Jóhann Sigurjónsson

“ Halla. I will have no talk of conscience between you and me. Be yourself with me, whether you are good or bad. After all, you don't know if the Great Judge looks kindly at what you call good deeds. Look at me! Look at me! You could not be more cruel to your worst enemy. Why was I given this hunger and not the food to still it? I have never wished to be born. I would rather be anything else than a human being. I would rather be the sand, whirling aimlessly over yonder waste. If there is a God, He must be cruel—but there is no God.
Kari. You are only lashing yourself up. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Kari. You shall not be worried by my whining. (Takes the fur socks down from the wall; sits down and unties the straps of his shoes. Halla watches him in silence, while he puts on one sock.)
Halla. Are you going?
Kari. Yes.
Halla. You don't ask my advice?
Kari. No, this time I don't ask it.
Halla (rising) . When you go out of that door, you need not think of me any more.
Kari. I know your voice when you are angry. You ought to thank me for going out in such weather.
Halla. Yes, you are brave. It is not that you have any hope of saving our lives. You will only lie down in the snow and die. ”

“ Ljot. I have told him everything. I never cared for Halfdan—you know that, father, and I will not be his wife.
Jorunn. Ljot, it has never happened yet that one of my kin has broken faith. If you do it, you will be the first.
Sveinungi. And you have not reckoned with your father. It does not lie altogether with yourself to break your word. Do you think you can make a fool of me? (To Sølvi.) It does not make you my son-in-law that you have trifled with my daughter.
Sølvi. It was no mere chance that we two found each other. Only for Ljot's sake have I stayed so long in these parts. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Halla. I forbid you to go! It's inhuman to leave me here alone. If you ever come back, you will find me a mad beast.
Kari. Now you shall keep still. I will not listen to your whining any longer.
Halla. You are like all the rest. When your will is set, you have no heart. (Sits down silently.)
Kari (fastens his foot-gear; ties a rope around his waist) . When I draw it tight enough, I don't feel that I am hungry. (Puts on a coat of heavy fur.) You must watch the fire and not let it go out. I'll bring you some more faggots from the wood-shed.
Halla (stands up; her voice is husky) . ”

“ Sveinungi. You must listen to me. It has always been my intention that you should take the farm, and yesterday when you promised to marry Halfdan it seemed to me that all my wishes had been fulfilled. I was happy, and not only for your sake, but fully as much for the farm. Yet you would leave it now in the midst of misfortune. Look about you! Not a single building is standing. Can you let your old father sit here alone and forsaken? You might as well kill your father. And for whom should I build it up again if you are not to have it? It might as well be left to rot on the ground.
Ljot. ”

“ Kari. I forget what I have told you and what I have not told you. You may think that the hills are wild and forbidding, but that is not so at all. In the summer, when the sun is shining, they are beautiful. The glaciers lie like white untrodden land in a sea of sand, their lower rim flashing green and blue in the sunlight. When you come nearer, you see a chain of jagged sandhills like a dark surf, where the glacier and the sand waste meet. He is silent again. 36 Halla has picked a flower and is pulling its petals. ”

“ When they had lived a long life together, they were thrown into direst need. Hunger drew near to the fine web that time had woven between them and would tear it asunder. Then they looked into each other's eyes, and together they walked out into the snowstorm to die.
Kari. It is every man's duty to keep alive as long as he can.
Halla (rising) . And why should it be, when life has become an agony to ourselves and of use to no one?
Kari. It is the law of God.
Halla. The storm writes many laws in the sand. (Sits down.) When my strength had given out, you could have left me in the snow. ”

“ Last Sunday at church some one asked me if there was anything between the widow and the "overseer."
Gudfinna. And what did you say?
Oddny. I told them that it was quite possible Halla had her lines out for him, but that I did not think Kari would swallow the fly, even if it had gold on its wings.
Gudfinna. Much good it did you, the gospel you heard in church! I am sorry for you, poor girl! You are crazy about a man who has neither eye nor ear for you, but that is no reason why you should be running around spreading gossip. Halla is not the kind of woman that is fond of men. ”

“ Sveinungi. And you say that!
Jorunn. I think it was her fate to meet this man. She has always been a good and dutiful daughter.
Sveinungi. And it was you who went with me into the house! Have you turned against me—you too?
Jorunn (goes to him) . You must not make the evil worse than it really is. The man looks as if he came of good people, and we have every reason to believe that he is a capable man. Even if we can't keep Ljot here, as we had hoped to do, she will certainly find time to come and see us once in a while, and we shall have that to look forward to. ”

“ Seeking human companionship, he now descends into a valley where his identity is unknown and takes service with Halla, a rich young widow. She learns of his disguise only to fall in love with his real character. Persecuted by her brother-in-law, who wishes to marry her, and possessed by a great love, she insists on sharing the outlaw's lot and escapes with him to his old haunt in the mountains. ”

“ The storm carries you until you drop from weariness, and then the snow comes and covers you up. (Staring before her with eyes wide open.)
Kari (is silent for a moment) . You are bitter, because of our sore plight. Many a time have I told myself that I have been the curse of your life. If you had never known me, you would now be living in peace and quiet. You could have ridden to church every Sunday, if you liked. You would have been the rich and comely widow with all the young men flocking about you. I dare say you have often been sorry that you fled with me to the hills. (Halla is silent.) ”

“ When I am standing out in the hraun and looking toward home, the green yard looks like a spot of sunshine.
Jorunn. You take it for granted that none of your kin will ever reap the benefit of your work, but your daughter is not dead, though she has chosen another man than the one you wanted her to marry. Why should not those two have children? They are both strong and healthy, and there is, after all, a chance that some day one of their sons may take over the farm. ”

“ I am sure He will hear you, if He is not busy breaking up the glaciers or cleaning out the gorge of a volcano to make it belch up more fire.
Kari. Don't say another word! We are wretched enough without your calling down new curses upon us.
Halla. I have but one sole and only wish before I die, and that is to do some unheard-of cruel deed. I should like to be a snowslide. I would come in the dead of night. It would be a joy to see the people half naked running for their lives—chaste old maids with gouty hips, and smug peasant women with bellies bobbing with fat. ”

“ You shall see the bailiff himself play at glima with the man he calls thief.
Bjørn. You must be crazy! I won't touch him.
Halla. My dear brother-in-law made me a promise last spring that he would wrestle with Kari here at the folds. It was a wager, and now he is backing out of it. What do you say to that?
Bjørn. An honest man does not play with a thief.
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Halla. He is no more thief than you are. Should you be a thief, because I said so? (To the people.) He is only too glad to get out of the glima. He is a coward! He is a coward! ”

“ I hope Halla has not become such a saint yet that one can't notice her freckles.
Enter Kari and Magnus.
Kari and Magnus. Good evening!
Gudfinna and Oddny. Good evening!
Oddny (rising) . I am sitting on your bed, I believe.
Magnus (throws off his cap) . Oddny, ask Sigrid to come here and pull off my stockings. (Sits down.) It feels good to sit down. Oddny goes reluctantly.
Kari. Why is she so grumpy? She is not so cheerful a body as you are. I should like to have known you in your young days. I dare say you knew how to handle a rake.
Gudfinna (straightening her back) . You may be sure. ”

“ 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? ”

“ Oddny. If you dare!
The Boy (laughing) . If I have bad luck, you will look at Kari with only one eye.
Oddny. You need a good spanking.
Gudfinna. Kari ought not to have given you that dart.
The Boy (going to the spider, makes a fanning motion with his hand) . Up, old spinning-woman, if you bode good! Down, if you bode ill! Up, if you bode good! Down, if you bode ill!
Gudfinna. You are awfully hard on your shoes, worse than a grown man. I hope you don't walk on the sharpest stones just for fun?
Oddny. Of course he does!
The Boy. The sheep were so restless to-day. ”

“ Magnus. Kari wanted to jump the creek to make a short cut, and I fell in.
Oddny (to Kari) . Aren't you wet, too?
Kari. No. (Sits down.)
Magnus. Kari skims over everything like a bird.
Kari. Every man has his gift. (To Sigrid.) You should see the rocks Magnus can lift.
Magnus. Well, it may be true that I am pretty strong, but I should like to see the man who could throw you in an honest glima.
Oddny. I know one whom Kari couldn't stand against.
Magnus. And who is that? (Sigrid pulls at his stockings.) There! There!
Oddny. Bjørn, Halla's brother-in-law. ”

“ 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 63 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 (has moved toward the background and stands gazing) . What a change in the sheep since spring. Then they were yellow and dirty, but now they are white as ptarmigans in winter. It always makes me happy to see a flock of sheep coming down the mountain side.
Gudfinna. Kari's shoes must be a sight. He doesn't save his legs, that man.
Halla. No, you are right in that. (Goes to Gudfinna.) But he runs swifter than any one else.
Arngrim. No one can run away from his fate, were he fleeter than the wind.
Halla (turns to Arngrim) . Are you sure of that? May not a strong will turn the tide of fate? ”

“ Halla (putting her hand to her forehead) . I can't believe yet that he is a thief. (Hands the letter to Bjørn.) Bjørn, I beg of you to show me a great favor. You must let this matter rest, till we get home.
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Bjørn. In that I cannot serve you.
Halla. Perhaps I can do something for you in return.
Bjørn. I don't understand how you can pity a felon and a thief.
Halla. Nor do I understand it myself, but somehow I do. You have just asked me if I would be your wife. Surely you will grant me the first thing I ask of you!
Bjørn. One would think you were pleading for your best friend. ”

“ Ljot. I am so young, father.
Sveinungi. You are past nineteen. There are many girls who marry at seventeen, and you have been so well taught that you can readily take your place at the head of a household. I need not be ashamed of you there, that's sure. And you will have your mother near you, for it is understood, of course, that you and Halfdan stay here with us. You will have your bridal now in the fall, and next spring you can take over the farm. ”

“ It's the earth blowing her breath against it. The earth sets traps for men; the earth is a man-eater.
Jorunn (to Jakobina) . You must not frighten the child.
(Silence.)
Sveinungi. Wasn't it you, Jakobina, who said that sometimes blood comes on the window-panes? It bodes ill, they say.
Jakobina. Why do you ask? There is no one here who has seen it, is there?
Sveinungi. Never mind why I ask.
Jakobina. Well, if I must say it, it is a sign that some one in the house is going to die soon.
Sveinungi. Or it might bode ill to the farm itself, maybe. ”

“ Sveinungi. You think only of your daughter. It is nothing to you if my life-work is wasted. I could name you many farms that have been an ornament to the neighborhood as long as they have been handed down from man to man in the same family, but once they have passed into other hands, they have been tended in a makeshift way or left to go to rack and ruin altogether. You have seen those 128 old forlorn places, where the site is overgrown with grass, and the heather has been allowed to spread all over the yard. ”