KERSTI. Till death us do part!
MATS. Which won't be soon!
KERSTI. Oh!
Curtain.
FOURTH SCENE
The wedding. The living-room at the mill has been cleared for the occasion. The big doors in the rear stand wide open. Through the doorway is seen a large loft, where a number of tables have been spread for the impending feast, of which coffee is to form one of the principal features. The shutters covering the rectangular opening to the left of the main doorway are also open, disclosing a table with several candlesticks on it. On this table the fiddlers subsequently take up their position.
The opening to the water-wheel appears to the right of the main door. The hand-loom, the bobbin, the reel, and the spinning-wheel have disappeared.
On the floor, beneath the place reserved for the fiddlers, stands the "old men's table," with a full equipment of jugs, mugs, pipes, and playing-cards.
A number of chairs and benches occupy the middle of the floor, and on these are spread clean white sheets, pillow-cases, and towels for drying.
As the curtain rises, six servant-girls are busily grinding coffee on as many hand-mills, while from the outside are heard the ringing of church-bells and a bridal march played on violins. When the coffee is ground, the girls begin to gather up the linen and sing while they are doing so.
GIRLS. [Singing; see musical appendix, Melody No. 16]
"Dillery-deering!
Twelve in the clearing:
Twelve men glare at me,
Twelve swords flare at me.
Kine they are slaughtering;
Sheep they are quartering;
Naught but my life they're leaving:
Dillery-deering!"
The bridal procession is drawing near. The girls put the benches and chairs where they belong and go out with their burdens of linen.
The stage is left empty for a few moments, all the sounds previously heard having died out.
Then the song of the NECK is heard from the water-wheel, while he himself remains unseen.
NECK. [Singing outside] "I am hoping, I am hoping, that my Redeemer still liveth."