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The Blue Bird: A Fairy Play in Six Acts, a play by Maurice Maeterlinck |
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Act 2 - Scene 2 |
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_ ACT II - SCENE II SCENE 2.--The Land of Memory. [A thick fog, from which stands out, on the right, close to the footlights, the trunk of a large oak, with a board nailed to it. A vague, milky, impenetrable light prevails. TYLTYL and MYTYL are at the foot of the oak.]
MYTYL There's the board!... TYLTYL I can't read it.... Wait, I will climb up on this root.... That's it.... It says, "Land of Memory." MYTYL Is this where it begins?... TYLTYL Yes, there's an arrow.... MYTYL Well, where are grandad and granny?... TYLTYL Behind the fog.... We shall see.... MYTYL I can see nothing at all!... I can't see my feet or my hands.... (_Whimpering_) I'm cold!... I don't want to travel any more.... I want to go home.... TYLTYL Come, don't keep on crying, just like Water.... You ought to be ashamed of yourself.... A great big little girl like you.... Look, the fog is lifting already.... We shall see what's behind it.... (The mist begins to move; It grows thinner and lighter, disperses, evaporates. Soon, in a more and more transparent light, appears, under a leafy vault, a cheerful little peasant's cottage, covered with creepers. The door and windows are open. There are bee-hives under a shed, flower-pots on the window-sills, a cage with a sleeping blackbird. Beside the door is a bench, on which an old peasant and his wife, TYLTYL'S grandfather and grandmother, are seated, both sound asleep.) TYLTYL (_suddenly recognising them_) It's grandad and granny!... MYTYL (_clapping her hands_) Yes! Yes!... So it is! So it is!... TYLTYL (_still a little distrustful_) Take care!... We don't know yet if they can stir.... Let's keep behind the tree.... (GRANNY TYL _opens her eyes, raises her head, stretches herself, gives a sigh and looks at_ GAFFER TYL, _who also wakes slowly from his sleep_.) GRANNY TYL I have a notion that our grandchildren who are still alive are coming to see us today.... GAFFER TYL They are certainly thinking of as, for I feel anyhow and I have pins and needles in my legs.... GRANNY TYL I think they must be quite near, for I see tears of joy dancing before my eyes.... GAFFER TYL No, no, they are a long way off.... I still feel weak.... GRANNY TYL I tell you they are here; I am quite strong.... TYLTYL and MYTYL (_rushing up from behind the oak_) Here we are!... Here we are!... Gaffer! Granny!... It's we!... It's we!... GAFFER TYL There!... You see?... What did I tell you?... I was sure they would come to-day.... GRANNY TYL Tyltyl!... Mytyl!... It's you!... It's she!... (_Trying to run to meet them_) I can't run!... I've still got the rheumatics!... GAFFER TYL (_hobbling along as fast as he can_) No more can I.... That's because of my wooden leg, which I still wear instead of the one I broke when I fell off the big oak.... (The GRANDPARENTS and the CHILDREN exchange frantic embraces.) GRANNY TYL How tall and strong you've grown, Tyltyl! GAFFER TYL (_stroking_ MYTYL'S _hair_) And Mytyl!... Just look at her.... What pretty hair, what pretty eyes!... GRANNY TYL Come and kiss me again!... Come on to my lap.... GAFFER TYL And what about me?... GRANNY TYL No, no.... Come to me first.... How are Daddy and Mummy Tyl?... TYLTYL Quite well, granny.... They were asleep when we went out.... GRANNY TYL (_gazing at them and covering them with caresses_) Lord, how pretty they are and how nice and clean!... Was it mummy who washed you?... And there are no holes in your stockings!... I used to darn them once, you know.... Why don't you come to see us oftener?... It makes us so happy!... It is months and months now that you've forgotten us and that we have seen nobody.... TYLTYL We couldn't, granny; and to-day its only because of the Fairy.... GRANNY TYL We are always here, waiting for a visit from those who are alive.... They come so seldom!... The last time you were here, let me see, when was it?... It was on All-hallows, when the church-bells were ringing.... TYLTYL All-hallows?... We didn't go out that day, for we both had very bad colds.... GRANNY TYL No; but you thought of us.... TYLTYL Yes.... GRANNY TYL Well, every time you think of us, we wake up and see you again.... TYLTYL What, is it enough to... GRANNY TYL But come, you know that.... TYLTYL No, I didn't know.... GRANNY TYL (_to_ GAFFER TYL) It's astonishing, up there.... They don't know yet.... Do they never learn anything?... GAFFER TYL It's as in our own time.... The Living are so stupid when they speak of the Others.... TYLTYL Do you sleep all the time?... GAFFER TYL Yes, we get plenty of sleep, while waiting for a thought of the Living to come and wake us.... Ah, it is good to sleep when life is done.... But it is pleasant also to wake up from time to time.... TYLTYL So you are not really dead?... GAFFER TYL What do you say?... What is he saying?... Now he's using words we don't understand.... Is it a new word, a new invention?... TYLTYL The word "dead"?... GAFFER TYL Yes, that was the word.... What does it mean?... TYLTYL Why, it means that one's no longer alive.... GAFFER TYL How silly they are, up there!... TYLTYL Is it nice here?... GAFFER TYL Oh, yes; not bad, not bad; and, if one could just have a smoke.... TYLTYL Aren't you allowed to smoke?... GAFFER TYL Yes, it's allowed; but I've broken my pipe.... GRANNY TYL Yes, yes, all would be well, if only you would come and see us oftener.... Do you remember, Tyltyl?... The last time I baked you a lovely apple-tart.... You ate such a lot of it that you made yourself ill.... TYLTYL But I haven't eaten any apple-tart since last year.... There were no apples this year.... GRANNY TYL Don't talk nonsense.... Here, we have them always.... TYLTYL That's different.... GRANNY TYL What? That's different?... Why, nothing's different when we're able to kiss each other.... TYLTYL (_looking first at his_ GRANDMOTHER _and then at his_ GRANDFATHER) You haven't changed, grandad, not a bit, not a bit.... And granny hasn't changed a bit either.... But you're better-looking.... GAFFER TYL Well, we feel all right.... We have stopped growing older.... But you, how tall you're growing!... Yes, you're shooting up finely.... Look, over there, on the door, is the mark of the last time.... That was on All-hallows.... Now then, stand up straight.... (TYLTYL stands up against the door.) Four fingers taller!... That's immense!... (MYTYL also stands up against the door.) And Mytyl, four and a half!... Aha, ill weeds grow apace!... How they've grown, oh, how they've grown!... TYLTYL (_looking around him with delight_) Nothing is changed, everything is in its old place!... Only everything is prettier!... There is the clock with the big hand which I broke the point off.... GAFFER TYL And here is the soup-tureen you chipped a corner off.... TYLTYL And here is the hole which I made in the door, the day I found the gimlet.... GAFFER TYL Yes, you've done some damage in your time!... And here is the plum-tree in which you were so fond of climbing, when I wasn't looking.... It still has its fine red plums.... TYLTYL But they are finer than ever!... MYTYL And here is the old blackbird!... Does he still sing?... (_The blackbird wakes and begins to sing at the top of his voice_.) GRANNY TYL You see.... As soon as one thinks of him.... TYLTYL GAFFER TYL Yes, perhaps, perhaps.... What do you think, granny?... GRANNY TYL Certainly, certainly.... What use is he to us?... He does nothing but sleep.... We never hear him sing.... TYLTYL I will put him in my cage.... I say, where is my cage?... Oh, I know, I left it behind the big tree.... (_He runs to the tree, fetches the cage and puts the blackbird into it_.) So, really, you've really given him to me?... How pleased the Fairy will be!... And Light too!... GAFFER TYL Mind you, I won't answer for the bird.... I'm afraid that he will never get used again to the restless life up there and that he'll come back here by the first wind that blows this way.... However, we shall see.... Leave him there, for the present, and come and look at the cow.... TYLTYL (_noticing the hives_) And how are the bees getting on? GAFFER TYL Oh, pretty well.... They are no longer alive, as you call it up there; but they work hard.... TYLTYL (_going up to the hives_) Oh, yes!... I can smell the honey!... How heavy the hives must be!... All the flowers are so beautiful!... And my little dead sisters, are they here too?... MYTYL And where are my three little brothers who were buried?... (At these words, seven little_ CHILDREN, _of different sizes, like a set of Pan's pipes, come out of the cottage, one by one.) GRANNY TYL Here they are, here they are!... As soon as you think of them, as soon as you speak of them, they are there, the darlings!... (TYLTYL and MYTYL run to meet the CHILDREN. They hustle and hug one another and dance and whirl about and utter screams of joy.) TYLTYL Hullo, Pierrot!... MYTYL Oh, Riquette, Riquette!... She's still crawling on all fours!... GRANNY TYL Yes, she has stopped growing. TYLTYL GAFFER TYL (_sententiously_) No, nothing changes here.... TYLTYL And Pauline still has a pimple on her nose.... GRANNY TYL Yes, it won't go away; there's nothing to be done for it.... TYLTYL Oh, how well they look, how fat and glossy they are!... What jolly cheeks they have!... They look well fed.... GRANNY TYL They have been much better since they ceased living.... There's nothing more to fear, nobody is ever ill, one has no anxiety.... (_The clock inside the cottage strikes eight_.) GRANNY TYL (_amazed_) What's that?... GAFFER TYL I don't know, I'm sure.... It must be the clock.... GRANNY TYL It can't be.... It never strikes.... GAFFER TYL Because we no longer think of the time.... Was any one thinking of the time?... TYLTYL Yes, I was.... What is the time?... GAFFER TYL I'm sure I can't tell.... I've forgotten how.... It struck eight times, so I suppose it's what they call eight o'clock up there.... TYLTYL Light expects me at a quarter to nine.... It's because of the Fairy.... It's extremely important.... I'm off!... GRANNY TYL Don't leave us like that, just as supper's ready!... Quick, quick, let's lay the table outside.... I've got some capital cabbage-soup and a beautiful plum-tart.... (They get out the table, dishes, plates, etc., and lay for supper outside the door, all helping.) TYLTYL Well, as I've got the Blue Bird.... And then it's so long since I tasted cabbage-soup.... Ever since I've been, travelling.... They don't have it at the hotels.... GRANNY TYL There!... That didn't take long!... Sit down, children.... Don't let us lose time, if you're in a hurry.... (They have lit the lamp and served the soup. The_ GRANDPARENTS _and the_ CHILDREN _sit down round the table, jostling and elbowing one another and laughing and screaming with pleasure.) TYLTYL (_eating like a glutton_) How good it is!... Oh, how good it is!...I want some more! More!... (He brandishes his wooden spoon and noisily hits his plate with it.) GAFFER TYL Come, come, a little more quiet.... You're just as ill-behaved as ever; and you'll break your plate.... TYLTYL (_half-raising himself on his stool_) I want more, more!... (_He seizes the tureen, drags it toward him and upsets it and the soup, which trickles over the table and down over their knees and scalds them. Yells and screams of pain_.) GRANNY TYL There!... I told you so!... GAFFER TYL (giving TYLTYL a loud box on the ear) That's one for you!... TYLTYL (_staggered for a moment, next puts his hand to his cheek with an expression of rapture_) Oh, that's just like the slaps you used to give me when you were alive?... Grandad, how nice it was and how good it makes one feel!... I must give you a kiss!... GAFFER TYL Very well; there's more where that came from, if you like them.... (The clock strikes half-past eight) TYLTYL (_starting up_) Half-past eight!... (_He flings down his spoon_.) Mytyl, we've only just got time!... GRANNY TYL Oh, I say!... Just a few minutes more!... Your house isn't on fire!... We see you so seldom.... TYLTYL No, we can't possibly.... Light is so kind.... And I promised her.... Come, Mytyl, come!... GAFFER TYL Goodness gracious, how tiresome the Living are with all their business and excitement!... TYLTYL GRANNY TYL Come back every day!... TYLTYL Yes, yes; we will come back as often as we can.... GRANNY TYL It's our only pleasure and it's such a treat for us when your thoughts visit us!... GAFFER TYL We have no other amusements.... TYLTYL Quick, quick!... My cage!... My bird!... GAFFER TYL (_handing him the cage_) Here they are!... You know, I don't warrant him; and if he's not the right colour... TYLTYL Good-bye! Good-bye!... THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS TYL Good-bye, Tyltyl! Good-bye, Mytyl!... Remember the barley-sugar!... Good-bye!... Come again!... Come again!...
MYTYL Where is Light?... TYLTYL I don't know.... (_Looking at the bird in the cage_.) But the bird is no longer blue!... He has turned black!... MYTYL Give me your hand, little brother.... I feel so frightened and so cold....
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