Maurice Maeterlinck

“ LIGHT Some are little and some are great; some are coarse and some are delicate; some are very beautiful and others not so pleasant to look upon.... But the ugliest were expelled from the garden some time ago and took refuge with the Miseries. For we must not forget that the Miseries inhabit an adjoining cave, which communicates with the Garden of Happiness and is separated from it only by a sort of vapour or fine veil, lifted at every moment by the winds that blow from the heights of Justice or from the depths of Eternity.... ”

“ MYTYL Tyltyl has a bird.
TYLTYL But I can't give it away....
THE FAIRY Why not?...
TYLTYL Because it's mine.
THE FAIRY That's a reason, no doubt. Where is the bird?...
TYLTYL (pointing to the cage) In the cage....
THE FAIRY (putting on her glasses to examine the bird) I don't want it; it's not blue enough. You will have to go and find me the one I want.
TYLTYL But I don't know where it is....
THE FAIRY No more do I. That's why you must look for it. I can do without the grass that sings, at a pinch; but I must absolutely have the blue bird. ”

“ I was very lonely at home; and here are you two climbing to that Heaven where the souls of all mothers beam with joy!... But first kisses, heaps and heaps of kisses!... Into my arms, the two of you; there is nothing on earth that gives greater happiness!... Tyltyl, aren't you laughing?... Nor you either, Mytyl?... Don't you know your mother's love when you see it?... Why, look at me: are these not my eyes, my lips, my arms?...
TYLTYL Yes, yes, I recognise them, but I did not know.... You are like Mummy, but you are much prettier.... ”

“ I shall tell mummy....
LIGHT Do not cry, my dear little ones.... I have not a voice like Water; I have only my brightness, which Man does not understand.... But I watch over him to the end of his days.... Never forget that I am speaking to you in every spreading moonbeam, in every twinkling star, in every dawn that rises, in every lamp that is lit, in every good and bright thought of your soul.... (Eight o'clock strikes behind the wall.) Listen!... The hour is striking!... Good-bye!... The door is opening!... ”

“ A large and wonderful hall of an austere, rigid, metallic and sepulchral magnificence, giving the impression of a Greek temple with columns, architraves, flagstones and ornaments of black marble, gold and ebony. The hall is trapezium-shaped. Basalt steps, occupying almost the entire width, divide it into three successive stages, which rise gradually toward the back. On the right and left, between the columns, are doors of sombre bronze. At the back, a monumental door of brass. The palace is lit only by a vague light that seems to emanate mainly from the brilliancy of the marble and the ebony. ”

“ THE FAIRY Come, children, don't eat too much sugar.... Don't forget that you are to have supper presently with your grandpapa and grandmamma....
TYLTYL Are they here?...
THE FAIRY You shall see them at once....
TYLTYL How can we see them, when they are dead?...
THE FAIRY How can they be dead, when they live in your memory?... Men do not know this secret, because they know so little; whereas you, thanks to the diamond, are about to see that the dead who are remembered live as happily as though they were not dead.... ”

“ The LUXURY OF UNDERSTANDING NOTHING alone remains perfectly calm, while his friends rush about madly, trying to flee, to hide themselves in corners which they hope to find dark. But there is not a shadow left in the dazzling room. And so the majority, in their despair, decide to pass through the threatening curtain which, in an angle on the right, closes the vault of the Cave of Miseries. Each time that one of them, in his panic, raises a skirt of the curtain, a storm of oaths, imprecations and maledictions is heard to issue from the hollow depths of the cave. ”

“ There are no dead....
CURTAIN
SCENE 3.—The Kingdom of the Future.
The immense halls of the Azure Palace, where the children wait that are yet to be born. Infinite perspectives of sapphire columns supporting turquoise vaults. Everything, from the light and the lapis-lazuli flagstones to the shimmering background into which the last arches run and disappear, everything, down to the smallest objects, is of an unreal, intense, fairy-like blue. Only the plinths and capitals of the columns, the key-stones, a few seats and circular benches are of white marble or alabaster. ”

“ MATERNAL LOVE No, it is made of kisses and caresses and loving looks.... Each kiss you give me adds a ray of moon-light or sunshine to it....
TYLTYL How funny, I should never have thought that you were so rich!... Where used you to hide it?... Was it in the cupboard of which Daddy has the key?...
MATERNAL LOVE No, no, I always wear it, but people do not see it, because people see nothing when their eyes are closed.... All mothers are rich when they love their children.... There are no poor mothers, no ugly ones, no old ones. Their love is always the most beautiful of the Joys.... ”

“ Keep still, will you, or else you'll go back into silence until the end of time....
(Meanwhile, the enchantment has pursued its course: the spinning-wheel has begun to turn madly in its corner and to spin brilliant rays of light; the tap, in another corner, begins to sing in a very high voice and, turning into a luminous fountain, floods the sink with sheets of pearls and emeralds, through which darts the soul of WATER, like a young girl, streaming, dishevelled and tearful, who immediately begins to fight with FIRE.)
TYLTYL And who is that wet lady?...
THE FAIRY Don't be afraid. ”

“ Light, who is guiding him and betraying us all, for she has placed herself entirely on Man's side, Light has learned that the Blue Bird, the real one, the only one that can live in the light of day, is hidden here, among the blue birds of the dreams that live on the rays of the moon and die as soon as they set eyes on the sun.... ”

“ It's Daddy!...
(As they hesitate before opening the door, the big latch is seen to rise of itself, with a grating noise; the door half opens to admit a little old woman dressed in green with a red hood on her head. She is humpbacked and lame and near-sighted; her nose and chin meet; and she walks bent on a stick. She is obviously a fairy.) ”

“ The sounds of the earth are heard like a distant music. A red and green light penetrates into the hall; TIME, a tall old man with a streaming beard, armed with his scythe and hourglass, appears upon the threshold; and the spectator perceives the extremity of the white and gold sails of a galley moored to a sort of quay, formed by the rosy mists of the Dawn. ”

“ THE FAIRY All stones are alike, all stones are precious; but man sees only a few of them....
(While they are speaking, the scene of enchantment continues and is completed. The souls of the Quartern-loaves, in the form of little men in crust-coloured tights, flurried and all powdered with flour, scramble out of the bread-pan and frisk round the table, where they are caught up by FIRE, who, springing from the hearth in yellow and vermilion tights, writhes with laughter as he chases the loaves.) ”

“ Little by little, irresistibly, invading all things, it transforms the graveyard into a sort of fairy-like and nuptial garden, over which rise the first rays of the dawn. The dew glitters, the flowers open their blooms, the wind murmurs in the leaves, the bees hum, the birds wake and flood the air with the first raptures of their hymns to the sun and to life. ”

“ You know, my brothers, the nature of our business. The child you see before you, thanks to a talisman stolen from the powers of Earth, is able to take possession of the Blue Bird and thus to snatch from us the secret which we have kept since the origin of life.... Now we know enough of Man to entertain no doubt as to the fate which he reserves for us once he is in possession of this secret. That is why it seems to me that any hesitation would be both foolish and criminal.... It is a serious moment; the child must be done away with before it is too late.... ”

“ And sausages! And legs of lamb and calves' liver!... There is nothing nicer or lovelier in the world than liver!...
BREAD Except quartern-loaves made of fine white flour! They have splendid ones!... How lovely they are! How lovely they are!...
SUGAR I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon, I beg a thousand pardons.... Allow me, allow me.... I would not like to hurt anybody's feelings; but are you not forgetting the sweetmeats, which form the glory of that table and which, if I may say so, surpass in grandeur and magnificence all that exists in this hall, or perhaps anywhere else?... ”

“ THE CAT You see, he insults everybody....
TYLTYL Yes, he is unbearable and one can't hear one's self speak.... Mr. Ivy, will you chain him up, please?...
THE IVY (timorously going up to the DOG) Won't he bite?...
THE DOG (growling) On the contrary, on the contrary!... He's going to kiss you!... Just wait and see!... Come along, come along, you old ball of twine, you!...
TYLTYL (threatening him with his stick) Tylô!...
THE DOG (cringing at TYLTYL'S feet and wagging his tail) What am I to do, my little god? ”

“ MYTYL Can you see the soul of sugar, too?...
THE FAIRY (suddenly cross) Of course you can!... I hate unnecessary questions.... The soul of sugar is no more interesting than the soul of pepper.... There, I give you all I have to help you in your search for the Blue Bird. I know that the flying carpet or the ring which makes its wearer invisible would be more useful to you.... But I have lost the key of the cupboard in which I locked them.... Oh, I was almost forgetting!... (Pointing to the diamond) When you hold it like this, do you see?... One little turn more and you behold the past.... ”

“ THE HAPPINESS Of course; we often play with them.... Here, first of all, before the others, is the Great Joy of Being Just, who smiles each time an injustice is repaired. I am too young: I have never seen her smile yet. Behind her is the Joy of Being Good, who is the happiest, but the saddest; and it is very difficult to keep her from going to the Miseries, whom she would like to console; for, if she left us, we should be almost as miserable as the Miseries themselves. On the right is the Joy of Fame, next to the Joy of Thinking. ”

“ BREAD I quite agree with SUGAR!...
THE CAT Are we not, all of us, Water, Fire you yourselves, Bread and the Dog, the victims of a nameless tyranny?... Do you remember the time when, before the coming of the despot, we wandered at liberty upon the face of the earth?... Fire and Water were the sole masters of the world; and see what they have come to!... As for us puny descendants of the great wild animals.... Look out!... Pretend to be doing nothing!... I see the Fairy and Light coming.... Light has taken sides with Man; she is our worst enemy.... ”