THE CHERRY ORCHARD
A monologue from the
play by Anton
Chekhov
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Two Plays of Tchekhof. Trans. George Calderon. London:
Grant Richards Ltd., 1912. |
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LOPAKHIN: I bought it. Wait a bit; don't hurry me;
my head's in a whirl; I can't speak. . . . [Laughing]
When we got to the sale, Derigánof was there already.
Leoníd Andréyitch had only fifteen hundred pounds,
and Derigánof bid three thousand more than the mortgage
right away. When I saw how things stood, I went for him and bid
four thousand. He said four thousand five hundred. I said five
thousand five hundred. He went up by five hundreds, you see,
and I went up by thousands. . . . Well, it was soon over. I bid
nine thousand more than the mortgage, and got it; and now the
cherry orchard is mine! Mine! [Laughing] Heavens alive!
Just think of it! The cherry orchard is mine! Tell me that I'm
drunk; tell me that I'm off my head; tell me that it's all a
dream! . . . [Stamping his feet] Don't laugh at me! If
only my father and my grandfather could rise from their graves
and see the whole affair, how their Yermolái, their flogged
and ignorant Yermolái, who used to run about barefooted
in the winter, how this same Yermolái had bought a property
that hasn't its equal for beauty anywhere in the whole world!
I have bought the property where my father and grandfather were
slaves, where they weren't even allowed into the kitchen. I'm
asleep, it's only a vision, it isn't real. . . . 'Tis the fruit
of imagination, wrapped in the mists of ignorance. [Picking
up a set of keys] She's thrown down her keys; she wants to
show that she's no longer mistress here. [Jingling them together]
Well, what's the odds? [Musicians can be heard tuning up]
Hey, musicians play! I want to hear you. Come everyone and see
Yermolái Lopákhin lay his axt to the cherry orchard,
come and see the trees fall down! We'll fill the place with villas;
our grandsons and great-grandsons shall see a new life here.
. . . Strike up, music!
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MONOLOGUES BY ANTON CHEKHOV |
