Jurgen: A Play in Three Acts. James Branch Cabell

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СКАЧАТЬ a neighbor.)

      Jurgen

      Good day, neighbor.

      Neighbor

      Jurgen, Jurgen. Your wife has been carried off by a devil and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

      Jurgen

      Really? When?

      Neighbor

      Just now. This very moment.

      Jurgen

      Well, well. A wise man always speaks well of everyone. In a cloud of smoke, you say?

      Neighbor

      The devil himself carried her off. Better come at once.

      Jurgen

      I suppose I should go to make sure. But I have confidence in Lisa. She can take care of herself in any company. In a cloud of smoke. Fancy that! Well, it will be quiet at home for a change. Though I may have to cook my own supper, I fancy I shall digest it better.

      Neighbor

      Come along.

      CURTAIN

      ACT I

      SCENE 1

      In the Garden of Youth. A beautiful garden. Several young lovers in medieval dress. Dorothy la Désirée, a beautiful girl of sixteen, is wandering by herself and meets Jurgen, who enters dressed in a beautiful shirt.

      Dorothy

      Why have you come to this garden, stranger?

      Jurgen

      Well, because I am looking for my wife whom I suspect was carried off by some poor devil.

      Dorothy (archly)

      You are glad to be rid of her, are you not?

      Jurgen

      I confess a certain—relief.

      Dorothy

      Then why are you here?

      Jurgen

      Because everyone said it was the manly thing to do, to try and find her. I have always been too deferential to the opinion of mankind.

      Dorothy

      How did you get here?

      Jurgen

      You wouldn’t believe me. You are a monstrously clever person.

      Dorothy

      Try me.

      Jurgen

      A centaur that I met on the road brought me. He gave me this shirt.

      Dorothy

      That’s ridiculous. I don’t believe you.

      Jurgen

      Perfectly all right. You’d be daft if you did. But are you not Dorothy la Désirée—the only woman I ever loved?

      Dorothy

      Certainly, I am she. Count Emerrich’s daughter.

      Jurgen (bitterly)

      And the wife of Hetman Michael.

      Dorothy

      That oaf! I would never marry him.

      Jurgen

      So you told me when I was young. But you married him all the same.

      Dorothy

      You’re funny. Are you mad? Who are you, friend, that you have such curious notions about me?

      Jurgen

      I will answer that question, even though you clearly know the answer. I am Jurgen.

      Dorothy

      I know but one Jurgen—and he is much younger than you.

      Jurgen

      Ah, I understand. I have returned to my youth. I have heard of this other Jurgen. A monstrously clever fellow—and he loved you.

      Dorothy

      No more than I love him. A whole summer I have loved him.

      Jurgen

      The poor devil loved you, too. I can testify to it. For a whole summer and perhaps all of his life.

      Dorothy

      You talk in riddles, friend.

      Jurgen

      That is customary when age talks to youth. For I am a man of forty, and you—you will be sixteen in two months—for it is August—the August of a year I had not expected ever to see again.

      Dorothy

      You really are a strange fellow—but I like you. In fact, I liked you instantly, as soon as you told me your name was Jurgen.

      Jurgen

      Well—and what can I do about it? Somehow, I—who am but the shadow of what I was, walk with the love of my youth. In this same garden, there was once a boy who loved a girl with such a love as it puzzles me to think of now. And for a whole summer these two were as brave and comely and clean a pair of sweethearts as the world has known.

      Dorothy

      Tell me about yourself, sir. For I love all tales of lovers.

      Jurgen

      Ah, dear child—if only I could. Who can tell the glory of a first love—moonlight nights—unreasonable laughter—and the feeling that suddenly you are—alive. A story not worth raking up at this late date. Preposterous, really.

      Dorothy

      What happened then?

      Jurgen

      There was a difficulty. She was a count’s daughter and he was the son of a pawnbroker.

      Dorothy (excited)

      I know a case just like it. (curious) What happened?

      Jurgen

      Well—it seemed a transient discrepancy because our hero intended to become an Emperor.

      Dorothy

      And СКАЧАТЬ