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diff --git a/42022-0.txt b/42022-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2bb5e5a --- /dev/null +++ b/42022-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2000 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42022 *** + +[Illustration: "Can't you trust me? I'm an honest man."] + + + + + JEPPE ON THE HILL + OR + THE TRANSFORMED PEASANT + + A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS + + TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH + OF LUDVIG HOLBERG + + BY + WALDEMAR C. WESTERGAARD + AND + MARTIN B. RUUD + + WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HOLBERG BY MORRIS + JOHNSON AND AN INTRODUCTION BY + W. C. WESTERGAARD + + FIRST PLAYED IN COPENHAGEN IN 1722 + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + PUBLISHED BY THE MIMER CLUB OF THE UNIVERSITY + OF NORTH DAKOTA + + 1906 + THE EVENING TIMES COMPANY + GRAND FORKS, N. D. + + + + Copyrighted 1906 by + W. C. WESTERGAARD + + + + +LUDVIG HOLBERG + + +In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries two great spiritual movements +spread over Europe, the Renaissance and the Reformation. The former was +confined principally to southern Europe, and did not influence the life +or literature of the Scandinavian countries to any great extent. The +Reformation, however, caused a new tho brief literary era, especially in +Denmark, where the mother tongue was again accorded its proper place, +and the people again began to think of a national future. + +Much had conspired to make the people of Europe lose faith in the old +ideas. Copernicus had demonstrated that the earth was only a planet in +an immense system, and Kepler and Galileo had taught that the earth +circled about the sun, and that there was order and regularity in the +movements of the heavenly bodies. Finally Newton announced his principle +that the law of gravitation governed each and every one of these +movements. All this together with the geographical discoveries of +Columbus, Magellan, De Gama and others, revolutionized people's ideas of +the universe and of the earth. + +In December, 1684, just two weeks before Newton gave his first public +lecture explaining his discovery, a child who was destined to become the +founder of the Danish-Norwegian literature was born in Bergen, Norway. +That child was Ludvig Holberg. His parents died while the boy was but a +few years old, and he was brought up by relatives. Too weakly and small +to become a military man as his father had been, he was sent to the +"Latin School" at Bergen. Eighteen years old he became a student at the +University of Copenhagen. Two years later he became a student of +theology. Lack of means compelled him to return to Bergen as a private +tutor. But he soon determined to travel, and with a small sum of money +he set out for Amsterdam. After considerable sickness and misfortune he +returned to Norway. In 1706 there followed a journey to England, where +two years were spent, largely in study at Oxford. Later he made four +other journeys to foreign countries. Two years were spent in France, and +about a year in Italy. + +What were the conditions under which Holberg grew up? And what did he +experience abroad? Turning to Denmark we find the religious, political +and educational status very low. We can get an idea of the prevailing +nature of government when we learn that Christian the Sixth was spoken +of in a university address as a king whom God himself "fills with his +wisdom, honors with his friendship, strengthens by his teachings, +satisfies with his communications, perfects with Divine power, a man +with whom he shares His creative strength, one who is beautified by +God's image," and "whose plans evolve from the thoughts of the +Almighty!" + +In the religious field, conditions were no better. Intolerance and +persecution were the rule. He who dared depart from the dry orthodox +dogmas was promptly dealt with by law. Coupled with this intolerance was +a huge mass of superstition that hung as a depressing cloud over the +people. An eclipse, a comet or some strange phenomenon was believed to +portend some dire manifestation of the wrath of heaven and bespoke as a +certainty the judgment of God! Belief in witch-craft was common. Only +fourteen years before Holberg's birth, seven witches were burned at one +time in Christiania. + +The theology of the day was such as to hinder educational activity. +There was only one student of law, for instance, to several hundred +students of theology. A little philosophy was taught, but chiefly to aid +in carrying on meaningless theological dissertations. + +During Holberg's youth the social and literary conditions in Denmark +were slavishly dependent upon those of foreign countries. Latin was the +approved literary language. The new nobility was largely German, +consequently German was the language of the court. German was also +spoken to a great extent among the artisans and merchants as these +classes were largely of the same origin as the nobility. Those of the +middle class who aspired to social distinction necessarily wore powdered +wigs and spoke French. These conditions limited the use of the mother +tongue to the farmers, the fishermen and the lower classes, whose work +was frowned at and whose social condition was as wretched as it was +despised. + +Holberg, however, soon acquired different ideas of government religion +and education, of social customs and of literature than those described. +He did not believe that the Scriptures were at variance with all other +doctrines except that of "divine right." He believed in a monarchial +government, but his theory was that government should be a contract +between ruler and people as it was in England and Holland. This was the +first time such a doctrine was taught in Denmark. + +Religious compulsion and persecution was also vigorously opposed by +Holberg. He knew but one kind of justifiable fanaticism he said, and +that was fanaticism against the spirit of religious intoleration. The +prevalent belief in witch-craft, too, was a subject against which +Holberg frequently directed his satire. + +As far as science and philosophy is concerned, it is sufficient to say +that he was guided by the English philosophers of the time who held that +experience was the safest guide to knowledge. In Holland he was +influenced by Pierre Bayle and LeClerc. In France, Montesquieu, +Montaigne, and Moliere were his teachers, while in Germany he was not +influenced to any great extent. + +Holberg's great work consisted in what he did to better the condition of +the common people and to popularize the Danish language. But what was +the reason that Holberg was able to take the most desirable teachings +and customs, from England, France and Holland, and introduce them among +the Scandinavian people? To begin with we must remember that his +childhood was spent in Norway's most cosmopolitan city, Bergen. This +gave him his desire to travel. His contact with people of wide +experience in many different countries would certainly not lessen his +liberal tendencies. Then too while at first his journeys were caused by +mere curiosity, he soon determined to travel for a purpose. He wished to +teach his countrymen. When abroad he made careful observations. Foreign +customs were constantly compared with those of Denmark and Norway. But +though he was liberal, he knew the art of moderation. While much that +was foreign could be used to good advantage, there was also a great deal +that was undesirable. His judgments were remarkably free. They were +founded on his own observations, not on the opinion of others. His +liberal, cosmopolitan views his keen critical discernment, his energy +and application in his work account for his far reaching influence. + +There remains for us to notice how the people were influenced by the +work of this man. Holberg wrote for and about the common people. But in +all his writings we observe his remarkable moderation. He knew that if +he were to begin his educational campaign by an open attack on +prevailing conditions, too much opposition would be the result. He +sought the confidence and good will of the reader, and then by his +wealth of wit and satire the reader was led to laugh at his own faults. +But it was not enough to tear down; construction was as necessary as +destruction. The satirical poems, such as "Klim's Underground Journey" +and "Peder Paars" brought the people's faults to view, but desirable +virtues to take their place were just as effectively presented in his +"Epistles" and "Moral Thoughts," virtues which were also exemplified in +the author's private life. + +Holberg's writings created a proper recognition of the mother-tongue, +and awakened a new interest in reading especially among the middle and +poorer classes. His writings created in the people an interest in +themselves and in their land, such as they had not possessed before. It +taught them to cherish the best that was Danish, to substitute the +sturdy noble products of their own land for the ephemeric forms which +ignorance and slavish imitation had brought from foreign countries. It +helped them to realize themselves and it gave them prospects for a +bright future as a nation. In Ludvig Holberg we see today, not only the +founder of the Norwegian-Danish literature, the satirical author of +"Peder Paars" or "Nils Klim's Underground Journey," not only a +philosopher and historian, but a teacher who impressed his individuality +on a whole people, and one whose influence as a mighty power for good is +felt today not only in Scandinavian literature, but in all Scandinavian +culture as well. + + --MORRIS JOHNSON. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +"Jeppe on the Hill" (Jeppe paa Bjerget) is probably the best known of +Holberg's many comedies. It was first presented in the Danish Theatre in +1722, and has since then been played times without number and with +continued appreciation. It is a plain picture of peasant life, with the +ludicrous side turned out, of course, but so faithful in detail and +comprehensive in character that it has become known as the best +expression of medieval conditions in the Scandinavian language, the +classic representation of the medieval peasant in northern Europe. The +plot of the play is briefly thus: + +Jeppe, the principal character, is a poor oppressed peasant, abused by +his wife and trodden down by his superiors. We are introduced in the +opening scene to his wife, Nille, a veritable Xanthippe transplanted to +the eighteenth century. With her shrill voice and stout whip,--Master +Erik, by name,--she drives him out at an unreasonably early hour to go +an unreasonable long distance for an insignificant amount of soap. She +is, in fact, a true counterpart of Dame Van Winkle, wielding authority +over a poor, weak Rip. Without so much as a cup of coffee, he starts +with his dozen pence with which he is to make his purchase. On the way +he stops in at the rascally innkeeper's, Jakob Skomager's, who induces +the vacillating Jeppe to part little by little with his money until the +poor peasant finds himself "broke," and with nothing to show for his +departed coin but a "glorious drunk." After a soliloquy in which he +calls to mind his past life, especially his brief experience in the +army, he is overcome by his intoxication and falls in a drunken stupor +by the wayside. In this senseless condition he is found by his "liege +lord and master," the nobleman, and his servants. They decide to play a +joke on the fellow; they dress him in the baron's clothes, take him to +the castle and put him in the baron's bed, and then wait near by to see +the show. + +When he awakes he is certainly the transformed--and perplexed--peasant. +He is quite overcome by the splendor of his surroundings, thinks at one +moment that he is in a dream, and next decides that he must be in +paradise; he calls for his wife, receives no reply, and wonders whether +he is really himself or someone else. He tries in vain to connect the +past with the present. When the uniformed servants answer his cry for +help the situation becomes comical indeed. When Jeppe is finally +convinced by servants and doctors that he is the baron, he assumes his +new role with a vengeance and begins by tyrannizing over the servants +and calling them to account. He does not forget to satisfy his desire +for good things to eat and drink and after some fast music and a dance +with the overseer's wife, he is overcome once more, this time by the +wines and excitement, and falls again into a stupor of intoxication. He +is dressed in his old clothes and put back on the dungheap where he +first was found. When he awakes he finds himself by the old familiar +wayside in all his old toggery,--plain "Jeppe on the Hill" once more. He +is now thoroughly convinced that he really was in paradise, and begins +to take another nap in the hope of again coming into his former glory, +but when his wife, Nille, steals up and administers a resounding whack +on his back with old Master Erik, he is convinced beyond a reasonable +doubt that he is in paradise no longer. The situation is further +complicated for poor Jeppe and made the more ludicrous to the spectators +when he is hauled before a magistrate for taking possession of the +baron's house and tyrannizing over his servants. At the mock trial, +which is one of the most humorous situations in the play, he stands +ready to embrace the lawyer who defends him while he is wishing he could +knock down or hang the lawyer who accuses him. + +When he finds himself solemnly condemned to die by poison and hanging, +he implores in vain for pardon, asks for some whiskey to keep up his +courage, bids farewell to wife, family and dumb friends, and falls as +before into a deep stupor. As he gradually regains consciousness, it is +but to find himself hanging from the gallows,--by the arm pits, to be +sure, but looking dead enough to cause his wife a few brief moments of +remorse for her past treatment of her departed spouse. After he has been +sentenced to life again by the same court that sentenced him to death +before, the magistrate gives him four Rixdollars, a great sum for him, +and he finds himself again the same old "Jeppe." When at last he is +free, and the cause of his perplexities and bewildering metamorphoses +has been revealed to him in startling fashion by the irrepressible +Magnus, his chagrin is deep, indeed. The play closes after the old +fashion by the reappearance of the perpetrators, the baron and his +attendants, the former drawing the moral from the incident. + + * * * * * + +Such is the simple plot of this immortal comedy. Now a few words as to +its significance. Jeppe, the hero and central figure of the play, is a +type of the oppressed, circumscribed, and despirited serf of the +seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, despised by his superiors and +abused by his wife, drunken as an almost inevitable result of his +condition and mercilessly driven from his own home. Drink is practically +his only recourse and is to him the nearest and easiest approach to +happiness. It is as the eminent Danish critic, Brandes, suggests, a sort +of other life to Jeppe,--it is to him what music and poetry is to us. +What may we gather from his reminiscences as he calls them up in his +intoxication? His soldier days, his smattering of German, and his +campaigns are particularly vivid, and although the latter were probably +not especially glorious, they furnish him his proudest memories. Indeed +the most honorable words he could put in the mouth of the sexton as he +imagined him at his own funeral are those words so unspeakably comical, +that "he lived like a soldier and died like a soldier." + +What does this peasant know, and where did he get his knowledge? The +source is not far to seek. His figures have the flavor of the stable and +the Bible and he is far more certain of his use of the former than of +the latter. He has also come by just enough of folklore to misapply +it, as note his reference to Abner and Roland. Who are his most intimate +friends? There is Mo'ns Christofferson who gives him excellent advice +which he fails to follow, but dearest of all is his dappled horse, a +trifle lazier, if such a thing is possible, than himself. But poor he +has always been, and while baron he shows that he knows to a much +greater degree than the baron himself the value of money; for though he +has, so far as he knows, more money than he has ever seen in all his +peasant days, he remains niggardly in his use of it even when he has all +he wants. + +What is this man's highest idea of enjoyment, what does he demand when +his greatest wish can be fulfilled? Simply a good bed, fine clothes, +plenty to eat, sweet wine in abundance, many servants, and a handmaid. +If he has any greater ambition it would be to have more and better +things to eat and drink, and more and finer things to wear. It is but +natural that "he who works like a horse will enjoy himself like a dog." +With such ideals it is easy to see how he could imagine that he had been +suddenly transported into heaven. With the feeling that his lord's chief +business is to pilfer his hard-earned money; that the sexton is a +personage whose chief virtue is a powerful voice; and that lawyers and +magistrates are black-robed blackguards who juggle with equal facility +with justice and Latin phrases, we can see that Jeppe's idea of law and +authority was not very exalted. His highest idea of justice was embodied +in his toast, "God keep our friends, and may the devil take all our +enemies!" + +Though he is a peasant he knows life and human nature and has, too, a +philosophy of life,--a philosophy which to him is his salvation. He does +not look on life in any bitter or hopeless way, yet he has that distrust +and suspicion so characteristic of the Danish peasant. He is always +master of the situation, and is cautious and sly enough never to allow +himself to be caught off his guard. He weeps in sheer gratitude when his +lawyer defends him, and he offers him a chew of his tobacco, but when +the lawyer answers that he did it from a sense of Christian charity he +answers, sarcastically, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Lawyer, I had not +thought you people were so honest." In the last act (Act V., Scene 2) we +see another illustration of his native shrewdness. When he has been +sentenced back to life we would naturally expect a profuse expression of +gratitude from Jeppe on his delivery from death. But when the judge says +to him, "Thank us, that we have been so gracious as to sentence you back +to life," Jeppe gives the unexpected answer that "if you had not hanged +me yourself, I should have been glad to thank you that you let me down +again." + +While a mere peasant he appears dull and common-place enough, but give +him the opportunity which he gets from the second act and on, and he +displays a surprising readiness in his efforts to solve the perplexing +problems he has had placed before him. The question of existence or +non-existence which he has to answer might well perplex a sage; but +while Jeppe is not quite able to unravel the situation, he makes rare +use of the powers of logic at his command. When at last he is asked to +face death, he does so with resignation, for he has not had much to be +thankful for in life. In the supposed hour of his death he turns, not to +the Bible of which he is so blissfully ignorant, but to that +never-failing comforter through life--the whiskey bottle. When he bids +farewell, as he supposes, to this world, he includes the whole circle of +his interest, and says, "Goodbye," and "Thanks for good company" to his +family and his animal friends, including his dappled horse, his faithful +dog, and even "Mo'ns," his black cat. + +We have then in Jeppe a character furnishing on the one hand +entertainment to the young and light of heart, and on the other an +interesting study for the psychologist, the statesman, the socialist, +the historian and the philanthropist. + +Thus the author has depicted through the various burlesque and humorous +situations of a comedy a concrete yet typical character, he has given us +the pathetic history of a poor, oppressed peasant, a whole human life +from the cradle to the grave. + + --W. C. W. + + + + +Jeppe on the Hill + + + + +DRAMATIS PERSONAE + + +As played in the original language at the Metropolitan Theater, Grand +Forks, N. D., May 17, 1906. + + Jeppe on the Hill John M. Anderson + Nille, his wife W. C. Westergaard + Baron Nilus Olger Burtness + Secretary Henry Kyllo + Valet Norris Nelson + Erik, lackey Magnus Ruud + Second lackey Bernhard Sandlie + Jakob Skomager, innkeeper Edward Hansen + Two Doctors { Ingvold Knudson + { Nels Dolve + Overseer Reuben Stee + Overseer's wife M. Ruud + The Judge O. B. Burtness + Two Lawyers { Martin B. Ruud + { N. O. Dolve + Magnus H. Kyllo + + Armed men, attendants, etc. + +The scene, a peasant village in Sealand, Denmark; time, about the year +1700. + + + + +JEPPE ON THE HILL + + + + +ACT I. + + +Scene 1. + +=Nille= (alone)--I don't believe there is such a lazy rascal in the whole +district as my husband. I can hardly wake him up when I pull him out of +bed by the hair. To-day the rascal knows that it is market day, but +still he lies and sleeps so long. Herr Paul said to me lately, "Nille, +you are too hard on your husband. He is and ought to be master of the +household." But I answered him, "No, my dear Herr Paul, if I should let +him boss this house for a single year then neither the landlord would +get his rent nor the rector his fee, since he would squander in drink +all that I have in the house. Should I let such a man rule this +household, who is ready to sell farm, wife, children--yes, even +himself--for drink?" Whereupon Herr Paul became silent and thoughtfully +stroked his chin. The overseer of the estate sides with me and says, +"Little woman, don't you mind what the preacher says. Although the +ritual says that you must honor and obey your husband, your lease, which +is newer than the ritual, says that you must keep up your place and pay +your rent, which it would be impossible for you to do if you did not +drag your old man out of bed by the hair every morning and drive him to +work." Just now I jerked him out of bed and went out to the barn to see +how the work was getting on, and when I came back he was sitting with +his trousers over one leg, and so the switch had to be taken off the peg +and my good old Jeppe dressed down until he became quite awake again. +The only thing he is afraid of is Master Erick, (that is what I call the +switch.) Hey, Jeppe, aren't you up yet, you lazy bones? Would you like +to speak with Master Erik once more? Hey, Jeppe, come out! + + +Scene 2. + +=Jeppe=--I must have time to put on my clothes, mustn't I? You don't want +me to come out like a pig without trousers and without coat. + +=Nille=--Haven't you had time, you wretch, to put on ten pairs of trousers +since I woke you up this morning? + +=Jeppe= (cautiously)--Have you put Master Erik away, Nille? + +=Nille=--Yes, I have, but I know where I can find him again, if you don't +get around in a hurry. Come here! See how he crawls along! Come here! +You've got to go to town to buy two pounds of soft soap; here is the +money. But listen! If you are not back again inside of four hours Master +Erik shall dance a polka on your back. + +=Jeppe=--How can I walk four miles in four hours? + +=Nille=--Who says you are to walk, you rascal? You shall run! I have told +you what to do once, now do as you please. + + +Scene 3. + +=Jeppe= (alone)--There that sow goes in to eat breakfast, and I, poor man, +must walk four miles before I can get anything to eat; can anyone have +such a damned woman as I have? I really believe she is a cousin to +Lucifer. Folks around here say that Jeppe drinks, but they don't say why +Jeppe drinks; why, I never got so many poundings in the ten years I was +in the army as I get every day from that awful woman. She pounds me, the +overseer drives me to work like a beast; and the sexton pays court to my +wife. Mustn't I drink, mustn't I use all the means nature has given us +to drive away sorrow? If I were a fool, such things wouldn't trouble me +so much, and then I wouldn't drink; but it is certain that I am a clever +man, and therefore I feel such things more than others, so I must drink. +My neighbor, Mo'ns Christopherson, often tells me, as he is my friend: +"Confound you, Jeppe, why don't you defend yourself, then the old woman +will come to her senses." But I can't strike back for three reasons. +First, because I haven't any courage; second, because of that damned +Master Erik hanging behind the bed, which my back cannot think of +without crying; third, because I am, if I do say it myself, a good sort +of soul and a good Christian, who never seeks revenge. I am so +kind-hearted that I have never even wished that the old woman would die. +On the contrary, when she lay sick of jaundice last year, I wished that +she would live; for, as hell is already full of bad women, Lucifer would +probably send her back, and then she would be still worse than before. +But if the sexton died, then I would be glad, for my own sake as well as +for others; since he does me only harm and is of no use to the +congregation. He is an ignorant devil, for he has no voice at all for +singing, nor can he cast an honest wax candle. No, then his predecessor, +Christopher, was a different sort of a person. He beat twelve sextons at +singing in his day, such a voice had he. One time I got into a quarrel +with the deacon, while Nille was listening, and when he scolded me for +being run by my wife, I said: "The devil take you, Sexton Mads." But +what happened? Master Erik was taken from the wall to settle the quarrel +and my back got so sore that I had to beg the sexton's pardon and thank +him, mind you, that he, a learned man, would honor my house by his +visits. Since that time I have never thought of making any opposition. +Oh, yes, yes, Mo'ns Christopherson! You and other peasants whose wives +have no Master Erik hanging behind the bed, can talk like that. If I had +a single wish in the world it would be either that my wife had no arms +or I no back; since she may use her tongue as much as she likes. But +I'll have to stop in at Jakob Skomager's on the way. He'll give me a +penny's worth of brandy on credit all right; for I must have something +to quench my thirst. Hey, Jakob Skomager! Are you up yet? Open the door, +Jakob! + + +Scene 4. + + Jakob Skomager (in his shirt). Jeppe. + +=Jakob=--Who the devil comes here so early? + +=Jeppe=--Good morning, Jakob Skomager. + +=Jakob=--Thank you, Jeppe! You're around pretty early to-day. + +=Jeppe=--Give me a penny worth of brandy, Jakob. + +=Jakob=--Very well, hand me the penny. + +=Jeppe=--You'll get that to-morrow when I come back. + +=Jakob=--Jakob Skomager doesn't sell whiskey on credit; you have a penny +or two, I know. + +=Jeppe=--The devil I have, Jakob! Except a few shillings my wife gave me +to buy soap for in town. + +=Jakob=--I know you can beat down the price a couple of pence; what is +your purchase, Jeppe? + +=Jeppe=--I am to buy two pounds of soft soap. + +=Jakob=--Why, can't you say that you gave a couple pence more per pound +than you paid? + +=Jeppe=--I'm so afraid that my wife will find it out, and then bad luck to +me! + +=Jakob=--Pshaw! How'll she find that out? Can't you swear that you spent +all your money? You're a dunce. + +=Jeppe=--True enough, Jakob, that's what I can do. + +=Jakob=--Give me the penny then. + +=Jeppe=--There! but you must give me back a ha'penny. + +=Jakob= (comes with a glass and drinks Jeppe's health). Your health, +Jeppe! + +=Jeppe= (looks at glass)--You drank like a fish. + +=Jakob=--Well! Don't you know it is customary for the host to drink to the +health of the guests? + +=Jeppe=--I know; but may the devil take the one who first started that +custom! Your health, Jakob! + +=Jakob=--Thanks, Jeppe! You will have to take something for the other +ha'penny, too. You can't bring it back. Or perhaps you want to have a +glass of whiskey to your credit when you come back from town. For, by my +faith, I haven't a single ha'penny. + +=Jeppe=--The devil I will; if I must spend it, I'll do it now, for then I +can feel that I have something in my stomach; but if you drink of it, +too, I won't pay. + +=Jakob=--Your health, Jeppe! + +=Jeppe=--God keep our friends and the devil take all our enemies! Ah, that +felt good! + +=Jakob=--Happy journey, Jeppe! + +=Jeppe=--Thanks, Jakob Skomager! + + +Scene 5. + +=Jeppe= (alone, becomes happy and begins to sing)-- + + "A white hen and a speckled hen + They started to fight the cock, etc." + +Ah! If only I dared to drink another penny's worth! Ah! if I only dared +to drink just one more penny's worth! I believe I'll do it. No, I will +be sorry if I do. Could I only get away from the inn then there would be +no trouble, but there seems to be some one that holds me back. I must go +in again. But what are you doing, Jeppe? I seem to see Nille standing +before me with Master Erik in her hand. I must turn back. Ah! if I only +dared drink one more penny's worth! My stomach says, you shall; my back, +you shall not; which shall I then obey? Is not my stomach more important +than my back? I say yes. Shall I knock? Hey! Jakob Skomager, come +out!--but that damned woman comes to my mind again! If only she would +strike so my back didn't hurt so bad, I wouldn't mind it at all; but she +hits me like--Ah! God held me, poor man, what shall I do? Restrain +yourself, Jeppe! Isn't it a shame that you should make yourself +miserable for the sake of a glass of rotten whiskey? No, it sha'n't +happen this time,--I must away. Ah! if I only dared to drink one more +penny's worth. It was my bad luck that I first got a taste for it; now I +can't get away. Get there, legs! Blast you if you don't go! No, the +rascals will not, they want to go back to the inn; my limbs make war +upon each other. Will you go, you dogs! you beasts! you rap-scallions! +No, the devil take them, they want to go back to the inn; I have more +trouble with my legs, to make them go away from the inn than to get my +piebald mare out of the stable. Ah! if I only dared to drink one single +penny's worth more! Who knows if Jakob Skomager won't trust me for a +penny or two if I ask him real nice. Hey, Jakob! Another whiskey for +tuppence! + + +Scene 6. + + Jakob. Jeppe. + +=Jakob=--Hello, Jeppe! Have you come back? I knew you didn't get enough. +What does one glass amount to? That will hardly wet the throat. + +=Jeppe=--Sure enough, Jakob! Gi' me another glass! (aside) When I once +have drunk it, then I guess he will have to trust me, whether he wants +to or not. + +=Jakob=--Here's the drink, Jeppe, but the money first. + +=Jeppe=--I s'pose you can trust me while I drink, as the old saying goes. + +=Jakob=--We don't care for any old sayings here, Jeppe! If you won't pay +in advance you'll not get a drop. We have sworn off trusting anybody, +even the overseer himself. + +=Jeppe= (weeping)--Can't you trust me, I am an honest man? + +=Jakob=--No credit, Jeppe. + +=Jeppe=--Take the money then, you rascal!. Now it is done, drink now, +Jeppe! (drinks). Ah! that feels good. + +=Jakob=--Yes, that's the kind of stuff to warm a fellow's inside! + +=Jeppe=--The best thing about whiskey is that it gives a man such spirit. +Now I think neither of my wife nor Master Erik, so changed have I become +after the last glass. Do you know this song, Jakob? (Sings.) + + Little Kirsten and Herr Peder they sat at the table, Peteheia, + A spoke so many a jesting word, Polemeia. + In the summer sing the merry starling, Peteheia, + May the devil take Nille, the wicked wench, Polemeia, + I took a walk in bright green wood, Peteheia, + The sexton, he is a rascally dog, Polemeia, + I seated myself on my dapple gray horse, Peteheia, + The sexton, he is a downright beast, Polemeia, + But, if you will know the name of my wife, ----! + +I wrote that song myself, Jakob! + +=Jakob=--The devil you did! + +=Jeppe=--Jeppe is not so stupid as you think. I have also made a song +about the shoemaker which runs thus: + + The Shoemaker with his fiddle and his drum, Philebom, Philebom. + +=Jakob=--Why, you fool, that's a song for fiddlers. + +=Jeppe=--Yes, sure enough. Look here, Jakob. Give me another dram! + +=Jakob=--Good, now I can see that you are a fine fellow and don't begrudge +my house an honest penny. + +=Jeppe=--Hey, Jakob! Just give me for tuppence. + +=Jakob=--Very well! + +=Jeppe= (sings again)-- + + The earth drinks up the water, + The sea drinks up the sun; + The sun drinks up the ocean, + Everything drinks in this world. + Why should I not then + Drink with all the rest? + +=Jakob=--Your health, Jeppe! + +=Jeppe=--Mir zu. + +=Jakob=--Good luck with half of it! + +=Jeppe=--Ich tank ju, Jakob! Drik man, datt dig di Dyvel haal, datt ist +dig vel undt. + +=Jakob=--I hear you can talk German, Jeppe. + +=Jeppe=--Sure, that's nothing new, but I don't usually talk it except when +I'm drunk. + +=Jakob=--Then you surely talk at least once a day. + +=Jeppe=--I have been in the army ten years and should I not know my own +language? + +=Jakob=--Why, that's right, Jeppe! We were in the same campaign for two +years. + +=Jeppe=--Sure enough, I remember now. You were hung, weren't you, when you +deserted at Wismar? + +=Jakob=--I was to have been hanged, but was pardoned. "There is many a +slip between the cup and the lip." + +=Jeppe=--It is too bad that you weren't hanged, Jakob; but weren't you +along in that action which took place on the plain--well, you know +where-- + +=Jakob=--Ah! where haven't I been along? + +=Jeppe=--I'll never forget the first volley the Swedes fired. I believe +there fell three thousand if not four thousand men at one time. (Hic.) +Dasz ging fordyvelet zu, Jakob. Du kandst wohl das ihukommen; ich kann +nich negten dat ik jo bange var in dat slag. + +=Jakob=--Yes, yes, death is pretty hard to meet; a fellow is so pious when +he meets the enemy. + +=Jeppe=--Yes, quite true; I don't know how it was, but I lay and read the +whole night before the action in David's "Psalter." + +=Jakob=--I wonder that you who have been a soldier will let your wife +tyrannize over you the way she does. + +=Jeppe=--I! If I only had her here! Then you would see how I should pound +her! One more glass, Jakob! I have eight pence left yet! (Aside) When I +have drunk them up, I shall drink on credit. Give me a mug of beer on +that. + + In Leipsig was a man, + In Leipsig was a man, + In Leipsig was a good for nix, + In Leipsig was a good for nix, + The man he took himself a wife, etc., + In Leipsig was a man. + +=Jakob=--Your health, Jeppe! + +=Jeppe=--Hey! He--y! He--Here's to you and to me and to all good friends! +He--Hey! + +=Jakob=--Don't you want to drink the overseer's health? + +=Jeppe=--Very well; give me another penny's worth. The overseer is a +decent sort of fellow. When we put a dollar in his hand he will swear by +his soul before his master that we cannot pay our land rent. I'll be +hanged, if I have any money left--you will give me a few drinks more on +credit, won't you? + +=Jakob=--No, Jeppe, you can't stand any more now. I'm not the fellow who +will allow his guests to overdo things in his house and let them drink +more than is good for them. I would rather lose my living, for it is a +sin. + +=Jeppe=--Hey, one more drink. + +=Jakob=--No, Jeppe, now I won't give you any more; remember that you have +a long way to go. + +=Jeppe=--Dog! Scoundrel! Beast! Rascal! Hey! He--y! + +=Jakob=--Goodbye, Jeppe! happy journey! + + +Scene 7. + +=Jeppe= (alone)--Ah, Jeppe, you are as full as a tick! My legs will hardly +carry me. Will you stand, you rascals, or won't you? Hey, there, what +time is it! Hey, Jakob, villain, scoundrel. Hey! Just one more drink! +Will you stand, you dogs? No, the devil take me if they will stand. +Thanks, Jakob Skomager. Let's have another! Listen, comrade! Where's the +road to the town? Stand, I tell you! Look, the beast is drunk. You drank +like a toper, Jakob. Do you call that a drink of whiskey--you measure +like a Turk. + +(While he is speaking he falls and remains lying.) + + +Scene 8. + + Baron Nilus. His Secretary. A Valet. Two Lackeys. + +=Baron=--The prospects for a good crop are very promising. Just see how +nice the barley stands. + +=Secretary=--Yes, that is quite true, your Grace; but that means that a +bushel of barley will not bring a higher price than five marks. + +=Baron=--That makes no difference. The peasants always do better when the +times are good. + +=Secretary=--I don't know how it is, my lord, the peasants always complain +and ask for seed grain whether the season is good or bad. When they have +anything they drink all the more. Here is an innkeeper in the +neighborhood by the name of Jakob Skomager who does much to make the +peasants poor. They say that he puts salt in the beer so that the more +they drink, the more they shall thirst. + +=Baron=--We must get that fellow out of the way. But what is that lying +there in the road? Why, that's a dead man. One hears of nothing but +accidents. Run over there, one of you, and see what it is. + +=A lackey=--That is Jeppe on the Hill, who has the shrewish wife. Wake up, +Jeppe. No, he wouldn't wake up if we pounded him and pulled him around +by the hair. + +=Baron=--Just let him be, I would like to play a little trick on him. You +used to be quite inventive fellows, can you devise something now to +amuse me? + +=Secretary=--It seems to me it would be clever if we tied a paper collar +around his neck or clipped his hair. + +=The valet=--It seems to me that it would be even more clever if we daubed +his face with ink and stationed someone to see how his wife would +receive him when he came home in such a predicament. + +=Baron=--That's all very well, but what will you wager that Erik can +devise something more clever than that? Give us your opinion, Erik! + +=Erik, lackey=--It is my opinion that his clothes should all be taken off +and that he should be laid in my lord's best bed, and in the morning +when he awakes we should all act as though he were the lord of the +manor, so that he should not know who or where he was. And when we have +made him believe that he is the baron, we should make him as drunk again +as he now is and lay him, in his old clothes, on the same dung heap. If +this plan is carefully executed, it would have a strange effect and he +would make himself believe either that he had dreamed about such glories +or that he had really been in Paradise. + +=Baron=--Erik, you are a great man and therefore you have only great +ideas. But now if he should wake up in the meantime? + +=Erik=--I am very sure that he will not, my lord. Since the same Jeppe on +the Hill is one of the soundest sleepers in the whole district. Why, +they tried the other year to fasten a rocket to the back of his neck, +but even when the rocket was fired off he didn't wake up from his sleep. + +=Baron=--Let us then proceed. Take him away immediately, clothe him in a +fine shirt and lay him in my best bed. + + +(Curtain.) + + + + +ACT II. + + +Scene 1. + + Jeppe. + +(Jeppe is represented lying in the Baron's bed, a gold embroidered +dressing gown on a chair; he awakes, rubs his eyes, looks around and +becomes frightened; rubs his eyes again, feels of his head and finds a +gold embroidered nightcap; he moistens his eyelids, rubs them again, +turns the nightcap around and examines it, looks at his fine shirt, at +the robe, at everything, with strange grimaces. Meanwhile soft music is +heard, at which Jeppe folds his hands and weeps; when the music stops he +begins to speak.) + +But what is this? What sort of splendor is this and how have I come +here? Do I dream, or am I awake? No, I am quite awake. Where is my wife, +where are my children, where is my house, and where is Jeppe? Everything +is changed, myself, too. Ah, what can it be? What can it be? (He calls +softly and fearfully.) Nille! Nille! Nille! I believe that I have got +into Heaven, Nille, and that without deserving it. But, can it be me? It +seems to me it is; then again, it seems to me it isn't. When I feel of +my back, which is still sore from the blows I got, when I hear myself +speak, when I feel of my hollow tooth, it seems to me that it's me. +When, on the other hand, I look at my cap, my shirt, and on all the fine +things before me, and hear the beautiful music, I'll be hanged if I can +get it into my head that it's me. No, it isn't me. I am a scoundrel a +thousand times if it's me! But I wonder if I am dreaming. It doesn't +seem so. I'll try to pinch my arm; if it doesn't hurt, then I dream; if +it hurts, then I don't dream.--Yes, I felt it, I am awake; to be sure I +am awake; no one can deny that. Because if I were not awake I could +not--but how can I be awake when I stop to think? It cannot fail then +that I am Jeppe on the Hill; I certainly know that I am a poor peasant, +a serf, a rascal, a scoundrel, a hungry maggot, a poor worm! But how can +I at the same time be king and lord of the castle? No, it must be only a +dream. Therefore, it is best to have patience till I wake up. (The +music is again heard and Jeppe begins to cry.) Ah! But can a person hear +such things in his sleep? That is impossible! But if it is a dream, then +I wish that I may never wake up again, and if I am mad, then may I never +become sane; for I should sue the doctor who cured me and curse him who +woke me up. But I neither dream nor am mad, for I can remember my whole +life. I remember that my sainted father was Niels on the Hill, my +grandfather, Jeppe on the Hill, my wife's name is Nille, her switch, +Master Erik, my sons, Hans, Christopher and Niels. But see! Now I know: +it is the other life, it is paradise, it is heaven! I must have drunk +too much yesterday at Jakob Skomager's, died and immediately come to +heaven. Death cannot be so awful as they would make one believe, since I +didn't even feel it. Now, perhaps, Herr Jesper is standing this minute +in the pulpit making a funeral sermon over my body and saying: Such was +the end of Jeppe on the Hill; he lived like a soldier and died like a +soldier. Of course, one might question whether I died on land or sea, +since I went out of the world pretty well soaked. Ah, Jeppe, this is +something different from going four miles to town to buy soap, from +lying on straw and from getting whipped by your wife. Ah! To what bliss +have not your suffering and dark days been transformed? Ah! I must weep +from joy when I think that this has come to me through no merit of my +own. But one thing comes to my mind: I am so thirsty that my lips are +nearly parched. If I should wish myself alive again, it would be only +that I might get a mug of beer to quench my thirst; for what good does +all this glory do me when I must die again of thirst? I remember the +preacher has often said that one neither hungers nor thirsts in heaven +and further that one finds there all his deceased friends. But I am +nearly dying from thirst. I am also quite alone; I don't see a soul. I +ought to find my grandfather at least, who was such a decent person that +he never left a shilling of debt to his landlord. Of course, I know that +many people have lived just as decent lives as I have, why, then, +should I alone come to heaven? Therefore, it can't be heaven. But what +can it be? I am not asleep, I am not awake; I am not dead, I am not +alive; I am not crazy, I am not sane; I am Jeppe on the Hill, I am not +Jeppe on the Hill; I am poor, I am rich; I am a poor peasant, I am a +king. Ah!--Ah!--Ah! Help! Help! Help! + +(At the great commotion several people come in who in the meantime have +stood by, watching to see how he would act.) + + +Scene 2. + + Valet. A lackey. Jeppe. + +=Valet=--I wish your lordship a hearty good morning! Here's a gown if your +lordship wishes to arise. Erik, fetch a towel and a wash basin. + +=Jeppe=--Ah, my worshipful valet! I should be glad to arise, but I beg of +you that you do not hurt me. + +=Valet=--The Lord deliver me from doing your lordship any harm! + +=Jeppe=--Ah, before you kill me, will you not do me the favor to tell me +who I am? + +=Valet=--Does not my lord know who he is? + +=Jeppe=--Yesterday I was Jeppe on the Hill, but to-day--ah, I hardly know +what to say! + +=Valet=--We are glad to see that your lordship is in such good humor +to-day, that you are pleased to jest; but heaven defend us, why does +your lordship weep? + +=Jeppe=--I am not your lordship. I can make my oath that I am not; for so +far as I can remember I am Jeppe Nielsen on the Hill, one of the Baron's +peasants. If you will send for my wife you shall find it out; but don't +let her take Master Erik along. + +=Erik, lackey=--This is strange. What can it be? Your lordship cannot be +awake, since you never used to jest in this way. + +=Jeppe=--Whether I am awake or not I cannot say; but one thing I can say +and that is that I am one of the Baron's peasants who is called Jeppe on +the Hill, and I have never been either Baron or Count in my life. + +=Valet=--Erik, what can that be? I am afraid that his lordship is +suffering from some strange disease. + +=Erik=--I imagine that he is walking in his sleep, since it frequently +happens that people arise, dress, eat and drink in their sleep. + +=Valet=--No, Erik, I perceive that his lordship is delirious. Go and fetch +a doctor immediately. Ah, your lordship, put all such thoughts away; +your lordship is frightening the whole house. Does your lordship not +know me? + +=Jeppe=--I don't know myself; how can I then know you? + +=Valet=--Ah, is it possible that I should hear such words from the lips of +my gracious lord, and see him in such a pitiable condition? Ah, our +unfortunate house, which must be plagued by such sorcery! Can my lord +not remember what he did yesterday when he was out on the hunt? + +=Jeppe=--I have never been either hunter or poacher in my life; you know +that is work which may send you to prison! Never shall any soul be able +to prove that I have ever hunted a hare on the lord's estate! + +=Valet=--Ah, gracious lord, I was with you on the hunt myself yesterday. + +=Jeppe=--Yesterday I sat at Jakob Skomager's and drank up twelve pence +worth of whiskey. How could I then have been on a hunt? + +=Valet=--Ah, I implore my gracious lord on my knees that he do not indulge +in such talk. Erik, were the doctors sent for? + +=Erik=--Yes, they are coming soon. + +=Valet=--Let us assist our lord in putting on his dressing gown. Perhaps +when he comes out in the fresh air it will be better. Does our lord wish +to have on his gown? + +=Jeppe=--Most willingly. You may do with me what you like, if only you do +not take my life, for I am as innocent as an unborn babe. + + +Scene 3. + + A valet. Erik. Jeppe. Two doctors. + +=First Doctor=--We hear with great regret that your lordship is +indisposed. + +=Valet=--Alas, yes, doctor; he is in a pitiful state. + +=Second Doctor=--How is everything with you, my gracious lord? + +=Jeppe=--Quite well! Except that I am rather thirsty after the whiskey +which I got at Jakob Skomager's yesterday. If you will only give me a +mug of beer and let me go, then they may hang you two doctors up for all +I care, because I don't need any medicine. + +=First Doctor=--That is certainly a clear case of hallucinations. + +=Second Doctor=--But the more violent the disease is the sooner he will +get over it. Let us feel our lordship's pulse. Quid tibi videtur, domine +frater? + +=First Doctor=--I am not of that opinion. Such strange weaknesses must be +cured in another fashion. Our lordship has had an awful and gruesome +dream, which has brought the blood into such commotion and so confused +his brain that he imagines himself a peasant. We must try to divert him +with the things in which he finds the most pleasure; give him the wines +and foods which suit him best, and play for him his favorite pieces of +music. + +(Lively music begins.) + +=Valet=--Why, that is my lord's favorite piece. + +=Jeppe=--Perhaps so. Do you always have such fun in this place? + +=Valet=--As often as your lordship wishes; since it is you who gives us +our wages. + +=Jeppe=--But it is strange that I cannot remember what I have done in the +past. + +=First Doctor=--That is the result of the sickness, your lordship, that +one forgets everything that he has done before. I recollect that one of +my neighbors a few years ago became so delirious from strong drink that +he made himself believe for two days that he had no head. + +=Jeppe=--I wish that Christopher, the bailiff, would get the same idea, +but he must have a sickness which is just opposite to this; since he +imagined that he has a big head, while he really has none at all, as one +can see from his decisions. + +(They all laugh at this: Ha, ha, ha.) + +=Second Doctor=--It is a pleasure to hear our lordship jest. But to come +back to the story again, that same person went all over town and asked +people if they had found his head, which he had lost, but he got well +again and is at this day sexton in Jutland. + +=Jeppe=--He might be that, even if he had not found his wits again. + +(All laugh: Ha, ha, ha.) + +=First Doctor=--Does my colleague remember the story of what happened ten +years since to the man who imagined that his head was full of flies? He +could not get rid of the notion no matter how much one argued with him, +until a shrewd doctor cured him in this wise: He laid a plaster covered +with dead flies on his head, and after some time he pulled it off, +showed it to the patient, made him believe that they had been extracted +from his head, whereupon the patient became well again. + +=Second Doctor=--There are innumerable examples of such illusions. I +remember also of having heard of one who made himself believe that his +nose was ten feet long and warned everyone whom he met not to come too +near to him. + +=First Doctor=--That is what is the matter with our gracious lord. He +imagines that he is a poor peasant. But he must get rid of such +thoughts, then he will soon become well again. + +=Jeppe=--But can it be possible that it is only imagination? + +=First Doctor=--Certainly! Your lordship has heard from these stories what +imagination can do. + +=Jeppe=--Am I not then Jeppe on the Hill? + +=Second Doctor=--No, certainly not. + +=Jeppe=--Is the wicked Nille not my wife? + +=First Doctor=--By no means, since my lord is a widower. + +=Jeppe=--Is it then nothing but imagination that she has a switch called +Master Erik? + +=Second Doctor=--Purely imagination. + +=Jeppe=--Is it then not true that I was to go to town yesterday to buy +soap? + +=First Doctor=--No. + +=Jeppe=--Nor yet, that I drank up all the money at Jakob Skomager's? + +=Valet=--Why, my lord was with us on a hunt all day yesterday. + +=Jeppe=--Nor yet that I am henpecked? + +=Valet=--Why, your wife has been dead for many years. + +=Jeppe=--Ah, I am beginning to understand my weakness. I will not think of +that peasant any longer, for I see that it is nothing but a dream and a +mistake. Isn't it strange though how a person can fall into such an +error? + +=Valet=--Will it please your lordship to take a walk in the garden while +we prepare a little breakfast? + +=Jeppe=--To be sure, but see that you are quick about it, for I am both +hungry and thirsty. + + +(Curtain.) + + + + +ACT III. + + +Scene 1. + + Jeppe. Valet. Secretary. + +(Jeppe comes in from the garden with his suite and a little table is +spread before him.) + +=Jeppe=--Ha! Ha! I see the table is already set. + +=Valet=--Yes, everything is ready whenever it shall please your lordship +to be seated. + +(Jeppe seats himself. The others stand back of the chair and laugh at +his awkwardness when he reaches his hand into the dish, hiccoughs over +the table, and behaves very boorishly.) + +=Valet=--Will my lord let us know what wine he wishes? + +=Jeppe=--You know very well yourselves what wine I am used to drinking in +the morning. + +=Valet=--It is Rhenish wine which his lordship is accustomed to drink. If +it is not to his lordship's taste he can have another kind. + +=Jeppe=--It is pretty sour. You must put some mead in it to make it good, +for I like sweet things. + +=Valet=--Here is some Canary sack, if my lord wishes to taste it. + +=Jeppe=--That is good wine. Let's all drink together! (Every time he +drinks the trumpets blow.) Hey! Watch out, fellows! One more glass of +sack! Do you understand? Where did you get that ring that you have on +your finger? + +=Secretary=--Your lordship gave it to me yourself. + +=Jeppe=--I don't remember that. Give it back to me, I must have done that +while drunk. One doesn't give such rings away. I'll have to look into +this and see what other things you have received. Servants shall not +have more than board and wages! I swear that I do not remember of having +given you anything in particular; for why should I do it? That ring is +worth over a guinea. No, no, good fellows! Not so! You must not take +advantage of your master's weakness and drunkenness. When I am drunk I +am as likely as not to give my very trousers away; but when I have +become sober I take back my gifts again. Otherwise I should catch the +mischief from my wife, Nille. Hold, what am I saying? Now I am getting +into those foolish ideas again and don't remember who I am. Another +glass of sack. The same toast. (Trumpets blow again.) Listen to what I +say, fellows! After this, remember that when I give anything away in the +evening while drunk, you must give it back to me in the morning. When +servants get more money than they can spend they become proud and turn +up their noses at their masters. What are your wages? + +=Secretary=--My lord has always given me two hundred a year. + +=Jeppe=--You shall have the devil, not two hundred after this! What do you +do to earn two hundred? I myself must work like a beast and stand in the +granary from morning till evening and can hardly--See, now those peasant +notions are coming into my mind again! Give me another glass of wine. +(He drinks and the trumpets blow.) Two Rixdollars! Why that's simply to +skin your masters. Listen! Do you know what, you fellows! When I have +eaten I have a good mind to hang every other one on the estate. You must +know that I am not to be trifled with in money matters. + +=Valet=--We will return everything that we have received from your +lordship. + +=Jeppe=--Yes, yes! Your lordship! Your lordship! Compliments and words are +cheap in these times. You will flatter me with "your lordship" until you +get all my money and become "my lordship" in turn. The lips may say, +"Your lordship," but the heart says, "You fool." You're not saying what +you think, fellows! You servants are just like Abner who came and +greeted Roland with, "Hail to thee, my brother!" and at the same time +struck the dagger in his heart. Believe me, Jeppe is no fool. + +(They all fall on their knees and sue for pardon.) + +=Jeppe=--Just rise again, my lads, until I have done eating; after that I +will see how matters stand, and who deserves to be hanged. Now, I will +be merry. + + +Scene 2. + + Jeppe. Valet. Overseer. Secretary. + +=Jeppe=--Where is my overseer? + +=Valet=--He is just outside. + +=Jeppe=--Let him come in at once. + +=Overseer= (enters dressed in a coat with silver buttons and a sash about +the waist)--Has my lord any commands? + +=Jeppe=--None, except that you are to be hanged! + +=Overseer=--I have done nothing wrong, my lord! Why should I be hanged? + +=Jeppe=--Are you not the manager? + +=Overseer=--Yes, I am, my lord. + +=Jeppe=--And still you ask why you shall be hanged? + +=Overseer=--You know I have served your lordship honestly and faithfully, +and been so diligent in my duties that your lordship has praised me +above your other servants. + +=Jeppe=--Yes, to be sure you have taken good care of your office; one can +see that from your silver buttons,--what do you get a year? + +=Overseer=--Fifty Rixdollars a year. + +=Jeppe= (walks back and forth excitedly)--Half a hundred a year--yes, you +shall immediately be hanged. + +=Overseer=--It could hardly be less, gracious lord, for a whole year's +hard work. + +=Jeppe=--Just for that reason you shall be hanged, since you receive only +fifty Rixdollars! You have money for a silver buttoned coat, for lace +cuffs, a silk net for your hair, and still you get only fifty Rixdollars +per year! Is it not plain that you steal from me, poor man, or where +should it all come from? + +=Overseer= (on his knees)--Ah, gracious lord, only spare me for the sake +of my poor wife and little children. + +=Jeppe=--Have you many children? + +=Overseer=--I have seven children living, my lord! + +=Jeppe=--Ha, ha, seven living children? Away, hang him, secretary! + +=Secretary=--Oh, gracious lord, I am no hangman! + +=Jeppe=--What you are not, you may become; you look as though you were +equal to anything. When you have hanged him, I shall hang you afterwards +myself. + +=Overseer=--Ah, gracious lord! Is there no pardon? + +=Jeppe= (walks back and forth, sits down to take a drink and rises +again)--Half a hundred Rixdollars, wife and seven children. If no one +else will hang you I will do it myself. I know very well what sort of +fellows you are, you overseers; I know how you have treated me and other +poor peasants--Ah, now those cursed peasant notions are coming into my +head again. I mean to say I know the way you conduct yourselves so well +that I myself could be overseer if I had to. You get the cream of the +milk and the Baron gets--something else. I believe that if the world +lasts much longer overseers will become noblemen and noblemen, +overseers. When a peasant gives a little something to either you or your +wives, then when you come to your master the story is: that poor man is +willing and industrious enough, but various misfortunes have come on him +so he cannot pay; he has a bad piece of ground, his cattle have become +scabby, or something like that. With such talk the landlord must be +satisfied. Believe me, my good fellows, I don't let people lead me +around by the nose; since I myself am a peasant and the son of a +peasant--There, now that nonsense is coming into my mind again. I said I +myself am the son of a peasant, since Abraham and Eve, our first +parents, were peasants. + +=Secretary= (kneels before him)--Ah, gracious lord, have pity on him for +his poor wife's sake, for otherwise, how will he be able to live and +support wife and children? + +=Jeppe=--Who says they shall live? They can be hanged, too. + +=Secretary=--Ah, my lord, she is such a fine looking woman. + +=Jeppe=--Well, well, perhaps you are in love with her, since you take such +an interest in her. Let her come in. + + +Scene 3. + + Overseer's wife. Jeppe. The others. + +(Wife comes in and kisses him on the hand.) + +=Jeppe=--Are you the overseer's wife? + +=Woman=--Yes, I am, gracious lord. + +=Jeppe= (pats her on the cheek)--You are real nice. Won't you sit down at +the table with me? + +=Woman=--My lord has only to command; I am at his service. + +=Jeppe= (to the overseer)--Will you let your wife eat with me? + +=Overseer=--I thank your lordship that you do me the honor. + +=Jeppe=--See here, place a chair for her, she shall sit at the table with +me. + +(She seats herself at the table, eats and drinks with him; he becomes +jealous of the secretary and whenever he looks at him, the secretary +immediately looks the other way. He sings an old-fashioned love song +while they are sitting at the table. Jeppe orders the musicians to play +a polka and dances with her, but falls three times from drunkenness, and +the fourth time he remains lying and falls asleep.) + + +Scene 4. + + The Baron. The others. + +=Baron= (who has hitherto played the part of secretary)--He sleeps soundly +already. Now the game is ours; but we came near being fooled ourselves, +for he was bound to tyrrannize over us, whereupon we either had to spoil +the joke, or allow ourselves to be maltreated by that rude peasant, from +whose conduct one may learn how tyrannical and proud such people may +become who through some accident or other achieve honor or position. My +disguising myself as a secretary came near being my misfortune, for if I +had allowed him to strike me it might have become a pretty serious +affair and have made me no less than the peasant, an object of ridicule. +We had better let him sleep a little now before we put him back in his +filthy peasant clothes. + +=Erik=--Ah, my lord, he sleeps as sound as a stone. See here! I can pound +him without his feeling it. + +=Baron=--Take him away, then, and complete the comedy. + + +(Curtain.) + + + + +ACT IV. + + +Scene 1. + +=Jeppe= (represented lying on a dung heap in his old peasant clothes, +awakes and cries:)--Hey, secretary! Valets! Lackeys! One more glass of +canaille sack! (Looks around and rubs his eyes, blinks as before, feels +of his head, looks at his old wide brimmed hat, turns the hat around on +all sides, looks at his clothes, recognizes himself, begins to speak.) +How long was Abraham in Paradise? Now I recognize to my sorrow, +everything, my bed, my coat, my old hat, myself; this is something else, +Jeppe, than drinking canaille sack from golden goblets and sitting at +table with lackeys and secretaries at one's command. Good luck never +lasts very long. Ah! Ah! to think that I who was such a gracious lord +only a short time ago should see myself in such a condition now; my +splendid bed changed to a dungheap, my gold embroidered cap to an old, +wornout hat, my lackeys to swine, and myself from a gracious lord to a +miserable peasant. I expected when I woke up to find my fingers bedecked +with rings, but they are (to speak reverently) bedecked with something +else. I expected to call my servants to account, but now I must myself +offer my own back for punishment when I come home and give an account of +myself. I thought when I woke to reach for a glass of sack, but got +instead something quite different. Ah! Ah! Jeppe, that stay in Paradise +was but short and your happiness soon came to an end. But who knows if +the same thing could not happen to me again if I lay down to rest once +more? Ah! ah! if it would only come to me again! Ah! if I could only get +back to Paradise. (Lies down to sleep again.) + + +Scene 2. + + Jeppe. Nille. + +=Nille=--I wonder if something has happened to him? What can this mean? +Either the devil has taken him or (what I am more afraid of) he is +sitting in an inn and drinking up the money. I was a fool when I trusted +that drunkard with twelve pence at one time. But what do I see? Does he +not lie there in the filth snoring? Ah! poor me, who must have such a +beast of a husband! Your back shall pay dearly enough for this. + +(Steals over to him and gives him a whack from Master Erik on the back.) + +=Jeppe=--Hey! Hey! Help! Help! What is that? Where am I? Who am I? Who +hits me? Why do you hit me? Hey! + +=Nille=--I shall soon teach you what it is. (Strikes him again and pulls +him around by the hair.) + +=Jeppe=--Ah, Nille, my dear! Don't strike me any more, you don't know what +has happened to me. + +=Nille=--Where have you been so long, you drunken dog? Where is the soap +you were to buy? + +=Jeppe=--I could not get to town, Nille. + +=Nille=--Why could you not get to town? + +=Jeppe=--I was taken up to Paradise on the way. + +=Nille=--To Paradise! (Strikes him.) To Paradise! (Strikes him again.) To +Paradise! (Strikes him again.) Are you going to make fun of me besides? + +=Jeppe=--Ow! Ow! Ow! As sure as I am an honest man it is not true. + +=Nille=--What is true? + +=Jeppe=--That I have been in Paradise. + +(Nille repeats, "In Paradise," and strikes him again.) + +=Jeppe=--Ah, Nille, my dear, don't hit me any more. + +=Nille=--Quick! Confess where you have been or I will murder you! + +=Jeppe=--Ah, I would gladly confess where I have been if you would not +strike me any more. + +=Nille=--Confess, then! + +=Jeppe=--Swear that you will not strike me any more, then. + +=Nille=--No. + +=Jeppe=--As true as I am an honest man and my name is Jeppe on the Hill, I +have been in Paradise and seen things that will make you wonder when you +hear them. + +(Nille thrashes him again and drags him in by the hair.) + +[Illustration: NILLE POUNDING JEPPE.] + + +Scene 3. + +=Nille= (alone)--There, you drunken beast! Sleep till you get sober, then +we shall talk further about this matter. Such swine as you are don't get +into Paradise. Only think how that beast has drunk his senses away! But +if he has been enjoying himself at my expense then he shall certainly +suffer for it. For two days he shall get neither food nor drink. Before +that time has passed he will get over his notions of Paradise. + + +Scene 4. + + Three armed men. Nille. + +=First Soldier=--Is there a man living here by the name of Jeppe? + +=Nille=--Yes, there is. + +=Soldiers=--Are you his wife? + +=Nille=--Yes, I am sorry to say. God help me! + +=Soldiers=--We must see him. + +=Nille=--He is quite drunk. + +=Soldiers=--That makes no difference, away! Bring him out, or the whole +house will get into trouble. + +(Nille goes in, kicks Jeppe out with such force that he knocks down all +three men.) + + +Scene 5. + + Three armed men. Jeppe. + +=Jeppe=--Ah! Ah! Now you see, my good fellows, what kind of wife I have to +live with. + +=Soldiers=--You don't deserve any other treatment, for you are a felon. +(They take Jeppe away.) + +=Jeppe=--What harm have I done? + +=Soldiers=--You shall find that out soon enough when the court is held. +(They bind him.) + + +Scene 6. + + Two lawyers. The judge. Jeppe. + +(The judge comes in with an attendant and seats himself by a table, +while Jeppe is tied by the hands and brought before the court. One of +the lawyers steps forward and makes his charge thus:) + +=First Lawyer=--Here is a man, your honor, who, we can testify, has stolen +into the Baron's house, pretended he was the Baron, put on his clothes, +tyrannized over his servants, which, since it is an outrageous act, we +insist, on behalf of our client that it should be punished severely, so +that other criminals may take warning from him. + +=Judge=--Are you guilty of the offence which is charged against you? Speak +up. What have you to say in your own defence, for we do not wish to +judge until we hear both sides? + +=Jeppe=--Ah, my poor soul! What shall I say? I admit that I have deserved +punishment, but only for the money which I drank up and which I was to +have bought soap with; I confess, also, that I have lately been at a +castle, but how I got there and how I got away from there, I do not +know. + +=Plaintiff (First Lawyer)=--Your honor hears from his own confession that +he has drunk to excess, and in his intoxication committed such an +unheard-of misdemeanor. And it now only remains to determine whether +such a serious crime can be excused on the ground of drunkenness. I say +no! Since if that is the case, no crime would be punished. Everyone +would be seeking some such excuse and say that it was done in +drunkenness; and even if he can prove himself to have been drunk, his +case will not thereby be improved; for it is a rule in law that what a +man does in drunkenness he shall be held responsible for when he becomes +sober. + +=Defendant (Second Lawyer)=--Your honor! This matter appears so strange to +me that I can hardly believe it, even if there were more witnesses. How +could a guileless peasant steal in upon his lordship's estate, and +assume his position, without being able to assume his face or his form! +How could he come into my lord's sleeping-chamber? How could he get to +his wardrobe without some one seeing him? No, your honor, one can see +that it is a conspiracy hatched up by the poor man's enemies. I hope, +therefore, that he will be acquitted. + +=Jeppe= (weeping)--Ah! God bless your lips! I have a plug of tobacco in my +pocket, if you would like some; it is good enough for any honest man. + +=Second Lawyer=--No thanks, keep your tobacco, Jeppe. I am defending you +not for money or gifts but only from a sense of Christian charity. + +=Jeppe=--I beg your pardon, Mr. Lawyer, I had not thought that lawyers +were so honest! + +=First Lawyer=--That which my colleague adduces for the acquittal of this +felon is based entirely on guess work. The question in this case is not +whether it is probable that such a thing could occur, for it has already +been proved, by witnesses as well as by his own confession, that it did +occur. + +=Second Lawyer=--What a man confesses through fear and intimidation cannot +be considered in law. I ask, therefore, that this poor man be given time +for reflection, and that he be asked the same questions once more. +Listen, Jeppe, mind now what you say. Do you confess that of which you +are accused? + +=Jeppe=--No! I make my oath that everything which I have said before is a +lie; for I have not been out of my house for three days! + +=First Lawyer=--Your honor, I am firmly of the opinion that anyone who has +first been proved guilty by witnesses, and later has confessed his own +misdeeds should not be permitted to make a sworn statement. + +=Second Lawyer=--I say yes,-- + +=First Lawyer=--I say no! + +=Second Lawyer=--When the case is of such a peculiar nature. + +=First Lawyer=--No circumstances can prevail against witnesses and the +defendant's own confession. + +=Jeppe= (aside)--Ah, if they could only get into a scrap with each other! +In the meantime I should get hold of the judge and pound him, so he +would forget both law and justice. + +=Second Lawyer=--But listen, Herr Colleague! Although he confesses the +deed, he has not deserved punishment; for he has committed no crime on +the estate, neither murder nor robbery. + +=First Lawyer=--That makes no difference; intentio furandi is the same as +furtum. + +=Jeppe=--Talk Danish, you dirty dog! Then we'll be able to defend +ourselves all right. + +=First Lawyer=--For whether it is found that a person intends to steal, or +does steal, he is a thief. + +=Jeppe=--Ah, my gracious judge, I should gladly be hanged, if that lawyer +could be hanged at my side. + +=Second Lawyer=--Don't talk that way, Jeppe, you only injure your own +cause by it. + +=Jeppe=--Why don't you answer, then? (Aside.) He stands there like a dumb +fool. + +=Second Lawyer=--But how do you prove furandi propositum? + +=First Lawyer=--Quicumque in aedes alienas noctu irrumpit, tanquam fur aut +nocturnus grassator existimandus est, atqui reus hic ita, ergo. + +=Second Lawyer=--Nego majorem, qvod scilicit irruperit. + +=First Lawyer=--Res manifesta est, tot legitimis testibus exstantibus, ac +confitenti reo. + +=Second Lawyer=--Quicumque vi vel metu coactus fuerit confiteri-- + +=First Lawyer=--But where is that vis? Where is that metus? That is but +chicanery. + +=Second Lawyer=--No, you are using chicane. + +=First Lawyer=--No honest man shall accuse me of such a thing. + +(The lawyers grapple, and Jeppe runs over and pulls the wig off the +first lawyer and strikes him on the head with it.) + +=Judge=--Order in the courtroom! Stop, I have heard enough! (Reads his +verdict:) Whereas Jeppe on the Hill, son of Niels on the Hill, and +grandson of Jeppe from the same place, is proved by legal witnesses as +well as by his own confession to have surreptitiously entered the +Baron's castle, put on his clothes, and maltreated his servants, he is +condemned to die by poison, and when he is dead his body shall be hanged +on the gallows. + +=Jeppe=--Ah! Ah! Gracious judge! Is there no pardon? + +=Judge=--None. The sentence shall be executed immediately in my presence. + +=Jeppe=--Ah! Won't you give me a glass of whiskey before I drink the +poison so that I can die like a soldier? + +=Judge=--Yes, that is permitted. + +=Jeppe= (drinks three glasses of whiskey, falls on his knees and +asks:)--Is there then no pardon? + +=Judge=--No, Jeppe! It is too late now. + +=Jeppe=--Ah! But it isn't too late! The judge can surely change the +sentence, and say that it was all wrong the first time. Why, that +happens often, for we are all human. + +=Judge=--No, you shall feel yourself in a few minutes that it is too late; +for you have already taken the poison in the whiskey. + +=Jeppe=--Ah, poor me! Have I already taken the poison? Ah, goodbye, Nille! +Still, you fiend, you don't deserve to have me bid you farewell; goodbye +Jens, Niels and Christoffer! Goodbye, my daughter Martha; goodbye, the +apple of my eye! You have your father's face; we look as much alike as +two drops of water. Goodbye, my dappled horse, and thanks for every time +I have ridden on you; next to my own children I have loved no beast as +much as you. Goodbye, Fairfax! My faithful dog and watch; goodbye Mo'ns, +my black cat! Goodbye, my oxen, my sheep, my hogs, and thanks for good +company and for every day I have known you. Goodbye--Ah! Now I can say +nothing more, I am so weak and helpless. + +(Falls over and remains lying.) + +=Judge=--It works well; the drugged liquor has already done its work; he +sleeps like a stone. Now hang him up; but see to it that he receives no +injury from it, and that the rope comes only under his arms. Now we +shall see how he acts when he awakes and finds himself hanging aloft. + + + + +ACT V. + + +Scene 1. + + Nille. Jeppe. Judge. + +(Jeppe is represented hanging on a gallows.) + +=Nille= (tears her hair, beats her breast, and cries)--Oh! Oh! Is it +possible that I shall see my husband hanging on a gallows! Ah, my +dearest husband! Forgive me if I have ever done anything to harm you. +Oh, oh! Now my conscience awakes; now I am sorry, but too late, that I +have treated you so mean; now I begin to miss you, now I can see what an +excellent husband I have lost! Oh! Oh, if I could only bring you back +from death, even at the cost of my own life and blood. + +(Wipes her eyes and weeps bitterly. In the meantime the effects of the +sleep-producing drink have worn off, and Jeppe wakes and sees himself +hanging on a gallows with his hands tied behind his back; he hears his +wife sobbing and speaks to her.) + +=Jeppe=--Don't feel bad, my darling wife! We must all go this way +sometime. Go home and take care of the house and look after my children. +My red coat can be made over for little Christian, and what is left +Martha may have for a cap. But, before all else, see to it that my +dappled horse is well taken care of, for I loved that beast as if he was +my own brother. If I wasn't dead I'd tell you a number of other things. + +=Nille=--Oh--Oh--Oh--What is that? What do I hear? Can a dead man speak? + +=Jeppe=--Do not fear, Nille; I won't hurt you. + +=Nille=--Ah, my dearest husband, how can you speak when you are dead? + +=Jeppe=--I don't know how it is myself. But listen, dear wife. Run like a +streak and bring me eight pence worth of whiskey, for I am more thirsty +now than when I was alive. + +=Nille=--Fie! You beast! You rascal! You old sot! Didn't you drink whiskey +enough while you were alive? Are you still thirsty, you dog, now that +you are dead? You're what I call a regular hog! + +=Jeppe=--Hold your tongue, you scold, and fetch the whiskey. If you don't +do that I'll be hanged if I won't haunt the house every night. You must +know that I'm not afraid of Master Erik any more, for I don't feel +thrashings now. (Nille runs to the house after Master Erik, returns and +thrashes him on the gallows.) Ou--Ou--Ouch! Stop, Nille! Stop! You might +kill me again, Ou--Ou--Ouch! + +=Judge= (interferes)--Look here, woman, you must not strike him any more. +Be content; we will, for your sake, forgive your husband his offense, +and sentence him to life again. + +=Nille=--Ah, no, gracious lord! Just let him hang, for he is not worth the +trouble. + +=Judge=--Fie! You are a wicked woman! Get out of here quickly or we shall +hang you up beside him. (Nille runs out.) + + +Scene 2. + + Jeppe. The Court. + +(Jeppe is being taken down from the gallows.) + +=Jeppe=--Ah, your honor! Is it certain that I am quite alive again or am I +a ghost? + +=Judge=--You are quite alive; for the court which can sentence you to +death can also sentence you to life. Can't you understand that? + +=Jeppe=--No, I don't understand it, but I believe I am still a ghost. + +=Judge=--Ah, you fool! That is easy to see. He who takes a thing from you +can certainly give it back to you. + +=Jeppe=--May I then try to hang the judge, just for fun, and see if I can +sentence him to life again later? + +=Judge=--No, that won't do; for you are no judge. + +=Jeppe=--But am I then alive again? + +=Judge=--Yes, you are. + +=Jeppe=--So that I'm not a ghost? + +=Judge=--Certainly not! + +=Jeppe=--Nor a spirit? + +=Judge=--No. + +=Jeppe=--Am I then the same Jeppe on the Hill that I was before? + +=Judge=--To be sure! + +=Jeppe=--And not a spectre? + +=Judge=--No, of course not. + +=Jeppe=--Will you swear that it is true? + +=Judge=--I swear that you are alive. + +=Jeppe=--Will you cross your heart and hope to die if it isn't true? + +=Judge=--You should believe what we say without question, and thank us +that we have been so merciful as to sentence you to life again. + +=Jeppe=--If you had not hanged me yourselves, I should have been glad to +thank you for taking me down again. + +=Judge=--Be content, Jeppe, and let us know when your wife beats you +again, and we shall look into the matter. See, here are four Rixdollars, +which you can have a good time with for awhile, and don't forget to +drink our health. + +(Jeppe kisses his hand and thanks him. The judge goes away.) + + +Scene 3. + +=Jeppe= (alone)--Here I have lived for fifty years, and in all that time I +have not gone through as much as in these two days. This is certainly a +queer story, when I stop to think of it; one hour a drunken peasant, +another hour baron, a third hour peasant again; now dead, now alive on a +gallows,--which is the funniest of it all; maybe when live people get +hanged they die, and when dead people get hanged they come to life +again. I guess that a drink of whiskey would taste fine on this. Hey! +Jakob Skomager, come out! + + +Scene 4. + + Jakob Skomager. Jeppe. + +=Jakob=--Welcome back from town! Did you get the soap for your wife? + +=Jeppe=--Ay, you rascal, you must know what kind of people you are talking +to! Off with your cap! for you are but an idiot compared to a fellow +like me. + +=Jakob=--I'd not stand such words from anyone else, Jeppe. But since you +give my house a daily penny, I won't be too particular. + +=Jeppe=--Off with your cap, you rascal! + +=Jakob=--What has happened to you on the way, that you've got the big +head? + +=Jeppe=--You must know that I have been hanged since I spoke with you +last. + +=Jakob=--That is not so much to feel proud about. I don't envy you a bit. +But listen, Jeppe, "where you have drunk your beer there you should show +your spleen!" You become drunk at other places, but come into my house +just to make a disturbance. + +=Jeppe=--Quick, off with your cap, you rascal! Don't you hear that +jingling in my pocket? + +=Jakob= (with his hat under his arm)--Whew! Where did you get that money? + +=Jeppe=--From my barony, Jakob. I'll tell you what has happened to me, but +give me a glass of mead first; for I am too proud to drink Danish +whiskey. + +=Jakob=--Your health, Jeppe. + +=Jeppe=--Now I shall tell you what has happened to me. When I left you I +fell asleep; when I woke up again I was a baron, and got drunk again on +canaille sack; when I got drunk of sack, I woke up on a dung-heap; when +I woke up on the dung-heap, I lay down to sleep again, hoping that I +would again become a baron, but I found that it doesn't always go like +that; for my wife woke me up with Master Erik and dragged me in by the +hair without having the least respect for such a man as I had been. When +I came into the room I was kicked out head first, and saw myself +surrounded by a lot of shysters, who sentenced me to death and killed me +with poison; after I had been hanged I came to life again and got four +Rixdollars. This is the whole story; but how such a thing could happen, +I will let you imagine. + +=Jakob=--Ha! Ha! Ha! It's a dream, Jeppe. + +=Jeppe=--If I didn't have these four Rixdollars I'd think it was a dream, +too. Give me another, Jakob, I'll not think more of that foolishness but +have another good drink. + +=Jakob=--Your health, Baron. Ha! Ha! Ha! + +=Jeppe=--Perhaps you can't understand this, Jakob? + +=Jakob=--Not if I stood on my head. + +=Jeppe=--It might be true anyway, Jakob, for you are a dunce, and don't +understand such things. + + +Scene 5. + + Magnus. Jeppe. Jakob. + +=Magnus=--Ha! Ha! Ha! I'll tell you a confounded story about a man called +Jeppe on the Hill, who was found drunk and sleeping in the field,--his +clothes were changed, and he was laid in the best bed on the estate. He +was made to believe that he was the Baron, then they made him drunk +again, and put him back on the dung-heap. When he woke up, he imagined +that he had been in paradise. I laughed till I almost died when I heard +that story from the overseer's men. I would give a Rixdollar if I could +get a chance to see the fool. Ha, ha, ha! + +=Jeppe=--How much do I owe, Jakob? + +=Jakob=--Twelve pence. + +(Jeppe wipes his mouth and goes away very much ashamed.) + +=Magnus=--Why did that man leave so suddenly? + +=Jakob=--That is the very person on whom the trick was played. + +=Magnus=--Is it possible? Then I must hurry after him. Hold on, Jeppe! One +word more. How is everything getting along in the other world? + +=Jeppe=--Let me go in peace. + +=Magnus=--Why didn't you stay there longer? + +=Jeppe=--Is that any of your business? + +=Magnus=--Ay, tell us something about your journey. + +=Jeppe=--Let me go, I tell you; or I shall do something to you. + +=Magnus=--Ay, Jeppe, I am so anxious to find out something about it. + +=Jeppe=--Jakob Skomager! Help! Will you let people be attacked in your +house? + +=Magnus=--I am doing you no harm, Jeppe. I only ask what you saw in the +other world. + +=Jeppe=--Hey! Help! Help! + +=Magnus=--Did you see any of my ancestors there? + +=Jeppe=--No, your ancestors must be in the other place, where I hope you +and other rascals will go when you die. (Struggles with Magnus and gets +away.) + + +Scene 6. + + Baron. His secretary. Valet. Two lackeys. + +=Baron=--Ha, ha, ha! That joke is worth a good deal; I had not thought +that it would have had such good effect. If you can amuse me as well +again, Erik, you shall stand very high in my regard. + +=Erik=--No, gracious lord, I dare not risk such comedy again; for if he +had struck my lord, as he threatened to do, there might have been a +terrible tragedy. + +=Baron=--That is, by my faith, true enough. I myself feared it somewhat, +but I was so interested in the outcome that I would rather have allowed +myself to be struck,--yes, I believe I would rather have allowed myself +to be hanged by him, Erik, than to have given the story away. You were +probably of the same mind. + +=Erik=--No, my lord! It would be rather strange to allow one's self to be +hanged in jest, for that pleasure would be too costly. + +=Baron=--Ay! Such things happen every day. If not in that manner, then in +some other, do people lose their lives through some jest. For example, +if a man has a weak will and knows that he is likely to lose both life +and health from too much drink, still he is likely to overtask his +strength and risk both for the sake of an evening's pleasure. I am +convinced, Erik, that it would have been better if you had allowed +yourself to be hanged rather than to have spoiled such a splendid +comedy. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have been + retained from the original. + + Text in bold is surrounded by equals signs. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Jeppe on the Hill, by Ludvig Holberg + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42022 *** |