Plays of Gods and Men | Page 5

[on]
There has been a prophecy. There has been a prophecy.
King Karnos:
Ah! there has been a prophecy. Bring in the prophet. [Exit attendant.]
[Enter mournfully with dejected head and walking very slowly Voice-of-the-Gods.]
King Karnos:
You have made a prophecy.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
I have made a prophecy.
King Karnos:
I would hear that prophecy. [A pause.]
Voice-of-the-Gods:
Your Majesty, the gods in three days' time----
King Karnos:
Stop! Is it not usual to begin with certain words? [A pause.]
Voice-of-the-Gods:
It is written and hath been said... that the gods cannot lie.
King Karnos:
That is right.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
That the gods cannot lie.
King Karnos:
Yes. Yes.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
In three days' time the gods will destroy this city for vengeance upon some man, unless all men desert it.
King Karnos:
The gods will destroy Thek!
Voice-of-the-Gods:
Yes.
King Karnos:
When will this happen?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
It must be in three days' time.
King Karnos:
How will it happen?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
Why. It will happen.
King Karnos:
How?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
Why... there will be a sound... as the riving of wood... a sound as of thunder coming up from the ground. A cleft will run like a mouse across the floor. There will be a red light, and then no light at all, and in the darkness Thek shall tumble in.
[The King sits in deep thought. Exit Prophet slowly; he begins to weep, then casts his cloak over his face. He stretches out his arms to grope his way and is led by the hand. The King sits thinking.]
Tharmia:
Save us, your Majesty.
Arolind:
Save us.
Ichtharion:
We must fly, your Majesty.
Ludibras:
We must escape swiftly.
[The King sits still in silence. He lifts a stick on his right to beat a little silver bell; but puts it down again. At last he lifts it up and strikes the bell. An Attendant enters.]
King Karnos:
Bring back that prophet. [Attendant bows and exits.]
[The King looks thoughtful. The rest have a frightened look. Re-enter Prophet.]
King Karnos:
When the gods prophesy rain in the season of rain, or the death of an old man, we believe them. But when the gods prophesy something incredible and ridiculous, such as happens not nowadays, and hath not been heard of since the fall of Bleth, then our credulity is overtaxed. It is possible that a man should lie; it is not possible that the gods should destroy a city nowadays.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
O King, have mercy.
King Karnos:
What, would you be sent safe away while your King is destroyed by the gods?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
No, no, your Majesty. I would stay in the city, your Majesty. But if the gods do not destroy the city, if the gods have misled me.
King Karnos:
If the gods have misled you they have chosen your doom. Why ask for mercy from me?
Voice-of-the-Gods:
If the gods have misled me, and punish me no further, I ask mercy from you, O King.
King Karnos:
If the gods have misled you, let the gods protect you from my executioner.
1st Sentry: [Laughs aside to 2nd Sentry]
Very witty.
2nd Sentry:
Yes, yes. [Laughs too.]
King Karnos:
If the doom fall not at sunset, why then the executioner----
Voice-of-the-Gods:
Your Majesty!
King Karnos:
No more! No doubt the gods will destroy the whole city at sunset.
[The sentries titter. The Prophet is led away.]
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty! Is it safe to kill a prophet, even for any guilt? Will not the people----
King Karnos:
Not while he is a prophet; but if he has prophesied falsely his death is due to the gods. The people once even burned a prophet themselves because he had taken three wives.
Ichtharion: [Aside to Ludibras]
It is most unfortunate, but what can we do?
Ludibras: [Aside to Ichtharion]
He will not be killed if he betray us instead.
Ichtharion: [Aside]
Why... that is true.
[All are whispering.]
King Karnos:
Why do you whisper?
Tharmia:
Your Majesty, we fear that the gods will destroy us all and...
King Karnos:
You do not fear it?
[Dead silence. A plaintive lament off. Enter the Queen. Her face is pale as paper.]
Queen: [loq.]
O your Majesty. Your Majesty. I have heard the lutanist, I have heard the lutanist.
King Karnos:
She means the lute that is heard by those about to die.
Queen:
I have heard Gog-Owza, the lutanist, playing his lute. And I shall die, O I shall die.
King Karnos:
No. No. No. You have not heard Gog-Owza. Send for her maidens, send for the Queen's maidens.
Queen:
I have heard Gog-Owza playing, and I shall die.
King Karnos:
Hark. Why, I hear it too. That is not Gog-Owza, it is only a man with a lute; I hear it too.
Queen:
O the King hears it too. The King will die. The great King will die. My child will be desolate for the King will die. Mourn, people of the jungle. Mourn, citizens of Thek. And thou, O Barbul-el-Sharnak, O metropolitan city, mourn thou in the midst of the nations, for the great King will die.
King Karnos:
No. No. No. [To oldest present.] Listen you. Do you not hear it?
The Oldest:
Yes, your Majesty.
King Karnos:
You see it is a real lute. That is no spirit playing.
Queen:
O but he is old; in a few days he will die; it is Gog-Owza, and the King will die.
King Karnos:
No, no, it is only a man. Look out of