ZORAYA. Ah! her confessions!--made under the threats of your
tortures! (Movements among the members of the Tribunal) You can find
whatever pleases you with the aid of him, there. (She points to Gil
Andrès) You can convict with false testimony and you can make
innocent ones confess crimes which they never committed. You,
yourself, Bishop, under torture would admit going to a witches'
meeting!
[The Inquisitors make movements of astonishment.]
XIMÉNÈS. (Calmly) It is not likely that I shall have occasion to
submit to such a trial!--Prove to us that these women have lied!
ZORAYA. And how do you want me to prove it?--Is It possible for me
to do so?--You, can you prove to me that these women are telling
the truth?
XIMÉNÈS. That is the opinion of the Tribunal.
ZORAYA. Then all of them say that I must be found guilty at any
price. That could be done in a quicker and less cowardly manner.
[Murmurs of indignation from the Inquisitors.]
XIMÉNÈS. Do you mean to defy us?
ZORAYA. Yes, I defy all of you! If I am to be condemned before I have
an opportunity to defend myself, I shall have, at least, the pleasure
of shouting my hatred to this Tribunal of the Church, which instead
of being more human than those who believe in other religions, is
more ferocious!
[Exclamations from the Tribunal.]
CALABAZAS. Your hatred, villainous Mooress!
ZORAYA. Yes, my hatred!--Yes, I abhor you!--I abhor you!--Priests!--
who set upon a vanquished people like jackals upon the bodies of the
dead after the battle!
[Protestations from the Tribunal.]
XIMÉNÈS. Let her alone!--her lips are betraying the disease from which
she is suffering.
ZORAYA. All the humiliations and sorrows of defeat--we have known
them. They have changed our mosques into churches, our courts into
kennels, our schools into stables! They have broken our aqueducts,
drained our fish-ponds, burned our mills and wine-presses, cut down
our orchards and made such a desert of the flowery plain of Granada
that a bee cannot gather honey upon it! But that was not enough for
us--we must have misery, famine and the brutality of soldiers! There
must be refined cruelty at least, so you invented the Inquisition.--
Thanks to that, you can assure yourselves with joyful hearts that we
are punished like hardened heathens, that we perish in your
oubliettes and that we are burned alive in the name of your Savior,
who taught only mercy and goodness! (Pointing to the Calvary) And,
that prophet--your God!--crucified by the Inquisitors of his time!--A
martyr, whom you make an executioner! (There is a movement of protest
among the Inquisitors, two of whom rise indignantly. Zoraya turns
toward the Christ on the Calvary and addresses it) God of the
Christians!--They have nailed thy feet and thy hands, so that thou
canst not come to the aid of the unfortunate! But, if thou canst not
tear thyself from the cross, cry at least unto these infamous judges
that they need not look elsewhere for Hell and the gathering of
witches--Here is the Hell where they sacrifice human creatures, where
they offer to thee as hymns the lamentations of the tortured, and as
incense the smell of burning flesh! Here is Hell, Hell with its
furnaces, Hell with its damned, Hell! Hell! with its demons!
[She falls choking and weeping upon the seat at left. The
Inquisitors, protesting, rise and advance into the middle of the
scene, all speaking at the same time.]
ALL. Blasphemy!--Blasphemy!
ALBORNOS. Shall we let this Saracen continue to insult the Tribunal?
CALABAZAS. And the Church!
IBARRA. The sentence!--Eminence! the sentence!
XIMÉNÈS. (Who remains seated) Be calm!--She is not alone a blasphemer
to the Governor and me.--She is a sorceress!
ALBORNOS. That has been proven!
XIMÉNÈS. Not yet. I must have more testimony in the form of a
confession.
PADILLA. Then torture her!
XIMÉNÈS. This woman?--All of our torments would not wrest one word
from her.
ALL. What other means will you use, Eminence?
XIMÉNÈS. (Rising) Then!--(Loud enough for Zoraya to hear him) We
shall question her accomplice (Zoraya starts) and ask him to explain
the reason for the murder of Cardenos, which he confesses, and (Zoraya
again starts) why this woman was in his house on such a night.