The Hour Glass | Page 5

to the door at the side]. I will call my wife.
She will believe; women always believe. [He opens the door and calls.]
Bridget! Bridget! [BRIDGET comes in wearing her apron, her sleeves
turned up from her floury arms.] Bridget, tell me the truth; do not say
what you think will please me. Do you sometimes say your prayers?
BRIDGET. Prayers! No, you taught me to leave them off long ago. At
first I was sorry, but I am glad now, for I am sleepy in the evenings.
WISE MAN. But do you not believe in God?
BRIDGET. Oh, a good wife only believes what her husband tells her!
WISE MAN. But sometimes when you are alone, when I am in the
school and the children asleep, do you not think about the saints, about
the things you used to believe in? What do you think of when you are
alone?
BRIDGET [considering]. I think about nothing. Sometimes I wonder if

the pig is fattening well, or I go out to see if the crows are picking up
the chickens' food.
WISE MAN. Oh, what can I do! Is there nobody who believes? I must
go and find somebody! [He goes toward the door but with his eyes
fixed on the hour-glass.] I cannot go out; I cannot leave that!
BRIDGET. You want somebody to get up argument with.
WISE MAN. Oh, look out of the door and tell me if there is anybody
there in the street. I cannot leave this glass; somebody might shake it!
Then the sand would fall quickly.
BRIDGET. I don't understand what you saying. [Looks out.] There is a
great of people talking to your pupils.
WISE MAN. Oh, run out, Bridget, and see if they have found
somebody that believes!
BRIDGET [wiping her arms in her apron and pulling down her sleeves].
It's a hard thing to be married to a man of learning that must be always
having arguments. [Goes out and shouts through the kitchen door.]
Don't be meddling with the bread, children, while I'm out.
WISE MAN. [Kneels down.] "Salvum me fac,
Deus--salvum--salvum. ..." I have forgotten it all. It is thirty years since
I said a prayer. I must pray in the common tongue, like a clown
begging in the market like Teigue the Fool! [He prays.] Help me,
Father, Son, and Spirit!
[BRIDGET enters, followed by the FOOL, who is holding out his hat
to her.]
FOOL. Give me something; give me a penny to buy bacon in the shops,
and nuts in the market, and strong drink for the time when the sun
grows weak.
BRIDGET. I have no pennies. [To the WISE MAN.] Your pupils
cannot find anybody to argue with you. There is nobody in the whole
country who had enough belief to fill a pipe with since you put down
the monk. Can't you be quiet now and not always be wanting to have
arguments? It must be terrible to have a mind like that.
WISE MAN. I am lost! I am lost!
BRIDGET. Leave me alone now; I have to make the bread for you and
the children.
WISE MAN. Out of this, woman, out of this, I say! [BRIDGET goes
through the kitchen door.] Will nobody find a way to help me! But she

spoke of my children. I had forgotten them. They will believe. It is only
those who have reason that doubt; the young are full of faith. Bridget,
Bridget, send my children to me!
BRIDGET [inside]. Your father wants you, run to him now.
[The two children came in. They stand together a little way from the
threshold of the kitchen door, looking timidly at their father.]
WISE MAN. Children, what do you believe? Is there a heaven? Is there
a hell? Is there a purgatory?
FIRST CHILD. We haven't forgotten, father.
THE OTHER CHILD. Oh, no, father. [They both speak together as if
in school.] There is no heaven; there is no hell; there is nothing we
cannot see.
FIRST CHILD. Foolish people used to think that there were, but you
are very learned and you have taught us better.
WISE MAN. You are just as bad as the others, just as bad as the others!
Out of the room with you, out of the room! [The children begin to cry
and run away.] Go away, go away! I will teach you better--no, I will
never teach you again. Go to your mother--no, she will not be able to
teach them. ... Help them, O God! [Alone.] The grains are going very
quickly. There is very little sand in the uppermost glass. Somebody will
come for me in a moment; perhaps he is at the door now! All creatures
that have reason doubt. O that the grass and the planets