)
INGOLF. What are you going to do now?
HADDA PADDA (having finished tying the knot, holds the rope out to
them). Will you hold the rope while I go down?
INGOLF. No, I won't.
STEINDOR. I won't either.
HADDA PADDA (bites her lips, stares at the men). Go on home!
(Starts to wind up the rope.) I don't need you. You think I can't
do without you? You think the mountain hasn't stones heavy enough
to keep me up? (Runs away, and disappears toward the mountain.)
INGOLF. I don't remember exactly--it's quite impossible to enter
the gorge from below, isn't it?
STEINDOR. So far, only the birds have that privilege. It's a
headlong precipice on three sides!
INGOLF. I won't let Hrafnhild go down.
STEINDOR. She says she has gone down in the gorge before. Is that
true?
INGOLF (nods reluctantly). Yes.
STEINDOR. When was that?
INGOLF. Last summer.
STEINDOR. Did you hold the rope?
INGOLF. I did.
STEINDOR. Well, then I don't know what you are afraid of.
INGOLF. It seems strange that Hrafnhild should come up here.
STEINDOR. She came with the spade.
INGOLF. It seems strange we didn't find the pearls, if they were
in the gorge.
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