Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence (Illustrated)

by D. H. Lawrence

  LEADER OF MEN-AT-ARMS: Tarry we here, O King? Where shall we seek the son of Jesse?

  SAUL: Even where ye will.

  LEADER: Tarrieth the King here?

  SAUL: Yea! I will know if the Lord is verily in this place.

  PROPHET: Verily He is here.

  Company of PROPHETS still chant.

  SAUL (going slowly forward): Art Thou here, O Lord? What? Is this Thy brightness upon the hill? What? Art Thou here in Thy glory?

  COMPANY OF PROPHETS: Fire within fire is the presence of the Lord!

  Sun within the sun is our God! [Bis.

  Rises the sun among the hills of thy heart

  Rising to shine in thy breast? [Bis.

  SAUL: Yea! O Prophets! Am I not King? Shall not the Sun of suns rise among the hills of my heart, and make dawn in my body? What! Shall these prophets know the glory of the Lord, and shall the son of Kish stay under a cloud? (Sticks his spear into the ground, and unbuckles his sword-belt.)

  LEADER OF ARMED MEN: Wilt thou go up before the Lord, O King? Then camp we here, to await thy pleasure.

  SAUL: I will go up. Camp an ye will.

  LEADER: Even camp we here. (They untackle.)

  SAUL: Ha! Ha! Is there a glory upon the prophets? Do their voices resound like rocks in the valley! Ha! Ha! Thou of the sudden fire! I am coming! Yea! I will come into the glory! (Advancing, throws down his woollen mantle. The IST PROPHET takes it up.)

  CHORUS OF PROPHETS: Whiteness of wool helps thee not in the high place

  Colours on thy coat avail thee naught. [Bis.

  Fire unto fire only speaks, and only flame

  Beckons to flame of the Lord! [Bis.

  The PROPHETS divide and make way as SAUL comes up.

  SAUL: Is my heart a cold hearth? Is my heart fireless unto Thee? Kindler! it shall not be so! My heart shall shine to Thee, yea, unshadow itself. Yea, the fire in me shall mount to the fire of Thee, Thou Wave of Brightness!

  SOLDIER (below — with loud and sudden shout): The sun is in my heart. Lo! I shine forth!

  SAUL (with suddenness): I will come up! Oh! I will come up! Dip me in the flame of brightness, Thou Bright One, call up the sun in my heart, out of the clouds of me. Lo! I have been darkened and deadened with ashes! Blow a fierce flame on me, from the middle of Thy glory, O Thou of the faceless flame. (Goes slowly forward.) Oh, dip me in the ceaseless flame!

  Throws down his coat, or wide-sleeved tunic, that came below the knee and was heavily embroidered at neck and sleeves in many colours: is seen in the sleeveless shirt that comes half-way down the thigh.

  SOLDIER (below): Kings come and pass away, but the flame is flame for ever. The Lord is here, like a tree of white fire! Yea, and the white glory goes in my nostrils like a scent.

  SAUL: Shall a soldier be more blessed than I? Lo! I am not dead, thou Almighty! My flesh is still flame, still steady flame. Flame to flame calleth, and that which is dead is cast away. (Flings off his shirt: is seen, a dark-skinned man in leathern loin-girdle.) Nay, I carry naught upon me, the long flame of my body leans to the flame of all glory! I am no king, save in the Glory of God. I have no kingdom, save my body and soul. I have no name. But as a slow and dark flame leaneth to a great glory of flame, and is sipped up, naked and nameless lean I to the glory of the Lord.

  CHORUS OF PROPHETS: Standeth a man upon the stem of upright knees

  Openeth the navel’s closed bud, unfoldeth the flower of the breast!

  Lo! Like the cup of a flower, with morning sun

  Filled is thy breast with the Lord, filled is thy navel’s wide flower!

  SOLDIER: Oh, come! For a little while the glory of the Lord stands upon the high place! Oh, come! before they build Him houses, and enclose Him within a roof! Oh, it is good to live now, with the light of the first day’s sun upon the breast. For when the seed of David have put the Lord inside a house, the glory will be gone, and men will walk with no transfiguration! Oh, come to this high place! Oh, come!

  SAUL: Surely I feel my death upon me! Surely the sleep of sleeps descends. (Casts himself down.) I cast myself down, night and day; as in death, lie I naked before God. Ah, what is life to me! Alas that a man must live till death visit him! — that he cannot walk away into the cloud of Sun! Alas for my life! For my children and my children’s children, alas! For the son of Jesse will wipe them out! Alas for Israel! For the fox will trap the lion of strength, and the weasel that is a virgin, and bringeth forth her young from her mouth, shall be at the throats of brave men! Yea, by cunning shall Israel prosper, in the days of the seed of David: and by cunning and lurking in holes of the earth shall the seed of Jesse fill the earth. Then the Lord of Glory will have drawn far off, and gods shall be pitiful, and men shall be as locusts. But I, I feel my death upon me, even in the glory of the Lord. Yea, leave me in peace before my death, let me retreat into the flame!

  A pause.

  ANOTHER SOLDIER: Saul hath abandoned his kingdom and his men! Yea, he puts the Lord between him and his work!

  PROPHET: E’en let him be! For his loss is greater than another’s triumph.

  SOLDIER: Yea! But wherefore shall a man leave his men leaderless — even for the Lord!

  1ST SOLDIER (prophesying): When thou withdrawest Thy glory, let me go with Thee, O Brightest, even into the fire of Thee!

  CHORUS OF PROPHETS: Cast thyself down, that the Lord may snatch thee up.

  Fall before the Lord, and fall high.

  All things come forth from the flame of Almighty God, Some things shall never return! [Bis.

  Some have their way and their will, and pass at last

  To the worm’s waiting mouth. [Bis.

  But the high Lord He leans down upon the hill,

  And wraps His own in His flame,

  Wraps them as whirlwind from the world,

  Leaves not one sigh for the grave. . . .

  CURTAIN

  SCENE XVI

  Late afternoon. A rocky place outside Gilgal. DAVID is hiding near the stone Ezel.

  DAVID (alone): Now, if Jonathan comes not, I am lost. This is the fourth day, and evening is nigh. Lo! Saul seeketh my life. O Lord, look upon me, and hinder mine enemies! Frustrate them, make them stumble, O my God! So near am I to Gilgal, yet between me and mine own house lies the whole gap of death. Yea, Michal, thou art not far from me. Yet art thou distant even as death. I hide and have hidden. Three days have I hidden, and eaten scant bread. Lo! Is this to be the Lord’s anointed! Saul will kill me, and I shall die! There! Someone moves across the field! Ah, watch! watch! Is it Jonathan? It is two men; yea, it is two men. And one walks before the other. Surely it is Jonathan and his lad! Surely he has kept his word! O Lord, save me now from mine enemies, for they compass me round. O Lord my God, put a rope round the neck of my enemy, lest he rush forward and seize me in the secret place. Yea, it is Jonathan, in a striped coat. And a man behind him carrieth the bow. Yea, now must I listen, and uncover my ears, for this is life or death. O that he may say: Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them! For then I can come forth and go to my house, and the King will look kindly on me. — But he comes slowly, and sadly. And he will say: The arrows are beyond thee — and I shall have to flee away like a hunted dog, into the desert. — It will be so! Yea! And I must hide lest that lad who follows Jonathan should see me, and set Saul’s soldiery upon me.

  Exit DAVID after a pause.

  Enter JONATHAN with bow, and LAD with quiver.

  JONATHAN (stringing his bow): Lo! this is the stone Ezel. Seest thou the dead bush, like a camel’s head? That is a mark I have shot at, and now, before the light falls, will I put an arrow through his nose. (Takes an arrow.) Will this fly well? (Balancing it.)

  LAD: It is well shafted, O Jonathan.

  JONATHAN: Ay! Let us shoot. (Takes aim — shoots.) Yea, it touched the camel’s ear, but not his nose! Give me another! (Shoots.) Ah! Hadst thou a throat, thou camel, thou wert dead. Yet is thy nose too cheerful! Let us try again! (Takes another arrow — shoots.) Sur
ely there is a scratch upon thy nose-tip! Nay, I am not myself! Give me the quiver. And run thou, take up the arrows ere the shadows come.

  LAD: I will find them.

  He runs, as he goes JONATHAN shoots an arrow over his head. The LAD runs after it — stops.

  JONATHAN: Is not the arrow beyond thee?

  LAD: One is here! Here, another!

  JONATHAN: The arrow is beyond thee! Make speed! Haste! Stay not!

  LAD: Three have I! But the fourth —

  JONATHAN: The arrow is beyond thee! Run, make haste!

  LAD: I see it not! I see it not! Yea, it is there within bush. I have it, and it is whole. O master, is this all?

  JONATHAN: There is one more. Behold it is beyond thee.

  LAD (running): I see it not! I see it not! Yea, it is here!

  JONATHAN: It is all. Come, then! Come! Nay, the light is fading and I cannot see. Take thou the bow and the arrows, and go home. For I will rest here awhile by the stone Ezel.

  LAD: Will my master come home alone?

  JONATHAN: Yea will I, with the peace of day’s-end upon me. Go now, and wait me in the house. I shall soon come.

  Exit LAD. JONATHAN sits down on a stone till he is gone.

  JONATHAN (calling softly): David! David!

  DAVID comes forth, weeping. Falls on his face to the ground and bows himself three times before JONATHAN. JONATHAN raises him. They kiss one another, and weep.

  DAVID: Ah, then it is death, it is death to me from Saul?

  JONATHAN: Yea, he seeks thy life, and thou must flee far hence.

  DAVID (weeping): Ah, Jonathan! Thy servant thanks thee from his heart. But ah, Jonathan, it is bitter to go, to flee like a dog, to be houseless and homeless and wifeless, without a friend or helpmate! Oh, what have I done, what have I done! Tell me, what have I done! And slay me if I be in fault.

  JONATHAN (in tears): Thou art not in fault. Nay, thou art not! But thou art anointed, and thou shalt be King. Hath not Samuel said it even now, in Naioth, when he would not look upon the face of Saul! Yea, thou must flee until thy day come, and the day of the death of Saul, and the day of the death of Jonathan.

  DAVID (weeping): Oh, I have not chosen this. This have I not taken upon myself. This is put upon me, I have not chosen it! I do not want to go! Yea, let me come to Gilgal and die, so I see thy face, and the face of Michal, and the face of the King. Let me die! Let me come to Gilgal and die! (Flings himself on the ground in a paroxysm of grief.)

  JONATHAN: Nay! Thou shalt not die. Thou shalt flee! And till Saul be dead, thou shalt flee. But when Saul has fallen, and I have fallen with my father — for even now my life follows my father — then thou shalt be King.

  DAVID: I cannot go!

  JONATHAN: Yea! Thou shalt go now. For they will send forth men to meet me, ere the dark. Rise now, and be comforted. (DAVID rises.)

  DAVID: Why shouldst thou save me! Why dost thou withhold thy hand! Slay me now!

  JONATHAN: I would not slay thee, nor now nor ever. But leave me now, and go. And go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.

  DAVID: Yea, the covenant is between us! And I will go, and keep it.

  They embrace in silence, and in silence DAVID goes out.

  JONATHAN (alone in the twilight): Thou goest, David! And the hope of Israel with thee! I remain, with my father, and the star-stone falling to despair. Yet what is it to me! I would not see thy new day, David. For thy wisdom is the wisdom of the subtle, and behind thy passion lies prudence. And naked thou wilt not go into the fire. Yea, go thou forth, and let me die. For thy virtue is in thy wit, and thy shrewdness. But in Saul have I known the magnanimity of a man. Yea, thou art a smiter down of giants, with a smart stone! Great men and magnanimous, men of the faceless flame, shall fall from Strength, fall before thee, thou David, shrewd whelp of the lion of Judah! Yet my heart yearns hot over thee, as over a tender, quick child. And the heart of my father yearns, even amid its dark wrath. But thou goest forth, and knowest no depth of yearning, thou son of Jesse. Yet go! For my twilight is more to me than thy day, and my death is dearer to me than thy life! Take it! Take thou the kingdom, and the days to come. In the flames of death where Strength is, I will wait and watch till the day of David at last shall be finished, and wisdom no more be fox-faced, and the blood gets back its flame. Yea, the flame dies not, though the sun’s red dies! And I must get me to the city.

  Rises and departs hastily.

  CURTAIN

  THE DAUGHTER-IN-LAW

  A PLAY IN FOUR ACTS

  CONTENTS

  CHARACTERS

  ACT I

  ACT II

  ACT III

  ACT IV

  CHARACTERS

  MRS GASCOIGNE

  LUTHER

  JOE

  MRS PURDY

  MINNIE

  The action of the play takes place in the kitchen of Luther Gascoigne’s new home.

  ACT I

  SCENE I

  A collier’s kitchen — not poor. Windsor chairs, deal table, dresser of painted wood, sofa covered with red cotton stuff. Time: About half-past two of a winter’s afternoon.

  A large, stoutish woman of sixty-five, with smooth black hair parted down the middle of her head: MRS GASCOIGNE.

  Enter a young man, about twenty-six, dark, good-looking; has his right arm in a sling; does not take off cap: JOE GASCOIGNE.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Well, I s’d ha’ thought thy belly ‘ud a browt thee whoam afore this.

  JOE sits on sofa without answering.

  Doesn’t ter want no dinner?

  JOE (looking up): I want it if the’ is ony.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: An’ if the’ isna, tha can go be out? Tha talks large, my fine jockey! (She puts a newspaper on the table; on it a plate and his dinner.) Wheer dost reckon ter’s bin?

  JOE: I’ve bin ter th’ office for my munny.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha’s niver bin a’ this while at th’ office.

  JOE: They kep’ me ower an hour, an’ then gen me nowt.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Gen thee nowt! Why, how do they ma’e that out? It’s a wik sin’ tha got hurt, an’ if a man wi’ a broken arm canna ha’ his fourteen shillin’ a week accident pay, who can, I s’d like to know?

  JOE: They’ll gie me nowt, whether or not.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: An’ for why, prithee?

  JOE (does not answer for some time; then, sullenly): They reckon I niver got it while I wor at work.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Then where did ter get it, might I ax? I’d think they’d like to lay it onto me.

  JOE: Tha talks like a fool, Mother.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha looks like one, me lad.

  She has given him his dinner; he begins to eat with a fork.

  Here, hutch up, gammy-leg — gammy-arm.

  He makes room; she sits by him on the sofa and cuts up his meat for him.

  It’s a rum un as I should start ha’in’ babies again, an’ feedin’ ‘em wi’ spoon-meat. (Gives him a spoon.) An’ now let’s hear why they winna gi’e thee thy pay. Another o’ Macintyre’s dirty knivey dodges, I s’d think.

  JOE: They reckon I did it wi’ foolery, an’ not wi’ work.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Oh indeed! An’ what by that?

  JOE (eating): They wunna gie me nowt, that’s a’.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: It’s a nice thing! An’ what did ter say?

  JOE: I said nowt.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha wouldna’! Tha stood like a stuffed duck, an’ said thank-yer.

  JOE: Well, it wor raight.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: How raight?

  JOE: I did do it wi’ foolery.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Then what did ter go axin’ fer pay fer?

  JOE: I did it at work, didna I? An’ a man as gets accident at work’s titled ter disability pay, isna he?

  MRS GASCOIGNE: Tha said a minnit sin’ as tha got it wi’ foolery.

  JOE: An’ so I did.

 
MRS GASCOIGNE: I niver ‘eered such talk i’ my life.

  JOE: I dunna care what ter’s ‘eered an’ what t’asna. I wor foolin’ wi’ a wringer an’ a pick-heft — ta’s it as ter’s a mind.

  MRS GASCOIGNE: What, down pit?

  JOE: I’ th’ stall, at snap time.