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

 

 

The Prince of Mathura

 

AJAMEDE, Prince of Mathura, a fugitive in the mountains.

INDRADYUMNA, his friend and comrade.

ATRY, King of Mathura, by the help of the Scythians.

TORAMAN, Prince of Cashmere, son of the Scythian overlord of the North-West.

CANACA, a Brahmin, his court jester.

HOOSHKA, captain of the Scythian bodyguard.

MAYOOR, Atry's general and minister.

INDRANY, Queen of Mathura.

URMILA, Princess of Mathura, daughter of Atry and Indrany.

LILA, daughter of Hooshka.

 


Act I

 

Scene 1

Mathura. A room in the Palace.

Atry, Indrany.

 

ATRY

However hard it be, however gross

The undisguised compulsion, none can stay

Compulsion by impracticable revolt,

Indrany. Deeper, viler the disgrace

If by rebellion we invite constraint

Naked, contemptuous, to a slave subdued.

The reed that bows to the insistent wind

Is wiser than the trunk which the cyclone

Indignantly uproots. To force we yield,

But to a force disguised in courtly forms.

That's better than to yield beneath the scourge.

 

INDRANY

There's a defeat more noble, not to yield,

Even though we break. And break, I know, we must,

But to live fouled for ever, vilely robed

In a soiled purple, marked out to all the world

For laughter by the puppet's tinsel crown,

That is disgrace indeed.

 

ATRY

We hold this realm

Because the northern Scythian helps our sword.

 

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INDRANY

By princely compromise, alliance high,

Not yet by purchase or a social stain.

 

ATRY

Our child will be an empress.

INDRANY

And outcaste.

ATRY

There have been many nuptials mixed like these,

Of which world-famous emperors were born.

 

INDRANY

Yes, but we took, not gave, were lords, not slaves.

As ransom of his fate the conquered Greek

To Indian Chandragupta gave his child,

Knowing a son by her could never rule.

 

ATRY

There is no bar. The Scythian weds with all

And makes impartial Time the arbiter

Whether a native or a foreign womb

Shall be the shelterer of his empire's heir.

 

INDRANY

This honour's purchased at too vile a cost.

ATRY

There is no help. If we deny our girl,

He'll have her violently, make her his slave

And not his wife.

 

INDRANY

Do this then, seem to yield,

But send her to your fortress on the hills,

 

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Whence let one take her with a show of force,

Whoever's noblest now of Aryan lords

In Magadha, Avanty or the South,

Fit mate for Atry's stock. Twixt him be strife

And the Cashmerian, we escape his wrath.

 

ATRY

It shall be so. I'll choose a trusty man

Who shall to Magadha before the morn.

Meanwhile prepare your daughter for the hills.

Indrany goes out joyfully.

It is not good. The man will learn the trick,

A fierce barbarian, rapid as the storm,

Violent, vindictive, stamping on the world

Like a swift warhorse, neighing to the winds

With nostrils wide for any scent of war,

For men to kill, lands to lay desolate,

Haughty and keen amid his violence

With the king's eye that reads the minds of men, —

Such is the man she counsels me to tempt

By palpable evasion. I will send

Urmila to my fortress on the hills.

But he, not Magadha, shall take her forth

By secret nuptials. He is honourable

Though violent, a statesman though too proud.

The prejudices of our race and day

Must yield to more commanding thoughts and views

That suit the changing times. Custom is mutable,

Only the breach of it is dangerous

If too impetuously we innovate. It's best

To circumvent opinion, not provoke.

Who's there? Call Mayoor!

The King's first task is to preserve his realm,

Means honourable or dishonourable

Are only means to use impartially,

The most effective first.

Mayoor enters.

 

Page – 933


Mayoor, you know

The motion made by the Cashmerian's son

To wed my daughter.

 

MAYOOR

We have spoken of it

Already.

 

ATRY

You are still of the same mind?

You think my subjects will revolt?

 

MAYOOR

It's sure.

ATRY

The Scythian sword can keep them hushed and still.

MAYOOR

And you its slave and pensioner, impotent.

ATRY

Then do it thus. The thing is secret still.

Let it remain so. Let Prince Toraman

Wed Urmila in secret in the hills

As if herself had yielded to his suit,

Not my consent. Against whom then, Mayoor,

Shall Mathura revolt?

 

MAYOOR

It may be done.

But will the Scythian's pride assent, or if

The bond is secret, will he own the bond?

 

ATRY

He shall, he must. To break by any means

The bar of pride that lowers him beneath

 

Page – 934


The lowest of his Aryan tributaries,

He will consent to much. And for the bond

He shall engage his honour, then possess.

Yourself go to him, Mayoor, where he's camped.

Persuade him. Let an escort start at once

With Urmila to Roondhra in the hills.

I trust you, Mayoor, for entire success.

My crown, my honour are upon this cast.

 

MAYOOR

Your crown is safe with me; your honour, King,

I'll save.

 

ATRY

Always few words were yours, Mayoor,

But each one solid gold.

He goes out.

MAYOOR

To cheat you's best

Of the dishonour to which you aspire

And for the crown, it's safer in my hands

Than Toraman's, the Scythian giant, bold,

Subtle and violent, who spreads his toils

Over all India, helping force with guile

And guile with force.

Enter Mekhala.

MEKHALA

He is alone. Hear you,

Mayoor!

 

MAYOOR

It's from the queen?

MEKHALA

Read it and see.

 

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MAYOOR

Tell her my word is pledged and Urmila

Saved from the Scythian wedlock.

 

MEKHALA

And that means

You'll do it?

 

MAYOOR

She shall not wed Toraman.

Mekhala goes out.

This is another coil. The King, it seems,

Deceives his people and deceives his queen.

She trusts him not, nor they. A lying King

Tortuous and serpentine in policy,

Loses as much by the distrust he breeds

As all his shufflings gain. I'll write to Magadha

In other terms than Queen Indrany dreams.

I will send out my messengers at once.

One first to Ajamede, the lion dispossessed,

Where in the hills of Roondhra now he lairs.

Another to the mighty Magadhan

Who gathers up his strength to free the land

From the barbarian's tread. Myself shall go

To Toraman and meet the Scythian will.

The end shall be as God long since decreed.

 

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