Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

“ The King. And to think that I imagined that I should find my allies, my followers, in Christian people! One is so reluctant to give up all hope! I thought that a Christian nation would storm the strongholds of lies in our modern, so-called Christian communities—storm them, capture them!—and begin with monarchy, because that would need most courage, and because its falsehood lies deepest and goes farthest. I thought that Christianity would one day prove to be the salt of the earth. No, do not greet Christianity from me. ”

“ Evje. Have I not helped you?
The Editor. That is hypocrisy, too-to pretend you think I am speaking of money. No; when I have been accused of being dishonourable—of lying—you, the "old schoolfellow," the "old friend," the "neighbour," have never once had the courage to come forward on my behalf.
Evje. I never meddle with politics.
The Editor (with rising temper) . More hypocrisy! Another of your damned evasions!
Evje. Hush, hush, hush!
The Editor. You try to excuse yourself with a lie! You are doubly a traitor!—And then you expect me to have compassion on you!
Evje. ”

“ You will hear Harald tell them how each nation has its own appointed task in the world; that is why it is a nation. But, as long as it does not realise the fact, its politics will be nothing but wrangling between the various class-interests—a haphazard struggle for power. Our nation has never got beyond that point! I have shouted myself to death over what is a mere market.
Evje (to himself, striking the table with his fist) . The whole commercial community is insulted in this insult to me! I will stir them up at the meeting, and insist on our taking our revenge in common! ”

“ He knows how to love, and make a woman happy! He is a dazzling creature!—We shall see now whether you are to suffer for all the hearts he has broken. You are not the first woman he has loved.
Clara. Princess!
Princess. Yes, let that sink into your mind! Your happiness is embroidered with tears!
Clara. It is cruel of you to reproach me with it.
Princess. Forgive me! I really did not mean that.—But there is still time to put on a more suitable dress. If you dare accept no gifts from the King—you might from some one else? A King's bride is a King's bride after all, you know! ”

“ Words like that can burn out falsehood. And he, to whom they are said, may long to hear again the tones of the voice that spoke them. No man has ever hated what has given him new life. If you had read a single one of the letters which I felt impelled to write even if they were refused acceptance—you would not have called it persecution. (CLARA does not answer.) And, as for my persecution of your father—I am not going to make any excuses for myself; I will only ask you to remember that a king has no control over the law and its judgments. ”

“ Look at our life! Is our life really our own?
Mrs. Evje. No. You have only to think of our language, our tastes, our society, our—
The Doctor (interrupting her) . Those are the externals of our life, merely the externals! No, look within—look at such a view of life as we were talking about, clamouring for "hardening"—is that ours? Can we, for all our diligence, make as much way in it as, for instance, a born Parisian journalist?—become like a bar of steel with a point at each end, a pen-point and a sword-point? ”

“ A man who has risked your contempt for more than a year, and has been faithful to you without even being allowed to see you or exchange a word with you—who has had no thought for anything or any one else—is not likely to be doing that out of mere idleness of heart! Do you not believe that, either?
Clara. No.
The King. Well, then, there must surely be some general truths that you, as Ernst's daughter, cannot refuse to believe! Let me ask you if you can understand how a man becomes what I was at the time when I repeatedly insulted you. ”

“ With God's help I shall try to make a bright, snug and cosy home for you! And this fog is delightful, because it only makes the thought of such a home all the cosier and snugger! It makes us seem so alone, too; no one is out driving or walking; and we can talk as loud as we please, because the fog deadens the sound of our voices. Oh, I feel so happy again now! Do you know, I think it is rather nice to be persecuted a little; it makes our meetings so much more precious!
Harald. But, you know dear, to meet you like this—and just now—
Gertrud (as they walk up and down together) . ”

“ Evje. Very well—then we will sit here. (Sits down by the fire.) Will you have a cigar?
Harald. No, thanks. (INGEBORG goes out.)
Evje (taking a cigar and lighting it) . As my wife said just now—couldn't you wash your hands of politics, Harald? You, who have both talent and means, need not be at a loss for a vocation in life.
Harald (sitting down on the sofa) . If I have any talent, it is for politics—and so I intend to devote my means to that.
Evje. What do you propose to gain by it?
Harald. What any one who believes in a cause hopes to gain—that is to say, to help it on. ”

“ Ask your Christianity if it may not be about time for it to interest itself a little in the monarchy? It seems to me that it scarcely ought any longer to allow monarchy, like a seductive harlot, to keep militarism before the people's eyes as an ideal—seeing that that is exactly contrary to the teachings of Christianity, or to encourage class divisions, luxury, hypocrisy and vanity. Monarchy has become so all-pervading a lie that it infects even the most upright of men. ”

“ My dear King, certain positions carry with them certain duties!
The King. Then I know higher duties than those!—But, Princess, here are we two seriously discussing—
The Princess. Yes, but there is something at the bottom of it that is not to be laughed away. All tradition and all experience proclaim it to be the truth that a king—the kingly majesty—should be a dignity apart; and should be the ultimate source of law, surrounded with pomp and circumstance, and secure behind the fortified walls of wealth, rank, and hereditary nobility. ”

“ Get up. (Pulls her on to her feet.) Do you love the King?
Clara. Do I love him? I am a motherless child, and have lived alone with a father who has been constantly persecuted on account of his principles; I shared his ideals from a very early age, and I have never abandoned them since. Then one day I was given the chance of making these ideals real. "What I long to do, you shall accomplish!" he said. There is something great about that, Princess—something all-powerful—a call from God Himself. Of that I am certain.
Princess. It is merely a rhapsody of the King's—nothing else! ”

“ I know that this jars upon the ears of many present; they do not consider that a man who holds a public office should be shown any more respect than any one else. The majority rules, and the majority only thinks of its own interests and those of its servile supporters. But even in this community of ours there is a minority that bears the burden of its affairs and represents its honour; and we will never consent to be dragged down into the mire of this "equality" into which you want to plunge each and every one of us! ”

“ Why should I die for the sake of dull theories, when I can hold life in my arms as I do now? A man who is loved has something left, after all. I won't die!
Flink. If you were not loved, my friend, you might be allowed to live. A cry of sorrow will be heard throughout the land, from the King's palace to the meanest hovel, when you have been shot. ”

“ Don't you think that a young king, full of eager life, as I was, may plead something in excuse of himself that no other man can?
Clara. Yes, I admit that.
The King. Then you must admit that the very position he has to assume as a constitutional monarch is an acted lie. Think what a king's vocation is; can a vocation of that sort be hereditary? Can the finest and noblest vocation in the world be that? ”

“ Just as SANNAES gets to the door TJAELDE'S voice is heard calling him from the top of the staircase. SANNAES answers him.)
Tjaelde (coming down the stairs) . Sannaes! Sannaes! I can see Jakobsen coming. (Hurries across the room as if pursued by fear. SANNAES follows him.) Of course he will be coming back to look for me again! It is cowardly of me to feel that I cannot stand it; but I cannot—not to-day, not now! I cannot stand any more! Stop him! ”

“ Evje. Once more—leave this house, which you have outraged!
Mrs. Evje. And how dare you set foot in here again?
The Editor. No, I am not going until all the anger that is in my heart has turned into fear in yours! Because now I will not have done with it all! No—it is just through his death that respect for me will revive—it will be like a rampart of bayonets round me! "There goes one who can kill a man with a word, if he likes!" That will make them treat me respectfully!
Harald and the Doctor. What does he mean?
The Editor (as he hears HARALD'S voice) . ”

“ If you look out of the window, or go out on to the balcony—on every rock, by each turn of the stream—on the lawns, under the trees, among the bushes—everywhere you will find a thousand thoughts of you hidden. Breathe the words "my darling girl," and they will all come clustering round you!—Let us sit down.
Clara. It is all like a fairy tale.
The King. And I am the latest fairy prince! (He sits down and draws her on to his knee.) And you are the little maid who comes, led by good fairies, to the enchanted castle to wake him. He has been kept asleep by wicked spells for many, many years. ”

“ Are you willing to pass through contemptuous rioting crowds, and over your sick father's body, to become queen? What callous levity! What a presumptuous mixture of what you think is love, duty, sacrifice, trial—with an unscrupulous ambition—! The King? Are you depending on him? He is a poet. He loves anything unusual or sensational. Resistance stimulates him; and that is what drives him into believing that his love will be unending. When you have been married a week, it will be all over. If he had not met with resistance, it would have been all over before this. I know the King better than you ”

“ Sannaes. I quite admit that. But, honestly, you must admit that I had good reason to mistrust an interest in me that sprang from mere gratitude. Had circumstances been different, I should only have bored you cruelly; I knew that quite well. And I had no fancy for being an amusement for your idle hours.
Valborg. How you have mistaken me!—If you will think of it, surely you must understand how different a girl, who has been accustomed to travel and society, becomes when she has to stay at home and work because it is her duty. She comes to judge men by an altogether different standard, too. ”

“ The King. Majesty, majesty! There is only One who has any majesty about Him—certainly not a madman! But if I have been driven mad by the lies that surround me, it would be a holy deed to make me sound again. You said you would die for me. Redeem your words! That will make me well again!—You, General?
The General. My beloved King, it would be—as our reverend friend so aptly put it—a most dreadful sin.
The King. You have let slip a splendid opportunity for showing your heroism.—You ought to have seen that I was only putting you to the test!—Good-bye! (Goes into the room on the left.) ”

“ Before anything else, you must sign this.
Tjaelde (sinking back into his chair) . Oh!—How shall I ever dare to look any one in the face again?—I, who, have defied everything and deceived every one!
Berent. The man who has enjoyed the respect which he did not deserve must some day undergo the humiliation which he has deserved. That is a law; and I cannot save you from that.
Tjaelde. But they will be crueller to me than to any one else! I deserve it, I know; but I shall not be able to endure it!
Berent. Hm! You are remarkably tough; your fight, these last three years, proves that. ”

“ And his work lies chiefly among the factory hands.
The King. And so it is not your duty to speak the truth to me—but to attack my dear dead friends by prating about heaven's judgment and repeating vile lies? Is that your duty?
The Mayor. I only had the honour to know one of the—the deceased. Your Majesty honoured him with your friendship; the greatest honour a subject can enjoy. I should like to say that one would rarely find a nobler heart, a loftier mind, or more modest fidelity, than his. ”