The Hour Glass | Page 4

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 YOUNG MAN. Teigue, will you give us pennies if we
teach you lessons? No, be goes to school for nothing on the mountains.
Tell us what you learn on the mountains, Teigue?
WISE MAN. Be silent all. [He has been standing silent, looking away.]
Stand still in your places, for there is something I would have you tell
me.
[A moment's pause. They all stand round in their places. TEIGUE still

stands at the door.]
WISE MAN. Is there any one amongst you who believes in God? In
heaven? Or in purgatory? Or in hell?
ALL THE YOUNG MEN. No one; Master! No one!
WISE MAN. I knew you would all say that; but do not be afraid. I will
not be angry. Tell me the truth. Do you not believe?
A YOUNG MAN. We once did, but you have taught us to know better.
WISE MAN. Oh! teaching, teaching does not go very deep! The heart
remains unchanged under it all. You believe just as yon always did, and
you are afraid to tell me.
A YOUNG MAN. No, no, master.
WISE MAN. If you tell me that you believe I shall be glad and not
angry.
A YOUNG MAN. [To his neighbor.] He wants somebody to dispute
with.
HIS NEIGHBOR. I knew that from the beginning.
A YOUNG MAN. That is not the subject for to-day; you were going to
talk about the words the beggar wrote upon the walls of Babylon.
WISE MAN. If there is one amongst you that believes, he will be my
best friend. Surely there is one amongst you. [They are all silent.]
Surely what you learned at your mother's knees has not been so soon
forgotten.
A YOUNG MAN. Master, till you came, no teacher in this land was
able to get rid of foolishness and ignorance. But every one has listened
to you, every one has learned the truth. You have had your last
disputation.
ANOTHER. What a fool you made of that monk in the market-place!
He had not a word to say.
WISE MAN. [Comes from his desk and stands among them in the
middle of the room.] Pupils, dear friends, I have deceived you all this
time. It was I myself who was ignorant. There is a God. There is a
heaven. There is fire that passes, and there is fire that lasts for ever.
[TEIGUE, through all this, is sitting on a stool by the door, reckoning
on his fingers what he will buy with his money.]
A YOUNG MAN [to another]. He will not be satisfied till we dispute
with him. [To the WISE MAN.] Prove it, master. Have you seen them?
WISE MAN [in a low, solemn voice]. Just now, before you came in,

some one came to the door, and when I looked up I saw an angel
standing there.
A YOUNG MAN. You were in a dream. Anybody can see an angel in
his dreams.
WISE MAN. Oh, my God! it was not a dream. I was awake, waking as
I am now. I tell you I was awake as I am now.
A YOUNG MAN. Some dream when they are awake, but they are the
crazy, and who would believe what they say? Forgive me, master, but
that is what you taught me to say. That is what you said to the monk
when he spoke of the visions of the saints and the martyrs.
ANOTHER YOUNG MAN. You see how well we remember your
teaching.
WISE MAN. Out, out from my sight! I want some one with belief. I
must find that grain the Angel spoke of before I die. I tell you I must
find it, and you answer me with arguments. Out with you, or I will beat
you with my stick! [The young men laugh.]
A YOUNG MAN. How well he plays at faith! He is like the monk
when he had nothing more to say.
WISE MAN. Out, out, or I will lay this stick about your shoulders! Out
with you, though you are a king's son!
[They begin to hurry out.]
A YOUNG MAN. Come, come; he wants us to find some one who will
dispute with him. [All go out.]
WISE MAN [alone. He goes