LITMIR.BIZ

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therefore let us hurry, and get us home.

      SEANCHAN.

      It’s certain that there is some trouble here,

      Although it’s gone out of my memory.

      And I would get away from it. Give me your help. [Trying to rise.

      But why are not my pupils here to help me?

      Go, call my pupils, for I need their help.

      FEDELM.

      Come with me now, and I will send for them,

      For I have a great room that’s full of beds

      I can make ready; and there is a smooth lawn

      Where they can play at hurley and sing poems

      Under an apple-tree.

      SEANCHAN.

      I know that place:

      An apple-tree, and a smooth level lawn

      Where the young men can sway their hurley sticks.

      [Sings.]

      The four rivers that run there,

      Through well-mown level ground,

      Have come out of a blessed well

      That is all bound and wound

      By the great roots of an apple,

      And all the fowl of the air

      Have gathered in the wide branches

      And keep singing there.

      [FEDELM, troubled, has covered her eyes with her hands.

      FEDELM.

      No, there are not four rivers, and those rhymes

      Praise Adam’s paradise.

      SEANCHAN.

      I can remember now,

      It’s out of a poem I made long ago

      About the Garden in the East of the World,

      And how spirits in the images of birds

      Crowd in the branches of old Adam’s crabtree.

      They come before me now, and dig in the fruit

      With so much gluttony, and are so drunk

      With that harsh wholesome savour, that their feathers

      Are clinging one to another with the juice.

      But you would lead me to some friendly place,

      And I would go there quickly.

      FEDELM.

       [Helping him to rise.]

      Come with me.

      He walks slowly, supported by her, till he comes to table.

      SEANCHAN.

      But why am I so weak? Have I been ill?

      Sweetheart, why is it that I am so weak?

      [Sinks on to seat.

      FEDELM.

       [Goes to table.]

      I’ll dip this piece of bread into the wine,

      For that will make you stronger for the journey.

      SEANCHAN.

      Yes, give me bread and wine; that’s what I want,

      For it is hunger that is gnawing me.

      [He takes bread from FEDELM, hesitates, and then thrusts it back into her hand.

      But, no; I must not eat it.

      FEDELM.

      Eat, Seanchan.

      For if you do not eat it you will die.

      SEANCHAN.

      Why did you give me food? Why did you come?

      For had I not enough to fight against

      Without your coming?

      FEDELM.

      Eat this little crust,

      Seanchan, if you have any love for me.

      SEANCHAN.

      I must not eat it—but that’s beyond your wit.

      Child! child! I must not eat it, though I die.

      FEDELM.

       [Passionately.]

      You do not know what love is; for if you loved,

      You would put every other thought away.

      But you have never loved me.

      SEANCHAN.

       [Seizing her by wrist.]

      You, a child,

      Who have but seen a man out of the window,

      Tell me that I know nothing about love,

      And that I do not love you! Did I not say

      There was a frenzy in the light of the stars

      All through the livelong night, and that the night

      Was full of marriages? But that fight’s over,

      And all that’s done with, and I have to die.

      FEDELM.

       [Throwing her arms about him.]

      I will not be put from you, although I think

      I had not grudged it you if some great lady,

      If the King’s daughter, had set out your bed.

      I will not give you up to death; no, no!

      And are not these white arms and this soft neck

      Better than the brown earth?

      SEANCHAN.

       [Struggling to disengage himself.]

      Begone from me!

      There’s treachery in those arms and in that voice.

      They’re all against me. Why do you linger there?

      How long must I endure the sight of you?

      FEDELM.

      O, Seanchan! Seanchan!

      SEANCHAN.

       [Rising.]

      Go where you will,

      So it be out of sight and out of mind.

      I cast you from me like an old torn cap,

      A broken shoe, a glove without a finger,

      A crooked penny; whatever is most worthless.

      FEDELM.

       [Bursts into tears.]

      O, do not drive me from you!

      SEANCHAN.

       [Takes her in his arms.]

      What did I say,

      My dove of the woods? I was about to curse you.

      It was a frenzy. I’ll unsay it all.

      But you must go away.

      FEDELM.

      Let me be near you.

      I will obey like any married wife.

      Let me but lie before your feet.

      SEANCHAN.

      Come nearer.

      [Kisses her.

      If

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