SUCH IS LIFE
A Play in Five Acts
By
FRANK WEDEKIND
Author of "The Awakening of Spring," etc.
English Version by
FRANCIS J. ZIEGLER
PHILADELPHIA
BROWN BROTHERS
MCMXII
CHARACTERS Nicola, King of Umbria. Princess Alma, his daughter. Pietro Folchi, Master Butcher. } Filipo Folchi, his soil. } Andrea Valori } Citizens of Perugia. Benedetto Nardi } Pandolfo, Master Tailor. } A Soldier. A Farmer. A Vagabond. Michele } Battista } Journeymen Tailors. Noe } The Presiding Judge. The King's Attorney General. The Advocate. The Clerk of the Court. The Jailer. A Circus Rider. An Actor. A Procuress. First Theatre Manager. Second Theatre Manager. A Page. First Servant. Second Servant. Artisans, judges, townspeople, strollers, theatre audience, theatre servants, soldiers and halberdiers.
SUCH IS LIFE
ACT I
Scene One—The Throne Room.
FIRST SERVANT.
(Leaning out of the window.) They are coming! It will overtake us like the day of judgment!
SECOND SERVANT.
(Rushing in through the opposite door.) Do you know that the King is taken?
FIRST SERVANT.
Our King a captive?
SECOND SERVANT.
Since early yesterday! The dogs have thrown him into prison!
FIRST SERVANT.
Then we had better scamper away, or they will treat us as if we were the beds upon which he has debauched their children!
(The servants rush out. The room becomes filled with armed workmen of various trades, heated and blood-splashed from combat.)
PIETRO FOLCHI.
(Steps from their midst.) Fellow-citizens!—The byways of Perugia are strewn with the corpses of our children and our brothers. Many of you have a pious wish to give your beloved dead a fitting resting place.—Fellow-citizens! First we must fulfill a higher duty. Let us do our part as quickly as possible, so that the dead shall have perished, not solely for their bravery, but for the lasting welfare of their native-land! Let us seize the moment! Let us give our state a constitution which, in future, will protect her children from the assassin's weapons and insure her citizens the just reward of their labors!
THE CITIZENS.
Long live Pietro Folchi!
ANDREA VALORI.
