SCENE VIII

_Before the Curtain representing the Milky Way_

(_Enter_ TYLTYL _and_ LIGHT.)

TYLTYL

Where are we?

LIGHT

Near to the stars and yet within yourself. Before you is the great veil of the Milky Way. Beyond it stretches the region in which your unborn children are waiting to show you the mother whom they have chosen.

TYLTYL

It's a little like the Kingdom of the Future in "The Blue Bird."

LIGHT

Perhaps; and yet not quite the same thing. There it was the whole kingdom, with everybody's children; here it is only a province, in which are no children but yours.

TYLTYL

Have I many?

LIGHT

As many children as you have ancestors, as innumerable and no less infinite. But, as with the Ancestors, we shall see only those who are nearest to you, especially the youngest and smallest.

TYLTYL

Why the smallest?

LIGHT

Because they are nearest to their birth. As this approaches, they grow smaller and younger; so that the youngest, who are the first to be born, can hardly walk or stand.

TYLTYL

And the others? Are there any big ones?

LIGHT

There are children of all sizes, but I do not know that we shall see the biggest, that is to say, those who will be born hundreds or thousands of years hence.... There will not have been time to tell them; they do not keep close to the doors, like the very little ones, but wander far away waiting for their time to come.

TYLTYL

They must find it very tiresome to be kept waiting like that!

LIGHT

Nothing is ever tiresome in infinity. Besides they have to learn here all that they will forget on earth.

TYLTYL

It seems hardly worth while then, to take so much trouble!

LIGHT

Oh, but it is! Something always remains and helps to build up the deep happiness of life.

TYLTYL

Well, so much the better for them! As for me, I shall soon know what I am to do. I hope we shall get through to-day, because, you see, I'd like to have things settled.... But where on earth can they be, those girls of mine and Destiny? (_Looking below him, on the right_.) The poor little dears are up to their knees in the snow. This place is even higher and more difficult to get at than where the Ancestors lived.

LIGHT

(_Looking down_.) They are not very far away.... But you have taken off your hat again; that's a bad habit of yours. Put it on quickly, before they come, and be careful to make no mistake this time, for, if you do, the result may be very unpleasant.

(TYLTYL _puts on his hat and turns the sapphire. Forthwith from the earth and from every side little creatures of different sizes appear, dressed like him and resembling him in nearly every respect. They surround him, rush against him, hustle him and try to drag him, some to the right, others to the left, while he struggles in the midst of them without knowing to which he should give his attention_.)

TYLTYL

(_Distraught_.) Hullo, hullo, what's all this? What does it mean? That sapphire really is becoming impossible!

LIGHT

Don't worry: you'll have turned it the wrong way again. What did you do?

TYLTYL

How can I tell?... This is getting too much for me! Too mixed up, really.... I must have pressed it instead of turning it.

LIGHT

That's what I thought. You have simply released some of your other "You's."

TYLTYL

(_Dumbfounded_.) Some of my other "Me's"?

LIGHT

Yes, what I mean is that you are not alone inside yourself and that....

TYLTYL

(_More and more dumbfounded_.) I am not alone inside myself?...

LIGHT

Why, no, there are a number of other personalities there, more or less like you and all the time trying to get the upper hand.

TYLTYL

No, but really, what else is there inside me? I must be a sort of menagerie or Noah's ark! There's no end to it!

LIGHT

That's true: there would be no end if we had the time to go into it all.... But press the sapphire down now and all will be well.

(TYLTYL _presses the sapphire and all his_ DOUBLES _disappear_.)

TYLTYL

My word! A good riddance!... Well, as you say, they may be the least bit like me, but some of them are very ugly. Particularly a big dark one, who kept on tripping me up and very nearly made me fall.

LIGHT

Of course, there are some of all kinds, as in every man. One must learn to choose the best and avoid the worst.... But here come your little friends.

(_Enter first_ THE WHITE PHANTOM.)

TYLTYL

(_Amazed_.) Hullo!... What's the matter with her?... She seems quite in a hurry to-day and moves like an angel.

(_Enter next_ MILETTE, BELLINE, ROSELLE _and_ ROSARELLE, _followed by_ AIMETTE _and_ Jalline, _who are supporting_ DESTINY _between them. He is now a head shorter than_ TYLTYL, _wears the same tragic costume as before, seems very weary and sinks down on a heap of snow_.)

TYLTYL

(_Going to him, with a certain solicitude_.) Are you ill?

DESTINY

I? Not at all: I am always the same, I am unchangeable.... But when you alone are responsible for everything, when you have to manage everything, direct everything and foresee everything and when nobody helps you (_casting an aggressive eye on_ LIGHT), you are entitled to a moment's rest.... I therefore order a halt. It is decided irrevocably: to-day we go no farther.

LIGHT Admirable! And so it shall be, for we have arrived; and with Destiny's permission, we shall find ourselves, without taking another step, among the children who are awaiting us....

(_The curtain parts and opens upon the next scene_.)