Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/295

 ===SCENE TENTH=== [A heather-clad hillside with a path following the windings of the ridge.] PEER
 * This may come in useful in many ways,
 * said Esben as he picked up a magpie's wing.
 * Who could have thought one's account of sins
 * would come to one's aid on the last night of all?
 * Well, whether or no, it's a ticklish business;
 * a move from the frying-pan into the fire;-
 * but then there's a proverb of well-tried validity
 * which says that as long as there's life, there's hope.

[A LEAN PERSON, in a priest's cassock, kilted-up high, and with a birding net over his shoulder, comes hurrying along the ridge.] PEER
 * Who goes there? A priest with a fowling-net!
 * Hei, hop! I'm the spoilt child of fortune indeed!
 * Good evening, Herr Pastor! the path is bad-

THE LEAN ONE
 * Ah yes; but what wouldn't one do for a soul?

PEER
 * Aha! then there's some one bound heavenwards?

THE LEAN ONE
 * No;
 * I hope he is taking a different road.