efinitely closed to foreign dramatists. That is why, two years ago,
he came to America.

K.

CHARACTERS

SKULI, the town judge.
LADY ANNA, his wife.
HRAFNHILD, called HADDA PADDA; KRISTRUN; their daughters.
LITTLE SKULI, their grandson.
RANNVEIG, Hadda Padda's nurse.
THE SHERIFF OF BREIDABOL.
LADY MARGARET, his wife.
INGOLF, law student; OLOF; their children.
STEINDOR, Olof's husband, the sheriff's secretary.
SIGGA; DODDI; MAGGA; Steindor's and Olof's children.
AN HERBORIST.
NATIVE AND FOREIGN SUMMER TOURISTS.

There is an interval of a year between Acts I and II; of a week between
Acts II and III. One night elapses between Acts III and IV.

PLACE: Iceland. TIME: Present.

HADDA PADDA

ACT I

(A luxuriously furnished drawing-room in the house of the Town Judge. On
the right, in front, a door. In the middle rear an open door draped
with rich, heavy, deep-red curtains. On the left a large window. In the
corner, between the window and the door, a grand piano, behind which
stands a palm, the leaves spreading over the piano. In front, on the
left, a divan. Alongside of it is a pedestal with a black terra cotta
statue on it.)

(Hadda Padda and Kristrun are sitting toward the front, in large deep
arm-chairs, throwing a crystal ball to each other. Near by is a small
table, covered with a piece of velvet, on which the ball had lain. Hadda
Padda is very sunburnt.)

RANNVEIG [enters from behind. She is knitting, keeping the ball of yarn
under her arm. She is dressed in an Icelandic costume]. Take care!
Don't drop the ball! [Drops a stitch, takes it up again--smiles.] Who
knows--maybe it is your life-egg, children!

KRISTRUN. Life-egg!... Is that a fairy-tale?

RANNVEIG. Haven't you ever heard it? Come, let me tell you about it.
[Takes a chair and sits down beside them.] Once upon a time there lived
two giantesses who were sisters. One day, they lured a young prince to
them. They let the prince sleep under a coverlet woven of gold, while
they themselves slept under one woven of silver. When at last the prince
pledged himself in marriage to one of them, he made them tell him how
they spent the day in the forest. They went hunting deer and birds, and
when they rested, they sat down under an oak, and threw their life-egg
to each other. If they broke it they both would die. The next day, the
prince went to the forest, and saw the si