The house of SHEMUS RUA.
There is an alcove at the back with curtains; in it a bed, and on the
bed is the body of MARY with dles round it. The two MERTS while they speak put a large book
upon a table, arrange money, and so on.
FIRST MERT. Thanks to that lie I told about her ships
And that about the herdsman lying sick,
We shall be too much thronged with souls to?morrow.
SEERT. What has she in her coffers now but mice?
FIRST MERT. When the night fell and I had shaped myself Into the image of the man?headed owl,
I hurried to the cliffs of Donegal,
And saw with all their vas full of wind
And rushing through the parti?coloured sea
Those ships that bring the woman grain and meal.
Theyre but three days from us.
SEERT. When the dew rose
I hurried in like feathers to the east,
And saw nine hundred oxen driven through Meath
With goads of iron, Theyre but three days from us.
FIRST MERT. Three days for traffic.
(PEASANTS crowd in with TEIG and SHEMUS.)
SHEMUS. e in, e in, you are wele.
That is my wife. She mocked at my great masters,
And would not deal with them. Now there she is;
She does not even know she was a fool,
So great a fool she was.
TEIG. She would
One crumb of bread bought with our masters money,
But lived oles, dock, and dandelion.
SHEMUS. Theres nobody could put into her head
That Death is the worst thing happen us.
Though that sounds simple, for her tongue grew rank
With all the lies that she had heard in chapel.
Draw to the curtain.
(TEIG draws it.)
Youll not play the fool
While these good gentlemehere to save you.
SEERT.
Sihe drought came they drift about in a throng,
Like autumn leaves blown by the dreary winds.
e, deal??e, deal.
FIRST MERT. Who will e deal with us?
SHEMUS. They are out of spirit, Sir, with lack of food,
Save four or five. Here, sir, is one of these;
The others will gain ce in good time.
MIDDLE?AGED?MAN. I e to deal??if you give ho price.
FIRST MERT (reading in a book)
John Maher, a man of substance, with dull mind,
And quiet senses and uurous heart.
The ahink him safe." Two hundred s,
All for a soul, a little breath of wind.
THE MAN. I ask three hundred s. You have read there
That no mere lapse of days make me yours.
FIRST MERT.
There is something more writ here??"often at night
He is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,
And thereon wonders if theres any man
That he could rob in safety."
A PEASANT. Whod have thought it?
And I was once aloh him at midnight.
ANOTHER PEASANT. I will not trust my mother after this.
FIRST MERT. There is this cra you??two hundred s.
A PEASANT. Thats plenty for a rogue.
ANOTHER PEASANT. Id give him nothing.
SHEMUS. Youll get no more??so take whats offered you.
(A general murmur, during which the MIDDLE?AGED?MAN takes money, and slips into background,
where he sinks on to a seat.)
FIRST MERT. Has no o a better soul than that?
If only for the credit of your parishes, Traffic with us.
A WOMAN. What will you give for mine?
FIRST MERT (reading in book)
"Soft, handsome, and still young "??not much, I think."
Its certain that the man shes married to
Knows nothin