The Hour Glass | Page 3

have done with dreams.
ANGEL. I am the Angel of the Most High God.
WISE MAN. Why have you come to me?
ANGEL. I have brought you a message.
WISE MAN. What message have yon got for me?
ANGEL. You will die within the hour. You will die when the last grains have fallen in this glass. [He turns the hour-glass.]
WISE MAN. My time to die has not come. I have my pupils. I have a young wife and children that I cannot leave. Why must I die?
ANGEL. You must die because no souls have passed over the threshold of heaven since you came into this country. The threshold is grassy, and the gates are rusty, and the angels that keep watch there are lonely.
WISE MAN. Where will death bring me to?
ANGEL. The doors of heaven will not open to you, for you have denied the existence of heaven; and the doors of purgatory will not open to you, for you have denied the existence of purgatory.
WISE MAN. But I have also denied the existence of hell!
ANGEL. Hell is the place of those who deny.
WISE MAN [kneeling]. I have indeed denied everything and have taught others to deny. I have believed in nothing but what my senses told me. But, oh! beautiful Angel, forgive me, forgive me!
ANGEL. You should have asked forgiveness long ago.
WISE MAN. Had I seen your face as I see it now, oh! beautiful Angel, I would have believed, I would have asked forgiveness. Maybe you do not know how easy it is to doubt. Storm, death, the grass rotting, many sicknesses, those are the messengers that came to me. Oh! why are you silent? You carry the pardon of the Most High; give it to me! I would kiss your hands if I were not afraid-- no, no, the hem of your dress!
ANGEL. You let go undying hands too ago to take hold of them now.
WISE MAN. You cannot understand. You live in that country people only see in their dreams. You live in a country that we can only dream about. Maybe it is as hard for you to understand why we disbelieve as it is for us to believe. Oh! what have I said! You know everything! Give me time to undo what I have done. Give me a year--a month--a day--an hour! Give me this hour's end, that I may undo what I have done!
ANGEL. You cannot undo what you have done. Yet I have this power with my message. If you can find one that believes before the hour's end, you shall come to heaven after the years of purgatory. For, from one fiery seed, watched over by those that sent me, the harvest can come again to heap the golden threshing-floor. But now farewell, for I am weary of the weight of time.
WISE MAN. Blessed be the Father, blessed be the Son, blessed be the Spirit, blessed be the Messenger They have sent!
ANGEL [at the door and pointing at the hour-glass]. In a little while the uppermost glass will be empty. [Goes out.]
WISE MAN. Everything will be well with me. I will call my pupils; they only say they doubt. [Pulls the bell.] They will be here in a moment. I hear their feet outside on the path. They want to please me; they pretend that they disbelieve. Belief is too old to be overcome all in a minute. Besides, I can prove what I once disproved. [Another pull at the bell.] They are coming now. I will go to my desk. I will speak quietly, as if nothing had happened.
[He stands at the desk with a fixed look in his eyes.]
[Enter PUPILS and the FOOL.]
FOOL. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Who is that pulling at my bag? King's son, do not pull at my bag.
A YOUNG MAN. Did your friends the angels give you that bag? Why don't they fill your bag for you?
FOOL. Give me pennies! Give me some pennies!
A YOUNG MAN. Let go his cloak, it is coming to pieces. What do you want pennies for, with that great bag at your waist?
FOOL. I want to buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and strong drink for the time when the sun is weak, and snares to catch rabbits and the squirrels that steal the nuts, and hares, and a great pot to cook them in.
A YOUNG MAN. Why don't your friends tell you where buried treasures are?
ANOTHER. Why don't they make you dream about treasures? If one dreams three times, there is always treasure.
FOOL [holding out his hat]. Give me pennies! Give me pennies!
[They throw pennies into his hat. He is standing close to the door, that he may hold out his hat to each newcomer.]
A YOUNG MAN. Master, will you have Teigue the Fool for a scholar?
ANOTHER