Man of La Mancha (8 page)

INNKEEPER
(
Handling the sword gingerly
) Are you ready?

DON QUIXOTE
I am.

INNKEEPER
Very well, then. Kneel! (
Music begins as
DON QUIXOTE
,
with
ALDONZA
and
SANCHO
assisting on either side, gets down to his knees. He intones
)

Don Quixote de La Mancha!
I hereby dub thee knight.

(
He touches him with the sword on each shoulder, then hands the sword back to
SANCHO
and starts to exit
)

DON QUIXOTE
   (
As music continues
) Your Lordship.

INNKEEPER
   Didn’t I do it right?

DON QUIXOTE
   (
Humbly
) If Your Lordship would make some mention of the deeds I performed to earn this honor …?

INNKEEPER
   Oh … of course. (
He gets the sword back from
SANCHO
.
He intones
)

Don Quixote de La Mancha,
Having proven yourself this day
In glorious and terrible combat
And by my authority as lord of this castle—
I hereby dub thee knight!

(
He gives the sword back to
SANCHO
,
again starts to leave
)

DON QUIXOTE
   Your Lordship …

INNKEEPER
   (
Stopping again
) Something else?

(
This time
SANCHO
hands the sword back to him
)

DON QUIXOTE
   It is customary to grant the new knight an added name. If Your Lordship could devise such a name for me … ?

INNKEEPER
   Hmmm. (
He reflects a moment, looking at the battered face. He gets an inspiration and sings
)

Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance,
Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Wherever you go
People will know
Of the glorious deeds of the Knight of the Woe—
Ful Countenance!

Farewell and good cheer, oh my brave cavalier,
Ride onward to glorious strife.
I swear when you’re gone I’ll remember you well
For all of the rest of my life!

Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance,
Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Wherever you go,
Face to the foe,

They will quail at the sight of the Knight of the Woe—

Ful Countenance!

Oh valorous knight, go and fight for the right,
And battle all villains that be.
But oh, when you do, what will happen to you
Thank God I won’t be there to see!

INNKEEPER, ALDONZA
and
SANCHO

Hail, Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Knight of the Woeful Countenance!
Wherever you go
People will know
Of the glorious deeds of the Knight of the Woe—
Ful count—te—nance!

DON QUIXOTE
   (
Ecstatically
) I thank thee.

INNKEEPER
   (
Handing the sword to
QUIXOTE
) Now, Sir Knight, I am going to bed. And I advise you to do the same!

(
He exits
)

DON QUIXOTE
   (
Still on his knees; raptly
) Knight of the Woeful Countenance …

ALDONZA
   (
In tears
) It’s a
beautiful
name.

SANCHO
   Come, Your Grace. (
Helping him to his feet
) Let’s get you to bed.

DON QUIXOTE
   Not yet. I owe something to my enemies.

ALDONZA
   
That
account’s been paid!

DON QUIXOTE
   No, my lady. I must raise them up and minister to their wounds.

ALDONZA
(
Aghast
)
What?

DON QUIXOTE
   Nobility demands.

ALDONZA
   It does?

DON QUIXOTE
   Yes, my lady. Therefore I shall take these—

ALDONZA
(
Firmly, snatching up the bandages
) No, you won’t.
I’ll
take them.
I’ll
minister.

DON QUIXOTE
But—

ALDONZA
   (
Simply
) They were my enemies, too.

DON QUIXOTE
   (
With emotion
) Oh, blessed one …!

SANCHO
   (
Helping
QUIXOTE
) Come, Your Grace.

DON QUIXOTE
   (
As they exit
) Blessed one! Ah, blessed one …!

(
The lighting changes as
ALDONZA
enters the interior of the Inn. The
MULETEERS
lie about the room, moaning, licking their wounds
.
PEDRO
lifts his head as he sees her
)

PEDRO
   (
In a growl
) What do you think you’re doing?

ALDONZA
   (
Matter-of-factly
) I’m going to minister to your wounds.

PEDRO
   You’re … 
what?

ALDONZA
   Nobility demands. (
Kneeling beside
JOSE
) Turn over, you poxy goat.

(JOSE’
s eyes light up with cat-and-mouse savagery as
ALDONZA
bends over him. With a shout he seizes her, and the other
MULETEERS
pounce upon her, also.

Music: a sardonic version of “Little Bird” as with methodical, ritualistic brutality, in choreographic staging the
MULETEERS
bind, gag, beat and ravage
ALDONZA
.
She fights back as best she can but the fight is hopeless and she must submit.
FERMINA
enters and watches, sadistically gleeful over the humiliation of
ALDONZA
.

Finally
PEDRO
,
realizing that
ALDONZA
is unconscious, signals the others to stop.
JOSE
slings the brutalized
ALDONZA
over his back and the
MULETEERS
exit, carrying her off. As they do so, the lights pick up
QUIXOTE
and
SANCHO
at another area of the stage
)

DON QUIXOTE
(
Raptly
) Ah, Sancho, how I do envy my enemies.

SANCHO
Envy?

DON QUIXOTE
To think they know the healing touch of my lady Dulcinea! (
An ecstatic sigh
) Let this be proof to thee, Sancho. Nobility triumphs. Virtue always prevails. (
Uplifted
) Now in the moment of victory do I confirm my knighthood and my oath. For all my life, this I do swear—(
Singing
)

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go!

(
Off, faintly at first, then growing, is heard the “Inquisition Theme.”
QUIXOTE
falters and falls silent.
CERVANTES
,
losing the character of
QUIXOTE
,
comes forward as the volume of the theme grows and the setting alters back to the prison. The
PRISONERS
are immobile, cocking their heads to listen
)

CERVANTES
(
Uncertainly
)   That sound …?

THE GOVERNOR
The Men of the Inquisition.

CERVANTES
What does it mean?

PRISONER
They’re coming to fetch someone.

PRISONER
They’ll haul him off—put the question to him.

PRISONER
Next thing he knows—he’s burning!

CERVANTES
Are they coming for me?

THE DUKE
Very possibly. What, Cervantes? Not
afraid?
(CERVANTES
shakes his head dumbly. Mockingly
) Where’s your courage? Is that in your imagination, too?
(CERVANTES
is retreating
,
THE DUKE
following inexorably
) No escape, Cervantes. This is
happening
. Not to your brave man of La Mancha, but to
you
. Quick, Cervantes—call upon him. Let him shield you. Let him save you, if he can, from
that!

(
On the stairway the
MEN OF THE INQUISITION
appear. They are robed, hooded, frightening in aspect.
CERVANTES
is paralyzed with fear, only his eyes moving, following them as they descend into the vault. As they approach
CERVANTES
,
the
GUARDS
open the floor-trap and drag up a prisoner. They haul him up the stairs.
CERVANTES
sinks to a bench, faintly.

The “Inquisition Theme” recedes, fading as the stairway is withdrawn.
THE GOVERNOR
SNAPS HIS FINGERS AT A
PRISONER
,
who brings a goatskin of wine, hands it to
CERVANTES
,
who takes it with trembling hands and drinks deeply
)

THE GOVERNOR
Better?

CERVANTES
(
Faintly
) Thank you …

THE GOVERNOR
Good, let’s get on with your defense!

CERVANTES
If I might rest a moment …

THE DUKE
(
With tolerant contempt
) This La Mancha—what is it like?

THE GOVERNOR
An empty place. Great wide plains.

PRISONER
A desert.

THE GOVERNOR
A wasteland.

THE DUKE
Which apparently grows lunatics.

CERVANTES
I would say, rather … men of illusion.

THE DUKE
Much the same. Why are you poets so fascinated with madmen?

CERVANTES
I suppose … we have much in common.

THE DUKE
You both turn your backs on life.

CERVANTES
We both select from life what pleases us.

THE DUKE
A man must come to terms with life as it is!

CERVANTES
I have lived nearly fifty years, and I have seen life as it is. Pain, misery, hunger … cruelty beyond belief. I have heard the singing from taverns and the moans from bundles of filth on the streets. I have been a soldier and seen my comrades fall in battle … or die more slowly under the lash in Africa. I have held them in my arms at the final moment. These were men who saw life as it is, yet they died despairing. No glory, no gallant last words … only their eyes filled with confusion, whimpering the question: “Why?” I do not think they asked why they were dying, but why they had lived. (
He rises, and through the following speech moves into
the character of
DON QUIXOTE
as a musical underscore and change of setting begin
) When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams—this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.

(
The music has stated the “I Am I, Don Quixote” theme thinly during the preceding speech, and the prison and
PRISONERS
have disappeared
.
CERVANTES
is isolated in limbo; the “horses” have appeared. The lights change
)

DON QUIXOTE
(
Singing
)

I am I, Don Quixote,
The Lord of La Mancha,
Destroyer of evil am I,
I will march to the sound of the trumpets of glory,
Forever to conquer or die!

SANCHO
I don’t understand.

DON QUIXOTE
What, my friend?

SANCHO
Why you’re so cheerful. First you find your lady, then you lose her.

DON QUIXOTE
Never lost!

SANCHO
Well, she ran off with those mule drivers …?

DON QUIXOTE
Ah, but undoubtedly with some high purpose.

SANCHO
High purpose with those low characters?

DON QUIXOTE
Sancho, Sancho, always thine eye sees evil in preference to good.

SANCHO
(
Stubbornly
) There’s no use blaming my eye; it doesn’t make the world, it only sees it. (
A band of
MOORS
appears
) Anyway, there’s something my eye sees truly enough. Moors! Let’s make a wide track around them, for they’re a scurvy lot and Your Grace can’t deny
that
.

DON QUIXOTE
There, thou fallest into the trap of thy peasant mind again.

SANCHO
They’re
not
thieves and murderers?

DON QUIXOTE
Do not condemn before thou knowest! (
The
MOORISH GIRL
undulates toward them
) Sh-h-h—a young innocent approaches. (
The girl dances lasciviously as her
PIMP
encourages her, whining a nasal obbligato
) Charming!

SANCHO
(
In protest
) But she’s a trollop, and he—why he’s nothing but a—!

DON QUIXOTE
Have done with these foul suspicions! Dost not understand what they are saying? These two are brother and sister, offspring of the noble African lord, Sidi ben Mali. (
The girl approaches
QUIXOTE
) Sweet maiden, what wilt thou?

SANCHO
I think
I
know what she wilt!

(
The
GIRL
seizes one of
QUIXOTE’
s hands and presses it to her right breast
)