Oh, they have hurt you--but that is forgot. Boy, it is bedtime; though I am too changed, And cannot lift you up and lay you in, You shall go warm to bed--I'll put you there. There is no comfort in my breast to-night, But close your eyes beneath my fingers' touch, Slip your feet down, and let me smooth your hands: Then sleep and sleep. Ay, all the world's asleep. (_She rises._) You had a rare toy when you were awake-- I'll wipe it with my hair.... Nay, keep it so, The colour on it now has gladdened you. It shall lie near you. (_She raises the bill: the deep hum follows._) No; it remembers him, And other men shall fall by it through Gunnar: The bill, the bill is singing.... The bill sings! (_She kisses the weapon, then shakes it on high._) [CURTAIN] QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION IN READING THE PLAYS 1. _The Forces in the Play._ What is the "passion"--that is, what exactly do these people desire who "want their ain way"? What forces favor these desires, and what oppose them--for instance, David Pirnie's determination to tell wee Alexander a bit story, in _The Philosopher of Butterbiggens_? Can you always put any one character altogether on one side? Or does his own weakness or carelessness or stupidity, for example, sometimes work against his getting what he wants, so that he is, in part, _not_ on his own side, but against it, as Brutus is in _Julius Caesar_? Are there other forces in the play besides the people--storm or accident or fate? With what side or what character are you in sympathy? Is this constant throughout the play, or do you feel a change at some point in it? Does the author sympathize with any special character? Does he have a prejudice against any one of them? For example, in _Campbell of Kilmhor_, where is your sympathy? Where is the author's, apparently? 2. _The Beginning and the End._ What events important to this play occurred before the curtain rises? Why does the author begin just here, and not earlier or later? How does he contrive to let you know these important things without coming before the curtain to announce them himself, or having two servants dusting the furniture and telling them to each other? What happens _after_ the curtain falls? Can you go on picturing these events? Are any of them important to the story--for instance, in _The Beggar and the King_? Why did the author stop before telling us these things?