The Gold-Bug libretto English Version

The Gold-Bug

Opera for a Young Audience in

Five Scenes

by

Dai Fujikura

Libretto by

Hannah Dübgen

after the Short-Story “The Gold-Bug“ by Edgar Allan Poe

31/08/2017

A Commission by the Hochschule fĂźr Musik / FHNW and Theater Basel, Switzerland, with the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

2

Characters:

William Legrand Albert Lilith Sam Margaret

Albert’s daughter William’s grandson William’s wife

Bass Baritone Soprano Tenor Mezzo-soprano

3

Scene One A stormy evening. A hut on an island. The island is covered with a dense undergrowth of myrtle.

ALBERT and LILITH are walking towards the hut, fighting the wind and the shrub.

ALBERT

Lilly?

LILITH

I’m here!

ALBERT

Lilly?!

LILITH

I’m here, Dad! You are shouting so loudly that you cannot hear me.

ALBERT

Oh – yes, well – I just wanted to check - that you are here.

LILITH

I am. Are you all right?

ALBERT

Yes! Of course. We must hurry. Hurry up!

ALBERT and LILITH arrive at the entrance of the hut. ALBERT knocks.

Inside the hut: WILLIAM excited: Yes! WILLIAM opens the door, SAM is visible in the background, taking care of an open fire.

WILLIAM

Albert, my friend! How did you know that I wanted to see you?

Come in!

WILLIAM and LILITH enter the hut. WILLIAM leads ALBERT straight to his desk; the two gentleman do not pay much attention to SAM and LILITH, who look at each other with amazement - they obviously have not met before.

ALBERT

I wanted to check if you need anything in this unruly storm //

WILLIAM falling in/simultaneously: // storm - of excitement! Today is my fortunate day!

Albert, this afternoon, by the sea, I found a scarabaeus!

ALBERT

A bug?

WILLIAM

A bug, yes, but not an ordinary one. A very special, precious bug: A bug with a golden back! So brilliant, shimmering, beautiful...

A golden back and in the midst: two black spots, round and louring like two black eyes, and, further down on the golden back: one more black spot, longer than the other two, three black spots in a sea of lustrous gold!

A gold-bug!

As heavy as only gold can be, a bug never seen or heard of before, my gold-bug - so beautiful, valuable, beautiful!

4

ALBERT

And where is it? Show me the bug!

WILLIAM

Well – I gave it away... Just for tonight!

I lent the bug to Monica, the vet whom I met on my way back from the seashore: ’William Legrand, what makes you whistle so cheerfully today?’ she asked, and I showed her: tender: my gold-bug. ’What a precious beauty! Lucky you!’ said Monica, the vet, and promised to take good care of the bug, when she’ll check its health...

But tomorrow morning, I will get the bug back!

Straight after breakfast, Sam will go and get it, straight after breakfast, won’t you Sam?

SAM knods. ALBERT seems disappointed.

LILITH to SAM: Is the bug ill?

SAM shrugs his shoulders, to LILITH: I haven’t seen it yet...

WILLIAM to ALBERT: So, for now, Albert, all I can do is to make a sketch, to give you an idea of the gold-bug’s shape and size.

Come here!

WILLIAM opens the drawer of his desk, looking for paper and pen.

WILLIAM

Margaret? Where is the paper? Margaret!

MARGARET appears and calmly walks up to a cupboard, while WILLIAM pulls out something out of his waistcoat pocket.

WILLIAM

Well - this sandwich paper will do for now.

WILLIAM begins to draw something, while MARGARET offers ALBERT and LILITH to sit down.

WILLIAM

My gold-bug! ... three black spots in a sea of lustrous gold... so beautiful, valuable...

Suddenly the lights go out.

WILLIAM

Hey!

ALBERT uneasy: Lilly?!

SAM

A power cut -

LILITH composed: caused by the storm...

SAM

Probably.

MARGARET

I will get some candles.

ALBERT

Thank god you lit a fire!

WILLIAM

Thank god I had already finished the drawing, Albert, look!

5

WILLIAM hands his drawing over to ALBERT. ALBERT takes the drawing and moves close to the fire place. ALBERT sits down next to the open fire and studies the drawing.

WILLIAM

Isn’t it beautiful?

ALBERT confused: What?

WILLIAM

The bug!

ALBERT

Where?

WILLIAM

There! points at the drawing in ALBERTs hand.

ALBERT

But... I don’t see a bug.

WILLIAM

Look!

ALBERT louder: I don’t see a bug!

I see only... a death’s-head. A skull!

Two eye-sockets, below the mouth... an oval skull...

WILLIAM

But it’s a bug! My bug, with two black spots on its back - yes, the spots look a little like eyes - but it’s a bug with antennae nonetheless!

ALBERT

I don’t see antennae... moves the drawing even closer to the fire: I see only an oval skull! No antennae, nowhere!

WILLIAM takes back the drawing and runs with it around in the room. MARGERET follows WILLIAM, holding a lit candle.

MARGARET

William, please, stand still!

WILLIAM eventually stands and MARGARET holds the candle close to the drawing, so that WILLIAM can look at it in the dark.

WILLIAM

Here – the antennae, they are here!

WILLIAM goes back to ALBERT. ALBERT takes the drawing another time and holds it over the fire, carefully looking at it.

ALBERT

There are no antennae.

Silence.

WILIAM

You don’t see them! That’s different.

ALBERT condescendingly: Well, if only you see them – that is – MARGARET interjecting: Mysterious! A mystery...

ALBERT sceptically: A mystery?

SAM

A riddle...

LILITH to SAM: There is an explanation to every riddle...

ALBERT

Exactly! proudly: My daughter.

ALBERT to WILLIAM: And since I don’t see a bug here, nowhere, while my vision is perfectly fine, you must be WILLIAM

Watch your words, my friends!

I know very well what I saw with my own eyes, what I drew with my own hand!

ALBERT

And I know very well what I saw and what I did not see -

6

WILLIAM

Go away then! Leave my house if you don’t believe me!

You are not worthy of seeing my gold-bug.

Sam will get it tomorrow, and then – triumphantly: we’ll see!

I don’t need you to know what I found, what I possess!

WILLIAM takes back the drawing: I don’t even need a drawing WILLIAM is about to throw the drawing into the fire, when SAM catches it and rescues the drawing.

ALBERT

Lilly?! Let’s go. Now!

LILITH to SAM and MARGARET: I’m sorry. I’m sure MARGARET softly: the rage will abate...

SAM to LILITH: There will be an explanation!

Tomorrow, I’ll get the bug, and then – ALBERT harshly: Let’s go, Lilly! Our – points at WILLIAM, sarcastically: friend here does not appreciate our visit.

WILLIAM

Indeed! Go away, you short-sighted fool!

ALBERT takes LILITH’s arm and moves her towards the door, LILITH waves SAM and MARGARET goodbye. After ALBERT and LILITH have left the house, SAM, who stands close to the open fire, carefully looks at the drawing that WILLIAM has made. SAM then puts the drawing into a drawer and blows out the candle in his hand. Almost dark.

Scene Two A townhouse in a town full of churches. SAM is aproaching the house. As he arrives at the front door and is about to knock - he hears something inside. LILITH is singing. Instead of knocking, SAM listens.

LILITH

Far away in space and time do you rest mother mine...

covers her head with her hands, then forces herself to continue: Night after night I see you here – lifts up one arm: in the light that I hold near – stops, makes a fist and looks to the ground, as if she was watching a candle falling out of her hand.

Dreams, sweet dreams!

You know me best, give me joy for what? A while...

7

SAM eventually knocks. LILITH opens the door, they look at each other.

SAM

Your mom too is –

LILITH nods:

Dead. Like yours?

SAM quickly:

No, not dead, my parents are not dead, I hope!

They are just gone...

LILITH

My mom is gone forever.

SAM silently:

For-

SAM and LILITH: -ever.

SAM

Oh, Li-

LILITH falling in: -lith! My name is Lilith!

Lilith like the demon in ancient Mesopotamia.

SAM

Li-

LILITH and SAM: –lith!

LILITH

... is the name my mother gave me some years before she got sick and passed away.

SAM with compassion: Lilith. after a moment of silence: Do you visit your mom’s grave?

LILITH

Yes, with my father. confidentally: I also comb my hair with her brush.

SAM

I do not know where to go, where to look for my parents...

LILITH tenderly: Sam. LILITH and SAM: I am sorry.

ALBERT appears.

ALBERT

Sam! You are here? grimly: Did William send you?

SAM shakes his head, still looking sad.

ALBERT a little friendlier: How is your grandfather? Has he calmed down?

SAM

Sir, I fear – he is unwell. That’s why I came –

ALBERT

William is unwell? What’s wrong? Tell me, come in!

SAM and ALBERT enter the townhouse.

ALBERT

Lilly -

LIITH angrily:

Lilith! Dad, you know my name.

ALBERT

Yes, a name that I’ve never used.

8

LILITH

It’s still my name!

ALBERT

It was you mom’s idea!

To call you „Li-lith“ - what an effort to pronounce it, Li-lith – your tongue stuck between your lips each time, Lilly is so much easier!

LILITH grimly: But false.

SAM

Lilly is a flower, not a demon, ri-(ght..)?

ALBERT interrupting: Sam, what is it that you wanted to tell me?

SAM

Well, sir - to be honest I am worried.

My grandfather says that he has been bitten by the gold-bug.

ALBERT repeating: Bitten by the bug? laughs, amused: And was he bleeding heavily?

SAM

I looked at the wound, saw scratches, no bite marks, scratches which could have come from everywhere, a pin or some brushwood, I thought...

ALBERT

It’s impossible to reach your house without pushing away all that shrub of sweet myrtle!

SAM nods.

SAM

This, sir – is why I’m worried.

It’s not the wound, it’s more that grandpa -

hesitates, than forces himself: seems – at times – in his own world.

He gets nervous, agitated, he no longer sleeps at night, sleepwalks instead, murmering that: “Death himself is chasing the bug!

Death is trying to push out the bug, is trying to catch us all!“ ALBERT

Death himself? Why? thinks. Because William drew a death’s-head on that paper the other night?

SAM

I don’t know.

I don’t know what goes on in grandpa’s mind, all that I heard through the door the other night was that he is anxious: He believes that his gold-bug must be “saved“, because if not: “We will all be in danger of dying!“

ALBERT

But what makes Wiliam believe that his bug is in danger?

That we are all in danger?

There is no reason to believe that! laughs: All that sweet myrtle surrounding your house has bedazzled William’s senses!

Your grandpa, Sam, hallucinates: he sees at night in his imagination what he drew on that paper:

9

a death’s-head, not a bug...

What possessed him while he was sketching? - I don’t know.

What made him unable to see what he had actually drawn? – I don’t know.

But it is clear that your grandpa sees now in his sleepwalking nights what he drew on that paper...

Not what is really there.

SAM

And if it were so –

ALBERT

It must be so!

SAM

In that case - could you, as his friend, please, sir, talk to him?

Convince him to get help, to see a doctor?

Grandma tried, she’s worried too but you know how my grandpa can be, sometimes...

ALBERT

Oh I know! I know!

remembering/citing: ’But it’s a bug!

Here – the antennae, they are here!’

LILITH asking SAM: Does the bug really have a golden back?

SAM nods:

The bug looks exactly as grandpa described it: It has -

citing/repeating: a golden back and in the midst: two black spots, and, further down... one more black spot, ... three black spots in a sea of lustrous gold!

A gold-bug!

As heavy as only gold can be...

ALBERT suddenly interested: Really?Fascinating...

Sam, listen: I’ll come this afternoon to your house, and I’ll talk to William, all right?

SAM

Thank you, sir! I’m relieved.

LILITH

I’ll come too!

SAM

Thank you - tenderly: wonderous Li-lith.

I must hurry now – grandma is waiting, see you later -

LILITH and ALBERT: See you later, Sam! ALBERT and LILITH and SAM: See you later!

SAM leaves.

Scene Three On the island. ALBERT and LILITH are walking towards William’s hut - again.

LILITH

Dad?!

10

ALBERT

I’m coming...

LILITH excited: I can see the house!

ALBERT

The hut, you mean... exhausted: All that myrtle! gasping.

LILITH knocks.

SAM opens the door, while WILLIAM appears from behind. simultaneously: SAM

Lilith?

WILLIAM

Yes?

LILITH

Sam.

ALBERT

Good afternoon – William.

WILLIAM

Albert! From the town of numerous churches... grumpily: Rings the bell of – (dis-be-lief...)

ALBERT interrupting: How are you, William?

WILLIAM stunned, looks at SAM as if to check if SAM has told them something.

WILLIAM

I am a lucky person – secretly: because my gold-bug will save us all!

ALBERT

Is that so? looks at SAM. to WILLIAM: Can I see the bug? Please?

WILLIAM triumphantly: Of course!

WILLIAM goes to get the gold-bug. MARGARET appears.

MARGARET

Lilith! Sir..

WILLIAM returns with the bug: Look at our saviour!

My gold-bug - so beautiful, valuable, beautiful!

ALBERT and LILITH look at the bug.

ALBERT

A golden back and in the midst: two black spots... and, further down... one more black spot... three black spots in a sea of lustrous gold!

Indeed... Very beautiful!

May I hold the gold-bug?

WILLIAM first suspicious, then too proud to say ’no’: But be careful! We need the bug. privately: My gold-bug protects us from death!

ALBERT weighing the gold-bug in his hand: From death?

WILLIAM nods: When death comes... at night... trying to catch us ALBERT

What? Why should -

WILLIAM agitated, interrupting: Death himself is chasing the bug, is trying to catch us all!

Death wants to take over this house and only the gold-bug can save us!“ ALBERT shakes his head. WILLIAM quickly takes back his bug, is about to get angry again, while ALBERT tries to de-escalate the situation: Sit down, William.

WILLIAM outraged/anxiously: If you don’t believe me – then leave!

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ALBERT calmly: William, please. I only want to understand William

Really?

ALBERT

Yes. So, tell me: What makes you think that death –

WILLIAM interrupting: - is coming at night! His head appears on that paper – WILLIAM points at that drawer in which SAM put the drawing at the end of Scene One: WILLIAM

Death himself takes over my drawing, shows me his louring eye-sockets, his skull... shivers.

ALBERT

Wait: So you see a death’s-head on that paper too now?

WILLIAM

Yes, but only at night! When I look at the drawing by the fire...

During the day, the skull disappears, after my gold-bug has fought death successfully, tenderly: our saviour.

But the following night – the death’s-head reappears, fighting back, fighting hard my poor gold-bug... It’s a fight about life and death! And only the gold-bug can save us!

ALBERT

Okay – William, listen. Why don’t we all look at that drawing again now? looking at Sam, pointing at the drawer: Can you get it, Sam?

SAM looks at WILLIAM, who nods. SAM then goes up to the drawer and takes out the drawing, while ALBERT moves close to fire.

ALBERT

Let us look at it by the fireplace, where it’s warm and there is light!

WILLIAM

But the sun is shining bright!

ALBERT takes the drawing and moves it close to the open fire, SAM, LILITH and MARGARET follow him. ALBERT, SAM, LILITH and MARGARET look at the drawing close to the fire.

ALBERT

It’s a death’s-head! Of course...

WILLIAM

No! It cannot be - it’s not nighttime! The sun is shining bright!

ALBERT

William...

WILLIAM

Let me see it!

WILLIAM catches the drawing and runs away, he leaves the house, the drawing in his hand, is agitated, anxious. WILLIAM eventually comes to rest and looks at the drawing carefully.

WILLIAM

It’s a bug – my gold-bug! As I drew it! imitating ALBERT’s earlier: Of course.

Are you blind?

ALBERT shakes his head again, SAM goes up to WILLIAM, looks at the drawing and freezes.

SAM stuttering: The – bug! It’s the gold-bug! He – is – right...

ALBERT and LILITH are confused, they follow SAM, who has taken the drawing, and look at it outside. ALBERT and LILITH simultaneously: ALBERT

In – deed...

LILITH

the gold-bug!

In – deed... the gold-bug!

Stunned Silence.

MARGARET

A mystery...

WILLIAM

No, it’s not a mystery, it’s daytime! That’s why.

ALBERT

But inside, by the fireplace -

12

SAM suddenly: It’s the fire! It must be the fire!

They all look at SAM, not understanding.

SAM

Let’s go inside and have another look – I bet we’ll see the death’s-head as before!

They all go back inside, where SAM holds the drawing very close to the open fire. SAM covers for a few seconds the drawing with his hand, then withdraws his hand so that they can all see the drawing.

LILITH

The death’s-head! Sam, you are right!

ALBERT and WILLIAM simultaneously: But – why?

SAM

When I fetched the drawing today, holding it in my hands, feeling it with my fingertips, I realised that it wasn’t ordinary sandwich paper -

which I know all too well from school -,

no: You, Grandpa, have made the drawing on a piece of parchment! This – SAM waves the drawing in his hand: is very thin parchment, that long-lasting material which pirates use...

LILITH nods, SAM and LILITH together: ... to draw maps of islands unknown!

SAM

Exactly! And with what do pirates draw their secret maps? With ink that only becomes visible once -

ALBERT falls in: You heat up the parchment - with fire, of course!

Bravo, Sam! That’s it – when the parchment heats up, the skull appears...

WILLIAM

Whereas outside, away from the fire, we only see my drawing...

SAM

Right.

LILITH who is looking at the drawing which SAM still holds very close to the fire, suddenly screams: And there is more! To see...

SAM

Yes, here!

They all look at the drawing again.

ALBERT

The death’s-head -

SAM

and below –

LILITH

Letters!

WILLIAM

Indeed!

SAM

And a kid goat! Here – to the right –

ALBERT

That’s right!

LILITH

The letters are a secret code...

WILLIAM

A message?

SAM looking at WILLIAM and LILITH: Not from death, but – SAM and LILITH together: from pirates!

WILLIAM

Pirates? Why them?

SAM

Grandpa, the death’s-head is the symbol of pirates!

You can see a skull on all their flags.

WILLIAM

True...

LILITH

And the kid goat here is the signature of Captain Kidd!

ALBERT

Captain Who?

13

LILITH

Captain Kidd, Dad. The famous pirate who sailed around the world...

SAM

and came to our country with a ship full of gold, arms and money...

LILITH:

SAM:

LILITH:

Valuables which he had to hide... somewhere...

before he was caught...

ALBERT Says the legend! I remember now. Captain Kidd really existed – but his treasure

was never found, right?

WILLIAM suddenly grinning: Until now! Perhaps the secret code - points at the parchment: is a message from the Captain stating where the treasure is hidden?

ALBERT

But why should Captain Kidd leave a message here, on this island -

WILLIAM interrupting: No, not here! I found the parchment on that seashore where I also found the gold-bug, it was lying under bushes, half covered with sand, I picked it up to place the gold-bug on it.

And – suddenly remembers: there were even pieces of wood! lying close to the parchment in the sand, wood that may well stem from a shipwreck! more and more excited/assured: And why – I ask you - should the parchment lie there if not because some seafarer had left it there, in a hurry...

LILITH repeating: before he was caught...

WILLIAM

... long ago?

They all look at each other, then at the parchment.

SAM

But if it were so – what does the message say?

LILITH tries to read the message: Gogololdod toto bobe fofounondod...

SAM

I cannot understand a word.

ALBERT

We must find the decipher code!

LILITH nods:

The secret rule that will lead us to the message hiding inside this mess of letters...

SAM

If there is a message...

WILLIAM

There must be!

ALBERT

William is right. Why would you write in secrete code on a material known to survive generations of man -

LILITH interjecting: And woman! ALBERT

... if the message wasn’t important?

WILLIAM

Important - and precious, yes!

Our guide to fortune!

LILITH reading again: Gogololdod toto bobe fofounondod...

SAM, LILITH, ALBERT and WILLIAM look at each other.

ALBERT SAM WILLIAM

Gogol-oldod toto bobe -fofounondod?

14

WILLIAM impatient: What does this mean? What does the message say?

Nobody has an idea. SAM, LILITH, ALBERT and WILLIAM think hard, studying the parchment, while MARGARET begins to walk around the room.

MARGARET remembering: Take two steps back... to jump – forward!

We sang when we were young, playing in the streets of the village... citing someone who shouts: Take two steps back – to jump forward, take a big leap, hey! in a different tone: Think - two steps back... to jump - forward, take a big leap LILITH repeating: Think - two steps back...

Let’s see what we have got here... while MARGARET goes on in the background:

Think back, think twice to jump - forward!

Think back, think twice...

LILITH reads again: Gogololdod toto bobe fofounondod...

SAM

I still cannot understand a word!

I cannot work it out: gogogo... there are ’o’s everywhere!

ALBERT

But there aren’t that many ’o’s in the English language!

LILITH

Right! So let’s try and read it without them!

SAM

Gglldd tt...

ALBERT

Now there are too many consonants!

SAM

Con-?

ALBERT

Consonants: All those letters that aren’t a, e, i, o, u.

LILITH

And there are always two consonants at once! Gglldd...

SAM

So -?

LILITH excited: Let’s try and read the message without the second consonant and the ’o’ before!

LILITH slowly deciphering: G-o-l-d!

WILLIAM ecstatic: Gold! I knew it!

LILITH

t-o

b-e ...

SAM and LILITH: foun-d.

ALBERT

We got it!

WILLIAM

What? The gold?

15

ALBERT

The code!

ALBERT proudly explaining to WILLIAM as if he himself had worked it out: Every time a consonant SAM to himself: a letter that isn’t a, e, i, o, u...

ALBERT continuing: is doubled...

SAM

g-g, l-l, d-d

ALBERT

... and has an ’o’ squashed in between -

SAM

g-ooooooo-g

ALBERT

You just take away the second consonant and the ’o’ in between! Easy-peasy! laughs.

SAM

So let’s read on:

LILITH and SAM continue to decipher the code: Gold to be found, (slowly):

swords and jewelry in a tot-

They laugh, then repeat correctly: in a t-reasure that is buried in the ground LILITH, SAM, ALBERT, WILLIAM and MARGARET slowly deciphering: of a deserted plain.

A plain high above a windy seashore, where eight oaks WILLIAM

popror-

They all laugh, then repeat correctly: pro-tect the most beautiful tulip tree.

WILLIAM exclaiminig: I know that high plain!

It’s right by the coast, close to the spot where I found the parchment!

LILITH, SAM, ALBERT, WILLIAM and MARGARET slowly continue the deciphering: At thirty feet west of that tulip tree WILLIAM falling in: We will need a compass!

LILITH, SAM, ALBERT, WILLIAM and MARGARET continue the deciphering: lies ten feet underground a wrought iron trunk.

The key which opens the trunk is stored in the seventh branch, counted from the bottom upwards, of the tulip tree, lying in a small hole carved in the branch next to a kid goat.

SAM

It’s Captain Kidd! The kid goat is his symbol, his signature!

LILITH

It’s Captain Kidd’s treasure...

WILLIAM

That we will dig up!

SAM

When?

16

WILLIAM

Now!

They all look at each other.

WILLIAM

The high plain with that tulip tree is only a few miles away if we leave now, we could be there before night falls!

SAM

Oh yes, let’s go!

ALBERT to WILLIAM: The plain is really that close?

WILLIAM nods: And our boat is ready!

SAM looking at LILITH and ALBERT: And big enough for all of us!

LILITH

So let’s go!

ALBERT in a dignified manner as if he was the leader: Let’s go and dig up the treasure!

MARGARET

I’ll wait here.

SAM

Are you sure, Grandma?

MARGARET nods: I’ll stay here, watch the fire, and cook you a fine seafarer’s meal.

SAM

Hurray!

LILITH

Goodbye, Misses Legrand.

SAM

Goodbye, Grandma, see you later!

WILLIAM holding the gold-bug in his hands: But you will come with us, my precious gold-bug!

You brought me luck, and you’ll bring us more luck, your golden back will lead us to more gold!

Let’s go and dig up the treasure!

SAM, LILITH, WILLIAM and ALBERT: Let’s go and dig up the treasure! ((: Let’s go and dig up the treasure! :)) LILITH, SAM, WILLIAM and ALBERT leave the house.

MARGARET stays behind in the house, smiling.

MARGARET

Take two steps back, to jump – forward, take a big leap, well-done, children!

Think two steps back to jump – forward, take a big leap, hey!

Scene Four LILITH, SAM, ALBERT and WILLIAM on a sailing boat, at sea.

LILITH, SAM, ALBERT and WILLIAM together (hereafter: „ALL“): Let’s go and dig up the treasure!

WILLIAM

Yes!

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ALL:

Let’s go and dig up the treasure!

WILLIAM

Yes!

They all laugh. cheerfully: LILITH

We

SAM

are

WILLIAM

bitten

ALBERT

by

LILITH, SAM, ALBERT and WILLIAM: ALL

We

SAM

are

bitten

the gold-bug! by

LILITH

the gold-bug!

WILLIAM

ALBERT

Sailing along... getting close...

simultaneously: to a glorious

to hidden treasures...

future! ...

.... and new truths!

to a wealthy, affluent life, looking at SAM: a life that our family was once known for, long ago... nods: very long ago...

Sailing along... to find the remains of those who went away...

passed away...

years ago.

years ago.

Gold! We’ll find gold!

My gold-bug will bring us fortune!

Its golden back will lead us the way!

Its golden back ... glistening in the sun... dazzling its beauty... suddenly excited: So must have sparkled tantalising gold in the eyes of my mom and dad when they went away... excited, obviously understanding something for the first time: When they sailed away... just as we are sailing now!

Mom and Dad! I am coming I follow you!

18

SAM

LILITH You follow them?

What do you mean?

I will find gold – as they did! laughs: I am bitten by the gold-bug – just as they have been bitten!

Mom and Dad, I understand you!

FINALLY I understand why you went away... anxious: So now – you want to do the same? Go away – to look for gold?

We are already looking for gold!

And if we find it?

You will look for more?

You will sail on... alone... until you find your parents?

(Aria:) Far away do we sail following a dream fragile and stray...

Leaving each other behind - for what?!

Whom can we trust and for how long...

LILITH to SAM: You will sail on... alone?

Silence. LILITH suddenly turns red when she realizes that her question reveals her feelings for SAM. SAM understands, tenderly: Alone? Without you?

Leaving you behind?

No! You should - you could come with me, wondrous Lilith, could you not?

LILITH looks at SAM, slowly smiling.

19

WILLIAM suddenly shouting: The seashore! I can see the seashore, we are almost there!

Scene Five WILLIAM, ALBERT, SAM and LILITH at the coast.

WILLIAM

We must walk up here!

There’s a trail leading up to the plain.

SAM and LILITH: Okay, let’s go!

ALBERT running out of breath: Lilly?

No answer.

ALBERT

Lilith?!

LILITH

I’m here, Dad! Are you all right?

ALBERT

Of course! gasping: Can you see the tulip tree?

LILITH

Not yet.

ALBERT

And now?

LILITH

Patience, Dad!

WILLIAM

We are almost there...

SAM

I can see the plain!

LILITH

And a majestic tulip tree!

SAM

Surrounded by eight oaks...

LILITH and SAM: As the message said. Hurray! They start running.

WILLIAM

Hey! Wait for us – older folks...

ALBERT

Old? I’m not old! I’m at the height of my powers.

WILLIAM storming forward, following SAM and LILITH: Wait for me!

My gold-bug will lead us the way!

WILLIAM, SAM, LILITH and ALBERT on the plain, next to the tulip tree.

LILITH and SAM remembering what the message said: At thirty feet west of the tulip tree – ALBERT

I’ve got a compass!

LILITH and SAM: ... lies ten feet underground a wrought iron trunk.

ALBERT

Thirty feet west... That must be here!

WILLIAM

Great! Let’s dig up the treasure!

SAM

I’ve got the spade -

LILITH

I took the shovel...

WILLIAM

So –

ALL

Let’s go and dig up the treasure!

SAM and LILITH start digging.

20

SAM

The trunk –

LILITH

I can see it!

WILLIAM

It’s there!

ALBERT

It’s real!

LILITH

It’s really there!

WILLIAM

Bring it up!

SAM

I need help –

WILLIAM and ALBERT: We are coming!

LILITH

Careful...

WILLIAM and ALBERT enter the hole that LILITH and SAM have dug.

WILLIAM underground: It’s so deep!

SAM

Give me your hand, Grandpa –

ALBERT

LIl- correcting himself just in time: - ith!

LILITH

Here, Dad! Give me your hand!

WILLIAM

And now?

SAM

Up we go! Take a handle –

ALBERT

The trunk has handles – how handy! laughing at his own word-game.

SAM

Heave ho!

ALL

Heave ho! ((: Heave ho! :))

Eventually, the trunk is moved up.

ALBERT

The treasure - is real!

WILLIAM

Hurray!

LILITH

Now we only need the key...

SAM

which opens the trunk.

WILLIAM

What did the message say again?

SAM and LILITH repeating: They key which opens the trunk is stored in the seventh branch, counted from the bottom upwards, of the tulip tree, lying in a small hole carved in the branch next to a kid goat.

SAM

Let’s climb up the tulip tree!

LILITH

Let’s go!

They all go up to the tulip tree.

SAM is counting its branches from the bottom upwards, while LILITH is already climbing up.

SAM

One, two, three...

ALBERT

Careful, Lil-ith!

SAM

Yes, be careful. Wait for me!

SAM follows LILITH, who soon arrives at the seventh branch. She climbs up the branch.

LILITH

The kid goat! I see the kid goat next to a small hole.

SAM

Wait, I am coming!

LILITH tries to put her fingers into the hole, without success.

21

LILITH

The mouth of the hole is too small – I can’t reach the bottom with my fingers!

SAM

Let me try...

SAM tries to put his hand into the hole, again without success.

SAM

The hole is too deep and its mouth too small...

LILITH

Our hands are too big.

WILLIAM

If your hands are too big, who could possibly -

ALBERT interrupting: The mouth of the hole was deliberately made this way, I’m sure!

So that it would not be easy to get the key out...

WILLIAM

But we must get the key!

We cannot open the trunk without it.

ALBERT

Of course.

Moment of perplexity.

LILITH murmering: Think two steps back....

WILLIAM desperately: All that gold...

SAM

Wait – couldn’t the gold-bug help us?

LILITH

Yes! The bug is definitely small enough to enter the hole!

SAM

Grandpa, you were right: Your gold-bug could indeed bring us luck –

WILLIAM

I told you! All along...

LILITH to WILLIAM: Would you give us the bug, Sir? ALBERT

Wait! Let’s wrap a string around its golden back first -

WILLIAM

Why?

SAM

So that we can pull the gold-bug out of the hole in case there is a problem...

WILLIAM

I see! Good idea. My gold-bug mustn’t get lost!

WILLIAM hands the gold-bug to ALBERT: Be careful!

ALBERT

You can trust me, my friend.

ALBERT wraps a string around the gold-bug’s back, while SAM is climbing down the tulip tree.

ALBERT hands over the gold-bug to SAM, who climbs up the tulip tree again. When SAM reaches the tree’s seventh branch, he gives the gold-bug to LILITH. LILITH then carefully lowers the string so that the gold-bug enters the hole in the branch.

While SAM, LILITH, ALBERT and WILLIAM are holding their breath, we hear the scraping noises of the gold-bug inside the branch. After a while, some rumbling sounds are heard. LILITH starts to roll up the string and out of the hole comes the gold-bug – holding a key with its legs and antennae.

LILITH and SAM: The key!

WILLIAM

My gold-bug has succeeded!

ALL

It’s the key!

To the trunk! The treasure...

SAM and LILITH climb down the tulip tree and run towards the trunk, followed by ALBERT and WILLIAM. Eventually, all four of them are standing around the wrought iron trunk. LILITH stretches out her hand in which she holds the key and the gold-bug:

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LILITH

Mister Legrand, your gold-bug brought us luck -

SAM

so you should upon the trunk, Grandpa!

WILLIAM takes the key and opens the trunk. Inside the trunk, they find a pirate’s flag and the drawing of a kid goat similar to the drawing on the cipher map.

SAM

A pirate’s flag!

LILITH

And a kid goat!

SAM and LILITH: From Captain Kidd! It really is his treasure!

Hurray!

SAM, LILITH, WILLIAM and ALBERT take things out of the trunk: WILLIAM

There are gold bars!

ALBERT

Silver coins...

SAM

Swords and a half-broken harpoon –

ALBERT

Which was probably used at sea...

SAM

... for whaling?

ALBERT

Perhaps.

WILLIAM

So much gold...

Even a fourth.... even half of those gold bars – will make us rich again!

The Legrand family will be rich again!

Sam, have you heard? Everyone must know: The Legrand family is wealthy again!

fantasising, talking to an imagined crowd: Come to their island, their beautiful mansion, see their garden full of bugs and friends, come all to celebrate with the happy, generous Legrand family!

ALBERT

Look at those garments! They must stem from a very cold country...

LILITH

Very cold indeed...

SAM

Look! There are boxes of jewelry.

LILITH looks inside the box and takes out a necklace: This necklace is beautiful!

ALBERT

Lilith, your mother would have chosen precisely this one too!

LILITH touched: Really?

ALBERT nods: That’s exactly her taste. “Elegance, but no exuberance“ was her credo.

LILITH

True... I remember now: Sitting on her lap... playing with that thing around her neck: A silver necklace!

With little dark-blue stones...

A blue shimmering in the sun like the ocean....

ALBERT

I remember... You and your mom.... Lilith! You are so much like her....

SAM walks up to LILITH, takes the necklake and puts it around her neck.

SAM

You should wear it, it looks beautiful on you.

LILITH

Thank you.

They look at each other.

LILITH cautiously: So will you go - away?

SAM

To look for my parents? smiling: With you on board?

23

SAM shrugs his shoulders: Who knows. I feel already closer to them, now, that I know what it means – looking at LILITH LILITH and SAM: ... to be bitten by the gold-bug!

We’ve been bitten by the gold-bug!

ALL

We’ve been bitten by the gold-bug!

ALBERT

And we succeeded -

WILLIAM

We found gold!

LILITH

Precious remains...

ALBERT

Interesting coins...

LILITH

New joys... touches her necklace.

ALBERT holding up a coin: Who has ever seen such coins? They are not from here – WILLIAM

Where are they from?

ALBERT

I am not sure. I will have to look them up in my books, but they are definitely from another continent...

SAM

How exciting! A faraway continent which Captain Kidd sailed to?

LILITH excited: There is so much to find out! Who has given this very narrow ring to whom, and why?

SAM

It must have been for a woman...

ALBERT

Or a child?

We will examine all items carefully, and publish what we will find out!

increasingly excited: We will go down in history – we will ourselves be written about!

I can read it already: On X (March/April/May...) the XX (filling in the month and day of the performance!) a treasure was found deep in the ground excavated by the most knowledgeable LILITH falling in: team! of creative adventurers...

ALBERT looking at LILITH, smiling: Lilith! You are so much like your mother... You know that?

ALBERT affectionately ruffles LILITH’s hair.

WILLIAM suddenly: The sun has almost set! It’s getting dark...

ALBERT

We must head back before night falls.

WILLIAM

And the treasure?

SAM

We must bring the trunk on board of our boat.

LILITH

Yes! Let’s put all valuables back in the trunk and carry it together.

ALBERT

Everyone takes a handle... repeating his joke: how handy!

WILLIAM

Only the gold-bug has worked enough already today.

He deserves to rest.

ALL

Indeed!

WILLIAM tenderly: My precious gold-bug... You didn’t bring us death, oh no, you brought us luck!

ALBERT

Did you know that in ancient Egypt, people wore bugs made of stone around their neck,

24

because a scarabaeus like our gold-bug was back then a symbol of Khepri, the god who rolls the sun across the sky every morning?

WILLIAM

No, I didn’t know that! But I knew all along that my gold-bug had miraculous powers... And you know it too, now, don’t you, my friend?

ALBERT nods and they laugh together.

SAM, LILITH, ALBERT and WILLIAM put all valuables back in the trunk. They close the trunk and take a handle each.

ALL

Heave ho! Let’s go!

SAM, LILITH, ALBERT and WILLIAM carry the trunk back towards the coast, as nIght gradually falls.

ALL

We’ve been bitten by the gold-bug!

We found gold and riddles yet to solve.

SAM and LILITH:

Night is falling, but the sun never disappears for long, tomorrow will be another day with more to discover...

Hurray!

WILLIAM and ALBERT: The golden days of our past are shining bright into the future...

Our today is tomorrow’s adventure...

ALL

There is always more to find!

We’ve been bitten by the gold-bug!

Hurray!

Black.

25