(Jeppe comes in from the garden with his suite and a little table is spread before him.)

=Jeppe=--Ha! Ha! I see the table is already set.

=Valet=--Yes, everything is ready whenever it shall please your lordship to be seated.

(Jeppe seats himself. The others stand back of the chair and laugh at his awkwardness when he reaches his hand into the dish, hiccoughs over the table, and behaves very boorishly.)

=Valet=--Will my lord let us know what wine he wishes?

=Jeppe=--You know very well yourselves what wine I am used to drinking in the morning.

=Valet=--It is Rhenish wine which his lordship is accustomed to drink. If it is not to his lordship's taste he can have another kind.

=Jeppe=--It is pretty sour. You must put some mead in it to make it good, for I like sweet things.

=Valet=--Here is some Canary sack, if my lord wishes to taste it.

=Jeppe=--That is good wine. Let's all drink together! (Every time he drinks the trumpets blow.) Hey! Watch out, fellows! One more gla.s.s of sack! Do you understand? Where did you get that ring that you have on your finger?

=Secretary=--Your lordship gave it to me yourself.

=Jeppe=--I don't remember that. Give it back to me, I must have done that while drunk. One doesn't give such rings away. I'll have to look into this and see what other things you have received. Servants shall not have more than board and wages! I swear that I do not remember of having given you anything in particular; for why should I do it? That ring is worth over a guinea. No, no, good fellows! Not so! You must not take advantage of your master's weakness and drunkenness. When I am drunk I am as likely as not to give my very trousers away; but when I have become sober I take back my gifts again. Otherwise I should catch the mischief from my wife, Nille. Hold, what am I saying? Now I am getting into those foolish ideas again and don't remember who I am. Another gla.s.s of sack. The same toast. (Trumpets blow again.) Listen to what I say, fellows! After this, remember that when I give anything away in the evening while drunk, you must give it back to me in the morning. When servants get more money than they can spend they become proud and turn up their noses at their masters. What are your wages?

=Secretary=--My lord has always given me two hundred a year.

=Jeppe=--You shall have the devil, not two hundred after this! What do you do to earn two hundred? I myself must work like a beast and stand in the granary from morning till evening and can hardly--See, now those peasant notions are coming into my mind again! Give me another gla.s.s of wine.

(He drinks and the trumpets blow.) Two Rixdollars! Why that's simply to skin your masters. Listen! Do you know what, you fellows! When I have eaten I have a good mind to hang every other one on the estate. You must know that I am not to be trifled with in money matters.

=Valet=--We will return everything that we have received from your lordship.

=Jeppe=--Yes, yes! Your lordship! Your lordship! Compliments and words are cheap in these times. You will flatter me with "your lordship" until you get all my money and become "my lordship" in turn. The lips may say, "Your lordship," but the heart says, "You fool." You're not saying what you think, fellows! You servants are just like Abner who came and greeted Roland with, "Hail to thee, my brother!" and at the same time struck the dagger in his heart. Believe me, Jeppe is no fool.

(They all fall on their knees and sue for pardon.)

=Jeppe=--Just rise again, my lads, until I have done eating; after that I will see how matters stand, and who deserves to be hanged. Now, I will be merry.

Scene 2.

Jeppe. Valet. Overseer. Secretary.

=Jeppe=--Where is my overseer?

=Valet=--He is just outside.

=Jeppe=--Let him come in at once.

=Overseer= (enters dressed in a coat with silver b.u.t.tons and a sash about the waist)--Has my lord any commands?

=Jeppe=--None, except that you are to be hanged!

=Overseer=--I have done nothing wrong, my lord! Why should I be hanged?

=Jeppe=--Are you not the manager?

=Overseer=--Yes, I am, my lord.

=Jeppe=--And still you ask why you shall be hanged?

=Overseer=--You know I have served your lordship honestly and faithfully, and been so diligent in my duties that your lordship has praised me above your other servants.

=Jeppe=--Yes, to be sure you have taken good care of your office; one can see that from your silver b.u.t.tons,--what do you get a year?

=Overseer=--Fifty Rixdollars a year.

=Jeppe= (walks back and forth excitedly)--Half a hundred a year--yes, you shall immediately be hanged.

=Overseer=--It could hardly be less, gracious lord, for a whole year's hard work.

=Jeppe=--Just for that reason you shall be hanged, since you receive only fifty Rixdollars! You have money for a silver b.u.t.toned coat, for lace cuffs, a silk net for your hair, and still you get only fifty Rixdollars per year! Is it not plain that you steal from me, poor man, or where should it all come from?

=Overseer= (on his knees)--Ah, gracious lord, only spare me for the sake of my poor wife and little children.

=Jeppe=--Have you many children?

=Overseer=--I have seven children living, my lord!

=Jeppe=--Ha, ha, seven living children? Away, hang him, secretary!

=Secretary=--Oh, gracious lord, I am no hangman!

=Jeppe=--What you are not, you may become; you look as though you were equal to anything. When you have hanged him, I shall hang you afterwards myself.

=Overseer=--Ah, gracious lord! Is there no pardon?

=Jeppe= (walks back and forth, sits down to take a drink and rises again)--Half a hundred Rixdollars, wife and seven children. If no one else will hang you I will do it myself. I know very well what sort of fellows you are, you overseers; I know how you have treated me and other poor peasants--Ah, now those cursed peasant notions are coming into my head again. I mean to say I know the way you conduct yourselves so well that I myself could be overseer if I had to. You get the cream of the milk and the Baron gets--something else. I believe that if the world lasts much longer overseers will become n.o.blemen and n.o.blemen, overseers. When a peasant gives a little something to either you or your wives, then when you come to your master the story is: that poor man is willing and industrious enough, but various misfortunes have come on him so he cannot pay; he has a bad piece of ground, his cattle have become scabby, or something like that. With such talk the landlord must be satisfied. Believe me, my good fellows, I don't let people lead me around by the nose; since I myself am a peasant and the son of a peasant--There, now that nonsense is coming into my mind again. I said I myself am the son of a peasant, since Abraham and Eve, our first parents, were peasants.

=Secretary= (kneels before him)--Ah, gracious lord, have pity on him for his poor wife's sake, for otherwise, how will he be able to live and support wife and children?

=Jeppe=--Who says they shall live? They can be hanged, too.

=Secretary=--Ah, my lord, she is such a fine looking woman.

=Jeppe=--Well, well, perhaps you are in love with her, since you take such an interest in her. Let her come in.

Scene 3.