Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 2).djvu/107



[Rising.] The Norns weave yet more cunningly; their web is still harder to unravel. Dark are the ways of the Mighty Ones;—what know we of them, thou or I?   Yet one thing I know surely: that to both of us must Sigurd's life be baleful. [A pause; stands lost in thought.

[Who has been silently watching him.] Of what thinkest thou?

Of a dream I had of late. Methought I had done the deed thou cravest; Sigurd lay slain on the earth; thou didst stand beside him, and thy face was wondrous pale. Then said I: "Art thou glad, now that I have done thy will?" But thou didst laugh and answer: "Blither should I be didst thou, Gunnar, lie there in Sigurd's stead."

[With forced laughter.] Ill must thou know me if such a senseless dream can stay thy hand.

Tell me, Hiördis, what thinkest thou of this hall?

To speak truly, Gunnar, sometimes it seems to me too strait and narrow.