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The Hour Glass By: William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) |
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DRAMATIS PERSONAE A WISE MAN
A FOOL
SOME PUPILS
AN ANGEL
THE WISE MAN'S WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN
SCENE: A large room with a door at the back and another at the side
opening to an inner room. A desk and a chair in the middle. An
hour glass on a bracket near the door. A creepy stool near it. Some
benches. The WISE MAN sitting at his desk. WISE MAN [turning over the pages of a book]. Where is that passage
I am to explain to my pupils to day? Here it is, and the book says
that it was written by a beggar on the walls of Babylon: "There are
two living countries, the one visible and the one invisible; and
when it is winter with us it is summer in that country; and when
the November winds are up among us it is lambing time there." I
wish that my pupils had asked me to explain any other passage, for
this is a hard passage. [The FOOL comes in and stands at the door,
holding out his hat. He has a pair of shears in the other hand.] It
sounds to me like foolishness; and yet that cannot be, for the
writer of this book, where I have found so much knowledge,
would not have set it by itself on this page, and surrounded it
with so many images and so many deep colors and so much fine
gilding, if it had been foolishness. FOOL. Give me a penny. WISE MAN. [Turns to another page.] Here he has written: "The
learned in old times forgot the visible country." That I
understand, but I have taught my learners better. FOOL. Won't you give me a penny? WISE MAN. What do you want? The words of the wise Saracen will not
teach you much. FOOL. Such a great wise teacher as you are will not refuse a penny
to a Fool. WISE MAN. What do you know about wisdom? FOOL. Oh, I know! I know what I have seen. WISE MAN. What is it you have seen? FOOL. When I went by Kilcluan where the bells used to be ringing at
the break of every day, I could hear nothing but the people snoring
in their houses. When I went by Tubbervanach where the young men
used to be climbing the hill to the blessed well, they were sitting
at the crossroads playing cards. When I went by Carrigoras where
the friars used to be fasting and serving the poor, I saw them
drinking wine and obeying their wives. And when I asked what
misfortune had brought all these changes, they said it was no
misfortune, but it was the wisdom they had learned from your
teaching. WISE MAN. Run round to the kitchen, and my wife will give you
something to eat. FOOL. That is foolish advice for a wise man to give. WISE MAN. Why, Fool? FOOL. What is eaten is gone. I want pennies for my bag. I must buy
bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and strong drink for
the time when the sun is weak. And I want snares to catch the
rabbits and the squirrels and the bares, and a pot to cook them in. WISE MAN. Go away. I have other things to think of now than giving
you pennies. FOOL. Give me a penny and I will bring you luck. Bresal the
Fisherman lets me sleep among the nets in his loft in the
winter time because he says I bring him luck; and in the
summer time the wild creatures let me sleep near their nests
and their holes. It is lucky even to look at me or to touch me,
but it is much more lucky to give me a penny. [Holds out his
hand.] If I wasn't lucky, I'd starve. WISE MAN. What have you got the shears for? FOOL. I won't tell you. If I told you, you would drive them away. WISE MAN. Whom would I drive away? FOOL. I won't tell you. WISE MAN. Not if I give you a penny? FOOL. No. WISE MAN. Not if I give you two pennies. FOOL. You will be very lucky if you give me two pennies, but I
won't tell you. WISE MAN. Three pennies? FOOL. Four, and I will tell you! WISE MAN. Very well, four. But I will not call you Teigue the Fool
any longer. FOOL. Let me come close to you where nobody will hear me. But first
you must promise you will not drive them away. [WISE MAN nods.]
Every day men go out dressed in black and spread great black nets
over the hill, great black nets. WISE MAN. Why do they do that? FOOL... Continue reading book >>
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