Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/300

 s.
 * There are people that ship off far gruesomer figures
 * in sermons, in art, and in literature-
 * yet have to stay out in the cold-

PEER
 * Ah, but then,
 * do you know-I once went and set up as prophet!

THE LEAN ONE
 * In foreign parts? Humbug! Why, most people's sehen
 * ins Blaue ends in the casting-ladle.
 * If you've no more than that to rely upon,
 * with the best of goodwill, I can't possibly house you.

PEER
 * But hear this: In a shipwreck-I clung to a boat's keel,-
 * and it's written: A drowning man grasps at a straw,-
 * furthermore it is written: You're nearest yourself,-
 * so I half-way divested a cook of his life.

THE LEAN ONE
 * It were all one to me if a kitchen-maid
 * you had half-way divested of something else.
 * What sort of stuff is this half-way jargon,
 * saving your presence? Who, think you, would care
 * to throw away dearly-bought fuel in times
 * like these on such spiritless rubbish as this?
 * There now, don't be enraged; 'twas your sins that scoffed at;