Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/473

Falk.

                              No, I've heard say
It is at times a risky game to play.

Stiver.

The very devil!

Falk.

                  Only for the great.

Stiver [zealously].

No, no, for all us servants of the state.
Only imagine how my future chances
Would dwindle, if the governor once knew
I keep a Pegasus that neighs and prances
In office hours—and such an office, too!
From first to last, you know, in our profession,
The winged horse is viewed with reprobation:
But worst of all would be, if it got wind
That I against our primal law had sinn'd
By bringing secret matters to the light—

Falk.

That's penal, is it—such an oversight?

Stiver [mysteriously].

It can a servant of the state compel
To beg for his dismissal out of hand.
On us officials lies a strict command,
Even by the hearth to be inscrutable.

Falk.

O those despotical authorities,
Muzzling the—clerk that treadeth out the grain!