Free Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Page B

revolting!
     
    VLADIMIR:
Quick! Give me your hand!
     
    ESTRAGON:
I'm going. (Pause. Louder.) I'm going.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Well I suppose in the end I'll get up by myself. (He tries, fails.) In the fullness
of time.
     
    ESTRAGON:
What's the matter with you?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Go to hell.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Are you staying there?
     
    VLADIMIR:
For the time being.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Come on, get up, you'll catch a chill.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Don't worry about me.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Come on, Didi, don't be pig-headed!
He stretches out his hand which Vladimir makes haste to seize.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Pull!
Estragon pulls, stumbles, falls. Long silence.
     
    POZZO:
Help!
     
    VLADIMIR:
We've arrived.
     
    POZZO:
Who are you?
     
    VLADIMIR:
We are men.
Silence.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Sweet mother earth!
     
    VLADIMIR:
Can you get up?
     
    ESTRAGON:
I don't know.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Try.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Not now, not now.
Silence.
     
    POZZO:
What happened?
     
    VLADIMIR:
(violently). Will you stop it, you! Pest! He can think of nothing but himself!
     
    ESTRAGON:
What about a little snooze?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Did you hear him? He wants to know what happened!
     
    ESTRAGON:
Don't mind him. Sleep.
Silence.
     
    POZZO:
Pity! Pity!
     
    ESTRAGON:
(with a start). What is it?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Were you asleep?
     
    ESTRAGON:
I must have been.
     
    VLADIMIR:
It's this bastard Pozzo at it again.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Make him stop it. Kick him in the crotch.
     
    VLADIMIR:
(striking Pozzo). Will you stop it! Crablouse! (Pozzo extricates himself with
cries of pain and crawls away. He stops, saws the air blindly, calling for help.
Vladimir, propped on his elbow, observes his retreat.) He's off! (Pozzo
collapses.) He's down!
     
    ESTRAGON:
What do we do now?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Perhaps I could crawl to him.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Don't leave me!
     
    VLADIMIR:
Or I could call to him.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Yes, call to him.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Pozzo! (Silence.) Pozzo! (Silence.) No reply.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Together.
VLADIMIR and ESTRAGON:
Pozzo! Pozzo!
     
    VLADIMIR:
He moved.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Are you sure his name is Pozzo?
     
    VLADIMIR:
(alarmed). Mr. Pozzo! Come back! We won't hurt you!
Silence.
     
    ESTRAGON:
We might try him with other names.
     
    VLADIMIR:
I'm afraid he's dying.
     
    ESTRAGON:
It'd be amusing.
     
    VLADIMIR:
What'd be amusing?
     
    ESTRAGON:
To try him with other names, one after the other. It'd pass the time. And we'd
be bound to hit on the right one sooner or later.
     
    VLADIMIR:
I tell you his name is Pozzo.
     
    ESTRAGON:
We'll soon see. (He reflects.) Abel! Abel!
     
    POZZO:
Help!
     
    ESTRAGON:
Got it in one!
     
    VLADIMIR:
I begin to weary of this motif.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Perhaps the other is called Cain. Cain! Cain!
     
    POZZO:
Help!
     
    ESTRAGON:
He's all humanity. (Silence.) Look at the little cloud.
     
    VLADIMIR:
(raising his eyes). Where?
     
    ESTRAGON:
There. In the zenith.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Well? (Pause.) What is there so wonderful about it?
Silence.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Let's pass on now to something else, do you mind?
     
    VLADIMIR:
I was just going to suggest it.
     
    ESTRAGON:
But to what?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Ah!
Silence.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Suppose we got up to begin with?
     
    VLADIMIR:
No harm trying.
They get up.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Child's play.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Simple question of will-power.
     
    ESTRAGON:
And now?
     
    POZZO:
Help!
     
    ESTRAGON:
Let's go.
     
    VLADIMIR:
We can't.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Why not?
     
    VLADIMIR:
We're waiting for Godot.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Ah! (Despairing.) What'll we do, what'll we do!
     
    POZZO:
Help!
     
    VLADIMIR:
What about helping him?
     
    ESTRAGON:
What does he want?
     
    VLADIMIR:
He wants to get up.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Then why doesn't he?
     
    VLADIMIR:
He wants us to help him get up.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Then why don't we? What are we waiting for?
They help Pozzo to his feet, let him go. He falls.
     
    VLADIMIR:
We must hold him. (They get him up again. Pozzo sags between them, his
arms round their necks.)