Jeppe.  What do I owe, Jacob?

Jacob.  Twelvepence.

[Jeppe strokes his chin and goes out looking very shame-faced.

Magnus.  Why is that fellow in such a hurry?

Jacob.  It’s the very man they played the joke on.

MGNUS.  Is that possible?  I must run after him.  Listen, Jeppe!  Just a word—­How are things in the other world?

Jeppe.  Let me be.

Magnus.  Why didn’t you stay longer?

Jeppe.  What business is that of yours?

Magnus.  Come, do tell us a little about the journey.

Jeppe.  Let me be, I say, or there’ll be a calamity coming to you.

Magnus.  But, Jeppe, I am so anxious to know about it.

Jeppe.  Jacob Shoemaker, help!  Will you let this man do me violence in your house?

Magnus.  I’m not doing you any harm, Jeppe, I’m just asking you what you saw in the other world.

Jeppe.  Hey, help, help!

Magnus.  Did you see any of my forefathers there?

Jeppe.  No, your forefathers must all be in the other place, where you and all the rest of the carrion go when they die.

[Shakes himself loose and runs away.

SCENE 6, EPILOGUE

(Enter the Baron, his Secretary, Valet, and Lackeys.)

Baron.  Ha, ha, ha!  That experiment was worth money.  I never thought it would work out so well.  If you could amuse me like that more often, Eric, you would stand even better with me than you do now.

Eric.  No, my lord!  I should not dare to play that kind of comedy again.  For if he had beaten your lordship as he threatened, it would have turned into an ugly tragedy.

Baron.  That’s very true.  I was afraid of that, but I was so much engrossed in keeping up the deception that I really think I should have let myself be pummelled, or even let you be hanged, Eric, as he threatened, rather than give it away.  Didn’t you feel the same?

Eric.  No, indeed, my lord!  It would be an odd sensation, to let yourself be hanged for fun; that sort of fun would be too expensive.

Baron.  Why, Eric, such things happen every day:  people throw away their lives for fun in one way or another.  For instance, a man has a weak nature and sees that he is ruining his life and his health by excessive drinking; yet he still keeps on maltreating his body and risks his life for an evening’s enjoyment.  Then, again:  it often happens in Turkey that grand viziers are strangled or choked to death with a cord the very day they are made viziers, or a few days after; yet every one is eager to take the office, just so that he may be hanged with a great title.  Still another instance:  officers gladly risk body and soul to get a reputation for bravery, and fight duels about anything at all