Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Read Free Book Online Page B

loudly.
     
    VLADIMIR:
A dog came in�
Having begun too high he stops, clears his throat, resumes:
A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.

Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb�

He stops, broods, resumes:
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb
And wrote upon the tombstone
For the eyes of dogs to come:

A dog came in the kitchen
And stole a crust of bread.
Then cook up with a ladle
And beat him till he was dead.

Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb�

He stops, broods, resumes:
Then all the dogs came running
And dug the dog a tomb�

He stops, broods. Softly.
And dug the dog a tomb . . .
He remains a moment silent and motionless, then begins to move feverishly
about the stage. He halts before the tree, comes and goes, before the boots,
comes and goes, halts extreme right, gazes into distance, extreme left, gazes
into distance. Enter Estragon right, barefoot, head bowed. He slowly crosses
the stage. Vladimir turns and sees him.
     
    VLADIMIR:
You again! (Estragon halts but does not raise his head. Vladimir goes towards
him.) Come here till I embrace you.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Don't touch me!
Vladimir holds back, pained.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Do you want me to go away? (Pause.) Gogo! (Pause. Vladimir observes him
attentively.) Did they beat you? (Pause.) Gogo! (Estragon remains silent,
head bowed.) Where did you spend the night?
     
    ESTRAGON:
Don't touch me! Don't question me! Don't speak to me! Stay with me!
     
    VLADIMIR:
Did I ever leave you?
     
    ESTRAGON:
You let me go.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Look at me. (Estragon does not raise his head. Violently.) Will you look at me!
Estragon raises his head. They look long at each other, then suddenly
embrace, clapping each other on the back. End of the embrace. Estragon, no
longer supported, almost falls.
     
    ESTRAGON:
What a day!
     
    VLADIMIR:
Who beat you? Tell me.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Another day done with.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Not yet.
     
    ESTRAGON:
For me it's over and done with, no matter what happens. (Silence.) I heard
you singing.
     
    VLADIMIR:
That's right, I remember.
     
    ESTRAGON:
That finished me. I said to myself, He's all alone, he thinks I'm gone for ever,
and he sings.
     
    VLADIMIR:
One is not master of one's moods. All day I've felt in great form. (Pause.) I
didn't get up in the night, not once!
     
    ESTRAGON:
(sadly). You see, you piss better when I'm not there.
     
    VLADIMIR:
I missed you . . . and at the same time I was happy. Isn't that a strange
thing?
     
    ESTRAGON:
(shocked). Happy?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Perhaps it's not quite the right word.
     
    ESTRAGON:
And now?
     
    VLADIMIR:
Now? . . . (Joyous.) There you are again . . . (Indifferent.) There we are
again. . . (Gloomy.) There I am again.
     
    ESTRAGON:
You see, you feel worse when I'm with you. I feel better alone too.
     
    VLADIMIR:
(vexed). Then why do you always come crawling back?
     
    ESTRAGON:
I don't know.
     
    VLADIMIR:
No, but I do. It's because you don't know how to defend yourself. I wouldn't
have let them beat you.
     
    ESTRAGON:
You couldn't have stopped them.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Why not?
     
    ESTRAGON:
There was ten of them.
     
    VLADIMIR:
No, I mean before they beat you. I would have stopped you from doing
whatever it was you were doing.
     
    ESTRAGON:
I wasn't doing anything.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Then why did they beat you?
     
    ESTRAGON:
I don't know.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Ah no, Gogo, the truth is there are things that escape you that don't escape
me, you must feel it yourself.
     
    ESTRAGON:
I tell you I wasn't doing anything.
     
    VLADIMIR:
Perhaps you weren't. But it's the way of doing it that counts, the way of doing
it, if you want to go on living.
     
    ESTRAGON:
I wasn't doing anything.
     
    VLADIMIR:
You must be happy too, deep down, if you only knew it.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Happy about what?
     
    VLADIMIR:
To be back with me again.
     
    ESTRAGON:
Would you say