The same room, unchanged, an hour or so later: but the grey light of day. A WOMAN-SERVANT comes in. There is a wooden image in a corner.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Yea, the lighted lamp, and the food! My lord David hath kept watch again before the Lord, and tears will fall in Michal’s bosom, and darken her heart! Aiee! Aiee! That Saul should so hate the life of David! Surely the evil spirits are strong upon the King.
BOY (entering): Jonathan, the King’s son, is below, knocking softly at the door.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Go! Open swiftly, and make fast again. Aiee! Aiee! My lord Jonathan comes too early for a pleasure visit. I will see if they sleep.
Exit WOMAN-SERVANT through the curtain.
Enter JONATHAN. JONATHAN stands silent, pensive. Goes to window. Re-enter WOMAN-SERVANT. She starts, seeing JONATHAN — then puts her hand on her mouth.
WOMAN-SERVANT: O my lord Jonathan! Hush!
JONATHAN: They are sleeping still?
WOMAN-SERVANT: They are sleeping the marriage sleep. David hath even watched before the Lord, in the night. But now with Michal he sleeps the marriage sleep in the lands of peace. Now grant a son shall come of it, to ease the gnawing of Michal’s heart.
JONATHAN: What gnaws in Michal’s heart?
WOMAN-SERVANT: Ah, my lord, her love even for David, that will not be appeased. If the Giver gave her a son, so should her love for David abate, and cease to gnaw in her.
JONATHAN: But why should it gnaw in her? Hath she not got him, and the joy of him?
WOMAN-SERVANT: O Jonathan, she is even as the house of Saul. What she hath cannot appease her.
JONATHAN: What then would she more?
WOMAN-SERVANT: She is of the house of Saul, and her very love is pain to her. Each cloud that crosses her is another death of her love. Ah, it is better to let love come and to let it go, even as the winds of the hills blow along the heavens. The sun shines, and is dulled, and shines again; it is the day, and its alterings; and after, it is night.
JONATHAN: David and Michal are asleep?
WOMAN-SERVANT: In the marriage sleep. Oh, break it not!
JONATHAN: The sun will soon rise. Lo! this house is upon the wall of the city, and the fields and the hills lie open.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Shall I bring food to Jonathan?
JONATHAN: Nay! Hark! Men are crying at the city’s western gate, to open. The day is beginning.
WOMAN-SERVANT: May it bring good to this house!
JONATHAN: It is like to bring evil.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Ah, my lord!
DAVID (appearing through the curtain at the back): Jonathan!
JONATHAN: David! Thou art awake!
DAVID (laughing): Yea! Am I not? Thou art my brother Jonathan, art thou not? (They embrace.)
JONATHAN: O David, the darkness was upon my father in the night, and he hath again bid slay thee. Leave not the house. Unbar not the door! Watch! And be ready to flee! If armed men stand round the door (enter MICHAL), then let down the boy from the window, and send instantly to me. I will come with thy men and with mine, and we will withstand the hosts of Saul, if need be.
MICHAL: Is something new toward?
JONATHAN: My father bade his men take David, and slay him in the dawn. I must away, lest they see that I have warned thee. Farewell, O David!
DAVID: Farewell, my brother Jonathan! But I will come down the stair with thee.
Exeunt DAVID and JONATHAN.
MICHAL: Yea! Yea! So sure as it is well between me and him, so sure as we have peace in one another, so sure as we are together — comes this evil wind, and blows upon us! And oh, I am weary of my life, because of it!
WOMAN-SERVANT: Aiee! Aiee! Say not so, O Michal! For thy days are many before thee.
MICHAL: This time, an they take him, they will surely kill him.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Sayest thou so! Oh, why, in the Lord’s name!
MICHAL: I know it. If they take him this time, he is lost.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Oh, then shall they surely not take him! Oh, but what shall we do?
MICHAL: Creep thou on the roof! Let no man see thee. And there lie: watch if armed men approach the house.
Enter DAVID.
DAVID: There is no one there.
MICHAL: They will come as the sun comes. (To WOMAN.) Go thou and watch.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Verily I will!
Exit WOMAN-SERVANT.
MICHAL: O David! So sure as it is springtime in me, and my body blossoms like an almond-tree, comes this evil wind upon me, and withers my bud! Oh, how can I bring forth children to thee when the spear of this vexation each time pierces my womb?
DAVID: Trouble not thyself, my flower. No wind shall wither thee.
MICHAL: Oh, but I know. This time, an they take thee, thou shalt lose thy life. — And Jonathan will not save thee.
DAVID: Nay! Be not afraid for me.
MICHAL: Yes! I am afraid! I am afraid! Ho! Ho, there! (Claps her hands. Enter BOY. To BOY.) Bring the water-skin for thy master, filled with water. And his pouch with bread — for he goeth on a journey. — O David! David! Now take thy cloak, and thy bow, and thy spear, and put on thy shoes. For thou must go! Jonathan cannot avail thee this time.
DAVID: Nay! Why shall I flee, when the sun is rising?
MICHAL: Yea! If thou go not before the sun is here in the morning shalt thou be slain. Oh make ready! Thy shoes! Put them on! (DAVID reluctantly obeys.) Thy cloak, so they shall not know thee! (He puts it on.) Thy spear and bow!
Enter BOY.
BOY: Here is the pouch and the water-flask.
MICHAL: Run, bring figs and dry curds. Dost thou hear aught at the door?
BOY: Naught!
Exit BOY.
MICHAL: O David, art thou ready! Oh, that thou leavest me!
DAVID: I need not go! Yea, to comfort thee, I will go to the place that Jonathan knoweth of, and thou shalt send thither for me. Or wilt thou —
Re-enter WOMAN-SERVANT.
WOMAN-SERVANT: O Michal! O David, master! There be men-at-arms approaching, under the wall, and walking by stealth. Oh, flee! Oh, flee! for they mean thy life.
MICHAL: Now must thou go by the window, into the fields. I see the sun’s first glitter. Even for this hour have I kept the new rope ready. (She fastens the rope to a stout stake, and flings the ends from the window. To DAVID.) Go! Go! Swiftly be gone!
DAVID: I will come again to thee. Sooner or later as the Lord liveth, I will take thee again to me, unto my bed and my body.
MICHAL: Hark! They knock! Ha — a!
Enter BOY.
BOY: There are men at the door!
MICHAL: Go! Call to them! Ask what they want! But touch thou not the door!
DAVID meanwhile climbs through the window — the stake holds the rope.
WOMAN-SERVANT (climbing with her hands): So! So! So! My lord David! So! So! Swing him not against the wall, O spiteful rope. So! So! He kicks free! Yea! And God be praised, he is on the ground, looking an instant at his hands. So he looks up and departs! Lifts his hand and departs!
MICHAL: Is he gone? Draw in the rope, and hide it safe.
WOMAN-SERVANT: That I will!
Meanwhile MICHAL has flung back the curtain of the recess where the low earthen bank of the bed is seen with skins and covers. She takes the wooden image of a god and lays it in the bed, puts a pillow at its head, and draws the bed-cover high over it.
MICHAL (to herself): Yea, and my house’s god which is in my house, shall lie in my husband’s place, and the image of my family god, which came of old from my mother’s house, shall deceive them. For my house has its own gods, yea, from of old, and shall they forsake me?
Enter BOY.
BOY: They demand to enter. The King asketh for David, that he go before the King’s presence.
MICHAL: Go thou, say to them: My lord and my master, David, is sick in his bed.
BOY: I will say that.
Exit BOY.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Sit thou nigh the bed. And if they still will come up thou shalt say he sleepeth.
MICHAL: Yea, will I. (Sits by bed.) O god of my household, O god of my mother’s house, O god in the bed of David, save me now!
Enter BOY.
BOY: They will e’en set eyes on my master.
MICHAL: Stay! Say to them, that their captains shall come up, two only: but softly, for my lord David hath been sick these three days, and at last sleepeth.
BOY: I will tell them.
Exit BOY.
WOMAN-SERVANT: And I too will go bid them hush.
Exit WOMAN-SERVANT. MICHAL sits in silence. Enter two CAPTAINS with the WOMAN-SERVANT.
WOMAN-SERVANT: There he sleepeth in the bed.
MICHAL: Sh-h-h!
1ST CAPTAIN: I will go even now and tell the King.
Exeunt the CAPTAINS after a pause.
CURTAIN
Curtain rises after a short time on same scene.
WOMAN-SERVANT (rushing in): They are coming again down the street, but boldly now.
MICHAL: Yea! Let them come! By this time is David beyond their reach, in the secret place.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Oh, and what shall befall thee! Oh!
MICHAL: I am the King’s daughter. Even Saul shall not lift his hand against me. Go down thou to the door, and hold the men whilst thou mayst. Why should we admit them forthwith? Say that Michal is performing her ablutions.
WOMAN-SERVANT: Will I not!
Exit WOMAN-SERVANT.
MICHAL: And shall I strip the bed? They will search the house and the fields. Nay, I will leave it, and they shall see how they were fools. O teraphim, O my god of my own house, hinder them and help me. O thou my teraphim, watch for me!
Sound of knocking below.
VOICE OF SERVANT: Ho, ye! Who knocks, in the Lord’s name?
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Open! Open ye! In the name of the King.
VOICE OF SERVANT: What would ye in this house of sickness?
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Open, and thou shalt know.
VOICE OF SERVANT: I may not open, save Michal bid me.
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Then bid Michal bid thee open forthwith.
VOICE OF SERVANT: O thou captain of the loud shout, surely thou wert here before! Know then, my master is sick, and my mistress performeth her ablutions in the sight of the Lord. At this moment may I not open.
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: An thou open not, it shall cost thee.
VOICE OF SERVANT: Nay, now, is not my mistress King’s daughter, and is not her command laid on me? O Captain, wilt thou hold it against me, who tremble between two terrors?
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Tremble shalt thou, when the terror nips thee. E’en open the door, lest we break it in.
VOICE OF SERVANT: Oh, what uncouth man is this, that will break down the door of the King’s daughter, and she naked at her bath, before the Lord!
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: We do but the King’s bidding.
VOICE OF SERVANT: How can that be? What, did the King indeed bid ye break down the door of his daughter’s house, and she uncovered in the Lord’s sight, at her ablutions?
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Yea! The King bade us bring before him instantly the bed of David, and David upon the bed!
VOICE OF SERVANT: Oh, now, what unseemly thing is this! Hath not the King legs long enough? And can he not walk hither on his feet? Oh, send, fetch the King, I pray thee, thou Captain. Say, I pray thee, that Michal prays the King come hither.
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: Word shall be sent. Yet open now this door, that the bird escapes me not.
VOICE OF SERVANT: O Captain! And is my master then a bird? O would he were, even the young eagle, that he might spread wing! O man, hast thou no fear what may befall thee, that thou namest David a bird? O Israel, uncover now thine ear!
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: I name him not.
VOICE OF SERVANT: And what would ye, with this bird my master! Oh, the Lord forbid that any man should call him a bird!
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: We e’en must bring him upon his bed before the King.
VOICE OF SERVANT: Now what is this! Will the King heal him with mighty spells? Or is David on his sick-bed to be carried before the people, that they may know his plight? What new wonder is this?
VOICE OF CAPTAIN: I cannot say — Yet I will wait no longer.
MICHAL: Open, Maiden! Let them come up.
VOICE OF SERVANT: Oh, my mistress crieth unto me, that I open. Yea, O Michal, I will e’en open to these men. For who dare look aslant at the King’s daughter?
Enter CAPTAIN, followed by SOLDIERS.
CAPTAIN: Is David still in the bed? An he cannot rise, will we carry him upon the bed, before the King.
MICHAL: Now what is this?
CAPTAIN: Sleeps he yet? Ho, David, sleepest thou?
2ND SOLDIER: We will take up the bed, and wake him.
3RD SOLDIER: He stirs not at all.
CAPTAIN (to MICHAL): Yea, rouse him and tell him the King’s will.
MICHAL: I will not rouse him.
CAPTAIN (going to the bed): Ho, thou! Ho! David! (He suddenly pulls back the bed-cover.) What is this? (Sudden loud shrilling laughter from the WOMAN-SERVANT, who flees when the men look round.)
SOLDIERS (crowding): We are deceived. Ha-ha! It is a man of wood and a goats’-hair bolster! Ha-ha-ha! What husband is this of Michal’s?
MICHAL: My teraphim, and the god of my house.
CAPTAIN: Where hast thou hidden David?
MICHAL: I have not hidden him.
Pause.
VOICE OF SAUL (on the stair): Why tarry ye here? What! Must the King come on his own errands? (Enter SAUL.) And are ye here?
MICHAL: The Lord strengthen thee, my Father.
SAUL: Ha! Michal! And can then David not rise from his bed, when the King sendeth for him?
CAPTAIN: Lo! O King! Behold the sick man on the bed! We are deceived of Michal.
SAUL: What is this? (Flings the image across the room.)
MICHAL: Oh, my teraphim! Oh, god of my house! Oh, alas, alas, now will misfortune fall on my house! Oh, woe is! woe is me! (Kneels before teraphim.)
SAUL: Where is David? Why hast thou deceived me?
MICHAL: O god of my house, god of my mother’s house, visit it not upon me!
SAUL: Answer me, or I will slay thee!
MICHAL: God of my house, I am slain! I am slain!
SAUL: Where is David?
MICHAL: O my lord, he is gone; he is gone ere the sun made day.
SAUL: Yea, thou hast helped him against me.
MICHAL (weeping): Oh! Oh! He said unto me: Let me go; why shouldst thou make me slay thee, to trouble my face in the sight of men. I could not hinder him, he would have slain me there!
SAUL: Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he escaped?
MICHAL (weeping): I could not prevent him.
SAUL: Even when did he go?
MICHAL: He rose up before the Lord, in the deep night. And then he would away, while no man saw.
SAUL: Whither is he gone?
MICHAL: Verily, and verily, I know not.
Pause.
SAUL: So! He hath escaped me! And my flesh and my blood hath helped mine enemy. Woe to you, Michal! Woe to you! Who have helped your father’s enemy, who would pull down thy father to the ground. Lo! my flesh and my blood rebel against me, and my seed lies in wait for me, to make me fall!
MICHAL: Oh, why must David be slain?
SAUL: Woe to you, Michal! And David shall bring woe to you, and woe upon you. David shall pull down Saul, and David shall pull down Jonathan; thee, Michal, he will pull down, yea, and all thy house. Oh, thou mayst call on the teraphim of thy house. But if thy teraphim love thy house, then would he smite David speedily to the death, for if David liveth I shall not live, and thou shalt not live, and thy brother shall not live. For David will bring us all down in blood.
MICHAL (weeping): O my Father, prophesy not against him!
SAUL: It shall be so. What, have I no insight into the dark! And thou art now a woman abandoned of her man, and thy father castest thee off, because thou hast deceived him, and brought about his hurt.
MICHAL: O my Father, forgive me! Hold it not against me!
SAUL: Nay, thou hast bent thy will against thy father, and called destruction upon thy father’s house.
MICHAL: Ah, no! Ah, no!
CURTAIN