Chapter IV: So Ends the Play

The curtain rises next on the interior of the witch’s hut in the darkest woodland depths. The witch (who is none other than old Molly herself, with a few more wrinkles, put in with kohl, and bushy eyebrows, beneath which fierce, cruel eyes glare like those of the basilisk. _N.B._--I have never seen a basilisk, but I am told its eyes do shine fearfully and ferociously!) the witch has snakes around her arms that raise their heads now and then to hiss vengefully. They do so now as the Forest Maiden enters, hand in hand with Adolphus, and followed by the blood-hound. The witch raises her head also--she has been spinning--and smooths back her elfin locks. The young lovers play their parts well, Leely looking timid and sweet, Adolphus bold and handsome.

“What wouldst thou with me, young sir?”

“I would, mother, have my fortune told me, and that of this fair maiden by my side.”

There is a sort of pandemonium scene here--thunder, blue lightning, red fire, a terrible smell of burning brimstone, and, in one corner of the hut, half-hidden by smoke, is a black demon with red ochre eyes, long forked tail, and all the rest of it. I have strong reason to believe that the demon in this scene is none other than the dear little dwarf, Willie Randolph.

But the witch reads the girl’s fortune well enough, apparently. Leely would be captured by a fearful giant who dwelt far off in a mountain recess, and borne away to his castle. This monster lived upon the flesh of human beings, and that alone. The flesh of men and women was his ordinary or daily food, but his special treat was that of a maiden young and fair, whom he first tortured to make her tender, and afterwards slew.

It is just at this part of the witch’s hideous story that a louder clap of thunder than any which had yet been heard rolled forth, a gleam of red light is noticed at the back of the stage, with a great cloud of smoke which presently cleared away to reveal the head and chest of the giant himself, flaming eyes, and teeth as large as tenpenny nails.

In the next two acts, adventure follows adventure thick and fast, boar-hunting, and battles between gipsies and the forest rangers, smuggling raids, everything, indeed, calculated to create a sensation, the whole mingled and mixed with pretty little love scenes at Leely’s cottage door.

The fifth act opens with a view of the giant’s donjon keep, and there, lo, and behold! Leely is to be seen tied up by the hair of the head. There are other maidens there also, but they appear to be dead.

Giant and demon enter and pinch the Forest Maiden’s arms, to see if she is yet tender enough for the table. The other dead figures are probably dummies, but Leely is life-like and natural.

But even now a horn is heard outside the castle walls. Exit the demon, coming back almost immediately to tell the terrible giant that his castle is surrounded, and that he is called upon to surrender.

He seizes a knife, and is apparently about to plunge it into Leely’s breast when the demon interferes. A curtain is dropped and the scene is changed. The stage seems very much enlarged somehow, and well it need be, for here is the whole strength of the company engaged in deadly combat, to say nothing of hired supernumeraries.

The giant lays about him with his club, and a man falls at every blow. The witch herself is here, there, and everywhere, offering incantations; there are thunderings and lightnings, and the excitement of the audience is wound up to the highest pitch. It culminates in a wild burst of applause, when an archer in buff and green fires an arrow which pierces the giant’s heart, and brings him to the ground with a thud which shakes the stage. Meanwhile the fierce blood-hound has seized the demon, and carried him shrieking into the forest. Adolphus steps as lightly as a bantam on to the giant’s chest, and, drawing his sword, cuts off his head. When he advances to the front of the stage with the dripping head in his hand, he receives the greatest ovation of this exciting evening.

Well, the curtain drops at last on the happy meeting of Leely and Adolphus, who rush into each other’s arms; while the witch, with her crutch held over their heads, seems to be blessing both, though what the precise value of a witch’s blessing is I have yet to learn.

The heroes are called before the curtain. The giant is hissed, and smiles a ten-inch smile. The hound is cheered, and so is even with the demon, but when Adolphus leads the charming Leely out, the shouting is deafening, and the pretty actress is almost smothered with garlands and bouquets of forest flowers.

So ends the play.

But not the evening, for the giant afterwards goes through some wonderful performance with the dwarf. And Johnnie, the youthful athlete, gives ample evidence of his prowess in swinging dumb-bells and Indian clubs, all to suitable music. He even lifts the giant off the stage with one hand, while Willie stands on his shoulder.

“But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed!
Or like the snowfall in the river,
A moment white--then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place.”

The time is up; the end has come; the curtain drops and the band plays “God Save the King!”