Jeppe på bjerget

Jeppe on the Hill; Or, The Transformed Peasant is a Danish comedy by the Norwegian playwright Ludvig Holberg, written during the time of the Dano-Norwegian dual monarchy. The play premiered at the Lille Grønnegade Theatre in 1722, and was first published in print in 1723. The play has a special status in Danish theater, and playing the lead role, Jeppe, is seen as a great distinction. Because this, it was entered into the Danish Culture Canon in 2006. Despite its fame in Denmark, it is not well known in the English-speaking world. In the play, Jeppe is a drunkard peasant who is abused by his wife, Nille. The Baron and his court find him in a drunken stupor and decide to play a joke on Jeppe. A well-known quotation from the work is from Jeppe's soliloquy early in the play, where he says, "Everybody says that Jeppe drinks, but nobody asks why Jeppe drinks", rationalizing his alcohol abuse as a sensible reaction to his miserable life. Synopsis The story follows Jeppe, a peasant who is ill treated by his wife and exploited by his employers. The opening scene of the play sees his wife, Nille, demand he make a long trip to buy soap. On his way, he stops at the inn of Jakob Skomager, who slowly coerces Jeppe into spending all of his money on alcohol. While in a drunken stupor, he is discovered by the baron and his servants who decide to play a joke on Jeppe. They take him to the baron's castle where he is dressed in the nobleman's clothes and put in his bed. The pranksters then wait nearby to watch the fallout. Upon awaking, Jeppe is greatly confused by the grandeur of his surroundings and wonders if he is dreaming or in paradise. He calls out for his wife to no avail. Unable to remember how he got to the castle from being a peasant, he begins to wonder if he is someone else entirely. Servants in uniforms and doctors arrive and convince Jeppe that he is in fact the Baron. He then decides to entertain himself by ordering about the servants, and eating and drinking to excess. He once again falls into a drunken stupor. He is dressed in his old clothes and returned to the side of the road where the baron had found him.