THE EVERGREEN TREE

FIRST ACTION
(“Who Keepeth Watch?”)

STAGE A: THE PLACE OF OUTCASTS

It is night.

In a dark place of the wilderness, a tree is growing.

Before it is an open space on a knoll, from which—left and right—a path leads down away into the desert.

At one side, in shadow, sit ELF and GNOME.

At centre, in starlight, stands TREE, half emerged from dim boughs.

First Chorus: A,1. Chorus of the Wilderness

CHORUS

Who keepeth watch in the lone wilderness

For the coming of a sign?

Who sendeth her roots down into the dark places

Seeking the springs of life,

And is restored:

And lifteth up her boughs in prayer of quiet,

And lo, they are filled with starlight?

The Tree: the Tree keepeth watch for the coming of a sign.

Who waiteth very patiently in the night desert

For dawn of a new morrow?

And the wild beasts draw near unto her: they are tired

But none is afraid,

For her lap is like to a mother’s, where little children

Play till they weary and sleep:

There dryads bring her their dreams,

And the fairy folk are at home.—

Who liveth very old, alive with young green,

And waketh her heart with song for the coming of light?

The Tree: the Tree:

The Tree keepeth watch in her heart for the coming of light.

(A long wailing cry resounds from the dark.)

THE VOICE

Hi-ih!

ELF

What’s that?

GNOME

That is Wolf.

He’s coming from the desert. He is lonely.

ELF

Why is he coming here?

GNOME

Tree is here.

All the creatures come to Tree, when they are lonely.

ELF

Even Tree seems lonely to-night,

With eyes that look far away.—

Tree, what are you watching for?

TREE

A star.

ELF

But the sky is filled with starlight.

TREE

I am watching for a new star.

I have been waiting for it a long while.

I think I shall see it again soon.

GNOME

Again?—Have you seen it before?

TREE

Yes: once:

One night, not long ago,

I saw it rising in the east, across the desert.

It made a path of wonderful shining.

Then it stood still in the sky—far over yonder!—

And seemed I heard shepherds singing.

(Wolf enters.)

WOLF

Hi-ih! It’s a cold night.

I want to come out of the wind.

GNOME

Ask Tree.

WOLF

High-o! Green-and-alive!

Can a fellow come out of the wind, here?

TREE

Welcome, Wolf.

WOLF

And what may you three be talking about?

ELF

A star.

GNOME

A new star in the east.

(Noises of puffing and growling are heard.)

THE NOISES

Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

ELF

Who now?

GNOME

That’s Bear and Lion coming.

They’re tired and sleepy.

(Bear and Lion enter.
Bear carries a bee-hive; Lion, a large bone.)

BEAR

Ooff! Ooff! Where’s a hollow to sleep in?

GNOME

Ask Tree.

TREE

Welcome, Bear! Break a bough for your pillow.

WOLF

(Edging away)

Hi! Not my tail!

LION

Ah-yarrr! I’m tired of killing.

Where can I bury my bone?

GNOME

Ask Tree!

TREE

Welcome, Lion. Lay your head on my roots and rest.

LION

Yarrr! It’s a night of cold.

You kill nothing, Bear: how do you keep so fat?

WOLF

His belly is full of wild honey.—

Here! he’s soft and round:

Keep him in the middle.

BEAR

Three are warmer than one. Go to sleep.

(Wolf and Lion lean against Bear.
Slowly all fall into slumber and low snoring.)

THE THREE

(Murmuring together)

Hi-yo!—Ooff! Ooff!—Ah-yarrr!

ELF

And why do you wish the star to come, Tree?

TREE

Because of my dream.

GNOME

What dream?

TREE

Because I have dreamed a new star will come in the night;

And will gather all the old stars out of the heaven

To sparkle upon my branches.

And there they shall sing all together.

And in the midst of them the new star

Shall laugh aloud,

Shall laugh like a young child,

And my boughs shall be as sheltering arms to make him a home.

And there we shall dwell no more, dreadful in the desert,

Where wild beasts kill one another, and weary of killing;

And there shall be no more lonely things;

But there shall be carolling of stars and a young child’s laughter;

And I shall be the angel in his home.

ELF

The wild beasts are fast asleep.

GNOME

Nothing is stirring in the world.

ELF

Yes: look! I think I see—

GNOME

Where?

ELF

Don’t you see—there! through the dark:

It is moving towards us.

GNOME

I think I hear some one singing.

ELF

It is drawing nearer.

TREE

O my dear dream!

ELF AND GNOME

Is it the new star?

TREE

Yes; but it has fallen down out of the heaven.

It has made itself very small and lowly.

It has made itself into a little lantern,

To light the feet of them who wander in the wilderness.

ELF

See!

GNOME

Hark.

The evergreen tree

About This Book

THE EVERGREEN TREE

FIRST ACTION
(“Who Keepeth Watch?”)

The evergreen tree

About This Book

THE EVERGREEN TREE

FIRST ACTION (“Who Keepeth Watch?”)

FIRST ACTION
(“Who Keepeth Watch?”)