Chapter 56
KO. Yes, he wants you particularly.
POOH. So does she.
YUM. Oh, but he's married now.
KO. But, bless my heart! what has that to do with it?
NANK. Katisha claims me in marriage, but I can't marry her because I'm married already--consequently she will insist on my execution, and if I'm executed, my wife will have to be buried alive.
YUM. You see our difficulty.
KO. Yes. I don't know what's to be done.
NANK. There's one chance for you. If you could persuade Katisha to marry you, she would have no further claim on me, and in that case I could come to life without any fear of being put to death.
KO. I marry Katisha!
YUM. I really think it's the only course.
KO. But, my good girl, have you seen her? She's something appalling!
PITTI. Ah! that's only her face. She has a left elbow which people come miles to see!
POOH. I am told that her right heel is much admired by connoisseurs.
KO. My good sir, I decline to pin my heart upon any lady's right heel.
NANK. It comes to this: While Katisha is single, I prefer to be a disembodied spirit. When Katisha is married, existence will be as welcome as the flowers in spring.
DUET--NANKI-POO and KO-KO.
(With YUM-YUM, PITTI-SING, and POOH-BAH.)
NANK. The flowers that bloom in the spring, Tra la, Breathe promise of merry suns.h.i.+ne-- As we merrily dance and we sing, Tra la, We welcome the hope that they bring, Tra la, Of a summer of roses and wine.
And that's what we mean when we say that a thing Is welcome as flowers that bloom in the spring.
Tra la la la la la, etc.
ALL. Tra la la la, etc.
KO. The flowers that bloom in the spring, Tra la, Have nothing to do with the case.
I've got to take under my wing, Tra la, A most unattractive old thing, Tra la, With a caricature of a face And that's what I mean when I say, or I sing, "Oh, bother the flowers that bloom in the spring."
Tra la la la la la, etc.
ALL. Tra la la la, Tra la la la, etc.
[Dance and exeunt Nanki-Poo, Yum-Yum, Pooh-Bah, Pitti-Sing, and Ko-Ko.
Enter Katisha.
RECITATIVE and SONG.--KATISHA.
Alone, and yet alive! Oh, sepulchre!
My soul is still my body's prisoner!
Remote the peace that Death alone can give-- My doom, to wait! my punishment, to live!
SONG.
Hearts do not break!
They sting and ache For old love's sake, But do not die, Though with each breath They long for death As witnesseth The living I!
Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why, When hope is gone, Dost thou stay on?
Why linger here, Where all is drear?
Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why, When hope is gone, Dost thou stay on?
May not a cheated maiden die?
KO. (entering and approaching her timidly). Katisha!
KAT. The miscreant who robbed me of
KO. Katisha--behold a suppliant at your feet!
Katisha--mercy!
KAT. Mercy? Had you mercy on him? See here, you! You have slain my love. He did not love me, but he would have loved me in time. I am an acquired taste--only the educated palate can appreciate me. I was educating his palate when he left me.
Well, he is dead, and where shall I find another? It takes years to train a man to love me. Am I to go through the weary round again, and, at the same time, implore mercy for you who robbed me of my prey--I mean my pupil--just as his education was on the point of completion? Oh, where shall I find another?
KO. (suddenly, and with great vehemence). Here!--Here!
KAT. What!!!
KO. (with intense pa.s.sion). Katisha, for years I have loved you with a white-hot pa.s.sion that is slowly but surely consuming my very vitals! Ah, shrink not from me! If there is aught of woman's mercy in your heart, turn not away from a love-sick suppliant whose every fibre thrills at your tiniest touch! True it is that, under a poor mask of disgust, I have endeavoured to conceal a pa.s.sion whose inner fires are broiling the soul within me! But the fire will not be smothered--it defies all attempts at extinction, and, breaking forth, all the more eagerly for its long restraint, it declares itself in words that will not be weighed--that cannot be schooled--that should not be too severely criticised. Katisha, I dare not hope for your love--but I will not live without it! Darling!
KAT. You, whose hands still reek with the blood of my betrothed, dare to address words of pa.s.sion to the woman you have so foully wronged!
KO. I do--accept my love, or I perish on the spot!
KAT. Go to! Who knows so well as I that no one ever yet died of a broken heart!
KO. You know not what you say. Listen!
SONG--KO-KO.
On a tree by a river a little tom-t.i.t Sang "Willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
And I said to him, "d.i.c.ky-bird, why do you sit Singing Willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow'?"
"Is it weakness of intellect, birdie?" I cried, "Or a rather tough worm in your little inside?"
With a shake of his poor little head, he replied, "Oh, willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
He slapped at his chest, as he sat on that bough, Singing "Willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
And a cold perspiration bespangled his brow, Oh, willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!
He sobbed and he sighed, and a gurgle he gave, Then he plunged himself into the billowy wave, And an echo arose from the suicide's grave-- "Oh, willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
Now I feel just as sure as I'm sure that my name Isn't Willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow, That 'twas blighted affection that made him exclaim "Oh, willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
And if you remain callous and obdurate, I Shall perish as he did, and you will know why, Though I probably shall not exclaim as I die, "Oh, willow, t.i.twillow, t.i.twillow!"
(During this song Katisha has been greatly affected, and at the end is almost in tears.)
KAT. (whimpering). Did he really die of love?
KO. He really did.
KAT. All on account of a cruel little hen?
KO. Yes.
KAT. Poor little chap!
KO. It's an affecting tale, and quite true. I knew the bird intimately.
KAT. Did you? He must have been very fond of her.
KO. His devotion was something extraordinary.
KAT. (still whimpering). Poor little chap! And--and if I refuse you, will you go and do the same?
KO. At once.
KAT. No, no--you mustn't! Anything but that! (Falls on his breast.) Oh, I'm a silly little goose!
KO. (making a wry face). You are!
KAT. And you won't hate me because I'm just a little teeny weeny wee bit bloodthirsty, will you?
KO. Hate you? Oh, Katisha! is there not beauty even in bloodthirstiness?
KAT. My idea exactly.
DUET--KATISHA and KO-KO.