[Springs up
noticing the images of the gods on the high bench.] No, I cannot
pray before these wicked images. [She looks for another place.]
Holy St. Olof, holy--oh, I can't remember how the bishop named her!
God! God! Cast me not into purgatory for this sin! I will repeat
the whole long prayer of the monks--credo, credo--in patrem--oh, I
have forgotten that too. I shall give five tall candles for the
altar of the mother of God the next time I go to the chapel--Credo,
in patrem omnipotentem--[Kissing the crucifix eagerly.]
[A song is heard outside the hut accompanied by a lyre.]
A crusader went out to the Holy Land,
O, Christ, take the maiden's soul in hand,
And to your kingdom bring her!
I'll return, mayhap, when the spruce trees bloom.
Summers three he wanders far from thee,
Where nightingales sing their delight,
And masses he holds both day and night,
At the holy sepulchre's chapel.
I'll return, mayhap, when the spruce trees bloom.
When the palm trees bud on Jordan's strand,
Then makes he a prayer to God,
That he may return to his native land,
And press to his heart his love.
I'll return, my love, when the spruce trees bloom.
GUNLOED [At beginning of song springs up and then listens with more
and more agitation and eagerness. When the song is over she goes
toward door to bolt it, but so slowly that Gunnar is able to enter
before she slips the bolt. Gunnar is clad in the costume of a
crusader with a lyre swung across his shoulder.
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