The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth (14 page)

Look at him now, in his beauty of death.

MALE SLAVE

I never had children.

WOMAN SLAVE

I am not thinking of warriors but their women.

This is the kind of suffering I would have honoured,

Oh God, oh God, what will happen to my sons?

MALE SLAVE

Be patient. Life is very long.

WOMAN SLAVE

                                                   Africa, Guinea.

(
She weeps.
)

MALE SLAVE

Life is good, woman.

WOMAN SLAVE

Africa, the white birds by the river’s edge at sunrise,

The clear waters over white stones, the children

Splashing in mud.

(
They begin a new chant.
)

MALE SLAVE

It is strange what the gods allow. Listen,

Your people are singing. The children are frightened.

WOMAN SLAVE

Do they whip them, too?

(
A
CHILD
comes over.
)

MALE SLAVE

                                             I do not know.

Is this one of the King’s sons?

WOMAN SLAVE

Yes. Man is a beast. Man is a beast.

What will they do this one, at such an age?

MALE SLAVE

They will put the mark on him, as we do beasts.

(
Pause, chanting.
)

In our country, we thank the gods for each day.

WOMAN SLAVE

And so do we. I suppose so do all lucky men.

MALE SLAVE

I do not believe in luck. I believe in God.

Here comes our days-long anguish, let us be brave.

(
GARCÍA
,
whip in hand, appears.
)

GARCÍA

All right, stir them up there, get them awake.

We’ll get them dancing to limber up their muscles,

They must land in a purchasable condition.

How many dead this voyage?

SAILOR

                                                     There’s one dead here.

GARCÍA

That one wasn’t worth much anyway.

Pablo, get the drum and start their exercises.

You, take the carcass below, do you hear me?

Get below, you bastard, d’you understand?

(
He kicks a
SLAVE
.
Drumming starts; no one moves.
)

I hate to use this, but you’d better start moving.

What’s the matter, doesn’t the King love music?

Come on, everybody’s equal here, Your Majesty.

(
They start to move slowly, wearily; the
KING
falls.
)

Wait a minute, stop the drumming, stop it.

Get up, Your Majesty, get up and dance.

Take that child away from him. Now, come on, dance.

(
The
KING
is unable to move.
)

He’s a stubborn bastard.

SAILOR

This might help him.

(
He punches the
KING
,
who falls; the
SLAVES
stop.
)

GARCÍA

Keep them dancing and drag the body off.

Keep the child from him. Come, tear him off.

(
The
CHILD
is lifted off the
KING
’s body and thrown near the steps.
)

JEW
(
Coming down the steps.
)

Señor, the child, I will buy the boy from you.

GARCÍA

Get out of the way, this is none of your concern.

(
To
PABLO
,
another sailor
)

You’re fumbling up everything, keep them dancing.

JEW

The boy. The child. I’ll buy him from you.

GARCÍA

I can’t hear you. You want to buy the boy?

JEW

Yes, yes, how much?

GARCÍA

                                      Twenty pieces.

JEW

I have only fifteen; will you take fifteen?

GARCÍA

Seventeen. Two more when we land. Fifteen right now.

All right, enough. Take them below and feed them.

Fifteen all right with you, he’s a king’s son?

Let me tell you, you’re a damned fool, mister.

The boy is sure to die of one thing or another.

JEW

Not if I own him. Come, come to me, child.

(
The
CHILD
huddles to him.
)

SAILOR
(
Aloft.
)

Sail, sail to leeward.

GARCÍA

What colours, you idiot?

SAILOR

Inglesi, Inglesi.

(
The
SLAVES
herded out through the central door, back. The door is closed. Chanting offstage more urgent now, wails and screams from the
WOMEN
.)

GARCÍA

Tell them there’s no gold aboard, only niggers.

(
To
JEW
)

Get out of the way, sir, with your purchase.

Get out the cannon there, stand by to fire.

(
Cannon fire.
MALE SLAVE
comes up through the trapdoor, stabs
GARCÍA
.)

O Mother of God, get me a priest, I am dying.

(
He falls.
)

When did I offend you, Jew?

JEW
(
Bending over
GARCÍA
.)

It was the slave, I could not kill a man. You killed the King.

GARCÍA

The darkness comes, O Mother of God.

Do not leave me alone, sir.

(
Cannon fire.
)

JEW

                                                 … I have to save the boy.

What is it?

GARCÍA

I remember Quadrado … Oh God … Life has gone the dial.

(
He dies.
)

JEW
(
With
CHILD
.)

That is a passage you must go alone, poor man.

Come stand by me; perhaps we shall be taken,

But we shall find roots in the new land together.

Come, move out of this danger of the battle.

I will take care of thee, as my own son,

For we are outcasts together in one sorrow.

(
Blackout.
)

(
Cannon fire. Music.
)

Scene 5
Boyhood of Raleigh

Music: Reprise of
PACO
’s song. A wintry beach in England.
PACO
,
an old beggar, walking.

PACO
(
Singing
BARTOLOME
’s song.
)

You generous burghers, English, Portuguese,

Who warm white jewelled hands, with winter near.

Here is old Paco, who sailed the green Indies.

The winter wind blows round his tattered legs …

A man may walk on all the broken beaches of this world, and come to the warmth of an inn in winter, and
sí,
death is the landlord. I’ve seen the four-hued seasons, the fox-coloured autumn, the broad-leafed summer, and the green spring, but I’ll be damned if I can get used to this English winter; it moulders an old man’s flesh. My purse, where’s my purse? The fur from this old Flemish collar’s gone, and my old teeth ache. I need new boots. There’s enough wreckage here to start a fire with. It’s cold, winter’s coming on like the great grey wolf, and me with no summer in these swollen veins. Wait, here’s something half hidden in the sand. (
Finds stumps of wood.
) Nothing, only wood. Still, it will make a fire. Count the coins again, count the purse. Here’s five Spanish pieces, two Dutch, and God knows where I lost Quadrado’s coin these last forty years.

(
BOYS
’
voices off.
)

Put the coins away, they’re after you. The little dogs are hounding the old bear.

(
Enter young
RALEIGH
and young
GILBERT
.)

RALEIGH
(
Dancing around him.
)

It’s the old Spaniard, Paco, Paco, ay, cannibal!

PACO

Keep from me, you two, I chew human flesh.

GILBERT

Leave him, Walter, he hates to be annoyed.

PACO

That’s right, you tell him,
niño,
I chew English flesh.

You come near old Paco the cannibal and see.

I’ll split your heads open with this bit of wood.

RALEIGH

Look at his eyes and his hair. Throw it, Spaniard.

PACO

You’re a brave imp. What’s your name, boy?

RALEIGH

What’re you doing on this beach?

PACO

What’s your friend’s name, then?

GILBERT

He’s Walter Raleigh. I’m his cousin Humphrey Gilbert.

PACO

Well then, Master Gilbert, if you’re a Christian,

Tell your friend here, I’m a great chewer of children.

My people, the Tainos, were great eaters of Christians.

But you’re grand gentlemen’s sons, I can see,

So throw a coin to an ancient sailor, for honestly,

I have no sides but the sharp wind finds holes

Through the ribs of this wreck I am, friends.

Do that, and I’ll be off.

GILBERT

                                         Are you cold, sir?

PACO

Ay, ay, boy, cold in three languages.

RALEIGH

I’ve heard of him, cousin, he’s a great liar.

He tells lies in all the inns, for drink,

And he’s a foul old Spaniard.

PACO

                                                   Half, half, mate.

The rest of this carcass is proud Indian, Tainos.

(
Hopping around.
)

Oh, it’s the biting cold I can’t shake off by dancing.

But a coin or two from you Christian boys, I’ll tell you.

You’ve heard tell of the great Admiral Columbus.

I fed the old man his supper once, you doubt it?

Then leave me alone!

(
He hurls wood.
)

GILBERT

Shall I give him a coin, cousin?

PACO

Look, do you see this wood I threw at you?

Bring it here, mate, and I’ll tell you a thing.

GILBERT

Here.

(
He throws a coin.
)

PACO

Thank you, lad. It’s a fragment of Spanish ship.

Can you read what’s marked on it, Master Gilbert?

RALEIGH

Don’t go near him, cousin.

PACO
(
To
RALEIGH
)

There, you read it, then, though there’s sea grime

Grooved in the letters; can you read it, then?

RALEIGH
(
Spelling out letters.
)

El Dorado, El Dorado.

PACO

Ah! El Dorado, now, have you heard of that?

RALEIGH

Yes, it’s in the west, but it’s a Spanish legend.

PACO

Legend, legend, he says, like a sceptical Christian.

I was like you, my boy, before I saw the great legend

That Quadrado called Europe; but now what would you say

If I said, kissing this cross, that I’ve seen the legend.

Would that provoke a coin from your purse, lad?

(
He pauses.
)

This El Dorado is a golden country,

I showed it once to an officer called Quadrado.

Oh, I’ve tossed like an old cork on the seas of the world.

Seen whales and marvels in my old age, but this,

This bewilders belief. This bit of log, mates,

Tells of a golden city in the green heart of Guiana,

And these two words, they mean the gilded king.

But it’ll take another coin to unlock my tongue.

RALEIGH

Then if this legend is so certain,

Why haven’t the Spanish found the city, sir?

(
They draw near him.
)

PACO
(
Sits.
)

Because out of the deep beliefs of their religion

The cunning Indians kept the secret from them,

For the Spanish, you know, destroyed my people.

There’s many Spanish expeditions looked for it.

They’re rusting in the emerald jungles now.

It’s a far voyage.

RALEIGH

                             How far is it, old man?

PACO

Far as I am from home, and the warm islands.

It’s a perilous voyage, farther than Columbus,

And farther than the great conquistadors have found,

Men of the stamp of Cortés and Quesada.

Resilient men, formed in the Spanish temper,

Who conquered Mexico and Montezuma,

But this gold legend on this worm-riddled wood

They’ll never find.

GILBERT

                                 The English will.

PACO

Well, when you do, remember your old friend Paco.

Look, mates, I’ll tell you a dying secret, but

Would your cousin lend me the price of a jug?

GILBERT

Give him a coin, cousin. Now, will you show us where?