Read SAVVA: THE SECOND ACT of Savva and The Life of Man, free online book, by Leonid Andreyev, on ReadCentral.com.

Within the enclosure of the monastery.  In the rear, at the left, appear the monastery buildings, the refectory, monks cells, parts of the church and the steeple, all connected by passageways with arched gates.  Board-walks run in different directions in the court.  At the right the corner of the steeple wall is seen slightly jutting out.  Nestling against it is a small monastic cemetery surrounded by a light, grilled iron fence.  Marble monuments and slabs of stone and iron are sunk deep into the earth.  All are old and twisted.  It is a long time since anyone was buried there.  The cemetery contains also some wild rose-bushes and two or three rather small trees.

It is evening, after vespers.  Long shadows are falling from the tower and the walls.  The monastery and the steeple are bathed in the reddish light of the setting sun.  Monks, novices and pilgrims pass along the board-walks.  In the beginning of the act may be heard behind the scenes the driving of a village herd, the cracking of a herdsmans whip, the bleating of sheep, the lowing of cattle, and dull cries.  Toward the end of the act it grows much darker, and the movement in the yard ceases almost entirely.

Savva, Speransky, and the Young Friar are seated on a bench by the iron fence.  Speransky is holding his hat on his knees, and now and then he strokes his long, straight hair, which is hanging in two mournful strands over his long, pale face.  He holds his legs together speaks in a low, sad tone, and gesticulates with extended forefinger.  The Friar, young, round-faced, and vigorous, pays no attention to the conversation, but is smiling continually, as if at his own thoughts._

SAVVA (preoccupied, looking aside)

Yes.  What kind of work do you do here?

SPERANSKY

None at all, Mr. Savva.  How can a man in my condition do any work?  Once a man begins to doubt his own existence, the obligation to work naturally ceases to exist for him.  But the deacons wife does not understand it.  She is a very stupid woman, utterly lacking in education, and, moreover, of an unlovely, cruel disposition.  She insists on making me work.  But you can imagine the sort of work I do under the circumstances.  You see, the situation is this.  I have a splendid appetite.  That appetite began to develop while I was yet a student in the seminary.  Now this deaconess, if you please, makes a fuss about every piece of bread I eat.  She doesnt understand, the ignorant woman, the possibility of the non-existence of this piece of bread.  If I had a real existence like the rest of you, I should feel very bad, but in my present condition her attacks dont affect me in the least.  Nothing affects me, Mr. Savva, nothing in the wide world.

SAVVA (smiling at the Friars unconscious joy, but still preoccupied) How long have you been in this condition?

SPERANSKY

It began in the seminary while I was studying philosophy.  It is a dreadful condition, Mr. Savva.  I have grown somewhat accustomed to it now, but at first it was unendurable.  I tried to hang myself once, and they cut me down.  Then I tried a second time, and they cut me down again.  Then they turned me out of the seminary.  Go hang yourself in some other place, you madman, they said.  As if there were any other place!  As if all places were not the same!

THE FRIAR

Mr. Savva, lets go fishing to-morrow at the mill.

SAVVA

I dont like fishing.  It bores me.

FRIAR

Im sorry.  Well then, lets go into the woods and knock down the dry branches of trees.  Its fine sport to walk about in the forest and knock off the branches with a stick.  And when you shout Ho-ho-ho! the echo from the ravine answers back Ho-ho-ho! Do you like swimming?

SAVVA

Yes, I like it.  I am a good swimmer.

FRIAR

I like it too.

SPERANSKY (with a deep sigh)

Yes, its a strange condition.

SAVVA (smiling at the Friar)

Eh?  Well, how are you now?

SPERANSKY

When my uncle took me to his house, he made me promise I would never attempt suicide again.  That was the only condition oh which he would consent to let me live with him.  All right, I said; if we really exist, then I wont make any further attempt to hang myself.

SAVVA

Why do you want to know whether you exist or not?  There is the sky.  Look, how beautiful it is.  There are the swallows and the sweet-scented grass.  Its fine! (To the Friar) Fine, isnt it, Vassya?

FRIAR

Mr. Savva, do you like to tear up ant-hills?

SAVVA

I dont know.  I never tried.

FRIAR

I like it.  Do you like to fly kites?

SAVVA

Its a long time since I tried to.  I used to like it very much.

SPERANSKY (patiently awaiting the end of their conversation)

Swallows!  What good is their flying to me?  Anyhow, maybe swallows dont exist either, and its all a dream.

SAVVA

Suppose it is a dream.  Dreams are very beautiful sometimes, you know.

SPERANSKY

I should like to wake up, but I cant.  I wander around and wander around until I am weary and feeble, and when I rouse myself I find I am here, in the very same place.  There is the monastery and the belfry, and the clock strikes the hour.  And its all like a dream, a fantasy.  You close your eyes, and it does not exist.  You open them, and its there again.  Sometimes I go out into the fields at night and close my eyes, and then it seems to me there is nothing at all existing.  Suddenly the quail begin to call, and a wagon rolls down the road.  Again a dream.  For if you stopped up your ears, you wouldnt hear those sounds.  When I die, everything will grow silent, and then it will be true.  Only the dead know the truth, Mr. Savva.

FRIAR (smiling, cautiously waving his hands at a bird; in a whisper) Its time to go to bed, time to go to bed.

SAVVA (impatiently)

What dead?  Listen, my dear sir.  I have a plain, simple, peasant mind, and I dont understand those subtleties.  What dead are you talking about?

SPERANSKY

About all the dead, every one without exception.  Thats why the faces of the dead are so serene.  Whatever agonies a man may have suffered before his death, the moment he dies his face becomes serene.  Thats because he has learned the truth.  I always come here to attend the funerals.  Its astonishing.  There was a woman buried here.  She had died of grief because her husband was crushed under a locomotive.  You can imagine what must have been going on in her mind before her death.  Its too horrible to think of.  Yet she lay there, in the coffin, absolutely serene and calm.  Thats because she had come to know that her grief was nothing but a dream, a mere phantom.  I like the dead, Mr. Savva.  I think the dead really exist.

SAVVA

I dont like the dead. (Impatiently) You are a very disagreeable fellow.  Has anybody ever told you that?

SPERANSKY

Yes, I have, heard it before.

SAVVA

I would never have taken you out of the noose.  What damn fool did it anyway?

SPERANSKY

The first time it was the Father Steward, the next time my classmates.  I am very sorry you disapprove of me, Mr. Tropinin.  As you are an educated man, I should have liked to show you a bit of writing I did while I was in the seminary.  Its called The Tramp of Death.  Its a sort of story.

SAVVA

No, spare me, please.  Altogether I wish youd

FRIAR. (rising)

There comes Father Kirill.  I had better beat it.

SAVVA

Why?

FRIAR

He came across me in the forest the other day when I was-shouting Ho!  Ho! Ah, said he, you forest sprite with goats feet! To-morrow after dinner, all right? (Walks away, sedately at first, but then with a sort of dancing step)

FAT MONK (approaches)

Well, young men, having a pleasant chat?  Are you Mr. Tropinins son?

SAVVA

I am the man.

FAT MONK

I have heard about you.  A decent, respectable gentleman your father is.  May I sit down? (He sits down) The sun has set, yet its still hot.  I wonder if well have a storm to-night.  Well, young man, how do you like it here?  How does this place compare with the metropolis?

SAVVA

Its a rich monastery.

FAT MONK

Yes, thank the Lord.  Its celebrated all over Russia.  There are many who come here even from Siberia.  Its fame reaches far.  Therell soon be a feast-day, and

SPERANSKY

Youll work yourself sick, father.  Services day and night.

FAT MONK

Yes, we must do our best for the monastery.

SAVVA

Not for the people?

FAT MONK

Yes, for the people too.  For whom else?  Last year a large number of epileptics were cured; quite a lot of them.  One blind man had his eyesight restored, and two paralytics were made to walk.  Youll see for yourself, young man, and then you wont smile.  I have heard that you are an unbeliever.

SAVVA

You have heard correctly.  I am an unbeliever.

FAT MONK

Its a shame, a shame.  Of course, there are many unbelievers nowadays among the educated classes.  But are they any happier on that account?  I doubt it.

SAVVA

No, there are not so many.  They think they are unbelievers because they dont go to church.  As a matter of fact, they have greater faith than you.  Its more deep-seated.

FAT MONK

Is that so?

SAVVA

Yes, yes.  The form of their faith is, of course, more refined.  They are cultured, you see.

FAT MONK

Of course, of course.  People feel better, feel more confident and secure, if they believe.

SAVVA

They say the devil is choking the monks here every night.

FAT MONK (laughing)

Nonsense. (To the Gray Monk passing by) Father Vissarion, come here a moment.  Sit down.  Mr. Tropinins son here says the devil chokes us every night.  Have you heard about it? (The two monks laugh good-naturedly as they look at each other)

GRAY MONK

Some of the monks cant sleep well because they have overeaten, so they think they are being choked.  Why, young man, the devil cant enter within our sacred precincts.

SAVVA

But suppose he does suddenly put in an appearance?  What will, you do then?

FAT MONK

Well get after him with the holy-water sprinkler, thats what well do.  Dont butt in where you have no business to, you black-faced booby! (The monk laughs)

GRAY MONK

Here comes King Herod.

FAT MONK

Wait a while, Father Vissarion. (To Savva) You talk about faith and such things.  Theres a man for youlook at himsee how he walks.  And yet he has chains on him weighing four hundred pounds.  He doesnt walk, he dances.  He visits us every summer, and I must say he is a very valuable guest.  His example strengthens others in their faith.  Herod!  Ho, Herod!

KING HEROD

What do you want?

FAT MONK

Come here a minute.  This gentleman doubts the existence of God.  Talk to him.

KING HEROD

Whats the matter with yourself?  Are you so full of booze that you cant wag your own tongue?

FAT MONK

You heretic!  What a heretic! (Both monks laugh)

KING HEROD (approaching)

What gentleman?

FAT MONK

This one.

KING HEROD (scrutinizing him)

He doubts?  Let him doubt.  Its none of my business.

SAVVA

Oh!

KING HEROD

Why, what did you think?

FAT MONK

Sit down, please.

KING HEROD

Never mind.  Id rather stand.

FAT MONK (to Savva, in a loud whisper)

He is doing that to wear himself out.  Until he has reduced himself to absolute faintness hell neither sleep nor eat. (Aloud) This gentleman is wondering at the kind of chains you have on your body.

KING HEROD

Chains?  Just baby rattles.  Put them on a horse and he too would carry them if he had the strength.  I have a sad heart. (Looks at Savva) You know, I killed my own son.  Yes, I did.  Have they been telling you about me, these chatterboxes?

SAVVA

They have.

KING HEROD

Can you understand it?

SAVVA

Why not?  Yes, I can.

KING HEROD

You lieyou cant.  No one can understand it.  Go through the whole world, search round the whole globe, ask everybodyno one will be able to tell you, no one will understand.  And if anyone says he does, take it from me that he lies, lies just as you do.  Why, you cant even see your own nose properly, yet you have the brazenness to say you understand.  Go.  You are a foolish boy, thats what you are.

SAVVA

And you are wise?

KING HEROD

I am wise.  My sorrow has made me so.  It is a great sorrow.  There is none greater on earth.  I killed my son with my own hand.  Not the hand you are looking at, but the one which isnt here.

SAVVA

Where is it?

KING HEROD

I burnt it.  I held it in the stove and let it burn up to my elbow.

SAVVA

Did that relieve you?

KING HEROD

No.  Fire cannot destroy my grief.  It burns with a heat that is greater than fire.

SAVVA

Fire, brother, destroys everything.

KING HEROD

No, young man, fire is weak.  Spit on it and it is quenched.

SAVVA

What fire?  It is possible to kindle such a conflagration that an ocean of water will not quench it.

KING HEROD

No, boy.  Every fire goes out when its time comes.  My grief is great, so great that when I look around me I say to myself:  Good heavens, what has become of everything else thats large and great?  Where has it all gone to?  The forest is small, the house is small, the mountain is small, the whole earth is small, a mere poppy seed.  You have to walk cautiously and look out, lest you reach the end and drop off.

FAT MONK (pleased)

Fine, King Herod, you are going it strong.

KING HEROD

Even the sun does not rise for me.  For others it rises, but for me it doesnt.  Others dont see the darkness by day, but I see it.  It penetrates the light like dust.  At first I seem to see a sort of light, but thengood heavens, the sky is dark, the earth is dark, all is like soot.  Yonder is something vague and misty.  I cant even make out what it is.  Is it a human being, is it a bush?  My grief is great, immense! (Grows pensive) If I cried, who would hear me?  If I shouted, who would respond?

FAT MONK (to the Gray Monk)

The dogs in the village might.

KING HEROD (shaking his head)

O you people!  You are looking at me as at a monstrosityat my hair, my chainsbecause I killed my son and because I am like King Herod; but my soul you see not, and my grief you know not.  You are as blind as earthworms.  You wouldnt know if you were struck with a beam on the head.  Say, you pot-belly, what are you shaking your paunch, for?

SAVVA

Whythe way he talks to you!

FAT MONK (reassuringly)

Its nothing.  He treats us all like that.  He upbraids us all.

KING HEROD

Yes, and I will continue to upbraid.  Fellows like you are not fit to serve God.  What you ought to do is to sit in a drinkshop amusing Satan.  The devils use your belly to go sleigh-riding on at night.

FAT MONK (good-naturedly)

Well, well, God be with you.  You had better speak about yourself; stick to that.

KING HEROD (to Savva)

You see?  He wants to feast on my agony.  Go ahead, feast all you want.

GRAY MONK

My, what a scold you are.  Where do you get your vocabulary?  He once told the Father Superior that if God were not immortal he, the Father Superior, would long ago have sold him piece by piece.  But we tolerate him.  He can do no harm in a monastery.

FAT MONK

He attracts people.  Many come here for his sake.  And what difference does it make to us?  God sees our purity.  Isnt that so, King Herod?

KING HEROD

Oh, shut up, you old dotard.  Look at him; he can scarcely move his legs, old Harry with the evil eye.  Keeps three women in the village; one is not enough for him. (The monks laugh good-naturedly) You see, you see?  Whew!  Look at their brazen, shameless eyes!  Might as well spit on them!

SAVVA

Why do you come here?

KING HEROD

Not for them.  Listen, young man.  Have you a grief?

SAVVA

Perhaps I have.  Why?

KING HEROD

Then listen to me.  When you are in sorrow, when you are suffering, dont go to people.  If you have a friend, dont go to him.  Its more than youll be able to stand.  Better go to the wolves in the forest.  Theyll make short work of it, devour you at once, and there will be the end of it.  I have seen many evil things, but I have never seen anything worse than man.  No, never!  They say men are created in His image, in His likeness.  Why, you skunks, you have no image.  If you had one, the tiniest excuse for one, you would crawl away on all fours and hide somewhere from sheer shame.  You damned skunks!  Laugh at them, cry before them, shout, at them.  It doesnt make any difference.  They go on licking their chops.  King HerodDamned skunks!  And when King Herodnot I, but the real one with a golden crownkilled your children, where were youhey?

FAT MONK

We werent even in the world then, man.

KING HEROD

Then there were others like you.  He killed.  You accepted it.  Thats all.  I have asked many the question:  What would you have done? Nothing, they always reply.  If he killed, what could be done about it? Fine creatures!  Havent the manliness to stand up even for their children.  They are worse than dogs, damn them!

FAT MONK

And what would you have done?

KING HEROD

I?  I should have wrung his neck from off his royal gold crownthe confounded brute!

GRAY MONK

It says in the scripture:  Render unto Csar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are Gods.

FAT MONK

That is to say, dont interfere with other peoples business.  Do you understand?

KING HEROD (to Savva in despair)

Just listen, listen to what they are saying.

SAVVA

I hear what they are saying.

KING HEROD

Just you wait, my precious!  Youll get whats coming to you, and mighty quick.  The devil will come and hurl you into the fiery pit.  To hell, to gehenna, with you!  How your fat will melt and run!  Do you get the smell, monk?

FAT MONK

Thats from the refectory.

KING HEROD

You are on the run, fast as your feet can carry you!  Ah! but where to?  Everywhere is hell, everywhere is fire.  You refused to hearken unto me, my pet; now you shall hearken unto the fire.  Wont I be glad, wont I rejoice!  Ill take off my chains so that I can catch them and present them to the devilfirst one, then the other.  Here, take him.  And the howl theyll set up, and the weeping and lamentation.  I am not guilty.  Not guilty?  Who, then, iswho?  To gehenna with you!  Burn, you damned hypocrites, until the second Advent.  And then well build a new fire, then well build a new fire.

GRAY MONK

Isnt it time for us to go, Father Kirill?

FAT MONK

Yes, we had better be moving along.  Its getting dark, and its time to retire.

KING HEROD

Aha!  You dont like to hear the truth.  It isnt pleasant, is it?

FAT MONK

Hee-hee, brother, talk is cheap.  A barking dog doesnt bite.  Scold away, scold away.  We are listening.  God in heaven will decide who is to go to hell and who elsewhere.  The meek, shall inherit the earth, says the Gospel.  Good-bye, young gentlemen.

GRAY MONK (to King Herod)

Let me give you a piece of advice, however.  Talk, but dont talk too much.  Dont go too far.  We are only tolerating you because you are a pitiful creature and because you are foolish.  But if you give your tongue too free a rein, we can stop it, you know.  Yes, indeed.

KING HEROD

All right, trytry to stop me.

FAT MONK

Whats the use, Father Vissarion?  Let him talk.  It doesnt do any harm.  Listen, listen, young gentlemen.  He is an interesting fellow.  Good night.

[They go.  The Fat Monk is heard laughing heartily.

KING HEROD (to Savva)

Fine specimens.  I cant stand them.

SAVVA

I like you, uncle.

KING HEROD

Do you?  So you dont like their kind either?

SAVVA

No, I dont.

KING HEROD

Well, Ill sit down for a while.  My legs are swollen.  Have you got a cigarette?

SAVVA (handing him a cigarette)

Do you smoke?

KING HEROD

Sometimes.  Excuse me for having talked to you the way I did before.  You are a good fellow.  But why did you lie and say you understood?  No one can understand it.  Who is this with you?

SAVVA

Oh, he just happened along.

KING HEROD

Well, brother, feeling bad, down in the mouth?

SPERANSKY

Yes, I feel blue.

KING HEROD

Keep still, keep still, I dont want to listen.  You are suffering?  Keep still.  I am a man too, brother, so I dont understand.  Ill insult you if you dont look out. (Throws away the cigarette) No, I cant.  As long as I keep standing or walking I manage somehow.  The moment I sit down, its hell.  Oh!  Ow-w! (Writhing in agony) I simply cant catch my breath.  Oh, God, do you see my torture?  Eh?  Well, well, its nothing.  Its gone.  Oh!  Ow-w!

[The sky has become overcast with clouds.  It turns dark quickly.  Now and then there are flashes of lightning.

SAVVA (quietly)

One must try to stifle ones grief, old man.  Fight it.  Say to yourself firmly and resolutely:  I dont want it.  And it will cease to be.  You seem to be a good, strong man.

KING HEROD

No, friend, my grief is such that even death wont remove it.  What is death?  It is little, insignificant, and my grief is great.  No, death wont end my grief.  There was Cain.  Even when he died, his sorrow remained.

SPERANSKY

The dead do not grieve.  They are serene.  They know the truth.

KING HEROD

But they dont tell it to anybody.  Whats the good of such truth?  Here am I alive, and yet I know the truth.  Here am I with my sorrow.  You see what it isthere is no greater on earth.  And yet if God spoke to me and said, Yeremey, I will give you the whole earth if you give me your grief, I wouldnt give it away.  I will not give it away, friend.  It is sweeter to me than honey; it is stronger than the strongest drink.  Through it I have learned the truth.

SAVVA

God?

KING HEROD

Christthats the one!  He alone can understand the sorrow that is in me.  He sees and understands.  Yes, Yeremey, I see how you suffer.  Thats all.  I see.  And I answer Him:  Yes, O Lord, behold my sorrow! Thats all.  No more is necessary.

SAVVA

What you value in Christ is His suffering for the people, is that it?

KING HEROD

You mean his crucifixion?  No, brother, that suffering was a trifle.  They crucified Himwhat did that matter?  The important point was that thereby He came to know the truth.  As long as He walked the earth, He waswella man, rather a good mantalking here and there about this and that.  When He met someone, He would talk to him about this and that, teach him, and tell him a few good things to put him on the right track.  But when these same fellows carried Him off to the cross and went at Him with knouts, whips, and lashes, then His eyes were opened.  Aha! He said, so thats what it is! And He prayed:  I cannot endure such suffering.  I thought it would be a simple crucifixion; but, O Father in Heaven, what is this? And the Father said to Him:  Never mind, never mind, Son!  Know the truth, know what it is.  And from then on, He fell to sorrowing, and has been sorrowing to this day.

SAVVA

Sorrowing?

KING HEROD

Yes, friend, he is sorrowing. (Pause.  Lightning)

SPERANSKY

It looks like rain, and I am without rubbers and umbrella.

KING HEROD

And everywhere, wheresoever I go, wheresoever I turn, I see before me His pure visage.  Do you understand my suffering, O Lord? I understand, Yeremey, I understand everything.  Go your way in peace.  I am to Him like a transparent crystal with a tear inside.  You understand, Lord? I understand, Yeremey.  Well, and I understand you too.  So we live together.  He with me, I with Him.  I am sorry for Him also.  When I die, I will transmit my sorrow to Him.  Take it, Lord.

SAVVA

But after all, you are not quite right in running down the people the way you do.  There are some good men alsovery fewbut there are some.  Otherwise it wouldnt be of any use to live.

KING HEROD

No, friend, there are none.  I dont want to fool youthere are none.  You know, it was they who christened me with the name of King Herod.

SAVVA

Who?

KING HEROD

Why, your people.  There is no beast more cruel than man.  I killed my boy, so I am King Herod to them.  Damn them, it never enters their minds how terrible it is for me to be burdened with such a nick-name.  Herod!  If they only called me so out of spite!  But not at all.

SAVVA

What is your real name?

KING HEROD

Yeremey.  Thats my nameYeremey.  But they call me Herod, carefully adding King, so that there may be no mistake.  Look, there comes another monk, a plague on him.  Say, did you ever see His countenance?

SAVVA

I did.

KING HEROD

And did you see His eyes?  No?  Then look, try to see themWhere is he off to, the bat?  To the village to his women.

KONDRATY (enters)

Peace be with you, honest folks.  Good evening, Savva.  To what lucky chance do I owe this meeting?

KING HEROD

Look, monk, the devils tail is sticking out of your pocket.

KONDRATY

It isnt the devils tail, its a radish.  Youre very clever, but you didnt hit it right that time.

KING HEROD (spitting in disgust)

I cant bear to look at them.  They turn my stomach.  Good-bye, friend. 
Remember what I told you.  When you are in sorrow, dont go to people.

SAVVA

All right, uncle, I understand.

KING HEROD

Rather go to the forest to the wolves. (Goes out; his voice is heard out of the darkness) Oh, Lord, do you see?

KONDRATY

A narrow-minded fool.  Killed his son and puts on airs.  You cant get by him.  He wont let you alone.  Its something to be proud of, isnt it, to have killed ones own son?  A great thing.

SPERANSKY (with a sigh)

No, Father Kondraty, you are mistaken.  He is a happy man.  If his son were brought to life this moment, he would instantly kill him.  He wouldnt give him five minutes to live.  But of course when he dies, hell know the truth.

KONDRATY

Thats what I said, you fool.  If it were a cat he killed, he might have some reason to be proudbut his own son!  What are you thinking about, Savva Yegorovich?

SAVVA

I am waiting.  I should like to know how soon this gentleman will go.  The devil brought him, I think.  Now, here comes someone else. (Peers into the darkness)

LIPA (approaching.  She stops and hesitates)

Is that you, Savva?

SAVVA

Yes, and is that you?  What do you want?  I dont like people to follow me everywhere I go, sister.

LIPA

The gate to this place is open.  Everybody has a right to come in.  Mr. Speransky, Tony has been asking for you.  He wants the seminarist, he says.

SAVVA

There, go togethera jolly pair.  Good-bye, sir, good-bye.

SPERANSKY

Good-bye.  I hope Ill see you soon again, Mr. Savva, and have another talk.

SAVVA

No, dont try, please.  Abandon the hope.  Good-bye.

LIPA

How rude you are, Savva.  Come, Mr. Speransky.  They have business of their own to attend to.

SPERANSKY

Still I havent given up hope.  Good-bye. (Goes out)

SAVVA

Just grabbed me and stuckthe devil take him!

KONDRATY (laughing)

Yes, he is a sticker from the word go.  If he likes you, you cant shake him off.  Hell follow you everywhere.  We call him the shadowpartly, I suppose, because he is so thin.  He has taken a fancy to you, so youll have a time of it.  Hell stick to you like a leech.

SAVVA

I am not in the habit of wasting a lot of words.  Ill give him the slip without much ceremony.

KONDRATY

They have, even tried beating him, but it doesnt do any good.  He is known here for miles around.  He is a character.

[A pause.  Lightning.  Every now and then is heard the roll of distant thunder.

SAVVA

Why did you tell me to meet you here in this public place where everyone may come?  They fell on me like a swarm of fleasmonks and all sorts of imbciles.  Id rather have spoken to you in the woods, where we could be let alone.

KONDRATY

I did it to escape suspicion.  If I went with you to the woods theyd say:  What has a God-fearing man like Kondraty got to do with such a fellow? I hope you pardon!  Why is he so thick with him? I purposely timed my coming so that theyd see us together with others.

SAVVA (looking fixedly at him)

Well?

KONDRATY (turning away his eyes and shrugging his shoulders) I cant.

SAVVA

You are afraid?

KONDRATY

To tell the truth, I am.

SAVVA

Youre no good, old chap.

KONDRATY

Perhaps not.  You have a right to draw your own conclusions. (Pause)

SAVVA

But what are you afraid of, you booby?  The machine is not dangerous.  It wont hurt you.  All you have to do is to put it in the right place, set it off, and then you can go to the village to your mistresses.

KONDRATY

Thats not the point.

SAVVA

What then?  Are you afraid of being caught?  But I told you, if anything should happen, Ill take the guilt on myself.  Dont you believe me?

KONDRATY

Why, of course I believe you.

SAVVA

What then?  Do you fear God?

KONDRATY

Yes, I do.

SAVVA

But you dont believe in Godyou believe in the devil.

KONDRATY

Who knows?  Maybe some day Ill suddenly discover that He does exist.  In that case, Mr. Savva, I thank you, but Id rather not.  Why should I?  I live a nice, quiet existence.  Of course, its all a humbug, an imposition.  But what business is it of mine?  The people want to believelet them.  It wasnt I who invented God.

SAVVA

Look here.  You know I could have done it myself.  All I need have done was to take a bomb and throw it into the procession.  Thats all.  But that would mean the killing of many people, which at the present juncture would serve no useful purpose.  I therefore ask you to do it.  If you refuse, then the blood will rest on you.  You understand?

KONDRATY

Why on me?  I am not going to throw the bomb.  And then, what have I got to do with themI mean the people that get killed?  What concern are they of mine?  There are plenty of people in the world.  You cant kill them all, no matter how many bombs you throw.

SAVVA

Arent you sorry for them?

KONDRATY

If I were to be sorry for everybody, I should have no sympathy left for myself.

SAVVA

Thats right.  You are a bright man.  You have a good mind.  I have already told you so.  And yet you hesitate.  You are clever, and yet you are afraid to smash a piece of wood.

KONDRATY

If it is nothing but a piece of wood, then why go to so much trouble about it?  The point is, it is not a piece of wood, it is an image.

SAVVA

For me it is a piece of wood.  For the people it is a sacred object.  That is why I want to destroy it.  Imagine how theyll open their mouths and stare.  Ah, brother, if you were not a coward, I would tell you some things.

KONDRATY

Go ahead and talk.  Its no sin to listen.  I am not a coward either.  I am simply careful.

SAVVA

This would only be the beginning, brother.

KONDRATY

A good beginning, I wont deny it.  And what will be the end?

SAVVA

The earth stripped naked, a tabula rasa, do you understand?  And on this naked earth, naked man, naked as his mother bore him.  No breeches on him, no orders, no pockets, nothing.  Imagine men without pockets.  Queer, isnt it?  Yes indeed, brother, the ikon is only the beginning.

KONDRATY

Oh, theyll make new ones.

SAVVA

But they wont be the same as before.  And theyll never forget this muchthat dynamite is mightier than their God, and that man is mightier than dynamite.  Look at them; see them yonder praying and kneeling, not daring to raise their heads and look you straight in the face, mean slaves that they are!  Then comes a real man, and smash goes the whole humbug.  Done for!

KONDRATY

Really!

SAVVA

And when a dozen of their idols have gone the same way, the slaves will begin to understand that the kingdom of their God is at an end, and that the kingdom of man has come.  Lots of them will drop from sheer terror.  Some will lose their wits, and others will throw themselves into the fire.  Theyll say that Antichrist has come.  Think of it, Kondraty!

KONDRATY

And arent you sorry for them?

SAVVA

Sorry for them?  Why, they built a prison for me, and I am to be sorry for them.  They put me in a torture chamber, and I am to be sorry for them.  Bah!

KONDRATY

Who are you to be above pity?

SAVVA

I?  I am a man who have been born.  And having been born, I began to look about.  I saw churches and penitentiaries.  I saw universities and houses of prostitution.  I saw factories and picture galleries.  I saw palaces and filthy dens.  I calculated the number of prisons there are to each gallery, and I resolved that the whole edifice must go, the whole of it must be overturned, annihilated.  And we are going to do it.  Our day of reckoning has come.  It is time.

KONDRATY

Who are we?

SAVVA

I, you Kondraty, and others.

KONDRATY

The people are stupid.  They wont understand.

SAVVA

When the conflagration rages all around them, they will understand.  Fire is a good teacher, old boy.  Have you ever heard of Raphael?

KONDRATY

No, I havent.

SAVVA

Well, when we are through with God, well go for fellows like him.  There are lots of themTitian, Shakespeare, Byron.  Well make a nice pile of the whole lot and pour oil over it.  Then well burn their cities.

KONDRATY

Now, now you are joking.  How is that possible?  How can you burn the cities?

SAVVA

No, why should I be joking?  All the cities.  Look here, what are their cities?  Graves, stone graves.  And if you dont stop those fools, if you let them go on making more, they will cover the whole earth with stone, and then all will suffocateall.

KONDRATY

The poor people will have a hard time of it.

SAVVA

All will be poor then.  What is it that makes a man rich?  His having a house and money, and the fact that he has surrounded himself with a fence.  But when there are no houses, no money, and no fences

KONDRATY

Thats so.  And there wont be any legal papers either, no stocks, no bonds, no title-deeds.  They will all have been burnt up.

SAVVA

No, there will be no legal papers.  Its work thenyoull have to go to work even if you are a nobleman.

KONDRATY (laughing)

Its funny.  All will be naked as when coming out of a bath.

SAVVA

Are you a peasant, Kondraty?

KONDRATY

Yes, I am a peasant, sure enough.

SAVVA

I am a peasant also.  We have nothing to lose, brother.  We cant fare worse than we do now.

KONDRATY

How could it be worse?  But a great many people will perish, Mr. Tropinin.

SAVVA

It makes no difference.  Therell be enough left.  It is the good-for-nothings that will perish, the fools to whom this life is like a shell to a crab.  Those who believe will perish, because their faith will be taken away from them.  Those who love the old will perish, because everything will be taken away from them.  The weak, the sick, those who love quietness.  There will be no quietness in the world, brother.  There will remain only the free and the brave, those with young and eager souls and clear eyes that can embrace the whole universe.

KONDRATY

Like yours?  I am afraid of your eyes, Savva Yegorovich, especially in the dark.

SAVVA

Yes, like mine.  And emancipated from everything, naked, armed only with their reason, they will deliberate; discuss, talk things over, and build up a new life, a good life, Kondraty, where every man may breathe freely.

KONDRATY

Its interesting.  But men are sly creatures.  Something of the old will be left over.  Theyll hide it, or try some other trick, and then behold! back they slide to the old again, everything just as it was, just as of old.  What then?

SAVVA

Just as of old? (Gloomily) Then they will have to be wiped clean off the face of the earth.  Let there be no living human being on earth.  Enough of it!

KONDRATY (shaking his head)

But

SAVVA (putting his hand on his shoulder)

Believe me, monk, I have been in many cities and in many lands, Nowhere did I see a free man.  I saw only slaves.  I saw the cages in which they live, the beds on which they are born and die; I saw their hatreds and their loves, their sins and their good works.  And I saw also their amusements, their pitiful attempts to bring dead joy back to life again.  And everything that I saw bore the stamp of stupidity and unreason.  He that is born wise turns stupid in their midst; he that is born cheerful hangs himself from boredom and sticks out his tongue at them.  Amidst the flowers of the beautiful earthyou have no idea how beautiful the earth is, monkthey have erected insane asylums.  And what are they doing with their children?  I have never yet seen parents that do not deserve capital punishment; first because they begot children, and secondly because, having begot them, they did not immediately commit suicide.

KONDRATY

Good heavens, how you talk!  Hearing you, one hardly knows what to think.

SAVVA

And how they lie, how they lie, monk!  They dont kill the truthno, they kick her and bruise her daily, and smear her clean face with their dirt and filth so that no one may recognize her, so that the children may not love her, and so that she may have no refuge.  In all the worldyes, monk, in all the worldthere is no place for truth. (Sinks into meditation.  Pause)

KONDRATY

Is there no other waywithout fire?  Its terrible, Savva Yegorovich.  Consider what it means!  Its the end of the world.

SAVVA

No, it cant be helped, partner.  It must be.  The end of the world must come too.  They were treated with medicine, and it did no good.  They were treated with iron, and it did no good.  Now they must be treated with firefire!

[Pause.  Lightning flashes.  The thunder has ceased.  Somewhere outside a watchman can be heard striking his iron rod.

KONDRATY

And therell be no drinkshops either?

SAVVA (pensively)

No, nothing.

KONDRATY

Theyll start drinkshops again all right.  Cant get along without them, you know. (A prolonged pause) Ye-es.  What are you thinking about, Savva Yegorovich?

SAVVA

Nothing. (Draws a light breath, cheerfully) Well, Kondraty, shall we begin?

KONDRATY (swaying his head to and fro)

Its a mighty hard problem you have put up to me.  Its a poser.

SAVVA

Never mind, dont get shaky now.  You are a sensible man; you know it cant be helped; there is nothing else to do.  Would I be doing it myself, if it were not necessary?  You can see that, cant you?

KONDRATY (heaving a sigh)

Ye-es, hm!  Why, Mr. Tropininwhy, my dear fellowdont I know, dont I understand it all?  Its a rotten, cursed life!  Ah, Mr. Savva, Mr. Savvalook here.  If I were to tell anyone that I am a good man, theyd laugh and say:  What are you lying for, you drunkard? Kondraty a good man!  It sounds like a joke even to myself.  And yet I swear to you, by God, I am a good man!  I dont know how it happened the way it did, why I am what I am now.  I lived and lived, and suddenly!  How it came about, what the reason of it is, I dont know.

SAVVA

And you are still afraid?

KONDRATY

What am I now?  I am neither a candle for God nor a poker for the devil.  Sometimes when I think matters overah, Mr. Savva, do you think I have no conscience?  Dont I understand?  I understand everything butI am not really afraid of the devil either.  I am just playing the fool.  The devilnonsense!  If you were in the place of us in there, you would understand.  Not long ago, when I was drunk, I cried:  Get out, devilout of my wayam a desperate man! I dont care for anything.  I dont care if I die.  I am ready.  You have worked at me, Mr. Savva, until I have grown quite soft. (Wipes his eyes with his sleeves)

SAVVA

Why should you die?  I dont want to die either.  We are going to live for some time to come, we are.  How old are you?

KONDRATY

Forty-two.

SAVVA

Just the right age.

KONDRATY

I am sorry for the ikon.  They say it appeared miraculously in the river, and thats how it came to be here.

SAVVA

Nonsense.  Dont waste your feelings.  Its supposed to be a wonder-working ikon and hasnt one miracle to its credit.  Why, it makes one feel like a fool just to say it.

KONDRATY

They say it has been replaced by the devil, so that it isnt the real one.

SAVVA

So much the better.  And yet you crack your heads in front of it and fool the people about it.  There is no use wasting words, my friend.  Its agreed then.

KONDRATY

You have to go now.  The gate will soon be closed.  And all of a sudden

SAVVA

What all of a sudden?

KONDRATY

And all of a sudden Ill be going to the ikon, and it will strike me down with lightning and thunder.  Wont it?

SAVVA (laughing)

Dont be afraid.  It wont strike you.  Thats what everybody thinks.  They are all afraid theyll be struck by lightning and thunder.  But it wont happen.  Believe me, a man may blow up the ikon and no lightning will strike him.  Do you need money?

KONDRATY

Have you got any?

SAVVA

I have.

KONDRATY (suspiciously)

Where did you get it?

SAVVA

What business is that of yours?  Suppose I killed a rich man, or cut somebodys throatare you going to report me to the police?

KONDRATY (reassured)

What are you thinking of, Savva Yegorovich?  Thats your concern.  As to your offer, of course, money always comes in handy.  It will enable me to leave the monastery.  Ill tell you in confidence, I have long been nursing a schemeits my dreamto settle somewhere along the road and start an inn.  I like company.  I am a talkative chap myself.  I know Ill succeed.  It doesnt hurt a host to have a drink now and then.  The guests like it.  With a jolly host youll spend every penny you have, and your pants besides, and you wont notice it.  I know by personal experience.

SAVVA

Why not?  You can start an inn if you want to.

KONDRATY

And besides, I am still in the full vigor of manhood.  Instead of sinning here, Id rather get legally married.

SAVVA

Dont forget to invite me to the wedding.  Ill act as your godfather.

KONDRATY

You are too young.  As to the moneywhen shall it be, before or after?

SAVVA

Judas got his before.

KONDRATY (offended)

There now, when you should be doing your best to persuade me, you call me Judas.  It isnt pleasant.  The idea of calling a living man Judas!

SAVVA

Judas was a fool.  He hanged himself.  You are going to start an inn.

KONDRATY

Again?  If thats what you think of me

SAVVA (slapping his shoulders)

Well, well, uncle, dont you see Im joking?  Judas betrayed a man, and you are not going to betray anything but lumber.  Is that right, old man? Speransky and Tony appear, the latter walking very unsteadily.

KONDRATY

Therebrought by the devil!  With us carrying on this kind of conversation, and they

SAVVA

Its agreed then?

KONDRATY

Oh, youre too much for me.

SPERANSKY (bowing)

Good evening once more, Mr. Savva Tropinin.  Mr. Anthony and myself have just been at the other end, in the cemetery.  A woman was buried there to-day, so we wanted to have a look.

SAVVA

To see if she hadnt crawled out of her grave?  What are you dragging him along with you for?  Tony, go to bed, you cant stand on your feet.

TONY

I wont go.

SPERANSKY

Tony is very excited to-day.  He sees all kinds of faces.

SAVVA

Funny faces?

TONY

Yes, funny.  What else can you expect? (Sadly) Your face, Savva, is very, very funny.

SAVVA

All right, go along with you!  Take him home.  What are you dragging him about with you for?

SPERANSKY

Good-bye.  Come along, Mr. Anthony.

[Speransky goes out.  Tony follows him, looking back at Savva, and stumbling as he goes along.  They disappear in the dark.

KONDRATY

Its time for us also to be going.  Have you got that money at hand?

SAVVA

Yes, I have.  Now listen.  Sunday is the feast-day.  You are to take the machine Saturday morning and plant it at night at half past eleven, four days from now.  Ill show you how to do it and everything else thats necessary.  Four days more.  I am sick of staying in this place.

KONDRATY

And suppose I betray you?

SAVVA (darkly)

Then Id kill you.

KONDRATY

Good heavens!

SAVVA

Now I am going to kill you if you merely try to back out.  You know too much, brother.

KONDRATY

You are joking.

SAVVA

Maybe I am joking.  I am such a jolly fellow.  I like to laugh.

KONDRATY

When you first came here, you were gay.  Tell me, Mr. Savva (looking around cautiously), did you ever kill a man, a real live man?

SAVVA

I did.  I cut the throat of that rich business man I told you about.

KONDRATY (waving his hand)

Now I see that you are joking.  Well, good-bye, I am going.  Dont you hang around here either.  The gate will soon be closed.  Oh, myI am never afraidbut just as soon as I begin to think of the hall, its awful.  There are shadows there now.  Good night.

SAVVA

Good night.

[Kondraty disappears in the dark.  Lightning.  Savva remains leaning on the railing to stare at the white tombstones that are momentarily revealed by the flashes of lightning.

SAVVA (to the graves)

Well, you dead ones, are you going to turn over in your graves or not?  For some reason I dont feel very cheerfuloh, ye deadI dont feel the least bit cheerful. (Lightning)

CURTAIN