ACT III
A great threshing floor. At the back an old oak, behind it the open country bounded by mountains, the river between. At the left, the house of Lazaro. The door stands wide; under the porch are harvest tools; at the right, the hay-loft and straw-rick .
Scene 1
The corpse of Lazaro lies on the bare floor within the house, his head pillowed upon a faggot of vine branches, as is the custom. The mourners kneel around. Under the porch are the kinsfolk with Splendore and Favetta. Vienda is seated upon a stone as if half dead, comforted by her mother and godmother. Ornella stands alone under the tree, watching the path .
The chorus of mourners laments the death of Lazaro. Ornella, watching, sees far off a cloud of dust and a black standard. She calls to her sisters to prepare their mother for what is coming. Femo, one of the peasant witnesses, rushing in breathless, brings tidings of Aligi, condemned as a parricide, and now being led to his mother that he may ask her pardon before he dies, and that she may give him, as is her right, the cup of comfort. Afterward, his hand is to be cut off, and he is to be tied in a sack with a mastiff and thrown into the river. The muffled roll of the funeral drum is heard. Femo tells how Aligi confessed his guilt, looking humble and innocent, and how the carved angel has a spot of blood upon it. The women crowd around asking what has become of Mila and cursing her. As the chorus of mourners breaks forth again, the mother rises from the chimney corner where she has been crouching, and approaches the door.
Scene 2
The mother wanders in her mind, confusing her sorrows with those of the Blessed Virgin. The frightened women kneel in prayer. The daughters try to bring their mother back. Ornella cries: " Mother, Aligi is coming, Aligi is coming now to ask thy forgiveness and to drink the cup of comfort from thy hands. Rise, and be strong. He is not damned. By repentance and the sacred blood he is saved. "
A crowd of people, all the countryside, approaches in silence, Iona di Midia bearing the black standard. In the midst is Aligi, bound, bare-foot, a black veil over his head. They bring with them the angel, the leathern sack, and the dog. The kinswomen, mourning, tell how to mix the wine with herbs to make the cup more stupefying. The voice of Iona breaks the silence: " O widow of Lazaro, O kinsfolk of this stricken household, up, up, here comes the penitent. "
Scene 3
Iona appears with the black standard; behind him is Aligi, bound. Following them is a man carrying the carved shepherd's crook, another with the hatchet, and others bearing the angel figure, wrapped in a cloth. They set it down. The crowd presses close.
The chorus of mourners laments the terrible death of Aligi, now so near, the cut-off hand, the cord, the sack. Iona announces the condemnation of Aligi, and tells Candia that she may lift the veil and hold the cup to the lips of her son, because his death will be so bitter. Aligi falls at her feet: he may no longer call her mother, he will not drink her cup, for his death is no more painful than he deserves. The crowd looks pityingly upon the mother, grown white-haired in two nights. Aligi addresses his sisters: he must not speak their names nor call them sisters any more. They ought to drive him away like a dog. He has two things to leave them, the crook on which he had carved three little maidens like them, that he might have their company out in the pastures, and the mute angel he had been carving from his heart, now with the awful spot upon it. " The spot will disappear some day and the mute angel will speak, and you will see and hear. " The crowd looks pityingly on the sisters who have no more tears to shed.
Aligi speaks to Vienda, " virgin and widow, whose next marriage shall be in Paradise and Christ shall be the bridegroom. " The crowd echoes his words. Iona hurries him, for it grows late, and " he must not hear the Ave Maria nor see the evening star. " The mother, approaching, lifts the veil from Aligi's face, presses his head against her breast and holds the cup to his lips. A cry is heard from the crowd, interrupting the Miserere: " Mila di Codra, the daughter of Jorio, the witch of hell, is coming. Let her come on; make place. "
L AST Scene
Mila di Codra rushes in, parting the crowd. She calls upon them all to listen. Aligi is innocent, she says, it is she who killed Lazaro. Aligi does not know this for she has bewitched him. She has brought many evils upon them all, as the woman knows who accused her on the eve of San Giovanni. She made Aligi carve a bad angel, that one there, covered with the cloth. The Saint of the Mountains has turned her heart, and has sent her to confess and to save the innocent. Aligi at first denies all this, tells her that she is lying, and calls on Ornella to witness. " Do not listen to her. She is misleading you. When all of you cried out against her on the eve of San Giovanni I saw the mute angel behind her. With these mortal eyes of mine which must not see again the vesper star, I saw it look at me and weep. It was a miracle, Iona, to show that she is of God. "
Mila replies: " O poor shepherd Aligi, O youth so credulous and so deceived, the angel was apostate. 'T was a wicked, a false angel. " All sign themselves except Aligi in his bonds and Ornella who stands apart, her eyes fixed upon the voluntary victim. Mila tells how, when Aligi came to the fold, she made him carve the bad angel, that one there, covered with the cloth, and how, when Lazaro seized her, that night in the dark hut, great power came upon her; she drew the hatchet from the block, brandished it and killed him. The kinsfolk cry out against her: " Let her alone, Ornella. Aligi is innocent. Take off his bonds, Iona. Let him go free. " The crowd takes up the cry and adds: " To the flames, to the flames with the witch, the daughter of Jorio. " Mila replies: " Yes, yes, righteous people, people of God, take vengeance on me. And add to the pyre that apostate angel. Let it make the flame to burn me and be consumed with me. "
Aligi, more and more overpowered by the potion, cries out desperately: if it is he who heard, who believed, who hoped, who adored the wicked angel, let them cut off both his hands, and sew him into the sack and cast him into the river, that he may sleep seven hundred years and never remember how the light of God illumined those eyes. Ornella cries: " Mila, Mila, it is the mixed wine, the cup of comfort that his mother gave him. " Aligi, as he is unbound, calls still more wildly on all the dead and the forgotten to curse her, and Mila answers with a tortured cry: " Aligi, no, not thou. Thou shouldest not, thou must not. "
Aligi falls in his mother's arms. The thongs are put upon Mila, the black veil on her head; the black standard is raised once more, and she is led away. Ornella calls to her: " Mila, Mila, my sister in Christ, I kiss thy feet as they go. " And Mila, from the midst of the mocking throng, is heard: " The flame is beautiful, the flame is beautiful. "
A great threshing floor. At the back an old oak, behind it the open country bounded by mountains, the river between. At the left, the house of Lazaro. The door stands wide; under the porch are harvest tools; at the right, the hay-loft and straw-rick .
Scene 1
The corpse of Lazaro lies on the bare floor within the house, his head pillowed upon a faggot of vine branches, as is the custom. The mourners kneel around. Under the porch are the kinsfolk with Splendore and Favetta. Vienda is seated upon a stone as if half dead, comforted by her mother and godmother. Ornella stands alone under the tree, watching the path .
The chorus of mourners laments the death of Lazaro. Ornella, watching, sees far off a cloud of dust and a black standard. She calls to her sisters to prepare their mother for what is coming. Femo, one of the peasant witnesses, rushing in breathless, brings tidings of Aligi, condemned as a parricide, and now being led to his mother that he may ask her pardon before he dies, and that she may give him, as is her right, the cup of comfort. Afterward, his hand is to be cut off, and he is to be tied in a sack with a mastiff and thrown into the river. The muffled roll of the funeral drum is heard. Femo tells how Aligi confessed his guilt, looking humble and innocent, and how the carved angel has a spot of blood upon it. The women crowd around asking what has become of Mila and cursing her. As the chorus of mourners breaks forth again, the mother rises from the chimney corner where she has been crouching, and approaches the door.
Scene 2
The mother wanders in her mind, confusing her sorrows with those of the Blessed Virgin. The frightened women kneel in prayer. The daughters try to bring their mother back. Ornella cries: " Mother, Aligi is coming, Aligi is coming now to ask thy forgiveness and to drink the cup of comfort from thy hands. Rise, and be strong. He is not damned. By repentance and the sacred blood he is saved. "
A crowd of people, all the countryside, approaches in silence, Iona di Midia bearing the black standard. In the midst is Aligi, bound, bare-foot, a black veil over his head. They bring with them the angel, the leathern sack, and the dog. The kinswomen, mourning, tell how to mix the wine with herbs to make the cup more stupefying. The voice of Iona breaks the silence: " O widow of Lazaro, O kinsfolk of this stricken household, up, up, here comes the penitent. "
Scene 3
Iona appears with the black standard; behind him is Aligi, bound. Following them is a man carrying the carved shepherd's crook, another with the hatchet, and others bearing the angel figure, wrapped in a cloth. They set it down. The crowd presses close.
The chorus of mourners laments the terrible death of Aligi, now so near, the cut-off hand, the cord, the sack. Iona announces the condemnation of Aligi, and tells Candia that she may lift the veil and hold the cup to the lips of her son, because his death will be so bitter. Aligi falls at her feet: he may no longer call her mother, he will not drink her cup, for his death is no more painful than he deserves. The crowd looks pityingly upon the mother, grown white-haired in two nights. Aligi addresses his sisters: he must not speak their names nor call them sisters any more. They ought to drive him away like a dog. He has two things to leave them, the crook on which he had carved three little maidens like them, that he might have their company out in the pastures, and the mute angel he had been carving from his heart, now with the awful spot upon it. " The spot will disappear some day and the mute angel will speak, and you will see and hear. " The crowd looks pityingly on the sisters who have no more tears to shed.
Aligi speaks to Vienda, " virgin and widow, whose next marriage shall be in Paradise and Christ shall be the bridegroom. " The crowd echoes his words. Iona hurries him, for it grows late, and " he must not hear the Ave Maria nor see the evening star. " The mother, approaching, lifts the veil from Aligi's face, presses his head against her breast and holds the cup to his lips. A cry is heard from the crowd, interrupting the Miserere: " Mila di Codra, the daughter of Jorio, the witch of hell, is coming. Let her come on; make place. "
L AST Scene
Mila di Codra rushes in, parting the crowd. She calls upon them all to listen. Aligi is innocent, she says, it is she who killed Lazaro. Aligi does not know this for she has bewitched him. She has brought many evils upon them all, as the woman knows who accused her on the eve of San Giovanni. She made Aligi carve a bad angel, that one there, covered with the cloth. The Saint of the Mountains has turned her heart, and has sent her to confess and to save the innocent. Aligi at first denies all this, tells her that she is lying, and calls on Ornella to witness. " Do not listen to her. She is misleading you. When all of you cried out against her on the eve of San Giovanni I saw the mute angel behind her. With these mortal eyes of mine which must not see again the vesper star, I saw it look at me and weep. It was a miracle, Iona, to show that she is of God. "
Mila replies: " O poor shepherd Aligi, O youth so credulous and so deceived, the angel was apostate. 'T was a wicked, a false angel. " All sign themselves except Aligi in his bonds and Ornella who stands apart, her eyes fixed upon the voluntary victim. Mila tells how, when Aligi came to the fold, she made him carve the bad angel, that one there, covered with the cloth, and how, when Lazaro seized her, that night in the dark hut, great power came upon her; she drew the hatchet from the block, brandished it and killed him. The kinsfolk cry out against her: " Let her alone, Ornella. Aligi is innocent. Take off his bonds, Iona. Let him go free. " The crowd takes up the cry and adds: " To the flames, to the flames with the witch, the daughter of Jorio. " Mila replies: " Yes, yes, righteous people, people of God, take vengeance on me. And add to the pyre that apostate angel. Let it make the flame to burn me and be consumed with me. "
Aligi, more and more overpowered by the potion, cries out desperately: if it is he who heard, who believed, who hoped, who adored the wicked angel, let them cut off both his hands, and sew him into the sack and cast him into the river, that he may sleep seven hundred years and never remember how the light of God illumined those eyes. Ornella cries: " Mila, Mila, it is the mixed wine, the cup of comfort that his mother gave him. " Aligi, as he is unbound, calls still more wildly on all the dead and the forgotten to curse her, and Mila answers with a tortured cry: " Aligi, no, not thou. Thou shouldest not, thou must not. "
Aligi falls in his mother's arms. The thongs are put upon Mila, the black veil on her head; the black standard is raised once more, and she is led away. Ornella calls to her: " Mila, Mila, my sister in Christ, I kiss thy feet as they go. " And Mila, from the midst of the mocking throng, is heard: " The flame is beautiful, the flame is beautiful. "
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