We must be very far from the house; I can no longer make out a single noise.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
For a long while, I have smelt the smell of dead leaves.
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
Did any one of us see the Island in past days, and could he tell us where we are?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
We were all blind when we came here.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
We have never been able to see.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Let us not be unnecessarily anxious; he will soon return; let us wait a little longer; but in future, we will not go out with him again.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
We cannot go out alone!
FIRST BLIND MAN.
We will not go out at all, I prefer not going out.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
We had no wish to go out, nobody had asked to do so.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
It was a holiday on the Island; we always go out on great holidays.
THIRD BLIND WOMAN.
He came and hit me on the shoulder when I was still asleep, saying: Get up, get up, it is time, the sun is shining! – Was there any sun? I was not aware of it. I have never seen the sun.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
I saw the sun when I was very young.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I too; it was long ago; when I was a child; but I hardly remember it now.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Why does he want us to go out every time the sun shines? Which of us is any the wiser? I never know whether I am walking out at midday or at midnight.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I prefer going out at midday; I suspect great brightness then, and my eyes make great efforts to open.
THIRD BLIND MAN. 11
I prefer staying in the refectory by the coal-fire; there was a big fire there this morning . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
He could bring us out into the sun in the yard; there one has the shelter of the walls; one cannot get out, there is nothing to fear when the door is shut. – I always shut it. – Why did you touch my left elbow?
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I did not touch you; I cannot reach you.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I tell you that somebody touched my elbow.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
It was none of us.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I want to go away!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
O God! O God! tell us where we are!
FIRST BLIND MAN.
We cannot wait here for ever!
[A very distant clock strikes twelve very slowly.]
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
Oh! how far we are from the asylum!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
It is midnight!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
It is midday! – Does any one know? – Speak!
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
I don’t know. But I think we are in the shade.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I can make nothing out; we slept too long.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I am hungry.
THE OTHERS.
We are hungry and thirsty!
SECOND BLIND MAN. 12
Have we been here long?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
It seems to me that I have been here centuries!
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
I am beginning to make out where we are . . .
THIRD BLIND MAN.
We ought to go towards where midnight struck.
[All the night-birds exult suddenly in the gloom.]
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Do you hear? – Do you hear?
SECOND BLIND MAN.
We are not alone!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
I have had my suspicions for a long time; we are being overheard. – Has he come back?
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I don’t know what it is; it is above us.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Did the others hear nothing? – You are always silent!
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
We are still listening.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I hear wings about me!
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
O God! O God! tell us where we are!
THE SIXTH BLIND MAN.
I am beginning to make out where we are . . . The asylum is on the other side of the big river; we have crossed the old bridge. He has brought us to the north side of the Island. We are not far from the river, and perhaps we should hear it if we were to listen a moment . . . We shall have to go down to the edge of the water, if he does not come back . . . Night and day great ships pass there, and the sailors will see us standing on the banks. It may be that we are in the forest that surrounds the lighthouse; but I don’t know the way out of it . . . Is somebody willing to follow me?
FIRST BLIND MAN. 13