Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 11).djvu/472

 streets and carried her in my arms. Next my heart I carried her. So I would have borne her all through life—lest haply she should dash her foot against a stone. For her shoes were worn very thin when I found her

.

And yet you took her up and carried her next your heart?

.

Took her up out of the gutter and carried her as high and as carefully as I could. [ ''Witha growling laugh.''] And do you know what I got for my reward?

.

No. What did you get?

.

[Looks at her, smiles and nods.] I got the horns! The horns that you can see so plainly. Is not that a comical story, madam bear-murderess?

.

Oh yes, comical enough! But I know another story that is still more comical.

.

How does that story go?

.

This is how it goes. There was once a stupid girl, who had both a father and a mother—but a rather poverty-stricken home. Then there