Modern Icelandic Plays - novelonlinefull.com
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_Jakobina._
What do you mean?
_Sveinungi._
That it might be doomed.
_Jorunn._
Indeed, it means neither the one nor the other. It's nothing but a silly old superst.i.tion.
_Sveinungi._
Not that I believe in it, but look at the windows. Don't they look as if they were wet with blood?
_Jorunn._
It's the sun shining on them.
_Sveinungi._
And see the gables, how white they are. They don't look whiter from the fields down yonder when you spread a cloth over them to call me home.
_Indridi (lowering his voice)._
Did you see the sheep-cot fall?
_Thora._
Yes, it happened just as we came out.
_Indridi._
What did Sveinungi say?
_Thora._
He said nothing.
_Indridi._
But he told us to move out here.
_Thora._
No, it was Jorunn who made us do it.
_Sveinungi (to Jorunn)._
I did not tell you that when I came into the _badstofa_, right after the shock, our old clock had stopped running.
_Jorunn._
Was it broken?
_Sveinungi._
No, when I touched the pendulum it started again, but the place was still as death when I entered. The gra.s.s on the roof cast a shadow over the skylight. It was as quiet as when my father lay dead.
_Jorunn._
I think we had better go and lie down. There's nothing gained by staying here any longer.
_Sveinungi._
I can't see that there was any need of moving out, but you had your way, Jorunn.
_Jorunn._
I feel sure that they have done the same on all the other farms. We must be thankful it is summer, so that we can stay outdoors.
_Sveinungi._
Must we be thankful? So you give thanks that my work is ruined.
_Jorunn._
We must take what comes, whether good or evil, and trouble may help us to remember all the things we have neglected to give thanks for.
_Sveinungi._
I don't know but that I have always done my duty. I have built all the sheep-cots; I have fenced in the land and looked after it as best I could. I demand justice of Him up there.
_Jorunn (rising)._
I won't listen to such talk. Did you buy the land from Him, perhaps? And what did you have to pay with that was not His already?
_Sveinungi._
You needn't mock me. You can walk all over the yard and cut your handful of gra.s.s with your scissors wherever you like; it grows thick as wool everywhere, and it's all my work.
_Jorunn._
Was it you who ruled the _hraun_ for thousands of years so that it did not swallow up the bit of ground you are standing on, which you call yours? [_Goes into the tent._
_Sveinungi._
Which I call mine! (_Stamping his foot._) It is mine! I've bought the land from Him up there with my work.
