[A thickly wooded hillside which leads up to higher mountain regions; in a deep ravine a swift river runs from the background out to the right; over the river lie some old logs and other remnants of a dilapidated bridge. Huge rocks lie scattered in the foreground; far away can be seen the summits of snow-capped mountain peaks. Evening twilight rests over the landscape; later on the moon appears.]
SCENE I
[THORGJERD stands on a rocky projection near the river
and listens to the various choruses which are heard
off the stage.]
CHORUS OF LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE. [Deep in the wood to the right.]
With ringing of bells we hurry along,
We wander in field and in dell;
O Christian, come, give heed to our song,
Awake from your magic spell.
RELATIVES OF ARNE OF GULDVIK. [Far away to the right.]
Now hasten we all
To the wedding hall;
The foal runneth light and gay!
The hoofs resound
On the grassy ground
As the merry swains gallop away!
LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE. [A little nearer than before.]
We conjure you forth from mountain and hill,
From the places which hold you bound.
Awake to our call, come, free your will
From elves that hover around!
[THORGJERD disappears in the ravine where the river runs; after a rapid interplay the choruses are heard much nearer.]
ARNE'S RELATIVES. Our way we shorten with jest and with song,
And all of the bridal night.
LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE. With tears we wander the whole day long,
We search to the left and the right.
ARNE'S RELATIVES. [In close proximity, yet still outside the
scene.] To wedding and banquet, to song and dance,
Both servants and hand-maidens throng.
LADY KIRSTEN'S RETINUE. [Nearer than before.]
Olaf Liljekrans! Olaf Liljekrans!
Why sleep you so deep and so long?
* * * * *
SCENE II
[ARNE of Guldvik appears with his relatives, men and women, minstrels, etc., in the background to the right on the other side of the river; they are all in festive attire. Shortly afterwards HEMMING from the same side.]
ONE OF THE RETINUE. See, here goes the way.
ANOTHER. No, here!
A THIRD. Not at all, it must be here.
ARNE OF GULDVIK. Well, well, are we now astray again!
ARNE OF GULDVIK. [Calls.] Hemming! Where is Hemming?
HEMMING. [Enters.] Here!
ARNE. Have I not told you to keep yourself close so as to be of some service to me?
HEMMING. It was Mistress Ingeborg--she wanted,--and so--
ARNE. [Annoyed.] Mistress Ingeborg! Mistress Ingeborg! Are you Mistress Ingeborg's maid? You are my page; it is me you shall serve. Do you not get your keep and wage therefor? Come, tell us where the way goes,--we are stuck.
HEMMING. [Uncertain.] The way? Well now, I am little acquainted up here, but--
ARNE. I might have known it,--that is always the service you give me! Well, we shall have to spend the night in the wilderness, as sure as I am Arne of Guldvik.
HEMMING. [Who has in the meantime spied the remnants of the bridge.] Aha, no need of that; here we can get across.
ARNE. Why didn't you tell us so in the first place?
[All cross the river and come forward on the stage.]
ARNE. [Looks about.] Yes, now I have my bearings again. The river there is the boundary between Lady Kirsten's dominions and mine.
ARNE. [Points to the left.] Down there lies her estate; in another hour or two we can sit cozily in the bridal house, but then we must hurry along.
ARNE. [Calls.] Ingeborg!--Hemming! Now where's Ingeborg?
HEMMING. In the rear, up on the hillside.
HEMMING. [Points to the right.] She is playing with her bridesmaids; they gather green twigs from the cherry trees and run about with joy and laughter.
ARNE. [Bitterly but in subdued voice.] Hemming! this wedding makes me sick; there are so many vexations about it.
ARNE. [Gazes out to the right.] There they run,--just look at them! It was she who hit upon the idea of going over the mountain instead of following the highway; we should reach our goal the sooner, she thought;--and yet notwithstanding--hm! I could go mad over it; tomorrow is she to go to the altar. Are these the decorous customs she ought to observe! What will Lady Kirsten say when she finds my daughter so ill disciplined?
ARNE. [As HEMMING starts to speak.] Yes, for that she is; she is ill disciplined, I say.
HEMMING. Master! You should never have married your daughter into Lady Kirsten's family; Lady Kirsten and her kinsmen are high-born people--
ARNE. You art stupid, Hemming! High-born, high-born! Much good that will do,--it neither feeds nor enriches a man. If Lady Kirsten is high-born, then I am rich; I have gold in my chests and silver in my coffers.
HEMMING. Yes, but your neighbors make merry over the agreement you have concluded with her.
ARNE. Ah, let them, let them; it is all because they wish me ill.
HEMMING. They say that you have surrendered your legal right in order to have Ingeborg married to Olaf Liljekrans; I shouldn't mention it, I suppose,--but a lampoon about you is going the rounds, master!
ARNE. You lie in your throat; there is no one dares make a lampoon about Arne of Guldvik. I have power; I can oust him from house and home whenever I please. Lampoon! And what do you know about lampoons!--If they have composed any songs, it is to the honor of the bride and her father!
ARNE. [Flaring up.] But it is a wretched bit of verse nevertheless, really a wretched bit of verse, I tell you. It is no man skilled in the art of poetry who has put it together, and if I once get hold of him, then--
HEMMING. Aha, master! then you know it too? Is there some one who has dared sing it to you?
ARNE. Sing, sing! Now don't stand there and delay me with your twaddle.
ARNE. [To the others.] Away, my kinsmen; little must we delay if we are to reach the bridal house before midnight. You should have heard what Hemming is telling. He says there is a rumor around that Lady Kirsten has baked and brewed for five whole days in honor of our coming. Is it not so, Hemming?
HEMMING. Aye, master!
ARNE. He says she owns not the beaker of silver so costly but she places it on the table shining and polished; so splendid a feast she has not prepared since the king came to visit her blessed lord twenty years ago. Is it not true, Hemming?
HEMMING. Aye, master!
HEMMING. [Whispering.] But, master, it is ill-thought to say such things; Lady Kirsten is proud of her birth; she thinks this marriage is somewhat of an honor to you; little you know how she intends to show herself to her guests.
ARNE. [Softly.] Ah, what nonsense!
ARNE. [To the others.] He says Lady Kirsten gives herself no rest; both day and night she is busy in pantry and cellar. Is it not--?
ARNE. [Startled as he looks out to the right.] Hemming! what is that? See here, who is that coming?
HEMMING. [With a cry.] Lady Kirsten Liljekrans!
ALL. [Astonished.] Lady Kirsten!
* * * * *
SCENE III
[The Preceding. LADY KIRSTEN comes with her HOUSE CARLS from the left.]
LADY KIRSTEN. [To her followers, without noticing the others.]
Now just a little farther and I am sure we shall find him.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Taken aback, aside.] Arne of Guldvik! Heaven help me!
ARNE. [As he goes to meet her.] The peace of God, Lady Kirsten Liljekrans!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Composes herself and gives him her hand.] The peace of God to you!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] Does he then know nothing?
ARNE. [Contentedly.] And well met at the boundary! Indeed, this pleases me; yet almost too great is the honor you show me.
LADY KIRSTEN. What mean you?
ARNE. I mean too great is the honor you show me, when you travel miles over fields and wildernesses in order to bid me welcome on your land.
LADY KIRSTEN. Ah, Lord Arne--
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] He knows nothing as yet!
ARNE. And that on a day like this, when you have enough things to attend to; 'tis at your house we celebrate the wedding of our children, since my estate lies too far from the church, and yet you come here to meet me with all your servants.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Embarrassed.] I beg you, say no more about that.
ARNE. Aye, I will speak of it loudly; the village people have said that you pride yourself on your noble birth, that you look down upon me and mine, and that you entered into the agreement only in order to put an end to the long-standing disputes which grew troublesome now that you have become a widow and begin to grow old; and if that had not been the case, you would never--
LADY KIRSTEN. How can you listen to what evil tongues invent? No more will we think of our differences which have lasted since the days of your ancestors. I think our families have suffered enough these years, yours as well as mine. Look around you, Lord Arne! Is not the hillside here like the wildest of upland pastures? And yet in our fathers' days it was a region much frequented and rich. A bridge there was across the river, and a highway from Guldvik to my father's house. But with fire and sword they sallied forth from both sides; they laid everything waste that they came upon, for it seemed to them that they were too near neighbors. Now all sorts of weeds grow in the highway, the bridge is broken, and it is only the bear and the wolf that make their homes here.
ARNE. Yes, they ran the road around the mountain below; it is a good deal longer and they could thus better keep an eye on one another; but there is little need of that now,--which is well and good for both of us.
LADY KIRSTEN. To be sure, to be sure! But Ingeborg, the bride, where is she?
I do not see her, and the bridesmaids likewise are lacking; surely she is not--
ARNE. She follows in the rear; she must shortly be here. But--listen, Lady Kirsten! One thing I will tell you, as well first as last, although, I should think, you know it. Ingeborg has at times whims and moods,--I swear to you she has them, however well disciplined she may be.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Expectant.] Well, what then?
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] Is she too--
ARNE. Such things you must tame; I, as her father, will never succeed, but you will no doubt find ways and means.
LADY KIRSTEN. Aye, rest you assured.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] And Olaf, who is nowhere to be seen!
HEMMING. [Who has looked out to the right.] There comes Mistress Ingeborg.
HEMMING. [Aside.] How fair she is advancing foremost in the group!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Slowly to her servants.] You will keep silent about your errand up here.
A SERVANT. You may be sure of that.
HEMMING. [Aside, sighing, as he continues to look out to the right.] Ah, happy is Olaf, who will have her!
* * * * *
SCENE IV
[The Preceding. INGEBORG and the Bridesmaids come over the bridge.]
INGEBORG. [Still in the background.] Why do you run away from me? What good will that do? There can be no wedding anyway before I come.
INGEBORG. [Notices LADY KIRSTEN and her retinue.] Lady Kirsten! you here? Well, I am glad of that.
[Casually to the retinue.]
[To LADY KIRSTEN as she looks about.]
LADY KIRSTEN. Olaf!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] Woe is me! now it will out.
ARNE. Yes, Olaf, indeed! Ha, ha, ha! I must have been blind; 'tis well the bride sees better than I; for I have not noticed that the bridegroom is lacking; but now I understand very well how it comes that we meet here,--it is he who is causing--
LADY KIRSTEN. He--you mean--you know, that--
ARNE. I mean it has grown tedious for him down there in the festive hall. Aye, aye, I remember now my own wedding day; at that time I also was young. He has had a great desire to meet the bride, and accordingly he prevailed upon you to go with him.
LADY KIRSTEN. He greatly desired, to be sure, to meet the bride, but--
INGEBORG. But what?
LADY KIRSTEN. Olaf is not here with us.
HEMMING. [Approaches.] Not with you!
ARNE. And why not?
INGEBORG. Speak, I beg you!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Embarrassed and jestingly.] Truly, it appears the bride also is anxious! Come along, come along with me down to the bridal hall; there, I imagine he will be found.
HEMMING. [Whispering to ARNE.] Master! remember I gave you warning.
ARNE. [Suspiciously to LADY KIRSTEN.] First answer me; then shall we follow.
LADY KIRSTEN. Well then,--he is ridden out to the hunt.
LADY KIRSTEN. [As she is about to go.] Come, 'tis fast growing dark.
INGEBORG. To the hunt?
LADY KIRSTEN. Aye! Does that surprise you? You know the song of course:
"The knight likes to ride in the forest around, To test his horse and his hound!"
INGEBORG. Does he think so little of his young bride that he uses the wedding days to go hunting wild animals?
LADY KIRSTEN. Now you are jesting. Come along, come along!
ARNE. [Who has in the meantime kept his eye on LADY KIRSTEN and her retinue.] No, wait, Lady Kirsten! I hardly dare measure myself in wisdom with you, but one thing clearly I see, and that is that you are concealing your real errand up here.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Confused.] I? How can you think that?
ARNE. From one thing and another I can see you are concealing something.
You are strangely downcast, and yet you pretend to be playful in spirit; but it won't do--
LADY KIRSTEN. 'Tis nothing new for you to think ill of me and mine.
ARNE. Perhaps; but never did I do so without just cause.
ARNE. [Bursting out.] As sure as I live, there is something you are hiding from me.
LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] What will be the end of this?
ARNE. I let myself be fooled by you, but now I see clearly enough. You said you came to greet me at the boundary. How did you know we took the way over the mountain? It was Ingeborg who suggested this way just as we left Guldvik, and no one could have informed you about it.
ARNE. [When LADY KIRSTEN does not answer.] You are silent, as I might have known.
HEMMING. [In an undertone.] You see, master! Will you now believe what I said?
ARNE. [Likewise.] Hush!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Who has in the meantime composed herself.] Well and good, Lord Arne! I will be honest with you; let chance take care of the rest.
ARNE. Then tell us--
INGEBORG. What mean you?
LADY KIRSTEN. The agreement between us is sealed with word and with hand,--many honorable men whom I see here can bear witness to that: Olaf, my son, was to wed your daughter; tomorrow at my house the wedding was to be held--
ARNE. [Impatiently.] Yes, yes!
LADY KIRSTEN. Dishonor to him who breaks his word, but--
ARNE AND THE GUESTS.. What then! Speak out!
LADY KIRSTEN. There can be no wedding tomorrow as we had agreed.
ARNE. No wedding?
LADY KIRSTEN. It must be postponed.
HEMMING. Ah, shame and disgrace!
INGEBORG. No wedding!
ARNE. Cursed be you that you play me false!
THE GUESTS. [Threatening, as several of them draw their knives and rush in on Lady Kirsten's people.] Revenge! Revenge on the house of Liljekrans!
LADY KIRSTEN'S MEN. [Raise their axes and prepare to defend themselves.]
Strike too! Down with the men of Guldvik!
LADY KIRSTEN. [Throws herself between the contending parties.] Stop, stop; I pray you, stop! Lord Arne! hear me to the end ere you judge my conduct.
ARNE. [Who has tried to quiet his kinsmen, approaches LADY KIRSTEN and speaks in a low tone as he tries to overcome his inner agitation, which is nevertheless apparent.] Forgive me, Lady Kirsten! I was too quick in my wrath. Had I stopped to think I might surely have known the whole was a jest on your part; I beg you, do not contradict me, it must be so! No wedding tomorrow,--how could such a thing happen! If it is ale and mead you lack, or if you need silver or embroidered linens, then come you to me.
LADY KIRSTEN. It is no poor man's house that your daughter is marrying into, Lord Arne! Do you but come to the wedding with all your kinsmen and friends, aye, come with three times as many if you wish,--in my home you shall find plenty of room and banquet fare, as much as you may desire. Think not for a moment that such an inglorious reason could stand in my way.
ARNE. You have changed your mind, perchance?
LADY KIRSTEN. Nor that either! If I have given my word, then am I likewise ready to keep it, today just as well as tomorrow; for such was ever the custom and rule in my family. But in this instance it is not in my power; one there is lacking--
INGEBORG. One! Whom? Surely I should think that when the bride is ready,--
LADY KIRSTEN. For a wedding two people are needed, the groom as well as the bride--
ARNE AND THE GUESTS. Olaf!
INGEBORG. My betrothed!
LADY KIRSTEN. Yes, he, my son--this night he is fled from his home and his bride.
GUESTS. Fled!
ARNE. Fled! He!
LADY KIRSTEN. As I hope for the grace of heaven, I have no hand therein.
ARNE. [With suppressed exasperation.] And the wedding was to be tomorrow!
My daughter has put on her golden attire; invitations I have sent around in the district; my kinsmen and friends come from far away to attend the festive day.
ARNE. [Flaring up.] Ah, take you good care, if Arne of Guldvik is held up to scorn before his neighbors; it shall profit you little,--that I solemnly swear!
LADY KIRSTEN. You reason unjustly, if you think--
ARNE. 'Tis not, Lady Kirsten, for you to say so! We two have an old account to settle; it is not the first time that you set your cunning traps for me and mine. The race of Guldvik has long had to suffer, when you and your kinsmen plotted deception and guile. Power we had,--we had wealth and property too; but you were too crafty for us. You knew how to lure us with wily words and ready speech,--those are wares I am little able to reckon as I should.
LADY KIRSTEN. Lord Arne! Hear me, I pray!
ARNE. [Continuing.] Now I see clearly that I have behaved like the man who built his house on the ice-floe: a thaw came on and down he went to the bottom. But you shall have little joy of this. I shall hold you to account, Lady Kirsten! You must answer for your son; you it was who made love for him, and your affair it will be to keep the word you have given me! A fool I was, aye, tenfold a fool, that I put my faith in your glib tongue. Those who wished me well gave me warning; my enemies made me an object of scorn; but little heed gave I to either. I put on my gala attire; kinsmen and friends I gathered together; with song and laughter we set out for the festive hall, and then,--the bridegroom has fled.
INGEBORG. Never will I marry one who holds me so lightly.
ARNE. Be still!
HEMMING. [Softly to ARNE.] Mistress Ingeborg is right; best it is you break the agreement.
ARNE. Be still, I say!
LADY KIRSTEN. [To ARNE.] You may well be rilled with wrath and resentment; but if you think I meant to deceive you, you do me the greatest injustice. You think we are playing a game of deception with you. But tell me,--what would tempt me and my son to such a thing? Does he not love Ingeborg? Where could he choose him a better bride? Is she not fair and lithe? Is her father not rich and mighty? Is not her family mentioned with honor as far as it is known?
ARNE. But how then could Olaf--
LADY KIRSTEN. The lot I have suffered is worse than you think. You will pity me instead of growing angry when you have heard.--Since the sun rose this morning I have wandered up here to find him again.
ARNE. Up here?
LADY KIRSTEN. Yes, up here; I must tell you--you'll be frightened--but nevertheless,--Olaf is bewitched in the mountain!
GUESTS. Bewitched in the mountain!
INGEBORG. [At the same time.] Deliver me, God!
ARNE. What say you, Lady Kirsten?
LADY KIRSTEN. He is bewitched in the mountain! Nothing else can it be.-– Three weeks ago, after the betrothal feast at Guldvik, he did not come home till far into the next day. Pale he was and moody and quiet as I had never seen him before. And thus the days went by; he spoke but little; he lay in his bed most of the time and turned his face to the wall; but when evening came on, it seemed a strange uneasiness seized him; he saddled his horse and rode away, far up the mountain side; but no one dared follow him, and no one knew where he went beyond that. Believe me, 'tis evil spirits that have charmed his mind; great is the power they wield in here; from the time the terrible plague overran the country it has never been quite safe in the mountain here; there is scarcely a day goes by but the chalet girls hear strange playing and music, although there is no living soul in the place whence it comes.
ARNE. Bewitched in the mountain! Could such a thing be possible?
LADY KIRSTEN. Would to God it were not; but I can no longer doubt it. Three days is it now since he last was at home.
ARNE. And you have seen none who knows where he is?
LADY KIRSTEN. Alas, no, it is not so easy. Up here a hunter yesterday saw him; but he was wild and shy as the deer; he had picked all sorts of flowers, and these he scattered before him wherever he went, and all the while he whispered strange words. As soon as I heard of this, I set out with my people, but we have found nothing.
INGEBORG. You met none who could tell you--
LADY KIRSTEN. You know of course the mountain-side is desolate.
ARNE. [As he spies THORGJERD, who rises from the river.] Here comes one will I ask.
HEMMING. [Apprehensively.] Master! Master!
ARNE. What now?
HEMMING. Let him go! Do you not see who it is?
THE GUESTS AND LADY KIRSTEN'S PEOPLE. [Whispering among themselves.] Thorgjerd the fiddler! The crazy Thorgjerd!
INGEBORG. He has learned the nixie's songs.
HEMMING. Let him go, let him go!
ARNE. No,--not even were he the nixie himself--
* * * * *
SCENE V
[The Preceding.]
[THORGJERD has in the meantime gone to the edge of the stage to the left; at ARNE's last words he turns about suddenly as if he had been addressed.]
THORGJERD. [As he draws a step or two nearer.] What do you want of me?
ARNE. [Startled.] What's that?
HEMMING. Now see!
ARNE. Let me manage this.
ARNE. [To THORGJERD.] We seek Olaf Liljekrans. Have you met him about here today?
THORGJERD. Olaf Liljekrans?
LADY KIRSTEN. Why, yes,--you know him well.
THORGJERD. Is he not one of the evil men from the villages?
LADY KIRSTEN. Evil?
THORGJERD. They are all evil there! Olaf Liljekrans curses the little bird when it sings on his mother's roof.
LADY KIRSTEN. You lie, you fiddler!
THORGJERD. [With an artful smile.] So much the better for him.
ARNE. How so?
THORGJERD. You ask about Olaf Liljekrans? Has he gone astray in here?
You seek him and cannot find him?
LADY KIRSTEN. Yes, yes!
THORGJERD. So much the better for him;--if it were a lie that I told, he will suffer no want.
INGEBORG. Speak out what you know!
THORGJERD. Then I should never be done!
THORGJERD. [Mischievously.] Elves and sprites hold sway here. Be you of good cheer! If you find him not he is at play with the elves; they are fond of all who love little birds, and Olaf, you said.... Go home,--go home again. Olaf is up in the mountain; he suffers no want.
LADY KIRSTEN. Curse you for saying such things!
ARNE. [To LADY KIRSTEN.] Do not heed what he says.
THORGJERD. [Approaches again.] I go hence now to tune my harp; Olaf Liljekrans is up in the mountain,--there shall his wedding be held.--Mad Thorgjerd must also be there; he can make tables and benches dance, so stirring is the music he plays. But you, take you heed; go you home again; it is not safe for you here.
Have you not heard the old saying:
Beware of the elves when they frolic around,
They may draw you into their play;
And all that you see and all that you hear
Will stay with your mind alway.
THORGJERD. [Suddenly breaking out with wild joy.] But here there are wedding guests,--ah! Each lady has on her very best gown, each man his very best coat,--now I see. Olaf Liljekrans is likewise a groom in the village,--there also he has a betrothed! Well, you have heard of such things before! I know that at