Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/114

 PEER
 * Make a beast of a man!

THE OLD MAN
 * Nay, my son, you mistake;
 * I make you a mannerly wooer, no more.
 * A bright orange bow we'll allow you to wear,
 * and that passes here for the highest of honours.

PEER [reflectively].
 * It's true, as the saying goes: Man's but a mote.
 * And it's wisest to follow the fashion a bit.
 * Tie away!

THE OLD MAN
 * You're a tractable fellow, I see.

THE COURTIER
 * just try with what grace you can waggle and whisk it!

PEER [peevishly].
 * Ha, would you force me to go still further?
 * Do you ask me to give up my Christian faith?

THE OLD MAN
 * No, that you are welcome to keep in peace.
 * Doctrine goes free; upon that there's no duty;
 * it's the outward cut one must tell a troll by.
 * If we're only at one in our manners and dress,
 * you may hold as your faith what to us is a horror.

PEER
 * Why, in spite of your many conditions, you are
 * a more reasonable chap than one might have expected.

THE OLD M