The Melting-Pot Part 34

Ha! Ha! Ha! Vait till you hear vat dey say.

DAVID I will wait as long as you like.

PAPPELMEISTER Den I like to tell you now.

[_He roars with mischievous laughter._]

Ha! Ha! Ha! De first vampire says it is a great vork, but poorly performed.

DAVID [_Indignant_]

Oh!

PAPPELMEISTER De second vampire says it is a poor vork, but greatly performed.

DAVID [_Disappointed_]

Oh!

PAPPELMEISTER De dird vampire says it is a great vork greatly performed.

DAVID [_Complacently_]

Ah!

PAPPELMEISTER And de fourz vampire says it is a poor vork poorly performed.

DAVID [_Angry and disappointed_]

Oh!

[_Then smiling_]

You see you _have_ to go by the people after all.

PAPPELMEISTER [_Shakes head, smiling_]

_Nein._ Ven critics disagree--I agree mit mineself. Ha! Ha! Ha!

[_He slaps DAVID on the back._]

A great vork dat vill be even better performed next time! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Ten dousand congratulations.

[_He seizes DAVID'S hand and grips it heartily._]

DAVID Don't! You hurt me.

PAPPELMEISTER [_Dropping DAVID'S hand,--misunderstanding_]

Pardon! I forgot your vound.

DAVID No--no--what does my wound matter? That never stung half so much as these clappings and congratulations.

PAPPELMEISTER [_Puzzled but solicitous_]

I knew your nerves vould be all shnapping like fiddle-shtrings. Oh, you cheniuses!

[_Smiling._]

You like neider de clappings nor de criticisms,--_was_?

DAVID They are equally--irrelevant. One has to wrestle with one's own art, one's own soul, _alone_!

PAPPELMEISTER [_Patting him soothingly_]

I am glad I did not let you blay in Part Two.

DAVID Dear Herr Pappelmeister! Don't think I don't appreciate all your kindnesses--you are almost a father to me.

PAPPELMEISTER And you disobey me like a son. Ha! Ha! Ha! Vell, I vill make your excuses to de--vampires. Ha! Ha! _Also_, David.

[_He lays his hand again affectionately on DAVID'S right shoulder._]

_Lebe wohl!_ I must go down to my popular cla.s.sics.

[_Gloomily_]

Truly a going down! _Was?_

DAVID [_Smiling_]

Oh, it isn't such a descent as all that. Uncle said you ought to have given them comic opera.

PAPPELMEISTER [_Shuddering convulsively_]

Comic opera.... Ouf!

[_He goes toward the elevator and rings the bell. Then he turns to DAVID._]

Vat vas dat vord, David?

DAVID What word?

PAPPELMEISTER [_Groping for it_]

_Mega--mega.s.shu_....

DAVID [_Puzzled_]

_Mega.s.shu?_ [_The elevator comes up; the gates open._]

PAPPELMEISTER _Megusshah!_ You know.

[_He taps his forehead with his umbrella._]

DAVID Ah, _meshuggah_!

PAPPELMEISTER [_Joyously_]

_Ja, meshuggah!_ [_He gives a great roar of laughter._]

Ha! Ha! Ha!

[_He waves umbrella at DAVID._]

Well, don't be ... _meshuggah_.

[_He steps into the elevator._]

Ha! Ha! Ha!

[_The gates close, and it descends with his laughter._]

DAVID [_After a pause_]

Perhaps I _am_ ... _meshuggah_.

[_He walks up and down moodily, approaches the parapet at back._]

Dropping down is indeed natural.

[_He looks over._]

How it tugs and drags at one!

[_He moves back resolutely and shakes his head._]

That would be even a greater descent than Pappelmeister's to comic opera. One _must_ fly upward--somehow.

[_He drops on the chair that MENDEL dried. A faint music steals up and makes an accompaniment to all the rest of the scene._]

Ah! the popular cla.s.sics!