Snow Glass Apples: A Play For Voices Read Online Free PDF

hanging. She pulled off the dried rowan berries, one by one;
pulled off the garlic bulb—now a dried thing, after all these
years; then she took up her own, her pumping heart—a small thing,
no larger than that of a nanny-goat or a she-bear—as it brimmed and
pumped its blood into her hand.
    Her fingernails must have been as sharp as
glass: she opened her breast with them, running them over the
purple scar. Her chest gaped, suddenly, open and bloodless. She
licked her heart, once, as the blood ran over her hands, and she
pushed the heart deep into her breast.
     
    SFX: THE HEARTBEAT STOPS.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I saw her do it. I saw her close the flesh
of her breast once more.
    I saw the purple scar begin to fade.
     
    PRINCE
    My darling? Are you… ?
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    He put his arm around her nonetheless, and
they stood, side by side, and they waited.
     
    PRINCE (CONT’D)
    (horny)
    You’re… still… very cold.
     
    PRINCESS
    Yes. Very cold.
     
    SFX: HE LAUGHS WITH DELIGHT, AND THEY KISS
…
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    And the bloom of death remained on her lips,
and his lust was not diminished in any way.
     
    QUEEN
    So. You’ve made your alliance, then.
     
    PRINCE
    Our joint kingdom will stretch from the
mountains all the way to the sea. I fancy we will marry at the
midwinter feast.
     
    PRINCESS
    And you will be with us, stepmother, on our
wedding day.
     
    SFX: CROSSFADE THIS INTO HER SAYING …
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    They told me that I would be with them on
their wedding day.
    (Pause)
    It is starting to get hot in here. They have
told the people bad things about me; a little truth to add savour
to the dish, but mixed with many lies.
     
    SFX: THE FURNACE CRACKLES.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I was bound and kept in a tiny stone cell
deep beneath the palace, and I remained there through the autumn.
Today they fetched me out of the cell; they stripped the rags from
me, and washed the filth from me, and then they shaved my head and
my loins, and they rubbed my skin with goose grease.
     
    SFX: INSIDE A CELL, FEET CRUNCHING ON STRAW,
THE QUEEN BACKING AWAY …
     
    QUEEN
    Don’t touch—don’t you try to touch me—don’t
you dare!
     
    SOLDIER
    All right. Get her legs. You two, get her
arms. And up with her!
     
    SFX: OUTSIDE, THE HOWL OF THE WIND, A DISTANT
CROWD
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    The snow was falling as they carried me—two
men at each arm, two men at each leg—utterly exposed, and
spread-eagled and cold, through the midwinter crowds; and brought
me to this kiln.
     
    SFX: A LOW HUBBUB, THE HOWL OF THE WINTER
WIND …
     
    CROWD
    Witch!—Monster!—Murderess!—Poisoner!
—Bitch!
     
    PRINCE
    Into the kiln with the old monster!
     
    PRINCESS
    (whispers)
    Goodbye, stepmother.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    My stepdaughter stood there with her prince.
She watched me, in my indignity, but she said nothing more.
    As they thrust me inside here, jeering and
chaffing as they did so,
    I saw one snowflake land upon her white
cheek, and remain there without melting.
     
    SFX: THE CROWD NOISE AND THE BOOM OF THE KILN
DOOR FROM THE OPENING SEQUENCE.
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    They closed the kiln-door behind me… It is
getting hotter in here, and outside they are singing and cheering
and banging on the sides of the kiln…
    She was not laughing, or jeering, or
talking. She did not sneer at me or turn away. She looked at me,
though; and for a moment I saw myself reflected in her eyes.
     
    SFX: THE MUFFLED NOISE OF THE CROWD BECOMES
LOUD FOR A MOMENT. THEN IT FADES … UNDER IT SLOWLY THE CRACKLING OF
THE FIRE BECOMES AUDIBLE …
     
    QUEEN—INTIMATE
    I will not scream. I will not give them that
satisfaction. They will have my body, but my soul and my story are
my own, and will die with me.
    The goose-grease begins to melt and glisten
upon my skin. I shall make no sound at all. I shall think no more
on this.
    (pause)
    I shall think instead of the snowflake on
her cheek.
    (beat)
    I think of her hair as black as coal,