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

[LADY KIRSTEN and HEMMING enter from the left.]

HEMMING.  Here he was;--why--now he is gone!

LADY KIRSTEN.  And he said he was waiting for the bride who was

to come?

HEMMING.  Yes, but whom he had in mind I could not quite make

out; for his speech was strangely incoherent.  Ingeborg he did

not mean,--that is certain.

LADY KIRSTEN.  Say nothing, good Hemming! say nothing of what he

just said!  You did well to let me alone know he was here.  You

shall be richly rewarded for this, but first we must find him

again--

HEMMING.  [As he looks out to the right.]  See,--see there, in

the moonlight, on the hill near the river,--yes, surely I think--

LADY KIRSTEN.  Hush, hush, it is Olaf!

HEMMING.  There are two; a woman is with him--

LADY KIRSTEN.  Heavenly saints!

HEMMING.  He is pointing out the village as if--there they go!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Call Lord Arne and our people!  We will meet again

here; I bring Olaf with me!

HEMMING.  But dare you then--?

LADY KIRSTEN.  Do as I say; but say nothing of what you have

heard and seen.  You can say that Olaf came up here to hunt deer

and bear, and that he went astray in the mountain.

HEMMING.  You can rely on me, Lady Kirsten!

[Goes out to the left.]

LADY KIRSTEN.  Is it true, then?  Have evil sprites gained

control over him?  Yes, so I can pretend to Arne of Guldvik, but

little I believe it myself;--and yet it is said it happened often

enough in the days gone by.  But it is elfen maids no doubt of

flesh and blood that--.  There he goes down to the river,--I must

hasten!

[Goes out to the right in the background.]

CHORUS.  [From the forest to the left.]

  With ringing of bells we hurry along,

  We wander in field and in dell!

  O Christian, come, give heed to our song,

  Wake up from your magic spell!

[OLAF and ALFHILD come in from the right in the

background.  Later LADY KIRSTEN.]

ALFHILD.  O, you must tell me still more of the world!

Your words to my soul are refreshing indeed;

It seems as if here in the wonders you tell

My innermost longings you read!....

Did you ne'er on a summer night sit by a tarn,

So deep that no one could fathom it quite,

And see in the water the stars so bright,

Those knowing eyes that express with their flickering light

Much more than a thousand tongues could possibly say?

                *       *       *       *       *

I often sat thus; I sought with my hands to capture

The sparkling riddles below in the deep--

I snatched after them, I would see them close,

Then they grew blurred like eyes that weep,--

It is idle to search and to seek--

                *       *       *       *       *

So too in my soul there was many a riddle

I yearned to solve in the days that are gone!

They tricked me as did all the stars in the deep,

Grew stranger and stranger the more I brooded thereon!

OLAF.  Am I not to myself a mysterious riddle?

Am I Olaf Liljekrans, the nobly born,

The knight so proud, who vaunted his race,

Who laughed the singing of birds to scorn!

And yet, from my heart I tear what I was!

Happy I am,--and that can I understand--

Your prophecy failed,--I should happiness find,

When the fairest of flowers I had found in the land.

Ah! happiness here I have found!

ALFHILD.  I prophesied nothing.

But--tell me more of the life that is yonder!

OLAF.  The life that is yonder may go its own way;

Here is my home; with you will I wander,

My lovely wife!  Alfhild, behold!

Is it not as if here in the mountainous fold

Were built for us two a bower so fair!

The snowdrops in splendor stand garbed everywhere;

In here there is feasting, there is joy, there is mirth,

More real than any I have found on this earth!

The song rings out from the river so deep;

It is that which makes me both laugh and weep!

The song of magic, the mysterious lay,

Has made me so free, so happy and gay!

[Seizes her passionately in his arms.]

OLAF.  Farewell to the village below I say!

'Tis here that my bridal-bed I shall prepare;

Farewell to the world forever and ay,--

For here I shall hold my beautiful bride!

ALFHILD.  [Moves away apprehensively.]  Olaf!

OLAF.  [Stops suddenly, as if seized with a vague and painful

remembrance.]  My bride!  What is it I say!

Tell me--when first--I happened this way--

Can you still remember the very first night?

What was it I sought?--No longer I know!

Did I come to fetch you--to--the village below?

Did I come the wedding guests to invite?

ALFHILD.  What mean you?  Wedding?  I can't understand--?

OLAF.  Our betrothal at Guldvik was held, you remember!

For three weeks thereafter our wedding was planned--

But it seems to me that,--no, my brow like an ember

Burns hot!  I will try no more to remember!

CHORUS.  [Softly and far in the forest.]

Olaf Liljekrans!  Olaf Liljekrans!

Why sleep you so deep and so long?

ALFHILD.  Hush, Olaf! do you hear?

OLAF.  Did you hear it too?

ALFHILD.  What was it?

OLAF.  A memory of long ago,

Which often comes back when I wander with you!

'Tis evil,--it calls from the village below.

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Aside, as she enters from the rear of the stage

unobserved by the others.]

Ah, there!  He speaks; could I understand--!

[Approaches listening.]

OLAF.  [With increasing vehemence.]

Yes, yes, I come; not alone will I ride!

For ladies and knights shall heed my command,

And come hither with song to greet my bride!

For you shall be saddled my swiftest steed,

The poet and minstrel shall ride in the lead,

Thereafter shall follow the steward and priest,

The people shall all be bid to the feast!

Pages so courtly shall guide your steed,

And beautiful flowers be strewn at your feet,

The peasant shall bow to the ground like a weed,

His wife shall curtsy to you as is meet!

The church bell shall ring to the countryside:

Now rides Olaf Liljekrans home with his bride!

CHORUS OF WEDDING GUESTS.  [Animated, yet softly, in the forest

to the left.]

  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.  [Aside during the chorus.]

Heaven he praised then!  Hemming has told--!

ALFHILD.  [Jubilant.]

They come, they come, their voices I hear!

How sweetly it sounds!  O Olaf, behold!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Olaf, my son!

[Rushes to him unobserved by ALFHILD, who continues to look out

to the left.]

OLAF.  God help me!  What's here!

My mother!

LADY KIRSTEN.  My poor unfortunate son!

Now are you saved from the evil one!

There comes Lord Arne with Ingeborg, your wife!

OLAF.  [With a cry and as if suddenly awakening.]

Ingeborg!--With that have you shattered my life!

My happiness then was not what it seemed!

Alas, that you had to inform me of this!

OLAF.  [In despair.]

Dear mother! a beautiful dream I have dreamed;

You waken me now,--there's an end to my bliss!

[The Preceding.  ARNE, INGEBORG, HEMMING, WEDDING

GUESTS, and LADY KIRSTEN from the left.]

ARNE.  Good luck, Lady Kirsten, to you!  You have found him

again, I am told.

LADY KIRSTEN.  Of course I have found him.--And now for home!

ARNE.  [To OLAF.]  And no harm has been done you?

OLAF.  [Absent-minded.]  Me!  What do you mean?

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Interrupting.]  Of course not, Lord Arne!  He

went astray on the hunt and--

INGEBORG.  [Pointing to ALFHILD.]  But this young woman--?

LADY KIRSTEN.  A poor child!  She has given him lodging and

shelter.

ARNE.  But there is no one who lives up here.

LADY KIRSTEN.  Yet a stray one here and there!  There is many a

solitary family still dwells among the mountains since the time

of the plague.

ARNE.  Then come, come!  The horses are waiting below on the

hill.

OLAF.  [Painfully, as he glances at ALFHILD.]  O mother! I

cannot!

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Softly and resolute.]  You must!  It will be your

eternal shame if you--

ARNE.  What does he mean?

LADY KIRSTEN.  He is sick and tired as yet, but it will pass off.

Come!

LADY KIRSTEN.  [With a significant look at OLAF.]  The young

woman comes too!

INGEBORG.  You mean that she--!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Faithfully has she nursed him; it is only fitting

that she be rewarded.

ARNE.  And tomorrow the wedding is held!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Tomorrow,--that I solemnly swear!

ARNE.  I have your word!

HEMMING.  [Softly and triumphant, as he brings forth the ring.]

And I have Ingeborg's golden ring!

INGEBORG.  [Takes the ring from him and says carelessly.]

My ring!  Aha,--so you have my ring, Hemming!  Thanks, I shall

now take care of it myself!

[HEMMING stands a moment dumfounded and then follows very slowly

the rest, who all except ALFHILD go out to the left.]

[ALFHILD.  Shortly afterwards THORGJERD from the

background.]

ALFHILD.  (Has observed in silent and childlike amazement

                the preceding scene without however heeding the

                action; when they are gone she suddenly comes to

                herself as from a dream.)

They are gone!  Can I trust my eyes;--is it true?

Yes, here in the moonlight they stood in full view!

There I see them again down the mountain side,

And I must go with them, for I am the bride!

[Starts as if to rush out to the left.]

THORGJERD.  [In the background.]

Alfhild! my child!  And how come you here?

I have told you before--

ALFHILD.  O my father dear!

Now must I be free--as free as the wind,

No longer can I in the hills be confined!

THORGJERD.  [Comes nearer.]  What has befallen you?

ALFHILD.  [In ecstasy.]  Now is he come!

THORGJERD.  But who?

ALFHILD.  The fair knight!  He will carry me home!

Now first do I grasp all the restless desire,

That long has been smouldering in me like fire!

We often have sat, as the river rushed by,

While you sang of