Modern Icelandic Plays | Page 7

(sitting down).
I can well remember the green knitted jerkin you wore-- you have it
yet-- and your coat and brown breeches. (Smiling.) There was a big
black patch on the left knee.
Kari.
The rags on my back were all I had in the world, and now I own two
new sets and even more underclothes. You deserve that I should put
teeth of gold in your rake.
Halla (smiling).
That rake would be too heavy for me.
Kari (looking at Halla).
So many things come back to me to-night that I have not thought of
before. You gave me leave to work in the smithy in my spare time
instead of doing the wool-carding. You saw to it that I should be one of
the men who gather the sheep down from the hills in the fall, because
you knew I liked it.
Halla.
That was only natural, since you are so swift of foot.
Kari.

And for my bed you knitted a coverlet with seven colors in it. You have
always been good to me.
Halla.
Now you are getting far too grateful. (To Arnes.) Do you think you
have enough food there, Arnes? I can get you some more, if you want
it.
Arnes (patting his stomach).
I don't even know if I can make room for the porridge.
Kari (looking at Halla).
If I were to leave this place, I should miss you more than any other
living being I have ever known. (Rises, pushes the box under the bed.)
Halla.
I hope you will stay here for many years yet.
Kari.
Nobody knows what the morrow may bring. [Exit.
(Halla follows Kari with her eyes. Silence.)
Arnes (puts the wooden mug on the table).
Now I give thanks for the meal. Will you let me lie in one of your barns
to-night?
Halla.
You would surely sleep better in a bed. You can lie with Magnus.
Arnes.

I never sleep better than in old dry hay.
Enter Gudfinna.
Gudfinna.
Is it true, Arnes, that you can tell what the birds are talking about?
Arnes.
Do they say that?
Gudfinna.
In olden times there were wise folks who understood all such things,
but people nowadays are backward in that as in so many other ways.
(Sits down.)
Halla (smiling).
Yes, young people are not good for much, in your opinion.
Gudfinna.
We need only think of the sagas. Where have we men now like
Skarphjedinn and Grettir Asmundsson? There are none such in these
days.
Halla.
When I was a child there was nothing I wished so much as that I might
have lived with Grettir in his banishment.
Arnes.
Was it not eighteen years he was an outlaw?
Halla.

Nineteen. He lived longer as an outlaw than any one else has done. He
lacked only one year to become free.
Arnes.
He must have been a great man, but that brings to my mind what the
leper said the other day, when the talk turned to the old sagas.
Halla.
And what did he say?
Arnes.
Distance makes mountains blue and mortals great.
Enter the Boy, running.
The Boy.
The bailiff is coming on horseback.
Halla (rising).
What can he want so late? Did you find the cows?
The Boy.
Yes, I met them coming home. They are in.
Halla.
Did you tell the girls?
The Boy.
No. [Exit.
Halla.

Gudfinna, you go and ask him to come in. (Gudfinna rises.) You won't
forget about the milk?
[Exit Gudfinna.
Arnes (rising).
Now I think I shall go and seek my bed.
Halla (smiling).
Don't you want to have a talk with the bailiff?
Arnes.
If I had found some dead sheep up in the hills with his mark on their
ears, I'd gladly have told him so.
Halla.
Sleep well!
[Exit Arnes.
(Halla smooths her hair.)
Enter Bjørn, carrying a riding-whip with a silver-mounted handle and
a leather lash; he wears riding-socks reaching above the knees.
Halla.
Good evening!
Bjørn (pointing to his feet).
I did not take off my socks. I see now that they are not quite clean.
Halla.

Will you be seated? May I offer you anything?
Bjørn.
No, thank you. I want nothing. (Sits down.) You know I have not far to
come. The sorrel and I can make it in fifteen minutes, when we are in
the humor.
Halla.
How is everything at your place? Have you any news?
Bjørn.
That depends on what you mean. Who was that I met in the hall? It was
quite dark there.
Halla.
It must have been Arnes.
Bjørn.
Is he spending the night here?
Halla.
Yes.
Bjørn.
It is no concern of mine, but I doubt if my late brother would have
sheltered men of his kind, and yet he had the name of being hospitable.