LADY KIRSTEN. You will marry her! Well and good; then am I no longer a mother to you!

OLAF. You will cause me great sorrow, although it is now long since that you were a real mother to me. You used me merely to build aloft your own pride, and I was weak and acquiesced. But now have I won power and will; now I stand firmly on my own feet and lay the foundation of my own happiness!

LADY KIRSTEN. But do you stop to consider--

OLAF. Nothing will I now consider,--I know what I want. Now first I understand my strange dream. It was prophesied of me that I was to find the fairest of flowers,--that I was to tear it asunder and strew it to all the winds. O, thus it has happened!

A woman's heart is the fairest flower in the world; all its rich and golden leaves I have torn asunder and scattered to the winds.

But be of good cheer, my Alfhild! Many a seed has gone too, and sorrow has ripened it, and from it shall grow a rich life for us here in the valley; for here shall we live and be happy!

ALFHILD. O, now I am happy as in the first hour we met.

LADY KIRSTEN. [Aside.] Ingeborg is gone; this rich valley belongs to Alfhild,--no one else has a claim to it--

LADY KIRSTEN. [Aloud.] Well, Olaf! I shall not stand in the way of your happiness. If you think you will find it in this way, then--well, then you have my consent!

OLAF. Thanks, mother, thanks! Now I lack nothing more!

ALFHILD. [To LADY KIRSTEN.] And me you forgive all my sin?

LADY KIRSTEN. Yes, yes! Perhaps I too was wrong,--let us not say any more of that!

ARNE. But I, then? And my daughter, whom Olaf had pledged--Yet, it is true, perhaps she is no longer alive!

OLAF. Of course she's alive!

ARNE. She lives! Where is she? Where?

OLAF. That I can not say; but I may say that we both in all friendliness have broken our pledge.

LADY KIRSTEN. You see, Lord Arne! that I--

ARNE. Well, my daughter shall not be forced upon any one.

Alfhild was fated to marry a knight; the same may happen to Ingeborg.

ARNE. [With dignity.] n.o.ble lords and honorable men, hear me!

It has come to my ear that many of you hold me to be little skilled in courtly manners and customs. I will show you now you are completely mistaken. In the old chronicles it is frequently told that when a n.o.ble king loses his daughter he promises her hand and half his kingdom to him who may find her; he who finds Ingeborg shall receive her hand in marriage and in addition half of all that I own and possess. Are you with me on that?

THE YOUNG MEN. Yes, yes!

SCENE IX

[The Preceding. INGEBORG comes hurriedly out of the hut and pulls HEMMING behind her.]

INGEBORG. Here I am! Hemming has found me!

ALL. [ASTONISHED] Ingeborg and Hemming! Up here!

ARNE. [Irritated.] Ah, then shall--

INGEBORG. [Throws herself about his neck.] O father, father!

It will not avail you; you have given your word!

ARNE. But that did not apply to him! Now I see it all right; he has taken you away himself.

INGEBORG. No, to the contrary, father! It was I who took him away!

ARNE. [Frightened.] Will you be silent with such words! Are you out of your head?

INGEBORG. [Softly.] Then say "yes" right here on the spot!

Otherwise I shall proclaim to all people that it was I who--

ARNE. Hush, hush! I am saying "yes"!

[Steps between them and looks sternly at HEMMING.]

ARNE. It was you then who stole my dapple-gray horse with saddle and bridle?

HEMMING. Alas, Lord Arne!--

ARNE. O Hemming! Hemming! You are a--

[Stops to consider.]

ARNE. Well, you are my daughter's betrothed; let it all be forgotten.

HEMMING AND INGEBORG. O, thanks, thanks!

SCENE X

[The Preceding. THORGJERD with a harp in his hand has during the foregoing mingled with the people.]

THORGJERD. Aye, see, see! A mult.i.tude of people in the valley today!

THE PEASANTS. Thorgjerd, the fiddler!

ALFHILD. [Throws herself in his arms.] My father!

ALL. Her father!

OLAF. Yes, yes, old man! There are people and merriment in here today, and hereafter it shall always be thus. It is your daughter's wedding we are celebrating; for love has she chosen her betrothed, of love have you sung for her,--you will not stand in our way!