Read Complete Fictional Works of Washington Irving (Illustrated) Online
Authors: Washington Irving
(A room in the home of Conrad, the Chief Forester, and father of Bertha)
Bertha
Nine o’clock, and Albert not come yet!
Nina
At what time did he promise to come, then?
Bertha
At eight precisely! Oh me — my heart is very heavy!
Nina
And all, forsooth, because your lover is an hour after his appointment!
Bertha
Nay, Nina, I fear something has happened to him. He was always so punctual.
Nina
This comes of one’s getting a character for punctuality. Give me a lover that never keeps an appointment — one that never comes when the door is open, but climbs into the window when I least expect him — one that never surprises me when he stays away, and always surprises me when he comes.
Bertha
Would, my dear Nina, I had thy light spirits. But in truth, I have a strange presentiment of evil; and then the Hermit spoke of some impending danger hanging over me.
Nina
Hanging over you! Why, it was that old picture hanging over you — and that fell just now — just as you had passed thro the door. It’s a mercy it had not fallen on your head — it must have killed you.
Bertha
That is the picture of my ancestor, the founder of our house — the first who had the place which my father holds of Hereditary Grand Forester.
Nina
Indeed! a worthy old gentleman! Pity he could not keep quiet, however.
Bertha
There’s some old saying about that picture, which I do not recollect—’Tis strange that it should fall, for it was well secured. I’m almost tempted to believe it ominous. Would Albert were come! My mind misgives me, Nina.
Nina
Lud! my dear, I don’t wonder at your being hipped a little — for two poor girls like us to be all alone in this great rambling house in the midst of the forest! The evening, too, before your marriage, when one is so apt to be nervous. And then, instead of a visit from your lover, to have your great-grandfather popping upon you uninvited from the wall. For my part, I don’t like such visitors — I’m for the young and the living.
POLACCO
Nina
Heigh-ho! I hope I shall one day marry a forester.
Bertha
Why so, Nina?
Nina
Because you know none but a forester’s bride may wear green trimmings; and I should so like to be married in such a pretty dress. Lud! my dear, how fine you will look in your white and green, and your wreath of white roses! Well, well — a forester for my money!
Bertha
Ah, Nina, you little think upon a forester’s life — so full of fatigue and danger!
Nina
Well, my dear, what’s a man good for — that can’t face danger? Oh, give me a lover that is always hunting and chasing, like another Nimrod; one that serenades me with the hunter’s horn under my window — and never comes without a grinning wolf’s head to lay at my feet. Lud — Lud — how I should like a husband that was fond of the sport, racketing about the forest and breaking his neck every day in the year!
Bertha
Don’t talk of dangers, Nina. My mind runs on them too dismally already. — What
can
keep Albert?
Nina
Nay, my dear Bertha, I only meant to cheer you by my gossip. Would you had not seen the Hermit! Come, cheer up, I must give orders that your father’s breakfast be ready betimes in the morning. He goes early to the hunt. I will be here again in a moment, dear Bertha. (
Exit, with a lamp).
Bertha
Was that a footstep! Alas, no, he comes not! How tedious seem the moments of a lover’s absence!
RECITATIVE
(Albert appears at the window, which is open)
Bertha
Albert! Albert! Yes,’tis he!
Albert
My Bertha! (Embraces her).
Bertha
Have you then come at last? Why have you staid so long? I feared some evil had befallen you. You look pale and agitated. Sure something is wrong. Some danger has beset you.
Albert
Say rather some good fortune. Proceeding hither thro the forest a wolf of monstrous size rush’d from the thicket and would have crossed my path. But for once my aim was sure. I left him weltering in his blood. See here the trophy in my hat. (
Forcing a smile)
— This is good luck, my love. Let’s take it as an omen of success tomorrow.
Bertha
(Shaking her head doubtingly)
I hope it may be; but in sooth my mind is filled with fears. The good Hermit too warns me of threatening danger. And see, just as the clock struck seven, yon portrait of my ancestor fell from its fastening on the wall and nearly crushed me.
Albert
Just as the clock struck seven!
(Aside)
— Most strange!—’Twas then that Caspar brought the eagle from the cloud!
Bertha
What do you utter to yourself?
Albert
Nothing, my love — I feel harassed and weary. A little rest, however, will restore me.
(He throws his hat upon the table, etc.).
Bertha
See, Albert! See — you have extinguished the light.
Albert
Never mind, my love — the moon shines bright and clear. Come sit by me and let our souls discourse. Methinks there’s something in this quiet light that calms the breast. The moon is in the full and spreads its tender radiance o’er the forest. Canst thou not draw a happy omen from it, Bertha?
Bertha
Alas! this night the moon is in eclipse; and when that happens, I’ve been often told, all evil things have power. They say it is a time of crimes and dangers.
Albert
Fond girl! the gossips of the forest have filled thee with these dreams. Believe me, love, these gentle lights of heaven that rule the night are all propitious to the lovers’ fortune. Be of good heart, my girl — the heavens smile on us. Tomorrow makes us one; and then we’ll wear this broad-face moon out, to its last silver rim, in love and happiness.
Bertha
Heaven grant it — (
pensively
) — for oh, should any adverse fortune happen I feel ’twould break my heart.
ENTER NINA WITH LIGHT
Nina
What, Albert here? (
Archly
) — And all in darkness?
Bertha
You forget ’tis moonlight.
Nina
Ah, true, the honeymoon. The moon — the moon is everything to you lovers — it seems to me as if this love was all a matter of moonshine. (
Goes to the window
) — But see — your moonshine will soon be at an end. There are clouds gathering over the distant hills and I heard just now a muttering of thunder.
Albert
’Tis so, indeed. How wild the southern sky looks!
(Aside)
— I must away; in spite of all my efforts there is a sadness sits upon my heart and sinks me to despondency. Farewell, my love.
Bertha
What, so soon, Albert? Go not so soon. Wait till the storm be over.
Albert
‘Twill be too late. It is my night of watch. I have a round to make deep in the forest.
Bertha
I do not like this roving thro the forest. You know the night’s unlucky and they tell fearful things about this forest.
Albert
Mere tales, my girl. I am to meet a villager at the place where the wolf lies that I killed. He promised to assist me in carrying home the spoil.
Bertha
Where does it lie — is it far off?
Albert
Down in the valley, near the Wolf’s Glen.
[While the last three or four speeches by Albert show no particular inconsistency with the character Irving has given him, in order to appreciate the point of his remarks one must take into account the fact that in the original version it was Albert (or rather Max) — instead of Andreas — who had the appointment to meet Caspar in the Wolf’s Glen at twelve o’clock, to make the magic bullets. It is not clear — nor is it at all important — what Irving intended Albert to do after leaving Bertha; but it does seem apparent that in the original Max’s plea that he had an appointment with a villager, and a round to make in the forest, was a mere subterfuge; and that his anxiety to be off was due to the tryst he had with Caspar.]
[In the MS. Irving does not begin this scene with a description of the Wolf’s Glen, but he prefaces the dialogue with the following note: “I should prefer that the goblin appear in some other manner than from the center of a rock. This shoving aside of canvas, or trap door, has too bare-faced a look of mechanism for any good effect. Those tricks always appear paltry to me. Let him rise through a trap door which is concealed by some small rocks.”]
(Chorus,
etc.
Rock opens and Urian appears)
Urian
Wherefore am I summoned?
Caspar
Mighty spirit, I claim the fulfillment of thy promise — to grant me three years more liberty,
Urian
Canst thou fulfill the condition?
Caspar
I can — I bring this night another votary.
Urian
What does he seek?
Caspar
Unerring balls.
Urian
Seven shalt thou cast — six for him — the seventh flies at my direction.
Caspar
I crave that ball as a reward for faithful service.
Urian
’Tis thine. But have a care; mischief it must do — if not to others, to thyself.
Caspar
I take the risk, for I know where to send it.
Urian
Remember — thy victim or thyself! (Disappears. Andreas appears among the rocks. Omit the appearance of ghosts — they always, to my notion, spoiled the grandeur of the scene of incantation — which ought to have a singleness in its nature. Something magical — not ghostly. Besides, though they might be sent to warn Max (Albert), they would hardly trouble themselves about such a random blade as Andreas).
Caspar
(Looking up)
Ah, art thou here at last? Hasten — it grows late.
Andreas
I come, I come. ‘S-blood! this night air and the walking alone in these haunted woods have quite sobered me (
Descends the rocks rapidly. The moon is again partially obscured. Andreas looks about him with a troubled and fearful air).
Here am I. What am I now to do?
Caspar
(Taking a bottle from his pocket)
First, drink. The night air’s chill and damp —— this will warm thee.
Andreas
(Drinks)
Egad, ’tis fire itself — it warms one’s very marrow.
Caspar
(Aside )
That well may be—’tis from a strange distillery. (
Snakes and other reptiles surround Andreas. He endeavours to drive them off).
Thou’rt yet a novice. Come within this circle—’tis a magic wall between us and all evil spirits, that reaches from the centre to the firmament. The time approaches. Fear not, whate’er thou see’st or hear’st.’Tis not without severest struggles that Nature yields her secrets up to us weak mortals. Be silent now, until thou see’st me fall and cry for aid. Then call thyself; else, Andreas, we are lost.
(He points to the moon which is partially eclipsed
) — See — this is the moment; the moon already is eclipsed.
Author’s Private Note: — In the progress of the incantation let the uproar of the scene gradually increase. The apparition of the Wild Huntsman, hounds, etc., in the air be at the sixth ball — and at the seventh let the trees fall
——
rocks roll on the stage, etc., etc., — and the Wild Huntsman appear from behind a rock,
etc.
But omit the phantasmagoria of Bertha — Death, etc., which in my opinion would give a commonplace character to the whole and be a complete Bathos. The scene as an incantation may be made grand and awful — but care must be taken to avoid all commonplace stage trickery — such as rocks opening by slides — transparencies of queer faces appearing on rocks as in the representation at Dresden,
etc.
A little use of white, blue, and red fires would heighten the effect).
(Morning. The outside of a picturesque old Hunting lodge in the gothic style. — A latticed window with a balcony before it, which projects considerably over the stage and is supported by rustic columns, forming a kind of porch to a door. Forest scenery in the background. The sound of hunting horns is heard from time to time in the distance. Enter two of the Duke’s Hunters )
First Hunter
A fine morning, comrade, after the storm. Charming weather for the hunt! Who would have thought last night to have had such a daybreak? Faith, I fear’d we should never see the sun again.
Second Hunter
The sun — no, nor moon either. Egad, I thought the wind would have blown the very stars out! Did you ever hear such howling and whistling as it made among the forest trees?
First Hunter
And then the thunder — how it crashed and bellowed! I’ll warrant, comrade, there’s been pretty work on the east side of the mountain by the Wolf’s Glen. The sky seemed all in a blaze of lightning in that direction.
Second Hunter
I came that way this morning. The blasts out of the glen have lain the forest trees before it as flat as bull-rushes. The firs that grew among the cliffs are standing with their roots in the air. The brook that runs through the glen came roaring like a torrent — overflowed its banks and nearly drowned old Karl Brenner in his mill. The old man swears the Wild Huntsman was abroad and that he saw him and his hell-hounds in full cry among the clouds. But hark! the horns are sounding at the hunting camp! Something must be going on there.
ENTER ANOTHER HUNTSMAN
Third Hunter
What! lagging here and losing all the sport?
First Hunter
What sport?
Third Hunter
What sport? Why, some of the sharpest shooting you ever saw. Don’t you know that Albert and Andreas are shooting for the Ranger’s place? You never saw so dead a match. — Three times have they each shot, and three times has each hit the mark.
First Hunter
What, Andreas so sharp a shooter? Who would have thought it! But heaven defend us from that scatter-brained fellow becoming Ranger of the forest. He would turn everything topsy-turvy. But how came you to leave the ground while such sport was going on?
Third Hunter
Oh, there’s a respite for an hour. The Duke has ordered the target to be placed at double the distance so that it is next to impossible either should hit the centre; but whoever comes nearest it in the next shot, wins the day.
First Hunter
Well, Albert’s my man.
Second Hunter
And mine also. Ah, here he comes. (
Enter Albert, cheerily).
Good morning, comrade.
Glad to hear you’re in such good shot this morning.
Albert
Thank ye, my friends. The spell indeed seems broken. This trusty rifle
(shewing his rifle)
is once more true to its master. But the trial is not yet over — the next shot will probably be the deciding one.
Hunters
Well, good luck to ye — good luck to ye, comrade.
(Exeunt).
Albert (Alone)
Now to tell my good luck to Bertha. Yonder’s her window. What! still closed and gloomy on a bridal morn! Oh, let me cheer her with my own bright hopes. The day’s success has put new life into me, my heart again beats light and cheerily and shares the freshness of the glorious morning.
ARIA
Bertha (At the window)
Albert, is that you?
Albert
It is, my love. But what! — not yet prepared, and our nuptial hour so near at hand?
Bertha
Alas, Albert, I have not the heart to make preparations. Whene’er I try to twine a bridal wreath, it seems as tho’ it were my funeral garland.
Albert
It is thy anxious mind that turns all things to portents. The night has been to every one a night of horror; but see how sweet and holy is the morn. And know, my girl, once more I am myself; and every shot has been successful.
Bertha
(With eagerness)
Is the trial then over? Thank heaven! thank heaven!
Albert
Not over — not quite over, Bertha. The next shot will decide, but now I am myself again I feel a calm assurance of success.
Bertha
Would the trial were quite over! Do not chide my weakness, Albert — I am a poor timid girl; forgive me if my weak spirit clogs your bolder nature. Alas! there’s something awful even in a wedding day, and this has been preceded by such omens!
Albert
Still thinking of these omens. Come down, my love, and greet me with a smile. Come, deck my bonnet with a gay white rose and trust me, love; we’ll have a merry day of it.
Bertha
I come — and with the rose I bring the Hermit’s blessing. (She leaves the window. Enter Bertha below. Approaches Albert with faltering, hesitating manner and voice. In the course of the duet he tries to reassure her. She looks up to him with doubting look as if seeking encouragement — but relapses into pensiveness and her air is thoughtful and unquiet).
DUET — ALBERT AND BERTHA
Bertha
Ah me!
Albert
Come, cheer up, my girl! The bridesmaids and village lasses will soon be here to hail you with the bridal song; and to conduct you to the Duke’s presence — who is in the banquet tent. So brighten up — I cannot miss the mark when you’re the prize. Come, the white rose in my hat — one bright smile — and I’m sure of success!
(Bertha twirls a rose in his hatband in silence — places it on his head, looks in his face with a pensive smile — retires thoughtfully to the house, — Albert looking wistfully after her. When she reaches the door she turns, kisses her hand and exclaims: Success attend you, Albert!).
Albert
It will — it will. And now Andreas, for the final trial.