[1]A rough and inaccessible forest region on the eastern shore of Lake Vettern, marking the border-line between the province of Småland in the south and Ostergötland (East Gothia) in the north.
[1]A rough and inaccessible forest region on the eastern shore of Lake Vettern, marking the border-line between the province of Småland in the south and Ostergötland (East Gothia) in the north.
[2]As far back as we know the two principal ornaments of a Swedish bride have been the crown—sometimes woven out of myrtle and sometimes made of metal and semi-precious stones—and the wreath, always made of myrtle.
[2]As far back as we know the two principal ornaments of a Swedish bride have been the crown—sometimes woven out of myrtle and sometimes made of metal and semi-precious stones—and the wreath, always made of myrtle.
[3]The Elector Frederick was a son-in-law of the deposed Christian II of Denmark, and also one of the trusted liegemen of Emperor Charles V, who hoped to see him the head of a reunited Scandinavia dominated by German influences.
[3]The Elector Frederick was a son-in-law of the deposed Christian II of Denmark, and also one of the trusted liegemen of Emperor Charles V, who hoped to see him the head of a reunited Scandinavia dominated by German influences.
[4]Christian II was married to Isabelle, sister of Charles V.
[4]Christian II was married to Isabelle, sister of Charles V.
[5]Engelbrecht Engelbrechtsson, a free miner of Dalecarlia, was the first one of a series of notable chieftains who led the Swedish people in their determination to rid the country of the Danish kings after these had shown a growing inclination to treat Sweden as a Danish province, and not as an independent kingdom, united on equal terms with Denmark and Norway. At the head of the Dalecarlians, Engelbrecht began the work of liberation in 1434, and was remarkably successful in a short time. Unfortunately, he was treacherously and shamefully killed while crossing the Lake Maelaren only two years later. To the Swedes he has ever since been the symbol of their national independence and unity, and he, the simple country squire, remains to this day one of the most beloved and revered figures in Swedish history. It is to him Barbro refers in the opening scenes of the play, and his name is heard again in the closing scenes, with the appearance of his simpler namesake.
[5]Engelbrecht Engelbrechtsson, a free miner of Dalecarlia, was the first one of a series of notable chieftains who led the Swedish people in their determination to rid the country of the Danish kings after these had shown a growing inclination to treat Sweden as a Danish province, and not as an independent kingdom, united on equal terms with Denmark and Norway. At the head of the Dalecarlians, Engelbrecht began the work of liberation in 1434, and was remarkably successful in a short time. Unfortunately, he was treacherously and shamefully killed while crossing the Lake Maelaren only two years later. To the Swedes he has ever since been the symbol of their national independence and unity, and he, the simple country squire, remains to this day one of the most beloved and revered figures in Swedish history. It is to him Barbro refers in the opening scenes of the play, and his name is heard again in the closing scenes, with the appearance of his simpler namesake.
[6]An old Swedish custom and superstition, prescribing that every child must be spanked on the date mentioned in order to insure its obedience during the whole ensuing year. That custom still survived when the translator was a child, although for many decades the spanking had been a mere formality serving as an excuse for some little gift or treat.
[6]An old Swedish custom and superstition, prescribing that every child must be spanked on the date mentioned in order to insure its obedience during the whole ensuing year. That custom still survived when the translator was a child, although for many decades the spanking had been a mere formality serving as an excuse for some little gift or treat.
The terrace in front of the Royal Palace, with trimmed hedges, statuary, and a fountain. Chairs, benches, and tables are placed about. The near background shows a balustrade with Tuscan columns, on which are placed flowers in faïence pots. Beyond the balustrade appear tree tops, and over these tower the tops of masts, from which blue and yellow flags are flying. In the far background, a number of church spires.TheMOTHER-IN-LAWof theKINGis on the terrace in her Cistercian dress.
The terrace in front of the Royal Palace, with trimmed hedges, statuary, and a fountain. Chairs, benches, and tables are placed about. The near background shows a balustrade with Tuscan columns, on which are placed flowers in faïence pots. Beyond the balustrade appear tree tops, and over these tower the tops of masts, from which blue and yellow flags are flying. In the far background, a number of church spires.
TheMOTHER-IN-LAWof theKINGis on the terrace in her Cistercian dress.
QUEEN. [Enters] For the last time I beg you, mother, don't wear that dress!
MOTHER-IN-LAW. It is my festive garb, and I am as proud of it as you of your ermine robe.
QUEEN. What is the use of being proud? The day of disaster is upon us all, and we must hold together.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. Let us do so then, and have peace.
QUEEN. Yes, so you say, but you won't even change dress for the sake of the country's peace.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. I don't change faith as you change clothes, and there is a solemn vow to God connected with this dress. The people are making threats against my life. Let them take it! I have my grave-clothes on.
QUEEN. Don't you know that we may have to flee this very day, if the news should prove as bad as yesterday?
MOTHER-IN-LAW. I will not flee.
QUEEN. Everything has already been packed by order of the King, and our sloop lies at the foot of the southern hills, ready to hoist sail.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. I have nothing to pack, because I own nothing. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." That's what I used to learn. But you have sold your birthright for a crown which soon will no longer be yours.
QUEEN. Go on and punish me; it feels like a relief.
PRINCEERICappears on the terrace; his dress and appearance are orderly, and his mien subdued.
PRINCEERICappears on the terrace; his dress and appearance are orderly, and his mien subdued.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. Can you tell me what has come over Eric these last days? He looks quite submissive, and something new has come into his face that used to be so hard.
QUEEN. I don't know, but they say that he has changed his ways and cannot bear the company of Jorghen. I have heard whispers about a serious affection....
MOTHER-IN-LAW. No!
QUEEN. [ToERIC] What news do you bring?
ERIC. [Gently and respectfully] No news at all, mother.
QUEEN. [To her mother] He called me mother! [ToERIC] How fare you, Eric? Is life heavy?
ERIC. Heavier than it was the day before yesterday.
QUEEN. What happened yesterday?
ERIC. What happens to a human being only once in a lifetime.—Are you much wiser now?
QUEEN. [To her mother] How childlike he has grown! [ToEric] Have you heard anything of your friend Jacob?
ERIC. Yes, he was my real friend, and so they took his head.
QUEEN. Now you are unjust. There has been no attempt to take the head of Jorghen....
ERIC. He is no longer my friend. [Peevishly] But now I don't want to be questioned any longer, least of all about my secrets—that is, about the secrets of my heart.
QUEEN. [To her mother] He is quite charming in his childishness. Apparently he would love to talk of his secret.
PRINCE JOHANenters.
PRINCE JOHANenters.
ERIC. [Going to meet him] Soon we may have nothing left to fight over, brother Johan, and so—it seems to me we may as well be friends.
JOHAN. With a right good heart, brother! Nothing could give me greater pleasure.
ERIC. Give me your hand! [They shake hands] I don't want to be the enemy of any human being after this.
[He goes out, deeply moved.
[He goes out, deeply moved.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. [ToJohan] What's the matter with Eric?
JOHAN. He has found a sweetheart, they say.
QUEEN. What did I say?
MOTHER-IN-LAW. Are you coming with me to the mass in the chapel, Johan? [WhenJOHANhesitates and does not answer, she says sharply] Johan!
QUEEN. Mother!
MOTHER-IN-LAW. Is he free to follow his conscience, or is he not?
QUEEN. If you will leave his conscience alone, he will be free.
MOTHER-IN-LAW. Well, I am going, and you know where, Johan. [She goes out.
QUEEN. Johan!
JOHAN. What do you wish?
QUEEN. That you do not desert your childhood faith.
JOHAN. My childhood faith, which I got from my nurse, and not from you, was also the childhood faith of my father. Why did you not give me yours?
QUEEN. Yes, punish me. You have a right to do so. Everything comes home to us now. I was young then. Life was nothing but a game. The King demanded my company at banquets and festivities, and so your cradle was left unattended and unguarded. Those were the days when we were drunk with victory and happiness. And now!—Go where you find it possible to worship, Johan, and pray for your mother!
JOHAN. If it hurts my gracious mother, I won't go.
QUEEN. Pray for us all! [In a lowered voice] I do not know the new prayers and must not use the old ones!—Hush now! The King is coming.
PRINCE JOHANgoes in the direction previously taken by theKING'S MOTHER-IN-LAW.TheKINGenters, holding a letter in his hand. He is accompanied byMASTER OLAVUS PETRI.
PRINCE JOHANgoes in the direction previously taken by theKING'S MOTHER-IN-LAW.
TheKINGenters, holding a letter in his hand. He is accompanied byMASTER OLAVUS PETRI.
KING. [To theQUEEN] Have everything ready for the start. We are lost!
QUEEN. The will of God be done!
KING. That's what seems to be happening. Go and look after your house, child.
TheQUEENgoes out.
TheQUEENgoes out.
KING. [ToOLAVUS] This is the situation. Dacke answers that he does not care to see "that rebel, and perjurer, and breaker of safe-conducts, Ericsson." He rails me Ericsson, mind you. His people have reached as far north as Södermanland—which means that they are right at our gates! Furthermore, two thousand Dalecarlians are encamped at the North Gate. Their intentions are not known, but can easily be guessed. A fine prophet you are, Olof!
OLAVUS. We have not seen the end yet.
KING. Where do you get your confidence from?
OLAVUS. That's more than I can tell, but I know that everything will end well.
KING. You say that you know? How do you know? I have ceased to believe anything—except in the wrath of God, which has been turned against me. I am now waiting for the axe. Good and well! I have done my service and am now to be discharged. That's why I wish to leave before I am kicked out.—Do you know what day it is to-day? Nobody has thought of it, and I didn't remember until just now.... It is Midsummer Day:myday, which no one celebrates. A generation ago I made my entry into the capital on this day. That was the greatest moment of my life. I thought the work of liberation was done, and I thanked God for it!—But it had not been done, and I am not done with it yet.—The Dalecarlians rose. I subdued them, and thought that I was done, which I was not. Twice more they rose, and each time I gave thanks to God, thinking I had done—which was not the case. The lords of West Gothia rose. I squelched them, and was happy, thinking that I surely must have done by that time—which I had not. And now, Olof?—We are never done until done for—and that's where I am now!
OLAVUS. Oh, no, there is a whole lot left.
KING. Where do you get your fixed ideas from? Have you heard some bird sing, or have you been dreaming?
OLAVUS. Neither.
KING. [Listening] Listen! That's the sound of birch-horns. Do they mean to give me a crown of birch, like the one I gave to Peder the Chancellor and Master Knut? Or is it the scaffold that.... that?...
OLAVUS. Oh, don't!
KING. What was it you called that thing—piety? Much it would have availed me to have piety at Larv Heath or Tuna Plain![1]—No, I have been right, right, right, so God help me, amen!
OLAVUSmakes no answer.
OLAVUSmakes no answer.
KING. [Listening] They have drums, too.—Oh, everything comes home!—Do you think I can get out of this, Olof?
OLAVUS. I do! And let me give you a final piece of advice: don't leave!
KING. I don't see how it can be avoided. Do you think I'll let them take my head?—Do you know, I can actually hear the tramp-tramp of their feet as they come marching through the North Gate. And that's the Dalecarlians—my own Dalecarlians! Oh, life is cruel! Can you hear it? Tramp—tramp—tramp! Do you think I can get out of this?
OLAVUS. I do.
KING. When the sun rises to-morrow I shall know my fate. I wish I were that far already!—Now I hear something else! [The reading of a litany in Latin is faintly heard from the outside] What is that?
OLAVUS. [Goes to the balustrade and looks over it] The Queen's mother is reading the Romish litany.
KING. But I hear a male voice, too.
OLAVUS. That's Prince Johan.
KING. Johan?—So I must drink that cup, too! I wonder if the cup is full yet? Is everything that I have built to be torn down?
OLAVUS. Everything you have torn down must be built up again.
KING. Johan a papist, and Eric a Calvinist!—Do you remember the days when we were crying in the words of Von Hutten: "The souls are waking up, and it is a joy to live"? A joy to live, indeed—ha-ha! And the souls woke up to find their feet on the pillows! Was it you who said that the gods are playing with us?—Hush! I was mistaken a while ago! It's the North Bridge they are crossing! Can't you hear their heavy tread on the planking of the bridge? Let us fly! [He puts a document on a table] Here I place my resignation.
OLAVUS. [Seizing the document] I'll take care of that. I'll keep it—as a memento! And now we'll hoist a flag of truce.
He pulls a white cloth from one of the tables and ties it to the branch of a tree.
He pulls a white cloth from one of the tables and ties it to the branch of a tree.
PRINCE ERIC. [Enters] Father!
KING. Croak away, raven!
ERIC. Our last hope is gone! The sloop has dragged its anchor and gone ashore.
KING. [In desperation] And lightning has struck the nursery, and the grasshoppers have eaten the crops, and the waters are rising, and....
ERIC. The Dalecarlians are negotiating with the palace guards, and they are awfully drunk.
KING. [Sitting down] Come on, death!
ERIC. [Listening] I can hear their wooden shoes on the garden stairs! [He goes to the balustrade.
KING. [Counting on his fingers] Anders Persson, Mons Nilsson, Master John.
ERIC. [Drawing his sword] Now he is here!
He can be seen following somebody on the other side of the balustrade with his eyes.
He can be seen following somebody on the other side of the balustrade with his eyes.
KING. [As before] Inghel Hansson, Master Stig, Nils of Söderby. God is just!
ENGELBRECHT. [Enters; he is in the happy stage of intoxication, but in full control of his movements for all that; he looks about with a broad grin on his face, a little embarrassed, and yet pleased; then he says toERIC] Are you the King?
He puts his hat on the ground and takes off his wooden shoes.
He puts his hat on the ground and takes off his wooden shoes.
KING. [Rising and pushingERICaside] No, I am the King!
ENGELBRECHT. Yes, so I see now!
KING. Who are you?
ENGELBRECHT. [Faltering] Don't you know me?...
KING. I don't.
ENGELBRECHT. [Pulls a dagger with silver handle out of his long stocking and shows it to theKING,grinning more broadly than ever] Well, don't you know this one?
KING. I don't understand at all. What is your name?
ENGELBRECHT. Well—it happens to be Engelbrecht!
KING. Eng-el-brecht?
ENGELBRECHT. It sounds mighty big, but I am not ofthatfamily.—You see, it was like this—once upon a time the King—who was no king at all then—oh, mercy, but I am drunk!... Well, it was me who followed you on skis to the border of Norway, and that time you gave me this here dagger and said: "If you ever need me, come on!" Now I've come, and here I am! And I wish only that I was not so frightfully drunk!
KING. And what do you want?
ENGELBRECHT. What I want?—I want to fight that man Dacke, of course, and that's what the rest of them want, too.
KING. You want tofightDacke?
ENGELBRECHT. Why do you think we have come, anyhow?
KING. [Raising his arms toward heaven] Eternal God, now you have punished me!
ENGELBRECHT. Is it all right? You see, the rest are down there and they'd like to do something to celebrate the day.
KING.Is it all right?—Ask me for a favour!
ENGELBRECHT. [After thinking hard] I'd like to shake hands!
TheKINGholds out his hand.
TheKINGholds out his hand.
ENGELBRECHT. [Looking at theKing'shand] My, what a fist! Hard as nails, but clean! Yes, and a devil of a fellow you are, all in all!—I must say I was rather scared when I came here!
KING. Are all the rest of them as drunk as you are?
ENGELBRECHT. About the same! But they can toot the horns for all that. [He goes to the balustrade, waves his hand and utters the yell used by the Dalecarlians in calling their cows] Poo-ala! Poo-ala! Poo Oy-ala! Oy-ala! Oy!
The blowing of horns and beating of drums is heard from the outside.TheKINGgoes to the balustrade and waxes his hand.TheMOTHER-IN-LAWappears in court dress.TheQUEENenters and goes to theKING,who folds her in his arms.PRINCE JOHANenters and goes to the balustrade.
The blowing of horns and beating of drums is heard from the outside.
TheKINGgoes to the balustrade and waxes his hand.
TheMOTHER-IN-LAWappears in court dress.
TheQUEENenters and goes to theKING,who folds her in his arms.
PRINCE JOHANenters and goes to the balustrade.
KING. [With raised arms] You have punished me, O Lord, and I thank thee!
[1]Larv Heath was the place where the dissatisfied lords of West Gothia summoned the peasants to meet them in 1529, when they tried to raise the province against the King. Tuna Plain, to which Mons Nilsson and his friends refer a number of times in the first act, was the place where Gustav settled his first score with the obstreperous Dalecarlians.
[1]Larv Heath was the place where the dissatisfied lords of West Gothia summoned the peasants to meet them in 1529, when they tried to raise the province against the King. Tuna Plain, to which Mons Nilsson and his friends refer a number of times in the first act, was the place where Gustav settled his first score with the obstreperous Dalecarlians.
NOTE TO THE MUSICThe song of the long-tailed duck is given by Strindberg in the first part of his "The Swedish People in War and Peace."Melody No. 20 does not appear in the Swedish edition of the play. It is given by Emil Schering in an appendix to his German version of it—apparently from a manuscript placed at his disposal by Strindberg himself.Melodies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17 have been taken by Strindberg—without any changes—from Richard Dybeck's "Svenska Vallvisor och Hornlåtar" ("Swedish Herd-Songs and Horn-Melodies"), Stockholm, 1846.
NOTE TO THE MUSIC
The song of the long-tailed duck is given by Strindberg in the first part of his "The Swedish People in War and Peace."
Melody No. 20 does not appear in the Swedish edition of the play. It is given by Emil Schering in an appendix to his German version of it—apparently from a manuscript placed at his disposal by Strindberg himself.
Melodies Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17 have been taken by Strindberg—without any changes—from Richard Dybeck's "Svenska Vallvisor och Hornlåtar" ("Swedish Herd-Songs and Horn-Melodies"), Stockholm, 1846.