Love is divine.SRI AUROBINDO
Collected Plays and Short Stories
Part One
Eric
A Dramatic Romance
Eric
Swegn
Hardicnut
Ragnar
Gunthar
Harald
Aslaug
Hertha
Eric’s Palace in his town of Yara. The Mountains, Swegn’s Fastness.
Eric’s palace.
Eric, Aslaug, Hertha, Harold, Gunthar.
Eric of Norway, first whom these cold fiords,
Deep havens of disunion, from their jagged
And fissured crevices at last obey,
The monarch of a thousand Vikings! Yes,
But only by the swiftness of his sword1
That monarchy’s assured,2 headlong, athirst,
My iron hound pursues its panting prey.3
And4 when the sword is broken? or when death
Proves swifter? All this realm with labour built,
Dissolving like a transitory cloud,
Becomes the thing it was, cleft, parcelled out
By discord. I have found the way to join,—
The warrior’s sword, builder of unity;
But where’s the way to solder? where? O Thor
And Odin, masters of the northern world,
Wisdom and force I have; one5 strength’s behind6
I have not; I would search7 it out. Help me,
Whatever Power thou art that8 mov’st the world,
To Eric unrevealed. Some sign I ask.
Love is the hoop of the gods
Hearts to combine.
Sleeps in the grave of its lord;
Love is divine.
Hearts to combine.
Is that your answer? Freya, Mother of Heaven,
Thou wast forgotten. The heart! the seat is there;
For unity is substance9 of the heart
And not a chain that binds, not iron, gold
Nor any helpless thought that10 reason knows.
How shall I seize it? where? Give me a net
By which the fugitive can be snared. It is
Too unsubstantial for my iron mind.
When Love desires Love,
Then Love is born;
Nor golden gifts compel,
Nor even beauty’s spell
Escapes his scorn.
Then Love is born.
Who sings outside?
Harald, who sings outside?
Two dancing girls from Gothberg. Shall they come?
Admit them.
From light lips and casual thoughts
The gods speak best, as if by chance, nor knows
The speaker that he is an instrument
But thinks his mind the mover of his words.
Harald returns with Aslaug and Hertha.
King Eric, these are they who sang.
Women,
Who are you? or what god directed you?
The god that11 rules all men, Necessity.
My lips at least were used.
Thou sayest. Dost thou know by whom?13
By Fate.
For she alone is prompter on our stage,
Things seen and unforeseen move by a doom,14
Not freely. Eric’s sword and Aslaug’s song,
Music and thunder are but petty15 chords
Of one majestic harp. She builds, she breaks16,
She thrones, she slays, as needed for her harmony.17
I think the soul is master.
Who art thou?
Expelled from Gothberg with displeasure fierce,
Norwegians by the wrathful Swede constrained
To Norway we return.
Why went you forth?
From a bleak country rich by spoil alone
Of kinder populations, far too wild18,
Too rough to love the sweetness of a song,
The rhythm of a dance, by need coerced19
We passed20 to an entire and cultured race
Whose hearts, come apt and liberal from the Gods,
Are steel to steel but flowers to a flower.
And wherefore war they upon women now?
By thy aggressions moved.
A nobler choice
Of vengeance I will give them, though more hard!
Gunthar, thou comest from the front?21 What news?
Swegn, Earl of Trondhjem, lifts his outlawed head.
By desperate churls and broken nobles joined
He moves towards the Swede.
Let Sigurd’s force
From Sweden and his lairs cut off22 the rude23
Revolted lord. He only now resists,
Champion of discord, ruthless, fell and24 fierce25
This26 partisan and pattern of the past.
Such27 men are better with the Gods than here
To trouble earth. Let him not live, if taken.28
Will you be silent?31
For34 it remembered too35 unseasonably
That Olaf Thorleikson ruled Norway once,36
Swegn was his heir.37
Will you remain with me,
Forgetting38 Gothberg and your golden39 gains?
Since I have been the fount of your distress,40
Make me the source of your great plenty too.41
A kingly42 bounty shall atone for much.
Nobler atonement’s asked for.43
It is yours.
Harald, make room for them within my house.
Go, Gunthar, we will soon converse; now rest.44
Love! If it were this girl with antelope eyes
And the high head so proudly lifted up
Upon a neck as white as any swan’s!
But how to sway men’s hearts, rugged and hard
As Norway’s mountains, as her glaciers cold
To all but interest and power and pride?45
Perhaps this stag-eyed woman comes for that,—
To teach me.
Hertha, Aslaug.
Hertha, we dance before the man tonight.
Merely to wound and then be stayed.48
To near,
To strike, while all posterity applauds.
For Norway’s poets to the end of time
Shall sing in praises49 noble as the theme
Of Aslaug’s dance and Aslaug’s dagger.
Yes,
If we succeed; but who will sing the praise
Of foiled assassins? Shall we50 risk defeat?
Shall51 Swegn of Norway roam52 until the end
The desperate snows and forest53 silences,
Outlawed54, proscribed, pursued?55
The man we come to slay —
A mighty man!
He has the face and figure of a god,—
A marble emperor with brilliant eyes.
How came the usurper by a face like that?
His father was an earl58 of Odin’s stock.
His fable since he rose! A pauper house
Of one poor vessel and a narrow fiord
And some pine-trees59 possessor,— that60 was he,
The root he sprang from.
But from that61 to tower
In three short62 summers undisputed63 lord
Of Norway, before years had put their growth
Upon his chin! If not of Odin’s race,
Odin is for him. Are you not afraid,
You who see Fate even in a sparrow’s flight,
When Odin is for him?
Aslaug is against.
He has a strength, an iron strength, and Thor
Strikes hammerlike in his uplifted sword.
His64 voice is like a chant of victory.
But Fate alone decides, when all is said,
Not Thor, not65 Odin. I will try my Fate.
He is a mere66 usurper, is he not?
Norway’s election made him King, they67 say.
Left Olaf Thorleikson68 no heirs behind?
Was the throne empty69?
Of Trondhjem, that’s their cry70.
The inland71 and the north were free to choose.
As rebels are.
The South exulting73 in her golden gains
Cried74, “I am Norway,” but the northern earls75
Refused consent or, free auxiliaries,76
Admitted only leadership in war.77
We chose78 the arbitration of the sword,
That last appeal of all79,— the sword has judged
Against our claim.
Still you come back to that.81 Yet think this out.82
Rather83 than by our blood to call84 for his
Is not a gentle peace still possible?85
Swegn86 might have87 Trondhjem, Eric all88 the north
The suzerainty? It is his. We fought for it.89
We have lost it.90 Think of this before we strike.91
Better our barren empire of the snows!
Nobler92 with reindeer herding to survive,
Or else a free and miserable death
Together.
Therefore I cast94 the doubt before your mind.
Be sure in striking.95 Aslaug, did you see
The eyes of Eric on you?
I am fair.
It gives us the great chance96.
At ease, alone with us, absorbed, suddenly
You strike, I leap in seconding the blow.97
Can he escape then? Swegn shall have his throne.98
Arrange it as you will. You have a swift
Contriving careful brain I cannot match.
To dare, to act was always Aslaug’s part.
You will not shrink?
I am not of the earth,
To bound my actions by the common rule.
I claim my kin with those whom Heaven’s gaze
Moulded supreme,— Swegn’s sister, Olaf’s child,
Aslaug of Norway.
Then it must be done.
Hertha, I will not know the plots you weave;
But when I see your signal, I will strike.
Pride violent! loftiness intolerable!
The grandiose kingdom-breaking blow is hers,
The baseness, the deception are for me.
This,99 the assumption, the magnificence,
Made Swegn her tool. To me, his lover, counsellor,
Wife, worshipper, his ears were coldly deaf.
But, lioness of Norway, thy loud bruit
And leap gigantic are ensnared at last
In my compelling toils. She must be trapped!
She is the fuel for my husband’s soul
To burn itself on a disastrous pyre.
Remove its cause, the flame will sink to rest;
Then100 we in Trondhjem shall live peacefully
Till Eric dies, as some day die he must
In battle or by a revolting sword,
And leaves the spacious world unoccupied;
Then other men may feel the sun once more.
Always she talks of Fate; does she not see
This man was born beneath exultant stars,
Had gods to rock his cradle? He must possess
His date, his strong resistless time,— then comes,—101
All things too great end soon,— death, overthrow102,
And our103 late summer when cold spring is past.
Eric, Aslaug.
Come hither.
Thou hast sent for me?
Come hither.
Who104 art thou?
What thou knowest.
Do I know?
Does he suspect?
I am a dancing-girl,
My name is Aslaug. That thou knowest.
Where
Did Odin forge thy sweet imperious eyes,
Thy noble stature and thy lofty look?
Thou dancest,— yes; thou hast the art, and song,105
The natural expression of thy soul,
Comes from thy lips, floats, hovers and returns
Like a wild bird that106 wings around its nest.
This art the princesses of Sweden learn107
And those Norwegian girls who frame themselves
On Sweden.
It may be my birth and past
Were nobler than my present fortunes are.
Why cam’st thou to me?
Does Death admonish him
Of danger? Does he feel the impending stroke?
Hertha could turn the question.
Why sought’st thou out
Eric of Norway? Wherefore brought’st thou here
That108 beauty as compelling as thy song,
No man can gaze on and possess his soul?
I am a dancing-girl. My song and109 face
Are all my110 stock; I have carried111 them for gain
To the most wealthy112 market.
I buy these114 from thee. Aslaug, thy body too!
Release me! Wilt thou lay thy hands on death?
All Norway has not sold itself thy slave?
This was not spoken like a dancing-girl!
What is this siege?
I have no dagger with me.
Will he discover me? Will he compel?
If115 Norway has not sold itself my slave,
Thou hast. Remember what thou art — or claim’st to be.116
He is subtle, terrible. I see the thing
He drives at and admire unwillingly
The mighty117 tyrant.
If119 thou art really120 nobler than thou feign’st,
Declare121 it. If122 thou art a dancing-girl,
I have bought123 thee for my124 hire, thy song, thy dance,
Thy body. I shrink not from whatever way I can
Possess thee more than hesitates the sea to engulf
King, thou126 speakest words
I scorn to answer.
Or even to127 understand?
Thou art an enemy who128 in disguise
Enterest my court to know and break my plans.129
What if I were?
Thou hast too lightly then
Devised thy chains and long130 imprisonment,
Too thoughtlessly adventured a divine
And glorious stake, thyself132.
I do not think I am afraid of death.
Far be death from thee who, if heaven were just,
Wouldst walk immortal! Thou seest no greater134 peril?
Than death? None that I tremble at or shun135.
Dost thou not see136 that thou art by thy choice
Caged with the danger of the lion’s mood?137
Dost thou not see138 the hunger of his eyes,
Feel on thy face139 the breath of his desire?
I came not here to spy.
Why cam’st thou then?
To sing, to dance and140 earn.
Aslaug, even then thou142 knowest why I looked
Upon143 thee, why I kept144 thee in my house145.
Thou, thou hast given146 the means of147 my desire!148
Yet149 if thy form150 and speech more nobly express
The truth of thee than thy151 vocation can,
Avow it, beg152 my clemency.
Thy clemency!
(controlling153 herself)
I am a dancing-girl. I came to earn.
Choose154 yet.
I have not anything to choose155.
Because156 thou hast the lioness in thy mood,
Thou thought’st to play with Eric. It is I
Who play with thee. Thou liest in my grasp.
How wilt thou now escape my passionate will?157
I am enamoured of thy golden hair,
Thy body like the snow, thy antelope eyes,
Thy158 neck that seems to know it carries heaven
Upon it easily. Thy song, thy speech,
The rhythmic motion of thy gracious limbs159
Walking or dancing, and160 the careless pride
That undulates in every gesture and tone,
Have seized upon me smiling sweet control161.
I have not learnt to yield to any power,162
But to surprise, to force and to command.163
So will I hold thee. Prisoner and enemy164,
Or dancing-girl and purchased chattel, choose.
Thou art perturbed165? Thou findest no reply?
Because I am troubled by thy violent words,
I cannot answer thee or will not yet.
How could he see this death? Is he a god
And knows men’s hearts? This is a terrible
And iron pressure.
What was thy design?
To spy or166 slay? For thou art capable
Even of such daring.
Swiftly, swiftly done,
It may be yet.167 To put him off an hour,
Some minutes and168 to strike!
What dost thou choose169?
I170 have laughed till now. Unthinking I came here
And dallied with thy thoughts, a little amazed172,
Pure173 of all hostile purpose, innocent
Of all the guileful thoughts and blood-stained plans
Thou burdenest thy fierce suspicions with.
This is the Nemesis of men who rise
Too suddenly, by fraud or174 violence,
That they suspect all hearts, yes, every word
Of sheltering a kindred175 violence
Or176 subtler fraud, and they expect their fall
Sudden and savage as their rise has been.
I am a dancing-girl and nothing more177.
Thou art my dancing-girl and nothing more?
Wear then this necklace and submit thyself,—178
Nor think it all179 thy price.
Aslaug180 dashes the necklace to the ground.
It is not thus181 that women’s hearts are wooed.
If182 so I woo thee, so do all men woo,
Enamoured of what thou hast claimed to be.
Was’t falsely claimed? Wilt thou deny it now183
And hope to earn thy pardon with a smile?
Art thou the dancing-girl of Norway still,
Or some disguised, high-reaching, nobler soul?
I am thy dancing-girl, King Eric. See184
I take185 thy necklace.
Take it; still186 be free
As thou decidest, thy price or else my gift.187
No light188 decision I would have189 thee make,
But one that190 binds us both. I give thee time.
Ponder and let thy saner mind191 prevail,
Not courage most perverse, though ardent, rule192.
Confess193 thy treason, Aslaug, trust thy King.
He goes out. Aslaug, after a silence,
takes the chain from her neck, admires
it and throws it on a chair.194
You are too much like drops of royal blood.
After another pause she takes it again.195
A necklace? No, a196 chain! Or wilt thou prove
A god’s death-warrant?
(resuming the necklace on her neck)197
Hertha, Hertha, here!
O counsellor, art thou come?
I heard thee call.
I called. Why did I call? See, Hertha, see,
How richly Norway’s Eric buys his doom!
He gave thee this? It is a kingdom’s price.
A kingdom’s price! the kingdom of the slain!
A price to rid the nations of a god!
O Hertha, what has earth to do with gods,
Who suffers only human weight? Will she
Not go too swiftly downward from her base,
If Eric treads her long?
Sister of Swegn,
There are new lustres in thy face and eyes.
What did Eric say?
Eric to Aslaug, sister of King Swegn!
A kingdom’s price! Swegn’s kingdom! And for him,
My marble emperor, my god who loves,
This mortal Odin? What for him? By force
Shall he return to his effulgent throne?
You were not used to a divided mind.
Nor am I altered now, not198 heart-perplexed:
But these are thoughts that199 naturally arise.
He loves you then?
He loves and he suspects.
What, Aslaug?
What we are and we intend.
If he suspects!
It cannot matter much
If we are rapid.
If we spoil it all!
I will not torture Swegn with useless tears,
Perishing vainly, I will slay and die.
He shall remember that he owes200 his crown
To201 our great sacrifice and soothe his grief,
That it was necessary,202 or else bear it,
A noble duty to the nobly dead.
Child, you must humour him, you must consent.
To what?
To all.
Hast thou at all perused
The infamy that203 thou advisest?
Yes.
I do not bid you yield, but seem to yield.
Even I who am Swegn’s wife, would do as much;
But though you talk, you still are less in love,
Valuing an empty outward purity
Before your brother’s life, your brother’s crown.
You know the way to bend me to your will.
Give freedom but no license204 to his love.
For when he thinks to embrace, we shall have struck.
And, Hertha, if a swift and violent heart
Betrayed my will and overturned your plans?
Is there no danger, Hertha, there?
Till now
I feared not that from Aslaug, sister of Swegn.
No, since I consent.
You shall not blame again my selfishness,
Nor my defect of love.
Swegn then might rule!
I had almost forgotten Fate between
Smiling, alert, and the unconquered205 gods.
Eric, Aslaug.
They say the anarchy of love disturbs
Gods even, shaken are the marble natures,
The deathless206 hearts are melted to the pang
And rapture. Still, O Odin, I would be207
Monarch of a208 calm royalty within,
My blood209 my subject210. But211 I hear her come.
Art thou resolved and hast thou212 made thy choice?
I choose, if there is anything to choose,
The truth.
Who art thou?
Aslaug, who am now
A dancing-woman.
And afterwards? Hast thou213
Understood nothing?214
What should I understand?
What I shall do with thee. This earthly heaven
In which thou liv’st shall not be thine at all;
It was not shaped to bear215 thy joy but mine
And only made for my immense desire.
Thou triest me still.
I saw thee shake.
It is not easily
A woman’s heart sinks216 prostrate in such absolute
Surrender.
Thy heart! Is it thy heart that yields?
O thou unparalleled enchanting frame
For housing of a strong immortal guest!
If man could seize the heart as palpably,
The forms217, the limbs, the substance of this soul!
That, that we ask for; all else can be seized
So vainly! Walled from ours are other hearts:
He touches her eyes and body as he speaks218.
For if life’s barriers twixt our souls were broken
Men would be free and our219 earth paradise
And the gods live neglected.
This heart of mine?
Purchase it richly, for it is for sale.
Yes, speak!
With love?
Thou namest lightly a tremendous word.
If thou hadst known this mightiest thing on earth
And named it, should it not have upon thy lips
So moving an impulsion for a man
That he would barter worlds to hear it once?
Words are but ghosts unless they speak the heart.
I have yielded.
There is
A trouble in my blood. I do not shake.
Thou heard’st me?
Not tonight. Thou art too swift,
Too sudden.
Thou hast had leisure to consult
Thy comrade smaller, subtler than thyself?
Better hadst thou chosen candour and thy frank soul
Consulted, not a guile by others breathed.
What guile, who gave220 all for an equal price?
Thou giv’st thy blood of rubies, I my life.
Thou hast not chosen then to understand.
Thy soul is truthfuller, Aslaug, than thy words221:
Thy lips consent, thy eyes defy me still.
Because I sell myself, yet keep my pride?
Thou shalt keep nothing that I choose to take.
I see a tyranny I will delight in
And force a oneness; I will violently
Compel the goddess that thou art. But I know
What soul is lodged within thee, thou as yet
Ignorest mine. I still hold in my strength,
Though it hungers like a lion for the leap,
And give thee time once more; misuse it not.
Beware, provoke not the fierce god too much;
Have dread of his flame round thee.
He goes out222.
Aslaug (breaking into a laugh223)
Odin and Freya, you have snares! But see,
I have not thrown the dagger from my heart,
But clutch it still. How strange that look and tone
That things of a corporeal potency
Not only travel coursing through the nerves
But seem to touch the seated soul within!
It was a moment’s wave; for it has passed
And the high purpose in my soul lives on
Unconquerably intending to fulfil.
A room in Eric’s house.
Hertha, Aslaug.
See what a keen and fatal glint it has,
Aslaug.
Hast thou been haunted by a look,
O Hertha, has a touch bewildered thee,
Compelling memory?
Then the gods too work.
A marble statue gloriously designed
Without that breath our cunning maker gives,
One feels it pain to break. This statue breathes!
Out of these eyes there looks an intellect
That claims us all; this marble holds a heart,
The heart holds love. To break it all, to lay
This glory of God’s making in the dust!
Why do these thoughts besiege me? Have I then —
No, it is nothing; it is pity works,
It is an admiration physical.
O he is far too great, too beautiful
For a dagger’s penetration. It would turn,
The point would turn; it would deny itself
To such a murder.
Aslaug, it is love.
What saidst thou?
When he lays a lingering hand
Upon thy tresses,— Aslaug, for he loves,—
Canst thou then strike?
What shakes me? Have I learned
To pity, to tremble? That were new indeed
In Olaf’s race. Give me self-knowledge, gods.
What are these unaccustomed moods you send
Into my bosom? They are foreign here.
Eric enters and regards them. Hertha,
seeing him, rises to depart.
Thou art the other dancing-woman come
From Sweden to King Eric!
He has eyes
That look into the soul. What mean his words?
But they are common. Let me leave you, Aslaug.
I would have freedom here from thy pursuit.
Why shouldst thou anywhere be free from me?
I am full of wrath against thee and myself.
It is too strange — I am afraid!
Of what? Of what? Am I not Aslaug still?
Art thou a sorceress or conspirator?
But thou art both to seize my throne and heart.
And I will deal with thee, thou dreadful charm,
As with my enemy.
Let him never touch!
I give thee grace no longer; bear thy doom.
My doom is in my hands, not thine.
Eric (with sudden224 fierceness)
Thou err’st,
And thou hast always erred. Dar’st thou imagine
That I who have enveloped in three years
All Norway more rebellious than its storms,
Can be resisted by a woman’s strength,
However fierce, however swift and bold?
I have seen thy strength. I cherish mine unseen.
And I thy weakness. Something yet thou fear’st.
Nothing at all.
Yes, though thy eyes defy me,
Thy colour changes and thy limbs betray thee.
All is not lionlike and masculine there
Within.
Touch me not!
If it’s225 that thou fear’st226?
Why dost thou fear it? Is it thine own heart
Thou tremblest at? Aslaug, is it thy heart?
He takes her suddenly into his arms
and kisses her. Aslaug remains like
one stricken and bewildered.
Lift up thine eyes; let me behold thy strength!
Whatever was thy purpose, thou art taken227,
Aslaug, thou sweet and violent soul surprised,
Intended for me when the stars were planned!
Sweetly, O Aslaug, to thy doom consent,
The doom to love, the death of hatred. Draw
No useless curtaining of shamed refusal
Between228 our yearnings, passionately take
Thy229 leap of love across the abyss of hate.
Force not thy soul to anger. Leave veils and falterings
For meaner hearts. Between us let there be
A noble daylight.
Let me think awhile!
Thy arms, thy lips prevent me.
Love only!
O Eric, king, usurper, conqueror!
O robber of men’s hearts and kingdoms! O
Thou only monarch!
Art thou won at last,
O woman who disturb’st the musing stars
With passion? Soul of Aslaug, art thou mine?
I230 cannot think. I have lost myself! My heart
Desires eternity in an embrace.
Wilt thou deny me anything I claim
Ever, O Aslaug? Art thou mine indeed?
What have I done? What have I spoken? I love!
(after a silence, feeling in her bosom)
But what was there concealed within my breast?
I take not a divided realm, a crown
That’s shared. Thou hadst a purpose in thy heart
I know not, but divine. Thou lov’st at length;
But I have knowledge of the human heart,
What opposite passions wrestle there with gusts
And treacherous surprises. I trust not then
Too sudden a change, but if thou canst be calm,
Yet passionately submit, I will embrace thee
For ever. Think and speak. Art thou all mine?
I know no longer if I am my own.
The world swims round me and heaven’s points are changed.
A purpose! I had one. I had besides
A brother! Had! What have I now? You gods,
How have you rushed upon me? Leave me, King.
It is not good to trust a sudden heart.
The blood being quiet, we will speak again
Like souls that meet in heaven, without disguise.
I do not leave thee, for thou art ominous
Of an abysm uncrossed.231
It would be best,232
For there has been too much between us once
And now too little. Leave me, King, awhile
To wrestle with myself and calmly know
In this strange strife the gods have brought me to,
Which thing of these in me must live and which
Be dumb for ever.
Something still233 resists.
I will not leave thee till I know it and tame.
King, thou art wise
In war and counsel, not in women’s hearts.
Thou hast surprised a secret that my soul
Kept tremblingly from my own knowledge. Yet,
If thou art really wise, thou wilt avoid
To touch with a too rude and sudden hand
The direr god who made my spirit fear
To own its weakness.
Art thou wise thyself?
I take thee not for counsellor.
Yet beware,
There was a gulf between my will and heart
Which is not bridged yet.
Break thy will, unless
Thou wouldst have me break it for thee.
The older Aslaug rises now against the new.
It rises, rises. Let it rise. Leave me
My freedom.
Aslaug, no, for free thou roam’st
A lioness midst thy passions.
Do then, O King,
Whatever Fate commands.
I am master of my Fate.
Too little, who are not masters of ourselves!
Art thou that dancing-woman, Aslaug, yet?
I am the dancing-girl who sought thee, yet,
Eric.
It may be still the swiftest way.
Let then my dancing-woman dance for me
Tonight in my chambers. I will see the thing
Her dancing means and tear its mystery out.
If thou demandest it, then Fate demands.
Thy god grows sombre and he menaces,
It seems! For afterwards I can demand
Whatever soul and body can desire
Twixt man and woman?
If thy Fate permits.
Thy love, it seems, communes not with respect.
The word exists not between thee and me.
It is burned up in too immense a fire.
Wilt thou persist? Even after thou hast lain
Upon my bosom thou claimest my respect?
Yet art a dancing-woman, so thou say’st.
Aslaug, let not the darker gods prevail.
Put off thy pride and take up truth and love.
I am a dancing-woman, nothing more.
The hate love struck down rises in thy heart.
But I will have it out, by violence,
Unmercifully.
He strides upon her, and she half
cowers from him, half defies.
(taking her violently into his arms)
Thus blotted into me
Thou shalt survive the end of Time. Tonight!
How did it come? What was it leaped on me
And overpowered? O torn distracted heart,
Wilt thou not pause a moment and give leave
To the more godlike brain to do its work?
Can the world change within a moment? Can
Hate suddenly be love? Love is not here.
I have the dagger still within my heart.
O he is terrible and fair and swift!
He is not mortal. Yet, be silent, yet
Give the brain leave. O marble brilliant face!
O thou art Odin, thou art Thor on earth!
What is there in a kiss, the touch of lips,
That it can change creation? There’s a wine
That turns men mad; have I not drunk of it?
To be his slave, know nothing but his will!
Aslaug and Eric! Aslaug, sister of Swegn,
Who makes his bed on the inclement snow
And with the reindeer herds, that was a king.
Who takes his place? Eric and Aslaug rule.
Eric who doomed him to the death, if seized,
Aslaug, the tyrant, the usurper’s wife,
Who by her brother’s murder is secured
In her possession. Wife! The concubine,
The slave of Eric,— that his pride intends.
What was it seized on me, O heavenly powers?
I have given myself, my brother’s throne and life,
My pride, ambition, hope, and grasp, and keep
Shame only. Tonight! What happens then tonight?
I dance before him,— royal Olaf’s child
Becomes the upstart Eric’s dancing-girl!
What happens else tonight? One preys upon
Aslaug of Norway! O, I thank thee, heaven,
That thou restorest me to sanity.
It was his fraudulent and furious siege,
And something in me proved a traitor. Fraud?
O beauty of the godlike brilliant eyes!
O face expressing heaven’s supremacy!
No, I will put it down, I put it down.
Help me, you gods, help me against my heart.
I will strike suddenly, I will not wait.
’Tis a deceit, his majesty and might,
His dreadful beauty, his resistless brain.
It will be very difficult to strike!
But I will strike. Swegn strikes, and Norway strikes,
My honour strikes, the gods, and all his life
Offends each moment.
Hertha, I strike tonight.
Why, what has happened?
That thou shalt not know.
It is not difficult
To know what drives her. I must act at once,
Or this may have too suddenly a tragic close.
Not blood, but peace, not death, you Gods, but life,
But tranquil sweetness!
Eric, Hertha.
I sent for thee to know thy name and birth.
My name is Hertha and my birth too mean
To utter before Norway’s lord.
Yet speak.
A Trondhjem peasant and a serving-girl
Were parents to me.
And from such a stock
Thy beauty and thy wit and grace were born?
The gods prodigiously sometimes reverse
The common rule of Nature and compel
Matter with soul. How else should it be guessed
That gods exist at all?
Who nurtured thee?
A dancing-girl of Gothberg by a lord
Of Norway entertained, to whom a child
I was delivered. Song and dance were hers;
I made them mine.
Their names? the thrall? the lord?
Olaf of Norway, earl of Trondhjem then,
And Thiordis whom he loved.
Thou knowest Swegn,
The rebel?
Yes, I know.
And lov’st perhaps?
Myself much better.
Treacherous and rude and ruthless, is he not?
I would not speak of kings and mighty earls:
These things exceed my station.
Ah, thou lov’st!
Thou art mistaken, King.
He cannot conquer and he will not yield,
But weakens Norway.
This in him I blame.
Thou hast seen that? Thy peasant father got
A wondrous politician for his child!
I am what the Gods
Have made me. But I understand at last;
Thou think’st me other than I seem.
Some thought
Like that I had.
King Eric, wilt thou hear?
I much desire it, if I hear the truth.
Betray me not to Aslaug then.
That’s just.
What if I came, O King,
For other purpose, not to sing and dance,
And yet thy friend, the well-wisher, at least,
Of Norway and her peace?
Speak plainly now.
If I can show thee how to conquer Swegn
Without one stroke of battle, wilt thou grant
My bitter need?
I would give much.
Wilt thou?
If so I conquer him and thy desire
Is something I can grant without a hurt
To Norway or myself.
It is.
Speak then,
Demand.
I have not finished yet. Meantime
If I avert a danger from thy head
Now threatening it, do I not earn rewards
More ample?
More? On like conditions, then.
If I yield up great enemies to thy hands
Thou know’st not of, wilt thou reject my price,
Confusing different debts in one account?
Hast thou yet more to ask? Thou art too shrewd
A bargainer.
Giving Norway needed peace,
Thyself friends, safety, empire, is my claim
Excessive then?
I grant thee three demands.
They are all. He asks not more who has enough.
Thrice shall I ask and thrice shall Eric give
And never have an enemy again
In Norway.
Speak.
Thy enemies are here,
No dancing-girls, but Hertha, wife of Swegn,
And Aslaug, child of Olaf Thorleikson234,
His sister.
It is well.
The danger lies
In Aslaug’s hand and dagger which she means
To strike into thy heart. Tonight she strikes.
And Swegn?
Send me to him with perilous word
Of Aslaug in thy hands; so with her life
Buy his surrender, afterwards his love
With kingly generosity and trust.
Freely and frankly hast thou spoken, Queen
Who wast in Trondhjem: now as freely ask.
The life of Swegn; his liberty as well,
Submitting.
They are thine.
And Aslaug’s life
And pardon, not her liberty.
They are given.
And, last, forgiveness for myself, O King,
My treason and my plots.
This too I grant.
I have nothing left to ask for.
Thou hast done?
Let me consign thee to thy prison then.
My prison! Wilt thou send me not to Swegn?
I will not. Why, thou subtle, dangerous head,
Restored to liberty, what perilous schemes
Might leap into thy thought235! Shall I give Swegn,
That fierce and splendid fighter, such a brain
Of cunning to complete and guide his sword?
What if he did not yield, rejected peace?
Wilt thou not tell him Aslaug’s life is safe?
Thou hast promised, King!
I keep
My promise to thee, Hertha, wife of Swegn.
For Swegn thou askest life and liberty,
For Aslaug life and pardon, for thyself
Forgiveness only. I can be cunning too.
Hertha, thou art my prisoner and thrall.
Hertha (after a pause, smiling)
I see. I am content. Thou showest thyself
Norway’s chief brain as her victorious sword.
Free or a prisoner, let me do homage
To Eric, my King and Swegn’s.
Thou art content?
This face and noble bearing cannot lie.
I am content and feel as safe with thee
As in my husband’s keeping.
So thou art,
Thou subtle voice, thou close and daring brain.
I would I felt myself as safe with thee.
King Eric, think me not thy enemy.
What thou desirest, I desire yet more.
Keep to that well; let Aslaug not suspect.
My way I’ll take with her and thee and Swegn.
Thou help’st me even as Thor and Odin did.
The chamber of Eric.
Eric, Harald.
At dawn have all things ready for my march.
I come not back without the head of Swegn
Or else his living body. Send to me236
Aslaug the dancing-girl.
The empire with237 the knowledge of myself.
For this strong angel Love, this violent
And glorious guest, let it possess my heart
Without a rival, not invade the brain,
Not with imperious discord cleave my soul
Jangling its various238 harmonies, nor turn
The manifold music of humanity
Into a single and a maddening note.
Strength in the nature,239 wisdom in the mind,
Love in the heart complete the trinity
Of glorious manhood. There was the wide flaw,—
The coldness of the radiance that I was.
This was the vacant gap240 I could not fill.
It left my soul the torso of a god,
A great design unfinished and my works
Mighty and241 crude like things admired that pass,
Bare of the immortality that242 keeps
The ages.
O, the word they spoke was true!
’Tis Love, ’tis Love fills up the gulfs243 of Time.
By Love we find our kinship with the stars,
The spacious uses of the sky. God’s image
Lives nobly perfect in the soul he made,
Reflected in the nature of a man.244
Thou com’st to me! I give thee grace no more.
Only a heart.
A noble heart, though wayward. Give it me,
Aslaug, to be the secret of the dawns,
The heart of sweetness housed in Aslaug’s breast
Delivered from revolt and ruled by love.
Why hast thou sent for me and forced to come?
Wilt thou have pity on me even yet
And on thyself?
I am a warrior, one
Who have known not mercy. Wilt thou teach it me?
I have learned, Aslaug, from my soul and Life
The great wise pitiless calmness of the gods,
Found for my strength the proud swift blows they deal
At all resistance to their absolute walk,
Thor’s hammer-stroke upon the unshaped world.
Its will is beaten on a dreadful forge,
Its roads are hewn by violence divine.
Is there a greater and a sweeter way?
Knowest245 thou it? Wilt thou lead me there? Thy step
Swift and exultant, canst thou tread its flowers?
I know not who inspires thy speech; it probes.
My mind tonight is full of Norway’s needs.
Tonight I were not Norway!
Thou knowest Swegn?
I knew and I remember.
Yes, Swegn,— a soul
Brilliant and furious, violent and great,
A storm, a wind-swept ocean, not a man.
That would seize246 Norway? that will make it one?
But Odin gave the work to me. I came
Into this mortal frame for Odin’s work.
So deify ambition and desire!
If one could snap this mortal body, then
Swegn even might rule,— not govern himself, yet govern
All Norway! Aslaug, canst thou rule thyself?
’Tis difficult for great and passionate hearts.
Then Swegn must die that Eric still may rule!
Was there no other way the gods could find?
A deadly duel are the feuds of kings.
They are so.
Aslaug, thou feelest for thy heart?
Unruled, it follows violent impulses,
This way, that way; working calamity,
Dreams that it helps the world. What shall I do,
Aslaug, with an unruly noble heart?
Shall we247 not load it with the chains of love,
And rob it of its treasured pain and wrath
And bind it to its own supreme desire?
Richly ’twould beat beneath an absolute rule
And sweetly liberated from itself
By a golden bondage.
And what of other impulses it holds?
They shall keep still;
They shall not cry nor question; they shall trust.
It cannot be that he reads all my heart!
The gods play with me in his speech.
Thou knowest
Why thou art called?
I know why I am here.
Few know that, Aslaug, why they have come here,
For that is heaven’s secret. Sit down beside me,
Nearer my heart. No hesitating! Come.
They yet are free.
Is it the gods who bid me to strike soon?
My heart reels down into a flaming gulf.
If thou wouldst rule with love, must thou not spare
Thy enemies?
When they have yielded. Is thy choice made?
Whatever defence thou hast against me yet
Use quickly, before I seize these restless hands,
And thy more restless heart that flees from bliss.
Desired’st thou me not to dance tonight,
O King, before thee?
Now? Dance, while yet thy limbs are thine.
I dance
The dance of Thiordis with the dagger, taught
To Hertha in Trondhjem and by her to me.
Aslaug, my dancing-girl, thou and thy dance
Have daring, but too little subtlety.
What use to struggle longer in the net?
Vain agony, since he248 watches and he knows!
I’ll strike him suddenly. One who was fit249
For what I purpose, would not shrink at all
Finding the abyss about her either way,
But striking cleanse the touch in her own blood.
So might one act who was not her heart’s prey.
Wilt thou play vainly with that fatal toy?
My limbs refuse.
They have no right.
O gods, I did not know myself till now,
Thrown in this furnace. Odin’s irony
Shaped me from Olaf’s seed! I am in love
With chains and servitude and my heart desires,
Fluttering, like a wild bird within its cage,
A tyrant’s harshness.
Wilt thou dance? or wait
Till the enamoured motion of thy limbs
Remember joy of me? So would I have
Thy perfect movement250 grow a dream of love.
But that shall be when Norway’s only mine,
Swegn taken. Tomorrow at the dawn I march251
Towards252 vehement253 battle and the sword of Swegn
Bring back to be thy plaything, a support
Appropriate to thy action in the dance.
Aslaug, it shall replace thy dagger.
Fate
Still drives me with his speech, and Eric calls
My weakness on to slaughter Eric. Yes,
But he suspects, he knows. Yet will I strike,
Yet will I tread down my rebellious heart,
And when ’tis done, I’ll strike myself and finish254
With grief and shame and love.
Where is thy chain
I gave thee, Aslaug? I would watch it rise,
Rubies of passion on a bosom of snow,
And climb again upon thy breast aheave255
With the sea’s rhythm as thou dancest. Dance
Weaving my life a measure with thy feet,
And of thy dancing I will weave the stroke
That conquers Swegn.
The necklace? I will bring it.
Rubies of passion! Blood-drops still of death!
The power to strike has gone out of her arm
And only in her stubborn thought survives.
She thinks that she will strike. Let it be tried!
Now I could slay him! But he will open his eyes
Appalling with the beauty of his gaze.
He did not know of peril! All he has said
Was only at a venture thought and spoken,—
Or spoken by Fate? Sleeps he his latest sleep?
Might I not touch him only once in love —
And none256 know of it but death and I —
Whom I must slay like one who hates? Not hate,
O Eric, but the hard necessity
The gods have sent upon our lives,— two flames
That meet to quench each other. Once, Eric! then
The cruel rest. Why did I touch him? I am faint!
My strength ebbs from me. O thou glorious god,
Why wast thou Swegn’s and Aslaug’s enemy?
We might so easily257 have loved. But death
Now intervenes and claims thee at my hands —
And this alone he leaves to me, to slay thee
And die with thee, our only wedlock. Death!
Whose death? Eric’s or Swegn’s? For one I kill.
Dreadful necessity of choice! His breath
Comes quietly and with a happy rhythm,
His eyes are closed like Odin’s in heaven’s sleep.
If I must strike, it could be only now;258
For259 Time is like a sapper, mining still
The little resolution that I keep.
Swegn’s death or life upon that little stands.
Swegn’s death or life and such an easy stroke!
Yet so impossible to lift my hand!
To wait? To watch more moments these closed lids,
This quiet face and try to dream that all
Is different! But the moments are Fate’s thoughts
Watching us.260 While I pause, my brother’s slain,
Myself I am261 doomed a262 concubine and slave!
I must not think of him! Close, O mind263, close, O eyes264!
Free the unthinking hand to its harsh work.
She lifts twice the dagger and lowers265
it twice, then flings it on the ground, falling on her knees at Eric’s feet.266
Eric of Norway, live and do thy will
With Aslaug, sister of Swegn and Olaf’s child,
Aslaug of Trondhjem! For her thought is grown267
A harlot and her heart a concubine,
Her hand her brother’s murderess.
Thou hast broken
At last!
Ah, I am broken by my weak
And evil nature. Spare me not, O King,
One vileness, one humiliation known
To tyranny. Be not unjustly merciful!
For I deserve and I consent to all.
Aslaug!
No, I deny my name and parentage.
I am not she who lived in Trondhjem: she
Would not have failed, but slain even though she loved.
Let no voice call me Aslaug any more.
Sister of Swegn, thou knowest that I love.
Daughter of Olaf, shouldst thou not aspire
To sit by me on Norway’s throne?
Desist!
Thou shalt not utterly pollute the seat
Where Olaf sat. If I had struck and slain,
I would deserve a more than regal chair;
But not on such must Norway’s diadem rest,
A weakling with a hand as impotent
And faltering as her heart, a sensual slave
Whose passionate body overcomes her high
Intention. Rather do thy tyrant will.
King, if thou spare me, I will slay thee yet.
Recoil not from thy heart, but strongly see
And let its choice be absolute over thy soul.
Its way once taken thou shalt find thy heart
Rapid; for absolute and extreme in all,
In yielding as in slaying thou must be,
Sweet violent spirit whom thy gods surprise.
Submit thyself without ashamed reserve.
What more canst thou demand than I have given?
I am prone to thee, prostrate, yielded.
Throw from thee
The bitterness of thy self-abasement. Find
That thou hast only joy in being mine.
Yes, with shame and grief and love.
Thou art my Fate and I am in thy grasp.
And shall it spare thee?
Spare Swegn. I am in thy hands.
Is’t a condition? I am lord of thee
And lord of Swegn to slay him or to spare.
No, an entreaty. I am fallen here,
My head is at thy feet, my life is in thy hands.
The luxury of fall is in my heart.
Rise up then, Aslaug, and obey thy lord.
What is thy will with me?
This, Aslaug, first.
Take up thy dagger, Aslaug, dance thy dance
Of Thiordis with the dagger. See those268 near me;
For I shall sit nor, shouldst thou strike, defend.
What thy passion chose, let thy fixed269 heart confirm;
My life and kingdom twice are in thy hands
And I will keep them only as thy gift.
So are they thine already; but I obey270.
Eric, my King and Norway’s, my life is mine
No longer, but for thee to keep or break.
Swegn’s life I hold.
Thou gavest it to me
With the dagger.
It is thine to save.
Norway
Thou hast given casting it forever away
From Olaf’s line.
What thou hast taken, I give.
At271 last thyself without one refuge272 left
Against my passionate strong devouring love.
Thou seest I spare273 thee nothing.
I am thine.
Because thou hast no help.
I have no help. My gods have brought me here
And given me into thy dreadful hands.
Thou art content at last that they have breathed
This274 plot into thy mind to snare thy soul
In its own violence, bring to me a slave,
A bright-limbed prisoner and thee to thy lord?
Thy275 dagger could no more have touched my heart,276
Though undefended, than a wind the sun:
Fate and thy love were my friends within thy heart.
I know it now.
I recognise with prostrate heart my fate
And I will quietly put on my chains
Nor ever strive or277 wish to break them more.
Yield up to me the burden of thy fate
And treasure of thy limbs and priceless life.
I will be careful of the golden trust.
It was unsafe with thee. And now submit
Gladly at last. Surrender body and soul,
O Aslaug, to thy lover and thy lord.
Compel me; they cannot resist thy will.
But I278 will have thy heart’s surrender279, not
The280 body only. Give me up thy heart.
Open its secret chambers, yield their keys.
O Eric, is not my heart already thine,
My body thine, my soul into thy grasp
Delivered? I rejoice that God has played
The grand comedian with my tragedy
And trapped me in the snare of thy delight.
Aslaug, the world’s sole woman! thou cam’st here
To save for us our hidden hopes281 of joy
Parted by old confusion. Some day surely
The world too shall be saved from death by Love.
Thou hast saved Swegn, helped Norway. Aslaug, see,
Freya within her niche commands this room
And incense burns to her. Nor282 Thor for thee,
But Freya.
Thou for me! not other gods.
Aslaug, thou hast a ring upon thy hands283:
Before Freya give it me and wear instead
This ancient circle of Norwegian rites.
The thing this means shall bind thee to our joy,
Beloved, while the upbuilded worlds endure.
Then if thy spirit wander from its home,
Freya shall find her thrall and lead her back
A million years from now.
A million lives!
The world has changed for me within one night.
O surely, surely all shall yet go well,
Since Love is crowned.
Aslaug, the hour arrives
When I must leave thee. For the dawn looks pale
Into our chamber and these first rare sounds
Expect the arising sun, the daylight world.
Eric, thou goest hence to war with Swegn,
My brother?
What thinks284 thy heart?
That Swegn shall live.
Thou know’st his safety from deliberate swords.
None shall dare touch the head that Aslaug loves.
Yet285 if some evil chance came edged with doom
Which Odin and my will shall not allow
Or in the fight his splendid rashness slew286,
Thou wouldst not hold me guilty of his death,
Aslaug?
Fate orders all and Fate I now
Have recognised all287 the world’s mystic will
That loves and labours.
Because it labours288 and loves
Our hearts, our wills are counted, are indulged.
Aslaug, for these289 few days in hope290 and trust
Anchor thy mind. I shall bring back thy joy,
Because291 I go with mercy and from love.
Swegn lives. A heart, not iron gods, o’errules.292
Swegn’s fastness in the hills.
Swegn, Hardicnut, Ragnar, with soldiers.
Fight on, fight always, till the gods are tired.
In all this dwindling remnant of the past
Desires one man to rest from virtue, cease
From desperate freedom?
No man wavers here.
Let him depart unhurt who so desires.
Why should he go and whither? To Eric’s sword
That never pardons293? If our hearts were vile,
Unworthily impatient of defeat,
Serving not harassed right but chance and gain,
Eric himself would keep them true.
Not thine,
My second soul. Yet could I pardon him
Who followed294. For the blow transcends! And were
King Eric not in Yara where he dwells,
I would have seen his hand in this defeat,
Whose stroke is like the lightning’s, silent, straight,
Not to be parried.
Sigurd smote, perhaps,
But Eric’s brain was master of his stroke.
The traitor Sigurd! For young Eric’s part
In Olaf’s death, he did a warrior’s act
Avenging Yarislaf and Hacon slain,
And Fate, not Eric slew. But he who, trusted, lured
Into death’s ambush, when the rebel seas
Rejoicing trampled down the royal head
They once obeyed, him I will some day have
At my sword’s mercy.
Ragnar, does it come,
The last assault, death’s trumpets?
Rather peace,
If thou prefer it, Swegn. An envoy comes
From Eric’s army.
Ragnar, bring him in.
He treats victorious? When his kingdom shook,
His party faltered, then he did not treat
Nor used another envoy than his sword.
(to Gunthar who enters, escorted by Ragnar)
Earl Gunthar, welcome,— welcome more wert thou
When loyal.
Ragnar, Swegn and Hardicnut,
Revolting earls, I come from Norway’s King
With peace, not menace.
Where then all these days
Behind you lurked the Northerner?
Thou art
In his dread shadow and in your mountain lair
Eric surrounds you.
Swegn (scornfully295)
I will hear his words.
Eric, the King, the son of Yarislaf,
To Swegn, the Earl of Trondhjem. “I have known
The causes and the griefs that raise thee still
Against my monarchy. Thou knowest mine
That raised me against thy father,— Hacon’s death,
My mother’s brother butchered shamefully
And Yarislaf by secret sentence slain.
Elected by our peers I seized his throne.
But thou, against thy country’s ancient laws
Rebelling, hast preferred for judge the sword.
Respect then the tribunal of thy choice
And its decision. Why electest thou
In thy drear fastness on the wintry hills
To perish? Trondhjem’s earldom shall be thine,
And honours, wealth296 and state if thou accept
The offer of thy lenient gods. Consider,
O Swegn, thy country’s wounds, perceive at last
Thy good and ours, prolong thy father’s house.”
I return to him
His proffered mercy. Let him keep it safe
For his own later use.
Thou speakest high.
What help hast thou? what hope? what god concealed?
I have the snow for friend and, if it fails,
The arms of death are broad enough for Swegn,
But not subjection.
For their sake thou lov’st,
Thy wife’s and sister’s, yield.
Thou art not wise.
This was much better left unsaid.
But why297
Am I astonished if triumphant mud
Conceives that the pure heavens are of its stuff
And nature?...298
Still there are men who hope to purchase299 Swegn’s
Allegiance, to intimidate with death
And bribe with safety Olaf’s son. It seems
Your pastime to insult the seed of Kings.
Think’st thou that to the upstart I shall yield,
The fortune-fed adventurer, the boy
Favoured by the ironic gods? Since fell
By Sigurd’s treachery and Eric’s fate
In resonant battle on the narrow seas
Olaf, his children had convinced the world,
I thought, of their great origin. Men have said,
“Their very women have souls too great to cry
For mercy even from the gods.” His fates
Are strong indeed when they compel our race
To hear such terms from his! Go, tell thy King,
Swegn of the ancient house rejects his boons.
Not terms between us stand, but wrath, but blood.
I would have flayed him on a golden cross
And kept his women for my household thralls,
Had I prevailed. Can he not do as much
That he must chaffer and market Norway’s crown?
These are the ways of Kings, strong, terrible
And arrogant; full of sovereignty and right300.
Force in a King’s his warrant from the gods.
By force and not by bribes and managements
Empires are founded! But your chief was born
Of huckstering earls who lived by prudent gains.
How should he imitate a royal flight
Or learn the leap of Kings upon their prey?
Swegn Olafson, thou speakest fatal words.
Where lodge thy wife and sister? Dost thou know?
Too far for Eric’s reach.
Earl, art thou sure?
What means this question?
That the gods are strong
Whom thou in vain despisest, that they have dragged
From Sweden into Eric’s dangerous hands
Hertha and Aslaug, that the evil thou speak’st
Was fatally by hostile Powers inspired.
Thou liest — they are safe and with the Swede.
I pardon thy alarm the violent word.
Earl Swegn, canst thou not see the dreadful gods
Have chosen earth’s mightiest man to do their will?
What is that will but Norway’s unity
And Norway’s greatness? Canst thou do the work?
Look round on Norway by a boy subdued,
The steed that even Olaf could not tame
See turn obedient to an unripe hand.
Behold him with a single petty pace
Possessing Sweden. Sweden once subdued,
Think’st thou the ships that crowd the Northern seas
Will stay there? Shall not Britain shake, Erin
Pray loudly that the tempest rather choose
The fields of Gaul? Scythia shall own our yoke,
The Volga’s frozen waves endure our march,
Unless the young god’s fancy rose-ensnared
To Italian joys attracted amorously
Should long for sunnier realms or lead his high
Exultant mind to lord in eastern Rome.
What art thou but a pebble in his march?
Consider then and change thy fierce response.
Deceives the lie they tell, thy reason, Swegn?
Earl Gunthar may believe, who even can think
That Yarislaf begot a god!
Gunthar,
I have my fortune, thou thy answer. Go.
I pity, Swegn, thy rash and obstinate soul.
Aslaug would scorn me yielding, even now
And even for her. He has unnerved my will,
The subtle tyrant! O, if this be true,
My Fate has wandered into Eric’s camp,
My soul is made his prisoner. Friends, prepare
Resistance; he is the thunderbolt that strikes
And threatens only afterwards. It is
Our ultimate battle.
On the difficult rocks
We will oppose King Eric and his gods.
Swegn with his earls and followers in flight.
Swift, swift into the higher snows, where Winter
Eternal can alone of universal things
Take courage against Eric to defend
His enemies. O you little remnant left
Of many heroes, save yourselves for Fate.
She yet may need you when she finds the man
She lifts perpetually, too great at last
Even for her handling.
Ragnar, go with him,
While I stand here to hinder the pursuit
Or warn in time. Fear not for me,...301
Leave, Ragnar, leave me; I am tired at last.
All go out upward except Hardicnut.
Here then you reach me on these snows! O if my death
Could yet persuade indignant Heaven to change....302
Eric, Gunthar, Swegn, Aslaug, Hertha.
Not by love only, but by force and love.
This man must lower his fierceness to the fierce,
He must be beggared of the thing left, his pride
And know himself for clay. He could not honour303
This304 unfamiliar movement of my soul
But would contemn and think my seated strength
Had changed to trembling. Sound305 the audience-gong,306
Herald307. The master of my stars is he
Who owns no master. Odin, what is this play,
Thou playest with thy world, of fall and rise,
Of death, birth, greatness, ruin? The time may come
When Eric shall not be remembered! Yes,
But there’s a script, there are archives that endure.
Before a throne in some superior world
Bards with undying lips and eyes still young
After the ages sing of all the past
And the Immortal’s Children308 hear. Somewhere
In this gigantic world of which one grain of dust
Is all our field, Eternal Memory keeps
Our great things and our trivial equally
To whom the peasant’s moans above his dead
Are tragic as a prince’s fall. Some say
Atomic Chance has put309 Eric here, Swegn there,
Aslaug between. But I have seen myself,310
O you revealing gods,311 and know though veiled
The immortality that thinks in me,
That plans and reasons.312 Masters of Norway, hail!
For all are masters here, not I alone
Who am my country’s brain of unity,
Your oneness. Swegn’s at last in Norway’s hands
Who shook our fates. And what shall Norway do with Swegn,
One of her mightiest?
If his might submits,
Then, Eric, let him live. We cannot brook
These disorders313 always.
Norway cannot brook.
Therefore he must submit. Bring him within.
We’ll see if this strong iron can be bent,
This crudeness bear the fire. Swegn Olafson,
Hast thou considered yet this314 state? Hast thou
Submitted to thy315 gods or must we, Swegn,
Consider now thy sentence?
I have seen
My dire misfortune316. I have seen myself
And know that I am greater. Do thy will
Since what the son of Yarislaf commands,
The son of Olaf bears!
Thou wilt not yield?
My father taught me not the word.
Shall I?
Thou hast forgotten, Swegn, thy desperate words.
Or were they meant only for the free snows,
And here retracted?
Son of Yarislaf, they stand.
I claim the cross I would have nailed thee on,
I claim the flayer’s knife.
These for thyself.
And for thy wife and sister, Swegn?
Alas!
I think thy father taught thee not the317 word,
But I have taught thee. Since thou lovest yet,—
No man who says that he will stand alone,
Swegn, can afford to love,— thou then art mine
Inevitably. Thou vauntest thy blood,318
Thy strength? Thou art much stronger, so thou say’st,
Than thy misfortunes. Art thou stronger, Swegn,
Than theirs? Can all thy haughty pride of race
Or thy heart’s mightiness undo my will
In whose strong hands thou liest319? Swegn Olafson,
The gods are mightier than thy race and blood,
The gods are mightier than thy arrogant heart.
They will not have one violent man oppose
His egoism, his pride and his desire
Against a country’s fate. Thou hast no strength320,
For thou and these are only Eric’s slaves
Who have been his stubborn hinderers. Therefore Fate,
Norway, whose321 favourite and brother I have grown,
Turned wroth and322 brought323 you all into my grasp.
I will that you should live and yield. These yield,
But thou withstandest wisdom. Fate and love,
Allied against thee, I offer, Swegn, yield to me,324
Stand by my side and share thy father’s throne.
Yes, thou art fierce and subtle! Let them pronounce
My duty’s preferences325, if not my heart’s,
To them or Right.
O narrow obstinate heart!
Had this been but326 thy country or a cause
Men worship, then it would indeed have been327
A noble blindness, but thou serv’st thy pride.
Wilt328 thou abide by their pronouncement, Swegn?
Aslaug and Hertha, see your brother and lord,
This mighty captive, royal once, now fallen
And helpless in my hands. I wish to spare
His mightiness, his race, his royal heart;
But he prefers the cross instead, prefers
Your shame — thy brother, Aslaug,— Hertha, he
Thy spouse consents to utmost shame for both,
If from the ages he can buy this word,
“Swegn still was stubborn.” That to him is all.
He who forgot to value Norway’s will,
Forgets to value now your pride, your love.
This was not royal nor like Olaf’s son!
Come, will you speak to him, will you persuade?
Walk there aside with him and329 aim at his heart.
Hertha, my subject, Aslaug, thou my thrall,
Save, if he will, this life. Remember, Swegn,330
If Olaf’s children must be shame-crowned slaves,
’Tis thou that makest them so.
’Tis thus we meet,—
Were not the snows of Norway preferable,
Daughter of Olaf?
They were high, but cold.
Wilt thou not speak to Hertha, Swegn, my lord?
Hertha, alas, thy crooked scheming brain
That brought us here.
The gods use instruments,
Not ask their consent331. O Swegn, accept the gods
And their decision.
Must we live always cold?
O brother, cast the snows out of thy heart.
Yield, husband, to the sun.
There is no shame in yielding to the gods.
Not332 to a god, although his room be earth
And his body mortal.
There was an Aslaug once
Whose speech had other grandeurs. Can it not333 find334
The335 argument336 that can excuse thy fall,
O not to me, but to that worshipped self
Thou wast, my sister?
I seek338 no argument except my heart
Nor need excuse for what I glory in.
Brother, were we not always one? ’Tis strange
That I must reason with thee.
O, thou knewest.
Therefore I fell, therefore, my strength is gone
And where a god’s magnificence lived once,
Here, here, ’tis empty. O inconstant heart,
Thou wast my Fate, my courage, and at last
Thou hast gone over to my enemy,
Taking my Fate, my courage. I will hear
No words from such. Thou wouldst betray what’s left,
Until not even Swegn is left to Swegn,
But only a coward’s shadow.
Hear me, Swegn.
Ah, Hertha, what hast thou to say to me?
Save me, my lord, from my own punishment,
Forgetting my deserts.
Alas! thy love,
O my beloved, has been great to me339,
Though great, was never wise! but must it ask
So huge a recompense?
Thou hadst myself. Thou askest my honour340.
Will this persuade thee?
I have nothing else.
O thou hast overcome my strength at last341.
Thou only and so only couldst prevail.
King, thou hast conquered. Not to thee I yield,
But those I loved are thy allies. From these
Recall the342 wrath, on me instead343 pronounce
What doom thou wilt — though yielding is doom enough
For Swegn of Norway.
Abjure rebellion then,
The spirit of Olaf will no more sit still
Within me. O though thou slaughter these with pains347
I will not yield. Take, take thy mercy back.
I take it back. What wouldst thou in its stead?
Do what thou wilt with these and me. I have done!
Thou cast’st thy die, thou weak and violent man! I will cast mine
And conquer.
I have endured the worst.
Not so.
Thou thinkest I will help thee to thy death,
Allowing the blind grave to seal thy eyes
To all that I shall do to thine348. Learn, Swegn,
I am more cruel! Thou shalt live and see
On them349 my vengeance. Aslaug, go350 and return
Robed as thou wast upon the night thou knowest
Wearing thy dagger, wearing too thy ring.
What wilt thou do with her? God! what wilt thou do?
O wherefore have I seen and taken back love
Into a heart that had351 shut....352
I will inflict on them
What thou canst not endure to gaze upon
Or if thou canst then with that hardness live.
For die thou shalt not. I have ways for that.
Thou thought’st to take thy refuge in a grave
And let these bear thy punishment for thee,
Thy heart being spared. It was no valiant thought,
No worthy escape for Swegn. Aslaug and Hertha,
My thralls, remove353 your outer robes.
What must I see?
As dancing-girls the354 women came to me,
As dancing-girls I keep them. Thou shalt see
Aslaug of Norway at her trade — to dance
Before me and my courtiers. That begins,
There’s more behind, unless thou change thy mood.
Thou knowest how to torture.
And to break.
Thou seest, Swegn. Shall I command the dance?
Shall this be the result of Olaf’s house?
Daughter of Olaf, wilt thou then obey?
Yes, since thou lov’st me not, my brother Swegn,
Whom else should I obey, save him I love?
But hadst thou355 loved me still, I should not need.
Dance.
Stay356, Aslaug. Since thou bad’st me love
Thee, not my glory, as indeed I must
To save the house of Olaf from this shame,—
Whose treacherous weakness works for him and thee.
Pause not again — for pause is fatal now.
King, I have yielded, I accept thy boons.
Heir of a starveling Earl, I bow my head
Even to thy mercies. I am Olaf’s son,
I shall be faithful to my own disgrace.357
O fear not, King. I can be great again.358
Without conditions hast thou yielded.
No.
Let these be spared all shame — for that I yield
My honour has a price — and it is359 small.
That’s given without terms binding360.
One prayer:
Give me a dungeon deep enough, O King,
To hide my face from all these eyes.
Swear then,
Whatever prison I assign thee, be it wide
Or narrow, to observe its state, its bounds
And do even there my will.
That too is sworn!
Let Thor and Odin witness to my oath.
Four prisons I assign to Olaf’s son.
Thy palace first in Trondhjem, Olaf’s roof,
Thy361 house in Nara362, Eric’s court — thy country,
To whom thou yieldest, Norway — and at last
My army’s head when I invade the world.
Thou hast surprised me, Eric, with an oath
And circumvented.
Hertha, to thy lord
Return unharassed363 — thou seest thou wast safe.364
Trondhjem’s and Olaf’s treasures with thee take365
The second in the land beneath our throne.
Eric, enough! Have I not yielded? Here
Let thy boons rest.
Is to myself. Look not upon this hand
I clasp in mine, although the fairest hand
That God has made. Observe instead366
This ring and367 recognise it.
On Aslaug’s hand. And she370 who once wears it371
Thenceforth sits on372 Norway’s throne.
Possess thy father’s chair
Intended for thee always from the first.
Nor be amazed that in these dancing-robes
I seat her here — for they increase its beauty373
More than imperial purple. Nor think374, Swegn,
Thy sister shamed or false who came to me
....375 spilling my blood and hers,376
A violent and mighty purpose — such
As only noble hearts conceive; and only
She yielded to that noble heart at last
Because ’twas377 Odin’s purpose378.
So they came.
Aslaug, thou sought’st my throne, but findst thine own379.
I grudge it not to thee — for thy great heart
Deserves380 it. Eric, thou hast won at last
I could not shame thy sister, Swegn,
Save by my wife’s disgrace and this was none
But only a deceit to prove thy heart
And thou382 seest that thou383 couldst not have rebelled
Except by treason against384 Olaf’s seed
That must again rule Norway.
Eric, for thy boons —
They hurt not now — take what return thou wilt;
For I am thine, thou hast found out the way
To save from me thy future. It has....385
With386 my heart’s strings387.
Swegn, excuse and love
Thy comrade Hardicnut, for he intended
A kind betrayal.
This is nothing, King.
His act my heart had come to understand
And yet388 has pardoned.
Sigurd, thy foe, as I have pardoned first
My father’s slaughterer. This is thy....[Illegible]390
’Tis391 pardoned, not forgiven. Let him not come
Too often in my sight.
Swegn, I too have boons
To ask of thee.
Let them be difficult then,
If thou wouldst have me grant them.
The gods have won.
Let this embrace engulf our ended strife,
Brother of Aslaug.
Husband of my sister,
Thou assum’st our blood and it ennobles thee
To the height of thy great victories — this thy last
And greatest. Thou hast dealt with me as a King,
Then as a brother. Thou adorn’st thy throne.
Rest, brother, from thy hardships and thy393 wars
Until I need thy394 sword that matched with mine
To smite my foemen.
Aslaug, what thinkest395 thou?
If thou art satisfied, then all well, nobly done396.
Thou hast the tyrant in thy nature still
And so I love thee best. What canst thou do but well?397
For in thy every act and word I see
The gods compel thee.
Or398 thou hast changed me with thy starry eyes,
Daughter of Olaf, and....[Illegible] a man399
Where was but height and iron, all my roots
Of action, mercy, greatness, enterprise
Sit now transplanted in400 thy breast, O charm,
O noble marvel! From thy bosom my strength
Thou sangst, Aslaug, once of the402 golden hoop,
Mightier and swifter403 than the warrior’s sword.
Dost thou remember what thou cam’st to do,
The gods have spoken since and shown their hand.
They shut405 our eyes and drive us, but at last
Our souls remember when the act is done.
That it was fated. Now for us, O beloved,407
The world begins again, who since the stars were formed408
Playing409 the game of games by Odin’s will
Have met and parted, parted, met410 again
For ever.
{{ALL}
Later edition of this work: The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo: Set in 37 volumes.- Volumes 3-4.- Collected Plays and Stories.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1998.- 1008 p.
1 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this and next two lines there are these five lines:
But how long shall that monarchy endure
Which only on the swiftness of a sword
Has taken its restless seat? Strength’s iron hound
Pitilessly bright behind his panting prey
Can guard for life’s short splendour what it won.
2 secured
3 Ineffugably that pursues its pray.
4 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: But
5 some
6 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: some strength is hidden
7 must find
8 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: who
9 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: is sweet substance
10 our | the
11 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: who
12 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It was thou who sangst!
13 Thou knowest. Know’st thou too by whoom?
14 And all things move by an established doom,
15 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: the rhythmic
16 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of these two lines there are four:
Of one majestic harp. With equal mind
She breaks the tops that she has built; her thrones
Are ruins. She treads her way foreseen; our steps
Are hers, our wills are blinded by her gaze.
17 for the balance of her harmonies
18 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: cold
19 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: with need for spur,
20 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fled
21 host
22 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Cut off from Sweden and his lair
23 fierce
24 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: remnant like our seas,
25 bold
26 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: The
27 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are these three lines before this line:
They waste their surge of strength in sterile foam,
Hungry for movement, careless what they break,
Splendid, disastrous, active for no fruit.
28 (i) Let him not live, o’ercome. (ii) Let him not live, if seized. (iii) Taken, let him not live.
29 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line there are four:
Taken! Our words are only an arrogant breath,
Who all are here, the doomer and the doomed,
As captives of a greater doom than ours,
To live or die.
30 (i) And yet... (ii) Taken, who shall live?
31 Be silent.
32 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4:
I silence my heart
Which has remembered what all men forget,
That Olaf of the seas was Norway’s head
And Swegn his son.
33 (i) ’Twas my heart (ii) It was my heart
34 And
35 though
36 was Norway’s Lord
37 And Swegn his son
38 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4:
Though from my act there flowed on you distress,
Make me be fountain of your better days;
Your loss shall turn a fall to splendid gains.
39 Swedish
40 Since I was reason that you are distressed,
41 Let me be reason of your plenty too.
42 The royal | In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thy royal
43 needed.
44 (i) Gunthar, we will converse ere they depart (ii) Gunthar, we will converse within the hour.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gunthar, we will converse some other hour.
45 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line there are two:
The houses of their violent desires,
Whose guests are interest and power and pride?
46 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4:
Because I will not act
Lifting in vain a rash frustrated hand.
When all is certain, I will strike.
47 Because I will not strike,
48 Wound perhaps only and be stayed.
49 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: phrases
50 Will you | If we
51 Must.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
While we sleep flung in a dishonoured tomb,
This sentence starts with: And
52 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: roams
53 mountain
54 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Hopeless
55 and poor? In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: alone?
56 Not again. In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: No more
57 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
Too often, too deeply have we drunk that cup!
58 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: a son
59 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: some bare pine-trees
60 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
61 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
62 brief | swift
63 the magnificent
64 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
65 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: nor
66 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pure
67 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: men
68 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Sigualdson
69 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: his chair vacant
70 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: but they cried
71 centre
72 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Discord was seated there.
73 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: To the South rejoicing
74 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Crying
75 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: all the rude-lipped North
76 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Blew bronze refusal and its free stark head
77 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: To breathe cold heaven was lifted like its hills.
78 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sought
79 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sharp blind last appeal
80 The dagger overrides.
81 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: When it is keen and swift enough!
82 (i) Now think it out. (ii) But think a little. In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O yet,
83 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
84 pay
85 Is not a composition possible?
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: If kindly peace even now were possible!
86 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
87 rule
88 in
89 (i) The suzerainty his: we fought for it. (ii) The suzerainty? Is it not his? We fought,
90 And lost it.
91 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Let it rest where it has fallen.
92 Better
93 It is good to be resolved.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It is well to be resolved.
94 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: flung
95 One strikes more (out) surely.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: To strike more surely.
96 From this place and till the words ...Pride violent... text in two edition is different. In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4:
Hertha
You see nothing more?
Aslaug (disdainfully)
What is it to me how he looks? He is
My human obstacle and that is all.
Hertha
No, Aslaug, there’s much more. Alone with you,
Absorbed,– you see it,– suddenly you strike
And strike again, swift great exultant blows.
Aslaug
It is too base!
Hertha
Unlulled, he could not perish.
Have you not seen his large and wakeful gaze?
This is our chance. Must not Swegn mount his throne?
Aslaug
So that I have not to degrade myself,
Arrange it as you will. You own a swift,
Contriving, careful brain I cannot match.
To dare, to act was always Aslaug’s part.
Hertha
You will not shrink?
Aslaug
I sprang not from the earth
To bound my actions by the common rule.
I claim my kin with those whom Heaven’s gaze
Moulded supreme, Swegn’s sister, Olaf’s child,
Aslaug of Norway.
Hertha
Then it must be done.
Aslaug
Hertha, I will not know the plots you weave:
But when I see your signal, I will strike.
97 Suddenly you strike, I come in, widen the blow.
98 Shall not Swegn have the throne?
99 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It was this,
100 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And
101 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and unresisted time
When Fate herself runs on his feet. Then comes,–
102 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is two lines after this one:
The slow revenges of the jealous gods.
Submitting we shall save ourselves alive
103 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: For a
104 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: What
105 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: that motion; song,
106 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
107 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: use,
108 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
109 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my
110 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my best
111 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: carried
112 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Here to the richest
113 Dost thou, girl?
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Hast thou so?
114 I have bought them...
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I buy them for a price.
115 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Though
116 Thou hast. Remember what thou art — or else
Thou claim'st to be.
Aslaug
I am caught in a snare.
117 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: marble
118 Therefore choose thy part.
119 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: Or leave it.
120 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: wert fashioned
121 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line and next four lines there are these six lines:
Confess that mightier name and lay thyself
Between my hands. But if a dancing-girl,
I have bought thee for a hire, thy face, thy song,
Thy body. I turn not, girl, from any way
I can possess thee, more than the sea hesitates
To engulf what it embraces.
122 But
123 I hold
124 a
125 Alternative to “I shrink...embraces”
Girl, I care not by what way
I shall possess thee.
126 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thou
127 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Or to
128 that
129 Seekest my court to spy upon my plans.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Invad’st my house to spy upon my fate.
130 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: close
132 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this body, heaven’s hold,
This face, the earth’s desire.
133 What canst thou do?
134 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: nearer
135 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 the line is: None that I tremble at or wish to flee.
136 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Let this shake thee
137 paw?
138 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Helpless hast seen
139 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And feelst on thee
140 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: , to
141 Then earn, Aslaug. In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Richly then earn.
142 Thou art no fool, thou...
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thou hast a brain, and
143 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: On
144 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I have kept
145 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one: My house! what fate has brought thy steps within?
146 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: found
147 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: way to
148 Two cancelled lines after this:
Nor think thy feet have entered to escape
Unchained the antre of thy enemy.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of these two canceled lines there are these four lines:
Thinkst thou thy feet have entered to escape
As lightly as a wild bee from a flower,
The lair and antre of thy enemy?
Disguise? Canst thou disguise thy splendid soul?
149 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Then
150 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: face
151 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this
152 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Reveal it and deserve
153 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: restraining
154 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: Thou art obstinate in pride!
155 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: any choice to make
156 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: Wilt thou still struggle vainly in the net?
157 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: As surely as if I held thee on my knees.
158 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
159 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This gracious rhythmic motion of thy limbs
160 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: all
161 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: to possess
162 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: But I have only learned from Fate and strength
163 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: To seize by force, master, enjoy, compel,
164 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: As I will thee. Enemy and prisoner,
165 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: wilt not speak
166 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: to
167 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: might be still!
168 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O
169 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: hast thou chosen
170 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: King, mend thy words and end this comedy.
172 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: A little amazed. Unfearing I stand here,
173 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: Who come with open heart to seek a king,
174 and
175 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: some direr
176 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Some
177 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
178 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Assume this chain, this necklace, for thy life.
179 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: even
180 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: She
181 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: so
182 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Yet
183 In 1998 ed. this line and next line are absent
184 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Look,
185 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lift
186 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: yet
187 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thou canst not slip out from my hands by this.
188 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: feigned
189 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: will I let
190 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
191 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: In hope thy saner mind will yet
192 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one: Only one way thou hast to save thyself:
193 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Reveal
194 Aslaug alone, lifts the chain, admires it and throws it on a chair.
195 She lifts it again.
196 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my
197 She puts it round her neck.
198 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: nor
199 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
200 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: wears
201 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: By
202 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: With the strong magnificent circle,
203 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
204 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: licence
205 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: his too partial
206 iron
207 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I would be, O Odin, still
208 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: my
209 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thoughts
210 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: subjects
211 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Do
212 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thou com’st? thou art resolved? thou hast
213 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou then
214 Another version, starting with this line, omits the next speech of Aslaug and continues Eric’s words:
Yet nothing understood? Or art thou, Aslaug,
Surrendered to thy fate? This earthly heaven
215 It was not fashioned for
216 falls
217 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: form
218 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
219 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: one
220 give
221 In 1998 ed. this and next lines are absent
222 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
223 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: alone
224 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: with a sudden
225 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It is
226 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: fearst
227 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line there are these two lines:
Thou art taken.
Whatever was thy purpose, thou art mine,
228 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Betwixt
229 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: The
230 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one: Thine, Eric? Eric! Whose am I, by whom am held?
231 Of something unachieved.
232 Yet that were best,
233 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: yet
234 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Sigualdson
235 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thoughts
236 Alternative to two lines:
Let none be near tonight. Send here to me
237 and
238 ordered
239 spirit,
240 space
241 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: but
242 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: which
243 gaps
244 When Love completes the godhead in a man.
245 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Knowst
246 That will hold
247 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I
248 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: he
249 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line and next four lines there are these eight lines:
I’ll strike him suddenly. It cannot be
The senses will so overtake the will
As to forbid its godlike motion. If
I feared not my wild heart, I could lean down
And lull suspicion with a fatal gift.
My blood would cleanse what shame was in the touch.
So would one act who knew her tranquil will
But none thus in the burning heart sunk down.
250 motion
251 Alternative to two lines:
Tomorrow at the dawning will I march
252 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: To
253 violent
254 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 instead of this line and next line there is this one line:
And then I too can die and end remorse.
255 And climb forever on thy breast aheave
256 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: no one
257 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: utterly
258 I must strike blindly out or not at all;
259 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
Screening out with my lashes love,– as now – or now!
260 me.
261 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Myself am
262 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: his
263 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: mind
264 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: eyes
265 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: lowers
266 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: ground.
267 now
268 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thou
269 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: freed
270 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
She dances and then lays the dagger at his feet.
271 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And
272 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: covering
273 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: leave
274 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thy
275 In 1998 ed. this line and next two lines are absent
276 breast,
277 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: nor
278 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: I
279 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thy heart’s heart’s surrender
280 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Its
281 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: hope
282 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Not
283 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: hand
284 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: knows
285 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: But
286 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
287 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: as
288 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: knows
289 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: a
290 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: love
291 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: For now
292 Swegn lives. A Mind, not iron gods, with laws
Deaf and inevitable, overrules.
293 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pardoned
294 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: faltered
295 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: contemptuously
296 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: honours and wealth
297 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line there are these two lines:
It seems
Your pastime to insult the seed of Kings. Yet why
298 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line and next five lines there is one lines:
And nature? To the upstart I shall yield,
299 ask for
300 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: might
301 Illegible.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: assailed
302 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4 there is editorial note: [Scene incomplete]
303 Alternative for two lines:
For he will not honour mildness nor revere
304 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
To value my gift. He would not honour nor revere
305 Strike
306 bell,
307 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Harald
308 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: immortal Children
309 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: put
310 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O you revealing Gods,
311 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: But I have seen myself
312 That loves, that labours.
313 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: discords
314 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thy
315 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: the
316 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: misfortunes
317 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: that
318 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line there are six lines:
Inevitably. He must be half a god
Who can oppose Thor’s anger, Odin’s will
Nor dream of breaking. Such the gods delight in,
Raising or smiting; such in the gods delight,
Raised up or smitten. But thou wast always man
And canst not now be more. Thou vauntst thy blood,
319 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: they lie
320 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line there are four lines:
Against a country’s fate. Use then thy eyes
And learn thy strength.
At a sign of his hand Aslaug and Hertha are brought in.
Thou hast no strength,
321 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Whose
322 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: with you and
323 dragged
324 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Swegn Olafson, submit,
325 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: preference
326 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: for
327 Men worship, thine would then indeed have been
328 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are nine lines before this one:
Swegn, son of Olaf, not the noble cause
Of God or man or country. Look now on these.
I give thee the selection of their fate.
If these remain my slaves, an upstart’s, Swegn,
Who yet are Olaf’s blood and Norway’s pride,
I swear ’tis thou that mak’st them so. Now choose.
(Swegn is silent)
How sayst thou,
Swegn Olafson, shall these be Eric’s thralls?
329 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: awhile;
330 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line and next two lines there is one line:
Save, if he will, this life.
331 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: counsel
332 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Nor
333 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: it find
334 Alternative to the words starting with “Can it not find....”
Let me hear
What arguments thou hast to justify
A thing our father’s spirit cries upon.
After this, Aslaug’s speech begins with “I seek no argument....”
335 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
In all its sweet and lofty harmonies
336 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: word or argument
337 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
338 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: have
339 In 1972 ed. SABCL, volume 6, this line and next two are differ:
O my beloved, has been great to me,
Though great, was never wise! but must it ask
So huge a recompense?
340 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
341 1998 ed. this and next sentence are in reverse order
342 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thy
343 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and on my head
344 Receive my boons.
345 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, instead of this line there are four lines:
Mercy. It is received.
Let all the world hear Olaf’s son abjure
His birth and greatness. I accept – accept!
King Eric’s boons, King Eric’s mercy. O torture!
346 I have said; it is received.
347 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pangs
348 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: these
349 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: these
350 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Go, Aslaug,
351 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: heart had
352 Illegible.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: shut itself to all
353 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Remove
354 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: these
355 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: If thou hadst
356 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: No. Stay
357 Yet yield — that name I remember, speak this word. (In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: name remember).
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are two lines after this one:
I shall be faithful to my own disgrace.
O fear not, King, I can be great again.
358 In 1998 ed. this line is absent
359 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O ’tis
360 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: besides
361 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: This
362 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Yara
363 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: unharmed
364 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line after this one:
As in his dearest keeping. Take, Hertha,
365 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Trondhjem with thee and Olaf’s treasures; sit
366 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: this ring instead
367 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And
368 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Gunthar
369 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: It is Freya’s ring
370 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: she
371 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: it sits
372 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Thenceforth on
373 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pomp
374 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Think not
375 Illegible
376 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Spilling my blood and hers to give thee back thy crown,
377 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: of
378 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: pressure
379 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: it thine
380 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Deserved
381 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Now only
382 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: And now thou
383 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: seest thou
384 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: violence to
385 Illegible.
In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: is secured
386 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Even with
387 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are six lines after this one:
Eric
Swegn, I too have boons
To ask of thee.
Swegn
Let them be difficult then,
If thou wouldst have me grant them.
388 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: it
389 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Forgive then Swegn, dearest,
390 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thing is hard
391 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: He’s
392 In 1998 ed. this line and next five lines are absent — till words The gods have won
393 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: toils and
394 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: the
395 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: thinkst
396 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: all was well done
397 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4:
for then I recognise
My conqueror. O what canst thou do but well?
398 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: O
399 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: and hast made me a man
400 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: to
401 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Comes out to me. Mighty indeed is love,
402 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: sangst of, Aslaug, once, the
403 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Mightier, swifter
404 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there are five lines after this one:
Aslaug (wondering)
Only ten days ago
I came from Gothberg!
She turns with a laugh and embraces Eric.
Eric
405 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: seal
406 In 1998 ed. this line is absent. I.e. all the rest text is pronounced by Eric
407 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: Aslaug, now for us
408 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: our world, beloved,
409 In 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4, there is a line before this one:
Since once more we – who since the stars were formed
410 1998 ed. CWSA, volumes 3-4: meet