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

will be merciful to you!

                LADY KIRSTEN

                (Turns to the rest.)

You all know the old custom, that when a woman is sentenced to

death for a capital offence, as she is, her life will be saved

and she will be free if an irreproachable man comes forth and

upholds her innocence and declares himself ready and willing to

marry her.  That custom you know?

ALL.  Yes, yes!

ALFHILD.  [Bursting into tears.]  O, to be mocked,--mocked so

terribly in my last hour!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Well then, Alfhild!  This custom you shall have

the benefit of.  If the most humble man in my company comes forth

and declares himself willing to marry you, then are you free.

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Looks about.]  Is there no one who applies?

[All are silent.]

LADY KIRSTEN.  Give her the silver crown; that shall go in the

bargain; perhaps, Alfhild, you will then rise in value!

[The crown is placed on ALFHILD's head.]

LADY KIRSTEN.  For the second time I ask,--is any one willing to

save her?

[She looks about.  All are silent.]

LADY KIRSTEN.  Now for it; I am afraid your moments are numbered.

Hear me well, you servants up there!  Should no one answer my

third call, then do you watch for a sign from me and cast her

into the lake!  Use now your arts, Alfhild!  See if you can

conjure yourself free from death.

LADY KIRSTEN.  [With a loud voice.]  For the last time!  There

stands the witch and incendiary!  Who will save and marry her?

[She looks about.  All are silent.--LADY KIRSTEN raises her hand

quickly as a signal, the Servants seize ALFHILD; in the same

moment OLAF rushes out on the ledge in full wedding garb.]

OLAF.  I will save and marry her!

[He thrusts the SERVANTS aside and unbinds her.  ALFHILD sinks

with a cry on his bosom; he puts his left arm around her and

raises his right arm threateningly in the air.]

ALL.  [Stand as if turned to stone.]  Olaf Liljekrans!

LADY KIRSTEN.  Olaf Liljekrans, my son!  What have you done?

Disgraced yourself for all time!

OLAF.  No, I blot out the shame and disgrace which I brought on

myself by my treatment of her!  My sin I shall expiate and make

myself happy the while!

OLAF.  [Brings ALFHILD forward.]  Yes, before all of you I

solemnly proclaim this young woman my bride!  She is innocent of

all that has been charged against her; I only have transgressed.

[Kneels before her.]

OLAF.  And at your feet I beg you to forget and forgive--

ALFHILD.  [Raises him.]  Ah, Olaf!  You have given me back all

the glory of the world!

LADY KIRSTEN.  You will marry her!  Well and good; then am I no

longer a mother to you!

OLAF.  You will cause me great sorrow, although it is now long

since that you were a real mother to me.  You used me merely to

build aloft your own pride, and I was weak and acquiesced.  But

now have I won power and will; now I stand firmly on my own feet

and lay the foundation of my own happiness!

LADY KIRSTEN.  But do you stop to consider--

OLAF.  Nothing will I now consider,--I know what I want.  Now

first I understand my strange dream.  It was prophesied of me

that I was to find the fairest of flowers,--that I was to tear it

asunder and strew it to all the winds.  O, thus it has happened!

A woman's heart is the fairest flower in the world; all its rich

and golden leaves I have torn asunder and scattered to the winds.

But be of good cheer, my Alfhild!  Many a seed has gone too, and

sorrow has ripened it, and from it shall grow a rich life for us

here in the valley; for here shall we live and be happy!

ALFHILD.  O, now I am happy as in the first hour we met.

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Aside.]  Ingeborg is gone; this rich valley

belongs to Alfhild,--no one else has a claim to it--

LADY KIRSTEN.  [Aloud.]  Well, Olaf!  I shall not stand in the

way of your happiness.  If you think you will find it in this

way, then--well, then you have my consent!

OLAF.  Thanks, mother, thanks!  Now I lack nothing more!

ALFHILD.  [To LADY KIRSTEN.]  And me you forgive all my sin?

LADY KIRSTEN.  Yes, yes!  Perhaps I too was wrong,--let us not

say any more of that!

ARNE.  But I, then?  And my daughter, whom Olaf had pledged--Yet,

it is true, perhaps she is no longer alive!

OLAF.  Of course she's alive!

ARNE.  She lives!  Where is she?  Where?

OLAF.  That I can not say; but I may say that we both in all

friendliness have broken our pledge.

LADY KIRSTEN.  You see, Lord Arne! that I--

ARNE.  Well, my daughter shall not be forced upon any one.

Alfhild was fated to marry a knight; the same may happen to

Ingeborg.

ARNE.  [With dignity.]  Noble lords and honorable men, hear me!

It has come to my ear that many of you hold me to be little

skilled in courtly manners and customs.  I will show you now you

are completely mistaken.  In the old chronicles it is frequently

told that when a noble king loses his daughter he promises her

hand and half his kingdom to him who may find her; he who finds

Ingeborg shall receive her hand in marriage and in addition half

of all that I own and possess.  Are you with me on that?

THE YOUNG MEN.  Yes, yes!

[The Preceding.  INGEBORG comes hurriedly out of the

hut and pulls HEMMING behind her.]

INGEBORG.  Here I am!  Hemming has found me!

ALL.  [ASTONISHED]  Ingeborg and Hemming!  Up here!

ARNE.  [Irritated.]  Ah, then shall--

INGEBORG.  [Throws herself about his neck.]  O father, father!

It will not avail you; you have given your word!

ARNE.  But that did not apply to him!  Now I see it all right; he

has taken you away himself.

INGEBORG.  No, to the contrary, father!  It was I who took him

away!

ARNE.  [Frightened.]  Will you be silent with such words!  Are

you out of your head?

INGEBORG.  [Softly.]  Then say "yes" right here on the spot!

Otherwise I shall proclaim to all people that it was I who--

ARNE.  Hush, hush!  I am saying "yes"!

[Steps between them and looks sternly at HEMMING.]

ARNE.  It was you then who stole my dapple-gray horse with saddle

and bridle?

HEMMING.  Alas, Lord Arne!--

ARNE.  O Hemming!  Hemming!  You are a--

[Stops to consider.]

ARNE.  Well, you are my daughter's betrothed; let it all be

forgotten.

HEMMING AND INGEBORG.  O, thanks, thanks!

[The Preceding.  THORGJERD with a harp in his hand has

during the foregoing mingled with the people.]

THORGJERD.  Aye, see, see!  A multitude of people in the valley

today!

THE PEASANTS.  Thorgjerd, the fiddler!

ALFHILD.  [Throws herself in his arms.]  My father!

ALL.  Her father!

OLAF.  Yes, yes, old man!  There are people and merriment in here

today, and hereafter it shall always be thus.  It is your

daughter's wedding we are celebrating; for love has she chosen

her betrothed, of love have you sung for her,--you will not stand

in our way!

THORGJERD.  May all good spirits guard you well!

ALFHILD.  And you will remain with us!

THORGJERD.  No, no, Alfhild!

A minstrel has never a place to rest,

His soul fares afar, he forever must roam!

For he who has music deep down in his breast,

Is never in mountains or lowlands at home;

In the meadows green, in the sheltering bower,

He must touch the strings and sing every hour,

He must watch for the life that lives in the shower,

Beneath the wild fjord, in the rushing stream,

Must watch for the life that beats in the soul,

And clothe in music what people but dream,

And give voice to its sorrow and dole!

OLAF.  But sometime you will surely visit us here!

Now shall 'mid the birches a hall be erected;

Here, my Alfhild! shall you be protected.

I and my love will always be near,

No more shall your eye be dimmed with a tear!

ALFHILD.  Yes, now I see,--life is precious and kind!

Rich as the fairest dream of the mind!

So dreary and black is never our sorrow,--

'Tis followed sometime by a bright sunny morrow!

ALFHILD.  [Kneels.]  O angels of God! you have led me aright,

Again you have granted me solace and bliss!

You guided my wandering past the abyss,

You steadied my foot that was weak and slight!

O, if with my mind I cannot understand,--

With my heart I'll believe to the last!

Yes, heavenly powers!  You still watch o'er the land!

Clear is the sun when the dark storm is passed;--

From death and destruction my love did you save:

So now then let happen what may!

For now I am cheerful, now am I brave,

Ready for life and its motley affray!

ALFHILD.  [With a glance at OLAF.]  And when we at length--

[She pauses and stretches her arms above her head.]

ALFHILD.  by the angels of love

Are borne to our home in the heavens above!

[The rest have formed a group around her; the curtain falls.]

Publication Date: 12-03-2014

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