ere born in sixty-four. (Pause.) Now your character, for I don't
know that either. I shall give you a good character, your voice reminds
me of my mother--I mean the idea of a mother, for my mother never
caressed me, though I can remember her striking me. You see, I was
brought up in hate! An eye for an eye--a tooth for a tooth. You see this
scar on my forehead? That comes from a blow my brother gave me with
an axe, after I'd struck him with a stone. I never went to my father's
funeral, because he turned me out of the house when my sister married.
I was born out of wedlock, when my family were bankrupt and in mourning
for an uncle who had taken his life. Now you know my family! That's
the stock I come from. Once I narrowly escaped fourteen years' hard
labour--so I've every reason to thank the elves, though I can't be
altogether pleased with what they've done.

LADY. I like to hear you talk. But don't speak of the elves: it makes me
sad.

STRANGER. Frankly, I don't believe in them; yet they're always making
themselves felt. Are these elves the souls of the unhappy, who still
await redemption? If so, I am the child of an evil spirit. Once I
believed I was near redemption--through a woman. But no mistake could
have been greater: I was plunged into the seventh hell.

LADY. You must be unhappy. But this won't go on always.

STRANGER. Do you think church bells and Holy Water could comfort me?
I've tried them; they only made things worse. I felt like the Devil when
he sees the sign of the cross. (Pause.) Let's talk about you now.

LADY. There's no need. (Pause.) Have you been blamed for misusing your
gifts?

STRANGER. I've been blamed for everything. In the town I lived in no one
was so hated as I. Lonely I came in and lonely I went out. If I entered
a public place people avoided me. If I wanted to rent a room, it would
be let. The priests laid a ban on me from the pulpit, teachers from
their desks and parents in their homes. The church committee wanted
to take my children from me. Then I blasphemously shook my fist... at
heaven!

LADY. Why did they hate you so?

STRANGER. How should I know! Yet I do! I couldn't endure to see men
suffer. So I kept on saying, and writing, too: free yourselves, I will
help you. And to the poor I said: do not let the rich exploit you.
And to the women: do not allow yourselves to be enslaved by the men.
And--worst of all--to the children: do not obey your parents, if they
are unjust. What