head, he has the ears of an ass.]

PEHR. Curses on gold, friendship and women! Now I stand alone--
poor, deserted--with a pair of long ears and without my magic ring!
Had I known that life was so utterly ignoble, I should have stayed
at home with the witch. Where shall I turn to now--without friends,
without money, without house and home? Trouble awaits me at the
door. Must I now, in all seriousness, go out in the world and work
for the attainment of my every wish? If only I were not so alone!
Yet, why not as well be alone, since there is no such thing as
friendship, and everything is so false and empty? Damnation!

[Enter Lisa.]

LISA. Don't curse, Pehr!

PEHR. Lisa! You do not forsake me, although I forgot you in my
prosperous days.

LISA. It is in our need that we find our friends.

PEHR. Friends? A curse on friendship!

LISA. Don't, Pehr! There are real friendships in life as well as
false friends.

PEHR. I have now tried the good things of life, and I found only
emptiness and vanity!

LISA. You have tried in your way--meantime you have made the first