Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Peer Gynt

Translated by Robert Farquharson Sharp

Act II

Scene 7

(Pitch darkness.)

(Peer Gynt is heard beating and slashing about him with a large bough.)

PEER. Answer! Who are you?

A VOICE IN THE DARKNESS. Myself.

PEER. Clear the way!

THE VOICE. Go roundabout, Peer! The hill’s roomy enough.

PEER (tries to force a passage at another place, but strikes against something). Who are you?

THE VOICE. Myself. Can you say the same?

PEER. I can say what I will; and my sword can smite! Mind yourself! Hu, hei, now the blow falls crushing! King Saul slew hundreds; Peer Gynt slew thousands! (Cutting and slashing.) Who are you?

THE VOICE. Myself.

PEER. That stupid reply you may spare; it doesn’t clear up the matter. What are you?

THE VOICE. The great Boyg.

PEER. Ah, indeed! The riddle was black; now I’d call it grey. Clear the way then, Boyg!

THE VOICE. Go roundabout, Peer!

PEER. No, through! (Cuts and slashes.) There he fell! (Tries to advance, but strikes against something.) Ho, ho, are there more here?

THE VOICE. The Boyg, Peer Gynt! the one only one. It’s the Boyg that’s unwounded, and the Boyg that was hurt, it’s the Boyg that is dead, and the Boyg that’s alive.

PEER (throws away the branch). The weapon is troll-smeared; but I have my fists!

(Fights his way forward.)

THE VOICE. Ay, trust to your fists, lad, trust to your body. Hee-hee, Peer Gynt, so you’ll reach the summit.

PEER (falling back again). Forward or back, and it’s just as far;—out or in, and it’s just as strait! He is there! And there! And he’s round the bend! No sooner I’m out than I’m back in the ring.—Name who you are! Let me see you! What are you?

THE VOICE. The Boyg.

PEER (groping around). Not dead, not living; all slimy; misty. Not so much as a shape! It’s as bad as to battle in a cluster of snarling, half-wakened bears! (Screams.) Strike back at me, can’t you!

THE VOICE. The Boyg isn’t mad.

PEER. Strike!

THE VOICE. The Boyg strikes not.

PEER. Fight! You shall!

THE VOICE. The great Boyg conquers, but does not fight.

PEER. Were there only a nixie here that could prick me! Were there only as much as a year-old troll! Only something to fight with. But here there is nothing.—Now he’s snoring! Boyg!

THE VOICE. What’s your will?

PEER. Use force!

THE VOICE. The great Boyg conquers in all things without it.

PEER (biting his own arms and hands). Claws and ravening teeth in my flesh! I must feel the drip of my own warm blood.

(A sound is heard like the wing-strokes of great birds.)

BIRD-CRIES. Comes he now, Boyg?

THE VOICE. Ay, step by step.

BIRD-CRIES. All our sisters far off! Gather here to the tryst!

PEER. If you’d save me now, lass, you must do it quick! Gaze not a-down so, lowly and bending.—Your clasp-book! Hurl it straight into his eyes!

BIRD-CRIES. He totters!

THE VOICE. We have him.

BIRD-CRIES. Sisters! Make haste!

PEER. Too dear the purchase one pays for life in such a heart-wasting hour of strife.

(Sinks down.)

BIRD-CRIES. Boyg, there he’s fallen! Seize him! Seize him!

(A sound of bells and of psalm-singing is heard far away.)

THE BOYG (shrinks up to nothing, and says in a gasp). He was too strong. There were women behind him.

Act II Scene 6

Act II Scene 8