And one grips something else,—or else nothing at all. [_He has come near to the hut; he catches sight of it and starts._ This hut? On the heath——! Ha! [_Rubs his eyes._ It seems exactly As though I had known this same building before.— The reindeer-horns jutting above the gable!— A mermaid, shaped like a fish from the navel!— Lies! there’s no mermaid! But nails—and planks,— Bars too, to shut out hobgoblin thoughts!— SOLVEIG. [_Singing in the hut._] Now all is ready for Whitsun Eve. Dearest boy of mine, far away, Comest thou soon? Is thy burden heavy, Take time, take time;— I will await thee; I promised of old.[126] PEER. [_Rises, quiet and deadly pale._] One that’s remembered,—and one that’s forgot. One that has squandered,—and one that has saved.— Oh, earnest!—and never can the game be played o’er! Oh, dread![127]—here was my Kaiserdom! [_Hurries off-along the wood path._ SCENE SIXTH. _Night. A heath, with fir-trees. A forest fire has been raging; charred tree-trunks are seen stretching for miles. White mists here and there clinging to the earth._ _PEER GYNT comes running over the heath._ PEER. Ashes, fog-scuds, dust wind-driven,— Here’s enough for building with! Stench and rottenness within it; All a whited sepulchre. Figments, dreams, and still-born knowledge Lay the pyramid’s foundation; O’er them shall the work mount upwards, With its step on step of falsehood. Earnest shunned, repentance dreaded, Flaunt at the apex like a scutcheon, Fill the trump of judgment with their “Petrus Gyntus Cæsar fecit!” [_Listens._ What is this, like children’s weeping? Weeping, but half-way to song.— Thread-balls[128] at my feet are rolling!— [_Kicking at them._ Off with you! You block my path! THE THREAD-BALLS. [_On the ground._] We are thoughts; Thou shouldst have thought us;— Feet to run on Thou shouldst have given us! PEER. [_Going round about._] I have given life to _one_;— ’Twas a bungled, crook-legged thing! THE THREAD-BALLS. We should have soared up Like clangorous voices,—— And here we must trundle As grey-yarn thread-balls. PEER. [_Stumbling._]