Ha, ha—schoolboy! Learn from this not to trust a woman whom you have tricked!
[Alone, Pehr runs to window and looks out, as he draws back his head, he has the ears of an ass.]
PEHR. Curses on gold, friendship and women! Now I stand alone—poor, deserted—with a pair of long ears and without my magic ring! Had I known that life was so utterly ignoble, I should have stayed at home with the witch. Where shall I turn to now—without friends, without money, without house and home? Trouble awaits me at the door. Must I now, in all seriousness, go out in the world and work for the attainment of my every wish? If only I were not so alone! Yet, why not as well be alone, since there is no such thing as friendship, and everything is so false and empty? Damnation!
[Enter Lisa.]
LISA. Don't curse, Pehr!
PEHR. Lisa! You do not forsake me, although I forgot you in my prosperous days.
LISA. It is in our need that we find our friends.
PEHR. Friends? A curse on friendship!
LISA. Don't, Pehr! There are real friendships in life as well as false friends.
PEHR. I have now tried the good things of life, and I found only emptiness and vanity!