ACT TWO SCENE TWO THE GREAT HALL, MUR Y CASTELL, ARDUDWY Enter Blodeuwedd and Rhagnell. |
|
| Rhagnell |
I was looking to the North. I saw Dust clouds on the horizon. Llew's approaching. |
| Blodeuwedd |
What shall we do? |
| Rhagnell |
Three days and nights you and Penllyn's lord Have lain here. Now we must hide All these traces of your loving. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Could you kill for love, sweet Rhagnell? |
| Rhagnell |
Killing and loving are opposites. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Not always. |
| Rhagnell |
In so many ways you're still a child And what does a child know? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Its own mind. |
| Rhagnell |
Let's hide these things away, then I'll prepare food and drink. |
| Blodeuwedd |
For whom? |
| Rhagnell |
For you and your lord, your husband. |
| Blodeuwedd |
And serve them to us in a grave. |
| Rhagnell |
Come, Lady, make ready to receive him. I'll go and greet him. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Yes, go. Tell him my secret too. |
| Rhagnell |
Do you think I'd betray you? |
| Blodeuwedd |
You're born of a woman's womb, like him. |
| Rhagnell |
And I'm also your maid for as long as I draw breath. |
| Blodeuwedd |
No, no. You shan't mock me. I know My looks can turn a young man's head And make him wild, a slave to my will. But you're a woman and I can never chain you. |
| Rhagnell |
A different chain ties me. |
| Blodeuwedd looks at Rhagnell and takes the ribbons which adorn her dress and draws them into circles around the maid's throat and nape. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
Yes, you have your chains. These ribbons Soft as silk. Why don't you Wear them like a torque around your throat, A present from your mistress, A reward for your loyalty. Wear them tight, Tight enough to choke you Rhagnell. Wise and mute, forever the guardian of my secret. |
| Rhagnell |
You're hurting me. Do you want to kill me? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I want to tie up this fragile neck with this silk, So that not one traitorous utterance Shall pass through these pale lips That used to kiss my hand each night... You've waited on me countless times, Sweet Rhagnell. You've soothed me to sleep. Now I can tend to you, and rock you To a deeper sleep than I've experienced ever. |
| Rhagnell |
Alive or dead, I won't betray you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You won't get that chance, old woman; I'll lock your tongue inside these lips In case you're ever tempted. |
| Rhagnell |
He's here. |
| Enter Llew. |
|
| Llew |
I've arrived sooner than expected? I sped on ahead of my soldiers To see Blodeuwedd first. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Here I am. |
| Llew |
My fair, my flawless wife. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You journeyed safely? |
| Llew |
Today the wonder of your beauty is the same As on that first morning, when the dew Glistened in your footsteps. Fair wife I didn't know the power of your spell Until I felt its loss. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You've never been away from me before. |
| Llew |
Nor will I again until I die. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Let that be true. |
| Llew |
What did you do while I was away? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Ask Rhagnell. Tell him woman. Here's your chance. |
| Rhagnell |
Master, since Blodeuwedd first came to Ardudwy I've been at her side, day and night. I never saw a tear stain her cheek Nor well up in her eye. She kept her own counsel And reined in emotion. But the day You left here, I found her Lying here, wailing and weeping, Her body racked by loss and worry. The only answer I could prise from her To all my questions was "My Lord has left". |
| Exit Rhagnell. |
|
| Llew |
Oh, wife, why wasn't I Allowed to come to know you before. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Put aside past doubts. Let this reunion Seal a new marriage between us. |
| Llew |
I believed you cold, uncaring. I didn't know you could weep And blur those bright eyes with tears of longing. Why did you keep from me till now this tenderness? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I was given to you my Llew as bounty, As a captive, without choice or say. You didn't learn to love me before you took me Or worry about winning me over. In this fort You have weapons and suits of burnished armour That cost you battles and blood to win. You look at them. You remember the each occasion Of their taking. Each one a token of your prowess And the pain they cost you. But me? I cost you nothing, not a second's sacrifice And that's why you've never sought To see the dents, the scars that line my heart Nor the marks of battle beneath this breast. |
| Llew |
You are my wife. I hope through you To found a race to rule Ardudwy. I wanted To love you as a father loves the mother of his sons. What greater love than that could a man dream of? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I was a wife to you before I was a girl. You demanded the fruit before the flower opened But I'm the woman of flowers, Blodeuwedd. |
| Llew |
Woman of flowers, teach me then How to fight my way past the petals And bury myself like a bee in your core. I too, my love, am alone in this world. I was a stranger to my own mother's arms. She cast me from her womb before my time Then persecuted me. In my young life I'd never tasted a kiss before yours, Nor a girl's arms around my neck. I never knew a brother or sister's tenderness. I have such longing for your love, girl. Teach me how to love you in your way For shouldn't love attract love And one heart fire another? My wife, my world, Why do you keep yourself from me? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I don't my love, I've never Kept any part of me from you. |
| Llew |
You gave your body, but kept your soul. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I gave you my trust. You're the only one That I have on this earth. What would I do If you were killed, leaving me without a mate? |
| Llew |
Was it true what Rhagnell said about you weeping? (She is silent.) Blodeuwedd, look at me. Answer me. Why don't you answer? |
| Blodeuwedd |
The day you left me Despair almost broke my heart. I feared That never again would I see you alive. |
| Llew |
Was your love for me so great? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I've got no family but you. |
| Llew |
Half my soul, now I know your love, From now on life will sing to me sweetly. We'll make a family and a future in Ardudwy. Young saplings will grow in this oak's shadow. We'll be like a sheltered orchard Our love a palisade around us Keeping out the chill winds of loneliness. My wife, you'll be an exile no longer. I'll be your kith and kin. And unless I'm killed... |
| Blodeuwedd |
If you were killed? |
| Llew |
Don't be afraid. Killing me isn't easy. I'm fated that my death Is unlikely by the hand of any man. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You're reckless and neglectful. These details often slip your mind But my care for you makes me ever mindful. Share this secret with me, so that my heart Need never again be weighed with worry. |
| Llew |
It's a secret that I shouldn't share with anyone. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I'm not anyone, Llew. You love me. |
| Llew |
I love you. Even more now than when I left. When I was with Math I asked him How he and my uncle Gwydion created you. He instructed, Gwydion foraged and fretted, Beaded sap and dew, collected scents, Wreathed together leaves and light And called on untried spells to turn that essence Of things wild and beautiful and primal Into woman. Into you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
In catching all those elements, they succeeded. |
| Llew |
Hearing Math's tale I was in awe of you And realised I'd been given the greatest gift of all. Oh yes, I love you, Blodeuwedd. Doubly so Now that I know the secret of your making. And I'll gladly tell you my secret too. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Tell. Everything. Trust me. |
| Llew |
A full year must be spent Making the spear which is to strike me. It may only be fashioned at the time Of Sacrifice at Sunday Mass. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You're certain of this? |
| Llew |
Quite certain. Neither can I be killed inside a house Nor on my horse. Nor with a foot upon the ground. I have to stand on a water trough That is set beside a river. Positioned so, And struck in the back with the poisoned spear, I could be killed. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Such a fate should be easy to avoid. |
| Llew |
Many a time, Blodeuwedd, I wished my own death. But now I've a new taste for life. Love grows, Like an oak, strengthened by life's storms. Beneath its great branches flourishes Family, home, estates and kingdom. Our love, fair lady, will provide Ardudwy With security and strength |
| Enter Rhagnell. |
|
| Rhagnell |
Master, Mistress... there's food prepared. |
| Llew |
I'll come. Let's feast today As if at a wedding. I left here Three days ago with a heavy heart. I return today to a new found joy, Greater than any I've known. This day Has unfurled like a flag above my fortress, for I've found at last the meaning of a wife's loyalty. |
| Exit Llew. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
Rhagnell, I thought of killing you. |
| Rhagnell |
Yes Lady. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Then why didn't you betray me? |
| Rhagnell |
You're a woman, so am I. Another woman's secret is safe with me. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I can't understand humankind. You act According to loyalty and honour. Perhaps you love me? |
| Rhagnell |
You're innocent, like a child. And like a child, destructive, petulant. To know you is to feel sympathy for you. I was given to you as your handmaiden. As long as I live I'll be loyal to you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Forgive me. I know you're wise My only wisdom is to want And seek with all my skill whatever pleases me. Will you be my messenger to the Lord of Penllyn? |
| Rhagnell |
Of course. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Tell him this: He's to make a spear of steel and poison And its fashioning must coincide With the Sacrifice at Sunday Mass. He must take a whole year in its making. When that year is up he is to return here And meet me at the foot of Cyfergyr hill. Go, hurry, that no one sees you. |
| Rhagnell |
Is that all? |
| Blodeuwedd |
That's all. |
| Rhagnell |
If he asks about you? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Tell him how happy Llew is, and that today He's returned here in love with me more than ever. |
| Exeunt. |