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(From Lars)
THE FIELDS were reaped; the longer shadows thrown | |
| From high Hardanger and the eastern range | |
| Began to chill the vales: it was the time | |
| When on the meadow by the lonely lake | |
| Of Graven, from the regions round about | 5 |
| The young men met to hold their wrestling-match, | |
| As since the days of Olaf they had done. | |
| There, too, the maids came and the older folk, | |
| Delighting in the grip of strength and skill, | |
| The strain of sinew, stubbornness of joint, | 10 |
| And urge of meeting muscles. All the place | |
| Was thronged, and loud the cheers and laughter rang | |
| When some old champion from a rival vale | |
| Bent before fresher arms, and from his base | |
| Wrenched ere he knew, fell heavily to earth. | 15 |
| Until the sun across the fir-trees laid | |
| His lines of level gold, they watched the bouts; | |
| Then strayed by twos and threes toward the sound | |
| Of wassail in the houses and the booths. | |
| |
| And Brita with her Ulvik gossips went. | 20 |
| Once only, when a Lærdal giant brought | |
| Sore grief upon the men of Vik, she saw | |
| Or seemed to see, beyond the stormy ring, | |
| The shape of Lars; but, scarce disquieted | |
| If it were he, or if the twain were there, | 25 |
| (Since blood, she thought, must surely cool in time,) | |
| She followed to the house upon the knoll | |
| Where ever came and went, like bees about | |
| Their hive’s low doorway, groups of merry folk. | |
| A mellow dusk already filled the room; | 30 |
| The chairs were pushed aside, and on the stove, | |
| As on a throne of painted clay, sat Nils. | |
| Behold! Lars waited there; and as she reached | |
| The inner circle round the dancing-floor | |
| He moved to meet her, and began to say | 35 |
| “Thanks for the last”—when from the other side | |
Strode Per.
The two before her, face to face, | |
| Stared at each other: Brita looked at them. | |
| All three were pale; and she, with faintest voice, | |
| Remembering counsel of the tongues unkind, | 40 |
| Could only breathe: “I know not how to choose.” | |
| “No need!” said Lars: “I choose for you,” said Per. | |
| Then both drew off and threw aside their coats, | |
| Their broidered waistcoats, and the silken scarves, | |
| About their necks; but Per growled “All!” and made | 45 |
| His body bare to where the leathern belt | |
| Is clasped between the breast-bone and the hip. | |
| Lars did the same; then, setting tight the belts, | |
| Both turned a little: the low daylight clad | |
| Their forms with awful fairness, beauty now | 50 |
| Of life, so warm and ripe and glorious, yet | |
| So near the beauty terrible of Death. | |
| All saw the mutual sign, and understood; | |
| And two stepped forth, two men with grizzled hair | |
| And earnest faces, grasped the hooks of steel | 55 |
| In either’s belt, and drew them breast to breast, | |
| And in the belts made fast each other’s hooks. | |
| An utter stillness on the people fell | |
| While this was done; each face was stern and strange, | |
| And Brita, powerless to turn her eyes, | 60 |
| Heard herself cry, and started: “Per, O Per!” | |
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| When those two backward stepped, all saw the flash | |
| Of knives, the lift of arms, the instant clench | |
| Of hands that held and hands that strove to strike: | |
| All heard the sound of quick and hard-drawn breath, | 65 |
| And naught beside; but sudden red appeared, | |
| Splashed on the white of shoulders and of arms. | |
| Then, thighs intwined, and all the body’s force | |
| Called to the mixed resistance and assault, | |
| They reeled and swayed, let go the guarding clutch, | 70 |
| And struck out madly. Per drew back, and aimed | |
| A deadly blow, but Lars embraced him close, | |
| Reached o’er his shoulder and from underneath | |
| Thrust upward, while upon his ribs the knife, | |
| Glancing, transfixed the arm. A gasp was heard: | 75 |
| The struggling limbs relaxed; and both, still bound | |
| Together, fell upon the bloody floor. | |
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| Some forward sprang, and loosed, and lifted them | |
| A little; but the head of Per hung back, | |
| With lips apart and dim blue eyes unshut, | 80 |
| And all the passion and the pain were gone | |
| Forever. “Dead!” a voice exclaimed; then she, | |
| Like one who stands in darkness, till a blaze | |
| Of blinding lightning paints the whole broad world, | |
| Saw, burst her stony trance, and with a cry | 85 |
| Of love and grief and horror, threw herself | |
| Upon his breast, and kissed his passive mouth, | |
| And loud lamented: “O, too late I know | |
| I love thee best, my Per, my sweetheart Per! | |
| Thy will was strong, thy ways were masterful; | 90 |
| I did not guess that love might so command! | |
| Thou wert my ruler: I resisted thee, | |
| But blindly: O, come back!—I will obey.” | |
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