Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/225



[Bowing.]

Oh, by all means!

Lend your ear then.— Eastward far, like brow-borne garlands, Lie the Malabarish seaboards. Hollanders and Portugueses Compass all the land with culture. There, moreover, swarms are dwelling Of the pure-bred Malabaris. These have muddled up the language, They now lord it in the country.— But in long-departed ages There the orang-outang was the ruler. He, the forest's lord and master, Freely fought and snarled in freedom. As the hand of nature shaped him, Just so grinned he, just so gaped he. He could shriek unreprehended; He was ruler in his kingdom.— Ah, but then the foreign yoke came, Marred the forest-tongue primeval. Twice two hundred years of darkness Brooded o'er the race of monkeys; And, you know, nights so protracted Bring a people to a standstill.— Mute are now the wood-notes primal; Grunts and growls are heard no longer;— If we'd utter our ideas, It must be by means of language. What constraint on all and sundry! Hollanders and Portugueses,