Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/223



Now, my dear good fellow!

[The come one by one, and at intervals, into the courtyard.

Good morning! Come forth, And hail the dawn of emancipation! Your Kaiser has come to you!

Kaiser?

Of course!

But the honour's so great, so entirely excessive

Oh, do not let any false modesty sway you At an hour such as this.

But at least give me time No, indeed, I'm not fit; I'm completely dumbfounded!

A man who has fathomed the Sphinx's meaning A man who's himself!

Ay, but that's just the rub. It's true that in everything I am myself; But here the point is, if I follow your meaning, To be, so to phrase it, outside oneself.