Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 50

MIERIS [_in tears_] Let me keep her--

RHEOU. No, Mieris.

MIERIS [_letting go_] Take her--[_Then_] Stay!

RHEOU. Wherefore?

MIERIS. Can you part from her, and feel nothing? Even now, Satni, in denouncing the G.o.ds to the fury of the crowd, you did not say everything--You, who can see her, behold this little image, think how many tears were shed before her, in the years since she was made. She has been ours for generations. Call up the countless crowds of those who have fixed their anxious looks upon her eyes, dead even as mine are. It is for all the anguish she has looked upon, we must respect her. Tears make holy. I doubt not you are right: she must be broken too--but not without farewell. [_To Yaouma_] Where is she, Yaouma? I would say my last prayer to her. [_To the statue_] Oh, them who didst not heal, but didst console me; O thou who hast heard so many entreaties and thanksgivings, thou art but clay! Yet men have given thee life; thy life was not in thee, it was in them--and the proof is that thou diest, now they have taken their soul from thee. I give thee over to those who would break thee, but I revere thee, I salute thee, and I thank thee for all the hope thou hast given me; and I thank thee in the name of all the sorrows that thou hast sent to sleep. [To the men] Take her hence--let them destroy her with respect.

_They take Isis away._

SATNI. There is nothing so sad or so great as the death of a G.o.d! [_A pause. To Yaouma, who comes through the crowd_] Behold, Yaouma! The G.o.ds are dead and I live--behold them! Do you believe me--do you believe me?

_Sadly Yaouma looks at the broken statues, then bursts into tears before Satni, who stands amazed._

CURTAIN

ACT III

SCENE:--_The yard in front of the potter's hut. On the right from the middle of the back of the scene to the footlights, the walls of the dwelling made of beaten clay. Two unequal doors. The wall is slightly raised supporting a terrace where pottery of all kinds is drying in the sun. Left, a wall of loose stones high enough to lean on. Between the wall and the house an opening leading to an invisible inclined plane that descends to the Nile, the water and opposite bank of which are visible. Behind the house and on the right groups of lofty palms. The whole is abject misery beneath the splendor of a heaven blazing with light._

_Kirjipa, crouching down, is grinding corn between a large and a small stone. Satni is seated on the wall dreaming._

KIRJIPA. Son.

SATNI. Mother.

KIRJIPA. And so you do not believe that when the moon grows little by little less, 'tis because it is eaten by a pig?

SATNI. No, mother.

KIRJIPA. Then what beast eats it?

SATNI. None.

KIRJIPA [_laughing_] You have ideas that are not reasonable. What makes me marvel, is that your father seems to understand them. I must haste to make the bread, that he find it when he returns.

SATNI. Here comes the messenger from Rheou.

KIRJIPA [_horrified_] The messenger of him who kills the G.o.ds.

SATNI. We do not kill what has no life.

KIRJIPA. I would not see him. [_She picks up her corn_].

SATNI. Why?

KIRJIPA. Brrr!--[_To herself_] To-morrow I shall burn some sacred herbs here. [_She goes out_].

_The Steward enters._

STEWARD. Satni, I have been seeking you. Since this morning unhappy things have come to pa.s.s--

SATNI. Yaouma is not in danger, or Mieris, of Rheou?

STEWARD. No. All three are safe in the palace.

SATNI. Well?

STEWARD. You remember the order the master gave me this morning, after the death of the G.o.ds?

SATNI. No.

STEWARD. Yes, to open his granaries to all.

SATNI. Yes, yes, well?

STEWARD. When I went to obey, to my amazement I beheld the men stand by the door in earnest converse, then without entering they withdrew. This is what happened. They went to the house of the neighboring master, roused his servants and laborers, and strove to force them to overthrow the statues of his G.o.ds, and rob him of his corn. They killed his steward. Soldiers came--Nepk had been killed, others too. Then all were scattered. The master sent me to bid you reason with those whom you might find. Look! there are some who have taken refuge here! [_To some men who are outside_] Enter--come--Satni would speak with you!

_Bitiou, Sokiti, and Nourm appear behind the wall. Bitiou comes in._

SATNI [_To Bitiou_] Whither go you?

STEWARD. Whither go you? Whence come you?

BITIOU. I followed the others--

STEWARD. Whence come you?

BITIOU. I came back with the others, Sokiti and Nourm.

SATNI. Where are they?

BITIOU. There.

STEWARD. Bid them enter.

SATNI [_going to the door_] Sokiti, Nourm, come.

_Sokiti and Nourm enter awkwardly._

STEWARD. Why do you hide yourselves?

NOURM. We do not hide from you, but from the Lybian soldiers.