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

An old, defenseless man?

ASGAUT.  Down with them both!

BLANKA.  O God!

HROLLOUG.  The woman is too fair!  Let her

Return with us.

JOSTEJN.  [Laughing.]  Yes, as a warrior maid.

GANDALF.  Stand back!

RODERIK.  O spare,--O spare at least my child!

The slayer of your chieftain I will bring you,

If you will only spare her!

GANDALF.  [Quickly.]  Bring him here,

And she is free.  What say you?

THE VIKINGS.  She is free!

BLANKA.  [To RODERIK.]  You promise that?

ASGAUT.  Then fetch him!

RODERIK.  Here he stands!

SOME.  Ha, that old man!

GANDALF.  O woe!

BLANKA.  No, no, you shall not--

RODERIK.  Struck by this hand the viking found his death,

Now rests he peacefully in yonder mound!

GANDALF.  My father's barrow!

RODERIK.  He was strong and brave;

Wherefore I laid him here in viking style.

GANDALF.  Since he is buried, then,--

ASGAUT.  Though he be buried,

The fallen king cries for revenge,--strike, strike!

BLANKA.  He is deceiving you!

BLANKA.  [To GANDALF.]  Do you not see

It is alone his daughter he would save?

Yet, how should your kind understand a soul

That sacrifices all--

GANDALF.  I do not understand?

You do not think I can?

GANDALF.  [To the VIKINGS.]  He shall not die!

ASGAUT.  How so?

BLANKA.  O father!  He is good like you.

ASGAUT.  You mean to break your oath?

GANDALF.  No, I shall keep it!

JOSTEJN.  Then what have you in mind?

HROLLOUG.  Explain!

GANDALF.  I swore

To take revenge or else to die myself.

Well, he is free,--I to Valhalla go.

BLANKA.  [To RODERIK.]  What does he mean?

ASGAUT.  Your honor you would save?--

GANDALF.  Go,--hold a ship in readiness for me,

With hoisted sail, the pyre light in the prow;

In ancient fashion I shall go aboard!

Behold, the evening breeze blows from the strand,--

On crimson wings I sail into Valhalla!

[JOSTEJN goes out to the right.]

ASGAUT.  Ah, 'tis the woman who has cast her spell on you!

BLANKA.  No, you must live!

GANDALF.  I live?  No, to the gods

I must be true, I cannot break with them.

BLANKA.  Your oath is bloody, Balder hates it.

GANDALF.  Yes,

But Balder lives no longer with us now!

BLANKA.  For you he lives; your soul is gentleness.

GANDALF.  Yes, to my ruin!  It became my task

As king to keep intact our great ideal,--

But I lack strength enough!  Come, Asgaut, you

Shall take the kingly sceptre from my hand;

You are a warrior of the truest steel;

On me the Southern plague has been at work.

But if I cannot for my people live,

I now can die for them.

ASGAUT.  Well said, King Gandalf!

BLANKA.  Then need no more be said!  Die like a hero,

Faithful and true unto the very end!

But now that we must part forever,--know,

That when you die yourself to keep your oath

You are then likewise marking me for death!

GANDALF.  What!  You for death?

BLANKA.  My life was like a flower,

Transplanted in an unfamiliar soil,

Which therefore slumbered in its prison folds:

Then came a sunbeam from the distant home,--

O, that was you, my Gandalf!  Opened then

The flower its calyx.  In another hour,

Alas! the sunbeam paled,--the flower died!

GANDALF.  O, have I understood you right?  You could?

Then is my promise thrice unfortunate!

BLANKA.  But we shall meet again!

GANDALF.  O, nevermore!

You go to heaven and the holy Christ,

I to Valhalla; silent I shall take

My place among the rest,--but near the door;

Valhalla's merriment is not for me.

JOSTEJN.  [Returns with a banner in his hand.]

See, now the bark is ready, as you bade.

ASGAUT.  O, what a glorious end!  Many a man

Will envy you, indeed.

GANDALF.  [To BLANKA.]  Farewell!

BLANKA.  Farewell!

Farewell for life and for eternity!

RODERIK.  [Struggling with himself.]  Wait!  Wait!

[Prostrates himself before BLANKA.]

RODERIK.  Mercy, I cry!  Forgive, forgive me!

BLANKA.  O God!

GANDALF.  What means he?

RODERIK.  All will I confess:

My whole life here with you has been deceit!

BLANKA.  Ah, terror has unhinged his mind!

RODERIK.  No, no!

RODERIK.  [To GANDALF, after he has risen.]

You are released forever from your vow;

Your father's shadow needs no blood revenge!

GANDALF.  Ah, then explain!

BLANKA.  Oh, speak!

RODERIK.  Here stands King Rorek!

SOME.  The fallen king?

BLANKA.  O heavens!

GANDALF.  [In doubt.]  You,--my father?

RODERIK.  See, Asgaut!  Do you still recall the scratch

You gave me on our earliest viking trip,

The time we fought about the booty?

[He uncovers his arm and shows it to ASGAUT.]

ASGAUT.  Yes,

By Thor, it is King Rorek!

GANDALF.  [Throws himself in his arms.]  Father!  Father!

A second time now have you given me life.

My humble thanks!

RODERIK.  [Downcast; to BLANKA.]  And you now--what will you

Grant the old robber?

BLANKA.  Love as hitherto!

I am your daughter!  Has not three years' care

Wiped off each spot of blood upon your shield?

ASGAUT.  Yet now explain,--how comes it that you live!

GANDALF.  She saved his life.

RODERIK.  Yes, like a friendly elf

She healed my wounds and cared for me,

And all the while she told me of the faith

These quiet people in the South believe,

Until my rugged heart itself was moved.

And day by day I kept the truth from her;

I did not dare to tell her--

GANDALF.  But the mound there?

RODERIK.  I laid therein my armor and my sword,

It seemed to me the grim old savage viking

Was buried then and there.  Each day my child

Sent up a prayer for him beside the mound.

ASGAUT.  Farewell!

GANDALF.  Where do you go?

ASGAUT.  Northward again!

I now see clearly that my time is past--

So likewise is the viking life.  I go

To Iceland; there the plague has not yet come.

ASGAUT.  [To BLANKA.]  You, woman, take my place beside the king!

For Thor is gone--and Mjolnir out of gear;

Through you now Balder rules.--Farewell!

[He goes.]

GANDALF.  Yes, Balder ruleth now, through you, my Blanka!

I see the meaning of my viking life!

'Twas not alone desire for fame and wealth

That drove me hence from my forefathers' home;

No, that which called me was a secret longing,

A quiet yearning after Balder.  See,

Now is the longing stilled, now go we home;

There will I live in peace among my people.

GANDALF.  [To the VIKINGS.]  And will you follow?

ALL.  We will follow you!

GANDALF.  And you, my Blanka?

BLANKA.  I?  I too am born

A Northern child; for on your mountain sides

The choicest flowers of my heart took root.

To you it was I journeyed in my dreams,

From you it was that I received my love.

RODERIK.  And now away!

GANDALF.  But you?

BLANKA.  He comes with us!

RODERIK.  I shall remain.

[He points to the mound.]

RODERIK.  My barrow waits for me.

BLANKA.  And should I leave you here alone?

HEMMING.  No, no!

Be not afraid!  For I shall close his eyes

And sing to him a saga from the mound;

My last song it will be.

HEMMING.  [Moved as he seizes GANDALF's hand.]

Farewell, my king!

Now have you found a better scald than I.

RODERIK.  [With firmness.]

It must be so, my Gandalf; you are king,

And you have sacred duties to discharge.

[He puts their hands together.]

RODERIK.  You are the children of the coming dawn,--

Go yonder where the royal throne awaits you;

I am the last one of the by-gone age,

My throne--it is the barrow--grant me that!

[GANDALF and BLANKA throw themselves silently into his arms.

RODERIK ascends the burial mound.--HEMMING with his harp seats

himself at his feet.]

GANDALF.  [With resolution.]  And now to Norway!

HROLLOUG.  Home!

ALL.  To Norway!  Home!

BLANKA.  [Fired as she seizes the banner from JOSTEJN's hand.]

Yes, now away!  Our course shall northward run

O'er ocean billow on through storm and sun.

Soon fades the daylight o'er the glacier's peak,

Soon is the viking life a memory bleak!

Already sits the hero on his mound;

The time is past when he could sail around

With sword and battle cry from strand to strand.

Thor's hammer will no longer rule the land,

The North will be itself a giant grave.

But bear in mind the pledge All-Fader gave:

When moss and flowers shall the barrow hide,

To Idavold the hero's ghost shall ride,--

Then Norway too shall from the grave be brought

To chastened deeds within the realm of thought!

[A thickly wooded hillside which leads up to higher

mountain regions; in a deep ravine a swift river runs

from the background out to the right; over the river

lie some old logs and other remnants of a dilapidated

bridge.  Huge rocks lie scattered in the foreground;

far away can be seen the summits of snow-capped

mountain peaks.  Evening twilight rests over the

landscape; later on the moon appears.]

SCENE I

[THORGJERD stands on a rocky projection near the river

and listens to the various choruses which are heard

off the stage.]

CHORUS OF LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE.  [Deep in the wood to the

right.]

With ringing of bells we hurry along,

We wander in field and in dell;

O Christian, come, give heed to our song,

Awake from your magic spell.

RELATIVES OF ARNE OF GULDVIK.  [Far away to the right.]

Now hasten we all

To the wedding hall;

The foal runneth light and gay!

The hoofs resound

On the grassy ground

As the merry swains gallop away!

LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE.  [A little nearer than before.]

We conjure you forth from mountain and hill,

From the places which hold you bound.

Awake to our call, come, free your will

From elves that hover around!

[THORGJERD disappears in the ravine where the river runs; after

a rapid interplay the choruses are heard much nearer.]

ARNE'S RELATIVES.  Our way we shorten with jest and with song,

And all of the bridal night.

LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE.  With tears we wander the whole day long,

We search to the left and the right.

ARNE'S RELATIVES.  [In close proximity, yet still outside the

scene.]  To wedding and banquet, to song and dance,

Both servants and hand-maidens throng.

LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE.  [Nearer than before.]

Olaf Liljekrans!  Olaf Liljekrans!

Why sleep you so deep and so long?

[ARNE of Guldvik appears with his relatives, men and

women, minstrels, etc., in the background to the right

on the other side of the river; they are all in

festive attire.  Shortly afterwards HEMMING from the

same side.]

ONE OF THE RETINUE.  See, here goes the way.

ANOTHER.  No, here!

A THIRD.  Not at all, it must be here.

ARNE OF GULDVIK.  Well, well, are we now astray again!

ARNE OF GULDVIK.  [Calls.]  Hemming!  Where is Hemming?

HEMMING.  [Enters.]  Here!

ARNE.  Have I not told you to keep yourself close so as to be of

some service to me?

HEMMING.  It was Mistress Ingeborg--she wanted,--and so--

ARNE.  [Annoyed.]  Mistress Ingeborg!  Mistress Ingeborg!  Are

you Mistress Ingeborg's maid?  You are my page; it is me you

shall serve.  Do you not get your keep and wage therefor?  Come,

tell us where the way goes,--we are stuck.

HEMMING.  [Uncertain.]  The way?  Well now, I am little

acquainted up here, but--

ARNE.  I might have known it,--that is always the service you

give me!  Well, we shall have to spend the night in the

wilderness, as sure as I am Arne of Guldvik.

HEMMING.  [Who has in the meantime spied the remnants of the

bridge.]  Aha, no need of that; here we can get across.

ARNE.  Why didn't you tell us so in the first place?

[All cross the river and come forward on the stage.]

ARNE.  [Looks about.]  Yes, now I have my bearings again.  The

river there is the boundary between Lady Kirsten's dominions and

mine.

ARNE.  [Points to the left.]  Down there lies her estate; in

another hour or two we can sit cozily in the bridal house, but

then we must hurry along.

ARNE.  [Calls.]  Ingeborg!--Hemming!  Now where's Ingeborg?

HEMMING.  In the rear, up on the hillside.

HEMMING.  [Points to the right.]  She is playing with her

bridesmaids; they gather green twigs from the cherry trees and

run about