LITTLE JOHN[Sings.]When Spring comes back to EnglandAnd crowns her brows with may,Round the merry moonlit worldShe goes the greenwood way.[He stops and calls in stentorian tones.]Much! Much! Much! Where has he vanished now,Where has that monstrous giant the miller's sonHidden himself?[EnterMuch, a dwarf-like figure, carrying a large bundle of ferns.]MUCHHush, hush, child, here I am!And here's our fairy feather-beds, ha! ha!Come, praise me, praise me, for a thoughtful parent.There's nothing makes a better bed than fernsEither for sleeping sound or rosy dreams.LITTLE JOHNTake care the fern-seed that the fairies useGet not among thy yellow locks, my Titan,Or thou'lt wake up invisible. There's noneToo much of Much already.MUCH[Looking up at him impudently.]It would takeOur big barn full of fern-seed, I misdoubt,To make thee walk invisible, Little John,My sweet Tom Thumb! And, in this troublous ageOf forest-laws, if we night-walking minions,We gentlemen of the moon, could only huntInvisible, there's many and many of usWith thumbs lopped off, eyes gutted and legs pruned,Slick, like poor pollarded pear-trees, would be lyingHappy and whole this day beneath the boughs.LITTLE JOHNInvisible? Ay, but what would Jenny sayTo such a ghostly midge as thou would'st beSipping invisibly at her cherry lips.MUCHWhy, there now, that's a teaser. E'en as it is(Don't joke about it) my poor Jenny takesThe smallness of her Much sorely to heart!And though I often tell her half a loaf(Ground in our mill) is better than no bread,She weeps, poor thing, that an impartial heavenBestows on her so small a crumb of blissAs me! You'd scarce believe, now, half the nostrums,Possets and strangely nasty herbal juicesThat girl has made me gulp, in the vain hopeThat I, the frog, should swell to an ox like thee.I tell her it's all in vain, and she still cheatsHer fancy and swears I've grown well nigh three feetAlready. O Lord, she's desperate. She'll advanceRight inward to the sources of creation,She'll take the reins of the world in hand. She'll stopThe sun like Joshua, turn the moon to blood,And if I have to swallow half the herbsIn Sherwood, I shall stalk a giant yet,Shoulder to shoulder with thee, Little John,And crack thy head at quarter-staff. But don't,Don't joke about it. 'Tis a serious matter.LITTLE JOHNInto the cave, then, with thy feather-bed.Old Much, thy father, waits thee there to makeA table of green turfs for Robin Hood.We shall have guests anon, O merry times,Baron and Knight and abbot, all that rideThrough Sherwood, all shall come and dine with himWhen they have paid their toll! Old Much is thereGrowling at thy delay.MUCH[Going towards the cave.]O, my poor father.Now, there's a sad thing, too. He is so ashamedOf his descendants. Why for some nine yearsHe shut his eyes whenever he looked at me;And I have seen him on the village greenPretend to a stranger, once, who badgered himWith curious questions, that I was the sonOf poor old Gaffer Bramble, the lame sexton.That self-same afternoon, up comes old BrambleWhite hair a-blaze and big red waggling noseAll shaking with the palsy; bangs our doorClean off its hinges with his crab-tree crutch,And stands there—framed—against the sunset sky!He stretches out one quivering fore-fingerAt father, like the great Destroying AngelIn the stained window: straight, the milk boiled over,The cat ran, baby squalled and mother screeched.Old Bramble asks my father—what—what—whatHe meant—he meant—he meant! You should have seenMy father's hopeless face! Lord, how he blushed,Red as a beet-root! Lord, Lord, how he blushed!'Tis a hard business when a parent looksAskance upon his offspring.[Exit into the cave.]LITTLE JOHNSkip, you chatterer!Here comes our master.[EnterRobin Hood.]Master, where hast thou been?I feared some harm had come to thee. What's this?This was a cloth-yard shaft that tore thy coat!ROBINOh, ay, they barked my shoulder, devil take them.I got it on the borders of the wood.St. Nicholas, my lad, they're on the watch.LITTLE JOHNWhat didst thou there? They're on the watch, i' faith!A squirrel could not pass them. Why, my namesakePrince John would sell his soul to get thy head,And both his ears for Lady Marian;And whether his ears or soul be worth the more,I know not. When the first lark flittered upTo sing, at dawn, I woke; and thou wast gone.What didst thou there?ROBINWell, first I went to swimIn the deep pool below the mill.LITTLE JOHNI swamEnough last night to last me many a day.What then?ROBINI could not wash away the thoughtOf all you told me. If Prince John should dare!That helpless girl! No, no, I will not think it.Why, Little John, I went and tried to shootA grey goose wing thro' Lady Marian's casement.LITTLE JOHNOh, ay, and a pink nosegay tied beneath it.Now, master, you'll forgive your Little John,—But that's midsummer madness and the mayIs only half in flower as yet. But why—You are wounded—why are you so pale?ROBINNo—no—Not wounded; but oh, my good faithful friend,She is not there! I wished to send her warning.I could not creep much closer; but I swearI think the castle is in the hands of John.I saw some men upon the battlements,Not hers—I know—not hers!LITTLE JOHNHist, who comes here?[He seizes his bow and stands ready to shoot.]ROBINStop, man, it is the fool. Thank God, the fool,Shadow-of-a-Leaf, my Marian's dainty fool.How now, good fool, what news? What news?[EnterShadow-of-a-Leaf.]SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFGood fool!Should I be bad, sir, if I chanced to bringNo news at all? That is the wise man's way.Thank heaven, I've lost my wits. I am but a leafDancing upon the wild winds of the world,A prophet blown before them. Well, this evening,It is that lovely grey wind from the WestThat silvers all the fields and all the seas,And I'm the herald of May!ROBINCome, Shadow-of-a-Leaf,I pray thee, do not jest.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFI do not jest.I am vaunt-courier to a gentleman,A sweet slim page in Lincoln green who comes,Wood-knife on hip, and wild rose in his face,With golden news of Marian. Oh, his newsIs one crammed honeycomb, swelling with sweetnessIn twenty thousand cells; but delicate!So send thy man aside.ROBINGo, Little John.[Little Johngoes into the cave.]Well, Shadow-of-a-Leaf, where is he?SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFAt this momentHis hair is tangled in a rose bush: hark,He swears, like a young leopard! Nay, he is free.Come, master page, here is that thief of love,Give him your message. I'll to Little John.[Exit into the cave. EnterMarian, as a page in Lincoln green, her face muffled in a hood.]ROBINGood even, master page, what is thy newsOf Lady Marian?[She stands silent.]Answer me quickly, come,Hide not thy face![She still stands muffled and silent.]Come, boy, the fool is chartered,Not thou; and I'll break off this hazel switchAnd make thee dance if thou not answer me.What? Silent still? Sirrah, this hazel wandShall lace thee till thou tingle, top to toe.I'll ...MARIAN[Unmuffling.]Robin!ROBIN[Catches her in his arms with a cry.]Marian! Marian!MARIANFie upon you,Robin, you did not know me.ROBIN[Embracing her.]Oh, you seemedTen thousand miles away. This is not moonlight,And I am not Endymion. Could I dreamMy Dian would come wandering through the fernBefore the sunset? Even that rose your faceYou muffled in its own green leaves.MARIANBut you,Were hidden in the heart of Sherwood, Robin,Hidden behind a million mighty boughs,And yet I found you.ROBINAy, the young moon stoleIn pity down to her poor shepherd boy;But he could never climb the fleecy cloudsUp to her throne, never could print one kissOn her immortal lips. He lay asleepAmong the poppies and the crags of Latmos,And she came down to him, his queen stole down.MARIANOh, Robin, first a rose and then a moon,A rose that breaks at a breath and falls to your feet,The fickle moon—Oh, hide me from the world;For there they say love goes by the same law!Let me be outlawed then. I cannot change.Sweetheart, sweetheart, Prince John will hunt me down!Prince John—Queen Elinor will hunt me down!ROBINQueen Elinor! Nay, but tell me what this means?How came you here?MARIANThe Queen—she came last night,Made it an odious kind of praise to meThat he, not three months wedded to his bride,Should—pah!And then she said five hundred menWere watching round the borders of the wood;But she herself would take me safely through them,Said that I should be safer here with Robin,She had your name so pat—and I gave way.[EnterQueen Elinorbehind. She conceals herself to listen.]ROBINMarian, she might have trapped you to Prince John.MARIANNo; no; I think she wanted me to guide herHere to your hiding place. She wished to see youHerself, unknown to John, I know not why.It was my only way. Her skilful tongueQuite won my father over, made him think,Poor father, clinging to his lands again,He yet might save them. And so, without ado(It will be greatly to the joy of Much,Your funny little man), I bade my maidJenny, go pack her small belongings upThis morning, and to follow with Friar TuckAnd Widow Scarlet. They'll be here anon.ROBINWhere did you leave the Queen?MARIANRobin, she triedTo kill me! We were deep within the woodAnd she began to tell me a wild tale,Saying that I reminded her of daysWhen Robin was her page, and how you cameTo Court, a breath of April in her life,And how you worshipped her, and how she grewTo love you. But she saw you loved me best(So would she mix her gall and lies with honey),So she would let you go. And then she triedTo turn my heart against you, bade me thinkOf all the perils of your outlawry,Then flamed with anger when she found my heartSteadfast; and when I told her we drew nighThe cave, she bade me wait and let her comeFirst, here, to speak with you. Some devil's trickGleamed in her smile, the way some women haveOf smiling with their lips, wreathing the skinIn pleasant ripples, laughing with their teeth,While the cold eyes watch, cruel as a snake'sThat fascinates a bird. I'd not obey her.She whipped a dagger out. Had it not beenFor Shadow-of-a-Leaf, who dogged us all the way,Poor faithful fool, and leapt out at her hand,She would have killed me. Then she darted awayLike a wild thing into the woods, trying to findYour hiding place most like.ROBINO Marian, why,Why did you trust her? Listen, who comes here?[EnterFriar Tuck,JennyandWidow Scarlet.]Ah, Friar Tuck!MARIANGood Jenny!ROBINAnd Widow Scarlet!FRIAR TUCKO children, children, this is thirsty weather!The heads I have cracked, the ribs I have thwacked, the bonesI have bashed with my good quarter-staff, to bringThese bits of womankind through Sherwood Forest.ROBINWhat, was there scuffling, friar?FRIAR TUCKSome two or threePounced on us, ha! ha! ha!JENNYA score at least,Mistress, most unchaste ruffians.FRIAR TUCKThey've gone home,Well chastened by the Church. This pastoral staffMine oakenPax Vobiscum, sent 'em homeTo think about their sins, with watering eyes.You never saw a bunch of such blue faces,Bumpy and juicy as a bunch of grapesBruised in a Bacchanalian orgy, drippingThe reddest wine a man could wish to see.ROBINI picture it—those big brown hands of thineGrape-gathering at their throttles, ha! ha! ha!Come, Widow Scarlet, come, look not so sad.WIDOW SCARLETO master, master, they have named the dayFor killing of my boy.ROBINThey have named the dayFor setting of him free, then, my good dame.Be not afraid. We shall be there, eh, Friar?Grape-gathering, eh?FRIARThou'lt not be there thyself.My son, the game's too dangerous now, methinks.ROBINI shall be there myself. The game's too goodTo lose. We'll all be there. You're not afraid,Marian, to spend a few short hours aloneHere in the woods with Jenny.MARIANNot for myself,Robin.ROBINWe shall want every hand that day,And you'll be safe enough. You know we goDisguised as gaping yokels, old blind men,With patches on their eyes, poor wandering beggars,Pedlars with pins and poking-sticks to sell;And when the time is come—a merry blastRings out upon a bugle and suddenlyThe Sheriff is aware that Sherwood ForestHas thrust its green boughs up beneath his feet.Off go the cloaks and all is Lincoln green,Great thwacking clubs and twanging bows of yew.Oh, we break up like nature thro' the lawsOf that dark world; and then, good Widow Scarlet,Back to the cave we come and your good WillWinds his big arm about you once again.Go, Friar, take her in and make her cosy.Jenny, your Much will grow three feet at leastWith joy to welcome you. He is in the cave.[Friar TuckandWidow Scarletgo towards the cave.]FRIAR TUCKNow for a good bowse at a drinking can.I've got one cooling in the cave, unlessThat rascal, Little John, has drunk it all.[Exeunt into cave.]JENNY[ToMarian.]Mistress, I haven't spoke a word to youFor nigh three hours. 'Tis most unkind, I think.MARIANGo, little tyrant, and be kind to Much.JENNYMistress, it isn't Much I want. Don't thinkJenny comes trapesing through these awful woodsFor Much. I haven't spoke a word with youFor nigh three hours. 'Tis most unkind, I think.MARIANWait, Jenny, then, I'll come and talk with you.Robin, she is a tyrant; but she loves me.And if I do not go, she'll pout and sulkThree days on end. But she's a wondrous girl.She'd work until she dropped for me. Poor Jenny!ROBINThat's a quaint tyranny. Go, dear Marian, go;But not for long. We have so much to say.Come quickly back.[ExitMarian. Robinpaces thoughtfully across the glade.Queen Elinorsteals out of her hiding place and stands before him.]You here!ELINORRobin, can youBelieve that girl? Am I so treacherous?ROBINIt seems you have heard whate'er I had to say.ELINORSurely you cannot quite forget those daysWhen you were kind to me. Do you rememberThe sunset through that oriel?ROBINAy, a godGrinning thro' a horse-collar at a pitiful page,Dazed with the first red gleam of what he thoughtLife, as the trouveres find it! I am ashamed,Remembering how your quick tears blinded me!ELINORAshamed! You—you—that in my bitter griefWhen Rosamund—ROBINI know! I thought your woes,Those tawdry relics of your treacheries,Wrongs quite unparalleled. I would have foughtRoland himself to prove you spotless then.ELINOROh, you speak thus to me! Robin, beware!I have come to you, I have trampled on my pride,Set all on this one cast! If you should nowReject me, humble me to the dust beforeThat girl, beware! I never forget, I warn you;I never forgive.ROBINAre you so proud of that?ELINORAh, well, forgive me, Robin. I'll save you yetFrom all these troubles of your outlawry!Trust me—for I can wind my poor Prince JohnAround my little finger. Who knows—with meTo help you—there are but my two sons' livesThat greatly hinder it—why, yourself might reignUpon the throne of England.ROBINAre you so wrappedIn treacheries, helplessly false, even to yourself,That now you do not know falsehood from truth,Darkness from light?ELINORO Robin, I was trueAt least to you. If I were false to others,At least I—ROBINNo—not that—that sickening pleaOf truth in treachery. Treachery cannot liveWith truth. The soul wherein they are wedded diesOf leprosy.ELINOR[Coming closer to him.]Have you no pity, Robin,No kinder word than this for the poor creatureThat crept—Ah, feel my heart, feel how it beats!No pity?ROBINFive years ago this might have moved me!ELINORNo pity?ROBINNone. There is no more to say.My men shall guide you safely through the wood.ELINORI never forgive![EnterMarianfrom the cave; she stands silent and startled.]ROBINMy men shall guide you back.[Calls.]Ho, there, my lads![Enter several of theOutlaws.]This lady needs a guideBack thro' the wood.ELINORGood-bye, then, Robin, and good-bye to you,Sweet mistress! You have wronged me! What of that?For—when we meet—Come, lead on, foresters![Exeunt theQueenand her guides.]MARIANO Robin, Robin, how the clouds beginTo gather—how that woman seems to have broughtA nightmare on these woods.ROBINForget it all!She is so tangled in those lies the worldDraws round some men and women, none can help her.Marian, for God's sake, let us quite forgetThat nightmare! Oh, that perfect brow of yours,Those perfect eyes, pure as the violet wellsThat only mirror heaven and are not dimmedExcept by clouds that drift thro' heaven and catchGod's glory in the sunset and the dawn.MARIANIt is enough for them simply to speakThe love they hold for you. But—I still fear.Robin—think you—she might have overheardYour plan—the rescue of Will Scarlet?ROBINWhy—No—No—some time had passed, and yet—she seemedTo have heard your charge against her! No, she guessed it.Come—let us brush these cobwebs from our minds.Look how the first white star begins to trembleLike a big blossom in that sycamore.Now you shall hear our forest ritual.Ho, Little John! Summon the lads together![TheOutlawscome out of the cave.Little Johnblows a bugle and others come in from the forest.]Friar, read us the rules.FRIAR TUCKFirst, shall no manPresume to call our Robin Hood or anyBy name of Earl, lord, baron, knight or squire,But simply by their names as men and brothers:Second, that Lady Marian while she sharesOur outlaw life in Sherwood shall be calledSimply Maid Marian. Thirdly, we that followRobin, shall never in thought or word or deedDo harm to widow, wife or maid; but hold,Each, for his mother's or sister's or sweetheart's sake,The glory of womanhood, a sacred thing,A star twixt earth and heaven. Fourth, whomsoeverYe meet in Sherwood ye shall bring to dineWith Robin, saving carriers, posts and folkThat ride with food to serve the market townsOr any, indeed, that serve their fellow men.Fifth, you shall never do the poor man wrong,Nor spare a priest or usurer. You shall takeThe waste wealth of the rich to help the poor,The baron's gold to stock the widow's cupboard,The naked ye shall clothe, the hungry feed,And lastly shall defend with all your powerAll that are trampled under by the world,The old, the sick and all men in distress.ROBINSo, if it be no dream, we shall at lastHasten the kingdom of God's will on earth.There shall be no more talk of rich and poor,Norman and Saxon. We shall be one people,One family, clustering all with happy handsAnd faces round that glowing hearth, the sun.Now let the bugle sound a golden challengeTo the great world. Greenleaf, a forest call![Reynold Greenleafblows a resounding call.]Now let the guards be set; and then, to sleep!To-morrow there'll be work enough for all.The hut for Jenny and Maid Marian!Come, you shall see how what we lack in hallsWe find in bowers. Look how from every branchSuch tapestries as kings could never buyWave in the starlight. You'll be waked at dawnBy feathered choirs whose notes were taught in heaven.MUCHCome, Jenny, come, we must prepare the hutFor Mistress Marian. Here's a bundle of ferns![They go into the hut. The light is growing dimmer and richer.]LITTLE JOHNAnd here's a red cramoisy cloak, a baron[Handing them in at the door.]Dropt, as he fled one night from Robin Hood;And here's a green, and here's a midnight blue,All soft as down. But wait, I'll get you more.[Two of the Outlaws appear at the door with deerskins.Shadow-of-a-Leafstands behind them with a great bunch of flowers and ferns.]FIRST OUTLAWHere's fawn-skins, milder than a maiden's cheek.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFOh, you should talk in rhyme! The world should singJust for this once in tune, if Love were king!SECOND OUTLAWHere's deer-skins, for a carpet, smooth and meek.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFI knew you would! Ha! ha! Now look at what I bring![He throws flowers into the hut, spray by spray, speaking in a kind of ecstasy.]Here's lavender and love and sweet wild thyme,And dreams and blue-bells that the fairies chime,Here's meadow-sweet and moonlight, bound in posies,With ragged robin, traveller's joy and roses,And here—just three leaves from a weeping willow;And here—that's best—deep poppies for your pillow.MUCHAnd here's a pillow that I made myself,Stuffed with dry rose-leaves and grey pigeon's down,The softest thing on earth except my heart!SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF[Going aside and throwing himself down among the ferns to watch.]Just three sweet breaths and then the song is flown![Muchlooks at him for a moment with a puzzled face, then turns to the hut again.]MUCHJenny, here, take it—though I'm fond of comforts,Take it and give it to Maid Marian.JENNYWhy, Much, 'tis bigger than thyself.MUCHHush, child.I meant to use it lengthways. 'Twould have madeA feather-bed complete for your poor Much,Take it![TheOutlawsall go into the cave.]MARIANO Robin, what a fairy palace!How cold and grey the walls of castles seemBeside your forest's fragrant halls and bowers.I do not think that I shall be afraidTo sleep this night, as I have often beenBeneath our square bleak battlements.ROBINAnd look,Between the boughs, there is your guard, all night,That great white star, white as an angel's wings,White as the star that shone on Bethlehem!Good-night, sweetheart, good-night!MARIANGood-night!ROBINOne kiss!Oh, clear bright eyes, dear heavens of sweeter stars,Where angels play, and your own sweeter soulSmiles like a child into the face of God,Good-night! Good-night![Mariangoes into the hut. The door is shut.Robingoes to the mouth of the cave and throws himself down on a couch of deerskins. The light grows dimly rich and fairy-like.]SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF[Rising to his knees.]Here comes the little cloud![A little moonlit cloud comes floating down between the tree-tops into the glade.Titaniais seen reposing upon it. She steps to earth. The cloud melts away.]How blows the wind from fairyland, Titania?TITANIAShadow-of-a-Leaf, the wicked queen has heardYour master's plan for saving poor Will Scarlet.She knows Maid Marian will be left alone,Unguarded in these woods. The wicked PrinceWill steal upon her loneliness. He plotsTo carry her away.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFWhat can we do?Can I not break my fairy vows and tell?TITANIANo, no; you cannot, even if you would,Convey our fairy lore to mortal ears.When have they heard our honeysuckle buglesBlowing reveille to the crimson dawn?We can but speak by dreams; and, if you spoke,They'd whip you, for your words would all ring falseLike sweet bells out of tune.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFWhat can we do?TITANIANothing, except on pain of death, to stayThe course of Time and Tide. There's Oberon!SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFOberon!TITANIAHe can tell you more than I.[EnterOberon.]OBERONWhere's Orchis? Where's our fairy trumpeterTo call the court together?ORCHISHere, my liege.OBERONBugle them hither; let thy red cheeks puffUntil thy curled petallic trumpet thrillMore loudly than a yellow-banded beeThro' all the clover clumps and boughs of thyme.They are scattered far abroad.ORCHISMy liege, it shallOutroar the very wasp![Exit.]OBERON[As he speaks, the fairies come flocking from all sides into the glade.]Methinks they growToo fond of feasting. As I passed this wayI saw the fairy halls of hollowed oaksAll lighted with their pale green glow-worm lamps.And under great festoons of maiden-hairTheir brilliant mushroom tables groaned with food.Hundreds of rose-winged fairies banqueted!All Sherwood glittered with their prismy gobletsBrimming the thrice refined and luscious dewNot only of our own most purplest violets,But of strange fragrance, wild exotic nectars,Drawn from the fairy blossoms of some starBeyond our tree-tops! Ay, beyond that moonWhich is our natural limit—the big lampHeaven lights upon our boundary.ORCHISMighty King,The Court is all attendant on thy word.OBERON[With great dignity.]Elves, pixies, nixies, gnomes and leprechauns,[He pauses.]We are met, this moonlight, for momentous councilsConcerning those two drowsy human lovers,Maid Marian and her outlawed Robin Hood.They are in dire peril; yet we may not breakOur vows of silence. Many a timeHas Robin Hood by kindly words and deedsDone in his human world, sent a new breathOf life and joy like Spring to fairyland;And at the moth-hour of this very dew-fall,He saved a fairy, whom he thought, poor soul,Only a may-fly in a spider's web,He saved her from the clutches of that Wizard,That Cruel Thing, that dark old Mystery,Whom ye all know and shrink from—[Exclamations of horror from the fairies.]Plucked her forth,So gently that not one bright rainbow gleamUpon her wings was clouded, not one flakeOf bloom brushed off—there lies the broken web.Go, look at it; and here is pale PerillaTo tell you all the tale.[The fairies cluster to look at the web, etc.]A FAIRYCan we not make them freeOf fairyland, like Shadow-of-a-Leaf, to comeAnd go, at will, upon the wings of dreams?OBERONNot till they lose their wits like Shadow-of-a-Leaf.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFCan I not break my fairy vows and tell?OBERONOnly on pain of what we fairies callDeath!SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFDeath?OBERONNever to join our happy revels,Never to pass the gates of fairylandAgain, but die like mortals. What that meansWe do not know—who knows?SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFIf I could save them!—I am only Shadow-of-a-Leaf!OBERONThere is a KingBeyond the seas. If he came home in time,All might be well. We fairies only catchStray gleams, wandering shadows of things to come.TITANIAOh, if the King came home from the Crusade!SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFWhy will he fight for graves beyond the sea?OBERONOur elfin couriers brought the news at duskThat Lion-Heart, while wandering home thro' Europe,In jet-black armour, like an errant knight,Despite the great red cross upon his shield,Was captured by some wicked prince and thrustInto a dungeon. Only a song, they say,Can break those prison-bars. There is a minstrelThat loves his King. If he should roam the worldSinging until from that dark tower he hearsThe King reply, the King would be set free.TITANIAOnly a song, only a minstrel?OBERONAy;And Blondel is his name.[A long, low sound of wailing is heard in the distance. The fairies shudder and creep together.]TITANIAHark, what is that?OBERONThe cry of the poor, the cry of the oppressed,The sound of women weeping for their children,The victims of the forest laws. The moanOf that dark world where mortals live and dieSweeps like an icy wind thro' fairyland.And oh, it may grow bitterer yet, that sound!'Twas Merlin's darkest prophecy that earthShould all be wrapped in smoke and fire, the woodsHewn down, the flowers discoloured and the sunBegrimed, until the rows of lifeless treesAgainst the greasy sunset seemed no moreThan sooty smudges of an ogre's thumbsUpon the sweating forehead of a slave.While, all night long, fed with the souls of men,And bodies, too, great forges blast and burnTill the great ogre's cauldrons brim with gold.[The wailing sound is heard again in the distance.]SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFTo be shut out for ever, only to hearThose cries! I am only Shadow-of-a-Leaf, the fool,I cannot face it! Is there no hope but this?No hope for Robin and Maid Marian?OBERONIf the great King comes home from the CrusadeIn time! If not,—there is another KingBeyond the world, they say.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFDeath, that dark death!To leave the sunlight and the flowers for ever!I cannot bear it! Oh, I cannot tell them.I'll wait—perhaps the great King will come home,If not—Oh, hark, a wandering minstrel's voice?OBERONWho is drawing hither? Listen, fairies, listen![Song heard approaching thro' the wood.]Knight on the narrow way,Where wouldst thou ride?"Onward," I heard him say,"Love, to thy side!""Nay," sang a bird above;"Stay, for I seeDeath in the mask of love,Waiting for thee."[The song breaks off. Enter aMinstrel, leading a great white steed. He pauses, confronted by the fairy host. The moonlight dazzles him.]SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFMinstrel, art thou, too, free of fairyland?Where wouldst thou ride? What is thy name?MINSTRELMy nameIs Blondel.SHADOW-OF-A-LEAFBlondel!THE FAIRIESBlondel!MINSTRELAnd I rideThrough all the world to seek and find my King![He passes through the fairy host and goes into the woods on the further side of the glade, continuing his song, which dies away in the distance.][Song.]"Death? What is death?" he cried."I must ride on,On to my true love's side,Up to her throne!"[Curtain.]
LITTLE JOHN
[Sings.]
When Spring comes back to EnglandAnd crowns her brows with may,Round the merry moonlit worldShe goes the greenwood way.
[He stops and calls in stentorian tones.]
Much! Much! Much! Where has he vanished now,Where has that monstrous giant the miller's sonHidden himself?
[EnterMuch, a dwarf-like figure, carrying a large bundle of ferns.]
MUCH
Hush, hush, child, here I am!And here's our fairy feather-beds, ha! ha!Come, praise me, praise me, for a thoughtful parent.There's nothing makes a better bed than fernsEither for sleeping sound or rosy dreams.
LITTLE JOHN
Take care the fern-seed that the fairies useGet not among thy yellow locks, my Titan,Or thou'lt wake up invisible. There's noneToo much of Much already.
MUCH
[Looking up at him impudently.]
It would takeOur big barn full of fern-seed, I misdoubt,To make thee walk invisible, Little John,My sweet Tom Thumb! And, in this troublous ageOf forest-laws, if we night-walking minions,We gentlemen of the moon, could only huntInvisible, there's many and many of usWith thumbs lopped off, eyes gutted and legs pruned,Slick, like poor pollarded pear-trees, would be lyingHappy and whole this day beneath the boughs.
LITTLE JOHN
Invisible? Ay, but what would Jenny sayTo such a ghostly midge as thou would'st beSipping invisibly at her cherry lips.
MUCH
Why, there now, that's a teaser. E'en as it is(Don't joke about it) my poor Jenny takesThe smallness of her Much sorely to heart!And though I often tell her half a loaf(Ground in our mill) is better than no bread,She weeps, poor thing, that an impartial heavenBestows on her so small a crumb of blissAs me! You'd scarce believe, now, half the nostrums,Possets and strangely nasty herbal juicesThat girl has made me gulp, in the vain hopeThat I, the frog, should swell to an ox like thee.I tell her it's all in vain, and she still cheatsHer fancy and swears I've grown well nigh three feetAlready. O Lord, she's desperate. She'll advanceRight inward to the sources of creation,She'll take the reins of the world in hand. She'll stopThe sun like Joshua, turn the moon to blood,And if I have to swallow half the herbsIn Sherwood, I shall stalk a giant yet,Shoulder to shoulder with thee, Little John,And crack thy head at quarter-staff. But don't,Don't joke about it. 'Tis a serious matter.
LITTLE JOHN
Into the cave, then, with thy feather-bed.Old Much, thy father, waits thee there to makeA table of green turfs for Robin Hood.We shall have guests anon, O merry times,Baron and Knight and abbot, all that rideThrough Sherwood, all shall come and dine with himWhen they have paid their toll! Old Much is thereGrowling at thy delay.
MUCH
[Going towards the cave.]
O, my poor father.Now, there's a sad thing, too. He is so ashamedOf his descendants. Why for some nine yearsHe shut his eyes whenever he looked at me;And I have seen him on the village greenPretend to a stranger, once, who badgered himWith curious questions, that I was the sonOf poor old Gaffer Bramble, the lame sexton.That self-same afternoon, up comes old BrambleWhite hair a-blaze and big red waggling noseAll shaking with the palsy; bangs our doorClean off its hinges with his crab-tree crutch,And stands there—framed—against the sunset sky!He stretches out one quivering fore-fingerAt father, like the great Destroying AngelIn the stained window: straight, the milk boiled over,The cat ran, baby squalled and mother screeched.Old Bramble asks my father—what—what—whatHe meant—he meant—he meant! You should have seenMy father's hopeless face! Lord, how he blushed,Red as a beet-root! Lord, Lord, how he blushed!'Tis a hard business when a parent looksAskance upon his offspring.
[Exit into the cave.]
LITTLE JOHN
Skip, you chatterer!Here comes our master.
[EnterRobin Hood.]
Master, where hast thou been?I feared some harm had come to thee. What's this?This was a cloth-yard shaft that tore thy coat!
ROBIN
Oh, ay, they barked my shoulder, devil take them.I got it on the borders of the wood.St. Nicholas, my lad, they're on the watch.
LITTLE JOHN
What didst thou there? They're on the watch, i' faith!A squirrel could not pass them. Why, my namesakePrince John would sell his soul to get thy head,And both his ears for Lady Marian;And whether his ears or soul be worth the more,I know not. When the first lark flittered upTo sing, at dawn, I woke; and thou wast gone.What didst thou there?
ROBIN
Well, first I went to swimIn the deep pool below the mill.
LITTLE JOHN
I swamEnough last night to last me many a day.What then?
ROBIN
I could not wash away the thoughtOf all you told me. If Prince John should dare!That helpless girl! No, no, I will not think it.Why, Little John, I went and tried to shootA grey goose wing thro' Lady Marian's casement.
LITTLE JOHN
Oh, ay, and a pink nosegay tied beneath it.Now, master, you'll forgive your Little John,—But that's midsummer madness and the mayIs only half in flower as yet. But why—You are wounded—why are you so pale?
ROBIN
No—no—Not wounded; but oh, my good faithful friend,She is not there! I wished to send her warning.I could not creep much closer; but I swearI think the castle is in the hands of John.I saw some men upon the battlements,Not hers—I know—not hers!
LITTLE JOHN
Hist, who comes here?
[He seizes his bow and stands ready to shoot.]
ROBIN
Stop, man, it is the fool. Thank God, the fool,Shadow-of-a-Leaf, my Marian's dainty fool.How now, good fool, what news? What news?
[EnterShadow-of-a-Leaf.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Good fool!Should I be bad, sir, if I chanced to bringNo news at all? That is the wise man's way.Thank heaven, I've lost my wits. I am but a leafDancing upon the wild winds of the world,A prophet blown before them. Well, this evening,It is that lovely grey wind from the WestThat silvers all the fields and all the seas,And I'm the herald of May!
ROBIN
Come, Shadow-of-a-Leaf,I pray thee, do not jest.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
I do not jest.I am vaunt-courier to a gentleman,A sweet slim page in Lincoln green who comes,Wood-knife on hip, and wild rose in his face,With golden news of Marian. Oh, his newsIs one crammed honeycomb, swelling with sweetnessIn twenty thousand cells; but delicate!So send thy man aside.
ROBIN
Go, Little John.
[Little Johngoes into the cave.]
Well, Shadow-of-a-Leaf, where is he?
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
At this momentHis hair is tangled in a rose bush: hark,He swears, like a young leopard! Nay, he is free.Come, master page, here is that thief of love,Give him your message. I'll to Little John.
[Exit into the cave. EnterMarian, as a page in Lincoln green, her face muffled in a hood.]
ROBIN
Good even, master page, what is thy newsOf Lady Marian?
[She stands silent.]
Answer me quickly, come,Hide not thy face!
[She still stands muffled and silent.]
Come, boy, the fool is chartered,Not thou; and I'll break off this hazel switchAnd make thee dance if thou not answer me.What? Silent still? Sirrah, this hazel wandShall lace thee till thou tingle, top to toe.I'll ...
MARIAN
[Unmuffling.]
Robin!
ROBIN
[Catches her in his arms with a cry.]
Marian! Marian!
MARIAN
Fie upon you,Robin, you did not know me.
ROBIN
[Embracing her.]
Oh, you seemedTen thousand miles away. This is not moonlight,And I am not Endymion. Could I dreamMy Dian would come wandering through the fernBefore the sunset? Even that rose your faceYou muffled in its own green leaves.
MARIAN
But you,Were hidden in the heart of Sherwood, Robin,Hidden behind a million mighty boughs,And yet I found you.
ROBIN
Ay, the young moon stoleIn pity down to her poor shepherd boy;But he could never climb the fleecy cloudsUp to her throne, never could print one kissOn her immortal lips. He lay asleepAmong the poppies and the crags of Latmos,And she came down to him, his queen stole down.
MARIAN
Oh, Robin, first a rose and then a moon,A rose that breaks at a breath and falls to your feet,The fickle moon—Oh, hide me from the world;For there they say love goes by the same law!Let me be outlawed then. I cannot change.Sweetheart, sweetheart, Prince John will hunt me down!Prince John—Queen Elinor will hunt me down!
ROBIN
Queen Elinor! Nay, but tell me what this means?How came you here?
MARIAN
The Queen—she came last night,Made it an odious kind of praise to meThat he, not three months wedded to his bride,Should—pah!And then she said five hundred menWere watching round the borders of the wood;But she herself would take me safely through them,Said that I should be safer here with Robin,She had your name so pat—and I gave way.
[EnterQueen Elinorbehind. She conceals herself to listen.]
ROBIN
Marian, she might have trapped you to Prince John.
MARIAN
No; no; I think she wanted me to guide herHere to your hiding place. She wished to see youHerself, unknown to John, I know not why.It was my only way. Her skilful tongueQuite won my father over, made him think,Poor father, clinging to his lands again,He yet might save them. And so, without ado(It will be greatly to the joy of Much,Your funny little man), I bade my maidJenny, go pack her small belongings upThis morning, and to follow with Friar TuckAnd Widow Scarlet. They'll be here anon.
ROBIN
Where did you leave the Queen?
MARIAN
Robin, she triedTo kill me! We were deep within the woodAnd she began to tell me a wild tale,Saying that I reminded her of daysWhen Robin was her page, and how you cameTo Court, a breath of April in her life,And how you worshipped her, and how she grewTo love you. But she saw you loved me best(So would she mix her gall and lies with honey),So she would let you go. And then she triedTo turn my heart against you, bade me thinkOf all the perils of your outlawry,Then flamed with anger when she found my heartSteadfast; and when I told her we drew nighThe cave, she bade me wait and let her comeFirst, here, to speak with you. Some devil's trickGleamed in her smile, the way some women haveOf smiling with their lips, wreathing the skinIn pleasant ripples, laughing with their teeth,While the cold eyes watch, cruel as a snake'sThat fascinates a bird. I'd not obey her.She whipped a dagger out. Had it not beenFor Shadow-of-a-Leaf, who dogged us all the way,Poor faithful fool, and leapt out at her hand,She would have killed me. Then she darted awayLike a wild thing into the woods, trying to findYour hiding place most like.
ROBIN
O Marian, why,Why did you trust her? Listen, who comes here?
[EnterFriar Tuck,JennyandWidow Scarlet.]
Ah, Friar Tuck!
MARIAN
Good Jenny!
ROBIN
And Widow Scarlet!
FRIAR TUCK
O children, children, this is thirsty weather!The heads I have cracked, the ribs I have thwacked, the bonesI have bashed with my good quarter-staff, to bringThese bits of womankind through Sherwood Forest.
ROBIN
What, was there scuffling, friar?
FRIAR TUCK
Some two or threePounced on us, ha! ha! ha!
JENNY
A score at least,Mistress, most unchaste ruffians.
FRIAR TUCK
They've gone home,Well chastened by the Church. This pastoral staffMine oakenPax Vobiscum, sent 'em homeTo think about their sins, with watering eyes.You never saw a bunch of such blue faces,Bumpy and juicy as a bunch of grapesBruised in a Bacchanalian orgy, drippingThe reddest wine a man could wish to see.
ROBIN
I picture it—those big brown hands of thineGrape-gathering at their throttles, ha! ha! ha!Come, Widow Scarlet, come, look not so sad.
WIDOW SCARLET
O master, master, they have named the dayFor killing of my boy.
ROBIN
They have named the dayFor setting of him free, then, my good dame.Be not afraid. We shall be there, eh, Friar?Grape-gathering, eh?
FRIAR
Thou'lt not be there thyself.My son, the game's too dangerous now, methinks.
ROBIN
I shall be there myself. The game's too goodTo lose. We'll all be there. You're not afraid,Marian, to spend a few short hours aloneHere in the woods with Jenny.
MARIAN
Not for myself,Robin.
ROBIN
We shall want every hand that day,And you'll be safe enough. You know we goDisguised as gaping yokels, old blind men,With patches on their eyes, poor wandering beggars,Pedlars with pins and poking-sticks to sell;And when the time is come—a merry blastRings out upon a bugle and suddenlyThe Sheriff is aware that Sherwood ForestHas thrust its green boughs up beneath his feet.Off go the cloaks and all is Lincoln green,Great thwacking clubs and twanging bows of yew.Oh, we break up like nature thro' the lawsOf that dark world; and then, good Widow Scarlet,Back to the cave we come and your good WillWinds his big arm about you once again.Go, Friar, take her in and make her cosy.Jenny, your Much will grow three feet at leastWith joy to welcome you. He is in the cave.
[Friar TuckandWidow Scarletgo towards the cave.]
FRIAR TUCK
Now for a good bowse at a drinking can.I've got one cooling in the cave, unlessThat rascal, Little John, has drunk it all.
[Exeunt into cave.]
JENNY
[ToMarian.]
Mistress, I haven't spoke a word to youFor nigh three hours. 'Tis most unkind, I think.
MARIAN
Go, little tyrant, and be kind to Much.
JENNY
Mistress, it isn't Much I want. Don't thinkJenny comes trapesing through these awful woodsFor Much. I haven't spoke a word with youFor nigh three hours. 'Tis most unkind, I think.
MARIAN
Wait, Jenny, then, I'll come and talk with you.Robin, she is a tyrant; but she loves me.And if I do not go, she'll pout and sulkThree days on end. But she's a wondrous girl.She'd work until she dropped for me. Poor Jenny!
ROBIN
That's a quaint tyranny. Go, dear Marian, go;But not for long. We have so much to say.Come quickly back.
[ExitMarian. Robinpaces thoughtfully across the glade.
Queen Elinorsteals out of her hiding place and stands before him.]
You here!
ELINOR
Robin, can youBelieve that girl? Am I so treacherous?
ROBIN
It seems you have heard whate'er I had to say.
ELINOR
Surely you cannot quite forget those daysWhen you were kind to me. Do you rememberThe sunset through that oriel?
ROBIN
Ay, a godGrinning thro' a horse-collar at a pitiful page,Dazed with the first red gleam of what he thoughtLife, as the trouveres find it! I am ashamed,Remembering how your quick tears blinded me!
ELINOR
Ashamed! You—you—that in my bitter griefWhen Rosamund—
ROBIN
I know! I thought your woes,Those tawdry relics of your treacheries,Wrongs quite unparalleled. I would have foughtRoland himself to prove you spotless then.
ELINOR
Oh, you speak thus to me! Robin, beware!I have come to you, I have trampled on my pride,Set all on this one cast! If you should nowReject me, humble me to the dust beforeThat girl, beware! I never forget, I warn you;I never forgive.
ROBIN
Are you so proud of that?
ELINOR
Ah, well, forgive me, Robin. I'll save you yetFrom all these troubles of your outlawry!Trust me—for I can wind my poor Prince JohnAround my little finger. Who knows—with meTo help you—there are but my two sons' livesThat greatly hinder it—why, yourself might reignUpon the throne of England.
ROBIN
Are you so wrappedIn treacheries, helplessly false, even to yourself,That now you do not know falsehood from truth,Darkness from light?
ELINOR
O Robin, I was trueAt least to you. If I were false to others,At least I—
ROBIN
No—not that—that sickening pleaOf truth in treachery. Treachery cannot liveWith truth. The soul wherein they are wedded diesOf leprosy.
ELINOR
[Coming closer to him.]
Have you no pity, Robin,No kinder word than this for the poor creatureThat crept—Ah, feel my heart, feel how it beats!No pity?
ROBIN
Five years ago this might have moved me!
ELINOR
No pity?
ROBIN
None. There is no more to say.My men shall guide you safely through the wood.
ELINOR
I never forgive!
[EnterMarianfrom the cave; she stands silent and startled.]
ROBIN
My men shall guide you back.
[Calls.]
Ho, there, my lads!
[Enter several of theOutlaws.]
This lady needs a guideBack thro' the wood.
ELINOR
Good-bye, then, Robin, and good-bye to you,Sweet mistress! You have wronged me! What of that?For—when we meet—Come, lead on, foresters!
[Exeunt theQueenand her guides.]
MARIAN
O Robin, Robin, how the clouds beginTo gather—how that woman seems to have broughtA nightmare on these woods.
ROBIN
Forget it all!She is so tangled in those lies the worldDraws round some men and women, none can help her.Marian, for God's sake, let us quite forgetThat nightmare! Oh, that perfect brow of yours,Those perfect eyes, pure as the violet wellsThat only mirror heaven and are not dimmedExcept by clouds that drift thro' heaven and catchGod's glory in the sunset and the dawn.
MARIAN
It is enough for them simply to speakThe love they hold for you. But—I still fear.Robin—think you—she might have overheardYour plan—the rescue of Will Scarlet?
ROBIN
Why—No—No—some time had passed, and yet—she seemedTo have heard your charge against her! No, she guessed it.Come—let us brush these cobwebs from our minds.Look how the first white star begins to trembleLike a big blossom in that sycamore.Now you shall hear our forest ritual.Ho, Little John! Summon the lads together!
[TheOutlawscome out of the cave.Little Johnblows a bugle and others come in from the forest.]
Friar, read us the rules.
FRIAR TUCK
First, shall no manPresume to call our Robin Hood or anyBy name of Earl, lord, baron, knight or squire,But simply by their names as men and brothers:Second, that Lady Marian while she sharesOur outlaw life in Sherwood shall be calledSimply Maid Marian. Thirdly, we that followRobin, shall never in thought or word or deedDo harm to widow, wife or maid; but hold,Each, for his mother's or sister's or sweetheart's sake,The glory of womanhood, a sacred thing,A star twixt earth and heaven. Fourth, whomsoeverYe meet in Sherwood ye shall bring to dineWith Robin, saving carriers, posts and folkThat ride with food to serve the market townsOr any, indeed, that serve their fellow men.Fifth, you shall never do the poor man wrong,Nor spare a priest or usurer. You shall takeThe waste wealth of the rich to help the poor,The baron's gold to stock the widow's cupboard,The naked ye shall clothe, the hungry feed,And lastly shall defend with all your powerAll that are trampled under by the world,The old, the sick and all men in distress.
ROBIN
So, if it be no dream, we shall at lastHasten the kingdom of God's will on earth.There shall be no more talk of rich and poor,Norman and Saxon. We shall be one people,One family, clustering all with happy handsAnd faces round that glowing hearth, the sun.Now let the bugle sound a golden challengeTo the great world. Greenleaf, a forest call!
[Reynold Greenleafblows a resounding call.]
Now let the guards be set; and then, to sleep!To-morrow there'll be work enough for all.The hut for Jenny and Maid Marian!Come, you shall see how what we lack in hallsWe find in bowers. Look how from every branchSuch tapestries as kings could never buyWave in the starlight. You'll be waked at dawnBy feathered choirs whose notes were taught in heaven.
MUCH
Come, Jenny, come, we must prepare the hutFor Mistress Marian. Here's a bundle of ferns!
[They go into the hut. The light is growing dimmer and richer.]
LITTLE JOHN
And here's a red cramoisy cloak, a baron
[Handing them in at the door.]
Dropt, as he fled one night from Robin Hood;And here's a green, and here's a midnight blue,All soft as down. But wait, I'll get you more.
[Two of the Outlaws appear at the door with deerskins.Shadow-of-a-Leafstands behind them with a great bunch of flowers and ferns.]
FIRST OUTLAW
Here's fawn-skins, milder than a maiden's cheek.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Oh, you should talk in rhyme! The world should singJust for this once in tune, if Love were king!
SECOND OUTLAW
Here's deer-skins, for a carpet, smooth and meek.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
I knew you would! Ha! ha! Now look at what I bring!
[He throws flowers into the hut, spray by spray, speaking in a kind of ecstasy.]
Here's lavender and love and sweet wild thyme,And dreams and blue-bells that the fairies chime,Here's meadow-sweet and moonlight, bound in posies,With ragged robin, traveller's joy and roses,And here—just three leaves from a weeping willow;And here—that's best—deep poppies for your pillow.
MUCH
And here's a pillow that I made myself,Stuffed with dry rose-leaves and grey pigeon's down,The softest thing on earth except my heart!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[Going aside and throwing himself down among the ferns to watch.]
Just three sweet breaths and then the song is flown!
[Muchlooks at him for a moment with a puzzled face, then turns to the hut again.]
MUCH
Jenny, here, take it—though I'm fond of comforts,Take it and give it to Maid Marian.
JENNY
Why, Much, 'tis bigger than thyself.
MUCH
Hush, child.I meant to use it lengthways. 'Twould have madeA feather-bed complete for your poor Much,Take it!
[TheOutlawsall go into the cave.]
MARIAN
O Robin, what a fairy palace!How cold and grey the walls of castles seemBeside your forest's fragrant halls and bowers.I do not think that I shall be afraidTo sleep this night, as I have often beenBeneath our square bleak battlements.
ROBIN
And look,Between the boughs, there is your guard, all night,That great white star, white as an angel's wings,White as the star that shone on Bethlehem!Good-night, sweetheart, good-night!
MARIAN
Good-night!
ROBIN
One kiss!Oh, clear bright eyes, dear heavens of sweeter stars,Where angels play, and your own sweeter soulSmiles like a child into the face of God,Good-night! Good-night!
[Mariangoes into the hut. The door is shut.Robingoes to the mouth of the cave and throws himself down on a couch of deerskins. The light grows dimly rich and fairy-like.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
[Rising to his knees.]
Here comes the little cloud!
[A little moonlit cloud comes floating down between the tree-tops into the glade.Titaniais seen reposing upon it. She steps to earth. The cloud melts away.]
How blows the wind from fairyland, Titania?
TITANIA
Shadow-of-a-Leaf, the wicked queen has heardYour master's plan for saving poor Will Scarlet.She knows Maid Marian will be left alone,Unguarded in these woods. The wicked PrinceWill steal upon her loneliness. He plotsTo carry her away.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
What can we do?Can I not break my fairy vows and tell?
TITANIA
No, no; you cannot, even if you would,Convey our fairy lore to mortal ears.When have they heard our honeysuckle buglesBlowing reveille to the crimson dawn?We can but speak by dreams; and, if you spoke,They'd whip you, for your words would all ring falseLike sweet bells out of tune.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
What can we do?
TITANIA
Nothing, except on pain of death, to stayThe course of Time and Tide. There's Oberon!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Oberon!
TITANIA
He can tell you more than I.
[EnterOberon.]
OBERON
Where's Orchis? Where's our fairy trumpeterTo call the court together?
ORCHIS
Here, my liege.
OBERON
Bugle them hither; let thy red cheeks puffUntil thy curled petallic trumpet thrillMore loudly than a yellow-banded beeThro' all the clover clumps and boughs of thyme.They are scattered far abroad.
ORCHIS
My liege, it shallOutroar the very wasp!
[Exit.]
OBERON
[As he speaks, the fairies come flocking from all sides into the glade.]
Methinks they growToo fond of feasting. As I passed this wayI saw the fairy halls of hollowed oaksAll lighted with their pale green glow-worm lamps.And under great festoons of maiden-hairTheir brilliant mushroom tables groaned with food.Hundreds of rose-winged fairies banqueted!All Sherwood glittered with their prismy gobletsBrimming the thrice refined and luscious dewNot only of our own most purplest violets,But of strange fragrance, wild exotic nectars,Drawn from the fairy blossoms of some starBeyond our tree-tops! Ay, beyond that moonWhich is our natural limit—the big lampHeaven lights upon our boundary.
ORCHIS
Mighty King,The Court is all attendant on thy word.
OBERON
[With great dignity.]
Elves, pixies, nixies, gnomes and leprechauns,
[He pauses.]
We are met, this moonlight, for momentous councilsConcerning those two drowsy human lovers,Maid Marian and her outlawed Robin Hood.They are in dire peril; yet we may not breakOur vows of silence. Many a timeHas Robin Hood by kindly words and deedsDone in his human world, sent a new breathOf life and joy like Spring to fairyland;And at the moth-hour of this very dew-fall,He saved a fairy, whom he thought, poor soul,Only a may-fly in a spider's web,He saved her from the clutches of that Wizard,That Cruel Thing, that dark old Mystery,Whom ye all know and shrink from—
[Exclamations of horror from the fairies.]
Plucked her forth,So gently that not one bright rainbow gleamUpon her wings was clouded, not one flakeOf bloom brushed off—there lies the broken web.Go, look at it; and here is pale PerillaTo tell you all the tale.
[The fairies cluster to look at the web, etc.]
A FAIRY
Can we not make them freeOf fairyland, like Shadow-of-a-Leaf, to comeAnd go, at will, upon the wings of dreams?
OBERON
Not till they lose their wits like Shadow-of-a-Leaf.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Can I not break my fairy vows and tell?
OBERON
Only on pain of what we fairies callDeath!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Death?
OBERON
Never to join our happy revels,Never to pass the gates of fairylandAgain, but die like mortals. What that meansWe do not know—who knows?
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
If I could save them!—I am only Shadow-of-a-Leaf!
OBERON
There is a KingBeyond the seas. If he came home in time,All might be well. We fairies only catchStray gleams, wandering shadows of things to come.
TITANIA
Oh, if the King came home from the Crusade!
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Why will he fight for graves beyond the sea?
OBERON
Our elfin couriers brought the news at duskThat Lion-Heart, while wandering home thro' Europe,In jet-black armour, like an errant knight,Despite the great red cross upon his shield,Was captured by some wicked prince and thrustInto a dungeon. Only a song, they say,Can break those prison-bars. There is a minstrelThat loves his King. If he should roam the worldSinging until from that dark tower he hearsThe King reply, the King would be set free.
TITANIA
Only a song, only a minstrel?
OBERON
Ay;And Blondel is his name.
[A long, low sound of wailing is heard in the distance. The fairies shudder and creep together.]
TITANIA
Hark, what is that?
OBERON
The cry of the poor, the cry of the oppressed,The sound of women weeping for their children,The victims of the forest laws. The moanOf that dark world where mortals live and dieSweeps like an icy wind thro' fairyland.And oh, it may grow bitterer yet, that sound!'Twas Merlin's darkest prophecy that earthShould all be wrapped in smoke and fire, the woodsHewn down, the flowers discoloured and the sunBegrimed, until the rows of lifeless treesAgainst the greasy sunset seemed no moreThan sooty smudges of an ogre's thumbsUpon the sweating forehead of a slave.While, all night long, fed with the souls of men,And bodies, too, great forges blast and burnTill the great ogre's cauldrons brim with gold.
[The wailing sound is heard again in the distance.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
To be shut out for ever, only to hearThose cries! I am only Shadow-of-a-Leaf, the fool,I cannot face it! Is there no hope but this?No hope for Robin and Maid Marian?
OBERON
If the great King comes home from the CrusadeIn time! If not,—there is another KingBeyond the world, they say.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Death, that dark death!To leave the sunlight and the flowers for ever!I cannot bear it! Oh, I cannot tell them.I'll wait—perhaps the great King will come home,If not—Oh, hark, a wandering minstrel's voice?
OBERON
Who is drawing hither? Listen, fairies, listen!
[Song heard approaching thro' the wood.]
Knight on the narrow way,Where wouldst thou ride?"Onward," I heard him say,"Love, to thy side!"
"Nay," sang a bird above;"Stay, for I seeDeath in the mask of love,Waiting for thee."
[The song breaks off. Enter aMinstrel, leading a great white steed. He pauses, confronted by the fairy host. The moonlight dazzles him.]
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Minstrel, art thou, too, free of fairyland?Where wouldst thou ride? What is thy name?
MINSTREL
My nameIs Blondel.
SHADOW-OF-A-LEAF
Blondel!
THE FAIRIES
Blondel!
MINSTREL
And I rideThrough all the world to seek and find my King!
[He passes through the fairy host and goes into the woods on the further side of the glade, continuing his song, which dies away in the distance.]
[Song.]"Death? What is death?" he cried."I must ride on,On to my true love's side,Up to her throne!"[Curtain.]
Scene I.May-day. An open place (nearNottingham). A crowd of rustics and townsfolk assembling to see the execution ofWill Scarlet.