August Strindberg

“ The rich man lives there. Now look into the rooms. On the table there is a lighted Christmas-tree laden with all kinds of gifts: the golden fruits of the tropics from across the seas; earth's hidden treasures, to which people bend the knee and which in their dazzling settings reflect the lights. But, do you see the light in the faces of the little children? That is the earth-life's sun—that is happiness—which is something you do not know, poor child! But you shall know it. You want to, do you not?
PEHR. Who is the good fairy that walks about and gives the children the golden fruits? ”

“ PEHR. What good fairy sent you across my pathway?
LISA. Do you still believe in good fairies? Mark you, when a little baby boy is born into the world, a little baby girl is also born somewhere; and they seek and seek until they find each other. Sometimes they go amiss as to the right one, then it turns out badly; sometimes they never find each other, then there is much sorrow and affliction; but when they find each other, then there is joy, and it is the greatest joy life holds.
PEHR. It is Paradise Found!
[Enter sexton, with staff—The old Man in the tower.] ”

“ POET LAUREATE. Your Highness stands as high above low actions as the sun above a mud-puddle!
PEHR. I know you and your gang, counterfeiter! You call me, who foreswore my faith, the Defender of the Faith; you say that I, a bell-ringer's son, am of royal descent; that I am generous, who refused to grant the first humble petition presented since my coming to the throne! I know you, for your kind is to be found the world over. You live for thought and immortality, you say; but you are never seen when a thought is to be born; you are never felt when it comes to a question of immortality. ”

“ VIZIER. The people demand that the ruler sacrifice all personal considerations for their welfare.
PEHR. Their welfare, then, is to be built upon a lie and a crime?
VIZIER. [Goes toward window.] Your Highness, the people await their chief. They are always ready to offer their sweat and blood for the ruler, therefore they demand, also, that the ruler make his sacrifices.
PEHR. Is what you say true? Well, then, give it me! [Accepts paper—hesitates.] The belfry, the chimes, the singing, the lights, Christmas—all pass before mine eyes! No more Christmas Eve! Life is so pitiless ”

“ PILLORY. Well, I dreamt—can you imagine it?—that a reformer came to the city.
STATUE. What—a reformer? [Stamps.] Hell! how cold your feet get standing here; but what does one not do for glory's sake! A reformer? Then he, too, is to have a statue?
PILLORY. A statue—well, hardly! No, he had to play statue himself, at my feet, while I clasped him around the neck with both arms. [Neck-irons clash.] You see, he was a real reformer, and not a charlatan, such as you were in life! ”

“ VIZIER. Your Highness wished first to sign the marriage contract.
PEHR. I'm forever writing! No, this time I don't have to read. [Signs.] Now, Royal Historian, you can put down at least one action in my life that was not crime! [Vizier and Historian go.]
[Bride, veiled in Oriental fashion, is ushered in; attendants withdraw immediately; from behind is heard soft music.]
PEHR. [Runs toward bride.] Lisa, Lisa! You always come like a sunbeam when the clouds thicken—always like a friend in the dark hour!
BRIDE. [Raises veil.] My name is not Lisa.
PEHR. Not Lisa—What does this mean? ”

“ You have looked for happiness in the wrong direction. Don't you want to go out and do good, enlighten your fellow-men, and be useful? For your clear vision can penetrate the perversion and crookedness which one finds in life.
PEHR. And be a great man!
LISA. Great or obscure, it is all one. You shall be useful—you shall be a reformer who leads humanity onward and upward.
PEHR. Yes, a reformer who will be honored and idolized by the people, and whose name will be on everyone's lips.
LISA. Oh, how far you are from the truth, Pehr! You seek greatness only for personal honor ”

“ The Caliph's court rejoices And echoes love's true voices.
[Pehr and bride hide their agitation.]
VIZIER. Caliph, a happy people, whom you find assembled here, at the foot of the throne, rejoice as they see happiness, like a sun, beam in your eyes to shine on the white rose which long hath sought the tall oak's trunk to lean upon; a happy people, youthful princess, rejoice in your good fortune and hope that your tree may have off-shoots with fresh rose buds, which, at some future day, may spread joy and bliss, like a spring rain, over land and kingdom! ”

“ SHOEMAKER. Why certainly, certainly!
WAGONMAKER. Will the gentlemen please form a semi-circle around the object's pedestal—so!
CHIROPODIST. We might begin with the cantata—then perhaps the people will come.
WAGONMAKER. I can't understand why the burgomaster isn't here? He always treated us to brandy other years.
SHOEMAKER. If you start the song he'll wake up, if he has overslept himself. Tune up, gentlemen—do, mi, sol, do!
WAGONMAKER. Then, I'll begin—but watch out for the trio so as to make it a regular ear-splitting ensemble! ”

“ 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.] ”

“ LISA. [Runs up to Pehr.] There he is! Ah—he sleeps! [Sees something that glitters.] What is that? [Picks up ring, which Pehr dropped when he fell.] A ring! He is sleeping in the snow! What can have happened? He is hurt! What can I do? In the very heart of the forest and right in the snow! Not a human being comes this way. He'll freeze to death if he cannot get away. The good fairy sent me here to look up that boy, but she did not tell me that I should find him half dead in a snow drift! ”

“ Hail to thee, Burgomaster! Hail to thee, benefactor! Life burns our deeds within its envious fire, But mem'ry, like a phoenix from the pyre, Rises on stalwart wing to waft them higher.
SHOEMAKER. Well whistled, Wagonmaker! Any signs of the grog yet?
WAGONMAKER. Go on, Shoemaker! Now comes the aria; it must be rendered with feeling. Then you shall see that the burgomaster will wake up!
SHOEMAKER. [Sings aria.]
ARIA. The breath of the rose and carnation-bud's fragrance, 'mongst wonder-flowers' fated! ”

“ PEHR. What extraordinary qualities does gold possess?
LISA. All! It is good for everything—and nothing. It gives all that earth has to offer; in itself it is the most perfect of all the earth's products which rust cannot spot—but which can put rust-spots into souls.
PEHR. Well, then! Will you follow me, Lisa?
LISA. I will always follow you—at a distance.
PEHR. At a distance! and why not near me? Lisa, now I shall put my arm around your waist again. [Lisa tears herself away; bird sings.] Why do you run away? ”

“ WAGONMAKER. This is the last time I'm going to lend myself to such tomfoolery! Good-bye!
SHOEMAKER. [Alone.] And now I'm going to the burgomaster's for a brandy. But first, I must deliver my speech to the old man on the pedestal; then my conscience will be easier. [Talks to statue.] You think, you old Schulze, it is for your sake that we sing, for your sake that we speechify; can't you comprehend that we do so for our own sakes? We need a big man to push forward when we turn out to be too little ourselves. ”

“ Surely one cannot play all one's life! I yearn for activity, and want to be among people. Tell me, Lisa—you, who are such a wise little creature, what do people value most? For that I shall procure for myself.
LISA. Pehr, before I answer you, listen to a sensible word! People will cause you just as much annoyance as the mosquitoes do, but they will not give you the delight to be found in Nature's perennial youth.
PEHR. Nature!—Oh, yes, it is very pretty when seen from a church tower, but it becomes rather monotonous near to. Doesn't everything stand still? ”

“ PILLORY. I can't dispute that, but in the end we shall see if I'm not a true dreamer!
STATUE. Hold your tongue! for here comes the Society.
PILLORY. I shall have to hold my sides for laughter—three persons constitute the whole Society! Last year they were six. You're a back number, Schulze. Soon you'll see that they will move you into the ox-grove!
STATUE. A people who reverence their great men and cherish past events can never sink so low as to consign their statues to the ox-grove.
[Shoemaker comes out from his house and opens shop window.] ”

“ PEHR. [Alone.] Well, Pehr, you are going out into life! Others before you have probably done likewise. But is it, then, so difficult out there? To be sure I have stood on the church roof and watched the throngs of people down in the street crawl around each other, going and coming. To me they appear so quiet and orderly, and I don't see that they trample on one another, although they are as thick as gnats. That dogs and apprentices fight sometimes, that I have seen, but grown folk—never! The old man and I never fight, although we pass each other on the stairs ten times a day. ”

“ PEHR. Are there still more?
PETTY CONSTABLE. Your Grace is summoned to the Bar tomorrow at eleven o'clock for neglecting to keep the street clean.
PEHR. Must I keep the street clean—I, who am such a rich man! What, then, must I not do?
PETTY CONSTABLE. It is the duty of every householder to keep clean in front of his own house.
PEHR. Etiquette, taxation, put the case, keep yard and street clean, hunger and thirst—is that the rich man's lot! Then I would rather be a street sweeper and own myself. ”

“ A poor ruler is forced by political considerations to do so many despicable things that he would die of shame did he not have an institution like you to dull his conscience continually. Go! I would be alone.
CHAMBERLAIN. Your Highness, it cannot be.
PEHR. It can be! [All go out except Pehr and Royal Historian.]
PEHR. What are you waiting for? What do you do?
HISTORIAN. I am writing Your Highness' history.
PEHR. So you are Court Historian.
HISTORIAN. Royal—
PEHR. What matter, once you're dead! But what shall you write about? I have never carried on any wars. ”

“ PEHR. Herr Burgomaster, I would beg that my proposition be presented in a proper manner before this honored popular assembly—
BURGOMASTER. Just listen to him! We know his proposition and it simply remains for us to express ourselves. Well and good, I consign it to the madhouse! It is the man's wish—think of it, my children! that all may be permitted to tread upon smooth pavements. So long as Our Lord creates different kinds of human beings, there must be different kinds of stones on our streets. ”

“ What say you, Master Chiropodist?
CHIROPODIST. I concur.
BURGOMASTER. And the wagonmaker?
WAGONMAKER. I have the honor to agree with the last speaker.
ONE OF THE PEOPLE. Those who have the right to speak are silent.
BURGOMASTER. Silence, back there! On the ground of what has already been advanced, with the support of conclusive evidence, the adventurer named Pehr [no family name] is hereby sentenced for vicious utterances against the administration to stand in the pillory two hours, later to be expelled from the city, to his everlasting disgrace and as a warning to others. ”

“ Heed, Pehr! If you want to go forth into life now, then do it in earnest. But you will never be a real man without a woman—Find her! And now, pay close attention, Pehr, for I shall leave the word to Saint Laurence after dismissing you with the sage's eternally young and eternally old exhortation—Know thyself! Saint Laurence has the word. [Shadow vanishes.]
SAINT LAURENCE. [Presents his grill.] I am the holy Saint Laurence with the grill, who, at Emperor Dicii's command was beaten with thongs seven days in succession and afterwards was broiled on this grill by a slow fire. ”

“ PEHR. Herr Burgomaster, the proofs are lacking.
BURGOMASTER. We require none. Axiom, or self-evident points, neither can nor need be proved. Away with him! [Pehr is led off.]
BURGOMASTER. Thirdly: In consideration of the vexatious as well as unforeseen incident that the city's dogs give unseemly expression to their inward feelings for the hideous around the pedestal of Hans Schulze's statue, an appropriation is demanded for an iron railing around the same. Surely no one will refuse a deserving man such trifling act of respect? ”

“ It is something very heavy; but it must be heavy the sweeter the repose—Labor, Pehr, and be honest, but don't become a saint, for then you would be vain, and it is not our virtues but our faults that make us human. Listen well, you who stand behind the door—Life is not such as you saw it in your youthful dreams. ”

“ I am only a pall, but for fifty years I have borne on my back so many corpses, and have seen so much suffering—so many shattered hopes, so much inconsolable grief, so many torn hearts that suffered in silence and were thrust into oblivion without the solace of gilded statues—that you would be silent had you seen one-half of it. Ah, life is so black, so black, so black! ”

“ My beloved hearers and you, Pehr, who stand behind the door, my sermon will not be long since the hour is already late and it is especially to this so-called Lucky Pehr that I would address a few remarks. Yes, you, Pehr—you have rushed through life like a fool, in pursuit of fortune; all your wishes have been fulfilled—save one and they have brought you no happiness. Pay attention, you who stand behind the door! You have made no leap through life, for on that track one runs well. ”