BARBARA: Yes.
WESSON: If it kills him — it won’t kill him — but you’ll say it?
BARBARA (hiding her face): Must I, Giacomo?
WESSON: Yes.
BARBARA: Then I s’ll have to — oh dear! But you’ll love me — love me a lot. (She clings to him wildly.)
WESSON: I do — and I will.
BARBARA: Love me a fearful lot!
CURTAIN
DAVID
A PLAY IN SIXTEEN SCENES
CONTENTS
SCENE I
SCENE II
SCENE III
SCENE IV
SCENE V
SCENE VI
SCENE VII
SCENE VIII
SCENE IX
SCENE X
SCENE XI
SCENE XII
SCENE XIII
SCENE XIV
SCENE XV
SCENE XVI
CHARACTERS
DAVID, son of Jesse
SAUL, King of Israel
SAMUEL, Prophet of God
JONATHAN, son of Saul
ABNER, leader of Saul’s host
AGAG, King of Amalek
MERAB, daughter of Saul
MICHAL, daughter of Saul
WOMAN-SERVANT
MAIDENS
JESSE, father of David
ELIAB, ABINADAB, SHAMMAH, brothers of David
Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Brothers of David
ADRIEL the Meholathite
Captains, Fighting-Men, Herald, Armour-Bearer, Elders, Neighbours, Prophets, Herdsmen, and Lad.
SCENE I
Courtyard of SAUL’S house in Gilgal: sort of compound with an adobe house beyond.
AGAG, bound, seated on the ground, and fastened by a rope to a post of the shed. Men with spears. Enter MERAB and MICHAL, daughters of SAUL, with tambourines. MAIDENS.
MERAB (running and dancing): Saul came home with the spoil of the Amalekite.
MAIDENS: Hie! Amalekite! Hie! Amalekite!
MICHAL: Saul threw his spear into the desert of Shur, through the heart of the Amalekite.
MAIDENS: Struck the Amalekite, pierced him to the ground.
MICHAL: Wind of the desert blows between the ribs of Amalek, only the jackal is fat on that land. Who smote the Amalekite, as a sand-storm smites the desert?
MAIDENS: Saul! Saul! Saul is the slayer and the death of Amalek.
MERAB (before AGAG): What is this dog with a string round his neck?
MAIDENS: What dog is this?
MICHAL: I know this dog, men used to call it King!
MAIDENS: Look at this King!
MERAB: Agag, Agag, King of the Amalekites! Dog on a string at the heel of mighty Saul!
MICHAL (speaking to AGAG): Are you the King of the Amalekites?
AGAG: I am he, maiden!
MICHAL: I thought it was a dog my father had brought home, and tied to a post.
MERAB: Why are you alone, Agag? Where are all your armed men, that ran like lions, round the road to Egypt? Where are your women, with gold on their foreheads? Let us hear the tinkle of the bracelets of your women, O King, King Agag, King of mighty Amalek!
MAIDENS (laughing — shaking tambourines in AGAG’S face — spitting on him): Dog! Dog! Dog of an Amalekite!
MICHAL: Who hung on the heels of Israel when they journeyed out of the wilderness of Shur, coming from Egypt, in the days of our fathers, in the day of Moses, our great deliverer?
MAIDENS: Ay! Ay! Who threw their spears in the backs of the wandering Israelites?
MICHAL: Who killed our women, and the weary ones, and the heavy-footed, in the bitter days of wandering, when we came up out of Egypt?
MERAB: Who among our enemies was accursed like the Amalekite? When Moses held the rod of God uplifted in his hand, Joshua smote the Amalekite till the sun went down. But even when the sun was gone, came the voice of the Almighty: War, and war with Amalek, till Amalek is put out from under heaven.
MICHAL: Dog! Son of dogs that lay in wait for us as we passed by! Dog! Why has Saul left you eyes to see, and ears to hear!
SAUL (coming from house): Agag is among the maidens!
MICHAL: See, Father, is this a king?
SAUL: Even so.
MICHAL: It is a dog that cannot scratch his own fleas.
SAUL: Even so, it is a king: King of rich Amalek. Have you seen the presents he has brought for the household of Saul?
MICHAL: For the daughters of Saul, Father?
SAUL: Surely for Merab and Michal, daughters of Saul. (To a man.) Ho! Bring the basket of spoils for the daughters of the King.
MICHAL: Listen! Listen! King Agag seeks a wife in Gilgal! Oh, Father, I do not like him! He looks like a crow the dogs have played with. Merab, here is a King for your hand!
MERAB: Death is his portion, the Amalekite.
MICHAL: Will you put him to death, Father? Let us laugh a little longer at his Amalek nose.
Enter man with basket — also JONATHAN and ABNER.
SAUL: See the gifts of Agag, King of Amalek, to the daughters of Saul! Tissue from Egypt, head-veils from Pharaoh’s house! And see, red robes from Tyre, and yellow from Sidon.
MICHAL (screams): That for me, Father, that for me! Give the other to Merab. — Ah! Ah! Ah! — Thank you, King Agag; thank you, King of Amalek.
SAUL: Goldsmith’s work for arms and ankles, gold and dropping silver, for the ears.
MICHAL: Give me those! Give me those! Give the others to Merab! Ay! Ay! Maidens! How am I? — See, Agag, noble Agag, how am I now? Listen! (She dances, the ornaments clink.) They say: Noble Agag! — King of Givers! Poor draggled crow that had gold in its nest! Caw! King Agag! Caw! It’s a daughter of Saul, of long-limbed Saul, smiter of Amalek, who tinkles with joys of the Amalekite.
JONATHAN: Peace, maiden! Go in and spin wool with the women. You are too much among the men.
MICHAL: Art thou speaking, O Jonathan, full of thy own manhood?
JONATHAN: Take in these spoils from the eye of men, and the light of day. Father, there came one saying that Samuel sought you in Carmel.
SAUL: Let him find me in Gilgal.
ABNER: They are calling even now at the gate. (Moves to gate.)
SAUL (to girls): Go to the house and hide your spoil, for if this prophet of prophets finds the treasure of the Amalekite upon you, he will tear it away, and curse your youth.
MICHAL: That he shall not! Oh, Merab, you got the blue shawl from me! Run! Maidens! Run! Farewell, King Agag, your servant thanks your lordship! — Caw! — Nay, he cannot even say caw!
Exit — running — MICHAL, and other MAIDENS follow.
ABNER: It is so, my lord. Samuel even now has passed the stone of directions, seeking Saul in Gilgal.
SAUL: It is well. He has come to bless our triumph.
JONATHAN: Father, will you leave that man in the sight of Samuel?
SAUL: No! Go you quickly into the house, O Agag! Take him quickly, men, and let no mouth speak his name.
Exeunt AGAG and men.
JONATHAN: I have a misgiving, Father, that Samuel comes not in peace, after Saul in Gilgal.
SAUL: Has Saul laid low the Amalekite, to fear the coming of an old prophet?
ABNER: Samuel is a jealous man, full of the tyranny of prophecy. Shall we wait him here, or go into the house and be seated on the mats? Or shall we go forth from the gate towards him?
SAUL: I will stay here, and brighten my sword-edge in the waiting.
ABNER (at the gate — calling): He is coming across the field; an old man in a mantle, alone, followed by two of his prophets.
JONATHAN (joining ABNER): It is he. And coming in anger.
ABNER: In anger against whom?
JONATHAN: Against my father. Because we have not destroyed the Amalekite utterly, but have saved the best spoil.
ABNER: Nay, but it is a foolish thing, to throw fine linen into the fire, and fat young oxen down a dry well.
JONATHAN: It was the commandment.
/> ABNER: Why should the maidens not rejoice in their ornaments, and the God of the Unknown Name enjoy the scent of blood-sacrifice?
They retreat from the gate; SAUL sharpens his sword. After a pause, enter SAMUEL, followed by the prophets.
SAUL (laying down his sword): Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.
SAMUEL: What meaneth the bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
SAUL: They have brought them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto thy God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.
SAMUEL: Stay, and I will tell thee what I have heard out of the inner darkness, this night.
SAUL: Say on.
SAMUEL: When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the chieftain of the tribes of Israel, and the Deep poured His power over thee, to anoint thee King? And the Voice out of the deeps sent thee on a journey, saying: Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. — Why then did you not obey the Voice, instead of flying upon the spoil, and doing evil in the sight of the Unclosing Eyes?
SAUL: Yea, I have obeyed the Voice from the beyond. I have gone the way which the Great One sent me, and have brought Agag the King of Amalek prisoner, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice in Gilgal unto the Lord thy God.
SAMUEL: Does the Breather of the skies take as great delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings as in obedience to the Voice that spoke on the breath of the night? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
SAUL: Is not God the sender of life, and the bread of life? And shall we deny the meat and destroy the bread that is sent?
SAMUEL: Behold, is the Lord my God a sutler, to stock the larders of Saul? Lo, He heeds not the fat beef nor the fine raiment, but threshes out His anger in the firmament. Amalek has defied the living Breath, and cried mockery on the Voice of the Beyond. Therefore the living Wrath will wipe out the Amalekite, by the hand of His servant, Israel. And if the Nameless is without compunction, whence the compunction of Saul?
SAUL: I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
SAMUEL: Yea, that was bravely done! Thou didst not fear the Great Lord, thou fearedst the people, smaller than thyself. Thou didst not obey the Cry from the midst of the dark, but the voice of the people! — I tell thee, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord hath also rejected thee from being King.
SAUL: Shall a King not hearken to the voice of his people?
SAMUEL: The people cried for a King, in the frowardness of their hearts. But can they make a King out of one of themselves? Can they whistle a lion forth from a litter of dogs? The people cried for a King, and the Lord gave to them. Even thee, Saul. But why art thou King? Because of the voice of the people?
SAUL: Thou didst choose me out.
SAMUEL: The finger of the Thunder pointed me to thee, and the Wind of Strength blew me in thy way. And thou art King because from out of the middle world the great Wish settled upon thee. And thou art King because the Lord poured the oil of His might over thee. But thou art disobedient, and shuttest thine ears to the Voice. Thou hearest the barkings of dogs and the crying of the people, and the Voice of the Midmost is nothing to thee. Therefore thou hast become as nothing unto the Lord, and He that chose thee rejecteth thee again. The power of the Lord shall fall away from thee, and thou shalt become again a common man, and a little thing, as when the Lord first found thee.
SAUL: I have sinned. For I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord, which thou didst hear out of the deeps of the night. Because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. But now, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may find the Lord, to worship Him.
SAMUEL: I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel. (SAMUEL turns away. SAUL catches hold of the hem of SAMUEL’S garment and it tears in his hand.) The Lord hath rent the Kingdom of Israel away from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou (pause); — and the Mighty One that moveth Israel will not lie, nor repent towards thee again: for He is not a man that He should repent.
SAUL: I have sinned, I have sinned, I have turned my face the wrong way. Yet honour me now, I pray thee! Honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may find the Lord thy God, and worship Him.
SAMUEL (turning): Thou hast turned away from the Hidden Sun, and the gleam is dying from out of thy face. Thou hast disowned the Power that made thee, and the glow is leaving thy limbs, the glisten of oil is waning on thy brow, and the vision is dying in thy breast. Yet because thou art the Lord’s anointed I will bless thee again in the sight of the elders. Yet if the Lord hath decided against thee, what avails an old man’s blessing?
SAUL: Yet bless me, my Father.
SAMUEL (lifting his hand): The Lord be with thee! The Lord’s strength strengthen thee! The power and the might of the Lord brighten thine eyes and light thy face: the Lord’s life lift thy limbs and gladden the walls of thy breast, and put power in thy belly and thy hips! The Lord’s haste strengthen thy knees and quicken thy feet!
SAUL (lifting both hands to heaven): Lo, I have sinned, and lost myself, I have been mine own undoing. But I turn again to Innermost, where the flame is, and the wings are throbbing. Hear me, take me back! Brush me again with the wings of life, breathe on me with the breath of Thy desire, come in unto me, and be with me, and dwell in me. For without the presence of the awful Lord, I am an empty shell. Turn to me, and fill my heart, and forgive my transgression. For I will wash myself clean of Amalek, to the last speck, and remove the source of my sinning. (Drops his hands — turns to SAMUEL.) Is it well, O Samuel?
SAMUEL: May it be well! Bring me hither Agag, King of the Amalekites.
SAUL: Ho, Jonathan, send here Agag the Amalekite. And send thou the chief of the herdsmen, O Abner, for we must wipe away the stain of Amalek swiftly, out of Gilgal.
Exeunt JONATHAN and ABNER.
SAUL (to SAMUEL): The Lord shall be with me again this day, that the Kingdom be not rent from me.
SAMUEL: Who knoweth the ways of the Deep? I will entreat, ah! for thee in the night-time, and in the day. But if He hath turned His face away, what am I but an old man crying like an infant in the night!
Enter AGAG — coming forward delicately.
AGAG: Surely the bitterness of death is past.
SAMUEL (seizing SAUL’S sword): As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. (Rushes on AGAG with sword — AGAG steps behind a wall, SAMUEL upon him.)
Enter HERDSMAN.
JONATHAN: Better it had been in battle, on the field of the fight.
ABNER: It is a sacrifice.
SAUL (to HERDSMAN): Gather together the cattle of the Amalekite which came as spoil, and fasten them in a pen. Leave out no sheep and no calf, nor any goat, but put them all in.
HERDSMAN: It shall be as Saul says.
Exit HERDSMAN.
SAMUEL (entering with red sword): I have hewed him in pieces before the Lord, and his blood has gone up to the Most High; it is in the nostrils of the God of Wrath.
SAUL: Come now, I pray thee, within the house, and let them bring water for thy feet and food to gladden thine heart.
SAMUEL: It may not be. But I must go to Ramah to entreat for thee before the Lord, and even now must I go. And may the Might be with thee.
CURTAIN
SCENE II
A room in Ramah. Night. SAMUEL in prayer.
SAMUEL: Speak to me out of the whirlwind, come to me from behind the sun, listen to me where the winds are hastening. When the power o
f the whirlwind moves away from me, I am a worthless old man. Out of the deep of deeps comes a breath upon me, and my old flesh freshens like a flower. I know no age. Oh, upon the wings of distance turn to me, send the fanning strength into my hips. I am sore for Saul, and my old bones are weary for the King. My heart is like a fledgling in a nest, abandoned by its mother. My heart opens its mouth with vain cries, weak and meaningless, and the Mover of the deeps will not stoop to me. My bowels are twisted in a knot of grief, in a knot of anguish for my son, for him whom I anointed beneath the firmament of might. On earth move men and beasts, they nourish themselves and know not how they are alive. But in all the places moves Unseen Almighty, like a breath among the stars, or the moon, like the sea turning herself over. I eat bread, but my soul faints, and wine will not heal my bones. Nothing is good for me but God. Like waters He moves through the world, like a fish I swim in the flood of God Himself. Answer me, Mover of the waters, speak to me as waves speak without mouths. Saul has fallen off, as a ripe fig falls and bursts. He, anointed, he moved in the flood of power, he was God’s, he was not his own. Now he is cast up like a fish among the dry stones, he beats himself against the sun-licked pebbles. He jumped out from the deeps of the Lord, the sea of God has seen him depart. He will die within the smell of his own violence. Lord, Lord, Ocean and Mover of oceans, lick him into the flood of Thyself. Wilt Thou not reach for him with the arm of a long wave, and catch him back into the deeps of living God? Is he lost from the sway of the tide for ever and for ever? When the rain wets him, will it wet him Godless, and will the wind blow on him without God in it? Lord, wilt Thou not reach for him, he is Thine anointed? Bitter are the waters of old age, and tears fall inward on the heart. Saul is the son whom I anointed, and Saul has crawled away from God, he creeps up the rocks in vanity, the stink of him will rise up like a dead crab. Lord, is it verily so with Saul, is he gone out from Thee for ever, like a creeping thing crawled in vanity from the element of elements? I am old, and my tears run inward, they deaden my heart because of Saul. For Saul has crawled away from the Fountain of Days, and the Ancient of Days will know him no more. I hear the voice of the Lord like waters washing through the night, saying: Saul has fallen away and is no more in the way of the power of God. Yea, what is love, that I should love him! He is fallen away, and stinketh like a dead crab, and my love stinks with him. I must wash myself because of Saul, and strip myself of him again, and go down into the deeps of God. Speak, Lord, and I will obey. Tell me, and I will do it. I sink like a stone in the sea, and nothing of my own is left me. I am gone away from myself, I disappear in the deeps of God. And the oracle of the Lord stirs me, as the fountains of the deep. Lo! I am not mine own. The flood has covered me and the waters of the beginning sound in the shell of my heart. And I will find another King for Israel, I shall know him by the whispers of my heart. Lo, I will fill the horn with oil again, with the oil from the body of Him, and I will go into the hills of Judah. I will find out one, in whom the power sleeps. And I will pour potency over his head and anoint him with God’s fecundity, and place him beyond forgetting. I will go into the hills of Judah, where the sheep feed among the rocks, and find a man fresh in the morning of God. And he shall be King. On the morrow I will gather myself and go, silently, carrying the kingship away from Saul, because the virtue is gone out of him. And Saul will kill me with a spear, in one stroke, for rage he will kill me, if I tell him. But I shall not tell him. I shall say: I must away to the land of Judah, it is the time to sacrifice in the place of Bethlehem, the appointed time is at hand. — So I shall go away from Saul for ever, and never shall I see his face again. I shall hide myself away from his face, lest he hurt himself, slaying me. I shall go in the morning with sure feet, but the shell of my heart will be weary. For I am the Lord’s and servant of the Lord, and I go in obedience, even with the alacrity of willingness. But alas, that I should have loved Saul, and had pride in him! I am old.
Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence Page 707