Scene 1: (inside of their house)

L1: (sited at the left center)

A1: Why don't you go out and join the dancing women? (A1 holds L1 on left shoulder). You
should join the dancers (pauses) as if--as if nothing had happened. (A1 stands). Go out--go
out and dance. If you really don't hate me for this separation, go out and dance. One of the
men will see you dance well; he will like your dancing; he will marry you. (raise voice
slightly) Who knows but that, with him, you will be luckier than you were with me?
L1: I don't want any man. (sharply) I don't want any other man. (A1 sit down and face L1)
A1: You know very well that I won't want any other woman either. (sad) You know that, don't
you? (low voice) Lumnay! (pause) you know it, don't you?
L1: Yes, I know (Looks down at her feet)
A1: It is not my fault. (Looks away from L1) You cannot blame me; I have been a good husband
to you.
L1: Neither can you blame me.
A1: No, you have been very good to me. You have been a good wife. I have nothing to say
against you. (pause) It's only that a man must have a child. Seven harvests is just too long to
wait. Yes, we have waited too long. (hesitates, pause) We should have another chance
before it is too late for both of us.
L1: (L1 cover herself, exit and enter L2, uncovers herself and stretched her right leg out and
bent her left leg in) You know that I have done my best! (raises voice) I have prayed to
Kabunyan much. I have sacrificed many chickens in my prayers.
A1: Yes, I know. (calm)
L2: You remember how angry you were once when you came home from your work in the
terrace because I butchered one of our pigs without your permission? I did it to appease
Kabunyan, (raises voice) because, like you, I wanted to have a child. But what could I do?
A1: Kabunyan does not see fit for us to have a child. (Look to L2)

Scene 2:
Voice outside: Awiyao!
A1: (going to downstage right)
A2: (coming in downstage right) I came home. Because I did not find you among the dancers. Of
course, I am not forcing you to come, if you don't want to join my wedding ceremony. I
came to tell you that Madulimay, although I am marrying her, can never become as good as
you are. You are one of the best wives in the whole village.
L2: That has not done me any good, has it? (looking at A2, slightly smiling)
A2: (walk to center, held her face and let go) This house is yours. I built it for you. Make it your
own, live in it as long as you wish. I will build another house for Madulimay.
L2: I have no need for a house. (slowly) I'll go to my own house. My parents are old. They will
need help in the planting of the beans, in the pounding of the rice.
A2: I will give you the field that I dug out of the mountains during the first year of our marriage.
You know I did it for you. You helped me to make it for the two of us.
L2: I have no use for any field. (silent) Go back to the dance. It is not right for you to be here.
They will wonder where you are, and Madulimay will not feel good. Go back to the dance.
A2: I would feel better if you could come, and dance(pause)---for the last time. The gangsas are
playing.
L2: You know that I cannot. (go to downstage right, exit and enter L3 at downstage right)
A2: Lumnay, if I did this it is because of my need for a child. You know that life is not worth
living without a child. The men have mocked me behind my back. You know that. (stand)
L3: I know it. I will pray that Kabunyan will bless you and Madulimay. (biting her lips and shook
her head then sobbed, stand; sit at the center, looking intently at A3 then kneel down)

Scene 3: (flashback)
L6: (sit then fetch water at the center)
A6: (enter from the downstage left to the center then sits cross leg)
L6: (stretching out both her hand and offers water)
A6 & L6: (flirting)

Scene 4:
L3: (crying)
Voice(Madulimnay): Awiyao, Awiyao my husband!
A2: (go to downstage left, A3 going in Downstage left and go to center, sit)
L3: Awiyao! (sudden raise of voice) I did everything to have a child. Look at me. Look at my
body. Then it was full of promise. It could dance; it could work fast in the fields; it could
climb the mountains fast. Even now it is firm, full. But, Awiyao, I am useless. I must die.
A3: It will not be right to die.
L3: (stand, clung to A2) I don't care about the fields. I don't care about the house. I don't care
for anything but you. I'll have no other man. (softly)
A3: Then you'll always be fruitless.
L3: (move away) I'll go back to my father, I'll die. (go to downstage right, exit and enter L4, go to
center)

Scene 5:
A3: Then you hate me. (pause) If you die it means you hate me. You do not want me to have a
child. You do not want my name to live on in our tribe. If I do not try a second time (pause)
it means, I'll die. Nobody will get the fields I have carved out of the mountains; nobody will
come after me.
L4: If you fail (pause, sobbing) --if you fail this second time—No (sudden raise of voice) --no, I
don't want you to fail.
A3: If I fail. I'll come back to you. Then both of us will die together. Both of us will vanish from
the life of our tribe.
L4: I'll keep my beads. Awiyao, let me keep my beads
A3: You will keep the beads. They come from far-off times. My grandmother said they come
from up North, from the slant-eyed people across the sea. You keep them, Lumnay. They
are worth twenty fields.
L4: I'll keep them because they stand for the love you have for me. I love you. I love you and
have nothing to give.
Voice: Awiyao! Awiyao! O Awiyao! They are looking for you at the dance!
A3: (go to downstage left, exit and enter A4, go to center) I am not in hurry.
L4: The elders will scold you. You had better go.
A4: Not until you tell me that it is all right with you.
L4: It is all right with me.
Scene 6:
(A4 and L4 hug, center)
A4: I do this for the sake of the tribe.
L4: I know
A4: (go to downstage left, stand)
L4: (go to downstage left, clung to A4) Awiyao! (raises) Awiyao, it is hard! (gasp, close eye,
hurries face in neck)
Voice: Awiyao! Come at the dance! Their waiting for you.
A4: (lookis at L4, hugs then go to downstage left, exit)

Scene 7:
L4: (sit, center) It is not right. It is not right (raises frustrated) How does she know? How can
anybody know? (low) It is not right. (crying) (stand, exit downstage left)

Scene 8:
A5: (dancing at the center)
L5: (stand, looking at A5, at the right center) (run, left center, crying)

Scene 9:
L5: (touching the bean pods) I still remember everything and it hurts (pause, crying) but can
Awiyao be mine again? Can our love with each other continues, that is stopped by the law?
No (pauses, slowly, crying)
--END--