The King of the Dark Chamber Part 2

SECOND CITIZEN. Ah, yes, that is a flag indeed.

SECOND HERALD. Do you see the red Kimshuk flower painted on it?

SECOND CITIZEN. Yes, yes, it is the Kimshuk indeed!--what a bright scarlet flower!

FIRST HERALD. Well! do you believe us now?

SECOND CITIZEN. I never said I didn't. That fellow k.u.mbha started all this fuss. Did I say a word?

FIRST HERALD. Perhaps, though a pot-bellied man, he is quite empty inside; an empty vessel sounds most, you know.

SECOND HERALD. Who is he? Is he any kinsman of yours?

SECOND CITIZEN. Not at all. He is just a cousin of our village chief's father-in-law, and he does not even live in the same part of our village with us.

SECOND HERALD. Just so: he quite looks the seventh cousin of somebody's father-in-law, and his understanding appears also to bear the stamp of uncle-in-lawhood.

k.u.mBHA. Alas, my friends, many a bitter sorrow has given my poor mind a twist before it has become like this. It is only the other day that a King came and paraded the streets, with as many t.i.tles in front of him as the drums that made the town hideous by their din, ... What did I not do to serve and please him! I rained presents on him, I hung about him like a beggar--and in the end I found the strain on my resources too hard to bear. But what was the end of all that pomp and majesty? When people sought grants and presents from him, he could not somehow discover an auspicious day in the Calendar: though all days were red-letter days when we had to pay our taxes!

SECOND HERALD. Do you mean to insinuate that our King is a bogus King like the one you have described?

FIRST HERALD. Mr. Uncle-in-law, I believe the time has come for you to say good-bye to Aunty-in-law.

k.u.mBHA. Please, sirs, do not take any offence. I am a poor creature--my sincerest apologies, sirs: I will do anything to be excused. I am quite willing to move away as far as you like.

SECOND HERALD. All right, come here and form a line. The King will come just now--we shall go and prepare the way for him.

[They go out.]

SECOND CITIZEN. My dear k.u.mbha, your tongue will be your death one day.

k.u.mBHA. Friend Madhav, it isn't my tongue, it is fate. When the bogus King appeared I never said a word, though that did not prevent my striking at my own feet with all the self-confidence of innocence. And now, when perhaps the real King has come, I simply must blurt out treason. It is fate, my dear friend!

MADHAV. My faith is, to go on obeying the King--it does not matter whether he is a real one or a pretender. What do we know of Kings that we should judge them! It is like throwing stones in the dark--you are almost sure of hitting your mark. I go on obeying and acknowledging--if it is a real King, well and good: if not, what harm is there?

k.u.mBHA. I should not have minded if the stones were nothing better than stones. But they are often precious things: here, as elsewhere, extravagance lands us in poverty, my friend.

MADHAV. Look! There comes the King! Ah, a King indeed! What a figure, what a face! Whoever saw such beauty--lily-white, creamy-soft! What now, k.u.mbha? What do you think now?

k.u.mBHA. He looks all right--yes, he may be the real King for all I know.

MADHAV. He looks as if he were moulded and carved for kingship, a figure too exquisite and delicate for the common light of day.

[Enter the "KING"]

[Transcriber's note: The author indicates the trumped up King as "KING" in this play, enclosing the word King in double quotes to help us distinguish the imposter from the real one.]

MADHAV. Prosperity and victory attend thee, O King! We have been standing here to have a sight of thee since the early morning. Forget us not, your Majesty, in your favours.

k.u.mBHA. The mystery deepens. I will go and call Grandfather.[Goes out.]

[Enter another band of MEN]

FIRST MAN. The King, the King! Come along, quick, the King is pa.s.sing this way.

SECOND MAN. Do not forget me, O King! I am Vivajadatta, the grandson of Udayadatta of Kushalivastu. I came here at the first report of thy coming--I did not stop to hear what people were saying: all the loyalty in me went out towards thee, O Monarch, and brought me here.

THIRD MAN. Rubbish! I came here earlier than you--before the c.o.c.kcrow. Where were you then? O King, I am Bhadrasena, of Vikramasthali. Deign to keep thy servant in thy memory!

"KING". I am much pleased with your loyalty and devotion.

VIVAJADATTA. Your Majesty, many are the grievances and complaints we have to make to thee: to whom could we turn our prayers so long, when we could not approach thy august presence?

"KING". Your grievances will all be redressed. [Exit.]

FIRST MAN. It won't do to lag behind, boys--the King will lose sight of us if we get mixed up with the mob.

SECOND MAN. See there-look what that fool Narottam is doing! He has elbowed his way through all of us and is now sedulously fanning the King with a palm leaf!

MADHAV. Indeed! Well, well, the sheer audacity of the man takes one's breath away.

SECOND MAN. We shall have to pitch the fellow out of that place--is he fit to stand beside the King?

MADHAV. Do you imagine the King will not see through him? His loyalty is obviously a little too showy and profuse.

FIRST MAN. Nonsense! Kings can't scent hypocrites as we do--I should not be surprised if the King be taken in by that fool's strenuous fanning.

[Enter k.u.mBHA with GRANDFATHER]

k.u.mBHA. I tell you--he has just pa.s.sed by this street.

GRANDFATHER. Is that a very infallible test of Kingship?

k.u.mBHA. Oh no, he did not pa.s.s un.o.bserved: not one or two men but hundreds and thousands on both sides of the street have seen him with their own eyes.

GRANDFATHER. That is exactly what makes the whole affair suspicious. When ever has our King set out to dazzle the eyes of the people by pomp and pageantry? He is not the King to make such a thundering row over his progress through the country.

k.u.mBHA. But he may just have chosen to do so on this important occasion: you cannot really tell.

GRANDFATHER. Oh yes, you can! My King cherishes no weatherc.o.c.k fancy, no fantastic vein.

k.u.mBHA. But, Grandfather, I wish I could only describe him! So soft, so delicate and exquisite like a waxen doll! As I looked on him, I yearned to shelter him from the sun, to protect him with my whole body.

GRANDFATHER. Fool, O precious a.s.s that you are! My King a waxen doll, and you to protect him!

k.u.mBHA. But seriously, Grandpa, he is a superb G.o.d, a miracle of beauty: I do not find a single other figure in this vast a.s.sembly that can stand beside his peerless loveliness.

GRANDFATHER. If my King chose to make himself shown, your eyes would not have noticed him. He would not stand out like that amongst others--he is one of the people, he mingles with the common populace.

k.u.mBHA. But did I not tell you I saw his banner?