1867

PEER GYNT

by Henrik Ibsen

THE CHARACTERS

ASE, a peasant's widow.

PEER GYNT, her son.

TWO OLD WOMEN with corn-sacks. ASLAK, a smith. WEDDING-GUESTS. A

MASTER-COOK, A FIDDLER, etc.

A MAN AND WIFE, newcomers to the district.

SOLVEIG and LITTLE HELGA, their daughters.

THE FARMER AT HEGSTAD.

INGRID, his daughter.

THE BRIDEGROOM and His PARENTS.

THREE SAETER-GIRLS. A GREEN-CLAD WOMAN.

THE OLD MAN OF THE DOVRE.

A TROLL-COURTIER. SEVERAL OTHERS. TROLL-MAIDENS and TROLL-URCHINS. A

COUPLE OF WITCHES. BROWNIES, NIXIES, GNOMES, etc.

AN UGLY BRAT. A VOICE IN THE DARKNESS. BIRD-CRIES.

KARI, a cottar's wife.

Master COTTON, Monsieur BALLON, Herren VON EBERKOPF and

TRUMPETERSTRALE, gentlemen on their travels. A THIEF and A RECEIVER.

ANITRA, daughter of a Bedouin chief.

ARABS, FEMALE SLAVES, DANCING-GIRLS, etc.

THE MEMNON-STATUE (singing). THE SPHINX AT GIZEH (muta persona).

PROFESSOR BEGRIFFENFELDT, Dr. Phil., director of the madhouse at

Cairo.

HUHU, a language-reformer from the coast of Malabar. HUSSEIN, an

eastern Minister. A FELLAH, with a royal mummy.

SEVERAL MADMEN, with their KEEPERS.

A NORWEGIAN SKIPPER and HIS CREW. A STRANGE PASSENGER.

A PASTOR. A FUNERAL-PARTY. A PARISH-OFFICER. A BUTTON-MOULDER. A

LEAN PERSON.

The action, which opens in the beginning of the nineteenth

century, and ends around the 1860's, takes place partly in

Gudbrandsdalen, and on the mountains around it, partly on the coast

of Morocco, in the desert of Sahara, in a madhouse at Cairo, at sea,

etc.

ACT FIRST

SCENE FIRST

[A wooded hillside near ASE's farm. A river rushes down the slope.

On the further side of it an old mill shed. It is a hot day in

summer.]

[PEER GYNT, a strongly-built youth of twenty, comes down the

pathway. His mother, ASE, a small, slightly built woman, follows

him, scolding angrily.]

ASE

Peer, you're lying!

PEER [without stopping].

No, I am not!

ASE

Well then, swear that it is true!

PEER

Swear? Why should I?

ASE

See, you dare not!

It's a lie from first to last.

PEER [stopping].

It is true-each blessed word!

ASE [confronting him].

Don't you blush before your mother?

First you skulk among the mountains

monthlong in the busiest season,

stalking reindeer in the snows;

home you come then, torn and tattered,

gun amissing, likewise game;-

and at last, with open eyes,

think to get me to believe

all the wildest hunters'-lies!-

Well, where did you find the buck, then?

PEER

West near Gendin.

ASE [laughing scornfully].

Ah! Indeed!

PEER

Keen the blast towards me swept;

hidden by an alder-clump,

he was scraping in the snow-crust

after lichen-

ASE [as before].

Doubtless, yes!

PEER

Breathlessly I stood and listened,

heard the crunching of his hoof,

saw the branches of one antler.

Softly then among the boulders

I crept forward on my belly.

Crouched in the moraine I peered up;-

such a buck, so sleek and fat,

you, I'm sure, have ne'er set eyes on.

ASE

No, of course not!

PEER

Bang! I fired!

Clean he dropped upon the hillside.

But the instant that he fell

I sat firm astride his back,

gripped him by the left ear tightly,