The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hour Glass, by W.B.YeatsCopyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloadingor redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do notchange or edit the header without written permission.Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of thisfile. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can alsofind out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971*******These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****Title: The Hour GlassAuthor: W.B.YeatsRelease Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7448] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was firstposted on May 1, 2003] [Date last updated: March 6, 2006]Edition: 10Language: English*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUR GLASS ***Produced by Nichole ApostolaTHE HOUR-GLASS A MORALITY BY W. B. YEATSDRAMATIS PERSONAEA WISE MAN A FOOL SOME PUPILS AN ANGEL THE WISE MAN'S WIFE AND TWO CHILDRENSCENE: A large room with a door at the back and another at the side opening to an inner room ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hour Glass,by W.B.YeatssCuorpeytriogchthleacwksthaerecocphyarniggihntglaawllsofvoerrytohuerwcooruldn.trByebefore downloading or redistributing this or anyother Project Gutenberg eBook.vTiheiwsinhgeatdhiesrPsrhoojeulcdtbGeuttehnebfierrsgttfihlien.gPlseeaesnewdhoennotremove it. Do not change or edit the headerwithout written permission.Please read the "legal small print," and otherinformation about the eBook and ProjectGutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included isimportant information about your specific rights andrestrictions in how the file may be used. You canalso find out about how to make a donation toProject Gutenberg, and how to get involved.**Welcome To The World of Free Plain VanillaElectronic Texts****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and ByComputers, Since 1971*******These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousandsof Volunteers!*****Title: The Hour Glass
Author: W.B.Yeats[RYeelse,asweeDaratee:mForeebrtuhaarny,o2n0e0y5e[aErBaohoekad#7o4f48]2sc0h0e3]d[ulDea]t[eTlhaisstfiulepdwaatsedfi:rsMtaprocshte6d,2o0n0M6]ay1,Edition: 10Language: English*E*B*OSTOAKRTTHOEFHTOHUERPGRLOAJSESC*T**GUTENBERGProduced by Nichole Apostola
TMHOERHALOIUTYR-BGYLAWS.SB.AYEATSDRAMATIS PERSONAETAHWEISWEISMEAMNAAN'FSOWOILFESOAMNEDPTUWPOILCSHAILNDARNEGNELSCENE: A large room with a door at the backand another at the side opening to an innerroom. A desk and a chair in the middle. Anhour-glass on a bracket near the door. A creepystool near it. Some benches. The WISE MANsitting at his desk.WISE MAN [turning over the pages of a book].Where is that passage I am to explain to my pupilsto-day? Here it is, and the book says that it waswritten by a beggar on the walls of Babylon: "Thereare two living countries, the one visible and the oneinvisible; and when it is winter with us it is summerin that country; and when the November winds areup among us it is lambing-time there." I wish thatmy pupils had asked me to explain any otherpassage, for this is a hard passage. [The FOOLcomes in and stands at the door, holding out hishat. He has a pair of shears in the other hand.] Itsounds to me like foolishness; and yet that cannot
be, for the writer of this book, where I have foundso much knowledge, would not have set it by itselfon this page, and surrounded it with so manyimages and so many deep colors and so much finegilding, if it had been foolishness.FOOL. Give me a penny.WISE MAN. [Turns to another page.] Here he hascworiuttnetrny:.""TThhealteIarunnedderisntaolndd,tibmuetsIfhoargvoetttahueghvitsimblyelearners better.FOOL. Won't you give me a penny?wWiIsSeESaMrAacNe.nWwhilaltndototyeoauchwyaontu?mTuhceh.wordsoftheFOOL. Such a great wise teacher as you are willnot refuse a penny to a Fool.WISE MAN. What do you know about wisdom?FOOL. Oh, I know! I know what I have seen.WISE MAN. What is it you have seen?FOOL. When I went by Kilcluan where the bellsused to be ringing at the break of every day, Icould hear nothing but the people snoring in theirhouses. When I went by Tubbervanach where theyoung men used to be climbing the hill to theblessed well, they were sitting at the crossroadsplaying cards. When I went by Carrigoras wherethe friars used to be fasting and serving the poor, I
saw them drinking wine and obeying their wives.And when I asked what misfortune had brought allthese changes, they said it was no misfortune, butit was the wisdom they had learned from yourteaching.wWilIlSgiEveMyAoNu.sRoumnertohuinngdttootehate.kitchen,andmywifeFOOL. That is foolish advice for a wise man to.evigWISE MAN. Why, Fool?FOOL. What is eaten is gone. I want pennies formy bag. I must buy bacon in the shops, and nuts inthe market, and strong drink for the time when thesun is weak. And I want snares to catch the rabbitsand the squirrels and the bares, and a pot to cookthem in.oWfInSoEwMthAaNn.gGivoinagwyaoyu.Ipheanvnieeso.therthingstothinkFOOL. Give me a penny and I will bring you luck.Bresal the Fisherman lets me sleep among thenets in his loft in the winter-time because he says Ibring him luck; and in the summer-time the wildcreatures let me sleep near their nests and theirholes. It is lucky even to look at me or to touch me,but it is much more lucky to give me a penny.[Holds out his hand.] If I wasn't lucky, I'd starve.WISE MAN. What have you got the shears for?
FOOL. I won't tell you. If I told you, you would drivethem away.WISE MAN. Whom would I drive away?FOOL. I won't tell you.WISE MAN. Not if I give you a penny?FOOL. No.WISE MAN. Not if I give you two pennies.pFeOnOniLe.s,YobuutwIillwboen'tvteerlyllyuocuk.yifyougivemetwoWISE MAN. Three pennies?FOOL. Four, and I will tell you!TWeIiSguEeMthAeN.FoVoelraynwyellol,nfgoeurr..ButIwillnotcallyouFOOL. Let me come close to you where nobodywill hear me. But first you must promise you will notdrive them away. [WISE MAN nods.] Every daymen go out dressed in black and spread greatblack nets over the hill, great black nets.WISE MAN. Why do they do that?FOOL. That they may catch the feet of the angels.aBnutdecvutertyhemnoertnsinwgi,tjhusmtybsefhoeraerts,heanddatwhne,Ianggoeolsutfly.yawa
WISE MAN. Ah, now I know that you are Teiguethe Fool. You have told me that I am wise, and Ihave never seen an angel.FOOL. I have seen plenty of angels.WISE MAN. Do you bring luck to the angels too.FOOL. Oh, no, no! No one could do that. But theyare always there if one looks about one; they arelike the blades of grass.WISE MAN. When do you see them?FOOL. When one gets quiet; then somethingliwkaektehseusptainrssi—denootnliek,estohmeestehivnegnhtahpatpymaonvde,qbuuiettlike the fixed stars. [He points upward.]WISE MAN. And what happens then?FOOL. Then all in a minute one smells summerflowers, and tall people go by, happy and laughing,and their clothes are the color of burning sods.WISE MAN. Is it long since you have seen them,Teigue the Fool?FOOL. Not long, glory be to God! I saw onecboutmiitnhgabdechliontdhemsethjuesctonloorw.ofItbwuransinngotsloadusg,hainngd,there was something shining about its head.YWoIuS,EaMfoAolN,.sWayel"l,GtlhoerryebaerteoyGouordf,"oubrutpebnefnoierse.I
came the wise men said it. Run away now. I mustring the bell for my scholars.FOOL. Four pennies! That means a great deal ofluck. Great teacher,I have brought you plenty of luck! [He goes outshaking the bag.]WISE MAN. Though they call him Teigue the Fool,he is not more foolish than everybody used to be,with their dreams and their preachings and theirthree worlds; but I have overthrown their threeworlds with the seven sciences. [He touches thebooks with his hands.] With Philosophy that wasmade for the lonely star, I have taught them toforget Theology; with Architecture, I have hiddenthe ramparts of their cloudy heaven; with Music,the fierce planets' daughter whose hair is alwayson fire, and with Grammar that is the moon'sdaughter, I have shut their ears to the imaginaryharpings and speech of the angels; and I havemade formations of battle with Arithmetic that haveput the hosts of heaven to the rout. But, Rhetoricand Dialectic, that have been born out of the lightstar and out of the amorous star, you have beenmy spearman and my catapult! Oh! my swifthorseman! Oh! my keen darting arguments, it isbecause of you that I have overthrown the hosts offoolishness! [An ANGEL, in a dress the color ofembers, and carrying a blossoming apple bough inhis hand and with a gilded halo about his head,stands upon the threshold.] Before I came, men'sminds were stuffed with folly about a heaven wherebirds sang the hours, and about angels that came
and stood upon men's thresholds. But I havelocked the visions into heaven and turned the keyupon them. Well, I must consider this passageabout the two countries. My mother used to saysomething of the kind. She would say that whenour bodies sleep our souls awake, and thatwhatever withers here ripens yonder, and thatharvests are snatched from us that they may feedinvisible people. But the meaning of the book mustbe different, for only fools and women havethoughts like that; their thoughts were never writtenupon the walls of Babylon. [He sees the ANGEL.]What are you? Who are you? I think I saw somethat were like you in my dreams when I was a child—that bright thing, that dress that is the color ofembers! But I have done with dreams, I have donewith dreams.ANGEL. I am the Angel of the Most High God.WISE MAN. Why have you come to me?ANGEL. I have brought you a message.WISE MAN. What message have yon got for me?ANGEL. You will die within the hour. You will diewhen the last grains have fallen in this glass. [Heturns the hour-glass.]WISE MAN. My time to die has not come. I havemy pupils. I have a young wife and children that Icannot leave. Why must I die?ANGEL. You must die because no souls have
passed over the threshold of heaven since youacandmtehientgoattheissacroeurnutrsyt.y,Tahnedthtrheesahnolgdelisstghraatsskye,epwatch there are lonely.WISE MAN. Where will death bring me to?fAorNyGoEuL.haTvheeddeonoiresdotfhheeeaxvisetnenwcillenoofthoepaevnetn;oaynodu,the doors of purgatory will not open to you, for youhave denied the existence of purgatory.WISE MAN. But I have also denied the existenceof hell!ANGEL. Hell is the place of those who deny.WISE MAN [kneeling]. I have indeed deniedebveleireyvtehdinignannotdhihnagvebuttauwghhattotmhyerssentosedsetnoyl.dImhea.veBut, oh! beautiful Angel, forgive me, forgive me!ANGEL. You should have asked forgiveness long.ogaWISE MAN. Had I seen your face as I see it now,oh! beautiful Angel, I would have believed, I wouldhave asked forgiveness. Maybe you do not knowhow easy it is to doubt. Storm, death, the grassrotting, many sicknesses, those are themessengers that came to me. Oh! why are yousilent? You carry the pardon of the Most High; giveit to me! I would kiss your hands if I were not afraid— no, no, the hem of your dress!