Part 2
Is it then strange that the gods love roasted flesh? For this purpose they keep the lightning. When the lightning flickers about the limbs of men there comes to the gods in Marma a pleasant smell, even a smell of roasting. Sometimes the gods, being pacific, are pleased to have roasted instead the flesh of lamb. It is all one to the gods; let the roasting stop.
OORANDER
No, no, gods of the mountains!
OTHERS
No, no.
OORANDER
Quick, let us offer the flesh to them. If they eat, all is well.
[_They offer it; the beggars eat, all but Agmar, who watches._
ILLANAUN
One who was ignorant, one who did not know, had almost said that they ate like hungry men.
OTHERS
Hush!
AKMOS
Yet they look as though they had not had a meal like this for a long time.
OORANDER
They have a hungry look.
AGMAR (_who has not eaten_)
I have not eaten since the world was very new and the flesh of men was tenderer than now. These younger gods have learned the habit of eating from the lions.
OORANDER
O oldest of divinities, partake, partake.
AGMAR
It is not fitting that such as I should eat. None eat but beasts and men and the younger gods. The sun and the moon and the nimble lightning and I--we may kill and we may madden, but we do not eat.
AKMOS
If he but eat of our offering he cannot overwhelm us.
ALL
Oh, ancient deity, partake, partake.
AGMAR
Enough. Let it be enough that these have condescended to this bestial and human habit.
ILLANAUN (_to Akmos_)
And yet he is not unlike a beggar whom I saw no so long since.
OORANDER
But beggars eat.
ILLANAUN
Now I never knew a beggar yet who would refuse a bowl of Woldery wine.
AKMOS
This is no beggar.
ILLANAUN
Nevertheless let us offer him a bowl of Woldery wine.
AKMOS
You do wrong to doubt him.
ILLANAUN
I do but wish to prove his divinity. I will fetch the Woldery wine. (_Exit_)
AKMOS
He will not drink. Yet if he does, then he will not overwhelm us. Let us offer him the wine.
[_Reënter Illanaun with a goblet._
FIRST BEGGAR
It is Woldery wine!
SECOND BEGGAR
It is Woldery!
THIRD BEGGAR
A goblet of Woldery wine!
FOURTH BEGGAR
O blessed day!
MLAN
O happy times!
SLAG
O my wise master!
[_Illanaun takes the goblet. All the beggars stretch out their hands including Agmar. Illanaun gives it to Agmar. Agmar takes it solemnly, and very carefully pours it upon the ground._
FIRST BEGGAR
He has spilt it.
SECOND BEGGAR
He has spilt it. (_Agmar sniffs the fumes, loquitur_)
AGMAR
It is a fitting libation. Our anger is somewhat appeased.
ANOTHER BEGGAR
But it was Woldery!
AKMOS (_kneeling to Agmar_)
Master, I am childless, and I--
AGMAR
Trouble us not now. It is the hour at which the gods are accustomed to speak to the gods in the language of the gods, and if Man heard us he would guess the futility of his destiny, which were not well for Man. Begone! Begone!
ONE LINGERS (_loquitur_)
Master--
AGMAR
Begone!
[_Exeunt. Agmar takes up a piece of meat and begins to eat it; the beggars rise and stretch themselves: they laugh, but Agmar eats hungrily._
OOGNO
Ah! Now we have come into our own.
THAHN
Now we have alms.
SLAG
Master! My wise master!
ULF
These are the good days, the good days; and yet I have a fear.
SLAG
What do you fear? There is nothing to fear. No man is as wise as my master.
ULF
I fear the gods whom we pretend to be.
SLAG
The gods?
AGMAR (_taking a chunk of meat from his lips_)
Come hither, Slag.
SLAG (_going up to him_)
Yes, master.
AGMAR
Watch in the doorway while I eat. (_Slag goes to the doorway_) Sit in the attitude of a god. Warn me if any of the citizens approach.
[_Slag sits in the doorway in the attitude of a god, back to the audience._
OOGNO (_to Agmar_)
But, master, shall we not have Woldery wine?
AGMAR
We shall have all things if only we are wise at first for a little.
THAHN
Master, do any suspect us?
AGMAR
We must be _very_ wise.
THAHN
But if we are not wise, master?
AGMAR
Why, then death may come to us--
THAHN
O master!
AGMAR
--slowly.
[_All stir uneasily except Slag, who sits motionless in the doorway._
OOGNO
Do they believe us, master?
SLAG (_half turning his head_)
Someone comes.
[_Slag resumes his position._
AGMAR (_putting away his meat_)
We shall soon know now.
[_All take up the attitude. Enter One, loquitur._
ONE
Master, I want the god that does not eat.
AGMAR
I am he.
ONE
Master, my child was bitten in the throat by a death-adder at noon. Spare him, master; he still breathes, but slowly.
AGMAR
Is he indeed your child?
ONE
He is surely my child, master.
AGMAR
Was it your wont to thwart him in his play, while he was strong and well?
ONE
I never thwarted him, master.
AGMAR
Whose child is Death?
ONE
Death is the child of the gods.
AGMAR
Do you that never thwarted your child in his play ask this of the gods?
ONE (_with some horror, perceiving Agmar's meaning_)
Master!
AGMAR
Weep not. For all the houses that men have builded are the play-fields of this child of the gods.
[_The Man goes away in silence, not weeping._
OOGNO (_taking Thahn by the wrist_)
Is this indeed a man?
AGMAR
A man, a man, and until just now a hungry one.
CURTAIN
THE THIRD ACT
_Same room._
_A few days have elapsed._
_Seven thrones shaped like mountain-crags stand along the back of the stage. On these the beggars are lounging. The Thief is absent._
MLAN
Never had beggars such a time.
OOGNO
Ah, the fruits and tender lamb!
THAHN
The Woldery wine!
SLAG
It was better to see my master's wise devices than to have fruit and lamb and Woldery wine.
MLAN
Ah! When they spied on him to see if he would eat when they went away!
OOGNO
When they questioned him concerning the gods and Man!
THAHN
When they asked him why the gods permitted cancer!
SLAG
Ah, my wise master!
MLAN
How well his scheme has succeeded!
OOGNO
How far away is hunger!
THAHN
It is even like to one of last year's dreams, the trouble of a brief night long ago.
OOGNO (_laughing_)
Ho, ho, ho! To see them pray to us.
AGMAR
When we were beggars did we not speak as beggars? Did we not whine as they? Was not our mien beggarly?
OOGNO
We were the pride of our calling.
AGMAR
Then now that we are gods, let us be as gods, and not mock our worshippers.
ULF
I think that the gods _do_ mock their worshippers.
AGMAR
The gods have never mocked us. We are above all pinnacles that we have ever gazed at in dreams.
ULF
I think that when man is high then most of all are the gods wont to mock him.
THIEF (_entering_)
Master! I have been with those that know all and see all. I have been with the thieves, master. They know me for one of the craft, but they do not know me as being one of us.
AGMAR
Well, well!
THIEF
There is danger, master, there is great danger.
AGMAR
You mean that they suspect that we are men.
THIEF
That they have long done, master. I mean that they will know it. Then we are lost.
AGMAR
Then they do not know it.
THIEF
They do not know it yet, but they will know it, and we are lost.
AGMAR
When will they know it?
THIEF
Three days ago they suspected us.
AGMAR
More than you think suspected us, but have any dared to say so?
THIEF
No, master.
AGMAR
Then forget your fears, my thief.
THIEF
Two men went on dromedaries three days ago to see if the gods were still at Marma.
AGMAR
They went to Marma!
THIEF
Yes, three days ago.
OOGNO
We are lost!
AGMAR
They went three days ago?
THIEF
Yes, on dromedaries.
AGMAR
They should be back to-day.
OOGNO
We are lost!
THAHN
We are lost!
THIEF
They must have seen the green jade idols sitting against the mountains. They will say, "The gods are still at Marma." And we shall be burnt.
SLAG
My master will yet devise a plan.
AGMAR (_to the Thief_)
Slip away to some high place and look toward the desert and see how long we have to devise a plan.
SLAG
My master will find a plan.
OOGNO
He has taken us into a trap.
THAHN
His wisdom is our doom.
SLAG
He will find a wise plan yet.
THIEF (_reëntering_)
It is too late!
AGMAR
It is too late!
THIEF
The dromedary men are here.
OOGNO
We are lost!
AGMAR
Be silent! I must think.
[_They all sit still. Citizens enter and prostrate themselves. Agmar sits deep in thought._
ILLANAUN (_to Agmar_)
Two holy pilgrims have gone to your sacred shrines, wherein you were wont to sit before you left the mountains. (_Agmar says nothing_) They return even now.
AGMAR
They left us here and went to find the gods? A fish once took a journey into a far country to find the sea.
ILLANAUN
Most reverend deity, their piety is so great that they have gone to worship even your shrines.
AGMAR
I know these men that have great piety. Such men have often prayed to me before, but their prayers are not acceptable. They little love the gods; their only care is their piety. I know these pious ones. They will say that the seven gods were still at Marma. They will lie and say that we were still at Marma. So shall they seem more pious to you all, pretending that they alone have seen the gods. Fools shall believe them and share in their damnation.
OORANDER (_to Illanaun_)
Hush! You anger the gods.
ILLANAUN
I am not sure whom I anger.
OORANDER
It may be they are the gods.
ILLANAUN
Where are these men from Marma?
CITIZEN
Here are the dromedary men; they are coming now.
ILLANAUN (_to Agmar_)
The holy pilgrims from your shrine are come to worship you.
AGMAR
The men are doubters. How the gods hate the word! Doubt ever contaminated virtue. Let them be cast into prison and not besmirch your purity. (_Rising_) Let them not enter here.
ILLANAUN
But oh, most reverend deity from the Mountain, we also doubt, most reverend deity.
AGMAR
You have chosen. You have chosen. And yet it is not too late. Repent and cast these men in prison and it may not be too late. _The gods have never wept._ And yet when they think upon damnation and the dooms that are withering a myriad bones, then almost, were they not divine, they could weep. Be quick! Repent of your doubt.
[_Enter the Dromedary Men._
ILLANAUN
Most reverend deity, it is a mighty doubt.
CITIZENS
_Nothing has killed him! They are not the gods!_
SLAG (_to Agmar_)
You have a plan, my master. You have a plan.
AGMAR
Not yet, Slag.
ILLANAUN (_to Oorander_)
These are the men that went to the shrines at Marma.
OORANDER (_in a loud, clear voice_)
Were the Gods of the Mountain seated still at Marma, or were they not there?
[_The beggars get up hurriedly from their thrones._
DROMEDARY MAN
They were not there.
ILLANAUN
They were not there?
DROMEDARY MAN
Their shrines were empty.
OORANDER
Behold the Gods of the Mountain!
AKMOS
They have indeed come from Marma.
OORANDER
Come. Let us go away to prepare a sacrifice. A mighty sacrifice to atone for our doubting. (_Exeunt_)
SLAG
My most wise master!
AGMAR
No, no, Slag. I do not know what has befallen. When I went by Marma only two weeks ago the idols of green jade were still seated there.
OOGNO
We are saved now.
THAHN
Ay, we are saved.
AGMAR
We are saved, but I know not how.
OOGNO
Never had beggars such a time.
THIEF
I will go out and watch. (_He creeps out_)
ULF
Yet I have a fear.
OOGNO
A fear? Why, we are saved.
ULF
Last night I dreamed.
OOGNO
What was your dream?
ULF
It was nothing. I dreamed that I was thirsty and one gave me Woldery wine; yet there was a fear in my dream.
THAHN
When I drink Woldery wine I am afraid of nothing.
THIEF (_reëntering_)
They are making a pleasant banquet ready for us; they are killing lambs, and girls are there with fruits, and there is to be much Woldery wine.
MLAN
Never had beggars such a time.
AGMAR
Do any doubt us now?
THIEF
I do not know.
MLAN
When will the banquet be?
THIEF
When the stars come out.
OOGNO
Ah! It is sunset already. There will be good eating.
THAHN
We shall see the girls come in with baskets upon their heads.
OOGNO
There will be fruits in the baskets.
THAHN
All the fruits of the valley.
MLAN
Oh, how long we have wandered along the ways of the world!
SLAG
Oh, how hard they were!
THAHN
And how dusty!
OOGNO
And how little wine!
MLAN
How long we have asked and asked, and for how much!
AGMAR
We to whom all things are coming now at last!
THIEF
I fear lest my art forsake me now that good things come without stealing.
AGMAR
You will need your art no longer.
SLAG
The wisdom of my master shall suffice us all our days.
[_Enter a frightened Man. He kneels before Agmar and abates his forehead._
MAN
Master, we implore you, the people beseech you.
[_Agmar and the beggars in the attitude of the gods sit silent._
MAN
Master, it is terrible. (_The beggars maintain silence_) It is terrible when you wander in the evening. It is terrible on the edge of the desert in the evening. Children die when they see you.
AGMAR
In the desert? When did you see us?
MAN
Last night, master. You were terrible last night. You were terrible in the gloaming. When your hands were stretched out and groping. You were feeling for the city.
AGMAR
Last night do you say?
MAN
You were terrible in the gloaming!
AGMAR
You yourself saw us?
MAN
Yes, master, you were terrible. Children too saw you and they died.
AGMAR
You say you saw us?
MAN
Yes, master. Not as you are now, but otherwise. We implore you, master, not to wander at evening. You are terrible in the gloaming. You are--
AGMAR
You say we appeared not as we are now. How did we appear to you?
MAN
Otherwise, master, otherwise.
AGMAR
But how did we appear to you?
MAN
You were all green, master, all green in the gloaming, all of rock again as you used to be in the mountains. Master, we can bear to see you in flesh like men, but when we see rock walking it is terrible, it is terrible.
AGMAR
That is how we appeared to you?
MAN
Yes, master. Rock should not walk. When children see it they do not understand. Rock should not walk in the evening.
AGMAR
There have been doubters of late. Are they satisfied?
MAN
Master, they are terrified. Spare us, master.
AGMAR
It is wrong to doubt. Go and be faithful.
[_Exit Man._
SLAG
What have they seen, master?
AGMAR
They have seen their own fears dancing in the desert. They have seen something green after the light was gone, and some child has told them a tale that it was us. I do not know what they have seen. What should they have seen?
ULF
Something was coming this way from the desert, he said.
SLAG
What should come from the desert?
AGMAR
They are a foolish people.
ULF
That man's white face has seen some frightful thing.
SLAG
A frightful thing?
ULF
That man's face has been near to some frightful thing.
AGMAR
It is only we that have frightened them and their fears have made them foolish.
[_Enter an Attendant with a torch or lantern which he places in a receptacle. Exit._
THAHN
Now we shall see the faces of the girls when they come to the banquet.
MLAN
Never had beggars such a time.
AGMAR
Hark! They are coming. I hear footsteps.
THAHN
The dancing girls! They are coming!
THIEF
There is no sound of flutes, they said they would come with music.
OOGNO
What heavy boots they have; they sound like feet of stone.
THAHN
I do not like to hear their heavy tread. Those that would dance to _us_ must be light of foot.
AGMAR
I shall not smile at them if they are not airy.
MLAN
They are coming very slowly. They should come nimbly to us.
THAHN
They should dance as they come. But the footfall is like the footfall of heavy crabs.
ULF (_in a loud voice, almost chanting_)
I have a fear, an old fear and a boding. We have done ill in the sight of the seven gods. Beggars we were and beggars we should have remained. We have given up our calling and come in sight of our doom. I will no longer let my fear be silent; it shall run about and cry; it shall go from me crying, like a dog from out of a doomed city; for my fear has seen calamity and has known an evil thing.
SLAG (_hoarsely_)
Master!
AGMAR (_rising_)
Come, come!
[_They listen. No one speaks. The stony boots come on. Enter in single file through door in right of back, a procession of seven green men, even hands and faces are green; they wear greenstone sandals; they walk with knees extremely wide apart, as having sat cross-legged for centuries; their right arms and right forefingers point upward, right elbows resting on left hands; they stoop grotesquely. Halfway to the footlights they left wheel. They pass in front of the seven beggars, now in terrified attitudes, and six of them sit down in the attitude described, with their backs to the audience. The leader stands, still stooping._
OOGNO (_cries out just as they wheel left_)
The Gods of the Mountain!
AGMAR (_hoarsely_)
Be still! They are dazzled by the light. They may not see us.
[_The leading Green Thing points his forefinger at the lantern--the flame turns green. When the six are seated the leader points one by one at each of the seven beggars, shooting out his forefinger at them. As he does this each beggar in his turn gathers himself back on to his throne and crosses his legs, his right arm goes stiffly upward with forefinger erect, and a staring look of horror comes into his eyes. In this attitude the beggars sit motionless while a green light falls upon their faces. The gods go out._
_Presently enter the Citizens, some with victuals and fruit. One touches a beggar's arm and then another's._
CITIZEN
They are cold; they have turned to stone.
[_All abase themselves, foreheads to the floor._
ONE
We have doubted them. We have doubted them. They have turned to stone because we have doubted them.
ANOTHER
They were the true gods.
ALL
They were the true gods.
CURTAIN
THE GOLDEN DOOM
PERSONS
THE KING CHAMBERLAIN CHIEF PROPHET GIRL BOY SPIES FIRST PROPHET SECOND PROPHET FIRST SENTRY SECOND SENTRY STRANGER ATTENDANTS
_Scene: Outside the King's great door in Zericon._
_Time: Some while before the fall of Babylon._
THE GOLDEN DOOM
_Two Sentries pace to and fro, then halt, one on each side of the great door._
FIRST SENTRY
The day is deadly sultry.
SECOND SENTRY
I would that I were swimming down the Gyshon, on the cool side, under the fruit trees.
FIRST SENTRY
It is like to thunder or the fall of a dynasty.
SECOND SENTRY
It will grow cool by night-fall. Where is the King?
FIRST SENTRY
He rows in his golden barge with ambassadors or whispers with captains concerning future wars. The stars spare him!
SECOND SENTRY
Why do you say "the stars spare him"?
FIRST SENTRY
Because if a doom from the stars fall suddenly on a king it swallows up his people and all things round about him, and his palace falls and the walls of his city and citadel, and the apes come in from the woods and the large beasts from the desert, so that you would not say that a king had been there at all.
SECOND SENTRY
But why should a doom from the stars fall on the King?
FIRST SENTRY
Because he seldom placates them.
SECOND SENTRY
Ah! I have heard that said of him.
FIRST SENTRY
Who are the stars that a man should scorn them? Should they that rule the thunder, the plague and the earthquake withhold these things save for much prayer? Always ambassadors are with the King, and his commanders, come in from distant lands, prefects of cities and makers of the laws, but never the priests of the stars.
SECOND SENTRY
Hark! Was that thunder?
FIRST SENTRY
Believe me, the stars are angry.
[_Enter a Stranger. He wanders toward the King's door, gazing about him._
SENTRIES (_lifting their spears at him_)
Go back! Go back!
STRANGER
Why?
FIRST SENTRY
It is death to touch the King's door.
STRANGER
I am a stranger from Thessaly.
FIRST SENTRY
It is death even for a stranger.
STRANGER
Your door is strangely sacred.
FIRST SENTRY
It is death to touch it.
[_The Stranger wanders off._
[_Enter two children hand in hand._
BOY (_to the Sentry_)
I want to see the King to pray for a hoop.
[_The Sentry smiles._
BOY (_pushes the door; to girl_)
I cannot open it. (_To the Sentry_) Will it do as well if I pray to the King's door?
SENTRY
Yes, quite as well. (_Turns to talk to the other Sentry_) Is there anyone in sight?
SECOND SENTRY (_shading his eyes_)
Nothing but a dog, and he far out on the plain.
FIRST SENTRY
Then we can talk awhile and eat bash.
BOY
King's door, I want a little hoop.
[_The Sentries take a little bash between finger and thumb from pouches and put that wholly forgotten drug to their lips._
GIRL (_pointing_)
My father is a taller soldier than that.
BOY
My father can write. He taught me.
GIRL
Ho! Writing frightens nobody. My father is a soldier.
BOY
I have a lump of gold. I found it in the stream that runs down to Gyshon.
GIRL
I have a poem. I found it in my own head.
BOY
Is it a long poem?
GIRL
No. But it would have been only there were no more rhymes for sky.
BOY
What is your poem?
GIRL
I saw a purple bird Go up against the sky And it went up and up And round about did fly.
BOY
I saw it die.
GIRL
That doesn't scan.
BOY
Oh, that doesn't matter.
GIRL
Do you like my poem?
BOY
Birds aren't purple.
GIRL
My bird was.
BOY
Oh!
GIRL
Oh, you don't like my poem!
BOY
Yes, I do.
GIRL
No, you don't; you think it horrid.
BOY
No. I don't.
GIRL
Yes, you do. Why didn't you say you liked it? It is the only poem I ever made.
BOY
I do like it. I do like it.
GIRL
You don't, you don't!
BOY
Don't be angry. I'll write it on the door for you.
GIRL
You'll write it?
BOY
Yes, I can write it. My father taught me. I'll write it with my lump of gold. It makes a yellow mark on the iron door.
GIRL
Oh, do write it! I would like to see it written like real poetry.
[_The Boy begins to write. The Girl watches._
FIRST SENTRY
You see, we'll be fighting again soon.
SECOND SENTRY
Only a little war. We never have more than a little war with the hill-folk.
FIRST SENTRY
When a man goes to fight, the curtains of the gods wax thicker than ever before between his eyes and the future; he may go to a great or to a little war.
SECOND SENTRY
There can only be a little war with the hill-folk.
FIRST SENTRY
Yet sometimes the gods laugh.
SECOND SENTRY
At whom?
FIRST SENTRY
At kings.
SECOND SENTRY
Why have you grown uneasy about this war in the hills?
FIRST SENTRY
Because the King is powerful beyond any of his fathers, and has more fighting men, more horses, and wealth that could have ransomed his father and his grandfather and dowered their queens and daughters; and every year his miners bring him more from the opal-mines and from the turquoise-quarries. He has grown very mighty.
SECOND SENTRY
Then he will the more easily crush the hill-folk in a little war.
FIRST SENTRY
When kings grow very mighty the stars grow very jealous.
BOY
I've written your poem.
GIRL
Oh, have you really?
BOY
Yes, I'll read it to you. (_He reads_)
I saw a purple bird Go up against the sky And it went up and up And round about did fly. I saw it die.
GIRL
It doesn't scan.
BOY
That doesn't matter.
[_Enter furtively a Spy, who crosses stage and goes out. The Sentries cease to talk._
GIRL
That man frightens me.
BOY
He is only one of the King's spies.
GIRL
But I don't like the King's spies. They frighten me.
BOY
Come on, then, we'll run away.
SENTRY (_noticing the children again_)
Go away, go away! The King is coming, he will eat you.