Late afternoon. A fairground near the Tower, by the River Thames. A colourful, noisy crowd is milling around. Adam, now a middle-aged man, is standing looking down from the battlements, accompanied by Lucifer. The people’s chorus, which is to be sung, emerges from the throng of the fairgound to the accompaniment of music.
THE PEOPLE’S CHORUS
Look at life: it’s like an ocean.
And the waves successive ages.
Here you see a wave subsiding.
there another upward surges.
Now you think a person’s freedom
may be stifled by the masses;
now you’d rally for the people
whom a tyrant’s hand oppresses.
Though you find the Arts in danger,
or that Science calls for caution,
still you can’t establish order
up against this living ocean.
All your work and all your efforts
come to nought, a swirl of water,
while the ocean keeps on roaring,
laughing at your bid to thwart her.
Let her roar and let her be then:
life shall safely roll along.
All things new have been forever;
nothing’s lost in life whatever;
listen to her magic song.
ADAM
Now, this is it, the toilsome journey’s end,
the grand accomplishment of my career.
It’s life itself I see before me and
the anthem of free enterprise I hear…
LUCIFER
It’s like church choirs singing: fair enough -
a long way off: hoarse voices, sighs and groans
will blend in with the tune before they reach us.
That’s how God hears them and is so delighted
to think that all is well with his creation.
But where you hear the throbbing hearts below,
I warrant you, it sounds quite different.
ADAM
All doubt and scorn. Isn’t this a better world
than those you’ve made me struggle through for ages?
No more taboos, restrictions, segregations,
no gruesome phantoms stalking from the past
to be enshrined and glorified by custom,
the curse and plague of future generations.
No slaves to build the monumental graves.
It’s free for all, but it’s for everybody.
LUCIFER
You wouldn’t have heard the groans in Egypt either
from such a height. And yet those works of art,
you must admit, they were magnificent!
And wasn’t it a proper, splendid gesture
when Athens’ sovereign people sacrificed
their blue-eyed hero for the common good?
The country was in danger, after all.
You see, from up here tears and other worthless
considerations don’t disturb the picture.
ADAM
Be quiet, you incorrigible sophist.
LUCIFER
But granted that the workers’ groans are silenced,
what has replaced them? Mediocrity?
What heights, what depths inspire or challenge you?
Where has that motley richness gone from life?
No more a vast, pulsating, sparkling ocean,
life has become a dank, pest-ridden swamp.
ADAM
Requited by the welfare of the people.
LUCIFER
See how you stand here on your lofty perch
and comment on that seething life below?
That’s how historians appraise the past
and wax more lyrical as they recall it.
No sighs and groans for them, no cries of anguish.
ADAM
Ah, is the devil being fanciful
or doctrinaire? It’s novel either way.
LUCIFER
[indicating first the Tower, then the fairground below]
It’s not surprising, caught between the past
up here, and that new world of yours below.
ADAM
Well, then. Let’s leave this crumbling vantage point
and plunge into that new world straight away.
I’m sure to find within that teeming ocean
the dreams, ideals and poetry I need.
I don’t expect to find great revelations,
titanic struggles there which rend the sky.
It may be all the more enchanting, pleasing,
to find a world of modest aspirations.
LUCIFER
Fear not. If there exists a world of matter,
I have the means, the power to counter it,
exerting one continuous resistance.
Likewise, as long as there’s a human heart,
a mind to think, a set of circumstances
to frustrate man’s desires, there will be fight,
and dreams, ideals and poetry you need:
rebellion and resistance in the spirit.
But since you wish to mingle with the crowd,
you tell me first what form we should assume,
for in this garb we’re only fit to linger
amongst these dark memorials of the past.
ADAM
It doesn’t matter. Fate has done away with
the frills of privilege. To meet the people
it’s best to merge into their broadest ranks.
They enter the Tower only to reappear at its gate dressed as workmen. They mix with the crowd. The proprietor of a puppet-show is seen outside his pavilion, on top of which there is a monkey on a chain, dressed in a red coat.
SHOWMAN
Come on! This way! Come this way, gentlemen!
A couple of minutes and the show begins.
A comedy, you might say, very funny,
about the first woman. She was seduced,
a curious piece of business, by the serpent.
And didn’t she get her husband into trouble?
You’ll see it all. Here’s one performing, monkey.
He’s every bit like people, isn’t he?
Come, see the bear: he plays the dancing-master.
Come on! This way! Come this way, gentlemen!
[a big crowd around the pavilion]
LUCIFER
Adam, meseems we’re somewhat mentioned here.
How flattering - a lead part in a show
which has a run of millions of years
and still can entertain the populace!
ADAM
He’s joking in bad taste. Come! Let’s move on!
LUCIFER
In bad taste! Look, they like it every bit.
A while ago at school they fell asleep,
these red-faced louts, reading their classic authors.
And who can say who’s right or wrong in this:
those confident of their abounding powers
about to enter life with youthful vigour,
or those with doting minds about to leave it?
I doubt you get more pleasure out of Shakespeare,
than they do from their own perverted hotchpotch.
ADAM
It is this ugliness I cannot stand.
LUCIFER
A touch of ancient Greece. That dates you, Adam.
To me, the son - or father of the New School,
(the words make little difference to us)
this modernism, the cult of ugliness,
that of perverted shapes, is most appealing.
[singing]
When in the human face the ape appears
and excellence is drowned in mud and sneers;
when reverend cloth harbours thwarted urges
and prostitutes extol moral resurgence;
when villainy’s upheld for adulation
and lechery denounces fornication -
I’m well content to bid my Loss adieu:
in these mis-shapen things I’m born anew.
SHOWMAN
[hitting Adam on the shoulder]
Get off this seat! The best place in the show.
I’m not prepared to entertain for nothing
till I despair of life and get me hanged.
Adam and Lucifer move off. A flowergirl enters selling violets.
FLOWERGIRL
Nice violets, these! First violets of the spring!
O, buy some violets, please, and feed an orphan!
I’m sure you can afford these. Lovely violets!
A MOTHER
[buying a bunch of violets]
I’ll have some violets - for my child who died.
GIRL
[buying some violets]
Will this go with the colour of my hair?
FLOWERGIRL
Nice violets! Buy some violets, gentlemen!
The flowergirl exits. A jeweller is looking at her from his pavilion.
A JEWELLER
To blazes with this constant competition!
Those flowers are forever fashionable.
Yet nothing more becomes a shapely shoulder
than precious pearls, a necklace made of pearls.
Think of the risk, the courage and the effort,
snatching them from the monsters of the deep.
[Two girls approach talking.]
1ST GIRL
Some nice material. Look at this necklace!
2ND GIRL
I wish I had a bloke to buy me this.
1ST GIRL
If anyone did that these days, you know,
he’d try to give you something else as well.
2ND GIRL
I don’t think I’m the sort of girl they’d choose.
They’re keener on their tarts - besides their booze.
1ST GIRL
Maybe some would, but too snobbish to do so.
2ND GIRL
Or haven’t got the guts - despite my trousseau.
Girls exeunt laughing. Same workmen are seen sitting around a table in the open air, drinking. Music and dancing in the background. Soldiers, tradesmen and all kinds of people mill around, enjoying themselves. A publican is busy with his customers.
PUBLICAN
Drink, gentlemen! Who cares for yesterday?
Who knows? We may not live to drink tomorrow.
God will provide for fowls and fools, they say,
but our existence, to be sure, is hollow.
He empties a tankard of beer and turns it upside down.
LUCIFER
I rather like the crude philosophy.
Let’s sit down here and watch the populace
enjoy the publican’s cheap entertainment,
his thinnish beer and his infernal music.
1ST WORKMAN
Machines, you say? The devil’s own creations.
They’re after people’s jobs, I’m telling you.
2ND WORKMAN
We’ll get by - if we get a pint or two.
1ST WORKMAN
As for the rich, the bloody parasites,
if one came here I’d send him back to hell.
Like him the other day. A good example.
3RD WORKMAN
So what? The lad will hang for it today.
And are you better off? No use, I say.
2ND WORKMAN
Of course, no use. You know the thing I’d do?
I’d make the rich sit here to drink their fill,
and show them who’s the man can hold his liquor.
PUBLICAN
[to Adam]
Your order, sir?
ADAM
I don’t want anything.
PUBLICAN
Then shove off, will you! Sitting at my tables.
You think I’m stealing money for a living
or letting wife and children beg through life?
ADAM
[rising]
You talk to me like that?
LUCIFER
Forget the rascal!
ADAM
Come on, let’s go then. I don’t want to see
men turn themselves through liquor into beasts.
LUCIFER
Look here! This is what I’ve been searching for.
It’s fun, Adam! Let go your inhibitions.
Come, listen to this din, this manic laughter,
and see the fire of old-time bacchic orgies
re-kindled in those eyes, the rosy glow
of stupor blotting out their misery.
Is this not wonderful?
ADAM
It makes me sick.
As they go nearer to the dancers, they observe two beggars quarrelling.
1ST BEGGAR
Get off! This is my patch. I’ve got a licence.
2ST BEGGAR
Come on! Don’t be so hard! I’m starving, man!
Been out of work for weeks.
1ST BEGGAR
You have, I see.
You aren’t a proper beggar. Look at you!
A ruddy sham! You ought to be reported.
The 2nd Beggar sidles away and the 1st Beggar takes up his place.
In Christ’s name, gentlemen, have pity on me!
A penny for the poor and suffering beggar.
A soldier grabs at a tradesman’s girl in passing. The man turns angrily.
SOLDIER
Beat it, bob-tail! Parading up and down
as if you was somebody.
1ST TRADESMAN
We can see.
I’ll show you…
2ND TRADESMAN
Hey, come on! Don’t start a fight.
He wears the uniform, you’ll be the loser.
1ST TRADESMAN
But who the hell does he believe he is?
They feed on us, they do, the bloody vermin.
A WHORE
[singing]
Golden apples once were stolen
while a dragon was the warden:
since the warden’s death the golden
apples overflow the garden.
Don’t be bashful, come and nibble
when you catch my golden apple.
She throws her arms round one of the men. Lucifer observes the scene.
LUCIFER
This teasing tart, you know, is quite a handful.
Where there be riches, let riches be seen.
A miser sitting on his padlocked coffer
may well hoard sand in it, for all you know.
That fellow’s jealousy is almost touching:
He’s fussing her, watching her every glance…
No time to waste, he makes the most of it;
and yet he knows, not that he cares about it,
that she will lie with someone else tomorrow.
ADAM
[to a musician]
Why must you tantalize the art of music?
Tell me, do you enjoy what you are playing?
MUSICIAN
O, Heavens! No! It’s agony to play this
day after day and hear the customers
contribute their rude noises now and then.
This haunts me in my dreams, but can’t be helped.
I have to make a living. - This is it.
LUCIFER
[still in a contemplative mood]
You’d never think that youngsters are possessed
of such a shrewd philosophy of life.
This female knows full well that this affair
is not the last she can expect tonight:
already, in the heat of his embraces,
she’s looking for another. Well done, children!
It gives me so much pleasure to observe
how readily you do your best to help me.
May you be blessed with pain and misery!
2ND TRADESMAN
[singing]
I’ve put in a good day’s labour,
come to have fun in the fair:
drunk my beer and kissed my tart and
what the devil do I care?
Church music is heard indicating the end of the service. Eve, dressed as the daughter of a London merchant, appears in the church door, accompanied by her mother. She carries a prayer-book and a bunch of flowers.
1ST VENDOR
This way, my pretty lady! Look at these!
You’ll get no better bargain in the fair.
2ND VENDOR
Don’t you be taken in by that! He’ll cheat you.
His stock is old. Try this one, Madam, here!
ADAM
Ah, Lucifer, you’d let me hang around
in that revolting place, while bliss embodied
has nearly passed me by unnoticed. Look!
LUCIFER
It wouldn’t have been the first time, anyhow.
ADAM
And she, coming from church! How beautiful!
LUCIFER
To see and to be seen, that was the purpose.
ADAM
None of your frosty gibes! Too cold to touch her.
The sanctity of worship haunts her lips.
LUCIFER
A convert and a pious one at that?
ADAM
A poor jest, really. If I’ve lost my faith,
that is my problem. In this lovely child
I still expect to find that simple faith
which was the poetry of years gone by,
like pearls of dew on an unblemished flower.
LUCIFER
And where’s that heavenly object lately found?
The poor devil himself can’t keep the score,
the verse and chapter of your flights of fancy.
Trouble enough to win your heart’s desires.
ADAM
Who could it be, but she.
LUCIFER
That was the notion
the woodpecker had when he caught a grub:
jealously looking round he thought he had
the most delicious morsel in the world,
meanwhile the pigeon eyed him with repugnance.
People concoct in their imagination
their states of bliss, and do it all too often
where others have contrived their states of hell.
ADAM
How dignified she looks! How chaste and modest!
One hardly finds the courage to approach her.
LUCIFER
You’re not a novice when it comes to courting.
Come on! She’s on the market. Bid for her.
ADAM
Hush!
LUCIFER
She may cost you more than others did.
A bashful young man comes up to Eve and he offers her a present arranged in the shape of a heart.
YOUNG MAN
Madam, will you accept from your admirer
a modest favour he has bought for you?
EVE
How thoughtful of you to remember, Arthur.
MOTHER
Indeed, Arthur, we haven’t seen you lately.
Why don’t you come and see us - soon I hope.
Eve and the young man continue talking quietly. Adam watches anxiously until the young man departs.
ADAM
Could this green stripling have received the favours
that in my prime of life I can’t secure?
They’re talking intimately… Now she’s smiling…
She waves to him! - O, no! It’s agony!
I have to talk to her.
MOTHER
[as Adam is approaching Eve]
I know his parents
are reasonably wealthy, but your friendship
may not meet their approval, so, remember,
you mustn’t disregard that other hopeful
who sent you this bouquet of flowers today.
ADAM
Excuse me, ladies! May I come and join you?
There’s such a busy crowd you need an escort.
EVE
Impertinence!
MOTHER
Please, go away at once!
My lady daughter isn’t the sort of person
you may accost without an introduction.
ADAM
What else is there to do? I dream about her.
She’s the embodiment of female beauty!
MOTHER
You dream whatever you like. This is my daughter:
I couldn’t let her waste her youthful charms
on brazen ruffians - the likes of you.
Adam is somewhat embarrassed. A gypsy woman approaches Eve.
GYPSY WOMAN
O, bless my soul! A beautiful young lady.
Just let me read your lovely hands a moment
and tell you all about the joys and pleasures
of life that fortune has in store for you.
[She looks at her palms.]
A handsome husband, very near to you;
money, wealth, children, I’d say, quite a few…
Eve gives her some money. Lucifer goes up to her and points at Adam.
LUCIFER
Hey, how about the fortunes of my friend?
GYPSY WOMAN
He’ll - starve to death. Perhaps he might be hanged.
ADAM
[to Eve]
Don’t see me turned away, please, empty handed:
I’m sure that we are made for one another.
EVE
Mother, tell him…
MOTAER
Unless you go at once,
I’ll summon the police.
EVE
No. He’ll recover
his senses. After all, he’s done no harm.
[Both exeunt.]
ADAM
Poetic love, the holiest of feelings,
no room for you in this prosaic world!
LUCIFER
Of course there is. You saw that heart-shaped present,
those flowers, the dance, that caper in the bushes.
What were they for? You’re too fastidious.
There is a wealth of fun to dream about.
ADAM
But what’s the use? This world is so beset
with greed and profit that you cannot find
ideals - for the joy of having them.
LUCIFER
Young people have them still, for economics
and life have not yet taught them otherwise.
And there they come. Now, watch the little devils.
[A few schoolboys enter.]
1ST SCHOOLBOY
Three cheers for freedom! Boo to musty classrooms!
This calls for an outrageous celebration.
2ND SCHOOLBOY
Let’s go into the country! Damn the city!
Damn order and this mercenary world!
3ND SCHOOLBOY
I say, let’s pick a quarrel with a fellow.
It should give us some rousing entertainment.
1ST SCHOOLBOY
Yes. Let us pinch those girls and taunt the soldiers:
we might as well provoke a running battle.
We’ll take the girls into the country, right?
A pint of beer, some music - here’s the money -
and home we come like warlords from the pillage
to see their faces match their uniforms.
4TH SCHOOLBOY
Tremendous plan! We’ll rouse the Philistines.
1ST SCHOOLBOY
Today we share the fun, the joy of living,
and do this out of friendship, but remember,
the time will come when we may have to share
our efforts too in noble enterprises.
[Exeunt.]
ADAM
A welcome sight! Some promise for the Future.
You see? This world is not so uninspiring.
LUCIFER
See for yourself how far that promise goes
when they have lost that dream, that sense of sharing.
These two own factories. They used to be
not unlike those five lively boys you saw.
Two factory owners enter engaged in conversation.
1ST OWNER
I can’t stand up against this competition.
The customer wants cheaper stuff and I
can’t choose but turn out poorer quality.
2ND OWNER
You could cut down on wages.
1ST OWNER
No, I can’t.
Those dogs are too rebellious as it is.
Impossible to make ends meet, they say.
I take that point, but on the other hand
who says they ought to have a wife and children?
Not one or two: six of them, if you please.
2ND OWNER
But have you tried to work them longer hours?
They get an extra stint of half a night
and still have half a night to get their sleep.
Unwise to let the mob indulge in dreaming.
[Exeunt.]
ADAM
Those sharks! I wish you hadn’t let me hear them.
But where’s that dream of mine? Now, Lucifer,
invoke your powers and help me in this effort:
I want that girl.
LUCIFER
But why must Lucifer
exert himself in such a paltry business?
ADAM
Paltry, maybe, to you. To me it’s vital.
LUCIFER
Have it your way. But keep your wits about you.
Don’t be alarmed to hear me bend the truth:
answer me as I ask you, and you’ll have her.
Lucifer is speaking louder so that the gypsy woman within earshot can hear it.
You see, my lord, it’s inconvenient
trying to keep up your incognito:
you’re bound to suffer insults now and then.
If people knew you had four merchant vessels
about to dock today from India-h,
reception would be different.
ADAM
Most likely.
GYPSY WOMAN
[to the audience]
This bit of news is worth a pretty penny.
[to Adam]
Excuse me, Sir! You’ve come here in disguise,
that’s why I thought I’d give you false predictions.
Satan and I have been on friendly terms
for long enough: I am a fortune-teller.
LUCIFER
[to the audience]
Tell that to the marines, you filthy hag!
GYPSY WOMAN
Your ships are safely home this very day.
But I’ve got happier news to whisper too:
you’ve had that lady lose her heart to you.
ADAM
Can I have her?
GYPSY WOMAN
She is as good as yours.
ADAM
But she refused…
GYPSY WOMAN
That shows she can be got.
I give you, Sir, the gypsy woman’s word:
she’ll come back soon enough. And then - remember!
[Exit.]
ADAM
This old hag will outdo you, Lucifer.
LUCIFER
I don’t dispute her fine accomplishment -
to run the devil’s errand. I am pleased.
A mountebank comes on a cart, introduced by the sound of trumpets and followed by a crowd. The cart halts in the middle of the stage.
MOUNTEBANK
Give way! Give way with proper deference!
I’ve studied all the books of reference,
my head grown hoary with the weight of learning,
till nature has revealed me all her secrets.
ADAM
Now, who on earth is this amazing madman?
LUCIFER
This is science, turned quack to make a living,
as you did when you were a man of learning,
except he has to make more noise about it.
ADAM
I never went to such extremes, did I?
This is a shame.
LUCIFER
He cannot help it, though.
It’s only natural. The man’s afraid
his tombstone might display this epitaph:
EX GRATIA SPECIALI
MORTUUS IN HOSPITALI
or rendered in the rude vernacular:
As a special compensation
left to die in deprivation
when having worked for others day and night
he has a chance to claim remuneration.
MOUNTEBANK
My labours for the good of every man
resulted in this recipe:
I’ve got elixir there to ward off age,
and for the sick some remedy;
the love-potion crusader Tancred used,
the pills for Pharaoh Ptolemy,
the beauty-wash applied to Helen’s face and Kepler’s own astrology.
ADAM
Hear this sales-talk? The golden age we sought
in years ahead, he finds in years gone by.
LUCIFER
The present never seems to flatter us.
It’s like our bedroom: cuts us down to size.
Or if you please, our wife, past ten years’ marriage:
we’ve counted every pimple on her arse.
MOUNTEBANK
You shall have no regrets! Invest in this!
Here is the chance you can’t afford to miss.
CROWD
I’ll take this one! Can I take either of them?
A lucky find. Don’t see this very often.
LUCIFER
That people with no faith, with no religion,
should still clamour for miracles to buy!
Eve and her mother return followed by the gypsy woman who is whispering to them.
EVE
Don’t waste your breath: we know you well enough.
GYPSY WOMAN
May I find no salvation if I’m lying.
Lord Such-and-Such is so infatuated,
longing to have you for his - paramour.
He’ll keep you like a princess: balls, receptions,
the theatre, a coach and four to ride…
MOTHER
More sensible, I come to think of it,
than getting married to a smelly cobbler
to languish in the corner of his workshop.
GYPSY WOMAN
Look! There’s his Lordship. He’s been looking for you.
EVE
He hasn’t noticed me. How thoughtless of him.
He has good hands, though. Every inch a lord.
MOTHER
I wouldn’t object to his companion either:
nose somewhat hooked, his legs a trifle bent,
he’s nonetheless a proper gentleman.
But I must go and leave you to yourselves:
it is the best - by way of introduction.
GYPSY WOMAN
[to Adam]
The lady’s there! She cannot wait to see you.
ADAM
I fly to her at once. It’s ecstasy!
GYPSY WOMAN
Please, don’t forget the go-between, my lord!
LUCIFER
[giving her some money]
Here’s money from him, and from me a handshake.
GYPSY WOMAN
[screaming]
Ow, what an iron grip!
[Exit.]
LUCIFER
It would have pleased you
if you had been what you pretend to be.
EVE
Should you consider buying me a present,
that magic beauty-wash would be my choice.
ADAM
The magic’s in the charm of your complexion:
its loveliness requires no beauty treatment.
[The mountebank meantime departs.]
EVE
You’re generous.
ADAM
Don’t make me feel a miser.
Pearls, diamonds shall adorn your lovely shoulders!
Not that you need them, but because you are
the perfect setting for such precious things.
EVE
In fact I’ve seen some jewels - over there!
Too rich, of course, for simple girls like me.
ADAM
Let’s go and see.
LUCIFER
No need for that. By chance
I have with me a few exclusive jewels.
He produces some pieces of jewellery which Eve handles with great pleasure before she tries them on.
EVE
It’s beautiful! How lovely! I’ll be envied.
ADAM
[indicating the heart-shaped object Eve is still carrying]
That favour should be out of favour now.
EVE
O, it can go if it displeases you.
[She throws it on the ground.]
LUCIFER
Well done! I’ll tread on it. So.
[As he does that, a sharp cry is heard.]
EVE
What was that?
I thought I heard a cry. How silly of me.
A condemned man is carried across the stage in a cart. A crowd follows.
CROWD
Let’s hurry up! I’ve told you he’s a coward.
No! No! He’s still defiant. Come and see!
ADAM
What’s happening? Where’s everybody going?
EVE
Going to hang someone. A lucky chance!
I’m thrilled to be so near. Let’s go and watch!
A good chance too to wear my gorgeous necklace.
ADAM
What crime has he committed?
EVE
I don’t know.
LUCIFER
There’s nothing much to it, but I can tell you.
He worked for someone by the name of Lovel,
but when he got lead poisoning at work,
the man was taken off to hospital
and his goodwife was left without an income.
Now, Lovel’s son was young and generous,
and soon the wench had him for company.
1ST WORKMAN
Cheer up, me lad! You’ll die a martyr’s death.
Your name’s a shining torch among the workers.
LUCIFER
The man recovered, learned his wife had bolted,
and found his job gone too. When he demanded
to have his job returned and made a threat,
young Lovel smartly slapped him on the face.
The man, as chance would have it, found a knife -
and there he goes. Old Lovel lost his wits.
At this point old Lovel enters with the weird dignity of a lunatic.
LOVEL
That is a lie. I’ve come to understand
those gaping wounds. They whisper. O, my son!
They whisper: “Wealth!” My wealth! Take all I have!
But no more whispers! They will drive me mad.
3RD WORKMAN
Courage, me lad! Take heart! You’ll be revenged.
1ST WORKMAN
Keep your head up! They are the ones to blame.
The condemned man is taken away. The crowd follows the cart.
ADAM
Unnerving sight, why must you haunt me yet?
Tell me: who is the real criminal?
Society itself? When that decays,
crime mushrooms on its carcass everywhere.
LOVEL
Society, indeed. Take all my wealth!
As long as I don’t hear those whispering wounds!
[Exit. ]
EVE
Please, hurry up! They’ve taken all the places.
ADAM
I bless my fate that I am not a judge.
So easy to lay down the law in comfort,
easy to make a superficial judgement,
but if one searches for the secret motives
within the heart - the problem’s overwhelming.
LUCIFER
You’d never close the case. Who wrongs a person
entirely for the sake of doing wrong?
Satan himself wants to be justified
and feel convinced he has the better case.
The lawyer must cut through the gordian knot
whose strands the thousands of philanthropists
through history have failed to disentangle.
Meantime they reach the Tower in a recess of which there is a little chapel.
EVE
I wonder. Could we stop here for a moment?
I’ll go and leave these flowers before the altar.
LUCIFER
[whispering to Adam]
Don’t let her go! You’ll give the trick away.
ADAM
I can’t prevent it. Isn’t she innocent?
EVE
I’ve had this custom since I was a child
to stop here every time I pass this place.
I’d like to say a prayer and leave my flowers.
Then - we can run and catch up with the rest.
I won’t be long.
She puts the flowers in front of the altar-piece. Suddenly they wither, and the jewellery on her arms and her neck, having turned into snakes, fall onto the ground.
God help me! What is this?
LUCIFER
I warned you but you wouldn’t listen.
EVE
Help!
ADAM
Be quiet, my dear! Please, don’t attract attention!
I’ll buy you jewels a hundred times as rich.
EVE
Leave me alone! Help! Tricksters! Conjurors!
To bring an honest girl to such disgrace.
And that old witch! God help me! What a shame!
A crowd begins to gather. The gypsy woman is coming with policemen.
GYPSY WOMAN
They must be here somewhere. The coins they gave me,
like quicksilver, all melted in my hands.
LUCIFER
The flaw was in your hands, not in the coins.
Come on, Adam! We aren’t welcome here.
They slip into the Tower amidst the increasing tumult and confusion, and reappear on top of the battlements.
ADAM
Frustrated once again. I’ve done away with
the spectres of the past and in their place
I’ve built free enterprise - to no avail.
I’ve taken out a vital link, religion,
without replacing it with something better
to keep the great machinery in order.
No competition where the rules are crooked:
the naked fight against the fully armed;
no independence where the hungry millions
must bend to someone’s yoke to keep alive.
I want a social order which protects,
does not punish, promotes, does not deter,
where everyone can work in mutual effort.
I want a system organised by science
and governed by the watchful intellect.
It’s bound to come. I sense it. I am sure.
Let’s see that brave, new world! Come, Lucifer!
LUCIFER
Conceited man! It’s your perception only
which sees an aimless, milling multitude:
it fails to apprehend co-ordination
and system in the universal workshop.
I let you take a glimpse behind the scene:
observe with spirits’ eyes the work they do -
for us, of course, not on their own behalf.
The scene grows dark. All the characters in the fairground are now employed in digging a large grave in the middle of the stage; they dance around it and jump into it one after the other - some without saying a word, others after reciting their respective rhymes.
THE PEOPLE’S CHORUS
[singing]
Don’t put off until tomorrow
that which can be done today,
though a thousand years may follow
with the goal still far away.
Cot and coffin are but coaches
and their journey’s much the same:
out you drive when this approaches,
back you ride on that again.
The tolling of a bell is heard.
Hear the curfew in the gloaming:
down the spade, it’s time to rest!
He that rises with the morning
take it up and do his best!
SHOWMAN
Pull down the curtain! End the comedy!
It may be fun to others - not to me.
PUBLICAN
“Last call!” - it says. There’s nothing else to do.
Time, gentlemen! Drink up! Good night to you!
FLOWERGIRL
I’ve sold my violets, Ladies. You shall find
upon my grave the flowers I left behind.
GYPSY WOMAN
I’ve told about the future many lies,
but here I turn away and shut my eyes.
LOVEL
No happiness in wealth, however large;
Even now I hope to rest here free of charge.
WORKMAN
I laboured for the gaffer many a day:
the hooter goes at last and I’m away.
SCHOOLBOY
I dreamed but I was wakened with a shock:
grave, show me dreams which no one dares to mock.
SOLDIER
I’m strong and handsome, and it’s hard to swallow
that I must billet in this stinking hollow.
WHORE
My wine is spilled: I’m tired of this affair.
It’s cold up here. I hope it’s warmer there.
CONVICT
Perish your laws and chains: I won’t appeal,
for I’ll be offered here a better deal.
MOUNTEBANK
Have I known truth? It couldn’t have been the case,
for now I dread to see it face to face.
EVE
[partially covered by a light veil]
Dismal abyss, gape at me, since you must,
but I’m undaunted by your fearsome night;
what tends towards you is but earthly dust -
look, I traverse you on a shaft of light!
Poetry, youth and love shall lend me wings:
I’ll soar to my celestial domain,
yet with the morning light, when day begins,
my rays of joy shall touch the earth again.
She drops her veil and cloak into the grave and ascends transfigured.
LUCIFER
You recognise her?
ADAM
O, it’s Eve! It’s Eve!