Here, too, I had
conquered. Tears of gratitude came into my eyes, I stretched
myself farther out on the edge to make my tears of joy fall into
the chasm, down to the very bottom.--Do you see now that I am not
going to make a sacrifice. Now tell all this to Runa, for she
should know it too.
INGOLF [very much moved, throws himself at her feet]. When you
have risen I will kiss the ground your feet have marked.
HADDA PADDA. Then I shall never rise. ... Don't lie down like
that. Get up, Ingolf, INGOLF. I will lie down and forget. Let me
dream of death for one moment.
HADDA PADDA. Death! You who are happy!
INGOLF. Death is not unhappiness.
HADDA PADDA. Come, sit down again. I will tell you what death is.
Last night I was only a hair's breadth away from it.
INGOLF [starts, terror stricken, he half arises]. What are you
saying?
HADDA PADDA. When I lay there on the edge of the gorge, looking
down, something dazzlingly white flashed before my eyes. Quite
instinctively I reached out for it. It was as if my hands
perceived what it was, before my eyes had had time to make it
elear to me. It was the string of pearls which bad loosened from
my hair.
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