MONS. No, that's just what they should not do, because when the King asks whom they are mourning—well, what are you to answer, Barbro?
BARBRO. "We mourn our beloved teacher, Pastor John at Svärdsjö."
MONS. And what are you to say, if the King asks you why?
BARBRO. "Because he was an early friend of King Gustavus and saved his precious life for our country."
MONS. What year was that?
BARBRO. "The very year when Christian the Tyrant cut the head off the Swedish nobility."[2]
MONS. That's right, children. And over there you see the picture of Master John when he is holding the towel for the outlaw who has been threshing in the barn. [To his WIFE] On the other hand, it is not necessary to tell the children that the King took his friend's head two years ago.
WIFE. Have you really that much sense left?—Do you think the King likes any reminder of a deed that has brought him so little honour?
MONS. Let him like it or dislike it, he'll have to swallow it. It was an ugly deed, and Master John was a saint and a martyr, who died for his faith—the faith of his childhood, which he would not forswear.
BARBRO. [Standing by the armchair at the end of the table] Is the King to sit here?