ACT IV
The pond beyond the village, surrounded by alders, willows and bushes. The moon shines on the water. Later the moon sets and the day begins to dawn.
Scene I
Bětuška, Václav, later Kyral and two peasants.
Bětuška (At the right, concealed under a tree, sits singing).—
Orphaned was the child
Orphaned was the child,
In its second year,
In its second year.[1]
Václav (Steps out from left side with gun in hand, listening to the song attentively).—It is she, Bětuška! She also, unfortunate one, cannot sleep tonight and is easing her sorrow with song.
Bětuška.—
When it grew to wisdom,
When it grew to wisdom,
It asked for mother dear,
It asked for mother dear.
Václav (hidden).—
Alas, mother of mine,
Alas, mother of mine,
Speak one little word to me,
Speak one little word to me.
Bětuška.—I am not here alone; someone is singing with me, and I could divine without guessing the identity of the unhappy singer. Václav! (Václav steps forth.) I didn’t expect that you’d be here, I would not have come here.
Václav (Bitterly).—I can believe that.
Bětuška.—There is shouting and tumult in the village. In a twinkling they will probably tell you that they are marching against the castle. The women are lamenting, the children like chicks are cowering together, trembling, not knowing why, and weeping.
- ↑ *A very old Bohemian folk song or ballad of a child which goes to the grave of its mother and complains of the cruel treatment of its step-mother. It scratches the grave with a pin trying to get to its mother. The mother’s voice replies calling the child to her and in three days the child dies.
