General English 53

LESSON - 5
A Dollar
A play in one-act by David Pinski

Characters
The Comedian
The Villain
The Tragedian
The Old Man
The Heroine
The Ingenue
The Old Woman
The Stranger

[A cross-roads at the edge of a forest. One road extends from left to right; the
other crosses the first diagonally, disappearing into the forest. The roadside is
bordered with grass. On the right, at the crossing, stands a signpost, to which are
nailed two boards giving directions and distances.]

[The afternoon of a summer day. A troupe of stranded strolling players enters

from the left. They are ragged and weary. THE COMEDIAN walks first, holding
a valise in each hand, followed by the VILLAIN carrying over his arms two huge
bundles wrapped in bed sheets. Immediately behind these, the TRAGEDIAN and
the actor who plays the OLD MAN are carrying together a large heavy trunk.]

COMEDIAN: (stepping toward the signpost, reading the directions on the

boards, and explaining to the approaching fellow actors) That way (pointing
to right and swinging the valise--to indicate the direction) is thirty miles. This
way (pointing to left) is forty-five -- and that way is thirty-six. Now choose for
yourself the town that you’ll never reach today. The nearest way for us is back
to where we came from, whence we were escorted with the most splendid
catcalls that ever crowned our histrionic successes.

VILLAIN: (exhausted) Who will lend me a hand to wipe off my perspiration?

It has a nasty way of streaming into my mouth.
54 General English

COMEDIAN: Stand on your head, then, and let your perspiration water a
more fruitful soil.

VILLAIN: Oh!

[He drops his arms, the bundles fall down. He then sinks down onto one of
them and wipes off the perspiration, moving his hand wearily over his face. The
TRAGEDIAN and the OLD MAN approach the post and read the signs.]

TRAGEDIAN: (in a dramatic voice) It’s hopeless! It’s hopeless!

[He lets go his end of the trunk.]

OLD MAN: (lets go his end of the trunk) Mmmm. Another stop.

[TRAGEDIAN sits himself down on the trunk in a tragico-heroic pose, knees

wide apart, right elbow on right knee, left hand on left leg, head slightly bent
toward the right. COMEDIAN puts down the valises and rolls a cigarette. The
OLD MAN also sits down upon the trunk, head sunk upon his breast.]

VILLAIN: Thirty miles to the nearest town! Thirty miles!

COMEDIAN: It’s an outrage how far people move their towns away from us.

VILLAIN: We won’t strike a town until the day after tomorrow.

COMEDIAN: Hurrah! That’s luck for you! There’s yet a day-after-tomorrow

for us.

VILLAIN: And the old women are still far behind us. Crawling!

OLD MAN: They want the vote and they can’t even walk.

COMEDIAN: We won’t give them votes, that’s settled. Down with votes for
women!

VILLAIN: It seems the Devil himself can’t take you! Neither your tongue nor
your feet ever get tired. You get on my nerves. Sit down and shut up for a
moment.
 General English 55

COMEDIAN: Me? Ha--ha! I’m going back there to the lady of my heart. I’ll
meet her and fetch her hither in my arms.

[He spits on his hands, turns up his sleeves, and strides rapidly off towards the
left.]

VILLAIN: Clown!

OLD MAN: How can he laugh and play his pranks even now? We haven’t
a cent to our souls, our supply of food is running low and our shoes are
dilapidated.

TRAGEDIAN: (with an outburst) Stop it! No reckoning! The number of our

sins is great and the tale of our misfortunes is even greater. Holy Father! Our
flasks are empty; I’d give what is left of our soles (displaying his ragged shoes)
for just a smell of whiskey.

[From the left is heard the laughter of a woman. Enter the COMEDIAN
carrying in his arms the HEROINE, who has her hands around his neck and
holds a satchel in both hands behind his back.]

COMEDIAN: (letting his burden down upon the grass) Sit down, my love,
and rest up. We go no further today. Your feet, your tender little feet must
ache you. How unhappy that makes me! At the first opportunity I shall buy
you an automobile.

HEROINE: And in the meantime you may carry me oftener.

COMEDIAN: The beast of burden hears and obeys.

[Enter the INGENUE and the actress who plays the OLD WOMAN each
carrying a small satchel.]

INGENUE: (weary and pouting) Ah! No one carried me.

[She sits on the grass to the right of the HEROINE.]

VILLAIN: We have only one ass with us.

56 General English

[The COMEDIAN stretches himself out at the feet of the HEROINE and emits
the bray of a donkey. The OLD WOMAN sits down on the grass to the left of the
HEROINE.]

OLD WOMAN: And are we to pass the night here?

OLD MAN: No, we shall stop at “Hotel Neverwas.”

COMEDIAN: Don’t you like our night’s lodgings? (Turning over toward the
OLD WOMAN) See, the bed is broad and wide, and certainly without vermin.
Just feel the high grass. Such a soft bed you never slept in. And you shall have
a cover embroidered with the moon and stars, a cover such as no royal bride
ever possessed.

OLD WOMAN: You’re laughing, and I feel like crying.

COMEDIAN: Crying? You should be ashamed of the sun which favors you
with its setting splendor. Look, and be inspired!

VILLAN: Yes, look and expire.

COMEDIAN: Look, and shout with ecstasy!

OLD MAN: Look, and burst!

[The INGENUE starts sobbing. The TRAGEDIAN laughs heavily.]

COMEDIAN: (turning over to the INGENUE) What. You are crying? Aren’t
you ashamed of yourself?

INGENUE: I’m sad.

OLD WOMAN: (sniffling) I can’t stand it any longer.

HEROINE: Stop it! Or I’ll start bawling, too.

[The COMEDIAN springs to his knees and looks quickly from one woman to
the other.]
 General English 57

VILLAIN: Ha--ha! Cheer them up, Clown!

COMEDIAN: (jumps up abruptly without the aid of his hands) Ladies and
Gentlemen, I have it! (in a measured singing voice) Ladies and Gentlemen, I
have it!

HEROINE: What have you?

COMEDIAN: Cheerfulness.

VILLAIN: Go bury yourself, Clown!

TRAGEDIAN: (as before) Ho-ho-ho.

OLD MAN: P-o-o-h!

[The women weep all the louder.]

COMEDIAN: I have----a bottle of whiskey!

[General commotion. The women stop crying and look up to the COMEDIAN
in amazement; the TRAGEDIAN straightens himself out and casts a surprised
look at the COMEDIAN; the OLD MAN, rubbing his hands, jumps to his feet;
the VILLAIN looks suspiciously at the COMEDIAN.]

TRAGEDIAN: A bottle of whiskey?

OLD MAN: He--He--He--A bottle of whiskey.

VILLAIN: Hum--whiskey.

COMEDIAN: You bet! A bottle of whiskey, hidden and preserved for such
moments as this, a moment of masculine depression and feminine tears.
(Taking the flask from his hip pocket. The expression on the faces of all
changes from hope to disappointment.)

VILLAIN: You call that a bottle. I call it a flask.

TRAGEDIAN: (explosively) A thimble!

58 General English

OLD MAN: A dropper!

OLD WOMAN: For seven of us! Oh!

COMEDIAN: (letting the flask sparkle in the sun) But it’s whiskey, my
children. (opening the flask and smelling it) U-u-u-m! That’s whiskey for you.
The saloonkeeper from whom I hooked it will become a teetotaler from sheer
despair.

[The TRAGEDIAN rises heavily and slowly proceeds towards the flask. The
VILLAIN, still skeptical, rises as if unwilling. The OLD MAN chuckles and rubs
his hands. The OLD WOMAN gets up indifferently and moves apathetically
toward the flask. The HEROINE and INGENUE hold each other by the hand
and take ballet steps in waltz time. All approach the COMEDIAN with necks
eagerly stretched out and smell the flask, which the COMEDIAN holds firmly
in both hands.]

TRAGEDIAN: Ho-ho-ho--Fine!

OLD MAN: He--He--Small quantity, but excellent quality!

VILLAIN: Seems to be good whiskey.

HEROINE: (dancing and singing) My Comedian, My Comedian. His head is

in the right place. But why didn’t you nab a larger bottle?

COMEDIAN: Oh Beloved One, I had to take in consideration both the quality

of the whiskey and the size of my pocket.

OLD WOMAN: If only there’s enough of it to go round.

INGENUE: Oh, I’m feeling sad again.

COMEDIAN: Cheer up; there will be enough for us all. Cheer up. Here, smell
it again.

[They smell again and cheerfulness reappears. They join hands and dance and
sing, forming a circle, the COMEDIAN applauding.]
 General English 59

COMEDIAN: Good! If you are so cheered after a mere smell of it, what won’t
you feel like after a drink? Wait, I’ll join you.(He hides the whiskey flask in
his pocket.) I’ll show you a new roundel which we will perform in our next
presentation of Hamlet, to the great edification of our esteemed audience.
(Kicking the VILLAIN’S bundles out of the way.) The place is clear, now for
dance and play. Join hands and form a circle, but you, Villain, stay on the
outside of it. You are to try to get in and we dance and are not to let you in,
without getting out of step. Understand? Now then!

[The circle is formed in the following order, COMEDIAN, HEROINE,

TRAGEDIAN, OLD WOMAN, OLD MAN, and INGENUE.]

COMEDIAN: (singing) To be or not to be, that is the question,

That is the question that is the question.
He who would enter in,
Climb he must over us,
If over he cannot,
He must get under us.

ALL: Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

Over us, under us.
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Under us, over us.
Now we are jolly, jolly are we.

COMEDIAN: To be or not to be, that is the question,

That is the question that is the question.
In life to win success,
Elbow your way through,
Jostle the next one,
Else you will be jostled.

ALL: Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,

Over us, under us.
Tra-la-la, tra-la-la,
Under us, over us.
Now we are jolly, jolly are we?
60 General English

[On the last word of the refrain they stop as if dumbfounded, and stand
transfixed, with eyes directed on one spot inside of the ring. The VILLAIN leans
over the arms of the COMEDIAN and the HEROINE; gradually the circle draws
closer till their heads almost touch. They attempt to free their hands but each
holds on to the other and all seven whispers in great astonishment.]

ALL: A dollar!

[The circle opens up again; they look each at the other and shout in wonder.]

ALL: A dollar!

[Once more they close in and the struggle to free their hands grows wilder;
the VILLAIN tries to climb over and then under the hands into the circle and
stretches out his hand toward the dollar, but instinctively he is stopped by the
couple he tries to pass between, even when he is not seen but only felt. Again
all lean their heads over the dollar, quite lost in the contemplation of it, and
whispering, enraptured.]

All: A dollar!

[Separating once again they look at each other with exultation and at the same
time try to free their hands, once more exclaiming in ecstasy.]

ALL: A dollar!

[Then the struggle to get free grows wilder and wilder. The hand that is perchance
freed is quickly grasped again by the one who held it.]

INGENUE: (in pain) Oh, my hands, my hands! You’ll break them. Let go of
my hands!

OLD WOMAN: If you don’t let go of my hands I’ll bite. (Attempting to bite
the hands of the TRAGEDIAN and the OLD MAN, while they try to prevent it.)

OLD MAN: (trying to free his hands from the hold of the HEROINE and the
OLD WOMAN) Let go of me. (Pulling at both his hands) These women’s
hands that--seem so frail, just look at them now.
 General English 61

HEROINE: (To COMEDIAN) But you let go my hands.

COMEDIAN: I think it’s you who are holding fast to mine.

HEROINE: Why should I be holding you? If you pick up the dollar, what is
yours is mine, you know.

COMEDIAN: Then let go of my hand and I’ll pick it up.

HEROINE: No, I’d rather pick it up myself.

COMEDIAN: I expected something like that from you.

HEROINE: (angrily) Let go of my hands, that’s all.

COMEDIAN: Ha-Ha-Ha--It’s a huge joke. (In a tone of command.) Be quiet.

(They become still.) We must contemplate the dollar with religious reverence.
(Commotion.) Keep quiet, I say! --A dollar is spread out before us. A real
dollar in the midst of our circle, and everything within us draws us towards it,
draws us on irresistibly. Be quiet! Remember you are before the Ruler, before
the Almighty. On your knees before Him and pray. On your knees. (Sinks
down on his knees and drags with him the HEROINE and INGENUE.)

OLD MAN: (Dropping on his knees and dragging the OLD WOMAN with
him.) He-He-He.

TRAGEDIAN: Ho-Ho-Ho, Clown!

COMEDIAN: (to TRAGEDIAN) You are not worthy of the serious mask you
wear. You don’t appreciate true Divine Majesty. On your knees, or you’ll get
no whiskey. (TRAGEDIAN sinks heavily on his knees.) Oh holy dollar, oh
almighty ruler of the universe, before thee we kneel in the dust and send
toward thee our most tearful and heartfelt prayers. Our hands are bound, but
our hearts strive toward thee and our souls yearn for thee. Oh great king of
kings, thou who bringest together those who are separated, and separatest
those who are near, thou who—
62 General English

[The VILLAIN, who is standing aside, takes a full jump, clears the INGENUE
and grasps the dollar. All let go of one another and fall upon him, shouting,
screaming, pushing and fighting. Finally the VILLAIN manages to free himself,
holding the dollar in his right fist. The others follow him with clenched fists,
glaring eyes and foaming mouths, wildly shouting.]

ALL: The dollar! The dollar! The dollar! Return the dollar!

VILLAIN: (retreating) You can’t take it away from me, it’s mine. It was lying
under my bundle.

ALL: Give up the dollar! Give up the dollar!

VILLAIN: (in great rage) No, no. (A moment during which the opposing sides
look at each other in hatred. Quietly but with malice.) Moreover, whom should
I give it to? To you--you--you--you?

COMEDIAN: Ha-ha-ha-ha. He is right, the dollar is his. He has it, therefore it

is his. Ha-ha-ha-ha, and I wanted to crawl on my knees toward the dollar and
pick it up with my teeth. Ha-ha-ha-ha, but he got ahead of me, Ha-ha-ha-ha.

HEROINE: (whispering in rage) That’s because you would not let go of me.

COMEDIAN: Ha-ha-ha-ha.

TRAGEDIAN: (shaking his fist in the face of the VILLAIN) Heaven and hell, I
feel like crushing you!

[He steps aside toward the trunk and sits down in his former pose. INGENUE,
lying down on the grass, starts to cry.]

COMEDIAN: Ha-ha-ha. Now we will drink, and the first drink is the Villain’s.

[His proposition is accepted in gloom; the INGENUE, however, stops crying;

the OLD MAN and the OLD WOMAN have been standing by the VILLAIN
looking at the dollar in his hand as if waiting for the proper moment to snatch it
from him. Finally the OLD WOMAN makes a contemptuous gesture and both
turn aside from the VILLAIN. The latter, left in peace, smooths out the dollar,
 General English 63

with a serious expression on his face. The COMEDIAN hands him a small glass
of whiskey.]

COMEDIAN: Drink, lucky one.

[The VILLAIN, shutting the dollar in his fist, takes the whiskey glass gravely and
quickly drinks the contents, returning the glass. He then starts to smooth and
caress the dollar again. The COMEDIAN, still laughing, passes the whiskey glass
from one to the other of the company, who drink sullenly. The whiskey fails to
cheer them. After drinking, the INGENUE begins to sob again. The HEROINE
who is served last throws the empty whiskey glass towards the COMEDIAN.]

COMEDIAN: Good shot. Now I’ll drink up all that’s left in the bottle.

[He puts the flask to his lips and drinks. The HEROINE tries to knock it away
from him but he skillfully evades her. The VILLAIN continues to smooth and
caress the dollar.]

VILLAIN: Ha-ha-ha ... (Singing and dancing)

He who would enter in,

Jum_ he must over us.

Ho-ho-ho. Oh Holy dollar! Oh almighty Ruler of the World!... Oh King of

Kings! Ha-ha-ha.... Don’t you all think if I have the dollar and you have it
not that I partake a bit of its majesty? That means that I am now a part of
its majesty. That means that I am the Almighty dollar’s plenipotentiary and
therefore I am the Almighty Ruler himself. On your knees before me!... He-
he-he....

COMEDIAN: (after throwing away the empty flask lies down on the grass)
Well roared, lion, but you forgot to hide your jackass’s ears.

VILLAIN: It is one’s consciousness of power. He-he-he. I know and you know

that if I have the money, I have the say. Remember, none of you has a cent to
his name. The whiskey is gone. (Picking up the flask and examining it.)

COMEDIAN: I did my job well, Drank it to the last drop.

64 General English

VILLAIN: Yes, to the last drop. This evening you shall have bread and sausage.
Very small portions too, for tomorrow is another day. (INGENUE sobbing
more frequently.) Not till the day after tomorrow shall we reach town and that
doesn’t mean that you get anything to eat there either, but I--I--I--he-he-he.
Oh holy dollar, almighty dollar. (Gravely) He who does my bidding shall not
be without food.

COMEDIAN: (with wide open eyes) What? Ha-ha-ha.

[INGENUE gets up and throws herself on the VILLAIN’S bosom.]

INGENUE: Oh my dear beloved one.

VILLAIN: Ha-ha, my power already makes itself felt.

HEROINE: (pushing the INGENUE away) Let go of him, you. He sought my

love for a long time and now he shall have it.

COMEDIAN: What? You!

HEROINE: (To COMEDIAN) I hate you, traitor. (To the VILLAIN) I have
always loved--genius. You are now the wisest of the wise. I adore you.

VILLAIN: (holding INGENUE in one arm) Come into my other arm.

(HEROINE throwing herself into his arms, kissing and embracing him.)

COMEDIAN: (half rising on his knees) Stop, I protest. (Throwing himself on

the grass.) “O frailty, thy name is woman.”

OLD WOMAN: (approaching the VILLAIN from behind and embracing him)
Find a little spot on your bosom for me. I play the “Old Woman,” but you
know I’m not really old.

VILLAIN: Now I have all of power and all of love.

COMEDIAN: Don’t call it love. Call it servility.

VILLAIN: (freeing himself from the women) But now I have something more
 General English 65

important to carry out. My vassals--I mean you all--I have decided we will
not stay here over night. We will proceed further.

WOMEN: How so?

VILLAIN: We go forward tonight.

COMEDIAN: You have so decided?

VILLAIN: I have so decided, and that in itself should be enough for you; but
due to an old habit I shall explain to you why I have so decided.

COMEDIAN: Keep your explanation to yourself and better not disturb my

contemplation of the sunset.

VILLAIN: I’ll put you down on the blacklist. It will go ill with you for your
speeches against me. Now then, without an explanation, we will go--and at
once. (Nobody stirs.) Very well then, I go alone.

WOMEN: No, no.

VILLAIN: What do you mean?

INGENUE: I go with you.

HEROINE: And I.

OLD WOMAN: And I.

VILLAIN: Your loyalty gratifies me very much.

OLD MAN: (who is sitting apathetically upon the trunk) What the deuce is
urging you to go?

VILLAIN: I wanted to explain it to you, but now no more. I owe you no

explanations. I have decided--I wish to go, and that is sufficient.

COMEDIAN: He plays his comedy wonderfully. Would you ever have

suspected that there was so much wit in his cabbage head?
66 General English

WOMEN: (making love to the VILLAIN) Oh you darling.

TRAGEDIAN: (majestically) I wouldn’t give him even a single glance.

VILLAIN: Still another on the blacklist. I’ll tell you this much--I have
decided—

COMEDIAN: Ha-ha-ha. How long will you keep this up?

VILLAIN: We start at once, but if I am to pay for your food I will not carry
any baggage. You shall divide my bundles among you and of course those
who are on the blacklist will get the heaviest share. You heard me. Now move
on. I’m going now. We will proceed to the nearest town which is thirty miles
away. Now then, I am off.

COMEDIAN: Bon voyage.

VILLAIN: And with me fare His Majesty the Dollar and your meals for
tomorrow.

WOMEN: We are coming, we are coming.

OLD MAN: I’ll go along.

TRAGEDIAN: (to the VILLAIN) You’re a scoundrel and a mean fellow.

VILLAIN: I am no fellow of yours. I am master and bread giver.

TRAGEDIAN: I’ll crush you in a moment.

VILLAIN: What? You threaten me! Let’s go.

[He turns to right. The women take their satchels and follow him.]

OLD MAN: (to the TRAGEDIAN) Get up and take the trunk. We will settle
the score with him some other time. It is he who has the dollar now.

TRAGEDIAN: (rising and shaking his fist) I’ll get him yet. (He takes his side
of the trunk.)
 General English 67

VILLAIN: (to TRAGEDIAN) First put one of my bundles on your back.

TRAGEDIAN: (in rage) One of your bundles on my back?

VILLAIN: Oh, for all I care you can put it on your head, or between your
teeth.

OLD MAN: We will put the bundle on the trunk.

COMEDIAN: (sitting up) Look here, are you joking or are you in earnest?

VILLAIN: (contemptuously) I never joke.

COMEDIAN: Then you are in earnest?

VILLAIN: I’ll make no explanations.

COMEDIAN: Do you really think that because you have the dollar—

VILLAIN: The holy dollar, the almighty dollar, the king of kings.

COMEDIAN: (continuing) That therefore you are the master—

VILLAIN: Bread-giver and provider.

COMEDIAN: And that we must—

VILLAIN: Do what I bid you to.

COMEDIAN: So you are in earnest?

VILLAIN: You just get up, take the baggage and follow me.

COMEDIAN: (rising) Then, I declare a revolution.

VILLAIN: What? A revolution!

COMEDIAN: A bloody one, if need be.

TRAGEDIAN: (dropping his end of the trunk and advancing with a bellicose
68 General English

attitude toward the VILLAIN) And I shall be the first to let your blood, you
scoundrel.

VILLAIN: If that’s the case I have nothing to say to you. Those who wish,
come along.

COMEDIAN: (getting in his way) No, you shall not go until you give up the
dollar.

VILLAIN: Ha-ha. It is to laugh!

COMEDIAN: The dollar please, or—

VILLAIN: He-he-he.

COMEDIAN: Then let there be blood. (Turns up his sleeves.)

TRAGEDIAN: (taking off his coat) Ah! Blood, blood!

OLD MAN: (dropping his end of the trunk) I’m not going to keep out of a fight.

WOMEN: (dropping their satchels) Nor we. Nor we.

VILLAIN: (shouting) To whom shall I give up the dollar? You--you--you--

you?

COMEDIAN: This argument will not work anymore. You are to give the
dollar up to all of us. At the first opportunity we’ll get change and divide it
into equal parts.

WOMEN: Hurrah, Hurrah! Divide it, Divide it.

COMEDIAN: (to VILLAIN) And I will even be so good as to give you a share.

TRAGEDIAN: I’d rather give him a sound thrashing.

COMEDIAN: It shall be as I say. Give up the dollar.

HEROINE: (throwing herself on the COMEDIAN’S breast) My comedian! My

comedian!
 General English 69

INGENUE: (to the VILLAIN) I’m sick of you. Give up the dollar.

COMEDIAN: (pushing the HEROINE aside) You better step aside or else you
may get the punch I aim at the master and bread giver. (To the VILLAIN.)
Come up with the dollar!

TRAGEDIAN: Give up the dollar to him, do you hear?

ALL: The dollar, the dollar!

VILLAIN: I’ll tear it to pieces.

COMEDIAN: Then we shall tear out what little hair you have left on your
head. The dollar, quick!

[They surround the VILLAIN; the women pull his hair; the TRAGEDIAN grabs
him by the collar and shakes him; the OLD MAN strikes him on his bald pate;
the COMEDIAN struggles with him and finally grasps the dollar.]

COMEDIAN: (holding up the dollar) I have it!

[The women dance and sing.]

VILLAIN: Bandits! Thieves!

TRAGEDIAN: Silence or I’ll shut your mouth. (Goes back to the trunk and
assumes his heroic pose.)

COMEDIAN: (putting the dollar into his pocket) That what I call a successful
and a bloodless revolution, except for a little fright and heart palpitation
on the part of the late master and bread giver.-- Listen, someone is coming.
Perhaps he’ll be able to change the dollar and then we can divide it at once.

OLD MAN: I am puzzled how we can change it into equal parts. (Starts to
calculate with the INGENUE and the OLD WOMAN.)

HEROINE: (tenderly attentive to the COMEDIAN) You are angry with me,
but I was only playing with him so as to wheedle the dollar out of him.
70 General English

COMEDIAN: And now you want to trick me out of my share of it.

OLD MAN: It is impossible to divide it into equal parts. It is absolutely

impossible. If it were ninety-eight cents or one-hundred and five cents or—

[The STRANGER enters from the Right, perceives the company, greets it and
continues his way to left. COMEDIAN stops him.]

COMEDIAN: I beg your pardon, sir; perhaps you have change of a dollar in
dimes, nickels, and pennies. (Showing the dollar. The OLD MAN and women
step forward.)

STRANGER: (getting slightly nervous, starts somewhat, makes a quick

movement for his pistol pocket, looks at the COMEDIAN and the others and
says slowly) Change of a dollar? (Moving from the circle to left.) I believe I have.

WOMEN: Hurrah!

STRANGER: (turns so that no one is behind him and pulls his revolver) Hands
up!

COMEDIAN: (in a gentle tone of voice) My dear sir, we are altogether peaceful
folk.

[The STRANGER takes the dollar from the Comedian’s hand and walks
backwards to left with the pistol pointed at the group.]

STRANGER: Good night, everybody.

[He disappears; the actors remain dumb with fear, with their hands up, mouths
wide-open and staring into space.]

COMEDIAN: (finally breaks out into thunderous laughter) Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-

ha.

CURTAIN
 General English 71

Note on the author

David Pinski (April 5, 1872 – August 11, 1959) was a Yiddish writer, best
known as a playwright. At a time when Eastern Europe was only beginning
to experience the industrial revolution, Pinski was the first to introduce to its
stage a drama about urban Jewish workers; a dramatist of ideas, he was notable
also for writing about human sexuality with a frankness previously unknown
to Yiddish literature. He was also notable among early Yiddish playwrights
in having stronger connections to German language literary traditions than
Russian.

Note on the play

The Dollar is an allegorical play in which a troupe of stranded strolling players,
tired and destitute, end up haggling over a dollar bill they find. Control of the
group is fought for by the Comedian and the Villain and who controls the
dollar is what decides who has the power. The play concludes ironically, with
a sense of Deus-ex-Machina, upon the entrance of a stranger, who is asked to
make change for the dollar bill so that the players may divide it up, and who
instead pulls a gun, steals the dollar and runs off.

Glossary
• Valise: A small travelling bag or suitcase
• Servility: An excessive willingness to serve or please others
• Dilapidated: In a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or
neglect
• Contemptuous: Showing contempt; scornful
• Bellicose: Demonstrating aggression and willingness to fight
• Palpitation: A noticeably rapid, strong, or irregular heartbeat due
to agitation
• Earnest: Resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction
72 General English

Comprehension questions
1. Where is the one act play ‘A Dollar’ set?
2. What drink did the Comedian use to cheer up the characters in
the play?
3. What astonished seven characters in the play?
4. Comment on the ironical end of the story.
5. Discuss the character of Heroine and other female characters.
6. Write the significance of the title.
7. The play portrays the life of actors in the 19th and 20th centuries,
contextualize the play by referring to the historical and socio-
economic status of people of that era.
 General English 73

LESSON - 6
A Dog Has Died
-Pablo Neruda

My dog has died.

I buried him in the garden
next to a rusted old machine.

Someday I’ll join him right there,

but now he’s gone with his shaggy coat,
his bad manners and his cold nose,
and I, the materialist, who never believed
in any promised heaven in the sky
for any human being,
I believe in a heaven I’ll never enter.
Yes, I believe in a heaven for all dogdom
where my dog waits for my arrival
waving his fan-like tail in friendship.

Ai, I’ll not speak of sadness here on earth,

of having lost a companion
who was never servile.
His friendship for me, like that of a porcupine
withholding its authority,
was the friendship of a star, aloof,
with no more intimacy than was called for,
with no exaggerations:
he never climbed all over my clothes
filling me full of his hair or his mange,
he never rubbed up against my knee
like other dogs obsessed with sex.

No, my dog used to gaze at me,

paying me the attention I need,
the attention required
to make a vain person like me understand
74 General English

that, being a dog, he was wasting time,

but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,
he’d keep on gazing at me
with a look that reserved for me alone
all his sweet and shaggy life,
always near me, never troubling me,
and asking nothing.

Ai, how many times have I envied his tail

as we walked together on the shores of the sea
in the lonely winter of Isla Negra
where the wintering birds filled the sky
and my hairy dog was jumping about
full of the voltage of the sea’s movement:
my wandering dog, sniffing away
with his golden tail held high,
face to face with the ocean’s spray.

Joyful, joyful, joyful,

as only dogs know how to be happy
with only the autonomy
of their shameless spirit.

There are no good-byes for my dog who has died,

and we don’t now and never did lie to each other.

So now he’s gone and I buried him,

and that’s all there is to it.

Note on the poet

Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet
and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after
Czech poet, Jan Neruda. Neruda wrote in a variety of styles such as erotically
charged love poems as in his collection Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of
Despair, surrealist poems, historical epics, and overtly political manifestos. In
1971, Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Colombian novelist, Gabriel
 General English 75

García Márquez once called him “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any
language.”

Note on the poem

The poem is about a man who is reminiscing about his dog and thinking
about how the animal has changed his outlook on life. The theme of the poem
is death; the poet is expressing his emotions after his dog’s death. The readers
understand the man’s unconditional love towards the dog thus having no
regrets as the dog left him for ‘dogdom’. The poet’s love for his dog is to an
extent where he believes in reuniting with the dog in his afterlife. In this
poem, imagery is used to describe the dog and how the poet felt towards him.
He uses images that show how deeply he cared for and how much he valued
his dog.

Glossary:
• Shaggy- Having long, thick, unkempt hair or fur
• Dogdom- The world of dogs or of dog fanciers
• Porcupine- A large rodent with defensive spines or quills on the
body and tail
• Servile- Having or showing an excessive willingness to serve or
please others
• Isla Negra- Is a coastal area in El Quisco commune in central
Chile

Comprehension questions
1. What is the tone of the poem?
2. Where does the speaker bury his dog in the poem?
3. Who is the materialist in the poem?
4. Who waits for the speaker’s arrival in heaven in the poem?
5. Comment on the imagery used in this poem
6. Comment on the theme of the poem.
7. “A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in
your life, things won’t be too bad” Substantiate.
 General English 77

LESSON - 7
Ode To A Grasshopper
-Pedro Pietri

(I hope)
The only reason
That I am this pre-autumn
Afternoon in the privacy
Of my suspicious living room
Grant myself permission
To believe in god once again
Is solely because I saw
An unexpected grasshopper
Staring at my thoughts
On the table that keeps
The telephone from having
A mind of its very own
At first I was startled
And then I was startled less
At the sight of this insect
Put together in green details
To pay me an afternoon visit
39 floors above floor level
In my High Rise Hobo apartment
Miracle on 53rd street
Grasshopper hopped all the way
39 floors above floor level
To deliberately invade my privacy
And I didn’t mind at all
After grasshopper assured me
It didn’t speak English or Spanish
Or Chinese with an Italian accent
So we hit it off right away
You mind your own business
And I will not ask you
Any personal questions aside
78 General English

From how the hell did you get here

I’ve never written a poem
About grasshoppers this high up before
And I know it wasn’t something
My non existing paint brushes
Conceived behind my back and
The only grass I have here is
To smoke & not hop around in
Until I get dizzy and levitate
There has to be a mistake
Or did the grasshopper take
The elevator to the 39th floor
And enter my apartment without knocking
To make it obvious grasshoppers
Have the right to remain silent also
And give credit to the desert
For his arrival and not no Almighty
The only other mystery capable

About the poet

Pedro Pietri (March 21, 1944 – March 3, 2004) was a Nuyorican poet and
playwright and a founder of the Nuyorican Movement. He was the poet
laureate of the Nuyorican Movement. Pedro was greatly influenced by his aunt,
who often recited poetry and on occasions put on theatrical plays in the First
Spanish Methodist church in El Barrio. Pietri himself started to write poems
as a student at Haaren High School. After graduating from high school, Pietri
worked in a variety of jobs until he was drafted into the Army and sent to fight
in the Vietnam War. The experiences that he faced in the Army and Vietnam,
plus the discrimination that he witnessed while growing up in New York,
were to become the main factors that would forge his personality and style
of poetry.Among his other works are Invisible Poetry (1979), Traffic (1980),
Plays (1982), Traffic Violations (1983), and The Masses are Asses (1988).
 General English 79

Notes on poem
This poem is an example of urbanisation and its influences on one’s belief in
the Almighty. The grasshopper’s ‘unexpected visit’ makes the speaker wonder
in the capacities of the Almighty to have sent a grasshopper to the 39th floor
of the apartment. A sharp satire lurks throughout the poem which points out
at an individual’s privacy being invaded by an insect.

Comprehension questions
1. What is the time and season mentioned in the poem?
2. How does the speaker describe his living room and why?
3. What is the significance of the expression ‘To believe in God once
again’ mean?
4. What made the speaker ‘to believe in God once again’?
5. Why is the speaker ‘startled’ in the poem?
6. Mention the significance of the phrase ‘deliberately invade my
privacy.
7. Which is the ‘only grass’ the speaker mentions in the poem? Why
is it used by the poet?
8. Pick out the words and phrases in the poem which mean the
grasshopper’s arrival is unexpected and uninvited.
9. Which are the different languages that the speaker mentions in
the poem and why?
10. Where does the speaker stay?
11. Comment on the speaker’s surprise on seeing a grasshopper.
12. How does the speaker describe the grasshopper’s arrival?
13. Write a note on speaker’s abode.
14. Is the speaker an atheist? Discuss.
15. Why is the speaker surprised to see the grasshopper in his room?
16. Comment on the conclusion the speaker arrives at after seeing
the grasshopper.
17. Which are the two mysteries that the speaker talks about in the
poem? Why are they considered mysteries?
18. Write a note on the satirical tone used in the poem.
 General English 81

LESSON - 8
To Autumn
-John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?

Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,
Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?

Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
82 General English

Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft

The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

About the poet

John Keats is an English poet born in London on 31 October 1795. He has
published only fifty-four poems which include the great odes written in 1819
– Ode On A Grecian Urn, Ode To A Nightingale, Ode To Autumn, Ode To
Melancholy, Ode On Indolence and Ode To Psyche. He acquired knowledge
in Latin and French, and translated several works to English. In 1820, he fell
ill with consumption and moved to Rome where he died in 1821.

About the poem

Written in September 1819, the poem personifies autumn in various forms.
Autumn is seen as a conspirer who deceives the bees into believing that the
warm days will never end and also a woman sitting in the granary careless
about the harvest. Finally, the autumn becomes a musician playing music to
signify the end of the day.

Glossary
• Abroad: Outdoor
• Gleaner: Someone who picks up the grains left in the field by the
harvesters
• Bourn: A boundary, a distant place
• Sallow: A shrubby broad leaved willows having large and
cylindrical like inflorescence

Comprehension questions
1. Who are the bosom friends? What do they do ‘conspiring’ with
each other?
2. Why would the bees think that the warm days will never end?
 General English 83

3. Pick out the lines from the poem that describe the images of
blossoming and ripening.
4. Why is the woman sound asleep on a half reaped furrow?
5. How is the gleaner described in the poem?
6. What does the phrase ‘barred clouds bloom the soft dying day’
imply?
7. Why does the poet call autumn as ‘seasons of mist and mellow
fruitfulness’?
8. Describe the agricultural work scenes in the poem ‘To Autumn’.
9. How do animals react to the soft-dying day?
10. Autumn is personified throughout the poem. Justify.
11. The poem is a progression from morning to noon and then to
evening. Explain.
 General English 85

LESSON - 9
The Patriot
- Nissim Ezekiel

I am standing for peace and non-violence.

Why world is fighting fighting
Why all people of world
Are not following Mahatma Gandhi,
I am simply not understanding.
Ancient Indian Wisdom is 100% correct,
I should say even 200% correct,
But modern generation is neglecting -
Too much going for fashion and foreign thing.

Other day I’m reading newspaper

(Every day I’m reading Times of India
To improve my English Language)
How one goonda fellow
Threw stone at Indirabehn.

Must be student unrest fellow, I am thinking.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, I am saying (to myself)
Lend me the ears.
Everything is coming -
Regeneration, Remuneration, Contraception.
Be patiently, brothers and sisters.

You want one glass lassi?

Very good for digestion.
With little salt, lovely drink,
Better than wine;
Not that I am ever tasting the wine.

I’m the total teetotaller, completely total,

But I say
Wine is for the drunkards only.
86 General English

What you think of prospects of world peace?

Pakistan behaving like this,
China behaving like that,
It is making me really sad, I am telling you.
Really, most harassing me.

All men are brothers, no?

In India also
Gujaratis, Maharashtrians, Hindiwallahs
All brothers -
Though some are having funny habits.

Still, you tolerate me,

I tolerate you,
One day Ram Rajya is surely coming.

You are going?

But you will visit again
Any time, any day,
I am not believing in ceremony
Always I am enjoying your company.

Note on the poet

Nissim Ezekiel (16 December, 1924 – 9 January, 2004) was an Indian Jewish
poet, actor, playwright, editor and art-critic. He was a foundational figure in
postcolonial India’s literary history, specifically for Indian writing in English.

He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983 for his Poetry collection,
Latter-Day Psalms, by the Sahitya Akademi, India’s National Academy of
Letters. Ezekiel is universally recognized and appreciated as being one of
the most notable and accomplished Indian English language poets of the
20th century, applauded for his subtle, restrained and well-crafted diction,
dealing with common and mundane themes in a manner that manifests
both cognitive profundity, as well as an unsentimental, realistic sensibility,
that has been influential on the course of succeeding Indian English poetry.
Ezekiel enriched and established Indian English language poetry through
 General English 87

his modernist innovations and techniques, which enlarged Indian English

literature, moving it beyond purely spiritual and orientalist themes, to include
a wider range of concerns and interests, including mundane familial events,
individual angst and skeptical societal introspection.

Note on the poem

“The Patriot” can be – and has been – read in at least two conflicting ways:
as a satire and mockery of the speaker of the poem, and as an affectionate
portrayal of the poem’s speaker. According to the first view, the poem
implicitly ridicules the speaker’s use of the English language, making that use
seem awkward and uninformed. According to the second view, the poem
presents the speaker in such a way that we cannot help but admire him (or
her) by the end of the work. Of these two views, the second seems more
convincing. If the poem had been written to satirize and ridicule the speaker.
Besides, little that the speaker actually says seems worthy of severe mockery.
The speaker seems to be a person with a generous outlook on life and on
other people.

Glossary
1. Goonda fellow – Rogue element
2. Regeneration - The action or process of regenerating or being
regenerated
3. Remuneration - Money paid for work or a service
4. Contraception - The deliberate use of artificial methods or other
techniques to prevent pregnancy
5. Lassi - A sweet or savoury Indian drink made from a yogurt or
buttermilk base with water
6. Teetotaller - A person who never drinks alcohol
7. Ram Rajya - The rule of righteousness
88 General English

Comprehension questions:
1. What has speeded up the process of change?
2. Whom does the narrator want the people to follow in the second
stanza?
3. On which things is the modern generation focusing in the second
srtanza?
4. Who is a teetotaler in the poem?
5. Write a note on the significance of the title of the poem.
6. What kind of patriotism does the narrator dislike?
7. What efforts does the narrator make in order to become a ‘good’
English speaker?
8. What suggestion does the narrator offer for the ethnic tensions
amongst Indians?
9. Critically evaluate The Patriot.
10. The Patriot can be read in at least two conflicting ways: as a satire
and mockery of the speaker of the poem, and as an affectionate
portrayal of the poem’s speaker. Elucidate.
 General English 89

LESSON - 10
The Mad
(Translated from Malayalam by the poet)
- K. Satchidanandan
The mad have no caste
nor religion. They transcend
gender, live outside
ideologies. We do not deserve
their innocence.

Their language is not of dreams

but of another reality. Their love
is moonlight. It overflows
on the full moon day.

Looking up they see

gods we have never heard of. They are
shaking their wings when
we fancy they are
shrugging their shoulders. They hold
even flies have souls
and the green god of grasshoppers
leaps up on thin legs.

At times they see trees bleed; hear

lions roaring from the streets. At times
they watch Heaven gleaming
in a kitten’s eyes, just as
we do. But they alone can hear
ants sing in a chorus.

While patting the air

they are taming a cyclone
over the Mediterranean. With
their heavy tread, they stop
a volcano from erupting.
90 General English

They have another measure

of time. Our century is
their second. Twenty seconds,
and they reach Christ; six more,
they are with the Buddha.

In a single day, they reach

the big bang at the beginning.

They go on walking restless for

their earth is boiling still.

The mad are not

mad like us.

Note on poet
Koyamparambath Satchidanandan was born in 1946 in Pulloot, a village in
Kodungallur in the Thrissur District of Kerala. After his early education in
the village school, he studied biology at Christ College, Irinjalakuda and had
his Masters in English from Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam. He obtained his
PhD in post-structuralist poetics from the University of Calicut. He joined
as a lecturer in English at K.K.T.M. College, Pulloot in 1968, and moved to
Christ College in 1970 where he became a Professor of English. He voluntarily
retired from this post in 1992 to take up the editorship of Indian Literature,
the English journal of the Indian National Academy in Delhi. In 1996 he was
nominated Secretary, the chief executive, of the Academy, a post from which
he retired in 2006. Later he served as a Consultant to the Indian Government’s
Department of Higher Education and to the National Translation Mission.
He also worked as Director, School of Translation Studies and Training at the
Indira Gandhi Open University, Delhi. He edited ‘The Katha Library of Indian
Literature’, ‘The Library of South Asian ‘Literature’ and Beyond Borders, a
journal of South Asian literature and ideas.

is literary career began with the publication of ‘Kurukshetram’, a collection

of essays on poetry (1970) and ‘Anchusooryan’ , a collection of poems(1971).
Since then he has published several books of poetry, criticism, plays,
travelogues and translations of poetry and plays.
 General English 91

Note on poem
The poem is all about the unique people on this earth called MAD - ‘The
Mentally Challenged Ones’. He says they have no caste, no creed or no religion
and they are different not like us. They go beyond the gender and live outside
their thinking. We do not deserve their innocence and their language is not to
do with dreams but of the different reality as their love is something like the
moonlight and it happens to flow on the full moon night called POURNAMI.

Their illusions are such that we have not heard of their gods deities; they
are happy and gay shaking their wings like the angels do shrugging their
shoulders in innocence. They feel that even flies have souls and so does the
grasshopper, and also sometimes feel as if they see the trees bleed, lions roar
on the street, heaven gleaming in a kitten’s eyes, just as we do and ants sing
a chorus. They feel like they calm the cyclone over a Mediterranean sea with
their walk sounding a pounding that would calm the sea. The best part is
when it comes to time. Our century is their second and in twenty seconds,
they reach Jesus Christ and give another six they are with Lord Buddha. They
walk restless as if the earth is boiling but remember ‘ The mad are not mad
like us’.

Glossary
• Transcend : Go beyond the range or limits of
• Ideologies: An ideology is a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or
an individual
• Gleaming: Shine brightly, especially with reflected light.
• Patting: Touch quickly and gently with the flat of the hand.
• Taming: To subdue, to calm or to control.
92 General English

Comprehension questions
1. Who is the speaker? Who is he talking about?
2. What does the speaker mean when he says ‘they transcend gender
and live outside ideologies’?
3. What does the phrase ‘another reality’ mean?
4. Explain the phrase ‘Big Bang’ in the sixth stanza.
5. Do you think the speaker dislikes mad people? Justify your
answer.