Early Plays - Catiline, the Warrior's Barrow, Olaf Liljekrans - novelonlinefull.com
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LADY KIRSTEN. You will marry her! Well and good; then am I no longer a mother to you!
OLAF. You will cause me great sorrow, although it is now long since that you were a real mother to me. You used me merely to build aloft your own pride, and I was weak and acquiesced. But now have I won power and will; now I stand firmly on my own feet and lay the foundation of my own happiness!
LADY KIRSTEN. But do you stop to consider--
OLAF. Nothing will I now consider,--I know what I want. Now first I understand my strange dream. It was prophesied of me that I was to find the fairest of flowers,--that I was to tear it asunder and strew it to all the winds. O, thus it has happened!
A woman's heart is the fairest flower in the world; all its rich and golden leaves I have torn asunder and scattered to the winds.
But be of good cheer, my Alfhild! Many a seed has gone too, and sorrow has ripened it, and from it shall grow a rich life for us here in the valley; for here shall we live and be happy!
ALFHILD. O, now I am happy as in the first hour we met.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] Ingeborg is gone; this rich valley belongs to Alfhild,--no one else has a claim to it--
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aloud.] Well, Olaf! I shall not stand in the way of your happiness. If you think you will find it in this way, then--well, then you have my consent!
OLAF. Thanks, mother, thanks! Now I lack nothing more!
ALFHILD. [To LADY KIRSTEN.] And me you forgive all my sin?
LADY KIRSTEN. Yes, yes! Perhaps I too was wrong,--let us not say any more of that!
ARNE. But I, then? And my daughter, whom Olaf had pledged--Yet, it is true, perhaps she is no longer alive!
OLAF. Of course she's alive!
ARNE. She lives! Where is she? Where?
OLAF. That I can not say; but I may say that we both in all friendliness have broken our pledge.
LADY KIRSTEN. You see, Lord Arne! that I--
ARNE. Well, my daughter shall not be forced upon any one.
Alfhild was fated to marry a knight; the same may happen to Ingeborg.
ARNE. [With dignity.] n.o.ble lords and honorable men, hear me!
It has come to my ear that many of you hold me to be little skilled in courtly manners and customs. I will show you now you are completely mistaken. In the old chronicles it is frequently told that when a n.o.ble king loses his daughter he promises her hand and half his kingdom to him who may find her; he who finds Ingeborg shall receive her hand in marriage and in addition half of all that I own and possess. Are you with me on that?
THE YOUNG MEN. Yes, yes!
SCENE IX
[The Preceding. INGEBORG comes hurriedly out of the hut and pulls HEMMING behind her.]
INGEBORG. Here I am! Hemming has found me!
ALL. [ASTONISHED] Ingeborg and Hemming! Up here!
ARNE. [Irritated.] Ah, then shall--
INGEBORG. [Throws herself about his neck.] O father, father!
It will not avail you; you have given your word!
ARNE. But that did not apply to him! Now I see it all right; he has taken you away himself.
INGEBORG. No, to the contrary, father! It was I who took him away!
ARNE. [Frightened.] Will you be silent with such words! Are you out of your head?
INGEBORG. [Softly.] Then say "yes" right here on the spot!
Otherwise I shall proclaim to all people that it was I who--
ARNE. Hush, hush! I am saying "yes"!
[Steps between them and looks sternly at HEMMING.]
ARNE. It was you then who stole my dapple-gray horse with saddle and bridle?
HEMMING. Alas, Lord Arne!--
ARNE. O Hemming! Hemming! You are a--
[Stops to consider.]
ARNE. Well, you are my daughter's betrothed; let it all be forgotten.
HEMMING AND INGEBORG. O, thanks, thanks!
SCENE X
[The Preceding. THORGJERD with a harp in his hand has during the foregoing mingled with the people.]
THORGJERD. Aye, see, see! A mult.i.tude of people in the valley today!
THE PEASANTS. Thorgjerd, the fiddler!
ALFHILD. [Throws herself in his arms.] My father!
ALL. Her father!
OLAF. Yes, yes, old man! There are people and merriment in here today, and hereafter it shall always be thus. It is your daughter's wedding we are celebrating; for love has she chosen her betrothed, of love have you sung for her,--you will not stand in our way!
