Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 6

by Bertolt Brecht

  Scene 3

  The fair copy specifies at the outset that ‘a tune like “Valencia” is being played’. In all three early versions Puntila starts by rousing a ‘fat woman at the window’, then the chemist’s assistant, and has a bawling match with both before being sent on to the vet and picking up (virtually) the present text from p. 232. Emma appears after he has been given his prescription; in the first script and W-B she has no song; in the fair copy it is tacked on at the end of the play. Otherwise the rest of the scene follows very much as now, though each woman’s description of her life is an evident addition to the original script. These accounts could well originate in stories told by Hella Wuolijoki, though in the W-B version there are some differences: thus the milkmaid does get meat, while the telephonist has ‘enough money for pork dripping, potatoes, and salt herring’ and gets a box of chocolates from the doctor.

  Scene 4

  In the three early scripts this follows the bath-hut scene, the present scene 5. The first script and fair copy limit Puntila’s opening speech to ‘I’m through with you’, followed by the last sentence (‘You took advantage’ etc., p. 238). In the W-B version the setting is a ‘hiring fair at Hollolan Lahei, a small park with a café, right. Left, a coffee stall with table and benches. Men are standing in scattered groups, the farmers are selecting labourers. Two stable girls giggling, left. Enter a fat man, left.’ When the latter comments that there is not much doing, a labourer explains that people prefer to take forestry jobs, since the wages are going up there. Then Puntila enters, and the sense of what follows is much the same as in Brecht’s script. In both, however, the proposed conditions of work are less bad than in the final version: the redhaired man is promised his meals and a potato patch, while the (first) worker is told that he will get wood delivered. In all three of these scripts Puntila’s first speech after sitting down to coffee (p. 241) tells Kalle/Matti that he must control himself with respect to Eva, and it is this that Matti answers by ‘Just let it be’, after which the scene continues as now for about half a page. However, Surkkala (p. 242) is Salminen in the W-B version, and the reason why the parson wanted him thrown out was not because he was a Red but ‘because he has a wife he’s not married to, and appears suspect to the National Militia in various other ways.’ All three versions of the scene end with Puntila’s ‘make me respect you’ (p. 244).

  Scene 5

  In all three early scripts this precedes the hiring fair scene. All are headed ‘Puntila [or Iso-Heikkilä] betroths his daughter to an Attache’, as in the plan. All omit the arrival of the labourers from the hiring fair and place Puntila’s sobering-up process in the bath at the beginning of scene 6. They set the present scene not on Puntila’s estate but at Kurgela

  with a bath-hut that can be seen into. Kalle sits whistling beneath some sunflowers as he cleans a carburettor. Beside him the housekeeper [or in W-B the maid Miina] with a basket. It is morning.

  HOUSEKEEPER: Kindly have look at the door. Last night when you drove the Studebaker into the hall you ripped off the hinges.

  KALLE: Can be managed; but don’t blame that door business on me; it’s him that was drunk.

  HOUSEKEEPER: But if he sees it today he’ll be furious. He always inspects the whole estate and checks every corner of our barns, because he holds our mortgage.

  KALLE: Yes, he’s fussy; he doesn’t like things to be in a mess.

  HOUSEKEEPER (leaving): The mistress is staying in bed with a headache because she’d just as soon not run into him. We’re all nervous so long as he’s here; he shouts so.

  PUNTILA’S VOICE: Tina! Tina! [or in W-B, ‘Miina!’]

  KALLE (to the housekeeper as she tries to go): I’d stay where you are; he’s amazingly quick on his feet and if you try to get away he’ll spot you.

  PUNTILA (entering) [accompanied by Kurgela in W-B]: There you are; I’ve been looking all over the house for you. I’m tired of having showdowns with you people, you’re ruining yourselves in any case; but when I see things like the way you preserve pork it sends me up the wall. Come Christmas you chuck it away, and the same goes for your forest and all the rest. You’re a lazy crew, and you figure I’ll go on paying till kingdom come. Look at the gardener going around with patched trousers; well, I wouldn’t complain if it was his knees that were patched and not his bottom. If it’s a gardener the knees of his trousers ought to be patched. And the egg ledger has too many inkblots over the figures. Why? Because you can’t imagine why there are so few eggs. Of course it has never dawned on you that the dairymaid might be swiping the eggs; you need me to tell you. And don’t just hang around here all day!

  (The housekeeper leaves in a hurry)

  PUNTILA (in the doorway): Got you, boyo.

  – and so into the episode with the wallet (p. 249). Then after Matti’s third ‘Yes, Mr Puntila’ (p. 250) Puntila leaves and Eva appears (out of the bath-hut in the first script and carrying a towel) asking ‘But why don’t you stick up for yourself?’ etc., thus cutting out the exchange between Puntila and the two workers. The Eva-Matti dialogue and the ensuing bath-hut charade then follow very much as in our text, but with the Kurgela housekeeper of course instead of Laina. In the W-B version Kalle has gathered from Eva’s father that the attache is to be got rid of, and so the six lines from Eva’s ‘that he must be the one to back out’ to ‘I’m crude’ (p. 251) are missing, as is Matti’s ensuing speech ‘Well, suppose’ with its allusion to Tarzan. Otherwise there are only very slight differences between all three versions and the final text.

  Scene 6

  The three early scripts have the title ‘What Kalle [Matti] is and is not prepared to do.’ As later, the scene is set in the Puntila kitchen, but begins with the sobering-up episode that was later shifted to scene 5 (pp. 248–9). Thus the first script:

  Farm Kitchen at Puntila Hall. Kalle is trying to sober Puntila up by pouring cold water over his head. The weedy man is sitting in a corner. It is late evening.

  There is music. The scene starts with Matti’s ‘You’ll have to bear with a few buckets’ (p. 246); then after ‘that fat man at the hiring fair’ and before Fina’s entry Puntila goes on:

  … by the car, he was just going to collect the piglet and missed it. That’s enough buckets, I never have more than eleven. (Shouts)

  Fina! Coffee!

  (Enter Fina)

  PUNTILA: Here’s that golden creature with my coffee.

  FINA: Miss Hanna says wouldn’t you rather take your coffee in the drawing-room; Kalle can have his here.

  PUNTILA: I’m staying here. If Kalle isn’t good enough for her I’m having my coffee in the kitchen. Where is it?

  FINA goes and produces coffee from the stove: Here you are, Mr Puntila.

  PUNTILA: Is it good and strong? …

  Then, after Kalle/Matti’s ‘No liqueur,’ Puntila says to hell with his guests, Fina must hear the story of the fat man, which he then recounts, starting from ‘One of those nasty fat individuals’ (though ‘a proper capitalist’ is not in the early scripts). The rest of the episode is virtually as in our text except that after Puntila’s second coffee (p. 248) Matti’s speech about love of animals, with its reference to Mrs Klinkmann, is replaced by the exchange between him and the weedy man which is now on pp. 245–6 ff. immediately after Puntila has gone into the bath-hut. Thereafter it is Kalle who asks Puntila if the coffee was strong enough, and the remainder down to ‘despise me when he’s pissed’ (p. 249) is as in our text.

  The link between the sobering-up episode and the present beginning of the scene (p. 258) was simply a ring on the bell, leading Fina to say ‘I forgot to say Miss Eva wants a word with you.’ Then Hanna (or Alina) comes in – after the eighteen-line dialogue between Matti and Fina, ending with her sitting on his lap, which is all cut in W-B – and tells Fina to tidy the library and take the weedy man to the room where he is to spend the night prior to leaving; he must also return his 100 marks earnest money (most such sums being divided by ten in the course of revision).
On his complaining that he has lost two days’ work Hanna blames Kalle. Then the judge and lawyer (replaced by Agronomist Kurgela in W-B) come in, after which the rest of the scene continues much as in our text. However, the first two stage directions (pp. 260–61) describing Eva’s would-be seductive walk were added later, while the third (on her re-entering on p. 261) originally read ‘wearing sandals and pretty shorts.’

  Scene 7

  With the exception of Emma’s last speech with its snatch of song (p. 273) and her action of sitting on the ground, this scene has remained essentially as it was when Brecht first wrote it, as envisaged in the preliminary plans. Among the small modifications incorporated in the 1950 version (and thereafter in our text) are the conception of the two-level set, the Sunday atmosphere with its bells, Puntila’s phrase about the wedding costing him a forest (p. 266), the women’s straw garlands and Matti’s haranguing of the broom. In all three early versions Puntila’s remark about forming a trade union (p. 272) is answered by Matti: ‘Excuse me, Mr Puntila, it’s not a trade union because there are no dues. So nobody’s interests are represented. It was just for a bit of a laugh and maybe for a cup of coffee.’ Finally in lieu of Emma’s last speech the telephonist tells Puntila:

  But it’s only a joke. You invited us yourself…

  EMMA: You have no right to say we wanted to blackmail you.

  PUNTILA: Get off my land!

  End of scene.

  Scene 8

  This had no title before the 1950 version. In the first script it is unnumbered but inserted separately from scene 7, which suggests that it was added later; it is followed by a photograph of a peasant woman. In the fair copy it is numbered 7a, and in the W-B version ‘Scene 7, conclusion, to be played on the forestage.’ Emma’s first tale (starting ‘the last police sergeant’s wife’) is not in W-B; the telephonist’s tale (‘They know what they’re up to’) is delivered by the dairymaid; and the latter’s ‘Me too’ (p. 275) is spoken by the peasant woman in the first script and by Emma in W-B. This is then followed by a comment from the telephonist ‘What fools we women are,’ which in W-B ends the scene. The first script adds Emma’s long story (pp. 275–6) but gives it to the telephonist.

  Scene 9 [8 in the early scripts]

  Again the title and general sense of the scene have remained unchanged ever since Brecht’s first plans, though a long section was cut out of its middle (which somewhat alters the picture of Eva) while the ending with Red Surkkala’s song was tacked on to the fair copy. Originally the opening conversation was among parson, judge, doctor and lawyer (or agronomist in W-B); there was a slight redistribution and cutting of lines once the doctor had been eliminated. At first too the Attache appeared accompanied not only by the parson’s wife but also by Hanna/Alina, who delivered what are now the parson’s wife’s lines, sighed, and left.

  The major change occurred after the parson’s wife’s reproachful cry of ‘Eva!’ (p. 282), before Puntila reappears. Here there enter, not Puntila at first but

  the cook and Fina the maid with a great basket full of bottles. They clear the dining table and place them on it.

  EVA: What are you doing, Fina?

  FINA: Master told us to reset the table.

  PARSON’S WIFE: Are you saying that he came to the kitchen?

  THECOOK: Yes, he was in a hurry, looking for the chauffeur.

  EVA: Has the Attache driven away?

  FINA: I think so.

  EVA: Why can’t people say things for certain? I hate this awful uncertainty all round me.

  FINA laughing: My guess is that you’re not sorry, Miss Eva. (Enter Puntila and Kalle, followed by the doctor)

  PUNTILA: Hear that, Eva? There was I, sitting over my punch, thinking about nothing in particular, when suddenly I caught myself looking at the fellow and wondering how the devil anyone could have a face like that. I blinked and wondered if my eyesight had gone wrong, so I had another glass and looked again, and then of course I knew what I had to do. What are all you people on your feet for?

  PARSON: Mr Puntila, I thought that since the party’s over we ought to take our leave. You must be tired, Anna.

  PUNTILA: Rubbish. You’re not going to resent one of old Puntila’s jokes, not like that pettifogging lawyer Kallios who keeps picking holes in everything I do and just at the very instant when I’ve realised my mistake and want to put it right; yes, the Attache was a flop but I did a good job once I’d caught on, you’ll bear me out there. Puntila may go off the rails, but not for long before he sees it and becomes quite human again. You found the wine? Take a glass and let’s all sit down; I’ll just tell the others there’s been a mistake and the engagement party’s going on. If that Attache – scavenger, that’s what he is, and I’m amazed you didn’t realise it right away, Eva, – as I was saying, if he imagines he can screw up my engagement after weeks of preparation then he can think again. The fact is I decided a long time ago to marry my daughter to a good man, Matti Altonen, a fine chauffeur and a good friend of mine. Fina, hurry up and tell whoever’s dancing in the park that they’re to come here as soon as the dance is over; there’ve been some interesting changes. I’ll go and get the minister. (Goes out)

  KALLE: Your father’s going too far, even allowing for him being drunk.

  EVA: [illegible]

  KALLE: I’m amazed you let him treat you like that in public.

  EVA: I like being an obedient daughter.

  KALLE: He’s going to be disappointed, though. Maybe he can give your hand to anyone he chooses, but he can’t give mine, and that includes giving it to you.

  Eva answers ‘Don’t look at me’ etc., on p. 283, down to Matti’s ‘it wasn’t to get married’, after which she continues:

  I don’t believe you. That wasn’t how you held me at Kurgela. You’re like Hulda down in the village, who had five illegitimate children with a fellow and then when they asked why she didn’t marry him she said ‘I don’t like him.’

  KALLE: Stop laughing, and stop telling dirty stories. You’re drunk. I can’t afford to marry you.

  EVA: With a sawmill you could.

  KALLE: I already told you I’m not playing Victor to you. If he wants to scatter sawmills around he can give them to you, not to me. He’s human enough when he’s stewed but when he’s sober he’s sharp. He’ll spend a million on an attache for you but not on a chauffeur.

  (Parson, judge, parson’s wife and doctor have been standing as a group in the background and putting their heads together. Now the parson goes up to Eva)

  PARSON: Eva, my dear, I must speak to you like when I was preparing you for confirmation. [An illegible line is added.] Mr Altonen is welcome to stay, in view of his unfortunate involvement. Eva my dear, it is your hard duty to tell your father in no uncertain terms that he cannot dispose of you like a heifer and that God has given you a will of your own.

  EVA: That would conflict with my obedience to parental authority, your Reverence.

  PARSON: It is a higher form of obedience, an obedience that goes against accepted morality.

  KALLE: That’s just what I say.

  PARSON: I am glad you have so much good sense. It makes the situation considerably easier for you, my child.

  EVA: What’s so hard about it? I shall say to my father in bell-like tones: I propose to do as you command. I am going to marry Kalle. Even if it means risking his saying in front of everybody that he doesn’t want me.

  KALLE: If you ask me, the problem’s a lot simpler than that, your Reverence. I think he’ll have forgotten all about it by the time he comes back here. I’ll be the sacrifice and go into the kitchen with him, we’ll have a bottle or two and I’ll tell him how I’ve been sacked from job after job, that’s something he likes hearing about.

  EVA: If you do that I’ll go into the kitchen too.

  PARSON: I am sadly disappointed in you, Eva. (He goes back to the others) It’s unbelievable. She’s determined to marry the man.

  DOCTOR: In that case it’s time I went; I’d
rather not be present; I know Puntila. (Goes out)

  PARSON: All I can say is that I’d leave too if I didn’t feel it my duty to drain this cup to the dregs.

  PARSON’S WIFE: Besides, Mr Puntila would be displeased. (The dance music next door suddenly stops. A confused sound of voices which likewise stops after a moment. The ensuing silence allows one to hear the accordion playing for the dancers in the park)

  KALLE: You’re taking advantage of the situation.

  EVA: I want my husband to be a man.

  KALLE: What you want is a lively evening, never mind what anyone else may think. You’re your father’s daughter all right.

  (Enter Puntila by himself, angry)

  PUNTILA (taking a bottle from the table and drinking from it): I have just had a profound insight…

  and so on as on p. 282. Then there is a cut straight from his ‘Fina, you come and sit by me’ (p. 283) straight to All sit down reluctantly (thirteen lines below).

  Thereafter there are only small differences in the scene at the table with Matti testing Eva. One is that Puntila’s query ‘Matti, can you fuck decently’ (p. 284) down to Matti’s ‘Can we change the subject?’ is not in the first script or the W-B version but was an addition to the fair copy. Then when Matti slaps Eva’s behind both the first version and the fair copy have her evading the slap; she simply says ‘How dare you,’ etc. In the first version the scene ends with the exit of the cook and the parson’s wife (p. 293). In the fair copy, however, Matti’s immediately preceding speech continues after ‘unforgiving’:

  It’s only that the kitchen staff will be here in a minute; the music has stopped. You made Fina call them to hear about some new development. What are you going to say when they get here, led by Miss Hanna with her sharp tongue?

  PUNTILA: I’ll tell them that I’ve disowned my daughter for being a crime against Nature.

  MATTI: You might do better to tell them that tomorrow.

  Then he turns ‘to Laina and the parson’s wife’ as on p. 292 down to their exit, after which one hears singing from the dance off: