Cyrano De Bergerac Part 17

CYRANO No, I am not certain... You will see!

CARBON What a shameful reversal of the order of things, that the besieger should be starved!

LE BRET Alas! never was more complicated siege than this of Arras: We besiege Arras, and, caught in a trap, are ourselves besieged by the Cardinal-prince of Spain...

CYRANO Someone now ought to come and besiege him.

LE BRET I am not joking!

CYRANO Oh, oh!

LE BRET To think, ungrateful boy, that every day you risk a life precious as yours, solely to carry... [ CYRANO goes toward one of the tents. goes toward one of the tents. ] Where are you going? ] Where are you going?

CYRANO I am going to write another. [He lifts the canvas flap, and disappears in the tent.]

SCENE II.

The Same, without Cyrano [Daybreak has brightened. Rosy flush. The city of Arras at the horizon catches a golden light. The report of a cannon is heard, followed at once by a drum-call, very far away, at the left. Other drums beat, nearer. The drum-calls answer one another, come nearer, come very near, and go off, decreasing, dying in the distance, toward the right, having made the circuit of the camp. Noise of general awakening. Voices of officers in the distance]

CARBON [with a sigh] [with a sigh] The reveille Ah, me! ... The reveille Ah, me! ... [The [The CADETS CADETS stir in their cloaks, stretch.] stir in their cloaks, stretch.] An end to the succulent slumbers! I know but too well what their first word will be! An end to the succulent slumbers! I know but too well what their first word will be!

ONE OF THE CADETS [sitting up] [sitting up] I am famished! I am famished!

OTHER CADET I believe I am dying!

ALL Oh!...

CARBON Get up!

THIRD CADET I cannot go a step!

FOURTH CADET I have not strength to stir!

FIRST CADET [looking at himself in a bit of armor.] [looking at himself in a bit of armor.] My tongue is coated: it must be the weather that is indigestible! My tongue is coated: it must be the weather that is indigestible!

OTHER CADET Any one who wants them, can have all my t.i.tles of n.o.bility for a Chester cheese... or part of one!

OTHER CADET If my stomach does not have something put into it to take up the attention of my gastric juice, I shall retire into my tent before long... like Achilles!

OTHER CADET Yes, they ought to provide us with bread!

CARBON [going to the tent into which CYRANO CYRANO has retired; low has retired; low.] Cyrano!

OTHER CADETS We cannot stand this much longer!

CARBON [as above, at the door of the tent] To the rescue, Cyrano! You who succeed so well always in cheering them, come and make them pluck up spirits! To the rescue, Cyrano! You who succeed so well always in cheering them, come and make them pluck up spirits!

SECOND CADET [falling upon FIRST CADET FIRST CADET who is chewing something] who is chewing something] What are you chewing, man? What are you chewing, man?

FIRST CADET A bit of gun-tow fried in axle-grease.... using a burganet as frying pan. The suburbs of Arras are not precisely rich in game....

OTHER CADET [entering] [entering] I have been hunting! I have been hunting!

OTHER CADET [the same] [the same] I have been fishing! I have been fishing!

ALL [rising and falling upon the newcomers] [rising and falling upon the newcomers] What?-what did you catch?-A pheasant?-A carp?-Quick! quick! ... Let us see! What?-what did you catch?-A pheasant?-A carp?-Quick! quick! ... Let us see!

THE HUNTSMAN A sparrow!

THE ANGLER A gudgeon!

ALL [exasperated] Enough of this! Let us revolt!

CARBON To the rescue, Cyrano! [It is now broad daylight.] [It is now broad daylight.]

SCENE III.

The Same, Cyrano

CYRANO [coming out of the tent, tranquil, a pen behind his ear, a book in his hand [coming out of the tent, tranquil, a pen behind his ear, a book in his hand] What is the matter? [Silence. To [Silence. To FIRST CADET.] Why do you go off like that, with that slouching gait? FIRST CADET.] Why do you go off like that, with that slouching gait?

THE CADET I have something away down in my heels which inconveniences me.

CYRANO And what is that?

THE CADET My stomach.

CYRANO That is where mine is, too.

THE CADET Then you too must be inconvenienced.

CYRANO No. The size of the hollow within me merely increases my sense of my size.

SECOND CADET I happen to have teeth, long ones!

CYRANO The better will you bite... in good time!

THIRD CADET I reverberate like a drum!

CYRANO You will be of use... to sound the charge!

OTHER CADET I have a buzzing in my ears!

CYRANO A mistake. Empty belly, no ears. You hear no buzzing.

OTHER CADET Ah, a trifling article to eat... and a little oil upon it!

CYRANO [taking off the CADET's CADET's morion morion58 and placing it in his hand] and placing it in his hand] That is seasoned. That is seasoned.

OTHER CADET What is there we could devour?

CYRANO [tossing him the book he has been holding] Try the Iliad! Try the Iliad!

OTHER CADET The minister, in Paris, makes his four meals a day!

CYRANO You feel it remiss in him not to send you a bit of partridge?

THE SAME Why should he not? And some wine!

CYRANO Richelieu, some Burgundy, if you please?

THE SAME He might, by one of his capuchins!

CYRANO By his Eminence, perhaps, in sober gray?

OTHER CADET No ogre was ever so hungry!

CYRANO You may have your fill yet of humble-pie!

FIRST CADET [shrugging his shoulders] Forever jests!... puns! ... mots! mots!

CYRANO Le mot Le mot59 forever, indeed! And I would wish to die, on a fine evening, under a rose-flushed sky, delivering myself of a good mot in a good cause! ... Ah, yes, the best were indeed, far from fever bed and potion, pierced with the only n.o.ble weapon, by an adversary worthy of oneself, to fall upon a glorious field, the point of a sword through his heart, the point of a jest on his lips! ... forever, indeed! And I would wish to die, on a fine evening, under a rose-flushed sky, delivering myself of a good mot in a good cause! ... Ah, yes, the best were indeed, far from fever bed and potion, pierced with the only n.o.ble weapon, by an adversary worthy of oneself, to fall upon a glorious field, the point of a sword through his heart, the point of a jest on his lips! ...

ALL [in a wail] [in a wail] I am hungry! I am hungry!

CYRANO [folding his arms] G.o.d ha' mercy! can you think of nothing but eating? ... Come here, Bertrandou the fifer, once the shepherd! Take from the double case one of your fifes: breathe into it, play to this pack of guzzlers and of gluttons our homely melodies, of haunting rhythm, every note of which appeals like a little sister, through whose every strain are heard strains of beloved voices... mild melodies whose slowness brings to mind the slowness of the smoke upcurling from our native hamlet hearths... melodies that seem to speak to a man in his native dialect! ... [The old fifer sits down and makes ready his fife [The old fifer sits down and makes ready his fife.] To-day let the fife, martial unwillingly, be reminded, while your fingers upon its slender stem flutter like birds in a delicate minuet, that before being ebony it was reed; surprise itself by what you make it sing, ... let it feel restored to it the soul of its youth, rustic and peaceable! [The old man begins playing Languedoc tunes] [The old man begins playing Languedoc tunes] Listen, Gascons! It is no more, beneath his fingers, the shrill fife of the camp, but the soft flute of the woodland! It is no more, between his lips, the whistling note of battle, but the lowly lay of goatherds leading their flocks to feed! ... Hark! ... It sings of the valley, the heath, the forest! ... of the little shepherd, sunburned under his crimson cap! ... the green delight of evening on the river! ... Hark, Gascons all! It sings of Gascony! Listen, Gascons! It is no more, beneath his fingers, the shrill fife of the camp, but the soft flute of the woodland! It is no more, between his lips, the whistling note of battle, but the lowly lay of goatherds leading their flocks to feed! ... Hark! ... It sings of the valley, the heath, the forest! ... of the little shepherd, sunburned under his crimson cap! ... the green delight of evening on the river! ... Hark, Gascons all! It sings of Gascony! [Every head has drooped; all eyes have grown dreamy; tears are furtively brushed away with a sleeve, the hem of a cloak] [Every head has drooped; all eyes have grown dreamy; tears are furtively brushed away with a sleeve, the hem of a cloak]

CARBON [to CYRANO, low] You are making them weep!

CYRANO With homesickness! ... a n.o.bler pain than hunger... not physical: mental! I am glad the seat of their suffering should have removed... that the gripe should now afflict their hearts!

CARBON But you weaken them, making them weep!

CYRANO [beckoning to a drummer [beckoning to a drummer] Never fear! The hero in their veins is quickly roused. It is enough to ... [He signs to the drummer who begins drumming. [He signs to the drummer who begins drumming.]

ALL [starting to their feet and s.n.a.t.c.hing up their arms] Hein?... [starting to their feet and s.n.a.t.c.hing up their arms] Hein?... What? ... What is it? What? ... What is it?

CYRANO [smiling] You see? ... The sound of the drum was enough! Farewell dreams, regrets, old homestead, love... What comes with the fife with the drum may go ...

ONE OF THE CADETS [looking off at the back] [looking off at the back] Ah! ah! ... Here comes Monsieur de Guiche! Ah! ah! ... Here comes Monsieur de Guiche!

ALL THE CADETS [grumbling] Hoo...

CYRANO [smiling] Flattering murmur...

ONE OF THE CADETS He bores us! ...

OTHER CADET Showing himself off, with his broad point collar on top of his armor! ...

OTHER CADET As if lace were worn with steel!

FIRST CADET Convenient, if you have a boil on your neck to cover...

SECOND CADET There is another courier for you!

OTHER CADET His uncle's own nephew!

CARBON He is a Gascon, nevertheless!

FIRST CADET Not genuine! ... Never trust him. For a Gascon, look you, must be something of a madman: nothing is so deadly to deal with as a Gascon who is completely rational!

LE BRET He is pale!

OTHER CADET He is hungry, as hungry as any poor devil of us! But his corslet being freely embellished with gilt studs, his stomach-ache is radiant in the sun!

CYRANO [eagerly] Let us not appear to suffer, either! You, your cards, your pipes, your dice... [All briskly set themselves to playing with cards and dice, on the heads of drums, on stools, on cloaks spread over the ground. They light long tobacco pipes.] And I will be reading Descartes... And I will be reading Descartes... [He Walks to and fro, forward and backward, reading a small book which he has taken from his pocket. Tableau. Enter DE GUICHE. Every one appears absorbed and satisfied. DE GUICHE is very pale. He goes toward CARBON.] [He Walks to and fro, forward and backward, reading a small book which he has taken from his pocket. Tableau. Enter DE GUICHE. Every one appears absorbed and satisfied. DE GUICHE is very pale. He goes toward CARBON.]

SCENE IV.

The Same, De Guiche

DE GUICHE [to CARBON] [to CARBON] Ah, good-morning. Ah, good-morning. [They look at each other attentively. Aside, with satisfaction] [They look at each other attentively. Aside, with satisfaction] He is pale as plaster. He is pale as plaster.

CARBON [same business] His eyes are all that is left of him.

DE GUICHE [looking at the CADETS] So here are the wrong-headed rascals? ... Yes, gentlemen, it is reported to me on every side that I am your scoff and derision; that the cadets, highland n.o.bility, Bearn clodhoppers, Perigord baronets, cannot express sufficient contempt for their colonel; call me intriguer, courtier, find it irksome to their taste that I should wear, with my cuira.s.s, a collar of Genoese point, and never cease to air their wondering indignation that a man should be a Gascon without being a vagabond! CADETS] So here are the wrong-headed rascals? ... Yes, gentlemen, it is reported to me on every side that I am your scoff and derision; that the cadets, highland n.o.bility, Bearn clodhoppers, Perigord baronets, cannot express sufficient contempt for their colonel; call me intriguer, courtier, find it irksome to their taste that I should wear, with my cuira.s.s, a collar of Genoese point, and never cease to air their wondering indignation that a man should be a Gascon without being a vagabond! [Silence. The [Silence. The CADETS CADETS continue smoking and playing] continue smoking and playing] Shall I have you punished by your captain? ... I do not like to. Shall I have you punished by your captain? ... I do not like to.

CARBON Did you otherwise, however, ... I am free, and punish only ...

DE GUICHE Ah? ...

CARBON My company is paid by myself, belongs to me. I obey no orders but such as relate to war.

DE GUICHE Ah, is it so? Enough, then. I will treat your taunts with simple scorn. My fashion of deporting myself under fire is well known. You are not unaware of the manner in which yesterday, at Bapaume, I forced back the columns of the Comte de Bucquoi; gathering my men together to plunge forward like an avalanche, three times I charged him....

CYRANO [without lifting his nose from his book] [without lifting his nose from his book] And your white scarf? And your white scarf?

DE GLIICHE [surprised and self-satisfied) [surprised and self-satisfied) You heard of that circ.u.mstance ? ... In fact, it happened that as I was wheeling about to collect my men for the third charge, I was caught in a stream of fugitives which bore me onward to the edge of the enemy. I was in danger of being captured and cut off with an arquebuse, when I had the presence of mind to untie and let slip to the ground the white scarf which proclaimed my military grade. Thus was I enabled, undistinguished, to withdraw from among the Spaniards, and thereupon returning with my reinspirited men, to defeat them. Well? . . . What do you say to the incident? You heard of that circ.u.mstance ? ... In fact, it happened that as I was wheeling about to collect my men for the third charge, I was caught in a stream of fugitives which bore me onward to the edge of the enemy. I was in danger of being captured and cut off with an arquebuse, when I had the presence of mind to untie and let slip to the ground the white scarf which proclaimed my military grade. Thus was I enabled, undistinguished, to withdraw from among the Spaniards, and thereupon returning with my reinspirited men, to defeat them. Well? . . . What do you say to the incident? [The CADETS have appeared not to be listening; at this point, however, hands with cards and dice-boxes remain suspended in the air; no pipe-smoke is ejected; all expresses expectation.] [The CADETS have appeared not to be listening; at this point, however, hands with cards and dice-boxes remain suspended in the air; no pipe-smoke is ejected; all expresses expectation.]

CYRANO That never would Henry the Fourth, however great the number of his opponents, have consented to diminish his presence by the size of his white plume.60 [Silent joy. Cards fall, dice rattle, smoke upwreathes.] [Silent joy. Cards fall, dice rattle, smoke upwreathes.]