est; since you couldn't be great, you
may as well be something else; there is so much to choose from--One may
of course be useful, and at worst one can content oneself with being
good, and when one has not been given two legs to stand on, one must be
happy anyhow and hop on one. [Broom goes bumping along and finally leans
against altar.]

PEHR. [Walks rapidly over to holy-water fount, by confessional, takes
holy-water sprinkler and sprinkles out into the church.] Away, spectres
and evil spirits! [As he lays back sprinkler a noise is heard from the
confessional.] Someone is there! Reverend Father, hear me and accept the
sighs of a broken heart!

LISA. [In assumed voice--from confessional.] Speak, my son.

PEHR. How shall I leave my dreams?

LISA. Oh, you have dreamed enough and you are no longer young. Think of
your missteps--have you not made such?

PEHR. Yes, I have pursued fortune and have sacrificed conscience and
honor in order to win fame and power. Now I cannot bear misfortune, and
hate myself!

LISA. Then you have ceased to love yourself above all else?

PEHR. Yes.--I would free myself from _self_--if I could.

LISA. Then, Pehr, you can also love another.

PEHR. Oh, yes! But where shall I seek her?

LISA. [Comes out.] Here! [They embrace.]

PEHR. Now you will not leave me again?

LISA. No, Pehr, for now I believe you love me.

PEHR. What good fairy sent you across my pathway?

LISA. Do you still believe in good fairies? Mark you, when a little baby
boy is born into the world, a little baby girl is also born somewhere;
and they seek and seek until they find each other. Sometimes they go
amiss as to the right one, then it turns out badly; sometimes they never
find each other, then there is much sorrow and affliction; but when
they find each other, then there is joy, and it is the greatest joy life
holds.

PEHR. It is Paradise Found!

[Enter sexton, with staff--The old Man in the tower.]

SEXTON. The church must be closed.

LISA. See, now he drives us from Paradise!

PEHR. That he cannot do.--We carry it with us and lay it, like the
verdant isle, out in the stormy sea.

SEXTON. [Lays down his staff.] Alongside the peaceful harbor, where the
waves break up and go to rest.

PEHR AND LISA. Father! Father! [Fairy and Elf appear, each in their
window.]

CURTAIN.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lucky Pehr, by August Strindberg

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LUCKY PE