Beautiful lady, give me something too;I fell but now, being weak with hunger and thirstAnd lay upon the threshold like a log.
CATHLEEN
I gave for all and that was all I had.Look, my purse is empty. I have passedBy starving men and women all this day,And they have had the rest; but take the purse,The silver clasps on't may be worth a trifle.But if you'll come to-morrow to my houseYou shall have twice the sum.
(ALEEL begins to play.)
SHEMUS (muttering)
What, music, music!
CATHLEEN
Ah, do not blame the finger on the string;The doctors bid me fly the unlucky timesAnd find distraction for my thoughts, or elsePine to my grave.
SHEMUS
I have said nothing, lady.Why should the like of us complain?
OONA
Have done.Sorrows that she's but read of in a bookWeigh on her mind as if they had been her own.
(OONA, MARY, and CATHLEEN go out. ALEEL looks defiantly at SHEMUS.)
ALEEL (singing)
Were I but crazy for love's sakeI know who'd measure out his length,I know the heads that I should break,For crazy men have double strength.There! all's out now to leave or take,And who mocks music mocks at love;And when I'm crazy for love's sakeI'll not go far to choose.
(Snapping his fingers in SHEMUS' face.)
Enough!I know the heads that I shall break.
(He takes a step towards the door and then turns again.)
Shut to the door before the night has fallen,For who can say what walks, or in what shapeSome devilish creature flies in the air, but nowTwo grey-horned owls hooted above our heads.
(He goes out, his singing dies away. MARY comes in. SHEMUS has been counting the money.)
SHEMUS
So that fool's gone.
TEIG
He's seen the horned owls too.There's no good luck in owls, but it may beThat the ill luck's to fall upon his head.
MARY
You never thanked her ladyship.
SHEMUS
Thank her,For seven halfpence and a silver bit?
TEIG
But for this empty purse?
SHEMUS
What's that for thanks,Or what's the double of it that she promised?With bread and flesh and every sort of foodUp to a price no man has heard the like ofAnd rising every day.
MARY
We have all she had;She emptied out the purse before our eyes.
SHEMUS (to MARY, who has gone to close the door)
Leave that door open.
MARY
When those that have read books,And seen the seven wonders of the world,Fear what's above or what's below the ground,It's time that poverty should bolt the door.
SHEMUS
I'll have no bolts, for there is not a thingThat walks above the ground or under itI had not rather welcome to this houseThan any more of mankind, rich or poor.
TEIG
So that they brought us money.
SHEMUS
I heard sayThere's something that appears like a white bird,A pigeon or a seagull or the like,But if you hit it with a stone or a stickIt clangs as though it had been made of brass,And that if you dig down where it was scratchingYou'll find a crock of gold.
TEIG
But dream of goldFor three nights running, and there's always gold.
SHEMUS
You might be starved before you've dug it out.
TEIG
But maybe if you called, something would come,They have been seen of late.
MARY
Is it call devils?Call devils from the wood, call them in here?
SHEMUS
So you'd stand up against me, and you'd sayWho or what I am to welcome here. (He hits her.)That is to show who's master.
TEIG
Call them in.
MARY
God help us all!
SHEMUS
Pray, if you have a mind to.It's little that the sleepy ears aboveCare for your words; but I'll call what I please.
TEIG
There is many a one, they say, had money from them.
SHEMUS (at door)
Whatever you are that walk the woods at night,So be it that you have not shouldered upOut of a grave – for I'll have nothing human —And have free hands, a friendly trick of speech,I welcome you. Come, sit beside the fire.What matter if your head's below your armsOr you've a horse's tail to whip your flank,Feathers instead of hair, that's but a straw,Come, share what bread and meat is in the house,And stretch your heels and warm them in the ashes.And after that, let's share and share alikeAnd curse all men and women. Come in, come in.What, is there no one there? (Turning from door)And yet they sayThey are as common as the grass, and rideEven upon the book in the priest's hand.
(TEIG lifts one arm slowly and points toward the door and begins moving backwards. SHEMUS turns, he also sees something and begins moving backward. MARY does the same. A man dressed as an Eastern merchant comes in carrying a small carpet. He unrolls it and sits cross-legged at one end of it. Another man dressed in the same way follows, and sits at the other end. This is done slowly and deliberately. When they are seated they take money out of embroidered purses at their girdles and begin arranging it on the carpet.)
TEIG
You speak to them.
SHEMUS
No, you.
TEIG
'Twas you that called them.
SHEMUS (coming nearer)
I'd make so bold, if you would pardon it,To ask if there's a thing you'd have of us.Although we are but poor people, if there is,Why, if there is —
FIRST MERCHANT
We've travelled a long road,For we are merchants that must tramp the world,And now we look for supper and a fireAnd a safe corner to count money in.
SHEMUS
I thought you were … but that's no matter now —There had been words between my wife and meBecause I said I would be master here,And ask in what I pleased or who I pleasedAnd so… but that is nothing to the point,Because it's certain that you are but merchants.