The Blue Bird Part 19

THE HAPPINESS There, do you hear?... I was sure of it!... He has never seen us!...

(_All the other_ HAPPINESSES _burst out laughing_) Why, my dear Tyltyl, we are the only things you do know!... We are always around you!...

We eat, drink, wake up, breathe and live with you!...

TYLTYL Oh, yes, just so, I know, I remember.... But I should like to know what your names are....

THE HAPPINESS I can see that you know nothing.... I am the chief of the Happinesses of your home; and all these are the other Happinesses that live there....

TYLTYL Then there are Happinesses in my home?

(_All the_ HAPPINESSES _burst out laughing_.)

THE HAPPINESS You heard him!... Are there Happinesses in his home!... Why, you little wretch, it is crammed with Happinesses in every nook and cranny!... We laugh, we sing, we create enough joy to knock down the walls and lift the roof; but, do what we may, you see nothing and you hear nothing.... I hope that, in future, you will be a little more sensible.... Meantime, you shall shake hands with the more noteworthy of us.... Then, when you reach home again, you will recognise them more easily and, at the end of a fine day, you will know how to encourage them with a smile, to thank them with a pleasant word, for they really do all they can to make your life easy and delightful.... Let me introduce myself first: the Happiness of Being Well, at your service.... I am not the prettiest, but I am the most important.

Will you know me again?... This is the Happiness of Pure Air, who is almost transparent.... Here is the Happiness of Loving one's Parents, who is clad in grey and always a little sad, because no one ever looks at him.... Here are the Happiness of the Blue Sky, who, of course, is dressed in blue, and the Happiness of the Forest, who, also of course, is clad in green: you will see him every time you go to the window.... Here, again, is the good Happiness of Sunny Hours, who is diamond-coloured, and this is the Happiness of Spring, who is bright emerald....

TYLTYL And are you as fine as that every day?

THE HAPPINESS OF BEING WELL Why, yes, it is Sunday every day, in every house, when people open their eyes.... And then, when evening comes, here is the Happiness of the Sunsets, who is grander than all the kings in the world and who is followed by the Happiness of Seeing the Stars Rise, who is gilded like a G.o.d of old.... Then, when the weather breaks, here are the Happiness of the Rain, who is covered with pearls, and the Happiness of the Winter Fire, who opens his beautiful purple mantle to frozen hands.... And I have not mentioned the best among us, because he is nearly a brother of the great limpid Joys whom you will see presently: his name is the Happiness of Innocent Thoughts, and he is the brightest of as all.... And then here are.... But really there are too many of them!... We should never have done; and I must first send word to the Great Joys, who are right at the back, near the gates of Heaven, and who have not yet heard of your arrival.... I will send the Happiness of Running Barefoot in the Dew, who is the nimblest of us....

(_To the_ HAPPINESS OF RUNNING BAREFOOT IN THE DEW, _who comes forward capering_) Off you go!...

LIGHT (_to_ TYLTYL) In the meantime, you might enquire about the Blue Bird. It is just possible that the chief Happiness of your home knows where he is....

TYLTYL Where Is he?...

THE HAPPINESS He doesn't know where the Blue Bird is!... (_All the_ HAPPINESSES OF THE HOME _burst out laughing_.)

TYLTYL (_vexed_) No, I do not know.... There's nothing to laugh at.... (_Fresh bursts of laughter_.)

THE HAPPINESS Come, don't be angry... and let us be serious.... He doesn't know: well, what do you expect? He is no more absurd than the majority of men.... But little Happiness of Running Barefoot in the Dew has told the Great Joys and they are coming towards us....

(_Tall and beautiful angelic figures, clad in s.h.i.+mmering dresses, come slowly forward_.)

TYLTYL How beautiful they are!... Why are they not laughing?... Are they not happy?...

LIGHT It is not when one laughs that one is really happy....

TYLTYL Who are they?...

THE HAPPINESS They are the Great Joys....

TYLTYL Do you know their names?...

THE HAPPINESS Of course; we often play with them.... Here, first of all, before the others, is the Great Joy of Being Just, who smiles each time an injustice is repaired. I am too young: I have never seen her smile yet. Behind her is the Joy of Being Good, who is the happiest, but the saddest; and it is very difficult to keep her from going to the Miseries, whom she would like to console; for, if she left us, we should be almost as miserable as the Miseries themselves. On the right is the Joy of Fame, next to the Joy of Thinking. After her comes the Joy of Understanding, who is always looking for her brother, the Luxury of Understanding Nothing....

TYLTYL But I have seen her brother!... He went to the Miseries with the Big Luxuries....

THE HAPPINESS I was certain of it.... He has turned out badly; keeping evil company has corrupted him entirely.... But do not speak of it to his sister. She would want to go and look for him and we should lose one of our most beautiful Joys.... Here, among the greatest Joys, is the Joy of Seeing what is Beautiful, who daily adds a few rays to the light that reigns amongst us....

TYLTYL And there, far away, far away, in the golden clouds, the one whom I can hardly see when I stand as high as I can on tip-toe?...

THE HAPPINESS That is the Great Joy of Loving.... But, do what you will, you are ever so much too small to see her altogether....

TYLTYL And over there, right at the back, those who are veiled and who do not come near?...

THE HAPPINESS Those are the Joys whom men do not yet know....

TYLTYL What do the others want with us?... Why are they standing aside?...

THE HAPPINESS It is before a new Joy who is arriving, perhaps the purest that we have here....

TYLTYL Who is it?

THE HAPPINESS Don't you recognise her yet?... But take a better look at her, open your two eyes down to the very heart of your soul!... She has seen you, she has seen you!... She runs up to you, holding out her arms!... It is your mother's Joy, it is the peerless Joy of Maternal Love!...

(_The other_ JOYS, _who have run up from every side, acclaim the_ JOY OF MATERNAL LOVE _with their cheers and then fall back before her in silence_.)

THE JOY OF MATERNAL LOVE Tyltyl! And Mytyl!... What, do I find you here?... I never expected it!...

I was very lonely at home; and here are you two climbing to that Heaven where the souls of all mothers beam with joy!... But first kisses, heaps and heaps of kisses!... Into my arms, the two of you; there is nothing on earth that gives greater happiness!... Tyltyl, aren't you laughing?... Nor you either, Mytyl?... Don't you know your mother's love when you see it?...

Why, look at me: are these not my eyes, my lips, my arms?...

TYLTYL Yes, yes, I recognise them, but I did not know.... You are like Mummy, but you are much prettier....

MATERNAL LOVE Why, of course, I have stopped growing old.... And every day brings me fresh strength and youth and happiness.... Each of your smiles makes me younger by a year.... At home, that does not show; but here everything is seen and it is the truth....

TYLTYL (_wonder-struck, gazing at her and kissing her by turns_) And that beautiful dress of yours: what is it made of?... Is it silk, silver or pearls?...

MATERNAL LOVE No, it is made of kisses and caresses and loving looks.... Each kiss you give me adds a ray of moon-light or suns.h.i.+ne to it....

TYLTYL How funny, I should never have thought that you were so rich!... Where used you to hide it?... Was it in the cupboard of which Daddy has the key?...

MATERNAL LOVE No, no, I always wear it, but people do not see it, because people see nothing when their eyes are closed.... All mothers are rich when they love their children.... There are no poor mothers, no ugly ones, no old ones.

Their love is always the most beautiful of the Joys.... And, when they seem most sad, it needs but a kiss which they receive or give to turn all their tears into stars in the depths of their eyes....

TYLTYL (_looking at her with astonishment_) Why, yes, it's true, your eyes are filled with stars.... And they are really your eyes, only they are much more beautiful.... And this is your hand too, with the little ring on it.... It even has the burn which you gave it one evening when lighting the lamp.... But it is much whiter; and how delicate the skin is!... There seems to be light flowing through it....

Doesn't it do any work like the one at home?...

MATERNAL LOVE Why yes, it is the very same: did you never see that it becomes quite white and fills with light the moment it fondles you?...

TYLTYL It's wonderful, Mummy: you have the same voice also; but you speak much better than you do at home....

MATERNAL LOVE At home, one has too much to do and there is no time.... But what one does not say one hears all the same.... Now that you have seen me, will you know me again, in my torn dress, when you go back to the cottage tomorrow?...

TYLTYL I don't want to go back.... As you are here, I want to stay also, as long as you remain....

MATERNAL LOVE But it's just the same thing: I am down below, we are all down below....

You have come up here only to realise and to learn, once and for all, how to see me when you see me down below.... Do you understand, Tyltyl dear?...

You believe yourself in Heaven; but Heaven is wherever you and I kiss each other.... There are not two mothers; and you have no other.... Every child has only one; and it is always the same one and always the most beautiful; but you have to know her and to know how to look.... But how did you manage to come up here and to find a road for which men have been seeking ever since they began to dwell upon the Earth?...