Modern Icelandic Plays - novelonlinefull.com
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_Enter Halla with a wooden mug filled with porridge and milk.
The lid is turned back and some meat, dried fish, and b.u.t.ter are placed upon it._
_Halla._
You get nothing but skimmed milk. I thought you would rather have that than wait until the cows had been milked. (_Lets down the table-leaf._)
_Arnes (sits down and reaches for the mug)._
G.o.d bless you, woman! I am used to having it on my knees. (_Pulls out his pocket-knife and eats._)
_Halla (stops in front of Kari and looks at him)._
You are working hard; there are drops of sweat on your forehead.
_Kari._
Are there? (_Wipes his forehead; looks up._) Should you like to know your life beforehand? (_Stands up and raises both arms to the ceiling._) I have lived where I could touch the roof over my head with my clenched fists, and I have lived where my eyes could not reach it. (_Sits down._) Can you remember how few clothes I had when I came here?
_Halla (sitting down)._
I can well remember the green knitted jerkin you wore-- you have it yet-- and your coat and brown breeches. (_Smiling._) There was a big black patch on the left knee.
_Kari._
The rags on my back were all I had in the world, and now I own two new sets and even more underclothes. You deserve that I should put teeth of gold in your rake.
_Halla (smiling)._
That rake would be too heavy for me.
_Kari (looking at Halla)._
So many things come back to me to-night that I have not thought of before. You gave me leave to work in the smithy in my spare time instead of doing the wool-carding. You saw to it that I should be one of the men who gather the sheep down from the hills in the fall, because you knew I liked it.
_Halla._
That was only natural, since you are so swift of foot.
_Kari._
And for my bed you knitted a coverlet with seven colors in it. You have always been good to me.
_Halla._
Now you are getting far too grateful. (_To Arnes._) Do you think you have enough food there, Arnes? I can get you some more, if you want it.
_Arnes (patting his stomach)._
I don't even know if I can make room for the porridge.
_Kari (looking at Halla)._
If I were to leave this place, I should miss you more than any other living being I have ever known. (_Rises, pushes the box under the bed._)
_Halla._
I hope you will stay here for many years yet.
_Kari._
n.o.body knows what the morrow may bring. [_Exit._
(_Halla follows Kari with her eyes. Silence._)
_Arnes (puts the wooden mug on the table)._
Now I give thanks for the meal. Will you let me lie in one of your barns to-night?
_Halla._
You would surely sleep better in a bed. You can lie with Magnus.
_Arnes._
I never sleep better than in old dry hay.
_Enter Gudfinna._
_Gudfinna._
Is it true, Arnes, that you can tell what the birds are talking about?
_Arnes._
Do they say that?
_Gudfinna._
In olden times there were wise folks who understood all such things, but people nowadays are backward in that as in so many other ways. (_Sits down._)
_Halla (smiling)._
Yes, young people are not good for much, in your opinion.
_Gudfinna._
We need only think of the sagas. Where have we men now like Skarphjedinn and Grettir Asmundsson? There are none such in these days.
