240 0 / SAMUEL BECKETT
NELL Yes, perished. An d you? NAGG [Pause.] I'm freezing. [Pause.] D o you want to go in? NELL Yes. NAGG Then go in. [NELL does not move.] Wh y don't you go in? NELL I don't know. [Pause.] NAGG Has he changed your sawdust? NELL It isn't sawdust. [Pause. Wearily.] Ca n you not be a little accurate,
Nagg? NAGG Your sand then. It's not important. NELL It is important. [Pause.] NAGG It was sawdust once. NELL Once! NAGG And now it's sand. [Pause.] Fro m the shore. [Pause. Impatiently.] Now
it's sand he fetches from the shore. NELL No w it's sand. NAGG Has he changed yours? NELL No. NAGG Nor mine. [Pause.] I won't have it! [Pause. Holding up the bisciut.] Do
you want a bit? NELL NO. [Pause.] Of what? NAGG Biscuit. I've kept you half. [He looks at the biscuit. Proudly.] Three
quarters. For you. Here. [He proffers the biscuit.] No? [Pause.] D o you not
feel well?
HAMM [Wearily.] Quiet, quiet, you're keeping me awake. [Pause.] Talk softer.
[Pause.] If I could sleep I might make love. I'd go into the woods. M y eyes
would see . . . the sky, the earth. I'd run, run, they wouldn't catch me.
[Pause.] Nature! [Pause.] There's something dripping in my head. [Pause.]
A heart, a heart in m y head. [Pause.]
NAGG [Sq/t.] D o you hear him? A heart in his head! [He chuckles cautiously.] NELL On e mustn't laugh at those things, Nagg. Wh y must you always laugh
at them?
NAGG Not so loud!
NELL [Without lowering her voice.] Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I
grant you that. But ?
NAGG [Shocked.] Oh!
NELL Yes, yes, it's the most comical thing in the world. An d we laugh, we
laugh, with a will, in the beginning. But it's always the same thing. Yes, it's
like the funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we
don't laugh any more. [Pause.] Have you anything else to say to me?
NAGG No.
NELL Are you quite sure? [Pause.] The n I'll leave you.
NAGG DO you not want your biscuit? [Pause.] I'll keep it for you. [Pause.] I
thought you were going to leave me.
NELL I am going to leave you.
NAGG Could you give me a scratch before you go?
NELL NO. [Pause.] Where?
NAGG In the back.
NELL No. [Pause.] Bub yourself against the rim.
NAGG It's lower down. In the hollow.
NELL Wha t hollow?
NAGG Th e hollow! [Pause.] Could you not? [Pause.] Yesterday you scratched
me there.
.
ENDGAME / 2401
NELL [Elegiac.] A h yesterday! NAGG Could you not? [Pause.] Would you like me to scratch you? [Pause.]
Are you crying again? NELL I was trying. [Pause. ] HAMM Perhaps it's a little vein. [Pause.] NAGG Wha t was that he said? NELL Perhaps it's a little vein. NAGG What does that mean? [Pause.] That means nothing. [Pause.] Will 1
tell you the story of the tailor? NELL No. [Pause.] What for? NAGG To cheer you up.
NELL It's not funny.
NAGG It always made you laugh. [Pause.] Th e first time I thought you'd die. NELL It was on Lake Como.6 [Pause.] On e April afternoon. [Pause.] Can you believe it?
NAGG What?
NELL That we once went out rowing on Lake Como. [Pause.] On e April
