D Old Women Used To Govern By Fear. To Bed, To Bed, We Are All Up Too Late. Steinvor (As She Turns With Astrid And Oddny To The Dais) If Beds Are Made For Sleep We Might Sit Long. (They Go Out By The Dais Door.) Gunnar (As He Enters Hastily From The Left) Where Are Those Women? There'S Some Secret In Them: I Have Heard Such Others Crying Down To Them. Hallgerd They Turned Foul-Mouthed, They Beckoned Evil Toward Us, I Drove Them Forth A Breath Ago. Gunnar Forth? Whence? Hallgerd By The Great Door: They Cried About The Night. (Rannveig Follows Gunnar In.) Gunnar Nay, But I Entered There And Passed Them Not. Mother, Where Are The Women? Rannveig I Saw None Come. Gunnar They Have Not Come, They Have Gone. Rannveig I Crossed The Yard, Hearing A Noise, But A Big Bird Dropped Past, Beating My Eyes; And Then The Yard Was Clear. (The Deep Baying Of The Hound Is Heard Again.) Gunnar They Must Be Spies: Yonder Is News Of Them. The Wise Hound Knew Them, And Knew Them Again. (The Baying Is Succeeded By One Mid Howl.) Nay, Nay! Men Treat Thee Sorely, Samm My Fosterling: Even By Death Thou Warnest, But It Is Meant That Our Two Deaths Will Not Be Far Apart. Rannveig Think You That Men Are Yonder? Gunnar Men Are Yonder. Rannveig My Son, My Son, Get On The Rattling War-Woof, The Old Grey Shift Of Odin, The Hide Of Steel. Handle The Snake With Edges, The Fang Of The Rings. Gunnar (Going To The Weapons By The High-Seat) There Are Not Enough Moments To Get Under That Heavy Fleece: An Iron Hat Must Serve. Hallgerd O Brave! O Brave!, He'll Dare Them With No Shield. Gunnar (Lifting Down The Great Bill) Let Me But Reach This Haft, I Shall Get Hold Of Steel Enough To Fence Me All About. (He Shakes The Bill Above His Head: A Deep Resonant Humming Follows. The Dais Door Is Thrown Open, And Oddny, Astrid, And Steinvor Stream Through In Their Night-Clothes.) Steinvor The Bill! Oddny The Bill Is Singing! Astrid The Bill Sings! Gunnar (Shaking The Bill Again) Ay, Brain-Biter, Waken.... Awake And Whisper Out Of The Throat Of Dread Thy One Brief Burden. Blind Art Thou, And Thy Kiss Will Do No Choosing: Worn Art Thou To A Hair'S Grey Edge, A Nothing That Slips Through All It Finds, Seeking More Nothing. There Is A Time, Brain-Biter, A Time That Comes When There Shall Be Much Quietness For Thee: Men Will Be Still About Thee. I Shall Know. It Is Not Yet: The Wind Shall Hiss At Thee First. Ahui! Leap Up, Brain-Biter; Sing Again. Sing! Sing Thy Verse Of Anger And Feel My Hands. Rannveig Stand Thou, My Gunnar, In The Porch To Meet Them, And The Great Door Shall Keep Thy Back For Thee. Gunnar I Had A Brother There. Brother, Where Are You.... 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. (He Thrusts With The Bill Through The Casement.) A Man'S Voice (Far Off) Is Gunnar Within? Thorgrim The Easterling'S Voice (Near The Casement) Find That Out For Yourselves: I Am Only Sure His Bill Is Yet Within. (A Noise Of Falling Is Heard.) Gunnar The Easterling From Sandgil Might Be Dying, He Has Gone Down The Roof, Yet No Feet Helped Him. (A Shouting Of Many Men Is Heard: Gunnar Starts Back From The Casement As Several Arrows Fly In.) Now There Are Black Flies Biting Before A Storm. I See Men Gathering Beneath The Cart-Shed: Gizur The White And Geir The Priest Are There, And A Lean Whispering Shape That Should Be Mord. I Have A Sting For Some One, (He Looses An Arrow: A Distant Cry Follows.) Valgard'S Voice.... A Shaft Of Theirs Is Lying On The Roof; I'll Send It Back, For If It Should Take Root A Hurt From Their Own Spent And Worthless Weapon Would Put A Scorn Upon Their Tale For Ever. (He Leans Out For The Arrow.) Rannveig Do Not, My Son: Rouse Them Not Up Again When They Are Slackening In Their Attack. Hallgerd Shoot, Shoot It Out, And I'll Come Up To Mock Them. Gunnar (Loosing The Arrow) Hoia! Swerve Down Upon Them, Little Hawk. (A Shout Follows.) Now They Run All Together Round One Man: Now They Murmur.... A Voice Close In, Lift Bows Again: He Has No Shafts, For This Is One Of Ours. (Arrows Fly In At The Casement.) Gunnar Wife, Here Is Something In My Arm At Last: The Head Is Twisted, I Must Cut It Clear. (Steinvor Throws Open The Dais Door And Rushes Through With A High Shriek.) Steinvor Woman, Let Us Out, Help Us Out, The Burning Comes, They Are Calling Out For Fire. (She Shrieks Again. Oddny And Astrid, Who Have Come Behind Her, Muffle Her Head In A Kirtle And Lift Her.) Astrid (Turning As They Bear Her Out) Fire Suffuses Only Her Cloudy Brain: The Flare She Walks In Is On The Other Side Of Her Shot Eyes. We Heard A Passionate Voice, A Shrill Unwomanish Voice That Must Be Mord, With "Let Us Burn Him, Burn Him House And All." And Then A Grave And Trembling Voice Replied, "Although My Life Hung On It, It Shall Not Be." Again The Cunning Fanatic Voice Went On "I Say The House Must Burn Above His Head." And The Unlifted Voice, "Why Wilt Thou Speak Of What None Wishes: It Shall Never Be." (Astrid And Oddny Disappear With Steinvor.) Gunnar To Fight With Honest Men Is Worth Much Friendship: I'll Strive With Them Again. (He Lifts His Bow And Loosens Arrows At Intervals While Hallgerd And Rannveig Speak.) Hallgerd (In An Undertone To Rannveig, Looking Out Meanwhile To The Left) Mother, Come Here, Come Here And Hearken. Is There Not A Foot, A Stealthy Step, A Fumbling On The Latch Of The Great Door? They Come, They Come, Old Mother: Are You Not Blithe And Thirsty, Knowing They Come And Cannot Be Held Back? Watch And Be Secret, To Feel Things Pass That Cannot Be Undone. Rannveig It Is The Latch. Cry Out, Cry Out For Gunnar, And Bring Him From The Loft. Hallgerd Oh, Never: For Then They'd Swarm Upon Him From The Roof. Leave Him Up There And He Can Bay Both Armies, While The Whole Dance Goes Merrily Before Us And We Can Warm Our Hearts At Such A Flare. Rannveig (Turning Both Ways, While Hallgerd Watches Her Gleefully) Gunnar, My Son, My Son! What Shall I Do? (Ormild Enters From The Left, White And With Her Hand To Her Side, And Walking As One Sick.) Hallgerd Bah, Here'S A Bleached Assault.... Rannveig Oh, Lonesome Thing, To Be Forgot And Left In Such A Night. What Is There Now, Are Terrors Surging Still? Ormild I Know Not What Has Gone: When The Men Came I Hid In The Far Cowhouse. I Think I Swooned.... And Then I Followed The Shadow. Who Is Dead? Rannveig Go To The Bower: The Women Will Care For You. (Ormild Totters Up The Hall From Pillar To Pillar.) Astrid (Entering By The Dais Door) Now They Have Found The Weather-Ropes And Lashed Them Over The Carven Ends Of The Beams Outside: They Bear On Them, They Tighten Them With Levers, And Soon They'll Tear The High Roof Off The Hall. Gunnar Get Back And Bolt The Women Into The Bower. (Astrid Takes Ormild, Who Has Just Reached Her, And Goes Out With Her By The Dais Door, Which Closes After Them.) Hallgerd, Go In: I Shall Be Here Thereafter. Hallgerd I Will Not Stir. Your Mother Had Best Go In. Rannveig How Shall I Stir? Voices (Outside And Gathering Volume) Ai.... Ai.... Reach Harder.... Ai.... Gunnar Stand Clear, Stand Clear, It Moves. The Voices It Moves.... Ai, Ai.... (The Whole Roof Slides Down Rumblingly, Disappearing With A Crash Behind The Watt Of The House. All Is Dark Above. Fine Snow Sifts Down Now And Then To The End Of The Play.) Gunnar (Handling His Bow) The Wind Has Changed: 'Tis Coming On To Snow. The Harvesters Will Hurry In To-Morrow. (Thorbrand Thorleiksson Appears Above The Wall-Top A Little Past Gunnar, And, Reaching Noiselessly With A Sword, Cuts Gunnar'S Bowstring.) Gunnar (Dropping The Bow And Seizing His Bill) Ay, Thorbrand, Is It Thou? That'S A Rare Blade, To Shear Through Hemp And Gut.... Let Your Wife Have It For Snipping Needle-Yarn; Or Try It Again. Thorbrand (Raising His Sword) I Must Be Getting Back Ere The Snow Thickens: So Here'S My Message To The End, Or Farther. Gunnar, This Night It Is Time To Start Your Journey And Get You Out Of Iceland.... Gunnar (Thrusting At Thorbrand With The Bill) I Think It Is: So You Shall Go Before Me In The Dark. Wait For Me When You Find A Quiet Shelter. (Thorbrand Sinks Backward From The Wall And Is Heard To Fall Farther. Immediately Asbrand Thorleiksson Starts Up In His Place.) Asbrand (Striking Repeatedly With A Sword) Oh, Down, Down, Down! Gunnar (Parrying The Blows With The Bill) Ay, Asbrand, Thou As Well? Thy Brother Thorbrand Was Up Here But Now: He Has Gone Back The Other Way, Maybe, Be Hasty, Or You'll Not Come Up With Him. (He Thrusts With The Bill: Asbrand Lifts A Shield Before The Blow.) Here'S The First Shield That I Have Seen To-Night. (The Bill Pierces The Shield: Asbrand Disappears And Is Heard To Fall. Gunnar Turns From The Casement.) Hallgerd, My Harp That Had But One Long String, But One Low Song, But One Brief Wingy Flight, Is Voiceless, For My Bowstring Is Cut Off. Sever Two Locks Of Hair For My Sake Now, Spoil Those Bright Coils Of Power, Give Me Your Hair, And With My Mother Twist Those Locks Together Into A Bowstring For Me. Fierce Small Head, Thy Stinging Tresses Shall Scourge Men Forth By Me. Hallgerd Does Ought Lie On It? Gunnar Nought But My Life Lies On It; For They Will Never Dare To Close On Me If I Can Keep My Bow Bended And Singing. Hallgerd (Tossing Back Her Hair) Then Now I Call To Your Mind That Bygone Blow You Gave My Face; And Never A Whit Do I Care If You Hold Out A Long Time Or A Short. Gunnar Every Man Who Has Trod A Warship'S Deck, And Borne A Weapon Of Pride, Has A Proud Heart And Asks Not Twice For Any Little Thing. Hallgerd, I'll Ask No More From You, No More. Rannveig (Tearing Off Her Wimple) She Will Not Mar Her Honour Of Widowhood. Oh, Widows' Manes Are Priceless.... Off, Mean Wimple, I Am A Finished Widow, Why Do You Hide Me? Son, Son Who Knew My Bosom Before Hers, Look Down And Curse For An Unreverend Thing An Old Bald Woman Who Is No Use At Last. These Bleachy-Threads, These Tufts Of Death'S First Combing, And Loosening Heartstrings Twisted Up Together Would Not Make Half A Bowstring. Son, Forgive Me.... Gunnar A Grasping Woman'S Gold Upon Her Head Is Made For Hoarding, Like All Other Gold: A Spendthrift Woman'S Gold Upon Her Head Is Made For Spending On Herself. Let Be, She Goes Her Heart'S Way, And I Go To Earth. (Aunund'S Head Rises Above The Wall Near Gunnar.) What, Are You There? Aunund Yea, Gunnar, We Are Here. Gunnar (Thrusting With The Bill) Then Bide You There. (Aunund'S Head Sinks; Thorgeir'S Rises In The Same Place.) How Many Heads Have You? Thorgeir But Half As Many As The Feet We Grow On. Gunnar And I'Ve Not Yet Used Up (Thrusting Again) All My Hands. (As He Thrusts Another Man Rises A Little Farther Back, And Leaps Past Him Into The Loft. Others Follow, And Gunnar Is Soon Surrounded By Many Armed Men, So That Only The Rising And Falling Of His Bill Is Seen.) The Threshing-Floor Is Full.... Up, Up, Brain-Biter! We Work Too Late To-Night, Up, Open The Husks. Oh, Smite And Pulse On Their Anvil Heads: The Smithy Is Full, There Are Shoes To Be Made For The Hoofs Of The Steeds Of The Valkyr Girls.... First Man Hack Through The Shaft.... Second Man Receive The Blade In The Breast Of A Shield, And Wrench It Round.... Gunnar For The Hoofs Of The Steeds Of The Valkyr Girls Who Race Up The Night To Be First At Our Feast, First In The Play With Immortal Spears In Deadly Holes.... Third Man Try At His Back.... Many Voices (Shouting In Confusion) Have Him Down.... Heels On The Bill.... Ahui, Ahui.... (The Bill Does Not Rise.) Hroald (With The Breaking Voice Of A Young Man, High Over All) Father.... It Is My Blow.... It Is I Who Kill Him. (The Crowd Parts, Suddenly Silent, Showing Gunnar Fallen. Rannveig Covers Her Face With Her Hands.) Hallgerd (Laughing As She Leans Forward And Holds Her Breasts In Her Hands) O Clear Sweet Laughter Of My Heart, Flow Out! It Is So Mighty And Beautiful And Blithe To Watch A Man Dying, To Hover And Watch. Rannveig Cease: Are You Not Immortal In Shame Already? Hallgerd Heroes, What Deeds Ye Compass, What Great Deeds, - One Man Has Held Ye From An Open Door: Heroes, Heroes, Are Ye Undefeated? Gizur (An Old White-Bearded Man, To The Other Riders) We Have Laid Low To Earth A Mighty Chief: We Have Laboured Harder Than On Greater Deeds, And Maybe Won Remembrance By The Deeds Of Gunnar When No Deed Of Ours Should Live; For This Defence Of His Shall Outlast Kingdoms And Gather Him Fame Till There Are No More Men. Mord Come Down And Splinter Those Old Birds His Gods That Perch Upon The Carven High-Seat Pillars, Wreck Every Place His Shadow Fell Upon, Rive Out His Gear, Drive Off His Forfeit Beasts. Second Man It Shall Not Be. Many Men Never. Gizur We'll Never Do It: Let No Man Lift A Blade Or Finger A Clout, Is Not This Gunnar, Gunnar, Whom We Have Slain? Home, Home, Before The Dawn Shows All Our Deed. (The Riders Go Down Quickly Over The Wall-Top, And Disappear.) Hallgerd Now I Shall Close His Nostrils And His Eyes, And Thereby Take His Blood-Feud Into My Hands. Rannveig If You Do Stir I'll Choke You With Your Hair. I Will Not Let Your Murderous Mind Be Near Him When He No More Can Choose And Does Not Know. Hallgerd His Wife I Was, And Yet He Never Judged Me: He Did Not Set Your Motherhood Between Us. Let Me Alone, I Stand Here For My Sons. Rannveig The Wolf, The Carrion Bird, And The Fair Woman Hurry Upon A Corpse, As If They Think That All Is Left For Them The Grey Gods Need Not. (She Twines Her Hands In Hallgerd'S Hair And Draws Her Down To The Floor.) Oh, I Will Comb Your Hair With Bones And Thumbs, Array These Locks In My Right Widow'S Way, And Deck You Like The Bed-Mate Of The Dead. Lie Down Upon The Earth As Gunnar Lies, Or I Can Never Match Him In Your Looks And Whiten You And Make Your Heart As Cold. Hallgerd Mother, What Will You Do? Unloose Me Now, - Your Eyes Would Not Look So At Me Alone. Rannveig Be Still, My Daughter.... Hallgerd And Then? Rannveig Ah, Do Not Fear, I See A Peril Nigh And All Its Blitheness. Order Your Limbs, Stretch Out Your Length Of Beauty, Let Down Your Hands And Close Those Deepening Eyes, Or You Can Never Stiffen As You Should. A Murdered Man Should Have A Murdered Wife When All His Fate Is Treasured In Her Mouth. This Wifely Hairpin Will Be Sharp Enough. Hallgerd (Starting Up As Rannveig Half Loosens Her To Take A Hairpin From Her Own Head) She Is Mad, Mad.... Oh, The Bower Is Barred, Hallgerd, Come Out, Let Mountains Cover You. (She Rushes Out To The Left.) Rannveig (Following Her) The Night Take You Indeed.... Gizur (As He Enters From The Left) Ay, Drive Her Out; For No Man'S House Was Ever Better By Her. Rannveig Is An Old Woman'S Life Desired As Well? Gizur We Ask That You Will Grant Us Earth Hereby Of Gunnar'S Earth, For Two Men Dead To-Night To Lie Beneath A Cairn That We Shall Raise. Rannveig Only For Two? Take It: Ask More Of Me. I Wish The Measure Were For All Of You. Gizur Your Words Must Be Forgiven You, Old Mother, For None Has Had A Greater Loss Than Yours. Why Would He Set Himself Against Us All.... (He Goes Out.) Rannveig Gunnar, My Son, We Are Alone Again. (She Goes Up The Hall, Mounts To The Loft, And Stoops Beside Him.) Oh, They Have Hurt You, But That Is Forgot. Boy, It Is Bedtime; Though I Am Too Changed, And Cannot Lift You Up And Lay You In, You Shall Go Warm To Bed, I'll Put You There. There Is No Comfort In My Breast To-Night, But Close Your Eyes Beneath My Fingers' Touch, Slip Your Feet Down, And Let Me Smooth Your Hands: Then Sleep And Sleep. Ay, All The World'S Asleep. (She Rises.) You Had A Rare Toy When You Were Awake, I'll Wipe It With My Hair.... Nay, Keep It So, The Colour On It Now Has Gladdened You. It Shall Lie Near You. (She Raises The Bill: The Deep Hum Follows.) No; It Remembers Him, And Other Men Shall Fall By It Through Gunnar: The Bill, The Bill Is Singing.... The Bill Sings! (She Kisses The Weapon, Then Shakes It On High.) [Curtain]