The Fourth Pig (16 page)

Now down! To horse, to horse! The pipers start,

In the Green Hill where such fine folks are met.

Yes, I am coming, yes, the dance is set!

(He gets up and goes out. Kate follows him silently.)

SCENE III

 

Inside the Green Hill. Green light, green curtains, pulled back to make a cavern. The Fairies are dancing under the slope of the hill: green and brown, or green and silver dresses, pointed caps, slanted eyes. On one side stand two Fairies who play the dance tune, one with a recorder or some wood wind instrument, the other with a small drum. On the other side stands a Fairy who sings. Either the singing is continuous throughout the dancing or else there is first a verse sung during
the dance and then the dance goes on while the tune is played through once more, rather louder, by the recorder and drum. Then the singing and dancing together, then the dancing alone. The tune is “Linten Lowring,” with the four lines of the chorus played rather rapidly. During the slow first half of the air, the Fairies dance weavingly, lifting their arms slowly and high, with dragging steps, but during the quick second half they run in and out in a rapid chain, or under arches of joined hands
.

Fairy (singing
. Air:
“Linten Lowring.”)
:

For miles and miles the nut groves lie,

From bush to bush the robins flit,

The Fairy Hill is in the midst

With green grass growing over it.

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

You'll go the way you shouldna' go

And find yourself in the Fairy Hill!

And who would know or who would guess

What plays are played, what songs are sung

Behind the lovely hazel groves

Where all the Spring the catkins swung?

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

You'll go the way you shouldna' go

And find yourself in the Fairy Hill!

(Enter the Sick Prince, quickly, through the swinging green of the curtains. Behind him Kate follows quietly; she has her apron
full of nuts, caught up in one hand. The tune goes on, encircling and drawing away the Prince, who takes hands with the Fairies and follows them into the dance. Kate stands, upright, pressed back against the green wall, staring and watching as they dance.)

Fairy (singing)
:

And he who once has seen the dance

Will surely come, will come again,

And she who seeks to hinder him

She toils in vain, she toils in vain.

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

He's gone the way he shouldna' go

And found himself in the Fairy Hill!

(They dance with him for another round of the tune, then the music stops, with the Fairies grouped round the Prince, all looking sidelong at Kate.)

Fairy (speaks)
:

What's to do and where to go,

Shall we take her, shall we keep her?

In the harvest of the foe

Shall we bind her, shall we reap her?

In the Green Hill deeper

Shall we stack her, hold her, keep her?

Sick Prince (with hate)
:

Take her, take her,

Bind her, blind her!

In the dancing lose her, make her

Give up striving, give up hoping!

Leave her groping

Full of pain,

Fairy pains that rack and shake her,

Out and up and all in vain!

Kate:

Oh my Prince, who is bound, so bound,

Whose heart must hate and whose look would kill,

I will bring you living and whole and sound,

Oh kinder-eyed on to mortal ground,

And back with me from the Fairy Hill!

(The dance tune begins again. Some of the Fairies dance away and out of sight with the Sick Prince, while others come nearer and nearer to Kate, holding out their arms to her.)

Fairies (singing)
:

Did you but know what joys were here,

For Kate, for Kate, our dearest Kate,

You needs must love the Fairy Hill,

You would not hate, you could not hate!

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

You've gone the way you shouldna' go

And found yourself in the Fairy Hill!

(Kate takes a step forward in spite of herself, as she does so dropping and scattering the nuts from her apron. The
Fairies take her hands and pull her into the middle of their circle but there she snatches herself away from them and crouches, her hands over her ears, while they dance round her.)

Fairies (singing)
:

Would you but join the fairy dance,

Oh sweetest sweet—your Prince's hate

Would turn to love, would turn to love

For Kate, his Kate, for fairy Kate!

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

You've gone the way you shouldna' go

And found yourself in the Fairy Hill!

(Kate jumps to her feet in the midst of the circle, crying out against the Fairy tune.)

Kate:

Stop your dancing and hush your song,

It has rung in my ears too long, too long!

Sweet is dancing and sweet is love,

But I must remember the world above!

It went to my heart so deep, so deep,

But a fairy promise is ill to keep,

And I'll not harvest with Green Hill people

And I'll not stack where the fairies reap!

(The Fairies gather at one side, laughing spitefully and pointing their fingers at her.)

Fairies (laughing)
:

Foolish mortal, foolish human,

Where's the profit for a woman

But in dancing, but in singing,

Clasping fingers, fondly swinging,

Flinging, ringing,

In our dancing,

Once you pass the Green Hill's portal,

Foolish woman, foolish mortal!

(They go out, still laughing, to another round of the dance tune. The Fairy singers and players follow them out and, while Kate is alone, the tune is heard faintly and fitfully from behind the scene.)

Kate (with a deep sigh)
: So! And I might have gone with them … and danced … and never seen my Ann again. They'll let me be now. Oh that tune. It's in my head for ever.

(She sings to the second half of the tune faintly sounding from beyond.)

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill.

We went the way we shouldna' go,

And found ourselves in the Fairy Hill.

He'll be dancing with them now … dancing till dawn.

And what's poor Kate to do? Well, well, poor Kate can
pick up her nuts and crack them.

(She begins to pick up the scattered nuts. Every now and then she cracks one between her teeth and eats it.)

Good mortal food—no fairy stuff, but squirrels' nuts from the hazel bushes. I've robbed you, squirrels! Kate has robbed you … Kate Crackernuts. There's a sweet one. Yes, it was a long ride for Kate, a long ride through the hazel woods on the crupper of his horse, and he in a dream, not noticing. Oh that tune … how I could have danced with him! Next time—if there is a next time—I shall hide when I follow him in. I'll not have them luring me again. I might have danced … oh, I might have danced!

(Again the dance tune sounds from behind. Perhaps the lights should be lowered here to show the passing of the time towards the dawn. Kate cracks her nuts, humming the tune to herself. But suddenly the tune goes louder again, and the Fairies and the Sick Prince come dancing in. Kate presses back into the folds of the green curtains.)

Fairies (singing)
:

The dawn is on the hazel groves,

Where long the dewy shadows lie.

Until the midnight chimes again

Our Prince, good-bye—our Prince, good-bye.

Up and under, in and under,

Down and under, well or ill,

You'll go the way you shouldna' go

And find yourself in the Fairy Hill!

(As the song ceases they drop away from him sleepily, some kneeling upright still, but others sinking and curling to the ground all round him and pillowing their faces in their hands.)

Fairy (speaks)
:

Oh foolish morning,

Oh red-faced sun,

Spoiling our dancing,

Staring and scorning,

Striding and prancing,

As though you'd never

Be ended and done,

You hindering, blundering, mortal sun!

(The Fairy yawns and stretches and sinks down into sleep among the others, at the Prince's feet. He stands among them and speaks.)

Sick Prince:

Dawn … and the weary ride, the long ride back

Among the hazels, down the winding track.

How fleet I rode at midnight when the stars

Peered blinkingly between the branches' bars,

Watched me beneath low hazel arches flitting

—And her, the woman on my crupper sitting!—

I would not shake her off, I did not care.

What's it to me—these mortals—though they dare

Follow and spy, creeping beneath the moon?

The fairies' vengeance will be on her soon!

Oh nothing matters, nothing but the singing,

The night-long dances through the green hill swinging,

The tingling link of hands, the faery light

That glows beneath the turf all night, all night.

My pulse beats to the dance tune, quick or slow,

Oh cruel dawn, to check the ebb and flow!

Dawn … I must say the words that bid me go.

(He takes a step clear of the Fairies, lifts his hands towards the green wall and speaks commandingly.)

Open, open, Green Hill, and let the Prince go through!

(He takes a step through the curtains and out. Kate steps quickly from her hiding place and follows him.)

Kate:

And his lady him behind!

(She too goes out from the Hill, leaving the Fairies asleep.)

ACT III

SCENE I

 

A room in the castle. Ann sitting on a stool, still with the veil over her sheep's-head, peeling carrots into a crockery bowl. The Porter comes in and wags a finger over her
.

Porter:

Your sister has vanished,

I told you she would!

(Ann bleats and drops her carrots.)

Now, none of that squealing,

It does you no good!

Get on with those carrots

You ought to be peeling!

Your sister has vanished,

I told you she would.

Your duties to-day are,

(No squeaking I pray!) are:

First finish those carrots,

And then feed the pike,

And then feed the rabbits,

And then feed the parrots

Whose curious habits

I know you will like.

You must brush every feather,

Each red and green feather,

And pray do it neatly!

Your sister has vanished,

Has vanished completely,

And nothing whatever

Will do the least good.

Your sister has vanished,

I told you she would!

(Ann drops her head in her hands and bleats despairingly. The Porter continues.)

I flatter myself I can put beggar maids in their places! I have the manner. She will now attend to the Call of Duty.

(As he pats himself assertively on the chest, the Well Prince comes in and over to Ann.)

Well Prince:

In my brother's room the light is dim,

Silence stays in it deep and grim.

He has gone again to the Green Hill people

And your sister Kate has gone with him.

On my poor brother the spell lies true,

Nothing's to help and naught to do;

But Ann, poor Ann, you have lost your sister

Who was more than all of the world to you!

(Ann gets to her feet, wringing her hands and bleating piteously.)

Yet you must hope for another day,

Yet you must listen to what I say:

Ann, you must speak to your Prince who loves you,

Ann, you must take your veil away!

(He lays his hand on the veil to tear it away from Ann's face; she bleats wildly, catching at his wrists to stop him.)

Porter (with satisfaction)
: Ah, that's the way to treat these beggar girls!

(As they are struggling Kate comes in behind them.)

Kate:
What, Prince! Here's no way to make a poor girl fond of you!

(He lets go of Ann, who sobs in Kate's arms.)

There, my Ann, I'm back safe and sound. It takes more than a fairy to steal your sister! Or a fairy tune … My Prince is sound asleep on his bed, a long sleep after his long ride. Yes, it was a night's work, watching him! I shall sleep all day. Will you give Ann the peck of silver?

Porter:
Here it is, mistress beggar maid!

(He fetches it.)

Kate:
Spread your apron, Ann!

(Ann spreads her apron and the Porter pours in the peck of silver.)

I got nothing but nuts out of the woods in my apron. I am Kate Crackernuts, and now you are Ann Rainsilver!

Well Prince:

Kate, oh Kate, who has watched aright,

Whose eye is proud as her step is light,

Will you fetch him back from the Green Hill people,

Will you watch my brother another night?

Kate:
Yes, I will watch, but not for the same price. This time, Prince, I must have a peck of gold.

Porter (scandalized)
: There's a greedy beggar girl!

Well Prince:

She shall have that and welcome too,

For what is gold when the heart must rue?

And what is gold to my own, own brother,

Now I have found a watcher true!

(The Prince and the Porter go out. Kate holds Ann in her arms and speaks over her bowed head.)