Chapter III: Act II: Scene I

Place--The palace of the king. Outer room of banquet
hall. Curtain back.

[_Enter Meheuman, Biztha, and Smerdis._]

_Meheuman_

Ahafid has become most deaf of late;
Advancing age has wrought a piteous change
In him. He can not understand our king.

_Smerdis_

'Tis not the king but age that makes him groan.
I mean this age, the age in which we live.

[_Meheuman and Biztha exeunt on the opposite side of
stage, as Ahafid enters more stooped, and singing._]

_Ahafid_

[_Sings._]

A country but no king,
An empire but no throne,
An upstart wears the signet ring,
My harp has lost its tone.
I can no longer sing great Persia's praise.

_Smerdis_

The trouble isn't with the harp, the country, king, nor throne;
Nor that an upstart wears the ring: Ahafid's voice is gone.

_Ahafid_

What say you, Smerdis?

_Smerdis_

Art is marvelous.

_Ahafid_

Even Ahasuerus once was king,
He was a despot, it is true, but still
A prince.

_Smerdis_

If prince, then why not still a king?

_Ahafid_

Eh, Smerdis?

_Smerdis_

[_Aloud._]

More than prince and less than king.

_Ahafid_

Why now the sceptre, aye, almost the crown
Are worn by Haman, not of noble birth,
But lowborn, vulgar, raised by royal will
To first place in a land renowned for blood.

_Smerdis_

To first place in a land renowned for fools.

_Ahafid_

What's that?

_Smerdis_

This Haman is a cunning fox.

_Ahafid_

The exile of the virtuous Vashti was
A fatal sin.

_Smerdis_

She should have feasted with
The king.

_Ahafid_

I did not hear.

_Smerdis_

[_Aloud._]

Old Xerxes lost
The finest houri in his harem. Oh,
The royal fool!

_Ahafid_

The Jewess Esther's but
A girl, as beauteous as a lustrous star,
But innocent as dawn of dew-washed day.

_Smerdis_

As wise as snakes and innocent as doves!

_Ahafid_

What, Smerdis, what? You catch my simile?

_Smerdis_

Ah, yes, Ahafid, yes, Aurora in
The bath pool. That was fine. Your poetry
Like wine improves with age. Go on, go on,
Let's have another picture of the dawn.

_Ahafid_

Her beauty made her queen, but can not save
Her life.

_Smerdis_

Ahasuerus will attend
To that.

_Ahafid_

[_Not hearing._] Ahasuerus does not seem
To know a Persian law can not be changed.

_Smerdis_

He knows that lawyers can be bribed.

_Ahafid_

What's that?

_Smerdis_

[_Louder._]

Just thinking of the lustrous stars of dawn.

_Ahafid_

But Mordecai believes that Esther can
Control the king, and yet may save the Jews.

_Smerdis_

I am more interested in fools than Jews.

_Ahafid_

The golden sceptre was extended when
She went into his presence yesterday.
Last night she banqueted with him but still
Refused to name the favor that she wished.

_Smerdis_

A bathrobe or some new stars for her crown.

_Ahafid_

[_Not hearing._]

The king does not suspect her origin.
What will he do when he finds out the truth?

_Smerdis_

Since when has Xerxes cared for truth?

_Ahafid_

What say?

_Smerdis_

He'll add two extra stars to Esther's crown.

_Ahafid_

Beloved Vashti lives in poverty,
The victim of a lewd and brutal whim.
And now it seems that Esther's fate was sealed
When Haman wrote that every Jew must die
Because the Hebrew Mordecai refused
Obeisance to his over-bearing pride.

_Smerdis_

Watch Esther smash that seal.

_Ahafid_

I did not hear.

_Smerdis_

[_Louder._]

Still quoting lines upon the innocence
Of lustrous stars, and dawn of dew-washed day.

_Ahafid_

[_Singing._]

Minstrelsy shall be no more,
The poet's tongue is still;
The strings that woke to deeds of yore
No longer feel the thrill.

_Smerdis_

I'm glad no more we'll feel the thrill
For I, for one have had my fill.

_Ahafid_

Eh, Smerdis?

_Smerdis_

[_Louder._]

Bathing in that simile.

[_Exeunt Ahafid and Smerdis._]

SCENE II

[_The curtain rises, disclosing Ahasuerus, Esther, Haman,
and attendants at the banquet table._]

_Ahasuerus_

Beloved Esther, my most beauteous queen,
This banquet does surpass in excellence
Even the feast of yesterday, which you
Prepared for Haman and the king. Your hand
Grows deft with practice.

_Esther_

But, my lord, you are
A connoisseur, and can but speak these words
In flattery. O king, it was my heart,
And not my hand that flavored every dish
That lies before you.

_Ahasuerus_

Esther, now it is
Your tongue that flatters. Still, it does rejoice
Me much to hear such language from the queen.
A connoisseur, say you? Haman, can
You tell me, now, what bay or bight in all
The salted seas once held this shrimp?

[_Holding up shrimp._]

_Haman_

[_Tasting it meditatively._]

My lord,
I think it must have been the Persian Gulf.

_Ahasuerus_

Ha, ha, Haman, why you do not know
A wild goose from the Bird of Paradise.
This crangonoid is found nowhere except
Along the Red Sea beach not far from where
The hosts of Pharaoh were engulfed and lost.

_Esther_

[_With suppressed emotion._]

Oh, king, your tongue is most acute. But whence,
Think you, this tinct of cinnamon that makes
The savor of the dish.

_Ahasuerus_

[_Tasting for a long time._]

I give it up,
Unless it came from Java or Ceylon.

_Esther_

[_Laughing, changing rapidly to deep feeling._]

My lord, it is not cinnamon at all,
But spice that grew a thousand years ago
In hills beyond the Jordon. Haman, can
You tell the flavor of the grape that fills
Your goblet?

_Haman_

[_Flattered._]

Oh, I think it must have grown
In islands of the blue Aegean Sea.

_Esther_

[_Turning to the king._]

My lord, it is the selfsame cup they drank
From sacred vessels at Belshazzar's feast
That night in Babylon.

_Haman_

What means the queen,
This wine is not that old, and yet, 'tis not
Excelled at banquets of the gods.

_Ahasuerus_

[_Showing effect of wine._]

Nor kings.
This is a joyous night! Oh, queen, your wit
Has filled my cup with wine of happiness.
What think you, Haman, should be done to him
The king delighteth most to honor now?

_Haman_

Bring forth the robe, O king, your majesty
Does wear, and place it on the one your grace
Does most delight to honor. Xerxes, set
This man upon your royal horse, and place
Your majesty's own jeweled crown upon
His head, and let him be proclaimed
Throughout the public streets.

_Ahasuerus_

[_Rises. Emphatic._]

So let it then
Be done to Mordecai, the Jew beside
The palace gate.

_Haman_

What words are these?
You can not mean the Jew!

_Ahasuerus_

[_More emphatic._]

The Jew I mean.
Last night I could not sleep, and so I had
The book of records read, the chronicles,
Wherein I learned that this same Mordecai
The Jew had saved Ahasuerus' life,
When Teresh and another chamberlain
Had sought to lay the hand of violence
Upon your king. Let nothing fail of all
That you have spoken should be done to him
The king delighteth now to honor most.
And Esther, tell Ahasuerus now
Your dearest wish. On yesterday I begged
To know the favor you did most desire
And now it shall be granted unto you,
Whatever your request, even to half
My kingdom, it shall be performed.

_Esther_

[_With hands extended toward the king._]

Have I
Found favor in your sight, O king, then let
My life be given unto me at my
Petition and my people live at my
Request! For we are sold to be destroyed--
To perish and be slain.

_Ahasuerus_

[_Surprised and dazed._]

O where is he--
Oh, who is he, that dare presume to lay
The hand of violence upon my queen!

_Esther_

There stands this adversary, O my king,
The wicked Haman!

_Ahasuerus_

Haman! Haman! What
Can be the meaning of this speech? This man
I have advanced to be my premier?

_Esther_

I mean this craven whom you have advanced
To put to death with your own royal seal
The queen, as well as every other Jew
That breathes the Persian air, both young and old
Alike, the laughing child and gray-haired sire.

_Ahasuerus_

What! Esther, you a Jew!

_Esther_

[_Proudly._]

I am a Jew.
A daughter of the tribe of Benjamin--
Pure Hebrew blood!

[_A dramatic pause. Esther awaits the decision of the
king, who for a time seems to waver, then extends his
sceptre toward Esther. Harbonah, the king's high officer,
appears. Haman throws himself at Esther's feet._]

_Haman_

[_Pleading._]

Oh, queen, I do beseech
You, save me from his wrath.

_Ahasuerus_

[_Angrily._]

Harbonah, let
This traitor, Haman, die at once.

_Harbonah_

My lord,
You know the scaffold that the premier built
For Mordecai?

_Ahasuerus_

The premier! What's that,
Harbonah? You mock your king? Let him
Be hanged upon this gallows. Call the Jew!
He holds the first place in my kingdom now.

[_Exeunt Ahasuerus, Esther, Haman, Harbonah, and attendants._]

_Zeresh_

[_Who has been concealed in a corner of the hall, advancing._]

At Esther's feet! An Aggagite! Ha, Ha!
A hater of the Jews! You hypocrite!
A lover of this queen! A paramour
Of her who boasts that she can trace her blood
An unpolluted stream a thousand years
To one who watched his humble flocks on bleak
Judean hills. A shepherd queen that rules
The Persian throne, and you, O Haman, you
That fed on venom for her race, are now,
Though premier, a cringing, craven wretch,
Begging this Jewish girl for worthless life.
"A rainbow over polar snows," ha, ha!
No doubt her grace was fair to look upon.
False-hearted queen, O royal prostitute!
It was your jeweled hand that laid this feast
But Zeresh's heart that furnished all the wine!

[_Curtain._]