ACT FIRST.
SCENE I.—The gate of the castle.
MAIDSERVANTS (within).
Open the gate! Open the gate!
PORTER (within).
Who is there? Why do you come and wake me up? Go out by the little gates; there are enough of them!…
A MAIDSERVANT (within).
We have come to wash the threshold, the gate, and the steps; open, then! open!
ANOTHER MAIDSERVANT (within).
There are going to be great happenings!
THIRD MAIDSERVANT (within).
There are going to be great fêtes! Open quickly!…
THE MAIDSERVANTS.
Open! open!
PORTER.
Wait! wait! I do not know whether I shall be able to open it;… it is never opened…. Wait till it is light….
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
It is light enough without; I see the sunlight through the chinks….
PORTER.
Here are the great keys…. Oh! oh! how the bolts and the locks grate!… Help me! help me!…
MAIDSERVANTS.
We are pulling; we are pulling….
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
It will not open….
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
Ah! ah! It is opening! it is opening slowly!
PORTER.
How it shrieks! how it shrieks! it will wake up everybody….
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
[Appearing on the threshold.] Oh, how light it is already out-of-doors!
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
The sun is rising on the sea!
PORTER.
It is open…. It is wide open!… [All the maidservants appear on the threshold and pass over it.]
FIRST MAIDSERVANT.
I am going to wash the sill first….
SECOND MAIDSERVANT.
We shall never be able to clean all this.
OTHER MAIDSERVANTS.
Fetch the water! fetch the water!
PORTER.
Yes, yes; pour on water; pour on water; pour on all the water of the
Flood! You will never come to the end of it….
SCENE II.—A forest. MÉLISANDE discovered at the brink of a spring.
Enter GOLAUD.