FALK.A home?
SVANHILD.Where Joy would gasp in mortal strife.[Firmly.It was not given to me to be your wife.That is the clear conviction of my heart!In courtship's merry pastime I can lead,But not sustain your spirit in its need.[Nearer and gathering fire.Now we have revell'd out a feast of spring;No thought of slumber's sluggard couch come nigh!Let Joy amid delirious song make wingAnd flock with choirs of cherubim on high.And tho' the vessel of our fate capsize,One plank yet breasts the waters, strong to save;—The fearless swimmer reaches Paradise!Let Joy go down into his watery grave;Our Love shall yet triumph, by God's hand,Be borne from out the wreckage safe to land!
FALK.O, I divine thee! But—to sever thus!Now, when the portals of the world stand wide,—When the blue spring is bending over us,On the same day that plighted thee my bride!
SVANHILD.Just therefore must we part. Our joy's torch fireWill from this moment wane till it expire!And when at last our worldly days are spent,And face to face with our great Judge we stand,And, as righteous God, he shall demandOf us the earthly treasure that he lent—Then, Falk, we cry—past power of Grace to save—"O Lord, we lost it going to the grave!"
FALK [with strong resolve].Pluck off the ring!
SVANHILD [with fire].Wilt thou?
FALK.Now I divine!Thus and no otherwise canst thou be mine!As the grave opens into life's Dawn-fire,So Love with Life may not espoused beTill, loosed from longing and from wild desire,Pluck off the ring, Svanhild!
SVANHILD [in rapture].My task is done!Now I have filled thy soul with song and sun.Forth! Now thou soarest on triumphant wings,—Forth! Now thy Svanhild is the swan that sings![Takes off the ring and presses a kiss upon it.To the abysmal ooze of ocean bedDescend, my dream!—I fling thee in its stead!
[Goes a few steps back, throws the ring into thefjord, and approaches FALK with a transfiguredexpression.
Now for this earthly life I have foregone thee,—But for the life eternal I have won thee!
FALK [firmly].And now to the day's duties, each, alone.Our paths no more will mingle. Each must wageHis warfare single-handed, without moan.We caught the fevered frenzy of the age,Fain without fighting to secure the spoil,Win Sabbath ease, and shirk the six days' toil,Tho' we are called to strive and to forego.
SVANHILD.But not in sickness.
FALK.Tho' quenched were all the light of earth and sky,—The thought of light is God, and cannot die.
SVANHILD [withdrawing towards the background].Farewell! [Goes further.
FALK.Farewell—gladly I cry again—[Waves his hat.Hurrah for love, God's glorious gift to men!
[The door opens. FALK withdraws to the right; theyounger guests come out with merry laughter.
THE YOUNG GIRLS.A lawn dance!
A YOUNG GIRL.Dancing's life!
ANOTHER.A garland spreadWith dewy blossoms fresh on every head!
SEVERAL.Yes, to the dance, the dance!
ALL.And ne'er to bed!
[STIVER comes out with STRAWMAN arm in arm. MRS.STRAWMAN and the children follow.
STIVER.Yes, you and I henceforward are fast friends.
STRAWMAN.Allied in battle for our common ends.
STIVER.When the twin forces of the State agree—
STRAWMAN.They add to all men's—
STIVER [hastily].Gains!
STRAWMAN.And gaiety.
[MRS. HALM, LIND, ANNA, GULDSTAD, and MISS JAY,with the other guests, come out. All eyes areturned upon FALK and SVANHILD. General amazementwhen they are seen standing apart.
MISS JAY [among the AUNTS, clasping her hands].What! Am I awake or dreaming, pray?
LIND [who has noticed nothing].I have a brother's compliments to pay.
[He, with the other guests, approaches FALK, butstarts involuntarily and steps back on lookingat him.
What is the matter with you? You're a JanusWith double face!
FALK [smiling].I cry, like old Montanus,(6)The earth is flat, Messieurs;—by optics lied;Flat as a pancake—are you satisfied?[Goes quickly out to the right.
MISS JAY.Refused!
THE AUNTS.Refused!
MRS. HALM.Hush, ladies, if you please![Goes across to SVANHILD.
MRS. STRAWMAN [to STRAWMAN].Fancy, refused!
STRAWMAN.It cannot be!
MISS JAY.It is!
THE LADIES [from mouth to mouth].Refused! Refused! Refused!
[They gather in little groups about the garden.
STIVER [dumfounded].He courting? How?
STRAWMAN.Yes, think! He laugh'd at us, ha, ha—but now—
[They gaze at each other speechless.
ANNA [to LIND].That's good! He was too horrid, to be sure!
LIND [embracing her].Hurrah, now thou art mine, entire and whole.
[They go outside into the garden.
GULDSTAD [looking back towards SVANHILD].Something is shattered in a certain soul;But what is yet alive in it I'll cure.
STRAWMAN [recovering himself and embracing STIVER].Now then, you can be very well contentedTo have your dearfianceefor a spouse.
STIVER.And you complacently can see your houseWith little Strawmans every year augmented.
STRAWMAN [Rubbing his hands with satisfaction and lookingafter FALK].Insolent fellow! Well, it served him right;—Would all these knowing knaves were in his plight!
[They go across in conversation; MRS. HALMapproaches with SVANHILD.
MRS. HALM [aside eagerly].And nothing binds you?
SVANHILD.Nothing.
MRS. HALM.Good, you knowA daughter's duty—
SVANHILD.Guide me, I obey.
MRS. HALM.Thanks, child. [Pointing to GULDSTAD.He is rich andcomme il fautParti; and since there's nothing in the way—
SVANHILD.Yes, there is one condition I require!—To leave this place.
MRS. HALM.Precisely his desire.
SVANHILD.And time—
MRS. HALM.How long? Bethink you, fortune's calling!
SVANHILD [with a quiet smile].Only a little; till the leaves are falling.
[She goes towards the verandah; MRS. HALM seeksout GULDSTAD.
STRAWMAN [among the guests].One lesson, friends, we learn from this example!Tho' Doubt's beleaguering forces hem us in,The Truth upon the Serpents's head shall trample,The cause of Love shall win—
GUESTS.Yes, Love shall win!
[They embrace and kiss, pair by pair. Outside tothe left are heard song and laughter.
MISS JAY.What can this mean?
ANNA.The students!
LIND.The quartette,Bound for the mountains;—and I quite forgotTo tell them—
[The STUDENTS come in to the left and remainstanding at the entrance.
A STUDENT [to LIND].Here we are on the spot!
MRS. HALM.It's Lind you seek, then?
MISS JAY.That's unfortunate.He's just engaged—
AN AUNT.And so, you may be sure,He cannot think of going on a tour.
THE STUDENTS.Engaged!
ALL THE STUDENTS.Congratulations!
LIND [to his comrades].Thanks, my friends!
THE STUDENT [to his comrades].There goes our whole fish-kettle in the fire!Our tenor lost! No possible amends!
FALK [Coming from the right, in summer suit, with student's cap, knapsack and stick.I'llsing the tenor in young Norway's choir!
THE STUDENTS.You, Falk! hurrah!
FALK.Forth to the mountains, come!As the bee hurries from her winter home!A twofold music in my breast I bear,A cither with diversely sounding strings,One for life's joy, a treble loud and clear,And one deep note that quivers as it sings.[To individuals among the STUDENTS.You have the palette?—You the note-book? Good,Swarm then, my bees, into the leafy wood,Till at night-fall with pollen-laden thigh,Home to our mighty mother-queen we fly!
[Turning to the company, while the STUDENTS depart andand the Chorus of the First Act is faintly heard outside.
Forgive me my offences great and small, I resent nothing;— [Softly. but remember all.
STRAWMAN [beaming with happiness].Now fortune's garden once again is green!My wife has hopes,—a sweet presentiment—[Draws him whispering apart.She lately whispered of a glad event—[Inaudible words intervene.If all goes well . . . at Michaelmas . . . thirteen!
STIVER [With MISS JAY on his arm, turning to FALK, smiles triumphantly, and says, pointing to STRAWMAN: I'm going to start a household, flush of pelf!
MISS JAY [with an ironical courtesy].I shall put on my wedding-ring next Yule.
ANNA [similarly, as she takes LIND's arm].My Lind will stay, the Church can mind itself—
LIND [hiding his embarrassment].And seek an opening in a ladies' school.
MRS. HALM.I cultivate my Anna's capabilities—
GULDSTAD [gravely].An unromantic poem I mean to makeOf one who only lives for duty's sake.
FALK [with a smile to the whole company].I go to scale the Future's possibilities!Farewell! [Softly to SVANHILD.God bless thee, bride of my life's dawn,Where'er I be, to nobler deed thou'lt wake me.
[Waves his hat and follows the STUDENTS.
SVANHILD [Looks after him a moment, then says softly but firmly:Now over is my life, by lea and lawn,The leaves are falling;—now the world may take me.
[At this moment the piano strikes up a dance, and champagne corks explode in the background. The gentlemen hurry to and fro with their ladies on their arms. GULDSTAD approaches SVANHILD and bows: she starts momentarily, then collects herself and gives him her hand. MRS. HALM and her family, who have watched the scene in suspense, throng about them with expressions of rapture, which are overpowered by the music and the merriment of the dancers in the garden.
[But from the country the following chorus rings loud and defiant through the dance music:
And what if I shattered my roaming bark,It was passing sweet to be roaming!
MOST OF THE COMPANY.Hurrah!
[Dance and merriment; the curtain falls.
1. "William Russel." An original historic tragedy, found upon the career of the ill-fated Lord William Russell, by Andreas Munch, cousin of the historian P. A. Munch. It was produced at Christiania in 1857, the year of Ibsen's return from Bergen, and reviewed by him in theIllusteret Nyhedsbladfor that year, Nos. 61 and 52. Professor Johan Storm of Christiania, to whose kindness I owe these particulars, adds that "it is rather a fine play and created a certain sensation in its time; but Munch is forgotten."
2.A grey old stager. Ibsen's friend P. Botten-Hansen, author of the playHyldrebryllupet.
3.A Svanhild like the old. In the tale of the Volsungs Svanhild was the daughter of Sigurd and Gudrun,—theSiegfriedand Kriemhild ofNibelungenlied. The fierce King Jormunrek, hearing of her matchless beauty, sends his son Randwer to woo her in his name. Randwer is, however, induced to woo her in his own, and the girl approves. Jormunrek thereupon causes Randwer to be arrested and hanged, and meeting with Svanhild, as he and his men ride home from the hunt, tramples her to death under their horses' hoofs. Gudrun incites her sons Sorli and Hamdir to avenge their sister: they boldly enter Jormunrek's hall, and succeed in cutting off his hands and feet, but are themselves slain by his men. This last dramatic episode is told in the EddicHamthismol.
4.In the remotest east there grows a plant. The germ of the famous tea-simile is due to Fru Collett's romance, "The Officials Daughters" (cf. Introduction, p. ix.). But she exploits the idea only under a single and obvious aspect, viz., the comparison of the tender bloom of love with the precious firstling blade which brews the quintessential tea for the Chinese emperor's table; what the world calls love being, like what it calls tea a coarse and flavourless after-crop. Ibsen has, it will be seen given a number of ingenious developments to the analogy. I know Fru Collett's work only through the accounts of it given by Brandes and Jaeger.
5.Another Burns. In the original: "Dolen" ("The Dalesman"), that is A. O. Vinje, Ibsen's friend and literary comrade, editor of the journal so-called and hence known familiarly by its name. See the Introduction.
6.Like Old Montanus. The hero of Holberg's comedyErasmus Montanus, who returns from foreign travel to his native parish with the discovery that the world isnotflat. Public indignation is aroused, and Montanus finds it expedient to announce that his eyes had deceived him, that "the worldisflat, gentlemen."