The Shadowy Waters
A Dramati
The deck of an a ship. At the right of the stage is the mast,
with a large square sail hiding a great deal of the sky and sea
on that side. The tiller is at the left of the stage; it is a long oar
ing through an opening in the bulwark. The deck rises in a
series of steps hehind the tiller, and the stern of the ship curves
overhead. When the play opens there are four persons upon the
deck. Aibric stands by the tiller. Fael sleeps upon the raised
portion of the deck towards the front of the stage. Two Sailors
are standio the mast, on which a harp is hanging.
First Sailor. Has he not led us into these waste seas
For long enough?
Sed Sailor. Aye, long and long enough.
First Sailor. We have not e upon a shore or ship
These dozen weeks.
Sd Sailor. And I had thought to make
A good round Sum upon this cruise, and turn -
For I am getting on in life - to something
That has less ups and downs than robbery.
First Sailor. I am so tired of being bachelor
I could give all my heart to that Red Moll
That had but the one eye.
Sed Sailor. o bewitt
Transform these rascal billows into women
That I may drown myself?
First Sailor. Better steer home,
Whether he will or no; aer still
To take him while he sleeps and carry him
And drop him from the gunnel.
Sed Sailor. I dare not do it.
Weret not that there is magi his harp,
I would be of your mind; but when he plays it
Strange creatures flutter up before ones eyes,
Or cry about ones ears.
First Sailor. Nothing to fear.
Sed Sailor. Do you remember when we sank that
galley
At the full moon?
First Sailor. He played all through the night.
Sed Sailor. Until the moon had set; and when I looked
Where the dead drifted, I could see a bird
Like a grey gull upon the breast of each.
While I was looking they rose hurriedly,
And after cirg with strange cries awhile
Fleard; and many a time sihen
Ive heard a rustling overhead in the wind.
First Sailor. I saw them on that night as well as you.
But when I had eaten and drunk myself asleep
My ce came again.
Sed Sailor. But thats not all.
The ht, while he laying it,
A beautiful young man and girl came up
In a white breaking wave; they had the look
Of those that are alive for ever and ever.
First Sailor. I saw them, too, one night. Fael was
playing,
And they were listening ther& beyond the sail.
He could not see them, but I held out my hands
To grasp the woman.
Sed Sailor. You have dared to touch her?
First Sailor. O she was but a shadow, and slipped from
me.
Sed Sailor. But were you not afraid?
First Sailor. Why should I fear?
Sed Sailor. "Twas Aengus and Edain, the wandering
lovers,
To whom all lovers pray.
First Sailor. But what of that?
A shadow does not carry sword or spear.
Sed Sailor. My mother told me that there is not one
Of the Ever-living half so dangerous
As that wild Aengus. Long before her day
He carried Edain off from a kings house,
And hid her among fruits of jewel-stone
And in a tower of glass, and from that day
Has hated every man thats not in love,
And has been dangerous to him.