Peer.
Why, by vouchers and witnesses.
The Button-moulder.
I'm sadly afraid Master will not accept them.
Peer.
Impossible! However, enough for the day[1]—!
My dear man, allow me a loan of myself;
I'll be back again shortly. One is born only once,
And one's self, as created, one fain would stick to.
Come, are we agreed?
The Button-moulder.
Very well then, so be it.
But remember, we meet at the next cross-roads.
[Peer Gynt runs off.
SCENE EIGHTH. A further point on the heath.
Peer.
[Running hard.]
Time is money, as the Scripture says.
If I only knew where the cross-roads are;—
They may be near and they may be far.
The earth burns beneath me like red-hot iron.
A witness! A witness! Oh, where shall I find one?
It's almost unthinkable here in the forest.
The world is a bungle! A wretched arrangement,
When a right must be proved that is patent as day!
- ↑ See footnote, p. 218.
