PEER [Looking fixedly after the new-comers.]

  Thanks; I’m for dancing; I am not athirst.

  [The KITCHEN-MASTER goes away from him. PEER GYNT gazes

  towards the house and laughs.]

  How fair! Did ever you see the like!

  Looked down at her shoes and her snow-white apron—!

  And then she held on to her mother’s skirt-folds,

  And carried a psalm-book wrapped up in a kerchief—!

  I must look at that girl.

  [Going into the house.]

  A LAD [Coming out of the house, with several others.]

  Are you off so soon, Peer,

  From the dance?

  PEER

  No, no.

  THE LAD

  Then you’re heading amiss!

  [Takes hold of his shoulder to turn him round.]

  PEER

  Let me pass!

  THE LAD

  I believe you’re afraid of the smith.

  PEER

  I afraid!

  THE LAD

  You remember what happened at Lundë?

  [They go off, laughing, to the dancing-green.]

  SOLVEIG

  [In the doorway of the house.]

  Are you not the lad that was wanting to dance?

  PEER

  Of course it was me; don’t you know me again?

  [Takes her hand.]

  Come, then!

  SOLVEIG

  We mustn’t go far, mother said.

  PEER

  Mother said! Mother said! Were you born yesterday?13

  SOLVEIG

  Now you’re laughing——!

  PEER

  Why sure, you are almost a child.

  Are you grown up?

  SOLVEIG

  I read with the pastor last spring.14

  PEER

  Tell me your name, lass, and then we’ll talk easier.

  SOLVEIG

  My name is Solveig. And what are you called?

  PEER

  Peer Gynt.

  SOLVEIG [Withdrawing her hand.]

  Oh heaven!

  PEER

  Why, what is it now?

  SOLVEIG

  My garter is loose; I must tie it up tighter.

  [Goes away from him.]

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Pulling at his MOTHER’s gown.]

  Mother, she will not——!

  HIS MOTHER

  She will not? What?

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  She won’t, mother——

  HIS MOTHER

  What?

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  Unlock the door.

  HIS FATHER [Angrily, below his breath.]

  Oh, you’re only fit to be tied in a stall.

  HIS MOTHER

  Don’t scold him. Poor dear, he’ll be all right yet.

  [They move away.]

  A LAD [Coming with a whole crowd of others from the dancing-green.]

  Peer, have some brandy?

  PEER

  No.

  THE LAD

  Only a drain?

  PEER [Looking darkly at him.]

  Got any?

  THE LAD

  Well, I won’t say but I have.

  [Pulls out a pocket flask and drinks.]

  Ah! How it stings your throat!—Well?

  PEER

  Let me try it.

  [Drinks.]

  ANOTHER LAD

  Now you must try mine as well, you know.

  PEER

  No!

  THE LAD

  Oh, what nonsense; now don’t be a fool.

  Take a pull, Peer!

  PEER

  Well then, give me a drop.

  [Drinks again.]

  A GIRL [Half aloud.]

  Come, let’s be going.

  PEER

  Afraid of me, wench?

  A THIRD LAD

  Who isn’t afraid of you?

  A FOURTH

  At Lundë

  You showed us clearly what tricks you could play.

  PEER

  I can do more than that, when I once get started.

  THE FIRST LAD [Whispering.]

  Now he’s forging ahead!

  SEVERAL OTHERS [Forming a circle around him.]

  Tell away! Tell away!

  What can you——?

  PEER

  To-morrow!

  OTHERS

  No, now, to-night!

  A GIRL

  Can you conjure, Peer?

  PEER

  I can call up the devil!

  A MAN

  My grandam could do that before I was born!

  PEER

  Liar! What I can do, that no one else can.

  I one day conjured him into a nut.

  It was worm-bored, you see!

  SEVERAL [Laughing.]

  Ay, that’s easily guessed!

  PEER

  He cursed, and he wept, and he wanted to bribe me

  With all sorts of things——

  ONE OF THE CROWD

  But he had to go in?

  PEER

  Of course. I stopped up the hole with a peg.

  Hei! If you’d heard him rumbling and grumbling!

  A GIRL

  Only think!

  PEER

  It was just like a bumble-bee buzzing.

  THE GIRL

  Have you got him still in the nut?

  PEER

  Why, no;

  By this time that devil has flown on his way.

  The grudge the smith bears me is all his doing.

  A LAD

  Indeed?

  PEER

  I went to the smithy, and begged

  That he would crack that same nutshell for me.

  He promised he would!—laid it down on his anvil;

  But Aslak, you know, is so heavy of hand;—

  For ever swinging that great sledge-hammer——

  A VOICE FROM THE CROWD

  Did he kill the foul fiend?

  PEER

  He laid on like a man.

  But the devil showed fight, and tore off in a flame

  Through the roof, and shattered the wall asunder.

  SEVERAL VOICES

  And the smith——?

  PEER

  Stood there with his hands all scorched.

  And from that day onwards, we’ve never been friends.

  [General laughter.]

  SOME OF THE CROWD

  That yarn is a good one.

  OTHERS

  About his best.

  PEER

  Do you think I am making it up?

  A MAN

  Oh no,

  That you’re certainly not; for I’ve heard the most on’t

  From my grandfather——

  PEER

  Liar! It happened to me.

  THE MAN

  Yes, like everything else.

  PEER [With a fling.]

  I can ride, I can,

  Clean through the air, on the bravest of steeds!

  Oh, many’s the thing I can do, I tell you!

  [Another roar of laughter.]

  ONE OF THE GROUP

  Peer, ride through the air a bit!

  MANY

  Do, dear Peer Gynt——!

  PEER

  You may spare you the trouble of begging so hard.

  I will ride like a hurricane over you all!

  Every man in the parish shall fall at my feet!

  AN ELDERLY MAN

  Now he is clean off his head.

  ANOTHER

  The dolt!

  A THIRD

  Braggart!

  A FOURTH

  Liar!

  PEER [Threatening them.]

  Ay, wait till you see!

  A MAN [Half drunk.]

  Ay, wait; you’ll soon get your jacket dusted!

  OTHERS

  Your back beaten tender! Your eyes painted blue!

  [The crowd disperses, the elder men angry, the younger laughing and jeer

  ing.]

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Close to PEER GYNT.]

  Peer, is it true you can ride through the air?

  PEER [Shortly.]

  It’s all true, Mads! You must know I’m a rare one!

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  Then have you got the Invisible Cloak too?

  PEER

  The Invisible Hat, do you mean? Yes, I have.

  [Turns away from him. SOLVEIG crosses the yard, leading little

  HELGA.]

  PEER [Goes towards them; his face lights up.]

  Solveig! Oh, it is well you have come!

  [Takes hold of her wrist.]

  Now will I swing you round fast and fine!

  SOLVEIG

  Loose me!

  PEER

  Wherefore?

  SOLVEIG

  You are so wild.

  PEER

  The reindeer is wild, too, when summer is dawning.

  Come then, lass; do not be wayward now!

  SOLVEIG [Withdrawing her arm.]

  Dare not.

  PEER

  Wherefore?

  SOLVEIG

  No, you’ve been drinking.

  [Moves off with HELGA.]

  PEER

  Oh, if I had but my knife-blade driven

  Clean through the heart of them,—one and all!

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Nudging him with his elbow.]

  Peer, can’t you help me to get at the bride?

  PEER [Absently.]

  The bride? Where is she?

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  In the store-house.

  PEER

  Ah.

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  Oh, dear Peer Gynt, you must try at least!

  PEER

  No, you must get on without my help.

  [A thought strikes him; he says softly but sharply:]

  Ingrid! The store-house!

  [Goes up to SOLVEIG.]

  Have you thought better on’t?

  [SOLVEIG tries to go; he blocks her path.]

  You’re ashamed to, because I’ve the look of a tramp.

  SOLVEIG [Hastily.]

  No, that you haven’t; that’s not true at all!

  PEER

  Yes! And I’ve taken a drop as well;

  But that was to spite you, because you had hurt me.

  Come then!

  SOLVEIG

  Even if I wished to, I daren’t.

  PEER

  Who are you frightened of?

  SOLVEIG

  Father, most.

  PEER

  Father? Ay, ay; he is one of the quiet ones!

  One of the godly, eh?—Answer, come!

  SOLVEIG

  What shall I say?

  PEER

  Is your father a psalm-singer?15

  And you and your mother as well, no doubt?

  Come, will you speak?

  SOLVEIG

  Let me go in peace.

  PEER

  No!

  [In a low but sharp and threatening tone.]

  I can turn myself into a troll!

  I’ll come to your bedside at midnight to-night.

  If you should hear some one hissing and spitting,

  You mustn’t imagine it’s only the cat.

  It’s me, lass! I’ll drain out your blood in a cup,

  And your little sister, I’ll eat her up;

  Ay, you must know I’m a were-wolf at night;—

  I’ll bite you all over the loins and the back——

  [Suddenly changes his tone, and entreats, as if in dread:]

  Dance with me, lass!

  SOLVEIG [Looking darkly at him.]

  You were ugly then.

  [Goes into the house.]

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Comes sidling up again.]

  I’ll give you an ox if you’ll help me!

  PEER

  Then come!

  [They go out behind the house. At the same moment a crowd of men come

  forward from the dancing green; most of them are drunk. Noise and hub

  bub. SOLVEIG, HELGA, and their PARENTS appear among a num

  ber of elderly people in the doorway.]

  THE KITCHEN-MASTER [To the SMITH, who is the foremost of the crowd.]

  Keep peace now!

  THE SMITH [Pulling off his jacket.]

  No, we must fight it out here.16

  Peer Gynt or I must be taught a lesson.17

  SOME VOICES

  Ay, let them fight for it!

  OTHERS

  No, only wrangle!

  THE SMITH

  Fists must decide; for the case is past words.

  SOLVEIG’S FATHER

  Control yourself, man!

  HELGA

  Will they beat him, mother?

  A LAD

  Let us rather taunt him with all his lies.

  ANOTHER

  Kick him out of the company.

  A THIRD

  Spit in his eyes.

  A FOURTH [To the SMITH.]

  You’re not backing out, smith?

  THE SMITH [Flinging away his jacket.]

  The jade shall be slaughtered!

  SOLVEIG’S MOTHER [To SOLVEIG.]

  There, you can see how that windbag is thought of.

  ÅSE [Coming up with a stick in her hand.]

  Is that son of mine here? Now he’s in for a drubbing!

  Oh! how heartily I will dang him!

  THE SMITH [Rolling up his shirt-sleeves.]

  That switch is too light for a carcase like his.

  SOME OF THE CROWD

  The smith will dang him!

  OTHERS

  Bang him!

  THE SMITH [Spits on his hands and nods to ÅSE.]

  Hang him!

  ÅSE

  What? Hang my Peer? Ay, just try if you dare;—

  Åse and I,18 we have teeth and claws!—

  Where is he?

  [Calls across the yard.]

  Peer!

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Comes running up.]

  Oh, God’s death on the cross!

  Come father, come mother, and——

  HIS FATHER

  What is the matter?

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  Just fancy, Peer Gynt——!

  ÅSE [Screams.]

  Have you taken his life?

  THE BRIDEGROOM

  No, but Peer Gynt——! Look, there on the hillside——!

  THE CROWD

  With the bride.

  ÅSE [Lets her stick sink.]

  Oh, the beast!

  THE SMITH [As if thunderstruck.]

  Where the slope rises sheerest

  He’s clambering upwards, by God, like a goat!

  THE BRIDEGROOM [Crying.]

  He’s shouldered her, mother, as I might a pig!

  ÅSE [Shaking her fist up at him.]

  Would God you might fall, and——!

  [Screams out in terror.]

  Take care of your footing!

  THE HEGSTAD FARMER [Comes in, bare-headed and white with rage.]

  I’ll have his life for this bride-rape yet!

  ÅSE

  Oh no, God punish me if I let you!

  ACT SECOND

  SCENE FIRST

  A narrow path, high up in the mountains. Early morning.

  PEER GYNT comes hastily and sullenly along the path. INGRID, still wearing some of her bridal ornaments, is trying to hold him back.

  PEER

  Get you from me!

  INGRID [Weeping.]

  After this, Peer?

  Whither?

  PEER

  Where you will for me.

  INGRID [Wringing her hands.]

  Oh, what falsehood!

  PEER

  Useless railing

  Each alone must go his way.

  INGRID

  Sin—and sin again unites us!

  PEER

  Devil take all recollections!

  Devil take the tribe of women—

  All but one——!

  INGRID

  Who is that one, pray?

  PEER

  ’Tis not you.

  INGRID

  Who is it then?

  PEER

  Go! Go thither whence you came!

  Off! To your father!

  INGRID

  Dearest, sweetest——

  PEER

  Peace!

  INGRID

  You cannot mean it, surely,

  What you’re saying?

  PEER

  Can and do.

  INGRID

  First to lure—and then forsake me!

  PEER

  And what terms have you to offer?

  INGRID

  Hegstad Farm, and more besides.

  PEER

  Is your psalm-book in your kerchief?

  Where’s the gold-mane on your shoulders?