JESPER. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Let us talk of something else.

That's stuff and nonsense; a man might go stark mad over it.

SCENE 4

(Enter Peer.)

JEPPE. Welcome, Peer. Where good folk are gathered, good folk come.

Here, you see, is my son, who has just come back.

PEER. Welcome, Monsieur Rasmus Berg!

MONTa.n.u.s. In Copenhagen, I am accustomed to be called "Monta.n.u.s." I beg you to call me that.

PEER. Yes, surely, it's all the same to me. How are things in Copenhagen? Did many graduate this year?

MONTa.n.u.s. About as many as usual.

PEER. Was any one rejected this year?

MONTa.n.u.s. Two or three conditionaliter.

PEER. Who is Imprimatur this year?

MONTa.n.u.s. What does that mean?

PEER. I mean, who is Imprimatur of the verse and the books which are published?

MONTa.n.u.s. Is that supposed to be Latin?

PEER. Yes, in my day it was good Latin.

MONTa.n.u.s. If it was good Latin then, it must be so still. But it has never been Latin in the sense in which you use it.

PEER. Yes, it is,--good Latin.

MONTa.n.u.s. Is it a nomen or a verb.u.m?

PEER. It is a nomen.

JESPER. That is right, Peer, just speak up for yourself.

MONTa.n.u.s. Cuius declinationis is Imprimatur, then?

PEER. All the words that can be mentioned may be referred to eight things, which are: nomen, p.r.o.nomen, verb.u.m, principium, conjugatio, declinatio, interjectio.

JESPER. Yes, yes, just listen to Peer when he shakes his sleeves!

That's right, keep at him!

MONTa.n.u.s. He's not answering what I ask him. What is the genitive of "Imprimatur"?

PEER. Nominativus, ala; genitivus, alae; dativus, ala; vocativus, ala; ablativus, ala.

JESPER. Ah, ha, Monsieur Monta.n.u.s, we have some folk here on the hill, too!

PEER. I should say so. In my time the fellows that graduated were of a different sort from nowadays. They were lads who got shaved twice a week, and could scan all kinds of verse.

MONTa.n.u.s. That is certainly a wonderful thing! Boys in the second cla.s.s can do that to-day. Nowadays there are graduates from the schools in Copenhagen who can write Hebrew and Chaldean verse,

PEER. Then they can't know much Latin.

MONTa.n.u.s. Latin! If you went to school now, you couldn't get above the bottom cla.s.s.

JESPER. Don't say that, Monta.n.u.s. The deacon is, I know, a thoroughly educated man; that I have heard both the district bailiff and the tax-collector say.

MONTa.n.u.s. Perhaps they understand Latin just as little as he

JESPER. But I can hear that he answers splendidly.

MONTa.n.u.s. Yes, but he doesn't answer what I ask him--E qua schola dimissus es, mi Domine?

PEER. Adjectivum et substantivum genere, numero et caseo conveniunt.

JESPER. He's giving him his bucket full. Good for you, Peer; as sure as you live, we shall drink a half pint of handy together.

MONTa.n.u.s. If you knew, Mr. Bailiff, what his answers were, you would laugh until you split. I ask him from what school he graduated and he answers at random something entirely different.

PEER. Tunc tua res agitur, paries c.u.m proximus ardet.

JESPER. Yes, yes, that's a good lead for you. Answer that, now.

MONTa.n.u.s. I can't answer that; it is mere mincemeat. Let us talk Danish, so the others can understand; then you will be able to hear what kind of a fellow he is. (Nille cries.)

JESPER. What are you crying for, my good woman?

NILLE. Oh, I am so sorry that my son must admit himself beaten in Latin.

JESPER. Oh, it's no wonder, my good woman. Peer is, of course, much older than he; it is no wonder. Let them talk Danish, then, as we all understand it.

PEER. Yes, certainly. I am ready for whichever one of the two he wishes. We shall propose certain questions to each other; for example, who was it that screamed so loud that he could be heard over the whole world?

MONTa.n.u.s. I know no one who screams louder than a.s.ses and country deacons.

PEER. Nonsense! Can they be heard over the whole world? It was the a.s.s in Noah's ark; for the whole world was in the ark.

JESPER. Ha, ha, ha! That is true, to be sure. Ha, ha, ha! Peer the deacon has a fine head on his shoulders.