On the heights peals the thunder, and trembles the bridge,
The huntsman bounds on by the dizzying ridge. 
Undaunted he hies him
O’er ice-covered wild,
Where leaf never budded,
Nor Spring ever smiled;
And beneath him an ocean of mist, where his eye
No longer the dwellings of man can espy;
Through the parting clouds only
The earth can be seen;
Far down ’neath the vapor
The meadows of green.

[A change comes over the landscape.  A rumbling, cracking noise is heard among the mountains.  Shadows of clouds sweep across the scene.]

[RUODI, the fisherman, comes out of his cottage.  WERNI, the huntsman, descends from the rocks.  KUONI, the shepherd, enters, with a milkpail on his shoulders, followed by SEPPI, his assistant.]

RUODI.

Come, Jenni, bustle, get the boat on shore. 
The grizzly Vale-King[37] comes, the Glaciers moan,
The Mytenstein[38] is drawing on his hood,
And from the Stormcleft chilly blows the wind;
The storm will burst, before we know what’s what.

KUONI.

’Twill rain ere long; my sheep browse eagerly,
And Watcher there is scraping up the earth.

WERNI.

The fish are leaping, and the water-hen
Keeps diving up and down.  A storm is brewing.

KUONI. (to his boy).

Look, Seppi, if the beasts be all in sight.

SEPPI.

There goes brown Liesel, I can hear her bells.

KUONI.

Then all are safe; she ever ranges farthest.

RUODI.

You’ve a fine chime of bells there, master herdsman.

WERNI.

And likely cattle, too.  Are they your own?

KUONI.

I’m not so rich.  They are the noble lord’s
Of Attinghaus, and told off to my care.

RUODI.

How gracefully yon heifer bears her ribbon!

KUONI.

Ay, well she knows she’s leader of the herd,
And, take it from her, she’d refuse to feed.

RUODI.

You’re joking now.  A beast devoid of reason—­

WERNI.

Easily said.  But beasts have reason, too—­
And that we know, we chamois-hunters, well. 
They never turn to feed—­sagacious creatures! 
Till they have placed a sentinel ahead,
Who pricks his ears whenever we approach,
And gives alarm with clear and piercing pipe.

RUODI. (to the shepherd).

Are you for home?

KUONI.

The Alp is grazed quite bare.

WERNI.

A safe return, my friend!

KUONI.

The same to you! 
Men come not always back from tracks like yours.

RUODI.

But who comes here, running at topmost speed?

WERNI.

I know the man; ’tis Baumgart of Alzellen.

KONRAD BAUMGARTEN (rushing in breathless).