Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 52

NOURM. They gave him back all the blows of the stick they had had from him.

SATNI. You saw that?

NOURM. Yes.

SOKITI [_proudly_] Me too, me too--

BITIOU. I laugh very much--because--because--Steward, very big, strong, and then when very much beaten, fell down--fell on the ground--like me!

like me! He, big, he fell down just the same--he like Bitiou--I very glad. [_During what follows he plays with his foot_].

STEWARD. What they have done is bad.

NOURM. No. The steward had been happy all his life. He was old.

SOKITI. He was old. So 'tis not bad to have killed him--He had finished--He was fat--and he had lost his appet.i.te--

NOURM. Only just, he should leave his place to another.

SATNI. We must not kill.

SOKITI. What does that mean?

NOURM. Yes, kill a good one, that is bad. But kill a bad one, that is good.

SATNI. And if you are mistaken?

SOKITI. No, he is bad, I kill him.

SATNI. What if he be not bad, and you think him so?

SOKITI. If he were not bad, I should not think it.

STEWARD. You do not understand--Listen, I am not bad, am I?

SOKITI. But we do not want to kill you.

STEWARD. Let me speak. You remember Kob the black. He thought me bad.

NOURM. Yes.

STEWARD. And if he had killed me?

SOKITI. We are not blacks--

STEWARD. You do not understand me. Consider. He thought me bad. I am not bad. What you were saying, would justify him if he had killed me.

_They consider._

SOKITI. I understand. You say: If the slave had killed me--no, it is not that.

SATNI. Human life must be respected.

_Gravely they make sign of acquiescence, to escape further torment. Nourm picks up a package he had brought and turns to go out un.o.bserved._

STEWARD. What are you carrying there?

NOURM. Nothing, 'tis mine--

BITIOU. That is a necklace--show. [_Begins to open the package_].

NOURM. Yes, a necklace.

SATNI. From whom did you take it?

NOURM. From the neighboring master.

SATNI. Do you think you did well?

NOURM [_hesitating_] Why--yes.

SATNI. You are wrong.

NOURM. Be not afraid, no one saw me.

SATNI. It is wrong.

NOURM. No. What can wrong me, is wrong. Since no one saw me, they will not punish me. So it is not wrong.

SATNI. Wrong not to you, but to the neighboring master.

NOURM. He has many others.

SOKITI. Has had them for years, he has! Nourm never had one. Not just.

I, I never had, this--[_He holds up a bracelet_].

SATNI. You have taken this bracelet!

SOKITI [_delighted_] It is mine.

SATNI. We are content.

_They laugh._

NOURM. And Bitiou--

SATNI AND SOKITI. Yes, Bitiou--

NOURM. He took the best thing.