"Balladyna" akt V scena IV w języku angielskim - wersja skrócona

Balladyna in English – abridged version

Act V Scene IV

The royal castle in Gniezno. Several members of the court, Lords and soldiers stand in the back. Balladyna enters and sits on the throne.

SHOUTS: Long live the queen!

CHANCELLOR: My lady! May God bless you. Welcome and rule wisely. Lead your people. Feed the hungry ones. Have mercy for the guilty ones. Be just and fair.

BALLADYNA: What shall I do?

CHANCELLOR: According to our old custom a new ruler should try criminal cases before the first meal.

BALLADYNA: Let it be so, then.

Kostryn sways and falls to the ground.

ONE OF THE LORDS: What’s happening? The king falls down!

BALLADYNA: What’s wrong? Are you feeling bad?

KOSTRYN: I’m dying!!! You witch!

BALLADYNA: Oh, take him! May the doctor heal him!

DOCTOR: He’s already dead.

BALLADYNA: to herself: So I’m the only one who knows the dark past.
aloud: May trials start! Call the criminals. I swear in the name of God to be just or I shall burn in fire.

Kostryn’s body is carried off the stage, the doctor follows it.

USHER: The court opens!

CHANCELLOR: Lady, you must first kiss the cross and the book of law.

USHER: Prosecutor!

The doctor reappears.

CHANCELLOR: Who are you?

DOCTOR: I’m the king’s doctor.

CHANCELLOR: What’s the case?

DOCTOR: The king has been poisoned. There are spots all over his body. I have no idea who did it.

BALLADYNA: No idea? Then the trial must be postponed.

CHANCELLOR: But my queen, the tradition says you have to pass sentence right now anyway.

BALLADYNA: And what about those criminals who will never be caught?

CHANCELLOR: God will punish them. You pass your sentence. But honestly.

BALLADYNA: What do the laws say?

CHANCELLOR: Death!

BALLADYNA: Then I sentence the poisoner to death.

Filon enters the stage. He’s got a knife and a jar of raspberries with him.

CHANCELLOR: Who are you?

FILON: I’m only but a shadow of who I was. Here’s the knife, here’s the jar. Raspberries under her head. The knife in her chest. Listen! She was my wife, wife of my soul! Her white body, her blood. She’s been killed!

BALLADYNA: He’s crazy! I won’t hear the case.

CHANCELLOR: No, my lady, you must! Who did it?

FILON: Oh, maybe stars from the sky wanted to steal the sparks from her eyes!

CHANCELLOR: Judge my lady. The laws want death. Be just.

BALLADYNA: She should die.

CHANCELLOR: She? So you think it was a woman?

BALLADYNA: I think what I think.

The Widow (Balladyna’s mother) appears, she is blind, bent forward, leaning on a cane.

CHANCELLOR: Who are you? Who do you accuse?

WIDOW : I’m a widow. I accuse my children. Oh, beautiful lady! I had two daughters. I loved them. I fed them. The younger one escaped. Bad girl. The older one married a powerful count. I swear I’m telling the truth. Sweet queen! Judge! I loved her like a mother. But I was despised and rejected. There was a dark night, terrible night, heavy rain and tempest. She threw me away from her castle. I was hungry. Away to a forest. A lightning burnt my eyes. Oh, mercy me!

CHANCELLOR: My lady! Our laws demand death for such terrible deeds. Old woman! Tell us your daughter’s name.

WIDOW: What? Death? Goodbye my lord, my queen. I’m going back to the forest.

CHANCELLOR: Confess the name! You can’t withdraw the complaint!

WIDOW: No, no!

CHANCELLOR: Take her! Torture her! She must tell us the wicked daughter’s name!

WIDOW: Sweet queen! Mercy me! I’m old! You say nothing to me. Than I shall die. And you lord, what an iron heart you have!

The Widow leaves with the guards. A moment later a shriek can be heard.

CHANCELLOR: What’s that?

SOLDIER: The old woman is screaming. She hasn’t said a word.

CHANCELLOR: Let us wait.

BALLADYNA: Oh, what a torture to my heart! Water!

Balladyna is handed a glass of water.

SOLDIER: She died.

BALLADYNA: Died?

SOLDIER: Quietly. She said nothing.

CHANCELLOR: Look at these dark clouds hanging over the castle. Judge my lady, ask your own conscience. She should burn in fire. Pass sentence.

ALL: Sentence!

BALLADYNA: after a long silence: She’s guilty. Death sentence!

A thunderbolt hits the queen, everyone is terrified.

CHANCELLOR: The queen‘s been killed by a lightning sent by God himself. Ring funeral bells!