The Piper - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
And would you fear to go with him?--
BARBARA No, no!
PIPER Then reach to him that little hand of yours.
[MICHAEL, wonder-struck, runs to the jar, pours water upon his hand, rubs it off with haste, and falls on his knees before her, taking her hand fearfully.
BARBARA [timidly]
And can he talk?--
PIPER Yes, yes.--The maid's bewildered.
Fear nothing. Thou'rt so dumb, man!--Yes, yes, yes.
Only he kneels; he cannot yet believe.
Speak roundly to him.--Will you go with him?
He will be gentler to you than a father: He would be brothers five, and dearest friend, And sweetheart,--ay, and knight and serving-man!
BARBARA Yes, yes, I know he will. And can he talk, too?
PIPER Lady, you have bewitched him.
MICHAEL Oh! dear Lady, With you--with you, I dare not ope my mouth Saving to sing, or pray!
PIPER Let it be singing!
Lad, 't is a wildered maiden, with no home Save only thee; and she is more a child Than yesterday.
MICHAEL Oh, lordly, wondrous world!-- How is it, Sweet, you smile upon me now?
BARBARA Sure I have ever smiled on thee. How not?
Art thou not Michael?--_And thou lovest me_.
_And I love thee_!--If I unloved thee ever, It was some spell.-- [Rapturously]
But this,--ah, _This is I_!
[MICHAEL, on his knees, winds his arms about her.
PIPER [softly]
It is all true,--all true. Lad, do not doubt; The golden cage is broken.
MICHAEL Oh! more strange Than morning dreams! I am like one new-born; I am a speechless babe.--And this is she, My Moon I cried for,--here,--
PIPER It is thy bride.
MICHAEL Thou wilt not fear to come with me?
BARBARA With thee?
With thee! Ah, look! What have I more than thee?
And thou art mine, tall fellow! How comes it now Right happily that I am pranked so fair!
[She touches her fineries, her long pearl-strings, joyously]
And all this came so near to burying; This!
MICHAEL And this dearer gold.
[Kissing her hair.]
BARBARA All, all for thee!-- [She leans over in a playful rapture and binds her hair about him]
Look,--I will be thy garden that we lost, Yea, everywhere,--in every wilderness.
There shall none fright us with a flaming sword!
But I will be thy garden!
[There is the sound of a herd-bell approaching.
PIPER See,--how the sunlight soon shall pour red wine To make your marriage-feast!--And do you hear That faery bell?--No fear!--'T is some white creature, Seeking her whiter lamb.--Go; find our hermit; And he shall bless you,--as a hermit can!
And be your pledge for shelter. There's the path.-- [To MICHAEL]
Follow each other, close!
MICHAEL Beyond the Sun!
PIPER A golden afternoon,--and all is well!
[He gives MICHAEL his cloak to wrap round BARBARA. They go, hand in hand, up into the hills, The herd-bell sounds softly.--The PIPER c.o.c.ks his head like a squirrel, and listens with delight. He watches the two till they disappear; then comes down joyously.
PIPER If you can only catch them while they're young!
[The herd-bell sounds nearer. He lets down a water-jar into the well again. The nearness of the h.e.l.l startles him. He becomes watchful as a wild creature. It sounds nearer and nearer. A woman's voice calls like the wind: 'Jan! Jan!'-- The PIPER, tense and cautious, moves softly down into the shrubbery by the well.
VERONIKA'S VOICE Jan!
PIPER Hist! Who dared?
VERONIKA'S VOICE . . . Jan!--
PIPER Who dared, I say?
A woman.--'T is a woman!
[Enter VERONIKA, on the road from Hamelin. She is very pale and worn, and drags herself along, clutching in her hand a herd-bell.
She looks about her, holds up the bell and shakes it once softly, covering it with her fingers again; then she sits wearily down at the foot of the ruined shrine and covers her face, with a sharp breath.
VERONIKA . . . Ah,--ah,--ah!
[The PIPER watches with breathless wonder and fascination. It seems to horrify him.
PIPER [under breath]
That woman!
[VERONIKA lifts her head suddenly and sees the motion of the bushes.
VERONIKA He is coming!--He is here!
[She darts towards the well.--The PIPER springs up.
Oh, G.o.d of Mercy! . . . It is only you!
Where is he?--Where?--Where are you hiding him?
PIPER [confusedly]
Woman . . . what do you, wandering, with that bell?
