Collected Plays, Volume 4 (Bertolt Brecht: Plays, Poetry & Prose) 8

by Bertolt Brecht

  XI WEI: And where does it vanish? Where indeed? I can explain that too: it vanishes in transit. The unrest increases. Honoured assembly! You suspect terrible wrongdoings, you are justly enraged. But you couldn’t be further from the truth in your suspicions. Permit me to regale you with a tale, a new tale of the greatness and virtue of the Chinese people. I refer to the progress made under the enlightened regime of our great Imperial House. Gentlemen, it is not so many years ago, the population of the flat lands were a sorry spectacle. Ghosts in rags, half naked, almost bestial in their nakedness, peopled the villages. Decent clothes, tasteful cloths were unheard of, and scarcely dreamt of. And today? Gentlemen, the rationalisation of the cotton industry in the hands of a member of the Imperial Family has changed all that. Culture has come to our villages. Culture! Leaflets come raining down from the ceiling. The disappearance of the cotton on its way from the fields to the cities can be explained by the steady advance of culture through our land: it is being bought by the people themselves! I don’t know what’s in these leaflets -

  CRIES: Kai Ho’s leaflets! Police!

  XI WEI: … but I do know that it’s lies. The truth is: the cotton has all been bought already!

  YOUNG MEH NEI in a group of young Tuis: By the peasants who have no fields, who have to plough their tiny plots with penknives and plant out cotton in their grandmothers’ earwax? He is dragged off by policemen. They can’t afford cotton clothes!

  EMPEROR: He’s an ass, this Xi Wei!

  PRIME MINISTER: The union representatives are leaving the chamber, taking the leaflets with them.

  XI WEI in desperation: Silence, please. China stands poised on the brink of an abyss! He is interrupted by applause. Turandot, followed by Munka Du, has entered the Imperial box. She is wearing Xi Wei’s paper costume. Your Imperial Majesties, Conference! In response to the shortage of cloth, which has been brought about by the growing cultural expectations of the general populace (let me repeat that), I propose that, immediately and without bureaucratic delay, notwithstanding previous decrees, our capital city be permitted to fashion clothes from the most noble of all fabrics, that sacred material by means of which our great thinkers and writers have achieved their immortality, their sublimity: paper!

  CRY: And to banish rain!

  Laughter. The police seek out the heckler, then the laughers. Renewed applause: Turandot has demonstratively opened her parasol.

  ANOTHER CRY: Our labourers will work armed with parasols!

  AND ANOTHER: It’d be better to dress yourselves in Kai Ho’s leaflets!

  The Imperial Family leaves the debating chamber.

  The cloakrooms.

  YAO YEL: The cotton disappears in transit! Now we only need someone else to blurt out where it really goes, and we can pack our bags!

  TURANDOT: And I’m the laughing-stock of the land, yet again! Miserable fool! She tears off the paper clothes. There and there and there!

  EMPEROR: Don’t cause another scandal, I’ve quite enough with the scandal we’ve got already. Exits with Yao Yel.

  PRIME MINISTER: You’re the new chairman of the Tui Association.

  NU SHAN: I can’t do that, I’m his pupil.

  PRIME MINISTER: You’ll have to settle that with your conscience. They exit.

  DOWAGER: Off with his head, off with his head, off with his head! Exits giggling.

  The maidservants, giggling, set up a screen for Turandot. Only the Court Tui and Munka Du remain. Announcement from the pipes: ‘The competitors for the fourth day are requested to report in the Grand Chamber.’

  TURANDOT behind the screen. Munka Du! You’ll wait, won’t you?

  MUNKA DU: I have to report in the Grand Chamber, Imperial Majesty.

  TURANDOT: There’ll be time for that. There’ll be dozens queuing. I want you to speak last.

  MUNKA DU: Very well, Imperial Majesty.

  TURANDOT: Munka Du! Come to the palace with me today, I’d like to show you something.

  MUNKA DU: Imperial Majesty, nothing would give me greater pleasure, but I shall have to prepare for my great speech.

  TURANDOT: Hui Zhe, you’re still there too, aren’t you?

  COURT TUI: At your service, Imperial Majesty.

  TURANDOT: You may stay. Munka Du, this evening I’ll show you a little cotton something.

  The maids giggle loudly. The announcement comes over the pipes again.

  MUNKA DU: Imperial Majesty, I beg your leave, please let me go and prepare my speech.

  TURANDOT: Hui Zhe, go to the Chamber and see how many applicants are still there.

  Hui Zhe goes to the Chamber.

  TURANDOT: Munka Du!

  The debating chamber.

  The Prime Minister and the Secretary Nu Shan look up and see the Court Tui approaching.

  PRIME MINISTER: This is not good. No one else has come forward, and it’s only the third day! Of course there’ll still be the speakers from the provinces. Let Mr Munka Du know, he’s on first thing tomorrow morning. To Nu Shan: And you, get rid of this idiot.

  The Court Tui hesitates to go back to the cloakrooms.

  The foyer.

  Secretary Nu Shan finds his boss, Chairman Xi Wei, completely alone and desolate. At the door, watched over by police, Meh Nei and other young Tuis. On their way out, old Sen and Gu.

  GU: And what do you think of the whole affair, my dear Sen?

  SEN: The gentleman was very eloquent, but it’s not enough, the fields are far too small.

  XI WEI: Please, send a message immediately to the authorities, I demand the firmest measures against these young fellows, blatant supporters of Kai Ho, the full rigour of the law, death! The Secretary gestures to the policemen, and the young men are led away. Thank you. What have you heard? What are they saying about my speech? The leaflets detracted a little from the effect, don’t you think? But the demonstrative appearance of Turandot in my outfit made up a lot of ground, I think. Are they satisfied? Hoarsely: Are there any messages for me? No one has said anything, presumably they don’t yet know the reaction of the court. Check the abstracts against my speech very carefully before they’re published. The heat in the chamber had a bit of an effect on the mood, don’t you think? Why don’t you say something, man? You’ve been my pupil for eleven years, I make you responsible for the abstracts. I understand. Tell my sons …

  The foyer.

  The fourth day. The Prime Minister, Nu Shan and the scribe of the Tui Academy. Announcement from the pipes: ‘The candidates for the fifth day are to report in the foyer to the Prime Minister’s committee.’

  PRIME MINISTER: He dares to keep us waiting. Are the entrances all under surveillance, the walls checked, the basements searched?

  NU SHAN: The Minister for War took personal control of the operation.

  PRIME MINISTER restlessly: That doesn’t mean much. Only thirty years ago, the man was a member of the Society for Moderate Progress Within the Law. - The geographer of the Tashi Lumpo monastery has announced his candidacy now. But he won’t be able to get here before the day after tomorrow. - Have the hooligans from last night been disbarred from the Tui Association?

  NU SHAN: They’ve been executed.

  PRIME MINISTER: That’s beside the point. I asked if they’d been disbarred from the Association.

  Enter Munka Du, in a hurry, with Turandot and her maids. Munka Du clearly hasn’t slept much. They bow in greeting.

  TURANDOT: Congratulate him, gentlemen, he told me during the night what he’s going to say.

  PRIME MINISTER: Mr Munka Du, I am sure you understand, after yesterday’s events, it has been decided that the candidates, whoever they may be, should be tested for Un-Chinese attitudes.

  TURANDOT: He doesn’t have any of those.

  PRIME MINISTER bows: Of course not. To Munka Du: You’re prepared to submit to this formality? They sit down. Do you wet your bed?

  MUNKA DU helplessly: No.

  PRIME MINISTER to the maids: Please, don’t giggle. It’s a question we have to ask
. - Are you, or have you ever been a member of the Society of Friends of the Armed Struggle? Munka Du shakes his head. The Plague for Human Rights? Munka Du shakes his head. Are you for peace, in any form whatsoever? Munka Du shakes his head. Do you have dependants or relatives? Munka Du shakes his head, then thinks better of it, and nods. In the northern provinces? Munka Du shakes his head. Say the name Kai Ho!

  MUNKA DU: Kai Ho.

  PRIME MINISTER: You’re shaking.

  MUNKA DU: I’m very tired.

  TURANDOT pushes aside the maids, who have been doing her hair: That’s enough.

  She gets up, beckons Munka Du, and exits with him and the maids. The Tui-Hymn is audible, feebly and out of tune.

  The debating chamber.

  Armed guards all over the place. Enter Munka Du and Turandot. The former makes his way reluctantly to the rostrum, the latter trips nimbly to the Imperial box. She throws off a shawl and sits there, half naked.

  EMPEROR: How can you make such a spectacle of yourself!

  TURANDOT: Don’t complain, it’s for your own sake.

  NU SHAN: As Chairman of the Association of Tuis, it is my honour to present to you the supplicant of the fourth day, Mr Munka Du, Professor of the Philosophy Department. Turandot applauds.

  MUNKA DU: Imperial Majesties, Gentlemen! In this historic hour …

  A scuffle at the entrance, and four men enter, half naked. They stamp their way to centre stage, singing.

  THE FOUR:

  Sun and rain, sun and rain

  It’s all you need to know.

  If the cold is in your bones

  Kai Ho! Kai Ho! Kai Ho!

  The armed guards move in on the four with batons, and drive them out.

  THE FOUR holding up a cotton pennant on a stick:

  If you can’t afford a coat

  Naked you must go.

  There’s enough to make a flag

  Kai Ho! Kai Ho! Kai Ho!

  MUNKA DU as the four are driven outside: Imperial Majesties, Gentlemen…

  YOUNG SHI ME throws his newly won Tui-hat to the ground and stamps on it: Let them go free! Or take me too! He is led away.

  MUNKA DU: In this historic hour …

  SHI ME at the door: What are you doing, the god of the Philosophy Department!? The time for words is past. The power of speech will never clothe their naked bodies! He is dragged away.

  NU SHAN furious: I’ll have you struck off, Shi Me!

  CRIES: Get on with it, Munka Du! - The Palace of the Tui Association has become a fishmarket. - It stinks a darn sight worse than that.

  MUNKA DU by now grey in the face: I’ll tell you why I’m speaking here, Shi Me, I am speaking because I shall not let anyone rob me of the freedom to speak, wherever I will, and whatever I will. Oh yes, here I stand, to defend freedom, my freedom, your freedom, the freedom of all men.

  CRY: And the freedom of wolves!

  MUNKA DU while the policemen seek out the heckler: Yes!

  CRY: And of sheep?

  MUNKA DU while the policemen seek out the heckler: Yes, of sheep too! I am not of the opinion, I am not of the opinion - he mops his brow- I am not of the opinion that one should deprive the naked of cotton for their clothes, but if I were of that opinion, of that opinion, I would wish to be permitted to express it, it, that is the opinion, which I don’t share, with anyone. It’s not a question of cotton, it is a question of the freedom of beliefs about cotton, which itself is not at issue, which is not our business here. Here, at this hour, it’s not a question of business, but a question of opinions. Unrest. Opinions are the question, not businesses!

  At the door, Gogher Gogh and his two bodyguards have forced their way in.

  GOGHER GOGH: So, perhaps a man may express an opinion here, a man who doesn’t possess a Tui-hat but who has demonstrated by his deeds that he … He is dragged away.

  CRY: Oppression. They’re oppressing the pickpockets!

  MUNKA DU: Your Imperial Majesties, Gentlemen! Let us speak no more of cotton, but instead of the virtues which a people needs in order to go without cotton. Not: where is the cotton? That is not the question, but rather: where are the virtues? What has become of that happy spirit of renunciation, the legendary patience, with which the Chinese people has borne so many misfortunes? That eternal hunger, that grinding labour, that rigour of the law?

  EMPEROR: He’s rambling. And after such a promising beginning!

  MUNKA DU: That, Your Majesties, Gentlemen, was - reading from his notes- the inner freedom. That, Your Majesties, Gentlemen, is lost.

  CRY: What about the outer freedom!

  MUNKA DU: Let me pay my respects to the simple folk of former generations who, dressed in rags - for we didn’t always have cotton then - who, satisfied with a handful of rice, lived out their lives in dignity, without recourse to begging or to violence. I’ve heard it said, Kai Ho, you may be sitting here amongst us. Agitation. I don’t know if that’s true. But if you are here, then let me ask you this: what have you done with freedom? You who would enslave the whole world. You demand of everyone that they scream and brawl over cotton, as if there were nothing better!

  CRY: Like silk!

  MUNKA DU: But I demand of you the freedom to express my opinion, do you hear me? I’m not concerned with the cotton stashed in the Emperor’s warehouses, I am concerned with freedom!

  Serious unrest.

  YAO YEL: Now the cat’s out of the bag. These idiots have given the whole game away!

  The Imperial Family leaves the chamber.

  MUNKA DU: Freedom! Freedom! Free …

  Singing intones from the pipes: ‘Sun and rain, sun and rain / It’s all you need to know. / If the cold is in your bones / Kai Ho! Kai Ho! Kai Ho!’ - The police move in on Munka Du.

  The foyer.

  Tuis are jostling in the exit.

  CRIES: He’s brought ruin on the Association. - He didn’t seem himself to me. - That’s why he was so vehement. - The warehouses, that was a slip of the tongue. - A slip of the tongue or a slip of the noose.

  GU to the old man, Sen: Don’t be cast down.

  SEN: On the contrary, I am uplifted. As they say: the cat is out of the bag, and has spied the rat.

  ER FEI: Grandfather, it was a good song.

  SEN: Shh! He means the melody, the tune, it was a pretty tune. Slyly. You see, I’ve already learnt something from the Tuis. In the presence of the police, you have to be a Tui.

  GU suddenly throws his Tui-hat to the ground: I begin to despise my own vocation, old man. He looks around anxiously, and picks his hat up again, beats the dust off it: All the same, there’s still much wisdom to be learnt here.

  SEN: There are many wisdoms. I am for the wisdom which redistributes the fields.

  6

  BY THE TOWN WALL

  A hangman and his assistants are impaling the severed head of Munka Du next to other heads.

  HANGMAN: Nothing is more terrible than the reversals of human fortune. Just yesterday Yen Fai and his assistants were setting up the last heads on the west side. They were happy, without a care in the world. They had chosen the west side because the Tibetan caravan was passing by, with the Pilgrims of the Seventh Purification. It was all a great success. The pilgrims proclaimed themselves well satisfied with the spectacle, and Yen Fai’s happiness seemed complete. But over night the rains came and a storm blew up from the west, and this morning the whole thing looked a right mess. Heads, good heads, such as it’s hard to find in China these days, had become pitiful shadows of their former selves. Yen Fai shouldn’t have chosen the west side for such a display. They say the Princess Turandot wept for two whole hours this morning. They finish their work and move on. Ah yes, happiness and disaster, they’re close cousins for men of our estate.

  A MAN’S VOICE sings in the distance:

  Tell the man who draws the cart

  He’s soon to die.

  Tell him, who’ll live on?

  The man who’s sitting in the cart.

  Evening approache
s.

  A handful of rice

  And a fine day

  Would draw to its close.

  The scribe of the Tui Academy arrives with the boy, Si Fu. They look at the heads and stop in front of an unfamiliar face.

  SCRIBE: That is my teacher, the great light of Chinese grammar. He talked a load of nonsense at the Congress, but now there’s no one left who can explain the poems of Po Chu-yi. Oh, why can’t they just stick to their own subjects! - There’s someone coming.

  They exit. Enter Turandot, going for a walk with her maids. Armed guards follow her.

  TURANDOT seeing Munka Du’s head: Dudy! And there’s Xi Wei too, the paper-tailor. I suppose I should be wearing mourning, but that would be so off-putting for the other candidates. There are so many heads on the wall; anyone would think our politics was indefensible. Who’s that approaching?

  FIRST MAID: It’s the bandit Gogher Gogh, he’s a figure of fun in the Tuis’ teahouse.

  SECOND MAID: Oh no he’s not. The ladies of Peking all swoon over him, he’s a real man.

  TURANDOT: I see, a handsome fool.

  FIRST MAID: It looks as if those two men are following him. Let’s go.

  TURANDOT: We’ll stay right where we are.

  Enter Gogher Gogh, looking around anxiously, as if he’s running away. When he sees the women he stops. Turandot smiles.

  GOGHER GOGH: You’re out for a walk.

  TURANDOT laughs: To buy a chicken.

  GOGHER GOGH: That’s nice. May I walk with you?

  The first maid looks in the direction he’s come from, and laughs.

  TURANDOT: By all means.

  Gogher Gogh’s bodyguards approach, looking threateningly at Gogher.

  GOGHER GOGH offers Turandot his arm in a gentlemanly fashion, and leads her past the bodyguards: You’ll need closer protection, miss. There are all sorts of rogues round here.

  TURANDOT: Do these gentlemen have some business with you?

  GOGHER GOGH: All kinds of people turn to me, failures and outcasts the lot of them.

  TURANDOT: Perhaps they just want to ask something?

  GOGHER GOGH: I’m sick of questions. I won’t answer any more questions, it’s a matter of principle.