Chapter II: Act I: Scene I

_A room on the ground floor of a rustic house. The large entrance door opens on a large sunlit yard. Across the door is stretched, to prevent entrance, a scarlet woollen scarf, held in place at each end by a forked hoe and a distaff. At one side of the door jamb is a waxen cross to keep off evil spirits. A smaller closed door, with its architrave adorned with boxwood green, is on the wall at the right, and close against the same wall are three ancient wooden chests. At the left, and set in the depth of the wall, is a chimney and fire-place with a prominent hood; and a little at one side a small door, and near this an ancient loom. In the room are to be seen such utensils and articles of furniture as tables, benches, hasps, a swift, and hanks of flax and wool hanging from light ropes drawn between nails or hooks. Also to be seen are jugs, dishes, plates, bottles and flasks of various sizes and materials, with many gourds, dried and emptied. Also an ancient bread and flour chest, the cover of it having a carved panel representing the image of the Madonna. Beside this the water basin and a rude old table. Suspended from the ceiling by ropes is a wide, broad board laden with cheeses. Two windows, iron-grated and high up from the ground, give light, one at each side of the large door, and in each of the gratings is stuck a bunch of red buckwheat to ward off evil._

SPLENDORE, FAVETTA, ORNELLA, _the three young sisters, are kneeling each in front of one of the three chests containing the wedding dresses. They are bending over them and picking out suitable dresses and ornaments for the bride. Their gay, fresh tones are like the chanting of morning songs._

SPLENDORE

What's your will, our own Vienda?

FAVETTA

What's your will, our dear new sister?

SPLENDORE

Will you choose the gown of woolen,
Would you sooner have the silken,
Sprayed with flowrets red and yellow?

ORNELLA [_singing_]

Only of green shall be my arraying.
Only of green for Santo Giovanni,
For mid the green meadows he came to seek me,
Oili, Oili, Oila!

SPLENDORE

Look! Here is the bodice of wondrous embroidery,
And the yoke with the gleaming thread of silver,
Petticoat rich of a dozen breadths' fulness,
Necklace strung with hundred-beaded coral,--
All these given you by your new mother.

ORNELLA [_singing_]

Only of green be or gown or bridal chamber!
Oili, oili, oila!

FAVETTA

What's your will, our own Vienda?

SPLENDORE

What's your will, our dear new sister?

ORNELLA

Pendant earrings, clinging necklace,
Blushing ribbons, cherry red?
Hear the ringing bells of noonday,
Hear the bells ring out high noon!

SPLENDORE

See the kindred hither coming,
On their heads the hampers bearing,
Hampers laden with wheat all golden,
And you yet not dressed and ready!

ORNELLA

Bounding, rebounding,
Sheep pass, the hills rounding.
The wolf, through valleys winding,
The nut he seeks is finding,--
The pistachio nut is finding.
See, the Bride of the Morning!
Matinal as the field-mouse
Going forth at the dawning,
As the woodchuck and squirrel.
Hear, O hear, the bells' whirl!

[_All these words are spoken very swiftly, and at the close _ORNELLA_ laughs joyously, her two sisters joining with her._]

THE THREE SISTERS

Oh! Aligi, why then don't you come?

SPLENDORE

Oh! in velvet then must you dress?

FAVETTA

Seven centuries quite, must you rest
With your beautiful, magical Spouse?

SPLENDORE

O your father stays at the harvesting,
Brother mine, and the star of the dawning
In his sickle-blade is showing,--
In his sickle, no rest knowing.

FAVETTA

And your mother has flavored the wine-cup
And anise-seed mixed with the water,
Sticking cloves in the roast meat
And sweet thyme in the cheeses.

SPLENDORE

And a lamb of the flock we have slaughtered,
Yea, a yearling, but fattened one season,
With head markings and spottings of sable,
For the Bride and the Bridegroom.

FAVETTA

And the mantle, long-sleeved, and cowl-hooded,
For Astorgio we chose it and kept it,--
For the long-lived gray man of the mountain,
So our fate upon that he foretell us.

ORNELLA

And to-morrow will be San Giovanni,
Dear, my brother! with dawn, San Giovanni!
Up the Plaia hill then shall I hie me,
To behold once again the head severed--
In the sun's disc, the holy head severed,
On the platter all gleaming and golden,
Where again the blood runs, flows and babbles.

FAVETTA

Up, Vienda! head all golden,
Keeping long vigil; O golden sweet tresses!
Now they harvest in the grain-fields
Wheat as golden as your tresses.

SPLENDORE

Our mother was saying: "Now heed me!
Three olives I nurtured here with me;
Unto these now a plum have I added.
Ay! three daughters, and, also, a daughter."

ORNELLA

Come, Vienda, golden-plum girl!
Why delay you? Are you writing
To the sun a fair blue letter
That to-night it know no setting?

[_She laughs and the other sisters join in with her. From the small door enters their mother, _CANDIA BELLA LEONESSA.]

CANDIA [_playfully chiding_]

Ah! you magpies, sweet cicales!
Once for over-joy of singing
One was burst upon the poplar.
Now the cock's no longer crowing
To awaken tardy sleepers.
Only sing on these cicales,--
These cicales of high noonday.
These three magpies take my roof-tree--
Take my door's wood for a tree-branch.
Still the new child does not heed them.
Oh! Aligi, Aligi, dear fellow!

[_The door opens. The beardless bridegroom appears. He greets them with a grave voice, fixed eyes, and in an almost religious manner._]

ALIGI

All praise to Jesus and to Mary!
You, too, my mother, who this mortal
Christian flesh to me have given,
Be you blessed, my dear mother!
Blessed be ye, also, sisters,
Blossoms of my blood!
For you, for me, I cross my forehead,
That never there come before us to thwart us
The enemy subtle, in death, in life,
In heat of sun, or flame of fire,
Or poison, or any enchantment,
Or sweat unholy the forehead moist'ning.
Father, and Saviour, and Holy Spirit!

[_The sisters cross themselves and go out by the small door, carrying the bridal dresses. _ALIGI_ approaches his mother as if in a dream._]

CANDIA

Flesh of my flesh, thus touch I your forehead
With bread, with this fair wheaten loaf of white flour,
Prepared in this bowl of a hundred years old,
Born long before thee, born long before me,
Kneaded long on the board of a hundred years old
By these hands that have tended and held you.
On the brow, thus, I touch: Be it sunny and clear!
I touch thus the breast: Be it free from all sighing!
I touch this shoulder, and that: Be it strong!
Let them bear up your arms for long labor!
Let her rest there her head gray or golden!
And may Christ to you speak and you heed him!

[_With the loaf she makes the sign of the cross above her son, who has fallen on his knees before her._]

ALIGI

I lay down and meseemed of Jesus I dreamed.
He came to me saying: "Be not fearful."
San Giovanni said to me: "Rest in safety.
Without holy candles thou shalt not die."
Said he: "Thou shalt not die the death accursed."
And you, you have cast my lot in life, mother,
Allotted the bride you have chosen for me,--
Your son, and here, within your own house, mother,
You have brought her to couple with me,
That she slumber with me on my pillow,
That she eat with me out of my platter.
Then I was pasturing flocks on the mountain.
Now back to the mountain I must be turning.

[_His mother touches his head with the palm of her hand as if to chase away evil thoughts._]

CANDIA

Rise up, my son! You are strangely talking.
All your words are now changing in color,
As the olive tree changes pressed by the breezes.

[_He rises, as if in a daze._]

ALIGI

But where is my father? Still nowhere I see him.

CANDIA

Gone to the harvesting, out with the reapers,
The good grain reaping, by grace of our Saviour.

ALIGI

I reaped once, too, by his body shaded,
Ere I was signed with the cross on my forehead,
When my brow scarcely reached up to his haunches.
But on my first day a vein here I severed,--
Here where the scar stays. Then with leaves he was bruising
The while he stanched the red blood from flowing,
"Son Aligi," said he unto me, "Son Aligi,
Give up the sickle and take up the sheep-crook:
Be you a shepherd and go to the mountain."
This his command was kept in obedience.

CANDIA

Son of mine, what is this pain the heart of you hurting?
What dream like an incubus over you hovers,
That these your words are like a wayfarer,
Sitting down on his road at night's coming,
Who is halting his footsteps for knowing,
Beyond attaining is his heart's desiring,
Past his ears' hearing the Ave Maria.

ALIGI

Now to the mountain must I be returning.
Mother, where is my stout shepherd's sheep-hook
Used to the pasture paths, daily or nightly?
Let me have that, so the kindred arriving,
May see thereupon all the carving I've carved.

[_His mother takes the shepherd's crook from the corner of the fireplace._]

CANDIA

Lo! here it is, son of mine, take it: your sisters
Have hung it with garlands for Santo Giovanni,
With pinks red and fragrant festooned it.

ALIGI [_pointing out the carving on it._]

And I have them here on the bloodwood all with me,
As if by the hand I were leading my sisters.
So, along they go with me threading green pathways,
Guarding them, mother,--these three virgin damsels,--
See! three bright angels here over them hover,
And three starry comets, and three meek doves also.
And a flower for each one I have carved here,
The growing half-moon and the sun I have carved here;
This is the priestly stole; and this is the cup sacramental;
And this is the belfry of San Biagio.
And this is the river, and this my own cabin;

[_with mystery, as if with second sight_]

But who, who is this one who stands in my doorway?

CANDIA

Aligi, why is it you set me to weeping!

ALIGI

And see at the end here that in the ground enters,
Here are the sheep, and here also their shepherd,
And here is the mountain where I must be going,
Though you weep, though I weep, my mother!

[_He leans on the crook with both hands, resting his head upon them, lost in his thoughts._]

CANDIA

But where then is Hope? What have you made of her, son?

ALIGI

Her face has shone on me seldom;
Carve her, I could not, sooth! mother.

[_From a distance a savage clamor rises._]

Mother, who shouts out so loud there?

CANDIA

The harvesters heated and frenzied,
From the craze of their passions defend them,
From sins of their blood San Giovanni restrain them!

ALIGI

Ah! Who then has drawn but that scarf there,
Athwart the wide door of our dwelling,
Leaning on it the forked hoe and distaff,
That naught enter in that is evil?
Ah! Lay there the ploughshare, the wain, and the oxen,
Pile stones there against both the door-posts,
With slaked lime from all of the lime-kilns,
The bowlder with footprints of Samson,
And Maella Hill with its snow-drifts!

CANDIA

What is coming to birth in your heart, son of mine?
Did not Christ say to you, "Be not fearful"?
Are you awake? Heed the waxen cross there,
That was blessed on the Day of Ascension,
The door-hinges, too, with holy water sprinkled,
No evil spirit can enter our doorway,
Your sisters have drawn the scarlet scarf 'cross it,--
The scarlet scarf you won in the field-match
Long before you ever became a shepherd,
In the match that you ran for the straightest furrow,--
(You still remember it, son of mine?) Thus have they stretched it
So that the kindred who must pass through there
Offer what gifts they choose when they enter.
Why do you ask, for you well know our custom?

ALIGI

Mother! mother! I have slept years seven hundred--
Years seven hundred! I come from afar off.
I remember no longer the days of my cradle.

CANDIA

What ails you, son? Like one in a dazement you answer.
Black wine was it your bride poured out for you?
And perhaps you drank it while yet you were fasting,
So that your mind is far off on a journey?
O Mary, blest Virgin! do thou grant me blessing!

[_The voice of _ORNELLA_ singing the nuptial song._]

Only of green shall be my arraying,
Only of green for Santo Giovanni.
Oili, oili, oila!

[_The _Bride_ appears dressed in green and is brought forward joyously by the sisters._]

SPLENDORE

Lo! the bride comes whom we have apparelled
With all the joy of the spring-time season.

FAVETTA

Of gold and silver the yoke is fashioned,
But all the rest like the quiet verdure.

ORNELLA

You, mother, take her! in your arms take her!
O dear my mother, take and console her!
SPLENDORE

Shedding tears at the bedside we found her,
Thus lamenting for thinking so sorely
Of the gray head at home left so lonely.

ORNELLA

Of the jar full of pinks in the window
Her dear face not again shall lean over.
You, mother, take her! in your arms take her!

CANDIA

Daughter, daughter, with this loaf in blessing
I have touched my own son. Lo! now I divide it,
And over your fair shining head I now break it.
May our house have increase of abundance!
Be thou unto the dough as good leaven
That may swell it out over the bread-board!
Bring unto me peace and ah! do not bring strife to me!

THE THREE SISTERS

So be it! We kiss the earth, mother!

[_They kiss the ground by leaning over and touching it with forefinger and middle finger, and then touching their lips. _ALIGI_ is kneeling on one side as if in deep prayer._]

CANDIA

O now daughter mine to my house be
As the spindle is unto the distaff;
As unto the skein is the spindle;
And as unto the loom is the shuttle!

THE THREE SISTERS

So be it! We kiss the earth, mother!

CANDIA

O Vienda! new daughter, child blessed!
Lo! midst home and pure food thus I place you.
Lo! The walls of this house--the four corners!
God willing, the sun rises there; sinks there, God willing!
This is the northward, this is the southward.
The ridgepole this, the eaves with nests hanging,
And the chain and the crane with the andirons;
There the mortar the white salt is crushed in,
And there, too, the crock it is kept in.
O new daughter! I call you to witness
How midst home things and pure food I place you
Both for this life and life everlasting.

THE THREE SISTERS

So be it! We kiss the earth, mother!

[VIENDA _rests her head, weeping, on the shoulder of the mother. _CANDIA_ embraces her, still holding a half-loaf in each hand. The cry of the reapers is heard nearer. _ALIGI_ rises like one suddenly wakened and goes toward the door. The sisters follow him._]

FAVETTA

Now by the great heat are the reapers all maddened,
They are barking and snapping like dogs at each passer.

SPLENDORE

Now the last of the rows they are reaching,
With the red wine they never mix water.

ORNELLA

At the end of each row, they are drinking,
In the shade of the stack the jug lying.

FAVETTA

Lord of heaven! The heat is infernal,
At her tail bites the old gammer serpent.

ORNELLA [_chanting_]

Oh, for mercy! Wheat and wheat, and stubble, stubble,
First in sun burn the sickles, then wounds they trouble.

SPLENDORE

Oh mercy for father! for his arms tired,
And all his veins with labor swollen.

ORNELLA

O Aligi! you saddest of grooms
Keeping yet in your nostrils sleep's fumes!

FAVETTA

O, you know very well the rhyme turned about.
You have placed the good loaf in the jug,
You have poured the red wine in the sack.

SPLENDORE

Lo! now the kindred! Lo! now the women! they are coming.
Up, up! Vienda! and cease your weeping.
Mother! How now! They are coming. Set her free then.
Up! Golden tresses, cease your weeping!
You have wept too long. Your fine eyes are reddened!

[VIENDA _dries her tears on her apron and taking the apron up by the two corners receives in it the two pieces of the loaf from the mother._]

CANDIA

In blood and in milk return it to me!
Goldenhair, come now, sit on the settle.
Oh! Aligi, you too, come sit here! and wake up!
One of you here, one of you there, thus stay ye,
Children, thus, at each side of the door.
Be it wide open for all to see in there
The wide bed so wide that in order to fill it--
The mattress to fill--I used up the straw-stack.
Ay! the whole of the stack to the bare pole,
With the crock sticking up on the tiptop!

[CANDIA_ and _ PLENDORE_ place a small bench each side of the door, where the couple sit composed and silent, looking at each other. _ORNELLA_ and _FAVETTA_ looking out toward the road at the large door. The yard is in dazzling sunlight._]

FAVETTA

See! They are coming up the road slowly
In single file, all: Teodula di Cinzio
And Cinerella, Monica, Felavia,
And Catalana delle Tre Bisacce,
Anna di Bova, Maria Cora ... but who is the last one?

CANDIA

Come on then, Splendore, do help me spread out now
The bedspread I wove of silk doubled,
Woven for you, Vienda, dear green bud,
As green as the grass of the meadow,
The sweet grass, early bee, where you hover.

ORNELLA

Who is last? Can you tell us, Vienda?
Oh! I see yellow grain in the hampers,
And it glitters like gold. Who can she be?
Gray at the temple, beneath the white linen,
Gray as the feathery bryony branches.

FAVETTA

Your mommy! dear child, is she your mommy?

[VIENDA _rises suddenly as if to rush to her mother. In so doing she lets the bread fall from her apron. She stops, shocked. _ALIGI_ rises and stands so as to prevent the mother from seeing._]

ORNELLA [_greatly concerned, in a frightened voice_]

O Lord save us! Pick it up again.
Pick it up, kiss it, ere mamma see it.

[VIENDA, _terrified and overwhelmed by frightful superstition, is stricken immovable, rigid, staring at the two half-loaves with glassy eyes._]

FAVETTA

Pick it up, kiss it, sad is the angel.
Make a vow silently, promise greatly,
Call on San Sisto, lest Death should appear.

[_From within are heard the blows given with the hand on mattress and pillows and the wind carries to the ear the clamor of the reapers._]

ORNELLA

San Sisto! San Sisto!
Oh! hear ye, and list, oh!
Black death, evil sprite,
By day, by night,
Chase from our walls!
Drive from our souls!
Oh! crumble and tear
The evil eye's snare,
As the sign of the cross I make!

[_While murmuring the conjuring words she rapidly gathers up the two half-loaves, pressing each to _VIENDA'S_ lips, kissing them herself, and then placing each in the apron, making the sign of the cross over them. She then leads the bridal couple to their benches, as the first of the women kindred appears at the door with the offerings, stopping in front of the scarlet scarf. The women each carry on the head a hamper of wheat adorned with flowing ribbons of various colors. On each basket rests a loaf of bread, and on top of each loaf a wild flower. _ORNELLA_ and _FAVETTA_ take each one end of the scarf while still leaving hoe and distaff in place against the wall, but so posed as to bar entrance._]

FIRST WOMAN, TEODULA DI CINZIO

Ohe! Who watches the bridges?

FAVETTA and ORNELLA [_in unison_]

Love open-eyed and Love blind.

TEODULA

To cross over there I desire.

FAVETTA

To desire is not to acquire.

TEODULA

I clambered the mountain ridges,
Now down through the valley I'll wind.

ORNELLA

The torrent has taken the bridges,
Too swift runs the river, you'll find.

TEODULA

Set me over in your boat.

FAVETTA

She leaks too fast to keep afloat.

TEODULA

I'll calk her with tow and resin.

ORNELLA

Leaks full seven split and stove her.

TEODULA

Then I'll give you pieces seven.
On your shoulder bear me over.

FAVETTA

Oh, no! Help of mine you must lack.
The wild water fills me with fright.

TEODULA

Lend me a lift on your back.
I'll give you this silver piece bright.

ORNELLA

Too little! Your eight bits, indeed,
Would not keep my ribbons new.

TEODULA

Tuck up your skirt. Plunge in bare-kneed.
A ducat of gold I'll give to you.

[_The first woman, _TEODULA_, gives _ORNELLA_ a piece of money. She receives it in her left hand, while the other women come closer to the door. The bridal pair remain seated and silent. _CANDIA_ and _SPLENDORE_ enter from the small door._]

ORNELLA and FAVETTA [in unison]

Pass on then, O you fair Lady!
And all these in your company!

[ORNELLA _puts the money in her bosom and takes away the distaff, _FAVETTA_, the hoe. They then leave both leaning against the wall. _ORNELLA_, with a quick movement, withdraws the scarf, making it wave like a slender pennant. The women then enter one by one, in line, still holding their baskets balanced on their heads._]

TEODULA

Peace be with you, Candia della Leonessa!
And peace, too, with you, son of Lazaro di Roio!
And peace to the bride whom Christ has given!

[_She places her basket at the bride's feet and, taking out of it a handful of wheat, she scatters it over _VIENDA'S_ head. She then takes another handful and scatters it over _ALIGI'S.]

This is the peace that is sent you from Heaven:
That on the same pillow your hair may whiten,
On the same pillow to old age ending.
Nor sin nor vengeance be between you,
Falsehood nor wrath, but love, love only,
Daily, till time for the long, long journey.

[_The next woman repeats the same ceremony and action, the others meanwhile remaining in line awaiting their turn, with the hampers on their heads. The last one, the mother of the bride, remains motionless near the threshold, and dries her face of tears and perspiration. The noise of the riotous reapers increases and seems to come nearer. Besides this noise, from time to time, in pauses, now and again the ringing of bells is heard._]

CINERELLA

For this is peace and this is plenty.

[_Suddenly a woman's cry is heard outside, coming from the yard._]

THE VOICE OF THE UNKNOWN WOMAN

Help! Help! For Jesus' sake, our Saviour!
People of God, O people of God, save ye me!

[_Running, panting from fright and exertion, covered with dust and briars, like a hart run down by a pack of hunting dogs, a woman enters. Her face is covered by a mantle. She looks about bewildered, and withdraws to the corner near the fireplace, opposite to the bridal pair._]

THE UNKNOWN WOMAN

People of God! O save ye me!
The door there! O shut tight the door there,
Put ye up all the bars! Securely.--
They are many, and all have their sickles.
They are crazed,--crazed with heat and strong drinking.
They are brutal with lust and with cursing.
Me would they hunt,--they would seize me;
They would hunt me, they would seize me,--me,--
The creature of Christ, ay, me,--
The unhappy one, doing no evil!
Passing I was--alone--by the roadside.--
They saw me.--They cried.--They insulted.
They hurled sods and stones.--They chased me.--
Ay! like unto hounds that are hungry,
They would seize me and tear me and torture.
They are following me, O most wretched!
They are hunting me down, people of God!
Help ye! Save me! The door, O shut it to!
The door!--They are maddened--will enter!
They will take me from here,--from your hearthstone--
(The deed even God cannot pardon)!--
From your hearthstone that blest is and sacred
(And aught else but that deed God pardons)--
And my soul is baptized,--I am Christian--
Oh! help! O for San Giovanni's sake, help me!
For Mary's sake, her of the seven dolors!
For the sake of my soul.--For your own soul!

[_She stays by the hearth, all the women gathering at the side opposite her. _VIENDA_ close to her mother and godmother. _ALIGI_ stands outside the circle unmoved, leaning on his crook. Suddenly _ORNELLA_ rushes to the door, closes it, and bars it. A somewhat inimical murmur arises from the circle of women._]

Ah! tell me your name,--how they call you,--
Your name, that wherever I wander,
Over mountains, in valleys I bless it,
You, who in pity are first here,
Though in years yours are least in the counting!

[_Overcome she lets herself drop on the hearth, bowed over upon herself with her head resting on her knees. The women are huddled together like frightened sheep. _ORNELLA_ steps forward toward the stranger._]

ANNA

Who is this woman? Holy Virgin!

MARIA

And is this the right way to enter
The dwelling of God-fearing people?

MONICA

And Candia, you! What say you?

LA CINERELLA

Will you let the door stay bolted?

ANNA

Is the last to be born of your daughters,
The first to command in your household?

LA CATALANA

She will bring down upon you bad fortune,
The wandering she-dog, for certain!

FELAVIA

Did you mark how she entered that instant
While yet Cinerella was pouring
On Vienda her handful of wheat flour
Ere Aligi had got his share fully?

[ORNELLA _goes a step nearer the wretched fugitive. _FAVETTA_ leaves the circle and joins her._]

MONICA

How now! Are we, then, to remain here,
With our baskets still on our heads loaded?

MARIA

Sure it would be a terrible omen
To put down on the ground here our baskets
Before giving our offerings to them.

MARIA DI GIAVE

My daughter, may Saint Luke defend you!
Saint Mark and Saint Matthew attend you!
Grope for your scapulary round your neck hanging,
Hold it closely and offer your prayer.

[SPLENDORE, _too, comes forward and joins the sisters. The three girls stand before the fugitive, who is still prostrate, panting and trembling with fear._]

ORNELLA

You are over sore-pressed, sister,
And dusty and tired, you tremble.
Weep no more, since now you are safe here.
You are thirsty. Your drink is your tears.
Will you drink of our water and wine? Your face bathe?

[_She takes a small bowl, draws water from the earthen receptacle, and pours wine into it._]

FAVETTA

Are you of the valleys or elsewhere?
Do you come from afar? And whither
Do you now bend your steps, O woman!
All desolate thus by the roadside!

SPLENDORE

Some malady ails you, unlucky one?
A vow then of penitence made you?
To the Incoronata were travelling?
May the Virgin answer your prayers!

[_The fugitive lifts her head slowly and cautiously, with her face still hidden in the mantle._]

ORNELLA [_offering the bowl_]

Will you drink, now, daughter of Jesus?

[_From outside a noise is heard as of bare feet shuffling in the yard and voices murmuring. The stranger, again stricken with fear, does not drink from the proffered bowl but places it on the hearth and retires trembling to the further corner of the chimney._]

THE UNKNOWN ONE

They are here, oh, they come! They are seeking
For me! They will seize me and take me.
For mercy's sake, answer not, speak not.
They will go if they think the house empty,
And do nothing evil; but if you
Are heard, if you speak or you answer
They will certainly know I have entered.
They will open the door, force it open.
With the heat and the wine they are frenzied,
Mad dogs! and here is but one man,
And many are they and all have their sickles,
Their scythes.--Oh! for dear pity's sake,
For the sake of these innocent maidens,
For your sake, dear daughter of kindness! You, women holy!

THE BAND OF REAPERS [_in chorus outside at the door_]

The dwelling of Lazaro! Surely
Into this house entered the woman.
--They have closed the door, they have barred it!
--Look out for her there in the stubble.
--Search well in the hay there, Gonzelvo.
--Hah! Hah! In the dwelling of Lazaro,
Right into the maw of the wolf. Hah! Hah!
--O! Candia della Leonessa!
Ho! all of you there! Are you dead?

[_They knock at the door._]

Oh! Candia della Leonessa!
Do you offer a shelter to harlots?

--Do you find that you need such temptation
To still the fain flesh of your husband?
--If the woman be there, I say, open!
Open the door, good folks, give her to us
And on a soft bed we will lay her.
--Bring her out to us! Bring her out to us,
For we only want to know her better.
To the hay-cock, the hay-cock, the hay-cock!

[_They knock and clamor. _ALIGI_ moves toward the door._]

THE UNKNOWN ONE [whispering imploringly]

Young man, O young man, pray have mercy!
O have mercy! Do not open!
Not for my sake, not mine, but for others,
Since they will not seize now on me only,
Since imbruted are they. You must hear it!--
In their voices?--How now the fiend holds them?
The bestial mad fiend of high noonday,
The sweltering dog-days' infection.
If they gain entry here, what can you do?

[_The greatest excitement prevails among the women, but they restrain themselves._]

LA CATALANA

Ye see now to what shame we all are submitted,
We women of peace here, for this woman,
She who dares not show her face to us!

ANNA

Open, Aligi, open the door there,
But wide enough to let her pass out.
Grip hold of her and toss her out there,
Then close and bar the entrance, giving praises
To Lord Jesus our salvation.
And perdition overtake all wretches!

[_The shepherd turns toward the woman, hesitating. _ORNELLA_, stepping forward, stops his way; making a sign of silence, she goes to the door._]

ORNELLA

Who is there? Who knocks at the door there?

VOICES OF THE REAPERS [_outside, all confusedly_]

--Silence there! Hush up! Hush--sh! Hush--sh!
--There is some one within who is speaking,
--O Candia della Leonessa,
Is it you who are speaking? Open! Open!
--We are the reapers here of Norca,
All the company are we of Cataldo.

ORNELLA

I am not Candia. For Candia is busied now.
Abroad is she since early morning.

A VOICE

And you? Say who are you then?

ORNELLA

I belong to Lazaro, Ornella,
My father is Lazaro di Roio.
But ye, say ye, why ye have come here?

A VOICE

Open, we but want to look inside there.

ORNELLA

Open, that I cannot. For my mother
Locked me in here with her kindred
Going out, for we are marrying.
The betrothal we are having of my brother,
Aligi, the shepherd, who is taking
To wife here, Vienda di Giave.

A VOICE

Did you then not let in a woman,
But a short while ago, a woman frightened?

ORNELLA

A woman? Then in peace go away.
Seek ye elsewhere to find her.
O reapers of Norca! I return to my loom here,
For each cast that is lost by my shuttle
Will be lost and can never be gathered.
God be with you to keep you from evil,
O ye reapers of Norca! May he give you
Strength for your work in the grain fields
Till by evening you reach the end of your labor,
And I, also, poor woman, the ending
Of the breadth of this cloth I am weaving.

[_Suddenly at the side window two muscular hands seize the iron bars and a brutal face peers in._]

THE REAPER [_shouting in a loud voice_]

Ho! Captain! the woman is in there!
She's inside! She's inside! The youngster
Was fooling us here, yes, the youngster!
The woman is in there! See, inside there,
In the corner. I see her, I see her!
And there too is the bride and the bridegroom,
And the kindred who brought them their presents.
This is the feast of the grain-pouring spousal.
Ah, ho! Captain! A fine lot of girls there!

CHORUS OF REAPERS [_outside_]

--If the woman's within, we say, open!
For you it is shame to protect her.
--Send her out here! Send her out here!
And we will give her some honey.
--Ho! open there, open, you, and give her to us.
--To the hay-cock with her, to the hay-cock.

[_They clamor and shout. The women inside are all confused and agitated. The unknown one keeps in the shadow, shrinking close to the wall, as if she sought to sink herself in it._]

CHORUS OF KINDRED

--O help us, O holy Virgin!
Is this what the vigil gives us,
The eve of Santo Giovanni?
--What disgrace is this you give us,--what sorrow
This that you give us, Beheaded one!--
Just to-day of all days.
--Candia, have you lost your reason?
--O Candia, have you lost your senses?
--Ornella, and all your sisters with you?
--She was always a bit of a madcap.
--Give her up to them, give her, give her
To these hungry, ravening wolves!

THE REAPER [_still holding the bars_]

Shepherd Aligi, Oho! shepherd Aligi,
Will you give, at your feast of espousal,
A place to a sheep that is rotten,--
A sheep that is mangy and lousy?
Take care she infect not your sheepfold,
Or give to your wife her contagion.
O Candia della Leonessa,
Know you whom in your home there you harbor,
In your home there with your new-found daughter?
The daughter of Jorio, the daughter
Of the Sorcerer of Codra!
She-dog roamer o'er mountains and valleys,
A haunter of stables and straw-stacks,
Mila the shameless? Mila di Codra.
The woman of stables and straw-heaps,
Very well known of all companies;
And now it has come to be our turn,--
The turn of the reapers of Norca.
Send her out here, send her out here!
We must have her, have her, have her!

[ALIGI, _pale and trembling, advances toward the wretched woman, who remains persistently in the shadow; and pulling off her mantle, he uncovers her face._]

MILA DI CODRA

No! No! It is not true! A cruel lie!
A cruel lie! Do not believe him,
Do not believe what such a dog says!
It is but the cursed wine speaking
And out of his mouth bubbling evil.
If God heard it, may He to poison
Turn his black words, and he drown in 't!
No! It is not true. A cruel lie!

[_The three sisters stop their ears while the reaper renews his vituperations._]

THE REAPER

You shameless one! you are common,
Well known are you as the ditches,
The field-grass to dry straw turning,
Under your body's sins burning,
Men for your body have gambled
And fought with pitchforks and sickles.
Only wait just a bit for your man, Candia,
And you'll see! He'll come back to you bandaged,
For sure! From a fight with Rainero,
A fight in the grain-field of Mispa,--
For whom but for Jorio's daughter?
And now you keep her in your home, here,
To give her to your man Lazaro,
To have him find her here all ready.
Aligi! Vienda di Giave!
Give up to her your bridal bedstead!
And all ye women, go and scatter wheat-grains,--
Upon her head the golden wheat-grains!
We'll come back ourselves here with music,
A little later and ask for the wine-jug.

[_The reaper jumps down and disappears mid an outbreak of coarse laughter from the others._]

CHORUS OF REAPERS [_outside_]

Hand us out the wine-jug. That's the custom,
--The wine-jug, the wine-jug, and the woman!

[ALIGI _stands rigid, with his eyes fixed upon the floor, perplexed, still holding in his hand the mantle he has taken._]

MILA

O innocence, O innocence, of all these
Young maidens here, you have heard not,
The filthiness, you have heard not,
Oh! Tell me you have heard not, heard not!--
At least not you, Ornella, oh, no, not
You who have wished to save me!

ANNA

Do not go near her, Ornella! Or would you
Have her ruin you? She, the daughter of the Sorcerer,
Must to every one bring ruin.

MILA

She comes to me because behind me
She sees here weeping the silent angel--
The guardian over my soul keeping vigil.

[ALIGI _turns quickly toward _MILA_ at these words, and gazes at her fixedly._]

MARIA CORA

Oh! Oh! it is sacrilege! Sacrilege!

LA CINERELLA

Ha! She has blasphemed, she has blasphemed,
Against the heavenly angel.

FELAVIA

She will desecrate your hearthstone,
Candia, unless hence you chase her.

ANNA

Out with her, out, in good time, Aligi,
Seize her, and out to the dogs toss her!

LA CATALANA

Well I know you, Mila di Codra,
Well at Farne do they fear you,
And well I know your doings.
You brought death to Giovanna Cametra,
And death to the son of Panfilo.
You turned the head of poor Alfonso,
Gave Tillura the evil sickness,
Caused the death of your father, even,
Who now in damnation damns you!

MILA

May thou, God, protect his spirit
And unto peace his soul gather.
All! You it is who have blasphemed
Against a soul that is departed
And may your blaspheming speeches
Fall on you, whenever death fronts you!

[CANDIA, _seated on one of the chests, is sad and silent. Now she rises, passes through the restless circle of women, and advances toward the persecuted one, slowly, without anger._]

CHORUS OF REAPERS

Ahey! Ahey! How long to wait?
Have you come to an agreement?
--Oh, I say, shepherd, ho! you shepherd,
For yourself, then, do you keep her?
--Candia, what if Lazaro come back now?
--Is she then unwilling? But open,
Open! A hand we will lend her.
And meanwhile give us the wine-jug,
The wine-jug, the wine-jug's the custom!

[_Another reaper peers in through the grating._]

THE REAPER

Mila di Codra, come out here!
For you that will be much the better.
To try to escape us is useless,
We'll seek now the oak-tree shady,
And throw dice for the one to have you,
That the chance for us all be equal,
Now, we will not quarrel for you,
As Lazaro did with Rainero,
No, we'll have no useless bloodshed.
But, now, if you don't come out here,
Ere the last one turns up his dice-box,
Then this door we all shall break open
And carry things here with a free hand.
You are warned now; best heed this your warning,
Candia della Leonessa!

[_He jumps down and the clamor is much abated. The ringing of the village church bells can be heard in the distance._]

CANDIA

Woman, hear me. Lo, I am the mother
Of these three innocent maidens,
Also of this youth, the bridegroom.
We were in peace in our home, here,
In peace and in rest with God's favor,
And blessing with home rites the marriage,
You may see the wheat still in the baskets
And in the blest loaf the fresh flower!
You have entered in here and brought us
Suddenly conflict and sorrow,
Interrupted the kindred's giving,
In our hearts sowing thoughts of dark omen,
That have set my children weeping,
And my bowels yearn and weep with them.
All to chaff our good wheat grain is turning,
And a worse thing still may follow.
It is best for you to go now.
Go thou with God, knowing surely
He will help you, if you trust Him.
Oh! There is cause for all this our sorrow.
We would fain have desired your safety.
Yet now, turn your steps hence, swiftly,
So that none of this house need harm you.
The door, this my son will now open.

[_The victim listens in humility with bent head, pale and trembling. _ALIGI_ steps toward the door and listens. His face shows great sorrow._]

MILA

Christian mother, lo! the earth here
I kiss where your feet have trodden,
And I ask of you forgiveness.
With my heart in my hand lying,
In the palm of my hand, grieving,
For this sorrow of my bringing.
But I did not seek your dwelling:
I was blinded, with fear blinded,
And the Father, He, all-seeing,
Led me here thus to your fireside,
So that I, the persecuted,
Might find mercy by your fireplace,
Mercy making this day sacred.
O have mercy! Christian mother.
O have mercy! and each wheat grain
Resting here within these hampers
God will return a hundred-fold.

LA CATALANA [_whispering_]

Listen not. Whoever listens
Will be lost. The false one is she.
Oh! I know! Her father gave her,
To make her voice so sweet and gentle,
Evil roots of secret magic.

ANNA

Just see now how Aligi's spellbound!

MARIA CORA

Beware! beware! lest she give him
Fatal illness. O Lord, save us!
Have you not heard what all the reapers
Have been saying about Lazaro?

MONICA

Shall we stay here then till vespers
With these baskets on our heads thus?
I shall put mine on the ground soon.

[CANDIA _gazes intently upon her son, who is fastened upon _MILA_. Suddenly fear and rage seize her, and she cries aloud._]

CANDIA

Begone, begone, you sorcerer's
Daughter! Go to the dogs! Begone!
In my house remain no longer!
Fling open the door, Aligi!

MILA

Mother of Ornella,--Love's own mother,
All, but not this, God forgiveth.
Trample on me, God forgiveth,
Cut off my hands, yet God forgiveth,
Gouge out my eyes, pluck my tongue out,
Tear me to shreds, yet God forgiveth,
Strangle me, yet God forgiveth,
But if you now (heed me, O heed me!
While the bells are ringing for Santo Giovanni).
If now you seize upon this body,--
This poor tortured flesh signed in Christ's name,
And toss it out there in that courtyard,
In sight of these your spotless daughters,
Abandoning it to sin of that rabble,
To hatred and to brutal lusting,
Then, O mother of Ornella,
Mother of innocence in so doing,
Doing that thing, God condemns you!

LA CATALANA

She was never christened, never,
Her father was never buried
In consecrated ground; under
A thorn-bush he lies. I swear it.

MILA

Demons are behind you, woman!
Black and foul and false your mouth is!

LA CATALANA

O Candia, hear her, hear her,
Curses heaping! But a little,
And she'll drive you from your dwelling,
And then all the reapers threatened
Will most surely fall upon us.

ANNA DI BOVA

Up, Aligi! Drag her out there!
MARIA CORA

See you not how your Vienda,
Your young bride, looks like one dying?

LA CINERELLA

What kind of a man are you? Forsaken
Thus of all force in your muscles?
Is the tongue within your mouth, then,
Dried and shrivelled that you speak not?

FELAVIA

You seem lost. How then? Did your senses
Go astray afar off in the mountain?--
Did you lose your wits down in the valley?

MONICA

Look! He hasn't let go of her mantle,
Since the time he took it from her.
To his fingers it seems rooted.

LA CATALANA

Do you think your son Aligi's
Mind is going? Heaven help us!

CANDIA

Aligi, Aligi! You hear me?
What ails you? Where are you? Gone are your senses?
What is coming to birth in your heart, son?

[_Taking the mantle out of his hand, she throws it to the woman._]

I myself will open the door; take her
And push her out of here straightway.
Aligi, to you I speak. You hear me?
Ah! verily you have been sleeping
For seven hundred hundred years,
And all of us are long forgotten.
Kindred! God wills my undoing.
I hoped these last days would bring solace
And that God would now give me repose,
That less bitterness now need I swallow;
But bitterness overpowers me.
My daughters! Take ye my black mantle
From out of the ancient chest there,
And cover my head and my sorrows,
Within my own soul be my wailing!

[_The son shakes his head, his face showing perplexity and sorrow, and he speaks as one in a dream._]

ALIGI

What is your will of me, mother?
Unto you said I: "Ah! lay there
Against both of the door-posts the ploughshare,
The wain and the oxen, put sods there and stones there,
Yea, the mountain with all of its snow-drifts."
What did I say then? And how answered you?
"Heed the waxen cross that is holy,
That was blest on the Day of Ascension,
And the hinges with holy water sprinkled."
O, what is your will that I do? It was night still
When she took the road that comes hither.
Profound, then, profound was my slumber,
O mother! although you had not mingled for me,
The wine with the seed of the poppy.
Now that slumber of Christ falls and fails me:
And though well I know whence this proceedeth,
My lips are yet stricken with dumbness.
O woman! what then is your bidding?
That I seize her here now by her tresses,--
That I drag her out there in the courtyard,--
That I toss her for these dogs to raven?
Well! So be it! So be it!--I do so.

[ALIGI _advances toward _MILA_, but she shrinks within the fireplace, clinging for refuge._]

MILA

Touch me not! Oh! you, you are sinning,
Against the old laws of the hearthstone--
You are sinning the great sin that's mortal
Against your own blood and the sanction
Of your race, of your own ancient kinfolk.
Lo! over the stone of the fireplace
I pour out the wine that was given
To me by your sister, in blood bound;
So now if you touch me, molest me,
All the dead in your land, in your country,
All those of the long years forgotten,
Generation to past generation,
That lie underground eighty fathoms
Will abhor you with horror eternal.

[_Taking the bowl of wine, _MILA_ pours it over the inviolate hearth. The women utter fierce and frantic cries._]

THE CHORUS OF KINDRED

O woe! She bewitches--bewitches the fireplace!
--She poured with the wine there a mixture.
I saw it, I saw her. 'T was stealthy!
--O take her, O take her, Aligi,
And force her away from the hearthstone.
By the hair, O seize her, seize her!
--Aligi, fear you naught, fear nothing,
All her conjuring yet will be nothing.
--Take her away and shiver the wine-bowl!
Shiver it there against the andirons.
--Break the chain loose and engirdle
Her neck with it, three times twist it.
--She has surely bewitched the hearthstone.
-Woe! Woe for the house that totters!
Ah! What lamenting will here be lamented!

THE CHORUS OF REAPERS

Oho there! All quarrelling, are you?
We are waiting here and we 're watching.
We have cast the dice, we know the winner.
Bring her out to us, you shepherd!
Yes, yes! Or the door we'll break down.

[_They join in blows on the door and in clamoring._]

ANNA DI BOVA

Hold on! Hold on! and have patience a little,
But a little while longer, good menfolk.
Aligi is taking her. Soon you will have her.

[ALIGI, _like one demented, takes her by the wrists, but she resists and tries to free herself._]

MILA

No! No! You are sinning, are sinning.
Crush under your feet my forehead
Or stun it with blows of your sheep-hook,
And when I am dead toss me out there.
No, no! God's punishment on you!
From the womb of your wife serpents
To you shall be born and brought forth.
You shall sleep no more, no more,
And rest shall forsake your eyelids,
From your eyes tears of blood shall gush forth.
Ornella, Ornella, defend me,
Aid me, O thou, and have mercy!
Ye sisters in Christ, do thou help me!

[_She frees herself and goes to the three sisters, who surround her. Blind with rage and horror, _ALIGI_ lifts his hook to strike her on the head. Immediately his three sisters begin to cry and moan. This stops him at once; he lets the hook fall on his knees and with open arms he stares behind her._]

ALIGI

Mercy of God! O give me forgiveness!
I saw the angel, silent, weeping.
He is weeping with you, O my sisters!
And at me he is gazing and weeping.
Even thus shall I see him forever,
Till the hour for my passing, yea! past it.
I have sinned thus against my own hearth-stone,
My own dead and the land of my fathers;
It will spurn me and scorn me forever,
Deny rest to my weary dead body!
For my sins, sisters, purification,
Seven times, seven times, I do ask it.
Seven days shall my lips touch the ashes,
And as many times more as the tears shed
From your gentle eyes, O my sisters!
Let the angel count them, my sisters,
And brand on my heart all their number!
It is thus that I ask you forgiveness.
Before God thus I ask you, my sisters,
Oh! pray you for brother Aligi,
Who must now return to the mountain.
And she who has suffered such shame here,
I pray you console her, refresh her
With drink, wipe the dust from her garments,
Bathe her feet with water and vinegar.
Comfort her! I wished not to harm her.
Spurred on was I by these voices.
And those who to this wrong have brought me
Shall suffer for many days greatly.
Mila di Codra! sister in Jesus,
O give me peace for my offences.
These flowerets of Santo Giovanni
Off from my sheep-hook now do I take them
And thus at your feet here I place them.
Look at you I cannot. I'm shamefaced.
Behind you I see the sad angel.
But this hand which did you offence here,
I burn in that fire with live embers.

[_Dragging himself on his knees to the fireplace, he bends over and finds a burning ember. Taking it with his left hand, he puts the point of it in the palm of the right._]

MILA

It is forgiven. No, no. Do not wound yourself.
For me, I forgive you, and God shall receive
Your penitent prayer. Rise up from the fire-place!
One only, God only may punish;
And He that hand hath given to you
To guide your flocks to the pasture.
And how then your sheep can you pasture
If your hand is infirm, O Aligi?
For me, in all humbleness, I forgive you,
And your name I shall ever remember,
Morn, eve, and midday shall my blessing
Follow you with your flocks in the mountains.

THE CHORUS OF REAPERS [_outside_]

--Oho, there! Oho, there! How now?
--What is the row? Do you fool us?
--Ho! We'll tear down the door there.
--Yes, yes! Take that timber, the plough-beam.
--Shepherd, we'll not have you fool us.
Now, now, that iron there, take it!
Down with it! Crash down the door there!
--Ho, shepherd Aligi! Now answer!
One, then! Two! Three, and down goes it!

[_The heavy breathing of the men lifting the timber and iron is heard._]

ALIGI

For you, for me, and for all my people,
I make the sign of the cross!

[_Rising and going toward the door, he continues._]

Reapers of Norca! This door I open.

[_The men answer in a unanimous clamor. The wind brings the sound of the bells. _ALIGI_ draws the bars and bolts and silently crosses himself, then he takes down from the wall the cross of wax and kisses it._]

Women, God's servants, cross yourselves praying.

[_All the women cross themselves and kneeling murmur the litany._]

WOMEN [_together_]

Kyrie eleison!
Lord have mercy upon us!
Christe eleison!
Christ have mercy upon us!
Eyrie eleison!
Lord have mercy upon us!
Christe audi nos!
O Christ hear us!
Christe exaudi nos!
O Christ hearken unto us!

[_The shepherd then lays the cross on the threshold between the hoe and the distaff and opens the door. In the yard glittering in the fierce sun the linen-clad reapers appear._]

ALIGI

Brothers in Christ! Behold the cross
That was blest on the Day of Ascension!
I have placed it there on the threshold,
That you may not sin against this gentle
Lamb of Christ who here finds refuge,
Seeking safety in this fireplace.

[_The reapers, struck silent and deeply impressed, uncover their heads._]

I saw there standing behind her
The angel who guards her, silent,
These eyes that shall see life eternal
Saw her angel that stood there weeping.
Look, brothers in Christ, I swear it!
Turn back to your wheat-fields and reap them,
Harm you not one who has harmed you never!
Nor let the false enemy beguile you
Any longer with his potions.
Reapers of Norca, heaven bless you!
May the sheaves in your hands be doubled!
And may Santo Giovanni's head severed
Be shown unto you at the sunrise,
If, for this, to-night you ascend the hill Plaia.
And wish ye no harm unto me, the shepherd,
To me, Aligi, our Saviour's servant!

[_The kneeling women continue the litanies, _CANDIA_ invoking, the others responding._]

CANDIA and CHORUS OF THE KINDRED

Mater purissima, Mother of Purity,
ora pro nobis. pray for us.
Mater castissima, Mother of Chastity,
ora pro nobis. pray for us.
Mater inviolata, Mother Inviolate,
ora pro nobis. pray for us.

[_The reapers bow themselves, touch the cross with their hands and then touch their lips and silently withdraw toward the glittering fields outside, _ALIGI_ leaning against the jamb of the door following with his eyes their departure, the silence meanwhile broken only by voices coming from the country pathways outside._]

FIRST VOICE

O! turn back, Lazaro di Roio.

ANOTHER VOICE

Turn back, turn back, Lazaro!

[_The shepherd, startled and shading his face with his hands, looks toward the path._]

CANDIA and THE WOMEN

Virgo veneranda, Virgin venerated,
Virgo predicanda, Virgin admonishing,
Virgo potens, Virgin potential,
ora pro nobis. pray for us.

ALIGI

Father, father, what is this? Why are you bandaged?
Why are you bleeding, father? Speak out and tell me,
O ye men of the Lord! Who wounded him?

[LAZARO _appears at the door with his head bandaged, two men in white linen supporting him. _CANDIA_ stops praying, rises to her feet and goes to the entrance._]

ALIGI

Father, halt there! The cross lies there on the door-sill,
You cannot pass through without kneeling down.
If this blood be unjust blood you cannot pass through.

[_The two men sustain the tottering man and he falls guiltily on his knees outside the doorway._]

CANDIA

O daughters, my daughters, 't was true then!
O weep, my daughters! let mourning enfold us!

[_The daughters embrace their mother. The kindred before rising put their hampers down on the ground. _MILA_ takes up her mantle and still kneeling wraps herself up in it, hiding her face. Almost creeping, she approaches the door toward the jamb opposite that where _ALIGI_ leans. Silently and swiftly she rises and leans against the wall, and stands there wrapt and motionless, watching her chance to disappear._]