LIGHT Not very far, my children; over there, to the Land of the Silence of Things....
TYLTYL No, no; I won't have you go.... We will go with you.... I shall tell mummy....
LIGHT Do not cry, my dear little ones.... I have not a voice like Water; I have only my brightness, which Man does not understand.... But I watch over him to the end of his days.... Never forget that I am speaking to you in every spreading moonbeam, in every twinkling star, in every dawn that rises, in every lamp that is lit, in every good and bright thought of your soul.... (Eight o'clock strikes behind the wall.) Listen!... The hour is striking!... Good-bye!... The door is opening!... In with you, in with you!...
(She pushes the CHILDREN through the door, which has half-opened and which closes again behind them. BREAD wipes away a furtive tear, SUGAR and WATER, etc., all in tears, flee precipitously and disappear in the wings to the right and left. The DOG howls behind the scenes. The stage remains empty for a moment and then the scenery representing the wall and the little door opens in the middle and reveals the last scene.)
SCENE 2.—The Awakening.
The same setting as in ACT I, but the objects, the walls and the atmosphere all appear incomparably and magically fresher, happier, more smiling. The daylight penetrates gaily through the chinks of the closed shutters. To the right, at the back, TYLTYL and MYTYL lie sound asleep in their little beds. The DOG, the CAT and the THINGS are in the places which they occupied in ACT I, before the arrival of the FAIRY.
Enter MUMMY TYL
MUMMY TYL (in a cheerfully scolding voice) Up, come, get up, you little lazybones!... Aren't you ashamed of yourselves?... It has struck eight and the sun is high above the trees!... Lord, how they sleep, how they sleep!... (She leans over and kisses the CHILDREN.) They are quite rosy.... Tyltyl smells of lavender and Mytyl of lilies-of-the-valley.... (Kissing them again) What sweet things children are!... Still, they can't go on sleeping till midday.... I mustn't let them grow up idle.... And, besides, I have heard that it's not very healthy.... (Gently shaking TYLTYL) Wake up, wake up, Tyltyl....