- ing that Ibsen returned to Norway with no definite
intention of settling down. Dr. Julius Elias (an excellent authority) reports that shortly before Ibsen left Munich in 1891, he remarked one day, "I must get back to the North!" "Is that a sudden impulse?" asked Elias. "Oh no," was the reply; "I want to be a good head of a household and have my affairs in order. To that end I must consolidate my property, lay it down in good securities, and get it under control—and that one can best do where one has rights of citizenship." Some critics will no doubt be shocked to find the poet whom they have written down an "anarchist" confessing such bourgeois motives.
After his return to Norway, Ibsen's correspondence became very scant, and we have no letters dating from the period when he was at work on The Master Builder. On the other hand, we possess a curious lyrical prelude to the play, which he put on paper on March 16, 1892. It is said to have been his habit, before setting to work on a play, to "crystallise in a poem the mood which then possessed him"; but the following is the only one of these keynote-poems which has been published. I give it in the original language, with a literal translation:
DE SAD DER, DE TO—
De sad der, de to, i saa lunt et hus ved höst og i vinterdage, Saa brændte huset. Alt ligger i grus. De to faar i asken rage.
For nede i den er et smykke gemt,— et smykke, som aldrig kan brænde, Og leder de trofast, hænder det nemt at det findes af ham eller hende.
Men finder de end, de brandlidte to, det dyre, ildfaste smykke,— aldrig hun finder sin brændte tro, han aldrig sin brændte lykke.
