SECOND MERCHANT
What has she in her coffers now but mice?
FIRST MERCHANT
When the night fell and I had shaped myselfInto the image of the man-headed owl,I hurried to the cliffs of Donegal,And saw with all their canvas full of windAnd rushing through the parti-coloured seaThose ships that bring the woman grain and meal.They're but three days from us.
SECOND MERCHANT
When the dew roseI hurried in like feathers to the east,And saw nine hundred oxen driven through MeathWith goads of iron. They're but three days from us.
FIRST MERCHANT
Three days for traffic.
(PEASANTS crowd in with TEIG and SHEMUS.)
SHEMUS
Come in, come in, you are welcome.That is my wife. She mocked at my great masters,And would not deal with them. Now there she is;She does not even know she was a fool,So great a fool she was.
TEIG
She would not eatOne crumb of bread bought with our master's money,But lived on nettles, dock, and dandelion.
SHEMUS
There's nobody could put into her headThat Death is the worst thing can happen us.Though that sounds simple, for her tongue grew rankWith all the lies that she had heard in chapel.Draw to the curtain. (TEIG draws it.) You'll not play the foolWhile these good gentlemen are there to save you.
SECOND MERCHANT
Since the drought came they drift about in a throng,Like autumn leaves blown by the dreary winds.Come, deal – come, deal.
FIRST MERCHANT
Who will come deal with us?
SHEMUS
They are out of spirit, sir, with lack of food,Save four or five. Here, sir, is one of these;The others will gain courage in good time.
MIDDLE-AGED-MAN
I come to deal – if you give honest price.
FIRST MERCHANT (reading in a book)
"John Maher, a man of substance, with dull mind,And quiet senses and unventurous heart.The angels think him safe." Two hundred crowns,All for a soul, a little breath of wind.
THE MAN
I ask three hundred crowns. You have read thereThat no mere lapse of days can make me yours.
FIRST MERCHANT
There is something more writ here – "Often at nightHe is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,And thereon wonders if there's any manThat he could rob in safety."
A PEASANT
Who'd have thought it?And I was once alone with him at midnight.
ANOTHER PEASANT
I will not trust my mother after this.
FIRST MERCHANT
There is this crack in you – two hundred crowns.
A PEASANT
That's plenty for a rogue.
ANOTHER PEASANT
I'd give him nothing.
SHEMUS
You'll get no more – so take what's offered you.
(A general murmur, during which the MIDDLE-AGED MAN takes money, and slips into background, where he sinks on to a seat.)
FIRST MERCHANT
Has no one got a better soul than that?If only for the credit of your parishes,Traffic with us.
A WOMAN
What will you give for mine?
FIRST MERCHANT (reading in book)
"Soft, handsome, and still young" – not much, I think."It's certain that the man she's married toKnows nothing of what's hidden in the jarBetween the hour-glass and the pepper-pot."
THE WOMAN
The scandalous book.
FIRST MERCHANT
"Nor how when he's awayAt the horse fair the hand that wrote what's hidWill tap three times upon the window-pane."
THE WOMAN
And if there is a letter, that is no reasonWhy I should have less money than the others.
FIRST MERCHANT
You're almost safe, I give you fifty crowns.
(She turns to go.)
A hundred, then.
SHEMUS
Woman, have sense – come, come.Is this a time to haggle at the price?There, take it up. There, there. That's right.
(She takes them and goes into the crowd.)
FIRST MERCHANT
Come, deal, deal, deal. It is but for charityWe buy such souls at all; a thousand sinsMade them our Master's long before we came.
(ALEEL enters.)
ALEEL
Here, take my soul, for I am tired of it.I do not ask a price.
SHEMUS
Not ask a price?How can you sell your soul without a price?I would not listen to his broken wits;His love for Countess Cathleen has so crazed himHe hardly understands what he is saying.
ALEEL
The trouble that has come on Countess Cathleen,The sorrow that is in her wasted face,The burden in her eyes, have broke my wits,And yet I know I'd have you take my soul.
FIRST MERCHANT
We cannot take your soul, for it is hers.
ALEEL
No, but you must. Seeing it cannot help herI have grown tired of it.
FIRST MERCHANT
Begone from me,I may not touch it.
ALEEL
Is your power so small?And must I bear it with me all my days?May you be scorned and mocked!
FIRST MERCHANT
Drag him away.He troubles me.
(TEIG and SHEMUS lead ALEEL into the crowd.)
SECOND MERCHANT
His gaze has filled me, brother,With shaking and a dreadful fear.
FIRST MERCHANT
Lean forwardAnd kiss the circlet where my Master's lipsWere pressed upon it when he sent us hither;You shall have peace once more.
(SECOND MERCHANT kisses the gold circlet that is about the head of the FIRST MERCHANT.)
I, too, grow weary,But there is something moving in my heartWhereby I know that what we seek the mostIs drawing near – our labour will soon end.Come, deal, deal, deal, deal, deal; are you all dumb?What, will you keep me from our ancient home,And from the eternal revelry?
SECOND MERCHANT
Deal, deal.
SHEMUS
They say you beat the woman down too low.
FIRST MERCHANT