Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/289

 AN
 * Nay, my good Prince Peer!

PEER
 * Let me go! You're mad,
 * or else doting. Off to the hospital with you!

THE OLD MAN
 * Oh, that is exactly what I'm in search of.
 * But, as I told you, my grandson's offspring
 * have become overwhelmingly strong in the land,
 * and they say that I only exist in books.
 * The saw says: One's kin are unkindest of all;
 * I've found to my cost that that saying is true.
 * It's cruel to count as mere figment and fable

PEER
 * My dear man, there are others who share the same fate.

THE OLD MAN
 * And ourselves we've no Mutual Aid Society,
 * no alms-box or Penny Savings Bank;-
 * in the Ronde, of course, they'd be out of place.

PEER
 * No, that cursed: To thyself be enough was the word there!

THE OLD MAN
 * Oh, come now, the Prince can't complain of the word.
 * And if he could manage by hook or by crook-

PEER
 * My man, you have got on the wrong scent entirel