PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL RESTRICTED

1.

FUENTE OVEJUNA

ACT I

Scene One (To be written) Governor's Home.

A wealthy and powerful landlord visits the Governor for military aid to put down an uprising of peasants in one of the villages of his vast estates. In answer to questions he describes to the Governor the particular section out of all of his property that he has chosen for his own home, the village of DEEP RIVER; then follows a description of the land and the people, the peace in which they live, the prosperity that they bring to him, their quiet, humble, hardworking ways, subject in everything to his will, skilled in the use of plough and spade, not attuned to violence and warfare. Possibly a description of the peasant women, their sturdy beauty and their ready obedience to his will.

Scene Two Village of Deep River

Enter two peasant girls, Laura and Pascuala.

Laura - I wish he would never return.

Pasc. - I was afraid when I brought you this news that it would make you down-hearted.

Laura - I pray to God that he may never again be seen here in Deep River.

Pasc. - I have heard many girls talk bitterly and with hatred as you do, but whose hearts were as soft as butter within.

Laura - My heart and my determination are stronger than the sturdiest oak tree in our forests.

Pasc. - Remember our proverb: Let no one say: I shall *never* do this thing.

Laura - About this I shall say it and mean it too, even though the whole world disbelieve me. And why should I love our Landlord? Do you think he would marry me?

6.

Fuente Ovejuna

Foolishness becomes elegance
And a large foot shows good origin,
The pimply face shows addiction to colds,
The arrogant become courteous,
The unscrupulous man is a clever one,
And the humpbacked are over laden.
So I imitate the latest mode, and call you
Ladies, but I stop right now, because
In calling up examples to cite you,
I could go on forever.

Laura - Out there in the city, Frondoso,
They may use these terms through courtesy
But on my word
There is another set of words
Rougher and harsher
In the language of the discourteous.

Frondoso - I wish you would tell it to us.

Laura - It is quite the opposite of the one you use,
The serious man is called vexatious,
The successful man is lucky,
The thoughtful man is melancholy,
And the one who censures becomes hateful,
He who gives advice a pest,
The tolerant man is a bore.
The just man cruel,
And he who is pious is weak.
The perservering man is called a rogue,
And the courteous one a flatterer.

14.

Fuente Ovejuna

Not without some shame do they bring
A present of generous will and
Rather than rich offerings. The first
Holds two baskets of glossy earthenware.
They bring an entire flock of geese
That thrust their heads through the netting
In order to acclaim your martial victory.
Ten fattened hogs of excellent quality
Without counting the pork sausages and corned beef,
And other extras of amber fowl,
One hundred pairs of hens and chickens
Which have left their roosters widowers
On the neighboring farms about.
Here you see no arms nor horses
Nor harness embroidered in pure gold
Because gold is not a gift of vassals
But as good as pure gold, I assure you
You will find these twelve raw hides
For even hides, in January, can help defend a rampart
If you wrap your warriors in them
Even warmer than steel armor
And our wine will give them spirit and courage.
There are cheeses too, and other things that
I cannot enumerate and which are a just reward
For the glories you have won.
And we wish you and your family
All benefits.

Landlord - We are very grateful to you

17.

Fuente Ovejuna

Laura - May God damn your false souls! (May you burst with pain!)
Exit the two girls Laura and Pascuala.

Flores - What bad news we have to take him!

We will scarcely be able to endure
The things he is going to say to us,
When we appear without the girls.

Ortuño - Those who are servants fall heir to all that.

If one wishes somehow to prosper
Either you endure everything
Or leave it quickly.

Exit two servants of the Landlord, Flores and Ortuño.

Next scene between King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel
and Manrique to be cut.

Enter Frondoso and Laura, peasant boy and girl.

Laura - While in the midst of washing clothes,

Bold Frondoso, I have stolen away from the others at
At
Athe river bank without attracting attention

To tell you that your boldness and audacity
Are causing the whole village to gossip,
Saying that you and I exchange glances
And they all are watching us covertly,
And since you are a bold young man
Of the type that marches proudly
And surpassing all the others in the way
You dress, so grandly and extravagantly,

18.

Fuente Ovejuna

In the whole village there is not a maiden
Nor a lad in the fields or the forest,
Who does not firmly maintain
That you and I are one.
And they all await the day
On which the sexton, John Chamorro,
Will couple us in marriage.
To the tune of his bassoon.
And although the granaries look prosperous
Filled with blond wheat of August
And the earthenware jars are filled with grape juice
Still, such ideas and imaginings
Have begun to anger me,
Because I am not kept awake nor worried by love
Nor do I pay any attention to it.

Frondoso - Your disdain keeps me in such a state,
Beautiful Laura, that I would take my life in my hands
For the opportunity of seeing you.
So when I hear you speak in this manner
And you know that it is my intention
To beg you to be my wife,
Your opinion belittles me.

Laura - It is the only opinion I have.

Frondoso - Is it possible that you suffer no pain,
Seeing how worried I am?
And that for thinking of you
I neither eat nor drink nor sleep?
Is such indifference possible

21.

Fuente Ovejuna

Frondoso - If I take his cross bow
Heaven cannot stop me from aiming it.

Landlord - Come now, yield to me.

Laura - Heaven help me now.

Landlord - We are alone. Don't be afraid.

Frondoso - Generous lord, release the girl
Or believe me, in my offense
And my just anger, with this cross bow
Your heart will be my target
Even though you wear a cross above it.

Landlord - Dog! Peasant!

Laura - Frondoso, be careful what you do.

Frondoso - Laura, you go away at once.

Laura exits.

Ladlord - The man who goes without a sword
Is mad as well as cursed.
Today I left mine home
Fearing I would frighten the deer.

Frondoso - Now, by God, Sir, if I
Should pull this trigger.

Landlord - The girl has fled. Coward! Scoundrel!
Drop my cross bow at once.
Drop it, I say. You blackguard.

Frondoso - What, would you take away my life?
Let me warn you that Love is deaf
And does not listen to reason
When it holds sway.

Landlord - Why should a brave gentleman have to

23.

FUENTE OVEJUNA

ACT II.

Enter Esteban, leader of peasants, and first Councilman.

Esteban - I greet you, friend. Now it seems to me
That no more grain should leave the public granary,
For this year's crop looks bad, and the weather too,
And it is better that the food should stay in the warehouse
Although the others do not agree.

Council. - I have always been of this opinion
In the peaceful governing of our village.

Esteban - Let us make the request of our Landlord.
We cannot permit these astrologers
Who are ignorant of the future
To persuade us in long speeches
That they know secrets, known only to God
It would be well since we suspect the theologians
Of making only weather that is past or future
That we ask for the present which is more important.
Then the wisest will become the most ignorant.
Have they in their homes the clouds?
And the path of the celestial stars?
Where can they see what happens in the sky
In order to worry us with their vision?
Why should they rule our sowing,

Saying, "Sow here the wheat, the barley here, the vegetables here
And here the pumpkins, the cucumbers and the mustard seed."
They are indeed the bumpkins!
Then they predict that a head of cattle will die,

24.

Fuente Ovejuna

And such later happens in Transylvania,
Or they say that wine will be scarce
Or beer in abundance in Germany,
That the cherry crop will freeze in Gascony,
Or that there will be tigers in Hiroania,
And in short, whether we sow or not sow
The year always ends in December.

Cut out Leonelo as a character and also cut out the next scene between Leonelo and Barrildo. Pages 54,55 and 56.

Enter Juan Rojo and a peasant and Barrildo.

Juan Rojo - There isn't sufficient in four farms for a dowry,

Peasant - What news of the Landlord? Don't be excited!

Juan Rojo - The one who compelled Laurencia out in that field?

Worker - The one who was so barbarous and lustful

I would like to see him hanged from that olive tree.

Enter the Landlord, Ortuño and Flores.

Landlord - God save you good people.

Council. - Sir.

Landlord - On my word, you must be seated.

Esteban - Your lordship shall be seated

Wherever he is accustomed

We are quite comfortable standing.

Landlord - I say you shall be seated.

26.

Fuente Ovejuna

You do not set a good example
In speaking so freely.

Landlord - What an eloquent peasant, Flores,
See to it that he is given a copy
Of Politics, in which he may read the words of Aristotle.

Esteban - Sir, in this village wishes to live
Under the rule of your honor.
Remember that in Deep River
There are very honorable people.

Landlord - Have I said anything that offends the Councilman?

Council. - What you have said is unjust: It is not just
That you take away our honor from us.

Landlord - What honor do you possess,
You, who are only peasants?

Council. - Is there perhaps, some one who brags
Of the Cross that you place upon him,
When you, yourself, are not of stainless blood?

Landlord - Douyou think that I stain yours,
By joining my blood to you?

Council. - Bad blood stains rather than cleans.

Landlord - Do you admit that your women are being honored?

Esteban - These words dishonor them,
There is no one who would believe them.

Landlord - What a tiresome and uneducated peasantry.
Thank God that there are also cities
Where no one would dream of preventing
The wishes of the men of quality.
There, the married men appreciate

44.

Fuente Ovejuna

Wedding scene, Enter Mengo, Frondoso, Laura, Pascuala, Barrildo, Esteban, John
Rojo, Musicians, Peasants.

Musicians - Long live the wedded couple

Long may they live!

Mengo - Indeed, you have found

That it is quite easy to compose verses.

Barrildo - Would you know how to compose

Any better verses than these?

Frondoso - Mengo has been far better instructed

In beatings than in verses by now.

Mengo - Someone is down in the valley

So that you need not worry

Whom the Landlord ...

Barrildo - Don't say it. If you love your life,

That barbarous murderer

Takes our honor from all of us.

Mengo - It was enough that a hundred soldiers

Should flog me that day when

I had only my sling.

But how can we bear it

That they should have injected with ink and China root

A man, who although I do not say his name

You all know to be honorable.

Barrildo - He would do it in order to laugh.

Mengo - Injections are not a laughing matter

Although they are very healthful

But I would rather die.

Frondoso - Let's hear your verse, I pray,

51.

FUENTE OVEJUNA

ACT III.

Enter Esteban, Alonso, Barrildo

Esteban - Haven't they come to the meeting?

Barrildo - Not yet.

Esteban - Then the more quickly our harm will come.

Barrildo - The majority of the people in the village have been notified.

Esteban - Frondoso in the prison in the tower,
My daughter Laura, in deep distress,
Unless God's mercy helps us .........

Enter Juan Rojo and Councilman.

Juan Rojo - Why are you shouting so loud, Esteban,
When our lives depend upon our secrecy in this?

Esteban - You should be surprised that I do not shout louder.

Enter Mengo.

Mengo - I, too, have come to join this meeting.

Esteban - I, a man whose grey hairs are bathed in tears,
Honest peasants, I ask you,
What funeral knell should we poor people ring
For our land without honor,

And if you justly call it honor,
How can it be avenged, if there is not among us
A single man whom this barbarian has not wronged?

Answer me: Is there any one of you
Whose life and honor have not been touched?

Do you not complain one to the other,
Since you all now have been dishonored?

What are you waiting for? What calamity is this?

52.

Fuente Ovejuna

Juan Rojo - The greatest ever endured in the world.

But now, since it has been decreed and published
That peace obtains in all our country,
And the Governor is visiting in a nearby town,
Why don't we send our two Councilmen to him
don't we send
To beg help from him on their knees?

Barrildo - While the Landlord humbles so many enemies

A better means should be found for us,
Because, concern with so many wars in their midst
No one can give us any help

Council. - If my word would bear any weight with you,

I say at once: let us leave the village.

Juan Rojo - How is it possible in a limited space of time?

Mengo - On my word, if I understand this disturbance

It will cost some one at this meeting his life.

Council. - Now that the mast of patience has been broken,
The ship can sail on, freed from fear.

With greatest cruelty, they seize the daughter
Of this greatly honored man
Who rules the village where we live,
And then break over his own head
The rod that is the insignia of his rank.

Are slaves treated with any greater injustice?

Juan Rojo - What do you want the people to do?

Council. - To die, or else to kill the tyrants,
For we are many and they are few.

BBarrildo - Against the Landlord with our weapons in our own hands.

Esteban - Only the Government is our lord after Heaven,

53.

Fuent eOvejuna

And not barbarous, inhumane landlords
And if God helps our truly just cause
How will it work to our harm?

Mengo -

Look, men,

You should go into this with caution,
Although I'm here for simple peasants
Who have suffered great injuries

I represent his fears with greater discretion.

Juan Rojo - If our miseries are to be measured

By the loads of our lives: what are we waiting for?

They burn our houses and our vineyards.

They are tyrants: let us take our vengeance!

Enter Laurencia, hair dissheveled.

Laura - Let me enter - for I belong here.

In a conference of men,
A woman is able at least
To lift her voice - if not to vote.
Do you recognize me?

Estaban -

Good heavens!

Is it not my daughter?

Juan Rojo -

Don't you know Laura?

Laura - I come here in such a condition

That the difference confuses you,
As to who I am.

Esteban -

My daughter!

Laura - Do not call me your daughter.

Esteban - Why not, my child, why not?

Laura -

For innumerable reasons;

55.

Fuente Ovejuna

And the signs of blood?
You all here are noble men,
You are fathers and kinsmen,
Don't your hearts break into bits
To see me in such distress?
Cattle you are, and sheep
Taken from your own farms.
Give me the weapons you carry,
For you are like stone and bronze,
You are marble; you are tigers,
No, not tigers because they follow
Those who attack their young,
Killing the hunters
Before taking them to the sea
And throwing them to the waves.
Cowardly rabbits you were born,
Barbarians -- not Spaniards;
Hens -- that permit other men
To enjoy your women folk.
Place distaffs in your belts.
Why do you gird on these rapiers?
As God lives, I shall have to plot
For women to recover their own honor
From the hands of their betrayers,
And their blood from these traitors,
While they stone you men to death.
You spinners, women-like,
You effeminate and cowardly men.

61.

Fuente Ovejuna

Laura - We are not prevented from entering.

Pasc. - Don't get excited. It would be well to guard the door.

Barrildo - (off-stage) I am not satisfied.

Now you have tears, sugar babies.

Laura - Pascuala, I am going inside. My sword

Doesn't have to be exposed nor sheathed.

Exit Laura.

Barrildo - (off-stage) Here is Ortuño.

Frondoso - (off-stage) Cut up his face.

Enter Flores running and Mengo after him.

Flores - Pity, Mengo, I am not to blame.

Mengo - If there were not sufficient reason in your being his servant, (pimp)

Then your having given me that beating is reason enough

For what you are about to receive.

Pasc. - Give him to us women to finish,

Let him be, on your life.

Mengo - Here he is for you,

I couldn't wish him greater punishment.

Pasc. - I shall revenge your beating.

Mengo - Then I shall be satisfied.

Jacinta - Let the traitor die!

Flores - Among women!

Jacinta -

Pasc. - Do you cry for that?

Jacinta - Die then, manager for his pleasures.

Pasc. - Let the traitor die!

Flores - Pity, ladies.

Enter Ortuño running from Laurencia.

70.

Fuente Ovejuna

Such unhappiness to your door.
Laura - Do you not fear to see the harshness

By which the others must suffer?

And the fury with which

The investigator will proceed?

Try to save your own life.

Run away and don't wait for harm to come to you.

Frondoso - How could you ask me

To do so wrong a thing?

Is it right that I should leave the others

In this present difficulty.

And absent myself from you?

Do not ask me to leave you,

Because it isn't reasonable

That I should leave my own blood

In order to avoid danger

On such a terrible occasion.

Sound of voices off-stage.)

I seem to hear voices,

And if I am not mistaken,

They come from a man

Who is suffering torture. Listen carefully.

Judge's voice off-stage, speaking and answers.

Judge - Tell the truth, old man.

Frondoso - It is an old man, Laura, that they are torturing.

Laura - What courage! (Persistence or stubbornness.)

Esteban - (off-stage) Stop for a bit.

Judge - (off-stage) Stop the flogging.

76.

Fuente Ovejuna

Esteban - Sir, the people of Deep River,
Who arrive in all humility,
Are disposed to honor you.
The overbearing tyranny
And insufferable severity
Of the dead Landlord,
Were the cause of all the harm.
He stole our farms from us,
And raped our women,
And was a stranger to pity.

Frondoso - To such a degree that that girl
Whom heaven has granted to me,
And with whom I am so happy
That no other happiness equals mine,
When she married me,
That first night pof our marriage
As if she belonged to him,
He took her off to his home,
And not being able to protect herself,
She, in her virtue flowering,
Now it seems quite apparent
What must have happened.

Mengo - Isn't it time for me to speak?
With your permission,
For I know what your surprise will be
When you know that he maltreated me,
Because I tried to defend
A young girl whom his servants

77.

Fuente Ovejuna

Were inslélently mistreating.
That perverse Nero
Ordered me to be beaten
In such a way that my back
Looks like a slice of salmon.
Three men beat on my drums (behind)
With such prolonged persistence
That I think that even still
My back is dyed blood red.
I spent on this tedious particular
For powders and healing ointments
In order to harden my skin
More than my farm is worth.

Esteban - Sir, we wish to serve you,
You are a just governor,
And believing this to be true,
We have set up the government seal.
We await your mercy,
And we hope that you can see
That in this particular instance
Our innocence is our guarantee.

Governor - Since none of us holds the proof
Of this event in writing,
Although the offense was great,
Your pardon is now secure,
And it would be well hereafter
For the village to trust in me,
And I shall look to its justice