Three Comedies. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
Brude-Slaatten, 1873; translated as The Bridal March, by R. B. Anderson, 1882; by J. E. Williams, 1893. Fortaellinger (Tales), 1872. Magnhild, 1877; translated by R. B. Anderson, 1883. Kaptejn Mansana, 1879; translated as Captain Mansana by R. B. Anderson, 1882. Det flager i Byen og paa Havnen (Flags are Flying in Town and Port), 1884; translated as The Heritage of the Kurts, by C Fairfax 1892. Paa Guds Veje, 1889; translated as In God's Way, by E. Carmichael, 1890. Nye Fortaellinger (New Tales), 1894; To Fortaelinger (Two Tales), 1901; Mary, 1906. Collected edition of the Novels, translated into English, edited by E. Gosse, 13 vols., 1895-1909.
[See Life of Björnson by W. M. Payne, 1910; E. Gosse's Study of the Writings of Björnson, in edition of Novels, 1895; H. H. Boyesen's Essays on Scandinavian Literature, 1895; G. Brandes' Critical Studies of Ibsen and Björnson, 1899.]
THE NEWLY-MARRIED COUPLE
The FATHER. The MOTHER. LAURA, their daughter. AXEL, her husband. MATHILDE, her friend.
ACT I
(SCENE.—A handsomely furnished, carpeted room, with a door at the back leading to a lobby. The FATHER is sitting on a couch on the left-hand side, in the foreground, reading a newspaper. Other papers are lying on a small table in front of him. AXEL is on another couch drawn up in a similar position on the right-hand side. A newspaper, which he is not reading, is lying on his knee. The MOTHER is sitting, sewing, in an easy-chair drawn up beside a table in the middle of the room.)
[LAURA enters.]
Laura. Good morning, mother! (Kisses her.)
Mother. Good morning, dear. Have you slept well?
Laura. Very well, thanks. Good morning, dad! (Kisses him.)
Father. Good morning, little one, good morning. Happy and in good spirits?
Laura. Very. (Passes in front of AXEL.) Good morning, Axel! (Sits down at the table, opposite her mother.)
Axel. Good morning.
Mother. I am very sorry to say, my child, that I must give up going to the ball with you to-night. It is such a long way to go, in this cold spring weather.
Father (without looking up from his paper). Your mother is not well. She was coughing in the night.
Laura. Coughing again?
Father. Twice. (The MOTHER coughs, and he looks up.) There, do you hear that? Your mother must not go out, on any account.
Laura. Then I won't go, either.
Father. That will be just as well; it is such raw weather. (To the MOTHER.) But you have no shawl on, my love; where is your shawl?
Laura. Axel, fetch mother's shawl; it is hanging in the lobby. (AXEL goes out into the lobby.)
Mother. We are not really into spring yet. I am surprised the stove is not lit in here.
Laura (to AXEL, who is arranging the shawl over the MOTHER'S shoulders). Axel, ring the bell and let us have a fire. (He does so, and gives the necessary instructions to the Servant.)
Mother. If none of us are going to the ball, we ought to send them a note. Perhaps you would see to that, Axel?
Axel. Certainly—but will it do for us to stay away from this ball?
Laura. Surely you heard father say that mother has been coughing in the night.
Axel. Yes, I heard; but the ball is being given by the only friend I have in these parts, in your honour and mine. We are the reason of the whole entertainment—surely we cannot stay away from it?
Laura. But it wouldn't be any pleasure to us to go without mother.
Axel. One often has to do what is not any pleasure.
Laura. When it is a matter of duty, certainly. But our first duty is to mother, and we cannot possibly leave her alone at home when she is ill.
Axel. I had no idea she was ill.
Father (as he reads). She coughed twice in the night. She coughed only a moment ago.
Mother. Axel means that a cough or two isn't illness, and he is quite right.
Father (still reading). A cough may be a sign of something very serious. (Clears his throat.) The chest—or the lungs. (Clears his throat again.) I don't think I feel quite the thing myself, either.
Laura. Daddy dear, you are too lightly clothed.
Mother. You dress as if it were summer—and it certainly isn't that.
Father. The fire will burn up directly. (Clears his throat again.) No, not quite the thing at all.
Laura. Axel! (He goes up to her.) You might read the paper to us till breakfast is ready.
Axel. Certainly. But first of all I want to know if we really are not to go to the ball?
Laura. You can go, if you like, and take our excuses.
Mother. That wouldn't do. Remember you are married now.
Axel. That is exactly why it seems to me that Laura cannot stay at home. The fact that she is my wife ought to have most weight with her now; and this ball is being given for us two, who have nothing the matter with us, besides being mainly a dance for young people—
Mother. And not for old folk.
Laura. Thank you; mother has taken to dancing again since I have grown up. I have never been to a ball without mother's leading off the dances.
Mother. Axel apparently thinks it would have been much better if I had not done so.
Father (as he reads). Mother dances most elegantly.
Axel. Surely I should know that, seeing how often I have had the honour of leading off with mother. But on this occasion forty or fifty people have been invited, a lot of trouble and expense incurred and a lot of pleasure arranged, solely for our sakes. It would be simply wicked to disappoint them.
Father (still reading). We can give a ball for them, in return.
Mother. All the more as we owe heaps of people an invitation.
Laura. Yes, that will be better; we have more room here, too. (A pause.)
Axel (leaning over LAURA'S chair). Think of your new ball dress—my first present to you. Won't that tempt you? Blue muslin, with silver stars all over it? Shall they not shine for the first time to-night?
Laura (smiling). No, there would be no shine in the stars if mother were not at the dance.
Axel. Very well—I will send our excuses. (Turns to go out.)
Father (still reading). Perhaps it will be better for me to write. (AXEL stops.)
Mother. Yes, you will do it best.
[MATHILDE comes in, followed by a Servant, who throws the doors open.]
Mathilde. Breakfast is ready.
Father (taking his wife's arm). Keep your shawl on, my dear; it is cold in the hall. (They go out.)
Axel (as he offers LAURA his arm and leads her towards the door). Let me have a word with you, before we follow them!
Laura. But it is breakfast time.
Axel (to MATHILDE, who is standing behind them waiting). Do you mind going on? (MATHILDE goes out, followed by the Servant. AXEL turns to LAURA.) Will nothing move you? Go with me to this dance!
Laura. I thought that was what you were going to say.
Axel. For my sake!
Laura. But you saw for yourself that mother and father do not wish it?
Axel. I wish it.
Laura. When mother and father do not?
Axel. Then I suppose you are their daughter in the first place, and my wife only in the second?
Laura (with a laugh). Well, that is only natural.
Axel. No, it is not natural; because two days ago you promised to forsake your father and your mother and follow me.
Laura