Hassan: The Story of Hassan of Baghdad and How He Came to Make the Golden Journey to Samarkand Part 7

(The infirmities and rags of the whole BAND disappear as if by magic, as they rise and shout in CHORUS.)

CHORUS Paradox in Paradise

(RAFI raises his hand. ALL stand at attention.)

VOICES Hush, the King speaks.

The King of the Beggars.

The King.

LEADER OF THE BEGGARS The King of the Beggars, the Caliph of the Faithless. The Peac.o.c.k of the Silver Path, the Master of Bagdad!

(The BALLET line the room behind the arches.)

JAFAR (Aside, astonished) King of the Beggars?

MASRUR (Aside, astonished) Master of Bagdad?

CALIPH (Aside, astonished) Caliph of the Faithless? Allah kerim, this is a jest indeed!

RAFI (Throwing off his outer garment and discovering himself superbly dressed in a golden armour) Subjects and guests. Now that the night before our day is ending, and the Wolf's Tail is already brus.h.i.+ng the eastern sky; now that our plot is ready, our conspiracy established, our victory imminent, what is there left for me to tell you, O faithful band? Shall I say, be brave? You are lions.

Be cunning? You are serpents. Be b.l.o.o.d.y? You are wolves.

See now, Bagdad is still in dreams that in a few minutes shall be full of fire, and that fire redder than the dawn.

You have begged--you shall buy: you have fawned--you shall fight: you have plotted--you shall plunder: you have cringed: you shall kill.

How loud they snore, those swine whose nostrils we shall slit to-day!

Copper they flung to us, and steel we shall give them back; good steel of Damascus, that digs a narrow hole and deep.

But as for the Peac.o.c.k of Peac.o.c.ks, that sack of debauch, that Caliph, alive in his coffin, I and none other will nail him down, with his eyes staring into mine. His gardens, fountains, summer houses, and palaces; his horses, mules, camels, and elephants, his statues of Yoonistan, and his wines of Ferangistan, his eunuchs of Egypt, and his carpets of Bokhara, and his great sealed boxes bursting with unbeaten gold, and his beads of amethyst, and his bracelets of sapphire, all this and all his women, his chosen flower-like women, are yours for l.u.s.t and loot and lechery, my children--all save her of whom I warned you--a woman who was mine, and who shall sit unveiled with me on the throne of all the Caliphs...

and when you see us sitting on that throne together, then you shall cry...

THE BEGGARS (Taking up with a shout) The Caliph is dead! The Caliphate is over!

Long live the King!

JAFAR (In indignation) These words are not holy, even in jest.

RAFI O guests of an hour, I pray you put the tongue of discretion into the cheek of propriety.

JAFAR Propriety! The host's obligations are greater than the guests.

It is not good taste to speak thus before the invited.

We pray you only that we may withdraw at once.

RAFI Then who will withdraw me, my masters, from the vengeance of the Caliph, once you have talked a talk with the Captain of his Guard?

JAFAR We give you our promise: we are men of honour.

RAFI If you were thieves, as we are, I might trust you. But, if, as you say, you are men of honour, honour will drive you panting to the Caliph's gate, and honour will swiftly break a promise made to a this and a rebel, under compulsion.

JAFAR Sir, I pray you, no more of this, be it jest or earnest.

It will soon be morning: we must away: we have pressing business: our clients await us.

RAFI And give me their names, O my guests, and tonight I will fling their gold and their carca.s.ses together at your feet.

JAFAR We insist that you let us go.

RAFI O merchants, tell me but this one thing: Do you dwell in fine houses in the port of Basra?

JAFAR We have no mean abodes.

RAFI Are your apartment s.p.a.cious and well furnished?

JAFAR Well enough.

RAFI Then tell me further, have you soft carpets on the floors of those rooms?

JAFAR There are carpets.

RAFI Great, rich, soft carpets from Persia and Afghanistan?

JAFAR Yes.

RAFI It is a pity. Soft carpets make soft the sole of the foot.

And they who have soft feet should ever keep them on the road of meekness.

MASRUR (Drawing his sword) Dost thou dare threaten us, bismillah!

RAFI Truly, O most disgusting negro, comprehension and thou have been separated since your youth. Shall I then drop needle of insinuation and pick up the club of statement? Shall I tell you three guests of mine, with the plainness of plainness and the openness of plainness, that if you offer one threat more, propose one evasion more, or ask one question more, I will thrash your lives head downwards from your feet.

(Enter Ha.s.sAN finely dressed, and ushered in by the FOUR BOYS through the rows of DANCERS.)

Ha.s.sAN (Lamenting) Eywallah, eywallah, eywah, eywah, Mashallah! Istagfurallah!

RAFI Why, here is the fourth guest!

ALDER We have washed him: he needed it.

WILLOW Combed him: it was necessary.

JUNIPER Scented him: it was our duty.

TAMARISK Clothed him: it was our delight.

Ha.s.sAN (As before) Eywallah! Yallah Akbar! Y'allah kerim! Istagfurallah!

Eywallah! Ha.s.san is ended! Ha.s.san is no more! He is dead!

He is buried! He is a bone! Y'allah kerim!

RAFI Eyyah Ha.s.san, if that is your name, have my boys not treated you well?

If they have hurt you with their tricks, by the Great Name, I will...