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 NUMBER ONE 
 
 WILD BIRDS 
 
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Greek Theatre Publications Number One 
 
 WILD BIRDS 
 
 A Play in Three Acts 
 By Dan Totheroh 
 
 First Produced in 
 Wheeler Hall, University of California 
 
 March 25, 1922 
 Under the direction of Irving Pichel 
 
 Editorial Board 
 Charles Mills Gayley 
 Max Radin 
 Stephen C. Pepper 
 
 x 
 
 Greek Theatre 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley, California 
 Samuel J. Hume, Director 
 
Copyright 1922 
 
 by 
 Dan Totheroh 
 
 For information Regarding Royalty 
 and Rights of Performance Address 
 
 Samuel J. Hume 
 303 California Hall 
 Berkeley, California 
 
 Published by 
 Greek Theatre Press 
 
 2307 Telegraph Avenue 
 Berkeley, California 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 There are several obvious statements that may 
 be made about the drama. It is an art form of 
 the highest potentialities. Two great literatures 
 Greek and English find the consummation of their 
 achievement in plays. It is preeminently the social 
 form of art. No other aspect of art has so direct 
 an appeal to large masses of men indeed, in a 
 very real sense, it is a group product, a mass per 
 formance. And finally, the English drama was until 
 recently, and largely remains, corrupt and corrupting. 
 
 This decay of a great form of social art, a decay 
 \vhich specially characterized the nineteenth century 
 in England and America, was implicit in the very 
 traditions of the drama. These were both the high 
 est and the lowest conceivable. The greatest men 
 might write plays, in fact, had demonstrably done 
 so. Had not Julius Caesar written a tragedy, mer 
 cifully suppressed by his heir and successor? But 
 only the lowest elements of human society produced 
 plays. Acting, and the management of scenes meant 
 the application of one s bodily activities to the amuse 
 ment of others. That seemed a human degradation 
 and possible only to men already degraded. And 
 the lower tradition triumphed. It is the producer 
 who must in the nature of things become the chief 
 dramatist. Great writers are rare but the public 
 will have its plays week in and week out. So the 
 
 438908 
 
4 WILD BIRDS 
 
 man that performed parts or made others do so. 
 had to write himself parts to perform. 
 
 It became a sorry enough business. What could 
 he do but repeat the parts that he remembered had 
 aroused applause, multiply situations that had been 
 accepted, and, knowing that public interest varies, 
 treat the variations as purely capricious and the 
 theatre as an amusing form of gambling? And the 
 result was that several generations of English speak 
 ing playgoers dulled their sensibilities and imperilled 
 their artistic souls by a dramatic literature of which 
 the best was, let us say, Robertson s Caste, and the 
 worst was quite too bad to mention. 
 
 What has arrested the process of decay? The 
 coming of a great dramatic genius could have done 
 so. After all, there was a Shakespeare. Perhaps 
 Mr. Shaw believes that a great dramatic genius did 
 come to the English stage in the 1890 s. But ap 
 parently something better and more promising hap 
 pened. 
 
 The production of plays had ceased to be a 
 contaminating craft and had become a lucrative 
 trade, a transformation that did little for its moral 
 or artistic growth and, at last, here and there, 
 gentlemen, first in England, then in America, made 
 the experiment of treating this most ancient, most 
 social and perhaps loftiest of the arts, as though it 
 possessed an artistic basis and served an artistic 
 end. That is to say, they presented plays with avowed 
 indifference to any other result than the production 
 of something as fine as they could make it. If the 
 public was entertained, that was good. If the pro- 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 ducer was enriched, that was not to be despised. 
 But titillating public taste, especially a bad public 
 taste, was not part of their program. In other 
 words, the evil tradition that made an actor a 
 mountebank and a producer a purveyor of pleasures, 
 was to be deliberately disregarded. 
 
 All that these men needed was material. They 
 wanted good plays. And the extraordinary thing 
 was that they found them. Translation and imita 
 tion gave them some. Invention gave them more. 
 No one of these plays, it may be admitted, has quite 
 the quality of Hamlet or King Oedipus. But ten fairly 
 good plays are written now for one that was written 
 thirty years ago and the result is due to the move 
 ment that began in the 90 s in England, the move 
 ment to free the theatre from the tradition which 
 makes it the substitute for the mediaeval cock-pit, 
 and to reaffirm the tradition that makes it the great 
 synthetic art through which the people in a mass 
 can receive the highest emotional exaltation. 
 
 We are far indeed from having reached that 
 goal. In the minds of many the theatre is still 
 primarily a purveyor of gratifications, an amusement 
 parlor. The movement to remedy this is slow and 
 its success problematic. But it is precisely this 
 movement that the Greek Theatre of the University 
 of California was designed to forward. Seconding 
 the work of the Little Theatres throughout the 
 country, the Greek Theatre has sought during each 
 academic term to present plays of varying types 
 and sources; basing its selection, in every instance, 
 on the play s merit. The response of the audiences 
 
6 WILD BIRDS 
 
 has been most gratifying. It is evident that the 
 public wishes to see good plays and is only prevented 
 from attending them by the fact that commercial 
 producers rarely produce them. 
 
 However, the Greek Theatre has a function of 
 a more special character. Drama, as an article of 
 commerce, has gone through the regular stages of 
 business development. Hucksters became traders, 
 traders became companies and companies became 
 syndicates. The wrong tradition, the evil tradition 
 of the stage, became capitalized, and standardized 
 and centralized. Not the least valuable part of 
 the movement represented by the Little Theatres 
 is the breach it seeks to make in this entrenched 
 abuse. Art is essentially individual, and a group 
 art such as the drama, is not an exception. Here, 
 however, it is the individual group that is the unit. 
 If in every part of the country, groups are at work 
 freely unfolding themselves under local conditions, 
 giving the fullest scope to the powers of their mem 
 bers, an art will be made possible that will be the 
 resultant of the many individual tendencies undoubt 
 edly existing. 
 
 That is what the Greek Theatre would like to 
 effect. Its actual production is the cooperative 
 result of a group. More and more that group will 
 become coextensive with the state, whose agency the 
 Greek Theatre is. But while that lies in the future, 
 the cooperation of the whole state can be elicited 
 at once in at least one respect. 
 
 -The- Greek Theatre needs plays. It needs good 
 plays. It will take them wherever it can get them. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 It may go to China for some, to Berlin for others, 
 to Birmingham or Greenwich Village for still others. 
 And it would like to make some for itself. It would 
 like by its organization to give a scope for those 
 who in California have the power to create dramas. 
 The first step in that direction was the Prize 
 Competition organized last year in which more than 
 eighty plays were submitted. The successful play 
 is the one which opens this series, WILD BIRDS, 
 by Mr. Dan Totheroh, to be produced in Wheeler 
 Hall at the University of California campus, in 
 Berkeley. 
 
 But prize plays and their production form only 
 the first step. The second step is the organization 
 of the series of which this is the first number. Only 
 one play can receive a prize, but many may have 
 merits that entitle them to a higher recognition 
 than that of having honorably competed. The 
 Greek Theatre wishes for itself and for those other 
 dramatic agencies fighting the good fight throughout 
 the country, to render available whatever of special 
 ized dramatic ability the State of California pos 
 sesses. With or without competitions, it is intended 
 to publish plays written by residents of the state 
 for production by the Greek Theatre organization. 
 Not all such plays will be presented, but their 
 publication will, it is trusted, be in itself a valuable 
 achievement and stimulate further production. 
 
 EDITORIAL BOARD 
 
 CHARLES MILLS GAYLEY 
 MAX RADIN 
 STEPHEN PEPPER 
 
8 WILD BIRDS 
 
 CHARACTERS 
 JOHN SLAG, a Homesteader. 
 MRS. SLAG, his wife. 
 CORIE SLAG, their daughter. 
 MAZIE. 
 
 ADAM LARSEN. 
 MILT POLLARD. 
 SANDY ROBERTS. 
 ESTHEY, his daughter. 
 GEORGE MARSHALL. 
 A TRAMP. 
 THE VOICE OF THE PREACHER. 
 
 SCENES 
 
 ACT 1. 
 
 SCENE 1 Before the Slag homestead on prairie land 
 
 in the Middle-West. Early Spring. 
 SCENE 2 The same. A week later. The evening of 
 Corie Slag s marriage to Milt Pollard. 
 
 ACT 2. 
 SCENE 1 The same about a month and a half later. 
 
 Spring at the full. 
 SCENE 2 Outside the tent of the Evangelical Camp 
 
 Meeting. That evening. 
 SCENE 3 Far out on the Prairie. Later that night. 
 
 ACT 3. 
 SCENE 1 The same as Acts 1 and 2. Five months 
 
 later. Late Fall. 
 SCENE 2 Adam s room in the attic, a little before 
 
 dawn, the next morning. 
 
 SCENE 3 The outside of the house again. About 
 ten minutes later. Dawn. 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 9 
 
 ACT 1. 
 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 SCENE 1 A clearing before the SLAG homestead, on 
 prairie land in the Middle-West. The house is 
 right, just the very front of it in view, a long, 
 low building crudely constructed, the cracks 
 between the rough boards plastered with mud. 
 A snake fence runs across the back of the stage, 
 beyond which is a winding road and beyond that 
 great stretches of prairie land, now delicately 
 tinted with the green of early Spring. There 
 are three or four benches before the house and 
 a barrel rocker. 
 
 It is about four o clock in the afternoon. 
 The air, which has been warmed by the first real 
 day of sun after a long, hard winter, is turning 
 cold again. 
 
 CORIE SLAG, a thin, irritable looking girl with scrag- 
 gly blond hair, is leaning on the snake fence 
 looking up the road, left. She wears a print 
 dress and her feet are bare. 
 
 MRS. SLAG enters from the house carrying a wooden 
 water bucket. She is a lank, worn woman with 
 stooped shoulders and thin gray hair. CORIE 
 resembles her, having the same straight, thin- 
 lipped mouth and pale blue eyes, a milky blue. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (going toward the well, which is off 
 stage, left) : 
 What air you lookin at, Corie? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I thought that might be Milt comin . 
 
.10: : .: .;: ;*/:; ; WILD BIRDS 
 
 , * * * * 
 
 MRS. SLAG (changing her direction and coming to 
 the fence) : 
 
 It can t be Milt this time of day. He couldn t 
 leave his plowin . Days like this air too scarce. 
 (looking up the road) No, that hain t him. 
 Too tall fer him. Wonder who it air? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 He air walkin mad-like with his arms swingin . 
 
 MRS. SLAG (shading her eyes with her hands) : 
 I do believe it air the new hired man. What s 
 he stopped plowin so early fer? It hain t like 
 John to be lettin him stop so early. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Maybe somethin s happened. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Maybe so. (raising her hand and calling) : Hey,. 
 George Marshall, what s happened? 
 
 (There is no reply from the road.) 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 He s a queer one. I didn t like him when paw 
 hired him. You can t tell about these folks that 
 come in off the road. 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 I didn t take to him neither. I told John I didn t. 
 He had a way of lookin sharp with his eyes 
 that I didn t like. It was like he was tryin 
 to find things out about you. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 He was talkin early this mornin to Mazie. I 
 heard him when I was gettin dressed. Mazie 
 was washin the milk buckets at the well an 
 between the swishin of water, I could hear him 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 11 
 
 talkin an her answerin back in that soft, de- 
 ceivin way of hers. 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 It s his kind Mazie draws to her like flies after 
 syrup drip. They kinda know what she air fore 
 we tell em. Hey, George Marshall, what s 
 happened ? 
 
 (Enter George Marshall, a tall, plain- faced man with 
 keen gray eyes. He is about forty-five, an out 
 door-man, tanned and strong.) 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (calmly) : 
 
 Nothin has happened. I air quitting that s all. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 What fer? 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 That man of your n air a devil. I can t work 
 with him. I air a peaceful man, Mrs. Slag. 
 I go about the country workin here an thar 
 plowin , sowin , harvestin I like wanderin 
 seein country an folks I like people but I 
 cannot stand your man, Mrs. Slag. He air a 
 hard man with hard ways. He air a driver of 
 men. (going toward the house) I air goin to 
 git my things from John Slag s attic an then 
 I air hittin the road agin. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 You hain t treatin John Slag right. He s got 
 to git that plowin done right off an that seed 
 in while these nice days air lastin . 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 I hev never left a man in the lurch before. I 
 hev got a clean record all through the Middle- 
 
12 WILD BIRDS 
 
 West with farmers an homesteaders but John 
 Slag can t raise the hoss whip agin me an call 
 my mother a name like he did. (On the steps of 
 the house) Mrs. Slag, your man should hev 
 lived in the days before the Civil War an owned 
 slaves. Then he could hev beaten em when 
 ever he wanted an they couldn t hev quit him, 
 like me. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (blood flushing her face} : 
 
 You air an insultin man, George Marshall ! 
 
 CORIE (hatefully) : 
 
 I wish paw had hit you with the hoss whip ! 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (smiling gently) : 
 
 I hev put my foot inter a nest of rattlers. Now 
 I must git out quick before I git bitten. 
 
 (He exits inside the house.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG (lifting up the bucket) : 
 What will John do now fer help? 
 
 CORIE (shrugging her shoulders) : 
 
 Oh, somebody else will come along. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (doubtfully) : 
 
 Labor air scarce this year. Men air goin inter 
 the cities to work. That s what the "Gazette" 
 says. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Waal, thar s one thing sartain. / hain t goin 
 to help with the plowin like I did once. I hain t 
 strong enough an besides Milt don t want me 
 to be gettin all stooped over. He wants a wife 
 what he kin be proud of to show round an 
 take to fairs, tent meetin s an places. 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 13 
 
 MRS. SLAG (exiting toward the well) : 
 
 Of course, Corie, your paw an me wouldn t 
 think of sich a thing. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Mazie air strong an thar hain t nobody marryin 
 her. ( CORIE giggles at the very idea.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 No, I hain t seein suitors breakin thar necks 
 to git at her. (She takes a few steps away) Now 
 that George Marshall air leavin thar won t be 
 so much cookin . \Yaal, we ll see when John 
 comes. (She exits). 
 
 CORIE comes down to a bench and sits there.) 
 
 (Enter from the rear of the house, MAZIE. She is 
 a small, quick-moving girl with masses of black 
 hair that she wears in a thick braid down her 
 back. It is such heary hair that it seems to tilt 
 her head, raising her little white chin and swelling 
 the soft line of her throat, like the throat of a 
 wild bird that sings. SJie has a wistful, search 
 ing expression in her eyes that are deeply brown 
 and deeply set. Her dress is of coarse brown 
 home-spun and her little feet are bare. Her 
 cheeks are flushed from bending over the store 
 in the I can-to.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Hello, Corie. The grass air come on the prairie 
 agin. (She knows that Corie doesn t care about 
 the grass on the prairie, but she must talk 
 about the miracle to some one. Inwardly she 
 is bubbling over.) 
 
14 WILD BIRDS 
 
 CORIE (not looking at her) : 
 
 You better be careful an don t burn things to 
 night. Paw air goin to be ornery. 
 
 MAZIE (taking a little, untrained dance step behind 
 Corie) : 
 
 Jist think Corie, I air seventeen now. At least 
 I air pruty near to it. I will be seventeen by 
 the night you air married. 
 
 CORIE (smiling sneeringly) : 
 
 How do you know how old you air? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I asked Aunt Martie. She said I would be 
 seventeen by next week. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Yes, but nobody knows really how old you air. 
 How kin anybody be sure when your maw air 
 dead long time ago an you never had no father? 
 
 MAZIE (simply) : 
 
 I did have a father but he didn t want me. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Who s been tellin you things? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Nobody. I jest figgered it out. I air seventeen 
 now, Corie, an I air beginnin to understand 
 things. All by myself I air beginnin to under 
 stand things. 
 
 CORIE (irritably) : 
 
 You don t know what you re talkin about. Go 
 back inter the house or I ll tell maw. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I think I ll git to know lots of things now that 
 Mr. Marshall air livin here. He will tell me 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 15 
 
 things that would take me a long time to figger 
 out by myself. 
 
 CORIE (laughing) : 
 
 He s up in the attic now, gettin ready to go. 
 Lot s he ll be tellin you. 
 
 MAZIE (her face falling) : 
 Why air he leavin ? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Paw fired him. He air no good. 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 I air sorry. (She blinks back tears.) 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 What air you cryin about? You never spoke 
 to him afore this mornin . I heard you while 
 you was washin the milk buckets. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I never spoke to him afore this mornin but it 
 air like I hev known him a long, long time. 
 
 CORIE (rising) : 
 
 You air crazy. (She goes to the fence and looks 
 up the road). Don t you wish you was goin to 
 meet a fine lover like Milt at sundown by the 
 creek willers an go walkin with him? (She 
 struts away up the road, her hands indolently 
 on her lean hips.) 
 
 (GEORGE MARSHALL re-enters from the house carry 
 ing a battered suitcase.) 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (tenderly) : 
 
 Waal, you hev come out of the kitchen to say 
 goodbye to me, hev you? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I did not know you was goin till Corie told me. 
 
16 WILD BIRDS 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 I air glad we hev had one talk together anyhow. 
 I ll remember the little wild bird I hev found 
 
 MAZIE (thrilled) : 
 
 Little wild bird! Me? 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 Yes. Little wild bird trapped. Sometime I 
 might come back an open the trap. What do 
 you say? 
 
 MAZIE (going to him) : 
 
 Air you really meanin that? 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (taking her hand} : 
 
 Believe in me, Mazie. An now goodbye. 
 
 (He stoops and kisses her brow, first smoothing 
 back the heavy hair.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I will watch fer your face in the well among the 
 stars. Once I saw my mother s face. It was 
 white. It only stayed a minute. I will watch 
 fer your face. 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 What well do you mean, Mazie ? 
 
 MAZIE (pointing off left) : 
 
 Over thar, underneath the big tree. It air round 
 like the world is. I like to look down it. It 
 air black, most of the time, but at night I hev 
 seen stars in it. ... 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL : 
 
 If you kin find my face thar among the stars 
 an whar your mother s face was, I would be 
 glad. Walk as fer as the willers with me, Mazie. 
 
 (He takes her hand and they exit, MAZTE zvalking 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 17 
 
 with her head back, looking at him.} 
 
 (Enter MRS. SLAG carrying the wooden water bucket 
 full of greens. With her is SANDY ROBERTS, an 
 eccentric old neighbor with disheveled white hair 
 and small brown eyes with a half -mad glint in 
 them. ) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 An I was sayin , Sandy, that he air quittin . By 
 now he must be gone. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 An the locust come down that night, Mrs. Slag, 
 an et every blade of corn in them ten acres jest 
 clean as a whistle. I remember gettin up that 
 mornin an lookin out whar thar was miles of 
 green at sundown an at sunup thar was nothin . 
 
 MRS. SLAG (impatiently) : 
 
 I ve heard you tell about them locust fifty times, 
 Sandy. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 But here s a new one. I air rememberin the time 
 when I was no higher n that (indicating with his 
 hand) when the winter on these prairies was so 
 hard that the wolves come down to the houses 
 from the hills an tried to tear away the logs to 
 git at us an eat us. No wonder folks sez I m 
 crazy when all the time I m rememberin sich 
 things an kin hear wolves howlin at night. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 You hev tol that story, too, a thousand times. 
 Yon better git home to Esthey. I hev lots to do. 
 I hain t got no time to listen to yer crazy notions. 
 (She moves impatiently toward the house.) 
 
18 WILD BIRDS 
 
 (Enter, on the road, ESTHEY KEN YON, his daughter, 
 a woman about thirty-five, gaunt and, zvork-worn.) 
 
 ESTHEY: 
 
 Oh, thar you air ! I ve been huntitr all over fer 
 you paw. You ve got to stop this runnin away! 
 Has he been botherin 1 you, Mrs. Slag? 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 Waal, I don t usually listen to him half the time 
 but he did git on my nerves today cause our n 
 new hired man jest quit us an I m worried to 
 know what John s goin to do fer help. 
 
 ESTHEY: 
 
 Was that him I jest passed on the road walkin 
 with Mazie? 
 
 MRS. SLAG (excited) : 
 Whar was they? 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 Goin toward the creek road. I met em this side 
 of the willers. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (up to the road and looking off left) : 
 I was skeered o this! (Shading her eyes with 
 her hand) Thar they air, standin in the road 
 talkin by the willers. (Cupping her mouth with 
 her hands.) Mazie! Mazie! You come on back! 
 
 ESTHEY (going up to her) : 
 
 Did he ever hire out to you afore, Mrs. Slag? 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 No. Not that I recollect (making an imperative 
 gesture with her arm) . You hurry now ! 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 Seems to me like I ve seen him afore. He gave 
 me a kind of start when I looked at him. You 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 19 
 
 know how it air when you smell a sartain kind 
 of flower, it brings you back to a sartain place, 
 a corner of a back yard whar you played when 
 you war little or a garden walk, or somethin ? 
 Waal, his face brought back to me the corner of 
 the graveyard above Big Rock. 1 could see a 
 funeral, on a hot day 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 Thar s somethin I don t like about him an in a 
 way I m glad he quit. 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 This funeral was a long time ago. It was the 
 funeral of a young girl who committed suicide. 
 It was afore you come West, Mrs. Slag. Seems 
 to me that hired man of your n was at that 
 funeral. It was a poor funeral. Thar was no 
 flowers an thar never was no stone. My, it was 
 a hot day, I remember. Pete an me was drivin 
 past in a buggy. We stopped an watched. If 
 I hain t mistaken this hired man was kneelin 
 near the fence, pruty far from the grave. Of 
 course, I hain t sure it was him. It was so long 
 ago an he was lots younger, but the eyes was the 
 same. 
 
 (Enter MAZIE.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Take these here greens an git inter the house ! 
 
 (MAZIE silently takes tlie bucket and e.rits.) 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 He, he, I air rememberin the time when we 
 crossed the river through the flood, after the 
 snows, an the hosses went down 
 
20 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ESTHEY (taking his arm) : 
 
 Come on back now, paw ! Sun air most down an 
 
 you ll take cold an then I ll hev to be waitin on 
 
 you. Come on now ! 
 SANDY : 
 
 No, no ! Mrs. Slag wants to hear how the hosses 
 
 went down kickin an squealin 
 ESTHEY (pulling at him) : 
 
 You come on or I ll lock you up agin in the shed 
 
 in the dark! 
 SANDY (almost screaming) : 
 
 No, no, not in the shed agin, Esthey! Not yer 
 
 ol* paw in the shed agin ! Please please, Esthey ! 
 
 Not in the dark shed! 
 MRS. SLAG (laughing) : 
 
 Good fer you, Esthey. You ve got him skeered 
 
 all right. 
 SANDY : 
 
 Please, please, little Esthey! Not in the dark 
 
 shed ! Not yer ol paw in the dark shed ! 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 Then you jest come along home! (exiting with 
 him} Goodbye, Mrs. Slag. Hope you find a new 
 hand. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 If we don t I don t see how we kin git the seed 
 sowed. Oh, here s John. 
 
 (JOHN SLAG, a great hulk of a man with a scraggly, 
 iron-gray beard and small, cruel eyes, enters by 
 the road, left, carrying a sack of seed over his 
 square shoulders. PJis heavy brows are draivn 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 21 
 
 together in a fearful frown and a huge fist is 
 
 clenched.) 
 MRS. SLAG (going to him) : 
 
 What air you goin to do, John? 
 JOHN SLAG (putting down the sack of seed) : 
 
 Git somebody else, of course. That damn fool 
 
 Marshall warn t worth his salt, anyhow. 
 ( ESTHEY, having paused irresolute, goes to exit.) 
 SANDY : 
 
 You won t lock me up, will you, Esthey like a 
 
 crazy man in a cage ! You won t, will you, 
 
 Esthey? 
 JOHN SLAG (gruffly to MRS. SLAG) : 
 
 Git that crazy man out of here. I won t stand fer 
 
 his jabberin . 
 ESTHEY (pulling him aivay) : 
 
 Now you jest come on or I will lock you up ! 
 (They exit.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Supper ready? 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Almost. You air a little early count of what s 
 
 happened. I ll hustle Mazie. 
 JOHN SLAG (going toivard the house door) : 
 
 If nobody turns up I m goin to make a trip inter 
 
 town this week-end an look over some of them 
 
 boys in the orphanage. Thar was some younguns 
 
 when we got Mazie who oughter be big an 
 
 strong by now. I d like to break in one of em. 
 
 He d belong to me an he couldn t give me no 
 
 back talk or nothin . 
 
22 WILD BIRDS 
 
 (He exits into the house followed meekly by MRS. 
 
 SLAG.) 
 (CoRiE SLAG and MILT POLLARD, a rather short, 
 
 plain-faced man with prominent gold-filled teeth, 
 
 enter arm in arm. They pause by the fence.} 
 CORIE : 
 
 Won t you come in, Milt? Supper was most 
 
 ready when I come to meet you. 
 MILT : 
 
 No thanks, Corie. I ve got some milkin to do an 
 
 maw gits all fidgety if I don t git back by 
 
 sundown. 
 
 CORIE (pouting} : 
 
 Oh, it s allus your maw. I believe you re fonder 
 of her n than you air of me. (She turns away 
 from him, her thin mouth tightened into a hard 
 line.} 
 
 MILT : 
 
 Now don t git cross, Corie. Maw s pruty help 
 less with that bad leg of her n an I d be a pruty 
 poor son if I didn t watch out for her. She got 
 that bad leg of her n from slushin around in 
 rain an mud fer me when I was a kid. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 She s allus takin you away from me. A maw 
 hain t got no right to do that. You re a growed 
 man now an not no kid. (Turning back to him.} 
 When we git married she won t allus be wantin 
 you, will she, Milt? 
 
 MILT : 
 
 No, Corie, cause we ll be livin with her fer a 
 spell till I git money enough to build our n house. 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 23 
 
 She won t be needin me so much, havin you to 
 talk to her, days when I m out in the fields. She 
 jest gits lonesome sittin thar all day with her 
 hands in her lap. 
 
 CORIE (putting her arms around MILT S neck) : 
 
 Oh, let s not talk about her no more. I love you, 
 Milt! (She passionately kisses him.) 
 
 (MAZIE enters from the side of the house carrying 
 the wooden water bucket. She pauses by the 
 house corner looking at the lovers.) 
 
 MILT : 
 
 Next week you will be all mine, Corie every 
 inch of you. (He kisses her again and again on 
 the mouth. MAZIE puts her hand to her breast 
 but does not move. Her eyes become strangely, 
 beautifully misted.) 
 
 CORIE (breathlessly) : 
 
 Every inch of me your n, Milt. 
 
 MILT : 
 
 I love you love you, Corie. (He breaks from 
 her and stands regarding her for a moment, his 
 lips parted.) Jest walk a little ways more with 
 me, down as fer as the bean lot. Thar goes the 
 last of the sun. 
 
 (The stage becomes darker. A soft blue light 
 bathes the road and the prairie. CORIE and MILT 
 exit, right, arm in arm. MAZIE goes to the fence. 
 She leans on it and watches the lovers down the 
 road. Then she turns, her eyes still strangely 
 misted, and crosses toward the well to fill the 
 bucket. She exits but re-enters immediately, 
 walking quickly backwards, her hands thrust out 
 
24 WILD BIRDS 
 
 before her. The bucket she has dropped by the 
 well) 
 
 MAZIE (talking to someone off-stage) : 
 Who air you? You skeered me. 
 
 (Enter ADAM LARSEN, a ivell-built boy of eighteen 
 dressed in blue denim trousers, a torn dirty shirt 
 and his feet bare and caked with mud. His face 
 is drawn and streaked ivith perspiration. His 
 mouth hangs open and he breathes heavily,) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I was tryin to git a drink from your well. I 
 
 hev been runnin an I air thirsty. I didn t mean 
 
 to skeer you. , 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I dropped the bucket when I saw you. You kin 
 
 tie the rope to it an let it down inter the well. 
 
 Whar did you come from? 
 ADAM (after searching her face for a moment) : 
 
 I ran away. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 From home? 
 ADAM : 
 
 No. I ran away from the reform school at 
 
 Dayson. 
 MAZIE: 
 
 What air a reform school? 
 ADAM : 
 
 It air a place whar they put boys and girls who 
 
 air bad. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Air it like an orphanage? 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 25 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Somethin , I guess. Only at a reform school, 
 everybody air bad. 
 
 MAZIE (in surprise) : 
 Everybody bad ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes. I ran away yesterday mornin with another 
 boy. All the others was skeered. Red went one 
 way an I went the other. He lived South an 
 my mother lives North. I ran till I thought my 
 heart would stop beatin . Then I got a ride on a 
 hay wagon. I walked almost all last night. I 
 hev big blisters on the bottom of my feet. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I air awful sorry. I will git you a drink of 
 water. I was jest after some fer the house when 
 I saw you. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Does your mother an father live here? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 No. My mother air dead an my father didn t 
 want me. I was in the St. Vincent home. Mr. 
 Slag came an got me. I hire out to him. 
 
 ADAM (eagerly) : 
 
 Oh, I wonder if he d hire me out? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 You look like you air strong. Mr. Marshall, the 
 hired man, jest quit. Kin you plow? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 You bet. 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Then maybe Mr. Slag would take you. 
 
26 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 If he knew I was a bad boy would he take me? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I don t know. I m goin to git you some water. 
 You kin hardly talk. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Do you think he would send me back to the 
 reform school if I fessed up an told him I ran 
 away? Maw allus said it whar wrong to lie but 
 in the reform school we lied all the time. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I don t think he would send you back. He needs 
 a man so bad who kin plow. 
 
 ADAM: 
 
 I used to plow at home. Thar was a big field 
 right side of our n sittin room winder. Maw 
 used to set at the winder an watch me. When 
 I would git tired an stop, she used to come out 
 with a gourd of spring water an some of her n 
 little white biscuits on a plate with blue flowers. 
 She would come to me over the piles of dirt 
 steppin so light an pruty, balancin the biscuits 
 an gourd without spillin anything. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Thar ! I told you you couldn t talk. You choke 
 right up, you re so thirsty. Set down in a chair 
 an rest yer feet. They must be sore with blisters. 
 (She takes a step toward the well.) 
 
 (Enter MRS. SLAG from the house.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 Mazie ! 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 27 
 
 MAZJE: 
 
 Yes, mam 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 What air you takin so long about? (She sees 
 
 ADAM.) Who air you? 
 ADAM : 
 
 My name air Adam Larsen, mam. I air thirsty 
 
 an an 
 MRS. SLAG (turning to the house and calling) : 
 
 Oh, John! John! 
 JOHN SLAG (from inside) : 
 
 Waal? 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Come out here, John. (ADAM, frightened, makes 
 
 a motion to run away.) Don t go way. Wait. 
 (Enter JOHN SLAG.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Waal? Waal? 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I thought this here boy might be lookin fer work. 
 JOHN SLAG (looking him over as he crosses to him) : 
 
 Air you lookin fer work? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Y-yes, sir. 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 What air your name an whar did you come 
 
 from ? 
 (ADAM turns helplessly toward MAZIE, then back to 
 
 JOHN SLAG.) 
 ADAM (searching the big man s cruel face) : 
 
 I I 
 
28 WILD BIRDS 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 Waal ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I I yon won t I (His legs seem to give way 
 under him. He abruptly drops to his knees and 
 buries his face in his hands.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 What s the matter with yon? 
 
 (The boy s shoulders heave. MAZIE stretches out her 
 hand.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 He s cryin . Of all things fer a big boy. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (pulling him up by the shoulder) : 
 What s the matter with yon? 
 
 ADAM (throwing himself on JOHN SLAG S mercy) : 
 I m Adam Larsen. I ran away from the reform 
 school at Dayson. Please don t send me back. 
 I kin plow an I ll work fer you, if yon don t send 
 me back. (His voice breaks.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG (revelling in the feel of this helpless boy 
 wriggling in his power) : 
 If yon ran away yon should be sent back 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Fer God s sake, don t send me back! I ll kill 
 myself if you send me back ! I wasn t bad when 
 they sent me but I m bad when I m thar. If 
 you send me back I ll hang myself like Eddie 
 Smolt did. They found him in the mornin . I 
 saw him when they cut him down ! He was only 
 thirteen. He hung himself. I ll do the same. I 
 know jest how he did it with a bed sheet. If 
 you send me back I ll do the same 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 1 29 
 
 JOHN SLAG (unmoved) : 
 
 By the law, I should send you back. It hain t 
 right to keep a boy who has run away from an 
 institution. Yes, by right. I should send you 
 back 
 
 ADAM (almost shrieking) : 
 
 If you do I ll hang myself like Eddie Smolt ! 
 
 (MAZIE presses the tips of her fingers against her 
 closed eyes.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG : 
 
 Whar was you headed fer? 
 
 An.vu : 
 
 Fer home to my mother but it s too fer away. 
 Home s too fer away Oh, God! God! (He 
 throws himself again on the ground.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 Git up ! 
 
 (ADAM slowly rises.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 I ll keep you here an you kin work fer me. I ll 
 give you a good home if you show you re 
 deservin of it. You kin hev the hired man s 
 room in the attic 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 An an you won t let them take me back if they 
 come fer me? 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Jest let me tend to that (patting him on the 
 shoulder and at the same time feeling the muscle 
 of his arm). You air a husky. Yes, 1 guess you 
 kin plow. Come in the house. \Ye air jest 
 settin down to supper. 
 
30 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I air mighty hungry an thirsty 
 MRS. SLAG (going toward the house} : 
 
 Hurry with that water, Mazie ! 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Yes, mam. (She starts toward the well.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 Let me git the water. (MAZIE pauses.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 No, you come in with me. Mazie gits the water. 
 (MRS. SLAG exits into the house.) 
 ADAM (to JOHN SLAG) : 
 
 It air mighty kind of you to do this, sir. I will 
 
 show you that I air deservin of a good home. 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Waal, we ll see. Come on in. We eat early git 
 
 to bed early an git up with the sun. 
 (JOHN SLAG and ADAM exit into the house.) 
 (MAZIE stands for a moment, motionless, looking 
 
 after them. Then she suddenly laughs, high and 
 
 joyously, like a child romping through a flowered 
 
 Held. She whirls about; raises high her arms; 
 
 tilts back her chin and darts to the well.) 
 
 (THE CURTAIN FALLS) 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 31 
 
 ACT I 
 SCENE 2 
 
 The same as scene 1. A week later. The evening 
 of CORIE SLAG S marriage to MILT POLLARD. All 
 things are obscured by the shadows of dusk 
 except the front of the stage which is lighted 
 by a lantern in the windoiv of the house. 
 
 ADAM LARSEN has been standing by the fence looking 
 off across the prairie but he turns and somes 
 down to the lighted place as the curtain rises. 
 
 MRS. SLAG S nasal voice is heard inside the house. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Corie ! Corie ! Air you ready ? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Almost, maw ! 
 
 (There is silence. ADAM walks up and down. MAZIE 
 comes around the side of the house.} 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Hello, Mazie. 
 
 MAZIE (startled} : 
 
 Oh ! Air that you, Adam ? I thought you went 
 to bed. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I thought I was awful tired but when I laid down 
 I couldn t sleep so I got up agin. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 They will be goin soon. Milt s wagon jest pulled 
 up by the willers. I peeked in the winder at 
 Corie. She looked very pruty in her new white 
 dress an her hair up like this. (She piles her 
 hair on top of her head.} 
 
32 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Gee ! What a lot of black hair you have, Mazie. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Sometimes it air too heavy. Once, when I was 
 
 lookin in the well it slipped down an I thought 
 
 it was goin to pull me inter the water. (She 
 
 laughs.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 When my mother was a gal she could sit on her 
 
 hair, it was so long. 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Like a queen ! 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes, like a little queen. Air you really seventeen 
 
 tonight, Mazie? 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I think I air seventeen, but I hain t sure now. 
 (Enter JOHN SLAG dressed uncomfortably in a black 
 
 suit and wearing great, freshly blackened shoes. 
 
 He is wrapping a knitted muffler about his throat 
 
 and carries a tall black hat.) 
 
 (ADAM and MAZIE instinctively move closer together.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Adam Larsen, I thought you was in bed? 
 ADAM : 
 
 I did go to bed but but I got up agin. I 
 
 couldn t sleep. 
 JOHN SLAG (advancing on him in a bullying attitude) : 
 
 Thar air some trick in the back of your n head, 
 
 Adam Larsen. (He puts a hand on his shoulder. 
 
 The boy winces.) Remember, you belong to me! 
 
 If you try runnin away like you did from the 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 33 
 
 reform school, I ll track you down an beat you 
 within an inch of yer life ! If it warn t fer me, 
 them men who come lookin fer you would hev 
 taken you back to whar you belong. You re 
 mine now an you ll do everything I say ! Under 
 stand that? (His hand closes tightly on the boy s 
 shoulder. ADAM digs his upper teeth into his 
 lower lip to keep from crying out.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I I hain t thinkin of runnin away, Mr. Slag. 
 Honest I hain t. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (releasing him) : 
 
 \Yaal, I m warnin you, that s all. 
 
 (Enter MILT POLLARD by the road, painfully dressed 
 in a black suit of clothes that has been bought by 
 catalogue and shows it. He wears white gloves, 
 carries an umbrella under his arm and a smoky 
 lantern in his hand, and steps cautiously to avoid 
 puddles. He salutes JOHN SLAG.) 
 
 MILT : 
 
 Evenin , paw. Air they ready? I left the wagon 
 near the willers. The road air too full of mud 
 holes to git through. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (bellowing into the house) : 
 Maw! Corie! Milt air here! 
 
 MRS. SLAG (from inside) : 
 
 All right, John. Corie ! Corie ! Milt air here. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Already, maw. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (to MILT) : 
 
 It air a lot of damn nonsense goin* clear inter 
 town fer a fool weddin when we could hev had 
 
34 WILD BIRDS 
 
 it here or at yer house, Milt, jest as well. Look 
 at all the money I hev spent already, an more 
 that I hev to spend afore we git through with it. 
 That dinner at the hotel afterwards air plumb 
 crazy. 
 
 MJLT : 
 
 I don t care about so much fuss but Corie, bein 
 a woman, wanted things pruty. It s natural fer 
 a woman to want some dog. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 It air a waste of money, an time an everything. 
 Corie thinks I hev saved up money but I air a 
 poor man, Milt Pollard. Allus remember that ! 
 I air a poor man ! 
 
 (Enter CORIE and MRS. SLAG. CORIE wears a big 
 cloak over a stiffly starched white dress that has 
 much lace looped on the sleeves and around the 
 bottom of the skirt. Excitement has flushed her 
 thin face and burns in her eyes. She is almost 
 pretty. MRS. SLAG wears a drab colored jacket 
 and skirt, the jacket having leg-of-mutton sleeves 
 and the skirt is wide and ruffled and trails on the 
 ground. She lifts it high to keep it out of the 
 dirt. She also carries an umbrella.) 
 
 CORIE (going to MILT) : 
 
 Milt, I air sorry if I hev kept you waitin . 
 
 MILT : 
 
 I jest came. My, you look pruty, Corie. (He 
 takes her hand.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Mazie, you git inter the house. Finish up them 
 dishes an then you go straight to bed. 
 
ACT 1-SCENE 2 35 
 
 (MAZIE silently exits behind the house.} 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 John, I thought Adam Larsen was in bed. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 He air goin right now. (He makes a brutal 
 
 motion toivard ADAM. The boy slinks toward the 
 
 house.) 
 MILT: 
 
 Come on, folks. 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Go slow with the lantern, Milt. The road air 
 
 full of chuck holes. 
 MILT (walking ahead, CORIE on his arm) : 
 
 I air so happy I could sing. Sing with me, 
 
 Corie. (Off key he begins singing, "Seeing Nellie 
 
 Home." As they exit CORIE joins in with a thin 
 
 nasal soprano.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Hell! 
 
 (They exit.) 
 (ADAM stops on the steps of the house and turns 
 
 about. He listens to the song until it dies away. 
 
 Frogs sound clearly near the well. A wind rises 
 
 in the big tree over the well. It stirs ADAM S 
 
 unmanageable shock of blond hair. He takes a 
 
 deep breath.) 
 
 (MAZIE re-enters from the side of the house.) 
 MAZIE (calling softly) : 
 
 Adam. Adam. \Yhar air you? 
 ADAM (coming doivn the step) : 
 
 Here I air, Mazie. 
 
36 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE (running to him) : 
 
 Oh, Adam, ain t it wonderful to be alive on nights 
 like this? Jest think, thar air lots of people who 
 air not born yet an don t know what a wind feels 
 like or stars look like or anything about the 
 grass on the prairie ! 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Gee, Mazie, you say pruty but funny things. You 
 don t know much of things, do you, Mazie? 
 
 MAZIE (shaking her head} : 
 
 No. Nobody will tell me much of things. (Nearer 
 to him.) But you know things, don t you, Adam? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes. I know all kinds of bad things. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 You air allus callin yourself bad. You air not 
 bad, Adam. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Sure I air bad. I warn t when I was home but 
 afterwards I was bad. It air funny when you 
 think of it. They sent me to the reform school 
 to make me good an instead I got bad ! 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why did they send you to the reform school, 
 Adam? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Because I hit my father with his cane. Pie fell 
 down an his head began to bleed. I thought that 
 he was dead. I got skeered an got to laughin 
 like a fool. I couldn t stop. They said I was 
 crazy. Then they said, No, he is jest bad ! 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 37 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why did you hit him? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Because he took my mother s wrist an twisted it 
 
 until she screamed an fell down on her knees. 
 
 I heard the bones in her pruty wrist crack. Then 
 
 I hit him with his cane that I picked up beside 
 
 his chair. After that, they sent me away. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 That warn t bad to hit him if he took your 
 
 mother s wrist an twisted it till the pruty bones 
 
 cracked. Oh ! 
 
 (She buries her face in her hands.) 
 ADAM (timidly touching her shoulder) : 
 
 Don t cry, Mazie. Mazie, please don t cry. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Your poor little maw. (She turns and like a 
 
 child comes into his arms. Awkwardly he holds 
 
 her. She snuggles closer to him.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 My mother would like you, Mazie. She allus said 
 
 she wanted to hev a gal. (His face goes down 
 
 into her hair.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 \Yhy do you put your face in my hair? 
 ADAM : 
 
 I like to. It feels nice and soft agin my cheek. 
 MAZIE (after a pause) : 
 
 An why do your arms hold me so tight? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie Mazie 
 
38 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE (pulling away and looking at him with won 
 der} : 
 You hurt me. An your voice 
 
 ADAM (turning away and clenching and unclenching 
 his hands) : 
 Oh, Mazie Mazie 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why do you say, Oh, Mazie Mazie like that 
 way down in your throat? (She again comes to 
 him.) 
 
 ADAM (moving away) : 
 
 Don t don t, Mazie. I air bad. You don t know 
 things. Don t don t , Mazie 
 
 (Enter old SANDY ROBERTS, creeping along the road 
 furtively, keeping in the shadozv of the snake 
 fence. He peers over the fence and sees MAZIE 
 and ADAM.) 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Hey, younguns, look at me ! I hev run away 
 from Esthey s house. Esthey went to the weddin . 
 She locked me up but I climbed out the winder 
 (coming into the lighted place, chuckling over his 
 cleverness. He wears a heavy gray shawl wound 
 about his body like a cocoon.) He, he, they 
 think I m crazy but I fooled em this time. I 
 climbed out of the winder. I wouldn t hev minded 
 if they d give me a lamp but they left me in the 
 dark an things made noises chairs an things. 
 So I climbed out the winder he, he 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 You better go home, Sandy. If Esthey comes 
 back an finds you gone there ll be trouble. 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 39 
 
 SANDY (peering up at the sky) : 
 
 Tonight air a night fer weddin s. Thar air so 
 many stars an sich a sweet smellin wind with 
 a little touch of rain in it tears in the mornin 
 he, he tears in the mornin 
 
 MAZIE (repeating slowly) : 
 
 Tears in the mornin . You air a funny old man, 
 Sandy. You hev lived a long, long time an you 
 know lots of things, don t you? 
 
 SANDY (looking quizzically at MAZIE and then at 
 ADAM) : 
 
 I air rememberin the time when I was young 
 like you two younguns afore I crossed the plains. 
 He, he, on early Spring nights like this I was 
 aboilin and yit I was askeered, like you two, 
 standin apart from each other, wantin each 
 other, but askeered. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 What air you talkiir about. Sandy? (She is 
 rather breathless, her fingers pressed under her 
 little left breast. Her heart is struggling like a 
 bird held in the hand.) 
 
 ADAM (turning fiercely on the old man) : 
 Shut up, you crazy ol fool ! 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Don t talk like that to him, Adam. He air treated 
 so bad at home. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 He talks too much. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Young folks air young folks an ol folks air ol 
 folks. We ol folks kin only talk. Young folks 
 
40 WILD BIRDS 
 
 don t hev to say nothin . They jest come together 
 natural-like, like the waves used to come natural- 
 like to Sandy Head when I was a boy, or like 
 autumn leaves come together when wind blows 
 em. 
 MAZIE (fascinated) : 
 
 I wish I could understand the things what you 
 say. I like that autumn leaves when wind blows 
 em It has a pruty sound like wild bird. (to 
 ADAM) Mr. Marshall called me a wild bird, 
 trapped. He said he might come back to open 
 the trap. Tell more, Sandy. 
 
 ADAM (sternly) : 
 
 I air goin to take Sandy home. 
 SANDY : 
 
 No, no, not unless you light a lamp ! 
 ADAM : 
 
 I ll light a lamp. Come on. 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Wait, Adam ! Let s hev a party us three ! I 
 thought about it this mornin so I made some 
 little wheat cakes when Aunt Martie was out. 
 I said to myself, We ll hev our own weddin 
 supper, like they air goin to hev at the hotel. 
 Thar air some cider in the jug an some apples 
 in the barrel. We kin make believe it s a whole 
 supper. 
 
 SANDY (smacking his lips) : 
 
 Golly, I air hungry. Esthey was in sich a hurry 
 to git ready fer the weddin , she didn t think 
 nothin bout me. 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 41 
 
 MAZIE (bubbling over} : 
 
 We ll hev it out here under the stars! I ll spread 
 a table cloth on the ground. Won t it be fun? 
 I kin make out I m the bride like Corie. an 
 Adam kin be the groom like Milt! (Darting for 
 the house.) I ll git the things. You wait here! 
 Oh, what fun what fun havin our own weddin 
 supper! (She exits into the house.} 
 
 SANDY (as ADAM restlessly walks up to the fence} : 
 One time, when I whar a young man jest a little 
 older n you, I saw a Sioux weddin out on the 
 prairie above Skull Creek. I watched it from be 
 hind a big rock. If they d knowed I was watchin 
 em they d a scalped me He, he, but I stayed flat 
 on my belly an fooled em. That wasn t much 
 of a weddin . The young chief had to catch the 
 gal first. She was a swift runner like a fox. 
 When he caught her he jest thre\v her over his 
 hoss an 
 
 ADAM (wheeling and coming back) : 
 I m goin to take you home ! 
 
 (Re-enter MAZIE carrying a plate of little wheat 
 cakes and a folded cloth over her arm. In her 
 left hand she carries a brown jug.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, what fun! What fun! Ain t it fun, Adam? 
 (She spreads the cloth on the ground and places 
 the dish of cakes and jug in the center of it. 
 ADAM and SANDY stand watching her, both of 
 them fascinated by her bird-like dartings. She 
 stands off and surveys the set of the cloth and 
 the jug and dish upon it.) 
 
42 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Now fer three cups an the apples. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I kin fetch them. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 No, Adam. I know jest whar they air. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I kin find em, I bet. (He runs into the house.} 
 
 MAZIE (dancing over to SANDY) : 
 
 Sandy, I air so glad you climbed out of the 
 winder an came! (Her arm slips around his 
 waist) Without havin a lamp it must be awful 
 dark an you all alone. I know how it air. Did 
 you ever look down our n well jest at evenin 
 afore stars come out? Oh, it air black! I 
 know I know why you climbed out of the win 
 der. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 I was rememberin the time I saw a Sioux weddin 
 on the prairie above Skull Creek. A buck had 
 a drum. He went thump, thump, thump, fer a 
 long time. A bone was his drum stick. Then 
 the ol chief rode up on a white hoss. It was 
 the ol chief s gal who was gettin married. She 
 was pruty an could run swift like a fox. She 
 wore lots of red beads 
 
 MAZIE (carried away by the picture of beauty that 
 has immediately leaped in her mind) : 
 Yes, yes 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 It wasn t much of a weddin . The young chief 
 had to catch the gal first. He had a hard time 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 43 
 
 but he did. Then he jest threw her over his 
 
 hoss an rode away with her, an the drum went 
 
 on thump, thump, thump 
 (Re-enter ADAM with a wooden boivl of apples and 
 
 three tin cups.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 The apples go right here, Adam, (indicates place 
 
 on the cloth) An the cups give to me. I m goin 
 
 to pour the cider. Here, Sandy, you sit down 
 
 in the middle an we ll sit down on each side 
 
 of you. That s it. 
 SANDY (sitting dozvn solemnly) : 
 
 This is like the buck with the drum sat, beatin 
 
 thump, thump, thump with a bone fer a drum 
 
 stick. (He crosses his legs, empties the apples 
 
 from the wooden bowl and uses it for a drum. 
 
 It makes a hollow sound when he hits it with his 
 
 knuckles.) 
 (MAZIE and ADAM sit cross-legged, one on each 
 
 side of him. MAZIE passes the dish of wheat 
 
 cakes.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I wanted to put sugar on em but I was skeered 
 
 Auntie Martie would find out. 
 ADAM (nibbling a cake) : 
 
 They air good, Mazie. 
 MAZIE (pouring the cider) : 
 
 If they air dry this cider will wash em down. 
 SANDY : 
 
 I air the ol chief an Adam air the young chief. 
 
 Mazie air my daughter. (He begins to unwind 
 
 the gray shawl from his body.) 
 
44 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Don t take off your shawl, Sandy. You ll catch 
 cold. 
 
 SANDY (unheeding her. He puts the shawl around 
 her) : 
 
 Thar. That air yer blanket. The ol chief s 
 darter must be very pruty fer her n weddin . 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 I kin make believe the red beads. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 An now the ol chief raises up his arms an says 
 somethin to the sky about corn an rain an 
 rattlesnakes an little children fer his darter. 
 (He raises his arms and his lips move.) 
 
 (MAZIE, all aquiver, stares at him. The strange mist 
 is again in her eyes.) 
 
 (ADAM, nervous and breathing heavily, crumbles a 
 wheat cake over the cloth.) 
 
 ADAM (as the old man seems to ivork himself into 
 a frenzy, swaying back and forth, muttering un 
 intelligible things) : 
 Quit it, you ol fool ! 
 
 MAZIE (breathlessly) : 
 
 Oh, Adam, don t stop him. 
 
 SANDY (in a sort of chant) : 
 
 I air now the drummer drummin with a white 
 bone the rib of a man that died Thump, thump 
 thump thump, thump (His left arm rises and 
 falls mechanically.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Stop, you ol fool ! 
 
ACT 1 SCENE 2 45 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Thump, thump thump, thump! Like a man s 
 
 heart beatin an a gal s heart answerin Thump, 
 
 thump thump, thump! 
 MAZIE (leaning across the cloth) : 
 
 Adam Adam like a heart 
 SANDY : 
 
 Run from him ol chief s darter run like a fox 
 
 afore he catches you. Thump, Thump thump, 
 
 thump ! 
 (MAZIE utters a little hysterical squeal and jumps 
 
 up. She runs toivard the fence into the dark.) 
 SANDY: 
 
 After her, young chief ! Catch the little silver 
 
 fox who air askeered ! 
 ADAM (rising) : 
 
 You re crazy! Crazy! 
 SANDY : 
 
 After her, young chief. After her. She s your n. 
 
 She s your n. 
 MAZIE (calling from the dark: 
 
 Adam ! Adam ! You can t catch me. You can t 
 
 catch the little silver fox ! 
 ADAM : 
 
 Oh, can t I. Jest you watch out. Oh, can t I. 
 
 (He runs into the darkness. His indistinct figure 
 
 is seen pursuing MAZIE for a moment. MAZIE S 
 
 laughter and ADAM S heavy breathing come out 
 
 to the old man who sits erect before the cloth f 
 
 his hand still rising and falling mechanically. 
 
 ADAM catches MAZIE. Their figures merge and 
 
 cling for a moment. There follows a deep pause. 
 
46 WILD BIRDS 
 
 Then ADAM breaks away; turns, and dashes up 
 
 the road and out of sight.) 
 MAZIE (coming slowly down into the light. She 
 
 stands still for a moment, her finger tips pressed 
 
 against her mouth. Then she speaks in great 
 
 wonder) : 
 
 Sandy Sandy Adam kissed me. 
 SANDY (still beating the time) : 
 
 Thump, thump thump, thump. 
 
 (THE CURTAIN SLOWLY FALLS.) 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 47 
 
 ACT 2. 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 SCENE 1. The same scene about a month and a half 
 later. A Sunday afternoon in full Spring. A 
 bright sun floods the clearing before the SLAG 
 house, the road and the prairie. The prairie is 
 sprinkled with vivid wild flowers. 
 
 MRS. SLAG is seated in the barrel rocker darning some 
 heavy socks. Bees hum around the tree over the 
 w ell. MRS. SLAG nods. Her darning egg ivith 
 the sock covering it drops into her lap. 
 
 Enter CORIE on the road from the right. She car 
 ries an empty basket. She walks with little 
 animation. Her mouth has a downward droop. 
 
 CORIE (irritably) : 
 Maw, wake up! 
 
 MRS. SLAG (starting up) : 
 
 Oh! I did drop off, didn t I? How air you, 
 Corie? You hain t been over fer some days. 
 
 CORIE (sitting down on one of the benches) : 
 
 I air fair enough. I walked over to borrer some 
 eggs. Our n chickens hain t layin , somehow, (she 
 sighs.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 What s the matter, Corie? Hain t Milt provin 
 a good husband to you? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Oh, Milt s all right. It s that maw of his n. She 
 drives me crazy. Milt seems to think I oughter 
 love her like I do him. Humph ! Sittin thar 
 
48 WILD BIRDS 
 
 all day with a Bible in her lap, when she could 
 jest as easy be up helpin with the house-work. 
 I don t believe her leg s bad at all. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I wouldn t stand fer it a minute, Corie. I d 
 speak to Milt about it. Train him early, Corie. 
 Don t make the mistake like I did with John. 
 If I d only taken the whip-hand when we was 
 first married things wouldn t be like they air 
 now. I remember our n first fight. He threw a 
 dish on the floor an wouldn t pick it up when I 
 asked him to. I should hev left it thar till he 
 did but like a fool I picked it up. They air all 
 alike, men air. They watch fer a chance an if 
 you give it to em the least little one you air 
 a slave to the coffin. (She rises and puts her 
 darning on a bench) How many eggs do you 
 need, Corie ? 
 
 COKIE : 
 
 A dozen will do, maw. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (going to the steps of the house) : 
 Mazie ! Mazie ! 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Last night Milt says he seen Adam Larsen walkin 
 down by Little Creek in the moonlight. He said 
 he watched him fer a long time an he was walkin 
 up an down, an then he d throw stones in the 
 water an then he d walk agin. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 He s been sneakin out after dark ! I tol John 
 I thought I heard him climbin down the ladder 
 a night or so ago. 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 49 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I d watch out fer him comin from a reform 
 
 school like he did. He s liable to kill you all 
 
 when you re asleep. 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 He s had a funny light in his eyes lately, I noticed, 
 
 an his cheeks look like fever. 
 (Enter MAZIE from the house. She wears a spring 
 
 flower, like a white star, caught in her black 
 
 hair. ) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Did you call me, Auntie Martie ? Oh, hello, 
 
 Corie. 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Yes, I called you a long time ago. Git a dozen 
 
 eggs down the barn fer Corie. 
 MAZIE (taking the basket) : 
 
 Yes, mam. (She starts off, then turns) Oh, 
 
 Corie, air you happy? 
 CORIE : 
 
 You jest mind your own business an you ll git 
 
 along better! 
 
 (MAZIE exits.) 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Nosey little good-fer-nothin . She alms did want 
 to know too much! What s she wearin a flower 
 in her hair fer? To git the men folks to look 
 at her? It s her n maw comin out in her. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I didn t see it. My eyes air gettin bad. I tell 
 John but he wouldn t care if I went blind. She s 
 been singin all day. Last night she got a letter 
 
50 WILD BIRDS 
 
 from Marshall, that ornery hired man that quit 
 us. I read it. He said he was tryin to git the 
 trap open. What do you suppose he meant? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I dunno but I told you I heard em talkin by 
 the well early that mornin . 
 
 MRS. SLAG (hopelessly) : 
 
 She ll never come to no good, that s sartain. 
 Them sort of children never do, anyhow. We 
 gave her a good home an everything but it don t 
 do no good. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Whar s paw? 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Asleep in the house bein as it s Sunday. He 
 jest come back from camp meetin . I couldn t 
 go cause I had too much work. John says he 
 kin pray enough fer the lot of us. Now, he s 
 all tired out an cross as a bear. It don t do 
 him no good to go to meetin an little he prayed! 
 
 (MAZIE re-enters with the eggs.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Red Jinny air settin . Thar ll be little chicks 
 soon! 
 
 MRS. SLAG (taking the basket) : 
 
 Git inter the house an take that flower out of 
 your n hair, (to CORIE) I ll walk a little ways 
 with you, Corie. (They exit together going down 
 the road, right.) 
 
 (MAZIE pauses at the foot of the steps; removes the 
 white flower from her hair and stands twirling 
 it between her fingers. ADAM enters from the 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 51 
 
 direction of the well. He turns abruptly on see 
 ing MAZTE and starts to go back the way he has 
 come.) 
 
 MAZTE (calling impetuously) : 
 Adam ! Adam ! Wait ! 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I-I f ergot the spade. (He is almost off stage.) 
 
 MAZIE (running to him) : 
 
 What s the matter, Adam? (She puts a tender, 
 seeking hand on his arm.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 N-nothin . I-I jest f ergot the spade. I hev to 
 git it. (He turns his head away avoiding her 
 searching, misted glance.} 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 This mornin at breakfast you wouldn t look at 
 me. You kept your eyes on your plate. You 
 didn t even see that I had one of last night s 
 star -fires in my hair. This one. When I combed 
 my hair last night I found it there, so I put it 
 in water an kept it fresh fer you to look at this 
 mornin , an remember how you covered me all 
 over with star-fires, (proffering him the flozver) 
 Ain t it little an sweet, Adam? 
 
 ADAM (pushing it away) : 
 Don t, Mazie I I 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I dreamed about you all night, Adam. Sometimes 
 I was happy so happy I could sing. Then I 
 would git sad, I don t know why, an the smell 
 of the star-fires would git too strong. But when 
 you would kiss me like you did last night an 
 
52 WILD BIRDS 
 
 the first time, when I was the ol chief s darter, 
 
 then I was happy agin an I would sing as high 
 
 as a wilier bird. . .(her voice soars.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 Shh, you must not tell anybody about last night. 
 
 You must not talk about it so loud. We must 
 
 not go out inter the fields together no more. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why not? Is that why you won t look at me? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes. It warn t right. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Not right to kiss? 
 ADAM : 
 
 I hev not forgotten things my mother told me, 
 
 sittin by the winder at home. With all bad 
 
 things I larned in the reform school, I have 
 
 remembered what my mother said. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 It must be wonderful to remember things your 
 
 mother said 
 ADAM (firmly) : 
 
 We must not go out in the fields at night no 
 
 more, Mazie. No more in the fields at night! 
 
 I fergot the spade. I must go an git it. (He 
 
 starts out.) 
 MAZIE (desperately) : 
 
 Adam Adam everything air so dark, like the 
 
 well. Tell me things. Tell me what your mother 
 
 told you. 
 ADAM (shaking his head) : 
 
 Boys can t tell gals them things. 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 53 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Oh, Adam, I air so alone. I was happy last 
 night when I was covered with star-fires. Under 
 them I was cryin I did not let you see me 
 but I was. I was cryin because I was so happy 
 because I thought I could not be lonely any more 
 because I thought you would love me an tell 
 me things. Now now it s its (she turns 
 away; bows her head in her hands and walks up 
 toivard the fence.} 
 
 ADAM (fighting ) : 
 
 Mazie little Mazie I do love you but but 
 
 (MAZIE bows herself on the fence) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie Mazie 
 
 (A poignant sob escapes MAZIE. It is like a knife 
 stuck in the heart of the boy. He goes to her. 
 He takes her in his arms.) 
 
 ADAM: 
 
 Mazie, dear. Dear Mazie, don t cry. I love you, 
 Mazie. I love you. (throwing back his head) 
 I won t be askeered. I will speak to John Slag. 
 
 MAZIE (betzveen sharp sobs) : 
 W-what will you say to him? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I will speak to him ! 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, be careful of him, Adam. He air a hard 
 man. He will take the hoss whip to you. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (calling gruffly from the house) : 
 Martie ! Martie ! 
 
54 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 That air him now. Oh, I air askeered. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Go inter the house, Mazie. I will speak to John 
 Slag like a man. (His shoulders go back.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Adam, I air skeered fer you. (She throws her 
 arms around him.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie, don t you be skeered. (He kisses her; 
 then gently unlocks her arms from around his 
 waist. ) 
 
 JOHN SLAG (still inside the house) : 
 Martie ! Whar air you, Martie ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Please go, Mazie, an let me face this like a 
 man. 
 
 (MAZIE exits, running, around the side of the house. 
 ADAM seems to brace himself. His fists clench. 
 His slim, boy body straightens and seems to be 
 come taller. He goes toward the door of the 
 house.) 
 
 (Enter JOHN SLAG, his hair ruffled, his eyes red- 
 rimmed from sleep.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG (viciously) : 
 
 Martie! (He sees ADAM standing there, head 
 high with determination.) Waal, what air you 
 wantin ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mr. Slag, I air wantin to ask a favor of you. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Thar hain t no favors given. 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 55 
 
 ADAM (all in one desperate breath) : 
 
 Mr. Slag, I air in love with Mazie an Mazie 
 air in love with me. I want to marry Mazie. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (his cruel eyes glaring) : 
 What? Say that agin! 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I want to marry Mazie. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Gawd damn you! I ve a mind to kill you! (He 
 raises a great fist.) 
 
 ADAM (swallowing dryly but standing firm) : 
 I want to marry Mazie. 
 
 JOHN SLAG (holding the boy by the neck ivith one 
 hand and putting his other hand, doubled up into 
 a fist, against the boy s face and pressing the 
 knuckles into his cheek as he speaks slozvly) : 
 A baby like you talkin about gettin married 
 A little weak baby talkin about gettin married! 
 (The fist is hurting the boy s cheek. He stiffens 
 his jaw and the cords of his neck tighten.) Ha, 
 ha ! That air funny. A little reform school boy 
 wantin to git married! 
 
 ADAM (now clinging to SLAG S zvrist in the endeavor 
 to push back the fist that is slowly tearing his 
 cheek) : 
 
 I air man enough to be plowin from early morn- 
 in till late at night fer you. I air man enough 
 fer that! 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Yes, an you d be droppin behind the plow if you 
 wasn t skeered o my hoss whip an my fist 
 an I ll use em both if you ever speak about 
 
56 WILD BIRDS 
 
 marryin Mazie agin ! You belong to me. I 
 saved you from the men who was goin to take, 
 you back to whar you really belong. I gev you 
 a good home an this here air the thanks I git. 
 (with neiv fury) Damn you! Damn you! I ve 
 a good mind to push this fist clear through yer 
 face. 
 
 ADAM (squirming as the fist is pressed even tighter) : 
 Don t Don t you re you re hurtin me. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 That s the sort of a man you air. The sort of a 
 man who wants to git married. (Mimicking him.) 
 You re hurtin me. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I only want to do the right thing. Mazie don t 
 know nothin . She don t know the things the 
 boys talked about in the night time when the 
 lights was out. I want to do right things not 
 bad things. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 You jest try anything! You jest go ahead and 
 try. You stinkin baby ! Jest you try anything ! 
 (He sends ADAM sprawling on the ground with 
 a push of his fist. He stands over him.) Jest 
 you begin any o yer tricks ! Jest you begin. 
 
 (Enter MRS. SLAG.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Oh, John, what s the matter? 
 
 JOHN SLAG (turning on MRS. SLAG) : 
 
 You watch out fer that bastard gal. She air 
 foller n in the footsteps of her n maw. This here 
 baby air wantin to marry her. Look at him 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 57 
 
 skeered to death an wantin to git married. 
 (He laughs and digs him with the toes of his 
 heavy boot.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I thought thar was sometin wrong. Flowers in 
 her hair an singin . Whar air she? 
 
 ADAM (raising himself up) : 
 
 Mazie didn t do nothin . It air all my fault. I 
 done it all. I m bad. She didn t know nothin . 
 It air all my fault. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Shet up! (to MRS. SLAG) She air in the kitchen, 
 I reckon. (MRS. SLAG goes to exit.) 
 
 (Enter MILT POLLARD from the right. He is pant 
 ing. His face is wet ivith perspiration.) 
 
 MILT (zvildly) : 
 
 Paw Slag, come quick an help ! Our n barn air 
 on fire! (He turns and dashes back. JOHN 
 SLAG, muttering oaths, follows him.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 Oh, my Heavens, everything s happenin at once ! 
 (She too, folloivs.) 
 
 (ADAM raises himself up slowly. He seems dazed. 
 He stands, for a moment, feeling his bruised 
 cheek. Then he runs to the fence and looks 
 off in the direction of the POLLARD farm.) 
 
 (MAZIE enters around the side of the house.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Adam Adam did he hurt you ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 No, but he ll be hurtin you. We must do some- 
 thin we must do somethin 
 
58 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why will he be hurtin me because we kissed 
 each other? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Oh, if home wasn t so fer away if I only had 
 some money if if 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 What s it all about, Adam? Jest because we love 
 each other? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I want to do what air right. I want to do what 
 air right. 
 
 (Enter SANDY ROBERTS on the road from the left. 
 He leans over the fence and points at them.) 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Psst ! Psst ! . 
 
 (ADAM and MAZIE turn about, startled.) 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 He, he, I hev been watchin you from behind the 
 well. I hev had a grand day. I hev been out 
 since sunup. The winder was open. I climbed 
 out an got my feet nice an wet on the grass an 
 through the star-fires. (He holds up first one 
 bare foot and then the other.) If I git cold I 
 hain t carin . He, he. I hev had such a grand 
 day, wanderin all by myself (coming through 
 the fence.) But now I air tired. I air goin to 
 sleep tonight ! At night ol folks git tired but 
 not young folks He, he, not young folks he, 
 he 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, Sandy, we air in trouble. 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 1 59 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 I know I know (nearer to them) Tonight air 
 full moon It air goin to be light like day on the 
 prairie. Why don t you run away from yer 
 trouble? It air goin to be a grand night to run 
 away. I know the best nights to run away. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Shall we try it, Mazie? 
 
 MAZIE (excitedly) : 
 
 Oh, yes, yes ! (then) Waal, anything you say, Adam. 
 
 ADAM (after a pause of indecision) : 
 
 Maybe we kin git home. Maybe we ll be lucky 
 an git home. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Keep under kiver in the day, Adam. Walk at 
 night but keep under kiver in the day. I m 
 rememberin the first time I ran away. I was 
 jest about this high (indicates with his hand). I 
 took my dog. I hid till night time in some bushes. 
 I kin remember them bushes. They smelled 
 sweet. Thar was red flowers on em. But I 
 had to hold my dog s nose cause they made him 
 sneeze an folks would hear him. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie, I know a thick place in the creek willers. 
 We ll hide thar till night. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I will take a loaf of bread from the kitchen. You 
 will git hungry, Adam. 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 He, he, if I was young, I d go too. Thar hain t 
 no more fun than runnin awav ! 
 
60 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 An water from the well, Mazie. You git the 
 
 loaf of bread an I ll git the water. Quick! 
 
 Quick ! They ll be comin back. 
 SANDY (up to the fence) : 
 
 He, he, the fire air burnin . The fire air burnin . 
 ADAM : 
 
 Quick, Mazie ! Quick ! 
 MAZIE (exiting) : 
 
 All right, Adam. (She exits.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 You won t tell, will you, Sandy? 
 SANDY (staring off at the fire) : 
 
 They air throwin water on it but it won t go 
 
 out! 
 ADAM (exiting toward the ivell) : 
 
 I wonder if luck air with us? 
 SANDY : 
 
 The fire air burnin the fire air burnin They 
 
 can t put it out ! He, he, they can t put it out ! 
 
 (THE CURTAIN FALLS) 
 
 ACT 2. 
 SCENE 2 
 
 The canvas wall of the Evangelical tent on the out 
 skirts of a small settlement, that evening. Service 
 is going on. A hymn is being sung. The 
 untrained voices of the choir and congregation are 
 accompanied by a small wheezing organ. Moon 
 light floods the wall of the tent. 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 2 61 
 
 THE SINGERS: 
 
 "Lead kindly light, amid the encirclin gloom 
 Lead Thou me on 
 
 The night air dark an I air fer from home 
 
 Lead Thou me on 
 (ADAM and MAZIE enter from the right, having come 
 
 across a field. They are rather breathless. 
 
 MAZIE has the sparkle of great adventure in her 
 
 eyes. ADAM S eyes are full of anxiety. They 
 
 pause and listen to the singing of the hymn. The 
 
 voices die away. The organ music stops.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 Shall we go in, Mazie? 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Jest as you say, Adam. 
 ADAM : 
 
 The preacher might help. If we tell him every 
 thing he might help us. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Anything you want to do, I ll do, Adam. 
 ADAM : 
 
 If we tell him the truth he might help us to git 
 
 home or he might marry us 
 MAZIE (taking his hand) : 
 
 Let s go in. (They take a few steps. The voice 
 
 of the preacher is heard.) 
 ADAM : 
 
 Listen. (They pause.) 
 (The preacher s voice is raised high and wrathfully. 
 
 It is a cracked, coarse voice, ruined by strenuous 
 
 shouting. ) 
 
62 WILD BIRDS 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE PREACHER: 
 
 An Jesus Christ said, "Ye serpents Ye hypo 
 crites Ye generation of vipers, how can you 
 escape the damnation of Hell !" And so I say 
 the same to you ! You poor ornery sinners sittin 
 here before me Hell s flames air leapin up to 
 you now burnin yer feet an you can t even 
 feel em! The stink of brimstone an Hell s fire 
 air in yer nostrils an you can t even smell it! 
 Oh, ye serpents! Oh, you hypocrites! Oh, you 
 generation of vipers ! Hell s doors air open to 
 you an you air all walkin in ! Let us pray. 
 
 A WOMAN S VOICE (high pitched in hysteria) : 
 Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! 
 
 A MAN S VOICE: 
 
 Oh, Lord! Lord! Lord! 
 
 ANOTHER WOMAN S VOICE: 
 
 I air a sinner ! A sinner ! Oh ! Oh ! Oh ! 
 
 MAZIE (clinging to Adam s arm) : 
 
 Oh, Adam, I air skeered of him. Let s not go in. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 He won t help us. He ll say we air bad. Let s 
 go on, Mazie across the prairie toward home. 
 
 MAZIE (pointing out) : 
 
 Look, Adam ! The star-fires air all like silver 
 under the moon. It will be fun walkin through 
 em feelin em catchin agin yer feet. 
 
 ADAM (moving off) : 
 
 We must walk fast, Mazie. We must not stop. 
 
 MAZIE (following him) : 
 
 Not even if we git tired ? 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 3 63 
 
 ADAM (firmly) : 
 
 Not even if we git tired. Come on, Mazie. (They 
 
 exit.) 
 THE VOICE OF THE PREACHER (ending the prayer) : 
 
 keep thy sheep, Oh Lord. Amen. 
 
 (CURTAIN) 
 
 ACT 2. 
 
 SCENE 3. 
 
 SCENE 3. Far out on the prairie, later that same 
 night. A place among big rocks. Off beyond it, 
 out of sight from the audience, is a graveyard, 
 the few stones standing like gray ghosts under 
 the moon. The moonlight touches the tips of the 
 rocks but the base of them is in thick shadow. 
 THE TRAMP has lighted a small fire bet-ween tivo 
 small stones. In a tomato can he is cooking 
 soup. He is a ragged, indistinct figure wJiistling 
 to himself as he breaks up some twigs and adds 
 them to the fire, using one to stir the contents 
 of the can. 
 
 (ADAM and MAZIE come on above him and peer 
 down betzveen the rocks at him. He becomes 
 azvare of them and stops whistling.) 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Hello, you, up thar. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Hello. Kin you tell me what town that air, fer 
 off, with all the lights twinklin ? 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 That air Halifax. Better stay away from thar. 
 
64 WILD BIRDS 
 
 It air full of dogs. (He continues to whistle and 
 
 to stir the contents of the can. ADAM and MAZIE 
 
 come down to the fire. MAZIE holds ADAM S 
 
 hand. She has put a wreath of star-fires around 
 
 her head, drawn tightly over the black hair. 
 
 They stand and watch the tramp for a moment, 
 
 trying to think of something to say.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Air you a tramp? 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 I air a member of that order. An who might 
 
 you be? The fairy queen? 
 
 MAZIE (smiling and touching the wreath of star- 
 fires ) : 
 
 Oh you mean the star-fires. Yes, it air my 
 
 crown. Ain t it my crown, Adam? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes. (to the tramp) Do you know whar Ashton 
 
 air from here? 
 THE TRAMP (scratching his head) : 
 
 Ashton? Seems like I do. Air it on the 
 
 railroad ? 
 ADAM : 
 
 No. The railroad air five miles away. You 
 
 take a stage. 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 That hain t my way of travel. Ashton? Ashton? 
 
 No, can t say that I do. You goin thar? 
 ADAM: 
 
 Yes. 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Walkin all the way? 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 3 65 
 
 ADAM : 
 Yes. 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 The little gal looks tired. Why don t you stay 
 here an rest? It ll be better walkin in the 
 mornin . I picked this place cause it s warm 
 between these rocks. Thar s liable to be a cold 
 wind over the prairie fore mornin . Better stay 
 an hev some soup. (He stirs with vigor.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Adam, let s stay. I m awful tired. 
 
 ADAM (firmly ) : 
 
 No, Mazie. We must not stop. We must git 
 as fer as we kin tonight, (to the tramp) But 
 if you could give her some soup I d be thankful 
 to you. 
 
 THE TRAMP (bringing out three cups from behind a 
 stone) : 
 
 It s Garry s special Garry s my name. Father 
 was Irish My mother was Spanish, that s the 
 reason I took to the road. (He pours the soup 
 into the cups.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 An we ll hev some bread with it. (She breaks 
 the bread.) 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Thar you air. Smell good? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, yes. (She takes her cup. SJie puts it to her 
 lips.) 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Look out, it s hot. 
 
66 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE (sipping) : 
 
 Oh, Adam, it air good! 
 ADAM (also sipping) : 
 
 You bet it air good ! 
 THE TRAMP (reaching for a bit of bread) : 
 
 Set down on the big stone while you re drinkin 
 
 it, anyhow. 
 ADAM : 
 
 Umm Well (He sits down. MAZIE, with a 
 
 little sigh, sinks down beside him. For a moment 
 
 the three sip their soup and say nothing. At last 
 
 the tramp speaks.) 
 THE TRAMP (to ADAM) : 
 
 Air she your sister? 
 ADAM (uncomfortably) : 
 
 No. (He blows on the soup.) 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Can t be you two young uns are married ? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 We air goin to git married when we git home 
 to Ashton. 
 
 MAZIE (breathing it faintly) : 
 Yes 
 
 THE TRAMP : 
 
 Ho, ho, I see ! Elopers is what you air ! Well, 
 well, thar s romance in the old world yet, I see. 
 That s why I couldn t stay put between four 
 wooden walls. You don t stumble into delicious 
 things between four wooden walls like you do on 
 the road. So you re elopers! An her with a 
 wreath on her head, as pretty as a fairy! Oh, 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 3 67 
 
 my father would hev loved this. He was brought 
 up on fairies, an my mother s eyes would hev 
 rilled with tears, she was that way built. I ve 
 seen her weep over crushed eggs in a nest. Elop 
 ers ! Well, well 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 We air not exactly that. , 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 We air runnin away, that air what we air doin . 
 We hev been very sad but we air goin to be 
 nappy, in a little while. (pointing] Ooh, see 
 the shootin star ! 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Yes, it went right over the graveyard, as if it 
 was bringin somebody thar. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Air that a graveyard? 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Yes, an old one. Them air the stones shinin in 
 the moonlight. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 From here they look like sheep. 
 
 THE TRAMP (pensively) : 
 
 They air sheep what hev been gathered in. (to 
 MAZIE who sits gazing off, her eyes quite wide) 
 Finished yer soup? 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Oh, yes. It was good, too. Adam, let s stay 
 here. (Snuggling down.) It air warm. Feel the 
 rock. It air warm like a stove from the fire. 
 (Her head nods.} 
 
68 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 No, no, Mazie. We must go on. (He collects 
 
 the uneaten bread.) 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 What s the awful hurry, sonny? Air you scared 
 
 of somethin ? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Yes. 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Of what? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Oh of everything. 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 That s funny fer a boy. Now if the little gal 
 
 said that 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 You don t understand an I ain t got time to 
 
 explain. Come on, Mazie. (He helps her up.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, Adam, I air 
 ADAM : 
 
 I know your feet air tired an I know you air 
 
 sleepy, but, Mazie, we must go on 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Goodbye, young uns. You make me think of wild 
 
 things runnin from a forest fire like I seen in 
 
 the North Woods, once. 
 ADAM : 
 
 Thanks fer the soup, sir. If you air ever up 
 
 Ashton way, come an (drawing suddenly 
 
 back) Who air that, comin up between the 
 
 rocks ? 
 
ACT 2 SCENE 3 69 
 
 THE TRAMP (looking off) : 
 
 Oh, you needn t be afraid of him. He passed 
 here jest afore sundown. He was goin to the 
 graveyard. He had a kind voice. He stood by 
 the fence of the graveyard fer a long time, till I 
 couldn t see him no more count of the darkness 
 an the moon hadn t showed yet. One of them 
 gathered-in sheep was his, I reckon. Don t run 
 from him. 
 
 ADAM: 
 
 We must ! We can t meet nobody. 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 You can t go that way without bumpin inter him 
 on the path. The rocks on each side of it air 
 thick as forest trees. Go back the way you come. 
 
 (ADAM and MAZIE climb the slope again, between the 
 tall rocks. They scurry down the other side of 
 them and loose rocks on the slope are heard 
 tumbling after them. The TRAMP whistles, stick 
 ing his hands in his pockets. A tall, square figure 
 appears from the direction of the graveyard. It 
 is GEORGE MARSHALL. He comes doivn to the 
 fire. He looks up to the tall rocks where the 
 loose rocks are still slipping down behind the 
 hurried flight of ADAM and MAZIE.) 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 Sounds like somethin wild runnin down those 
 
 rocks. Hear it? 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Yep. Prairie mice, I guess or a fox. Have 
 
 some soup? 
 
70 WILD BIRDS 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 No, thank you. I air goin on now. 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Did you find what you was loinkin fer? 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 Not all. 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 An you won t hev no soup? It s good. The 
 young uns Waal, anyhow it s good. Garry s 
 special 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 I know it air good an I d like to share it with 
 you, but I can t jest now. Fm tryin to pick up 
 lost threads an thar s no time to waste, pickin 
 up lost threads. Goodbye to you, Mister Garry. 
 A pleasant night among the rocks. 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Goodnight to you, sir. We ll meet agin some 
 time, on the road. 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (going) : 
 
 Yes. I reckon we all meet agin sometime 
 somewhars (He goes.) 
 
 THE TRAMP (making himself comfortable by the 
 fire): 
 
 Wonder what he s wanderin off on the prairie 
 fer? Pickin up lost threads Humm Some 
 times you can Sometimes you can t Sometimes 
 thar re too mixed up broken, some air. (He 
 curls up and falls to whistling the same air as he 
 whistled in the beginning. Then something makes 
 him straighten up and look off in the direction of 
 the graveyard.) 
 
ACT 2-SCENE 3 71 
 
 THE TRAMP: 
 
 Ah, thar they go, rimnin hand in hand. Two 
 little specks like things blowed by wind on the 
 prairie. Past the graveyard scared, I bet. Little 
 wild things Elopers Humm well, well (curl 
 ing up again) Little wild things elopers elop 
 ers in the night 
 
 (He whistles once more as the curtain sloivl\ falls.) 
 
 (CURTAIN) 
 
72 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ACT 3. 
 
 SCENE 1. 
 
 SCENE 1. The same as Acts 1 and 2. Five months 
 later. It is now late fall. The tree, over the 
 well, has dropped its leaves. There have been 
 frosts at night. The prairie is brown and brood 
 ing, lying like a thing afraid of encroaching 
 winter. 
 
 At the rise of the curtain MAZIE crosses from behind 
 the house to the well, carrying the wooden water 
 bucket. She walks ivith her head doivn, the 
 flower-like tilt to her chin lost. Her movements 
 are no longer bird-like. The wonder of things 
 is still in her eyes but a veil of heavy sadness is 
 drawn across them. 
 
 (ESTHEY KEN YON comes along the road from the 
 
 left. She goes toward the door of the house.) 
 ESTHEY (calling) : 
 
 Mrs. Slag! Oh, Mrs. Slag! 
 (MAZIE,, about to exit to the well, turns.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Esthey, whar air Sandy? Air he sick? 
 ESTHEY (eyeing her coldly up and down) : 
 
 No, he air not sick. (She then deliberately turns 
 
 her back on MAZIE. MAZIE exits.) 
 ESTHEY: 
 
 Mrs. Slag! Oh, Mrs. Slag, air you thar? 
 MRS. SLAG (entering from the house) : 
 
 Hello, Esthey. Won t you come in? The air s 
 
 sharp after the heavy frost. 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 1 73 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 No, thanks, Mrs. Slag. I jest come over to git 
 a lend of that dress pattern you was tellin me 
 about. Now that harvesting through, I kin git 
 time to make some new print dresses. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I air sorry, Esthey, but Corie air usin it. After 
 she gits through with it you kin hev it. 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 That ll be fine. (Sitting down on a bench.) I ll 
 set fer a second. That s a long walk an paw s 
 sich a worry that I air tired all the time. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 What did you do with him? He hain t been 
 around lately. 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 I keep him locked up in the shed, all the time 
 now. I couldn t keep track of him so Pete an 
 me put him in the shed. It s nice in thar but he 
 cries an makes an awful fuss jest like a baby. 
 At night he nearly drives me crazy. If he warn t 
 my father I d put him away some place but I 
 hate the disgrace of it. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (sighing) : 
 
 You an me hev our n worries, don t we, Esthey? 
 Here s me on the watch every minute to keep 
 Adam an Mazie away from each other an from 
 tryin to run away agin. I told John, last night, 
 I d rather send em both back to whar they belong 
 an do all the chores myself than hev things the 
 way they air now. I m that nervous I could 
 holler. 
 
74 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 Mrs. Slag, jest what place was it you found em 
 that night they run away? I kin never remember 
 the name an last night I had a wrangle about 
 it with Pete. He sez it was Carston but it 
 wasn t, was it? 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 No. It was at High Meadows. They walked all 
 night an they passed through Carston. That s 
 whar the man seen em an told John. John 
 found em settin beside the road in the high 
 grass eatin the loaf of bread Mazie stold from 
 me. 
 
 ESTHEY (shaking her head) : 
 
 They air bad uns. Dear me, an you gev em sich 
 a good home, too. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Waal, you can t expect nothin else. The boy s 
 from a reform school an the gal hain t legitimate. 
 I tell John, all the time, to git rid of em but he 
 won t. He says they belong to him an he s a 
 stubborn man. 
 
 ESTHEY (rising) : 
 
 Don t tell me ! I know men. Hain t I got my 
 hands full with Pete? Oh, Lors, I got to git 
 back. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (walking to the fence with her) : 
 
 Feels warmer now. Guess we ll have rain afore 
 night. 
 
 ESTHEY : 
 
 It does feel warmer an thar s clouds. (She starts 
 up the road.) Goodbye, Mrs. Slag. When Corie 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 1 75 
 
 air through with the pattern let me know, if you 
 don t mind. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 I ll let you know, first thing. Goodbye, Esthey. 
 
 (ESTHEY exits.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG (coming back and looking in the direction 
 of the well) : 
 
 Mazie, you leave off lookin down that well all 
 the time. Draw that water an come in ! I air 
 tired of talkin to you about that well ! 
 
 (MRS. SLAG exits into the house.) 
 
 (MAZIE returns with the bucket of water. It is 
 heavy for her. She sets it down. She stands 
 with her head bowed. ) 
 
 (Enter ADAM running. He limps, slightly.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie, I made a short cut across the creek lot. 
 John Slag air comin the long way. I thought I 
 might git a chance to speak to you afore he gits 
 here. You looked at me so funny-like at break 
 fast this mornin . 
 
 MAZIE (with a little, uncontrolled sob) : 
 
 Adam I air so lonely an I air so skeered. 
 
 ADAM (taking her hand, at the same time glancing 
 apprehensively toward the house) : 
 Mazie, what is the matter? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I don t know. I don t know. Sometimes I think 
 I see a light. I think somethin air goin to shine 
 like the biggest star an then it only gits black- 
 er n it was afore. Oh, Adam, YOU don t know 
 
76 WILD BIRDS 
 
 how I cry at night an try to stop an shake the 
 bed till I know somebody will hear me. 
 
 ADAM (fearfully) : 
 
 W-what is it do you think makes you cry at 
 night ? 
 
 MAZIE (wonderingly) : 
 
 I don t know, Adam but it air like somethin 
 somethin creepin on me in the dark. Some- 
 thin I can t see somethin skeery somethin I 
 hev never seen afore. 
 
 ADAM (his tongue thick) : 
 
 Do do you think do you think 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 What, Adam? Yer hand air tremblin . What, 
 Adam? 
 
 ADAM (turning away) : 
 How kin I say it? 
 
 MRS. SLAG (from the house) : 
 Mazie ! Mazie ! 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I air comin . (to ADAM) I ll go quick. If she 
 sees us together she will tell Slag an he will whip 
 you agin like he did when we ran away. He said 
 if he ever whipped you agin he would do more n 
 hurt yer leg. He said he would kill you. (She 
 lifts up the bucket.) 
 
 ADAM (hopelessly) : 
 
 I don t care if he does kill me. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh, Adam, don t. An think of me all alone 
 here 
 
ACT 3-SCENE 1 77 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 You was alone afore I came. It was better. 
 MAZIE (looking at him with yearning eyes) : 
 
 Oh, don t say that. 
 ADAM (indistinctly) : 
 
 Christ! Christ! (He exits, running. ) 
 
 (Enter CORIE on the road from the right. She 
 walks ^vith determination, a defiant pugnacious 
 lift to her chin. Her eyes are hard and her thin 
 mouth a straight line. She carries a roll of 
 clothing under her arm. She pauses a moment 
 by the fence and looks back toward the POLLARD 
 farm. Her head tosses. She turns and comes 
 inside the fence. She is almost to the house when 
 MAZIE, who has been watching her, calls to her.) 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Corie ! Corie ! 
 
 CORIE (turning sharply) : 
 Waal? 
 
 MAZIE (crossing to her) : 
 
 Kin kin I ask you something Corie? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 You jest go about yer own business. I hev got 
 lots of trouble an no time to talk with you. 
 (furiously) Questions! Questions! Questions! 
 Questions! Can t you see I m sick? Can t you 
 see I m ready to holler ! Go away from me ! 
 (Sinking on a bench near the house.) Can t you 
 see I hain t in any condition to listen to fool 
 questions ! Oh, Lors, my head. Go way ! Go 
 away ! 
 
78 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE (helplessly drawing back) : 
 
 I air sorry. I air sorry your head aches (pushing 
 back her hair from her brow). So does mine. 
 An both our cheeks are red. 
 
 (Enter MRS. SLAG from the house. MAZIE leans 
 against the fence in the shadow. She looks on, 
 puzzled yet sensing something that will bring the 
 revelation.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Corie. I thought that was you comin across the 
 field but I warn t sure. I seen you from the 
 winder. Why, what s wrong? You look so 
 an them clothes 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I hev left Milt Pollard s house. I will not go 
 back to it agin while that maw of his n air thar. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Oh, Corie, what will yer paw say? He will be 
 awful mad. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I do not care. I will not stay under the same 
 roof with that woman. I hate her ! I hate her 
 like pizen ! (She begins to cry.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Corie. It must be awful bad. It hain t like you 
 to cry. You air like me. You don t cry so easy. 
 (She strokes CORIE S forehead.) Dearie, you air 
 all hot. You hain t well. Corie, don t you feel 
 well? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 I hev had a few spells. She got up then an 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 1 79 
 
 wanted to help but I wouldn t let her. I wouldn t 
 let her touch me ! 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 It air true what you thought then? 
 
 CORIE (wiping her eyes with the back of her hand; 
 then looking at her mother) : 
 Yes, I air gohr to hev a baby, but I air goin to 
 hev it here, not at that house whar she air. 
 Come on in, maw, I air cold. 
 
 MRS. SLAG (going into the house with her) : 
 
 It air gettin warmer, like rain, but it air natural 
 fer you to feel cold. (As they e.vit) : Hev you 
 felt a stirrin yet, Corie? 
 
 CORIE: 
 
 Yes. Night afore last I felt a stirrin . (They 
 e.vit.) 
 
 (MAZIE, wide-eyed, comes down to the steps. She 
 stands there a moment looking into the house, 
 listening for any further conversation. Then she 
 whirls about, a strange glow of daii ninq under 
 standing on her face, her lips parted.) 
 
 MAZIE (whispering) : 
 
 A stirrin a stirrin in the night I know I 
 know a stirrin a stirrin (calling) Adam 
 Adam I know I know now what it air! (She 
 takes a few wavering steps. Her knees give way 
 under her. She falls in a faint on the ground.) 
 
 (ADAM enters from the well, running. He lifts 
 MAZIE in his arms. He turns this way and that, 
 trying to decide what to do. Then he starts in 
 the direction of the well. JOHN SLAG enters by 
 the road.) 
 
80 WILD BIRDS 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Here thar ! What air you doin ? 
 ADAM : 
 
 Mazie has fainted. I air takin her to the well 
 
 to git some water. 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Give her to me. You go an shet up the cows. 
 
 It air goin to rain. (JOHN SLAG takes MAZIE 
 
 who moves in his arms.) 
 MAZIE (coming back) : 
 
 Adam Adam the stirrin 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 What air she talkin about? 
 ADAM : 
 
 I don t know. 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Hurry with them cows. Thar s the first drop of 
 
 rain. (ADAM exits.} 
 (JOHN SLAG carries MAZIE toward the house. She 
 
 fights her way back, struggling violently zvith her 
 
 arms. ) 
 
 (CURTAIN) 
 
 ACT 3. 
 SCENE 2. 
 
 SCENE 2. ADAM S room in the attic, a little before 
 dawn, the next morning. It is a bare room ivith 
 a chuck mattress on the floor in one corner; an 
 old rocker with broken arms, down center; a box 
 for a table, right, on which is a glass lamp with 
 a blackened chimney; a cracked mirror hanging 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 2 81 
 
 on the wall over the box and a rag rug on the 
 floor. Left, in the floor, is a hole through which 
 one climbs on a ladder from the room below. A 
 small ivindoiv is back center, the roof sloping 
 down on each side of it. 
 
 As the curtain rises the room is almost black. Rain 
 is heard on the roof but as the act progresses and 
 dawn struggles in, the rain gradually ceases and 
 only the drip, drip of it from the caves is heard. 
 
 ADAM is lying on the chuck mattress without the 
 quilt thrown over Jiim. He has not taken off 
 his clothes. He lies flat on his back, his arms 
 stretched out, his eyes open. He has been in 
 this position practically all night. Now, as the 
 feel of daivn is near, he sits up and crawls to the 
 hole in the floor and listens down the ladder. 
 Hearing nothing, he goes to the small window 
 and looks out, remaining there for a moment, 
 trying to pierce the blackness. Then he comes to 
 the box and lights the lamp which gives but a 
 feeble, flickering light and throws the bov s 
 shadow on the wall, the slant of the roof break 
 ing it. The shadow is like a great ogre, hunch 
 backed. Having lighted the lamp, not knowing 
 why he has done it, he wanders about the room, 
 limping quite noticeably. Once he pauses and 
 studies himself in the mirror. His face is lined 
 and he looks much older. He could easily be 
 taken for a man in the last twenties. Suddenly 
 he hears someone coming cautiously up the ladder. 
 He blows out the light and throws himself once 
 more on the chuck mattress, pulling the quilt 
 
82 WILD BIRDS 
 
 over him. The steps on the ladder falter, then 
 continue. MAZIE s head appears through the hole 
 in the floor. She looks about and whispers. 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Adam, air you awake? Adam Adam 
 
 (ADAM sits up.) 
 
 MAZIE (stepping up on another rung) : 
 Air you awake, Adam? 
 
 ADAM (whispering hoarsely) : 
 
 Mazie, you must not come up here ! Mazie, you 
 must not ! 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 I ve got to, Adam. I ve jest got to. (She 
 scrambles up. Her hair is hanging in a great 
 cloud about her. She seems, in the half-light, to 
 be nothing but a moving cloud of hair.) 
 
 ADAM (coming to her) : 
 
 Mazie, please go down. They will hear you. 
 Something awful. will happen if they hear you. 
 Please go down. 
 
 MAZIE (clinging to him) : 
 
 I stayed awake all night waitin fer a chance to 
 come up. Seemed like they never would git to 
 sleep. Auntie Martie turned over an over. Corie 
 cried a heap. Now she air quiet. They air all 
 quiet. Oh, Adam, I had to come an tell you 
 this I jest had to. Don t turn away from me. 
 
 ADAM (looking fearfully into her face) : 
 What is it Mazie? 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 I hev found out why I hev cried at night an 
 what it air that air creepin on me in the dark. 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 2 83 
 
 (with a little tilt of her chin) An I air not 
 
 askeered, anymore! 
 ADAM (bracing himself) : 
 
 W-what is it, Mazie? 
 MAZIE (trying to see his eyes) : 
 
 I air goin to hev a baby like Corie air. When 
 
 I first found out I don t know what happened. 
 
 The prairie seemed like it turned upside down. 
 
 Everything got black. I did not know anything. 
 
 When I came back I was on the floor in the 
 
 kitchen. Auntie Martie was throwin water on 
 
 me. After that, I went around singin , "Little 
 
 Indian Baby in the Corn," that song of Sandy s. 
 
 I went around singin it Oh, not out loud to 
 
 myself, deep down. I was glad. I was glad to 
 
 know something that they didn t know. I wanted 
 
 to tell you right away. I wanted you to know 
 
 but not them. 
 ADAM (through tense lips) : 
 
 Jesus Jesus 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Why do you talk like that? Why do you say, 
 Jesus Jesus ? 
 ADAM : 
 
 We air bad, Mazie. We air bad. 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Bad? Why air we bad? Tell me Why air we 
 
 bad? 
 ADAM : 
 
 / air bad, Mazie not you. / air the bad one. 
 
 You wasn t to blame. It was me. / air the bad 
 
 one. 
 
84 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE (bewildered and speaking in a shrill, quiver 
 ing voice) : 
 
 Bad! Bad! What air bad? Oh, Adam, what 
 air bad? Air little babies bad? Air love bad? 
 Oh, what air bad? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Shh shh You will wake them up. You know 
 what will happen if you wake them up. 
 
 MAZIE (hysterical, throwing herself upon him] : 
 Tell me things ! I cannot go on like this. Tell 
 me things ! 
 
 (The tarnished silver of a rainy dawn comes through 
 the little window.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 I cannot tell you things, Mazie. I air all mixed 
 up myself. I don t know what air bad things an 
 what air good things. I air all mixed up myself. 
 
 MAZIE (like a hunted thing) : 
 
 What kin we do, Adam Whar kin we go ? Look ! 
 It air gettin light. Kin we try runnin away 
 agin? Kin we try gettin home to your maw 
 agin ? 
 
 ADAM (hopelessly) : 
 
 It hain t no use. They found us afore an that 
 was in summer when the roads was good. After 
 this rain we couldn t. You must go down. They 
 will begin gettin up. Go down, Mazie. 
 
 MAZIE (still clinging to him) : 
 I cannot, Adam I cannot 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Please please go down, Mazie. You must mind 
 me ! If you had minded me that night if we had 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 2 85 
 
 gone on without stoppin to rest maybe may 
 be Waal, it s too late, now, anyhow. Please 
 
 please go down, Mazie. 
 (He steps back, away from her. His foot bumps the 
 
 old rocker and it falls with a clatter to the floor.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Oh! 
 ADAM : 
 
 Sshl 
 (They stand perfectly still, every muscle taut. There 
 
 is a tense pause broken by the startled voice of 
 
 MRS. SLAG dozvn stairs.) 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 John ! John ! Did you hear that ? 
 JOHN SLAG (replying gruffly} : 
 
 I air gettin up to look. 
 CORIE S VOICE: 
 
 It sounded like something Tallin in the attic, maw. 
 
 (Another pause. Footsteps are heard crossing 
 
 the floor down stairs.) 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 John ! Oh, John ! Mazie air gone out of her 
 
 bed ! John ! They hev run away agin ! 
 CORIE : 
 
 Look in the attic, paw ! 
 (ADAM and MAZIE run to the chuck mattress. They 
 
 throw themselves down. ADAM is quite covered 
 
 by MAZIE S hair.) 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Kin you find the lantern, John? 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 I hev lit it. 
 
86 WILD BIRDS 
 
 (Heavy steps arc heard on the ladder rungs. MAZIE 
 and ADAM draw closer together. JOHN SLAG S 
 great hand appears through the hole, holding a 
 lantern. His head and his bull-like neck and 
 huge shoulders follow. For a moment he blinks 
 and stares about him. His shadow almost fills 
 the room. Then he sees ADAM and MAZIE hud 
 dled on the mattress.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG (bellowing) : 
 
 Straight to Hell with you both! (He fairly 
 leaps up the remaining ladder rungs and stands 
 on the attic floor.) 
 
 MRS. SLAG (on the first ladder rung) : 
 Air they thar, John? 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 They air here! (He stands glaring at them, a 
 slow, cruel smile broadening on his lips. He is 
 gloating over them, his hammer-like fists tightly 
 clenched. The lantern flickers at his feet.) 
 
 ADAM (trying to find zvords) : 
 Mr. Slag Mr. Slag 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Shet your mouth : 
 
 (He advances on them. ADAM springs up and stands 
 before MAZIE.) 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Don t hurt her. She hain t to blame. It s me 
 that air bad. I knew all the bad things. Mazie 
 didn t know nothin . Don t hurt her ! 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Shet yer mouth, I tell you! (He hits him. 
 ADAM reels; catches himself and stands swaying. 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 2 87 
 
 MAZIE whimpers and rolls up in a little ball on 
 
 the mattress.} 
 JOHN SLAG (to MAZIE) : 
 
 You git up an go down stairs. 
 (MAZIE rises.) 
 MRS. SLAG (her head appearing through the hole) : 
 
 What did I allus say? She air another like her 
 
 maw! 
 JOHN SLAG (taking a strand of her hair in his fist 
 
 and crumpling it) : 
 
 I d like to hang you by your n hair, you slut ! 
 
 Maybe I will, on the tree over the well, after 
 
 I m done with him (indicating ADAM). 
 MAZIE (suddenly dropping to her knees) : 
 
 Dear God in the sky don t let him don t let 
 
 him hurt us 
 JOHN SLAG (raising his nst above her bowed head) : 
 
 Shet up damn you ! 
 ADAM (jumping forward in an attempt to stop the 
 
 fist from falling on M AZIE S head) : 
 
 Don t hurt her ! Don t hurt her ! She air goin 
 
 to hev a baby. Don t hurt her! 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 Oh, Lors! Lors ! 
 JOHN SLAG (in a terrible voice) : 
 
 Go down stairs ! Both of you go down stairs ! 
 MRS. SLAG (disappearing) : 
 
 I allus said no good could come from either of 
 
 em. I allus said it. (She exits.) 
 (MAZIE silently goes to the ladder and climbs down 
 
 out of sight.) 
 
88 WILD BIRDS 
 
 ADAM (as he follows her) : 
 
 I wanted to marry her. You wouldn t let me. I 
 knew the bad things an an she didn t. I 
 wanted I wanted 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Go down stairs ! 
 
 (ADAM climbs down the ladder. The dead silver of 
 daivn brightens. JOHN SLAG stands clenching and 
 unclenching his hands. Because of the sloping 
 roof he stoops from the waist. His arms dangle 
 down. In that small room he looks like some 
 colossal, half-beast man. Slowly his cruel smile 
 widens. He turns toward the ladder.) 
 
 (THE CURTAIN FALLS) 
 
 ACT 3. 
 
 SCENE 3. 
 
 SCENE 3. The outside of the house again, about ten 
 minutes later. Beyond the prairie the dawn is a 
 jagged rent of silver in the gray cloth of the 
 sky. The wet earth is black. The eaves of the 
 house drip water. Before the curtain rises the 
 bloivs of a raw-hide zvhip are heard falling on a 
 human body. 
 
 The curtain rises and in silhouette against the silver 
 rent of dawn, JOHN SLAG is seen standing over 
 ADAM who lies on the ground. JOHN SLAG S 
 arm is raised to strike once more. MRS. SLAG 
 and CORIE stand on the steps of the house. 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 3 89 
 
 MRS. SLAG (fearfully) : 
 
 John, you air killin him. 
 CORIE : 
 
 He hain t makin any more noise. 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 You better stop, John. You don t want to kill 
 
 him. 
 CORIE : 
 
 They ll jail you, paw. 
 JOHN SLAG : 
 
 Shet up ! I know what I m doin . 
 (His arm drops down. He prods ADAM in the ribs 
 
 with the toe of his boot. ADAM does not move.) 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 Yes, I reckon you ve got enough. 
 MRS. SLAG (coming down the steps) : 
 
 He s senseless, hain t he? 
 JOHN SLAG (stooping over him) : 
 
 Yes. 
 CORIE : 
 
 You re sure it hain t nothin worse? 
 JOHN SLAG (rising) : 
 
 An if it is? Don t he belong to me? Can t I do 
 
 what I want with him? 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 You can t kill anybody, John. 
 (MAZIE, who has only been held back by the women 
 
 at the door, now enters running from the house. 
 
 She hurls herself down beside ADAM and takes 
 
 his head in her lap.) 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Adam Adam my boy Adam 
 
90 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MRS. SLAG : 
 
 We told you to stay in the house! 
 
 MAZIE (unheeding) : 
 
 Adam Oh, you air cold, Adam! 
 
 (The rent over the prairie becomes wider and more 
 light.) 
 
 JOHN SLAG (putting his hand on MAZIE S shoulder) : 
 Leave him be! (ADAM S head stirs in MAZIE s 
 lap.) 
 
 ADAM (in a voice that comes from far off) : 
 
 Air this star-fires under my head or air it 
 Mazie s lap? 
 
 CORIE (with relief) : 
 
 He air speakin . He air not dead. 
 
 (JOHN SLAG takes his hand from MAZIE S shoulder.) 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 It air Mazie s lap, Adam. 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Oh, Mazie little Mazie We kin git home, now 
 to my mother. See how fast we air goin 
 over the prairie walkin through the star-fires 
 an the long grass. They can t catch us this 
 time. No ! Don t stop please don t stop Mazie, 
 air he heavy ? Let me carry him, Mazie He air 
 mine like he air your n. Oh, he air light light 
 Look Mazie that air it that air it 
 
 MAZIE (bending over him) : 
 What, Adam? 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Home the winder Here s the field whar I used 
 to plow Thar s Sport my dog He s comin to 
 meet me Hello, Sport Down, Sport 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 3 91 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Adam Adam 
 
 ADAM : 
 
 Look look Thar s maw sittin on her hair, 
 jest like a little queen Maw! Maw! Here s 
 Mazie ! Mazie an him our n baby Mazie, meet 
 maw. Don t she kiss like a little queen? She air 
 a queen sittin in the winder on her n hair. 
 Look, Mazie, how she holds him. She air glad 
 She air glad She knows what air good the little 
 queen 
 
 (Blood rushes from his mouth. His head rolls down 
 in MAZIE S lap. He dies. The dawn opens out 
 like a great silver window.} 
 
 MAZIE (piteously) : 
 Adam my Adam 
 
 CORIE (shrilly) : 
 
 You hev killed him, paw ! 
 
 MAZIE: 
 
 Adam speak some more 
 
 JOHN SLAG (bending over the bo\ and then drawing 
 back) : 
 
 I didn t mean to kill him. I jest wanted to make 
 him sorry fer what he done. I didn t mean to 
 kill him. You know that, Martie Corie I 
 didn t mean to kill him! (attempting to control 
 himself) Waal, anyhow, he deserved it wrongin 
 a little gal a little gal who didn t know nothin ! 
 He deserved killin even if I didn t mean to do 
 it wrongin a poor little gal. Git up, Mazie. 
 We won t hurt you. Git up, Mazie. Wrongin 
 a poor little gal like you (He raises her gently.) 
 
92 WILD BIRDS 
 
 MAZIE : 
 
 Let me go please 
 
 (Something in the dead tone of her voice makes 
 JOHN SLAG take his hands from her. She silently 
 walks away in the direction of the well. JOHN 
 SLAG, MRS. SLAG and CORIE look after her. She 
 exits slowly, her hair hiding her face.) 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Don t let her go away alone like that. 
 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 She air stoppin by the well. She allus liked that 
 well. Let her stay thar fer awhile. 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Sun s comin up. Oh, I can t look at him ! 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 We ve got to put him some place. Whar kin 
 we put him? Nobody ll know nothin about him. 
 He belonged to me. I took him from the reform 
 school. I gev him a good home an what did 
 he do? He wronged a little gal. Whar kin 
 we put him? Nobody ll know. 
 
 (Enter by the road, from the left, "GEORGE MARSHALL. 
 He wears a raincoat over a suit of cheap store 
 clothes. He leans on the fence and looks at the 
 group.) 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 Thar s thick places in the willers. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 No. The creeks air risin . 
 
 MRS. SLAG (suddenly seeing MARSHALL) : 
 
 John, somebody air watchin us from the fence. 
 Oh, John, it air that hired man, George Marshall! 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 3 93 
 
 JOHN SLAG (trying to hide ADAM S body by stepping 
 
 in front of it) : 
 
 What do you want here, George Marshall? You 
 
 air not wanted on this here farm. 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (coming slowly in through the 
 
 fence) : 
 
 I air wantin to see Mazie. 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 She air not here. She air gone away. You git 
 
 along now. We hev a sick boy here. He air 
 
 fainted an I air takin him inter the house. You 
 
 go along now. (He lifts up ADAM S body.) 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (seeing the raw-hide ivhip on 
 
 the ground) : 
 
 You hev been usin the hoss whip on this boy, 
 
 John Slag, like you tried to use it on me ! 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 
 I hev not. You git along an mind yer own 
 
 business if you know what air good fer you. 
 (He walks toward the house.) 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (following him) : 
 
 You let me see that boy! 
 CORIE : 
 
 You git out of here ! 
 MRS. SLAG: 
 
 Git out! (She snatches up the raw-hide whip.) 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (getting his hand on the boy s 
 
 damp head) : 
 
 Great God! You ve beaten him to death! 
 (MRS. SLAG rushes at him with the ivhip.) 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (wresting it away from her) : 
 
 You she-devil ! You ve helped him. I ll hev the 
 
94 WILD BIRDS 
 
 lot of you strung up fer this! (with sudden fear) 
 Whar s Mazie? Hev you killed her, too? Whar 
 air she? 
 
 JOHN SLAG (putting the body of ADAM on the 
 ground) : 
 
 It whar because he wronged Mazie that I whipped 
 him. I jest did it to skeer him fer wrongin 
 Mazie. I didn t know it would kill him 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL: 
 
 Whar air she? What hev you done to her? 
 
 CORIE : 
 
 She went over thar to the well, (looking off) 
 Thar she air. No, that air Sandy Roberts lookin 
 down the well. How did he git out? 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (half to himself as he takes a 
 few steps toward the well) : 
 
 That well I remember she said it was round 
 like the world. It was awful black but some 
 times she saw stars in it I wonder if she saw 
 my face? 
 
 (Enter SANDY. His clothes are wet. His hair is 
 wildly ruffled. His bare feet are caked with 
 mud. ) 
 
 SANDY (his eyes burning) : 
 
 Mazie has jumped down the well! Mazie has 
 jumped down the well! 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (grasping SANDY S arm) : 
 What air you talkin about? 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 I seen her jump. I was goin to surprise her 
 an tell her how I got out of the barn an was 
 
ACT 3 SCENE 3 95 
 
 in the rain all night. He, he, it was grand bein 
 in the rain all night 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (pushing him aside} : 
 Is it too late to save her? 
 
 (He exits running to the well.) 
 
 SANDY (looking after him) : 
 
 You ll not see her. It air dark down thar 
 darker n the shed. 
 
 JOHN SLAG: 
 Shet up! 
 
 (JOHN SLAG, MRS. SLAG and CORIE have instinctively 
 drawn together and are all staring off toward 
 the well.) 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL S VOICE (calling frantically down 
 the well) : 
 Mazie ! Mazie : 
 
 SANDY (seeing the body of ADAM) : 
 
 What air the matter, young chief? Young chief, 
 you can t catch her now. It air too late. You 
 won t even see her. She air lost down the well. 
 It air dark down thar. She won t like it. She 
 liked stars an the moon Git up, young chief 
 Git up 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (re-entering) : 
 
 I can t see her. (pointing a finger at the group) 
 I don t know the truth of this, but I ll find out! 
 You ll hang, John Slag! (The SLAG family cower 
 under MARSHALL S accusing finger) She was given 
 inter your n hands an she could hev loved you 
 Oh, how she could hev loved you like hern 
 maw could love. Her n maw (almost breaking). 
 
96 WILD BIRDS 
 
 She was mine an I didn t know I didn t know 
 (His head thrown fiercely back). Oh, Lord, 
 forgive me that day that day I would not give 
 my name an from that day she walked in the 
 dark an her n baby walked in the dark. (Tears 
 stream down his cheeks. He strikes his breast 
 with his two fists.) Oh, why air life and man 
 so cruel ? ( The sun begins to rise above the 
 straight line of the prairie. The wet soil glistens. 
 Birds in the tree over the well begin to sing.) 
 
 SANDY : 
 
 Young chief, git up ! The sun air risin . The 
 sun air risin . Foller the little silver fox over 
 the prairie ! She air runnin fast right inter 
 the sun ! 
 
 GEORGE MARSHALL (his head still flung back) : 
 The sun air risin The sun air risin too late 
 too late 
 
 (THE CURTAIN FALLS) 
 
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