A Ballarat beyond the desert sands--
Else each will stay exactly where he stands.

FALK [sarcastically].
I grasp the case;--the due conditions fail.

SVANHILD [eagerly].
Exactly: what's the use of spreading sail
When there is not a breath of wind astir?

FALK [ironically].
Yes, what's the use of plying whip and spur
When there is not a penny of reward
For him who tears him from the festal board,
And mounts, and dashes headlong to perdition?
Such doing for the deed's sake asks a knight,
And knighthood's now an idle superstition.
That was your meaning, possibly?

SVANHILD.
Quite right.
Look at that fruit tree in the orchard close,--
No blossom on its barren branches blows.
You should have seen last year with what brave airs
It staggered underneath its world of pears.

FALK [uncertain].
No doubt, but what's the moral you impute?

SVANHILD [with finesse].