ÅSE. [_Screams_.] Have you taken his life? THE BRIDEGROOM. No, but Peer Gynt——! Look, there on the hillside——! THE CROWD. With the bride. ÅSE. [_Lets her stick sink._] Oh, the beast! THE SMITH. [_As if thunderstruck._] Where the slope rises sheerest He’s clambering upwards, by God, like a goat! THE BRIDEGROOM. [_Crying._] He’s shouldered her, mother, as I might a pig! ÅSE. [_Shaking her fist up at him._] Would God you might fall, and——! [_Screams out in terror._ Take care of your footing! THE HEGSTAD FARMER. [_Comes in, bare-headed and white with rage._] I’ll have his life for this bride-rape yet! ÅSE. Oh no, God punish me if I let you! ----- Footnotes: ----- Footnote 22: Pronounce _Yendeen_. Footnote 23: This is the poet’s own explanation of this difficult passage. “Hvirvlens vætter,” he writes, is equivalent to “Svimmelhedens ånder”—_i.e._, spirits of dizziness or vertigo. Footnote 24: See Appendix. Footnote 25: Literally “bushels.” Footnote 26: An ecclesiastical dignitary—something equivalent to a rural dean. Footnote 27: “Jon med Skjæppen”—literally, “John with the Bushel”—a nickname given him in his days of prosperity, in allusion to his supposed bushels of money. Footnote 28: Pronounce _Maass-Moo-en_. Footnote 29: It is believed in some parts of Norway that “changelings” (elf-children left in the stead of those taken away by the fairies) can, by certain spells, be made to fly away up the chimney. Footnote 30: “Sendingsfolk,” literally, “folks with presents.” When the Norwegian peasants are bidden to a wedding-feast, they bring with them presents of eatables. Footnote 31: A somewhat violent peasant dance. Footnote 32: Foss (in the North of England “force”)—a waterfall. Footnote 33: A sort of master of ceremonies. Footnote 34: To kick the rafters is considered a great feat in the Halling-dance. The boy means that, in the open air, his leaps are not limited even by the rafters. Footnote 35: A marriage party among the peasants will often last several days. Footnote 36: Literally, “thoughts.” Footnote 37: Literally, “last year.” Footnote 38: