Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Kærlighedens komedie (Love’s Comedy)

Complete text

LIND.
Vårklokken er den; i dit unge sind
den ringer livets pindsehøjtid ind.

LIND.
It is the bluebell,--ringing in for all
Young hearts life’s joyous Whitsun festival.

FRU HALM.
Nej, den er eviggrønt, som ej står brun i
december selv, så lidt som midt i juni.

MRS. HALM.
No, ’tis an evergreen,--as fresh and gay
In desolate December as in May.

GULDSTAD.
Nej, den er islandsk mos i godvejr høstet:
den læger frøkener med ondt for brystet.

GULDSTAD.
No, Iceland moss, dry gathered,--far the best
Cure for young ladies with a wounded breast.

EN HERRE.
Den er en vild kastanje, – meget priselig
som kakkelovnsved, men frugten er uspiselig.

A GENTLEMAN.
No, the wild chestnut tree,--high repute
For household fuel, but with a bitter fruit.

SVANHILD.
Nej, en kamelia; som før konvallerne,
den er jo damers hovedpynt på ballerne.

SVANHILD.
No, a camellia; at our balls, ’tis said,
The chief adornment of a lady’s head.

FRU STRÅMAND.
Nej, den er lig en blomst, som var så net; –
bi lidt – den var nok grå – nej, violet; –
hvad hed den nu –? Lad se – den ligned dem,
som – –;
nej, det er mærkeligt, hvor jeg er glemsom.

MRS. STRAWMAN.
No, it is like a flower, O such a bright one;--
Stay now--a blue one, no, it was a white one--
What is it’s name--? Dear me--the one I met--;
Well it is singular how I forget!

STYVER.
Hvert blomsterbilled går på halte ben.
Den ligner snarere en blomsterpotte;
ad gangen har den ikkun plads for en,
men efterhånden kan den rumme otte.

STIVER.
None of these flower similitudes will run.
The flowerpot is a likelier candidate.
There’s only room in it, at once, for one;
But by progressive stages it holds eight.

STRÅMAND
(i børneflokken).
Nej, kærligheden er et pæretræ;
om våren pære-blomster-hvid, som sne;
lidt udpå året blomsterne sig arter
til fler og flere store grønne karter;
af faderstammens safter de sig nærer; –
med gudshjælp blir de allesammen pærer.

STRAWMAN
[with his little girls round him].
No, love’s a pear tree; in the spring like snow
With myriad blossoms, which in summer grow
To pearlets; in the parent’s sap each shares;--
And with God’s help they’ll all alike prove pears.

FALK.
Så mange hoveder, så mange sind!
Nej, alle famler de på gale veje.
Hver lignelse er skæv; men hør nu min; –
den kan på hver en vis De sno og dreje.
(rejser sig i talerstilling.)
Der gror en plante i det fjerne øst;
dens odelhjem er solens fætters have –

FALK.
So many heads, so many sentences!
No, you all grope and blunder off the line.
Each simile’s at fault; I’ll tell you mine;--
You’re free to turn and wrest it as you please.
[Rises as if to make a speech.]
In the remotest east there grows a plant;¹
And the sun’s cousin’s garden is its haunt--

DAMERNE.
Å, det er theen!

THE LADIES.
Ah, it’s the tea-plant!

1. In the remotest east there grows a plant. The germ of the famous tea-simile is due to Fru Collett’s romance, "The Officials Daughters" (cf. Introduction, p. ix.). But she exploits the idea only under a single and obvious aspect, viz., the comparison of the tender bloom of love with the precious firstling blade which brews the quintessential tea for the Chinese emperor’s table; what the world calls love being, like what it calls tea a coarse and flavourless after-crop. Ibsen has, it will be seen given a number of ingenious developments to the analogy. I know Fru Collett’s work only through the accounts of it given by Brandes and Jaeger.

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