Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 4

by Bertolt Brecht

  IBERIN to Callas: Step forward! Look at your daughter!

  CALLAS: Oh, you’re here too, Nanna?

  IBERIN: You recognise her?

  CALLAS: Of course.

  IBERIN: I ask you, because surely she must have changed?

  CALLAS: Not specially.

  IBERIN: Are those the clothes you bought her?

  CALLAS: No, of course not.

  IBERIN: Indeed, those are not the clothes a simple farmer, who works the land with his calloused hands, would buy his daughter.

  CALLAS: I couldn’t possibly, given the dues I have to pay.

  IBERIN: And you wouldn’t, even if you could? Such tawdry rags offend your simple, upright taste. How is it your daughter is able to buy clothes like these?

  CALLAS: She earns pretty good money.

  IBERIN sharply: A terrible response! I’ll ask again: Do you recognise in this modishly dressed young thing the carefree child who once skipped across the fields by your side? Callas gawps, uncomprehending. Could you ever imagine that your daughter would have an unlawful relationship with your landlord at the tender age of sixteen?

  CALLAS: Certainly, but the advantages for us weren’t that significant. A couple of times we were allowed to use the horses to cart wood. But – he addresses the assembled crowd – if you have to pay rents which are ten times too high, then it doesn’t help that much if you’re just let off a little bit every now and again. Even then we couldn’t rely on it! What I need are horses of my own.

  IBERIN: So the landlord abused his economic power, and plunged your daughter into misfortune?

  CALLAS: Misfortune? It was the girl who had all the benefits! At least she got to wear decent clothes! She never had to work. But we did! You just try ploughing without horses!

  IBERIN: Are you aware, things got so bad your daughter moved into Madame Cornamontis’s house?

  CALLAS: Yes of course. Good day to you, Madame Cornamontis.

  IBERIN: Are you aware what manner of establishment that is?

  CALLAS: Yes of course. And I’d like to add, by the way, we had to pay for using the estate’s horses. Through the nose. And we weren’t permitted to use any other horses anyway.

  IBERIN to Nanna: How did you come to be at this establishment?

  NANNA: I didn’t fancy working on the fields any more. By the time they’re twenty-five farm-girls all look like they’re forty.

  IBERIN: The life of ease with which your seducer tempted you alienated you from the simple life of your parental home. And was the lord of the estate your first lover?

  NANNA: Yes.

  IBERIN: Describe the life in the coffeehouse into which you came.

  NANNA: I’ve no complaints. The laundry bills are a bit high, and we don’t get to keep the tips, but otherwise … We all have big debts with Madame, so I have to work late into the night.

  IBERIN: But you say you have no complaints about the work. We all have to work. But aren’t there other things you have to complain about?

  NANNA: Well … there are other bars where the staff are permitted to serve their favourite customers.

  IBERIN: Ahah! So in this establishment you were forced to endure the embraces of any paying customer?

  NANNA: That’s right.

  IBERIN: That’s enough. To Callas: What are the charges you wish to press against the defendant?

  CALLAS: Rack-renting.

  IBERIN: You have reason enough to press for more.

  CALLAS: That’s enough to be getting on with.

  IBERIN: You have suffered a more terrible wrong than just high rents. Don’t you see that?

  CALLAS: Oh yes.

  IBERIN: So what injustice have you suffered? Callas is silent. Iberin to de Guzman: Do you confess that you abused your position of economic power when you seduced the daughter of your own tenant?

  DE GUZMAN: I had the impression that she was not unflattered by my attentions.

  IBERIN to Nanna: What do you say to that? Nanna is silent. Iberin to the inspector: Take the accused away! De Guzman is led away. Iberin to Nanna: Now, what do you wish to say about how you felt about de Guzman’s ‘attentions’.

  NANNA reluctantly: I don’t remember.

  IBERIN: An appalling response!

  ATTORNEY to Nanna:

  Was it love perhaps?

  Sir, mysterious are the ways of men.

  We can’t account for all we do ourselves,

  How should we speak for others? The sharpest eye

  Can’t penetrate the mists of human nature.

  Before you here there stands a man accused

  That he seduced a girl – and that he paid:

  Gave filthy money for her priceless treasure.

  If this be so, then blame must lie with both in equal measure,

  For if he bought, then she most surely sold.

  So let me ask you this: is that dark, sweet, eternal

  Play ’twixt man and woman to be understood

  As trade merely, commerce? May it not be love as well,

  Or love alone? I would submit that in this case,

  My lord, ’tis love that here stands trial.

  Sits down. There.

  IBERIN to the inspector: Go and fetch him back in again!

  De Guzman is led back in.

  If it was love, well then, this man inspired it!

  General laughter.

  ATTORNEY:

  Sir, what is love? Why do we humans love?

  One man may make a chance encounter

  And fall in love. Another wants to love

  And searches till he finds a willing soul.

  One loves thus the beloved, the other

  Loves but love. The first we might call fate,

  The other lust. Perhaps this case before us now

  Is nothing more than base and carnal lust?

  CORNAMONTIS stands up: I should like to make a statement. Iberin nods. You ought to know, Nanna Callas is one of my most respectable girls. She saves up and sends money home.

  IBERIN to the attorney: You can go. A just cause is its own defence.

  The attorney gathers up his papers and leaves the courtroom.

  IBERIN to de Guzman: Accused, why don’t you admit that you abused your economic power?

  De Guzman is silent. Iberin suddenly: What are you?

  DE GUZMAN: A landowner.

  IBERIN: What are you?

  DE GUZMAN: A member of the landed nobility.

  IBERIN: I asked, what are you?

  DE GUZMAN: A Catholic.

  IBERIN slowly: What are you? De Guzman is silent. You’re a Zik, and you abused your economic position to seduce a Zakkish girl. To Madame Cornamontis: And you, a Zak, had the effrontery to sell this Zakkish girl to Ziks. That is the crux of the matter. To de Guzman:

  Look at the wretch there with his pointed head!

  Discovered in the vile abuse of power!

  For power itself is no disgrace, except

  When it’s abused. Oh you who seek to trade

  In things which truly are beyond all price,

  Who value only what you buy and sell,

  And recognise material worth alone:

  Should an oak-tree sell its growth or realise

  Its leaves as assets? See how you’ve become

  Alien to yourselves, and alien among us!

  But now the scales have tipped: enough’s enough!

  To the others: Learn from this, and see how hard it is

  To disentangle justice from the mess,

  To recognise beneath all this confusion

  A simple truth.

  HATSO: Hail Iberin!

  IBERIN: Now hear my verdict. The girl is acquitted of all blame. Madame Cornamontis’s coffeehouse, where a poor Zakkish girl was procured for Ziks, I hereby declare closed …

  CORNAMONTIS hushed: That can’t be right.

  IBERIN: … to all Ziks. As for the Zikkish seducer, let him be sentenced to death.

  CALLAS: And the rents cancelled! Oh, Lopez, now wh
at have you to say against this great man!

  IBERIN:

  How can you talk of rent? That is the least

  Of all your injuries, a paltry thing,

  Raise up your head, man, aspire to more!

  A Zakkish father! And his Zakkish daughter!

  Oppressed by Ziks! Exploited! And now free!

  CALLAS: Free! Do you hear that, Lopez?

  IBERIN:

  To you I give your daughter back, that once

  Walked carefree by your side through Zakkish fields.

  But hear me out: this here was Zakkish justice.

  Just as we distinguish right from wrong,

  So we divide our people in two parts,

  The one we’ll root out, that the other live

  In peace and prosper. Our purpose is to raise

  The healthy part, just like this farmer whom,

  With his sweet girl, I’ve lifted from the mire.

  And so I’ll separate the Zik from Zak,

  Abuse from proud tradition! White from black!

  THE CROWD: Hail Iberin!

  They clap hysterically. And while Nanna is carried out shoulder high, the man reports to the street behind.

  THE MAN: The Governor has condemned the Zik de Guzman to death for corrupting a Zakkish girl. The girl’s exonerated, she’s being carried out of the courtroom on the shoulders of the crowd. Hail Iberin!

  The crowd takes up the cry. Iberin exits quickly.

  ABBOT OF SAN STEFANO to the people around him: This is a monstrous judgement: the de Guzman family is one of the most respected in all Yahoo. Yet they dare to sacrifice them to the mob! Just as the accused’s sister was about to enter the convent.

  De Guzman is led away. He passes the group of rich landowners, who avert their eyes.

  DE GUZMAN:

  Oh, Don Duarte, help me! You, my lords,

  You must stand by me in my hour of need!

  Remember how we dined as friends together.

  Alfonso, speak for me, speak up! You’re favoured

  With a round head! That’s what matters here.

  Tell them: what I have done you’ve done as well!

  Don’t look away! I beg you! It’s not right

  To treat me thus! Look at my noble robes!

  Abandon me …it may be your turn soon!

  Round heads may not protect you that much longer!

  The landowners continue to act as if they didn’t know him. He is led off.

  IBERIN SOLDIERS hitting him: Dirty old racketeer! Seducing Zakkish girls! Hit him on his pointy head! And let’s take a good look at his friends!

  The landowners make hurriedly to leave.

  CALLAS pointing at de Guzman: To think, that was once my landlord! Madame Cornamontis, my daughter’s quitting! She’ll have nothing more to do with an establishment like yours.

  PALMOSA: Well I’ve never seen anything like it! This is the new age. They’re actually hanging a landlord! The farmers are on their way up, Madame Cornamontis!

  CORNAMONTIS: Mr Palmosa, I do love the sound of your voice: you still have all the innocence of a child.

  CALLAMASSI: So, Madame Cornamontis, you don’t believe that, once in a while, a poor man can triumph over a rich man?

  CORNAMONTIS: I’ll tell you what I think about that sort of thing. Madame Cornamontis sings the ‘Ballad of the Button’.

  BALLAD OF THE BUTTON

  1

  If a bent old man comes by

  Dares to ask, although he’s shy

  If my prettiest girl could love him well

  I reply, how can we ever tell?

  Then I tear a button from his coat, and cry

  Let’s ask fortune, fortune cannot lie!

  We’ll soon know:

  If this button comes up heads you

  May be sure she never weds you

  All you’ll get is grief and woe.

  So let’s see if luck is on your side!

  Then I toss it up, and say: ’fraid not dear.

  If they get upset and say: these holes

  Go right through! Say I: they’re all you’ve got dear.

  And I tell ’em: luck deserted you at birth

  Yet there is a way, if you’ll just try it:

  Loving ain’t for free down here on earth

  If you must have love, you’ll have to buy it.

  2

  If a foolish man comes by

  Asks me, gazing at the sky

  Will his brother ever pay his debt

  I reply: I wouldn’t care to bet.

  Then I tear a button from his coat, and cry

  Let’s ask fortune, fortune cannot lie!

  We’ll soon know:

  If this button comes up heads you

  May be certain he forgets you

  And he’ll never pay what’s owed.

  So let’s see if luck is on your side!

  Then I toss it up, and say: ’fraid not dear.

  If they get upset and say: these holes

  Go right through! Say I: they’re all you’ve got dear.

  And I tell ’em: luck deserted you at birth

  Still there is some hope of peace and quiet:

  If your only want is peace on earth

  Tell your brother you’re prepared to buy it.

  She takes Farmer Callas by the arm and leads him towards the front of the stage. Then she uses him as an illustration for the third verse.

  3

  If a poor man then comes by

  Tells me, anger in his eye:

  There’s this rich man driving me to ruin

  What’s my chances if I try to sue him?

  First I tear a button from his coat, then cry

  Let’s ask fortune, fortune cannot lie!

  We’ll soon know:

  If this button comes up tails you

  May be certain justice fails you

  Better take your leave and go!

  Well, let’s see if luck is on your side!

  Then I toss it up, and say: ’fraid not dear.

  If you get upset and say:

  SOME BYSTANDERS bend down to pick up the button. They look up and say:

  But these holes

  Go right through!

  CORNAMONTIS:

  Say I: they’re all you’ve got dear.

  And I tell ’im: luck deserted you at birth

  That’s the truth, whichever way you try it.

  Friend, whatever you desire on earth

  Right or wrong, you’re going to have to buy it!

  CALLAS: You’ve got wax in your ears, good woman. The Governor told us loud and clear, the rent is just a paltry matter! All I need now are horses, and I’ll be fine!

  Madame Cornamontis bursts out laughing and points at Farmer Callas who is behaving exactly as if he had just been struck blind. Projection: ‘The conflict in the South continues unabated.’

  5

  THE CONVENT OF SAN BARABAS

  Sitting opposite each other in negotiations are: two nuns of the Needy Sisters of San Barabas and Isabella de Guzman with her Zakkish attorney.

  ATTORNEY: Before we begin negotiations about Señorita de Guzman’s entry into the convent the young lady would like to ask a few questions.

  ISABELLA reading the questions from a sheet: Is the convent a strict one?

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: The most strict there is, my child. To the attorney: But also the most expensive.

  ATTORNEY: We’re well aware of that.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: And therefore the finest.

  ISABELLA: Are there many fast days? And how many?

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: Twice a week, for a whole week before each of the four major feast days, and on the ember days.

  ISABELLA: Are men really not permitted? And can one ever receive dispensation to go outside the convent?

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: Under no circumstances.

  ISABELLA: Are the meals simple, the beds hard and the spiritual exercises plentiful?

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: The meals are simple, the
beds are hard and the spiritual exercises are plentiful, my child.

  ISABELLA:

  Oft as I have beheld the fleshly

  Desires and shameless flirtation of maidens

  My heart was sickened. Even my brother’s gaze

  Was clouded by base temptation. Behind closed doors

  I’d hear the playful cries. How I hate that laughter.

  Grant that my own bed be pure, and my shoulders untouched by caresses.

  O chastity, O priceless treasure, exalted poverty!

  May my cell be barren, my repast lowly

  And silent the walls which enclose me.

  Young though I be in years, yet have I seen

  Pride enough and poverty borne without grace.

  Wherefore I wish ever to remain chaste, humble and poor.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR:

  So we live here, my child, and so too will you

  And as we are, so will you become.

  To the attorney: But first, sir, we must agree the terms. What does the young lady bring with her?

  ATTORNEY: Well, you can’t expect to strip us bare … Here’s the list.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR reads: Three dozen chemises. That won’t do. Say five dozen.

  ATTORNEY: Hang on, hang on. Four will be quite enough.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: And where’s the linen?

  ATTORNEY: What does she need linen for?

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: What does she need linen for! God willing, the girl will live to be eighty in here. Fifty metres of linen. Hand woven. I trust the service is silver.

  ATTORNEY: It’s not going to be plate, is it!

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: My dear Attorney, it’s always better to ask first. And we don’t like birchwood cupboards, we’d prefer cherry.

  ATTORNEY: We needn’t fall out over that. But now, Abbess, we come to the most important thing.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: Indeed we do.

  ATTORNEY: Aha, so you agree there might be a problem!

  MOTHER SUPERIOR: Unfortunately, yes.

  ATTORNEY: Well, I’m afraid we can’t deny the young lady’s birth.

  MOTHER SUPERIOR relieved: Oh, so that’s what you meant? I meant something quite different. She gets up, goes over to Isabella and runs her hand under her coiffure. She laughs. You’ve got a point there, no denying it! But that doesn’t matter. Outward appearance isn’t a problem here. As long as everything else is in order. So now, the most important thing: the monthly contribution …

  ATTORNEY: Well you know how much rent the de Guzman estates are worth.