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Plays of Near & Far
_By_
LORD DUNSANY
G. P. Putnam's Sons
London & New York
MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN
_First printed December, 1922_
_Limited Edition: Five Hundred Copies only_
_Printed by the_
BOTOLPH PRINTING WORKS
GATE ST., KINGSWAY, W.C.2
_By_ LORD DUNSANY
THE GODS OF PEGANA
TIME AND THE GODS
THE SWORD OF WELLERAN
A DREAMER'S TALES
THE BOOK OF WONDER
FIVE PLAYS
FIFTY-ONE TALES
TALES OF WONDER
PLAYS OF GODS AND MEN
TALES OF WAR
UNHAPPY FAR-OFF THINGS
TALES OF THREE HEMISPHERES
IF
THE CHRONICLES OF RODRIGUEZ
PREFACE
Believing plays to be solely for the stage, I have never before allowed
any of mine to be printed until they had first faced from a stage the
judgment of an audience, to see if they were entitled to be called plays
at all. A successful production also has been sometimes a moral support
to me when some critic has said, as for instance of "A Night at an Inn,"
that though it reads passably it could never act.
But in this book I have made an exception to this good rule (as it seems
to me), and that exception is "The Flight of the Queen." I know too
little of managers and theatres to know what to do with it, and have a
feeling that it will be long before it is ever acted, and am too fond of
this play to leave it in obscurity. This beautiful story has been lying
about the world for countless centuries, without ever having been
dramatized. It is the story of a royal court, which I have merely
adapted to the stage. The date that I have given is accurate; it
happened in June; and happens every June; perhaps in some corner of the
reader's garden. It is the story of the bees.
As for "The Compromise of the King of the Golden Isles," it is just the
sort of play through which those that hunt for allegories might hunt
merrily, unless I mention that there are no allegories in any of my
plays.
An allegory I take to be a dig at something local and limited, such as
politics, while outwardly appearing to tell of things on some higher
plane. But, far from being the _chef d'oeuvre_ of some ponderously
profound thinker, I look on the allegory, if I have rightly defined it,
as being the one form of art that is narrowly limited in its application
to life. When the man whose cause it championed has been elected
alderman, when the esplanade has been widened, or the town better
lighted or drained, the allegory's work must necessarily be over; but
the truth of all other works of art is manifold and should be eternal.
Though there is no such land as the Golden Isles and was never any such
king as Hamaran, yet all that we write with sincerity is true, for we
can reflect nothing that we have not seen, and this we interpret with
our idiosyncracies when we attempt any form of art.
I set some store by the way in which the three lines about Zarabardes
are recited, though it is hard to explain in writing a matter of rhythm.
But the heartlessness of it can be indicated by a clear pronunciation of
the syllables, as though the people that utter these words had long been
drilled in a formula.
The third play, "Cheezo," tells of one of those rare occasions when it
is permissible for an artist, and may be a duty, to leave his wider art
in order to attack a definite evil. And the invention of "great new
foods" is often a huge evil.
"Cheezo" is a play of Right and Wrong, and Wrong triumphs. Were not this
particular Wrong triumphing at this particular date I should not have
thought it a duty to attack it, and were it easily defeated it would not
have been worth attacking.
I have seen it acted with a Stage Curate, rather weak and a little
comic; obviously such a man could be no match for Sladder. Hippanthigh
should be of stronger stuff than that: he is defeated because that
particular evil is, as I have said, defeating its enemies at present.
Nor could there be any drama in a contest between the brutal Sladder and
a Stage Curate; for the spark that we call humour, by whose light we see
much of life, comes as it were of two flints, and not of a flint and
cheese.
The three little plays that follow I will leave to speak for themselves,
as ultimately all plays have to do.
DUNSANY
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE COMPROMISE OF THE KING OF THE GOLDEN ISLES 1
THE FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN 21
CHEEZO 65
A GOOD BARGAIN 103
IF SHAKESPEARE LIVED TO-DAY 117
FAME AND THE POET 135
THE COMPROMISE OF THE KING OF THE GOLDEN ISLES
_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN ISLES: KING HAMARAN.
THE KING'S POLITICIAN.
THE AMBASSADOR OF THE EMPEROR.
THE EMPEROR'S SEEKER.
TWO PRIESTS OF THE ORDER OF THE SUN.
THE KING'S QUESTIONERS.
THE AMBASSADOR'S NUBIAN.
THE HERALD OF THE AMBASSADOR.
THE EMPEROR'S DWARF.
THE DEPUTY CUP-BEARER.
THE KING'S DOOM-BEARER.
THE KING'S POLITICIAN: A man has fled from the Emperor, and has taken
refuge in your Majesty's Court in that part of it called holy.
THE KING: We must give him up to the Emperor.
POLITICIAN: To-day a spearsman came running from Eng-Bathai seeking the
man who fled. He carries the barbed spear of one of the Emperor's
seekers.
KING: We must give him up.
POLITICIAN: Moreover he has an edict from the Emperor demanding that the
head of the man who fled be sent back to Eng-Bathai.
KING: Let it be sent.
POLITICIAN: Yet your Majesty is no vassal of the Emperor, who dwells at
Eng-Bathai.
KING: We may not disobey the Imperial edict.
POLITICIAN: Yet----
KING: None hath dared to do it.
POLITICIAN: It is so long since any dared to do it that the Emperor
mocks at kings. If your Majesty disobeyed him the Emperor would
tremble.
KING: Ah.
POLITICIAN: The Emperor would say, "There is a great king. He defies
me." And he would tremble strangely.
KING: Yet--if----
POLITICIAN: The Emperor would fear you.
KING: I would fain be a great king--yet----
POLITICIAN: You would win honour in his eyes.
KING: Yet is the Emperor terrible in his wrath. He was terrible in his
wrath in the olden time.
POLITICIAN: The Emperor is old.
KING: This is a great affront that he places upon a king, to demand a
man who has come to sanctuary in that part of my Court called holy.
POLITICIAN: It is a great affront.
[_Enter the_ SEEKER. _He abases himself._
SEEKER: O King, I have come with my spear, seeking for one that fled the
Emperor and has found sanctuary in your Court in that part called holy.
KING: It has not been the wont of the kings of my line to turn men from
our sanctuary.
SEEKER: It is the Emperor's will.
KING: It is not _my_ will.
SEEKER: Behold the Emperor's edict.
[_The_ KING _takes it. The_ SEEKER _goes towards the door._
SEEKER: I go to sit with my spear by the door of the place called holy.
[_Exit_ SEEKER.
KING: The edict, the edict. We must obey the edict.
POLITICIAN: The Emperor is old.
KING: True, we will defy him.
POLITICIAN: He will do nothing.
KING: And yet the edict.
POLITICIAN: It is of no importance.
KING: Hark. I will not disobey the Emperor. Yet will I not permit him to
abuse the sanctuary of my Court. We will banish the man who fled from
Eng-Bathai. [_To his_ DOOM-BEARER.] Hither, the Doom-Bearer; take the
black ivory spear, the wand of banishment, that lies on the left of my
throne, and point it at the man that shelters in the holy place of my
Court. Then show him the privy door behind the horns of the altar, so
that he go safely hence and meet not the Emperor's seeker.
[_The_ DOOM-BEARER _bows and takes the spear on the flat of both his
hands. The shaft is all black, but the head is of white ivory. It is
blunt and clearly ceremonial. Exit._]
[_To_ POLITICIAN.
Thus we shall be safe from the wrath of the Emperor, and the holy place
of my Court will not be violate.
POLITICIAN: Had your Majesty scorned the Emperor it were better. He is
old and durst not take vengeance.
KING: I have decided, and the man is banished.
[_A_ HERALD _marches in and blows his trumpet._
HERALD: The Ambassador of the Emperor.
[_Enter the_ AMBASSADOR. _He bows to the King from his place near the
door._
KING: For what purpose to my Court from Eng-Bathai comes thus the
Ambassador of the Emperor?
AMBASSADOR: I bring to the King's Majesty a gift from the great Emperor,
[AMBASSADOR _and his men bow_] who reigns in Eng-Bathai, the reward of
obedience to his edict, a goblet of inestimable wine.
[_He signs and there enters a page bearing a goblet of glass. He has a
pretty complexion and yellow hair falling as low as his chin and curling
inwards. He wears a cerise belt round his tunic exactly matching the
wine in the goblet he carries._
He prays you drink it, and to know that it was made by vintners whose
skill is lost, and stored in secret cellars over a hundred years; and
that the vineyards whence it came have been long since whelmed by war,
and only live now in legend and this wine.
KING: A gift, you say, for obedience.
AMBASSADOR: A gift from the old wine-gardens of the sun.
KING: How knew the Emperor that I had thus obeyed him?
AMBASSADOR: It has not been men's wont to disobey the Emperor.
KING: Yet if I have sheltered this man in the holy place of my Court?
AMBASSADOR: If that be so the Emperor bids you drink out of this golden
goblet. [_He signs and it is brought on by a bent and ugly dwarf_] and
wishes you farewell.
KING: Farewell, you say?
AMBASSADOR: Farewell.
KING: What have you in the goblet?
AMBASSADOR: It is no common poison, but a thing so strange and deadly
that the serpents of Lebutharna go in fear of it. Yea travellers there
hold high a goblet of this poison, at arm's length as they go. The
serpents hide their heads for fear of it. Even so the travellers pass
the desert safely, and come to Eng-Bathai.
KING: I have not sheltered this man.
AMBASSADOR: There is no need then for this Imperial gift.
[_He throws the liquid out of the goblet through the doorway on to the
marble. A great steam goes up._
KING: Neither have I ordered that his head be sent back to Eng-Bathai.
AMBASSADOR: Alas, for so rare a wine.
[_He pours it away._
KING: I have banished him and he is safe. I have neither obeyed nor
disobeyed.
AMBASSADOR: The Emperor therefore bids you choose the gift that he
honours himself by sending to your Court.
[_He signs. Enter a massive_ NUBIAN _with two cups._
The Emperor bids you drink one of these cups.
[_The huge_ NUBIAN _moves up close to the_ KING _holding up the two cups
on a tray._
[_The_ POLITICIAN _slinks off. Exit L._
KING: The cups are strangely alike.
AMBASSADOR: Only one craftsman in the City of Smiths ever discerned a
difference. The Emperor killed him, and now no one knows.
KING: The potions also are alike.
AMBASSADOR: Strangely alike. [_The_ KING _hesitates._] The Emperor bids
you choose his gift and drink.
KING: The Emperor has poisoned the cups!
AMBASSADOR: You greatly wrong the Emperor. Only one cup is poisoned.
KING: You say that one is poisoned?
AMBASSADOR: Only one, O King! Who may say which?
KING: And what if I refuse to do this thing?
AMBASSADOR: There are tortures that the Emperor never names. They are
not spoken of where the Emperor is. Yet the Emperor makes a sign and
they are accomplished. He makes the sign with a certain one of his
fingers.
KING (_half to himself_): How wonderfully they have the look of wine.
AMBASSADOR: One is a wine scarcely less rare, scarcely less jubilant in
the wits of man, than that which alas is lost.
[_He glances towards the spot where he threw the other._
KING: And the other?
AMBASSADOR: Who may say? It is the most treasured secret that the
Emperor's poisoners guard.
KING: I will send for my butlers that are wise in wine and they shall
smell the cups.
AMBASSADOR: Alas, but the Emperor's poisoners have added so wine-like a
flavour to their most secret draught, that no man may tell by this means
which is their work and which that inestimable wine.
KING: I will send for my tasters and they shall taste of the cups.
AMBASSADOR: Alas, so great a risk may not be run.
KING: Risks are the duty of a king's tasters.
AMBASSADOR: If they chanced to taste of the treasure of the Emperor's
poisoners--well. But if they, or _any_ man of common birth, were to
taste of the wine that the Emperor sends only to kings, and even to
kings but rarely, that were an affront to the Emperor's ancient wine
that could not be permitted.
KING: It is surely permitted that I send for my priests, who tell by
divination, having burnt strange herbs to the gods that guard the Golden
Isles.
AMBASSADOR: It is permitted.
KING: Send for the priests.
KING (_mainly to himself_): They shall discern. The priests shall make
for me this dreadful choice. They shall burn herbs and discern it. (_To_
AMBASSADOR.) My priests are very subtle. They worship the gods that
guard the Golden Isles.
AMBASSADOR: The Emperor has other gods.
[_Enter L. two priests of the Order of the Sun. Two acolytes follow. One
carries a tripod and the other a gong._
[_The priests abase themselves and the acolytes bow. The_ AMBASSADOR
_stands with almost Mongolian calm by the door from which he has not
moved since he entered._
[_The impassive_ NUBIAN _stands motionless near the_ KING, _holding up
the cups on a tray._
KING: The Emperor has honoured me with these two cups of wine that I may
drink one of them to the grandeur of his throne. I bid you importune the
gods that they may surely tell me which it were well to drink.
FIRST PRIEST: We will importune the gods with the savour of rarest
spices. We will send up to them the odour of herbs they love. We will
commune with them in silence and they shall answer our thoughts, when
they snuff the savour of the smoke of the burning on the tripod that is
sacred to the Sun.
[_The calm of the_ AMBASSADOR _and the impassivity of the_ NUBIAN _grow
ominous. The two priests hang over the tripod. They cast herbs upon it.
They pass their hands over it. The herbs begin to smoulder. A smoke
goes up. The priests bend over the smoke. Presently they step back from
it._
FIRST PRIEST: The gods sleep.
KING: They sleep! The gods that guard the Golden Isles?
FIRST PRIEST: The gods sleep.
KING: Importune them as never before. I will make sacrifice of many
sheep. I will give emeralds to the Monks of the Sun.
[_The second acolyte moves nearer to the tripod and beats listlessly on
his great gong at about the pace of a great clock striking slowly._
FIRST PRIEST: We will importune the gods as never before.
[_They heap up more herbs and spices. The smoke grows thicker and
thicker. It streams upwards. They hover about it as before. At a sign
the gong ceases._
The gods have spoken.
KING: What is their message?
FIRST PRIEST: Drink of the cup upon the Nubian's left.
KING: Ah. My gods defend me.
[_He seizes the cup boldly. He looks straight at the_ AMBASSADOR, _whose
face remains expressionless, merely watching. He lifts the cup upon the
Nubian's left a little up from the tray._
[_He glances towards the priests._
[_Suddenly he starts. He has seen a strange expression upon the face of
the priest. He puts the cup down. He strides a step nearer and looks at
his face._
PRIEST!--Priest!---- What is that look in your eyes?
FIRST PRIEST: O King, I know not. I have given the message of the gods.
[_The_ KING _continues to search out his face._
KING: I mistrust it.
FIRST PRIEST: It is the message of the gods.
KING: I will drink of the other cup!
[_The_ KING _steps back to his place in the front of his throne where
the Nubian stands beside him. He takes the cup upon the Nubian's right.
He gazes at the priest. He looks round at the Ambassador, but sees
nothing in that watchful, expressionless face._
[_He glances sidelong at the priest, then drinks, draining the cup at
some length. He puts it down in silence. The face of the Ambassador and
the whole bulk of the Nubian remain motionless._
KING: An inestimable wine!
AMBASSADOR: It is the Emperor's joy.
KING: Send for my Questioners.
[_There are weird whistles. Two dark men run on in loin clothes._
Ask these two priests the Seven Questions.
[_The_ QUESTIONERS _run nimbly up to the two priests and lead them away
by the arm._
THE TWO ACOLYTES: O, O, O. Oh, oh.
[_They show extreme horror. The_ AMBASSADOR _bows to the King._
KING: You do not leave us at once?
AMBASSADOR: I go back to the Emperor, whom it is happiness to obey, and
length of days.
[_He bows and walks away. The_ HERALD _marches out, then the_
AMBASSADOR; _the_ PAGE, _the_ DWARF _and the_ NUBIAN _follow._
[_Exeunt._
[_The_ HERALD _is heard blowing upon his trumpet the same notes as when
he entered, one merry bar of music._
[_The tray and two precious cups, one empty and the other full, are left
glittering near the_ KING.
KING (_looking at cups_): Those are rare emeralds that glisten there!
Yet an evil gift. (_To the moaning acolytes._) Be silent! Your priests
sinned strangely.
[_The acolytes continue to moan._
[_Enter one of the_ QUESTIONERS. _He has sweat on his face and his hair
has become damp and unkempt._
QUESTIONER: We have asked the Seven Questions.
KING: Well?
QUESTIONER: They have not answered.
KING: Not answered!
QUESTIONER: Neither man has confessed.
KING: Oho! Do I keep Questioners that bring me no answers?
QUESTIONERS: We questioned them to the uttermost.
KING: And neither man confessed?
QUESTIONER: They would not confess.
KING: Ask them the Supreme Question.
[_The acolytes break out into renewed moaning._
QUESTIONER: It shall be asked, O King.
[_Exit_ QUESTIONER. _The acolytes moan on._
KING: They would have made me drink of a poisoned cup. I say there is
poison in that cup. Your priests would have had me drink it. (_The
acolytes only answer by moans._) Bid them confess. Bid them confess
their crime and why it was done, and the Supreme Question shall be
spared them. (_The acolytes only answer by moans._) Strange! They have
done strangely. (_To acolytes._) Why has your priest spoken falsely?
(_The acolytes only moan._) Why has he spoken falsely in the name of the
gods? (_The acolytes moan on._) Be silent! Be silent! May I not question
whom I will? (_To himself_). They prophesied falsely in the name of the
gods.
[_Enter the_ QUESTIONERS.
FIRST QUESTIONER: The Supreme Question is asked.
[_The acolytes suddenly cease moaning._
KING: Well?
FIRST QUESTIONER: They would not answer.
KING: They would not answer the Supreme Question?
FIRST QUESTIONER: They spoke at last, but they would not answer the
question. They would not confess.
KING: What said they at last?
FIRST QUESTIONER: O, the King's Majesty, they but spake idly.
KING: What said they?
FIRST QUESTIONER: O, the King's Majesty, they said nought fitting.
KING: They muttered so that no man heard them clearly?
FIRST QUESTIONER: They spake. But it was not fitting.
KING: Did they speak of small things happening long ago?
FIRST QUESTIONER: O, the King's Majesty, it was not fitting.
KING: What said they? Speak!
FIRST QUESTIONER: The man you gave to me, O King, said: "No man that
knew the counsels of the gods, who alone see future things, would say
the gods advised King Hamaran ill when they bade him drink out of a
poisoned cup." Then I put the question straightly and he died.
KING: The gods! He said it was the gods!... And the other?
SECOND QUESTIONER: He also said the same, O the King's Majesty.
KING: Both said the same. They were questioned in different chambers?
FIRST QUESTIONER: In different chambers, O King. I questioned mine in
the Red Chamber.
KING (_to_ SECOND QUESTIONER): And yours?
SECOND QUESTIONER: In the Chamber of Rats.
KING: Begone!
[_Exeunt_ QUESTIONERS.
So ... It _was_ the gods.
[_The acolytes are crouched upon the floor. He does not notice them
since they ceased to moan._
The gods! With what dark and dreadful thing have they clouded the
future?
Well, I will face it! But what is it? Is it one of those things a strong
man can bear? Or is it----?
The future is more terrible than the grave, that has its one secret
only.
No man, he said, could say that the gods had advised me ill when they
bade me drink out of a poisoned cup.
What have the gods seen? What dreadful work have they overlooked where
Destiny sits alone, making evil years? The gods, he said, who alone see
future things.
Yes, I have known men who never were warned by the gods, and did not
drink poison, and came upon evil days, suddenly like a ship upon rocks
no mariner knows. Yes, poison to some of _them_ would have been very
precious.
The gods have warned me and I have not hearkened, and must go on alone:
must enter that strange country of the future whose paths are so dark to
man ... to meet a doom there that the gods have seen.
The gods have seen it! How shall I thwart the gods? How fight against
the shapers of the hills?
Would that I had been warned. Would I had heeded when they bade me drink
of the cup the Ambassador said was poisoned.
[_Far off is heard that merry bar of music blown by the_ AMBASSADOR'S
HERALD _on his horn._]
_Is it too late?_
There it stands yet with its green emeralds winking.
[_He clutches it and looks down into it._
How like to wine it is, which is full of dreams. It is silent and dreamy
like the gods, whose dreams we are.
Only a moment in their deathless minds: then the dream passes.
[_He lifts up his arm and drinks it seated upon his throne with his head
back and the great cup before his face. The audience begin to wonder
when he will put it down. Still he remains in the attitude of a drinker.
The acolytes begin to peer eagerly. Still he remains upright with the
great cup to his lips. The acolytes patter away and the_ KING _is left
alone._
[_Enter the_ KING'S POLITICIAN _hurriedly._ _He goes up to the_ KING
_and seizes his right arm and tries to drag the cup away from his lips,
but the_ KING _is rigid and his arm cannot be moved. He steps back
lifting up his hands._
POLITICIAN: Oh-h!
[_Exit. You hear him announcing solemnly_
King Hamaran ... is dead!
[_A murmur is heard of men, at first mournful. It grows louder and
louder and then breaks into these clear words._
Zarabardes is King! Zarabardes is King! Rejoice! Rejoice! Zarabardes is
King! Zarabardes! Zarabardes! Zarabardes!
CURTAIN.
THE FLIGHT OF THE QUEEN
_DRAMATIS PERSONAE_
THE PRINCE OF ZOON.
PRINCE MELIFLOR.
QUEEN ZOOMZOOMARMA.
LADY OOZIZI.
OOMUZ, _a Common Soldier._
THE GLORY OF XIMENUNG.
THE OVERLORD OF MOOMOOMON.
PRINCE HUZ.
SCENE I
_Time: June._
_Scene: In the Palace of Zoorm; the Hall of the Hundred Princes._
_The Princes sit at plain oaken tables with pewter mugs before them.
They wear bright grass-green cloaks of silk; they might wear circlets of
narrow silver with one large hyacinth petal rising from it at intervals
of an inch._
OOMUZ, _a Common Soldier, huge and squat, with brown skin and dense
black beard, stands just inside the doorway, holding a pike, guarding
the golden treasure._
_The golden treasure lies in a heap three or four feet high near the
right back corner._
SENTRIES, _also brown-skinned and bearded, carrying pikes, pass and
repass outside the great doorway._
THE GLORY OF XIMENUNG: Heigho, Moomoomon.
THE OVERLORD OF MOOMOOMON: Heigho, Glory of Ximenung.
XIMENUNG: Weary?
MOOMOOMON: Aye, weary.
ANOTHER: Heigho.
PRINCE MELIFLOR (_sympathetically_): What wearies you?
MOOMOOMON: The idle hours and the idle days. Heigho.
OTHERS: Heigho.
MELIFLOR: Speak not against the idle hours, Moomoomon.
MOOMOOMON: Why then, lord of the sweet lands?
MELIFLOR: Because in idleness are all things, all things good.
XIMENUNG: Heigho, I am weary of the idle hours.
MOOMOOMON: You would work then?
XIMENUNG: No-o. That is not our destiny.
MELIFLOR: Let us be well contented with our lot. The idle hours are our
sacred treasure.
XIMENUNG: Yes, I am well contented, and yet ...
MOOMOOMON (_contemplatively_): And yet ...
XIMENUNG: I sometimes dream that were it not for our glorious state, and
this tradition of exalted ease, it might, it might be pleasant ...
MOOMOOMON: To toil, to labour, to raid the golden hoards.
XIMENUNG: Yes, Moomoomon.
MELIFLOR: Never! Never!
OTHERS: No. No. No.
ANOTHER: And yet ...
MELIFLOR: No, never. We should lose our glorious ease, the heritage that
none may question.
XIMENUNG: What heritage is that, Prince Meliflor?
MELIFLOR: It is all the earth. To labour is to lose it.
MOOMOOMON: If we could toil we should gain some spot of earth that our
labour would seem to make our own. How happily the workers come home at
evening.
MELIFLOR: It would be to lose all.
PRINCE OF ZOON: How lose it, Meliflor?
MELIFLOR: To us alone the idle hours are given. The sky, the fields, the
woods, the summer winds are for us alone. All others put the earth to
uses. This or that field has this or that use; here one may go and
another may not. They have each their bit of earth and become slaves to
its purpose. But for us, ah! for us, is all; the gift of the idle hours.
SOME: Hurrah! Hurrah for the idle hours.
ZOON: Heigho. The idle hours weary me.
MELIFLOR: They give us all the earth and sky to contemplate. Both are
for us.
MOOMOOMON: True. Let us drink, and speak of the blue sky.
MELIFLOR (_lifting mug_): And all our glorious heritage.
XIMENUNG (_putting hand to mug_): Aye, it is glorious, and yet ...
[_Enter the_ RAIDERS _of the Golden Hoard with spears and, in the other
hand, leather wallets the size of your fist; these they cast on the
heap. Nuggets the size of big filberts escape from some so that the heap
is partly leather and partly gold. These wallets should be filled with
nuggets of lead, about the size described, not one lump of lead and not
sawdust or rags. Nothing destroys illusion on the stage more than a
cannon ball falling with a soft pat. They look scowlingly at the
Princes._
[_Exeunt the_ RAIDERS. _The Princes have scarcely noticed them._
MELIFLOR: See how they waste the hours.
XIMENUNG: They have brought treasure from the Golden Hoard.
ZOON: Yes, from the Golden Hoard beyond the marshes. I went there once
with old brown Oomuz there.
MELIFLOR: Of what avail is it to come back burdened thus? Has not the
Queen more wealth than she'll ever need?
MOOMOOMON: Aye, the Queen needs nothing more.
ZOON: How can we know that?
MOMOOMON: Why not?
ZOON: The Queen obeys old impulses. Her sires are dead. Who knows whence
those impulses come? How can we say what they are?
MOOMOOMON: She cannot need more wealth than what is here.
MELIFLOR: No, no, she cannot.
ZOON: She needs more, for she has bidden them go again to the Golden
Hoards. Her impulses have demanded it.
MOOMOOMON: Then there is no reason in her impulses.
ZOON: They do not come from reason.
MOOMOOMON: So I said.
ZOON: They come from Fate.
MOOMOOMON: From Fate!
[_There is a hush at this._ OOMUZ _comes nearer and kneels down._
OOMUZ: Oh, Masters, Masters. If there be anything greater, greater than
the Queen, speak not of it, Masters, speak not its name.
ZOON: No, Oomuz. We need nothing greater.
OOMUZ: The name frightened me, Mighty Highness.
ZOON: Yes, yes, Oomuz; there is only the Queen.
MOOMOOMON: No, there is nothing greater than the Queen, and she has no
need of anything more than the treasure that he guards there.
OOMUZ: There is one thing more.
MOOMOOMON: More? What is that?
OOMUZ: There is one thing more. The Queen needs one thing more. This has
been told us and we know.
MOOMOOMON: What is it?
OOMUZ: How should we know that? None knows the need of the Queen.
[OOMUZ _returns to guard his heap._
ZOON: What think you, Oomuz? What think you is this need of the Queen?
[OOMUZ _shakes his head about three times._ PRINCE OF ZOON _sighs._
SEVERAL PRINCES (_together wearily_): Heigho.
MELIFOR: Take comfort in our heritage, illustrious comrades. Come! We
will drink to the sun.
SOME: To the sun! To the sun! (_They drink._)
MELIFLOR: To the golden idle hours! (_He drinks._) Let us be worthy,
glorious companions, of our exalted calling. Let us enjoy the days of
idleness. Sing to us, mighty one of Zoon, as the idle hours go by. Sing
us a song.
MOOMOOMON (_idly_): Yes, sing to us.
ZOON: As you all know, I can but hum. But I will hum you a song that I
heard yesterday; very strange it was; sung in the meadows by two that
were not of our people; sung in the evening. I heard it as I loitered
home from the meadows beyond the marshes. There is no ease in the song,
and yet ...
MOOMOOMON: Hum it to us.
ZOON: They sang it together, the two that were not of our people.
[_He hums a song. They all lift up their heads from their listlessness._
MELIFLOR (_wonderingly_): That is a song that is new.
ZOON: Yes, it is new to me.
MELIFLOR: It is like an old song.
ZOON: Yes, perhaps it is old.
MELIFLOR: What is the song?
ZOON: It tells of love.
THE PRINCES: Ah-h!
[_They seem to wake as though young and strong out of sleep. There is a
great commotion among them. The sentries outside are utterly unmoved._
OOMUZ, _without sharing any of the excitement of the Princes, now nods
his head solemnly as he had once shaken it._
MOOMOOMON: Love! It must have been that that I felt that day in the
twilight as I came back round the peak of Zing-gee Mountain.
XIMENUNG: You felt it, Moomoomon? Tell us.
MOOMOOMON: All the air seemed gold, seemed gold of a sudden. Through it
I saw fair fields, glittering green far down, glimpsed between clumps of
the heather. The gold was all about them, yet they shone with their own
fair colours. Ah, how can I tell you all I saw? My feet seemed scarce to
touch the slope of the mountain; I too seemed one with the golden air in
which all things were shining.
XIMENUNG: And this was Love?
MOOMOOMON: I know not. It was some strange new thing. It was strange and
new like this song.
MELIFLOR: Perhaps, it was some other strange new thing.
MOOMOOMON: Perhaps. I know not.
ZOON: No. It was Love.
MOOMOOMON: And then that evening in the golden light I knew the purpose
of Earth and why all things are.
XIMENUNG: What is the purpose, Moomoomon?
MOOMOOMON: I know not. I was content. I troubled not to remember.
ZOON: It was love.
XIMENUNG: Let us love.
OTHERS: Aye.
HUZ: Aye, that is best of all.
MELIFLOR: No, Princes. The best is idleness. Out of the idle hours all
good things come.
HUZ: I will love. That is best.
MELIFLOR: It is like all things, the gift of the idle hours. The workers
never love. Their fancies are fastened to the work they do, and do not
roam towards love.
ALL: Love! Let us love.
MELIFLOR: We will love in idleness and praise the idle hours.
XIMENUNG: Whom will you love, lord of the shimmering fields?
MELIFLOR: I have but to show myself loitering by lanes in the evening.
XIMENUNG: I too will be there.
MELIFLOR: And when they see me ...
XIMENUNG: They will see me too ...
MELIFLOR (_rising_): Behold me.
XIMENUNG: So I do.
MELIFLOR: Will they look towards you when this is there?
XIMENUNG: Are birch-trees seen at dawn fairer than I?
MELIFLOR: Behold me; not a poplar is straighter, not a flower is
fairer. I will loiter along the lanes at evening.
[_He draws his sword._ XIMENUNG _does the same._ MOOMOOMON _draws his
too and places it between them._
MOOMOOMON: Be at peace. _I_ will go to the lanes, and there need be no
quarrel between you, for _I_....
OTHERS: No, no, no....
HUZ: We will all go.
ANOTHER: We will all love. Hurrah for love.
[_They have all risen. They wave their swords on high, not threatening
each other. Zoon alone has not risen._
MOOMOOMON (_to_ ZOON): You do not speak, Prince of Zoon. Will you not
love along the idle hours?
ZOON: Yes, yes. I love.
MOOMOOMON: Come then to the lanes to loiter. It draws towards evening.
Let us all come to the lanes, where the honeysuckle is hanging.
ZOON: I love not in the lanes.
MOOMOOMON: Not in the lanes? Then...!
OTHERS: Not in the lanes?
ZOON: I love her than whom there is no greater on earth--(_Some_
PRINCES: Ah!) unless it be that name that frightens Oomuz.
MOOMOOMON: He loves the...!
XIMENUNG: The ...
MELIFLOR: The Queen!
[OOMUZ _nods his head again._
ZOON: The Queen.
MOOMOOMON: If the Queen knew such a thing she would flee from the
palace.
ZOON: I would pursue.
MOOMOOMON: She would go by Aether Mountain, where her mother went once
before her.
ZOON: I would follow.
HUZ: We would all follow.
MELIFLOR: I would follow too. I would dance after her down the little
street: the bright heels of my shoes would twinkle: my cloak would float
out behind me: I would pursue her and call her name, beyond the street
and over the moor as far as Aether Mountain: but I would not come up
with her: that would be _too_ daring.
ZOON: Love is not a toy, Prince Meliflor. Love is no less than a mood of
Destiny.
MELIFLOR: Pooh! We must enjoy the idle hours that are for us alone.
ZOON: There will be no idle hours on Aether Mountain, following from
crag to crag; if it be true that she would go that way.
MOOMOOMON: It is true. They know it. They say her mother went that way
before. It is one of the royal impulses.
ZOON: Oomuz, did the mother of the Queen go once up Aether Mountain?
OOMUZ: Aye, and _her_ mother.
ZOON: It is true.
XIMENUNG: You are sure of this?
OOMUZ: We know it. It has been said.
HUZ: We will all follow her up Aether Mountain.
MELIFLOR: We will follow merrily.
XIMENUNG: If we did this what would they do when we returned?
MELIFLOR: Who?
XIMENUNG: They.
MELIFLOR: They? They would not dare to speak to _us_.
XIMENUNG: Who knows what they would dare if we dared go after the Queen?
MOOMOOMON: They would dare nothing, knowing whence we come.
XIMENUNG: They care not whence we come.
MOOMOOMON: But they care for the event that is in our hands. They dare
never touch us because of the event.
MELIFLOR: We are the heirs of the idle hours. For them is work. Surely
they dare not leave their work to touch us.
MOOMOOMON: They care only for the event. Because it is prophesied that
we are needed for the event we are sacred. Were it not for the event,
why ...
MELIFLOR: Were it not for the event we might not dare to do it; but,
being sacred, let us enjoy our idle hours.
XIMENUNG: What if the event should one day befall?
MELIFLOR: It was prophesied long ago and has not come. It will not come
for a long time.
MOOMOOMON: No, not for a long time.
[_A sentry passes._
MELIFLOR: So we will follow the Queen.
HUZ: Yes, we will follow.
MOOMOOMON: We shall be a merry company.
MELIFLOR: Splendid to see.
ZOON: I would follow though I were not guarded for the event. Though the
event should befall and we be immune no longer, still I should dare it.
MELIFLOR: I would dare it if I knew what they would do. But knowing
not ...
MOOMOOMON: What matter? We are guarded by the event.
ZOON: I say I care not.
MELIFLOR: Let us drum with our heels and beat with our scabbards against
the benches so that we frighten the Queen. She will run from the palace
then, and we will go after her with all our merry company.
MOOMOOMON: Yes, let us drum all together. I will give the word. All
together and she will run from the palace. We will go after and our
cloaks will stream behind us.
HUZ: Brave! And our scabbards will show bright beneath them.
MELIFLOR: No, I will give the word. When she flees from the palace I
will follow her first. Crowd not about my cloak as it streams in the
wind. We must throw up our heels as we run to make our shoes twinkle. We
must show gaily in the little street. Afterwards we can run more easily.
HUZ: Aye, in the street we must run beautifully.
MOOMOOMON: I think that I should give the word when we rattle our
scabbards and all drum with our heels; but I waive the point. But I do
not think that the Queen can run far. She has never left the palace. How
could she run over the moor as far as Aether Mountain. She will faint at
the end of the street and we shall come up with her and bow and offer
her our assistance.
MELIFLOR: Good, good. It would be cold and rocky on Aether Mountain.
MOOMOOMON: The Queen could never go there over the moor.
HUZ: No, she is too dainty.
XIMENUNG: They say she could.
MELIFLOR: They; what do they know? Common workers. What should they
know of queens?
XIMENUNG: They have the old prophesies that came over the fields from
the dawn.
MELIFLOR: Yet they cannot understand the Queen.
XIMENUNG: They say her mother went there.
MELIFLOR: That was long ago. Women are quite different now.
XIMENUNG: Well, give the word.
MELIFLOR: Nay. You shall give the word, Moomoomon. When you raise your
hand we will all drum with our heels together and rattle our scabbards
together, and frighten the Queen.
MOOMOOMON: I honour your courtesy, lord of the deep meadows.
MELIFLOR: We are ready then. When you raise your hand----
[_A gust of laughter is heard off, from a far part of the palace._
MOOMOOMON: Hark! Hark!
MELIFLOR: It is the Queen! She laughed.
HUZ: Could she have guessed...?
MOOMOOMON: I trust not.
MELIFLOR: She--she--cannot have been thinking of _us_.
MOOMOOMON: She--she--seldom laughs.
HUZ: What can it be?
MOOMOOMON: Perhaps it was nothing and yet ...
MELIFLOR: Yet it makes me uneasy.
MOOMOOMON: It is not that I fear, but, when a queen laughs--it makes a
feeling in the palace--as though all were not well.
HUZ: It makes one have forebodings. One cannot help it.
MELIFLOR: Perhaps; perhaps later we could return to our gallant scheme;
for the present I think I'll hide a while.
MOOMOOMON: Yes, let us hide.
MELIFLOR: So that if there be anything wrong in the palace it will not
find us.
[_Exeunt_ MOOMOOMON _and_ MELIFLOR.
HUZ: Let us hide.
[_Exeunt all but_ ZOON _and_ OOMUZ.
[ZOON _has sat always with bent head at table. He sits so, still._
ZOON (_bitterly_): They would follow the Queen.
OOMUZ: Mighty Highness----
ZOON (_still to himself_): They will come back boasting that they dared
follow the Queen.
OOMUZ: Mighty Highness.
ZOON: Yes, good Oomuz.
OOMUZ: In other times once princes followed a queen and came back
boasting. Master, the workers were angry. Be warned, Master, because you
and I went together once to the hoard beyond the marshes. Be warned.
They were angry, Master.
ZOON: I care not for the workers.
OOMUZ: Master, be warned. It was long ago and they say they were very
angry.
ZOON: I care not, Oomuz. I come not boasting back from the hills under
Aether Mountain. I shall not halt till I have told the Queen my love. I
shall wed with her who is less only than Fate, if less she be. I am not
as those, Oomuz. Who weds the Queen is more than the servant of Fate.
OOMUZ: Master----
[_He stretches out his hands towards_ ZOON _imploringly._
ZOON: Well, Oomuz?
OOMUZ: Master. There is a doom about the Queen.
ZOON: What doom, Oomuz?
OOMUZ: We know not, Master. We are simple people and we know not that.
But we know from of old there is a doom about her. We know it, Master;
we have been told from of old.
ZOON: Yes, there could well be a doom about the Queen.
OOMUZ: Follow not after, Master, when she goes to Aether Mountain. There
is surely a doom about her. A doom was with her mother upon that very
peak.
ZOON: Yes, Oomuz, a doom well becomes her.
OOMUZ: Doubt it not, Master; there is a doom about her.
ZOON: Oomuz, I doubt not. For there is something wonderful about the
Queen, beyond all earthly wonders. Something like thunder beyond far
clouds or hail hurling from heaven; there should be indeed a terrible
doom about her.
OOMUZ: Master, I have warned you for the sake of the days when we raided
the golden hoard beyond the marshes.
ZOON (_taking his hand_): Thank you, good Oomuz.
[_He goes towards door after the others._
OOMUZ: But where go you, Master?
ZOON: I wait to follow the Queen when she goes to Aether Mountain.
[_Exit._ OOMUZ _weeps silently on to the Queen's Treasure._
CURTAIN.