Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/87

The Bridegroom.

[Comes sidling up again.]

 I'll give you an ox if you'll help me! Peer. Then come!

[They go out behind the house. At the same moment a crowd of men come forward from the dancing green; most of them are drunk. Noise and hubbub. Solveig, Helga, and their Parents appear among a number of elderly people in the doorway.

The Kitchen-master.

[To the Smith, who is the foremost of the crowd.]

Keep peace now!

The Smith.

[Pulling off his jacket.]

                No, we must fight it out here.^[1]
Peer Gynt or I must be taught a lesson.^[2]

Some Voices.

Ay, let them fight for it!

Others.

                           No, only wrangle!

The Smith.

Fists must decide; for the case is past words.

Solveig's Father.

Control yourself, man!

1. Literally, "Here shall judgment be called for."
2. Literally, "Must be bent to the hillside," made to bite the
   dust—but not in the sense of being killed.