Darkness spreads o'er many a woe,
Sore hearts, broken pledges.
Meadows green laid waste I saw,
Scythe of sand the field did mow,
Death calls from the glacier's cruel ledges.
Are you asleep? (She rises slowly, lays the child on the skin, and covers her up, then sits down to her work.)
Enter Kari, his hair wet from the bath.
Kari. Do you know what I have a mind to do?
Halla. You must not speak too loud. Tota is asleep. (Kari goes to the left.) Where are you going?
Kari. I'll be right back. (Disappears down the gorge. A moment later he comes into view again.) Some day when I feel good and strong I have a mind to try to swim against the current all the way into the inner ravine. From here I should look like a dwarf down there.