DAVID: Yea, it is very well.
MAIDEN goes down with her pitcher.
ADRIEL: Ha, David! And art thou returned? I have not seen thee before the King.
DAVID: I returned but yesterday. And I saw the King at the dawn. Now art thou become a great man in Israel, O Adriel, and son-in-law to the King. How fareth Merab in the tents of the Meholathite?
ADRIEL: Yea, and blithely. And to-morrow even in the early day will I set her on an ass, and we will get us to my father’s house. For he is old, and the charge of his possessions is heavy upon him, and he fain would see his daughter Merab, who shall bring him sons — sons to gladden him. And she shall have her handmaidens about her, and her store-barns of wool, and corn, and clotted figs, and bunches of raisins, all her wealth she shall see in store!
DAVID: May she live content, and bring thee sons, even males of worth.
ADRIEL: The Lord grant it! And thou hast come home once more with spoil! How thou chastenest the Philistine! Yea, and behold, the King hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee! Lo! I am the King’s son-in-law, of Merab. Now, therefore, be thou also the King’s son-in-law, for there is yet a daughter.
DAVID: Seemeth it to you a light thing, to be the King’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
ADRIEL: By my beard, the King delighteth in thee, and all his servants love thee. There is no man in Israel more fit to take a daughter of the King.
DAVID: Yea, there be men of mighty substance such as thou, whose flocks have not been counted, and who send men-at-arms pricking with iron lance-points, to the King’s service. But what have I, save the bare hands and heart of a faithful servant?
ADRIEL: Nay, thy name is high among men. But lo! here cometh Saul, as he hath promised. He is coming out to my tents. I will go forward to bring him in. Come thou?
DAVID: Nay! Leave me here.
Exit ADRIEL.
1ST HERDSMAN: I have heard the mouth of Adriel, O David! Surely he is the King’s listener.
DAVID: And thou! Who made thee a listener?
1ST HERDSMAN: Nay, I must guard the water-troughs till the cattle have drunk. Adriel hath flocks and men-servants, but David hath the Lord, and the hearts of all Israel! Better a brave and bright man, with a face that shines to the heart, than a great owner of troops and herds, who struts with arms akimbo. As I plant this driving-stick in the soft earth, so hath the Lord planted David in the heart of Israel. I say: Stick, may thou flourish! May thou bud and blossom and be a great tree. For thou art not as the javelin of Saul, levelled at David’s bosom.
DAVID: Peace! Saul cometh.
1ST HERDSMAN: Wellah! And I will go down to the water. (Goes to the well.)
DAVID: The Lord strengthen the King.
SAUL: Art thou my son, David? Yea, David, have they told thee, I have married my daughter Merab unto Adriel the Meholathite, even to him who stands here?
DAVID: Yea, O Saul! They told me the King’s pleasure. May the Lord bless thy house for ever!
SAUL: Have I not promised my daughter unto thee? But my servants tell me the heart of Michal goes forth wishful unto David. Say now, is she fair in thine eyes?
DAVID: Yea! Yea, O King, yea!
SAUL: When the new moon shows her tender horns above the west, thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in one of the twain.
DAVID: Let thy servant but serve the King!
SAUL: Yea, an thou serve me, it shall be on the day of the new moon.
DAVID: Yea, will I serve without fail.
SAUL: So be it!
Exit with ADRIEL.
HERDSMAN (coming up): Now is David the richest man in Israel — in promises! Wilt thou not sell me a King’s promise, for this my camel-stick?
DAVID: It is well.
HERDSMAN: Sayest thou? Then it is a bargain? Wellah! Take my stick. It is worth the word of a King.
DAVID: Peace!
HERDSMAN: Thou meanest war!
DAVID: How?
HERDSMAN: If thou get her, it is war. If thou get her not, it is more war. Sayest thou peace?
MAIDENS (running): Oh, master David, hath Saul passed with Adriel?
HERDSMAN: They have passed, letting fall promises as the goat droppeth pills.
DAVID: Peace, O Man!
MAIDEN: Oh, master David, shall Michal come forth to fill her water-jar? For Merab is setting meats before the King, in the booth of Adriel. Oh, David, shall Michal bring her jar to the well?
HERDSMAN: Ay, wellah, shall she! And I will hold back the cattle this little while, for I hear their voices.
Exit HERDSMAN.
DAVID: Run back quickly and let her come.
Exit MAIDEN.
DAVID (alone): Lord! dost Thou send this maiden to me? My entrails strain in me, for Michal, daughter of Saul. Lord God of my Salvation, my wanting of this maiden is next to my wanting Thee. My body is a strung bow. Lord, let me shoot mine arrow unto this mark. Thou fillest me with desire as with thunder, Thy lightning is in my loins, and my breast like a cloud leans forward for her. Lord! Lord! Thy left hand is about her middle, and Thy right hand grasps my life. So Thou bringest us together in Thy secret self, that it may be fulfilled for Thee in us. Lord of the Great Wish, I will not let her go.
MICHAL (entering — covering her chin and throat with her kerchief): Wilt thou let me pass to fill my jar, O thou stranger?
DAVID: Come, Michal, and I will fill thy jar.
She comes forward — he takes her jar and goes down the steps. Returning he sets it on the ground at his feet.
MICHAL: Oh, David! And art thou still unslain?
DAVID: As the Lord wills, no man shall slay me. And livest thou in thine house lonely, without thy sister Merab?
MICHAL: Is thy heart sore in thee, David, that thou hast lost Merab? Her heart is gentle, and she sighed for thee. But e’en she obeyed.
DAVID: She hath a man of more substance than David. And my heart is very glad on her account.
MICHAL: It is well.
DAVID: O Michal, didst thou come willingly to the well, when the maiden told thee I waited here?
MICHAL: Yea, willingly.
DAVID: O Michal, my heart runs before me, when it sees thee far off, like one eager to come to his own place. Oh, thou with the great eyes of the wilderness, shall my heart leap to thee, and shall thou not say Nay! to it?
MICHAL: What said my father, O David, when he passed?
DAVID: He said: when the new moon showeth her horns in the west, on this day shalt thou surely be my son-in-law of one of the twain.
MICHAL: Yea, and is thy heart uplifted, to be a King’s son-in-law?
DAVID: So she be Michal, my body is uplifted like the sail of a ship when the wind arouses.
MICHAL: Nay, thou art a seeker of honours! Merab had been just as well to thy liking.
DAVID: Ah, no! Ah! Ah! Merab is gentle and good, and my heart softened with kindness for her, as a man unto a woman. But thou art like the rising moon, that maketh the limbs of the mountain glisten. O Michal, we twain are upon the hillsides of the Lord, and surely He will bring our strength together!
MICHAL: And if the Lord God say thee nay!
DAVID: He will not. He hath thy life in His left hand, and my life He holdeth in His right hand. And surely He will lay us together in the secret of His desire, and I shall come unto thee by the Lord’s doing.
MICHAL: But if He say thee nay, thou wilt let me go.
DAVID: Thou knowest not the Lord my God. The flame He kindles He will not blow out. He is not yea-and-nay! But my Lord my God loveth a bright desire and yearneth over a great Wish, for its fulfilment. Oh, the Lord my God is a glowing flame and He loveth all things that do glow. So loves He thee, Michal, O woman before me, for thou glowest like a young tree in full flower, with flowers of gold and scarlet, and dark leaves. O thou young pomegranate tree, flowers and fruit together show on thy body. And flame calleth to flame, for flame is the body of God, like flowers of flame. Oh, and God is a great Wish, and a gre
at Desire, and a pure flame for ever. Thou art kindled of the Lord, O Michal, and He will not let thee go.
MICHAL: Yet the Lord Himself will not marry me.
DAVID: I will marry thee, for the Lord hath kindled me unto thee, and hath said: Go to her, for the fruits of the pomegranate are ripe.
MICHAL: Will thou not seek me for thyself?
DAVID: Yea, for my very self; and for my very self; and for the Lord’s own self in me.
MICHAL: Ever thou puttest the Lord between me and thee.
DAVID: The Lord is a sweet wind that fills thy bosom and thy belly as the sail of a ship; so I see thee sailing delicately towards me, borne onwards by my Lord.
MICHAL: Oh, David, would the new moon were come! For I fear my father, and I misdoubt his hindrances.
DAVID: Thinkest thou, he would marry thee away, as Merab?
MICHAL: Nay, but thou must make a song, and sing it before all Israel, that Michal is thine by the King’s promise, no man shall look on her but David.
DAVID: Yea! I will make a song. And yea, I will not let thee go. Thou shalt come to me as wife, and I will know thee, and thou shalt lie in my bosom. Yea! As the Lord liveth!
MICHAL: And as the Lord liveth, not even my father shall constrain me, to give me to another man, before the new moon showeth her horns.
DAVID: It is well, O Michal! O Michal, wife of David, thou shalt sleep in my tent! In the tent of the men of war, beside the sword of David, Michal sleeps, and the hand of David is upon her hip. He has sealed her with his seal, and Michal of David is her name, and kingdoms shall he bring down to her. Michael of David shall blossom in the land, her name shall blossom in the mouths of soldiers as the rose of Sharon after rain. And men-at-arms shall shout her name, like a victory cry it shall be heard. And she shall be known in the land but as Michal of David; blossom of God, keeper of David’s nakedness.
MICHAL: They shall not reive me from thee. — I see men coming.
DAVID: Wilt thou go?
MICHAL: I shall call my maidens. So ho! So ho! (Waves the end of her kerchief.)
HERDSMAN (entering): There are two captains, servants of Saul, coming even now from the booths of the Meholathite, where the King is.
MICHAL: Yea, let them come, and we will hear the words they put forth.
HERDSMAN: And the cattle are being driven round by the apricot garden. They will soon be here.
DAVID: In two words we shall have the mind of Saul from these captains.
MAIDENS enter, running.
MAIDENS: O Michal, men are approaching!
MICHAL: Fill you your jar, and with one ear let us listen. David stays under the tree.
1ST MAIDEN: Stars are in thine eyes, O Michal, like a love night!
2ND MAIDEN: Oh! and the perfume of a new-opened flower! What sweetness has she heard?
3RD MAIDEN: Oh, say! what words like honey, and like new sweet dates of the Oasis, hath David the singer said to Michal? Oh, that we might have heard!
1ST CAPTAIN (entering): David is still at the well?
DAVID: Yea, after war and foray, happy is the homely passage at the well?
2ND CAPTAIN: Wilt thou return to the King’s house with us, and we will tell thee what is toward: even the words of Saul concerning thee.
DAVID: Say on! For I must in the other way.
1ST CAPTAIN: The King delighteth in thee more than in any man of Israel. For no man layeth low the King’s enemies like David, in the land.
DAVID: Sayest thou so?
1ST CAPTAIN: Yea! And when the new moon shows her horns shalt thou be son-in-law to Saul, in his daughter Michal.
DAVID: As the Lord, and the King, willeth. Saul hath said as much to me, even now. Yet I am a poor man, and how shall the King at last accept me?
2ND CAPTAIN: This too hath Saul considered. And he hath said: Tell my son David, the King desireth not any bride-money, nay, neither sheep nor oxen nor asses, nor any substance of his. But an hundred foreskins of the Philistines shall he bring to the King, to be avenged of his enemies.
1ST CAPTAIN: So said the King: Before the new moon, as she cometh, sets on her first night, shall David bring the foreskins of an hundred Philistines unto Saul. And that night shall Saul deliver Michal, his daughter, unto David, and she shall sleep in David’s house.
2ND CAPTAIN: And Israel shall be avenged of her enemies.
DAVID: Hath the King verily sent this message to me?
1ST CAPTAIN: Yea, he hath sent it, and a ring from his own hand. Lo! here it is! For said Saul: Let David keep this for a pledge between me and him, in this matter. And when he returneth, he shall give me my ring again, and the foreskins of the Philistine, and I will give him my daughter Michal to wife.
DAVID: Yea! Then I must hence, and call my men, and go forth against the Philistine. For while the nights are yet moonless, and without point of moon, will I return with the tally.
Exit DAVID.
2ND CAPTAIN: Yea, he is gone on the King’s errand.
1ST CAPTAIN: Let him meet what the King wishes.
Exeunt IST and 2ND CAPTAINS.
HERDSMAN: Yea, I know what ye would have. Ye would slay David with the sword of the Philistine. For who keeps promise with a dead man! (MICHAL and MAIDENS edge in.) Hast thou heard, O Michal? David is gone forth against the Philistine. For Saul asketh an hundred foreskins of the enemy as thy bride-money. Is it not a tall dowry?
MICHAL: Yea! hath my father done this!
HERDSMAN: Wellah, hath he! For dead men marry no king’s daughters. And the spear of some Philistine shall beget death in the body of David. Thy father hath made thee dear!
MICHAL: Nay, he hath made my name cheap in all Israel.
2ND HERDSMAN (entering): Run, Maidens! The cattle are coming round the wall, athirst!
MAIDENS (shouldering their jars): Away! Away!
Exeunt.
CURTAIN
SCENE XIII
A room in DAVID’S house in Gilgal. Almost dark. DAVID alone, speaking softly: an image in a corner.
DAVID: Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
For thou art not a God that hast pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.
But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.
For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre: they flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.
But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him, as with a shield.
Pause.
Nay Lord, I am Thy anointed, and Thy son. With the oil of anointment hast Thou begotten me. Oh, I am twice begotten: of Jesse, and of God! I go forth as a son of God, and the Lord is with me. Yet for this they hate me, and Saul seeks to destroy me. What can I do, O Lord, in this pass?
Enter MICHAL, through curtain at side, with tray and lamp.
MICHAL: The dawn is at hand. Art thou not faint with this long watching before the Lord? Oh! why wilt thou leave thy bed and thy pleasure of the night, to speak out into the empty, chill hour towards morning? Come then, eat of the food which I have brought.
DAVID: I will not eat now, for my soul still yearns away from me.
MICHAL: Art thou sick?
DAVID: Yea! My soul is sick.
Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence Page 714