Free Three Major Plays by Lope de Vega, Gwynne Edwards Page B

who'd have thought
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That, in pursuit of frightened deer,*
I'd come across much prettier game?
    LAURENCIA . I'm having a break from washing clothes.
I'll get back to the stream if you
Don't mind, sir.

COMMANDER . Such coldness, my sweet
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Laurencia, offends the beauty God
Has given you. It makes of you
A real monster. But if at other times
You've managed to escape my amorous
Requests, this place shall now become
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Their silent witness. I cannot think
That, since we are alone, you are
So proud as to reject your lord
And master, turning away from me!
Sebastiana, Pedro Redondo's wife,
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Surrendered willingly, as did
Martin del Pozo's after just
Two days of marriage.
    LAURENCIA . Both of them
Had been along that road before,
My lord. They knew exactly how
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To please you. So God go with you
In the hunt, sir . . . I mean for deer.
    -24-

If it weren't for that cross upon
Your chest, I'd take you for the devil, such
Is your pursuit of me!

COMMANDER . Such language is
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Offensive! I'll put my bow* aside
And let my hands overcome those airs
And graces!
    LAURENCIA . What are you doing? Have you
Gone mad?
    Enter FRONDOSO, picking up the crossbow .
    COMMANDER . Stop struggling!
    FRONDOSO . The bow!
Please God I shan't be forced to use it!
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    COMMANDER . Come on! No point resisting!
    LAURENCIA . Oh, God,
Please help me!
    COMMANDER . We're all alone. No need
To be afraid!
    FRONDOSO . Noble COMMANDER, leave her!
Despite my reverence for the Cross,
My anger will not hesitate
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To make your breast the arrow's target.
    COMMANDER . You peasant dog!
    FRONDOSO . I don't see any dog, sir.
    LAURENCIA , run!
    LAURENCIA . FRONDOSO , be careful!
    FRONDOSO . Go!
[ She leaves
    COMMANDER . The man's a fool who leaves his sword
Behind. I left it, thin KING it
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Would scare my quarry.
    -25-

FRONDOSO . I only need
To press the trigger and it's your feet
They'll be tying together.*
    COMMANDER . She's gone,
You fool! Give me the bow! Release it!
    FRONDOSO . Why?
So you can kill me? Have you forgotten love
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Is deaf? Where it rules it doesn't listen.
    COMMANDER . Am I, a man of worth, to turn
My back upon a peasant? I shall not break
The rules of chivalry!*
    FRONDOSO . I don't
Intend to kill you. I know my place.
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But since I need to stay alive,
I'll keep the crossbow.
[ Exit FRONDOSO
    COMMANDER . That was, indeed,
A close-run thing! But I shall take
Revenge on him for this, both for
The insult and the interruption.
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I should have tackled him! That I
Did not adds further to my sense of shame!
[ Exit the COMMANDER
    -26-

ACT TWO
    Enter ESTEBAN and FIRST ALDERMAN. *
    ESTEBAN. I think it wiser if we do
Not draw upon our stocks of grain.
The year bodes ill, the weather worsens.
Although the others don't agree,
We need to keep the grain we have.
5

    FIRST ALDERMAN. That's always been my policy In seeking to govern properly.
    ESTEBAN. Then let's approach Fernán Gómez.
I cannot stand these forecasters *
Who, knowing nothing, claim that they
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Can tell the future, making us
Believe that they alone have access to
God's secrets. They carry on like theologians,
Debating what has and will occur,
But, as for the present, which is
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What matters most to us, the one who seems
The wisest is the greatest fool.
You'd think the clouds and all the movements of
The stars are their property!
How can they know what's happening
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Above to worry us to death
With their prophecies? They tell
Us what and when we ought to sow:
Your wheat here, your barley there; your veg,
Your mustard, cucumbers, pumpkins.
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Ask me, it's them that are pumpkins!
They forecast the death of some great leader;
It happens, yes, but in Transylvania. *
As for wine, they tell us there won't be any,
But the beer's alright -- in Germany!
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In Gascony all the cherries will freeze,
    -27-

In Hircania * tigers will grow on trees!
But sow or not, does it really matter
If we know every year ends in December?
    Enter LEONELO, a graduate, and BARRILDO.

LEONELO. No way you'll be