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

visit to his adored heart's queen. But his horse, harnessed to a sleigh, has found the
departure rather prolonged, so the impatient animal has ambled away by himself. Its
master, who in his amorous mood has not noticed, is finally ready to depart and realizes
to his astonishment that horse and sleigh have disappeared.
The next picture shows him running wildly in order to catch his disobedient
animal, but he cannot find it and must turn back in order to borrow a horse for the trip
home, about half a mile. Then in a later picture he is seen riding as fast as he can in order
to catch his horse. The latter, however, has stopped in at a nearby farm, from where in a
new picture one sees the horse with a surprised expression (splendidly drawn) observing
his master's hasty riding, while the latter does not notice the fugitive.
Another picture shows a scene in the servants' quarters, where the master, having
arrived at home, rousts the sleep-drugged stableboy out of bed by the hair. A new horse
is taken out, and now both venture forth, each on his horse, in order to search for the one
that has disppeared. In the last picture all three horses are seen, at the moment when the
wandering horse comes walking calmly along and is met by the other two, etc.
This ridiculous situation was also depicted in a detailed poem in rhymed verse,
through several sections, and with tunes from the Danish vaudeville Neighbors
(Genboerne), which was new at that time, and from which several songs were often sung
by the above-mentioned young man. The latter was then instructed by Ibsen to learn
several of the songs from Neighbors, and Ibsen gave him a copy of several sections of the
horse story. This proved to be a success. The young man in question learned the verses
and sang about his own misfortunes in the belief that they belonged in the play.
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