Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/110

 him.]
 * Don't let us talk big.
 * We've been drifting astern in these latter years;
 * we can't tell what's going to stand or to fall,
 * and there's no sense in turning recruits away.
 * Besides the lad's body has scarce a blemish,
 * and he's strongly-built too, if I see aright.
 * It's true, he has only a single head;
 * but my daughter, too, has no more than one.
 * Three-headed trolls are going clean out of fashion;
 * one hardly sees even a two-header now,
 * and even those heads are but so-so ones.
 * [To PEER GYNT.]
 * It's my daughter, then, you demand of me?

PEER
 * Your daughter and the realm to her dowry, yes.

THE OLD MAN
 * You shall have the half while I'm still alive,
 * and the other half when I come to die.

PEER
 * I'm content with that.

THE OLD MAN
 * Ay, but stop, my lad;-
 * you also have some undertakings to give.
 * If you break even one, the whole pact's at an end,
 * and you'll never get away from here living.
 * First of all you must swear that you'll never give heed
 * to aught that lies outside Ronde-hills' bounds;
 * day you must shun, and deeds, and each sunlit spot.

PEER
 * Only call me king, and that's easy to keep.

THE OLD M