Part 1
HOW JOY WAS FOUND
How Joy was Found
_A Fantasy_
BY ISOBEL W. HUTCHISON
[Illustration]
NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY ISOBEL W. HUTCHISON
PREFACE
This study in the psychology of Faith is founded on an old Scottish folk-tale told me last year at Onich by Mr. Alexander Cameron, who, a good many years ago, had given it also to the Rev. J. Macdougall of Duror, in whose volume, _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition_, now out of print, it is included. Mr. Macdougall’s version is printed in full at the end of this volume.
I have used the story as the framework of an allegory, and have not tried to rival Mr. Macdougall’s narrative, nor have I often kept very close to the text. Most of these beautiful Highland tales are in such intimate touch with nature that they lend themselves very readily to further development, and the story of _How Finn Kept His Children for the Big Young Hero_ seemed to adapt itself wonderfully to my purpose.
I. W. H.
CARLOWRIE, WEST LOTHIAN, _June, 1917_.
_The Characters_
THE BIG YOUNG HERO: One who goes out at the beginning, comes in at the end, and appears unexpectedly all through. FINN: Humanity, a long-suffering man. THE CARPENTER: Duty, a scientific man. THE TRACKER: Obedience, a dutiful man. THE GRIPPER: Constancy, a patient man. THE CLIMBER: Faith, a girl who is more than quite all there. THE THIEF: Love, an old woman wearing a chaperon. THE LISTENER: Hope, a boy wearing a smile. THE MARKSMAN: Truth, a straightforward man carrying a bow and arrows. THE GIANT: A mere notion. THE DOG: Fear (never visible). HER PUPPY, BRAN: Joy. Given to Hope for the present. THE BABY: The Rest of Humanity. GONACHRY: The Heart-wounder, a sarcastic man. ANGUS: A good-natured lazy man. TORQUIL } CONAN } Unemotional men. CONDHLA }
ACT I
THE GREEN ISLE. EVENING
_This Earthly Paradise lies across the western main before you come to the sunset. It is seen imperfectly, like a thought not fully realized, and shimmers as if through a rainbow. It is thus described by one who has been there:_
_“Fair is that land to all eternity beneath the snowfall of blossoms. The gleaming walls are bright with many colours, the plains are vocal with joyous cries, mirth and song are at home on the plain, the silver-clouded one. No wailing there for judgment, naught but sweet song to be heard. No pain, no grief, no death, no discord, no sin, no decay, but ever we feast and need none to serve us, ever we love and no strife ensues. Such is the land.”_
_In this place the Big Young Hero, the most attractive person ever imagined, is seen vaguely as if through a radiant light. He is seated alone on the grass watching the flowers in the midst of great beauty. Far off across the sea the outline of the Hebrides is faintly seen, and presently a brown-sailed fishing-boat appears on the edge of the horizon and approaches the shore. As it nears, the figure of a girl is discerned kneeling up in the bows, shading her eyes with her hand, and gazing earnestly towards the shore. She carries a coil of rope over her shoulder. As she draws near her voice is heard saying:_
CLIMBER
My anchorage was not as beautiful as I thought And I have weighed anchor and sailed away. I trust that my boat will be brought Into haven before the end of the day. I do not wish to voyage till sunset In this yeasty fret. Captain! there is no harbour that is beautiful save Thine. Why dost thou reserve it for the evening mariners? Their eyes are old and full of brine, They cannot see the stars. But mine are young, and I can count them all, I praise Thee, for they are full of light, Therefore bring me into Thy harbour before the shadows fall, That I may praise Thee louder—in the young night.
[_As the boat nears the isle it comes into calm water. The big Young Hero goes down to meet it and helps the girl ashore, drawing up the boat._]
HERO
The end of all thought is peace, And you have found ere night the day’s increase. The bright and radiant day is loath to die, Even yet there are hardly any stars in the sky, Only a soft dim radiance under the moon, And dark trees on the brightness. Very soon You will be gathered in a thoughtful rest, And fall asleep like a bird up there in its nest. Are you not glad at last to realize Your insubstantial dream that never dies?
CLIMBER
Yes, but I’m wearied. I’ve had rather a fight To get here all right, The sea’s so deep.
HERO
Take your sleep.
[_He sits down as before and draws her on to his knee, and she falls asleep at once with her head on his shoulder, like a tired child. He also appears to sleep. Presently the shadow of a man carrying a rainbow falls across his face, and a dream is heard singing._]
DREAM
The gates of Heaven are pearls, and stand four-square, And people enter in from everywhere. But when the heather’s on the ben And the wind races down the glen And in the wake of Highland ships The creaking sea-gull wheels and dips, And on the bogs, the hills below, The cotton-grass and myrtle blow— Bog-myrtle, with the spicy breath Of bitter-sweet and life and death— I’m glad to think that God has heard The meaning of the unspoken word, The stammering whisper of a tongue That learned no speech the hills among, The supplication of a hand Too fierce for men to understand, And that for such as me He’ll wait In silence by His northern gate.
[_The shadow falls across the girl’s face, and she stirs and smiles in her sleep, and a dream-shadow goes from her also, singing. The two shadows meet, and passing into each other, become one._]
GIRL’S DREAM
I love to think that, high in Heaven, Above the stars, the planets seven, Daybreak and darkness—if I’m there!— I’ll feel the wind stir in my hair, And Heaven’s steadfast floor will float Like water underneath a boat, And, looking down across the gold I’ll see the sunset, fold on fold, Go tumbling down the sky’s wild screes Beyond the Outer Hebrides. Then something in my heart will stir Like earth when spring remembers her, And I’ll ask, firm but quite polite, If God will set my compass right, And if He’ll aiblins help to bail My old boat with the tattered sail, And lend a hand to launch her clear Of Heaven, unless there’s sea like here.
[_The blended shadow falls across the face of the Big Young Hero, and he looks up._]
SHADOW
[_Stirring restlessly._]
I need something.
HERO
Who touches me?
SHADOW
The shadow of a desire.
HERO
What do you require?
SHADOW
I don’t know.
HERO
I have sent you a dream.
SHADOW
I will no longer go After a dream. I do not want to be a bore, But I seem Nowadays to need something more; I feel That I have need of something real.
[_The girl stirs, and gives a little sigh._]
HERO
Hush! if you talk so loud you’ll waken her Before she’s ready. She needs her rest just now. She mustn’t stir; She’s got to steady Her head a bit, for she’s spent hours Filling her mind with things like flowers, Till she had sucked out of earth’s genial root My name like a tender shoot That was bound to put her in mind Of something unconfined.
SHADOW
Oh, do be quick! I’m sick Of standing still.
HERO
There’s no use getting ill About it. I am with you now; The very first step to Heaven’s inside your brow. Look there, and tell me your most dear desire, For it is surely something you require.
[_The shadow shifts to that of a carpenter._]
CARPENTER
I want something to do.
HERO
Who are you?
CARPENTER
I am a good carpenter.
HERO
How good are you?
CARPENTER
I had a sense of something due To someone, though I scarce kent who (It might have been myself or maybe you), And so, just at my own expense, I fashioned out of common sense A ship that’s bound to carry me From earth to Heaven, and as far’s I see, Ought to bring God again to me.
HERO
I have need of you. Show me your ship.
[_The shadow of a large fine ship falls across the sea._]
She is a very beautiful wide ship. Can you manage her alone?
CARPENTER
I would be the better of another, to do my bidding in her.
HERO
Send me your brother.
[_The shadow shifts to that of a tracker._]
HERO
Who are you?
TRACKER
I am a good tracker.
HERO
How good are you?
TRACKER
I do what I am told, I wait and look, Silent, ready to hold. It is not true That I am idle. I am waiting for you. I hook Strange fish upon my individual line. No other hand could take them, they were mine From all eternity, and in the eternal sea They would be lost for ever but for me.
HERO
You are good enough to take his telling.
TRACKER
Yes, but the clouds are swelling, You might maybe lend us another man forby To hold the tiller, in case that he and I Are called to the sheets together By a sudden change in the weather.
HERO
Send me a man off the heather.
[_The shadow shifts to that of a gripper._]
HERO
Who are you?
SHADOW
I am a good gripper.
HERO
How good are you?
GRIPPER
You call me insistently, Yet when I run blithely to the place Where your voice deaves be, you bar the door in my face. What for do you treat me thus and hide? For still I hear you calling me from the other side. I am going to hold on to the sneck and wait. I ken there is something behind the door; early and late You cry on me still. If it be your will Never to open, yet is it meet That I come For under the door I can keek at the shadow of your feet Moving in a larger room.
HERO
You are good enough then To hold the tiller for these men, In case they are called to the sheets together By a sudden change in the weather.
GRIPPER
No earthly blast can overwhelm The ship of which I hold the helm If I have just a kenning more to grip, Something that will not give me the slip Like the rudder he has fashioned. I need something more impassioned, Something to which a mind can hold For a body’s apt to grow cold.
[_The sleeping girl stirs and smiles._]
HERO
This is a shade sublimer.
GRIPPER
Who are you?
CLIMBER
[_Talking in her sleep._]
I am a good climber.
GRIPPER
How good are you?
CLIMBER
I have climbed from the mind of man to the mind of God on a nervous stair.
GRIPPER
[_Astonished._]
Lassie, that’s no canny! Were you no feared to fall?
CLIMBER
[_In her sleep._]
Some day I’ll die, but how, or when, or where I do not greatly care, Because I know that with the flowers and weeds My life proceeds, If so I will, inside a gracious law. No flaw My death will be, nor mischievous accident, Howe’er besprent My blood upon the highway or the turf, Or in the surf Of thunderous combers on the ungathered sea But it will be An obvious hint of a Supreme design, A little clew of mine Left huddled by the beach or cliff to tell— “Pass, friend, all’s well!”
HERO
Let him hold fast The substance of your mind, So that he’ll find The evidence of unseen things that last, And that he’ll still behold Although his hand grows cold And cannot any longer feel The thing he thought was real.
CLIMBER
[_Still in her sleep._]
I said I climbed upon a nervous stair Into the mind of God, Yet all the way I trod On air Because great Love upheld me there. I leaned and she resisted, gathering strength To toss me all that length Like some tall fountain-shower, And I have power To return again and water all the earth, Giving her second birth, Weaving her flesh, Meseems, Out of the mesh Of mind, After the fashion of immediate dreams, If I can find And force All Love into her proper course. With such support it is quite true There’s nothing that I cannot do.
HERO
Send me something I can see through.
[_The shadow shifts to that of a bent old woman._]
HERO
Who are you?
SHADOW
I was old and perfect at the heart Ere human life could start. Before the mind conceived of life I was a wife.
HERO
[_Joyfully._]
What are you good at?
SHADOW
I am a good thief.
HERO
How good are you?
THIEF
Joy in my heart grew strong and very bright, Luxuriantly fed in the light of stars, Planets, and suns, the speed of motor-cars, Fire’s untamed energy, the wireless might Of telepathy, that burns between the bars. I recognized her in the lofty spars Of the rigging, hailing land far out of sight, And as she leaned and peered entranced, I crept Into God’s mind, the while He slept, And stole it bit by bit away, And packed it in a brain of clay; But unaccustomed ripples broke On that calm surface. He awoke, And I, all trembling to depart, Was caught a prisoner in His heart.
HERO
You are good enough, If that’s the stuff Your mind is made on. Help her to climb higher, Otherwise she’ll tire, For she must be stayed on Such substantial matter If she’s to get fatter.
THIEF
Yes, but I need one to hold the rope At the other end, to give us both more scope. I need something full of joy.
HERO
Send me a boy.
[_The shadow shifts to that of a boy, and leaps lightly about._]
HERO
Who are you?
SHADOW
[_Sings._]
I am something always true. I don’t care twopence what they think; I know the sky is always blue, And the rest of life rose-pink.
HERO
[_Affectionately._]
Stand still! Stand still! What are you good at besides singing, eh?
SHADOW
[_Standing still suddenly._]
I am a good listener.
HERO
How good are you?
LISTENER
[_With his hand cupped to his ear._]
Oh, well, by now I really think I’m able To hear folk talking at the other end of the cable When I lay my ear to the ground. There’s certainly some sort of sound Like the noise I hear In the early part of the year, When underground the lilies Whisper: “Hark! There still is Life in us; don’t look so blue. To-morrow we’ll be getting through, If on your side you’ll scrape away As much earth as you dare to-day.”
HERO
You are strong enough to hold the rope At the other end, since they require more scope.
LISTENER
I know I am, quite well; But they think I’m just a sell. Can’t you show them that I’m true? Hullo! Why, who are you?
[_The Big Young Hero has suddenly lifted his right hand, and lets fall from it the shadow of a man carrying a bow and arrows._]
MARKSMAN
[_Placidly._]
I am one too simple to be understood.
HERO
At what are you good?
MARKSMAN
I am a good marksman.
HERO
How good are you?
MARKSMAN
From childhood I have had a single aim. I did not deviate, I just went straight Ahead, till, in the place Where I was standing, I beheld your face, And found I had transfixed your name.
LISTENER
[_With delight._]
Then I should think he’s good enough To show them that I’m not mere bluff.
HERO
[_Quietly._]
He is good enough.
[_The shadows fade, and the girl stirs restlessly in her sleep._]
CLIMBER
I have need of something more than dream.
HERO
I have given you something more: Your dream was real.
[_The Climber laughs suddenly in her sleep, and wakens up._]
CLIMBER
[_Rubbing her eyes, and looking round with delight._]
I feel Very happy, everything looks so bright. I knew it would clear up before to-night, Because I saw a rainbow very high Up in the sky.
HERO
I am going out fishing before the sun sets. Will you lend me your boat to gather In my nets?
CLIMBER
[_Eagerly._]
Rather! Will you be long away?
HERO
I will be back with the first screich of day. I pray you, if it does not trouble you, Have breakfast ready in my house for two.
[_They go down to the beach and launch the boat together, and the Big Young Hero sails slowly away in her towards the Hebrides, seen far off in the sunset. Soft twilight falls on the island, but a phosphorescence shines about the boat, outlining the figure of the Big Young Hero at the prow, who is leaning down towards the water setting the nets. Stars begin to come out in the sky, and on the distant shore a light suddenly twinkles out every few seconds on a buoy. The girl’s voice is heard singing as the boat drifts away._]
CLIMBER’S SONG
To-night I saw a rainbow; It hung my way before, As if the hills were gate-posts And it was the arch of a door. The moor stretched all about me, The heather and the bee; I longed to trap that rainbow For all the world to see.
Perhaps in distant cities, Perhaps down in the glen, The rainbow was the signal Of rain for other men. But high upon the hilltops The clouds blow far and free, And leave behind the rainbow Blue sky for you and me.
ACT II
A MOUNTAIN-SIDE IN ARGYLLSHIRE: MORNING
_A Scottish mountain-side covered with heather and bracken. In the crannies of the rocks oak fern and roseroot are growing. There is a pebbly brook running down to the sea; the sides are starred with sphagnum moss. Grass of Parnassus, and butterwort. In its bed the yellow marsh saxifrage is growing, and up the hillside a silver birch hangs over it. Farther up the hill there are a rowan and an alder, and on the crest, against the sky, a Scotch pine. Low down, by a green mound, there is a yew-tree. In the distance the white breakers of the sea are seen, and they are heard regularly crashing in upon the shore. There is sunshine everywhere, and a breeze blowing the heather and chasing the shadows of clouds across the hillside._
_At the back of the wind, behind a great rock, Finn, a middle-aged man, is sitting, asleep. He is bowed down by a heavy pack containing a rainbow, whose light escapes from the corners and colours it all. Some distance off some other men are lying asleep on the heather._
_Presently the Big Young Hero’s boat is seen approaching from far out at sea. As it nears, Finn stirs from his sleep and perceives it, and, starting to his feet, watches it, with his hand shading his eyes. The Big Young Hero lands from the boat, and, pulling her well up on the beach, comes leaping over the mountain to Finn strongly and gaily. As he runs, flowers spring up under his feet. The other men sleep on undisturbed._
HERO
[_Saluting Finn._]
Darling of all men in the world! I give you the greeting in grandeur and splendour! I bring you glad tidings of great joy! I publish peace!
FINN
[_Utterly bewildered._]
Loveliest of all heroes that I have ever seen, I salute you frankly, fluently, and energetically With the equivalent of the same words, Though I do not know who you are. Your feet are beautiful as a star. I wish that I could sing like the birds, Or blossom like the green wet earth, For my heart is full of mirth. But I can only glower and gaze While my mind plays, And sings and tumbles up and down Inside me, like a clown That makes me feel quite silly, Laughing willy-nilly, Like a man in love. Do you come from above, Or round about or below, Or anywhere I know?
HERO
I come through night-watching and tempest of sea where I am, because I am losing my children, and it has been told me there is not a man in all the world who can keep them for me but you.
FINN
[_Astonished._]
Why, how can I do that when I must bear This heavy rainbow with me everywhere, And all the years Have found my laughter through a mist of tears?
HERO
Since you alone were strong enough to creep Into my mind, and fetch me out of sleep, You have attained my stature, and I find You are a man according to my mind.
FINN
[_Crying out, afraid._]
It was a dream, only a dream I stole! I never did as much As touch Your garment’s hem.
HERO
No, but you clasped my soul. Virtue went out of me immediately The moment that your love was strong enough To push aside the earth and find the stuff That dreams are made on. Up through the senseless clay You sprang like some green sappy shoot, And touched the nervous thoughtful root That I am stayed on.
FINN
[_Dumbfounded._]
It was a dream—I never knew—
HERO
I lay upon you As crosses and spells And seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying, To be with me before you shall eat food, Or drink a draught, Or close an eye in sleep.
[_At his words a delicate web of gossamer covered with dewdrops, spiders’ webs, and flower seeds falls over Finn. The Hero leaves him spellbound, and, returning gaily to his boat, launches her and sails away. When the boat has vanished the web falls away, and Finn turns round with a cry which arouses the other men._]
FINN
Where is he?
CONAN
Who?
FINN
The stranger that was here anon.
CONDHLA
I never knew.
CONAN
Is he gone?
ANGUS
Which way did he go?
FINN
I do not know.
GONACHRY
What was he like?
FINN
I can’t tell. I must find him; he has gone Off with something I had on.
CONAN
You don’t look very well.
GONACHRY
[_Sarcastically._]
I saw him running up the ben, As swift as a spot of sunlight when The clouds bend with a cup To pounce on him and cover him up Like a wasp inside a glass.
ANGUS
Hush! I hear Mactalla pass, He’s surely singing in his sleep. Since it’s never very deep, Let us rouse him up and speir If the stranger is still here.
[_All cry aloud, against the rocks: “Mactalla! Mactalla! Mactalla!” The echo is returned mockingly: “Mactalla! Mactalla! Mactalla!”_]
ANGUS
Tut! He’s in a teasing mood to-day; We’ll get nothing out of him. I say! Answer, and I’ll promise you fair, A big laugh to yourself off the back of Ben Y Bheithir.
MACTALLA[1]
[_Mocking from somewhere._]
I say! I say! A big laugh off the back of Ben Y Bheithir?
ANGUS
Ha! ha! You’re there, little fellow! Yes, at the back of Ben Bheithir, where the yellow Saxifrage grows out of the crannied rock, I’ll give you a laugh to yourself that’ll shock The natives, if you’ll tell us now Which way the stranger went.
MACTALLA