Montanus.  That will never happen.  I should lower myself too much by preaching here in the country.  Besides, I am interested only in disputation.

Jacob.  I thought it was better to be able to preach.

Montanus.  Do you know what disputation really means?

Jacob.  Of course!  I dispute every day here at home with the maids, but I don’t gain anything by it.

Montanus.  Oh, we have plenty of that kind of disputation.

Jacob.  What is it, then, that Mossur disputes about?

Montanus.  I dispute about weighty and learned matters.  For example:  whether angels were created before men; whether the earth is round or oval; about the moon, sun, and stars, their size and distance from the earth; and other things of a like nature.

Jacob.  That’s not the sort of thing I dispute about, for that’s not the sort of thing that concerns me.  If only I can get the servants to work, they can say the world is eight-cornered, for all I care.

Montanus.  Oh, animal brutum!—­Listen, Jacob, do you suppose any one has let my sweetheart know that I have come home?

Jacob.  I don’t believe so.

Montanus.  Then you had better run over to Master Jeronimus’s and inform him of the event.

Jacob.  Yes, I can do that, but shall I not tell Lisbed first?

Montanus.  Lisbed?  Who is that?

Jacob.  Don’t you know, brother, that your betrothed’s name is
Lisbed?

Montanus.  Have you forgotten all I have just taught you, you rascal?

Jacob.  You may call me “rascal” as much as you like, but I’m your brother just the same.

Montanus.  If you don’t shut up, I’ll profecto hit you over the head with this book.

Jacob.  It wouldn’t be proper to throw the Bible at people.

Montanus.  This is no Bible.

Jacob.  Marry, I know a Bible when I see one.  That book is big enough to be the Bible.  I can see that it’s not a Gospel Book, nor a Catechism.  But whatever it is, it’s a bad thing to throw books at your brother.

Montanus.  Shut up, rascal!

Jacob.  I may be a rascal, but I earn with my hands the money for my parents that you spend.

Montanus.  If you don’t shut up, I’ll maim you. (Throws the book at him.)

Jacob.  Ow, ow, ow!

SCENE 3

(Enter Jeppe and Nille.)

Jeppe.  What is all this noise?

Jacob.  Oh, my brother Rasmus is beating me.

Nille.  What does this mean?  He wouldn’t hit you without good reason.

Montanus.  No, mother, that is so.  He comes here and bandies words with me as though he were my equal.

Nille.  What a devil’s own rogue!  Don’t you know enough to respect such a learned man?  Don’t you know that he is an honor to our whole family?  My dear and respected son, you mustn’t pay any attention to him, he is an ignorant lout.