University of Virginia Library

SCENE I

[A winding path among the Mountains, up which Prince Lucifer is walking, alone. Adam comes down the path, and meets Prince Lucifer.]
LUCIFER.
Where leads this road?

ADAM.
Good sir, it leads to death,
As all roads do.

LUCIFER.
True, yokel, that it does;
But where meanwhile?

ADAM.
Mayhap to marriage, sir;
For marriage is the half-way-house to death,
Where heedless men make merry.

LUCIFER.
Hardly there!
Save one be minded, in a moonish freak,
To dally with the coy and nimble wind,
Kiss the cold glacier, court the unmelting snow,
Fondle the scaly body of the pine,
Woo the escaping cataract, embrace
The monstrous avalanche, what business here
Hath the warm insurrection of the blood,
Or quest of pillowed softness? Stair on stair
Of rugged steepness winding to the tower
Of spacious observation I behold,
But nowhere ledge or narrow shelf for love
To stretch its velvet body and prolong
Its languid gambols. Place alone is here
For austere thews, and boundings of the mind
Across the chasms of appalling thought,
Up to the crags of rimless speculation.
Love clings unto the valley, as beseems
Its pampered homeliness. The mind delights
To commerce with the icy-sharpened peak,
And controvert the lightning.

ADAM.
He is lost
In the void altitude of his own thoughts,
And recks me not. These lofty natures live
Cold as the cradle of the lauwine is,
And in destruction but impart themselves.
'Tis ill to be too near. I'll scramble down.

LUCIFER.
What was it said you? Marriage! Look you, man!
In gorge and precipice life oft hath found
Death,—true; not love.

ADAM.
Perchance you will find both.
Each is far-reaching. I will leave you, sir.

LUCIFER.
So soon! You speak too sagely for your garb.
What do you in this planet?

ADAM.
Do its work,
As all men do, but I especially.
I have an interest in all men's lives,
Doing for those no richer than myself
What for myself I cannot do.

LUCIFER.
And that?

ADAM.
A simple trade; the oldest in the world.
I dig men's graves. I shall not dig my own.

LUCIFER.
Like you that trade?

ADAM.
It likes me well enough.
I have no dread of that which all men dread,
Being so familiar with it. There they dwell,
Hamlet of houses clustering round a spire
Girt at its base with heavings of the ground.
Men are like moles, sir; when they go below,
They do disturb the earth; though whether they
Come up for air sometimes when no one looks,
What man shall say? Ghosts, spectres, mirages,
Haply are thus conceived.

LUCIFER.
Hast seen them ever?

ADAM.
See we aught else? It is a spectral world,
Wherein vague men walk ghostlike. Death is real,
And all beside mere show; and so meseems
In me is more reality since I
Shoulder his weapon.

LUCIFER.
'Tis a churlish lord,
To treat his serf no better than a stranger.
You serve death faithfully; he serves you ill.
Life is a service sweet and profitable,
Were life but long enough for men to learn it,
Or wisdom more precocious.

ADAM.
Life is too long:
But, long or short, foolish or wise, this death
Casts its still shadow half athwart our lives—

LUCIFER.
—Lending them grace and quietness. The glare
Of deathless life would be intolerable.
Where learned you to be pensive?

ADAM.
By the grave.
There, one learns all. Within the narrow bound
Of church and churchyard, whatso lore commands
Your approbation, sir, I have acquired.
I toll the bell for burial, marriage, mass.
The self-same clapper and the same worn rope
Serve for all three. Time's the sole difference;
Whose artificial measures, which I hold
Within the horny hollow of my palm,
Mislead imagination, but not mine.
Birth, wedding, dissolution, are but stops
In the one tune whose cadence still is death.

LUCIFER.
And when that music ends, what follows then?

ADAM.
A sweeter music surely, ending not.
Earth shuts, Heaven opens.

LUCIFER.
And who tells you that?

ADAM.
My own desires, and Father Gabriel.

LUCIFER.
And is that proof and warranty enough?.

ADAM.
Proof is not needed where there dwells no doubt.
You do not doubt it, sir?

LUCIFER.
I doubt all things.
But you had best believe them. See! there's more
[Giving him money.]
Than Heaven, I warrant, will ever do for you.

ADAM.
How know you but that Heaven hath lured you here
To dole me this? Deeds are God's servitors,
Or willing or reluctant. Keep my thanks!
I must descend and dig another grave.
May-be, some day, sir, I shall scoop out yours.
It shall be neat and shapely as the sheets
Smoothed by an anxious housewife.

[Adam descends the mountain.]
LUCIFER.
Fare-you-well.
Strange that this man should moralise on life,
And find no riddle in the afterward!
The riddle's in the question: ask it not,
And life, and death, and Heaven, seem plain enough.
We vex ourselves with interrogatories,
To which no answer comes. He asketh none,
And so lives answered. Till we doubt we know,
Or think we know; and what we think depends
On our complacency. Thus, thus, by him,
The janitor of death, 'tis not conceived
The door he helps to open may but lead
Into an empty chamber, dark and dumb.
Meanwhile, how bright and eloquent is life,
Here where the tide of human voices ebbs
Into a sea of silence! What a scene!
The cataracts never looking where they leap,
And, as they fall, bounding away again
From ledge to ledge in careless confidence;
The gloomy glory of the sunlit pines,
That climb up to the verge of desolation,
Finding a foothold where the chamois fails;
The passionless bosom of the barren snow;
And here, midway betwixt the vacant throne
Of sheer sublimity and yon low vale
Of human needs and passions, butterflies,
The wingëd flowers of the unsown air,
Flickering o'er crag and precipice as though
They revelled in the safety mortals find
A dizzying terror. Each slow upward stride
Bruises the secret sweetness of the thyme.
Hark! though I see them not, in pastures near
Feed flocks and herds on grasses newly green,
Carrying their music with them as they graze,
Melodious banquet. I will follow it.

[He ascends.]
THE WEISSHORN.

LUCIFER.
Lo! there they wander, on the high smooth slopes,
The many-tinkling kine; and lower down,
Among the rocks and boulders, scrambling ewes
Teased by their suckling lambs. Hark! what was that?

A VOICE.
Help! Help! This way!

LUCIFER.
I come. Now shout again.

VOICE.
Help! Help!

LUCIFER.
Good! Help is coming. Do not fear.

VOICE.
Here! Here! This way!

LUCIFER.
I see you, little waif,
Blown 'mong the boulders. But how came she there?
Wait, and I come.

EVE.
Don't leap, sir! 'Tis too sheer.

[He splits, without severing, the limb of a stout sapling, that grows on the edge of the rock, and so swings himself down.]
EVE.
Oh!

LUCIFER.
Green sap is stronger than the serest rope.
How true it holds! and, dangling in the air,
Lends a way back again. But, little maiden,
What strange freak led you to this lower ground,
Lacking an exit?

EVE.
'Twas this lamb that strayed.

LUCIFER.
And you, another lamb, strayed after it.

EVE.
I thought there was some goatherd in the hills
Would hear me call. I did not know who answered,
Or I would patiently have waited till
There dawned some humbler help.

LUCIFER.
How know you me?

EVE.
I know you not; but your smooth aspect tells
You are not native to these rugged parts.
Are you Prince Lucifer?

LUCIFER.
A simple guess.
Why do you shrink from me?

EVE.
I did not shrink,
But haply thought that, gazing round, I might
Discover some escape fear overlooked.

LUCIFER.
Look now with eyes of fearlessness, but still
No exit offers. How you hither came
Baffles my observation.

EVE.
Why, 'twas thus.
I clambered down the jutting ledges stepped
By this stray yeanling. Its light weight they bore,
But crumbled under mine; and when I thought
To reascend them, they proved false frail stairs,
Leaving me here. And then—and then—I called.
Forgive me! for my danger now is yours.

LUCIFER.
Danger, when shared, seems safety. This green limb
Will be our rescue.
[As he leaps up and pulls it down, it snaps at the fork.]
Rotten as the rock!
I never had believed your rowan boughs
Were so untrusty. Backward way is none.
Let us go lower.

EVE.
Have a care. The fall
Is deadlier still than this.

LUCIFER.
Once dropped below,
We are in touch with other ground, while here
An isolated terrace holds us fast.
Daring alone will help us. If I leap,
Have you the nerve to drop into my clutch?
It is our only safety.

EVE.
I will do
What you enjoin. But if it be your death!

LUCIFER.
Death is a coward: we will frighten him,
By showing him no fear. The ground looks soft.

EVE.
Nay, do not leap till I have said a prayer.
Wait till I cross myself.

LUCIFER.
Best close your eyes,
And hold your breath. See! I have touched the bottom
As sound as at the top. 'Tis simple now.
Further this way. The face slopes inward here,
And you will slip unhindered to my arms.

EVE.
But the poor lamb? I cannot leave it here.

LUCIFER.
Drop it, and I will catch it by the fleece
Before it touch the ground.

[She throws him the lamb.]
LUCIFER.
Scared more than hurt.
There! bleat in peace. Now, little shepherdess,
There's none to drop you; you must drop yourself,
While I against this bulging rock will lean
And safely wait your coming. Yes, like that.

[She lets herself drop.]
LUCIFER.
Windfall of mountain gossamer! the lamb
Was almost weightier.

EVE.
Not the brawniest youth
In all our valley would have done this thing,
And done it safely. O, how strong you are!

LUCIFER.
'Twas but your woman's heart that magnified
Apparent peril. That, at least, is past.
But the ascent is stern and difficult.
'Tis well for both, your lungs breathe mountain air,
Your limbs climb mountain pathways.

EVE.
My eyes swim,
And my knees totter. Past that precipice
I dare not venture.

LUCIFER.
Then look up, not down.
Give me your hand. See! I am steadfast, gazing
Into the abyss.

EVE.
Men love to play with peril.
Nay, let us back!

LUCIFER.
There is no safety backward.
Carry the lamb, and I will carry you;
[He puts the lamb in her arms, and lifts her from the ground.]
A mountain load of double innocence.
Why, I could run with you along the rim
Of gaping gorges. I feel lighter thus,
Than carrying the sole burden of myself.
You give my spirit freshness, and my feet
The nimbleness of youth. Bleat, little lamb,
We take you to your mother.

EVE.
Oh! not there!

[She faints, and her head falls on his shoulder.]
LUCIFER.
My mountain flower is drowsy on its stalk.
There's dew for its sweet petals.

[He kisses her on the mouth, and lays her on the ground.]
THE VISP-THAL TORRENT.

LUCIFER.
Alone, I had not done it. This fair load
Was ballast to my venture. Where is the rose
That made a garden of her cheek, and where
The ripe and ruddy orchard of her lips?
The snowpeaks are not paler. Rest you there,
Till I baptize you freshly from the brook.

[He goes to a brook. hard-by.]
THE MATTERHORN.

LUCIFER.
(bending over her).
Nor death, nor sleep. What is't that mimics both?
There is no contradiction in this face;
Its look is all assent. How fair were death,
Could it be forced to stay! But, of all guests,
It is the briefest visitant, and life
Already maketh haste to push it out,
And set up fresh antagonisms.

EVE.
(awaking).
Where,
Where is the lamb?

LUCIFER.
There, nibbling at the thyme.

EVE.
Where am I? I—I do remember now.
Are we both safe?

LUCIFER.
Safe as the dome of Heaven.

EVE.
I thought that I was falling through the air,
Falling, still falling, and my flock fell too,
Baaing and bleating; and the cataracts roared
Louder than even roar they in the night,
When darkness seems to lend them ampler voice.
The mountains melted into mist; the clefts,
And gorges, and ravines, made way for us;
Until my lambs were graves, and I was kneeling
In my accustomed place within the church,
Where we all worship. But no acolyte came;
The candles stood unlighted, and no flowers
Freshened the altar. Then I sought the door,
And as I dipped my finger in the stoup,
And touched my lips with holy-water, woke.

LUCIFER.
Dreams are the vapours of the soul, and have
In waking their foundation, foul or fair.
Innocent days radiate innocent dreams,
And yours are lamblike.

EVE.
But my lips are wet.

LUCIFER.
'Twas water from the brook; 'tis holy now.
Perchance it woke you, and your dream was true.
What are the mountains, inly viewed, but mist
And melting mirages? And when we fall
From heights of our conception, all things yield
Until we reach the graveyard.

EVE.
Hence the track
Back to my flock meandering mounts and dips.
I know it well.

LUCIFER.
Then show it me.

EVE.
This way.
It passes by your castle.

LUCIFER.
Go you first.
But you are faint. Rest yet a little while.

EVE.
No need. That foolish giddiness hath gone.

LUCIFER.
What do you in this solitude all day long?

EVE.
So many things. With which shall I begin?
I knit, I sing, I pray; I count the lambs.
I watch the clouds, I listen to the torrents.
I see the heavy velvet-coated bees,
Their wage within their pouch, go staggering home,
Drunk with the new must of the eglantine.
I gather saxifrage and spread it out
Smooth on my lap, then put it back again,
Lest it should die. I chant the litany,
And wonder at the whiteness of the snow
Upon the Weisshorn. Sometimes comes a sound
Deeper than thunder, less articulate,
And distant farther. Then I cross myself.
It is the avalanche, and far-off vales
Are silenced by its tumult.

LUCIFER.
Have you books?

EVE.
Yes. When the flock is couched and will not stray,
I read the lives of saints and confessors,
Martyrs and virgins, Father Gabriel
Keeps in the sacristy and lends to me.
But any living sound from that dead page
Makes me a truant, and the vaguest cloud
Says more to me than these true histories.

LUCIFER.
When Nature speaks, child, mortals should be dumb.
Keep eyes and ears for her; 'tis she instructs
In all worth learning.
[To himself.]
Strange this mountain babe,
This suckling of the hills, this wilding flower,
Should apprehend unconsciously a truth
The lettered mostly miss. How fair she is!
Simple and sweet as honeysuckled lane,
Leading we know not whither.

EVE.
There it is!

LUCIFER.
The Castle. Never was there trustier guide,
Your payment must be hospitality.
Were you within it ever?

EVE.
You forget.
Within it, yes, when there was no within.
For all was roofless till you came. It stood
Rock 'mid the rocks, a hill among the hills,
Quarried no more than is the Matterhorn.
Now all seems built and shapely.

LUCIFER.
You shall see.

[They enter the Courtyard.]