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Act II
A room in Eric’s house.
Scene 1
Hertha, Aslaug.
HERTHA See what a keen and fatal glint it has, Aslaug.
ASLAUG Hast thou been haunted by a look, O Hertha, has a touch bewildered thee, Compelling memory?
HERTHA Then the gods too work?
ASLAUG A marble statue gloriously designed Without that breath our cunning maker gives, One feels it pain to break. This statue breathes! Out of these eyes there looks an intellect That claims us all; this marble holds a heart, The heart holds love. To break it all, to lay This glory of God’s making in the dust! Why do these thoughts besiege me? Have I then — No, it is nothing; it is pity works, It is an admiration physical. O he is far too great, too beautiful
Page – 560 For a dagger’s penetration. It would turn, The point would turn; it would deny itself To such a murder.
HERTHA Aslaug, it is love.
ASLAUG (angrily) What saidst thou?
HERTHA When he lays a lingering hand Upon thy tresses, — Aslaug, for he loves, — Canst thou then strike?
ASLAUG What shakes me? Have I learned To pity, to tremble? That were new indeed In Olaf’s race. Give me self-knowledge, Gods. What are these unaccustomed moods you send Into my bosom? They are foreign here. Eric enters and regards them. Hertha, seeing him, rises to depart. ERIC Thou art the other dancing-woman come From Sweden to King Eric!
HERTHA He has eyes That look into the soul. What mean his words? But they are common. Let me leave you, Aslaug. She goes out. ASLAUG I would have freedom here from thy pursuit.
Page – 561 ERIC Why shouldst thou anywhere be free from me? I am full of wrath against thee and myself. Come near me.
ASLAUG (to herself ) It is too strange — I am afraid! Of what? Of what? Am I not Aslaug still?
ERIC Art thou a sorceress or conspirator? But thou art both to seize my throne and heart, And I will deal with thee, thou dreadful charm, As with my enemy.
ASLAUG Let him never touch!
ERIC I give thee grace no longer; bear thy doom.
ASLAUG My doom is in my hands, not thine.
ERIC (with a sudden fierceness) Thou errst, And thou hast always erred. Dar’st thou imagine That I who have enveloped in three years All Norway more rebellious than its storms, Can be resisted by a woman’s strength, However fierce, however swift and bold?
ASLAUG I have seen thy strength. I cherish mine unseen.
ERIC And I thy weakness. Something yet thou fearst. Page – 562 ASLAUG Nothing at all.
ERIC Yes! though thy eyes defy me, Thy colour changes and thy limbs betray thee. All is not lionlike and masculine there Within. He advances towards her. ASLAUG Touch me not!
ERIC It is that thou fearst? Why dost thou fear it? Is it thine own heart Thou tremblest at? Aslaug, is it thy heart? He takes her suddenly into his arms and kisses her. Aslaug remains like one stricken and bewildered. Lift up thine eyes; let me behold thy strength!
ASLAUG O gods! I love! O loose me!
ERIC Thou art taken. Whatever was thy purpose, thou art mine, Aslaug, thou sweet and violent soul surprised, Intended for me when the stars were planned! Sweetly, O Aslaug, to thy doom consent, The doom to love, the death of hatred. Draw No useless curtaining of shamed refusal Betwixt our yearnings, passionately take The leap of love across the abyss of hate. Force not thy soul to anger. Leave veils and falterings For meaner hearts. Between us let there be
Page – 563 A noble daylight.
ASLAUG Let me think awhile! Thy arms, thy lips prevent me.
ERIC Think not! Only feel, Love only!
ASLAUG O Eric, king, usurper, conqueror! O robber of men’s hearts and kingdoms! O Thou only monarch!
ERIC Art thou won at last, O woman who disturbst the musing stars With passion? Soul of Aslaug, art thou mine?
ASLAUG Thine, Eric? Eric! Whose am I, by whom am held? (sinking on a seat) I cannot think. I have lost myself! My heart Desires eternity in an embrace.
ERIC Wilt thou deny me anything I claim Ever, O Aslaug? Art thou mine indeed?
ASLAUG What have I done? What have I spoken? I love! (after a silence, feeling in her bosom) But what was there concealed within my breast?
ERIC (observing her action) I take not a divided realm, a crown Page – 564 That’s shared. Thou hadst a purpose in thy heart I know not, but divine. Thou lov’st at length; But I have knowledge of the human heart, What opposite passions wrestle there with gusts And treacherous surprises. I trust not then Too sudden a change, but if thou canst be calm, Yet passionately submit, I will embrace thee For ever. Think and speak. Art thou all mine?
ASLAUG I know no longer if I am my own. The world swims round me and heaven’s points are changed. A purpose! I had one. I had besides A brother! Had! What have I now? You Gods, How have you rushed upon me! Leave me, King. It is not good to trust a sudden heart. The blood being quiet, we will speak again Like souls that meet in heaven, without disguise.
ERIC I do not leave thee, for thou art ominous Of an abysm uncrossed.
ASLAUG Yet that were best. For there has been too much between us once And now too little. Leave me, King, awhile To wrestle with myself and calmly know In this strange strife the gods have brought me to, Which thing of these in me must live and which Be dumb for ever.
ERIC Something yet resists. I will not leave thee till I know it and tame, For, Aslaug, thou wast won. Page – 565 ASLAUG King, thou art wise In war and counsel, not in women’s hearts. Thou hast surprised a secret that my soul Kept tremblingly from my own knowledge. Yet, If thou art really wise, thou wilt avoid To touch with a too rude and sudden hand The direr god who made my spirit fear To own its weakness.
ERIC Art thou wise thyself? I take thee not for counsellor.
ASLAUG Yet beware. There was a gulf between my will and heart Which is not bridged yet.
ERIC Break thy will, unless Thou wouldst have me break it for thee. The older Aslaug rises now against the new.
ASLAUG It rises, rises. Let it rise. Leave me My freedom.
ERIC Aslaug, no, for free thou roamst A lioness midst thy passions.
ASLAUG (with a gesture) Do then, O King, Whatever Fate commands. Page – 566 ERIC I am master of my Fate.
ASLAUG Too little, who are not masters of ourselves!
ERIC Art thou that dancing-woman, Aslaug, yet?
ASLAUG I am the dancing-girl who sought thee, yet, Eric.
ERIC It may be still the swiftest way. Let then my dancing-woman dance for me Tonight in my chambers. I will see the thing Her dancing means and tear its mystery out.
ASLAUG If thou demandest it, then Fate demands.
ERIC Thy god grows sombre and he menaces, It seems! For afterwards I can demand Whatever soul and body can desire Twixt man and woman?
ASLAUG If thy Fate permits. Thy love, it seems, communes not with respect.
ERIC The word exists not between thee and me. It is burned up in too immense a fire. Wilt thou persist even after thou hast lain Upon my bosom? Thou claimest my respect? Page – 567 Yet art a dancing-woman, so thou sayst? Aslaug, let not the darker gods prevail. Put off thy pride and take up truth and love.
ASLAUG (sombre) I am a dancing-woman, nothing more.
ERIC The hate love struck down rises in thy heart. But I will have it out, by violence, Unmercifully. He strides upon her, and she half cowers from him, half defies. (taking her violently into his arms) Thus blotted into me Thou shalt survive the end of Time. Tonight! He goes out. ASLAUG How did it come? What was it leaped on me And overpowered? O torn distracted heart, Wilt thou not pause a moment and give leave To the more godlike brain to do its work? Can the world change within a moment? Can Hate suddenly be love? Love is not here. I have the dagger still within my heart. O he is terrible and fair and swift! He is not mortal. Yet be silent, yet Give the brain leave. O marble brilliant face! O thou art Odin, thou art Thor on earth! What is there in a kiss, the touch of lips, That it can change creation? There’s a wine That turns men mad; have I not drunk of it? To be his slave, know nothing but his will! Aslaug and Eric! Aslaug, sister of Swegn, Who makes his bed on the inclement snow And with the reindeer herds, that was a king. Page – 568 Who takes his place? Eric and Aslaug rule. Eric who doomed him to the death, if seized, Aslaug, the tyrant, the usurper’s wife, Who by her brother’s murder is secured In her possession. Wife! The concubine, The slave of Eric, — that his pride intends. What was it seized on me, O heavenly powers? I have given myself, my brother’s throne and life, My pride, ambition, hope, and grasp, and keep Shame only. Tonight! What happens then tonight? I dance before him, — royal Olaf’s child Becomes the upstart Eric’s dancing-girl! What happens else tonight? One preys upon Aslaug of Norway! O, I thank thee, Heaven, That thou restorest me to sanity. It was his fraudulent and furious siege, And something in me proved a traitor. Fraud? O beauty of the godlike brilliant eyes! O face expressing heaven’s supremacy! No, I will put it down, I put it down. Help me, you gods, help me against my heart. I will strike suddenly, I will not wait. ‘Tis a deceit, his majesty and might, His dreadful beauty, his resistless brain. It will be very difficult to strike! But I will strike. Swegn strikes, and Norway strikes, My honour strikes, the Gods, and all his life Offends each moment. (to Hertha, who enters) Hertha, I strike tonight.
HERTHA Why, what has happened?
ASLAUG That thou shalt not know. I strike tonight. She goes out.
Page – 569 HERTHA It is not difficult To know what drives her. I must act at once, Or this may have too suddenly a tragic close. Not blood, but peace, not death, you Gods, but life, But tranquil sweetness! Page – 570
Eric, Hertha.
ERIC I sent for thee to know thy name and birth.
HERTHA My name is Hertha and my birth too mean To utter before Norway’s lord.
ERIC Yet speak.
HERTHA A Trondhjem peasant and a serving-girl Were parents to me.
ERIC And from such a stock Thy beauty and thy wit and grace were born?
HERTHA The Gods prodigiously sometimes reverse The common rule of Nature and compel Matter with soul. How else should it be guessed That Gods exist at all?
ERIC Who nurtured thee?
HERTHA A dancing-girl of Gothberg by a lord
Page – 571 Of Norway entertained, to whom a child I was delivered. Song and dance were hers; I made them mine.
ERIC Their names? the thrall? the lord? HERTHA Olaf of Norway, earl of Trondhjem then, And Thiordis whom he loved.
ERIC Thou knowest Swegn, The rebel?
HERTHA Yes, I know.
ERIC And lov’st perhaps?
HERTHA Myself much better.
ERIC Yes? He is a man Treacherous and rude and ruthless, is he not?
HERTHA (with a movement) I would not speak of kings and mighty earls: These things exceed my station.
ERIC Ah, thou lov’st! Thou wilt not blame. Page – 572 HERTHA Thou art mistaken, King. He cannot conquer and he will not yield, But weakens Norway. This in him I blame.
ERIC Thou hast seen that? Thy peasant father got A wondrous politician for his child! Do I abash thee?
HERTHA
Have made me. But I understand at last; Thou thinkst me other than I seem.
ERIC Some thought Like that I had.
HERTHA King Eric, wilt thou hear?
ERIC I much desire it, if I hear the truth.
HERTHA Betray me not to Aslaug then.
ERIC That’s just. She shall not know.
HERTHA What if I came, O King, For other purpose, not to sing and dance, And yet thy friend, the well-wisher, at least, Of Norway and her peace?
Page – 573 ERIC Speak plainly now.
HERTHA If I can show thee how to conquer Swegn Without one stroke of battle, wilt thou grant My bitter need?
ERIC I would give much.
HERTHA Wilt thou? ERIC If so I conquer him and thy desire Is something I can grant without a hurt To Norway or myself.
HERTHA It is.
ERIC Speak then, Demand.
HERTHA I have not finished yet. Meantime If I avert a danger from thy head Now threatening it, do I not earn rewards More ample?
ERIC More? On like conditions, then.
HERTHA If I yield up great enemies to thy hands Page – 500 Thou knowst not of, wilt thou reject my price, Confusing different debts in one account?
ERIC Hast thou yet more to ask? Thou art too shrewd A bargainer.
HERTHA Giving Norway needed peace, Thyself friends, safety, empire, is my claim Excessive then?
ERIC I grant thee three demands.
HERTHA They are all. He asks not more who has enough. Thrice shall I ask and thrice shall Eric give And never have an enemy again In Norway.
ERIC Speak.
HERTHA Thy enemies are here, No dancing-girls, but Hertha, wife of Swegn, And Aslaug, child of Olaf Sigualdson, His sister.
ERIC It is well.
HERTHA The danger lies In Aslaug’s hand and dagger which she means To strike into thy heart. Tonight she strikes.
Page – 575 ERIC And Swegn?
HERTHA Send me to him with perilous word Of Aslaug in thy hands; so with her life Buy his surrender, afterwards his love With kingly generosity and trust.
ERIC Freely and frankly hast thou spoken, Queen Who wast in Trondhjem: now as freely ask.
HERTHA The life of Swegn; his liberty as well, Submitting.
ERIC They are thine.
HERTHA And Aslaug’s life And pardon, not her liberty.
ERIC They are given.
HERTHA And, last, forgiveness for myself, O King, My treason and my plots.
ERIC This too I grant.
HERTHA I have nothing left to ask for. Page – 576 ERIC Thou hast done? Let me consign thee to thy prison then.
HERTHA My prison! Wilt thou send me not to Swegn?
ERIC I will not. Why, thou subtle, dangerous head, Restored to liberty, what perilous schemes Might leap into thy thoughts! Shall I give Swegn, That fierce and splendid fighter, such a brain Of cunning to complete and guide his sword? What if he did not yield, rejected peace? Wilt thou not tell him Aslaug’s life is safe? To prison!
HERTHA Thou hast promised, King.
ERIC I keep My promise to thee, Hertha, wife of Swegn. For Swegn thou askest life and liberty, For Aslaug life and pardon, for thyself Forgiveness only. I can be cunning too. Hertha, thou art my prisoner and thrall.
HERTHA (after a pause, smiling) I see. I am content. Thou showest thyself Norway’s chief brain as her victorious sword. Free or a prisoner, let me do homage To Eric, my King and Swegn’s.
ERIC Thou art content?
Page – 577 HERTHA This face and noble bearing cannot lie. I am content and feel as safe with thee As in my husband’s keeping.
ERIC (smiling) So thou art, Thou subtle voice, thou close and daring brain. I would I felt myself as safe with thee.
HERTHA King Eric, think me not thy enemy. What thou desirest, I desire yet more.
ERIC Keep to that well; let Aslaug not suspect. My way I’ll take with her and thee and Swegn. Fear nothing, Hertha; go. Hertha goes out. O Freya Queen, Thou helpst me even as Thor and Odin did. I make my Norway one. Page – 578 |