t tains; in it a bed, and on the

    bed is t. two MERCS w a large book

    upon a table, arrange money, and so on.

    FIRSt MERC. to t lie I told about her ships

    And t about the herdsman lying sick,

    e soo muco?morrow.

    SECOND MERC.   mice?

    FIRSt MERC.  fell and I o the man?headed owl,

    I o the cliffs of Donegal,

    And saheir canvas full of wind

    And rusi?coloured sea

    t bring the woman grain and meal.

    t three days from us.

    SECOND MERC. he dew rose

    I o t,

    And saw nine h

    it three days from us.

    FIRSt MERC. traffic.

    (PEASANtS croEIG and ShEMUS.)

    ShEMUS. Come in, come in, you are welcome.

    t is my  masters,

    And  deal here she is;

    S even know she was a fool,

    So great a fool she was.

    tEIG. S eat

    One crumb of bread bougers money,

    But lived on nettles, dock, and dandelion.

    S into her head

    t Deat thing can happen us.

    t sounds simple, for ongue grew rank

    it she had heard in chapel.

    Drao tain.

    (tEIG dra.)

    Youll not play the fool

    lemen are to save you.

    SECOND MERC.

    Since t came t about in a throng,

    Like autumn leaves blohe dreary winds.

    Come, deal??come, deal.

    FIRSt MERC. h us?

    S of spirit, Sir, h lack of food,

    Save four or five. hese;

    time.

    MIDDLE?AGED?MAN. I come to deal??if you give  price.

    FIRSt MERC (reading in a book)

    Joance, h dull mind,

    And quiet senses and unventurous .

    t; two hundred crowns,

    All for a soul, a little breath of wind.

    there

    t no mere lapse of days can make me yours.

    FIRSt MERC.

    t ;often at night

    he is wakeful from a dread of growing poor,

    And theres any man

    t y.quot;

    A PEASANt.  it?

    And I  midnight.

    ANOt. I  trust my moter this.

    FIRSt MERC. two hundred crowns.

    A PEASANt. ts plenty for a rogue.

    ANOt. Id give hing.

    S no more??so take ws offered you.

    (A general murmur, during o background,

    .)

    FIRSt MERC.  a better soul t?

    If only for t of your parisraffic h us.

    A OMAN.  will you give for mine?

    FIRSt MERC (reading in book)

    quot;Soft, ill young quot;??not muc;

    Its certain t to

    Knos he jar

    Bet.quot;

    the scandalous book.

    FIRSt MERC. quot;Nor how when hes away

    At t e ws hid

    ill tap times upon t;

    tter, t is no reason

    hers.

    FIRSt MERC. Youre almost safe, I give you fifty crowns

    (Surns to go.)

    A hen.

    ShEMUS. oman, have sense?come, Come.

    Is time to  the price?

    take it up. ts right.

    (Sakes to the crowd.)

    FIRSt MERC. Come, deal, deal, deal. It is but for cy e buy suc all; a thousand sins

    Made ters long before we came.

    (ALEEL enters.)

    ALEEL. ake my soul, for I am tired of it.

    I do not ask a price.

    S ask a price?

    a price?

    I  listen to s;

    ess Cathleen has so crazed him

    ands w he is saying.

    ALEEL. trouble t ess Cathleen,

    t is in ed face,

    ts,

    And yet I know Id ake my soul.

    FIRSt MERC. e cannot take your soul, for it is hers.

    ALEEL. No. but you must. Seeing it cannot help her

    I ired of it.

    FIRSt MERC. Begone from me

    I may not touc.

    ALEEL. Is your power so small?

    And must I bear it h me all my days?

    May you be scorned and mocked!

    FIRSt MERC. Drag him away.

    roubles me.

    (tEIG and So the crowd.)

    SECOND MERC. her,

    ith shaking and a dreadful fear.

    FIRSt MERC. Lean forward

    And kiss t wers lips

    ere pressed upon it w us her;

    You shall have peace once more.

    (SECOND MERC kisses t t is about the

    MERC.)

    I, too, grow weary,

    But t

    Is drawing near??our labour will soon end.

    Come, deal, deal, deal, deal, deal; are you all dumb?

    ,  home

    And from ternal revelry?

    SECOND MERC. Deal, deal.

    S too low.

    FIRSt MERC. I offer t price: a?thousand crowns For an old woman who was always ugly.

    (An Old PEASANt OMAN comes forward, and akes up a book and reads.)

    t little set down  her.

    quot;Solen eggs and fowl wimes were bad,

    But ter ;

    She never missed her chapel of a Sunday

    And ake up your money.

    OLD OMAN. God bless you, Sir.

    (She screams.)

    O through me!

    FIRSt MERC. t name is like a fire to all damned souls.

    (Murmur among tS, w.)

    A PEASANt. !

    SECOND PEASANt. And maybe we shall scream so.

    t. I tell you there is no such place as hell.

    FIRSt MERC. Can sucrifle turn you from your profit? Come, deal; come, deal,

    MIDDLE?AGED MAN. Master, I am afraid.

    FIRSt MERC. I boughe souls gone.

    MIDDLE?AGED MAN. Give me my soul again.

    OMAN (going on o MERC)

    And take too, and give me mine.

    SECOND MERC. Bear bastards, drink or follow some wild fancy; For sighe souls

    work,

    And you have none.

    (the woman off.)

    PEASANt. Come, lets away.

    ANOt. Yes, yes.

    ANOt. Come quickly; if t woman  screamed I would  my soul.

    ANOt. Come, come away.

    (turn to door, but are stopped by ss of quot;Countess

    Catess Cat;)

    CAtering) And so you trade once more?

    FIRSt MERC. In spite of you.

    brings you  he sapphire eyes?

    CAto barter a soul for a great price.

    SECOND MERC.  matter, if the price?

    CAtarve, the people go

    to you. I hem

    And it is in my ears by night and day,

    And I would housand crowns

    t I may feed till th go by.

    FIRSt MERC. . It may be t.

    CAthere is more:

    t you  must be set free.

    FIRSt MERC. e kno one soul ts he price.

    CAt seems a priceless thing.

    SECOND MERC. You offer us??

    CAthLEEN. I offer my own soul.

    A PEASANt. Do not, do not, for souls the like of ours

    Are not precious to God as your soul is.

    O! w would  you, lady?

    ANOt.

    Look chern gloves.

    FIRSt MERC. Five he souls even

    while you speak

    of our bond, because your face

    on ts.

    But you must sign, for  no form

    In buying a soul like yours.

    SECOND MERC. Sign his quill.

    It he cock

    t crowed wer dared deny er,

    And all w  honour in hell.

    (CAto sign.)

    ALEEL (rusc from o the

    heavens.

    CAts; I hear a cry??a cry.

    ALEEL (casting t on the ground)

    I have seen a vision under a green hedge,

    A  shall hear

    tans empty skull

    Over tain?tops.

    FIRSt MERC. take him away.

    (tEIG and S S.

    CAt and signs, turns toS.)

    CAtake up th me;

    ed place

    I will give everybody money enough.

    (S, tS crowding round wo MERCS

    are left alone.)

    SECOND MERC. e must a until she dies,

    Sitting above owo grey owls,

    aiting as many years as may be, guarding

    Our precious jeing to seize her soul.

    FIRSt MERC. e need but es. hen she signed

    began to break. hush, hush, I hear

    ts hinges,

    And ternal revelry float her

    to en us.

    SECOND MERC. Leap feathe air

    And meet t in your claws.

    (t. ALEEL crao t has fallen and gradually darkens as

    tant muttering of torm.)

    ALEEL. tands wide, and Balor comes

    Borne in ed

    t of old

    turned gods to stone; Baracraitor, comes

    And tin,

    t cast a druid weakness and decay

    Over Sualtems and old Decteras child;

    And t great king  took hold upon

    ,

    And all ted to one side,

    For wy and peace

    itinate, crafty, sidelong bitterness.

    ( as ts. OONA enters.)

    Crouc of torm.

    OONA. ess Cathis day

    ears, and w

    trembled,

    And no know where she is gone.

    ALEEL. Cathan us,

    And the hollow world.

    Demons are out, old heron.

    OONA. God guard her soul.

    ALEEL. Sered it ahis very hour,

    As the world.

    And the hollow world.

    (s downward.)

    First, Orciful head alive,

    ing

    Under the dawn, for she who awoke desire

    a  of blood whers die;

    About itude

    Of  laughter

    Be  of the blood made sin,

    But all ttle pink?we nails have grown

    to be great talons.

    (o the room

    and Points do gestures. the wind roars.)

    they begin a song

    And till some music on tongues.

    OONA (casting he floor)

    O, Maker of all, protect he demons,

    And if a soul must need be lost, take mine.

    (ALEEL kneels beside  does not seem to S return. the

    COUNtESS CAthere as if dead.)

    OONA. O, t so many pitchers of rough clay

    Swo!

    (ShLEEN.)

    A PEASANt. e ree wurns,

    ed away.

    And ws

    Blackened t

    Dra bolt, for no man has beheld

    So black, bitter, blinding, and sudden a storm.

    (One w.)

    CAtigorm

    Is dragging me away.

    (OONA takes o wail.)

    PEASANt. hush!

    PEASANtS. hush!

    PEASANt OMEN hush!

    Ot OMEN hush!

    CAt

    to every man and woman: judge, and give

    According to their needs.

    A PEASANt OMAN. And will she give

    Enougo keep my ch?

    ANOt OMAN.

    O, Queen of s,

    Let us and ours be lost so she be shriven.

    CAthLEEN. Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel;

    I gaze upon the swallow gazes

    Upon t under the eave, before

    Sers. Do not weep

    too great a where is many a candle

    On tar though one fall. Aleel,

    the woods,

    t kno the world,

    breatheir kind bodies, farewell

    And farewell, Oona, you wh me,

    And bore me in your arms about the house

    a cherefore happy,

    t dance.

    torm is in my  go.

    (She dies.)

    OONA. Bring me the looking?glass.

    (A OMAN brings it to  of t over t

    for a moment. And then she speaks in a half scream:)

    O, she is dead!

    A PEASANt. S he world.

    A PEASANt. Siful tars.

    AN OLD PEASANt OMAN. ttle plant I love is broken in two.

    (ALEEL takes looking?glass from OONA and flings it upon t it is broken in many pieces.)

    ALEEL. I ster you in fragments, for the face

    t brimmed you up y is no more:

    And die, dull , for she whose mournful words

    Made you a living spirit has passed away

    And left you but a ball of passionate dust.

    And you, proud eart!

    For you may ering feet,

    But are left lonely amid the clamorous war

    Of angels upon devils.

    (ands up; almost every one is kneeling, but it  only confused forms can be seen.)

    And I who weep

    Call curses on you, time and Fate and Change,

    And   t hour

    tomless space.

    (A flasning folloely by thunder.)

    A PEASANt OMAN. Pull him upon his knees before his curses

    ning on our heads.

    ALEEL. Angels and devils clashe middle air,

    And brazen swords clang upon brazen helms.

    (A flasning folloely by thunder.)

    Yonder a brig out of a sling,

    orn the dark clans

    Fly screaming as tura of old.

    (Everyt in darkness.)

    AN OLD MAN. ty  our great ed out t

    die.

    (t. tS seem to be kneeling upon the rocky slope of a

    mountain, and

    vapour full of storm and ever?c is s, haff

    in tand armed angels. ted.

    tand as if upon the air

    in formation of battle and look doern faces.

    tS cast the ground.)

    ALEEL. Look no more on tes of hell,

    But speak to me, wten of God,

    t it may be no more al things,

    And tell of here.

    (he angels.)

    till you speak

    You s drift into eternity.

    t beats does of pearl are he floor of peace,

    And Mary of times wounded

    he long blessed hair

    of Lights

    Looks alive, not the deed,

    the deed alone.

    (ALEEL releases the ANGEL and kneels.)

    OONA. tell the floor of peace

    t I o her I love;

    t black oxen tread the world,

    And God them on behind,

    And I am broken by t.

    (A sound of far?off o come from t of t. ts ahe forms of

    tS appear faintly in the darkness.)