Black Beetles in Amber Part 43

_(Nellibrac brings forward a valise and takes from it five articles of clothing, which, one by one, she lays upon the points of a magic pentagram that has thoughtfully inscribed itself in lines of light on the wet gra.s.s. The Body holds its late lamented nose.)_

NELLIBRAC _(singing):_

Fragrant socks, by Villiam's toes Consecrated to the nose;

Shirt that shows the well worn track Of the knuckles of his back,

Handkerchief with mottled stains, Into which he blew his brains;

Collar crying out for soap-- Prophet of the future rope;

An unmentionable thing It would sicken me to sing.

UNMENTIONABLE THING _(aside):_

What! _I_ unmentionable? Just you wait!

In all the family journals of the State You'll sometime see that I'm described at length, With supereditorial grace and strength.

SARALTHIA _(singing):_

Throw them in the open tomb They will cause his love to bloom With an amatory boom!

CHORUS OF INVISIBLE HOODOOS:

Hoodoo, hoodoo, voudou-vet Villiam struggles in the net!

By the power and intent Of the charm his strength is spent!

By the virtue in each rag Blessed by the Inspired Hag He will be a willing victim Limp as if a donkey kicked him!

By this awful incantation We decree his animation--

By the magic of our art Warm the c.o.c.kles of his heart, Villiam, if alive or dead, Thou Saralthia shalt wed!

_(They cast the garments into the grave and push over the coffin. Grimghast fills up the hole. Hoodoos gradually become apparent in a phosph.o.r.escent light about the grave, holding one another's back-hair and dancing in a circle.)_

HOODOO SONG AND DANCE:

O we're the larrikin hoodoos!

The chirruping, lirruping hoodoos!

We mix things up that the Fates ordain, Bring back the past and the present detain, Postpone the future and sometimes tether The three and drive them abreast together-- We rollicking, frolicking hoodoos!

To us all things are the same as none And nothing is that is under the sun.

Seven's a dozen and never is then, Whether is what and what is when, A man is a tree and a cuckoo a cow For gold galore and silver enow To magical, mystical hoodoos!

SARALTHIA:

What monstrous shadow darkens all the place,

_(Enter Smyler.)_

Flung like a doom athwart--ha!--thou?

Portentous presence, art thou not the same That stalks with aspect horrible among Small youths and maidens, baring snaggy teeth, Champing their tender limbs till crimson spume, Flung from, thy lips in cursing G.o.d and man, Incarnadines the land?

SMYLER:

Thou dammid s.l.u.t!

_(Exit Smyler.)_

NELLIBRAC:

O what a pretty man!

SARALTHIA

Now who is next?

Of tramps and casuals this graveyard seems Prolific to a fault!

_(Enter Needleson, exhaling, prophetically, an odor of decayed eggs and, actually, one of unlaundried linen. He darts an intense regard at an adjacent marble angel and places his open hand behind his ear.)_

NEEDLESON:

Hay?

_(Exit Needleson.)_

NELLIBRAC:

Sweet, sweet male!

I yearn to play at Copenhagen with him!

_(Blushes diligently and energetically.)_

CHORUS OF SKULLS:

Hoodoos, hoodoos, disappear-- Some dread deity draws near!

_(Exeunt Hoodos.)_

Smitten with a sense of doom, The dead are cowering in the tomb, Seas are calling, stars are falling And appalling is the gloom!

Fragmentary flames are flung Through the air the trees among!

Lo! each hill inclines its head-- Earth is bending 'neath his thread!

_(On the contrary, enter Villiam on a chip, navigating an odor of mignonette. Saralthia springs forward to put him in her pocket, but he is instantly retracted by an invisible string.

She falls headlong, breaking her heart. Reenter Villiam, Needleson, Smyler. All gather about Saralthia, who loudly laments her accident. The Spirit of Tar-and Feathers, rising like a black smoke in their midst, executes a monstrous wink of graphic and vivid significance, then contemplates them with an obviously baptismal intention. The cross on Lone Mountain takes fire, splendoring the Peninsula. Tableau. Curtain.)_

ON STONE