Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/433

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Strawman [with his little girls round him].

 No, love's a pear tree; in the spring like snow With myriad blossoms, which in summer grow To pearlets; in the parent's sap each shares;— And with God's help they'll all alike prove pears.

Falk.

 So many heads, so many sentences! No, you all grope and blunder off the line. Each simile's at fault; I'll tell you mine;— You're free to turn and wrest it as you please.

[Rises as if to make a speech.

In the remotest east there grows a plant;
And the sun's cousin's garden is its haunt—

The Ladies.

Ah, it's the tea-plant!

Falk.

                         Yes.


Mrs. Strawman.

                               His voice is so
Like Strawman's when he—

Strawman.

                           Don't disturb his flow.

Falk.

It has its home in fabled lands serene;
Thousands of miles of desert lie between;—