| ACT FOUR SCENE TWO THE GREAT HALL, MUR Y CASTELL, ARDUDWY Enter Blodeuwedd and Rhagnell. |
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| Rhagnell |
A traveller came from the north today From Nantlle. He told us a strange story. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Nantlle. I don't know any of these places. |
| Rhagnell |
Not far from Caer Arianrhod. |
| Blodeuwedd |
And the story? |
| Rhagnell |
Answer me first. Have you seen Llew's grave? |
| Blodeuwedd |
No. |
| Rhagnell |
Has Gronw? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I don't know. I don't think there is a headstone. Why? |
| Rhagnell |
There's comfort in a grave. It signifies a death. Headstones on enemies' graves give the living a sounder sleep. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You needn't worry. Gronw's a sound enough sleeper. |
| Rhagnell |
Is his sleep as sound as Llew's by the goat trough? |
| Blodeuwedd |
What do you mean? |
| Rhagnell |
That's where Llew Llaw Gyffes was killed wasn't it? But I've not heard anyone say they buried him. Perhaps one of his soldiers stole the body? Strange that Gwydion never came from Caer Dathl Nor one of Arfon's bards to mourn above the grave. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You suspect that Llew Llaw Gyffes is alive? |
| Rhagnell |
That's what I was told by the man from Nantlle. Gwydion fought against the poison for Llew's life. And saved him. The man had seen Llew with his own eyes In Caer Dathl's stables, or so he claims. He's alive today, and well again. He's on his way here. He has a score to settle with Gronw Pebr. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Ha! I've been expecting this. |
| Rhagnell |
You've been expecting it, lady? Since when? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Since a year ago this day. Since the lands Of Penllyn and Ardudwy were united. |
| Rhagnell |
You believe it's true? If that's the case Gronw must make his escape, yourself too. |
| Enter Gronw. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
Did you hear Gronw? |
| Gronw |
I heard everything. My captain's heard the same. He urges me to flee to Penllyn. Llew approaches With three hundred fighting men. We have forty. Some of those were pressed into our service Here in Ardudwy. I can't trust them with my life. And those that I do trust... I've looked into their eyes They have the honour of Penllyn etched in their hearts And also families and lands back home. I'll not ask them to die here, on my whim. I'll face the Llew alone when he comes To reclaim his territory. You two must flee. But I must stay and do what honour decrees. |
| Blodeuwedd |
It's not that honour's re-awoken in you Gronw. It's that passion's died. A year's a long time. That wild edge has blunted. I've felt it. Novelty pales. Ardour wanes. To you passion Was a dalliance, a stolen ecstasy. To me it's life. It's what I am. |
| Gronw |
And I am what I am. There's always a battle between duty and passion You said you're a cousin to the wolves You live to devour, to scavenge and to mate. You have needs. They rule you. I have lust too. But I can curb it, and set it aside When obligation demands. Go Rhagnell. Collect your mistress's possessions Ready for your journey to Penllyn. |
| Rhagnell |
Is this the end of our time in Ardudwy? My days here are over? |
| Gronw |
Yes. Your duties here are done. You must leave. |
| Rhagnell |
If that's your decision, I'll go. |
| Exit Rhagnell. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
You don't have to listen to that dull beat Of duty. I've taught you better. I'll go. But you must come with me... |
| Gronw |
Where? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Not to any fort. But to the woodlands. We'll follow the river to the dark caves Of its source. That's my empire. Come with me Gronw! We'll be wild forever. |
| Gronw |
Don't touch me woman. The hour's come. We must part. You have a journey ahead of you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I won't leave here without you. I won't leave you alone in Gwydion's hands. |
| Gronw |
Your husband lives. He'll be here now. You can't stay. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I can't go to total strangers. They'll kill me without you. |
| Gronw |
I've told you. I'm going to face the Llew. |
| Blodeuwedd |
There'll be no one staying behind, but you? |
| Gronw |
I won't be alone for long. I'll soon have company. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I'll wait for Rhagnell to return. |
| Gronw |
I wouldn't be too surprised To see her arrive with Gwydion. After all he gave her to you as a maid. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Rhagnell was never devious. She's a loyal woman. She was our go-between, remember? |
| Gronw |
Remember? Too well. Do you want to stay, with me? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Yes. I'm frightened. But I don't want to leave you. You don't even have your weapons, Shall I fetch A sword, a shield? Don't you intend to fight? |
| Gronw |
It's not my turn to strike. Not this time. |
| Blodeuwedd |
And you'll fall to your knees in front of him? He can't forgive. I know my Llew. |
| Gronw |
I can forego his mercy. I'll settle for The stab of his spear. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Do you want to die? |
| Gronw |
How long it's taken you to read my mind. |
| Blodeuwedd |
What do you think you'll achieve by your death? |
| Gronw |
A final hour of freedom. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I don't understand you. Out there are horses, ready, saddled to go, And freedom in their stirrups. Why don't we go? |
| Gronw |
Freedom's here. Here with you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
With me? O, my Gronw. I misunderstood. But no, I see now... Your freedom is us dying in each other's arms And we crown a short life's love with this last defiance. |
| Gronw |
My freedom doesn't lie in your arms. It's in having you here when my end comes And in choosing death, your sister, before you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You want to disown me? Blame me For making you a murderer? Plead before Llew That a woman's wiles were to blame for what you did. Is that how you'll gain your freedom? |
| Gronw |
You needn't worry. I don't expect your death Will save my life. I've only minutes Left to live. Your husband, woman, Is coming and so is my death. I choose that. It's in that choice that I find my freedom. |
| Blodeuwedd |
So your freedom is to escape from me? |
| Gronw |
I can't escape from you except through death. The poison of your kisses circulates in my blood. Why should I live on? To taste for a lifetime That which I've already experienced? You were right Blodeuwedd. Passion's fire Turns to embers. You sate the body till surfeit sets in. And then staleness, and shame, follow indulgence. Your love is a grave, not a future. No child Will laugh in those arms; there's no cradle in our keep. |
| Blodeuwedd |
How d'you know that? Llew thought he was fated Not to bear children with me. That fate Even if true, does not extend to me. |
| Gronw |
No matter now. There is no future. In the deep of night there's the sound Of a lunatic crying, howling on the breasts Of darkness and chewing on dirt, urged on By the mocking screech of an owl. I lost the paths of humankind, to follow Torches to a quagmire, and I sank. I sought To grasp at a star; a clawing bat clung to my face. Today a bolt has struck me, and I woke up. I see Penllyn again. I see my childhood there. Then I see myself as I am now. Oh, filthy! And your stare spearing me. I'd rather His sword than your kisses. |
| Llew and Gwydion enter. |
|
| Gwydion |
Walking through an open door as if to a banquet And the lord and lady awaiting us with their welcome. |
| Llew takes hold of Gronw and pushes him to his knees. |
|
| Llew |
Where are your men, traitor? |
| Gronw |
All dispersed. I alone struck you. You needn't seek others On whom to vent your wrath. |
| Llew ties Gronw's hands. |
|
| Gwydion |
And here's the handsome heir, a son of Gronw Hir, But now without followers, a captive, no spear to hand. |
| Gronw |
Lord, you don't need to tie me; I stayed To do your will. I'm ready for your revenge, standing As free as you yourself stood on the goat trough. |
| Gwydion |
That's true nephew. I knew his father, And the fortress at the lake's edge. Untie him, We must respect the wishes of a man condemned to die. |
| Llew |
I won't let him escape. Only a cord of flax binds his arms; He bound me with the tethers of a wife's lies. |
| Gronw |
What do you want lord? |
| Llew |
Your life. |
| Gronw |
You have a right to that. I'll yield it gladly. |
| Llew |
You spent a whole year plotting my death Another full year you took possession of my bed, My fortress, my princedom and this half-human harpy Who once passed as a wife. It's not for that either That I want your blood, rather because you heard The greatest secret of my soul, and laughed. You mocked at my misfortune – you ridiculed The confession of a man ensnared by love Your treachery cut you from mankind; The mark of the forest is on you. You can't live. |
| Gronw |
How d'you want to kill me? |
| Llew |
Uncle Gwydion, what shall we do with him? |
| Gwydion |
We'll decide what to do with him presently. There'll be another body on the banks of the Cynfael. But this time there'll be no laughter, and no physician. |
| Gronw |
No tears either, but a welcome to death. I'll come back among mankind by passing through Those common gates that claim all mortals. Thank you, sir. And you... (To Blodeuwedd.) I curse the day I met you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
My man of magic, you've travelled far today, But you don't want me to greet you. Or offer you mead to quench your thirst? |
| Gwydion |
Your husband's already tasted your poison. You've brought death and misery to those around you. Let's show her, Llew, what we found by the stream. The wiser the servant, the quicker They are to pre-empt punishment. |
| Blodeuwedd |
What wisdom? What servant? The only Servant that I could call my own was Rhagnell. She's not deserving of any punishment. |
| Gwydion |
As we approached the fort we found A body on the riverbank, drowned... Wild dogs were already feeding on it, Trying to drag it out of the water. |
| Gwydion drops a blood soaked garment at Blodeuwedd's feet, it is Rhagnell's. Blodeuwedd clasps the garment to her. |
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| Blodeuwedd |
No! |
| Gwydion |
Rhagnell's chores are all done now. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Fear of exile killed her. |
| Gwydion |
No. Cowardice killed her. There's no steel in woman-kind. |
| Blodeuwedd |
No steel? But there's blood. So much blood! She was a mother to me - the only one Who didn't want to use me. She taught me things. She could forgive me. She understood. |
| Gwydion |
She also understood that punishment And revenge and death were imminent. |
| Blodeuwedd |
My happiness alone is deserving of your punishment. |
| Gwydion |
Happiness? That's what's foremost in your mind? What of Poison, treachery, mayhem, luring a husband to his death. Some little details that are not to everyone's taste. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Am I the first unfaithful wife? |
| Gwydion |
I'm not saying that. Your sort is one of many, |
| Blodeuwedd |
You're a sorcerer Gwydion, steeped in learning, You're strong and bold enough to challenge nature To toy with it and battle with the power Hidden in the rocks. Why? To satisfy what? You chose Llew as your heir You wanted to make him worthy Of Math's throne, a future king of Gwynedd, And a father to a line of princes no doubt. His life was blighted by his mother's conditions, But you, the oak wizard, master of creation's codes, You made it your great mission to reshape his destiny. Then you raped the woodland to flesh him a wife. Me. So I became your captive and his slave-girl You gave me this form to tend on him, To soothe away his cares, help him forget his birth-lot And see if I could give him children. Tell me Gwydion, wasn't that your grand design? |
| Gwydion |
Is it a violation to ask a wife To bear her husband a son? |
| Blodeuwedd |
Thank you, wizard. But it was fated that Arianrhod's son Should never have a wife of woman born, He feared too that he would never sire a son. He wouldn't submit to his fate, Not him, nor you. I was caught, a pawn, In your tinkering, to trick his fate. Is it wrong of me at least to be true To my instinct? I begged him, This youth not meant for love, to look at me And take me once for what I was. But he struck a song of jubilation for his son And told his last story to his heir and future hope; He wouldn't leave his dream of tomorrow To share the today of my empty heart. |
| Llew |
Gwydion, it's true. She has been wronged. She doesn't deserve to die as that other does. |
| Gwydion |
Do you say that? I don't believe it! |
| Blodeuwedd |
Gronw has chosen to die. Rhagnell is dead. Why should I live? |
| Llew |
I came here bitter, intending for you A savage punishment. I see now That you've always been a creature to pity. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You fought against your fate. I fought mine; We've both battled against what must be. |
| Llew |
That's why I can forgive you. No rational soul could love like you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
One tried. I gave him to you as your heir. |
| Llew |
And he's chosen death to escape from you. |
| Blodeuwedd |
And your jealousy needs to claim his life. Because he could love, and he set my love on fire. What will you do without me, poor husband, You know you'll have no other wife of woman born? |
| Llew |
I'll accept my destiny And make a nest of my sorrows. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Oh, I can hear your mother laughing long and loud. |
| Gwydion |
I wonder? You don't hear her sobbing in the night. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Your hearth will be so empty, your bed so cold. |
| Llew |
We're all exiles. The world's a cold hearth. I'll join the army of bitter souls. |
| Blodeuwedd |
Here's a destiny that'll please your mother. From now on you'll never know love. |
| Llew |
The love I could achieve, I gave to you. I put my life in your hands. You betrayed it. |
| Blodeuwedd |
So I could gain a life myself. Take your revenge. |
| Llew |
I can't. You may walk from here, freely. |
| Blodeuwedd |
How gracious of you. And I'll go where? To my family? To my loved ones? To my lover? |
| Gwydion stands behind the kneeling Gronw. |
|
| Gwydion |
This creature? He doesn't love you now. He fears you Despises you even. Tell her Gronw. |
| Gronw |
I feel nothing. With her I experienced everything I was on fire with her. We loved. We lived. We lusted. Not now. Not ever again. |
| Gwydion |
No. Not ever again. He expects death. He lived outside our code of honour. He crossed the gods. And the gods are on our side. |
| Blodeuwedd |
I hate you Gwydion. I hate your gods. |
| Gwydion |
I'm a god myself. In that I create life. And I can kill love. So easily. Right here. |
| Gwydion takes a knife and cuts Gronw's throat. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
No! I loved him, Gwydion. |
| Gwydion |
You're avenged, my Llew. |
| Llew |
Am I? With everything around me dead or dying. |
| Gwydion |
Honour and revenge are satisfied. Life will go on. But this demi-creature, Half woman, half animal, what shadow world Will welcome her? What land of lost souls? |
| Blodeuwedd |
I'll go to the woods. Maybe I'll rot away. Maybe I'll live a while. Unless you destroy me With the same speed with which you made me. |
| Gwydion |
I won't destroy you. Nature will do that for me. |
| Blodeuwedd |
You forget that I am nature, and nature Regenerates. It's greater than man's devices. It will outlast you all. I'll go back To the kingdom of the senses I'll create mayhem in men's dreams And sunder the foundations of your ordered world. |
| Gwydion |
Listen before you go. In the woodland There's a bird which is fearsome, like you. And like you, loves the night. Its shriek, Like your laughter, is an omen of death. Between it and the other birds there is hatred. Your sojourn among men was not happy. Go to the darkness, to the company of owls, To the rites of the moon and the hollow trees. Now as you cross this threshold, And blink from the sun, your mocking laugh Shall become an owl's shriek, and never again In daylight will you show your face. |
| Blodeuwedd smears herself with blood from Gronw's corpse. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
To the black earth and the twisted trees Where I'll waste away, like all life does. |
| Gwydion |
And you'll be an exile forever. |
| Blodeuwedd |
In that I won't be alone, My tortured wizard and my abject husband... |
| She smears the blood on Gwydion and Llew. |
|
| Blodeuwedd |
But first I'll go to Arianrhod's fort. I might even have earned some welcome there And she might get the companion that she's craved. |
| She runs from them unleashing a blood-curdling scream. The scream turns into an owl's screech. A white owl in flight. Gwydion wipes the blood from Llew's face as they stand over the bloodied body of Gronw. |
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EPILOGUE |
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| CAER ARIANRHOD, ARFON The sound of waves crashing onto the shore. Arianrhod is cradling something in her arms. The screech of the owl turns into a baby's cry. END |