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« on: September 18, 2008, 12:26:35 AM »
Act 1, Scene 5
Enter Ghost and Littlefoot.
Littlefoot. Whither art thou leading me? Speak! I'll go no further.
Grandfather’s Ghost. Hear me.
Littlefoot. I will.
Grandfather’s Ghost. My hour is almost come,
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
Must return myself.
Littlefoot. Alas, poor ghost!
Grandfather’s Ghost. Pity me not, but lend thy attentive hearing
To what I shall reveal.
Littlefoot. Speak. I am bound to hear.
Grandfather’s Ghost. So art thou bound to revenge, when thou shalt hear this.
Littlefoot. What?
Grandfather’s Ghost. I am thy grandfather's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confin'd to burn in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of ruling
Are burnt and purg'd away. But were I not forbid
To tell the secrets of my afterlife prison,
I could tell thee a tale whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, bulge from their spheres,
And each particular hair to stand on end.
But this eternal inferno must not be
To ears of those who still live. Listen, listen, O, listen!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love-
Littlefoot. O God!
Grandfather’s Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.
Littlefoot. Murder?
Grandfather’s Ghost. Murder most foul.
Littlefoot. Haste me to know what, so that I, with wings as swift
As the most quick-flitted flyer,
May sweep to my revenge.
Grandfather’s Ghost. I find thee suitable;
Now, Littlefoot, hear.
As it turned out that, whilst sleeping in my orchard,
A serpent stung me. But know, thou noble youth,
The serpent that did sting thy grandfather's life
Now wears his crown.
Littlefoot. O my fearing soul!
Mr. Threehorn?
Grandfather’s Ghost. Ay, that incestuous, that adulterous beast,
Won the will of my most seeming-virtuous queen.
O Littlefoot, how couldst she settle for his like
After me, whose love was of that caliber
That it went hand in hand even with the vow
I made to her in marriage, and for her to decline
Upon a wretch whose natural gifts were poor
To those of mine!
But soft! methinks I scent the morning air.
Brief let me be. Here is how I died:
Littlefoot. Do tell, o grandfather.
Grandfather’s Ghost. Sleeping beneath the tree sweets,
As is my custom always in the afternoon,
Whilst I slumbered, Mr. Threehorn sneaked
With juice of fermented sweetbubble sap,
And in the cavern of my ear he didst pour
The lethal distilment; whose effect
Was swift as quicksilver as it coursed through my body.
His vile face was the last thing I should see
Before mine eyes did close for evermore.
Thus was I, forever sleeping, by a neighbor’s hand
My life, my crown, my queen, all at once lost;
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
No reckoning, no preparations made, but sent to my judgement
With all my imperfections on my head.
Littlefoot. O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
Grandfather’s Ghost. If thou hast passive nature in thee, lose it.
Let not the royal bed of the Great Valley be
A cesspool for luxury and damned incest.
But, howsoever thou pursuest to accomplish this act,
Let thyself punish only the traitorous Threehorn;
Against thy mother, nay. Leave her to heaven,
And her own burning conscience.
This you must obey. Fare thee well at once.
The signs show my departure to be near and unstoppable.
Adieu, adieu, adieu! Remember me.
Exit.
Littlefoot. Remember thee?
As if I could ever forget!
Ay, thou poor ghost, I wilt remember thee
While memory holds a seat in this distracted globe.
Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial knowledge,
All traces of useless books, all forms, all memories past
And thy commandment alone I shalt serve.
O most pernicious grandmother!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
So, Threehorn, it was thee. Now to my word:
In this world we cannot both survive,
I have sworn't.
Cera. [within] My lord, my lord!
Enter Cera and Mr. Clubtail.
Mr. Clubtail. Lord Littlefoot!
Cera. Heaven secure his santiy!
Littlefoot. I have sworn’t!
Mr. Clubtail. My lord!
Littlefoot. Hello, boy! Come, Clubtail, come.
Mr. Clubtail. How is't, my noble lord?
Cera. What news, my lord?
Littlefoot. No, you will reveal it.
Cera. Not I, my lord, by heaven!
Mr. Clubtail. Nor I, my lord.
Littlefoot. You assure so readily? Can I safely trust thee?
You promise you shall be secret?
Mr. Clubtail. [with Cera] Ay, by heaven, my lord.
Littlefoot. There's a villain dwelling in the Great Valley
And he’s shown little but malice to our valley.
Cera. There needs be no ghost, my lord, come from the grave
To tell us this.
Littlefoot. Why, right! You are in the right! You already knew!
Obviously there be no need to speak further of this.
And so, without more needless blabbering,
I think it best that we shake hands and part;
You may go and do whatever thy want to,
And I shalt do the same.
Give me one poor request.
Cera. What is't, my lord? We wilt honor it.
Littlefoot. Never make known what you have seen to-night.
Mr. Clubtail. [with Cera] My lord, we will not.
Littlefoot. Nay, but swear it.
Cera. I solemly swear,
My lord, I wil never reveal what I know.
Mr. Clubtail. Nor I, my lord- swear.
Littlefoot. Again.
Mr. Clubtail. We have sworn, my lord, already.
Littlefoot. Again.
Ghost cries under the stage.
Grandfather’s Ghost. Swear.
Littlefoot. Aha, say'st thou swear’t? Art thou being untruthful?
Come on! You hear this fellow in the earth.
Consent to swear.
Cera. Alright. Propose the oath, my lord.
Littlefoot. Never to speak of this that you have seen.
Swear by your honor.
Cera. [with Mr. Clubtail] Swear.
Littlefoot. Agreed? Then we'll leave this ground.
Come hither, gentlemen;
Let us go in together.
Exeunt.
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