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Title: Kismet
An "Arabian night" in three acts
Author: Edward Knoblauch
Release date: March 13, 2026 [eBook #78198]
Language: English
Original publication: London: Methuen & Co, 1912
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78198
Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KISMET ***
KISMET
KISMET
AN “ARABIAN NIGHT”
IN THREE ACTS
BY
EDWARD KNOBLAUCH
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published in 1912_
TO THE MEMORY OF
RICHARD BURTON
ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ENGLISHMEN AND ONE
OF THE LEAST UNDERSTOOD; WITHOUT
WHOM THIS PLAY NEVER COULD
HAVE BEEN WRITTEN
CHARACTERS
(_In order of their appearance_)
MEN
HAJJ
THE MUEZZIN
THE IMAM MAHMUD
A MUFTI
THE GUIDE NASIR
THE SHEIKH JAWAN
THE BEGGAR KASIM
AMRU, } Shopkeepers
ZAYD, }
AMRU’S APPRENTICE
ZAYD’S APPRENTICE
THE CALIPH ABDALLAH
THE WAZIR ABU BAKR
THE WAZIR MANSUR
KAFUR, Mansur’s sworder
AFIFE, his secretary
THE CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH
AN ATTENDANT OF MANSUR
A CHAMBERLAIN OF THE CALIPH
A HERALD OF THE CALIPH
A BLIND MAN
A CHINAMAN
THE GAOLER KUTAYT
WOMEN
MARSINAH, Hajj’s daughter
NARJIS, her nurse
KABIRAH, an old woman
MISKAH, a slave
KUT-AL-KULUB, Mansur’s first wife.
GUARDS, WAZIRS, DIGNITARIES, COURTIERS, SOLDIERS, EUNUCHS, SHOPKEEPERS,
BUYERS, ETC.
WOMEN OF THE HARIM, DANCERS, SLAVES, ETC.
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
THE MAN
THE WOMAN
THE STORY TELLER
THE JUGGLER
THE DANCER
ACT I
MORNING
SCENE I. A Street before the Mosque of the Carpenters.
II. The Suk (Bazaar Street) of the Tailors.
III. The Courtyard of a poor House.
IV. A Hall in the Wazir Mansur’s Mansion.
ACT II
AFTERNOON
SCENE I. A Hall in the Wazir Mansur’s Mansion. (_Same as Act
I., Scene IV._)
II. The Courtyard of a poor House. (_Same as Act I.,
Scene III._)
III. The Diwan (Audience Hall) of the Caliph’s Palace.
IV. The Prison of the Palace.
ACT III
EVENING
SCENE I. The Hammam of Mansur’s Harim.
II. A Street before the Mosque of the Carpenters. (_Same
as Act I., Scene I._)
_The scene is laid in the Baghdad of the “Arabian Nights.”_
_The action takes place from morning to night._
CAST OF THE PLAY
AS PRODUCED AT THE GARRICK THEATRE, LONDON, 19TH APRIL, 1911
MEN
HAJJ Oscar Asche
THE MUEZZIN Alfred Bristowe
THE IMAM MAHMUD Charles A. Doran
A MUFTI Arthur Trantom
THE GUIDE NASIR R. Ian Penny
THE SHEIKH JAWAN Caleb Porter
THE BEGGAR KASIM Tripp Edgar
AMRU Athol Forde
ZAYD R. F. Anson
THE CALIPH ABDALLAH Ben Webster
THE WAZIR ABU BAKR Ewan Brooke
THE WAZIR MANSUR Herbert Grimwood
KAFUR George Relph
AFIFE A. Winspeare
CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH D. Atherton
AN ATTENDANT OF MANSUR H. Franklin
A BLIND MAN E. Adeney
A CHINAMAN Gordon Harker
A CHAMBERLAIN OF THE CALIPH G. Fitzgerald
THE GAOLER KUTAYT J. Fritz Russell
WOMEN
MARSINAH Lily Brayton
NARJIS Bessie Major
KABIRAH D. England
THE ALMAH Nancy Denvers
MISKAH Muriel Hutchinson
KUT-AL-KULUB Saba Raleigh
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
THE MAN Ernest Leeman
THE WOMAN Dorothy Moulton
THE STORY TELLER Ewan Brooke
THE JUGGLER E. Selton
THE DANCER Nancy Denvers
The Play produced by OSCAR ASCHE
The Music composed by CHRISTOPHER WILSON
The Costumes designed by PERCY ANDERSON
CAST OF THE PLAY
AS PRODUCED AT THE KNICKERBOCKER THEATRE, NEW YORK, 25TH DECEMBER, 1911
MEN
HAJJ Otis Skinner
THE MUEZZIN T. Tamamoto
THE IMAM MAHMUD Del de Louis
A MUFTI John Webster
THE GUIDE NASIR Sydney Mather
THE SHEIKH JAWAN Sheridan Block
THE BEGGAR KASIM Macey Harlan
AMRU Daniel Jarrett
ZAYD Harrison Carter
AMRU’S APPRENTICE Gregory Kelly
THE CALIPH ABDALLAH Fred Eric
THE WAZIR ABU BAKR Henry Mitchell
THE WAZIR MANSUR Hamilton Revelle
KAFUR George Relph
AFIFE Bennett Kilpack
CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH Richard Scott
AN ATTENDANT OF MANSUR William Lorenz
A CHAMBERLAIN OF THE CALIPH Thomas Audley
THE GAOLER KUTAYT Martin Sanders
WOMEN
MARSINAH Rita Jolivet
NARJIS Georgia Woodthorpe
KABIRAH Amelia Barleon
THE ALMAH Violet Romer
MISKAH Merle Maddern
KUT-AL-KULUB Eleanor Gordon
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
THE MAN Ernest Leeman
THE WOMAN Roma Devonne
THE STORY TELLER Mervyn Rentoul
THE JUGGLER Youna
THE DANCER Violet Romer
The Play produced by HARRISON GREY FISKE
The Music composed by WILLIAM FURST
The Costumes designed by PERCY ANDERSON
NOTES
The exclamation “Yehh!” which occurs in the play, is an Arab cry of
surprise; the exclamation “Awah!” or “Wah!” a cry of grief, synonymous
with “Alas!” In both cases the final “h” is pronounced gutturally,
something like the “ch” in the German “Ach!” or Scotch “Och!”
The rhymed prose which occurs in moments of emotion is a peculiarity of
Arab speech and literature. There are endless examples of it in Burton’s
“Arabian Nights.”
In addressing a person, “O” is always used as “O Hajj.” If “O” is left
out it is the sign of deliberate insult. This “O” is not emphasised
except when expedient.
KISMET
ACT I
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
DAWN
A large arch of Arabian design, with small doors right and left, frames
in the whole picture.
_The MAN enters from the door of his house left, seats himself and sings_:
Lo! Still the stars of latter night are spread!
Yet hath sleep stolen from my lonely bed.
So will I sit me on my rooftop’s height,
To cool my sadness till the dawning red.
_The WOMAN enters from her house right, seats herself and sings_:
Yehh! Still the moon hangs on the lips of night
To mock my solitude with love-delight.
O heavy hour of a longing breast,
Thy weight will crush me ere the break of light!
_The MAN_:
Wah! That some song might soothe my soul oppress’d,
Some ancient melody of days more bless’d.
_The WOMAN_:
Awah, that some strange tale of long ago
Might by its magic bring my bosom rest!
_BOTH_:
O Thou, Bestower of all things, bestow
This benediction on Thy servant low!
_The STORY TELLER enters through the curtains and speaks_:
STORY TELLER. Praise be to Allah, the King of all Kings, the Creator of
all things! Who like to a carpet hath spread, the Earth to our tread.
And even as a tent, set up the firmament, overhead. And on Mohammed, his
Prophet among men, the blessing of blessings again and again, Amen. (_He
sits._) But afterwards. Verily the works and words of those gone before
us have become examples and admonitions to the men of our later day. And
of such a kind is the story of Hajj, the beggar, who lived his life in
this our peaceful city of Baghdad, one thousand years and one year ago.
Now it is the tale of his day of the days that I will relate unto you,
O auspicious listeners. Do ye take heed therein of the lesson taught by
Fate, which the poets call Kismet. And mark well the chances and changes
of time foredoomed to mortal man: lifting him now high, now sinking him
low, even as the bucket in the well. (_He rises._) But Allah alone is all
knowing.
_He withdraws._
_The MAN and WOMAN rise and sing_:
I hearken with my heart upon the ground,
Nor from my breathless lips shall rise a sound:—
Awake, O day of days, and run thy round!
_Then they turn and re-enter their respective houses. They have not seen
each other._
ACT I
MORNING
SCENE I. _A Street before the Mosque of the Carpenters._
(_Right and left from the point of view of the actor._)
_In the centre, steps lead up to the Mosque, which is on the
right. Only the lower part of the minaret is visible. A large
stone to the left of the steps forms a rough seat._
_It is just before dawn, which rises rapidly, so that it is
daylight by the end of the scene._
_Asleep, on the stone, wrapped in his beggar’s cloak of a
hundred rags and patches, sits HAJJ, reclining against the
angle of the wall. He is a man of about fifty, still in the
full vigour of his manhood. His beard is thin and unkempt; but
his face is keen, shrewd and full of humour. At a glance he
shows himself to be a man of the people, who lives by his wits,
untroubled by what the morrow may bring him. At present he is
sleeping the sleep of the just to the tune of a hearty snore._
_After a few moments of peace, steps are heard in the alley
left, and the MUEZZIN, an old man of seventy, appears with a
lanthorn and a large key. He goes to the door of the Mosque and
unlocks it._
_Cocks begin to crow far and near._
_The “brush” of the dawn appears in the sky._
(_HAJJ, disturbed by the clatter, turns and yawns
prodigiously—stretching himself._)
HAJJ. In the name of Allah,—Day?
THE MUEZZIN. (_Coming towards him._) Peace be on thee, O Hajj.
HAJJ. And on thee, peace and blessing, O my friend. (_The MUEZZIN enters
the Mosque._)
(_IMAM MAHMUD, a venerable white bearded sage, appears. HAJJ
stifles a yawn, sits up, and assumes his beggar’s attitude—the
right hand out, the head dejectedly on one side._)
HAJJ. (_As the IMAM comes to him in a whining sing-song._) Alms, for the
love of Allah! For the love of Allah, alms!
MAHMUD. (_Handing HAJJ a small round loaf._) Take! The Giver giveth thee
this. (_He crosses in front of HAJJ and goes up the steps._)
HAJJ. (_Taking the bread._) Verily, thy good deeds shall witness for thee
on the day of judgment, O Mahmud.
MAHMUD. (_Stopping._) The peace upon thee and a full harvest of tears and
pity for thy poverty.
HAJJ. Nay, sooner pray it be a full hand of silver and gold.
MAHMUD. That shall be even as Allah foredooms. Naught befalls us but what
His pen hath written.
HAJJ. Praise be to Allah, the One, the Omnipotent.
MAHMUD. And to Mohammed his Prophet, whom Allah bless and preserve. (_He
goes into the Mosque._)
(_HAJJ looks after him, grunts, and then turns and fumbles
behind the stone, pulling out a chipped, earthen jug of water.
He then mumbles “In the name of Allah,” drinks from the jug and
munches his bread, smacking his lips loudly._)
(_Meanwhile, from the minaret the voice of the MUEZZIN is heard
calling to prayer, and other distant calls to prayer may be
heard from various quarters._)
Allah is Almighty, Allah is Almighty!
There is no God but Allah! There is no God but Allah!
Come ye to prayer! Come ye to salvation!
Prayer is better than sleep! Prayer is better than sleep!
No God is there but Allah!
(_Steps resound in the streets. HAJJ quickly conceals his bread
and jug behind the stone. Men now come at intervals by the two
alleys and enter the Mosque. At the threshold they take off
their slippers with their left hand, entering with the right
foot, ejaculating, “In the name of Allah.”_)
HAJJ. Alms for a starving brother. Bind a body and soul together!—O
master! Thy large brow proclaims an open heart. A danik! A fils! (_The
MAN gives a coin and passes on._) Heaven hath seen this, O my master.
In the name of the Compassionating, the Compassionate! A blessing on
thy white beard. Thou art nearing thy grave! Buy thy salvation from
thy slave. (_The MAN passes on murmuring “Allah will give it thee.”_)
Nothing. May’st thou burn for it, O thou dog! (_To another._) O brother,
mine eyes have failed me! (_He rolls up his eyes._) Hast thou a blind
father or one dearest to thee groping in darkness? (_The MAN gives a
coin and passes on._) A dirham! The Bestower requite it thee, O my lord.
(_To another._) O Azir, my master, I see thee well, though it scarce be
day. Is he better, thy son, the light of thy house? Be his fever abated?
(_The MAN passes on muttering “Allah will provide.”_) Nought? May the
Ghuls suck away thy bastard’s breath. (_To another._) O stranger! Not
so quickly. Haste is from Hell; Heaven will wait for thee. (_To a young
man._) O fair youth, a trifle. On my knees have I lain here these endless
years. (_The MAN gives him a coin._) The Protector increase thy weal.
(_To the MUFTI, an old man._) O Mufti—a word. Thou knowest the bitterness
of a long life and a weary. I am young, alas. All my sad days stretch
before me.
THE MUFTI. Please Allah to-morrow——
HAJJ. (_Getting between the MUFTI and the steps of the Mosque._) Thou
dost ever say to-morrow.
THE MUFTI. (_Laughing._) And is not to-morrow ever to-morrow?
HAJJ. True. The stench of thy soul lessens not from dawn to dawn.
THE MUFTI. Out of my way. (_He pushes past HAJJ into the Mosque._)
HAJJ. With joy and gladness—for thy way leads to damnation. (_Several men
enter singly and by twos as HAJJ continues in a sing-song tone._) Glory
be to Allah! Upon Allah dependeth daily bread. Thy wealth is not thine
own, O rich man. Thou art as poor as the poorest. Allah alone giveth,
and what he giveth belongeth not to thee. Thy gold is but a blessing to
become a blessing. Then open thy purse and let the afflicted bend to
the holy House of Meccah for thee, and every danik out of thy hand will
return to thee a thousandfold through the prayers of the poor.
(_Men have gone into the Mosque, some giving coin, others
passing on. From the street on the left the guide NASIR enters
conducting the SHEIKH JAWAN, an old man, who is leaning on
two black slaves and followed by two others. He is clothed
completely in white, his face veiled by a “Taylasan,” a scarf
hiding his beard. He is over sixty and paralysed in his legs,
but his eyes are still full of fire. TWO SLAVES retire. Slowly
the SHEIKH mounts the steps supported by the other TWO SLAVES._)
(_HAJJ catches hold of the hem of his cloak._)
HAJJ. Alms, for the love of Allah! For the love of Allah, alms!
JAWAN. (_Turning._) O Hajj, thou?
HAJJ. (_Surprised, rising and following him._) Thou knowest me?
JAWAN. Thou still here mumbling for crusts? (_He laughs, a nasal laugh,
mockingly._) He, he, he!
(_NASIR takes off JAWAN’S slippers._)
HAJJ. (_On the Mosque steps._) Who art thou?
JAWAN. Who am I? He, he! Who am I? He, he, he!
(_He turns with his slaves and goes off into the Mosque
followed by the guide NASIR._)
(_HAJJ looks after him mystified and riveted by a haunting
memory; then slowly regains his seat, counting his profits as
he does so. “One, two, three—five.”_)
(_Meanwhile KASIM, a young, ragged, one-eyed beggar, has come
and sat down on HAJJ’S seat. He is busy tying some strips
round one of his legs, quite unconscious of usurping anyone’s
rights. HAJJ is about to sit, when he turns, and, seeing KASIM,
exclaims an amazed “Yehh!” He comes slowly up to the intruder
and touches him provokingly on the arm._)
HAJJ. (_Squatting._) And what may thy business be?
KASIM. Canst thou not see? I am a beggar even as thou.
HAJJ. Thou—even as I? Thou? Knowest thou what thou say’st?
KASIM. My ears can hear my tongue.
HAJJ. O monstrous piece of impudence! A beggar even as I? ’Tis plain thou
art a stranger to Baghdad.
KASIM. Thou hast said it. I come from afar. My name’s Kasim. And thou?
HAJJ. I? I? Ha! ha! (_Patronisingly._) O thou poor fool. But there, thou
art a stranger. I? I am Hajj—Hajj, the beggar.
KASIM. Hajj? A pilgrim? Then thou hast been to Holy Meccah?
HAJJ. Not I! Never a foot have I stirred beyond our city walls. My
parents called me Hajj at my birth, so that the sacred title might win
me added pity from the passer-by. Not a child in the quarter but calleth
me thus by name. I have sat upon that stone these fifty summers and
winters, drinking the sun, and more oft than not the moon too, scorning
the pent-up sleep of a bed.
KASIM. (_Sneeringly._) These fifty summers? Say’st thou so?
HAJJ. (_Excitedly._) Yea! And before me my father sat there, superb in
rags, and before him, his; and so on to the beginning without beginning.
That stone, O Kasim, is my legacy, my right, my stronghold. Not till this
hour hath man dared what thou darest.
KASIM. Then this hour endeth thy kingdom. I am come to conquer.
HAJJ. I pray thee, O maggotty head, bandy no words. Go get thee to yon
corner (_He points to the corner left_) if it like thee. Other swine have
grovelled there in their time. My vilest enemy sat there once, these many
weary years since. Take his place.
KASIM. I’ll not budge from here.
HAJJ. How sayst thou? Not budge? A scum like thou? A nail-pairing? A
goat’s cheese at noon-tide? Not budge? We shall see, by Allah! We shall
see!
(_He seizes him and pushes him towards the corner._)
KASIM. Let go! Let go, I say! Ho, Moslems, come ye to my help! Let go!
HAJJ. (_Holding KASIM at arm’s length and kicking him._) Let go? There!
How’s that to thy taste? Swallow that, an thou art an-hungered. A dainty
dish of foot, and more to follow. One—two—three! Another mouthful?
(_NASIR, the Guide of the Sheikh, has come out of the Mosque
and stands on the steps._)
NASIR. O Hajj! By the All-knowing, what’s this?
HAJJ. He’d take my seat—this nothing from nowhere.
KASIM. (_Rubbing himself._) I want not his seat.
HAJJ. Not now,—now that I have made thee feel the value of thine own.
(_KASIM crawls down to the stone left, nursing his kicks._)
HAJJ. (_Sits in his seat._) A joyous day indeed and a well begun! What
with this one-eyed dog, and thy miserly stranger—(_breaking off._) Allah!
Who is he, O Nasir?
NASIR. (_Evasively._) A man of the men. I know not.
HAJJ. O brother of truth, thou knowest full well. Thou art guiding him,
he lodges at thy Khan. He called me by name. Who is he?
NASIR. (_After a moment of hesitating._) Harkee, O Hajj. I have a plan to
offer thee. An thou wilt fall in with my plotting, ’twill mean money to
both of us.
HAJJ. Money? No harm in that. Speak.
NASIR. This old man of mine has been a famous highwayman in his hour. The
White Sheikh they were used to call him.
HAJJ. The White Sheikh—he?
NASIR. Our Caliph deceased set his troops upon him oft and oftener. In
one of his attacks, he captured most of the robber’s band—his little son
amongst them, a mere stripling at the time.
HAJJ. Say on.
NASIR. The boy was spared for his beauty. If he still be of the living,
his age must reach nigh on thirty summers. Yet all these endless years
whilst the last Caliph ruled, the Sheikh dared not enter Baghdad. Not
till now, that the young monarch hath mounted the throne, hath the father
ventured at last in search of his son.
HAJJ. A touching tale! And how forsooth are we to coin wealth of this?
NASIR. Did’st thou not mark how broken, how stricken, the old man is?
Never was there such a repentant sinner. All his moneys are spent in
charities; all his hopes in the finding of his beloved son, Yusuf. The
smallest word, the faintest promise from priest or soothsayer, and his
hand darts into his purse. Now dost thou see dawn?
HAJJ. I am to cast myself into his path. What thou hast revealed, is to
flow unto me as in a vision.
NASIR. Thou hast it. And it is agreed, whate’er he bestows on thee, we
share by halves, like honest Moslems that we are.
HAJJ. So it please the Protector. Leave it to me.
NASIR. But harkee, O clever one, thou’lt do it carefully? Draw from all
the deepest wells: a father’s longing, a father’s mad despair. Such like
and more, if thou canst.
HAJJ. If I can? If I can? Did I not too have a son—many years gone
to-day,—a babe fair as the moon! Was he not foully murdered? His throat
cut across? And my wife, the balm of mine eyes, stolen away by mine
enemy? Yea, sat he not where yon dog sits now—the slaughterer of my
race? Doth not yon stone make my soul ever cry aloud for blood revenge?
NASIR. So thou, too, hast felt its fire—a father’s love?
HAJJ. Felt it? Hearken to this, O Nasir—and Allah pardon me for unveiling
the veiled sex. I have a daughter now of fourteen summers, the child of a
late spring by another wife, who is dead, alas! The maid is all that is
left me on earth; dear to me above the promises of Paradise. Yet the day
will come when she will be wed and wived. And she will bear the burden
of another’s posterity. But mine own race, the blood of my fathers,
once I am called to rest, where will it be? O brother, I am like unto a
date-palm that groweth aslant the pool, and whose fruit hath fallen into
the waters.
(_Men begin to come out of the Mosque and wander off by the two
alleys._)
(_Dawn is giving place to daylight._)
NASIR. Prayer is over. We must not be found together.
(_NASIR retires to the alley left, and beckons to the TWO BLACK
SLAVES, who join him._)
(_Meanwhile, other men are passing HAJJ, who begins in a
sing-song tone, but has left his seat so as to intercept the
Sheikh._)
HAJJ. Alms for the love of——
KASIM. (_Whining._) Alms for the love of Allah!
HAJJ. (_To KASIM._) Silence, thou dog!—(_continuing_) For the love of
Allah, alms. The grave is darkness. Charity its lamp. Learn to love
poverty. Be good and enter Paradise. Alms, for the love of Allah! For the
love of Allah, alms!
(_The SHEIKH JAWAN reappears from the Mosque, pausing on the
steps, supported by his TWO SLAVES. JAWAN conceals his face
from HAJJ with his scarf._)
HAJJ. (_Rising._) O Sheikh of sheikhs, the Peace upon thee. When thou
spokest before, the eyes of my memory were closed. Now they are open and
recall thy bounty of other days.
JAWAN. Dost thou know me, indeed?
HAJJ. I see thy soul clear as in crystal. Thou art come from afar in
search of some one long lost. ’Tis him thou seekest, thy son.
JAWAN. Yehh! This is strange. Shall I reach my desire?
HAJJ. Thou shalt see thy son this day.
JAWAN. Even though the curses of my foes stand between me and Allah?
HAJJ. Thy prayers have killed their curses.
JAWAN. Wilt thou swear to that?
HAJJ. By Him, the All-seeing, the All-hearing, the All-knowing I swear it
to thee.
JAWAN. Will thy ragged saintliness bless me?
HAJJ. Allah’s blessing upon thee and thy enterprise. May thy foes be
confounded, and thy hopes rounded.
(_A slight pause—then JAWAN bursts into uncontrollable
laughter—“he, he, he, he, he!”_)
JAWAN. O Hajj! Dost guess what thou hast done? See! (_He withdraws the
scarf from his face._) Thou hast blest thine enemy. I am he who has sat
at yon corner in the long ago.
HAJJ. (_Hoarsely._) Jawan!
JAWAN. Yes, Jawan! He that stole thy wife and stabbed thy squealing brat
and fled the city at night.
HAJJ. Jawan,—the beggar,—thou?
JAWAN. Jawan, the beggar, no longer Jawan the beggar. Nay, look not so
amazed. My wild life hath oldened me more than thy tame life thee.
HAJJ. Jawan!
JAWAN. Dost thou doubt me? Hearken, then, and learn. Thy wife and I,
that night of the nights, we rode out into the desert. A band of robbers
found us. Time and lot made me their leader. Twenty-five years I was
their chief. Twenty-five years the Caliph made war on me as on a king—his
equal. And I was his equal in power, in prowess, in all—yea, even though
he captured my son, the son of thy wife, thy beautiful Gulnar.
HAJJ. O hog, hog-fathered! Allah ruin thee for ever.
JAWAN. (_Sneeringly._) Thou dost forget thy blessings of a moment since.
(_He crosses to NASIR and the other slaves._)
HAJJ. I blessed thee not. I blessed an unknown.
JAWAN. No, no, _me_ by the Most High, the Glorious—me. And ’tis thus
through thee, that I shall find my son again. Thou hast recalled thy
curses. The spell is broken at last.
HAJJ. Thou shalt not live to find him. (_He springs towards Jawan._)
(_The other TWO SLAVES draw ugly looking dirks and ward off
HAJJ._)
(_HAJJ stands impotent and panting—“Wah!”_)
JAWAN. Said I not I was King? Allah send thee a long life, Hajj, and a
happy.
HAJJ. Allah send thee the foul fiend and a thousand fires.
JAWAN. Too late, O brother. Thou hast stopped Heaven’s ears with thy
blessings! Thy curses fall on deafness.—Behold! A poor return for thy
bounty! (_He throws a purse at HAJJ._) Up and away!
(_The SLAVES turn with JAWAN and move away by the alley left,
NASIR preceding them._)
HAJJ. (_Desperately._) Take back thy blood money. I’ll not swallow my
son’s blood! Take it back, O thou grey-beard of hell! Take it!
(_JAWAN has disappeared; his laughter, “He, he, he!” is heard
dying away in the distance. KASIM crawls from his seat toward
the purse._)
HAJJ. Laugh! Laugh to split thy spleen! But by the Decreer, thy day
shall set! For I have found thee! Thou art alive and here,—and I too—I
am alive. (_Going up to KASIM._) Dost thou hear? Dost thou?—I have found
him! He is back in Baghdad, he who sat where thou sittest, the butcher
of my race! I shall meet him at last—hold him by the throat, the dog
of dogs, and (_taking KASIM by the throat._) I shall strangle him with
(_choking KASIM._) These—two—thumbs of mine.
KASIM. (_Choking._) Brother—protection!
HAJJ. (_Still continuing, in his fury._) What though he be guarded by
slaves with swords naked, and I, defenceless——
KASIM. (_Gasping._) Awah!
HAJJ. I shall find a way to him. Buy it, if need be!—Buy? Yehh. (_He
throws KASIM aside and turns to the purse._) And with his gold. His! it
smelleth of blood. Every coin a crime, every chink a cry for vengeance.
Allah, be thou my witness! Only for this do I touch his accursed charity.
Only for this!
KASIM. Look!
(_Several men come out of the Mosque._)
HAJJ. (_Quickly thrusting the purse in his bosom, returns to his stone,
beginning his sing-song without looking up._) Alms for the love of Allah!
For the love of Allah——
KASIM. Alms for the love of Allah! For the love of All——
HAJJ. (_To KASIM._) Silence, thou louse-trap!
(_NASIR re-enters rapidly._)
NASIR. I’ve left him for an instant. He’s praying at a tomb. The purse.
How much is mine?
HAJJ. The purse?
NASIR. The purse he threw thee.
HAJJ. (_Innocently._) I saw no purse.
NASIR. Saw no purse? Thou art jesting. Out with it. Share.
HAJJ. Share? Purse? Know I what he threw or not? Sit I here to count the
droppings of the street? A pretty patron thou didst serve me. Get thee
gone! Thou art a rouge, a thief!
NASIR. I, a rogue? I, a thief? (_To KASIM._) Thou sawest him take the
purse. (_HAJJ secretly drops the purse into his water-jug._) I call thee
to witness.
KASIM. I saw him spit on it and turn from it and curse it.
NASIR. (_Catching hold of KASIM._) _Thou_ hast it. Thou hast taken it for
him.
KASIM. Alas, O brother, not I.
NASIR. Give it me! Give it me! ’Tis not thine to keep.
KASIM. Strip every rag from me—thou’lt not find it.
HAJJ. (_Gleefully._) Strip him! Strip him!
KASIM. (_Turning with fury to HAJJ._) _Thou_ hast it.
HAJJ. Aye, strip me too. Both of us, so it give thee pleasure. Thou shalt
behold rare sights. Strip us—thy slave entreats thee.
(_One of JAWAN’S NEGROES appears from the alley._)
NEGRO. O Nasir.
HAJJ. (_Pointing to the negro._) Thy master calls!
NASIR. O thou villain! I go to take my charge back to the inn. But after,
as thou lovest life, look to thyself and thy safety.
(_He hurries off after the NEGRO._)
HAJJ. (_Shouting after him._) The Peace upon thee! Ha, ha, ha! (_He takes
the purse out of the water-jug, putting it into his breast._)
KASIM. (_Laughing obsequiously._) Ha! Ha! Ha!
(_A slight pause._)
KASIM. (_Crawling over to HAJJ, cringing._) O my master, and what is my
share of the spoils?
HAJJ. (_Imitating KASIM._) “What is my share of the spoils?” By Solomon’s
seal ring! This purse—whether it be from Heaven or from Hell,—this hath
been sent by Fate to me, and me alone. There is a purpose in this purse.
The scroll of destiny unrolleth itself to mine eyes. I see the writing as
in flames.
KASIM. The scroll?
HAJJ. Lookee, all of us have an allotted hour. This is mine. Here’s the
talisman I have prayed for, many a year of waiting. The weapon to my
revenge—Gold!
KASIM. What wilt thou do?
HAJJ. I shall arise from the seat of dejection. (_Rises._) My days of
mourning are over. I shall get me to the hammam-bath. (_Walking about._)
These rags will I rip from me; the waters shall wash away my weariness.
Robes of ease and decency shall broaden my breast. No more the whining
voice and bent brow, and trembling palm of poverty, but head back as a
fighter of the faith, shoulders free, stride bold and commanding as a
king’s, yea, as he said, even as a king’s.
(_He walks excitedly up and down and throws his beggar’s cloak
on his stone._)
(_The IMAM MAHMUD has come out of the Mosque and stands amazed
on the steps._)
MAHMUD. O HAJJ. Are thy wits fled? What means this?
HAJJ. I am casting my beggardom from me.
MAHMUD. Thou?
HAJJ. Allah hath opened the Gate of Action to me. (_Chinking his purse._)
With a golden key!
MAHMUD. O my son, I fear for thee the chances and changes of time.
HAJJ. Hath not the Prophet enjoined blood vengeance? I am resolved, O my
father. Voyage is victory. Yet ere I go, thou who didst ever remember my
misery,—take this voluntary for the poor. (_He gives MAHMUD some coin._)
MAHMUD. May the Protector protect thee against all woe, may He forefend
thee ever against thy foe.
KASIM. (_Going to HAJJ, still on his knees._) And I—am I to have naught?
HAJJ. Thou? (_Pushing him to the stone._) Take thou my stone, my
ancestral throne! Wrapped in my royal robes, hold it thine own! As for
me, life calls. The day is mine to joy! And when the night falleth, Allah
allowing, I shall hold mine enemy in the hollow of my hand! (_He strides
off to the left, his purse on high, full daylight upon him._)
[CURTAIN]
SCENE II. _The Suk (Bazaar Street) of the Tailors._
_A narrow street, arched over, with shops on both sides. Arches
left and right. A large centre arch at the back leads off to
other parts of the bazaar._
(NOTE.—_Much of the following action and dialogue occurs
simultaneously, so as to produce a harmonious picture rather
than separate impressions._)
_In a shop left sits ZAYD, a thin, conceited man of forty; he
has with him a tiny little apprentice, who is here, there and
everywhere. In the shop right (AMRU’S shop), a somewhat older
apprentice is unpacking bales of stuff._
_It is early morning. The life of the street is awakening to
the business of the day. As the curtain rises the shopkeepers
are spreading out their wares. A SWEETMEAT-SELLER enters
through the centre arch. He bows to a shopkeeper and passes on,
squatting in the right corner, his back to the audience. His
cry is_, “Ho! Ho! Swee-ts.” _FRUIT-GIRLS enter from the right
and settle down in the left corner opposite him. Their cry is_
“Omani peaches, Osmani quinces! Sultani citrons! Li-mes!”
_TWO BEDOUINS appear and walk solemnly down the street. A
CHINAMAN enters, followed by a little boy carrying fowls. The
CHINAMAN goes to the SWEETMEAT-SELLER and points to the sweets
with his fan._
CHINAMAN. (In a squeaky voice.) _This! This! This! How much?_
SWEETSELLER. _Three daniks._
CHINAMAN. _One! One! One!_
SWEETSELLER. _Two._
CHINAMAN. (Turning away to the left.) _One!_
SWEETSELLER. (Rises and goes after him.) _One and a half._
(_The CHINAMAN refuses to listen to him._)
SWEETSELLER. (Sitting down again.) _Hell swallow all foreign dogs!_
(_JAWAN enters at the central arch supported by his TWO SLAVES
and passes down the street._)
(_The CHINAMAN goes to ZAYD’S shop._)
ZAYD’S APPRENTICE. _Allah enlarge thee, O traveller from the land of
China._
CHINAMAN. _Silk! Silk! Silk!_
ZAYD’S APPRENTICE. _Here’s Persian silk, O my master! Rich, soft silk._
CHINAMAN. (Pulling it about). _No! China silk! China silk! This bad!
Bad!_ (He walks away.)
ZAYD’S APPRENTICE. (Shouts after him). _Out on thee, thou cat-faced
infidel!_
(_A BOY with flowers comes and squats down near the fruit-girls.
His cry is_:
“Jasmine and violets fine,
Pomegranate bloom and eglantine.”)
(_AN OLD MAN with a donkey appears laden with jars of olive oil,
stops at ZAYD’S shop and turns to the apprentice._)
THE OLD MAN (to the apprentice). _Here’s olive oil for thy master._
BOY. _Is the jar full?_
THE OLD MAN. _Full as the number of my years._
BOY. _Allah make them a thousand in number._
(_THE CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD struts majestically through the Suk.
NASIR, the guide, enters, goes to ZAYD’S shop and bargains for
a sash; tries it on, rolling himself into it and out of it as
ZAYD holds one end of it._)
(_TWO COURTESANS appear in flimsy veils and gorgeous draperies.
A YOUTH approaches them with a flower he has bought from the
flower-boy._)
THE FIRST COURTESAN (to the Youth). _Fair befall thee, O Youth! Art thou
from Baghdad? Art thou a stranger?_
THE YOUTH. _I am yours from wherever I am; a captive to the moon of your
faces._
THE OTHER COURTESAN. _Thy glance is bright as the blade of a sword._
THE YOUTH. _And thy tongue sharper, no doubt!_
THE PORTER (with an immense bale on his head, to one of the Courtesans).
_Must thou trip my heels, thou stinking armful?_
THE COURTESAN. _Out of my way, thou son of a burnt father._
AN OLD MAN (to a Young One). _Come out of this babel; I am sick from
eating too much of the world._
THE YOUNG MAN. _Nay, I have only begun the feast—I am an-hungered. Look
at this shop, O my father!_
A MERCHANT. _What wilt thou buy, O my brother? Silks? Kerchiefs? Girdles?
Here’s all the earth gives birth to._
AN EGYPTIAN (with a little girl, to a boy selling beads.) _What manner of
beads are these, O my son?_
THE BEAD-BOY. _Beads from Damascus! Beads of polished steel! Glass beads
from Rhodes! Beads clear as crystal from the land of China, whiter than
sea-pearls!_
THE EGYPTIAN (to his little girl.) _What shall I buy thee, O my Pigeon?
These beads? Or those? Speak, O my Lotus!_
A MAN (to one of the fruit-sellers.) _Is thy fruit sweet, O my sister?_
(He takes up some fruit.)
THE FRUIT-SELLER. _Pay first and taste after._
A MAN. _Thy fruit is over-ripe._
THE FRUIT-SELLER. _’Tis fresh as the dawn-breeze._
THE MAN. _O my little tulip, how should I believe thee? Dost thou not
belong to the universal sisterhood of woman?_
THE FRUIT-SELLER. _All women are not alike; nor are the fingers of the
hand alike._
THE SWEETMEAT-SELLER (crying.) _Swee-ts! Swee-ts! No better sweets in
Baghdad. No better sweets in Baghdad. They are made by my cousin. He’s
pastry-cook at the palace._
A BUYER. _Allah increase thee for a smooth-tongued liar!_
THE SWEETSELLER. _Taste my wares and ask my pardon!_
(_And so it goes. Cries and movement everywhere. The
shopkeeper’s call to the passer-by is, “What dost thou want?
Dost thou lack kerchiefs, shawls?” Greetings are heard such
as, “I salute thee with my salaam! Allah increase thee, O my
brother! A blessed day! Allah gladden thee with good news!
The Bestower increase thee ever!” Porters plough their way
through the crowd calling out, “Have patience, o ye people,
have patience.” Compliments are heard such as, “Thou art like
the moon on a fourteenth night! Thy body sways like a thirsting
gazelle! Gifted by the Giver art thou! Thy beauty would make
a palace dance!” And words of anger and impatience such as,
“Begone and none of thine impudence! Be off! By Allah, this is
not allowed! May Allah never bless thee! No friendly welcome
to thee! Fie upon thee, ill-omened fellow!” The hubbub reaches
its climax as a WATER-CARRIER enters, shouting loudly_, “Water!
Water, coo-l and clea-r!” _He is stopped by two negro slaves,
who buy cups of water from him. Then the WATER-CARRIER turns,
as AMRU, a stout imposing merchant with a huge beard, comes
down the street and approaches him. AMRU takes a cup. As he
does so, ZAYD looks up from his shop in surprise and hurries
out of it._)
ZAYD. (_Surprised._) By mine eyes, Amru!
AMRU. (_Delighted._) By mine eyes, Zayd!
(_They embrace, one arm being thrown round the shoulder, the
other round the side, placing the chin first upon the left then
upon the right collar bone and repeating this several times. As
they embrace the crowd gradually disperses, leaving the street
comparatively empty. But there is always a sense of life in the
suk, and the hum of the bazaar is heard dimly throughout the
scene._)
ZAYD. Welcome and well come and good cheer to my friend, the
dearly-beloved. So thou art home from Egypt? (_He motions him over to his
shop._)
AMRU. Yesternight in the first watch I caused my camels to kneel at my
door.
ZAYD. By Allah and his Apostle, it swells my heart to hear thy voice once
more! Thou hast tarried many moons. Has thy business prospered?
(_The little apprentice has spread out cushions: they both
sit._)
AMRU. Fortune hath blessed me indeed. And thou? How is’t with thee?
ZAYD. Alas! Traffic has grown dull with the new Caliph.
AMRU. So soon? He hath been in power but seven days they tell me.
ZAYD. He is very young—scarce sixteen,—and so devout! He was schooled
in a monastery in the mountains. ’Tis said his harim is empty. Not a
woman,—not as much as a wife.
AMRU. Not so much as—and seven days! By the glories of Paradise to come!
An I were Caliph for seven days!
ZAYD. An I were Caliph for seven hours! But they say that he is waiting
to find the woman of his dream, a maid of beauty all in all. Be she of
noblest blood or poorest of the poor, he hath taken oath, until Allah
reveal the chosen one, he will live alone,—unwed,—unwived.
(_Kettledrums are heard in the distance to the left.)_
(_AMRU returns to his shop at the right._)
(_The crowd hurries in from all sides. Men and women all kneel,
bending low. As the CALIPH enters they touch their foreheads to
the ground._)
(_Through the centre arch comes the Caliph’s procession,
turning down and disappearing through the arch right. First
come SIX ARCHERS OF THE GUARD with lances. Next follow FOUR
MEN with KETTLEDRUMS (like tom-toms) and a pair of TRUMPETERS:
then SIX ARCHERS with scymitars drawn, walking two and two.
After that, DIGNITARIES of the royal household. Some singly,
others in twos. These are: the Caliph’s slipper-bearer; his
cloak-bearer; his cup-bearer; his ewer and basin-bearer; his
bow-bearer; and his carpet-spreader. Next the two head EUNUCHS
of his harim, both tall blackamoors clothed in yellow._)
(_After this, at an interval of five paces, on a white mule,
the CALIPH himself, robed in the black of the Abbaside dynasty.
His face is very youthful, full of spiritual beauty and weary
pride. On his left cheek he has a mole. By his left side walks
ABU BAKR, an old, white-bearded man, clothed in green and
white, with a very large turband, holding his master’s left
stirrup._)
(_As the CALIPH reaches the centre of the street, an old woman,
KABIRAH, throws herself at his feet; the procession halts._)
KABIRAH. O King of the age—justice! Justice to an ancient widow and a
sore oppressed! (_She holds out a petition._)
CALIPH. (_Waving to ABU BAKR who takes the petition._) Come thou to
my Diwan this mid-afternoon. None shall suffer wrong under this my
sovereignty. The Judge of Judges be my witness. The Peace!
(_KABIRAH withdraws muttering “Heaven increase thee ever, O
King.”_)
(_The procession moves on; the people in the street remaining
crouched and motionless as the CALIPH passes them._)
(_A COURT DIGNITARY follows, scattering coin._)
(_SIX ARCHERS, with scymitars drawn, conclude the procession._)
(_Directly the CALIPH’S guard is out of sight there is a wild
scramble for the royal largesse. The rabble then follows the
procession._)
ZAYD. (_To AMRU, shouting across to his shop._) Didst note the mole on
his cheek? Is he not beautiful?
AMRU. Allah bless him! And the old man?
ZAYD. Abu Bakr, his tutor—a far famed grammarian. He entered the city
with countless camel-loads of dictionaries. ’Tis he who ruleth the ruler.
AMRU. Where’s Mansur—the old Caliph’s favourite? He was wont to ride by
his master’s side. Hath he fallen from power?
ZAYD. Nay, he’s still Chief of the Guards of the City and Wazir of the
Police. But at the Palace they begin to whisper—(_Seeing MANSUR; in a
low voice._) The Peace!—Mansur!
(_MANSUR appears, a tall, slim, sinister figure of about
eight and twenty. His face shows traces of beauty ruined by
debauchery; his manner is that of an expert in the sensualism
of cruelty; his robes are of deep blue and steel. He is
evidently nursing his rage, and strides along ominously. Behind
him comes KAFUR, his sworder, a snake-like Ethiopian, by whose
side hobbles a small hunchback scribe, AFIFE, who looks more
like a pelican than a man._)
(_As MANSUR enters, a BLIND MAN crosses his path._)
THE BLIND MAN. Blind! Blind! Buy a blessing from the blind!
(_MANSUR annoyed at the BLIND MAN’S fumbling, strikes him down
and passes on. The BLIND MAN gets up again, helped by two of
the courtesans. ZAYD gives him a coin or two, and he goes on
his way._)
ZAYD. (_To AMRU._) Didst mark his rage? He, the favourite of yesterday,
to-day must walk second to the grammarian. The splitter of lives bow to
the splitter of syllables. Ha! Ha!
(_HAJJ appears in the centre archway. He is still in rags. He
comes down to ZAYD._)
ZAYD. (_Putting him off as he would a beggar._) Heaven will provide, O
brother.
(_HAJJ crosses to AMRU._)
AMRU. (_In the same tone as ZAYD._) Allah will provide.
HAJJ. Nay, I am no beggar.
ZAYD and AMRU. What art thou then?
HAJJ. I am a religious mendicant. My vow of poverty has been accomplished
in the hour. I am on my way to the hammam to re-enter daily life.
ZAYD. O father of rags, thou art strangely like to a beggar before the
Carpenter’s Mosque.
HAJJ. So I have been told. The sooner therefore I strip me of his
likeness, the better for both of us. What hast thou in the manner of
cloaks and shirts and turband-cloths? (_He clinks the purse ominously._)
(_ZAYD and AMRU hurry forward, each bringing a cushion for HAJJ
to sit on. They spread a big square of stuff before him on
which they display their goods._)
(_HAJJ sits down with great satisfaction._)
ZAYD. All colours, O my master.
AMRU. All kinds, O my master.
HAJJ. (_With a delighted smile, pleased at the epithet._) Master! (_He
chinks his purse._)
ZAYD. Why dost thou smile?
HAJJ. ’Tis nought! A memory! Show me thy wares.
AMRU. Thou’lt see mine too, O my lord?
HAJJ. (_Turning to AMRU, as above._) Lord!—Thine too,—O my—my tailor.
(_Pointing to some veils in AMRU’S hands._) What’s this?
ZAYD. (_Spreading out a cloak eagerly._) Thy cloak, O my master.
HAJJ. (_To ZAYD, putting him off._) A moment. (_To AMRU._) Face veils?
AMRU. (_Spreading out a veil._) After the fashion of Egypt. Woven air!
HAJJ. (_Taking up the veil._) A veil! Hast thou anklets?
AMRU. Here are jewels none hath set eyes on in Baghdad. (_He opens a
little casket._)
ZAYD. (_Jealously, calling across._) O my lord,—thy cloak.
AMRU. (_To ZAYD, annoyed._) Trouble not my master.
HAJJ. (_Taking up the anklets and veil._) How much?
AMRU. Seven dinars.
HAJJ. Thou art mad! (_He turns to ZAYD._) Thy cloak!
AMRU. (_Eagerly._) How much wilt thou offer?
HAJJ. (_Ignoring AMRU._) Allah, this is workmanship!
AMRU. (_As above._) Six dinars and a half.
HAJJ. (_To ZAYD._) Who’s the designer of this?
ZAYD. ’Tis I.
AMRU. (_Quickly to HAJJ, waving the scarf and anklets._) Six.
HAJJ. (_Turning to AMRU._) Three! And ’tis more than paid.
AMRU. The anklets alone cost me four.
ZAYD. (_To HAJJ._) Thou’lt have the cloak?
HAJJ. How much?
ZAYD. Twenty-five dinars.
HAJJ. Twenty-five! (_He turns abruptly to AMRU._) Three dinars.
ZAYD. Twenty-four and a half!
AMRU. Four dinars and I lose. By the life of my father, I swear it.
HAJJ. Four an thou wrappest them up in one of thy kerchiefs.
AMRU. ’Tis beyond my yielding. (_He takes his veils away._)
HAJJ. (_Turning to ZAYD._) Hast thou veils? (_AMRU eyes HAJJ eagerly._)
ZAYD. The best in Baghdad. Thou’lt have the cloak?
HAJJ. I’ll see others first. Put it there. (_He points to the kerchief
spread out before him._) Thy veils!
AMRU. Hold! Thou shalt have thy veil and kerchief. But I swear——
HAJJ. (_Turning to AMRU._) Swear not! (_Counts out the money._) Four!
Thou hast begun the day too well. What shirt is this? (_He takes it
up._) And yon trousers and girdle? (_Pointing to some trousers and a
girdle ZAYD’S apprentice is holding up._)
(_The GUIDE NASIR enters at the back, sees HAJJ and watches him
unobserved, with cat-like glances, leaning against ZAYD’S shop.
ZAYD hands HAJJ the trousers and girdle._)
AMRU. (_Shouting._) First see this girdle of mine.
HAJJ. Now which of ye twain hath a turband-cloth to my heart?
ZAYD. (_Unrolling one._) O master, ’tis I.
AMRU. (_Unrolling another._) O master, ’tis me.
ZAYD. I!
AMRU. Me!
HAJJ. The master asked both. (_Pointing to AMRU’S cloth, squinting at
ZAYD out of the corner of his eye._) His cloth far excelleth thine.
ZAYD. (_Furious._) His cloth excel mine? Yon meagre tracery crawling
along the edge as a dying dog to a puddle,—that excel my glorious
branching and bowing of pomegranates?
AMRU. Dying dog, indeed! Dying dog thyself.
ZAYD. By Allah, hold thy peace, O brother.
HAJJ. (_To ZAYD inciting him._) How? Let him call thee dog?
ZAYD. (_Springing up._) Called he me dog? Didst thou call me dog, O dog?
AMRU. (_Conciliating him, still on his knees._) Enough, O Zayd. Words
poison.
HAJJ. (_To AMRU, in a whisper._) What? Kneel to a slave, dost thou?
AMRU. Yehh! Thou art right. (_Rising and facing ZAYD._) Yes, I—I call
thee dog.
ZAYD. Thou shall eat thy words. (_He crosses to AMRU._)
AMRU. And thou thy pomegranates. (_They fall to blows._)
(_HAJJ quickly gathers the clothes he picked out, wraps the
large cloth about them and hurries off by the arch, left.
NASIR has watched HAJJ and follows him off. THE MERCHANTS AND
APPRENTICES hurry out of the shops._)
VARIOUS MEN. Ho, Masters! Ho, masters! Help! They’re fighting! They’ll
have their swords out. Ho, Moslems! Ho Captain! Help!
(_Several of the shopmen and passers-by crowd round, chattering
and screaming, trying to separate the two men. Different ones
shout: “O AMRU! O Brothers! Where’s the Syndic? O ZAYD! For the
love of Allah! Are ye not sons of Islam both?” etc._)
(_The CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH hurries in by the centre arch. The
two men are separated by him._)
CAPTAIN. O Zayd! O Amru! Shame upon ye! How now? Are ye donkey-boys?
AMRU. O Captain! Heaven knoweth we were ever the best of friends.
ZAYD. Ever till this hour.
CAPTAIN. Who began it?
ZAYD. ’Twas my lord here who said—(_He points to HAJJ’S empty cushion;
stops and stares amazed._) Where is my lord? (_He looks about
bewildered._) Yehh! Gone! Gone and the clothes with him.
AMRU. O, the bazaar devil! ’Twas _he_ that set us on.
ZAYD. After him. Which way went he?
A MAN. This way. (_He points to the arch left._)
(_The crowd, headed by ZAYD, starts to run off to the left._)
ANOTHER MAN. (_Pointing up to the centre arch._) This way!
(_The crowd veers and starts off to the back._)
STILL ANOTHER MAN. (_Pointing to the right._) This way! (_They all swing
to the right._)
(_NASIR re-enters from the left arch eagerly._)
NASIR. (_At the top of his voice._) No, that way. I know the dog well.
’Tis Hajj—the beggar!
(_General hubbub as ALL run off to the left, shouting and
gesticulating._)
THE SWEETMEAT-SELLER. (_Rising and putting his tray of sweets on his head
goes slowly down the street, shouting._) Ho! Ho! Swee—ts!
[CURTAIN]
SCENE III. _The Courtyard of a poor House._
_In the right wall a large double door leads out to the street.
An arch, which supports the upper part of the house, runs
parallel to the wall at the right, thus screening the court
from the street. At the back, a door leads into the inner
house. Two cages with a bird in each, are hanging on the wall
right. The left side of the court is taken up by a wall about
seven feet high, a niche in its centre containing a well with
ropes, buckets and a large jar or two. Over the wall can be
seen some cypresses of a garden. In the shadow of this wall,
a rose tree grows in a rim of masonry. An awning is stretched
across the Court. A tom-tom stands in one corner._
_The full morning sun over everything._
_MARSINAH, a beautiful girl of fourteen summers (which would
correspond to a girl of eighteen in the west) is seated on some
rough matting, in the centre of the court. She is clad in the
simplest fashion, like the poorest Arabian women. She is busy
with some needlework on a large embroidery frame, which rests
on four legs like a low table._
_Near her, idly fanning away the flies, sits NARJIS, a stout,
old Duenna, with a full-blown face. About them on the matting
lie strands of different coloured wools._
MARSINAH. (_Looking up to the garden wall._) The sun grows hot.
NARJIS. How’s thy border? Will it be done by noon-prayer? I promised it
the merchant.
MARSINAH. (_Impatiently sighing._) I hear, O Narjis, I hear. Hast thou
any yellow wool?
NARJIS. (_Turns away from Marsinah to look for it._) Yellow? Yellow? Did
I not give it thee erstwhile?
MARSINAH. (_Quickly takes the yellow wool and hides it under the folds of
her dress._) ’Twas red thou gavest me.
NARJIS. By the life of thy youth, O Marsinah, ’twas yellow. (_She rises
and searches._)
MARSINAH. Look thyself. Thou seest I lack it to finish the pattern.
NARJIS. Alas! (_Sighs._) What’s to be done? What’s to be done?
(_She sits despondently on the rim of the well._)
MARSINAH. Run to the wool market, O good Narjis.
NARJIS. All the way to the wool market?
MARSINAH. ’Tis none so far for one so sprightly as thou, O sweet Narjis.
Thou didst promise it the merchant—remember!
NARJIS. I could have laid an oath with the All-seeing there was yet
another strand of yellow.
MARSINAH. (_Tucking away a tell-tale thread._) Couldst thou in sooth?
NARJIS. Well-a-day! There’s nought for me but to go. We must finish the
work or the money’s lost.
(_She crosses to the large double door and takes down a huge
iron door key, which hangs on the wall beside the door._)
And O Marsinah! No looking out of windows or peeping over walls.
MARSINAH. By Lady Fatimah’s life of light! What dost thou suppose?
NARJIS. Think of thy father. Thou knowest how he fears for thy safety.
Was not his first wife stolen? His son slaughtered? Art thou not the last
of his race? Is not thine own mother in the tomb of eternity? I tell
thee, should one folly on thy part reach thy father’s ears, ’twere the
undoing of us both.
MARSINAH. Fear nought, O dear Narjis.
(_NARJIS has let herself out and locked the door outside._)
(_MARSINAH rises, and listens at the door. Then she hurries to
the rim of the masonry by the well, gets up on it and peers
over the wall. With a little cry of delight she exclaims
“Waiting! Waiting!” Then claps her left palm with her right
hand twice. She listens,—then claps again. Some one answers the
signal in the same manner. She draws her veil across her face
instinctively and stands expectant._)
(_A youth appears over the masonry. In a moment he is down and
in her arms. By his mole he is seen to be the young CALIPH
ABDALLAH,—but he is now dressed in the simple clothes of an
artisan._)
CALIPH. O my beloved! At last!
MARSINAH. Dost thou still love me, O my master.
CALIPH. Still?
(_He draws away her veil and kisses her between the eyes._)
All my soul lieth between thine eyes! All my longing on thine untouched
lips. Still love thee?
MARSINAH. How can man love maid who unveileth her face as I have to thee?
CALIPH. How can man not love?
MARSINAH. (_Veiling herself again._) I am ashamed at my shamelessness.
CALIPH. Sooner be thou ashamed of mine. ’Twas I that climbed the wall,
broke in on thee to tear the cloud from the new moon.
(_He raises the veil from her face._)
MARSINAH. I swear were to-day three days agone, and thou imploring me
now, by thine eyes, I’d not betray my secrecy again.
CALIPH. What! Is thy love grown faint so soon?
MARSINAH. Allah help me, strong so soon. I am become a thousand times
more watchful, more jealous of myself, and all because of thee. Alas! How
must honour like thine judge of frailty like mine?
CALIPH. (_Passionately._) Mine honour judges as it judged the first
moment of seeing thee: that thou art my love, that I hold thy little
hands in mine, and that thou shalt be my wife—none other before thee.
(_Drawing her towards him._)
MARSINAH. (_Sinking at his feet._) O my loved one; this is a dream of
thine. Think of thy parents. What will they say? What wilt thou tell them?
CALIPH. (_He sits by her on the ground._) What? That I looked out from
my father’s pavilion one blessed evening and saw thee feeding thy little
birds at yon window. That I gazed on thy white wrists long—long. What
more need I say. (_He is about to kiss her wrists._)
MARSINAH. (_Withdrawing them playfully._) My wrists! Hath my face no say
in thy loving?
CALIPH. Thy face! The Forgiver forgive thee. Since I beheld its light, my
nights are sleepless; my days burning sands. This stolen moment alone my
shade, thy hair my breeze, thy voice my fountain.
MARSINAH. (_Drawing away._) O my love, leave me; forget me utterly. Thy
mother will never choose me thy bride. Is thy father not far, far above
my father? Did’st thou not say he was the Caliph’s gardener?
CALIPH. Is the Caliph’s gardener such a mighty man?
MARSINAH. Narjis says he is.
CALIPH. (_Secretly annoyed._) Narjis—the old woman?
MARSINAH. Yea, and she says more. I asked her in a light way—O very
lightly—had she e’er heard spoken of the gardener’s son. And she—the
fool—she swears he never had a son; that his only wife is dead these many
years; that the garden next door hath been leased by a grammarian, the
new Caliph’s tutor; that once even the Caliph himself came to walk there
in the cool of the day.
CALIPH. (_Curtly._) Narjis is an old gossip. She knows not what she
chatters.
MARSINAH. So I told her. But she said, “On with thy work, O thou daughter
of ignorance.” Then I began to laugh, thinking of thee, and flung out a
line of a song, till her forehead swelled with rage and she beat me.
CALIPH. (_Furiously._) She beat thee?
MARSINAH. O ’tis naught. She does so often.
CALIPH. The sister of Satan!
MARSINAH. What would’st thou! She’s not my mother.
CALIPH. (_Tenderly._) O my Marsinah! Has this been thy life? Is thy
mother gone long?
MARSINAH. Three years ’tis now since she entered into the mercy of Allah!
Alas! Those were different days. What I did for my mother I did in
delight. What I learnt from her, I learnt with a dancing heart. All her
songs, the plucking of the lute she taught me—as ’twere so much laughter.
In her hour, ere my father took her to wife, she had been the slave of a
rich merchant. The cunningest teachers in Baghdad had taught her. When
the merchant gave her her freedom, she was besought to sing at all the
rarest feasts. Then Allah took her voice and evil nights fell upon her.
Thus my father found her, outcast and starving. Such was my mother.
(_A short silence._)
CALIPH. Thou did’st not tell me that thou could’st play, that thou
could’st sing! What fresh perfection do I find in thee every moment!
MARSINAH. ’Tis all my mother in me.
CALIPH. ’Tis all thyself in thee. Blessed be He that fashioned thee in
thy splendour of beauty. Thy face is fairer than health; thine eyes are
the eyes of a gazelle; thy lips a cluster of coral; like a silver column
is thy neck: and thy breasts, pomegranates in their glory. O, my beloved,
when will come the hour that I shall hold thee close to my heart, while
the night hangeth her silver lamp over our silence.
MARSINAH. (_In a whisper._) When Allah willeth—and Allah will it soon.
(_Their lips meet in a kiss._)
CALIPH. (_Rises to his knees with sudden passion._) It shall be this
night.
MARSINAH. O, sweet my lord, I have told thee before, it cannot be. Not at
night. Narjis is ever here, and ofttimes my father. My only freedom is a
morn like to-day’s.
CALIPH. (_Drawing close to her._) Thou shalt have other freedom undreamt
of by thee.
MARSINAH. What wilt thou do?
CALIPH. Can’st thou trust me?
MARSINAH. With all my soul, an thou put not thy life in danger.
CALIPH. Dost thou love me so?
MARSINAH. (_Hanging her head._) Sooner would I lose thee for ever.
CALIPH. (_After a pause, with a smile she does not observe._) Fear naught.
MARSINAH. What is’t? Nothing to harm thee?
CALIPH. (_Cheek to cheek._) Thou’lt see! When the evening prayer hath
locked the door of the day, then will I come to open the eyes of thy
heart.
This joy must yield to deeper joy its power;
As bud still rends its veil, to blush as flower.
MARSINAH. (_Improvising._)
Ah me! How oft the foolish petal’s haste
Is scattered to the skies by fatal shower.
CALIPH. (_Turning surprised—joyously._) Yehh! Can’st cap verses too? By
Allah! What is this Wonder of wonders, that the Giver of all things good——
MARSINAH. (_Rises, interrupting him._) Awah!
CALIPH. Nothing.
MARSINAH. It is. Fly, O my beloved.
CALIPH. (_Rises._) How can I leave my soul behind and not die? (_He goes
up to the rim of the well._)
MARSINAH. Go, I implore thee! By all that’s holy! Here! (_She plucks a
rose from the bush, kisses it, and hands it to him._) Go!
(_The CALIPH presses the rose to his lips, then slips it into
his breast and climbs over the wall._)
CALIPH. (_From the top of the wall._) After set of sun! (_He disappears
over the wall._)
NARJIS. (_Outside._) Marsinah! Marsinah!
(_MARSINAH hurries to her work, sits and stitches furiously._)
NARJIS. (_Entering the courtyard._) A gift of good news, O my roe. Thy
father is coming.
MARSINAH. My father? Never yet came he home during the day.
NARJIS. Never yet. But to-day he cometh. I saw him leaving the
hammam-bath, unlike himself—in robes of splendour, his locks combed,
his beard trimmed, and (_imitating him_) striding along as proud and
calm as a camel! I hasted ahead through the alleys. Had he found thee
alone—— (_There is a knock on the door._) By the Prophet! None too soon.
(_Calling out._) I come! I come! (_Goes to the door and calls through
it._) Who art thou? What seekest thou? (_She winks at MARSINAH and feigns
surprise._) Allah! ’tis my master. O Marsinah! Thy father, as I am awake!
(_She unlocks the door._)
(_MARSINAH has risen; drawing her veil about the back of her
head._)
(_HAJJ enters as described, wearing all his stolen robes, his
beard neatly trimmed, his whole being refreshed by the bath.
His manner is far more self-assured. He carries his little
bundle of presents for his daughter, which he flings to the
ground._)
MARSINAH. Salam, O my father.
NARJIS. Salam, O my master.
HAJJ. Salam.
(_All sit, HAJJ between the two women._)
MARSINAH. Thou smellest so sweet; is it musk?
HAJJ. I have lain in the hammam all morning.
MARSINAH. May thy bath profit thee, O my father. What blessed coming is
thine?
HAJJ. Thou mayst indeed call it blessed. For verily the Dispeller of
woe hath turned the murk of my night into a day of light and delight.
What say ye to this. (_He takes out his purse._) Gold! Gold! Gold! What
a sound it is! It chinks straight into the blood and sets the heart
a-beating, so the temples throb and reason flies from the head. Dost thou
mark it, O Marsinah. O Narjis, dost thou?
MARSINAH. (_Clapping her hands._) Yehh!
NARJIS. (_Suspicious._) Whence hadst thou this?
HAJJ. Whence? (_His brow clouds._) Whence? From a fool in his folly! An
accursed for whom it shall weave the rope round his neck. But that’s for
later. (_Chinking the purse._) This for now. (_He slips the purse in his
breast._) Ha! Ha! Ha! O eyes of me! Ye should have beheld them in the
hammam—the bath-keeper and his slaveboys. How they bowed before me—one
and all. “O my master” here, and “O my lord” there. And such rinsings,
and rubbings, and clappings, till my limbs rang aloud with smoothness!
Then they laid me adown on silken sheets, the while censers fumed me
sweetly from head to heel. And the bath-keeper knelt at my feet, and sung
to the tom-tom a song. (_He sings, imitating the playing of a tom-tom
with his hands._)
A bowl of wine! Two bowls of wine!
And three more bowls and that makes nine!
(_He draws out the purse and flings it in the air with a shout,
catching it again._)
MARSINAH. (_Clapping her hands gleefully and rising to her knees._) O my
father! Thou art magnificent!
HAJJ. (_Delighted._) Magnificent—am I?
MARSINAH. Yea! Even as a prince in one of the tales thou tellest.
HAJJ. A Prince! (_He strokes his moustachios._) A King?
MARSINAH. A King, in truth, a King! Is he not, O Narjis?
NARJIS. (_Ironically._) A King, in very sooth.
MARSINAH. Never beheld I thee thus. Never till this hour. White as milk
is this day of mine.
HAJJ. It shall be whiter still, O my dainty. Give me the bundle, O
Narjis. Thou shalt bless the day indeed, O my rose. (_Opening the
bundle._) Ah! Now thine eyes glisten. Now!
MARSINAH. Thou didst remember me?
HAJJ. Remember thee? What doth thy soul most desire in this world? Speak.
MARSINAH. Most? (_She glances unconsciously up over the garden wall, but
looks down again quickly._)
HAJJ. Ah, now thou blushest. What is it?
MARSINAH. (_Confused._) I—know—not.
HAJJ. (_Imitating._) “I know not.” O Narjis, was ever maid such maid. She
knows not. By Allah, thou hast guarded her well. She is as simple as the
hour she was born. “I know not.” (_He fondles MARSINAH’S cheek._)
MARSINAH. (_Hanging her head._) What should I know?
(_HAJJ and NARJIS look at each other smiling knowingly._)
HAJJ. Thou shouldest know that thy father loves thee! (_He kisses her
on both eyes._) And that he has brought thee these. (_He produces the
anklets from the bundle._)
MARSINAH. Anklets! (_She flings off her slippers laughing gleefully and
puts on the anklets._) O Narjis! O Narjis! At last! Now! What girl in our
street can laugh at me now? (_Rises and circles about the two._) Look, O
Narjis, look! Jamilah, or Mubarakah, or any of them. O my master, I kiss
thy feet. (_She kneels before HAJJ and bows down._)
HAJJ. (_Laying his hand on her head._) Thou art content?
MARSINAH. (_Blissfully._) Content? Content?
HAJJ. Then what sayst thou to a veil? (_He unfolds the veil._)
MARSINAH. (_Springs up, then bashfully—overcome._) For me—too? (_HAJJ
hands it to her smilingly._) (_In rapture, holding it up; unconsciously
looking up to the garden wall._) Oh! would I had had it this morn!
HAJJ. This morn! What dost thou mean?
MARSINAH. (_Realising her self-betrayal._) I mean—I know not. My heart is
so happy. La Yayhá! Do I fill thine eyes, O my father? (_She drapes the
veil about her._)
HAJJ. (_Smiling proudly._) Fill mine eyes! Go! Fetch thy lute! We will
have music. This day shall be a day of rejoicing.
MARSINAH. (_Going._) I hear and I obey. (_She hurries off across the
courtyard into the house._)
HAJJ. (_Looking after her._) By Allah! How she glides swimmingly as she
were a lily floating down the Tigris. Blessed indeed is he that taketh
her to wife.
NARJIS. Aye, and she’s ripe to wed, too.
HAJJ. Fourteen! The pick of years! I must seek her a husband.
NARJIS. (_Huddles up to him._) What sayst thou to the basket-weaver’s son
at the corner?
HAJJ. The basket-weaver’s son? O thou hag! (_Slaps her cheek with the
back of his hand._) Why not a bean-seller? (_Slap._) Or a camel-boy?
(_Slap._) Yea, or best and rarest, some blear-eyed mangy beggar? (_Slap._)
(_MARSINAH appears with a lute._)
HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Behold her now! I swear the very movement of her
limbs maketh melody.
MARSINAH. What shall I sing thee, O my father? (_She stands tuning her
instrument._)
HAJJ. How many modes canst thou play in?
MARSINAH. One-and-twenty.
HAJJ. One-and-twenty. (_To NARJIS._) Are one-and-twenty modes for the
basket-weaver’s son? (_He slaps NARJIS again. To MARSINAH._) And sing how
many?
MARSINAH. The like number.
HAJJ. And dance? How many steps did thy mother teach thee?
MARSINAH. Far beyond counting.
HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Thou hearest! Are they, the countless, for the
basket-weaver’s son? (_A final slap._) I tell thee, Marsinah is rare as
a houri in Paradise. Wouldst thou know what secret the future hideth for
Marsinah?
NARJIS. (_Rubbing her poor cheek._) What secret, O master?
HAJJ. Sit thee down here, O my flower. And here thou, O my cactus. Mark
me close, ye both. (_MARSINAH sits on the ground by HAJJ._)
HAJJ. (_Drawing the purse from his breast._) This money in my bosom will
I take and buy merchandise withal. (_Tossing the purse from hand to hand;
his voice in lyrical exaltation._) And I will trade and sell; and buy
and trade; till it is doubled and trebled a hundred times hundredfold.
Then shall I turn from toil and trouble, to clothe my Marsinah in a rope
of pearls serene; with the crown of a queen on her forehead clear; two
jewels of shine and sheen, pending o’er each ear,—here and there; on her
breast will I set a ruby amulet of flash and fret; and stuffed within a
priceless piece of ambergris.
MARSINAH. (_In wonder._) O my father!
HAJJ. And the name of thy beauty shall be blown abroad, beyond Arabia,
through Sind, into China, even as far as the islands of Wak. And suitors
shall venture across deserts and sea, by caravel and camel, and fall on
their knee in suppliance for thee.
MARSINAH. Yehh!
HAJJ. But I—thy sire, (_leaning on NARJIS lazily as though she were a
feather bed._)—shall lie back on pillows of ostrich plumes, propping mine
elbow thus, nor turning to right nor to left. And there shall be wailings
and gnashings of teeth amongst thy lovers; the while thou, behind many
lintels, in a court of marble with a roof of molten gold, dancest
merrily, airily, to the sound of smitten strings.
MARSINAH. (_Laughing joyfully and clapping her hands._) Ya ha! Ya ha!
HAJJ. (_Triumphantly._) Ha! Ha! (_Eagerly._) Dance now, O dawn-breeze,
now! O Narjis, pluck a tune with thy talons. (_Hands her the lute._) Up,
O Marsinah, up! My tom-tom, O Narjis! My tom-tom!
(_MARSINAH springs up. She begins to dance slowly, then faster
and faster. NARJIS, after handing HAJJ his tom-tom, plays and
occasionally sings as well._)
HAJJ. (_Beating the tom-tom, shrilly._) Yehh! Allah! La Yayhá! La Yayhá!
So shalt thou dance! So! And the kings of the earth shall send their
sons! La Yayhá! By thy youth, thou art as a branch swaying! La Yayhá! But
I shall laugh them to scorn, all and one—“Ye swine,” shall I say— “Ye——”
(_There is a knock at the door._)
(_MARSINAH stops; so does NARJIS._)
HAJJ. Nought. Neighbours. On! (_They begin again._)
HAJJ. “Ye swine—who are ye to——”
(_Another knock._)
A VOICE. (_Outside._) Open in the name of justice.
HAJJ. (_Instinctively looks at his garments._) Wah! Go indoors, O my
delight, go! (_He throws the bundle to MARSINAH._)
(_MARSINAH, taking the bundle, goes into the house wondering._)
HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Open! Open! Open! (_NARJIS opens the house door._)
(_HAJJ sits expectant, tracing figures in the sand with his
finger-tips._)
(_The CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH enters—behind him come ZAYD and AMRU
and FOUR ARCHERS. THE ARCHERS fling open the double doors to
the street and guard them. NASIR enters as well._)
CAPTAIN. Is this the house of Hajj, the beggar?
HAJJ. What would ye?
ZAYD. I knew ’twas he! Seize the dog!
HAJJ. Seize me? (_He rises abruptly._)
ZAYD. Those are the very garments.
CAPTAIN. Thou must come before the Wazir Mansur.
HAJJ. (_Terrified at the name._) Mansur? I paid in part—I meant to pay in
full.
AMRU. Thou liest, O split of tongue.
HAJJ. Lie? I? (_He goes for AMRU._)
(_TWO ARCHERS secure HAJJ between them._)
CAPTAIN. No words! Off with him.
(_THE ARCHERS march HAJJ to the door._)
NASIR. (_Darting forward and grinning into HAJJ’S face._) Ha! Ha!
HAJJ. (_Stopping as he sees NASIR._) Oh! Thou!
NASIR. (_Mockingly imitating HAJJ’S voice._) I saw no purse.
HAJJ. (_Spitting in NASIR’S face._) Thou filth! Thou son of filth.
(_He is led off, the other men following._)
NARJIS. (_Wringing her hands._) Allah! Allah! Allah!
[CURTAIN]
SCENE IV. _A Hall in the Wazir Mansur’s Mansion._
_The room is a large oblong one, with a colonnade running along
the back, looking out on a colonnaded courtyard beyond. A large
double door to the left leads to the entrance hall. Opposite
it, in the right wall, a niche with a diwan, raised a step or
two. The tiles and carvings are of the richest._
_MANSUR is seated on the diwan, before him a chessboard._
_AFIFE is crouching to the right on the steps, his partner in
the game._
_KAFUR stands behind them watching._
_MANSUR is in a sullen humour, his mind not on the game._
AFIFE. (_Making a move, in a high squeaky voice._) Move, O master.
MANSUR. (_Moving a chess-man._) Now match me this move, O thou bundle of
misery.
AFIFE. Match it? (_He moves._) Thy turn, O my master.
MANSUR. (_Moving again._) So!
AFIFE. Check!
MANSUR. Check? Now cursed be Satan the Stoned! What Ifrit is at thine
elbow? This is the third game thou dost beat me.
AFIFE. Thy thoughts wander, O my Lord.
MANSUR. Dost thou wonder they wander, o thou misbegotten lump of
dough?—Wander? They gallop, they fly! Even though I myself must crawl at
other men’s heels these days.
KAFUR. (_To MANSUR._) There’s yet one more move for thee.
MANSUR. (_Studying the board._) One more?
KAFUR. So! (_He sweeps the chessboard clear with his sword._)
(_The door opens and an ATTENDANT enters._)
ATTENDANT. A Chamberlain from the Caliph, O my lord.
MANSUR. Admit him.
(_The ATTENDANT ushers in the CHAMBERLAIN from the CALIPH who
enters with a sealed scroll. He comes up to MANSUR and bows._)
CHAMBERLAIN. From the Commander of the Faithful to his Wazir Mansur.
(_KAFUR turns and takes the letter from the CHAMBERLAIN and
hands it to MANSUR. MANSUR rises and takes the letter, touches
the top of his head with it, then breaks the seals and scans
the contents. His lips contract. After a moment’s pause he says
to the CHAMBERLAIN._)
MANSUR. Harkening and obedience to the Prince of True Believers.
(_The CHAMBERLAIN bows and retires as he came._)
MANSUR. (_Springing up with great rage._) Hear! Hear! (_Reading from
right to left._) “In the name of Allah, the Compassionating the
Compassionate. From Abdallah, Caliph and King of Mankind to his Wazir of
Police. But after. We find all the moneys of our various departments of
state, complete and in account, saving those under thy control. Report
thou to us accordingly at our diwan this day. Though mine uncle the
King be dead, justice and order have not died with him.” (_He tears the
letter to bits, stuffs strips into his mouth, chews them and spits them
out again._) Wah! Now Allah damn the grammarian for this! This is _his_
handiwork, big-turban’d, bean-fed son of a sow! So I’m to end through
_him_? I who sat in his seat, hard by the side of the throne. By all
devils that kneel round hell, I swear this shall never be—do ye hear
me?—no, never! (_He strikes at AFIFE in his rage._)
KAFUR. What wilt thou do, O my lord?
MANSUR. I would I had him between my feet to rip the tongue from his
teeth.
AFIFE. A hundred grammatical tongues will not bring back one danik of the
moneys thou hast squandered.
MANSUR. Justice and order! (_He spits out a piece of the letter._) Pah!
Show me the Wazir of Police who hath crushed with a heavier hand, whose
sword made the execution ground as slippery. Recall ye not the merry
summer’s night when with mine own hand, in ten waves of the scymitar, I
carved my old jester into as many pieces?
AFIFE. The old jester! Ha! Ha! ’Twas his last quirk!
KAFUR. How we laughed!
(_THEY all laugh._)
MANSUR. Alas for the glorious drunken nights of passion and power. The
feasts of beauty and blood! Awah, awah, awah!
(_THEY all sigh._)
AFIFE. What’s to be done?
KAFUR. Were Prince Omar Caliph, never wouldst thou have lost thy seat of
honour.
AFIFE. Higher titles would have been thine. He loves thee as a brother.
KAFUR. He would have created thee Grand Wazir.
AFIFE. Yea, Grand Wazir of all the kingdom!
MANSUR. Were! Would! Had! The Caliph’s the Is! His letter the thing
alive! The spent moneys must be accounted for. ’Tis my death. Awah! Awah!
KAFUR. The guards are yet under thy orders.
MANSUR. For the moment. But to-night——
AFIFE. Use to-day.
KAFUR. (_Pointing to the chessboard._) One move—and the game is thine.
MANSUR. (_Realising KAFUR’S intention._) Yehh! Kill the Caliph? (_He
rises in thought._)
(_KAFUR and AFIFE nod and follow him, standing on either side
of him._)
KAFUR. ’Tis he——
AFIFE. Or thou.
MANSUR. (_Looking from AFIFE to KAFUR._) Yehh! But how? When? Who?
(_Turning to AFIFE._) Thou?
AFIFE. (_Grovelling at MANSUR’S feet._) Alas! I lack the strength.
MANSUR. (_Turning to KAFUR._) Thou?
KAFUR. (_Falling on his knees._) Am I not known by every servant in the
palace?
MANSUR. Then where shall I find him? This fellow strong enough, unknown
enough, to stab and stab to the soul?
KAFUR. Fear not. Fate hath written the deed in the lines of someone’s
forehead. And when the hour comes he will be ready.
MANSUR. Yehh!
(_The door opens and the ATTENDANT enters and bows. Outside
voices can be heard._)
MANSUR. What noise is that?
ATTENDANT. Some merchants in the hall, O my lord. They have caught a
thief and come for justice.
MANSUR. Justice—do they? Justice! By Allah! I’ll dispense them justice.
Have them enter. (_He goes back to the diwan and sits._)
(_KAFUR and AFIFE take their wonted positions by his side._)
(_The two shopkeepers, AMRU and ZAYD, enter, after them NASIR,
the CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH and FOUR ARCHERS. A crowd of loiterers
(six or eight) follow, who kneel or stand in the background.
AMRU and ZAYD approach and kneel. TWO NEGRO EUNUCHS enter and
stand at the back._)
AMRU. O Wazir of the Age, we come for protection against the roguery of
mankind.
ZAYD. O eye of uprightness! Let thy light shed judgment.
MANSUR. Speak your grievance.
AMRU. There came a man to my shop——
ZAYD. And mine——
AMRU. And he fanned a quarrel ’twixt me and my fondest friend.
ZAYD. And meantime off he stole with garments of both of us.
MANSUR. Where’s the thief?
(_HAJJ is brought through the door by TWO ARCHERS and
prostrates himself before MANSUR, the ARCHERS retiring._)
HAJJ. (_With great saintliness, on his knees._) O Wazir of wazirs,
O Wisdom of wisdom, O Clemency of clemencies! I seek refuge in thy
sanctity from these my foul-mouthed defamers. A thief—I? Allah forfend. I
am a man of religion and peace. They fell to fisticuffs and curses before
me, these two,—till mine ears were stung with their ungodliness and mine
eyes wounded. So I laid my moneys on the carpet of the shop and went my
silent ways.
ZAYD and AMRU. (_Together._) Liar!
AMRU. We’d not so much as fixed on a price.
HAJJ. Wilt thou swear I paid thee no earnest money?
AMRU. A miserable dinar or two to blind me.
HAJJ. Blind thee? What cause had I to blind thee?
ZAYD. Thou art a well-known beggar.
HAJJ. A beggar? Showed I thee not a swollen purse?
ZAYD. A stolen purse—thou meanest.
HAJJ. He lies, O my lord. ’Twas given me in charity.
MANSUR. Given thee? By whom?
HAJJ. By one Jawan—a highwayman.
MANSUR. A highwayman do charity? Now Allah pardon thee. Tell the truth.
HAJJ. May doomsday break if I lie.
MANSUR. How? A highwayman here in Baghdad? An exile with a price on his
neck? Thou art mad.
HAJJ. By mine honesty! There stands his guide Nasir. Ask him.
MANSUR. (_To NASIR._) O thou! Is this so?
NASIR. (_Coming forward and kneeling between HAJJ and the merchants._)
’Tis true such an one lodges at my Khan, O my lord. But he is come to the
city in repentance, to pray at the tombs of saints.
MANSUR. (_Furious._) Saints and repentance! His coming spits at the law!
(_To the CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH._) Go with yon fellow. Find the highwayman.
Take him to the royal diwan this mid-afternoon. The Caliph shall note
how I uphold justice and order.
(_The CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH moves to the door with TWO ARCHERS._)
HAJJ. (_Interrupting._) O my lord, a word! (_To NASIR._) Tell the Lord
Wazir, thou sawest the Sheikh throw me a purse.
NASIR. (_Copying HAJJ’S manner in the first scene._) I?—I saw no purse.
HAJJ. (_Producing the purse; pleading to him._) Nasir! Here it is.
NASIR. I saw no purse.
MANSUR. ’Tis well. Off!
(_NASIR goes with the CAPTAIN and ARCHERS._)
MANSUR. (_To HAJJ._) As for thee—Give me the purse!
HAJJ. Awah! (_He hands the purse to KAFUR, who hands it to MANSUR._)
MANSUR. (_Pocketing the purse in his sleeve._) Thou art a liar and a
thief. (_To KAFUR._) The sword and the cauldron of oil. (_KAFUR bows and
motions to the NEGROES who go off into the courtyard._)
MANSUR. Thy right hand is forfeit to the merchants.
HAJJ. (_Looking at his hand._) My hand?
MANSUR. (_To the shopkeepers, smilingly._) Two fingers to each. I pray
you quarrel not over the thumb. (_AMRU and ZAYD smile politely in
response._)
HAJJ. My hand! My hand! Thou’lt cut off my hand?
MANSUR. Says not Allah in His Holy Koran: “If a man steal, cut off his
hand”?
HAJJ. Alas, O poor hand! Thou couldst have served the Wazir of Wazirs, a
courtier to his whims, a slave to his desires. (_The TWO EUNUCHS re-enter
from the courtyard bearing a boiling cauldron._)
MANSUR. Now by the dog, thy father, of what service to me were a rogue’s
hand like thine?
(_THE EUNUCHS place the boiling cauldron under HAJJ’S wrist._)
HAJJ. What service? There’s not a stronger—a prompter—a bolder in
Baghdad! Ready to plunder and pillage, to slash and stab, at thy least
command.
MANSUR. (_Starting at the word “stab”._) Stab?
KAFUR. (_To HAJJ._) Cease thy talk, bare thy wrist. (_He unsheathes the
sword._)
HAJJ. (_Turns and sees the sword, then says in a resigned voice._) There
is no majesty nor might save in Allah! The Causer of Causes! The Ordainer
of Fate and Fortune!
KAFUR. (_About to raise the sword._) Art thou prepared?
HAJJ. Even as the Fox for the Wolf. Strike!
(_KAFUR raises the sword._)
MANSUR. Hold!—The Fox and the Wolf?—What story is that?
HAJJ. O Wazir of the Age, ’twere too long to recount— (_looking round
slyly_) with yon sword in the air.
MANSUR. Then shall it first sever thy wrist.
HAJJ. (_With an eloquent gesture._) Who can tell a tale without his two
hands?
MANSUR. Knowest thou many histories?
HAJJ. Ask the beggars of my quarter. The teller of night-tales they call
me—one and all.
MANSUR. Away with the cauldron! (_To KAFUR._) Hither with the sword.
(_KAFUR hands MANSUR the sword; the EUNUCHS take the cauldron
into the courtyard._)
MANSUR. What is thy name?
HAJJ. (_Creeps nearer, on his knees._) Hajj, O my lord.
MANSUR. Thou shalt serve me, O Hajj. Thy wit shall shorten the weary
watches of my sleeplessness. Take this sword, the badge of thy new
dignity. (_He offers him the sword._)
HAJJ. O fountain of grace! My hand blesses thee for its salvation, my
lowly self for its elevation. (_He takes the sword and raises it to his
forehead._) I am thy mameluke, thy chattel. (_He touches the ground with
his head._)
MANSUR. Rise! Mansur’s servants do not kneel.
HAJJ. (_Rising proudly._) Is it thy pleasure that my first act should be
an act of clemency?
MANSUR. Do as thou wilt.
HAJJ. (_Turning ferociously on the shopkeepers._) Then down, O ye
calamities! Down, I say, and cry my mercy for lying as ye did, ye
false-of-faces!
(_The SHOPKEEPERS sink down in terror. HAJJ approaches them
flourishing his sword before them._)
HAJJ. Confess ye lied! Confess ye lied!
AMRU and ZAYD. (_Scarcely audible._) We lied! We lied!
HAJJ. Louder, by your garlic breaths, louder!
AMRU and ZAYD. We lied! Pardon! Pardon!
HAJJ. Pardon?—So ye send not my lord rich gifts of atonement none shall
answer for your lives. Up! Turn your faces and show the breadth of your
shoulder.
(_The SHOPKEEPERS rise and hurry out by the door, more dead
than alive. HAJJ prods their backs with his sword as they
vanish._)
HAJJ. (_Turning to MANSUR with a flourish._) Is it well, O my master?
MANSUR. ’Tis a beginning. Go now! Get thee to thy new quarters. (_To the
ATTENDANT._) Ho, Fazil! See Hajj be lodged and robed fittingly. Garb him
in the Persian garments of our jester deceased. Alas, poor fellow! He
died most sudden of a summer evening. (_With a reassuring smile._) Thou
shalt be his successor.
HAJJ. I am a tree thy bounty hath planted. May the fruit of my endeavour
be to thy taste ever. (_He bows._)
MANSUR. Thou shalt give us a smack of thy quality after the mid-day
meal. Go! Whoso loveth me let him show honour to Hajj! (_He waves his
handkerchief in sign of dismissal._)
HAJJ. (_Turns and with a heroic gesture motions the curious aside._) Room
for the Wazir’s Jester, O ye dogs!
(_The CROWD falls back before him._)
(_The ATTENDANT leads the way to the left._)
(_HAJJ struts out conducted by the ATTENDANT._)
MANSUR. (_To KAFUR and AFIFE._) Think ye I’ve pardoned this mountebank to
listen to foolish fables? (_With great emphasis._) He is the man.
KAFUR. What man?
MANSUR. The man to kill the Caliph.
(_Through the colonnade at the back HAJJ is seen to enter the
courtyard from the left and cross over to the right, preceded
by the ATTENDANT, MANSUR’S SERVANTS and TWO EUNUCHS, bending
low, the crowd following. HAJJ turns to the hall and seeing
MANSUR, bows again to him. MANSUR acknowledges his bow with a
grim smile. HAJJ, delighted, turns, twirling his moustachios
and with enormous swagger moves to the colonnade, right, the
ATTENDANT cringing to the new favourite._)
[CURTAIN]
_End of Act I_
ACT II
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
NOON
_The MAN enters from his house, seats himself and sings_:
Lo! Now the blazing banner of the sun
In noonday sky its victory hath won;
And even as on mighty battle plain
So lieth, stretched and stricken, everyone.
_The WOMAN enters from her house, seats herself and sings_:
Lo! Now in the harim I seek in vain
The shadowed cool of midnight to regain;
Yet though I burn, ’tis not the heaven’s eye
That dooms my senses to eternal pain!
_The MAN_:
Wah! That some wondrous wizard passing by
Would charm to silence this my misery.
_The WOMAN_:
Wah! Might some mystic spell invade me so
That all my yearning would for ever die!
_BOTH_:
O Thou, Bestower of all things, bestow
This benediction on Thy servants low.
_The SORCERER enters and first reveals the MAN to the WOMAN, and the
WOMAN to the MAN. When he has retired they rise and sing_:
At last thou openest the future’s wall,
Revealing my desire’s inmost call,
O Fate, thou greatest sorcerer of all!
_Then they draw together for an instant. But the hour is not yet ripe. So
they turn and enter their respective houses. They have seen each other._
ACT II
AFTERNOON
SCENE I. _The Hall in the Wazir Mansur’s Mansion._
_The same scene as the last, but richly embroidered curtains
have now been drawn between the columns to keep out the glare
of the afternoon sun. This gives the room a more intimate
feeling. Two large cushions have been placed on the floor and
between them a low wine-table with beakers of wine, drinking
bowls, fruits, sweetmeats, and a bunch of aromatic herbs._
_MANSUR is reclining on one cushion. AFIFE and KAFUR are on the
diwan. TWO SLAVES stand ready to replenish the cups._
_On the cushion to the left is seated HAJJ, in a brilliant
fantastic Persian robe and a gorgeous turband. He sits up very
erect, his eyes sparkling, his arms outstretched—evidently at
the climax of his story._
HAJJ. “Thereupon, O hearer, the fox saw his foe, the wolf, was slain;
and henceforth he abode alone in the vineyard, secure to the hour of his
death.” But Allah is all-knowing!
MANSUR. In sooth, a pleasing tale!
(_He drains his cup and holds it out to the SLAVE, who fills it
up again._)
KAFUR. Good! Good!
AFIFE. (_Clapping his hands._) More! More! More!
MANSUR. (_Signing to the slave behind HAJJ._) Nay, first another cup——
HAJJ. (_Putting his hand over his cup._) O my Lord, pardon me. I am not
wont to drink wine.
MANSUR. Tush! ’Tis nothing. Thin, red morning tipple. This night will
we robe us in robes of gold and flame-colour and fall to quaffing in
earnest; sweet Greek vintage that breeds gladness even to madness. (_He
holds out the cup, which the SLAVE fills. Then MANSUR passes it to
HAJJ._) May I never be afflicted with thy loss.
(_HAJJ, bowing to MANSUR, accepts the cup and kisses it._)
HAJJ. The slave to thy wishes revealed or concealed. (_He drains it and
returns it to MANSUR._)
MANSUR. (_Pointedly._) So thou sayest and hast said.
HAJJ. Put me to the test, O my master. What tale dost thou desire?
MANSUR. What tale? (_Confidentially to HAJJ._) Harkee, O Hajj. Thou hast
wasted thy years. Thou canst turn the ear inside out by thy talk. Long
ago thy wit should have won thee a wazirdom.
HAJJ. I? Wazir?
MANSUR. Yehh! Thou art marked for it by fate. Is this not so, O Kafur?
KAFUR. Thou hast said it.
MANSUR. (_To HAJJ._) Thou seest? There’s no escaping honours, O Hajj the
Wazir! O the Wazir Hajj!
HAJJ. (_Stroking his moustachios._) The Wazir Hajj! O my lord, what stair
will lead me to so high a minaret?
MANSUR. What stair?
(_The ATTENDANT enters by the door._)
ATTENDANT. ’Tis the hour of the diwan, O my lord.
MANSUR. The diwan! ’Tis well. (_Rises._) (_The ATTENDANT leaves._) I go
to robe myself. Await me but a handful of moments, O my friend. When I
return I shall open a gate undreamt of by thy dearest dream. Till then,
Allah increase thee, O Wazir to be.
(_MANSUR goes off followed by KAFUR, AFIFE, and the TWO
SLAVES._)
HAJJ. Wazir! Wazir! Another cup! A cup to thee, O Wazir Hajj, thou friend
of the great, thou of the great thyself. (_He drinks another cup and
struts across the room._) Wazir! (_He approaches the diwan._) Yehh! Why
not? (_He seats himself on the diwan._) Even such a seat was destined my
limbs from eternity! (_With a chuckle._) The Wazir Hajj!
(_MISKAH, a slave-girl, enters through the curtains at the
back. She is, of course, veiled. She looks about cautiously,
then glides to HAJJ’S side, and throws herself at his feet._)
MISKAH. O my master, my mistress bids me come kiss the dust of thy
slippers.
HAJJ. Yehh! Who may be the mistress of so fair a messenger?
MISKAH. Hush! If we be heard ’tis death.
HAJJ. Speak low then. What is it?
MISKAH. ’Tis sooner told than mended. At noon-tide, lying within the
lattice of the harim, my lady saw thee cross the courtyard—the servants
bowing to earth before thy valiant stride.
HAJJ. (_Delighted._) Valiant stride! (_He strokes his moustachios._)
Yehh! Did she, forsooth?
MISKAH. O noble stranger, who art thou? Whence comest thou? What is the
measure of thy staying? Such and more would my mistress know. For from
noon till now is all her being become one yearning question.
HAJJ. And all my being from now to eternity one burning reply. So haste!
Bring us together that we may spell a sweet completeness.
MISKAH. Follow me, then. But by the life of thy head mark thy path. For
we must step over the sleeping door-keeper of the harim. I have plied him
with drugs. Three blessed hours will he lie thus in stupor—no longer.
After me!
HAJJ. Hold! I cannot leave. Any moment the Wazir may return. Might not
thy mistress favour me with her coming?
MISKAH. Hither?
HAJJ. (_Pointing to the door._) Thou couldst stand guard.
MISKAH. I’ll take thy message, O my master. But her consent means
madness. (_She disappears through the curtains._)
HAJJ. (_Left alone, smiles._) “Madness!” “Valiant stride!” (_He sits
erect._) “Noble stranger!” O Hajj! Thou wast not so mistaken in thyself.
There’s a something, a somehow about thee—no doubt of that!
(_He draws out his sword using the blade as a mirror by which
to arrange his moustachios._)
(_The curtains part again—MISKAH re-enters._)
MISKAH. She comes! (_She glides rapidly to the door left and sits
listening._)
(_KUT-AL-KULUB enters, a voluptuous woman of the ripe oriental
type—she is about eight and twenty. Her dress is very rich,
over it a gorgeous mantle. Her veil is of the thinnest._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Kneeling before him._) Welcome and well come to my
illustrious lord.
HAJJ. A thousand blessings on thy white forehead, O mistress of my days.
KUT-AL-K. Allah, forgive me! Only the wildness of despair could drive me
to break the bonds of my harim.
HAJJ. I am earth to thy treading.
KUT-AL-K. (_With a sigh and exaggerated emotion._) Now, by my life! I
knew mine eyes beheld a king the instant they lighted upon the grace of
thy being. Help me! Help me! I am oppressed beyond endurance.
HAJJ. Who art thou? One of Mansur’s wives?
KUT-AL-K. (_Springing up, indignantly._) One——? I am the Wife of wives!
MISKAH. S—sh!
HAJJ. His first? The great lady?
KUT-AL-K. First in fact. Yet might I be the least and lowest—a blackamoor
kitchen wench—were I to be ranked by his reckoning.
HAJJ. Never tell me he ceases adoring thee even for the wink of an
eye-lid.
KUT-AL-K. (_Shrilly._) Cease adoring! He!
MISKAH. (_Warningly._) S—sh!
KUT-AL-K. (_Turning to HAJJ, with appeal._) Behold this arm! (_She
produces a gorgeous arm from her cloak._) Is this arm shrivelled? Shrunk?
HAJJ. (_Admiringly._) Shrivelled? What dog says shrivelled?
KUT-AL-K. (_Opening her cloak._) This bosom yellow?
HAJJ. (_Overcome._) Yellow, this field of lilies?
KUT-AL-K. (_Turning back._) Now tell me, by thine honour: callest thou me
hump-backed?
(_She drops the cloak and turns round revealing her form,
provokingly clad in scanty splendour._)
HAJJ. O thou copious beauty! Am I a boy that thou shouldst mock me thus?
KUT-AL-K. (_Unveiling her face._) Or is my face pock-pitted? My nose
crooked? My mouth crumpled?
HAJJ. Allah help me! What art thou doing to me, O cruel one?
KUT-AL-K. (_With a gliding step as she approaches him languorously._)
And my gait? (_Making slow gestures._) Is my motion like a popinjay’s on
a perch? (_Coming close to him and sitting on the diwan below him._) My
glance the stare of a dead thing?
HAJJ. O sun of the age! Dazzle not my sight to blindness! Strike not my
senses to frenzy.
KUT-AL-K. (_Feigning surprise, veiling her face, and turning from him._)
Woe upon me! Hath my rage disrobed me?
HAJJ. O light of splendour, cloud not thy rays. Shut me not in blackest
darkness.
KUT-AL-K. (_Lifting her veil a little from her face, coquettishly._) So
much?
HAJJ. More.
KUT-AL-K. So much?
HAJJ. More.
KUT-AL-K. (_Dropping her veil completely._) O thou man among men! Why
must I obey thy bidding? (_She looks down provokingly._)
HAJJ. (_Drawing close._) What is thy name?
KUT-AL-K. Kut-al-Kulub, the food of hearts.
HAJJ. In very sooth, thou art the food of hearts. I could feast on thy
plenty for ever and yet be an-hungered still.
KUT-AL-K. Alas! Why have I never heard words like thine till now?
HAJJ. (_Coaxing._) Never till now?
KUT-AL-K. (_Coyly._) By my head, never! All day and all night I sit alone
under my silent dome, in the fever of my solitude; my tears my sole
consolers.
HAJJ. Tears! Thou must let me come to thee and kiss them away.
KUT-AL-K. (_Pretending horror._) Art thou mad?
HAJJ. Aye, maddened by the insolence of thy beauty.
KUT-AL-K. (_Rising and turning from him, provokingly._) Allah! Kiss me?
Thou? Out on thee! ’Tis easily seen thou art loved too much, by too many.
HAJJ. (_He follows her, comes close to her, and suddenly says in a very
businesslike way._) When shall it be?
KUT-AL-K. (_Dropping all artifice, eagerly._) This evening—early—with the
new risen moon.
HAJJ. How shall I reach thee?
KUT-AL-K. Come to this courtyard. My faithful slave of the firehole shall
await thy coming and lead thee by an unknown passage under the baths
straight to the heart of the harim.
MISKAH. (_Springing up, anxiously._) O mistress! (_She points to the
door._)
(_HAJJ kisses KUT-AL-K. on the lips. She tears herself away and
hurries off through the curtains followed by MISKAH._)
KUT-AL-K. (_With a final glance._) Allah!
HAJJ. (_Flinging his arms out in ecstacy._) Allah!
(_Hearing MANSUR, he quickly resumes the position on the floor,
in which MANSUR left him._)
(_MANSUR re-enters clad in armour, followed by KAFUR and
AFIFE._)
MANSUR. O Wazir Hajj—are thine eyes ready for me to open?
HAJJ. Ready, O my master.
MANSUR. Swear that thou wilt never reveal what I shall unveil. (_He
resumes his seat on the diwan._)
HAJJ. I give thee the bond of Allah, to whom belong honour and glory.
MANSUR. ’Tis well. How prompt art thou to do a deed?
HAJJ. (_Kneeling._) Order me do, and ’tis done.
MANSUR. (_After a pause._) Kill the Caliph.
HAJJ. (_Thunderstruck._) The—Caliph?
MANSUR. I said what I said.
HAJJ. The Caliph! The Viceroy of the Prophet! Shed his sacred blood?
MANSUR. Sacred? Abdallah? A toy to a tutor? Prince Omar should be
reigning in his stead.
HAJJ. Prince Omar!
MANSUR. Yehh! He’s no parchment-worm! He’s a man, a warrior, a king to
the core.
HAJJ. And were Prince Omar Caliph—how would that help my cause?
MANSUR. The hour he’s proclaimed Caliph, that hour am I Grand Wazir. Once
Grand Wazir, there’s no favour too lofty for thee to climb to.
HAJJ. Yehh! But why choose me for the deed? Me, from all the servants
that encircle thee as the white of the eye doth the black.
MANSUR. I wish to honour thee.
HAJJ. (_Not without humour._) Honour me less, I pray thee.
MANSUR. Wouldst thou have me pick a fool for such work? I tell thee, thou
art the man.
HAJJ. (_Confused._) Awah! The Caliph! To attempt to approach him
surrounded as he is ever by a body-guard of ready scymitars!
MANSUR. Nought so easy. He holds his diwan after mid-afternoon prayer,
dealing decrees to great and small, bidding and forbidding. Didst thou
not say erstwhile thou knewest how to juggle?
HAJJ. Trick on trick! Oft I play them at my corner! A wizard from Morocco
was my teacher.
MANSUR. The very device! Even such another Moorman shalt thou stand
to-day before the Caliph seeking protection as a stranger. I’ll turn it
so that he bids thee unfold these tricks of thine. Do thou, by thy skill,
draw him step by step from his throne, till he pass beyond the circle of
safety and stand unguarded, unheedful by thy side. Then sudden plunge thy
dagger.
HAJJ. The guards would cut me down.
MANSUR. Once the Caliph killed, the command of the guards falls unto me.
HAJJ. Ask aught else. This I cannot.
MANSUR. (_Half aloud as to himself temptingly._) Hajj, the Wazir! The
Wazir Hajj!
HAJJ. I cannot kill Allah’s messenger. Cut off my hand and let me go.
MANSUR. (_Rising._) Let thee go? Now? Thy hand to ransom thee with such a
secret in thy heart? By the Venger of villainy, thou shalt not leave this
house alive! ’Tis either my cup companion, or (_pointing_) down into the
vaults of oblivion.
HAJJ. Was it for this I was raised to favour?
MANSUR. (_Sneeringly._) For thy beauty—mayhap?
HAJJ. (_Clenching his hands._) The Caliph. I cannot! I cannot!
MANSUR. Thou art a coward.
HAJJ. Not for myself. But I have others in my life. Affections that bind
me. I have a daughter. Awah! (_He grovels on the ground._)
MANSUR. (_With a sudden look at KAFUR._) Young? Unmarried?
HAJJ. Unmarried. Awah!
MANSUR. Fair?
HAJJ. Fairer than fair. With a voice like a nightingale’s. A thousand
songs are hers. When she dances—the gates of Paradise are opened.
MANSUR. (_Doubtfully._) Sayest thou so. (_He makes signs to AFIFE and
KAFUR, unobserved by HAJJ._)
HAJJ. I tell thee she is a slice of the moon! With lips tender, and waist
slender, and graces countless, no tongue can render.
MANSUR. By Allah! Thou hast set me afire. I’ll take her to wife.
HAJJ. (_Overcome._) Thou? The Wazir Mansur—my Marsinah?
MANSUR. Even so.
HAJJ. (_Rising—still doubting._) Wife?
MANSUR. Yea, wife—not concubine. My other wives will I put away from me.
She shall be first of them all.
HAJJ. Thou’lt swear it?
MANSUR. Swear it? (_He raises his right hand._) The Opening Chapter of
the Koran be between me and thee upon this. Afife, Kafur, be ye sponsors
to our compact before the Most High. (_He holds out his right palm._)
HAJJ. (_Putting his right palm against MANSUR’S._) Ye have heard.
AFIFE AND KAFUR. (_Together._) We have heard.
MANSUR. So be it. I’ll make her mine at sunset. The eunuchs of the harim
shall bring her hither this self-same hour.
HAJJ. Nay, let me go with them. Such tidings shall she learn from none
save her father. (_He moves to the door._)
MANSUR. Hold! A little question! How stand we as to the Caliph?
HAJJ. The Caliph? Now thou hast sworn to marry my daughter, by Him the
Most High, the One, the Omnipotent, here do I swear to stab the Caliph to
death this day.
MANSUR. (_To the others._) Ye have heard?
KAFUR AND AFIFE. (_Raising their right hands together._) Amin!
MANSUR. (_Raising his hand._) Amin!
HAJJ. (_Raising his hand._) Amin! (_A moment’s silence. From the distant
minaret comes the call to prayer._)
MANSUR. (_Sanctimoniously._) O my brothers, the call to prayer.
HAJJ. (_In the same tone._) Prayer!
(_With one accord they all kneel and bend devoutly to Meccah._)
[CURTAIN]
SCENE II
_The Courtyard of a poor House. (The same scene as Act I.
Scene III.). The hot sun of the afternoon is kept off by some
awnings. The birds in the cages hang on the wall._
_MARSINAH is seated on the bench, her lute in her lap. She sings_:—
I.
Under my veil
What hide I not?
Now cheeks so pale,
Now blushes hot:
Under my veil!
II.
Under my veil
What hold I not?
The sweetest tale
Of kisses got,
Under my veil!
NARJIS. (_Coming out of the house with a large water-jar and going to the
well._) Out upon thee, singing away thy day! An thou help me not in the
house, I’ll take away thy trinkets.
MARSINAH. Touch me, and my father shall hear of it!
NARJIS. Thy father! ’Twill be long ere thou seest thy father again.
MARSINAH. I’ll not believe it.
NARJIS. I tell thee this sudden wealth—(_With a gesture of
thieving._)—came but by way of his fingers. They’ve found him. They’ve
taken him.
(_A knock on the house door._)
MARSINAH. Yehh! ’Tis he!
NARJIS. Or the watch come for thy anklets.
MARSINAH. (_Hiding her anklets as she sits._) O Narjis!
(_Another knock._)
NARJIS. (_Hurries to the door calling out._) Here am I! Here am I! Who
knocks?
HAJJ. (_Outside._) I! Thy master. Open, O Narjis.
NARJIS. Allah! ’Tis thy father. (_She unlocks the house door._)
MARSINAH. (_Springing up._) What said I?
(_Enter HAJJ. He is, of course, in his brilliant Persian gown
with his silver sword in his belt._)
HAJJ. Where’s Marsinah? (_He enters the court._)
MARSINAH. (_Overcome by his appearance._) O my father! What fresh
magnificence is this? Did they set thee free?
HAJJ. (_Looking at NARJIS._) What hast thou been saying to her? Calling
me thief behind my heels?
NARJIS. Not a word, O my lord. I am thy slave of admiration.
HAJJ. O slippery mouth! Are thieves clad in robes of honour? Are thieves
given swords of office?
MARSINAH. By my youth! ’Tis all silver.
HAJJ. ’Twill be gold before night.
MARSINAH. Gold?
HAJJ. And before yet another night all jewels and gems.
MARSINAH. Gold! Jewels! O king of fathers! Hast thou discovered some
enchanted treasure?
HAJJ. Yea, a treasure for me and a treasure for thee! My dreams are
dreams no longer. They are alive as the breath of thy lips. (_To
NARJIS._) Go fetch me my bundle of magic.
NARJIS. All the tricks?
HAJJ. All, and the robes.
NARJIS. Hearing and obedience. (_She goes into the house at back._)
HAJJ. (_To MARSINAH._) Thy birds!
MARSINAH. My birds? Thou wilt have a care of them as ever? (_She brings
the bird cages to him._)
HAJJ. Care? Care matters not now, O my doe! Thou shalt have braver birds
than those ere long. Flocks of white ones and black ones to fly at thy
beck and call.
MARSINAH. White ones? Black ones?
HAJJ. (_Laughing._) Ha! Ha! My large-eyed wonder! Human birds; slaves!
Slaves!
MARSINAH. (_Amazed._) I—slaves?
HAJJ. (_Squats and looks into MARSINAH’S eyes._) Larger and larger! As
many as thy whims cry out for. O Marsinah, child of mine! Allah hath
poured blessings untold upon thee. Thou art to be wed to-night.
MARSINAH. (_Joyfully._) O my father! Thou hast seen him! (_She glances up
at the garden wall._)
HAJJ. Him? Whom?
MARSINAH. (_Confused._) Him!
HAJJ. Thy husband? Seen him? I am his cup-companion, the friend of his
bosom, his wazir to come.
MARSINAH. His wazir?
HAJJ. Indeed, how canst thou guess? There! I’ll play with thee no longer.
Know thy full happiness. Thou art to be wife to the Wazir Mansur.
MARSINAH. (_Breathless._) Mansur?
HAJJ. He! What sayest thou now! Has thy joy stifled thee quite?
MARSINAH. (_Blankly._) Mansur? (_She sinks down, staring before her._)
HAJJ. Yes, say it! Say it! Till thy heart learneth to hold it! To beat
to its measure! Mansur! Mansur! Mansur! Mighty now, mightier still ere
long! His wife! None above thee, none thine equal!
MARSINAH. (_Faintly, looking up._) O my father, I kiss the ground. Wed me
not to this man.
HAJJ. (_Rises._) Not? Not?
MARSINAH. Not to him, O my father. I pray Allah’s pardon, not to him.
HAJJ. ’Tis Mansur I speak of—the Wazir of Police. The favoured of
Fortune. Him thou art to wed, to be his great lady, his wife of wives.
MARSINAH. Alas, my long grief! Say it not again, I entreat thee.
HAJJ. Say it not again?
MARSINAH. O my father. Thou’lt not do this to me.
HAJJ. Not what?
MARSINAH. Not give me to him. Not to him.
HAJJ. Thou shalt be his by sundown.
MARSINAH. Sundown? Sundown? This night?
HAJJ. How oft must I say it!
MARSINAH. By the Ineffable! May I be thy ransom here and hereafter! But
this,—this,—by the warmth twixt my heart and thine, the sacred bond of
child and parent, do not this thing to me, O my father and lord, not this!
HAJJ. Art thou raving?
MARSINAH. O sweet my father! Gentle my father! Father of the true eyes
and tender! Thou didst love my mother! Thou wert her salvation, her
soul’s consolation in the hour of her need! By her memory, I conjure thee.
HAJJ. (_Gently._) O Marsinah, my gazelle, rise! What sudden fright is
thine? Has the might of Mansur’s name o’erwhelmed thee?
MARSINAH. O, ’tis not his name! ’Tis not fright! ’Tis—(_Sits up, with
sudden horror._) I cannot go to him! I will not!
HAJJ. Will not? Will not? Now woe to thee, O thou daughter of sin! May
Allah never bless thee! Is such my recompense for all the years of
toiling and moiling, of cark and care? Have I worked at my begging from
dawn to dusk, screamed myself hoarse for thy sake? And dost thou now cry
out, “I will not?” “Will not!” to me, thine own father?
MARSINAH. (_Quieter._) Pardon me, O my lord. I meant—I cannot. I cannot!
HAJJ. Cannot, forsooth? Cannot! Art thou all my soul holds dear on earth,
and come I here to thee with the tiding of tidings—and thou like the
hyena snarlest and bitest the hand that feedeth thee? Why canst thou not?
Why wilt thou not? What is the why of thy why? Speak!
MARSINAH. Awah! Awah! Awah! (_She weeps on the ground._)
HAJJ. (_Squatting by her side, imitating her._) “Awah! Awah!” By Allah!
Verily he was a suffering father who said: “a son is the lamp of a dark
house—a daughter a desolation.”
(_NARJIS comes out of the house, with a robe and a bright
kerchief._)
NARJIS. (_Seeing MARSINAH on the ground._) What’s here?
HAJJ. Comest thou too? A pretty child I have, indeed! A pretty spirit
thou hast fostered in her.
NARJIS. I—O my master?
HAJJ. Thou—O hell hag. Look on her! There she lieth grovelling and
howling like a kicked dog, so the whole quarter will wonder and come
rapping on the door. And what for? What for? Because the honour of
honours has fallen upon her and she is to be wife to the Wazir Mansur.
NARJIS. Mansur’s wife! By the prophet, is this so? (_She comes to
MARSINAH and kneels beside her._) O Marsinah! Hath thy star risen at last?
MARSINAH. O Narjis, I wish not to be his wife.
HAJJ. (_Rises._) I wish not! I cannot! I will not! Whose wife then
wouldst thou be, O thou misery?
MARSINAH. I know not. No one’s. If our neighbour the gardener had a
son—his wife would I be.
NARJIS. I’ve told thee before—he hath no son.
HAJJ. Ha! The old man, the gardener, a son? He, with a face like a
cobbler’s apron? Ha! Ha! Thou art jesting. ’Tis well. Thou hast fooled me
long enough. Dry thy tears. Dry thy tears, I tell thee.
MARSINAH. I am not jesting. Sooner would I die than go to the Lord Mansur.
HAJJ. By my soul—sayst thou true?
MARSINAH. By thy soul. (_She holds up her right hand._)
HAJJ. (_With intense rage._) Now Allah damn the mother that bore thee,
and the father that begot thee! May thy bones rot and thy body be flung
on the ash-heaps beyond the gates of the city—thou child of abomination,
thou shame unforgettable! We shall see! (_He goes to the street door and
opens it—calling._) Ho, masters! Hither!
(_TWO EUNUCHS of the Guard of the Harim enter. MARSINAH veils
herself._)
HAJJ. (_To the EUNUCHS._) This way! Lead ye this maid to your Lord
Mansur! Her life be on your heads.
(_The EUNUCHS cross to MARSINAH and lay hands on her._)
MARSINAH. (_Making a final appeal to her father, kneeling._) O my father.
HAJJ. (_Sternly._) Away!
MARSINAH. Awah! Awah! Awah!
(_She is dragged off by the EUNUCHS._)
(_HAJJ and NARJIS look at each other and nod their heads with
utmost content._)
[CURTAIN]
SCENE III
_The Caliph’s Diwan (Audience Hall). On the lower left side,
raised by a few steps, stands the Caliph’s diwan or throne:
below it, to its left, a single gold cushion, the seat of
honour. At the back and to the right a lofty row of arches
opens onto a terrace from which can be seen the whole city
of Baghdad. To the right, benches for the dignitaries of the
court. At the end of the terrace left, behind the Caliph’s
throne, a great tower with a massive door which leads down into
the prisons. The architecture is of the finest Arabian. The
view of Baghdad is gorgeous and sun-lit._
_The young CALIPH is seen seated on his diwan, magnificently
robed. By his side stands a low table with a vase, from which
rises the single rose given him by MARSINAH. Now and again he
takes the rose and smells it. Above him stands the Wazir ABU
BAKR. Later on, he seats himself to the left of the CALIPH, in
the place of honour. Behind the throne stand ARCHERS with their
lances, and on its steps the GUARDS with scymitars drawn._
_THREE ELDERLY MEN in Egyptian costume kneel before the throne.
Behind them stands a mummy-case with FOUR BLACK SLAVES. In the
background kneel female MUSICIANS and DANCERS—eight in all._
_The CHAMBERLAIN approaches the throne and prostrates himself._
CHAMBERLAIN. O Prince of True Believers, the Ambassadors of Egypt stand
before thee bearing a petition and gifts for thy gracious acceptance.
CALIPH. Display the gifts.
(_The CHAMBERLAIN takes their petition to the CALIPH. Music
strikes up._)
(_The AMBASSADORS bow and sit on the bench, right. At a signal
the SLAVES open the mummy-case, and an Almah (a dancer) steps
out, who does a strange, peacock-like Egyptian dance, ending in
a seductive posture at the feet of the throne. The FOUR SLAVES
carry the mummy-case off to the right._)
CALIPH. (_Turning to the three Egyptian men._) O Wazirs of Cairo, return
ye to Egypt and tell our viceroy I accept his gifts of these slave-girls
and will consider his petition. (_To the CHAMBERLAIN._) See robes of
honour be bestowed on the Ambassadors.
CHAMBERLAIN. Hearkening and obeying.
THE THREE AMBASSADORS. (_Bowing low and speaking together._) Allah
increase thy glory, O Commander of the Faithful.
(_Conducted by the CHAMBERLAIN, who crosses to them, they
withdraw._)
CALIPH. (_To the dancers and musicians._) As for ye, O damsels, this hour
I grant you freedom and a purse of ten thousand dirhams to each of you.
(_To an attendant._) Conduct them in all honour from the palace.
(_The ATTENDANT leads the MAIDENS off by the terrace, the Almah
following them with a final appealing gesture to the CALIPH._)
ABU BAKR. (_Kneeling before the CALIPH._) O King of the Earth, may thy
tutor speak to his charge of many years?
CALIPH. Speak, O my father.
ABU BAKR. Of a truth, thou committest a wrong, O my lord, in despising
thus hourly the gifts of fair women. Hath Allah not created thee a man in
thy manhood?
CALIPH. Seest thou this rose? ’Tis holier to me than the red rose of the
Prophet! Now by its holiness do I swear to thee, to-night shall put an
end to my singleness.
ABU BAKR. Thou hast found what thou seekest?
CALIPH. The while thou didst ponder over the revenues of the kingdom, I
took my pleasure in thy garden. And lo! The Bestower sent what I prayed
for—a sweet maid of a thousand wonders. After sundown I will ride forth
to bring her home in full pomp, as she were a princess from a kingdom
afar.
ABU BAKR. And who might this Chosen of the chosen be, O my lord?
CALIPH. Who? (_Smelling of the rose._) The partner of my dreams, the half
of my heart, my first love and my last. (_He takes a golden bead and
throws it into a cup on the table: it rings like a gong._)
(_A HERALD with a trumpet enters from the terrace._)
CALIPH. Let the diwan begin!
(_The HERALD bows, and goes out onto the terrace again._)
(_ABU BAKR moves to the left of the throne, and sits on the
golden cushion._)
HERALD. (_Blows his trumpet, then speaks._) Whoso hath authority, let him
come to the Caliph’s Carpet of Justice!
(_SLAVES unroll a gorgeous carpet before the throne._)
(_Stately music begins._)
(_The CHAMBERLAIN enters with a volume of the law which he
brings to the throne, he then retires below the throne to the
furthest left corner, behind ABU BAKR._)
(_After him follow SIX DIGNITARIES of the Household, who bow to
the CALIPH, and seat themselves near the columns leading to the
terrace._)
(_Crowds gather outside on the terrace behind the arches._)
(_TEN WAZIRS and KAZIS enter, making their obeisance and going
to their seats at the right._)
(_Finally MANSUR arrives, followed by KAFUR and AFIFE. MANSUR
crosses and bows to the CALIPH, remaining before the throne._)
(_FOUR NEGRO ARCHERS follow and place themselves between the
columns at the back, drawing their scymitars and so forming a
barrier to keep the crowd from entering the hall._)
(_The music ceases._)
(_The CALIPH signs and all the WAZIRS sit._)
MANSUR. O Commander of the Faithful! Would heaven thou hadst not
wearied thyself by honouring thy slave with a letter. The accountings
of my treasuries are ready and in full tale. They shall be at thy feet
to-morrow before noon-prayer.
CALIPH. It is well.
(_MANSUR bows and goes to his seat right, in front of the other
WAZIRS._)
(_There is a murmur of conversation among the WAZIRS._)
(_The CALIPH throws the bead into the cup a second time._)
HERALD. (_Blows his trumpet again._) Whoso hath grievance, let him come
to the Caliph’s Carpet of Justice!
CHAMBERLAIN. (_At the foot of the throne, left, stepping forward and
unrolling a roll._) In the name of the Judge of Judges, peace and
silence. (_The crowd ceases murmuring._) The first case: Jawan the
highwayman. By command of the Wazir Mansur.
MANSUR. (_Rising._) O Gracious Sovereign! The mighty Monarch that
forewent thee, did banish all robbers from Baghdad both by writ and
proclamation. Yet this one is come to flaunt it in the white sunlight as
though the word of our beloved lord had been vain as a rain-shower in the
sea. Hence ordered I the outlaw before thee.
(_JAWAN approaches from the terrace, right, supported by TWO
ARCHERS._)
CALIPH. Canst thou not walk without aid?
JAWAN. (_Kneeling and bowing._) O Commander of the Faithful, Allah hath
smitten my limbs with a curse. Thou seest my hours are numbered. I came
not to Baghdad with evil intent. I came to pray for salvation at the
tombs of the saints, hoping that my gift of alms would somewhat wipe out
mine offending.
CALIPH. Thou hast given money to the poor?
JAWAN. Send to the high priest of the cathedral-mosque. I seek refuge in
him and his knowledge of my charities.
CALIPH. By all the laws of the realm thy life is forfeit. Yet ’tis
written “Better a generous sinner than a stingy saint.” Go one of you to
the high priest. (_To one of the KAZIS._) Kazi Shimas, thou. Inquire into
this. (_To JAWAN._) An thou sayest sooth, repentance and alms have won
for thee the kerchief of pardon. (_Gesture with handkerchief._)
(_One of the WAZIRS rises, bows, and goes off through the arch
right._)
JAWAN. Thy sentence is just as the scales of judgment day!
CALIPH. Nay, hear me out. Till word be brought, thou shalt to prison.
JAWAN. Prison?
CALIPH. A short penance for thy long list of sins. Take him away.
JAWAN. Allah preserve and prosper His regent on earth! (_JAWAN bows to
the CALIPH and is led off into the prison-tower._)
CALIPH. What is there to follow?
CHAMBERLAIN. (_Consulting his list._) The case of a Moorish juggler. By
command of the Wazir Mansur.
MANSUR. (_Rising._) O Prince of True Believers. This Moorman is a most
marvellous wizard. Yet by his very excellence has he roused the jealousy
of our native fellows of his craft, who would drive him out of the city.
Hence doth he come to kneel to thee for protection.
CALIPH. Baghdad never yet grudged hospitality to the stranger of worth.
Bring hither the Moor.
CHAMBERLAIN. The Moor!
(_An ATTENDANT echoes the Chamberlain’s call and voices are
heard without repeating: “The Moor! The Moor!”_)
(_HAJJ enters from the right through the columns. On his
shoulders like a pair of scales, he balances a pole, the two
bird cages at either end,—his magic cloth in his hand._)
HAJJ. (_Coming forward and kneeling._) O Light of Islam—here lies thy
slave between thy hands!
CALIPH. Art thou this famous Moorish magician?
HAJJ. O King, I am as famous as I am Moorish, as Moorish as I am magician.
CALIPH. An thou prove thy repute, thou shalt remain unmolested within our
walls.
HAJJ. Try me and be thy judgment my doom.
CALIPH. Allah granteth thee this. Begin.
(_HAJJ bows to the CALIPH, slips off his cloak and waves his
magic cloth in a circle._)
HAJJ.
Round is the sky!
Round is the eye!
Round is nought!
Round is wrought!
(_Throwing the cloth over his shoulder mysteriously._)
By Iblis curst;
By devils worst;
By every name:—
Flame, fire, flame!
(_He produces a bowl of flaming fire from his cloth._)
CALIPH. (_Coming down the steps a little._) Allah! Good.
(_HAJJ sets the bowl on the floor._)
(_The CROWD murmurs approval._)
HAJJ. (_Pointing to the bird-cages._) O King of glorious degree and never
ending! Look thou next on these two cages; one harbouring a fair bird
of maiden whiteness; the other a bird black as the royal banner of thy
house. Now even as yon flame of fire, so doth the flame of longing scorch
the hearts of these hapless lovers, caged apart. Say me then, shall I
invoke a kindlier lot upon the two, bringing them breast to breast?
CALIPH. (_Who during the speech has come down from his throne; eagerly._)
Is’t easily done?
HAJJ. Most easily. (_He waves his magic cloth with his left hand and
quickly draws his dagger with his right._) As easily, O my lord, as this!
(_He gives the CALIPH a violent thrust._)
CALIPH. (_Sinking backwards on the steps of the throne._) Awah!
ABU BAKR. (_Throwing himself between HAJJ and the CALIPH._) O villain! O
hound! Seize him! Pinion him!
(_HAJJ is surrounded in an instant by the GUARD. Indescribable
confusion ensues. The WAZIRS start from their seats. The crowd
breaks through the guards. All shout and try to get at HAJJ.
Cries such as these are heard_: “Tear out his eyes!” “Rip
out his heart!” “O son of Satan!” “Crucify him over the city
gate!” “Scorch his eyes to blindness!” “Chop off his accursed
fingers!” “Cut out his tongue!” “Into the flames with him!” “O
dog!” “O hell hound!” “O son of perdition!” “Down with him!”
“Down!”)
ABU BAKR. (_Bending over the CALIPH._) How is’t with thee?
CALIPH. (_Recovering himself and mounting the throne._) Silence! Silence!
(_He throws the bead into the cup._)
CALIPH. Silence! (_Comparative silence._) Touch not the man. Touch him
not, I say.—I am safe! Allah hath shielded me by the grace of my coat of
mail. (_He displays it._)
(_Gradually absolute silence is restored._)
MANSUR. (_With unction._) Praise Eternal to the Preserver of our King.
ALL. “Praise to the Preserver!” “Amin!” “A thousand years to the Caliph!”
“Life forever to Abdallah” etc.
(_The cup is struck again. All regain their respective places._)
(_HAJJ is brought forward, held by FOUR BLACK ARCHERS. His
whole appearance is dishevelled. He looks deathly pale._)
(_Outside the day begins to wane._)
CALIPH. Why didst thou this?
HAJJ. (_After a moment._) I know not. The crime was foredoomed me by Fate.
CALIPH. Before the whole world, in the place of places, in front of my
palace, there shall thy soul be stripped from thee, shred by shred. Into
the Prison of Wrath with him.
HAJJ. Nay, hear me! Hear me! I was tempted beyond measure.
CALIPH. How’s this? Who tempted thee?
HAJJ. I have sworn silence.
CALIPH. By my holy office of Imam, I absolve thee of thine oath. Speak.
HAJJ. (_Half looking round at MANSUR._) I—cannot.
CALIPH. The key of torture shall soon unlock thy lips.
HAJJ. Torture! Nay, by the Pardoner, since thou dost absolve me, there
sits he who tempted me! The Wazir Mansur.
ALL. (_In amazement._) “Mansur?” “The Wazir?” “He?” “What says he?”
CALIPH. Mansur?
MANSUR. (_Rises, glibly._) The man’s be-devilled, O my lord. Bewitched by
fiends. I know him not.
HAJJ. Know me not? I have shared my salt with him. He swore to make my
daughter his bride, would I but end thy days. Kafur, Afife! Bear ye
witness!
CALIPH. (_With surprise to MANSUR._) How’s this? He calls thy men by name?
MANSUR. What of that? Mayhap the villain has frequented my halls in
search of some favour. Nay, now I look on him—true. I’ve done the dog a
kindness. He came indeed to offer me his daughter, and I accepted of her.
Yet not for myself, O King, but to serve my scavenger blackamoors.
HAJJ. (_With a cry of horror, trying to throw himself on MANSUR._) Ah!
(_The ARCHERS restrain him, he struggles madly._)
CALIPH. (_Calling out at once._) Silence him!
(_One of the Archers from behind slips a black cloth over
HAJJ’S mouth._)
(_The sky is lighted with the blaze of sunset._)
MANSUR. Yet though the drab be now in my harim, by the Koran I swear, O
King, even as this day ends red so shall she end red this day.
CALIPH. This matter is too full for the crowded course of the Diwan. I
shall examine into it apart—after sundown. No! (_He takes up the rose
half unconsciously._) Not after sundown. To-morrow. (_With a significant
look._) O Mansur, fail thou me not. Thy words do far from hush my doubts
in thee.
MANSUR. Hearkening and obedience.
CALIPH. I shall sit in my scarlet of anger. Let the executioner be
notified. Off with the wretch. Not a crust, not a drop to him. No
hospitality shall bind us. He shall be made a warning to all, the
blackest death in Islam! Away!
(_HAJJ is dragged off through the prison-door, impotent and
bound._)
(_A general murmur among the crowd._)
(_The CALIPH puts down the rose and throws the bead into the
cup._)
(_Silence._)
CALIPH. What case have we to come?
CHAMBERLAIN. (_Taking up the list._) The case of Kabirah, the widow.
(_The little old woman of the Bazaar appears and totters
forward, kneeling before the throne._)
[CURTAIN]
SCENE IV. _The Prison of the Palace._
_The place is dark except for a small barred window in the
right wall, high up. Through this come the red rays of the
setting sun, which fall on the wall, left—a brilliant patch
creeping slowly higher and higher._
_Under the window in the shadow lies JAWAN, the highwayman, an
unrecognisable heap._
_A moment of silence. Then the door is unlocked and unbolted
and creaking loudly, to the rattle of keys, it admits KUTAYT,
the Gaoler, a huge, dark-skinned man of brute force. He pushes
open the door, and crosses to some chains fixed to an angle
that juts out, left, under the patch of sunlight._
_Outside is heard the shuffle of feet and blows. HAJJ appears
directly, pushed and driven by the FOUR BLACK ARCHERS. His
mouth is still covered with the black bandage. The ARCHERS drag
him to the wall, left, where KUTAYT stands ready to clap the
chains on his wrists._
KUTAYT. (_Turning HAJJ round._) What outlandish garments have we here?
Not Arabian. How? (_HAJJ gives a muffled reply._) (_KUTAYT pulling the
bandage from his mouth._) How?
HAJJ. (_Breathless._) Moorish, O my master.
KUTAYT. Moorish! Hoo! Hoo! Wilt thou buy straw from me?
HAJJ. I have no money.
KUTAYT. No money?
HAJJ. Not a danik.
KUTAYT. (_Shouting._) Nothing? Shall I waste my breath sucking of an
empty bottle? Here with thy paws, O misery! (_He claps the chains on
HAJJ._) Yehh, what a life is mine, crushing lice! (_He throws HAJJ down
on the ground._) Lie there, thou vermin. Moorish! (_He spits on HAJJ,
then follows the others banging the door to behind him, bolting and
locking it from without._)
(_A moment of silence._)
HAJJ. (_Groaning._) There is no majesty nor might save Allah! Is it this
I have come to? (_Rattling the chains, he sinks down beating palm on palm
in despair._) O thou purse! Thou little purse flung me at sunrise! Thou
hast been mine undoing! Thou wast from Satan! From him, mine enemy. O
Jawan! Jawan! As Allah is my witness, may thy soul be cast down into the
fires of hell to burn and boil to infinity without end.
(_Out of the gloom of the opposite wall comes JAWAN’S sharp
voice, half mockingly._)
JAWAN. Who calls me? Can it be thou, O Hajj?
HAJJ. (_Amazed._) Allah! (_He sits up._) Art thou an Ifrit speaking?
JAWAN. No Ifrit, O brother. No spirit of air or fire. But thy
flesh-and-bones enemy, whom thou dost curse so sweetly.
HAJJ. Jawan—thyself—here?
JAWAN. Even as thou, O my friend of long ago.
HAJJ. (_He laughs._) Ha! Ha! By Allah! Thou here! And through me! For
’twas I who told Mansur of thee! My prayer is answered. We shall end side
by side. ’Tis well. I die content.
JAWAN. Why art thou here?
HAJJ. For attempting the Caliph’s days.
JAWAN. The Caliph’s? Thou? Then art thou indeed dead.
HAJJ. Even as thou art.
JAWAN. Nay, I shall be free. I tell thee I shall live, live to see my
son. Yehh! As clearly as I see him now with the eyes of the heart. As
clearly as I saw him last with the eyes of the head. (_In an exalted
strain._) There he stood, my Yusuf, in the wold and wild, by my tent, the
dust-cloud of the coming foe walling the horizon. I made him kneel before
me and blessed and kissed him. And as I did so an amulet hung forth from
my breast. I broke it in half—a hand of Fatimah. (_He taps his chest._)
Half I kept for myself, here. The other I fixed on the chain round his
neck. By that broken half shall I find him again. I know it.
HAJJ. (_Laughing derisively._) Ha! Ha! After twenty-five years? Thou art
in thy dotage.
JAWAN. Allah will give him back to me. I have gone to Mecca thrice. All
my moneys have I spent in charity.
HAJJ. Charity? Will charity quicken my little son, whom thou didst
slaughter? Charity restore the wife thou didst rob me of? I tell thee
thou shalt surely die to-morrow. Thy blood and mine shall mingle together
on the thirsty ground. That is my sole consolation, the honey in this my
bitterness.
(_The lock is heard to turn and the door is unbolted. KUTAYT
reappears with a document in his hand._)
(_The sunlight begins to fade._)
KUTAYT. (_Going to JAWAN, holding out the document._) The Commander of
the Faithful has lent ear to the pleadings of the High Priest. Thou art
pardoned and released.
JAWAN. Allah prolong the Caliph’s days of Glory!
KUTAYT. Canst thou climb the stairs unaided?
JAWAN. Where are my slaves?
KUTAYT. Thy slaves? Alas! When they saw thee prisoner they turned and
fled!
JAWAN. Whoreson knaves! How shall I get me from here? (_Chinking a
purse._) This purse of fifty dinars, an thou canst find me a litter.
KUTAYT. (_Obsequiously._) O my lord, there is a stretcher above to carry
away the dead. Will that suffice thy graciousness?
JAWAN. Anything, so I need no longer weary thine hospitality. He! He! He!
KUTAYT. (_Laughing politely._) Hoo, Hoo! Hearing is obeying.
HAJJ. (_Eagerly._) Am I pardoned too? Am I free?
KUTAYT. Hoo! Hoo! Pardoned? Free? Wait till thy tongue’s torn out, thine
eyes scorched to blindness, thy body nailed to the dome over the Gate of
Destruction. Then wilt thou be free—indeed—at last! Hoo! Hoo!
HAJJ. (_Tugging at his chains._) Allah damn thee for thy mocking!
KUTAYT. Hoo? Curse me, O thou? That for thee, thou offal, thou stench.
(_He strikes HAJJ over the head with the huge door-key. HAJJ with a cry
totters, then sinks on his knees and faints._) How? Fainted? Hoo! Hoo!
Fainted. Rose-water for the Princess! Rose-water and fumes and ambergris!
Fainted! (_Turning and bowing obsequiously to JAWAN._) O my lord, thy
litter shall be with thee on the instant.
(_He goes off and slams the door, bolts and locks it._)
(_Silence._)
HAJJ. (_After some groans, slowly returning to consciousness, in the
whining tone of the beggar, not realising where he is._) Alms for the
love of Allah! For the love of—— (_He awakes slowly to his surroundings;
with a cry of horror._) Ah! I am here! I am here. ’Tis over—is it? Is it
over?
JAWAN. He! He! He! ’Tis not yet begun.
HAJJ. ’Tis not? (_Coming to the full realisation of things._) Thou! Now
I know. Thou! Oh! The sun is setting! Red! Red! (_With a sudden cry._)
Mansur!—Thou fiend of lowest hell! “Even as the day ends red, so shall
she end red this day!” O Marsinah! O Marsinah! And I in prison—in chains!
JAWAN. He! He! He!
HAJJ. Laugh! Thou canst laugh? Thou the beginning—thou the end of my
sufferings! (_Tugging at the chains._) O Allah! Give me strength.
Make these strong arms doubly, trebly strong! Put all the power of a
lifetime into these sinews; only for once, O Allah, that I may snap these
maddening chains in twain!
JAWAN. Never! Never! (_He laughs jeeringly._) He! He! He!
HAJJ. Once! Only once! (_He tugs, he twists, then with a wild cry of
delight he has broken himself free._) Free! Free! The Granter hath
granted!
JAWAN. (_With terror—breathless._) Wah——
HAJJ. (_Sitting up, very quietly._) At last!
JAWAN. (_Trembling._) What—what art thou thinking?
HAJJ. (_Rises._) What—what? (_He crouches slightly and slowly, step by
step, like a wild beast, creeps over to JAWAN’S corner._)
JAWAN. No nearer! I have a knife.
HAJJ. A knife—hast thou?
JAWAN. ’T has served me a thousand times. Luck’s written on the blade.
HAJJ. Luck? I take my luck. (_With a cry._) Allah is all great! (_He
springs into the dark at JAWAN._)
(_A fierce struggle as of two panthers fighting. Groans,
hisses, heavings and cries. After a minute—silence. Then HAJJ
emerges from the dark._)
HAJJ. (_Breathless and fervently._) O Allah mine, thou hast given me
this hour. Behold my sacrifice to thee. At last, at last, I am avenged!
Avenged! (_Laughing bitterly._) But my Marsinah!—Oh spare her, O Lord of
justice, spare her from Mansur and the horror of his harim. (_A thought
striking him._) The harim! Kut-al-Kulub! The Wife of wives! Even now she
is waiting for me! If I could reach her! She’d help me to save Marsinah!
She’d— (_He goes to the door pounding on it desperately._) Free! Free!
Free!—(_He stops and turns hopelessly._) Madness! (_Looking at JAWAN’S
body._) They’ll find him the moment the litter comes, and then—(_With
sudden inspiration._) The litter! Allah! Dost Thou open the door of
escape? Dost Thou? (_Wildly._) Ha! Ha! Ha! If it succeed! If it succeed!
(_He goes into the corner to the body._) The cloak! The turband! The
purse! In his sleeve,—his breast? (_He comes across the chain on his
breast._) The chain! The broken hand of Fatimah! (_Imitating JAWAN._) “I
shall see my son again! I shall find him!” Wilt thou? (_He takes off the
chain._) Wilt thou? (_Putting it over his own neck._) Hang thou here on
my neck now thou broken hand of Fatimah! I shall find him, so Allah will
it. I shall! Ha! (_He finds the purse and chinks it._) Fifty dinars! For
the gaoler! Good! Now off with thy cloak. What? (_He stops and listens._)
Nothing. Nothing. Keep thine eyes cool and clear, O Hajj. Cool and clear.
(_He returns to the body._) So! So! _Thou_ shalt play the Moorman now,
O my king. Dead. Ha! Ha! Thou art dead, dost thou hear? And yet, O dead
one, ’tis thou shalt draw me out of my grave—me thy slayer! (_He drags
the body to where he lay fainting when the gaoler went out and covers
it with his own cloak._) So! Lie thou there! Quiet! Budge not, I pray
thee. Faint! (_He turns to JAWAN’S cloak and turband._) Now for mine own
beautifying! (_As he picks up the garments he sees the knife which he
discarded._) The knife! Luck’s written on the blade. (_He puts the knife
into his belt._) Luck! So be it. Luck shall carry me into the street.
Luck let me leap from the litter! Luck bring me to the harim and to thee,
O my Marsinah, O my——(_The door outside is unlocked._)
(_HAJJ throwing the cloak over himself, hurries into JAWAN’S
dark corner and lies down. KUTAYT reappears with a lanthorn,
followed by two men with a rough stretcher._)
KUTAYT. The stretcher, O my lord.
HAJJ. (_Coughing and imitating JAWAN’S voice._) Here! (_He throws the
purse._)
KUTAYT. (_Picking it up and examining it by the light of the lanthorn._)
Allah bless thy journey. (_To the men as they lift up HAJJ._) Carefully.
Lift the Sheikh of sheikhs carefully. (_He chinks the purse and turns to
the dead body._) How? Still fainted! Hoo! Hoo! Look, O my lord—(_He goes
to the body and raises up an arm._) Still fainted!
HAJJ. (_As the litter is lifted up and carried out, imitating JAWAN’S
laugh._) He! He! He! (_He is carried through the door._)
KUTAYT. (_Dropping the arm._) Rose water! (_Kicking the body._) Rose
water! Hoo! Hoo!
HAJJ. (_From the staircase, without._) He! He! He!
(_KUTAYT turns slowly and follows the litter, slamming the door
behind him._)
[CURTAIN]
_End of Act II_
ACT III
BEFORE THE CURTAIN
NIGHT
_The MAN enters from his house, seats himself and sings_:
Lo! Now the night lies on the city’s breast,
And thousand thousand lovers rise from rest
To seek in truth, what day unveiled in dream:—
The one, the all, the maiden manifest.
_The WOMAN enters from her house, seats herself and sings_:
Lo! Now the heav’n pours down its silver stream
Into the lattice of my heart’s harim!
The hour comes, the night of nights is nigh,
That bindeth soul to soul in bond supreme.
_The MAN_:
Yehh! That some flaming dance might glorify
The moments of my sweet expectancy!
_The WOMAN_:
Yehh! That some liquid Almah’s ebb and flow
The ocean of my love might amplify!
_BOTH_:
O Thou, Bestower of all things, bestow
This benediction on Thy servants low!
_The DANCER enters and weaves the spell of Destiny about the MAN and the
WOMAN. They rise and approach each other singing_:
The day belongs to man, to woman night:—
HE: { And so I give to thee thy lawful right, }
SHE: { And so I claim in thee my lawful right. }
Sealing our compact of eternal plight,
O thou, my longing, and my soul’s delight!
_The DANCER smiles in triumph and vanishes._
_The MAN and the WOMAN embrace and go out hand in hand through the
Curtains of Fate._
ACT III
EVENING
SCENE I. _The Hammam in the Wazir Mansur’s Harim._
_The scene represents a colonnaded courtyard, the centre of
which is occupied by a large, marble swimming pool. The front
part of the scene is under the portico of the colonnade. At the
back may be seen three large arched windows screened from the
outer world by elaborate traceries. The main entrance is an
arch or double door, left. A grated trap to the right, partly
concealed by a rug, leads to a secret passage below. There is
a couch to the left; behind it stands a brazier of burning
incense._
_The court is of the most delicate architecture; white marble
with green and azure traceries._
_It is early evening; the moonlight floods the courtyard from
the right, and finds its way into the portico, from the ceiling
of which hang several lamps, shedding dim light._
_KUT-AL-KULUB, in gorgeous robes, lies reclining on the
couch, a slave holding up a mirror before her. Another one is
sprinkling perfumes, and a third blackening her eyelids._
_Various groups of women are seen reclining by the pool; some
are robing, others combing their hair._
_To the right sit FOUR FEMALE MUSICIANS with lutes, harps and
tambourines. One of them is singing_:—
O lute within my lap, o’er thee I bend
My sobbing child of love, thy cry to tend
With mother’s breast. Yet still as I do give
Thy yearning groweth ever without end. Ah—!
O sweetest loss! O milk of melody!
What though my heart go forth in yielding thee!
Thus would I die a thousand deaths, than live
Frozen and barren to infinity! Ah!
(_During the song a YOUNG GIRL, wrapped in a long garment,
enters followed by a NEGRESS. She steps to the swimming pool.
The NEGRESS takes the cloak from her and she plunges into the
water._)
(_MISKAH enters from the door, left, and glides to
KUT-AL-KULUB’S couch._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Turning impatiently._) Thy news! Yet answer me nought but he
is come; he is waiting; he has mistook the secret entrance!
MISKAH. O my mistress, would my tongue might say yes. Alas! He’s nowhere
to be seen. But thy slave of the fires is watching for him with burning
eyes.
KUT-AL-K. I could have thee whipped for thy words.
MISKAH. No stranger hath passed the door-keeper, nor man nor woman,
saving a weeping damsel the eunuchs brought this mid-afternoon.
KUT-AL-K. Damsel? What damsel?
MISKAH. She is destined for thy lord, they say. They are guarding her in
the first hall of the harim.
KUT-AL-K. What fresh intruder is this? Bring hither the slut!
MISKAH. Hearkening and obedience.
(_She hurries off through the door._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Looking at herself in the mirror._) Another? By the days
of my beauty! And he—— (_To the slave dressing her hair._) O thou
fat-fingered fool. Art thou not done yet? Take thy hot hands from my head!
(_The women near the pool have splashed the girl in the water.
She suddenly turns and pulls one of them into the pool. There
is a loud scream and much splashing and laughter._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Irritated, sits erect on her couch, claps her hands and
shouts at the top of her voice._) Cease your noise! Cease your noise, I
say! (_Claps her hands again._) Allah! Must I call the guard? (_The WOMEN
are gradually silenced._) Out on ye, ye shameless ones! Get ye to your
couches, each and all. The hour grows late.
(_The WOMEN in the bath are seen to swim towards the right end
of the bath. Others in the arcades go off to the right as well.
Suppressed laughter and whisperings._)
(_KUT-AL-K watches them impatiently._)
KUT-AL-K. (_To the MUSICIANS._) Go ye as well!
(_The MUSICIANS rise and follow the others._)
(_KUT-AL-K sinks down on the couch._)
(_MISKAH re-enters with the TWO EUNUCHS, conducting MARSINAH,
who is veiled._)
KUT-AL-K. (_To the EUNUCHS._) Leave her with me. She shall be safe in
my keeping. (_The TWO EUNUCHS bow and retire._) What have we here?
(_Sarcastically._) Peace be upon thee, O wonder of loveliness concealed.
MARSINAH. And upon thee peace, O my lady, and Allah’s benediction.
KUT-AL-K. (_Half aside to her women._) A voice like unto choking honey.
(_Pointedly to MARSINAH._) Wilt thou not favour us by revealing the
fountain of so much sweetness?
(_She leans forward toward MARSINAH._)
MARSINAH. (_Unveils and kneels, bowing low._) O my lady, I am thy slave.
KUT-AL-K. (_Annoyed by MARSINAH’S beauty._) My slave, art thou? My slaves
come not before me with no henna on their hands, eyes unkohled, cheeks
riddled and raddled with tears. Who art thou? Who sent thee hither?
MARSINAH. My father. The Wazir Mansur has chosen me to be his wife.
KUT-AL-K. Wife—thou? O thou cotton-refuse! O thou pickings! Thou his
wife? A handmaid to his wife perchance, or handmaid to the handmaid, more
likely.
MARSINAH. ’Tis not of my seeking! Allah is my witness! I longed not for a
harim of glitter and gold. Mine was a far different dream.
KUT-AL-K. (_Sarcastically._) Sayst thou so?
MARSINAH. O mistress dear, thou art the high lady here, thy lord’s love
of loves. Turn thou thy white hand of pleading towards Mansur for me. Win
thou my freedom, and thou wilt give life not to me alone, who am a nought
and a nothing, but also to one who is waiting and watching this night,
waiting and watching in vain.
KUT-AL-K. Yehh! What light do I see in the lattice? So thy little heart
is caught in the mighty net of love. (_The SLAVE GIRLS giggle._)
MARSINAH. Why should I answer no? Thou art a woman. To thee I need not
hide what I dared not confess to my father. Yehh! I love a youth, to the
very core of my bosom do I love him; a youth fair of face, and rich in
grace; none gentler, none nobler in all our race.
KUT-AL-K. A pretty verse, forsooth. And surely there are further rhymes
to follow, such as “enlace” and “embrace.” (_She smiles at her SLAVES,
who giggle at her gibe._)
MARSINAH. He hath kissed me, ’tis true.
KUT-AL-K. (_With a sarcastic laugh._) Ah! Ah!
MARSINAH. Oh, but in all honour. This sunset he was coming to beg my
father’s consent to husband me.
KUT-AL-K. Was he! Was he!
MARSINAH. By the life of my youth, he was. I should be bespoken by now,
had not sudden fate doomed me to become Mansur’s wife.
KUT-AL-K. Wife! Say thou wife again and I’ll have thee slippered till
thou liest fainting at my feet. Wife thou! A thing kissed and clasped
by another! What devil hath blown conceit into thy nostrils? (_Calling
out._) Ho Kádim! Ho Taváshi! Hither! Take her away to the kitchens!
(_MARSINAH veils herself._)
(_The TWO EUNUCHS return and approach MARSINAH, laying hands on
her._)
KUT-AL-K. I’ll soon “wife” thee, thou scum of the slave market, thou
baggage of ill-omen and insolent!
MARSINAH. O spare me these cruel hands, O sweet lady, spare me, spare me!
(_At that moment MANSUR enters through the courtyard from the
right. He is sullen and his manner shows, though only slightly,
that he has been drinking. He has a cup in his hand. KAFUR
follows him. All the WOMEN crouch at MANSUR’S approach._)
MANSUR. Hold! What to do is here?
KUT-AL-K. (_Rises on her knees and turns to him in her most seductive
manner._) O my lord—thou? What blessed fate brings thee at this unwonted
hour?
MANSUR. (_Ignoring her._) Who is yon woman?
KUT-AL-K. A nought! A slave girl! An offering of ugliness some friend
hath sent thee in sport. Wilt thou not smile on thy Kut-al-Kulub, O my
king?
MARSINAH. (_Crying out._) Ho Mansur!
KUT-AL-K. (_To the EUNUCHS holding MARSINAH._) To the kitchens with her!
And at once!
MARSINAH. (_Breaking away from the EUNUCHS, she kneels before MANSUR,
calling out._) To my aid, O my lord; I lay hold upon thy skirt, in this
my calamity.
(_The EUNUCHS are about to seize her again but MANSUR stops
them with a gesture._)
MANSUR. (_Coming to her._) Who art thou?
MARSINAH. I am Marsinah, the daughter of Hajj—thy cup-companion.
MANSUR. Hajj’s daughter, art thou? (_Sneeringly._) Now Allah requite thee
that thou art come! His daughter! Ha! (_To KUT-AL-K._) And ugly to boot,
sayst thou? Yehh! The liar, the son of filth! Juggle this trick besides,
would he? ’Tis well!
KUT-AL-K. (_Sarcastically._) She swears thou hast chosen her thy wife.
MANSUR. Doth she?
KUT-AL-K. (_Indignantly._) And that, after confessing she hath been loved
by another.
MANSUR. Yehh!
MARSINAH. (_To KUT-AL-K._) By Allah, this is not allowed! To betray what
I have told thee between mine eyes and thine.
MANSUR. So she has been loved, has she—this (_with a great sneer_) maid!
I am to eat broken bread from other men’s tables! Broken bread!
MARSINAH. (_Rises._) ’Tis a lie! My loved one’s loving is not of the
colour of thy loathsome lusting. ’Tis white as the turband of the
Prophet. Nor can thy villainous tongue spot its purity.
MANSUR. Ha! Ha! So great a fire in so small an oven? Yehh! Here will be a
pleasing thing to rake and quench.
MARSINAH. (_Kneeling, pleading._) Oh, as thou art powerful, be merciful.
Forgive my fury. My lips know not what they say. Thou seest I am alone
here, helpless as the fly in the tent of the spider. Have thou pity on
me, so Allah have pity on thee.
MANSUR. And how can Allah have pity on me before I yet have sinned? Oh,
my hidden delight, I beseech thee unveil first, that I may learn the hell
I am to fall to, through the curse of thy comeliness. Unveil, I tell thee.
MARSINAH. Never!
MANSUR. Never! Thou’lt not? (_He flings away his wine-cup._) Thus to thy
likes! (_He goes up to her and seizing her roughly, tears the veil from
her face._)
MARSINAH. Awah! (_She bows her head in shame, her long black hair
uncoiling about her._)
MANSUR. By the Creator—she is beautiful—exceedingly!
KUT-AL-K. (_Biting her lips._) Is she?
MANSUR. (_Turning to KUT-AL-K and thrusting her down on the couch._) O
thou viper, what made thee say otherwise? Jealous, art thou? Ha! Ha!
Still! (_To MARSINAH—watching KUT-AL-K._) Thou art lovesome and lovely, O
my blossom, O my palm-bud. Thou shalt indeed be my bride this eventide.
(_He caresses her head._)
MARSINAH. (_Rising and shrinking away._) If I pass this night here, I
shall kill myself with mine own hand.
MANSUR. Trouble not thy hand! For at dawn, O Marsinah,——(_He runs his
hand down her arm._) at dawn thou shalt pay for thine insolence with
gorgeous untold sufferings, such as my soul never yet devised.
(_He smacks his lips._)
(_MARSINAH shudders._)
(_KUT-AL-K sighs with satisfaction._)
MANSUR. (_To KUT-AL-K._) Thou art satisfied?
KUT-AL-K. (_Smiling._) I am all thine, O my master.
MANSUR. ’Tis well! (_To the slaves._) Up! Robe my bride! Hang jewels upon
her! Rob what is best from the splendour of my Wife of wives. (_THREE
SLAVE GIRLS and the NEGRESS hurry off hastily to the left._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Furious._) My robes? My jewels?
MANSUR. (_Sardonically._) Saidst thou not “I am all thine”? (_To
MARSINAH._) Go, O my ruby! Seek thy setting, O my bride of blood. (_To
the slaves._) And look you, she doth no harm to her sweet body.
MARSINAH. (_Blanched and staring, is led off through the courtyard;
suddenly she turns defiantly._) Be this the end that Allah hath ordained
me—’tis well! Yet the Judge of Judges is not unjust. He hath power to
change our fate between the shutting and the opening of an eye. Thy hour
will come. Thy death will find thee!
MANSUR. (_With a gesture to the slaves._) Away!
MARSINAH. (_In a high voice._) And black will it be, O Mansur! Black as
thy doomsday record! (_She screams as she is dragged off by the EUNUCHS._)
MANSUR. (_Calling after her._) Ha! Ha! Ha! Thy rage but feeds me! Ha! Ha!
There’s something still in life! Something! By Allah! This night will I
make a night among nights! Ho Kafur! Prepare my bath of scents! Hot and
heating let it be! So that my tired pulses may beat—beat!
(_KAFUR bows and hastens into the courtyard._)
MANSUR. (_Stopping him._) And call thou the women! Let them come forth
wildering to the wits, seducing to the senses! Song, and perfumes, and
dance till sunrise! What though the Caliph reap my head to-morrow, these
last hours shall be locked in my breast, mine own!
(_KAFUR bows and vanishes._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Kneeling before MANSUR and throwing her arms about his
knees._) Thus do I love my lord.
MANSUR. (_Smiling on her._) Dost thou, in sooth?
KUT-AL-K. Yehh! Bid me do aught to add to thy content, and I’ll do it.
MANSUR. (_In a playful tone._) Wilt thou? Wilt thou?
KUT-AL-K. I swear it.
MANSUR. Thou? (_He looks down at her, smiling, then suddenly spits in
her face. Turning away with a chuckling sneer._) Thou—O bosom of burning
desire, go thou and sleep! (_He hurries off through the courtyard._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Shaking with rage, her hands clenched, she groans._) Wah!
Dog of hell! Poison thee I could! Poison thee! (_She sits on the couch
beating it impotently with her fists._) Poison! Poison! Poison!
MISKAH. (_Hurries across to her, trying to soothe her._) O dear my
mistress! Doth Destiny not decree all things for the best? If thy lord
be lost in the arms of Marsinah, wilt thou not be freer for him whom thy
soul desires?
(_A gentle tapping is heard._)
KUT-AL-K. He’ll not come! He’ll not come! ’Tis long past the hour! Fate
curses me ever! He’ll not come——(_Louder tapping._) O Miskah! Hark! (_She
sits erect and eager—pointing to the trap. The tapping is repeated._)
’Tis he! Unbolt.
(_KUT-AL-K reclines on her couch, assuming indifference._)
(_MISKAH goes and unbolts the grating, lifting the trap._)
(_HAJJ enters, still wrapped in JAWAN’S white cloak._)
HAJJ. Peace to thee, O my lady of radiance. I am thy slave in very truth.
My heart is between thy hands. (_He kneels and bows._)
KUT-AL-K. Thou? By the life of mine eyes, I had forgot thee quite. Comest
thou at this hour?
HAJJ. Be not an-angered, O my princess. I have faced death sevenfold to
venture to thee to-night.
KUT-AL-K. Hush! My lord is within the harim.
HAJJ. (_Thinking at once of MARSINAH._) Mansur? In the harim? Is he
alone? No one with him? No woman?
KUT-AL-K. Belike so.... What matters it?
HAJJ. Was a maiden brought here a little while since?
KUT-AL-K. Yes. What of her?
HAJJ. Doth Mansur know she’s here?
KUT-AL-K. (_Impatiently._) What is’t to thee? The moments are slipping
away. O my loved one, dost thou not love me? (_She smiles on him._)
HAJJ. (_Distracted._) Love thee? Yea, yea, I love thee. (_He smiles a
vacant smile at her._) The maiden—the maiden is where?
KUT-AL-K. What maiden?
HAJJ. Marsinah.
KUT-AL-K. (_Suspiciously._) Marsinah? How comest thou to know her name?
What is this wench to thee? Who is she?
HAJJ. She is my daughter.
KUT-AL-K. Thy daughter.
HAJJ. I have said it.
KUT-AL-K. Thy daughter! (_She rises, stands on the couch, and bursts
out, laughing angrily._) Ah! Ha! Ha! Thy daughter! Is such thy love for
me? Thou must needs send thy daughter to him? A slip—a snippet—a chick
unfledged; her must thou send, for Mansur to make mock of me to her naked
face. Yehh! A sweet love, a deep love! Allah ruin thee for it.
HAJJ. Mock thee! What has he done?
KUT-AL-K. What? He has chosen her wife of the night,—sent her to deck
herself out of my coffers.
HAJJ. (_Hopefully._) Yehh!
KUT-AL-K. Yea, but heaven is just! Dawn shall put an end to her life.
HAJJ. (_Rising, terrified._) Who told thee that?
KUT-AL-K. Who? He, Mansur. Torture is to crown his night of pleasure.
HAJJ. (_With a cry._) Ah! Thou wilt save her?
KUT-AL-K. Save her? (_Very definitely._) After my death.
HAJJ. No! No! Thou must! Thou wilt! O Kut-al-Kulub, thou wilt?
KUT-AL-K. An she be so wondrous dear to thee, why didst thou offer her to
him?
HAJJ. He swore to make her his wife.
KUT-AL-K. (_Laughing wildly._) His wife! Thou dost not know Mansur.
HAJJ. (_Desperately._) O Kut-al-Kulub, save her, save her! Slip her into
this cloak of mine and let her go with me as I came.
KUT-AL-K. And I be strangled after?
HAJJ. What hast thou to do with another’s escape? How shall Mansur know?
KUT-AL-K. (_Half to herself._) Ha! ’Twere a fit revenge on him! A feast
for the bride, and no bride to feast!
HAJJ. Couldst thou not replace her by some slave girl? Did he in truth
see her face?
KUT-AL-K. See it! ’Twas her beauty made him mock me!
HAJJ. How? She won him as she was brought—unadorned?
KUT-AL-K. Unadorned, tear-stained, a very misery!
HAJJ. And thou dost hesitate? She can enslave his senses thus, wretched,
ragged? What then will she do with jewels hung in her hair, robes rich
and fair, her bright eyes kohled, darting love everywhere? I tell thee
she’ll steal the heart from his breast! Yehh! Become queen in thy stead,
and thou be lost to his arms for ever.
KUT-AL-K. (_With sudden rage._) Allah! I’ll be rid of this damned witch
come what may! (_Clapping her hands._) Ho! Miskah! Haste! Haste! (_To
HAJJ._) Thy cloak! Thy cloak!
(_MISKAH hurries to her mistress._)
(_HAJJ hands his cloak to MISKAH._)
KUT-AL-K. Take it! Throw it over the accursed one robing in my chamber.
Bring her hither. Lose not an instant.
MISKAH. With obedience.
(_She hurries off with HAJJ’S cloak._)
HAJJ. (_Coming to KUT-AL-K and kneeling, with utmost gratitude._) By Him
who fashioned thee in thy splendour, thou art indeed the noblest of thy
sisterhood.
KUT-AL-K. (_Dryly—eyeing him._) Are thy desires contented?
HAJJ. Contented? I kiss the fringe of thy gown, the hollow of thy hand, O
thou soul of liberality.
KUT-AL-K. (_Looking at him, her mouth twitching._) ’Tis well.
(_MISKAH re-enters with MARSINAH, who is completely cloaked._)
HAJJ. (_Rising, moving towards her._) O Marsinah!
MARSINAH. (_Surprised._) O my father....
(_They embrace._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Impatiently._) No words. (_To MISKAH._) Lead her forth by the
secret passage. Out and away with her.
MISKAH. Away? She’s in thy richest robes, unworn as yet by thee!
KUT-AL-K. (_Impatiently._) What matter robes? (_To HAJJ._) Whither is she
to be taken?
HAJJ. I’ll go with her.
KUT-AL-K. Wait thou. Let her go first and pass beyond the outer gates.
’Tis safer. Whither?
HAJJ. (_To MISKAH._) Take her to the Mosque of the Carpenters—to Imam
Mahmud. Say I commit her to his charge under Allah. Tell him she’s my
daughter,—the daughter of Hajj, the beggar.
KUT-AL-K. (_Starts and gives HAJJ a look, which he does not see._)
Hajj—the beggar.
(_MARSINAH and MISKAH leave by the trap._)
(_Directly the two have disappeared down the trap, KUT-AL-K
goes to the grating and flings it to, turning round and facing
HAJJ._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Hoarsely._) Hajj, the beggar! The beggar, Hajj. Yehh! Is it
to thy like that I have offered amorous mercy? And is it by thy like that
I have been laughed to scorn? A beggar! A beggar to sneer at me, to spurn
me! I, of the old blood of Egypt!
HAJJ. Heaven forbid I should spurn thee, O my love.
KUT-AL-K. Love! Love! Thou! Thou camest for one purpose alone—thy
daughter. ’Tis well! She is saved. But by Allah, not thou!
HAJJ. Not?
KUT-AL-K. We enter the hammam free. Out we pass not unless we pay.
HAJJ. (_With horror._) Kut-al-Kulub!
KUT-AL-K. The grating is shut; the latch my secret. A blissful night to
thee, and a blessed, O my beggar of love. (_She turns to pass him._)
HAJJ. (_Following and clutching her._) O, Kut-al-Kulub, thou’lt not
betray me! Not doom me thus to my death?
KUT-AL-K. Dost thou touch me, O thou dog?
HAJJ. Yes, I touch thee, I hold thee, I clasp thee! (_He sinks down
before her, clasping her knees in his arms._) Here on my trembling knees,
mine arms about thy white beauty. O Kut-al-Kulub, thou must listen to me.
KUT-AL-K. Off with thine arms, thou filth of the gutter.
HAJJ. Never! Never! Never!
KUT-AL-K. How? Force me? Force? (_She releases herself, shouting._) Ho,
Mansur! Ho, Mansur! (_She hurries to a gong by the door and beats it with
her fist._) O the shame of me! Ho, Mansur!
HAJJ. (_Between his teeth._) Now Allah kill all womankind. (_He turns and
crouches in the corner right._)
(_MANSUR appears in the courtyard. He is clad in a thin robe of
yellow, as coming from his bath. KAFUR follows him._)
MANSUR. (_Annoyed._) What now?
KUT-AL-K. (_With supreme scorn._) Behold! A man in thy harim!!
MANSUR. A man? (_He snatches the sword from KAFUR. To KAFUR._) Take her
within.
(_KUT-AL-K turns and as she goes laughs a low laugh, full of
the satisfaction of revenge. KAFUR follows her._)
(_MANSUR comes down slowly, step by step, sword in hand; he is
slightly under the influence of drink._)
(_HAJJ lies quite still on his knees, hiding his face behind a
cushion he has picked up. MANSUR raises the sword, ready to run
at HAJJ._)
(_HAJJ lifts up his head suddenly and faces MANSUR._)
MANSUR. (_Starting, amazed._) Hajj? Am I alive?
HAJJ. Only to die!
(_Taking advantage of MANSUR’S amazement, he throws the cushion
at him, warding off MANSUR’S blow of the scymitar. But in
trying to pass MANSUR, he slips and falls on his knees sinking
backwards. The full moonlight shines on HAJJ, revealing the
chain he took from JAWAN’S body._)
MANSUR. (_About to strike, sees the chain, arrests the sword and gazes
intently._) By the Living! Whence comes that amulet on thy breast? That
broken hand of Fatimah! Speak! Nought shall befall thee. I swear it by
the One, the Eternal! I mean my words. Look!
(_He throws the sword from him and reveals the other half of
the broken hand on a chain on his own breast._)
HAJJ. (_Amazed._) Ah!—The Broken hand of Fatimah! Then thou art Yusuf?
MANSUR. Yes, I am Yusuf. Who art thou?
HAJJ. I? (_He steadies himself on his knees; deliberately looking him in
the eye._) I? I am thy father. (_He rises._)
MANSUR. (_Doubtfully._) Thou?
HAJJ. Yes, I am he who hath searched for thee year on year, ever since
the day the Caliph captured thee, O my son.
MANSUR. (_Beginning to believe HAJJ._) Yehh! Art thou he in sooth?
HAJJ. Am I he? Canst thou not recall my tent in the wild and wold? And
the enemy’s dust-cloud walling the horizon? And my bending over thee and
snapping this talisman in twain, giving thee half, keeping half?
MANSUR. I recall it well. Art thou my father?
HAJJ. Look, the pieces fit. (_He joins the two chains._) The hand is one,
as our blood is. Dost thou still doubt?
MANSUR. Thou? But thou art Hajj—the beggar.
HAJJ. I have been many things since I lost thee, O my Yusuf.
MANSUR. My mother! Her name?
HAJJ. Gulnar.
MANSUR. Gulnar—yes! That was her name. Thou! Fate is a juggler—the
greatest of them all.
HAJJ. On thy knees, O true-born son, that I may call down blessings upon
thee as I did in the years long gone. Down! Down!
MANSUR. (_Overcome, kneels before HAJJ, bending his head._) O my father!
(_HAJJ smiling in triumph over MANSUR, draws his knife
stealthily._)
HAJJ. May Allah send thy soul—damnation! (_He plunges the knife into
MANSUR’S back between the shoulder blades. It enters up to the hilt._)
(_MANSUR groaning aloud “Wah” and clutching at HAJJ, rises and
struggles with him._)
HAJJ. O snake, O son of snake! I have scotched thee! Thee and thy father
both in one day.
MANSUR. My father! (_Groans._) O thou hog of hell!
HAJJ. Yes, thy true father, Jawan, the White Sheikh! He, who defiled
Gulnar, as thou wouldst defile Marsinah! Ha! Ha! Allah is just! Scratch,
wouldst thou? O thou rat, thou spawn of rat! (_Lifting him up._) Into the
water with thee! Vermin must be drowned.
(_Lifting MANSUR bodily, he hurls him into the water. MANSUR
tries to climb out of the tank on the lower side, but HAJJ
intercepts him, grasps him by the throat, and holds him under
the water. MANSUR clutches HAJJ’S arm, but in vain. HAJJ leans
over the edge of the pool, pushing MANSUR down into the water.
MANSUR’S hands can be seen clinging desperately to HAJJ’S arm._)
HAJJ. That’s for Marsinah! Marsinah, dost thou hear? How? Swear by the
Koran to wed her, and then debauch and torture her? Ha! Ha! ’Twas not
written! This bath of thine was written instead. May it profit thee till
doomsday. Drink it, dost thou? ’Tis well! Thou wert ever fond of wetting
thy gullet. (_A bubbling noise and splashing._) Take thy fill! Ha! Good,
is’t? Bubble, bubble! (_A desperate splash. One of MANSUR’S hands climbs
higher on HAJJ’S arms._) What? Whistle? The devils whistle they say. Art
thou in hell so soon, joining thy father, the——(_The left hand falls
lifeless from HAJJ’S arm._) At last! Silent bubbles—one,—two,—no more?
Nay, look not so large-eyed. ’Tis very simple. The springs of thy life
are spent. (_A slight pause. With a sigh of relief, HAJJ draws his wet
arm from the water, and kneels with his back to the spectator, his right
arm raised to heaven fervently._) O Allah! Thou hast delivered into my
hands the father! Thou hast delivered into my hands the son! Glorified be
thy Glory! O Lord of the three Worlds! Thou, the One, the Eternal!
(_A sudden confused murmur of voices, distant cries and
the clash of steel. HAJJ turns and sits riveted. The noise
increases._)
(_The door is burst open, and several ARCHERS of the Caliph
enter, some with torches, some with scymitars drawn. The CALIPH
himself follows, his sword unsheathed, his cloak thrown back
revealing a gorgeous silver armour and violet robes. NARJIS
comes next. KAFUR, AFIFE and SERVANTS of MANSUR’S household
crowd in after the others._)
CALIPH. Break open the doors! Find the women! Bring them to me!
(_Soldiers hurry off in various directions._)
CALIPH. (_Turning to Narjis._) Dost thou still swear that Marsinah was
brought hither by Mansur’s eunuchs?
NARJIS. Did I not see them drag her away from our very door?
(_KUT-AL-K is brought in by the CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH; other
WOMEN follow led on by the SOLDIERS._)
KUT-AL-K. (_Kneeling._) Mercy, O mercy, O Commander of the Faithful!
CALIPH. Where’s Marsinah?
KUT-AL-K. Marsinah’s fled to the Carpenter’s Mosque. ’Twas at the
entreaties of yon wretch that I consented to her escape. (_She points to
HAJJ grovelling in the dark._)
CALIPH. (_Turning and seeing HAJJ._) The Moorman! Yehh! What magic brings
thee hither from prison?
HAJJ. Allah hath freed me so I might render thee service. (_Taking a
torch from a soldier and holding it over the bath._) Behold!
CALIPH. (_Looking down into the water._) Mansur?
KUT-AL-K. (_Gazing into the pool._) Mansur! Awah! (_She sinks down by
edge of bath with a wail._)
HAJJ. Mansur. Now, say me, have I not atoned for my crime?
CALIPH. No deed of thine can wipe out thy attempt upon my life. Thy death
is fixed and unalterable.
NARJIS. Wah! Kill the father of Marsinah?
CALIPH. Thou? But thou art the Moorman?
HAJJ. Both! Two persons in one, both at thy feet.
CALIPH. So thou art the sire of her whom Allah hath revealed unto my
heart?
HAJJ. (_Looking up._) Marsinah? Am I then pardoned?
CALIPH. Pardoned? What religion were mine should I pardon the hand thou
didst raise against my sacred person? Yet art thou also the father of my
chosen bride. Say me then, what shall be thy lot?
HAJJ. Thou art the lord of my neck.
CALIPH. Be thou banished! Banished from Baghdad, from my sight, from the
sight of thy daughter. Banished as one who had never been. To-morrow by
dawn be gone without the walls of the city.
HAJJ. (_Appealingly._) Banished! O King, be royal and show me mercy.
CALIPH. I have shown thee mercy far beyond justice. My word is spoken. Go!
HAJJ. (_Bowing his head to the ground._) There is no majesty nor might
save in Allah, the Glorious, the Great. (_He rises slowly._) Woe is me!
Woe is me. Ah! Wah! Never to see her again, the daughter of my bosom.
Never again to touch her hand, to press my lips upon her eyes. O sons of
Adam, beget not children! By Him, the Uniter and Separator, beget them
not! The agony of their loss exceedeth far the rapture of fatherhood.
Banished for ever! Rend thy robe, O Hajj! Beat thy breast! Thy joy in
life is ended. Old age hath fallen upon thee as an icy garment. Dark is
everywhere. Ashes! Ashes! (_He reaches the brazier. It has ceased burning
some time before. Taking the ashes from it, he strews them on his head,
then turns to the door, beating his breast._) Out—out, thou cutoff moment
of time! Into the Desert of Desolation with thee, O thou forgotten grain
of the sands of man! Marsinah is dead to thee, thou dead to Marsinah!
Awah! Awah! Awah! (_He staggers out by the door, rending his garment and
wailing aloud._)
[CURTAIN]
SCENE II.
_The street before the Mosque of the Carpenters. The same scene
as at the opening of the play._
_Moonlight._
_The BEGGAR KASIM is seated on HAJJ’S stone, just as HAJJ
installed him at sunrise._
_Down the alley from the left come cries of moaning “Wah! Wah!
Wah!” and HAJJ appears, breathless, dishevelled and tottering.
He hurries to the Mosque and knocks frantically at the door._
MAHMUD. (_Coming out and standing on the steps._) Hajj?
HAJJ. (_Sinking down._) O my father! I have run to thee clinging from
wall to wall in my anguish. Where’s Marsinah?
MAHMUD. She is safe within.
HAJJ. Bring her forth I pray thee. We must flee the city. The Caliph
covets her.
MAHMUD. What devil possesses thee? Take thy daughter from the Caliph? Rob
her of the blessing of blessings?
HAJJ. I am banished. I must never see her again. And I love her—to the
very clot in my heart I love her!
MAHMUD. Oh Hajj! O Hajj! Look within thee! How? Ruin thy child and call
it love?
HAJJ. Wah!
MAHMUD. When must thou go from Baghdad?
HAJJ. By dawn.
MAHMUD. Dawn! To-morrow the caravans set out for Meccah. Hast thou washed
in the well of Zemzem? Kissed the sacred stone? Encircled the holy Kaabah?
HAJJ. (_Crestfallen._) No, O my father.
MAHMUD. By what right then dost thou call thyself Hajj, the Pilgrim?
Naught hast thou done for thy endless days beyond the grave. Thou art no
Moslem; no son of Islam. Thou art an infidel.
HAJJ. (_With a cry of horror._) Ah! O my father! Infidel!
(_A sound of distant trumpets, kettledrums and singing is heard
approaching from the left._)
HAJJ. The Caliph!—Marsinah! (_Pleading._) O Mahmud,—Marsinah!
MAHMUD. Conquer thyself. Turn from the world. Seek salvation.
HAJJ. Marsinah!
MAHMUD. I tell thee verily this is thine hour appointed, thine hour of
hours. An thou so much as raise an eye to mar thy child’s fortune, thy
doom shall be flame and fire.
HAJJ. (_In agony._) Awah! Awah! Awah!
(_At that moment the CALIPH’S CHAMBERLAIN, with a wand of
office, hurries on from the left and crosses to the Mosque._)
CHAMBERLAIN. O Imam! The Commander of the Faithful cometh to claim the
maid Marsinah.
MAHMUD. Hearkening and obedience! Wilt thou enter?
(_The CHAMBERLAIN enters the Mosque, MAHMUD following him.
HAJJ stands irresolute, with hands clenched. But as the music
approaches, he turns and hides in the shadow of a wall. The
Wedding Procession enters from the left, headed by a group of
MALE MUSICIANS: SINGERS, about eight in number, with a leader
in their midst; THREE MEN with huge tambourines; others with
pipes and clarionets. They are singing as they come._)
Bespread the streets with tapestries,
Hang carpets from the balconies;
And from the roof-tops flower-dight
Rain nard, and musk, and ambergris;
The Caliph Moon has risen bright
To seek the Star of his delight.
Then hail unto this glorious night,
When earth makes dim the heaven’s light!
(_After the Musicians comes the HERALD bearing aloft the
black banner of the house of Abbas, followed by THREE COURT
DIGNITARIES swinging incense. Next comes the CALIPH, followed
by ABU BAKR. Behind the CALIPH walk THREE WAZIRS each carrying
a five-branched candle-stick in the shape of an out-spread
hand. After the CALIPH SIX BOYS with baskets of flowers
which they scatter. THREE more DIGNITARIES follow, swinging
incense. Then appears a curtained litter of gold borne by TWO
NEGROES; on either side of it THREE EUNUCHS with five-branched
candle-sticks. A second group of MUSICIANS, consisting of
several instrumentalists conclude the procession. As soon as
the CALIPH reaches the Mosque doors, the procession halts; the
music ceases and the doors are flung open._)
(_MARSINAH appears on the steps in a flood of light,
beautifully attired and veiled. MAHMUD and the CHAMBERLAIN
follow her._)
CALIPH. (_Taking a step forward._) The Peace upon thee!
MARSINAH. (_Looking up._) Thou——? But thou art the gardener’s son! How is
this splendour possible?
CALIPH. O my Marsinah! All I have told thee is truth save one thing. I am
not what I let thee believe.
MARSINAH. Not the gardener’s son?
CALIPH. Not the gardener’s son.
MARSINAH. Greater? A merchant?
CALIPH. Alas—even greater.
MARSINAH. A Kazi?
CALIPH. Yet more.
MARSINAH. A Prince!
CALIPH. Higher still.
MARSINAH. (_Close to him._) Still—? Who art thou then? Thou art not—not
the Highest?
CALIPH. The Pardoner pardon me—I am.
MARSINAH. (_In awe._) The Caliph. (_Sinks to her knees._) Oh, what a
boldness hath been mine! How can I sink deep enough before thee?
CALIPH. Kneel? Thou? Wouldst thou double my shame by begging forgiveness?
Have I lost all thy love?
MARSINAH. O my lord, how dare I love thee after this?
CALIPH. Even as I love thee. By the Grace of the Uniter of heart and
heart, who hath brought thee to me, and me to thee joining us one and
inseparable, from this day to the day when shall come the Destroyer of
delights, the Shatterer of palaces, the Ender of all things earthly—till
Death!
MARSINAH. (_Rises._) Is this a dream?
CALIPH.
All things are dreams till Allah sayeth “Be”!
When soul finds soul, as I—Beloved, thee!
MARSINAH.
My life is thine unto the latest hour,
Nor shall Death rob my love’s eternity.
(_The CALIPH touches his forehead and his heart, then motions
MARSINAH to the litter._)
(_MARSINAH bows before him, kissing her finger-tips and raising
them to her brow; then crosses him. She is assisted into the
litter by ABU BAKR._)
(_The Procession moves off to the right, the combined groups of
MUSICIANS playing and singing._)
ALL.
Seat high the maid and bridal throne,
To rule this night of nights alone;
Whilst kneels to her divinity,
The mightiest of monarchs prone.
Then draw the curtain sweet with spice,
On Lord of Lords and Pearl of Price—
He crowned by her virginity,
She by his manhood’s Paradise.
And Allah the Uniter bless
Their love with joyance limitless!
(_MAHMUD locks the door of the Mosque._)
(_HAJJ has risen as MARSINAH goes to the litter, drawn by an
irresistible desire to approach her. But MAHMUD’S eye is upon
him and he hesitates. As the curtains of the litter shut over
his child, he stands transfixed, a figure of grief against the
gorgeousness behind him._)
(_The procession is gone but he does not move._)
(_MAHMUD watches him closely from the door-step of the Mosque.
The song dies away in the distance._)
MAHMUD. O Hajj! Thou hast learnt to renounce. Allah hath opened to thee
the path of Pardon! Set forth at sunrise without fear.
HAJJ. (_In an exalted strain raising his right hand._) Yea! To Meccah! To
Meccah!
MAHMUD. And the peace upon thee now and for ever.
HAJJ. And on thee, O Mahmud, peace and blessing. (_MAHMUD goes slowly up
the street to the left and disappears._)
HAJJ. (_Stands a moment alone in the moonlight, then almost like a child
he says._) I am tired.
(_He turns to his old stone, upon which, to his great surprise,
he finds KASIM sitting._)
HAJJ. By my head! What dog art thou? Out of my seat!
KASIM. Thou didst give it me at dawn.
HAJJ. And I take it again at dark! That is Fate! Up, thou one-eyed
curse! Learn to renounce! To the Caliph I may be dirt; but to dirt I am
the Caliph! (_KASIM rises and, dropping the beggar’s cloak HAJJ gave
him at sunrise, goes off by the alley, left. HAJJ takes it and wraps
himself in it once more, then sits down on his seat with a loud sigh of
relief._) Renunciation! There’s a sweet smack to it. A taste of having
lived! And I have lived to-day. Mine enemies dead,—Marsinah wed,—Meccah
to-morrow,—(_He yawns prodigiously._) My say is said. So glory be to
the One, the Eternal! He who begetteth not, nor is begot; the Ruler of
Tide and Time, who sleepeth not. (_Dropping off._) And to Mohammed, his
Prophet—chosen—amongst——Mankind——Peace and————
(_A gentle snore; another snore, louder; another_——)
[SLOW CURTAIN]
_End of the Play_
LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED.
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