Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ARDIANE AND BARBE BLEUE, by MAURICE MAETERLINCK


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ARDIANE AND BARBE BLEUE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: So -- she was in the chariot? Did you see
Last Line: The curtain falls.
Subject(s): Legends


THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

ARDIANE
SELYSETTE
MELISANDE
YGRAINE
BELLANGFRE
ALLADINE
A NURSE (foster-mother to ARDIANE)
BARBE BLEUE
Peasants, the Crowd.

ACT THE FIRST

A vast, resplendent ball, of semi-circular from, in the castle of BARBE
BLEUE.
At the remoter end, in the centre of the semi-circular wall, is an enormous
door; on either band of this are three smaller doors, of ebony, with
locks and
ornaments of silver; each door is set within a niche, and all these
niches are
enclosed by a semi-circular colonnade of marble, the pillars of which support
the balcony overhead. Above these doors, but set further back, are six great
windows, to which the aforesaid balcony gives access; these may be gained from

either side of the hall, by two flights of stairs, which follow the curve of
the
walls, and lead up to the semi-circular gallery.
It is evening; the great windows are open, and the candelabra lit. Without,
below the windows, is an invisible, excited crowd, whose cries, now uneasy,
now
terrified, now threatening, together with the sound of sudden movements, the
trampling of feet, and the murmur of persons speaking, are heard with great
distinctness. During the first bars of the overture the curtain rises, and
the
voices of the hidden crowd are at once heard above the music.

VOICES IN THE CROWD.
So ... she was in the chariot? Did you see?
All the village lingered there,
There, to see her. ... Is she fair?
She looked at me. ... And me. ... And me.
O miserable child! ... Yet all the while
She seemed to smile.
Whence hath she come? ... From very far away,
To know not ... what awaits her here to-day.
Their journey hath endured for thrice ten days. ...
He cannot see us ... shout, that he may know. ...
[All together.
Back! Back! ... Advance no nearer! Never go
Up to the castle! ... It is death, death, death!
[Isolated voices.
She does not understand. ... I hear they say
No less than twenty men pursued her way,
That dwelt about her home. ... You wonder why?
Because they loved her. ... Many used to cry
Along the roads. ... Why has she come, O why?
They tell me that she knew. ... He shall not have her, no!
She is too fair for you! ... He shall not have her, no! ...
O see them, see them, there they go!
Where are they going? ... They are coming through,
By the red gate. ... It is not true ...
I see their torches in the avenue!
There the great chariot goes between the trees!
He is afraid. ... He shall not have her, no!
He is mad, mad, mad! He is mad! He has done enough!
It is too much! ... So she will be the sixth!
O murderer, butcher! ... Death to the butcher, death!
Fire, fire! ... Bring fire! ... I have brought my hay-fork, see!
And I my scythe! — They are entering the yard ...
Hey, let me see! ... Take care! ... The gates are barred!
Wait for them here. ... They say she knows it all!
What does she know? ... She knows what I know too. ...
What do you know? ... I know they all are dead!
Not dead, not dead? ... I buried them myself!
But I one evening once as I went by
Heard singing voices. ... So did I. ... And I ...
Ay, they come back, they say. ... But he
Brings down misfortune on our heads. ... O see,
The windows! ... They are closing of themselves!
Now ... they are going in! They are going in. ...
Nothing to see! ... Death to him! Death! Death! Death!
[And at this moment the six great windows above the interior balcony clos
e
of their own motion, stifling little by little the voices of the crowd. Soon
nothing is heard but an indefinite murmur which is almost silence. Shortly
afterwards ARDIANE and the NURSE enter by a side door.

THE NURSE.
Where are we? ... Listen! ... Ah! ... that muttering there!
It is the peasants: they were eager, yes,
To save us: yes, they ran along the roads,
But never dared to speak: they made us signs,
They made us signs that meant we should return. ...
[She goes forward to the great door at the end of the hall.
They are here, behind this door! ... I hear them: some
Tramp to and fro. ... Now let us try to flee. ...
He leaves us here alone: we can escape,
Perhaps. ... I tell you plainly, he is mad!
O, it is death! For all they say is true,
He has killed five women. ...

ARDIANE.
No, they are not dead...
Yonder I heard it spoken of at times,
In the far place whereto his savage love,
That yet was tremulous, came to seek me out,
As of a thing incomprehensible.
I was suspicious of the truth, and here
Am sure. He loves me: I am beautiful:
So shall I learn his secret. But ere all
We must be insubordinate. When the future
Is threatening to us and inscrutable
That is ere all our duty. For the rest,
They were mistaken; and if they are lost
They were lost by hesitation.
Here are we,
Within the outer hall whence opens out
The chamber where his love awaits me. Here
Are keys he gave me of the treasure-chests
Of bridal raiment, and the silver keys
Are ours to use: the golden is forbid.
That is the only one of import. These,
The six, I cast away: the last I keep.
[She throws away the keys of silver, which tinkle and ring on the marble

flags.

THE NURSE (who hastily picks them up again).
What are you doing? He has given you
The treasures, all the treasures that they open!

ARDIANE.
Open them you, then, if it give you pleasure;
For me, I seek for the forbidden door.
Open the others if you will; but all
That is permitted us will tell us nought.

THE NURSE (looking at the keys and then about the hall).
The doors are yonder, set within the marble,
And we may know, since all have locks of silver,
They answer to the keys: but first of all,
Which one shall I unclose?

ARDIANE.
What matter which?
They are but there to turn aside our minds
From that we need to know. ... I do not find,
Although I seek for it, the seventh door. ...

THE NURSE (trying the lock of the first door).
Is this the key of the first? ... Or this? ... Or this?
Not yet, not yet. ... Ay, but the third goes in,
Dragging my fingers after it! ... Beware! ...
Fly! ... The two panels both have come to life!
They are gliding back like curtains! ... What is this?
Beware, beware! ... It is a hail of fire,
That beats upon my hands, that wounds my face!
O!
[The NURSE springs backward, for while she is speaking the two
leaves
of the door glide of their own motion into lateral recesses, and suddenly
disappear, disclosing a vast heap of amethysts piled up to the top of the
doorway. Then, as though delivered suddenly from centuries of constraint,
countless gems and jewels of every size and form, but all of the one
substance,
amethyst — necklaces, bracelets, rings, aigrettes, buckles, girdles,
collars, diadems — fall like a crumbling mass of violet flames, and reboun
d
as far as the further side of the hall; and, while the first to fall spread
themselves over the marble flags, others, more and more numerous and more and
more resplendent, begin to fall from all the mouldings of the enchanted
vaultings, and flow therefrom continually with an incessant sound of living
jewels.

THE NURSE (fascinated, bewildered, gathering up jewels with both her
hands.)
Gather them up, O stoop, gather them up!
Take the most beautiful! Enough are here
To glorify a kingdom! Still they fall!
They pierce my hair, they stone my hands! O look!
Unheard-of gems are raining from the vaults,
Miraculous violets, purple, lilac, mauve!
Plunge your arms into them and hide your face,
And I will fill my mantle full with them!

ARDIANE.
These amethysts are noble. Open now
The second door.

THE NURSE.
The second? I dare not! ...
Yet I would know if ...
[She inserts the key in the lock of the second door.
O, beware, beware!
The key already turns! And they have wings,
The doors: the walls too tear themselves asunder!
O!
[The scene is the same as on the opening of the first door, but this
time
is seen the accumulated wealth, the rebounding irruption, the dazzling and
musical fall of a blue rain of sapphires.

ARDIANE.
These are fine sapphires. Open now the third.

THE NURSE.
Wait, wait until I see that I have here
Indeed the most magnificent. My cloak
Will break beneath the weight of blue, blue sky!
O see them overflow! on every hand
They pour, pour, pour! — a violent torrent here,
And yonder in a stream of azure blue!

ARDIANE.
Come, come, Nurse, quickly, for the chance to sin
Is rare and fugitive. ...

THE NURSE (opens the third door, when the same thing befalls, save that
this
time follows the pale invasion, the milky rush, of a deluge of pearls, a
shower
less heavy, but more illimitable than those preceding.)
I will but take
A handful of them, so they may caress
The sapphires.

ARDIANE.
Open now the fourth door.
THE NURSE(opens the fourth door, when as before there is a shower of jewels,

but this time of emeralds.)
O, these are greener than the Spring that runs
Along the poplars thick with drops of dew
That catch the lovely sunlight in my home!
[Shaking her mantle, which overflows with amethysts, sapphires, and
pearls.
Away, away, ye others! give you place
For the most beautiful — for I was born
Under the boughs, and love the light of leaves.

ARDIANE.
Open the fifth door.

THE NURSE.
O, not even these?
You do not love them?

ARDIANE.
What I love is fair
Beyond all fairness of miraculous gems.

THE NURSE (opening the fifth door, to set free a blinding irruption, a
living
incandescence, a sinister deluge and cascade of rubies.)
O, these are terrible: I will not touch!

ARDIANE.
Now we approach the end: the threat lies here.
Open the sixth.

THE NURSE.
It is the last key.

ARDIANE.
Open it quickly.
[The NURSE, hesitating, opens the sixth door. All passes as before:
but the radiance is this time intolerable. Cataracts of enormous diamonds of
the
first water pour into the hall; myriads of sparks, flashes, flecks of fire,
and
prismatic rays mingle, are extinguished, blaze forth again and multiply,
outspreading as they fall. ARDIANE, startled, gives a dazed cry. She
stoops,
picks up a diadem, a necklace, and handfuls of the glistening splendour, and
therewith she decks at random her hair, her arms, her throat, her hands, Then,

flashing before her eyes and raising before her face diamonds that shed a
brilliance upon her.
O, my flashing diamonds!
For you I never sought, but on my way
I greet you! O immortal dew of light!
Stream o'er my hands, illuminate my arms,
Dazzle my very flesh! O, you are pure,
And you are tireless, and you never die:
And that which in your fires eternally
Trembles, like to a populace of spirits,
That have constrained and wear the stars of Heaven,
It is the passion of that Radiance
Which, penetrating all things, knows no rest,
And finds no more to conquer, save itself!
[She approaches the door, and looks up at the vaulted arch.
Rain on, O supreme heart of summer, rain!
O shards of light, O limitless soul of flame!
Yea, wound my eyes, yet shall you never tire
Those eyes of gazing!
[Leaning yet further back.
O, what is it there?
O Nurse, where are you? For the splendid rain
Hangs motionless, suspended in a bow,
A diamond rainbow of prismatic fire! ...
O see the seventh door, with golden bars,
With golden lock and hinges!

THE NURSE.
Come away!
No, never touch it! No, withdraw your hands!
Withdraw your eyes, lest of itself it open!
Come, let us hide! These diamonds — after them
Or fire will come, or death!

ARDIANE.
Go back, go back!
Hide you yourself behind a marble shaft:
I will alone go forward.
[She steps into the recess under the vaulted doorway, and inserts the
key
in the lock. The door divides into two panels, and disappears: nothing is
visible save an opening full of darkness: but the sound of singing, muffled and

remote, rises from the depths of the earth, and spreads through the hall.

THE NURSE.
Ardiane!
What are you doing? Is it you that sings?

ARDIANE.
Listen!

THE DISTANT VOICES.
Orlamonde's five daughters,
When the faery died,
Orlamonde's five daughters
Sought to win outside.

THE NURSE.
They are ... the other women!

ARDIANE.
Yes.

THE NURSE.
O, shut the door! Their singing fills the hall:
It will be heard, heard everywhere!

ARDIANE (trying to close the door.)
I cannot!

THE DISTANT VOICES.
They lit their five lanterns,
Through all the towers they sought,
And in four hundred chambers;
The day, they found it not.

THE NURSE.
Now it is louder, always louder! Come!
Come, let us close — help me — the outer door. ...
[They try to close the door that concealed the diamonds.
This too resists! We cannot shut them in!

THE DISTANT VOICES.
Then they found an echoing deep,
And let it them enfold:
And upon a stubborn door
Found a key of gold.

THE NURSE (bewildered, and also entering the recess).
Be silent, silent! ... We shall all be lost!
Stifle that voice! [Stretching out her mantle.
The doorway — ah, my cloak
Will cover it. ...

ARDIANE.
I see beyond the sill
Steps. I am going down to where they sing.

THE DISTANT VOICES (always louder)
Through the chinks they see the ocean:
Ah, they fear to die!
They strike the door they dare not open,
And the hours go by.
[At the last words of the song BARBE BLEUE enters the hall. For a
moment he stops short, gazing; them he draws near to the women.

BARBE BLEUE.
You too!

ARDIANE (who starts, leaves the doorway and advances, glittering with
diamonds, towards BARBE BLEUE).
I above all.

BARBE BLEUE.
I thought that you
Were stronger, wiser than your sisters were.

ARDIANE.
How long did they avoid the thing forbid?

BARBE BLEUE.
This, for some days; that, a few months; and one,
The last of all, a year.

ARDIANE.
It was the last,
Only the last, that there was need to punish.

BARBE BLEUE.
It was a very little thing to ask.

ARDIANE.
You asked of these more than you ever gave.

BARBE BLEUE.
The happiness I willed for you you lose.

ARDIANE.
The happiness I would lives not in darkness.
When I know all to pardon will be mine.

BARBE BLEUE (seizing ARDIANE by the arm).
Come! Come!

ARDIANE.
Where would you, then, that I should go?

BARBE BLEUE.
Where I shall lead you.

ARDIANE.
No.
[BARBE BLEUE strives to drag her away by force. She gives a long cry of
pain. This cry is answered at first by a low murmur from without. The struggle

between the two continues for a few moments, and the NURSE gives vent to
despairing outcries. Suddenly a stone, hurled from without, shatters one of
the
windows, and the crowd is heard, excited and enraged. Other stones fall;
the
NURSE, running to the great door at the end of the hall, raises the
bars and
shoots the bolts. A sudden rush from outside splinters the door and forces it
in; and the peasants, infuriated but hesitating, crowd upon the threshold.
BARBE BLEUE, releasing ARDIANE, draws his sword and prepares for the
onset. But ARDIANE, tranquil, advances towards the crowd.

ARDIANE.
What would you? He has not done me any ill.
[She gently disperses the peasants, and carefully closes the door,
while
BARBE BLEUE, with lowered eyes, gazes at the point of his sword.

CURTAIN.

ACT THE SECOND

At the rising of the curtain the scene is a vast subterranean hall, with a
vaulted roof supported by many columns; it is plunged in almost total
darkness.
From the extreme right, almost in the wings, there runs back a
narrow, winding
subterranean passage, also with a vaulted roof; it debouches
into the great hall
towards the front of the stage by a roughly-arched opening.
At the further end of this passage ARDIANE and the NURSE are seen,
descending the last few steps of a stairway; ARDIANE carries a lamp.

THE NURSE.
Hush! Do you hear? He shuts the iron door.
Over our heads! Why would you not give way?
We never shall behold the day again.

ARDIANE.
Fear not; he is wounded, he is overcome;
But knows it not as yet. With supplication
He will re-open it: but let us seek
First if we cannot of ourselves win free.
Meanwhile his wrath all that his love refused
Has granted: we shall find what here is hid.
[She advances, holding the lamp high above her head,
to the mouth of the
passage, and there bends forward, seeking to penetrate the darkness of the hall
.
At the first ray of light which pierces the obscurity is heard the sound of
hushed and fearful flight. ARDIANE turns towards the NURSE to call
her.

ARDIANE.
Come! They are here!
[She enters the hall, which the lamp illuminates pillar by pillar.
Where are you?
[A terrified moan replies. ARDIANE directs the rays of her lamp
toward
the part from which it seems to proceed, and perceives the forms of five
women,
motionless with fright, who are huddled together in the shadows of the
remotest
pillars.

ARDIANE (in a muffled voice, still half fearful).
They are there!
Nurse, nurse, where are you?
[The NURSE hastens toward ARDIANE: ARDIANE gives her the lamp,
and
takes a few hesitating steps toward the five.
Sisters, O my sisters!
[The five start.
They live! They live! They live! Behold me here!
[She runs to them with open arms, clasps them with hesitating hands,
strains them to her breast, and kisses them and caresses them, feeling about he
r
with uncertain gestures, in a kind of impassioned and convulsive tenderness,
while the NURSE, lamp in hand, stands still a little apart.

ARDIANE.
O, I have found you! ... They are full of life,
They are full of sweetness! ... When I saw the hall
Open in darkness from the passage end,
I thought to find ... ah me! ... dead bodies here. ...
And lo ... I kiss these loveliest lips in tears!
Have you not suffered? O, your lips how fresh,
Your cheeks how like the cheeks of children! See,
Your naked arms are supple, ay, and warm;
Your round round breasts are throbbing through their veils!
Why do you tremble? ... O, how many you are!
Now I clasp shoulders; now my arms entwine
Hips, and my touch on whom I know not rests. ...
On every hand my lips meet lips, my breast meets breasts.
O this that bathes you all, this hair!
You must be fair, so fair!
Waves, faintly warm, are parted by my hands,
My arms are lost amid rebellious strands. ...
Have you a thousand tresses? ... and are they
Like night, or like the day?
I see no longer what I do,
But I am kissing, kissing all of you,
And one by one I gather all your hands!
It is the least of you I find the last:
O never tremble! See, I hold you fast,
My arms enfold you close to me!
Nurse, nurse, what are you doing there?
Behold me like a mother here,
Feeling in darkness, and my children ... they
Await the dawn to clear.
[The NURSE draws near, bearing the lamp, and its light falls on the
group of women. The captives are then seen to be clad in rags, their hair in
disorder, their faces emaciated and their eyes dazzled and alarmed. ARDIANE,

for a moment astonished, takes the lamp from the NURSE, in order the
better to light them, and to regard them more closely.

ARDIANE.
O, you have suffered here!
And O, how gloomy does your prison seem!
Great clammy drops are falling on my hands,
And my lamp's flame is flickering all the while!
How strange your eyes are when you look at me!
And you draw back as I approach — but why?
What, are you still afraid?
And who is that who seeks to fly?
Is it not she, the youngest of you all,
She that I kissed but now?
O, has my long long sister's kiss
Done to you any harm?
Come to me, come then! Do you fear the light?
Tell me, what is her name?

TWO OR THREE TIMID VOICES.
Selysette.

ARDIANE.
Selysette — a smile?
It is the first that I have seen this while!
Your wide eyes falter as though they saw the Dead,
Although in truth they look on life instead:
And O, these delicate bare arms that tremble,
Both waiting to be loved! Come, my arms too
Are waiting, though I tremble not as you!
[Embracing her.
You have been in this tomb how many days?

SELYSETTE.
We count the days but ill here, oftentimes
Deceive ourselves, but none the less I think
I have been here for upwards of a year.
[YGRAINE advances: she is paler than the others.

ARDIANE.
It is a long while since you saw the light!

YGRAINE.
I used not to unclose my eyes; I wept
So long alone.

SELYSETTE (looking fixedly at ARDIANE).
How beautiful you are!
How could he bring himself to punish you
As he used us? You also in the end
Have disobeyed him?

ARDIANE.
No, it was not so!
No, I obeyed more swiftly than the rest,
But other laws than his.

SELYSETTE.
Why have you come?
O why have you come here?

ARDIANE.
To set you free.

SELYSETTE.
How should we be set free?

ARDIANE.
But follow me:
No more than that. ... What used you here to do?

SELYSETTE.
We prayed, sang, wept, and then we waited always.

ARDIANE.
You never sought escape?

SELYSETTE.
We could not flee,
For all the ways are shut, and flight forbid.

ARDIANE.
That we shall see. ... But she that looks at me
Between the tangles of her fallen hair
That seems to wrap her round in frozen flame —
What is her name?

SELYSETTE.
Her name is Melisande.

ARDIANE.
Come hither, Melisande! And she whose eyes,
Wide, eager eyes, are following my lamp?

SELYSETTE.
Bellangere.

ARDIANE.
And that other, who is hid
Behind the heavy pillar?

SELYSETTE.
She has come
From very far away, poor Alladine!

ARDIANE.
Why do you call her poor?

SELYSETTE.
Because she came
Last of us all, and speaks another tongue.

ARDIANE (holding out her arms to ALLADINE).
Come, Alladine! ... You see that I speak hers,
When I embrace her thus.

SELYSETTE.
She has not yet
Ever ceased weeping.

ARDIANE (looking at SELYSETTE and the others with astonishment).
Why, but you yourself,
Can you not laugh yet — laugh and clap your hands?
And all the rest are silent! What is this?
What are you? Will you live in terror thus
Always? I do not see you smile at all,
While with your eyes — incredulous eyes! — you watch
My every gesture. Will you not believe
The joyful news? O, do you not regret
The light of day, the birds among the boughs,
The high green gardens blowing overhead?
Do you not know the world is in the Spring?
I yester-morning, wandering by the way,
Drank in the light, the sense of space of dawn,
So many flowers beneath my every step,
I knew not where to set my careless feet!
Have you forgot the sunlight and the dew,
Dew in the leaves, and laughter of the sea?
The sea but now was laughing as it laughs
On days whereon it knows the wind of joy,
And all its thousand ripples approved my feet,
Its ripples singing on the sands of light. ...
[At this moment one of the drops of water which drip incessantly from
the
roof falls upon the flame of the lamp which ARDIANE holds before her,
as she
turns towards the mouth of the subterranean passage, and the light
flickers and
is extinguished. The NURSE gives a cry of terror, and ARDIANE stops,
dismayed.

ARDIANE (in the darkness).
O, but where are you?

SELYSETTE.
Hither: take my hand.
Stay by me: water, stagnant and profound,
Lies yonder.

ARDIANE.
What, and you can see it still?

SELYSETTE.
Yes, we have lived so long in darkness here.

BELLANGERE.
Come hither: it is lighter here by far.

SELYSETTE.
Yes, let us all go thither to the light.

ARDIANE.
Then is there in this deepest darkness light?

SELYSETTE.
Yes, there is light. Do you not see it there,
A wide, pale glow illumining the depth
Beyond the further arches?

ARDIANE.
Where?

SELYSETTE.
O blind!
O, let me kiss you. ...

ARDIANE.
Yes, there is indeed
A faint light, growing wider. ...

SELYSETTE.
O no, no!
It is your eyes, your lovely astonished eyes
That widen!

ARDIANE.
O, whence is it?

MELISANDE.
We do not know.

ARDIANE.
But we must know!
[She goes toward the back of the scene, and moves to and fro, feeling
along the wall with her hands.
Here is the wall ... and here ...
But higher ... here ... it is no longer stone!
Help me to mount upon this mass of rock!
[She climbs, supported by the others.
Here it is like an altar. Here the roof
Is moulded in a pointed arch. ... And here —
O, O, enormous bolts and iron bars!
You have sought to push them? Have you?

SELYSETTE.
Never! No!
No, never touch them: for they say the sea
Washes the walls — great waves will tumble in!
It is the sea that makes it glimmer green!

YGRAINE.
We have so often heard it: have a care!

MELISANDE.
O, I see water tremble above our heads!

ARDIANE.
No, no, it is the light that seeks you out!

BELLANGERE.
She is trying to force it open!
[The terrified women recoil, and take refuge behind a great
column, whence
they follow with widened eyes ARDIANE'S every movement.

ARDIANE.
My poor sisters!
Why, if you love your darkness, do you seek
Deliverance from any quarter? Why,
If you were happy, did you use to weep?
O, the bars rise! They rise! And now the doors
Are going to open! Wait!
[And indeed the heavy panels of a sort of great interior
shutter are seen,
while yet she is speaking, to open, but as yet only a very
faint, diffused, and
sombre light illuminates the round aperture perceived under the vaulted
ceiling.

ARDIANE (continuing her search).
No light as yet,
No real light! But now I pass
My hands across. ... What is it? Glass?
Or maybe marble. ... One would say
This were a window, sealed away,
Blackened with pitch. ... My nails are broken! Nay,
Where are your distaffs? Melisande,
Selysette, give me in my hand
A distaff: nay, a stone,
A single pebble of the thousands strown
Over the floor. ...
[SELYSETTE runs to ARDIANE, holding up to her a stone, which she
takes.
Behold before your eyes
The key of your sunrise!
[She strikes a violent blow upon the glass. One of the square panes is
shattered into fragments, and a great dazzling star seems
to burst forth in the
darkness. The women give a cry of almost delighted
terror, and ARDIANE, now
beside herself, and wholly submerged in a more and more intolerable radiance,
breaks all the remaining panes with heavy, hurried blows, in a kind of
ecstatic
delirium.
Yet another pane!
Now, and now again!
Till they fall, great and small, shattered, down to the last of all!
All the panes in ruin crack,
And O the flames are driving back
My hands, my hair!
I can see nothing now of what is there!
Nor do I longer dare
To raise my lids, for now it seems
They are mad with fury, the dazzling beams!
Stir not from where you were!
I can no longer stand upright,
But shut my eyes behold the sight
Of bright long strings of pearls, my eyelids lashing!
I know not what assails me, o'er me dashing:
Is it the skies or else the seas,
Is it the light or else the breeze?
All my tresses bright have grown a torrent of light,
And miracle all over me is flashing!
I see no longer, but I hear
A myriad rays of light beating on either ear!
But how to hide my eyes I do not know,
For no shade now my two hands throw;
My eyelids dazzle me; my arms, that try
To cover them, do cover, but with light!
Where are you? Hither, all of you! for I
Am helpless to descend; I cannot see aright;
I see not, know not, where to press
My feet amid the surf of fire that sway my dress!
Come hither, hither all, or I shall fall
Into your darkness!
[At this cry SELYSETTE and MELISANDE leave the shadows wherein
they had taken refuge, and run to the window, their hands pressed upon their
eyes, as though to pass through flame; and thus, groping in the light, they
mount beside ARDIANE on the mass of rock. The others follow them,
and do as
they; and thus all crowd together in the stream of blinding radiance, which
forces them to lower their heads. Then passes a moment of dazzled silence,
during which is heard the murmur of the sea without, the caress of the wind
among grasses, the song of birds, and the bells of a flock of sheep
going by in
a distant pasture.

SELYSETTE.
I can hear the sea!

MELISANDE.
And I can see the sky. ...
[Covering her eyes with the bend of her arm.
One cannot look!

ARDIANE.
My eyes are growing calmer 'neath my hands.
Where are we?

BELLANGERE.
Trees are all that I would see.
Where are they?

YGRAINE.
O, but how the world is green!

ARDIANE.
We are midway upon the cliff-side here.

MELISANDE.
Down there — the village! Do you see the village?

BELLANGERE.
We cannot reach the village: all around
Is water, and the bridges all up-drawn.

SELYSETTE.
Where are there people?

MELISANDE.
There is a peasant there — Yonder.

SELYSETTE.
He saw — is looking at us now.
See, I will make a sign to him. ...
[She waves her long hair.
He saw!
He saw my hair, he takes his bonnet off!
He makes the sign of the Cross!

MELISANDE.
A bell, a bell! [Counting the strokes, Seven, eight, nine!

BELLANGERE.
Ten ... and eleven ... twelve!

MELISANDE.
So it is noon. ...

YGRAINE.
Who is it singing so?

MELISANDE.
Why, those are birds! Do you see them? There they are!
There are thousands in the lofty poplar trees
That grow along the river.

SELYSETTE.
Alladine!
Where is she, O where is she, Alladine?
For I would kiss her.

MELISANDE.
Alladine is here,
And I, I kiss her.

SELYSETTE.
You — O Melisande,
You are so pale!

MELISANDE.
You also, you are pale!
No, do not look at me!

SELYSETTE.
And see, your dress
Is all in tatters: I can see you through it. ...

MELISANDE.
And yours; for your uncovered breasts appear,
Parting your tresses. ... Do not look at me.

BELLANGERE.
How long our tresses are!

YGRAINE.
How pale our cheeks!

BELLANGERE.
The sun shines through our hands. ...

MELISANDE.
O, Alladine!
She is sobbing!

SELYSETTE.
I am kissing, kissing her. ...

ARDIANE.
Ah yes, kiss one another: do not yet
Look in each other's faces: more than all
You shall not think that light will make you sad.
You shall by your intoxication profit
To issue from the tomb. Here steps of stone
Descend the cliff-side. Though I do not know
Whither they lead, yet they are full of light,
And the free winds of heaven assail them. Come!
Follow me all! A thousand thousand rays
Are dancing, dancing on the crests of the sea!
[She goes out through the opening and disappears in the light without.

SELYSETTE (who follows, drawing the others after her).
Come, yes, O come, my poor, my happy sisters!
Let us too dance, dance, dance the dance of the light!
[They all climb the great stone and disappear, singing in the brilliance

of outer day.

THE RECEDING VOICES.
Orlamonde's five daughters
(The faery's days were o'er),
Orlamonde's five daughters
Found at last the door.

CURTAIN.

ACT THE THIRD

The curtain rises on the same scene as in the First Act. The scattered
jewels
are still glistening in the niches, and on the marble floor. Between the pillar
s
of the semi-circular colonnade are open coffers, overflowing with costly
raiment. It is now night without, and under the hanging candelabra, the tapers

of which are lit, ALLADINE, SELYSETTE, MELISANDE, YGRAINE and BELLANGERE

are standing before the great mirrors, and each is giving the touches of
completion to the dressing of her hair, or adjusting the folds of her
glittering
attire, or decking herself with jewels and flowers, while ARDIANE,
passing
from one to the other, assists and advises them all. The great windows are
open.

SELYSETTE.
Though from the spell-bound castle we as yet
Discover no escape, yet wherefore fear,
Since he is here no longer?
[Embracing ARDIANE.
We are happy,
And still, because you tarry with us, free.

MELISANDE.
Where has he gone?

ARDIANE.
I know no more than you.
Yet gone he has. It may be he is troubled:
It may be for the first time disconcerted.
It well may be the anger of the peasants
Left him uneasy; he has felt their hate.
Brim over: who shall say he has not gone
To search out guards or soldiers to chastise
The mutinous, and so return a master?

MELISANDE.
You will not go away?

ARDIANE.
How should I go,
When all the castle moats are brimming full,
When all the drawbridges are hoisted high,
When all the doors and gates are locked and barred,
When all the walls are inaccessible?
Though none are seen to guard them, none the less
The doors are not abandoned; all our steps
Are closely spied; he must have given out
Mysterious orders. But on every side
The peasants wait and watch upon the roads.
Meanwhile, my sisters, the eventful hour
Draws nigh; we must be very beautiful.
But is it so that you prepare yourselves?
Your hair was full of miracle, Melisande!
Below, it lit the darkness of the vaults,
Steadfast it smiled upon the night of the tomb,
And now you have extinguished every flame!
Again I come to liberate the light!
[She removes MELISANDE'S veil, cuts with her scissors the
fillets that
constrain her tresses, and all her hair suddenly flows downwards, streaming
resplendent over her shoulders.

YGRAINE (turning about to look at MELISANDE).
O!

SELYSETTE (also turning).
I can hardly think it still is she!
She is so beautiful!

ARDIANE.
And you, and you!
Those loveliest arms, where are they, Selysette?
What have you done?

SELYSETTE.
Within my silver sleeves,
Here are my arms.

ARDIANE.
I cannot see them, no,
Not as I saw them but a while ago,
Saw those arms I worshipped so,
The while I watched you, saw you dress,
Every strand and every tress;
They seemed as they were raised above
Your head to reach, to appeal for love.
My loving eyes caressed your every gesture:
I turned about, and when I turn again
I see their shadow merely through their vesture
That shone but now so bright. But now these twain
Twin rays of happiness I liberate!
[She detaches the sleeves.

SELYSETTE.
My poor bare arms! O, they will shake with cold!

ARDIANE.
No, for they are too beautiful! And you,
[Turning to YGRAINE.
Ygraine, where are you? For there shone but now,
Deep in this mirror, shoulders, and a throat,
That flooded it with happy, tender light:
Come, I must liberate you all! My sisters,
In truth I do not wonder any more
He never loved you as he should have loved,
Or that he coveted a hundred, yet
Possessed no woman.
[Removing the mantle that YGRAINE has thrown over her shoulders.
O two fountain-heads
Of beauty into darkness cast away!
This above all: fear nothing! And to-night
Let us be beautiful!
[The NURSE, haggard and dishevelled, enters by a side door.

THE NURSE.
O, he is here!
He is returning!

THE OTHERS.
Who? Who? He? To-night?

ARDIANE.
Who told you?

SELYSETTE.
Were you able to go out?

ARDIANE.
Have you seen any one?

THE NURSE.
Yes, yes, a guard!
He has seen you, he admires you!

ARDIANE.
I have seen
No creature since the hour he went away.
All gates, all doors of their own motion close,
Though none knows how; the palace seems deserted.

THE NURSE.
They hide, I say they hide,
And we are all espied
Forever here.
It was the youngest spoke to me;
He is returning; he must be,
He said, quite near.
The peasants are in arms. The peasants know!
They are rising! Ali the village is below,
Lurking among the hedges! Hark! A cry!
[She mounts by one of the curving lateral stairways to the windows of
the
gallery.
There are torches in the copses going by!
[The women, terrified, give a cry of horror, and run to and fro through
the hall, seeking a point of exit. The NURSE endeavours to stop them.

THE NURSE.
Seek not to fly: you know the doors are shut.
Where would you go? Stay here, stay here, and wait!

SELYSETTE (also mounting to the windows).
O, the great chariot! It is stopping!
[All mount the stairs to the windows, crowding together on the interior
balcony, and leaning out into the night.

MELISANDE.
See!
Now he steps out! I see him! And he makes
Signs, signs of anger!

SELYSETTE.
All around him stand His negroes!

MELISANDE.
And they all have naked swords That glitter in the moon!

SELYSETTE (taking refuge in ARDIANE'S arms).
O Ardiane!
O Ardiane, I am frightened!

THE NURSE.
Do you see?
The peasants are appearing! There they come!
See, there again! And O, they have their scythes,
Their pitch-forks!

SELYSETTE.
They are going to fight!
[Murmurs, cries, uproar, tumult, blasphemy, and the clashing of arms in
the distance without.

MELISANDE.
They fight!

YGRAINE.
One of the negroes there has fallen!

THE NURSE.
O,
The peasants, they are terrible! Their scythes!
They are so huge! And all the village there!

MELISANDE.
O look, the negroes are deserting him!
They fly, they fly! They are hiding in the woods!

YGRAINE.
And he is flying also! Now he runs!
Now he is making for the castle court!

THE NURSE.
The peasants after him!

SELYSETTE.
O, they will kill him!

THE NURSE.
They are going out to help him! See the guards!
They have opened wide the castle gates! They run!
They run to help him!

SELYSETTE.
One, two, three, four, five ...
Now six ... now seven. ... There are only seven!

THE NURSE.
O look, the peasants are surrounding them!
They are there in hundreds!

MELISANDE.
O, what are they doing?

THE NURSE.
I see them dancing round about a man:
The rest have fallen!

SELYSETTE.
And the man is he!
I caught a sight of his blue mantle then:
He is lying on the grass!

THE NURSE.
Now they are still!
Now they are raising him!

MELISANDE.
O, is he hurt?

YGRAINE.
He staggers!

SELYSETTE.
He is bleeding! I saw blood!
Ardiane!

ARDIANE.
Come away then, look no more!
Hide your head here in my arms!

THE NURSE.
They are bringing ropes!
They are disputing! Now they tie his limbs!

MELISANDE.
Where are they going? For they carry him. ...
They are dancing, they are singing!

THE NURSE.
Hither, see!
They are coming hither: see them on the bridge!
The gates are open. They are halting. O,
They mean to cast him in the moat!

ARDIANE AND THE OTHERS (terrified, crying aloud, and rocking to and fro in
desperation at the windows).
No, no!
Help, help him! Do not kill him! Help him, help!
No, no, not that! Not that! Not that! Not that!

THE NURSE.
They do not hear. ... The others thrust them on. ...

ARDIANE.
He is saved!

THE NURSE.
And now they are before the gate,
And now they seek to break into the yard!
[Cries from the CROWD, who have caught sight of the women at the
windows. They then sing.

THE CROWD.
Open! Open! Open! Open the door!
Open wide the door!
Open in God's name!
The candle gutters o'er,
The wick has no more flame!

THE WOMEN.
We cannot! ... It is barred! ... They break it in!
Hear it give way! They all are coming in!
And now they struggle up the flight of steps
Before the door below. ... Beware! Beware!
They are all drunken!

ARDIANE.
I am going now
To unbar the door below. ...

THE OTHERS.
O Ardiane! [Terrified and imploring,
No! They are drunken! Bolt it, Ardiane!
They are at the door!

ARDIANE.
Fear nothing: stay you there.
Do not come down, for I will go alone.
[The five women descend the stairs which lead down from the windows, and

recoil towards the nearer end of the hall, and there remain, grouped rigidly
together in an attitude of terrified attention. ARDIANE, followed by the

NURSE, goes to the great central door, under the colonnade, and throws back
both leaves of it. There is a sound of trampling feet, of shouting, singing,
and
laughter. The foremost members of the crowd appear, amid the red glare of the
torches, as it were framed in the doorway, which they entirely fill, but
without
crossing the threshold. They are folk of brutal appearance, savage or
hilarious
according to disposition; their clothes are torn and disordered after their
struggle. They are carrying BARBE BLEUE, who is tightly pinioned, and pause

for a moment, disconcerted at the appearance of ARDIANE, who is standing
before the grave, unperturbed, and imperial. At the same time, further back
among those peasants who are crowded together on the flight of steps, and
cannot
see what is passing, there are cries, sudden thrusts and pushes, shouts, and
laughter that lasts a moment and is then extinguished by the perplexed and
respectful whisperings of those about the door. At the moment of the
invasion of
the doorway by the crowd, the five women silently and instinctively fall on
their knees at the end of the hall remoter from the door.

AN OLD PEASANT (removing his bonnet and rolling it in his hands).
Well, lady, can a man come in?

ONE OF THOSE THAT CARRY BARBE BLEUE.
You see,
He'll do you no more ill!

A THIRD PEASANT.
He's heavy. ... Ouf!

THE FIRST PEASANT.
Where would you have us put him?

ANOTHER PEASANT.
Over there
Down in the corner.
[They lay BARBE BLEUE down.
There now, there he lies
Now he will never stir again! No more!
Much evil has he done us!

ANOTHER PEASANT.
Have you got
Somewhat to kill him with?

ARDIANE.
Yes, never fear. ...

THE PEASANT.
Will you have some one help you?

ARDIANE.
No, no need. ...
We shall do well.

A PEASANT.
But look you have a care:
Beware lest he escape you!
[Baring his chest.
See you now,
What he has done to me!

ANOTHER PEASANT (baring his arm).
Now see my arm!
It came in here, and then out there it went.

ARDIANE.
You are all brave folk, but do you leave us now.
We shall avenge ourselves, and well; but now
Leave us, I pray, for night is growing late,
And see to all your wounds.

THE OLD PEASANT.
Now show respect,
Because we are not savages, to ladies.
We shall not make a sound. ... It is not, lady,
Words, merely — but you are too beautiful.
Good-bye, good-bye.

ARDIANE (closing the door).
Good-bye; you have my thanks.
[She turns and sees the five women on their knees at the other end of the

hall.
You were on your knees!
[Approaching BARBE BLEUE.
And you are wounded? Yes!
The blood is flowing here — 't is in the neck —
'T is nothing; no, the wound is shallow. This,
Here on the arm — but hurts upon the arm
Are seldom very grave — but as for this —
The bleeding will not stop: the hand is pierced.
First we must dress it.
[While ARDIANE is speaking the five women draw nigh, one by one, and

without speaking kneel or lean about BARBE BLEUE.

SELYSETTE.
His eyes are open now.

MELISANDE.
How pale he is! He must have suffered!

SELYSETTE.
O!
Those peasants are so terrible!

ARDIANE.
Some water!

THE NURSE.
Yes, I will go and seek some. ...

ARDIANE.
Have you linen?

MELISANDE.
Here is my kerchief.

SELYSETTE.
He is stifling! O,
Would you not have me hold his head up?

MELISANDE.
Stay,
See, I will help you.

SELYSETTE.
No, for Alladine
Is helping me.
[ALLADINE indeed is helping her to raise BARBE BLEUE'S head, and she

furtively kisses his forehead, sobbing the while.

MELISANDE.
O softly, Alladine!
What are you doing?

SELYSETTE.
How his forehead burns!

MELISANDE.
His beard is shaven, and he is not now
So terrible. ...

SELYSETTE.
Have you not some water? See,
His face is covered all with dust and blood.

YGRAINE.
He breathes with effort. ...

ARDIANE.
Yes, it is these cords,
They stifle him. The bonds are drawn so tight
A rock would crumble in them. ... Have you not,
Some one, a knife?

YGRAINE.
Two knives were on the table. ...
Here is the larger.
[She gives it to ARDIANE.

THE NURSE (who has returned with the water — terrified)
You are going to...

ARDIANE.
Yes

THE NURSE.
But he is not — you see ... he looks at us!

ARDIANE.
Raise well the cord, so I may do no hurt. ...
[One by one she cuts the bonds which imprison BARBE BLEUE. When she
comes to those that pinion his arms behind his back the NURSE seizes her
hands to check her.

THE NURSE.
Wait till he speaks ... we do not know at all. ...

ARDIANE.
Have you another knife? This blade is broken. ...
The cords are very hard.

MELISANDE (giving her the knife).
Here is the other

ARDIANE.
Thank you!
[She cuts the last turns of the cord. Silence: the beating of their
hearts
is heard. BARBE BLEUE, feeling himself free, rises slowly to a sitting
posture, his arms still benumbed, and moves his hands to make them supple. He
then regards each of the women about him fixedly, and in silence. Then,
leaning
against the wall, he stands upright and remains motionless looking at his
injured hand.

ARDIANE (drawing near to him).
Good-bye.
[She kisses him upon the brow. BARBE BLEUE makes an instinctive
movement to detain her. She gently frees herself, and proceeds toward
the door,
followed by the NURSE.

SELYSETTE (running after her and stopping her).
Ardiane, Ardiane!
Where are you going?

ARDIANE.
Far away from here,
Down yonder, where I am awaited still...
Do you come with me, Selysette?

SELYSETTE.
I too?
But when will you return?

ARDIANE.
I shall not.

MELISANDE.
O!
Ardiane!

ARDIANE.
Are you coming, Melisande?
[MELISANDE looks to and fro from ARDIANE to BARBE BLEUE
and does
not reply.
O see the open door, the far blue hills!
Ygraine, are you not coming?
[YGRAINE does not turn her head.
Now the moon,
The stars, illumine every road. And you,
Bellangere, do you come?

BELLANGERE (shortly).
No. ...

ARDIANE.
Alladine,
Do I go forth alone?
[At these words ALLADINE runs to ARDIANE, throws
herself into her
arms, sobbing convulsively, and holds her in a long and feverish embrace.

ARDIANE (embracing her in turn, and softly disengaging herself, in tears).
You too remain,
Alladine! O be happy! And farewell. ...
[She goes out hastily, followed by the NURSE. The five women look at

one another and at BARBE BLEUE, who slowly raises his head. BELLANGERE
and YGRAINE shrug their shoulders, and go to close the door. Silence.

THE CURTAIN FALLS.





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