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_ ACT II - SCENE II
(See ACT I, last Scene)
Again, the street outside the house--the Street of
the Fountain, with the balcony of RAFI and the balcony
of YASMIN opposite. Cold light before dawn.
(On the steps of the Fountain, two tired MENDICANTS asleep.
One slowly rubs his eyes and looks round him.
A paper comes floating down. One tired MAN lazily catches it.)
FIRST LOITERER.
Here comes a new chapter of the Koran falling down from heaven.
SECOND LOITERER
Is it written, Abdu?
ABDU.
It is written, Ali.
ALI.
Read what is written, Abdu.
ABDU.
I cannot read. Am I schoolmaster?
(Folds paper, puts it in his belt, and prepares to sleep again.
Several interesting ORIENTALS pass by.)
ALI.
Abdu!
ABDU.
I sleep.
ALI.
I can read: give me the paper.
ABDU.
I am asleep: get up and take it from my belt if you want it,
Ya Ali, I am heavy with a great sleep, like a tortoise in November.
ALI.
Ya Abdu, I am too languishing to move. It is a paper and
it is written. It does not matter. To-morrow or the next
day it will be read.
ABDU.
To-morrow or the next day I shall wake and pass it to you.
(Interval: more interesting ORIENTALS go by.)
ALI.
(With sudden inspiration)
Blow me the paper, Abdu.
ABDU.
Alas, Allah sent thee to trouble the world!
(ABDU blows the paper over. ALI with infinite
difficulty spells it out, murmuring:)
ALI.
Ha, alif, alif, re wow wow 'ain jeem--ah, ye blessed
ones in Paradise, is it thus ye write a jeem?
Nun--but art thou a nun, O letter, or a drunkard's qaf?
Verily an ape has written this with his tail:
I have the second line.
(With a start)
Ho, Abdu, whence came this?
Do not pretend to sleep. Answer me.
ABDU.
From the sky: how do I know?
ALI.
Let me look at the sky.
(Rolls on his back and stares upward)
I tell you, Abdu, a mighty joker has
flung this from the balcony.
ABDU.
Allah plague him and his pen and thee!
Is there no peace in the world?
ALI.
Here it is written, and do thou listen, O Abdu,
for this is the strangest of the strange writings
that are strange: "Whoever findeth this paper, know
that the Caliph is in the house above, a prisoner,
and his friends prisoners, and in the extremity of
danger, he and they, with all Bagdad. Let the rescue
be swift and sudden, but above all secret. The iron
walls must be lifted from beneath. And send a man at
once to the Guard, O fortunate discoverer, to warn
them to protect the palace against the Beggars of Bagdad,
and thou shalt be made Governor of Three Provinces.
Signed,
Jafar, the Vizier."
(Bursting into laughter)
Three Provinces, well I know their Three Provinces!
Some rich young reveller hopes to play a game with poor
old Ali, even as a game was played on the son of Abdullah,
whom they dressed as a woman and placed in the
Grand Vizier's Harem, and his reward came hailing
down on his toes.
(In a lower voice.)
And I tell you, Abdu, what if the Caliph were in the house
and his friends? What if this were true? Who would believe me?
Who am I to rescue the Caliph? I never meddle in politics.
ABDU.
May the great gripes settle on thee and on the Caliph and
the mother of the Caliph. Shall I not sleep? And now
there comes a disturbance down the road.
Ya, Jehannum, the Police!
(CHIEF OF POLICE with ISHAK)
ISHAK.
I tell you, I do not know precisely where I left them.
It was somewhere in this quarter. It may have been this balcony
they went to or that, but there are a thousand balconies.
It was above a fountain, but there are a million fountains.
I tell you they always come back. Have you not already twenty
such scares as these for the safety of the Caliph?
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Never and on no preceding occasion has his exalted name
been so long delayed in his return to the palace.
The day is dawning.
ISHAK.
I tell you, if you do find him you will get no thanks,
O man of arms. Will you dare to unstick the Ruler of
the Moslem World from the embrace of his latest slave
girl or dash the cup of pleasure from his reluctant hand?
CHIEF OF POLICE.
I tell you, if you do not find him, man of letters,
I will have you impaled upon a monstrous pen.
(Seizes him.)
ISHAK.
Thou beastly, blood-drinking brute and bloated bully,
take off thy stable-reeking hands.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Yallah, these poets. They talk in rhyme.
ALI.
(Who has risen and salaamed, advancing)
I pray you, Sirs,...
CHIEF OF POLICE.
O thou maggot! Darest thou address us?
ALI.
I pray you only regard...
CHIEF OF POLICE.
I pray you only remove, or I will split you from the top.
ISHAK.
Do you not see that he has a paper, and that his manners
are superior to yours, O Captain of Police? Let me look
at thy paper.... Ah--ah. Whence came this, O virtuous wanderer?
ALI.
From that balcony, may thy slaves be forgiven!
CHIEF OF POLICE.
This is a very important clue. Let us break in the door.
ISHAK.
There is no door. But first of all send word to the Palace Guard.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
(To a soldier)
Ali
(To the other ALI, who runs and says: Excellence, I hear and obey)
Not thou, fool. Did Allah make the name Ali for thee alone?
Who art thou that I should address thee? Are there not ten
thousand Alis in Bagdad, and wilt thou lift up thy head, O worm,
when I say Ali?
(To POLICEMAN)
Here is my ring. Take this paper, and run with all
thy might and show it to the Captain of the Palace Guard.
POLICEMAN.
I hear and obey.
(Starts off.)
ISHAK.
(Stopping him)
Wait!
CHIEF OF POLICE.
What right have you to stop my man, you bastard son
of a quill-bearing barn-fowl?
ISHAK.
Since when had a bludgeoning policeman the practical
good sense of a thought-breathing poet? Tell them,
Ali, to send a few men with levers and ladders.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
It is well ordered: run, run, Ali!
ISHAK.
You other Ali, who brought the paper...
ALI.
Master?
ISHAK.
How long is it since any paper was thrown from the balcony?
ALI.
How do I know time? The time to go to market and buy a melon.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
By the great pit of torment, this swine-faced has had
the paper a good hour! By the red blaze of damnation,
thou maggot, why didst thou not run with this at once
to the Palace Guard?
ALI.
I had a great fear, and I thought it was a jest.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
A jest! Rivers of blood, a jest! The life of the Caliph
of Bagdad, a jest? The safety of the Empire a jest!
I knew thee a traitor from thy face. I will teach thee
jesting. I will teach thee fear. Ho, Mahmud, Zia, Rustem,
down with his head and up with his heels.
ALI.
(As his feet are looped into the pole to receive the bastinado)
Ya, Abdu, you had the letter first, it is yours. Will you
not claim it and the reward. Alas, that the Governor of
Three Provinces should be treated thus!
ABDU.
Do I meddle in politics? Hit him hard, O Executioner,
for he is a great disturber of peaceful citizens. But as
for me, O Ali, lest my sleep be troubled by thy groaning,
I will make my way a little further on.
(Exit)
(The EXECUTIONERS proceed with their work, but stop on
entrance of CAPTAIN OF THE MILITARY with SOLDIERS.)
(On the balcony opposite house where CALIPH is imprisoned
appears YASMIN.)
YASMIN.
Look, look, Selim! there's a man being beaten.
SELIM.
Come in quick! this is a riot or some trouble; come in quick,
and shut the shutters fast.
YASMIN.
You are a valiant protection indeed for frail-as-a-rose ladies
in danger's hour.
(They remain at window.)
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
(To CHIEF OF POLICE)
Sir.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Sir.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
(Saluting)
Captain of the Victorious Army, at your service.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
(Saluting)
Chief of the August Police, at yours.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
(Bowing)
I am honoured.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
(Bowing)
I am overwhelmed.
ISHAK.
Come, Sirs, brush away, I implore you, the cobwebs of ceremony
with the broom of expedition.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Sir, when men of action meet, the place of the man of letters
is inside his pencase.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
A moment! Ere we proceed, Chief of Police, may I ask
why this man is undergoing punishment?
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Since your excellency deigns to enquire,
for urgent reasons of police.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
They must have been very urgent indeed before you would permit
such an inopportune disturbance outside the very house where
our Lord the Caliph is imprisoned. You have seriously impaired
our chances of a speedy and effective rescue.
CHIEF OF POLICE.
(Drawing his sword and whirling it about)
Thou melon head,
thou, thou dung pig, thou brother of disaster, get thee hence
with thy knock-kneed band of fatherless brigands, ere I have thee
arrested for unnatural crime.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
Out with thy sword, thou big-bellied snatcher up of burglars,
thou manacler of little boys, thou terror of the peaceful market,
I will teach thee to insult the slaughterers of the infidel host.
ISHAK.
(Interrupting the COMBATANTS)
Is this a time for indecent brawling?
Quick, where are the ladders?
A SOLDIER.
(Pompously)
In the rear, Sir, in the rear.
(The ladders are brought along.)
CHIEF OF POLICE.
(To POLICEMAN)
Place a ladder.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
(To SOLDIERS)
Place a ladder.
(Each goes up his ladder at the same time: bang at
wall and are answered: shout for levers which are
procured, and assistance which speedily arrives.
The iron wall is lifted up, and CALIPH and the REST
disclosed seated peaceably awaiting their deliverance,
the lamp still burning.)
CHIEF OF POLICE.
My royal master!
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
August Lord.
CHIEF AND CAPTAIN
(Together)
I have saved thee, Master.
(Each attempts to seize the CALIPH.)
CHIEF OF POLICE.
Honourable Police!...
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
Honourable Military!...
CHIEF OF POLICE.
It has been the high privilege of this grovelling slave
to rescue the Lamp of the World! I shall carry him down.
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
Permit me to observe, O fire-spitting Battle Cleaver,
that I was the first up this ladder, and though I
tremble to obscure the Sun's Brilliance with my dirty
little hand, yet it is I who have the prior claim.
(MASRUR pushes them aside, and assists the CALIPH down
the ladder. JAFAR and HASSAN follow. Shouts of
"Long live the Caliph" from all the people gathered
in the street. The SOLDIERS salute.
The CALIPH raises his hand. Silence.)
CALIPH.
Is my Palace safe?
MASRUR.
O Lord and Master, we pray so.
CALIPH.
And my people?
JAFAR.
Around thee, O Lord and Master.
YASMIN.
(From her balcony)
By the Prophet, here is Hassan with the Caliph!
CALIPH.
Are we all saved?
MASRUR.
All, by the providence of Allah.
JAFAR.
And the wisdom of Hassan.
CALIPH.
And the Guard warned?
CAPTAIN OF MILITARY.
All warned and at their posts, my Lord.
CALIPH.
Allah, deliver our enemies into their hands.
Let Hassan come to me.
HASSAN.
(Prostrating himself)
Master!
CALIPH.
(Raising him)
Rise, Hassan. This Hassan, yesterday a stranger,
has to-night by his skill and invention, saved my
life and rescued this city from a greater peril
than my death.
CROWD.
May it be far!
CALIPH.
Therefore here and now, in the presence of all, I nominate
Hassan to my court, to hold rank among my subjects second
to none save to Jafar, my Grand Vizier.
YASMIN.
(Who has been at her balcony with SELIM)
O Allah!
CROWD.
Honour to Hassan. Honour to Hassan.
HASSAN.
Master, I sold confectionary in the market.
JAFAR.
Thou shalt now confection the sweets of prosperity.
ISHAK.
(To HASSAN)
Why, Hassan. You are the man with the broken lute.
CALIPH.
Is that the voice of Ishak?
ISHAK.
It is the voice of Ishak that has often sung to you.
CALIPH.
Why did you abandon me, Ishak, and flee into the night?
I do not know I shall forgive you.
ISHAK.
I was weary of you, Haroun-ar-Raschid.
CALIPH.
And if I weary of you?
ISHAK.
You will one day or another, and you will have me slain.
CALIPH.
And what of this day that dawns?
ISHAK.
Dawn is the hour when most men die.
CALIPH.
Your death is granted you, Ishak; you have but to kneel.
(A red glow on the horizon.)
ISHAK.
(As he kneels calmly)
Why have they pinned the carpet of execution on the sky?
MASRUR.
It is the Caliph's dawn.
JAFAR.
Thy dawn, O Master!
ISHAK.
Thy dawn, O Master of the world, thy dawn;
The hour the lilies open on the lawn,
The hour the grey wings pass beyond the mountains,
The hour of silence, when we hear the fountains,
The hour that dreams are brighter and winds colder,
The hour that young love wakes on a white shoulder,
O Master of the world, the Persian Dawn.
That hour, O Master, shall be bright for thee:
Thy merchants chase the morning down the sea,
The braves who fight thy war unsheathe the sabre,
The slaves who work thy mines are lashed to labour,
For thee the waggons of the world are drawn--
The ebony of night, the red of dawn!
CALIPH.
Sheathe thy sword, Masrur! Would you kill my friend?
MASRUR.
I hear and obey.
CALIPH.
I must go swiftly to my palace. But to you, Ishak, I leave
the care of this man you sent up to me in the basket,
who proved the salvation of Bagdad. Teach him the ceremonies
and regulations. Is my chair ready?
MASRUR.
Ready, Lord and Master.
(Exit CALIPH in chair, and JAFAR and CROWD. ISHAK signs to
those who would kiss HASSAN's feet to leave him.)
YASMIN.
(On balcony opposite. Giving SELIM a great clout on the ear)
Go, leave my sight, you fool. I shall burst with fury.
You made me insult Hassan, and now he is going to court.
SELIM.
(Astonished) Eh, Yasmin, Yasmin how could I know?
ISHAK.
Ah, bismillah,
I had not forgotten you, O man with the broken lute.
HASSAN.
The broken lute? The broken lute?
ISHAK.
Here you were lying, at this fountain, like one dead.
HASSAN.
Was it here? Is that the balcony?
Who are you? What do you know?
ISHAK.
Quietly, friend, quietly, your head is weak with joy.
HASSAN.
With joy? Do I know what is true or false? Do I know
if the Caliph is the Caliph? And if the Caliph is the
Caliph may he not mock me too? What is joy? Let me
look at that balcony for joy. I dare not look,
I fear she is there. Ah. it is she.
(YASMIN takes the rose from her hair and flings
it at HASSAN, then retires within.)
ISHAK.
Are you fortunate in love as well as in life, O Hassan?
But come away. This conduct ill beseems a minister of state;
you are not unobserved.
HASSAN.
I am coming. The rose is poisoned.
ISHAK.
O friend, is this talk for the ardent lover?
HASSAN.
Are you my friend? You, Ishak, the glorious singer of Islam?
And if you are my friend, are you like those who were
my friends before?
ISHAK.
Last night, I found you lying like a filthy corpse beneath
this window, but I knew by your lute and your countenance
that you were a poet, like myself, and I was sorry to think
you dead.
HASSAN.
A poet? I? I am a confectioner.
ISHAK.
You are my friend, Hassan.
HASSAN.
Then consider this rose. This rose is more bitter than
colocynth. For, look you, friend, had she not flung this
rose, I would have said she hated me and loved another;
it is well. She had the right to hate and love. She
could hate and she could love. But now, ah, tell me,
you who seem to be my friend, are all you poets liars?
ISHAK.
Ya, Hassan, but we tell excellent lies.
HASSAN.
Why do you say that beauty has a meaning?
Why do you not say that beauty is hollow as a drum?
Why do you not say that it is sold?
ISHAK.
All this disillusionment because a fair lady flung you a rose!
HASSAN.
Last night I baked sugar and she flung me water:
this morning I bake gold and she flings me a rose.
Empty, empty, I tell you, friend, all the blue sky.
ISHAK.
Come, forget her and come away. I will instruct you
in the pleasures of the court.
HASSAN.
Forget, forget? O rose of morning and O rose of evening,
vainly for me shall you fade on domes of ebony or azure.
This rose has faded, and this rose is bitter, and this rose
is nothing but the world.
CURTAIN. _
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