If: A Play in Four Acts by Lord Dunsany (uplifting books for women .txt) 📗
- Author: Lord Dunsany
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Well, what is it you are worrying about? Who is it you are afraid of?
DAOUD
Hafiz el Alcolahn.
JOHN
O, Hafiz. I have no fears of Hafiz. Lately I ordered my spies to watch him no longer. Why does he hate me?
DAOUD
Because, most excellent master, you slew Hussein.
JOHN
Slew Hussein? What is that to do with him? May I not slay whom I please?
DAOUD
Even so, master. Even so. But he was Hussein's enemy.
JOHN
His enemy, eh?
DAOUD
For years he had dreamed of the joy of killing Hussein.
JOHN
Well, he should have done it before I came. We don't hang over things and brood over them for years where I come from. If a thing's to be done, it's done.
DAOUD
Even so, master. Hafiz had laid his plans for years. He would have killed him and got his substance; and then, when the hour drew near, you came, and Hussein died, swiftly, not as Hafiz would have had him die; and lo! thou art the lord of the pass, and Hafiz is no more than a beetle that runs about in the dirt.
JOHN
Well, so you fear Hafiz?
DAOUD
Not for himself, master. Nay, I fear not Hafiz. But, master, hast thou seen when the thunder is coming, but no rumble is heard and the sky is scarce yet black, how little winds run in the grass and sigh and die; and the flower beckons a moment with its head; all the world full of whispers, master, all saying nothing; then the lightning, master, and the anger of God; and men say it came without warning? [Simply.] I hear those things coming, master.
JOHN
Well?
DAOUD
Master, it is all silent in the market. Once, when the price of turquoises was high, men abused the Shereef. When the merchant men could not sell their pomegranates for silver they abused the Shereef. It is men's way, master, men's way. Now it is all silent in the market. It is like the grasses with the idle winds, that whisper and sigh and die away; like the flowers beckoning to nothing. And so, master, and so....
JOHN
I see, you fear some danger.
DAOUD
I fear it, master.
JOHN
What danger, Daoud?
DAOUD
Master, I know not.
JOHN
From what quarter, Daoud?
DAOUD
O master, O sole Lord of Al Shaldomir, named the elect, from that quarter.
JOHN
That quarter? Why, that is the gracious lady's innermost chamber.
DAOUD
From that quarter, great master, O Lord of the Pass.
JOHN
Daoud, I have cast men into prison for saying less than this. Men have been flogged on the feet for less than this.
DAOUD
Slay me, master, but hear my words.
JOHN
I will not slay you. You are mistaken, Daoud. You have made a great mistake. The thing is absurd. Why, the gracious lady has scarcely seen Hafiz. She knows nothing of the talk of the market. Who could tell her? No one comes here. It is absurd. Only the other day she said to me... But it is absurd, it is absurd, Daoud. Besides, the people would never rebel against me. Do I not govern them well?
DAOUD
Even so, master.
JOHN
Why should they rebel, then?
DAOUD
They think of the old times, master.
JOHN
The old times? Why, their lives weren't safe. The robbers came down from the mountains and robbed the market whenever they had a mind.
DAOUD
Master, men were content in the old times.
JOHN
But were the merchants content?
DAOUD
Those that loved merchandise were content, master. Those that loved it not went into the mountains.
JOHN
But were they content when they were robbed?
DAOUD
They soon recovered their losses, master. Their prices were unjust and they loved usury.
JOHN
And were the people content with unjust prices?
DAOUD
Some were, master, as men have to be in all countries. The others went into the mountains and robbed the merchants.
JOHN
I see.
DAOUD
But now, master, a man robs a merchant and he is cast into prison. Now a man is slain in the market and his son, his own son, master, may not follow after the aggressor and slay him and burn his house. They are ill-content, master. No man robs the merchants, no man slays them, and the merchants' hearts are hardened and they oppress all men.
JOHN
I see. They don't like good government?
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