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) (31 page)

Most noble Lords, his trial I think

Is short. His sentence: As Daniel Gaveston

Son of a meat-peddler in the City of London

Was King Edward’s whore, suborning him

To luxury and other crimes

Since double banishment could not restrain him

He shall hang upon a tree. Hang him!

JAMES:

My lords, he will not budge. He’s gone as stiff

As a frozen cod-fish. This is the tree.

Two hempen ropes. He’s fleshy.

MORTIMER
aside
:

This man, alive, were worth half Scotland

And a man like me had given all

The army for this watery cod-fish. But

Tree, rope and neck are there and blood is cheap.

Now that the catapults, men clinging to them

Have pounded ceaselessly, herds of horses

With men up, startled by drums

Rushed each other, dustclouds and nightfall

Veiled all ways out of the battle

Now the catapults have laboured, drums drummed

Manned troops of horse

Devoured each other, a tottering

Red moon sucks all reason from the human brain, and from

The man steps forth the naked beast.

It is expedient now someone should hang.

JAMES:

Now the plank.

GAVESTON:

The rope’s not running.

JAMES:

We’ll soon soap it.

SOLDIERS
singing in the background
:

Neddy’s woman has hair on his chest.

Pray for us, pray for us, pray for us.

A SOLDIER:

What do you feel, sir?

GAVESTON:

First take away the drum.

SOLDIER:

Will you scream, sir?

GAVESTON:

Pray you, remove the drum. I’ll not

Scream.

JAMES:

Good sir, now shut your mouth.

Put the noose on him. His neck is short.

GAVESTON:

I pray you, have done quickly.

And I pray you read again my sentence.

JAMES
reads the sentence: then
:

Now, onward.

GAVESTON:

Edward! My friend Edward! Help me

If thou art still of this world. Edward!

Enter a soldier
.

SOLDIER:

Stop! A message from the King!

GAVESTON:

He is still of this world.

ARCHBISHOP
reads
:

‘I have heard that you have taken Gaveston

And I entreat you that I may

See him before he dies, since I know

That die he shall – and send my word

And seal: he shall come back.

And if you will so gratify me

I shall be mindful of the courtesy.

Edward.’

GAVESTON:

Edward!

ARCHBISHOP:

What now?

LANCASTER:

This paper, lords, is worth a battle won.

GAVESTON:

Edward. Thy name gives me life.

LANCASTER:

It need not. We might, for instance

Send the king thy heart.

GAVESTON:

Our good King Edward swears his bond and seal

He will but see me and then send me back.

LANCASTER:

When?

Laughter
.

For his Danny, once he sees him

He’ll break any seal, defying God.

ARCHBISHOP:

Ere a king of England breaks an oath

This isle shall break into the ocean.

LANCASTER:

So. Send him Gaveston and hang him

After.

MORTIMER:

Hang not Gaveston but send him not.

ARCHBISHOP:

You may deprive a king of his head

But not of his desire.

LANCASTER:

So, skin the hide from him but

Deny him not the slightest courtesy.

And now the fight against Edward Gloucester

Wife to a butcher’s son.

ARCHBISHOP:

Cut him free.

And you, Lord Mortimer, see him delivered.

GAVESTON:

Another night-time’s watch, there and back again.

I bear my death with me as it were my moon.

JAMES:

Much trouble for a low meat-peddler’s son.

Exeunt all save Mortimer, James, and Gaveston
.

MORTIMER:

This butcher’s son’s the alpha of the war

And its omega

A rope out of the bog, a shield against arrows; and I

Have him. Holà, James!

Take this man round about and should one ask

Whither, then say: To the knacker’s yard. But handle

Him most gingerly. And bring him

In the morning at eleven to the wood

At Killingworth. Where I shall be.

JAMES:

And if some cause should hinder you?

MORTIMER:

Then what you will.

JAMES:

Come, sir.

Exit with Gaveston
.

MORTIMER:

A gentle stench of carrion seems to rise

From my command. But since the moon began

To suck up blood, like mist, and these barons

To have death writ on their faces, I, who know

What’s what and damn all moons, have been

A lump of cowardice.

One man’s enough to kill

Another who might kill a thousand. So I wrap myself

Wily as a man once bitten, in another’s

Skin, namely, the skin of this butcher’s son.

About ten in the evening
.

ANNE
alone
:

O most miserable Queen!

Ah had, before I left sweet France

And was embarked, the waters turned to stone!

Or that those arms that twined about my neck

Had strangled me on my wedding night.

Alas, now must I pursue King Edward

For, widowing me, he’s gone to Killingworth

To battle for this devil Gaveston.

My skin crawls when I behold him.

But he soaks his heart in him as ’twere

A sponge.

And so I am for ever miserable.

O God, why hast thou brought me

Anne of France so low, that

This devil Gaveston might rise.

Enter Gaveston, James, Soldier
.

JAMES:

Holà.

ANNE:

Are you soldiers of King Edward?

JAMES:

In no wise.

ANNE:

Who is that man in Irish weeds?

JAMES:

That is Daniel Gaveston, whore to the King

Of England.

ANNE:

Where are you taking him?

JAMES:

To the knacker’s yard.

GAVESTON
upstage
:

If I had some water for my feet.

SOLDIER:

Here is water.

ANNE:

I pray you, do not deny him this.

GAVESTON:

Let me go to her, it is the queen.

Take me with you, my lady.

JAMES:

Stay there. Just wash your feet. I have my orders.

ANNE:

Why will you not let him speak with me?

JAMES:

Go you apart, your ladyship, that he may wash.

He pushes her away
.

GAVESTON:

Stay, good lady, stay!

Unhappy Gaveston, whither goest thou now?

One in the morning
.

Lancaster, lords, troops, on the march to Boroughbridge
.

A SOLDIER:

Straight on to Boroughbridge.

The word is passed on
.

SOLDIERS
singing
:

Maids of England in your widows weeds mourn.

(In the night)

For your lovers lost at Bannocksbourn.

(In the night)

With aheave and aho.

The King of England bids the drums to roll

(In the night)

That no one may hear their mournful dole

(In the night)

With a rom rom below.

LANCASTER:

All’s well. We’ll take Boroughbridge this very night.

Two in the morning
.

Edward, Spencer, Baldock, Young Edward. The sleeping army
.

EDWARD:

I long to hear the answer from the barons

Touching my friend, my dearest Gaveston.

Ah Spencer, not all England’s gold

Can ransom him. He is marked

To die. I know the evil nature

Of Mortimer, I know the Archbishop is cruel

And Lancaster inexorable and never again

Shall I behold Daniel Gaveston.

And in the end they’ll place their foot upon my neck.

SPENCER:

Were I King Edward, England’s sovereign

Great Edward Longshanks’ issue, I’d not bear

These rowdies’ rage, and suffer that these

Ruffian lords should threaten me in my

Own land. Strike off their heads. Set them

Upon poles. This always works, for sure.

EDWARD:

Yea, gentle Spencer. We have been too mild

Too kind to them. Now that is ended.

Comes Gaveston not back their heads shall fly.

BALDOCK:

This high resolve becomes your majesty.

YOUNG EDWARD:

Why do they make such noise, father?

EDWARD:

They are hacking England’s body, son.

Had I sent thee to them Edward

That they might do my will touching Gaveston

Hadst thou been afraid, boy, before those savage lords?

YOUNG EDWARD:

Yes, father.

EDWARD:

That’s a good answer.

There are many evil birds in the field tonight.

Enter the Queen
.

ANNE:

Are you the soldiers of King Edward?

Is this the quarry of Killingworth?

Where is King Edward, soldiers?

SPENCER:

What is it?

A SOLDIER:

A woman seeks King Edward.

ANNE:

Coming from London, for two days’ ride

I have sought you, through bog and scrub and battle.

EDWARD:

Not welcome, madam.

SPENCER:

Two days the battle’s laboured now, made worse

Since army looks like army and they both

Cry out for England and Saint George. By Saint George

Brother butchers brother and like two salamanders

Snarled in struggle army bites at army

And England’s hamlets burn in England’s name.

Toward evening, in the bog, amid the catapults and drowned

There, where Gaveston was taken, fell

So says certain news, Lord Arundel.

Soon after it rained hard. The night was unruly

With skirmishes. The king is somewhat cold but

In good spirits. Our positions are not

Bad, unless this night the barons

Have taken the town of Boroughbridge. Today

All will be settled. As to Gaveston

The lords have sworn to send him to us here.

ANNE
aside
:

But drag him to the knacker’s yard.

Perhaps it is for the best. But it shall not

Be I who tells him at this hour the man’s

No longer of this world.

Aloud
:

Today the hunt’s after thee, Edward.

EDWARD:

Aye

And my friend, Daniel Gaveston is taken.

And through the bog and undergrowth com’st thou.

ANNE:

My lord, if you will spit upon me

Here’s my face.

EDWARD:

Your face is a tombstone. Whereon is writ:

‘Here lies poor Gaveston.’ Have you no

Small comfort even? ‘Be comforted my lord

This Gaveston squinted in one eye.’

But I reply: ‘All skins sicken me

And yours especially.’

I, Edward of England, tell you

Knowing, perchance mere hours divide me

From my wreck: you please me not.

In the eye of death: I love Gaveston.

ANNE:

Certain I shall not forget this cruel insult –

For the few things I hold in my poor head

Stay long therein and melt but very slow –

And so it is good that he is gone.

EDWARD:

Give him me again. All know

That Mortimer’s all powerful. Go thou

To him, for this man is vain

His sort fall easy to a Queen.

Beseech him, use all arts and thine

Especial. The world will soon be wrecked.

What is an oath? I give thee absolution.

ANNE:

Jesu! I cannot.

EDWARD:

Then I banish thee from out my presence.

ANNE:

In these days, when war spreads that

They say, will never end, do you send

Me back through raw butchering army bands?

EDWARD:

Aye. And further give you this charge; to levy

Troops in Scotland for your son

Edward. For things go ill for his father.

ANNE:

Cruel Edward.

EDWARD:

He says this to you: it is your lot.

You are bound to this most cruel Edward, who

Knows you from your heart down to your thighs

Till, like a wild beast in a trap, you die.

ANNE:

Are you most certain of this?

EDWARD: