Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder 6

  Enter the unemployed man.

  THE UNEMPLOYED MAN: Is it true Shen Teh’s clearing out?

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: Yes. She meant to sneak away so we shouldn’t know.

  MRS SHIN: She’s ashamed because she’s broke.

  THE UNEMPLOYED MAN, excited: She must send for her cousin! All of you, advise her to send for her cousin! He’s the only one can do anything.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: That’s right! He’s mean enough, but at least he’ll save her business, and then she’ll be generous.

  THE UNEMPLOYED MAN: I wasn’t thinking of us, I was thinking of her. But it’s a fact: he must be sent for for our sakes too.

  Enter Wang with the carpenter. He is leading two children by the hand.

  THE CARPENTER: Truly, I can’t thank you enough. To the others: We’re to get a lodging.

  MRS SHIN: Where?

  THE CARPENTER: In Mr Shu Fu’s buildings. And it was little Feng who managed it! Ah, there you are! ‘Here’s someone begging for shelter’, Miss Shen Teh’s supposed to have said, and she finds us lodgings there and then. Say thank you to your brother, all of you!

  The carpenter and his children make pretence of bowing to the child.

  THE CARPENTER: Our thanks, shelter-beggar!

  Shui Ta has entered.

  SHUI TA: May I ask what you are all doing here?

  THE UNEMPLOYED MAN: Mr Shui Ta!

  WANG: Good day, Mr Shui Ta. I didn’t realise you were back. You know Lin To the carpenter. Miss Shen Teh promised to find him a corner in one of Mr Shu Fu’s buildings.

  SHUI TA: Mr Shu Fu’s buildings are booked.

  THE CARPENTER: Does that mean we can’t lodge there?

  SHUI TA: No. These premises are reserved for another purpose.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: Have we got to move out too then?

  SHUI TA: Unfortunately.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: But where can we all go?

  SHUI TA, shrugging his shoulders: Miss Shen Teh, who has left town, gave me to understand that she had no intention of neglecting you. In future however it must all be rather more sensibly arranged. No more free meals without working for it. Instead every man shall have the opportunity to improve his condition honourably by his labour. Miss Shen Teh has decided to find work for you all. Those of you who now choose to follow me into Mr Shu Fu’s buildings will not be led into the blue.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: Do you mean we’ve all got to start working for Shen Teh?

  SHUI TA: Yes. You will shred tobacco. There are three full bales in the back room there. Get them!

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: Don’t forget we used to have a shop of our own. We’d rather work for ourselves. We’ve got our own tobacco.

  SHUI TA, to the unemployed man and the carpenter: Perhaps you would like to work for Shen Teh, as you have no tobacco of your own?

  The carpenter and the unemployed man comply reluctantly,

  and exeunt. Mrs Mi Tzu enters.

  MRS MI TZU: Now then, Mr Shui Ta, how about the sale of the stock? I have your 300 silver dollars here with me.

  SHUI TA: Mrs Mi Tzu, I have decided not to sell, but to sign the lease.

  MRS MI TZU: What? Don’t you want the money for the pilot any more?

  SHUI TA: No.

  MRS MI TZU: And can you find the rent?

  SHUI TA takes the barber’s cheque off the cart and fills it in. I have here a cheque for 10,000 silver dollars, signed by Mr Shu Fu, who is taking an interest in my cousin. Look for yourself, Mrs Mi Tzu! You will get your 200 silver dollars for the next half-year’s rent before six this evening. And now, Mrs Mi Tzu, you will allow me to go on with my own work. I am extremely busy today and must ask you to excuse me.

  MRS MI TZU: So Mr Shu Fu is in the pilot’s shoes now! 10,000 silver dollars! All the same I am astounded that young girls nowadays should be so frivolous and unstable, Mr Shui Ta.

  Exit.

  The carpenter and the unemployed man bring in the sacks.

  THE CARPENTER: I can’t think why I should have to cart your sacks for you.

  SHUI TA: The point is that I can. Your son has a healthy appetite. He wants to eat, Mr Lin To.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW sees the sacks: Has my brother-in-law been here?

  MRS SHIN: Yes.

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW: I thought so. I know those sacks. That’s our tobacco.

  SHUI TA: I advise you not to say that so loudly. That is my tobacco, as you can see from the fact that it was in my room. But if you have any doubts about it we can go to the police and clear them up. Do you wish to?

  THE SISTER-IN-LAW, crossly: No.

  SHUI TA: Evidently you haven’t got your own stock of tobacco after all. Perhaps under those circumstances you will accept the helping hand which Miss Shen Teh is offering you? Be so good now as to show me the way to Mr Shu Fu’s buildings. Taking the hand of the carpenter’s youngest child, Shui Ta walks off, followed by the carpenter, his remaining children, the sister-in-law, the grandfather, the unemployed man. Sister-in-law, carpenter and unemployed man drag out the sacks.

  WANG: He is not a wicked man, but Shen Teh is good.

  MRS SHIN: I’m not sure. There’s a pair of trousers missing from the clothes line, and her cousin is wearing them. That must mean something. I’d like to know what.

  Enter the two old people.

  THE OLD WOMAN: Is Miss Shen Teh not here?

  MRS SHIN, absently: Left town.

  THE OLD WOMAN: That’s strange. She was going to bring us something.

  WANG, looking painfully at his hand: And she was going to help me. My hand’s going stiff. She’s sure to be back soon. Her cousin never stays long.

  MRS SHIN: He doesn’t, does he?

  Interlude

  Wang’s Sleeping-Place

  Music. In a dream the water-seller informs the gods of his fears. The gods are still engaged on their long pilgrimage. They seem tired. Unresponsive at first, they turn and look back at the water-seller.

  WANG: Before you appeared and awoke me, O Illustrious Ones, I was dreaming and saw my dear sister Shen Teh in great distress among the reeds by the river, at the spot where the suicides are found. She was staggering in a strange way and held her head bent as if she were carrying something soft and heavy that was pressing her into the mud. When I called to her she called back that she must carry the whole bundle of precepts across to the other bank, keeping it dry so that the ink should not run. In fact I could see nothing on her shoulder. But I was sharply reminded that you gods had lectured her about the major virtues as a reward for her taking you in when you were stuck for a night’s lodging, the more shame to us! I am certain you understand my worries for her.

  THE THIRD GOD: What do you suggest?

  WANG: A slight reduction of the precepts, Illustrious Ones. A slight alleviation of the bundle of precepts, O gracious ones, in view of the difficulty of the times.

  THE THIRD GOD: For instance, Wang, for instance?

  WANG: For instance, that only good will should be required instead of love, or …

  THE THIRD GOD: But that is far harder, you unhappy man!

  WANG: Or fairness instead of justice.

  THE THIRD GOD: But that means more work!

  WANG: Then plain decency instead of honour!

  THE THIRD GOD: But that is far more, you man of doubts!

  They wander wearily on.

  8

  Shui Ta’s Tobacco Factory

  Shui Ta has set up a small tobacco factory in Mr Shu Fu’s huts. Horribly constricted, a number of families huddle behind bars. Women and children predominate, among them the sister-in-law, the grandfather, the carpenter and his children. In front of them enter Mrs Yang, followed by her son, Sun.

  MRS YANG, to the audience: I must describe to you how the wisdom and discipline of our universally respected Mr Shui Ta turned my son Sun from a broken wreck into a useful citizen. Near the cattle-yard, as the whole neighbourhood quickly came to hear, Mr Shui Ta started a small but rapidly prospering tobacco factory. Three mon
ths ago I found it advisable to call on him there with my son. He received me after a brief wait.

  Shui Ta comes up to Mrs Yang from the factory.

  SHUI TA: What can I do for you, Mrs Yang?

  MRS YANG: Mr Shui Ta, I should like to put in a word for my son. The police came round this morning, and we heard that you were suing in Miss Shen Teh’s name for breach of promise and fraudulent conversion of 200 silver dollars.

  SHUI TA: Quite correct, Mrs Yang.

  MRS YANG: Mr Shui Ta, in the gods’ name can you not temper justice with mercy once more? The money has gone. He ran through it in a couple of days as soon as the idea of the pilot’s job fell through. I know he is a bad lot. He had already sold my furniture and was going to set off to Pekin without his poor old mother. She weeps. There was a time when Miss Shen Teh thought very highly of him.

  SHUI TA: Have you got anything to say to me, Mr Yang Sun?

  SUN, sombrely: The money’s gone.

  SHUI TA: Mrs Yang, in view of the weakness which my cousin for some inexplicable reason felt for your broken-down son, I am prepared to give him another chance. She told me she thought honest work might bring an improvement. I can find him a place in my factory. The 200 silver dollars will be deducted in instalments from his wages.

  SUN: So it’s to be factory or clink?

  SHUI TA: It’s your own choice.

  SUN: And no chance of talking to Shen Teh, I suppose.

  SHUI TA: No.

  SUN: Show me where I work.

  MRS YANG: A thousand thanks, Mr Shui Ta. Your kindness is overwhelming, and the gods will repay you. To Sun: You have strayed from the narrow path. See if honest work will make you fit to look your mother in the face again.

  Sun follows Shui Ta into the factory. Mrs Yang returns to the front of the stage.

  MRS YANG: The first weeks were difficult for Sun. The work was not what he was used to. He had little chance to show what he could do. It was only in the third week that a small incident brought him luck. He and Lin To who used to be a carpenter were shifting bales of tobacco.

  Sun and the former carpenter Lin To are each shifting two bales of tobacco.

  THE FORMER CARPENTER comes to a halt groaning, and lowers himself on to one of the bales: I’m about done in. I’m too old for this sort of work.

  SUN likewise sits down: Why don’t you tell them they can stuff their bales?

  THE FORMER CARPENTER: How would we live then? To get the barest necessities I must even set the kids to work. A pity Miss Shen Teh can’t see it! She was good.

  SUN: I’ve known worse. If things had been a bit less miserable we’d have hit it off quite well together. I’d like to know where she is. We had better get on. He usually comes about now.

  They get up.

  SUN sees Shui Ta coming: Give us one of your sacks, you old cripple! Sun adds one of Lin To’s bales to his own load.

  THE FORMER CARPENTER: Thanks a lot! Yes, if she were there you’d certainly go up a peg when she saw how helpful you were to an old man. Ah yes!

  Enter Shui Ta.

  MRS YANG: And a glance is enough for Mr Shui Ta to spot a good worker who will tackle anything. And he takes a hand.

  SHUI TA: Hey, you two! What’s happening here? Why are you only carrying one sack?

  THE FORMER CARPENTER: I feel a bit run down today, Mr Shui Ta, and Yang Sun was so kind …

  SHUI TA: You go back and pick up three bales, my friend. If Yang Sun can do it, so can you. Yang Sun puts his heart in it, and you don’t.

  MRS YANG, while the former carpenter fetches two more bales: Not a word to Sun, of course, but Mr Shui Ta had noticed. And next Saturday, at the pay desk …

  A table is set up and Shui Ta comes with a small bag of money. Standing next the overseer – the former unemployed man – he pays out the wages. Sun steps up to the table.

  THE OVERSEER: Yang Sun – 6 silver dollars.

  SUN: Sorry, but it can’t be more than five. Not more than 5 silver dollars. He takes the list which the overseer is holding. Look, here you are, you’ve got me down for six full days, but I was off one day, as I had to go to court. Ingratiatingly: I wouldn’t like to be paid money I hadn’t earned, however lousy the pay is.

  THE OVERSEER: 5 silver dollars, then! To Shui Ta: Very unusual that, Mr Shui Ta!

  SHUI TA: How do you come to have six days down here when it was only five?

  THE OVERSEER: Quite correct, Mr Shui Ta, I must have made a mistake. To Sun, coldly: It won’t occur again.

  SHIU TA calls Sun aside: I have noticed lately that you have plenty of strength and don’t grudge it to the firm. Now I see that you are to be trusted too. Does it often happen that the overseer makes mistakes to the firm’s loss?

  SUN: He’s friends with some of the workers, and they count him as one of them.

  SHUI TA: I see. One good turn deserves another. Would you like a bonus?

  SUN: No. But perhaps I might point out that I have also got a brain. I have had a fair education, you know. The overseer has the right ideas about the men, but being uneducated he can’t see what’s good for the firm. Give me a week’s trial, Mr Shui Ta, and I think I can prove to you that my brains are worth more to the firm than the mere strength of my muscles.

  MRS YANG: They were bold words, but that evening I told my Sun: ‘You are a flying man. Show that you can get to the top where you are now! Fly, my eagle!’ And indeed it is remarkable what brains and education will achieve! How can a man hope to better himself without them? Absolute miracles were performed by my son in the factory directed by Mr Shui Ta!

  Sun stands behind the workers, his legs apart. They are passing a basket of raw tobacco above their heads.

  SUN: Here you, that’s not proper work! The basket has got to be kept moving! To a child: Sit on the ground, can’t you? It takes up less room! And you might as well get on with a bit of pressing: yes, it’s you I’m talking to! You idle loafers, what do you think you’re paid for? Come on with that basket! O hell and damnation! Put grandpa over there and let him shred with the kids! There’s been enough dodging here! Now take your time from me! He claps time with his hands and the basket moves faster.

  MRS YANG: And no enmities, no slanderous allegations by the uneducated – for he was not spared that – could hold my son back from the fulfilment of his duty.

  One of the workers begins singing the song of the eighth elephant. The others join in the chorus.

  WORKERS’ CHORUS:

  SONG OF THE EIGHTH ELEPHANT

  1

  Seven elephants worked for Major Chung

  And an eighth one followed the others.

  Seven were wild and the eighth was tame

  And the eighth had to spy on his brothers.

  Keep moving!

  Major Chung owns a wood

  See it’s cleared before tonight.

  That’s orders. Understood?

  2

  Seven elephants were clearing the wood

  The eighth bore the Major in person

  Number eight merely checked that the work was correct

  And spared himself any exertion.

  Dig harder!

  Major Chung owns a wood

  See it’s cleared before tonight.

  That’s orders. Understood?

  3

  Seven elephants got tired of their work

  Of shoving and digging and felling.

  The Major was annoyed with the seven he employed

  But rewarded the eighth one for telling.

  What’s up now?

  Major Chung owns a wood

  See it’s cleared before tonight.

  That’s orders. Understood?

  4

  Seven elephants, not a tusk in their heads

  The eighth’s were in excellent order.

  So eight used his wits, slashed the seven to bits

  And the Major had never laughed harder.

  Dig away!

  Major Chung owns a wood

  See it?
??s cleared before tonight.

  That’s orders. Understood?

  Shui Ta has lounged forward, smoking a cigar. Yang Sun has laughingly joined in the chorus of the third verse and quickened the tempo in the fourth verse by clapping his hands.

  MRS YANG: We really owe everything to Mr Shui Ta. With wisdom and discipline, but with hardly a word of interference, he has brought out all the good that lay in Sun! He made no fantastic promises like his much overrated cousin, but forced him to do good honest work. Today Sun is a different person from what he was three months ago. I think you will admit it! ‘The noble soul is like a bell, strike it and it rings, strike it not and it rings not’, as our forebears used to say.

  9

  Shen Teh’s Shop

  The shop has been turned into an office, with easy chairs and fine carpets. It is raining. Shui Ta, now become fat, is showing out the old couple of carpet-dealers. Mrs Shin watches with amusement. It is plain that she is wearing new clothes.

  SHUI TA: I regret that I cannot say when she will be back.

  THE OLD WOMAN: We had a letter today enclosing the 200 silver dollars we once lent her. It didn’t say who from. But it can only be Shen Teh who sent it. We’d like to write to her: what’s her address?

  SHUI TA: I’m afraid I don’t know that either.

  THE OLD MAN: We’d better go.

  THE OLD WOMAN: Sooner or later she is bound to come back.

  Shui Ta bows. The two old people go off uncertain and upset.

  MRS SHIN: It was too late when they got their money back.

  Now they’ve lost their shop because they couldn’t pay their taxes.

  SHUI TA: Why didn’t they come to me?

  MRS SHIN: People don’t like coming to you. I expect they started by waiting for Shen Teh to come back as they’d got nothing in writing. Then the old man got ill at the critical moment, and his wife had to nurse him night and day.

  SHUI TA has to sit down because he feels sick: I feel giddy again.

  MRS SHIN fusses around him: You’re six months gone! You mustn’t let yourself get worked up. Lucky for you you’ve got me. Everyone can do with a helping hand. Yes, when your time comes I shall be at your side. She laughs.

  SHUI TA, feebly: Can I count on that, Mrs Shin?