It is too late!
OLD MAN. What do I see?--that ring! who gave it to you? [Tries to
take the ring from Pehr.]
PEHR. Who are you? You are not my father!
OLD MAN. Your guilty, your unhappy father, who is bound by the
witchcraft of the Powers! [Old Man is transformed into a big black
cat.]
PEHR. Jesu Maria, help! [Bright rays dart out from Virgin's image;
clock strikes twelve.]
PEHR. The witch! The witch! Away, unclean spirit! [Cat vanishes.]
And now--[opens tower shutters] for life! [Fingers ring.] To the
forest. [Going through window.] _Out_!
CURTAIN.
ACT TWO
SCENE ONE.
Snow-clad woods; diagonally across stage is an ice-covered brook.
Dawn. Wind blows through the trees as curtain rises. Pehr on.
PEHR. So this is the forest, whither my thoughts have so often
flown through the clear air, and this is the snow! Now I want to
throw snowballs, as I've seen school boys do. It is supposed to be
something uncommonly amusing. [He takes up some snow and casts a
few snowballs.] H-m! That's not so wonderful! Once again--I think
it almost stupid.
But what is it that plays up in the tree tops? The wind--Ah, it
sounds rather well. Zoo, zoo, zoo! But one grows sleepy if one
listens to that long. Zoo, zoo, zoo! Now it sounds like the gnats
on a summer's evening. Strange how short everything is out here in
Nature! The dullness in the tower--that was long! Now it's not at
all pretty or amusing. [Sees brook.] Why, what is this? Ice! What
pleasure can one get from that? Ah, now I remember--one can skate
on it.
Pages:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26