Second lawyer.  Quicunque; vi vel metu coactus fuerit confiteri—­

First lawyer.  Oh, but where is the vis?  Where is the metus?  That is a quibble.

Second lawyer.  You’re the one that quibbles.

First lawyer.  No honorable man shall accuse me of that.

(They grab each other by the throat, and Jeppe jumps behind them and pulls off the First Lawyer’s wig.)

Judge.  Respect for the law!  Stop, I have heard enough. [Reads aloud.] Inasmuch as Jeppe of the Hill, son of Niels of the Hill, grandson of Jeppe of the same, has been proved both by legal evidence and by his own confession to have introduced himself by stealth into the Baron’s castle, to have put on his clothes and maltreated his servants; he is sentenced to be put to death by poison, and when he is dead, his body to be hanged on a gallows.

Jeppe.  Oh, oh, your honor!  Have you no mercy?

Judge.  None is possible.  The sentence shall be carried out forthwith in the presence of the court.

Jeppe.  May I have a glass of brandy first, before I drink the poison, so I can die with courage?

Judge.  That is permissible.

Jeppe [drinks off three glasses of brandy, and falls on his knees]. 
Will you not have mercy?

Judge.  No, Jeppe!  It is now too late.

Jeppe.  Oh, it’s not too late.  A judge can reverse his decision and say he judged wrong the first time.  We’re all merely men, so we’re all likely to make mistakes.

Judge.  No; you yourself will feel in a few minutes that it is too late, for you have already drunk the poison in the brandy.

Jeppe.  Alas, what an unfortunate man I am!  Have I taken the poison already?  Oh, farewell, Nille!  But the beast doesn’t deserve that I should take leave of her.  Farewell, Jens, Niels, and Christoffer!  Farewell, my daughter Marthe!  Farewell, apple of my eye!  I know I am your father because you were born before that deacon came around, and you take after me so we’re like as two drops of water.  Farewell, my piebald horse, and thank you for all the times I have ridden you; next to my own children I never loved any animal as I love you.  Farewell, Feierfax, my good watchdog!  Farewell, Moens, my black cat!  Farewell, my oxen, my sheep, my pigs, and thank you for your good company and for every day I have known you!...  Farewell,...  Oh, now I can say no more, I feel so heavy and so weak. [He falls, and lies on the floor.]

Judge.  That worked well; the sleeping-potion has already taken effect, and he is sleeping like a log.  Hang him up now, but be careful not to hurt him, and see that the rope goes only under his arms.  Then we shall see what he does when he wakes up and finds himself hanging.

[They drag him out.

ACT V