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Eric, Aslaug.
ERIC
Come hither.
ASLAUG
Thou hast sent for me ?
ERIC
Come hither.
Who art thou?
ASLAUG
What thou knowest.
ERIC
Do I know?
ASLAUG
(to herself)
Does he suspect?
(aloud)
I am a dancing-girl,
My name is Aslaug. That thou knowest.
ERIC
Where
Did Odin forge thy sweet imperious eyes,
Thy noble stature and thy lofty look?
Thou dancest, — yes; thou hast the art, and song,
The natural expression of thy soul,
Comes from thy lips, floats, hovers and returns
Like a wild bird that wings around its nest.
This art the princesses of Sweden learn
And those Norwegian girls who frame themselves
On Sweden.
Page – 488
ASLAUG
It may be my birth and past
Were nobler than my present fortunes are.
ERIC
Why cam'st thou to me?
ASLAUG
(to herself)
Does Death admonish him
Of danger ? Does he feel the impending stroke ?
Hertha could turn the question.
ERIC
Why sought'st thou out
Eric of Norway? Wherefore brought'st thou here
That beauty as compelling as thy song,
No man can gaze on and possess his soul?
ASLAUG
I am a dancing-girl. My song and face
Are all my stock; I have carried them for gain
To the most wealthy market.
ERIC
Is it so?¹
I buy these² from thee. Aslaug, thy body too!
ASLAUG
Release me! Wilt thou lay thy hands on death?
All Norway has not sold itself thy slave ?
ERIC
This was not spoken like a dancing-girl!
ASLAUG
(to herself)
What is this siege ? I have no dagger with me.
¹Dost thou, girl?
²I have bought them
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Will he discover me? Will he compel?
ERIC
If Norway has not sold itself my slave,
Thou hast. Remember what thou art — or claim'st to be.¹
ASLAUG
(to herself)
He is subtle, terrible. I see the thing
He drives at and admire unwillingly
The mighty tyrant.
ERIC
Better play thy part.²
If thou art really nobler than thou feign'st,
Declare it. If³ thou art a dancing-girl,
I have bought4 thee for my5 hire, thy song, thy dance,
Thy body. I shrink not from whatever way I can
Possess thee more than hesitates the sea to engulf
What it embraces.6
ASLAUG
King, thou speakest words
I scorn to answer.
ERIC
Or even to understand?
Thou art an enemy who7 in disguise
Enterest my court to know and break my plans.8
¹Thou hast. Remember what thou art — or else
Thou claim'st to be.
ASLAUG
I am caught in a snare.
²Therefore choose thy part.
³But
4I hold 5a
6Alternative to "I shrink...embraces"
Girl, I care not by what way
I shall possess thee.
7that
8 Seekest my court to spy upon my plans.
Page – 490
ASLAUG
What if I were?
ERIC
Thou hast too lightly then
Devised thy chains and long imprisonment,¹
Too thoughtlessly adventured a divine
And glorious stake, thyself.
ASLAUG
What canst thou to me ?²
I do not think I am afraid of death.
ERIC
Far be death from thee who, if heaven were just,
Wouldst walk immortal! Thou seest no greater peril ?
ASLAUG
Than death ? None that I tremble at or shun.
ERIC
Dost thou not see that thou art by thy choice
Caged with the danger of the lion's mood ?³
Dost thou not see the hunger of his eyes,
Feel on thy face the breath of his desire ?
ASLAUG
(alarmed)
I came not here to spy.
ERIC
Why cam'st thou then?
ASLAUG
To sing, to dance and earn.
¹Devised thy capture and imprisonment,
²What canst thou do?
³paw?
Page – 491
ERIC
Then richly earn.¹
Aslaug, even then² thou knowest why I looked
Upon thee, why I kept thee in my house.
Thou, thou hast given the means of my desire!³
Yet if thy form' and speech more nobly express
The truth of thee than thy vocation can,
Avow it, beg my clemency.
ASLAUG
(violently)
Thy clemency!
(controlling herself)
I am a dancing-girl. I came to earn.
ERIC
Choose yet.
ASLAUG
(after a pause)
I have not anything to choose.
ERIC
Because thou hast the hones s 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 ?
I am enamoured of thy golden hair,
Thy body like the snow, thy antelope eyes,
Thy neck that seems to know it carries heaven
Upon it easily. Thy song, thy speech,
The rhythmic motion of thy gracious limbs
Walking or dancing, and the careless pride
That undulates in every gesture and tone,
Have seized upon me smiling sweet control.
¹Then earn, Aslaug.
²Thou art no fool,
³Two cancelled lines after this:
Nor think thy feet have entered to escape
Unchained the antre of thy enemy.
Page – 492
I have not learnt to yield to any power,
But to surprise, to force and to command.
So will I hold thee. Prisoner and enemy,
Or dancing-girl and purchased chattel, choose.
Thou art perturbed? Thou findest no reply?
ASLAUG
Because I am troubled by thy violent words,
I cannot answer thee or will not yet.
(turning away)
How could he see this death ? Is he a god
And knows men's hearts ? This is a terrible
And iron pressure.
ERIC
What was thy design ?
To spy or slay? For thou art capable
Even of such daring.
ASLAUG
(to herself)
Swiftly, swiftly done,
It may be yet. To put him off an hour,
Some minutes and to strike!
ERIC
What dost thou choose ?
ASLAUG
(turning to him)
I have laughed till now. Unthinking I came here
And dallied with thy thoughts, a little amazed,
Pure 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 or¹ violence,
That they suspect all hearts, yes, every word
¹and
Page – 493
Of sheltering a kindred violence
Or subtler fraud, and they expect their fall
Sudden and savage as their rise has been.
I am a dancing-girl and nothing more.
ERIC
Thou art my dancing-girl and nothing more?
Wear then this necklace and submit thyself, —
Nor think it all thy price.
Aslaug dashes the necklace to the ground.
Thou art not subtle
ASLAUG
(agitated)
It is not thus that women's hearts are wooed.
ERIC
If 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 now
And hope to earn thy pardon with a smile ?
Art thou the dancing-girl of Norway still,
Or some disguised, high-reaching, nobler soul?
ASLAUG
{suddenly)
I am thy dancing-girl, King Eric. See
I take thy necklace.
ERIC
Take it; still be free
As thou decidest, thy price or else my gift.
No light decision I would have thee make,
But one that binds us both. I give thee time.
Ponder and let thy saner mind prevail,
Not courage most perverse, though ardent, rule.
Confess thy treason, Aslaug, trust thy King.
He goes out. Aslaug, after a silence,
takes the chain from her neck, admires
Page – 494
it and throws it on a chair
¹
ASLAUG
You are too much like drops of royal blood.
After another pause she takes it again.²
A necklace? No, a chain! Or wilt thou prove
A god's death-warrant?
(resuming the necklace on her neck)³
Hertha, Hertha, here!
(to Hertha as she enters)
O counsellor, art thou come?
HERTHA
I heard thee call.
ASLAUG
I called. Why did I call? See, Hertha, see,
How richly Norway's Eric buys his doom!
HERTHA
He gave thee this ? It is a kingdom's price.
ASLAUG
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 ?
HERTHA
Sister of Swegn,
There are new lustres in thy face and eyes.
What said he to thee ?
¹Aslaug alone, lifts the chain, admires it and throws it on a chair.
²She lifts it again.
³She puts it round her neck.
Page – 495
ASLAUG
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 ?
HERTHA
You were not used to a divided mind.
ASLAUG
Nor am I altered now, not heart-perplexed:
But these are thoughts that naturally arise.
HERTHA
He loves you then?
ASLAUG
He loves and he suspects.
HERTHA
What, Aslaug?
ASLAUG
What we are and we intend.
HERTHA
If he suspects!
ASLAUG
It cannot matter much
If we are rapid.
HERTHA
If we spoil it all!
I will not torture Swegn with useless tears,
Page – 496
Perishing vainly, I will slay and die.
He shall remember that he owes his crown
To our great sacrifice and soothe his grief,
That it was necessary, or else bear it,
A noble duty to the nobly dead.
(after a moment's reflection) .
Child, you must humour him, you must consent.
ASLAUG
To what?
HERTHA
To all.
ASLAUG
Hast thou at all perused
The infamy that thou advisest?
HERTHA
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.
ASLAUG
You know the way to bend me to your will.
HERTHA
Give freedom but no license to his love.
For when he thinks to embrace, we shall have struck.
ASLAUG
And, Hertha, if a swift and violent heart
Betrayed my will and overturned your plans ?
Is there no danger, Hertha, there ?
Page – 497
HERTHA
Till now
I feared not that from Aslaug, sister of Swegn.
But if you fear it!
ASLAUG
No, since I consent.
You shall not blame again my selfishness,
Nor my defect of love.
She goes out.
HERTHA
(alone)
Swegn then might rule!
(with a laugh)
I had almost forgotten Fate between
Smiling, alert, and the unconquered gods.
Page – 498
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