Adam the Creator/Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Novice:
Nevertheless, the oldest accounts are contradictory.
High Priest:
All the accounts are contradictory. Therefore the truth must be fixed and regulated. It is set down in the articles of faith that both were beardless and shone with more than human beauty, and that on the very spot where they created the world they ascended into heaven. There was a sect in olden times which taught that the Creators had flowing beards. That doctrine, my son, was repudiated and cursed.
Novice:
And rooted out with fire and sword.
High Priest:
And rightly so, my son. It was a grievous error and those were blood-thirsty times. If the Creators existed at all, let us humbly accept the doctrine that they were of a godlike countenance.
Novice:
If they existed at all?
High Priest:
Yes; some of the theologians are of opinion that their manifestation should only be taken figuratively. It is said that they never existed, and that they only took on, by supernatural means, a transitory form of existence.
Novice:
But we teach the people that they existed, and that they appeared on this very spot!
High Priest:
It is so. The interpretation of the texts admits of both the one and the other. Let us fulfil all the more punctiliously the rites by which worship is rendered to the two Creators, Alter and Adamego. Look at those temple buildings! It is said that only with them will the work of creation be completed. Let us not ask whether the gods existed; the essential fact is that they are going to have their temple. In this way the heavenly order of the world will be crowned. How beautiful the evening is!
Novice:
The Eve of the Creator’s Festival.
High Priest:
Yes; to-day the bell cast in their honour will ring for the first time. Here where I am standing they dug up from the ground that steel tube or barrel from which it has been cast. We have named it Canon, which means Law.
Novice:
Is it true that it fell from heaven?
High Priest:
So it is said, my son. Judging by the depth that it was buried in the ground, it must have fallen from a great height. Its voice will surely be of more than earthly grandeur. Ho there, watchman of the temple!
’Evening, your Eminence.
High Priest:
Watchman, the nights are beginning to turn cold. Look to it that no one enters the sacred cave.
Watchman:
Never fear.
High Priest:
I know that in the winter all manner of beggars and tramps came here to sleep. I am sorry, but that must not be. I will only add that on that most sacred spot . . . I blush to say it . . . on that most sacred spot . . . there are quite a lot of fleas.
Novice:
Father, are fleas also the work of the Creators?
High Priest:
Assuredly they are the work of their unfathomable wisdom. But it is not fitting that beggars should bring them here. Look to it, watchman of the temple.
Watchman:
I’ll chase them away, your Eminence.
High Priest:
That is well. The Temple of the Creators is not a den for vagrants. Come, let us go and pray, my son.
[Exeunt.
Watchman (looks after them):
Temple, that’s it. (He spits.) They can tell you the tale. As long as I’ve lived there haven’t been any creators, and that’s all there is to it. (Scratches himself.) Confound these fleas!
[Enter Oddly-Come-Short with Adam and Alter Ego, both in pitifully tattered remnants of their godlike raiment and with pilgrims’ scrip and staff.
Oddly-Come-Short:
So we’ll be home again for the winter.—Blyme, what are they building here?
Watchman:
Is that you, Oddly-Come-Short? And with these two old blighters? Where have you left your youngsters?
Oddly-Come-Short:
All over the world wherever they could scrape a living. What are they building here, mate?
Watchman:
A temple.
Oddly-Come-Short:
What temple?
Watchman:
It’s called the Temple of the Creators.
Adam:
The Temple of the Creators?
Watchman:
That’s it. But I’d like to know what the Creators want with a temple like that. (Spitting.) Anyway, it’s all bunkum. And all the gold and marble that’s going to it!
Adam:
The Temple of the Creators! Do you hear, Alter Ego? They have remembered us!
Alter Ego:
Adam, I can’t believe it . . . look, what a gigantic building!
Adam:
I expected it! I knew that our people would be grateful to us! Now you see . . . my dear Alter Ego!
Alter Ego:
My good Adam! (They embrace.)
Oddly-Come-Short:
And what about us, mate?
Watchman:
Well, you mustn’t even show your noses here. Riffraff like you!
Oddly-Come-Short:
I thought so. Waste of that hole!
Watchman:
So just clear out of this! Off with you!
Adam:
Us? Watchman, there is some mistake! Isn’t this the Temple of the Creators?
Watchman:
This is the temple of their statues and their priests. You clear out, can’t you?
Adam:
Know then,watchman of the temple: We are Adam and Alter Ego!
Alter Ego:
We are the Creators!
Adam:
Out of our way! Come with us, Oddly-Come-Short!
Watchman:
Where are you going?
Adam:
Into the temple which belongs to us!
Watchman:
See here, daddy, I’m sorry for you, but I’ll have to take a stick to you. Go and find some shed to sleep in.
[Exit among the scaffolding
Oddly-Come-Short:
Well, that’s that. And we were so happy in that cave———
Alter Ego:
This is the end. Adam, what have you to say about it?
Adam:
I expected it. I knew all along that . . . that . . . (He collapses on the ground, sobbing.) God, what a frightful thing it is to be a Creator!
[It begins to get dark.
Alter Ego:
Adam, you still have the Cannon of Negation. It’s there where you’re kneeling; it’s within reach of your hand. Within reach of your hand you have the penalty, you have redemption. Adam, what are you going to do?
Adam:
Stop! For God’s sake stop!
Alter Ego:
What, haven’t you come to the end of your sorrows yet? Aren’t you at the end of your sufferings? Adam, Are You Going to Leave it Like This?
[The Watchman comes out with a hammer and a red lantern.
Watchman:
And still that cramp to mend! Dog’s life it is!
Oddly-Come-Short:
Infernal cold!
Watchman:
Hell of a job!
Alter Ego:
Adam, out of the way! (He flings himself on the ground and begins searching.)
Watchman:
Blasted world!
Oddly-Come-Short:
Damn the whole shoot!
Watchman:
Hell fetch the lot!
Alter Ego (rolling away the stone):
Adam, Adam, the Cannon of Negation has gone!
[The great bell begins to ring.
Watchman:
Hullo, the new bell!
Adam (rising):
That’s it! That’s it! Do you hear it?
Alter Ego:
The Cannon of Negation!
Adam:
I recognize its voice! My Cannon! My Cannon! Do you hear what it’s ringing?
Oddly-Come-Short:
It’s ringing, Ding, dong!
Alter Ego:
It’s ringing, No! no!
Adam:
It’s ringing, Ay! ay! It’s ringing, Ay! ay!
Alter Ego:
No! no! no! no!
Adam:
Yes! yes! yes! yes!
Oddly-Come-Short (beating on his saucepan with a spoon):
Ding, dong! Ding, dong!
Watchman (hammering the clamp on the anvil):
One, two! One, two!
[Innumerable bells peal out.
Oddly-Come-Short:
That’s my pot sounding!
Watchman:
That’s my hammer sounding!
Alter Ego:
That’s my Negation sounding!
[The eye of God is lit up.
The Voice of God:
It is I sounding with all the bells on earth!
Oddly-Come-Short:
Ding, dong!
Adam:
Yes! yes!
Alter Ego:
No! no!
Adam:
God, is it a yes or no?
Alter Ego:
I say, is it yes or no?
The Voice of God:
Hearken! (Innumerable voices of men and women, exclamations and laughter.) Hearken! (The music of a great chorus is heard.)
Choir behind the Scenes:
Glory, glory! Thanks be to the Creators!
Watchman (taking his cap off):
The people have a festival.
[The bells and singing die away.
The Voice of God:
Adam the Creator!
Adam:
Here am I!
The Voice of God:
Will you leave it as it is?
Adam:
Yes! yes! yes!
The Voice of God:
So will I!
[Peal of bells.
Curtain