Guðmundur Kamban

“ INGOLF. You must understand that we will not stand by, and let you go down with only a loose stone to hold you up.
HADDA PADDA. True, I wouldn't be as nervous, if I knew you were holding the rope. [Puts the spade aside, and looks down into the gorge.]
INGOLF [unties the rope from the stone] .
HADDA PADDA. I don't know whether I dare go down, Ingolf.
INGOLF. Don't go—give it up.
HADDA PADDA. I never saw the gorge so hushed. How it stretches its cold, greedy stone-fingers into the air!—But imagine my finding the pearls! [Determined.] I must go down. Is the rope safe? ”

“ INGOLF. I love you, Hadda Padda.
HADDA PADDA. Your words are the light, your caresses are the warmth. Give me both, Ingolf. Kiss me.
INGOLF [kisses her] .
HADDA PADDA. And I should not trust you? Has not a sacred hour welded our hearts together? And have you not placed your life in my hands?—Do you remember last summer, when I visited your home, how you lowered me with a rope down the Angelica Gorge? I have not often lived so exquisite an hour. Then I became quite foolhardy. When I came up again, I asked you to go down and let me hold the rope for you. ”

“ HADDA PADDA. You don't hear how cruel your words are.—I know, Ingolf, I said it. I said it when I couldn't control my tongue for gladness. But we never know ourselves until we stand on the edge between joy and sorrow, and now, having touched happiness, I cannot live without grasping it. I cannot, Ingolf, I cannot live without you.
INGOLF. Could you get any happiness out of life with a man who does not love you? ”

“ Maybe Runa had hers when she wished for the joy of living.
RANNVEIG. It's a strange joy then, to want to make other people miserable! To use the beauty God has given her, against those who cannot resist it.... Why do you suppose the new engineer has stopped coming here since the son of the Chief Justice returned from Copenhagen—and he seemed like such a sweet boy too! It is not the first or the second time she has changed her mind.
HADDA PADDA. When a true and deep love comes to her, she will not change her mind.
RANNVEIG. It's no use to stand up for her; she wheedles them all. ”

“ KRISTRUN. Brave giantesses who dared to treat your sacred possession so heedlessly!
RANNVEIG. One does not hear the footstep of vengeance. It came to them unexpectedly.
KRISTRUN. How I wish my whole fate were held in this ball.
RANNVEIG. What would you do if it were?
KRISTRUN. I would lay it gently in the hand of the man I loved, saying: Take it to a safe place!—and I would shut my eyes—while he were searching for the place.
RANNVEIG. If my sister were here, perhaps she could read your fate in the ball, both the past and the future... ”

“ INGOLF. Hrafnhild is proud by nature. She would never let it be seen that an unfortunate love affair could make her miserable.
KRISTRUN. Yes, SHE is proud by nature, she is everything fine.—And I—I am nothing. [Tears in her eyes.]
INGOLF. You are the loveliest woman in the world. [Embraces her.]
HADDA PADDA [appears between the bushes, seeing them she stops an instant, then goes toward them] . I didn't know you were here.
INGOLF [gets up] . We have just come from the falls.
HADDA PADDA. And I was just gathering berries. Aren't my lips blue?... Why are you so silent, Runa, dear? ”

“ STEINDOR. She is like an expert rope-climber. She is keeping herself from the rock with the spade.
INGOLF. Don't lose sight of her. Tell me how she is getting along.
STEINDOR. I am not anxious about her going down. Now she is about passing the ledge. There, now you can let the rope slide quicker.
INGOLF. It is strange how the rope slides out of my hands. It is as if a living worm were boring out through them.
STEINDOR (calls) . Hadda Padda!
THE VOICE OF HADDA PADDA. Yes.
STEINDOR. She is flying down... Now the rope is turning... It is strange to see some one else lowered down. ”

“ RANNVEIG. How can you say that, Hadda dear? I said that marriage doesn't always bring happiness. HADDA PADDA. I know. You told me that only to console me, because I am now twenty-six years old. Runa is nineteen, prettier than most girls, and a wild little imp, surrounded by young men all the time. And they play upon her vanity only to make her cruel. ”

“ STEINDOR. She'll be lucky if they are ever found.
INGOLF. It seems strange that she dropped them. When I saw that she herself was coming here, it flashed across my mind, that she hadn't dropped the pearls in the gorge after all.
STEINDOR. I don't understand—what are you driving at? Do you think it is something she invented? Why should she?
INGOLF. I am afraid to let her go down.
HADDA PADDA [enters with a large stone in her arms which she places on the edge. She has the coil of rope thrown over her shoulder. Laughs] . So you haven't gone yet! [Takes the spade and starts to dig.] ”

“ HADDA PADDA. What do you think the dream means? I think it means happiness.
INGOLF. You must not deprive your dream of its beauty by interpreting it.
HADDA PADDA. Happiness comes to us like a beautiful dream that we don't dare to interpret. ”

“ RANNVEIG. At her age you were prettier, and are, still, but you were not like that. No, she hasn't your character.
KRISTRUN [enters from behind] . The prince is coming! [Rannveig gathers her knitting, and drops the yarn. Kristrun jumps at it like a cat, and catches it.] Now I'll dance for you, Veiga dear. [She whirls around her, singing, yarn in hand, twisting the thread around the old woman. They listen for footsteps. Rannveig slips out, on the right, entangled in the yarn, Kristrun following.]
INGOLF [enters. Like Hadda, he is sunburnt] .
HADDA PADDA. How do you do! ”

“ HADDA PADDA. I am not scoffing. I'm the one who is afraid. You are not so strong as you pretend. Steindor, will you hold the rope with him?
INGOLF. You don't have to sneer at me. [At his glance, Steindor turns away.]
HADDA PADDA. Now set your feet securely, Ingolf, and both of you hold the rope. Do that for me, and I'll go down quite fearlessly.
INGOLF. Well, we will both hold the rope. [Steindor sits down, catching the rope too.]
HADDA PADDA. Now I am safe. [Disappears below the edge. The rope is seen sliding slowly and firmly through their hands.] ”

“ STEINDOR. She's mad, I tell you—she's mad. (Takes a few steps and stops.)
Ingolf pulls the rope up, quickly, and firmly, with caution in each grasp. Hadda Padda's white and beautiful hand appears above the edge of the gorge, holding a large, shining knife, which cuts the rope.
HADDA PADDA (in falling) . Ingolf!
INGOLF (is thrown back as the resistance is cut off; he jumps up; rushes to the edge, crying with horror) : Hadda Padda! ”

“ INGOLF. I won't tell any one.
HADDA PADDA [looking at him with wide-opened eyes] . I'd like it even more if you would do it before I left. If you looked for them to-morrow morning while I am getting ready to go. Then you'd spare me the anxiety. Take Steindor with you, will you?
INGOLF [gets up. All doubt leaves his mind as he looks into her face and he is ashamed of the unworthy suspicion that had touched his soul] . Yes, Hrafnhild, don't be distressed. ”

“ INGOLF [shakes his head.]
HADDA PADDA. Ingolf, how could you be so hard? [Hides her face.] Any other, any other—but she! [Weeps bitterly.]
INGOLF. It is not that, Hrafnhild. Now let us talk calmly. Even if you could, would you continue to be tied to a man who does not love you any longer?
HADDA PADDA. She has separated us. She has caught you in the net of her wantonness. You, too, Ingolf, you, too.... ”

“ The upper end of the outer edge merges into the mountain slope, which shuts out the view to the left. It is foggy. On the left, as the fog lifts, a waterfall glistens in the distance, like a broad white streak in the air. The sides of the gorge are abruptly terminated by a cliff, the top of which is grass-grown. Here, Ingolf and Steindor are sitting. Beside them is a long rope. ”

“ It is a remarkable power that is given to a trivial matter. If I had not read the letters, I might still have felt unhappy, but I read and read with ever increasing calmness. I don't believe my feelings. I go walking, searching for all the places where the earth must be scorched with burning pleasures, in order to know whether they enkindle memories so sacred that they can again inflame me. Everything, everything, is extinguished. ”

“ INGOLF [strokes his finger along his sleeve] . My suit just matches the drizzle.
STEINDOR [is silent] .
INGOLF [is aroused, as from a reverie] . Are you rested?
STEINDOR. Oh, very nearly.
INGOLF. You should have let me pull you up. It is too tiring to raise oneself.
STEINDOR. I have been lowering myself into this gorge for fourteen years now, to get angelica, and always without help. This is no height at all.
INGOLF. How high do you think it is?
STEINDOR. Only half a rope-length.
INGOLF. How long is a rope-length?
STEINDOR. A hundred and twenty feet. ”

“ You lose all consciousness in falling.
INGOLF. To fall from here would be horrible.
STEINDOR. It's more horrible thinking about it than anything else.
INGOLF. It would be quite a fall.
STEINDOR. Oh, yes—I think you would get your fill.
INGOLF. Here, take the rope, Steindor. Let us go.
STEINDOR [looking around] . Some one is coming up along the ravine.
INGOLF. Where?
STEINDOR. There—why, it's Hrafnhild. She is nearly here now.
INGOLF. What is she carrying over her shoulder?
STEINDOR. It looks like a spade.
INGOLF. Come, let's go and meet her. [They take a few steps.] ”

“ Each time Steindor thinks he is on the verge of giving up, he lets go of the rope, and catches hold of Ingolf.)
STEINDOR. Now it is free! (Supports Ingolf. The rope is once more pulled so violently, that it is drawn through Ingolf's hands right up to the knot. He holds on to the rope beyond the knot as for life, while they are both dragged further forward.)
STEINDOR (frightened) . You must let go of the rope. That's all you can do. It is better that she falls alone, than that she drag both of us with her. You must let go. ”

“ She faces death without flinching, and despite all her goodness, her delicacy, her kindly love for the old and the young, for the humble and the poor, for animals and plants, at the bottom of her nature she is heathen. ”

“ When first this pride is touched, then hurt, and finally the very woman in her is mortally wounded, it is at once perceptible that she descends from the strong, wild women of olden times. The wildness has become resolution, the pride has become poise, the strength has remained unchanged. ”

“ THE JUDGE. There are so many things that worry you. Why doesn't Ingolf come back? [Kisses her on the cheek.] I will talk to him about it. [Goes out.]
RANNVEIG [enters] . The servants want to know how many places to lay for dinner.
LADY ANNA [putting aside her needlework] . Well, I'm coming— [Goes out.]
RANNVEIG [walks slowly to the centre of the room, stands looking at the terra cotta statue] . When you dream something, you don't want to come true, you ought to tell it to some one—better to a stone than to no one. ”

“ In life's last moments, with death and revenge in mind, she can still pretend, invent, dupe. Such profound and exquisite womanhood, such inflexible masculine will, have hardly ever been seen combined on the stage before. ”

“ She told me that Ingolf had quite given up his studies, and it was Hadda Padda who made him take them up again.... From Christmas on, last year, he studied from morning to night,—and now he will pass his examination, and begin here as an attorney. Then they will probably marry next autumn.
LADY ANNA [nods] . He must be kind to Hrafnhild—she is more than just fond of him. Have you noticed that she is beginning to resemble him?
THE JUDGE. Now, in spite of everything, I think we are beginning to grow old; our sight is failing us. ”

“ HADDA PADDA. I had a letter from my friend Helga to-day. She writes she is coming to see me for the week-end.
THE SHERIFF. We expect quite a few people over the week-end. I had a letter from Arni, the tourist guide, who says he'll be here with six tourists next Sunday.
STEINDOR. How are we going to accommodate all these people?
LADY MARGARET. Yes, it is true, every summer we have more and more guests. But, what difference does it make—The rooms of Breidabol are still large enough.
OLOF [to Steindor] . You can room with Ingolf for the present. [To Hadda.] And I'll move in with you. ”

“ Had you offered to do so before, I would have accepted; but when you say you forbid me to go down, I intend to go. [Steindor walks restlessly near the edge.]
INGOLF. You know that we can prevent you from going down.
HADDA PADDA. You can—how?
INGOLF. We can take the rope from you and go home.
HADDA PADDA. Yes—you can do that. [Turns away.]
INGOLF. What would you do then?
HADDA PADDA [in same position] . Go home and get another rope.
INGOLF. Don't be so obstinate, Hrafnhild.
HADDA PADDA [in a low voice] . Why don't you call me by my pretty name any more? We aren't enemies. ”

“ Against the wall, in front, a piano. On the right, under a window, a chaise-longue. In the back, an open window, through which can be seen green meadows, rising to a plateau, over the edge of which roars a water-fall. At the horizon, deep blue mountains. Bright sunshine, a hot summer's day.)
(In the middle of the room, around a table, set for coffee, the Sheriff and Lady Margaret, Olof and Steindor, Ingolf, Hrafnhild and Kristrun are sitting. The children, Little Skuli, Sigga, Doddi and Magga are seated at a small table near the window.) ”

“ From the outset "Hadda Padda" caused the directors unexpected trouble. It took them four times as long as usual to come to a decision. They finally accepted it "on account of its literary merit," but without any obligation on their part to produce it, as the scenery of the last act was of "such daring and dangerous character."
There was but one thing to do and Mr. Kamban did it. His play was published by Gyldendal, the most distinguished of the Scandinavian publishers. He sent a copy to Georg Brandes, as do thousands of authors from all parts of the world. ”