|
Prev
| Next
| Contents
ANOTHER BEGGAR But it was Woldery!
AKMOS (kneeling to Agmar) Master, I am childless, and I....
AGMAR Trouble us not now. It is the hour at which the gods are
accustomed to speak to the gods in the language of the gods, and if
Man heard us he would guess the futility of his destiny, which were
not well for Man. Begone! Begone! (Exeunt all but one who lingers.)
ONE Master....
AGMAR Begone! (exit one) (Agmar takes up a piece of meat and begins to
eat it: the beggars rise and stretch themselves: they laugh, but Agmar
eats hungrily.)
OOGNO Ah, now we have come into our own.
THAHN Now we have alms.
SLAG Master! My wise Master!
ULF These are the good days, the good days; and yet I have a fear.
SLAG What do you fear? There is nothing to fear. No man is as wise as
my Master.
ULF I fear the gods whom we pretend to be.
SLAG The gods?
AGMAR (taking a chunk of meat from his lips) Come hither, Slag.
SLAG (going up to him) Yes, Master.
AGMAR Watch in the doorway while I eat. (Slag goes to the doorway)
Sit in the attitude of a god. Warn me if any of the citizens approach.
(Slag sits in the doorway in the attitude of a god, back to the
audience)
OOGNO (to Agmar) But, Master, shall we not have Woldery wine?
AGMAR We shall have all things if only we are wise at first for a
little.
THAHN Master, do any suspect us?
AGMAR We must be very wise.
THAHN But if we are not wise, Master?
AGMAR Why then death may come to us ...
THAHN O Master!
AGMAR ... slowly. (All stir uneasily except Slag motionless in the
doorway.)
OOGNO Do they believe us, master?
SLAG (half turning his head) Someone comes. (Slag resumes his
position.)
AGMAR (putting away his meat) We shall soon know now. (All take up the
attitude. Enter one.)
ONE Master, I want the god that does not eat.
AGMAR I am he.
ONE Master, my child was bitten in the throat by a death-adder at
noon. Spare him, Master; he still breathes, but slowly.
AGMAR Is he indeed your child?
ONE He is surely my child, Master.
AGMAR Was it your wont to thwart him in his play, while he was strong
and well?
ONE I never thwarted him, Master.
AGMAR Whose child is Death?
ONE Death is the child of the gods.
AGMAR Do you that never thwarted your child in his play ask this of
the gods?
ONE (with some horror, perceiving Agmar's meaning) Master!
AGMAR Weep not. For all the houses that men have builded are the
play-fields of this child of the gods. (The man goes away in silence
not weeping.)
OOGNO (Taking Thahn by the wrist) Is this indeed a man?
AGMAR A man, a man, and until just now a hungry one.
Prev
| Next
| Contents
|