PS 3530 / Class __ESaiGi Boole, \^ ^?. GoEyiiglit^^L_i£L^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Cupib's Coronation ^ iLprical Jlasque Jf our Sctg ®aa,i5.3Rounbp Chicago 19X5 n<:^- — y^x — w^-^ri (& \i> K AUG 19 ISIL MAR -8 IbIB DEDICATION To MR. MAURICE BROWNE of The Little Theatre Chicago, 111. U. S. A. Your g-ift of swift sympathy grave me the first real reader of this wee Masque. Should I ever gain an- other such, I shall account myself doubly blessed by the Gods. Gratefullv yours, W. N. R. Copyright by THE AUTHOR 1915 All Rights Reserved 100 copies of this masque printed the 16th day of September. 1915, by Hack & Anderson. CHARACTERS. Robin (In love with ^larguerite). Giles, the Hermit. Lord Monterey. RoLLO, Court Jester. Davie 1 t^ • • • i • i t-, n T > Rustic swains m love with Polly Johnnie J Puck. Cupid. Marion Flossie Emma Louise Annie Emily Fannie Clara Helen Nellie Marguerite. CoRiNA (Her nurse). Polly, a rustic maiden. Witch of the Wood. Bugaboo "I ^, . . , , ., , ^1 he witch s children. NiGHTHAWK J (Children and dancers.) \ :hildi PROLOGUE. (Spoken by a young girl in the guise of a woodland nymph.) The wand I hold is one that Cupid gave As looking on me with his happy eyes. He bade me come and welcome every one, Unto his home — free and frolic Fairyland ; Where things are made of no such mortal stuff As marble, iron, bronze or gold. Fancies there And visions of the mind make all that is ; Fancies — that have in them such potent life That once they come on earth to men, they live Forevermore — though Kingdoms fall and nations Die and e'en the names of poets are forgot, Come thither now, but leave thy cares behind ; For Care hath no more place in Fairyland, Than has the miser's gold a place in Heaven. All's as you make it. Yield thee to Joy or Joy Can never take you. For e'en the wand of An Immortal is powerless over such As do refuse its service. The skies are blind To him who doth not seek with patient thoughts — Not acts — to know the secrets they unfold; For noisy actions teach the actor little Truth, But 'tis unto the Dreamer's musing eyes, The Gods most oft reveal their mysteries. Cupib's Coronation ACT I— SCENE I Scene: A ivoodland glade. Enter Rollo, carrying Flossie on his shoulders, surrounded by other children. ROLLO — Here we are at last ; and now will my little Queen condescend to descend? FLOSSIE— If you please. ROLLO — Of course I will please. For if you are to be a live Queen, then troth must I be a live servant and give true obedience unto you. For a true Queen without a true subject were in very truth a very sorry object, and such a one as no true man could endure. Therefore, as I hope to be a true man I will serve thee truly. So here we are and down you com.e ! Now, O Queen, thou art like a fallen star. MARION— What makes you say, Rollo, that Flossie is like a fallen star? ROLLO — Because she is a beautiful thing come down from heaven to e.arth. MARION — Now, Rollo, you haven't told us a story today. ALL THE CHILDREN— A story! A story! ROLLO — I appeal to thee, O Queen (turning to Flossie and kneeling), I, thy subject, desire 10 Cupid's Coronation to be excused from all story' telling this day! May I not, O, Queen, be excused? FLOSSIE — I don't know ; we all like stories. ALL THE CHILDREN— A story! a story! ROLLO— I never tell stories. FLOSSIE — O yes ! you do — sometimes — and good ones. too. ROLLO — Sometimes, but not this time. For, alas ! this morning, like a foolish mortal, I lost myself out in the woods, and while I was trying to find myself I came to a little pond.' Around the pond were a lot of frogs. Now when they saw me they all began : "Croak ! croak ! croak ! give us a story!" Next a flock of crows, right over my head cried : "Caw ! caw ! caw ! give us a story !" Just think of it ! There I was a lone, unprotected man ! My ! but I was scared. I looked around for an escape. But there wasn't any. Escapes don't seem to grow in the woods. The frogs all opened their big mouths and the crows all flapped their big wings. I thought I was gone, sure ! But, thanks to my head, I had an idea! I just reached down into my pockets and threw out all my chestnuts and then — ALL THE CHILDREN— Then— ROLLO — Then I ran for my life, and here I am. FLOSSIE — Well, you might make up a story. ROLLO— Yes! I suppose I might. Whittle it out of raw material and measure it by rule and Cupid's Coronation 11 sell it by the yard as all the novelists do now- days. I might— ^but I guess I won't. I haven't time. Besides, you must run now and pick flow- ers for Coronation Day. Get as big ones as you can. for the bigger the flowers, the larger the feelings of him who _getteth the flowers. Shoo ! Shoo! Chickadees! Now pick fast and I'll come back after you pretty soon. [Exit children. ROLLO — looking after the children, solilo- quizes — There they go ! a regular spray of sun- beams ! A whole row of domesticated sunshine. What would the world be without 'em ! Why, 'twould be nothing but a blank ; a shadow ; a very blank shadow — a very shadowy shadow without any golden edges or any silvery linings, but only a black-faced, homely, rainy day, soli- tary, solemn, sedate and subdued shadow ! Which reminds me of the singular fact that I — ■ even I — am still a bachelor. But 'ere many more days of my youth are gone, by the bright eyes of one sweet lady whose praises I will hot repeat for fear she may be present— that singular fact shall be no longer singular but plural, for I will follow the advice of the old song, which sayeth : Young man, young man, go marry ! Sweet maid, sweet maid, go marry ; Youth will stay but a summer's day ; Love will fade with the month of May. Roses cannot tarry. 12 Cupid's Coronation But just when Youth seems jolly and gay, When fair is the morn and bright is the day, Far it will fly ; far it will fly ; Far it will fly away. Ah ! here come the lovers — the only two. Yet the same kind of a Huckleberry two that a mil- lion other twos are. O, captivating Cupid ! what a comedy it is to see these sighing things, with but one heart, one hope, one hand, one ring, one wish and no appetite. Thus doth the world see man vanquished by a smile ; routed by a look ; overcome by a sigh ; annihilated by the merest sign of a frown ; puffed out of existence and cheated out of his proud inheritance of solitude and independence by the faintest faltering of a pretty mouth. Well!' who so desireth. let him be Cupid's slave, but as for me — SONG. Though love be a fairy, What care I ? Though love be a fury. What care I ? The winds blow fair over meadow and lea ; My heart is light and my soul is free; For never a woman or maid, you see Was ever the mistress of me ! [Exit Rollo. [Enter the Witch with Bugaboo and Night- hazvk. THE WITCH— A good song i' faith, with the Cupid's Coronatton 13 right sense ; would more were like it. Ah ! here come those lovers with their honey talk. I can- not touch them yet — not yet. The charm — it will not work ! BUGABOO— But mother, let me try my art ! THE WITCH— What! thou knowest naught. •Puck would catch thee i' the minute and kill thee with a sunbeam. NIGHTHAWK— Mother, I feel hope a-stir- ring. Let us wait. THE WITCH— chanting— Yes ! let us wait. Spirit black of stormy cloud ; Sprite that maketh mortals proud, Bring thy charm and weave thy spell. Burst these bonds of asphodel. Change these sugar hearts of good Into minds of hardihood. Spirit that all mortals fear, Send thy m.agic mischief here, That so my brood may learn thy lere. Double, double Toil and trouble. Rise up. Mischiefs, rise and bubble. Root of Snakeweed, up, I say! What ! thou cans't not ? Then away ! Puck holds the magic charm today. [Exit Witch. [Enter Robin and Marguerite. ROBIN — I love you so that I can find no speech. 14 Cupid's Coronation MARGUERITE— Say nothing, then, and T will call it golden eloquence. ROBIN — So will I, since silence is the only eloquence I can command. For noblest things are hardest to express, since they outsoar the wings of plaint and prayer. See, here is our good old friend, the oak, a friend that in our need has often been a friend indeed. MARGUERITE— And may he be so to the end. How good it is To have good friends ; O think of all the years That we shall live to revel in the joys Around us here today ; to see each year Old friends knit closer in Fate's kindly bond of sympathy and love. A happy future 'tis that waits us, is it not, dear Robin ? ROBIN— So I hope, but— MARGUERITE— Think of treading, day by day, over these same fields ; beside our favorite brook ; along the meadows ; underneath the elms — Ah ! merry is this world, tho' some folk say That earth is sad and lone and most unhappy. ROBIN— Life is not always a place of gayety. Filled full of songs and love and poesy. I wish it could be, but — MARGUERITE— Why, Robin, why, Do you keep saying "but" as if indeed Cupid's Coronation 15 There was some doubt about our happiness ? robin- No doubt at all, dear Marguerite, but — MARGUERITE— There you are again, a veritable Treasure house of buts and ifs and ands. Come ! come ! Don't spoil our one great joy with fear. Forgive me, love, it seems so strange, that's all— To hear you stand there doubting. ROBIN— I do not doubt — Not doubt exactly, yet I want a word — MARGUERITE— A word for what? ROBIN— To say, my dearest love, That even 'ere our wedding bells have ceased To sound their music in our ears, we must Go far away from here. MARGUERITE— Away from here ? ROBIN— Aye. MARGUERITE— Away from all my friends, my childhood home ! My old associations ! O, Robin, won't you stay! ROBIN — I cannot, Love. I would I could. But men must go where-e'er their work is. 16 Cupid's Coronation MARGUERITE— Away from here? Away from all relations, friends and ties That I have learned to love. ROBIN — But love should suffer somethin?^ for love's sake. MARGUERITE— Away from all my friends, O Robin, I — I cannot go — ROBIN— Cannot ? Is woman's love then worth but this. When having friends, a home, the luxuries of life, ^ It suits your thought to have a husband, too, You take him like a piece of bric-a-brac, A something fair, convenient, decorous. Respectable or needful or polite. So you marry. But if love meaneth care. Grief, pain or e'en discomfort for a time. Presto ! Change ! you wish it not. This then is wom- an's love ! MARGUERITE — crying — To go so far — ROBIN— ^/7/rr/v half aside- Yon shall not ! I will go alone, but Heaven grant you may, In after years, in thinking on this hour. Remember what men suffer from the fears Of women who lack courage in their souls. [Exit Robin Jiurricdly. Cupid's Coronation 17 MARGUERITE— ca//f;?.