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Bulgarian town in 1885, during the Serbo-Bulgarian
War. As the play opens, Catherine Petkoff and her
daughter, Raina, have just heard that the Bulgarians
have scored a tremendous victory in a cavalry charge
led by Raina's fiancé, Major Sergius Saranoff, who is
in the same regiment as Raina's father, Major Paul
Petkoff. Raina is so impressed with the noble deeds
of her fiancé that she fears that she might never be
able to live up to his nobility. At this very moment,
the maid, Louka, rushes in with the news that the
Serbs are being chased through the streets and that
it is necessary to lock up the house and all of the
windows. Raina promises to do so later, and Louka
leaves. But as Raina is reading in bed, shots are
heard, there is a noise at the balcony window, and a
bedraggled enemy soldier with a gun appears and
threatens to kill her if she makes a sound. After the
soldier and Raina exchange some words, Louka calls
from outside the door; she says that several soldiers
want to search the house and investigate a report
that an enemy Serbian soldier was seen climbing her
balcony. When Raina hears the news, she turns to the
soldier. He says that he is prepared to die, but he
certainly plans to kill a few Bulgarian soldiers in her
bedroom before he dies. Thus, Raina impetuously
decides to hide him. The soldiers investigate, find no
one, and leave. Raina then calls the man out from
hiding; she nervously and absentmindedly sits on his
gun, but she learns that it is not loaded; the soldier
carries no cartridges. He explains that instead of
carrying bullets, he always carries chocolates into
battle. Furthermore, he is not an enemy; he is a
Swiss, a professional soldier hired by Serbia. Raina
gives him the last of her chocolate creams, which he
devours, maintaining that she has indeed saved his
life. Now that the Bulgarian soldiers are gone, Raina
wants the "chocolate cream soldier" (as she calls
him) to climb back down the drainpipe, but he
refuses to; whereas he could climb up, he hasn't the
strength to climb down. When Raina goes after her
mother to help, the "chocolate cream soldier" crawls
into Raina's bed and falls instantly asleep. In fact,
when they re-enter, he is sleeping so soundly that
they cannot awaken him.
Act II begins four months later in the garden of
Major Petkoff's house. The middle-aged servant
Nicola is lecturing Louka on the importance of having
proper respect for the upper class, but Louka has too
independent a soul to ever be a "proper" servant.
She has higher plans for herself than to marry
someone like Nicola, who, she insists, has the "soul
of a servant." Major Petkoff arrives home from the
war, and his wife Catherine greets him with two bits
of information: she suggests that Bulgaria should
have annexed Serbia, and she tells him that she has
had an electric bell installed in the library. Major
Sergius Saranoff, Raina's fiancé and leader of the
successful cavalry charge, arrives, and in the course
of discussing the end of the war, he and Major
Petkoff recount the now-famous story of how a Swiss
soldier escaped by climbing up a balcony and into
the bedroom of a noble Bulgarian woman. The
women are shocked that such a crude story would be
told in front of them. When the Petkoffs go into the
house, Raina and Sergius discuss their love for one
another, and Raina romantically declares that the two
of them have found a "higher love."
When Raina goes to get her hat so that they can go
for a walk, Louka comes in, and Sergius asks if she
knows how tiring it is to be involved with a "higher
love." Then he immediately tries to embrace the
attractive maid. Since he is being so blatantly
familiar, Louka declares that Miss Raina is no better
than she; Raina, she says, has been having an affair
while Sergius was away, but she refuses to tell
Sergius who Raina's lover is, even though Sergius
accidently bruises Louka's arm while trying to wrest a
confession from her. When he apologizes, Louka
insists that he kiss her arm, but Sergius refuses and,
at that moment, Raina re-enters. Sergius is then
called away, and Catherine enters. The two ladies
discuss how incensed they both are that Sergius
related the tale about the escaping soldier. Raina,
however, doesn't care if Sergius hears about it; she is
tired of his stiff propriety. At that moment, Louka
announces the presence of a Swiss officer with a
carpetbag, calling for the lady of the house. His name
is Captain Bluntschli. Instantly, they both know he is
the "chocolate cream soldier" who is returning the
Major's old coat that they disguised him in. As they
make rapid, desperate plans to send him away,
Major Petkoff hails Bluntschli and greets him warmly
as the person who aided them in the final
negotiations of the war; the old Major insists that
Bluntschli must their houseguest until he has to
return to Switzerland.
Act III begins shortly after lunch and takes place in
the library. Captain Bluntschli is attending to a large
amount of confusing paperwork in a very efficient
manner, while Sergius and Major Petkoff merely
observe. Major Petkoff complains about a favorite
old coat being lost, but at that moment Catherine
rings the new library bell, sends Nicola after the coat,
and astounds the Major by thus retrieving his lost
coat. When Raina and Bluntschli are left alone, she
compliments him on his looking so handsome now
that he is washed and brushed. Then she assumes a
high and noble tone and chides him concerning
certain stories which he has told and the fact that she
has had to lie for him. Bluntschli laughs at her "noble
attitude" and says that he is pleased with her
demeanor. Raina is amused; she says that Bluntschli
is the first person to ever see through her
pretensions, but she is perplexed that he didn't feel
into the pockets of the old coat which she lent him;
she had placed a photo of herself there with the
inscription "To my Chocolate Cream Soldier." At this
moment, a telegram is brought to Bluntschli relating
the death of his father and the necessity of his
coming home immediately to make arrangements for
the six hotels that he has inherited. As Raina and
Bluntschli leave the room, Louka comes in wearing
her sleeve in a ridiculous fashion so that her bruise
will be obvious. Sergius enters and asks if he can
cure it now with a kiss. Louka questions his true
bravery; she wonders if he has the courage to marry
a woman who is socially beneath him, even if he
loved the woman. Sergius asserts that he would, but
he is now engaged to a girl so noble that all such talk
is absurd. Louka then lets him know that Bluntschli is
his rival and that Raina will marry the Swiss soldier.
Sergius is incensed. He sees Bluntschli and
immediately challenges him to a duel; then he
retracts when Raina comes in and accuses him of
making love to Louka merely to spy on her and
Bluntschli. As they are arguing, Bluntschli asks for
Louka, who has been eavesdropping at the door. She
is brought in, Sergius apologizes to her, kisses her
hand, and thus they become engaged. Bluntschli asks
permission to become a suitor for Raina's hand, and
when he lists all of the possessions which he has (200
horses, 9600 pairs of sheets, ten thousand knives and
forks, etc.), permission for the marriage is granted,
and Bluntschli says that he will return in two weeks to
marry Raina. Succumbing with pleasure, Raina gives
a loving smile to her "chocolate cream soldier."
By COMRADE OLAMILEKAN
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