And they've a dizzy,
everlasting
fire.
Yeats - Poems
TEIG
And the last penny gone.
SHEMUS
When the hen's gone,
What can we do but live on sorrel and dock,
And dandelion, till our mouths are green?
MARY
God, that to this hour's found bit and sup,
Will cater for us still.
SHEMUS
His kitchen's bare.
There were five doors that I looked through this day
And saw the dead and not a soul to wake them.
MARY
Maybe He'd have us die because He knows,
When the ear is stopped and when the eye is stopped,
That every wicked sight is hid from the eye,
And all fool talk from the ear.
SHEMUS
Who's passing there?
And mocking us with music?
(_A stringed instrument without. _)
TEIG
A young man plays it,
There's an old woman and a lady with him.
SHEMUS
What is the trouble of the poor to her?
Nothing at all or a harsh radishy sauce
For the day's meat.
MARY
God's pity on the rich.
Had we been through as many doors, and seen
The dishes standing on the polished wood
In the wax candle light, we'd be as hard,
And there's the needle's eye at the end of all.
SHEMUS
My curse upon the rich.
TEIG
They're coming here.
SHEMUS
Then down upon that stool, down quick, I say,
And call up a whey face and a whining voice,
And let your head be bowed upon your knees.
MARY
Had I but time to put the place to rights.
(CATHLEEN, OONA, _and_ ALEEL _enter_. )
CATHLEEN
God save all here. There is a certain house,
An old grey castle with a kitchen garden,
A cider orchard and a plot for flowers,
Somewhere among these woods.
MARY
We know it, lady.
A place that's set among impassable walls
As though world's trouble could not find it out.
CATHLEEN
It may be that we are that trouble, for we--
Although we've wandered in the wood this hour--
Have lost it too, yet I should know my way,
For I lived all my childhood in that house.
MARY
Then you are Countess Cathleen?
CATHLEEN
And this woman,
Oona, my nurse, should have remembered it,
For we were happy for a long time there.
OONA
The paths are overgrown with thickets now,
Or else some change has come upon my sight.
CATHLEEN
And this young man, that should have known the woods--
Because we met him on their border but now,
Wandering and singing like a wave of the sea--
Is so wrapped up in dreams of terrors to come
That he can give no help.
MARY
You have still some way,
But I can put you on the trodden path
Your servants take when they are marketing.
But first sit down and rest yourself awhile,
For my old fathers served your fathers, lady,
Longer than books can tell--and it were strange
If you and yours should not be welcome here.
CATHLEEN
And it were stranger still were I ungrateful
For such kind welcome--but I must be gone,
For the night's gathering in.
SHEMUS
It is a long while
Since I've set eyes on bread or on what buys it.
CATHLEEN
So you are starving even in this wood,
Where I had thought I would find nothing changed.
But that's a dream, for the old worm o' the world
Can eat its way into what place it pleases.
(_She gives money. _)
TEIG
Beautiful lady, give me something too;
I fell but now, being weak with hunger and thirst
And lay upon the threshold like a log.
CATHLEEN
I gave for all and that was all I had.
Look, my purse is empty. I have passed
By starving men and women all this day,
And they have had the rest; but take the purse,
The silver clasps on't may be worth a trifle.
But if you'll come to-morrow to my house
You shall have twice the sum.
(ALEEL _begins to play_. )
SHEMUS (_muttering_)
What, music, music!
CATHLEEN
Ah, do not blame the finger on the string;
The doctors bid me fly the unlucky times
And find distraction for my thoughts, or else
Pine to my grave.
SHEMUS
I have said nothing, lady.
Why should the like of us complain?
OONA
Have done.
Sorrows that she's but read of in a book
Weigh on her mind as if they had been her own.
(OONA, MARY, and CATHLEEN _go out_. ALEEL _looks defiantly at_ SHEMUS. )
ALEEL (_singing_)
Were I but crazy for love's sake
I know who'd measure out his length,
I know the heads that I should break,
For crazy men have double strength.
There! all's out now to leave or take,
And who mocks music mocks at love;
And when I'm crazy for love's sake
I'll not go far to choose.
(_Snapping his fingers in_ SHEMUS' _face_. )
Enough!
I know the heads that I shall break.
(_He takes a step towards the door and then turns again. _)
Shut to the door before the night has fallen,
For who can say what walks, or in what shape
Some devilish creature flies in the air, but now
Two grey-horned owls hooted above our heads.
(_He goes out, his singing dies away. _ MARY _comes in_. SHEMUS _has been
counting the money. _)
SHEMUS
So that fool's gone.
TEIG
He's seen the horned owls too.
There's no good luck in owls, but it may be
That the ill luck's to fall upon his head.
MARY
You never thanked her ladyship.
SHEMUS
Thank her,
For seven halfpence and a silver bit?
TEIG
But for this empty purse?
SHEMUS
What's that for thanks,
Or what's the double of it that she promised?
With bread and flesh and every sort of food
Up to a price no man has heard the like of
And rising every day.
MARY
We have all she had;
She emptied out the purse before our eyes.
SHEMUS (_to_ MARY, _who has gone to close the door_)
Leave that door open.
MARY
When those that have read books,
And seen the seven wonders of the world,
Fear what's above or what's below the ground,
It's time that poverty should bolt the door.
SHEMUS
I'll have no bolts, for there is not a thing
That walks above the ground or under it
I had not rather welcome to this house
Than any more of mankind, rich or poor.
TEIG
So that they brought us money.
SHEMUS
I heard say
There's something that appears like a white bird,
A pigeon or a seagull or the like,
But if you hit it with a stone or a stick
It clangs as though it had been made of brass,
And that if you dig down where it was scratching
You'll find a crock of gold.
TEIG
But dream of gold
For three nights running, and there's always gold.
SHEMUS
You might be starved before you've dug it out.
TEIG
But maybe if you called, something would come,
They have been seen of late.
MARY
Is it call devils?
Call devils from the wood, call them in here?
SHEMUS
So you'd stand up against me, and you'd say
Who or what I am to welcome here. (_He hits her. _)
That is to show who's master.
TEIG
Call them in.
MARY
God help us all!
SHEMUS
Pray, if you have a mind to.
It's little that the sleepy ears above
Care for your words; but I'll call what I please.
TEIG
There is many a one, they say, had money from them.
SHEMUS (_at door_)
Whatever you are that walk the woods at night,
So be it that you have not shouldered up
Out of a grave--for I'll have nothing human--
And have free hands, a friendly trick of speech,
I welcome you. Come, sit beside the fire.
What matter if your head's below your arms
Or you've a horse's tail to whip your flank,
Feathers instead of hair, that's but a straw,
Come, share what bread and meat is in the house,
And stretch your heels and warm them in the ashes.
And after that, let's share and share alike
And curse all men and women. Come in, come in.
What, is there no one there? (_Turning from door_)
And yet they say
They are as common as the grass, and ride
Even upon the book in the priest's hand.
(TEIG _lifts one arm slowly and points toward the door and begins
moving backwards_. SHEMUS _turns, he also sees something and begins
moving backward_. MARY _does the same. A man dressed as an Eastern
merchant comes in carrying a small carpet. He unrolls it and sits
cross-legged at one end of it. Another man dressed in the same way
follows, and sits at the other end. This is done slowly and
deliberately. When they are seated they take money out of
embroidered purses at their girdles and begin arranging it on the
carpet_. )
TEIG
You speak to them.
SHEMUS
No, you.
TEIG
'Twas you that called them.
SHEMUS (_coming nearer_)
I'd make so bold, if you would pardon it,
To ask if there's a thing you'd have of us.
Although we are but poor people, if there is,
Why, if there is----
FIRST MERCHANT
We've travelled a long road,
For we are merchants that must tramp the world,
And now we look for supper and a fire
And a safe corner to count money in.
SHEMUS
I thought you were . . . but that's no matter now--
There had been words between my wife and me
Because I said I would be master here,
And ask in what I pleased or who I pleased
And so. . . . but that is nothing to the point,
Because it's certain that you are but merchants.
FIRST MERCHANT
We travel for the Master of all merchants.
SHEMUS
Yet if you were that I had thought but now
I'd welcome you no less. Be what you please
And you'll have supper at the market rate,
That means that what was sold for but a penny
Is now worth fifty.
(MERCHANTS _begin putting money on carpet_. )
FIRST MERCHANT
Our Master bids us pay
So good a price, that all who deal with us
Shall eat, drink, and be merry.
SHEMUS (_to_ MARY)
Bestir yourself,
Go kill and draw the fowl, while Teig and I
Lay out the plates and make a better fire.
MARY
I will not cook for you.
SHEMUS
Not cook! not cook!
Do not be angry. She wants to pay me back
Because I struck her in that argument.
But she'll get sense again. Since the dearth came
We rattle one on another as though we were
Knives thrown into a basket to be cleaned.
MARY
I will not cook for you, because I know
In what unlucky shape you sat but now
Outside this door.
TEIG
It's this, your honours:
Because of some wild words my father said
She thinks you are not of those who cast a shadow.
SHEMUS
I said I'd make the devils of the wood
Welcome, if they'd a mind to eat and drink;
But it is certain that you are men like us.
FIRST MERCHANT
It's strange that she should think we cast no shadow,
For there is nothing on the ridge of the world
That's more substantial than the merchants are
That buy and sell you.
MARY
If you are not demons,
And seeing what great wealth is spread out there,
Give food or money to the starving poor.
FIRST MERCHANT
If we knew how to find deserving poor
We'd do our share.
MARY
But seek them patiently.
FIRST MERCHANT
We know the evils of mere charity.
MARY
Those scruples may befit a common time.
I had thought there was a pushing to and fro,
At times like this, that overset the scale
And trampled measure down.
FIRST MERCHANT
But if already
We'd thought of a more prudent way than that?
SECOND MERCHANT
If each one brings a bit of merchandise,
We'll give him such a price he never dreamt of.
MARY
Where shall the starving come at merchandise?
FIRST MERCHANT
We will ask nothing but what all men have.
MARY
Their swine and cattle, fields and implements
Are sold and gone.
FIRST MERCHANT
They have not sold all yet.
For there's a vaporous thing--that may be nothing,
But that's the buyer's risk--a second self,
They call immortal for a story's sake.
SHEMUS
They come to buy our souls?
TEIG
I'll barter mine.
Why should we starve for what may be but nothing?
MARY
Teig and Shemus----
SHEMUS
What can it be but nothing?
What has God poured out of His bag but famine?
Satan gives money.
TEIG
Yet no thunder stirs.
FIRST MERCHANT
There is a heap for each.
(SHEMUS _goes to take money_. )
But no, not yet,
For there's a work I have to set you to.
SHEMUS
So then you're as deceitful as the rest,
And all that talk of buying what's but a vapour
Is fancy bread. I might have known as much,
Because that's how the trick-o'-the-loop man talks.
FIRST MERCHANT
That's for the work, each has its separate price;
But neither price is paid till the work's done.
TEIG
The same for me.
MARY
Oh, God, why are you still?
FIRST MERCHANT
You've but to cry aloud at every cross-road,
At every house door, that we buy men's souls.
And give so good a price that all may live
In mirth and comfort till the famine's done,
Because we are Christian men.
SHEMUS
Come, let's away.
TEIG
I shall keep running till I've earned the price.
SECOND MERCHANT
(_who has risen and gone towards fire_)
Stop; you must have proof behind the words.
So here's your entertainment on the road.
(_He throws a bag of money on the ground. _)
Live as you please; our Master's generous.
(TEIG and SHEMUS _have stopped_. TEIG _takes the money. They go out. _)
MARY
Destroyers of souls, God will destroy you quickly.
You shall at last dry like dry leaves and hang
Nailed like dead vermin to the doors of God.
SECOND MERCHANT
Curse to your fill, for saints will have their dreams.
FIRST MERCHANT
Though we're but vermin that our Master sent
To overrun the world, he at the end
Shall pull apart the pale ribs of the moon
And quench the stars in the ancestral night.
MARY
God is all powerful.
SECOND MERCHANT
Pray, you shall need Him.
You shall eat dock and grass, and dandelion,
Till that low threshold there becomes a wall,
And when your hands can scarcely drag your body
We shall be near you.
(MARY _faints_. )
(_The_ FIRST MERCHANT _takes up the carpet, spreads it before the fire
and stands in front of it warming his hands_. )
FIRST MERCHANT
Our faces go unscratched,
Wring the neck o' that fowl, scatter the flour
And look if there is bread upon the shelves.
We'll turn the fowl upon the spit and roast it,
And eat the supper we were bidden to,
Now that the house is quiet, praise our Master,
And stretch and warm our heels among the ashes.
END OF SCENE I.
SCENE II
FRONT SCENE. --_A wood with perhaps distant view of turreted house
at one side, but all in flat colour, without light and shade and
against a diapered or gold background. _
COUNTESS CATHLEEN _comes in leaning upon_ ALEEL'S _arm_. OONA _follows
them_.
CATHLEEN (_stopping_)
Surely this leafy corner, where one smells
The wild bee's honey, has a story too?
OONA
There is the house at last.
ALEEL
A man, they say,
Loved Maeve the Queen of all the invisible host,
And died of his love nine centuries ago.
And now, when the moon's riding at the full,
She leaves her dancers lonely and lies there
Upon that level place, and for three days
Stretches and sighs and wets her long pale cheeks.
CATHLEEN
So she loves truly.
ALEEL
No, but wets her cheeks,
Lady, because she has forgot his name.
CATHLEEN
She'd sleep that trouble away--though it must be
A heavy trouble to forget his name--
If she had better sense.
OONA
Your own house, lady.
ALEEL
She sleeps high up on wintry Knock-na-rea
In an old cairn of stones; while her poor women
Must lie and jog in the wave if they would sleep--
Being water born--yet if she cry their names
They run up on the land and dance in the moon
Till they are giddy and would love as men do,
And be as patient and as pitiful.
But there is nothing that will stop in their heads
They've such poor memories, though they weep for it.
Oh, yes, they weep; that's when the moon is full.
CATHLEEN
Is it because they have short memories
They live so long?
ALEEL
What's memory but the ash
That chokes our fires that have begun to sink?
And they've a dizzy, everlasting fire.
OONA
There is your own house, lady.
CATHLEEN
Why, that's true,
And we'd have passed it without noticing.
ALEEL
A curse upon it for a meddlesome house!
Had it but stayed away I would have known
What Queen Maeve thinks on when the moon is pinched;
And whether now--as in the old days--the dancers
Set their brief love on men.
OONA
Rest on my arm.
These are no thoughts for any Christian ear.
ALEEL
I am younger, she would be too heavy for you.
(_He begins taking his lute out of the bag_, CATHLEEN, _who has turned
towards_ OONA, _turns back to him_. )
This hollow box remembers every foot
That danced upon the level grass of the world,
And will tell secrets if I whisper to it.
(_Sings. _)
Lift up the white knee;
Hear what they sing,
Those young dancers
That in a ring
Raved but now
Of the hearts that brake
Long, long ago
For their sake.
OONA
New friends are sweet.
ALEEL
"But the dance changes.
Lift up the gown,
All that sorrow
Is trodden down. "
OONA
The empty rattle-pate! Lean on this arm,
That I can tell you is a christened arm,
And not like some, if we are to judge by speech.
But as you please. It is time I was forgot.
Maybe it is not on this arm you slumbered
When you were as helpless as a worm.
ALEEL
Stay with me till we come to your own house.
CATHLEEN (_sitting down_)
When I am rested I will need no help.
ALEEL
I thought to have kept her from remembering
The evil of the times for full ten minutes;
But now when seven are out you come between.
OONA
Talk on; what does it matter what you say,
For you have not been christened?
ALEEL
Old woman, old woman,
You robbed her of three minutes peace of mind,
And though you live unto a hundred years,
And wash the feet of beggars and give alms,
And climb Croaghpatrick, you shall not be pardoned.
OONA
How does a man who never was baptized
Know what Heaven pardons?
ALEEL
You are a sinful woman.
OONA
I care no more than if a pig had grunted.
(_Enter_ CATHLEEN'S _Steward_. )
STEWARD
I am not to blame, for I had locked the gate,
The forester's to blame. The men climbed in
At the east corner where the elm-tree is.
CATHLEEN
I do not understand you, who has climbed?
STEWARD
Then God be thanked, I am the first to tell you.
I was afraid some other of the servants--
Though I've been on the watch--had been the first,
And mixed up truth and lies, your ladyship.
CATHLEEN (_rising_)
Has some misfortune happened?
STEWARD
Yes, indeed.
The forester that let the branches lie
Against the wall's to blame for everything,
For that is how the rogues got into the garden.
CATHLEEN
I thought to have escaped misfortune here.
Has any one been killed?
STEWARD
Oh, no, not killed.
They have stolen half a cart-load of green cabbage.
CATHLEEN
But maybe they were starving.
STEWARD
That is certain.
To rob or starve, that was the choice they had.
CATHLEEN
A learned theologian has laid down
That starving men may take what's necessary,
And yet be sinless.
OONA
Sinless and a thief!
There should be broken bottles on the wall.
CATHLEEN
And if it be a sin, while faith's unbroken
God cannot help but pardon. There is no soul
But it's unlike all others in the world,
Nor one but lifts a strangeness to God's love
Till that's grown infinite, and therefore none
Whose loss were less than irremediable
Although it were the wickedest in the world.
(_Enter_ TEIG _and_ SHEMUS. )
STEWARD
What are you running for? Pull off your cap,
Do you not see who's there?
SHEMUS
I cannot wait.
I am running to the world with the best news
That has been brought it for a thousand years.
STEWARD
Then get your breath and speak.
SHEMUS
If you'd my news
You'd run as fast and be as out of breath.
TEIG
Such news, we shall be carried on men's shoulders.
SHEMUS
There's something every man has carried with him
And thought no more about than if it were
A mouthful of the wind; and now it's grown
A marketable thing!
TEIG
And yet it seemed
As useless as the paring of one's nails.
SHEMUS
What sets me laughing when I think of it,
Is that a rogue who's lain in lousy straw,
If he but sell it, may set up his coach.
TEIG (_laughing_)
There are two gentlemen who buy men's souls.
CATHLEEN
O God!
TEIG
And maybe there's no soul at all.
STEWARD
They're drunk or mad.
TEIG
Look at the price they give.
(_Showing money. _)
SHEMUS (_tossing up money_)
"Go cry it all about the world," they said.
"Money for souls, good money for a soul. "
CATHLEEN
Give twice and thrice and twenty times their money,
And get your souls again. I will pay all.
SHEMUS
Not we! not we! For souls--if there are souls--
But keep the flesh out of its merriment.
I shall be drunk and merry.
TEIG
Come, let's away.
(_He goes. _)
CATHLEEN
But there's a world to come.
SHEMUS
And if there is,
I'd rather trust myself into the hands
That can pay money down than to the hands
That have but shaken famine from the bag.
(_He goes out_ R. )
(_Lilting_)
"There's money for a soul, sweet yellow money.
There's money for men's souls, good money, money. "
CATHLEEN (_to_ ALEEL)
Go call them here again, bring them by force,
Beseech them, bribe, do anything you like;
(ALEEL _goes_. )
And you too follow, add your prayers to his.
(OONA, _who has been praying, goes out_. )
Steward, you know the secrets of my house.
How much have I?
STEWARD
A hundred kegs of gold.
CATHLEEN
How much have I in castles?
STEWARD
As much more.
CATHLEEN
How much have I in pasture?
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 barter where you please, but come again
With herds of cattle and with ships of meal.
STEWARD
God's blessing light upon your ladyship.
You will have saved the land.
CATHLEEN
Make no delay.
(_He goes_ L. )
(ALEEL _and_ OONA _return_)
CATHLEEN
They have not come; speak quickly.
ALEEL
One drew his knife
And said that he would kill the man or woman
That stopped his way; and when I would have stopped him
He made this stroke at me; but it is nothing.
CATHLEEN
You shall be tended. From this day for ever
I'll have no joy or sorrow of my own.
OONA
Their eyes shone like the eyes of birds of prey.
CATHLEEN
Come, follow me, for the earth burns my feet
Till I have changed my house to such a refuge
That the old and ailing, and all weak of heart,
May escape from beak and claw; all, all, shall come
Till the walls burst and the roof fall on us.
From this day out I have nothing of my own.
(_She goes. _)
OONA (_taking_ ALEEL _by the arm and as she speaks bandaging his wound_)
She has found something now to put her hand to,
And you and I are of no more account
Than flies upon a window-pane in the winter.
(_They go out. _)
END OF SCENE II.
SCENE III
SCENE. --_Hall in the house of_ COUNTESS CATHLEEN. _At the Left an
oratory with steps leading up to it. At the Right a tapestried
wall, more or less repeating the form of the oratory, and a great
chair with its back against the wall. In the Centre are two or more
arches through which one can see dimly the trees of the garden. _
CATHLEEN _is kneeling in front of the altar in the oratory; there
is a hanging lighted lamp over the altar_. ALEEL _enters_.
ALEEL
I have 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
So it is true what I have heard men say,
That you have seen and heard what others cannot.
ALEEL
I was asleep in my bed, and while I slept
My dream became a fire; and in the fire
One walked and he had birds about his head.
CATHLEEN
I have heard that one of the old gods walked so.
ALEEL
It may be that he is angelical;
And, lady, he bids me call you from these woods.
And you must bring but your old foster-mother,
And some few serving men, and live in the hills,
Among the sounds of music and the light
Of waters, till the evil days are done.
For here some terrible death is waiting you,
Some unimagined evil, some great darkness
That fable has not dreamt of, nor sun nor moon
Scattered.
CATHLEEN
No, not angelical.
ALEEL
This house
You are to leave with some old trusty man,
And bid him shelter all that starve or wander
While there is food and house room.
CATHLEEN
He bids me go
Where none of mortal creatures but the swan
Dabbles, and there you would pluck the harp, when the trees
Had made a heavy shadow about our door,
And talk among the rustling of the reeds,
When night hunted the foolish sun away
With stillness and pale tapers. No--no--no!
I cannot. Although I weep, I do not weep
Because that life would be most happy, and here
I find no way, no end. Nor do I weep
Because I had longed to look upon your face,
But that a night of prayer has made me weary.
ALEEL (_prostrating himself before her_)
Let Him that made mankind, the angels and devils
And dearth and plenty, mend what He has made,
For when we labour in vain and eye still sees
Heart breaks in vain.
CATHLEEN
How would that quiet end?
ALEEL
How but in healing?
CATHLEEN
You have seen my tears
And I can see your hand shake on the floor.
ALEEL (_faltering_)
I thought but of healing. He was angelical.
CATHLEEN (_turning away from him_)
No, not angelical, but of the old gods,
Who wander about the world to waken the heart--
The passionate, proud heart--that all the angels,
Leaving nine heavens empty, would rock to sleep.
(_She goes to chapel door;_ ALEEL _holds his clasped hands towards her
for a moment hesitatingly, and then lets them fall beside him_. )
CATHLEEN
Do not hold out to me beseeching hands.
This heart shall never waken on earth. I have sworn,
By her whose heart the seven sorrows have pierced,
To pray before this altar until my heart
Has grown to Heaven like a tree, and there
Rustled its leaves, till Heaven has saved my people.
ALEEL (_who has risen_)
When one so great has spoken of love to one
So little as I, though to deny him love,
What can he but hold out beseeching hands,
Then let them fall beside him, knowing how greatly
They have overdared?
(_He goes towards the door of the hall. _ _The_ COUNTESS CATHLEEN _takes
a few steps towards him_. )
CATHLEEN
If the old tales are true,
Queens have wed shepherds and kings beggar-maids;
God's procreant waters flowing about your mind
Have made you more than kings or queens; and not you
But I am the empty pitcher.
ALEEL
Being silent,
I have said all, yet let me stay beside you.
CATHLEEN
No, no, not while my heart is shaken. No,
But you shall hear wind cry and water cry,
And curlew cry, and have the peace I longed for.
ALEEL
Give me your hand to kiss.
CATHLEEN
I kiss your forehead.
And yet I send you from me. Do not speak;
There have been women that bid men to rob
Crowns from the Country-under-Wave or apples
Upon a dragon-guarded hill, and all
That they might sift men's hearts and wills,
And trembled as they bid it, as I tremble
That lay a hard task on you, that you go,
And silently, and do not turn your head;
Goodbye; but do not turn your head and look;
Above all else, I would not have you look.
(ALEEL _goes_. )
I never spoke to him of his wounded hand,
And now he is gone. (_She looks out. _)
I cannot see him, for all is dark outside.
Would my imagination and my heart
Were as little shaken as this holy flame!
(_She goes slowly into the chapel. The distant sound of an alarm bell. _
_The two_ MERCHANTS _enter hurriedly_. )
SECOND MERCHANT
They are ringing the alarm, and in a moment
They'll be upon us.
FIRST MERCHANT (_going to a door at the side_)
Here is the Treasury,
You'd my commands to put them all to sleep.
SECOND MERCHANT
Some angel or else her prayers protected them.
(_Goes into the Treasury and returns with bags of treasure. _ FIRST
MERCHANT _has been listening at the oratory door_. )
FIRST MERCHANT
She has fallen asleep.
(SECOND MERCHANT _goes out through one of the arches at the back and
stands listening. The bags are at his feet. _)
SECOND MERCHANT
We've all the treasure now,
So let's away before they've tracked us out.
FIRST MERCHANT
I have a plan to win her.
SECOND MERCHANT
You have time enough
If you would kill her and bear off her soul
Before they are upon us with their prayers;
They search the Western Tower.
FIRST MERCHANT
That may not be.
We cannot face the heavenly host in arms.
Her soul must come to us of its own will,
But being of the ninth and mightiest Hell
Where all are kings, I have a plan to win it.
Lady, we've news that's crying out for speech.
(CATHLEEN _wakes and comes to door of chapel_. )
CATHLEEN
Who calls?
FIRST MERCHANT
We have brought news.
CATHLEEN
What are you?
FIRST MERCHANT
We are merchants, and we know the book of the world
Because we have walked upon its leaves; and there
Have read of late matters that much concern you;
And noticing the castle door stand open,
Came in to find an ear.
CATHLEEN
The door stands open,
That no one who is famished or afraid,
Despair of help or of a welcome with it.
But you have news, you say.
FIRST MERCHANT
We saw a man,
Heavy with sickness in the bog of Allen,
Whom you had bid buy cattle. Near Fair Head
We saw your grain ships lying all becalmed
In the dark night; and not less still than they,
Burned all their mirrored lanthorns in the sea.
CATHLEEN
My thanks to God, to Mary and the angels,
That I have money in my treasury,
And can buy grain from those who have stored it up
To prosper on the hunger of the poor.
But you've been far and know the signs of things,
When will this famine end?
FIRST MERCHANT
Day copies day,
And there's no sign of change, nor can it change,
With the wheat withered and the cattle dead.
CATHLEEN
And heard you of the demons who buy souls?
FIRST MERCHANT
There are some men who hold they have wolves' heads,
And say their limbs--dried by the infinite flame--
Have all the speed of storms; others, again,
Say they are gross and little; while a few
Will have it they seem much as mortals are,
But tall and brown and travelled--like us, lady--
Yet all agree a power is in their looks
That makes men bow, and flings a casting-net
About their souls, and that all men would go
And barter those poor vapours, were it not
You bribe them with the safety of your gold.
CATHLEEN
Praise be to God, to Mary, and the angels
That I am wealthy! Wherefore do they sell?
FIRST MERCHANT
As we came in at the great door we saw
Your porter sleeping in his niche--a soul
Too little to be worth a hundred pence,
And yet they buy it for a hundred crowns.
But for a soul like yours, I heard them say,
They would give five hundred thousand crowns and more.
CATHLEEN
How can a heap of crowns pay for a soul?
Is the green grave so terrible a thing?
FIRST MERCHANT
Some sell because the money gleams, and some
Because they are in terror of the grave,
And some because their neighbours sold before,
And some because there is a kind of joy
In casting hope away, in losing joy,
In ceasing all resistance, in at last
Opening one's arms to the eternal flames,
In casting all sails out upon the wind;
To this--full of the gaiety of the lost--
Would all folk hurry if your gold were gone.
CATHLEEN
There is a something, Merchant, in your voice
That makes me fear. When you were telling how
A man may lose his soul and lose his God
Your eyes were lighted up, and when you told
How my poor money serves the people, both--
Merchants forgive me--seemed to smile.
FIRST MERCHANT
I laugh
To think that all these people should be swung
As on a lady's shoe-string,--under them
The glowing leagues of never-ending flame.
