BARON. Take him out, then, and complete our little comedy.



ACT IV

SCENE 1


[Jeppe is lying on a dungheap in his old peasant clothes. He wakes
and calls out.]

JEPPE. Hey, Sectary, Valet, Lackeys! another glass of pork-wine! [He
looks about him, rubs his eyes as before, feels his head, and finds
his old broad-brimmed hat on it; rubs his eyes again, turns the hat
over and over, looks at his clothes, recognizes himself again, and
begins to talk.] How long was Abraham in paradise? Now, alas, I
recognize everything again--my bed, my jacket, my old cuckold-hat,
myself; this is different, Jeppe, from drinking pork-wine out of a
gilt-edged glass, and sitting at a table with lackeys and a sectary
behind my chair. Good fortune, worse luck, never lasts very long.
Oh, that I, who such a short time ago was "my lord," should now find
myself in such a miserable plight, with my fine bed turned into a
dungheap, my gold-embroidered cap changed into my old cuckold-hat,
my lackeys into pigs, and I myself from "my lord" to a wretched
peasant once more! I thought when I woke up again I should find my
fingers covered with gold rings, but, saving your presence, they're
covered with something very different. I thought I should be calling
servants to account, but now I must get my back ready for my
home-coming, when I shall have to give an account of my own doings.