Page:Plays in Prose and Verse (1922).djvu/40

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24
THE POT OF BROTH

There’s broth in the pot for you, old man,
There’s broth in the pot for you, old man,
There’s cabbage for me
And broth for you,
And beef for Jack the journeyman.
 
I wish you were dead, my gay old man,
I wish you were dead, my gay old man,
I wish you were dead
And a stone at your head,
So as I’d marry poor Jack the journeyman.


john's voice [outside]. Bring it in, bring it in, Sibby. You'll be late with the priest's dinner.

sibby's voice. Can’t you wait a minute till I'll draw it?

Enter john.

john. I didn’t know there was any one in the house.

tramp. It’s only this minute I came in, tired with the length of the road I am, and fasting since morning.

jogn [begins groping among the pots and pans]. I'll see can I find anything here for you . . . I don't see much . . . maybe there’s something in the chest.

[He takes key from a hiding-place at back of hearth, opens chest, takes out bottle, takes out a ham bone and is cutting a bit from it when sibby enters, carrying chicken by the neck. john drops the ham bone on a bench.