, a sea-gull lonely,

  Far away into the night!

  What is left me of this lover?

  But a flower in the dark:

  In my loneliness to hover

  Like a petrel round his bark!

[The war trumpet of the Vikings is heard from the left.]

BLANKA.  Ah!  What was that!  A trumpet from the wood!

[BLANKA, GANDALF from the right.]

GANDALF.  [Aside.]  It is too late!

BLANKA.  O, there he is again!

What do you want?

GANDALF.  Quick,--quick, away from here!

BLANKA.  What do you mean?

GANDALF.  Away!  There's danger here!

BLANKA.  What danger?

GANDALF.  Death!

BLANKA.  I do not understand you.

GANDALF.  I thought to hide it from you,--hence I went

To call my people to the ship again

And sail away; you never should have known,--

The trumpet warns me that it is too late,--

That they are coming.

BLANKA.  Who are coming?

GANDALF.  Then know,--

The strangers who once harried on the isle

Were vikings like myself.

BLANKA.  From Norway?

GANDALF.  Yes.

My father, who was chief among them, fell,--

Hence must he be avenged.

BLANKA.  Avenged?

GANDALF.  Such is

The custom.

BLANKA.  Ah, I see now!

GANDALF.  Here they come!

Stand close behind me!

BLANKA.  Man of blood,--away!

[The Preceding.]

[ASGAUT, HEMMING and the VIKINGS, who lead RODERIK

between them.]

ASGAUT.  [To GANDALF.]  A meagre find, yet something, to be sure.

BLANKA.  My father!

[She throws herself in his arms.]

RODERIK.  Blanka!  O, my child!

JOSTEJN.  A woman!

He will have company.

ASGAUT.  Yes, straight to Hell!

BLANKA.  O father, wherefore have you never told me--

RODERIK.  Hush!  Hush! my child!

[Points to GANDALF.]

RODERIK.  Is this your chieftain?

ASGAUT.  Yes.

ASGAUT.  [To GANDALF.]

This man can tell you how your father died;

For he was in the thick of it, he says,

The only one to get away alive.

GANDALF.  Hush!  I will nothing hear.

ASGAUT.  Good; let us then

Begin the task.

BLANKA.  O God! what will they do?

GANDALF.  [In an undertone.]  I cannot, Asgaut!

ASGAUT.  [Likewise.]  Is our king afraid?

Has woman's flattering tongue beguiled his mind?

GANDALF.  No matter,--I have said--

ASGAUT.  Bethink yourself,--

Your standing with your warriors is at stake.

Your word you pledged Valhalla's mighty gods,

And if you fail a dastard you'll be judged.

Do not forget our faith is insecure--

And wavering; one blow can strike its root,

And if the blow comes from the king above,

It will have had a mortal wound.

GANDALF.  Ah me!

That was a most unhappy oath I swore.

ASGAUT.  [To the VIKINGS.]  Now ready, warriors!

BLANKA.  Will you murder