HALLGERD
Nay, nay. Get thou, my Gunnar, to the loft,
Stand at the casement, watch them how they come.
Arrows maybe could drop on them from there.
RANNVEIG
'Tis good: the woman's cunning for once is faithful.
GUNNAR (turning again to the weapons)
'Tis good, for now I hear a foot that stumbles
Along the stable-roof against the hall.
My bow—where is my bow? Here with its arrows….
Go in again, you women on the dais,
And listen at the casement of the bower
For men who cross the yard, and for their words.
ASTRID
O Gunnar, we shall serve you.
(ASTRID, ODDNY, and STEINVOR go out by the dais door.)
RANNVEIG
Hallgerd, come;
We must shut fast the door, bar the great door,
Or they'll be in on us and murder him.
HALLGERD
Not I: I'd rather set the door wide open
And watch my Gunnar kindling at the peril,
Keeping them back—shaming men for ever
Who could not enter at a gaping door.
RANNVEIG
Bar the great door, I say, or I will bar it—
Door of the house you rule…. Son, son, command it.
GUNNAR (as he ascends to the loft)
O spendthrift fire, do you waft up again?
Hallgerd, what riot of ruinous chance will sate you?…
Let the door stand, my mother: it is her way.
(He looks out at the casement.)
Here's a red kirtle on the lower roof.