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) (33 page)

ANNE:

Strike him, Mortimer!

MORTIMER:

Because he spurned you like a mangy bitch.

ANNE:

Because he spurned me like a worthless bitch.

MORTIMER:

You who were queen.

ANNE:

Who was a child in innocence

Not knowing the world or men.

MORTIMER:

Devour him!

ANNE:

I shall become a she-wolf

Ranging bare-toothed through the scrub

Not resting

Until the earth covers Edward long since dead –

Edward Gloucester, my husband sometime

Yesteryear – earth covers him.

She throws three lumps of earth behind her
.

Rousing the poor from out the woods

Myself sullied by the wicked guile of the world and men

Ranging like a she-wolf, by wolves mounted

Drenched by the rain of exile

Hardened by foreign winds.

MORTIMER:

Earth upon Edward of England!

ANNE:

Earth upon Edward Gloucester!

MORTIMER:

To Scotland!

ANNE:

Ah Mortimer, war comes, whose end shall be

To drown this island in the deep wide sea.

AFTER FOUR YEARS OF WAR KING EDWARD IS STILL LIVING IN CAMP. LANDING OF QUEEN ANNE. THE DAY OF HARWICH
(23
SEPTEMBER
1324)

Edward, Spencer, Baldock
.

EDWARD:

So, after many treacheries in four years’ war

Triumpheth England’s Edward with his friends.

Enter a courier with a message
.

SPENCER:

What news, my lord?

EDWARD
tearing up the message
:

None. What news have you?

SPENCER:

None.

EDWARD:

Why man, they say there is a great slaughter.

And execution done through the realm.

BALDOCK:

That was, unless I do mistake, four

Years ago, my lord.

EDWARD:

Four good years. Living under canvas

And campaigning are a pleasure.

Horses are good. Wind cleanses the lungs.

And if skin shrivels and hair falls out

Rain washes the kidneys and all is better

Than London.

BALDOCK:

Would rather we could rail at London

In London.

EDWARD:

Have you still that list?

SPENCER:

Indeed, my lord.

EDWARD:

I pray you, let us hear it. Read it, Spencer.

Spencer reads the list of the executed peers
.

EDWARD:

Methinks one name is lacking. Mortimer.

Have you proclaimed reward for such

As bring him in?

SPENCER:

We have, sire, and renew it every year.

EDWARD:

Shows he his face in England he’ll soon be here.

Enter another messenger
.

SECOND MESSENGER:

Rumours tell of ship on ship from the North.

EDWARD:

That means nothing. Those are herring fishers

Coming from the North.

Exit messenger
.

EDWARD:

Touching the other names upon thy paper

They were still barking four years ago

Now they bark no more, nor bite.

BALDOCK
to Spencer
:

He credits nothing. Since his decline whatever’s

Said to him he hastens to forget.

EDWARD:

Yet where are the Scottish troops?

Always you hear of troops. Falsely. Yet of

The Scottish troops for which we sent the Queen

Four years ago comes not a word.

Enter the army
.

FIRST SOLDIER:

The king’s army, proved in four years’ strife

And having slain so many lords like rats

Lacking now uniforms, supplies, and footwear

Prays King Edward, son to Edward Longshanks

Father of the English army, that this year

They may eat Thames eels again.

SOLDIERS:

Long live King Edward!

SECOND SOLDIER:

Our women would be breeding. Only because

This war perchance may never end, now

The King has sworn he’ll not sleep in a bed

Until the enemy are on their knees.

FIRST SOLDIER:

And now that many a man’s gone home

Saying it was for a will, beer-licence, childbed

It were good to know if the king intends

To go to London or not.

THIRD SOLDIER:

Go you to London, sire?

FOURTH SOLDIER:

Or what shall you do?

EDWARD:

Wage war against the cranes of the air

The fish in the deep sea that faster spawn than die

Monday against the great Leviathan, Thursday in Wales

Against the vultures; now, to eat.

SPENCER:

The watery diet has given the king

A little fever. Go.

Spencer and Baldock push the soldiers out
.

EDWARD:

Bring me to drink, Baldock.

Exit Baldock
.

SPENCER:

They’ll not come back again.

Will you really not to London, sire?

Enter third messenger
.

MESSENGER:

My lord, armed men are moving through the wood at Harwich.

EDWARD:

Let them. They are the servants

Of Welsh traders.

He sits and eats
.

Have ships been sighted?

THIRD MESSENGER:

Yes, sire.

EDWARD:

Villages burn in the North?

THIRD MESSENGER:

Yes, sire.

EDWARD:

It is the Queen with Scottish troops

For us.

SPENCER:

Hardly.

EDWARD:

I will not have you watch me whiles I eat.

Exeunt Spencer and Messenger
.

EDWARD
alone
:

There is sorrow in my heart my son

Should be suborned to prop their wickedness.

Enter Spencer
.

SPENCER:

Fly, sire! Tis not the time to eat!

Shall I call your army to the battle!

EDWARD:

No. Edward knows his army’s far away and home.

SPENCER:

Will you not fight against Roger Mortimer?

EDWARD:

Help me God! He is like a fish

In home water.

Exit with Spencer and soldiers
.

Off-stage marching, battle, retreat
.

Enter Mortimer, Anne, Young Edward, troops
.

ANNE:

Successful battles gives the God of Kings

To those that fight in the shadow of right. As we

Are proven by success and thus by right, thanks be

To Him that steered the planets for us. We are

Come in arms to this part of our isle

Lest a breed of men baser than all others

Knitting strength with strength lay England waste

Hacking its own body with its bloody

Weapons. As has been clearly shown

By the most dreadful fall of suborned Edward who —

MORTIMER:

If, my lady, you would be a soldier, you must

Not show passion in your speech.

Changed is

The face of this isle, today England’s queen

Is landed with her son Edward.

Enter Rice ap Howell
.

RICE AP HOWELL:

The fleeing Edward, by all foresaken

Is sailing with the wind to Ireland.

MORTIMER:

May it sink him or leave him in the lurch.

My lords, since now we hold the kingdom from

The Irish sea even to the Channel

Raise young Edward on our shields!

Let our party swear an oath to him!

Show the soldiers the Lord Warden of the realm!

Young Edward is led out. Exeunt omnes except Mortimer and the Queen
.

ANNE:

Now he has his Scottish troops

And his bitch comes and springs at him.

All that remains of him are half-eaten

Kitchen scraps and a tattered hammock

While my body, almost virgin-like, takes life.

MORTIMER:

We must send troops to the South.

Tomorrow morning you must be in London.

Still no news of the Irish fleet.

It will join with us, I hope. Are you weary?

ANNE:

Are you working?

MORTIMER:

I secure you England.

ANNE:

Ah, Mortimer, there is less pleasure than I thought

Tasting the fruit of this victory. It is stale

In the mouth, it’s watery, it’s not

Amusing.

MORTIMER:

Because of Edward?

ANNE:

Edward? I know him not. It is his smell

Here in the tent.

It was better in the Scottish hills

Than here in swampy lowlands. What do you think

To offer me now, Mortimer?

MORTIMER:

You are

Glutted. It is your bloated flesh.

Wait for London.

Enter Baldock with a drink
.

MORTIMER:

Who art thou, fellow?

BALDOCK:

King Edward’s Baldock, and I bring to drink.

MORTIMER
taking the drink from him
:

Hang him!

BALDOCK:

I cannot recommend that, noble sir.

Not that I am unwilling to depart;

It is our mortal lot and lasts not long.

But in Ireland my mother’d not rejoice to see it.

Leaving the tent to fetch him to drink –

Ah ’twixt fortune and misfortune there’s not time

To drink a sip of water – I loved him much

And yet, returning to the tent

I must alas, so soon betray him. Indeed

Without me you’ll not take him; for I alone

Have entry to his heart. And further

Madam, you’d not know him, nor his mother

Nor his innocent son

For time and life so have altered him.

MORTIMER:

Good, bring him to us!

BALDOCK:

The Bible teaches how it’s done.

When your people come with manacles and

With thongs I will say to him: Beloved lord

Be of good cheer, here is a napkin. And the man

To whom I give the napkin, that is he.

KENT
alone
:

With the wind’s first breath he fled. He’s sick.

Why have I thus all so unbrotherly

Borne arms against thee? Lying in thy tent

In their honeymoon this spotted pair

Aim against thy life, Edward. God rain vengeance

On my cursed head.

As running water cannot flow uphill

So wrong shall die and justice conquer still.

CAPTURE OF KING EDWARD IN THE GRANARY OF NEATH ABBEY (19 OCTOBER 1324)

Edward, Spencer, Lord Abbot

ABBOT:

Have you no doubt, my lord; have you no fear.

Forget that I was once abused by you

In times which have much altered. In these

Tempests you and we are merely pilgrims

To Our Lady of the Shipwrecks.

EDWARD:

Father, pierced by the sight of my flesh

All hearts must miss a beat, times have so changed.

ABBOT:

As you would hide from evil eyes

Here in this granary take this pillow.

EDWARD:

No pillow, Abbot. Let the soldier

Have his hammock.

Enter Baldock
.

EDWARD:

Who comes?

BALDOCK:

King Edward’s Baldock.

EDWARD:

And our only friend. ’Tis comfort to the hunted

When a brother seeks him in his lair.

Drink our water with us, eat our

Salt and bread.

BALDOCK:

Twice the moon has changed since I saw you

In the camp at Harwich.

SPENCER:

How stands it in London?

BALDOCK:

In London all is upside down, it seems.

EDWARD:

Come Spencer! Baldock come, sit by me

Make trial now of that philosophy

That in our famous nurseries of arts

Thou suckedst from Plato and from Aristotle.

Ah, Spencer

Since words are crude, dividing heart from heart

And understanding is not given us

In such deafness only bodies’ touch is left

Between men. And this indeed’s

But little, and all is vain.

Enter a monk
.

MONK:

Father, a second ship is sailing into harbour.

ABBOT:

Since when?

MONK:

These few minutes.

EDWARD:

What does he say?

ABBOT:

Nothing, Sire.

To Spencer
:

Did any see you come here?

SPENCER:

No one.

ABBOT: