Stepmother (angrily):
What are you saying, Kate, my child!
Your mind’s in folly, your words are wild!
You, my daughter, my everything,
Only you shall dance with the King!
(Kate jumps up, throwing down her sewing.)
Kate:
Ann, my Ann, is as bonny as I,
Her foot is as light and her head as high,
Her hair as yellow, her eyes as blue
I will not dance unless Ann does too!
Stepmother:
How now, Kate! Shalt do as I say!
I shall order and you obey.
Silence, girl, to my yes or no!
(She turns with a stamp to Ann.)
Ugly Ann, to your chamber go!
Ann (sobbing):
But oh stepmother, and oh stepmother,
Why must you speak to hurt me so!
(She goes out weeping.)
Kate (angrily):
Why must you send my Ann away,
Why be harsh to her, mother, say?
For I love my Ann like a true, true sister,
I love my Ann in work and play!
Stepmother:
Hush now, Kate, from the closet bring
Your finest silks to dance with the King,
Cloth of silver and gold so rare.
Go, my Kate, I will find you there.
(Kate goes out sulkily. The Stepmother speaks with great violence and fists clenched.)
Ungrateful girls, by your folly led,
Folly and spite of heart and tongue,
Ere another day from the earth be fled
You shall both be sorry for what you have said.
For the charm will be chanted, the spell be sung,
And well and truly my plan be sped!
Hen-wife! …
(She walks up and down the room muttering to herself.)
Hen-wife’s magic, help me now,
Evil magic on field and plough,
Evil magic on hearth and fire,
Evil magic on beast and byre,
Evil magic on woman or man,
And evil’s worst on my stepchild Ann!
(Enter the HEN-WIFE, an old bundle of rags, speaking fast.)
Hen-Wife:
Mistress, I’m coming,
Mistress, I’m here,
Past bolt and lock,
I left the drumming
Of my turkey cock,
My ducks so dear,
My geese a gobbling,
My cocks and hens,
My little chickens,
My old dog hobbling,
My coops and pens—
Stepmother (interrupting):
Silence woman, and hearken well,
This is the thing I have to tell:
Do me a magic, lay me a spell,
Make and put, as a Hen-wife can,
An evil charm on my stepchild Ann!
Hen-Wife:
How shall I lay it,
Mistress mine,
What of evil
My spells entwine?
You’ve but to say it!
Stepmother:
Something ugly upon her lay,
That shall make good people turn away,
Turn and mutter or turn and mock,
And drive out Ann for a laughing stock!
Hen-Wife:
Ann must come knocking
On the Hen-wife’s gate,
The clock tick-tocking
At half-past eight
Of a morn of sorrow,
Of a Friday morning
—And that’s to-morrow—
The spell will be laid,
Bitter and lasting In sun or shade,
But I give you warning
To send her fasting!
Stepmother:
On Friday morning at half-past eight
Ann shall come knocking at the Hen-wife’s gate,
And that’s to-morrow!
She shall come fasting, no stop nor stay;
An evil lasting upon her lay
Beyond to-morrow!
Hen-Wife (chuckling):
She shall lift the lid
Of the Hen-wife’s pot,
A thing shall be hid
In my stew so hot,
In my stew so deep,
Out it shall leap
And long may she rue it!
I will not stay me
But up and do it,
My spell threads twine.
(whining)
Mistress of mine,
How will you pay me?
Stepmother:
In yonder chest is a purse of gold,
That shall be yours when the tale is told.
Hen-Wife:
I will be going,
I will away,
Past door and lock,
Back to the crowing
Of my crested cock,
My ducks a-dabbling,
My hens a-laying,
My geese a-gabbling,
My chicks a-playing,
My turkeys too,
Back to my cottage
And the Hen-wife’s brew!
(She goes out.)
Stepmother:
So to-morrow morning I shall work my plan
And there’ll be an end of my stepdaughter Ann!
SCENE II
The same room. The next morning. Ann, Kate and the Stepmother.
Stepmother:
The cooks are busy, the tables gay
For the feast we give for the King to-day,
Candles to burn and herbs to strew.
Stepdaughter Ann, here’s work for you:
Take up your cloak and your basket brown,
To the Hen-wife’s gate go quickly down,
For my cakes must have—and without delay!—
All the eggs that her hens can lay.
Ann:
Here is my cloak and basket brown;
Fasting I’ll go to the Hen-wife down,
And only ask—and be scarce delayed—
A sup of curds from the dairy-maid.
Stepmother (sharply):
The maid is busy, the dairy locked,
Go now, Ann, I will not be mocked!
We will eat and drink, and of cream no lack,
Cakes and junkets when Ann comes back!
(She laughs grimly. Ann goes out.)
Kate (sings. Air: “Sing a Song of Sixpence.”):
Roses, roses, we must strew
Where the King’s to come to-day.
(Enter maids with flowers.)
You and you and you and you,
Petals, petals, all the way!
(All of them strew flowers about the room, while Kate sings. This should be made to last a fairly long time.)
Here are pinks and here are fine.
Striped carnations, sweet and hot.
Make your pansies’ faces shine!
Here is tasselled bergamot.
Blue of borage, green of box,
Silver gold of dropping lime,
Royal purple spikes of stocks,
Make a carpet, make a rhyme.
Bring me lilies, hot with sun,
Leaf and star of jasmine bring,
Through the castle leap and run,
Make a pathway for the King!
(They go out, still dancing, leaving Kate and Stepmother.)
Stepmother (to herself):
Now the clock’s at half-past eight,
Ann will be knocking at the Hen-wife’s gate.
She will be taken in the Hen-wife’s plot,
She will lift the lid of the Hen-wife’s pot!
The smoke will stink and the stew will reek,
Ann will find something she did not seek!
(She laughs.)
Kate:
Why are you laughing, mother, mother,
With a grim, grim look in your eyes coming after? You
look so strange to me, mother, mother,
I am afraid when I hear your lau
ghter!
(Re-enter Ann, with a sheep’s-head in place of her own head. She stumbles and holds out her hands and bleats. Kate does not for a moment recognize her.)
Stepmother:
Here comes the working of the Hen-wife’s plan!
Kate:
What are you? Why are you? Who are you? Ann!
(She runs to her. Ann bleats again.)
What has come to you, dear, my dear?
What the charm, with your Kate not near?
Ann that I love like my true, true sister,
Do not tremble and do not fear!
Stepmother:
Sheep’s-head Ann, in the time that’s past,
We see in her own true shape at last!
Come away Kate, there’s naught to miss,
You shall have better friends than this!
(She claps her hands and shoos Ann away.)
Bleat at me, sheep-nose, all you can,
Off to the byres with sheep’s-head Ann!
Kate (taking Ann’s hand in hers and holding it tight):
Ann, I know you, I love you still,
I shall help you with heart and will!
I shall go with you, never fear,
I’ll be your sister, Ann, my dear!
Stepmother (sharply):
Kate, from the sheep’s-head take your hand!
Off, away from the sheep’s-head stand!
Leave her, go from her, off to the wall,
Or the sheep’s-head curse on you shall fall!
(Ann bleats.)
Kate:
Now I know why you laughed so queerly,
Now I know why you looked so grim,
Mother that once I loved so dearly,
Mother I hate now, nearly, nearly—
Ah, how the light goes dim, goes dim!
Mother, I see the dark immerse you,
Go your ways from it if you can,
Ere a coffin of evil hearse you—
Mother, I go before I curse you,
Mother, I go with my sister Ann!
(She takes a veil from the chest and wraps it round Ann’s head, while her mother stands trembling. Then she and Ann go out together.)
Stepmother:
Oh she is gone, my Kate, my Kate,
Gone with curses and gone with hate,
Gone on the storm like a rose in bloom,
She would not stay, and she would not wait,
I see my deed and I see my doom
And I see myself too late, too late!
(As she stands there, the Hen-wife comes in again.)
Hen-Wife:
The purse of gold,
The purse of gold,
For me to gloat on,
To have and hold,
For me to dote on!
The tale’s well told
Of the Hen-wife’s magic,
The Hen-wife’s curse.
Mistress, the purse!
Mistress, the gold!
(The Stepmother goes to the chest and takes out a purse of gold.)
Stepmother:
I swore to pay you and pay I will.
(She flings the purse in her face. The coins scatter.)
Go in evil and go in ill!
Go in storm, in sleet and in rain,
So I never look on your face again!
ACT II
SCENE I
The gate of a castle. Either the whole gate, or a wicket in it, should be made to open. There is a small window at the side which should open too. Kate and Ann come in, both wearing cloaks. Ann still has the linen web wrapped round her head.
Kate: Here’s a castle, dearest. We shall get food and lodging for to-night, and to-morrow will come when it must. Are you tired, Ann?
(Ann bleats.)
A little tired? Well, so am I.
(She knocks on the door.)
No answer, no answer to poor folk like Kate and Ann!
Well, I must needs sing for our supper.
(She sings: Air: “Lavender’s Blue.”)
Roses are red, dilly, dilly, lavender’s blue,
Where I can go, dilly, dilly, Ann shall come too.
If in the hall, dilly, dilly, if on the stair,
If at the feast, dilly, dilly, Ann shall be there!
If I have bread, dilly, dilly, if I have wine,
If I have meat, dilly, dilly, Ann shall have mine!
(The small window opens and the WELL PRINCE looks out of it: feathered cap and tunic, etc. Kate looks up; Ann buries her veiled head in her arms.)
Well Prince:
Who are you, beggar girls, standing there?
You with the cloak and the bold brown eyes,
You with the veil over face and hair
And the trembling look of a bird that flies,
A bird afraid that has seen the snare!
Kate: Why, we are beggar girls, as you say. We want food and a night’s lodging. Are you a Prince?
Well Prince:
I am a Prince, bold beggar maid,
But a sorry prince, and a prince betrayed,
A prince betrayed by a spite of fate
And a sore, sore trouble upon me laid.
Kate: Why, we have had troubles, too, I and my sister. I know about troubles. What is yours?
Well Prince:
I had a brother, who once was gay,
Merry and brave as a colt in May,
But once he was caught by the Green Hill people
Who turned him dour and fierce and fey.
His touch is fever, his looks are grim
His feet are heavy, his eyes are dim,
And all because of the Green Hill people
Who cast their luring, their spell on him!
By day he hides from the light of the sun,
He eats but little, he speaks to none,
But at night he goes to the Green Hill people
To dance in the hill till the dark is done.
Kate: You should have a watcher with him at night, a strong and careful watcher who is not afraid of the Green Hill people nor of any magic.
Well Prince:
Many a one has stayed at night
To watch by his bed till the morning light,
But every watcher has vanished, vanished,
Magicked away from human sight!
Magicked away by the Green Hill people
Who laugh at loving or faith or right!
And my brother laughs, he laughs in the morning,
With eyes all shadowed and cheeks all white.
Kate: It is a sad thing to hear that kind of laughter. I have heard laughter that bit at my heart. Well then, prince, are we to have shelter in your castle? Must I sing again?
Well Prince:
Sing, bold maiden, and cheer my heart!
(to Ann)
And you with the hands that flutter and start,
Will you lift the veil and show your beauty,
Your eyes that kindle and looks that dart?
(Ann shrinks and turns away.)
Kate (sings. Air: “Over the Water to Charlie”):
My sister Ann was good as gold,
My sister Ann was bonny,
Dear to kiss and fine to hold,
As sweet as bread and honey.
A cruel spell on her was laid
Upon her face so bonny,
Although she was a gentle maid
And sweet as bread and honey.
So no man now her face may see,
Nor kiss her lips so bonny,
Though he were a King of Araby,
Or good as bread and honey!
Well Prince:
You shall sing again, for I must know more.
For your sister’s sake my heart is sore,
I will away and bid the porter,
Slip back the bolts of my castle door!
(He goes from the window.)
Kate: Well, dearest, there’s a sad prince!
(Ann bleats.)
A sad prince, but a handsome one, you say?
Well, maybe. But at least he is giving us shelter at the end of a long day. If only we could stay here and not wear out those pretty feet of yours on the hard roads!
(Ann bleats.)
Not worn out? No, but they will be. And so will mine! Now tell me, Ann, what do you say to this: that I go watch this sick prince at nights and get good pay for it?
(Ann bleats and catches at Kate’s hands.)
Silly Ann, there’s nothing to fear. ’Tis not your sister Kate will vanish away in smoke for a little watching! It will take more than a spell from any Green Hill people to magic your Kate away!
(Ann bleats.)
Hush, here’s the porter, we’ll see what he says to it.
(The gate opens and the PORTER looks out; he is an important little man in red.)
Porter:
I am Peter Porter,
The castle Porter,
I open the door in
The stones and mortar,
Let three or four in,
Ladies a-riding
Or knights in armour,
A lovely charmer,
Or a captain striding.
I’m Peter Porter!
I let them all in,
Taller or shorter,
Beggar or gypsy,
I bid them crawl in,
Sober or tipsy!
I’m Peter Porter,
And a curtsy, please—
The Prince has the castle,
But I have the keys!
Kate: Mr. Peter Porter, your servants!
(She and Ann curtsy.)
Porter: The Prince bade me let you in, but ’tis I have the passing of you. What work will you do, beggar maids?
Kate: I can do most things about a house, and what I’ve not done yet I can try my hand at.
Porter: There’s but one piece of work needs doing in this castle, and that needs a stouter heart than any beggar maid can put to it.
Kate: Maybe I can guess the work you mean. I could be a sick-bed watcher, Mr. Peter Porter. (Ann tugs at her hand.) No, Ann, I must ask! Tell me, Mr. Peter Porter, what reward would a girl get who watched all night with your sick prince?
(As she says this the SICK PRINCE comes to the window and looks down, watching them, dark and smiling, bareheaded with a wild lock coming down over the forehead.)
Porter: Mistress beggar maid, the pay that is offered to man or woman who watches a night with the sick prince is a whole peck of silver.
Kate: Why, I could spend that with a light heart! I need new shoe-laces! Mr. Peter Porter, what kind of a prince is this sick prince of yours?
Porter (with a sideways glance): You’ve but to look at the window, mistress beggar maid, and you’ll see.
(Kate looks up. The Sick Prince laughs.)
The Fourth Pig Page 11