Betrothal — Act 3
TYLTYL
(_Out of breath, dropping on to a boulder_.
) They live a long way up, the Ancestors!...
Aren't you tired?
LIGHT
No, I was born in the mountains.
TYLTYL
(_Bending over a crevice_.
) You're not like Destiny, who has almost given out....
He's still at the bottom of the last precipice, with my little friends....
He stumbles at every step and is limping badly....
They won't be here yet awhile; and I am very glad to have a moment alone with you, before they come, for I have a lot of things to ask you....
LIGHT
Ask me anything you like, dear; I will do my best to answer.
TYLTYL
What do you think of these little friends of mine?...
If you had to choose, which would you take?...
LIGHT
I like them all, but it is not for me to choose; no one but yourself can tell which one you love best.
TYLTYL
Ah, that's not so easy!...
You see, I love them all!...
For instance, I love little Jalline, the beggar's daughter: she is so gentle and sweet, such a darling!...
LIGHT
Yes, she is very attractive: a pretty little creature, with a pure and simple mind....
TYLTYL
But I also love the Mayor's daughter, Rosarelle....
She is really very beautiful, not a bit conceited and much better-educated than the others....
And then think of what she has done: she has left everything to go with me....
LIGHT
Yes, that is the proof of a real love....
TYLTYL
But I also love Roselle, the inn-keeper's daughter, who is a very pretty girl, so healthy and strong and frank and brave and cheerful and amusing: you can't think how kind and affectionate she is....
LIGHT
Yes, she has qualities; and I too find her very sympathetic....
TYLTYL
But I also love the wood-cutter's daughter, Milette....
She has such beautiful eyes and hair!...
At first she seems a little awkward, a little shy; but it's quite different when you know her: she is really very playful and full of fun....
And then, have you noticed her mouth and her teeth?
LIGHT
Yes, I've noticed them....
TYLTYL
But I also love Belline, the butcher's daughter....
To begin with, she's my cousin; and one always loves one's cousins.
And then there's something about her dark beautiful eyes that frightens me rather.
I
adore that....
But she's not unkind, not at all....
Have you noticed her smile?
One can never tell exactly what it means....
LIGHT
Yes, she has a strange smile....
TYLTYL
But I also love the miller's daughter, Aimette....
To begin with, she's also my cousin....
She keeps her eyes lowered under her long, curling eyelashes; she blushes when you look at her and weeps when you speak to her....
She looks a little silly; well, she's not that at all.
She's quite different when you know her a bit....
She's very bright and very jolly and whispers such nice, sweet things to you that you at once want to kiss her....
LIGHT
I can see that the choice will not be easy.
TYLTYL
Which do you think the best?
LIGHT
There are neither better nor worse; each one is as good as the other;
and all are good when they suffer or when they love.
TYLTYL
The nuisance is that it seems you mustn't love more than one....
Tell me, though, is that true, or is it only one of the things people say to children just to keep them quiet?
LIGHT
No, it's true.
When you love many, that merely shows that you haven't yet found the one whom you were to love.
TYLTYL
But, after all, you, who know everything and see everything, must know better than I and can tell me what I ought to do.
LIGHT
No, dear, that is beyond me, beyond the range of my sight.
It is for this very reason that we are going to consult those who do know; and they are near at hand, because it is in you that they live.
We seem to be taking a great journey: that is an illusion; we are not going outside yourself and all our adventures are happening within you....
But I hear your little friends.
Where is your green hat?
TYLTYL
Here.
I took it off because I felt hot.
LIGHT
Put it on again quickly, so that there may be no more misunderstandings, and turn the sapphire.
(_He does so.
Forthwith, on every side, all sorts of monsters emerge from the ground and from between the rocks: monsters with more or less human or animal shapes and grotesque, brutish or repulsive faces.
They hustle_ TYLTYL, _gather together and dance round him_.
) TYLTYL
(_Terrified_.
) Hullo, hullo, what's all this?...
LIGHT
Nothing.
You must have turned the sapphire from left to right.
TYLTYL
So I did, I believe; I forgot....
But what do they want with me?
They are pushing up against me and snapping at my feet.
LIGHT
They won't hurt you; they are merely your own thoughts, which you sometimes secretly think; now you have set them free and they are showing themselves for an instant as they are.
TYLTYL
What!...
Are my thoughts as ugly as that?...
I should never have believed it!...
LIGHT
Don't take it so much to heart!...
They are not as ugly as some, because you are still innocent and very young....
If you were to see those of other men!...
Besides, you have beautiful ones; but they are more reluctant to show themselves....
However, I see the girls coming....
Turn the sapphire from right to left, so that we may get rid of these monsters, whom they must not see....
(_He does so; and the creatures go back into the ground.
Enter_ THE SIX GIRLS, _preceded by_ DESTINY _and followed, at a distance, by_ THE WHITE PHANTOM, _who keeps on one side.
They surround_ TYLTYL, _overwhelming him with caresses and all speaking at the same time_.
) THE GIRLS
Good-evening, Tyltyl!...
We've found you again!...
We were so anxious about you!...
We couldn't keep up with you....
Aren't you tired?...
May we kiss you?...
Destiny held us back....
I wanted to run....
He stood in the way....
Aren't you too hot?...
Mind you don't catch cold....
Kiss me too!...
And me too!...
And me too!...
TYLTYL
(_Distributing kisses all round_.
) My sweethearts!...
What darlings you are, and how happy I feel!...
I hope I have not made you walk too fast?...
You must forgive me; I am rather in a hurry....
Jalline dear, you haven't hurt your foot, have you?...
And you, Rosarelle?
You are not used to climbing rocks....
Aimette's hands are cold and Roselle has made herself much too hot....
LIGHT
Come, we will talk about all this later.
We must now hasten to the Ancestors, who are waiting for us and would be very much annoyed if we arrived late....
DESTINY
(_Who has grown smaller still and is now hardly taller than a man of average height.
He seems very tired and sits huddled on a boulder_.
) Not a step farther!...
TYLTYL
Hullo!
You've grown a bit smaller again!...
DESTINY
I?
I've not changed.
I am always the same, I am....
TYLTYL
I know, I know....
It's Light being so near, perhaps....
DESTINY
Light and I have nothing in common....
In any event, I alone am master and I order a halt....
LIGHT
By all means; there is no need to go any farther.
We have arrived; we are here without taking another step, at the abode of the Ancestors....
(_The curtain parts and opens upon the next scene_.
) SCENE VII
_The Abode of the Ancestors_ _A large open space, under an Elysian light, which imparts to all things an aspect of ethereal and lasting felicity and unchanging gladness.
The back and the two sides of the square are formed of dwelling-places of different periods, some stately, some lowly, but all radiant and a little unreal.
In the foreground, on the right, for instance, is the entrance to the cottage of_ TYLTYL'S _grandparents; next comes the gable of a farm-house of older date;
then the front of a little eighteenth-century shop; and thus in succession, running from right to left and across the back, a seventeenth-century town-house, a sixteenth-century prison, tavern and hospital, a fifteenth-century mansion; some thirteenth-century hovels, a twelfth-century church, a Gallo-Roman farm and villa, and so on.
Intersecting the background at the middle is a street in endless perspective, bordered with the very oldest houses and leading to the huts and caves of primitive mankind.
In the foreground are a few stone benches standing under fine trees, laurels, plane-trees or cypresses_.
(TYLTYL, LIGHT, DESTINY _and_ THE SIX GIRLS _come forward, followed at a distance by_ THE WHITE PHANTOM, _who keeps to one side as usual.
They have taken but a few steps when_ GAFFER _and_ GRANNY TYL _come hurrying out of their cottage and, with exclamations of delight, throw themselves into_ TYLTYL'S _arms_.
) GRANNY TYL
Tyltyl!
Tyltyl!...
Gracious, you again!...
But this time it's not a surprise.
We were expecting you; we were told three days ago....
All the same, though, we're so glad to see you that it's difficult to believe at first....
But how big and strong you've grown, dear!
And so good-looking: I should never have known you!...
Oh, dear, how nice it is to get a kiss like this now and again!...
GAFFER TYL
Haven't you brought Mytyl this time?...
GRANNY TYL
Of course he hasn't; you know it's not her turn yet....
We know what you're here for, Tyltyl: it's not to see us!
You needn't blush!...
You young rascal, you scamp!...
There, there, you're quite right; and the sooner you set about it the better....
So it's one of these girls they have to choose?
TYLTYL
Yes, Granny, it seems so.
GAFFER TYL
(_Eyeing them like an expert_.
) Ho, ho!...
And, my word, a very nice lot too!
My compliments!
I admire your taste....
(_Pointing to_ ROSELLE.
) If I were you, I'd choose that one: she's the prettiest and the plumpest.
GRANNY TYL
Hold your tongue; no one's asking your advice: you know you've no say in the matter.
We're still too young; we've hardly begun to get cold and haven't had time yet to pick up things....
It takes so long; there's so much to learn!...
But the others, especially the oldest, who now are the youngest: it's they who know everything....
TYLTYL
What?
The oldest are the youngest in this country?...
GRANNY TYL
Yes, it seems one gets younger as one grows older....
I'm beginning to notice it myself.
TYLTYL
That's odd....
But where on earth are they?...
I see nobody....
GAFFER TYL
They'll come very soon....
I wonder they're not here yet.
TYLTYL
Are there many of them?
GRANNY TYL
What do you think!
All your ancestors since the world began!
There'd be so many that we shouldn't know where to put them!...
But we shall only see a few of them.
A good many are travelling in other worlds; and, as a fact, some of the oldest are always away.
But those who are on the spot choose in the name of all.
They always agree; and it seems they very seldom make a mistake....
But here's one coming out of his house.
You see the little man shutting up his shop?
(_A spruce_ LITTLE MAN _is seen leaving the eighteenth-century shop_.
) TYLTYL
Who's he?
GRANNY TYL
It's your grandfather's grandfather; he was a grocer at Versailles in the reign of Louis the Fifteenth.
TYLTYL
What funny clothes!
GRANNY TYL
He has put on the things which he wore in his shop....
Here, as a rule, the weather is so mild, the air so warm and balmy, that we've no need to dress ourselves; but you wouldn't be able to see us if we had no clothes; and so, in your honour, we've put on those we used to wear on earth....
It'll be quite amusing: some of them date back ever so far....
Look, there they come, out of the houses they once lived in....
(_Enter from the town-house a_ CITIZEN _of the time of Louis XIV;
from the sixteenth-century prison a_ PRISONER _still wearing chains and irons on his feet and hands.
His shackles now seem to be light and cause him no inconvenience.
He attracts_ TYLTYL'S _attention_.
) TYLTYL
Who is that one?
Was he chained up?
GRANNY TYL
Yes, he is one of your ancestors who spent nearly all his life in prison.
TYLTYL
It's not a thing to boast of; he'd have done better to stay at home.
GRANNY TYL
He did nothing wrong.
He used to steal bread or other little things which one could eat, to keep his children from starving.
He suffered a great deal; we think a lot of him....
(THE ANCESTORS _continue to leave their houses.
An imposing and richly-dressed_ MAN _appears on the threshold of the fifteenth-century mansion_.
) TYLTYL
(_Pointing to him_.
) And that one?
GAFFER TYL
That one is the richest....
It appears we were very rich at one time, but that didn't last....
However, it doesn't matter here: the only thing that counts, it seems, is what a man has done or thought....
For instance, you see those beggars over there, coming out of the church?
(_Enter from the twelfth-century church some four or five_ BEGGARS, _clad in rags that are pitiful to look at, but idealized by the fairy atmosphere_.
) TYLTYL
Yes, any number of them.
GAFFER TYL
Well, it seems that several generations of us were beggars....
We succeeded one another, father and son, at the same church and in the same doorway.
It was very good for us, they say.
It taught us patience, resignation, endurance, temperance and the habit of never catching cold....
But do you see the oldest, the one who looks poorest of all?
TYLTYL
The one with the beautiful white beard?
GAFFER TYL
Precisely....
Well, he's the Great Mendicant, the one whom we respect most, first because he has an iron constitution and next because he appears to have thought a very great deal in his corner under the porch....
They say it's he who did most to develop our brains.
TYLTYL
But I don't see any women among them.
Where are their wives?
Weren't they married?
GRANNY TYL
Of course they were; but there's nothing for us women to do to-day.
The men choose the women and the women the men....
When Mytyl comes, it will be our turn.
TYLTYL
Look, there are three more.
(_A diseased_ MAN _comes out of the hospital; another, carrying a bottle and looking rather tipsy, out of the tavern; and, lastly, out of the prison, a third figure, hairy and savage of aspect, brandishing a blood-stained knife_.
) GAFFER TYL
(_Dismayed_.
) I don't like this....
It's very tiresome that they should have been told....
TYLTYL
