Poems. W. B. Yeats
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So that they brought us money.
SHEMUS
I heard say
There's something that appears like a white bird,
A pigeon or a seagull or the like,
But if you hit it with a stone or a stick
It clangs as though it had been made of brass,
And that if you dig down where it was scratching
You'll find a crock of gold.
TEIG
But dream of gold
For three nights running, and there's always gold.
SHEMUS
You might be starved before you've dug it out.
TEIG
But maybe if you called, something would come,
They have been seen of late.
MARY
Is it call devils?
Call devils from the wood, call them in here?
SHEMUS
So you'd stand up against me, and you'd say
Who or what I am to welcome here. (He hits her.) That is to show who's master.
TEIG
Call them in.
MARY
God help us all!
SHEMUS
Pray, if you have a mind to.
It's little that the sleepy ears above
Care for your words; but I'll call what I please.
TEIG
There is many a one, they say, had money from them.
SHEMUS (at door)
Whatever you are that walk the woods at night,
So be it that you have not shouldered up
Out of a grave—for I'll have nothing human—
And have free hands, a friendly trick of speech,
I welcome you. Come, sit beside the fire.
What matter if your head's below your arms
Or you've a horse's tail to whip your flank,
Feathers instead of hair, that's but a straw,
Come, share what bread and meat is in the house,
And stretch your heels and warm them in the ashes.
And after that, let's share and share alike
And curse all men and women. Come in, come in.
What, is there no one there? (Turning from door) And yet they say They are as common as the grass, and ride Even upon the book in the priest's hand.
(TEIG lifts one arm slowly and points toward the door and begins moving backwards. SHEMUS turns, he also sees something and begins moving backward. MARY does the same. A man dressed as an Eastern merchant comes in carrying a small carpet. He unrolls it and sits cross-legged at one end of it. Another man dressed in the same way follows, and sits at the other end. This is done slowly and deliberately. When they are seated they take money out of embroidered purses at their girdles and begin arranging it on the carpet.)
TEIG
You speak to them.
SHEMUS
No, you.
TEIG
'Twas you that called them.
SHEMUS (coming nearer)
I'd make so bold, if you would pardon it,
To ask if there's a thing you'd have of us.
Although we are but poor people, if there is,
Why, if there is——
FIRST MERCHANT
We've travelled a long road,
For we are merchants that must tramp the world,
And now we look for supper and a fire
And a safe corner to count money in.
SHEMUS
I thought you were … but that's no matter now—
There had been words between my wife and me
Because I said I would be master here,
And ask in what I pleased or who I pleased
And so … but that is nothing to the point,
Because it's certain that you are but merchants.
FIRST MERCHANT
We travel for the Master of all merchants.
SHEMUS
Yet if you were that I had thought but now
I'd welcome you no less. Be what you please
And you'll have supper at the market rate,
That means that what was sold for but a penny
Is now worth fifty.
(MERCHANTS begin putting money on carpet.)
FIRST MERCHANT
Our Master bids us pay
So good a price, that all who deal with us
Shall eat, drink, and be merry.
SHEMUS (to MARY)
Bestir yourself,
Go kill and draw the fowl, while Teig and I
Lay out the plates and make a better fire.
MARY
I will not cook for you.
SHEMUS
Not cook! not cook!
Do not be angry. She wants to pay me back
Because I struck her in that argument.
But she'll get sense again. Since the dearth came
We rattle one on another as though we were
Knives thrown into a basket to be cleaned.
MARY
I will not cook for you, because I know
In what unlucky shape you sat but now
Outside this door.
TEIG
It's this, your honours:
Because of some wild words my father said
She thinks you are not of those who cast a shadow.
SHEMUS
I said I'd make the devils of the wood
Welcome, if they'd a mind to eat and drink;
But it is certain that you are men like us.
FIRST MERCHANT
It's strange that she should think we cast no shadow,
For there is nothing on the ridge of the world
That's more substantial than the merchants are
That buy and sell you.
MARY
If you are not demons,
And seeing what great wealth is spread out there,
Give food or money to the starving poor.
FIRST MERCHANT
If we knew