Jeppe. What do I owe, Jacob?
Jacob. Twelvepence.
[Jeppe strokes his chin and goes out looking very
shame-faced.
Magnus. Why is that fellow in such a hurry?
Jacob. It’s the very man they played
the joke on.
MGNUS. Is that possible? I must run after
him. Listen, Jeppe! Just a word—How
are things in the other world?
Jeppe. Let me be.
Magnus. Why didn’t you stay longer?
Jeppe. What business is that of yours?
Magnus. Come, do tell us a little about
the journey.
Jeppe. Let me be, I say, or there’ll
be a calamity coming to you.
Magnus. But, Jeppe, I am so anxious to know
about it.
Jeppe. Jacob Shoemaker, help! Will
you let this man do me violence in your house?
Magnus. I’m not doing you any harm,
Jeppe, I’m just asking you what you saw in the
other world.
Jeppe. Hey, help, help!
Magnus. Did you see any of my forefathers
there?
Jeppe. No, your forefathers must all be
in the other place, where you and all the rest of
the carrion go when they die.
[Shakes himself loose and runs away.
(Enter the Baron, his Secretary, Valet, and Lackeys.)
Baron. Ha, ha, ha! That experiment
was worth money. I never thought it would work
out so well. If you could amuse me like that more
often, Eric, you would stand even better with me than
you do now.
Eric. No, my lord! I should not dare
to play that kind of comedy again. For if he
had beaten your lordship as he threatened, it would
have turned into an ugly tragedy.
Baron. That’s very true. I was
afraid of that, but I was so much engrossed in keeping
up the deception that I really think I should have
let myself be pummelled, or even let you be hanged,
Eric, as he threatened, rather than give it away.
Didn’t you feel the same?
Eric. No, indeed, my lord! It would
be an odd sensation, to let yourself be hanged for
fun; that sort of fun would be too expensive.
Baron. Why, Eric, such things happen every
day: people throw away their lives for fun in
one way or another. For instance, a man has a
weak nature and sees that he is ruining his life and
his health by excessive drinking; yet he still keeps
on maltreating his body and risks his life for an
evening’s enjoyment. Then, again: it
often happens in Turkey that grand viziers are strangled
or choked to death with a cord the very day they are
made viziers, or a few days after; yet every one is
eager to take the office, just so that he may be hanged
with a great title. Still another instance:
officers gladly risk body and soul to get a reputation
for bravery, and fight duels about anything at all
