THE KING. Never mind what they told you. You have seen. And now leave
us.
THE COURIERS. Yes, your majesty.
_They go, the Gypsy following_.
THE KING. And now, with apologies for the misunderstanding and delay,
let me welcome you to my palace and my arms--my princess and my
queen!
THE PRINCESS. You will not hold me to it!
THE KING. We cannot escape it.
THE PRINCESS. But I am no fit queen for you. You know what I am like.
You do not want me for a wife!
THE KING. It is not the things one wants, but the things that are
necessary....
THE PRINCESS. I will never marry you.
THE KING. You shall marry me tomorrow.
THE PRINCESS. I cannot.
THE KING. The preparations are made for the wedding. Two kingdoms hang
on the event.
THE PRINCESS. Let them hang!
THE KING. You, the daughter of my father's ancient foe, are to unite
two kingdoms in fraternal amity. Do you understand? War and peace are
in the balance.
THE PRINCESS. War?
THE KING. Or peace. It rests with you.
THE PRINCESS. I begin to understand. How strange to think of myself as
a peace-offering--a gift from one kingdom to another! Is that what it
means to be a Princess?
THE KING. That is what it means.
THE PRINCESS. I had rather be a Gypsy, and choose my lover as I
wandered the roads!
THE KING. But you are a Princess, and your choosing is between peace
and war. Do you choose war?
THE PRINCESS (_fiercely_) For myself, yes. I would gladly lead an
army against you. I would destroy with the sword everything that your
kingdom stands for. And you--I would kill with pleasure.
THE KING. You might kill _me_, but the things for which my kingdom
stands you cannot kill. They are indestructible. They are older than
the world, and will last longer.
THE PRINCESS. (_sadly_) Yes--there was order before the world began its
tumult, and there will be quiet when the final night sets in. I am only
a spark in the great darkness, a cry in the wide silence.
THE KING. Do you submit?
THE PRINCESS. I am not stronger than death. I submit. I would not have
those truck drivers leaving their sweethearts to go to war on account
of me. (_She goes up to the curtain, and touches it_.) How thin the
prison-wall is! And yet it shuts me away from the sunlight.
THE KING (_gently_) I am a good king, and I shall be a good husband.
THE PRINCESS. It will be easy for you, perhaps. To me it will not come
so easy to be a good wife.
THE KING. Put yourself in my hands, and I will teach you.
THE PRINCESS. I will try. (_She kneels at his feet_.) O King, I
will be obedient to you in all things. I will obey your commands, and
be as you wish me to be--a good wife and a good queen.
THE KING. (_taking her hand and raising her to his side_) For my sake!
THE PRINCESS. For the sake of the truck driver and his sweetheart.
THE KING. As you will.
THE PRINCESS. I ask one small wish--that you leave me now. I must think
over my new condition and all that it means.
THE KING. I am happy to see you in so profitable a frame of mind. Let
me remind you that the royal luncheon will be served promptly in half
an hour.
THE PRINCESS. I shall be there--on time.
THE KING. Meanwhile I leave you to your thoughts.
_He goes_.
THE PRINCESS. How weak I am! (_She goes to the wide seat, and sits
down, brooding. The Gypsy steals in, and crouches on the dais beside
the wide seat_.) A good queen, and a good wife--?
THE GYPSY. (_softly_) Impossible.
THE PRINCESS (_startled_) Was it I said that?
* * * * *
_Night. The curtains are drawn aside. The walls and pillars are
silhouetted against a moonlit sky.... The Gypsy is standing by the
window, looking out_.
THE GYPSY. Ah, nameless and immortal goddess, whose home is in the
moonbeams! I speak to you and praise you for perhaps the last time. O
august and whimsical goddess, I am about to die for your sake--I, the
last of your worshippers! When I have perished on your altar, the whole
world will be sane. Your butterflies will no longer whirl on crimson
wings within the minds of men; only the maggots of reason will crawl
and fester. You will look, and weep a foolish tear--for all this is not
worth your grief--and take your flight to other constellations.
THE MAID. (_who has just entered and stands listening_) The
constellations! Oh, do teach me astronomy!
THE GYPSY. Astronomy! Why do you want to be taught astronomy?
THE MAID. Because I want to be able to tell fortunes from the stars.
THE GYPSY. That is astrology, my dear--a much more useful science.
Come, and I will give you a lesson. Do you see that dim planet swinging
low on the horizon? That is my star. Its name is Saturn. It is the star
of mischief and rebellion. I was born under that star, and I shall
always hate order as Saturn hated his great enemy Jupiter.
THE MAID. One does not need to know the stars to tell that. But let me
counsel you to caution.
THE GYPSY. Ah, my dear, that was a wifely speech! You will make a
success of marriage.
THE MAID. I shall never marry.
THE GYPSY. It would be a pity not to make some good man happy. You are
the ideal of every male being in this kingdom, including its ruler.
THE MAID. Do you really think I am the sort of girl to make the King
happy?
THE GYPSY. I am sure of it. You are the very one. You have all the
domestic virtues. You are quiet, dignified, obedient. If you have any
thoughts or impulses which do not fit into the frame of wifely
domesticity, you know how to suppress them.
THE MAID. You are making fun of me.
THE GYPSY. I am speaking the truth. You would make the King a perfect
wife. Ah, if only you were the Princess of Basque, and she a child of
the gypsies!--Shall I read your fortune from the stars?
THE MAID. Yes!
THE GYPSY. What is your birthday?
THE MAID. I do not know.
THE GYPSY. It is strange for a child of the gypsies not to know that.
But I can guess. You were born under the sign of Libra.
THE MAID. How can you tell that?
THE GYPSY. You counselled me to caution. Only one born under the sign
of the scales could have made that speech. You have the balanced
temperament.
THE MAID. Which is my star?
THE GYPSY. You are sixteen years old. When you were born, the planet
housed in the sign of Libra was Venus. And so you will love not too
much, nor too little, but well. A fortunate planet! There it is, high
in the heavens. And see, it is in conjunction with Jupiter. Do you know
what that means?
THE MAID. No! Tell me!
THE GYPSY. It means that love and authority will presently come
together in your life.... Oh, happy, happy child!
THE MAID. But I do not understand.
THE GYPSY. There are some things past understanding. Even I do not
quite understand it yet. I must think it out.
THE MAID. Then think quickly--and advise me. For I read my fortune
otherwise. I see myself growing hollow-eyed with looking in eternal
silence at the man I love--and worse than that, at the woman I hate--
for I do hate her. I shall go mad with wanting to speak out my love and
hate. Tell me what to do!
THE GYPSY. I cannot advise to rashness. I can only say--speak out your
love and hate.
THE MAID. Do you mean--tell him?
THE GYPSY. Yes. Tell him. And do not be afraid. There is no man so
proud but he is moved to tenderness when a woman says she loves him.
You go to an easy task, my dear, as I go to a hard one. For there is no
woman so kind but her heart is stirred with a base triumph and an easy
scorn when a man speaks out his love....
_They go out. From the other side the King and the Princess come in_.
THE KING. I have shown you your apartment. If there is anything wanting
to your comfort, name it and it shall be provided.
THE PRINCESS. Nothing is wanting, not even a lock on the door. I shall
be happy in my dreams at least.
THE KING. Your delicacy of mind does you credit. I am glad to find that
you are not lacking in that supreme attribute of young womanhood--
modesty.
THE PRINCESS. You mistake me. There shall be no lock on the door of my
dreams. And I shall meet again in dreams the lover whom I know so well.
THE KING. (_scandalized_) Princess!
THE PRINCESS. Do you put a ban on my dreams, too?
THE KING. I forbid you to discuss such subjects.
THE PRINCESS. Very well. I shall keep my thoughts to myself.
THE KING. Princess, I understand that it is your avocation to be a
horse-breaker.
THE PRINCESS. It is one of them.
THE KING. It shall be one of mine to be a woman-breaker.
THE PRINCESS. It is well to know where we stand.
THE KING. You promised this morning to submit yourself to me, and learn
to be a good wife.
THE PRINCESS. So I did. And perhaps so will I. I do not know.
THE KING. In what way do I displease you? If it is anything which I can
change without hurt to the well-being of my kingdom and the traditions
of my ancestors, I will gladly change it.
THE PRINCESS. There are many things--too many to enumerate in detail.
THE KING. Name one of them.
THE PRINCESS. For one thing, you seem a trifle less handsome than the
portrait of you they gave me.--But I suppose you have been thinking the
same thing about me. Indeed, my portrait must have flattered me
greatly, since you did not recognize me this morning....
THE KING. For a moment--it must have been intuition--I did think it was
you. Unfortunately, I allowed my judgment to lead me astray.
THE PRINCESS. It always will, if you pay any attention to it. So you
did believe it was I for a moment? That is interesting! And how did you
feel?
THE KING. I--shall I tell you?
THE PRINCESS. Yes--tell me!
THE KING. I felt embarrassed that I should have been receiving you in
my dressing gown.
THE PRINCESS. (_scornfully_) Oh!
_She walks away_.
THE KING. (_sadly_) I should not have told you about it.
THE PRINCESS. (_coming back to him_) Yes. It was quite right to
tell me. And I can see now why you would feel that way. You wanted to
look your best for me, didn't you? I quite understand that. I spent
weeks trying on my new gowns, and deciding in which one I would seem
most beautiful to you. Only, of course, I forgot at the last moment,
and rode off to you in this!
THE KING. I--I can understand how you felt. I am--sorry I disappointed
you. Forgive me.
THE PRINCESS. Yes. (_After a silence_) I suppose we can be happy
together--after a fashion.
THE KING. I am sure of it. And now--shall we go down to the throne-room
to rehearse the ceremony for tomorrow?
THE PRINCESS. Please leave me here a while. I want to think.
THE KING. Very well. I shall come for you presently.
_He goes_.
THE PRINCESS. (_after a pause_) If I make up my mind to it--!
THE GYPSY. (_appearing over the window-ledge_) Never!
THE PRINCESS. Who are you?
THE GYPSY. Say that I am the wind, coming in at your window as I have
come so many times before when you lay awake in your chamber, bringing
you strange thoughts.
THE PRINCESS. If you are the wind bringing me strange thoughts, you
come to me for the last time.
THE GYPSY. Or say that I am a dream that has come to you often in your
chamber when you lay asleep.
THE PRINCESS. I am forbidden to dream, now.
THE GYPSY. Or say that I am a Gypsy, come to tell a Queen that he loves
her.
THE PRINCESS. Those words are like an echo. I seem to have heard them
many times. Come nearer.
_He enters, and kneels to her_.
THE GYPSY. This is my last folly. I come to you, O princess, and offer
all I have--my love, and a bed on the heath under the stars.
THE PRINCESS. That is not enough, my friend. There are other things.
THE GYPSY. What other things?
THE PRINCESS. Dimly, as from another life, I seem to remember the
jolting of the wagons that rocked me to sleep, and the good smell of
the soup in the big kettle over the fire.
THE GYPSY. (_rising_) This is beyond reason!
THE PRINCESS. All beautiful things are beyond reason, my friend.
THE GYPSY. You are a Gypsy?
THE PRINCESS. I am a Gypsy's sweetheart. Take me away with you.
THE GYPSY. How can we leave this palace?
THE PRINCESS. The way we came.