Woman on Her Own, False Gods and The Red Robe Part 56

YAOUMA. I am happy! To the temple! She beckoned me! To the temple! Come!

_They go up. Rheou meets them and leads them away. Satni enters with some men bearing Pakh, who is wounded. Kirjipa almost swooning follows, supported by some women who lead her into the house. The Exorcist, who with his two a.s.sistants follows Pakh, takes some clay from a coffer carried by one of his men, shapes it into a ball, and begins, then, the incantation._

EXORCIST. Pakh! Son of Ritii! Through thy wound an evil spirit has entered thee. I am about to speak the words that shall drive him out: "The virtues of him who lies there, and who suffers, are the virtues of the father of the G.o.ds. The virtues of his brow are the virtues of the brow of Thoumen. The virtues of his eye are the virtues of the eye of Horus, who destroys all creatures."

_A pause._

PAKH. Begone!

EXORCIST. His upper lip is Isis. His lower lip is Neptes, his neck is the G.o.ddess, his teeth are swords, his flesh is Osiris, his hands are divine souls, his fingers are blue serpents, snakes, sons of the G.o.ddess Sekhet--

PAKH. Begone! I no longer believe in your power!

EXORCIST [_taking a doll from the coffer_] Horus is there! Ra is there!

Let them cry to the chiefs of Heliopolis--

PAKH. Have done!

_He knocks down the doll which the Exorcist holds over him.

The music stops suddenly._

EXORCIST. The evil spirits are strongest in him. He will die. Only his son has the right to be with him at death.

_All go out save Pakh and Satni._

SATNI. My father--

PAKH. You are there, my son--'tis well--I am glad--that that maker of spells is gone. [_Simply_] Heal me.

SATNI. Yes, father, you shall be healed. But you must have patience.

PAKH [_simply_] Heal me, now, at once.

SATNI. I cannot.

PAKH. Why do you not want to heal me?--See you not that I am wounded--I suffer--come, give me ease--

SATNI. I would give all, that it were in my power to do so.

PAKH. You know prayers that our priests know not--

SATNI. I know no prayers.

PAKH [_in anguish_] You are not going to let me die?

SATNI. You will not die--have confidence.

PAKH. Confidence? In what? [_A pause_] You cannot heal me?

SATNI. I cannot.

PAKH. All your knowledge, then, is but knowledge of how to destroy--My son!--I pray you--my blood goes out with my life--I do not want to die!

I pray you--give me your hand. I seem to be sinking into night--hold me back--you will not let me die--your father! I am your father. I gave you life--hold me back--all grows dim around me--But at least do something--speak--say the incantations--[_He raises himself_] No! No! I refuse to die! I am not old. [_Strongly_] I will not! I will not! Do not let go my hand! I would live, live--All my life, I have worked, I have sorrowed, I have suffered--Satni--will you let me go before I share the peace and happiness you promised--

SATNI. Oh! My father!

PAKH. You weep--I am lost, then--Yes--I have seen it in your eyes. And the silence deepens around me. To die--to die--[_A long pause_] And after? [_Pause_] And so this is a poor man's life! Work from childhood, blows. Then work, always, without profit. Only for bread. And still work. For others. Not one pleasure. We die. And 'tis finished! You came back to teach me that--Work--blows--misery--the end. [_A silence_] What did you come here to do? Is that your work? [_Strongly_] Satni, Satni!

Give me back my faith! I want it! Ah! Why were you born a destroyer? Is that your truth? You are evil--you were able to prove that all was false. Prove to me now that you lied! I demand it! Give me back my faith, give me back the simple mind that will comfort me.

SATNI. Do not despair--

PAKH. I despair because the happy fields do not exist--

SATNI. Yes, father, yes, they exist--

PAKH. You lied, then!

SATNI. I lied.

PAKH. They exist--and if I die--

SATNI. If you die, you will go to Osiris, you will become Osiris.

PAKH. It is not true. 'Tis now you lie--There is no Osiris! There is no Osiris! Nothing! there is nothing--but life. I curse you, you who taught me that [_He almost falls from his litter, Satni reverently lifts him up_] Ah! accursed! Accursed! I die in hate, in rage, in fear. Bad son!

Bad man! I curse you, come near. [_Seizing him by the throat_] Oh! If I were strong enough!--I would my nails might pierce your throat--Ah! Ah!

accursed [_He lets him go_] All my life lost! All my suffering useless!--Forever--Never! Never! shall I know--Pity! [_He holds out his arms to Satni and falls dead_].

SATNI [_horror-stricken_] He is dead!--[_He lifts him reverently and lays him on the litter_] Father! For me, too, at this moment there would have been comfort in a lie--

_He weeps, kneeling by the body with his arms stretched over it. Kirjipa appears at the door of the house. She comes near, then standing upright cries out to the four points of the horizon, tearing her hair._

KIRJIPA. The master is dead! The master is dead! The master is dead! The master is dead!

_The five mourners appear outside, Delethi, n.a.z.it, Hanou, Zaya, and Nagaou._

KIRJIPA [_with cries that are calls_] The master is dead! The master is dead!

MOURNERS [_entering_] The master is dead! The master is dead!

_Music till the end of the scene._

KIRJIPA. O my father!

MOURNERS [_louder and in a chant_] O my master! O my father!

KIRJIPA. O my beloved!

MOURNERS. The she-wolf, death; the she-wolf, death; the she-wolf, death, has taken him!