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A play by Lord Dunsany |
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The Compromise Of The King Of The Golden Isles |
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Title: The Compromise Of The King Of The Golden Isles Author: Lord Dunsany [More Titles by Dunsany] DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE KING'S POLITICIAN. THE KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. [Enter the SEEKER. He abases himself.] SEEKER. KING. SEEKER. KING. SEEKER. [The KING takes it. The SEEKER goes towards the door.] SEEKER. [Exit SEEKER.] KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. POLITICIAN. KING. [The DOOM-BEARER bows and takes the spear on the flat of both his hands. The shaft is all black, but the head is of white ivory. It is blunt and clearly ceremonial. Exit.] [To POLITICIAN.] Thus we shall be safe from the wrath of the Emperor, and the holy place of my Court will not be violate. POLITICIAN. KING. [A HERALD marches in and blows his trumpet.] HERALD. [Enter the AMBASSADOR. He bows to the King from his place near the door.] KING. AMBASSADOR. [AMBASSADOR and his men bow] who reigns in Eng-Bathai, the reward of obedience to his edict, a goblet of inestimable wine. [He signs and there enters a page bearing a goblet of glass. He has a pretty complexion and yellow hair falling as low as his chin and curling inwards. He wears a cerise belt round his tunic exactly matching the wine in the goblet he carries.] He prays you drink it, and to know that it was made by vintners whose skill is lost, and stored in secret cellars over a hundred years; and that the vineyards whence it came have been long since whelmed by war, and only live now in legend and this wine. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. [He signs and it is brought on by a bent and ugly dwarf] and wishes you farewell. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. [He throws the liquid out of the goblet through the doorway on to the marble. A great steam goes up.] KING. Neither have I ordered that his head be sent back to Eng-Bathai. AMBASSADOR. [He pours it away.] KING. AMBASSADOR. [He signs. Enter a massive NUBIAN with two cups.] The Emperor bids you drink one of these cups. [The huge NUBIAN moves up close to the KING holding up the two cups on a tray.] [The POLITICIAN slinks off. Exit L.] KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING How wonderfully they have the look of wine. AMBASSADOR. [He glances towards the spot where he threw the other.] KING. And the other? AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. KING They shall discern. The priests shall make for me this dreadful choice. They shall burn herbs and discern it. (_To_ AMBASSADOR.) AMBASSADOR. [Enter L. two priests of the Order of the Sun. Two acolytes follow. One carries a tripod and the other a gong.] [The priests abase themselves and the acolytes bow. The AMBASSADOR stands with almost Mongolian calm by the door from which he has not moved since he entered.] [The impassive NUBIAN stands motionless near the KING, holding up the cups on a tray.] KING. FIRST PRIEST. [The calm of the AMBASSADOR and the impassivity of the NUBIAN grow ominous. The two priests hang over the tripod. They cast herbs upon it. They pass their hands over it. The herbs begin to smoulder. A smoke goes up. The priests bend over the smoke. Presently they step back from it.]
KING. They sleep! FIRST PRIEST. KING. [The second acolyte moves nearer to the tripod and beats listlessly on his great gong at about the pace of a great clock striking slowly.] FIRST PRIEST. [They heap up more herbs and spices. The smoke grows thicker and thicker. It streams upwards. They hover about it as before. At a sign the gong ceases.] The gods have spoken. KING. FIRST PRIEST. KING. [He seizes the cup boldly. He looks straight at the AMBASSADOR, whose face remains expressionless, merely watching. He lifts the cup upon the Nubian's left a little up from the tray.] [He glances towards the priests.] [Suddenly he starts. He has seen a strange expression upon the face of the priest. He puts the cup down. He strides a step nearer and looks at his face.] PRIEST!--Priest!---- What is that look in your eyes? FIRST PRIEST. [The KING continues to search out his face.] KING. FIRST PRIEST. KING. [The KING steps back to his place in the front of his throne where the Nubian stands beside him. He takes the cup upon the Nubian's right. He gazes at the priest. He looks round at the Ambassador, but sees nothing in that watchful, expressionless face.] [He glances sidelong at the priest, then drinks, draining the cup at some length. He puts it down in silence. The face of the Ambassador and the whole bulk of the Nubian remain motionless.] KING. AMBASSADOR. KING. [There are weird whistles. Two dark men run on in loin clothes.] Ask these two priests the Seven Questions. [The QUESTIONERS run nimbly up to the two priests and lead them away by the arm.] THE TWO ACOLYTES. [They show extreme horror. The AMBASSADOR bows to the King.] KING. AMBASSADOR. [He bows and walks away. The HERALD marches out, then the AMBASSADOR; the PAGE, the DWARF and the NUBIAN follow.] [Exeunt.] [The HERALD is heard blowing upon his trumpet the same notes as when he entered, one merry bar of music.] [The tray and two precious cups, one empty and the other full, are left glittering near the KING.] KING Those are rare emeralds that glisten there! Yet an evil gift. (To the moaning acolytes.) Be silent! Your priests sinned strangely. [The acolytes continue to moan.] [Enter one of the QUESTIONERS. He has sweat on his face and his hair has become damp and unkempt.] QUESTIONER. KING. QUESTIONER. KING. QUESTIONER. KING. QUESTIONERS. KING. QUESTIONER. KING. [The acolytes break out into renewed moaning.] QUESTIONER. [Exit QUESTIONER. The acolytes moan on.] KING. (The acolytes only answer by moans.) (The acolytes only answer by moans.) (To acolytes.) (The acolytes only moan.) (The acolytes moan on.) (To himself). [Enter the QUESTIONERS.] FIRST QUESTIONER. [The acolytes suddenly cease moaning.] KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING. SECOND QUESTIONER. KING. FIRST QUESTIONER. KING SECOND QUESTIONER. KING. [Exeunt QUESTIONERS.] So ... It _was_ the gods. [The acolytes are crouched upon the floor. He does not notice them since they ceased to moan.] The gods! With what dark and dreadful thing have they clouded the future? Well, I will face it! But what is it? Is it one of those things a strong man can bear? Or is it----? The future is more terrible than the grave, that has its one secret only. No man, he said, could say that the gods had advised me ill when they bade me drink out of a poisoned cup. What have the gods seen? What dreadful work have they overlooked where Destiny sits alone, making evil years? The gods, he said, who alone see future things. Yes, I have known men who never were warned by the gods, and did not drink poison, and came upon evil days, suddenly like a ship upon rocks no mariner knows. Yes, poison to some of _them_ would have been very precious. The gods have warned me and I have not hearkened, and must go on alone: must enter that strange country of the future whose paths are so dark to man ... to meet a doom there that the gods have seen. The gods have seen it! How shall I thwart the gods? How fight against the shapers of the hills? Would that I had been warned. Would I had heeded when they bade me drink of the cup the Ambassador said was poisoned. [Far off is heard that merry bar of music blown by the AMBASSADOR'S HERALD on his horn.] _Is it too late?_ There it stands yet with its green emeralds winking. [He clutches it and looks down into it.] How like to wine it is, which is full of dreams. It is silent and dreamy like the gods, whose dreams we are. Only a moment in their deathless minds: then the dream passes. [He lifts up his arm and drinks it seated upon his throne with his head back and the great cup before his face. The audience begin to wonder when he will put it down. Still he remains in the attitude of a drinker. The acolytes begin to peer eagerly. Still he remains upright with the great cup to his lips. The acolytes patter away and the KING is left alone.] [Enter the KING'S POLITICIAN hurriedly. He goes up to the KING and seizes his right arm and tries to drag the cup away from his lips, but the KING is rigid and his arm cannot be moved. He steps back lifting up his hands.] POLITICIAN. [Exit. You hear him announcing solemnly] King Hamaran ... is dead! [A murmur is heard of men, at first mournful. It grows louder and louder and then breaks into these clear words.] Zarabardes is King! Zarabardes is King! Rejoice! Rejoice! Zarabardes is King! Zarabardes! Zarabardes! Zarabardes!
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