cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

VI. Elverhøj (“Elves’ Hill”), by Johan Ludvig Heiberg (1828).
Elverhøj is a "fairy-tale comedy" (eventyrcomedie), a type of musical comedy which
mixes fantasy and reality. The play dramatizes the plight of an innocent young woman
who has grown up in the Danish countryside, in the house of a peasant woman whom she
believes is her mother. She is associated with nature, and with supernatural creatures.
She is in love with a young man who also loves her, but who is destined for a marriage
arranged for him by the king. The king, a character created as a compliment to the
Danish king, recognizes her as a true aristocrat, and she is able to marry the man she
loves.
This play entered the repertoire of the Bergen theatre in 1854-55, when Ibsen may
have directed it himself. He wrote several plays in the style of eventyrcomedie, including
the fragment "Rypen i Justedal," Sancthansnatten, and Olaf Liljekrans.
The following translation is based on the text in Elverhøi, Aprilsnarrene, De
Uadskillelige, af Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Udgivet med noter ved Henning Fonsmark.
København: Hans Reitzel, 1965, 5-82.
“ELVES’ HILL”
Drama in Five Acts by J. L. Heiberg
Premiéred at the Royal Danish Theatre, November 6th, 1828.
CHARACTERS
Christian IV, king of Denmark.
Erik Walkendorff, master of Høistrup in Stevns.
Elisabeth Munk, his ward.
Albert Ebbesen, the king's sheriff in Tryggevælde.
Karen, a peasant woman in Tryggevælde.
Paul Flemming, courtiers in the king's
Henrik Rud, retinue.
Agnete, Karen's daughter.
Bjørn Olufson, chief steward at Høistrup.
Mogens, a hunter.
Peasants, courtiers, pages, knights and ladies.
133