Act 4 - Scene 2

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_ ACT IV - SCENE II

Seashore with wreckage of cast up seaweed, etc. To left an up-rooted oak-stump, fishing tackle and hulk of a wrecked vessel. Background: open sea; seamews float on waves. To right cliff-shore with pine woods; lower down is a hut.

PEHR.
Where am I? I breathe freer--All evil thoughts flee! I sense a perfume as of old romances; I hear a murmur, like far-away streams; the ground under me is soft as a bed. Ah--it is the seashore!

O Sea! Thou Mother Earth's good mother! Be greeted by an old and withered heart Which comes that it may be by thy moist winds Swept clean and freshened; Which comes to thy salt waves for cleansing baths And healing for the sores the world's lies and madness gave to it. Blow wind, and fill with thy pure air My lungs, that breathed in pois'n-filled vapours; Sing wave, and let mine ear be soothed By the harmonies of thy pure tones, As I stand here 'mongst the wreckage on the strand, A wreck myself, which the breakers cast upon the sand When the vessel crashed 'gainst the sharp cliff-rocks! Be greeted, Sea, that nurses healthy thoughts And recreates the soul in shrunken body When every spring thy billows break And gull and swallow chatter 'bove thy wave, To wak'n anew the joy of life, and strength, and hope!

[Sees hut.]

What's this? A human habitation! Not even here is a moment's peace granted me--Maledictions!

A VOICE.
Curse not!

[It darkens and the sea begins to rise, moving toward him during following speech so that he is forced down stage.]

PEHR.
Who spoke?

[Tries to flee toward left and is met by elk.]

Wild beasts stop me!

[Tries to flee toward right, but is intercepted by bulls.]

Even here--Back!

[Animals come on stage and crowd around him.]

They surround me! Help!

[Runs to but and knocks.]

Is no one here? Help, help!

[Attempts to cast himself into the sea, but sea-serpents and dragons rise up.]

Ah, nature, even you are a savage monster that would devour all you come upon! You, my last friend, tricked me also--What terror's visions! The sea would swallow me. What is my life worth more? Come, Death, and set me free!

[Sea gradually subsides.]

[Enter Death; beasts vanish.]

DEATH.
Here am I, at your service! What would you me?

PEHR.
[Cowers, but recovers himself.]

Oh, really!--It was nothing especially pressing--

DEATH.
You called me!

PEHR.
Did I actually do that? Well, it is only a form of speech which we use; I really want nothing of you.

DEATH.
But I want something of you! Stand straight on your legs and I'll cut; it will be over in no time.

[Raises scythe.]

PEHR.
Mercy, mercy! I don't want to die!

DEATH.
Bosh! What has life to offer you who have no wishes left?

PEHR.
That one does not know; if one might stop to consider, then perhaps--

DEATH.
Oh, you have had ample time; now it is too late. Straighten your back so that you may fall like a real world-hater!

[Lifts scythe.]

PEHR.
No, no, for God's sake, wait a little--

DEATH.
You're a timid beggar! Live on then if you think it anything; but don't regret it later. I shall not come again for a long time.

[Starts to go.]

PEHR.
No, no, no! don't leave me alone--

DEATH.
Alone? Why, you have lovely Nature!

PEHR.
Yes, it's all very well when the weather is fine and the sun shines, but thus late--

DEATH.
You see now that you cannot live without your fellow men. Knock three times on the door over yonder, and you will find company.

[Death vanishes. Pehr knocks three times on door of hut; the Wise Man comes out.]

WISE MAN.
Whom seek you?

PEHR.
A human being! In short--I'm unhappy.

WISE MAN.
Then you should not seek human beings, for they cannot help you.

PEHR.
I know it, yet I would neither live nor die; I have suffered all, and my heart will not break!

WISE MAN.
You are young, and do not know the human heart. In here I have lately been pondering the causes of mankind's misery. Would you like to see how the little object called the human heart looks?

[Steps into hut and returns presently with a casket
and a lantern, which he hangs on a tree.]

You see the little three-cornered muscle, which now has ceased to beat--Once it throbbed with rage, thumped with joy, cramped with sorrow, swelled with hope. You see that it is divided into two large chambers: In one lives the good, in the other the evil--or, with a word, there sits an angel on one side of the wall and a devil on the other. When they chance to be at odds with each other--which happens quite often--there is unrest in the person and he fancies the heart will burst--but it doesn't, for the walls are thick. Oh, yes, look at this one! Do you see thousands of little scars from needle thrusts? They did not go through, but the pricks remain nevertheless.

PEHR.
Who has borne this heart, Wise Man?

WISE MAN.
The unhappiest of humans.

PEHR.
And who was that?

WISE MAN.
It was a man. Do you see the marks of a heel; do you see the nail-prints? It was a woman that trampled on this heart for twenty-six years.

PEHR.
And he did not tire?

WISE MAN.
Yes, he grew weary one Christmas Eve and freed himself from her. As a punishment, he came under the ban of the Powers; he cannot die, although his heart has been taken from him.

PEHR.
Can he never be released from the spell?

WISE MAN.
When his son shall have found a faithful woman and brought her home a bride, then the spell will be broken. But that can never be because his son is gone forever.

PEHR.
What has become of him?

WISE MAN.
He went out in the world.

PEHR.
Then why can he never get any bride, poor boy!

WISE MAN.
Because one who loves only himself can never love anyone else.

PEHR.
He means the old man, my father. [Wise Man sinks through floor; but vanishes. It begins to dawn.]

PEHR.
"He who loves only himself "--So said Lisa also--But I hate myself, I loathe myself after the cowardly things I have done, and I love Lisa! Yes, I love her, I love her!

[Sun shines on waves and lights up pine woods to right;
clouds disperse. A boat is seen out at sea, it comes nearer
and nearer and Lisa is seen at the rudder. She beckons to
Pehr as the boat recedes.]

Sea-gulls in the air, tell her! Sunbeams, carry my words on your pillars of fire, and bear them to her. But where must I seek thee--where?

[Boat is seen on horizon a moment.]

It is she! Now, ring, fulfill my last wish and take me to her! The ring is gone! Woe, what does this augur? Is my story ended, or shall it now begin perhaps? Lisa, my soul's beloved!

[He runs up on cliff and waves.]

If you hear me, answer; if you see me, give me a sign! Ah--she turns out toward the fjord--Well, then, storm and sea, that separate me from all that my heart loves, I challenge you to battle for the highest prize!

[Pushes out boat drawn up on shore.]

Blow, wind, and rock, wave! My weak keel shall cleave you like a sword. On, my boat, even though we miss the goal, let us struggle on till we sink!

[CURTAIN.] _

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