The Project Gutenberg eBook of Liliom: A Legend in Seven Scenes and a Prologue This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Liliom: A Legend in Seven Scenes and a Prologue Author: Ferenc Molnár Translator: Benjamin F. Glazer Release date: April 20, 2015 [eBook #48749] Language: English Credits: Produced by Paul Haxo from page images generously made available by the Internet Archive, Cornell University, Harvard University and Google. *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LILIOM: A LEGEND IN SEVEN SCENES AND A PROLOGUE *** Produced by Paul Haxo from page images generously made available by the Internet Archive, Cornell University, Harvard University and Google. LILIOM A LEGEND IN SEVEN SCENES AND A PROLOGUE BY FRANZ MOLNAR ENGLISH TEXT AND INTRODUCTION BY BENJAMIN F. GLAZER HORACE LIVERIGHT PUBLISHER NEW YORK LILIOM COPYRIGHTED, 1921, BY UNITED PLAYS INC. _All rights reserved_ First Printing, May, 1921 Second Printing, June, 1921 Third Printing, August, 1921 Fourth Printing, November, 1921 Fifth Printing, September, 1922 Sixth Printing, December, 1922 Seventh Printing, January, 1926 Eighth Printing, December, 1927 Ninth Printing, November, 1928 _CAUTION_--All persons are hereby warned that the plays published in this volume are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States and all foreign countries, and are subject to royalty, and any one presenting any of said plays without the consent of the Author or his recognized agents, will be liable to the penalties by law provided. Applications for the acting rights must be made to the United Plays, Inc., 1428 Broadway, New York City. _Printed in the United States of America_ As originally produced by The Theatre Guild, on the night of April 20, 1921, at the Garrick Theatre, New York City. CAST OF CHARACTERS (In the order of their appearance) _Marie_ Hortense Alden _Julie_ Eva Le Gallienne _Mrs. Muskat_ Helen Westley _"Liliom"_ Joseph Schildkraut "Liliom" is the Hungarian for lily, and the slang term for "a tough" { Frances Diamond _Four Servant Girls_ { Margaret Mosier { Anne de Chantal { Elizabeth Parker { Howard Claney _Policemen_ { Lawrence B. Chrow _Captain_ Erskine Sanford _Plainclothes Man_ Gerald Stopp _Mother Hollunder_ Lilian Kingsbury _"The Sparrow"_ Dudley Digges _Wolf Berkowitz_ Henry Travers _Young Hollunder_ William Franklin _Linzman_ Willard Bowman _First Mounted Policeman_ Edgar Stehli _Second Mounted Policeman_ George Frenger _The Doctor_ Robert Babcock _The Carpenter_ George Frenger _First Policeman of the Beyond_ Erskine Sanford _Second Policeman of the Beyond_ Gerald Stopp _The Richly Dressed Man_ Edgar Stehli _The Poorly Dressed Man_ Philip Wood _The Old Guard_ Walton Butterfield _The Magistrate_ Albert Perry _Louise_ Evelyn Chard _Peasants, Townspeople, etc._ Lela M. Aultman, Janet Scott, Marion M. Winsten, Katherine Fahnestock, Lillian Tuchman, Ruth L. Cumming, Jacob Weiser, Maurice Somers, John Crump. _Prologue_ An Amusement Park on the Outskirts of Budapest _First Scene_ A Lonely Place in the Park _Second Scene_ The Tin Type Shop of the Hollunders _Third Scene_ The Same _Fourth Scene_ A Railroad Embankment Outside the City _Intermission_ _Fifth Scene_ Same as Scene Two _Sixth Scene_ A Courtroom in the Beyond _Seventh Scene_ Before Julie's Door _Produced under the direction of_ FRANK REICHER _Costumes and scenery designed by_ LEE SIMONSON _Technical Director_ SHELDON K. VIELE _Scenery painted by_ ROBERT BERGMAN _Costumes executed by_ NETTIE DUFF READE _Stage Manager_ WALTER GEER _Assistant Stage Manager_ JACOB WEISER _Music arranged_ by DEEMS TAYLOR _Executive Director_ THERESA HELBURN INTRODUCTION The première of "LILIOM" at Budapest in December, 1909, left both playgoer and critic a bit bewildered. It was not the sort of play the Hungarian capital had been accustomed to expect of its favorite dramatist, whose THE DEVIL, after two years of unprecedented success, was still crowding the theatres of two continents. One must, it was true, count on a touch of fantasy in every Molnar work. Never had he been wholly content with everyday reality, not in his stories, or in his sketches or in his earlier plays; and least of all in THE DEVIL wherein the natural and supernatural were most whimsically blended. But in LILIOM, it seemed, he had carried fantasy to quite unintelligible lengths. Budapest was frankly puzzled. What did he mean by killing his hero in the fifth scene, taking him into Heaven in the sixth and bringing him back to earth in the seventh? Was this prosaic Heaven of his seriously or satirically intended? Was Liliom a saint or a common tough? And was his abortive redemption a symbol or merely a jibe? These were some of the questions Budapest debated while the play languished through thirty or forty performances and was withdrawn. Almost ten years passed before it was revived. This time it was an immediate and overwhelming triumph. Perhaps the wide circulation of the play in printed form had made its beauty and significance clearer. Perhaps the tragedy of the war had made Molnar's public more sensitive to spiritual values. Whatever the reason, Budapest now accepted ecstatically what it had previously rejected, and Molnar was more of a popular hero than ever. From which it may be gleaned that Hungary takes its drama and dramatists more seriously, disapproves them more passionately and praises them more affectionately than we Americans can conceive. In Paris I once saw an audience rise en masse, because the sculptor Rodin had entered the auditorium, and remain on its feet cheering until he had taken his seat. Something of the kind greets Molnar whenever he appears in public, and nothing is more certain than that he is the hero, the oracle, the spoiled darling of club, salon and coffee house in which artistic Hungary foregathers. But the years immediately following the first production of LILIOM were for him a period of eclipse. It was the first time that even the threat of failure had cast its shadow across his career. He became timid, wary of failure, too anxious to please his public. His subsequent plays were less original, less daring, more faithful to routine. Never again did he touch the heights of LILIOM; and some of his best friends aver that he never will again until he has banished the dread of failure that obsesses him. An odd situation, truly, and in some aspects a tragic one. Genius lacking the courage to spread its wings and soar. A potential immortal bidding fearfully for the praise of a coffee-house clique. Is it vanity? Is it abnormal sensitiveness? Biographical data cast little light on the enigma. Franz Molnar was born in Budapest on January 12, 1878, the son of a wealthy Jewish merchant. He graduated from the Universities of Geneva and Budapest. His literary career was begun as a journalist at the age of eighteen. He wrote short sketches and humorous dialogues of such beauty and charm that he became a national figure almost at once, and the circulation of his newspaper increased until it was foremost in Budapest. Then he married Margaret Vaszi, the daughter of his editor, herself a journalist of note. Two years later he was divorced from her, and subsequently he married an actress who had played rôles in his own plays. For a portrait of him as he is today you have to think of Oscar Wilde at the height of his glory. A big pudgy face, immobile, pink, smooth-shaven, its child-like expressionlessness accentuated by the monocle he always wears, though rather belied by the gleam of humor in his dark alert eyes. His hair is iron-gray, his figure stocky and of about medium height. A mordant wit, an inimitable raconteur, he loves life and gayety and all the luxuries of life. Nothing can persuade him out of his complacent and comfortable routine. He will not leave Budapest, even to attend the première of one of his plays in nearby Vienna. The post-war political upheaval which has rent all Hungary into two voluble and bitter factions left him quite unperturbed and neutral. His pen is not for politics. Yet it is a singularly prolific pen. His novels and short stories are among the finest in Hungarian literature. He has written nine long plays and numerous short ones. A chronology of his more important dramatic works is as follows: 1902 A DOKTOR UR (The Doctor). 1904 JOZSI. 1907 AZ ÖRDÖG (The Devil). 1909 LILIOM. 1911 TESTÖR (Played in this country as "Where Ignorance is Bliss"). 1913 A FARKAS (Played in this country as "The Phantom Rival"). 1914 URIDIVAT (Attorney for Defence). 1919 A HATTYU (The Swan). 1920 SZINHAZ (Theatre: Three One-Act Plays). Undoubtedly the greatest of these is LILIOM. Indeed, I know of no play written in our own time which matches the amazing virtuosity of LILIOM, its imaginative daring, its uncanny blending of naturalism and fantasy, humor and pathos, tenderness and tragedy into a solid dramatic structure. At first reading it may seem a mere improvization in many moods, but closer study must reveal how the moods are as inevitably related to each other as pearls on a string. And where in modern dramatic literature can such pearls be matched--Julie incoherently confessing to her dead lover the love she had always been ashamed to tell; Liliom crying out to the distant carousel the glad news that he is to be a father; the two thieves gambling for the spoils of their prospective robbery; Marie and Wolf posing for their portrait while the broken-hearted Julie stands looking after the vanishing Liliom, the thieves' song ringing in her ears; the two policemen grousing about pay and pensions while Liliom lies bleeding to death; Liliom furtively proffering his daughter the star he has stolen for her in heaven. . . . The temptation to count the whole scintillating string is difficult to resist. What is the moral of LILIOM? Nothing you can reduce to a creed. Molnar is not a preacher or a propagandist for any theory of life. You will look in vain in his plays for moral or dogma. His philosophy--if philosophy you can call it--is always implicit. And nothing is plainer than that his picture of a courtroom in the beyond is neither devoutly nor satirically intended. Liliom's Heaven is the Heaven of his own imagining. And what is more natural than that it should be an irrational jumble of priest's purgatory, police magistrate's justice and his own limited conception of good deeds and evil? For those who hold that every fine dramatic architecture must have its spire of meaning, that by the very selection of character and incident the dramatist writes his commentary on life, there is still an explanation possible. Perhaps Molnar was at the old, old task of revaluing our ideas of good and evil. Perhaps he has only shown how the difference between a bully, a wife-beater and a criminal on the one hand and a saint on the other can be very slight. If one must tag LILIOM with a moral, I prefer to read mine in Liliom's dying speech to Julie wherein he says: "Nobody's right . . . but they all think they are right. . . . A lot they know." BENJAMIN F. GLAZER. _New York, April, 1921._ LILIOM SYNOPSIS OF SCENES PROLOGUE--_An amusement park on the outskirts of Budapest._ FIRST SCENE--_A lonely place in the park._ SECOND SCENE--_The photographic studio of the HOLLUNDERS._ THIRD SCENE--_Same as scene two._ FOURTH SCENE--_A railroad embankment outside the city._ FIFTH SCENE--_Same as scene two._ SIXTH SCENE--_A courtroom in the beyond._ SEVENTH SCENE--_JULIE'S garden._ There are intermissions only after the second and fifth scenes. CAST OF CHARACTERS LILIOM JULIE MARIE MRS. MUSKAT LOUISE MRS. HOLLUNDER FICSUR YOUNG HOLLUNDER WOLF BEIFELD THE CARPENTER LINZMAN THE DOCTOR THE MAGISTRATE TWO MOUNTED POLICEMEN TWO PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMEN TWO HEAVENLY POLICEMEN THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN THE POORLY DRESSED MAN THE GUARD A SUBURBAN POLICEMAN THE PROLOGUE An amusement park on the outskirts of Budapest on a late afternoon in Spring. Barkers stand before the booths of the sideshows haranguing the passing crowd. The strident music of a calliope is heard; laughter, shouts, the scuffle of feet, the signal bells of merry-go-round. The merry-go-round is at Center. LILIOM stands at the entrance, a cigarette in his mouth, coaxing the people in. The girls regard him with idolizing glances and screech with pleasure as he playfully pushes them through entrance. Now and then some girl's escort resents the familiarity, whereupon LILIOM'S demeanor becomes ugly and menacing, and the cowed escort slinks through the entrance behind his girl or contents himself with a muttered resentful comment. One girl hands LILIOM a red carnation; he rewards her with a bow and a smile. When the soldier who accompanies her protests, LILIOM cows him with a fierce glance and a threatening gesture. MARIE and JULIE come out of the crowd and LILIOM favors them with particular notice as they pass into the merry-go-round. MRS. MUSKAT comes out of the merry-go-round, bringing LILIOM coffee and rolls. LILIOM mounts the barker's stand at the entrance, where he is elevated over everyone on the stage. Here he begins his harangue. Everybody turns toward him. The other booths are gradually deserted. The tumult makes it impossible for the audience to hear what he is saying, but every now and then some witticism of his provokes a storm of laughter which is audible above the din. Many people enter the merry-go-round. Here and there one catches a phrase "Room for one more on the zebra's back," "Which of you ladies?" "Ten heller for adults, five for children," "Step right up"---- It is growing darker. A lamplighter crosses the stage, and begins unperturbedly lighting the colored gas-lamps. The whistle of a distant locomotive is heard. Suddenly the tumult ceases, the lights go out, and the curtain falls in darkness. END OF PROLOGUE LILIOM SCENE ONE SCENE--_A lonely place in the park, half hidden by trees and shrubbery. Under a flowering acacia tree stands a painted wooden bench. From the distance, faintly, comes the tumult of the amusement park. It is the sunset of the same day._ _When the curtain rises the stage is empty._ _MARIE enters quickly, pauses at center, and looks back._ MARIE Julie, Julie! [_There is no answer._] Do you hear me, Julie? Let her be! Come on. Let her be. [_Starts to go back._] [_JULIE enters, looks back angrily._] JULIE Did you ever hear of such a thing? What's the matter with the woman anyway? MARIE [_Looking back again._] Here she comes again. JULIE Let her come. I didn't do anything to her. All of a sudden she comes up to me and begins to raise a row. MARIE Here she is. Come on, let's run. [_Tries to urge her off._] JULIE Run? I should say not. What would I want to run for? I'm not afraid of her. MARIE Oh, come on. She'll only start a fight. JULIE I'm going to stay right here. Let her _start_ a fight. MRS. MUSKAT [_Entering._] What do you want to run away for? [_To JULIE._] Don't worry. I won't eat you. But there's one thing I want to tell you, my dear. Don't let me catch you in my carousel again. I stand for a whole lot, I have to in my business. It makes no difference to me whether my customers are ladies or the likes of you--as long as they pay their money. But when a girl misbehaves herself on my carousel--out she goes. Do you understand? JULIE Are you talking to me? MRS. MUSKAT Yes, you! You--chamber-maid, you! In my carousel---- JULIE Who did anything in your old carousel? I paid my fare and took my seat and never said a word, except to my friend here. MARIE No, she never opened her mouth. Liliom came over to her of his own accord. MRS. MUSKAT It's all the same. I'm not going to get in trouble with the police, and lose my license on account of you--you shabby kitchen maid! JULIE Shabby yourself. MRS. MUSKAT You stay out of my carousel! Letting my barker fool with you! Aren't you ashamed of yourself? JULIE What? What did you say? MRS. MUSKAT I suppose you think I have no eyes in my head. I see everything that goes on in my carousel. During the whole ride she let Liliom fool with her--the shameless hussy! JULIE He did not fool with me! I don't let any man fool with me! MRS. MUSKAT He leaned against you all through the ride! JULIE He leaned against the panther. He always leans against something, doesn't he? Everybody leans where he wants. I couldn't tell him not to lean, if he always leans, could I? But he didn't lay a hand on me. MRS. MUSKAT Oh, didn't he? And I suppose he didn't put his hand around your waist, either? MARIE And if he did? What of it? MRS. MUSKAT You hold your tongue! No one's asking you--just you keep out of it. JULIE He put his arm around my waist--just the same as he does to all the girls. He always does that. MRS. MUSKAT I'll teach him not to do it any more, my dear. No carryings on in my carousel! If you are looking for that sort of thing, you'd better go to the circus! You'll find lots of soldiers there to carry on with! JULIE You keep your soldiers for yourself! MARIE Soldiers! As if we wanted soldiers! MRS. MUSKAT Well, I only want to tell you this, my dear, so that we understand each other perfectly. If you ever stick your nose in my carousel again, you'll wish you hadn't! I'm not going to lose my license on account of the likes of you! People who don't know how to behave, have got to stay out! JULIE You're wasting your breath. If I feel like riding on your carousel I'll pay my ten heller and I'll ride. I'd like to see anyone try to stop me! MRS. MUSKAT Just come and try it, my dear--just come and try it. MARIE We'll see what'll happen. MRS. MUSKAT Yes, you will see something happen that never happened before in this park. JULIE Perhaps you think you could throw me out! MRS. MUSKAT I'm sure of it, my dear. JULIE And suppose I'm stronger than you? MRS. MUSKAT I'd think twice before I'd dirty my hands on a common servant girl. I'll have Liliom throw you out. He knows how to handle your kind. JULIE You think Liliom would throw me out. MRS. MUSKAT Yes, my dear, so fast that you won't know what happened to you! JULIE He'd throw me---- [_Stops suddenly, for MRS. MUSKAT has turned away. Both look off stage until LILIOM enters, surrounded by four giggling servant girls._] LILIOM Go away! Stop following me, or I'll smack your face! A LITTLE SERVANT GIRL Well, give me back my handkerchief. LILIOM Go on now---- THE FOUR SERVANT GIRLS [_Simultaneously._] What do you think of him?--My handkerchief!--Give it back to her!--That's a nice thing to do! THE LITTLE SERVANT GIRL [_To MRS. MUSKAT._] Please, lady, make him---- MRS. MUSKAT Oh, shut up! LILIOM Will you get out of here? [_Makes a threatening gesture--the four servant girls exit in voluble but fearful haste._] MRS. MUSKAT What have you been doing now? LILIOM None of your business. [_Glances at JULIE._] Have you been starting with her again? JULIE Mister Liliom, please---- LILIOM [_Steps threateningly toward her._] Don't yell! JULIE [_Timidly._] I didn't yell. LILIOM Well, don't. [_To MRS. MUSKAT._] What's the matter? What has she done to you? MRS. MUSKAT What has she done? She's been impudent to me. Just as impudent as she could be! I put her out of the carousel. Take a good look at this innocent thing, Liliom. She's never to be allowed in my carousel again! LILIOM [_To JULIE._] You heard that. Run home, now. MARIE Come on. Don't waste your time with such people. [_Tries to lead JULIE away._] JULIE No, I won't---- MRS. MUSKAT If she ever comes again, you're not to let her in. And if she gets in before you see her, throw her out. Understand? LILIOM What has she done, anyhow? JULIE [_Agitated and very earnest._] Mister Liliom--tell me please--honest and truly--if I come into the carousel, will you throw me out? MRS. MUSKAT Of course he'll throw you out. MARIE She wasn't talking to you. JULIE Tell me straight to my face, Mister Liliom, would you throw me out? [_They face each other. There is a brief pause._] LILIOM Yes, little girl, if there was a reason--but if there was no reason, why should I throw you out? MARIE [_To MRS. MUSKAT._] There, you see! JULIE Thank you, Mister Liliom. MRS. MUSKAT And I tell you again, if this little slut dares to set her foot in my carousel, she's to be thrown out! I'll stand for no indecency in my establishment. LILIOM What do you mean--indecency? MRS. MUSKAT I saw it all. There's no use denying it. JULIE She says you put your arm around my waist. LILIOM Me? MRS. MUSKAT Yes, you! I saw you. Don't play the innocent. LILIOM Here's something new! I'm not to put my arm around a girl's waist any more! I suppose I'm to ask your permission before I touch another girl! MRS. MUSKAT You can touch as many girls as you want and as often as you want--for my part you can go as far as you like with any of them--but not this one--I permit no indecency in my carousel. [_There is a long pause._] LILIOM [_To MRS. MUSKAT._] And now I'll ask you please to shut your mouth. MRS. MUSKAT What? LILIOM Shut your mouth quick, and go back to your carousel. MRS. MUSKAT What? LILIOM What did she do to you, anyhow? Tryin' to start a fight with a little pigeon like that . . . just because I touched her?--You come to the carousel as often as you want to, little girl. Come every afternoon, and sit on the panther's back, and if you haven't got the price, Liliom will pay for you. And if anyone dares to bother you, you come and tell _me._ MRS. MUSKAT You reprobate! LILIOM Old witch! JULIE Thank you, Mister Liliom. MRS. MUSKAT You seem to think that I can't throw you out, too. What's the reason I can't? Because you are the best barker in the park? Well, you are very much mistaken. In fact, you can consider yourself thrown out already. You're discharged! LILIOM Very good. MRS. MUSKAT [_Weakening a little._] I can discharge you any time I feel like it. LILIOM Very good, you feel like discharging me. I'm discharged. That settles it. MRS. MUSKAT Playing the high and mighty, are you? Conceited pig! Good-for-nothing! LILIOM You said you'd throw me out, didn't you? Well, that suits me; I'm thrown out. MRS. MUSKAT [_Softening._] Do you have to take up every word I say? LILIOM It's all right; it's all settled. I'm a good-for-nothing. And a conceited pig. And I'm discharged. MRS. MUSKAT Do you want to ruin my business? LILIOM A good-for-nothing? Now I know! And I'm discharged! Very good. MRS. MUSKAT You're a devil, you are . . . and that woman---- LILIOM Keep away from her! MRS. MUSKAT I'll get Hollinger to give you such a beating that you'll hear all the angels sing . . . and it won't be the first time, either. LILIOM Get out of here. I'm discharged. And you get out of here. JULIE [_Timidly._] Mister Liliom, if she's willing to say that she hasn't discharged you---- LILIOM You keep out of this. JULIE [_Timidly._] I don't want this to happen on account of me. LILIOM [_To MRS. MUSKAT, pointing to JULIE._] Apologize to her! MARIE A-ha! MRS. MUSKAT Apologize? To who? LILIOM To this little pigeon. Well--are you going to do it? MRS. MUSKAT If you give me this whole park on a silver plate, and all the gold of the Rothschilds on top of it--I'd--I'd---- Let her dare to come into my carousel again and she'll get thrown out so hard that she'll see stars in daylight! LILIOM In that case, dear lady [_takes off his cap with a flourish_], you are respectfully requested to get out o' here as fast as your legs will carry you--I never beat up a woman yet--except that Holzer woman who I sent to the hospital for three weeks--but--if you don't get out o' here this minute, and let this little squab be, I'll give you the prettiest slap in the jaw you ever had in your life. MRS. MUSKAT Very good, my son. Now you _can_ go to the devil. Good-bye. You're discharged, and you needn't try to come back, either. [_She exits. It is beginning to grow dark._] MARIE [_With grave concern._] Mister Liliom---- LILIOM Don't you pity me or I'll give _you_ a slap in the jaw. [_To JULIE._] And don't you pity me, either. JULIE [_In alarm._] I don't pity you, Mister Liliom. LILIOM You're a liar, you _are_ pitying me. I can see it in your face. You're thinking, now that Madame Muskat has thrown him out, Liliom will have to go begging. Huh! Look at me. I'm big enough to get along without a Madame Muskat. I have been thrown out of better jobs than hers. JULIE What will you do now, Mister Liliom? LILIOM Now? First of all, I'll go and get myself--a glass of beer. You see, when something happens to annoy me, I always drink a glass of beer. JULIE Then you _are_ annoyed about losing your job. LILIOM No, only about where I'm going to get the beer. MARIE Well--eh---- LILIOM Well--eh--what? MARIE Well--eh--are you going to stay with us, Mister Liliom? LILIOM Will you pay for the beer? [_MARIE looks doubtful; he turns to JULIE._] Will you? [_She does not answer._] How much money have you got? JULIE [_Bashfully._] Eight heller. LILIOM And you? [_MARIE casts down her eyes and does not reply. LILIOM continues sternly._] I asked you how much you've got? [_MARIE begins to weep softly._] I understand. Well, you needn't cry about it. You girls stay here, while I go back to the carousel and get my clothes and things. And when I come back, we'll go to the Hungarian beer-garden. It's all right, I'll pay. Keep your money. [_He exits. MARIE and JULIE stand silent, watching him until he has gone._] MARIE Are you sorry for him? JULIE Are you? MARIE Yes, a little. Why are you looking after him in that funny way? JULIE [_Sits down._] Nothing--except I'm sorry he lost his job. MARIE [_With a touch of pride._] It was on our account he lost his job. Because he's fallen in love with you. JULIE He hasn't at all. MARIE [_Confidently._] Oh, yes! he is in love with you. [_Hesitantly, romantically._] There is someone in love with me, too. JULIE There is? Who? MARIE I--I never mentioned it before, because you hadn't a lover of your own--but now you have--and I'm free to speak. [_Very grandiloquently._] My heart has found its mate. JULIE You're only making it up. MARIE No, it's true--my heart's true love---- JULIE Who? Who is he? MARIE A soldier. JULIE What kind of a soldier? MARIE I don't know. Just a soldier. Are there different kinds? JULIE Many different kinds. There are hussars, artillerymen, engineers, infantry--that's the kind that walks--and---- MARIE How can you tell which is which? JULIE By their uniforms. MARIE [_After trying to puzzle it out._] The conductors on the street cars--are they soldiers? JULIE Certainly not. They're conductors. MARIE Well, they have uniforms. JULIE But they don't carry swords or guns. MARIE Oh! [_Thinks it over again; then._] Well, policemen--are they? JULIE [_With a touch of exasperation._] Are they what? MARIE Soldiers. JULIE Certainly not. They're just policemen. MARIE [_Triumphantly._] But they have uniforms--and they carry weapons, too. JULIE You're just as dumb as you can be. You don't go by their uniforms. MARIE But you said---- JULIE No, I didn't. A letter-carrier wears a uniform, too, but that doesn't make him a soldier. MARIE But if he carried a gun or a sword, would he be---- JULIE No, he'd still be a letter-carrier. You can't go by guns or swords, either. MARIE Well, if you don't go by the uniforms or the weapons, what _do_ you go by? JULIE By---- [_Tries to put it into words; fails; then breaks off suddenly._] Oh, you'll get to know when you've lived in the city long enough. You're nothing but a country girl. When you've lived in the city a year, like I have, you'll know all about it. MARIE [_Half angrily._] Well, how _do_ you know when _you_ see a real soldier? JULIE By one thing. MARIE What? JULIE One thing---- [_She pauses. MARIE starts to cry._] Oh, what are you crying about? MARIE Because you're making fun of me. . . . You're a city girl, and I'm just fresh from the country . . . and how am I expected to know a soldier when I see one? . . . You, you ought to tell me, instead of making fun of me---- JULIE All right. Listen then, cry-baby. There's only one way to tell a soldier: by his salute! That's the only way. MARIE [_Joyfully; with a sigh of relief._] Ah--that's good. JULIE What? MARIE I say--it's all right then--because Wolf--Wolf---- [_JULIE laughs derisively._] Wolf--that's his name. [_She weeps again._] JULIE Crying again? What now? MARIE You're making fun of me again. JULIE I'm not. But when you say, "Wolf--Wolf--" like that, I have to laugh, don't I? [_Archly._] What's his name again? MARIE I won't tell you. JULIE All right. If you won't say it, then he's no soldier. MARIE I'll say it. JULIE Go on. MARIE No, I won't. [_She weeps again._] JULIE Then he's not a soldier. I guess he's a letter-carrier---- MARIE No--no--I'd rather say it. JULIE Well, then. MARIE [_Giggling._] But you mustn't look at me. You look the other way, and I'll say it. [_JULIE looks away, MARIE can hardly restrain her own laughter._] Wolf! [_She laughs._] That's his real name. Wolf, Wolf, Soldier--Wolf! JULIE What kind of a uniform does he wear? MARIE Red. JULIE Red trousers? MARIE No. JULIE Red coat? MARIE No. JULIE What then? MARIE [_Triumphantly._] His cap! JULIE [_After a long pause._] He's just a porter, you dunce. Red cap . . . that's a porter--and he doesn't carry a gun or a sword, either. MARIE [_Triumphantly._] But he salutes. You said yourself that was the only way to tell a soldier---- JULIE He doesn't salute at all. He only greets people---- MARIE He salutes me. . . . And if his name _is_ Wolf, that doesn't prove he ain't a soldier--he salutes, and he wears a red cap and he stands on guard all day long outside a big building---- JULIE What does he do there? MARIE [_Seriously._] He spits. JULIE [_With contempt._] He's nothing--nothing but a common porter. MARIE What's Liliom? JULIE [_Indignantly._] Why speak of him? What has he to do with me? MARIE The same as Wolf has to do with me. If you can talk to me like that about Wolf, I can talk to you about Liliom. JULIE He's nothing to me. He put his arm around me in the carousel. I couldn't tell him not to put his arm around me after he had done it, could I? MARIE I suppose you didn't like him to do it? JULIE No. MARIE Then why are you waiting for him? Why don't you go home? JULIE Why--eh--he _said_ we were to wait for him. [_LILIOM enters. There is a long silence._] LILIOM Are you still here? What are you waiting for? MARIE You told us to wait. LILIOM Must you always interfere? No one is talking to you. MARIE You asked us--why we---- LILIOM Will you keep your mouth shut? What do you suppose I want with two of you? I meant that one of you was to wait. The other can go home. MARIE All right. JULIE All right. [_Neither starts to go._] LILIOM One of you goes home. [_To MARIE._] Where do you work? MARIE At the Breier's, Damjanovitsch Street, Number 20. LILIOM And you? JULIE I work there, too. LILIOM Well, one of you goes home. Which of you wants to stay? [_There is no answer._] Come on, speak up, which of you stays? MARIE [_Officiously._] She'll lose her job if she stays. LILIOM Who will? MARIE Julie. She has to be back by seven o'clock. LILIOM Is that true? Will they discharge you if you're not back on time? JULIE Yes. LILIOM Well, wasn't I discharged? JULIE Yes--you were discharged, too. MARIE Julie, shall I go? JULIE I--can't tell you what to do. MARIE All right--stay if you like. LILIOM You'll be discharged if you do? MARIE Shall I go, Julie? JULIE [_Embarrassed._] Why do you keep asking me that? MARIE You know best what to do. JULIE [_Profoundly moved; slowly._] It's all right, Marie, you can go home. MARIE [_Exits reluctantly, but comes back, and says uncertainly._] Good-night. [_She waits a moment to see if JULIE will follow her. JULIE does not move. MARIE exits. Meantime it has grown quite dark. During the following scene the gas-lamps far in the distance are lighted one by one. LILIOM and JULIE sit on the bench. From afar, very faintly, comes the music of a calliope. But the music is intermittently heard; now it breaks off, now it resumes again, as if it came down on a fitful wind. Blending with it are the sounds of human voices, now loud, now soft; the blare of a toy trumpet; the confused noises of the show-booths. It grows progressively darker until the end of the scene. There is no moonlight. The spring irridescence glows in the deep blue sky._] LILIOM Now we're both discharged. [_She does not answer. From now on they speak gradually lower and lower until the end of the scene, which is played almost in whispers. Whistles softly, then._] Have you had your supper? JULIE No. LILIOM Want to go eat something at the Garden? JULIE No. LILIOM Anywhere else? JULIE No. LILIOM [_Whistles softly, then._] You don't come to this park very often, do you? I've only seen you three times. Been here oftener than that? JULIE Oh, yes. LILIOM Did you see me? JULIE Yes. LILIOM And did you know I was Liliom? JULIE They told me. LILIOM [_Whistles softly, then._] Have you got a sweetheart? JULIE No. LILIOM Don't lie to me. JULIE I haven't. If I had, I'd tell you. I've never had one. LILIOM What an awful liar you are. I've got a good mind to go away and leave you here. JULIE I've never had one. LILIOM Tell that to someone else. JULIE [_Reproachfully._] Why do you insist I have? LILIOM Because you stayed here with me the first time I asked you to. You know your way around, you do. JULIE No, I don't, Mister Liliom. LILIOM I suppose you'll tell me you don't know why you're sitting here--like this, in the dark, alone with me--You wouldn't 'a' stayed so quick, if you hadn't done it before--with some soldier, maybe. This isn't the first time. You wouldn't have been so ready to stay if it was--what _did_ you stay for, anyhow? JULIE So you wouldn't be left alone. LILIOM Alone! God, you're dumb! I don't need to be alone. I can have all the girls I want. Not only servant girls like you, but cooks and governesses, even French girls. I could have twenty of them if I wanted to. JULIE I know, Mister Liliom. LILIOM What do you know? JULIE That all the girls are in love with you. But that's not why _I_ stayed. I stayed because you've been so good to me. LILIOM Well, then you can go home. JULIE I don't want to go home now. LILIOM And what if I go away and leave you sitting here? JULIE If you did, I wouldn't go home. LILIOM Do you know what you remind me of? A sweetheart I had once--I'll tell you how I met her---- One night, at closing time, we had put out the lights in the carousel, and just as I was---- [_He is interrupted by the entrance of two plainclothes POLICEMEN. They take their stations on either side of the bench. They are police, searching the park for vagabonds._] FIRST POLICEMAN What are you doing there? LILIOM Me? SECOND POLICEMAN Stand up when you're spoken to! [_He taps LILIOM imperatively on the shoulder._] FIRST POLICEMAN What's your name? LILIOM Andreas Zavoczki. [_JULIE begins to weep softly._] SECOND POLICEMAN Stop your bawling. We're not goin' to eat you. We are only making our rounds. FIRST POLICEMAN See that he doesn't get away. [_THE SECOND POLICEMAN steps closer to LILIOM._] What's your business? LILIOM Barker and bouncer. SECOND POLICEMAN They call him Liliom, Chief. We've had him up a couple of times. FIRST POLICEMAN So that's who you are! Who do you work for now? LILIOM I work for the widow Muskat. FIRST POLICEMAN What are you hanging around here for? LILIOM We're just sitting here--me and this girl. FIRST POLICEMAN Your sweetheart? LILIOM No. FIRST POLICEMAN [_To JULIE._] And who are you? JULIE Julie Zeller. FIRST POLICEMAN Servant girl? JULIE Maid of All Work for Mister Georg Breier, Number Twenty Damjanovitsch Street. FIRST POLICEMAN Show your hands. SECOND POLICEMAN [_After examining JULIE'S hand._] Servant girl. FIRST POLICEMAN Why aren't you at home? What are you doing out here with him? JULIE This is my day out, sir. FIRST POLICEMAN It would be better for you if you didn't spend it sitting around with a fellow like this. SECOND POLICEMAN They'll be disappearing in the bushes as soon as we turn our backs. FIRST POLICEMAN He's only after your money. We know this fine fellow. He picks up you silly servant girls and takes what money you have. Tomorrow you'll probably be coming around to report him. If you do, I'll throw you out. JULIE I haven't any money, sir. FIRST POLICEMAN Do you hear that, Liliom? LILIOM I'm not looking for her money. SECOND POLICEMAN [_Nudging him warningly._] Keep your mouth shut. FIRST POLICEMAN It is my duty to warn you, my child, what kind of company you're in. He makes a specialty of servant girls. That's why he works in a carousel. He gets hold of a girl, promises to marry her, then he takes her money and her ring. JULIE But I haven't got a ring. SECOND POLICEMAN You're not to talk unless you're asked a question. FIRST POLICEMAN You be thankful that I'm warning you. It's nothing to me what you do. I'm not your father, thank God. But I'm telling you what kind of a fellow he is. By tomorrow morning you'll be coming around to us to report him. Now you be sensible and go home. You needn't be afraid of him. This officer will take you home if you're afraid. JULIE Do I _have_ to go? FIRST POLICEMAN No, you don't _have_ to go. JULIE Then I'll stay, sir. FIRST POLICEMAN Well, you've been warned. JULIE Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. FIRST POLICEMAN Come on, Berkovics. [_The POLICEMEN exit. JULIE and LILIOM sit on the bench again. There is a brief pause._] JULIE Well, and what then? LILIOM [_Fails to understand._] Huh? JULIE You were beginning to tell me a story. LILIOM Me? JULIE Yes, about a sweetheart. You said, one night, just as they were putting out the lights of the carousel---- That's as far as you got. LILIOM Oh, yes, yes, just as the lights were going out, someone came along--a little girl with a big shawl--you know---- She came--eh--from---- Say--tell me--ain't you--that is, ain't you at all--afraid of me? The officer told you what kind of a fellow I am--and that I'd take your money away from you---- JULIE You couldn't take it away--I haven't got any. But if I had--I'd--I'd give it to you--I'd give it all to you. LILIOM You would? JULIE If you asked me for it. LILIOM Have you ever had a fellow you gave money to? JULIE No. LILIOM Haven't you ever had a sweetheart? JULIE No. LILIOM Someone you used to go walking with. You've had one like that? JULIE Yes. LILIOM A soldier? JULIE He came from the same village I did. LILIOM That's what all the soldiers say. Where _do_ you come from, anyway? JULIE Not far from here. [_There is a pause._] LILIOM Were you in love with him? JULIE Why do you keep asking me that all the time, Mister Liliom? I wasn't in love with him. We only went walking together. LILIOM Where did you walk? JULIE In the park. LILIOM And your virtue? Where did you lose that? JULIE I haven't got any virtue. LILIOM Well, you had once. JULIE No, I never had. I'm a respectable girl. LILIOM Yes, but you gave the soldier something. JULIE Why do you question me like that, Mister Liliom? LILIOM Did you give him something? JULIE You have to. But I didn't love him. LILIOM Do you love me? JULIE No, Mister Liliom. LILIOM Then why do you stay here with me? JULIE Um--nothing. [_There is a pause. The music from afar is plainly heard._] LILIOM Want to dance? JULIE No. I have to be very careful. LILIOM Of what? JULIE My--character. LILIOM Why? JULIE Because I'm never going to marry. If I was going to marry, it would be different. Then I wouldn't need to worry so much about my character. It doesn't make any difference if you're married. But I shan't marry--and that's why I've got to take care to be a respectable girl. LILIOM Suppose I were to say to you--I'll marry you. JULIE You? LILIOM That frightens you, doesn't it? You're thinking of what the officer said and you're afraid. JULIE No, I'm not, Mister Liliom. I don't pay any attention to what he said. LILIOM But you wouldn't dare to marry anyone like me, would you? JULIE I know that--that--if I loved anyone--it wouldn't make any difference to me what he--even if I died for it. LILIOM But you wouldn't marry a rough guy like me--that is,--eh--if you loved me---- JULIE Yes, I would--if I loved you, Mister Liliom. [_There is a pause._] LILIOM [_Whispers._] Well,--you just said--didn't you?--that you don't love me. Well, why don't you go home then? JULIE It's too late now, they'd all be asleep. LILIOM Locked out? JULIE Certainly. [_They are silent a while._] LILIOM I think--that even a low-down good-for-nothing--can make a man of himself. JULIE Certainly. [_They are silent again. A lamp-lighter crosses the stage, lights the lamp over the bench, and exits._] LILIOM Are you hungry? JULIE No. [_Another pause._] LILIOM Suppose--you had some money--and I took it from you? JULIE Then you could take it, that's all. LILIOM [_After another brief silence._] All I have to do--is go back to her--that Muskat woman--she'll be glad to get me back--then I'd be earning my wages again. [_She is silent. The twilight folds darker about them._] JULIE [_Very softly._] Don't go back--to her---- [_Pause._] LILIOM There are a lot of acacia trees around here. [_Pause._] JULIE Don't go back to her---- [_Pause._] LILIOM She'd take me back the minute I asked her. I know why--she knows, too---- [_Pause._] JULIE I can smell them, too--acacia blossoms---- [_There is a pause. Some blossoms drift down from the tree-top to the bench. LILIOM picks one up and smells it._] LILIOM White acacias! JULIE [_After a brief pause._] The wind brings them down. [_They are silent. There is a long pause before_] THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE TWO SCENE--_A photographer's "studio," operated by the HOLLUNDERS, on the fringe of the park. It is a dilapidated hovel. The general entrance is Back Left. Back Right there is a window with a sofa before it. The outlook is on the amusement park with perhaps a small Ferris-wheel or the scaffolding of a "scenic-railway" in the background._ _The door to the kitchen is up Left and a black-curtained entrance to the dark room is down Left. Just in front of the dark room stands the camera on its tripod. Against the back wall, between the door and window, stands the inevitable photographer's background-screen, ready to be wheeled into place._ _It is forenoon. When the curtain rises, MARIE and JULIE are discovered._ MARIE And _he_ beat up Hollinger? JULIE Yes, he gave him an awful licking. MARIE But Hollinger is bigger than he is. JULIE He licked him just the same. It isn't size that counts, you know, it's cleverness. And Liliom's awful quick. MARIE And then he was arrested? JULIE Yes, they arrested him, but they let him go the next day. That makes twice in the two months we've been living here that Liliom's been arrested and let go again. MARIE Why do they let him go? JULIE Because he is innocent. [_MOTHER HOLLUNDER, a very old woman, sharp-tongued, but in reality quite warm-hearted beneath her formidable exterior, enters at back carrying a few sticks of firewood, and scolding, half to herself._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER Always wanting something, but never willing to work for it. He won't work, and he won't steal, but he'll use up a poor old widow's last bit of firewood. He'll do that cheerfully enough! A big, strong lout like that lying around all day resting his lazy bones! He ought to be ashamed to look decent people in the face. JULIE I'm sorry, Mother Hollunder. . . . MOTHER HOLLUNDER Sorry! Better be sorry the lazy good-for-nothing ain't in jail where he belongs instead of in the way of honest, hard-working people. [_She exits into the kitchen._] MARIE Who's that? JULIE Mrs. Hollunder--my aunt. This is her [_with a sweeping gesture that takes in the camera, dark room and screen_] studio. She lets us live here for nothing. MARIE What's she fetching the wood for? JULIE She brings us everything we need. If it weren't for her I don't know what would become of us. She's a good-hearted soul even if her tongue is sharp. [_There is a pause._] MARIE [_Shyly._] Do you know--I've found out. He's not a soldier. JULIE Do you still see him? MARIE Oh, yes. JULIE Often? MARIE Very often. He's asked me---- JULIE To marry you? MARIE To marry me. JULIE You see--that proves he isn't a soldier. [_There is another pause._] MARIE [_Abashed, yet a bit boastfully._] Do you know what I'm doing--I'm flirting with him. JULIE Flirting? MARIE Yes. He asks me to go to the park--and I say I can't go. Then he coaxes me, and promises me a new scarf for my head if I go. But I don't go--even then. . . . So then he walks all the way home with me--and I bid him good-night at the door. JULIE Is that what you call flirting? MARIE Um-hm! It's sinful, but it's so _thrilling._ JULIE Do you ever quarrel? MARIE [_Grandly._] Only when our Passionate Love surges up. JULIE Your passionate love? MARIE Yes. . . . He takes my hand and we walk along together. Then he wants to swing hands, but I won't let him. I say: "Don't swing my hand"; and he says, "Don't be so stubborn." And then he tries to swing my hand again, but still I don't let him. And for a long time I don't let him--until in the end I let him. Then we walk along swinging hands--up and down, up and down--just like this. _That_ is Passionate Love. It's sinful, but it's awfully _thrilling._ JULIE You're happy, aren't you? MARIE Happier than--anything---- But the most beautiful thing on earth is Ideal Love. JULIE What kind is that? MARIE Daylight comes about three in the morning this time of the year. When we've been up that long we're all through with flirting and Passionate Love--and then our Ideal Love comes to the surface. It comes like this: I'll be sitting on the bench and Wolf, he holds my hand tight--and he puts his cheek against my cheek and we don't talk . . . we just sit there very quiet. . . . And after a while he gets sleepy, and his head sinks down, and he falls asleep . . . but even in his sleep he holds tight to my hand. And I--I sit perfectly still just looking around me and taking long, deep breaths--for by that time it's morning and the trees and flowers are fresh with dew. But Wolf doesn't smell anything because he's so fast asleep. And I get awfully sleepy myself, but I don't sleep. And we sit like that for a long time. That is Ideal Love---- [_There is a long pause._] JULIE [_Regretfully; uneasily._] He went out last night and he hasn't come home yet. MARIE Here are sixteen Kreuzer. It was supposed to be carfare to take my young lady to the conservatory--eight there and eight back--but I made her walk. Here--save it with the rest. JULIE This makes three gulden, forty-six. MARIE Three gulden, forty-six. JULIE He won't work at all. MARIE Too lazy? JULIE No. He never learned a trade, you see, and he can't just go and be a day-laborer--so he just does nothing. MARIE That ain't right. JULIE No. Have the Breiers got a new maid yet? MARIE They've had three since you left. You know, Wolf's going to take a new job. He's going to work for the city. He'll get rent free, too. JULIE He won't go back to work at the carousel either. I ask him why, but he won't tell me---- Last Monday he hit me. MARIE Did you hit him back? JULIE No. MARIE Why don't you leave him? JULIE I don't want to. MARIE I would. I'd leave him. [_There is a strained silence._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Enters, carrying a pot of water; muttering aloud._] He can play cards, all right. He can fight, too; and take money from poor servant girls. And the police turn their heads the other way---- The carpenter was here. JULIE Is that water for the soup? MOTHER HOLLUNDER The carpenter was here. There's a _man_ for you! Dark, handsome, lots of hair, a respectable widower with two children--and money, and a good paying business. JULIE [_To MARIE._] It's three gulden sixty-six, not forty-six. MARIE Yes, that's what I make it--sixty-six. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He wants to take her out of this and marry her. This is the fifth time he's been here. He has two children, but---- JULIE Please don't bother, Aunt Hollunder, I'll get the water myself. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He's waiting outside now. JULIE Send him away. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He'll only come back again--and first thing you know that vagabond will get jealous and there'll be a fight. [_Goes out, muttering._] Oh, he's ready enough to fight, he is. Strike a poor little girl like that! Ought to be ashamed of himself! And the police just let him go on doing as he pleases. [_Still scolding, she exits at back._] MARIE A carpenter wants to marry you? JULIE Yes. MARIE Why don't you? JULIE Because---- MARIE Liliom doesn't support you, and he beats you--he thinks he can do whatever he likes just because he's Liliom. He's a bad one. JULIE He's not really bad. MARIE That night you sat on the bench together--he was gentle then. JULIE Yes, he was gentle. MARIE And afterwards he got wild again. JULIE Afterwards he got wild--sometimes. But that night on the bench . . . he was gentle. He's gentle now, sometimes, very gentle. After supper, when he stands there and listens to the music of the carousel, something comes over him--and he is gentle. MARIE Does he say anything? JULIE He doesn't say anything. He gets thoughtful and very quiet, and his big eyes stare straight ahead of him. MARIE Into your eyes? JULIE Not exactly. He's unhappy because he isn't working. That's really why he hit me on Monday. MARIE That's a fine reason for hitting you! Beats his wife because he isn't working, the ruffian! JULIE It preys on his mind---- MARIE Did he hurt you? JULIE [_Very eagerly._] Oh, no. MRS. MUSKAT [_Enters haughtily._] Good morning. Is Liliom home? JULIE No. MRS. MUSKAT Gone out? JULIE He hasn't come home yet. MRS. MUSKAT I'll wait for him. [_She sits down._] MARIE You've got a lot of gall--to come here. MRS. MUSKAT Are you the lady of the house, my dear? Better look out or you'll get a slap in the mouth. MARIE How dare you set foot in Julie's house? MRS. MUSKAT [_To JULIE._] Pay no attention to her, my child. You know what brings me here. That vagabond, that good-for-nothing, I've come to give him his bread and butter back. MARIE He's not dependent on you for his bread. MRS. MUSKAT [_To JULIE._] Just ignore her, my child. She's just ignorant. MARIE [_Going._] Good-bye. JULIE Good-bye. MARIE [_In the doorway, calling back._] Sixty-six. JULIE Yes, sixty-six. MARIE Good-bye. [_She exits. JULIE starts to go toward the kitchen._] MRS. MUSKAT I paid him a krone a day, and on Sunday a gulden. And he got all the beer and cigars he wanted from the customers. [_JULIE pauses on the threshold, but does not answer._] And he'd rather starve than beg my pardon. Well, I don't insist on that. I'll take him back without it. [_JULIE does not answer._] The fact is the people ask for him--and, you see, I've got to consider business first. It's nothing to me if he starves. I wouldn't be here at all, if it wasn't for business---- [_She pauses, for LILIOM and FICSUR have entered._] JULIE Mrs. Muskat is here. LILIOM I see she is. JULIE You might say good-morning. LILIOM What for? And what do _you_ want, anyhow? JULIE I don't want anything. LILIOM Then keep your mouth shut. Next thing you'll be starting to nag again about my being out all night and out of work and living on your relations---- JULIE I'm not saying anything. LILIOM But it's all on the tip of your tongue--I know you--now don't start or you'll get another. [_He paces angrily up and down. They are all a bit afraid of him, and shrink and look away as he passes them. FICSUR shambles from place to place, his eyes cast down as if he were searching for something on the floor._] MRS. MUSKAT [_Suddenly, to FICSUR._] You're always dragging him out to play cards and drink with you. I'll have you locked up, I will. FICSUR I don't want to talk to you. You're too common. [_He goes out by the door at back and lingers there in plain view. There is a pause._] JULIE Mrs. Muskat is here. LILIOM Well, why doesn't she open her mouth, if she has anything to say? MRS. MUSKAT Why do you go around with this man Ficsur? He'll get you mixed up in one of his robberies first thing you know. LILIOM What's it to you who I go with? I do what I please. What do you want? MRS. MUSKAT You know what I want. LILIOM No, I don't. MRS. MUSKAT What do you suppose I want? Think I've come just to pay a social call? LILIOM Do I owe you anything? MRS. MUSKAT Yes, you do--but that's not what I came for. You're a fine one to come to for money! You earn so much these days! You know very well what I'm here for. LILIOM You've got Hollinger at the carousel, haven't you? MRS. MUSKAT Sure I have. LILIOM Well, what else do you want? He's as good as I am. MRS. MUSKAT You're quite right, my boy. He's every bit as good as you are. I'd not dream of letting him go. But one isn't enough any more. There's work enough for two---- LILIOM One was enough when _I_ was there. MRS. MUSKAT Well, I might let Hollinger go---- LILIOM Why let him go, if he's so good? MRS. MUSKAT [_Shrugs her shoulders._] Yes, he's good. [_Not once until now has she looked at LILIOM._] LILIOM [_To JULIE._] Ask your aunt if I can have a cup of coffee. [_JULIE exits into the kitchen._] So Hollinger is good, is he? MRS. MUSKAT [_Crosses to him and looks him, in the face._] Why don't you stay home and sleep at night? You're a sight to look at. LILIOM He's good, is he? MRS. MUSKAT Push your hair back from your forehead. LILIOM Let my hair be. It's nothing to you. MRS. MUSKAT All right. But if I'd told you to let it hang down over your eyes you'd have pushed it back--I hear you've been beating her, this--this---- LILIOM None of your business. MRS. MUSKAT You're a fine fellow! Beating a skinny little thing like that! If you're tired of her, leave her, but there's no use beating the poor---- LILIOM Leave her, eh? You'd like that, wouldn't you? MRS. MUSKAT Don't flatter yourself. [_Quite embarrassed._] Serves me right, too. If I had any sense I wouldn't have run after you---- My God, the things one must do for the sake of business! If I could only sell the carousel I wouldn't be sitting here. . . . Come, Liliom, if you have any sense, you'll come back. I'll pay you well. LILIOM The carousel is crowded just the same . . . _without me?_ MRS. MUSKAT Crowded, yes--but it's not the same. LILIOM Then you admit that you _do_ miss me. MRS. MUSKAT Miss you? Not I. But the silly girls miss you. They're always asking for you. Well, are you going to be sensible and come back? LILIOM And leave--her? MRS. MUSKAT You beat her, don't you? LILIOM No, I don't beat her. What's all this damn fool talk about beating her? I hit her once--that was all--and now the whole city seems to be talking about it. You don't call that beating her, do you? MRS. MUSKAT All right, all right. I take it back. I don't want to get mixed up in it. LILIOM Beating her! As if I'd beat her---- MRS. MUSKAT I can't make out why you're so concerned about her. You've been married to her two months--it's plain to see that you're sick of it--and out there is the carousel--and the show booths--and money--and you'd throw it all away. For what? Heavens, how can anyone be such a fool? [_Looks at him appraisingly._] Where have you been all night? You look awful. LILIOM It's no business of yours. MRS. MUSKAT You never used to look like that. This life is telling on you. [_Pauses._] Do you know--I've got a new organ. LILIOM [_Softly._] I know. MRS. MUSKAT How did you know? LILIOM You can hear it--from here. MRS. MUSKAT It's a good one, eh? LILIOM [_Wistfully._] Very good. Fine. It roars and snorts--so fine. MRS. MUSKAT You should hear it close by--it's heavenly. Even the carousel seems to know . . . it goes quicker. I got rid of those two horses--you know, the ones with the broken ears? LILIOM What have you put in their place? MRS. MUSKAT Guess. LILIOM Zebras? MRS. MUSKAT No--an automobile. LILIOM [_Transported._] An automobile---- MRS. MUSKAT Yes. If you've got any sense you'll come back. What good are you doing here? Out there is your _art_, the only thing you're fit for. You are an artist, not a respectable married man. LILIOM _Leave_ her--this little---- MRS. MUSKAT She'll be better off. She'll go back and be a servant girl again. As for you--you're an artist and you belong among artists. All the beer you want, cigars, a krone a day and a gulden on Sunday, and the girls, Liliom, the girls--I've always treated you right, haven't I? I bought you a watch, and---- LILIOM She's not that kind. She'd never be a servant girl again. MRS. MUSKAT I suppose you think she'd kill herself. Don't worry. Heavens, if every girl was to commit suicide just because her---- [_Finishes with a gesture._] LILIOM [_Stares at her a moment, considering, then with sudden, smiling animation._] So the people don't like Hollinger? MRS. MUSKAT You know very well they don't, you rascal. LILIOM Well---- MRS. MUSKAT You've always been happy at the carousel. It's a great life--pretty girls and beer and cigars and music--a great life and an easy one. I'll tell you what--come back and I'll give you a ring that used to belong to my dear departed husband. Well, will you come? LILIOM She's not that kind. She'd never be a servant girl again. But--but--for my part--if I decide--that needn't make any difference. I can go on living with her even if I do go back to my art---- MRS. MUSKAT My God! LILIOM What's the matter? MRS. MUSKAT Who ever heard of a married man--I suppose you think all girls would be pleased to know that you were running home to your wife every night. It's ridiculous! When the people found out they'd laugh themselves sick---- LILIOM I know what you want. MRS. MUSKAT [_Refuses to meet his gaze._] You flatter yourself. LILIOM You'll give me that ring, too? MRS. MUSKAT [_Pushes the hair back from his forehead._] Yes. LILIOM I'm not happy in this house. MRS. MUSKAT [_Still stroking his hair._] Nobody takes care of you. [_They are silent. JULIE enters, carrying a cup of coffee. MRS. MUSKAT removes her hand from LILIOM'S head. There is a pause._] LILIOM Do you want anything? JULIE No. [_There is a pause. She exits slowly into the kitchen._] MRS. MUSKAT The old woman says there is a carpenter, a widower, who---- LILIOM I know--I know---- JULIE [_Reëntering._] Liliom, before I forget, I have something to tell you. LILIOM All right. JULIE I've been wanting to tell you--in fact, I was going to tell you yesterday---- LILIOM Go ahead. JULIE But I must tell you alone--if you'll come in--it will only take a minute. LILIOM Don't you see I'm busy now? Here I am talking business and you interrupt with---- JULIE It'll only take a minute. LILIOM Get out of here, or---- JULIE But I tell you it will only take a minute---- LILIOM Will you get out of here? JULIE [_Courageously._] No. LILIOM [_Rising._] What's that! JULIE No. MRS. MUSKAT [_Rises, too._] Now don't start fighting. I'll go out and look at the photographs in the show-case a while and come back later for your answer. [_She exits at back._] JULIE You can hit me again if you like--don't look at me like that. I'm not afraid of you. . . . I'm not afraid of anyone. I told you I had something to tell you. LILIOM Well, out with it--quick. JULIE I can't tell you so quick. Why don't you drink your coffee? LILIOM Is that what you wanted to tell me? JULIE No. By the time you've drunk your coffee I'll have told you. LILIOM [_Gets the coffee and sips it._] Well? JULIE Yesterday my head ached--and you asked me---- LILIOM Yes---- JULIE Well--you see--that's what it is---- LILIOM Are you sick? JULIE No. . . . But you wanted to know what my headaches came from--and you said I seemed--changed. LILIOM Did I? I guess I meant the carpenter. JULIE I've been--what? The carpenter? No. It's something entirely different--it's awful hard to tell--but you'll have to know sooner or later--I'm not a bit--scared--because it's a perfectly natural thing---- LILIOM [_Puts the coffee cup on the table._] What? JULIE When--when a man and woman--live together---- LILIOM Yes. JULIE I'm going to have a baby. [_She exits swiftly at back. There is a pause. FICSUR appears at the open window and looks in._] LILIOM Ficsur! [_FICSUR sticks his head in._] Say, Ficsur,--Julie is going to have a baby. FICSUR Yes? What of it? LILIOM Nothing. [_Suddenly._] Get out of here. [_FICSUR'S head is quickly withdrawn. MRS. MUSKAT reënters._] MRS. MUSKAT Has she gone? LILIOM Yes. MRS. MUSKAT I might as well give you ten kronen in advance. [_Opens her purse. LILIOM takes up his coffee cup._] Here you are. [_She proffers some coins. LILIOM ignores her._] Why don't you take it? LILIOM [_Very nonchalantly, his cup poised ready to drink._] Go home, Mrs. Muskat. MRS. MUSKAT What's the matter with you? LILIOM Go home [_sips his coffee_] and let me finish my coffee in peace. Don't you see I'm at breakfast? MRS. MUSKAT Have you gone crazy? LILIOM Will you get out of here? [_Turns to her threateningly._] MRS. MUSKAT [_Restoring the coins to her purse._] I'll never speak to you again as long as you live. LILIOM That worries me a lot. MRS. MUSKAT Good-bye! LILIOM Good-bye. [_As she exits, he calls._] Ficsur! [_FICSUR enters._] Tell me, Ficsur. You said you knew a way to get a whole lot of money---- FICSUR Sure I do. LILIOM How much? FICSUR More than you ever had in your life before. You leave it to an old hand like me. MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Enters from the kitchen._] In the morning he must have his coffee, and at noon his soup, and in the evening coffee again--and plenty of firewood--and I'm expected to furnish it all. Give me back my cup and saucer. [_The show booths of the amusement-park have opened for business. The familiar noises begin to sound; clear above them all, but far in the distance, sounds the organ of the carousel._] LILIOM Now, Aunt Hollunder. [_From now until the fall of the curtain it is apparent that the sound of the organ makes him more and more uneasy._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER And you, you vagabond, get out of here this minute or I'll call my son---- FICSUR I have nothing to do with the likes of him. He's too common. [_But he slinks out at back._] LILIOM Aunt Hollunder! MOTHER HOLLUNDER What now? LILIOM When your son was born--when you brought him into the world---- MOTHER HOLLUNDER Well? LILIOM Nothing. MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Muttering as she exits._] Sleep it off, you good-for-nothing lout. Drink and play cards all night long--that's all you know how to do--and take the bread out of poor people's mouths--you can do that, too. [_She exits._] LILIOM Ficsur! FICSUR [_At the window._] Julie's going to have a baby. You told me before. LILIOM This scheme--about the cashier of the leather factory--there's money in it---- FICSUR Lots of money--but--it takes two to pull it off. LILIOM [_Meditatively._] Yes. [_Uneasily._] All right, Ficsur. Go away--and come back later. [_FICSUR vanishes. The organ in the distant carousel drones incessantly. LILIOM listens a while, then goes to the door and calls._] LILIOM Aunt Hollunder! [_With naïve joy._] Julie's going to have a baby. [_Then he goes to the window, jumps on the sofa, looks out. Suddenly, in a voice that overtops the droning of the organ, he shouts as if addressing the far-off carousel._] I'm going to be a father. JULIE [_Enters from the kitchen._] Liliom! What's the matter? What's happened? LILIOM [_Coming down from the sofa._] Nothing. [_Throws himself on the sofa, buries his face in the cushion. JULIE watches him a moment, comes over to him and covers him with a shawl. Then she goes on tip-toe to the door at back and remains standing in the doorway, looking out and listening to the droning of the organ._] THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE THREE SCENE--_The setting is the same, later that afternoon. LILIOM is sitting opposite FICSUR, who is teaching him a song. JULIE hovers in the background, engaged in some household task._ FICSUR Listen now. Here's the third verse. [_Sings hoarsely._] "Look out, look out, my pretty lad. The damn police are on your trail; The nicest girl you ever had Has now commenced to weep and wail: Look out here comes the damn police, The damn police, The damn police, Look out here comes the damn police, They'll get you every time." LILIOM [_Sings._] "Look out, look out, my pretty lad. The damn police----" FICSUR, LILIOM [_Sing together._] "Are on your trail The nicest girl you ever had Has now commenced to weep and wail." LILIOM [_Alone._] "Look out here comes the damn police, The damn police, The damn police----" [_JULIE, troubled and uneasy, looks from one to the other, then exits into the kitchen._] FICSUR [_When she has gone, comes quickly over to LILIOM and speaks furtively._] As you go down Franzen Street you come to the railroad embankment. Beyond that--all the way to the leather factory--there's not a thing in sight, not even a watchman's hut. LILIOM And does he always come that way? FICSUR Yes. Not along the embankment, but down below along the path across the fields. Since last year he's been going alone. Before that he always used to have someone with him. LILIOM Every Saturday? FICSUR Every Saturday. LILIOM And the money? Where does he keep it? FICSUR In a leather bag. The whole week's pay for the workmen at the factory. LILIOM Much? FICSUR Sixteen thousand kronen. Quite a haul, what? LILIOM What's his name? FICSUR Linzman. He's a Jew. LILIOM The cashier? FICSUR Yes--but when he gets a knife between his ribs--or if I smash his skull for him--he won't be a cashier any more. LILIOM Does he have to be killed? FICSUR No, he doesn't _have_ to be. He can give up the money _without_ being killed--but most of these cashiers are peculiar--they'd rather be killed. [_JULIE reënters, pretends to get something on the other side of the room, then exits at back. During the ensuing dialogue she keeps coming in and out in the same way, showing plainly that she is suspicious and anxious. She attempts to overhear what they are saying and, in spite of their caution, does catch a word here and there, which adds to her disquiet. FICSUR, catching sight of her, abruptly changes the conversation._] FICSUR And the next verse is: "And when you're in the prison cell They'll feed you bread and water." FICSUR AND LILIOM [_Sing together._] "They'll make your little sweetheart tell Them all the things you brought her. Look out here comes the damn police, The damn police, The damn police. Look out here comes the damn police They'll get you every time." LILIOM [_Sings alone._] "And when you're in the prison cell They'll feed you bread and water----" [_Breaks off as JULIE exits._] And when it's done, do we start right off for America? FICSUR No. LILIOM What then? FICSUR We bury the money for six months. That's the usual time. And after the sixth month we dig it up again. LILIOM And then? FICSUR Then you go on living just as usual for six months more--you don't touch a heller of the money. LILIOM In six months the baby will be born. FICSUR Then we'll take the baby with us, too. Three months before the time you'll go to work so as to be able to say you saved up your wages to get to America. LILIOM Which of us goes up and talks to him? FICSUR One of us talks to him with his mouth and the other talks with his knife. Depends on which you'd rather do. I'll tell you what--you talk to him with your mouth. LILIOM Do you hear that? FICSUR What? LILIOM Outside . . . like the rattle of swords. [_FICSUR listens. After a pause, LILIOM continues._] What do I say to him? FICSUR You say good evening to him and: "Excuse me, sir; can you tell me the time?" LILIOM And then what? FICSUR By that time I'll have stuck him--and then you take _your_ knife---- [_He stops as a POLICEMAN enters at back._] POLICEMAN Good-day! FICSUR, LILIOM [_In unison._] Good-day! FICSUR [_Calling toward the kitchen._] Hey, photographer, come out. . . . Here's a customer. [_There is a pause. The POLICEMAN waits. FICSUR sings softly._] "And when you're in the prison cell They'll feed you bread and water They'll make your little sweetheart tell." LILIOM, FICSUR [_Sing together, low._] "Them all the things you brought her. Look out here comes the----" [_They hum the rest so as not to let the POLICEMAN hear the words "the damn police." As they sing, MRS. HOLLUNDER and her son enter._] POLICEMAN Do you make cabinet photographs? YOUNG HOLLUNDER Certainly, sir. [_Points to a rack of photographs on the wall._] Take your choice, sir. Would you like one full length? POLICEMAN Yes, full length. [_MOTHER HOLLUNDER pushes out the camera while her son poses the POLICEMAN, runs from him to the camera and back again, now altering the pose, now ducking under the black cloth and pushing the camera nearer. Meanwhile MOTHER HOLLUNDER has fetched a plate from the dark room and thrust it in the camera. While this is going on, LILIOM and FICSUR, their heads together, speak in very low tones._] LILIOM Belong around here? FICSUR Not around here. LILIOM Where, then? FICSUR Suburban. [_There is a pause._] LILIOM [_Bursts out suddenly in a rather grotesquely childish and overstrained lament._] O God, what a dirty life I'm leading--God, God! FICSUR [_Reassuring him benevolently._] Over in America it will be better, all right. LILIOM What's over there? FICSUR [_Virtuously._] Factories . . . industries---- YOUNG HOLLUNDER [_To the POLICEMAN._] Now, quite still, please. One, two, three. [_Deftly removes the cover of the lens and in a few seconds restores it._] Thank you. MOTHER HOLLUNDER The picture will be ready in five minutes. POLICEMAN Good. I'll come back in five minutes. How much do I owe you? YOUNG HOLLUNDER [_With exaggerated deference._] You don't need to pay in advance, Mr. Commissioner. [_The POLICEMAN salutes condescendingly and exits at back. MOTHER HOLLUNDER carries the plate into the dark room. YOUNG HOLLUNDER, after pushing the camera back in place, follows her._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Muttering angrily as she passes FICSUR and LILIOM._] You hang around and dirty the whole place up! Why don't you go take a walk? Things are going so well with you that you have to sing, eh? [_Confronting FICSUR suddenly._] Weren't you frightened sick when you saw the policeman? FICSUR [_With loathing._] Go 'way, or I'll step on you. [_She exits into the dark room._] LILIOM They like Hollinger at the carousel? FICSUR I should say they do. LILIOM Did you see the Muskat woman, too? FICSUR Sure. She takes care of Hollinger's hair. LILIOM Combs his hair? FICSUR She fixes him all up. LILIOM Let her fix him all she likes. FICSUR [_Urging him toward the kitchen door._] Go on. Now's your chance. LILIOM What for? FICSUR To get the knife. LILIOM What knife? FICSUR The kitchen knife. I've got a pocket-knife, but if he shows fight, we'll let him have the big knife. LILIOM What for? If he gets ugly, I'll bat him one over the head that'll make him squint for the rest of his life. FICSUR You've got to have something on you. You can't slit his throat with a bat over the head. LILIOM Must his throat be slit? FICSUR No, it _mustn't._ But if he asks for it. [_There is a pause._] You'd like to sail on the big steamer, wouldn't you? And you want to see the factories over there, don't you? But you're not willing to inconvenience yourself a little for them. LILIOM If I take the knife, Julie will see me. FICSUR Take it so she won't see you. LILIOM [_Advances a few paces toward the kitchen. The POLICEMAN enters at back. LILIOM knocks on the door of the dark room._] Here's the policeman! MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Coming out._] One minute more, please. Just a minute. [_She reënters the dark room. LILIOM hesitates a moment, then exits into the kitchen. The POLICEMAN scrutinizes FICSUR mockingly. FICSUR returns his stare, walks a few paces toward him, then deliberately turns his back. Suddenly he wheels around, points at the POLICEMAN and addresses him in a teasing, childish tone._] Christiana Street at the corner of Retti! POLICEMAN [_Amazed, self-conscious._] How do you know that? FICSUR I used to practice my profession in that neighborhood. POLICEMAN What is your profession? FICSUR Professor of pianola---- [_The POLICEMAN glares, aware that the man is joking with him, twirls his moustache indignantly. YOUNG HOLLUNDER comes out of the dark room and gives him the finished pictures._] YOUNG HOLLUNDER Here you are, sir. [_The POLICEMAN examines the photographs, pays for them, starts to go, stops, glares at FICSUR and exits. When he is gone, FICSUR goes to the doorway and looks out after him. YOUNG HOLLUNDER exits. LILIOM reënters, buttoning his coat._] FICSUR [_Turns, sees LILIOM._] What are you staring at? LILIOM I'm not staring. FICSUR What then are you doing? LILIOM I'm thinking it over. FICSUR [_Comes very close to him._] Tell me then--what will you say to him? LILIOM [_Unsteadily._] I'll say--"Good evening--Excuse me, sir--Can you tell me the time?" And suppose he answers me, what do I say to him? FICSUR He won't answer you. LILIOM Don't you think so? FICSUR No. [_Feeling for the knife under LILIOM'S coat._] Where is it? Where did you put it? LILIOM [_Stonily._] Left side. FICSUR That's right--over your heart. [_Feels it._] Ah--there it is--there--there's the blade--quite a big fellow, isn't it--ah, here it begins to get narrower. [_Reaches the tip of the knife._] And here is its eye--that's what it sees with. [_JULIE enters from the kitchen, passes them slowly, watching them in silent terror, then stops. FICSUR nudges LILIOM._] Sing, come on, sing! LILIOM [_In a quavering voice._] "Look out for the damn police." FICSUR [_Joining in, cheerily, loudly, marking time with the swaying of his body._] "Look out, look out, my pretty lad." LILIOM "--look out, my pretty lad." [_JULIE goes out at back. LILIOM'S glance follows her. When she has gone, he turns to FICSUR._] At night--in my dreams--if his ghost comes back--what will I do then? FICSUR His ghost won't never come back. LILIOM Why not? FICSUR A Jew's ghost don't come back. LILIOM Well then--afterwards---- FICSUR [_Impatiently._] What do you mean--afterwards? LILIOM In the next world--when I come up before the Lord God--what'll I say then? FICSUR The likes of you will never come up before Him. LILIOM Why not? FICSUR Have you ever come up before the high court? LILIOM No. FICSUR Our kind comes up before the police magistrate--and the highest we _ever_ get is the criminal court. LILIOM Will it be the same in the next world? FICSUR Just the same. We'll come up before a police magistrate, same as we did in this world. LILIOM A police magistrate? FICSUR Sure. For the rich folks--the Heavenly Court. For us poor people--only a police magistrate. For the rich folks--fine music and angels. For us---- LILIOM For us? FICSUR For us, my son, there's only justice. In the next world there'll be lots of justice, yes, nothing but justice. And where there's justice there must be police magistrates; and where there're police magistrates, people like us get---- LILIOM [_Interrupting._] Good evening. Excuse me, sir, can you tell me the time? [_Lays his hand over his heart._] FICSUR What do you put your hand there for? LILIOM My heart is jumping--under the knife. FICSUR Put it on the other side then. [_Looks out at the sky._] It's time we started--we'll walk slow---- LILIOM It's too early. FICSUR Come on. [_As they are about to go, JULIE appears in the doorway at back, obstructing the way._] JULIE Where are you going with him? LILIOM Where am I going with him? JULIE Stay home. LILIOM No. JULIE Stay home. It's going to rain soon, and you'll get wet. FICSUR It won't rain. JULIE How do you know? FICSUR I always get notice in advance. JULIE Stay home. This evening the carpenter's coming. I've asked him to give you work. LILIOM I'm not a carpenter. JULIE [_More and more anxious, though she tries to conceal it._] Stay home. Marie's coming with her intended to have their picture taken. She wants to introduce us to her intended husband. LILIOM I've seen enough intended husbands---- JULIE Stay home. Marie's bringing some money, and I'll give it all to you. LILIOM [_Approaching the door._] I'm going--for a walk--with Ficsur. We'll be right back. JULIE [_Forcing a smile to keep back her tears._] If you stay home, I'll get you a glass of beer--or wine, if you prefer. FICSUR Coming or not? JULIE I'm not angry with you any more for hitting me. LILIOM [_Gruffly, but his gruffness is simulated to hide the fact that he cannot bear the sight of her suffering._] Stand out of the way--or I'll---- [_He clenches his fist._] Let me out! JULIE [_Trembling._] What have you got under your coat? LILIOM [_Produces from his pocket a greasy pack of cards._] Cards. JULIE [_Trembling, speaks very low._] What's under your coat? LILIOM Let me out! JULIE [_Obstructing the way. Speaks quickly, eagerly, in a last effort to detain him._] Marie's intended knows about a place for a married couple without children to be caretakers of a house on Arader Street. Rent free, a kitchen of your own, and the privilege of keeping chickens---- LILIOM Get out of the way! [_JULIE stands aside. LILIOM exits. FICSUR follows him. JULIE remains standing meditatively in the doorway. MOTHER HOLLUNDER comes out of the kitchen._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER I can't find my kitchen knife anywhere. Have you seen anything of it? JULIE [_Horrified._] No. MOTHER HOLLUNDER It was on the kitchen table just a few minutes ago. No one was in there except Liliom. JULIE He didn't take it. MOTHER HOLLUNDER No one else was in there. JULIE What would Liliom want with a kitchen knife? MOTHER HOLLUNDER He'd sell it and spend the money on drink. JULIE It just so happens--see how unjust you are to him--it just so happens that I went through all of Liliom's pockets just now--I wanted to see if he had any money on him. But he had nothing but a pack of cards. MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Returns to the kitchen, grumbling._] Cards in his pocket--cards! The fine gentlemen have evidently gone off to their club to play a little game. [_She exits. After a pause MARIE, happy and beaming, appears in the doorway at back, and enters, followed by WOLF._] MARIE Here we are! [_She takes WOLF by the hand and leads him, grinning shyly, to JULIE, who has turned at her call._] Hello! JULIE Hello. MARIE Well, we're here. JULIE Yes. WOLF [_Bows awkwardly and extends his hand._] My name is Wolf Beifeld. JULIE My name is Julie Zeller. [_They shake hands. There is an embarrassed silence. Then, to relieve the situation, WOLF takes JULIE'S hand again and shakes it vigorously._] MARIE Well--this is Wolf. WOLF Yes. JULIE Yes. [_Another awkward silence._] MARIE Where is Liliom? WOLF Yes, where is your husband? JULIE He's out. MARIE Where? JULIE Just for a walk. MARIE Is he? JULIE Yes. WOLF Oh! [_Another silence._] MARIE Wolf's got a new place. After the first of the month he won't have to stand outside any more. He's going to work in a club after the first of the month. WOLF [_Apologetically._] She don't know yet how to explain these things just right--hehehe---- Beginning the first I'm to be second steward at the Burger Club--a good job, if one conducts oneself properly. JULIE Yes? WOLF The pay--is quite good--but the main thing is the tips. When they play cards there's always a bit for the steward. The tips, I may say, amount to twenty, even thirty kronen every night. MARIE Yes. WOLF We've rented two rooms for ourselves to start with--and if things go well---- MARIE Then we'll buy a house in the country. WOLF If one only tends to business and keeps honest. Of course, in the country we'll miss the city life, but if the good Lord sends us children--it's much healthier for children in the country. [_There is a brief pause._] MARIE Wolf's nice looking, isn't he? JULIE Yes. MARIE And he's a good boy, Wolf. JULIE Yes. MARIE The only thing is--he's a Jew. JULIE Oh, well, you can get used to that. MARIE Well, aren't you going to wish us luck? JULIE Of course I do. [_She embraces MARIE._] MARIE And aren't you going to kiss Wolf, too? JULIE Him, too. [_She embraces WOLF, remains quite still a moment, her head resting on his shoulder._] WOLF Why are you crying, my dear Mrs.---- [_He looks questioningly at MARIE over JULIE'S shoulder._] MARIE Because she has such a good heart. [_She becomes sentimental, too._] WOLF [_Touched._] We thank you for your heartfelt sympathy---- [_He cannot restrain his own tears. There is a pause before MOTHER HOLLUNDER and her son enter. YOUNG HOLLUNDER immediately busies himself with the camera._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER Now if you don't mind, we'll do it right away, before it gets too dark. [_She leads MARIE and WOLF into position before the background-screen. Here they immediately fall into an awkward pose, smiling mechanically._] Full length? MARIE Please. Both figures full length. MOTHER HOLLUNDER Bride and groom? MARIE Yes. MOTHER HOLLUNDER, YOUNG HOLLUNDER [_Speak in unison, in loud professionally-expressionless tones._] The lady looks at the gentleman and the gentleman looks straight into the camera. MOTHER HOLLUNDER [_Poses first MARIE, then WOLF._] Now, if you please. YOUNG HOLLUNDER [_Who has crept under the black cloth, calls in muffled tones._] That's good--that's very good! MARIE [_Stonily rigid, but very happy, trying to speak without altering her expression._] Julie, dear, do we look all right? JULIE Yes, dear. YOUNG HOLLUNDER Now, if you please, hold still. I'll count up to three, and then you must hold perfectly still. [_Grasps the cover of the lens and calls threateningly._] One--two--three! [_He removes the cover; there is utter silence. But as he speaks the word "one" there is heard, very faintly in the distance, the refrain of the thieves' song which FICSUR and LILIOM have been singing. The refrain continues until the fall of the curtain. As he speaks the word "three" everybody is perfectly rigid save JULIE, who lets her head sink slowly to the table. The distant refrain dies out._] THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE FOUR SCENE--_In the fields on the outskirts of the city. At back a railroad embankment crosses the stage obliquely. At Center of the embankment stands a red and white signal flag, and near it a little red signal lamp which is not yet lighted. Here also a wooden stairway leads up to the embankment._ _At the foot of the embankment to the right is a pile of used railroad ties. In the background a telegraph pole, beyond it a view of trees, fences and fields; still further back a factory building and a cluster of little dwellings._ _It is six o'clock of the same afternoon. Dusk has begun to fall._ _LILIOM and FICSUR are discovered on the stairway looking after the train which has just passed._ LILIOM Can you still hear it snort? FICSUR Listen! [_They watch the vanishing train._] LILIOM If you put your ear on the tracks you can hear it go all the way to Vienna. FICSUR Huh! LILIOM The one that just puffed past us--it goes all the way to Vienna. FICSUR No further? LILIOM Yes--further, too. [_There is a pause._] FICSUR It must be near six. [_As LILIOM ascends the steps._] Where are you going? LILIOM Don't be afraid. I'm not giving you the slip. FICSUR Why should you give me the slip? That cashier has sixteen thousand kronen on him. Just be patient till he comes, then you can talk to him, nice and polite. LILIOM I say, "Good evening--excuse me, sir; what time is it?" FICSUR Then he tells you what time it is. LILIOM Suppose he don't come? FICSUR [_Coming down the steps._] Nonsense! He's got to come. He pays off the workmen every Saturday. And this is Saturday, ain't it? [_LILIOM has ascended to the top of the stairway and is gazing along the tracks._] What are you looking at up there? LILIOM The tracks go on and on--there's no end to them. FICSUR What's that to stare about? LILIOM Nothing--only I always look after the train. When you stand down there at night it snorts past you, and spits down. FICSUR Spits? LILIOM Yes, the engine. It spits down. And then the whole train rattles past and away--and you stand there--spat on--but it draws your eyes along with it. FICSUR Draws your eyes along? LILIOM Yes--whether you want to or not, you've got to look after it--as long as the tiniest bit of it is in sight. FICSUR Swell people sit in it. LILIOM And read newspapers. FICSUR And smoke cigars. LILIOM And inhale the smoke. [_There is a short silence._] FICSUR Is he coming? LILIOM Not yet. [_Silence again. LILIOM comes down, speaks low, confidentially._] Do you hear the telegraph wires? FICSUR I hear them when the wind blows. LILIOM Even when the wind doesn't blow you can hear them humming, humming---- People talk through them. FICSUR Who? LILIOM Jews. FICSUR No--they telegraph. LILIOM They talk through them and from some other place they get answered. And it all goes through the iron strings--that's why they hum like that--they hum-m---- FICSUR What do they hum? LILIOM They hum! ninety-nine, ninety-nine. Just listen. FICSUR What for? LILIOM That sparrow's listening, too. He's cocked one eye and looks at me as if to say: "I'd like to know what they're talking about." FICSUR You're looking at a bird? LILIOM He's looking at me, too. FICSUR Listen, you're sick! There's something the matter with you. Do you know what it is? Money. That bird has no money, either; that's why he cocks his eye. LILIOM Maybe. FICSUR Whoever has money don't cock his eye. LILIOM What then does he do? FICSUR He does most anything he wants. But nobody works unless he has money. We'll soon have money ourselves. LILIOM I say, "Good evening. Excuse me, sir, can you tell me what time it is!" FICSUR He's not coming yet. Got the cards? [_LILIOM gives him the pack of cards._] Got any money? LILIOM [_Takes some coins from his trousers pocket and counts._] Eleven. FICSUR [_Sits astride on the pile of ties and looks off left._] All right--eleven. LILIOM [_Sitting astride on the ties facing him._] Put it up. FICSUR [_Puts the money on the ties; rapidly shuffles the cards._] We'll play twenty-one. I'll bank. [_He deals deftly._] LILIOM [_Looks at his card._] Good. I'll bet the bank. FICSUR Must have an ace! [_Deals him a second card._] LILIOM Another one. [_He gets another card._] Another. [_Gets still another._] Over! [_Throws down his cards. FICSUR gathers in the money._] Come on! FICSUR Come on what? Got no more money, have you? LILIOM No. FICSUR Then the game's over--unless you want to---- LILIOM What? FICSUR Play on credit. LILIOM You'll trust me? FICSUR No--but--I'll deduct it. LILIOM Deduct it from what? FICSUR From your share of the money. If _you_ win you deduct from my share. LILIOM [_Looks over his shoulder to see if the cashier is coming; nervous and ashamed._] All right. How much is bank? FICSUR That cashier is bringing us sixteen thousand kronen. Eight thousand of that is mine. Well, then, the bank is eight thousand. LILIOM Good. FICSUR Whoever has the most luck will have the most money. [_He deals._] LILIOM Six hundred kronen. [_FICSUR gives him another card._] Enough. FICSUR [_Laying out his own cards._] Twenty-one. [_He shuffles rapidly._] LILIOM [_Moves excitedly nearer to FICSUR._] Well, then, double or nothing. FICSUR [_Dealing._] Double or nothing. LILIOM [_Gets a card._] Enough. FICSUR [_Laying out his own cards._] Twenty-one. [_Shuffles rapidly again._] LILIOM [_In alarm._] You're not--cheating? FICSUR Me? Do I look like a cheat? [_Deals the cards again._] LILIOM [_Glances nervously over his shoulder._] A thousand. FICSUR [_Nonchalantly._] Kronen? LILIOM Kronen. [_He gets a card._] Another one. [_Gets another card._] Over again! [_Like an inexperienced gambler who is losing heavily, LILIOM is very nervous. He plays dazedly, wildly, irrationally. From now on it is apparent that his only thought is to win his money back._] FICSUR That makes twelve hundred you owe. LILIOM Double or nothing. [_He gets a card. He is greatly excited._] Another one. [_Gets another card._] Another. [_Throws down three cards._] FICSUR [_Bends over and adds up the sum on the ground._] Ten--fourteen--twenty-three---- You owe two thousand, four hundred. LILIOM Now what? FICSUR [_Takes a card out of the deck and gives it to him._] Here's the red ace. You can play double or nothing again. LILIOM [_Eagerly._] Good. [_Gets another card._] Enough. FICSUR [_Turns up his own cards._] Nineteen. LILIOM You win again. [_Almost imploring._] Give me an ace again. Give me the green one. [_Takes a card._] Double or nothing. FICSUR Not any more. LILIOM Why not? FICSUR Because if you lose you won't be able to pay. Double would be nine thousand six hundred. And you've only got eight thousand altogether. LILIOM [_Greatly excited._] That--that--I call that--a dirty trick! FICSUR Three thousand, two hundred. That's all you can put up. LILIOM [_Eagerly._] All right, then--three thousand, two hundred. [_FICSUR deals him a card._] Enough. FICSUR I've got an ace myself. Now we'll have to take our time and squeeze 'em. [_LILIOM pushes closer to him, as he takes up his cards and slowly, intently unfolds them._] Twenty-one. [_He quickly puts the cards in his pocket. There is a pause._] LILIOM Now--now--I'll tell you now--you're a crook, a low-down---- [_Now LINZMAN enters at Right. He is a strong, robust, red-bearded Jew about 40 years of age. At his side he carries a leather bag slung by a strap from his shoulder. FICSUR coughs warningly, moves to the right between LINZMAN and the embankment, pauses just behind LINZMAN and follows him. LILIOM stands bewildered a few paces to the left of the railroad ties. He finds himself facing LINZMAN. Trembling in every limb._] Good evening. Excuse me, sir, can you tell me the time? [_FICSUR springs silently at LINZMAN, the little knife in his right hand. But LINZMAN catches FICSUR'S right hand with his own left and forces FICSUR to his knees. Simultaneously LINZMAN thrusts his right hand into his coat pocket and produces a revolver which he points at LILIOM'S breast. LILIOM is standing two paces away from the revolver. There is a long pause._] LINZMAN [_In a low, even voice._] It is twenty-five minutes past six. [_Pauses, looks ironically down at FICSUR._] It's lucky I grabbed the hand with the knife instead of the other one. [_Pauses again, looks appraisingly from one to the other._] Two fine birds! [_To FICSUR._] I should live so--Rothschild has more luck than you. [_To LILIOM._] I'd advise you to keep nice and quiet. If you make one move, you'll get two bullets in you. Just look into the barrel. You'll see some little things in there made of lead. FICSUR Let me go. I didn't do anything. LINZMAN [_Mockingly shakes the hand which still holds the knife._] And this? What do you call this? Oh, yes, I know. You thought I had an apple in my pocket, and you wanted to peel it. That's it. Forgive me for my error. I beg your pardon, sir. LILIOM But I--I---- LINZMAN Yes, my son, I know. It's so simple. You only asked what time it is. Well, it's twenty-five minutes after six. FICSUR Let us go, honorable sir. We didn't do anything to you. LINZMAN In the first place, my son, I'm not an honorable sir. In the second place, for the same money, you could have said Your Excellency. But in the third place you'll find it very hard to beg off by flattering me. LILIOM But I--_I_ really didn't do anything to you. LINZMAN Look behind you, my boy. Don't be afraid. Look behind you, but don't run away or I'll have to shoot you down. [_LILIOM turns his head slowly around._] Who's coming up there? LILIOM [_Looking at LINZMAN._] Policemen. LINZMAN [_To FICSUR._] You hold still, or---- [_To LILIOM teasingly._] How many policemen are there? LILIOM [_His eyes cast down._] Two. LINZMAN And what are the policemen sitting on? LILIOM Horses. LINZMAN And which can run faster, a horse or a man? LILIOM A horse. LINZMAN There, you see. It would be hard to get away now. [_Laughs._] I never saw such an unlucky pair of highway robbers. I can't imagine worse luck. Just today I had to put a pistol in my pocket. And even if I hadn't--old Linzman is a match for four like you. But even that isn't all. Did you happen to notice, you oxen, what direction I came from? From the factory, didn't I? When I _went_ there I had a nice bit of money with me. Sixteen thousand crowns! But now--not a heller. [_Calls off left._] Hey, come quicker, will you? This fellow is pulling pretty strong. [_FICSUR frees himself with a mighty wrench and darts rapidly off. As LINZMAN aims his pistol at the vanishing FICSUR, LILIOM runs up the steps to the embankment. LINZMAN hesitates, perceives that LILIOM is the better target, points the pistol at him._] Stop, or I'll shoot! [_Calls off left to the POLICEMEN._] Why don't you come down off your horses? [_His pistol is leveled at LILIOM, who stands on the embankment, facing the audience. From the left on the embankment a POLICEMAN appears, revolver in hand._] FIRST POLICEMAN Stop! LINZMAN Well, my boy, do you still want to know what time it is? From ten to twelve years in prison! LILIOM You won't get me! [_LINZMAN laughs derisively. LILIOM is now three or four paces from the POLICEMAN and equally distant from LINZMAN. His face is uplifted to the sky. He bursts into laughter, half defiant, half self-pitying, and takes the kitchen knife from under his coat._] Julie---- [_The ring of farewell is in the word. He turns sideways, thrusts the knife deep in his breast, sways, falls and rolls down the far side of the embankment. There is a long pause. From the left up on the embankment come the TWO POLICEMEN._] LINZMAN What's the matter? [_The FIRST POLICEMAN comes along the embankment as far as the steps, looks down in the opposite side, then climbs down at about the spot where LILIOM disappeared. LINZMAN and the other POLICEMAN mount the embankment and look down on him._] Stabbed himself? VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Yes--and he seems to have made a thorough job of it. LINZMAN [_Excitedly to the SECOND POLICEMAN._] I'll go and telephone to the hospital. [_He runs down the steps and exits at left._] SECOND POLICEMAN Go to Eisler's grocery store and telephone to the factory from there. They've a doctor there, too. [_Calling down to the other POLICEMAN._] I'm going to tie up the horses. [_Comes down the steps and exits at left. The stage is empty. There is a pause. The little red signal lamp is lit._] VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Hey, Stephan! VOICE OF SECOND POLICEMAN What? VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Shall I pull the knife out of his chest? VOICE OF SECOND POLICEMAN Better not, or he may bleed to death. [_There is a pause._] VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Stephan! VOICE OF SECOND POLICEMAN Yes. VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Lot of mosquitoes around here. VOICE OF SECOND POLICEMAN Yes. VOICE OF FIRST POLICEMAN Got a cigar? VOICE OF SECOND POLICEMAN No. [_There is a pause. The FIRST POLICEMAN appears over the opposite side of the embankment._] FIRST POLICEMAN A lot of good the new pay-schedule's done us--made things worse than they used to be--we _get_ more but we _have_ less than we ever had. If the Government could be made to realize that. It's a thankless job at best. You work hard year after year, you get gray in the service, and slowly you die--yes. SECOND POLICEMAN That's right. FIRST POLICEMAN Yes. [_In the distance is heard the bell of the signal tower._] THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE FIVE SCENE--_The photographic "studio" a half hour later that same evening._ _MOTHER HOLLUNDER, her son, MARIE and WOLF stand in a group back right, their heads together. JULIE stands apart from them, a few paces to the left._ YOUNG HOLLUNDER [_Who has just come in, tells his story excitedly._] They're bringing him now. Two workmen from the factory are carrying him on a stretcher. WOLF Where is the doctor? YOUNG HOLLUNDER A policeman telephoned to headquarters. The police-surgeon ought to be here any minute. MARIE Maybe they'll pull him through after all. YOUNG HOLLUNDER He stabbed himself too deep in his chest. But he's still breathing. He can still talk, too, but very faintly. At first he lay there unconscious, but when they put him on the stretcher he came to. WOLF That was from the shaking. MARIE We'd better make room. [_They make room. Two workmen carry in LILIOM on a stretcher which has four legs and stands about as high as a bed. They put the stretcher at left directly in front of the sofa, so that the head is at right and the foot at left. Then they unobtrusively join the group at the door. Later, they go out. JULIE is standing at the side of the stretcher, where, without moving, she can see LILIOM'S face. The others crowd emotionally together near the door. The FIRST POLICEMAN enters._] FIRST POLICEMAN Are you his wife? JULIE Yes. FIRST POLICEMAN The doctor at the factory who bandaged him up forbade us to take him to the hospital.--Dangerous to move him that far. What he needs now is rest. Just let him be until the police-surgeon comes. [_To the group near the door._] He's not to be disturbed. [_They make way for him. He exits. There is a pause._] WOLF [_Gently urging the others out._] Please--it's best if we all get out of here now. We'll only be in the way. MARIE [_To JULIE._] Julie, what do you think? [_JULIE looks at her without answering._] Julie, can I do anything to help? [_JULIE does not answer._] We'll be just outside on the bench if you want us. [_MOTHER HOLLUNDER and her son have gone out when first requested. Now MARIE and WOLF exit, too. JULIE sits on the edge of the stretcher and looks at LILIOM. He stretches his hand out to her. She clasps it. It is not quite dark yet. Both of them can still be plainly seen._] LILIOM [_Raises himself with difficulty; speaks lightly at first, but later soberly, defiantly._] Little--Julie--there's something--I want to tell you--like when you go to a restaurant--and you've finished eating--and it's time--to pay--then you have to count up everything--everything you owe--well--I beat you--not because I was mad at you--no--only because I can't bear to see anyone crying. You always cried--on my account--and, well, you see,--I never learned a trade--what kind of a caretaker would I make? But anyhow--I wasn't going back to the carousel to fool with the girls. No, I spit on them all--understand? JULIE Yes. LILIOM And--as for Hollinger--he's good enough--Mrs. Muskat can get along all right with him. The jokes he tells are mine--and the people laugh when he tells them--but I don't care.--I didn't give you anything--no home--not even the food you ate--but you don't understand.--It's true I'm not much good--but I couldn't be a caretaker--and so I thought maybe it would be better over there--in America--do you see? JULIE Yes. LILIOM I'm not asking--forgiveness--I don't do that--I don't. Tell the baby--if you like. JULIE Yes. LILIOM Tell the baby--I wasn't much good--but tell him--if you ever talk about me--tell him--I thought--perhaps--over in America--but that's no affair of yours. I'm not asking forgiveness. For my part the police can come now.--If it's a boy--if it's a girl.--Perhaps I'll see the Lord God today.--Do you think I'll see Him? JULIE Yes. LILIOM I'm not afraid--of the police Up There--if they'll only let me come up in front of the Lord God Himself--not like down here where an officer stops you at the door. If the carpenter asks you--yes--be his wife--marry him. And the child--tell him he's his father.--He'll believe you--won't he? JULIE Yes. LILIOM When I beat you--I was right.--You mustn't always think--you mustn't always be right.--Liliom can be right once, too.--It's all the same to me who was right.--It's so dumb. Nobody's right--but they all think they are right.--A lot they know! JULIE Yes. LILIOM Julie--come--hold my hand tight. JULIE I'm holding it tight--all the time. LILIOM Tighter, still tighter--I'm going---- [_Pauses._] Julie---- JULIE Good-bye. [_LILIOM sinks slowly back and dies. JULIE frees her hand. THE DOCTOR enters with the FIRST POLICEMAN._] DOCTOR Good evening. His wife? JULIE Yes, sir. [_Behind the DOCTOR and POLICEMAN enter MARIE, WOLF, MOTHER HOLLUNDER, YOUNG HOLLUNDER and MRS. MUSKAT. They remain respectfully at the doorway. The DOCTOR bends over LILIOM and examines him._] DOCTOR A light, if you please. [_JULIE fetches a burning candle from the dark room. The DOCTOR examines LILIOM briefly in the candle-light, then turns suddenly away._] Have you pen and ink? WOLF [_Proffering a pen._] A fountain-pen--American---- DOCTOR [_Takes a printed form from his pocket; speaks as he writes out the death-certificate at the little table._] My poor woman, your husband is dead--there's nothing to be done for him--the good God will help him now--I'll leave this certificate with you. You will give it to the people from the hospital when they come--I'll arrange for the body to be removed at once. [_Rises._] Please give me a towel and soap. POLICEMAN I've got them for you out here, sir. [_Points to door at back._] DOCTOR God be with you, my good woman. JULIE Thank you, sir. [_The DOCTOR and POLICEMAN exit. The others slowly draw nearer._] MARIE Poor Julie. May he rest in peace, poor man, but as for you--please don't be angry with me for saying it--but you're better off this way. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He is better off, the poor fellow, and so are you. MARIE Much better, Julie . . . you are young . . . and one of these days some good man will come along. Am I right? WOLF She's right. MARIE Julie, tell me, am I right? JULIE You are right, dear; you are very good. YOUNG HOLLUNDER There's a good man--the carpenter. Oh, I can speak of it now. He comes here every day on some excuse or other--and he never fails to ask for you. MARIE A widower--with two children. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He's better off, poor fellow--and so are you. He was a bad man. MARIE He wasn't good-hearted. Was he, Wolf? WOLF No, I must say, he really wasn't. No, Liliom wasn't a good man. A good man doesn't strike a woman. MARIE Am I right? Tell me, Julie, am I right? JULIE You are right, dear. YOUNG HOLLUNDER It's really a good thing for her it happened. MOTHER HOLLUNDER He's better off--and so is she. WOLF Now you have your freedom again. How old are you? JULIE Eighteen. WOLF Eighteen. A mere child! Am I right? JULIE You are right, Wolf. You are kind. YOUNG HOLLUNDER Lucky for you it happened, isn't it? JULIE Yes. YOUNG HOLLUNDER All you had before was bad luck. If it weren't for my mother you wouldn't have had a roof over your head or a bite to eat--and now Autumn's coming and Winter. You couldn't have lived in this shack in the Winter time, could you? MARIE Certainly not! You'd have frozen like the birds in the fields. Am I right, Julie? JULIE Yes, Marie. MARIE A year from now you will have forgotten all about him, won't you? JULIE You are right, Marie. WOLF If you need anything, count on us. We'll go now. But tomorrow morning we'll be back. Come, Marie. God be with you. [_Offers JULIE his hand._] JULIE God be with you. MARIE [_Embraces JULIE, weeping._] It's the best thing that could have happened to you, Julie, the best thing. JULIE Don't cry, Marie. [_MARIE and WOLF exit._] MOTHER HOLLUNDER I'll make a little black coffee. You haven't had a thing to eat today. Then you'll come home with us. [_MOTHER HOLLUNDER and her son exit. MRS. MUSKAT comes over to JULIE._] MRS. MUSKAT Would you mind if I--looked at him? JULIE He used to work for you. MRS. MUSKAT [_Contemplates the body; turns to JULIE._] Won't you make up with me? JULIE I wasn't angry with you. MRS. MUSKAT But you were. Let's make it up. JULIE [_Raising her voice eagerly, almost triumphantly._] I've nothing to make up with _you._ MRS. MUSKAT But I have with you. Everyone says hard things against the poor dead boy--except us two. You don't say he was bad. JULIE [_Raising her voice yet higher, this time on a defiant, wholly triumphant note._] Yes, I _do._ MRS. MUSKAT I understand, my child. But he beat me, too. What does that matter? I've forgotten it. JULIE [_From now on answers her coldly, drily, without looking at her._] That's your own affair. MRS. MUSKAT If I can help you in any way---- JULIE There's nothing I need. MRS. MUSKAT I still owe him two kronen, back pay. JULIE You should have paid him. MRS. MUSKAT Now that the poor fellow is dead I thought perhaps it would be the same if I paid you. JULIE I've nothing to do with it. MRS. MUSKAT All right. Please don't think I'm trying to force myself on you. I stayed because we two are the only ones on earth who loved him. That's why I thought we ought to stick together. JULIE No, thank you. MRS. MUSKAT Then you couldn't have loved him as I did. JULIE No. MRS. MUSKAT I loved him better. JULIE Yes. MRS. MUSKAT Good-bye. JULIE Good-bye. [_MRS. MUSKAT exits. JULIE puts the candle on the table near LILIOM'S head, sits on the edge of the stretcher, looks into the dead man's face and caresses it tenderly._] Sleep, Liliom, sleep--it's no business of hers--I never even told you--but now I'll tell you--now I'll tell you--you bad, quick-tempered, rough, unhappy, wicked--_dear_ boy--sleep peacefully, Liliom--they can't understand how I feel--I can't even explain to you--not even to you--how I feel--you'd only laugh at me--but you can't hear me any more. [_Between tender motherliness and reproach, yet with great love in her voice._] It was wicked of you to beat me--on the breast and on the head and face--but you're gone now.--You treated me badly--that was wicked of you--but sleep peacefully, Liliom--you bad, bad boy, you--I love you--I never told you before--I was ashamed--but now I've told you--I love you, Liliom--sleep--my boy--sleep. [_She rises, gets a Bible, sits down near the candle and reads softly to herself, so that, not the words, but an inarticulate murmur is heard. The CARPENTER enters at back._] CARPENTER [_Stands near the door; in the dimness of the room he can scarcely be seen._] Miss Julie---- JULIE [_Without alarm._] Who is that? CARPENTER [_Very slowly._] The carpenter. JULIE What does the carpenter want? CARPENTER Can I be of help to you in any way? Shall I stay here with you? JULIE [_Gratefully, but firmly._] Don't stay, carpenter. CARPENTER Shall I come back tomorrow? JULIE Not tomorrow, either. CARPENTER Don't be offended, Miss Julie, but I'd like to know--you see, I'm not a young man any more--I have two children--and if I'm to come back any more--I'd like to know--if there's any use---- JULIE No use, carpenter. CARPENTER [_As he exits._] God be with you. [_JULIE resumes her reading. FICSUR enters, slinks furtively sideways to the stretcher, looks at LILIOM, shakes his head. JULIE looks up from her reading. FICSUR takes fright, slinks away from the stretcher, sits down at right, biting his nails. JULIE rises. FICSUR rises, too, and looks at her half fearfully. With her piercing glance upon him he slinks to the doorway at back, where he pauses and speaks._] FICSUR The old woman asked me to tell you that coffee is ready, and you are to come in. [_JULIE goes to the kitchen door. FICSUR withdraws until she has closed the door behind her. Then he reappears in the doorway, stands on tiptoes, looks at LILIOM, then exits. Now the body lies alone. After a brief silence music is heard, distant at first, but gradually coming nearer. It is very much like the music of the carousel, but slower, graver, more exalted. The melody, too, is the same, yet the tempo is altered and contrapuntal measures of the thieves' song are intertwined in it. Two men in black, with heavy sticks, soft black hats and black gloves, appear in the doorway at back and stride slowly into the room. Their faces are beardless, marble white, grave and benign. One stops m front of the stretcher, the other a pace to the right. From above a dim violet light illuminates their faces._] THE FIRST [_To LILIOM._] Rise and come with us. THE SECOND [_Politely._] You're under arrest. THE FIRST [_Somewhat louder, but always in a gentle, low, resonant voice._] Do you hear? Rise. Don't you hear? THE SECOND We are the police. THE FIRST [_Bends down, touches LILIOM'S shoulder._] Get up and come with us. [_LILIOM slowly sits up._] THE SECOND Come along. THE FIRST [_Paternally._] These people suppose that when they die all their difficulties are solved for them. THE SECOND [_Raising his voice sternly._] That simply by thrusting a knife in your heart and making it stop beating you can leave your wife behind with a child in her womb---- THE FIRST It is not as simple as that. THE SECOND Such things are not settled so easily. THE FIRST Come along. You will have to give an account of yourself. [_As both bow their heads, he continues softly._] We are God's police. [_An expression of glad relief lights upon LILIOM'S face. He rises from the stretcher._] Come. THE SECOND You mortals don't get off quite as easy as that. THE FIRST [_Softly._] Come. [_LILIOM starts to walk ahead of them, then stops and looks at them._] The end is not as abrupt as that. Your name is still spoken. Your face is still remembered. And what you said, and what you did, and what you failed to do--these are still remembered. Remembered, too, are the manner of your glance, the ring of your voice, the clasp of your hand and how your step sounded--as long as one is left who remembers you, so long is the matter unended. Before the end there is much to be undone. Until you are quite forgotten, my son, you will not be finished with the earth--even though you _are_ dead. THE SECOND [_Very gently._] Come. [_The music begins again. All three exit at back, LILIOM leading, the others following. The stage is empty and quite dark save for the candle which burns by the stretcher, on which, in the shadows, the covers are so arranged that one cannot quite be sure that a body is not still lying. The music dies out in the distance as if it had followed LILIOM and the two POLICEMEN. The candle flickers and goes out. There is a brief interval of silence and total darkness before_ THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE SIX SCENE--_In the Beyond. A whitewashed courtroom. There is a green-topped table; behind it a bench. Back Center is a door with a bell over it. Next to this door is a window through which can be seen a vista of rose-tinted clouds._ _Down right there is a grated iron door. Down left another door._ _Two men are on the bench when the curtain rises. One is richly, the other poorly dressed._ _From a great distance is heard a fanfare of trumpets playing the refrain, of the thieves' song in slow, altered tempo._ _Passing the window at back appear LILIOM and the two POLICEMEN._ _The bell rings._ _An old GUARD enters at right. He is bald and has a long white beard. He wears the conventional police uniform._ _He goes to the door at back, opens it, exchanges silent greetings with the two POLICEMEN and closes the door again._ _LILIOM looks wonderingly around._ THE FIRST [_To the old GUARD._] Announce us. [_The GUARD exits at left._] LILIOM Is this it? THE SECOND Yes, my son. LILIOM This is the police court? THE SECOND Yes, my son. The part for suicide cases. LILIOM And what happens here? THE FIRST Here justice is done. Sit down. [_LILIOM sits next to the two men. The two POLICEMEN stand silent near the table._] THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN [_Whispers._] Suicide, too? LILIOM Yes. THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN [_Points to the POORLY DRESSED MAN._] So's he. [_Introducing himself._] My name is Reich. THE POORLY DRESSED MAN [_Whispers, too._] My name is Stephen Kadar. [_LILIOM only looks at them._] THE POORLY DRESSED MAN And you? What's your name? LILIOM None of your business. [_Both move a bit away from him._] THE POORLY DRESSED MAN I did it by jumping out of a window. THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN I did it with a pistol--and you? LILIOM With a knife. [_They move a bit further away from him._] THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN A pistol is cleaner. LILIOM If I had the price of a pistol---- THE SECOND Silence! [_The POLICE MAGISTRATE enters. He has a long white beard, is bald, but only in profile can be seen on his head a single tuft of snow-white hair. The GUARD reënters behind him and sits on the bench with the dead men. As the MAGISTRATE enters, all rise, except LILIOM, who remains surlily seated. When the MAGISTRATE sits down, so do the others._] THE GUARD Yesterday's cases, your honor. The numbers are entered in the docket. THE MAGISTRATE Number 16,472. THE FIRST [_Looks in his notebook, beckons the RICHLY DRESSED MAN._] Stand up, please. [_THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN rises._] THE MAGISTRATE Your name? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN Doctor Reich. THE MAGISTRATE Age? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN Forty-two, married, Jew. THE MAGISTRATE [_With a gesture of dismissal._] Religion does not interest us here--why did you kill yourself? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN On account of debts. THE MAGISTRATE What good did you do on earth? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN I was a lawyer---- THE MAGISTRATE [_Coughs significantly._] Yes--we'll discuss that later. For the present I shall only ask you: Would you like to go back to earth once more before sunrise? I advise you that you have the right to go if you choose. Do you understand? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN Yes, sir. THE MAGISTRATE He who takes his life is apt, in his haste and his excitement, to forget something. Is there anything important down there you have left undone? Something to tell someone? Something to undo? THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN My debts---- THE MAGISTRATE They do not matter here. Here we are concerned only with the affairs of the soul. THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN Then--if you please--when I left--the house--my youngest son, Oscar--was asleep. I didn't trust myself to wake him--and bid him good-bye. I would have liked--to kiss him good-bye. THE MAGISTRATE [_To THE SECOND._] You will take Dr. Reich back and let him kiss his son Oscar. THE SECOND Come with me, please. THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN [_To THE MAGISTRATE._] I thank you. [_He bows and exits at back with THE SECOND._] THE MAGISTRATE [_After making an entry in the docket._] Number 16,473. THE FIRST [_Looks in his notebook, then beckons LILIOM._] Stand up. LILIOM You said _please_ to him. [_He rises._] THE MAGISTRATE Your name? LILIOM Liliom. THE MAGISTRATE Isn't that your nickname? LILIOM Yes. THE MAGISTRATE What is your right name? LILIOM Andreas. THE MAGISTRATE And your last name? LILIOM Zavocki--after my mother. THE MAGISTRATE Your age? LILIOM Twenty-four. THE MAGISTRATE What good did _you_ do on earth? [_LILIOM is silent._] Why did you take your life? [_LILIOM does not answer. THE MAGISTRATE addresses THE FIRST._] Take that knife away from him. [_THE FIRST does so._] It will be returned to you, if you go back to earth. LILIOM Do I go back to earth again? THE MAGISTRATE Just answer my questions. LILIOM I wasn't answering then, I was asking if---- THE MAGISTRATE You don't ask questions here. You only answer. Only answer, Andreas Zavocki! I ask you whether there is anything on earth you neglected to accomplish? Anything down there you would like to do? LILIOM Yes. THE MAGISTRATE What is it? LILIOM I'd like to break Ficsur's head for him. THE MAGISTRATE Punishment is our office. Is there nothing else on earth you'd like to do? LILIOM I don't know--I guess, as long as I'm here, I'll not go back. THE MAGISTRATE [_To THE FIRST._] Note that. He waives his right. [_LILIOM starts back to the bench._] Stay where you are. You are aware that you left your wife without food or shelter? LILIOM Yes. THE MAGISTRATE Don't you regret it? LILIOM No. THE MAGISTRATE You are aware that your wife is pregnant, and that in six months a child will be born? LILIOM I know. THE MAGISTRATE And that the child, too, will be without food or shelter? Do you regret that? LILIOM As long as I won't be there, what's it got to do with me? THE MAGISTRATE Don't try to deceive us, Andreas Zavocki. We see through you as through a pane of glass. LILIOM If you see so much, what do you want to ask me for? Why don't you let me rest--in peace? THE MAGISTRATE First you must earn your rest. LILIOM I want--only--to sleep. THE MAGISTRATE Your obstinacy won't help you. Here patience is endless as time. We can wait. LILIOM Can I ask something--I'd like to know--if Your Honor will tell me--whether the baby will be a boy or a girl. THE MAGISTRATE You shall see that for yourself. LILIOM [_Excitedly._] I'll see the baby? THE MAGISTRATE When you do it won't be a baby any more. But we haven't reached that question yet. LILIOM I'll see it? THE MAGISTRATE Again I ask you: Do you not regret that you deserted your wife and child; that you were a bad husband, a bad father? LILIOM A bad husband? THE MAGISTRATE Yes. LILIOM And a bad father? THE MAGISTRATE That, too. LILIOM I couldn't get work--and I couldn't bear to see Julie--all the time--all the time---- THE MAGISTRATE Weeping! Why are you ashamed to say it? You couldn't bear to see her weeping. Why are you afraid of that word? And why are you ashamed that you loved her? LILIOM [_Shrugs his shoulders._] Who's ashamed? But I couldn't bear to see her--and that's why I was bad to her. You see, it wouldn't do to go back to the carousel--and Ficsur came along with his talk about--that other thing--and all of a sudden it happened, I don't know how. The police and the Jew with the pistol--and there I stood--and I'd lost the money playing cards--and I didn't want to be put in prison. [_Demanding justification._] Maybe I was wrong not to go out and steal when there was nothing to eat in the house? Should I have gone out to steal for Julie? THE MAGISTRATE [_Emphatically._] Yes. LILIOM [_After an astounded pause._] The police down there never said that. THE MAGISTRATE You beat that poor, frail girl; you beat her because she loved you. How could you do that? LILIOM We argued with each other--she said this and I said that--and because she was right I couldn't answer her--and I got mad--and the anger rose up in me--until it reached here [_points to his throat_] and then I beat her. THE MAGISTRATE Are you sorry? LILIOM [_Shakes his head, but cannot utter the word "no"; continues softly._] When I touched her slender throat--then--if you like--you might say---- [_Falters, looks embarrassed at THE MAGISTRATE._] THE MAGISTRATE [_Confidently expectant._] Are you sorry? LILIOM [_With a stare._] I'm not sorry for anything. THE MAGISTRATE Liliom, Liliom, it will be difficult to help you. LILIOM I'm not asking any help. THE MAGISTRATE You were offered employment as a caretaker on Arader Street. [_To THE FIRST._] Where is that entered? THE FIRST In the small docket. [_Hands him the open book. THE MAGISTRATE looks in it._] THE MAGISTRATE Rooms, kitchen, quarterly wages, the privilege of keeping poultry. Why didn't you accept it? LILIOM I'm not a caretaker. I'm no good at caretaking. To be a caretaker--you have to be a caretaker---- THE MAGISTRATE If I said to you now: Liliom, go back on your stretcher. Tomorrow morning you will arise alive and well again. Would you be a caretaker then? LILIOM No. THE MAGISTRATE Why not? LILIOM Because--because that's just why I died. THE MAGISTRATE That is not true, my son. You died because you loved little Julie and the child she is bearing under her heart. LILIOM No. THE MAGISTRATE Look me in the eye. LILIOM [_Looks him in the eye._] No. THE MAGISTRATE [_Stroking his beard._] Liliom, Liliom, if it were not for our Heavenly patience---- Go back to your seat. Number 16,474. THE FIRST [_Looks in his note book._] Stephan Kadar. [_THE POORLY DRESSED MAN rises._] THE MAGISTRATE You came out today? THE POORLY DRESSED MAN Today. THE MAGISTRATE [_Indicating the crimson sea of clouds._] How long were you in there? THE POORLY DRESSED MAN Thirteen years. THE MAGISTRATE Officer, you went to earth with him? THE FIRST Yes, sir. THE MAGISTRATE Stephan Kadar, after thirteen years of purification by fire you returned to earth to give proof that your soul had been burned clean. What good deed did you perform? THE POORLY DRESSED MAN When I came to the village and looked in the window of our cottage I saw my poor little orphans sleeping peacefully. But it was raining and the rain beat into the room through a hole in the roof. So I went and fixed the roof so it wouldn't rain in any more. My hammering woke them up and they were afraid. But their mother came in to them and comforted them. She said to them: "Don't cry! It's your poor, dear father hammering up there. He's come back from the other world to fix the roof for us." THE MAGISTRATE Officer? THE FIRST That's what happened. THE MAGISTRATE Stephan Kadar, you have done a good deed. What you did will be written in books to gladden the hearts of children who read them. [_Indicates the door at left._] The door is open to you. The eternal light awaits you. [_THE FIRST escorts the POORLY DRESSED MAN out at left with great deference._] Liliom! [_LILIOM rises._] You have heard? LILIOM Yes. THE MAGISTRATE When this man first appeared before us he was as stubborn as you. But now he has purified himself and withstood the test. He has done a good deed. LILIOM What's he done, anyhow? Any roofer can fix a roof. It's much harder to be a barker in an amusement park. THE MAGISTRATE Liliom, you shall remain for sixteen years in the crimson fire until your child is full grown. By that time your pride and your stubbornness will have been burnt out of you. And when your daughter---- LILIOM My daughter! THE MAGISTRATE When your daughter has reached the age of sixteen---- [_LILIOM bows his head, covers his eyes with his hands, and to keep from weeping laughs defiantly, sadly._] THE MAGISTRATE When your daughter has reached the age of sixteen you will be sent for one day back to earth. LILIOM Me? THE MAGISTRATE Yes--just as you may have read in the legends of how the dead reappear on earth for a time. LILIOM I never believed them. THE MAGISTRATE Now you see they are true. You will go back to earth one day to show how far the purification of your soul has progressed. LILIOM Then I must show what I can do--like when you apply for a job--as a coachman? THE MAGISTRATE Yes--it is a test. LILIOM And will I be told what I have to do? THE MAGISTRATE No. LILIOM How will I know, then? THE MAGISTRATE You must decide that for yourself. That's what you burn sixteen years for. And if you do something good, something splendid for your child, then---- LILIOM [_Laughs sadly._] Then? [_All stand up and bow their heads reverently. There is a pause._] Then? THE MAGISTRATE Now I'll bid you farewell, Liliom. Sixteen years and a day shall pass before I see you again. When you have returned from earth you will come up before me again. Take heed and think well of some good deed to do for your child. On that will depend which door shall be opened to you up here. Now go, Liliom. [_He exits at left. THE GUARD stands at attention. There is a pause._] THE FIRST [_Approaches LILIOM._] Come along, my son. [_He goes to the door at right; pulls open the bolt and waits._] LILIOM [_To the old GUARD, softly._] Say, officer. THE GUARD What do you want? LILIOM Please--can I get--have you got----? THE GUARD What? LILIOM [_Whispers._] A cigarette? [_The old GUARD stares at him, goes a few paces to the left, shakes his head disapprovingly. Then his expression softens. He takes a cigarette from his pocket and, crossing to LILIOM--who has gone over to the door at right--gives him the cigarette. THE FIRST throws open the door. An intense rose-colored light streams in. The glow of it is so strong that it blinds LILIOM and he takes a step backward and bows his head and covers his eyes with his hand before he steps forward into the light._] THE CURTAIN FALLS SCENE SEVEN SCENE--_Sixteen years later. A small, tumble-down house on a bare, unenclosed plot of ground. Before the house is a tiny garden enclosed by a hip-high hedge._ _At back a wooden fence crosses the stage; in the center of it is a door large enough to admit a wagon. Beyond the fence is a view of a suburban street which blends into a broad vista of tilled fields._ _It is a bright Sunday in Spring._ _In the garden a table for two is laid._ _JULIE, her daughter LOUISE, WOLF and MARIE are discovered in the garden. WOLF is prosperously dressed, MARIE somewhat elaborately, with a huge hat._ JULIE You could stay for lunch. MARIE Impossible, dear. Since he became the proprietor of the Café Sorrento, Wolf simply has to be there all the time. JULIE But you needn't stay there all day, too. MARIE Oh, yes. I sit near the cashier's cage, read the papers, keep an eye on the waiters and drink in the bustle and excitement of the great city. JULIE And what about the children? MARIE You know what modern families are like. Parents scarcely ever see their children these days. The four girls are with their governess, the three boys with their tutor. LOUISE Auntie, dear, do stay and eat with us. MARIE [_Importantly._] Impossible today, dear child, impossible. Perhaps some other time. Come, Mr. Beifeld. JULIE Since when do you call your husband mister? WOLF I'd rather she did, dear lady. When we used to be very familiar we quarreled all the time. Now we are formal with each other and get along like society folk. I kiss your hand, dear lady. JULIE Good-bye, Wolf. MARIE Adieu, my dear. [_They embrace._] Adieu, my dear child. LOUISE Good-bye, Aunt Marie. Good-bye, Uncle Wolf. [_WOLF and MARIE exit._] JULIE You can get the soup now, Louise dear. [_LOUISE goes into the house and reënters with the soup. They sit at the table._] LOUISE Mother, is it true we're not going to work at the jute factory any more? JULIE Yes, dear. LOUISE Where then? JULIE Uncle Wolf has gotten us a place in a big establishment where they make all kinds of fittings for cafés. We're to make big curtains, you know, the kind they hang in the windows, with lettering on them. LOUISE It'll be nicer there than at the jute factory. JULIE Yes, dear. The work isn't as dirty and pays better, too. A poor widow like your mother is lucky to get it. [_They eat. LILIOM and the two HEAVENLY POLICEMEN appear in the big doorway at back. The POLICEMEN pass slowly by. LILIOM stands there alone a moment, then comes slowly down and pauses at the opening of the hedge. He is dressed as he was on the day of his death. He is very pale, but otherwise unaltered. JULIE, at the table, has her back to him. LOUISE sits facing the audience._ LILIOM Good day. LOUISE Good day. JULIE Another beggar! What is it you want, my poor man? LILIOM Nothing. JULIE We have no money to give, but if you care for a plate of soup---- [_LOUISE goes into the house._] Have you come far today? LILIOM Yes--very far. JULIE Are you tired? LILIOM Very tired. JULIE Over there at the gate is a stone. Sit down and rest. My daughter is bringing you the soup. [_LOUISE comes out of the house._] LILIOM Is that your daughter? JULIE Yes. LILIOM [_To LOUISE._] You are the daughter? LOUISE Yes, sir. LILIOM A fine, healthy girl. [_Takes the soup plate from her with one hand, while with the other he touches her arm. LOUISE draws back quickly._] LOUISE [_Crosses to JULIE._] Mother! JULIE What, my child? LOUISE The man tried to take me by the arm. JULIE Nonsense! You only imagined it, dear. The poor, hungry man has other things to think about than fooling with young girls. Sit down and eat your soup. [_They eat._] LILIOM [_Eats, too, but keeps looking at them._] You work at the factory, eh? JULIE Yes. LILIOM Your daughter, too? LOUISE Yes. LILIOM And your husband? JULIE [_After a pause._] I have no husband. I'm a widow. LILIOM A widow? JULIE Yes. LILIOM Your husband--I suppose he's been dead a long time. [_JULIE does not answer._] I say--has your husband been dead a long time? JULIE A long time. LILIOM What did he die of? [_JULIE is silent._] LOUISE No one knows. He went to America to work and he died there--in the hospital. Poor father, I never knew him. LILIOM He went to America? LOUISE Yes, before I was born. LILIOM To America? JULIE Why do you ask so many questions? Did you know him, perhaps? LILIOM [_Puts the plate down._] Heaven knows! I've known so many people. Maybe I knew him, too. JULIE Well, if you knew him, leave him and us in peace with your questions. He went to America and died there. That's all there is to tell. LILIOM All right. All right. Don't be angry with me. I didn't mean any harm. [_There is a pause._] LOUISE My father was a very handsome man. JULIE Don't talk so much. LOUISE Did I say anything----? LILIOM Surely the little orphan can say that about her father. LOUISE My father could juggle so beautifully with three ivory balls that people used to advise him to go on the stage. JULIE Who told you that? LOUISE Uncle Wolf. LILIOM Who is that? LOUISE Mr. Wolf Beifeld, who owns the Café Sorrento. LILIOM The one who used to be a porter? JULIE [_Astonished._] Do you know him, too? It seems that you know all Budapest. LILIOM Wolf Beifeld is a long way from being all Budapest. But I do know a lot of people. Why shouldn't I know Wolf Beifeld? LOUISE He was a friend of my father. JULIE He was not his friend. No one was. LILIOM You speak of your husband so sternly. JULIE What's that to you? Doesn't it suit you? I can speak of my husband any way I like. It's nobody's business but mine. LILIOM Certainly, certainly--it's your own business. [_Takes up his soup plate again. All three eat._] LOUISE [_To JULIE._] Perhaps he knew father, too. JULIE Ask him, if you like. LOUISE [_Crosses to LILIOM. He stands up._] Did you know my father? [_LILIOM nods. LOUISE addresses her mother._] Yes, he knew him. JULIE [_Rises._] You knew Andreas Zavocky? LILIOM Liliom? Yes. LOUISE Was he really a very handsome man? LILIOM I wouldn't exactly say handsome. LOUISE [_Confidently._] But he was an awfully good man, wasn't he? LILIOM He wasn't so good, either. As far as I know he was what they called a clown, a barker in a carousel. LOUISE [_Pleased._] Did he tell funny jokes? LILIOM Lots of 'em. And he sang funny songs, too. LOUISE In the carousel? LILIOM Yes--but he was something of a bully, too. He'd fight anyone. He even hit your dear little mother. JULIE That's a lie. LILIOM It's true. JULIE Aren't you ashamed to tell the child such awful things about her father? Get out of here, you shameless liar. Eats our soup and our bread and has the impudence to slander our dead! LILIOM I didn't mean--I---- JULIE What right have you to tell lies to the child? Take that plate, Louise, and let him be on his way. If he wasn't such a hungry-looking beggar, I'd put him out myself. [_LOUISE takes the plate out of his hand._] LILIOM So he didn't hit you? JULIE No, never. He was always good to me. LOUISE [_Whispers._] Did he tell funny stories, too? LILIOM Yes, and _such_ funny ones. JULIE Don't speak to him any more. In God's name, go. LOUISE In God's name. [_JULIE resumes her seat at the table and eats._] LILIOM If you please, Miss--I have a pack of cards in my pocket. And if you like, I'll show you some tricks that'll make you split your sides laughing. [_LOUISE holds LILIOM'S plate in her left hand. With her right she reaches out and holds the garden gate shut._] Let me in, just a little way, Miss, and I'll do the tricks for you. LOUISE Go, in God's name, and let us be. Why are you making those ugly faces? LILIOM Don't chase me away, Miss; let me come in for just a minute--just for a minute--just long enough to let me show you something pretty, something wonderful. [_Opens the gate._] Miss, I've something to give you. [_Takes from his pocket a big red handkerchief in which is wrapped a glittering star from Heaven. He looks furtively about him to make sure that the POLICE are not watching._] LOUISE What's that? LILIOM Pst! A star! [_With a gesture he indicates that he has stolen it out of the sky._] JULIE [_Sternly._] Don't take anything from him. He's probably stolen it somewhere. [_To LILIOM._] In God's name, be off with you. LOUISE Yes, be off with you. Be off. [_She slams the gate._] LILIOM Miss--please, Miss--I've got to do something good--or--do something good--a good deed---- LOUISE [_Pointing with her right hand._] That's the way out. LILIOM Miss---- LOUISE Get out! LILIOM Miss! [_Looks up at her suddenly and slaps her extended hand, so that the slap resounds loudly._] LOUISE Mother! [_Looks dazedly at LILIOM, who bows his head dismayed, forlorn. JULIE rises and looks at LILIOM in astonishment. There is a long pause._] JULIE [_Comes over to them slowly._] What's the matter here? LOUISE [_Bewildered, does not take her eyes off LILIOM._] Mother--the man--he hit me--on the hand--hard--I heard the sound of it--but it didn't hurt--mother--it didn't hurt--it was like a caress--as if he had just touched my hand tenderly. [_She hides behind JULIE. LILIOM sulkily raises his head and looks at JULIE._] JULIE [_Softly._] Go, my child. Go into the house. Go. LOUISE [_Going._] But mother--I'm afraid--it sounded so loud---- [_Weepingly._] And it didn't hurt at all--just as if he'd--kissed my hand instead--mother! [_She hides her face._] JULIE Go in, my child, go in. [_LOUISE goes slowly into the house. JULIE watches her until she has disappeared, then turns slowly to LILIOM._] JULIE You struck my child. LILIOM Yes--I struck her. JULIE Is that what you came for, to strike my child? LILIOM No--I didn't come for that--but I did strike her--and now I'm going back. JULIE In the name of the Lord Jesus, who are you? LILIOM [_Simply._] A poor, tired beggar who came a long way and who was hungry. And I took your soup and bread and I struck your child. Are you angry with me? JULIE [_Her hand on her heart; fearfully, wonderingly._] Jesus protect me--I don't understand it--I'm not angry--not angry at all---- [_LILIOM goes to the doorway and leans against the doorpost, his back to the audience. JULIE goes to the table and sits._] JULIE Louise! [_LOUISE comes out of the house._] Sit down, dear, we'll finish eating. LOUISE Has he gone? JULIE Yes. [_They are both seated at the table. LOUISE, her head in her hands, is staring into space._] Why don't you eat, dear? LOUISE What has happened, mother? JULIE Nothing, my child. [_The HEAVENLY POLICEMEN appear outside. LILIOM walks slowly off at left. The FIRST POLICEMAN makes a deploring gesture. Both shake their heads deploringly and follow LILIOM slowly off at left._] LOUISE Mother, dear, why won't you tell me? JULIE What is there to tell you, child? Nothing has happened. We were peacefully eating, and a beggar came who talked of bygone days, and then I thought of your father. LOUISE My father? JULIE Your father--Liliom. [_There is a pause._] LOUISE Mother--tell me--has it ever happened to you--has anyone ever hit you--without hurting you in the least? JULIE Yes, my child. It has happened to me, too. [_There is a pause._] LOUISE Is it possible for someone to hit you--hard like that--real loud and hard--and not hurt you at all? JULIE It is possible, dear--that someone may beat you and beat you and beat you,--and not hurt you at all.---- [_There is a pause. Nearby an organ-grinder has stopped. The music of his organ begins._] THE CURTAIN FALLS Transcriber's Note This transcription is based on images scanned from a copy made available by Cornell University and posted by the Internet Archive at: archive.org/details/cu31924026943195 These images were supplemented by images scanned from a copy made available by Harvard University and posted by the Internet Archive at: archive.org/details/liliomalegendin00glazgoog The following changes were noted: - For consistency, all names in the stage directions have been capitalized. - p. 12: I'll stand for no indecency in my establishment--Added a period to the end of the sentence. - p. 29: Which of you wants to stay. [_There is no answer._]--Changed the period after "stay" to a question mark. - p. 47: _The door to the kitchen is up Left and a black-curtained entrance to the dark-room is down Left._--For consistency, changed "_dark-room_" to "_dark room_". - p. 49: [_with a sweeping gesture that takes in the camera, dark-room and screen_]--For consistency, changed "_dark-room_" to "_dark room_". - p. 75: _FICSUR'S head is quickly withdrawn. MRS. MUSKAT re-enters._--Changed "re-enters" to "reënters". The hyphenation occurs at the end of a line. Elsewhere in the text the word is printed with a diaeresis. - p. 162: THE MAGISTRAT--Changed the character title to "THE MAGISTRATE". Alternate spellings such as "irridescence," "moustache," "improvization," and "reënters" have been retained as has the inconsistent spelling of Liliom's last name ("Zavoczki," "Zavocki," and "Zavocky"). *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LILIOM: A LEGEND IN SEVEN SCENES AND A PROLOGUE *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. 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