We have done too much. We have done too much. Our husbands will be put to death. The prophet will betray them and they will be put to death.
Arolind:
O what shall we do?
Tharmia:
It would have been better for us to have been clothed with rags than to bring our husbands to death by what we have done.
Arolind:
We have done much and we have angered a king, and (who knows!) we may have angered even the gods.
Tharmia:
Even the gods! We are become like Helen. When my mother was a child she saw her once. She says she was the quietest and gentlest of creatures and wished only to be loved, and yet because of her there was a war for four or five years at Troy, and the city was burned which had remarkable towers; and some of the gods of the Greeks took her side, my mother says, and some she says were against her, and they quarrelled upon Olympus where they live, and all because of Helen.
Arolind:
O don't, don't. It frightens me. I only want to be prettily dressed and see my husband happy.
Tharmia:
Have you seen the prophet?
Arolind:
Oh yes, I have seen him. He walks about the palace. He is free but cannot escape.
Tharmia:
What does he look like? Has he a frightened look?
Arolind:
He mutters as he walks. Sometimes he weeps; and then he puts his cloak over his face.
Tharmia:
I fear that he will betray them.
Arolind:
I do not trust a prophet. He is the go-between of gods and men. They are so far apart. How can he be true to both?
Tharmia:
This prophet is false to the gods. It is a hateful thing for a prophet to prophesy falsely.
[Prophet walks across hanging his head and muttering.]
Prophet:
The gods have spoken a lie. The gods have spoken a lie. Can all their vengeance ever atone for this?
Tharmia:
He spoke of vengeance.
Arolind:
O he will betray them.
[They weep. Enter the Queen.]
Queen:
Why do you weep? Ah, you are going to die. You heard the death-lute. You do well to weep.
Tharmia:
No, your Majesty. It is the man that has played for the last three days. We all heard him.
Queen:
Three days. Yes, it is three days. Gog-Owza plays no longer than three days. Gog-Owza grows weary then. He has given his message and he will go away.
Tharmia:
We have all heard him, your Majesty, except the deaf young man that went back to Barbul-el-Sharnak. We hear him now.
Queen: Yes! But nobody has seen him yet. My maidens have searched for him but they have not found him.
Tharmia:
Your Majesty, my husband heard him, and Ludibras, and while they live we know there is nothing to fear. If the King grew angry with them-- because of any idle story that some jealous man might tell--some criminal wishing to postpone his punishment--if the King were to grow angry with them they would open their veins; they would never survive his anger. Then we should all of us say, "Perhaps it was Gog-Owza that Ichtharion or Ludibras heard."
Queen:
The King will never grow angry with Ichtharion or Ludibras.
Tharmia:
Your Majesty would not sleep if the King grew angry with them.
Queen:
Oh, no. I should not sleep; it would be terrible.
Tharmia:
Your Majesty would be wakeful all night long and cry.
Queen:
Oh, yes. I should not sleep; I should cry all night. [Exit]
Arolind:
She has no influence with the King.
Tharmia:
No. But he hates to hear her cry all night.
[Enter Ichtharion]
I am sure that the prophet will betray you. But we have spoken to the Queen. We have told her it would be dreadful if the King were to grow angry with you, and she things she will cry all night if he is angry.
Ichtharion:
Poor frightened brain! How strong are little fancies! She should be a beautiful Queen. But she goes about white and crying, in fear of the gods. The gods, that are no more than shadows in the moonlight. Man's fear rises weird and large in all this mystery and makes a shadow of himself upon the ground and Man jumps and says "the gods." Why they are less than shadows; we have seen shadows, we have not seen the gods.
Tharmia:
O do not speak like that. There used to be gods. They overthrew Bleth dreadfully. And if they still live on in the dark of the hills, why, they might hear your words.
Ichtharion:
Why! you grow frightened, too. Do not be frightened. We will go and speak with the prophet, while you follow the Queen; be much with her, and do not let her forget that she will cry if the King should be angry with us.
Arolind:
I am almost afraid when I am with the Queen; I do not like to be with her.
Tharmia:
She could not hurt us; she is afraid of all things.
Arolind:
She makes me have huge fears of prodigious things.
[Exeunt Tharmia and Arolind.]
[Enter Ludibras.]
Ludibras:
The prophet is coming this way.
Ichtharion:
Sit down. We must speak with him. He will betray us.
Ludibras:
Why should the prophet betray us?
Ichtharion:
Because the guilt of the false prophecy is not his guilt; it is ours; and the King may spare him if he tells him that. Again, he mutters of vengeance as he walks; many have told me.
Ludibras:
The King will not spare him even if he betrays us. It was he that spoke the false prophecy to the King.
Ichtharion:
The King does not in his heart believe in the gods. It is for cheating him that the prophet is to die. But if he knows we had planned it----
Ludibras:
What can we say to the prophet?
Ichtharion:
Why, we can say nothing. But we can learn what he will do from what he says to us.
Ludibras:
Here he is. We must remember everything that he says.
Ichtharion:
Watch his eyes.
[Enter the Prophet, his eyes concealed by his cloak.]
Ichtharion and Ludibras:
The gods are good.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
They are benignant.
Ichtharion:
I am much to blame. I am very much to blame.
Ludibras:
We trust that the King will relent.
Ichtharion:
He often relents at sunset; he looks out over the orchids in the evening. They are very beautiful then, and if he is angry his anger passes away just when the cool breeze comes at the set of sun.
Ludibras:
He is sure to relent at sunset.
Ichtharion:
Do not be angry. I am indeed to blame. Do not be angry.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
I do not wish the King to relent at sunset.
Ichtharion:
Do not be unhappy.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
I say to you that I have betrayed the gods.
Ichtharion:
Listen to me. Do not be so unhappy. There are no gods. Everybody knows that there are no gods. The King knows it.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
You have heard their prophet lie and believe that the gods are dead?
Ludibras:
There are indeed no gods. It is well known.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
There are gods, and they have a vengeance even for you. Listen and I will tell you what it shall be. Aye and for you also... Listen!... No, no, they are silent in the gloom of the hills. They have not spoken to me since I lied.
Ichtharion:
You are right; the gods will punish us. It is natural that they should not speak just now; but they will certainly punish us. It is not therefore necessary for any man to avenge himself upon us, even though there were any cause.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
It is not necessary.
Ichtharion:
Indeed, it might even further anger the gods if a man should be before them to punish us.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
The gods are very swift; no man outruns them.
Ludibras:
A man would be rash to attempt to.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
The sun is falling low. I will leave you now, for I have ever loved the sun at evening. I go to watch it drop through the gilded clouds, and make a wonder of familiar things. After the sunset, night, and after an evil deed, the vengeance of the gods. [Exit R.]
Ludibras: [with contemptuous wonder]
He really believes in the gods.
Ichtharion:
He is as mad as the Queen; we must humour his madness if we ever see him more. I think that all will be well.
[An executioner steals after the Prophet; he is dressed in crimson satin to the knees; he wears a leather belt and carries the axe of his trade.]
Ludibras:
His voice was angry as he went away. I fear he may yet betray us.
Ichtharion:
It is not likely. He thinks that the gods will punish us.
Ludibras:
How long will he think so? The Queen's fancies change thrice an hour.
Ichtharion:
The executioner keeps very close to him now. He comes closer every hour. There is not much time for him to change his fancies.
Ludibras:
He has the will to betray us if that fancy leaves him.
Ichtharion:
The executioner is very eager for him. He invented a new stroke lately, but he has not had a man since we came to Thek.
Ludibras:
I do not like an eager executioner--the King sees him and it makes him think...
Ichtharion:
Look how low the sun is; he has no time to betray us. The King is not yet here.
Ludibras:
He is coming.
Ichtharion:
But the prophet is not here.
Ludibras:
No, he is not yet come.
[Enter the King.]
King Karnos:
The Queen's maidens have persuaded her that there is nothing to fear. They are quite excellent; they shall dance before me. The Queen will sleep; they are quite excellent. Ah, Ichtharion. Come to me, Ichtharion.
Ludibras:
Why does the King send for you?
King Karnos:
You were wrong, Ichtharion.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty!
[Ludibras watches.]
King Karnos:
You were wrong to think that Thek is not very lovely.
Ichtharion:
Yes, I was wrong and I am much to blame.
King Karnos:
Yes, it is very beautiful at evening. I will watch them go down over the orchids. I will never see Barbul-el-Sharnak any more. I will sit and watch the sun go down on the orchids till it is gone and all their colours fade.
Ichtharion:
It is very beautiful now. How still it is! I have never seen so still a sunset before.
King Karnos:
It is like a picture done by a dying painter, full of a beautiful colour. Even if all these orchids died to-night yet their beauty is an indestructible memory.
Ludibras: [Aside to Ichtharion]
The prophet is coming this way.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty, the prophet walks about in the palace, and the executioner is close behind him. If the Queen saw him and the executioner would it not trouble her? Were it not better that he should be killed at once? Shall I whistle for the executioner?
King Karnos:
Not now. I said at sunset.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty, it is merciful to kill a man before the set of the sun. For it is natural in a man to love the sun. But to see it set and to know that it will not come again is even a second death. It would be merciful to kill him now.
King Karnos:
I have said--at sunset. It were unjust to kill him before his prophecy is proven false.
Ichtharion:
But, your Majesty, we know that it is false. He also knows it.
King Karnos:
He shall die at sunset.
Ludibras:
Your Majesty, the prophet will pray for life if he is not killed now. It would be pity to grant it.
King Karnos:
Is not a King's word death? I have said he shall die at sunset.
[Enter Prophet. The Executioner creeps along close behind him.]
Voice-of-the-Gods:
O the gods are about to have lied. The gods will have lied. I have prophesied falsely and the gods will have lied. My death cannot atone for it nor the punishment of others.
[Ichtharion and Ludibras start.]
Ichtharion:
He will betray us yet.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
O why did you let your voice come through my lips? O why did you allow your voice to lie? For centuries it has been said from city to city, "The gods cannot lie." The nomads have known it out upon the plains. The mountaineers have known it near the dawn. That is all over now. O King, let me die at once. For I have prophesied falsely and at sunset the gods will lie.
King Karnos:
It is not sunset yet. No doubt you have spoken truly.
[Enter Queen.]
How well the Queen looks. Her maidens are quite excellent.
Ludibras: [To Ichtharion]
There is something a little dreadful in seeing the Queen so calm. She is like a windless sunset in the Winter before a hurricane comes and the snow swirls up before it over the world.
Ichtharion:
I do not like calm sunsets; they make me think that something is going to happen. Yes, the Queen is very quiet; she will sleep to-night.
Queen:
I am not frightened any longer. All the wild fancies of my brain have left it. I have often troubled you with little fears. Now they are all at rest and I am afraid no longer.
King Karnos:
That is good; I am very glad. You will sleep tonight.
Queen:
Sleep. Why--yes, I shall sleep. O yes, we shall all sleep.
King Karnos:
Your maidens have told you that there is nothing to fear.
Queen:
Nothing to fear? No, no more little fears to trouble me.
King Karnos:
They have told you there is nothing at all to fear. Indeed there is nothing.
Queen:
No more little fears. There is one great fear.
King Karnos:
A great fear! Why, what is it?
Queen:
I must not say. For you have often soothed me when I was frightened, and it were not well for me to trouble you at the last.
King Karnos:
What is your fear? Shall I send again for your maidens?
Queen:
No, it is not my fear. It is all men's fear if they knew.
King Karnos: [glancing round]
Ah, you have seen my man in red. I will send him away. I will----
Queen:
No, no. My fear is not earthly. I am not afraid of little things any more.
King Karnos:
Why, what is it then?
Queen:
I do not quite know. But you know how I have ever feared the gods. The gods are going to do some dreadful thing.
King Karnos:
Believe me; the gods do nothing nowadays.
Queen:
You have indeed been very good to me. It seems a little while since the camels came to Argun-Zeerith by the iris marshes, the camels with the gold-hung palanquin, and the bells above their heads, high up in the air, the silver bridal bells. It seems a very little while ago. I did not know how swift the end would come.
King Karnos:
What end? To whom is the end coming?
Queen:
Do not be troubled. We should not let Fate trouble us. The World and its daily cares, ah, they are frightful: but Fate--I smile at Fate. Fate cannot hurt us if we smile at it.
King Karnos:
What end do you say is coming?
Queen:
I do not know. Something that has been shall soon be no more.
King Karnos:
No, no. Look upon Thek. It is built of rock and our palace is all of marble. Time has not scratched it with six centuries. Six tearing centuries with all their claws. We are throned on gold and founded upon marble. Death will some day find me, indeed, but I am young. Sire after sire of mine has died in Barbul-el-Sharnak or in Thek, but has left our dynasty laughing sheer in the face of Time from over these age-old walls.
Queen:
Say farewell to me now, lest something happen.
King Karnos:
No, no, we will not say unhappy things.
Executioner:
The sun has set.
King Karnos:
Not yet. The jungle hides it. It is not yet set. Look at the beautiful light upon the orchids. For how long they have flashed their purple on the gleaming walls of Thek. For how long they will flash there on our immortal palace, immortal in marble and immortal in song. Ah, how the colour changes.
[To the Executioner]
The sun is set. Take him away.
[To the Queen]
It is he whose end you foresaw.
[The Executioner grips the Prophet by the arm.]
Voice-of-the-Gods:
The gods have lied!
King Karnos:
The jungle is sinking! It has fallen into the earth!
[The Queen smiles a little, holding his hand.]
The city is falling in! The houses are rolling towards us!
[Thunder off.]
Ichtharion:
They are coming up like a wave and darkness is coming with them.
[Loud and prolonged thunder. Flashes of red light and then total darkness. A little light comes back, showing recumbent figures, shattered pillars and rocks of white marble.]
[The Prophet's back is broken, but he raises the fore-part of his body for a moment.]
Voice-of-the-Gods: [triumphantly]
They have not lied!
Ichtharion:
O, I am killed.
[Laughter heard off.]
Someone is laughing. Laughing even in Thek! Why, the whole city is shattered.
[The laughter grows demoniac.]
What is that dreadful sound?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
It is the laughter of the gods that cannot lie, going back to their hills.
[He dies.]
[Curtain]
The Queen's Enemies
Dramatis Personæ
The Queen
Ackazárpses (her handmaid)
Prince Rhádamandáspes
Prince Zophérnes
The Priest of Horus
The King of the Four Countries
The Twin Dukes of Ethiopia
Tharni, Tharrabas, Harlee (Slaves)
Slaves.
Scene: An underground temple in Egypt.
Time: The Sixth Dynasty.
[The Curtain rises on darkness in both parts of the stage. Two Slaves appear with tapers on the steps. As they go down the steps, they light the torches that are clamped against the wall, with their tapers. Afterwards when they come to the temple they light the torches there till they are all lit. The two Slaves are Tharni and Tharrabas.]
Tharrabas:
Is it much further, Tharni?
Tharni:
I think not, Tharrabas.
Tharrabas:
A dank and terrible place.
Tharni:
It is not much further.
Tharrabas:
Why does the Queen banquet in so fearful a place?
Tharni:
I know not. She banquets with her enemies.
Tharrabas:
In the land from which I was taken we do not banquet with our enemies.
Tharni:
No? The Queen will banquet with her enemies.
Tharrabas:
Why? Know you why?
Tharni:
It is the way of the Queen.
[Silence.]
Tharrabas:
The door, Tharni, we have come to the door!
Tharni:
Yes, that's the Temple.
Tharrabas:
Surely a grim place.
Tharni:
The banquet is prepared. We light these torches, that is all.
Tharrabas:
Unto whom is it holy?
Tharni:
They say to the Nile once. I know not to whom it is holy now.
Tharrabas:
So Nile has left it?
Tharni:
They say they worship him in this place no longer.
Tharrabas:
And if I were holy Nile I also would stay up there [pointing] in the sunlight.
[He suddenly sees the huge misshapen bulk of Harlee.]
Oh-h-h!
Harlee:
Urh
Tharni:
Why, it's Harlee.
Tharrabas:
I thought you were some fearful, evil god.
[Harlee laughs. He remains leaning on his great iron bar.]
Tharni:
He waits here for the Queen.
Tharrabas:
What sinister need could she have of Harlee?
Tharni:
I know not. You wait for the Queen, Harlee?
[Harlee nods.]
Tharrabas:
I would not banquet here. Not with a Queen.
[Harlee laughs long.]
Tharrabas:
Our work is done. Come. Let us leave this place.
[Exeunt Tharrabas and Tharni up the steps.]
[The Queen appears with her handmaid, Ackazárpses, coming down the steps. Her handmaid holds her train. They enter the temple.]
Queen:
Ah. All is ready.
Ackazárpses:
No, no, Illustrious Lady. Nothing is ready. Your raiment--we must fasten it here [shoulder], and then the bow in your hair.
[She begins to titivate the Queen.]
Queen:
Ackazárpses, Ackazárpses, I cannot bear to have enemies.
Ackazárpses:
Indeed, Illustrious Lady, it is wrong that you should have enemies. One so delicate, so slender and withal so beautiful should never have a foe.
Queen:
If the gods could understand they would never permit it.
Ackazárpses:
I have poured out dark wine to them, I have offered them fat, indeed, I have often offered them savoury things. I have said: The Queen should not have enemies; she is too delicate, too fair. But they will not understand.
Queen:
If they could see my tears they would never permit such woes to be borne by one small woman. But they only look at men and their horrible wars. Why must men slay one another and make horrible war?
Ackazárpses:
I blame your enemies, Illustrious Lady, more than the gods. Why should they trouble you who are so fair and so easily hurt by their anger? It was but a little territory you took from them. How much better to lose a little territory than to be unmannerly and unkind.
Queen:
O speak not of the territory. I know naught of these things. They say my Captains took it. How should I know? O why will they be my enemies?
Ackazárpses:
You are most fair to-night, Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
I must needs be fair to-night.
Ackazárpses:
Indeed you are most fair.
Queen:
A little more perfume, Ackazárpses.
Ackazárpses:
I will tie the coloured bow more evenly.
Queen:
O they will never look at it. They will not know if it is orange or blue. I shall weep if they do not look at it. It is a pretty bow.
Ackazárpses:
Calm yourself, lady! They will be here soon.
Queen:
Indeed I think they are very close to me now, for I feel myself trembling.
Ackazárpses:
You must not tremble, Illustrious Lady; you must not tremble.
Queen:
They are such terrible men, Ackazárpses.
Ackazárpses:
But you must not tremble, for your raiment is now perfect; yet if you tremble, alas! who may say how it will hang?
Queen:
They are such huge, terrible men.
Ackazárpses:
O the raiment, the raiment; you must not, you must not!
Queen:
O I cannot bear it. I cannot bear it. There is Rhádamandáspes, that huge, fierce soldier, and the terrible Priest of Horus, and... and... O I cannot see them, I cannot see them.
Ackazárpses:
Lady, you have invited them.
Queen:
O say I am ill, say I am sick of a fever.
Quick, quick, say I have some swift fever and cannot see them.
Ackazárpses:
Illustrious Lady----
Queen:
Quick, for I cannot bear it.
[Exit Ackazárpses.]
Queen:
O, I cannot bear to have enemies.
Ackazárpses:
Lady, they are here.
Queen:
O what shall we do?... Set this bow higher upon my head so that it must be seen. [Ackazárpses does so.] The pretty bow.
[She continues to look in a hand mirror. A Slave descends the stairs. Then Rhádamandáspes and Zophérnes. Rhádamandáspes and Zophérnes stop; the Slave stops lower down.]
Zophérnes:
For the last time, Rhádamandáspes, consider. Even yet we may turn back.
Rhádamandáspes:
She had no guards outside nor was there any hiding place for them. There was the empty plain and the Nile only.
Zophérnes:
Who knows what she may have in this dark temple?
Rhádamandáspes:
It is small and the stairway narrow; our friends are close behind us. We could hold these steps with our swords against all her men.
Zophérnes:
True. They are narrow steps. Yet... Rhádamandáspes, I do not fear man or god or even woman, yet when I saw the letter this woman sent bidding us banquet with her I felt that it was not well that we should come.
Rhádamandáspes:
She said that she would love us though we were her enemies.
Zophérnes:
It is not natural to love one's enemies.
Rhádamandáspes:
She is much swayed by whims. They sway her as the winds in spring sway flowers--this way and that. This is one of her whims.
Zophérnes:
I do not trust her whims.
Rhádamandáspes:
They name you Zophérnes, giver of good counsel, therefore I will turn back because you counsel it, though I would fain go down and banquet with this little playful lady.
[They turn and mount.]
Zophérnes:
Believe me, Rhádamandáspes, it is better. I think that if you had gone down these steps we scarcely should have seen the sky again.
Rhádamandáspes:
Well, well, we turn back, though I would fain have humoured the Queen's whim. But look. The others come. We cannot turn back. There comes the Priest of Horus; we must go to the banquet now.
Zophérnes:
So be it.
[They descend.]
Rhádamandáspes:
We will be circumspect. If she has men in there we return at once.
Zophérnes:
So be it.
[The Slave opens the door.]
Slave:
The Princes Rhádamandáspes and Zophérnes.
Queen:
Welcome, Illustrious Princes.
Rhádamandáspes:
Greeting.
Queen:
O you have brought your sword!
Rhádamandáspes:
I have brought my sword.
Queen:
O but it is so terrible, your great sword.
Zophérnes:
We always carry our swords.
Queen:
O but you do not need them. If you have come to kill me your great hands are enough. But why do you bring your swords?
Rhádamandáspes:
Illustrious Lady, we do not come to kill you.
Queen:
To your post, Harlee.
Zophérnes:
What are this Harlee and his post?
Ackazárpses:
Do not tremble, Illustrious Lady, indeed you must not tremble.
Queen:
He is but a fisherman; he lives upon the Nile. He nets fish; indeed he is nothing.
Zophérnes:
For what is your great bar of iron, Slave?
[Harlee opens his mouth showing that he is tongueless. Exit.]
Rhádamandáspes:
Ugh! They have burned out his tongue.
Zophérnes:
He goes on secret errands.
[Enter Second Slave.]
Second Slave:
The Priest of Horus.
Queen:
Welcome, holy companion of the gods.
Priest of Horus:
Greeting.
Third Slave:
The King of the Four Countries.
[She and he make obeisance.]
Fourth Slave:
The Twin Dukes of Ethiopia.
King of the Four Countries:
We are all met.
Priest of Horus:
All that have warred against her Captains.
Queen:
O speak not of my Captains. It troubles me to hear of violent men. But you have been my enemies, and I cannot bear to have enemies. Therefore I have asked you to banquet with me.
Priest of Horus:
And we have come.
Queen:
O look not so sternly at me. I cannot bear to have enemies. When I have enemies I do not sleep. Is it not so, Ackazárpses?
Ackazárpses:
Indeed, the Illustrious Lady has suffered much.
Queen:
O Ackazárpses, why should I have enemies?
Ackazárpses:
After to-night you will sleep, Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
Why, yes, for we shall all be friends; shall we not, princes? Let us be seated.
Rhádamandáspes:
[To Zophérnes.] There is no other doorway. That is well.
Zophérnes:
Why, no, there is not. Yet what is that great hole that is full of darkness?
Rhádamandáspes:
Only one man at a time could come that way. We are safe from man or beast. Nothing could enter that way for our swords.
Queen:
I pray you be seated.
[They seat themselves cautiously, she standing watching them.]
Zophérnes:
There are no servitors.
Queen:
Are there not viands before you, Prince Zophérnes, or are there too few fruits that you should blame me?
Zophérnes:
I do not blame you.
Queen:
I fear you blame me with your fierce eyes.
Zophérnes:
I do not blame you.
Queen:
O my enemies, I would have you kind to me. And indeed there are no servitors, for I know what evil things you think of me----
A Duke of Ethiopia:
No, Queen, indeed we think no evil of you.
Queen:
Ah, but you think terrible things.
Priest of Horus:
We think no evil of you, Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
I feared that if I had servitors you would think... you would say, "This wicked Queen, our enemy, will bid them attack us while we feast."
[First Duke of Ethiopia furtively hands food to his Slave standing behind him, who tastes it.]
Though you do not know how I dread the sight of blood, and indeed I would never bid them do such a thing. The sight of blood is shocking.
Priest of Horus:
We trust you, Illustrious Lady.
[He does the same with his Slave.]
Queen:
And for miles around this temple and all along this river I have said, "Let there be no man." I have commanded and there are not. Will you not trust me now?
[Zophérnes does the same and all the guests, one by one.]
Priest of Horus:
Indeed, we trust you.
Queen:
And you, Prince Zophérnes, with your fierce eyes that so frighten me, will you not trust me?
Zophérnes:
O Queen, it is part of the art of war to be well prepared when in an enemy's country, and we have been so long at war with your Captains that we perforce remember some of the art. It is not that we do not trust you.
Queen:
I am all alone with my handmaid and none will trust me! O Ackazárpses, I am frightened: what if my enemies should slay me and carry me up, and cast my body into the lonely Nile.
Ackazárpses:
No, no, Illustrious Lady. They will not harm you. They do not know how their fierce looks distress you. They do not know how delicate you are.
Priest of Horus: [to Ackazárpses]
Indeed we trust the Queen and none would harm her.
[Ackazárpses soothes the Queen.]
Rhádamandáspes: [to Zophérnes]
I think we do wrong to doubt her, seeing she is alone.
Zophérnes: [to Rhádamandáspes]
Yet I would that the banquet were over.
Queen: [to Ackazárpses and the Priest of Horus, but audible to all]
Yet they do not eat the food that I set before them.
Duke of Ethiopia:
In Ethiopia when we feast with queens it is our custom not to eat at once but to await the Queen till she has eaten.
Queen: [Eats.]
Behold then, I have eaten.
[She looks at the Priest of Horus.]
Priest of Horus:
It has been the custom of all that held my office, from the time when there went on earth the children of the Moon, never to eat till the food is dedicate, by our sacred signs, to the gods. [He begins to wave his hands over the food.]
Queen:
The King of the Four Countries does not eat. And you, Prince Rhádamandáspes, you have given royal wine unto your slave.
Rhádamandáspes:
O Queen, it is the custom of our dynasty... and has indeed long been so,... as many say,... that the noble should not feast till the base have feasted, reminding us that our bodies even as the humble bodies of the base----
Queen:
Why do you thus watch your slave, Prince Rhádamandáspes?
Rhádamandáspes:
Even to remind myself that I have done as our dynasty doth.
Queen:
Alas for me, Ackazárpses, they will not feast with me, but mock me because I am little and alone. O I shall not sleep to-night, I shall not sleep. [She weeps.]
Ackazárpses:
Yes, yes, Illustrious Lady, you shall sleep. Be patient and all shall be well and you will sleep.
Rhádamandáspes:
But Queen, Queen, we are about to eat.
Duke of Ethiopia:
Yes, yes, indeed we do not mock you.
King of Four Countries:
We do not mock you, Queen.
Priest of Horus:
They do not mean to mock you.
Queen:
They... give my food to slaves.
Priest of Horus:
That was a mistake.
Queen:
It was... no mistake.
Priest of Horus:
The slaves were hungry.
Queen: [still weeping]
They believe I would poison them.
Priest of Horus:
No, no, Illustrious Lady, they do not believe that.
Queen:
They believe I would poison them.
Ackazárpses: [comforting her]
O hush, hush. They do not mean to be so cruel.
Priest of Horus:
They do not believe you would poison them. But they do not know if the meat was killed with a poisonous arrow or if an asp may have inadvertently bitten the fruit. These things may happen, but they do not believe you would poison them.
Queen:
They believe I would poison them.
Rhádamandáspes:
No; Queen, see, we eat.
[They hastily whisper to slaves.]
1st Duke of Ethiopia:
We eat your viands, Queen.
2nd Duke of Ethiopia:
We drink your wine.
King of Four Countries:
We eat your good pomegranates and Egyptian grapes.
Zophérnes:
We eat.
[They all eat.]
Priest of Horus: [smiling affably]
I too eat of your excellent banquet, O Queen.
[He peels a fruit slowly, glancing constantly at the others. Meanwhile the catches in the Queen's breath grow fewer, she begins to dry her eyes.]
Ackazárpses: [in her ear]
They eat.
[Ackazárpses lifts her head and watches them.]
Queen:
Perhaps the wine is poisoned.
Priest of Horus:
No, no, Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
Perhaps the grape was cut by a poisoned arrow.
Priest of Horus:
But indeed... indeed...
[Queen drinks from his cup.]
Queen:
Will you not drink my wine?
Priest of Horus:
I drink to our continued friendship.
[He drinks.]
A Duke of Ethiopia:
Our continued friendship!
Priest of Horus:
There has been no true enmity. We misunderstood the Queen's armies.
Rhádamandáspes: [to Zophérnes]
We have wronged the Queen. The wine's not poisoned. Let us drink to her.
Zophérnes:
So be it.
Rhádamandáspes:
We drink to you, Queen.
Zophérnes:
We drink.
Queen:
The flagon, Ackazárpses.
[Ackazárpses brings it. The Queen pours it into her cup.]
Fill up your goblets from the flagon, princes. [She drinks.]
Rhádamandáspes:
We wronged you, Queen. It is a blessed wine.
Queen:
It is an ancient wine and grew in Lesbos, looking from Mytelene to the South. Ships brought it overseas and up this river to gladden the hearts of man in holy Egypt. But to me it brings no joy.
Duke of Ethiopia:
It is a happy wine, Queen.
Queen:
I have been thought a poisoner.
Priest of Horus:
Indeed, none has thought that, Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
You have all thought it.
Rhádamandáspes:
We ask your pardon, Queen.
King of Four Countries:
We ask your pardon.
Duke of Ethiopia:
Indeed we erred.
Zophérnes: [rising]
We have eaten your fruits and drunk your wine; and we have asked your pardon. Let us now depart in amity.
Queen:
No, no! No, no! You must not go! I shall say... "They are my enemies still," and I shall not sleep. I that cannot bear to have enemies.
Zophérnes:
Let us depart in all amity.
Queen:
O will you not feast with me?
Zophérnes:
We have feasted.
Rhádamandáspes:
No, no, Zophérnes. Do you not see? The Queen takes it to heart.
[Zophérnes sits down.]
Queen:
O feast with me a little longer and make merry, and be my enemies no more. Rhádamandáspes, there is some country eastwards towards Assyria, is there not? I do not know its name--a country which your dynasty claims of me...
Zophérnes:
Ha!
Rhádamandáspes: [resignedly]
We have lost it.
Queen:
...and for whose sake you are my enemy and your fierce uncle, Prince Zophérnes.
Rhádamandáspes:
We fought somewhat with your armies, Queen. But indeed it was but to practise the military art.
Queen:
I will call my Captains to me. I will call them down from their high places and reprove them and bid them give the country back to you that lies eastwards towards Assyria. Only you shall tarry here at the feast and forget you ever were my enemies... forget...
Rhádamandáspes:
Queen...! Queen...! It was my mother's country as a child.
Queen:
You will not leave me alone then here to-night.
Rhádamandáspes:
No, most royal lady.
Queen: [to King of Four Countries who appears about to depart]
And in the matter of the merchant men that trade amongst the isles, they shall offer spices at your feet, not at mine, and the men of the isles shall offer goats to your gods.
King of Four Countries:
Most generous Queen... indeed...
Queen:
But you will not leave my banquet and go unfriendly away.
King of Four Countries:
No, Queen... [He drinks.]
Queen: [she looks at the Twin Dukes amiably]
All Ethiopia shall be yours, down to the unknown kingdoms of the beasts.
1st Duke of Ethiopia:
Queen.
2nd Duke of Ethiopia:
Queen. We drink to the glory of your throne.
Queen:
Stay then and feast with me. For not to have enemies is the beggar's joy; and I have looked from windows long and long, envying those that go their way in rags. Stay with me, dukes and princes.
Priest of Horus:
Illustrious Lady, the generosity of your royal heart has given the gods much joy.
Queen: [smiles at him.]
Thank you.
Priest of Horus:
Er... in the matter of the tribute due to Horus from all the people of Egypt...
Queen:
It is yours.
Priest of Horus:
Illustrious Lady.
Queen:
I will take none of it. Use it how you will.
Priest of Horus:
The gratitude of Horus shall shine on you. My little Ackazárpses, how happy you are in having so royal a mistress.
[His arm is round Ackazárpses' waist: she smiles at him.]
Queen: [rising]
Princes and gentlemen, let us drink to the future.
Priest of Horus: [starting suddenly]
Ah-h-h!
Queen:
Something has troubled you, holy companion of the gods?
Priest of Horus:
No, nothing. Sometimes the spirit of prophecy comes on me. It comes not often. It seemed to come then. I thought that one of the gods spoke to me clearly.
Queen:
What said he?
Priest of Horus:
I thought he said... speaking here [right ear] or just behind me... Drink not to the Future. But it was nothing.
Queen:
Will you drink then to the past?
Priest of Horus:
O no, Illustrious Lady, for we forget the past; your good wine has made us forget the past and its quarrels.
Ackazárpses:
Will you not drink to the present?
Priest of Horus:
Ah, the present! The present that places me by so lovely a lady. I drink to the present.
Queen: [to the others]
And we, we will drink to the future, and to forgetting--to the forgetting of our enemies.
[All drink; good temper comes on all. The banquet begins "to go well."]
Queen:
Ackazárpses, they are all merry now.
Ackazárpses:
They are all merry.
Queen:
They are telling Ethiopian tales.
1st Duke of Ethiopia:
...for when Winter comes the pigmies at once put themselves in readiness for war and having chosen a place for battle wait there for some days, so that the cranes when they arrive find their enemy already arrayed. And at first they preen themselves and do not give battle, but when they are fully rested after their great journey they attack the pigmies with indescribably fury so that many are slain, but the pigmies...
Queen: [taking her by the wrist]
Ackazárpses! Come!
[The Queen rises.]
Zophérnes:
Queen, you do not leave us?
Queen:
For a little while, Prince Zophérnes.
Zophérnes:
For what purpose?
Queen:
I go to pray to a very secret god.
Zophérnes:
What is his name?
Queen:
His name is secret like his deeds.
[She goes to door. Silence falls. All watch her. She and Ackazárpses slip out. For a moment silence. Then all draw their wide swords and lay them before them on the table.]
Zophérnes:
To the door, slaves. Let no man enter.
1st Duke of Ethiopia:
She cannot mean to harm us!
[A Slave comes back from door and abases himself. Loq.]
Slave:
The door is bolted.
Rhádamandáspes:
It is easily broken with our swords.
Zophérnes:
No harm can come to us while we guard the entrances.
[Meanwhile the Queen has gone up the stairs. She beats with a fan on the wall thrice. The great grating lifts outwards and upwards very slowly.]
Zophérnes: [to the Two Dukes]
Quick, to the great hole.
Stand on each side of it with your swords.
[They lift their swords over the hole.]
Slay whatever enters.
Queen:
[on the step, kneeling, her two arms stretched upwards]
O holy Nile! Ancient Egyptian river! O blessed Nile!
When I was a little child I played beside you, picking mauve flowers. I threw you down the sweet Egyptian flowers. It is the little Queen that calls to you, Nile. The little Queen that cannot bear to have enemies.
Hear me, O Nile.
Men speak of other rivers. But I do not hearken to fools. There is only Nile. It is the little child that prays to you who used to pick mauve flowers.
Hear me, O Nile.
I have prepared a sacrifice to god. Men speak of other gods: there is only Nile. I have prepared a sacrifice of wine--the Lesbian wine from fairy Mitylene--to mingle with your waters till you are drunken and go singing to the sea from the Abyssinian hills.
O Nile, hear me.
Fruits also I have made ready, all the sweet juices of the earth; and the meat of beasts also.
Hear me, O Nile: for it is not the meat of beasts only. I have slaves for you and princes and a King. There has been no such sacrifice. Come down, O Nile, from the sunlight. O ancient Egyptian river!
The sacrifice is ready. O Nile, hear me.
Duke of Ethiopia:
No one comes.
Queen: [beats again with her fan]
Harlee, Harlee, let in the water upon the princes and gentlemen.
[A green torrent descends from the great hole. Green gauzes rise from the floor; the torches hiss out. The temple is flooded. The water from under the doors rises up the steps, the torches hiss out one by one. The water, finding its own level, just touches the end of the Queen's skirt and stops. She withdraws the skirt with catlike haste from the water.]
Queen:
O Ackazárpses! Are all my enemies gone?
Ackazárpses:
Illustrious Lady, the Nile has taken them all.
Queen: [with intense devotion]
That holy river.
Ackazárpses:
Illustrious Lady, will you sleep to-night?
Queen:
Yes. I shall sleep sweetly.
[curtain]
The Tents of the Arabs
Dramatis Personæ
The King
Bel-Narb, Aoob (camel-drivers)
The Chamberlain
Zabra (a notable)
Eznarza (a gypsy of the desert)
