More Portmanteau Plays

THE GAKI

Ay, dream of her and have tender memories that are not pain.

O-SODE-SAN

I shall think of him and long for him, my lover.

THE GAKI

Ay, and in the memory of the firefly fête you'll make a poem that will leave you all melting-like and holy—then where shall I feed?

RIKI

Obaa-San, are you content? I'll let her die at my own hand before I'll let him live.

[He draws his dagger and leaps toward The Gaki; but old Obaa-San is too swift for him. She catches his hand.

OBAA-SAN

Riki! Would you kill the evil by killing the joy of us all?

RIKI

But the joy—my little Aoyagi—can not live so. See—

OBAA-SAN

O Gaki of Kokoru—I stand before you, no longer a suppliant. I am old and in my years I have known all the wanting, all the hopelessness one can know in life. But in your evil way, you brought to me a moment of happiness yesterday and in that moment I saw the beauty that I had always believed must be and yet that I had never known. In your evil arms you hold the treasure of my life—you hold the songs that filled the heart of Riki. But you do not feed, oh, Gaki of Kokoru. You can not feed. Oh, Gaki, what is this sixth hell of yours?—Who made it? Some man who was afraid of the joy of life;—it was too beautiful for his belief. Misery makes itself: so happiness makes itself. You stand before us, holding the darling of our dreams, but there is no misery so great as yours. See! I stand before you—unafraid—and in my heart lies happiness.—Aoyagi rested in my arms and my breast is warm and there is a glory where her dear head lay. In my life—if you take her from me—there will be an emptiness.—There will be long silences in the days to come; but my breast will still be warm with her touch and my ears will still hear the sweet words you cannot unsay—the lullaby I sang.—Oh, Gaki—it has been sung to her.—The climbing to the mountain gleaming in the sun—the glade where love found the perfect mystery—that cannot be undone whether we live or die.—Love that has been can never be undone.

[The Gaki looks from one to the other, but finds only that splendid happiness that is almost pain. He loosens his hold upon Aoyagi and turns to Riki with her.

THE GAKI

She is yours!—I have met perfect faith.—Five hells lie before me—but I have met a perfect faith.—You cannot know what wonder I am knowing. From the sixth hell I have seen a perfect faith.—I am content to die in this shape. Strike, Riki!

RIKI

I have my love.

THE GAKI

But a peace has come upon me, a peace that I have never known.—I seem to be on wings—afloat in the sky.—Stars and suns swing gently by—and cool clouds brush my brow.—Five hells lie before me.—Can it be, in each I shall find peace like this?—(He falls on his knees) Now a fire rages deep in me—a pain—I'm torn.—Oh, Obaa-San, I die—I die.—Come to me—touch me—let me feel your gentle hands.—So! So!—I have never known such gentleness.—Oh, I am cold—cold! Hold me—

[He rises—sways—and falls. It is full day. The Gaki rises wonderfully.

Obaa-San—I see—I see.—The hells were made by some man afraid of the joy of life.—It was too beautiful for his belief.—Riki—Aoyagi, there is the mountain gleaming in the morning light.—Go—see your footprints side by side.—A Gaki's feet trod upon them, but left no mark—and they are there side by side.—O-Sode-San, I look across the River of Heaven;—there stands your lover waiting for you—an empty boat is here to bear you to him.—O-Katsu-San,—the messenger of the other world bears your little one upon his broad, warm back.—They are smiling, O-Katsu-San—Obaa-San—

[He points to Riki and Aoyagi. Obaa-San goes to them and lays her hands upon them.

OBAA-SAN

My little girl!—my little boy!—Today the sun is very bright.

The Curtains Close

THE VERY NAKED BOY

An Interlude Before the Curtain

CHARACTERS

She

He

Brother

The scene is half way to a proposal.

A hallway with a heavily-curtained doorway in the centre. Right of this are two chairs with a tabouret between them. Right and Left are curtained arches.

She enters quickly, crossing to the chairs.

HE (following breathlessly and almost colliding with her as she stops)

Genevieve!

SHE (with a calmness strangely at variance with her entrance)

Well?

HE

Why did you—

SHE

I didn't.

HE

I beg your pardon, you may not have known it, but you did.

SHE

I didn't.

HE