Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/366



Yes! show me but the end, I'll spurn the shore; But let the end be worth the leaping for! A Ballarat beyond the desert sands— Else each will stay exactly where he stands.

[sarcastically].

I grasp the case;—the due conditions fail.

[eagerly].

Exactly: what's the use of spreading sail When there is not a breath of wind astir?

[ironically].

Yes, what's the use of plying whip and spur When there is not a penny of reward For him who tears him from the festal board, And mounts, and dashes headlong to perdition? Such doing for the deed's sake asks a knight, And knighthood's now an idle superstition. That was your meaning, possibly?

Quite right. Look at that fruit tree in the orchard close,— No blossom on its barren branches blows. You should have seen last year with what brave airs It staggered underneath its world of pears.

[uncertain].

No doubt, but what's the moral you impute?