The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats. Volume 4 of 8. The Hour-glass. Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Golden Helmet. The Irish Dramatic Movement

[BRIDGET enters, followed by the FOOL, who is holding out his hat to her.

FOOL

Give me something; give me a penny to buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and strong drink for the time when the sun grows weak.

BRIDGET

I have no pennies. [To the WISE MAN.] Your pupils cannot find anybody to argue with you. There is nobody in the whole country who has enough belief to fill a pipe with since you put down the monk. Can’t you be quiet now and not always wanting to have arguments? It must be terrible to have a mind like that.

WISE MAN

I am lost! I am lost!

BRIDGET

Leave me alone now; I have to make the bread for you and the children.

WISE MAN

Out of this, woman, out of this, I say! [BRIDGET goes through the kitchen door.] Will nobody find a way to help me! But she spoke of my children. I had forgotten them. They will believe. It is only those who have reason that doubt; the young are full of faith. Bridget, Bridget, send my children to me.

BRIDGET [inside]

Your father wants you; run to him now.

[The two CHILDREN come in. They stand together a little way from the threshold of the kitchen door, looking timidly at their father.

WISE MAN

Children, what do you believe? Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is there a Purgatory?

FIRST CHILD

We haven’t forgotten, father.

THE OTHER CHILD

O no, father. [They both speak together as if in school.] There is nothing we cannot see; there is nothing we cannot touch.

FIRST CHILD

Foolish people used to think that there was, but you are very learned and you have taught us better.

WISE MAN

You are just as bad as the others, just as bad as the others! Do not run away, come back to me! [The CHILDREN begin to cry and run away.] Why are you afraid? I will teach you better – no, I will never teach you again. Go to your mother! no, she will not be able to teach them… Help them, O God!.. The grains are going very quickly. There is very little sand in the uppermost glass. Somebody will come for me in a moment; perhaps he is at the door now! All creatures that have reason doubt. O that the grass and the plants could speak! Somebody has said that they would wither if they doubted. O speak to me, O grass blades! O fingers of God’s certainty, speak to me! You are millions and you will not speak. I dare not know the moment the messenger will come for me. I will cover the glass. [He covers it and brings it to the desk. Sees the FOOL, who is sitting by the door playing with some flowers which he has stuck in his hat. He has begun to blow a dandelion-head.] What are you doing?

FOOL

Wait a moment. [He blows.] Four, five, six.

WISE MAN

What are you doing that for?

FOOL

I am blowing at the dandelion to find out what time it is.

WISE MAN

You have heard everything! That is why you want to find out what hour it is! You are waiting to see them coming through the door to carry me away. [FOOL goes on blowing.] Out through the door with you! I will have no one here when they come. [He seizes the FOOL by the shoulders, and begins to force him out through the door, then suddenly changes his mind.] No, I have something to ask you. [He drags him back into the room.] Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is there a Purgatory?

FOOL

So you ask me now. When you were asking your pupils, I said to myself, if he would ask Teig the Fool, Teig could tell him all about it, for Teig has learned all about it when he has been cutting the nets.

WISE MAN

Tell me; tell me!

FOOL

I said, Teig knows everything. Not even the cats or the hares that milk the cows have Teig’s wisdom. But Teig will not speak; he says nothing.

WISE MAN

Tell me, tell me! For under the cover the grains are falling, and when they are all fallen I shall die; and my soul will be lost if I have not found somebody that believes! Speak, speak!

FOOL [looking wise]

No, no, I won’t tell you what is in my mind, and I won’t tell you what is in my bag. You might steal away my thoughts. I met a bodach on the road yesterday, and he said, ‘Teig, tell me how many pennies are in your bag; I will wager three pennies that there are not twenty pennies in your bag; let me put in my hand and count them.’ But I pulled the strings tighter, like this; and when I go to sleep every night I hide the bag where no one knows.

WISE MAN

[Goes towards the hour-glass as if to uncover it.]

No, no, I have not the courage. [He kneels.] Have pity upon me, Fool, and tell me!

FOOL

Ah! Now, that is different. I am not afraid of you now. But I must come nearer to you; somebody in there might hear what the Angel said.

WISE MAN

Oh, what did the Angel tell you?

FOOL