Books: If
L >>
Lord Dunsany >> If
Well, if it did you've never met her, so you
needn't go into mourning for an elderly lady
that you don't know; not yet, anyway.
JOHN BEAL
No, of course not. You're laughing at me,
ARCHIE. But for the moment I took you
seriously. Of course, she won't come. One
can go into a thing closely without doing it
absolutely literally. But, good Lord, wouldn't
it be an awful situation if she did.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, I don't know.
JOHN BEAL
All alone with me here? No, impossible.
And the country isn't civilised.
ARCHIE BEAL.
Women aren't civilised.
JOHN BEAL
Women aren't . . .? Good Lord, ARCHIE,
what an awful remark. What do you mean?
ARCHIE BEAL
We're tame, they're wild. We like all the
dull things and the quiet things, they like
all the romantic things and the dangerous
things.
JOHN BEAL
Why, ARCHIE, it's just the other way about.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, yes; we do all the romantic things, and
all the dangerous things. But why?
JOHN BEAL
Why? Because we like them, I suppose.
I can't think of any other reason.
ARCHIE BEAL
I hate danger. Don't you?
JOHN BEAL
Er--well, yes, I suppose I do, really.
ARCHIE BEAL
Of course you do. We all do. It's the
women that put us up to it. She's putting
you up to this. And the more she puts you
up to the more likely is Hussein to get it in his
fat neck.
JOHN BEAL
But--but you don't mean you'd hurt
Hussein? Not--not badly, I mean.
ARCHIE BEAL
We're under her orders, Johnny. See what
she says.
JOHN BEAL
You, you don't really think she'll come
here?
ARCHIE BEAL
Of course I do, and the best thing too.
It's her show; she ought to come.
JOHN BEAL
But, but you don't understand. She's
just a young girl, A girl like Miss Miralda
couldn't come out here over the pass and
down these mountains, she'd never stand it,
and as for the chaperon . . . You've
never met Miss Miralda.
ARCHIE BEAL
No, Johnny. But the girl that was able to
get you to go from Bromley to this place can
look after herself.
JOHN BEAL
I don't see what that's got to do with it.
She was in trouble and I had to help her.
ARCHIE BEAL
Yes, and she'll be in trouble all the way
here from Blackheath, and everyone will have
to help her.
JOHN BEAL
What beats me is how you can have the
very faintest inkling of what she's like
without ever having seen her and without my
having spoken of her to you for more than a
minute.
ARCHIE BEAL
Well, Johnny, you're not a romantic bird,
you're not a traveller by nature, barring your
one trip to Eastbourne, and it was I that took
you there. And contrariwise, as they say in
a book you've never read, you're a
levelheaded business man and a hardworking
respectable stay-at-home. You meet a girl
in a train, and the next time I see you you're
in a place that isn't marked on the map and
telling it what gods it ought to worship and
what gods it ought to have agnosticism about.
Well, I say some girl.
JOHN BEAL
Well, I must say you make the most
extraordinary deductions, but it was awfully good
of you to come, and I ought to be grateful;
and I am, too, I'm awfully grateful; and I
ought to let you talk all the rot you like. Go
ahead. You shall say what you like and do
what you like. It isn't many brothers that
would do what you've done.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, that's nothing. I like this country.
I'm glad I came. And if I can help you with
Hussein, why all the better.
JOHN BEAL
It's an awful country, Archie, but we've
got to see this through.
ARCHIE BEAL
Does she know all about Hussein?
JOHN BEAL
Yes, everything. I've written fully.
OMAR [Off]
Al Shaldomir, Al Shaldomir,
The nightingales that guard thy ways . . .
JOHN BEAL [shouting|
O, go away, go away. [To ARCHIE.] I said
it was an awful country. They sit down
outside one's tent and do that kind of thing for
no earthly reason.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, I'd let them sing.
JOHN BEAL
O, you can't have people doing that kind of
thing.
OMAR [in doorway]
Master, I go.
JOHN BEAL
But why do you come?
OMAR
I came to sing a joyous song to you, master.
JOHN BEAL
Why did you want to sing me a joyous
song?
OMAR
Because a lady is riding out of the West.
[Exit.]
JOHN BEAL
A lady out of . . . Good Lord!
ARCHIE BEAL
She's coming, Johnny.
JOHN BEAL
Coming? Good Lord, no, Archie. He said
a lady; there'd be the chaperon too. There'd
be two of them if it was Miss Miralda. But
he said a lady. One lady. It can't be her.
A girl like that alone in Al Shaldomir. Clean
off the map. Oh, no, it isn't possible.
ARCHIE BEAL
I wouldn't worry.
JOHN BEAL
Wouldn't worry? But, good Lord, the
situation's impossible. People would talk.
Don't you see what people would say? And
where could they go? Who would look after
them? Do try and understand how awful
it is. But it isn't. It's impossible. It can't
be them. For heaven's sake run out and see
if it is; and (good Lord!) I haven't brushed
my hair all day, and, and--oh, look at me.
[He rushes to camp mirror. Exit
ARCHIE.
JOHN BEAL tidies up desperately.
Enter ARCHIE.]
ARCHIE BEAL
It's what you call THEM.
JOHN BEAL
What I call THEM? Whatever do you
mean?
ARCHIE BEAL
Well, it's her. She's just like what you said.
JOHN BEAL
But it can't be. She doesn't ride. She can
never have been able to afford a horse.
ARCHIE BEAL
She's on a camel. She'll be here in a
moment. [He goes to door.] Hurry up with that
hair; she's dismounted.
JOHN BEAL
O, Lord! What's the chaperon like?
ARCHIE BEAL
O, she's attending to that herself.
JOHN BEAL
Attending to it herself? What do you
mean?
ARCHIE BEAL
I expect she'll attend to most things.
[Enter HAFIZ EL ALCOLAHN in doorway
of tent, pulling back flap a little.]
JOHN BEAL
Who are you?
HAFIZ
I show the gracious lady to your tent.
[Enter MIRALDA CLEMENT, throwing
a smile to HAFIZ.]
MIRALDA
Hullo, Mr. Beal.
JOHN BEAL
Er--er--how do you do?
[She looks at ARCHIE.]
O, this is my brother--Miss Clement.
MIRANDA and ARCHIE BEAL
How do you do?
MIRALDA
I like this country.
JOHN BEAL
I'm afraid I hardly expected you.
MIRALDA
Didn't you?
JOHN BEAL
No. You see er--it's such a long way.
And wasn't it very expensive?
MIRALDA
Well, the captain of the ship was very kind
to me.
JOHN BEAL
O! But what did you do when you landed?
MIRALDA
O, there were some Arabs coming this way
in a caravan. They were really very good to
me too.
JOHN BEAL
But the camel?
MIRALDA
O, there were some people the other side of
the mountains. Everybody has been very
kind about it. And then there was the man
who showed me here. He's called Hafiz el
Alcolahn. It's a nice name, don't you think?
JOHN BEAL
But, you know, this country, Miss
Clement, I'm half afraid it's hardly--isn't it,
Archie? Er--how long did you think of
staying?
MIRALDA
O, a week or so.
JOHN BEAL
I don't know what you'll think of Al
Shaldomir. I'm afraid you'll find it . . .
MIRALDA
Oh, I like it. Just that hollow in the
mountains, and the one pass, and no record of it
anywhere. I like that. I think it's lovely.
JOHN BEAL
You see, I'm afraid--what I mean is I'm
afraid the place isn't even on the map!
MIRALDA
O, that's lovely of it.
JOHN BEAL
All decent places are.
MIRALDA
You mean if a place is on the map we've
got to behave accordingly. But if not, why . . .
JOHN BEAL
Hussein won't pay.
MIRALDA
Let's see Hussein.
JOHN BEAL
I'm afraid he's rather, he's rather a
savage-looking brigand.
MIRALDA
Never mind.
[ARCHIE is quietly listening and smiling
sometimes.
Enter DAOUD. He goes up to the
unholy heap and takes away two large idols,
one under each arm. Exit.]
What's that, Mr. Beal?
JOHN BEAL
O, that. I'm afraid it's rather horrible.
I told you it was an awful country. They
pray to these idols here, and some are all
right, though of course it's terribly
blasphemous, but that heap, well, I'm afraid, well
that heap is very bad indeed.
MIRALDA
What do they do?
JOHN BEAL
They kill people.
MIRALDA
Do they? How?
JOHN BEAL
I'm afraid they pour their blood down those
horrible throats.
MIRALDA
Do they? How do you know?
JOHN BEAL
I've seen them do it, and those mouths
are all rusty. But it's all right now. It
won't happen any more.
MIRALDA
Won't it? Why not?
JOHN BEAL
Well, I . . .
ARCHIE BEAL
He's stopped them, Miss Clement. They're
all going to be thrown into the river.
MIRALDA
Have you?
JOHN BEAL
Well, yes. I had to. So it's all right now.
They won't do it any more.
MIRALDA
H'm.
JOHN BEAL
What, what is it? I promise you that's all
right. They won't do that any more.
MIRALDA
H'm. I've never known anyone that tried
to govern a country or anything of that sort,
but . . .
JOHN BEAL
Of course, I'm just doing what I can to put
them right.. . . I'd be very glad of your
advice. . . Of course, I'm only here in
your name.
MIRALDA
What I mean is that I'd always thought
that the one thing you shouldn't do, if you
don't mind my saying so. . .
JOHN BEAL
No, certainly.
MIRALDA
Was to interfere in people's
religious beliefs.
JOHN BEAL
But, but I don't think you quite
understand. The priests knife these people in the
throat, boys and girls, and then acolytes
lift them up and the blood runs down. I've
seen them.
MIRALDA
I think it's best to leave religion to the
priests. They understand that kind of thing.
[JOHN BEAL opens his mouth in horror
and looks at ARCHIE. ARCHIE returns
the glance; there is very nearly a twinkle in
ARCHIE's eyes.]
MIRALDA
Let's see Hussein.
JOHN BEAL
What do you think, Archie?
ARCHIE BEAL
Poor fellow. We'd better send for him.
MIRALDA
Why do you say "poor fellow"?
ARCHIE BEAL
Oh, because he's so much in debt. It's
awful to be in debt. I'd sooner almost
anything happened to me than to owe a lot of
money.
MIRALDA
Your remark didn't sound very
complimentary.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, I only meant that I'd hate to be in debt.
And I should hate owing money to you,
Because . . .
MIRALDA
Why?
ARCHIE BEAL
Because I should so awfully want to pay it.
MIRALDA
I see.
ARCHIE BEAL
That's all I meant.
MIRALDA
Does Hussein awfully want to pay it?
ARCHIE BEAL
Well, no. But he hasn't seen you yet. He
will then, of course.
[Enter DAOUD. He goes to the unholy
heap.]
JOHN BEAL
Daoud, for the present these gods must
stay. Aho-oomlah's gone, but the rest must
stay for the present.
DAOUD
Even so, great master.
JOHN BEAL
Daoud, go once more to the palace of the
Lord of the Pass and beat the outer door.
Say that the great lady herself would see him.
The great lady, Miss Clement, the white
traveller's heiress.
DAOUD
Yes, master.
JOHN BEAL
Hasten.
[Exit DAOUD.]
I have sent him for Hussein.
MIRALDA
I don't know their language.
JOHN BEAL
You will see him, and I'll tell you what he
says.
MIRALDA [to ARCHIE]
Have you been here long?
ARCHIE BEAL
No. I think he wrote to me by the same
mail as he wrote to you (if they have mails
here). I came at once.
MIRALDA
So did I; but you weren't on the Empress
of Switzerland.
ARCHIE BEAL
No, I came round more by land.
JOHN BEAL
You know, I hardly like bringing Hussein
in here to see you. He's such a--he's rather
a . . .
MIRALDA
What's the matter with him?
JOHN BEAL
Well, he's rather of the brigand type, and
one doesn't know what he'll do.
MIRALDA
Well, we must see him first and hear what
he has to say before we take any steps.
JOHN BEAL
But what do you propose to do?
MIRALDA
Why, if he pays me everything he owes, or
gives up the security . . .
JOHN BEAL
The security is the pass.
MIRALDA
Yes. If he gives up that or pays . . .
JOHN BEAL
You know he's practically king of the
whole country. It seems rather cheek almost
my sending for him like this.
MIRALDA
He must come.
JOHN BEAL
But what are you going to do?
MIRALDA
If he gives up the pass . . .
JOHN BEAL
Why, if he gives up the pass you'd be
you'd be a kind of queen of it all.
MIRALDA
Well, if he does that, all right. . .
JOHN BEAL
But what if he doesn't?
MIRALDA
Why, if he doesn't pay . . .
HUSSEIN [off]
I am here.
JOHN BEAL
Be seen.
[Enter HUSSEIN.]
HUSSEIN
Greeting once more.
JOHN BEAL
Again greeting.... The great lady,
Miss Clement, is here.
[HUSSEIN and MIRALDA look at each
other.]
You will pay to Miss Clement and not to
your god of bronze. On the word of an
Englishman, your god of bronze shall not have
one gold piece that belongs to the great lady!
HUSSEIN [looking contemptuous]
On the word of the Lord of the Pass, I only
pay to Hinnard.
[He stands smiling while MIRALDA
regards him. Exit.]
ARCHIE BEAL
Well?
JOHN BEAL
He won't pay.
ARCHIE BEAL
What are we to do now?
JOHN BEAL [to MIRALDA]
I'm afraid he's rather an ugly customer to
introduce you to like that. I'm sorry he came
now.
MIRALDA
O, I like him, I think he looks splendid.
ARCHIE BEAL
Well, what are we to do?
JOHN BEAL
Yes.
ARCHIE BEAL
What do you say, Miss Clement?
JOHN BEAL
Yes, what do you feel we ought to do?
MIRALDA
Well, perhaps I ought to leave all that to
you.
ARCHIE BEAL
O, no.
JOHN BEAL
No, it's your money. What do you think
we really ought to do?
MIRALDA
Well, of course, I think you ought to kill
Hussein.
[JOHN BEAL and ARCHIE BEAL look
at each other a little startled.]
JOHN BEAL
But wouldn't that--wouldn't that
be--murder?
MIRALDA
O, yes, according to the English law.
JOHN BEAL
I see; you mean--you mean we're not--but
we are English.
MIRALDA
I mean it wouldn't be murder--by your
law, unless you made it so.
JOHN BEAL
By my law?
MIRALDA
Yes, if you can interfere with their religion
like this, and none of them say a word,
why--you can make any laws you like.
JOHN BEAL
But Hussein is king here; he is Lord of the
Pass, and that's everything here. I'm nobody.
MIRALDA
O, if you like to be nobody, of course that's
different.
ARCHIE BEAL
I think she means that if Hussein weren't
there there'd be only you. Of course, I don't
know. I've only just come.
JOHN BEAL
But we can't kill Hussein!
[MIRALDA begins to cry.]
O Lord! Good heavens! Please, Miss
Clement! I'm awfully sorry if I've said
anything you didn't like. I wouldn't do that for
worlds. I'm awfully sorry. It's a beastly
country, I know. I'm really sorry you came.
I feel it's all my fault. I'm really awfully
sorry. . .
MIRALDA
Never mind. Never mind. I was so
helpless, and I asked you to help me. I never
ought to have done it. I oughtn't to have
spoken to you at all in that train without
being introduced; but I was so helpless. And
now, and now, I haven't a penny in the world,
and, O, I don't know what to do.
ARCHIE BEAL
We'll do anything for you, Miss Clement.
JOHN BEAL
Anything in the wide world. Please, please
don't cry. We'll do anything.
MIRALDA
I . . . I only, I only wanted to--to kill
Hussein. But never mind, it doesn't matter
now.
JOHN BEAL
We'll do it, Miss Clement, won't we,
Archie? Only don't cry. We'll do it. I--I
suppose he deserves it, doesn't he?
ARCHIE BEAL
Yes, I suppose he does.
JOHN BEAL
Well, all right, Miss Clement, that's settled.
My brother and I will talk it over.
MIRALDA [still sniping]
And--and--don't hang him or anything--he
looks so fine.... I--I wouldn't like
him treated like that. He has such a grand
beard. He ought to die fighting.
JOHN BEAL
We'll see what we can do, Miss Clement.
MIRALDA
It is sweet of you. It's really sweet. It's
sweet of both of you. I don't know what I d
have done without you. I seemed to know
it that day the moment I saw you.
JOHN BEAL
O, it's nothing, Miss Clement, nothing at
all.
ARCHIE BEAL
That's all right.
MIRALDA
Well, now I'll have to look for an hotel.
JOHN BEAL
Yes, that's the trouble, that really is the
trouble. That's what I've been thinking of
MIRALDA
Why, isn't there . . .
JOHN BEAL
No, I'm afraid there isn't. What are we to
do, Archie.
ARCHIE BEAL
I--I can't think. Perhaps Miss Clement
would have a scheme.
MIRALDA [to JOHN BEAL]
I rely on you, Mr. Beal.
JOHN BEAL
I--I; but what can I . . . You see,
you're all alone. If you'd anyone with you,
you could have . . .
MIRALDA
I did think of bringing a rather nice aunt.
But on the whole I thought it better not to
tell anyone.
JOHN BEAL
Not to tell . . .
MIRALDA
No, on the whole I didn't.
JOHN BEAL
I say, Archie, what are we to do?
ARCHIE BEAL
Here's Daoud.
[Enter DAOUD.]
JOHN BEAL
The one man I trust in Al Shaldomir!
DAOUD
I have brought two watchers of the
doorstep to guard the noble lady.
JOHN BEAL
He says he's brought two watchers of the
doorstep to look after Miss Clement.
ARCHIE BEAL
Two chaperons! Splendid! She can go
anywhere now.
JOHN BEAL
Well, really, that is better. Yes that will
be all right. We can find a room for you now.
The trouble was your being alone. I hope
you'll like them. [To DAOUD.] Tell them
to enter here.
DAOUD [beckoning in the doorway]
Ho! Enter!
JOHN BEAL
That's all right, ARCHIE, isn't it?
ARCHIE BEAL
Yes, that's all right. A chaperon's a
chaperon, black or white.
JOHN BEAL
You won't mind their being black, will you,
Miss Clement?
MIRALDA
No, I shan't mind. They can't be worse
than white ones.
[Enter BAZZALOL and THOOTHOOBABA
two enormous Nubians, bearing peacock
fans and wearing scimitars. All stare at
them. They begin to fan slightly.]
DAOUD
The watchers of the doorstep.
JOHN BEAL
Idiot, Daoud! Fools! Dolts! Men may
not guard a lady's door.
[BAZZALOL and THOOTHOOBABA smile
ingratiatingly.]
We are not men.
BAZZALOL [bowing]
Curtain
Six and a half years elapse
THE SONG OF THE IRIS MARSHES
When morn is bright on the mountains olden
Till dawn is lost in the blaze of day,
When morn is bright and the marshes golden,
Where shall the lost lights fade away?
And where, my love, shall we dream to-day?
Dawn is fled to the marshy hollows
Where ghosts of stars in the dimness stray,
And the water is streaked with the flash of
swallows
And all through summer the iris sway.
But where, my love, shall we dream to-day?
When night is black in the iris marshes.
ACT III
SCENE 1
Six and a half years later.
Al Shaldomir.
A room in the palace.
MIRALDA reclines on a heap of cushions,
JOHN beside her.
Bazzalol and Thoothoobaba fan them.
OMAR [declaiming to a zither]
Al Shaldomir, Al Shaldomir,
The nightingales that guard thy ways
Cease not to give thee, after God
And after Paradise, all praise.
Thou art the theme of all their lays.
Al Shaldomir, Al Shaldomir. . . .
MIRALDA
Go now, Omar.
OMAR
O lady, I depart.
[Exit.]
MIRALDA [languidly]
John, John. I wish you'd marry me.
JOHN
Miralda, you're thinking of those old
customs again that we left behind us seven years
ago. What's the good of it?
MIRALDA
I had a fancy that I wished you would.
JOHN
What's the good of it? You know you are
my beloved. There are none of those
clergymen within hundreds of miles. What's the
good of it?
MIRALDA
We could find one, John.
JOHN
O, yes, I suppose we could, but . . .
MIRALDA
Why won't you?
JOHN
I told you why.
MIRALDA
O, yes, that instinct that you must not
marry. That's not your reason, John.
JOHN
Yes, it is.
MIRALDA
It's a silly reason. It's a crazy reason.
It's no reason at all. There's some other
reason.
JOHN
No, there isn't. But I feel that in my
bones. I don't know why. You know that
I love none else but you. Besides, we're
never going back, and it doesn't matter.
This isn't Blackheath.
MIRALDA
So I must live as your slave.
JOHN
No, no, Miralda. My dear, you are not my
slave. Did not the singer compare our love
to the desire of the nightingale for the
evening star? All know that you are my queen.
MIRALDA
They do not know at home.
JOHN
Home? Home? How could they know?
What have we in common with home? Rows
and rows of little houses; and if they hear a
nightingale there they write to the papers.
And--and if they saw this they'd think they
were drunk. Miralda, don't be absurd.
What has set you thinking of home?
MIRALDA
I want to be crowned queen.
JOHN
But I am not a king. I am only Shereef.
MIRALDA
You are all-powerful here, John, you can do
what you please, if you wish to. You don't
love me at all.
JOHN
Miralda, you know I love you. Didn't
I kill Hussein for you?
MIRALDA
Yes, but you don't love me now.
JOHN
And Hussein's people killed ARCHIE. That
was for you too. I brought my brother out
here to help you. He was engaged to be
married, too.
MIRALDA
But you don't love me now.
JOHN
Yes, I do. I love you as the dawn loves
the iris marshes. You know the song they
sing. (footnote: poem just before Act III)
MIRALDA
Then why won't you marry me?
JOHN
I told you, I told you. I had a dream about
the future. I forgot the dream, but I know
I was not to marry. I will not wrong the
future.
MIRALDA
Don't be crazy.
JOHN
I will have what fancies I please, crazy or
sane. Am I not Shereef of Shaldomir? Who
dare stop me if I would be mad as Herod?
MIRALDA
I will be crowned queen.
JOHN
It is not my wish.
MIRALDA
I will, I will, I will.
JOHN
Drive me not to anger. If I have you cast
into a well and take twenty of the fairest
daughters of Al Shaldomir in your place, who
can gainsay me?
MIRALDA
I will be crowned queen.
JOHN
O, do not be tiresome.
MIRALDA
Was it not my money that brought you
here? Was it not I who said " Kill Hussein"?
What power could you have had, had
Hussein lived? What would you have been doing
now, but for me?
JOHN
I don't know, Miralda.
MIRALDA
Catching some silly train to the City.
Working for some dull firm. Living in some
small suburban house. It is I, I, that brought
you from all that, and you won't make me a
queen.
JOHN
Is it not enough that you are my beloved?
You know there is none other but you. Is
it not enough, Miralda?
MIRALDA
It is not enough. I will be queen.
JOHN
Tchah! . . . Miralda, I know you are a
wonderful woman, the most wonderful in the
East; how you ever came to be in the West
I don't know, and a train of all places; but,
Miralda, you must not have petty whims,
they don't become you.
MIRALDA
Is it a petty whim to wish to be a queen?
JOHN
Yes, when it is only the name you want.
You are a queen. You have all you wish for.
Are you not my beloved? And have I not
power here over all men? Could I not close
the pass?
MIRALDA
I want to be queen.
JOHN
Oh-h! I will leave you. I have more to do
than to sit and hear your whims. When I
come back you will have some other whim.
Miralda, you have too many whims.
[He rises.]
MIRALDA
Will you be back soon?
JOHN
No.
MIRALDA
When will you come back, John?
[She is reclining, looking fair, fanning
slightly.]
JOHN
In half an hour.
MIRALDA
In half an hour?
JOHN
Yes.
[Exit.]
MIRALDA
Half an hour.
[Her fan is laid down. She clutches
it with sudden resolve. She goes to the
wall, fanning herself slowly. She leans
against it. She fans herself now with
obvious deliberation. Three times the
great fan goes pat against the window, and
then again separately three times; and
then she puts it against the window once
with a smile of ecstasy. She has signalled.
She returns to the cushions and reclines
with beautiful care, fanning herself softly.
Enter the Vizier, HAFIZ EL ALCOLAHN]
HAFIZ
Lady! You bade me come.
MIRALDA
Did I, Hafiz?
HAFIZ
Lady, your fan.
MIRALDA
Ah, I was fanning myself.
HAFIZ
Seven times, lady.
MIRALDA
Ah, was it? Well, now you're here.
HAFIZ
Lady, O star of these times. O light over
lonely marshes. [He kneels by her and
embraces her.] Is the Shereef gone, lady?
MIRALDA
For half an hour, Hafiz.
HAFIZ
How know you for half an hour?
MIRALDA
He said so.
HAFIZ
He said so? Then is the time to fear, if a
man say so.
MIRALDA
I know him.
HAFIZ
In our country who knows any man so
much? None.
MIRALDA
He'll be away for half an hour.
HAFIZ [embracing]
O, exquisite lily of unattainable mountains.
MIRALDA
Ah, Hafiz, would you do a little thing for
me?
HAFIZ
I would do all things, lady, O evening
star.
MIRANDA
Would you make me a queen, Hafiz?
HAFIZ
If--if the Shereef were gathered?
MIRALDA
Even so, Hafiz.
HAFIZ
Lady, I would make you queen of all that
lies west of the passes.
MIRANDA
You would make me queen?
HAFIZ
Indeed, before all my wives, before all
women, over all Shaldomir, named the elect.
MIRALDA
O, well, Hafiz; then you may kiss me.
[HAFIZ does so ad lib.]
Hafiz, the Shereef has irked me.
HAFIZ
Lady, O singing star, to all men is the hour.
MIRALDA
The appointed hour?
HAFIZ
Even the appointed hour, the last, leading
to darkness.
MIRALDA
Is it written, think you, that the Shereef's
hour is soon?
HAFIZ
Lady, O dawn's delight, let there be a
banquet. Let the great ones of Shaldomir be
bidden there.
MIRALDA
There shall be a banquet, Hafiz.
HAFIZ
Soon, O lady. Let it be soon, sole lily of
the garden.
MIRALDA
It shall be soon, Hafiz.
[More embraces.]
HAFIZ
And above all, O lady, bid Daoud, the son
of the baker.
MIRALDA
He shall be bidden, Hafiz.
HAFIZ
O lady, it is well.
MIRALDA
Go now, Hafiz.
HAFIZ
Lady, I go [giving a bag of gold to BAZZALOL].
Silence. Silence. Silence.
BAZZALOL [kneeling]