The Blue Bird: A Fairy Play in Six Acts | Page 6

turns the diamond quickly.) Not so quick!... Heavens! It's too late!... You turned it too briskly; they will not have time to resume their places and we shall have a lot of annoyance....
(The FAIRY becomes an old woman again, the walls of the cottage lose their splendour. The Hours go back into the clock, the spinning-wheel stops, etc. But, in the general hurry and confusion, while FIRE runs madly round the room, looking for the chimney, one of the loaves of bread, who has been unable to squeeze into the pan, bursts into sobs and utters roars of fright.)
THE FAIRY What's the matter?...
BREAD (in tears) There's no room in the pan!...
THE FAIRY (stooping over the pan) Yes, there is; yes, there is.... (Pushing the other loaves, which have resumed their original places.) Come, quick, make room there....
(The knocking at the door is renewed.)
BREAD (utterly scared, vainly struggling to enter the pan) I can't get in!... He'll eat me first!...
THE DOG (frisking round TYLTYL) My little god!... I am still here!... I can still talk!... I can still kiss you!... Once more! Once more! Once more!...
THE FAIRY What, you too?... Are you there still?...
THE DOG What luck!... I was too late to return to silence; the trap closed too quickly....
THE CAT So did mine.... What is going to happen?... Is there any danger?...
THE FAIRY Well, I'm bound to tell you the truth: all those who accompany the two children will die at the end of the journey....
THE CAT (to the DOG) Come, let us get back into the trap....
THE DOG No, no!... I won't!... I want to go with the little god!... I want to talk to him all the time!...
THE CAT Idiot!...
(More knocking at the door)
BREAD (shedding bitter tears) I don't want to die at the end of the journey!... I want to get back at once into my pan!...
FIRE (who has done nothing but run madly round the room, hissing with anguish) I can't find my chimney!...
WATER (vainly trying to get into the tap) I can't get into the tap!...
SUGAR (hovering round his paper wrapper) I've burst my packing-paper!...
MILK (lymphatically and bashfully) Somebody's broken my little jug!...
THE FAIRY Goodness me, what fools they are!... Fools and cowards too!... So you would rather go on living in your ugly boxes, in your traps and taps, than accompany the children in search of the bird?...
ALL (excepting the DOG and LIGHT) Yes, yes! Now, at once!... My tap!... My pan!... My chimney!... My trap!...
THE FAIRY (to LIGHT, who is dreamily gazing at the wreckage of her lamp) And you, Light, what do you say?
LIGHT I will go with the children....
THE DOG (yelling with delight) I too!... I too!...
THE FAIRY That's right.... Besides, it's too late to go back; you have no choice now, you must all start with us.... But you, Fire, don't come near anybody; you, Dog, don't tease the Cat; and you, Water, hold yourself up and try not to run all over the place....
(A violent knocking is again heard at the door on the right.)
TYLTYL (listening) There's daddy again!... He's getting up this time; I can hear him walking....
THE FAIRY Let us go out by the window.... You shall all come to my house, where I will dress the Animals and the Things properly.... (To BREAD) You, Bread, take the cage in which to put the Blue Bird.... It will be in your charge.... Quick, quick, let us waste no time....
(The window suddenly lengthens downwards, like a door. They all go out; after which the window resumes its primitive shape and closes quite innocently. The room has become dark again and the two cots are steeped in shadow. The door on the right opens ajar and in the aperture appear the heads of DADDY and MUMMY TYL.)
DADDY TYL It was nothing.... It's the cricket chirping....
MUMMY TYL Can you see them?...
DADDY TYL I can.... They are sleeping quite quietly....
MUMMY TYL I can hear their breathing....
(The door closes again)
CURTAIN

ACT II
SCENE I.--At the FAIRY'S.
A magnificent entrance-hall in the palace of the FAIRY B��RYLUNE. Columns of gleaming marble with gold and silver capitals, staircases, porticoes, balustrades, etc.
Enter from the back, on the right, sumptuously clad, the CAT, SUGAR and FIRE. They come from a room which emits rays of light; it is the FAIRY'S wardrobe. The CAT has donned the classic costume of Puss-in-boots; SUGAR, a silk dress, half white and half pale-blue; and FIRE wears a number of many-coloured aigrettes and a long vermilion mantle lined with gold. They cross the whole length of the hall to the front of the stage, where the CAT draws them up under a portico on the right.
THE CAT This way, I know every inch of this palace. It was left to the Fairy B��rylune by Bluebeard.... Let us make the most of our last minute