Percy MacKaye

“ Calaf, hark to me.
Have I not served you and your royal father
Faithfully?
CALAF
More than faithfully: lovingly.
BARAK
Then by my love of you, I beg you, boy,
Crush your mad love for Turandot, which must
Lead only to your death, and hasten with me
Far from your enemy’s city.
CALAF
My enemy’s?
17BARAK
Altoum, if he should find you living, would
Spike your head—yonder. Ah, be wise, my prince!
Root out this rashness. Throw that rose away.
See, it is withered—dead. So let your love be!
CALAF [Smiling]
Only a lover rightly loves the rose! ”

“ The staff! His staff! Touch not its power, lest thou lay waste the world!
CALIBAN [Grasping the staff, staggers and sways wildly with it, as though being shocked by an invisible force.] Rome! Now do I hold the roof-beam o’ the world. Now am I lord of lightnings: Lo, mine art Shaketh the throne of Prospero. [He strides upon the throne, raising the staff.] Awake, Imperial Rome! Return, ye snake-bright women Of Troy and Egypt! Stain these yellow sands Wine-red with spillings of your wreathèd bowls, And let the orgied priests of revel reign.— Caligula, be crowned by Setebos! Caligula! Caligula! ”

“ CLAUS
That is Song, and she is their sister
Who waiteth upon them, all three.
(Claus, Ruth and the two Children have now joined the Three Kings.)
CASPAR
Goodman, why are the eyes of your woman
So weary of look and so wild?
CLAUS
He hath broken our home, hath King Herod,
And killed us our new-born child.
Now tell us, ye Kings that be Wise Men,
Now tell us, where darkly we roam:
What right hath a king of a pedlar
To rob him his child and his home?
MELCHIOR
A king hath the right of his power
To raise high his glory and crown. ”

“ PRIORESS
M’sieur—this is Jacquette, my little hound.
[Chaucer takes the pup; they retire farther into the arbour, as the Wife of Bath enters from the inn. She is accompanied by the Friar, Miller, Cook, Summoner, Pardoner, Manciple, and Shipman, who enter singing. They lift her upon the table, and form a circle round her.]
SWAINS
The Wife of Bath
She’s a good fellow,
A maiden mellow
Of Aftermath.
She cuts a swath
Through sere-and-yellow;
No weeping willow
Bestrews her path.
Her voice in wrath
Is a bullock’s bellow;
For every good fellow
Eyes she hath.
She’s a good fellow,
The Wife of Bath! ”

“ Over yonder, by the Christmas Tree—there is the Wilderness,
The Place of Outcasts:
Over there—is the Gate of a Palace: the Palace of Herod—
Herod, the mighty king in the Bible,
His place of Empire;
And there—and there—are two Paths, that lead to the Tree.
Now let us sing one more carol,
And take our places;
Then listen, and watch for a sign, while the Chorus sings:
And when all is over—each of us, all together,
Let us raise up our hearts and voices to one great Spirit
That will make of us all one people:
The Spirit whose glorious name is
Singing Together. ”

“ Here, let me hold the staff. [Caliban reaches for the staff; Ariel raises it warningly.]
ARIEL Stay! Touch it not Lest it shall scorch thy fingers and set fire To the building world. The staff of Prospero Is for his servants, not for slaves, to wield.
CALIBAN [Drawing back from it, in fear.] Scorcheth my fingers, ah?—So wield it, thou! Show me once more the snake-bright queen.
ARIEL Nay, Egypt No more! But come with me to Prosper’s throne Where I play master now. Here thou shalt sit And watch the battlements of eternal Troy Where Troilus woos inconstant Cressida. ”

“ CHAUCER
Hold, hold,
Dame Alis! gentle Alisoun—
[Recovers the torn page.]
ALISOUN
Hoot-toot!
Are ye so dainty with a dirty parchment
And so slipshod to smirch our reputations?
You men! God’s arms! What ken ye of true women?
You stuff one doll and name it Modesty,
And bid her mince and giggle, hang her head
And ogle in her sleeve; another poppet
You make of snow and name St. Innocence:
She sits by moonlight in a silver night-gown
And sighs love-Latin in a nunnery.
By Corpus bones! is not a mare a horse?
A woman is but man; and both one beast—
A lusty animal, for field or harness. ”

“ CALAF
O Dream!
Dream of my love transmuted to a boy—
O little dream in motley, speak once more!
TURANDOT
The key! Unlock the door, and let me forth.
CALAF
My lady—and her voice! Yet, shining boy,
Before my soul loses belief in you,
Still let me wonder, looking on your image,
And worship at your shrine—Saint Harlequin! [He kneels before her]
104TURANDOT
I do not ask for worship—but a key.
CALAF
The key you ask for locks the gate of heaven
And we are shut within. Love builds him bars
To stablish heaven where lovers are locked in.
TURANDOT
Lovers? ”

“ PROSPERO Nay, nor her: For she is charmed against thy body’s rape [Pg 141] By chastity of soul. Thy will and War May break, but cannot build the world: And One, Who bore us all within her womb, still lives To stanch our wounds with her immortal healing.
CALIBAN Where?
PROSPERO [Pointing.] Yonder, on the Yellow Sands! She rises now And calls across the tides of fleeting change Her deathless artists of the plastic mind— My art that builds the beauty of the world.
[Pg 142]
EPILOGUE
Where Prospero points, the light passes from the pageant of War to the centre of the Yellow Sands. ”

“ CHAUCER
My father was a vintner, dame, in London.
PRIORESS
A vintner?
SQUIRE
[With pleading deprecation.]
[Pg 106]
Sir—
JOHANNA
Small marvel that his son
Should be a cask.
ALISOUN
[Aside, jubilantly.]
God save my betters!
JOHANNA
[To Squire.]
“If
You could but guess the Olympian pedigree—”
Saints! Take me to my guardian, sir.
PRIORESS
[To Chaucer.]
Ah! bring
Me to my brother! O Monsieur! How false!
FRIAR
[From behind the wall, sings.]
Love is a liar,
But lovers love the pleasant friar,
Who, making of their burdens less—
CHAUCER and SQUIRE
That friar! ”

“ CASPAR
So, Pedlar Claus,
Lay-by thy pack, and rest you here till morrow;
Tend him, good Elf and Gnome. Now, mother, bravely!
These beasties shall make hospitality
And share their holy frost-cakes with your children,
Wiping their eyes with love: And these war-weary,
Glad of our Evergreen, shall take new hope
From yon clear star.
(He helps Claus to rise and supports him to the foot of the Tree, where he places his pack for Claus to recline. The stretcher is borne away. Far off, a long blast sounds.)
BELSHASAR
Hark, hark! What trumpet calls?
MELCHIOR
’Tis Herod’s host. ”

“ The secret of your daughter’s malady— [Leading Calaf bewildered before Turandot]
Lady, receive them with your heart’s desire:
A ring, a rose, a beggar’s wallet.
TURANDOT
You—
Are you my beggar?
CALAF [Taking from Barak his old cloak]
I am he who won
In Astrakhan—this rose, at Pekin gate—
This ring, and in this ragged beggar’s cloak
You once did smile upon, I now depart.
124TURANDOT
Stay, love—You are my noblest in the world! [Calaf turns in wonder and kneels to her. She bends and embraces him. A great gong resounds]
CAPO. [Presenting his crown to Altoum]
My liege, I abdicate. ”

“ And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.”
[Then, while the light focusses and fades in darkness on the pensive form of Shakespeare, the choirs of Ariel’s Spirits repeat, unseen, in song:]
THE SPIRITS OF ARIEL “We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.” ”

“ To ask your greatness to outleap your laws
And grant, by special dispensation, to
This woman—a sixth husband.
KING RICHARD
By my fay, sir,
You ask too much. My laws are sacred.
[Aside to John of Gaunt, who whispers him.]
Hein?
ALISOUN
Dig him again there, Geoffrey.
CHAUCER
King, have grace!
KING RICHARD
The Duke of Lancaster advises me
[Pg 202]
There may be one exception.
[Aside.]
What? What’s that?
[Aloud.]
But only one. My law is sacred.—Woman,
I grant to thee the right to wed once more
On one condition. Mark it; thy sixth husband
Must be a miller.—Herald, sound the verdict. ”

“ Here in China the world lies a-dream, like a Thousand
Years Ago, and the place of our dreams is eternal.
Here in China Romance still goes masquing serenely
With dragons, magicians, clowns, villains and heroes,
So that five motley fellows like us may resume our
Old tradetricks, and follow our noses to fortune!—
For a taste point your own, Punch, up there at the gate-stone!
PUNCHINELLO [Staring up at the heads]
What pretty young princes!—But where are the rest of them?
SCARAMOUCHE
By Saladin! They’ve plenty of room for their breakfast!
PANTALOON
It makes me light-headed to look at them. ”

“ CALIBAN [Looking at the gray cloak.] What’s that? [Pg 81]
DEATH My cloak, where thou shalt hide To snare Miranda unto bondage. Hark!
[Far, cold, and thin a dirgeful choir sounds from the cell behind the figure of Death.]
THE DIRGE Gray—gray—gray: Joy be unholy and hidden; Wan be the rainbow of wonder, frozen the tide! Blind—blind—blind: Passion be pale and forbidden; Dumb be the lips of the soul to Beauty denied!
PROSPERO [Speaks to Ariel, who comes running from behind the Cloudy Curtains.] Blithe bird of mine, my heart is boding ill. Hast thou heard?
ARIEL Nay, Master, what? ”

“ Óhoho! Aháha!
CASPAR
Heigh! What is here? Elf!—Gnome!
BELSHASAR
Keep back! They are imps of evil.
MELCHIOR
Stay! Do not speak with them. Hush!
(Caspar pays no heed, but greets the Fairies, who return his greeting with blithe bows.)
CASPAR
Now, neighbors, God rest you merry!
ELF
Welcome, Wise Man! [38]
GNOME
Welcome, Sir King!
MELCHIOR
(To Belshasar)
He speaks with them.
BELSHASAR
(To Melchior)
Come. He is lost!
(They draw away.)
GNOME
Where are you from—ye Kings?
CASPAR
From the East, returning home from Herod’s land.
ELF
What went you there for to do? ”

“ At the present time, our theatre has been conquered (for the moment) by sedulous recorders of the deeds of here and now; we find the drama in the throes of a new realism, more potent in its actuality than the tentative and groping realism of Goldoni; and our romantic playwrights, like these old adventurous and tattered histrions of Carlo Gozzi, have recently sought refuge in the fabulous and eye-enchanting orient. ”

“ MILLER
[Laughing, shakes his fist.]
Ha, ha! By Corpus bones!
[Exit at gate.]
ALISOUN
Now, bird; the plot.
I’ve sent him for a gag.
FRIAR
A gag? What for?
ALISOUN
To win my bet, of course. ’Tis for this knight.
FRIAR
Thou wilt not gag a knight—the Prioress’
[Pg 81]
Brother!
ALISOUN
Hast thou forgot I bet with Geoffrey
The man that wears the ring will prove to be
Dame Virtue’s lover?
FRIAR
He that wears the ring?
Methinks I smell: but who’s your man?
ALISOUN
Sweet owl,
The sunlight hurts thine eyes, thou starest too hard. ”

“ CASPAR
Thank you, Tree.
His star hath made merry our hearts
To dance in His light—aye, to sing
As we enter your place of His dreams.
Come, neighbors, now blithe be our carol!
(With his sceptre for baton, Caspar leads in dance and song Wolf, Bear, Lion, Elf and Gnome, the Beasts holding their cakes, the Fairies playing their instruments. Joining in their blithe dance of devotion, the old King clutches the great flap of his crown, to keep it from joggling off.)
Carol 6. Dance-Carol of the Evergreen.
ALL
(Sing, to the strongly stressed dance-rhythm)
O Evergreen, our Evergreen! ”

“ PROSPERO Unless my will miscarry, Thou shalt be such a morning messenger And wake the world with beauty. Now my plans Wait on a vast result, for Caliban Himself hath gone to deal with Setebos His gray priest, Death.
MIRANDA What, Caliban! O glad Hope for us all! Your art begins to triumph, And Ariel’s Spirits to conquer.
PROSPERO That still waits: Meanwhile mine art drinks from this renaissance Deep draughts against a dark to-morrow.—Hither, You Fauns! ”

“ KING RICHARD
Lord, save our souls!
[To De Vere.]
Lend me a looking-glass.
DE VERE
[Takes one from his sleeve.]
Ha! Dick, par charity!
[Richard and De Vere look in the glass and make faces in
imitation of Gloucester and the others.]
PARSON
[In the crowd to the Clerk.]
Yonder’s the Duke
Of Lancaster: John Gaunt.
CHAUCER
[Who has been held back with the crowd by the heralds, pushes through, and hastening forward, kneels to Johanna, who is talking with Wycliffe.]
A boon! a boon!
JOHANNA
[To Wycliffe.]
Protect me, sir!
CHAUCER
[Holds up Johanna’s love-knot.] ”

“ Our heads are decorative; they will adorn
Your majesty’s collection.
ALTOUM
Nay, not mine.
Those grizzled heads of warriors on the wall
Are mine: the trophies of my victories.
But those above the gate—those youthful brows
Of tragic lovers, hapless in their love—
Those are my daughter’s.
BARAK [To Calaf]
Do you hear, my prince?
His daughter’s! Oh, take heed!
20CAPO.
Your majesty
Allures me. Is your daughter—
ALTOUM
Hush! Come closer. [He leads Capocomico away from the curtain, right. Calaf follows furtively, heedless of Barak’s gestures]
My daughter is my cause of desperation. ”

“ CASPAR
Nay, cheerly, Claus! Cheerly, goodwife and kiddies!
Now you have wandered to a lucky place.
Our Evergreen shall heal your hurt. Run, Elf,
And fetch him balsam gum to balm his wounds.
(Elf runs within.) [51]
CLAUS
No balsam gum can heal us our lost babe.
Ruth, wife, where lieth now his little body?
RUTH
Death holds him fast. Death holdeth him forever.
MELCHIOR
Herod is king. Ye should have awe of kings
And bow before them.
BELSHASAR
We are kings and wise,
And warn you what you owe to Herod.
CLAUS
Herod! ”

“ The barge she sat in, like a burnish’d throne, Burn’d on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the sails, and so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them. The oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke.... For her own person, It beggar’d all description: she did lie In her pavilion—cloth-of-gold of tissue— O’er-picturing that Venus where we see The fancy out-work nature. On each side her Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, With diverse-color’d fans, whose wind did seem To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool.... ”

“ CHAUCER
Donna, my heart
[Pg 138]
Bleeds tears for you.
JOHANNA
Stand by!
CHAUCER
That one so young,
So seeming virtuous—
JOHANNA
“So seeming”—thanks!
CHAUCER
As this young squire should, at one look from his—
Should, at one look, forsake your ladyship
For his—alas! But such is man! The bonds
Which nature forges chain us to the flesh,
Though angels pry the links.
JOHANNA
The bonds which nature?—
CHAUCER
Yes, nature: ’tis not love. Had it been love,
Would he have turned, even in his vows of truth,
And left you with his—ah! it chokes me. Nay,
Go, go, great marchioness, seek out your ward ”

“ As this tableau shuts in darkness, there comes vaguely to light in the foreground a street scene. Here, at a gateway, beggars with yokes are huddled; before the gate, a moving frieze of dream figures, noiseless, pass fantastically: Chinese soldiers, high stepping; Turandot again, downcast, gliding like a captive with Zelima; Calaf, swift searching in pursuit; the Maskers, lithe, grotesque, pointing after him; rearguarded by Capocomico—blithely dominant in gesture, triumphant with fantasy. ”

“ The dark is his cradle;
The beasts come about him;
The stars in their watches
Are covered with cloud. [16]
Home hath he none;
The desert receives him—
The place of outcasts
And lonely things.
No sound is heard there
Save shepherds singing;
The lords of earth
Avert their faces;
Dark—dark is his cradle.
Yet surely will dawn break with light of his new morrow:
Alleluia!
Yea, for the babe that sleepeth in a little manger
Is Light of the World: Alleluia!
(The Fairies and Beasts peer in the Manger with awed delight. Murmuring aloud, they speak to Joseph.)
ELF
May we not dance for him? ”

“ CALIBAN Ca—Caliban; cometh here To smell what ’tis. [He sniffs nearer; then howls strangely.] Spring in the air: Oho!
MIRANDA Alas, poor creature! Who hath hurt thee? [Pg 18]
CALIBAN Hurt? Who hurteth God? Am seed of Setebos: Am Caliban: the world is all mine isle: Kill what I please, and play with what I please; So, yonder, play with him: pull out his wings And put ’em back to grow.—Where be thy wings, Spring-i’-the-air?
MIRANDA O Ariel, is this sight A true thing, and speaks truly? ”

“ JOHANNA
[Catching sight of Prioress.]
If I but knew!
St. Ann! I know too much.
SQUIRE
You would be proud
To have him rhyme your name. Sir, I protest
Had I conceived how fair “Johanna” sounds
In verse—
CHAUCER
[Sternly.]
Hold, signorino! Was it thus
You bade me sonnetise your Eglantine?
You said yourself—
SQUIRE
In sooth, that “Eglantine”
Is sweeter.
JOHANNA
Ugh!
CHAUCER
There you were false. For know
As ocean-shells give back the mermaid’s sigh,
The conches of a lover’s ears should hold
Eternal murmurs of his mistress’ name. ”

“ Hungering goad From belly of mire! Tiger and toad— Setebos! Blood which art on the jungle bloom, Sloth and slumber and seed in the womb: Which art wondrous Over and under us, Setebos! Setebos! Thou art Setebos!
THE VOICES FROM WITHIN Sealèd in a starless cell, We are shut from dawn and sky. Ariel!—Ariel! Why?
ARIEL Setebos knows, but his jaws Fetter me fast: he is dumb— Answering never. [Pg 5]
THE VOICES FROM WITHIN We, who parch for dew and star— Ariel!—Ariel!— Must we perish where we are? Tell!
ARIEL Sycorax knows, but she sits There in the cave with her son— Mocking us ever. ”

“ JOHANNA
[To herself.]
[Pg 155]
They whispered here: and there she said “Dear Aubrey.”
ALISOUN
And their disguises; oh, you’d not believe it!
That devil friar plays the chimney-sweep.
And—
JOHANNA
Chimney-sweep! ’Twas he, then, sung? Oh, come;
Help!
ALISOUN
Where?
JOHANNA
They’re in the cellar.
ALISOUN
Like enough;
They’re plotting, plotting. God’s wounds! ’Tis a trap.
Where be they all? Geoffrey to send me here—
My son to leave you with the friar—Ha!
They’re with that sly, deceptive Prioress;
’Tis she—
JOHANNA
Why, she’s your sister. ”

“ Women dancers with golden bowls, slaves shackled and driven with whips, rabble groups scrambling for bread loaves flung them by heralds, armed soldiery, and gorgeous patrician lords: these swarm in a sordid saturnalia, from the midst of which the masked form of Caligula rises dominant in splendor. At his gesture, slaves tear the Muses from their shrine, and give them over to the revellers.
High above all, clutching the staff, his huge limbs rioting grotesque from his silken garments, Caliban dances on the throne of Prospero. ”

“ What is’t about?
CHAUCER
The wickedness of woman.
ALISOUN
A man, then, wrote it. If you men will write,
We wives will keep ye busy. Read’s a snack.
CHAUCER
[Pretending to read.]
“Whoso that builds his mansion all of mallows,
Whoso that spurs his blind horse over the fallows,
Whoso that lets his wife seek shrines and hallows,
Is worthy to be hanged on the gallows.”
ALISOUN
Chuck that to another dog. My man is dead.
CHAUCER
[Imperturbably.]
“A lovely woman, chaste, is like a rose;
Unchaste, a ring of gold in a sow’s nose.”
ALISOUN
Lo, what a pretty preaching pardoner! ”

“ Flinging down the sheep’s pelt and setting his foot upon it, he breaks his distaff in pieces and, threatening Omphale, drives the Nymphs off the scene, left. [During this excitement, Servus—who has been standing aside—seizes the heap of wool, and exit with it in flight.] Turning then to the image of the Sphinx, Hercules expresses in dumb-show how, lured by the riddle of the Sphinx, he aspires to fight and conquer the world for her sake. Laying his club and lion’s skin devoutly at the foot of the column, he kneels, embraces it, and raises then his arms in supplication to the Sphinx. ”

“ CHAUCER
Thou art daft.
ALISOUN
Lo, subtle man! He robs a poor wife’s wits
To insure his lady’s honour.
CHAUCER
Tush, tush, dame.
The very brooch she wears, her brother gave her,
For whose sake she hath even promised never
To take it off.
ALISOUN
Wilt bet me?
CHAUCER
Bet away!
ALISOUN
Ho, then, it is a bet, and this the stakes:
If that my Lady Prioress shall give
Yon brooch of gold from off her pretty wrist,
Unto the man whom she expects to meet,
And that same man prove not to be her brother,
[Pg 47]
Then thou shalt marry me at Canterbury.
CHAUCER
A twenty of thee, dame. ”