Modern Icelandic Plays Part 6

_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.