The Green Pastures (1929)/Part 1/Scene 8
Scene VIII
Interior of Noah’s house. The ensemble suggests the combination living-dining room in a fairly prosperous Negro’s cabin. Clean white curtains hang at the window. A table and chairs are in the center of the room. There is a cheerful checked tablecloth on the
table, and on the wall, a framed, highly colored picture reading “God Bless Our Home.”
[Noah’s Wife, an elderly Negress, simply and neatly dressed, God and Noah are discovered grouped about the table.]
Noah
Company, darlin’. [Noah’s wife takes Noah’s and God’s hats.] Dis gemman’s a preacher, too. He’s jest passin’ through de country.
God
Good mo’nin’, sister.
Noah’s Wife
Good mo’nin’. You jest ketch me when I’m gittin’ dinner ready. You gonter stay with us?
God
If I ain’t intrudin’. Brother Noah suggested—
Noah’s Wife
You set right down yere. I got a chicken in de pot an’ it'll be ready in bout five minutes. I’ll go out de back an’ call Shem, Ham ’n’ Japheth. [To God.] Dey’s our sons. Dey live right acrost de way but always have Sunday dinner wid us. You mens make yo’selves comf’table.
God
Thank you, thank you very kindly.
Noah
You run along, we all right.
[God and Noah seat themselves. Noah’s Wife exits.]
God
You got a fine wife, Brother Noah.
Noah
She pretty good woman.
God
Yes, suh, an’ you got a nice little home. Have a ten cent seegar? [God offers him one.]
Noah
Thank you, much obliged.
[Both men lean back restfully in their chairs.]
God
Jest what seems to be de main trouble ’mong mankind, Noah?
Noah
Well, it seems to me de main trouble is dat de whol’ distric’ is wide open. Now you know dat makes fo’ loose livin’. Men folks spen’s all dere time fightin’, loafin’ an’ gamblin’, an’ makin’ bad likker.
God
What about de women?
Noah
De women is worse dan de men. If dey ain’t makin’ love powder dey out beg, borrow an’ stealin’ money for policy tickets. Doggone, I come in de church Sunday ’fo’ las’ ’bout an’ hour befo’ de meetin’ was to start, and dere was a woman stealin’ de altar cloth. She was goin’ to hock it. Dey ain’t got no moral sense. Now you take dat case las’ month, over in East Putney. Case of dat young Willy Roback.
God
What about him?
Noah
Dere is a boy sebenteen years old. Doggone, if he didn’t elope with his aunt. Now, you know, dat kin’ of goin’ on is bad fo’ a neighborhood.
God
Terrible, terrible.
Noah
Yes, suh. Dis use’ to be a nice, decent community. I been doin’ my best to preach de Word, but seems like every time I preach de place jest goes a little mo’ to de dogs. De good Lawd only knows what’s gonter happen.
God
Dat is de truth.
[There is a pause. Each puffs his cigar.]
[Suddenly Noah grasps his knee, as if it were paining him, and twists his foot.]
Noah
Huh!
God
What’s de matter?
Noah
I jest got a twitch. My buck-aguer I guess. Every now and den I gets a twitch in de knee. Might be a sign of rain.
God
That’s just what it is. Noah, what’s de mos’ rain you ever had ’round dese parts?
Noah
Well, de water come down fo’ six days steady last April an’ de ribber got so swole it bust down de levee up ’bove Freeport. Raise cain all de way down to de delta.
God
What would you say was it to rain for forty days and forty nights?
Noah
I’d say dat was a complete rain!
God
Noah, you don’t know who I is, do you?
Noah
[Puzzled.] Yo’ face looks easy, but I don’ think I recall de name.
[God rises slowly, and as he reaches his full height there is a crash of lightning, a moment’s darkness, and a roll of thunder. It grows light again. Noah is on his knees in front of God.]
I should have known you. I should have seen de glory.
God
Dat’s all right, Noah. You didn’ know who I was.
Noah
I’m jes’ ol’ preacher Noah, Lawd, an’ I’m yo’ servant. I ain’ very much, but I’se all I got.
God
Sit down, Noah. Don’ let me hear you shamin’ yo’se’f, caize yo’ a good man. [Timidly Noah waits until God is seated, and then sits, himself] I jest wanted to fin’ out if you was good, Noah. Dat’s why I’m walkin’ de earth in de shape of a natchel man. I wish dey was mo’ people like you. But, far as I kin see you and yo’ fam’ly is de only respectable people in de worl’.
Noah
Dey jest all poor sinners, Lawd.
God
I know. I am your Lawd. I am a god of wrath and vengeance an’ dat’s why I’m gonter destroy dis worl’.
Noah
[Almost in a whisper. Drawing back.] Jest as you say, Lawd.
God
I ain’t gonter destroy you, Noah. You and yo’ fam’ly, yo’ sheep an’ cattle, an’ all de udder things dat ain’t human I’m gonter preserve. But de rest is gotta go. [Takes a pencil and a sheet of paper from his pocket.] Look yere, Noah. [Noah comes over and looks over his shoulder.] I want you to build me a boat. I want you to call it de “Ark,” and I want it to look like dis. [He is drawing on the paper. Continues to write as he speaks.] I want you to take two of every kind of animal and bird dat’s in de country. I want you to take seeds an’ sprouts an’ everythin’ like dat an’ put dem on dat Ark, because dere is gonter be all dat rain. Dey’s gonter to be a deluge, Noah, an’ dey’s goin’ to be a flood. De levees is gonter bust an’ everything dat’s fastened down is comin’ loose, but it ain’t gonter float long, caize I’m gonter make a storm dat’ll sink everythin’ from a hencoop to a barn. Dey ain’t a ship on de sea dat’ll be able to fight dat tempest. Dey all got to go. Everythin’. Everythin’ in dis pretty worl’ I made, except one thing, Noah. You-an’ yo’ fam’ly an’ de things I said are going to ride dat storm in de Ark. Yere’s de way it’s to be. [He hands Noah the paper. Noah takes it and reads.]
Noah
[Pause. Looks at paper again.] Yes, suh, dis seems to be complete. Now bout the animals, Lawd, you say you want everythin’?
God
Two of everythin’.
Noah
Dat would include jayraffes an’ hippopotamusses?
God
Everythin’ dat is.
Noah
Dey was a circus in town las’ week. I guess I kin fin’ dem. Co’se I kin git all de rabbits an’ possums an’ wil’ turkeys easy. I’ll sen’ de boys out. Hum, I’m jest wonderin’—
God
’Bout what?
Noah
’Bout snakes? Think you’d like snakes, too?
God
Certainly, I want snakes.
Noah
Oh, I kin git snakes, lots of ’em. Co’se, some of ’em’s a little dangerous. Maybe I better take a kag of likker, too?
God
You kin have a kag of likker.
Noah
[Musingly.] Yes, suh, dey’s a awful lot of differnt kin’s of snakes, come to think about it. Dey’s water moccasins, cotton-moufs, rattlers—mus’ be a hund’ed kin’s of other snakes down in de swamps. Maybe I better take two kags of likker.
God
[Mildly.] I think de one kag’s enough.
Noah
No. I better take two kags. Besides I kin put one on each side of de boat, an’ balance de ship wid dem as well as havin’ dem fo’ medicinal use.
God
You kin put one kag in de middle of de ship.
Noah
[Buoyantly.] Jest as easy to take de two kags, Lawd.
God
I think one kag’s enough.
Noah
Yes, Lawd, but you see forty days an’ forty nights—
[There is a distant roll of thunder.]
God
[Firmly.] One kag, Noah.
Noah
Yes, Lawd. One kag.
[The door in the back opens and Noah’s Wife enters with a tray of dishes and food.]
Noah’s Wife
Now, den, gen’lemen, if you'll jest draw up cheers.
[The stage is darkened. The Choir is heard singing “I Want to Be Ready.” They continue in the darkness until the lights go up on the next scene.]