THE KING. Speak. What is it?
THE MAID. Two couriers from the King of Basque have arrived on foam-
flecked horses, and ask to see you instantly.
THE KING. Let them wait. I have other affairs in hand. Send them here
on the stroke of noon. (_To the Gypsy_) Your explanation may be the
correct one. But my own opinion is that she is mad. Whatever it is,
I shall soon have the truth.
THE GYPSY. May the fortune of kings attend you!
_The King goes out. The Gypsy and the maid seat themselves idly on
the edge of the dais_.
THE MAID. Poor woman! No doubt she went mad with love of the King,
until she imagined herself to be his bride. I can understand that! Poor
woman!
THE GYPSY. I am almost sorry for him.
THE MAID. Sorry for _him_? You mean, for _her_!
THE GYPSY. The Princess of Basque needs none to be sorry for her. She
can take care of herself--as she proved on the eye of the soldier who
locked her up.
THE MAID. Then you believe it? That she _is_ the Princess of Basque?
THE GYPSY. I know it. Have I not seen her face?
THE MAID. Then why did you not speak up?
THE GYPSY. Who am I, to interfere in the prenuptial courtesies of a
royal pair? Besides, it will give her an insight into the character of
her future husband.
THE MAID. You are very unjust to the King, to say that. He is not
unkind. He only had her locked up because he thought her demented.
THE GYPSY. Precisely. Oh, she is not one to mind a little rough
handling. She gives as good as she gets. She will not hold that against
him. But that he should think her mad because she came unattended, at
an unexpected hour, with flushed cheeks and laughing lips to meet her
lover--!
THE MAID. Because she came climbing in at the window like a madwoman!
THE GYPSY. You think as the King does. For you there are no ways but
the way to which you are accustomed. That is sanity to you, and all
else is madness. You have a map of life which is like your maps of the
world--with all the safe known places marked by their familiar names,
and outside you have drawn childish pictures of fabulous beasts, and
written, "This is a desert." But I tell you I have gone into these
deserts, and found good green grass there, and sweet spring water, and
delightful fruits. And beyond them I have seen great mountains and
stormy seas.... And I shall go back some day, and cross those mountains
and those seas, and find what lies beyond.
THE MAID. Yes, it must be interesting to travel.
THE GYPSY. (_brought down to earth_) Forgive me, child. Do you know,
you are very like the King. That is just what he would have said.
THE MAID (_pleased_) Is it?
THE GYPSY. Word for word. You are the feminine counterpart of your
ruler. What a pity you cannot help him manage his kingdom!
THE MAID. Hush! Here he comes now! And she is with him!
_They rise respectfully. The King enters, followed by the Princess of
Basque_.
THE KING. We can conduct our conversation better in here. (_To the
others_) Leave us.
THE GYPSY. Yes, your majesty.
_They go out_.
THE KING. Pray be seated, madam.
THE PRINCESS. In your majesty's presence?
THE KING. I will sit down too. We will sit here together. It is
unconventional, but--there is no one to see. Please!
_He takes her by the hand and conducts her up the dais to the wide
seat. He seats himself beside her_.
THE PRINCESS. It is very kind of your majesty to give so much of your
time to a troublesome girl.
THE KING. I confess that I find it a pleasure to converse with you. It
is a relief from the burden of my royal responsibilities.
THE PRINCESS. I did not know that a king had responsibilities. I
thought he stood above such things.
THE KING. My responsibilities are many and grave.
THE PRINCESS. Yes. What are they?
THE KING. It would take too long to enumerate them in detail. Suffice
it to say that the happiness of a whole people depends on me.
THE PRINCESS. The happiness of a whole people.... That means:
merchants--and clerks--and--
THE KING. And bricklayers. Yes, and truck drivers. They look to me for
their happiness.
THE PRINCESS. In what does the happiness of a truck driver consist, O
King?
THE KING. I am not sure. But I am going to appoint a royal commission
to find out for me.
THE PRINCESS. I can tell you now. The happiness of a truck driver
consists in drinking beer with his friends at the tavern in the
evening, and taking his sweetheart out to see the royal menagerie on
Sunday afternoon. And do you know how you can best sub serve that
happiness, O King? By letting him alone, to drink his beer, and make
love to his sweetheart.
THE KING. You are wrong. You must be wrong. If the happiness of a
people were as simple as that, there would be no need of governments
and kings to promote it.
THE PRINCESS. Be thankful, O King, that they do not know that--and that
they like to have kings and queens, to whom they give, in their
generosity, palaces and horses and--and silken chemises from Astrakhan!
Why not enjoy the gifts we have, as the truck driver enjoys his beer
and his sweetheart? Let us each have our brief flash of happiness in
the sun, O King!
THE KING. Your philosophy is the deadly enemy of mine.
THE PRINCESS. And must we be enemies of each other, too?
THE KING. Never, madam. Let us be friends in spite of our opinions.
THE PRINCESS. Your majesty is very gracious.
THE KING. And now that we are friends, I hope you will not keep up the
jest any longer. The lady who is to be my wife and queen arrives in a
few hours. You can see how necessary it is that the matter be cleared
up before she comes. You will not continue to embarrass me?
THE PRINCESS. Now that we are friends, I will tell you the truth. I am
_not_ she who is to be your wife and queen.
THE KING. Thank you. And in return, I forgive you freely for all the
disturbances you have caused to me and my kingdom.
THE PRINCESS. I am sorry.
THE KING. Of course, you did not understand what you were doing. You
did not realize how necessary to a kingdom is the tranquillity which
comes only from perfect order and regularity. There has not been such a
day as this before in the history of my kingdom. And there will never
be such a day again. Tomorrow all will be smooth and regular again.
THE PRINCESS. Smooth and regular! Do you mean that you like things
always to be the same, with never any change?
THE KING. I happen to like it, yes. But it is not a question of what
one likes. It is a question of what is necessary. Even if I did not
like order, I would have to submit myself to its routine. That is what
it means to be a king.
THE PRINCESS. And is that what it means to be a queen?
THE KING. In this kingdom, yes. In other places, there may be some
relaxation of the traditional rule which compels a queen to be in every
way a pattern to her subjects. But the queen of my kingdom will always
be a model of perfect womanhood.
THE PRINCESS. And what if she did not wish to be?
THE KING. She would learn that her wishes were unimportant.
THE PRINCESS. And if she refused to learn that?
THE KING. (_grimly_) I would teach her.
THE PRINCESS. (_with flashing eyes_) You mean you would make her obey?
THE KING. That is a hard saying. But this kingdom has not been built up
with centuries of blood and toil to be torn down at the whim of a
foolish girl. I have a duty to perform, and that is to hand on the
kingdom to my descendants as it was handed on to me from my great
ancestors, Otho and Magnus, Carolus and Gavaine. And by the blood that
once flowed in their veins and now flows in mine, I will so do it--and
rather than fail, I would break into pieces a woman's body and a wife's
heart.
THE PRINCESS. I understand you fully. And may I go now?
THE KING. First you must tell me who you are and how you came to play
this mad prank.
THE PRINCESS. Your majesty, I am only a foolish girl. I will not tell
you my name, but I came from the kingdom of Basque.
THE KING. Have you ever seen the Princess, by any chance?
THE PRINCESS. I was in the royal caravan.
THE KING. Then you know the Princess!
THE PRINCESS. Not so well as I thought, your majesty. But I had heard
so much talk of her coming marriage and of her great happiness, that
there was nothing else in my mind. I dreamed of it day and night.
THE KING. Poor child.
THE PRINCESS. You may well say so. I dreamed of it until I lost all
sense of reality, and imagined that I was that happy girl who was going
to meet her lover.
THE KING. Madness!
THE PRINCESS. It was madness--nothing else. I thought I was to become
free--to throw off the restraints that had chafed me for so long at
home. I thought I was going to see everything I wished to see, and do
everything I wished to do--to follow every impulse, no matter where it
led me--to commit every pleasant folly I chose--and be happy.
THE KING. What queer notions!
THE PRINCESS. I had queerer notions than that. I thought I loved a man
that I had never seen. I thought he loved me. I pitied myself and him
because we were so long apart, and I burned to go to him. So, while the
slow-moving caravan was yet far from its destination, I rose secretly
in the night, while the others slept, and saddled the fastest horse in
the train. I rode under the stars, with only one thought--his arms
about me at the journey's end, his lips on mine. So I came to the city.
I scaled the walls, and entered the palace at dawn.
THE KING. But tell me--the wall around the palace is seventeen feet
high--
THE PRINCESS. True enough.