Part 8 (1/2)

=Second Lawyer=--Nego majorem, qvod scilicit irruperit.

=First Lawyer=--Res manifesta est, tot legitimis testibus exstantibus, ac confitenti reo.

=Second Lawyer=--Quic.u.mque vi vel metu coactus fuerit confiteri--

=First Lawyer=--But where is that vis? Where is that metus? That is but chicanery.

=Second Lawyer=--No, you are using chicane.

=First Lawyer=--No honest man shall accuse me of such a thing.

(The lawyers grapple, and Jeppe runs over and pulls the wig off the first lawyer and strikes him on the head with it.)

=Judge=--Order in the courtroom! Stop, I have heard enough! (Reads his verdict:) Whereas Jeppe on the Hill, son of Niels on the Hill, and grandson of Jeppe from the same place, is proved by legal witnesses as well as by his own confession to have surrept.i.tiously entered the Baron's castle, put on his clothes, and maltreated his servants, he is condemned to die by poison, and when he is dead his body shall be hanged on the gallows.

=Jeppe=--Ah! Ah! Gracious judge! Is there no pardon?

=Judge=--None. The sentence shall be executed immediately in my presence.

=Jeppe=--Ah! Won't you give me a gla.s.s of whiskey before I drink the poison so that I can die like a soldier?

=Judge=--Yes, that is permitted.

=Jeppe= (drinks three gla.s.ses of whiskey, falls on his knees and asks:)--Is there then no pardon?

=Judge=--No, Jeppe! It is too late now.

=Jeppe=--Ah! But it isn't too late! The judge can surely change the sentence, and say that it was all wrong the first time. Why, that happens often, for we are all human.

=Judge=--No, you shall feel yourself in a few minutes that it is too late; for you have already taken the poison in the whiskey.

=Jeppe=--Ah, poor me! Have I already taken the poison? Ah, goodbye, Nille!

Still, you fiend, you don't deserve to have me bid you farewell; goodbye Jens, Niels and Christoffer! Goodbye, my daughter Martha; goodbye, the apple of my eye! You have your father's face; we look as much alike as two drops of water. Goodbye, my dappled horse, and thanks for every time I have ridden on you; next to my own children I have loved no beast as much as you. Goodbye, Fairfax! My faithful dog and watch; goodbye Mo'ns, my black cat! Goodbye, my oxen, my sheep, my hogs, and thanks for good company and for every day I have known you. Goodbye--Ah! Now I can say nothing more, I am so weak and helpless.

(Falls over and remains lying.)

=Judge=--It works well; the drugged liquor has already done its work; he sleeps like a stone. Now hang him up; but see to it that he receives no injury from it, and that the rope comes only under his arms. Now we shall see how he acts when he awakes and finds himself hanging aloft.

ACT V.

Scene 1.

Nille. Jeppe. Judge.

(Jeppe is represented hanging on a gallows.)

=Nille= (tears her hair, beats her breast, and cries)--Oh! Oh! Is it possible that I shall see my husband hanging on a gallows! Ah, my dearest husband! Forgive me if I have ever done anything to harm you.

Oh, oh! Now my conscience awakes; now I am sorry, but too late, that I have treated you so mean; now I begin to miss you, now I can see what an excellent husband I have lost! Oh! Oh, if I could only bring you back from death, even at the cost of my own life and blood.