This page needs to be proofread.
Now homewards! Though narrow and steep the path,
- though Fate to the end may be never so biting-
- still old Peer Gynt will pursue his own way,
- and remain what he is: poor, but virtuous ever.
- [Goes out.]
SCENE FOURTH
[A hillside seamed by the dry bed of a torrent. A ruined mill-house beside the stream. The ground is torn up, and the whole place waste. Further up the hill, a large farm-house.] [An auction is going on in front of the farm-house. There is a great gathering of people, who are drinking, with much noise. PEER GYNT iS sitting on a rubbish-heap beside the mill.] PEER
- Forward and back, and it's just as far;
- out and in, and it's just as strait.-
- Time wears away and the river gnaws on.
- Go roundabout, the Boyg said;-and here one must.
A MAN DRESSED IN MOURNING
- Now there is only rubbish left over.
- [Catches sight of PEER GYNT.]
- Are there strangers here too! God be with you, good friend!
PEER
- Well met! You have lively times here to-day.
- Is't a christening junket or a wedding feast?
THE MAN IN MOURNING
- I'd rather call it a house-warming treat;-
- the bride is laid in a wormy bed.
