Come here, child, come here, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything - . . . In order to have a child -one must love - the man - to whom one is married - love him, I tell you - as one can only love a man I One must love him so much with one's whole heart, so -so that one can't describe it! One must love him, Wendla, as you at your age are still unable to love -Now you know it!
How much Wendla knew, her mother found out when too late.
Wendla and Melchior, overtaken by a storm, seek shelter in a haystack, and are drawn by what Melchior calls the " first emotion of manhood " and curiosity into each other's arms. Six months later WendIa's mother discovers that her child is to become a mother. To save the family honor, the girl is promptly placed in the hands of a quack who treats her for chlorosis.
Wendla. No, Mother, no! I know it. I feel it. I haven't chlorosis. I have dropsy- I won't get better. I have the dropsy, I must die, Mother - 0, Mother, I must die!
Frau Bergmann. You must not die, child! You must not die - Great heavens, you must not die!
Wendla. But why do you weep so frightfully, then?
Frau Bergmann. You must not die, child! You haven't the dropsy, you have a child, girl! You have a child! Oh, why did you do that to me?
Wendla. I haven't done anything to you.
Frau Bergmann. Oh, don't deny it any more.
