oneself. _Oneself_--! If one could really do that, how easy it
would be to evade one's worst faults! I'll try it. [Opens door left
and places himself behind it.]

[Pehr's shadow steps up into the pulpit, drinks from the goblet,
and turns hour-glass. Pehr stands at door with back to spectators.]

SHADOW. My beloved hearers! [Pall, Broom, Bartholomew and Laurence
stir.] My beloved hearers and you, Pehr, who stand behind the door,
my sermon will not be long since the hour is already late and it is
especially to this so-called _Lucky Pehr_ that I would address a
few remarks. Yes, you, Pehr--you have rushed through life like a
fool, in pursuit of fortune; all your wishes have been fulfilled--
save one and they have brought you no happiness. Pay attention, you
who stand behind the door! You have made no leap through life, for
on that track one runs well. All the experiences through which you
think you have passed were but dreams; for, believe me, one wins no
wishes with luck-rings out here in Reality; here one gains nothing
without labor. Do you know what labor is?--No! It is something very
heavy; but it must be heavy the sweeter the repose--Labor, Pehr,
and be honest, but don't become a saint, for then you would be
vain, and it is not our virtues but our faults that make us human.
Listen well, you who stand behind the door--Life is not such as you
saw it in your youthful dreams. It is a desert, that is true; but a
desert which has its flowers; it is a stormy sea, but one that has
its ports by verdant isles. Heed, Pehr! If you want to go forth
into life now, then do it in earnest. But you will never be a
_real_ man without a woman--Find her! And now, pay close attention,
Pehr, for I shall leave the word to Saint Laurence after dismissing
you with the sage's eternally young and eternally old exhortation--