Act IV, Scene 10

A summer day. Far up in the North. A hut in the forest. The
door, with a large wooden bar, stands open. Reindeer-horns
over it. A flock of goats by the wall of the hut.

A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN, fair-haired and comely, sits spinning
outside in the sunshine.

THE WOMAN.
[Glances down the path and sings.]
Maybe both the winter and spring will pass by,
And the next summer too, and the whole of the year;—
But thou wilt come one day, that know I full well;
And I will await thee, as I promised of old.
[Calls the goats, spins, and sings again.
God strengthen thee, whereso thou goest in the world!
God gladden thee, if at his footstool thou stand!
Here will I await thee till thou comest again;
And if thou wait up yonder, then there we’ll meet, my friend!