The ransom of the peasants : a dramatic poem in five acts : act 3

Abstract

The Summer of the year 1428. The sun has just set behind the cottage of old Matti, which can still be seen among a few trees and appears veiled with grief which through poverty and misery has fallen upon it. No longer is the lewing of beasts to be heard in the cattle-shed. Beyond the farm-walls all is stripped bare, and bewailes the past. Between the trees in the distant fields, a plot sewn with a little barley is visible, nearly trampled down for the peasant has bad no heart for reaping. The cumin- grass still waves alone but its perfume is no longer noticeable. Of the terrace-plants all are gone except the basil which is nearly dried up with thirst. The evening breeze does not stir a leaf but, from the threshing- floor, there rises a kind of black dust to cover all. In the stillness only one sound is heard - the twittering of the bird which goes alone towards the nest-hole in the eaves and hides itself from the growing dusk.