Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/80

 AD
 * Indeed?

PEER
 * I went to the smithy, and begged
 * that he would crack that same nutshell for me.
 * He promised he would!-laid it down on his anvil;
 * but Aslak, you know, is so heavy of hand;-
 * for ever swinging that great sledge-hammer-

A VOICE FROM THE CROWD
 * Did he kill the foul fiend?

PEER
 * He laid on like a man.
 * But the devil showed fight, and tore off in a flame
 * through the roof, and shattered the wall asunder.

SEVERAL VOICES
 * And the smith-?

PEER
 * Stood there with his hands all scorched.
 * And from that day onwards, we've never been friends.
 * [General laughter.]

SOME OF THE CROWD
 * That yarn is a good one.

OTHERS
 * About his best.

PEER
 * Do you think I am making it