PEHR. Very well, I wish to reward your faith. See--all this gold I give you!

ALL THREE FRIENDS. Ah! [They upset the table.]

PEHR. But remember, I have told you that gold is nothing but dross.

[Puts hand to mouth and paces back and forth.] O my G.o.d! I believe I'm dying!

WOMAN. What's wrong with you, Alonzo?

PEHR. I've got the toothache--oh, my teeth! You see that the rich man, also, is exposed to the annoyances of life. [Friends, with gold pieces, move toward doors.]

PEHR. No, don't leave me alone in my misery--now, when I most need your company!

FIRST FRIEND. Oh, a little toothache is not dangerous; it will soon pa.s.s!

SECOND FRIEND. Take some cold water in your mouth, then you'll be all right.

WOMAN. Oh, the men! They are so sensitive to a little pain. You should see a woman suffer!

PEHR. Ah, don't forsake me! I suffer so terribly!

FIRST FRIEND. I shall never forsake you! [Hand on door.] I'll run for the dentist.

PEHR. No, stay!

SECOND FRIEND. [Near door.] No; as George's oldest friend it devolves upon me to--

PEHR. You want to run away from me! Oh, I curse this gold! I curse you, false friends! [Gold pieces in their hands turn black.]

ALL THREE FRIENDS. He has deceived us--look, look! [All three are stricken with toothache and begin to moan.] Oh! Oh!

PEHR. [Recovered.] Oh, it's only a little toothache; it will soon pa.s.s.--Take cold water in your mouth, old friend, and then it will disappear. [Woman faints.] Surely a woman will not faint for such a little pain! [Friends rush out.] Now run to the dentist and let him draw all your teeth, foxes! After that you'll not bite any more sheep.

WOMAN. [Coming to.] Alfred! all have forsaken you; but I shall remain with you.

PEHR. Yes, but why should you? I'm as poor as the poorest; soon the tax collector will be coming around for the taxes, and he'll seize everything.

WOMAN. [Snuggles up to him.] Then I want to be at your side to support you--[seizes his hand and steals ring during following speeches] and extend to you the hand--

PEHR. [Duped.] You! Can this be true?

WOMAN. True? Look at me!

PEHR. Ah, I have been told that woman is more faithless than man--

WOMAN. She is wiser than man [puts ring on], therefore she is called faithless. Oh, let me sit, I'm so unstrung! [Pehr leads her to a chair by the wall.]

PEHR. Compose yourself, my friend; I have only frightened you.

WOMAN. Give me a gla.s.s of wine; I feel so faint after all this commotion.

[Pehr goes over to table; wall back of the chair opens and woman and chair disappear. Only the hand with ring is seen as she is heard speaking.]

Ha, ha--schoolboy! Learn from this not to trust a woman whom you have tricked!

[Alone, Pehr runs to window and looks out, as he draws back his head, he has the ears of an a.s.s.]

PEHR. Curses on gold, friendship and women! Now I stand alone--poor, deserted--with a pair of long ears and without my magic ring! Had I known that life was so utterly ign.o.ble, I should have stayed at home with the witch. Where shall I turn to now--without friends, without money, without house and home? Trouble awaits me at the door. Must I now, in all seriousness, go out in the world and work for the attainment of my every wish? If only I were not so alone! Yet, why not as well be alone, since there is no such thing as friendship, and everything is so false and empty? d.a.m.nation!

[Enter Lisa.]

LISA. Don't curse, Pehr!

PEHR. Lisa! You do not forsake me, although I forgot you in my prosperous days.

LISA. It is in our need that we find our friends.

PEHR. Friends? A curse on friendship!

LISA. Don't, Pehr! There are real friendships in life as well as false friends.

PEHR. I have now tried the good things of life, and I found only emptiness and vanity!

LISA. You have tried in your way--meantime you have made the first plunge of youth, and now you shall be a man! You have looked for happiness in the wrong direction. Don't you want to go out and do good, enlighten your fellow-men, and be useful? For your clear vision can penetrate the perversion and crookedness which one finds in life.

PEHR. And be a great man!

LISA. Great or obscure, it is all one. You shall be useful--you shall be a reformer who leads humanity onward and upward.

PEHR. Yes, a reformer who will be honored and idolized by the people, and whose name will be on everyone's lips.

LISA. Oh, how far you are from the truth, Pehr! You seek greatness only for personal honor; you shall have it and you shall have a new experience.

PEHR. But how? My ring is gone!

LISA. The qualities inherent in that ring are such that it can never be away from its owner.

PEHR. [Looks at his hand.] Ah! See, there it is! Well, then, I want to be a great man--a reformer; but you, Lisa, must follow me.

LISA. Not yet. But I will follow thee at a distance, and when thou dost meet with sorrow and need and the sun of happiness is for thee o'erclouded, then I will be near thee with my weak support. Go thou out into life, see what wrongs are done there; but when 'midst filth and mire thou hast seen how even the flower of beauty thrives, then think on this: Life is made up of both good and bad.

CURTAIN

ACT THREE

SCENE: A public square. To right, Courthouse arcade, above which there is a speakers' cage with places for Burgomaster and Councilmen; to left shoemaker's house, with shop window and sign; outside a bench and table, close to them a hen-coop and water-tub. In the centre of the square stands a pillory, with two neck-irons on chains, above it a bronze figure with a switch in its hand; to right centre, statue o f Burgomaster Hans Schulze, which leans toward a marble female statue crowned with a laurel wreath. Background: view of city.