give you, as a help on your
journey, a gift which will be of service to you. When you have it,
you will have been given more than others, and therefore more will be
required of you at some future time.

PEHR. Let me see it!

FAIRY. This ring has the power to grant you all your wishes--to your
credit, but to no one's harm.

PEHR. That's a fine ring! But what will the old man say?

FAIRY. He is only going to meet with his just punishment--punishment for
his selfishness.

PEHR. Yes, that is just. All the same I feel sorry for him.

FAIRY. Do not grieve for him; I shall watch over his sorrow.

PEHR. Sorrow! Nothing else? Sorrow, he says, is the one pleasure in
life. Let him sit and enjoy it then. I shall probably furnish him with
opportunities.

FAIRY. And lastly, young man, will you take provisions from the Wise
Man?

PEHR. What should they be?--Good advice?

FAIRY. Yes.

PEHR. Alas, I have such quantities of that!

FAIRY. I know that, and I know its fate. Farewell then! May life so
teach you to live that when your journey is over you shall be--whether
great or obscure; successful or unsuccessful; learned or ignorant--a
man, and above all, a manly man. Farewell! [Fairy disappears in column.]

PEHR. [Alone.] Well, Pehr, you are going out into life! Others before
you have probably done likewise. But is it, then, so difficult out
there? To be sure I have stood on the church roof and watched the
throngs of people down in the street crawl around each other, going and
coming. To me they appear so quiet and orderly, and I don't see that
they trample on one another, although they are as thick as gnats.
That dogs and apprentices fight sometimes, that I have seen, but grown
folk--never! The old man and I never fight, although we pass each other
on the stairs ten times a day. True, he has beaten me, but I have never
beaten him; and other people may not be so bad either, if the truth were
told. Wasn't there a fire the other day in the house of a rich merchant
and didn't a lot of poor wretches come running from all directions, and
didn't they go up to the rich man's place and save his goods? Oh, yes, I
saw how they took silver pieces from his table and carried them far out
of the city, where they hid them behind haystacks so the silver wouldn't
be burned up. Wasn't that kind of them? We shall see, we shall see!
Meanwhile, my dear Pehr, you shall go out and have a look at the world
and make use of your gifts. [Examines