The Melting-Pot - novelonlinefull.com
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Ha! Ha! Ha! Vait till you hear vat dey say.
DAVID I will wait as long as you like.
PAPPELMEISTER Den I like to tell you now.
[_He roars with mischievous laughter._]
Ha! Ha! Ha! De first vampire says it is a great vork, but poorly performed.
DAVID [_Indignant_]
Oh!
PAPPELMEISTER De second vampire says it is a poor vork, but greatly performed.
DAVID [_Disappointed_]
Oh!
PAPPELMEISTER De dird vampire says it is a great vork greatly performed.
DAVID [_Complacently_]
Ah!
PAPPELMEISTER And de fourz vampire says it is a poor vork poorly performed.
DAVID [_Angry and disappointed_]
Oh!
[_Then smiling_]
You see you _have_ to go by the people after all.
PAPPELMEISTER [_Shakes head, smiling_]
_Nein._ Ven critics disagree--I agree mit mineself. Ha! Ha! Ha!
[_He slaps DAVID on the back._]
A great vork dat vill be even better performed next time! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ten dousand congratulations.
[_He seizes DAVID'S hand and grips it heartily._]
DAVID Don't! You hurt me.
PAPPELMEISTER [_Dropping DAVID'S hand,--misunderstanding_]
Pardon! I forgot your vound.
DAVID No--no--what does my wound matter? That never stung half so much as these clappings and congratulations.
PAPPELMEISTER [_Puzzled but solicitous_]
I knew your nerves vould be all shnapping like fiddle-shtrings. Oh, you cheniuses!
[_Smiling._]
You like neider de clappings nor de criticisms,--_was_?
DAVID They are equally--irrelevant. One has to wrestle with one's own art, one's own soul, _alone_!
PAPPELMEISTER [_Patting him soothingly_]
I am glad I did not let you blay in Part Two.
DAVID Dear Herr Pappelmeister! Don't think I don't appreciate all your kindnesses--you are almost a father to me.
PAPPELMEISTER And you disobey me like a son. Ha! Ha! Ha! Vell, I vill make your excuses to de--vampires. Ha! Ha! _Also_, David.
[_He lays his hand again affectionately on DAVID'S right shoulder._]
_Lebe wohl!_ I must go down to my popular cla.s.sics.
[_Gloomily_]
Truly a going down! _Was?_
DAVID [_Smiling_]
Oh, it isn't such a descent as all that. Uncle said you ought to have given them comic opera.
PAPPELMEISTER [_Shuddering convulsively_]
Comic opera.... Ouf!
[_He goes toward the elevator and rings the bell. Then he turns to DAVID._]
Vat vas dat vord, David?
DAVID What word?
PAPPELMEISTER [_Groping for it_]
_Mega--mega.s.shu_....
DAVID [_Puzzled_]
_Mega.s.shu?_ [_The elevator comes up; the gates open._]
PAPPELMEISTER _Megusshah!_ You know.
[_He taps his forehead with his umbrella._]
DAVID Ah, _meshuggah_!
PAPPELMEISTER [_Joyously_]
_Ja, meshuggah!_ [_He gives a great roar of laughter._]
Ha! Ha! Ha!
[_He waves umbrella at DAVID._]
Well, don't be ... _meshuggah_.
[_He steps into the elevator._]
Ha! Ha! Ha!
[_The gates close, and it descends with his laughter._]
DAVID [_After a pause_]
Perhaps I _am_ ... _meshuggah_.
[_He walks up and down moodily, approaches the parapet at back._]
Dropping down is indeed natural.
[_He looks over._]
How it tugs and drags at one!
[_He moves back resolutely and shakes his head._]
That would be even a greater descent than Pappelmeister's to comic opera. One _must_ fly upward--somehow.
[_He drops on the chair that MENDEL dried. A faint music steals up and makes an accompaniment to all the rest of the scene._]
Ah! the popular cla.s.sics!
