Chapter IV: Act I: Morning (2)

MARSINAH. May thy bath profit thee, O my father. What blessed coming is thine?

HAJJ. Thou mayst indeed call it blessed. For verily the Dispeller of woe hath turned the murk of my night into a day of light and delight. What say ye to this. (_He takes out his purse._) Gold! Gold! Gold! What a sound it is! It chinks straight into the blood and sets the heart a-beating, so the temples throb and reason flies from the head. Dost thou mark it, O Marsinah. O Narjis, dost thou?

MARSINAH. (_Clapping her hands._) Yehh!

NARJIS. (_Suspicious._) Whence hadst thou this?

HAJJ. Whence? (_His brow clouds._) Whence? From a fool in his folly! An accursed for whom it shall weave the rope round his neck. But that’s for later. (_Chinking the purse._) This for now. (_He slips the purse in his breast._) Ha! Ha! Ha! O eyes of me! Ye should have beheld them in the hammam—the bath-keeper and his slaveboys. How they bowed before me—one and all. “O my master” here, and “O my lord” there. And such rinsings, and rubbings, and clappings, till my limbs rang aloud with smoothness! Then they laid me adown on silken sheets, the while censers fumed me sweetly from head to heel. And the bath-keeper knelt at my feet, and sung to the tom-tom a song. (_He sings, imitating the playing of a tom-tom with his hands._)

A bowl of wine! Two bowls of wine!
And three more bowls and that makes nine!

(_He draws out the purse and flings it in the air with a shout,
catching it again._)

MARSINAH. (_Clapping her hands gleefully and rising to her knees._) O my father! Thou art magnificent!

HAJJ. (_Delighted._) Magnificent—am I?

MARSINAH. Yea! Even as a prince in one of the tales thou tellest.

HAJJ. A Prince! (_He strokes his moustachios._) A King?

MARSINAH. A King, in truth, a King! Is he not, O Narjis?

NARJIS. (_Ironically._) A King, in very sooth.

MARSINAH. Never beheld I thee thus. Never till this hour. White as milk is this day of mine.

HAJJ. It shall be whiter still, O my dainty. Give me the bundle, O Narjis. Thou shalt bless the day indeed, O my rose. (_Opening the bundle._) Ah! Now thine eyes glisten. Now!

MARSINAH. Thou didst remember me?

HAJJ. Remember thee? What doth thy soul most desire in this world? Speak.

MARSINAH. Most? (_She glances unconsciously up over the garden wall, but looks down again quickly._)

HAJJ. Ah, now thou blushest. What is it?

MARSINAH. (_Confused._) I—know—not.

HAJJ. (_Imitating._) “I know not.” O Narjis, was ever maid such maid. She knows not. By Allah, thou hast guarded her well. She is as simple as the hour she was born. “I know not.” (_He fondles MARSINAH’S cheek._)

MARSINAH. (_Hanging her head._) What should I know?

(_HAJJ and NARJIS look at each other smiling knowingly._)

HAJJ. Thou shouldest know that thy father loves thee! (_He kisses her on both eyes._) And that he has brought thee these. (_He produces the anklets from the bundle._)

MARSINAH. Anklets! (_She flings off her slippers laughing gleefully and puts on the anklets._) O Narjis! O Narjis! At last! Now! What girl in our street can laugh at me now? (_Rises and circles about the two._) Look, O Narjis, look! Jamilah, or Mubarakah, or any of them. O my master, I kiss thy feet. (_She kneels before HAJJ and bows down._)

HAJJ. (_Laying his hand on her head._) Thou art content?

MARSINAH. (_Blissfully._) Content? Content?

HAJJ. Then what sayst thou to a veil? (_He unfolds the veil._)

MARSINAH. (_Springs up, then bashfully—overcome._) For me—too? (_HAJJ hands it to her smilingly._) (_In rapture, holding it up; unconsciously looking up to the garden wall._) Oh! would I had had it this morn!

HAJJ. This morn! What dost thou mean?

MARSINAH. (_Realising her self-betrayal._) I mean—I know not. My heart is so happy. La Yayhá! Do I fill thine eyes, O my father? (_She drapes the veil about her._)

HAJJ. (_Smiling proudly._) Fill mine eyes! Go! Fetch thy lute! We will have music. This day shall be a day of rejoicing.

MARSINAH. (_Going._) I hear and I obey. (_She hurries off across the courtyard into the house._)

HAJJ. (_Looking after her._) By Allah! How she glides swimmingly as she were a lily floating down the Tigris. Blessed indeed is he that taketh her to wife.

NARJIS. Aye, and she’s ripe to wed, too.

HAJJ. Fourteen! The pick of years! I must seek her a husband.

NARJIS. (_Huddles up to him._) What sayst thou to the basket-weaver’s son at the corner?

HAJJ. The basket-weaver’s son? O thou hag! (_Slaps her cheek with the back of his hand._) Why not a bean-seller? (_Slap._) Or a camel-boy? (_Slap._) Yea, or best and rarest, some blear-eyed mangy beggar? (_Slap._)

(_MARSINAH appears with a lute._)

HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Behold her now! I swear the very movement of her limbs maketh melody.

MARSINAH. What shall I sing thee, O my father? (_She stands tuning her instrument._)

HAJJ. How many modes canst thou play in?

MARSINAH. One-and-twenty.

HAJJ. One-and-twenty. (_To NARJIS._) Are one-and-twenty modes for the basket-weaver’s son? (_He slaps NARJIS again. To MARSINAH._) And sing how many?

MARSINAH. The like number.

HAJJ. And dance? How many steps did thy mother teach thee?

MARSINAH. Far beyond counting.

HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Thou hearest! Are they, the countless, for the basket-weaver’s son? (_A final slap._) I tell thee, Marsinah is rare as a houri in Paradise. Wouldst thou know what secret the future hideth for Marsinah?

NARJIS. (_Rubbing her poor cheek._) What secret, O master?

HAJJ. Sit thee down here, O my flower. And here thou, O my cactus. Mark me close, ye both. (_MARSINAH sits on the ground by HAJJ._)

HAJJ. (_Drawing the purse from his breast._) This money in my bosom will I take and buy merchandise withal. (_Tossing the purse from hand to hand; his voice in lyrical exaltation._) And I will trade and sell; and buy and trade; till it is doubled and trebled a hundred times hundredfold. Then shall I turn from toil and trouble, to clothe my Marsinah in a rope of pearls serene; with the crown of a queen on her forehead clear; two jewels of shine and sheen, pending o’er each ear,—here and there; on her breast will I set a ruby amulet of flash and fret; and stuffed within a priceless piece of ambergris.

MARSINAH. (_In wonder._) O my father!

HAJJ. And the name of thy beauty shall be blown abroad, beyond Arabia, through Sind, into China, even as far as the islands of Wak. And suitors shall venture across deserts and sea, by caravel and camel, and fall on their knee in suppliance for thee.

MARSINAH. Yehh!

HAJJ. But I—thy sire, (_leaning on NARJIS lazily as though she were a feather bed._)—shall lie back on pillows of ostrich plumes, propping mine elbow thus, nor turning to right nor to left. And there shall be wailings and gnashings of teeth amongst thy lovers; the while thou, behind many lintels, in a court of marble with a roof of molten gold, dancest merrily, airily, to the sound of smitten strings.

MARSINAH. (_Laughing joyfully and clapping her hands._) Ya ha! Ya ha!

HAJJ. (_Triumphantly._) Ha! Ha! (_Eagerly._) Dance now, O dawn-breeze, now! O Narjis, pluck a tune with thy talons. (_Hands her the lute._) Up, O Marsinah, up! My tom-tom, O Narjis! My tom-tom!

(_MARSINAH springs up. She begins to dance slowly, then faster
and faster. NARJIS, after handing HAJJ his tom-tom, plays and
occasionally sings as well._)

HAJJ. (_Beating the tom-tom, shrilly._) Yehh! Allah! La Yayhá! La Yayhá! So shalt thou dance! So! And the kings of the earth shall send their sons! La Yayhá! By thy youth, thou art as a branch swaying! La Yayhá! But I shall laugh them to scorn, all and one—“Ye swine,” shall I say— “Ye——”

(_There is a knock at the door._)

(_MARSINAH stops; so does NARJIS._)

HAJJ. Nought. Neighbours. On! (_They begin again._)

HAJJ. “Ye swine—who are ye to——”

(_Another knock._)

A VOICE. (_Outside._) Open in the name of justice.

HAJJ. (_Instinctively looks at his garments._) Wah! Go indoors, O my delight, go! (_He throws the bundle to MARSINAH._)

(_MARSINAH, taking the bundle, goes into the house wondering._)

HAJJ. (_To NARJIS._) Open! Open! Open! (_NARJIS opens the house door._)

(_HAJJ sits expectant, tracing figures in the sand with his
finger-tips._)

(_The CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH enters—behind him come ZAYD and AMRU
and FOUR ARCHERS. THE ARCHERS fling open the double doors to
the street and guard them. NASIR enters as well._)

CAPTAIN. Is this the house of Hajj, the beggar?

HAJJ. What would ye?

ZAYD. I knew ’twas he! Seize the dog!

HAJJ. Seize me? (_He rises abruptly._)

ZAYD. Those are the very garments.

CAPTAIN. Thou must come before the Wazir Mansur.

HAJJ. (_Terrified at the name._) Mansur? I paid in part—I meant to pay in full.

AMRU. Thou liest, O split of tongue.

HAJJ. Lie? I? (_He goes for AMRU._)

(_TWO ARCHERS secure HAJJ between them._)

CAPTAIN. No words! Off with him.

(_THE ARCHERS march HAJJ to the door._)

NASIR. (_Darting forward and grinning into HAJJ’S face._) Ha! Ha!

HAJJ. (_Stopping as he sees NASIR._) Oh! Thou!

NASIR. (_Mockingly imitating HAJJ’S voice._) I saw no purse.

HAJJ. (_Spitting in NASIR’S face._) Thou filth! Thou son of filth.

(_He is led off, the other men following._)

NARJIS. (_Wringing her hands._) Allah! Allah! Allah!

[CURTAIN]

SCENE IV. _A Hall in the Wazir Mansur’s Mansion._

_The room is a large oblong one, with a colonnade running along
the back, looking out on a colonnaded courtyard beyond. A large
double door to the left leads to the entrance hall. Opposite
it, in the right wall, a niche with a diwan, raised a step or
two. The tiles and carvings are of the richest._

_MANSUR is seated on the diwan, before him a chessboard._

_AFIFE is crouching to the right on the steps, his partner in
the game._

_KAFUR stands behind them watching._

_MANSUR is in a sullen humour, his mind not on the game._

AFIFE. (_Making a move, in a high squeaky voice._) Move, O master.

MANSUR. (_Moving a chess-man._) Now match me this move, O thou bundle of misery.

AFIFE. Match it? (_He moves._) Thy turn, O my master.

MANSUR. (_Moving again._) So!

AFIFE. Check!

MANSUR. Check? Now cursed be Satan the Stoned! What Ifrit is at thine elbow? This is the third game thou dost beat me.

AFIFE. Thy thoughts wander, O my Lord.

MANSUR. Dost thou wonder they wander, o thou misbegotten lump of dough?—Wander? They gallop, they fly! Even though I myself must crawl at other men’s heels these days.

KAFUR. (_To MANSUR._) There’s yet one more move for thee.

MANSUR. (_Studying the board._) One more?

KAFUR. So! (_He sweeps the chessboard clear with his sword._)

(_The door opens and an ATTENDANT enters._)

ATTENDANT. A Chamberlain from the Caliph, O my lord.

MANSUR. Admit him.

(_The ATTENDANT ushers in the CHAMBERLAIN from the CALIPH who
enters with a sealed scroll. He comes up to MANSUR and bows._)

CHAMBERLAIN. From the Commander of the Faithful to his Wazir Mansur.

(_KAFUR turns and takes the letter from the CHAMBERLAIN and
hands it to MANSUR. MANSUR rises and takes the letter, touches
the top of his head with it, then breaks the seals and scans
the contents. His lips contract. After a moment’s pause he says
to the CHAMBERLAIN._)

MANSUR. Harkening and obedience to the Prince of True Believers.

(_The CHAMBERLAIN bows and retires as he came._)

MANSUR. (_Springing up with great rage._) Hear! Hear! (_Reading from right to left._) “In the name of Allah, the Compassionating the Compassionate. From Abdallah, Caliph and King of Mankind to his Wazir of Police. But after. We find all the moneys of our various departments of state, complete and in account, saving those under thy control. Report thou to us accordingly at our diwan this day. Though mine uncle the King be dead, justice and order have not died with him.” (_He tears the letter to bits, stuffs strips into his mouth, chews them and spits them out again._) Wah! Now Allah damn the grammarian for this! This is _his_ handiwork, big-turban’d, bean-fed son of a sow! So I’m to end through _him_? I who sat in his seat, hard by the side of the throne. By all devils that kneel round hell, I swear this shall never be—do ye hear me?—no, never! (_He strikes at AFIFE in his rage._)

KAFUR. What wilt thou do, O my lord?

MANSUR. I would I had him between my feet to rip the tongue from his teeth.

AFIFE. A hundred grammatical tongues will not bring back one danik of the moneys thou hast squandered.

MANSUR. Justice and order! (_He spits out a piece of the letter._) Pah! Show me the Wazir of Police who hath crushed with a heavier hand, whose sword made the execution ground as slippery. Recall ye not the merry summer’s night when with mine own hand, in ten waves of the scymitar, I carved my old jester into as many pieces?

AFIFE. The old jester! Ha! Ha! ’Twas his last quirk!

KAFUR. How we laughed!

(_THEY all laugh._)

MANSUR. Alas for the glorious drunken nights of passion and power. The feasts of beauty and blood! Awah, awah, awah!

(_THEY all sigh._)

AFIFE. What’s to be done?

KAFUR. Were Prince Omar Caliph, never wouldst thou have lost thy seat of honour.

AFIFE. Higher titles would have been thine. He loves thee as a brother.

KAFUR. He would have created thee Grand Wazir.

AFIFE. Yea, Grand Wazir of all the kingdom!

MANSUR. Were! Would! Had! The Caliph’s the Is! His letter the thing alive! The spent moneys must be accounted for. ’Tis my death. Awah! Awah!

KAFUR. The guards are yet under thy orders.

MANSUR. For the moment. But to-night——

AFIFE. Use to-day.

KAFUR. (_Pointing to the chessboard._) One move—and the game is thine.

MANSUR. (_Realising KAFUR’S intention._) Yehh! Kill the Caliph? (_He rises in thought._)

(_KAFUR and AFIFE nod and follow him, standing on either side
of him._)

KAFUR. ’Tis he——

AFIFE. Or thou.

MANSUR. (_Looking from AFIFE to KAFUR._) Yehh! But how? When? Who? (_Turning to AFIFE._) Thou?

AFIFE. (_Grovelling at MANSUR’S feet._) Alas! I lack the strength.

MANSUR. (_Turning to KAFUR._) Thou?

KAFUR. (_Falling on his knees._) Am I not known by every servant in the palace?

MANSUR. Then where shall I find him? This fellow strong enough, unknown enough, to stab and stab to the soul?

KAFUR. Fear not. Fate hath written the deed in the lines of someone’s forehead. And when the hour comes he will be ready.

MANSUR. Yehh!

(_The door opens and the ATTENDANT enters and bows. Outside
voices can be heard._)

MANSUR. What noise is that?

ATTENDANT. Some merchants in the hall, O my lord. They have caught a thief and come for justice.

MANSUR. Justice—do they? Justice! By Allah! I’ll dispense them justice. Have them enter. (_He goes back to the diwan and sits._)

(_KAFUR and AFIFE take their wonted positions by his side._)

(_The two shopkeepers, AMRU and ZAYD, enter, after them NASIR,
the CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH and FOUR ARCHERS. A crowd of loiterers
(six or eight) follow, who kneel or stand in the background.
AMRU and ZAYD approach and kneel. TWO NEGRO EUNUCHS enter and
stand at the back._)

AMRU. O Wazir of the Age, we come for protection against the roguery of mankind.

ZAYD. O eye of uprightness! Let thy light shed judgment.

MANSUR. Speak your grievance.

AMRU. There came a man to my shop——

ZAYD. And mine——

AMRU. And he fanned a quarrel ’twixt me and my fondest friend.

ZAYD. And meantime off he stole with garments of both of us.

MANSUR. Where’s the thief?

(_HAJJ is brought through the door by TWO ARCHERS and
prostrates himself before MANSUR, the ARCHERS retiring._)

HAJJ. (_With great saintliness, on his knees._) O Wazir of wazirs, O Wisdom of wisdom, O Clemency of clemencies! I seek refuge in thy sanctity from these my foul-mouthed defamers. A thief—I? Allah forfend. I am a man of religion and peace. They fell to fisticuffs and curses before me, these two,—till mine ears were stung with their ungodliness and mine eyes wounded. So I laid my moneys on the carpet of the shop and went my silent ways.

ZAYD and AMRU. (_Together._) Liar!

AMRU. We’d not so much as fixed on a price.

HAJJ. Wilt thou swear I paid thee no earnest money?

AMRU. A miserable dinar or two to blind me.

HAJJ. Blind thee? What cause had I to blind thee?

ZAYD. Thou art a well-known beggar.

HAJJ. A beggar? Showed I thee not a swollen purse?

ZAYD. A stolen purse—thou meanest.

HAJJ. He lies, O my lord. ’Twas given me in charity.

MANSUR. Given thee? By whom?

HAJJ. By one Jawan—a highwayman.

MANSUR. A highwayman do charity? Now Allah pardon thee. Tell the truth.

HAJJ. May doomsday break if I lie.

MANSUR. How? A highwayman here in Baghdad? An exile with a price on his neck? Thou art mad.

HAJJ. By mine honesty! There stands his guide Nasir. Ask him.

MANSUR. (_To NASIR._) O thou! Is this so?

NASIR. (_Coming forward and kneeling between HAJJ and the merchants._) ’Tis true such an one lodges at my Khan, O my lord. But he is come to the city in repentance, to pray at the tombs of saints.

MANSUR. (_Furious._) Saints and repentance! His coming spits at the law! (_To the CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH._) Go with yon fellow. Find the highwayman. Take him to the royal diwan this mid-afternoon. The Caliph shall note how I uphold justice and order.

(_The CAPTAIN OF THE WATCH moves to the door with TWO ARCHERS._)

HAJJ. (_Interrupting._) O my lord, a word! (_To NASIR._) Tell the Lord Wazir, thou sawest the Sheikh throw me a purse.

NASIR. (_Copying HAJJ’S manner in the first scene._) I?—I saw no purse.

HAJJ. (_Producing the purse; pleading to him._) Nasir! Here it is.

NASIR. I saw no purse.

MANSUR. ’Tis well. Off!

(_NASIR goes with the CAPTAIN and ARCHERS._)

MANSUR. (_To HAJJ._) As for thee—Give me the purse!

HAJJ. Awah! (_He hands the purse to KAFUR, who hands it to MANSUR._)

MANSUR. (_Pocketing the purse in his sleeve._) Thou art a liar and a thief. (_To KAFUR._) The sword and the cauldron of oil. (_KAFUR bows and motions to the NEGROES who go off into the courtyard._)

MANSUR. Thy right hand is forfeit to the merchants.

HAJJ. (_Looking at his hand._) My hand?

MANSUR. (_To the shopkeepers, smilingly._) Two fingers to each. I pray you quarrel not over the thumb. (_AMRU and ZAYD smile politely in response._)

HAJJ. My hand! My hand! Thou’lt cut off my hand?

MANSUR. Says not Allah in His Holy Koran: “If a man steal, cut off his hand”?

HAJJ. Alas, O poor hand! Thou couldst have served the Wazir of Wazirs, a courtier to his whims, a slave to his desires. (_The TWO EUNUCHS re-enter from the courtyard bearing a boiling cauldron._)

MANSUR. Now by the dog, thy father, of what service to me were a rogue’s hand like thine?

(_THE EUNUCHS place the boiling cauldron under HAJJ’S wrist._)

HAJJ. What service? There’s not a stronger—a prompter—a bolder in Baghdad! Ready to plunder and pillage, to slash and stab, at thy least command.

MANSUR. (_Starting at the word “stab”._) Stab?

KAFUR. (_To HAJJ._) Cease thy talk, bare thy wrist. (_He unsheathes the sword._)

HAJJ. (_Turns and sees the sword, then says in a resigned voice._) There is no majesty nor might save in Allah! The Causer of Causes! The Ordainer of Fate and Fortune!

KAFUR. (_About to raise the sword._) Art thou prepared?

HAJJ. Even as the Fox for the Wolf. Strike!

(_KAFUR raises the sword._)

MANSUR. Hold!—The Fox and the Wolf?—What story is that?

HAJJ. O Wazir of the Age, ’twere too long to recount— (_looking round slyly_) with yon sword in the air.

MANSUR. Then shall it first sever thy wrist.

HAJJ. (_With an eloquent gesture._) Who can tell a tale without his two hands?

MANSUR. Knowest thou many histories?

HAJJ. Ask the beggars of my quarter. The teller of night-tales they call me—one and all.

MANSUR. Away with the cauldron! (_To KAFUR._) Hither with the sword.

(_KAFUR hands MANSUR the sword; the EUNUCHS take the cauldron
into the courtyard._)

MANSUR. What is thy name?

HAJJ. (_Creeps nearer, on his knees._) Hajj, O my lord.

MANSUR. Thou shalt serve me, O Hajj. Thy wit shall shorten the weary watches of my sleeplessness. Take this sword, the badge of thy new dignity. (_He offers him the sword._)

HAJJ. O fountain of grace! My hand blesses thee for its salvation, my lowly self for its elevation. (_He takes the sword and raises it to his forehead._) I am thy mameluke, thy chattel. (_He touches the ground with his head._)

MANSUR. Rise! Mansur’s servants do not kneel.

HAJJ. (_Rising proudly._) Is it thy pleasure that my first act should be an act of clemency?

MANSUR. Do as thou wilt.

HAJJ. (_Turning ferociously on the shopkeepers._) Then down, O ye calamities! Down, I say, and cry my mercy for lying as ye did, ye false-of-faces!

(_The SHOPKEEPERS sink down in terror. HAJJ approaches them
flourishing his sword before them._)

HAJJ. Confess ye lied! Confess ye lied!

AMRU and ZAYD. (_Scarcely audible._) We lied! We lied!

HAJJ. Louder, by your garlic breaths, louder!

AMRU and ZAYD. We lied! Pardon! Pardon!

HAJJ. Pardon?—So ye send not my lord rich gifts of atonement none shall answer for your lives. Up! Turn your faces and show the breadth of your shoulder.

(_The SHOPKEEPERS rise and hurry out by the door, more dead
than alive. HAJJ prods their backs with his sword as they
vanish._)

HAJJ. (_Turning to MANSUR with a flourish._) Is it well, O my master?

MANSUR. ’Tis a beginning. Go now! Get thee to thy new quarters. (_To the ATTENDANT._) Ho, Fazil! See Hajj be lodged and robed fittingly. Garb him in the Persian garments of our jester deceased. Alas, poor fellow! He died most sudden of a summer evening. (_With a reassuring smile._) Thou shalt be his successor.

HAJJ. I am a tree thy bounty hath planted. May the fruit of my endeavour be to thy taste ever. (_He bows._)

MANSUR. Thou shalt give us a smack of thy quality after the mid-day meal. Go! Whoso loveth me let him show honour to Hajj! (_He waves his handkerchief in sign of dismissal._)

HAJJ. (_Turns and with a heroic gesture motions the curious aside._) Room for the Wazir’s Jester, O ye dogs!

(_The CROWD falls back before him._)

(_The ATTENDANT leads the way to the left._)

(_HAJJ struts out conducted by the ATTENDANT._)

MANSUR. (_To KAFUR and AFIFE._) Think ye I’ve pardoned this mountebank to listen to foolish fables? (_With great emphasis._) He is the man.

KAFUR. What man?

MANSUR. The man to kill the Caliph.

(_Through the colonnade at the back HAJJ is seen to enter the
courtyard from the left and cross over to the right, preceded
by the ATTENDANT, MANSUR’S SERVANTS and TWO EUNUCHS, bending
low, the crowd following. HAJJ turns to the hall and seeing
MANSUR, bows again to him. MANSUR acknowledges his bow with a
grim smile. HAJJ, delighted, turns, twirling his moustachios
and with enormous swagger moves to the colonnade, right, the
ATTENDANT cringing to the new favourite._)

[CURTAIN]

_End of Act I_