قراءة كتاب Rada A Belgian Christmas Eve
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
class="smcap">Rada approaches, stares at the bowl, and moves back, swaying a little.)
Brander (roughly).
(He goes out.)
Nanko.
Who is this, it says, that cometh from Edom,
In dyed garments from Bozrah? It was blood
That dyed their garments. And in Revelation
Blood came out of the wine-press, till it splashed
The bridles of the horses; and the seas
Were all turned into blood. Doesn’t that show
That man’s a fighting animal?
Tarrasch (again fumbling at the bedroom door).
Rada (thrusting herself between him and the door).
Tarrasch.
You’re fooling us. What is it? Loot? More loot?
The family stocking, eh?
(Brander enters. He goes to the table and begins eating.)
Nanko.
The stocking is in the chimney-corner, see.
(He shakes an empty stocking that hangs in the fire-place.)
Ready for Santa Claus. It’s a good custom.
They do it in Germany. The children there
Believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney.
Tarrasch.
It’s either money, or a daughter, Rada.
And so—the key! Or else I burst the door.
Rada (looks at him for a moment before speaking).
It is my little girl. She is twelve years old.
Don’t wake her. She has slept all through this night.
I thought I might have hidden her. It’s too late.
It’s of the other men that I’m afraid.
Not you. But they are drunk. If they come back....
Help me to save her! I’ll do anything for you,
Anything! Only help me to get her away!
I’ll pray for you every night of my life. I’ll pray....
(She stretches out her hands pitifully and begins to weep. The men stand staring at her. The door opens behind her, and Bettine, in her night-dress, steals into the room.)
Bettine.
Mother——Oh!
(She stops at the sight of the strangers.)
Brander.
What? Don’t you know me? I came down the chimney.
Bettine.
(She goes nearer.)
Brander.
What’s yours?
Bettine.
Brander.
At home—about your age, too—called Bettine.
Bettine (who has been watching him curiously).
The British would be here before the Boches.
I dreamed that you were coming, and I thought
I heard the marching. Weren’t you singing, too?
It made me feel so happy in my sleep.
What were you singing? “It’s a long, long way
To——” what d’you call it? Tipperary? eh?
What does that mean?
Brander.
Bettine.
Brander.
Bettine.
A long, long way before they reach it, eh?
There’s Canada. They’ll have to march through that.
Then India, and that’s huge. Why, Nanko says
There are three hundred million people there,
And all their soldiers ride on elephants.
Poor Boches! I’m sorry for them. Nanko says
They’re trying to ride across two thousand years
In motor-cars. It’s easy enough to ride
Two thousand miles; but not two thousand years.
(She runs to the stocking and examines it. Tarrasch and Brander return to the table and eat and drink.)