by Edward Plunkett

“ Oh, but it has a good blade, this old green sword; thou wouldst not like to see it miss its mark (if the dead see at all, as wise men teach) , thou wouldst not like to see it go thirsting into the air; so huge a sword should find its marrowy bone. {Extending his right hand upward} Come into my right arm, O ancient spirit, O unknown warrior's soul! And if thou hast the ear of any gods, speak there against Illuriel, god of King Darniak. ”

“ ManYou were all green, master, all green in the gloaming, all of rock again as you used to be in the mountains. Master, we can bear to see you in flesh like men, but when we see rock walking it is terrible, it is terrible. ”

“ Agmar{hoarsely} Be still! They are dazzled by the light. They may not see us. {The leading Green Thing points his finger at the lantern -- the flame turns green. When the six are seated the leader points one by one at each of the seven beggars, shooting out his forefinger at them. As he does this each beggar in his turn gathers himself back on to his throne and crosses his legs, his right arm goes stiffly upward with forefinger erect, and a staring look of horror comes into his eyes. In this attitude the beggars sit motionless while a green light falls upon their faces. The gods go out. ”

“ KingLet the stars hearken yet and I will sacrifice a child to them -- I will sacrifice a girl child to the twinkling stars and a male child to the stars that blink not, the stars of the steadfast eyes. {To his Spies} Let a boy and a girl be brought for sacrifice. {Exit a Spy to the right looking at footprints.} Will you accept this sacrifice to the god that the stars have sent? They say that the gods love children. ”

“ King ArgimenesWe are not worms! ZarbYou do not understand, Argimenes. The worms are little and free, while we are big and enslaved. I did not say we were worms, but we are like worms, and if they have the King when he is dead, why then -- King ArgimenesTell me more of the King's dog. Are there big bones on him? ZarbAye, he is a big dog -- a high, big black one. King ArgimenesYou know him then? ZarbOh yes, I know him. I know him well. I was beaten once because of him, twenty-five strokes from the treble whips, two men beating me. King ArgimenesHow did they beat you because of the King's dog? ”

“ Then voices of the slaves in the slave-fields chanting very loudly.} Illuriel is fallen, is fallen, is fallen. Illuriel is fallen and broken asunder. Illuriel is fallen, fallen, fallen. {Clamor of fighting is heard, the clash of swords, and voices, and now and then the name of Illuriel.}
Idol-Guard{kneeling over a fragment of Illuriel} Illuriel is broken. They have overthrown Illuriel. They have done great harm to the courses of the stars. The moon will be turned to blackness or fall and forsake the nights. The sun will rise no more. They do not know how they have wrecked the world. ”

“ KingNot for myself I have a fear of doom, not for myself; but I have inherited a rocky land, windy and ill-nurtured, and nursed it to prosperity by years of peace and spread its boundaries by years of war. ”

“ When the lightning flickers about the limbs of men there comes to the gods of Marma a pleasant smell, even a smell of roasting. Sometimes the gods, being pacific, are pleased to have roasted instead the flesh of lamb. It is all one to the gods; let the roasting stop. OoranderNo, no, gods of the mountains! OthersNo, no. OoranderQuick, let us offer flesh to them. If they eat, all is well. {They offer it; the beggars eat, all but Agmar, who watches.}
IllanaunOne who was ignorant, one who did not know, had almost said that they ate like hungry men. ”

“ A Voice CryingTo the armory! To the armory! Reinforce! The Slaves have come to the armory. Ah! mercy! {For awhile there is silence.} King Argimenes{in the doorway} Go you to the slave-fields. Say that the palace-guard is dead and that we have taken the armory. Ten of you, hold the armory till our men come from the slave-fields. {He comes into the hall with his slaves armed with swords.} Throw down Illuriel. The Idol-GuardYou must take my life before you touch my god. A SlaveWe only want your pike. {All attack him; they seize his sword and bind his hands behind him. ”

“ King{to the Chamberlain} Go after my spies and say that I make no sacrifice. {Exit the Chamberlain; the King takes off his crown} Good-bye, my brittle glory; kings have sought you, the stars have envied you. {The stage grows darker}
Chief ProphetEven now the sun has set who denies the stars, and the day is departed wherein no gods walk abroad. It is near the hour when spirits roam the earth and all things that go unseen, and the faces of the abiding stars will be soon revealed to the fields. Lay your crown there and let us come away. ”

“ Akmos{kneeling to Agmar} Master, I am childless, and I -- AgmarTrouble us not now. It is the hour at which the gods are accustomed to speak to the gods in the language of the gods, and if Man heard us he would guess the futility of his destiny, which were not well for Man. Begone! Begone! One lingers {loquitur} Master -- AgmarBegone! {Exeunt. Agmar takes up a piece of meat and begins to eat it; the beggars rise and stretch themselves ”

“ He kneels before Agmar and abases his forehead.}
ManMaster, we implore you, the people beseech you. {Agmar and the beggars in the attitude of the gods sit silent.}
ManMaster, it is terrible. {The beggars maintain silence.} It is terrible when you wander in the evening. It is terrible on the edge of the desert in the evening. Children die when they see you. ”

“ You don't look like a plumber or a clock-winder. I can think of nothing more. I have had a terrible ordeal and I am not in the condition to think calmly. PoetThen you will have to leave your hat to its altered destiny. CallerWhy can't you think of a plan? If you're a poet, thinking's rather in your line. PoetIf I could bring my thoughts to contemplate so absurd a thing as a hat for any length of time no doubt I could think of a plan, but the very triviality of the theme seems to drive them away. ”

“ The gods have never wept. And yet when they think upon damnation and the dooms that are withering a myriad bones, then almost, were they not divine, they could weep. Be quick! Repent of your doubt. {Enter the Dromedary Men.}
IllanaunMost reverend deity, it is a mighty doubt. CitizensNothing has killed him! They are not the gods! Slag{to Agmar} You have a plan, my master. You have a plan. AgmarNot yet, Slag. Illanaun{to Oorander} These are the men that went to the shrines at Marma. Oorander{in a loud, clear voice} Were the Gods of the Mountain seated still at Marma, or were they not there? ”

“ I once saw a pot-bellied Egyptian god, named Bes, and he was meant to be ugly, but he was n't as ugly as these decorations that the twentieth century can make with machinery. What has a plumber got to do with art that he should dare to attempt decoration? ”

“ We will come into the city disguised, from the direction of Marma, and we will claim to be these gods. We must be seven as they are. And when we sit we must sit cross-legged as they do, with the right hand uplifted. UlfThis is a bad city in which to fall into the hands of oppressors, for the judges lack amiability here as the merchants lack benevolence, ever since the gods forgot them. AgmarIn our ancient calling a man may sit at one street corner for fifty years doing the one thing, and yet a day may come when it is well for him to rise up and do another thing while the timorous man starves. ”

“ KingI have been a great King -- Let it be said of me "The stars overthrew him, and they sent a god for his doom." For I have not met my equal among kings that man should overthrow me; and I have not oppressed my people that man should rise up against me. Chief ProphetIt is better to give worship to the stars than to do good to man. It is better to be humble before the gods than proud in the face of your enemy though he do evil. ”

“ AgmarI shall not smile at them if they are not airy. MlanThey are coming very slowly. They should come nimbly to us. Ulf{in a loud voice, almost chanting} I have a fear, an old fear and a boding. We have done ill in the sight of the seven gods. Beggars we were and beggars we should have remained. We have given up our calling and come in sight of our doom. I will not longer let my fear be silent; it shall run about and cry; it shall go from me crying, like a dog from a doomed city; for my fear has seen calamity and has known an evil thing. Slag{hoarsely} Master! Agmar{rising} Come, come! ”

“ AgmarAre you he that shall be first to forsake the calling? OognoTimes are bad for the calling here. ThahnThey are bad. AgmarSo you would forsake the calling? OognoThe city is unworthy of our calling. The gods are drowsy and all that is divine in man is dead. {To third beggar} Are not the gods drowsy? UlfThey are drowsy in their mountains away at Marma. The seven green idols are drowsy. Who is this that rebukes us? ThahnAre you some great merchant, master? Perhaps you will help a poor man that is starving. SlagMy master a merchant! No, no. He is no merchant. My master is no merchant. ”

“ AgmarThey left us here and went to find the gods? A fish once took a journey into a far country to find the sea. IllanaunMost reverend deity, their piety is so great that they have gone to worship even your shrines. AgmarI know these men that have great piety. Such men have often prayed to me before, but their prayers are not acceptable. They little love the gods; their only care is their piety. I know these pious ones. They will say that the seven gods were still at Marma. ”

“ They will lie and say that we were still at Marma. So shall they seem more pious than you all, pretending that they alone have seen the gods. Fools shall believe them and share in their damnation. Oorander{to Illanaun} Hush! You anger the gods. IllanaunI am not sure who I anger. OoranderIt may be they are the gods. IllanaunWhere are these men from Marma? CitizenHere are the dromedary men; they are coming now. Illanaun{to Agmar} The holy pilgrims from your shrine are come to worship you. AgmarThe men are doubters. How the gods hate the word! Doubt ever contaminated virtue. ”

“ Agmar{who has not eaten} I have not eaten since the world was very new and the flesh of men was tenderer than now. These younger gods have learned the habit of eating from the lions. OoranderO oldest of divinities, partake, partake. AgmarIt is not fitting that such as I should eat. None eat but beasts and men and the younger gods. The sun and the moon and the nimble lightning and I -- we may kill and we may madden, but we do not eat. ”

“ The gods have woken and sent him to save us. SlagNo, no. You do not know my master. You do not know him. ThahnIs he the Soldan's self that has come to rebuke us? AgmarI am a beggar, and an old beggar. Slag{with great pride} There is none like my master. No traveller has met with cunning like to his, not even those that come from AEthiopia. UlfWe make you welcome to our town, upon which an evil has fallen, the days being bad for beggary. ”

“ Citizen{to Slag} He will not punish us, master? None of the gods will punish us? We will make a sacrifice, a good sacrifice. AnotherWe will sacrifice a lamb that the priests have blessed. First citizenMaster, you are not wroth with us? SlagWho may say what cloudy dooms are rolling up in the mind of the eldest of the gods? He is not common god like us. Once a shepherd went by him in the mountains and doubted. He sent a doom after that shepherd. CitizenMaster, we have not doubted. SlagAnd the doom found him on the hills at evening. Second citizenIt shall be a good sacrifice, master. ”

“ First SentryBecause the King is powerful beyond any of his fathers, and has more fighting men, more horses, and wealth that could have ransomed his father and his grandfather and dowered their queens and daughters; and every year his miners bring him more from the opal-mines and from the turquoise-quarries. He has grown very mighty. Second SentryThen he will the more easily crush the hill-folk in a little war. First SentryWhen kings grow very mighty the stars grow very jealous. ”

“ I have brought up harvests out of barren acres and given good laws unto naughty towns, and my people are happy, and lo, the stars are angry! ChamberlainIt is not the stars, it is not the stars, Majesty, for the prophets of the stars have not interpreted it. Indeed, it was some reveller wasting his gold. {Meanwhile enter Chief Prophet of the stars that look on Zericon.}
KingChief Prophet of the stars that look on Zericon, I would have you interpret the rhyme upon yonder door. Chief Prophet{goes up to door and reads} It is from the stars. ”

“ The Bosnians, I believe, are only taking it because it is supposed to be the most fertile land in the world. PoetWhat of that? You will not be remembered by geography and statistics, but by golden-mouthed Romance. And that is how Romance sees Africa. CallerWell, I'm going to get my hat. PoetThink! Think! If you enter by that door you will never fall among the foremost Bosnians. You will never die in a far-off, lonely land to lie by immense Sahara. And she will never weep for your beautiful doom and call herself cruel in vain. ”