SCENE TENTH.

A summer day. Far up in the North. A hut in the forest. The door, with a large wooden bar, stands open. Reindeer-horns over it. A flock of goats by the wall of the hut.

A Middle-aged Woman, fair-haired and comely, sits spinning outside in the sunshine.

The Woman.

[Glances down the path and sings.]

Maybe both the winter and spring will pass by,

And the next summer too, and the whole of the year;—

But thou wilt come one day, that know I full well;

And I will await thee, as I promised of old.[^[97]]

[Calls the goats, spins, and sings again.

God strengthen thee, whereso thou goest in the world!

God gladden thee, if at his footstool thou stand!

Here will I await thee till thou comest again;

And if thou wait up yonder, then there we’ll meet, my friend!