Early Plays - Catiline, the Warrior's Barrow, Olaf Liljekrans - novelonlinefull.com
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ASGAUT. Then fetch him!
RODERIK. Here he stands!
SOME. Ha, that old man!
GANDALF. O woe!
BLANKA. No, no, you shall not--
RODERIK. Struck by this hand the viking found his death, Now rests he peacefully in yonder mound!
GANDALF. My father's barrow!
RODERIK. He was strong and brave; Wherefore I laid him here in viking style.
GANDALF. Since he is buried, then,--
ASGAUT. Though he be buried, The fallen king cries for revenge,--strike, strike!
BLANKA. He is deceiving you!
BLANKA. [To GANDALF.] Do you not see It is alone his daughter he would save?
Yet, how should your kind understand a soul That sacrifices all--
GANDALF. I do not understand?
You do not think I can?
GANDALF. [To the VIKINGS.] He shall not die!
ASGAUT. How so?
BLANKA. O father! He is good like you.
ASGAUT. You mean to break your oath?
GANDALF. No, I shall keep it!
JOSTEJN. Then what have you in mind?
HROLLOUG. Explain!
GANDALF. I swore To take revenge or else to die myself.
Well, he is free,--I to Valhalla go.
BLANKA. [To RODERIK.] What does he mean?
ASGAUT. Your honor you would save?--
GANDALF. Go,--hold a ship in readiness for me, With hoisted sail, the pyre light in the prow; In ancient fashion I shall go aboard!
Behold, the evening breeze blows from the strand,-- On crimson wings I sail into Valhalla!
[JOSTEJN goes out to the right.]
ASGAUT. Ah, 'tis the woman who has cast her spell on you!
BLANKA. No, you must live!
GANDALF. I live? No, to the G.o.ds I must be true, I cannot break with them.
BLANKA. Your oath is b.l.o.o.d.y, Balder hates it.
GANDALF. Yes, But Balder lives no longer with us now!
BLANKA. For you he lives; your soul is gentleness.
GANDALF. Yes, to my ruin! It became my task As king to keep intact our great ideal,-- But I lack strength enough! Come, Asgaut, you Shall take the kingly sceptre from my hand; You are a warrior of the truest steel; On me the Southern plague has been at work.
But if I cannot for my people live, I now can die for them.
ASGAUT. Well said, King Gandalf!
BLANKA. Then need no more be said! Die like a hero, Faithful and true unto the very end!
But now that we must part forever,--know, That when you die yourself to keep your oath You are then likewise marking me for death!
GANDALF. What! You for death?
BLANKA. My life was like a flower, Transplanted in an unfamiliar soil, Which therefore slumbered in its prison folds: Then came a sunbeam from the distant home,-- O, that was you, my Gandalf! Opened then The flower its calyx. In another hour, Alas! the sunbeam paled,--the flower died!
GANDALF. O, have I understood you right? You could?
Then is my promise thrice unfortunate!
BLANKA. But we shall meet again!
GANDALF. O, nevermore!
You go to heaven and the holy Christ, I to Valhalla; silent I shall take My place among the rest,--but near the door; Valhalla's merriment is not for me.
JOSTEJN. [Returns with a banner in his hand.]
See, now the bark is ready, as you bade.
ASGAUT. O, what a glorious end! Many a man Will envy you, indeed.
GANDALF. [To BLANKA.] Farewell!
BLANKA. Farewell!
Farewell for life and for eternity!
RODERIK. [Struggling with himself.] Wait! Wait!
[Prostrates himself before BLANKA.]
