Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Fru Inger til Østråt (Lady Inger of Östråt)

Complete text

FRU INGER
(slår hænderne sammen).
Og I véd det! I, – I! – Men hvor har I ham da? Hvor har I ham? Hvad vil I gøre med ham? (skriger:) Dræb ham ikke, Nils Lykke! Giv mig ham igen! Dræb ham ikke for mig!

LADY INGER.
And you know it! You,--you!-- Where is he then? Where have you got him? What would you do with him? (Screams.) Do not kill him, Nils Lykke! Give him back to me! Do not kill my child!

OLAF SKAKTAVL.
Ah, jeg begynder at begribe –

OLAF SKAKTAVL.
Ah, I begin to understand----

FRU INGER.
Og denne angst –; denne kvælende rædsel –. Jeg har båret på det i mangfoldige år, – – og så skulde det briste alt tilhobe, og jeg får friste slig nød og kvide! – Herre min Gud, er dette ret af dig? Var det derfor, du gav mig ham? (hun tager sig sammen og siger med tilkæmpet fatning:) Nils Lykke, – sig mig én ting. Hvor har I ham? Hvor er han?

LADY INGER.
And this fear----this torturing dread! Through all these years it has been ever with me---- ---- and then all fails at last, and I must bear this agony!--Oh Lord my God, is it right of thee? Was it for this thou gavest him to me? (Controls herself and says with forced composure:) Nils Lykke--tell me one thing. Where have you got him? Where is he?

NILS LYKKE.
Hos sin fosterfader.

NILS LYKKE.
With his foster-father.

FRU INGER.
Endnu hos sin fosterfader. O, denne ubønhørlige mand –! Altid har han nægtet mig –. Men det må ikke længer blive således ved! Hjælp mig, Olaf Skaktavl!

LADY INGER.
Still with his foster-father. Oh, that merciless man----! For ever to deny my prayers.--But it must not go on thus! Help me, Olaf Skaktavl!

OLAF SKAKTAVL.
Jeg?

OLAF SKAKTAVL.
I?

NILS LYKKE.
Det vil ej være fornødent, såfremt I kun –

NILS LYKKE.
There will be no need, if only you----

FRU INGER.
Hør mig, herr rigsråd! Hvad I véd, det skal I vide tilbunds. Og I også, gamle trofaste ven! – Nu vel da! I minded mig før om hin usalige dag, da Knut Alfsøn blev slagen ved Oslo. I minded mig om det løfte, jeg gjorde, da jeg stod ved liget mellem Norges gæveste mænd. Jeg var knapt fuldvoksen dengang; men jeg kendte Guds kraft i mig, og jeg mente, hvad mange har ment sidenefter, at Herren selv havde sat sit mærke på mig og kåret mig til at stride forrest for land og rige. Var det hovmod? Eller var det en åbenbarelse ovenfra? Jeg er aldrig kommen tilbunds i det. Men ve hver den, som har fået en stor gerning at bære på. I syv år tør jeg sige, at jeg trolig holdt, hvad jeg havde lovet. Jeg stod sammen med mine landsmænd i trængsler og nød. Alle mine legesøstre sad som hustruer og mødre trindt om i landet. Jeg alene turde ikke høre på nogen bejler. Ikke på nogen. I véd det bedst, Olaf Skaktavl! Da så jeg første gang Sten Sture. Fagrere mand havde jeg aldrig set tilforn.

LADY INGER.
Hearken, Sir Councillor! What you know you shall know thoroughly. And you too, my old and faithful friend----! Listen then. To-night you bade me call to mind that fatal day when Knut Alfson was slain at Oslo. You bade me remember the promise I made as I stood by his corpse amid the bravest men in Norway. I was scarce full-grown then; but I felt God’s strength in me, and methought, as many have thought since, that the Lord himself had set his mark on me and chosen me to fight in the forefront for my country’s cause. Was it vanity? Or was it a calling from on high? That I have never clearly known. But woe to him that has a great mission laid upon him. For seven years I fear not to say that I kept my promise faithfully. I stood by my countrymen in all their miseries. All my playmates were now wives and mothers. I alone could give ear to no wooer--not to one. That you know best, Olaf Skaktavl! Then I saw Sten Sture for the first time. Fairer man had never met my sight.

NILS LYKKE.
Ah, det går op for mig! Sten Sture var den tid i Norge i et hemmeligt ærende. Vi Danske turde ikke vide, at han var velsindet mod eders venner.

NILS LYKKE.
Ah, now it grows clear to me! Sten Sture was then in Norway on a secret errand. We Danes were not to know that he wished your friends well.

FRU INGER.
Forklædt som en ringe svend leved han en vinter under tag med mig. Den vinter tænkte jeg mindre og mindre på rigets velfærd. – – Så fager en mand havde jeg aldrig set. Og jeg var bleven henimod de fem og tyve år – – Næste høst kom Sten Sture igen. Og da han atter drog bort, tog han med sig i al løndom et spædt barn. Det var ikke menneskenes onde tunger, som jeg frygted, men det vilde have skadet vor sag, ifald det havde rygtedes, at Sten Sture stod mig så nær. Barnet blev sat til opfostring hos Peder Kanzler. Jeg vented på bedre tider, som snart skulde komme. Aldrig kom de. Sten Sture gifted sig to år efter i Sverig, og da han døde, efterlod han sig enke –

LADY INGER.
Disguised as a mean serving-man he lived a whole winter under one roof with me. That winter I thought less and less of the country’s weal---- ----. So fair a man had I never seen, and I had lived well-nigh five-and-twenty years. Next autumn Sten Sture came once more; and when he departed again he took with him, in all secrecy, a little child. "Twas not folk’s evil tongues I feared; but our cause would have suffered had it got about the Sten Sture stood so near to me. The child was given to Peter Kanzler to rear. I waited for better times, that were soon to come. They never came. Sten Sture took a wife two years later in Sweden, and, dying, left a widow----

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