SCENE 5
(Enter Jeronimus, Magdelone, and Lisbed.)
JERONIMUS. Good morning, kinsman! Have you any news from your son?
JEPPE. Yes; he is coming to-day or to-morrow.
LISBED. Oh, is it possible? Then my dream has come true.
JERONIMUS. What did you dream?
LISBED. I dreamed that I slept with him last night.
MAGEDELONE. There is something in dreams, I tell you. Dreams are not to be despised.
JERONIMUS. That's true enough, but if you girls didn't think so much about the menfolk in the daytime, you wouldn't have so many dreams about them at night. I suppose you used to dream just as much about me in the days when we were engaged, Magdelone?
MAGEDELONE. I did, indeed, but upon my word I haven't dreamed about you for some years now.
JERONIMUS. That's because your love isn't as hot now as it used to be.
LISBED. But is it possible that Rasmus Berg is coming home to-morrow?
JERONIMUS. Come, daughter, you shouldn't show that you are so much in love.
LISBED. Oh, but is it sure that he is coming home to-morrow?
JERONIMUS. Yes, yes; you hear, don't you, that's when he is coming?
LISBED. How long is it till to-morrow, father dear?
JERONIMUS. What confounded nonsense! These people in love act as if they were crazy.
LISBED. I tell you, I shall count every hour.
JERONIMUS. You should ask how long an hour is, so that people would think that you were completely mad. Stop this twaddle and let us elders talk together.—Listen, my dear Jeppe Berg! Do you think it is wise for these two young people to marry before he gets a position?
JEPPE. That is as you think best. I can support them well enough, but it would be better that he should get a position first.
JERONIMUS. I don't think it would be wise for them to marry until then. (Lisbed weeps and wails.) Fie, shame on you! It's a disgrace for a girl to carry on so!
LISBED (sobbing). Can't he get a position soon, then?
JEPPE. There's no doubt about it; he'll get a position soon enough, for from what I hear he is so learned he can read any book there is. He wrote me a Latin letter just lately.
NILLE. And, marry, it's one that can stand alone, as the deacon can tell you.
LISBED. Was it so well written?
PEER. Yes, well written for one so young. He may amount to something, Mamsell! But there's a lot left to learn. I thought I was learned, myself, at his age, but—
JEPPE. Yes, you learned folk never praise one another—
PEER. Nonsense! Do you think I am jealous of him? Before he was born I had been up for a flogging before the school three times, and when he was in the fourth form I had been eight years a deacon.
JEPPE. One man may have a better head than another; one may learn as much in a year as others in ten.
PEER. For that matter, the deacon dares set his head against any one's.
JERONIMUS. Yes, yes, you may both be right. Let us go home, children. Good-bye, Jeppe! I happened to be passing, and I thought I might as well talk to you on the way.
LISBED. Be sure to let me know as soon as he comes!
[Exeunt Jeronimus, Magdelone, and Lisbed.