(The two women harness themselves to the wagon and start out. A gust of wind. When they have disappeared, the COOK re-enters, still chewing. He sees his things.)
10.
(On the highway. MOTHER COURAGE and KATTRIN are pulling the wagon. They come to a prosperous farmhouse. Someone inside is singing.)
Song -- THE SONG OF SHELTER
IN MARCH A TREE WE PLANTED
TO MAKE THE GARDEN GAY.
IN JUNE WE WERE ENCHANTED:
A LOVELY ROSE WAS BLOOMING
THE BALMY AIR PERFUMING!
BLEST OF THE GODS ARE THEY
WHO HAVE A GARDEN GAY!
IN JUNE WE WERE ENCHANTED.
WHEN SNOW FALLS HELTER-SKELTER
AND LOUDLY BLOWS THE STORM
OUR FARMHOUSE GIVES US SHELTER.
THE WINTER’S IN A HURRY
BUT WE’VE NO CAUSE TO WORRY.
COSY ARE WE AND WARM
THOUGH LOUDLY BLOWS THE STORM:
OUR FARMHOUSE GIVES US SHELTER.
(MOTHER COURAGE and KATTRIN have stopped to listen. They start out again.)
11.
(January, 1636. Catholic troops threaten the Protestant town of Halle. The stones begin to talk. MOTHER COURAGE loses her daughter and journeys onward alone. The war is not yet near its end.)
(The wagon, very far gone now, stands near a farmhouse with a straw roof. It is night. Out of the wood come a LIEUTENANT and THREE SOLDIERS in full armor. )
LIEUTENANT. And there mustn’t be a sound. If anyone yells, cut him down.
FIRST SOLDIER. But we’ll have to knock – if we want a guide.
LIEUTENANT. Knocking’s a natural noise, it’s all right, could be a cow hitting the wall of the cowshed.
(The soldiers knock at the farmhouse door. An OLD PEASANT WOMAN opens. A hand is clapped over her mouth. Two soldiers enter.)
PEASANT’S VOICE. What is it?
(The soldiers bring out an OLD PEASANT and his SON.)
LIEUTENANT (pointing to the wagon on which KATTRIN has appeared). There’s another. (A SOLDIER pulls her out.) Is this everybody?
OLD PEASANT. That’s our son.
PEASANT WOMAN. And that’s a girl that can’t talk. Her mother’s in town buying up stocks because the shopkeepers are running away and selling cheap.
OLD PEASANT. They’re canteen people.
LIEUTENANT. I’m warning you. Keep quiet. One sound and you’ll have a sword in your ribs. I need someone to show us the path to the town. (Points to the YOUNG
PEASANT.) You! Come here!
YOUNG PEASANT. I don’t know any path!
SECOND SOLDIER. (grinning) He don’t know any path!
YOUNG PEASANT. I don’t help Catholics.
LIEUTENANT. (to SECOND SOLDIER) Show him your sword.
YOUNG PEASANT. (forced to his knees, a sword at his throat) I’d rather die!
SECOND SOLDIER. (again mimicking) He’d rather die!
FIRST SOLDIER. We’ll soon fix this. (walks over to the cowshed) Two cows and a bull. Listen, you. If you aren’t going to be reasonable, I’ll saber your cattle.
YOUNG PEASANT. Not the cattle!
PEASANT WOMAN. (weeping) Spare the cattle, Captain, or we’ll starve!
LIEUTENANT. If he must be stubborn.
FIRST SOLDIER. I think I’ll start with the bull.
YOUNG PEASANT. (to his father) Do I have to? (The OLD PEASANT nods.) I’ll do it.
PEASANT WOMAN. Thank you, thank you, Captain, for sparing us, for ever and ever, Amen.
(The OLD PEASANT stops her going on thanking him.)
FIRST SOLDIER. I knew the bull came first all right!
(Led by the YOUNG PEASANT, the LIEUTENANT and the soldiers go on their way.)
OLD PEASANT. What goes on? Nothing good, I guess.
PEASANT WOMAN. Maybe they’re just scouts. What are you doing?
OLD PEASANT. (setting a ladder against the roof and climbing up) I’m seeing if they’re alone. (on the roof) Things are moving – all over. I can see armor. And a cannon. There must be more than a regiment. God have mercy on the town and its people!
PEASANT WOMAN. Are there lights in the town?
OLD PEASANT. No, they’re all asleep. (He climbs down.) It’s an attack. They’ll all be slaughtered in their beds.
PEASANT WOMAN. The watchman’ll give warning.
OLD PEASANT. They must have killed the watchmen in the town on the hill or he’d have sounded his horn before this.
PEASANT WOMAN. If there were more of us ...
OLD PEASANT. But being that we’re alone with that cripple.
PEASANT WOMAN. There’s nothing we can do, is there?
OLD PEASANT. Nothing.
PEASANT WOMAN. We can’t get to the town in the dark.
OLD PEASANT. The whole hillside’s swarming with men.
PEASANT WOMAN. We could give a sign?
OLD PEASANT. And be cut down for it?
PEASANT WOMAN. No, there’s nothing we can do. (to KATTRIN ) Pray, poor thing, pray! There’s nothing we can do to stop this bloodshed, so even if you can’t talk, at least pray! He hears, if no one else does. I’ll help you. (All kneel, KATTRIN behind.) Our Father, which art in Heaven, hear our prayer, let not the town perish with all that lie therein asleep and fearing nothing. Wake them, that they rise and go to the walls and see the foe that comes with fire and sword in the night down the hill and across the fields. God protect our mother and make the watchman not sleep but wake ere it’s too late. And save our son-in-law too, O God, he’s there with his four children, let them not perish, they’re innocent, they know nothing, one of them’s not two years old, the eldest is seven. (KATTRIN rises, troubled.) Heavenly Father, hear us, only Thou canst help us or we die, for we are weak and have no sword nor nothing ; we cannot trust our own strength but only Thine, O Lord; we are in Thy hands, our cattle, our farm, and the town too, we’re all in Thy hands, and the foe is nigh unto the walls with all his power.
(KATTRIN, unperceived, has crept off to the wagon, has taken something out of it, put it under her skirt, and has climbed up the ladder to the roof.)
Be mindful of the children in danger, especially the little ones, be mindful of the old folk who cannot move, and of all Christian souls, O Lord.
OLD PEASANT. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Amen.
(Sitting on the roof, KATTRIN takes a drum from under her skirt, and starts to beat it.)
PEASANT WOMAN. Heavens, what’s she doing?
OLD PEASANT. She’s out of her mind!
PEASANT WOMAN. Get her down, quick! (The OLD PEASANT runs to the ladder but KATTRIN pulls it up on the roof.) She’ll get us in trouble.
OLD PEASANT. Stop it this minute, you silly cripple!
PEASANT WOMAN. The soldiers’ll come!
OLD PEASANT. (looking for stones) I’ll stone you!
PEASANT WOMAN. Have you no pity, don’t you have a heart? We have relations there too, four grandchildren. If they find us now, it’s the end, they’ll stab us to death!
(KATTRIN is staring into the far distance, toward the town. She goes on drumming. To the PEASANT.)
I told you not to let that sort into the farm. What do they care if we lose our cattle?
LIEUTENANT. (running back with soldiers and YOUNG PEASANT ) I’ll cut you all to bits!
PEASANT WOMAN. We’re innocent, sir, we couldn’t stop her!
LIEUTENANT. Where’s the ladder?
OLD PEASANT. On the roof.
LIEUTENANT. (calling) Throw down the drum, I order you! (to PEASANTS) You’re all in this, but you won’t live to tell the tale.
OLD PEASANT. They’ve been cutting down fir trees around here. If we get a good long trunk we can knock her off the roof…
FIRST SOLDIER. (to the LIEUTENANT) May I make a suggestion ? (He whispers something to the LIEUTENANT, who nods. To KATTRIN.) Listen, you! We’ll do you a favor. Everyone in that town is gonna get killed. Come down, go with us to the town,
show us your mother and we’ll spare her.
(KATTRIN replies with more drumming.)
LIEUTENANT. (pushing him away) She doesn’t trust you, no wonder with your face. (He calls up to KATTRIN.) Hey, you! Suppose I give you my word? I’m an officer, my word’s my bond!
(KATTRIN again replies with drumming – harder this time. )
Nothing is sacred to her.
FIRST SOLDIER. They’ll sure as hell hear it in the town. L
IEUTENANT. We must make another noise. Louder than that drum. What can we make a noise with?
FIRST SOLDIER. We mustn’t make a noise!
LIEUTENANT. A harmless noise, fool, a peacetime noise!
OLD PEASANT. I could start chopping wood.
LIEUTENANT. That’s it! (The PEASANT brings his axe and chops away.) Chop! Chop harder! Chop for your life! It’s not enough. (to FIRST SOLDIER:) You chop too!
OLD PEASANT. I’ve only one axe.
LIEUTENANT. We must set fire to the farm. Smoke her out.
OLD PEASANT. That’s no good, Captain, when they see fire from the town, they’ll know everything.
(KATTRIN is laughing now and drumming harder than ever.)
LIEUTENANT. Laughing at us, is she? I’ll settle her hash if it’s the last thing I do. Bring me a musket!
(TWO SOLDIERS walk off.)
PEASANT WOMAN. I have it, Captain. That’s their wagon over there, Captain. If we smash that, she’ll stop. It’s all they have, Captain.
LIEUTENANT. (to the YOUNG PEASANT) Smash it! (calling) If you don’t stop that noise, we’ll smash up your wagon!
(The YOUNG PEASANT deals the wagon a couple of feeble blows with a board.)
PEASANT WOMAN. (to KATTRIN) Stop, you little beast!
(KATTRIN stares at the wagon and pauses. Noises of distress come out of her. She goes on drumming.)
LIEUTENANT. Where are those sonsofbitches with that gun?
FIRST SOLDIER. They can’t have heard anything in the town or we’d hear their cannon.
LIEUTENANT. (calling) They don’t hear you. And now we’re going to shoot. I’ll give you one more chance. throw down that drum!
YOUNG PEASANT. (dropping the board, screaming to KATTRIN) Don’t stop now! Go on, go on, go on!
(The soldier knocks him down and stabs him. KATTRIN starts crying but goes on drumming.)
PEASANT WOMAN. You’re killing him!
(The soldiers arrive with the gun.)
LIEUTENANT. Set it up! (Calling while the gun is set up on forks:) Once and for all, stop that drumming! (Still crying, KATTRIN is drumming as hard as she can.) Fire!
(The soldiers fire. KATTRIN is hit. She gives the drum another feeble beat or two, then collapses.)
LIEUTENANT. So that ends the noise.
(But the last beats of the drum are lost in the din of cannon from the town. Mingled with the thunder of cannon, alarm-bells are heard in the distance.)
FIRST SOLDIER. She made it.
12.
(Toward morning. The drums and pipes of troops on the march, receding. In front of the wagon MOTHER COURAGE sits by KATTRIN’s body. The THREE PEASANTS of the last scene are standing near.)
PEASANT WOMAN. The regiments have all left. No, there’s still one to go.
OLD PEASANT. (to MOTHER COURAGE) You must latch on to it. You’ll never get by alone. Hurry!
MOTHER COURAGE. Maybe she’s asleep. (She sings.)
LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S THAT IN THE HAY?
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS CRY BUT MINE ARE GAY.
THE NEIGHBOR’S KIDS ARE DRESSED IN DIRT:
YOUR SILKS WERE CUT FROM AN ANGEL’S SKIRT.
THEY ARE ALL STARVING. YOU HAVE A CAKE
IF IT’S TOO STALE, YOU NEED BUT SPEAK.
LULLAY, LULLAY, WHAT’S RUSTLING THERE?
ONE LAD FELL IN POLAND. THE OTHER IS – WHERE?
MOTHER COURAGE. You shouldn’t have told her about the children. O
LD PEASANT. If you hadn’t gone off to get your cut, maybe it wouldn’t have happened.
MOTHER COURAGE. I’m glad she can sleep.
PEASANT WOMAN. She’s not asleep, it’s time you realized, she’s through.
OLD PEASANT. You must get away. There are wolves in these parts. And the bandits are worse.
MOTHER COURAGE. (stands up) That’s right.
OLD PEASANT. Have you no one left?
MOTHER COURAGE. Yes, my son Eilif.
OLD PEASANT. Find him then, leave her to us.
PEASANT WOMAN; We’ll give her a proper burial, you needn’t worry.
MOTHER COURAGE. Here’s a little money for the expenses. (She harnesses herself to the wagon.) I hope I can pull the wagon by myself. Yes, I’ll manage. There’s not much in it now. (The last regiment is heard passing.) Hey! Take me with you!
(The men are heard singing The Song of Mother Courage. )
DANGERS, SURPRISES, DEVASTATIONS –
THE WAR TAKES HOLD AND WILL NOT QUIT.
BUT THOUGH IT LAST THREE GENERATIONS
WE SHALL GET NOTHING OUT OF IT.
STARVATION, FILTH, AND COLD ENSLAVE US.
THE ARMY ROBS US OF OUR PAY.
ONLY A MIRACLE CAN SAVE US
AND MIRACLES HAVE HAD THEIR DAY.
CHRISTIANS, AWAKE! THE WINTER’S GONE!
THE SNOWS DEPART, THE DEAD SLEEP ON.
AND THOUGH YOU MAY NOT LONG SURVIVE
GET OUT OF BED AND LOOK ALIVE !
APPENDIX
Darius Milhaud’s music for Mother Courage is scored for a chamber orchestra of some fourteen players. What follow here are the first two pages of the piano-vocal score. To obtain the rest of the music, please contact Samuel French.
Other plays, translations and adaptations by
Eric Bentley...
1913
Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been
Baal
Brute and Other Farces
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Celestina
Celimare
Edward II
Fear and Misery in the Third Reich
From a Madman’s Diary
From the Memoirs of Pontius Pilate
Good Woman of Setzuan
Inspector
The Jewish Wife
La Ronde
Leonce and Lena
Liola
Lord Alfred’s Lover
A Man’s a Man
The Mandrake
The Marriage
Mary Stuart
The Measures Taken
Plays: Pirandello
The Recantation of Galileo Galilei
The Siege of Numantia
Six Characters in Search of an Author
The Snob
Spring’s Awakening
These Cornfields
The Underpants
TheWedekind Cabaret
Please visit our website samuelfrench.com for complete descriptions and licensing information
MORE ERIC BENTLEY FROM SAMUEL FRENCH
THE WEDEKIND CABARET
Eric Bentley
Music by Arnold Black, William Bolcom, Lucas Mason, and Peter Winkler
Musical Revue / Flexible casting, 1 m, 1 f
A first draft of this entertainment was produced at The Ballroom in New York City in 1994, starring Alvin Epstein and directed by Isaiah Shef-fer. Howard Kissel, Daily News, commented: “Bentley’s pungent translations of Wedekind’s lyrics have been set deftly by three composers, Arnold Black, William Bolcom and Peter Winkler... Tingle Tangle [as the work was then called] is well performed and invariably fascinating.”
For the Wedekind renaissance of the 21st century Eric Bentley has re-arranged the material and added to it. The piece now consists of two cabaret programs which could be performed together in one long evening or separately. The first program is framed by two Bentley ballads telling the stories of Spring’s Awakening and The First Lulu, respectively. Within that frame is a varied series of Wedekind songs and spoken poems. The second program is framed by two Wed
ekind short stories, neither of them ever before presented on an American (or any other) stage. Within this second frame come poems and songs in which we meet another Wedekind, a wild poet who also had a tender, even elegiac side. The two-part show ends with a song by Eric Bentley and Arnold Black which celebrates, not Wedekind the rebel, but Wedekind the artist.
Eric Bentley has busied himself with Wedekind’s work ever since the 1940’s. In the 1950’s he translated Spring’s Awakening in collaboration with Wedekind’s daughter, Kadidja. In the 1990’s he did the American version of The First Lulu, Wedekind’s other masterpiece. The Applause Books edition of the latter play contains a chronology that ends with this item, “1993: Eric Bentley writes the Wedekind Cabaret, an entertainment made up of approximations in English of Wedekind’s poems and songs. Music by William Bolcom and Arnold Black.”
”The renaissance of the German playwright Frank Wedekind continues.”
- The New Yorker
SAMUELFRENCH.COM
Mother Courage and Her Children Page 7