Plays, series 2 | Page 6

don't know what to do with it! The authorities, they
say ... a soldier was telling me the other day ... give a hundred

dessiatins ahead. There's happiness, God strike me!
MERIK. Happiness. ... Happiness goes behind you. ... You don't see it.
It's as near as your elbow is, but you can't bite it. It's all silly. ...
[Looking round at the benches and the people] Like a lot of prisoners. ...
A poor lot.
EFIMOVNA. [To MERIK] What great, angry, eyes! There's an enemy
in you, young man. ... Don't you look at us!
MERIK. Yes, you're a poor lot here.
EFIMOVNA. Turn away! [Nudges SAVVA] Savva, darling, a wicked
man is looking at us. He'll do us harm, dear. [To MERIK] Turn away, I
tell you, you snake!
SAVVA. He won't touch us, mother, he won't touch us. ... God won't
let him.
MERIK. All right, Orthodox brothers! [Shrugs his shoulders] Be quiet!
You aren't asleep, you bandy-legged fools! Why don't you say
something?
EFIMOVNA. Take your great eyes away! Take away that devil's own
pride!
MERIK. Be quiet, you crooked old woman! I didn't come with the
devil's pride, but with kind words, wishing to honour your bitter lot!
You're huddled together like flies because of the cold--I'd be sorry for
you, speak kindly to you, pity your poverty, and here you go grumbling
away! [Goes up to FEDYA] Where are you from?
FEDYA. I live in these parts. I work at the Khamonyevsky brickworks.
MERIK. Get up.
FEDYA. [Raising himself] Well?
MERIK. Get up, right up. I'm going to lie down here.
FEDYA. What's that. ... It isn't your place, is it?
MERIK. Yes, mine. Go and lie on the ground!
FEDYA. You get out of this, you tramp. I'm not afraid of you.
MERIK. You're very quick with your tongue. ... Get up, and don't talk
about it! You'll be sorry for it, you silly.
TIHON. [To FEDYA] Don't contradict him, young man. Never mind.
FEDYA. What right have you? You stick out your fishy eyes and think
I'm afraid! [Picks up his belongings and stretches himself out on the
ground] You devil! [Lies down and covers himself all over.]
MERIK. [Stretching himself out on the bench] I don't expect you've

ever seen a devil or you wouldn't call me one. Devils aren't like that.
[Lies down, putting his axe next to him.] Lie down, little brother axe ...
let me cover you.
TIHON. Where did you get the axe from?
MERIK. Stole it. ... Stole it, and now I've got to fuss over it like a child
with a new toy; I don't like to throw it away, and I've nowhere to put it.
Like a beastly wife. ... Yes. ... [Covering himself over] Devils aren't
like that, brother.
FEDYA. [Uncovering his head] What are they like?
MERIK. Like steam, like air. ... Just blow into the air. [Blows] They're
like that, you can't see them.
A VOICE FROM THE CORNER. You can see them if you sit under a
harrow.
MERIK. I've tried, but I didn't see any. ... Old women's tales, and silly
old men's, too. ... You won't see a devil or a ghost or a corpse. ... Our
eyes weren't made so that we could see everything. ... When I was a
boy, I used to walk in the woods at night on purpose to see the demon
of the woods. ... I'd shout and shout, and there might be some spirit, I'd
call for the demon of the woods and not blink my eyes: I'd see all sorts
of little things moving about, but no demon. I used to go and walk
about the churchyards at night, I wanted to see the ghosts--but the
women lie. I saw all sorts of animals, but anything awful--not a sign.
Our eyes weren't ...
THE VOICE FROM THE CORNER. Never mind, it does happen that
you do see. ... In our village a man was gutting a wild boar ... he was
separating the tripe when ... something jumped out at him!
SAVVA. [Raising himself] Little children, don't talk about these
unclean things! It's a sin, dears!
MERIK. Aaa ... greybeard! You skeleton! [Laughs] You needn't go to
the churchyard to see ghosts, when they get up from under the floor to
give advice to their relations. ... A sin! ... Don't you teach people your
silly notions! You're an ignorant lot of people living in darkness. ...
[Lights his pipe] My father was peasant and used to be fond of teaching
people. One night he stole a sack of apples from the village priest, and
he brings them along and tells us, "Look, children, mind you don't eat
any apples before Easter, it's a sin." You're like that. ... You don't know