Collected Plays and Stories

 

CONTENTS

 

Pre-content

 

PLAYS

THE VIZIERS OF BASSORA

 

Rodogune

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE I

SCENE II  

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

 

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

 

 

Perseus the Deliverer

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

 

Eric

Act One

Act Two

Act Three

Act Four

Act Five

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE I

 

Vasavadutta

 

Incomplete and Fragmentary Plays

The Witch of Ilni

Act One

 

Act Two

 

Act Three

SCENE I

SCENE II

 

SCENE I

 

 SCENE I

SCENE II

 

The House of Brut

Act  twO

 

SCENE I

 

The Maid in the Mill

Act One

 

 

 

Act Two

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE Iii

SCENE Iv

SCENE v

 

 

 

SCENE I

 

The Prince of Edur

The Prince of Mathura

Act  One

SCENE I

 

The Birth of Sin

Act ONE

 

Fragment of a Play

Act  One

SCENE I

 

STORIES

Occult Idylls

The Phantom Hour

 The Door at Abelard

 

Incomplete and Fragmentary Stories

Fictional Jottings

Fragment of a Story

The Devil's Mastiff

The Golden Bird

 

 

Act IV

 

Bagdad.

 

Scene 1

 

The gardens of the Caliph's Palace outside the Pavilion of Pleasure.

Anice, Nureddene.

 

ANICE

This is Bagdad!

 

NUREDDENE

Bagdad the beautiful,

The city of delight. How green these gardens!

What a sweet clamour pipes among the trees.

 

ANICE

And flowers! the flowers! Look at those violets

Dark-blue like burning sulphur! Oh, rose and myrtle

And gillyflower and lavender; anemones

As red as blood! All Spring walks here in blossoms

And strews the pictured ground.

 

NUREDDENE

Do you see the fruit,

Anice? camphor and almond-apricots,

Green, white and purple figs and these huge grapes,

Round rubies or quite purple-black, that ramp

O'er wall and terrace; plums almost as smooth

As your own damask cheek. These balls of gold

 

Page – 117


Are lemons, Anice, do you think? Look, cherries,

And mid these fair pink-budded orange-blossoms

Rare glints of fruit.

 

ANICE

That was a blackbird whistled.

How the doves moan! It's full of cooing turtles.

Oh see, the tawny bulbuls calling sweetly

And winging! What a flutter of scarlet tails!

If it were dark, a thousand nightingales

Would surely sing together. How glad I am

That we were driven out of Bassora!

 

NUREDDENE

And this pavilion with its crowd of windows?

Are there not quite a hundred?

 

ANICE

Do you see

The candelabrum pendent from the ceiling?

A blaze of gold!

 

NUREDDENE

Each window has a lamp.

Night in these gardens must be bright as day.

To find the master now! Here we could rest

And ask our way to the great Caliph, Anice.

Enter Shaikh Ibrahim from behind.

 

IBRAHIM

So, so! so, so! Cavalier servente with your bona roba! You do not know then of the Caliph's order forbidding entry into his gardens? No? I will proclaim it, then, with a palm-stick about your pretty back quarters. Will I not? Hoh!

He advances stealthily with stick raised.

Nureddene and Anice turn towards him; he drops

the stick and remains with arm lifted.

 

Page – 119


NUREDDENE

Here is a Shaikh of the gardens. Whose garden is this, friend?

 

ANICE

Is the poor man out of the use of his wits? He stares open-mouthed.

 

IBRAHIM

Glory to Allah who made you! Glory to the angel who brought you down on earth! Glory to myself who am permitted to look upon you! I give glory to Allah for your beauty, O people of Paradise!

 

NUREDDENE (smiling)

Rather give glory to Him because he has given thee a fine old age and this long silvery beard. But are we permitted in this garden? The gate was not bolted.

 

IBRAHIM

This garden? My garden? Yes, my son; yes, my daughter. It is the fairer for your feet; never before did such flowers bloom there.

 

NUREDDENE

What, is it thine? And this pavilion?

 

IBRAHIM

All mine, my son. By the grace of Allah to a poor sinful old man. 'Tis by His election, my son, and divine ordination and sanctification, and a little by the power of my prostrations and lustrations which I neglect not, neither morning nor noon nor evening nor at any of the intervals by the law commanded.

 

NUREDDENE

When did you buy or lay it out, old father?

 

IBRAHIM

A grand-aunt left it to me. Wonder not, for she was indeed aunt's grandmother to a cousin of the sister-in-law of the Caliph.

 

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NUREDDENE

Oh then indeed! she had the right divine to be wealthy. But I trust thou hast good doctrinal justification for inheriting after her?

 

IBRAHIM

I would not accept the Caliphate by any other. O my son, hanker not unlawfully after perishable earthly goods; for, verily, they are a snare and verily, verily, they entrap the feet of the soul as it toileth over the straight rough road to Heaven.

 

ANICE

But, old father, are you rich and go so poorly robed? Were I mistress of such a garden, I would float about it in damask and crimson and velvet; silk and satin should be my meanest apparel.

 

IBRAHIM (aside)

She has a voice like a blackbird's! O angel Gabriel, increase this unto me. I will not quarrel with thee though all Houridom break loose on my garden; for their gates thou hast a little opened. (aloud) Fie, my daughter! I take refuge with Allah. I am a poor sinful old man on the brink of the grave, what should I do with robes and coloured raiment? But they would hang well on thee. Praise the Lord who has given thee hips like the moon and a waist indeed! a small, seizable waist, Allah forgive me!

 

ANICE

We are weary, old father; we hunger and thirst.

 

IBRAHIM

Oh, my son! Oh, my daughter! you put me to shame. Come in, come in; this my pavilion is yours and there is within it plenty of food and drink, —  such innocent things now as sherbet and pure ` kind water. But as for wine, that accursed thing, it is forbidden by the Prophet, whose name is a benediction. Come in, come in. Allah curse him that giveth not to the guest and the stranger.

 

Page – 120


NUREDDENE

It is indeed thine? we may enter?

 

IBRAHIM

Allah! Allah! its floor yearns for thy beauty and for the fair feet of thy sister. If there were youth now instead of poor venerable  me, would one not kiss the marble wherever her fair small feet will touch it? But I praise Allah that I am an old man with my thoughts turned to chastity and holiness.

 

NUREDDENE

Come, Anice.

 

IBRAHIM (walking behind them)

Allah! Allah! she is a gazelle that springeth. Allah! Allah! the swan in my lake waddleth less perfectly. She is as a willow when the wind swayeth it. Allah! Allah!

Exeunt to the pavilion.

 

Page – 121


Scene 2

 

The Pavilion of Pleasure.

Anice, Nureddene, Shaikh Ibrahim on couches, by a table set with dishes.

 

NUREDDENE

These kabobs are indeed good, and the conserves look sweet and the fruit very glossy. But will you sit and eat nothing?

 

IBRAHIM

Verily, my son, I have eaten at midday. Allah forbid me from gluttony!

 

ANICE

Old father, you discourage our stomachs. You shall eat a morsel from my fingers or I will say you use me hardly.

 

IBRAHIM

No, no, no, no. Ah well, from your fingers, from your small slim rosy fingers. Allah! Only a bit, only a morsel; verily, verily! Allah! surely thy fingers are sweeter than honey. I could eat them with kisses.

 

ANICE

What, old father, you grow young?

 

IBRAHIM

Oh, now, now, now! 'Twas a foolish jest unworthy of my grey hairs. I take refuge with Allah! A foolish jest.

 

NUREDDENE

But, my aged host, it is dry eating without wine. Have you never a flagon in all this palace? It is a blot, a blot on its fair perfection.

 

Page – 122


IBRAHIM

I take refuge with Allah. Wine! for sixteen years I have not touched the evil thing. When I was young indeed! ah well, when I was young. But 'tis forbidden. What saith Ibn Batata? That wine worketh transmogrification. And Ibrahim Alhashhash bin Fuzfuz bin Bierbiloon al Sandilani of Bassora, he rateth wine sorely and averreth that the red glint of it is the shine of the red fires of Hell, its sweetness kisseth damnation and the cool- ness of it in the throat causeth bifurcation. Ay, verily, the great Alhashhash.

 

ANICE

Who are these learned doctors you speak of, old father? I have read all the books, but never heard of them.

 

IBRAHIM

Oh, thou hast read? These are very distant and mystic Sufis, very rare doctors. Their books are known only to the adepts.

 

ANICE

What a learned old man art thou, Shaikh Ibrahim! Now Allah save the soul of the great Alhashhash!

 

IBRAHIM

Hm! 'Tis so. Wine! Verily, the Prophet hath cursed grower and presser, buyer and seller, carrier and drinker. I take refuge with Allah from the curse of the Prophet.

 

NUREDDENE

Hast thou not even one old ass among all thy belongings? And if an old ass is cursed, is it thou who art cursed?

 

IBRAHIM

Hm! My son, what is thy parable?

 

NUREDDENE

I will show you a trick to cheat the devil. Give three denars of mine to a neighbour's servant with a dirham or two for his

 

Page – 123


trouble, let him buy the wine and clap it on an old ass, and let the old ass bring it here. So art thou neither grower nor presser,  seller nor buyer, carrier nor drinker, and if any be damned, it is an old ass that is damned. What saith the great Alhashhash?

 

IBRAHIM

Hm! Well, I will do it. (aside) Now I need not let them know that there is wine galore in my cupboards, Allah forgive me!

Exit.

NUREDDENE

He is the very gem of hypocrites.

 

ANICE

The fitter to laugh at. Dear my lord, be merry

Tonight, if only for tonight. Let care

Expect tomorrow.

 

NUREDDENE

You are happy, Anice?

 

ANICE

I feel as if I could do nothing else

But laugh through life's remainder. You're safe, safe

And that grim devil baffled. Oh, you're safe!

 

NUREDDENE

It was a breathless voyage up the river.

I think a price is on my head. Perhaps

Our helpers suffer.

 

ANICE

But you are safe, my joy,

My darling.

She goes to him and kisses and clings about him.

 

Page – 124


NUREDDENE

Anice, your eyes are full of tears!

You are quite overwrought.

 

ANICE

Let only you be safe

And all the world beside entirely perish.

My love! my master!

She again embraces and kisses him

repeatedly. Shaikh Ibrahim returns

with the wine and glasses in a tray.

IBRAHIM

Allah! Allah! Allah!

 

ANICE

Where's that old sober learning?

I want to dance, to laugh, to outriot riot.

Oh, here he is.

 

NUREDDENE

What a quick ass was this, Shaikh Ibrahim!

 

IBRAHIM

No, no, the wine-shop is near, very near. Allah forgive us, ours  is an evil city, this Bagdad; it is full of winebibbers and gluttons and liars.

 

NUREDDENE

Dost thou ever lie, Shaikh Ibrahim?

 

IBRAHIM

Allah forbid! Above all sins I abhor lying and liars. O my son,  keep thy young lips from vain babbling and unnecessary lying.  It is of the unpardonable sins, it is the way to Jahannam. But I pray thee what is this young lady to thee, my son?

 

Page – 125


NUREDDENE

She is my slave-girl.

 

IBRAHIM

Ah, ah! thy slave-girl? Ah, ah! a slave-girl! ah!

 

ANICE

Drink, my lord.

 

NUREDDENE (drinking)

By the Lord, but I am sleepy. I will even rest my head in thy sweet lap for a moment.

He lies down.

IBRAHIM

Allah! Allah! What, he sleeps?

 

ANICE

Fast. That is the trick he always serves me. After the first cup he dozes off and leaves me quite sad and lonely.

 

IBRAHIM

Why, why, why, little one! Thou art not alone and why shouldst thou be sad? I am here, —  old Shaikh Ibrahim; I am here.

 

ANICE

I will not be sad, if you will drink with me.

 

IBRAHIM

Fie, fie, fie!

 

ANICE

By my head and eyes!

 

IBRAHIM

Well, well, well! Alas, 'tis a sin, 'tis a sin, 'tis a sin. (drinks) Verily, verily.

 

Page – 126


ANICE

Another.

 

IBRAHIM

No, no, no.

 

ANICE

By my head and eyes!

 

IBRAHIM

Well, well, well, well! 'Tis a grievous sin, Allah forgive me!

(drinks)

 

ANICE

Just one more.

 

IBRAHIM

Does he sleep? Now if it were the wine of thy lips, little one!

 

ANICE

Old father, old father! Is this thy sanctity and the chastity of thee and thy averseness to frivolity? To flirt with light-minded young hussies like me! Where is thy sanctification? Where is thy justification? Where is thy predestination? O mystic, thou art bifurked with an evil bifurcation. Woe's me for the great Alhashhash!

 

IBRAHIM

No, no, no.

 

ANICE

Art thou such a hypocrite? Shaikh Ibrahim! Shaikh Ibrahim!

 

IBRAHIM

No, no, no! A fatherly jest! a little little jest! (drinks)

 

Page – 127


NUREDDENE (starting up)

Shaikh Ibrahim, thou drinkest?

 

IBRAHIM

Oh! ah! 'Twas thy slave-girl forced me. Verily, verily!

 

NUREDDENE

Anice! Anice! Why wilt thou pester him? Wilt thou pluck down his old soul from heaven? Fie! draw the wine this side of the table. I pledge you, my heart.

 

ANICE

To you, my dear one.

 

NUREDDENE

You have drunk half your cup only; so, again; to Shaikh Ibrahim and his learned sobriety!

 

ANICE

To the shade of the great Alhashhash!

 

IBRAHIM

Fie on you! What cursed unneighbourly manners are these, to drink in my face and never pass the bowl?

 

ANICE AND NUREDDENE (together)

Shaikh Ibrahim! Shaikh Ibrahim! Shaikh Ibrahim!

 

IBRAHIM

Never cry out at me. You are a Hour and she is a Houri come down from Heaven to ensnare my soul. Let it be ensnared! 'Tis not worth one beam from under your eyelids. Hour, I will embrace thee; I will kiss thee, Houri.

 

NUREDDENE

Embrace not, Shaikh Ibrahim, neither kiss, for thy mouth smelleth evilly of that accursed thing, wine. I am woeful for the mystic Alhashhash.

 

Page – 128


ANICE

Art thou transmogrified, O Sufi, O adept, O disciple of Ibn Batata?

 

IBRAHIM

Laugh, laugh! laughter is on your beauty like the sunlight on the fair minarets of Mazinderan the beautiful. Give me a cup. (drinks) You are sinners and I will sin with you. I will sin hard, my beauties. (drinks)

 

ANICE

Come now, I will sing to you, if you will give me a lute. I am a rare singer, Shaikh Ibrahim.

 

IBRAHIM (drinks)

There is a lute in yonder corner. Sing, sing, and it may be I will answer thee. (drinks)

 

ANICE

But wait, wait. To sing in this meagreness of light! Candles, candles!

She lights the eighty candles of the great candelabrum.

IBRAHIM (drinks)

Allah! it lights thee up, my slave-girl, my jewel. (drinks)

 

NUREDDENE

Drink not so fast, Shaikh Ibrahim, but get up and light the lamps in the windows.

 

IBRAHIM (drinks)

Sin not thou by troubling the coolness of wine in my throat.

Light them, light them but not more than two.

Nureddene goes out lighting the lamps

one by one and returns in the same way.

Meanwhile Shaikh Ibrahim drinks.

 

Page – 129


IBRAHIM

Allah! hast thou lit them all?

 

ANICE

Shaikh Ibrahim, drunkenness sees but double, and dost thou see eighty-four? Thou art far gone in thy cups, O adept, O Ibn Batatist.

 

IBRAHIM

I am not yet so drunk as that. You are bold youths to light them all.

 

NUREDDENE

Whom fearest thou? Is not the pavilion thine?

 

IBRAHIM

Surely mine; but the Caliph dwells near and he will be angry at the glare of so much light.

 

NUREDDENE

Truly, he is a great Caliph.

 

IBRAHIM

Great enough, great enough. There might have been greater, if Fate had willed it. But 'tis the decree of Allah. Some He raiseth to be Caliphs and some He turneth into gardeners. (drinks)

 

ANICE

I have found a lute.

 

NUREDDENE

Give it me. Hear me improvise, Old Sobriety. (sings)

 

Saw you Shaikh Ibrahim, the grave old man?

Allah! Allah! I saw him drunk and drinking.

What was he doing when the dance began?

He was winking; verily, verily, he was winking.

 

Page – 130


IBRAHIM

Fie! what cobbler's poetry is this? But thou hast a touch. Let me hear thee rather.

 

ANICE

I have a song for you. (sings)

 

White as winter is my beard,

All my face with wrinkles weird,

Yet I drink.

Hell-fire? judgment? who's afraid?

Ibrahim would kiss a maid

As soon as think.

 

IBRAHIM

Allah! Allah! Nightingale! nightingale!

Curtain

Page – 131


Scene 3

 

The Gardens, outside the Pavilion.

Haroun, Mesrour.

 

HAROUN

See, Mesrour, the Pavilion's all alight.

'Tis as I said. Where is the Barmeky?

 

MESROUR

The Vizier comes, my lord.

Enter Jaafar.

JAAFAR

Peace be with thee,

Commander of the Faithful.

 

HAROUN

Where is peace,

Thou faithless and usurping Vizier? Hast thou

Filched my Bagdad out of my hands, thou rebel,

And told me nothing?

 

JAAFAR

What words are these, O Caliph?

 

HAROUN

What mean these lights then? Does another Caliph

Hold revel in my Palace of all Pleasure,

While Haroun lives and holds the sword?

 

JAAFAR (to himself )

What Djinn

Page – 132


Plays me this antic?

 

HAROUN

I am waiting, Vizier.

 

JAAFAR

Shaikh Ibrahim, my lord, petitioned me,

On circumcision of his child, for use

Of the pavilion. Lord, it had escaped

My memory; I now remember it.

 

HAROUN

Doubly thou erredst, Jaafar; for thou gavest him

No money, which was the significance

Of his request, neither wouldst suffer me

To help my servant. We will enter, Vizier,

And hear the grave Faqeers discoursing there

Of venerable things. The Shaikh's devout

And much affects their reverend company.

We too shall profit by that holy talk

Which arms us against sin and helps to heaven.

 

JAAFAR (to himself )

Helps to the plague! (aloud) Commander of the Faithful,

Your mighty presence will disturb their peace

With awe or quell their free unhampered spirits.

 

HAROUN

At least I'ld see them.

 

MESROUR

From this tower, my lord,

We can look straight into the whole pavilion.

 

HAROUN

Mesrour, well thought of!

Page – 133


JAAFAR (aside, to Mesrour)

A blister spoil thy tongue!

 

MESROUR (aside, to Jaafar)

I'll head you, Jaafar.

 

HAROUN (listening)

Is not that a lute?

A lute at such a grave and reverend meeting!

Shaikh Ibrahim sings within.

Chink-a-chunk-a-chink!

We will kiss and drink,

And be merry, O very very merry.

For your eyes are bright

Even by candle light

And your lips as red as the red round cherry.

 

HAROUN

Now by the Prophet! by my great forefathers!

He rushes into the tower followed by Mesrour.

JAAFAR

May the devil fly away with Shaikh Ibrahim and drop him upon a hill of burning brimstone!

He follows the Caliph, who now appears with

Mesrour on the platform of the tower.

HAROUN

Ho, Jaafar, see this godly ceremony

Thou gav'st permission for, and these fair Faqeers.

 

JAAFAR

Shaikh Ibrahim has utterly deceived me.

 

HAROUN

The aged hypocrite! Who are this pair

Page – 134


Of heavenly faces? Was there then such beauty

In my Bagdad, yet Haroun's eyes defrauded

Of seeing it?

 

JAAFAR

The girl takes up the lute.

 

HAROUN

Now if she play and sing divinely, Jaafar,

You shall be hanged alone for your offence,

If badly, all you four shall swing together.

 

JAAFAR

I hope she will play vilely.

 

HAROUN

Wherefore, Jaafar?

 

JAAFAR

I ever loved good company, my lord,

And would not tread my final road alone.

 

HAROUN

No, when thou goest that road, my faithful servant,

Well do I hope that we shall walk together.

 

ANICE (within)

Song

King of my heart, wilt thou adore me,

Call me goddess, call me thine?

I too will bow myself before thee

As in a shrine.

Till we with mutual adoration

And holy earth-defeating passion

Do really grow divine.

 

Page – 135


HAROUN

The mighty Artist shows his delicate cunning

Utterly in this fair creature. I will talk

With the rare couple.

 

JAAFAR

Not in your own dread person,

Or fear will make them dumb.

 

HAROUN

I'll go disguised.

Are there not voices by the river, Jaafar?

Fishermen, I would wager. My commands

Are well obeyed in my Bagdad, O Vizier!

But I have seen too much beauty and cannot now

Remember to be angry. Come, descend.

As they descend, enter Kareem.

KAREEM

Here's a fine fat haul! O my jumpers! my little beauties! O your fine white bellies! What a joke, to catch the Caliph's own fish and sell them to him at thrice their value!

 

HAROUN

Who art thou?

 

KAREEM

O Lord, 'tis the Caliph himself! I am a dead fisherman. (falling flat) O Commander of the Faithful! Alas, I am an honest fisherman.

 

HAROUN

Dost thou lament thy honesty?

What fish hast thou?

 

KAREEM

Only a few whitebait and one or two minnows. Poor thin rogues, all of them! They are not fit for the Caliph's honourable stomach.

 

Page – 136


HAROUN

Show me thy basket, man.

Are these thy whitebait and thy two thin minnows?

 

KAREEM

Alas, sir, 'tis because I am honest.

 

HAROUN

Give me thy fish.

 

KAREEM

Here they are, here they are, my lord!

 

HAROUN

Out! the whole basket, fellow.

Do I eat live fish, you thrust them in my face?

And now exchange thy outer dress with me.

 

KAREEM

My dress? Well, you may have it; I am liberal as well as honest.

But 'tis a good gabardine; I pray you, be careful of it.

 

HAROUN

Woe to thee, fellow! What's this filthiness

Thou callst a garment?

 

KAREEM

O sir, when you have worn it ten days, the filth will come easy to you and, as one may say, natural. And 'tis honest filth; it will keep you warm in winter.

 

HAROUN

What, shall I wear thy gabardine so long?

 

KAREEM

Commander of the Faithful! since you are about to leave kingcraft and follow an honest living for the good of your soul,

 

Page – 137


you may wear worse than an honest fisherman's gabardine. 'Tis a good craft and an honourable.

 

HAROUN

Off with thee. In my dress thou'lt find a purse

Crammed full of golden pieces. It is thine.

 

KAREEM

Glory to Allah! This comes of being honest.

Exit.

JAAFAR (coming up)

Who's this? Ho, Kareem! wherefore here tonight?

The Caliph's in the garden. You'll be thrashed

And very soundly, fisher.

 

HAROUN

Jaafar, 'tis I.

 

JAAFAR

The Caliph!

 

HAROUN

Now to fry these fish and enter.

 

JAAFAR

Give them to me. I am a wondrous cook.

 

HAROUN

No, by the Prophet! My two lovely friends

Shall eat a Caliph's cookery tonight.

Exeunt.

 

Page – 138


Scene 4

 

Inside the Pavilion.

Nureddene, Anice, Shaikh Ibrahim.

 

NUREDDENE

Shaikh Ibrahim, verily, thou art drunk.

 

IBRAHIM

Alas, alas, my dear son, my own young friend! I am damned, verily, verily, I am damned. Ah, my sweet lovely young father! Ah, my pious learned white-bearded mother! That they could see their son now, their pretty little son! But they are in their graves; they are in their cold, cold, cold graves.

 

NUREDDENE

Oh, thou art most pathetically drunk. Sing, Anice.

 

OUTSIDE

Fish! fish! sweet fried fish!

 

ANICE

Fish! Shaikh Ibrahim, Shaikh Ibrahim! hearest thou? We have a craving for fish.

 

IBRAHIM

'Tis Satan in thy little stomach who calleth hungrily for sweet fried fish. Silence, thou preposterous devil!

 

ANICE

Fie, Shaikh, is my stomach outside me, under the window? Call him in.

 

Page – 139


IBRAHIM

Ho! ho! come in, Satan! come in, thou brimstone fisherman. Let us see thy long tail.

Enter Haroun.

ANICE

What fish have you, good fisherman?

 

HAROUN

I have very honest good fish, my sweet lady, and I have fried them for you with my own hand. These fish, —  why, all I can say of them is, they are fish. But they are well fried.

 

NUREDDENE

Set them on a plate. What wilt thou have for them?

 

HAROUN

Why, for such faces as you have, I will honestly ask nothing.

 

NUREDDENE

Then wilt thou dishonestly ask for a trifle more than they are worth. Swallow me these denars.

 

HAROUN

Now Allah give thee a beard! for thou art a generous youth.

 

ANICE

Fie, fisherman, what a losing blessing is this, to kill the thing for which thou blessest him! If Allah give him a beard, he will be no longer a youth, and for the generosity, it will be Allah's.

 

HAROUN

Art thou as witty as beautiful?

 

ANICE

By Allah, that am I. I tell thee very modestly that there is not my equal from China to Frangistan.

 

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HAROUN

Thou sayest no more than truth.

 

NUREDDENE

What is your name, fisherman?

 

HAROUN

I call myself Kareem and, in all honesty, when I fish, 'tis for the Caliph.

 

IBRAHIM

Who talks of the Caliph? Dost thou speak of the Caliph Haroun or the Caliph Ibrahim?

 

HAROUN

I speak of the Caliph, Haroun the Just, the great and only Caliph.

 

IBRAHIM

Oh, Haroun? He is fit only to be a gardener, a poor witless fellow without brains to dress himself with, yet Allah hath made him Caliph. While there are others —  but 'tis no use talking. A very profligate tyrant, this Haroun! He has debauched half the women in Bagdad and will debauch the other half, if they let him live. Besides, he cuts off a man's head when the nose on it does not please him. A very pestilence of a tyrant!

 

HAROUN

Now Allah save him!

 

IBRAHIM

Nay, let Allah save his soul if He will and if 'tis worth saving; but I fear me 'twill be a tough job for Allah. If it were not for my constant rebukes and admonitions and predications and pestrigiddi —  prestigidgidi —  what the plague! pestidigitations; and some slaps and cuffs, of which I pray you speak very low, he

 

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would be worse even than he is. Well, well, even Allah blunders; verily, verily!

 

ANICE

Wilt thou be Caliph, Shaikh Ibrahim?

 

IBRAHIM

Yes, my jewel, and thou shalt be my Zobeidah. And we will tipple, beauty, we will tipple.

 

HAROUN

And Haroun?

 

IBRAHIM

I will be generous and make him my under-kitchen-gardener's second vice-sub-under-assistant. I would gladly give him a higher post, but, verily, he is not fit.

 

HAROUN (laughing)

What an old treasonous rogue art thou, Shaikh Ibrahim!

 

IBRAHIM

What? who? Thou art not Satan, but Kareem the fisherman?

Didst thou say I was drunk, thou supplier of naughty houses?

Verily, I will tug thee by the beard, for thou liest. Verily, verily!

 

NUREDDENE

Shaikh Ibrahim! Shaikh Ibrahim!

 

IBRAHIM

Nay, if thou art the angel Gabriel and forbiddest me, let be; but

I hate lying and liars.

 

NUREDDENE

Fisherman, is thy need here over?

 

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HAROUN

I pray you, let me hear this young lady sing; for indeed 'twas the sweet voice of her made me fry fish for you.

 

NUREDDENE

Oblige the good fellow, Anice; he has a royal face for his fishing.

 

IBRAHIM

Sing! 'tis I will sing: there is no voice like mine in Bagdad. (sings)

 

When I was a young man,

I'd a very good plan;

Every maid that I met,

In my lap I would set,

What mattered her age or her colour?

But now I am old

And the girls, they grow cold

And my heartstrings, they ache

At the faces they make,

And my dancing is turned into dolour.

 

A very sweet song! a very sad song! Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. 'Tis just, 'tis just. Ah me! well-a-day! Verily, verily!

 

ANICE

I pray you, Shaikh Ibrahim, be quiet. I would sing.

 

IBRAHIM

Sing, my jewel, sing, my gazelle, sing, my lady of kisses. Verily, I would rise up and buss thee, could I but find my legs. I know not why they have taken them from me.

 

ANICE (sings)

Song

Heart of mine, O heart impatient,

Thou must learn to wait and weep.

 

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Wherefore wouldst thou go on beating

When I bade thee hush and sleep?

Thou who wert of life so fain,

Didst thou know not, life was pain?

 

HAROUN

O voice of angels! Who art thou, young man,

And who this sweet-voiced wonder? Let me hear;

Tell me thy story.

 

NUREDDENE

I am a man chastised

For my own errors, yet unjustly. Justice

I seek from the great Caliph. Leave us, fisherman.

 

HAROUN

Tell me thy story. Walk apart with me.

It may be I can help thee.

 

NUREDDENE

Leave us, I pray thee.

Thou, a poor fisherman!

 

HAROUN

I vow I'll help thee.

 

NUREDDENE

Art thou the Caliph?

 

HAROUN

If I were, by chance?

 

NUREDDENE

If thou art as pressing with the fish as me,

There's a good angler.

Exit with Haroun.

 

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ANICE

Will you not have some of this fish, Shaikh Ibrahim? 'Tis a sweet fish.

 

IBRAHIM

Indeed thou art a sweet fish, but somewhat overdone. Thou hast four lovely eyes and two noses wonderfully fine with just the right little curve at the end; 'tis a hook to hang my heart upon. But, verily, there are two of them and I know not what to do with the other; I have only one heart, beauty. O Allah, Thou hast darkened my brain with wine, and wilt Thou damn me afterwards?

 

ANICE

Nay, if thou wilt misuse my nose for a peg, I have done with thee. My heart misgives me strangely.

Enter Nureddene.

NUREDDENE

He's writing out a letter.

 

ANICE

Surely, my lord,

This is no ordinary fisherman.

If 'twere the Caliph?

 

NUREDDENE

The old drunkard knew him

For Kareem and a fisherman. Dear Anice,

Let not our dreams delude us. Life is harsh,

Dull-tinted, not so kindly as our wishes,

Nor half so beautiful.

Enter Haroun.

HAROUN

He is not fit

To be a King.

 

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NUREDDENE

Nor ever was. 'Tis late.

 

HAROUN

Giv'st thou no gift at parting?

 

NUREDDENE

You're a fisher! (opens his purse)

 

HAROUN

Nothing more valuable?

 

ANICE

Wilt take this ring?

 

HAROUN

No; give me what I ask.

 

NUREDDENE

Yes, by the Prophet,

Because thou hast a face.

 

HAROUN

Give me thy slave-girl.

There is a silence.

NUREDDENE

Thou hast entrapped me, fisherman.

 

ANICE

Is it a jest?

 

HAROUN

Thou sworest by the Prophet, youth.

 

NUREDDENE

Tell me,

 

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Is it for ransom? I have nothing left

In all the world but her and these few pieces.

 

HAROUN

She pleases me.

 

ANICE

O wretch!

 

NUREDDENE

Another time

I would have slain thee. But now I feel 'tis God

Has snared my feet with dire calamities,

And have no courage.

 

HAROUN

Dost thou give her to me?

 

NUREDDENE

Take her, if Heaven will let thee. Angel of God,

Avenging angel, wert thou lying in wait for me

In Bagdad?

 

ANICE

Leave me not, O leave me not.

It is a jest, it must, it shall be a jest.

God will not suffer it.

 

HAROUN

I mean thee well.

 

ANICE

Thy doing's damnable. O man, O man,

Art thou a devil straight from Hell, or art thou

A tool of Almuene's to torture us?

Will you leave me, my lord, and never kiss?

 

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NUREDDENE

Thou art his; I cannot touch thee.

 

HAROUN

Kiss her once.

 

NUREDDENE

Tempt me not; if my lips grow near to hers,

Thou canst not live. Farewell.

 

HAROUN

Where art thou bound?

 

NUREDDENE

To Bassora.

 

HAROUN

That is, to death?

 

NUREDDENE

Even so.

 

HAROUN

Yet take this letter with thee to the Sultan.

 

NUREDDENE

Man, what have I to do with thee or letters?

 

HAROUN

Hear me, fair youth. Thy love is sacred to me

And will be safe as in her father's house.

Take thou this letter. Though I seem a fisherman,

I was the Caliph's friend and schoolfellow,

His cousin of Bassora's too, and it may help thee.

 

NUREDDENE

I know not who thou art, nor if this scrap

 

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Of paper has the power thou babblest of,

And do not greatly care. Life without her

Is not to be thought of. Yet thou giv'st me something

I'ld once have dared call hope. She will be safe?

 

HAROUN

As my own child, or as the Caliph's.

 

NUREDDENE

I'll go play

At pitch and toss with death in Bassora.

Exit.

IBRAHIM

Kareem, thou evil fisherman, thou unjust seller, thou dishonest dicer, thou beastly womanizer! hast thou given me stinking fish not worth a dirham and thinkest to take away my slave-girl? Verily, I will tug thy beard for her.

He seizes Haroun by the beard.

HAROUN (throwing him off )

Out! Hither to me, Vizier Jaafar. (Enter Jaafar.) Hast thou my robe?

He changes his dress.

JAAFAR

How dost thou, Shaikh Ibrahim? Fie, thou smellest of that evil thing, even the accursed creature, wine.

 

IBRAHIM

O Satan, Satan, dost thou come to me in the guise of Jaafar, the Persian, the Shiah, the accursed favourer of Gnosticism and heresies, the evil and bibulous Vizier? Avaunt, and return not save with a less damnable face. O thou inconsiderate fiend!

 

HAROUN

Damsel, lift up thy head. I am the Caliph.

 

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ANICE

What does it matter who you are? My heart, my heart!

 

HAROUN

Thou art bewildered. Rise! I am the Caliph

Men call the Just. Thou art as safe with me

As my own daughter. I have sent thy lord

To be a king in Bassora, and thee

I will send after him with precious robes,

Fair slave-girls, noble gifts. Possess thy heart

Once more, be glad.

 

ANICE

O just and mighty Caliph!

 

HAROUN

Shaikh Ibrahim.

 

IBRAHIM

Verily, I think thou art the Caliph, and, verily, I think I am drunk.

 

HAROUN

Verily, thou  hast told the truth twice, and it is a wonder. But verily, verily, thou shalt be punished. Thou hast been kind to the boy and his sweetheart, therefore I will not take from thee thy life or thy post in the gardens, and I will forgive thee for  tugging the beard of the Lord's anointed. But thy hypocrisies and blasphemies are too rank to be forgiven. Jaafar, have a man with him constantly and wine before his eyes; but if he drink so much as a thimbleful, let it be poured by gallons into his stomach. Have in beautiful women constantly before him and if he once raise his eyes above their anklets, shave him clean and sell him into the most severe and Puritan house in Bagdad. Nay, I will reform thee, old sinner.

 

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IBRAHIM

Oh, her lips! her sweet lips!

 

JAAFAR

You speak to a drunken man, my lord.

 

HAROUN

Tomorrow bring him before me when he's sober.

Exeunt.

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