Chapter LIX: Act III: Scene 1

[This scene (suggested by a friend) was entirely cut before rehearsals
began.]

_Zira's house. Same scene as Act I, Scene 3. Small courtyard.
The sun has just set. It is dusk.
The gate is opened from the street.
Old Woman I (Narjis) enters, locks the gate, and lights a lamp.
Knocking at the gate.
Old Woman I opens the gate.
The two porters bring in the chair.
Hajji gets out, bent double, and trembling.
He pays the porters: they withdraw.
The Old Woman says: "Who are you?"_

_Hajji._ Hajji throws back the shawl.
He reveals himself, asks for food and his
daughter.

_Old Woman I._ "Hajji!"
Hajji explains that he must escape:
Leave the city at once.
Too long to explain.
He can never come to Bagdad again.
Old Woman to bring his daughter at once,
Old Woman says she has just taken daughter to
Executioner's house.
Hajji: "I said not before sundown"
"It is sundown."
Hajji curses Old Woman.
Says that it is her fault that he took his
daughter to Executioner.
"My fault?" says she.
"Yes! You urged me on.
You agreed with me.
If I have lost her, you are to blame.
But I can't lose her.
I must risk everything.
I must get her out of his clutches."
Where did Old Woman leave her?
With principal wife.
An idea!
He had appointment with wife in bath at moon
rise--
He will go.
If it costs him his life, he must try to get
his daughter.
He goes to door; as he does so, there is
knocking at door from without.
They have found him.
What shall he do?
Old Woman opens lattice in Courtyard.
"Escape that way!
When I was young many a time my lover came
through that window."
Hajji off through window.
_More knocking at door.
Old Woman opens._

_Sultan. Sultan enters, splendidly attired.
Vizier Has come to claim his bride.
and a Guard. Old Woman amazed.
Old Woman._ Is he not the Sultan?
She has seen him the day of his entry into
the town.
Sultan: "You have guessed. Bring forth Zira!"
Alas! Zira not here.
At Executioner's house.
Her father has destined her for Executioner.
Sultan furious.
When was she taken there?
Not an hour ago.
Sultan will go to Executioner's house.
The Old Woman I is to lead the way and show
the entrance she took the girl to.

_Curtain._

SCENE 2

[In the play Act III begins here.]

_The Bath in the Executioner's house. (Large set.)_

_Up five marble steps (almost fifteen feet up stage) a colonnade.
Beyond it a courtyard, with a large swimming bath. The front part of
the stage, couches and pierced screens. Door right to women's
apartments, door left to men's apartments._

_Early moonlight in the courtyard beyond the columns. Hanging lamps in
the front part of the bath._

_Women are robing and disrobing. Some are swimming in the tank.
Laughter and chatter._

_Principal Wife. Wife at her toilet.
Old Woman II (Miskah.)_ Old Woman helping.
Has Hajji not come back yet?
"No sign," says Old Woman.
Has been to outer gate twice.
Only person there a young woman
Guarded by two soldiers (eunuchs).
Weeping this last half hour.
They say she has been brought by Executioner's
orders.
"Another woman?
Have her brought here!"
Old Woman takes order to doorkeeper at door L.

_Principal Wife goes to top of steps and orders the other women to
dress and retire._

_The women swim to the right end of the bath. The talk is silenced._

_Zira is brought in by the slave doorkeeper, followed by the Old
Woman II._

_Wife. Wife: "What have we here?"
Zira. She abuses girl.
Old Woman II._ Ill treats her.
[This scene enlarged Leads off into inner chamber of slaves.
during rehearsal. Zira in tears goes off by colonnade right
Marsinah (Zira) does with the Old Woman.
not leave the stage,
but veils. See play.]

_Wife._ "I'll soon break your spirit!"
_The door left opens._

_The Executioner enters in a bad humour._

_Executioner. _Wife_: "This is an unexpected delight!
Wife._ So early? Did the Sultan not keep you to
supper?"
_Executioner_: "What are you doing in the bath
at this time of night?"
_W._ "I was but waiting for you to ask what
you wish done with the new slave."
_E._ "What new slave?"
_W._ "The woman who has just arrived, guarded
by two of your men."
_The Doorkeeper_. "The men you dispatched with
Hajji, sir, this afternoon."
_E_. "Oh, that woman!
I shall have her strangled."
Wife agrees.
Says girl a slut.
Executioner finds his wife agrees with him to
such an extent that he thinks the girl must be
beautiful.
Rings a bell.
Old Woman II comes from Colonnade.

[This altered. Marsinah He orders her to bring Zira.
has not left the The wife tries to interfere.
stage. See note above.] Executioner angry.
Wife wonders why he is in such an angry mood.
Because he may lose his head any moment.
"Lose his head?" she asks.
"Yes. This new Sultan--"

_Zira is brought in from R. on steps by Old Woman. Zira is veiled._

_Executioner. Executioner orders her to unveil.
Zira. She hesitates.
Wife. He tears the veil from her face.
Old Woman._ He sees she is beautiful.
Says to his wife that she has lied.
"Go, get the girl ready.
I will come to her as soon as I have had my
bath.
Until tomorrow, at least, I shall enjoy life.
After that--who knows?"

_He goes off up the Colonnade to left.
Wife orders Old Woman to take the girl away with her again.
Zira goes off by small door right with Old Woman.
There is a tapping sound on a screen on the right side._

_Wife._ "Hajji!"

_Wife goes and opens screen in the wall right. Hajji enters._

_Wife. Wife tells him to be quiet.
Hajji._ Executioner near at hand.
Expects an amorous embrace.
Hajji says there is no time for love making.
He has come about his daughter.
_W._ "Your daughter?"
_H._ "Yes. Zira--She came here for the
Executioner. Has he seen her? Has he gone in
to her?"
_W._ "So she's your daughter?
I have you to thank for this creature,
Another rival."
Hajji wants to know where the girl is.
Can't Wife bring her out here and let the
girl escape with him.
_W._ "Escape?"
_H._ "In that way you can get rid of a rival."
_W._ "And be strangled myself?"
He urges her.
If she won't let the girl escape, at least
won't she take the girl to a sanctuary?
Sanctuary? What for?
To get her out of the way--away from
Executioner.
Why not take her to the Mosque?
The Mosque of the Carpenters, where the
venerable priest is?
He entreats Wife by the love she has for him.
Points out the dangerous charm of his
daughter.
She will prove a great rival.
Wife is torn between jealousy and fear for her
own life.
_H._ "You can say you took her to the
Sanctuary for purification--Take her there!"

_They are interrupted._

_The Executioner appears in a thin robe in the colonnade with two
slaves. Wife escapes rapidly into inner room to right. Hajji's
escape is cut off. He grovels on the floor._

_Hajji. Executioner sees Hajji and dismisses the
Executioner._ slaves.
Amazed at Hajji's presence.

/ Hajji says he has done everything to get back
| to Executioner. Bribed the Sultan's Gaoler,
| faced untold dangers.
[All this much more | Grovels and at the same time tries to find out
direct and brutal in < the Executioner's position in regard to the
play. Change made | Sultan.
when play was |
written.] | Has he lost his power?
| What has Sultan done to Executioner?
| Executioner in a boundless rage.
\ How dare Hajji come and ask him questions?
How dare he break into the women's quarters
and then ask for mercy?
How dare he appeal to the Executioner, after
betraying him to the Sultan?
Who was Hajji before the Executioner looked
with favor on him?
A swine, an abomination picked out of the
gutter.
A cur, a dog,--a--
He approaches Hajji.
Hajji hurries up the steps.
The Executioner is too quick, gets up after
him and takes Hajji by the throat.
Doing so, he catches hold of the chain with
the coin that Hajji stole from
Sheikh (Act II, Scene 4.)
Where did Hajji get this?
Hajji lies, saying it is his.
It has always been his.
Executioner produces the other half on a
massive gold chain.
Miraculous!
Hajji must be Executioner's father.
_H_. "You--my son?"
_E_. "Don't you remember?"

[This was altered so Executioner tells how he can just remember
that Hajji tells the his father breaking a coin when they were
Executioner all this. being attacked in the desert, before he, the
See Act II, Scene 4, boy, was carried away by the Sultan's troops.
where the Sheikh gives _H._ "You mean when I was--Sheikh?"
Hajji the facts.] _E._ "Were you Sheikh or just a robber, then?"
_H._ "Just a robber at the time--just a
robber--And your mother--do you remember her?"
_E._ "I have tried to often--Her name escapes
me."
_H._ Mentions name of first wife:
"Zeenab--whom I loved above all things."
"Zeenab! That was her name!"
_H._ "She had eyes like stars; and tall, she
was tall like a poplar.
How wonderful is fate!
So you are her son!"
_E._ "Your son."

_Hajji, slowly eyeing him and taking the Executioner's chain._

_H._ "And the halves fit! What a splendid
chain! What a heavy chain! Heavier than mine.
You have prospered in life, my son--"
_E._ "My father--"
_H._ "Your father, yes. I am your father--Come
to my arms."
With that he takes the gold chain round the
Executioner's neck and twists it till the
Executioner chokes. Forces him down on his
knees.
Then he pushes him backward into the bath.
Holds him under the water and drowns him. "I
killed the old rat! I'll kill his spawn!
Blessed be Allah for this day of days." He
laughs wildly and exultantly.

_There is one more splash, then silence in the bath.
Knocking on the door left.
More knocking.
Then the door is broken open.
The Sultan enters with his Guard and Torchbearers, the old Woman No.
I. following._

_The Sultan._ "Where is the woman? Where is Zira?
Search the Hareem!"
Some of the Soldiers cross into door right.

_Sultan. Sultan turns and sees Hajji on the steps by
Hajji._ the bath.
"You?"
_H._ "Yes." Allah allowed him to escape in
order to serve the Sultan.
_S._ "Cut him down!"
_H._ "Stop! Look first whether I am not a
good servant.
Look in the bath!"
The Sultan looks.
_S._ "The Executioner!"
_H._ "It was all his fault.
He drove me to attempt your life."

_Soldiers reenter, bringing in Wife. Other women of the Hareem
follow._

_Wife. Soldier says Zira not there.
Sultan. Wife confesses she has sent her to Sanctuary.
Hajji. Hajji begged her to do so.
Old Woman No. I._ _S._ "Hajji! Ever Hajji! Why should he have
any say in regard to Zira?"
_H._ "She is my daughter."
_S._ "Yours!"
_H._ "Now say I am not a good servant when I
serve you with such a daughter.
Will you still kill me?"
Old Woman No. I testifies he is speaking the
truth, is Zira's father.
_S._ "You have attempted my life.
What would my piety be if I pardoned the
dagger that tried to kill the descendant of
the Prophet?
Taking the law into your own hands (_points
to bath_) does not wipe out your crime.
But you are the father of Zira,
The woman whom I mean to make my Sultana.
Her father's blood must not be shed by me.
Go, then, be banished, forgotten!
Your life is spared--but only under one
condition.
Henceforth you shall be as dead to me--to your
daughter."
_H_. "To my daughter? Never to speak to her
again, to feel her cheek against mine? Never?"
_S._ "I have spoken."
Hajji tears his clothes, strews ashes on his
head from the brazier by his side and goes
out, staggering, by door left.
The Sultan will go the Mosque to beg the High
Priest to release Zira from the Sanctuary.

_Curtain_

LAST SCENE

_The same as the first scene, Act I. Before the Mosque, moonlight._

_Young Beggar of Act I is seated on the seat
on which Hajji installed him.
Hajji enters staggering down the street.
He stands at the Mosque a moment._

[Here was introduced a / _Wants to enter, then turns away in despair.
scene with the Priest. < Comes to his accustomed seat.
Meccah is to be Hajji's \ Young Beggar is there.
goal. Altered when play As Hajji approaches, the Young Beggar begins
was written.] [The to beg of him.
scene with the Young Hajji kicks him off the seat and resumes his
Beggar is postponed old place.
until after the Caliph Young Beggar slinks away.
and Marsinah leave. Scarcely is Hajji seated when the Sultan
Altered when the play enters on his white donkey with a torch-light
was written.] procession.
The Sultan dismounts and knocks at the Mosque.
The Mosque is opened by the Priest.
The Priest, when he learns it is the Sultan,
brings out Zira to him.
The Sultan reveals himself in a verse to Zira.
Zira replies in a rhyme.
The Sultan conducts Zira to a litter.
He re-mounts his donkey.
The procession moves past Hajji.
Hajji stretches out his hand for alms,
veiling his face.
The procession disappears. The street grows
dark again.
The Mosque is shut.
Hajji is left alone in the moonlight.
He draws out the old gourd from behind the
stone seat.
A line of philosophy summing up his day.
Something, perhaps, on "life and water."
He drinks his fill, puts the gourd away,
leans back, and goes to sleep, breathing
regularly._

_Curtain_[16]

Does not this careful scenario make very clear what are the steps in good scenario writing? First comes structure,--ordering for clearness and correct emphasis in the story-telling. Then, with the scenario kept flexible and subject to change till the last possible moment, come many changes big and little, for better characterization and more atmosphere--see pp. 461-463.

Finally, more than anything else, as the author puts last touches to his scenario, or revises the play he has written from it, he scans its details in relation to the probable attitude toward them of his public. In the relation of that public to his subject and his treatment of it lie the most difficult problems of the dramatist. Solving them means the difference between the will to conquer and victory.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Letters of Henrik Ibsen_, p. 325. For a similar outline see that
on _Faste_, p. 151.

[2] _The Green Book Magazine_, February, 1914.

[3] See pp. 276-278.

[4] See Kismet Scenario, pp. 474-507.

[5] Samuel French, publisher. New York.

[6] Samuel French, publisher, New York.

[7] Samuel French, publisher, New York.

[8] Samuel French, publisher, New York.

[9] See pp. 154-182.

[10] See p. 287.

[11] _European Dramatists. Henrik Ibsen_. A. Henderson. Pp. 175-176.
Stewart & Kidd Co., Cincinnati.

[12] The sentence is elliptical in the original.

[13] _Ibsen's Workshop_, pp. 91-92. Copyright, 1911, by Chas.
Scribner's Sons, New York.

[14] _Ibsen's Workshop_, pp. 92-95.

[15] Printed by permission of Mr. Knobloch from his own manuscript.

[16] For the play see _Kismet_, Methuen & Co., Ltd., London.