Aria da Capo | Page 5

want to tell you
something.
CORYDON: Hush! Be off! Be off! Go finish your nap, I tell you!
THYRSIS: Corydon, listen: if you don't want your sheep, Give them to
me.
CORYDON: Be off! Go finish your nap. A red one--and a blue
one--and a red one-- And a purple one--give you my sheep, did you
say?-- Come, come! What do you take me for, a fool? I've a lot of
thinking to do,--and while I'm thinking, The sheep might just as well be
over here As over there. . . . A blue one--and a red one--
THYRSIS: But they will die!
CORYDON: And a green one--and a couple Of white ones, for a
change.
THYRSIS: Maybe I have Some jewels on my side.
CORYDON: And another green one-- Maybe, but I don't think so. You
see, this rock Isn't so very wide. It stops before It gets to the wall. It
seems to go quite deep, However.

THYRSIS: [With hatred.] I see.
COLUMBINE: [Off stage.] Look, Pierrot, there's the moon.
PIERROT: [Off stage.] Nonsense!
THYRSIS: I see.
COLUMBINE: [Off stage.] Sing me an old song, Pierrot,-- Something
I can remember.
PIERROT: [Off stage.] Columbine. Your mind is made of
crumbs,--like an escallop Of oysters,--first a layer of crumbs, and then
An oystery taste, and then a layer of crumbs.
THYRSIS: [Searching.] I find no jewels . . . but I wonder what The
root of this black weed would do to a man If he should taste it. ... I have
seen a sheep die, With half the stalk still drooling from its mouth.
'Twould be a speedy remedy, I should think, For a festered pride and a
feverish ambition. It has a curious root. I think I'll hack it In little
pieces. . . . First I'll get me a drink; And then I'll hack that root in little
pieces As small as dust, and see what the color is Inside. [Goes to bowl
on floor.]
The pool is very clear. I see A shepherd standing on the brink, with a
red cloak About him, and a black weed in his hand. . . . 'Tis I. [Kneels
and drinks.]
CORYDON: [Coming to wall.] Hello, what are you doing, Thyrsis?
THYRSIS: Digging for gold.
CORYDON: I'll give you all the gold You want, if you'll give me a
bowl of water. If you don't want too much, that is to say.
THYRSIS: Ho, so you've changed your mind?--It's different, Isn't it,
when you want a drink yourself?
CORYDON: Of course it is.
THYRSIS: Well, let me see ... a bowl Of water,--come back in an hour,
Corydon. I'm busy now.
CORYDON: Oh, Thyrsis, give me a bowl Of water!--and I'll fill the
bowl with jewels, And bring it back!
THYRSIS: Be off, I'm busy now.
[He catches sight of the weed, picks it up and looks at it, unseen by
CORYDON.]
Wait!--Pick me out the finest stones you have . . . I'll bring you a drink
of water presently.
CORYDON: [Goes back and sits down, with the jewels before him.] A

bowl of jewels is a lot of jewels.
THYRSIS: [Chopping up the weed.] I wonder if it has a bitter taste.
CORYDON: There's sure to be a stone or two among them I have
grown fond of, pouring them from one hand Into the other.
THYRSIS: I hope it doesn't taste Too bitter, just at first.
CORYDON: A bowl of jewels Is far too many jewels to give away
And not get back again.
THYRSIS: I don't believe He'll notice. He's too thirsty. He'll gulp it
down And never notice.
CORYDON: There ought to be some way To get them back again. . . .
I could give him a necklace, And snatch it back, after I'd drunk the
water, I suppose. . . . Why, as for that, of course a necklace. . . .
[He puts two or three of the colored tapes together and tries their
strength by pulling them, after which he puts them around his neck and
pulls them, gently, nodding to himself. He gets up and goes to the wall,
with the colored tapes in his hands.]
[THYRSIS in the meantime has poured the powdered root--black
confetti--into the pot which contained the flower and filled it up with
wine from the punch-bowl on the floor. He comes to the wall at the
same time, holding the bowl of poison.]
THYRSIS: Come, get your bowl of water, Corydon.
CORYDON: Ah, very good!--and for such a gift as that I'll give you
more than a bowl of unset stones. I'll give you three long necklaces, my
friend. Come closer. Here they are. [Puts the ribbons about THYRSIS'
neck.]
THYRSIS: [Putting bowl to CORYDON'S mouth.] I'll hold the bowl
Until you've drunk it all.