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eapt sky-high, and down we plunged
- both of us into the depths!
[ASE totters, and catches at the trunk of a tree. PEER GYNT continues:]
- Mountain walls behind us, black,
- and below a void unfathomed!
- First we clove through banks of mist,
- then we clove a flock of sea-gulls,
- so that they, in mid-air startled,
- flew in all directions, screaming.
- Downward rushed we, ever downward.
- But beneath us something shimmered,
- whitish, like a reindeer's belly.-
- Mother, 'twas our own reflection
- in the glass-smooth mountain tarn,
- shooting up towards the surface
- with the same wild rush of speed
- wherewith we were shooting downwards.
ASE [gasping for breath].
- Peer! God help me-! Quickly, tell-!
PEER
- Buck from over, buck from under,
- in a moment clashed together,
- scattering foam-flecks all around.
- There we lay then, floating, plashing,-
- But at last we made our way
- somehow to the northern shore;
- buck, he swam, I clung behind him:-
- I ran homewards-
ASE
- But the buck, de
