Halla (rising). Would it make it easier for you, if I were to whine and weep like a child?
Kari. I don't know. (He is silent.) Yet you need not pity me. I am rich—I am king of the hills! The fire on my hearth never dies, day or night. The country is mine, as far as my eyes can reach. Mine are the glaciers that make the streams! When I get angry, they swell, and the stones gnash their teeth against the current. And I own a whole lake with a fleet of ice-ships and a choir of swans.
Halla. I never said that I pitied you.
Kari. But one thing you must promise me. You must not marry the bailiff.
Halla. But, dear man—
Kari. If you do, I shall come some night and kill you both, first him and then you.
Halla. Are you really jealous of the bailiff? He hates me.
Kari. Why should he be hounding me like a wild beast, if it were not for your sake? I have never done him any harm.
Halla. I promise you that I shall never marry the bailiff. (Puts her arms around his neck and tries to draw him to her.) Kiss me, Kari!
Kari (gently pushing her away). My name is not Kari. From this day on my name is Eyvind—"Eyvind of the Hills," they call me in the southland, my brother told me.