The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats. Volume 4 of 8. The Hour-glass. Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Golden Helmet. The Irish Dramatic Movement. Yeats William Butler

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WISE MAN

      I am lost! I am lost!

BRIDGET

      Leave me alone now; I have to make the bread for you and the children.

WISE MAN

      Out of this, woman, out of this, I say! [BRIDGET goes through the kitchen door.] Will nobody find a way to help me! But she spoke of my children. I had forgotten them. They will believe. It is only those who have reason that doubt; the young are full of faith. Bridget, Bridget, send my children to me.

BRIDGET [inside]

      Your father wants you; run to him now.

      [The two CHILDREN come in. They stand together a little way from the threshold of the kitchen door, looking timidly at their father.

WISE MAN

      Children, what do you believe? Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is there a Purgatory?

FIRST CHILD

      We haven’t forgotten, father.

THE OTHER CHILD

      O no, father. [They both speak together as if in school.] There is nothing we cannot see; there is nothing we cannot touch.

FIRST CHILD

      Foolish people used to think that there was, but you are very learned and you have taught us better.

WISE MAN

      You are just as bad as the others, just as bad as the others! Do not run away, come back to me! [The CHILDREN begin to cry and run away.] Why are you afraid? I will teach you better – no, I will never teach you again. Go to your mother! no, she will not be able to teach them… Help them, O God!.. The grains are going very quickly. There is very little sand in the uppermost glass. Somebody will come for me in a moment; perhaps he is at the door now! All creatures that have reason doubt. O that the grass and the plants could speak! Somebody has said that they would wither if they doubted. O speak to me, O grass blades! O fingers of God’s certainty, speak to me! You are millions and you will not speak. I dare not know the moment the messenger will come for me. I will cover the glass. [He covers it and brings it to the desk. Sees the FOOL, who is sitting by the door playing with some flowers which he has stuck in his hat. He has begun to blow a dandelion-head.] What are you doing?

FOOL

      Wait a moment. [He blows.] Four, five, six.

WISE MAN

      What are you doing that for?

FOOL

      I am blowing at the dandelion to find out what time it is.

WISE MAN

      You have heard everything! That is why you want to find out what hour it is! You are waiting to see them coming through the door to carry me away. [FOOL goes on blowing.] Out through the door with you! I will have no one here when they come. [He seizes the FOOL by the shoulders, and begins to force him out through the door, then suddenly changes his mind.] No, I have something to ask you. [He drags him back into the room.] Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is there a Purgatory?

FOOL

      So you ask me now. When you were asking your pupils, I said to myself, if he would ask Teig the Fool, Teig could tell him all about it, for Teig has learned all about it when he has been cutting the nets.

WISE MAN

      Tell me; tell me!

FOOL

      I said, Teig knows everything. Not even the cats or the hares that milk the cows have Teig’s wisdom. But Teig will not speak; he says nothing.

WISE MAN

      Tell me, tell me! For under the cover the grains are falling, and when they are all fallen I shall die; and my soul will be lost if I have not found somebody that believes! Speak, speak!

FOOL [looking wise]

      No, no, I won’t tell you what is in my mind, and I won’t tell you what is in my bag. You might steal away my thoughts. I met a bodach on the road yesterday, and he said, ‘Teig, tell me how many pennies are in your bag; I will wager three pennies that there are not twenty pennies in your bag; let me put in my hand and count them.’ But I pulled the strings tighter, like this; and when I go to sleep every night I hide the bag where no one knows.

WISE MAN[Goes towards the hour-glass as if to uncover it.]

      No, no, I have not the courage. [He kneels.] Have pity upon me, Fool, and tell me!

FOOL

      Ah! Now, that is different. I am not afraid of you now. But I must come nearer to you; somebody in there might hear what the Angel said.

WISE MAN

      Oh, what did the Angel tell you?

FOOL

      Once I was alone on the hills, and an angel came by and he said, ‘Teig the Fool, do not forget the Three Fires; the Fire that punishes, the Fire that purifies, and the Fire wherein the soul rejoices for ever!’

WISE MAN

      He believes! I am saved! The sand has run out… [FOOL helps him to his chair.] I am going from the country of the seven wandering stars, and I am going to the country of the fixed stars! I understand it all now. One sinks in on God; we do not see the truth; God sees the truth in us. Ring the bell. They are coming. Tell them, Fool, that when the life and the mind are broken the truth comes through them like peas through a broken peascod. Pray, Fool, that they may be given a sign and carry their souls alive out of the dying world. Your prayers are better than mine.

      [FOOL bows his head. WISE MAN’S head sinks on his arm on the books. PUPILS are heard singing as before, but now they come right on to the stage before they cease their song.

A YOUNG MAN

      Look at the Fool turned bell-ringer!

ANOTHER

      What have you called us in for, Teig? What are you going to tell us?

ANOTHER

      No wonder he has had dreams! See, he is fast asleep now. [Goes over and touches him.] Oh, he is dead!

FOOL

      Do not stir! He asked for a sign that you might be saved. [All are silent for a moment.].. Look what has come from his mouth.. a little winged thing.. a little shining thing… It is gone to the door. [The ANGEL appears in the doorway, stretches out her hands and closes them again.] The Angel has taken it in her hands… She will open her hands in the Garden of Paradise.[They all kneel.

      CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN

      PERSONS IN THE PLAY

      Peter Gillane

      Michael Gillane, his Son, going to be married

      Patrick Gillane, a lad of twelve, Michael’s Brother

      Bridget Gillane, Peter’s Wife

      Delia Cahel, engaged to Michael

      The Poor Old Woman

      Neighbours

      CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN

      Interior of a cottage close to Killala, in 1798. BRIDGET is standing at a table undoing a parcel. PETER is sitting at one side of the fire, PATRICK at the other.

PETER

      What is that sound I hear?

PATRICK

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