EASTER
A monologue from the
play by August
Strindberg
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Easter and Stories. Trans. Velma Swanston Howard.
Cincinnati: Stewart & Kidd Company, 1912. |
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LINDQUIST: Others have suffered to bring you happiness
-- your mother; your father; your sweetheart; your sister --
sit down, and I'll tell you a story. -- It's very short. It happened
about forty years ago. When a youth, I came to the Capitol --
alone, unknown and inexperienced -- to seek employment. I had
only one riksdaler to my name. The night was dark, and as I knew
of no cheap hotel, I questioned passers-by. None replied. When
I was in the depths, a man stepped up to me and asked why I was
weeping -- I wept, evidently. I told him my straits. He turned
out of his way, accompanied me to a hotel, and comforted me with
cheering words. As I stepped into a passage-way, the glass door
of a shop swung open; it caught my elbow--and the glass was broken.
The rowdy shopkeeper held me responsible and demanded payment,
otherwise he would call the police, he said. Imagine my distress
with a night on the street in prospect! The kind-hearted stranger,
who had witnessed the performance, took the trouble to call an
officer, and rescued me. This man was your father. Thus, everything
comes back to us -- even the good. And, for your father's sake,
I have wiped out the debt. Accept this paper and keep the check.
[Rising] As it is hard for you to say thanks, I'll go
at once as I find it rather painful to be thanked. Instead, go
immediately to your mother and relieve her anxiety.
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY AUGUST STRINDBERG |
