Part 4
ZARB (_also digging_)
Do not look at me when you speak. The guards are watching us. Look at your digging.
KING ARGIMENES
How do the guards know we are speaking because we look at one another?
ZARB
You are very witless. Of course they know.
KING ARGIMENES
Zarb!
ZARB
What is it?
KING ARGIMENES
How many guards are there in sight?
ZARB
There are six of them over there. They are watching us.
KING ARGIMENES
Are there other guards in sight of these six guards?
ZARB
No.
KING ARGIMENES
How do you know?
ZARB
Because whenever their officer leaves them they sit upon the ground and play with dice.
KING ARGIMENES
How does that show that there are not another six in sight of them?
ZARB
How witless you are, Argimenes! Of course it shows there are not. Because, if there were, another officer would see them, and their thumbs would be cut off.
KING ARGIMENES
Ah! (_A pause_) Zarb! (_A pause_) Would the slaves follow me if I tried to kill the guards?
ZARB
No, Argimenes.
KING ARGIMENES
Why would they not follow me?
ZARB
Because you look like a slave. They will never follow a slave, because they are slaves themselves, and know how mean a creature is a slave. If you looked like a king they would follow you.
KING ARGIMENES
But I am a king. They know that I am a king.
ZARB
It is better to look like a king. It is looks that they would go by.
KING ARGIMENES
If I had a sword would they follow me? A beautiful huge sword of bronze.
ZARB
I wish I could think of things like that. It is because you were once a king that you can think of a sword of bronze. I tried to hope once that I should some day fight the guards, but I couldn't picture a sword, I couldn't imagine it; I could only picture whips.
KING ARGIMENES
Dig a little nearer, Zarb. (_They both edge closer_) I have found a very old sword in the earth. It is not a sword such as common soldiers wear. A king must have worn it, and an angry king. It must have done fearful things; there are little dints in it. Perhaps there was a battle here long ago where all were slain, and perhaps that king died last and buried his sword, but the great birds swallowed him.
ZARB
You have been thinking too much of the King's dog, Argimenes, and that has made you hungry, and hunger has driven you mad.
KING ARGIMENES
I _have_ found such a sword. [_A pause._
ZARB
Why--then you will wear a purple cloak again, and sit on a great throne, and ride a prancing horse, and we shall call you Majesty.
KING ARGIMENES
I shall break a long fast first and drink much water, and sleep. But will the slaves follow me?
ZARB
You will _make_ them follow you if you have a sword. Yet is Illuriel a very potent god. They say that none have prevailed against King Darniak's dynasty so long as Illuriel stood. Once an enemy cast Illuriel into the river and overthrew the dynasty, but a fisherman found him again and set him up, and the enemy was driven out and the dynasty returned.
KING ARGIMENES
If Illuriel could be cast down as my god was cast down perhaps King Darniak could be overcome as I was overcome in my sleep?
ZARB
If Illuriel were cast down all the people would utter a cry and flee away. It would be a fearful portent.
KING ARGIMENES
How many men are there in the armory at the palace?
ZARB
There are ten men in the palace armory when all the slave-guards are out.
[_They dig awhile in silence._
ZARB
The officer of the slave-guard has gone away--They are playing with dice now. (_He throws down his spade and stretches his arms_) The man with the big beard has won again, he is very nimble with his thumbs--They are playing again, but it is getting dark, I cannot clearly see.
[_King Argimenes furtively uncovers the sword, he picks it up and grips it in his hand._
ZARB
Majesty!
[_King Argimenes crouches and steals away towards the slave-guard._
* * * * *
ZARB (_to the other slaves_)
Argimenes has found a terrible sword and has gone to slay the slave-guard. It is not a common sword, it is some king's sword.
AN OLD SLAVE
Argimenes will be dreadfully flogged. We shall hear him cry all night. His cries will frighten us, and we shall not sleep.
ZARB
No, no! The guards flog poor slaves, but Argimenes had an angry look. The guards will be afraid when they see him look so angry and see his terrible sword. It was a huge sword, and he looked very angry. He will bring us the swords of the slave-guard. We must prostrate ourselves before him and kiss his feet or he will be angry with us too.
OLD SLAVE
Will Argimenes give me a sword?
ZARB
He will have swords for six of us if he slays the slave-guard. Yes, he will give you a sword.
SLAVE
A sword! No, no, I must not; the King would kill me if he found that I had a sword.
SECOND SLAVE (_slowly, as one who develops an idea_)
If the King found that I had a sword, why, then it would be an evil day for the King.
[_They all look off left._
ZARB
I think that they are playing at dice again.
FIRST SLAVE
I do not see Argimenes.
ZARB
No, because he was crouching as he walked. The slave-guard is on the sky-line.
SECOND SLAVE
What is that dark shadow behind the slave-guard?
ZARB
It is too still to be Argimenes.
SECOND SLAVE
Look! It moves.
ZARB
The evening is too dark, I cannot see.
[_They continue to gaze into the gathering darkness. They raise themselves on their knees and crane their necks. Nobody speaks. Then from their lips and from others farther off goes up a long, deep "Oh!" It is like the sound that goes up from the grandstand when a horse falls at a fence, or, in England, like the first exclamation of the crowd at a great cricket match when a man is caught in the slips._
CURTAIN
THE SECOND ACT
_The Throne Hall of King Darniak. The King is seated on his throne in the centre at the back of the stage; a little to his left, but standing out from the wall, a dark-green seated idol is set up. His Queens are seated about him on the ground, two on his right and two between him and the idol. All wear crowns. Beside the dark-green idol a soldier with a pike is kneeling upon one knee. The tear-song, the chant of the low-born, drifts faintly up from the slave-fields._
FIRST QUEEN
Do show us the new prophet, Majesty; it would be very interesting to see another prophet.
THE KING
Ah, yes.
[_He strikes upon a gong, and an Attendant enters, walks straight past the King and bows before the idol; he then walks back to the centre of the stage and bows before the King._
THE KING
Bring the new prophet hither.
[_Exit Attendant. Enter the King's Overseer holding a roll of paper. He passes the King, bows to the idol, returns to the front of the King, kneels, and remains kneeling with bended head._
THE KING (_speaking in the meanwhile to the Second Queen on his immediate right_)
We are making a beautiful arbor for you, O Atharlia, at an end of the great garden. There shall be iris-flowers that you love and all things that grow by streams. And the stream there shall be small and winding like one of those in your country. I shall bring a stream a new way from the mountains. (_Turning to Queen Oxara on his extreme right_) And for you, too, O Oxara, we shall make a pleasance. I shall have rocks brought from the quarries for you, and my idle slaves shall make a hill and plant it with mountain shrubs, and you can sit there in the winter thinking of the North. (_To the kneeling Overseer_) Ah, what is here?
THE KING'S OVERSEER
The plans of your royal garden, Majesty. The slaves have dug it for five years and rolled the paths.
THE KING (_takes the plans_)
Was there not a garden in Babylon?
THE KING'S OVERSEER
They say there was a garden there of some sort, Majesty.
THE KING
I will have a greater garden. Let the world know and wonder. (_Looks at the plans_)
THE KING'S OVERSEER
It shall know at once, Majesty.
THE KING (_pointing at the plan_)
I do not like that hill, it is too steep.
THE KING'S OVERSEER
No, Majesty.
THE KING
Remove it.
THE KING'S OVERSEER
Yes, Majesty.
THE KING
When will the garden be ready for the Queens to walk in?
THE KING'S OVERSEER
Work is slow, Majesty, at this season of the year because the green stuff is scarce and the slaves grow idle. They even become insolent and ask for bones.
QUEEN CAHAFRA (_to the King's Overseer_)
Then why are they not flogged? (_To Queen Thragolind_) It is so simple, they _only_ have to flog them, but these people are so silly sometimes. I want to walk in the great garden, and then they tell me: "It is not ready, Majesty. It is not ready, Majesty," as though there were any reason why it should _not_ be ready.
FOURTH QUEEN
Yes, they are a great trouble to us.
[_Meanwhile the King hands back the plans. Exit the King's Overseer. Reënter Attendant with the Prophet, who is dressed in a long dark brown cloak; his face is solemn; he has a long dark beard and long hair. Having bowed before the idol, he bows before the King and stands silent. The attendant, having bowed to both, stands by the doorway._
THE KING (_meanwhile to Queen Atharlia_)
Perhaps we shall lure the ducks when the marshes are frozen to come and swim in your stream; it will be like your own country. (_To the Prophet_) Prophesy unto us.
THE PROPHET (_speaks at once in a loud voice_)
There was once a King that had slaves to hate him and to toil for him, and he had soldiers to guard him and to die for him. And the number of the slaves that he had to hate him and to toil for him was greater than the number of the soldiers that he had to guard him and to die for him. And the days of that King were few. And the number of thy slaves, O King, that thou hast to hate thee is greater than the number of thy soldiers.
QUEEN CAHAFRA (_to Queen Thragolind_)
--and I wore the crown with the sapphires and the big emerald in it, and the foreign prince said that I looked very sweet.
[_The King, who has been smiling at Atharlia, gives a gracious nod to the Prophet when he hears him stop speaking. When the Queens see the King nod graciously, they applaud the Prophet by idly clapping their hands._
THIRD QUEEN
Do ask him to make us another prophecy, Majesty! He is so interesting. He looks so clever.
THE KING
Prophesy unto us.
THE PROPHET
Thine armies camped upon thy mountainous borders descry no enemy in the plains afar. And within thy gates lurks he for whom thy sentinels seek upon lonely guarded frontiers. There is a fear upon me and a boding. Even yet there is time, even yet; but _little_ time. And my mind is dark with trouble for thy kingdom.
QUEEN CAHAFRA (_to Queen Thragolind_)
I do not like the way he does his hair.
QUEEN THRAGOLIND
It would be all right if he would only have it cut.
THE KING (_to the Prophet, dismissing him with a nod of the head_)
Thank you, that has been very interesting.
QUEEN THRAGOLIND
How clever he is! I wonder how he thinks of things like that?
QUEEN CAHAFRA
Yes, but I hate a man who is conceited about it. Look how he wears his hair.
QUEEN THRAGOLIND
Yes, of course, it is perfectly dreadful.
QUEEN CAHAFRA
Why can't he wear his hair like other people, even if he does say clever things?
QUEEN THRAGOLIND
Yes, I hate a conceited man.[1]
[Footnote 1: It is not necessary for the prophet's hair to be at all unusual.]
[_Enter an Attendant. He bows before the idol, then kneels to the King._
THE ATTENDANT
The guests are all assembled in the Chamber of Banquets.
[_All rise. The Queens walk two abreast to the Chamber of Banquets._
QUEEN ATHARLIA (_to Queen Oxara_)
What was he talking about?
QUEEN OXARA
He was talking about the armies on the frontier.
QUEEN ATHARLIA
Ah! That reminds me of that young captain in the Purple Guard. They say that he loves Linoora.
QUEEN OXARA
Oh, Thearkos! Linoora probably said that.
[_When the Queens come to the doorway they halt on each side of it. Then they turn facing one another. Then the King leaves his throne and passes between them into the Chamber of Banquets, each couple courtseying low to him as he passes. The Queens follow, then the attendants. There rises the wine-song, the chant of the nobles, drowning the chant of the low-born. Only the Idol-Guard remains behind, still kneeling beside Illuriel._
THE IDOL-GUARD
I do not like those things the Prophet said--It would be terrible if they were true--It would be very terrible if they were false, for he prophesies in the name of Illuriel--Ah! They are singing the wine-song, the chant of the nobles. The Queens are singing. How merry they are!--I should like to be a noble and sit and look at the Queens. (_He joins in the song_)
THE VOICE OF A SENTINEL
Guard, turn out. (_The wine-song still continues_)
THE VOICE OF ONE HAVING AUTHORITY
Turn out the guard there! Wake up, you accursed pigs!
[_Still the wine-song. A faint sound as of swords._
A VOICE CRYING
To the armory! To the armory! Reinforce! The Slaves have come to the armory. Ah! mercy! (_For awhile there is silence_)
KING ARGIMENES (_in the doorway_)
Go you to the slave-fields. Say that the palace-guard is dead and that we have taken the armory. Ten of you, hold the armory till our men come from the slave-fields. (_He comes into the hall with his slaves armed with swords_) Throw down Illuriel.
THE IDOL-GUARD
You must take my life before you touch my god.
A SLAVE
We only want your pike.
[_All attack him; they seize his sword and bind his hands behind him. They all pull down Illuriel, the dark-green idol, who breaks into seven pieces._
KING ARGIMENES
Illuriel is fallen and broken asunder.
ZARB (_with some awe_)
Immortal Illuriel is dead at last.
KING ARGIMENES
My god was broken into three pieces, but Illuriel is broken into seven. The fortunes of Darniak will prevail over mine no longer. (_A slave breaks off a golden arm from the throne_) Come, we will arm all the slaves. (_Exeunt_)
KING DARNIAK (_enters with Retinue_)
My throne is broken. Illuriel is turned against me.
AN ATTENDANT
Illuriel is fallen.
ALL (_with King Darniak_)
Illuriel is fallen, is fallen. (_Some drop their spears_)
KING DARNIAK (_to the Idol-Guard_)
What envious god or sacrilegious man has dared to do this thing?
THE IDOL-GUARD
Illuriel is fallen.
KING DARNIAK
Have men been here?
THE IDOL-GUARD
Is fallen.
KING DARNIAK
What way did they go?
THE IDOL-GUARD
Illuriel is fallen.
KING DARNIAK
They shall be tortured here before Illuriel, and their eyes shall be hung on a thread about his neck, so that Illuriel shall see it, and on their bones we will set him up again. Come!
[_Those that have dropped their spears pick them up, but trail them along behind them on the ground. All follow dejectedly._
VOICES OF LAMENTATION (_growing fainter and fainter off_)
Illuriel is fallen, Illuriel is fallen. Illuriel, Illuriel, Illuriel. Is fallen. Is fallen. (_The song of the low-born ceases suddenly. Then voices of the slaves in the slave-fields chanting very loudly_) Illuriel is fallen, is fallen, is fallen. Illuriel is fallen and broken asunder. Illuriel is fallen, fallen, fallen.
[_Clamor of fighting is heard, the clash of swords, and voices, and now and then the name of Illuriel._
THE IDOL-GUARD (_kneeling over a fragment of Illuriel_)
Illuriel is broken. They have overthrown Illuriel. They have done great harm to the courses of the stars. The moon will be turned to blackness or fall and forsake the nights. The sun will rise no more. They do not know how they have wrecked the world.
[_Reënter King Argimenes and his men._
KING ARGIMENES (_in the doorway_)
Go you to the land of Ithara and tell them that I am free. And do you go to the army on the frontier. Offer them death, or the right arm of the throne to be melted and divided amongst them all. Let them choose. (_The armed slaves go to the throne and stand on each side of it, loquitur_) Majesty, ascend your throne. (_King Argimenes, standing with his face toward the audience, lifts the sword slowly, lying on both his hands, a little above his head, then looking up at it, loquitur_) Praise to the unknown warrior and to all gods that bless him. (_He ascends the throne. Zarb prostrates himself at the foot of it and remains prostrated for the rest of the Act, muttering at intervals "Majesty." An armed slave enters dragging the King's Overseer. King Argimenes sternly watches him. He is dragged before the Throne. He still has the roll of parchment in his hand. For some moments King Argimenes does not speak. Then pointing at the parchment_) What have you there?
THE KING'S OVERSEER (_kneeling_)
It is a plan of the great garden, Majesty. It was to have been a wonder to the world. (_Unfolds it_)
KING ARGIMENES (_grimly_)
Show me the place that I digged for three years. (_The King's Overseer shows it with trembling hands; the parchment shakes visibly_) Let there be built there a temple to an Unknown Warrior. And let this sword be laid on its altar evermore, that the ghost of that Warrior wandering by night (if men do walk by night from across the grave) may see his sword again. And let slaves be allowed to pray there and those that are oppressed; nevertheless the noble and the mighty shall not fail to repair there too, that the Unknown Warrior shall not lack due reverence.
[_Enter, running, a Man of the household of King Darniak. He starts and stares aghast on seeing King Argimenes._
KING ARGIMENES
Who are you?
MAN
I am the servant of the King's dog.
KING ARGIMENES
Why do you come here?
MAN
The King's dog is dead.
KING ARGIMENES AND HIS MEN (_savagely and hungrily_)
Bones!
KING ARGIMENES (_remembering suddenly what has happened and where he is_)
Let him be buried with the late King.
ZARB (_in a voice of protest_)
Majesty!
CURTAIN
THE GLITTERING GATE
PERSONS
JIM, _lately a burglar_ } BILL, _lately a burglar_ } _Both dead_
_Scene: A Lonely Place._
_Time: The present._
THE GLITTERING GATE
_The Lonely Place is strewn with large black rocks and uncorked beer-bottles, the latter in great profusion. At back is a wall of granite built of great slabs, and in it the Gate of Heaven. The door is of gold._
_Below the Lonely Place is an abyss hung with stars._
_The rising curtain reveals Jim wearily uncorking a beer-bottle. Then he tilts it slowly and with infinite care. It proves to be empty. Faint and unpleasant laughter is heard off. This action and the accompanying far laughter are repeated continually throughout the play. Corked bottles are discovered lying behind rocks, and more descend constantly through the air, within reach of Jim. All prove to be empty._
_Jim uncorks a few bottles._
JIM (_weighing one carefully_)
That's a full one. (_It is empty, like all_)
[_Singing is heard off left._
BILL (_enters from left with a bullet-hole over his eye, singing_)
Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves. (_Breaking off his song_) Why, 'ullo. 'Ere's a bottle of beer. (_Finds it empty; looking off and downward_) I'm getting a bit tired of those blooming great stars down there and this rocky ledge. I've been walking along under this wall ever since. Why, it must be twenty-four hours since that house-holder shot me. And he needn't have done it, either, _I_ wasn't going to hurt the bloke. I only wanted a bit of his silver stuff. It felt funny, that did. Hullo, a gate. Why, that's the Gate of Heaven. Well, well. So that's all right. (_Looks up and up for some time_) No. I can't climb _that_ wall. Why, it's got no top to it. Up and up it goes. (_Knocks at the door and waits_)
JIM
That isn't for the likes of us.
BILL
Why, hullo, there's another bloke. Why, somebody's been hanging him. Why, if it isn't old Jim! Jim!
JIM (_wearily_)
Hullo.
BILL
Why, Jim! 'Ow long 'ave you been 'ere?
JIM
I _am_ 'ere always.
BILL
Why, Jim, don't you remember me? Why, you taught Bill to pick locks years and years ago when he was a little boy, and had never learnt a trade and hadn't a penny in the world, and never would have had but for you, Jim. (_Jim stares vaguely_) I never forgot _you_, Jim. I broke into scores of houses. And then I took on big houses. Out in the country, you know, real big ones. I got rich, Jim, and respected by all who knew me. I was a citizen, Jim, one who dwelt in our midst. And of an evening, sitting over the fire, I used to say, "I am as clever as Jim." But I wasn't, Jim. I couldn't climb like you. And I couldn't walk like you on a creaky stair, when everything's quite still and there's a dog in the house and little rattly things left lying about, and a door that whines if you touch it, and someone ill upstairs that you didn't know of, who has nothing to do but to listen for _you_ 'cause she can't get to sleep. Don't you remember little Bill?
JIM
That would be somewhere else.
BILL
Yes, Jim, yes. Down on Earth.
JIM
But there isn't anywhere else.
BILL
I never forgot _you_, Jim. I'd be pattering away with my tongue, in Church, like all the rest, but all the time I'd be thinking of you in that little room at Putney and the man searching every corner of it for you with a revolver in one hand and a candle in the other, and you almost going round with him.
JIM
What is Putney?
BILL
Oh, Jim, can't you remember? Can't you remember the day you taught me a livelihood? I wasn't more than twelve, and it was spring, and all the may was in blossom outside the town. And we cleared out No. 25 in the new street. And next day we saw the man's fat, silly face. It was thirty years ago.
JIM
What are years?
BILL
Oh, _Jim_!
JIM
You see there isn't any hope here. And when there isn't any hope there isn't any future. And when there isn't any future there isn't any past. It's just the present here. I tell you we're stuck. There aren't no years here. Nor no nothing.
BILL
Cheer up, Jim. You're thinking of a quotation, "Abandon hope, all ye that enter here." I used to learn quotations; they are awfully genteel. A fellow called Shakespeare used to make them. But there isn't any sense in them. What's the use of saying _ye_ when you mean _you_? Don't be thinking of quotations, Jim.
JIM
I tell you there is no hope here.
BILL
Cheer up, Jim. There's plenty of hope there, isn't there? (_Points to the Gate of Heaven_)
JIM
Yes, and that's why they keep it locked up so. They won't let us have any. No. I begin to remember Earth again now since you've been speaking. It was just the same there. The more they'd got the more they wanted to keep _you_ from having a bit.
BILL
You'll cheer up a bit when I tell you what I've got. I say, Jim, have you got some beer? Why, so you have. Why, _you_ ought to cheer up, Jim.
JIM
All the beer you're ever likely to see again. They're empty.
BILL (_half rising from the rock on which he has seated himself, and pointing his finger at Jim as he rises; very cheerfully_)
Why, you're the chap that said there was no hope here, and you're hoping to find beer in every bottle you open.
JIM
Yes; I _hope_ to see a drop of beer in one some day, but I _know_ I won't. Their trick _might_ not work just once.
BILL
How many have you tried, Jim?
JIM
Oh, I don't know. I've always been at it, working as fast as I can, ever since--ever since--(_Feels his neck meditatively and up toward his ear_) Why, ever since, Bill.
BILL
Why don't you stop it?
JIM
I'm too thirsty, Bill.
BILL
What do you think _I've got_, Jim?
JIM
I don't know. Nothing's any use.
BILL (_as yet another bottle is shown to be empty_)
Who's that laughing, Jim?
JIM (_astonished at such a question, loudly and emphatically_)
Who's that laughing?
BILL (_looks a little disconcerted at having apparently asked a silly question_)
Is it a pal?
JIM
A pal!--(_laughs_) (_The laugh off joins in loudly and for long_)
BILL
Well, I don't know. But, Jim, what do you think I've got?
JIM
It isn't any good to you whatever it is. Not even if it is a ten-pound note.
BILL