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eak. A WOMAN
- Ay, then it's no wonder the lad's good for nought.
[They pass on. Presently PEER GYNT comes forward, his face flushed with shame. He peers after them.] PEER [softly].
- Was it me they were talking of?
- [With a forced shrug.]
- Oh, let them chatter!
- After all, they can't sneer the life out of my body.
[Casts himself down upon the heathery slope; lies for some time flat on his back with his hands under his head, gazing up into the sky.]
- What a strange sort of cloud! It is just like a horse.
- There's a man on it too-and saddle-and bridle.-
- And after it comes an old crone on a broomstick.
- [Laughs quietly to himself.]
- It is mother. She's scolding and screaming: You beast!
- Hei you, Peer Gynt-[His eyes gradually close.] Ay, now
- she is frightened.-
- Peer Gynt he rides first, and there follow him many.-
- His steed it is gold-shod and crested with silver.
- Himself he has gauntlets and sabre and scabbard.
- His cloak it is long, and its lining is silken.
- Full brave is the company riding behind him.
- None of them, though, sits his charger so stoutly.