ROBIN LOVES ME, ROBIN HAS ME!
Left to themselves the family of the Perfect for a moment contemplate
one another in silent admiration for Giraude.
MYLIO (to Karvel)--"I can not express to you how that woman's charming
kindness touches my heart. Even in the midst of her anxieties for her
son and her brother, she has words of good will for Florette."
KARVEL--"That woman is an angel! (He looks at Mylio in silence for a
moment; his eyes moisten with a tear of tenderness; he opens his arms
and in a voice trembling with love proceeds:) One more embrace--still
another--my dearly beloved brother!"
Mylio and Karvel embrace passionately. Morise and Florette share in
silence the emotions of the two brothers. None seem to hear the snores
of Goose-Skin, whose sleep is ever sounder and grows more noisy.
MORISE (to Mylio)--"So you have come back to us to stay!"
MYLIO--"Oh! dear sister, yes; permanently--not so, Florette?"
FLORETTE--"My wishes will be yours, Mylio; still it is sweet to conform
to them, seeing I am received with so much kindness by your dear
relatives."
MYLIO--"And yet, brother, if you have no objection, I have a project
that will take me away for several days."
MORISE--"What! So soon! Did you hear the wicked boy, Florette? He thinks
of leaving us!"
FLORETTE (smiling)--"Either Mylio will take me along with him, or he
will leave me here with you; whichever way, I shall be satisfied."
KARVEL--"What is your plan, brother?"
MYLIO--"My sincere love for Florette has put an end to the pranks of my
youth. Your own indulgence and Morise's will draw a veil over the past.
Nevertheless I have put to bad use the faculty for poetry that nature
endowed me with. I now desire to turn it to a useful purpose. Brother,
you and I have read in the legends of our family how, at the time of the
invasion of Gaul by the Romans, the Gallic bards fired the courage of
our combatants, and how, still later, after the Roman conquest, the
bards continued to arouse with their patriotic chants the people of Gaul
against the foreign conqueror. The memorable chant of the Chief of the
Hundred Valleys:
'Drop, drop, thou dew of gore!'
armed more than one arm against the Romans."
KARVEL--"I grasp your thought--I approve it, Mylio--Aye, it would be
putting the poetic talent that God gifted you with to a noble use, by
using it to arouse the enthusiasm of our people."
MYLIO--"The Church orders her monks to preach the extermination of our
country. Now, we the trouveres, like the Gallic bards of old, will fire
the people with our songs against the fanatics who threaten our freedom
and our lives!"
MORISE--"The thought is generous and noble. I join my approval to
Karvel's."
MYLIO--"A minute ago the Lady of Lavaur repeated twice a few words that
drew tears from me: 'What wrong have we done to those priests, my poor
child?'"
FLORETTE--"Oh! Mylio, those words made me also weep. They still affect
me!"
MYLIO--"It is because they are true and heart-rending words that escaped
from a maternal heart. What wrong was done to those priests!"
At this moment a snore that sounds like a thunder clap breaks upon the
silence from the corner where Goose-Skin is soundly sleeping. Mylio
turns around, looks at the juggler, and, smiling at the sight, says to
Karvel:
"Brother, I have wholly forgotten to mention my traveling companion to
you."
MORISE--"Despite his serious mien, your brave companion makes me feel
like laughing."
KARVEL--"The poor man perhaps feels sad that a minute ago Mylio stopped
him short at the best turn of his paraphrase concerning the profound
truth that 'the gown does not make the monk.' His discourse was
interrupted."
MYLIO--"My companion is a juggler, which is the same as saying that his
coarse songs, much as they are liked in the taverns, are hardly
calculated for delicate ears. I therefore notified Goose-Skin, that is
the name that he goes by, that he must keep a watch over his words when
near you. Hence his embarrassment, and his obstinate persistence in
assuming a venerable appearance. I must pray your indulgence towards
him. Yours also, Morise. He is entitled to it by reason of his
attachment to me, of which he has given me more than one proof."
KARVEL--"All good hearts deserve indulgence and friendship, brother.
(Smiling) But I am inclined to reproach you for having made of us
scare-crows of virtue and frightening the poor fellow. That is why he is
so embarrassed in his conversation and demeanor."
A second snore so prodigious and so much louder than the first escapes
from Goose-Skin that he is himself awakened with a start. He rubs his
eyes and rolls them around with a scared look; rises abruptly and
re-assuming his air of gravity addresses Morise with great affectation
of politeness:
"May our compassionate hostess bestow upon me the alms of her mercy for
the enormous incongruity of my sleep. But we have been traveling day and
night since we left Blois; hence great is my fatigue. Besides, and
moreover, in that it causes the vile low appetites to slumber, sleep is
of itself a sort of virtue--"
MYLIO (interrupting him)--"Why, sister, this fat man who is here
boasting to you of the virtuous innocence of his sleep, in that it
causes his earthly appetites to slumber--this identical man, who speaks
to you in that guise, came near throttling me one day, simply because I
woke him up in the middle of a savory dream in which, after seeing
Shrove-Tide do battle with Shrove-Tuesday, the one armed with fishes the
other with sausages, he was just about to devour both the vanquished and
the vanquisher, together with their full accoutrements."
GOOSE-SKIN (in a tone of pitiful reproach to his friend, seeing that
Karvel and his wife laugh at Mylio's story)--"Oh, Mylio!"
MYLIO--"Accordingly, you are informed that my friend Goose-Skin, whom I
hereby introduce to you, is a gourmand, likes his cups a little--or,
rather, a good deal--"
GOOSE-SKIN--"I! Just heavens!"
MYLIO--"He is also somewhat of a fibber, a roysterer, not over bold,
considerable of a libertine and a braggart--that is his portrait from
the side of his morals!"
GOOSE-SKIN (with a contrite air)--"Oh! Respectable host and hostess! Do
not believe that wicked jester! All that he has just told you is false!"
MYLIO--"After this confession that modesty alone kept back from my
friend's lips, I shall add: But he has a good heart, he shares his crust
of bread with whomsoever is hungry, and his pot of wine with whomsoever
is thirsty. Finally, he has given me proofs of affection that I shall
not forget in all my life. (Addressing Goose-Skin more particularly)
This being said, my good Goose-Skin, my friends and myself must now
request you not to have the word 'virtue' constantly on your lips, and,
instead of lowering your eyes, of keeping yourself under constraint, of
puckering your lips with an air of piety, allow your broad smile to
spread freely over your wide countenance, and, should it please you,
even to sing, full throated, whatever is your favorite song. Nobody will
be angry about it."
KARVEL (to Goose-Skin, who heaves a sigh of relief, and whose face seems
slowly to dilate)--"My brother has interpreted our thoughts. So, then,
dear guest, no more constraint. Return to your natural good spirits. We
heartily love a hearty laugh. Do you know why? Because a false or wicked
heart never is frankly joyous. Moreover, we believe that much should be
pardoned to those who have remained good; they will become better. You
are of the former, dear guest. We welcome you. We shall love you as you
are, and, jolly friend, love us as we are."
GOOSE-SKIN (wholly himself again)--"Oh! Dame Virtue, I bow to you--"
MYLIO (interrupting him)--"How is that? Still affecting sanctity?"
GOOSE-SKIN--"Oh! Dame Virtue! You muffle yourself up in an unseemly
cloak. With a suspicious eye, foaming mouth and twisted neck you harass
people in the voice of an owl in love, saying: 'This way! Come
immediately this way, you lumbering scamp! You sack of wine! You pig of
gluttony! You brick of lasciviousness! You hare of cowardice! This way!
Be quick about it and adore me, serve me! Woo me! And if you do not, I
shall strangle you, vagabond! Green dog! Red donkey! Triple mule!' And
do you wonder, sweet lady, that people take their paunches between their
hands in order that they may be able to run all the faster, and escape
from your gracious invitation?"
MORISE (to Karvel, smiling)--"He is right!"
GOOSE-SKIN--"Oh sharp-tongued dame! Old scold of a dame! Claw-fingered
dame! Just assume for a moment the mild look, the sweet voice, the good
heart, the gentle language of my amiable hostess, Dame Morise, who
stands here, or of our worthy host Karvel, who stands there, and you
will see, Dame Virtue, whether you will still cause people to run away
from you, and whether people will not, on the contrary, say to you
(addressing Morise:) 'Dame Virtue, poor old Goose-Skin has been pursued
until now by a horrible witch, who, usurping your name, strove by dint
of insult and scratches to force him to court her. Alas! Old Goose-Skin
now finds out too late the trickery of the witch; he is no longer of the
age to court anybody. Therefore, gracious Dame Virtue, pity Goose-Skin.
He only now sees you for the first time in your pure and charming
reality.' But, alas! I am now too old to dare raise my eyes to you!"
MORISE (smiling)--"Let it be so! I shall be Dame Virtue; and in
accepting the name I certainly am not Dame Modesty. But, never mind! I
am Dame Virtue. Now, then, as such, I call upon you earnestly to raise
your eyes up to me. I am neither proud, exacting, jealous nor difficult
to please. Young folks or old, good looking or homely, provided their
actions prove to me that they occasionally remember me, ever find me in
a happy frame of mind and loving. So you see, dear guest, that despite
your age, you still may love Dame Virtue!"
GOOSE-SKIN (scratching his ear)--"Oh, certainly! If all that shall be
required of me will be some slight service, now and then, I certainly
shall enlist myself as your servant, Dame Virtue. But, in all humility,
I know myself."
MYLIO--"Come, now, my good friend! No exaggerated modesty. I shall on
the spot give you an opportunity to prove to my brother and sister that
you are capable of a brave and generous act."
GOOSE-SKIN--"Do not undertake too much--take care! I am not yet very
firmly nailed to virtue."
MYLIO--"A minute ago, while you slept, I informed Karvel, and he
approved it, of a good and useful project that I have in mind. You heard
at Blois the words of Abbot Reynier as clearly as I did. The Church is
about to let loose the dogs of war upon Languedoc. We must now, with our
songs, raise the popular resistance to the pitch of heroism against the
merciless Crusade. Second me in the undertaking. I rely upon you."
GOOSE-SKIN--"Ho! Mylio, my poor hurdy-gurdy will not wait to accompany
my songs. It will break loose all of itself--with laughter if it hears
me strike a heroic note. No, no! For your harp be the laurel of battle,
for my humble hurdy-gurdy a branch of the grape vine or a bouquet of
marjoram."
KARVEL (to Goose-Skin)--"Noble guest, take my brother's word. If he has
charmed with his chants the ears of the rich, you have charmed those of
the poor. You will certainly move their hearts as well if you sing to
them of the frightful ills that our country is threatened with by the
Crusade that is being preached against us."
GOOSE-SKIN--"Worthy host, may I never in my life again touch a tankard
of wine, if I know what to sing upon such a theme."
FLORETTE (timidly)--"Mylio--if I dared--"
MYLIO--"Speak, dear child!"
FLORETTE--"I heard you on the road say that that wicked monk of Citeaux,
Abbot Reynier, from whose clutches I escaped, thanks to you, Mylio, is
one of the chiefs of the Crusade. It seems to me that if Master
Goose-Skin would narrate in a song the story of how that wicked monk,
who is one of the chief agents of this war which they have started in
the name of God, meant to ruin a poor serf girl--"
GOOSE-SKIN (clapping his hands gleefully)--"Florette is right! 'The
Fritter of the Abbot of Citeaux!' That shall be the title of the song.
You remember, Mylio, the words of Sir Ribald when he told you he meant
to make a speedy call at the mill of Chaillotte? Ha! By my hurdy-gurdy!
I shall salt the song. I shall pepper it so generously that even people
with palates no better than a whale's, once they shall have tasted my
song will be seized with a furious appetite to despatch the sycophants!
The hypocrites! Devoured with concupiscence, they now propose to
massacre people in the name of the Savior of the world!"
MYLIO--"Excellent! Excellent, my old Goose-Skin! Instil in your verses
the indignation of your soul, and your song will be good for ten
thousand soldiers in the defense of Languedoc. (To Florette) Your
excellent judgment has served you well, dear girl. Your straightforward
and childlike heart is justly in revolt at the horrible spectacle of the
hypocrisy of these proud, greedy and debauched priests, who now threaten
to exterminate the people of this country while they invoke the name of
Jesus, the God of love and forgiveness. (To Morise and Karvel) I shall
be back on the day of danger. If my love for Florette has inspired me
with disgust for my barren and dissolute life, the remembrance of both
you, Morise, and you Karvel, has brought me back here. I wish that my
marriage with her who is to be the companion of my life be consecrated
by your and your wife's presence. To marry under your auspices, is not
that to pledge myself to take you for my model?"
KARVEL (profoundly moved, takes the hands of Florette and Mylio, joins
them in his own, and says in a tremulous voice)--"Your marriage will be
inscribed to-morrow in the register of our city magistrates. Mylio, my
brother, Florette, my sister, you whom the mysterious bonds of the heart
already unite, I take to witness the thoughts of your souls and the
words of your lips, be ye forevermore one! Henceforth rejoice at the
same joys, suffer the same pains, console each other in the same hopes,
share with each other the daily toils that will worthily provide you
with your daily bread. If, happier than Morise and myself, you should
live again in your children, strive by precept and by example to develop
in them their original goodness. Bring them up in the love of work, of
justice and of right, to the end that, faithful to the morals of Christ,
one of the wisest men that humanity has produced, they be indulgent
towards those whom ignorance, neglect or misery have led astray. For all
such let them have a ready pardon, instruction, love and charity.
"But also habituate their young souls to be awake to and to entertain a
horror for oppression and iniquity. Habituate your children to the
thought that some day they may have to suffer, to struggle and perhaps
to die in the defense of their rights. Teach them that, if clemency
towards the weak and the suffering is a virtue, resignation to the
violent acts of an oppressor is an act of cowardice, is a crime!
Saturate their souls in the hatred for injustice; then, on the day of
trial, your children will be found ready and resolute. Let them repose
unshakable faith in the future, in the enfranchisement of Gaul, our
motherland.
"Finally, impart to your children this virile druid conviction--'Man,
immortal and infinite like God, proceeds from one world to another,
eternally reviving body and soul in those innumerable stars that shine
in the firmament.' Impart to them this sturdy belief, and they will be,
as our fathers were during the heroic epoch of our history, healed of
the disease of death.
"And now, Mylio, my brother, and Florette, my sister, may your union be
what the ardent wishes of my heart desire for it! May the ills that
threaten this country leave you unscathed! Oh, believe us, Florette, you
will be doubly cherished by us, because, thanks to you, our brother has
come back to us, and my wife and myself have gained a sister in you."
At the end of these words, Karvel the Perfect presses Florette and Mylio
to his heart and holds them long in his embrace. With her forehead
leaning on the shoulder of her husband, Morise partakes of the deep
emotion that thrills him and the bridal couple. Goose-Skin himself can
not hold back a tear which he wipes away with the point of his thumb.
But speedily recovering his habitual good spirits, the old juggler cries
out:
"Oxhorns! Master Karvel, excuse the sincerity of old Goose-Skin, but he
is of the impression that in the south, as well as the north of Gaul,
there is no wedding without a repast. I therefore demand for this
evening the wedding feast; to-morrow the marriage will be entered in the
city's register; and day after to-morrow Mylio and I will depart to
preach the anti-Crusade in our fashion. (Addressing Morise) Oh! Dame
Virtue, see how you have mastered me! Ordinarily I am as craven as a
hare, and yet, to please you, I shall take the road and preach war with
my music-box. But, God wills it. I feel so furiously inclined to sing my
war song, that my throat is dry in advance. It will have to be very
thoroughly moistened."
KARVEL (smiling)--"It fortunately happens, merry guest, that we have in
the house a cask of Montpelier wine. We shall forthwith broach it."
MORISE (to Goose-Skin)--"And I have in yonder cupboard a ham of Aragon
that is worthy of serving as a mace to the famous knight Shrove-Tuesday,
whose defeat you dreamed!"
GOOSE-SKIN--"Oh! Dear Dame Virtue, you will think you are dreaming,
yourself, when you see me play my jaws and swallow your victuals."
KARVEL--"You may exercise your jaws also upon a brace of superb capons
that our farmer brought us yesterday. And we also have a trout, quite
worthy of serving knight Shrove-Tide for mount."
GOOSE-SKIN--"That is a feast worthy of a chapter of canonesses!"
KARVEL (to Goose-Skin, and pointing to Mylio, who is speaking to
Florette in a low voice)--"The prodigal son has returned, must we not
kill the fatted calf?"
MYLIO (to Florette in a low and fervid tone)--"And now, at last, my
sweet friend, my charming Florette, you are really my wife!"
FLORETTE (contemplating her husband with tender love and tears in her
eyes)--"Mylio, all I have in my heart, my love, my life I give you. It
is little--in exchange for the happiness that I owe you!"
GOOSE-SKIN (interrupting the lovers)--"What is that you are prattling
about in that languorous voice? Rather sing my song, little Florette,
sing it in a joyous voice:
"Robin loves me, Robin has me!
Robin wished me--he shall have me!"