Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/126

 The Boyg isn't mad. PEER
 * Strike!

THE VOICE
 * The Boyg strikes not.

PEER
 * Fight! You shall

THE VOICE
 * The great Boyg conquers, but does not fight.

PEER
 * Were there only a nixie here that could prick me!
 * Were there only as much as a year-old troll!
 * Only something to fight with. But here there is nothing.-
 * Now he's snoring! Boyg!

THE VOICE
 * What's your will?

PEER
 * Use force!

THE VOICE
 * The great Boyg conquers in all things without it.

PEER [biting his own arms and hands].
 * Claws and ravening teeth in my flesh!
 * I must feel the drip of my own warm blood.
 * [A sound is heard like the wing-strokes of great birds.]

BIRD-CRI