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_ ACT FIRST
SCENE I.--The gate of the castle.
MAIDSERVANTS
(within).
Open the gate! Open the gate!
PORTER
(within).
Who is there? Why do you come and wake me up? Go out by the little gates; there are enough of them!...
A MAIDSERVANT
(within).
We have come to wash the threshold, the gate, and the steps; open, then! open!
ANOTHER MAIDSERVANT
(within).
There are going to be great happenings!
THIRD MAIDSERVANT
(within).
There are going to be great fetes! Open quickly!...
THE MAIDSERVANTS.
Open! open!
PORTER.
Wait! wait! I do not know whether I shall be able to open it;... it is never opened.... Wait till it is light....
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
It is light enough without; I see the sunlight through the chinks....
PORTER.
Here are the great keys.... Oh! oh! how the bolts and the locks grate!... Help me! help me!...
MAIDSERVANTS.
We are pulling; we are pulling....
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
It will not open....
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
Ah! ah! It is opening! it is opening slowly!
PORTER.
How it shrieks! how it shrieks! it will wake up everybody....
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
[Appearing on the threshold.] Oh, how light it is already out-of-doors!
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
The sun is rising on the sea!
PORTER.
It is open.... It is wide open!... [All the maidservants appear on the threshold and pass over it.]
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
I am going to wash the sill first....
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
We shall never be able to clean all this.
OTHER MAIDSERVANTS.
Fetch the water! fetch the water!
PORTER.
Yes, yes; pour on water; pour on water; pour on all the water of the Flood! You will never come to the end of it....
SCENE II.--A forest. MELISANDE discovered at the brink of a spring.
[Enter GOLAUD.]
GOLAUD.
I shall never be able to get out of this forest again.--God knows where that beast has led me. And yet I thought I had wounded him to death; and here are traces of blood. But now I have lost sight of him; I believe I am lost myself--my dogs can no longer find me--I shall retrace my steps....--I hear weeping.... Oh! oh! what is there yonder by the water's edge?... A little girl weeping by the water's edge? [_He coughs._]--She does not hear me. I cannot see her face. [_He approaches and touches_ MELISANDE _on the shoulder._] Why weepest thou? [MELISANDE _trembles, starts up, and would flee._]--Do not be afraid. You have nothing to fear. Why are you weeping here all alone?
MELISANDE.
Do not touch me! do not touch me!
GOLAUD.
Do not be afraid.... I will not do you any.... Oh, you are beautiful!
MELISANDE.
Do not touch me! do not touch me! or I throw myself in the water!...
GOLAUD.
I will not touch you.... See, I will stay here, against the tree. Do not be afraid. Has any one hurt you?
MELISANDE.
Oh! yes! yes! yes!...
[She sobs profoundly.]
GOLAUD.
Who has hurt you?
MELISANDE.
Every one! every one!
GOLAUD.
What hurt have they done you?
MELISANDE.
I will not tell! I cannot tell!...
GOLAUD.
Come; do not weep so. Whence come you?
MELISANDE.
I have fled!... fled ... fled....
GOLAUD.
Yes; but whence have you fled?
MELISANDE.
I am lost!... lost!... Oh! oh! lost here.... I am not of this place.... I was not born there....
GOLAUD.
Whence are you? Where were you born?
MELISANDE.
Oh! oh! far away from here!... far away ... far away....
GOLAUD.
What is it shining so at the bottom of the water?
MELISANDE.
Where?--Ah! it is the crown he gave me. It fell as I was weeping....
GOLAUD.
A crown?--Who was it gave you a crown?--I will try to get it....
MELISANDE.
No, no; I will have no more of it! I will have no more of it!... I had rather die ... die at once....
GOLAUD.
I could easily pull it out. The water is not very deep.
MELISANDE.
I will have no more of it! If you take it out, I throw myself in its place!...
GOLAUD.
No, no; I will leave it there. It could be reached without difficulty, nevertheless. It seems very beautiful.--Is it long since you fled?
MELISANDE.
Yes, yes!... Who are you?
GOLAUD.
I am Prince Golaud,--grandson of Arkel, the old King of Allemonde....
MELISANDE.
Oh, you have gray hairs already....
GOLAUD.
Yes; some, here, by the temples....
MELISANDE.
And in your beard, too.... Why do you look at me so?
GOLAUD.
I am looking at your eyes.--Do you never shut your eyes?
MELISANDE.
Oh, yes; I shut them at night....
GOLAUD.
Why do you look so astonished?
MELISANDE.
You are a giant?
GOLAUD.
I am a man like the rest....
MELISANDE.
Why have you come here?
GOLAUD.
I do not know, myself. I was hunting in the forest, I was chasing a wild boar. I mistook the road.--You look very young. How old are you?
MELISANDE.
I am beginning to be cold....
GOLAUD.
Will you come with me!
MELISANDE.
No, no; I will stay here....
GOLAUD.
You cannot stay here all alone. You cannot stay here all night long.... What is your name?
MELISANDE.
Melisande.
GOLAUD.
You cannot stay here, Melisande. Come with me....
MELISANDE.
I will stay here....
GOLAUD.
You will be afraid, all alone. We do not know what there may be here ... all night long ... all alone ... it is impossible. Melisande, come, give me your hand....
MELISANDE.
Oh, do not touch me!...
GOLAUD.
Do not scream.... I will not touch you again. But come with me. The night will be very dark and very cold. Come with me....
MELISANDE.
Where are you going?...
GOLAUD.
I do not know.... I am lost too....
[Exeunt.]
SCENE III.--A hall in the castle. ARKEL and GENEVIEVE discovered.
GENEVIEVE.
Here is what he writes to his brother Pelleas: "I found her all in tears one evening, beside a spring in the forest where I had lost myself. I do not know her age, nor who she is, nor whence she comes, and I dare not question her, for she must have had a sore fright; and when you ask her what has happened to her, she falls at once a-weeping like a child, and sobs so heavily you are afraid. Just as I found her by the springs, a crown of gold had slipped from her hair and fallen to the bottom of the water. She was clad, besides, like a princess, though her garments had been torn by the briers. It is now six months since I married her and I know no more about it than on the day of our meeting. Meanwhile, dear Pelleas, thou whom I love more than a brother, although we were not born of the same father; meanwhile make ready for my return.... I know my mother will willingly forgive me. But I am afraid of the King, our venerable grandsire, I am afraid of Arkel, in spite of all his kindness, for I have undone by this strange marriage all his plans of state, and I fear the beauty of Melisande will not excuse my folly to eyes so wise as his. If he consents nevertheless to receive her as he would receive his own daughter, the third night following this letter, light a lamp at the top of the tower that overlooks the sea. I shall perceive it from the bridge of our ship; otherwise I shall go far away again and come back no more...." What say you of it?
ARKEL.
Nothing. He has done what he probably must have done. I am very old, and nevertheless I have not yet seen clearly for one moment into myself; how would you that I judge what others have done? I am not far from the tomb and do not succeed in judging myself.... One always mistakes when one does not close his eyes. That may seem strange to us; but that is all. He is past the age to marry and he weds like a child, a little girl he finds by a spring.... That may seem strange to us, because we never see but the reverse of destinies ... the reverse even of our own.... He has always followed my counsels hitherto; I had thought to make him happy in sending him to ask the hand of Princess Ursula.... He could not remain alone; since the death of his wife he has been sad to be alone; and that marriage would have put an end to long wars and old hatreds.... He would not have it so. Let it be as he would have it; I have never put myself athwart a destiny; and he knows better than I his future. There happen perhaps no useless events....
GENEVIEVE.
He has always been so prudent, so grave and so firm.... If it were Pelleas, I should understand.... But he ... at his age.... Who is it he is going to introduce here?--An unknown found along the roads.... Since his wife's death, he has no longer lived for aught but his son, the little Yniold, and if he were about to marry again, it was because you had wished it.... And now ... a little girl in the forest.... He has forgotten everything....--What shall we do?...
[Enter PELLEAS.]
ARKEL.
Who is coming in there?
GENEVIEVE.
It is Pelleas. He has been weeping.
ARKEL.
Is it thou, Pelleas?--Come a little nearer, that I may see thee in the light....
PELLEAS.
Grandfather, I received another letter at the same time as my brother's; a letter from my friend Marcellus.... He is about to die and calls for me. He would see me before dying....
ARKEL.
Thou wouldst leave before thy brother's return?--Perhaps thy friend is less ill than he thinks....
PELLEAS.
His letter is so sad you can see death between the lines.... He says he knows the very day when death must come.... He tells me I can arrive before it if I will, but that there is no more time to lose. The journey is very long, and if I await Golaud's return, it will be perhaps too late....
ARKEL.
Thou must wait a little while, nevertheless.... We do not know what this return has in store for us. And besides, is not thy father here, above us, more sick perhaps than thy friend.... Couldst thou choose between the father and the friend?...
[Exit.]
GENEVIEVE.
Have a care to keep the lamp lit from this evening, Pelleas....
[Exeunt severally.]
SCENE IV.--Before the castle. Enter GENEVIEVE and MELISANDE.]
MELISANDE.
It is gloomy in the gardens. And what forests, what forests all about the palaces!...
GENEVIEVE.
Yes; that astonished me too when I came hither; it astonishes everybody. There are places where you never see the sun. But one gets used to it so quickly.... It is long ago, it is long ago.... It is nearly forty years that I have lived here.... Look toward the other side, you will have the light of the sea....
MELISANDE.
I hear a noise below us....
GENEVIEVE.
Yes; it is some one coming up toward us.... Ah! it is Pelleas.... He seems still tired from having waited so long for you....
MELISANDE.
He has not seen us.
GENEVIEVE.
I think he has seen us but does not know what he should do.... Pelleas, Pelleas, is it thou?...
[Enter PELLEAS]
PELLEAS.
Yes!... I was coming toward the sea....
GENEVIEVE.
So were we; we were seeking the light. It is a little lighter here than elsewhere; and yet the sea is gloomy.
PELLEAS.
We shall have a storm to-night. There has been one every night for some time, and yet it is so calm now.... One might embark unwittingly and come back no more.
MELISANDE.
Something is leaving the port....
PELLEAS.
It must be a big ship.... The lights are very high, we shall see it in a moment, when it enters the band of light....
GENEVIEVE.
I do not know whether we shall be able to see it ... there is still a fog on the sea....
PELLEAS.
The fog seems to be rising slowly....
MELISANDE.
Yes; I see a little light down there, which I had not seen....
PELLEAS.
It is a lighthouse; there are others we cannot see yet.
MELISANDE.
The ship is in the light.... It is already very far away....
PELLEAS.
It is a foreign ship. It looks larger than ours....
MELISANDE.
It is the ship that brought me here!...
PELLEAS.
It flies away under full sail....
MELISANDE.
It is the ship that brought me here. It has great sails.... I recognized it by its sails.
PELLEAS.
There will be a rough sea to-night.
MELISANDE.
Why does it go away to-night?... You can hardly see it any longer.... Perhaps it will be wrecked....
PELLEAS.
The sight falls very quickly....
[A silence.]
GENEVIEVE.
No one speaks any more?... You have nothing more to say to each other?... It is time to go in. Pelleas, show Melisande the way. I mast go see little Yniold a moment.
[Exit.]
PELLEAS.
Nothing can be seen any longer on the sea....
MELISANDE.
I see more lights.
PELLEAS.
It is the other lighthouses.... Do you hear the sea?... It is the wind rising.... Let us go down this way. Will you give me your hand?
MELISANDE.
See, see, my hands are full....
PELLEAS.
I will hold you by the arm, the road is steep and it is very gloomy there.... I am going away perhaps to-morrow....
MELISANDE.
Oh!... why do you go away?
[Exeunt.] _
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