SCENE 6


(Enter the Judge, followed by two Lawyers. He sits down. Jeppe, his
hands tied behind him, is brought to the bar. One of his captors
steps forward.)

FIRST MAN. Here is a man, your honor, whom we can swear to have seen
sneaking into the baron's house, where he posed as his lordship, put
on his clothes, and tyrannized over the servants. As this is a piece
of unheard-of impudence, we demand on behalf of his lordship that it
be punished with such severity that it shall serve as an example and
a warning to other evil-doers.

JUDGE. Is this accusation true? Speak out whatever you may have to
say in answer to it, for we do not wish to convict any one unheard.

JEPPE. Alas, what a God-forsaken man I am! What can I say? I admit I
deserve punishment, but only for the money I squandered on drink
instead of buying soap with it. I also admit that I have recently
been in the castle, but how I got there and how I got out again, I
haven't the least idea.

FIRST LAWYER. Your honor has it on his own admission: he got drunk
and in his drunkenness committed this unheard-of outrage. All that
remains is to decide whether the guilt of such a gross misdeed can
be held devoid of criminal intent because of intoxication. I argue