The Blue Bird: A Fairy Play in Six Acts | Page 8

he tells us!... That is the one and only fact!... I recognise no one but him!... Hurrah for Man!... Man for ever!... In life or death, all for Man!... Man is God!...
BREAD I quite agree with the Dog.
THE CAT (to the DOG) But at least give your reasons....
THE DOG There are no reasons!... I love Man and that's enough!... If you do anything against him, I will throttle you first and I will go and tell him everything....
SUGAR (intervening sweetly) Excuse me.... Let us not embitter the discussion.... From a certain point of view, you are both of you right.... There is something to be said on both sides....
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.... Here they are....
Enter, on the right, the FAIRY, in the shape of an old woman, and LIGHT, followed by TYLTYL and MYTYL.
THE FAIRY Well?... What is it?... What are you doing in that corner?... You look like conspirators.... It is time to start.... I have decided that Light shall be your leader.... You will obey her as you would me and I am giving her my wand.... The children will pay a visit to their late grandparents this evening.... You will remain behind; that is more discreet.... They will spend the evening in the bosom of their dead family.... Meanwhile, you will be getting ready all that is wanted for to-morrow's journey, which will be a long one.... Come, up, be off and every one to his post!...
THE CAT (hypocritically) That is just what I was saying to them, madam.... I was encouraging them to do their duty bravely and conscientiously; unfortunately, the Dog, who kept on interrupting me....
THE DOG What's that?... Just wait a bit I...
(He is about to leap upon the CAT, but TYLTYL foreseeing his intention, stops with a threatening gesture.)
TYLTYL Down, Tyl?!... Take care; and, if ever I catch you again...
THE DOG My little god, you don't know, it was he who...
TYLTYL (threatening him) Be quiet!...
THE FAIRY Come, that will do.... Let Bread hand the cage for this evening to Tyltyl.... It is just possible that the Blue Bird may be hidden In the Past, at the grandparents'.... In any case, it Is a chance which we must not neglect.... Well, Bread, the cage?
BREAD (solemnly) One moment, if you please, Mrs. Fairy.... (Like an orator making a speech) I call upon all of you to bear witness that this silver cage, which was entrusted to my care by....
THE FAIRY (interrupting him) Enough!... No speeches!... We will go out this way and the children that....
TYLTYL (rather anxiously) Are we to go all alone?...
MYTYL I feel hungry!...
TYLTYL I, too!...
THE FAIRY (to BREAD) Open your Turkish robe and give them a slice of your good stomach....
(BREAD opens his robe, draws his scimitar and cuts two slices out of his stomach and hands them to the CHILDREN.)
SUGAR (approaching the CHILDREN) Allow me at the same time to offer you a few sugar-sticks.... (He breaks off the five fingers of his left hand, one by one, and presents them to the CHILDREN.)
MYTYL What is he doing?... He is breaking all his fingers!...
SUGAR (engagingly) Taste them, they are capital... They're made of real barley-sugar....
MYTYL (tasting one of the fingers) Oh, how good they are!... Have you many of them?...
SUGAR (modestly) Yes; as many as I want....
MYTYL Does that hurt you much, when you break them off?...
SUGAR Not at all.... On the contrary, it's a great advantage; they grow again at once and so I always have new, clean fingers....
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....
TYLTYL Is Light coming with us?
THE FAIRY No, it is more proper that this visit should be confined to the family.... I will wait near here, so as not to appear indiscreet.... They did not invite