Selections from the Writings of Lord Dunsay | Page 9

doubt.
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. (Enter the dromedary men.)
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 Aye, 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. (Re-enter Thief.)
THIEF 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 Ah, how long we have wandered along the ways of the world.
SLAG Ah, 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 abases 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