The Blue Bird. Maurice Maeterlinck

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СКАЧАТЬ FAIRY You will have to start at once.

      TYLTYL Are you coming with us?

      THE FAIRY I can't, because I put on the soup this morning and it always boils over if I leave it for more than an hour. … (Pointing successively to the ceiling, the chimney and the window) Will you go out this way, or that way, or that way? …

      TYLTYL (pointing timidly to the door) I would rather go out that way. …

      THE FAIRY (growing suddenly angry again) That's quite impossible; and it's a shocking habit! … (Pointing to the window) We'll go out this way. … Well? … What are you waiting for? … Get dressed at once. … (The CHILDREN do as they are told and dress quickly.) I'll help Mytyl. …

      TYLTYL We have no shoes. …

      THE FAIRY That doesn't matter. I will give you a little magic hat. Where are your father and mother? …

      TYLTYL (pointing to the door on the right) They're asleep in there. …

      THE FAIRY And your grandpapa and grandmamma? …

      TYLTYL They're dead. …

      THE FAIRY And your little brothers and sisters. … Have you any? …

      TYLTYL Oh, yes; three little brothers. …

      MYTYL And four little sisters. …

      THE FAIRY Where are they? …

      TYLTYL They are dead, too. …

      THE FAIRY Would you like to see them again? …

      TYLTYL Oh, yes! … At once! … Show them to us! …

      THE FAIRY I haven't got them in my pocket. … But this is very lucky; you will see them when you go through the Land of Memory. … It's on the way to the Blue Bird, just on the left, past the third turning. … What were you doing when I knocked? …

      TYLTYL We were playing at eating cakes? …

      THE FAIRY Have you any cakes? … Where are they? …

      TYLTYL In the house of the rich children. … Come and look, it's so lovely. (He drags the FAIRY to the window.)

      THE FAIRY (at the window) But it's the others who are eating them! …

      TYLTYL Yes; but we can see them eat. …

      THE FAIRY Aren't you cross with them? …

      TYLTYL What for? …

      THE FAIRY For eating all the cakes. … I think it's very wrong of them not to give you some. …

      TYLTYL Not at all; they're rich. … I say, isn't it beautiful over there? …

      THE FAIRY It's no more beautiful there than here.

      TYLTYL Ugh! … It's darker here and smaller and there are no cakes. …

      THE FAIRY It's exactly the same, only you can't see. …

      TYLTYL Yes, I can; and I have very good eyes. I can see the time on the church clock and daddy can't …

      THE FAIRY (suddenly angry) I tell you that you can't see! … How do you see me? … What do I look like? … (An awkward silence from TYLTYL.) Well, answer me, will you? I want to know if you can see! … Am I pretty or ugly? … (The silence grows more and more uncomfortable.) Won't you answer? … Am I young or old? … Are my cheeks pink or yellow? … Perhaps you'll say I have a hump? …

      TYLTYL (in a conciliatory tone) No, no; It's not a big one. …

      THE FAIRY Oh, yes, to look at you, any one would think it enormous. … Have I a hook nose and have I lost one of my eyes? …

      TYLTYL Oh, no, I don't say that. … Who put it out? …

      THE FAIRY (growing more and more irritated). But it's not out! … You wretched, impudent boy! … It's much finer than the other; it's bigger and brighter and blue as the sky. … And my hair, do you see that? … It's fair as the corn in the fields, it's like virgin gold! … And I've such heaps and heaps of it that it weighs my head down. … It escapes on every side. … Do you see it on my hands? (She holds out two lean wisps of grey hair.)

      TYLTYL Yes, I see a little. …

      THE FAIRY (indignantly) A little! … Sheaves! Armfuls! Clusters! Waves of gold! … I know there are people who say that they don't see any; but you're not one of those wicked, blind people, I should hope? …

      TYLTYL Oh, no; I can see all that isn't hidden. …

      THE FAIRY But you ought to see the rest with as little doubt! … Human beings are very odd! … Since the death of the fairies, they see nothing at all and they never suspect it. … Luckily, I always carry with me all that is wanted to give new light to dimmed eyes. … What am I taking out of my bag? …

      TYLTYL Oh, what a dear little green hat! … What's that shining in the cockade? …

      THE FAIRY That's the big diamond that makes people see. …

      TYLTYL Really? …

      THE FAIRY Yes; when you've got the hat on your head, you turn the diamond a little; from right to left, for instance, like this; do you see? … Then it presses a bump which nobody knows of and which opens your eyes. …

      TYLTYL Doesn't it hurt? …

      THE FAIRY On the contrary, it's enchanted. … You at once see even the inside of things: the soul of bread, of wine, of pepper, for instance. …

      MYTYL Can you see the soul of sugar, too? …

      THE FAIRY (suddenly cross) Of course you can! … I hate unnecessary questions. … The soul of sugar is no more interesting than the soul of pepper. … There, I give you all I have to help you in your search for the Blue Bird. I know that the flying carpet or the ring which makes its wearer invisible would be more useful to you. … But I have lost the key of the cupboard in which I locked them. … Oh, I was almost forgetting! … (Pointing to the diamond) When you hold it like this, do you see? … One little turn more and you behold the past. … Another little turn and you behold the future. … It's curious and practical and it's quite noiseless. …

      TYLTYL Daddy will take it from me. …

      THE FAIRY He won't see it; no one can see it as long as it's on your head. … Will you try it? … (She puts the little green hat on TYLTYL'S head.) Now, turn the diamond. … One turn and then. …

      (TYLTYL has no sooner turned the diamond than a sudden and wonderful change comes over everything. The old FAIRY alters then and there into a princess of marvellous beauty; the flints of which the cottage walls are built light up, turn blue as sapphires, become transparent and gleam and sparkle like the most precious stones. The humble furniture takes СКАЧАТЬ