W. S. Gilbert

“ Be warned in time, and send these mortals hence;
Why, don't you see that in each word they speak,
They breathe of love?
Sel. (enthusiastically) . They do!
Lut. ⁠Why Love's the germ
Of every sin that stalks upon the earth:
The brawler fights for love—the drunkard drinks
To toast the girl who loves him, or to drown
Remembrance of the girl who loves him not!
The miser hoards his gold to purchase love.
The liar lies to gain, or wealth, or love;
And if for wealth, it is to purchase love. ”

“ A beautiful, but fanciful landscape, which is supposed to lie on the upper side of a cloud. The cloud is suspended over the earth, a portion of which (representing "a bird's-eye view" of a mediæval city) , is seen, far below, through a rent or gap in the cloud.
As the curtain rises Zayda is discovered standing in a thoughtful attitude, contemplating the world at her feet. To her enters Darine. ”

“ Enter Selene.
Phyl. In truth, dear sister, if man's face and form
Were a true index to his character.
He were a hideous thing to look upon;
But man, alas! is formed as we are formed.
False from the first, he comes into the world
Bearing a smiling lie upon his face,
That he may cheat ere he can use his tongue.
Zay. Oh! I have heard these things, but heed them not.
I like to picture him as he should be,
Unsightly and unclean. I like to pair
Misshapen bodies with misshapen minds. ”

“ That wicked world is the true fairy land!
Loc. Why, who can wonder that poor erring man
Clings to the world, all poisoned though it be,
When on it grows this glorious antidote?
Zay. And may we never love as mortals love? ”

“ Phyllon has gone with Ethais. Let us call
The mortal counterpart of Phyllon too—
Sel. Two mortals—two unhappy men of sin
In this untainted spot!
Loc. ⁠Well, sister dear,
Two Heralds of the Truth will spread that Truth
At the least twice as rapidly as one.
Sel. Two miserable men! Why, one alone
Will bring enough pollution in his wake,
To taint our happy land from end to end! ”

“ No; not for all the love of all the world! (equally horrified) .
Sel. A man in fairy land! Most horrible!
He would exhale the poison of his soul,
And we should even be as mortals are,
Hating as man hates!
Dar. (enthusiastically) . Loving as man loves! ”

“ That we should bring these mortals to our land?
Is this the way to teach this erring man
The moral beauties of a spotless life?
To teach him truths that now he wots not of?
Surely this knight might well have learnt on earth
Such moral truths as she is teaching him.
Enter Selene from bower, Darine retires up.
Lei. At last she comes! (to Selene) . We are well pleased to find
That, after such a lengthy vigil, thou
Canst tear thyself away from Ethais! ”

“ That we have kept ourselves too much aloof,
And left him to his blind and wayward will.
Zay. Man is every thing detestable—
Base in his nature, base in thought and deed.
Loathsome beyond all things that creep and crawl! ”

“ An idle tale, that man is infamous.
And he believes it. So, indeed, did we,
Till we beheld you, gallant gentlemen!
Lut. Why, they are raving! Let me go at once
And join my brothers at our monarch's court;
While they are here this is no place for me.
Zay. (eagerly to Sel.) Let him depart; then we can summon here
His mortal counterpart. (Fairies delighted; Selene expresses indignant surprise, Zayda changes her manner) , a poor frail man
No doubt, who stands in very sorest need
Of such good counsel as we can afford. ”

“ These are our enemies, sir knight, and thine.
They sow the seeds of pestilence and death—
May heaven preserve thee from their influence!
Eth. Amen to that!
Phy.⁠But tell us, gentle maid,
Why have you summoned us?
Sel. Because we seek
To teach you truths that now ye wot not of;
Because we know that you are very frail,
Poor, blind, weak, wayward mortals — willing reeds,
Swayed right and left by every tempting wind ”

“ Sel. ⁠ No, not our Ethais. (Sighing.)
Eth. In truth, I am the Ethais of all
Who are as gentle and as fair as thou.
Sel. That's bravely said; thou hast a silver tongue;
Why! what can gods be like if these be men.
(During this dialogue, Darine shows by her manner that she takes great interest in Ethais.)
Say, dost thou come from earth or heaven?
Eth. (gallantly ptttting Jiis arm round them) . I think I've come from earth to heaven.
Sel. (to Darine with delight) . Oh! didst thou hear?
He comes from earth to heaven! No, Ethais,
We are but fairies—this, our native home. ”

“ Come! call thy devils; let them wait at hand
And when I've done with thee I'll do with them.
(They fight. The fairies watch the combat unobserved with great interest.)
Dar. What are they doing?
Sel. ⁠ It's some game of skill.
It's very pretty.
Dar. Very. (Knights pause.) Oh, they've stopped.
Phy. Come, come—on guard. (Fight resumed.)
Zay. Now they begin again.
Eth. (Sees fairies, who have gradually surrounded them)
Hold! we are overlooked. (Ethais, who has turned for a moment in saying this, is severely wounded by Phyllon.) ”