The Blue Bird Part 12

NIGHT You may be sure they haven't.... If they had, they would eat him at once.... Well, have you had enough of it?... You see there is nothing to be done....

TYLTYL I must see everything.... Light said so....

NIGHT Light said so!... It's an easy thing to say when one's afraid and stays at home....

TYLTYL Let us go to the next.... What is in here?...

NIGHT This is where I lock up the Shades and the Terrors....

TYLTYL Can I open the door?...

NIGHT Certainly.... They are pretty quiet; they are like the Sicknesses....

TYLTYL (_half-opening the door, with a certain mistrustfulness, and taking a look into the cavern_) Are they not there?...

NIGHT (_looking into the cavern in her turn_) Well, Shades, what are you doing?... Come out for a moment and stretch your legs; it will do you good.... And the Terrors also.... There is nothing to be afraid of.... (_A few_ SHADES _and a few_ TERRORS, _in the shape of women, shrouded, the former in black veils and the latter in greenish veils, piteously venture to take a few steps outside the cavern; and then, upon a movement of_ TYLTYL'S, _hastily run back again_.) Come, don't be afraid.... It's only a child; he won't hurt you....

(_To_ TYLTYL) They have become extremely timid, except the great ones, those whom you see at the back....

TYLTYL (_looking into the depths of the cave_) Oh, how terrifying they are!...

NIGHT They are chained up.... They are the only ones that are not afraid of Man.... But shut the door, lest they should grow angry....

TYLTYL (_going to the next door_) I say!... This is a darker one.... What is here?

NIGHT There are several Mysteries behind this one.... If you are absolutely bent upon it, you may open it too.... But don't go in.... Be very cautious and let us get ready to push back the door, as we did with the Wars....

TYLTYL (_half-opening the door; with unparalleled precautions and pa.s.sing his head fearsomely through the aperture_) Oh!... How cold!... My eyes are smarting!... Shut it quickly!... Push, oh, pus.h.!.+ They are pus.h.i.+ng against us!... (NIGHT, _the_ DOG, _the_ CAT _and_ SUGAR _push back the door_.) Oh, I saw!...

NIGHT What?...

TYLTYL (_upset_) I don't know, it was awful!... They were all seated like monsters without eyes.... Who was the giant who tried to seize me?...

NIGHT It was probably Silence; he has charge of this door.... It appears to have been alarming?... You are quite pale still and trembling all over....

TYLTYL Yes, I would never have believed.... I had never seen.... And my hands are frozen....

NIGHT It will be worse presently if you go on....

TYLTYL (_going to the next door_) And this one?... Is this terrible also?...

NIGHT No; there is a little of everything here.... It is where I keep the unemployed Stars, my personal Perfumes, a few Glimmers that belong to me, such as Will-o'-the-Wisps, Glow-worms and Fireflies, also the Dew, the Song of the Nightingales and so on....

TYLTYL Just so, the Stars, the Song of the Nightingales.... This must be the door....

NIGHT Open it, if you like; there Is nothing very bad inside....

(TYLTYL _throws the door wide open. The_ STARS, _in the shape of beautiful young girls veiled in many-coloured radiancy, escape from their prison, disperse over the hall and form graceful groups on the steps and around the columns, bathed in a sort of luminous penumbra. The_ PERFUMES OF THE NIGHT, _who are almost invisible, the_ WILL-O'-THE-WISPS, _the_ FIREFLIES _and the transparent_ DEW _join them, while the_ SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALES _streams from the cavern and floods the Palace of_ NIGHT.)

MYTYL (_clapping her hands with delight_) Oh, what pretty ladies!...

TYLTYL And how well they dance!...

MYTYL And how sweet they smell!...

TYLTYL And how beautifully they sing!...

MYTYL What are those, whom one can hardly see?...

NIGHT Those are the Perfumes of my Shadow.

TYLTYL And those others, over there, in spun gla.s.s?...

NIGHT They are the Dew of the plains and forests.... But enough!... They would never have done.... It is the devil's own business to get them back, once they begin to dance.... (_Clapping her hands together_.) Now then, Stars, quick!... This is not the time for dancing.... The sky is overcast and heavily clouded.... Come, quick, in with you, or I will go and fetch a ray of sunlight!... (_The_ STARS, PERFUMES, _etc., take to flight in dismay and rush back into the cavern; and the door is closed upon them. At the same time, the song of the_ NIGHTINGALE _ceases_.)

TYLTYL (_going to the door at the back_) Here is the great middle door....

NIGHT (_gravely_) Do not open that one...

TYLTYL Why not?....

NIGHT Because it's not allowed....

TYLTYL Then it's here that the Blue Bird is hidden; Light told me so....

NIGHT (_maternally_) Listen to me, child ... I have been kind and indulgent ... I have done for you what I have never done for any one before ... I have given up all my secrets to you.... I like you, I feel pity for your youth and innocence and I am speaking to you as a mother.... Listen to me, my child, and believe me; relinquish your quest, go no further, do not tempt fate, do not open that door....

TYLTYL (_a little shaken_) But why?...

NIGHT Because I do not wish you to be lost.... Because not one of those, do you hear, not one of those who have opened it, were it but by a hair's breadth, has ever returned alive to the light of day.... Because every awful thing imaginable, because all the terrors, all the horrors of which men speak on earth are as nothing compared with the most harmless of those which a.s.sail a man from the moment when his eye lights upon the first threats of the abyss to which no one dares give a name.... So much so that I myself, if you are bent, in spite of everything, upon touching that door, will ask you to wait until I have sought safety in my windowless tower... Now it is for you to know, for you to reflect....

(MYTYL, _all in tears, utters cries of inarticulate terror and tries to drag_ TYLTYL _away_.)

BREAD (_with chattering teeth_) Don't do it, master dear!... (_Flinging himself on his knees_) Take pity on us!... I implore you on my knees.... You see that Night is right....

THE CAT You are sacrificing the lives of all of us....

TYLTYL I must open the door....

MYTYL (_stamping her feet, amid her sobs_) I won't!... I sha'n't!...

TYLTYL Sugar and Bread, take Mytyl by the hand and run away with her.... I am going to open the door....

NIGHT Run for your lives!... Come quickly!... It is time!... (_She flees._)

BREAD (_fleeing wildly_) At least wait till we are at the end of the hall!...

THE CAT (_also fleeing_) Wait! Wait!...