I regret nothing. And as far as the child is
concerned you had better hold your tongue!
ORM. Hear you, Thorfinn--have you ever thought about what your life
has been?
THORFINN. Thinking is for old women--doing has been my life.
ORM. What do you intend to do now?
THORFINN. What do I intend to do now?
ORM. Yes.
THORFINN [Shaken, is silent.]
ORM. You see how even a little thought struck you--think then if a
big thought should come. Why don't you dare to look back? Because
you are afraid of the sights you would see.
THORFINN. Let the past remain buried.
ORM. No, I shall tear the corpses from their graves and they shall
stare at you with their empty orbits until you quake with anguish
and fear--and you shall see that with all your strength you were
not a man.
THORFINN. What are you saying, madman?
ORM. Yes, shout--you are still a boy. Yes, you--I have seen big,
tall children with bushy beards and gray hairs and crooked backs as
well.
THORFINN. Hold your tongue, Orm.
ORM. Shout until the hut trembles--the truth you cannot shout down.
THORFINN. Silence, before I strike you!
ORM. Strike! Strike me to death--tear the tongue out of my mouth--
with copper trumpets shall the truth be blasted into your ears,
"Your life has been a lie."
THORFINN [With repressed anger and pain]. Orm, I beg of you--speak
no more.
ORM. Yes, Thorfinn, I shall speak. Feel how the earth trembles
under you. That means an earthquake! The whole earth trembles these
days, for she is about to give birth.
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