Mother Courage and Her Children

by Bertolt Brecht

  SWISS CHEESE. Yes, Mother.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Don’t forget they made you paymaster because you’re honest and so simple you’d never think of running off with the cash. Don’t lose that underwear.

  SWISS CHEESE. No, Mother. I’ll put it under the mattress.

  ORDNANCE OFFICER. I’ll go with you, Paymaster.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Don’t teach him any finagling.

  (THE ORDNANCE OFFICER and SWISS CHEESE leave.)

  YVETTE. (waving to the OFFICER) You might at least say goodbye !

  MOTHER COURAGE. (to YVETTE) I don’t like that: he’s no company for my Swiss Cheese. But the war’s not making a bad start: if I look ahead and make no mistakes, business will be good. (noticing the brandy) Don’t you know you shouldn’t drink in the morning – with your sickness and all?

  YVETTE. Who says I’m sick? That’s a libel!

  MOTHER COURAGE. They all say so.

  YVETTE. Then they’re all liars! I’m desperate, Mother Courage. They’re avoiding me like a stinking fish. Because of those lies! So what am I fixing this hat for? (She throws it down.) That’s why I drink in the morning. It gives you crow’s feet, so what? The whole regiment knows me. I should have stayed home when my first was unfaithful. But pride isn’t for the likes of us. You eat dirt or down you go.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Don’t start in again about your friend Peter Piper and How It All Happened – in front of my innocent daughter.

  YVETTE. She’s the one that should hear it. So she’ll get hardened against love.

  MOTHER COURAGE. That’s something no one ever gets hardened against.

  YVETTE. He was an army cook, blond, Dutch, and thin. Kattrin, beware of thin men! I didn’t. I didn’t even know he’d had another girl before me and she called him Peter Piper because he never took his pipe out of his mouth even in bed – it meant so little to him. (She sings:)

  Song -- THE CAMP FOLLOWER’S SONG

  SCARCE SEVENTEEN WAS I WHEN

  THE FOE CAME TO OUR LAND

  AND LAID ASIDE HIS SABER

  AND TOOK ME BY THE HAND.

  AND WE PERFORMED BY DAY

  THE SACRED RITE OF MAY

  AND WE PERFORMED BY NIGHT

  THE OTHER SACRED RITE.

  THE REGIMENT, WELL EXERCISED,

  PRESENTED ITS ARMS, THEN STOOD AT EASE,

  THEN TOOK US OFF BEHIND THE TREES

  WHERE WE FRATERNIZED.

  EACH OF US HAD HER FOE AND

  A COOK FELL TO MY LOT.

  I HATED HIM BY DAYLIGHT

  BUT IN THE DARK DID NOT.

  SO WE PERFORM BY DAY

  THE SACRED RITE OF MAY

  AND WE PERFORM BY NIGHT

  THE OTHER SACRED RITE.

  THE REGIMENT, WELL EXERCISED,

  PRESENTS ITS ARMS, THEN STANDS AT EASE,

  THEN TAKES US OFF BEHIND THE TREES

  WHERE WE FRATERNIZE.

  ECSTASY FILLED MY HEART, O

  MY LOVE SEEMED HEAVEN-BORN!

  YET WHY WERE PEOPLE SAYING

  IT WAS NOT LOVE BUT SCORN?

  THE SPRINGTIME’S SOFT AMOUR

  THROUGH SUMMER MAY ENDURE

  BUT SWIFTLY COMES THE FALL

  AND WINTER ENDS IT ALL.

  DECEMBER CAME. ALL OF THE MEN

  FILED PAST THE TREES WHERE ONCE WE HID

  THEN QUICKLY MARCHED AWAY AND DID

  NOT COME BACK AGAIN.

  YVETTE. I made the mistake of running after him. I never found him. It’s ten years ago now. (YVETTE goes behind the wagon.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. You’re leaving your hat.

  YVETTE. For the birds.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Let that be a lesson to you, Kattrin: never start anything with a soldier. Love does seem heaven-born, so watch out: they tell you they worship the ground under your feet – did you wash ’em yesterday, while we’re on the subject? – then, if you don’t look out, you’re their slave for life.

  (THE CHAPLAIN comes in with the COOK.)

  CHAPLAIN. Mother Courage, I bring a message from your son Eilif. The cook came with me – you’ve made an impression on him.

  COOK. Oh, I thought I’d get a little whiff of the breeze.

  MOTHER COURAGE. You’re welcome to it, but what does Eilif want? I don’t have any money!

  CHAPLAIN. My message is for his brother, the paymaster.

  MOTHER COURAGE. He’s not here. He’s not anywhere. Look, he is not his brother’s paymaster. I won’t have him led into temptation! (She takes money from a purse.) Give him this. But it’s a sin – he’s speculating in mother love.

  COOK. Maybe not for long. How d’you know he’ll come back alive? You’re hard, you women. A glass of brandy wouldn’t cost you much. But no, you say, no – and six feet under goes your man.

  CHAPLAIN. My dear Cook, you talk as if dying for one’s beliefs were a misfortune – it is the highest privilege! This is not just any war, remember, it is a religious war, and therefore pleasing unto God.

  COOK. I see that. In one sense it’s a war because of all the cheating, plunder, rape, and so forth, but it’s different from all other wars because it’s a religious war and therefore pleasing unto God. At that it does make you thirsty.

  CHAPLAIN. (to MOTHER COURAGE) He says you’ve bewitched him. He says he dreams about you.

  COOK. (lighting his pipe) Innocent dreams! I dream of a fair lady dispensing brandy! Stop embarrassing me! The stories you were telling on the way over still have me blushing.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I must get you two something to drink, or you’ll be making improper advances out of sheer boredom.

  CHAPLAIN. That is indeed a temptation – said the Court Chaplain as he gave way to it. And who is this captivating young person?

  MOTHER COURAGE. (looking at KATTRIN) That is not a captivating young person. That is a respectable young person. (And she goes with COOK and CHAPLAIN behind the wagon.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. The trouble with Poland is the Poles. It’s true our Swedish king moved in on them with his army – but instead of maintaining the peace the Poles would keep interfering. So their blood is on their own heads, I say.

  CHAPLAIN. Anyway, since the German Kaiser had enslaved them, King Gustavus had no alternative but to liberate them!

  COOK. Just what I always say. Your health, Mother Courage, your brandy is first-rate, I’m never mistaken in a face. This war is a religious war.

  (KATTRIN watches them go behind the wagon, leaves the washing, picks up the hat, sits, takes up the red boots. The COOK sings:)

  Song -- LUTHER’S HYMN

  A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD

  A BULWARK NEVER FAILING.

  OUR HELPER HE, AMID THE FLOOD

  OF MORTAL ILLS PREVAILING.

  SATAN OUR ANCIENT FOE

  DOTH SEEK TO WORK US WOE.

  HIS CRAFT AND POWER ARE GREAT

  AND ARMED WITH CRUEL HATE

  ON EARTH IS NOT HIS EQUAL.

  COOK. And King Gustavus liberated Poland from the Germans. Who could deny it? Then his appetite grew with eating, and he liberated Germany from the Germans. Made quite a profit on the deal, I’m told.

  CHAPLAIN. That is a calumny! The Swedish king puts religion first!

  MOTHER COURAGE. What’s more, you eat his bread.

  COOK. I don’t eat his bread: I bake his bread.

  MOTHER COURAGE. He’ll never be conquered, that man, and you know why? We all back him up – the little fellows like you and me. Oh yes, to hear the big fellows talk, they ‘re fighting for their beliefs and so on, but if you look into it, you find they’re not that silly: they do want to make a profit on the deal. So you and I back them up!

  COOK. Surely.

  CHAPLAIN. (pointing to flag, to COOK) And as a Dutchman you’d do well to look which flag is flying here!

  MOTHER COURAGE. To our Protestant flag!

  COOK. A toast!

  (And now KATTRIN has begun to strut about with hat and boots on. Suddenly, cannon and shots. Drums. MOTHER COURAGE, THE COOK and TH
E CHAPLAIN rush round to the front of the wagon, the two last with glasses in their hands. The ORDNANCE OFFICER and a SOLDIER come running for the cannon. They try to push it.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. Hey, let me get my wash off that gun!

  ORDNANCE OFFICER. Surprise attack! The Catholics! We don’t know if we can get away! (to the SOLDIER) Bring that gun! (He runs off.)

  COOK. Good God’ I must go to the commander. Mother Courage, I’ll be back soon – for a short conversation. (He rushes off. )

  MOTHER COURAGE. Hey, you’re leaving your pipe!

  COOK. (off) Keep it for me, I’ll need it!

  MOTHER COURAGE. This would happen just when we were making money.

  CHAPLAIN. “Blessed are the peacemakers!” A good slogan for wartime. Well, I must be going too. Yes, if the enemy’s so close, it can be dangerous. I wish I had a cloak.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I’m lending no cloaks. Not even to save a life. I’ve had experience in that line.

  CHAPLAIN. But I’m in special danger – because of my religion !

  MOTHER COURAGE. (bringing him a cloak) It’s against my better judgment. Now run!

  CHAPLAIN. Thank you, you’re very generous, but on second thought I better stay put. If I run, I might attract attention.

  (THE SOLDIER is still struggling with the cannon.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. Let it alone, you idiot, who’s going to pay you for this? You’ll pay – with your life. Let me keep it for you.

  SOLDIER. (running off) You’re my witness: I tried!

  MOTHER COURAGE. I’ll swear to that. (And now she sees KATTRIN with the hat and boots.) Yvette’s hat! Take it off this minute! Are you crazy – with the enemy coming? (She tears it off her head.) They’ll make a whore of you when they see it! And she has the boots on, too, straight from Babylon, I’ll soon fix that. (She pulls at the boots.) Chaplain, help me with these boots, I’ll be right back. (She runs to the wagon.)

  (YVETTE enters, powdering her face.)

  YVETTE. What’s this – the Catholics are coming? Where’s my hat? Who’s been trampling on it? I can’t run around in that, what will they think of me? And I’ve no mirror. (Coming very close to the CHAPLAIN: ) How do I look? Too much powder?

  CHAPLAIN. No – er – just right.

  YVETTE. And where are my red boots? (KATTRIN is hiding her feet under her skirt.) I left them here! Must I go barefoot ? It’s a scandal.

  (Exit YVETTE. SWISS CHEESE comes running on with a cash-box.)

  (Enter MOTHER COURAGE, her hands smeared with ashes.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. (to SWISS CHEESE) What have you got there?

  SWISS CHEESE. The regimental cash-box.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Throw it away! Your paymastering days are over!

  SWISS CHEESE. But they trusted me with it! (He goes to one side.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. (to the CHAPLAIN) Take your pastor’s coat off, or they’ll recognize you, cloak or no cloak. (She is rubbing ashes into KATTRIN’s face.) Keep still! A little dirt, and you’re safe. When a soldier sees a clean face, there’s one more whore in the world. That does it. Now stop trembling. Nothing can happen now. (to SWISS CHEESE:) Where’ve you put that cash-box?

  SWISS CHEESE. I thought I’d just leave it in the wagon.

  MOTHER COURAGE. In my wagon?! Why, they’ll hang all three of us!

  SWISS CHEESE. Somewhere else then. Maybe I’ll run away some place.

  MOTHER COURAGE. It’s too late for that.

  CHAPLAIN. (still changing his clothes) For Heaven’s sake, that Protestant flag!

  MOTHER COURAGE. (taking the flag down) I’ve had it twenty-five years. I don’t notice it any more.

  (The sound of cannon grows. Blackout. Three days later. Morning. The cannon is gone. MOTHER COURAGE , KATTRIN, THE CHAPLAIN, and SWISS CHEESE sit eating anxiously.)

  SWISS CHEESE. This is the third day I’ve sat doing nothing. The sergeant has always been patient with me, but by this time he must be asking himself: Now where is Swiss Cheese with that cash-box?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Be glad they’re not on the trail.

  CHAPLAIN. What about me? I can’t even hold service here. It is written: “Out of the abundance of the heart the tongue speaketh” – but woe is me if my tongue speaketh!

  MOTHER COURAGE. So here you sit – one with his religion, the other with his cash-box! I don’t know which is more dangerous.

  CHAPLAIN. We’re in God’s hands now.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Oh, I hope we’re not as desperate as that! But it is hard to sleep at night. It’d be easier if you weren’t here, Swiss Cheese. All the same I’ve not done badly.

  CHAPLAIN. The milk is good. As for the quantity, we may have to reduce out Swedish appetites somewhat. We are defeated.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Who’s defeated? There’ve been cases where a defeat is a victory for the little fellows, it’s only their honor that’s lost, nothing serious. At that, either victory or defeat can be a costly business. The best thing, I say, is for politics to kind of get stuck in the mud. (to SWISS CHEESE) Eat!

  SWISS CHEESE. I don’t like it. How will the sergeant pay the men?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Soldiers in flight don’t get paid.

  SWISS CHEESE. Then they should refuse to flee! No pay, no flight!

  MOTHER COURAGE. Swiss Cheese, I’ve brought you up honest because you’re not very bright, but don’t overdo it! And now I’m going with the Chaplain to buy a Catholic flag and some meat. (She disappears into the wagon.)

  CHAPLAIN. She’s worried about the cash-box.

  SWISS CHEESE. I can get rid of it.

  CHAPLAIN. You may be seen. They have spies everywhere. Yesterday one jumped out of the very hole I was relieving myself in. I was so scared I almost broke into a prayer – think how that would have given me away! He was a little brute with a patch over one eye.

  (MOTHER COURAGE clambers out of the wagon with a basket. )

  MOTHER COURAGE. (to KATTRIN, holding up the red boots) You shameless little hussy! She went and snitched them – because you called her a captivating young person. (She puts them in the basket. To KATTRIN.) Stealing Yvette’s boots! She at least gets paid for it, you just enjoy strutting like a peacock! Save your proud ways for peacetime!

  CHAPLAIN. I don’t find her proud.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I like her when people say, I never even noticed her. I like her when she’s a stone in Dalarna, where there’s nothing but stones. (to SWISS CHEESE:) Leave the cash-box where it is, and look after your sister, she needs it. You two are more trouble than a bag of fleas.

  (MOTHER COURAGE and THE CHAPLAIN leave. KATTRIN clears the dishes away.)

  SWISS CHEESE. Not many days more when you can sit in the sun in your shirtsleeves. (KATTRIN points to a tree.) Yes, the leaves are yellow already. (With gestures, KATTRIN asks if he wants a drink.) No, I’m not drinking, I’m thinking. (pause) Mother says she can’t sleep, so I should take the cash-box away. I have a place for it: the mole-hole by the river. I can pick it up there – late tonight maybe – and take it to the sergeant. How far can they have fled in three days? The sergeant’s eyes’ll pop! “You’ve disappointed me most pleasantly, Swiss Cheese,” he’ll say, “I trust you with the cash-box, and you bring it back!” Yes, Kattrin, I will have a glass now.

  (When KATTRIN gets behind the wagon, two men confront her. One is a SERGEANT; the other doffs his hat and flourishes it in a showy greeting; he has a patch over one eye.)

  ONE EYE. Morning, young lady! Have you seen a staff officer from the Second Protestant Regiment?

  (KATTRIN is terrified and runs away, spilling her brandy. The two men look at each other, see SWISS CHEESE, and withdraw.)

  SWISS CHEESE. (starting up) You’re spilling it, can’t you see where you’re going? I don’t understand you. Anyway, I must be leaving. That’s what I’ve decided on.

  (He stands up. She tries to make him understand the danger he is in. He pushes her away.)

  I know you mean well, poor thing, you just can’t get it out. And don’t worry about th
e brandy. I’ll live to drink so much brandy – what’s one glass? (He takes the cash-box out of the wagon and puts it under his coat.) I’ll be right back, but don’t hold me up, or I’ll have to scold you. Yes, I know you’re trying to help!

  (He kisses her as she tries to hold him back, and pulls himself free. Exit SWISS CHEESE. KATTRIN is now desperate. She runs up and down, making little sounds. MOTHER COURAGE and THE CHAPLAIN return. KATTRIN rushes at her mother.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. What is it, what is it, control yourself ! Have they done something to you? Where’s Swiss Cheese? (to the CHAPLAIN) And don’t you stand around – get that Catholic flag up!

  (She takes the flag from her basket. THE CHAPLAIN runs It up the pole.)

  CHAPLAIN. God bless our Catholic flag!

  MOTHER COURAGE. Now calm down Kattrin, and tell me all about it. What? That little rascal has taken the cash-box away? Oh, he’s going to get a good whipping! Now take your time, don’t try to talk, use your hands. I don’t like that howling – what will the Chaplain think? A man with one eye? Here?

  CHAPLAIN. That fellow is an informer. They captured Swiss Cheese?

  (KATTRIN shakes her head, then shrugs her shoulders. Voices off. ONE EYE and the same SERGEANT bring in SWISS CHEESE.)

  SWISS CHEESE. Let me go! I’ve nothing on me. You’re breaking my shoulder. I am innocent!

  SERGEANT. This is where he comes from. These are his friends.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Us? Since when?

  SWISS CHEESE. I was just getting my lunch here. I paid ten hellers for it. Maybe you saw me on the bench. The food was too salty.

  MOTHER COURAGE. That’s true. He got his lunch here. And it was too salty.

  SERGEANT. Are you pretending you don’t know him?

  MOTHER COURAGE. I can’t know all of them.

  CHAPLAIN. He sat there like a law-abiding citizen and never opened his mouth except to eat. Which is necessary.

  SERGEANT. Who d’you think you are?

  MOTHER COURAGE. He’s my bartender. And you must be thirsty. I’ll bring you some brandy.