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Page 77
[A ravine with a stream in the middle, which is crossed by a
foot-bridge. In the foreground a smithy and a mill, both of which
are in ruins. Fallen trees choke the stream. In the background a
starry sky above the pine wood. The constellation of Orion is
clearly visible.]
[See picture road2.jpg]
[The STRANGER and the BEGGAR enter. In the foreground there is
snow; in the background the green of summer.]
STRANGER. I feel afraid! To-night the stars seem to hang so low,
that I fear they'll fall on me like drops of molten silver. Where
are we?
BEGGAR. In the ravine, by the stream. You must know the place.
STRANGER. Know it? As if I could ever forget it! It reminds me of
my honeymoon journey. But where are the smithy and the mill?
BEGGAR. All in ruins! The lake of tears was drained a week ago. The
stream rose, then the river, till everything was laid waste--
meadows, fields and gardens.
STRANGER. And the quiet house?
BEGGAR. The old sin was washed away, but the walls in left.
STRANGER. And those who lived there?
BEGGAR. They've gone to the colonies; so that the story's now at an
end.
STRANGER. Then my story's at an end too. So thoroughly at an end,
that no happy memories remain. The last was fouled by the poisoner. ...
BEGGAR. Whose poison you prepared! You should declare your
bankruptcy.
STRANGER. Yes. Now I'll have to give in.
BEGGAR. Then the day of reckoning will draw near.
STRANGER. I think we might call it quits; because, if I've sinned,
I've been punished.
BEGGAR. But others certainly won't think so.
STRANGER. I've stopped taking account of others, since I saw that
the Powers that guide the destinies of mankind brook no accomplices.
The crime I committed in this life was that I wanted to set men
free. ...
BEGGAR. Set men free from their duties, and criminals from their
feeling of guilt, so that they could really become unscrupulous!
You're not the first, and not the 1ast to dabble in the Devil's
work. Lucifer a non lucendo! But when Reynard grows old, he turns
monk--so wisely is it ordained--and then he's forced to split
himself in n two and drive out Beelzebub with his own penance.
STRANGER. Shall I be driven to that?
BEGGAR. Yes. Though you don't want it! You'll be forced to preach
against yourself from the housetops. To unpick your fabric thread
by thread. To flay yourself alive at every street corner, and show
what you really are. But that needs courage. All the same, a man
who's played with the thunder will not tremble! Yet, sometimes,
when night falls and the Invisible Ones, who can only be seen in
darkness, ride on his chest, then he will fear--even the stars, and
most of all the Mill of Sins, that grinds the past, and grinds it ...
and grinds it! One of the seven-and-seventeen Wise Men said that
the greatest victory he ever won was over himself; but foolish men
don't believe it, and that's why they're deceived; because they
only credit what nine-and-ninety fools have said a thousand times.
STRANGER. Enough! Tell me; isn't this snow here on the ground?
BEGGAR. Yes. It's winter here.
STRANGER. But over there it's green.
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