Part 2
Bow-wow! I’ll have the big laugh out of you, But I cannot tell you true Which one way the stranger went, For he’s left an echo pent In everything he came across. I’m entirely at a loss. Can’t you catch it here and there? I think he must be everywhere.
[_The growing things are heard talking._]
ALDER-TREE
Is that you, Grass?
GRASS
Yes, I am growing Under his feet, If the heather will let me pass.
HEATHER
I’ll try to, if you’ll meet Me half-way.
SCOTCH PINE
[_Loftily._]
I say, There’s no knowing What she’ll be up to next. Take my text, And scarcely let yourself be seen, With anyone so very green.
YEW-TREE
[_Phlegmatically._]
I am quite at a loss To know what came across My barrowful of withered leaves.
ROWAN
[_Gently._]
A bairnie couped it, coming home from school, Among the sheaves.
BIRCH
[_Whispering._]
Hush! hush! Softly, softly, my daughters; I hear the sound of mountain waters.
BURN
[_Singing._]
Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Hush! Let me down. Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! What a lot of trouble There is in the world Before you can get down To bed-rock, And stand stock Still As reserved, as reserved, as reserved as can be, Not letting slip A word over your lip. Oh! I say! Hurry! Hurry! I must get to the sea! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Hush! Let me down Without any more trouble, Bubble! Bubble! Bubble! Bubble!
[_All remain listening, wrapt in wonder. Even Finn, who since the spell has been laid upon him has been sitting in great heaviness of mind, looks up and listens to the song with growing delight. Suddenly Angus roars with laughter._]
MACTALLA
[_Mocking._]
Ha! Ha! Ha! Big Angus! Bow-wow! I said I’d have the big laugh out of you the now.
ANGUS
[_Unable to stop laughing._]
Did ever anybody hear the like of that?
[_The others look at him half-angrily._]
CONAN
What’s taken the fool!
CONDHLA
Pat him on the back.
TORQUIL
Can’t you hold your tongue.
GONACHRY
Did you ever hear of anyone that could!
ANGUS
[_In desperation._]
Hold my tongue! Will that do any good?
[_He tries to do so. It makes him laugh all the more, and one by one they all gradually join in his laughter except Finn, till they are roaring fit to split the rocks. Above it all Mactalla is heard mocking. At last Angus subsides, wiping the tears from his eyes._]
CONAN
What on earth are you laughing at?
ANGUS
Nothing on earth. What are you laughing at?
CONAN
How should I know?
ANGUS
Well, how should I know what I’m laughing at?
CONAN
Because you began, you gomeril.
ANGUS
Not I.
GONACHRY
Well, then, who did?
ANGUS
Mactalla.
CONAN
What was Mactalla laughing at?
ANGUS
That’s what I’d like to know.
GONACHRY
I never heard him.
ANGUS
That’s because you’ve no sense of humour.
GONACHRY
[_Fiercely._]
I have a sense of humour.
ANGUS
Where is it, then?
GONACHRY
Up my sleeve.
[_He looks up his sleeve and gives a sarcastic grin._]
ANGUS
Well, nobody can see it there But yourself, so you’d better take care. If folk don’t see what you’re laughing at They’ll end by laughing at you.
CONAN
[_Stooping to pick up a button._]
What’s that? A button. Is it anywhere off me?
[_He looks himself all over._]
CONDHLA
What’s it like?
CONAN
Greenish-white. No, it’s not off me As far as I can see.
ANGUS
[_Holding out his hand._]
Here, it’s mine. I burst it laughing.
[_Conan hands it over to him casually._]
CONAN
[_Lighting his pipe._]
Come on! It’s time we were at work again.
TORQUIL
Are you taking the boat out to-day?
CONAN
Ay.
[_Exit Conan, Condhla, and Torquil._]
ANGUS
[_To Finn._]
Aren’t you coming?
FINN
[_Abstractedly._]
Not to-day, not to-day.
GONACHRY
[_Laughing carelessly._]
He looks to me as if he had gone daft.
[_He slouches off after the others with his hands in his pockets._]
ANGUS
It’s very queer the way he never laughed.
[_He goes up to Finn and gives him a hearty slap on the back._]
Come, man! What ails you?
FINN
[_Throwing him off with sudden irritation._]
Get away, you gomeril!
ANGUS
[_Aside._]
He’s fey!
[_He makes a sign to keep off the evil eye, and retreats hurriedly after the others, casting suspicious glances backwards at Finn._]
FINN
[_Seeing himself alone, with a sigh of relief hoists his rainbow resolutely and tightens his belt._]
I will prick on my way Far into the country of my God, And if it be true, as they say, That He is calm and unhurried, Some day I shall break through a gap in the hedge And come upon Him seated by the road-edge. Then shall I say to Him these three things, baring my brow: “Wherefore art Thou, whence didst Thou come, and whither goest Thou? Answer, I pray, for I ask of Thee As one traveller of another.”
[_Enter the Carpenter, unperceived by Finn._]
CARPENTER
Good day!
FINN
[_Starting violently._]
Good day!
CARPENTER
It’s a fine day.
FINN
[_Gloomily._]
It’s fine as long as this breeze lasts, but I’m thinking it’ll not be long before there’s a shower coming over from Badenoch.
CARPENTER
Ay! It’s soft; but it’ll not be much with the sun where it is.
FINN
The sun may be as high as it likes, it’ll not make much difference to the shadow on my mind.
CARPENTER
What sort of a shadow is on your mind?
FINN
A shadow like the one across the breast Of Kinlochleven when the sun goes west, And the Bidean, that great serious Ben, Stoops to consider men.
CARPENTER
That’s a long shadow.
FINN
It’s a shadow of crosses and spells and seven fairy fetters of travelling and straying, to be with the one that considers me before I shall eat food, or drink a draught, or close an eye in sleep.
CARPENTER
It’s a long shadow, but maybe I can help you to the one that considers you if you’ll consider me.
FINN
What are you good at to help me?
CARPENTER
I am a good carpenter.
FINN
How good are you at carpentry?
CARPENTER
With three strokes of this axe I can make a large capacious complete ship of the alder-stock over yonder.
FINN
[_Eagerly._]
You are good enough then, carpenter, for I am wanting a ship To go on this trip. Can you prove me your skill?
CARPENTER
Ay, with a will.
[_The Carpenter goes to the alder-stock, strikes it with his axe thrice, and, as he says, the ship is ready in the sea waiting for them._]
FINN
[_Delighted._]
It is a very beautiful wide ship; what can it do?
CARPENTER
It can take you to the one that considers you, If rightly handled, and, as far’s I see, Brings such a one again to you and me.
FINN
[_Eagerly._]
Will you lend her to me?
CARPENTER
[_Pawkily._]
Ay, if you are willing to engage My brother too for a trifling wage. I’ll not can manage her alone.
FINN
[_Impatiently._]
Come on! Come on! Call me your brother; He’ll do as well as any other.
[_The Carpenter whistles shrilly on his fingers, and the Tracker enters._]
CARPENTER
You’re wanted for the boat the now; He needs you at the bow.
TRACKER
[_To Finn._]
What is your will?
FINN
What are you good at?
TRACKER
I am a good tracker.
FINN
How good are you at tracking?
TRACKER
I can track the wild duck over the crests of the nine waves within nine days.
FINN
Then you are good enough to track The one that considers me, and bring him back.
TRACKER
That will I blindfold; But I need another to hold The tiller, in case we’re called to the sheets together. Call me that man there, coming across the heather.
[_The Gripper is seen approaching over the hillside._]
GRIPPER
Good day!
FINN
Good day! What are you good at?
GRIPPER
I am a good gripper.
FINN
How good are you?
GRIPPER
The hold I once get I will not let go until my two arms come from my shoulder, or until my hold comes with me.
FINN
Then you are good enough to hold until The one that considers me comes with your hold?
GRIPPER
That will I, sitting still; But as my hand’s apt to grow cold, I’ll need that lassie there to keep my mind Off thinking of it.
[_The Climber has suddenly swung herself down by a golden rope at Finn’s side._]
FINN
[_Astonished._]
Why, how did you find Your way down here?
[_He takes off his cap politely._]
CLIMBER
I climbed down.
FINN
[_Aside._]
I don’t see any stair. I wonder if she’s quite all there!
CLIMBER
[_Answering his thought._]
No, just at present I am mostly here.
FINN
[_Aside._]
Her answer isn’t very clear.
[_Aloud._]
And what are you good at?
CLIMBER
I am a good climber.
FINN
I see that. How good are you at climbing?
CLIMBER
I could climb on a filament of silk to the stars if you were to tie it there.
FINN
[_Looking at her dreamily._]
Will you be good enough then, please, to stare Into each star and tell me if He’s there.
[_He collects himself, and adds hastily._]
The one that considers me, I mean.
CLIMBER
I’ll be your go-between With pleasure, but I’m young to come alone; Call me that woman there as a chaperon.
[_The Thief and the Listener have entered hand in hand. Finn beckons to the Thief, taking off his cap again politely._]
FINN
What are you good at, dame?
THIEF
I am a good thief.
FINN
How good are you at thieving?
THIEF
I can steal the egg from the heron while her two eyes are looking at me.
FINN
Then if you’ll come with me and steal The one that considers me, I’ll feel Greatly obliged to you, there is no doubt.
THIEF
I’ll take you by a pretty roundabout If you are also able to employ My boy.
FINN
What is he good at?
LISTENER
I am a good listener.
FINN
How good are you at listening?
LISTENER
I can hear what the people are saying at the extremity of the uttermost world.
FINN
You are good enough, then. Maybe you can hear Whether the one that considers me is near?
LISTENER
[_Putting his hand to his ear._]
You’re very hot!
[_Finn, who has been standing beside the Climber, moves forward hastily._]
No, now you’re colder! I’ll find Him ere I am much older, Only some people are so narrow, I’ll need that man with the bow and arrow
[_Enter Marksman._]
To bear me out ere they’ll agree That seeing’s believing what I see.
FINN
[_To Marksman._]
What are you good at?
MARKSMAN
I am a good marksman.
FINN
How good are you?
MARKSMAN
I could hit an egg as far off in the sky as bowstring could send or bow could carry.
FINN
If you can hit the place where He Is hidden who considers me, We need no longer tarry. For I am drawn by an insatiable desire, I am consumed in an impetuous fire, And I am denied all rest Until my quest Is ended. Would that I could find A lodge for my soul, where I might leave behind All longing for ever, slumbering complete At His feet. Would I could rest in that bright place where I In spirit lie. Its light has cast a shadow on the brow Of this fair “Now.” Why did He make that garden-place so fair? My soul, a bird, is there, With limed wings fast to that apple-bough.
MARKSMAN
[_Putting his hand kindly on his shoulder._]
Come, then, and let’s be gone. Your fellows will come after you anon.
[_They launch the ship, and the Gripper takes the helm. The Tracker, who is at the bow, is seen telling him now to go this way and now to go that way, and the ship obeys his hand beautifully. The waves begin to rise as the ship gets farther from sight, but the Tracker still finds a smooth path through the waters. The Listener leans over the side, and sings a song as the boat slips out to sea. It is a wild and beautiful song, haunting, sweet, and long-drawn-out._]
LISTENER’S SONG
I made a little song, and it was true, Though nobody heeded it in the press of things; I left it alone a thousand years, and it grew, And I heard it again one day in the mouth of kings.
All as I went I joyed me a mighty joy. They laughed at me; they said: “You’re still very young”; But I knew better than that when I was a boy, And when I was old I found the song I’d sung.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Highland “Echo.”
ACT III. SCENE 1
A BEAUTIFUL HIGHLAND SHORE: AFTERNOON
_In the distance up the glen there is seen smoke evidently rising from a house hidden somewhere in the trees. In the foreground there are heather and rocks and a beautiful alder-tree with thick foliage. Curlews and sea-gulls are crying, and a breeze is tossing the waves into white horses. At this moment Finn enters, looking rather wretched and storm-tossed. He sits down on a boulder, with a weary sigh._
FINN
[_Yawning._]
Heigh-ho!—Hay-hum-harry! This box is a weary weight to carry.
CLIMBER’S VOICE
[_Calling from the alder-tree._]
I wish you’d let me take a share!
FINN
[_Starting violently, and looking up._]
Certainly not! What are you doing up there?
CLIMBER
[_Pushing her head out through the leaves._]
I went up after a squirrel.
FINN
At your age that’s not proper for a girl.
CLIMBER
[_Singing._]
Oh, to-day I’m twenty-seven! What delight to rhyme with Heaven! I’m as happy as can be, Here inside the alder-tree.
All my life’s a song that flows With the river and the rose, All my life’s a song to me Like the lovely alder-tree.
All the years I’ve left behind Are translated in my mind Into something new and free, Like the seed-pod on the tree.
All that’s past is unforgotten; I have wrapped it up in cotton, Like the larva that I see In the leaf upon the tree.
It will grow and change and gather Knowledge of a mind, its Father; Some morning in its glee It will float above the tree.
Oh, to-day I’m twenty-seven! Just a little nearer Heaven Than I ever used to be When I climbed the alder-tree.
For I feel at last that I, Like the larva, change and fly Yet a grander, fuller me, On the self-same alder-tree.
FINN
[_Who has listened with delight to the song._]
You’re a very eccentric sort of girl.
CLIMBER
[_Coming down hastily._]
No! Eccentricity I hate! It’s just a name for off the straight; And, if you’ll only pay me more attention, You’ll find it’s almost too far off to mention.
[_Finn looks at her doubtfully._]
CLIMBER
[_Coaxingly._]
I wish you’d let me take a share Of that old box you’re carrying there.
FINN
[_Hastily._]
I wouldn’t dream of such a thing!
CLIMBER
Take care! It needs a stronger piece of string. And if you drop it, that would be a pity; It looks as if the contents were so pretty. What is inside it? May I know?
FINN
Guess!
CLIMBER
I can’t. It seems to show All bright about the edge.
[_She tries the weight._]
I can’t see quite What makes it heavy when it looks so light?
FINN
Tears of all sorts, and colours to suit each eye.
CLIMBER
Then why Is it so light when it feels such a weight?
FINN
Oh! that’s just Fate. A glint of laughter Getting through each tear A little after.
CLIMBER
[_Clapping her hands._]
Oh dear! How beautiful! I’ve guessed it—a rainbow! You’ve got a rainbow there, I knew last night the morning would be fair!
FINN
[_Astonished._]
How did you guess?
CLIMBER
I saw the rain-clouds yesterday Coming up Crianlarich way, Black as peat and full of dark. Suddenly God set His mark Over them all in a rainbow, And so I knew The sun was somewhere getting through, And, turning, saw him come Hurriedly over the hills above Tyndrum.
[_She turns and sees Finn looking at her with a wistful expression._]
What are you thinking about?
FINN
Nothing at all. A dream.
CLIMBER
Look out! They are not what they seem!
FINN
They’re harmless enough. They aren’t real.
CLIMBER
They’re made of stuff That’s very apt to steal Intact Into actual fact. For instance, look at these.
[_She points to some mountain pansies in the grass._]
FINN
Explain the connection, please.
CLIMBER
Don’t you see it, sumph?
FINN
Umph! They seem to give you a lot of pleasure.
CLIMBER
[_Sniffing delightedly._]
Yes, without measure. Don’t they give it you?
FINN
Oh! Well enough. Though, as a rule, I think That I prefer a more substantial stuff, Something to eat or drink, Yet somehow now I feel dead beat; I couldn’t stand the sight of meat.
CLIMBER
[_Rapturously._]
Oh, I could feed On flowers for ever!
FINN
Well, then, you must be very clever.
CLIMBER
[_Hastily._]
Oh no! there is no need. It happened through a violet’s power, For that’s my favourite flower.
[_Shyly, in a burst of sudden confidence._]
I’ll tell you how it came about If you’d care to find out.
FINN
[_Settling himself on the bank._]
All right, I don’t mind if you do; But it won’t be the same for me as you.
CLIMBER
[_Sitting up and clasping her hands round her knees shyly._]
I was attracted by a violet, For purple’s my favourite colour, and you get Such a delightful perfume out of these When the wind makes a breeze Among the petals. God said: “That settles It. Now she’ll come back here Another year, And look for me where she has found her pleasure.” I did not measure God’s far arrangement thus; but sure enough (Since purple’s my favourite colour), when the puff Of spring cast up her wild young flowery wrack, I looked to see if the violet were blown back.
[_She begins to lose her self-consciousness. Finn watches her interestedly._]
Sufficient she was there! I pushed my hair Back from my brow, and on my knees I went To catch her scent. Oh, it was joy I thought would never cloy! And God, who saw me on the grass beside That purple pride, Laughed softly to Himself, and said: “I knew She’d not resist My blue. Now I’ll be bound she’ll come again next year To find my fragrance here.”
[_She continues with increasing animation, having quite lost all self-consciousness._]
In very deed I came, But now a flame Of ultra-violet flickered on my thought. It wasn’t just the scent that brought Me back like that, nor yet the lovely blue; It was because I felt that God was true. And that was how, having had my attention called To something that came back and never palled, But seemed each year more lovely than the last, I passed To looking for the far-off deeper things That God had tucked behind the violet’s wings. I said to myself: “This is some sort of sign Of constancy divine, And I expect there must be some such mark Set on our ultimate dark; For we are all just one material here— My heart, the violet clear.
[_Dreamily, to herself._]
Oh! Isn’t it delightful thus to grow Together yet apart a little while? God needs this time to shape us to the style Of His eternity, as, strong and slow, The separate shadows of the flowery prime Become one purple deep at evening-time.
[_She takes a violet in her hands and looks at it. To herself._]
Here’s all the evidence of things unseen, Delicious substance of a life to be, Where maybe I’ll share His identity, And we’ll be One to all eternity.
FINN
What?
CLIMBER
[_Who has forgotten that she is not alone, blushing self-consciously and starting violently._]
Nothing! It’s not Meant for you to hear.
FINN
Go on about next year.
CLIMBER
[_Very shyly, with averted face._]
Well, in the spring I came, with joyous thirst, To find the violet where I found her first; Till, kneeling there one day, I felt my heart Quicken and start, And pushing back the lid, to look within, I saw a thin Long tongue of lavender amid the red, And God knelt there, and spread His strong white hands above the warm, bright stain, And laughed, and said: “I have found faith again On earth.”
[_She pauses, and adds in a whisper._]
But I, too much amazed for mirth, Could only gaze and stammer: “Sir, not yet, It was Your violet.”
[_There is silence. The Climber remains with shy averted face._]
FINN
[_After an embarrassed pause._]
I don’t see how a violet’s shown You that. Tell me it all again.
CLIMBER
[_Jumping up, with a nervous laugh._]
Oh dear! I wish I could explain Better. But it’s the sort of thing You’ll have to find alone. I’m off to bring The others. I’ll be back in a minute.
[_She runs away, with a very red face. Finn yawns, sighs, and, picking a violet, sniffs and sniffs again._]
FINN
Delicious! I believe there’s something in it!
[_He puts the violet in his buttonhole._]
Even if it isn’t much It’s something I could almost touch A morsel of just now.
[_Enter the Listener, whistling, and chipping himself a whistle out of an alder branch._]
FINN
Hallo! Where are the others?
LISTENER
Patching up the boat a bit in smothers Of spray. The wind seems blowing this way.
[_He waves his hand in the direction in which the Climber has gone._]
Still feeling sick?
FINN
Certainly not. I wasn’t sick!
LISTENER
Oh! I thought that was why You wouldn’t come down to tea, When you said you wished we’d let you die.
FINN
[_Hastily._]
Certainly not!
LISTENER
Then why——
FINN
[_Hurriedly._]
There’s a sort of spell on me. I can’t consider common stuff like tea Until I have found the one that considers me.
LISTENER
[_Sympathetically._]
I say! How beastly! Worse than being in love.
FINN
[_Indignantly._]
Not at all! It’s not the least the same.
LISTENER
[_Innocently._]
Why? What’s the difference?
FINN
[_Crossly._]
Oh, go away! How should I know?
LISTENER
Would you like to hear what I heard up above The tree-tops, before I came Out of the wood?
FINN
[_Crossly._]
Not unless it’s easily understood.
LISTENER
[_Cheerily._]
Oh yes! It’s the sort of thing that any child could guess.
[_He begins to pipe a very cheery little tune, and then stops and looks at Finn enquiringly._]
FINN
[_Brightening._]
That’s not bad. Go on!
LISTENER
[_Beginning to sing._]
Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee! The year has heard the spring In far recesses smouldering. Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee! The robins sing, Daffadowndillies and lilies And crocuses are hiding, Under the garden abiding, Soon you’ll see! Soon you’ll see! Soon you’ll see! For along the west border, All in their proper order, Just like last year— Look!—the tops of the snowdrops are here! Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee! Oh, how wonderful it is to see The spring again just as she used to be! Showing how the bulbs grow Under the ground, Making a sound Where silence lay low. Displaying The beauty of the earth, Saying: “There is no death. For consider the lilies How they grow, and the daffadowndillies, Underground They have found The spring!” Oh, Robin, sing! Oh, come away and see The tops Of the first snowdrops! Tiravee! Tiravee! Tiravee!
[_During the song the others, drawn by the sound of piping, all begin to come in one by one, with the exception of the Climber, beginning with the Marksman and ending with the Carpenter, dancing and humming the tune. When the Listener has done they all applaud him delightedly, and the Marksman lets fly an arrow seaward._]
LISTENER
[_Astonished._]
What’s that for?
MARKSMAN