Plays of Gods and Men | Page 9

shall dance before me. The Queen will sleep; they are quite excellent. Ah, Ichtharion. Come to me, Ichtharion.
Ludibras:
Why does the King send for you?
King Karnos:
You were wrong, Ichtharion.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty!
[Ludibras watches.]
King Karnos:
You were wrong to think that Thek is not very lovely.
Ichtharion:
Yes, I was wrong and I am much to blame.
King Karnos:
Yes, it is very beautiful at evening. I will watch them go down over the orchids. I will never see Barbul-el-Sharnak any more. I will sit and watch the sun go down on the orchids till it is gone and all their colours fade.
Ichtharion:
It is very beautiful now. How still it is! I have never seen so still a sunset before.
King Karnos:
It is like a picture done by a dying painter, full of a beautiful colour. Even if all these orchids died to-night yet their beauty is an indestructible memory.
Ludibras: [Aside to Ichtharion]
The prophet is coming this way.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty, the prophet walks about in the palace, and the executioner is close behind him. If the Queen saw him and the executioner would it not trouble her? Were it not better that he should be killed at once? Shall I whistle for the executioner?
King Karnos:
Not now. I said at sunset.
Ichtharion:
Your Majesty, it is merciful to kill a man before the set of the sun. For it is natural in a man to love the sun. But to see it set and to know that it will not come again is even a second death. It would be merciful to kill him now.
King Karnos:
I have said--at sunset. It were unjust to kill him before his prophecy is proven false.
Ichtharion:
But, your Majesty, we know that it is false. He also knows it.
King Karnos:
He shall die at sunset.
Ludibras:
Your Majesty, the prophet will pray for life if he is not killed now. It would be pity to grant it.
King Karnos:
Is not a King's word death? I have said he shall die at sunset.
[Enter Prophet. The Executioner creeps along close behind him.]
Voice-of-the-Gods:
O the gods are about to have lied. The gods will have lied. I have prophesied falsely and the gods will have lied. My death cannot atone for it nor the punishment of others.
[Ichtharion and Ludibras start.]
Ichtharion:
He will betray us yet.
Voice-of-the-Gods:
O why did you let your voice come through my lips? O why did you allow your voice to lie? For centuries it has been said from city to city, "The gods cannot lie." The nomads have known it out upon the plains. The mountaineers have known it near the dawn. That is all over now. O King, let me die at once. For I have prophesied falsely and at sunset the gods will lie.
King Karnos:
It is not sunset yet. No doubt you have spoken truly.
[Enter Queen.]
How well the Queen looks. Her maidens are quite excellent.
Ludibras: [To Ichtharion]
There is something a little dreadful in seeing the Queen so calm. She is like a windless sunset in the Winter before a hurricane comes and the snow swirls up before it over the world.
Ichtharion:
I do not like calm sunsets; they make me think that something is going to happen. Yes, the Queen is very quiet; she will sleep to-night.
Queen:
I am not frightened any longer. All the wild fancies of my brain have left it. I have often troubled you with little fears. Now they are all at rest and I am afraid no longer.
King Karnos:
That is good; I am very glad. You will sleep tonight.
Queen:
Sleep. Why--yes, I shall sleep. O yes, we shall all sleep.
King Karnos:
Your maidens have told you that there is nothing to fear.
Queen:
Nothing to fear? No, no more little fears to trouble me.
King Karnos:
They have told you there is nothing at all to fear. Indeed there is nothing.
Queen:
No more little fears. There is one great fear.
King Karnos:
A great fear! Why, what is it?
Queen:
I must not say. For you have often soothed me when I was frightened, and it were not well for me to trouble you at the last.
King Karnos:
What is your fear? Shall I send again for your maidens?
Queen:
No, it is not my fear. It is all men's fear if they knew.
King Karnos: [glancing round]
Ah, you have seen my man in red. I will send him away. I will----
Queen:
No, no. My fear is not earthly. I am not afraid of little things any more.
King Karnos:
Why, what is it then?
Queen:
I do not quite know. But you know how I have ever feared the gods. The gods are going to do some dreadful thing.
King Karnos:
Believe me; the gods do nothing nowadays.
Queen:
You have indeed been very good to me. It seems a little while since the camels came to Argun-Zeerith by the iris marshes, the camels with the gold-hung palanquin, and the bells above their heads, high up in the air, the silver bridal bells. It seems a very little while ago. I did not know