by W. B. Yeats
SOLDIER. I will do nothing. You have put him out,
And now that he is out — well, leave him out.
FIRST GIRL. DO it for my sake, Peter.
SECOND GIRL. — And for mine.
[Each girl as she speaks takes PETER’S
hand with her right hand, stroking
down his arm with her left. While
SECOND GIRL is stroking his arm,
FIRST GIRL leaves go and gives him the dish.
SOLDIER. Well, well; but not your way.
[To SEANCHAN.] — Here’s meat for you.
It has been carried from too good a table
For men like you, and I am offering it
Because these women have made a fool of me.
[A pause.
You mean to starve? You will have none of it?
I’ll leave it there, where you can sniff the savour.
Snuff it, old hedgehog, and unroll yourself!
But if I were the King, I’d make you do it
With wisps of lighted straw.
SEANCHAN. YOU have rightly named me.
I lie rolled up under the ragged thorns
That are upon the edge of those great waters
Where all things vanish away, and I have heard
Murmurs that are the ending of all sound.
I am out of life; I am rolled up, and yet,
Hedgehog although I am, I’ll not unroll
For you, King’s dog! Go to the King, your master.
Crouch down and wag your tail, for it may be
He has nothing now against you, and I think
The stripes of your last beating are all healed.
[The SOLDIER has drawn his sword.
CHAMBERLAIN [striking up sword]. Put up
your sword, sir; put it up, I say!
The common sort would tear you into pieces
If you but touched him.
SOLDIER. — If he’s to be flattered,
Petted, cajoled, and dandled into humour,
We might as well have left him at the table.
[Goes to one side sheathing sword.
SEANCHAN. You must need keep your
patience yet awhile,
For I have some few mouthfuls of sweet air
To swallow before I have grown to be as civil
As any other dust.
CHAMBERLAIN. YOU wrong us, Seanchan.
There is none here but holds you in respect;
And if you’d only eat out of this dish,
The King would show how much he honours you.
[Bowing and smiling.
Who could imagine you’d so take to heart
Being driven from the council? I am certain
That you, if you will only think it over,
Will understand that it is men of law,
Leaders of the King’s armies, and the like,
That should sit there.
SEANCHAN. Somebody has deceived you,
Or maybe it was your own eyes that lied,
In making it appear that I was driven
From the great council. You have driven away
The images of them that weave a dance
By the four rivers in the mountain garden.
CHAMBERLAIN. You mean we have driven poetry away.
But that’s not altogether true, for I,
As you should know, have written poetry.
And often when the table has been cleared,
And candles lighted, the King calls for me,
And I repeat it him. My poetry
Is not to be compared with yours; but still,
Where I am honoured, poetry is honoured —
In some measure.
SEANCHAN. — If you are a poet,
Cry out that the King’s money would not buy,
Nor the high circle consecrate his head,
If poets had never christened gold, and even
The moon’s poor daughter, that most whey- faced metal,
Precious; and cry out that none alive
Would ride among the arrows with high heart,
Or scatter with an open hand, had not
Our heady craft commended wasteful virtues.
And when that story’s finished, shake your coat
Where little jewels gleam on it, and say,
A herdsman, sitting where the pigs had trampled,
Made up a song about enchanted kings,
Who were so finely dressed, one fancied them
All fiery, and women by the churn
And children by the hearth caught up the song
And murmured it, until the tailors heard it.
CHAMBERLAIN. If you would but eat some-
thing you’d find out.
That you have had these thoughts from lack of food,
For hunger makes us feverish.
SEANCHAN. — Cry aloud,
That when we are driven out we come again
Like a great wind that runs out of the waste
To blow the tables flat; and thereupon
Lie down upon the threshold till the King
Restore to us the ancient right of the poets.
MONK. You cannot shake him. I will to the King,
And offer him consolation in his trouble,
For that man there has set his teeth to die.
And being one that hates obedience,
Discipline, and orderliness of life,
I cannot mourn him.
FIRST GIRL. ‘Twas you that stirred it up.
You stirred it up that you might spoil our dancing.
Why shouldn’t we have dancing? We’re not in Lent.
Yet nobody will pipe or play to us;
And they will never do it if he die.
And that is why you are going.
MONK. — What folly’s this?
FIRST GIRL. Well, if you did not do it, speak
to him —
Use your authority; make him obey you.
What harm is there in dancing?
MONK. — Hush! begone!
Go to the fields and watch the hurley players,
Or any other place you have a mind to.
This is not woman’s work.
FIRST GIRL. — Come! let’s away!
We can do nothing here.
MONK. — The pride of the poets!
Dancing, hurling, the country full of noise,
And King and Church neglected. Seanchan,
I’ll take my leave, for you are perishing
Like all that let the wanton imagination
Carry them where it will, and it’s not likely
I’ll look upon your living face again.
SEANCHAN. Come nearer, nearer!
MONK. — Have you some last wish?
SEANCHAN. Stoop down, for I would
whisper it in your ear.
Has that wild God of yours, that was so wild
When you’d but lately taken the King’s pay,
Grown any tamer? He gave you all much trouble.
MONK. Let go my habit!
SEANCHAN. Have you persuaded him
To chirp between two dishes when the King
Sits down to table?
MONK. — Let go my habit, sir!
[Crosses to centre of stage.
SEANCHAN. And maybe he has learned to
sing quite softly
Because loud singing would disturb the King,
Who is sitting drowsily among his friends
After the table has been cleared. Not yet!
[SEANCHAN has been dragged some feet
clinging to the MONK’S habit.
You did not think that hands so full of hunger
Could hold you tightly. They are not civil yet.
I’d know if you have taught him to eat bread
From the King’s hand, and perch upon his finger.
I think he perches on the King’s strong hand.
But it may be that he is still too wild.
You must not wear
y in your work; a king
Is often weary, and he needs a God
To be a comfort to him.
[The MONK plucks his habit away and
goes into palace. SEANCHAN holds
“p his hand as if a bird perched upon
it. He pretends to stroke the bird.
A little God,
With comfortable feathers, and bright eyes.
FIRST GIRL. There will be no more dancing in our time,
For nobody will play the harp or the fiddle.
Let us away, for we cannot amend it,
And watch the hurley.
SECOND GIRL. Hush! he is looking at us.
SEANCHAN. Yes, yes, go to the hurley, go to the hurley,
Go to the hurley! Gather up your skirts —
Run quickly! You can remember many love songs;
I know it by the light that’s in your eyes —
But you’ll forget them. You’re fair to look
“pon.
Your feet delight in dancing, and your mouths
In the slow smiling that awakens love.
The mothers that have borne you mated rightly.
They’d little ears as thirsty as your ears
For many love songs. Go to the young men.
Are not the ruddy flesh and the thin flanks
And the broad shoulders worthy of desire?
Go from me! Here is nothing for your eyes.
But it is I that am singing you away —
Singing you to the young men.
[The TWO YOUNG PRINCESSES come out
of palace. While he has been speak-
ing the GIRLS have shrunk back hold-
ing each other’s hands.
FIRST GIRL. — Be quiet!
Look who it is has come out of the house.
Princesses, we are for the hurling field.
Will you go there?
FIRST PRINCESS. We will go with you,
Aileen.
But we must have some words with Seanchan,
For we have come to make him eat and drink.
CHAMBERLAIN. I will hold out the dish and cup for him
While you are speaking to him of his folly,
If you desire it, Princess.
[He has taken dish and cup.
FIRST PRINCESS. — NO, Finula
Will carry him the dish and I the cup.
We’ll offer them ourselves.
[They take cup and dish.
FIRST GIRL. — They are so gracious;
The dear little Princesses are so gracious.
[PRINCESS holds out her hand for
SEANCHAN to kiss it. He does not move.
Although she is holding out her hand to him,
He will not kiss it.
FIRST PRINCESS. My father bids us say
That, though he cannot have you at his table,
You may ask any other thing you like
And he will give it you. We carry you
With our own hands a dish and cup of wine.
FIRST GIRL. Oh, look! he has taken it!
He has taken it!
The dear Princesses! I have always said
That nobody could refuse them anything.
[SEANCHAN takes the cup in one hand.
In the other he holds for a moment
the hand of the PRINCESS,
SEANCHAN. Oh long, soft fingers and pale
finger-tips,
Well worthy to be laid in a king’s hand!
Oh, you have fair white hands, for it is certain
There is uncommon whiteness in these hands.
But there is something comes into my mind,
Princess. A little while before your birth,
I saw your mother sitting by the road
In a high chair; and when a leper passed,
She pointed him the way into the town.
He lifted up his hand and blessed her hand —
I saw it with my own eyes. Hold out your hands;
I will find out if they are contaminated,
For it has come into my thoughts that maybe
The King has sent me food and drink by hands
That are contaminated. I would see all your hands.
You’ve eyes of dancers; but hold out your hands,
For it may be there are none sound among you.
[The PRINCESSES have shrunk back in terror.
FIRST PRINCESS. He has called us lepers.
[SOLDIER draws sword.
CHAMBERLAIN. He’s out of his mind,
And does not know the meaning of what he said.
SEANCHAN [standing up.] There’s no sound
hand among you — no sound hand.
Away with you! away with all of you!
You are all lepers! There is leprosy
Among the plates and dishes that you have carried.
And wherefore have you brought me leper’s wine?
[He flings the contents of the cup in their faces.
There, there! I have given it to you again.
And now
Begone, or I will give my curse to you.
You have the leper’s blessing, but you think
Maybe the bread will something lack in savour
Unless you mix my curse into the dough.
[They go out hurriedly in all directions.
SEANCHAN is staggering in the middle of the stage.
Where did I say the leprosy had come from?
I said it came out of a leper’s hand,
[Enter CRIPPLES.
And that he walked the highway. But that’s folly,
For he was walking up there in the sky.
And there he is even now, with his white hand
Thrust out of the blue air, and blessing them
With leprosy.
FIRST CRIPPLE. He’s pointing at the moon
That’s coming out up yonder, and he calls it
Leprous, because the daylight whitens it.
SEANCHAN. He’s holding up his hand
above them all —
King, noblemen, princesses — blessing all.
Who could imagine he’d have so much patience?
FIRST CRIPPLE [clutching the other CRIPPLE].
Come out of this!
SECOND CRIPPLE [pointing to food]. If you
don’t need it, sir,
May we not carry some of it away?
[They cross towards food and pass in
front of SEANCHAN.
SEANCHAN. Who’s speaking? Who are you?
FIRST CRIPPLE. — Come out of this!
SECOND CRIPPLE. Have pity on us, that
must beg our bread
From table to table throughout the entire world,
And yet be hungry.
SEANCHAN. But why were you born crooked?
What bad poet did your mothers listen to
That you were born so crooked?
CRIPPLE. — Come away!
Maybe he’s cursed the food, and it might kill
“s.
OTHER CRIPPLE. Yes, better come away.
[They go out.
SEANCHAN [staggering and speaking wearily].
He has great strength
And great patience to hold his right hand there,
Uplifted, and not wavering about.
He is much stronger than I am, much stronger.
[Sinks down on steps. MAYOR and
FEDELM have entered.
MAYOR. He is delirious now.
FEDELM. — Before I speak
Of food or drink I’ll take him out of this.
For while he is on this threshold and can hear,
It may be, the voices that made mock of him,
He would not listen.
MAYOR. — No, speak to him at once.
Press food upon him while delirious
And he may eat not knowing what he does.
[MAYOR goes out.
FEDELM. Seanchan! Seanchan!
[He remains looking into the
sky.
Can you not hear me, Seanchan?
It is myself.
[He looks at her, dreamily at first, then takes her hand.
SEANCHAN. Is this your hand, Fedelm?
I have been looking at another hand
That is up yonder.
FEDELM. — I have come for you.
SEANCHAN. Fedelm, I did not know that you were here.
FEDELM. And can you not remember that
I promised
That I would come and take you home with me
When I’d the harvest in? And now I’ve come,
And you must come away, and come on the instant.
SEANCHAN. Yes, I will come. But is the harvest in?
This air has got a summer taste in it.
FEDELM. But is not the wild middle of the summer
A better time to marry? Come with me now!
SEANCHAN [seizing her by both wrists]. Who
taught you that? For it’s a certainty,
Although I never knew it till last night,
That marriage, because it is the height of life,
Can only be accomplished to the full
In the high days of the year. I lay awake:
There had come a frenzy into the light of the stars,
And they were coming nearer, and I knew
All in a minute they were about to marry
Clods out upon the ploughlands, to beget
A mightier race than any that has been.
But some that are within there made a noise,
And frighted them away.
FEDELM. — Come with me now!
We have far to go, and daylight’s running out.
SEANCHAN. The stars had come so near me that I caught
Their singing. It was praise of that great race
That would be haughty, mirthful, and white- bodied,
With a high head, and open hand, and how,
Laughing, it would take the mastery of the world.
