Chapter IV: Act III

_A small grass-grown plot. In the foreground, to the right, a fantastic lava formation, a hollow cone five yards in height and three yards in circumference, once an enormous lava bubble produced by gases in the liquid lava. In course of time, the roof has crumbled, also the nearest wall. The farther wall is still standing, but there is a hole in it, through which the sky can be seen. Farther back and somewhat to the left, the wall of a small hut is seen, though partly hidden by the lava formation. The hut is built of stone, the walls of small stones chinked with sod, the roof of large lava slabs. To the left, a deep gorge, the farther wall of which is so much higher than the one near by that it completely shuts off the view to the left. At the bottom of the gorge, a stream. Farther up, the gorge makes a turn to the left, and here the upper part of a waterfall is seen. Behind this, the glacier. On the grass plot is a hearth with a smouldering fire. Some rocks covered with skins serve as seats. From the gorge comes the murmuring sound of the waterfall._

_The stage is empty. A horn is heard, first a short call, then a longer._

_Enter Kari and Arnes. They are weather-beaten, bareheaded,
dressed in knitted jerkins and knitted knee-breeches. Their
feet are bare in their shoes. Both have ram's horns hanging at
their side. Kari carries a swan, Arnes a bunch of ptarmigans,
some faggots, and a few tufts of bearberry._

_Kari (looking into the hut)._

Halla! No, she is not here.

_Arnes._

She may have gone for water.

_Kari (lays down the swan)._

It is quite heavy.

_Arnes._

You might have let me carry it. I had not tired myself with running.

_Kari._

As I had caught it, I wanted to carry it. (_Smiles._) The old pride, you see.

_Arnes._

The honor would have been yours just the same.

_Kari._

This is the first swan this fall. (_Stroking it fondly._) I am glad the feathers didn't get blood-stained.

_Arnes._

It would be lonesome up here if we were only two.

_Kari._

Indeed it would, but you have tried the loneliness before. Was it not two years you had been alone before you met us?

_Arnes._

Two and a half.

_Kari (pleased)._

Do you know what we'll do? We'll hide the swan and say that we've come home empty-handed. (_Takes the swan._) Hand me the ptarmigans. (_Hides them behind the hut._) Now I wish Halla would come soon. (_Walks to the back and blows his horn._)

_Halla (is heard answering)._

Hello!

_Kari._

Here she comes.

_Arnes._

You are a happy mortal.

_Kari._

Yes, I am happy, and it is good to be here. We are free. We have enough to eat. We have sunshine, water, and shelter. What more do you want? (_Arnes is silent._) I know you are brooding over something you don't want to tell me. You seem more gloomy every day. Are you longing to get away from here?

_Arnes._

Don't let us talk about such things to-day.

_Kari._

Perhaps it would do you good to unburden yourself to me or, better still, to Halla. She is wiser than I am, and she cares a good deal for you, I tell you.

_Arnes._

There are not many like Halla.

_Kari (hastily)._

We won't tell Halla about the mist. It might frighten her.

_Arnes._

I'll hold my peace.

_Enter Halla, carrying a pail of water. The pail is of
plaited willow twigs chinked with clay. With the other hand
she leads a little girl about three years old. Halla is
dressed in a white jerkin and black skirt, both of knitted
wool. She wears her silver girdle around her waist. The
child has on white knitted clothes. They are bare-headed,
and their foot-wear is the same as that worn by the men._

_Halla._

Did you have good luck to-day?

_Kari (dolefully)._

We have caught nothing but trouble and weariness. The ptarmigans made themselves scarce to-day. We saw a flock of six, but they flew away before we could get our snares out.

_Halla (to Arnes)._

Is it true, what he says?

_Arnes._

It's true enough. We saw six ptarmigans, but they got away from us.

_Halla._

I am sorry. We must hope for better luck next time.

_Kari (laughing)._

I fooled you that time! (_Runs toward the hut._) Look here! Five big, fat ptarmigans!

_Halla._

Well, well!

_Kari (holding up the swan)._

And that's all.

_Halla._

What a lovely surprise! How did you catch it?

_Kari._

I ran it down.

_Arnes._

I don't believe there are many who can beat him at that. I know I can't.

_Tota._

May Tota pat it?

_Halla._

Tota may do anything she wants to. I should like to make you a jacket of swan's down.

_Kari (cuts off the feet of the swan)._

You would like these, wouldn't you?

_Tota._

Yes.

_Kari._

Some day when I have time I will skin them and make little bags for you to keep your pebbles in.

_Halla._

You've got lovely playthings there! (_Squats down on the ground._) Where are mother's eyes? (_Hiding her eyes with the swan's feet._)

_Tota (takes them away from her eyes)._

Here!

_Halla (rising)._

Did you eat all your food?

_Kari._

Every bite.

_Halla._

Then you can't be hungry.

_Kari._

No.

_Halla._

And it is too early for the evening meal, but I can make you some tea.

_Kari._

Yes, do. (_To Arnes._) Let us carry the swan to the cave. [_Exeunt Kari and Arnes._

_Halla._

Now Tota must be tied, so the waterfall can't take her, while mother is making tea. (_Takes a rope that is fastened to a rock and ties it around Tota's waist. Brings some of her playthings._) Here are all your horses. (_Puts a kettle of water over the fire; places some earthenware cups on the rocks by the hearth; takes a handful of dried herbs from a bag, rinses them in cold water, and portions them out in the cups. The faggots Arnes has brought, she throws on the fire. As she works, she sings._)

Have you seen a brave young lad?
'Tis my friend,
Dearest friend;
'Mongst all men in byrnie clad
The bonniest is he.
I have smiled my teeth all white and shining,
I have smiled my teeth all white and shining with glee.

Have you heard his voice's call,
Call of love,
Song of love?
O'er my heart the sound did fall
And hushed its quick desire.
He has kissed my lips all red and glowing,
He has kissed my lips all red and glowing as fire.

There! Now we must get the water to boil. (_Picks up the tufts of bearberry and goes to Tota._) See what Arnes brought you!

_Tota._

They are berries.

_Halla._

Yes, but you must not eat them or you will get a pain in your little stomach. (_Rises and finds a long, stiff straw._) Now I'll show you what you can do. (_Threading the berries on the straw, she counts._) One, two-- four-- six, seven-- so many years your father and mother have been in the hills. (_Strokes Tota's hair._) When you are sixteen, we shall have lived here for twenty years, and then we shall be free again. On that day, Tota shall wear snow-white clothes and shoes of colored leather, and mother will clasp her silver girdle around your waist. And when we come down to the lowlands, the first one we meet is a young man with silver buttons in his coat. He stops and turns his horse and stands looking after you ever so long. Then your mother has grown old and wrinkled, and her hair is almost as white as snow. Your father, too, has grown old. But you are straight as a silver-weed, and when you run, you lift your feet high!

_Enter Kari and Arnes._

_Kari (laughing)._

Ah, now it's steaming. I nearly fell headlong into the cave, when we lifted the cover from the entrance.

_Halla._

Did you? (_Gives the straw to Tota._) Now you can go on by yourself. (_Rises._) Is there any need of closing the cave every time? When it's not raining, it might be left open.

_Kari._

No harm in being careful. If they should come upon us suddenly, we surely should not have time to close the entrance, and they would find the cave and destroy all our stores, as they did five years ago. Do you remember when we came back to the old place and found nothing but ashes?-- and winter setting in. Not a single piece of mutton did they leave us.

_Halla._

I don't easily forget.

_Kari._

Whenever I think of it, I feel like doing something wicked. After all, we are human too.

_Halla (laughing coldly)._

We're only the foxes who take their sheep.

_Kari (to Arnes)._

How did you hide your stores when you were alone?

_Arnes._

I had many hiding-places. Once I stole some twenty-eight pounds of butter. I stuffed it down into a fissure in a rock.

_Kari._

That was pretty shrewd.

(_They are silent._)

_Halla._

Did you have a clear outlook from the mountain this afternoon?

_Kari._

Yes. There was a little mist far to the southward.

_Halla._

It was from the south that the cloud came in my dream.

_Kari._

You can never forget about that dream.

_Halla._

I counted fourteen men who came riding out of the cloud. (_Silent for a moment._) You are quite sure the two men whose tracks you saw a month ago did not get on our trail?

_Kari._

Quite sure. If they had, they would have come closer.

_Halla._

Just think if they had seen smoke and told about it down in the parish!

_Kari._

They have done nothing of the kind; for if they had, they would have been up here with many men long ago. Ah, the water is boiling.

(_Halla lifts the kettle from the fire and pours water over
the herbs._)

_Kari._

Your tea will soon be giving out.

_Halla._

Yes, I must take a day and gather enough for the winter. I will go down to the Sun Valley. Nowhere else are the herbs so fine.

(_They drink their tea._)

_Kari._

Don't forget to lay in a store of herbs for your salve. You know how troublesome a little scratch can be, when the cold gets into it. You kept the honey I found?

_Halla._

I did.

_Kari._

That is good for wounds, too. And you must gather cotton grass for lamp wicks. (_Goes to Tota and gives her tea._) Tota must have a taste, too.

_Arnes (has been looking at Halla)._

Your hair was quite black before, but now there has come a sheen of red into it.

_Kari._

I have not noticed it, but your freckles are all gone, I have seen that. (_Patting her cheek._) Are you going to give us more tea?

_Halla._

As much as you want.

_Kari_ (_rises and goes into the hut; returns with three wooden pipes and two pouches, one large and one small._) You need not be saving of the leaves, but the tobacco I shall have to dole out to you.

(_They fill their pipes._)

_Halla (smiling)._

It was foolish of you to teach me to smoke.

_Kari._

Why shouldn't you have that boon as well as I? (_Shakes his bag._) You need not be shy, I have more in the cave, and when winter sets in and the snow is fit for skiing, we'll take Arnes down to my brother's. He promised to lay in good stores of tobacco and salt, and I will pay him with wool, as I did last time.

_Halla._

If only you don't end by being caught on one of those journeys!

_Kari._

Never! (_They sit smoking in silence._) Now I am just in the mood to listen to a good story. Have you one to tell us?

_Arnes (rising)._

No, I have not. (_Goes toward the gorge._)

_Kari._

It does not matter if you have told it before.

_Halla._

Arnes may be saving them for the winter.

_Kari (rises; lays down his pipe)._

Do you know what you should do? Have a good talk with Arnes. I believe he is getting restless and thinks of leaving us.

_Halla._

I hope not.

_Kari._

I will go and take a bath. You can speak better to him alone, and I need to wash off the sweat. (_Sings on his way out._)

Far in the hills I wandered; softly shone the summer night,
And the sun had ne'er a thought of sleeping.
Now will I bring my sweetheart dear the hidden treasure bright,
For faithfully my vows I would be keeping.
Heigh, ho!
New and fine my stockings are, new and fine my shoes,
And not a care in all the world to plague me!

_Halla (sits silent)._

Is time hanging heavy on you up here?

_Arnes (goes to her)._

No, that is only something Kari has got into his head, because I am not always merry.

_Halla (smiling)._

Once you boasted of being kin to the trolls.

_Arnes._

So I am. (_Halla rises; blows a great puff of smoke into his face; laughs. Arnes takes hold of her wrists._) Once there were two trolls. They quarrelled and turned each other into stone. One had to stand where all the birds dropped their filth, and the other had to stand where all the winds blew. Which would you rather be?

_Halla (tears herself away)._

I have not been turned to stone yet. (_Laughs._) I thought you had forgotten all your old stories.

_Arnes._

You are strong.

_Halla (sits down on the grass, leaning on her arm)._

Can you foretell things from the clouds?

_Arnes._

Yes, about the weather.

_Halla._

I don't mean that.

_Arnes (sits down beside her)._

When I was a child, I used to sail my viking ships on the clouds. Do you want me to foretell your fate?

_Halla._

You just said that you could not.

_Arnes._

The clouds tell nothing about our lives. They are only the dreamlands of earth. Will you let me see your arm?

_Halla._

Why?

_Arnes (lifts her arm)._

You think these lines on your arm are nothing but marks drawn by heather and grass, but if I knew enough, I could read your whole fate in them. Something, perhaps, I can see. Who would believe that these slender arms could be so strong.

_Halla (laughing)._

And what stands written there?

_Arnes._

You must sit still. Here is a deep, narrow line across your arm, that means sorrow. And there is a big fire. (_Stroking her arm with the tips of his fingers._) I can see the tongues of flame. That means that you are loved.

(_Kisses her arm._)

_Halla (stands up; laughs)._

Did you burn yourself?

_Arnes._

I should like to read your fate all day long.

_Halla._

Then you might tell me things I did not care to hear. But I must get to work.

(_Halla goes into the hut. Arnes looks after her. She comes out
bringing wool, a spindle, and a sheep's skin._)

_Halla._

If you are not too tired after the hunt, this skin can stand a little more.

_Arnes._

Give it to me. (_Takes a large ring made of a ram's horn. From the ring hangs a loop of rope, in which he puts his foot. He draws the skin through the ring and keeps pulling it back and forth. Halla sits down, turning her spindle. They are silent._)

_Halla._

It is queer about the sound of the waterfall. Most of the time I don't hear it at all, but if it were to stop, I should miss it. Is it the same with you?

_Arnes._

Yes.

_Halla._

At first I was almost afraid of it. Then I began to love it, and now I should only miss it if it were not there any more. We mortals are strange.

(_They are silent again._)

_Arnes._

Can you tell me why some people should be happier than others?

_Halla._

No, that I cannot.

_Arnes._

Kari has been happy for seven years.

_Halla._

Are you sure of that?

_Arnes._

Why should he not be happy? He has a wife and child.

_Halla._

Was there no one down your way whom you could bring with you up here?

_Arnes._

Who do you think would become an outlaw for my sake?

_Halla._

Wouldn't you dare to carry off a woman? I should try my best to be good to her.

_Arnes._

Do you think Kari would have dared to carry you off against your will?

_Halla._

Ask him.

_Arnes._

Why does he not show it, if he cares so much for you? He forgets about helping you with firewood and carrying water, and if the meat is not cooked the way he likes it, he scolds you. One might think you were his servant girl.

_Halla._

Don't let that worry you.

_Arnes._

And he can't even see the color of your hair.

_Halla._

Do you bear a grudge against Kari, because he caught the swan?

_Arnes._

You had house and home and a good name, and you gave it all up for his sake. He ought to keep that in mind more than he does.

_Halla._

I don't want Kari to be offering up thanks like a meek bondsman. Besides, I have done nothing for him. I did it all for myself.

_Arnes._

He does not even bother to curry the skins for your bedding. If you did not have me, you would have to do it yourself.

_Halla (stands up)._

I don't want your help. (_Takes hold of the skin._) Let go!

_Arnes (gives it up reluctantly)._

Are you angry?

_Halla_ (_takes the skin out of the horn-ring and throws it into the hut_). You are not so sorely needed as you think you are. (_Sits down again to her work._)

_Arnes._

I did not mean that. It makes me happy when I can do some little thing for you. Won't you let me finish it?

_Halla._

You shall not touch it.

_Arnes (stands for a moment, puzzled)._

Will you not forgive me what I said? I cannot bear to have you angry with me.

_Halla._

I am not angry.

_Arnes._

When you were ill, I once brought you some green leaves that had come up through the snow. Then you gave me a kiss.

_Halla._

Did I? (_Smiles; kisses him lightly on the cheek._) Have you peace in your soul now?

_Arnes._

I don't know. I believe I shall never have peace in my soul any more.

(_They are silent._)

_Halla._

You were good to me the time I was ill.

_Arnes._

I am not good to anybody. I am wicked.

_Halla._

You are not.

_Arnes._

Even with you I sometimes feel that I could hurt you.

_Halla._

We can all be ugly when we are tired and hungry.

_Arnes._

Will you let me kiss your mouth? Just once?

_Halla (rising)._

No.

_Arnes._

Your lips will suffer no harm from it. (_Takes hold of her shoulders and tries to draw her to him._)

_Halla (tears herself away from him)._

Have you gone mad?

_Arnes._

You have been true to Kari for seven years now. It is time you tired of it.

_Halla._

Now your face looks like the bailiff's when he called me a harlot. (_Gives him a box on the ear._)

_Arnes (furiously)._

I know you better than you think. You are so pure! You have never done an evil deed!

_Halla._

What do you mean?

_Arnes._

Kari is more open-mouthed than you think. You have had a child before this one.

(_Halla shields her face with her hands as though warding off
a blow. Arnes sits silent._)

_Halla._

Why don't you say that I killed my child? That is what you meant to say. You know I did it.

_Arnes._

My cursed mouth.

_Halla._

You judge me. How can you? You don't know what it means to bring a life into the world. It grows heavier day by day like the snow of winter. If we had had spring and sunshine! But the times were hard and food was scarce. I did a good deed when I laid my child out in the cold. Far less suffering that than life!

_Arnes._

I do not judge what you did.

_Halla._

No, you thought I was an angel who was longing to be your harlot. You can go with a lighted candle into my soul and search it. You will find no remorse there. What could we have done with a child, if we had been forced to flee? Should we have left it with strangers? And how do you think it would have fared? A child of felons, scorned by all!

_Arnes_ (_broken-hearted_). I did not know that my words would hurt you so much.

_Halla._

Do you think I did it with a light heart? I have given birth to two children, and cruel was the pain, but I would rather bear ten children than live that night over again. When I had carried my child out into the cold, my mind gave way. In my ravings, I thought the child lay by my side, and above us was a flock of birds-- pitch black. I bent over it to shield it, and the birds pecked into my back, into my lungs they pecked. (_Stops short from emotion._)

_Arnes._

Would I were dead!

_Halla (calmer)._

I wished for the death of that child long before it was born. (_Goes to Tota._) But this my little springtime child I have never wished ill. The first time I felt her life, it seemed a token of forgiveness that I was allowed to become a mother again, and when she came into the world, the sun was shining, and the sky was blue and warm. (_Kisses her._)

_Arnes._

My tongue got the better of me. (_Puts his hand on his heart._) There is a devil dwelling in me. (_Stands motionless._) I love you.

_Halla (turns toward him)._

Have you not done hurting me yet?

_Arnes (crushed)._

No matter what I say, you think I mean ill.

_Halla._

I shall not speak to you again. (_Sits down to her work._)

_Arnes._

Nor will you have to listen to me any more. I am going down to the lowlands, and there they can do with me what they like.

_Halla._

If you tell them of our hiding-place, they may let you off more easily.

_Arnes._

Even that you believe I could do!

_Halla (rising)._

If you cared for me as much as you say, you would be good to me instead of bad.

_Arnes._

Love has made you good and me bad. (_He is silent._) Do you remember the time Kari and I went up the glacier, and he fell down into a crack? He told you I had been so frightened that I shook all over. It was not for his life I feared; I feared my own thoughts.

_Halla (terrified by a dawning apprehension)._

What do you mean?

_Arnes._

I have often wished Kari dead.

_Halla._

It is not true!

_Arnes._

It is. Do you understand now that I must go away from here? I no longer dare to live with you two, and neither do I dare to live alone.

_Halla._

I wish you had never crossed our path.

_Arnes (following up his own thoughts)._

If Kari had not been so trusting as he is, I don't know what I might not have done; but he had such faith in me. You don't know all the words the Tempter can whisper in one's ear. I thought Kari had been happy so long that it would be only fair if he had to die now. It seemed to me that you and I were more akin in our souls, that we had more of the wilds in us. I felt it was he alone that stood between us two.

_Halla._

I forbid you to say another word. All your thoughts are lies. If Kari had died, I should have followed him. You would have had my corpse, not me. And if I had learned that you were the cause of his death, I should have killed you while you were asleep. I have given my all to my husband, even my conscience. I can go on living, even if he should not always care so much for me, but when I no longer love him, then I die.

_Arnes._

I am glad you love your husband. I don't know whether it is because I have unburdened myself of all my evil thoughts, or whether it is because I have made up my mind to give myself up and serve my time, but I feel a peace within me that I have not known for long. To-morrow I shall go away from here and never come back. I shall tell Kari that I mean to take a short trip. (_Goes to Halla._) Will you do the last thing I ask of you in this life-- never to let him know the truth?

_Halla._

I can make you no promise.

_Arnes._

Then I will bid you good-bye while we are alone. I shall cross the lava strip and sit down where I can look out over the sand waste. You may tell Kari that I shall be back in an hour. (_Holding out his hand._) Is there no hope that you can ever think of me without bitterness when I am gone?

_Halla (takes his hand)._

Good-bye, Arnes.

_Arnes._

Good-bye, Halla. (_Walks a few steps; stops._) When I am sitting within prison walls, I shall remember you as the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. [_Exit._

_Halla (stands looking after him; then goes to Tota)._

What a good, quiet little girl you are! Getting sleepy? (_Finds a small skin, which she spreads on the ground._) Now mother will sing you to sleep, as she did in the old times. (_Unfastens the rope._) Shall I, Tota?

_Tota._

Yes.

_Halla (sits down and takes her on her lap)._

Then you must close your eyes. (_Sits silent, then hums as she rocks the child._)

Sweetly sleep, my dear young love,
Outside rain is falling.
Mother safely away will stow
Horse and sheep and swan and dove.
Then we'll rest, we two, for night is calling.

Darkness spreads o'er many a woe,
Sore hearts, broken pledges.
Meadows green laid waste I saw,
Scythe of sand the field did mow,
Death calls from the glacier's cruel ledges.

Are you asleep? (_She rises slowly, lays the child on the skin, and covers her up, then sits down to her work._)

_Enter Kari, his hair wet from the bath._

_Kari._

Do you know what I have a mind to do?

_Halla._

You must not speak too loud. Tota is asleep. (_Kari goes to the left._) Where are you going?

_Kari._

I'll be right back. (_Disappears down the gorge. A moment later he comes into view again._) Some day when I feel good and strong I have a mind to try to swim against the current all the way into the inner ravine. From here I should look like a dwarf down there.

_Halla (rising)._

Arnes went out on the sands. He will be back in about an hour. He has made up his mind to start on a trip to the southland to-morrow.

_Kari._

I knew he was longing to get away from here. I only hope he will not come to harm!

_Halla (goes to him)._

If he should never come back, we two should be alone, as we were in the old days. (_Takes his hands._) Do you care a little for me yet?

_Kari._

You know I do.

_Halla._

I feel that I need to hear you say it.

_Kari (holding her hands)._

And I show it far too seldom. I forget. You must tell me when there is anything you want me to do. (_Kisses her; releases her hands._) Are you sorry that Arnes is going?

_Halla._

You never saw the queer little brook I found once. It welled out from a moss-covered hillock and ran in a ring. Where it flowed the banks were green, but elsewhere there was nothing but sand. Its whole course was no longer than what I could walk in thirty steps. It seems to me that life is like that stream.

_Enter Arnes, running._

_Arnes (in a whisper)._

They're coming!

_Kari (terrified)._

What?

_Halla (goes to Arnes)._

Are you trying to scare us?

_Arnes._

They'll be here in a minute. I counted nine. You must flee at once! There's no time to lose.

_Halla._

I won't run away from Tota.

_Kari._

We stand no chance, three against nine. You must leave her with them. There they are! For God's sake, run!

(_Halla is on the point of running._)

_Bjørn's voice_ (_full of bitter malice_). Now catch the foxes!

_Halla (startled, stops)._

It's Bjørn! (_A terrible expression as of madness darkens her features. She seizes Tota; her voice is harsh and unnatural._) The cub he shall not have!

_Tota (frightened and sleepy)._

Mother!

_Halla (runs sobbing to the gorge)._

Tota! Tota! Tota! (_Disappears._)

_Kari (who has remained inert and dumb with terror runs after)._

What are you doing?

(_From the gorge is heard the scream of a child, which is
suddenly silenced. Halla comes up again._)

_Kari._

Halla! Halla!

_Bjørn's voice_ (_very near_). Make haste!

_Halla (shrieks to him)._

Devil!

_Enter Bjørn._

_Bjørn (grabbing Halla)._

Now I've got you!

(_Kari seizes his knife and stabs Bjørn through the heart.
Bjørn falls dead. Kari and Halla flee. Bjørn's men enter,
stand as though paralyzed at the sight of the slain man.
Arnes goes slowly up to them._)