Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/286

 :and to change me about from Peer Gynt to a troll.
 * What did I do then? I stood out against it,-
 * swore I would stand on no feet but my own;
 * love, power, and glory at once I renounced,
 * and all for the sake of remaining myself.
 * Now this fact, you see, you must swear to in Court-

THE OLD MAN
 * No, I'm blest if I can.

PEER
 * Why, what nonsense is this?

THE OLD MAN
 * You surely don't want to compel me to lie?
 * You pulled on the troll-breeches, don't you remember,
 * and tasted the mead-

PEER
 * Ay, you lured me seductively;-
 * but I flatly declined the decisive test,
 * and that is the thing you must judge your man by.
 * It's the end of the ditty that all depends on.

THE OLD MAN
 * But it ended, Peer, just in the opposite way.

PEER
 * What rubbish is this?

THE OLD MAN
 * When you left the Ronde,
 * you inscribed my motto upon your 'scutcheon.