SCENE I

 

 

 

Courtyard of SAUL’S house in Gilgal: sort of compound with an adobe house beyond.

 

AGAG, bound, seated on the ground, and fastened by a rope to a post of the shed. Men with spears. Enter MERAB and MICHAL, daughters of SAUL, with tambourines. MAIDENS.

 

 

 

MERAB (running and dancing): Saul came home with the spoil of the Amalekite.

 

MAIDENS: Hie! Amalekite! Hie! Amalekite!

 

MICHAL: Saul threw his spear into the desert of Shur, through the heart of the Amalekite.

 

MAIDENS: Struck the Amalekite, pierced him to the ground.

 

MICHAL: Wind of the desert blows between the ribs of Amalek, only the jackal is fat on that land. Who smote the Amalekite, as a sand-storm smites the desert?

 

MAIDENS: Saul! Saul! Saul is the slayer and the death of Amalek.

 

MERAB (before AGAG): What is this dog with a string round his neck?

 

MAIDENS: What dog is this?

 

MICHAL: I know this dog, men used to call it King!

 

MAIDENS: Look at this King!

 

MERAB: Agag, Agag, King of the Amalekites! Dog on a string at the heel of mighty Saul!

 

MICHAL (speaking to AGAG): Are you the King of the Amalekites?

 

AGAG: I am he, maiden!

 

MICHAL: I thought it was a dog my father had brought home, and tied to a post.

 

MERAB: Why are you alone, Agag? Where are all your armed men, that ran like lions, round the road to Egypt? Where are your women, with gold on their foreheads? Let us hear the tinkle of the bracelets of your women, O King, King Agag, King of mighty Amalek!

 

MAIDENS (laughing — shaking tambourines in AGAG’S face — spitting on him): Dog! Dog! Dog of an Amalekite!

 

MICHAL: Who hung on the heels of Israel when they journeyed out of the wilderness of Shur, coming from Egypt, in the days of our fathers, in the day of Moses, our great deliverer?

 

MAIDENS: Ay! Ay! Who threw their spears in the backs of the wandering Israelites?

 

MICHAL: Who killed our women, and the weary ones, and the heavy-footed, in the bitter days of wandering, when we came up out of Egypt?

 

MERAB: Who among our enemies was accursed like the Amalekite? When Moses held the rod of God uplifted in his hand, Joshua smote the Amalekite till the sun went down. But even when the sun was gone, came the voice of the Almighty: War, and war with Amalek, till Amalek is put out from under heaven.

 

MICHAL: Dog! Son of dogs that lay in wait for us as we passed by! Dog! Why has Saul left you eyes to see, and ears to hear!

 

SAUL (coming from house): Agag is among the maidens!

 

MICHAL: See, Father, is this a king?

 

SAUL: Even so.

 

MICHAL: It is a dog that cannot scratch his own fleas.

 

SAUL: Even so, it is a king: King of rich Amalek. Have you seen the presents he has brought for the household of Saul?

 

MICHAL: For the daughters of Saul, Father?

 

SAUL: Surely for Merab and Michal, daughters of Saul. (To a man.) Ho! Bring the basket of spoils for the daughters of the King.

 

MICHAL: Listen! Listen! King Agag seeks a wife in Gilgal! Oh, Father, I do not like him! He looks like a crow the dogs have played with. Merab, here is a King for your hand!

 

MERAB: Death is his portion, the Amalekite.

 

MICHAL: Will you put him to death, Father? Let us laugh a little longer at his Amalek nose.

 

Enter man with basket — also JONATHAN and ABNER.

 

SAUL: See the gifts of Agag, King of Amalek, to the daughters of Saul! Tissue from Egypt, head-veils from Pharaoh’s house! And see, red robes from Tyre, and yellow from Sidon.

 

MICHAL (screams): That for me, Father, that for me! Give the other to Merab. — Ah! Ah! Ah! — Thank you, King Agag; thank you, King of Amalek.

 

SAUL: Goldsmith’s work for arms and ankles, gold and dropping silver, for the ears.

 

MICHAL: Give me those! Give me those! Give the others to Merab! Ay! Ay! Maidens! How am I? — See, Agag, noble Agag, how am I now? Listen! (She dances, the ornaments clink.) They say: Noble Agag! — King of Givers! Poor draggled crow that had gold in its nest! Caw! King Agag! Caw! It’s a daughter of Saul, of long-limbed Saul, smiter of Amalek, who tinkles with joys of the Amalekite.

 

JONATHAN: Peace, maiden! Go in and spin wool with the women. You are too much among the men.

 

MICHAL: Art thou speaking, O Jonathan, full of thy own manhood?

 

JONATHAN: Take in these spoils from the eye of men, and the light of day. Father, there came one saying that Samuel sought you in Carmel.

 

SAUL: Let him find me in Gilgal.

 

ABNER: They are calling even now at the gate. (Moves to gate.)

 

SAUL (to girls): Go to the house and hide your spoil, for if this prophet of prophets finds the treasure of the Amalekite upon you, he will tear it away, and curse your youth.

 

MICHAL: That he shall not! Oh, Merab, you got the blue shawl from me! Run! Maidens! Run! Farewell, King Agag, your servant thanks your lordship! — Caw! — Nay, he cannot even say caw!

 

Exit — running — MICHAL, and other MAIDENS follow.

 

ABNER: It is so, my lord. Samuel even now has passed the stone of directions, seeking Saul in Gilgal.

 

SAUL: It is well. He has come to bless our triumph.

 

JONATHAN: Father, will you leave that man in the sight of Samuel?

 

SAUL: No! Go you quickly into the house, O Agag! Take him quickly, men, and let no mouth speak his name.

 

Exeunt AGAG and men.

 

JONATHAN: I have a misgiving, Father, that Samuel comes not in peace, after Saul in Gilgal.

 

SAUL: Has Saul laid low the Amalekite, to fear the coming of an old prophet?

 

ABNER: Samuel is a jealous man, full of the tyranny of prophecy. Shall we wait him here, or go into the house and be seated on the mats? Or shall we go forth from the gate towards him?

 

SAUL: I will stay here, and brighten my sword-edge in the waiting.

 

ABNER (at the gate — calling): He is coming across the field; an old man in a mantle, alone, followed by two of his prophets.

 

JONATHAN (joining ABNER): It is he. And coming in anger.

 

ABNER: In anger against whom?

 

JONATHAN: Against my father. Because we have not destroyed the Amalekite utterly, but have saved the best spoil.

 

ABNER: Nay, but it is a foolish thing, to throw fine linen into the fire, and fat young oxen down a dry well.

 

JONATHAN: It was the commandment.

 

ABNER: Why should the maidens not rejoice in their ornaments, and the God of the Unknown Name enjoy the scent of blood-sacrifice?

 

They retreat from the gate; SAUL sharpens his sword. After a pause, enter SAMUEL, followed by the prophets.

 

SAUL (laying down his sword): Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

 

SAMUEL: What meaneth the bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

 

SAUL: They have brought them from the Amalekites. The people spared the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto thy God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.

 

SAMUEL: Stay, and I will tell thee what I have heard out of the inner darkness, this night.

 

SAUL: Say on.

 

SAMUEL: When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the chieftain of the tribes of Israel, and the Deep poured His power over thee, to anoint thee King? And the Voice out of the deeps sent thee on a journey, saying: Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. — Why then did you not obey the Voice, instead of flying upon the spoil, and doing evil in the sight of the Unclosing Eyes?

 

SAUL: Yea, I have obeyed the Voice from the beyond. I have gone the way which the Great One sent me, and have brought Agag the King of Amalek prisoner, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice in Gilgal unto the Lord thy God.

 

SAMUEL: Does the Breather of the skies take as great delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings as in obedience to the Voice that spoke on the breath of the night? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

 

SAUL: Is not God the sender of life, and the bread of life? And shall we deny the meat and destroy the bread that is sent?

 

SAMUEL: Behold, is the Lord my God a sutler, to stock the larders of Saul? Lo, He heeds not the fat beef nor the fine raiment, but threshes out His anger in the firmament. Amalek has defied the living Breath, and cried mockery on the Voice of the Beyond. Therefore the living Wrath will wipe out the Amalekite, by the hand of His servant, Israel. And if the Nameless is without compunction, whence the compunction of Saul?

 

SAUL: I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

 

SAMUEL: Yea, that was bravely done! Thou didst not fear the Great Lord, thou fearedst the people, smaller than thyself. Thou didst not obey the Cry from the midst of the dark, but the voice of the people! — I tell thee, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord the Lord hath also rejected thee from being King.

 

SAUL: Shall a King not hearken to the voice of his people?

 

SAMUEL: The people cried for a King, in the frowardness of their hearts. But can they make a King out of one of themselves? Can they whistle a lion forth from a litter of dogs? The people cried for a King, and the Lord gave to them. Even thee, Saul. But why art thou King? Because of the voice of the people?

 

SAUL: Thou didst choose me out.

 

SAMUEL: The finger of the Thunder pointed me to thee, and the Wind of Strength blew me in thy way. And thou art King because from out of the middle world the great Wish settled upon thee. And thou art King because the Lord poured the oil of His might over thee. But thou art disobedient, and shuttest thine ears to the Voice. Thou hearest the barkings of dogs and the crying of the people, and the Voice of the Midmost is nothing to thee. Therefore thou hast become as nothing unto the Lord, and He that chose thee rejecteth thee again. The power of the Lord shall fall away from thee, and thou shalt become again a common man, and a little thing, as when the Lord first found thee.

 

SAUL: I have sinned. For I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord, which thou didst hear out of the deeps of the night. Because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. But now, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may find the Lord, to worship Him.

 

SAMUEL: I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being King over Israel. (SAMUEL turns away. SAUL catches hold of the hem of SAMUEL’S garment and it tears in his hand.) The Lord hath rent the Kingdom of Israel away from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou (pause); — and the Mighty One that moveth Israel will not lie, nor repent towards thee again: for He is not a man that He should repent.

 

SAUL: I have sinned, I have sinned, I have turned my face the wrong way. Yet honour me now, I pray thee! Honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may find the Lord thy God, and worship Him.

 

SAMUEL (turning): Thou hast turned away from the Hidden Sun, and the gleam is dying from out of thy face. Thou hast disowned the Power that made thee, and the glow is leaving thy limbs, the glisten of oil is waning on thy brow, and the vision is dying in thy breast. Yet because thou art the Lord’s anointed I will bless thee again in the sight of the elders. Yet if the Lord hath decided against thee, what avails an old man’s blessing?

 

SAUL: Yet bless me, my Father.

 

SAMUEL (lifting his hand): The Lord be with thee! The Lord’s strength strengthen thee! The power and the might of the Lord brighten thine eyes and light thy face: the Lord’s life lift thy limbs and gladden the walls of thy breast, and put power in thy belly and thy hips! The Lord’s haste strengthen thy knees and quicken thy feet!

 

SAUL (lifting both hands to heaven): Lo, I have sinned, and lost myself, I have been mine own undoing. But I turn again to Innermost, where the flame is, and the wings are throbbing. Hear me, take me back! Brush me again with the wings of life, breathe on me with the breath of Thy desire, come in unto me, and be with me, and dwell in me. For without the presence of the awful Lord, I am an empty shell. Turn to me, and fill my heart, and forgive my transgression. For I will wash myself clean of Amalek, to the last speck, and remove the source of my sinning. (Drops his hands — turns to SAMUEL.) Is it well, O Samuel?

 

SAMUEL: May it be well! Bring me hither Agag, King of the Amalekites.

 

SAUL: Ho, Jonathan, send here Agag the Amalekite. And send thou the chief of the herdsmen, O Abner, for we must wipe away the stain of Amalek swiftly, out of Gilgal.

 

Exeunt JONATHAN and ABNER.

 

SAUL (to SAMUEL): The Lord shall be with me again this day, that the Kingdom be not rent from me.

 

SAMUEL: Who knoweth the ways of the Deep? I will entreat, ah! for thee in the night-time, and in the day. But if He hath turned His face away, what am I but an old man crying like an infant in the night!

 

Enter AGAG — coming forward delicately.

 

AGAG: Surely the bitterness of death is past.

 

SAMUEL (seizing SAUL’S sword): As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. (Rushes on AGAG with sword — AGAG steps behind a wall, SAMUEL upon him.)

 

Enter HERDSMAN.

 

JONATHAN: Better it had been in battle, on the field of the fight.

 

ABNER: It is a sacrifice.

 

SAUL (to HERDSMAN): Gather together the cattle of the Amalekite which came as spoil, and fasten them in a pen. Leave out no sheep and no calf, nor any goat, but put them all in.

 

HERDSMAN: It shall be as Saul says.

 

Exit HERDSMAN.

 

SAMUEL (entering with red sword): I have hewed him in pieces before the Lord, and his blood has gone up to the Most High; it is in the nostrils of the God of Wrath.

 

SAUL: Come now, I pray thee, within the house, and let them bring water for thy feet and food to gladden thine heart.

 

SAMUEL: It may not be. But I must go to Ramah to entreat for thee before the Lord, and even now must I go. And may the Might be with thee.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE II

 

 

 

    A room in Ramah. Night. SAMUEL in prayer.

 

 

 

SAMUEL: Speak to me out of the whirlwind, come to me from behind the sun, listen to me where the winds are hastening. When the power of the whirlwind moves away from me, I am a worthless old man. Out of the deep of deeps comes a breath upon me, and my old flesh freshens like a flower. I know no age. Oh, upon the wings of distance turn to me, send the fanning strength into my hips. I am sore for Saul, and my old bones are weary for the King. My heart is like a fledgling in a nest, abandoned by its mother. My heart opens its mouth with vain cries, weak and meaningless, and the Mover of the deeps will not stoop to me. My bowels are twisted in a knot of grief, in a knot of anguish for my son, for him whom I anointed beneath the firmament of might. On earth move men and beasts, they nourish themselves and know not how they are alive. But in all the places moves Unseen Almighty, like a breath among the stars, or the moon, like the sea turning herself over. I eat bread, but my soul faints, and wine will not heal my bones. Nothing is good for me but God. Like waters He moves through the world, like a fish I swim in the flood of God Himself. Answer me, Mover of the waters, speak to me as waves speak without mouths. Saul has fallen off, as a ripe fig falls and bursts. He, anointed, he moved in the flood of power, he was God’s, he was not his own. Now he is cast up like a fish among the dry stones, he beats himself against the sun-licked pebbles. He jumped out from the deeps of the Lord, the sea of God has seen him depart. He will die within the smell of his own violence. Lord, Lord, Ocean and Mover of oceans, lick him into the flood of Thyself. Wilt Thou not reach for him with the arm of a long wave, and catch him back into the deeps of living God? Is he lost from the sway of the tide for ever and for ever? When the rain wets him, will it wet him Godless, and will the wind blow on him without God in it? Lord, wilt Thou not reach for him, he is Thine anointed? Bitter are the waters of old age, and tears fall inward on the heart. Saul is the son whom I anointed, and Saul has crawled away from God, he creeps up the rocks in vanity, the stink of him will rise up like a dead crab. Lord, is it verily so with Saul, is he gone out from Thee for ever, like a creeping thing crawled in vanity from the element of elements? I am old, and my tears run inward, they deaden my heart because of Saul. For Saul has crawled away from the Fountain of Days, and the Ancient of Days will know him no more. I hear the voice of the Lord like waters washing through the night, saying: Saul has fallen away and is no more in the way of the power of God. Yea, what is love, that I should love him! He is fallen away, and stinketh like a dead crab, and my love stinks with him. I must wash myself because of Saul, and strip myself of him again, and go down into the deeps of God. Speak, Lord, and I will obey. Tell me, and I will do it. I sink like a stone in the sea, and nothing of my own is left me. I am gone away from myself, I disappear in the deeps of God. And the oracle of the Lord stirs me, as the fountains of the deep. Lo! I am not mine own. The flood has covered me and the waters of the beginning sound in the shell of my heart. And I will find another King for Israel, I shall know him by the whispers of my heart. Lo, I will fill the horn with oil again, with the oil from the body of Him, and I will go into the hills of Judah. I will find out one, in whom the power sleeps. And I will pour potency over his head and anoint him with God’s fecundity, and place him beyond forgetting. I will go into the hills of Judah, where the sheep feed among the rocks, and find a man fresh in the morning of God. And he shall be King. On the morrow I will gather myself and go, silently, carrying the kingship away from Saul, because the virtue is gone out of him. And Saul will kill me with a spear, in one stroke, for rage he will kill me, if I tell him. But I shall not tell him. I shall say: I must away to the land of Judah, it is the time to sacrifice in the place of Bethlehem, the appointed time is at hand. — So I shall go away from Saul for ever, and never shall I see his face again. I shall hide myself away from his face, lest he hurt himself, slaying me. I shall go in the morning with sure feet, but the shell of my heart will be weary. For I am the Lord’s and servant of the Lord, and I go in obedience, even with the alacrity of willingness. But alas, that I should have loved Saul, and had pride in him! I am old.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE III

 

 

 

    Bethlehem: an open place in the village. An old man on a roof calling aloud and kindling a signal fire.

 

 

 

1ST ELDER (calling, on the roof): Come in! Come in! Come in! Come all men in! Come all in to the place of counsel! Gather into the place of counsel, all men gather now. Come in! Come in!

 

2ND ELDER (on the plaza): What now?

 

3RD ELDER: The watchman on the fourth hill saw a host of prophets coming, even Samuel among them.

 

2ND ELDER: Yea! What does this bode?

 

JESSE: What have we done wrong, that Samuel comes down upon us? If he curses us we are dead men.

 

4TH ELDER: Dread is on me. The sun looks darkened.

 

3RD ELDER: Nay, let us wait. It may be he comes in peace.

 

ELIAB (brother of DAVID): Why do we, who are men that fear not the lion nor the bear, nor even the Philistine, tremble before the raging of these prophets?

 

2ND ELDER: Hush then! For the Bolt is above us, and can strike out of a clear sky. Canst thou hear His meaning, or know His vision, Who is secret save to the prophets? Peace then, hush thy mouth.

 

JESSE: Verily, there is no open vision, and the word of One is precious. Without Samuel, we should stare with the stare of deaf men, and the fixed eyes of the blind. We should run our faces against the wall, and fall with our feet into a hole. We should not hear the lion roaring upon us.

 

ELIAB: Not so, my Father. Without a prophet I seek the lion when he roars about the herd, I slay him without advice from the Lord. We live our lives as men, by the strength of our right hand. Why heed the howlings of priests in linen ephods, one or many!

 

JESSE: My son, shut thy teeth on such words. Seal thy heart to silence. The strength of a man lasts for a little time, and wastes like the oil in a lamp. You are young, and your lamp is unbroken. But those that live long needs must renew their strength again, and have their vessel replenished. And only from the middle-middle of all the worlds, where God stirs amid His waters, can strength come to us.

 

ELIAB: Will it not come without Samuel?

 

JESSE: There is a path that the gazelle cannot follow, and the lion knows not, nor can the eagle fly it. Rare is the soul of the prophet, that can find the hidden path of the Lord. There is no open vision, and we, who can see the lion in the thicket, cannot see the Lord in the darkness, nor hear Him out of the cloud. But the word of One is precious, and we perish without it.

 

ELIAB: I cannot bow my heart to Samuel. Is he a King to lead us into battle, and share the spoil with us? Why should we fare worse without him?

 

JESSE: My son, day follows day, and night travels between the days. But the heart of man cannot wander among the years like a wild ass in the wilderness, running hither and thither. The heart at last stands still, crying: Whither? Whither? Like a lost foal whinnying for his dam, the heart cries and nickers for God, and will not be comforted. Then comes the prophet with the other vision in his eyes, and the inner hearing in his ears, and he uncovers the secret path of the Lord, Who is at the middlemost place of all. And when the heart is in the way of God, it runs softly and joyously, without weariness.

 

ELIAB: I would sooner follow the King, with spear and shield.

 

JESSE: Samuel is more precious than the King, and more to be obeyed. As God is to Samuel, Samuel to the King is God. The King is as a boy awaiting his father’s bidding, uneasy till he is told what he shall do. Even so Samuel speaks to Saul, with the mouth of authority, to be obeyed. For he is the lips of God.

 

ELIAB: For me, give me the right arm of Saul.

 

SAMUEL enters — followed by wild prophets. The ELDERS go to meet him.

 

1ST ELDER: The Lord be with thee!

 

SAMUEL: The Lord keep this people!

 

1ST ELDER: Comest thou in peace?

 

SAMUEL: In peace. I come to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come to sacrifice, according to your families. Renew your clothes and purify yourselves.

 

1ST ELDER: Into which house will you go?

 

SAMUEL: Into the house of Jesse.

 

JESSE: I am here, my lord.

 

SAMUEL: Call your household together, and sanctify yourselves, for we will sacrifice a heifer to the Lord this day, in your house. And it shall be a feast unto you.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE IV

 

 

 

    JESSE’S house. A small inner courtyard: a rude altar smoking, and blood sprinkled round: SAMUEL before the altar, hands bloody. In another part a large red fire with a great pot seething, and pieces of meat roasting on spits. JESSE turning the spits. It is evening, sun going down.

 

 

 

SAMUEL: Call your sons. Call them one by one to pass before me. For I will look on them, before we sit around to the feast of the sacrifice.

 

JESSE: They are in the house, waiting. I will call the first-born first. (Calling.) Eliab, come forth! Samuel asks for thee!

 

ELIAB (entering): The Lord be with you.

 

SAMUEL (aside): Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him! (Gazes at ELIAB who is big and handsome.)

 

SAMUEL (aside): I shall not look on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature. For the voice of my soul tells me he is rejected. The Lord sees not as men see. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

 

SAMUEL (to JESSE): Him hath the Lord not chosen. Call thy other son.

 

JESSE: Ha! Abinadab! And, Eliab, gather all thy brothers together, for the feast shall be set forth.

 

Exit ELIAB.

 

ABINADAB (entering): The Lord be with you.

 

SAMUEL (gazing on ABINADAB): Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

JESSE: Go thou, Abinadab! Be all thy brethren ready in the house?

 

ABINADAB: They be all there, waiting for the sacrifice meat.

 

JESSE (calling): Come, Shammah! And when I call, come you others in your order, one by one.

 

SHAMMAH (entering): The Lord be with you.

 

SAMUEL (slowly): Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

JESSE: Go thou! Nay! Rather go to the fire and turn the spitted meat.

 

SHAMMAH: Yea! For it should not singe.

 

JESSE (calling): Ho! Son! Come forward!

 

FOURTH SON: The Lord be with you!

 

SAMUEL: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

JESSE: Go thou hence, and wait yet a while.

 

FOURTH SON: What wouldst thou then with me?

 

JESSE (calling): Ho! Son! (To him who waits.) Nay, go or stay, as thou wilt. But stand aside. (He stands aside.)

 

FIFTH SON: The Lord be with you.

 

JESSE: Turn thy face to the sun, that it may be seen.

 

SAMUEL: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

JESSE: Thou art not he whom Samuel seeks. Stand thou aside. (Calling.) Ho! Son! (To him who waits.) Bring in thy brother.

 

Enter SIXTH SON: all the other brothers edge in after him.

 

SIXTH SON: The Lord be with you!

 

SAMUEL: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

SIXTH SON: Wherefore hast thou called me, my Father?

 

JESSE: Samuel would look on the faces of all my sons. Go now! Who then was not called? Who among you has not come forward?

 

SEVENTH SON: I! Wilt thou me?

 

JESSE: Nay, but come into the light before the prophet of God.

 

SAMUEL: Neither hath the Lord chosen this.

 

JESSE: Nay, then it is finished, for there be no more.

 

SAMUEL: Are here all thy children?

 

JESSE: Yea, verily, there remaineth yet the youngest. And behold he keepeth the sheep.

 

SAMUEL: Send and fetch him. For we will not sit down till he come hither.

 

JESSE: Go thou, Shammah, for he will be coming in now. I will see — !

 

Exit JESSE, also SHAMMAH.

 

ELIAB: My lord, will the Lord of Hosts anoint a King, while Saul yet liveth?

 

SAMUEL: My son, out of the deep cloud the lightning cometh, and toucheth its own. Even so, from the whirlwind of the whole world’s middle, leaneth out the Wonderful and toucheth His own, but whether the anointing be for prophecy or priesthood, or for a leader or a King over Israel, the Mover of all hath it in His own deeps.

 

ELIAB: Yea! But if the Lord anoint a man to be King, can the Lord again take back the anointing, and wipe out the oil, and remove the gift, and undo the man He has made?

 

SAMUEL: The power is beyond us, both before and after. Am I not anointed before the people? But if I should say: The power is my own; I will even do my own bidding, then this is the sin of witchcraft, which stealeth the power of the whirlwind for its own. And the power will be taken from me, and I shall fall into a pit.

 

ELIAB: It is a hard thing, to be the Lord’s anointed.

 

SAMUEL: For the froward and irreverent spirit, it is a thing well-nigh impossible.

 

Enter JESSE with DAVID.

 

JESSE: This is David, the last of the sons of Jesse.

 

Enter SHAMMAH.

 

SAMUEL (aside): I shall arise and anoint him. For this is he. (Aloud.) The Lord hath chosen this one. (Takes the horn of oil and holds it over DAVID’S head.) The skies will anoint thee with their glory, the oil of the Sun is poured over thee, and the strength of His power. Thou shalt be a master of the happenings among men. Answer then. Does thy soul go forth to the Deep, does the Wonderer move in thy soul?

 

DAVID: Yea, my lord. Surely my soul leaps with God!

 

SAMUEL (anointing DAVID): The Glory pours Himself out on thee. The Chooser chooseth thee. Thou shalt be no more thine own, for the chosen belongs to the Chooser. When thou goest in, it shall be at the whisper of the Mover, and when thou comest out, it shall be the Lord. Thy strength is at the heart of the world, and thy desires are from thence. The walls of thy breast are the front of the Lord, thy loins are the Deep’s, and the fire within them is His. The Lord looketh out of thy eyes and sits on thy lips. Thou closest thy fist on the Deep, and thy knees smile with His strength. He holdeth the bow of thy body erect, and thy thighs are the pillars of His presence. Henceforward thou art not thine own. The Lord is upon thee, and thou art His.

 

DAVID (making an obeisance): I am thy servant, my lord.

 

SAMUEL: Ye shall sit around, and divide the meat, and eat of the feast, and bid the neighbours to your feast of sacrifice this night.

 

They move around, fetching trenchers of wood, and a huge dish, and a heap of flat bread. They begin to take the meat from the fire, and with a cry lift down the pot.

 

JESSE: David is a child, and the Lord hath chosen him. What shall become of him? Make it plain to us, O Samuel, this night!

 

SAMUEL: Ask not, for none knoweth. Let him live till such time as the Unseen stretcheth out His hands upon him. When the time is fulfilled, then we shall know. Beforehand no man knoweth. And now the meat is ready from the fire, and the feast of sacrifice is prepared, and I have done. Eat you of the feast, and live before the Lord, and be blessed. Speak nothing of this hour, lest mischance befall you. I go my way. Do not seek to stay me. Call whom ye will to meat, eat then what is before you, for this is your hour.

 

JESSE: The sun has gone down, and it is night. Wilt thou verily go forth?

 

Exit SAMUEL.

 

ELIAB: He has anointed the youngest, and the oldest he has passed over.

 

JESSE: It is the Lord. Go, Abinadab, and bid in the neighbours to the feast.

 

ELIAB: Nay, it is Samuel, who envies a strong man his strength, and settles on the weak.

 

JESSE: These things, at this hour, thou shalt not say. Is my son David chosen beneath the heavens, and shall Eliab his brother cast it up a reproach to him? Yea! pile up the dish from the pot, that it may cool, and not burn the hand of him that tasteth.

 

ELIAB (to DAVID): Wilt thou be a priest in a blue ephod?

 

DAVID: I know not. To-day and to-morrow I shall keep my father’s sheep. More I know not.

 

ELIAB: Canst thou see the Bolt within the cloud? Canst thou hear His voice out of the ground?

 

DAVID: I know not. I wish the Lord be with me.

 

ELIAB: Is He nearer thee, than thine own father?

 

DAVID: My father sits before me and I see his face. But the Lord is in my limbs as a wind in a tree, and the tree is shaken.

 

ELIAB: Is not the Lord also in me, thou stripling? Is thine the only body that is visited?

 

DAVID: I know not. My own heart I know. Thou knowest thine own. I wish the Lord be with me.

 

ELIAB: Yea, I know my own heart indeed. Neither is it the heart of a whelp that minds the sheep, but the heart of a man that holds a spear. Canst thou draw my bow, or wield my sword?

 

DAVID: My day is not yet come.

 

JESSE: It is enough. The guests we have bidden are here! O David, my son, even carry out their portion to the womenfolk, for they may not come here. And think thou no more of this day. The Lord will move in His own time, thou canst not hasten Him. Exit DAVID. (To the NEIGHBOURS.) Nay, come! And sit ye to meat! For we will eat this night of the sacrifice that Samuel hath slain before the Lord.

 

NEIGHBOURS: Peace be to this house! And is Samuel at once gone forth? Yea! Good seemeth thy feast, O Jesse!

 

JESSE: An heifer, of the first year, fat and goodly! Reach forth thy hand.

 

They all sit around the huge, smoking platter. JESSE dips in his hand, and carries the mess to his mouth.

 

NEIGHBOUR: Yea! Good is the feast! And blessed be Samuel, who came to Bethlehem this day!

 

Re-enter DAVID: sits down and eats. They all dip their hands in the great platter, and eat in silence.

 

Verily, this is a great feast! Surely the Lord hath visited thy house this day, O Jesse!

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE V

 

 

 

    SAUL’S house in Gilgal. MERAB and MICHAL in the courtyard, spinning wool, with their maidens. They are laughing and giggling.

 

 

 

1ST MAIDEN: Now I’ll ask one! I’ll ask one.

 

MERAB: Ask then!

 

3RD MAIDEN: Why does a cow look over a wall?

 

MICHAL: Yah! Yah! We know that old one. We all know it.

 

MERAB: Who knows the answer? Hold your hand up.

 

Only MICHAL holds up her hand.

 

3RD MAIDEN: There! There! They don’t know it! Why does a cow look over a wall?

 

1ST MAIDEN: To see what’s on the other side.

 

MICHAL: Wrong! Wrong! How silly! (Laughter.)

 

2ND MAIDEN: Because it wants to get out.

 

MICHAL: Wrong! And it’s such an easy one.

 

3RD MAIDEN: Why does a cow look over a wall?

 

4TH MAIDEN: To scratch its neck. (Much laughter.)

 

3RD MAIDEN: Wrong! Wrong! All wrong! Give it up!

 

MICHAL: No! No! Let them guess again. Why does a cow look over a wall?

 

1ST MAIDEN: To see if David’s coming to drive her to pasture. (Wild laughter.)

 

MICHAL: That’s wrong! That’s not the answer!

 

MERAB: Give it up?

 

3RD MAIDEN (laughing wildly): To see if David’s coming to drive her to pasture!

 

MICHAL: That’s not the answer, Stupid!

 

1ST MAIDEN: Why not, say I? It’s as good as the real answer. — The cows of Jesse will have to look a long time over a wall. (Much laughter.) No doubt they’re looking at this moment. (Shrieks of laughter.) Mooo-oo! Moo-oo! David, come home. (Hysterical laughter.)

 

MICHAL: Fool! Fool! That’s not the answer.

 

1ST MAIDEN: Yes. That’s the answer in Bethlehem. Why does a Bethlehem cow look over a wall? — Because David’s come to Gilgal. (Much laughter.)

 

MICHAL: That’s wrong! That’s wrong!

 

2ND MAIDEN: It’s not wrong for a Bethlehem cow.

 

MICHAL: But it’s not a Bethlehem cow. (Much laughter.)

 

1ST MAIDEN: Is it the heifers of Gilgal? (Wild laughter.)

 

4TH MAIDEN: Why do the heifers of King Saul look over the wall in Gilgal?

 

1ST MAIDEN: Listening to the music. (Wild laughter.)

 

MERAB (amid her laughter): If my father hears us!

 

MICHAL: You are all fools! You don’t know the right answer. You can’t guess it! You can’t guess it.

 

2ND MAIDEN: Well, what is it then? Only Michal knows what the cow is looking for! (Laughter.)

 

MAIDENS: Go on! Go on! Tell us, Michal!

 

MICHAL: Because she can’t see through it. (Laughter.)

 

1ST MAIDEN: See through what? (Wild laughter.)

 

MAIDENS: See through what? (All laughing.)

 

2ND MAIDEN: Because who can’t see through what? (Shrieks of laughter.)

 

1ST MAIDEN: What a senseless answer! Because she can’t see through it! (Shrieks of laughter.)

 

MICHAL: You are all fools! fools! fools! You know nothing. You don’t know anything.

 

Enter SAUL — angry.

 

SAUL: Enough! Enough! What is all this? Is there a madness among the women? Silence, I say!

 

MICHAL: We are but telling riddles.

 

SAUL: It shall not be! What! am I to hear the shrieks of my daughters’ folly spoiling the morning? I will riddle you a riddle you shall not care for. (MAIDENS steal away.)

 

MERAB: We had thought my father was abroad among the men.

 

SAUL: You had thought, had you! And your father’s being abroad was timely to let loose your ribaldry!

 

MICHAL: Nay, Father, there was no ribaldry. The maid did only ask, why does a cow look over a wall?

 

SAUL (shouting): Be still! Or I will run this spear through your body. Am I to wrestle with the Lord and fail because of the wantoning of my daughters among their maidens! Oh! cursed in my offspring as in all things!

 

MERAB steals away.

 

Cursed above all in my womenfolk!

 

MICHAL: Could we not help you, Father, to strive with the Lord? They say the wise women can command the spirits of the deep.

 

SAUL: Art thou then a seeress? art thou amongst the witches?

 

MICHAL: Not so. But Saul my father is among the wondrous. Should not his daughter be as wise as the wise women who can see into the mysteries?

 

SAUL (groaning): This is the sin of witchcraft! The hand of my children is against me!

 

MICHAL: Nay, Father, we would indeed be for you, and not against you.

 

SAUL: I have sworn to wipe out the sin of witchcraft from the land, I have sworn the death of all who lure the people with spirits and with wizardry. I have killed the soothsayers in the towns and the villages.

 

MICHAL: But, Father, might I not see the Bolt in a cloud, or call the Spirits out of the earth! I am your daughter, is that to be a witch?

 

SAUL: Thou art a spawn of evil, and I will run thee through.

 

MICHAL: But why! Oh, why!

 

SAUL: Thy soul is a soul of a witch that workest against thy father. I call on the Lord, and my heart foams, because He will not hear me. I know it now. It is thee, thou witch! (Wanting to strike her with the spear.)

 

MICHAL (weeping): It is not so! It is not so! The people say of thee, the Lord has departed from thee, and I would only help thee with the Lord, as Jonathan helps thee against the Philistines.

 

SAUL (horrified): Is the Deep a Philistine! Nay, now I know thou art the brood of witches, who catch the powers of the earth by cunning. Now I will surely pierce thee through, that my house may be pure, and the Fire may look on me again.

 

MICHAL (screams): My lord! My lord!

 

SAUL: I will pierce thee through. For I have sworn the death of all witches, and such as steal the powers of earth and sky by their cunning. It will be as good a deed in the sight of the Lord, as when the prophet of God slew Agag, and Samuel will turn to me again. For I am empty when the Lord abandons me. And evil spirits break into my empty place, and torture me. — I will surely slay this witch, though she were seven times my youngest. For she lifts the latch to the evil spirit that gets into my soul unawares.

 

MICHAL: My lord! My lord! I am no witch! I am not!

 

SAUL: Thou art a witch, and thy hand worketh against me, even when thou knowest not. Nay, thou art a witch and thy soul worketh witchcraft even when thou sleepest. Therefore I will pierce thee through. And I will say unto the people: Saul hath slain the witch that gnawed nearest into his heart.

 

MICHAL: I will not be slain! (Shrieks.)

 

Enter JONATHAN and DAVID, running.

 

JONATHAN: My Father!

 

DAVID: O King!

 

SAUL: This is the witch that hinders me with the Lord!

 

JONATHAN: This, Father! Why, Michal is a child, what can she know of witchcraft?

 

SAUL: It is in her will. My soul tells me that women with their evil intentions are playing against me, with the Lord. And this is she. She shall die as the others, seeresses, died, to cleanse the land before the Lord God.

 

DAVID: But yet, O King, thy servant has heard it is a hard thing to be a witch, a work of silent labour and of years. And this maiden your daughter is not silent, I think, nor does she seem to waste her young brows in secret labours.

 

JONATHAN: This is true enough. She is a feather-brain.

 

SAUL: Yet is her spirit against her father’s.

 

MICHAL (still weeping): No! No! I would help him.

 

DAVID: If some spirit of evil hinder King Saul with the Lord of Hosts, it will be more than the whims of a girl. The spirits that hamper the soul of the King cannot be children and girls.

 

SAUL: It may be so. Yet though I wrestle, the spirit of the Deep will not come to me. And the wound is greater than a wound in battle, bleeding inwardly. I am a strange man unto myself.

 

DAVID: Yet Saul is King, comely in his pride, and a great leader in battle. His deeds cry unto the whirlwind and are heard. Why should Saul wrestle with the Lord? Saul speaks in actions, and in the time of action the spirit of God comes upon him, and he is King in the sight of all men.

 

SAUL: It is even so. Yet my soul does not cease to ache, like the soul of a scorned woman, because the Lord will not descend upon me and give me peace in strength.

 

DAVID: Who is strong like Saul, in Israel?

 

SAUL: Yet his strength is as a drunken man’s — great with despair.

 

DAVID: Nay, O King! These are fancies. How can my lord speak of despair, when victory is with him, and the light is on his brow in the sight of all Israel!

 

SAUL: Can I so deceive myself?

 

DAVID: Surely the King deceives himself.

 

JONATHAN: Surely, Father, it is a strange self-deception you put on yourself.

 

SAUL: Can it be so? Yet if so, why does Samuel visit me no more, and withhold his blessing? And why do I feel the ache in me, and the void, where the Full should be? I cannot get at the Lord.

 

MICHAL: May I speak, my Father?

 

SAUL: Yea!

 

MICHAL: Why not laugh as you used to laugh. Father, and throw the spear in sport, at a mark, not grip it in anger? Saul is beautiful among men, to make women weep for joy if he smile at them. Yet his face is heavy with a frown.

 

SAUL: Why should I smile at thee, witch?

 

MICHAL: To gladden me, Father. For I am no witch.

 

SAUL: And when dost thou need gladdening, say?

 

MICHAL: Now, Father, even here!

 

SAUL: Thy sorrows are deep, I warrant me.

 

Touches her cheek with his fingers.

 

MICHAL: Yea! Did not this strange young man — indeed he is but a boy — find me chidden and disgraced and in tears before the King?

 

SAUL: And what then?

 

MICHAL: Who is this boy from the sheepfolds of Bethlehem, that he should think lightly of the King’s daughter in Gilgal?

 

DAVID: Nay! What man could think lightly of Michal the daughter of Saul? Her eyes are like the stars shining through a tree at midnight.

 

MICHAL: Why through a tree?

 

SAUL (laughing suddenly): Thou bird of the pert whistle! Run! Run, quail! Get thee among the maidens! Thou hast piped long enough before the men.

 

MICHAL: Even if I run my thoughts run with me.

 

SAUL: What thoughts, bird of mischief?

 

MICHAL: That this boy, ruddy with the shepherd’s sun, has seen my tears and my disgrace.

 

DAVID: Surely the tears of Michal are like falling stars in the lonely midnight.

 

MICHAL: Why, again, in the night?

 

SAUL (laughing aloud): Be gone! Be gone! No more!

 

Exit MICHAL.

 

SAUL: She is a chick of the King’s nest! Think not of her, David!

 

DAVID: But she is pleasant to think of.

 

SAUL: Even when she mocks thee?

 

DAVID: Very pleasant.

 

SAUL: The young men flee from a mocking woman.

 

DAVID: Not when the voice is sweet.

 

SAUL: Is Michal’s voice sweet? To me at times it is snarling and bad in my ears.

 

DAVID: That is only when the harp-strings of the King’s ears are unstrung.

 

SAUL: It may be. Yet I think I am cursed in my womenfolk. Was not the mother of Jonathan a thorn in my heart? What dost thou prescribe for a thorn in the heart, young wiseling?

 

DAVID: Pluck it out, O King, and throw it aside, and it is forgotten.

 

SAUL: But is it easy to pluck out a rancorous woman from the heart?

 

DAVID: I have no certain knowledge. Yet it should not be hard, I think.

 

SAUL: How?

 

DAVID: A man asks in his heart: Lord, Who fannest the fire of my soul into strength, does the woman cast fuel on the Lord’s fire within me, or does she cast wet sand? Then if the Lord says: She casts wet sand, she departs for ever from a man’s presence, and a man will go nigh unto her no more, because she seeks to quench the proper fire which is within him.

 

SAUL: Thou art wiser than if thou hadst been many times wived. Thou art a cocksure stripling.

 

DAVID: My brothers say of me, I am a cocksure malapert. Yet I do not wish to be! Why am I so, my lord?

 

SAUL (laughing): It must be the Lord made thee so.

 

DAVID: My brother has struck me in the face, before now, for words in which I saw no harm.

 

SAUL (laughing): Didst see the harm afterwards?

 

DAVID: Not I. I had a bruised mouth, and that was harm enough. But I thought still the words were wise.

 

SAUL (laughing): Dost think so even yet?

 

DAVID: Yea, they were wise words. But unwisely spoken.

 

SAUL (laughing heartily): The Lord sends the wisdom, and leaves thee to spend it! You offer a tit-bit to a wolf, and he take your fingers as well.

 

DAVID: I shall learn in the King’s household.

 

SAUL: Among the wolves?

 

DAVID: Nay, the lion is nobler than the wolf.

 

SAUL: He will not grudge thee thy callow wisdom. — I go to speak with Abner.

 

DAVID: Can I serve the King in anything?

 

SAUL: Not now.

 

Exit SAUL.

 

DAVID: He has gone in good humour.

 

JONATHAN: We found him in an evil one.

 

DAVID: Evil spirits out of the earth possess him, and laughter from a maiden sounds to him as the voice of a hyena sounds to a wounded man stricken in the feet.

 

JONATHAN: It is so. He rails at his daughter, and at the mother who bore me, till my heart swells with anger. Yet he was not always so. Why is it?

 

DAVID: He has lost the Lord, he says.

 

JONATHAN: But how? Have I lost the Lord, too?

 

DAVID: Nay! You are good.

 

JONATHAN: I wish I knew how my father had lost the Lord. — You, David, the Dawn is with you. It is in your face. — Do you wrestle before the Lord?

 

DAVID: Who am I, that I should wrestle before the Lord? But when I feel the Glory is with me, my heart leaps like a young kid, and bounds in my bosom, and my limbs swell like boughs that put forth buds. — Yet I would not be vainglorious.

 

JONATHAN: Do you dwell willingly here in Gilgal?

 

DAVID: I am strange here, and I miss my father, and the hills where the sheep are, in Bethlehem. Yet I comfort myself, turning my soul to the Nameless; and the flame flares up in my heart, and dries my tears, and I am glad.

 

JONATHAN: And when my father has been bitter and violent, and you go alone in tears, in a strange place — I have seen the tears, and my heart has been sad — then do you yearn for Bethlehem, and your own?

 

DAVID: I am weak still. — But when I see the stars, and the Lord in darkness alive between them, I am at home, and Bethlehem or Gilgal is the same to me.

 

JONATHAN: When I lie alone in camp, and see the stars, I think of my mother, and my father, and Michal, and the home place. — You, the Lord becomes a home to you, wherever you are.

 

DAVID: It is so. I had not thought of it.

 

JONATHAN: I fear you would never love man nor woman, nor wife nor child, dearly.

 

DAVID: Nay! I love my father dearly, and my brothers and my mother.

 

JONATHAN: But when the Lord enters your soul, father or mother or friend is as nothing to you.

 

DAVID: Why do you say so? — They are the same. But when the Lord is there, all the branches are hidden in blossom.

 

JONATHAN: Yea! — I, alas, love man or woman with the heart’s tenderness, and even the Lord cannot make me forget.

 

DAVID: But nor do I forget. — It is as if all caught fire at once, in the flame of the Hope.

 

JONATHAN: Sometimes I think the Lord takes from me the flame I have. I love my father. And my father lifts the short spear at me, in wild anger, because, he says, the Fire has left him, and I am undutiful.

 

DAVID: The King is the Lord’s anointed. The King has known, as none know, the strong gladness of the Lord’s presence in his limbs. And then the pain of wanting the Lord, when He cometh not, passes the pain of a woman moaning for the man she loves, who has abandoned her.

 

JONATHAN: Yet we love the King. The people look up to him. Abner, the chief captain, is faithful to him unto death. Is this nothing to a man?

 

DAVID: To a man, it is much. To the Lord’s anointed, it is much riches. But to the King whom the Lord hath rejected, even love is a hurt.

 

JONATHAN: Is my father truly rejected from being King, as Samuel said? And merely that he spared Agag and a few Amalekite cattle? I would not willingly have drawn the sword on naked Agag.

 

DAVID: Who knows? I know not. — When a people choose a King, then the will of the people is as God to the King. But when the Lord of All chooses a King, then the King must answer to the Lord of All.

 

JONATHAN: And the Lord of All required the death of defenceless Agag?

 

DAVID: Amalek has set his will against the Whirlwind. There are two motions in the world. The will of man for himself, and the desire that moves the Whirlwind. When the two are one, all is well, but when the will of man is against the Whirlwind, all is ill, at last. So all is decreed ill, that is Amalek. And Amalek must die, for he obstructs the desire of the breathing God.

 

JONATHAN: And my father?

 

DAVID: He is King, and the Lord’s anointed.

 

JONATHAN: But his will is the will of a man, and he cannot bend it with the Lord’s desire?

 

DAVID: It seems he cannot. Yet I know nothing.

 

JONATHAN: It grieves me for my father. Why is it you can soothe him? Why cannot I?

 

DAVID: I know not. It is the Lord.

 

JONATHAN: And why do I love thee?

 

DAVID: It is the Lord.

 

JONATHAN: But do you love me again, David?

 

DAVID: If a man from the sheep dare love the King’s son, then I love Jonathan. But hold it not against me for presumption.

 

JONATHAN: Of a surety, lovest thou me, David?

 

DAVID: As the Lord liveth.

 

JONATHAN: And it shall be well between us, for ever?

 

DAVID: Thou art the King’s son. But as the Lord liveth and keepeth us, it shall be well between me and thee. And I will serve thee.

 

JONATHAN: Nay, but love my soul.

 

DAVID: Thy soul is dear to my soul, dear as life.

 

They embrace silently.

 

JONATHAN: And if my father sends thee away, never forget me.

 

DAVID: Not while my heart lives, can I forget thee. — But David will easily pass from the mind of the son of the King.

 

JONATHAN: Ah never! For my heart is sorrowful, with my father, and thou art my comfort. I would thou wert King’s son, and I shepherd in Bethlehem.

 

DAVID: Say not so, lest thine anger rise on me at last, to destroy me.

 

JONATHAN: Nay, it will not.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE VI

 

 

 

    Yard of SAUL’S house in Gilgal. MICHAL, with tambourine, singing or talking to herself.

 

 

 

MICHAL: As for me, I am sad, I am sad, I am sad, and why should I not be sad? All things together want to make me sad. I hate the house when the men are gone to war. All the men are gone out against the Philistine. Gone these many days. And never a victory. No one coming home with spoil, and no occasion to dance. I am sad, I am sad, my life is useless to me. Even when they come, they will not bring David. My father looked pleasantly on him for a while, then sent him away. So are men! Such is a king! Sent him away again! And I know, some day when the Lord has left Saul, he will marry me to some old sheik. — Unless he dies in the war. Anyhow, everybody is gone, and I am dull, dull. They say it is the Lord. But why should the Lord make the house of Saul dreary? As for me, I don’t know whether the Lord is with me, or whether He is not with me. How should I know? Why should I care? A woman looks with different eyes into her heart, and, Lord or no Lord, I want what I want. I wish I had a sure charm to call back David, son of Jesse. The spells I have tried were no good. I shall try again with the sand and the bones. (She puts a little sand, and three small white bones, in her tambourine — mutters and bends — tosses her tambourine softly and drops it on the ground. Kneels and gazes intently.) Bones, bones, show me the ways in the sand. Sand, lie still; sand, lie still and speak. Now then, I see the hills of Judah, where Bethlehem is. But David is not there, he is gone. At least I don’t see him. In the sand is a road to Gilgal, by the white crown-bone. But he is not coming this way, that I can see. Where else? Where else? This must be Elah in the sand, where my father is. And there is Shochoh, opposite, where the Philistines are. Ah yes, two hills, and a valley between, with a brook in the bottom. And my father with our men on one slope, the Philistines on the other. Ah yes, that will be my father among our men; at least that is his black tent. But Jonathan is not there. O woe, if Jonathan were killed! My heart is afraid for Jonathan. Though how should I know Jonathan as a speck of sand, anyhow? There is nothing in the sand. I am no wise woman, nor a seeress, even though I would like to be. How dull it is! How dull it is here! How dull it is to be a woman! (Throws away her tambourine.) Why do they sit in front of the Philistines without defeating them!

 

WATCHMAN (entering from the gate): Men are coming, from the host of Saul. They come with a litter.

 

SOLDIER (entering): The Lord strengthen you.

 

MICHAL: Who comes? Is it news of victory?

 

SOLDIER: No, lady! Jonathan is wounded in the knee, and comes home to rest.

 

MICHAL: Wounded in the knee? And what else?

 

SOLDIER: How, else?

 

MICHAL: Oh, slow-witted! What other news? Are the Philistines defeated and slaughtered?

 

SOLDIER: Nay, they are not.

 

MICHAL: Then what has happened?

 

SOLDIER: Naught has happened.

 

MICHAL: Where is the King? Is all well with him?

 

SOLDIER: The King is with the host at Elah, and all is well with him.

 

MICHAL: Then where are the Philistines?

 

SOLDIER: The Philistines are arranged over against us, on the opposite hill at Shochoh.

 

MICHAL: And what has happened? Do Israel and the Philistines sing songs to one another?

 

SOLDIER: Nay! A portion of the men go forth to fight, wellnigh each day. And the champions of the Philistines come each day to challenge us.

 

MICHAL: And who answers out of Israel?

 

SOLDIER: None answers.

 

MICHAL: None answers! Yea, that is news to hear! Has Israel never a champion? Is my father, the King, sick?

 

SOLDIER: Many champions have we, forsooth. But we are men. And this Philistine is huge: he is out of the old days, before the Flood. He is a huge giant, whose great voice alone shakes the tents.

 

MICHAL: And not one man answers his challenge?

 

SOLDIER: Nay, where shall we find a huge giant among us, to answer him?

 

MICHAL: If he were a mountain, I would prick him with my needle.

 

SOLDIER: Yes, and would you might prick the eyeballs of him!

 

Enter litter-bearers with JONATHAN.

 

MICHAL: This is most strange! — Ah, Jonathan, and art thou wounded in the knee?

 

JONATHAN: Yea!

 

MICHAL: The Lord be praised it is not in the calf!

 

JONATHAN: Hush, shrew!

 

MICHAL: Did the Philistine giant wound thee in the knee, O Jonathan?

 

JONATHAN: A Philistine wounded me.

 

MICHAL: But I hear they boast a giant, a champion.

 

JONATHAN: Yea, verily.

 

MICHAL: A huge unheard-of giant.

 

JONATHAN: Huge enough: and heard daily.

 

MICHAL: What does he say, daily?

 

JONATHAN: Oh — he asks that we send down a man to fight with him. And if he, the Philistine of Gath, slay our man, then shall all Israel be servant to the Philistines. But if our man slay this Goliath, then the Philistines shall be our servants. And seeing that this giant be so large, no ordinary man can get past his sword to attack him, therefore the King is not willing that the fight be settled between champions, lest we lose our freedom in a moment.

 

MICHAL: And dare no man go up against this huge one?

 

JONATHAN: Nay, many dare. And many a man seeks to go. I myself would willingly go. Though I know I should die. But what would I care about dying, if the Philistine died first? Yet I doubt I should die first, and Israel be delivered into bondage. Hence the King will accept no champion from our midst. But we shall sally forth in daily companies, and defeat the Philistines at length.

 

MICHAL: At a great length.

 

JONATHAN: Hast thou wounds or pain, to find it so?

 

MICHAL: Yea, the wound of shame, that Israel, challenged, is dumb. Israel has no champion! What wound of shame for the woman!

 

JONATHAN: Why risk the nation in a fight between champions? We are all champions, and we all fight the Philistine.

 

MICHAL: Only not this big one.

 

JONATHAN: In single combat, with the fate of the nation hanging in the issue, no! But if Goliath mingle in the battle ranks, then every man of Benjamin will have at him.

 

MICHAL: And mingles he not in the battle ranks?

 

JONATHAN: Ah no! He saves himself for the single combat, for this bawling of the challenge and the rattling of the oversized shield.

 

MICHAL: Some man should think of a way.

 

JONATHAN: Think thou! I must rest, and recover, and return to the field of battle.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE VII

 

 

 

    The camp of the Israelites at Elah. In the background, black tents of worsted. Morning. Men assembling in arms, to battle. Much shouting of war-cries — much noise of war-like anticipation. DAVID entering, carrying a staff.

 

 

 

DAVID: Is yon the tent of Eliab of Bethlehem?

 

SOLDIER: The tent of the sons of Jesse.

 

SHAMMAH (coming armed from the tent): Is not this our brother David? (calling.) Ho! David is here! (embracing DAVID.) And art thou also come to the fight?

 

ELIAB (also armed): What, David! Hast thou left the sheep to come among the men-at-arms? (They embrace.)

 

DAVID: My father sent me here to inquire of you, and to bring you bread, and the cheeses for the captain of your thousand. The loaves and the parched corn and the cheeses have I left with the keeper of the victuals. But where is Abinadab?

 

ELIAB: With the host, where we must form to battle.

 

The men are forming in loose array, ABINADAB comes and embraces DAVID.

 

ABINADAB: Hast thou come from Bethlehem? And how is our father, and all the homestead?

 

DAVID: Yea, all are well. My father sent me with victual, and to see how you fare, and to take your pledge.

 

ELIAB: The pledge we will give you after the fight. And how fares my young son at home?

 

CAPTAIN (calling): The thousand of Judah, get you to your hundreds: get you to your places. (Bustle of men falling into rank.)

 

DAVID (following his brothers): Your son was bitten by a hound, but all is well.

 

ELIAB: What hound, forsooth? And lives the dog yet?

 

SAUL (passing): Five hundred of Benjamin, lead into the valley!

 

SOLDIERS: Ah! Ah! The five hundred are moving forth! (Loud shouting of SOLDIERS.)

 

DAVID: And how goes the fight?

 

SHAMMAH: Wellah, this way and that, as wind bloweth!

 

DAVID: The days are many, that you are afield. My father grew uneasy, and could stay no longer. Long days and no news are ill to live, said he.

 

ELIAB: Tell my father, this is no folding of sheep, out here.

 

DAVID: And has no weighty blow been struck, on either side?

 

SOLDIERS (calling): Ha! Ha! The five hundred are near the brook! And behold, the Philistine champion cometh forth from the ranks, to meet them. (Hush in the camp.)

 

MIGHTY VOICE OF GOLIATH: Ho! Ho, there! Israel! Why are ye come to set your battle array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

 

DAVID (in the hush): But who is this?

 

SOLDIERS: Ha! Ha! The five hundred are fleeing back from him! They are sore afraid.

 

A hush.

 

SHAMMAH: This is Goliath, their champion.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Ha! ha! Why run ye? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he can fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. It is fairly said. Choose you a man for you!

 

DAVID (in the hush): Surely he is a huge man! Goeth no man forth to meet him?

 

SOLDIER: Have you seen this man! Surely, forty days has he come up to defy Israel. And it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the King will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.

 

DAVID: What will the King do to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? Will he surely give him his daughter? The daughter of his house in Gilgal?

 

SOLDIER: Ay, surely he will. And much riches. And make his father’s house free in Israel.

 

DAVID: Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?

 

SOLDIERS: Ah! He is what thou seest.

 

DAVID: As the Lord liveth, there shall be an end to him.

 

SOLDIERS: Would it were so! But who shall do it?

 

DAVID: Is the Lord naught in the reckoning? The Lord is with me, and I will do it.

 

SOLDIERS: Thou? How canst thou kill this great giant?

 

DAVID: I can do it. I will kill him, as the Lord liveth in me, were his name six times Goliath.

 

SOLDIER: Nay, but how?

 

DAVID: The Lord will show you how. I, I will kill him.

 

ELIAB (coming forward): What art thou doing here? Why camest thou hither, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thy heart. For thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.

 

DAVID: What have I now done? Was I not sent by my father, for a cause?

 

ELIAB (turning away in anger): Thou didst persuade him, in the vanity of thy mind.

 

SOLDIER: Shall we say to Saul of thee, that thou art minded to kill the giant?

 

DAVID: Say so to him. For the Lord is with me.

 

ANOTHER SOLDIER: Verily, feelest thou in the power to kill this mighty man?

 

DAVID: Verily! And is it sooth the King will give his daughter to him that slayeth the roaring Philistine?

 

SOLDIER: Yea, it is sooth, for it is so proclaimed. But tell us how thou wilt come nigh him, to slay him.

 

DAVID: The Lord will show you.

 

SOLDIERS: Saul is coming.

 

SAUL (approaching): Which is this man will go forth against the Philistine?

 

DAVID: Let no man’s heart fail because of the giant, for thy servant will go out and fight with him.

 

SAUL: Thou? Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth.

 

DAVID: Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

 

SAUL: But neither lion nor bear came against thee in greaves of brass nor armed with sword a man’s length. How shallst thou fight with this giant in panoply?

 

DAVID: The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.

 

SAUL: Thou shalt go. And the Lord be with thee. (To ARMOUR-BEARER.) Fetch hither my armour, and another sword. For we will put them on him.

 

Exit ARMOUR-BEARER.

 

DAVID: Shall thy servant go in armour clad?

 

SAUL: How else canst thou keep thy life?

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Ho! men of Saul! Is there no man among you, to answer when a fighter calls? Are you all maidens, combing your hair? Where is Saul, the slayer of foemen? Is he crying like a quail to his God? Call to Baal, and call to Astaroth, for the God of Israel is a pigeon in a box.

 

DAVID: Ha! Lord God! Deliver him into my hand this day!

 

SAUL: Yea!

 

Enter ARMOUR-BEARER.

 

Put the coat of proof upon him, and the helmet of brass.

 

They put the armour of the KING on DAVID.

 

DAVID: I am not used to it.

 

SAUL (unbuckling his sword): Take thou my sword.

 

DAVID (girding it on): Thy servant hath honour beyond his lot. Lo! I am strange in this array! The Lord hath not intended it for me. (Takes shield.)

 

SAUL: Now thou art ready. A man shall bear thy shield.

 

DAVID: Then let me go. But let me assay this sword and battle harness that is on me. (Sets forth. Tries his sword; goes a little way. Turns suddenly back.) I cannot go with these, for I have not proved them.

 

Drops his shield. Hastily unbuckles sword, and gives it to SAUL. Unfastens the helmet. The ARMOUR-BEARER disarms DAVID.

 

SAUL: Then thou goest not! Uncovered thou canst not go.

 

DAVID: As the Lord liveth, I will go with naught but God upon me.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: The God of Israel is a blue pigeon in a box, and the men of Israel are quails in the net of the Philistine. Baal is laughing aloud, and Astarte smiles behind her sleeve, for Israel is no more than worms in a dung-hill.

 

DAVID: I shall go. Sound the trumpet!

 

He picks up his staff, recrosses hastily to the back of the stage, downwards as to a valley. Stoops in the distance: meanwhile trumpet sounds and the voice of the HERALD is heard, crying:

 

HERALD: Come down, Goliath! Come forward, Philistine! For Israel sendeth a champion against thee. (Noise of shouting in both camps.)

 

SHAMMAH: See, David is picking smooth stones from the brook bed.

 

ABINADAB: He has put them in his leather pouch, and taken his sling in his hand. Surely he will go after the Philistine as after a wolf.

 

SAUL: The Philistine cometh down with his shield-bearer before him. — Yea, but the youth is naked and unafraid.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Where art thou, champion of Israel? I see thee not. Hast thou already perished of thy dread?

 

VOICE OF DAVID (small): Yea, I am coming.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Thou!

 

SAUL: How he disdains the youth! If we have lost all on this throw!

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? Now shall Astaroth slay thee with spittle, and Baal shall break thy bones with a loud laugh.

 

VOICE OF DAVID: Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, Whom thou hast defied.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Come! Ha-ha! Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the hills.

 

Meanwhile the bystanders, SHAMMAH, ABINADAB, SOLDIERS, all save the ARMOUR-BEARER and SAUL, have been running to the far background, to look closer.

 

VOICE OF DAVID: This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee.

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Ha! Ha! Canst thou chirp? Come over, thou egg, that they see me swallow thee. (Loud yelling from Philistines.)

 

VOICE OF DAVID: I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this day to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. That all the earth may know there is a God in Israel. (Loud yelling of Israel.)

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Come, thou whistling bird! Come! Seest thou this sword? (Loud yelling of Philistines.)

 

VOICE OF DAVID: Yea! and all this people shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will deliver you into our hands. (Great defiance heard in Israel.)

 

VOICE OF GOLIATH: Must we die of thy talking? And wilt thou not come forth? Then must I fetch thee. . . . (Tumult in Philistia.)

 

ARMOUR-BEARER: The Philistine is hastening down! — Oh, and behold, the youth is running at him fast! Ha-a-a!

 

ARMOUR-BEARER rushes away, leaving SAUL alone.

 

SAUL (in a pause): Ah! Ah! — Lord, my Lord! — Is he down? (Great shouting heard — men running.) What? Yea, the Philistine has fallen! The boy but slang a stone at him! It is the Lord! Nay, he riseth not! — Ah God! was it so easy a thing? Why had I not done it! See, see, Saul, see, thou King of Israel, see this nameless boy who hath run upon the fallen Philistine, and seized his sword from his hand, and stands upon his body hewing at the neck of the giant! Ah, sight for the King of Israel, who stands alone, in safety, far off, and watches this thing done for him! Yea, they may shout! It is not for me. It is for that boy, whom I know not. How should I know him, with his young beard on his lip! It is a hard thing to hack off the head of such a giant, and he cannot find the neck joint. I see him stooping! (A great wild shout is heard.) Ah! Even so! Even so!

 

ABNER enters, running.

 

ABNER: The youth hath slain the Philistine with a stone from a sling, and even now has hewn his head loose, and is holding it up before the armies.

 

SAUL: Even so!

 

ABNER: Yea! He stands upon the body of that which was Goliath, and holds up the head to Israel! The Lord has prevailed. (Loud shouting.)

 

SOLDIERS (running past): The host of the Philistines is in flight! After them! After them!

 

ABNER: Shall we not pursue? Will not the King lead the pursuit? Lo! they flee in abandon, flinging away their spears in their haste.

 

SAUL: This needs no leader. Any man can strike in the back of a running enemy. What of the youth?

 

ABNER: He hath stripped the Philistine of his gear. Yea, I can see the body of the giant naked in blood upon the ground.

 

SAUL: Who is this youth? Whose son is he?

 

ABNER: As thy soul liveth, O King, I cannot tell.

 

SAUL: Enquire thou whose son the stripling is.

 

ABNER: He is coming towards the brook. I will bring him hither.

 

Exit ABNER.

 

SAUL: Yea, he is coming! And alone up the slope, for the men have gone like hounds after the Philistine, and to the stripping of the tents. Yea, as bees swarm in upon the sweetmeats, when the window is opened. This is a day to make songs for. But not in the name of Saul. Whom will the maidens sing to? To him yonder, coming up the hill slowly, with the swinging head, and the bright brass armour of the Philistine. To that ruddy-faced fair youth, with a young beard on his mouth. It seems I should know him, if I would. Yea, I shall know him in my hour. Ah the blithe thing! Ah the blithe boy! Ah God! God! was I not blithe? Where is it gone? Yea, where! Blitheness in a man is the Lord in his body. Nay, boy, boy! I would not envy thee the head of the Philistine. Nay, I would not envy thee the Kingdom itself. But the blitheness of thy body, that is thy Lord in thee, I envy it thee with a sore envy. For once my body too was blithe. But it hath left me. It hath left me. Not because I am old. And were I ancient as Samuel is, I could still have the alertness of God in me, and the blithe bearing of the living God upon me. I have lost the best. I had it, and have let it go. Ha! whither is he going? He turns aside, among the tents. Aha! Aha! So it is. Among the tents of Judah, and to the booth of the Bethlehemite! So, he has gone in to lay down his spoil, the helmet of brass, and the greaves of brass, the coat, the great sword, and the shirt fringed with scarlet. Lay them by, they are thine. Yea, they are thine, lay them in thy tent. No need to bring them unto the King. They are no king’s spoil. Yea, lead him hither, Abner! Lead him hither! He is bringing the head in his hand. Oh yes, the champion, the victor! He is bringing the head in his hand, to swing it under the nose of the King. But the sword, the great sword, and the greaves of brass and the body-spoil he has e’en laid by in his own tent, where no man may lay hand on it. Oh! it is a shrewd youth, and a canny youth, cunning as the Lord makes them.

 

Enter DAVID, with head of GOLIATH — and ABNER.

 

SAUL: So! Comest thou again?

 

DAVID: Even so! To lay the head of thine enemy before thee, O King!

 

SAUL: Whose son art thou, thou young man?

 

DAVID: I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

 

SAUL: Art thou so! Ay, thou art David! And brother to Eliab, and Abinadab, and Shammah, three men of war! — Thou hast put cunning in thy skill, and slain thine enemy as he were a hare among the bushes.

 

ABNER: See! The place where the stone sunk in, in the side of the forehead bone! It lies still there, the stone of David.

 

SAUL: Yea, that was death without weapons meeting, indeed.

 

ABNER: Surely the Lord was in that round stone, that digged the pit in Goliath’s head-bone!

 

DAVID: Except the Lord had been with me, I had not done it.

 

SOLDIERS (standing round): Yea, the Lord sped the hand of David. The Lord is with this young man.

 

SAUL: Praise we must give to the Lord, and to David the promised reward. Seekest thou thy reward at the King’s hand, thou young man?

 

DAVID: It is as the King willeth. Yet what should the reward be?

 

SAUL: Hast thou not heard it proclaimed?

 

DAVID: Nay, I arrived but in the dawn, with provender from my father to my brethren.

 

SAUL: Didst thou not set forth even now against the Philistine, hoping big for the reward?

 

DAVID: Not so, O King. But the Lord moved me to go, to take off the shame and the reproach from the army of the living God.

 

SAUL: Thou hast done well! Yet claimest thou thy reward?

 

DAVID: Shall I not hear from the King’s mouth, what the reward should be?

 

SAUL: How was it said, Abner? Recallest thou?

 

ABNER: Yea, O King! Riches and the King’s daughter, and freedom for his father’s house, to the man that should slay Goliath in the single combat.

 

SAUL: Single-handed hath David slain Goliath, indeed! Even without any combat at all. But how likest thou thy reward, thou young man?

 

DAVID: Were it mine, O King, I should rejoice for my father’s sake and fall to the ground beneath the honour put upon me, being son-in-law to the King.

 

SAUL: Even so! Now thou shalt stay with me, and live in my house and return no more to thy father’s house. And all shall be done to thee, as was said. — For surely thou hast brought much honour upon Israel. And we will make much of thee. For thou art champion of Israel in the sight of all the people. And thou shalt sit at the King’s right hand, that all men may delight in thee. Yet, since thou art young, and fresh from the sheepfold, we will not hasten thee to thy confusion. But thou shalt dwell as a son among us, and rise in degree as a son rises, sitting at the King’s meat. And behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife. Only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord’s battles.

 

DAVID: Let but thy servant serve thee, O King, in the sight of the Lord. And Saul will take the head of this Philistine to put it on a pole?

 

SAUL: Nay! Thou thyself shalt bring it before the people, in Jerusalem of Judah.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE VIII

 

 

 

    The king’s tent at Elah: a square tent of dark worsted, with the wide front open. Heaps of panoply and spoil without. Within, in the public part of the tent, SAUL, with DAVID on his right hand, JONATHAN on his left, and sitting around, the CAPTAINS of the armies of Israel.

 

 

 

SAUL: We have numbered the armies in tens, in hundreds, and in thousands. And now are all men returned from pursuing after the Philistine, and the spoil is all brought in. And the wounded of the Philistine have fallen by the way, even to the valley of Ekron and the gates of Gath, their dead are more than their living. Yet are their princes within the land, holding on to strong places. Therefore we will rejoice not yet, nor go home to the feasting. But while his heart is sunk low, we will follow up the Philistine in every place where he holds out. Is it sooth?

 

CAPTAINS: It is good, O King.

 

ABNER: The blow that was struck with a pebble, we will follow up with swords and spears, till in the Lord’s name not one uncircumcised remains in the land.

 

CAPTAINS: It is good! It is good! (They strike their shields.)

 

SAUL (presenting DAVID): This is David, that slew Goliath the Philistine, and delivered Israel from reproach. Sits not David high in the heart of every man in Israel, this day?

 

CAPTAINS: Yea! David! David! (Striking shields.)

 

SAUL: Who is first among the men of war this day? Is it not David, my son David?

 

CAPTAINS: David! David! It is David!

 

SAUL: Yea, Captains! Your King is but captain of the captains! Whom shall we set over the men of war this day? Shall it not be David? This time, shall not David lead the hosts? Is he not the first against the Philistine? Yea, in this foray of triumph and this campaign of victory, should any man lead but David?

 

CAPTAINS: It is good! David shall command, till we return home this time from smiting the Philistine. (They clash shields with martial noise.)

 

SAUL (to DAVID): Hearest thou, David, son of my delight?

 

DAVID: O King, I am no leader of men of war. I have no skill in arts of battle. Honour me not to my confusion.

 

SAUL: Nay, this time shalt thou take the charge. For in this fight art thou the first man among the men of war in Israel. Answer, Captains! Is it not so?

 

CAPTAINS: Verily! This time we will have David.

 

ABNER: Verily, save David lead us, we will not go.

 

The CAPTAINS rise, and lift locked shields before DAVID as if to raise him up.

 

SAUL: If we go not now, we lose the golden hour. The choice is upon thee, David.

 

DAVID: Thy servant will do according to thy will, O King, and according to the will of Abner, and of the Captains. (He rises before the CAPTAINS.) But I am young, and not brought up to war. And the Captains and the strong men will laugh at me, seeing my inexperience and my presumption.

 

ABNER: Nay! No man shall find occasion to laugh at thee, for the fight is in thee as in a young eagle. Leading to war shalt thou learn war.

 

DAVID: It is as the King and the Captains shall bid me.

 

SAUL (rising): We will make ready, and send out the news through the camp: In this is David our leader! Then David shall choose his men, and go forth. He shall give his orders, and the Captains shall march at his bidding. David, the day is thine!

 

Salutes. The CAPTAINS again salute DAVID with spear on shield, then they go out.

 

CAPTAINS: To thee, David!

 

Exeunt CAPTAINS.

 

DAVID (to JONATHAN): How shall I bring this to a pass?

 

JONATHAN: Thy soul will not fail thee. Thou art the young lion of Judah, thou art the young eagle of the Lord. O David, is it well between me and thee, and hast thou verily not forgotten me?

 

DAVID: Verily, thou hast not left my soul. But how shall I go before these men?

 

JONATHAN: We have sworn a covenant, is it not between us? Wilt thou not swear with me, that our souls shall be as brothers, closer even than the blood? O David, my heart hath no peace save all be well between thy soul and mine, and thy blood and mine.

 

DAVID: As the Lord liveth, the soul of Jonathan is dearer to me than a brother’s. — O brother, if I were but come out of this pass, and we might live before the Lord, together!

 

JONATHAN: What fearest thou then?

 

DAVID: In the Lord, I fear nothing. But before the faces of men, my heart misgives me.

 

JONATHAN: Sittest thou not high in the hearts of Israel?

 

DAVID: Yea, but who am I, to be suddenly lifted up! Will they not throw me as suddenly down?

 

JONATHAN: Who would throw thee down, that art strong as a young eagle, and subtle as the leopard?

 

DAVID: I will rest in the Lord.

 

JONATHAN: And in me wilt thou not trust?

 

DAVID: I will trust thee, Jonathan, and cleave to thee till the sun sets on me. Thou art good to me as man never before was good to me, and I have not deserved it. Say thou wilt not repent of thy kindness towards me!

 

JONATHAN: O brother, give me the oath, that naught shall sunder our souls, for ever.

 

DAVID: As the Lord liveth, my soul shall not part for ever from the soul of my brother Jonathan; but shall go with him up the steeps of heaven, or down the sides of the pit. And between his house and my house the covenant shall be everlasting. For as the hearts of men are made on earth, the heart of Jonathan is gentlest and most great.

 

JONATHAN: The covenant is between us. (Covers his face.)

 

DAVID (after a pause): But how shall I go before these captains, O my brother? Comest thou not with me? Wilt thou not stand by me? Oh, come!

 

JONATHAN: I am limping still in the knee, and how shall I lead a foray? But thou art mine and I am thine. And I will clothe thee in my clothes, and give thee my sword and my bow, and so shall my spirit be added to thy spirit, and thou shalt be as the King’s son and the eagle of the Lord, in the eyes of the people.

 

Takes off striped coat, or wide-sleeved tunic.

 

DAVID: But can I do this thing?

 

JONATHAN: Yea! That all men know thou art as the King’s son in the world. For the eagle hath gold in his feathers and the young lion is bright. So shall David be seen in Israel.

 

DAVID slowly pulls off his loose robe, a herdsman’s tunic cut off at the knee. JONATHAN takes off his sleeveless shirt, and is seen in his leather loin-strap. From his upper arm he takes a metal bracelet.

 

JONATHAN: Even all my garments thou shalt take, even the armlet that should not leave me till I die. And thou shalt wear it for ever. And thy garments will I take upon me, so the honour shall be mine.

 

DAVID pulls off his shirt, and is seen in the leather loin-strap, JONATHAN puts his bracelet on DAVID’S arm, then his own shirt over DAVID’S head, and holds up his coloured robe. DAVID robed, JONATHAN brings him a coloured head-kerchief and girdle, then his sword and his bow and quiver and shoes. JONATHAN puts on DAVID’S clothes.

 

DAVID: How do I appear?

 

JONATHAN: Even as the eagle in his own plumage. It is said, David, that thou art anointed of Samuel, before the Lord. Is it so?

 

DAVID: Yea.

 

JONATHAN: Thou hast the sun within thee, who shall deny thee?

 

DAVID: Why speakest thou sadly, Jonathan, brother?

 

JONATHAN: Lest thou go beyond me, and be lost to me.

 

DAVID: Lord! Lord! Let not my soul part from the soul of Jonathan for ever, for all that man can be to man on earth, is he to me.

 

JONATHAN: Would I could give thee more!

 

SAUL (entering): Yea! And which now is the King’s son, and which the shepherd?

 

DAVID: Thy son would have it so, O King.

 

JONATHAN: It is well, Father! Shall not the leader shine forth?

 

SAUL: Even so. And the young King-bird shall moult his feathers in the same hour.

 

JONATHAN: The robe of David honours the shoulders of Jonathan.

 

SAUL: Art thou ready, thou brave young man?

 

DAVID: I am ready, O King.

 

SAUL: The host is in array, awaiting thy coming.

 

DAVID: I will come where the King leads me.

 

SAUL (to JONATHAN): Put another robe upon thee, ere thou come forth.

 

JONATHAN: I will not come forth. (Turns abruptly.)

 

DAVID follows SAUL from the tent — loud shouting of the army.

 

JONATHAN (alone): If the Lord hath anointed him for the kingdom, Jonathan will not quarrel with the Lord. My father knoweth. Yet Saul will strain against God. The Lord hath not revealed Himself unto me: save that once I saw the glisten in my father that now I see in David. My life belongs to my father, but my soul is David’s. I cannot help it. The Lord sees fit to split me between King and King-to-be, and already I am torn asunder as between two wild horses straining opposite ways. Yet my blood is my father’s. And my soul is David’s. And the right hand and the left hand are strangers on me.

 

 

 

CURTAIN

 

 

 

 

SCENE IX

 

 

 

    Outside the courtyard of SAUL’S house in Gilgal. Doorway of courtyard seen open. MAIDENS running forth with instruments of music. Men-servants gazing into the distance. People waiting.

 

 

 

MAIDENS: Lu-lu-a-li-lu-lu-lu! Lu-lu-lu-li-a-li-lu-lu! A-li-lu-lu-lu-a-li-lu! Lu-al-li-lu! Lu-al-li-lu-a!

 

MERAB: Out of Judah Saul comes in!

 

MICHAL: David slew the Philistine.

 

MERAB AND HER MAIDENS: Out of Judah Saul comes in!

 

MICHAL AND HER MAIDENS: David slew the Philistine.

 

ALL (repeat several times): A-li-lu-lu! A-li-lu-lu-lu! Lu! lu! lu! lu! li! lu! lu! a! li! lu! lu! lu! lu!

 

MERAB: All the Philistine has fled.

 

MICHAL: By the roadside fell their dead.

 

MERAB: Wounded fell down in the path.

 

MICHAL: Beyond Ekron unto Gath.

 

MERAB AND MAIDENS: All the Philistine has fled.

 

MICHAL AND MAIDENS: By the roadside fell their dead.

 

MERAB AND MAIDENS: Wounded fell down in the path.

 

MICHAL AND MAIDENS: Beyond Ekron unto Gath.

 

ALL (repeat continuously): Lu-li-lu-lu-lu! Lu-lu-li-a-lu-lu! Li-a-li-lu-lu-lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! A! li! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! Li! A! Lu! Lu! Li! Lu! A! Li! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! u!

 

MERAB: Saul in thousands slew their men!

 

MICHAL: David slew his thousands ten!

 

MERAB AND MAIDENS: Saul in thousands slew their men!

 

MICHAL AND MAIDENS: David slew his thousands ten! Oh! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! Lu! A! Li! Lu! Lu! Lu!

 

ALL: Lu! Lu! Lu! Li! Lu! Lu! Lu! — A-li-lu-lu-a-li-lu-lu! Lu-a-li-lu-lu-lu! Lu-lu-lu!

 

MERAB: Out of Judah Saul comes in.

 

MICHAL: David slew the Philistine.

 

MERAB AND MAIDENS: Out of Judah Saul comes in.

 

MICHAL AND MAIDENS: David slew the Philistine.

 

ALL: Lu-li-lu-lu-lu-li-lu! Lu-lu-a-li-lu-lu-lu!

 

They continue the repetition of the simple rhymes, as SAUL draws near, followed by DAVID, JONATHAN, ABNER and the armed men. The MAIDENS keep up the singing, all the time dancing; MERAB with her MAIDENS on one side of the men, MICHAL and her MAIDENS on the other, singing loudly back and forth all the time. The men pass slowly into the gate, without response. The MAIDENS run peering at the spoil the servant-men are carrying in. All pass in at the gate.

 

 

 

CURTAIN