Lucky Pehr | Page 7

warm after the play, Lisa! Shall we bathe in the brook?
LISA. [Covers her eyes with her hands.] Bathe!
PEHR. [Throws off coat.] Yes!
LISA. [Hides behind a tree.] No, no, no! [Bird sings.]
PEHR. Who is that screech-owl up in the tree?
LISA. It is a bird that sings.
PEHR. What does he sing about?
LISA. Hush! I understand bird language; that my godmother taught me.

PEHR. It will be fun hearing about it! [Bird sings.]
LISA. "Not so, not so!" he said just then. [Bird sings again.] Pehr, do
you know what he said then?
PEHR. No.
LISA. "Live guiltless! Mine eye seeth thee."
PEHR. Guiltless--what is that?
LISA. I don't know--but dress yourself!
PEHR. It's only nonsense; there's no one here to see us. [Cuckoo calls.]
Cuckoo! Cuckoo!
PEHR. What is that rogue calling?
LISA. [Imitates cuckoo.] Cuckoo, cuckoo!
PEHR. What a lot of tiresome formalities there has got to be!
LISA. Can you not enjoy the great, innocent pleasures of Nature?
PEHR. Yes, for a little while--What was that? [Tears off vest.]
LISA. An ant.
PEHR. [Beats right and left with his hat.] Only look at all the horrid
pests! Ouch! what was it that stung me? A mosquito!
LISA. Everything here in life is incomplete, Pehr. Remember that, and
take the bad with the good.
PEHR. Deuce take the bad! I want the good. [Beats at the air.] Now I'm
tired of the for est. Surely one cannot play all one's life! I yearn for
activity, and want to be among people. Tell me, Lisa-- you, who are
such a wise little creature, what do people value most? For that I shall
procure for myself.

LISA. Pehr, before I answer you, listen to a sensible word! People will
cause you just as much annoyance as the mosquitoes do, but they will
not give you the delight to be found in Nature's perennial youth.
PEHR. Nature!--Oh, yes, it is very pretty when seen from a church
tower, but it becomes rather monotonous near to. Doesn't everything
stand still? Don't the trees stand in the selfsame places where they stood
fifty years ago, and won't they be standing there fifty years hence? My
eyes are already weary of this splendor! I want movement and noise,
and if the people are like mosquitoes, it will be so much easier to keep
them at a distance than this company. [Beats about his head with his
hat.]
LISA. You'll see, no doubt, you'll see! Experience will teach you better
than my word.
PEHR. And now, Lisa, what do people value most in a person?
LISA. I'm ashamed to say it.
PEHR. You must tell me!
LISA. Gold.
PEHR. Gold? But that is something outside the person which does not
belong to his being.
LISA. Yes, that is known; but it is so nevertheless.
PEHR. What extraordinary qualities does gold possess?
LISA. All! It is good for everything--and nothing. It gives all that earth
has to offer; in itself it is the most perfect of all the earth's products
which rust cannot spot--but which can put rust-spots into souls.
PEHR. Well, then! Will you follow me, Lisa?
LISA. I will always follow you--at a distance.

PEHR. At a distance! and why not near me? Lisa, now I shall put my
arm around your waist again. [Lisa tears herself away; bird sings.] Why
do you run away?
LISA. Ask the bird!
PEHR. I can't understand what he says; you must tell me.
LISA. [Embarrassed.] No, I cannot!
PEHR. Cannot? What is it?
LISA. He is not singing for us now. He sings to his sweetheart, so you
must know what he is saying.
PEHR. How should I know that!
LISA. He says like this: [Running off] "I love you, I love you!"
PEHR. Stay! Shall you run away from me? Lisa! Lisa! She's gone!
Very well then! Come hither palace and plates and wines and horses
and chariots and gold--gold!
SCENE TWO.
A luxurious Banquet Hall. Servants bring on a table, with food and
wines; other servants carry in a chest containing gold; others, again, a
table covered with plates, vases, candle-sticks, etc.--all of gold.
PEHR. [Walks about and looks around.] So this is the rich man's abode!
Well, it looks rather promising. Slaves! Give me my best
holiday-coat--but it must be of gold. [Servants hand him a gold-cloth
coat.] A chair! [They place a gold chair at table.] Now, Pehr, you shall
enjoy life! and that is your right. Haven't you been up mornings at four
o'clock; and rung for early Mass; haven't you swept the church on
Fridays and scoured the stairs on Saturdays; haven't you eaten bread
and herring three hundred and sixty-five days in the year and rinsed
them down with cold water; haven't you slept on pease-bolt which was
so