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+} +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 34343 ***</div> + +<h1>THE BETROTHAL</h1> + +<h3>A SEQUEL TO THE BLUE BIRD</h3> + +<h3><i>A Fairy Play in Five Acts and Eleven Scenes</i></h3> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MAURICE MAETERLINCK</h2> + +<h3><i>Translated by</i></h3> + +<h3>ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK</h4> + +<h4>DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY</h4> + +<h4>1918</h4> + + +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">CHARACTERS</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">(<i>arranged in the order of their entrance on the stage</i>)</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">TYLTYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE FAIRY BÉRYLUNE</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">MILETTE (the Wood-cutter's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">BELLINE (the Butcher's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">ROSELLE (the Inn-keeper's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">AIMETTE (the Miller's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">JALLINE (the Beggar's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">ROSARELLE (the Mayor's Daughter)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">JOY (the Veiled Girl, or the White Phantom)</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">DESTINY</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE MISER</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">LIGHT</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">SOME USUAL THOUGHTS</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">GRANNY TYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">GAFFER TYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE GREAT MENDICANT</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE GREAT PEASANT</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE RICH ANCESTOR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE SICK ANCESTOR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE DRUNKEN ANCESTOR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE MURDERER ANCESTOR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE GREAT ANCESTOR</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">OTHER ANCESTORS</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">SOME OF TYLTYL'S "ME'S"</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">VARIOUS CHILDREN IN THE ABODE OF THE CHILDREN</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE FIVE LITTLE ONES</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">MUMMY TYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">MYTYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">DADDY TYL</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">THE NEIGHBOUR</span><br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">ACT I</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 4em;"><i>Scene</i> <a href="#SCENE_I">1</a> <i>The Wood-cutter's Cottage</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">ACT II</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_II">2</a> <i>Outside the Door</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_III">3</a> <i>The Miser's Cave</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_IV">4</a> <i>A Closet in the Fairy's Palace</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_V">5</a> <i>A Ballroom in the Fairy's Palace</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">ACT III</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_VI">6</a> <i>Before the Curtain representing Rocks</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_VII">7</a> <i>The Abode of the Ancestors</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">ACT IV</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_VIII">8</a> <i>Before the Curtain representing the Milky Way</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;"><a href="#SCENE_IX">9</a> <i>The Abode of the Children</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6.5em;">ACT V</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"><a href="#SCENE_X">10</a> <i>Before the Curtain representing the Edge of a Forest</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 6em;"><a href="#SCENE_XI">11</a> <i>The Awakening</i>.</span><br /> +<br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE BETROTHAL; OR THE BLUE BIRD CHOOSES</h2> + + + +<h3>ACT I</h3> + + +<h3><a name="SCENE_I" id="SCENE_I"></a>SCENE I</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>The Wood-cutter's Cottage</i></p> + +<p><i>The cottage-scene in The Blue Bird: the interior of a +wood-cutter's cabin, simple and rustic in appearance, but in no way +poverty-stricken. A recessed fireplace containing the dying embers +of a wood-fire. Kitchen-utensils, a cupboard, a bread-pan, a +grandfather's clock, a spinning-wheel, a water-tap, etc. A dog and +a cat asleep. A large blue-and-white sugar-loaf. On the wall hangs +a round cage containing a blue bird. At the back, two windows with +closed shutters. On the left is the front-door, with a big latch to +it. A ladder leads up to a loft. But there is only one bed</i>, +TYLTYL'S; <i>he is now sixteen years of age. It is dark; the scene is +lit only by a few moonbeams which filter through the shutters</i>. +TYLTYL <i>is sound asleep</i>.</p> + +<p>(<i>A knock at the door</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Waking with a start</i>.) Who's there? (<i>Another knock</i>.) Wait till I put +on my breeches. The door's bolted. I'll come and open it.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Behind the door.</i>) Don't trouble, don't trouble!... It's only me!... +How do you do? (<i>The door has opened of its own accord and</i> THE FAIRY +BÉRYLUNE <i>enters under the guise of an old woman, as in the first scene +of the Blue Bird. At the same time the room is filled with a strange +brightness, which remains after the door is closed again</i>.)</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>In surprise</i>.) Who are you?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Don't you know me? Why, Tyltyl, it's hardly seven years since we said +good-bye to each other!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Bewildered and vainly searching his memory</i>.) Yes, yes, I remember ... +and I know what you mean....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Yes, but you don't quite grasp who I am and you don't remember anything +at all. You haven't changed, I see: just the same careless, ungrateful, +wool-gathering little fellow that you always were!... But you have grown +taller and stronger, my lad, and quite handsome! If I were not a fairy, +I should never have known you! Yes, really quite handsome!... But are +you aware of it? It doesn't seem to have occurred to you!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>We only had one tiny looking-glass in the house, about as big as your +hand. Mytyl took it and keeps it in her room.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>So Mytyl has a room of her own now?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, she sleeps next door, under the stairs, and I here, in the kitchen. +Shall I wake her?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Growing suddenly and unreasonably angry, as on her former visit</i>.) +There's no need to do anything of the sort!... I have nothing to do with +her; her hour has not struck; and, when it does I shall be quite capable +of finding her, without being shown the way as though I were blind!... +In the meantime, I want nobody's advice....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>In dismay</i>.) But ma'am, I didn't know....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That will do.... (<i>Recovering her temper as suddenly as she lost it</i>.) +By the way, how old are you?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I shall be sixteen a fortnight after Epiphany.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Growing angry again</i>.) A fortnight after Epiphany!... What a way of +reckoning!... And here am I without my almanack, having left it with +Destiny last time I called on him, fifty years ago!... I don't know +where I stand.... However, never mind: I'll make the calculation when we +see him, for we shall have to get it exactly right.... And what have you +been doing these seven years since we met?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I have been working in the forest with daddy.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That means you've been helping him cut down trees. I don't like that +very much. You call that working, do you? Ah, well, men evidently can't +live without destroying the last things of beauty that remain on the +earth!... So let's talk of something else.... (<i>Mysteriously</i>.) Can any +one hear us?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I don't think so.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Growing angry once more</i>.) It doesn't matter what you think, but +whether you're sure. What I have to say is tremendously important ... +and strictly private. Come here, quite close, so that I can whisper +it.... Whom are you in love with?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>In amazement</i>.) Whom am I in love with?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Still cross and quite forgetting the importance of speaking in a low +voice</i>.) Yes, yes! I'm not talking Greek, am I? I want to know if you're +in love with any one.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, certainly; I love everybody: my parents, my friends, my sister, my +neighbours, all the people I know.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Now oblige me and don't play the fool.... You know perfectly well what I +mean.... I'm asking whether there's any one girl among those you meet +whom you love more than the rest.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Blushing and considering</i>.) I don't know....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Angrier than ever</i>.) What do you mean; you don't know? Who does know, +if you don't? At your age a boy ought to think of nothing else: if he +doesn't, he's a booby, a nincompoop and not worth bothering about!... +There's nothing to blush at: it's when one's not in love that one should +feel ashamed.... You and I are miles away just now from the falsehood of +words: we are with the truth of our thoughts, which is a very different +thing.... Come, among all the girls you've met....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Timidly</i>.) I don't meet very many....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That's no reason; it's not necessary to meet them by the dozen. Very +often it's enough if you come across just one: when you've nobody else, +you love that one and are not to be pitied.... But come, among those +close by....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>There aren't any close by....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>There are at the neighbours'.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>There are hardly any neighbours....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>There are girls in the village, in the town, way back in the forest and +in every house. You find them everywhere when your heart's awake.... +Which is the prettiest?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, they're all very pretty.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>How many do you know?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Four in the village, one in the forest and one by the bridge.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Oho! That's not bad, for a beginning!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>We don't see many people here, you know.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>You're not the baby one would think.... But tell me, between ourselves, +do they love you too?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They haven't told me so; they don't know that I love them.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>But these are things which it isn't necessary to know or to tell!... You +see that at once when you're living in the truth. A look is enough; +there's no mistaking it; and the words which people say merely hide the +real ones which the heart has spoken.... But I'm in a hurry: would you +like me to make them come here?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Terrified</i>.) Make them come here? They wouldn't want to! They hardly +know me. They know I'm poor. They don't know where I live, especially +those in the village: they never come this way.... It's an hour's walk +from the church to the house; the roads are bad; it's dark....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Dear, dear, anything more? Don't let us talk about that. Remember, we've +done with untruths. I've only to lift my finger and they'll come....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I'm not even sure that they've noticed me at all.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Have you looked at them?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, sometimes....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>And have they looked back at you?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, sometimes....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Well, that's enough; that's the truth; and one doesn't need anything +more. You'll find that's the way people tell each other in the world +where I'm going to take you, the world of real things. The rest doesn't +matter.... They make no mistake. You'll see, once we are there, how well +they know all that has to be known; for what we see is nothing: it is +what we do not see that makes the world go round.... And now, watch +me!... I'm taking the little green hat out of my bag again!... Do you +remember it?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, but it's bigger....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Angrily</i>.) Of course it's bigger! So's your head: they grew up +together.... Always making those unnecessary remarks!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>And the diamond has changed colour. I should call it blue....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>But, you see, it isn't the diamond! This time we're not concerned with +the souls of Bread, Sugar and other simple and unimportant things. We +have to choose the great and only love of your life; for each man has +only one. If he misses it, he wanders miserably over the face of the +earth. The search goes on till he dies, with the great duty unfulfilled +which he owes to all those who are within him. But he seldom has an idea +of this. He walks along, his eyes shut; seizes some woman whom he +chances to meet in the dark; and shows her to his friends as proudly as +though the gates of Paradise were opening. He fancies himself alone in +the world and imagines that in his own heart all things begin and +end.... Which is absurd.... But no more of that! Is everything ready? +Put on your hat and turn the sapphire; then they'll come in....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Scared</i>.) But I'm not dressed!... Wait, wait!... What shall I put +on?... Oh, what luck!... There are my Sunday clothes on the chair: my +breeches—they're almost new—and my clean shirt!... (<i>He dresses +hurriedly</i>.)</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Come, come, have done! All this doesn't matter; they won't mind your +clothes.... You're not going to meet a lot of silly children. You won't +find them the same as they were in the other life, because this is the +real one; and it's the truth in them that you'll see here.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Very uneasy</i>.) Will they all come in together? There are six of them, +at least: I can't remember.... Suppose they started quarrelling and +pulling one another's hair?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Just the least bit conceited, aren't you?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, but I'm afraid of their making a noise, because of daddy.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Haven't I told you again and again, we're no longer in the world +below!... Can't you feel that the air is much purer and the light quite +different?... We are now in a sphere in which men and women don't +quarrel or wish one another harm. All of that was merely make-believe +and doesn't exist deep down.... If some of them are unhappy because you +hesitate in your choice, they will none the less hope on until the end; +and they know very well that where there is love there must also be +sorrow....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How will they come in?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Upon my word, I don't know. Each of them will do what occurs to her: one +will choose the window, another the roof, the wall, the cellar or the +chimney ... one or two even will come in by the door; but those are the +least interesting: they lack imagination.... However, we shall see when +the time comes. We've talked enough; time presses; come, turn the +sapphire....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Trying to gain time, in order to conceal his terror</i>.) Which way round +am I to turn it?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>The same as with the diamond, from right to left.... (<i>Looking at</i> +TYLTYL.) Goodness me, how pale you are!... What has come over you? +Surely you're not afraid?...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Not at all, on the contrary.... I always look like this....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>You needn't be ashamed to admit it: this is a very serious moment; and, +if men knew what happened, in this life and all the others, when they +made a bad choice, they'd never dare to get married at all.... But what +you're trying to do is to put off the dreadful moment; and I'm a goose +to be listening to you.... Come, turn the sapphire!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>turns the sapphire. No sooner has he done so than the +cottage is filled with a supernatural light, which invests all +things with beauty, purity and a transcendent joy. A window opens +noiselessly and a young girl, dressed like a wood-cutter and +carrying a hatchet in her hand, steps into the room and runs up and +kisses</i> TYLTYL.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE GIRL</p> + +<p>Good evening, Tyltyl!... You called me: here I am!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Hullo, it's Milette!... (<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) This is Milette, my cousin, +the daughter of Feltree, the wood-cutter.... We see each other sometimes +in the forest.... (<i>To</i> MILETTE.) So you loved me?... You never said +so!...</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>Do people say such things in a life where everything is forbidden? Need +they say them?... But I knew at once and from the first that you loved +me; and so did I love you.... It was one evening when you went past with +your father. You were carrying a bundle of laurel-twigs. You didn't know +my name then and said, "Good evening," and looked into my eyes. I +answered, "Good night," and cast my eyes down; but I had that look of +yours in my heart; and, since then, without leaving home, I've been here +very often; but you didn't seem to know....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, no, it's I who every evening after sunset used to go to you. I was +never at home. Mummy would ask, "What are you thinking of, Tyltyl?" And +daddy answered, "He's up in the moon again!" I wasn't in the moon at +all, I was with you; but you paid no attention: you were seeing to the +fire, or the soup, or the rabbits; you were cutting chips or tying up +bundles, as if no one had entered your cottage....</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>No, I was here and kissing you all the time; but you didn't kiss me....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I tell you it was I who was always kissing you; I tell you it was you +who were never there....</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>It's funny that we can never see things till we've learnt how to look +for them.... But, now that we do know, now that we see, we can really +kiss each other....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Eagerly kissing</i> MILETTE.) Yes, yes, let's kiss each other again and +again till we have no kisses left!... Oh, how wonderful it is!... I +never kissed anybody till now; and I'd no idea what it was like!... Oh, +how wonderful, how wonderful!... I could kiss you for ever! I could +spend my life kissing you!...</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>And I, I too!... I'd never kissed anybody either: I mean, I'd only +kissed daddy and mummy; it's not the same thing at all.... But tell me, +Tyltyl, is it true that you love me and only me?... Who is that coming +in?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Opening the wall, which closes again behind her, enter a second +young girl, dressed in a blood-red skirt and bodice. A butcher's +knife hangs from her belt</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE SECOND GIRL</p> + +<p>(<i>Rushing up to</i> TYLTYL <i>and kissing him</i>.) Here I am, Tyltyl darling, +here I am!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) This is Belline, my cousin, the butcher's daughter.... +(<i>To</i> BELLINE.) What's the matter with you, Belline dear? You're wet +through and quite out of breath!...</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>I should think I was!... It's a long way from the village to your +place!... I didn't even wait to wash my hands.... I was helping daddy to +cut up a calf; the moment your thoughts came, I dropped my knife and +left everything so as to get here quicker.... I even believe that, while +I was there, I cut my finger rather badly; but here it doesn't show.... +Daddy hasn't the least idea what has happened; he must be furious. +(<i>Catching sight of</i> MILETTE.) How do you do, Milette?</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>How do you do, Belline?... Do you love him too?</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Why, yes, of course!... You're not angry with me?</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>Not at all, I'm glad.... We'll both of us love him....</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>How pretty you look this evening, Milette dearest....</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>No, it's you, Belline: you've never been more beautiful....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) They're taking it very well!...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Of course they are; they know it's not your fault....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>At this point, the chimney-recess lights up, opens at the hack +and admits a third young girl, dressed like the maid at an inn and +carrying a pewter tray under one arm and a bottle under the +other</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE THIRD GIRL</p> + +<p>(<i>Enthusiastically, darting at</i> TYLTYL.) Here I am, here I am! It's +me!... Good evening, everybody; but first a kiss for Tyltyl!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Hullo, you too, Roselle?... (<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) This is Roselle, the daughter of the landlord of the +Golden Sun.... (<i>To</i> ROSELLE.) Was there no one at the inn this evening, +that you were able to come?</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>On the contrary, heaps of people! You can imagine, on Christmas Eve! +There were men sitting and drinking on the counter and on all the +window-sills. I dropped a tray with twelve glasses on it when you called +me. Why, I've still got the tray under this arm and a bottle of the best +brandy under the other. It gets in my way when I'm kissing you.... I +left them shouting after me, down there, as though I had set the house +on fire.... They must be wondering if I'm mad. But I don't care, I was +so delighted that you were thinking of me. A sudden happiness came over +me.... How are you, Tyltyl dear?... Kiss me again!... You're even +handsomer than when I saw you last....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing her</i>.) And you, dear Roselle, you are prettier than ever; and +your cheeks are so soft and cool.... I never dared kiss you before.... +When any one else did, I always said to myself, "How happy he must be!"</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>The others didn't matter.... But I knew well enough that you didn't +dare.... I didn't dare either, though I was dying to kiss you.... Do you +remember the first time you came to the inn, six weeks ago? It was on a +Sunday morning, after High Mass; you didn't look at anybody; but +suddenly, when I came near, your eyes grew so bright and opened so +wide....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>And so did yours open wide: they looked like two lakes.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>What were they doing, our eyes? What happened?... I know that, since +that day, I think of nothing but you, I do no work, I'm always here; but +you came very seldom....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Coming down the ladder from the attic, enter a fourth young girl, +in rustic clothes, all white with flour</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Turning round</i>.) Who's there? You, Aimette?... (<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) This +is Aimette, another cousin, the miller's daughter....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Go on, go on, you're doing very nicely!</p> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>A little shyly</i>.) I came as I was, from the mill. I've not had time to +brush myself.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>That doesn't matter. Kiss me all the same. How fresh and rosy you are, +underneath all that flour!...</p> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>I shall never dare.... You'd be covered with it....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>She has hardly finished speaking when, through the other window, +enter a fifth young girl, bare-foot, bare-headed, clad in rags and +carrying in her hand a wooden bowl with a few halfpence clinking in +it. She does not dare come forward</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>One more!... (<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) This is Jalline, the little beggar-girl +from the bridge by the Hermitage.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Excellent, excellent!... I'd better wake your father and tell him the +house won't be big enough; then he can start building at once....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But it's not my fault. I didn't do it on purpose. One can't help loving +them!... How are you, Jalline?... What have you done with your poor old +father?</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>I left him at the bridge.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What, all alone in the dark! And he blind and a cripple! Isn't that very +dangerous?...</p> + +<p>JALLINE (<i>On the verge of tears</i>.) Yes, I know it's wrong. It was very +wrong of me, very. I won't do it again. But I couldn't help it, Tyltyl, +really. When you called me, I couldn't stay where I was.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing her</i>.) There, there, don't cry. I'll help you to bring him +home.... Do you remember, I did that once before, one evening when I was +crossing the bridge and gave you a halfpenny: it was all I had!</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>I've kept it ever since, Tyltyl. I put it in a box. I shall never lose +it.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL (<i>Kissing her again</i>.) Oh, the sweet smell of lavender and +thyme!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>This time the door opens slowly. Enter a sixth young girl. She is +in evening-dress, with a fur cloak over her shoulders, and carries +a fan in her hand</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who is this?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>But where do they all come from? At your age too! I should never have +believed it!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I didn't know.... (<i>To</i> THE FAIRY.) Why, it's Rosarelle!... The +mayor's daughter!... You know, from the great big farm-house, with the +three round turrets, at the other end of the village!... What shall I +do? She's so proud!...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Not a bit; she won't be any prouder than the others. Speak to her and +you'll see.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I'll never dare.... What could I say?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Coming forward</i>.) Well, Tyltyl, don't you know me?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, miss, but I wasn't sure....</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Miss? What do you mean? That's not my name. My name's Rosarelle; and you +know it.... There was a big dinner at my father's, for Christmas. Your +thoughts came to fetch me while we were at dessert. I jumped up at once +and upset a glass of champagne. They were alarmed and thought I was ill +and began to fuss: it was as much as I could do to get away. Still, here +I am and I'm going to kiss you.... Do you remember how we used to look +at each other when you came to the yard with your bundles of wood?...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Oh, yes! You were so lovely, I couldn't take my eyes off you.... But you +are lovelier than ever to-day.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>That was the beginning; but I didn't quite realize it till the day you +gave me the three little bullfinches which you found in the forest.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, I remember.... I knew too.... Are they still alive?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Two of the little things are dead; but the third is splendid.... I keep +him in a gilt cage, by the window; and each time he sings....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Come, come, these little confidences are most interesting, but we've no +time to lose. Everything must be settled to-night, for an opportunity +like this comes only once to a man; and woe to him who lets it slip: he +will never have another chance! But what we have to do now is to put our +heads together and prepare for the great choice, which is to decide the +happiness of two human beings first and of many others after that.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Greatly perturbed</i>.) Must I make my choice at once and can I only +choose one?...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Don't distress yourself; it's not your affair; it's not you who'll +choose....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Utterly bewildered</i>.) Not I who'll choose?...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, no, it doesn't concern you.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Completely stupefied</i>.) It doesn't concern me?...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>No, no, I told you so: of course it doesn't.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Failing to understand a word</i>.) Then I can't love whom I want to?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, no.... Nobody loves whom he wants to or does what he wants to in +this world. You must first of all learn what is wanted by those on whom +you depend.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>By those on whom I depend?...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, yes: your ancestors, to begin with.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My ancestors?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>All those who have died before you.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What business is it of theirs, since they're dead? I don't know them.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>I dare say not, but they know you.... And then there are all your +children.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My children? What children? I've never had any!</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, yes, you've had thousands who aren't born yet and who're +waiting for the mother whom you're going to give them.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Then it's they who will choose my bride?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, of course; that's how things always happen.... But let's have no +more talk: we have to make a few preparations for the great journey; +it's going to be rather long and tiring.... And first we must get some +money: I've none left at home; and my magic wand that brings it me is +being repaired a few thousand miles down in the centre of the earth ... +don't quite see where we're to get what we want: the expenses will be +quite heavy.... (<i>To</i> THE GIRLS.) Has any one of you a few thousand +francs on her?</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>I've only sixpence halfpenny in my bowl, besides Tyltyl's halfpenny, +which I can't part with.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>I've seven francs fifty, to-night's takings.</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>I've nothing at all.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>I've nothing on me, but grandfather's very rich.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That's all right, it's all we need: he can lend us some money.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Yes, but he's a miser!</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>No, that's a mistake; there are no misers. Thanks to the sapphire which +reveals the heart and essence of things, you will see that he is no more +of a miser than you or I and that he will give us whatever we ask. +That's the first visit we shall have to pay.... Well, are you all ready? +Which way shall we go out?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>At this point, a trap-door opens, in the middle of the stage, and +from it there rises slowly, like a tower, a gigantic shape, twice a +man's height. It is square, enormous, imposing and overwhelming; it +gives the impression of a mass of granite and of immense, blind, +inflexible force. Its face is not seen. It is draped in grey folds +that are rigid as rock</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE SHAPE</p> + +<p>It's I. You have forgotten me, as usual!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Not a little frightened</i>.) Who is this gentleman?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>He's right, I had forgotten him. It's nobody, it's Destiny. I didn't +foresee that the sapphire would make him visible also. He will have to +come with us; we can't prevent him; he's entitled to. Give him your +hand.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Will he lead us?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That remains to be seen. We must hear what Light says: it's a matter for +her.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, of course. Light!... Where is she?... Isn't she going with us?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, but she has a great deal to do at the moment.... She wasn't +free this evening.... We shall find her at my place, where we shall go +straight from your visit to the miser.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How glad I shall be to see her again!... She was so nice, so sweet, so +beautiful, so affectionate and kind!...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Come, give Destiny your hand; it's time to start.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>stretches out his arm to the monster, who grips the boy's +little hand and wrist in his huge bronze-coloured hand</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Here you are, sir.... (<i>Giving a cry</i>.) Hi!... It's not a hand. It's a +steel vice!...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>It's nothing, you'll get used to it.... Come, is everything ready at +last? Nothing more that we've forgotten? Then one, two, three and off we +go!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A knock at the door</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Crossly</i>.) Who's come to disturb us now? Shall we never get out of +this hovel?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Another knock</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Come in!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A third knock</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who's there?... Come in, can't you?...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The door opens slowly and reveals a female form shrouded in long +white veils, like an antique statue. The face, hands, mouth, eyes, +hair and eyebrows are lifeless and white as marble. It stands +motionless on the threshold</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What is it?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Really, I don't know.... It must be one of those whom you've +forgotten....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Vainly ransacking his memory</i>.) I?... I've forgotten nobody.... I've +never seen her before.... I can't remember.... (<i>Going up to</i> THE VEILED +FORM.) Who are you? (THE VEILED FORM <i>does not reply</i>.)</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>It's no use asking her. She can't tell you, she can't come to life till +you remember her.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I don't. I'm thinking and trying as hard as I can, but I can find +nothing.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Very well, very well, we shall see later, when everything is cleared +up.... As she blocks the path, we must go out by the window.... Come, +this way! We have taken our fate in our hands; and things have begun!...</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>Excuse me, excuse me! It's I who am Fate and it's I who begin and it's I +who give orders.... I go first, for it is I who direct everything and I +am the only master!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The windows open down to the ground and all go out into the +starry night, preceded by</i> DESTINY <i>dragging</i> TYLTYL <i>by the hand</i>. +THE VEILED FORM <i>follows them slowly, at a distance</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>CURTAIN</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>ACT II</h3> + + + +<h3><a name="SCENE_II" id="SCENE_II"></a>SCENE II</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>Outside the Door</i></p> + +<p><i>The curtain represents a huge double door surmounted with a +flattened arch. The door is old, thick and massive, unyielding, +bound and studded with iron bars and nails. In the middle of the +door is a formidable lock</i>.</p> + +<p>(<i>Enter</i> THE FAIRY <i>and</i> TYLTYL, <i>who carries an empty wallet over +his shoulder</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>This is the Miser's door.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Where are my sweethearts?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>At home, in my palace; they'll wait there for you and will be quite +safe.... Be quick and come back soon.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What about Destiny? I thought he would never leave me again?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>That's true; it's curious. But it's not our business to run after him; +it's his own affair; he's by no means indispensable.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Are you coming with me to the Miser?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>No, it's better that you should see him alone.... You're not frightened, +are you?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Not a bit; but I don't quite know what I am to do.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>It's very simple: when you're in there, you turn the sapphire; and he'll +give you anything you want.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>He won't attack me? I've no weapons, you know.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>On the contrary, he will be delighted to be of service.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How shall I get in? There's no bell and no knocker. Am I to tap at the +door?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Do nothing of the sort! That would be giving him a hint; and he would +become unmanageable.... But this also is quite simple. I will touch the +big lock with my wand; the doors will slide back to right and left; and +you will suddenly be on the other side, that is to say, right inside the +cave, before he even suspects it. Once there, you can keep quiet in your +corner for a moment and watch him playing with his gold, if that amuses +you; and it will amuse you, for it's rather curious. Then, when you've +had enough, turn the sapphire. Get over there, on the left, against the +wall of the arch, so that you can slip into his den at once, without +making a noise.... Look out! The door will disappear! And I'll take +myself off this way!... (<i>She touches the great lock with her wand</i>.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_III" id="SCENE_III"></a>SCENE III</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>The Miser's Cave</i></p> + +<p>(<i>The heavy doors open in the middle, slide right and left and +disappear in the slips, revealing the whole of</i> THE MISER'S <i>den, +an immense cave with low arches in which are piled large sacks +bursting with gold, silver and copper coins. The only light comes +from a wretched smoking candle</i>. TYLTYL <i>hides himself as well as +he can in a dark corner</i>. THE MISER, <i>an old, hook-nosed man, with +a dirty white beard and long, scanty hair, is dressed in a sort of +squalid, patched dressing-gown. On the floor is an old carpet, with +three sacks bulging with gold at one corner</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>To-day I shall count the contents of these three sacks all over again. I +must have made a mistake in my last reckoning. There are three louis +missing. Three louis are sixty francs, which make a considerable +difference in a total of six hundred thousand francs. It's quite +impossible to sleep with that anxiety on one's mind. Each of these three +sacks ought to hold two hundred thousand francs, the first and second in +louis of twenty francs and the third in ten-franc pieces. I shall empty +them on the carpet first to see what a lovely heap they make.... (<i>He +empties the contents of the first sack on the carpet</i>.) How they +sparkle, how they sparkle!... What a lot of them there are!... When you +see the gold spreading itself out, it's impossible to believe that it +all could go into one sack!... Let's have another.... This is the sack +with the little ten-franc pieces.... (<i>He empties a second sack</i>.) They +are as lovely as the big ones.... They are younger, that's all, and +there are more of them.... Now let's see what the third holds.... (<i>He +empties the third sack. A few gold coins roll of the carpet. He throws +himself flat on the floor to catch them</i>.) Oh, no, oh, no, children!... +This won't do!... You mustn't run away like that!... Nothing is allowed +to leave this cave!... Trying to hide yourselves, are you? To go where, +pray? Don't you know that there's no place like home?... Fancy running +away like that from daddy! I should never have thought it of you! This +way, children, this way, darlings. This way, my pretty ones! Back to the +heap, back to the cradle, then you'll be happy!... (<i>He picks up a coin +which has rolled farther than the rest</i>.) Don't do it again, you: you're +always making off; you're a little torment and you set a bad example. +Beg my pardon, or I'll punish you. You shall be the first to be spent; +I'll give you to a beggar, do you hear?... (<i>Kissing it</i>.) No, no, I'm +only pretending.... There, there, don't cry!... I was merely frightening +you.... I love you all the same, but don't do it again!... Here, here, +here, they're here, in front of me and all around me.... It will take me +quite a fortnight to count them all and to weigh them in my scales.... +What a lot of them, what a lot of them! And how pretty they are!... I +know them every one, I could call them by their names.... They would +need a hundred and twenty thousand different names; and each of those +names stands for a treasure!... (<i>He rolls on the carpet amidst the +gold</i>.) I love to see them close!... Oh, what a cosy bed! And what a joy +it is to be among one's daughters!... For they are my daughters: I +brought them into the world; I have nurtured them, protected them from +harm, fondled and pampered them; I know their history, the trouble +they've given me, but all is forgotten: they love me, I love them and we +shall never part again!... Oh, what a fine thing happiness is!... (<i>He +fills his two hands with the gold, makes it trickle over his heart, on +his forehead and in his heard and utters little sighs of pleasure which +gradually swell into roars of delight. Suddenly, he shudders, starts and +springs up, thinking that he has heard a sound</i>.) What is it?... Who's +there?... (<i>Reassuring himself</i>.) No, no, it's nothing ... no one would +dare.... (<i>He sees</i> TYLTYL <i>and gives a shout</i>.) A thief!... A thief!... +A thief!... You here!... You here!... (<i>With his hands clutching like +claws, terrified and terrifying, he rushes upon</i> TYLTYL, <i>who jumps back +and quickly turns the sapphire</i>. THE MISER <i>stops short. After an inward +struggle which seems violent and lasts for some seconds, his hands drop +to his sides, his face brightens and loses its hardness. He seems to +wake from a bad dream and tries to wipe the memory of it from his +forehead. He gazes with astonishment at the gold spread over the carpet, +feels and pushes it with his foot, seems not to know what it is and then +addresses</i> TYLTYL <i>in a very calm and gentle voice</i>.)</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>You must have awakened me.... How did you get here?... What have you +come for?...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I've come to ask you to lend me a little money.... I understand that I +want some in order to discover my bride....</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>Have you anything to put it in?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I've brought this wallet.</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>I shall be delighted to fill it for you; but I warn you that gold is +very heavy and that you won't be able to carry it away.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>You must put in just what you think fit.</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>(<i>Pouring the gold by handfuls into the wallet</i>.) Help me, will you?... +We'll fill it to the brim and see how that does.... We can easily +lighten it afterwards, if it's too heavy....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Oh, you're giving me too much, I don't want all that!... So you're not a +miser, as they told me?</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>I? Not at all. Why should I be?... I have only a few weeks to live and +am not in need of anything.... I hardly eat at all; and I drink nothing +but water.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why were you lying on your gold when I came in, kissing it and calling +it by pet names? You seemed to worship it.</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>Oh, I don't know! It amuses me. When a man grows old, he has to amuse +himself as best he can.... But it isn't I who do it. All that is only a +sort of dream. I am thinking of something very different.... All men are +like that at my age. They are not often where you see them; they are not +often doing what they appear to do; and every one lives in one of those +dreams which have nothing to do with the truth.... But this is not the +moment to explain things to you.... There, your wallet it full. Can you +lift it?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Making an effort</i>.) No, really, it is a bit too heavy.... Let's take +some of it out....</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>(<i>Emptying part of the wallet</i>.) I daresay that's better.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Oh, look here, you're taking it all!... There won't be enough left.... I +must put a little of it back....</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>I say, are you becoming a miser now?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, but I don't know that I shall have a chance of coming back again.... +Just help me lift the wallet on my shoulder....</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>(<i>Helping him with the wallet</i>.) There you are!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Staggering under the load</i>.) I say, what a weight gold is!</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>Don't I know it?... Have you far to go?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I really can't tell.</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>What's the weather like outside?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It was bright sunshine.</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>One wouldn't think it in here.... Fancy, it's years since I've looked at +the sky or the green trees!... But you can't breathe under the weight of +your bag, you poor little man!... Come, kiss me good-bye: there's no +knowing when we shall meet again.... Thanks for the pleasant time you +have given me and especially for waking me up.... I shall make the most +of my remaining days....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Which is the way out?</p> + +<p>THE MISER</p> + +<p>That way, I suppose.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>steps forward through the arch. The doors at once slide +and close behind him and he is left standing alone, in the dark, in +front of the great shut door</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's dark.... I'm all alone.... Where am I?... Where am I to go?</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>Looming up out of the shadow</i>.) This way!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Hullo! You're there, are you? I thought you had deserted me....</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>Grasping his hand</i>.) I was here all the time.... I never lose sight of +you....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, but, I say, don't walk so fast!... My bag's frightfully heavy.... +It would be much kinder of you if you helped me to carry it a little, +instead of making me rush along like this....</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>I am not man's servant.... Forward, forward, forward!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They go out</i>.) </p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_IV" id="SCENE_IV"></a>SCENE IV</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>A Closet in the Fairy's Palace</i></p> + +<p><i>A sort of waiting-room or lumber-room containing the principal +accessories of the Tales of Mother Goose: Cinderella's pumpkin and +glass slipper; Red Ridinghood's cake and bowl; Hop-o'-my-Thumb's +pebbles; the Ogre's daughters' golden crowns; the Sleeping Beauty's +distaff and snake-tub; the Giant's seven-leagued hoots; Blue +Beard's key; the Blue Bird in his silver cage; and, hanging from +the wall, Catskin's weather-coloured, moon-coloured and +sun-coloured dresses. All these things look rather tawdry in the +grey and unbecoming light</i>. TYLTYL'S <i>seven little friends are +locked up in this room. In the same unsympathetic light they look +much less pretty than when they entered the cottage and they seem +rather tired, discontented and glum, except</i> THE VEILED GIRL, <i>who +stands on one side, motionless, impassive and unrevealing</i>. </p></blockquote> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Where have they brought us?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>I don't know; but I must say that it's not a nice place in which to keep +young ladies waiting.</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Yes, it looks like a lumber-room where they've stored all the odds and +ends and litter of the house.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Touching the various objects in disgust</i>.) What's this? A distaff? +Bless me, what for?... A pumpkin, a cake, an old bowl and goodness knows +what else!... A tub full of dead eels! Gracious, how they smell!... It's +all disgracefully kept.... And that lot of old fly-blown, spun-glass +dresses!... My dear, how horrible!... What sort of place can this be? A +potting-shed, a rag-and-bone shop, a pawn-broker's, or a thieves' +kitchen? Whom can it belong to? A receiver of stolen goods? (<i>Touching +the more bizarre dresses</i>.) Or a Hottentot dressmaker?</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>There's something of everything ... except a broom and a duster.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>One wouldn't be enough.</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>And nothing to sit on but an old wooden bench....</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>But it's carved, my love!...</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Yes, carved in dust.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Reach me one of those hideous rags and let me wipe it....</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Eagerly and obsequiously</i>.) Wait, miss, I'll do that.... (<i>She takes +the moon-coloured dress and dusts the seat with it</i>.) There, that's a +little better; that's at least one corner nearly clean enough to sit on.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Sitting down</i>.) I'm tired out!</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Sitting down beside her</i>.) So am I; my feet are dreadfully sore.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Looking around through her lorgnette</i>.) But what I want to know is +where have we got to? My dear, have we fallen into a trap?</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>The company certainly is a little mixed. There's the miller's daughter, +the girl from the inn, the wood-cutter....</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Or rather, to be accurate, the wood-stealer.... There's even the little +beggar-girl from the bridge by the Hermitage, to whom I refused a penny +last Sunday.... My dear, you should have heard the insolent way in which +she asked for it!...</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>And what's that white image standing in the corner, the one that never +stirs, never speaks and follows us wherever we go?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>That great lump of clay, that ugly wax-work? That washed-out plaster +saint?</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>She looks very ill.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>She may have Jewish leprosy or Zanzibar plague or Bombay cholera.... I +tell you, we must be careful: that's all very catching....</p> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Coming up to the bench timidly</i>.) I should like to sit down too, I'm +very tired....</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Mind what you're about, miss!... There's dust enough as it is; I don't +want flour into the bargain.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>What's all this, what's all this? Are we turning up our nose at flour +now?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>I wasn't addressing my remarks to you, madam.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>No, but I'm speaking to you. What bread would you eat if you had no +flour?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>You would do better to tell your father to pay the three quarters' rent +that's in arrear.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>He'll pay his rent when your horrid old miser of a grandfather has seen +to those repairs. We've been asking to have them done these last three +years.</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Is it the repairs that prevent your father from paying his butcher's +bills?</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>Does he owe anything at your shop?</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>It's six months since we saw the colour of his money.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>He's waiting to see the colour of yours at the inn.</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>Of mine indeed? You can wait a long time before I set foot in your dirty +dram-shop.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>Yes, but that father of yours isn't so squeamish when he comes on +Sundays and tipples till we have to put him out dead-drunk.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Don't answer her, my dear; we are not accustomed to these pot-house +brawls.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>As for you, miss, who pretend to be so particular, you just go and ask +your father, the mayor, who it was that nibbled the holes, which were +not made by rats, in the town's cash-box.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Springing to her feet, furiously</i>.) Holes which were not made by rats! +What do you mean?</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>I mean what every one in the village means!...</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Mind what you're saying; and say it again if you dare.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>Well, what would you do if I did say it again? You don't frighten me +with your airs and graces.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Never mind my airs and graces; I'll soon show you what I'll do.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>Well, then, I do say it again.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Boxing her ears</i>.) And take that for your answer!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Piercing screams and a general turmoil</i>. ROSELLE and AIMETTE +<i>make a rush at</i> BELLINE <i>and</i> ROSARELLE, <i>while</i> MILETTE <i>and</i> +JALLINE <i>vainly try to separate the combatants</i>. THE VEILED GIRL +<i>alone remains motionless in her corner, as though she were not +present. The others claw one another's faces, tear one another's +hair and end by uttering such piercing yells and shrieks that</i> +TYLTYL, <i>returning from the</i> MISER'S, <i>hears them from the far end +of the palace and comes running up, scared and dismayed. He is +bare-headed and only half-dressed and does not understand what is +going on</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What is it? What's the matter? What has happened? An accident? Are you +hurt? What have you been doing?</p> + +<p>THE GIRLS</p> + +<p>(<i>All speaking together</i>.) It's she!... No, no, it was Rosarelle who +began!... I tell you, it was she!... She insulted me!... She boxed my +ears!... She dared to talk against my father!... She spoke ill of my +mother!... She's lying, she's lying!... She nearly pulled my ear off!... +She's driven a hairpin into my cheek!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter</i> THE FAIRY.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, what's the matter?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>In bewilderment</i>.) I don't know, ma'am. I think they must have gone +mad. They were so sweet when I left them. I should never have known +them!... Look, look, they are quite different!... Rosarelle and +Belline's eyes are blazing like furies', Aimette looks so spiteful and +Roselle so brazen, Jalline hasn't washed herself and Milette's cheeks +are as red as a turkey-cock's.... (<i>Bursting into tears and hiding his +eyes with his arm, like a child crying</i>.) I can't bear it! Oh, I can't +bear it!</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>But, you little silly, it's your own fault!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My fault?</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Yes, of course, it's your fault.... And, first, where have you come +from? What have you done with your jacket and your green hat?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, ma'am, I was busy dressing; I was putting on the little pair of +silk breeches and the jacket embroidered with pearls which you told me I +was to wear when I went to see the Ancestors.... Then I heard screams, +dropped everything, ran up and found them fighting, tearing out one +another's hair and scratching one another's faces....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>A pretty business!... That will teach you to run after them without your +talisman, which reveals the truth.... I call it most incorrect and +improper.... Don't you see that you are not seeing them now as they +are?...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I'm not seeing them as they are?... Then how do I see them?...</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>Why, as they are not, that is to say, as you ought never to see them.... +It's all so wonderfully simple: anything that's ugly isn't true, never +has been true and never will be.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>That's easily said; but you see what you do see.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>When you see what you do see, you see nothing at all.... I've told you +before, it's what you do not see that makes the world go round.... All +this doesn't count; it's only a little foam on the surface of the +ocean.... But run quickly and fetch the sapphire and we shall once more +see deep down into their souls, the truth of their hearts and the +well-spring of their life.... Wait, you needn't trouble: I see Light +coming; she has brought you your hat.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter</i> LIGHT.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Good-evening, Tyltyl.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Throwing himself passionately into her arms</i>.) Oh, Light, Light!... +It's my dear Light!... Where were you?... What have you been doing ever +since I saw you last?... I have missed you so much and looked for you so +often!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>My dear little Tyltyl!... I have never lost sight of you.... I have +guided you and counselled you and kissed you very often, without your +knowing it.... But we will talk about all this later; to-day we have no +time; I have only one night to give you and there is a great deal to be +done.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter</i> DESTINY.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>Where is Tyltyl?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Here. I'm not trying to hide.</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>And quite right too, for it would be no use; there's no escaping me....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Contemplating him in astonishment</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>But what's the matter with you?... What has happened to you? You look so +much smaller!... You seem to be less tall and less broad.... You're not +ill, are you?...</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Who has indeed shrunk appreciably</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>I? I never change, I am always the same; I am insuperable, insensible, +invulnerable, immutable, inexorable, irresistible, invisible, inflexible +and irrevocable!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>All right, all right, what I said was merely....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Aside, to</i> TYLTYL.) Be quiet, you will only vex him and he will get +out of hand.... It is probably being so close to Light that has upset +him; they never did agree.... (<i>Aloud</i>.) Come, children, it's time.... +Put on your hat, Tyltyl, and turn the sapphire; we shall see what +happens: sometimes it works upon people's hearts, sometimes on their +minds, sometimes on the objects around them and often on all three; one +cannot tell before-hand....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>He turns the sapphire. The closet brightens with a blue and +supernatural light which gives beauty and life to everything in the +room; the accessories of Mother Goose seem to wake up: the spindle +revolves madly and unreels threads of gold and crystal; the pumpkin +swells, sways from side to side and lights up; the Blue Bird bursts +into song; the snake-tub bubbles and pours forth fruits and +flowers; the moon-coloured and sun-coloured dresses wave and +glitter; the columns and aisles gleam with precious stones. But the +group of</i> GIRLS <i>especially undergoes a radical and wonderful +transformation: their features relax, their eyes open wider, smiles +blossom on their lips, their frocks become gay and splendid, +innocence, gladness, kindness and beauty bloom once more; and</i> +TYLTYL, <i>in an ecstasy, clapping his hands, intoxicated with +delight, rushes into the midst of them, giving and receiving kisses +and not knowing which of them to listen to</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They're themselves again, they're themselves again!... How lovely they +are, how lovely they are!... Jalline, Milette my darling, Aimette, +Belline darling, Rosarelle, Roselle!... They are all as they were before +and I love every one of them!... Let us kiss again, again, again!... Oh, +let us kiss for ever!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>At this moment</i>, THE VEILED GIRL, <i>who has played no part in the +transfiguration or in the general ecstasy, staggers in her corner +and, without uttering a sound, falls suddenly and unresistingly, +like a statue, and lies motionless, stretched on the floor. +Silence, terror and consternation, followed by cries and bustle</i>; +THE GIRLS <i>rush to her assistance and gather eagerly round her</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Lifting her up</i>.) Help me, somebody!</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>She isn't hurt, is she?</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Examining her anxiously</i>.) No, no, I can't see anything.</p> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Stroking her forehead</i>.) She's breathing, she's sighing.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing her</i>.) She has only fainted.... Tell us what you feel.... +You're not in pain, dear, are you?</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>She doesn't answer.</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking one of her hands and stroking it</i>.) Perhaps she's hungry.</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Stroking the other hand</i>.) No, can't you feel? She's cold.</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>Will you have my cloak?</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>No, no, it's not that.... What she wants is a drop of brandy.... I +haven't my bottle.... And don't all crowd round her, she's suffocating. +She wants air!...</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Supporting her head</i>.) Have you some water there?... We ought to send +for a doctor....</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>She's as white as marble.... She might be dead....</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>No, no, she's coming to.... I can hear her heart beating....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Intervening</i>.) Come, come, it's nothing.... I have practised medicine +longer than men have and know a little more about it. Do not be uneasy; +there is nothing to fear; I will undertake to cure her.... But we are +wasting precious time, the night is passing and we shall get nothing +done.... (<i>To</i> THE GIRLS.) Come, dears, go and dress yourselves; your +cloaks are waiting for you and everything is ready. Just follow Light; +she will advise you.... We will meet in the great ballroom of the +palace.... (THE GIRLS <i>go out, preceded by</i> LIGHT. <i>To</i> DESTINY.) You +too, Destiny, follow Light; you want another costume. You can't go as +you are. One must not be conspicuous, especially at this moment.... +(DESTINY <i>obeys, grudgingly</i>.) I don't quite know how to dress the +fellow. However, Light will think of something: she has more imagination +than I.... Let's see to the little patient. She's better.... (<i>Helping +her to rise</i>.) There, there.... Sit down on this bench.... No?... You +prefer to stand up?... As you please: in that case, lean against the +column, for the walls will soon disappear.... Now that we are alone, +Tyltyl, will you tell me at last, between ourselves, who that girl +is?...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But, ma'am, I don't know at all....</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>You must make an effort.... She can't live unless you remember who she +is.... It's a great responsibility.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But it's not my fault.... I've done what I could; I can't make it out.</p> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>So much the worse for you. I can't understand it either.... Come, get +dressed. Here's the little jacket which Light brought you.... And now, +with one stroke of the wand, we will enter the ballroom and see what +your little friends have made of themselves. (<i>She touches the panels of +the closet, which disappear</i>.)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_V" id="SCENE_V"></a>SCENE V</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>A Ballroom in the Fairy's Palace</i></p> + +<p>(<i>All that remains standing is the columns and aisles forming the +portico of an immense, luminous room, which might have been hewn +and carved out of a mountain of amber. Under the dazzling arches</i> +THE SIX GIRLS <i>move about, arrayed in resplendent, trailing gowns, +with their feet encased in gilt sandals, their hair hanging loose +and their hands filled with flowers. They joyously beckon to</i> +TYLTYL, <i>who, at first dumbfounded, rushes towards them and joins +in their games and dances</i>. THE VEILED GIRL <i>alone stands on one +side, leaning against the column</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FAIRY</p> + +<p>(<i>Observing</i> DESTINY, <i>draped in a long black cape, with a broad-brimmed +Spanish sombrero on his head</i>.) I say, there's Destiny!... She has +dressed him like the villain in a play!... (<i>Clapping her hands</i>.) Come, +children, it is time to be starting.... All this doesn't count: the real +work is about to begin....</p> + +<p>CURTAIN</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>ACT III</h3> + + + +<h3><a name="SCENE_VI" id="SCENE_VI"></a>SCENE VI</h3> + +<blockquote><p><i>Before the Curtain representing Rocks</i></p> + +<p>(<i>Enter</i> TYLTYL <i>and</i> LIGHT.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Out of breath, dropping on to a boulder</i>.) They live a long way up, +the Ancestors!... Aren't you tired?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>No, I was born in the mountains.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Bending over a crevice</i>.) You're not like Destiny, who has almost +given out.... He's still at the bottom of the last precipice, with my +little friends.... He stumbles at every step and is limping badly.... +They won't be here yet awhile; and I am very glad to have a moment alone +with you, before they come, for I have a lot of things to ask you....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Ask me anything you like, dear; I will do my best to answer.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What do you think of these little friends of mine?... If you had to +choose, which would you take?...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>I like them all, but it is not for me to choose; no one but yourself can +tell which one you love best.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Ah, that's not so easy!... You see, I love them all!... For instance, I +love little Jalline, the beggar's daughter: she is so gentle and sweet, +such a darling!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, she is very attractive: a pretty little creature, with a pure and +simple mind....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I also love the Mayor's daughter, Rosarelle.... She is really very +beautiful, not a bit conceited and much better-educated than the +others.... And then think of what she has done: she has left everything +to go with me....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, that is the proof of a real love....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I also love Roselle, the inn-keeper's daughter, who is a very pretty +girl, so healthy and strong and frank and brave and cheerful and +amusing: you can't think how kind and affectionate she is....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, she has qualities; and I too find her very sympathetic....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I also love the wood-cutter's daughter, Milette.... She has such +beautiful eyes and hair!... At first she seems a little awkward, a +little shy; but it's quite different when you know her: she is really +very playful and full of fun.... And then, have you noticed her mouth +and her teeth?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, I've noticed them....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I also love Belline, the butcher's daughter.... To begin with, she's +my cousin; and one always loves one's cousins. And then there's +something about her dark beautiful eyes that frightens me rather. I +adore that.... But she's not unkind, not at all.... Have you noticed her +smile? One can never tell exactly what it means....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, she has a strange smile....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I also love the miller's daughter, Aimette.... To begin with, she's +also my cousin.... She keeps her eyes lowered under her long, curling +eyelashes; she blushes when you look at her and weeps when you speak to +her.... She looks a little silly; well, she's not that at all. She's +quite different when you know her a bit.... She's very bright and very +jolly and whispers such nice, sweet things to you that you at once want +to kiss her....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>I can see that the choice will not be easy.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Which do you think the best?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>There are neither better nor worse; each one is as good as the other; +and all are good when they suffer or when they love.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>The nuisance is that it seems you mustn't love more than one.... Tell +me, though, is that true, or is it only one of the things people say to +children just to keep them quiet?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>No, it's true. When you love many, that merely shows that you haven't +yet found the one whom you were to love.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But, after all, you, who know everything and see everything, must know +better than I and can tell me what I ought to do.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>No, dear, that is beyond me, beyond the range of my sight. It is for +this very reason that we are going to consult those who do know; and +they are near at hand, because it is in you that they live. We seem to +be taking a great journey: that is an illusion; we are not going outside +yourself and all our adventures are happening within you.... But I hear +your little friends. Where is your green hat?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Here. I took it off because I felt hot.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Put it on again quickly, so that there may be no more misunderstandings, +and turn the sapphire.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>He does so. Forthwith, on every side, all sorts of monsters +emerge from the ground and from between the rocks: monsters with +more or less human or animal shapes and grotesque, brutish or +repulsive faces. They hustle</i> TYLTYL, <i>gather together and dance +round him</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Terrified</i>.) Hullo, hullo, what's all this?...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Nothing. You must have turned the sapphire from left to right.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>So I did, I believe; I forgot.... But what do they want with me? They +are pushing up against me and snapping at my feet.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>They won't hurt you; they are merely your own thoughts, which you +sometimes secretly think; now you have set them free and they are +showing themselves for an instant as they are.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What!... Are my thoughts as ugly as that?... I should never have +believed it!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Don't take it so much to heart!... They are not as ugly as some, because +you are still innocent and very young.... If you were to see those of +other men!... Besides, you have beautiful ones; but they are more +reluctant to show themselves.... However, I see the girls coming.... +Turn the sapphire from right to left, so that we may get rid of these +monsters, whom they must not see....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>He does so; and the creatures go back into the ground. Enter</i> THE +SIX GIRLS, <i>preceded by</i> DESTINY <i>and followed, at a distance, by</i> +THE WHITE PHANTOM, <i>who keeps on one side. They surround</i> TYLTYL, +<i>overwhelming him with caresses and all speaking at the same +time</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE GIRLS</p> + +<p>Good-evening, Tyltyl!... We've found you again!... We were so anxious +about you!... We couldn't keep up with you.... Aren't you tired?... May +we kiss you?... Destiny held us back.... I wanted to run.... He stood in +the way.... Aren't you too hot?... Mind you don't catch cold.... Kiss me +too!... And me too!... And me too!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Distributing kisses all round</i>.) My sweethearts!... What darlings you +are, and how happy I feel!... I hope I have not made you walk too +fast?... You must forgive me; I am rather in a hurry.... Jalline dear, +you haven't hurt your foot, have you?... And you, Rosarelle? You are not +used to climbing rocks.... Aimette's hands are cold and Roselle has made +herself much too hot....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Come, we will talk about all this later. We must now hasten to the +Ancestors, who are waiting for us and would be very much annoyed if we +arrived late....</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>Who has grown smaller still and is now hardly taller than a man of +average height. He seems very tired and sits huddled on a boulder</i>.) Not +a step farther!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Hullo! You've grown a bit smaller again!...</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>I? I've not changed. I am always the same, I am....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I know, I know.... It's Light being so near, perhaps....</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>Light and I have nothing in common.... In any event, I alone am master +and I order a halt....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>By all means; there is no need to go any farther. We have arrived; we +are here without taking another step, at the abode of the Ancestors....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The curtain parts and opens upon the next scene</i>.) </p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_VII" id="SCENE_VII"></a>SCENE VII</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>The Abode of the Ancestors</i></p> + +<p><i>A large open space, under an Elysian light, which imparts to all +things an aspect of ethereal and lasting felicity and unchanging +gladness. The back and the two sides of the square are formed of +dwelling-places of different periods, some stately, some lowly, but +all radiant and a little unreal. In the foreground, on the right, +for instance, is the entrance to the cottage of</i> TYLTYL'S +<i>grandparents; next comes the gable of a farm-house of older date; +then the front of a little eighteenth-century shop; and thus in +succession, running from right to left and across the back, a +seventeenth-century town-house, a sixteenth-century prison, tavern +and hospital, a fifteenth-century mansion; some thirteenth-century +hovels, a twelfth-century church, a Gallo-Roman farm and villa, and +so on. Intersecting the background at the middle is a street in +endless perspective, bordered with the very oldest houses and +leading to the huts and caves of primitive mankind. In the +foreground are a few stone benches standing under fine trees, +laurels, plane-trees or cypresses</i>.</p> + +<p>(TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY <i>and</i> THE SIX GIRLS <i>come forward, followed +at a distance by</i> THE WHITE PHANTOM, <i>who keeps to one side as +usual. They have taken but a few steps when</i> GAFFER <i>and</i> GRANNY +TYL <i>come hurrying out of their cottage and, with exclamations of +delight, throw themselves into</i> TYLTYL'S <i>arms</i>.) +</p></blockquote> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Tyltyl! Tyltyl!... Gracious, you again!... But this time it's not a +surprise. We were expecting you; we were told three days ago.... +All the same, though, we're so glad to see you that it's difficult +to believe at first.... But how big and strong you've grown, dear! +And so good-looking: I should never have known you!... Oh, dear, +how nice it is to get a kiss like this now and again!...</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Haven't you brought Mytyl this time?...</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Of course he hasn't; you know it's not her turn yet.... We know +what you're here for, Tyltyl: it's not to see us! You needn't +blush!... You young rascal, you scamp!... There, there, you're +quite right; and the sooner you set about it the better.... So it's +one of these girls they have to choose?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, Granny, it seems so.</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Eyeing them like an expert</i>.) Ho, ho!... And, my word, a very +nice lot too! My compliments! I admire your taste.... (<i>Pointing +to</i> ROSELLE.) If I were you, I'd choose that one: she's the +prettiest and the plumpest.</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Hold your tongue; no one's asking your advice: you know you've no +say in the matter. We're still too young; we've hardly begun to get +cold and haven't had time yet to pick up things.... It takes so +long; there's so much to learn!... But the others, especially the +oldest, who now are the youngest: it's they who know everything....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What? The oldest are the youngest in this country?...</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Yes, it seems one gets younger as one grows older.... I'm beginning +to notice it myself.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>That's odd.... But where on earth are they?... I see nobody....</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>They'll come very soon.... I wonder they're not here yet.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Are there many of them?</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>What do you think! All your ancestors since the world began! +There'd be so many that we shouldn't know where to put them!... But +we shall only see a few of them. A good many are travelling in +other worlds; and, as a fact, some of the oldest are always away. +But those who are on the spot choose in the name of all. They +always agree; and it seems they very seldom make a mistake.... But +here's one coming out of his house. You see the little man shutting +up his shop?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A spruce</i> LITTLE MAN <i>is seen leaving the eighteenth-century +shop</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who's he?</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>It's your grandfather's grandfather; he was a grocer at Versailles in +the reign of Louis the Fifteenth.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What funny clothes!</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>He has put on the things which he wore in his shop.... Here, as a rule, +the weather is so mild, the air so warm and balmy, that we've no need to +dress ourselves; but you wouldn't be able to see us if we had no +clothes; and so, in your honour, we've put on those we used to wear on +earth.... It'll be quite amusing: some of them date back ever so far.... +Look, there they come, out of the houses they once lived in....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter from the town-house a</i> CITIZEN <i>of the time of Louis XIV; +from the sixteenth-century prison a</i> PRISONER <i>still wearing chains +and irons on his feet and hands. His shackles now seem to be light +and cause him no inconvenience. He attracts</i> TYLTYL'S <i>attention</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who is that one? Was he chained up?</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Yes, he is one of your ancestors who spent nearly all his life in +prison.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's not a thing to boast of; he'd have done better to stay at home.</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>He did nothing wrong. He used to steal bread or other little things +which one could eat, to keep his children from starving. He suffered a +great deal; we think a lot of him....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE ANCESTORS <i>continue to leave their houses. An imposing and +richly-dressed</i> MAN <i>appears on the threshold of the +fifteenth-century mansion</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Pointing to him</i>.) And that one?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>That one is the richest.... It appears we were very rich at one time, +but that didn't last.... However, it doesn't matter here: the only thing +that counts, it seems, is what a man has done or thought.... For +instance, you see those beggars over there, coming out of the church?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter from the twelfth-century church some four or five</i> BEGGARS, +<i>clad in rags that are pitiful to look at, but idealized by the +fairy atmosphere</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes, any number of them.</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Well, it seems that several generations of us were beggars.... We +succeeded one another, father and son, at the same church and in the +same doorway. It was very good for us, they say. It taught us patience, +resignation, endurance, temperance and the habit of never catching +cold.... But do you see the oldest, the one who looks poorest of all?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>The one with the beautiful white beard?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Precisely.... Well, he's the Great Mendicant, the one whom we respect +most, first because he has an iron constitution and next because he +appears to have thought a very great deal in his corner under the +porch.... They say it's he who did most to develop our brains.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I don't see any women among them. Where are their wives? Weren't +they married?</p> + +<p>GRANNY TYL</p> + +<p>Of course they were; but there's nothing for us women to do to-day. The +men choose the women and the women the men.... When Mytyl comes, it will +be our turn.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Look, there are three more.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A diseased</i> MAN <i>comes out of the hospital; another, carrying a +bottle and looking rather tipsy, out of the tavern; and, lastly, +out of the prison, a third figure, hairy and savage of aspect, +brandishing a blood-stained knife</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Dismayed</i>.) I don't like this.... It's very tiresome that they should +have been told....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, who are they?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>An ugly lot, those three: the sick man, the drunkard and the +murderer.... They've done us a deal of harm.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Then there was a murderer in the family?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Of course, as in every family. Fortunately, none of the three has much +influence over us. As you see, they are small and sickly; they shrink +from century to century and are nothing like as healthy as the +others.... But it won't do for them to meddle in your choice.... If the +Great Peasant, the Great Mendicant and the Great Ancestor are there, all +will go well: the others won't dare to breathe a word; if not, they will +try to force their choice upon you and that will be a bad thing for you +and for the future of the entire family.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter from the old farm-house a tall</i> PEASANT, <i>dressed in the +mediaeval style. He closes the door carefully and steps forward +whittling a switch</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Here comes the Great Peasant! That's good, that's good!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>That long, thin fellow?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>He certainly isn't fat; but he has great influence. He is one of the +mainstays of the family.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Next enter from the villa one or two</i> GALLO-ROMANS <i>and then, +from the hack of the street, among other</i> MEN <i>of the Stone Age, an +exceedingly tall old</i> MAN, <i>dressed in skins and leaning on a heavy +club</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, we've got right back to savages now!</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>That's the one!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>The Great Ancestor!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What? The one like an ape, with the big stick?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>You <i>must</i> be quiet!... Don't treat him with disrespect!... It's a great +favour that he's showing you; he doesn't often go out.... Of all our +race he's the most important, the greatest, the most respected.... +Everything's shaping well: it'll probably be he, the Great Peasant and +the Great Mendicant who will put their heads together and choose your +bride for you.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Indignantly</i>.) But I won't have that!... It doesn't concern them!... +What do they know about it?... A peasant, a savage and a beggar: what +next?</p> + +<p>GAFFER TYL</p> + +<p>Hold your tongue, I say!... I tell you, they represent all that is best +in you and in the whole family. If you obey them, if you submit to their +influence, you will be happy and safe.... Mind now! They're coming....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE ANCESTORS <i>have been gradually collecting at the back of the +stage. They bow, accost one another, shake hands, exchange +compliments. All show affectionate respect to</i> THE GREAT PEASANT, +THE GREAT MENDICANT <i>and especially</i> THE GREAT ANCESTOR, <i>gathering +around them and listening deferentially to what they say. On the +other hand</i>, THE SICK MAN, THE DRUNKARD <i>and</i> THE MURDERER <i>are +left standing apart, forming a pitiful rear-guard. The group now +moves towards the benches in the foreground, where</i> TYLTYL <i>and his +companions are gathered</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Coming forward</i>.) Good-evening, Tyltyl!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Good-evening ... sir!</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Kiss me first. Don't be afraid. I look rather savage, but it is only a +shape which I had to put on in order to make myself visible to you. I +had no other handy.... But I am really quite clean and I don't smell +bad.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I never said you did!</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>No, but to judge by the grimace you made you weren't quite sure!... +(<i>Sitting down on the middle bench</i>.) I will sit down here; the Great +Mendicant will take his seat on my right and the Great Peasant on my +left. They don't smell either.... (THE GREAT MENDICANT <i>and</i> THE GREAT +PEASANT <i>take their seats; the other</i> ANCESTORS <i>stand behind him</i>.) And +I will take you on my knees.... I am glad to hold you in my arms for a +moment.... We have known each other so long!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I don't remember ever seeing you before.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>And yet we have always lived in each other; for you were already living +in me when I was on earth; and now I live in you while you are still on +that same earth, which we seem to have quitted.... But what do you think +of this place of ours?... Let me have the pleasure of showing you over +your home.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My home?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Certainly.... You are at home here.... And a very nice home it is.... +Everything you see—this square, that prison, the church, those houses, +we who live in them—all this is really only inside yourself.... People +rarely see it, they don't even suspect it; but it's true.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I should never have thought there was so much room inside myself and +that it was so large....</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>It's much larger really; there's a great deal that you don't see.... But +that is not what interests us to-day; let us come straight to the point, +to the great question that brings you here.... We are going to choose +the woman whom you are to love....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Since you are so kind, there's one thing I should like to ask you....</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Ask me any questions you please.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How is it that I have not, like other men, the right to choose the woman +I love?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>But you have the right to choose and are here for the sole purpose of +making that choice.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, they tell me that it's you and the others who will make it.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>But I and the others are all you.... You are we, we are you; and it's +all the same thing.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Not for me.... They keep on telling me to hold my tongue, that it's not +my business, that it's no concern of mine.... Everybody's allowed to get +a word in, except me.... I've had enough, I'm sick and tired of it!... +Where do I come in? That's what I want to know!</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>You're simply acting as all men act when they think they are doing what +they want to do.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But, after all, dash it, what business is it of yours? I can understand, +in a way, that the children I may one day have should claim some right +to select their mother; but the rest of you, over here, what difference +can it make to you?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Don't you see that it's all the same? Those who have lived in you live +in you just as much as those who are going to. There is no difference, +it all connects and it's still the same family.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>As you please, but I can't make it out.... And, if I refuse to obey, if +I love just for myself, if I take a different girl from the one they +want to force on me, what will they do then? What will happen?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Merely this, that the choice you will have made for yourself, without +our approval, will not be a real choice; in other words, you will not +love the woman whom you thought you loved. You will have made a mistake, +you will be unhappy and, at the same time, you will make all of us +unhappy, those who came before you as well as those who come after.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Does that often happen?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Very often, far too often: that is why you see so many unhappy people on +earth.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, what am I to do?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Where are your little friends?... Would you mind coming a little nearer, +dear ladies?... (<i>Gazing with attention at</i> THE SIX GIRLS, <i>who come +forward and stand in front of him</i>.) Well, well, you have set us our +task, but you have made it very difficult: how is one to select when all +are equally beautiful?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT MENDICANT</p> + +<p>They are really very handsome.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT PEASANT</p> + +<p>And they appear to be very healthy, very quiet and very hard-working.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Do you recognize the one among them for whom we are waiting?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT MENDICANT</p> + +<p>Not yet.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>It's strange, neither do I.... (<i>To</i> THE GREAT PEASANT.) And you?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT PEASANT</p> + +<p>I can't say that I don't and I can't say that I do.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>It's strange, very strange. And yet we know that the one who will make +us happy has arrived and is here among us. We generally recognize her at +the first glance.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT MENDICANT</p> + +<p>I can't understand it.</p> + +<p>THE RICH ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Standing behind the bench, pointing to</i> ROSARELLE.) Isn't it that +one?... What's your name, my dear?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>Rosarelle.</p> + +<p>THE RICH ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Who are you?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>The daughter of the Mayor.</p> + +<p>THE RICH ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Are you rich?</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>My father has money, I believe.</p> + +<p>THE RICH ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>You see? There is no doubt about it.</p> + +<p>THE SICK ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Pointing to</i> AIMETTE.) I say it's that one.</p> + +<p>THE DRUNKEN ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking hold of</i> ROSELLE.) This is the one I want.</p> + +<p>THE MURDERER ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Leaping over the bench and taking hold of</i> BELLINE.) And I take this +one!</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>Rising, in an authoritative tone</i>.) Be silent ... and withdraw!... +<i>(With an imperious gesture</i>.) Begone!... You know that you have lost +the right to raise your voice in my presence!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The four dissentient</i> ANCESTORS, <i>addressed in these terms, move +away crestfallen</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE OTHER ANCESTORS</p> + +<p>(<i>Grouped behind the bench, clapping their hands</i>.) Hear! Hear!... Well +done!... It's what they deserve!... They have been wrong too often!... +They have done too much harm!... They would be the ruin of the +family!...</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Going to</i> THE GREAT MENDICANT <i>and clasping his knees</i>.) Perhaps I'm +the one.... I love him so!</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Going to</i> THE GREAT PEASANT <i>and clasping his knees</i>.) If you want to +know how much I love him, look at me and see.</p> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Going to</i> THE GREAT ANCESTOR <i>and clasping his knees</i>.) Can't you see +that I have loved him longer than the others? I have loved him since I +first set eyes on him. I never dared say so; but I feel that I shall die +if you choose another.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>My poor children, it is very sad, but my hands are tied. You will +perhaps cry for a few hours; but, if we chose one of you, she would +spend her whole life crying, for I do not see among you the one for whom +we are waiting.... Tyltyl!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Have you brought us no one else, besides those we see here?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, no one else.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT MENDICANT</p> + +<p>I see a tall white figure over there, against a tree; who is it?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I really don't know. She follows us all the time, squeezes in wherever +we go, nobody knows her; and we can't get rid of her.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Go and fetch her.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>fetches</i> THE WHITE PHANTOM <i>and brings her back, holding +her by the hand</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Who are you?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's no use asking her. She never answers; she can't talk.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>(<i>To</i> THE PHANTOM.) Come nearer, child, and let me lift the veil that +covers your face.... (<i>He removes the veil. The statue's face appears, +absolutely white, featureless and devoid of human expression</i>.) She has +no face.... (<i>To the other</i> ANCESTORS <i>standing around them</i>.) Do you +know her?</p> + +<p>THE GREAT PEASANT</p> + +<p>She has no expression.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT MENDICANT</p> + +<p>She has no features.... She is like an unfinished statue.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>What are we to do? It must be she. But who is she? She is not dead, or +we should know it.... Come, Tyltyl, make an effort, for everything +depends on you. You must remember....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I have tried my utmost.... Do what I will, I can't remember at all.</p> + +<p>THE GREAT ANCESTOR</p> + +<p>Listen, it is a serious matter. If we do not succeed in recognizing her, +all your life, all your happiness on earth will be nothing more than a +phantom like herself.... There is one last resource, one last hope, +which is that the children who are to be born of you may discover who +she is and that she is to be their mother. They see much farther and +deeper than we. But there is no time to lose; for this waiting and this +living in suspense are very dangerous for her. We must be quick +therefore; we must not waste a moment ... go, my little Tyltyl. You have +been very good and patient, very obedient and faithful to your race +throughout this ordeal. Take this kiss and farewell.... You too, my +dears, let me give you the parting kiss. Do not be too sad; another +happiness awaits you. There is more than one kind on that poor misguided +earth of yours. You have deserved every happiness that it can give.... +Good-bye, my dear daughters; good-bye, good-bye, my son. And we will +meet again whenever you wish: you know where to find us and we shall be +waiting for you....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The Scene grows dark and disappears from view; the Curtain of +Rocks closes; and</i> TYLTYL, THE GIRLS, LIGHT <i>and</i> DESTINY <i>are once +more alone among the boulders</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>Seizing</i> TYLTYL'S <i>hand</i>.) This way, this way!... Thanks to me, it +went off very well!... I said nothing about it; but it was I who foresaw +everything and planned everything; and all that has been done was +ordained by me....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They all go out</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>CURTAIN</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>ACT IV</h3> + + + +<h3><a name="SCENE_VIII" id="SCENE_VIII"></a>SCENE VIII</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>Before the Curtain representing the Milky Way</i></p> + +<p>(<i>Enter</i> TYLTYL <i>and</i> LIGHT.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Where are we?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Near to the stars and yet within yourself. Before you is the great veil +of the Milky Way. Beyond it stretches the region in which your unborn +children are waiting to show you the mother whom they have chosen.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's a little like the Kingdom of the Future in "The Blue Bird."</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Perhaps; and yet not quite the same thing. There it was the whole +kingdom, with everybody's children; here it is only a province, in which +are no children but yours.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Have I many?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>As many children as you have ancestors, as innumerable and no less +infinite. But, as with the Ancestors, we shall see only those who are +nearest to you, especially the youngest and smallest.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why the smallest?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Because they are nearest to their birth. As this approaches, they grow +smaller and younger; so that the youngest, who are the first to be born, +can hardly walk or stand.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>And the others? Are there any big ones?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>There are children of all sizes, but I do not know that we shall see the +biggest, that is to say, those who will be born hundreds or thousands of +years hence.... There will not have been time to tell them; they do not +keep close to the doors, like the very little ones, but wander far away +waiting for their time to come.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They must find it very tiresome to be kept waiting like that!</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Nothing is ever tiresome in infinity. Besides they have to learn here +all that they will forget on earth.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It seems hardly worth while then, to take so much trouble!</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Oh, but it is! Something always remains and helps to build up the deep +happiness of life.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, so much the better for them! As for me, I shall soon know what I +am to do. I hope we shall get through to-day, because, you see, I'd like +to have things settled.... But where on earth can they be, those girls +of mine and Destiny? (<i>Looking below him, on the right</i>.) The poor +little dears are up to their knees in the snow. This place is even +higher and more difficult to get at than where the Ancestors lived.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>(<i>Looking down</i>.) They are not very far away.... But you have taken off +your hat again; that's a bad habit of yours. Put it on quickly, before +they come, and be careful to make no mistake this time, for, if you do, +the result may be very unpleasant.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>puts on his hat and turns the sapphire. Forthwith from the +earth and from every side little creatures of different sizes +appear, dressed like him and resembling him in nearly every +respect. They surround him, rush against him, hustle him and try to +drag him, some to the right, others to the left, while he struggles +in the midst of them without knowing to which he should give his +attention</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Distraught</i>.) Hullo, hullo, what's all this? What does it mean? That +sapphire really is becoming impossible!</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Don't worry: you'll have turned it the wrong way again. What did you do?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How can I tell?... This is getting too much for me! Too mixed up, +really.... I must have pressed it instead of turning it.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>That's what I thought. You have simply released some of your other +"You's."</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Dumbfounded</i>.) Some of my other "Me's"?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Yes, what I mean is that you are not alone inside yourself and that....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>More and more dumbfounded</i>.) I am not alone inside myself?...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Why, no, there are a number of other personalities there, more or less +like you and all the time trying to get the upper hand.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>No, but really, what else is there inside me? I must be a sort of +menagerie or Noah's ark! There's no end to it!</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>That's true: there would be no end if we had the time to go into it +all.... But press the sapphire down now and all will be well.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>presses the sapphire and all his</i> DOUBLES <i>disappear</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My word! A good riddance!... Well, as you say, they may be the least bit +like me, but some of them are very ugly. Particularly a big dark one, +who kept on tripping me up and very nearly made me fall.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Of course, there are some of all kinds, as in every man. One must learn +to choose the best and avoid the worst.... But here come your little +friends.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter first</i> THE WHITE PHANTOM.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Amazed</i>.) Hullo!... What's the matter with her?... She seems quite in +a hurry to-day and moves like an angel.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter next</i> MILETTE, BELLINE, ROSELLE <i>and</i> ROSARELLE, <i>followed +by</i> AIMETTE <i>and</i> Jalline, <i>who are supporting</i> DESTINY <i>between +them. He is now a head shorter than</i> TYLTYL, <i>wears the same tragic +costume as before, seems very weary and sinks down on a heap of +snow</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Going to him, with a certain solicitude</i>.) Are you ill?</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>I? Not at all: I am always the same, I am unchangeable.... But when you +alone are responsible for everything, when you have to manage +everything, direct everything and foresee everything and when nobody +helps you (<i>casting an aggressive eye on</i> LIGHT), you are entitled to a +moment's rest.... I therefore order a halt. It is decided irrevocably: +to-day we go no farther.</p> + +<p>LIGHT Admirable! And so it shall be, for we have arrived; and with +Destiny's permission, we shall find ourselves, without taking another +step, among the children who are awaiting us....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>The curtain parts and opens upon the next scene</i>.) </p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_IX" id="SCENE_IX"></a>SCENE IX</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>The Abode of the Children</i></p> + +<p><i>The immense halls, the lofty vaults, the infinite perspectives of +arches and columns of the Kingdom of the Future in "The Blue Bird"; +but this time, it being the nuptial hour, everything is of a soft, +milky white, gleaming and transparent. The radiant shapes of +amber-coloured light bathe in unspeakable gladness all the things +that they touch; and everywhere are signs of a deep and unfaltering +joy. The boundless horizon stretches towards the veiled white of +the Milky Way, the ether quivering with myriads of unknown stars</i>.</p> + +<p>(<i>When the curtain opens</i>, TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY <i>and</i> THE SIX +GIRLS <i>are in the foreground, on the right, at the foot of one of +the alabaster columns supporting the entrance-arch. They take a few +steps into the immense deserted hall, while</i> THE WHITE PHANTOM +<i>hides timidly behind the column</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>A little disappointed</i>.) There's nobody here!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>I know why it is. There are several doors; as you were all very tired, I +chose the one that was nearest. They are probably waiting for us at the +principal entrance.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>How shall we let them know?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>The atmosphere will do that: here everything is known immediately and +every event happens everywhere at the same moment.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's a very fine place, this: splendid large rooms and a very high +ceiling; lots of light and air....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>And it's still always inside yourself.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What, this is inside me too?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Why, yes; of course it is.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Very well, then; that's all right. Please step in: you're very welcome. +Won't you sit down while you wait?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>We shall not have long to wait, for I believe they have seen us.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(A CHILD'S <i>head appears for an instant between two columns and is +then briskly withdrawn, exclaiming</i>, "This way! This way! They're +here!" <i>Soon after, seven or eight</i> CHILDREN <i>of about twelve years +of age, in short white tunics, with bare arms, legs and feet, run +up from the back of the hall and stop in front of the visitors. The +largest holds out his hand to</i> TYLTYL.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>Good-evening, grandpapa!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Grandpapa?... Who's that?... Where is he?...</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Bursting into laughter</i>.) Why, it's you!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Dumbfounded</i>.) I? Am I a grandpapa already?</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>Of course you are, eighty times over!... We are the first to arrive. The +others are on their way.... (<i>To the other</i> CHILDREN.) He doesn't seem +to believe it!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER CHILD</p> + +<p>You might give us a kiss.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing them all</i>.) I will! I will!... But how do I come to be a +grandpapa?</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>Surely it's quite simple: you will be our grandpapa when we are your +grandchildren.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Obviously, that's clear.... So you exist already?</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>Naturally, since you yourself exist.... I say, are those the grandmammas +you're bringing us?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes; it seems you're to pick out the best one.</p> + +<p>ANOTHER CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Clapping his hands and dancing for joy</i>.) Oh, how pretty they are!... +(<i>Throwing himself into</i> JALLINE'S <i>arms</i>.) I take this one, because she +is so soft!...</p> + +<p>ANOTHER CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Throwing his arms round</i> AIMETTE'S <i>neck</i>.) And I this one, because +she is so sad!...</p> + +<p>ANOTHER CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing</i> ROSELLE.) I choose this one, because's she's always +laughing!...</p> + +<p>THREE OTHER CHILDREN</p> + +<p>(<i>Each taking one of</i> THE GIRLS, <i>kissing and fondling her and laughing +and skipping with delight</i>.) And I choose this one, because she smells +so nice!... I choose this one!... I choose this one!...</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Intervening</i>.) One moment, one moment, if you please.... This has +nothing to do with us; our turn will come. You know that only the +smallest have the right to choose who is to be their mother. All we have +to do is to help them with our advice and to stop them if they make +mistakes; but that's a thing which has never happened yet. They were +quite some distance away, at the principal gate, but they won't be long +now.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Here come some bigger ones!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter a new group of</i> CHILDREN, <i>apparently about fifteen years +of age. The oldest goes to</i> TYLTYL <i>and shakes hands with him</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE OLDEST CHILD</p> + +<p>Good-evening, great-grandfather!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who's that? I? I'm a great-grandfather now!...</p> + +<p>THE OLDEST CHILD</p> + +<p>Of course you are!... I am very glad to see you for a minute, for we +shall most nicely not have the pleasure of meeting on earth.... Well, I +understand that your visit to the Ancestors was not much of a success.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Let's rather put it that they hadn't quite made up their minds. But how +is it that you already know what happened there?</p> + +<p>THE OLDEST CHILD</p> + +<p>Why, of course we know everything that happens inside you; we're there +ourselves. Besides, there's very little that separates us from the +Ancestors: our interests are the same and our paths often meet.</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>Look out! Here are the little ones!... I see five coming.... There's +only one missing, the littlest....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>From the back of the halls come five</i> LITTLE CHILDREN <i>holding +one another's hands</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who are those five little ones? They are very sweet.</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>Why, they are your children: two boys and three girls!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Mine? Shall I have five children?</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>Six, you will have six, for the last little one isn't here yet.... I +promise you, the world can do with them, after what people have been up +to, down there!...</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But I shall never be able to feed them all!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE FIVE LITTLE ONES, <i>still holding hands, have stopped in front +of</i> THE SIX GIRLS <i>and stand looking at them solemnly, without +speaking. By degrees, the halls have become filled with a host of +other</i> CHILDREN <i>who gather round</i> THE FIVE LITTLE ONES <i>and watch +them. The silence at last becomes irksome and</i> TYLTYL <i>breaks it</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, children, aren't you going to kiss your papa?</p> + +<p>THE YOUNGEST CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Ordering him with a serious gesture to be silent</i>.) Mamma first.... +Where is she?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, she must be here; she's one of those. You have only to choose.</p> + +<p>THE YOUNGEST CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>To the one beside him</i>.) Do you see her?</p> + +<p>THE OTHER</p> + +<p>(<i>Shaking his head sadly</i>.) No.</p> + +<p>THE THREE OTHERS</p> + +<p>(<i>In succession</i>.) No more do I.... No more do I.... No more do I....</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Rushing forward, catching hold of one of the</i> CHILDREN <i>and kissing +him</i>.) But that's impossible!... Here, look at me?... Don't you see how +much I'll love you?...</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>Yes, but you're not the one.</p> + +<p>ROSELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking another</i> CHILD <i>on her knees</i>.) And me? Won't you have me for +your mamma?</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>No, no, it's not you.</p> + +<p>ROSARELLE</p> + +<p>(<i>Catching hold of another</i> CHILD.) And me? Don't you love me? You'll +see how happy we shall be!... We shall have a lovely house full of toys +and I shall give you everything you want....</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Vainly trying to contain its tears</i>.) No, no!...</p> + +<p>BELLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking</i> THE YOUNGEST.) Look here, you seem to know more than the +others.... Don't you recognize me?... Are you fond of sweets?...</p> + +<p>THE YOUNGEST CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Struggling until she lets him go and crying without disguise</i>.) Let me +go! Let me go!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Here's a pretty business! He's crying!... And the other one as well!... +But what do they want?... They're very hard to please....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE YOUNGEST CHILD <i>wipes his eyes and takes the hand of the next, +who does the same by his neighbour, until they all hold hands +again</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE YOUNGEST CHILD</p> + +<p>Come!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE FIVE LITTLE CHILDREN <i>move away, with staid dignity, and go +out on the left</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>What's the matter with them? Where are they going?</p> + +<p>ONE OF THE BIG CHILDREN</p> + +<p>They are going to the other door.</p> + +<p>ANOTHER</p> + +<p>They are going to fetch the smallest of them all.</p> + +<p>ANOTHER</p> + +<p>The smaller they are, the more they know.</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>But where is he, the smallest one? Haven't you seen him?</p> + +<p>ANOTHER</p> + +<p>No, no one has seen him since this morning.... It's strange, for he is +always with his little sisters.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Looking at the throng of</i> CHILDREN <i>filling the halls</i>.) How many +there are!</p> + +<p>ONE OF THE BIG CHILDREN</p> + +<p>It's only one part of the family.</p> + +<p>A CHILD</p> + +<p>(<i>Which has been following the progress of</i> THE FIVE CHILDREN <i>with his +eyes</i>.) They are stopping at the third door.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Who?</p> + +<p>THE CHILD</p> + +<p>The five little ones.</p> + +<p>ANOTHER CHILD</p> + +<p>They seem to be looking for something.</p> + +<p>THE FIRST CHILD</p> + +<p>Let us go and see what they're doing. They know what they know.</p> + +<p>OTHER CHILDREN</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, let us all go.... They know, they know!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A great stir in the crowd of</i> CHILDREN. <i>They all run in the same +direction and go out on the left. In a moment the hall is emptied +of all except</i> TYLTYL, LIGHT, THE SIX GIRLS <i>and</i> DESTINY.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Let us go after them too!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>He goes out, followed by LIGHT and</i> THE SIX GIRLS, <i>with</i> DESTINY +<i>bringing up the rear. The only occupant of the stage is</i> THE WHITE +PHANTOM, <i>whom everybody has overlooked and who has never left the +column on the right against which she has been leaning. The stage +remains empty for a moment and then, from the back of the halls, +comes a</i> CHILD <i>even smaller than the youngest of the</i> FIVE LITTLE +ONES. <i>He walks with resolute step; on reaching the columns in the +foreground, he appears to take his bearings, turns his head to +right and left and then, suddenly, goes straight to</i> THE WHITE +PHANTOM, <i>in front of whom he stops and takes up his stand, +contemplating her at length, gravely and silently, with his finger +in his mouth. At last he puts out one hand and takes</i> THE PHANTOM +<i>by the hem of her dress</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>Is it ... really you?</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>(<i>Speaking for the first time and struggling to find her voice, which +seems to come from far away and to stick in her throat</i>.) Yes.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>I knew it. Come....</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>Where to?</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>Over here.... I'm going to tell the others....</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>Not yet.... I can't yet....</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Still dragging her by her dress towards a marble bench which stands +between the columns in the foreground</i>.) Come.... (<i>He makes her sit +down, settles her on the bench, caresses her and kisses her</i>.) Come ... +it's you.... I knew it.... I'm kissing you.... Don't you know how to +kiss yet? (THE PHANTOM <i>shakes her head</i>.) No?... Like this.... I'll +teach you.... (<i>He kisses and caresses her slowly and deliberately</i>.) +You're no longer cold?</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>(<i>Smiling at last</i>.) No.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Still kissing her</i>.) You see, that's better already.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Under</i> THE CHILD'S <i>kisses and caresses</i>, THE STATUE <i>has +gradually taken life: the eyes open, the lips flutter, the face +begins to colour, the body loses its terrible stiffness, the arms +become supple and circle round the</i> THE CHILD'S <i>neck</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Nestling against her</i>.) You're better, aren't you?... Not sleepy any +more?... How good it is, being together!... They're still looking for +you, you know.... And it's I who found you!... I knew, I knew....</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>So did I, so did I.... I was waiting....</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>It's splendid, isn't it?... (<i>Nestling more closely</i>.) Oh, such fun!... +Do you like it too?</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>Yes.... Yes, I am happy.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>Why aren't you laughing?</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>Because I am too happy.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>So am I, so am I!... Don't look: I'm going to cry a little, but it +doesn't mean anything....</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>(<i>Beginning to return his kisses and caresses</i>.) I'm going to cry too.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Intoxicated with rapture</i>.) You're kissing me!... Mummy!... Then it's +true, then it's true, it is you!... Again, again!... No, not any more: I +can't bear it!... Will they understand, will they be able to understand?</p> + +<p>THE PHANTOM</p> + +<p>Call them, it is time.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>Don't cover your face: they wouldn't see it and they wouldn't believe +me.... (<i>Drawing aside the veils</i>.) Oh, mummy, how lovely you are!... +(<i>Her hair spreads all over her shoulders</i>.) Oh, mummy, your hair!... +What lots of it!... There, that's much better, I can kiss you better +so.... (<i>Listening</i>.) Listen, they're coming back! They're here!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE FIVE LITTLE ONES <i>come rushing headlong into the hall</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FIVE LITTLE ONES</p> + +<p>Where is she?... Where is she?... Where is she?...</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Standing up on the bench, beside his</i> MOTHER, <i>showing her to the +others and dancing with delight</i>.) Here! Here!... She's here, she's +here!... I found her!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE MOTHER <i>tries to rise and take them in her arms, but they do +not give her time. They fling themselves upon her, load her with +kisses and caresses, make her sit down again and clamber on her +knees, swarming and scrambling over her and all speaking +together</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE FIVE LITTLE ONES</p> + +<p>It's she!... It's she!... It's mummy!... Where was she?... Did you know +her?... I should think so! I should think so!... You too? Yes, I too, I +too!... You're taking up all the room!... You're kissing her all the +time!... It's not fair, it's my turn!... She's my mummy too!... We +looked for you so hard!... We waited for you so long!... She is lovely, +isn't she?... She's the loveliest of them all!... There's no one like +her!... Tell us, tell us!... What?... I love you! Do you love me?... +Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!... What sweet things mummies are!... How +delicious it is to kiss!... To think one didn't know!... All for us, all +for us!... The only happiness!... You're everything in the world to us, +we're everything in the world to you!... I dote on you!... I say, do you +know me? I shall be the second.... And I the third.... And I the +last!... Kiss me first, I shall have the longest to wait!... She's +laughing!... She's happy too!... Answer us, speak to us!... Your arm, I +want to feel your arm round my neck!... Mine too, mine too!... Don't go +away, whatever you do!... We don't know where we are, we're mad with +delight!... We can't wait any longer!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>While they are thus kissing and talking, the other</i>, BIGGER +CHILDREN, <i>those of the future generations, gradually return and +fill the halls again. The first arrivals stop behind the group +formed by</i> THE MOTHER <i>and</i> THE SIX LITTLE ONES; <i>and whispers are +heard and rise from the growing crowd</i>: "They've found her!... +They've found her!.... It's she!... How happy they are!... How +beautiful she is!... How kind she looks!... Can we kiss her?... +Wait, wait, it's their turn now!... Ours will come!..." TYLTYL, +<i>followed by</i> LIGHT, THE SIX GIRLS <i>and</i> DESTINY, <i>now enters the +hall</i>. THE CHILDREN <i>fall back to let him pass</i>. THE SMALLEST OF +THEM ALL <i>sees him first, goes to him and, taking him by the hand, +leads him to</i> THE MOTHER.) +</p></blockquote> +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Gravely</i>.) It is she.... I found her....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE MOTHER <i>rises and stands in front of</i> TYLTYL.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Do you recognize her?</p> + +<blockquote><p>(TYLTYL <i>hesitates, passes his hand over his forehead, vainly +searches his memory</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Not yet.... She's beautiful!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Kiss her; it's she.</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>There is no other.</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>We want no other.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking</i> THE MOTHER'S <i>hand</i>.) Where do you come from?... Who are +you?... Where have I seen you before?... I can't remember....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE MOTHER <i>does not reply. Her colour comes and goes, her eyes +open and shut, her life fluctuates with the ebb and flow of the +memory which she strives to awaken</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>Take care! You're hurting her!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(THE OTHER LITTLE ONES <i>form a line in front of her as though to +defend her</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>A LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Go away!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Go away! You sha'n't have her until you know her!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>You sha'n't have any other!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Go away! She shall stay with us till you know!</p> + +<p>ANOTHER LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Go away! We'll wait for you; we shall all be down there!</p> + +<p>THE FIRST LITTLE ONE</p> + +<p>Go away, go away!... You're hurting her dreadfully!</p> + +<p>THE SMALLEST OF THEM ALL</p> + +<p>(<i>Embracing his</i> MOTHER.) Come, mummy, come!... He doesn't know yet!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They all gather and press closely round their</i> MOTHER, <i>hurrying +and dragging her along and waving good-bye to</i> TYLTYL: "See you +soon! See you soon again!... Down there, down there!... See you +soon!" ...THE MOTHER <i>turns and gazes fixedly at</i> TYLTYL; <i>then the +outlines of the hall darken, lose their colour and distinctness, +dissolve and disappear. Only</i> TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY <i>and</i> THE SIX +GIRLS <i>remain in front of the Curtain representing the Milky Way</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, I'm in a nice mess!... What am I to do?... Is it my fault if I +can't remember?...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Don't be afraid. They know what they are saying. You will find her +again.... Let us go, quickly!... I am sure that she is waiting for you +where you least expect her.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Dreamily</i>.) She really is beautiful!... I believe they are right.... I +believe it's really she....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They all go out</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>CURTAIN</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>ACT V</h3> + + + +<h3><a name="SCENE_X" id="SCENE_X"></a>SCENE X</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>Before the Curtain representing the Edge of a Forest</i></p> + +<p>(<i>Enter</i> TYLTYL <i>and</i> LIGHT.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Here we are at last.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Where?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Why, near your home!... Don't you recognize your forest?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My forest, my forest?... (<i>Looking around him</i>.) Why, so it is!... I've +seen those beeches before, somewhere.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>That's more than likely, as they're close to the house in which you were +born.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Well, it's about time I did get home. I am tired out.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>It has been a fatiguing journey, but not without results.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Results?... Where?... When we started I was in love with six girls; now +we've returned, I love only one; and she's just the one who hasn't come +back with me.... But where are those six others and what are they doing? +And Destiny too? He was looking very ill....</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Here they are.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>Enter</i> THE SIX GIRLS. <i>The last</i>, JALLINE, <i>carries</i> DESTINY, +<i>who still wears his cloak and sombrero, but who has shrunk to the +dimensions of quite a small child and appears very tired</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Passing</i> DESTINY <i>to</i> MILETTE.) Will you take him for a moment? He's +not very big, but dreadfully heavy.</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Taking him from</i> JALLINE'S <i>arms</i>.) Come to me, my little Tiny, come; +there, don't cry....</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>In a whining baby voice</i>.) Me? I never cwy!... I'm alwayth the +thame!... I'm unthakable, immovable, indefatigable, implacable and +inegthowable!...</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, Tiny, we know, you're a very good little boy.... (DESTINY +<i>falls asleep in her arms</i>.) He's gone to sleep!</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Wrapping him in his cape, with a motherly gesture</i>.) He's a dear, +sweet, obedient little thing, but seems very tired.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Poor little Destiny!... He has no luck!... But we will see to him +later.... What we have to do now, my children, is to bid one another +good-bye ... and for the last time....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>For the last time!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Why, yes; we can't spend our whole life travelling! Besides, you are +near your homes, since you all of you dwell round the forest. We have +learned what we sought and we know what we wanted to know, that man is +granted only one love, while the others are merely unfortunate errors +that bring sorrow to innumerable lives.... You were all of you about to +choose wrongly; and you may rejoice, therefore, even now, when we have +to part, that the mistake was discovered before it was too late.... And, +more than this, the Fairy has charged me with glad tidings for you all: +the one love you have each of you sought is waiting for you by your own +fire-side, in your own home, or at least will be there very soon.... So +do not linger, but hasten to meet it.... The hour grows late; soon the +cocks will be crowing; the birds are beginning to wake. Let us bid one +another good-bye, quickly, without regret, without sad thoughts or +tears....</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Handing</i> DESTINY <i>to</i> AIMETTE.) Just take him for a minute, while I +kiss TYLTYL.... (<i>Kissing</i> TYLTYL.) Good-bye, Tyltyl dear. I must go +first. Dad gets up early and there would be awful trouble if he didn't +find me in the house. Good-bye. Let me kiss you again.... Be nice to me +when we meet: we're neighbours and shall have to spend all our lives in +this forest.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Kissing her affectionately</i>.) Be nice to you, Milette? Of course I +will! It's not your fault or mine: we both know that.</p> + +<p>MILETTE</p> + +<p>Good-bye, good-bye!... I must fly!...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>She runs out</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>AIMETTE</p> + +<p>(<i>Handing</i> DESTINY <i>to</i> JALLINE.) Take hold of the little man for a +second, will you? (<i>Kissing</i> TYLTYL.) Good-bye, Tyltyl.... Don't let us +forget each other.... I shall perhaps love somebody else; but I shall +never love him as I loved you.</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Come, come, you are wasting time.... We shall never have done if we go +on like this.... If the cock crows before you return, your parents will +know everything; and then they'll be angry.... Just give him a sisterly +kiss: that's all that's necessary.... You're not going far; and you'll +meet again many a time, in real life, and will like each other the +better because of your truer knowledge....</p> + +<blockquote><p>(ROSARELLE <i>and</i> BELLINE <i>kiss</i> TYLTYL <i>without speaking and go +out</i>. ROSELLE <i>blows her nose vigorously, dabs at her eyes and +stammers</i>, "My dear Tyltyl! my dear Tyltyl!... He was so nice!... I +shall see you again, sha'n't I, I shall see you again?... You shall +have the best of everything at the inn!" <i>Then she rushes out</i>. +JALLINE <i>alone lingers behind, holding</i> DESTINY <i>in her arms</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>Well, Jalline, what are you doing here?</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>I can't go away at once, just like the others!...</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>But you must, dear Jalline. Not because it is fate, as men say, but +because it is the will of those who know everything and who never +die.... Good-bye, my little Jalline. You have been very sweet, very +loving, very exquisite; and I thought that you would be chosen.... Don't +cry, dear. Hand over poor little Destiny to me, I will take care of him; +and give Tyltyl a long, long kiss....</p> + +<p>JALLINE</p> + +<p>(<i>Hands</i> DESTINY <i>to</i> LIGHT <i>and gives</i> TYLTYL <i>a long kiss</i>.) Good-bye, +Tyltyl.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Good-bye, Jalline!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(JALLINE <i>moves away with slow reluctant steps</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>And, now that we are alone, let me kiss you too.... We shall meet once +again to take another and a longer journey....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Another journey? And a longer one?</p> + +<p>LIGHT</p> + +<p>The last, the happiest and the most beautiful. But I am not allowed to +speak of it yet.... Good-bye, Tyltyl. Remember, dear, that you are not +alone in this world and that all that you see in it has neither +beginning nor end. With this thought in your heart, letting it grow with +your growth, you will always know, whatever may happen, the right thing +to say, the right thing to hope for.... And you, Tiny, don't cry like +that! Some day we shall begin to understand each other.</p> + +<p>DESTINY</p> + +<p>(<i>Half-asleep, tearfully, lisping</i>.) Me? I never cwy!... I order a +thtop!... Forward! Forward! Forward!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(LIGHT <i>goes out on the left, carrying</i> DESTINY <i>in her arms</i>. +TYLTYL <i>follows her a little way, waving his hand in farewell; and +the Curtain opens on the last scene</i>.) </p></blockquote> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3><a name="SCENE_XI" id="SCENE_XI"></a>SCENE XI</h3> + + +<blockquote><p><i>The Awakening</i></p> + +<p><i>The same scene as in Act I</i>. TYLTYL <i>is sound asleep. The light +trickles gaily through all the crannies of the closed shutters. The +Blue Bird is singing madly in his cage</i>.</p> + +<p>(<i>A knock at the door</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Waking with a start</i>.) Who's there?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Behind the door</i>.) It's me!... Open the door quickly!... We're +expecting a visitor....</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Wait, wait, till I slip on my breeches.... (<i>Rising and seeing with +amazement that he is dressed</i>.) Hullo, I've gone to bed with my clothes +on! How did I come to do that?...</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>He opens the door. Enter</i> MUMMY TYL <i>fussily, carrying a bundle +of sticks</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Quick, quick!... Help me light the fire and tidy the room.... Go and +wake up Mytyl.... They'll be here in a minute.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Doing his best to help her</i>.) Who's "they"?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Of course, you don't know. Daddy Tyl met them yesterday, but you had +gone to bed.... Do open the shutters, I can't see what I'm doing.... +(TYLTYL <i>opens the shutters and the daylight floods the room</i>.) And call +Mytyl, so that she can help me to get things straight.... What a +mess!... And the dust! I can't let them see my house like this. (<i>Enter</i> +MYTYL.)</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Hullo, there Mytyl is!... But you haven't told me....</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>To</i> MYTYL.) The fire's beginning to burn up.... You make the coffee, +while I start cleaning.... What's this? More cabbage leaves under the +tap!</p> + +<p>MYTYL</p> + +<p>It's not my fault. Tyltyl promised me....</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Well, I never! A nice thing!... It's a blessing that I came to look for +myself!... Take the broom, Tyltyl, while I give a rub to the plates and +put them away.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>But look here: who's coming? Is it the Shah of Persia or the Emperor of +China?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Much better than that. You'll never guess.... Do you remember our +neighbour?</p> + +<p>MYTYL</p> + +<p>What neighbour?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>There aren't so many of 'em.... The one with the pretty little pink +house, by the road-side, and a garden full of sunflowers and hollyhocks.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Of course!... And they had a little girl to whom I gave my dove?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>That's right.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They've been gone a long time.</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Five or six years, that's all. They went to the town to live with the +girl's uncle. He was a widower, with no children of his own, and has +died and left them all his money. They told Daddy Tyl they're coming +back here for good, going into their nice little house again. It +belonged to little Joy's uncle.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Little Joy?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, you know: that's the little girl's name. They used to call her +Jojo when she was small; but her name is Joy. Daddy Tyl met her last +night, says that he could hardly believe his eyes, that she's taller +than you and beautiful ... well, there! With hair like gold, real gold! +That's worth thinking about.... So I want the house tidy and all of us +to look decent and respectable.... You can never tell what may happen. +We're of good stock too. Your grandfather's father was a pork-butcher.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>It's curious, I didn't meet him.</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Whom?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>My grandfather's father.</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>That's not to be wondered at: he's been dead these fifty-seven years.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Sweeping the floor lustily</i>.) Perhaps I had better put on my Sunday +clothes?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>No, you needn't; you're all right as you are. We'll just lay the white +tablecloth.... Besides, there's no time now; here they come; I can hear +them walking up the path.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>A knock at the door</i>. MUMMY TYL <i>opens it. Enter</i> THE NEIGHBOUR +<i>and</i> JOY, <i>followed by</i> DADDY TYL, <i>with his axe on his +shoulder</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Calling out from the threshold</i>.) Here they are! Here they are!</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>Yes, it's Joy and I, Madame Tyl.... Good-morning, a Merry Christmas and +good luck to everybody, as my poor husband used to say when he was +alive. I'm glad to see you looking so well.... And these are the +children? Don't tell me that this great, big, pretty girl is Mytyl? And +can that be Tyltyl, that strapping young fellow who looks so smart?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>Yes, yes, Madame Berlingot, they're the sort that keep on shooting up +till you don't know where you are. Tyltyl hasn't grown as much as his +sister; but he's stronger. There's not a sturdier lad in all the +country-side.... But it's your young lady who's beautiful!... She looks +the very picture of the blessed saints!... (<i>Observing</i> TYLTYL, <i>who +stands wide-eyed and entranced</i>.) Now then, Tyltyl, where are your +manners? Don't you, know your little playmate? Be civil, say +how-do-you-do, shake hands and give her a chair.</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>Before you sit down, would you like to see the cows?</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>What, do you keep cows now?</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>Why, yes; we've not done so badly either.... Two little cows and a +calf.... Little cows are better than big ones; and they only eat half as +much.... One of them, the red one, gives us twenty quarts of milk every +day.</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>Then you've put up a cow-house? You hadn't one before.</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>Yes, I ran it up myself, with Tyltyl to help.... (<i>Leading her towards +the door on the left</i>.) It's this way: we made a good job of it and it's +quite worth seeing.</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>Dear me, yes; I'd like to see it at once.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They all go out, except</i> TYLTYL <i>and</i> JOY, <i>who remain standing +face to face. As soon as they are gone</i>, TYLTYL <i>goes up to</i> JOY +<i>and takes her hand</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Is it ... really you?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Yes, it's I.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I knew you at once.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>And I you.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>You are even more beautiful than up there.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>You too.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I say, it's funny that I couldn't remember....</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>I hadn't forgotten.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Oh, how lovely you are!... Let me kiss you.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>You may if you like.</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They kiss each other awkwardly, but affectionately</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They haven't a suspicion.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>You think that?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I'm sure of it. They don't know what we know. But the little ones knew.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>What little ones?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>The little ones up there.... They were very clever. They knew you at +once.... Were you so very unhappy?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Why?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Because I couldn't remember.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>It wasn't your fault.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I know, but I hated it.... And you were so pale, so dreadfully pale; and +you never spoke.... How long had you loved me?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Ever since I first saw you, when you gave me the Blue Bird.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>So have I, so have I, but I had forgotten.... Never mind: we're going to +be tremendously happy, for they've settled it, you see; they want it.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Do you think they've done it on purpose?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I'm quite sure; there isn't a doubt.... Everybody wanted it, but +especially the little ones, all six of them.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Oh!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Yes!... We're going to have six!... I say, do you believe it?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Six what?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Why, six children, of course!</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Oh, Tyltyl!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I know it's a great many; but we'll manage somehow. There's nothing to +be afraid of.... What a dream, eh?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>The loveliest I ever had; and you?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>I saw you as you are now, just like that. But here, all the same, you +are more real and more beautiful.... Oh, I must kiss you again!</p> + +<blockquote><p>(<i>They kiss each other lingeringly. At that moment</i> DADDY TYL +<i>opens the door, with the others behind him</i>.) </p></blockquote> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>(<i>Catching them in the act</i>.) Well, I never!... You're getting on, you +two!... You're losing no time!</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>(<i>Entering with</i> MUMMY TYL <i>and</i> MYTYL.) What's the matter?</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>What did I say, when we were looking at the rabbits? These two are made +for each other.... They were kissing away like anything!</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>Joy! Aren't you ashamed?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>But, mummy....</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>Come, come, there's no great harm in it. We did as much, Mummy Tyl and +I, when we were young, didn't we, old lady?</p> + +<p>MUMMY TYL</p> + +<p>We did indeed!... They make such a pretty pair!...</p> + +<p>THE NEIGHBOUR</p> + +<p>That they do; but Joy is still very young and I'd like to think it over.</p> + +<p>DADDY TYL</p> + +<p>That's right enough.... He's very young too; but you won't find a better +boy in the whole country-side.... He's a strong, healthy lad, with a +civil tongue in his head, and he works like a nigger.... Think it over +by all means, only, as this is a holiday, there's no harm in their +kissing each other; and let's see them do it: it's good for one!... +(<i>Seeing that</i> TYLTYL <i>and</i> JOY <i>do not move, he pushes them close +together</i>.) Well?... Look at them: they don't want to now!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>(<i>In a whisper, to</i> JOY, <i>as he kisses her</i>.) It was better when we were +by ourselves, wasn't it?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>(<i>Also whispering</i>.) Yes, it was!</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>They were right, weren't they?</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Who?</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>The others.</p> + +<p>JOY</p> + +<p>Yes.</p> + +<p>TYLTYL</p> + +<p>Don't say a word to any one: it is our secret, yours and mine....</p> + + +<p>CURTAIN</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 34343 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |