No More Learning

SHEMUS.

[_Crushing it underfoot. _]

The Mother of God has dropped asleep,
And all her household things have gone to wrack.

MAIRE.

O Mary, Mother of God, be pitiful!

[_SHEMUS opens the door. TWO MERCHANTS stand without.
They have bands of gold round their foreheads, and each
carries a bag upon his shoulder. _

FIRST MERCHANT.

Have you food here?

SHEMUS.

For those who can pay well.

SECOND MERCHANT.

We are rich merchants seeking merchandise.

SHEMUS.

Come in, your honours.

MAIRE.

No, do not come in:
We have no food, not even for ourselves.

FIRST MERCHANT.

There is a wolf on the big hook in the cupboard.

[_They enter. _

SHEMUS.

Forgive her: she is not used to quality,
And is half crazed with being much alone.
How did you know I had taken a young wolf?
Fine wholesome food, though maybe somewhat strong.

[_The SECOND MERCHANT sits down by the fire and begins
rubbing his hands. The FIRST MERCHANT stands looking at
the quicken bough on the chair. _

FIRST MERCHANT.

I would rest here: the night is somewhat chilly,
And my feet footsore going up and down
From land to land and nation unto nation:
The fire burns dimly; feed it with this bough.

[_SHEMUS throws the bough into the fire. The FIRST
MERCHANT sits down on the chair. The MERCHANTS' chairs
are on each side of the fire. The table is between
them. Each lays his bag before him on the table. The
night has closed in somewhat, and the main light comes
from the fire. _

MAIRE.

What have you in the bags?

SHEMUS.

Don't mind her, sir:
Women grow curious and feather-thoughted
Through being in each other's company
More than is good for them.

FIRST MERCHANT.

Our bags are full
Of golden pieces to buy merchandise.

[_They pour gold pieces on to the table out of their
bags. It is covered with the gold pieces. They shine in
the firelight. MAIRE goes to the door of pantry, and
watches the MERCHANTS, muttering to herself. _

TEIG.

These are great gentlemen.

FIRST MERCHANT.

[_Taking a stone bottle out of his bag. _]

Come to the fire,
Here is the headiest wine you ever tasted.

SECOND MERCHANT.

Wine that can hush asleep the petty war
Of good and evil, and awake instead
A scented flame flickering above that peace
The bird of prey knows well in his deep heart.

SHEMUS.

[_Bringing drinking-cups. _]

I do not understand you, but your wine
Sets me athirst: its praise made your eyes lighten.
I am thirsting for it.

FIRST MERCHANT.

Ay, come drink and drink,
I bless all mortals who drink long and deep.
My curse upon the salt-strewn road of monks.

[_TEIG and SHEMUS sit down at the table and drink. _]

TEIG.

You must have seen rare sights and done rare things.

FIRST MERCHANT.

What think you of the master whom we serve?

SHEMUS.

I have grown weary of my days in the world
Because I do not serve him.

FIRST MERCHANT.

More of this
When we have eaten, for we love right well
A merry meal, a warm and leaping fire
And easy hearts.

SHEMUS.

Come, Maire, and cook the wolf.

MAIRE.

I will not cook for you.

SHEMUS.

Maire is mad.

[_TEIG and SHEMUS stand up and stagger about. _

SHEMUS.

That wine is the suddenest wine man ever tasted.

MAIRE.

I will not cook for you: you are not human:
Before you came two horned owls looked at us;
The dog bayed, and the tongue of Shemus maddened.
When you came in the Virgin's blessed shrine
Fell from its nail, and when you sat down here
You poured out wine as the wood sidheogs do
When they'd entice a soul out of the world.
Why did you come to us? Was not death near?

FIRST MERCHANT.

We are two merchants.

MAIRE.

If you be not demons,
Go and give alms among the starving poor,
You seem more rich than any under the moon.

FIRST MERCHANT.

If we knew where to find deserving poor,
We would give alms.

MAIRE.

Then ask of Father John.

FIRST MERCHANT.

We know the evils of mere charity,
And have been planning out a wiser way.
Let each man bring one piece of merchandise.

MAIRE.

And have the starving any merchandise?

FIRST MERCHANT.

We do but ask what each man has.

MAIRE.

Merchants,
Their swine and cattle, fields and implements,
Are sold and gone.

FIRST MERCHANT.

They have not sold all yet.

MAIRE.

What have they?

FIRST MERCHANT.

They have still their souls.

[_MAIRE shrieks. He beckons to TEIG and SHEMUS. _

Come hither.
See you these little golden heaps? Each one
Is payment for a soul. From charity
We give so great a price for those poor flames.
Say to all men we buy men's souls--away.

[_They do not stir. _

This pile is for you and this one here for you.

MAIRE.

Shemus and Teig, Teig--

TEIG.

Out of the way.

[_SHEMUS and TEIG take the money. _

FIRST MERCHANT.

Cry out at cross-roads and at chapel doors
And market-places that we buy men's souls,
Giving so great a price that men may live
In mirth and ease until the famine ends.

[_TEIG and SHEMUS go out. _

MAIRE [_kneeling_].

Destroyers of souls, may God destroy you quickly!

FIRST MERCHANT.

No curse can overthrow the immortal demons.

MAIRE.

You shall at last dry like dry leaves, and hang
Nailed like dead vermin to the doors of God.

FIRST MERCHANT.

You shall be ours. This famine shall not cease.
You shall eat grass, and dock, and dandelion,
And fail till this stone threshold seem a wall,
And when your hands can scarcely drag your body
We shall be near you.

[_To SECOND MERCHANT. _

Bring the meal out.

[_The SECOND MERCHANT brings the bag of meal from the
pantry. _

Burn it. [_MAIRE faints. _
Now she has swooned, our faces go unscratched;
Bring me the gray hen, too.

_The SECOND MERCHANT goes out through the door and
returns with the hen strangled. He flings it on the
floor. While he is away the FIRST MERCHANT makes up
the fire. The FIRST MERCHANT then fetches the pan of
milk from the pantry, and spills it on the ground. He
returns, and brings out the wolf, and throws it down by
the hen. _

These need much burning.
This stool and this chair here will make good fuel.

[_He begins breaking the chair. _

My master will break up the sun and moon
And quench the stars in the ancestral night
And overturn the thrones of God and the angels.




ACT II.


_A great hall in the castle of the COUNTESS CATHLEEN.
There is a large window at the farther end, through
which the forest is visible. The wall to the right
juts out slightly, cutting off an angle of the room. A
flight of stone steps leads up to a small arched door
in the jutting wall. Through the door can be seen a
little oratory. The hall is hung with ancient tapestry,
representing the loves and wars and huntings of the
Fenian and Red Branch heroes. There are doors to the
right and left. On the left side OONA sits, as if
asleep, beside a spinning-wheel. The COUNTESS CATHLEEN
stands farther back and more to the right, close to
a group of the musicians, still in their fantastic
dresses, who are playing a merry tune. _

CATHLEEN.

Be silent, I am tired of tympan and harp,
And tired of music that but cries 'Sleep, sleep,'
Till joy and sorrow and hope and terror are gone.

[_The COUNTESS CATHLEEN goes over to OONA. _

You were asleep?

OONA.

No, child, I was but thinking
Why you have grown so sad.

CATHLEEN.

The famine frets me.

OONA.

I have lived now near ninety winters, child,
And I have known three things no doctor cures--
Love, loneliness, and famine; nor found refuge
Other than growing old and full of sleep.
See you where Oisin and young Niamh ride
Wrapped in each other's arms, and where the Fenians
Follow their hounds along the fields of tapestry;
How merry they lived once, yet men died then.
Sit down by me, and I will chaunt the song
About the Danaan nations in their raths
That Aleel sang for you by the great door
Before we lost him in the shadow of leaves.

CATHLEEN.

No, sing the song he sang in the dim light,
When we first found him in the shadow of leaves,
About King Fergus in his brazen car
Driving with troops of dancers through the woods.

[_She crouches down on the floor, and lays her head on
OONA'S knees. _

OONA.

Dear heart, make a soft cradle of old tales,
And songs, and music: wherefore should you sadden
For wrongs you cannot hinder? The great God
Smiling condemns the lost: be mirthful: He
Bids youth be merry and old age be wise.

CATHLEEN.

Tympan and harp awaken wandering dreams.

A VOICE [_without_].

You may not see the Countess.

ANOTHER VOICE.

I must see her.

[_Sound of a short struggle. A SERVANT enters from door
to R. _

SERVANT.

The gardener is resolved to speak with you.
I cannot stay him.

CATHLEEN.

You may come, Maurteen.

[_The GARDENER, an old man, comes in from the R. , and
the SERVANT goes out. _

GARDENER.

Forgive my working clothes and the dirt on me.
I bring ill words, your ladyship,--too bad
To send with any other.

CATHLEEN.

These bad times,
Can any news be bad or any good?

GARDENER.

A crowd of ugly lean-faced rogues last night--
And may God curse them! --climbed the garden wall.
There is scarce an apple now on twenty trees,
And my asparagus and strawberry beds
Are trampled into clauber, and the boughs
Of peach and plum-trees broken and torn down
For some last fruit that hung there. My dog, too,
My old blind Simon, him who had no tail,
They murdered--God's red anger seize them!

CATHLEEN.
I know how pears and all the tribe of apples
Are daily in your love--how this ill chance
Is sudden doomsday fallen on your year;
So do not say no matter. I but say
I blame the famished season, and not you.
Then be not troubled.

GARDENER.

I thank your ladyship.

CATHLEEN.

What rumours and what portents of the famine?

GARDENER.

The yellow vapour, in whose folds it came,
That creeps along the hedges at nightfall,
Rots all the heart out of my cabbages.
I pray against it.

[_He goes towards the door, then pauses. _

If her ladyship
Would give me an old crossbow, I would watch
Behind a bush and guard the pears of nights
And make a hole in somebody I know of.

CATHLEEN.

They will give you a long draught of ale below.

[_The GARDENER goes out. _

OONA.

What did he say? --he stood on my deaf side.

CATHLEEN.

His apples are all stolen. Pruning time,
And the slow ripening of his pears and apples,
For him is a long, heart-moving history.

OONA.

Now lay your head once more upon my knees.
I will sing how Fergus drove his brazen cars.

[_She chaunts with the thin voice of age. _

_Who will go drive with Fergus now,
And pierce the deep woods' woven shade,
And dance upon the level shore?
Young man, lift up your russet brow,
And lift your tender eyelids, maid,
And brood on hopes and fears no more. _
You have dropped down again into your trouble.
You do not hear me.

CATHLEEN.

Ah, sing on, old Oona,
I hear the horn of Fergus in my heart.

OONA.

I do not know the meaning of the song.
I am too old.

CATHLEEN.

The horn is calling, calling.

OONA.

_And no more turn aside and brood
Upon Love's bitter mystery;
For Fergus rules the brazen cars,
And rules the shadows of the wood,
And the white breast of the dim sea
And all dishevelled wandering stars. _

THE SERVANT'S VOICE [_without_].

The Countess Cathleen must not be disturbed.

ANOTHER VOICE.

Man, I must see her.

CATHLEEN.

Who now wants me, Paudeen?

SERVANT [_from the door_].

A herdsman and his history.

CATHLEEN.

He may come.

[_The HERDSMAN enters from the door to R. _

HERDSMAN.

Forgive this dusty gear: I have come far.
My sheep were taken from the fold last night.
You will be angry: I am not to blame.
But blame these robbing times.

CATHLEEN.

No blame's with you.
I blame the famine.

HERDSMAN.

Kneeling, I give thanks.
When gazing on your face, the poorest, Lady,
Forget their poverty, the rich their care.

CATHLEEN.

What rumours and what portents of the famine?

HERDSMAN.

As I came down the lane by Tubber-vanach
A boy and man sat cross-legged on two stones,
With moving hands and faces famine-thin,
Gabbling to crowds of men and wives and boys
Of how two merchants at a house in the woods
Buy souls for hell, giving so great a price
That men may live through all the dearth in plenty.
The vales are famine-crazy--I am right glad
My home is on the mountain near to God.

[_He turns to go. _

CATHLEEN.

They will give you ale and meat before you go.
You must have risen at dawn to come so far.
Keep your bare mountain--let the world drift by,
The burden of its wrongs rests not on you.

HERDSMAN.

I am content to serve your ladyship.

[_He goes. _

OONA.

What did he say? --he stood on my deaf side.
He seemed to give you word of woful things.

CATHLEEN.

A story born out of the dreaming eyes
And crazy brain and credulous ears of famine.
O, I am sadder than an old air, Oona,
My heart is longing for a deeper peace
Than Fergus found amid his brazen cars:
Would that like Edain my first forebear's daughter,
Who followed once a twilight's piercing tune,
I could go down and dwell among the Sidhe
In their old ever-busy honeyed land.

OONA.

You should not say such things--they bring ill-luck.

CATHLEEN.

The image of young Edain on the arras,
Walking along, one finger lifted up;
And that wild song of the unending dance
Of the dim Danaan nations in their raths,
Young Aleel sang for me by the great door,
Before we lost him in the shadow of leaves,
Have filled me full of all these wicked words.

[_The SERVANT enters hastily, followed by three men.
Two are peasants. _

SERVANT.

The steward of the castle brings two men
To talk with you.

STEWARD.

And tell the strangest story
The mouth of man has uttered.

CATHLEEN.

More food taken;
Yet learned theologians have laid down
That he who has no food, offending no way,
May take his meat and bread from too-full larders.

FIRST PEASANT.

We come to make amends for robbery.
I stole five hundred apples from your trees,
And laid them in a hole; and my friend here
Last night stole two large mountain sheep of yours
And hung them on a beam under his thatch.

SECOND PEASANT.

His words are true.

FIRST PEASANT.

Since then our luck has changed.
As I came down the lane by Tubber-vanach
I fell on Shemus Rua and his son,
And they led me where two great gentlemen
Buy souls for money, and they bought my soul.
I told my friend here--my friend also trafficked.

SECOND PEASANT.

His words are true.

FIRST PEASANT.

Now people throng to sell,
Noisy as seagulls tearing a dead fish.
There soon will be no man or woman's soul
Unbargained for in fivescore baronies.

SECOND PEASANT.

His words are true.

FIRST PEASANT.

When we had sold we talked,
And having no more comfortable life
Than this that makes us warm--our souls being bartered
For all this money--

SECOND PEASANT.

And this money here.

[_They bring handfuls of money from their pockets.
CATHLEEN starts up. _

FIRST PEASANT.

And fearing much to hang for robbery,
We come to pay you for the sheep and fruit.
How do you price them?

CATHLEEN.

Gather up your money.
Think you that I would touch the demons' gold?
Begone, give twice, thrice, twenty times their money,
And buy your souls again. I will pay all.

FIRST PEASANT.

We will not buy our souls again: a soul
But keeps the flesh out of its merriment.
We shall be merry and drunk from moon to moon.
Keep from our way. Let no one stop our way.

[_They go. _

CATHLEEN [_to servant_].

Follow and bring them here again--beseech them.

[_The SERVANT goes. _

[_To STEWARD. _]

Steward, you know the secrets of this house.
How much have I in gold?

STEWARD.

A hundred thousand.

CATHLEEN.

How much have I in castles?

STEWARD.

As much more.

CATHLEEN.

How much have I in pastures?

STEWARD.

As much more.

CATHLEEN.

How much have I in forests?

STEWARD.

As much more.

CATHLEEN.

Keeping this house alone, sell all I have;
Go to some distant country and come again
With many herds of cows and ships of grain.

STEWARD.

God's blessing light upon your ladyship;
You will have saved the land.

CATHLEEN.

Make no delay.

[_He goes. _

[_Enter SERVANT. _]

How did you thrive? Say quickly. You are pale.

SERVANT.

Their eyes burn like the eyes of birds of prey:
I did not dare go near.

CATHLEEN.

God pity them!
Bring all the old and ailing to this house,
For I will have no sorrow of my own
From this day onward.

[_The SERVANT goes out. Some of the musicians follow
him, some linger in the doorway. The COUNTESS CATHLEEN
kneels beside OONA. _

Can you tell me, mother,
How I may mend the times, how staunch this wound
That bleeds in the earth, how overturn the famine,
How drive these demons to their darkness again?

OONA.

The demons hold our hearts between their hands,
For the apple is in our blood, and though heart break
There is no medicine but Michael's trump.
Till it has ended parting and old age
And hail and rain and famine and foolish laughter;
The dead are happy, the dust is in their ears.




ACT III.


_Hall of the COUNTESS CATHLEEN as before. SERVANT
enters and goes towards the oratory door. _

SERVANT.

Here is yet another would see your ladyship.

CATHLEEN [_within_].

Who calls me?

SERVANT.

There is a man would speak with you,
And by his face he has some pressing news,
Some moving tale.

CATHLEEN [_coming to chapel door_].

I cannot rest or pray,
For all day long the messengers run hither
On one another's heels, and every message
More evil than the one that had gone before.
Who is the messenger?

SERVANT.

Aleel, the poet.

CATHLEEN.

There is no hour he is not welcome to me,
Because I know of nothing but a harp-string
That can remember happiness.

[_SERVANT goes out and ALEEL comes in. _

And now
I grow forgetful of evil for awhile.

ALEEL.

I have come to bid you leave this castle, and fly
Out of these woods.

CATHLEEN.

What evil is there here,
That is not everywhere from this to the sea?

ALEEL.

They who have sent me walk invisible.

CATHLEEN.

Men say that the wise people of the raths
Have given you wisdom.

ALEEL.

I lay in the dusk
Upon the grassy margin of a lake
Among the hills, where none of mortal creatures
But the swan comes--my sleep became a fire.
One walked in the fire with birds about his head.

CATHLEEN.

Ay, Aengus of the birds.