three closets, one beyond the other. The first one is stored with vessels of pewter arranged on shelves. The walls of the second closet are hung with all sorts of costly and ornate garments. The third closet contains piles and rows of apples, pears, melons, pumpkins, and so forth.

The floors of all the rooms are inlaid with alternating squares of black and red. At the centre of the apartment stands a gilded dinner-table covered with a cloth; a twig of mistletoe is suspended above the table. A clock and a vase filled with roses stand on the table, near which are placed two gilded tabourets. Two swallows' nests are visible on the rear wall above the doorway. A lion skin is spread on the floor near the foreground. At the left, well to the front, stands a white bed with a rose-coloured canopy supported by two columns at the head of the bed (and by none at the foot). The bed-clothing is pure white except for a coverlet of pale-blue silk. Across the bed is laid a night-dress of finest muslin trimmed with lace. Behind the bed stands a huge wardrobe containing linen, bathing utensils, and toilet things. A small gilded table in Roman style (with round top supported by a single column) is placed near the bed; also a lamp-stand containing a Roman lamp of gold. At the right is an ornamental chimney-piece. On the mantel stands a vase with a white lily in it.

In the left arch of the doorway, a peacock is asleep on a perch, with its back turned toward the audience.

In the right arch hangs a huge gilded cage with two white doves at rest.

As the curtain rises, the three maids are seen in the doorways of the three closets, each one half hidden by the door-post against which she leans. SIGNE, the false maid, is in the pewter-closet, ELSA in the clothes-closet, and ELSA in the fruit-closet.

The DUKE enters from the rear. After him comes the STEPMOTHER carrying in her hand a wire-lashed whip.

The stage is darkened when they enter.

STEPMOTHER. Swanwhite is not here?

DUKE. It seems so!

STEPMOTHER. So it seems, but—is it seemly? Maids!—Signe!—Signe, Elsa, Tova!

The maids enter, one after the other, and stand in front of the STEPMOTHER.

STEPMOTHER. Where is Lady Swanwhite?

SIGNE folds her arms across her breast and makes no reply.

STEPMOTHER. You do not know? What see you in my hand?—Answer, quick! [Pause] Quick! Do you hear the whistling of the falcon? It has claws of steel, as well as bill! What is it?

SIGNE. The wire-lashed whip!

STEPMOTHER. The wire-lashed whip, indeed! And now, where is Lady Swan white?

SIGNE. How can I tell what I don't know?

STEPMOTHER. It is a failing to be ignorant, but carelessness is an offence. Were you not placed as guardian of your young mistress?—Take off your neckerchief!—Down on your knees!

The DUKE turns his back on her in disgust.

STEPMOTHER. Hold out your neck! And I'll put such a necklace on it that no youth will ever kiss it after this!—Hold out your neck!—Still more!

SIGNE. For Christ's sake, mercy!

STEPMOTHER. 'Tis mercy that you are alive!

DUKE. [Pulls out his sword and tries the edge of it, first on one of his finger-nails, and then on a hair out of his long beard] Her head should be cut off—put in a sack—hung on a tree——

STEPMOTHER. So it should!

DUKE. We are agreed! How strange!

STEPMOTHER. It did not happen yesterday.

DUKE. And may not happen once again.

STEPMOTHER. [To Signe, who, still on her knees, has been moving farther away] Stop! Whither? [She raises the whip and strikes; Signe turns aside so that the lash merely cuts the air.]

SWANWHITE. [Comes forward from behind the bed and falls on her knees] Stepmother—here I am—the guilty one! She's not at fault.

STEPMOTHER. Say "mother"! You must call me "mother"!

SWANWHITE. I cannot! One mother is as much as any human being ever had.

STEPMOTHER. Your father's wife must be your mother.

SWANWHITE. My father's second wife can only be my stepmother.

STEPMOTHER. You are a stiffnecked daughter, but my whip is pliant and will make you pliant too.

[She raises the whip to strike SWANWHITE.

DUKE. [Raising his sword] Take heed of the head!

STEPMOTHER. Whose head?

DUKE. Your own!

The STEPMOTHER turns pale at first, and then angry; but she controls herself and remains silent; long pause.

STEPMOTHER. [Beaten for the moment, she changes her tone] Then will Your Grace inform your daughter what is now in store for her?

DUKE. [Sheathing his sword] Rise up, my darling child, and come into my arms to calm yourself.

SWANWHITE. [Throwing herself into the arms of the DUKE] Father!—You're like a royal oak-tree which my arms cannot encircle. But beneath your leafage there is refuge from all threatening showers. [She hides her head beneath his immense beard, which reaches down to his waist] And like a bird, I will be swinging on your branches—lift me up, so I can reach the top.

The DUKE holds out his arm.

SWANWHITE. [Climbs up on his arm and perches herself on his shoulder] Now lies the earth beneath me and the air above—now I can overlook the rosery, the snowy beach, the deep-blue sea, and all the seven kingdoms stretched beyond.

DUKE. Then you can also see the youthful king to whom your troth is promised——

SWANWHITE. No—nor have I ever seen him. Is he handsome?

DUKE. Dear heart, it will depend on your own eyes how he appears to you.

SWANWHITE. [Rubbing her eyes] My eyes?—They cannot see what is not beautiful.

DUKE. [Kissing her foot] Poor little foot, that is so black! Poor little blackamoorish foot!

The STEPMOTHER gives a sign to the maids, who resume their previous positions in the closet doors; she herself steals with panther-like movements out through the middle arch of the doorway.

SWANWHITE. [Leaps to the floor; the DUKE places her on the table and sits down on a chair beside it; SWANWHITE looks meaningly after the STEPMOTHER] Was it the dawn? Or did the wind turn southerly? Or has the Spring arrived?

DUKE. [Puts his hand over her mouth] You