nds, and has lived in the king's household. His attitude
towards the two sisters was changed, to bring it into accordance
with the change in time and circumstances; but the position of
both sisters to him remained practically the same as that in the
projected and afterwards completed tragedy. The fateful banquet,
the presentation of which had seemed to me of the first importance
in my original plan, became in the drama the scene upon which its
personages made their appearance; it became the background against
which the action stood out, and communicated to the picture as a
whole the general tone at which I aimed. The ending of the play
was, undoubtedly, softened and subdued into harmony with its
character as drama, not tragedy; but orthodox aestheticians may
still, perhaps, find it indisputable whether, in this ending, a
touch of pure tragedy has not been left behind, to testify to the
origin of the drama.

Upon this subject, however, I shall not enter at present. My
object has simply been to maintain and prove that the play under
consideration, like all my other dramatic works, is an inevitable
outcome of the tenor of my life at a certain period. It had its
origin within, and was not the result of any outward impression
or influence.

This, and no other, is the true account of the genesis of _The
Feast at Solhoug_.

Henrik Ibsen.
Rome, April, 1883.

*Heinrich von Kleist, Henrik Hertz, Henrik Ibsen.

THE FEAST AT SOLHOUG

CHARACTERS

BENGT GAUTESON, Master of Solhoug.
MARGIT, his wife.
SIGNE, her sister.
GUDMUND ALFSON, their kinsman.
KNUT GESLING, the King's sheriff.
ERIK OF HEGGE, his friend.
A HOUSE-CARL.
ANOTHER HOUSE-CARL.
THE KING'S ENVOY.
AN OLD MAN.
A MAIDEN.
GUESTS, both MEN and LADIES.
MEN of KNUT GESLING'S TRAIN.
SERVING-MEN and MAIDENS at SOLHOUG.

The action passes at Solhoug in the Fourteenth Century.

PRONUNCIATION OF NAMES: Gudmund=Goodmund. The g in "Margit"
and in "Gesling" is hard, as in "go," or in "Gesling," it may
be pronounced as y--"Yesling." The first o in Solhoug ought
to have the sound of a very long "oo."

Transcriber's notes:

--Signe and Hegge have umlauts above the e's, the
ultimate e only in Hegge.
--Passages that are in lyric form are not indented
and have the directorial comments to the right of
the character's name.

THE FEAST AT SOLHOUG

PLAY IN THREE ACTS

ACT FIRST