Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous [8]
mine eyes. Do not look sad, Bianca. It is nothing. Your husband bleeds, 'tis nothing. Take a cloth, Bind it about mine arm. Nay, not so tight. More softly, my good wife. And be not sad, I pray you be not sad. No; take it off. What matter if I bleed? [Tears bandage off.]
Again! again! [Simone disarms Guido] My gentle Lord, you see that I was right My sword is better tempered, finer steel, But let us match our daggers.
BIANCA [to Guido] Kill him! kill him!
SIMONE. Put out the torch, Bianca.
[Bianca puts out torch.]
Now, my good Lord, Now to the death of one, or both of us, Or all three it may be. [They fight.]
There and there. Ah, devil! do I hold thee in my grip? [Simone overpowers Guido and throws him down over table.]
GUIDO. Fool! take your strangling fingers from my throat. I am my father's only son; the State Has but one heir, and that false enemy France Waits for the ending of my father's line To fall upon our city.
SIMONE. Hush! your father When he is childless will be happier. As for the State, I think our state of Florence Needs no adulterous pilot at its helm. Your life would soil its lilies.
GUIDO. Take off your hands Take off your damned hands. Loose me, I say!
SIMONE. Nay, you are caught in such a cunning vice That nothing will avail you, and your life Narrowed into a single point of shame Ends with that shame and ends most shamefully.
GUIDO. Oh! let me have a priest before I die!
SIMONE. What wouldst thou have a priest for? Tell thy sins To God, whom thou shalt see this very night And then no more for ever. Tell thy sins To Him who is most just, being pitiless, Most pitiful being just. As for myself. . .
GUIDO. Oh! help me, sweet Bianca! help me, Bianca, Thou knowest I am innocent of harm.
SIMONE. What, is there life yet in those lying lips? Die like a dog with lolling tongue! Die! Die! And the dumb river shall receive your corse And wash it all unheeded to the sea.
GUIDO. Lord Christ receive my wretched soul to-night!
SIMONE. Amen to that. Now for the other.
[He dies. Simone rises and looks at Bianca. She comes towards him as one dazed with wonder and with outstretched arms.]
BIANCA. Why Did you not tell me you were so strong?
SIMONE. Why Did you not tell me you were beautiful?
[He kisses her on the mouth.]
CURTAIN
LA SAINTE COURTISANE OR, THE WOMAN COVERED WITH JEWELS
The scene represents the corner of a valley in the Thebaid. On the right hand of the stage is a cavern. In front of the cavern stands a great crucifix.
On the left [sand dunes].
The sky is blue like the inside of a cup of lapis lazuli. The hills are of red sand. Here and there on the hills there are clumps of thorns.
FIRST MAN. Who is she? She makes me afraid. She has a purple cloak and her hair is like threads of gold. I think she must be the daughter of the Emperor. I have heard the boatmen say that the Emperor has a daughter who wears a cloak of purple.
SECOND MAN. She has birds' wings upon her sandals, and her tunic is of the colour of green corn. It is like corn in spring when she stands still. It is like young corn troubled by the shadows of hawks when she moves. The pearls on her tunic are like many moons.
FIRST MAN. They are like the moons one sees in the water when the wind blows from the hills.
SECOND MAN. I think she is one of the gods. I think she comes from Nubia.
FIRST MAN. I am sure she is the daughter of the Emperor. Her nails are stained with henna. They are like the petals of a rose. She has come here to weep for Adonis.
SECOND MAN. She is one of the gods. I do not know why she has left her temple. The gods should not leave their temples. If she speaks to us let us not answer, and she will pass by.
FIRST MAN. She will not speak to us. She is the daughter of the Emperor.
MYRRHINA. Dwells he not here, the beautiful young hermit, he who will not look on the face of woman?
FIRST MAN. Of a truth it is here the hermit dwells.
MYRRHINA. Why will he not look on
Again! again! [Simone disarms Guido] My gentle Lord, you see that I was right My sword is better tempered, finer steel, But let us match our daggers.
BIANCA [to Guido] Kill him! kill him!
SIMONE. Put out the torch, Bianca.
[Bianca puts out torch.]
Now, my good Lord, Now to the death of one, or both of us, Or all three it may be. [They fight.]
There and there. Ah, devil! do I hold thee in my grip? [Simone overpowers Guido and throws him down over table.]
GUIDO. Fool! take your strangling fingers from my throat. I am my father's only son; the State Has but one heir, and that false enemy France Waits for the ending of my father's line To fall upon our city.
SIMONE. Hush! your father When he is childless will be happier. As for the State, I think our state of Florence Needs no adulterous pilot at its helm. Your life would soil its lilies.
GUIDO. Take off your hands Take off your damned hands. Loose me, I say!
SIMONE. Nay, you are caught in such a cunning vice That nothing will avail you, and your life Narrowed into a single point of shame Ends with that shame and ends most shamefully.
GUIDO. Oh! let me have a priest before I die!
SIMONE. What wouldst thou have a priest for? Tell thy sins To God, whom thou shalt see this very night And then no more for ever. Tell thy sins To Him who is most just, being pitiless, Most pitiful being just. As for myself. . .
GUIDO. Oh! help me, sweet Bianca! help me, Bianca, Thou knowest I am innocent of harm.
SIMONE. What, is there life yet in those lying lips? Die like a dog with lolling tongue! Die! Die! And the dumb river shall receive your corse And wash it all unheeded to the sea.
GUIDO. Lord Christ receive my wretched soul to-night!
SIMONE. Amen to that. Now for the other.
[He dies. Simone rises and looks at Bianca. She comes towards him as one dazed with wonder and with outstretched arms.]
BIANCA. Why Did you not tell me you were so strong?
SIMONE. Why Did you not tell me you were beautiful?
[He kisses her on the mouth.]
CURTAIN
LA SAINTE COURTISANE OR, THE WOMAN COVERED WITH JEWELS
The scene represents the corner of a valley in the Thebaid. On the right hand of the stage is a cavern. In front of the cavern stands a great crucifix.
On the left [sand dunes].
The sky is blue like the inside of a cup of lapis lazuli. The hills are of red sand. Here and there on the hills there are clumps of thorns.
FIRST MAN. Who is she? She makes me afraid. She has a purple cloak and her hair is like threads of gold. I think she must be the daughter of the Emperor. I have heard the boatmen say that the Emperor has a daughter who wears a cloak of purple.
SECOND MAN. She has birds' wings upon her sandals, and her tunic is of the colour of green corn. It is like corn in spring when she stands still. It is like young corn troubled by the shadows of hawks when she moves. The pearls on her tunic are like many moons.
FIRST MAN. They are like the moons one sees in the water when the wind blows from the hills.
SECOND MAN. I think she is one of the gods. I think she comes from Nubia.
FIRST MAN. I am sure she is the daughter of the Emperor. Her nails are stained with henna. They are like the petals of a rose. She has come here to weep for Adonis.
SECOND MAN. She is one of the gods. I do not know why she has left her temple. The gods should not leave their temples. If she speaks to us let us not answer, and she will pass by.
FIRST MAN. She will not speak to us. She is the daughter of the Emperor.
MYRRHINA. Dwells he not here, the beautiful young hermit, he who will not look on the face of woman?
FIRST MAN. Of a truth it is here the hermit dwells.
MYRRHINA. Why will he not look on