Pélléas and Mélisande; Alladine and Palomides; HomeMaeterlinck, Maurice
General
Pélléas and Mélisande; Alladine and Palomides; Home
Maeterlinck, Maurice
French drama
No, no; I have seen a good many more like this. I was made of iron
and blood.... These are not the little bones of a child; do not alarm
yourself....
MÉLISANDE.
Close your eyes and try to sleep. I shall stay here all night....
GOLAUD.
No, no; I do not wish you to tire yourself so. I do not need anything;
I shall sleep like a child.... What is the matter, Mélisande? Why do
you weep all at once?...
MÉLISANDE _(bursting into tears)._
I am ... I am ill too....
GOLAUD.
Thou art ill?... What ails thee, then; what ails thee, Mélisande?...
MÉLISANDE.
I do not know.... I am ill here.... I had rather tell you to-day; my
lord, my lord, I am not happy here....
GOLAUD.
Why, what has happened, Mélisande? What is it?... And I suspecting
nothing.... What has happened?... Some one has done thee harm?... Some
one has given thee offence?
MÉLISANDE.
No, no; no one has done me the least harm.... It is not that.... It
is not that.... But I can live here no longer. I do not know why.... I
would go away, go away!... I shall die if I am left here....
GOLAUD.
But something has happened? You must be hiding something from me?...
Tell me the whole truth, Mélisande.... Is it the King?... Is it my
mother?... Is it Pélléas?...
MÉLISANDE.
No, no; it is not Pélléas. It is not anybody.... You could not
understand me....
GOLAUD.
Why should I not understand?... If you tell me nothing, what will you
have me do?... Tell me everything and I shall understand everything.
MÉLISANDE.
I do not know myself what it is.... I do not know just what it is....
If I could tell you, I would tell you.... It is something stronger
than I....
GOLAUD.
Come; be reasonable, Mélisande.--What would you have me do?--You are
no longer a child.--Is it I whom you would leave?
MÉLISANDE.
Oh! no, no; it is not that.... I would go away with you.... It is
here that I can live no longer.... I feel that I shall not live a long
while....
GOLAUD.
But there must be a reason nevertheless. You will be thought mad.
It will be thought child's dreams.--Come, is it Pélléas, perhaps?--I
think he does not often speak to you.
MÉLISANDE.
Yes, yes; he speaks to me sometimes. I think he does not like me; I
have seen it in his eyes.... But he speaks to me when he meets me....
GOLAUD.
You must not take it ill of him. He has always been so. He is a little
strange. And just now he is sad; he thinks of his friend Marcellus,
who is at the point of death, and whom he cannot go to see.... He will
change, he will change, you will see; he is young....
MÉLISANDE.
But it is not that ... it is not that....
GOLAUD.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account