THE PLAYS OF HENRIK IBSEN
Uniform Library Edition. In 12 vols. Edited and Translated
chiefly by WILLIAM ARCHER. 45 each.
VOL.
I. LADY INGER ; THE FEAST AT
SOLHOUG; LOVE'S COMEDY
II. THE VIKINGS AT HELGELAND ;
THE PRETENDERS
III. BRAND
IV. PEER GYNT
V. EMPEROR AND GALILEAN (2 parts)
VI. THE LEAGUE OF YOUTH;
PILLARS OF SOCIETY
VII. A DOLL'S HOUSE; GHOSTS
VIII. AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE;
THE WILD DUCK
IX. ROSMERSHOLM; THE LADY
FROM THE SEA
X. HEDDA GABLER; THE MASTER
BUILDER
XI. LITTLE EYOLF ; JOHN GABRIEL
BORKMAN ; WHEN WE DEAD
AWAKEN
XII. FROM IBSEN'S WORKSHOP
NOTE. Those contained in Vols. X and XI can also be had
separately in cloth as 6d ; or paper is 6d each.
London : WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C.
THE
JN HISTORIC PLAY
In Five tAiti
BY HENRIK IBSEN
LONDON: WILLIAM HKINEMANN
ucuxin
First published in Collected Edition of Ibsen's books 1906
Second Impression 1910
Popular Paper Edition 1913
rr
CHARACTERS.
HAKON HAKONSSON, the King elected by the BircUegs.
INGA OF VARTEIG, his mother.
EARL SKULE.
LADY RAGNHILD, his u-ife.
SlGRlD, his sister.
MARGRETE, his daughter.
GUTHORM IKGESSON.
SIGURD RIBBUNG.
NICHOLAS ARNESSON, Bishop of Oslo.
DAGFINN THE PEASANT, Hakon's marshal.
IVAR BODDB, his chaplain.
VEGARD V.SRADAL, one of his yuard.
GREGORIUS JONSSON, a nobleman.
PAUL FLIDA, a nobleman.
INGEBORG, Andres Skialdarband's icife.
PETER, her son, a young priest.
SlRA VILIAM, Bishop Nicholas's chaplain.
MASTER SIGARD op BRABANT, a physician.
JATGEIR SKALD, an Icelander.
BAKD BRATTE, a chieftain from the Trondhiem diftrlct.
Populace and Citizens of Bergen, Oslo, and A'idaroi.
Priests, Monks, and Nuns.
Guests, Guards, and Ladies.
JUcn-at-Armx, etc. etc.
The action passes in the Jirtt half of the Thirteenth Century.
Pronunciation of Names: Hakon=Hoakoon ("oa" as in
"board"); Skule = Skoole ; Margrete=Margrayt<s; Guthorm =
Gootorm; Sigurd Ribbung=Sigoord Ribboong; Dagfinn ("a"
as in "hard"); Ivar Bodde = Eevar Bodde ; Vegard = Vaygard;
Jonsspn = Yoonson ; Flida = Fleeda ; Ingeborg = Ingheborg ;
jatgeir=Yatgheir ; Bard Bratte = Board Bratte. The name
" Ingeborg" appears as " Ingebjorg " in Ibsen's text. The form
I have substituted is equally current in Norway, and less trouble
some to pronounce.
2046827
THE PRETENDERS.
HISTORIC PLAY IN FIVE ACTS.
ACT FIRST.
The churchyard of Christ Church, Bergen. At
the back rises the church, the main portal of
which faces the spectators. In front, on the left,
stands HAKON HAKONSSON, with DAGFINN THE
PEASANT, VEGARD OF V^ERADAL, IVAR BODDE,
and several other nobles and chieftains. Opposite
to him stand EARL SKULE, GREGORIUS JONSSON,
PAUL FLIDA, and others of the Earl's men.
Further back on the same side are seen SIGURD
RIBBUNG and his followers, and a little way from
him GUTHORM INGESSON, with several chiefs.
Men-at-arms line the approaches to the church ;
the common people Jill the churchyard ; many are
perched in the trees and seated on the walls ; all
seem to await, in suspense, the occurrence of
some event. All the church bells of the town
are ringing far and near.
EARL SKULE.
^Softly and impatiently, to GREGORIUS JONSSON.]
Why tarry they so long in there ?
2 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Hush ! The psalm is beginning.
[From inside the closed church doors, to the
accompaniment of trumpets, is heard, a
CHOIR OF MONKS AND NUNS singing
Domine cceli, etc. etc. While the sing-
ing is going on, the church door is opened
from inside; in the porch BISHOP
NICHOLAS is seen, surrounded by Priests
and Monks.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Steps forward to the doorway and proclaims with
uplifted crozier.~\ Inga of Varteig is even now
bearing the iron on behalf of Hakon the Pretender.
[The church door is closed again ; the singing
inside continues.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[In a low voice, to the EARL.] Call upon Holy King
Olaf to protect the right.
EARL SKULE.
[Hurriedly, with a deprecating gesture, .] Not now.
Best not remind him of me.
IVAR BODDE.
[Seizing HAKON by the arm.] Pray to the Lord thy
God, Hakon Hakonsson.
HAKON.
No need ; I am sure of him.
T The singing in the church grows louder ; all
uncover ; many fall upon their knees and
pray.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDRKS. 3
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[To the EARL.] A solemn hour for you and for
many !
EARL SKULE.
[Looking anxiously towards tne church.^ A solemn
hour for Norway.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Near Me EARL.] Now is the glowing iron in her
hands.
DAGFINN.
[Beside HAKON.] They are coming down the
nave.
IVAR BODDE.
Christ protect thy tender hands, Inga, mother
of the King !
HAKON.
Surely all my life shall reward her for this hour.
EARL SKULE.
[ Who has been listening intently, breaks out suddenly.]
Did she cry out ? Has she let the iron fall ?
PAUL FLIDA.
[Goes up.] 1 know not what it was.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Hark to the women weeping in the outer hall .
THE CHOIR IN THE CHURCH.
[Breaks forth in jubilation] Gloria in excelsis Deo !
[The doors are t/iroivn open. INGA comes
forth, followed by Nuns, Priests, and
Monks.
4 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
INGA.
[On the church slepsJ] God has given judgment !
Behold these hands ; with them I bore the iron !
VOICES AMONGST THE MULTITUDE.
They are tender and white as before i
OTHER VOICES.
Fairer still !
THE WHOLE MULTITUDE.
He is Hakon's son ! He is Sverre's 1 grandson !
HAKON.
{Embraces her.] Thanks to thee, thanks to thee,
blessed among women !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[In passing, totheE\RL.~\ Twas ill done to press
for the ordeal.
EARL SKULE.
Nay, my lord Bishop, needs must we pray for
God's voice in this matter.
HAKON.
[Deeply moved, holding INGA by the handJ] It is
done, then, that which my every fibre cried out
against that which has made my heart shrivel
and writhe within me
DAGFINN.
[Turning towards the multitude.'] Ay, look upon
this woman and bethink you, all that are gathered
here ! Who ever doubted her word, until certain
folk required that it should be doubted.
1 Pronounce Sverre.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS.
PAUL FLIDA.
Doubt has whispered in every corner from the
hour when Hiikon the Pretender was borne, a little
child, into King Inge's l hall.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
And last winter it swelled to a roar, and sounded
forth over the land, both north and south ; I trow
every man can bear witness to that.
HiKON.
I myself can best bear witness to it. Therefore
have I yielded to the counsel of many faithful
friends, and humbled myself as no other chosen
king has done for many a day. I have proved my
birth by the ordeal, proved my right, as the son of
Hakon Sverresson, to succeed to the throne of
Norway. I will not now question who fostered the
doubt, and made it, as the Earl's kinsman says,
swell into a roar ; but this I know, that I have
suffered bitterly under it. I have been chosen
king from boyhood, but little kingly honour has
been shown me, even where it seemed I might look
for it most securely. I will but remind you of last
Palm Sunday in Nidaros, 2 when I went up to the
altar to make my offering, and the Archbishop
turned away and made as though he saw me not,
to escape greeting me as kings are wont to be
greeted. Yet such slights I could easily have
borne, had not open war been like to break loose
in the land ; that I must needs hinder.
DAGFINN.
It may be well for kings to hearken to counsels
Pronounce Inghe. a The old name for Trondhiem.
6 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
of prudence ; but had my counsel been heard in
this matter, it had not been with hot iron, but with
cold steel that Hakon Hakonsson had called for
judgment between himself and his foes.
HlKON.
Curb yourself, Dagfinn ; think what beseems the
man who is to be foremost in the State.
EARL SKULE.
\Wiih a slight smile.] 'Tis easy to call every
one the King's foe who chimes not with the King's
will. Methinks he is the King's worst foe who
would counsel him against making good his right
to the kingship.
HlKON.
Who knows ? Were my right alone in question,
mayhap I had not paid so dear to prove it ; but
higher things are here at stake : my calling and
my duty. Deep and warm is the faith within me
and 1 blush not to own it that I alone am he
who in these times can sway the land to its weal.
Kingly birth begets kingly duty
EARL SKULE.
There are others here who bear themselves the
like fair witness.
SIGURD RIBBUNG.
That do I, and with full as good ground. My
grandfather was King Magnus Erlingsson
HAKON.
Ay, if your father, Erling Steinvaeg, was indeed
Xing Magnus's son ; but most folk deny it, and
in that matter none has yet faced the ordeal.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 7
SIGURD RIBBUNG.
The Ribbungs chose me as king of their own
free will, whereas 'twas by threats that Dagfinn the
Peasant and other Birchlegs 1 gained for you the
name of King.
HAKON.
Ay, so ill had you dealt with Norway that
the stock of Sverre had to claim its right with
threats.
GUTHORM INGESSON.
I am of the stock of Sverre as much as you
DAGFINN.
But not in the true male line.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You come on the spindle side, Guthorm,
GUTHORM INGESSON.
Yet this I know, that my father, Inge Bardsson,
was lawfully chosen king of Norway.
HAKON.
Because none knew that Sverre" s grandson waj
alive. From the day that became known, he held
the kingdom in trust for me not otherwise.
1 The " Birkebeiner" or Birchlegs were at this period a
political faction. They were so called because, at the time of
their first appearance, when they seem to have been little more
than bandits, they eked out their scanty attire by making them-
selves leggings of birch-bark. Norway at this time swarmed
with factions, such as the " Bagler" or Croziers (Latin, baculus),
so called because Bishop Nicholas was their chief, the Ribbungs,
the Slittungs, etc., devoted, for the most part, to one or other of
the many Pretenders to the crown.
8 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT 1.
EARL SKULE.
That cannot truly be said ; Inge was king all his
days, with all lawful power and without reserve.
'Tis true enough that Guthorm has but little claim,
for he was born out of wedlock ; but I am King
Inge's lawfully begotten brother, and the law is
with me if I claim, and take, hts full inheritance.
DAGFINN.
Ah, Sir Earl, of a truth you have taken full
inheritance, not of your father's wealth alone,
but of all the goods Hakon Sverresson left behind
him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Not all, good Dagfinn. Respect the truth ;
King Hakon has kept a brooch and the golden
ring he wears on his arm.
HAKON.
Be that as it will ; with God's help I shall win
myself wealth again. And now, ye barons and
thanes, ye churchmen and chieftains and men-at-
arms, now it is time we held the folkmote, as has
been agreed. I have sat with bound hands until
this day; methinks no man will blame me for
longing to have them loosed.
EARL SKULE.
There are others in like case, Hakon
Hakonsson.
HAKON.
[His attention arrested.'] What mean you, Sir
Earl?
ACT i.] THE PRETENDERS. 9
EARL SKULE.
I mean that all we Pretenders have the same
cause for longing. We have all alike been straitly
bound, for none of us has known how far his right
might reach.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The Church has been even as unstable as the
kingdom; but now must we abide by the sainted
King Olaf s law.
DAGFINN.
\Halj aloud.~\ Fresh subtleties !
[H IKON'S men gather more closely together.
HAKON.
[ With forced calmness, advances a couple of paces
towards the EARL.] I would fain think I have not
rightly taken your meaning. The ordeal has made
good my birthright to the kingdom, and therefore,
as I deem, the folkmote has nought to do but to
confirm my election, made at the Orething l six
years ago.
SEVERAL OF THE EARL'S AND SIGURD'S MEN.
No, no ! That we deny !
EARL SKULE.
'Twas with no such thought that we agreed to
hold the folkmote here. The ordeal has not given
you the kingdom ; it has but proved your title to
come forward to-day, along with the other Pre-
tenders here present, and contend for the right
you hold to be yours
1 A "thing," or assembly, held from time to time on the "ore"
or foreshore at the mouth of the river Nid, at Trondhiem.
10 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
HiKON.
[Constraining himself to be culm.~\ That means,
in brief, that for six years I have unlawfully borne
the name of King, and you. Sir Earl, have for six
years unlawfully ruled the land as regent for me.
EARL SKULE.
In no wise. When my brother died, 'twas
needful that some one should bear the kingly title.
The Birchlegs,and most of all Dagfinn the Peasant,
were active in your cause, and hastened your
election through before we others could set forth
our claims.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To HAKON.] The Earl would say that that
election gave you but the use of the kingly power,
not the right to it.
EARL SKULE.
You have held all the marks of kingship ; but
Sigurd Ribbung and Guthorm Ingesson and I hold
ourselves to the full as near inheritors as you ;
and now shall the law judge between us, and say
whose shall be the inheritance for all time.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
In truth, Earl Skule reads the case aright.
EARL SKULE.
There has been talk more than once in these
years of both ordeal and folkmote ; but something
has ever come between. And, Sir Hakon, if you
deemed your right for ever fixed by the first
election, how came you to accept the ordeal ?
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 11
DAGFINN.
[Exasperated.] To your swords, King's men,
let them decide!
MANY OF THE KING'S MEN.
[Rushing forward.] Down with the King's
enemies !
EARL SKULE.
[Calls to his men.] Slay none ! Wound none !
Only keep them off.
HAKON.
[Restraining Ms men.] Up with your blades, all
\vho have drawn them ! Up with your blades, I
say ! [Calmly.] You make things tenfold worse
for me by such doings.
EARL SKULE.
Even so are men flying at each other's throats
all the country over. You see now, Hakon
Hakonsson ; does not this show clearly what you
have to do, if you care aught for the country's
peace and the lives of men ?
HAKON.
[After some reflection.] Yes I see it. [Takes
INGA by the hand and turns to one of those standing
by him.] Torkell, you were a trusty man in my
father's guard ; take this woman to your own
abode and see you tend her well ; she was very
dear to Hakon Sverresson. God bless you, my
mother, now I must gird me for the folkmote.
[!NGA presses his hand, and goes with TORKELL.
HAKON is silent awhile, then steps forward and says
with emphasis :] The law shall decide, and it alone.
Ye Birchlegs who, at the Orething, took me for
12 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
your King, I free you from the oath ye sware to
me. You, Dagfiim, are no longer my marshal ; I
will not appear with marshal or with guard, 1 with
vassals or with henchmen. 1 am a poor man ; all
my inheritance is a brooch and this gold ring ;
these are scant goods wherewith to reward so
many good men's service. Now, ye other Pre-
tenders, now we stand equal ; I will have no
advantage of you, save the right which I have
from above that I neither can nor will share witli
any one. Let the assembly-call be, sounded, and
viien let God and the Holy King Olaf s law decide.
[Goes out with Ms men to the left ; blasts
of trumpets and horns are heard in the
distance.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[To the EARL, as the crowd is departing.] Me-
thought you seemed afraid during the ordeal, and
now you look so glad and of good cheer.
EARL SKULE.
[Well at ease.] Marked you that he had Sverre's
eyes as he spoke ? Whether he or I be chosen
king, the choice will be good.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Uneasily] But do not you give way. Think
of all who stand or fall with your cause.
1 The word hird is very difficult to render. It meant some-
thing between "court,' "household," and "guard." I have
never translated it "court," as that word seemed to convey an
idea of peaceful civilisation foreign to the country and period ;
but I have used either " guard " or " household " as the context
seemed to demand. Hirdmand I have generally rendered
"man-at-arms.'' Lendermand I have represented by " baron ";
lagmand and sysselmand by "thane"; and stallare by
" marshal" all mere rough approximations.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 13
EARL SKULE.
I stand now upon justice; I no longer fear to
call upon Saint Olaf.
[Goes out to the left with his followers.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Hastening after DAGFINN THE PEASANT.] All
goes well, good Dagfinn, all goes well ; but keep
the Earl far from the King when he is chosen;
see you keep them far apart !
[All go out to the left, behind the church.
A hall in the Palace. In front, on the left, is a low
window ; on the right, the entrance-door ; at the
back, a larger door which leads into the King's
Hall. By the window, a table ; chairs and
benches stand about.
LA^Y RAGNHILD and MARGRETE enter by the smaller
door; SIGRID follows immediately.
LADY RAGNHILD.
In here ?
MARGRETE.
Ay, here it is darkest.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Goes to the window.} And here we can look
down upon the mote-stead.
MARGRETE.
[Looks out cautiously.'] Ay, there they are, all
gathered behind the church. [Turns, in tears.}
Yonder must now betide what will bring so much
in its train.
14 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT L
LADY RAGNHILD.
Who will be master in this hall to-morrow?
MARGRETE.
Oh, hush ! So heavy a day I had never thought
to see.
LADY RAGNHILD.
It had to be ; to rule in another's name was no
full work for him.
MARGRETE.
Ay, it had to be ; he could never rest content
with but the name of king.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Of whom speak you ?
MARGRETE.
Of Hakon.
LADY RAGNHILD.
I spoke of the Earl.
MARGRETE.
There breathe not nobler men than they two.
LADY RAGNHILD.
See you Sigurd Ribbung ? With what a look
of evil cunning he sits there like a wolf in chains.
MARGRETE.
Ay, see ! He folds his hands before him on his
sword-hilt and rests his chin upon them.
LADY R\GNHILD.
H bites his beard and laughs
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 15
MARGRETE.
'Tis an evil laugh.
LADY RAGNHILD.
He knows that none will further his cause ;
'tis that which makes him wroth, Who is
yonder thane that speaks now ?
MARGRETE.
That is Gunnar Grionbak.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Is he for the Earl ?
MARGRETE.
No, he is for the King
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Looking at her.] For whom say you ?
MARGRETE.
For Hakon Hakonsson.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Looks out; after a short pause.'] Where sits
Guthorm Ingesson ? 1 see him not.
MARGRETE.
Behind his men, lowest of all there in a long
mantle
LADY RAGNHILD.
Ay, there.
MARGRETE.
He looks as though he were ashamed
16 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I
LADY RAGNHILD.
That is for his mother's sake.
MARGRETE.
So looked not Hakon.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Who speaks now ?
MARGRETE.
[Looting out.] Tord Skolle, the thane of
Ranafylke.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Is he for the Earl ?
MARGRETE.
No for Hakon.
LADY RAGNHILD.
How motionless the Earl sits listening !
MARGRETE.
Hakon seems thoughtful but strong none the
less. \_Wilh animation.} If there came a traveller
from afar, he could pick out those two amongst all
the thousand others.
LADY RAGNHILD.
See, Margrete ! Dagfinn the Peasant drags
forth a gilded chair for Hakon
MARGRETE.
Paul Flida places one like it behind the
Earl
LADY RAGNHILD.
Hakon's men seek to hinder it !
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 17
MARGRETE.
The Earl holds fast to the chair !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Hakon speaks wrathfully to him. [Starts back,
with a cry, from the window.] Lord Jesus! Saw
you his eyes and his smile ! No, that was
not the Earl !
MARGRETE.
[JVho has followed her in terror.] 'Twas not
Hakon either ! Neither one nor the other !
SIGRID.
[At the window.] Oh pitiful ! Oh pitiful !
MARGRETE.
Sigrid !
LADY RAGNHILD.
You here !
SIGRID.
Goes the path so low that leads up to the
throne !
MARGRETE.
Oh, pray with us, that all be guided for the
best.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[While and horror-stricken, to SIGRID.] Saw yon
him ? Saw you my husband ? His eyes
and his smile 1 should not have known him !
SIGRID.
Looked he like Sigurd Ribbung?
LADY RAGMIILD.
[Softly.] Ay, he looked like Sigurd Ribbung,
18 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
SlGRID.
Laughed he like Sigurd ?
LADY RAGNHILD.
Ay, ay !
SlGRID.
Then must we all pray.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[With the force of despair.] The Earl must be
chosen King ! 'Twill work ruin in his soul if he
be not the first man in the land !
SlGRID.
[More loudly.] Then must we all pray !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Hist! What is that? [At the window.] What
shouts ! All the men have risen ; all the banners
and standards wave in the wind.
SlGRID.
[Seizes her by the ann.] Pray, woman ! Pray
for your husband !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Ay, Holy King Olaf, give him all the power in
this land !
SlGRID.
[Wildly.] None none ! Else is he lost !
LADY RAGNHILD.
He must have the power. All the good in him
will grow and blossom should he win it. Look
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 19
forth, Margrete ! Listen ! [Starts back a step.]
All hands are lifted for an oath !
[MARGRETE listens at the window.
LADY RAGNHILD.
God and St. Olaf, to whom do they swear ?
SIGRID.
Pray!
[MARGRETE listens, and with uplifted hand
motions for silence.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[After a little while.] Speak !
[From the mote-stead is heard a loud blast
of trumpets and horns.
LADY RAGNHILD.
God and St. Olaf! To whom have they
sworn ? [A short pause.
MARGRETE.
[Turns her head and says .] They have chosen
Hakon Hakonsson king.
[The music of the royal procession is heard,
first in the distance and then nearer and
nearer. LADY RAGNHILD clings weeping
to SIGRID, who leads her quietly out on the
right; MARGRETE remains immovable,
leaning against the window-frame. The
KING'S attendants open the great doors,
disclosing the interior of the Hall, which
is gradually filled by the procession from
the mote-stead.
HAKON.
[In the doorway, turning to IVAR BODDE.] Bring
20 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
me a pen and wax and silk I have parchment
here. [Advances exultantly to the table and spreads
some rolls of parchment upon it.] Margrete, now
am I King !
MARGRETE.
Hail to my lord and King !
HAKON.
I thank you. [Looks at her and lakes her hand.]
Forgive me ; I forgot that it must wound you.
MARGRETE.
[Drawing her hand, away.] It did not wound
me ; of a surety you are born to be king.
HAKON.
[With animation] Ay, must not all men own
it, who remember how marvellously God and the
saints have shielded me from all harm ? I was but
a year old when the Birchlegs bore me over the
mountains, in frost and storm, and through the
very midst of those who sought my life. At
Nidaros I came scatheless from the Baglers 1 when
they burnt the town with so great a slaughter,
while King Inge himself barely saved his life by
climbing on shipboard up the anchor-cable.
MARGRETE.
Your youth has been a hard one.
HAKON.
[Looking steadily at her.] Methinks you might
have made it easier.
MARGRETE.
I?
> See note, p. 125.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 21
HlKON.
You might have been so good a foster-sister to
me, through all the years when we were growing
up togethev.
MARGRETE.
But it fell out otherwise.
HAKON.
Ay, it fell out otherwise ; we looked at each
other, I from my corner, you from yours, but we
seldom spoke [Impatiently.] What is keeping
him ? [IvAR BODDE comes with the writing materials.]
Are you there ? Give me the things !
[HAKON seats himself at the table and
writes. A little while after, EARL SKULE
comes in ; then DAGFINN THE PEASANT,
BISHOP NICHOLAS and VEGARD
V..ERADAL.
HAKON.
[Looks up and lays down his pen.] Know you, Sir
Earl, what I am writing here ? [The EARL
approaches.] This is to my mother ; I thank her
for all her love, and kiss her a thousand times
here in the letter you understand. She is to be
sent eastward to Borgasyssel, there to live with
all queenly honours.
EARL SKULE
You will not keep her in the palace ?
HAKON.
She is too dear to me, Earl ; a king must have
none about him whom he loves too well. A king
must act with free hands ; he must stand alone
22 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
he must neither be led run 1 lured. There is so
much to be mended in Norway.
[Goes on writing.
VEGARD V^RADAL.
[SoJUy to BISHOP NICHOLAS.] 'Tis by my counsel
he deals thus with Inga, his mother.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I knew your hand in it at once.
VEGARD V.ERADAL.
But now one good turn deserves another.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Wait. I will keep my promise.
HAKON.
[Gives the parchment to IVAR BODDE.] Fold it
together and bear it to her yourself, with many
loving greetings
IVAR BODDE.
[Who has glanced at the parchment.] My lord
you write here " to-day " !
HAKON.
The wind is fair for a southward course.
DAGFINN.
[Slowly. ~\ Bethink you, my lord King, that she
has lain all night on the altar-steps in prayer and
fasting.
IVAR BODDE.
And she may well be weary after the ordeal.
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 23
HAKON.
True, true ; my good, kind mother
[Collects himself.] Well, if she be too weary, let
her wait until to-morrow.
IVAR BODDE.
It shall be as you will. [Puts another parchment
forward.] But this other, my lord.
HAKON.
That other ? Ivar Bodde, I cannot.
DAGFINN.
[Points to the letter for INGA.] Yet you could do
that.
IVAR BODDE.
All things sinful must be put away.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[ Who has drawn near in the meantime.] Bind the
Earl's hands, King Hakon.
HAKON.
[In a low voice.] Think you that is needful ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
At no cheaper rate can you buy peace in the
land.
HAKON.
Then I can do it ! Give me the pen !
[Writes.
EARL SKULE.
[To the BISHOP, who crosses to the right.] You
have the King's ear, it would seem.
24 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
For your behoof.
EARL SKULE.
Say you so ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Before nightfall you will thank me.
[He moves away.
HAKON.
[Hands the EARL the parchment.] Read that,
Earl Skule.
EARL SKULE.
[Reads, looks in surprise at the KING, and says in a
low voice.] You break with Kanga the Young ?
HAKON.
With Kanga whom I have loved more than all
the world. From this day forth she must never
more cross the King's path.
EARL SKULE.
This that you do is a great thing, Hakon. Mine
own memory tells me what it must cost.
HAKON
Whoever is too dear to the King must away.
Tie up the letter. [Gives it to IVAR BODDE.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Bending over the chair.] You have made a
gi-eat stride towards the Earl's friendship, my lord
King.
HAKON.
[Holds out his hand to him.] I thank you, Bishop
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 25
Nicholas ; you counselled me for the best. Ask
a grace of me, and I will grant it.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Will you ?
HA RON.
I promise it on my kingly faith.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Then make Vegard Vaeradal thane of Haloga-
laml.
HAKON.
Vegard ? He is well-nigh the trustiest friend I
have ; I am loath to send him so far from me.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King's friend must be royally rewarded.
Bind the Earl's hands as I have counselled you,
and you will be secure for ever and a day.
HAKON.
[Takes a sheet of parchment.] Vegard shall bear
rule in Halogaland. [Writing.] I hereby grant it
under my royal hand. [The BISHOP retires.
EARL SKULE.
[Approaches the table.] What write you now ?
HAKON.
[Hands him the sheet.] Read.
EARL SKULE.
[Reads, and looks steadily at the KING.] Vegard
Vaeradal? In Halogaland ?
26 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I
HlKON.
The northern part stands vacant.
EARL SKULE.
Bethink you that Andres Skialdarband 1 has also
a charge in the north. They two are bitter foes ;
Andres Skialdarband is of my following
HAKON.
[Smiling and rising.] And Vegard Vaeradal of
mine. Therefore they must e'en make friends
again, the sooner the better. Henceforth there
must be no enmity between the King's men and
the Earl's.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ha ! this may go too far. [Approaches, uneasy.
EARL SKULE.
Your thoughts are wise and deep, Hakon.
HAKON.
[Warmly, ,] Earl Skule, to-day have I taken
the kingdom from you let your daughter share
it with me !
EARL SKULE.
My daughter !
MARGRETE.
Oh, God !
HAKON.
Margrete, will you be my Queen ?
[MARGRETE is silent,
HAKON.
[Takes her hand.] Answer me.
Pronounce Shaldarband.
ACT I.] THE PRETEND"EHS. 27
MARGRETE.
[Softly.] I will gladly be your wife.
EARL SKULE.
[Pressing HAKON'S hand.] Peace and friendship
from my heart !
HAKON.
I thank you.
IVAR BODDE.
[To DAGFINN.] Heaven be praised ; here is the
dawn.
DAGFINN.
I almost believe it. Never before have I liked
the Earl so well.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Behind him] Ever on your guard, good Dag-
finn ever on your guard.
IVAR BODDE.
[To VEGARD.] Now are you thane in Haloga-
land; here you have it under the King's hand.
[Gives him the letter.
VEGARD V^ERADAL.
I will thank the King for his favour another
time. [About to go.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Stops him.] Andres Skialdarband is an ugly
neighbour; be not cowed by him.
VEGARD V^ERADAL.
No one has yet cowed Vegard Vaeradal. [Goes.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Following.] Be as rock and flint to Andres
28 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I,
Skialdarband,- and, while I think on't, take my
blessing with you.
IVAR BODDE.
[Who has been waiting behind the KING with the
parchments in his hand.] Here are the letters, my
lord.
HAKON.
Good; give them to the Earl.
IVAR BODDE.
To the Earl ? Will you not seal them ?
HAKON.
The Earl is wont to do that ; he holds the seal.
IVAR BODDE.
[Softly,] Ay, hitherto while he was regent
but now .'
HAKON.
Now as before ; the Earl holds the seal.
[Moves away.
EARL SKULE.
Give me the letters, Ivar Bodde.
[Goes to the table with them, takes out the
Great Seal which he wears under his girdle,
and seals the letters during the following.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Muttering.] Hakon Hakonsson is King and
the Earl holds the royal seal ; I like that I like
that.
HAKON.
What says my lord Bishop ?
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS. 29
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I say that God and St. Olaf watch over their
holy church. [Goes into Ike King's Hall.
HAKON.
[Approaching MARGRETE.] A wise queen can
do great things in the land : I chose you fearlessly,
for I know you are wise.
MARGRETE.
Only that?
HAKON.
What mean you ?
MARGRETE.
Nothing, my lord, nothing.
HAKON.
And you will bear me no grudge if for my sake
you have had to forgo fair hopes ?
MARGRETE.
I have forgone no fair hopes for your sake.
HAKON.
And you will stand ever near me, and give me
good counsel ?
MARGRETE.
I would fain stand near to you.
HAKON.
And give me good counsel. I thank you for
that ; a woman's counsel profits every man, and
henceforth I have none but you my mother I
had to send away
30 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT I.
MARGRETE.
Ay, she was too dear to you
HAKON.
And I am King. Farewell then, Margrete ;
You are so young yet ; but next summer shall
our bridal be, and from that hour I swear to
keep you by my side in all seemly faith and
honour.
MARGRETE.
[Smiles sadly.] Ay, 'twill be long, I know, ere
you send me away.
HAKON.
[Brightly.] Send you away ? That will I never
do.
MARGRETE.
[With tears in her eyes.] No, that Hakon does
only to those who are too dear to him.
[She goes towards the entrance door. H AKON
gazes thoughtfully after her.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[From the right.] The King and the Earl tarry
here so long ! My fears are killing me ; Margrete,
what has the King said and done ?
MARGRETE.
Oh, much, much ! Last of all, he chose a thane
and a Queen.
LADY RAGNHILD.
You, Margrete !
MARGRETE.
[Throws her arms round her mother s neck.] Yes !
ACT I.] THE PRETENDERS.
LADY RAGNHILD.
You are to be Queen !
MARGRETE.
Queen only ; but I think I am glad even of
that. [She and her mother go out to the right.
EARL SKULE.
[To IVAR BODDE.] Here are our letters ; bear
them to the King's mother and to Kanga.
[IvAR BODDE bows and goes'.
DAGFINN.
[In the doonvay of the hall.~\ The Archbishop
of Nidaros craves leave to offer King Hakon
Hakonsson his homage.
HAKON.
[Draws a deep breath.] At last, then, I am King
of Norway.
EARL SKULE.
[Places the Great Seal in his girdle.] But / rule the
realm.
ACT SECOND.
Banquet Hall in the Palace at Bergen. A large bay-
window in the middle of the back wall, along which
there is a dais with seats for the ladies. Against
the left wall stands the throne, raised some steps
above the jloor ; in the centre of the opposite mall
is the great entrance door. Banners, standards,
shields and weapons, with many-coloured draperies,
hang from the wall timbers and from the carvcn
rafters. Around the hall stand drinking-tablcs,
withjlagons, horns, and beakers.
KING HAKON sits upon the dais, with MARGRETE,
SIGRID, LADY RAGNHILD, and many noble ladies.
IVAR BODDE stands behind the King's chair.
Round the drinking-tables are seated the King's
and the Earl's men, with guests. At the foremost
table on the right sit, among others, DAGFINN
THE PEASANT, GREGORIUS JONSSON, and PAUL
FLIDA. EARL SKULE and BISHOP NICHOLAS are
playing chess at a table on the left. The Earl's
house- folk go to and fro, bearing cans of liquor.
From an adjoining room, music is heard during
the following scene.
DAGFINN.
The fifth day now wears on, yet the henchmen
are none the less nimble at setting forth the
brimming flagons.
PAUL FLIDA.
It was never the Earl's wont to stint his guests.
ACT II ] THE PRETENDERS. S3
DAGFINN.
No, so it would seem. So royal a bridal-feast
was never seen in Norway before.
PAUL FLIDA.
Earl Skule has never before given a daughter in
marriage.
DAGFINN.
True, true ; the Earl is a mighty man.
A MAN-AT-ARMS.
He holds a third part of the kingdom. That
is more than any earl has held heretofore.
PAUL FLIDA.
But the King's part is larger.
DAGFINN.
We talk not of that here ; we are friends now,
and fully at one. [Drinks to PAUL.] So let King
be King and Earl be Earl.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Laughs."] 'Tis easy to hear that you are a
King's man.
DAGFINN.
That should the Earl's men also be.
PAUL FLIDA.
Never. We have sworn fealty to the Earl, not
to the King.
DAGFINN.
That may yet have to be done.
34 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To the EARL, under cover of the game.] Hear
you what Dagfinn the Peasant says ?
EARL SKULE.
[ Without looking up.~\ I hear.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Looking steadily at DAGFINN.] Has the King
thoughts of that ?
DAGFINN.
Nay, nay, let be ; no wrangling to-day.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King would force your men to swear him
fealty, Earl.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Louder.] Has the King thoughts of that, I
ask ?
DAGFINN.
I will not answer. Let us drink to peace and
friendship between the King and the Earl. The
ale is good.
PAUL FLIDA.
It has had time enough to mellow.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Three times has the Earl prepared the bridal
three times the King promised to come three
times he came not.
DAGFINN.
Blame the Earl for that : he gave us plenty to
do in Viken.
ACT II.] THE PRETKNDERS. 35
PAUL FLIDA.
Tis said Sigurd Ribbung gave you still more to
do in Vermeland.
DAGFINN.
[Flaring up.] Ay, and who was it that let
Sigurd llibbung slip through their fingers ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Sigurd Ribbung fled from us at Nidaros, that
all men know.
DAGFINN.
But no man knows that you did aught to hinder
him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To the EARL, who is pondering on a move.] Hear
you, Earl ? It was you who let Sigurd Ribbung
escape.
EARL SKULE.
[Makes a move.] That is an old story.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Have you not heard, then, of the Icelander
Andres Torsteinsson, Sigurd Ribbung's friend
DAGFINN.
Ay ; when Sigurd had escaped, you hanged
the Icelander that I know.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Makes a move and says laughingly to the EARL.]
I take the pawn, Sir Earl. 1
1 Bishop Nicholas's speech, " Nu slar jeg bonden, herre jarl,"
means literally, "Now I strike (or slay) the peasant"; the pawn
being called in Norwegian ' ' bonde," peasant, as in German
36 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
EARL SKULE.
[Aloud.] Take him ; a pawn is of small
account. [Makes a move.
DAGFINN.
Ay ; that the Icelander found to his cost, when
Sigurd Ribbung escaped to Vermeland.
[Suppressed laughter amongst the King's
men; the conversation is continue in a
low tone ; presently a man comes in and
whispers to GREGORIUS JONSSON.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Then I move here, and you have lost.
EARL SKULE.
So it would seem.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Leaning back in his chair.] You did not guard
the king well at the last.
EARL SKULE.
[Strews the pieces topsy-turvy and rises.] I have
long been weary of guarding kings.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Approaches and says in a low tone.] Sir Earl,
Jostein x Tamb sends word that the ship now
lies ready for sea.
"Bauer." Thus in this speech and the next the Bishop and the
Earl are girding at Dagfinn the Peasant. [Our own word
" pawn" comes from the Spanish peon = a foot-soldier or day-
labourer.]
1 Pronounce Yostein.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 37
EARL SKULE.
[Softly.] Good. [Takes out a sealed parchment.]
Here is the letter.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Shaking his head.] Earl, Earl, is this well
bethought ?
EARL SKULE.
What ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
It bears the King's seal.
EARL SKULE.
I am acting for the King's good.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Then let the King himself reject the offer.
EARL SKULE.
That he will not, if he has his own way. His
whole heart is bent on cowing the Ribbungs,
therefore he is fain to secure himself on other
sides.
GREGORIUS JoNsson.
Your way may be wise, but it is dangerous.
EARL SKULE.
Leave that to me. Take the letter, and bic
Jostein sail forthwith.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
It shall be as you command.
[Goes out to the right, and presently comes
in again.
38 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT n.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To the EARL.] You have much to see to, it
would seem.
EARL SKULE.
But small thanks for it.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King has risen.
[HAKON comes down; all the men nse from
the tables.
HAKON.
[To the BISHOP.] We are rejoiced to see you
bear up so bravely and well through all these days
of merriment.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
There comes a flicker now and again, my lord
King ; but 'twill scarce last long. I have lain
sick all the winter through.
HAKON.
Ay, ay, you have lived a strong life, rich in
deeds of fame.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Shakes his head.~\ Ah, 'tis little enough I have
done, and I have much still left to do. If I but
knew whether I should have time for it all !
HAKON.
The living must take up the tasks of those who
go before, honoured lord ; we all have the welfare
of the land at heart. [Turns to the EARL.] I
marvel much at one thing : that neither of our
thanes from Halogaland has come to the bridal.
1CT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 39
EARL SKULE.
True ; I doubted not that Andres Skialdarband
would be here.
HAKON.
[Smiling.] And Vegard Vaeradal too.
EARL SKULE.
Ay, Vegard too.
HAKON.
[I?i jest.] And I trust you would now have
received my old friend better than you did seven
years ago on Oslo wharf, when you stabbed him
in the cheek so that the blade cut its way out.
EARL SKULE.
[With a forced laugh.] Ay, the time that
Gunnulf, your mother's brother, cut off the right
hand of Sira Eiliv, my best friend and counsellor.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Merrily.] And when Dagfinn the Peasant and
the men-at-arms set a strong night-watch on the
King's ship, saying that the King was unsafe in
the Earl's ward ?
HAKON.
[Seriously.'] Those days are old and forgotten.
DAGFINN.
[Approaching.] Now may we sound the call to
the weapon-sports on the green, if so please you,
my lord.
HAKON.
Good. To-day v/ill we give up to nought but
40 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
merriment ; to-morrow we must turn our thoughts
again to the Ribbungs and the Earl of Orkney.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, he denies to pay tribute, is it not so ?
HAKON.
Were I once well rid of the Ribbungs, I would
myself fare westward.
[HAKON goes towards the dais, gives Ms
hand to MARGRETE, and leads her out to
the right ; the others gradually follow.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To IVAR BODDE.] Who is the man called
Jostein Tamb ?
IVAR BODDE.
There is a trader from Orkney who bears that
name.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
From Orkney ? So, so ! And now he sails
home again ?
IVAR BODDE.
So I think.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Softly.] With a precious freight, Ivar Boclde.
IVAR BODDE.
Corn and raiment, most like.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And a letter from Earl Skule.
IVAR BODDE.
[Starting.] To whom ?
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 41
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I know not; it bore the King's seal
IvAR BODDE.
[Seizes kirn by Ike arm.] Lord Bishop, is it as
you say ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hush ! Do not mix me up in the matter.
[Retires.
IVAR BODDE.
Then must I straightway Dagfinn the
Peasant ! Dagfinn ! Dagfinn !
[Pushes through the crowd towards the door.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[In a tone of commiseration, to GREGORIUS
JONSSON.] Never a day but one or another must
suffer in goods or freedom.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Who is it now ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
A poor trader, Jostein Tamb methinks they
called him.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Jostein ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Dagfinn the Peasant would forbid him to set
sail.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Dagfinn, would forbid him, say you ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He went even now.
42 THE PRETENDERS. ^ACT II.
GREGORIUS JONSSONT.
Pardon, my lord ; I must make speed-
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, do even so, my dear lord ; Dagfinn the
Peasant is so hasty.
[GREGORIUS JONSSON hastens out to the
right along with the remainder of the
company ; only EARL SKULE and BISHOP
NICHOLAS are left, behind in the hall,
EARL SKULE.
[Walks up and down in deep thought; he seems
suddenly to awaken ; looks round him, and says :]
How still it has become here of a sudden !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King has gone.
EARL SKULE.
And every one has followed him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
All, save us.
EARL SKULE.
It is a great thing to be King.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Tentatively .] Are you fain to try it, Earl ?
EARL SKULE.
[With a serious smile .] I have tried it; every
night that brings me sleep makes me King of
Norway.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 43
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Dreams forbocle.
EARL SKULE.
Ay, and tempt.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Not you, surely. In bygone clays, that I could
understand but now, when you hold a third part
of the kingdom, rule as the first man in the land,
and are the Queen's father
EARL SKULE.
Now most of all now most of all.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hide nothing! Confess ; for verily I can see a
great pain is gnawing you.
EARL SKULE.
Now most of all, I say. This is the great
curse that lies upon my whole life : to stand so
near to the highest, with an abyss between. One
leap, and on the other side are the kingship, and
the purple robe, the throne, the might, and all !
I have it daily before my eyes but can never
reach it.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
True, Earl, true.
EARL SKULE.
When they made Guthorm Sigurdsson king, I
was in the full strength of my youth ; It was
as though a voice cried aloud within me : Away
with the child, I am the man, the strong man !
'44 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II
But Guthorm was the king's son; there yawned
an abyss between me and the throne.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And you dared not venture
EARL SKULE.
Then Erling Steinvaeg was chosen by the
Slittungs. The voice cried within me again :
Skule is a greater chieftain than Erling Steinvaeg !
But I must needs have broken with the Birch-
legs, that was the abyss that time.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And Erling became king of the Slittungs, and
ifter of the Ribbungs, and still you waited !
EARL SKULE.
I waited for Guthorm to die.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And Guthorm died, and Inge Bardsson, your
brother, became king.
EARL SKULE.
Then I waited for my brother's death. He was
sickly from the first ; every morning, when we met
at holy mass, I would cast stolen glances to see
whether his sickness increased. Every twitch of
pain that crossed his face was as a puff of wind in
my sails, and bore me nearer to the throne.
Every sigh he breathed in his agony sounded to
me like an echoing trumpet-blast, like a herald
from afar, proclaiming that the throne should soon
be mine. Thus I tore up by the roots every
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 45
thought of brotherly kindness; and Inge died,
and Hakon came and the Birchlegs made him
king.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And you waited.
EARL SKULE.
Methought help must come from above. I felt
the kingly strength within me, and I was grow-
ing old ; every day that passed was a day taken
from my life-work. Each evening I thought :
To-morrow will come the miracle that shall strike
him down and set me in the empty seat.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Small was then Hakon's power ; he was no
more than a child ; it wanted but a single step
from you yet you took it not.
EARL SKULE.
That step was hard to take ; it would have
parted me from my kindred and from all my
friends.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, there is the rub, Earl Skule, that is the
curse which has lain upon your life. You would
fain know every way open at need, you dare not
break all your bridges and keep only one, defend
it alone, and on it conquer or fall. You lay snares
for your foe, you set traps for his feet, and hang
sharp swords over his head ; you strew poison in
every dish, and you spread a hundred nets for
him ; but when he walks into your toils you dare
not draw the string ; if he stretch out his hand
for the poison, you think it safer he should fall by
46 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
the sword ; if he is like to be caught in the
morning, you hold it wiser to wait till eventide.
EARL SKULE.
[Looking earnestly at him.] And what would
you do, my lord Bishop ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Speak not of me ; my work is to build up
thrones in this land, not to sit on them and rule.
EARL SKULE.
[After a short pause.] Answer me one thing,
my honoured lord, and answer me truly. How
comes it that Hakon can follow the straight
path so unflinchingly ? He is no wiser, no bolder
than I.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Who does the greatest work in this world ?
EARL SKULE.
The greatest man.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
But who is the greatest man ?
EARL SKULE.
The bravest.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
So says the warrior. A priest would say : the
man of greatest faith, a philosopher : the most
learned. But it is none of these, Earl Sl<ule. The
most fortunate man 1 is the greatest man. It is
Den lykkeligste mand. The word lykke means not only luck
or fortune, but happiness. To render lykkeligste completely, we
should require a word in which the ideas "fortunate" and
" happy " should be blent.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 47
the most fortunate man that does the greatest
deeds he whom the cravings of his time seize
like a passion, begetting thoughts he himself
cannot fathom, and pointing to paths which lead
he knows not whither, but which he follows and
must follow till he hears the people shout for joy,
and, looking around him with wondering eye*
finds that he has done a mighty deed.
EARL SKULE.
Ay, there is that unswerving confidence in
Hakon.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
It is that which the Romans called mgenium.
Truly I am not strong in Latin ; but 'twas called
ingenium.
EARL SKULE.
[Thoughtfully at Jirst, afterwards in increasing
excitement.] Is Hakon made of othe"r clay than
mine ? The fortunate man ? Ay, does not every-
thing thrive with him ? Does not everything
shape itself for the best, when he is concerned ?
Even the peasants note it ; they say the trees bear
fruit twice, and the fowls hatch out two broods
every summer, whilst Hakon is king. Vermeland,
where he burned and harried, stands smiling with
its houses built afresh, and its cornlands bending
heavy-eared before the breeze. 'Tis as though
blood and ashes fertilised the land where Hakon's
armies pass ; 'tis as though the Lord clothed with
double verdure what Hakon has trampled down ;
'tis as though the holy powers made haste to blot
out all evil in his track. And how easy has been
his path to the throne ! He needed that Inge
should die early, and Inge died : his youth needed
48 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
to be watched and warded, and his men kept
watcli and ward around him ; he needed the
ordeal, and his mother arose and bore the iron for
him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[With an involuntary outburst.] But we we
two !
EARL SKULE.
We?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You, I would say what of you ?
EARL SKULE.
The right is Hakon's, Bishop.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The right is his, for he is the fortunate one ;
'tis even the summit of fortune, to have the
right. But by what right has Hakon the right,
and not you ?
EARL SKULE.
[After a short pause.] There are things I pray
God to save me from thinking upon.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Saw you never an old picture in Christ's Church
at Nidai'os ? Itshows the Deluge rising and rising
over all the hills, so that there is but one single
peak left above the waters. Up it clambers a
whole household, father and mother and son and
son's wife and children ; and the son is hurling the
father back into the flood to gain better footing ;
and he will cast his mother down and his wife and
all his children, to win to the top himself; for up
there he sees a handsbreadth of ground, where he
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 49
may keep life in him for an hour. That, Earl,
that is the saga of wisdom, and the saga of every
A'ise man.
EARL SKULE.
But the right !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The son had the right. He had strength, and
the craving for life ; fulfil your cravings and use
your strength : so much right has every man.
EARL SKULE.
Ay, for that which is good.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Words, empty words ! There is neither good
nor evil, up nor down, high nor low. You must
forget such words, else will you never take the
last stride, never leap the abyss. [/ a subdued
voice and insistently.] You must not hate a
party or a cause for that the party or the cause
would have this and not that; but you must
hate every man of a party for that he is against
you, and you must hate all who gather round a
cause, for that the cause clashes with your will.
Whatever is helpful to you, is good whatever
lays stumbling-blocks in your path is evil.
EARL SKULE.
[Gazing thoughtfully before him.] What has
that throne not cost me, which yet I have not
reached ! And what has it cost s Hakon, who
now sits in it so securely ! I was young, and I
forswore my sweet secret love to ally myself
with a powerful house. I prayed to the saints
50 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
that I might be blessed with a son I got only
daughters.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hakon will have sons, Earl mark that !
EARL SKULE.
[Crossing to the window on the right.] Ay all
things fall out to Hakon's wish.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And you will you suffer yourself to be outlawed
from happiness all your life through ? Are you
blind ? See you not that it is a stronger might
than the Birchlegs that stands at Hakon's back,
and furthers all his life-work ? He has help from
above, from from those that are against you
from those that have been your enemies, even from
your birth ! And will you bow before these your
enemies ? Rouse you, man; straighten your
back ! To what end got you your masterful soul ?
Bethink you that the first great deed in all the
world was done by one who rose against a mighty
realm !
EARL SKULE.
Who?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The angel who rose against the light !
EARL SKULE.
And was hurled into the bottomless pit
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Wildly.'] And founded there a kingdom,
and made himself a king, a mighty king
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 51
mightier than any of the ten thousand earls up
yonder ! [Sinks down upon a bench beside the table.
EARL SKULE.
[Looks long at him.'] Bishop Nicholas, are you
something more or something less than a man ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Smiling.] I am in the state of innocence : I
know not good from evil.
EARL SKULE.
[Half to himself.] Why did they send me into
the world, if they meant not to order it better for
me ? Hakon has so firm and unswerving a faith
in himself all his men have so firm and unswerving
a faith in him
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Let it not be seen that you have no such faith
in yourself ! Speak as though you had it, swear
great oaths that you have it and all will believe
you.
EARL SKULE.
Had I a son ! Had I but a son, to take all the
great heritage after me !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Eagerly.] Earl if you had a son ?
EARL SKULE.
I have none.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hakon will have sons.
52 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
EARL SKULE
[Wringing his hands.] And is king-born !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Rising.] Earl if he were not so ?
EARL SKULE.
Has he not proved it ? The ordeal
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And if he were not in spite of the ordeal ?
EARL SKULE.
Do you say that God lied in the issue of the
ordeal ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
What was it Inga of Varteig called upon God to
witness ?
EARL SKULE.
That the child she bore in the eastland, in
Borgasyssel, was the son of Hakon Sverresson.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Nods, looks round, and says softly.] And if King
Hakon were not that child ?
EARL SKULE.
[Starts a step backwards.] Great God !
[Controls himself.] It is beyond belief.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hearken to me, Earl Skule. I have lived
seventy years and six ; it begins to go sharply
downhill with me now, and I dare not take this
secret with me over yonder
ACT II.J THE PRETENDERS. 53
EARL SKULE.
Speak, speak ! Is he not the son of Hakon
Sverresson ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hear me. It was known to none that Inga wat
with child. Hakon Sverresson was lately dead,
and doubtless she feared Inge Bardsson, who was
then king, and you, and well, and the Baglers l
too mayhap. She was brought to bed secretly in
the house of Trond the Priest, in Heggen parish,
and after nine days she departed homewards ; but
the child remained a whole year with the priest,
she not daring to look to it, and none knowing
that it breathed saved Trond and his two sons.
EARL SKULE.
Ay, ay and then ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
When the child was a year old, it could scarce
be kept hidden longer. So Inga made the matter
known to Erlend of Huseby an old Birchleg of
Sverre's days, as you know.
EARL SKULE.
Well?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He and other chiefs from the Uplands took the
child, bore it over the mountains in midwinter,
and brought it to the King, who was then at
Nidaros.
EARL SKULE.
And yet you can say that ?
1 See note, p. 125.
54 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Needless to say, 'twas a dangerous task for a
humble priest to rear a king's child. So soon as
the child was born, he laid the matter before
one of his superiors in the church, and prayed for
his counsel. This his superior bade Trond send
the true king's son with secrecy to a place of
safety, and give Inga another, if she or the
Birchlegs should afterwards ask for her child.
EARL SKULE.
[Indignantly.] And who was the hound that
gave that counsel ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
It was I.
EARL SKULE.
You ? Ay, you have ever hated the race of
Sverre.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I deemed it not safe for the king's son to fall
into your hands.
EARL SKULE.
But the priest ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Promised to do as I bade.
EARL SKULE.
[Seizing him by the arm.] And Hakon is the
other child ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
If Ike priast kept his promise.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 55
EARL SKULE.
If he kept it?
BISHOP NICHOLAS
Trond the Priest departed the land the same
winter that the child was brought to King Inge.
He journeyed to Thomas Beckett's grave, and
afterwards abode in England till his death.
EARL SKULE.
He departed the land, say you ? Then must
he have changed the children and dreaded the
vengeance of the Birchlegs.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Or he did not change the children, and dreaded
my vengeance.
EARL SKULE.
Which surmise hold you for the truth ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Either may well be true.
EARL SKULE.
But the priest's sons of whom you spoke ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
They went with the crusaders to the Holy
Land.
EARL SKULE.
And there have since been no tidings of them ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, tidings there have been
56 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
EARL SKULE.
Where are they ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
They were drowned in the Greek Sea on the
journey forth.
EARL SKULE.
And Inga ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Knows nought, either of the priest's confession
or of my counsel.
EARL SKULE.
Her child was but nine days old when she left
it, you said ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, and the child she next saw was over a
year
EARL SKULE.
Then no living creature can here bring light !
[Paces rapidly to and /ro.] Almighty God, can
this be true ? Hakon the King he who holds
sway over all this land, not born of royal blood !
And why should it not be like enough ? Has not
all fortune miraculously followed him ? Why not
this also, to be taken as a child from a poor
cottar's hut and laid in a king's cradle ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Whilst the whole people believes that he is the
king's son
EARL SKULE.
Whilst he himself believes it, Bishop that
is the heart of his fortune, that is the girdle of
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 57
strength ! [Goes to the window.] See how bravely
he sits his horse ! None rides as he does. His
eyes are filled with laughing, dancing sunshine ;
he looks forth into the day as though he knew
himself created to go forward, ever forward.
[Turns towards Ike BISHOP.] I am a king's arm,
mayhap a king's brain as well ; but he is the
whole King.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Yet no king after all, mayhap.
EARL SKULE
Mayhap no king after all.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Lays his hand on the Earl's shoulder.] Hearken
to me, Earl Skule
EARL SKULE,
[Still looking out.] There sits the Queen.
Hakon speaks gently to her; she turns red and
white Avith joy. He took her to wife because it
was wise to choose the daughter of the mightiest
man in the land. There was then no thought of
love for her in his heart; but it will come; Hakon
has fortune with him. She will shed light over
his life [Stops, and cries out in wonder.] What
is this?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
What ?
EARL SKULE.
Dagfinn the Peasant bursts violently through
the crowd. Now he is giving the King some
tidings.
58 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IL
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Looking out from behind the EARL.] Hakon
seems angered does he not ? He clenches his
fist
EARL SKULE.
He looks hitherward what can it be ?
[About to go.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Holding him back.] Hearken to me, Earl
Skule there may yet be one means of winning
assurance as to Hakon's right.
EARL SKULE.
One means, you say ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Trond the Priest, ere he died, wrote a letter
telling his whole ttile, and took the sacrament in
witness of its truth.
EARL SKULE.
And that letter for God's pity's sake where
is it ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You must know that [Looks towards the
doorJ\ Hush ! here comes the King.
EARL SKULE.
The letter, Bishop the letter !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The K ng is here.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 59
[HAKON enters, followed by his Guard and many
guests. Immediately afterwards, MARGRETE
appears ; she seems anxious and alarmed, and is
about to rush up to the King, when she is restrained
by LADY RAGNHILD, who, with other ladies, has
followed her. SIGRID stands somewhat apart,
towards the back. The EARL'S men appear uneasy,
and gather in a group on the right, where SKULE
is standing, but some way behind him.
HAKON.
[In strong but repressed excitement.] Earl Skule,
who is king in this land ?
EARL SKULK.
Who is king ?
HAKON.
That was my question. I bear the kingly title,
but who holds the kingly might ?
EARL SKULE.
The kingly might should dwell with him who
has the kingly right.
HAKON.
So should it be ; but is it so ?
EARL SKULE.
Do you summon me to judgment?
HAKON.
That do I ; for that right I have toward every
man in the land.
EARL SKULE.
I fear not to answer for my dealings.
60 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
HAKON.
Well for us all if you can. [Mounts a step oj
throne-dais, and leans upon one arm of the throne.]
Here stand I as your king, and ask . Know you
that Jon, Earl of Orkney, has risen against me ?
EARL SKULE.
Yes.
HAKON.
That he denies to pay me tribute ?
EARL SKULE.
Yes.
HAKON.
And is it true that you, Sir Earl, have this day
sent him a letter ?
EARL SKULE.
Who says so ?
IvAR BoDDE.
That do I.
DAGFINN.
Jostein Tamb dared not deny to carry it, since
it bore the King's seal.
HAKON.
You write to the King's foes under the King's
seal, although the King knows nought of what is
written ?
EARL SKULE.
So have I done for many a year, with your good
will.
HAKON.
Ay, in the days of your regency.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 6l
EARL SKULE.
Never have you had aught but good thereby.
Earl Jon wrote to me praying that I would mediate
on his behalf; he offered peace, but on terms
dishonourable to the King. The war in Vermeland
has weighed much upon your mind ; had this
matter been left to you, Earl Jon had come too
lightly off. I can deal better with him.
HA RON.
Twas our will to deal with him ourself. And
what answer made you ?
EARL SKULE.
Read my letter.
HiKON.
Give it me !
EARL SKULE.
I deemed you had it.
DAGFINN.
Nay, you know better than that. Gregorius
Jonsson was too swift of foot; when we came on
board, the letter was gone.
EARL SKULE.
[Turns to GREGORIUS JONSSON.] Sir Baron, give
the King the letter.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Coming close to him, uneasily.] Hearken
Earl !
EARL SKULE,
What now ?
62 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Softly.] Bethink you, there were sharp words
in it concerning the King.
EARL SKULE.
My words I shall answer for. The letter !
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
I have it not.
EARL SKULE.
You have it not !
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Dagfinn the Peasant was at our heels. I snatched
the letter from Jostein Tamb, tied a stone to it
EARL SKULE.
Well?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
It lies at the bottom of the fiord.
EARL SKULE.
You have done ill ill.
HAKON.
I await the letter, Sir Earl.
EARL SKULE.
I cannot give it you.
HAKON.
You cannot !
EARL SKULE.
[Advancing a step towards the KING.] My pride
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 63
brooks not to be put to shifts, as you and your
men would call it
HAKON.
[Controlling his rising wrath.] And so ?
EARL SKULE.
In one word I will not give it you !
HiKON.
Then you defy me !
EARL SKULE.
Since so it must be yes, I defy you.
IVAR BODDE.
[Forcibly.] Now, my lord King, I scarce think
you or any man can now need further proof !
DAGFINN.
Nay, now I think we know the Earl's mind.
HAKON.
[Coldly, to the EARL.] You will hand the Great
Seal to Ivar Bodde.
MARGRETE.
[Rushes with clasped hands towards the dais, where
the KING is standing.] Hakon, be a kind and
gracious husband to me !
[HAKON makes an imperative gesture towards
her; she hides her face in her veil, and
goes up towards her mother again.
EARL SKULE.
[To IVAR BODDE.] Here is the Great Seal.
64 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
IVAR BoDDE.
This was to be the last evening of the feast. It
has ended in a heavy sorrow for the King ; but
sooner or later it needs must come, and methinks
every true man must rejoice that it has come.
EARL SKULE.
And I think every true man must feel bitter
wrath to see a priest thus make mischief between
us Birchlegs ; ay, Birchlegs, I say ; for I am every
whit as good a Birchleg as the King or any of his
men. I am of the same stock, the stock of Sverre,
the kingly stock but you, Priest, you have built
up a wall of distrust around the King, and shut
me out from him ; that has been your task this
many a year.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Enraged, to the bystanders.] Earl's men ! Shall
we abide this longer ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Steps forward.'] No, we can and will no more
abide it. 'Tis time to say it plainly none of the
Earl's men can serve the King in full trust and love,
so long as Ivar Bodde comes and goes in the
palace, and makes bad blood between us.
PAUL FLIDA.
Priest ! I bid you look to life and limb, where-
soever I meet you in the field, on shipboard, or
in any unconsecrated house.
MANY EARL'S MEN.
I too ! I too ! You are an outlaw to us J
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 65
IVAR BoDDE.
God forbid that I should stand between the
King and so many mighty chieftains. Hakon, my
gracious lord, my soul bears me witness that I have
served you in all faithfulness. True, I have warned
you against the Earl ; but if I have ever done him
wrong, I pray God forgive me. Now have I no
more to do in the palace ; here is your Seal ; take
it into your own hands ; there it should have rested
long ago.
HAKON.
[Who has come down from the da'is.] You shall
remain !
IVAR BODDE.
I cannot. If I did, my conscience would gnaw
and rend me night and day. Greater evil can no
man do in these times than to hold the King and
the Earl asunder.
HAKON.
Ivar Bodde, I command you to remain !
IVAR BODDE.
If the Holy King Olaf should rise from his silver
shrine to bid me stay, still I needs must go.
[Places the Seal in the KING'S hand.] Farewell, my
noble master ! God bless and prosper you in all
your work !
[Goes out through the crowd, to the right.
HAKON.
[Gloomily, to the EARL and his men.] There have
I lost a trusty friend for your sakes; what requital
can you offer to make good that loss ?
66 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
EARL SKULE.
I offer myself and all my friends.
HA RON.
I almost fear 'twill not suffice. Now must I
gather round me all the men I can fully trust.
Dagfinn the Peasant, let a messenger set out
forthwith for Halogaland ; Vegarcl Vaeradal must
be recalled.
DAGFINN.
[Who has been standing somewhat toward* the back,
in conversation with a man in travelling dress who has
entered the half, approaches and says with emotion ;]
Vegard cannot come, my lord.
HAKON.
How know you that ?
DAGFINN.
I have even now had tidings of him.
HAKON.
What tidings?
DAGFINN.
That Vegard Vaeradal is slain.
MANY VOICES.
Slain !
HAKON.
Who slew him ?
DAGFINN.
Andres Skialdarband, the Earl's friend.
\_A short pause ; uneasy whispers pass among
the men.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 67
HAKON.
Where is the messenger ?
DAGFINN.
[Leading the man forward.] Here, my lord King.
HAKON.
What caused the slaying ?
THE MESSENGER.
That no man knows. The talk fell upon the
Finnish tribute, and on a sudden Andres sprang up
and gave him his death-wound.
HAKON.
Had there been quarrels between them before ?
THE MESSENGER.
Ever and anon. Andres would often say that a
wise councillor here in the south had written to
him that he should be as rock and flint toward
Vegard Vaeradal.
DAGFINN.
Strange ! Ere Vegard set forth he told me that
a wise councillor had said he should be as rock and
flint toward Andres Skialdarband.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Spitting.] Shame upon such councillors.
HAKON.
We will not question more closely from what root
this wrong has grown. Two faithful souls have I
lost this day. I could weep for Vegard , but 'tis
no time for weeping ; it must be life for life. Sir
68 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
Earl, Andres Skialdarband is your sworn retainer;
you offered me all service in requital for Ivar Bodde.
I take you at your word, and look to you to see
that this misdeed be avenged.
EARL SKULE.
Of a truth, bad angels are at work between us
to-day. On any other of my men, I would have
suffered you to avenge the murder -
[Expectantly.] Well ?
EARL SKULE.
But not on Andres Skialdarband.
HAKON.
[Flashing out.] Will you shield the murderer ?
EARL SKULE.
This murderer I must shield.
HAKON.
And the reason ?
EARL SKULE.
That none but God in heaven may know
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Softly, to DAOFINN.] I know it.
DAGFINN,
And I suspect it.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Say nought, good Dagfinn !
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 69
HAKON.
Earl, I will believe as long as I may, that you
mean not in good sooth what you have said to
me
EARL SKULE.
Were it my own father Andres Skialdarband
had slain, he should still go free. Ask me no more.
HAKON.
Good. Then we ourselves must do justice in
the matter !
EARL SKULE.
[With an expression of alarm.] There will be
bloodshed on both sides, my lord King !
HAKON.
So be it; none the less shall the deed be avenged.
EARL SKULE.
It shall not be ! It cannot be !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Nay, there the Earl is right.
HAKON.
Say you so, my honoured lord ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Andres Skialdarband has taken the Cross.
HAKON AND EARL SKULE.
Taken the Cross !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And has already sailed from the land.
70 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IL
EARL SKULE.
Tis well for all of us !
HlKON.
The day wanes ; the bridal- feast must now be
at an end. I thank you. Sir Earl, for all the honour
that has been shown me in these days. You are
bound for Nidaros, as I think r
EARL SKULE.
That is my intent.
HAKON.
And I for Viken. If you, Margrete, choose
rather to abide in Bergen, then do so.
MARGRETE.
Whither you go, I go, until you forbid.
HAKON.
Good ; then come with me.
SIGRID.
Now is our kindred spread far abroad. [Kneels
to HAKON.] Grant me a grace, my lord King.
HAKON.
Rise, Lady Sigrid ; whatever you crave shall be
granted.
SIGRID.
I cannot go with the Earl to Nidaros. The
nunnery at Rein will soon be consecrated ; write
to the Archbishop take order that I be made
Abbess.
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 71
EARL SKULE.
You, my sister ?
HAKON.
You will enter a nunnery !
SIGRID.
[Rising.] Since my wedding-night of blood,
when the Baglers came and hewed down my bride-
groom, and many hundreds with him, and fired
Nidarcs town at all its corners since then, it has
been as though the blood and flames had dulled
and deadened my sight for the world around me.
But power was given me to catch glimpses of that
which other eyes see not and one thing I see
now : a time of great dread hanging over this
land !
EARL SKULE.
[Vehemently.] She is sick ! Heed her not!
SIGRID.
A plenteous harvest is ripening for him that
reaps in the darkness. Every woman in Norway
will have but one task now to kneel in church
and cloister, and pray both day and night.
HAKON.
[Shaken.'] Is it prophecy or soul-sickness that
speaks thus ?
SIGRID.
Farewell, my brother we shall meet once more.
EARL SRULE.
[Involuntarily.] When ?
72 THE PRETENDERS. [.ACT II.
SlGRID.
[Softly.] When you take the crown ; in the hour
of danger, when you are fain of me Jr your direst
need.
[Goes out to the right, with MARGRETE, LADY
RAGNHILD, and the women.
HAKON.
[After a short pause, draws his sword, and says with
quiet determination.] All the Earl's men shall take
the oath of fealty.
EARL SKULE.
settled purpose ?
not so !
[Vehemently.] Is this your settlei
[Almost imploringly.] King Hakon, do
HAKON.
No Earl's man shall leave Bergen ere he has
sworn fealty to the King.
[Goes out with his Guard. All except the
EARL and the BISHOP follow him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He has dealt hardly with you to-day !
[EARL SKULE is silent, and looks out after the
KING, as though struck dumb.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[More loudly.] And mayhap not king-born after
all.
EARL SKULE.
[Turns suddenly, in strong excitement, and seises the
BISHOP by the arm.] Trond the Priest's confession
where is it ?
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 73
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He sent it to me from England ere he died ; I
know not by whom and it never reached me.
EARL SKULE.
But it must be found !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I doubt not but it may.
EARL SKULE.
And if you find it, you will give it into my hands ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
That I promise.
EARL SKULE.
You swear it by your soul's salvation ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I swear it by my soul's salvation !
EARL SKULE.
Good ; till that time I will work against Hakon,
wherever it can be done secretly and unnoted.
He must be hindered from growing mightier than
I, ere the struggle begins.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
But should it prove that he is in truth king-
born what then ?
EARL SKULE.
Then I must try to pray to pray for humble-
74 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT II.
ness, that I may serve him with all my might, as a
faithful chieftain.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
And if he be not the rightful king ?
EARL SKULE.
Then shall he give place to me ! The kingly
title and the kingly throne, host and guard, fleet
and tribute, towns and strongholds, all shall be
mine !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He will betake him to Viken
EARL SKULE.
I will drive him out of Viken !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He will establish himself in Nidaros.
EARL SKULE.
I will storm Nidaros !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He will shut himself up in Olaf's holy
church
EARL SKULE.
I will force the sanctuary
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He will fly to the high altar, and cling to Olaf s
shrine
EARL SKULE.
I will drag him down from the altar, though I
drag the shrine along with him
ACT II.] THE PRETENDERS. 75
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
But the crown will still be on his head, Earl
Skule !
EARL SKULE.
I will strike off the crown with my sword !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
But if it sits too tight ?
EARL SKULE.
Then, in God's name or Satan's I will strike off
the head along with it ! [Goes out to the right.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Loeks out after him, nods slowly, and says :] Ay
ay 'tis in this mood 1 like the Earl !
ACT THIRD.
A room in the Bishop's Palace at Oslo. 1 On the right
is the entrance door. In the back, a small door,
standing open, leads into the Chapel, which ts
lighted up. A curtained door in the left wall leads
into the Bishop's sleeping room. In front, on the
same side, stands a cushioned couch. Opposite,
on the nght, is a writing-table, with letters, docu-
ments, and a lighted lamp.
At first the room is empty ; behind the curtain on the
left, the singing of monks is heard. Present! if
PAUL FLIDA, in travelling dress, enters from the
right, stops by the door, waits, looks around, and
then knocks three limes with his staff upon the
Jioor.
SlRA VlLIAM.
[Comes out from the left, and exclaims in a hushed
voice.] Paul Flida ! God be praised ; then the
Earl is not far off.
PAUL FLIDA.
The ships are already at Hoved-isle ; I came on
ahead. And how goes it with the Bishop ?
SlRA VlLIAM,
He is even now receiving the Extreme
Unction.
1 An ancient city close to the present Christiania.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 77
PAUL FLIDA.
Then there is great danger.
SIRA VILIAM.
Master Sigard of Brabant has said that he can
not outlive the night.
PAUL FLIDA. *
Then meseems he has summoned us too late.
SIRA VILIAM.
Nay, nay, he has his full senses and some
strength to boot ; every moment he asks if the
Earl comes not soon.
PAUL FLIDA.
You still call him Earl ; know you not that the
King has granted him the title of Duke ?
SIRA VILIAM.
Ay, ay, we know it; 'tis but old custom. Hist !
[He and PAUL FLIDA cross themselves and
bow their heads. From the BISHOP'S door
issue two acolytes with candles, then two
more with censers ; then priests bearing
chalice, paten, and crucifix, and a church
banner ; behind them a file of priests and
monks ; acolytes with candles and censers
close the procession, which passes slowly
into the chapel. The door is shut behind
them.
PAUL FLIDA.
So now the old lord has made up his account
v/ith the world.
78 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
SlRA VlLIAM.
I can tell him that Duke Skule comes so soon
as may be ?
PAUL FLIDA.
He comes straight from the wharf up here to
the Palace. Farewell ! [Goes.
[Several priests, among them PETER, with
some of the BISHOP'S servants, come out
from the left rvith rugs, cushions, and a
large brazier,
SIRA VILIAM.
Why do you this ?
A PRIEST.
[Arranging Ike couch.] The Bishop wills to lie
out here.
SIRA VILIAM.
But is it prudent ?
THE PRIEST.
Master Sigard thinks we may humour him.
Here he is.
BISHOP NICHOLAS enters, supported by MASTER SIGARD
and a priest. He is in his canonicals, but without
crozier and mitre.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Light more candles. [He is led to a svat upon
the couch, near the brazier, and is covered rvith rugs. ]
Viliam ! Now have I been granted forgiveness
for all my sins ! They took them all away with
them ; meseems I am so light now.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 79
SlRA VlLIAM.
The Duke sends you greeting, my lord ; he has
already passed Hoved-isle!
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Tis well, very well. Belike the King, too,
will soon be here. I have been a sinful hound in
my day, Viliam; I have grievously trespassed
against the King. The priests in there averred
that all my sins should be forgiven me ; well
well, it may be so; but 'tis easy for them to
promise ; 'tis not against them that I have tres-
passed. No no; it is safest to have it from the
King's own mouth. [Exclaims impatiently.] Light,
I say ! 'tis so dark in here.
SIRA VILIAM.
The candles are lighted
MASTER SIGARD.
[Slops him by a sign, and approaches the BISHOP.]
How goes it with you, my lord ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
So-so so-so ; my hands and feet are cold.
MASTER SIGARD.
[Half aloud, as he moves the brazier nearer.] Ha
'tis the beginning of the end^
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Apprehensively, to VILIAM. J . I have commanded
that eight monks shall chant and pray for me in
80 THE PRETENDERS. [,\CT III.
the chapel to-night. Have an eye to them ; there
are idle fellows among them.
[SiRA VILIAM points silently towards the
chapel, whence singing is heard, which
continues during what follows.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
So much still undone, and to go and leave it
all ! So much undone, Viliam !
SIRA VILIAM.
My lord, think of heavenly things !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I have time before me ; till well on in the
morning, Master Sigard thinks
SIRA VILIAM.
My lord, my lord !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Give me mitre and crozier ! 'Tis very well for
you to say that I should think \A priest
brings them.] So, set the cap there, 'tis too
heavy for me ; give me the crozier in my hand ;
there, now am I in my armour. A bishop !
The Evil One dare not grapple with me now !
SIRA VILIAM.
Desire you aught beside ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
No. Stay tell me: Peter, Andres Skialdar-
band's son, all speak well of him
ACT III.J THE PRETENDERS. 81
SlRA VlLIAM.
Iii truth, his is a blameless soul.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Peter, you shall watch beside me until the
King or the Duke shall come. Leave us, mean-
while, ye others, but be at hand.
[ALL except PETER go out on the right.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[After a short pause.] Peter !
PETER.
[Approaches.] My lord ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Hast ever seen old men die ?
PETER.
No.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
They are all afeard ; that I dare swear. There
on the table lies a large letter with seals to it ;
give it to me. [PETER brings the lelter.] Tis to
your mother.
PETER.
To my mother?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You must get you northward with it to Halo-
galand. I have written to her touching a great
and weighty matter ; tidings have come from your
father.
PETER. k
He is fighting as a soldier of God in the Holy
82 THE PRETENDERS. TACT III.
Land. Should he fall there, he falls on hallowed
ground; for there every foot's-breadth of earth
is sacred. I commend him to God in all my
prayers.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Is Andres Skialdarband dear to you ?
PETER.
He is an honourable man ; but there lives
another man whose greatness my mother, as it
were, fostered and nourished me withal.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Hurriedly and eagerly.] Is that Duke Skule ?
PETER.
Ay, the Duke Skule Bardsson. My mother
knew him in younger days. The Duke must sure
be the greatest man in the land !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
There is the letter ; get you northward with it
forthwith ! Are they not singing in there ?
PETER.
They are, my lord !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Eight lusty fellows with throats like trumpets,
they must surely help somewhat, methinks.
PETER.
My lord, my lord ! Why not pray yourself !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I have too much still undone, Peter. Life is
ACT III.] TKR PRETENDERS. 83
all too short; besides, the King will surely for-
give me when he comes [Gives a start in pain
PETER.
You are suffering ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I suffer not ; but there is a ringing in mine ears,
a twinkling and flickering before mine eyes
PETER.
'Tis the heavenly bells ringing you home, and
the twinkling of the altar-lights God's angels
have lit for you.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, sure 'tis so ; there is no danger if only
they lag not with their prayers in there Fare-
well ; set forth at once with the letter.
PETER.
Shall I not first ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Nay, go ; I fear not to be alone.
PETER.
Well met again, then, what time the heavenly
bells shall sound for me too.
[Goes out on the right.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The heavenly bells, ay, 'tis easy talking when
you still have two stout legs to stand upon. So
much undone ! But much will live after me,
notwithstanding. I promised the Duke by my
soul's salvation to give him Trond the Priest's
84 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
confession if it came into my hand ; 'tis well I
have not got it. Had he certainty, he would
conquer or fall ; and then one of the twain would
be the mightiest man that ever lived in Norway.
No no, what / could not reach none other shall
reach. Uncertainty serves best; so long as the
Duke is burdened with that, they two will waste
each other's strength, wheresoever they may ;
towns will be burnt, dales will be harried,
neither will gain by the other's loss [Terrified.']
Mercy, pity ! It is I who bear the guilt I, who
set it all agoing ! [Calming himself.'] Well, well,
well ! but now the King is coming 'tis he that
suffers most he will forgive me prayers and
masses shall be said ; there is no danger ; I am
a bishop, and I have never slain any man with
mine own hand. 'Tis well that Trond the Priest's
confession came not ; the saints are with me, they
will not tempt me to break my promise. Who
knocks at the door ? It must be the Duke !
[Rubs his hands with gleeJ\ He will implore me for
proofs as to the kingship, and I have no proofs
to give him .'
INGA OF VARTEIG enters ; she is dressed in
black, with a cloak ami hood.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Starts.] Who is that?
INGA.
A woman from Varteig in Borgasyssel, my
honoured lord.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King's mother !
\CT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 85
INGA.
So was I called once.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Go, go ! Twas not I counselled Hakon to send
you away.
INGA
What the King does is well done ; 'tis not there-
fore I come.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Wherefore then ?
INGA.
Gunnulf, my brother, is come home from
England
BISHOP NICHOLAS
From England !
INGA.
He has been away these many years, as you
know, and has roamed far and wide ; now has he
brought home a letter
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Breathlessly.] A letter ?
INGA.
From Trond the Priest. Tis for you, my lord.
[Hands it to him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ah, truly ; and you bring it ?
INGA.
It was Trend's wish. I owe him great thanks
since the time he fostered Hakon. It was told
86 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
me that you were sick ; therefore I set forth at
once ; I have come hither on foot ~
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
There was no such haste, Inga !
DAGFINN THE PEASANT enters from the right.
DAGFINN.
God's peace, my honoured lord !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Comes the King ?
DAGFINN.
He is now riding down the Ryen hills, with
the Queen and the King-child and a great
following.
INGA.
[Rushes up to DAGFINN.] The King, the King !
Comes he hither?
DAGFINN.
Inga ! You here, much suffering woman !
INGA.
She is not much-suffering who has so great a
son.
DAGFINN.
Now will his hard heart be melted.
INGA.
Not a word to the King of me. Yet, oh, I
must see him ! Tell me, comes he hither ?
DAGFINN.
Ay, presently.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 8?
IXGA.
And it is dark evening. The King will be
lighted on his way with torches ?
DAGFINN.
Yes.
INGA.
Then will I hide me in a gateway as he goes
by ; and then home to Varteig. But first will
I into Hallvard's church ; the lights are burning
there to-night ; there will I call down blessings
on the King, on my fair son.
[Goes out to the right.
DAGFINN.
I have fulfilled mine errand ; I go to meet the
King.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Bear him most loving greeting, good Dagfinn !
DAGFINN.
[As he goes out to the right.] I would not be
Bishop Nicholas to-morrow.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Trond the Priest's confession ! So it has
come after all here I hold it in my hand [Miises
with a Jixed gaze.] A man should never promise
aught by his soul's salvation, when he is as old
as I. Had I years before me, I could always
wriggle free from such a promise ; but this
evening, this last evening no, that were im-
prudent. But can I keep it ? Is it not to endanger
y.ll that I have worked for, my whole life through ?
[Whispering.] Oh, could I but cheat the Evil
88 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT HI.
One, only this one more time ! [Listens.] What
was that? [Calls.] Viliam, Viliam !
SIIIA VILIAM enters from the rigid.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
What is it that whistles and howls so grimly?
SIRA VILIAM.
"I'is the storm ; it grows fiercer.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The storm grows fiercer ! Ay truly, I will keep
my promise ! The storm, say you ? Are they
singing in there ?
SIRA VILIAM.
Yes, my lord.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Bid them bestir themselves, and chiefly brother
Aslak ; he always makes such scant prayers ; he
shirks whenever he can ; he skips, the hound !
[Strikes the Jioor with his crazier.] Go in and
say to him 'tis the last night I have left ; he shall
bestir himself, else will I haunt him from the
dead !
SIRA VILIAM.
My lord, shall I not fetch Master Sigard ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Go in, I say ! [VILIAM goes into the chapel.]
It must doubtless be heaven's will that I should
reconcile the King and the Duke, since it sends
me Trend's letter now. This is a hard thing,
Nicholas ; to tear down at a single wrench what
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 89
you have spent your life in building up. But
there is no other way ; I must e'en do the will of
heaven this time. If I could only read what is
written in the letter ! But I cannot see a word !
Mists drive before my eyes ; they sparkle and
flicker; and I dare let none other read it for me !
To make such a promise ! Is human cunning,
then, so poor a thing that it cannot govern the
outcome of its contrivances in the second and
third degree ? I spoke so long and so earnestly
to Vegard Vaeradal about making the King send
Inga from him, that at length it came to pass.
That was wise in the first degree ; but had 1 not
counselled thus, then Inga had not now been at
Varteig, the letter had not coine into my hands in
time, and I had not had any promise to keep
therefore 'twas unwise in the second degree. Had
I yet time before me ! but only the space of
one night, and scarce even that. I must, I will
live longer ! [Knocks with his crosier ; a priest
enters from the right.] Bid Master Sigard come !
[ The priest goes ; the BISHOP crushes the letter in
his hands.] Here, under this thin seal, lies
Norway's saga for a hundred years ! It lies and
dreams, like the birdling in the egg ! Oh, that I
had more souls than one or else none ! [Presses
the letter wildly to his breast.] Oh, were not the
end so close upon me, and judgment and doom
I would hatch you out into a hawk that should
cast the dreadful shadow of his wings overall the
land, and strike his sharp talons into every heart !
[With a sudden shudder.] But the last hour is at
hand ! [Shrieking.] No, no ! You shall become
a swan, a white swan ! [Throivs the letter far from
him, on to the floor, and calls:] Master Sigard,
Master Sigard !
90 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
MASTER SIGARD.
[From Ike right.] How goes it, honoured lord !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Master Sigard sell me three days' life !
MASTER SIGARD.
1 have told you
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Yes, yes ; but that was in jest ; 'twas a little
revenge on me. I have been a tedious master
to you ; therefore you thought to scare me. Fie,
that was evil, nay, nay 'twas no more than 1
deserved ! But, now be good and kind ! I will
pay you well ; three days' life, Master Sigard,
only three days' life '
MASTER SIGARD.
Though I myself were to die in the same hour as
you, yet could I not add three days to your span.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
One day, then, only one day ! Let it be light,
let the sun shine when my soul sets forth ! Listen,
Sigard ! [Beckons him over, and drags him down
upon the couch.] I have given well-nigh all my
gold and silver to the Church, to have high
masses sung for me. I will take it back again;
you shall have it all ! How now, Sigard, shall \\e
two fool them in there ? He-he-he ! You will be
rich, Sigard, and can depart the country ; I shall
have time to cast about me a little, and make
shift with fewer prayers. Come, Sigard, shall
\ve ! [SiGARD feels his pulse ; the BISHOP
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS 91
exclaims anxiously :] How now, why answer you
not ?
MASTER SIGAUD.
[Rising.] I have no time, my lord. I must
prepare you a draught that may ease you some-
what at the last.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Nay, wait with that! Wait, and answer me !
MASTER SIGARO.
I have no time ; the draught must be ready
within an hour. [Goes out to the rio'it.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Within an hour ! [Knocks wildly.'] Viliani !
Viliam '
[SiRA VILIAM comes out from the chapfi
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Call more to help in there ! The eight are not
enough !
SIRA VILIAM.
My lord ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
More to help, I say ! Brother Kolbein has lain
sick these five weeks, he cannot have sinned
much in that time
SIRA VILIAM.
He was at shrift yesterday.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Eagerly.] Ay, he must be good ; call him
92 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
VILIAM goes into the chapel again. J Within an hour !
Dries the sweat off his brow.] Pah how hot it is
lere! The miserable hound what boots all his
learning, when he cannot add an hour to my life?
There sits he in his closet day by day, piecing
together his cunning wheels and weights and
levers; he thinks to fashion a machine that shall
go and go and never stop perpetmtm mobile
he calls it. Why not rather turn his art and
his skill to making man such a perpeluum mobile?
[Stops and thinks; his eyes iight vp.~[ Perpetuum
mobile, I am not strong in Latin but it means
somewhat that has power to work eternally,
through all the ages. If I myself, now, could
but ? That were a deed to end my life
withal ! That were to do my greatest deed in my
latest hour ! To set wheel and weight and lever
at work in the King's soul and the Duke's ; to set
them a-going so that no power on earth can stop
them ; if I can but do that, then shall I live
indeed, live in my work and, when I think of it,
mayhap 'tis that which is called immortality.
Comfortable, soothing thoughts, how ye do the old
man good ! [Draws a deep breath, and stretches
himself comfortably upon the couch .] Diabolus lias
pressed me hard to-night. That comes of lying idle ;
olium est pulvis pulveris pooh, no matter for the
Latin Diabolus shall no longer have power
over me ; I will be busy to the last ; I will ;
how they bellow in yonder [Knocks ; VILIAM
comes out.] Tell them to hold their peace; they
disturb me. The King and the Duke will soon
be here ; I have weighty matters to ponder.
SIIIA VILIAM.
My lord, shall 1 then ?
ACT KI.] THE PRETENDERS. 93
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Bid them hold awhile, that I may think in peact
Look you, take up yonder letter that lies upon the
floor. Good. Reach me the papers here
SlRA VlLIAM.
[Goes lo the writing-table.] Which, my lord ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
It matters not ; the sealed ones ; those
that lie uppermost So ; go now in and bid
them be silent. [VlUAll goes.\ To die, and yet
rule in Norway ! To die, and yet so contrive
things that no man may come to raise his head
above the rest. A thousand ways may lead
towards that goal ; yet can there be but one that
will reach it : and now to find that one to find
it and follow it Ha ! The way lies so close, so
close at hand ! Ay, so it must be. 1 will keep
my promise ; the Duke shall have the letter in
his hands ; but the King he shall have the
thorn of doubt in his heart. Hakon is upright, as
they call it ; many things will go to wreck in his
soul along with the faith in himself and in his
right. Both of them shall doubt and believe by
turns, still swaying to and fro, and finding no firm
ground beneath their feet perpelmnn mobile !
But will Hakon believe what I say? Ay, that will
he ; am I not a dying man ? And to prepare the
way I will feed him up with truths. My strength
fails, but fresh life fills my soul; I no longer lie
on a sick-bed, I sit in my workroom ; I will work
the last night through, work till the light goes
out
DUKE SKULE.
[Enters from the rigid and advances towards tht
94 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
BISHOP.] Peace and greeting, my honoured lord !
I hear it goes ill with you.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
I am a corpse in the bud, good Duke ; this
night shall I break into bloom ; to-morrow you
may scent my perfume.
DUKE SKULE.
Already to-night, say you ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Master Sigard says : within an hour.
DUKE SKULE.
And Trond the Priest's letter ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Think you still upon that ?
DUKE SKULE.
'Tis never out of my thoughts.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
The King has made you Duke ; before you, no
man in Norway has borne that title.
DUKE SKULE.
'Ti.> not enough. If Hakon be not the rightful
king, then must I have all '
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ha, 'tis cold in here ; the blood runs icy
through my limbs.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 95
DUKE SKULE.
Troncl the Priest's letter, my lord ! For
Almighty God's sake, have you it ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
At least, I know where it may be found.
DUKE SKULE.
Tell me then, tell me !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Wait
DUKE SKULE.
Nay, nay lose not your time ; I see it draws to
an end ; and 'tis said the King comes hither.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, the King comes ; thereby you may best see
that I am mindful of your cause, even now.
DUKE SKULE.
What is your purpose ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Mind you, at the King's bridal you said that
Hakon's strength lay in his steadfast faith in
himself?
DUKE SKULE.
Well ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
If I confess, and raise a doubt in his mind, then
his faith will fall, and his strength with it.
DUKE SKULE.
My lord,this is sinful, sinful, if he be the rightful
king.
96 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
'Twill be in your power to restore his faith.
Ere I depart hence, I will tell you where Trend
the Priest's letter may be found.
SIRA VILIAM.
[From the right.] The King is now coming tip
the street, with torch-bearers and attendants.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
He shall be welcome. [VILIAM goes.] Duke, I
beg of you one last service : do you carry on my
feuds against all mine enemies. [Takes out a
teller.] Here I have written them down. Those
whose names stand first I would fain have hanged,
if it could be so ordered.
DUKE SKULE.
Think not upon vengeance now ; you have but
little time left
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Not on vengeance, but on punishment. Promise
me to wield the sword of punishment over all mine
enemies when I am gone. They are your foemen
no less than mine ; when you are King you must
chastise them ; do you promise me that ?
DUKE SKULE.
I promise and swear it; but Trend's letter !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You shall learn where it is ; but see the King
comes ; hide the list of our foemen !
[The DUKE hides the paper; at the same
moment H!KON enters from the right.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 97
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Well met at the grave-feast, my lord King.
HAKON.
You have ever withstood me stubbornly ; but
that shall be forgiven and forgotten now; death
wipes out even the heaviest reckoning.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
That lightened my soul ! Oh how marvellous
is the King's clemency ! My lord, what you
have done for an old sinner this night shall be
tenfold
HiKON.
No more of that ; but I must tell you that I
greatly marvel you should summon me hither to
obtain my forgiveness, and yet prepare for me such
a meeting as this.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Meeting, my lord ?
DUKE SKULE.
'Tis of me the King speaks. Will you, my lord
Bishop, assure King Hakon, by my faith and
honour, that I knew nought of his coming, ere I
landed at Oslo wharf?
B.'SHOP NICHOLAS.
Alas, alas ! The blame is all mine ! I have
been sickly and bedridden all the last year ; I
have learnt little or nought of the affairs of the
kingdom ; I thought all was now well between
the princely kinsmen !
J8 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III,
HAKON.
I have marked that the friendship between the
Duke and myself thrives best when we hold aloof
from one another ; therefore farewell, Bishop
Nicholas, and God be with you where you are now
to go. [Goes towards the door.
DUKE SKULE.
[Softly and uneasily.] Bishop, Bishop, he is
going !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Suddenly and with wild energy.] Stay, King
Hakon !
HAKON.
[Stops.] What now ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
You shall not leave this room until old Bishop
Nicholas has spoken his last word !
HAKON.
[Instinctively lays his hand upon his sn-ord.]
Mayhap you have come well attended to Vjken,
Duke.
DUKE SKULE.
I have no part in this.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
'Tis by force of words that I will hold you.
Where there is a burial in the house, the dead
man ever rules the roost ; he can do and let alone
as he will so far as his power may reach. There-
fore will I now speak my own funeral-speech ; in
days gone by, I was ever sore afraid lest King
Sverre should come to speak it
III.] THE PRETENDERS. 99
HAKON.
Talk not so wildly, my lord !
DUKE SKULE.
You shorten the precious hour still left to you !
HAKON.
Your eyes are already dim
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, my sight is dim ; I scarce can see you where
you stand ; but before my inward eye, my life
is moving in a blaze of light. There I see
sights ; hear and learn, O King ! My race
was the mightiest in the land ; many great
chieftains had sprung from it ; 7 longed to be
the greatest of them all. I was yet but a boy
when I began to thirst after great deeds; me-
seemed I could by no means wait till 1 were
grown. Kings arose who had less right than I,
Magnus Erlingsson, Sverre the Priest ; I also
would be king ; but I must needs be a chieftain
first. Then came the battle at Ilevoldene ; 'twas
the first time I went out to war. The sun went
up : and glittering lightnings flashed from a
thousand burnished blades. Magnus and all his
men advanced as to a game ; I alone felt a
tightness at my heart. Fiercely our host swept
forward ; but I could not follow I was afraid !
All Magnus's other chieftains fought manfully,
and many fell in the fight ; but I fled up over the
mountain, and ran and ran, and stayed not until
T came down to the fiord again, far away. Many
a man had to wash his bloody clothes in
Trondheim-fiord that night ; I had to wash mine
100 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
too, but not from blood. Ay, King, I was afraid ;
born to be a chieftain and afraid ! It fell
upon me as a thunderbolt ; from that hour I
hated all men. I prayed secretly in the churches,
I wept and knelt before the altars, I gave rich
gifts, made sacred promises ; I tried and tried in
battle after battle, at Saltosund, at Jonsvoldene
that summer the Baglers lay in Bergen, but ever
in vain. Sverre it was who first noted it ; he
proclaimed it loudly and with mockery, and from
that day forth, not a man in the host but laughed
when Nicholas Arnesson was seen in war-weed.
A coward, a coward and yet was I filled with
longing to be a chief, to be a king; nay, I felt I
was born to be King. I could have furthered
God's kingdom upon earth ; but 'twas the saints
themselves that barred the way for me.
HAKON.
Accuse not heaven, Bishop Nicholas ! You have
hated much.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Ay, I have hated much ; hated every head in
this land that raised itself above the crowd. But
I hated because 1 could not love. Fair women,
oh, I could devour them even now with glistening
eyes ! I have lived eighty years, and yet do I
yearn to kill men and clasp women ; but my lot
in love was as my lot in war : nought but an
itching will, my strength sapped from my birth ;
dowered with seething desire and yet a weak-
ling ! So I became a priest : king or priest must
that man be who would have all might in his
hands. [Laughs.] I a priest ! I a churchman !
Yes, for one clerkly office Heaven had notably
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 101
fitted me for taking the high notes for singing
with a woman's voice at the great church-festivals.
And yet they up yonder claim of me the half-
man what they have a right to claim only of
those whom they have in all things fitted for their
life-work ! There have been times when I fancied
such a claim might be just ; I have lain here on
my sick-bed crushed by the dread of doom and
punishment. Now it is over; my soul has fresh
marrow in its bones ; 1 have not sinned ; it is /
that have suffered wrong ; / am the accuser !
DUKE SKULE.
[Softly.] My lord the letter ! You have little
time left .
HAKON.
Think of your soul, and humble you !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
A man's life-work is his soul, and my life-work
still shall live upon the earth. But you, King
Hakon, you should beware ; for as Heaven has
stood against m e, and reaped harm for its reward,
so are you standing against the man who holds
the country's welfare in his hand
HAKON.
Ha Duke, Duke ! Now I see the bent of this
meeting !
DUKE SKULE.
[Vehemently, to the BISHOP.] Not a word more of
this!
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[To HAKON.] He will stand against you so long
102 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
as his head sits fast on his shoulders. Share with
him ! I will have no peace in my coffin, I will
rise again, if you two share not the kingdom !
Neither of you shall add the other's height to his
own stature. If that befell, there would be a
giant in the land, and here shall no giant be ; for
I was never a giant !
[Sinks back exhausted on the couch.
DUKE SKULE.
[Falls on his knees beside the couch and cries to
HlKON.J Summon help ! For God's pity's sake;
the Bishop must not die yet !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
How it waxes dusk before my eyes ! King, for
the last time will you share with the Duke ?
HAKON.
Not a shred will I let slip of that which God
gave me.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Well and good. [Softly.] Your faith, at least,
you shall let slip. [Calls.] Viliam !
DUKE SKULE.
[Sojlly.] The letter ! The letter !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Not listening to him.] Viliam! [ViLiAM enters ;
the BISHOP draws him close down to him and whispers.]
When I received the Extreme Unction, all my sins
were forgiven me ?
SIRA VILIAM.
All your sins from your birth, till the moment
you received the Unction.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 103
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
No longer ? Not until the very end ?
SlRA VlLIAM.
You will not sin to-night, my lord !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Who can tell ? Take the golden goblet
Bishop Absalon left me give it to the Church
and say seven high masses more.
SIRA VILIAM.
God will be gracious to you, my lord I
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Seven more masses, I say for sins 1 may
commit to-night ! Go, go ! [VILIAM goes ; the
BISHOP turns to SKULE.] Duke, if you should
come to read Trond the Priest's letter, and it
should mayhap prove that Hakon is the rightful
king what would you do then ?
DUKE SKULE.
In God's name king he should remain.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Bethink you ; much is at stake. Search every
fold of your heart ; answer as though you stood
before your Judge ! What will you do, if he be
the rightful king?
DUKE SKULE.
Bow my head and serve him.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Mumbles.] So, so : then bide the issue. [To
104- THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
SKULE.] Duke, I am weak and weary ; a mild and
charitable mood comes over me
DUKE SKULE.
It is death 1 Trond the Priest's letter ! Where
is it ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
First another matter ; 1 gave you the list of
my enemies
DUKE SKULE.
[Impatiently.] Yes, yes ; I will take full revenge
upon them
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
No, my soul is filled with mildness ; I will for-
give, as the Scripture commands. As you would
forgo might, I will forgo revenge. Burn the
list!
DUKE SKULE.
Ay, ay ; as you will.
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
Here, in the brazier ; so that I may see it
DUKE SKULE.
[Throws the paper into the /ire.] There, then ;
see, it burns. And now, speak, speak. You risk
thousands of lives if you speak not now !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[With sparkling eyes.] Thousands of lives.
[Shrieks.] Light ! Air!
HAKON.
[Rushes to the door and cries.] Help ! The Bishop
is dying !
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 105
SIRA VILIAM and several of the BISHOP'S men enter.
DUKE SKULE.
[Shakes the BISHOP'S arm.] You risk Norway's
happiness through hundreds of years, mayhap its
greatness to all eternity !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
To all eternity ! [Triumphantly.] Perpetuum
mobile !
DUKE SKULE.
By our soui's salvation, where is Trond the
Priest's letter ?
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Calls.] Seven more masses, Viliam '
DUKE SKULE.
[Beside himself.] The letter ! The letter !
BISHOP NICHOLAS.
[Smiling in his death-agony.] 'Twas it you burned,
good Duke ! [Falls back on the couch and dies.
DUKE SKULE.
[With an involuntari) cry, starts backwards and
covers his face with his hands.] Almighty God !
THE MONKS.
^Rushing in flight from the chapel J\ Save you,
all who can !
SOME VOICES.
The powers of evil have broken loose !
OTHER VOICES.
There rang a loud laugh from the corner ! A
106 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
voice cried : " We have him ! " All the
lights went out '
HAKON.
Bishop Nicholas is even now dead.
THE MONKS.
[Fleeing to the right.] Pater noster Pater noster
HAKON.
[Approaches SKULE, and says in a low voice.]
Duke, I will not question what secret counsel you
were hatching with the Bishop ere he died ; but
from to-morrow must you give up your powers and
dignities into my hands ; I see clearly now that
we two cannot go forward together.
DUKE SKULE.
[Looks at him absently.] Go forward to-
gether ?
HAKOW.
To morrow I hold an Assembly in the Palace ;
then must all things be made clear between us.
[Goes out to the right.
DUKE SKULE.
The Bishop dead and the letter burnt ! A life
full of doubt and strife and dread ! Oh, could I
but pray! No I must act; this evening must the
stride be taken, once for all! [To VILIAM.] Whither
went the King ?
SIRA VILIAM.
[Terrified.] Christ save me, what would you
With him?
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 107
DUKE SKULE.
Think you I would slay him to-night ?
[Goes out to the right.
SlRA VlLIAM.
[Looks after him, shaking his head, while the house-
folk bear the body out to the left.] Seven more
masses, the Bishop said ; I think 'twere safest we
should say fourteen. [Follows the others.
A room in the Palace. In the back is the entrance
door ; in each of the side walls a smaller door ;
in front, on the right, a window. Hung from
the roof, a lamp is burning. Close to the door
on the left stands a bench, and further back a
cradle, in which the King-child is sleeping;
MARGRETE is kneeling beside the child.
MARGRETE.
[Rocks the cradle and sings]
Now roof and rafters blend with
the starry vault on high ;
now flieth little Hakon
on dream-wings through the sky.
There mounts a mighty stairway
from earth to God's own land ;
there Hakon with the angels
goes climbing, hand in hand.
God's angel-babes are watching
thy cot, the still night through;
God bless thee, little Hakon,
thy mother vratcheth too.
108 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT UL
A short pause. DUKE SKULE enters from the back,
MARGRETE.
[Starts up with a cry of joy and rushes to meet him.]
My father ! Oh, how I have sighed and yearned
for this meeting !
DUKE SKULE.
God's peace be with you, Margrete ! Where is
the King ?
MARGRETE.
With Bishop Nicholas.
DUKE SKULE.
Ha, then must he soon be here.
MARGRETE.
And you will talk together and be at one, be
friends again, as in the old days ?
DUKE SKULE.
That would I gladly.
MARGRETE.
'Twould rejoice Hakon no less ; and I pray to
God every day that so it may be. Oh, but come
hither and see
[Takes his hand and leads him to the cradle,
DUKE SKULE.
Your child !
MARGRETE.
Ay, that lovely babe is mine ; is it not mar-
vellous ? He is called Hakon, like the King !
See, his eyes nay, you cannot see them now he
is sleeping but he has great blue eyes ; and he
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 10p
can laugh, and reach forth his hands to take hold
of me, and he knows me already.
[Smoothes out the bed-clothes tenderly.
DUKE SKULE.
Hakon will have sons, the Bishop foretold.
MARGRETE.
To me this little child is a thousand times
dearer than all Norway's land and to Hakon too.
Meseems I cannot rightly believe my happiness ;
I have the cradle standing by my bedside ; every
night, as often as I waken, I look to see if it be
there I am fearful lest it should prove to be all
a dream
DUKE SKULE.
[Listens and goes to the window J\ Is not that the
King ?
MARGRETE.
Ay ; he is going up the other stair ; I will bring
him. [Takes her father s hand and leads him play-
fully up to the cradle.} Duke Skule ' Keep
watch over the King-child the while for he is a
King-child too though I can never remember it!
Should he wake, then bow deeply before him, and
hail him as men hail kings ! Now will I bring
Hakon. Oh, God, God ! now at last come light and
peace over our house. [Goes out to the rig/it.
DUKE SKULE.
[After a short and gloomy silence.] Hakon has a
son. His race shall live after him. If he die, he
leaves an heir who stands nearer the throne than
all others. All things thrive with Hakon. May-
hap he is not the rightful king ; but his faith in
110 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT "II.
himself stands firm as ever; the Bishop would
have shaken it, but Death gave him not time, God
gave him not leave. God watches over Hakon,
and suffers him to keep the girdle of strength.
Were I to tell him now ? Were I to make oath
to what the Bishop told me ? What would it
avail? None would believe me, neither Hakon
nor the others. He would have believed the
Bishop in the hour of death ; the doubt would
have rankled poisonously in him ; but it was not
to be. And deep-rooted as is Hakon's faith, so is
my doubt deep-rooted ; what man on earth can
weed it out ? None, none. The ordeal has been
endured, God has spoken, and still Hakon may
not be the rightful king, while my life goes to
waste. [Seats himself broodiiiglij beside a table on
the right.] And if, now, I won the kingdom,
would not the doubt dwell with me none the less,
gnawing and wearing and wasting me away, with
its ceaseless icy drip, drip. Aye ; but 'tis better
to sit doubting on the throne than to stand down
in the crowd, doubting of him who sits there in
your stead. There must be an end between me
and Hakon ! An end ? But how ? [Rises.]
Almighty, thou who hast thus bestead me, thou
must bear the guilt of the issue ! [Goes to and
fro, slops and reflects.] I must break down all
bridges, hold only one, and there conquer or fall
as the Bishop said at the bridal-feast at Bergen.
That is now nigh upon three years since, and
through all that time have I split up and spilt my
strength in trying to guard all the bridges. [With
energy.] Now must I follow the Bishop's counsel;
now or never ! Here are we both in Oslo ; this
time I have more men than Hakon ; why not
seize the advantage 'tis so seldom on my side.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. Ill
[Vacillating.] But to-night ? At once ?
No, no ! Not to-night ! Ha-ha-ha there
again! pondering, wavering! Hakon knows not
what that means ; he goes straight forward,
and so he conquers ! [Going up the room, stops
suddenly beside the cradle.] The King-child !
How fair a brow ! He is dreaming. [Smoothes
out the bed-clothes, and looks long at the child] Such
an one as thou can save many things in a man's
soul. I have no son. [Bends over the cradle] He.
is like Hakon [Shrinks suddenly backwards]
The King-child, said the Queen ! Bow low before
him and hail him as men hail kings ! Should
Hakon die before me, this child will be raised to
the throne ; and I I shall stand humbly before
him, and bow low and hail him as king ! [In
rising agitation] This child, Hakon's son, shall sit
on high, on the seat that should in right, mayhap,
be mine and I shall stand before his footstool,
white-haired and bowed with age, and see my
whole life-work lying undone die without having
been king ! I have more men than Hakon there
blows a storm to-night, and the wind sweeps down
the fiord ! If I took the King-child ? I am
safe with the Tronders. * What would Hakon
dare attempt, were his child in my power ? My
men will follow me, fight for me and conquer.
Their reward shall be kingly, and they know it.
So shall it be ! I will take the stride ; I will
leap the abyss, for the first time ! Could I but
see if thou hast Sverre's eyes or Hakon Sverres-
son's ! He sleeps. I cannot see them. [A
pause] Sleep is as a shield. Sleep in peace, thou
little Pretender ! [Goes over to the table] Hakon
shall decide ; once again will I speak with him.
1 Men of the Trondheim district.
112 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III,
MARGRETE.
[Enters, with the KING, from the room on the nghl !.]
The Bishop dead \ Oh, trust me, all strife dies
with him.
HAKON.
To bed, Margrete ! You must be weary after
the journey.
MARGRETE.
Yes, yes. \Tothe DUKE.] Father, be kind and
yielding Hakon has promised to be the like ! A
thousand good-nights, to both of you !
[Makes a gesture of farewell at the door on
the left, and goes out ; trvo women carry
out the cradle.
DUKE SKULE.
King Hakon, this time we must not part as foes.
All evil will follow ; there will fall a time of dread
upon the land.
HAKON.
The land has known nought else through many
generations ; but, see you, God is with me ; every
foeman falls that would stand against me. There
are no more Baglers, no Slittungs, no Ribbungs ;
Earl Jon is slain, Guthorm Ingesson is dead, Sigurd
Ribbung likewise all claims that were put forth
at the folkmote at Bergen have fallen powerless
from whom, then, should the time of dread come
now ?
DUKE SKULE.
Hakon, I fear me it might come from me !
HlKON.
When I came to the throne, I gave you the third
part of the kingdom
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. US
DUKE SKULE.
But kept two-thirds yourself!
HAKON.
You ever thirsted after more ; I eked out your
share until now you hold half the kingdom.
DUKE SKULE.
There lack ten ship- wards. 1
HAKON.
I made you Duke ; that has no man been in
Norway before you.
DUKE SKULE.
But you are king ! I must have no king over
me ! I was not born to serve you ; I must rule in
my own right !
HAKON.
[Looks at him for a moment, and says coldly .]
Heaven guard your understanding, my lord. Good
night. [Going.
DUKE SKULE.
[Blocking the rvayJ\ You shall not go from me
thus ! Beware, or I will forswear all faith with
you ; you can no longer be my overlord ; we two
must share !
HAKON.
You dare to say this to me !
DUKE SKULE.
I have more men than you in Oslo, Hakon
Hakonsson.
1 Skibreder, districts each of which furnished a ship to the
fleet
114 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
HAKON.
Mayhap you think to
DUKE SKULE.
Hearken to me ! Think of the Bishop's words !
Let us share ; give me the ten ship-wards ; let me
hold my share as a free kingdom, without tax or
tribute. Norway has ere this been parted into two
kingdoms; we will hold firmly together
HiKON.
Duke, you must be soul-sick, that you can crave
such a thing.
DUKE SKULE.
Ay, I am soul-sick, and there is no other healing
for me. We two must be equals ; there must be
no man over me !
HAKON.
Every treeless skerry is a stone in the building
which Harald Harfager and the sainted King Olaf
reared ; would you have me break in twain what
they have mortised together ? Never !
DUKE SKULE.
Well, then let us reign by turns; let each bear
sway for three years ! You have reigned long ;
now my turn has come. Depart from the land for
three years ; I will be king the while ; I will even
out your paths for you against your home-coming ;
I will guide all things for the best; it wears and
blunts the senses to sit ever on the watch. Hakon,
hear me three years each ; let us wear the crown
by turns !
HAKON.
Think you my crown would fit well on your brow?
ACT II1.J THE PrtETENDERS. JJ5
DUKE SKULE.
No crown is too wide for me !
HAKON.
It needs a God-sent right and a God-sent calling
to wear the crown.
DUKE SKULE.
And know you so surely that you have a God-
sent right ?
HAKON.
I have God's own word for it.
DUKE SKULE.
Rest not too surely on that. Had the Bishop
had time to speak but that were bootless now ;
you would not believe me. Ay, truly you have
mighty allies on high ; but I defy you none the
less ! You will not reign by turns with me ?
Well then must we try the last resort ; Hakon,
let us two fight for it, man to man, with heavy
weapons, for life or death !
HAKON.
Speak you in jest, my lord ?
DUKE SKULE.
I speak for my life-work and for my soul's
salvation '
HAKON.
Then is there small hope for the saving of your
soul.
DUKE SKULE.
You will not fight with me? You shall, you shall I
116 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
HlKON.
Oh blinded man ! I cannot but pity you. You
think 'tis the Lord's calling that draws you toward
the throne ; you see not that 'tis nought but pride
of heart. What is it that allures you ? The royal
circlet, the purple-bordered mantle, the right to
be seated three steps above the floor ; pitiful,
pitiful : Were that kingship, I would cast it into
your hat, as I cast a groat to a beggar.
DUKE SKULE.
You have known me since your childhood, and
you judge me thus '
HlKON.
You have wisdom and courage and all noble
gifts of the mind ; you are born to stand nearest a
king, but not to be a king yourself.
DUKE SKULE.
That will we now put to the proof!
HAKON.
Name me a single king's-task you achieved in
all the years you were regent for me ! Were the
Baglers or the Ribbungs ever mightier than then?
You were in ripe manhood, yet the land was
harried by rebellious factions; did you quell a single
one of them ? I was young and untried when I
came to the helm look at me all fell before me
when I became king ; there are no Baglers, no
Ribbungs left !
DUKE SKULE.
Beware how you boast of that; for there lies
the greatest danger. Party must stand against
party, claim against claim, region against region,
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 117
if the king is to have the might. Every village,
every family, must either need him dr fear him.
If you strike at the root t)f faction, at the same
stroke you kill your own power.
HA RON.
And you would be king you, who think such
thoughts ! You had been well h'tted for a chief-
tain's part in Erling Skakke's days; but the time
has grown away from you, and you know it not.
See you not, then, that Norway's realm, as Harald
and Olaf built it up, may be likened to a church
that stands as yet unconsecrate ? The walls soar
aloft with mighty buttresses, the vaultings have a
noble span, the spire points upward, like a fir-tree
in the forest ; but the life, the throbbing heart,
the fresh blood-stream, is lacking to the work ;
God's living spirit is not breathed into it ; it stands
unconsecrate. / will bring consecration ! Norway
has been a kingdom, it shall become a people.
The Tronder has stood against the man of Viken,
the Agdeman against the Hordalander, the Halo-
galander against the Sogndalesman; all shall be
one hereafter, and all shall feel and know that
they are one ! That is the task which God has
laid on my shoulders; that is the work which now
lies before the King of Norway. That life-work,
Duke, I think you were best to leave untried, for
truly it is beyond you.
DUKE SKULE.
[Impressed.] To unite ? To unite the
Tronders and the men of Viken, all Norway ?
[Sceptically.] 'Tis impossible ! Norway's saga
tells of no such thing !
118 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT HI.
HA RON.
For you 'tis impossible, for you can but work
out the old saga afresh ; for me, 'tis as easy as for
the falcon to cleave the clouds.
DUKE SKULE.
\In uneasy agitation] To unite the whole people
- to awaken, it so that it shall know itself one !
Whence got you so strange a thought ? It runs
through me like ice and fire. [Vehementhj .] It
comes from the devil, Hakon ; it shall never be
carried through while I have strength to buckle
on my helm.
HiKON.
'Tis from God the thought comes to me, and
never shall I let it slip while I bear St. Olaf's
circlet on my brow !
DUKE SKULE.
Then must St. Olaf's circlet fall from your
brow !
HAKON.
Who will make it fall ?
DUKE SKULE.
I, if none other.
HAKON.
You, Skule, will be harmless after to-morrow's
Assembly.
DUKE SKULE.
Hakon ! Tempt not God ! Drive me not out
upon the last ledge of the deep !
HAKON.
[Points la the door.] Go, my lord and be it
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 119
forgotten that we have spoken with sharp tongues
this night.
DUKE SKULE.
[Looks hard at him for a moment, and says :]
Next time, 'twill be with sharper tongues we speak.
[Goes to the back.
HAKON.
\AJ~ter a short pause.] He threatens ! No, no, it
cannot come to that. He must, he shall give way
and do my will ; I have need of that strong arm,
that cunning brain. Whatsoever courage and
wisdom and strength there may be in this land, all
gifts that God has endowed men withal, are but
granted them to my uses. For my service did all
noble gifts fall to Duke Skule's share ; to defy me
is to defy Heaven ; 'tis my duty to punish whoso-
ever shall set himself up against Heaven's will
for Heaven has done so much for me.
DAGFINN THE PEASANT.
[Enters from the back.] Be on your guard to-
night, my lord ; the Duke has surely evil in his
mind.
HAKON.
What say you ?
DAGFINN.
What maybe his drift, I know, not; but sure am
I that something is brewing.
HlKON.
Can he think to fall upon us? Impossible,
impossible !
DAGFINN.
No, 'tis something else. His ships lie clear for
sailing ; he has summoned an Assembly on board
them.
120 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT* III.
HiKON.
You must mistake ! Go, Dagfinn, and bring
me sure tidings.
DAGFINN.
Ay ay, trust to me. [Goes.
HiKON.
No, 'tis not to be thought of! The Duke dare
not rise against me. God will not suffer it God,
who has hitherto guided all things for me so
marvellously. I must have peace now, for 'tis now
I must set about my work ! I have done so little
yet ; but I hear the unerring voice of the Lord
calling to me : Thou shalt do a great king's-work
in Norway !
GREOORIUS JONSSON.
[Enters from the back.] My lord and King !
HAKON.
Gregorius Jonsson ! Come you hither ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
I offer myself for your service. Thus far have
I followed the Duke ; but now I dare follow him
no further.
HAKON.
What has befallen ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
That which no man will believe, when 'tis
rumoured through the land.
HAKON.
Speak, speak !
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 121
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
I tremble to hear the sound of my own words ;
know then-
[He seizes the KING'S arm and whispers.
HA RON.
[Starts backwards with a cry.'] Ha, are you dis-
traught ?
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Would to God I were.
HiKON.
Unheard of ! No, it cannot be true !
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
By Christ's dear blood, so is it !
HiKON.
Go, go ; sound the trumpet-call for my guard ;
get all my men under arms.
[GREGORIUS JONSSON goes,
HAKON.
[Paces the room once or twice, then goes quickly up
to the door of MARGRETE'S chamber, knocks at it, takes
one or two more turns through the room, then goes again
to the door, knocks, and calls.'] Margrete !
[Goes on pacing up and down.
MARGRETE.
[In the doorway, attired for the night, with her hair
down ; she has a red cloak round her shoulders, hold-
ing it close together over her breast.] Hakon ! Is it
you?
122 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
HAKON.
Yes, yes ; come hither.
MARGRETE.
Oh, but you must not look at me ; I was in bed
already.
HAKON.
I have other things to think of.
MARGRETE.
What has befallen.
HAKON.
Give me a good counsel ! I have even now
received the worst tidings.
MARGRETE.
[Alarmed.] What tidings, Hakon ?
HAKON.
That there are now two kings in Norway.
MARGRETE.
Two kings in Norway ! Hakon, where is my
father ?
HAKON.
He has proclaimed himself king on board his
ship ; now he is sailing to Nidaros to be crowned.
MARGRETE.
Oh God, thou almighty !
[Sinks down on the bench, covers her face
with her hands and weeps. ~\
HAKON.
Two kings in the land !
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 123
MARGRETE.
My husband the one my father the other !
HAKON.
[Pacing restlessly up and down.] Give me a good
counsel, Margrete ! Should I cross the country by
way of the Uplands, come first to Nidaros, and
prevent the crowning ? No, it may not be done ;
My men are too few ; there in the north he is more
powerful than I. Give me counsel ; how can I
have the Duke slain, ere he come to Nidaros ?
MARGRETE.
[Imploringly, with folded hands.] Hakon, Hakon !
HAKON.
Can you not hit upon a good device, I say, to
have the Duke slain ?
MARGRETE.
[Sinks down from the bench in agony and remains
kneeling.'] Oh, can you so utterly forget that he is
my father ?
HAKON.
Your father ; ay, ay, it is true ; I had for-
gotten. [Raises her up.] Sit, sit, Margrete ;
comfort you ; do not weep ; you have no fault in
this. [Goes over to the window.] Duke Skule will
be worse for me than all other foemen ! God,
God, why hast thou stricken me so sorely, when
I have in nowise sinned ! [A knock at the door in
the back ; he starts, listens, and cries :] Who knocks
so late ?
INGA'S VOICE.
[ Without.] One who is a-cold, Hakon !
1-4 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT III.
HAKON.
[ With a cry.] My mother !
MARGRETE.
[Springs up.~\ Inga !
HAKON.
[Rushes to the door and opens it ; INGA is silling on
the doorstep.] My mother ! Sitting like a dog
outside her son's door ! And I ask why God has
stricken me !
INGA.
[Stretches out her arms towards him.] Hakon, my
child ! Blessings upon you !
HAKON.
[Raising her up.] Come come in ; here are
light and warmth !
INGA.
May I come in to you ?
HAKON.
Never shall we part again.
INGA.
My son my King oh, but you are good and
loving ! I stood in a corner and saw you, as you
came from the Bishop's Palace ; you looked so
sorrowful; I could not part from you thus.
HAKON.
God be thanked for that ! No one, truly,
could have come to me more welcome than you
Margrete my mother I have sorely sinned ; I
have barred my heart against you two, who are so
rich in love.
ACT III.] THE PRETENDERS. 125
MARGRETE.
[Falls on his neckJ] Oh, Hakon, my beloved
husband; do I stand near you now?
HAKON.
Ay, near me, near me ; not to give me cunning
counsels, but to shed light over my path. Come
what will, I feel the Lord's strength within me !
DAGFINN THE PEASANT.
[Enters hastily from the back.] My lord, my lord !
The worst has befallen !
HAKON.
[Smiles confidently while he holds MARGRETE and
INGA closely to him.] I know it ; but there is nought
to fear, good Dagfinn ! If there be two kings
in Norway, there is but one in Heaven and He
will set all straight !
ACT FOURTH.
The great kail in Oslo Palace. KING SKULE is
feasting with the Guard and his Chiefs. In
front, on the left, stands the throne, where SKULE
sits, richly attired, with a purple mantle and the
royal circlet on his head.. The supper-table, by
which the guests are seated, stretches from the
throne towards the background. Opposite to
SKULE sit PAUL FLIDA and BARD BRATTE. Some
of the humbler guests are standing, to the right.
It is late evening ; the hall is brightly lighted.
The banquet is drawing to a close ; the men are
very merry, and some of them drunk ; they drink
to each other, laugh, and all talk together.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Rises and strikes the table.] Silence in the hall ;
Jatgeir Skald will say forth his song in honour of
King Skule.
JATGEIR.
[Stands out in the middle of the floor. 1
Duke Skule he summoned the Orething 2
when 'twas mass-time in Nidaros town ;
and the bells rang and swords upon bucklers
clashed bravely
when Duke Skule he donned the crown.
King Skule marched over the Dovrefjeld,
his host upon snow-shoes sped ;
i The metre of this song is very rugged in the original, and
the wording purposely uncouth. a See note, p. 127.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 127
the Gudbranddalesman he grovelled for grace,
but his hoard must e'en ransom his head.
King Skule south over Midsen fared,
the Upland er cursed at his banner;
King Skule hasted through Raumarike
toLaka in Nannestad manor.
'Twas all in the holy Shrove-tide week
we met with the Birchleg horde ;
Earl Kiuit was their captain the swords with
loud tongue
in the suit for the throne made award.
They say of a truth that since Sverre's days
was never so hot a fight;
red-sprent, like warriors' winding-sheets,
grew the upland that erst lay white.
They took to their heels did the Birchenlegs,
flinging from them both buckler and bill there ;
many hundreds, though, took to their heels
nevermore,
for they lay and were icily chill there.
No man knows where King Hakon hideth ;
King Skule stands safe at the helm.
All hail and long life to thee, lord, in thy state
as King of all Norway's realm !
SKULE'S MEN.
[Spring tip with loud jubilation, hold goblets
and beakers aloft, clash their weapons,
and repeat :
All hail and long life to thee, lord, in thy state
as King of all Norway's realm !
KING SKULE.
Thanks for the song, Jatgeir Skald ! 'Tis as
128 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
I best like it; for it gives my men no less praise
than myself.
JATGEIR.
The King is honoured when his men are
praised.
KING SKULE.
Take as guerdon tnis arm-ring, stay with me,
and be of my household ; I will have many skalds
about me.
JATGEIR.
'Twill need many, my lord, if all your great
deeds are to be sung.
KING SKULE.
I will be threefold more bountiful than Hakon ;
the skald's song shall be honoured and rewarded
like all other noble deeds, so long as I am king.
Be seated; now you belong to my household;
all you have need of shall be freely given you.
JATGEIR.
[Seats himself.] Ere long there will be a dearth
of what I most need, my lord.
KING SKULE.
What mean you ?
JATGEIR.
Foes to King Skule, whse flight and fall I can
sing.
MANY OF THE MEN.
[Amid laughter and applause.] Well said,
Icelander !
PAUL FLIDA.
\To JATGEIR.] The song was good ; but 'tis
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 129
known there goes a spice of lying to every skald-
work, and yours was not without it.
JATGEIR.
Lying, Sir Marshal ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Ay ; you say no man knows where King Hakon
is hiding; that is not true; we have certain
tidings that Hakon is at Nidaros.
KING SKULE.
[Smiling.] He has claimed homage for the
King-child, and given it the kingly title.
JATGEIR.
That have I heard ; but I knew not that any
man could give away that which he himself does
not possess.
KING SKULE.
'Tis easiest to give what you yourself do not
possess.
B!RD BRATTE.
But it can scarce be easy to beg your way in
midwinter from Bergen to Nidaros.
JATGEIR.
The fortunes of the Birchlegs move in a ring ;
they began hungry and frozen, and now they end
in like case.
PAUL FLIDA.
'Tis rumoured in Bergen that Hakon has for-
sworn i,he Church and all that is holy ; he heard
not mass on New Year's dr.y.
ISO THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
BARD BRATTE.
He could plead lawful hindrance, Paul ; he
stood all day cutting his silver goblets and dishes
to pieces he had naught else wherewith to pay
his household.
[Laughter and loud talk among the guests.
KING SKULE.
[Raises his goblet.] I drink to you,, Bard Bratte,
and thank you and all my new men. You fought
manfully for me at Laka, and bore a great part in
the victory.
B!RD BRATTE.
It was the first time I fought under you, my
lord ; but I soon felt that 'tis easy to conquer when
such a chieftain as you rides at the head of the
host. But I would we had not slain so many and
chased them so far ; for now I fear 'twill be long
ere they dare face us again.
KING SKULE.
Wait till the spring : we shall meet them again,
never fear. Earl Knut lies with the remnant at
Tunsberg rock, and Arnbiorn Jonsson is gathering
a force eastward in Viken ; when they deem
themselves strong enough, they will soon let us
hear from them.
B!RD BRATTE.
They will never dare to, after the great
slaughter at Laka.
KING SKULE.
Then will we lure them forth with cunning.
MANY VOICES.
Ay, ay do so, lord King !
VCT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 131
BARD BRATTE.
You have good store of cunning, King Skule.
Your foemen have never warning ere you fall upon
them, and you are ever there where they least
await you.
PAUL FLIDA.
Tis therefore that the Birchlegs call us
Varbaelgs. 1
KING SKULE.
Others say Vargbaelgs ; but this I swear, that
when next we meet, the Birchlegs shall learn how
hard it is to turn such Wolf-skins inside out.
B!RD BRATTE.
With their good will shall we never meet
'twill be a chase the whole country round.
KING SKULE.
Ay, that it shall be. First we must purge
Viken, and make sure of all these eastward parts ;
then will we get our ships together, and sail round
the Naze and up the coast to Nidaros.
B!RD BRATTE
And when you come in such wise to Nidaros,
I scare think the monks will deny to move
1 The derivation of this word is doubtful. In the form
Varglcelg it means Wolf-skin, from Icelandic Vargr = a. wolf,
and Belgr = \\\e. skin of an animal taken off whole. The more
common form, however, is Varbelg, which, as P. A. Munch
suggests ("Det Norske Folks Historic," iii. 219), may possibly
come from var (our word " ware "), a covering, and may be an
allusion to the falsity and cunning of the faction. What Ibsen
understands by the form Varbcelg I cannot discover. Var
(Icelandic Var) means the springtide. The nick-name had been
applied to a political faction as early as 1190, and was merely
revived as a designation for Skule's adherents.
132 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
St. Olafs shrine out to the mote-stead, as they
did in the autumn, when we swore allegiance.
KING SKULE.
The shrine shall out ; I will bear my kingship
in all ways lawfully.
JATGEIR.
And I promise you to sing a great death-song,
when you have slain the Sleeper.
[An outburst of laughter among the men,
KING SKULE.
The Sleeper ?
JATGEIR.
Know you not, my lord, that King Hakon is
called " Hakon the Sleeper," because he sits as
though benumbed ever since you came to the
throne ?
BARD BRATTE.
They say he lies ever with his eyes closed.
Doubtless he dreams that he is still king.
KING SKULE,
Let him dream ; he shall never dream himself
back into the kingship.
JATGEIR.
Let his sleep be long and dreamless, then shall
I have stuff for songs.
THE MEN.
Ay, ay, do as the skald says !
KING SKULE.
When so many good men counsel as one, the
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 133
counsel must be good ; yet will we not talk now
of that matter. But one promise I will make :
each of my men shall inherit the weapons and
harness, and gold and silver, of whichever one of
the enemy he slays ; and each man shall succeed
to the dignities of him he lays low. He who slays
a. baron shall himself be a baron ; he who slays a
thane, shall receive his thaneship ; and all they
who already hold such dignities and offices, shall
be rewarded after other kingly sort.
THE MEN.
[Spring up in mild delight.] Hail, hail, King
Skule ! Lead us against the Birchlegs !
BARD BRATTE.
Now arc you sure to conquer in all battles.
PAUL FLIDA.
I claim Dagfinn the Peasant for myself; he
owns a good sword that I have long hankered
after.
BARD BRATTE.
I will have Bard Torsteinsson's hauberk ; it
saved his life at Laka, for it withstands both cut
and thrust.
JATGEIR.
Nay, but let me have it ; 'twill fit me better ;
you shall have five golden marks in exchange.
BARD BRATTE.
Where will you find five golden marks, Skald ?
JATGEIR.
I will take them from Gregorius Jonsson when
we come northward.
134- THE PRETENDEHS. [ACT IV
THE MEN.
[All talking together.] And I will have I wil.
have [The rest becomes indistinct in the hubbub.
PAUL FLIDA.
Away! Every man to his quarters; bethink
you that you are in the King's hall.
THE MEN.
Ay, ay, hail to the King, hail to King Skule !
KING SKULE.
To bed now, good fellows ! We have sat long
over the drinking-table to-night.
A MAN-AT-ARMS.
[As the crowd is trooping out.] To -morrow we
will cast lots for the Birch legs' goods.
ANOTHER.
Rather leave it to luck !
SEVERAL.
Nay, nay !
OTHERS.
Ay, ay !
B!RD BRATTE.
Now the Wolf-skins are fighting {or the bear-
fell.
PAUL FLIDA.
And they have yet to fell the bear.
[A If go out by the bad;.
KING SKULE.
[JVails till the men ere gone; the tension of
ACT IV.] THE PKETENDERS. 13.5
his features relaxes ; he sinks upon a bench.] How
weary I am, weary to death. To live in the
midst of that swarm day out and day in, to look
smilingly ahead as though I were so immovably
issured of right and victory and fortune. To have
no creature with whom I may speak of all that
gnaws me so sorely. [Rises with a look of terror.]
And the battle at Laka ! That I should have
conquered there ! Hakon sent his host against
me ; God was to judge and award between the
two kings and I conquered, conquered, as never
any before has conquered the Birchlegs ! Their
shields stood upright in the snow, but there was
none behind them the Birchlegs took to the
woods, and fled over upland and moor and lea as
far as their legs would carry them. The unbe-
lievable came to pass ; Hakon lost and I won.
There is a secret horror in that victory. Thou
great God of Heaven ! there rules, then, no cer-
tain law on high, that all things must obey ? The
right carries with it no conquering might? [Witha
change of tone, tvildli/.] I am sick, I am sick !
Wherefore should not the right be on my side ?
May I not deem that God himself would assure
me of it, since he let me conquer? [ Brooding.]
The possibilities are even ; not a feather-weight
more on the one side than on the other ; and yet
[shakes Ms head] yet the balance dips on
Hakon's part. I have hatred and hot desire to
cast into my scale, yet the balance dips on Hakon's
part. When the thought of the kingly right comes
over me unawares, 'tis ever he, not I, that is the
true king. When I would see myself as the true
king, I must do it with forethought, I must build
up a whole fabric of subtleties, a work of cunning ;
I must hold memories aloof, and take faith by
136 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
storm. It was not so before. What has befallen
to fill me so full of doubt ? The burning of the
letter? No that made the uncertainty eternal,
but did not add to it. Has Hakon done any great
and kingly deed in these later days ? No, his
greatest deeds were done while I least believed
in him. [Seals himself on Ike right.] What is it ?
Ha, strange ! It comes and goes like a marsh-fire ;
it dances at the tip of my tongue, as when one has
lost a word and cannot find it. [Springs up.] Ha !
Now I have it ! No ! Yes, yes ! Now I have
it! "Norway has been a kingdom, it shall be-
come a people ; all shall be one, and all shall feel
and know that they are one ! " Since Hakon spoke
those madman's words, he stands ever before me
as the rightful king. [Whispers wilh fixed and appre-
hensive gaze.] What if God's calling glimmered
through these strange words ? If God had gar-
nered up the thought till now, and would now
strew it forth and had chosen Hakon for his
sower ?
PAUL FLIDA.
[Enters from the back.] My lord King, I have
tidings for you.
KING SKULE.
Tidings ?
PAUL FLIDA.
A man who comes from down the fiord brings
news that the Birchlegs inTunsberg have launched
their ships, and that many men have gathered in
the town in these last days.
KING SKULE.
Good, we will go forth to meet them to-morrow
rx the day after.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 137
PAUL FLIDA.
It might chance, my lord King, that the Birch-
legs had a mind to meet us first.
KING SKULE.
They have not ships enough for that, nor men.
PAUL FLIDA.
But Arnbib'rn Jonsson is gathering both men
and ships, all round in Viken.
KING SKULE.
The better for us ; we will crush them at one
blow, as we did at Laka.
PAUL FLIDA.
My lord, 'tis not so easy to crush the Birchlegs
twice following.
KING SKULE.
And wherefore not ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Because Norway's saga tells not that the like
has ever befallen. Shall I send forth scouts to
Hoved-isle ?
KING SKULE.
'Tis needless ; the night is dark, and there is a
sea-fog to boot.
PAUL FLIDA.
Well well, the King knows best; but bethink
you, my lord, that all men are against you here in
Viken. The townsfolk of Oslo hate you, and should
the Birchlegs come, they will make common cause
with them.
138 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
KING SKULE.
[With animation.] Paul Flida, were it not
possible that I could win over the men of Viken
to my side ?
PAUL FLIDA.
[Looks at him in astonishment, and shakes his
head.] No, my lord, it is not possible.
KING SKULE.
And wherefore not ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Why, for that you have the Tronders on your
side.
KING SKULE.
I will have both the Tronders and the men of
Viken !
PAUL FLIDA.
Nay, my lord, that cannot be
KING SKULE.
Not possible ! cannot be ! And wherefore
wherefore not ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Because the man of Viken is the man of Viken,
the Tronder is the Tronder; because so it has
always been, and no saga tells of a time when it
was otherwise.
KING SKULE.
Ay, ay you are right. Go.
PAUL FLIDA.
And send forth no scouts ?
KING SKULE.
Wait till daybreak. [PAUL FLIDA goes^ Nof
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 13^
way's saga tells of no such thing ; it has never
been so yet ; Paul Flida answers me as I answered
Hakon. Are there, then, upward as well as down-
ward steps ? Stands Hakon as high over me as I
over Paul Flida ? Has Hakon an eye for unborn
thoughts, that is lacking in me? Who stood so
high as Harold Harfager in the days when every
headland had its king, and he said : Now they
must fall hereafter shall there be but one ? He
threw the old saga to the winds, and made a new
saga. [A pause ; he paces up and down lost in thought ;
then he stops.] Can one man take God's call-
ing from another, as he takes weapons and gold
from his fallen foe ? Can a Pretender clothe him-
self in a king's life-task, as he can put on the
kingly mantle ? The oak that is felled to be a
ship's timber, can it say : Nay, I will be the mast,
I will take on me the task of the fir-tree, point
upwards, tall and shining, bear the golden vane
at my top, spread bellying white sails to the sun-
shine, and meet the eyes of all men, from afar !
No, no, thou heavy gnarled oak-trunk, thy place is
down in the keel; there shalt thou lie, and do thy
work, unheard-of and unseen by those aloft in the
daylight ; it is thou that shalt hinder the ship from
being whelmed in the storm; while the mast with
the golden vane and the bellying sail shall bear it
forward toward the new, toward the unknown,
toward alien strands and the saga of the future !
[ Vehemently.} Since Hakon uttered his great
king-thought, I can see no other thought in the
world but that only. If I cannot take it and act it
out, I see no other thought to fight for. [Brood-
ing .] And can I not make it mine ? If I can-
not, whence comes my great love for Hakon's
thought ?
140 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
JATGEIR.
[Enters from the back.] Forgive my coming,
lord King
KING SKULE.
You come to my wish, Skald !
JATGEIR.
I overheard some townsfolk at my lodging
talking darkly of
KING SKULE.
Let that wait. Tell me, Skald : you who have
fared far abroad in strange lands, have you ever
seen a woman love another's child ? Not only
have kindness for it 'tis not that I mean ; but
love it, lovs it with the warmest passion of her
soul.
JATGEIR.
That do only those women who have no child of
their own to love.
KING SKULE.
Only those women ?
JATGEIR.
And chiefly women who are barren.
KING SKULE.
Chiefly the barren ? They love the children
of others with all their warmest passions ?
JATGEIR.
That will oftentimes befall.
KING SKULE.
And does it not sometimes befall that such a
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 141
barren woman will slay another's child, because
she herself has none ?
JATGEIR.
Ay, ay ; but in that she does unwisely.
KING SKULE.
Unwisely ?
JATGEIR.
Ay, for she gives the gift of sorrow to her whose
child she slays.
KING SKULE.
Think you the gift of sorrow is a great good ?
JATGEIR.
Yes, lord.
KING SKULE.
[Looks fxedly at him.] Methinks there are two
men in you, Icelander. When you sit amid the
household at the merry feast, you draw cloak and
hood over all your thoughts ; when one is alone
with you, sometimes you seem to be of those among
whom one were fain to choose his friend. How
comes it ?
JATGEIR.
When you go to swim in the river, my lord, you
would scarce strip you where the people pass by
to church ; you seek a sheltered privacy.
KING SKULE.
True, true.
JATGEIR.
My soul has the like shamefastness ; therefore
I do not strip me when there are many in the
hall.
142 THE PRETENDEHS. [ACT IV.
KING SKULE.
Ha. [A short pause!] Tell me, Jatgeir, how
came you to be a skald ? Who taught jou skald-
craft ?
JATGEIR.
Skaldcraft cannot be taught, my lord.
KING SKULE.
Cannot be taught ? How came it then?
JATGEIR.
The gift of sorrow came to me, and I was a
skald.
KING SKULE.
Then 'tis the gift of sorrow the skald has need
of?
JATGEIR.
7 needed sorrow ; others there may be who need
faith, or joy or doubt
KING SKULE.
Doubt as well ?
JATGEIR.
Ay ; but then must the doubter be strong and
sound.
KING SKULE.
And whom call you the unsound doubter?
JATGEIR.
He who doubts of his own doubt.
KING SKULE.
[Slorvly.] That, methiiiks, were death.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 143
JATGEIR.
'Tis worse ; 'tis neither day nor night.
KING SKULE.
[Quickly, as if shaking off his thoughts.] Where
are my weapons ? I will fight and act not think.
What was it you would have told me when you
came ?
JATGEIR.
'Twas what I noted in my lodging. The towns-
men whisper together secretly, and laugh mock-
ingly, and ask if we be well assured that King
Hakon is in the westland; there is somewhat they
are in glee over.
KING SKULE.
They are men of Viken, and therefore against
mt.
JATGEIR.
They scoff because King Olaf s shrine could not
be brought out to the mote-stead when you were
chosen king ; they say it boded ill.
KING SKULE.
When next I come to Nidaros, the shrine shall
out ! It shall stand under the open sky, though
I should have to tear down St. Olaf s church and
widen out the mote-stead over the spot where it
stood.
JATGEIR.
That were a strong deed ; but I shall make a
song of it, as strong as the deed itself.
KING SKULE,
Have you many unmade songs within you,
Jatgeir ?
144 THE PRETENDERS. [.\CT IV.
JATGEIR.
Nay, but many unborn ; they are conceived
one after the other, come to life, and are brought
forth.
KING SKULE.
And if I, who am King and have the might, if
1 were to have you slain, would all the unborn
skald-thoughts you bear within you die along with
you ?
JATGEIR.
My lord, it is a great sin to slay a fair thought.
KING SKULE.
I ask not if it be a sin; I ask if it be
possible !
JATGEIR.
I know not.
KING SKULE.
Have you never had another skald for your
friend, and has he never unfolded to you a great
and noble song he thought to make ?
JATGEIR.
Yes, lord.
KING SKULE.
Did you not then wish that you could slay him,
to take his thought and make the song yourself?
JATGEIR.
My lord, I am not barren ; I have children of
my own ; I need not to love those of other men.
[Goes.
KING SKULE.
[After a paused] The Icelander is in very deed a
skald. He speaks God's deepest truth and knows
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 145
it not / am as a barren woman. Therefore
I love Hakou's kingly thought-child, love it with
the warmest passion of my soul. Oh, that I could
but adopt 1 it ! It would die in my hands. Which
were best, that it should die in my hands, or wax
great in his ? Should I ever have peace of soul if
that came to pass ? Can I forgo all ? Can I stand
by and see Hakon make himself famous for all
time ! How dead and empty is all within me
and around me. No friend ; ah, the Icelander !
[Goes to the door and calls .] Has the skald gone
from the palace ?
A GUARD.
[Outside.] No, my lord ; he stands in the
outer hall talking with the watch.
KING SKULE.
Bid him come hither. [Goes forward to the
table ; presently JATGEIR enters.] I cannot sleep,
Jatgeir; 'tis all my great kingly thoughts that
keep me awake, you see.
JATGEIR.
"Tis with the king's thoughts as with the skald's,
I doubt not. They fly highest and grow quickest
when there is night and stillness around.
KING SKULE.
Is it so with the skald's thoughts too ?
JATGEIR.
Ay, lord ; no song is born by daylight ; it may
be written down in the sunshine ; but it makes
itself in the silent night.
1 Kncescette, see note, p. 19.
K
146 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
KING SKULE.
Who gave you the gift of sorrow, Jatgeir ?
JATGEIR.
She whom I loved.
KING SKULK.
She died, then.
JATGEIR.
No, she deceived me.
KING SKULE.
And then you became a skald ?
JATGEIR.
Ay, then I became a skald.
KING SKULE.
[Seizes him by the arm.] What gift do 7 need
to become a king ?
JATGEIR.
Not the gift of doubt; else would you not
question so.
KING SKULE.
What gift do I need ?
JATGEIR.
My lord, you are a king.
KING SKULE.
Have you at all times full faith that you are a
skald?
JATGEIR.
[Looks silently at him for a while, and ash.] Have
you never loved ?
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 147
KING SKULE.
Yes, once burningly, blissfully, and in sin.
JATGEIH.
You have a wife.
KING SKULE.
Her I took to bear me sons.
JATGEIR.
But you have a daughter, my lord a gracious
and noble daughter.
KING SKULE.
Were my daughter a sou, I would not ask you
what gift I need. [Vehemently.] I must have
some one by me who sinks his own will utterly in
mine who believes in me unflinchingly, who will
cling close to me in good hap and ill, who lives
only to shed light and warmth over my life, and
must die if I fall. Give me counsel, Jatgeir
Skald '
JATGEIR.
Buy yourself a dog, my lord.
KING SKULE.
Would no man suffice ?
JATGEIR.
You would have to search long for such a man.
KING SKULE.
[Suddenly.] Will you be that man to me,
Jatgeir? Will you be a son to me? You shall
have Norway's crown to your heritage the whole
land shall be yours, if you will be a son to me, and
live for my life-work, and believe in me.
148 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
JATGEIR.
And what should be my warranty that I did not
feign ?
KING SKULE.
Give up your calling in life ; sing no more songs,
and then will I believe you !
JATGEIR.
No, lord that were to buy the crown too dear.
KING SKULE.
Bethink you well 'tis greater to be a king than
a skald.
JATGEIR.
Not always.
KING SKULE.
'Tis but your unsung songs you must sacrifice !
JATGEIR.
Songs unsung are ever the fairest. .
KING SKULE.
But I must I must have one who can trust in
me ' Only one ! I feel it had I that one, I
were saved
JATGEIR.
Trust in yourself and you will be saved !
PAUL FLIDA.
[Enters hastily.] King Skule, look to yourself!
Hakon Hakonson lies off Elgjarn-ess with all his
fleet !
KING SKULE.
Off Elgja-rness ! The-n.he is close at hand.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 14-9
JATGEIR.
Get we to arms then ! If there be bloodshed
to-night, I will gladly be the first to die for you !
KING SKULE.
You, who would not live for me !
JATGEIR.
A man can die for another's life-work ; but if
he go on living, he must live for his own. [Goes.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Impatiently.] Your commands, my lord ! The
Birchlegs may be in Oslo this very hour.
KING SKULE.
'Twere best if we could fare to St. Thomas
Beckett's grave ; he has helped so many a sorrow-
ful and penitent soul.
PAUL FLIDA.
[More forcibly.] My lord, speak not so wildly
now ; I tell you, the Birchlegs are upon us !
KING SKULE.
Let all the churches be opened, that we may
betake us thither and find grace.
PAUL FLIDA.
You can crush all your foemen at one stroke,
and yet would betake you to the churches !
150 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
PAUL FLIDA.
Be sure Hakon will break sanctuary, when 'tis
Varbaelgs he pursues.
KING SKULE.
That will he not ; God will shield him from such
a sin ; God always shields Hakon.
PAUL FLIDA.
[7/i deep and sorrowful wrath.] To hear you
speak thus, a man could not but ask : Who is king
in this land ?
KING SKULE.
[Smiling mourn fully.] Ay, Paul Flida, that is
the great question : Who is king in this land?
PAUL FLIDA.
[Imploringly.] You are soul-sick to-night, my
lord ; let me act for you.
KING SKULE.
Ay, ay, do so.
PAUL FLIDA.
[Going.] First will I break down all the
bridges.
KING SKULE.
Madman ! Stay ! Break down all the bridges !
Know you what that means ? / have assayed it ;
beware of that !
PAUL FLIDA.
What would you then, my lord ?
KING SKULE.
I will talk with Hakon.
ACT IV.j THE PRETENDERS. 151
PAUL FLIDA.
He will answer you with a tongue of steel.
KING SKULE.
Go, go ; you shall learn my will anon.
PAUL FLIDA.
Every moment is precious ! [Seizes his hand.]
King Skule, let us break down all the bridges,
fight like Wolves, 1 and trust in Heaven !
KING SKULE.
[Sqft/y.~\ Heaven trusts not in me ; I dare
not trust in Heaven.
PAUL FLIDA.
Short has been the saga of the Vargbselgs.
[Goes out by the back.
KING SKULE.
A hundred cunning heads, a thousand mighty
arms, are at my beck ; but not a single loving,
trusting heart. That is kingly beggary ; no more,
no less.
BARD BRATTE.
[From the back.] Two wayfarers from afar
stand without, praying to have speech with you
my lord.
KING SKULE.
Who are they ?
BARD BRATTE.
A woman and a priest.
Varger, the first part of tl e word Vnrgleelg.
152 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
KING SKULE.
Let the woman and the priest approach.
[BARD goes ; KING SKULE seats himself,
musing, on the right ; presently there
enters a black-robed woman ; she wears
a long cloak, a hood, and a thick veil,
which conceals her face; a priest follows
her, and remains standing by the door.
KING SKULE.
Who are you ?
THE WOMAN.
One you have loved.
KING SKULE.
[Shaking his head.] There lives no one who
remembers that I have loved. Who are you, I
ask ?
THE WOMAN.
One who loves you.
KING SKULE.
Then are you surely one of the dead.
THE WOMAN.
[Comes close to him and says softly and passion-
ately.'] Skule Bardsson !
KING SKULE.
\Riscs with a oy.] Ingeborg I
INGEBORO.
Do you know me now, Skule ?
ACT IV.j THE PRETENDERS. 153
KING SKULE.
Ingeborg, Ingeborg !
INGEBORG.
Ob, let me look at you look long at you, so
long ! [Seizes his hands ; a pause.] You fair, you
deeply loved, you faithless man !
KING SKULE.
Take off tbat veil ; look at me with the eyes
that once were as clear and blue as the sky.
INGEBORG.
These eyes have been but a rain-clouded sky
for twenty years ; you would not know them
again, and you shall never see them more.
KING SKULE.
But your voice is fresh and soft and young as
ever !
INGEBORG.
I have used it only to whisper your name, to
imprint your greatness in a young heart, and to
pray to the sinners' God for grace toward us
twain, who have loved in sin.
KING SKULE.
You have done that ?
INGEBORG.
I have been silent save to speak loving words
of you ; therefore has my voice remained fresh
and soft and young.
154 THE PRETENDERS. [*CT IV.
KING SKULE.
There lies a life-time between. Every fair
memory from those days have I wasted and let
slip
INGEBORG.
It was your right.
KING SKULE.
And meantime you, Ingeborg, loving, faithful
woman, have dwelt there in the north, guard-
ing and treasuring your memories, in ice-cold
loneliness !
INGEBORG.
It was my happiness.
KING SKULE.
And I could give you up to win might and
riches ! With you at my side, as my wife, I had
found it easier to be a king.
INGEBORG.
God has been good to me in willing it other-
wise. A soul like mine had need of a great sin,
to arouse it to remorse and expiation.
KING SKULE.
And now you come ?
INGEBORG.
As Andres Skialdarband's widow.
KING SKULE.
Your husband is dead !
INGEBORG.
On the way from Jerusalem.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 155
KING SKULE.
Then has he atoned for the slaying of Vegard.
INGEBORO.
'Twas not therefore that my noble husband
took the Cross.
KING SKULE.
Not therefore ?
INGEBORG.
No ; it was my sin he took upon his strong,
loving shoulders ; 'twas that he went to wash
away in Jordan stream ; 'twas for that he bled.
KING SKULE.
[Softly.] Then he knew all.
INGEBORG.
From the first. And Bishop Nicholas knew it,
for to him I confessed. And there was one other
man that came to know it, though how I cannot
guess.
KING SKULE.
Who."
INGEBORG.
Vegard Vaeradal.
KING SKULE.
Vegard !
INGEBORG.
He whispered a mocking word of me into my
husband's ear; and thereupon Andres Skialdar-
band drew his sword, and slew him on the spot.
KING SKULE.
H e kept ward over her whom / betrayed and
forgot. And wherefore seek you uie now ?
156 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
INGEBORG.
To bring you the last sacrifice.
KING SKULE.
What mean you ?
INGEBORG.
[Points to the Priest who stands by the door.\
Look at him ! Peter, my son, come hither !
KING SKULE.
Your son !
INGEBORG.
And yours, King Skule !
KING SKULE.
[Half bewildered.] Ingeborg !
[PETER approaches in silent emotion, and
throws himself before KING SKULE.
INGEBORG.
Take him! .For twenty years has he been the
light and comfort of my life. Now are you King
of Norway ; the King's son must enter on his
heritage ; I have no longer any right to him.
KING SKULE.
[Raises him up, in a storm of joy.] Here, to
my heart, you whom I have yearned for so burn-
ingly ! [Presses him in his arms, lets him go, looks
at him, and embraces him again.] My son ! My
son ! I have a son ! Ha-ha-ha ! who can stand
against me now ? [Goes over to INGEBORG and
seizes her hand.] And you, you give him to me,
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 157
Ingeborg ! You take not back your word ? You
give him to me indeed ?
INGEBOKG.
Heavy is the sacrifice, and scarce had I strength
to make it, but that Bishop Nicholas sent him to
me, bearing a letter with tidings of Andres Skial-
darband's death. 'Twas the Bishop that laid on
me the heavy sacrifice, to atone for all my sin.
KING SKULE.
Then is the sin blotted out, and henceforth he
is mine alone ; is it not so, mine alone ?
INGEBORG.
Yes ; but one promise I crave of you.
KING SKULE.
Heaven and earth, crave all you will !
INGEBORG.
He is pure as a lamb of God, as I now give him
into your hands. 'Tis a perilous path that leads
up to the throne ; let him not take hurt to his
soul. Hear you, King Skule : let not my child
take hurt to his soul !
KING SKULE.
That I promise and swear to you !
INGEBORG.
[Seizes his arm.] From the moment you mark
that his soul suffers harm, let him rather die I
KING SKULE.
Rather die ! I promise and swear it !
158 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
INGEBORO.
Then shall I be of good cheer as I go back to
Halogaland.
KINO SKULE.
Ay, you may be of good cheer.
INGEDORG.
There will I repent and pray, till the Lord calls
me. And when we meet before God, he shall
come back to me pure and blameless.
KING SKULE.
Pure and blameless ! [Turning to PETER.] Let
me look at you ! Ay, your mother's features and
mine ; you are he for whom I have longed so
sorely.
PETER.
My father, my great, noble father! Let me
live and fight for you ! Let your cause be mine ;
and be your cause what it may I know that I
am fighting for the right !
KING SKULE.
[With a cry of jot/.] You trust in me! You
trust in me *
PETER.
Immovably !
KING SKULE.
Then all is well ; then am I surely saved !
Listen : you shall cast off the cowl ; the Archbishop
shall loose you from your vows ; the King's son
shall wield the sword, shall go forward unwavering
to might and honour.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 159
PETER.
Together with you, my noble father ! We will
go together .'
KING SKULE.
[Drawing the youth close up to himself.] Ay,
together, we two alone !
INGEBORG.
[To herself.] To love, to sacrifice all and be
forgotten, that is my saga. 1
[Goes quietly out by the back.
KING SKULE.
Now shall a great king's-work be done in
Norway ! Listen, Peter, my son! We will
awaken the whole people, and gather it into one ;
the man of Viken and the Tronder, the Haloga-
lander and the Agdeman, the Uplander and the
Sogndaleman, all shall be o ne great family ! Then
shall you see how the land will come to flourish J
PETER.
What a great and dizzy thought
KING SKULE.
Do you grasp it ?
PETER
Yes yes ! Clearly !
KING SKULE.
And have you faith in it ?
As to the earlier text of this scene, see Brandes' /tsen and
Bjonison (Heinemann, 1899), p. 29.
l6() THE PRETENDERS, [ACT IV.
PETER.
Yes, yes ; for I have faith in you !
KING SKULE.
[Wildly.] Hakon Hakonsson must die .
PETER.
If you will it, then it is right that he die.
KING SKULE.
'Twill cost blood ; but that we cannot heed !
PETER.
The blood is not wasted that flows in your
cause.
KING SKULE.
All the might shall be yours when I have built
up the kingdom. You shall sit on the throne
with the circlet on your brow, with the purple
mantle flowing wide over your shoulders ; all men
in the land shall bow before you [The sounds
uf distant horns 1 are heard.] Ha ! what was
that ? [With a cry.] The Birchleg host ! What
was it Paul Flida said ?
[Rushes towards the back.
PAUL FLRIA.
[Enters and cries^ The hour is upon us, King
Skule !
KING SKULE.
[Bewildered.] The Birchlegs ! King Hakon's
host ! Where are they ?
1 Lur, the long wooden horn still used among the mountains
in Norway.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 1 6l
PAUI, FLIDA.
They are swarming in thousands down over the
Ekeberg.
KING SKULE.
Sound the call to arms ! Sound, sound ! Give
counsel ; where shall we meet them ?
PAUL FLIDA.
All the churches stand open for us.
KING SKULE.
'Tis of the Birchlegs I ask ?
PAUL FLIDA.
For them all the bridges stand open.
KING SKULE.
Unhappy man, what have you done
PAUL FLIDA.
Obeyed my King !
KING SKULE.
My son ! My son ! Woe is me ; I have lost
your kingdom !
PETER.
No, you will conquer ! So great a king's-
thought cannot die !
KING SKULE.
Peace, peace ! [Horns and shouts are heard,
nearer at hand.] To horse ! To arms ! More is
here at stake than the life and death of men !
[Rushes out by the back ; the others follow
him.
162 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
A street in Oslo. On each side, low wooden houses,
with porches. At the back, St. Hallvard's church-
yard, enclosed by a high wall with a gate. On
the left, at the end of the wall, is seen the
church, the chief portal of which stands open.
It is still night ; after a little, the day begins
to dawn. The alarm-bell is ringing : far away
on the right are heard battle-shouts and confused
noises.
KING SKULE'S HORNBLOWER.
[Enters from the right, blows his horn, and shouts .]
To arms ! To arms, all King Skule's men !
[Blows his horn again, and proceeds on his
way ; presently he is heard blowing and
shouting in the next street.
A WOMAN.
[Appears at a house door on the right.] Great
God of mercy, what is astir ?
A TOWNSMAN.
[Who has come out, half dressed, from a house on
the other side of the street.] The Birchlegs are in
the town ! Now will Skule have his reward for
all his misdeeds.
ONE OF SKULE'S MEN.
[Enters with some others, bearing their cloaks and
weapons on their arms, from a side street on the left]
Where are the Birchlegs ?
ANOTHER OF SKULE'S MEN.
[Coming from a house on the right.] I know
not!
ACT 1V.J THE PRETENDERS. 1 6'3
THE FIRST.
Hist ! Listen ! They must be down at the
Geite-bridge !
THE SECOND.
Off to the Geite-bridge then !
[They all rusk out to the right; a town*
man comes running in from the same side.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
Hey, neighbour, whence come you ?
THE SECOND TOWNSMAN.
From down at the Lo-river ; there's ugly work
there.
THE WOMAN.
St. Olaf and St. Hallvard ! Is it the Birchlegs,
or who is it ?
THE SECOND TOWNSMAN.
Who else but the Birchlegs ! King Hakon is
with them ; the whole fleet is laying in to the
wharves ; but he himself landed with his best men
out at Ekeberg.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
Then will he take revenge for the slaughter at
Laka!
THE SECOND TOWNSMAN.
Ay, be sure of that.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
See, see ! The Varbaelgs are flying already !
164 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
A troop of SKULE'S men enter in full flight, from
the right.
ONE OF THEM.
Into the church ! None can stand against the
Birchlegs as they lay about them to-night.
[The troop rushes into the church and bars
the door on the inside.
THE SECOND TOWNSMAN.
[Looking out to the right.] 1 see a standard far
down the street ; it must be King Hakon's.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
See, see, how the Varbaelgs are running !
A second troop enters from the right.
ONE OF THE FUGITIVES.
Let us take to the church and pray for grace.
[They rush at the door.
SEVERAL VAHB^ELGS.
'Tis barred ! 'tis barred !
THE FIRST.
Up over Martestokke then !
ANOTHER.
Where is King Skule ?
THE FIRST.
I know not. Away! yonder I see the Birchlegs
standard !
[They flee past the church, out to the left.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. l65
HAKON enters from the right with his Standard-
bearer, GREGORIUS JONSSON, DAGFINN THE
PEASANT, and several other men. j
DAGFINN.
Hark to the war-cry ! Skule is gathering his
men behind the churchyard.
AN OLD TOWNSMAN.
[Calls from his porch, to HAKON.] Take heed for
yourself, dear my lord ; the Vargbaelgs are fierce,
now they are fighting for life.
HAKON.
Is it you, old Guthorm Erlendsson ? You have
fought both for my father and for rny grandfather
THE TOWNSMAN.
Would to God I could fight for you as well.
HAKON.
For that you are too old, and there is no need ;
men pour in upon me from all sides.
DAGFINN.
[Pointing off over the wall to the right.] There
comes the Duke's standard !
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
The Duke himself! He rides his white war-
horse.
DAGFINN.
We must hinder his passage through the gate
here!
166 THE pnETF.NnEns. [ACT iv.
HAKON.
Wind the horn, wind the horn ! [The Hornblorver
does so.~\ You blew better, you whelp, when you
blew for money on Bergen wharf.
[The Hornblower winds another blast, fonder
than the Jlrst ; many men come rushing
in.
A
[From the right, fleeing towards the church, pursued
by a Birchleg.] Spare my life ! Spare my life !
THE BIRCHLEO.
Not though you sat on the altar ! [Cuts him
down.] 'Tis a costly cloak you wear, methinks
'twill fit roe well. [If about to take the cloak, but
utters a cry and casts away his sword.] My lord
King ! Not another stroke will I strike for you !
DAGFINN.
You say that in such an hour as this ?
THE BIRCHLEO.
Not another stroke !
DAGFINN.
[Culs him down.] Well, you may e'en let it alone.
THE BIRCHLEG.
[Pointing to the dead Varbcelg.'] Methought I
had done enough when I slew my own brother.
[Dies.
HAKON.
His brother!
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. l67
DAOFINN.
What I [Goes up to the Varbxlg's body.
HAitoN.
Is it true ?
DAGFINN.
I fear me it is.
HAKON.
[Shaken.] Here see we what a war we are
waging. Brother against brother, father against
son ; by God Almighty, this must have an end !
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
There comes the Duke, in full fight with Earl
Knut's troop !
DAGFINN.
Bar the gate against him, king's men !
On the other aide of the mall, the combatants come in
sight. The Varbcelgs are forcing their way
towards the left, driving the Birchlegs back, foot
by foot. KING SKULE rides his white war horse,
with his sword drawn. PETER walks at his side,
holding the horse's bridle, and with his left
hand uplifting a crucifix. PAUL FLIDA bears
SKULE' s standard, which is blue, with a golden
lion rampant, nithout the axe. 1
KING SKULE.
Cut them down ! Spare no man ! There is
come a new heir 2 to the throne of Norway !
1 The arms of Norway consist of a lion rampant, holding
an axe.
a Et *vt kongs-emne.
1(58 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV
THE BIRCHLEGS.
A new heir, said he ?
HAKON.
Skule Bardsson, let us share the kingdom !
KING SKULE.
All or nought !
HAKON.
Think of the Queen, your daughter !
KING SKULE.
I have a son, I have a son ! I think of none
but him !
HAKON.
I too have a son ; if I fall the kingdom will be
his!
KING. SKULE.
Slay the King-child, wherever you find it ! Slay
it on the throne ; slay it at the altar ; slay it
slay it in the Queen's arms !
HAKON.
There did you utter your own doom !
KING SKULE.
[Slashing about him.] Slay, slay without mercy !
King Skule has a son ! Slay, slay !
[The fighting gradually passes away to the
left.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
The Vargbaelgs are hewing their way through !
DAGFINN.
Ay, but only to flee.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 1 (JO,
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
Yes, by Heaven, the other gate stands open ;
they are fleeing already !
DAGFINN.
Up towards Martestokke. [Calls out.] After
them, after them, Earl Knut ! Take vengeance
for the slaughter at Laka !
HAKON.
You heard it : he proclaimed my child an out-
law my innocent child, Norway's chosen king
after me !
THE KING'S MEN.
Ay, ay, we heard it !
HAKON.
And what is the punishment for such a crime ?
THE MEN.
Death !
HAKON.
Then must he die ! [Raises his hand to make
oath.] Here I swear it : Skule Bardsson shall die,
wherever he be met on unconsecrated ground '
DAGFINN.
'Tis every true man's duty to slay him.
A BIRCHLEG.
[From the left.] Duke Skule has taken to flight !
THE TOWNSFOLK.
The Birchlegs have conquered !
170 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
HAKON.
What way ?
THE BIRCHLEG.
Past Martestokke, up towards Eidsvold ; most
of them had horses waiting up in the streets, else
had not one escaped with his life.
HAKON.
Thanks be to God that has helped us yet again !
Now may the Queen safely come ashore from the
fleet.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Points off to the right.] She has already landed,
my lord ; there she comes !
HAKON.
[To those nearest him.] The heaviest task is yet
before me ; she is a loving daughter ; listen no
word to her of the danger that threatens her
child. Swear to me, one and all, to keep ward
over your King's son ; but let her know nothing.
THE MEN.
[Softly.] We swear it.
MARGRETE.
[Enters, with ladies and attendants, Jrom the right.]
Hakon, my husband ! Heaven has shielded you ;
you have conquered and are unhurt !
HAKON.
Yes, I have conquered. Where is the child ?
MARGRETE.
On board the King's ship, in the hands of trusty
men.
ACT IV.] THE PRETENDERS. 171
HAKON.
Go more of you thither. [Some of the men go.
MARGRETE.
Hakon, where is Duke Skule ?
HAKON.
He has made for the Uplands.
MARGRETE.
He lives, then ! My husband, may I thank God
that he lives ?
HAKON.
[In painful agitation.] Hear me, Margrete : you
have been a faithful wife to me, you have followed
me through good hap and ill, you have been un-
speakably rich in love ; now must I cause you a
heavy sorrow ; I am loath to do it ; but I am King,
therefore must I
MARGRETE.
\In suspense.] Has it to do with the Duke ?
HAKON.
Yes. No bitterer lot could befall me than to
live my life far from you ; but if you think it must
be so after what I now tell you if you feel that
you can no longer sit by my side, no longer look
at me without turning pale well, we must even
part live each alone and I shall not blame you
for it.
MARGRETE.
Part from you ! How can you think such a
thought ? Give me your hand !
172 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT IV.
HAKON.
Touch it not ! It has even now been lifted in
oath
MARGRETE.
In oath ?
HAKON.
An oath that set its sacred seal upon a death-
warrant.
MARGRETE.
[With a shriek.] My father ! Oh, my father !
[Totters ; fn>o women rush forward to
support her.
HAKON.
Yes, Margrete his King has doomed your
father to death.
MARGRETE.
Then well I know he has committed a greater
crime than when he took the kingly title.
HAKON.
That has he; and now, if you feel that we must
part, so let it be.
MARGRETE.
[Coming close to him, firmly. ~\ We can never
part ! I am your wife, nought else in the world
but your wife '
HAKON.
Are you strong enough ? Did you hear and
understand all ? I have doomed your father.
MARGRETE.
I heard and understood. You have doomed my
father.
ACT IV. 1 THE PRETENDERS. 173
HAKON.
And you ask not to know what was his crime ?
MARGRETE.
"Tis enough that you know it.
HAKON.
But it was to death that I doomed him !
MARGRETE.
[Kneels before the KING, ami lasses his hand.] My
husband and noble lord, your doom is just !
ACT FIFTH.
A room in the palace at Nidaros. The entrance door is
on the right; in front, on the same side, a window ;
to the left a smaller door. It is after night- fall.
PAUL FLIDA, BARD BRATTE, and several of KING
SKULE'S principal followers are standing at the
window and looking upward.
A MAN-AT-ARMS.
How red it glows !
A SECOND.
It stretcl.es over half the sky, like a flaming
sword.
B!RD BRATTE.
Holy King Olaf, what bodes such a sign of
dread ?
AN OLD VARB^LG.
Assuredly it bodes a great chief's death.
PAUL FLIDA.
Hakon's death, my good Varbaelgs. He is lying
out in the fiord with his fleet ; we may look for
him in the town to-night. This time, 'tis our turn
to conquer !
BARD BRATTE.
Trust not to that ; there is little heart in the
host now.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 175
THE OLD
And reason enough, in sooth ; ever since the
flight from Oslo has King Skule shut himself in,
and will neither see nor speak with his men.
THE FIRST MAN-AT-ARMS.
There are those in the town who know not
whether to believe him alive or dead.
PAUL FLIDA.
The King must out, however sick he may be.
Speak to him, Bard Bratte the safety of all is at
stake.
BARD BRATTE.
It avails not; I have spoken to him already.
PAUL FLIDA.
Then must 1 try what I can do. [Goes to I he
door on the left, and knocks .] My lord King,
you must take the helm in your own hands ;
things can no longer go on in this fashion.
KING SKULE.
[Within.] I am sick, Paul Flida.
PAUL FLIDA.
What else can you look for ? You have eaten
nought these two days ; you must nourisli and
strengthen you -
KING SKULE.
I am sick.
PAUL FLIDA.
By the Almighty, 'tis no time for sickness.
176 THE PRETENDERS, [ ACT V -
King Hakon lies out in the fiord, and may at any
time be upon us here in Nidaros.
KING SKULE.
Strike him down for me ! Slay him and the
King-child.
PAUL FLIDA.
You must be with us, my lord !
KING SKULE.
No, no, no, you are surest of fortune and
victory when I am not there.
PETE ii.
[Enters from the right ; he is in armour.] The
townsfolk are ill at ease ; they flock together in
great masses before the palace.
BARD BRATTE.
Unless the King speak to them, they will desert
him in the hour of n^ed.
PETER.
Then must he speak to them. [At the door on
the left.] Father ! The Tronders, your trustiest
subjects, will fall away from you if you give them
not courage.
KING SKULK.
What said the skald ?
PETER.
The skald ?
KING SKULE.
The skald who died for my sake at Oslo. A
man cannot give what he himself does not possess,
he said.
ACT V.j THE PRETENDERS. 177
PETER.
Then neither can you give away the kingdom ;
<br it is mine after you !
KING SKULE.
Now I will come !
PAUL FLIDA.
God be praised !
KING SKULE.
[Comes forward in the doorway ; he is pale and
haggard; his hair has grown very grey.] You shall
not look at me ! I will not have you look at me
now that I am sick ! [Goes up to PETER.] Take
from you the kingdom, you say ? Great God in
heaven, what was I about to do !
PETER.
Oh, forgive me ; I know that what you do is
ever the right.
KING SKULE.
No, no, not hitherto; but now I will be strong
and sound I will act !
LOUD SHOUTS.
[Without, on the rig/it.] King Skule ! King Skule !
KING SKULE.
What is that ?
BARD BRATTE.
[At the window.] The townsmen are flocking
together ; the whole courtyard is full of people ;
you must speak to them.
KING SKULE.
Do I look like a king? Can I speak now?
M
178 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
PETER.
You must, my noble father !
KING SKULE.
Well, be it so. [Goes to the window and draws the
curtain aside, but lets it go quickly and starts back in
terror.] There hangs the flaming sword over me
again !
PAUL FLIDA.
It bodes that the sword of victory is drawn for
you.
KING SKULE.
Ah, were it but so ! [Goes to the window and
speaks out.] Tronders, what would you ? Here
stands your King.
A TOWNSMAN.
[Without.] Leave the town ! The Birchlegs
will burn and slay if they find you here.
KING SKULE.
We must all hold together. I have been
a gracious King to you ; I have craved but small
war-tax
A MAN'S VOICE.
[Down in the crowd] What call you all the
blood, then, that flowed at Laka and Oslo ?
A WOMAN.
Give me my betrothed again !
A BOY.
Give me my father and my brother !
ANOTHER WOMAN.
Give me my three sons, King Skule !
ACT V.J THE PRETENDERS. 179
A MAN.
He is no King; homage has not been done him
on St. Olaf's shrine !
MANY VOICES-.
No, no no homage has been done him on St.
Olaf's shrine ! He is no king !
KING SKULE.
[Shrinks behind the curtain.] No homage !
No king !
PAUL FLIDA.
Twas a dire mischance that the shrine was not
brought forth when you were chosen.
B!RD BRATTE.
Should the townsfolk desert us, we cannot hold
Nidaros if the Birchlegs come.
KING SKULE.
And they will desert us, so long as homage has
not been done to me on the Saint's shrine.
PETER.
Then let the shrine be brought forth, and take
our homage now !
PAUL FLIDA.
[Shaking his head.] How should that be pos-
sible ?
PETER.
Is aught impossible, where he is concerned ?
Sound the call fov the folkmote, and bring forth
the shrine !
SEVERAL OP THE MEN.
[Shrinking back.] Sacrilege !
180 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
PETER.
No sacrilege ! Come, come ! The monks are
well disposed towards King Skule ; they will
agree
PAUL FLIOA.
That will they not ; they dare not, for the
Archbishop,
PETER.
Are you King's men, and will not lend your aid
when so great a cause is at stake : Good, there
are others below of better will. My father and
King, the monks shall give way ; I will pray, I
will beseech ; sound the summons for the folk-
mote ; you shall bear your kingship rightfully.
[Hushes out to the right.
KING SKULF.
[Beaming with jou.] Saw you him ! Saw you
my gallant son ! How his eyes shone ' Yes, we
will all fight and conquer. Hew strong are the
Birchlegs ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Not stronger than that we may master them, if
but the townsfolk hold to us !
KING SKULE.
They shall hold to us. We must all be at one
now and put an end to this time of dread. See
you not that 'tis Heaven's command that we should
end it ? Heaven is wroth with all Norway for the
deeds that have so long been doing. A flaming
sword glows night by night in the sky ; women
swoon and bear children in the churches; a frenzy
creeps abroad among priests and monks, causing
them to run through the streets and proclaim
ACT V.l THE PRETENDERS. 181
that the last day is come. A)', by the Almighty,
this shall be ended at one stroke !
PAUL FLIDA.
What are your commands ?
KING SKULE.
All the bridges shall be broken down !
PAUL FLIDA.
Go, and let all the bridges be broken.
[One of the Men-at-arms goes out to the
right.
KING SKULE.
Gather all our men upon the foreshore ; not
one Birchleg shall set foot in Nidaros.
PAUL FLIDA.
Well spoken, King.
KING SKULE.
When the shrine is borne forth, let the horn
sound to the folkmote. The host and the towns-
folk shall be called together.
PAUL FLIDA.
[To one of the men.] Go forth and bid the
hornblower wind his horn in all the streets.
[The man goes.
KING SKULE.
[Addresses the people from the window.] Hold
fast to me, all my sorrowing people. There shall
come peace and light over the land once more,
as in Hakon's first glad days, when the fields
yielded two harvests every summer. Hold fast
182 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
to me; believe in me and trust to me; 'tis that
I need so unspeakably. I will watch over you
and fight for you ; I will bleed and die for you,
if need be ; but fail me not, and doubt not !
[Loud cries, as though of terror, are heard among the
people.] What is that ?
A WILD VOICE.
Atone ! Atone !
BARD BRATTE.
[Looks out.] Tis a priest possessed of the
devil !
PAUL FLIDA.
He is tearing his cowl to shreds and scourging
himself with a whip.
THE VOICE.
Atone, atone ! The last day is come.
MANY VOICES.
Flee, flee ! Woe upon Nidaros . A deed ot
sin !
KING SKULE.
What has befallen ?
BARD BRATTE.
All flee, all shrink away as though a wild beast
were in their midst.
KING SKULE.
Yes, all flee. [With a cri/ of joy.] Ha! it
matters not. We are saved ! See, see King
Olaf s shrine stands in the middle of the court-
yard.
ACT V.: THE PRETENDERS. 183
PAUL FLIDA.
King Olafs shrine !
BARD BRATTE.
Ay, by Heaven there it stands !
KING SKULE.
The monks are true to me ; so good a deed
have they never done before !
PAUL FLIDA.
Hark ! the call to the folkmote !
KING SKULE.
Now shall lawful homage be done to me.
PETER.
[Enters from the rigJit.] Take on you the kingly
mantle ; now stands the shrine out yonder.
KING SKULE.
Then have you saved the kingdom for me and
for yourself ; and tenfold will we thank the pious
monks for yielding.
PETER.
The monks, father you have nought to thank
them for.
KING SKULE,
'Twas not they that helped you ?
PETER.
They laid the ban of the Church on whoever
should dare to touch the holy thing.
184 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
KING SKULE.
The Archbishop then ! At last he gives way.
PETER.
The Archbishop hurled forth direr curses than
the monks.
KING SKULE.
Ah, then I see that I still have trusty men.
You here, who should have been the first to serve
me, stood terrified and shrank back but down
in the crowd have I friends who for my sake fear
not to take so great a sin upon their souls.
PETER.
You have not one trusty man who dared to
take the sin upon him.
KING SKULE.
Almighty God ! has then a miracle come to
pass ? Who bore out the holy thing ?
PETER.
I, my father !
KING SKULE.
[With a shriek.] You!
THE MEN.
[Shrink back appalled.] Church-robber !
[PAUL FLIDA, BARD BRATTE, and one or
two others go out.
PETER.
The deed had to be done. No man's faith is
sure ere homage be lawfully done to you. I
begged, I besought the monks ; it availed not.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 185
Then I broke open the church door ; none dared
to follow me. I sprang up to the high altar,
gripped the handle, and pressed hard with my
knees ; 'twas as though an unseen power gave me
more than human strength. The shrine came
loose, I dragged it after me down the nave, while
the ban moaned like a storm high up under the
vaultings. I dragged it out of the church ; all
fled and shrank from me. When I came to the
middle of the courtyard the handle broke ; here
it is ! [Holds it alojl.
KING SKULE.
[Quietly, appalled.] Church -robber.
PETER.
For your sake ; for the sake of your great king's-
thought ! You will wipe out the sin ; all that
is evil you will wipe away. Light and peace will
follow you ; a glorious day will dawn over the
land what matter, then, if there went a storm-
night before it ?
KING SKULE.
There was as 'twere a halo round your head
when your mother brought you to me ; now I
see in its stead the lightnings of the ban.
PETER.
Father, father, think not of me ; be not afraid
for my woe or weal. Is it not your will I have
fulfilled? how can it be accounted to me fora
crime ?
KING SKULE.
I hungered for your faith in me, and your faith
has turned to sin.
186 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
PETER.
[Wildly.] For your sake, for your sake '
Therefore God dare not deny to blot it out !
KING SKULE.
" Pure and blameless," I swore to Ingeborg
and he scoffs at heaven !
PAUL FLIDA.
[Entering.] All is in uproar ! The impious
deed has struck terror to your men ; they flee
into the churches.
KING SKULE.
They shall out ; they must out!
BARD BRATTE.
[E?itering.] The townsfolk have risen against
you ; they are slaying the Varbaelgs wherever they
find them, on the streets or in the houses !
A MAN-AT-ARMS.
[Entering.] The Birchlegs are sailing up the
river !
KING SKULE.
Summon all my men together ! None must
fail me here !
PAUL FLIDA.
They will not come; they are benumbed with
dread.
KING SKULE.
{Despairingly.'] But I cannot ; fall now ! My
son must not die with a deadly sin upon his
soul 2
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 187
PETER.
Think not of me ; 'tis you alone that are to be
thought of. Let us make for Indherred ; there
all men are true to you !
KING SKULE.
Av, to flight ! Follow me, whoso would save
his fife !
BARD BRATTE.
What way ?
KING SKULE.
Over the bridge !
PAUL FLIDA.
All bridges are broken down, my lord.
KING SKULE.
Broken down-; ! All the bridges broken,
say you ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Had you broken them down at Oslo, you might
have let them stand at Nidaros.
KING SKULE.
We must over the river none the less ; we
have our lives and our souls to save ! To flight !
To flight ! [He and PETER rush out to the left.
BARD BRATTE.
Ay, better so than to fall at the hands of the
townfolk and the Birchlegs.
PAUL FLIDA.
In God's name, then, to flight !
[All follow SKULE
188 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
The room stands empty for a short time; a distant
and confused noise is heard from the streets ;
then a troop of armed tonmsmen rushes in by
the door on the right.
A TOWNSMAN
Here ! He must be here !
ANOTHER.
Slay him !
MANY.
Slay the church-robber too !
A SINGLE ONE.
Go carefully ! They may yet bite !
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
No need: the Birchlegs are already coming
up the street.
A TOWNSMAN.
[Entering.] Too late King Skule has fled !
MANY.
Whither ? Whither ?
THE NEW-COMER.
Into one of the churches, methinks ; they are
full of the Vargbaelgs.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
Then let us seek for him ; great thanks ami
reward will King Hakon give to the man who
slays Skule.
ANOTHER.
Here comes the Birchlegs,
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 189
A THIRD.
King Hakon himself!
MANY OF THE CROWD.
[Shout.] Hail to King Hakon Hakonsson!
HAKON.
[Enters from the right, followed by GREGORIUS
JONSSON, DAGFINN THE PEASANT, and many others.]
Ay, now are you humble, you Tronders; you
have stood against me long enough.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
[Kneeling.] Mercy, my lord ! Skule Bardsson
bore so hardly on us !
ANOTHER.
[Also kneeling.] He compelled us, else had
we never followed him.
THE FIRST.
He seized our goods and forced us to fight for
his unrighteous cause.
THE SECOND.
Alas, noble lord, he has been a scourge to his
friends no less than to his foes.
MANY VOICES.
Ay, ay, Skule Bardsson has been a scourge to
the whole land.
DAGFINN.
That, at least, is true enough.
HAKON.
Good ; with you townsfolk I will speak later ;
190 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
'tis my purpose to punish sternly all transgres-
sions ; but first there are other things to be
thought of. Knows any man where Skule
Bardsson is ?
MANY.
la one of the churches, lord !
HAKON.
Know you that for certain ?
THE TOWNSMEN.
Ay, there are all the Vargbaelgs.
HAKON.
[Softly to DAGFINN.] He must be found ; set a
watch on all the churches in the town.
DAGFINN.
And when he is found, he must straightway be
slain.
HAKON.
[Softly.] Slain ? Dagfinn, Dagfinn, how heavy
a deed it seems !
DAGFINN.
My lord, you swore it solemnly at Oslo.
HAKON.
And all men in the land will call for his death.
[Turns to GREGORIUS JONSSON and says, unheard by
the others.] Go ; you were once his friend ; seek
him out and prevail on him to fly the land.
GREGORIUS.
[Joyfully.] *ou will suffer it, my lord !
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 191
HAKON.
For the sake of my gentle, well-beloved wife.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
But if he should not flee ? If he will not or
cannot ?
HAKON.
Then, in God's name, I may not spare him ;
then must my kingly word be fulfilled. Go !
GREGORIUS JONSSON
I go, and shall do my utmost. Heaven grant I
may succeed. [Cues out by the right.
HAKON.
You, Dagfinn, go with trusty men down to the
King's ship ; you shall conduct the Queen and her
child up to Elgesaeter 1 convent.
DAGFINN.
My lord, think you she will be safe there ?
HAKON.
Nowhere safer. The Vargbaelgs have shut
themselves up in the churches, and she has
besought to be sent thither; her mother is at
Elgesaeter.
DAGFINN.
Ay, ay, that I know.
HAKON.
Greet the Queen most lovingly from me ; and
greet Lady Ragnhild also. You may tell them
that so soon as the Vargbaelgs shall have made
Elk-chalet.
THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
submission and been taken to grace, all the bells
in Nidaros shall be rung, for a sign that there has
come peace in the land once more. You towns-
folk shall reckon with me to-morrow, and punish-
ment shall be meted to each according to his
misdeeds. [Goes with his men.
THE FIRST TOWNSMAN.
Woe upon us to-morrow !
THE SECOND.
We have a long reckoning to pay.
THE FIRST.
We, who have stood against Hakon ?o long
who bore our part in acclaiming Skule when he
took the kingly title.
THE SECOND.
Who gave Skule both ships and war-tribute
who bought all the goods he seized from Hakon's
thanes.
THE FIRST.
Ay, woe upon us to-morrow !
A TOWNSMAN.
[Rushes in from the left.] Where is Ilakon ?
Where is the King ?
THE FIRST.
What would you with him ?
THE NEW-COMER.
Bring him great and weighty tidings.
MANY.
What tidings ?
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 13
THE NEW-COMER.
I tell them to no other than the King himself.
MANY.
Ay, tell us, tell us !
THE NEW-COMER.
Skule Bardsson is fleeing up toward Elgesaeter.
THE FIRST.
It cannot be ! He is in one of the churches.
THE NEW-COMER.
No, no ; he and his son crossed over the river in
a skiff.
THE FIRST.
Ha, then we can save us from Hakon's wrath !
THL SECOND.
Ay, let us forthwith give him to know where
Skule is.
THE FIRST.
Nay, better than that ; we will say nought, but
ourselves go up to Elgesaeter and slay Skule.
THE SECOND.
Ay, ay that will we !
A THIRD.
But did not many Vargbaelgs go with him over
the river?
THE NEW-COMER.
No, there were but few men in the boat.
THE FIRST.
We will arm us as best we can. Oh, now are
N
194 THE PRETENDERS. [ ACT v -
we townsfolk safe enough ! Let no man know
what we are about ; we are enough for the task !
And now, away to Elgesseter.
ALL.
[Softly.'] Ay, away to Elgesseter !
[They go out lo the left, rapidly but
cautiously.
A fir-wood on the hills above Nidaros. It is moon-
light, but the night is misty, so that the back-
ground is seen indistinctly, and sometimes scarcely
at all. Tree-stumps and great, boulders lie round
about. KING SKULE, PETER, PAUL FLIDA, BARD
BRATTE, and other V!RILELGS come through the
wood from the left.
PETER.
Come hither and rest you, my father.
KING SKULE.
Ay, let me rest, rest. [Sinks down beside a stone.
PETER.
How goes it with you ?
KING SKULE.
I am hungry ! I am sick, sick ! I see dead
men's shadows !
PETER.
[Springing up.] Help here bread for the
King!
B!RD BRATTE.
Here is every man king ; for life is at stake.
\CT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 195
Stand up, Skule Bardsson, if you be king ! Lie
not there to rule the land.
PETER.
If you scoff at my father, I will kill you .
B!RD BRATTE.
I shall be killed whatever betides ; for me King
Hakon will have no grace ; for I was his thane,
and deserted him for Skule's sake. Think of
somewhat that may save us. No deed so desperate
but I will risk it now.
A
Could we but get over to the convent at
Holm?
PAUL FLIDA.
Better to Elgesaeter.
BARD BRATTE.
[With a sudden outburst. ,] Best of all to go
down to Hakon's ship and bear away the King-
child.
PAUL FUDA.
Are you distraught ?
BARD BRATTE.
No, no ; 'tis our one hope, and easy enough to
do. The Birchlegs are ransacking every house,
and keeping watch on all the churches ; they
think none of us can have taken flight, since all
the bridges are broken. There can be but few
men on board the ships ; when once we have his
heir in our power, Hakon must grant us peace, else
196 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
will his child die with us. Who will go with me
to save our lives ?
PAUL FLIDA.
Not I, if they are to be saved in such wise.
SEVERAL.
Not I ! Not I !
PETER.
Ha, but if it were to save my father
B!RD BRATTE.
If you will go with me, come. First I go down
to Hladehammer ; there lies the troop we met at
the bottom of the hill ; they are the wildest dare-
devils of all the Vargbaelgs ; they had swum the
river, knowing that they would find no grace in the
churches. They are the lads for a raid on the
King's ship ' Which of you will follow me ?
SOME.
I! I!
PETER.
Mayhap I too ; but first must I see my father
into safe shelter.
BARD BRATTE.
Ere daybreak will we make speed up the river.
Come, here goes a short way downwards towards
Hlade. [He and some others go out to the right.
PETER.
[To PAUL FLIDA.] Let not my father know aught
of this ; he is soul-sick to-night, we must act
for him There is safety in Bard Bratte's deed ;
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 197
ere daybreak shall the King-child be in our
hands.
PAUL FLIDA.
To be slain, most like. See you not that it is a
sin
PETER.
Nay, it cannot be a sin ; for my father doomed
the child in Oslo. Sooner or later it must die, for
it blocks my father's path ; my father has a great
king's-thought to carry through ; it matters not
who or how many fall for its sake.
PAUL FLIDA.
Hapless for you was the day you came to know
that you were King Skule's son. [Listening.]
Hist ! cast you flat to the ground ; there come
people this way.
[All throw themselves down behind stones
and stumps ; a troop of people, some
riding, some on foot, can be seen indis-
tinctly through the mist and between the
trees ; they come from the left, and pass
on to the right.
PETER.
'Tis the Queen !
PAUL FLIDA.
Ay ; she is talking with Dagfinn the Peasant.
Hush !
PETER.
They are making for Elgesaeter. The King-
child is with them !
PAUL FLIDA.
And the Queen's ladies.
198 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT v
PETER.
But only four men ! Up, up, King Skule now
is your kingdom saved !
KING SKULE.
My kingdom ? Tis dark, my kingdom like the
angel's that rose against God.
A party of MONKS comes from the rigid.
A MONK.
Who speaks there ? Is it King Skule's men.
PAUL FLIDA.
King Skule himself.
THE MONK.
[To SKULE.] God be praised that we met you,
dear lord ! Some townsmen gave us to know that
you had taken the upward path, and we are no less
unsafe than you in Nidaros.
PETER.
You have deserved death, you who denied to
give forth St. Olaf s shrine.
THE MONK.
The Archbishop forbade it ; but none the less
we would fain serve King Skule ; we have ever
held to him. See, we have brought with us robes
of our Order for you and your men ; put them on,
and then can you easily make your way into one
convent or another, and can seek to gain grace of
Hakon.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 199
KING SKULE.
Ay, let me put on the robe ; my son and I
must stand on consecrated ground. I will to
Elgesaeter.
PETER.
[Softly, to PAUL FLIDA.] See that my father
comes safely thither.
PAUL FLIDA.
Bethink you that there are Birchlegs at
Elgesaeter.
PETER.
But four men ; you may easily deal with them,
and once inside the convent walls they will not
dare to touch you. I will seek Bard Bratte.
PAUL FLIDA.
Nay, do not so !
PETER.
Not on the King's ship, but at Elgesaeter, must
the outlaws save the kingdom for my father.
[Goes quickly out to the right.
[Whispering to another.'] Go you to Elgesaeter
with Skule ?
THE OTHER.
Hist; no; the Birchlegs are there!
THE FIRST.
Neither will 1 go ; but say nought to the
rest.
200 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V
THE MONK.
And now away, two and two, one spearman
and one monk.
ANOTHER MONK.
[Sitting on a stump behind the rest.] I will
guide King Skule.
KINO SKULE.
Know you the way ?
THE MONK.
The broad way.
THE FIRST MONK.
Haste you ; let us take different paths, and
meet outside the convent gate.
[They go out among the trees, to the right ;
the fog lifts and the comet shows itself,
red and glowing, through the hazy air.
KING SKULE.
Peter, my son ! [Staj-ts backwards.] Ha,
there is the flaming sword in heaven !
THE MONK.
[Sitting behind him on the stump.] And here
am I !
KING SKULE.
Who are you ?
THE MONK.
An old acquaintance.
KING SKULE.
Paler man have I never seen.
ACT V.I THE PRETENDERS. 201
THE MONK.
But you know me not ?
KING SKULE
Tis you that are to lead me to Elgesaeter.
THE MONK.
'Tis I that will lead you to the throne-
KING SKULE.
Can you do that ?
THE MONK.
I can, if you but will it.
KING SKULE.
And by what means ?
THE MONK.
By the means I have used before ; I will take
you up into a high mountain and show you all the
glory of the world.
KING SKULE.
All the glory of the world have I seen ere now,
in dreams of temptation.
THE MONK.
'Twas I that gave you those dreams.
KING SKULE.
Who are you ?
THE MONK.
An envoy from the oldest Pretender in the
world.
202 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
KING SKULE.
From the oldest Pretender in the world ?
THE MONK.
From the first Earl, who rose against the
greatest kingdom, and himself founded a kingdom
that shall endure beyond doomsday
KING SKULE.
[Shrieks.] Bishop Nicholas !
THE MONK.
[Rising.] Do you know me now ? We were
friends of yore,
and 'tis you that have brought me back ;
once the self-same galley our fortunes bore,
and we sailed on the self- same tack.
At our parting I quailed, in the gloom and
the blast ;
for a hawk in his talons had gripped my soul
fast ;
I besought them to chant and to ply the bell,
and I bought me masses and prayers as well,
they read fourteen, though I'd paid but for
seven ;
yet they brought me no nearer the gates of
heaven.
KING SKULE.
And you come from down yonder ?
THE MONK.
Yes, from the kingdom down yonder I'm faring ;
the kingdom men always so much miscall.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 203
I vow 'tis in nowise so bad after all,
and the heat, to my thinking, is never past
bearing.
KING SKULE.
And it seems you have learnt skald-craft, old
Bagler-chieftain !
THE MONK.
Not only skald -craft, but store of Latinity !
Once my Latin was not over strong, you know ;
now few can beat it for ease and flow.
To take any station in yonder vicinity,
ay, even to pass at the gate, for credential
a knowledge of Latin is well-nigh essential.
You can't but make progress with so many able
and learned companions each day at the table,
full fifty ex-popes by my side carouse, and
five hundred cardinals, skalds seven thousand.
KING SKULE.
Greet your Master and give him my thanks
for his friendship. Tell him he is the only king
who sends help to Skule the First of Norway.
THE MONK.
Hear now, King Skule, what brings me to
you -
my Master's henchmen down there are legion,
and each up here is allotted a region ;
they gave Norway to me, as the place I best
knew.
Hakon Hakonsson serves not my Master's will ;
we hate him, for he is our foeman still
so he must fall, leaving you at the helm,
the sole possessor of crown and realm.
204 THE PRETENDERS [ACT V.
KING SKULE.
Ay, give me the crown ! When once I have
that, I will rule so as to buy myself free again.
THE MONK.
Ay, that we can always talk of later -
we must seize the time if we'd win the fight.
King Hakon's child sleeps at Elgesaeter ;
coald you once wrap him in the web of night,
then like storm-swept motes will your foes fly
routed,
then your victory's sure and your kingship
undoubted !
KING SKULE.
Think you so surely that the victory were
mine ?
THE MONK.
All men in Norway are sighing for rest ;
the king with an heir 1 is the king they love
best
a son to succeed to the throne without
wrangling ;
for the people are tired of this hundred-years'
jangling.
Rouse you, King Skule ! one great endeavour '
the foe must perish to-night or never !
See, to the northward how light it has grown,
see how the fog lifts o'er fiord and o'er valley
there gather noiselessly galley on galley
hark ! men are marching with rumble and
drone !
One word of promise, and all is your own
hundreds of glittering sails on the water,
thousands of warriors hurtling to slaughter.
Et kongs-emne.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 205
KING SKULE.
What word would you have ?
THE MONK.
For raising you highest, my one condition
is just that you follow your heart's ambition ;
all Norway is yours, to the kingship I'll speed
you,
if only you vow that your son shall succeed
you !
KING SKULE.
[Raising his hand as if for an oath.] My son
shall [Slops suddenly, and breaks forth in
terror.] The church-robber ! All the might to
him ! Ha ! now I understand ; you seek for his
soul's perdition ! Get thee behind me, get thee
behind me ! [Stretches out his arms to heaven]
Oh have mercy on me, thou to whom I now call
for help in my sorest need !
[He falls prone to the earth.
THE MONK.
Accursed ! He's slipped through my fingers
at la^t
and I thought of a surety I held him so fast !
But the Light, it seems, had a trick in store
that I knew not of and the game is o'er.
Well, well ; what matters a little delay ?
Perpetuum mobile's well under way ;
my might is assured through the years and
the ages,
the haters of light shall be still in my wages ;
in Norway my empire for ever is founded,
though it be to my subjects a riddle unsounded.
[Coming forward,
206 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
While to their life-work Norsemen set out
\vill-lessly wavering, daunted with doubt,
while hearts are shrunken, minds helplessly
shivering,
weak as a willow-wand wind-swept and
quivering,
while about one thing alone they're united,
namely, that greatness be stoned and despited,
when they seek honour in fleeing and falling
under the banner of baseness unfurled,
then Bishop Nicholas 'tends to his calling,
the Bagler-Bishop's at work in the world !
[He disappears in the fog among the trees.
KING SKULE.
[After a short pause, half t'ises and looks around.}
Where is he, my black comrade ? [Springs up.]
My guide, my guide, where are you ? Gone !
No matter ; now I myself know the way, both to
Elgesseter and beyond. [Goes out to the right.
The courtyard of Elgcsceter Convent. To the left
lies the chapel, with an entrance from the court-
yard ; the windows are lighted up. Along the
opposite side of the space stretch some lower
buildings ; in the back, the convent wall with a
strong gate, which is locked. It is a clear
moonlight night. Three Birchleg Chiefs stand
by the gate ; MARGRETE, LADY RAGNHILD, and
DAGFINN THE PEASANT come out from the
chapel.
LADY RAGNHILD.
\Halfto herself.] King Skule had to flee into
the church, you say ! He, he, a fugitive ! begging
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 207
at the altar for peace begging for his life may-
hap oh 110, no, that could never be ; but God
will punish you who dared to let it come to this !
MARGRETE.
My dear, dear mother, curb yourself; you
know not what you say ; 'tis your grief that
speaks.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Hear me, ye Birchlegs ! 'Tis Hakon Hakons-
son that should lie before the altar, and beseech
King Skule for life and peace.
A BIRCHLEG.
It ill beseems loyal men to listen to such
words.
MARGRETE.
Bow your heads before a wife's sorrow !
LADY RAGNHILD.
King Skule doomed ! Look to yourselves, look
to yourselves all of you, when he regains his
power !
DAGFINN.
That will never be, Lady Ragnhild.
MARGRETE.
Hush, hush !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Think you Hakon Hakonsson dare let his
doom be fulfilled if the King should fall into his
hands ?
DAGFINN.
King Hakon himself best knows whether a
king's oath can be broken.
208 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[To MARGRETE.] And this man of blood have
you followed in faitli and love! Are you your
father's child ? May the wrath of heaven !
Go from me, go from me !
MARGRETE.
Blessed be your lips, although now they curse
me.
LADY RAGNHILD.
I must down to Nidaros and into the church to
find King Skule. He sent me from him when he
sat victorious on the throne; then, truly, he had
no need of me now will he not be wroth if I
come to him. Open the gate for me; let me go
to Nidaros !
MARGUETE.
My mother, for God's pity's sake !
[A loud knocking at the convent gate.
DAGFINN.
Who knocks ?
KING SKULE.
[Without.'] A king.
DAGFINN.
Skule Bardsson.
LADY RAGNIIILD.
King Skule.
MARGRETE.
My father !
KING SKULE
Open, open !
DAGFINN.
We open not here to outlaws.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 209
KING SKULE.
"Tis a king who knocks, I tell you ; a king who
has no- roof over his head ; a king whose life is
forfeit if he reach not consecrated ground,
MARGRETE.
Dagfinn, Dagfinn, 'tis my father!
DAGFINN.
[Goes to the gate and opens a small shutter.] Come
you with many men to the convent ?
KING SKULE.
With all the men that were true to me in my
need.
DAGFINN.
And hot? many be they ?
KING SKULF.
Fewer than one.
MARGRETE.
He is alone, Dagfinn.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Heaven's wrath fall upon you if you deny him
sanctuary !
DAGFINN.
In God's name, then !
[He opens the gate ; the Birchlegs respect-
fully uncover their heads. KING SKULE
enters the courtyard.
MARGRETE.
[Throwing herself on his neck.] My father !
My dear, unhappy father 1
210 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Interposing wildly between him and the Bircklegs.^
Ye who feign reverence for him, ye will betray
him, like Judas. Dare not to come near him '
Ye shall not lay a finger on him while I live !
DAGFINN.
Here he is safe, for he is on holy ground.
MARGRETE.
And not one of all your men had the heart to
follow you this night !
KING SKULE.
Both monks and spearmen brought me on the
way ; but they slipped from me one by one, for
they knew there were Birchlegs at Elgesseter.
Paul Flida was the last to leave me ; he came with
me to the convent gate ; there he gave me his last
hand-grip, in memory of the time when there were
Vargbaelgs in Norway.
DAGFINN.
[To the Birchlegs .] Get you in, chieftains, and
set you as guards about the King-child ; I must to
Nidaros to acquaint the King that Skule Bardsson
is at Elgesaeter ; in so weighty a matter 'tis for
him to act.
MARGRETE.
Oh, Dagfinn, Dagfinn, have you the heart for
that ?
DAGFINN.
Else should I ill serve King and land. [To the
men^\ Lock the gates after me, watch over the
child, and open to none until the King be come.
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 211
\Sojlbf SKULE.] Farewell, Skule Bardsson
and God grant you a blessed end.
[Goes out by i he gale ; the Birchlegs close it
after him, and go into the chapel.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Ay, let Hakon come ; I will not loose you ; I will
hold you straitly and tenderly in my arms, as I
never held you before.
MARGRETE.
Oh, how pale you are and aged ; you are cold.
KING SKULE.
I am not cold but I am weary, weary.
MARGRETE.
Come in then, and rest you
KING SKULE.
Yes, yes ; 'twill soon be time to rest.
SIGRID.
[From the chapel.] You come at last, my
brother !
KING SKULE.
Sigrid ! you here ?
SIGRID.
I promised that we should mee-t when you were
fain of me in your sorest need.
KING SKULE.
Where is your child, Margrete ?
MARGRETE.
He sleeps, in the sacristy.
212 THE PRETENDERS. f_ACT V.
KING SKULE.
Then is our whole house gathered at Elgesaeter
to-night.
SIGRID.
Ay, gathered after straying long and far.
KING SKULE.
Hakon Hakonsson alone is wanting.
MARGRETE AND LADY RAGNHILD.
[Cling about him, in an outburst of sorrow.] My
father ! My husband !
KING SKULE.
[Looking at them, much moved.] Have you
loved me so deeply, you two ? I sought after
happiness abroad, and heeded not the home
wherein I might have found it. I pursued after
love through sin and guilt, little dreaming that
'twas mine already, in right of God's law and
man's. And you, Ragnhild, my wife, you, against
whom I have sinned so deeply, you take me to
your warm, soft heart in the hour of my sorest
need ; you can tremble and be afraid for the life
of the man who has never cast a ray of sunshine
upon your path.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Have you sinned ? Oh, Skule, speak not so ;
think you I should ever dare accuse you ! From
the first I was too mean a mate for you, my noble
husband ; there can rest no guilt on any deed of
yours.
KING SKULE.
Have you believed in me so surely, Ragnhild ?
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 213
LADY RAGNHILD.
From the first day I saw you.
KING SKULE.
[With animation.] When Hakon comes, I will
beg grace of him ! You gentle, loving women,
oh., but it is fair to live !
SIGRID.
[ With an expression of terror.] Skule,mybrother !
Woe to you if you stray from the path this night.
[A loud noise without ; immediately after-
wards, a knocking at the gate.
MARGRETE.
Hark, hark ! Who comes in such haste ?
LADY RAGNHILD.
Who knocks at the gate ?
VOICES.
[Without.] Townsfolk from Nidaros ! Open!
We know that Skule Bardsson is within !
KING SKULE.
Ay, he is within ; what would ye with him ?
NOISY VOICES.
[ Without.] Come out, come out ! Death to the
evil man !
MARGRETE.
You townsfolk dare to threaten that ?
A SINGLE VOICE.
King Hakon doomed him at Oslo.
214 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
ANOTHER.
'Tis every man's duty to slay him.
MARGRETE.
I am the Queen ; I command you to depart !
A VOICE.
'Tis Skule Bardsson's daughter, and not the
Queen, that speaks thus.
ANOTHER.
You have no power over life and death ; the
King has doomed him !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Into the church, Skule ! For God's mercy's sake,
let not the bloodthirsty caitiffs approach you !
KING SKULE.
Ay, into the church ; I would not fall at the
hands of such as these. My Avife, my daughter ;
meseems I have found peace and light; oh, 1
cannot lose them again so soon !
[Moves towards the chapel.
PETER.
[Without, on the light.} My father, my king!
Now will you soon have the victory !
KING SKULE.
[With a shriek] He! He!
[Sinks down upon the church steps.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Who is it ?
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 215
A TOWNSMAN'.
[Without.] See, see ! the church -robber climbs
over the convent roof !
OTHERS.
Stone him ! Stone him !
PETER.
[Appears on a roof to the right, and Jumps doivn
into the yard.] Well met again, my father!
KING SKULE.
[Looks at him aghast.] You I had forgotten
you ! Whence come you ?
PETER.
[ Wildly.] Where is the King-child ?
MARGRETE.
The King-child !
KING SKULE.
[Starts up.] Whence come you, I ask ?
PETER.
From Hladehammer; I have given Bard Bratte
and the Vargbselgs to know that the King-child
lies at Elgesaeter to-night.
MARGRETE.
OGod!
KING SKULE.
You have done that ! And now ?
PETER.
He is gathering together his men, and they are
2l6 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
hasting up to the convent. Where is the King-
child, woman ?
MARGRETE.
[Who has placed herself before the church door.]
He sleeps in the sacristy!
PETER.
'Twere the same if he slept on the altar ! I
have dragged out St. Olaf s shrine 1 fear not to
drag out the King-child as well.
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Calls to SKULE.] And he it is you have loved so
deeply !
MARGRETE.
Father, father! How could you forget us all
for his sake ?
KING SKULE.
He was pure as a lamb of God when the penitent
woman gave him to me; 'tis his faith in me has
made him what he now is.
PETER.
[Without heeding him.] The child must out!
Slay it, slay it in the Queen's arms, that was
King Skule's word in Oslo !
MARGRETE.
Oh shame, oh shame !
PETER.
A saint might do it unsinning, at my father's
command ! My father is King ; for the great
king's-thought is his !
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 217
TOWNSMEN.
[Knocking at the gate.] Open ! Come out, you
and the church-robber, else will we burn the
convent down !
KING SKULE.
[As if seized by a strong resolution.} The great
king's-thought ! 'Tis that has poisoned your
young loving soul ! Pure and blameless I was to
give you back ; 'tis faith in me that drives you
thus wildly from crime to crime, from deadly sin
to deadly sin ! Oh, but I can save you yet : I can
save us all ! [Calls toward the background.} Wait,
wait, ye townsmen without there : I come !
MARGRETE.
[Seizing his hand in terror.} My father ! what
would you do ?
LADY RAGNHILD.
[Clinging to him with a shriek.] Skule !
SIGRID.
[Tears them away from him, and calls with ivild,
radiant joy.} Loose him, loose him, women ;
now his thought puts forth wings !
KING SKULE.
[Firmly and forcibly, to PETER.] You saw in
me the heaven-chosen one, him who should do
the great king's-work in the land. Look at
me better, misguided boy ! The rags of king-
ship I have decked myself withal, they were
borrowed and stolen now I put them off me,
one by one.
218 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
PETER.
[In dread.] My great, my noble father, speak
not thus !
KING SKULE.
The king's-thought is Hakon's, not mine ; to
him alone has the Lord granted the power that
can act it out. You have believed in a lie ; turn
from me, and save your soul.
PETER.
[In a broken voice.] The king's-thought is
Hakon's !
KING SKULE.
I yearned to be the greatest in the land. My
God ! my God ! behold, I abase myself before thee,
and stand as the least of all men.
PETER.
Take me from the earth, O Lord ! Punish me
for all my sin ; but take me from the earth ; for
here am I homeless now !
[Sinks down upon the church steps.
KING SKULE.
I had a friend who bled for me at Oslo. He
said : A man can die for another's life-work ; but
if he is to go on living, he must live for his own.
I have no life-work to live for, neither can I
live for Hakon's, but T can die for it.
MARGRETE.
Nay, nay, that shall you never do '
KING SKULE.
[Takes her hand, and looks at her tenderly.] Do
you love your husband, Margrete ?
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. '219
MARGRETE.
Better than the whole world.
KING SKULE.
You could endure that he should doom me ;
but could you also endure that he should let the
doom be fulfilled ?
MARGRETE.
Lord of heaven, give me strength !
KING SKULE.
Could you, Margrete ?
MARGRETE.
[Softly and shuddering.] No, no we should
have to part, I could never see him more i
KING SKULE.
You would darken the fairest light of his life
and of yours; be at peace, Margrete, it shall
not be needful.
LADY RAGNHILD.
Flee from the land, Skule ; I will follow you
whithersoever you will.
KING SKULE.
[Shaking his head.] With a mocking shade
between us ? To night have I found you for the
first time; there must fall no shade between me
and you, my silent, faithful wife ; therefore
must we not seek to unite our lives on this earth.
SIGRID.
My kingly brother ! I see you need me not ; I
see you know what path to take.
220 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
KING SKULE.
There are men born to live, and men born to
die. My desire was ever thitherward where God's
finger pointed not the way for me ; therefore I
never saw my path clear, till now. My peaceful
home-life have I wrecked ; I can never win it back
again. My sins against Hakon I can atone by
freeing him from a kingly duty which must have
parted him from his dearest treasure. The towns-
folk stand without; I will not wait for King
Hakon ! The Vargbaelgs are near ; so long as I
live they will not swerve from their purpose ; if
they find me here, I cannot save your child, Mar-
grete. See, look upwards ! See how it wanes
and pales, the flaming sword that has hung over
my head ! Yes, yes, God has spoken and I have
understood him, and his wrath is appeased. Not
in the sanctuary of Elgesaeter will I cast me down
and beg for grace of an earthly king ; I must into
the mighty church roofed with the vault of stars
and 'tis the King of Kings I must implore for grace
and mercy over all my life-work.
SIGRID.
Withstand him not ! Withstand not the call
of God ! The day dawns ; it dawns in Norway
and it dawns in his restless soul ! Have not we
trembling women cowered long enough in our
secret rooms, terror-stricken and hidden in the
darkest corners, listening to all the horror that was
doing without, listening to the bloody pageant
that stalked over the land from end to end ! Have
we not lain pale and stone-like in the churches,
not daring to look forth, even as Christ's disciples
lay in Jerusalem on the Great Good Friday when
ACT V.I THE PRETENDERS. 221
the Lord was led by to Golgotha ! Use thy wings,
and woe to them who would bind thee now !
LADY RAGNHILD.
Fare forth in peace, my husband ; fare thither,
where no mocking shade shall stand between us,
when we meet. [Hastens into the chapel.
MARGRETE.
My father, farewell, farewell, a thousand times
farewell ! [Follows LADY HAGNHILD.
SIGRID.
[Opens the church door and calls .] To your
knees, all ye women ! Assemble yourselves in
prayer ; send up a message in song to the Lord,
and tell him that now Skule Bardsson comes
penitent home from his rebellious race on earth.
KING SKULE.
Sigrid, my faithful sister, greet King Hakon
from me ; tell him that even in my last hour I
know not whether he be king-born ; but this I
know of a surety he it is whom God has chosen.
SIGRID.
I will bear him your greeting.
KING SKULE.
And yet another greeting must you bear. There
dwells a penitent woman in the north, in Halo-
galand ; tell her that her son has gone before ; he
went with me when there was great danger for
his soul.
222 THE PRETENDERS. [ ACT V.
SlGRID.
That will I.
KING SKULE.
Tell her, it was not with the heart he sinned ;
pure and blameless shall she surely meet him
again.
SIGRID.
That will I. [Points towards the background.]
Hark ! they are breaking the lock !
KING SKULE.
[Points towards the chapel.] Hark ! they are
singing loud to God of salvation and peace !
SIGRID.
Hark again ! All the bells in Nidaros are
ringing !
KING SKULE.
[Smiles mournfully.] They are ringing a king
to his grave.
SIGRID.
Nay, nay, they ring for your true crowning !
Farewell, my brother, let the purple robe of blood
flow wide over your shoulders ; under it may all
sin be hidden ! Go forth, go into the great church
and take the crown of life.
[Hastens into the chapel.
[Chanting and bell-ringing continue during
what follows.
VOICES.
[Outside the gate.] The lock has burst ! Force
us not to break the peace of the church '
ACT V.] THE PRETENDERS. 223
KING SKULE.
I come.
THE TOWNSMEN.
And the church-robber must come too
KING SKULE.
Ay, the church-robber shall come too. [Goes
over to PETER.] My son, are you ready ?
PETER.
Ay, father, I am ready.
KING SKULE.
[Looks upwards.] O God, I am a poor man, I
have but my life to give ; but take that, and keep
watch over Hakon's great king's-thought. See
now, give me your hand.
PETER.
Here is my hand, father.
KING SKULE.
And fear not for that which is now to come.
PETER.
Nay, father, I fear not, when J go with you.
KINO SKULE.
A safer way have we two never trodden together.
[He opens the gate ; the TOWNSMEN stand without with
upraised weapons.] Here are we ; we come of our
own free will ; but strike him not in the face.
[They pass out, hand in hand ,- the gale glides
to.
224 THE PRETENDERS. [ACT V.
A VOICE.
Aim not, spare not ; strike them where ye can
KING SKULE'S VOICE.
'Tis base to deal thus with chieftains.
[A short noise of weapons ; then a heavy fall
is heard ; all is still for a "noment.
A VOICE.
They are dead, both of them !
[The KING'S horn sounds.
ANOTHER VOICE.
There comes King Hakon with all his guard !
THE CROWD.
Hail Hakon Hakonsson ; now have you no longer
any foemen.
GREGORIUS JONSSON.
[Stops a little before the corpses .] So I have come
too late ! [Enters the convent yard,
DAGFINN.
It had been ill for Norway had you come sooner.
[Calls outJ\ In here, King Hakon !
HAKON.
[Slopping.] The body lies in my way !
DAGFINN.
If Hakon Hakonsson would go forward, he must
pass over Skule Bardsson's body !
HAKON.
In God's name then !
[Steps over the corpse and comes in.
ACT V.~) THE PR ET KM) Fits. yo.5
DAGFINN.
At last you can set about your king's-work with
free hands. In there are those you love ; in
Nidaros they are ringing in peace in the land ; and
yonder he lies who was your direst foe.
HAKON.
All men misjudged him, reading not his secret.
DAGFINN.
His secret?
HAKON.
[Seizes him by the arm, and says sofUi/.] Skule
Bardsson was God's step-child on earth ; that was
t.
[The song of the women is heard more
iviidly from the chapel ; ail the bells are
the secret
/ ' / '
still rixgina in Xidaros.
THE END.
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