Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 2
Page 22
Yes, with just a few dollars
That we might have made in this enterprise
Planned as a snare, which wasn’t a snare
I could manage to hold the sheriffs off.
But weren’t there some newcomers today?
They looked like money to me.
And maybe they’ll spend it with us.
8
Seek and ye shall not find
The quay near Mahagonny. Coming away from Mahagonny, like the people with suitcases in scene 5, Jimmy enters followed by his friends, who are trying to hold him back.
JAKE: Jimmy, what’s the hurry?
JIM: What’s there to keep me?
BILL: Why that look on your face?
JIM: I’m sick of seeing the word ‘Forbidden’.
JOE: But the gin and whisky are so cheap.
JIM: Too cheap.
BILL: And it’s so peaceful here.
JIM: Too peaceful.
JAKE: When you feel like eating fish, you can catch one.
JIM: I don’t like fishing.
JOE: You can smoke.
JIM: You can smoke.
BILL: You can sleep.
JAKE: You can go swimming.
JIM copying him: You can go pick yourself a banana.
JOE: You can look at the water.
Jim shrugs his shoulders.
BILL: You can forget.
JIM: But it won’t quite do.
JAKE, BILL, JOE:
Soft and agreeable is the stillness
And enchanting is the concord.
JIM: But they won’t quite do.
JAKE, BILL, JOE:
Noble is the simple existence
And Nature’s wonders are sublime beyond compare.
JIM:
But they won’t quite do.
I think I will eat my old felt hat
The flavour, at least, will be new:
And why shouldn’t a man eat his old felt hat
When he’s nothing, when he’s nothing, when he’s nothing else to do?
You’ve learned to mix your cocktails every way
You’ve seen the moonlight shining on the wall:
The bar is shut, the bar of Mandalay:
And why does nothing make sense at all?
You tell me, please, why nothing makes sense at all.
I think I will set out for Arkansas:
It may not be much, it’s true.
But why shouldn’t a man go to Arkansas
When he’s nothing, when he’s nothing, when he’s nothing else to do?
You’ve learned to mix your cocktails every way
You’ve seen the moonlight shining on the wall:
The bar is shut, the bar of Mandalay:
And why does nothing make sense at all?
You tell me, please, why nothing makes sense at all.
JAKE, BILL, JOE:
Why, Jimmy, must you blow your top?
This is the bar of Mandalay.
JOE: Jimmy says he will eat his hat.
BILL: But why, why should you want to eat your hat?
JAKE, BILL, JOE:
You mustn’t eat your hat, Jimmy!
We won’t let you do that, Jimmy!
Hat-eating goes too far –
Eating hats in a bar!
Shouting.
We’ll give you a beating
Jimmy! Hat-eating
’S not what mankind was born for.
JIM calmly: You tell me! What is it man was born for?
JOE: Well, now you’ve said your little piece, you can come along with us like a good boy, home to Mahagonny.
They take him back to Mahagonny.
9
Under a wide-open sky, in front of the As-You-Like-It Tavern, the Men of Mahagonny, including the Four Friends, are sitting on rocking chairs, smoking and drinking. They are listening to a piano, and dreamily watching a white cloud which travels back and forth across the sky. Around them are printed notices bearing such inscriptions as ‘Kindly take care of my furniture. L.B.’ ‘Wipe your shoes before entering. L.B.’ ‘Do not put your feet on the table. L.B.’ ‘No spitting. L.B.’ ‘Ashtrays have been provided: use them. L.B.’ ‘Do not pick your teeth in public. L.B.’ ‘Do not throw razor blades down the W.C. L.B.’ ‘Please refrain from using indecent language and singing indecent songs. L.B.’ ‘Keep this establishment as we like it and it will be as-you-like-it.’
JIM:
Deep in the woods of ice-bound Alaska
Seven winters I toiled with three buddies together
Cutting down trees and hauling logs through the snow
And I lived on raw meat and saved my earnings:
Seven years it’s taken to get me
Here where I now am.
There in a riverside hut for seven winters
Carving our curses with our knives in the table
Talking of nothing but where we would go to
Of just where we would go to when we’d saved enough money
Hungered, thirsted, sweated, shivered to
Get where we now are.
When our time was over, we picked up our savings.
Out of all towns we had to choose from, we chose Mahagonny
Made our way here without stopping to rest
By the shortest route.
And what does it all add up to?
That no fouler place could exist
Nor any duller one be found on earth than
Here where we now are.
He jumps to his feet.
What’s the big idea? You think you can treat us like this?
You’ve got a second think coming. Come out of there, you
As-You-Like-It slut! It’s Jimmy Gallagher talking… from
Alaska … He doesn’t like it here!
BEGBICK coming out of the Tavern: What don’t you like here?
JIM: Your dungheap.
BEGBICK: I seem to keep hearing ‘dungheap’. Did anyone by chance say
‘Dungheap’?
JIM: You heard me. I said Dungheap.
The cloud shakes and goes quickly off.
Seven winters, seven winters hauling logs and cutting down trees…
THE SIX GIRLS, JAKE, BILL, JOE: He spent in cutting down trees…
JIM: And the rivers, and the rivers, and the rivers jammed with floating ice …
JAKE: Be quiet, Jim.
THE SIX GIRLS, JAKE, BILL, JOE: The rivers jammed with floating ice …
JIM:
Hungered, thirsted, sweated, shivered, Slaving like a beast to get here
But I do not like it here, for
Nothing’s going on.
JENNY:
Listen, Jimmy! Listen, Jimmy!
Please be good and put that knife away.
JIM: Hold me, hold me back!
JAKE, BILL, JOE: Please be good and put that knife away.
JENNY:
Listen, Jimmy!
Be a good boy, Jimmy, and behave.
JIM:
Seven years of felling timber
Seven years of cold and squalor
Seven years of bitter toil and
This is all you have to offer:
BEGBICK, FATTY, MOSES: You have quiet, concord, whisky, women.
JIM: Quiet! Concord! Whisky! Women!
JENNY, JAKE, BILL, JOE: Put your knife back in your belt now!
CHORUS: Qui-et! Qui-et!
BEGBICK, FATTY, MOSES: You can sleep here, smoke here, fish here, swim here.
JIM: Sleeping! Smoking! Fishing! Smoking!
JENNY, THE SIX GIRLS, JAKE, BILL, JOE:
Jimmy, put that knife away!
Jimmy, put that knife away!
CHORUS: Qui-et! Qui-et!
BEGBICK, FATTY, MOSES:
We know these Jimmies from Alaska.
We know these Jimmies from Alaska.
JIM:
Hold me, hold me back! Or there will be trouble.
Hold me, hold me back!
JAKE,
BILL, JOE:
Hold him, hold him back! Or there will be trouble.
Hold him, hold him back!
CHORUS:
We know these Jimmies, Jimmies, Jimmies from Alaska well:
They have it worse in winter than the dead have.
But you get rich in hell. But you get rich in hell.
BEGBICK, FATTY, MOSES: Why can’t stupid swine like these remain forever in Alaska? All they ever want to do is spoil the fun of peace and concord. Throw the bastard out! He’s had enough.
JIM:
Hold me, hold me back or there’ll be trouble!
For there’s no life here!
For there’s no life here!
He stands on a table.
No, not all your bars in Mahagonny
Will ever make a man happy:
There’s too much charity
And too much concord
And there is too much
To build all his trust upon.
All the lights go out. Everyone remains as he is in the dark.
10
In enormous letters on the backcloth appears: TYPHOON!, and then: A HURRICANE THREATENS MAHAGONNY.
ALL:
No! Not utter destruction!
Our golden Joytown will be lost!
For the raging storm hangs over the mountains:
We shall die, drown in the waters of death.
We face utter destruction
A black, horrible end!
O is there no wall to shelter us now?
O is there no cavern which will hide us?
We face utter destruction
A black, horrible end!
11
During this dreadful night an untutored lumberjack called Jimmy Gallagher had a vision in which the laws of human happiness were revealed to him
The night of the hurricane. Sitting on the ground leaning against the wall are Jenny, Begbick, Jim, Jake, Bill and Joe. All are in despair, but Jim is smiling. From backstage can be heard the voices of men in procession as they pass behind the wall.
THE MEN OF MAHAGONNY off:
Stout be your hearts though dark be the night
Stand though the sun and the moon take to flight:
Hence with idle wailing
Tears are unavailing;
Face the fury of the storm and fight!
JENNY softly and sadly:
Oh, Moon of Alabama
We now must say good-bye.
We’ve lost our good old mama
And must have whisky
Oh, you know why.
JAKE:
Why try to escape it?
It’s no use.
To run away
Cannot save you.
The best thing we can do
Is to sit here
And face it
Until the end comes.
THE MEN OF MAHAGONNY off:
Stout be your hearts though dark be the night
Stand though the sun and the moon take to flight:
Hence with idle wailing
Tears are unavailing;
Face the fury of the storm and fight!
Jim laughs.
BEGBICK: What’s the laugh for?
JIM:
So, then – that’s how it is!
Quiet and concord do not exist.
But the big typhoons have existence.
So do earthquakes. You can ignore neither.
And the same is true of mankind:
It must destroy and bring ruin.
You’re afraid of raging hurricanes?
You think that typhoons are shocking?
Wait till a man is out to have his fun.
In the distance: ‘Stout be your hearts …’ etc.
JAKE: Be quiet, Jim.
JOE: You talk too much.
BILL: Relax and smoke and forget.
JIM:
You may build a tower taller than Everest:
Man will come and smash it to bits.
He’ll do it for the hell of it.
The straightest way shall be made crooked
And the high place brought down to dust.
We need no raging hurricane
We need no bolt from the blue:
There’s no havoc which they might have done
That we cannot better do.
In the distance: ‘Stout be your hearts…’etc.
BEGBICK:
Bad is the hurricane.
Even worse the typhoon.
But the worst of all is man.
JIM to Begbick:
Listen! You’ve had placards put up
Upon which was written:
This is prohibited.
That you mustn’t do.
That sort of thing spoils any happiness.
Boys! In that corner there is a placard.
It says there: It is henceforth forbidden
To sing any cheerful songs.
But before two o’clock strikes
You will hear Jimmy Gallagher
Singing a cheerful song
To show you that
Nothing is forbidden.
JOE:
We need no raging hurricane
We need no bolt from the blue;
There’s no havoc which they might have done
That we cannot better do.
JENNY:
Be quiet, Jim. You talk too much.
Come outside with me: make love to me.
JIM:
No. I’ve more to say.
Dreams have all one ending:
To wake and be coldly sure
To see the dark descending
To hear the wind portending
A night that shall endure.
Life, our only treasure
Runs out before you know.
The deepest draught of pleasure
Will seem too short a measure
When you are told to go.
Daily we grow older.
We have but little time
So leave the dead to moulder
To be alive is nobler
To flee from life, a crime.
Take not as your teacher
The tyrant or the slave.
And do not dread the preacher:
The end for every creature
Is nothing but the grave.
He comes to the front of the stage.
If you see a thing
You can only have for cash
Then fork out your cash:
If someone is passing by who has cash
Knock him on the head and take all his cash:
Yes, do it!
If you fancy a lovely home
Then enter a home
And pick yourself a bed:
If the housewife comes, make a twosome with her
If the roof begins leaking, get away!
Yes, do it!
If one morning a thought occurs
New to your mind
Think that, like all thinking
It’ll cost you cash and ruin your home:
Think it, though! Think it, though!
Yes, do it!
For the sake of good order
The good of the state
For humanity’s future
And for your personal satisfaction
Do it!
All have risen. They are now holding their heads high. Jim returns to them and they congratulate him.
THE MEN OF MAHAGONNY offstage:
Hence with idle wailing
Tears are unavailing;
Face the fury of the storm and fight!
BEGBICK beckons Jim and goes into a corner with him: So you think I was wrong to forbid anything.
JIM: Yes. Now I’m cheerful, I feel like tearing down all your precious notices. Even the walls will have to go. The hurricane won’t pay you for them, but I will. Here. Take this.
BEGBICK to all:
Let each one do just what he likes,
The storm will soon do it too:
So when a raging
hurricane strikes
There’s nothing we may not do.
JIM, JAKE, BILL, JOE:
Clap your hands when a hurricane strikes:
Who cares for being immortal?
When a man can do just what he likes
Who’s afraid of the storm at his portal?
Let it say
Any day:
Do you think you’re immortal?
Fatty and Moses rush in excitedly.
FATTY AND MOSES:
Destroyed is Pensacola!
Destroyed is Pensacola!
And the hurricane roars
On its raging way to Mahagonny!
BEGBICK exultantly:
Pensacola!
Pensacola!
The sharp-eyed sheriffs are swallowed up
The just alike with the unjust have been brought to nothing:
It must have taken them all!
JIM:
You are free, I say, if you dare!
You may do all tonight that’s prohibited.
Soon the hurricane will do it as well, so
Sing, as an example, for that’s prohibited.
THE MEN OF MAHAGONNY quite close behind the wall: Be quiet! Be quiet!
JIM WITH JENNY AND JOE:
Come on, sing with us!
Sing with us, sing any cheerful song.
If it’s prohibited
Sing it with us!
JIM jumping on to the wall:
As you make your bed, so you lie on it
The bed can be old or brand-new;
So if someone must kick, why, that’s my part
And another get kicked, that part’s for you!
ALL:
As you make your bed, so you lie on it
The bed can be old or brand-new;
So if someone must kick, that is my part,
And another get kicked, that’s for you!
Lights out. On the backcloth is a map on which an arrow indicating the path of the hurricane moves slowly towards Mahagonny.
CHORUS distant: Stout be your hearts though dark be the night!
12
In a dim light, the Men and Girls of Mahagonny are waiting on a country road outside the city. As at the end of scene 11, the projection on the backcloth shows an arrow moving slowly towards Mahagonny. Every so often during the orchestral introduction a loudspeaker makes announcements: ‘The hurricane is now approaching Atsena at a speed of one hundred and twenty miles an hour.’
Second loudspeaker announcement: ‘Atsena totally destroyed. No reports coming through. Communications with Atsena impossible to re-establish.’
Third loudspeaker announcement: ‘The hurricane’s speed is increasing; it is now making straight for Mahagonny. All lines to Mahagonny are now down.
In Pensacola 11,000 are reported dead.’
All are watching the arrow horror-struck. Suddenly, a minute’s distance from Mahagonny, the arrow stops. Dead silence. Then the arrow makes a rapid half-circle around Mahagonny and moves on. Loudspeaker: