FATHER. Hush, hush, grandfather is thinking. [Silence.
ANNA. [To BRITA] I'll give you some of my hair.
BRITA. Not the right colour.
ANNA. Who's got it? [BRITA does not answer] Is it Kersti you mean?
BRITA. Don't mention her. [Silence.
GRANDMOTHER. [To GRANDFATHER] Have you thought it out?
GRANDFATHER. [Who has been sitting with the Bible and the hymn-book in his lap, lost in thought, wakes up] I have! [He opens the hymn-book at haphazard and says to the others] It is No. 278, the fourth verse: "All at birth and death." Let us have it!
ALL. [Read in unison like children at school]
"All at birth and death are equals,
As the graveyard bones proclaim,
Poor and rich and low and mighty
In the end appear the same;
And the naked new-born baby
Brings no evidence to prove
Whether poverty or fortune
Will attend its fated groove."
GRANDFATHER. It is settled! "He that hath an ear, let him hear."—Is it settled?