Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1963, Page 89

know thyself
71
Butterfly: You made Worm lame
and blinded him in one eye.
Ant: This we call claiming the oath
°f allegiance by force. Allegiance
consists in not pursuing happiness.
Butterfly: In spite of everything,
Worm could get across the border
if somebody went with him.
Ant (starts): It never occurred to
me that anybody might do that.—
Why are you so concerned about
Worm?
Butterfly: Oh, I am not concerned
about him.
Ant: Come to think of it, I have
seen you kiss each other.
Butterfly. You are lying; I have
never kissed him.
Ant: Being in love with anybody in
*ns position is blindness. You cer-
tainly have a chance for something
better.
Butterfly. I should be pleased to
know what that might be.
Ant: Then come with me into my
house.
Butterfly: How can you imagine
111 do a thing like that?
Ant: We can be there all by our-
selves.
Butterfly (moves back): Stop!
ut: I Wiii give you the wealth of
Ihe poor.
Butterfly: I don’t want it.
Ant (laughs): When in the hands of
°thers, it is the greatest wealth there
ls' ^nd I will give you a diamond
^ng iridescent with all the colors of
e rainbow like the stars one sees at
reeeiving a blow in the eye. And I
will give you a necklace of pearls
resembling tears which might have
fallen in large drops and frozen on
the breast. And I will give you an
armlet that looks like golden blood
flowing from the brachial artery.
Butterfly: I won’t accept any of
these things.
Ant: But you will consent to seeing
them.
Butterfly: I won’t go with you into
your house.
Ant: Maybe not. (They exit to the
right.)
Firefly enters from the left.
Firefly: You can’t be undecided any
longer. Now you can go without any
reservations.
Worm (puts down the hoe): Never
have I needed Butterfly more des-
perately than now—
Firefly: You are pained more at be-
ing worsted by Ant than at losing
Butterfly.
Worm: All the same I feel as if
happiness would lie in having your
guidance. Happiness may even con-
sist in not being aware of unhap-
piness. Although I don’t seek to
escape unhappiness but on the con-
trary wait for it, I do want to find
happiness. I don’t look for happiness
where it can be expected, but rather
where unhappiness is unavoidable.
Just like those who commit crimes
against their wills, knowing that do-
ing so will result in their un-
happiness, so I am drawn, as in a
dream and as if by magic power, to
unhappiness. At bottom, unhap-
piness is circumstances that cause
a man to do wrong, intentionally or