"But if she will not?"
"Will not? I will teach her to will, I. And if she will not by fair means, then she shall by foul. I tolerate no disobedience, not I; and this I mean to teach in the most serious manner; and if she does not wish to experience this, why then I advise her to rise at six o'clock, boil my coffee, and bring it me up to bed."
"Nay, never did I hear anything like this! You are the sole—God have mercy on the wives of this abominable country!"
"And a good dinner," continued Harald, "shall she set before me every day at noon, or—I shall not be in the best temper! And she must not come with her 'Fattig Leilighed'[7] more than once a fortnight; and then I demand that it shall be made right savoury."
"If you will have good eating, then you must make good provision for the housekeeping," said Susanna.
"That I shall not trouble myself about; that my wife must care for. She shall provide stores for housekeeping how she can."
"I hope, then," said Susanna, "you will never have a wife, except she be a regular Xantippe."
"For that we know a remedy; and therefore, to begin with, every evening she shall pull off my boots. All that is necessary is, for a man to begin in time to maintain his authority; for the women are by nature excessively fond of ruling."
"And that because the men are tyrants," said Susanna.
"And besides," continued Harald, "so horribly petty-minded."