MATS. Oh, dear!
KERSTI. "Meow, said the cat."[1]
MATS. What is the matter?
KERSTI. Merely that I have got what I wanted.
MATS. And it was not worth having? [The noise made by the wheel has become, deafening, and the wheel itself has begun to turn in the opposite direction] Christ Jesus, help! The wheel is turning backward!
[He runs out through the rear door.
KERSTI remains alone.
The handloom starts. The bobbin, the reel, and the spinning-wheel begin to turn, each one in its own manner. The stage becomes brightly illumined as if with sunlight. Then the room turns very dark. The fireplace swings around so that the glare from the ventilators confronts KERSTI like three burning eyes. It looks as if the fireplace were chasing her. Then it drops back into its accustomed place. The roar of the water-wheel increases again. The NECK appears in the wheel with the red cap on his head, and the golden fiddle in his hand. Be sings and plays as before, repeating the brief tune several times.
NECK. "I am hoping, I am hoping, that my Redeemer still liveth!"
KERSTI. [Running out through the rear door] Mats, Mats!
The NECK disappears, but his song is still heard for a while, as it gradually dies away in the distance.
MIDWIFE. [Enters, opens the small trap-door in the floor, and drops her leather bag through it] "If you come back, it's all off, and if you don't, it's all on!" Now that's done! And I shall dance at the wedding!