GIMEL-- (_To Suk._)
She's taken it with her. She knew
If we should get out in the air--
KILO-- Come here.
GIMEL--She'd never see us in this cave again.
VOICE-- (_To the left, in a monotone._)
A rat and a cat and a cat and a mouse.
SUK--I wonder when she's going to make us broth.
GIMEL--She said we'd be as thin as chestnut leaves
Before she put the cauldron on again.
SUK--How can we toil when fire won't burn,
When Loki's hammers are soft as lead,
When her charms all fail wherever we turn,
When blight won't gather and murrain won't spread?
How can we toil when there's not a Nix
But turns to stone at a crucifix?
(_From the left, Zory enters._)
ZIP--What are you chewing, Zory?
ZORY-- Slippery elm.
GIMEL--She's scared herself at the pesky thing.
Often as here by the coals she's sat
Crunching her pignuts and stroking her cat,
Many a time I've heard her say
That Thor's arm shriveled that April day
When out of a cloud in a thunder shower
He threw his bolt at the tall gray tower.
It shivered a poplar tree near by.
The church stood sound with its cursed crest,
While the god went bellowing down the sky,
Clutching his shoulder in terrible pain.
Now he rides to the east and he rides to the west--So
Granny says--and he's never seen
Lashing his goats through the driving rain.
Dark and fireless the clouds drift round;
Their waters fall without any sound.
It's Hoder that drives them now, I ween.
ZORY-- (_Leaving the herbs._)
She'd left a slip of the Devil's herb,
(_Skipping to the right._)
You'd see me sweeping along the sky;
I'd straddle the moon and ride her down.
ZIP--Be quiet, Zory.--You'd better not. You hear?
(_Zory goes out._)
SUK--The fairies too are bolder now.
Every hour you can hear them call
From forest and bracken and water-fall.
Even at midday, when I've been clearing
Ore from the mountains and stood a peering
Through cracks in the cliff, I have seen them at play
Catching the drops of silvery spray,
Running with emeralds and amethysts
To the stones where the purple iris rests.
With hands to their mouths, from the mossy ledge,
They boom to the bittern far down in the sedge
On the river bank. They are in the air.
Woodland and water--everywhere.
GIMEL--And there's not a place even down in the ground,
No matter how dark, but that elves are found
Whispering and prying, their little eyes
Darting and glancing like fireflies.
SUK--They say that's the cause of Loki's fright.
ZIP--And well it might be, if this tale is true.
Sleeping he lay on the ground one night--
He had guzzled his fill of Granny's brew--
When, thinking he heard his bellows blow,
He opened his eyes and spied the glow
Of flames on his forge, the sparks a leaping,
And a score of elves---they thought him sleeping--
On trough and anvil and on the ground
Clapping their hands as they fell around.
Then he stirred, when lo! there was not a spark;
The bellows was still, the stithy was dark.
KILO-- (_Rising quickly to a sitting posture._)
The tale is as true as the master's steel.
Here on the stones I lay that night,
Curled like a cat in the fire-light,
While there by the wall with a whirring sound
Granny's old spinning wheel went round.
It whirred and it whirred so I could not sleep,
So I lay and yawned and began to peep
And nudge the fire, for the night was cool.
Around the big wheel the wether's wool
Ran black, the dame's foot under her skirt
Paddling the pedal for Sigurd's shirt.
The wheel stopped a moment, and during the hush
I had dropped to a doze, when there came a rush
Of the coldest air that ever warped skin,
And Loki, frightened, dashed up and in
From the rift in the rocks. (_He rises to one knee._)
His face was white
And the smut upon it showed black as night
And his limbs were so weak that he almost fell.
When he got his breath he began to tell
How, roused from his sleep by a noise in his shop--
Then Granny spied me and nudged him to stop,
And the two went out. I leaped to the ledge
And peered through the crack. Far up on the edge
Of the cliff where the hazel bushes grow,
The pines were glossing; the gnomes, I trow,
Were choking the caves to get in the ground
And hide in the dark lest they should be found
When Balder should roll his bright wheel on high.
Already his lances waved in the sky
Bedabbled with blood. The heavens were pale
And the peaks were bright with his burning mail.
I lost not a trice. As quick as a wink
I rushed to the roots and out through the chink
With the Devil's herb I followed the pair.
Darting invisible through the air,
I squatted toad-like on the turf and heard
Them babble their plans, heard every word,
Heard Granny wheeze and the master say--As
they rose from the rock and turned away--"We
must nag on the gnomes or the cross will rise.
They must take the monk's life or put out his--"
ZORY--(_Rushing in._) Look out!
(_He dashes out, left, followed by the other
gnomes. From the right, the witch enters. In
her right hand she holds a big black owl by
the wing; in her left, a large club. She is
tall, raw-boned, and weasened. Her hair is of
a stringy gray, and a skein of it hangs upon
her cheek. Her breath comes short, and there
is a wheeze in her voice._)
WITCH--What's this? Burning my wood? (_Shouting._)
Sigurd! Ay, ay!
You'd better hide, you lazy, crooked dwarf.
You'll pay for this.
(_She throws the owl down, and taking the sticks
from the fire, beats the flames out upon the
floor._)
You'll pay for this, I say.
You'll gladly sleep upon the coldest stones,
But you'll not close an eye. You'll moan all night,
Dragging your red-puffed soles across the floor,
And beg the gnomes for snow. I'll teach you how
To burn my kindling up. Here I must trudge
Up to the blasted cliffs day after day,
Strip bark, drag brush, break limbs, and gather cones
Among the pines, the bait of all the winds,
And barely get enough to heat my brew,
And here you'll lie roasting your wretched bones.
I'll warm your cursed shanks. I'll put your feet
To blister on the red-hot coals again
And flog you limping up the rocks for wood.
(_Hanging up the baskets._)
Let the monks take the geese. They're out there now
Flapping their wings and gaggling at the moon
To call the Christians down. You'll keep their necks!
You'll swear by father Thor you fetched them up
And penned them in the lot. I'll beat you, though;
I'll whale you with these rods until you're sore.
(_She piles her wood against the wall._)
Let the monks steal the geese. You'll gather wood.
You'll find it scarce, I vow. There's not a day
You're by the stream. You're up among the crags,
Beating the eagles from the new-dropped kids.
You feed the woodman's ewes. You hunt the hills
For sorrel-grass to see the lambkins eat.
You never drain an udder for my sop,
Or bring me honey from the gum. Sneezeweed
You never dig or nightshade from the marsh.
You play among the logs. My nuts and corn
You steal to feed the striped chipmunks with.
All day you're in the wood or on the slope,
Listening to hear the noisy Christian bells.
You love the damned sound. You love the monks.
You fetch them pine knots from the big green ridge
To singe the gnomes and light their altar fires.
You've learned to fumble buckeyes on your breast.
I'll teach you how to pray. Ay, ay! You hear?
I'll weave my dwarf a cowl. Ha, ha! You hear?
Sigurd! I'll get you in the morning.
(_A rumble of thunder._)
Eh?
(_Thunder again._)
Ay, ay, Thor! I'll have them there!
(_Shouting._)
Gnomes! Gnomes!
Zip! Gimel! Kilo! Lazy broth-suckers!
Here's work for you, you knaves!
Work and broth!
(_Louder._) Broth, I said! You hear?
Zory, you scamp!
(_Feeling about her dress._)
Hear what I say?
Kilo! Suk! Gimel! Here's broth for you!
(_In an underbreath._)
If you'll work.
You don't, I'll lamn you, you toads.
(_Shouting._)
You hear?
Ay, peak about! peak about!
Thor wants you.
(_The gnomes enter timidly, half-afraid._)
SUK-- (_Whimpering._)
I'm hungry.
WITCH--Hungry!
Out in the air with you, then!
Suck the lightning's dugs! Guzzle in the rain!
(_Low muttering thunder._)
Hear that? Can you? Can you bark?
Ay, ay, Thor!
(_As the thunder dies away, the gnomes rush wildly
toward the witch._)
Ay, here's your herb!
Out with you now, every last one of you!
ZIP-- (_Giving him a leaf._)
Up with you! (_Zip disappears._)
Kilo! There you go!
(_Kilo disappears._)
Now Suk! Now Gimel! Now you can get him!
(_The gnomes, taking the slips, disappear._)
Ay, ay! Chase the monk! Crack the big bells!
Pluck up the pines and knock the steeples down!
ZORY-- (_Rushing in._)
Me too, Granny!
WITCH--Ay, you scamp! (_Giving him a leaf._)
Bark now!
Skedaddle in the air!