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ASLAUG
The world has changed for me within one night.
O surely, surely all shall yet go well,
Since Love is crowned.
ERIC
(entering)
Aslaug, the hour arrives
When I must leave thee. For the dawn looks pale
Into our chamber and these first rare sounds
Expect the arising sun, the daylight world.
ASLAUG
Eric, thou goest hence to war with Swegn,
My brother ?
ERIC
What thinks thy heart?
ASLAUG
That Swegn shall live.
ERIC
Thou know’st his safety from deliberate swords.
None shall dare touch the head that Aslaug loves.
Yet if some evil chance came edged with doom
Which Odin and my will shall not allow
Or in the fight his splendid rashness slew,
Thou wouldst not hold me guilty of his death,
Aslaug ?
ASLAUG
Fate orders all and Fate I now
Have recognised all the world’s mystic will
That loves and labours.
Page – 536
ERIC
Because it labours and loves
Our hearts, our wills are counted, are indulged.
Aslaug, for these few days in hope and trust
Anchor thy mind. I shall bring back thy joy,
Because I go with mercy and from love. .
He embraces her and goes.
ASLAUG
Swegn lives. A heart, not iron gods, o’errules.¹
Curtain
¹Swegn lives. A Mind, not iron gods, with laws
Deaf and inevitable, overrules.
Page – 537
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