Mother Courage and Her Children

by Bertolt Brecht

  SERGEANT. No liquor while on duty. (to SWISS CHEESE:) You were carrying something. You must have hidden it. We saw the bulge in your shirt.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Are you sure it was him?

  SWISS CHEESE. I think you mean another fellow. There was a fellow with something under his shirt. I saw him.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I think so too. It’s a misunderstanding. Could happen to anyone. Oh, I know what people are like. I’m Mother Courage and I can tell you this: he looks honest.

  SERGEANT. We want the regimental cash-box. And we know the looks of the fellow that’s been taking care of it. It’s you!

  SWISS CHEESE. No! No, it’s not!

  SERGEANT. If you don’t shell out, you’re dead, see!

  MOTHER COURAGE. Oh, he’d give it to you to save his life, he’s not that stupid! Speak up, my boy, the sergeant’s giving you one last chance!

  SWISS CHEESE. What if I don’t have it?

  SERGEANT. We’ll get it out of you.

  (ONE EYE and the SERGEANT lead him off·)

  MOTHER COURAGE. (shouting after them) He’ll tell you! He’s not that stupid! And don’t you break his shoulder!

  (She runs a little way after them. Blackout. The same evening. The CHAPLAIN and KATTRIN are waiting.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. (entering) It’s a matter of life and death. But the sergeant will still listen to us. Only he mustn’t know it’s our Swiss Cheese – or they’ll say we helped him. It’s just a matter of money. But where can we get money? Wasn’t Yvette here? I just talked with her. She’s picked up a Colonel, and she says he might buy her a canteen business.

  CHAPLAIN. You’d sell the wagon, everything?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Where else would I get the money for the sergeant?

  CHAPLAIN. What are you going to live off?

  MOTHER COURAGE. That’s just it.

  (Enter YVETTE with a hoary old COLONEL. She embraces MOTHER COURAGE.)

  YVETTE. Dear Mrs. Fierling, we meet again! (whispering:) He didn’t say no. (loud:) This is my friend, my…business adviser. I heard you might want to sell your wagon. M

  OTHER COURAGE. I want to pawn it, not sell it. And nothing hasty. You don’t find another wagon like this in a hurry.

  YVETTE. In that case, I’m not sure I’d be interested. What do you think, my dear?

  COLONEL. I agree with you, honey bun.

  MOTHER COURAGE. It’s only for pawn.

  YVETTE. But I thought you had to have the money?

  MOTHER COURAGE. I do have to. But I’d rather run my feet off looking for another offer than just sell. We live off that wagon.

  COLONEL. Take it! Take it!

  YVETTE. My friend thinks I might take it. (turning to him) But you think we should but it outright, don’t you?

  COLONEL. Oh, I do Bunny, I do!

  MOTHER COURAGE. Then you must find one that’s for sale.

  YVETTE. Yes! We can travel around looking for on! I love going around looking. Especially with you, Poldy.

  COLONEL. Really? Do you?

  YVETTE. Oh, I love it. I could take weeks of it.

  COLONEL. Really? Could you?

  YVETTE. If you get the money, when would you pay it back?

  MOTHER COURAGE. In two weeks. Maybe one.

  YVETTE. I can’t make up my mind. Poldy, chéri, advise me! (aside to him) She’ll have to sell, don’t worry. That lieutenant – the blond one – remember? – he’ll lend me the money. He’s crazy about me. He says I remind him of someone. What do you advise?

  COLONEL. Oh, I have to warn against him: he’s no good, he’ll only exploit the situation. I told you, bunny, I told you I’d buy you something. Didn’t I tell you that?

  YVETTE. I can’t let you.

  COLONEL. Oh, please, please!

  YVETTE. Well, if you think the lieutenant might exploit the situation?

  COLONEL. I do think so.

  YVETTE. So you advise me to go ahead?

  COLONEL. I do, bunny, I do!

  YVETTE. (returning to MOTHER COURAGE) My friend says all right: two hundred guilders. And I need a receipt saying the wagon would be mine in two weeks. With everything in it. I’ll look it all over right now. The two hundred can wait. (to the COLONEL) You go on ahead to the camp. I’ll follow.

  COLONEL. (helping her up the steps of the wagon) I’ll help you up. Come soon, honey bun. (Exit COLONEL.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. Yvette, Yvette!

  YVETTE. There aren’t many shoes left.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Yvette, this is no time for an inventory, yours or not yours. You promised to talk to the sergeant about Swiss Cheese. There isn’t a minute to lose. He’s up for court martial one hour from no.

  YVETTE. I want to check through these shirts.

  (MOTHER COURAGE drags her down the steps by the skirt. )

  MOTHER COURAGE. You hyena! Swiss Cheese’s life is at stake! And don’t say where the money comes from. Pretend he’s your sweetheart, or we’ll all get it in the neck for helping him.

  YVETTE. I arranged to meet One Eye in the bushes. He must be there by now.

  CHAPLAIN. And don’t give him the whole two hundred. A hundred and fifty should do the trick.

  MOTHER COURAGE. You keep your nose out of this! I’m not doing you out of your porridge. Now run, and no haggling ! Remember his life’s at stake! (She pushes YVETTE off.)

  CHAPLAIN. All I meant was: what are we going to live on?

  MOTHER COURAGE. I’m counting on that cash-box. At the very least, Swiss Cheese’ll get paid out of it.

  CHAPLAIN. But d’you think Yvette can manage this?

  MOTHER COURAGE. It’s in her interest – if I don’t pay their two hundred, she won’t get the wagon. And she knows the score, she won’t have this colonel on the string forever. Kattrin, go clean the knives! And don’t you just stand around: wash those glasses: there’ll be fifty cavalrymen here tonight…I think they’ll let us have him. There’s not wolves, they’re human and after money. God is merciful and men are bribable – that’s how His will is done on earth, I don’t know about Heaven.

  YVETTE. (entering) They’ll do it for two hundred if you make it snappy. He confessed he’d had the cash-box, they put the thumb screws on him, but he threw it in the river when he saw them coming at him. Shall I go get the money from my Colonel?

  MOTHER COURAGE. The cash-box in the river? How’ll I ever get my two hundred back?

  YVETTE. You were expecting to get it from the cash-box? I would have been sunk. Mother Courage, if you want your Swiss Cheese, you’ll have to pay. Or shall I let the whole thing drop – so you can keep your wagon?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Now I can’t pay two hundred. I must hold on to something. Go say I’ll pay one hundred twenty or the deal’s off. Even at that I lose the wagon.

  YVETTE. One Eye’s in a hurry. Looks over his shoulder the whole time. Hadn’t I better just give them the two hundred?

  MOTHER COURAGE. I have her to think of. She’s twenty-five and still no husband. I know what I’m doing. One hundred twenty or no deal.

  YVETTE. You know best.

  (YVETTE runs off. After walking up and down abstractedly, MOTHER COURAGE sits down to help KATTRIN with the knives.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. I will pay two hundred if I have to. With eighty guilders we could pack a hamper and begin over. It won’t be the end of the world.

  CHAPLAIN. The Bible says: the Lord will provide.

  MOTHER COURAGE. (to KATTRIN) You must rub them dry.

  YVETTE. (re-enters) They won’t do it. I warned you. He said the drums would roll any second now – and that’s the sign they’ve reached a verdict. I offered one hundred fifty. He didn’t even shrug his shoulders.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Tell him I’ll pay two hundred. Run!

  (YVETTE runs, MOTHER COURAGE sits, THE CHAPLAIN has finished the glasses.)

  I believe – I haggled too long.

  (In the distance: a roll of drums. The CHAPLAIN stands up and walks away. MOTHER COURAGE remains seated. It grows dark; it gets light again. MOTH
ER COURAGE has not moved.)

  YVETTE (re-enters, pale). You’ve done it – with your haggling. You can keep your wagon now. He got eleven bullets in him. I don’t know why I still bother about you, you don’t deserve it, but I just happened to hear they don’t think the cash-box is really in the river. They think it’s here. And they think you were in with him. I think they’re going to bring his body, to see if you give yourself away when you see him. You’d better not know him or we’re in for it. And I should tell you straight: they’re right behind me. Shall I keep Kattrin out of this? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) Does she know? Maybe she didn’t hear the drums or didn’t understand.

  MOTHER COURAGE. She knows. Bring her.

  (YVETTE brings KATTRIN who stands by her mother, who takes her hand. Two men come on with a stretcher. There is a sheet over it, and something underneath. Beside them, the SERGEANT. They put the stretcher down.)

  SERGEANT. There’s a man here we don’t know the name of, but he has to be registered to keep the records straight. He bought a meal from you. Look at him. See if you know him. (He draws back the sheet.) You know him? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) What? You never saw him before he bought that meal? (MOTHER COURAGE shakes her head.) Lift him up. Throw him on the garbage dump. He has no one that knows him.

  (They carry him off.)

  4.

  (MOTHER COURAGE sings The Song of the Great Capitulation. )

  (Outside an officer’s tent. MOTHER COURAGE waits. A REGIMENTAL CLERK looks out of the tent.)

  REGIMENTAL CLERK. You want to speak to the captain? I know you. You had a Protestant paymaster with you. He was hiding out. Better make no complaints here.

  MOTHER COURAGE. But I’m innocent and if I give up it’ll look like I have a bad conscience. They cut my wagon to ribbons with their sabers, and then claimed a fine of five thalers – for nothing, for less than nothing!

  REGIMENTAL CLERK. (quietly) For your own good: keep your mouth shut. We haven’t many canteens, so we let you stay in business, especially if you’ve got a bad conscience and have to pay a fine now and then.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I’m going to lodge a complaint.

  REGIMENTAL CLERK. As you wish. Wait here until the captain is free.

  (The CLERK retires into the tent. A YOUNG SOLDIER comes storming in.)

  YOUNG SOLDIER. Screw the captain! Where is the son of a bitch? Grabbing my reward, spending it on brandy for his whores! I’ll rip his belly open!

  OLDER SOLDIER. (following him) Shut your hole, you’ll only wind up in the stocks!

  YOUNG SOLDIER. I was the only one in the squad who swam the river and he grabs the money. I can’t even buy me a beer. Come out you thief. I’ll make lamb chops out of you!

  OLDER SOLDIER. Holy Christ, he’ll destroy himself.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. (pulling himself free of the older man) Let me go or I’ll cut you down too!

  OLDER SOLDIER. Saved the colonel’s horse and didn’t get the reward. He’s young. He hasn’t been at it long.

  MOTHER COURAGE. Let him go. He doesn’t have to be chained like a dog. Very reasonable to want a reward. Why else should he go to the trouble?

  YOUNG SOLDIER. He’s in there pouring it down. I done something special. I want the reward!

  MOTHER COURAGE. Young man, don’t scream at me, I have my own problems.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. He’s whoring on my money and I’m hungry! I’ll murder him!

  MOTHER COURAGE. You’re hungry. You’re angry. I understand.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. Talking’ll get you nowhere. I won’t stand for injustice!

  MOTHER COURAGE. How long? How long won’t you stand for injustice? One hour? Or two? It’s a misery to sit in the stocks: especially if you leave it till then to realize you do stand for injustice.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. I don’t know why I listen to you. Screw that captain!

  MOTHER COURAGE. You listen because you know I’m right. Your rage has calmed down already. It was a short one, and you’d need a long one.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. Are you trying to tell me I shouldn’t ask for the money?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Just the opposite. I only say your rage won’t last, you’ll get nowhere with it. If your rage was a long one, I’d say: go ahead, slice him up. But what’s the use – if you don’t slice him up? What’s the use if you stand there with our tail between your legs’

  OLDER SOLDIER. You’re quite right: he’s crazy.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. All right, we’ll see whether I slice him up or not. (He draws his sword.) When he comes out, I slice him up.

  CLERK. (looking out again) The captain will be right out (A military order:) Be seated!

  (The YOUNG SOLDIER sits.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. What did I tell you? Oh, they know us inside out. “Be seated!” And we sit. I’m no better. Let me tell you about the great capitulation.

  Song -- THE GREAT CAPITULATION

  LONG, LONG AGO, A GREEN BEGINNER

  I THOUGHT MYSELF A SPECIAL CASE.

  (spoken:) None of your ordinary, run of the mill girls with my looks and my talent and my love of the Higher Things.

  I PICKED A HAIR OUT OF MY DINNER

  AND PUT THE WAITER IN HIS PLACE.

  (spoken:) All or nothing. Anyway, never the second best. I am the master of my fate. I’ll take orders from no one.

  THEN A LITTLE BIRD WHISPERS!

  THE BIRD SAYS: “WAIT A YEAR OR SO

  AND MARCHING WITH THE BAND YOU’LL GO

  KEEPING IN STEP, NOW FAST, NOW SLOW,

  AND PIPING OUT YOUR LITTLE SPIEL.

  THEN ONE DAY THE BATTALIONS WHEEL!

  AND YOU GO DOWN UPON YOUR KNEES

  TO GOD ALMIGHTY IF YOU PLEASE!”

  MY FRIEND, BEFORE THAT YEAR WAS OVER

  I’D LEARNED TO DRINK THEIR CUP OF TEA.

  (spoken: ) Two children round your neck and the price of bread and what all!

  WHEN THEY WERE THROUGH WITH ME, MOREOVER,

  THEY HAD ME WHERE THEY WANTED ME.

  (spoken:) You must get in with people. If you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Don’t stick your neck out!

  THEN A LITTLE BIRD WHISPERS!

  THE BIRD SAYS: “SCARCE A YEAR OR SO

  AND MARCHING WITH THE BAND SHE’D GO

  KEEPING IN STEP, NOW FAST, NOW SLOW,

  AND PIPING OUT HER LITTLE SPIEL.

  THEN ONE DAY THE BATTALIONS WHEEL!

  AND YOU GO DOWN UPON YOUR KNEES

  TO GOD ALMIGHTY IF YOU PLEASE!”

  OUR PLANS ARE BIG, OUR HOPES COLOSSAL.

  WE HITCH OUR WAGON TO A STAR.

  (spoken:) Where there’s a will, there’s a way. You can’t hold a good man down.

  “WE CAN LIFT MOUNTAINS,” SAYS THE APOSTLE.

  AND YET: HOW HEAVY ONE CIGAR!

  (spoken:) You must cut your coat according to your cloth.

  THAT LITTLE BIRD WHISPERS!

  THE BIRD SAYS: “WAIT A YEAR OR SO

  AND MARCHING WITH THE BAND WE GO

  KEEPING IN STEP, NOW FAST, NOW SLOW,

  AND PIPING OUT OUR LITTLE SPIEL.

  THEN ONE DAY THE BATTALIONS WHEEL!

  AND WE GO DOWN UPON OUR KNEES

  TO GOD ALMIGHTY IF YOU PLEASE!”

  MOTHER COURAGE. So stay here with your sword drawn, if your anger is big enough. If it isn’t, you’d better go.

  YOUNG SOLDIER. Aw, shove it! (He stumbles off, the OLDER SOLDIER following him.)

  REGIMENTAL CLERK. (again sticking his head out) The captain is free now. You can lodge your complaint.

  MOTHER COURAGE. I’ve thought better of it. I’m not complaining.

  (She leaves. The CLERK looks after her, shaking his head. )

  5.

  (Two years have passed. The war covers wider and wider territory. Always on the move, the little wagon crosses Poland, Moravia, Bavaria, Italy, and again Bavaria. 1631. General Tilly’s victory at Leipzig costs MOTHER COURAGE four shirts.)

  (The wagon stands in a war-ruined village. Victory march in the distance. TW
O SOLDIERS are being served at a counter by KATTRIN and MOTHER COURAGE. One of them has a woman’s fur coat about his shoulders.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. What, you can’t pay? No money, no schnapps! If they can play victory marches, they should pay their men.

  FIRST SOLDIER. I want my schnapps! I arrived too late for plunder. The Chief allowed just one hour to plunder the town. He’s not inhuman, he says – so I guess they bought him off.

  CHAPLAIN. (staggering in) There are people in the farmhouse. A whole family. Help me, someone! I need linen.

  (The SECOND SOLDIER goes with him. KATTRIN, becoming excited, tries to get her mother to bring linen out of the wagon.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. I have none. I sold all my bandages to the regiment. I’m not tearing up my officer’s shirts for these people.

  CHAPLAIN. (over his shoulder) I said: I need linen!

  (MOTHER COURAGE stops KATTRIN from entering the wagon.)

  MOTHER COURAGE. Not on your life! They have nothing and they pay nothing.

  (The CHAPLAIN carries in a WOMAN.)

  CHAPLAIN. Why did you stay there – in the line of fire?

  WOMAN. (faintly) Our farm…

  MOTHER COURAGE. Think they’d ever let go of anything? And now I’m supposed to pay. Well, I won’t!

  FIRST SOLDIER. They’re Protestants. Why do they have to be Protestants?

  MOTHER COURAGE. Protestant, Catholic, what do they care? It’s their farm they’re thinking of.

  SECOND SOLDIER. Anyway, they’re not Protestants. They’re Catholics.

  FIRST SOLDIER. I guess our cannon don’t know the difference.

  (The CHAPLAIN brings in a PEASANT.)

  PEASANT. My arm’s shot.

  CHAPLAIN. Where’s that linen?

  MOTHER COURAGE. I can’t give you any. With all I have to payout in taxes, duties, bribes…

  (KATTRIN picks up a board and threatens her mother with it, making gurgling sounds.)

  Are you out of your mind? Put that board down this minute! I’m giving nothing!

  (The CHAPLAIN lifts her bodily off the wagon steps, then brings the shirts from the wagon, and tears the in strips.)