PIPER [distracted] Who's Lump?
RUDI
Our Dog!
PIPER
[shocked and pained]
The Dog!—No, no.
Heaven save us—I forgot about the dogs!
RUDI
He Wanted me;—and I always wasn't there!
And people tied him up,—and other people
Pretended that he bit.—He never bites!
He Wanted me, until it broke his heart,
And he was dead!
PIPER
[struggling with his emotion]
And then he went to heaven,
To chase the happy cats up all the trees;—
Little white cats! . . . He wears a golden collar . . .
And sometimes—[Aside]—I'd forgot about the dogs!
Well, dogs must suffer, so that men grow wise.
'T was ever so.
[He turns to give JAN a piping lesson]
CHILDREN
Oh, what a funny dream!
[Suddenly he lifts his hand. They listen, and hear a dim sound of distant
chanting, going by on some neighboring road. The PIPER is puzzled; the
Strollers are plainly depressed.
JAN
What is it?
PIPER
People; passing down below,
In the dark valley.
[He looks at the Children fixedly]
Do you want to see them?