Modern Icelandic Plays Part 32

They'll be here in a minute. I counted nine. You must flee at once!

There's no time to lose.

_Halla._

I won't run away from Tota.

_Kari._

We stand no chance, three against nine. You must leave her with them.

There they are! For G.o.d's sake, run!

(_Halla is on the point of running._)

_Bjrn's voice_ (_full of bitter malice_). Now catch the foxes!

_Halla (startled, stops)._

It's Bjrn! (_A terrible expression as of madness darkens her features.

She seizes Tota; her voice is harsh and unnatural._) The cub he shall not have!

_Tota (frightened and sleepy)._

Mother!

_Halla (runs sobbing to the gorge)._

Tota! Tota! Tota! (_Disappears._)

_Kari (who has remained inert and dumb with terror runs after)._

What are you doing?

(_From the gorge is heard the scream of a child, which is suddenly silenced. Halla comes up again._)

_Kari._

Halla! Halla!

_Bjrn's voice_ (_very near_). Make haste!

_Halla (shrieks to him)._

Devil!

_Enter Bjrn._

_Bjrn (grabbing Halla)._

Now I've got you!

(_Kari seizes his knife and stabs Bjrn through the heart.

Bjrn falls dead. Kari and Halla flee. Bjrn's men enter, stand as though paralyzed at the sight of the slain man.

Arnes goes slowly up to them._)

ACT IV

_A small hut in the hills. Two large stones covered with skins serve as seats. The low bedstead is also covered with skins. On the wall hang some poor, clumsy tools. In the slanting roof, a small window is darkened with snow. On the hearth, a low fire. Outside, a snowstorm. Now and then, snow comes whirling down the smoke-hole._

_Kari is pacing to and fro, beating his arms. Halla sits silent. They are both dressed in skins._

_Halla._

Are you cold?

_Kari._

I don't know. (_Halla rises and puts some f.a.ggots on the fire. Kari takes a stick from the wall; counts._) I needn't count the notches. This is the seventh day the snowstorm is raging without a break, and it is past Easter. How long do you think it can keep on?

_Halla._

It's no use asking me about it.

_Kari (replaces the stick in the wall)._

If the walls were not frozen so hard, the storm would have torn down the hut long ago.

_Halla._

It is bound to stop sometime.

_Kari._

You think so? It's four years now since that terrible summer when the sun was red and dim from morning till night. (_In secret awe._) There may come a summer when the sun does not rise at all.

_Halla._

It was the ashes that made the sun look so red that summer.

_Kari._

I could well live a whole summer without the sun, if I only had food.

(_Picks up a big knife._) This fellow has not tasted meat in a whole eternity. (_A rapturous ring comes into his voice._) I remember a ram I once killed; he was so fat he could hardly walk. (_Plants himself in front of Halla._) If he stood there now, bodily, should you have strength enough to hold his feet for me?

_Halla._