The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays Part 69

HALLGERD (_tossing back her hair_) Then now I call to your mind that bygone blow You gave my face; and never a whit do I care If you hold out a long time or a short.

GUNNAR Every man who has trod a warship's deck, And borne a weapon of pride, has a proud heart And asks not twice for any little thing.

Hallgerd, I'll ask no more from you, no more.

RANNVEIG (_tearing off her wimple_) She will not mar her honour of widowhood.

Oh, widows' manes are priceless.... Off, mean wimple-- I am a finished widow, why do you hide me?

Son, son who knew my bosom before hers, Look down and curse for an unreverend thing An old bald woman who is no use at last.

These bleachy-threads, these tufts of death's first combing, And loosening heartstrings twisted up together Would not make half a bowstring. Son, forgive me....

GUNNAR A grasping woman's gold upon her head Is made for h.o.a.rding, like all other gold: A spendthrift woman's gold upon her head Is made for spending on herself. Let be-- She goes her heart's way, and I go to earth.

(AUNUND'S _head rises above the wall near_ GUNNAR.)

What, are you there?

AUNUND Yea, Gunnar, we are here.

GUNNAR (_thrusting with the bill_) Then bide you there.

(AUNUND'S _head sinks_; THORGEIR'S _rises in the same place._)

How many heads have you?

THORGEIR But half as many as the feet we grow on.

GUNNAR And I've not yet used up (_thrusting again_) all my hands.

(_As he thrusts another man rises a little farther back, and leaps past him into the loft. Others follow, and GUNNAR is soon surrounded by many armed men, so that only the rising and falling of his bill is seen._)

The threshing-floor is full.... Up, up, brain-biter!

We work too late to-night--up, open the husks.

Oh, smite and pulse On their anvil heads: The smithy is full, There are shoes to be made For the hoofs of the steeds Of the Valkyr girls....

FIRST MAN Hack through the shaft....

SECOND MAN Receive the blade In the breast of a shield, And wrench it round....

GUNNAR For the hoofs of the steeds Of the Valkyr girls Who race up the night To be first at our feast, First in the play With immortal spears In deadly holes....

THIRD MAN Try at his back....

MANY VOICES (_shouting in confusion_) Have him down.... Heels on the bill.... Ahui, ahui....

(_The bill does not rise._)

HROALD (_with the breaking voice of a young man, high over all_) Father.... It is my blow.... It is I who kill him.

(_The crowd parts, suddenly silent, showing_ GUNNAR _fallen._ RANNVEIG _covers her face with her hands._)

HALLGERD (_laughing as she leans forward and holds her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in her hands_) O clear sweet laughter of my heart, flow out!

It is so mighty and beautiful and blithe To watch a man dying--to hover and watch.

RANNVEIG Cease: are you not immortal in shame already?

HALLGERD Heroes, what deeds ye compa.s.s, what great deeds--- One man has held ye from an open door: Heroes, heroes, are ye undefeated?

GIZUR (_an old white-bearded man, to the other riders_) We have laid low to earth a mighty chief: We have laboured harder than on greater deeds, And maybe won remembrance by the deeds Of Gunnar when no deed of ours should live; For this defence of his shall outlast kingdoms And gather him fame till there are no more men.

MORD Come down and splinter those old birds his G.o.ds That perch upon the carven high-seat pillars, Wreck every place his shadow fell upon, Rive out his gear, drive off his forfeit beasts.

SECOND MAN It shall not be.

MANY MEN Never.

GIZUR We'll never do it: Let no man lift a blade or finger a clout-- Is not this Gunnar, Gunnar, whom we have slain?

Home, home, before the dawn shows all our deed.

(_The riders go down quickly over the wall-top, and disappear._)

HALLGERD Now I shall close his nostrils and his eyes, And thereby take his blood-feud into my hands.

RANNVEIG If you do stir I'll choke you with your hair.

I will not let your murderous mind be near him When he no more can choose and does not know.

HALLGERD His wife I was, and yet he never judged me: He did not set your motherhood between us.

Let me alone--I stand here for my sons.

RANNVEIG The wolf, the carrion bird, and the fair woman Hurry upon a corpse, as if they think That all is left for them the grey G.o.ds need not.

(_She twines her hands in_ HALLGERD'S _hair and draws her down to the floor._)

Oh, I will comb your hair with bones and thumbs, Array these locks in my right widow's way, And deck you like the bed-mate of the dead.

Lie down upon the earth as Gunnar lies, Or I can never match him in your looks And whiten you and make your heart as cold.

HALLGERD Mother, what will you do? Unloose me now--- Your eyes would not look so at me alone.

RANNVEIG Be still, my daughter....

HALLGERD And then?

RANNVEIG Ah, do not fear-- I see a peril nigh and all its blitheness.

Order your limbs--stretch out your length of beauty, Let down your hands and close those deepening eyes, Or you can never stiffen as you should.

A murdered man should have a murdered wife When all his fate is treasured in her mouth.

This wifely hairpin will be sharp enough.

HALLGERD (_starting up as RANNVEIG half loosens her to take a hairpin from her own head_) She is mad, mad.... Oh, the bower is barred-- Hallgerd, come out, let mountains cover you.

(_She rushes out to the left._)