Blood Wedding

MOTHER-IN-LAW (Very quietly, taking the child up):

            Sleep, little rose.

            The horse is crying.

LEONARDO: Where’s the baby?

WIFE: Asleep.

LEONARDO: He wasn’t well yesterday, crying all night.

WIFE (Gaily): Today he’s like a flower. And how are you? Have you been to the blacksmith’s?

LEONARDO: I’ve just come from there. Would you believe that for the past two months I’ve been putting new shoes on that horse, and they’re always falling off? It looks like the stones must pull them off.

WIFE: It isn’t because you ride him a lot?

LEONARDO: No, I almost never ride him.

WIFE: Yesterday the neighbors said they saw you way off on the edge of the plain.

LEONARDO: Who told you that?

WIFE: The women out gathering herbs. I was surprised to hear it. Was it really you?

LEONARDO: No. What do you think I’d be doing out there in that desert?

WIFE: That’s what I wondered. But your horse was dropping with sweat.

LEONARDO: Did you see it?

WIFE: No, but my mother did.

LEONARDO: Is she in there with the baby?

WIFE: Yes. Wouldn’t you like some lemonade?

LEONARDO: With some good cold water.

WIFE: Since you didn’t come to eat…

LEONARDO: I was out with the men measuring the wheat. There’s always something to hold a man up.

WIFE (Making the lemonade. Very tenderly): Are they paying a good price?

LEONARDO: Good enough.

WIFE: I need a new dress. And the baby needs a little bonnet with strings.

LEONARDO: I’m going to take a look at him.

WIFE: Be careful, he’s asleep.

MOTHER-IN-LAW (Entering): Who’s been running that horse like that? He’s tied down there with his eyes bucked out like he saw the end of the world.

LEONARDO (Shortly): Me.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: Excuse me! He’s your horse.

WIFE (Timidly): He’s been out with the men measuring the wheat.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: The horse can drop dead as far as I’m concerned.

WIFE: Here’s the lemonade. Is it cold enough?

LEONARDO: Yes.

WIFE: You know my cousin’s about to be asked for in marriage?

LEONARDO: When?

WIFE: Tomorrow. The wedding will be within a month. I hope they’ll invite us.

LEONARDO (Solemnly): I don’t know.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: I don’t think the boy’s mother is very much pleased with that marriage.

LEONARDO: Maybe she’s right. At least, she’s careful.

WIFE: I don’t like for you to speak that way about a decent girl.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: Whatever Leonardo says about her, he knows. Wasn’t he her sweetheart for three years?

LEONARDO: But I quit her. (To his wife) Are you getting ready to cry? Cut it out! (He pulls her hands down roughly from her face) Let’s go look at the baby.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: Child!

CHILD: A rose with stem and stamen even. Oh And all in silk!

MOTHER-IN-LAW: Two solid incomes getting together there.

CHILD (To them): I came to tell you what they’re buying. 

LEONARDO: We’re not interested.

WIFE: Let her go ahead.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: Leonardo doesn’t want to hear about it.

CHILD: Oh! (Going out crying) I’m sorry.

MOTHER-IN-LAW: What good reason have you got for aggravating everybody?

LEONARDO (Sitting down): Did I ask for your advice?

MOTHER-IN-LAW: All right!

Pause.

WIFE (To Leonardo): What’s the matter? What’s burning inside your head? Don’t keep me wondering like this, without knowing what it is.

LEONARDO: Leave me alone.

WIFE: No. I want you to look at me, and tell me what it is.

LEONARDO: Oh, get away! (He rises)

WIFE: Dear, where are you going?

LEONARDO (Sharply): Can’t you keep quiet?

GIRL: Open the door. It must be the first guests. (She exits)

SERVANT (Opening the door. Surprised): You?

LEONARDO: It’s me! Good morning!

SERVANT: You’re certainly the first to arrive.

LEONARDO: Wasn’t I invited?

SERVANT: You were.

LEONARDO: Then that’s why I came.

SERVANT: And your wife?

LEONARDO: I came on horseback. She’s coming along the road.

SERVANT: Did you pass anyone?

LEONARDO: I left them way behind, on my horse.

SERVANT: You’re going to kill that creature, running him like that.

LEONARDO: Well, when he’s dead, he’s dead! (Pause)

SERVANT: Sit down. Nobody’s up yet.

LEONARDO: And the bride?

SERVANT: I’m just going to dress her now.

LEONARDO: The bride! She ought to be happy!

SERVANT (Changing the conversation): How’s the baby?

LEONARDO: What baby?

SERVANT: Your son?

LEONARDO (As though dreaming): Oh!

SERVANT: Are they bringing him along?

LEONARDO: No. 

VOICES:

The bride awakes

on her wedding morn.

LEONARDO: 

The bride awakes

on her wedding morn.

SERVANT: The folks are coming. But they’re still a long ways off.

LEONARDO: The bride will wear a big wreath, won’t she? But it shouldn’t be too big. A smaller one would be better for her. And say, has the groom brought the orange blossoms yet for her to put on her breast?

GIRL (Entering. Still in petticoats with the wreath of orange blossoms on her head): He brought them.

SERVANT (Loudly): Child, what’s this?

GIRL: What does it matter? Why do you ask if he brought the orange blossoms? What do you mean by that?

LEONARDO: Nothing. What did you think I meant? (Approaching) You know I didn’t bring them. Say! What have I meant to you anyway? Think back a little. But two oxen and a lousy shack weren’t worth a thing! That’s what hurts.

GIRL: What did you come here for?

LEONARDO: To see your wedding.

GIRL: I saw yours, too.

LEONARDO: Made by you. Tied by your two hands, yet even if I’m killed, no one will spit on me. But money, that glitters and shines, that can be like spit, too, sometimes.

GIRL: Liar!

LEONARDO: I’d better shut up. I’m a man with blood running in my veins and I don’t want those hills to know what I have to say.

GIRL: I can say a lot more than you.

SERVANT: This kind of talk has got to stop. You mustn’t keep the past stirred up like that. (She glances anxiously at the door)

GIRL: You’re right! I shouldn’t even speak to you. The nerve of you! Coming here to see me now, getting in the way of my wedding, insinuating about my orange blossoms. Get out! And wait for your wide at the door.

LEONARDO: You and I can’t even talk together?

SERVANT (Angrily): No, you can’t talk together!

LEONARDO: After my own wedding. I wondered day and night who was to blame. And every time I started to think, a new blame came along and ate up the other one. But somebody was to blame!

GIRL: There’s a certain man with a horse who knows a lot, and can do a lot to hurt a girl in the desert. But I’m proud! That’s why I’m getting married. And I’ll lock myself up with my husband, and it’ll be my duty to love him more than anybody else on earth.

LEONARDO (Drawing near): Pride won’t do you any good.

GIRL: Don’t touch me!

LEONARDO: Just to stay quiet and burn up inside, that’s the worst thing that can happen to us. What good did pride do me, keeping me away from you? Letting you toss without sleep night after night? No good! It just set me on fire inside, that’s all! If you think time heals and walls shut out, it’s not true. When something’s deep down in your soul, there’s nothing on earth can tear it out! 

GIRL (Trembling): I can’t listen to you! Oh, I can’t bear to hear your voice! It’s just as if I’d drunk a whole bottle of anisette and gone to sleep in a bed of roses. The current drags me down, and I know I am drowning, but I have to go.

SERVANT (Grabbing Leonardo by the lapels): You’ve got to get out! Now!

LEONARDO: This is the last time I’ll ever have to talk to her. Don’t be afraid.

GIRL: I know I’m mad, and all torn up inside from what I’ve had to bear, yet here I stand listening to you, watching you lift your arms.

LEONARDO: I’d never have any peace if I didn’t tell you these things. I married! Now it’s your turn.

turn.

SERVANT: And she’ll marry, too! 

VOICES (Singing nearby):

The bride awakes

on her wedding morn.

GIRL; The bride awakes! (She exits running)

SERVANT: The folks are here. (To Leonardo) Don’t go near her again.

LEONARDO: Don’t worry. 

GIRL: Why did you wear those shoes?

BOY: They’re grayer than the black ones.

WIFE (Entering and kissing the girl): Hail! 

All talk merrily at once. Leonardo enters solemnly, as though performing a duty.

LEONARDO: A flower for your crown on your wedding morn!

They exit. Guitars, castanets, and tambourines are heard. Leonardo and the wife are left alone. 

WIFE: Come on.

LEONARDO: Where?

WIFE: To the church. But not on horseback. You’re coming with me. 

LEONARDO: In the wagon?

WIFE: What else is there?

LEONARDO: I’m not a man for riding in wagons.

WIFE: And I’m not a woman for going to weddings without my husband! I can’t stand anymore!

LEONARDO: Let’s go.

WIFE: I don’t know what’s come over you. But I think I know. And I don’t want to think like that! But I realize this—you’ve finished with me. But I have a son. And another child coming. The same fate overtook my mother. Well, let’s go. But I won’t move a step without you.

VOICES (Without):

When you leave your home afar,

You go to church like 

the morning star.

 WIFE (Crying): You go to church like the morning star! I went like that, too, out of my house. And all the countryside was at my wedding.

LEONARDO (Rising): Come on!

WIFE: But with me!

LEONARDO: Yes, with you! Come on!

MOTHER: I hope so. (She rises)

FATHER: Get the bowls of hot cereal ready. 

SERVANT: They’re ready.

The wife enters, followed by Leonardo. 

WIFE: Congratulations!

MOTHER: Thank you.

LEONARDO: Is there going to be a party?

FIRST WOODCUTTER: Oh, lonely Death! Death of the dry leaves!

THIRD WOODCUTTER: Don’t cover their wedding with your flowers.

SECOND WOODCUTTER: Oh, sad, sad Death! Leave a green branch for love!

FIRST WOODCUTTER: Oh, wicked Death! Leave a green branch for love!

They exit speaking. Enter Leonardo and the girl.

LEONARDO: Keep still.

GIRL: From here on, I’ll go alone. Go back! I want you to go back!

LEONARDO: Keep quiet, I said.

GIRL: Take your teeth, take your hands, take whatever you can and break this chain of purity about my neck, and throw me in a corner there in a cave. And if you don’t kill me like a little serpent, then give me the mouth of your gun in my hands. Oh, what pain! What fire flames in my head! What splinters of glass stick to my tongue!

LEONARDO: We’ve done it now! Be quiet. They’re after us, near, and I’ve got to keep you with me.

GIRL: Then you’ll have to make me stay with you.

LEONARDO: Make you stay? Who came down the steps first?

GIRL: I came down first.

LEONARDO: Who put the reins on the horse?

GIRL: I did. You’re right.

LEONARDO: And whose hands put the spurs on my feet?

GIRL: My hands that are your hands. But when I look at you, they want to break the blue and whispering branches of your veins. I love you! I love you! Leave me here! If I could kill you, I’d make you a shroud out of petals of violets. Oh, what pain, what fire flames in my head!

LEONARDO: What splinters of glass stick to my tongue! I tried to forget. And I put a wall of stone between your house and my house. Didn’t I? You remember. And when I saw you far off, I threw sand in my eyes. But when I got on my horse, the horse went to your door. Needles of silver turned my blood black, and in my sleep dark weeds grew in my body. It’s not my fault, it’s the fault of the earth, and the sweet scent your hair, and the sweet scent of your breasts.

GIRL: Oh, how foolish we all are! I don’t want to share your bed, nor your food, yet there isn’t a minute in the whole day I don’t want to be with you. If you call me, I’ll come. If you told me to fly, I’d follow you through the air like a bit of grass in the wind. I’ve left a good man and all his offspring, in the midst of a wedding feast, with my orange blossoms on. But you’ll suffer for it! And I don’t want you to suffer. Leave me here alone. Fly! Get away! There’s nobody left to help you.

LEONARDO: The birds of dawn are swaying in the trees, and night is dying on the sharp edges of the stones. Let’s go off in some dark places where I’ve always wanted you. We don’t have to care what people say now, nor what ugly poisons they spread. (He embraces her passionately)

GIRL: I’ll lay at your feet, watching over your dreams. Naked, at your feet, like a dog, watching all around. When I look at you, your beauty burns me, consumes me. 

LEONARDO: Fire burns fire! One little flame can kill two spikes of grain. Let’s go! (He pulls her after him)

GIRL: Where are you dragging me?

LEONARDO: Where these men who are after us can’t come. Where I can look at your forever.

GIRL (Sarcastically): Then drag me from fair to fair, the shame of all good women, and let people see me, with the sheets of my weeding bed flying like flags!

LEONARDO: If I thought as people should think, I’d want to leave you. But I’m going where you go. And you’re going with me. Take one step, and I’ll prove it! Nails of moonlight bind your hips to mine. 

 GIRL: Listen!

LEONARDO: Someone’s coming!

GIRL: Run! It’s right for me to die here, with my feet in the water and thorns on my head. The leaves will weep for me, a lost woman, still virgin.

LEONARDO: Be quiet! They’re coming.

GIRL: Run! Run!

LEONARDO: Be still! So they won’t hear us. Go ahead! Let’s go, I said!

GIRL: Yes, both together! 

LEONARDO (Embracing her): Death alone can part us.