“Vildanden” is perhaps the most difficult of all Ibsen’s prose dramas to translate. Some of the speeches of Gina and Relling are indeed quite untranslatable. The difficulty in the case of Gina is in respect to her frequent malapropisms, which, for the most part, turn on the mispronunciation of a word, or the use of a word which resembles in sound the one she wants. It is obvious that in the transference of such blunders of one language to another their exact significance can not be caught. Occasionally it has been possible, as when she says “divide” for “divert,” or calls the pistol “pigstol.” But these instances are rare, and more frequently Gina’s slips could only have been indicated by entirely changing her words. As I have aimed at making as literal a translation as possible I did not feel justified in so departing from the original.

ELEANOR MARX AVELING.

• Werle, Merchant, Factory Owner, Etc.
• Gregers Werle, His Son.
• Old Ekdal.
• Hjalmar Ekdal, The Old Man’s Son, a Photographer.
• Gina Ekdal, Hjalmar’s Wife.
• Hedvig, Their Daughter, Fourteen Years Old.
• Mrs. Sorby, Werle’s Housekeeper.
• Relling, a Doctor.
• Molvik, an ex-Theological Student.
• Graberg, Book-keeper.
• Pettersen, Servant to Werle.
• Jensen, Hired Waiter.
• A Pale and Fat Gentleman.
• A Thin-haired Gentleman.
• A Short-sighted Gentleman.
• Six other Gentlemen, Guests of Werle’s.
• Several Hired Waiters.

The first Act at Mr. Werle’s. The four other Acts at Ekdal, the photographer’s.