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Padraic Colum - The Miracle Of The Corn
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People in the Legend
FARDORROUGHA A Farmer
PAUDEEN Fardorroughas Servant: a Fool
SHEILA Fardorroughas Wife
AISLINN A Child
THREE WOMEN
SHAUN o` THE BOG A Poor Man

The action passes in a farmer`s house in the old times.

SCENE: The interior of FARDORROUGHA`S house. The door at back R.; the hearth L.; the window R. is only conventionally represented.
What is actually shown is a bin for corn (corn in the sense of any kind of grain, as the word is used in Ireland the breadstuff and the symbol of fertility), shelves with vessels, benches, and a shrine. The bin projects from back C.; the shelves
with vessels are each side of the bin; the shrine is R.; it holds a small statue of the Blessed Virgin, and a rosary of large beads hangs from it; the benches are R. and L. One is at the conventional fireplace, and the other is down from the conventional door.
All the persons concerned in the action are on the scene when it opens, and they remain on the scene. They only enter the action when they go up to where the bin is. Going back to the places they had on the benches takes them out of the action.
On the bench near the hearth sit the people of FARDORROUGHA`S household FARDORROUGHA, SHEILA, PAUDEEN, AISLINN. On the bench near the door sit the strangers three women, one of whom has a child with her, and SHAUN o` THE BOG. The people are dressed in greys and browns, and brown is the  colour of the interior. The three women and SHAUN o` THE BOG are poorly dressed; the women are barefooted. PAUDEEN is dressed rudely, and sandals of hide are bound across his feet. FARDORROUGHA,
SHEILA, and AISLINN are comfortably dressed.

PAUDEEN
They`re moaning still,
The cattle. Will they never stop
Their moaning, Master Fardorrougha?

FARDORROUGHA
We could drive the cattle
To another place, but the house would not be safe
While we were gone; we know well, Paudeen,
There are those who would break in my door.

PAUDEEN
Aye, the people
Are bad from want. The people have to watch
The black rain and it falling all the day.

FARDORROUGHA
We`ve hay enough
For our own cows. Give them a lock
Of what the widow of Seumas saved.

PAUDEEN
Is it that
That`s under the hurdles behind the hedge?

FARDORROUGHA
Aye. She puts lean beasts upon me, and she owes me
Their fattening.

PAUDEEN
I`ll do your bidding, Master.

(PAUDEEN goes back to his place on the bench. AISLINN comes to the bin.)

FARDORROUGHA
What child is this?
AISLINN
Aislinn is my name.

FARDORROUGHA
Who was it
Gave you that name? It is strange to name
Anyone in the world Aislinn: Dream.

AISLINN
My own people
Gave me that name. And now you`ll wonder
What brings me to your house. Sheila, your wife,
Has brought me here to keep her company.

FARDORROUGHA
And you are welcome. There are no young ones here.

AISLINN
I am well used
To doing things about a house, and I
Can sweep the floor, and make a fire, too,
And mind the children.

FARDORROUGHA
There are no children in the house you`ve come to.
Are you not, child, afeard of me?

AISLINN
No, Fardorrougha, I am not afeard.

FARDORROUGHA
You are like
The brown bird in the cage.

AISLINN
What has Sheila
Upon her altar? I would like to see:
It is the image of the Mother o God!
O why will the rain,
Mother of God, keep falling? It destroyed
The harvest! Why will the black rain keep falling now?

(FARDORROUGHA goes back to the bench. SHEILA goes to AISLINN.)

SHEILA
It is the will of God.

AISLINN
God`s will is set
Against us all; it is set against
The cattle in the field, and it was they
Stood by His crib; they`re moaning always now:
He has forgotten them.

SHEILA
Do not be listening to
The cattle moaning; do not be watching
The black rain and it falling all the day.

AISLINN
You He has not forgotten.
 
SHEILA
God has not forgotten me, Aislinn.

AISLINN
If He left
Your fields to the rain, He knows that you
Have a good roof and plenty under it.

SHEILA
To have them is no sign
That God remembers one: I used to look
Upon my roof and riches, and yet say,
"You have forgotten me, Almighty God!"

AISLINN
And could you say that
When there was corn: "You have forgotten me!"?

SHEILA
When I would look
Upon my fields and they heavy with the crop,
"You have remembered the furrows," I would say,
"And they are fruitful, but you have forgotten
The woman Sheila`"
And now when the furrows are forgotten He
Remembers me. O Aislinn, child,
Your arms around me I would have you near:
I want
Your face before me; I would have a face
Like yours, but glad; a child`s face glad and bright!

(PAUDEEN goes to the bin and opens it.)
 
PAUDEEN
It`s empty, and it will take some filling.
It`s empty, and you could put more than a capful in it.
It`s empty, and it will hold an apronful.

SHEILA
What are you doing at the bin, Paudeen?

PAUDEEN
Making it ready to put corn in it.
"Better have the corn in the bin," said he,
"Than in the barn, after what happened
In the barn," said he.

SHEILA
What was it happened?

PAUDEEN
"And only Gorav, my good dog," said he,
"Got the man by the throat,
There would be a thief in the parish, and a poor man," said he.

SHEILA
The hard, hard man!

PAUDEEN
"There`s a good door to my house," said he,
"And a bin`s within, and if the priest," said he,
"Can`t put the fear of God into the people,
Gorav, maybe, can," said he.
That`s empty there`s not a grain inside it.

(PAUDEEN goes back to his place on the bench.)
 
SHEILA
He has all
The corn that`s in the country, and he sets
Gorav to guard it. The people bring their cattle
Before he gives them corn to keep them living.

AISLINN
I`m not afeard
Of Fardorrougha.

SHEILA
He is not set
In hardness yet; he will give back in armfuls
What he took in his hands.

AISLINN
Will it be long till then?

SHEILA
Not long, not long;
The fruit is ripening that will bring him to
Himself. Oh, Aislnn, do not think
Too hardly of my man; there was no child
About our house, Aislinn!

(FARDORROUGHA goes to the bin, bringing with him a sack of corn.)

FARDORROUGHA
Woman of the house, be careful that you put
The big bolt on the door when it gets dark.

SHEILA
Let it not come
Between you and your rest, Fardorrougha.

FARDORROUGHA
I grudge
To give them corn even for what they bring.

SHEILA
Look at Aislinn:
Would you not let it all go with the wind
To have a child like Aislinn?

FARDORROUGHA
Woman, content yourself
With what is given.

SHEILA
God has given us
House and mill, land and riches, but not
Content.

FARDORROUGHA
Then let what is not
Trouble us not.

SHEILA
Aislinn was with me all the day; Aislinn
Will fill the bin for you. Aislinn, take
A measure off the dresser, and help Fardorrougha
Empty the sack.
 
FARDORROUGHA
It was a woman, surely,
That named her Aislinn: Dream.

SHEILA
She is a biddable child, and one that`s good
About a house.

FARDORROUGHA
She`ll have no need
To do much while she`s here.

SHEILA
Isn`t it well, Fardorrougha,
To see a child that isn`t white-faced?

FARDORROUGHA
The corn into the bin!

SHEILA
Isn`t it a comfort
To see a child like Aislinn here? Then think
Of a glad, bright child!

FARDORROUGHA
I have no thought
To go that far. That world,
The world of bud and blossom, has gone by;
There`s only now,
The ragged sky, the poor and wasted ground

SHEILA
No, Fardorrougha, no!
Listen to me, Fardorrougha!

FARDORROUGHA
. . . And broken beings like Paudeen!

SHEILA
No, Fardorrougha.

FARDORROUGHA
Well, my woman.

SHEILA
I have something,
Fardorrougha, to tell you.

FARDORROUGHA
And I am listening, woman.

(PAUDEEN goes to the bin.)

PAUDEEN
Shaun o` the Bog is on the pass
Before the barn.

FARDORROUGHA
Before the barn? Is it me he wants?

PAUDEEN
It`s for the woman
Of the house he`s asking. "Is she by herself?"
Says he to me.

FARDORROUGHA
She`s not by herself
If that`s the chance he`s seeking. You, Sheila,
Had something else you would have said to me:
"Loose the corn you have gathered," maybe.
Never say it,
Or the harsh word that has not been, will be
Between us.
I`ll see the man, and if he wants to make
A bargain that is fair, it`s with myself
That he must make it.

(FARDORROUGHA goes back to the bench. PAUDEEN has some hay in his hands. He has taken it from under where he sat.)

PAUDEEN
Where did he say
I was to put the hay that was under the hedge?

SHEILA
Where the cows are. Oh,
How can your mind keep on the hay? I know:
It`s because you are simple! Aye . . .
Paudeen,
Why do they call you fool Why
Do they think he`s foolish, Aislinn?

AISLINN
It is because
His mind keeps on the one thing only.

SHEILA
He can see
Only the hay that`s in his hands. But then
They`re all foolish! Paudeen, I tell you
They who gathered thoughts while in the womb
Are foolish now as you are.

PAUDEEN
(drawing his foot across the floor) But you said
I was a clean and well-built boy, anyhow,
Woman of the house.

SHEILA
Yes, I said it.
(PAUDEEN goes back to the bench)

AISLINN
I`m not afeard
Of Fardorrougha : I do not think him hard.

SHEILA
His heart opened to you, and that`s a sign
Yes, that`s a sign I take.

AISLINN
And do you think that he would ever give
The harsh word to you?

SHEILA
O Aislinn, pray:
Pray that it will never come to that; the thought
Of the harsh word from him has come to me
Again and again, like some dark bird.

AISLINN
And have you never had
The harsh word from your man?
 
SHEILA
But now
The harsh word would be the end of all.
Listen to me:
Outside the rain
Is falling, and its desolation
Is all around me. If he gave me
The harsh word, the desolation
Would fill me, then what fruit could be?
O glad, bright, shining, tender
Apple-blossom, what fruit would you make
And the tree of you under desolation?

(The THREE WOMEN leave the bench and come to the bin. One has a child with her.)

SHEILA
What can I do for you, women?

FIRST WOMAN
We have eaten
Nettles and roots since the want came, we
And our children.

SECOND WOMAN
Our children droop. You do not know what it is
To see a child droop.


THIRD WOMAN
God has not opened
Doors of madness and pain for you.

(SHEILA takes a vessel and holds it to a child who drinks.)
 
FIRST WOMAN
Do not forget my child.

SHEILA
Take
What is in my house, women.

(She opens the bin and fills a woman s apron with corn. The other women hold out their aprons. SHEILA fills them.)

FIRST WOMAN
May God
Heap up store for you, and may you
Have clan with store.

SECOND WOMAN
May God be with your husband when his hand
Scatters the seed, and may his labour be
Prosperous!

THIRD WOMAN
And may your own labour be
Light, and watched by the Mother of God!

SHEILA
Women, who am I
That you should pray for me!

(The women go to the bench. SHEILA stands quiet. AISLINN goes to her.)

AISLINN
Now there is no more
Of Fardorrougha`s corn.

SHEILA
But God will have love
And pity for us.

AISLINN
The bin is emptied. Will Fardorrougha . . .

SHEILA
Oh, hush!
There is the cattles` moan; here is Paudeen
Who brings them hay Paudeen who is
With broken things` My heart is heavy again!

AISLINN
Fardorrougha. . . .

SHEILA
Fardorrougha` I had forgotten him.
Protect me, God!
The rain, the rain! The black and ragged sky,
The poor and wasted ground how could there be
Any but Paudeen`s like?

PAUDEEN
(going to bin) But you said,
Yourself, I was a clean and well-built boy.

SHEILA
I said it. And now, Paudeen,
Open the bin.

(PAUDEEN ofens the front of the bin; it is shown to be empty.)

PAUDEEN
Oh, what will we tell
Fardorrougha? Can any of you think
Of a story to tell him?

SHEILA
We can tell him
No story at all.

AISLINN
But we might
Keep him from opening of the bin.

SHEILA
No, Aislinn, no:
No good would be in that.
It was the right I did. Their children now
Crowd round them. O children, I would give
Bread to you again, and over again!
I, too, 
Was one of them who had their minds upon
One thing only; I hardened, too,
To make things easy for myself. It is not
"God protect me," I should be saying now,
But "God forgive me!"

(SHAUN o` THE BOG comes from the bench. He goes to the bin.)

SHAUN
Fardorrougha told me
To wait upon him here.
 
SHEILA
And what has Fardorrougha
Promised you, Shaun?

SHAUN
The corn in the bin. And I have given
My wool and loom for it.

SHEILA
He has not what he thinks he has, but you
Will not go empty because of that.

SHAUN
It is well for Aislinn
To be with you in this house.

SHEILA
Aislinn, go talk to Shaun; he need not be
Anxious nor fretted.

AISLINN
Nor need you be
Anxious nor fretted, Sheila.

SHEILA
I am not anxious any more, Aislinn.

(FARDORROUGHA goes to the bin.)

FARDORROUGHA
The corn is here that I will give you, Shaun,
For wool and loom; open, you, the bin,
And see what`s in it.
 
(SHAUN opens .front of bin. A very great quantity of corn gushes out.)

FARDORROUGHA
I did not think
So much was there. He`ll not get all
For wool and loom; I will not wrong myself;
As much as half is fair.

(He turns to the bin and sees that SHAUN, SHEILA, and AISLINN are kneeling beside the heap of corn.)

FARDORROUGHA
Why are you kneeling, Shaun?


I kneel because I know
My children will be fed.

FARDORROUGHA
Why are you kneeling, Sheila?

SHEILA
I kneel because I know
The fields will break to corn because of the love
And pity God has for us.

FARDORROUGHA
Why are you kneeling, Aislinn?

AISLINN
I kneel because I know
A miracle has happened; Sheila need not dread
The harsh word from you any more nor never.
 
FARDORROUGHA
An air comes from it all a smell of growing
Green, growing corn; and I mind that I
Brought Sheila from her mother`s to this house
Across a field of corn that smelled sweet, sweet,
And whispered lovingly. I am greatly changed,
And often I am strange even to myself.
What good `s in what I`ve gathered? It`s between
Myself and her; but when she rises now
Nothing will be between us; at what she`ll say
All I have gathered I shall give away.

(With SHEILA, AISLINN and SHAUN still kneeling, the scene closes.)
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