The Blue Bird Part 22

MYTYL No, no!... Don't!... I want to go away!... I am so frightened, little brother!... I am terribly frightened!...

TYLTYL But there is no danger....

MYTYL I don't want to see the dead!... I don't want to see them!...

TYLTYL Very well, you shall not see them; shut your eyes....

MYTYL (_clinging to_ TYLTYL'S _clothes_) Tyltyl, I can't stay!... No, I can't possibly!... They are going to come out of the ground!...

TYLTYL Don't tremble like that.... They will only come out for a moment....

MYTYL But you're trembling, too!... They will be awful!...

TYLTYL It is time, the hour is pa.s.sing....

(TYLTYL _turns the diamond. A terrifying minute of silence and motionlessness elapses, after which, slowly, the crosses totter, the mounds open, the slabs rise up...._)

MYTYL (_cowering against_ TYLTYL) They are coming out!... They are there!...

(_Then, from all the gaping tombs, there rises gradually an efflorescence at first frail and timid, like steam; then white and virginal and more and more tufty, more and more tall and plentiful and marvellous. Little by little, irresistibly, invading all things, it transforms the graveyard into a sort of fairy-like and nuptial garden, over which rise the first rays of the dawn. The dew glitters, the flowers open their blooms, the wind murmurs in the leaves, the bees hum, the birds wake and flood the air with the first raptures of their hymns to the sun and to life. Stunned and dazzled,_ TYLTYL _and_ MYTYL, _holding each other by the hand, take a few steps among the flowers while they seek for the trace of the tombs_.)

MYTYL (_looking in the gra.s.s_) Where are the dead?....

TYLTYL (_looking also_) There are no dead....

CURTAIN

SCENE 3.--_The Kingdom of the Future_.

_The immense halls of the Azure Palace, where the children wait that are yet to be born. Infinite perspectives of sapphire columns supporting turquoise vaults. Everything, from the light and the lapis-lazuli flagstones to the shimmering background into which the last arches run and disappear, everything, down to the smallest objects, is of an unreal, intense, fairy-like blue. Only the plinths and capitals of the columns, the key-stones, a few seats and circular benches are of white marble or alabaster. To the right, between the columns, are great opalescent doors.

These doors, which_ TIME _will throw back towards the end of the scene, open upon actual life and the quays of the Dawn. Everywhere, harmoniously peopling the hall, is a crowd of_ CHILDREN _robed in long azure garments. Some are playing, others strolling to and fro, others talking or dreaming; many are asleep, many also are working, between the colonnades, at future inventions; and their tools, their instruments, the apparatus which they are constructing, the plants, flowers and fruit which they are cultivating or plucking are of the same supernatural and luminous blue as the general atmosphere of the Palace. Figures of a taller stature, clad in a paler and more diaphanous azure, figures of a sovereign and silent beauty move among the_ CHILDREN _and would seem to be angels.

_Enter on the left, as though by stealth, gliding between the columns in the foreground_, TYLTYL, MYTYL _and_ LIGHT. Their arrival causes a certain movement among the_ BLUE CHILDREN, _who come running up on every hand, form a group around the unwonted visitors and gaze upon them with curiosity_.

MYTYL Where are Sugar, the Cat and Bread?...

LIGHT They cannot enter here; they would know the future and would not obey....

TYLTYL And the Dog?...

LIGHT It is not well, either, that he should know what awaits him in the course of the ages....I have locked them all up in the vaults of the church....

TYLTYL Where are we?...

LIGHT We are in the Kingdom of the Future, in the midst of the children who are not yet born. As the diamond allows us to see clearly in this region which is hidden from men, we shall very probably find the Blue Bird here....

TYLTYL Certainly the bird will be blue, since everything here is blue....(_Looking all around him_.) Heaven, how beautiful it all is!...

LIGHT Look at the children running up....

TYLTYL Are they angry?...

LIGHT Not at all....You can see, they are smiling, but they are surprised....

THE BLUE CHILDREN (_running up in ever-increasing numbers_) Live children!...Come and look at the little live children!...

TYLTYL Why do they call us the little live children?

LIGHT Because they themselves are not alive yet....

TYLTYL What are they doing, then?...

LIGHT They are awaiting the hour of their birth....

TYLTYL The hour of their birth?...

LIGHT Yes; it is from here that all the children come who are born upon our earth. Each awaits his day.... When the fathers and mothers want children, the great doors which you see there, on the right, are opened and the little ones go down....

TYLTYL What a, lot there are! What a lot there are!...

LIGHT There are many more.... We do not see them all.... There are thirty thousand halls like this, all full of them.... Just think, there are enough to last to the end of the world!... No one could count them....

TYLTYL And those tall blue persons, who are they?...

LIGHT No one exactly knows.... They are believed to be guardians.... I have heard that they will come upon earth after men.... But we are not allowed to ask them....

TYLTYL Why not?...

LIGHT Because it is the earth's secret....

TYLTYL And may one talk to the others, the little ones?...

LIGHT Certainly; you must make friends.... Look, there is one who is more curious than the rest.... Go up to him, speak to him....

TYLTYL What shall I say to him?...

LIGHT Whatever you like, as you would to a little playfellow....

TYLTYL Can I shake hands with him?...

LIGHT Of course, he won't hurt you.... But come, don't look so constrained.... I will leave you alone, you will be more at ease by yourselves.... Besides, I want to speak to the tall blue person....

TYLTYL (_going up to the_ BLUE CHILD _and holding out his hand_) How do you do?... (_Touching the_ CHILD'S _blue dress with his finger_.) What's that?...