PEER GYNT (Illustrated Edition). Henrik Ibsen

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СКАЧАТЬ Good evening! I’ll give your respects to the bride.—

      [They go off, laughing and whispering.]

      Peer [looks after them a while, then makes a defiant motion and turns half round]

      For my part, may Ingrid of Hegstad go marry

       whoever she pleases. It’s all one to me.

      [Looks down at his clothes.]

      My breeches are torn. I am ragged and grim.—

       If only I had something new to put on now.

      [Stamps on the ground.]

      If only I could, with a butcher-grip,

       tear out the scorn from their very vitals!

      [Looks round suddenly.]

      What was that? Who was it that tittered behind there?

       Hm, I certainly thought — No no, it was no one.—

       I’ll go home to mother.

      [Begins to go upwards, but stops again and listens towards Hegstad.]

      They’re playing a dance!

      [Gazes and listens; moves downwards step by step, his eyes glisten; he rubs his hands down his thighs.]

      How the lasses do swarm! Six or eight to a man!

       Oh, galloping death,— I must join in the frolic!—

       But how about mother, perched up on the mill-house —

      [His eyes are drawn downwards again; he leaps and laughs.]

      Hei, how the Halling flies over the green!

       Ay, Guttorm, he can make his fiddle speak out!

       It gurgles and booms like a foss o’er a scaur.

       And then all that glittering bevy of girls!—

       Yes, galloping death, I must join in the frolic!

      [Leaps over the fence and goes down the road.]

      Scene Third

      [The farm-place at Hegstad. In the background, the dwelling-house. A THRONG OF GUESTS. A lively dance in progress on the green. THE FIDDLER sits on a table. THE MASTER–COOK is standing in the doorway. COOKMAIDS are going to and fro between the different buildings Groups of ELDERLY PEOPLE sit here and there, talking.]

      A Woman [joins a group that is seated on some logs of wood]

      The bride? Oh yes, she is crying a bit;

       but that, you know, isn’t worth heeding.

      The Master-cook [in another group]

      Now then, good folk, you must empty the barrel.

      A Man

      Thanks to you, friend; but you fill up too quick.

      A Lad [to the FIDDLER as he flies past, holding A GIRL by the hand]

      To it now, Guttorm, and don’t spare the fiddlestrings!

      The Girl

      Scrape till it echoes out over the meadows!

      Other Girls [standing in a ring round a lad who is dancing]

      That’s a rare fling!

      A Girl

      He has legs that can lift him!

      The Lad [dancing]

      The roof here is high, and the walls wide asunder!

      The Bridegroom [comes whimpering up to his FATHER, who is standing talking with some other men, and twitches his jacket]

      Father, she will not; she is so proud!

      His Father

      What won’t she do?

      The Bridegroom

      She has locked herself in.

      His Father

      Well, you must manage to find the key.

      The Bridegroom

      I don’t know how.

      His Father

      You’re a nincompoop!

      [Turns away to the others. The BRIDEGROOM drifts across the yard.]

      A Lad [comes from behind the house]

      Wait a bit, girls! Things’ll soon be lively!

       Here comes Peer Gynt.

      The Smith [who has just come up]

      Who invited him?

      The Master-cook

      No one.

      [Goes towards the house.]

      The Smith [to the girls]

      If he should speak to you, never take notice!

      A Girl [to the others]. No, we’ll pretend that we don’t even see him.

      Peer Gynt [comes in heated and full of animation, stops right in front of the group, and claps his hands]

      Which is the liveliest girl of the lot of you?

      A Girl [as he approaches her]

      I am not.

      Another [similarly]

      I am not.

      A Third

      No; nor I either.

      Peer [to a fourth]

      You come along, then, for want of a better.

      The Girl

      Haven’t got time.

      Peer [to a fifth]

      Well then, you!

      The Girl [going]

      I’m for home.

      Peer

      To-night? are you utterly out of your senses?

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