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 V

Bassora and Bagdad.

Scene 1

A room in Almuene's house.

Almuene, Fareed.

 

FAREED

You'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?

 

ALMUENE

Go; I'm out of temper.

 

FAREED (dancing round him)

Give money, money, money, give me money.

 

ALMUENE

You boil, do you too grow upon me? There. (strikes him)

 

FAREED

You 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.

 

ALMUENE

What's this?

 

KHATOON

This 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.

SLAVE

Oh, sir, almost before it touched his throat,

He fell in fierce convulsions. He is dead.

 

ALMUENE

Fareed!

 

FAREED

You'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


Scene 2

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.

 

ALMUENE

Come, you're my nephew too.

 

VOICE OUTSIDE

Ho, Mohamad Alzayni, Sultan, ho!

 

ALZAYNI

Who is that Arab?

 

ALMUENE (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


Scene 3

 

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.

 

SLAVE

I'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 SLAVE

Young 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


Scene 4

 

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


Scene 5

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


Scene 6

 

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.

 

EXECUTIONER

Captain, 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,

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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

 

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Scene 7

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.

 

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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

 

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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.

 

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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

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