SCENE: _Before dawn a few hours later. A wild, rocky place._ NANNY
_and_ BIDDY LALLY _squatting by fire. Rich stuffs, etc., strewn about._
PAUDEEN _sitting, watching by_ MARTIN, _who is lying, as if dead, a
sack over him._
NANNY [_to_ PAUDEEN]. Well, you are great heroes and great warriors
and great lads altogether to have put down the Browns the way you did,
yourselves and the Whiteboys of the quarry. To have ransacked the house
and have plundered it! Look at the silks and the satins and the
grandeurs I brought away! Look at that now! [_Holds up a velvet
cloak._] It's a good little jacket for myself will come out of it. It's
the singers will be stopping their songs and the jobbers turning from
their cattle in the fairs to be taking a view of the laces of it and
the buttons! It's my far-off cousins will be drawing from far and near!
BIDDY. There was not so much gold in it all as what they were saying
there was. Or maybe that fleet of Whiteboys had the place ransacked
before we ourselves came in. Bad cess to them that put it in my mind to
go gather up the full of my bag of horseshoes out of the forge. Silver
they were saying they were, pure white silver; and what are they in the
end but only hardened iron! A bad end to them! [_Flings away
horseshoes._] The time I will go robbing big houses again it will not
be in the light of the full moon I will go doing it, that does be
causing every common thing to shine out as if for a deceit and a
mockery. It's not shining at all they are at this time, but duck yellow
and dark.
NANNY. To leave the big house blazing after us, it was that crowned
all! Two houses to be burned to ashes in the one night. It is likely
the servant-girls were rising from the feathers, and the cocks crowing
from the rafters for seven miles around, taking the flames to be the
whitening of the dawn.
BIDDY. It is the lad is stretched beyond you have to be thankful to for
that. There was never seen a leader was his equal for spirit and for
daring! Making a great scatter of the guards the way he did! Running up
roofs and ladders, the fire in his hand, till you'd think he would be
apt to strike his head against the stars.
NANNY. I partly guessed death was near him, and the queer shining look
he had in his two eyes, and he throwing sparks east and west through
the beams. I wonder now was it some inward wound he got, or did some
hardy lad of the Browns give him a tip on the skull unknownst in the
fight? It was I myself found him, and the troop of the Whiteboys gone,
and he lying by the side of a wall as weak as if he had knocked a
mountain. I failed to waken him, trying him with the sharpness of my
nails, and his head fell back when I moved it, and I knew him to be
spent and gone.
BIDDY. It's a pity you not to have left him where he was lying, and
said no word at all to Paudeen or to that son you have, that kept us
back from following on, bringing him here to this shelter on sacks and
upon poles.
NANNY. What way could I help letting a screech out of myself and the
life but just gone out of him in the darkness, and not a living
Christian by his side but myself and the great God?
BIDDY. It's on ourselves the vengeance of the red soldiers will fall,
they to find us sitting here the same as hares in a tuft. It would be
best for us follow after the rest of the army of the Whiteboys.
NANNY. Whist, I tell you! The lads are cracked about him. To get but
the wind of the word of leaving him, it's little but they'd knock the
head off the two of us. Whist!
[_Enter_ JOHNNY B. _with candles._]
JOHNNY B. [_standing over_ MARTIN]. Wouldn't you say now there was some
malice or some venom in the air, that is striking down one after the
other the whole of the heroes of the Gael?
PAUDEEN. It makes a person be thinking of the four last ends, death and
judgment, heaven and hell. Indeed and indeed my heart lies with him. It
is well I knew what man he was under his by-name and his disguise.
[_Sings._]
Oh, Johnny Gibbons, it's you were the prop to us!
You to have left us we are put astray!
JOHNNY B. It is lost we are now and broken to the end of our days.
There is no satisfaction at all but to be destroying the English; and
where now will we get so good a leader again? Lay him out fair and
straight upon a stone, till I will let loose the secret of my heart
keening him! [_Sets out candles on a rack, propping them with stones._]
NANNY. Is it mould candles you have brought to set around him, Johnny
Bacach? It is great riches you should have in your pocket to be going
to those lengths and not to be content with dips.
JOHNNY B. It is lengths I will not be going to the time the life will
be gone out of your own body. It is not your corpse I will be wishful
to hold in honour the way I hold this corpse in honour.
NANNY. That's the way always: there will be grief and quietness in the
house if it is a young person has died, but funning and springing and
tricking one another if it is an old person's corpse is in it. There is
no compassion at all for the old.
PAUDEEN. It is he would have got leave for the Gael to be as high as
the Gall. Believe me, he was in the prophecies. Let you not be
comparing yourself with the like of him.
NANNY. Why wouldn't I be comparing myself? Look at all that was against
me in the world; would you be matching me against a man of his sort
that had the people shouting for him and that had nothing to do but to
die and to go to heaven?
JOHNNY B. The day you go to heaven that you may never come back alive
out of it! But it is not yourself will ever hear the saints hammering
at their musics! It is you will be moving through the ages chains upon
you, and you in the form of a dog or a monster! I tell you, that one
will go through purgatory as quick as lightning through a thorn bush.
NANNY. That's the way, that's the way:
Three that are watching my time to run
The worm, the devil, and my son.
To see a loop around their neck
It's that would make my heart to leap!
JOHNNY B. Five white candles. I wouldn't begrudge them to him, indeed.
If he had held out and held up, it is my belief he would have freed
Ireland!
PAUDEEN. Wait till the full light of the day and you'll see the burying
he'll have. It is not in this place we will be waking him. I'll make a
call to the two hundred Ribbons he was to lead on to the attack on the
barracks at Aughanish. They will bring him marching to his grave upon
the hill. He had surely some gift from the other world, I wouldn't say
but he had power from the other side.
ANDREW [_coming in, very shaky_]. Well, it was a great night he gave
to the village, and it is long till it will be forgotten. I tell you
the whole of the neighbours are up against him. There is no one at all
this morning to set the mills going. There was no bread baked in the
night-time; the horses are not fed in the stalls; the cows are not
milked in the sheds. I met no man able to make a curse this night but
he put it on my own head and on the head of the boy that is lying there
before us.... Is there no sign of life in him at all?
JOHNNY B. What way would there be a sign of life and the life gone out
of him this three hours or more?
ANDREW. He was lying in his sleep for a while yesterday, and he wakened
again after another while.
NANNY. He will not waken. I tell you I held his hand in my own and it
getting cold as if you were pouring on it the coldest cold water, and
no running in his blood. He is gone sure enough, and the life is gone
out of him.
ANDREW. Maybe so, maybe so. It seems to me yesterday his cheeks were
bloomy all the while, and now he is as pale as wood-ashes. Sure we all
must come to it at the last. Well, my white-headed darling, it is you
were the bush among us all, and you to be cut down in your prime.
Gentle and simple, everyone liked you. It is no narrow heart you had;
it is you were for spending and not for getting. It is you made a good
wake for yourself, scattering your estate in one night only in beer and
in wine for the whole province; and that you may be sitting in the
middle of paradise and in the chair of the graces!
JOHNNY B. Amen to that. It's pity I didn't think the time I sent for
yourself to send the little lad of a messenger looking for a priest to
overtake him. It might be in the end the Almighty is the best man for
us all!
ANDREW. Sure I sent him on myself to bid the priest to come. Living or
dead, I would wish to do all that is rightful for the last and the best
of my own race and generation.
BIDDY [_jumping up_]. Is it the priest you are bringing in among us?
Where is the sense in that? Aren't we robbed enough up to this with the
expense of the candles and the like?
JOHNNY B. If it is that poor, starved priest he called to that came
talking in secret signs to the man that is gone, it is likely he will
ask nothing for what he has to do. There is many a priest is a Whiteboy
in his heart.
NANNY. I tell you, if you brought him tied in a bag he would not say an
Our Father for you, without you having a half crown at the top of your
fingers.
BIDDY. There is no priest is any good at all but a spoiled priest; a
one that would take a drop of drink, it is he would have courage to
face the hosts of trouble. Rout them out he would, the same as a shoal
of fish from out the weeds. It's best not to vex a priest, or to run
against them at all.
NANNY. It's yourself humbled yourself well to one the time you were
sick in the gaol and had like to die, and he bade you to give over the
throwing of the cups.
BIDDY. Ah, plaster of Paris I gave him. I took to it again and I free
upon the roads.
NANNY. Much good you are doing with it to yourself or any other one.
Aren't you after telling that corpse no later than yesterday that he
was coming within the best day of his life?
JOHNNY B. Whist, let ye! Here is the priest coming.
[FATHER JOHN _comes in._]
FATHER JOHN. It is surely not true that he is dead?
JOHNNY B. The spirit went from him about the middle hour of the night.
We brought him here to this sheltered place. We were loth to leave him
without friends.
FATHER JOHN. Where is he?
JOHNNY B. [_taking up sacks_]. Lying there, stiff and stark. He has a
very quiet look, as if there was no sin at all or no great trouble upon
his mind.
FATHER JOHN [_kneels and touches him_]. He is not dead.
BIDDY [_pointing to_ NANNY]. He is dead. If it was letting on he was,
he would not have let that one rob him and search him the way she did.
FATHER JOHN. It has the appearance of death, but it is not death. He is
in a trance.
PAUDEEN. Is it heaven and hell he is walking at this time to be
bringing back newses of the sinners in pain?
BIDDY. I was thinking myself it might away he was, riding on white
horses with the riders of the forths.
JOHNNY B. He will have great wonders to tell out the time he will rise
up from the ground. It is a pity he not to waken at this time and to
lead us on to overcome the troop of the English. Sure those that are in
a trance get strength that they can walk on water.
ANDREW. It was Father John wakened him yesterday the time he was lying
in the same way. Wasn't I telling you it was for that I called to him?
BIDDY. Waken him now till they'll see did I tell any lie in my
foretelling. I knew well by the signs he was coming within the best day
of his life.
PAUDEEN. And not dead at all! We'll be marching to attack Dublin itself
within a week. The horn will blow for him, and all good men will gather
to him. Hurry on, Father, and waken him.
FATHER JOHN. I will not waken him. I will not bring him back from where
he is.
JOHNNY B. And how long will it be before he will waken of himself?
FATHER JOHN. Maybe to-day, maybe to-morrow; it is hard to be certain.
BIDDY. If it is _away_ he is, he might be away seven years. To be lying
like a stump of a tree and using no food and the world not able to
knock a word out of him, I know the signs of it well.
JOHNNY B. We cannot be waiting and watching through seven years. If the
business he has started is to be done, we have to go on here and now.
The time there is any delay, that is the time the Government will get
information. Waken him now, Father, and you'll get the blessing of the
generations.
FATHER JOHN. I will not bring him back. God will bring him back in His
own good time. For all I know he may be seeing the hidden things of
God.
JOHNNY B. He might slip away in his dream. It is best to raise him up
now.
ANDREW. Waken him, Father John. I thought he was surely dead this time;
and what way could I go face Thomas through all that is left of my
lifetime after me standing up to face him the way I did? And if I do
take a little drop of an odd night, sure I'd be very lonesome if I did
not take it. All the world knows it's not for love of what I drink, but
for love of the people that do be with me! Waken him, Father, or maybe
I would waken him myself. [_Shakes him._]
FATHER JOHN. Lift your hand from touching him. Leave him to himself and
to the power of God.
JOHNNY B. If you will not bring him back, why wouldn't we ourselves do
it? Go on now, it is best for you to do it yourself.
FATHER JOHN. I woke him yesterday. He was angry with me; he could not
get to the heart of the command.
JOHNNY B. If he did not, he got a command from myself that satisfied
him, and a message.
FATHER JOHN. He did ... he took it from you ... and how do I know what
devil's message it may have been that brought him into that devil's
work, destruction and drunkenness and burnings! That was not a message
from heaven! It was I awoke him; it was I kept him from hearing what
was maybe a divine message, a voice of truth; and he heard you speak,
and he believed the message was brought by you. You have made use of
your deceit and his mistaking ... you have left him without house or
means to support him, you are striving to destroy and to drag him to
entire ruin. I will not help you, I would rather see him die in his
trance and go into God's hands than awake him and see him go into
hell's mouth with vagabonds and outcasts like you!
JOHNNY B. [_turning to_ BIDDY]. You should have knowledge, Biddy Lally,
of the means to bring back a man that is away.
BIDDY. The power of the earth will do it through its herbs, and the
power of the air will do it kindling fire into flame.
JOHNNY B. Rise up and make no delay. Stretch out and gather a handful
of an herb that will bring him back from whatever place he is in.
BIDDY. Where is the use of herbs and his teeth clenched the way he
could not use them?
JOHNNY B. Take fire so in the devil's name and put it to the soles of
his feet. [_Takes lighted sod from fire._]
FATHER JOHN. Let him alone, I say!
[_Dashes away the sod._]
JOHNNY B. I will not leave him alone! I will not give in to leave him
swooning there and the country waiting for him to awake!
FATHER JOHN. I tell you I awoke him! I sent him into thieves' company!
I will not have him wakened again and evil things, it may be, waiting
to take hold of him! Back from him, back, I say! Will you dare to lay a
hand on me? You cannot do it! You cannot touch him against my will!
BIDDY. Mind yourself; don't be bringing us under the curse of the
church.
[JOHNNY _falls back_. MARTIN _moves._]
FATHER JOHN. It is God has him in His care. It is He is awaking him.
[MARTIN _has risen to his elbow._] Do not touch him, do not speak to
him, he may be hearing great secrets.
MARTIN. That music, I must go nearer ... sweet, marvellous music ...
louder than the trampling of the unicorns ... far louder, though the
mountain is shaking with their feet ... high, joyous music.
FATHER JOHN. Hush, he is listening to the music of heaven!
MARTIN. Take me to you, musicians, wherever you are! I will go nearer
to you; I hear you better now, more and more joyful; that is strange,
it is strange.
FATHER JOHN. He is getting some secret.
MARTIN. It is the music of paradise, that is certain, somebody said
that. It is certainly the music of paradise. Ah, now I hear, now I
understand. It is made of the continual clashing of swords!
JOHNNY B. That is the best music. We will clash them sure enough. We
will clash our swords and our pikes on the bayonets of the red
soldiers. It is well you rose up from the dead to lead us! Come on now,
come on!
MARTIN. Who are you? Ah, I remember.... Where are you asking me to come
to?
PAUDEEN. To come on, to be sure, to the attack on the barracks at
Aughanish. To carry on the work you took in hand last night.
MARTIN. What work did I take in hand last night? Oh, yes, I remember
... some big house ... we burned it down.... But I had not understood
the vision when I did that. I had not heard the command right. That was
not the work I was sent to do.
PAUDEEN. Rise up now and bid us what to do. Your great name itself will
clear the road before you. It is you yourself will have freed all
Ireland before the stooks will be in stacks!
MARTIN. Listen, I will explain ... I have misled you. It is only now I
have the whole vision plain. As I lay there I saw through everything, I
know all. It was but a frenzy, that going out to burn and to destroy.
What have I to do with the foreign army? What I have to pierce is the
wild heart of time. My business is not reformation but revelation.
JOHNNY B. If you are going to turn back now from leading us, you are no
better than any other traitor that ever gave up the work he took in
hand. Let you come and face now the two hundred men you brought out,
daring the power of the law last night, and give them your reason for
failing them.
MARTIN. I was mistaken when I set out to destroy church and law. The
battle we have to fight is fought out in our own minds. There is a
fiery moment, perhaps once in a lifetime, and in that moment we see the
only thing that matters. It is in that moment the great battles are
lost and won, for in that moment we are a part of the host of heaven.
PAUDEEN. Have you betrayed us to the naked hangman with your promises
and with your drink? If you brought us out here to fail us and to
ridicule us, it is the last day you will live!
JOHNNY B. The curse of my heart on you! It would be right to send you
to your own place on the flagstone of the traitors in hell. When once I
have made an end of you, I will be as well satisfied to be going to my
death for it as if I was going home!
MARTIN. Father John, Father John, can you not hear? Can you not see?
Are you blind? Are you deaf?
FATHER JOHN. What is it? What is it?
MARTIN. There on the mountain, a thousand white unicorns trampling; a
thousand riders with their swords drawn ... the swords clashing! Oh,
the sound of the swords, the sound of the clashing of the swords! [_He
goes slowly off stage._]
[JOHNNY B. _takes up a stone to throw at him._]
FATHER JOHN [_seizing his arm_]. Stop ... do you not see he is beyond
the world?
BIDDY. Keep your hand off him, Johnny Bacach. If he is gone wild and
cracked, that's natural. Those that have been wakened from a trance on
a sudden are apt to go bad and light in the head.
PAUDEEN. If it is madness is on him, it is not he himself should pay
the penalty.
BIDDY. To prey on the mind it does, and rises into the head. There are
some would go over any height and would have great power in their
madness. It is maybe to some secret cleft he is going to get knowledge
of the great cure for all things, or of the Plough that was hidden in
the old times, the Golden Plough.
PAUDEEN. It seemed as if he was talking through honey. He had the look
of one that had seen great wonders. It is maybe among the old heroes of
Ireland he went raising armies for our help.
FATHER JOHN. God take him in His care and keep him from lying spirits
and from all delusions.
JOHNNY B. We have got candles here, Father. We had them to put around
his body. Maybe they would keep away the evil things of the air.
_Paudeen._ Light them so, and he will say out a Mass for him the same
as in a lime-washed church.
[_They light the candles on the rock._ THOMAS _comes in._]
THOMAS. Where is he? I am come to warn him. The destruction he did in
the night-time has been heard of. The soldiers are out after him and
the constables ... there are two of the constables not far off ...
there are others on every side ... they heard he was here in the
mountain ... where is he?
FATHER JOHN. He has gone up the path.
THOMAS. Hurry after him! Tell him to hide himself ... this attack he
had a hand in is a hanging crime.... Tell him to hide himself, to come
to me when all is quiet ... bad as his doings are, he is my own
brother's son; I will get him on to a ship that will be going to
France.
FATHER JOHN. That will be best; send him back to the Brothers and to
the wise Bishops. They can unravel this tangle. I cannot; I cannot be
sure of the truth.
THOMAS. Here are the constables; he will see them and get away.... Say
no word.... The Lord be praised that he is out of sight.
[CONSTABLES _come in._]
CONSTABLE. The man we are looking for, where is he? He was seen coming
here along with you. You have to give him up into the power of the law.
JOHNNY B. We will not give him up! Go back out of this or you will be
sorry.
PAUDEEN. We are not in dread of you or the like of you.
BIDDY. Throw them down over the rocks!
NANNY. Give them to the picking of the crows!
ALL. Down with the law!
FATHER JOHN. Hush! He is coming back. [_To_ CONSTABLES.] Stop, stop ...
leave him to himself. He is not trying to escape; he is coming towards
you.
PAUDEEN. There is a sort of a brightness about him. I misjudged him
calling him a traitor. It is not to this world he belongs at all. He is
over on the other side.
[MARTIN _has come in. He stands higher than the others upon
some rocks._]
MARTIN. _Ex calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est!_
FATHER JOHN. I must know what he has to say. It is not from himself he
is speaking.
MARTIN. Father John, heaven is not what we have believed it to be. It
is not quiet; it is not singing and making music and all strife at an
end. I have seen it, I have been there. The lover still loves, but with
a greater passion; and the rider still rides, but the horse goes like
the wind and leaps the ridges; and the battle goes on always, always.
That is the joy of heaven, continual battle. I thought the battle was
here, and that the joy was to be found here on earth, that all one had
to do was to bring again the old, wild earth of the stories, but no, it
is not here; we shall not come to that joy, that battle, till we have
put out the senses, everything that can be seen and handled, as I put
out this candle. [_He puts out candle._] We must put out the whole
world as I put out this candle [_he puts out candle_]; we must put out
the light of the stars and the light of the sun and the light of the
moon [_he puts out the remaining candles and comes down to where the
others are_], till we have brought everything to nothing once again. I
saw in a broken vision, but now all is clear to me. Where there is
nothing, where there is nothing ... there is God!
CONSTABLE. Now we will take him!
JOHNNY B. We will never give him up to the law!
PAUDEEN. Make your escape! We will not let you be followed.
[_They struggle with_ CONSTABLES; _the women help them; all
disappear, struggling. There is a shot._ MARTIN _falls dead.
Beggars come back with a shout._]
JOHNNY B. We have done for them; they will not meddle with you again.
PAUDEEN. Oh, he is down!
FATHER JOHN. He is shot through the breast. Oh, who has dared meddle
with a soul that was in the tumults on the threshold of sanctity?
JOHNNY B. It was that gun went off and I striking it from the
constable's hand.
MARTIN [_looking at his hand, on which there is blood_]. Ah, that is
blood! I fell among the rocks. It is a hard climb. It is a long climb
to the vineyards of Eden. Help me up. I must go on. The Mountain of
Abiegnos is very high ... but the vineyards ... the vineyards!
[_He falls back, dead. The men uncover their heads._]
PAUDEEN [_to_ BIDDY]. It was you misled him with your foretelling that
he was coming within the best day of his life.
JOHNNY B. Madness on him or no madness, I will not leave that body to
the law to be buried with a dog's burial or brought away and maybe
hanged upon a tree. Lift him on the sacks; bring him away to the
quarry; it is there on the hillside the boys will give him a great
burying, coming on horses and bearing white rods in their hands.
[_They lift him and carry the body away, singing._]
Our hope and our darling, our heart dies with you.
You to have failed us, we are foals astray!
FATHER JOHN. He is gone, and we can never know where that vision came
from. I cannot know; the wise Bishops would have known.
THOMAS [_taking up banner_]. To be shaping a lad through his lifetime,
and he to go his own way at the last, and a queer way. It is very queer
the world itself is, whatever shape was put upon it at the first!
ANDREW. To be too headstrong and too open, that is the beginning of
trouble. To keep to yourself the thing that you know, and to do in
quiet the thing you want to do, there would be no disturbance at all in
the world, all people to bear that in mind!
CURTAIN
CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN
CHARACTERS
PETER GILLANE.
MICHAEL GILLANE _his son, going to be married_.
PATRICK GILLANE _a lad of twelve, Michael's brother_.
BRIDGET GILLANE _Peter's wife_.
DELIA CAHEL _engaged to_ MICHAEL.
THE POOR OLD WOMAN.
NEIGHBOURS.
SCENE: _Interior of a cottage close to Killala, in 1798._ BRIDGET _is
standing at a table undoing a parcel._ PETER _is sitting at one side of
the fire,_ PATRICK _at the other_.
PETER. What is that sound I hear?
PATRICK. I don't hear anything. [_He listens._] I hear it now. It's
like cheering. [_He goes to the window and looks out._] I wonder what
they are cheering about. I don't see anybody.
PETER. It might be a hurling match.
PATRICK. There's no hurling to-day. It must be down in the town the
cheering is.
BRIDGET. I suppose the boys must be having some sport of their own.
Come over here, Peter, and look at Michael's wedding-clothes.
PETER [_shifts his chair to table_]. Those are grand clothes, indeed.
BRIDGET. You hadn't clothes like that when you married me, and no coat
to put on of a Sunday any more than any other day.
PETER. That is true, indeed. We never thought a son of our own would be
wearing a suit of that sort for his wedding, or have so good a place to
bring a wife to.
PATRICK [_who is still at the window_]. There's an old woman coming
down the road. I don't know, is it here she's coming?
BRIDGET. It will be a neighbour coming to hear about Michael's wedding.
Can you see who it is?
PATRICK. I think it is a stranger, but she's not coming to the house.
She's turned into the gap that goes down where Murteen and his sons are
shearing sheep. [_He turns towards_ BRIDGET.] Do you remember what
Winny of the Cross Roads was saying the other night about the strange
woman that goes through the country whatever time there's war or
trouble coming?
BRIDGET. Don't be bothering us about Winny's talk, but go and open the
door for your brother. I hear him coming up the path.
PETER. I hope he has brought Delia's fortune with him safe, for fear
her people might go back on the bargain and I after making it. Trouble
enough I had making it.
[PATRICK _opens the door and_ MICHAEL _comes in._]
BRIDGET. What kept you, Michael? We were looking out for you this long
time.
MICHAEL. I went round by the priest's house to bid him be ready to
marry us to-morrow.
BRIDGET. Did he say anything?
MICHAEL. He said it was a very nice match, and that he was never better
pleased to marry any two in his parish than myself and Delia Cahel.
PETER. Have you got the fortune, Michael?
MICHAEL. Here it is.
[_He puts bag on table and goes over and leans against the
chimney-jamb._ BRIDGET, _who has been all this time examining
the clothes, pulling the seams and trying the lining of the
pockets, etc., puts the clothes on the dresser._]
PETER [_getting up and taking the bag in his hand and turning out the
money_]. Yes, I made the bargain well for you, Michael. Old John Cahel
would sooner have kept a share of this awhile longer. "Let me keep the
half of it till the first boy is born," says he. "You will not," says
I. "Whether there is or is not a boy, the whole hundred pounds must be
in Michael's hands before he brings your daughter in the house." The
wife spoke to him then, and he gave in at the end.
BRIDGET. You seem well pleased to be handling the money, Peter.
PETER. Indeed, I wish I had had the luck to get a hundred pounds, or
twenty pounds itself, with the wife I married.
BRIDGET. Well, if I didn't bring much I didn't get much. What had you
the day I married you but a flock of hens and you feeding them, and a
few lambs and you driving them to the market at Ballina? [_She is vexed
and bangs a jug on the dresser._] If I brought no fortune, I worked it
out in my bones, laying down the baby, Michael that is standing there
now, on a stook of straw, while I dug the potatoes, and never asking
big dresses or anything but to be working.
PETER. That is true, indeed. [_He pats her arm._]
BRIDGET. Leave me alone now till I ready the house for the woman that
is to come into it.
PETER. You are the best woman in Ireland, but money is good, too. [_He
begins handling the money again and sits down._] I never thought to see
so much money within my four walls. We can do great things now we have
it. We can take the ten acres of land we have a chance of since Jamsie
Dempsey died, and stock it. We will go to the fair of Ballina to buy
the stock. Did Delia ask any of the money for her own use, Michael?
MICHAEL. She did not, indeed. She did not seem to take much notice of
it, or to look at it at all.
BRIDGET. That's no wonder. Why would she look at it when she had
yourself to look at, a fine, strong young man? It is proud she must be
to get you, a good steady boy that will make use of the money, and not
be running through it or spending it on drink like another.
PETER. It's likely Michael himself was not thinking much of the fortune
either, but of what sort the girl was to look at.
MICHAEL [_coming over towards the table_]. Well, you would like a nice
comely girl to be beside you, and to go walking with you. The fortune
only lasts for a while, but the woman will be there always.
[_Cheers._]
PATRICK [_turning round from the window_]. They are cheering again
down in the town. Maybe they are landing horses from Enniscrone. They
do be cheering when the horses take the water well.
MICHAEL. There are no horses in it. Where would they be going and no
fair at hand? Go down to the town, Patrick, and see what is going on.
PATRICK [_opens the door to go out, but stops for a moment on the
threshold_]. Will Delia remember, do you think, to bring the greyhound
pup she promised me when she would be coming to the house?
MICHAEL. She will surely.
[PATRICK _goes out, leaving the door open._]
PETER. It will be Patrick's turn next to be looking for a fortune, but
he won't find it so easy to get it and he with no place of his own.
BRIDGET. I do be thinking sometimes, now things are going so well with
us, and the Cahels such a good back to us in the district, and Delia's
own uncle a priest, we might be put in the way of making Patrick a
priest some day, and he so good at his books.
PETER. Time enough, time enough; you have always your head full of
plans, Bridget.
BRIDGET. We will be well able to give him learning, and not to send him
trampling the country like a poor scholar that lives on charity.
[_Cheers._]
MICHAEL. They're not done cheering yet.
[_He goes over to the door and stands there for a moment,
putting up his hand to shade his eyes._]
BRIDGET. Do you see anything?
MICHAEL. I see an old woman coming up the path.
BRIDGET. Who is it, I wonder. It must be the strange woman Patrick saw
awhile ago.
MICHAEL. I don't think it's one of the neighbours anyway, but she has
her cloak over her face.
BRIDGET. It might be some poor woman heard we were making ready for the
wedding and came to look for her share.
PETER. I may as well put the money out of sight. There is no use
leaving it out for every stranger to look at.
[_He goes over to a large box in the corner, opens it, and
puts the bag in and fumbles at the lock._]
MICHAEL. There she is, father! [_An_ Old Woman _passes the window
slowly; she looks at_ MICHAEL _as she passes._] I'd sooner a stranger
not to come to the house the night before my wedding.
BRIDGET. Open the door, Michael; don't keep the poor woman waiting.
[_The_ OLD WOMAN _comes in._ MICHAEL _stands aside to make
way for her._]
OLD WOMAN. God save all here!
PETER. God save you kindly!
OLD WOMAN. You have good shelter here.
PETER. You are welcome to whatever shelter we have.
BRIDGET. Sit down there by the fire and welcome.
OLD WOMAN [_warming her hands_]. There is a hard wind outside.
[MICHAEL _watches her curiously from the door_. PETER _comes
over to the table._]
PETER. Have you travelled far to-day?
OLD WOMAN. I have travelled far, very far; there are few have travelled
so far as myself, and there's many a one that doesn't make me welcome.
There was one that had strong sons I thought were friends of mine, but
they were shearing their sheep, and they wouldn't listen to me.
PETER. It's a pity indeed for any person to have no place of their own.
OLD WOMAN. That's true for you indeed, and it's long I'm on the roads
since I first went wandering.
BRIDGET. It is a wonder you are not worn out with so much wandering.
OLD WOMAN. Sometimes my feet are tired and my hands are quiet, but
there is no quiet in my heart. When the people see me quiet, they think
old age has come on me and that all the stir has gone out of me. But
when the trouble is on me I must be talking to my friends.
BRIDGET. What was it put you wandering?
OLD WOMAN. Too many strangers in the house.
BRIDGET. Indeed you look as if you'd had your share of trouble.
OLD WOMAN. I have had trouble indeed.
BRIDGET. What was it put the trouble on you?
OLD WOMAN. My land that was taken from me.
PETER. Was it much land they took from you?
OLD WOMAN. My four beautiful green fields.
PETER [_aside to_ BRIDGET]. Do you think could she be the widow Casey
that was put out of her holding at Kilglass awhile ago?
BRIDGET. She is not. I saw the widow Casey one time at the market in
Ballina, a stout fresh woman.
PETER [_to_ OLD WOMAN]. Did you hear a noise of cheering, and you
coming up the hill?
OLD WOMAN. I thought I heard the noise I used to hear when my friends
came to visit me. [_She begins singing half to herself._]
I will go cry with the woman,
For yellow-haired Donough is dead,
With a hempen rope for a neckcloth,
And a white cloth on his head,--
MICHAEL [_coming from the door_]. What is that you are singing, ma'am?
OLD WOMAN. Singing I am about a man I knew one time, yellow-haired
Donough, that was hanged in Galway. [_She goes on singing, much
louder._]
I am come to cry with you, woman,
My hair is unwound and unbound;
I remember him ploughing his field,
Turning up the red side of the ground,
And building his barn on the hill
With the good mortared stone;
O! we'd have pulled down the gallows
Had it happened in Enniscrone!
MICHAEL. What was it brought him to his death?
OLD WOMAN. He died for love of me: many a man has died for love of me.
PETER [_aside to_ BRIDGET]. Her trouble has put her wits astray.
MICHAEL. Is it long since that song was made? Is it long since he got
his death?
OLD WOMAN. Not long, not long. But there were others that died for love
of me a long time ago.
MICHAEL. Were they neighbours of your own, ma'am?
OLD WOMAN. Come here beside me and I'll tell you about them. [MICHAEL
_sits down beside her at the hearth._] There was a red man of the
O'Donnells from the north, and a man of the O'Sullivans from the south,
and there was one Brian that lost his life at Clontarf by the sea, and
there were a great many in the west, some that died hundreds of years
ago, and there are some that will die to-morrow.
MICHAEL. Is it in the west that men will die to-morrow?
OLD WOMAN. Come nearer, nearer to me.
BRIDGET. Is she right, do you think? Or is she a woman from beyond the
world?
PETER. She doesn't know well what she's talking about, with the want
and the trouble she has gone through.
BRIDGET. The poor thing, we should treat her well.
PETER. Give her a drink of milk and a bit of the oaten cake.
BRIDGET. Maybe we should give her something along with that, to bring
her on her way. A few pence, or a shilling itself, and we with so much
money in the house.
PETER. Indeed I'd not begrudge it to her if we had it to spare, but if
we go running through what we have, we'll soon have to break the
hundred pounds, and that would be a pity.
BRIDGET. Shame on you, Peter. Give her the shilling, and your blessing
with it, or our own luck will go from us.
[PETER _goes to the box and takes out a shilling._]
BRIDGET [_to the_ OLD WOMAN]. Will you have a drink of milk?
OLD WOMAN. It is not food or drink that I want.
PETER [_offering the shilling_]. Here is something for you.
OLD WOMAN. That is not what I want. It is not silver I want.
PETER. What is it you would be asking for?
OLD WOMAN. If anyone would give me help he must give me himself, he
must give me all.
[PETER _goes over to the table, staring at the shilling in
his hand in a bewildered way, and stands whispering to_
BRIDGET.]
MICHAEL. Have you no one to care you in your age, ma'am?
OLD WOMAN. I have not. With all the lovers that brought me their love,
I never set out the bed for any.
MICHAEL. Are you lonely going the roads, ma'am?
OLD WOMAN. I have my thoughts and I have my hopes.
MICHAEL. What hopes have you to hold to?
OLD WOMAN. The hope of getting my beautiful fields back again; the hope
of putting the strangers out of my house.
MICHAEL. What way will you do that, ma'am?
OLD WOMAN. I have good friends that will help me. They are gathering to
help me now. I am not afraid. If they are put down to-day, they will
get the upper hand to-morrow. [_She gets up._] I must be going to meet
my friends. They are coming to help me, and I must be there to welcome
them. I must call the neighbours together to welcome them.
MICHAEL. I will go with you.
BRIDGET. It is not her friends you have to go and welcome, Michael; it
is the girl coming into the house you have to welcome. You have plenty
to do, it is food and drink you have to bring to the house. The woman
that is coming home is not coming with empty hands; you would not have
an empty house before her. [_To the_ OLD WOMAN.] Maybe you don't know,
ma'am, that my son is going to be married to-morrow.
OLD WOMAN. It is not a man going to his marriage that I look to for
help.
PETER [_to_ BRIDGET]. Who is she, do you think, at all?
BRIDGET. You did not tell us your name yet, ma'am.
OLD WOMAN. Some call me the Poor Old Woman, and there are some that
call me Cathleen, the daughter of Houlihan.
PETER. I think I knew someone of that name once. Who was it, I wonder?
It must have been someone I knew when I was a boy. No, no, I remember,
I heard it in a song.
OLD WOMAN [_who is standing in the doorway_]. They are wondering that
there were songs made for me; there have been many songs made for me. I
heard one on the wind this morning. [_She sings._]
Do not make a great keening
When the graves have been dug to-morrow.
Do not call the white-scarfed riders
To the burying that shall be to-morrow.
Do not spread food to call strangers
To the wakes that shall be to-morrow;
Do not give money for prayers
For the dead that shall die to-morrow ...
they will have no need of prayers, they will have no need of prayers.
MICHAEL. I do not know what that song means, but tell me something I
can do for you.
PETER. Come over to me, Michael.
MICHAEL. Hush, father, listen to her.
OLD WOMAN. It is a hard service they take that help me. Many that are
red-cheeked now will be pale-cheeked; many that have been free to walk
the hills and the bogs and the rushes will be sent to walk hard streets
in far countries; many a good plan will be broken; many that have
gathered money will not stay to spend it; many a child will be born,
and there will be no father at its christening to give it a name. They
that had red cheeks will have pale cheeks for my sake; and for all
that, they will think they are well paid.
[_She goes out; her voice is heard outside singing._]
They shall be remembered for ever,
They shall be alive for ever,
They shall be speaking for ever,
The people shall hear them for ever.
BRIDGET [_to_ PETER]. Look at him, Peter; he has the look of a man
that has got the touch. [_Raising her voice._] Look here, Michael, at
the wedding-clothes. Such grand clothes as these are. You have a right
to fit them on now; it would be a pity to-morrow if they did not fit.
The boys would be laughing at you. Take them, Michael, and go into the
room and fit them on. [_She puts them on his arm._]
MICHAEL. What wedding are you talking of? What clothes will I be
wearing to-morrow?
BRIDGET. These are the clothes you are going to wear when you marry
Delia Cahel to-morrow.
MICHAEL. I had forgotten that.
[_He looks at the clothes and turns towards the inner room,
but stops at the sound of cheering outside._]
PETER. There is the shouting come to our own door. What is it has
happened?
[PATRICK _and_ DELIA _come in._]
PATRICK. There are ships in the Bay; the French are landing at Killala!
[PETER _takes his pipe from his mouth and his hat off, and
stands up. The clothes slip from_ MICHAEL's _arm._]
DELIA. Michael! [_He takes no notice._] Michael! [_He turns towards
her._] Why do you look at me like a stranger?
[_She drops his arm_. BRIDGET _goes over towards her._]
PATRICK. The boys are all hurrying down the hillsides to join the
French.
DELIA. Michael won't be going to join the French.
BRIDGET [_to_ PETER]. Tell him not to go, Peter.
PETER. It's no use. He doesn't hear a word we're saying.
BRIDGET. Try and coax him over to the fire.
DELIA. Michael! Michael! You won't leave me! You won't join the French,
and we going to be married!
[_She puts her arms about him; he turns towards her as if
about to yield._ OLD WOMAN's _voice outside._]
They shall be speaking for ever,
The people shall hear them for ever.
[MICHAEL _breaks away from_ DELIA _and goes out._]
PETER [_to_ PATRICK, _laying a hand on his arm_]. Did you see an old
woman going down the path?
PATRICK. I did not, but I saw a young girl, and she had the walk of a
queen.
THE HOUR-GLASS:
A MORALITY
CHARACTERS
A WISE MAN.
SOME PUPILS.
A FOOL.
AN ANGEL.
THE WISE MAN'S WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN.
SCENE: _A large room with a door at the back and another at the side or
else a curtained place where the persons can enter by parting the
curtains. A desk and a chair at one side. An hour-glass on a stand near
the door. A creepy stool near it. Some benches. A_ WISE MAN _sitting at
his desk._
WISE M. [_turning over the pages of a book_]. Where is that passage I
am to explain to my pupils to-day? Here it is, and the book says that
it was written by a beggar on the walls of Babylon: "There are two
living countries, the one visible and the one invisible; and when it is
winter with us it is summer in that country, and when the November
winds are up among us it is lambing time there." I wish that my pupils
had asked me to explain any other passage. [_The_ FOOL _comes in and
stands at the door holding out his hat. He has a pair of shears in the
other hand._] It sounds to me like foolishness; and yet that cannot be,
for the writer of this book, where I have found so much knowledge,
would not have set it by itself on this page, and surrounded it with so
many images and so many deep colours and so much fine gilding, if it
had been foolishness.
FOOL. Give me a penny.
WISE M. [_turns to another page_]. Here he has written: "The learned in
old times forgot the visible country." That I understand, but I have
taught my learners better.
FOOL. Won't you give me a penny?
WISE M. What do you want? The words of the wise Saracen will not teach
you much.
FOOL. Such a great wise teacher as you are will not refuse a penny to a
Fool.
WISE M. What do you know about wisdom?
FOOL. Oh, I know! I know what I have seen.
WISE M. What is it you have seen?
FOOL. When I went by Kilcluan where the bells used to be ringing at the
break of every day, I could hear nothing but the people snoring in
their houses. When I went by Tubbervanach where the young men used to
be climbing the hill to the blessed well, they were sitting at the
crossroads playing cards. When I went by Carrigoras, where the friars
used to be fasting and serving the poor, I saw them drinking wine and
obeying their wives. And when I asked what misfortune had brought all
these changes, they said it was no misfortune, but it was the wisdom
they had learned from your teaching.
WISE M. Run round to the kitchen, and my wife will give you something
to eat.
FOOL. That is foolish advice for a wise man to give.
WISE M. Why, Fool?
FOOL. What is eaten is gone. I want pennies for my bag. I must buy
bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and strong drink for the
time when the sun is weak. And I want snares to catch the rabbits and
the squirrels and the hares, and a pot to cook them in.
WISE M. Go away. I have other things to think of now than giving you
pennies.
FOOL. Give me a penny and I will bring you luck. Bresal the Fisherman
lets me sleep among the nets in his loft in the winter-time because he
says I bring him luck; and in the summer-time the wild creatures let me
sleep near their nests and their holes. It is lucky even to look at me
or to touch me, but it is much more lucky to give me a penny. [_Holds
out his hand._] If I wasn't lucky, I'd starve.
WISE M. What have you got the shears for?
FOOL. I won't tell you. If I told you, you would drive them away.
WISE M. Whom would I drive away?
FOOL. I won't tell you.
WISE M. Not if I give you a penny?
FOOL. No.
WISE M. Not if I give you two pennies?
FOOL. You will be very lucky if you give me two pennies, but I won't
tell you!
WISE M. Three pennies?
FOOL. Four, and I will tell you!
WISE M. Very well, four. But I will not call you Teigue the Fool any
longer.
FOOL. Let me come close to you where nobody will hear me. But first you
must promise you will not drive them away. [WISE M. _nods._] Every day
men go out dressed in black and spread great black nets over the hills,
great black nets.
WISE M. Why do they do that?
FOOL. That they may catch the feet of the angels. But every morning,
just before the dawn, I go out and cut the nets with my shears, and the
angels fly away.
WISE M. Ah, now I know that you are Teigue the Fool. You have told me
that I am wise, and I have never seen an angel.
FOOL. I have seen plenty of angels.
WISE M. Do you bring luck to the angels too?
FOOL. Oh, no, no! No one could do that. But they are always there if
one looks about one; they are like the blades of grass.
WISE M. When do you see them?
FOOL. When one gets quiet, then something wakes up inside one,
something happy and quiet like the stars--not like the seven that move,
but like the fixed stars. [_He points upward._]
WISE M. And what happens then?
FOOL. Then all in a minute one smells summer flowers, and tall people
go by, happy and laughing, and their clothes are the colour of burning
sods.
WISE M. Is it long since you have seen them, Teigue the Fool?
FOOL. Not long, glory be to God! I saw one coming behind me just now.
It was not laughing, but it had clothes the colour of burning sods, and
there was something shining about its head.
WISE M. Well, there are your four pennies. You, a fool, say "glory be
to God," but before I came the wise men said it.
FOOL. Four pennies! That means a great deal of luck. Great teacher, I
have brought you plenty of luck!
[_He goes out shaking the bag._]
WISE M. Though they call him Teigue the Fool, he is not more foolish
than everybody used to be, with their dreams and their preachings and
their three worlds; but I have overthrown their three worlds with the
seven sciences. [_He touches the books with his hands._] With
Philosophy that was made from the lonely star, I have taught them to
forget Theology; with Architecture, I have hidden the ramparts of their
cloudy heaven; with Music, the fierce planets' daughter whose hair is
always on fire, and with Grammar that is the moon's daughter, I have
shut their ears to the imaginary harpings and speech of the angels; and
I have made formations of battle with Arithmetic that have put the
hosts of heaven to the rout. But, Rhetoric and Dialectic, that have
been born out of the light star and out of the amorous star, you have
been my spear-man and my catapult! Oh! my swift horsemen! Oh! my keen
darting arguments, it is because of you that I have overthrown the
hosts of foolishness! [_An_ Angel, _in a dress the colour of embers,
and carrying a blossoming apple bough in her hand and a gilded halo
about her head, stands upon the threshold._] Before I came, men's minds
were stuffed with folly about a heaven where birds sang the hours, and
about angels that came and stood upon men's thresholds. But I have
locked the visions into heaven and turned the key upon them. Well, I
must consider this passage about the two countries. My mother used to
say something of the kind. She would say that when our bodies sleep our
souls awake, and that whatever withers here ripens yonder, and that
harvests are snatched from us that they may feed invisible people. But
the meaning of the book may be different, for only fools and women have
thoughts like that; their thoughts were never written upon the walls of
Babylon. I must ring the bell for my pupils. [_He sees the_ ANGEL.]
What are you? Who are you? I think I saw some that were like you in my
dreams when I was a child--that bright thing, that dress that is the
colour of embers! But I have done with dreams, I have done with dreams.
ANGEL. I am the Angel of the Most High God.
WISE M. Why have you come to me?
ANGEL. I have brought you a message.
WISE M. What message have you got for me?
ANGEL. You will die within the hour. You will die when the last grains
have fallen in this glass. [_She turns the hour-glass._]
WISE M. My time to die has not come. I have my pupils. I have a young
wife and children that I cannot leave. Why must I die?
ANGEL. You must die because no souls have passed over the threshold of
Heaven since you came into this country. The threshold is grassy, and
the gates are rusty, and the angels that keep watch there are lonely.
WISE M. Where will death bring me to?
ANGEL. The doors of Heaven will not open to you, for you have denied
the existence of Heaven; and the doors of Purgatory will not open to
you, for you have denied the existence of Purgatory.
WISE M. But I have also denied the existence of Hell!
ANGEL. Hell is the place of those who deny.
WISE M. [_kneels_]. I have, indeed, denied everything, and have taught
others to deny. I have believed in nothing but what my senses told me.
But, oh! beautiful Angel, forgive me, forgive me!
ANGEL. You should have asked forgiveness long ago.
WISE M. Had I seen your face as I see it now, oh! beautiful angel, I
would have believed, I would have asked forgiveness. Maybe you do not
know how easy it is to doubt. Storm, death, the grass rotting, many
sicknesses, those are the messengers that came to me. Oh! why are you
silent? You carry the pardon of the Most High; give it to me! I would
kiss your hands if I were not afraid--no, no, the hem of your dress!
ANGEL. You let go undying hands too long ago to take hold of them now.
WISE M. You cannot understand. You live in that country people only see
in their dreams. Maybe it is as hard for you to understand why we
disbelieve as it is for us to believe. Oh! what have I said! You know
everything! Give me time to undo what I have done. Give me a year--a
month--a day--an hour! Give me to this hour's end, that I may undo what
I have done!
ANGEL. You cannot undo what you have done. Yet I have this power with
my message. If you can find one that believes before the hour's end,
you shall come to Heaven after the years of Purgatory. For, from one
fiery seed, watched over by those that sent me, the harvest can come
again to heap the golden threshing floor. But now farewell, for I am
weary of the weight of time.
WISE M. Blessed be the Father, blessed be the Son, blessed be the
Spirit, blessed be the Messenger They have sent!
ANGEL [_at the door and pointing at the hour-glass_]. In a little
while the uppermost glass will be empty. [_Goes out._]
WISE M. Everything will be well with me. I will call my pupils; they
only say they doubt. [_Pulls the bell._] They will be here in a moment.
They want to please me; they pretend that they disbelieve. Belief is
too old to be overcome all in a minute. Besides, I can prove what I
once disproved. [_Another pull at the bell._] They are coming now. I
will go to my desk. I will speak quietly, as if nothing had happened.
[_He stands at the desk with a fixed look in his eyes. The
voices of the pupils are heard outside singing these words._]
I was going the road one day,
O the brown and the yellow beer,
And I met with a man that was no right man
O my dear, O my dear.
[_The sound grows louder as they come nearer, but ceases on
the threshold._]
_Enter_ PUPILS _and the_ FOOL.
FOOL. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Who is that pulling at my bag?
King's son, do not pull at my bag.
A YOUNG MAN. Did your friends the angels give you that bag? Why don't
they fill your bag for you?
FOOL. Give me pennies! Give me some pennies!
A YOUNG M. What do you want pennies for?--that great bag at your waist
is heavy.
FOOL. I want to buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and
strong drink for the time when the sun is weak, and snares to catch
rabbits and the squirrels that steal the nuts, and hares, and a great
pot to cook them in.
A YOUNG M. Why don't your friends tell you where buried treasures are?
Why don't they make you dream about treasures? If one dreams three
times there is always treasure.
FOOL [_holding out his hat_]. Give me pennies! Give me pennies!
[_They throw pennies into his hat. He is standing close to
the door, that he may hold out his hat to each newcomer._]
A YOUNG M. Master, will you have Teigue the Fool for a scholar?
ANOTHER YOUNG M. Teigue, will you give us your pennies if we teach you
lessons? No, he goes to school for nothing on the mountains. Tell us
what you learn on the mountains, Teigue.
WISE M. Be silent all! [_He has been standing silent, looking away._]
Stand still in your places, for there is something I would have you
tell me.
[_A moment's pause. They all stand round in their places._
TEIGUE _still stands at the door._]
WISE M. Is there anyone amongst you who believes in God? In Heaven? Or
in Purgatory? Or in Hell?
ALL THE YOUNG MEN. No one, Master! No one!
WISE M. I knew you would all say that; but do not be afraid. I will not
be angry. Tell me the truth. Do you not believe?
A YOUNG M. We once did, but you have taught us to know better.
WISE M. Oh, teaching! teaching does not go very deep! The heart remains
unchanged under it all. You have the faith that you have always had,
and you are afraid to tell me.
A YOUNG M. No, no, Master!
WISE M. If you tell me that you have not changed, I shall be glad and
not angry.
A YOUNG M. [_to his_ NEIGHBOUR]. He wants somebody to dispute with.
HIS NEIGHBOUR. I knew that from the beginning.
A YOUNG M. That is not the subject for to-day; you were going to talk
about the words the beggar wrote upon the walls of Babylon.
WISE M. If there is one amongst you that believes, he will be my best
friend. Surely there is one amongst you. [_They are all silent._]
Surely what you learned at your mother's knees has not been so soon
forgotten.
A YOUNG M. Master, till you came, no teacher in this land was able to
get rid of foolishness and ignorance. But every one has listened to
you, every one has learned the truth. You have had your last
disputation.
ANOTHER. What a fool you made of that monk in the market-place! He had
not a word to say.
WISE M. [_comes from his desk and stands among them in the middle of
the room_]. Pupils, dear friends, I have deceived you all this time. It
was I myself who was ignorant. There is a God. There is a Heaven. There
is fire that passes and there is fire that lasts for ever.
[TEIGUE, _through all this, is sitting on a stool by the
door, reckoning on his fingers what he will buy with his
money._]
A YOUNG M. [_to_ Another]. He will not be satisfied till we dispute
with him. [_To the_ WISE MAN.] Prove it, Master. Have you seen them?
WISE M. [_in a low, solemn voice_]. Just now, before you came in,
someone came to the door, and when I looked up I saw an angel standing
there.
A YOUNG M. You were in a dream. Anybody can see an angel in his dreams.
WISE M. Oh, my God! It was not a dream! I was awake, waking as I am
now. I tell you I was awake as I am now.
A YOUNG M. Some dream when they are awake, but they are the crazy, and
who would believe what they say? Forgive me, Master, but that is what
you taught me to say. That is what you said to the monk when he spoke
of the visions of the saints and the martyrs.
ANOTHER YOUNG M. You see how well we remember your teaching.
WISE M. Out, out from my sight! I want someone with belief. I must find
that grain the Angel spoke of before I die. I tell you I must find it,
and you answer me with arguments. Out with you, out of my sight! [_The_
YOUNG MEN _laugh._]
A YOUNG M. How well he plays at faith! He is like the monk when he had
nothing more to say.
WISE M. Out, out, this is no time for laughter! Out with you, though
you are a king's son! [_They begin to hurry out._]
A YOUNG M. Come, come; he wants us to find someone who will dispute
with him.
[_All go out._]
WISE M. [_alone; he goes to the door at the side_]. I will call my
wife. She will believe; women always believe. [_He opens the door and
calls._] Bridget! Bridget! [BRIDGET _comes in, wearing her apron, her
sleeves turned up from her floury arms._] Bridget, tell me the truth;
do not say what you think will please me. Do you sometimes say your
prayers?
BRIDGET. Prayers! No, you taught me to leave them off long ago. At
first I was sorry, but I am glad now, for I am sleepy in the evening.
WISE M. But do you not believe in God?
BRIDGET. Oh, a good wife only believes what her husband tells her!
WISE M. But sometimes, when you are alone, when I am in the school and
the children asleep, do you not think about the saints, about the
things you used to believe in? What do you think of when you are alone?
BRIDGET [_considering_]. I think about nothing. Sometimes I wonder if
the linen is bleaching white, or I go out to see if the cows are
picking up the chickens' food.
WISE M. Oh, what can I do! Is there nobody who believes he can never
die? I must go and find somebody! [_He goes towards the door, but stops
with his eyes fixed on the hour-glass._] I cannot go out; I cannot
leave that; go and call my pupils again--I will make them understand--I
will say to them that only amid spiritual terror, or only when all that
laid hold on life is shaken can we see truth--but no, do not call them,
they would answer as I have bid.
BRIDGET. You want somebody to get up an argument with.
WISE M. Oh, look out of the door and tell me if there is anybody there
in the street! I cannot leave this glass; somebody might shake it! Then
the sand would fall more quickly.
BRIDGET. I don't understand what you are saying. [_Looks out._] There
is a great crowd of people talking to your pupils.
WISE M. Oh, run out, Bridget, and see if they have found somebody that
all the time while I was teaching understood nothing or did not listen.
BRIDGET [_wiping her arms in her apron and pulling down her sleeves_].
It's a hard thing to be married to a man of learning that must be
always having arguments. [_Goes out and shouts through the kitchen
door._] Don't be meddling with the bread, children, while I'm out.
WISE M. [_kneels down_]. "_Confiteor Deo omnipotente beatae Mariae...._"
I have forgotten it all. It is thirty years since I have said a prayer.
I must pray in the common tongue, like a clown begging in the market,
like Teigue the Fool! [_He prays._] Help me, Father, Son, and Spirit!
[BRIDGET _enters, followed by the_ FOOL, _who is holding out
his hat to her._]
FOOL. Give me something; give me a penny to buy bacon in the shops, and
nuts in the market, and strong drink for the time when the sun is weak.
BRIDGET. I have no pennies. [_To the_ WISE MAN.] Your pupils cannot
find anybody to argue with you. There is nobody in the whole country
who has enough belief to fill a pipe with since you put down the monk.
Can't you be quiet now and not always wanting to have arguments? It
must be terrible to have a mind like that.
WISE M. I am lost! I am lost!
BRIDGET. Leave me alone now; I have to make the bread for you and the
children.
WISE M. Out of this, woman, out of this, I say! [BRIDGET _goes through
the kitchen door._] Will nobody find a way to help me! But she spoke of
my children. I had forgotten them. They will believe. It is only those
who have reason that doubt; the young are full of faith. Bridget,
Bridget, send my children to me.
BRIDGET [_inside_]. Your father wants you; run to him now.
[_The two_ CHILDREN _come in. They stand together a little
way from the threshold of the kitchen door, looking timidly
at their father._]
WISE M. Children, what do you believe? Is there a Heaven? Is there a
Hell? Is there a Purgatory?
FIRST CHILD. We haven't forgotten, father.
THE OTHER CHILD. Oh, no, father. [_They both speak together, as if in
school._] There is nothing we cannot see; there is nothing we cannot
touch.
FIRST CHILD. Foolish people used to think that there was, but you are
very learned and you have taught us better.
WISE M. You are just as bad as the others, just as bad as the others!
Do not run away; come back to me. [_The_ CHILDREN _begin to cry and run
away._] Why are you afraid? I will teach you better--no, I will never
teach you again. Go to your mother! no, she will not be able to teach
them.... Help them, O God!... The grains are going very quickly. There
is very little sand in the uppermost glass. Somebody will come for me
in a moment; perhaps he is at the door now! All creatures that have
reason doubt. O that the grass and the plants could speak! Somebody has
said that they would wither if they doubted. O speak to me, O grass
blades! O fingers of God's certainty, speak to me! You are millions and
you will not speak. I dare not know the moment the messenger will come
for me. I will cover the glass. [_He covers it and brings it to the
desk. Sees the_ FOOL, _who is sitting by the door playing with some
flowers which he has stuck in his hat. He has begun to blow a dandelion
head._] What are you doing?
FOOL. Wait a moment. [_He blows._] Four, five, six.
WISE M. What are you doing that for?
FOOL. I am blowing at the dandelion to find out what time it is.
WISE M. You have heard everything! That is why you want to find out
what hour it is! You are waiting to see them coming through the door to
carry me away. [FOOL _goes on blowing._] Out through the door with you!
I will have no one here when they come. [_He seizes the_ FOOL _by the
shoulders, and begins to force him out through the door, then suddenly
changes his mind._] No, I have something to ask you. [_He drags him
back into the room._] Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is there a
Purgatory?
FOOL. So you ask me now. When you were asking your pupils, I said to
myself, if he would ask Teigue the Fool, Teigue could tell him all
about it, for Teigue has learned all about it when he has been cutting
the nets.
WISE M. Tell me; tell me!
FOOL. I said, Teigue knows everything. Not even the cats or the hares
that milk the cows have Teigue's wisdom. But Teigue will not speak; he
says nothing.
WISE M. Tell me, tell me! For under the cover the grains are falling,
and when they are all fallen I shall die; and my soul will be lost if I
have not found somebody that believes! Speak, speak!
FOOL [_looking wise_]. No, no, I won't tell you what is in my mind,
and I won't tell you what is in my bag. You might steal away my
thoughts. I met a bodach on the road yesterday, and he said, "Teigue,
tell me how many pennies are in your bag; I will wager three pennies
that there are not twenty pennies in your bag; let me put in my hand
and count them." But I pulled the strings tighter, like this; and when
I go to sleep every night I hide the bag where no one knows.
WISE M. [_goes towards the hour-glass as if to uncover it_]. No, no, I
have not the courage. [_He kneels._] Have pity upon me, Fool, and tell
me!
FOOL. Ah! Now, that is different. I am not afraid of you now. But I
must come nearer to you; somebody in there might hear what the Angel
said.
WISE M. Oh, what did the Angel tell you?
FOOL. Once I was alone on the hills, and an angel came by and he said,
"Teigue the Fool, do not forget the Three Fires; the Fire that
punishes, the Fire that purifies, and the Fire wherein the soul
rejoices for ever!"
WISE M. He believes! I am saved! The sand has run out.... [FOOL _helps
him to his chair._] I am going from the country of the seven wandering
stars, and I am going to the country of the fixed stars!... I
understand it all now. One sinks in on God; we do not see the truth;
God sees the truth in us. Ring the bell. [FOOL _rings bell._] Are they
coming? Tell them, Fool, that when the life and the mind are broken the
truth comes through them like peas through a broken peascod. Pray,
Fool, that they may be given a sign and carry their souls alive out of
the dying world. Your prayers are better than mine.
[FOOL _bows his head_. WISE MAN's _head sinks on his arm on
the books_. PUPILS _are heard singing as before, but now they
come right into the room before they cease their song._]
A YOUNG MAN. Look at the Fool turned bell-ringer!
ANOTHER. What have you called us in for, Teigue? What are you going to
tell us?
ANOTHER. No wonder he has had dreams! See, he is fast asleep now.
[_Goes over and touches him._] Oh, he is dead!
FOOL. Do not stir! He asked for a sign that you might be saved. [_All
are silent for a moment._] ... Look what has come from his mouth ... a
little winged thing ... a little shining thing.... It is gone to the
door. [_The_ ANGEL _appears in the doorway, stretches out her hands and
closes them again._] The Angel has taken it in her hands.... She will
open her hands in the Garden of Paradise. [_They all kneel._]
CURTAIN
* * * * *
BY ALFRED NOYES
Poems
With an Introduction by HAMILTON W. MABIE
_Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net_
"Imagination, the capacity to perceive vividly and feel sincerely, and
the gift of fit and beautiful expression in verse-form--if these may be
taken as the equipment of a poet, nearly all of this volume is poetry.
And if to the sum of these be added the indescribable increment of
charm which comes occasionally to the work of some poet, quite unearned
by any of these catalogued qualities of his, you have a fair measure of
Mr. Noyes at his best.... Two considerations render Mr. Noyes
interesting above most poets: the wonderful degree in which the
personal charm illumines what he has already written, and the surprises
which one feels may be in store in his future work. His feelings have
already so much variety and so much apparent sincerity that it is
impossible to tell in what direction his genius will develop. In
whatever style he writes,--the mystical, the historical-dramatic, the
impassioned description of natural beauty, the ballad, the love
lyric,--he has the peculiarity of seeming in each style to have found
the truest expression of himself."--_Louisville Courier-Journal._
_PUBLISHED BY_
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
MR. ALFRED NOYES'S POEMS
The Flower of Old Japan
Contains also "Forest of Wild Thyme," of which the _Argonaut_ says: "It
is not only an exquisite piece of work, but it is a psychological
analysis of the child-mind so daring and yet so convincing as to lift
it to the plane where the masterpieces of literature dwell. It can be
read with delight by a child of ten. It is put into the mouth of a
child of about that age, but the adult must be strangely constituted
who can remain indifferent to its haunting spell or who can resist the
fascination which lies in its every page."
"We are reminded both of Stevenson--to whom Mr. Noyes pays a glowing
tribute--and Lewis Carroll; yet there is no imitation; Mr. Noyes has a
distinct poetic style of his own.... In a matter-of-fact age such verse
as this is an oasis in a desert land."--_Providence Journal._
"It has seemed to us from the first that Noyes has been one of the most
hope-inspiring figures in our latter-day poetry. He, almost alone, of
the younger men seems to have the true singing voice, the gift of
uttering in authentic lyric cry some fresh, unspoiled
emotion."--_Post._
Mr. Richard Le Gallienne in the _North American Review_ pointed out
recently "their spontaneous power and freshness, their imaginative
vision, their lyrical magic." He adds: "Mr. Noyes is surprisingly
various. I have seldom read one book, particularly by so young a
writer, in which so many different things are done, and all done so
well.... But that for which one is most grateful to Mr. Noyes in his
strong and brilliant treatment of all his rich material, is the gift by
which, in my opinion, he stands alone among the younger poets of the
day, his lyrical gift."
_Cloth, 12mo, $1.25 net_
_PUBLISHED BY_
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
Lyrical and Dramatic Poems
BY W. B. YEATS
_In two volumes; each, $1.75 net_
The two-volume edition of the Irish poet's works includes everything he
has done in verse up to the present time. The first volume contains his
lyrics; the second includes all of his five dramas in verse: "The
Countess Cathleen," "The Land of Heart's Desire," "The King's
Threshold," "On Baile's Strand," and "The Shadowy Waters."
William Butler Yeats stands among the few men to be reckoned with in
modern poetry, especially of a dramatic character. The _New York Sun_,
for example, refers to him as "an important factor in English
literature," and continues:--
"'Cathleen ni Hoolihan' is a perfect piece of artistic work, poetic
and wonderfully dramatic to read, and, we should imagine, far more
dramatic in the acting. Maeterlinck has never done anything so true
or effective as this short prose drama of Mr. Yeats's. There is not
a superfluous word in the play and no word that does not tell. It
must be dangerous to represent it in Ireland, for it is an Irish
Marseillaise.... In 'The Hour Glass' a noble and poetic idea is
carried out effectively, while 'A Pot of Broth' is merely a
dramatized humorous anecdote. But 'Cathleen ni Hoolihan' stirs the
blood, and in itself establishes Mr. Yeats's reputation for good."
The _New York Herald_ remarks:--
"Mr. Yeats is probably the most important as well as the most
widely known of the men concerned directly in the so-called Celtic
renaissance. More than this, he stands among the few men to be
reckoned with in modern poetry."
_PUBLISHED BY_
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
A History of English Poetry
BY W. J. COURTHOPE, C.B., D.Litt., LL.D.
Late Professor of Poetry in the University of Oxford
_Cloth, 8vo, $3.25 net per volume_
VOLUME I. The Middle Ages--Influence of the Roman Empire--The
Encyclopaedic Education of the Church--The Feudal System.
VOLUME II. The Renaissance and the Reformation--Influence of the Court
and the Universities.
VOLUME III. English Poetry in the Seventeenth Century--Decadent
Influence of the Feudal Monarchy--Growth of the National Genius.
VOLUME IV. Development and Decline of the Poetic Drama--Influence of
the Court and the People.
VOLUME V. The Constitutional Compromise of the Eighteenth
Century--Effects of the Classical Renaissance--Its Zenith and
Decline--The Early Romantic Renaissance.
* * *
"It is his privilege to have made a contribution of great value and
signal importance to the history of English Literature."--_Pall Mall
Gazette._
_PUBLISHED BY_
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
64-66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK