Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/242

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 * Oh ay, that is all very well on dry land,
 * but I'm blest if it matters a snuff on board ship,
 * when a decent man's out on the seas with such riff-raff.
 * At sea one never can be one's self;
 * one must go with the others from deck to keel;
 * if for boatswain and cook the hour of vengeance should strike,
 * I shall no doubt be swept to the deuce with the rest;-
 * one's personal welfare is clean set aside;-
 * one counts but as a sausage in slaughtering-time.-
 * My mistake is this: I have been too meek;
 * and I've had no thanks for it after all.
 * Were I younger, I. think I would shift the saddle,
 * and try how it answered to lord it awhile.
 * There is time enough yet! They shall know in the parish
 * that Peer has come sailing aloft o'er the seas!
 * I'll get back the farmstead by fair means or foul;-
 * I will build it anew; it shall shine like a palace.
 * But none shall be suffered to enter the hall!
 * They shall stand at the gateway, all twirling their caps;-
 * they shall beg and beseech-that they freely may do;
 * but none gets so much as a farthing of mine.
 * If I've had to howl 'neath the lashes of fate,
 * trust me to find folks I can lash in my turn-

THE STRANGE PASSENGER [stands in the darkness at PEER GYNT's side,
 * and salutes him in friendly fashion].
 * Good evening!