How joy was found a fantasy
Daffadowndillies and lilies
And crocuses are hiding,
Under the garden abiding,
Soon you’ll see! Soon you’ll see!
Soon you’ll see!
For along the west border,
All in their proper order,
Just like last year—
Look!—the tops of the snowdrops are here!
Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee!
Oh, how wonderful it is to see
The spring again just as she used to be!
Showing how the bulbs grow
Under the ground,
Making a sound
Where silence lay low.
Displaying
The beauty of the earth,
Saying:
“There is no death.
For consider the lilies
How they grow, and the daffadowndillies,
Underground
They have found
The spring!”
Oh, Robin, sing!
Oh, come away and see
The tops
Of the first snowdrops!
Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee!
[_During the song the others, drawn by the sound of piping,
all begin to come in one by one, with the exception of the
Climber, beginning with the Marksman and ending with the
Carpenter, dancing and humming the tune. When the Listener
has done they all applaud him delightedly, and the Marksman
lets fly an arrow seaward._]
LISTENER
[_Astonished._]
What’s that for?
MARKSMAN
You hit the mark that time.
LISTENER
[_Running to look._]
Where? I didn’t see!
MARKSMAN
Nobody did but me.
Who taught you that song sublime?
LISTENER
A robin back there in the wood;
I haven’t got it very good.
FINN
You have a very fine ear.
Is there anything else you can hear?
LISTENER
[_Putting his ear to the ground and listening intently._]
I can hear the voice of your mother.
FINN
[_Eagerly._]
What is she saying?
LISTENER
She’s saying she’s unravelling
Your fetters of travelling
And straying;
She’s saying
She’s sending your father
To help you to gather
The children he’s losing
Through none of her choosing.
FINN
[_Bewildered._]
Talk sense!
LISTENER
[_Offended._]
I do; but it’s too immense
For you to comprehend
With your unenlightened end!
[_Aside._]
There! didn’t I tell you she’d send!
[_At this moment the Climber runs in excitedly._]
CLIMBER
I’ve just met a woman in the wood
Who says she’s losing
Her children through none of her choosing,
And that you are the only man
Who can
Help her, if you’ll be so very good.
FINN
[_Amazed._]
That’s what the Big Young Hero said to me
This morning, brought him through the strife
Of night-watching and tempest of sea!
I wonder who this woman can be?
CLIMBER
[_Excitedly._]
I believe she is his wife?
FINN
How is she losing the children?
CLIMBER
She says she’s losing them in the night
That claps down on men,
For a Hand comes in at the window ere it’s light,
And takes them all away ben.
FINN
[_After a pause._]
I can’t help that!
CLIMBER
Yes, she says you can,
If you were half a man.
FINN
Why, what must I be at?
CLIMBER
She says you must watch through the night
Within her house, until you see daylight.
FINN
[_Sighing wearily._]
I want my supper now. I really couldn’t keep
My eyes open; I’m sure I’d go to sleep.
CLIMBER
[_Very earnestly and impressively._]
Although she has laid supper in her house,
Please do not touch it yet, or you’ll arouse
The Hand
Before you understand
How you must use the body to discern
The proper system of the mind, and learn
You were not built like the bewildered moon,
To dwindle ere you’ve found another face,
Revolving inwards like an old buffoon,
Too much attracted by an earthly grace;
But, on a nervous pivot justly hung,
Bringing your mind to bear upon the clay,
Can turn your sleepy body round among
The starry systems of another day;
For that is how I think we’re meant to gather
Her earthly treasure for a Heavenly Father,
Till He recall us from her dewy field
At evening-time, building a finer bield
For souls returning mindful of earth’s beauty,
Not naked as they came.
FINN
I’ll do my duty
If you’ll show me the way
To the place where I’m to stay.
CLIMBER
[_Delighted._]
All right!
We must look sharp as long as there’s this light.
[_She beckons the others to follow._]
FINN
[_Pausing suddenly._]
Why, what was that that fell?
I believe it was the spell.
[_He looks about._]
I feel hungry enough for two
All of a sudden. Aren’t you?
CLIMBER
[_Warningly._]
No, I had something to eat before I came,
And in the morning you will get the same
If only now you’ll try not to eat double;
For if you do we’ll all get into trouble.
[_Exit all after the Climber._]
ACT III. SCENE 2
THE HOUSE OF THE EARTH-MOTHER: GLOAMING
_The kitchen of the Earth-Mother’s house. A big open fire in the middle
of the room, with a hole in the thatch above it to let the smoke out. A
child asleep in a cradle beside it. The remains of a lavish supper on a
table in the corner. The men are all lying about the fire asleep. Finn
alone is sitting in a low chair drowsing. The Climber is lying asleep on
a settle in the corner, near the Thief, who is sitting quietly watchful
by the child. She alone seems wide awake._
FINN
[_Nodding drowsily, starts and falls forward. Shaking
himself up, he looks round, rubbing his eyes and yawning._]
Heigh-ho!—Heigh-hum-harry!
This rainbow is a weary job to carry.
[_Looks round._]
No one seems awake that I can see.
THIEF
[_Quietly._]
You forget me.
FINN
[_Startled._]
Oh! Are you awake?
THIEF
[_Quietly._]
I’m always awake.
FINN
Then I can take
A nap.
THIEF
[_Calmly._]
For Heaven’s sake
Keep awake,
Or the child will be taken away in the cap
Of the Hand.
FINN
[_Drowsily._]
Bother! I don’t understand.
[_Pointing to the Climber._]
Even she’s sleeping.
THIEF
Yes, she has been weeping.
FINN
[_Uneasy._]
Why, whatever’s the matter?
THIEF
Everything.
You’ve eaten too much.
FINN
[_Defensively._]
Why, I didn’t touch
More than I ought,
Did I?
THIEF
You took a thought
More than she did, that’s why
You have upset her.
FINN
[_Sulkily._]
I wish to goodness I had never met her,
If she’s so very easily upset.
THIEF
[_Quietly._]
I fear she’s very childish for her age.
It’s apt to overbalance her at this stage;
She isn’t up to all God’s ropes as yet.
FINN
[_Crossly._]
I thought she said
That she could climb upon a thread
Up to a star
Were I to tie it there.
THIEF
Ay! But it needs more care
To return so far
Trundling the star.
[_Finn sits silent for a little while, and begins to nod
again. At last he rouses himself with a start._]
FINN
I’m much too plastic;
This needs something drastic.
[_He snatches a brand of wood from the fire, and thrusts
it through the bone of his palm. The Climber immediately
starts up in her sleep with a cry of pain._]
[_Startled._]
What’s wrong? Why——?
CLIMBER
[_Talking in her sleep, in great distress._]
You are in pain!
FINN
[_Defiantly._]
Not I!
CLIMBER
[_Half asleep._]
You’re hurting yourself with trying to keep awake!
FINN
[_Coldly._]
You’re making a mistake.
CLIMBER
[_Bewildered and dreamy._]
Oh, I’m sorry! I thought you called me.
FINN
[_Stoically._]
No.
[_The Marksman turns in his sleep with a groan._]
CLIMBER
I beg your pardon.
THIEF
[_Quietly._]
Lie down. If he’s in pain
I’ll call you again.
[_The Climber lies down again._]
THIEF SINGS:
I have a lover in my mind,
And there I stray.
He whispers dreams to me all night;
I dream with him all day.
We tell each other foreign things,
We dream strange dreams, we two;
Sometimes he whispers He is God,
And I dream I am too.
[_Finn, nodding, repeats former process. Again the Climber
starts up in her sleep with a loud cry of anguish._]
CLIMBER
[_As before, talking half in her sleep._]
You are in pain?
FINN
[_Wiping his brow._]
Not I, you’re dreaming.
[_The Marksman again groans in his sleep._]
THIEF
[_Quietly._]
Lie down. If he’s in pain
I’ll call you again.
CLIMBER
[_Bewildered and troubled, still asleep._]
I’m very sorry, indeed I meant no harm;
I feel as if I were under some sort of charm.
[_She lies down again._]
THIEF SINGS:
Love seeketh not a Heaven’s delight.
If her beloved inhabit there,
She is content with outer night,
And finds in Hell no deep despair.
Yet if the love of God divine
Feel lonely Heaven a grave mistake,
And say: “Is Hell not also mine?”
Love answers: “Yea, Lord, take.”
[_By this time Finn has fallen quite asleep. The fire
dies low. Suddenly a strange light begins to play about