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Tottering House
Act I
(Lea plays with her dolls as if for the
very last time. Then she dresses as a bride, pulling a curtain over her
head like a veil.)
LEA: When I get married, itll be
to have a baby. Married. Strange thought. Not even knowing the man Ill
marry. Hes out there somewhere. Doing what? What does he look like?
Dark or light? What is he? If I could send him a greeting through the
ether, I would. Why cant I? If I just think hard enough, think.
You, to you I send my greetings. Did anyone hear? He must have. Blessed
be. I wish him all the best. O stranger out there, you were made for me.
You will love me some day. We will raise our children and love them more
than all the world.
(Lea gathers the dolls into her arms,
there are so many of them that she drops some and has to bend down to
pick them up. She takes them to the doll closet and arranges them as if
forever. A waltz begins to play, she begins to dance to it. She has forgotten
to remove her veil. A man enters, Aulis, he bows, a flustered Lea takes
off her veil. It drops to the floor and stays there, where it is gradually
trampled and soiled under the dancers feet. The stage fills with
people; it is Midsummer, a party. Enter Eero, he cuts in and dances with
Lea. Aulis begins dancing with Ester.)
EERO: I have always associated Midsummer
with love, and avoided it. Until now. When I saw you, I said to myself:
now it may come.
LEA: And you believe that you can make it come by telling it to?
EERO: Of course.
LEA: But what if when it comes its only a Midsummer nights
dream that makes you scream when you wake?
EERO: It wont. I can look after myself. Ive got good eyes.
(Lifts Leas chin to look into her eyes.) Look into my eyes.
LEA: No, dont.
(A new man enters and cuts in with Lea, its Leas father.)
FATHER: You must grow happy and good.
LEA: If you arent happy and good, I dont want to be either.
FATHER: Youre my only friend, sweetie.
LEA: Youre my father.
FATHER: But a pretty bad one.
LEA: Would you get better if I disciplined you?
FATHER: Thats perfect, discipline me.
LEA: (shaking her father) Like this?
FATHER: A person has lots of people inside.
LEA: What did you say?
FATHER: A person has lots of people inside. No ones free, no ones
himself, dont you believe it. Reject one and choose another, be
someones plaything, its the only way.
MOTHER: (enters carrying a wooden ladle) Arent you ashamed of yourself
Evert? It would be a thousand times better not to have a man like that.
(Hits Evert with the ladle. Lea defends her father and strikes her mother
on the shoulders.)
FATHER: Lea, what are you doing?
LEA: Hitting her.
FATHER: No, Lea, dont.
MOTHER: If I could find someone to murder him Id pay him a hundred
marks.
(Father exits.)
MOTHER: Where are you off to now?
LEA: Father, dont go, its freezing out there. (But Father
exits.)
TOINI: (enters) Gone again, huh? Father acts like one of the children.
MOTHER: Yes. And just as insensitive to others. Like the children.
TOINI: A dreamer, no man should ever be like that.
LEA: Has he ever cheated on you, been with other women? Hit you? Fought?
No, just sits there and then finally leaves, just like that. If I were
a man Id do the same.
MOTHER: Nice to hear it.
LEA: Sometimes I feel like hitting someone.
MOTHER: Youre worse than your father.
LEA: I am.
MOTHER: If Id had a good man, things would have been different.
LEA: If it hadnt been for father, thered be no us. Dont
we mean anything to you?
MOTHER: Theres nothing I can say about you. Whether your existing
is a good or a bad thing.
TOINI: You can only tell a woman by who she marries. Ill marry someone
wholl amaze you all.
LEA: How are you going to do your own part? Others still have to do for
you.
TOINI: You wouldnt if you thought it wasnt to your credit.
And youll see. Ill bring home a fiancé and youll
ask: whered she find him! Whered she, maybe from abroad if
there was nobody like that here. And Lea, shell marry a missionary.
LEA: If I take a husband, and choose him myself, I wont nag at him
all the time. You have to check a man out before you marry him.
MOTHER: Well do it then.
LEA: I will.
MOTHER: And once youve checked him out, be satisfied.
LEA: I will. If I take a husband, he can be a drunk and beat me and blight
my life and still I wont make a sound.
MOTHER: Youll teach him. I just wish youd find a man whod
show you how bad you are.
(The waltz picks up. Eero dances with
Lea.)
EERO: I wont let you go until you
say yes.
LEA: Youre cruel.
(Aulis comes and dances with Lea.)
AULIS: Did he frighten you?
LEA: Im not easily frightened. Its beautiful here.
AULIS: You remind me of a painting. A Madonna. Italian cinquecento.
LEA: You mean: humility suits me.
AULIS: As it does all true women.
(Eero comes and dances with Lea again.)
EERO: (to Aulis, who is now dancing with someone else, perhaps Toini)
Revenge is sweet. (to Lea) Im looking for a companion, a faithful
and long-suffering companion.
LEA: Why suffering?
EERO: Life is suffering, mainly. Lea, answer me: do you love me?
LEA: Dont.
EERO: Tell me you love me.
LEA: I feel nothing that would justify saying that. (The clock strikes,
the dance breaks off. Ester forces her way up to Lea.)
ESTER: Love, you poor fool, you dreamer. If you fold your hands and wait
for love that never comes youll regret it bitterly the rest of your
life. I made that mistake. Now Id take any man rather than working
in that office. But nobody comes.
LEA: Someone will.
ESTER: There was one. My bosss brother proposed once. And just imagine,
I was stupid enough to say I didnt love him. Ridiculous. As if you
needed love for that. And as if it would last even if you had it. Some
other girl realized what a good deal it was and now shes a lady,
cars, servants, the works. You be smarter than I was, Lea. If some man
comes along, marry him. Is that Aulis Helio youre looking at?
LEA: How so?
ESTER: No use dreaming about him, hes taken, been secretly engaged
for years.
LEA: Who is she?
ESTER: You dont know her, she lives in another town, on the coast,
filthy rich, they say. So dont dream about him. But this Eero Markku,
him you could have. Just think: a successful journalist, hell go
far.
LEA: Im sure he will.
ESTER: Take him while you can.
(The waltz picks up, Lea dances with Eero again.)
EERO: I wont let you go until I feel that youll be mine.
LEA: We may be dancing the rest of our lives.
EERO: Thats exactly what I have in mind. I wont let you go
until you say yes.
LEA: Youre cruel.
EERO: Tell me you love me.
LEA: People are looking.
EERO: Let them look. Ill stop the instant you say the word.
LEA: You win. I . . . love you.
(Eero kisses Lea in the middle of the dance floor. Everyone falls silent,
the music too, and looks on in astonishment.)
LEA: I feel shy.
EERO: Dont be childish.
LEA: You do understand that I have no money.
EERO: You dont understand how happy I am. Just think, a lonely country
boy who has dreamed of having a home all his life. And now Ill have
it. Love, a wife, a child. I want a son. Even if its just one child,
so life wouldnt feel so meaningless.
LEA: I cant make a home as beautiful and good as Id like to.
EERO: Well always get along. It feels as if my entire life up to
now has been just for this.
LEA: Mine too.
(A waltz begins. Eero picks up the veil Lea had dropped and drapes it
over Leas head. Aulis takes a picture of them. Then Lea and Eero
dance a wedding waltz, watched by the others.)
EERO: You wont back away from lifes dreariness, will you?
LEA: No. Dont worry. Ill try to maintain the right attitude.
I just hope you wont be disappointed in your wife.
EERO: Or you in your husband.
LEA: No.
EERO: For remember that I am but an awkward peasant. I will make many
mistakes. But I will be faithful to you. Ill never cheat, that I
swear to you.
(The waltz ends, the wedding guests congratulate
the happy couple.)
AULIS: Now there are no demons.
EERO: Look out at nature, friends. Is there room for demons on such a
night?
ESTER: They say that Midsummer is a night of magic.
AULIS: Whos to say no malevolent hand of doom hovers above us as
we speak?
LEA: Not over me.
EERO: Nor me. See, magic spells cant harm me. Touching a sacred
object renders witchcraft powerless. Youre my talisman, Lea.
AULIS: Youre radiant, and at peace from your demons. But say society
to him and he will grow goats hooves and go scampering up a mountain.
EERO: And say individuality to him and he will go away, and
say the subconscious world and he will disappear beneath the
earth.
ESTER: Lets not talk of underworlds. Lets talk of paradise,
everyone has such beautiful images of paradise.
LEA: And gradually the world will become a paradise.
EERO: Do you really believe that?
LEA: I do.
EERO: And do you think you can do something to bring it about?
LEA: As long as resisting evil is doing something, yes, I do.
(Lea turns toward Aulis. Grandfather appears behind Aulis.)
LEA: Did God drive them out, people, from paradise, did he?
GRANDFATHER: He did.
LEA: Why did God drive them out? They only took one apple.
GRANDFATHER: They came to know good and evil.
LEA: Is it wrong to know good, is it wrong to know evil?
GRANDFATHER: It is wrong to do evil.
(Grandfather moves behind Aulis and in
this way becomes invisible.)
EERO: Where is the line between right
and wrong?
AULIS: Thats easy. A straight line is a beautiful line.
EERO: An impossible line. Life should teach you. I curse you, and predict
for you an unhappy marriage that will end in divorce and smash the holy
forms. Or you will do foolish things, the princess of the demons herself
will arise from the earth and blind you.
AULIS: Look at this, this is how he always curses me. Give me a happy
marriage so I can try it.
(Ester exits. Lea and Eero push the bed stage center. Toini enters with
fall flowers or fruits.)
LEA: Well, Toini, what do you say now? Youre surprised hes
not a missionary, of course. But did I know either?
TOINI: Youre not rich, are you.
LEA: Who is, at first?
EERO: (with Aulis, newspaper in hand) You Aulis are a man of the nineteenth
century.
AULIS: That doesnt change the fact that the article is uneven.
LEA: Really? You Eero are like a traveling salesman, you tout all your
wares with the same enthusiasm. The world attracts you, even though you
criticize it, it dictates almost everything for you. Wasteful.
EERO: I make advertisements for myself. How could you understand what
it costs to have a name. Maybe when its in the history books it
will be good enough for you.
AULIS: That individualism and freedom fetish that you praise so highly
is ruinous for contemporary society.
EERO: Youre old-fashioned as a boot.
AULIS: Old-fashioned or modern. You post-liberals, you sell toxic drugs
under false labels while having yourselves hailed as caesars.
EERO: Thats insulting.
AULIS: You asked for my opinion, I gave it to you.
EERO: I know you, and dont lose my temper over trifles like that.
But I did get you to read my paper.
AULIS: You did. Take care of yourself, Lea.
(They shake hands. Aulis exits.)
EERO: Hes a zealot, but at least he read it, at least he read it.
LEA: Aulis is right. You flip through one book, flip through another,
borrow some of your own old stuff and some of somebody elses, gather
together beautiful thoughts, mold them into your own and then reuse them
as needed.
EERO: Dont think one man can think every thought in the world. We
rely on each other, we pundits. Do you want to hold me accountable for
the thoughts of an entire era?
TOINI: Was that Aulis Helio?
EERO: Im sorry, did I forget to introduce you?
TOINI: The catalog says hell lecturing to us starting in October.
Good-looking man.
EERO: Why not, a fashionable doctor. Rich.
LEA: Lecturing to you?
TOINI: I dont want to study languages after all.
LEA: What then?
TOINI: Medicine.
LEA: Thats crazy.
TOINI: Then dentistry. But I wont study languages, I wont.
LEA: Dear child, its an expensive field. What if you cant
finish?
TOINI: Then Ill get married. My husband will pay off my student
loans. And anyway Im already enrolled, its a done deal.
LEA: Now you worry me.
TOINI: Worry about your own affairs, not mine.
LEA: Youre foolish.
TOINI: Please, Lea, Ive planned my life, and if its good enough
for me its good enough for you. Im the one who has to live
it.
EERO: Attagirl. At least youve got a high-spirited sister. Its
nice to see some life in this house. Lea is often downcast and easily
hurt.
LEA: I am? I dont see that in myself.
EERO: But you are.
TOINI: Does Helio visit you often?
LEA: Sometimes. Wait, Eero.
EERO: What is it now? Money again? I just gave you some.
LEA: Its something else.
EERO: Well spit it out. I dont have all day to stand around here.
LEA: Were going to have a baby.
(Eero hugs Lea and lifts her in the air,
spins her around off the ground. Then the two of them hug Toini in a three-way
embrace.
(Danse macabre: Grandfather comes to
Lea. Lea buries herself in Grandfathers arms.)
GRANDFATHER: Lord, teach me to know that
we all must die.
LEA: Death is lying there and turning to dust. Thats death, and
its much sadder than poverty and hunger and drinking and fighting.
GRANDFATHER: That we die gives us promise of understanding life.
LEA: If we know good and evil, will God drive us out, and from where,
Grandfather, from where? Home?
GRANDFATHER: Could be.
LEA: So that wed have no home?
GRANDFATHER: So that paradise is lost.
LEA: When I grow up, Grandfather, will I have a home?
GRANDFATHER: I suppose so.
LEA: Will it be a paradise?
GRANDFATHER: Yes.
(Christmas music begins to play. Lea
begins to decorate a Christmas tree with Toini. The tree lights come on.
Eero exits (or enters and exits) with a stack of papers under his arm.
Lea stands with a flower in hand, not knowing what to do with it. Then
she sets it on a stand, looks at it for a moment, makes her decision and
strews spruce branches here and there. Eero enters.)
LEA: The first snow has fallen. Christmas
Eve. Our first Christmas.
EERO: Every day is always the first and only day of that year and that
month. Celebrate them and youll have a whole history of them.
LEA: The flowers from Ester.
EERO: Should we have sent your mother something with Toini? Maybe. But
in our situation it would have been impossible.
LEA: It wasnt necessary.
EERO: She would just get used to getting things from us and always expect
it. Better to show her how things are going to be right from the start.
LEA: Yes.
EERO: Christmas is just a useless pagan custom.
LEA: Yes.
EERO: A free, enlightened spirit never stoops to such.
LEA: Thanks for teaching me.
EERO: Nothing will ever issue from our house. This will only be said this
once, and for all time.
(Mother becomes visible.)
MOTHER: Just look at you.
LEA: Mother you mustnt criticize things you dont understand.
MOTHER: If you hired a servant, the servant would eat differently, and
you would have to pay her. And you: butter for Eero, margarine for you.
Meat, fish, eggs for Eero, bread and drippings for you.
LEA: Eero has a wonderful future ahead of him. This is all just temporary.
(Mother turns her back.)
EERO: I, I never had Christmases, no
Christmas trees, not even a mother. Mother left me and who needs
her. Her gift to me was ten marks, and that only when I asked her for
it. So I never give anything either. Not to anyone, period. We all know
what love is, sheer illusion.
LEA: Whats illusion?
EERO: Love. No need to cry over it.
LEA: I guess not. (Turns her back. Eero takes her by the shoulders,
turns her to face him and holds out a tiny package.)
LEA: You didnt need to. Thank you, sweetheart.
EERO: Open your present.
LEA: From the jewelers?
EERO: Open it.
LEA: You dear sweet thing, I have nothing for you, and you, you . . .
(Lea removes the paper and finds a small box, opens it. Blank business
cards.)
EERO: Ha ha haaaa.
LEA: No, these are good, we need these.
EERO: Ha haa. I didnt buy them for you. I bought them for myself,
I always need them.
LEA: I would have been disappointed if youd wasted your money. We
spend enough as it is. (Walks offstage and returns with two boiled eggs
on a plate.) Here.
EERO: Two? Youre so damned wasteful. (Throws the eggs on the floor.)
We cant all afford to eat eggs. (Looks at the eggs on the floor
for a moment, then entrenches himself behind his desk. The Christmas music
swells. Mother becomes visible.)
MOTHER: Youre letting him develop bad habits by denying yourself
so much.
LEA: Mother you dont understand. We have higher goals. Eero doesnt
trust me yet. Its because I dont feel at home with him yet
either. But Ill learn.
MOTHER: Mark my words, hell stay that way. Hell never notice
you as a person.
LEA: These are my secret thoughts, you must never interfere in our business.
(Mother exits. Lea bends down to pick
up the pieces of egg and absently pops them in her mouth. Eero enters.)
EERO: What an animal.
LEA: Probably because Im pregnant.
EERO: Lets boil new eggs. I got angry for no reason.
LEA: Lets not.
EERO: You just dont want to. Okay, put on your shoes and lets
go to town. They have a big tree there, lets go look at it.
LEA: My shoes dont fit.
EERO: They always did before.
LEA: My feet are swollen from standing up and cleaning all day.
EERO: Forget it then. I just wanted to make you happy. Shall I read you
a poem?
LEA: Yes.
EERO: Free we came into this world,
you etched on our foreheads a mark.
You pressed on our chest a criminal cross.
LEA: Im tired and lonely here. The rooms feel cold. Im shivering.
Eero is stubborn as hard dirt. Could mean security too. Hell certainly
take care of his own. His children will have a safe home.
EERO: Free we came into this world,
you etched on our foreheads a mark.
You pressed on our chest a criminal cross.
LEA: Summer is coming. In the summer Ill have a baby. Next Christmas
Ill be sitting here with a child in my lap. Our children will be
the main thing in our life together. Well live for our children.
EERO: You smiled. Did I read it badly?
LEA: No. Im just so happy. You are the father of my child. I like
you.
(Together they put Christmas away. Toini
comes and spreads out her things.)
EERO: What a girl that Toini is. If I
werent married Id marry her. See, Lea, thats what a
girl should be like.
TOINI: But Lea isnt a girl, Leas a saint.
LEA: You need to watch where you put your things, someones going
to trip over them.
TOINI: Yes mother.
(Lea exits. Toini snatches a penknife out of Eeros pocket.)
EERO: Toini, give it back.
TOINI: I wont. Come and get it.
EERO: Im warning you.
(They run in circles. Eero finally catches
her and pushes her onto the bed.)
EERO: You resisted me, now youve
got to pay a fine. (Kisses Toini.)
LEA: (entering) Toini! Whats this?
TOINI: What should it be? I was teasing Eero, he paid me back. Horseplay.
LEA: Well its not right. And in my bed.
TOINI: Whats so sacred about your bed?
LEA: Im ashamed of both of you.
TOINI: Ill spare you the shame, then. Im leaving.
(Toini exits. Lea sits on the bed.)
EERO: What, are you crying? What, child, over that little thing? It was
nothing.
LEA: Tell me straight. Do you like her more than me?
EERO: What a question! I dont like her like that. Shes funny,
all right. And Ill say this much, if she keeps it up I wont
answer for the consequences.
LEA: What do you mean?
EERO: I might seduce her.
LEA: You dont like me.
EERO: I do like you. Thats just the way the nervous system works.
She irritates me somehow. She should move out.
LEA: I agree. Before anything happens.
EERO: Nothingll happen now that Ive talked about it. Nothing
to be afraid of now, but shes still a little dangerous.
LEA: At least youre honest. You wouldnt talk that way if you
didnt like me.
EERO: Now youre learning. This will give us a good foundation to
build on.
(Lea switches on a lamp. Ester is standing in the light.)
ESTER: Youre so perfect, Lea. Youre the best wife in the world.
LEA: What nonsense.
ESTER: Not nonsense. If you werent my friend Id envy you.
I languish unmarried, discarded, poor Ester. Lonely tears all the days
of my life. Withering away, always dirt-poor. And where will I end up
when Im old and alone? In the poorhouse, and will anyone come see
me? Well. Lea sometimes, maybe, but nobody else. At Christmas its
gloomy as perdition there. Meanwhile youve got your own house, a
husband, children, servants. And a joyous and carefree old age with your
life well lived. O how I suffer to have no one.
LEA: Someone will come.
ESTER: Id carry him in my arms, I dont care who he was, if
only hed come. My savior, my joy. (Laughs, Lea laughs with her.)
LEA: Same old Ester.
ESTER: But?
LEA: This is the thing. Were so cramped, couldnt you take
Toini in with you for a while?
ESTER: Didnt I say that newlyweds shouldnt take in guests?
Of course youre cramped.
LEA: Shes grown careless. Sleeps late every morning, not a good
thing. I need the dining room. But she doesnt understand. Teach
her a little.
ESTER: Aha. Ill shake her up. Its a deal, shell come
with me.
TOINI: But I wont move.
LEA: Of course youll move. Its what Eero wants. Ive
taken care of you since you were small, youll do what I say. I take
you into my home to help you get ahead, and this is the thanks I get.
TOINI: But I didnt feel like studying, I had to go somewhere.
LEA: And you think this is the best place to go?
TOINI: I wont deny it. I cant get along on my own, but you
can. I could have had Eero many times over, believe you me.
LEA: Youre just being spiteful. Now go pack your bags and go with
Ester.
TOINI: I thought you were nice.
LEA: Stupid, you mean. I never meant I would give up my home for you.
This is your own fault.
TOINI: Where will I get money?
LEA: If youre a good girl Ill ask Eero to cosign and you can
take out a loan.
EERO: (enters) Of course Ill cosign.
TOINI: Youre running me out.
EERO: Not at all. Come here to eat, you too, Ester, so Lea will have some
company.
TOINI: This is how you always slip out of your obligations, Lea.
LEA: Its about time you learned to take care of yourself. (Hands
Toini a packed suitcase.) Thanks, Ester. (Toini and Ester exit.)
EERO: Well well, my little girl, you handled that niftily. (Kisses her.)
LEA: Eero, youve been drinking.
EERO: Theres nothing to say about my drinking.
LEA: Youre a temperance activist.
EERO: So what?
LEA: Youve begun staying out late.
EERO: Do you suspect something?
LEA: No.
EERO: Im telling you, if you suspect me, I wont respect you.
Thats the way I am. Reprimands offend me.
LEA: No need to shout.
EERO: If you wouldnt moralize, Id feel better around you.
Thats how you withhold your support from me. You must trust me,
thats the best way to help me get ahead.
LEA: I do trust you.
EERO: I suppose my personality doesnt fall within the usual bounds.
I want to do bad things. Ill tell you everything. Sometimes I do
bad things on purpose. At work, too. When I should be thanking someone,
I change my tone of voice and blame him. Sometimes I decide to be honest
and chuck a thing in the dirt, but then I suddenly get mixed up and start
finding all kinds of nonexistent good sides to it. What do you say about
that?
LEA: Its dangerous.
EERO: But see, Im no prophet of truth. I want to do bad things.
You dont understand it. I force others to see things my way. Hellish
torment. If I decide to, Ill shoot myself. Ive thought about
it often, because Im so evil. About you, too. You dont like
me any more.
LEA: Is this a good time for declarations of love?
EERO: Im difficult, arent I, in my own way. I think probably
many geniuses are that way.
(Eero goes and hurls himself into his
work, reading, writing, his frenzy showing through.)
LEA: He must have a bit of an artist
in him. You have to check a man out before you marry him.
MOTHER: Well do it then.
LEA: I will.
MOTHER: And once youve checked him out, be satisfied.
LEA: I will.
(Lea goes to the doll closet. When Eero
begins to read a poem, she turns.)
EERO: Like heavy ocean swells I feel
my mind begin to pound,
this boat the horror of my life and death will surely drown
O come, my love, and give your hand to me.
For lifes dark road is long, but longer still to walk alone,
so follow close and to dreams golden castle we will go,
and half my sorrows I will share with thee.
LEA: A little Don Quixote without the sweetness. Fighting on the wrong
side. And following other causes into battle. He too would take on the
entire world, though with rather unchivalrous methods. No place of rest,
the clash of battle, shocks to the system, the clang of swords.
(When Eero continues with his poem, the
light expands: the newlyweds Toini and Aulis and Ester and Iivo are visiting.
Iivo is a full-sized mannequin on wheels dressed in a mans suit,
a valets livery, for example.)
EERO: My patrimony from the fathers was
the gift of sleep.
I doubly feel the law of life so heavy and so deep.
And happiness that others never see.
O come, my love, and live with me, and full will be my heart,
yes, come, for Ill not fear the dark unless we are apart.
O come, my love, and give your hand to me.
(The guests applaud Eero. Hilja enters
and circulates with a tray of champagne.)
EERO: Congratulations to the newlyweds.
LEA: Heres to Aulis and Toini, Ester and Iivo.
AULIS: Just think, not a year since Midsummer and now were all married.
But Eero and Lea are still ahead of the rest of us, with a baby soon to
be born.
EERO: Next year youll have one too.
ESTER: I remember you bewitching Auliss marriage, Eero. Do you suppose
the magic will hold?
AULIS: I dont think so.
EERO: But why all this secrecy?
AULIS: Toini made me swear not to say a word.
EERO: What a girl. How like you.
TOINI: What can I do about the way I am. I like to shock people.
LEA: But I thought Aulis was secretly engaged to someone else.
TOINI: Not all young mens secret engagements are real.
(A Midsummer waltz begins to play. The
married couples dance together, but gradually the pairings break up until
Lea is standing between her sister and her girlfriend in a kind of quadrille,
with the women stationary and the men moving past.)
ESTER: I never would have believed a
person could be as happy as I am now. Im so ashamed. And it feels
to me as if I could never be unhappy again. Unhappiness, what would that
be, except death, of course. But we live.
LEA: Yes, we live. Not everyone can be this happy.
TOINI: What do you think life is?
LEA: Thats a pretty big question.
TOINI: I think theres farce in it, and more than a little. Just
think, what if Aulis was made for you and Eero for me.
ESTER: I dont understand people who get divorced. Everybodys
compatible, if they want to be.
TOINI: This is where Aulis first met me. But do you think he noticed me?
No. Hes been loving you.
ESTER: I was frivolous before. Unrequited love. Thats what literature
will do to you.
TOINI: I worshipped you, Lea. But youre always in my way.
ESTER: Now I have exactly what I always wanted. Even though I didnt
know it then.
TOINI: But you had married Eero. So its thanks to you that I got
Aulis.
ESTER: Iivo is honest and true, nothing murky about him.
TOINI: Lea, youre like one removed from the land of the living,
rubbed out, silenced. Are you a person any more, or just an idea?
ESTER: Then well compete to see who has the nicest home.
LEA: I cant compete.
TOINI: And Aulis admired you.
LEA: I dont like the two of you talking about me.
TOINI: Are you my sister or not? Do you always have to play Eeros
wife to me, or my guardian, or something, an apostle maybe? Wont
you admit how things are with you? Aulis and I often talk about it.
(The dance stops. The others are gone.
Toini and Lea are left on stage.)
LEA: I dont like you talking about
me.
TOINI: Dont you understand that I know what Eero is like, coarse,
conceited, simple? He doesnt deserve you.
LEA: Toini, I forbid it.
TOINI: Go ahead and forbid it. But theres something about Eero,
something murky and confused. I dont know. Hes like a beast
in a cage. No need for you to tell him this, and you wont, even
if your head was lopped off. Thanks, Lea.
LEA: For what?
TOINI: For Aulis.
(Toini hugs Lea suddenly, then exits.
Lea falls to the floor and cries. The crying turns to gasping. Hilja enters.)
HILJA: Maam! Maam! Can you
stand up? Doctor, come quickly.
EERO: What now? (realizing) Quickly. Hilja, call an ambulance.
HILJA: Yes, professor. (Exits.)
EERO: Does it hurt much?
LEA: Ill never get used to that Hilja.
EERO: She does her work, doesnt she.
LEA: But why is she so pretentious? Enunciates every word as if in a poetry
recital, with precision, with clipped grace.
EERO: Trying to make an impression. (Lea inhales deeply.) Shall I get
you some water?
LEA: (waving no with her hand) A person with a heart is less definite,
less sure.
EERO: What are you talking about?
LEA: Hilja. Shes cold and calculating. No heart.
EERO: Could be. Hearts are kind of a luxury for servants. Useless talk.
LEA: I must learn to tolerate her. (Sighs deeply.) Eero.
EERO: Maybe I should come with you after all.
LEA: You dont need to.
(The nurse brings a bed. Lea stretches
out on it.)
NURSE: Shall I rub your back?
LEA: Cant let others care for me, must care for others. I remember
that, Grandfather.
(Grandfather has come next to her bed,
and after a while Father too.)
GRANDFATHER: Care for others, youre
a smart girl.
LEA: Must not be a child. Must care for others. If you think you can be
a child, what happens then, Grandfather?
GRANDFATHER: Who will care for the others then?
NURSE: I have time. Its a slow night.
GRANDFATHER: A poor man isnt one whos missed after hes
dead.
LEA: Maybe there is no death.
GRANDFATHER: Lord, teach us to think that we all must die.
LEA: Death is lying there and turning to dust. Thats death, and
its much sadder than poverty and hunger and drinking and fighting.
GRANDFATHER: That we die gives us promise of understanding life. Ponder
that often when youre grown.
LEA: I will.
GRANDFATHER: But dont tell anyone that youre pondering it,
and youll become wise.
LEA: There are stars and a moon, and a little girl wanders far in the
moonlight alone. Must say everything good that you know. Death, wisdom.
And love everybody. So thought the traveler, walking in the night. It
hurts.
GRANDFATHER: Itll be over soon.
NURSE: Breathe this. Its ether. Itll be over soon.
LEA: It will be over soon.
GRANDFATHER: But too good a heart is a stupid heart. Remember that.
LEA: Too good a heart is a stupid heart.
GRANDFATHER: But the whole world would fall down if each of us didnt
say, I must not fall down.
LEA: I must not fall down.
NURSE: Breathe. Ether. Soon it will be over.
GRANDFATHER: Do you understand?
LEA: I understand. Quiet. Go. Alone, alone.
FATHER: Youre my only friend, sweetie.
LEA: Yes.
FATHER: And theres nobody else in the whole wide world like you.
You must grow to be happy and good.
LEA: I will if you want me to.
FATHER: Then I do want you to.
GRANDFATHER: Then I do want you to.
EERO: Then I do want you to.
FATHER: Elbow your way out into life without a care in the world.
LEA: Elbow. What a word.
NURSE: Heres the head.
(Leas cry and the babys cry
mingle.)
NURSE: Its over, Mrs. Markku. Congratulations.
Its a boy.
LEA: Were no longer two. Bad things can only happen to three now.
NURSE: Mrs. Markku. Its a boy.
LEA: We have three generations here.
(Lea tucks the bundle the nurse hands her under her arm like a bird shielding
a fledgling under its wing. The nurse pushes the bed, Hilja receives it.
Eero comes.)
EERO: (taking the baby in his arms) Do I dare hold him? He hardly weighs
anything.
LEA: A body starts off small. I was thinking we might name him Boy.
EERO: Boy he is, then. (Lays down the baby, wraps his arms around Lea.)
But youre trembling.
LEA: Im weak. Itll pass.
EERO: Why dont you rest. I have to run.
LEA: On Sunday?
EERO: Im a popular speaker. Are you disappointed?
LEA: I would have liked to talk. But my little big world is here.
(Eero kisses Lea, exits. Lea studies
her child. Hilja enters with a pile of sheets on her arm.)
LEA: What now?
HILJA: The doctor asked me to make up a bed for him in the study.
LEA: Really?
HILJA: Hes concerned the infant will disturb his rest. Shall I make
tea?
LEA: No thanks. Ill rest.
(Hilja exits. Lea wraps herself around her child, falls asleep. She wakes
to the sound of laughing. She sits up, hears the laughter again, a womans
voice. Lea gets up and moves cautiously toward the sound. She meets Hilja
in her nightgown.)
LEA: What are you doing here?
HILJA: Oiling the hinges, so they wont squeak.
LEA: In the middle of the night? That sort of thing should be done in
the daytime.
(Hilja curtsies and exits. Eero enters.)
EERO: What now?
LEA: Who told Hilja to oil the hinges at night?
EERO: What are you talking about?
LEA: Thats what she was just doing, oiling the hinges. I thought
you might have told her to.
EERO: Why at night?
LEA: Eero, cant you be straight with me? Whats going on?
EERO: Im listening to your crazy talk. Go on.
LEA: Why did the girl cry out in there, why is she wandering about at
night?
EERO: What right do you have to ask that, I ask you.
LEA: Stop shouting, Hilja will hear you.
EERO: Let her hear. Lets go in and you can tell her what you suspect
her of.
LEA: I wont. Whos she to settle our differences?
(Eero squeezes Leas arms and tries to push her toward the study.)
EERO: Youre going.
LEA: She and I have nothing to talk about.
EERO: Shes human the same as you. Shes under my protection.
LEA: Arent I under your protection? Or is this how you protect me,
trying to humiliate me in front of that girl? And why? To show off how
you despise me. To let her feel triumphant. I wont let her be my
judge.
EERO: And are you hers? (Hits Lea.)
LEA: Eero, now youve gone too far.
EERO: You went too far when you came and accused me in the middle of the
night.
LEA: Why cant you just tell me Im wrong?
EERO: I did already. And now I wont say another word, you can believe
whatever you want.
LEA: Youre cruel.
EERO: If suspicion has arisen, its not in my power to make it go
away.
LEA: You cant or you wont? Youre having an affair. But
Ive got a right to know everything.
EERO: You dont control my rights. Ill do whatever I want.
(Chokes Lea.)
LEA: Stop, youre killing me.
EERO: Im choking you.
LEA: You have no right to my life. No one has.
(Eero loosens his grip, looks at Lea
a moment, then strikes her so she falls.)
EERO: Youre a devil. A devil. (Exits.)
(Eeros shout has wakened the baby,
who begins to cry. Lea goes to the boy and picks him up.)
LEA: Boy, my Boy. Are grownups insensitive?
Are they? Theyll learn. When youve grown up theyll be
wiser. Grow, grow up, my darling. There is no family here. True poverty.
Lifeless props, no more. The actors are gone. The whole piece hasnt
been written yet. Maybe this is as much as will ever be written, its
such an insignificant play. Ive been struck down to your level,
Boy, were equals now.
(Lea walks with the baby, stops in front
of Eero at his desk.)
LEA: If you want to be rid of me, Eero,
tell me straight out. If I cant love you as my husband, Ill
give up.
EERO: I dont want to hear any of that kind of talk. Im satisfied.
You look pale.
LEA: Is it any wonder?
EERO: (taking a few bills from his desk drawer, giving them to Lea) Here,
go buy yourself something, some clothes, so you cheer up.
LEA: No.
EERO: Take it, take it, while Im still in a mood to give it to you.
And that servant thing you can handle however you want.
(Lea looks at her husband suspiciously. The money lies on the desk. Eero
has returned to his work, sees and hears nothing. Lea takes the money
and walks off with the baby.)
LEA: Boy, my Boy. Should I apologize to you? Yes, father, youve
returned to life, Ive awakened you to new life. Are you satisfied?
Now I love you with all my heart. We have three generations here now.
(Lea goes to the doll closet, unwraps
Boys swaddling clothes and carefully picks out a place for him.
When he is on the shelf next to the dolls she examines her work like an
artist her arrangement; it is a success.)
LEA: Did I say its dreary here,
that theres no life? That the piece hasnt been written yet,
that the stage is empty?
(Hilja enters, as if to open the blinds; the daylight streams in.)
LEA: I can go on. In fact Ive been planning for some time to run
the house myself. So that Hilja can go and preferably right now.
HILJA: No. What does he say?
LEA: That what I do with the servants is my business.
HILJA: Are you serious? I wont be toyed with.
LEA: Neither will I.
HILJA: Then I understand. Could the missus be jealous? Some women are
so envious of others that they would deny them everything.
LEA: Why should I be?
HILJA: You dont need to worry about me, Im no adventuress.
I have within me only the surest feelings, mine are a finer class of feelings,
thats the kind of feeling person I am. And very sensitive. No one
would need to compare the two of us to know that the difference between
us lies in how sensitive we are. And let me give the missus a little piece
of advice, it would be wisest to keep me on. Youll get some tramp
and just waste your money. This way itll stay in the family so to
speak. Please give it some thought.
LEA: I have.
HILJA: But I wont go without a months severance pay. And the
missus doesnt have it to give me, I know she doesnt.
LEA: Here it is. (Gives her the money she got from Eero.)
HILJA: But where shall I go?
LEA: Thats your business. Lets go pack your things.
HILJA: Oh, the shame. It almost makes me laugh. I dont wear rags.
They all pretend to be gentlemen and ladies, even the ones on whose steps
Im now supposed to beg. Phew, the reek of poverty.
(Hilja walks away but remains onstage
near a wardrobe. She stands with her back to the action. When she is later
needed as Siiri, she peels off her outermost layer of clothes, puts on
a wig that she takes from the top shelf of the wardrobe, and becomes Siiri.
The Hilja-outfit remains lying where it fell. Lea goes to the doll closet,
takes the baby from it and begins to feed it. The babys lines are
played by a glockenspiel or other childs instrument.)
LEA: Mama will feed Boy, yes, mama will
feed Boy, Boys porridge is almost ready. You want a bottle? No,
not yet, patience, patience. Dont kick. Do you like life, Boy? Do
you? Do you like porridge? Ah, you do.
BOY: Atatataa.
LEA: Aha. Atatataa. That means: Boy does like porridge. Thats enough
for mama. Thats all that matters to you, just that. Or is it?
BOY: Atatatalagoo.
LEA: Aha, goo, thats a tough one. Boy, Boys no gentleman,
or are you? Can a gentleman suck his thumb, little girls do. Boy mustnt
fight, big man like you, must respect the porridge bowl. Goo, mamas
own little goo-man. What is that goo of yours, is it good? Aha, it is
mama, say mama.
BOY: Aatatalaa.
LEA: Aha. Goo isnt mama. Goo means the whole world is good and Boy
is happy. The loviest love of all. He doesnt understand. He senses.
Good. Now Boy gets his bottle. My sweet doesnt understand, he senses.
(Eero has come to watch mother and child
together, and watches Lea put Boy in the doll closet.)
EERO: Youre mine, mine. (Takes
Lea to bed.)
LEA: Eero.
EERO: Your child is gurgling and babbling over there.
LEA: But tell me, arent you really happy?
EERO: I am.
LEA: At Christmas well be four.
EERO: (getting out of bed) Too many. Im not going to support a big
family.
LEA: I knew it.
EERO: I assume a person has a right to decide about his offspring.
LEA: Not when they already are.
EERO: An unborn fetus isnt yet.
LEA: Is too.
EERO: Nature doesnt understand anything, not even how to be infertile.
Only the human mind is fertile. I hate humanity with all my heart.
LEA: Thats not what you say in public.
EERO: I speak their language. Its a desperate lie. Humanity, what
do you know about it? A human being has wants that your type cant
even imagine. Deep down he wants to murder. Humans are beasts, I mean
it, beasts. Thats why they have to be handled with cunning and deceit.
And if that doesnt work, with a gun.
LEA: Youre a pacifist.
EERO: Does that mean I cant be a student of human nature? Im
a man of the great migrations, a man of chaos. I harbor within me a spirit
of formlessness. If a time of anarchy and war would only come, Id
have myself hailed caesar.
LEA: Why do you talk that way?
EERO: They expect a man to be a slave, a house slave, supporter of the
herd, but thats not enough, now they expect him to stop living,
to be a machine, a support-machine, dedicated to the home.
LEA: What do you still lack? Freedom?
EERO: Idiot. Im saying the whole marriage was a mistake.
LEA: Too late for that now. You should have thought of that earlier.
EERO: Maybe I should leave.
LEA: Divorce? When I asked you, you didnt want to. Do you now?
EERO: No. Are you afraid Ill cheat on you?
LEA: I trust you.
EERO: If I cheated on you, it would only mean that I have so much respect
for you that I couldnt bear to be judged by you, remember that.
If I didnt bother cheating on you, I would be undervaluing you,
remember that. I never should have confessed anything to you.
LEA: You never did.
EERO: When I speak openly, it robs me of my self-confidence. I am humiliated
before you.
LEA: Im not dangerous.
EERO: I give my experiences whatever value I wish. Theyre none of
your business. If Ive ever thought they did I made the worst mistake
of my life.
LEA: Thats a mistake youve never made.
EERO: Stop prying.
LEA: Im not. Look how sweetly Boy sleeps.
EERO: Youre your childrens fool.
LEA: Mother.
EERO: Fool. Youre raising them to be snakes wholl bite me
one day. Are you raising a great man, maybe?
LEA: It never crossed my mind.
EERO: Aha, so his daddys example isnt good enough! Youll
pay for this. Goddamned woman. Im defending my honor, I am, I am.
LEA: I honor you as much as I can.
EERO: Lies, lies. (Hits Lea.)
LEA: Eero, dont.
EERO: Beggar, beggar, I despise you, I despise you. (Hits her again.)
LEA: What hurt have we ever done you, that you have to hurt us?
EERO: Nothing. I just dont know how to be good, I just wish I knew
how to stop being evil. So I wouldnt have evil thoughts.
LEA: Try. Its sick.
EERO: I wish I could strive for goodness. (Embraces Lea suddenly.) Dont
take this for love.
LEA: What do we want with love, old folks like us.
EERO: Ive been wrong about many things, but not about you.
(Suddenly his embrace becomes violent
and he squeezes her hard against his chest, until Lea loses consciousness.
He picks her up and carries her to bed, where he begins caressing her.
Lea comes to.)
LEA: Stop, Im suffocating.
EERO: What happened?
LEA: You broke my ribs.
EERO: Did you feel them break?
LEA: I felt it and heard it. Didnt you?
EERO: I thought I did. Hey, me, Im the rib-breaker! (Lea cries out
sharply.) What now?
LEA: The baby. Its coming.
(Eero goes to the doll closet and opens
its door. Lea tries to stop him. He pushes her away, takes a doll and
hurls it to the floor. It breaks. Lea screams, then begins picking up
the pieces. Around her there appear three men, who form a triangle; maybe
a beam of light joins them, makes them a single whole. The men are Eero,
Father, and Aulis. Lea doesnt recognize them, in fact isnt
aware of their existence.)
LEA: You werent supposed to start
yet, not take a single step, when the path was broken, everything was
taken away and you had to return to the emptiness from which you had come
and out of which you had been called. Called and then killed. I dont
want to take the easy way, I must make sense of everything. You would
have known it, little one, if you had been able to feel and talk. What
had you already experienced? You were me, my self as new life. Before
my new birth, beaten and maimed, and you went away in disgrace, before
youd even done anything evil. What did your terrified soul feel?
And I was a mother and could not protect you.
(Lea sees Father standing a ways off
with a doll in his arms; it is the same doll that just broke. Lea walks
toward Father, who then exits.)
LEA: Its your fault, Father, your
fault, why did you have to die? Your fault I rushed into marriage. Help
me now. Its your duty to help me.
(But Father goes. Lea tries to reach
Father, but then turns and meets Eero.)
LEA: Its the same man! The same
man! Accomplice, accomplice.
(But Eero no longer hears that last word.
He exits, as the Dies Irae begins to play. Aulis comes and
helps Lea to her feet.)
LEA: Aulis.
AULIS: I know everything, more or less. Remember that.
LEA: After this, understand, I dont want to see you, ever.
AULIS: I knew it. And so it shall be.
(Aulis escorts Lea off.)
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