Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/242

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The Boatswain.

                                      Well, patience is wholesome.

The Captain.

Bear away from that sea!

The Mate.

                         There the wreck capsized!

Peer.

All is silent of a sudden——!

The Boatswain.

                               Were they married, as you think,
There are three new-baked widows even now in the world.


[The storm increases. Peer Gynt moves away aft.


Peer.

There is no faith left among men any more,—
No Christianity,—well may they say it and write it;—
Their good deeds are few and their prayers are still fewer,
And they pay no respect to the Powers above them.—
In a storm like to-night's, he's a terror, the Lord is.
These beasts should be careful, and think, what's the truth,
That it's dangerous playing with elephants;—
And yet they must openly brave his displeasure!
I am no whit to blame; for the sacrifice
I can prove I stood ready, my money in hand.
But how does it profit me?—What says the proverb?
A conscience at ease is a pillow of down.