
Printed
23 pages
Le Bandeau d'illusion
In his preface, French poet Emile Cottinet (1860-1929) presents this play as the first work published – or rather printed (no publisher being mentioned) – by Henry Colombier. It also seems to be his last work, since no other information on the author is known. The influence of Maurice Maeterlinck and of Belgian Symbolism can easily be felt.
A young woman discovers Love and loses the illusions of her childhood
The play takes place on a island of dreams. Mère-Grand learns that Myrrhine has distanced herself from her five sisters to dream on her own by the sea. She worries about it, as this daydreaming can only carry the young woman off towards reality. Myrrhine confirms that the “bandeau d’illusion” (the blindfold of illusion) has indeed been lifted from her eyes, and that she no longer believes in fairytales, only in love: she loves the Chevalier Tavonin (Knight Tavonin) and believes that she is loved by him too. The Knight appears on a small boat with Aurore, his new lover, and rejects Myrrhine. In her despair, she calls on the Génie des Arbres (the Genie of the Trees) and the Fée des Mousses (the Moss Fairy), but they are powerless—they cannot console her now that she has lost her illusions. Myrrhine kills herself by jumping into the sea. Mère-Grand blames her death on the Knight, but he replies saying that he is Love incarnated and that all of Myrrhine’s sisters will suffer the same fate, as their eyes will eventually be opened too.
Publications and translations
Henry Colombier, Le Bandeau d'illusion. Bruxelles: 1899.