Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/117



[Weeping.]

Hu-hu! And this we must hear and put up with, When I and my sister make music and dance.

Oho, was it you? Well, a joke at the feast, You must know, is never unkindly meant.

Can you swear it was so?

Both the dance and the music Were utterly charming, the cat claw me else.

This same human nature's a singular thing; It sticks to people so strangely long. If it gets a gash in the fight with us, It heals up at once, though a scar may remain. My son-in-law, now, is as pliant as any; He's willingly thrown off his Christian-man's garb, He's willingly drunk from our chalice of mead, He's willingly fastened the tail to his back,— So willing, in short, did we find him in all things, I thought to myself the old Adam, for certain, Had for good and all been kicked out of doors; But lo! in two shakes he's atop again! Ay ay, my son, we must treat you, I see, To cure this pestilent human nature.

What will you do?