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Act V Bassora and Bagdad. A room in Almuene’s house. Almuene, Fareed.
F AREEDYou’ll give me money, dad?
ALMUENE You spend too much. We’ll talk of it another time. Now leave me.
FAREED You’ll give me money?
A LMUENEGo; I’m out of temper.
F AREED (dancing round him)Give money, money, money, give me money.
A LMUENEYou boil, do you too grow upon me? There. (strikes him)
F AREEDYou have struck me!
Page – 152 ALMUENE Why, you would have it. Go. You shall have money.
FAREED How much?
ALMUENE Quite half your asking. Send me a cup of water.
FAREED Oh yes, I’ll send it. You’ll strike me then? Exit. ALMUENE Young Nureddene’s evasion Troubles me at the heart; ’twill not dislodge. And Murad too walks closely with the King, Who whispers to him, whispers, whispers. What? Is’t of my ruin? No, he needs me yet. And Ibn Sawy’s coming soon. But there I’ve triumphed. He will have a meagre profit Of his long work in Roum, — the headsman’s axe. Enter a Slave with a cup of water. Here set it down and wait. ‘Tis not so bad. I’ll have their Doonya yet for my Fareed. Enter Khatoon, dragging in Fareed.
KHATOON He has not drunk it yet.
FAREED Why do you drag me, You naughty woman? I will bite your fingers.
Page – 153 KHATOON O imp of Hell! Touch not the water, Vizier.
A LMUENEWhat’s this?
K HATOONThis brat whose soul you’ve disproportioned Out of all nature, turns upon you now. There’s poison in that cup.
ALMUENE Unnatural mother, What is this hatred that thou hast, to slander The issue of thy womb?
FAREED She hates me, dad. Drink off the cup to show her how you love me.
KHATOON What, art thou weary of thy life? Give rather The water to a dog, and see.
ALMUENE Go, slave, And make some negro drink it off. Exit Slave. Woman, What I have promised often, thou shalt have, — The scourge.
KHATOON That were indeed my right reward For saving such a life as thine. Oh, God Will punish me for it.
Page – 154 ALMUENE Thou tongue! I’ll strike thee. As he lifts his hand, the slave returns. S LAVEOh, sir, almost before it touched his throat, He fell in fierce convulsions. He is dead.
ALMUENE Fareed!
F AREEDYou’ll strike me, will you? You’ll give half My askings, no? I wish you’d drunk it off; I’ld have rare spendings! He runs out.
ALMUENE God!
KHATOON Will you not scourge me?
ALMUENE Leave me. Exit Khatoon. What is this horrible surprise, Beneath whose shock I stagger? Is my term Exhausted? But I would have done as much, Had I been struck. It is his gallant spirit, His lusty blood that will not bear a blow. I must appease him. If my own blood should end me! He shall have money, all that he can ask. Exit.
Page – 155 The Palace in Bassora. Alzayni, Murad, Almuene, Ajebe.
ALZAYNI I like your nephew well and will advance him.For what’s twixt you and Murad, let it sleep. You are both my trusty counsellors.
ALMUENE A nothing, I grieve I pressed; forget it, noble Murad.
MURAD That’s as you please.
A LMUENECome, you’re my nephew too.
V OICE OUTSIDEHo, Mohamad Alzayni, Sultan, ho!
ALZAYNI Who is that Arab?
A LMUENE (at the window)God! ’tis Nureddene.
MURAD Impossible!
Page – 156 ALZAYNI Or he is courage-mad.
ALMUENE ‘Tis he.
MURAD The devil and his unholy joy!
ALZAYNI Drag him to me! No, bring him quietly, Ajebe. Exit Ajebe. I wonder in what strength he comes.
ALMUENE The strength of madness.
MURAD Or of Heaven, whose wrath Sometimes chastises us with our desires. Enter Ajebe with Nureddene. NUREDDENE Greeting, Alzayni, King in Bassora. Greeting, sweet uncle. Has your nose got straight? Ajebe and Murad, greeting. Here am I!
ALZAYNI How dar’st thou come and with such rude demeanour?Knowst thou thy sentence?
NUREDDENE Why, I bring a sentence too, A fishy writing. Here it is. Be careful of it; It is my die on which I throw for death Or more than life. Page – 157 ALZAYNI A letter, and to me?
NUREDDENE Great King, ’tis from thy friend the fisherman, He with the dirty gabardine who lives In great Bagdad on stolen fish.
ALZAYNI Thinkst thou That thou canst play thus rudely with the lion?
NUREDDENE If I could see the mane, I’ld clutch at it. A lashing tail is not enough. The tiger Has that too and many trifling animals. But read the letter.
ALZAYNI Read it, Almuene.
ALMUENE ‘Tis from the Caliph, it appears. Thus runs The alleged epistle: "Haroun Alrasheed, Commander of the Faithful, known by name To orient waters and the Atlantic seas, Whom three wide continents obey, to Mohamad The Abbasside, the son of Sulyman, Men call Alzayni, by our gracious will Allowed our subject king in Bassora, Greeting and peace. As soon as thou hast read Our letter, put from thee thy kingly robe, Thy jewelled turban and thy sceptred pomp And clothe with them the bearer Nureddene, Son of thy Vizier, monarch in thy stead In Bassora, then come to us in Bagdad To answer for thy many and great offences.
Page – 158 This as thou hop’st to live."
NUREDDENE It was the Caliph.
ALZAYNI My mighty cousin’s will must be obeyed.Why turnst thou to the light?
ALMUENE To scan it better. King, ’tis a forgery! Where is the seal, Where the imperial scripture? Is it thus On a torn paper mighty Caliphs write? Now on my life the fellow here has chanced Upon some playful scribbling of the Caliph’s, Put in his name and thine and, brazen-faced, Come here to bluster.
AJEBE It was quite whole, I saw it.
ALMUENE Boy, silence!
AJEBE No, I will not. Thou hast torn it.
ALMUENE Where are the pieces then? Search, if thou wilt.
ALZAYNI Ho, there.Enter Guards. Take Ajebe to the prison hence. He shall have judgment afterwards. Exit Ajebe, guarded.
Page – 159 Thou, fellow, Com’st thou with brazen face and blustering tongue And forgeries in thy pocket? Hale him hence. After fierce tortures let him be impaled.
MURAD Hear me, O King.
ALZAYNI Thou art his sister’s husband.
MURAD Yet for thy own sake hear me. Hast thou thought, If this be true, what fate will stride upon thee When Haroun learns thy deed? whom doubt not, King, Thy many enemies will soon acquaint.
ALZAYNI Send couriers; find this out.
ALMUENE Till when I’ll keep My nephew safe under my private eye.
MURAD Thou art his enemy.
ALMUENE And thou his friend. He will escape from thee once more.
ALZAYNI Vizier, Thou keep him, use him well.
ALMUENE Ho! take him, Guards. Enter Guards. Page – 160 NUREDDENE I lose the toss; ’tis tails. Exit guarded. ALZAYNI All leave me. Vizier, Remain. Exit Murad. Now, Almuene?
ALMUENE Kill him and be at rest.
ALZAYNI If ’twere indeed the Caliph’s very hand? Vizier, I dare not suddenly.
ALMUENE Dare not! Nay, then, put off thy crown at Haroun’s bidding, Who’ll make thee his doorkeeper in Bagdad. The Caliph? How long will this drunken freak Have lodging in his lordly mind? Or fearst thou The half-veiled threat of thy own trusty Turk, Sultan Alzayni?
ALZAYNI Him I’ll silence. Keep The boy ten days; then, if all’s well, behead him. Exit.
ALMUENE You boggle, boggle; that is not the way To keep a crown. Have him and hold’s the Vizier, Catch him and cut’s the General. Loose your grip? Let the hand shake? So monarchs are unkinged. Ten days are mine at least. I have ten days To torture him, though Caliphs turn his friend.
Page – 161 Will God befriend him next? My enemies He gives into my potent hand. Murad is gone, And I hold Doonya in my grip, Ameena too Who, I have news, lives secret with her niece. But where’s the girl? God keeps her for me, I doubt not, A last, sweet morsel. It will please Fareed. But there’s Haroun! Why should he live at all, When there are swords and poisons? Exit.
Page – 162
A cell in Almuene’s house. Nureddene alone.
NUREDDENE We sin our pleasant sins and then refrain And think that God’s deceived. He waits His time And when we walk the clean and polished road He trips us with the mire our shoes yet keep, The pleasant mud we walked before. All ills I will bear patiently. Oh, better here Than in that world! Who comes? Khatoon, my aunt! Enter Khatoon and a Slave. KHATOON My Nureddene!
NUREDDENE Good aunt, weep not for me.
KHATOON You are my sister’s child, yet more my own. I have no other. Ali, mend his food And treatment. Fear not thou the Vizier’s wrath, For I will shield thee.
S LAVEI’ll do it willingly.
KHATOON What is this sound of many rushing feet? Enter Almuene and Slaves. Page – 163 ALMUENE Seize him and bind. O villain, fatal villain! O my heart’s stringlet! Seize him, beat to powder; Have burning irons. Dame, what do you here? Wilt thou prevent me then?
KHATOON Let no man touch The prisoner of the Sultan. What’s this rage?
ALMUENE My son, my son! He has burned my heart. Shall I Not burn his body?
KHATOON What is it? Tell me quickly.
ALMUENE Fareed is murdered.
KHATOON God forbid! By whom?
ALMUENE This villain’s sister.
KHATOON Doonya? You are mad. Speak, slave.
A S LAVEYoung master went with a great company To Murad’s house to carry Doonya off Who then was seated listening to the lute With Balkis and Mymoona, Ajebe’s slave-girls. We stormed the house, but could not take the lady; Mymoona with a sword kept all at bay For minutes. Meantime the city fills with rumour,
Page – 164 And Murad riding like a stormy wind Came on us just too soon, the girl defender Found wounded, Doonya at last in Fareed’s grip Who made a shield of that fair burden; but Balkis Ran at and tripped him, and the savage Turk Fire-eyed and furious lunged him through the body. He’s dead.
KHATOON My son!
ALMUENE Will you now give me leave To torture this vile boy?
KHATOON What is his fault? Touch him and I acquaint the King. Vizier, Thou slewst Fareed. My gracious, laughing babe Who clung about me with his little hands And sucked my breasts! Him you have murdered, Vizier, Both soul and body. I will go and pray For vengeance on thee for my slaughtered child. Exit.
ALMUENE She has baulked my fury. No, I’ll wait for thee. Thou shalt hear first what I have done with Doonya And thy soft mother’s body. Murad! Murad! Thou hast no son. Would God thou hadst a son! Exit. NUREDDENE Not upon others fall Thy heavy scourge Who are not guilty. O Doonya, O my mother, In fiercest peril from that maddened tyrant! Curtain
Page – 165
A house in Bassora. Doonya, Ameena.
DOONYA Comfort, dear mother, comfort.
AMEENA Oh, what comfort? My Nureddene is doomed, Murad is gaoled, We in close hiding under the vile doom This tyrant King decrees.
DOONYA I did not think God was so keen-eyed for our petty sins, When great offences and high criminals Walk smiling. But there’s comfort, mother, yet. My husband writes from prison. You shall hear. (reads) "Doonya, I have written this by secret contrivance. Have comfort, dry thy mother’s tears. There is hope. The Caliph comes to Bassora and the King will release me for a need of his own. I have tidings of thy father; he is but two days journey from Bassora and I have sent him urgent and tremulous word to come, but no ill-news to break his heart. We have friends. Doonya, my beloved — " That’s for me only.
AMEENA Let me hear it.
Page – 166 DOONYA It is Pure nonsense, — what a savage Turk would write.
AMEENA Therefore you kissed it?
DOONYA Oh, you’re comforted! You’re smiling through your tears.
AMEENA My husband comes. He will save all. I never quite believed God would forget his worth so soon.
DOONYA (to herself ) He comes, But for what fate? (aloud) True, mother, he’ll save all.
AMEENA How is Mymoona?
DOONYA Better now. She suffered In our wild rapid flight. Balkis is with her. Let’s go to them. AMEENA My son will yet be saved. Exeunt.
Page – 167 Bagdad. A room in the Caliph’s harem. Anice, with many slave-girls attending on her.
ANICE Girls, is he passing?
A SLAVE-GIRL He is passing.
ANICE Quick, my lute! Song The Emperor of Roum is great; The Caliph has a mighty State; But One is greater, to Whom all prayers take wing; And I, a poor and weeping slave, When the world rises from its grave, Shall stand up the accuser of my King. Girls, is he coming up?
A SLAVE-GIRL The Caliph enters. Enter Haroun and Jaafar. HAROUN Thou art the slave-girl, Anice-aljalice? Why chosest thou that song?
Page – 168 ANICE Caliph, for thee. Where is my lord?
HAROUN A king in Bassora.
ANICE Who told thee?
HAROUN So it must be.
ANICE Is there news? HAROUN No, strange! seven days gone by, nor yet a letter!
ANICE Caliph, high Sovereign, Haroun Alrasheed, Men call thee Just, great Abbasside! I am A poor and helpless slave-girl, but my grief Is greater than a King. Lord, I demand My soul’s dear husband at thy hand, who sent him Alone, unfollowed, without guard or friend To a tyrant Sultan and more tyrant Vizier, His potent enemies. Oh, they have killed him! Give back my husband to my arms unhurt Or I will rise upon the judgment day Against thee, Caliph Haroun Alrasheed, Demanding him at that eternal throne Where names are not received, nor earthly pomps Considered. Then my frail and woman’s voice Shall ring more dreadful in thy mighty hearing Than doom’s own trumpet. Answer my demand.
Page – 169 HAROUN Anice, I do believe thy lord is well. And yet — No, by my great forefathers, no! My seal and signature were on the script And they are mightier than a thousand armies. If he has disobeyed, for him ’twere better He were a beggar’s unrespected child Than Haroun’s kin; — the Arabian simoom Shall be less devastating than my wrath. Out, Jaafar, out to Bassora, behind thee Sweeping embattled war; nor night nor tempest Delay thy march. I follow in thy steps. Take too this damsel and these fifty slave-girls, With robes and gifts for Bassora’s youthful king. I give thee power o’er Kings and Emperors To threaten, smite and seize. Go, friend; I follow As swift as thunder presses on the lightning. Exit. JAAFAR (to the slave-girls) Make ready; for we march within the hour. Exit. Curtain Page – 170 The public square of Bassora. Alzayni on a dais; in front a scaffold on which stand Nureddene, an Executioner, Murad and others. Almuene moves between the dais and scaffold. The square is crowded with people. EXECUTIONER Ho! listen, listen, Moslems. Nureddene, Son of Alfazzal, son of Sawy, stands Upon the rug of blood, the man who smote Great Viziers and came armed with forgeries To uncrown mighty Kings. Look on his doom, You enemies of great Alzayni, look and shake. (low, to Nureddene) My lord, forgive me who am thus compelled, Oh much against my will, to ill-requite Your father’s kindly favours.
NUREDDENE Give me water; I thirst.
MURAD Give water. Executioner, When the King waves the signal, wait; strike not Too hastily.
E XECUTIONERCaptain, I will await thy nod. Here’s water.
Page – 171 ALMUENE (coming up) Rebellious sworder! giv’st thou drink To the King’s enemies?
A VOICE IN THE CROWD God waits for thee, Thou wicked Vizier.
ALMUENE Who was that?
MURAD A voice. Behead it.
ALMUENE Mighty Sultan, give the word.
ALZAYNI There is a movement in the crowd and cries. Wait for one moment.
ALMUENE It is Ibn Sawy. Oh, this is sweet!
CRIES Make way for the Vizier, the good Vizier. He’s saved! he’s saved. Enter Alfazzal; he looks with emotion at Nureddene, then turns to the King.
IBN SAWY Greeting, my King; my work in Roum is over.
ALZAYNI Virtuous Alfazzal! we will talk with thee As ever was our dearest pleasure; first,
Page – 172 There is a spotted soul to be dislodged From the fair body it disgraced; a trifle Soon ended. There behold the criminal.
IBN SAWY The criminal! Pardon me, mighty King; The voice of Nature will not be kept down. Why wilt thou slay my son?
ALZAYNI Nay, ’tis himself Insisted obstinately on his doom; Abused his King, battered and beat my Vizier, Forged mighty Haroun’s signature to wear My crown in Bassora. These are the chief Of his offences.
IBN SAWY If this thing is true, As doubtless near inquiry in Bagdad —
ALZAYNI Nay, take not up thy duties all too soon. Rest from thy travel, bury thy dear son And afterwards resume thy faithful works, My Vizier.
IBN SAWY I would not see my dear child slain. Permit me to depart and in my desolate house Comfort the stricken mother and his kin.
ALZAYNI Perhaps a stone of all thy house may stand. The mother and thy niece? It hurts my heart. They too are criminals and punished.
Page – 173 IBN SAWY God!
ALZAYNI Slaves, help my faithful Vizier; he will faint.
IBN SAWY Let me alone; God made me strong to bear. They are dead?
ALZAYNI Nay, a more lenient penalty. What did I order? To be led through Bassora Bare in their shifts with halters round their necks And, stripped before all eyes, whipped into swooning, Then sold as slaves but preferably for little To some low Nazarene or Jew. Was that The order, Almuene?
IBN SAWY Merciful Allah! And it is done?
ALZAYNI I doubt not, it is done.
IBN SAWY Their crime?
ALZAYNI Conspiring murder. They have killed The son of Almuene. Good Ibn Sawy, God’s kind to thee who has relieved thy age Of human burdens. Thus He turns thy thought To His ineffable and simple peace.
Page – 174 IBN SAWY God, Thou art mighty and Thy will is just. King Mohamad Alzayni, I have come To a changed world in which I am not needed. I bid farewell.
ALZAYNI Nay, Vizier, clasp thy son, And afterwards await within my hearing Release.
IBN SAWY My Nureddene, my child!
NUREDDENE Justice Of God, thou spar’st me nothing. Father! father!
IBN SAWY Bow to the will of God, my son; if thou Must perish on a false and hateful charge, A crime in thee impossible, believe It is His justice still.
NUREDDENE I well believe it.
IBN SAWY I doubt not I shall join you, son. We’ll hold Each other’s hands upon the narrow way.
ALZAYNI Hast done, Alfazzal?
IBN SAWY Do thy will, O King.
Page – 175 ALZAYNI (waving his hand) Strike. Trumpets outside. What are these proud notes? this cloud of dust That rushes towards us from the north? The earth Trembles with horse-hooves.
ALMUENE Let this wretch be slain; We shall have leisure then for greater things.
ALZAYNI Pause, pause! A horseman gallops through the crowd Which scatters like wild dust. Look, he dismounts. Enter a Soldier. SOLDIER Hail to thee, Mohamad Alzayni! Greeting From mightier than thyself.
ALZAYNI Who art thou, Arab?
SOLDIER Jaafar bin Barmak, Vizier world-renowned Of Haroun, master of the globe, comes hither. He’s in your streets, Alzayni. Thus he bids thee: If Nureddene, thy Vizier’s son, yet lives, Preserve him, Sultan, as thy own dear life; For if he dies, thou shalt not live.
ALZAYNI My guards! My soldiers! here to me!
SOLDIER Beware, Alzayni.
Page – 176 The force he brings could dislocate each stone In Bassora within the hour and leave Thy house a ruin. In his mighty wake A mightier comes, the Caliph’s self.
ALZAYNI ‘Tis well. I have but erred. My Murad, here to me! Murad, thou shalt have gold, a house, estates, Noble and wealthy women for thy wives. Murad!
MURAD Erred, King, indeed who took a soldier For an assassin. King, my household gem I have saved and want no others. Were she gone, Thou wouldst not now be living.
ALZAYNI Am I betrayed?
MURAD Call it so, King.
ALZAYNI My throne is tumbling down. The crowd quite parts; the horsemen drive towards us.
ALMUENE Sultan Alzayni, kill thy enemies, Then die. Wilt thou be footed to Bagdad, Stumbling in fetters?
ALZAYNI They are here. Enter Jaafar and Soldiers.
Page – 177 JAAFAR This sight Is thy own sentence. Mohamad Alzayni, Allah deprived thee of reason to destroy thee, When thou didst madly disobey thy lord.
ALMUENE ‘Twas a mistake, great Vizier. We had thought The script a forgery.
JAAFAR Issue of Khakan, I have seen many Viziers like thyself, But none that died in peace. Hail, Nureddene! I greet thee, Sultan, lord in Bassora.
NUREDDENE It is the second toss that tells; the first Was a pure foul. I thank Thee, who hast only Shown me the edge of Thy chastising sword, Then pardoned. Father, embrace me.
IBN SAWY Ah, child, Thy mother and thy sister!
MURAD They are safe And in my care.
IBN SAWY Nay, God is kind; this world Most leniently ruled.
JAAFAR Sultan Alzayni, Vizier Almuene, By delegated power I seize upon you, Page – 178 The prisoners of the Caliph. Take them, guards. I’ve brought a slave-girl for you, Nureddene, The Caliph’s gift.
NUREDDENE I’ll take her, if I like her. Life is my own again and all I love. Great are Thy mercies, O Omnipotent! Curtain
Page – 179 The Palace in Bassora. Ibn Sawy, Ameena, Nureddene, Anice, Doonya, Ajebe.
IBN SAWY End, end embraces; they will last our life. Thou dearest cause at once of all our woes And their sweet ender! Cherish her, Nureddene, Who saved thy soul and body.
NUREDDENE Surely I’ll cherish My heart’s queen!
ANICE Only your slave-girl.
DOONYA You’ve got a King, You lucky child! But I have only a Turk, A blustering, bold and Caliph-murdering Turk Who writes me silly letters, stabs my lovers When they would run away with me, and makes A general Turkish nuisance of himself. ‘Tis hard. Sultan of Bassora, great Sultan, Grave high and mighty Nureddene! thy sister And subject —
NUREDDENE Doonya, it is not Faeryland.
Page – 180 DOONYA It is, it is, and Anice here its queen. O faery King of faery Bassora, Do make a General of my general nuisance. I long to be my lady Generaless Of faeryland, and ride about and charge At thorns and thistles with a churning-stick, With Balkis and Mymoona for my captains — They're very martial, King, bold swashing fighters! —
NUREDDENE Ajebe our Treasurer.
AJEBE To ruin you again?
NUREDDENE We’ll have Shaikh Ibrahim for Lord High Humbug Of all our faeryland; shall we not, Anice?
AMEENA What nonsense, children! You a Sultan, child!
NUREDDENE Your Sultan, mother, as I ever was.
IBN SAWY Let happiness flow out in smiles. Our griefs Are ended and we cluster round our King. The Caliph! Enter Haroun, Jaafar, Murad, Sunjar, Guards with Alzayni and Almuene. The peace, Commander of the Faithful!
HAROUN Noble Alfazzal, sit. Sit all of you. This is the thing that does my heart most good, To watch these kind and happy looks and know
Page – 181 Myself for cause. Therefore I sit enthroned, Allah’s Vicegerent, to put down all evil And pluck the virtuous out of danger’s hand. Fit work for Kings! not merely the high crown And marching armies and superber ease. Sunjar, Murad and Ajebe, you your King Can best reward. But, Ajebe, in thy house Where thou art Sultan, those reward who well Deserve it.
AJEBE They shall be my household queens, Enthroned upon my either hand.
HAROUN ‘Tis well. Sultan Alzayni, not within my realm Shall Kings like thee bear rule. Great though thy crimes, I will not honour thee with imitation, To slay unheard. Thou shalt have judgment, King. But for thy Vizier here, his crimes are open And loudly they proclaim themselves.
ALMUENE Lord, spare me.
HAROUN For some offences God has punished thee. Shall I, His great Vicegerent, spare? Young King Of Bassora, to thee I leave thy enemy.
ALMUENE I did according to my blood and nurture, Do thou as much.
NUREDDENE He has beguiled me, Caliph. I cannot now pronounce his doom.
Page – 182 HAROUN Then I will. Death at this moment! And his house and fortune Are to thy father due. Take him and slay. Exeunt Guards with Almuene. Let not his sad and guiltless wife be engulfed In his swift ruin. Virtuous Alfazzal, —
IBN SAWY She is my wife’s dear sister and my home Is hers; my children will replace her son.
HAROUN All then is well. Anice, you’re satisfied? I never was so scared in all my life As when you rose against me.
ANICE Pardon me!
HAROUN Fair children, worthy of each other’s love And beauty! till the Sunderer comes who parts All wedded hands, take your delights on earth, And afterwards in heaven. Meanwhile remember That life is grave and earnest under its smiles, And we too with a wary gaiety Should walk its roads, praying that if we stumble, The All-Merciful may bear our footing up In His strong hand, showing the Father’s face And not the stern and dreadful Judge. Farewell. I go to Roman wars. With you the peace!
IBN SAWY Peace with thee, just and mighty Caliph, peace. Curtain Page – 183 |