Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 6

by Bertolt Brecht

  MRS SHIN: You bet! It’ll cost money of course. Undo your collar, and you’ll feel better.

  SHUI TA, pitifully: It’s all for the baby’s sake, Mrs Shin.

  MRS SHIN: All for the baby’s sake.

  SHUI TA: I’m getting fat so quickly, though. People are bound to notice.

  MRS SHIN: They think it’s because you’re doing so well.

  SHUI TA: And what will happen to him?

  MRS SHIN: You’re always asking that. He will be looked after. The best that money can buy.

  SHUI TA: Yes. Anxiously: And he must never see Shui Ta.

  MRS SHIN: Never. Only Shen Teh.

  SHUI TA: But all the gossip round here! The water-seller and his rumours! They’re watching the shop!

  MRS SHIN: As long as the barber doesn’t hear there’s no harm done. Come on dear, have a drop of water.

  Enter Sun in a smart suit carrying a business man’s brief-case. He is amazed to see Shui Ta in Mrs Shin’s arms.

  SUN: Am I disturbing you?

  SHUI TA gets up with difficulty and goes unsteadily to the door:

  Till tomorrow, then, Mrs Shin!

  Mrs Shin puts on her gloves and goes off smiling.

  SUN: Gloves! How, why, what for? Is she milking you? On Shui Ta not replying: Don’t tell me even you have your softer moments. Curious. He takes a document from his brief-case. Anyway, you haven’t been on form lately, not on your old form. Moody. Hesitant. Are you ill? It’s doing no good to the business. Here’s another notice from the police. They want to shut the factory. They say they can’t possibly allow more than twice the legal number of people to a room. It’s about time you took some action, Mr Shui Ta!

  Shui Ta looks at him distractedly for a moment. Then he goes into the back room and returns with a box. He takes out a new bowler and throws it on the table.

  SHUI TA: The firm wishes its representatives to dress according to their position.

  SUN: Did you get that for me?

  SHUI TA, indifferently: See if it fits.

  Sun looks astonished, then puts it on. Shui Ta tries adjusting it at the right angle.

  SUN: At your service, sir. But don’t try and dodge the question. You must see the barber today and talk about the new scheme.

  SHUI TA: The barber makes impossible conditions.

  SUN: I wish you’d tell me what conditions.

  SHUI TA, evasively: The sheds are quite good enough.

  SUN: Good enough for the riffraff who work there, but not good enough for the tobacco. The damp’s getting in it. Before we have another meeting I’ll see Mrs Mi Tzu again about her premises. If we can get them we can chuck out this rag, tag and bobtail. They’re not good enough. I’ll tickle Mrs Mi Tzu’s fat knees over a cup of tea, and we’ll get the place for half the money.

  SHUI TA, sharply: That is out of the question. For the sake of the firm’s reputation I wish you always to be coolly business-like, and to be reserved in personal matters.

  SUN: What are you so irritable for? Is it the unpleasant local gossip?

  SHUI TA: I am not concerned with gossip.

  SUN: Then it must be the weather again. Rain always makes you so touchy and melancholic. I’d like to know why.

  WANG’S VOICE, from without:

  I sell water. Who would taste it?

  – Who would want to in this weather?

  All my labour has been wasted

  Fetching these few pints together.

  I stand shouting Buy my Water!

  And nobody thinks it

  Worth stopping and buying

  Or greedily drinks it.

  SUN: There’s that bloody water-seller. Now he’ll be nagging us again.

  WANG’S VOICE, from without: Isn’t there a good person left in this town? Not even on the square where the good Shen Teh used to live? Where is the woman who once bought a mug of water from me in the rain, months ago, in the joy of her heart? Where is she now? Has nobody seen her? Has none of you heard from her? This is the house which she entered one evening and never left!

  SUN: Hadn’t I better shut his mouth for good? What’s it got to do with him, where she is? Incidentally, I believe the only reason why you don’t say is so that I shouldn’t know.

  WANG enters: Mr Shui Ta, I ask you once more: when is Shen Teh coming back? It’s now six months since she went off on her travels. On Shui Ta remaining silent: Since then a lot has happened which could never have taken place if she’d been here. On Shui Ta still remaining silent: Mr Shui Ta, the rumour round here is that something must have happened to Shen Teh. Her friends are very worried. Would you please be so good as to let us know her address?

  SHUI TA: I fear I have no time at the moment, Mr Wang. Come again next week.

  WANG, worked up: People have also begun to notice that the rice she used to give the needy is being put out at the door again.

  SHUI TA: What do they conclude from that?

  WANG: That Shen Teh hasn’t gone away at all.

  SHUI TA: But? On Wang’s remaining silent: In that case I will give you my answer. It is final. If you consider yourself a friend of Shen Teh’s, Mr Wang, then you will refrain from enquiring as to her whereabouts. That is my advice.

  WANG: Marvellous advice! Mr Shui Ta, Shen Teh told me before she disappeared that she was pregnant!

  SUN: What?

  SHUI TA, quickly: A lie!

  WANG, most seriously, to Shui Ta: Mr Shui Ta, please don’t think Shen Teh’s friends will ever give up the search for her. A good person is not easily forgotten. There are not many.

  Exit.

  Shui Ta stares after him. Then he goes quickly into the back room.

  SUN, to the audience: Shen Teh pregnant! That makes me livid! I’ve been done! She must have told her cousin, and of course that swine hurried her off at once. ‘Pack your bags and clear out, before the child’s father gets wind of it!’ It’s utterly against nature. Inhuman, in fact. I’ve got a son. A Yang is about to appear on the scene! And what happens? The girl vanishes, and I’m left here to work like a slave. He is losing his temper. They buy me off with a hat! He tramples on it. Crooks! Thieves, kidnappers! And the girl has nobody to look after her! Sobbing is heard from the back room. He stops still. Wasn’t that someone crying? Who’s there? It’s stopped. What’s that crying in the back room? I bet that half-baked swine Shui Ta doesn’t cry. So who’s crying? And what’s the meaning of the rice being put outside the door every morning? Is the girl there after all? Is he simply hiding her? Who else could be crying in there? That would be a fine kettle of fish! I’ve absolutely got to find her if she’s pregnant! Shui Ta returns from the back room. He goes to the door and peers out into the rain.

  SUN: Well, where is she?

  SHUI TA raises his hand and listens: Just a moment! Nine o’clock. But one can’t hear today. The rain is too heavy.

  SUN, ironically: What do you hope to hear?

  SHUI TA: The mail plane.

  SUN: Don’t be funny.

  SHUI TA: I thought they told me you were interested in flying? Have you dropped that?

  SUN: I have no complaints about my present job, if that’s what you mean. I’d sooner not do night work, you know. The mail service means flying at night. I’ve begun to get a sort of soft spot for the firm. After all, it is my former fiancée’s firm, even if she is away. She did go away, didn’t she?

  SHUI TA: Why do you ask?

  SUN: Maybe because her affairs don’t leave me entirely cold.

  SHUI TA: My cousin might like to hear that.

  SUN: Anyway I’m concerned enough to be unable to shut my eyes if I find, for instance, that she is being deprived of her freedom.

  SHUI TA: By whom?

  SUN: By you!

  Pause.

  SHUI TA: What would you do in such an eventuality?

  SUN: I might start by wanting to reconsider my position in the firm.

  SHUI TA: Indeed. And supposing the firm – that is to say I – found a suitable position for you,
would it be able to count on your giving up all further enquiries about your former fiancée?

  SUN: Possibly.

  SHUI TA: And how do you picture your new position in the firm?

  SUN: Full control. For instance, I picture chucking you out.

  SHUI TA: And suppose the firm chucked you out instead?

  SUN: Then I should probably return, but not on my own.

  SHUI TA: But?

  SUN: With the police.

  SHUI TA: With the police. Let us suppose the police found no one here.

  SUN: Then I presume they would look in that room! Mr Shui Ta, my longing for the lady of my heart cannot be suppressed. I feel I shall have to take steps if I am to enfold her in my arms once more. Quietly: She’s pregnant, and needs a man beside her. I must talk it over with the water-seller. He leaves.

  Shui Ta looks after him without moving. Then he goes quickly into the back room once more. He fetches all kinds of everyday articles of Shen Teh’s: underwear, dresses, toilet things. He looks lengthily at the shawl which Shen Teh bought from the old carpet-dealers. Then he packs it all into a bundle and hides it under the table, as he hears sounds. Enter Mrs Mi Tzu and Mr Shu Fu. They greet Shui Ta and dispose of their umbrellas and galoshes.

  MRS MI TZU: Autumn’s on the way, Mr Shui Ta.

  MR SHU FU: A melancholy time of year!

  MRS MI TZU: And where is that charming manager of yours? A shocking lady-killer! But of course you don’t know that side of him. Still, he knows how to reconcile his charm with his business obligations, so you only profit from it.

  SHUI TA bows: Will you please sit down?

  They sit and start smoking.

  SHUI TA: My friends, an unpredictable eventuality, which may have certain consequences, compels me to speed up the negotiations which I have recently initiated as to the future of my business. Mr Shu Fu, my factory is in difficulties.

  MR SHU FU: It always is.

  SHUI TA: But now the police are frankly threatening to shut it down if I cannot show that I am negotiating for a new arrangement. Mr Shu Fu, what is at stake is nothing less than the sole remaining property of my cousin, in whom you have always shown such interest.

  MR SHU FU: Mr Shui Ta, it is deeply repugnant to me to discuss your ever-expanding projects. I suggest a small supper with your cousin, you indicate financial difficulties. I offer your cousin buildings for the homeless, you use them to set up a factory. I hand her a cheque, you cash it. Your cousin vanishes, you ask for 100,000 silver dollars and tell me my buildings are not big enough. Sir, where is your cousin?

  SHUI TA: Mr Shu Fu, please be calm. I can now inform you that she will very shortly be back.

  MR SHU FU: ‘Shortly.’ When? You have been saying ‘shortly’ for weeks.

  SHUI TA: I have not asked you to sign anything further. I have simply asked whether you would be more closely associated with my project supposing my cousin came back.

  MR SHU FU: I have told you a thousand times that I am not prepared to go on discussing with you, but will discuss anything with your cousin. However, you seem to want to put obstacles in the way of such a discussion.

  SHUI TA: Not now.

  MR SHU FU: Can we fix a date?

  SHUI TA, uncertainly: In three months.

  MR SHU FU, irritably: Then you can have my signature in three months too.

  SHUI TA: But it must all be prepared.

  MR SHU FU: You can prepare everything yourself, Shui Ta, if you are sure this time your cousin really is coming.

  SHUI TA: Mrs Mi Tzu, are you for your part ready to certify to the police that I can have your workshops?

  MRS MI TZU: Certainly, if you will let me take over your manager. I told you weeks ago that that was my condition.

  To Mr Shu Fu: The young man is so conscientious, and I must have someone to run things.

  SHUI TA: Please understand that I cannot let Mr Yang Sun go at this moment: there are all these problems, and my health has been so uncertain lately. I was always prepared to let you have him but …

  MRS MI TZU: Ha! But!

  Pause.

  SHUI TA: Very well, he shall report at your office tomorrow.

  MR SHU FU: I am glad you could arrive at this decision, Mr Shiu Ta. If Miss Shen Teh really comes back it will be most undesirable that this young man should be here. We all know that in his time he has had a most pernicious influence on her.

  SHUI TA, bowing: No doubt. Forgive my undue hesitation in these questions relating to my cousin Shen Teh and Mr Yang Sun: it was quite unworthy of a business man. These two were once very close to each other.

  MRS MI TZU: We forgive you.

  SHUI TA, looking towards the door: My friends, it is time for us to come to a decision. At this spot, in what used to be the drab little shop where the poor of the district bought the good Shen Teh’s tobacco, we, her friends, herewith resolve to establish twelve fine new branches, which from now on shall retail Shen Teh’s good tobacco. I am told that people have begun calling me the Tobacco King of Szechwan. But the fact is that I have conducted this enterprise solely and exclusively in my cousin’s interest. It will belong to her, and to her children, and to her children’s children.

  From without come sounds of a crowd of people. Enter Wang, Sun and the policeman.

  THE POLICEMAN: Mr Shui Ta, I am extremely sorry, but in view of the disturbed state of the district I have to follow up certain information received from your own firm, according to which you are alleged to be keeping your cousin Miss Shen Teh under illegal restraint.

  SHUI TA: That is not true.

  THE POLICEMAN: Mr Yang Sun here states that he heard crying from the room behind your office, and that it can only have proceeded from a female person.

  MRS MI TZU: That is absurd. Mr Shu Fu and I, two respected citizens of this town whose word the police can hardly doubt, will witness that there has been no crying here. We have been smoking our cigars perfectly quietly.

  THE POLICEMAN: I’m afraid I have an order to search the aforementioned room.

  Shui Ta opens the door. The policeman bows and crosses the threshold. He looks in, then turns round and smiles.

  THE POLICEMAN: Perfectly true, there’s no one there.

  SUN, who has accompanied him: But someone was crying! His eye falls on the table under which Shui Ta shoved the bundle.

  He pounces on it. That wasn’t there before!

  He opens it and reveals Shen Teh’s clothes, etc.

  WANG: Those are Shen Teh’s things! He runs to the door and calls out: They’ve found her clothes!

  THE POLICEMAN, taking charge of things: You state that your cousin is away. A bundle containing her property is found concealed beneath your desk. Where can the young lady be contacted, Mr Shui Ta?

  SHUI TA: I don’t know her address.

  THE POLICEMAN: That is a great pity.

  SHOUTS FROM THE CROWD: Shen Teh’s things have been found! The Tobacco King did the girl in and got rid of her!

  THE POLICEMAN: Mr Shui Ta, I must ask you to come to the station with me.

  SHUI TA, bowing to Mrs Mi Tzu and to Mr Shu Fu: Please forgive this disturbance, my dear colleagues. But we still have magistrates in Szechwan. I am sure it will all be cleared up quickly.

  He precedes the policeman out.

  WANG: There has been a most frightful crime!

  SUN, overcome: But I did hear somebody crying!

  Interlude

  Wang’s Sleeping-Place

  Music. For the last time the gods appear to the water-seller in a dream. They are greatly changed. It is impossible to mistake the symptoms of prolonged travel, utter exhaustion and unhappy experiences of every kind. One of them has had his hat knocked off his head, one has lost a leg in a fox-trap, and all three are going barefoot.

  WANG: At last you have appeared! Fearful things are happening in Shen Teh’s shop, Illustrious Ones! Shen Teh has again been away, this time for months! Her cousin has been grabbing everything! Today they arrested him. He is suppo
sed to have murdered her in order to get hold of her shop. But I cannot believe that, for I had a dream in which she appeared to me and said that her cousin was keeping her a prisoner. Oh, Illustrious Ones, you must come back at once and find her.

  THE FIRST GOD: That is terrible. Our whole search has been in vain. We found few good people, and those we found were not living a decent human existence. We had already decided to settle on Shen Teh.

  THE SECOND GOD: If only she is still good!

  WANG: That she surely is, but she has vanished!

  THE FIRST GOD: Then all is lost!

  THE SECOND GOD: You forget yourself.

  THE FIRST GOD: What’s wrong with forgetting oneself? We shall have to give up if she cannot be found! What a world we have found here: nothing but poverty, debasement and dilapidation! Even the landscape crumbles away before our eyes. Beautiful trees are lopped off by cables, and over the mountains we see great clouds of smoke and hear the thunder of guns, and nowhere a good person who survives it!

  THE THIRD GOD: Alas, water-seller, our commandments seem to be fatal! I fear that all the moral principles that we have evolved will have to be cancelled. People have enough to do to save their bare lives. Good precepts bring them to the edge of the precipice; good deeds drag them over. To the other gods: The world is unfit to live in, you have got to admit it!

  THE FIRST GOD, emphatically; No, mankind is worthless!

  THE THIRD GOD: Because the world is too chilling!

  THE SECOND GOD: Because men are too feeble!

  THE FIRST GOD: Remember your dignity, my friends! Brothers, we cannot afford to despair. We did discover one who was good and has not become evil, and she has only disappeared. Let us hasten to find her. One is enough. Did we not say that all could still be redeemed if just one can be found who stands up to this world, just one?

  They swiftly disappear.

  10

  Courtroom

  In groups: Mr Shu Fu and Mrs Mi Tzu. Sun and his mother. Wang, the carpenter, the grandfather, the young prostitute, the two old people. Mrs Shin. The policeman. The sister-in-law.

  THE OLD WOMAN: He is too powerful.

  WANG: He means to open twelve new branches.

  THE CARPENTER: How can the magistrate give a fair verdict when the defendant’s friends, Shu Fu the barber and Mrs Mi Tzu the property owner, are his friends too?