Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays: "Baal", "Drums in the Night", "In the Jungle of Ci (World Classics) (9 page)

BAAL
: I did.

SOME
: When?

BAAL
: Earlier. Before you began to talk rubbish. It began with ‘Teddy is at peace’… You don’t notice anything until it’s over.

THE OTHERS
: Blockhead! Let’s get the gin!

BAAL
: It’s a disgrace!

THE OTHERS
: Oho! – Why, you big elephant.

BAAL
: It’s Teddy’s property. The bottles must not be opened. Teddy’s got a wife and five poor orphans.

A WOODCUTTER
: Four! Four orphans!

ANOTHER
: It’s all coming out now.

BAAL
: Do you want to drink the gin that belongs to Teddy’s five poor orphans? Is that Christian?

THE PREVIOUS ONE
: Four! Four orphans!

BAAL
: Taking gin out of the mouths of Teddy’s four orphans.

A WOODCUTTER
: Teddy hasn’t any family at all.

BAAL
: But orphans, my friend, orphans.

ANOTHER
: Do you think these orphans the elephant keeps
kidding you about are going to drink Teddy’s gin? All right, it’s Teddy’s property …

BAAL
interrupts
: It was …

THE OTHER
: What are you getting at?

A WOODCUTTER
: He’s jabbering. He’s not all there.

THE OTHER
: As I said, it was Teddy’s property and so we’ll pay for it. In cash. That’ll fix the orphans.

EVERYBODY
: A good suggestion. So much for the elephant. He must be mad, not to want any gin. Let’s leave him and get Teddy’s drink!

BAAL
calls after them
: Come back, you bloody scavengers!
To Teddy
: Poor Teddy! And the trees are pretty strong today and the air is good and soft, and I feel fortified within. Poor Teddy, don’t you feel a tickle? You’re through, I’m telling you, soon you’ll stink, and everything will go on as before, the wind will blow, and I know where your cabin is, and your property will be taken over by the living, and you abandoned it and only wanted peace. Your body wasn’t so bad, Teddy, it isn’t so bad now, only a little damaged on one side and the legs … it would have finished you with women, you can’t put that on top of a woman.
He lifts the dead man’s leg
. With a bit more luck you could have gone on living, though, in that body, but your soul was too bloody choosy, the building was condemned, and the rats left the sinking ship. You were just a victim of your own habits, Teddy.

THE OTHERS
returning
: Hey, elephant! You’re in for it! Where’s the gin Teddy kept under his old bed? – Where were you when we were looking after Teddy? Teddy wasn’t even dead then. – Where were you then, you son of a bitch, robbing the dead, protecting Teddy’s poor orphans, eh?

BAAL
: You’ve got no proof, my friends!

THE OTHERS
: Where’s the gin, then? In your esteemed opinion, did the bottle drink it? – This is a serious matter, old chap! – Stand up, you, get up! Walk in a straight line and then try and tell us it’s the shock, it’s because you’re
completely rotten, body and soul, you swine! – Get him on his legs! Liven him up, boys. Besmirching Teddy’s poor old name!
They put Baal on his feet
.

BAAL
: Bastards! Don’t trample on poor Teddy!
He sits down and takes the arm of the corpse under his arm
. If you do anything to me, Teddy’ll fall flat on his face. Is that piety? Anything I do will be in self-defence. There are seven of you, seven, and sober. And I’m on my own and drunk. Is that right, is that honourable? Seven against one! Calm down! Teddy’s calmed down.

SOME
sad and indignant
: Nothing’s sacred to him. – God forgive his drunken soul! – He’s the blackest sinner on God’s earth.

BAAL
: Sit down, I don’t like this preacher’s cant. There are some with brains and some without. It makes for a better division of labour. Now you’ve seen for yourselves. I work with my brains.
He smokes
. You’ve always been too irreverent, friends! And what effect would it have if you sank that good gin? Me, I make discoveries, let me say. I was telling Teddy some most important things.
He takes papers from Teddy’s jacket and looks at them
. But you had to run after that wretched gin. Sit down. Look at the sky growing dark between the trees. Is that nothing? There’s no religion in your blood!

You can hear the rain. Baal. Ekart
.

BAAL
: This is the winter sleep of white bodies in the black mud.

EKART
: You still haven’t been to fetch the meat?

BAAL
: You’re working on your mass, I suppose?

EKART
: Why worry about my mass? Worry about your woman! Where have you driven her to this time, in the rain?

BAAL
: She runs after us like a mad woman and hangs round my neck.

EKART
: You’re sinking lower and lower.

BAAL
: I’m too heavy.

EKART
: You’re not reckoning to peg out, I suppose?

BAAL
: I’ll fight it to the last ditch. I’ll live without a skin. I’ll retreat into my toes. I’ll fall like a bull. On the grass, where it’s softest. I’ll swallow death and know nothing.

EKART
: You’ve got fatter while we’ve been lying here.

BAAL
putting his right hand under his left armpit
: My shirt has got bigger. The dirtier it gets the bigger it gets. There’s room for someone else, but no one fat. What are you lolling about for, you lazy bag of bones?

EKART
: There’s a kind of sky in my head, very green and vast, where my thoughts drift like featherweight clouds in the wind. They’re completely undecided in their course. All that’s inside me.

BAAL
: It’s delirium. You’re an alcoholic. You see, it gets you in the end.

EKART
: When I’m delirious I can feel it by my face.

BAAL
: Your face has room for the four winds. Concave!
He looks at him
. You haven’t a face. You’re nothing. You’re transparent.

EKART
: I’m growing more and more mathematical.

BAAL
: Nobody knows your history. Why don’t you ever talk about yourself?

EKART
: I shan’t ever have one. Who’s that outside?

BAAL
: You’ve got a good ear! There’s something in you that you hide. You’re a bad man, like me, a devil. But one day you’ll see rats. Then you’ll be a good man again.

Sophie at the door
.

EKART
: Is that you, Sophie?

BAAL
: What do you want this time?

SOPHIE
: May I come in now, Baal?

Evening. Baal, Ekart, Sophie
.

SOPHIE
: My knees are giving way. Why are you running like a mad man?

BAAL
: Because you’re hanging round my neck like a millstone.

EKART
: How can you treat her like this? You made her pregnant.

SOPHIE
: I wanted it, Ekart.

BAAL
: She wanted it, and now she’s hanging round my neck.

EKART
: You behave like an animal! Sit down, Sophie.

SOPHIE
sits down heavily
: Let him go.

EKART
: If you throw her out I’ll stay with her.

BAAL
: She won’t stay with you. But you’d desert me!

Because of her? That’s like you.

EKART
: Twice you took my place in bed. You didn’t want my women. They left you cold, but you stole them from me although I loved them.

BAAL
: Because you loved them. Twice I defiled corpses to keep you clean. I need that. God knows, it gave me no pleasure.

EKART
to Sophie
: Are you still in love with this depraved animal?

SOPHIE
: I can’t help it, Ekart. I’d love his corpse. I even love his fists. I can’t help it, Ekart.

BAAL
: Don’t ever tell me what you two were up to while I was inside!

SOPHIE
: We stood together in front of the white prison wall and looked up at your window.

BAAL
: You were together.

SOPHIE
: Beat me for it.

EKART
shouts
: Didn’t you throw her at me?

BAAL
: You might have been stolen from me.

EKART
: I haven’t got your elephant’s hide.

BAAL
: I love you for it.

EKART
: Keep your damned mouth shut about it while she’s still with us!

BAAL
: Tell her to get lost! She’s turning into a bitch!
He puts his hands up to his throat
. She’s washing her dirty laundry in your tears. Can you still not see that she’s running naked between us? I have the patience of a lamb, but I can’t change my skin.

EKART
sits down beside Sophie
: Go home to your mother.

SOPHIE
: I can’t.

BAAL
: She can’t, Ekart.

SOPHIE
: Beat me if you want, Baal. I won’t ask you to walk slowly again. I didn’t mean to. Let me keep up with you, as long as I can. Then I’ll lie down in the bushes and you needn’t look. Don’t drive me away, Baal.

BAAL
: Throw your fat body into the river. I’m sick of you, and it’s your own doing.

SOPHIE
: Do you want to leave me here or don’t you? You’re still uncertain, Baal. You’re like a child, to talk like that.

BAAL
: I’m fed to the teeth with you.

SOPHIE
: But not at night, Baal, not at night! I’m afraid alone. I’m afraid of the dark. I’m frightened of it.

BAAL
: In your condition? No one will touch you.

SOPHIE
: But tonight! Just wait both of you tonight.

BAAL
: Go to the bargemen! It’s midsummer night. They’ll be drunk.

SOPHIE
: A few minutes!

BAAL
: Come on, Ekart!

SOPHIE
: Where shall I go?

BAAL
: To heaven, darling!

SOPHIE
: With my child?

BAAL
: Bury it.

SOPHIE
: I pray that you’ll never have cause to remember what you’ve just said to me, under this beautiful sky you love. I pray for it on my knees.

EKART
: I’ll stay with you. And then I’ll take you to your mother, if you say you’ll stop loving this swine.

BAAL
: She loves me.

SOPHIE
: I love him.

EKART
: Are you still on your feet, you swine! Haven’t you got knees? Are you besotted with drink or poetry? Depraved swine! Depraved swine!

BAAL
: Simpleton.

Ekart attacks him, they fight
.

SOPHIE
: Mother of God! They’re like wild animals!

EKART
fighting
: Did you hear what she said? Back there! And it’s getting dark now. Depraved animal! Depraved animal!

BAAL
against him, pressing Ekart to himself
: Now you’re close to me. Can you smell me? Now I’m holding you. There’s more than the closeness of women.
He stops
. Look, you can see the stars above the trees now, Ekart.

EKART
looks hard at Baal, who gazes up into the sky
: I can’t strike this thing!

BAAL
his arm round Ekart
: It’s getting dark. We must find a place for the night. There are hollows in the wood where the wind never penetrates. Come, I’ll tell you about the animals.
He draws him away
.

SOPHIE
alone in the dark, screams
: Baal!

Night. Wind. At tables, Gougou, Bolleboll. The old beggar and Maja with a child in a box
.

BOLLEBOLL
playing cards with Gougou
: I’ve no more money.

Let’s play for our souls.

THE BEGGAR
: Brother wind wants to come in. But we don’t know our cold brother wind. Heh, heh, heh!

The child cries
.

MAJA
the beggar woman
: Listen! Something’s prowling round the house. Pray God it’s no wild beast!

BOLLEBOLL
: Why? Are you feeling randy again?

Knocking at the door
.

MAJA
: Listen! I won’t open.

THE BEGGAR
: You will open.

MAJA
: No, no, Mother of God, no!

THE BEGGAR
: Bouque la Madonne! Open up!

MAJA
crawls to the door
: Who’s outside?

The child cries. Maja opens the door
.

BAAL
enters with Ekart, soaked to the skin
: Is this where they look after the sick?

MAJA
: Yes, but there’s no bed free.
More insolently
: And I’m ill.

BAAL
: We’ve brought champagne.
Ekart has gone to warm himself by the stove
.

BOLLEBOLL
: Come here! The man who knows what champagne is, is good enough for us.

THE BEGGAR
: There’s high society here today, my boy!

BAAL
goes up to the table and pulls two bottles from his pocket
: Mmm?