[1]Peder Jacobsson Sunnanväder, bishop at Vesterås, and his archdeacon, Master Knut, both members of the old Catholic clergy, tried to raise the Dalecarlians against the King in 1524-5, when his hold on the new throne was still very precarious. The False Sture was a young Dalecarlian named John Hansson, who had acquired gentle manners as a servant in noble houses and who posed as the natural son of Sten Sture the Younger, "National Director" of Sweden until 1520. This pretender, who headed another Dalecarlian uprising in 1527, figures also in Ibsen's early historical drama, "Lady Inger." The taking of the church-bells mentioned by Mons Nilsson's wife took place in 1531 and resulted in the killing of several of the King's representatives by the Dalecarlians.
[1]Peder Jacobsson Sunnanväder, bishop at Vesterås, and his archdeacon, Master Knut, both members of the old Catholic clergy, tried to raise the Dalecarlians against the King in 1524-5, when his hold on the new throne was still very precarious. The False Sture was a young Dalecarlian named John Hansson, who had acquired gentle manners as a servant in noble houses and who posed as the natural son of Sten Sture the Younger, "National Director" of Sweden until 1520. This pretender, who headed another Dalecarlian uprising in 1527, figures also in Ibsen's early historical drama, "Lady Inger." The taking of the church-bells mentioned by Mons Nilsson's wife took place in 1531 and resulted in the killing of several of the King's representatives by the Dalecarlians.
[2]In 1520 Christian II of Denmark made a temporarily successful effort to bring Sweden back into the union with the other two Scandinavian kingdoms. Having defeated the Swedish "National Director," Sten Sture the Younger, and been admitted to the city of Stockholm, he caused about eighty of the most influential members of the Swedish nobility to be beheaded in a single day. That was the "Blood-bath of Stockholm," by which King Gustavus lost his father and brother-in-law. On the same occasion his mother and sister were imprisoned, and both died before they could be set free.
[2]In 1520 Christian II of Denmark made a temporarily successful effort to bring Sweden back into the union with the other two Scandinavian kingdoms. Having defeated the Swedish "National Director," Sten Sture the Younger, and been admitted to the city of Stockholm, he caused about eighty of the most influential members of the Swedish nobility to be beheaded in a single day. That was the "Blood-bath of Stockholm," by which King Gustavus lost his father and brother-in-law. On the same occasion his mother and sister were imprisoned, and both died before they could be set free.
[3]Långheden is a wooded upland plain on the southern border of Dalecarlia. Brunbeck Ferry or Ford was for centuries the main crossing point of the Dal River for all who entered the province of Dalecarlia from the south. Rendered arrogant by the part they had played in the wars of liberation between 1434 and 1524, the Dalecarlians had established a claim that not even the King himself had the right to pass those two border points at the head of an armed force without first having obtained their permission.
[3]Långheden is a wooded upland plain on the southern border of Dalecarlia. Brunbeck Ferry or Ford was for centuries the main crossing point of the Dal River for all who entered the province of Dalecarlia from the south. Rendered arrogant by the part they had played in the wars of liberation between 1434 and 1524, the Dalecarlians had established a claim that not even the King himself had the right to pass those two border points at the head of an armed force without first having obtained their permission.
FIRST SCENE
The office ofHERMAN ISRAEL.A large room, the walls of which are covered by cupboards. Door in the rear; doors in both side walls; few windows, and these very small. A fireplace on the left-hand side. A large table in the middle of the floor; armchairs about it. Above the rear door and the fireplace appears the coat of arms of Luebeck, in black, red, and silver.At the right, a desk with writing material and a pair of scales. The room contains also several sets of shelves filled with goods in bundles.One of the cupboard doors stands open, disclosing a number of altar vessels of gold and silver.MARCUSis weighing some of the vessels at the desk, whileDAVIDis noting down the weights given him.
The office ofHERMAN ISRAEL.A large room, the walls of which are covered by cupboards. Door in the rear; doors in both side walls; few windows, and these very small. A fireplace on the left-hand side. A large table in the middle of the floor; armchairs about it. Above the rear door and the fireplace appears the coat of arms of Luebeck, in black, red, and silver.
At the right, a desk with writing material and a pair of scales. The room contains also several sets of shelves filled with goods in bundles.
One of the cupboard doors stands open, disclosing a number of altar vessels of gold and silver.
MARCUSis weighing some of the vessels at the desk, whileDAVIDis noting down the weights given him.
MARCUS. A crucifix of silver, gilded; weighs twelve ounces.
DAVID. [Writing] Twelve ounces....
MARCUS. Item: a monstrance of gold—a perfect thumper. Weighs.... Let me see now.... Oh, it's hollow—and the base is filled with lead.... Put down a question-mark.
DAVID. Question-mark it is.
MARCUS. A paten of silver—well, I don't know. [He tests the vessel with his teeth] It tastes like copper at least. Put it down as "white metallic substance."
DAVID. White metallic substance.—Do you think those rustics are cheating us?
MARCUS. Us? Nobody can cheat us!
DAVID. Don't be too certain. Niegels Bröms, the goldsmith, says that interlopers from Holland are going through the country selling church vessels full of coggery, probably meant to be exchanged for the genuine goods.
MARCUS. We'll have to get it back on the bells, which contain a lot of silver, according to old traditions.
DAVID. The bells—yes, they were to go to Luebeck, but instead they are going to the royal gun-foundry to be cast into culverins and bombards.
MARCUS. So it is said. If only the Dalecarlians knew of it, they would come galloping across the border forests, I suppose.
DAVID. I think their galloping came to an end with the recent fall slaughter.
MARCUS. No, there will be no end to it while the two blackest rogues are still at leisure....
DAVID. You mean Mons Nilsson of Aspeboda and Anders Persson of Rankhyttan, who are still hanging about the town, hoping to get an audience with the King?
MARCUS. Those are the ones.
DAVID. Calling them rogues is rather an exaggeration, and our Principal seems to put great store on them.
MARCUS. Now, David, don't forget the first and last duty of a Hanseatic clerk—which is to keep his mouth closed. And bear in mind the number of talkative young fellows who have vanished for ever through water-gates and cellar holes. You had better remember!
DAVID. I'll try, although it seems about time for the Hansa itself to be thinking of the great silence. [Pause.
MARCUS. Do you know where the Principal is?
DAVID. With the King, I suppose, taking an inventory of Eskil's Chamber.[1]
JACOB ISRAEL. [Enters; he is the son ofHERMAN ISRAEL;a richly dressed young man, carrying a racket in his hand; his forehead is bandaged] Is my father here?
MARCUS. No, he is not. I think the Principal is with the King.
JACOB. Then I'll sit down here and wait. Go on with your writing. I won't disturb you.
[He seats himself at the big table.
[He seats himself at the big table.
PRINCE ERIC. [Enters; he is somewhat older thanJACOB] Why did you leave me, Jacob?
JACOB. I was tired of playing.
ERIC. I don't think that was the reason. Some one offended you—some one who is not my friend.
JACOB. No one has offended me, Prince, but I have such a strong feeling that I ought not to appear at court.
ERIC. Oh, Jacob, my friend, why do you cease to call your old schoolmate by name? And why do you look at me like a stranger? Give me your hand You won't? And I, who have been lonely and deserted ever since my mother died; who am hated by my stepmother, by my father, and by my half-brother; I am begging for the friendship which you gave me once and which you are now taking back.
JACOB. I am not taking back anything, Eric, but we are not allowed to be friends. The fact that we two, as mere boys, formed ties of friendship that were nursed by common sufferings, has been ignored or tolerated by our fathers so far. Now, when you are about to marry a foreign princess and take possession of a duchy, it has been deemed politic to separate us.
ERIC. Your words are stilted, as if you meant to hide your own thoughts, but your feelings are not to be concealed....
JACOB. Pardon me, Eric, but this is not the place for a conversation like this....
ERIC. Because this is a place for trading, you mean—as if the parties to such a transaction were degraded by it? I don't object to it, although I am rather inclined to think the seller more broad-minded than the buyer.
JACOBindicates by a gesture the presence of the two clerks.
JACOBindicates by a gesture the presence of the two clerks.
ERIC. Oh, let them hear. Marcus and I are old friends, and we met at the Blue Dove last night.
JACOB. Ugh! Why do you visit a vulgar place like that, Prince?
ERIC. Where can I go? I have no one to talk with at home; and it seems to me, for that matter, that people are equally good or bad everywhere—although I prefer what is generally called bad company.—Do you know John Andersson?
JACOB. [Embarrassed] I have never heard his name even. Who is he?
MARCUSandDAVIDgo quietly out to the left.
MARCUSandDAVIDgo quietly out to the left.
ERIC. A man from Småland who is full of sensible ideas.—Do you still need to have your forehead bandaged?
JACOB. Do you think I wear the bandage as an ornament, or as a souvenir of the city mob?
ERIC. You should not bear a grudge against the good folk because some scamp has misbehaved himself.
JACOB. I don't, my friend, and I know perfectly well what a stranger must expect in a hostile country. If you come to Luebeck, you will see how they stone Swedes.
ERIC. You talk just like Jorghen Persson. Do you know him?
JACOB. I don't.
ERIC. He looks at everything in the same way as you do.
JACOB. How do you mean?
ERIC. He thinks every one is right, and that whatever happens isjuste. There is something sensible and enlightened in his view of life. That's why my father hates him....
JACOB. Don't talk badly of your father. It sounds dreadful—if you will pardon me!
ERIC. But if he acts badly, why shouldn't I say so? And I hate him, for that matter!
JACOB. Don't say that—don't! The greatness of your royal father is so boundless that you can't grasp it.
ERIC. It only looks that way—I know! Last night he came up to me and put his arm around my shoulders—for the first time in my life—and I, who have been living in the belief that I barely came up to his hip, found to my surprise that I am as tall as he. But as soon as I looked at him from a distance again, he grew taller and turned into a giant.
JACOB. That's what he is. And he resembles one of Buonarotti's prophets—Isaiah, I think. And, verily, the Lord on high is with him.
ERIC. Do you really believe in God?
JACOB. Are you not ashamed of yourself?
ERIC. Well, what are you to believe in times like these, when kings and priests persecute the faithful and profane everything that used to be held sacred. And yet they call themselves "defenders of the faith."
JACOB. Can't we talk of something else? Please, let us!
ERIC. That's what the King always says when I go after him, and for that reason I hate him still more—as he hates me! Do you know that it was your father who brought my mother to him from Lauenburg?[2]
JACOB. No, I didn't know that.
ERIC. Yes, but the marriage turned out badly. They hated each other beyond all bounds—and one day [he rises in a state of great agitation] I saw him raise his stick against her—[roaring out the words] against my mother—and he struck her! That day I lost my youth[3]—and I can never forgive him—never!
JACOB. [Leaps to his feet and put his arms aboutEric] Look at me, Eric! Look at me! I have a stepmother, too—who is always tormenting me when I am at home—but hush, hush! If it can help you to hear that I am worse off than you—very much worse—then—you know it now! Remember that it won't last for ever, as we are growing up to freedom....
ERIC. And you don't hate her?
JACOB. Such a feeling has no place beside the new one that is now filling my soul.
ERIC. That means—you are in love.
JACOB. That's what we may call it.... And when your own time comes, you, too, will see your hatred change form and vanish.
ERIC. I wonder!—Perhaps you are right The lovelessness in which I was born and brought up has turned into a flame that is consuming my soul. My blood was poisoned at my birth, and I doubt the existence of an antidote.... Why do you leave me?
JACOB. Because ... because we are not allowed to be friends—because we cannot be friends.
ERIC. Do you think me so vile?
JACOB. No, no!—But I mustn't say anything more. Let us part. I shall always watch your fate with sympathy, for I think you were born to misfortune.
ERIC. What makes you utter what I have thought so many times?—Do you know that I was also born to be in the way? I stand in the way of my father's desire to see Johan on the throne. I stand in the way of his wish to forget the hated German woman. My mind has not the true Swedish quality, and the fault lies in my German blood. Although I am a Vasa, I am Saxony, too, and Lauenburg, and Brunswick. I am so little of a Swede that it gives me pleasure when the free city of Luebeck imposes a penal tax on my country—and keeps it humiliated.
JACOB. [Looking hard at him] Is that the truth, or do you merely talk like that out of politeness?
ERIC. [Puts his hand to his sword, bid regains self-control immediately] Do you notice how much I love you, seeing that I pardon such a question?—Yes, my friend, the first words taught me by my mother were German, and in German I learned to say my evening prayers—that old and beautiful "Heil dir, Maria, Mutter Gottes".... Oh, that time—that time.... [He weeps] Oh, damn it! I am crying, I think!—Come to the Blue Dove to-night, Jacob There you'll find Rhine wine and merry maidens! Jorghen will be there, too. He's a man you should know.
JACOB. [Coldly and shrewdly] I—shall—come.
ERIC. Thank you, friend! [Rising] Really, the place has a look of pawn-shop.
JACOB. [Sharply] That was just what I had in mind before.
ERIC. Well, then we agree to that extent at least. Until to-night, then! Do you know Agda?
JACOB. [Brusquely] No!
ERIC. [Haughtily, giving him two fingers to shake,JACOBpretending not to notice it] Farewell!—What became of those two little pawnbrokers?
JACOBdoes not answer.
JACOBdoes not answer.
ERIC. [Arrogantly] Good-bye, then, Baruch!—Have you read the Book of Baruch?
Going toward the background, he jingles the altar vessels as he passes them.
Going toward the background, he jingles the altar vessels as he passes them.
"The ring of gold, and rattling dice,And wine brings light to tipsy eyes.But in the night that light must lack,To wenches leads each crooked track."
That's a good one, isn't it? I made it myself!
[He goes out through the rear door.
[He goes out through the rear door.
HERMAN ISRAEL. [Enters from the right] Are you alone?
JACOB. Yes, father.
ISRAEL. I heard somebody speaking.
JACOB. That was the Heir Apparent.
ISRAEL. What did he want?
JACOB. I don't think he has the slightest idea of what he wants.
ISRAEL. Is he your friend?
JACOB. Yes, so he calls himself, but I am not his. Because he thinks that he is honouring me with his friendship, he flatters himself with the belief that I return it.
ISRAEL. You are frightfully wise for a young man of your age.
JACOB. Why, it's an axiom in the art of living, that you must not be the friend of your enemy.
ISRAEL. Can he be made useful?
JACOB. Running errands, perhaps, provided you keep him wholesomely ignorant of the matter at stake. Otherwise I don't think I ever saw an heir apparent more useless than this one.
ISRAEL. Do you hate him?
JACOB. No, I pity him too much for that. He is more unfortunate than he deserves. That he will end badly, seems pretty certain. It seems clear to himself, too, and to such an extent that he appears anxious to hasten the catastrophe.
ISRAEL. Listen, my son. I have long noticed that I can keep no secrets from you, and so I think it is better for me to tell you everything. Sit down and give me your attention while I walk back and forth.... I can think only when I am walking....
JACOB. Talk away, father. I am thinking all the time.
ISRAEL. You have probably guessed that some great event is preparing under the surface You have probably noticed that our free city of Luebeck is fighting for its rights here in the North. I speak of rights, because we have the right of the pioneer who has broken new roads—roads of trade in this case—to demand compensation and profit from the country on which he has spent his energy. We have taught these people to employ their natural products and to exchange them with profit; and we have set Sweden free. Having used us, they wish now to cast us aside. That's always the way: use—and cast aside! But there are greater and more powerful interests than those of trade that should compel the North to join hands with the free cities. The Emperor and the Pope are one. Our free cities made themselves independent first of the Emperor and then of the Pope. Now, when this country has been helped by us and its great King to do the same, we must, willy-nilly, remain allies against the common enemy. And until quite recently we did stick together. Then an evil spirit seemed to take possession of this Vasa. Whether misled by pride or fatigue, he wishes now to enter a path that must lead us all to disaster.
JACOB. Wait a little.—All of us, you say? You had better say "us of Luebeck," for the Swedes will gain by entering that path.
ISRAEL. Are you on their side?
JACOB. No, I am not. But I can perfectly well see where their advantage lies. And I beg you, father, don't try to fight against Vasa, for he is guided by the hand of the Lord! Have you not recognised that already?
ISRAEL. I wonder how I could be such a fool as to give my confidence to one still in his nonage!
JACOB. It won't hurt you to have your plans discussed from another point of view than your own while there is still time to correct them. And you know, of course, that you can rely on me. Go on, now!
ISRAEL. No, I can't now.
JACOB. The pen won't write when its point has been broken. If you will not get angry, I can tell you a little more myself.
MARCUS. [Enters] The one you have been waiting for is outside, sir.
JACOB. I suppose it is John Andersson.
ISRAEL. Let him wait. [MotionsMARCUSout of the room; then toJacob] Do you know him, too?
JACOB. I have never seen him, but now I can figure out who he is.
ISRAEL. [Astounded] You can figure it out, you say?
JACOB. I merely add one thing to another. Now, when the Dalecarlians have been squelched, a new beginning will have to be made with the good folk of Småland.
ISRAEL. Of Småland, you say?
JACOB. Yes, I understand that this John Andersson is from Småland. I don't think his name is John Andersson, however, but—[in a lower voice] Nils Dacke![4]
ISRAEL. Have you been spying?
JACOB. No, I merely listen, and look, and add together.
ISRAEL. Well, you have made a false calculation this time.
JACOB. Thus you tell me that there are two persons concerned in the matter, and that Nils Dacke is the silent partner who will not appear until the war has begun.
ISRAEL. I am afraid of you.
JACOB. You shouldn't be, father. I dare not do anything wrong, because then I am always made to suffer.
ISRAEL. Do you think I am doing anything wrong?
JACOB. You are more likely than I to do so, because, like Prince Eric, you believe in nothing.
ISRAEL. And such a thing I must hear from my own child!
JACOB. It is better than to hear it from other people's children—later on.
MARCUS. [Enters] Two Dalecarlians ask to see you.
ISRAEL. Tell them to wait.
MARCUSgoes out.
MARCUSgoes out.
JACOB. They'll pay for it with their heads.
ISRAEL. Who are they, then?
JACOB. Anders Persson of Rankhyttan and Mons Nilsson of Aspeboda, who have tried in vain to get an audience with the King, and who are now moved by their futile anger to turn to you for revenge.
ISRAEL. So you know that, too?
JACOB. Without wishing to show you any disrespect, father—how can a man of your age believe that secrets exist?
ISRAEL. Time has run away from me. I don't know any longer where I stand.
JACOB. Now you speak the truth! And I don't think that you estimate the results of your venture correctly.
ISRAEL. That will appear in due time. But now you must go, for even if you know of my venture, you must not become involved in it.
JACOB. I shall obey, but you must listen to me.
ISRAEL. No, you must listen to me! Tell Marcus that I shall expect my visitors in the hall of state. You stay here with David and pack all valuables into boxes ready to be sent southward.
JACOB. Father!
ISRAEL. Silence!
JACOB. One word: don't rely on me if you should do anything wrong!
ISRAEL. There is one thingyoumay rely on; that, having power of life and death in this house, I shall see that every traitor is tried and executed, whether he be my own son or no. First comes my country, then my family; but first and last—my Arty! [He puts his hand on his sword] And now—go!
Curtain.
SECOND SCENE
A large room in the Blue Dove Inn. Wainscotted walls, with tankards and jugs ranged along the shelf above the panels. Benches fastened to the walls and covered with cushions and draperies. In the background, a corner-stand with potted flowers and bird-cages. Sconces containing wax candles are hung on the walls; candelabra stand on a table that also contains bowls of fruit, beakers, goblets, tumblers, dice, playing-cards, and a lute.It is night.PRINCE ERICandJORGHEN PERSSONare seated at the table. They are looking pale and tired, and have ceased drinking.
A large room in the Blue Dove Inn. Wainscotted walls, with tankards and jugs ranged along the shelf above the panels. Benches fastened to the walls and covered with cushions and draperies. In the background, a corner-stand with potted flowers and bird-cages. Sconces containing wax candles are hung on the walls; candelabra stand on a table that also contains bowls of fruit, beakers, goblets, tumblers, dice, playing-cards, and a lute.
It is night.PRINCE ERICandJORGHEN PERSSONare seated at the table. They are looking pale and tired, and have ceased drinking.
ERIC. You want to go to sleep, Jorghen, and I prefer to dream while still awake. To go to bed is to me like dying: to be swathed in linen sheets and stretch out in a long bed like a coffin. And then the corpse has the trouble of washing itself and reading its own burial service.
JORGHEN. Are you afraid of death, Prince?
ERIC. As the children are afraid of going to bed, and I am sure I'll cry like a child when my turn comes. If I only knew what death is!
JORGHEN. Some call it a sleep, and others an awakening, but no one knows anything with certainty.
ERIC. How could we possibly know anything of that other life, when we know so little of this one?
JORGHEN. Yes, what is life?
ERIC. One large madhouse, it seems to me! Think of my sane and shrewd and sensible father—doesn't he act like a madman? He rids the country of foreigners and takes the heads of those that helped him. He rids the country of foreigners only to drag in a lot of others, like Peutinger and Norman,[5]whom he puts above the lords of the realm and all other authorities. He is mad, of course!—He rids the Church of human inventions only to demand the acceptance of new inventions at the penalty of death. This liberator is the greatest tyrant that ever lived, and yet this tyrant is the greatest liberator that ever lived! This evening, you know, he wanted to prohibit me from coming here; and when I insisted on going all the same, he threw his Hungarian war-hammer after me, as if he had been the god Thor chasing the trolls. He came within an inch of killing me, just as it is said—which you may not have heard—that he killed my mother.
JORGHEN. [Becoming attentive] No, I never heard of that.
ERIC. That's what they say. And I can understand it. There is greatness in it. To feel raised above all human considerations; to kill whatever stands in the way? and trample everything else.... Sometimes, you know, when I see him coming in his big, soft hat and his blue cloak, using his boar-spear in place of a stick, I think he is Odin himself. When he is angry, the people say that they can hear him from the top story down to the cellars, and that the sound of it is like thunder. But I am not afraid of him, and that's why he hates me. At the same time he has a great deal of respect for me. [JORGHENsmiles sceptically] Yes, you may smile! That's only because you have no respect for anything; not, even for yourself.
JORGHEN. That least of all.
ERIC. Are you really such a beast?
JORGHEN. That's what every one thinks me, so I suppose I must believe it.
ERIC. [Returning to his previous idea] And.... There is a thought that pursues me.... He looks like old Odin, I said: Odin who has returned to despoil the temples of the Christians just as they once robbed his temples.... You should have seen them weighing and counting church treasures at Herman Israel's yesterday. It was ghastly!... And do you know, he is lucky in everything he undertakes. There is favourable wind whenever he goes sailing; the fish bite whenever he goes fishing; he wins whenever he gambles. They say that he was born with a caul....
JORGHEN. A most unusual man.
ERIC. Do you know young Jacob, the son of Herman Israel? He promised to come here to-night. Rather precocious, perhaps, but with sensible ideas on certain subjects—and I think I admire some of his qualities because I lack them myself.
JORGHEN. Is that so?
ERIC. Otherwise he is probably a perfect rascal like his father.
JORGHEN. Then I shall be pleased to make his acquaintance.
ERIC. Because he is a rascal?—Ha-ha!
JORGHEN. In spite of it!
AGDA. [Enters from the left] Did you call me, Prince?
ERIC. No, but you are always welcome. Sit down here.
AGDA. The honour is too great for me.
ERIC. Of course, it is!
AGDA. And so I leave—to save my honour.
ERIC. Dare you sting, you gnat?
AGDA. That's your fancy only. I am too sensible and humble to hurt the feelings of a great lord like yourself, my Prince.
ERIC. Very good! Very good, indeed! Come here and talk to me a little more.
AGDA. If your lordship commands, I must talk, of course, but....
ERIC. Give me the love that I have begged for so long!
AGDA. What one does not have one cannot give away.
ERIC. Alas!
AGDA. Not loving your lordship, I cannot give you any love.
ERIC.Diantre!—Give me your favour, then!
AGDA. Favours are not given away, but sold.
ERIC. Listen to that! It is as if I heard my wise Jacob himself philosophising. [ToJORGHEN] Did you ever hear anything like it?
JORGHEN. All wenches learn that kind of patter from their lovers.
ERIC. Don't talk like that! This girl has won my heart.
JORGHEN. And some one else has won hers.
ERIC. How do you know?
JORGHEN. You can hear it at once, even though the proofs be not visible.
ERIC. Do you believe in love?
JORGHEN. In its existence, yes, but not in its duration.
ERIC. Do you know how a woman's love is to be won?
JORGHEN. All that's necessary is to be "the right one." If you are not, your case is hopeless.
ERIC. That's a riddle.
JORGHEN. One of the greatest.
ERIC. Who do you think can be my rival?
JORGHEN. Some clerk, or pikeman, or rich horsemonger.
ERIC. And I who am not afraid of tossing my handkerchief to the proud virgin-queen that rules Britannia!
JORGHEN. Yet it's true.
ERIC. Perhaps Agda is too modest—and does not dare to believe in the sincerity of my feelings?
JORGHEN. I don't believe anything of the kind.
A noise is heard outside the door in the rear.
A noise is heard outside the door in the rear.
PRINCE JOHAN[Enters] I hope my dear brother will pardon my intrusion at this late hour, but I have been sent by our father out of fond concern for my dear brother's....
ERIC. Be quick and brief, Jöns, or sit down and use a beaker as punctuation mark! The sum of it is: the old man wants me to come home and go to bed. Reply: the Heir Apparent decides for himself when he is to sleep.
JOHAN. I shall not convey such a reply, especially as my dear brother's disobedience may have serious results in this case.
ERIC. Won't you sit down and drink a goblet, Duke?
JOHAN. Thank you, Prince, but I don't wish to cause my father sorrow.
ERIC. How dreadfully serious that sounds!
JOHAN. It is serious. Our father has new and greater worries to face because disturbances have been reported from the southern provinces, especially from Småland.... And as it is possible that the King may have to leave his capital, he looks to the Heir Apparent for assistance in the administration of the government.
ERIC. Half of which is nothing but lies, of course—and then there are such a lot of people governing already. Go in peace, my brother. I shall come when I come.
JOHAN. My duty is done, and all I regret is being unable to gain more of my brother's ear; of his heart I possess no part at all! [He goes out.
ERIC. [ToJORGHEN] Can you make anything out of that boy?
JORGHEN. I can't.
ERIC. I wonder if he believes in his own preachings?
JORGHEN. That is just the worst of it. Ordinary rascals like you and me, who don't believe in anything, can't get words of that kind over their lips; and for that reason we can never deceive anybody.
ERIC. Youarea beast, Jorghen.
JORGHEN. Of course, I am.
ERIC. Is there nothing good in you at all?
JORGHEN. Not a trace! And besides—what is good? [Pause] My mother was always saying that I should end on the gallows. Do you think one's destiny is predetermined?
ERIC. That's what Master Dionysius asserts—the Calvinist who uses Holy Writ to prove that the dispensation of grace is not at all dependent on man.
JORGHEN. Come on with the gallows then! That's the grace dispensed to me.
ERIC. That fellow Jacob says always that I was born to misfortune, and that's what father says, too, when he gets angry. What do you think my end will be?
JORGHEN. Was it not Saint Augustine who said that he who has been coined into a groat can never become a ducat?
ERIC. That's right. But I don't think we have drunk enough to make us start any theological disputes. Here we have been disputing for a lifetime now, and every prophet has been fighting all the rest. Luther has refuted Augustine, Calvin has refuted Luther, Zwingli has refuted Calvin, and John of Leyden has refuted all of them. So we know now just where we stand!
JORGHEN. Yes, it's nothing but humbug, and if it were not for that kind of humbug, I should never have been born.
ERIC. What do you mean?
JORGHEN. Oh, you know perfectly well that my father was a monk who went off and got married when they closed the monasteries. It means that I'm a product of perjury and incest, as my father broke his oath and established an illicit relationship like any unclean sheep.
ERIC. Youarea beast, Jorghen!
JORGHEN. Have I ever denied it?
ERIC. No, but there are limits....
JORGHEN. Where?
ERIC. Here and there! A certain innate sense of propriety generally suggests the—approximate limits.
JORGHEN. Are you dreaming again, you dreamer?
ERIC. Take care! There are limits even to friendship....
JORGHEN. No, mine is limitless!
JACOBis shown into the room byAGDA,whose hand he presses.
JACOBis shown into the room byAGDA,whose hand he presses.
ERIC. [Rising] There you are at last, Jacob! You have kept me waiting a long time, and just now I was longing for you.
JACOB. Pardon me, Prince, but my thoughts were so heavy that I did not wish to bring them into a merry gathering.
ERIC. Yes, we are devilishly merry, Jorghen and I! This is Jorghen Persson, you see—my secretary, and a very enlightened and clever man, but a perfect rascal otherwise, as you can judge from his horrible looks and treacherous eyes.
JORGHEN. At your service, my dear sir!
ERIC. Sit down and philosophise with us, Jacob. Of course, I promised you pretty maidens, but we have only one here, and she is engaged.
JACOB. [Startled] What do you mean by—engaged?
ERIC. That she has bestowed her heart on somebody, so that you may save yourself the trouble of searching her bosom for it.
JACOB. Are you talking of Agda?
ERIC. Do you know Agda the Chaste, who has told us that she would sell her favours, but never give them away?
AGDA. My God, I never, never meant anything of the kind!
JACOB. No, she cannot possibly have meant it that way.
ERIC. She has said it.
JACOB. It must be a lie.
ERIC. [His hand on his sword-hilt] The devil, you say!
JORGHEN. A tavern brawl of the finest water! The words have been given almost correctly, but they were not understood as they were meant.
ERIC. Do you dare to takes sides against me, you rascal?
JORGHEN. Listen, friends....
ERIC.Witha hussyagainstyour master....
JACOB. She's no hussy!
AGDA. Thank you, Jacob! Please tell them everything....
ERIC. Oh, there is something to tell, then? Well, well! [ToJORGHEN] And you must needs appear as the defender of innocence!
He makes a lunge atJORGHEN,who barely manages to get out of the way.
He makes a lunge atJORGHEN,who barely manages to get out of the way.
JORGHEN. Why the deuce must you always come poking after me when somebody else has made a fool of himself? Stop it, damn you!
ERIC. [ToJACOB] So this is my rival! Ha-ha-ha! A fellow like you!Ventre-saint-gris!
He loses all control of himself and finally sinks on a chair, seized with an epileptic fit.
He loses all control of himself and finally sinks on a chair, seized with an epileptic fit.
JACOB. Once you honoured me with your friendship, Prince, for which I could only give you pity in return. As I did not wish to be false, I asked you to let me go....
ERIC. [Leaping to his feet] Go to the devil!
JACOB. Yes, I am going, but first you must hear what I and Agda have in common—something you can never understand, as you understand nothing but hatred, and for that reason never can win love....
ERIC.Diantre!And I who can have the virgin-queen, the proud maiden of Britannia, at my feet any time I care ha-ha, ha-ha!
JACOB. King David had five hundred proud maidens, but for happiness he turned to his humble servant's only wife....
ERIC. Must I hear more of that sort of thing?
JACOB. A great deal more!
ERIC. [Rushing atJACOB] Die, then!
The guard enters by the rear door.
The guard enters by the rear door.
CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD[An old, white-beardedman]. Your sword, if you please, Prince Eric!
ERIC. What is this?
CAPTAIN. [HandingERICa document] The King's order. You are under arrest....
ERIC. Go to the devil, old Stenbock!
CAPTAIN. That's not a princely answer to a royal command!
ERIC. Yes, talk away!
CAPTAIN. [Goes up toERICand forests the sword out of his hand; then he turns him over to the guard] Away with him! And put him in the tower! That's order number one! [ERICis led toward the door] Then comes number two—Mr. Secretary! [To the guard] Put on the handcuffs! And then—to the Green Vault with him! To-morrow at cockcrow—ten strokes of the rod!
JORGHEN. [As he is seized by the guard] Must I be spanked becausehewon't go to bed?
ERIC. Do you dare to lay hands on the Heir Apparent? 'Sdeath!
CAPTAIN. God is still alive, and so is the King!—March on!——
ERICandJORGHENare led out by the guard.
ERICandJORGHENare led out by the guard.
CAPTAIN. [ToAGDA] And now you'll close your drink-shop. That's the final word. And as there is no question about it, you need not make any answer.
He goes out after the guard and the prisoners.
He goes out after the guard and the prisoners.
JACOB. Always this titanic hand that is never seen and always felt! Now it has been thrust out of a cloud to alter our humble fates. The liberator of the country has descended during the darkness of night to set my little bird free.—Will you take flight with me?
AGDA. Yes, with you—and far away!
JACOB. But where?
AGDA. The world is wide!
JACOB. Come, then!
Curtain.