SCENE I
Scene.—A room with lighted fire, and a door into the open air, through which one sees, perhaps, the trees of a wood, and these trees should be painted in flat colour upon a gold or diapered sky. The walls are of one colour. The scent should have the effect of missal painting.Mary, awoman of forty years or so, is grinding a quern.
MARY
What can have made the grey hen flutter so?
(TEIG,a boy of fourteen, is coming in with turf, which he lays beside the hearth.)
TEIG
They say that now the land is famine struckThe graves are walking.
MARY
There is something that the hen hears.
TEIG
And that is not the worst; at Tubber-vanachA woman met a man with ears spread out,And they moved up and down like a bat's wing.
MARY
What can have kept your father all this while?
TEIG
Two nights ago, at Carrick-orus churchyard,A herdsman met a man who had no mouth,Nor eyes, nor ears; his face a wall of flesh;He saw him plainly by the light of the moon.
MARY
Look out, and tell me if your father's coming.
(TEIGgoes to door.)
TEIG
Mother!
MARY
What is it?
TEIG
In the bush beyond,There are two birds—if you can call them birds—I could not see them rightly for the leaves.But they've the shape and colour of horned owlsAnd I'm half certain they've a human face.
MARY
Mother of God, defend us!
TEIG
They're looking at me.What is the good of praying? father says.God and the Mother of God have dropped asleep.What do they care, he says, though the whole landSqueal like a rabbit under a weasel's tooth?
MARY
You'll bring misfortune with your blasphemiesUpon your father, or yourself, or me.I would to God he were home—ah, there he is.
(SHEMUScomes in.)
What was it kept you in the wood? You knowI cannot get all sorts of accidentsOut of my mind till you are home again.
SHEMUS
I'm in no mood to listen to your clatter.Although I tramped the woods for half a day,I've taken nothing, for the very rats,Badgers, and hedgehogs seem to have died of drought,And there was scarce a wind in the parched leaves.
TEIG
Then you have brought no dinner.
SHEMUS
After thatI sat among the beggars at the cross-roads,And held a hollow hand among the others.
MARY
What, did you beg?
SHEMUS
I had no chance to beg,For when the beggars saw me they cried outThey would not have another share their alms,And hunted me away with sticks and stones.
TEIG
You said that you would bring us food or money.
SHEMUS
What's in the house?
TEIG
A bit of mouldy bread.
MARY
There's flour enough to make another loaf.
TEIG
And when that's gone?
MARY
There is the hen in the coop.
SHEMUS
My curse upon the beggars, my curse upon them!
TEIG
And the last penny gone.
SHEMUS
When the hen's gone,What can we do but live on sorrel and dock,And dandelion, till our mouths are green?
MARY
God, that to this hour's found bit and sup,Will cater for us still.
SHEMUS
His kitchen's bare.There were five doors that I looked through this dayAnd saw the dead and not a soul to wake them.
MARY
Maybe He'd have us die because He knows,When the ear is stopped and when the eye is stopped,That every wicked sight is hid from the eye,And all fool talk from the ear.
SHEMUS
Who's passing there?And mocking us with music?
(A stringed instrument without.)
TEIG
A young man plays it,There's an old woman and a lady with him.
SHEMUS
What is the trouble of the poor to her?Nothing at all or a harsh radishy sauceFor the day's meat.
MARY
God's pity on the rich.Had we been through as many doors, and seenThe dishes standing on the polished woodIn the wax candle light, we'd be as hard,And there's the needle's eye at the end of all.
SHEMUS
My curse upon the rich.
TEIG
They're coming here.
SHEMUS
Then down upon that stool, down quick, I say,And call up a whey face and a whining voice,And let your head be bowed upon your knees.
MARY
Had I but time to put the place to rights.
(CATHLEEN, OONA,andALEELenter.)
CATHLEEN
God save all here. There is a certain house,An old grey castle with a kitchen garden,A cider orchard and a plot for flowers,Somewhere among these woods.
MARY
We know it, lady.A place that's set among impassable wallsAs though world's trouble could not find it out.
CATHLEEN
It may be that we are that trouble, for we—Although we've wandered in the wood this hour—Have lost it too, yet I should know my way,For I lived all my childhood in that house.
MARY
Then you are Countess Cathleen?
CATHLEEN
And this woman,Oona, my nurse, should have remembered it,For we were happy for a long time there.
OONA
The paths are overgrown with thickets now,Or else some change has come upon my sight.
CATHLEEN
And this young man, that should have known the woods—Because we met him on their border but now,Wandering and singing like a wave of the sea—Is so wrapped up in dreams of terrors to comeThat he can give no help.
MARY
You have still some way,But I can put you on the trodden pathYour servants take when they are marketing.But first sit down and rest yourself awhile,For my old fathers served your fathers, lady,Longer than books can tell—and it were strangeIf you and yours should not be welcome here.
CATHLEEN
And it were stranger still were I ungratefulFor such kind welcome—but I must be gone,For the night's gathering in.
SHEMUS
It is a long whileSince I've set eyes on bread or on what buys it.
CATHLEEN
So you are starving even in this wood,Where I had thought I would find nothing changed.But that's a dream, for the old worm o' the worldCan eat its way into what place it pleases.
(She gives money.)
TEIG
Beautiful lady, give me something too;I fell but now, being weak with hunger and thirstAnd lay upon the threshold like a log.
CATHLEEN
I gave for all and that was all I had.Look, my purse is empty. I have passedBy starving men and women all this day,And they have had the rest; but take the purse,The silver clasps on't may be worth a trifle.But if you'll come to-morrow to my houseYou shall have twice the sum.
(ALEELbegins to play.)
SHEMUS (muttering)
What, music, music!
CATHLEEN
Ah, do not blame the finger on the string;The doctors bid me fly the unlucky timesAnd find distraction for my thoughts, or elsePine to my grave.
SHEMUS
I have said nothing, lady.Why should the like of us complain?
OONA
Have done.Sorrows that she's but read of in a bookWeigh on her mind as if they had been her own.
(OONA, MARY, and CATHLEENgo out. ALEELlooks defiantly atSHEMUS.)
ALEEL (singing)
Were I but crazy for love's sakeI know who'd measure out his length,I know the heads that I should break,For crazy men have double strength.There! all's out now to leave or take,And who mocks music mocks at love;And when I'm crazy for love's sakeI'll not go far to choose.
(Snapping his fingers inSHEMUS'face.)
Enough!I know the heads that I shall break.
(He takes a step towards the door and then turns again.)
Shut to the door before the night has fallen,For who can say what walks, or in what shapeSome devilish creature flies in the air, but nowTwo grey-horned owls hooted above our heads.
(He goes out, his singing dies away.MARYcomes in. SHEMUShas been counting the money.)
SHEMUS
So that fool's gone.
TEIG
He's seen the horned owls too.There's no good luck in owls, but it may beThat the ill luck's to fall upon his head.
MARY
You never thanked her ladyship.
SHEMUS
Thank her,For seven halfpence and a silver bit?
TEIG
But for this empty purse?
SHEMUS
What's that for thanks,Or what's the double of it that she promised?With bread and flesh and every sort of foodUp to a price no man has heard the like ofAnd rising every day.
MARY
We have all she had;She emptied out the purse before our eyes.
SHEMUS (toMARY,who has gone to close the door)
Leave that door open.
MARY
When those that have read books,And seen the seven wonders of the world,Fear what's above or what's below the ground,It's time that poverty should bolt the door.
SHEMUS
I'll have no bolts, for there is not a thingThat walks above the ground or under itI had not rather welcome to this houseThan any more of mankind, rich or poor.
TEIG
So that they brought us money.
SHEMUS
I heard sayThere's something that appears like a white bird,A pigeon or a seagull or the like,But if you hit it with a stone or a stickIt clangs as though it had been made of brass,And that if you dig down where it was scratchingYou'll find a crock of gold.
TEIG
But dream of goldFor three nights running, and there's always gold.
SHEMUS
You might be starved before you've dug it out.
TEIG
But maybe if you called, something would come,They have been seen of late.
MARY
Is it call devils?Call devils from the wood, call them in here?
SHEMUS
So you'd stand up against me, and you'd sayWho or what I am to welcome here. (He hits her.)That is to show who's master.
TEIG
Call them in.
MARY
God help us all!
SHEMUS
Pray, if you have a mind to.It's little that the sleepy ears aboveCare for your words; but I'll call what I please.
TEIG
There is many a one, they say, had money from them.
SHEMUS (at door)
Whatever you are that walk the woods at night,So be it that you have not shouldered upOut of a grave—for I'll have nothing human—And have free hands, a friendly trick of speech,I welcome you. Come, sit beside the fire.What matter if your head's below your armsOr you've a horse's tail to whip your flank,Feathers instead of hair, that's but a straw,Come, share what bread and meat is in the house,And stretch your heels and warm them in the ashes.And after that, let's share and share alikeAnd curse all men and women. Come in, come in.What, is there no one there? (Turning from door)And yet they sayThey are as common as the grass, and rideEven upon the book in the priest's hand.
(TEIGlifts one arm slowly and points toward the door and begins moving backwards. SHEMUSturns, he also sees something and begins moving backward. MARYdoes the same. A man dressed as an Eastern merchant comes in carrying a small carpet. He unrolls it and sits cross-legged at one end of it. Another man dressed in the same way follows, and sits at the other end. This is done slowly and deliberately. When they are seated they take money out of embroidered purses at their girdles and begin arranging it on the carpet.)
TEIG
You speak to them.
SHEMUS
No, you.
TEIG
'Twas you that called them.
SHEMUS (coming nearer)
I'd make so bold, if you would pardon it,To ask if there's a thing you'd have of us.Although we are but poor people, if there is,Why, if there is——
FIRST MERCHANT
We've travelled a long road,For we are merchants that must tramp the world,And now we look for supper and a fireAnd a safe corner to count money in.
SHEMUS
I thought you were ... but that's no matter now—There had been words between my wife and meBecause I said I would be master here,And ask in what I pleased or who I pleasedAnd so.... but that is nothing to the point,Because it's certain that you are but merchants.
FIRST MERCHANT
We travel for the Master of all merchants.
SHEMUS
Yet if you were that I had thought but nowI'd welcome you no less. Be what you pleaseAnd you'll have supper at the market rate,That means that what was sold for but a pennyIs now worth fifty.
(MERCHANTSbegin putting money on carpet.)
FIRST MERCHANT
Our Master bids us paySo good a price, that all who deal with usShall eat, drink, and be merry.
SHEMUS (toMARY)
Bestir yourself,Go kill and draw the fowl, while Teig and ILay out the plates and make a better fire.
MARY
I will not cook for you.
SHEMUS
Not cook! not cook!Do not be angry. She wants to pay me backBecause I struck her in that argument.But she'll get sense again. Since the dearth cameWe rattle one on another as though we wereKnives thrown into a basket to be cleaned.
MARY
I will not cook for you, because I knowIn what unlucky shape you sat but nowOutside this door.
TEIG
It's this, your honours:Because of some wild words my father saidShe thinks you are not of those who cast a shadow.
SHEMUS
I said I'd make the devils of the woodWelcome, if they'd a mind to eat and drink;But it is certain that you are men like us.
FIRST MERCHANT
It's strange that she should think we cast no shadow,For there is nothing on the ridge of the worldThat's more substantial than the merchants areThat buy and sell you.
MARY
If you are not demons,And seeing what great wealth is spread out there,Give food or money to the starving poor.
FIRST MERCHANT
If we knew how to find deserving poorWe'd do our share.
MARY
But seek them patiently.
FIRST MERCHANT
We know the evils of mere charity.
MARY
Those scruples may befit a common time.I had thought there was a pushing to and fro,At times like this, that overset the scaleAnd trampled measure down.
FIRST MERCHANT
But if alreadyWe'd thought of a more prudent way than that?
SECOND MERCHANT
If each one brings a bit of merchandise,We'll give him such a price he never dreamt of.
MARY
Where shall the starving come at merchandise?
FIRST MERCHANT
We will ask nothing but what all men have.
MARY
Their swine and cattle, fields and implementsAre sold and gone.
FIRST MERCHANT
They have not sold all yet.For there's a vaporous thing—that may be nothing,But that's the buyer's risk—a second self,They call immortal for a story's sake.
SHEMUS
They come to buy our souls?
TEIG
I'll barter mine.Why should we starve for what may be but nothing?
MARY
Teig and Shemus——
SHEMUS
What can it be but nothing?What has God poured out of His bag but famine?Satan gives money.
TEIG
Yet no thunder stirs.
FIRST MERCHANT
There is a heap for each.
(SHEMUSgoes to take money.)
But no, not yet,For there's a work I have to set you to.
SHEMUS
So then you're as deceitful as the rest,And all that talk of buying what's but a vapourIs fancy bread. I might have known as much,Because that's how the trick-o'-the-loop man talks.
FIRST MERCHANT
That's for the work, each has its separate price;But neither price is paid till the work's done.
TEIG
The same for me.
MARY
Oh, God, why are you still?
FIRST MERCHANT
You've but to cry aloud at every cross-road,At every house door, that we buy men's souls.And give so good a price that all may liveIn mirth and comfort till the famine's done,Because we are Christian men.
SHEMUS
Come, let's away.
TEIG
I shall keep running till I've earned the price.
SECOND MERCHANT
(who has risen and gone towards fire)
Stop; you must have proof behind the words.So here's your entertainment on the road.
(He throws a bag of money on the ground.)
Live as you please; our Master's generous.
(TEIG and SHEMUShave stopped. TEIGtakes the money. They go out.)
MARY
Destroyers of souls, God will destroy you quickly.You shall at last dry like dry leaves and hangNailed like dead vermin to the doors of God.
SECOND MERCHANT
Curse to your fill, for saints will have their dreams.
FIRST MERCHANT
Though we're but vermin that our Master sentTo overrun the world, he at the endShall pull apart the pale ribs of the moonAnd quench the stars in the ancestral night.
MARY
God is all powerful.
SECOND MERCHANT
Pray, you shall need Him.You shall eat dock and grass, and dandelion,Till that low threshold there becomes a wall,And when your hands can scarcely drag your bodyWe shall be near you.
(MARYfaints.)
(TheFIRST MERCHANTtakes up the carpet, spreads it before the fire and stands in front of it warming his hands.)
FIRST MERCHANT
Our faces go unscratched,Wring the neck o' that fowl, scatter the flourAnd look if there is bread upon the shelves.We'll turn the fowl upon the spit and roast it,And eat the supper we were bidden to,Now that the house is quiet, praise our Master,And stretch and warm our heels among the ashes.
END OF SCENE I.