Child: But I do not want to study. Christmas has just come and gone!

I just wish people would leave me alone.

Oh how I’d like to pull the cat’s tail very hard, and cut off the squirrel’s too!

I wish I could make Mama feel sorry. I’d like to make Mama feel very sorry.

Mother: Baby, have you been good? And learnt your lesson well?

Oh, you have done nothing! So much for all your New Year’s resolutions!

Oh, you should be ashamed!

Did you not promise me that you’d do well?

You know, your Mama has worked so hard…

Oh! You’re not allowed to play with your presents. Not until you behave.

Remain alone ‘til dinner time.

Sit alone for awhile. Think upon your behaviour.

Darling, promise me you’ll be good for your Mama.

Child: I don’t care! I don’t care! I am sick of behaving! I don’t care. I must prefer to remain alone!

I am tired. Mama, I hate you, hate you, hate you. Mama!

Child: Hurrah!

Child: Hurrah! No more lessons! No more practice! I am free, free, naughty and free!

————

(The two armchairs, which the Child has kicked in a rage, come to life.)

Old Armchair: I am your humble servant, Young Chair.

New Armchair: Your servant, Armchair.

Old Armchair: Now we’re about to rid ourselves forever of this Child with such wicked heels.

New Armchair: How delightful. You fill me with joy!

Old Armchair: No more soft pillows for his sleep, no more seats for his reverie…

No more repose for him, save on the freezing ground.

And still more…who knows?

New Armchair: And still more….who knows?

Old Armchair & New Armchair: Now we’re about to rid ourselves forever of this Child with such wicked heels. The bench…

New Armchair: …also the couch.

Old Armchair: …the stool…

New Armchair: …and that chair over there…

Old Armchair: We want no more, want no more of the Child.

Old Armchair & New Armchair: No more of the Child!

————

(Enter the damaged Clock)

Clock: Ding ding ding ding! Another ding ding ding! Another ding! Another ding!

I am unable to stop my own strike. I don’t know what time it is!

My balance is completely off!

I have terrible pains in my stomach. I feel a blast of air in my centre.

And I think I’m going insane!

Child: Ah! The clock is moving!

Clock: Ding ding ding…will you at least let me pass? Won’t you let me hide my sorrow, striking so much at my age…

I…I…who struck the hours sweet and gentle. Hour of Slumber, Hour of Waking, Hour of Darkness and Hour of Shining Light!

The blessed hour which gave birth to this rebel Child!

And now perhaps….perhaps if I were whole, nothing qould ever have changed in this household.

(rambling) Perhaps no one would ever have died…

If I had been able to continue to strike them equally and evenly, the hours.

Ah! Won’t you let me hide my sorrow and my shame?

My nose against the wall!

Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding…

———-

(The Teapot and the Teacup come to life.)

Teapot: How’s your mug?

Teacup: Rotten.

Teapot: Only had…

Teacup: Come on.

Teapot: Black and costaud, black and chic, black black black,

Jolly fellow, jolly fellow, black. I punch, sir.

I punch your nose.

I punch, I knock out you,  stupid chose. Black black and thick, and vrai beau gosse, and vrai beau gosse. I boxe you. I boxe you, I marm’lad you!

Teacup: Keng ça fou, Mahjong, keng ça fou, puis’kong kong pranpa, ça oh ra, ça oh ra, ça oh ra, cas-cara hara-kiri, sessue Hayaka wa! Ha! Ha! ça oh ra ça oh ra, Ha! ça oh ra, ça oh ra toujour l’air, chinoa!

——

The Child:

Oh, my lovely Chinese cup!

(The flame of the candle bursts forth and begins to menace the Child.)

Fire:

Away!

The good children I warm, the good children I warm, ah!

But I burn the bad!

Beware, you savage, you impudent child,

You had better beware of those whom you have scorned—

You naughty child! Such ingratitude! You have made us your enemy!

Ah!Ah! Ah!

Look at the gifts you have smashed,

The toys you have ruined,

And you have scattered all the paper!

Watch me, see the fire burn!

You will melt just like an ice cube on my tongue of scarlet!

Ah! Ah! Ah!

Careful. For I shine for the hood.

Careful! For I burn the bad. Careful,careful, ah!

Oh beware!

Ah ah ah ah ah!

The Child:

I’m scared. I’m scared.

————-

(Paper figures emerge from a torn French Christmas card. They mourn their broken comrades.)

THE SHEPHERDS 

Farewell, shepherdesses! 

THE SHEPHERDESSES

Shepherds, farewell! 

THE SHEPHERDS AND SHEPHERDESSES 

We shall no longer roam the mauve grass, 

Grazing our green sheep! 

THE SHEPHERDS 

Alas, our amaranth goat! 

THE SHEPHERDESSES 

Alas, our tender pink lambs! 

THE SHEPHERDS

Alas, our purple cherries! 

THE SHEPHERDS AND SHEPHERDESSES

And our blue dog! 

THE SHEPHERDS

With arms outstretched, shepherdesses, 

Our love seemed eternal, 

And our flutes. 

THE SHEPHERDESSES

With lips smiling, shepherds, 

Our flutes seemed eternal too. 

(A dance of the little figures expresses, through movement, 

their sorrow at no longer being able to reunite.) 

A SHEPHERD

The wicked Child has torn apart 

Our gentle story, 

A shepherd here, a shepherdess there, 

The wicked Child who owes us 

His first smile. 

A SHEPHERDESS AND A SHEPHERD

A shepherd here, a shepherdess there, and so on. 

A SHEPHERDESS

The ungrateful Child who once slept 

Under the watch of our blue dog. 

Alas, our amaranth goat! 

A SHEPHERD

Alas, our roses and green sheep! 

THE SHEPHERDS

Farewell, shepherdesses! 

THE SHEPHERDESSES 

Shepherds, farewell!

———

(The Angel Princess Christmas Topper mourns the loss of her wings.)

The Child:

Ah, ‘tis she, ‘tis she!

Angel tree topper:

Yes. ‘Tis she your angel princess.

She for whom you cried out in your dreaming only last night.

You placed me atop the Christmas tree, and I’ve kept watch for so long…

You have been singing to yourself: “She is pale

With eyes the colour of the skies.”

You have sought me in the heart of the rose – and the perfume of the lily.

You have sought me, little lover of mine,

And I’ve been, since yesterday, your first and best beloved!

The Child:

‘Tis she!

Angel tree topper:

But since you have destroyed my wings, what is going to happen to me?

Who knows, who knows if I could guard this sacred tree with nothing

But my robes of silver. Ah….

Tell me, can you forever ignore my sad fate,

The fate of your first and best beloved?

The Child:

Oh! Please do not go! Stay!

Tell me, the tree in which the bluebird sang?

Angel tree topper:

See its branches, see its fruits, alas…

The Child (anxious):

Your shining halo, where is it now?

Angel tree topper:

See, oh! these broken wings. Alas…

The Child:

Your cavalier? The Prince with a crest the colour of dawn?

Ah, maybe he will come with his sword! If I had but a sword, but a sword! Ah! In my arms, in my arms!

Come, come!

I will defend you!

Angel tree topper:

Alas, my little, feeble friend, what can you do for me?

Ah what is the length of a dream?

My dream was so long, so long, that perhaps at the end of the dream, I might have found you…

The Child with the coat of crimson…

Ah help me! Oh help me!

Sleep and Night wish to take me away from you! Oh help!

The Child:

MY sword! My sword! My sword!

The Child:

You, the heart of the rose, you the perfume of the lily.

You, your hands and crown, your soft eyes and your bright jewels.

You have only left me, like a ray of light, a shining hair upon my shoulder…

A shining hair, and fragments of a dream.

Nothing…! These are nothing but dusty old books

Of lessons so stupid and dry!

——

(Enter Father Christmas and his three helpers)

Father Christmas:

Twenty tonnes of presents sent off in the sleigh!

Thirty due at midnight, forty-five at half past one ad six at half-past two…

Later later later!

Presents present presents! Presents presents presents!

Presents for the good, kind children!

Headaches every year, presents presents presents.

Christmas lists at least a mile long!

The Child:

Oh oh! It’s Father Christmas!

Father Christmas:

Naughty naughty naughty!

Helpers:

Naughty naughty naughty!

Father Christmas:

Naughty boy, naughty! Naughty boy, naughty, naughty boy, naughty, naughty boy, naughty.

The Child:

I’ve been good, honest!

Helpers:

Naughty boy! Naughty!

The Child:

I’ve been good!

Father Christmas:

Naughty!

The Child:

I’ve been good!

Helpers:

Naughty.

The Child:

I’ve been good.

Father Christmas:

Naughty!

The Child:

I’ve been good, honest!

Father Christmas:

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen,

Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen…

Comet, Cupid, Prancer, Vicen,

Dasher, Dancer, all my reindeer

Dash away, dash away, dash away!

(Don’t forget Rudolph…)

Helpers:

Thirty due at midnight, two hundred at one,

Twenty tonnes of presents, all these Christmas lists go on and on

And on and—

Father Christmas:

Presents presents presents! Presents presents presents!

Let us make haste!

Helpers:

Says here that he’s naughty…naughty naughty naughty!

Let us make haste….

Father Christmas:

So much to do, so much to do, so much to do, children will soon wake…

Helpers:

So much to do, so much to do, so much to do, children will soon wake!

Father Christmas:

Falala…

Helpers:

Naughty! Naughty boy…Etc.

——-

(Two Cats appear.)

The Child:

Oh my head…my head…

Is that you?

Oh Cat, how strange you’re looking. No doubt you too can speak?

Cats:

Mi in hou…etc.

———-

(The Cats leave the Child in a strange dimension: part-memory, part-dream. Various toys and ornaments appear. The Child then sees his Christmas Tree, who berates him.)

The Child:

Ah!

How strange to see you in my room, O Tree?

What?

The Tree:

I’m bleeding, I’m bleeding!

The Child:

What’s bleeding?

The Tree:

The wound you inflicted just yesterday on my side with the knife that you stole…

Alas!

It’s still bleeding sap!

Trees:

We are bleeding! We are bleeding! They are still fresh and continue to bleed with sap…

Wicked child!

———

The Dragonfly Kite:

Where are you?

Looking for you…

In the net he has caught you…

Oh you my dear…

Long and frail…

Your turquoises, your topazes,

Oh who in the world could miss you more than I….?

The Bluebird:

Ah! Ah! Ah ah ah ah!

The Dragonfly Kite:

Lonely, lonely.

I am lonely.

I look for you….give her back!

Where is she?

My companion…give her back! Give her back, give her back! My companion!

The Child:

I cannot now! I cannot now.

The Dragonfly Kite:

Where is she?

The Child:

I cannot…

The dragonfly which I once captured…

I stuck with a needle against the wall…ah!

The Toy Bat:

Give her back! Tsk tsk! Give her back… my companion, my friend the Bat!

You know?

The Child:

I know…

The Toy Bat:

The big stick…tsk tsk! The pursuit in the night!

Your victory……and then the little animal

Dying at your feet.

The Child:

Dying?

The Toy Bat:

The nest full…little ones…with no mother…

The must, tsk tsk, they must be fed…

The Child:

No mother!

The Toy Bat:

And now, we, we must fly, we must chase, we must turn, we must chase, we must catch…tsk tsk.

…it’s your fault!

———-

The Plush Squirrel:

Save yourself, it’s a cage! A cage!

The Toy Frog:

Ke k eke ca?

The Plush Squirrel:

The prison, heu heu! The prison!

The steel between iron bars.

Heu heu!

I could run…but how can your four little wet hands serve you as my hands serve me?

The Toy Frog:

Wh-wh-wh-what did you say?

I know nothing of a c-c-c-c-cage!

But I know the fly he threw to me, ploc!

And the coat so red, ploc!

The bait comes,

I leap up, I am caught, I escape, I return, Ploc!

The Toy Squirrel:

You idiot. You’re going to die!

The Child:

The “cage”? All the better to see your sweetness. Also your four little hands, your fine eyes…

The Toy Squirrel (sarcastically):

Yes. You wished to see my eyes!

But do you know what they say? My fine eyes?

The sky…the free wind and my free brothers swift as birds on the wing…

And now behold…

You see what they see! My fine eyes!

All shining with my tears…

The Child:

Such warmth.

They’re full of joy.

I’m forgotten!

Such warmth. I’m forgotten.

I’m alone.

Mama!

———

(The Toys and Ornaments begin to attack the Child.)

All:

Ah!

It’s the Child with the knife!

It’s the Child with the stick!

The bad Child with a cage!

It’s the Child with a net!

The Child that loves not a soul, and whom nobody loves!

It’s the Child with the net!

Will he escape? It’s the bad child, ‘tis the bad child with the cage!

No! He must suffer.

Shall he escape?

I have claws! I have teeth! I have wings that can beat!

Let us unite! Let us unite! Let us unite!

Toy Owl:

Hoooooooou…

All:

Let us unite! Let us unite!

Ah!

————

(Overcome with pity, the wounded Child attempts to mend his plush squirrel. His attackers look on, curious and half-ashamed. They change their mind about the Child, and call for his Mother to come and help him.)

Toy:

See, he has cleaned the wound!

Another Toy:

See, he has cleaned the wound!

Yet another toy:

See, he has cleaned the wound, and has stopped the blood.

All:

See he has cleaned the wound!

Toy:

He suffers!

Another toy:

He has a wound.

Yet another toy:

He bleeds!

All:

See he has cleaned the wound.

Toy:

We must tie up his hand and stop the blood.

Another Toy:

What shall we do? The Child knows how to cure ills.

Toy:

What shall we do? We have wounded him!

All:

What shall we do?

A Toy:

Not long ago he was calling…

All:

He was calling.

A Toy:

He cried out just one word, just one word…

“Ma-ma!”

All:

Ma-ma?

Another Toy:

He is quiet. Will he now die?

All:

We do not know how to tie up the hand, nor hold back the blood…

Toy:

Let’s go! We shall find help! Take him back to the nest!

We know that they will hear him there! That single word the poor Child was crying…

Let us all say it together…

All:

Ma…ma…

Ma…ma…

(gaining confidence)

Mama!

Mama!

Mama! Mama! Mama!

The Enchantments:

He is good, the Child, he is wise, so wise, wise and good.

See he has cleaned the wound and stopped the blood.

He is wise, he is wise, he is wise, he is kind.

He is good, the Child, he is wise….

He is so kind.

The Child: Mama!