The Blue Bird. Maurice Maeterlinck

as rich and numerous as may be desired, provided that they do not break the pure and candid harmony of the whole.

      BREAD.—A rich pasha's dress. An ample crimson silk or velvet gown. A huge turban. A scimitar. An enormous stomach, red and puffed-out cheeks.

      SUGAR.—A silk gown, cut like that of a eunuch in a seraglio, half blue and half white, to suggest the paper wrapper of a sugar-loaf. Eunuch's headdress.

      FIRE.—Red tights, a vermilion cloak, with changing reflections, lined with gold. An aigrette of iridescent flames.

      WATER.—A pale-blue or bluish-green dress, with transparent reflections and effects of rippling or trickling gauze, Neo-Grecian or Anglo-Grecian style. but fuller and more voluminous than that of LIGHT. Head-dress of aquatic flowers and seaweed.

      THE ANIMALS.—Popular or peasant costumes.

      THE TREES.—Dresses of different shades of green or the colour of the trunks of trees. Distinctive attributes in the shape of leaves or branches by which they can be recognised.

SCENES

       Table of Contents

      ACT I.—The Wood-cutter's Cottage.

       ACT II., Scene 1—At the Fairy's.

       Scene 2—The Land of Memory.

       ACT III., Scene 1—The Palace of Night.

       Scene 2—The Forest.

       ACT IV., Scene 1—Before the Curtain.

       Scene 2—The Palace of Happiness.

       ACT V., Scene 1—Before the Curtain.

       Scene 2—The Graveyard.

       Scene 3—The Kingdom of the Future.

       ACT VI., Scene 1—The Leave-taking.

       Scene 2—The Awakening.

THE BLUE BIRD

       Table of Contents

ACT I. The Wood-cutter's Cottage

       Table of Contents

      The stage represents the interior of a wood-cutter's cottage, simple and rustic in appearance, but in no way poverty-stricken. A recessed fireplace containing the dying embers of a wood-fire. Kitchen utensils, a cupboard, a bread-pan, a grandfather's clock, a spinning-wheel, a water-tap, etc. On a table, a lighted lamp. At the foot of the cupboard, on either side, a DOG and a CAT lie sleeping, rolled up, each with his nose in his tail. Between them stands a large blue-and-white sugar-loaf. On the wall hangs a round cage containing a turtle-dove. At the back, two windows, with closed inside shutters. Under one of the windows, a stool. On the left is the front door, with a big latch to it. On the right, another door. A ladder leads up to a loft. On the right also are two little children's cots, at the head of which are two chains, with clothes carefully folded on them. When the curtain rises, TYLTYL and MYTYL are sound asleep in their cots, MUMMY TYL tucks them in, leans over them, watches them for a moment as they sleep and beckons to DADDY TYL, who thrusts his head through the half-open door. MUMMY TYL lays a finger on her lips, to impose silence upon him, and then goes out to the right, on tiptoe, after first putting out the lamp. The scene remains in darkness for a moment. Then a light, gradually increasing in intensity, filters in through the shutters. The lamp on the table lights again of itself, but its light is of a different colour than when MUMMY TYL extinguished it. The two CHILDREN appear to wake and sit up in bed.

      TYLTYL Mytyl?

      MYTYL Tyltyl?

      TYLTYL Are you asleep?

      MYTYL Are you? …

      TYLTYL No; how can I be asleep when I'm talking to you?

      MYTYL Say, is this Christmas Day? …

      TYLTYL Not yet; not till to-morrow. But Father Christmas won't bring us anything this year. …

      MYTYL Why not?

      TYLTYL I heard mummy say that she couldn't go to town to tell him … But he will come next year. …

      MYTYL Is next year far off? …

      TYLTYL A good long while. … But he will come to the rich children to-night. …

      MYTYL Really? …

      TYLTYL Hullo! … Mummy's forgotten to put out the lamp! … I've an idea! …

      MYTYL What? …

      TYLTYL Let's get up. …

      MYTYL But we mustn't. …

      TYLTYL Why, there's no one about. … Do you see the shutters? …

      MYTYL Oh, how bright they are! …

      TYLTYL It's the lights of the party.

      MYTYL What party? …

      TYLTYL The rich children opposite. It's the Christmas-tree. Let's open the shutters. …

      MYTYL Can we? …

      TYLTYL Of course; there's no one to stop us. … Do you hear the music? … Let us get up. …

      (The two CHILDREN get up, run to one of the windows, climb on to the stool and throw back the shutters. A bright light fills the room. The CHILDREN look out greedily.)

      TYLTYL We can see everything! …

      MYTYL (who can hardly find room on the stool) I can't. …

      TYLTYL It's snowing! … There's two carriages, with six horses each! …

      MYTYL There are twelve little boys getting out! …

      TYLTYL How silly you are! … They're little girls. …

      MYTYL They've got knickerbockers. …

      TYLTYL What do you know? … Don't push so! …

      MYTYL I never touched you.

      TYLTYL (who is taking up the whole stool) You're taking up all the room …

      MYTYL Why, I have no room at all! …

      TYLTYL Do be quiet! I see the tree! …

      MYTYL What tree? …

      TYLTYL Why, the Christmas-tree! … You're looking at the wall! …

      MYTYL I'm looking at the wall because I've got no room. …

      TYLTYL (giving her a miserly little place on the stool) There! … Will that do? … Now you're better off than I! … I say, what lots and lots of lights! …

      MYTYL What are those people doing who are making such a noise? …

      TYLTYL They're the musicians.

      MYTYL Are they angry? …

      TYLTYL No; but it's hard work.

      MYTYL Another carriage with white horses! …

      TYLTYL Be quiet! … And look! …

      MYTYL What are those gold things there, hanging from the branches?

      TYLTYL Why, toys, to be sure! … Swords, guns, soldiers, cannons. …