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him.]
- Don't let us talk big.
- We've been drifting astern in these latter years;
- we can't tell what's going to stand or to fall,
- and there's no sense in turning recruits away.
- Besides the lad's body has scarce a blemish,
- and he's strongly-built too, if I see aright.
- It's true, he has only a single head;
- but my daughter, too, has no more than one.
- Three-headed trolls are going clean out of fashion;
- one hardly sees even a two-header now,
- and even those heads are but so-so ones.
- [To PEER GYNT.]
- It's my daughter, then, you demand of me?
PEER
- Your daughter and the realm to her dowry, yes.
THE OLD MAN
- You shall have the half while I'm still alive,
- and the other half when I come to die.
PEER
- I'm content with that.
THE OLD MAN
- Ay, but stop, my lad;-
- you also have some undertakings to give.
- If you break even one, the whole pact's at an end,
- and you'll never get away from here living.
- First of all you must swear that you'll never give heed
- to aught that lies outside Ronde-hills' bounds;
- day you must shun, and deeds, and each sunlit spot.
PEER
- Only call me king, and that's easy to keep.
THE OLD M
