Scene 7 Aligi appears on the threshold. Seeing his father he loses every trace of color. Lazaro stops and turns on him. Father and son look at each other fixedly .

Lazaro:

Who is it? Who is it? Aligi?

Aligi:


Father, however didst thou come?

Lazaro:

Is thy blood sucked? that thou art grown
So white? It runs as if strained thin
As whey when it runs through the bag,
Shepherd, thou art so terrified.

Aligi:

What, Father, is your will to do?

Lazaro:

My will to do? To ask
Of me is not permitted thee.
But I will tell thee that I want
To take the fat sheep in my noose
And take her with me where I please.
Then I will settle with the shepherd.

Aligi:

Father, father, you shall not do this.

Lazaro:

Dost dare to lift thy face against me?
Take care I do not make thee blush.
Go, go back to the hut and stay
There with thy flock inside the fold
Until I come and look for thee.
Now for thy very life obey!

Aligi:

O Father, may the Lord forbid
I should obey you in this thing.
You have the power to judge your son,
But leave this woman to herself;
Leave her, leave her to weep alone.
Do not offend her. It is sin.

Lazaro:

Now God has made thee go clean mad!
Is it a saint of whom thou speakest?
Dost thou not see (thine eyes were shut),
Can'st thou not see she has beneath
Her eyelids and about her neck
All of the seven deadly sins?
I tell the truth that if thy sheep
Should see her they would butt at her.
Dost thou dare bid me not offend her!

*****

Aligi:

If before God it were not sin,
If before man it were not crime,
My father, I would say to you
That you have lied now in your throat. He takes a few steps slantwise and places himself between his father and the woman, covering her with his body .

Lazaro:

What dost thou say? May thy tongue wither!
Get down upon thy knees and beg
Pardon, and fall upon the ground,
And do not dare to stand again
Before me, but crawl forth,
Away, and stay there with the dogs.

Aligi:

My father, let God be our judge;
But this poor creature to your rage
I will not leave, I cannot
While I live. Let God be judge.

Lazaro:

'Tis I who am thy judge. Now who
Am I to thee, and to thy blood?

Aligi:

You are my father, dear to me.

Lazaro:

I am thy father, and can do
Exactly what I please with thee.
Thou art mine as much as is the OX
In my stall; thou art like my spade
And like my hoe. And if I choose
To drive the harrow over thee
And break thy back, it is well done.
And if I need for my knife here
A handle and should make me one
Out of thy thigh, that is well done;
Because I'm father and thou son,
Dost understand? For over thee
I've all power, to the end of time.
And just as I was to my father
Thou art to me though dead and buried!
Dost understand? And if this goes
Out of thy head, I'll bring it back
To mind. Down on thy knees, and kiss
The earth and creep out on all fours;
Go, and don't turn to look behind.

Aligi:

Drive over me with plough and harrow,
Father, but do not touch the woman. Lazaro comes near, unable to contain his fury; and, lifting the cord, strikes him on the shoulder .

Lazaro:

Down, get thee down to the ground, dog, down! Aligi falls on his knees .
Aligi:

My father, see me; here I kneel
Before you, kneel, and kiss the earth.
And in the name of the living God
And true, by my first cry, then when
I was born to you and you did take
Me in your hands and lift me up,
Ere I was wrapped in swaddling bands,
Up toward the Holy Face of Christ,
I pray you, pray you, father mine;
Do not so trample under foot
The heart, the heart of your sad son,
Nor give him shame like this. I pray
Do not put out his light of life,
Nor throw him to the host of fiends,
To the enemy that circles round.
I pray you by that Angel mute
That sees and hears there in the block!

Lazaro:

Go now, go now, begone, begone,
And afterward I'll judge thy case.
Begone, I say, begone, begone from here. He strikes him cruelly with the cord. Aligi raises himself all trembling .

Aligi:

Now may the Lord be judge, and judge
Between us two, and see, and do
Me right; but I, against you here,
Father, I will not lift my hand.

Lazaro:

Accursed! I will strangle thee! He throws the noose to catch Aligi by the head, but Aligi avoids the catch, seizes the cord and pulls his father with a sudden jerk .

Aligi:

Lord Christ, do thou give aid to me!
That I lay not my hands on him,
That I touch not my father, no! Furious, Lazaro runs to the threshold calling .

Lazaro:

Ho, Jenne! Ho thou, Femo! Come!
Come, come and see this fellow here,
How he acts. (May a serpent sting him!)
Bring here the cord. He is possessed
For certain. See, he threatens me his father!
He has rebelled against me, he!
He was accursed in the womb,
And all his days, accursed forever.
The devil has entered into him.
Look at him there. There is no blood
In his face. Ho, Jenne, take him, thou.
Femo, thou hast the cord. So, bind him.
Now bind him fast, and throw him out.

*****

Aligi:

Brothers in God, don't treat me so!
Oh, Jenne, do not lose thy soul.
Jenne, I know thee. I remember
How when I was a little child
I used to go and gather olives
In thy field, Jenne dell' Eta.
Yes, I remember. Do not, Jenne,
Do not abuse and shame me so! The peasants throw him down and try to bind him, dragging him about while he becomes furious.
Dogs! May you die of pestilence!
No, no, no, Mila, Mila, run,
Give me that iron there. Mila! Mila! His voice is heard hoarse and desperate, while Lazaro prevents Mila's escape .

Mila:

Aligi, Aligi, God will help!
God will avenge! Do not despair.
I have no power, and thou hast none.
But while my heart is left to me,
Aligi, I am thine, am thine!
Have faith! have faith! For aid will come.
Take heart, Aligi. May God help thee!