SCENE 3
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Hall in the house of TESS CATHLEEN. At the Left an oratory with steps leading up to it.At the Right a tapestried wall, more or less repeating the form of the oratory, and a great chair with its back
against the wall. In the tre are two or more arches through whie see dimly the trees of the
garden. CATHLEEN is kneeling in front of the altar in the
oratory; there is a hanging lighted lamp over the altar. ALEEL enters.
ALEEL. I have e to bid you leave this castle and fly
Out of these woods.
CATHLEEN. What evil is there here?
That is not everywhere from this to the sea?
ALEEL. They who have sent me walk invisible.
CATHLEEN. So it is true what I have heard men say,
That you have seen and heard what others ot.
ALEEL. I was asleep in my bed, and while I slept
My dream became a fire; and in the fire
One walked and he had birds about his head.
CATHLEEN. I have heard that one of the old gods walked so.
ALEEL. It may be that he is angelical;
And, lady, he bids me call you from these woods.
And you must bring but your old foster?mother,
And some few serving men, and live in the hills,
Among the sounds of musid the light
Of waters, till the evil days are done.
For here some terrible death is waiting you,
Some unimagined evil, some great darkness
That fable has not dreamt of, nor sun nor moon
Scattered.
CATHLEEN. No, not angelical.
ALEEL. This house
You are to leave with some old trusty man,
And bid him shelter all that starve or wander
While there is food and house room.
CATHLEEN. He bids me go
Where none of mortal creatures but the swan
Dabbles, and there you would pluck the harp, wherees Had made a heavy shadow about our door,
And talk among the rustling of the reeds,
When night huhe foolish sun away
With stillness and pale tapers. No?no?no!
I ot. Although I weep, I do not weep
Because that life would be most happy, and here
I find no way, no end. Nor do I weep
Because I had loo look upon your face,
But that a night of prayer has made me weary.
ALEEL (.prostrating himself before her)
Let Him that made mankind, the angels and devils
Ah and plenty, mend what He has made,
For when we labour in vain and eye still sees
Heart breaks in vain.
CATHLEEN. How would that quiet end?
ALEEL. How but in healing?
CATHLEEN. You have seen my tears
And I see your hand shake on the floor.
ALEEL. (faltering) I thought but of healing. He was angelical.
CATHLEEN (turning away from him)
No, not angelical, but of the old gods,
Who wander about the world to waken the heart
The passionate, proud heart??that all the angels,
Leaving nine heavey, would rock to sleep.
(She goes to chapel door; ALEEL holds his clasped hands towards her for a momeating, and thes
them fall beside him.)
CATHLEEN. Do not hold out to me beseeg hands.
This heart shall never waken oh. I have sworn,
By her whose heart the seven sorroierced,
To pray before this altar until my heart
Has grown to Heaven like a tree, and there
Rustled its leaves, till Heaven has saved my people.
ALEEL. (who has risen)
When one so great has spoken of love to one
So little as I, though to deny him love,
What he but hold out beseeg hands,
Thehem fall beside him, knowing how greatly
They have overdared?
(He goes towards the door of the hall. The TESS CATHLEEN takes a few steps towards him.)
CATHLEEN. If the old tales are true,
Queens have wed shepherds and kings beggar?maids;
Gods prot waters flowing about your mind
Have made you more than kings or queens; and not you
But I am the empty pitcher.
ALEEL. Being silent,
I have said all, yet let me stay beside you.
CATHLEEN.No, no, not while my heart is shaken. No,
But you shall hear wind cry and water cry,
And curlews cry, and have the peace I longed for.
ALEEL. Give me your hand to kiss.
CATHLEEN. I kiss your forehead.
A I send you from me. Do not speak;
There have been women that bid men to rob
s from the try?under?Wave or apples
Upon a dragon?guarded hill, and all
That they might sift mes and wills,
And trembled as they bid it, as I tremble
That lay a hard task on you, that you go,
And silently, and do not turn your head;
Goodbye; but do not turn your head and look;
Above all else, I would not have you look.
(ALEEL goes.)
I never spoke to him of his wounded hand,
And now he is gone.
(She looks out.)
I ot see him, for all is dark outside.
Would my imagination and my heart
Were as little shaken as this holy flame!
(She goes slowly into the
chapel. The two MERTS enter.)
FIRST MERT. Although I bid you rob her treasury,
I find you sitting drowsed and motionless,
A you uand that while its full
Shell bid against us and so bribe the poor
That reat Masterll lack his merdise.
You know that she has brought into this house
The old and ailing that are pihe most
At such a time and so should be bought cheap.
Youve seen us sitting in the house in the wood,
While the snails crawled about the window?pane
And the mud floor, and not a soul to buy;
Not even the wandering fools nor one of those
That when the woes wrong must rave and talk,
Until they are as thin as a cats ear.
But all thats nothing; you sit drowsing there
With your back hooked, your upon your knees.
SEERT. How could I help it? For she prayed so hard I could not cross the threshold till her
lover
Had turned her thoughts to dream.
FIRST MERT, Well, well, to labour.
There is the treasury door and time runs on.
(SEERT goes Out. FIRST MERT sits cross?legged against a pillar, yawns and
stretches.)
FIRST MERT. And so I must ehe weight of the world, Far from my Master and the revelry,
Thats lasted since??shaped as a worm??he bore
The knowledgable pippin in his mouth
To the first woman.
(SEERT returns with bags.)
Where are those dancers gone?
They khey were to carry it on their backs.
SEERT. I heard them breathing but a moment since, But now they are gone, being
unsteadfast things.
FIRST MERT. They kheir work. It seems that they imagine Wed do such wrong treat
Masters name
As to bear burdens on our backs as men do.
Ill call them, and wholl dare to disobey?
e, all you elemental populace
From Crua and Finbars a house.
e, break up the long dander the hill,
Or if you lie in the hollows of the sea,
Leave lohe long h surges, leave
The cymbals of the waves to clash alone,
And shaking the sea?tangles from your hair
Gather about us.
(The SPIRITS gather uhe arches.)
SEERT. They e. Be still a while.
(SPIRITS dand sing.)
FIRST SPIRIT. (singing) Our hearts are sore, but we e
Because we have heard you call.
SED SPIRIT. Sorrow has made me dumb.
FIRST SPIRIT. Her shepherds at nightfa藏书网ll
Lay many a plate and cup
Down by the trodden brink,
That when the dance break up
We may have meat and drink.
Therefore our hearts are sore;
And though we have heard and e
Our g filled the shore.
SED SPIRIT. Sorrow has made me dumb.
FIRST MERT. What lies in the waves should be indifferent To good and evil, a seems that
these,
Fetful of their pure, impartial sea,
Take sides with her.
SEERT. Hush, hush, and still your feet.
You are not now upon Maeves dang?floor.
A SPIRIT. O, look what I have found, a string of pearls!
(They begin taking jewels out of bag.)
SEERT. You must not touch them, put them in the bag, And now take up the bags upon your
backs
And carry them to Shemus Ruas house
On the woods border.
SPIRITS. No, no, no, no!
FIRST SPIRIT. No, no, let us away;
From this we shall not e
Cry out to us who may.
SED SPIRIT. Sorrow has made me dumb.
(They go.)
SEERT. Theyre gone, for little do they care for me, And if I called they would but turn and
mock,
But you they dare not disobey.
FIRST MERT (rising) These dancers
Are always the most troublesome of spirits.
(He es dowage and stands fag the arches. He makes a gesture of and. The SPIRITS e
back whimpering. They lift the bags and go out. Three speak as they are taking ub the bags.
FIRST SPIRIT. From this day out well never dance again.
SED SPIRIT. Never again.
THIRD SPIRIT. Sorrow has made me dumb.
SEERT (looking into chapel door)
She has heard nothing; she has fallen asleep.
Our lord would be well pleased if we could win her.
Now that the winds are heavy with our kind,
Might we not kill her, and bear off her spirit
Before the mob of angels were astir?
FIRST MERT. If we would win this turquoise for our lord It must go dropping down of its free will
But Ive a plan.
SEERT. To take her soul to?night?
FIRST MERT. Because I am of the ninth and mightiest hell Where are all kings, I have a plan.
(Voices.)
SEERT. Too late;
For somebody is stirring in the house; the noise
That the sea creatures made as they came hither,
Their singing and their endless chattering,
Has waked the house. I hear the chairs pushed back,
And many shuffli. All the old men and women
Shes gathered in the house are ing hither.
A VOICE. (within) It was here.
ANOTHER VOIo, farther away.
ANOTHER VOICE. It was in the western tower.
ANOTHER VOICE. e quickly, we will search the western tower.
FIRST MERT. We still have time??they search the distant rooms.
SEERT. Brother, I heard a sound in there??a sound That troubles me.
(Going to the door of the oratory and peering through it.)
Upoar steps The tess tosses, murmuring in her sleep A broken Paternoster.
FIRST MERT. Do not fear,
For when she has awaked the<q>.</q> prayer will cease.
SEERT. What, would you wake her?
FIRST MERT. I will speak with her,
And mix with all her thoughts a thought to serve.??
Lady, weve hats g out for speech.
(CATHLEEN wakes and es to door of the chapel.)
Cathleen. Who calls?
FIRST MERT. We have brought news.
CATHLEEN. What are you?
FIRST MERT.
We are merts, and we know the book of the world
Because we have walked upon its leaves; and there
Have read of late matters that much you;
And notig the castle door stand open,
Came in to find an ear.
CATHLEEN. The door stands open,
That no one who is famished or afraid,
Despair of help or of a wele with it.
But you have news, you say.
FIRST MERT. We saw a man,
Heavy with siess in the bog of Allen,
Whom you had bid buy cattle. Near Fair Head
We saw yrain ships lying all becalmed
In the dark night; and not less still than they,
Burned all their mirrored lanthorns in the sea.
CATHLEEN.. My thanks to God, to Mary and the angels,
That I have money in my treasury,
And buy grain from those who have stored it up
To prosper on the hunger of the poor.
But youve been far and know the signs of things,
When will this yelloour no more hang
And creep about the fields, and this great heat
Vanish away, and grass show its green shoots?
FIRST MERT. There is no sign of ge??day copies day, Green things are dead??the cattle too are
dead
Or dying??and on all the vapour hangs,
And fattens with disease and glows with heat.
In you is all the hope of all the land.
CATHLEEN. And heard you of the demons who buy souls?
FIRST MERT.
There are some men who hold they have wolves heads,
And say their limbs??dried by the infinite flame??
Have all the speed of storms; others, again,
Say they are gross and little; while a few
Will have it they seem much as mortals are,
But tall and brown and travelled??like us??lady,
Yet all agree a power<q></q> is in their looks
That makes men bow, and flings a casti
About their souls, and that all men would go
And barter those poor vapours, were it not
You bribe them with the safety of yold.
CATHLEEN. Praise be to God, to Mary, and the angels
That I am wealthy! Wherefore do they sell?
FIRST MERT. As we came in at the great door we saw
<s>藏书网</s>Your porter sleeping in his niche??a soul
Too little to be worth a hundred pence,
Ahey buy it for a hundred s.
But for a soul like yours, I heard them say,
They would give five huhousand s and more.
CATHLEEN. How a heap of s pay for a soul?
Is the green grave so terrible a thing?
FIRST MERT. Some sell because the money gleams, and some Because they are in terror of the grave,
And some because their neighbours sold before,
And some because there is a kind of joy
In casting hope away, in losing joy,
In ceasing all resistance, in at last
Opening ones arms to the eternal flames,
In casting all sails out upon the wind;
To this??full of the gaiety of the lost??
Would all folk hurry if yold were gone.
CATHLEEN. There is something, Mert, in your voice
That makes me fear. When you were telling how
A man may lose his soul and lose his God
Your eyes were lighted up, and when you told
How my poor money serves the people, both??
Merts five me??seemed to smile.
FIRST MERT. Mans sins
Move us to laughter only; we have seen
So many lands and seen so many men.
How strahat all these people should be swung
As on a ladys shoe?string,??uhem
The glowing leagues of never?ending flame.
CATHLEEN. There is a something in you that I fear;
A something not of us; but were you not born
In some most distant er of the world?
(The SEERT, who has been listening at the door, es forward, and as he es a sound of
voices a is heard.)
SEERT. Away now??they are in the passage??hurry,
For they will know us, and freeze up our hearts
With Ave Marys, and burn all our skin
With holy water.
FIRST MERT. Farewell; for we must ride
Many a mile before the m e;
Our horses beat the ground impatiently.
(They go out. A number of PEASAer by other door.)
FIRST PEASANT. Five us, lady, but we heard a noise.
SED PEASANT. We sat by the fireside telling vanities.
FIRST PEASANT.
We heard a noise, but though we have searched the house
We have found nobody.
CATHLEEN. You are too timid.
For now you are safe from all the evil times.
There is no evil that find you here.
OOering hurriedly)
Oe! Oe! The treasure room is broken in,
The door stands open, and the gold is gone.
(PEASANTS raise a lamentable cry.)
CATHLEEN. Be silent.
(The cry ceases.)
Have you seen nobody?
OONA Oe!
That my good mistress should lose all this money.
CATHLEEhose among you??not too old to ride??
Get horses and search all the try round,
Ill give a farm to him who finds the thieves.
(A man with keys at his girdle has e in while she speaks. There is a general murmur of The Porter! the
porter!")
PORTER. Demons were here. I sat beside the door
In my stone niche, and two owls passed me by,
Whispering with human voices.
OLD PEASANT. God forsakes us.
CATHLEEN. Old man, old man, He never closed a door
Unless one opened. I am desolate,
For a most sad resolve wakes in my heart
But I have still my faith; therefore be silent
For surely He does not forsake the world,
But stands before it modelling in the clay
And moulding there His image. Age by age
The clay wars with His fingers and pleads hard
For its old, heavy, dull and shapeless ease;
But sometimes??though His hand is on it still??
It moves awry and demon hordes are born.
(PEASANTS cross themselves.)
Yet leave me now, for I am desolate,
I hear a whisper from beyond the thunder.
(She es from the oratory door.)
Yet stay an instant. When we meet again
I may have grown fetful. Oona, take
These two??the larder and the dairy keys.
(To the PORTER.)
But take you this. It opens the small room
Of herbs for medie, of hellebore,
Of vervain, monkshood, plantain, and self?heal.
The book of cures is on the upper shelf.
PORTER. Why do you do this, lady; did you see
Your coffin in a dream?
CATHLEEN. Ah, no, not that.
A sad resolve wakes in me. I have heard
A sound of wailing in unnumbered hovels,
And I must go down, down??I know not where??
Pray for all men and women mad from famine;
Pray, you good neighbours.
(The PEASANTS all kneel. TESS CATHLEEN asds the steps to the door of the oratory, and
turning round stands there
motionless for a little, and then cries in a loud voice :)
Mary, Queen of angels,
And all you clouds on clouds of saints, farewell!
END OF SE 3.
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